Sundays after Epiphany

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Tuesday, 6 November 2018 : 31st Week of Ordinary Time (Homily and Scripture Reflections)

Liturgical Colour : Green

Dear brothers and sisters in Christ, on this day we listened to the words of the Scripture reminding us to always be humble and to obey the will of God in our lives. In the first reading today, we listened to the words of St. Paul in the letter he wrote to the Church and the faithful in the city of Philippi. St. Paul spoke of how Christ was obedient to the will of His Father, even to the acceptance of the cross, its burden and suffering, that we may be saved through Him and His obedience.

St. Paul said that the attitude of Christians should be the same as that of Christ, in His love, His obedience to the will of the Father and in the selflessness and humility which He exhibited throughout His life and ministry on earth. Christ became obedient unto death for us, because He loved us so much, that He did not mind even to lay down His life, by offering Himself as the perfect offering and sacrifice in atonement for our sins.

Many of us Christians have not done these in our own respective lives. Many of us have instead been affected by the greed and desires of this world, as mentioned in the Gospel passage today by the Lord Jesus Himself, Who taught the people using a parable to show them how the Lord has called His people to follow Him and to come to the banquet of love which He has prepared for them. And yet, those who were invited to the banquet refused to come, because of the many excuses they had.

What are these excuses, brothers and sisters in Christ? It is the temptation of worldly pleasures and corrupt behaviours, such as money, sexual favours and pleasures of the body, power and prestige, influence and fame, all of which often distract us from the true focus and attention on the Lord. To us, all the worldly distractions and temptations seem to be better and more fulfilling than what the Lord offers us.

And that was why, in the parable which the Lord Jesus used, those who were invited to the banquet refused to come, giving all sorts of excuses to the king. The king who became angry upon hearing all of these rejections and excuses, cast those guests out and cancelled their invitations. Instead, he went and asked his servants to invite and to get any people they could find on the roadsides and in other places.

This is a way for the Lord to rebuke the Pharisees and the teachers of the Law, who at that time were the influential and powerful ones among the society and the community of the people of God. And yet, they were so busy with their own pride, ego and desire, that they refused to believe in the truth which God has laid bare before their own eyes, and which they have witnessed.

Instead, the Lord Himself mentioned how the prostitutes and the tax collectors, all those deemed as sinners and wicked by the Pharisees and the teachers of the Law, were going on ahead of the latter in the journey towards salvation in the kingdom of God. These were the ones who listened to the Lord’s call and responded to Him, and accepted His invitation to come to His eternal kingdom of love.

Brothers and sisters in Christ, reflecting on this, we should also be receptive to God’s call in our lives. And often, He is calling us in the depth and the silence of our hearts and minds. Unless we make the effort to attune ourselves to God, we are likely to miss out on the words of the Lord, through which He is calling us to righteousness and justice. And we can do this through the improvement of our spiritual relationship with God.

Let us all turn towards God therefore with a renewed faith and commitment, desiring to love Him all the more, day after day. Let us all find our way to reach out to God’s salvation, and to enter into God’s everlasting kingdom. May the Lord be with us all, and may He guide us into His kingdom of glory. May God bless us all, now and forevermore. Amen.

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Tuesday, 6 November 2018 : 31st Week of Ordinary Time (Gospel Reading)

Liturgical Colour : Green

Luke 14 : 15-24

At that time, upon hearing the words of Jesus, one of those at the table said to Him, “Happy are those who eat at the banquet in the kingdom of God!”

Jesus replied, “A man once gave a feast and invited many guests. When it was time for the feast, he sent his servant to tell those he had invited to come, for everything was ready. But all alike began to make excuses. The first said, ‘Please excuse me. I must go and see the piece of land I have just bought.'”

“Another said, ‘I am sorry, but I am on my way to try out the five yoke of oxen I have just bought.’ Still another said, ‘How can I come, when I have just got married?'”

“The servant returned alone, and reported this to his master. Upon hearing his account, the master of the house flew into a rage, and ordered his servant, ‘Go out quickly, into the streets and alleys of the town, and bring in the poor, the crippled, the blind and the lame.'”

“The servant reported after a while, ‘Sir, your orders have been carried out, but there is still room.’ The master said, ‘Go out to the highways and country lanes, and force people to come in, to ensure that my house is full. I tell you, none of those invited will have a morsel of my feast.'”

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Tuesday, 6 November 2018 : 31st Week of Ordinary Time (Psalm)

Liturgical Colour : Green

Psalm 21 : 26b-27, 28, 29-30a, 30c-32

I will fulfil my vows before all who revere You. The lowly will eat and be satisfied. Those who seek the Lord will praise Him. May your hearts live forever!

The whole earth will acknowledge and turn to the Lord; the families of nations will worship Him.

For dominion belongs to YHVH and He reigns over the nations. Before Him all those who rest in the earth will bow down, all who go down to the dust.

My soul will live for Him. My descendants will serve Him and proclaim the Lord to coming generations; they will announce His salvation to a people yet unborn, “These are the things that He has done.”

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Tuesday, 6 November 2018 : 31st Week of Ordinary Time (First Reading)

Liturgical Colour : Green

Philippians 2 : 5-11

Your attitude should be the same as Jesus Christ had : Though He was in the form of God, He did not regard equality with God as something to be grasped, but emptied Himself, taking on the nature of a servant, made in human likeness, and in His appearance found as a Man.

He humbled Himself by being obedient to death, death on the cross. That is why God exalted Him and gave Him the Name which outshines all names, so that at the Name of Jesus all knees should bend in heaven, on earth and among the dead, and all tongues proclaim that Christ Jesus is the Lord to the glory of God the Father.

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Monday, 5 November 2018 : 31st Week of Ordinary Time (Homily and Scripture Reflections)

Liturgical Colour : Green

Dear brothers and sisters in Christ, on this day we are all reminded through the words of the Scripture, to be more Christ-like in our actions and deeds in life. We are all called to be more sincere in giving our love and care to our fellow brethren, to show true love to one another, again just as Christ had shown us through His own life and work among us.

In the first reading today, taken from the Epistle of St. Paul to the Church and the faithful in Philippi, we heard of the Apostle’s very significant words of reminding us of this truth, that all of us must consider others as being more important than ourselves, and for us not to seek our own interests, instead, seeking for the good and interest of others who are present around us.

This is related to what the Lord Jesus mentioned in the Gospel passage today, as He taught the people with a parable, using a feast for example, when the Lord exhorted His disciples to go forth and invite those who were poor and less fortunate, instead of those who were already rich and well-to-do. The Lord’s intention was that in all of our actions we must not place ourselves, our desires and wants to be ahead of our concern for others.

Why is that so? That is because, looking at the situation of the time, the community of the people was one of expectation of satisfaction and personal desire. When someone does something to another person, it is a given that something in return is expected. And often times, people will compare what is being given back in return for what has been given. When someone did not give back what was given, or in equivalent value, then problem would arise.

We grow up and live in a society where we expect to receive something back when we give, and before we even love others, we want others to love us first. All of these in fact, is caused by the greed within our hearts, the desire for worldly comfort and accomplishments, satisfactions and pleasures. By our corrupted human nature, we are affected by this greed and desire inside us.

That is why, as Christians, as those who follow Christ and believe in Him, each and every one of us must distance ourselves from these attitudes and behaviours, which we may be very accustomed with. To be a true Christian would mean first of all, to put God as the first and foremost, the centre and the very focus of our lives, and then to put others before our own selves, and therefore, there can be no room for ego, pride and greed in our hearts.

We mankind often bicker and fight, disagree with one another and even end up hating one another just because we cannot overcome the ego and the greed within each one of us. And that is also why we can see just so many instances of people who suffer because of the tyranny of injustice, when man desires for something and that desires lead to someone to act unjustly and even hurt their fellow brethren.

This is what we cannot do as Christians, as those who believe in Christ and walk in His ways. In fact, we must be ready to stand up for the cause of the weak and the poor, for all those who have been unjustly treated. We also must practice the same with our own lives, with our own actions towards others. How can we call ourselves as Christians if we have been unjust towards our fellow brethren?

Let us look at the example of our Lord Jesus Himself, Who loved us so much, that not only He was willing to forgive us our sins and wickedness, but even to die for us sinners, and bear the sins we have with us upon Himself, that through His suffering and death on the cross, we may have life eternal. He showed us what the true meaning and significance of love is, and He loved us all so greatly that He has done all those things for our sake.

Brothers and sisters in Christ, let us therefore renew our faith in God and turn towards Him with renewed love, zeal and faith. Let us commit our time, effort and attention to the Lord, and seek to devote ourselves to Him from now on, ever more through our actions in life. Let us be men for others, and show love and concern for those in our midst who are suffering and in need. May the Lord be with us always, and may He continue to guide us in our loving works. Amen.

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Monday, 5 November 2018 : 31st Week of Ordinary Time (Gospel Reading)

Liturgical Colour : Green

Luke 14 : 12-14

At that time, Jesus also addressed the man who had invited Him, and said, “When you give a lunch or a dinner, do not invite your friends, or your brothers and relatives, or your wealthy neighbours. For surely they will also invite you in return, and you will be repaid.”

“When you give a feast, invite instead the poor, the crippled, the lame and the blind. Fortunate are you then, because they cannot repay you; you will be repaid at the resurrection of the upright.”

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Monday, 5 November 2018 : 31st Week of Ordinary Time (Psalm)

Liturgical Colour : Green

Psalm 130 : 1, 2, 3

O Lord, my heart is not proud nor do I have arrogant eyes. I am not engrossed in ambitious matters, nor in things too great for me.

I have quieted and stilled my soul like a weaned child on its mother’s lap; like a contented child is my soul.

Hope in the Lord, o Israel, now and forever.

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Monday, 5 November 2018 : 31st Week of Ordinary Time (First Reading)

Liturgical Colour : Green

Philippians 2 : 1-4

If I may advise you in the Name of Christ and if you can hear it as the voice of love; if we share the same Spirit and are capable of mercy and compassion, then I beg of you, make me very happy : have one love, one Spirit, one feeling, do nothing through rivalry or vain conceit.

On the contrary let each of you gently consider the others as more important than yourselves. Do not seek your own interest, but rather that of others.

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Sunday, 4 November 2018 : Thirty-First Sunday of Ordinary Time (Homily and Scripture Reflections)

Liturgical Colour : Green

Dear brothers and sisters in Christ, on this Sunday, the readings from the Scriptures are about God’s Law, and the need for us all to listen to the Law of God, to accept them and to put them into practice in our own lives, but with good understanding and appreciation of what the Law is all about, and this is important because otherwise, we will end up falling into the same trap into which the Pharisees and the teachers of the Law had fallen into.

What does this mean, brothers and sisters in Christ? It means that we should not follow the hypocrisy of the Pharisees and the teachers of the Law who professed to believe in the Law and in fact, as the ones who regulated and enforced the Law, and yet, they did not know what is the true meaning and significance of the Law. Many of them observed the Law for the wrong reason and with the wrong intention.

The Pharisees and the teachers of the Law stressed a very strict application of the laws of Moses, which can be found in the book of Exodus and Leviticus in the Old Testament, as well as the traditions and practices which had been handed down the generations of the people of Israel. There were in total six hundred and thirteen set of laws, rules and regulations that the people of God had to obey and fulfil, down to the smallest details of how one should live their lives.

These laws had to be understood in the context of history and how the law came to be. The Law was given to the people of God, Israel, as part of the Covenant that God established with them, just right after He liberated them from their slavery at the land of Egypt. God gave them the Law through Moses, which showed them various aspects of how they ought to live and survive through the difficult and challenging times, at the time when Israel was still trying to find its identity and place among the nations.

For once, the Israelites were then a stubborn and obstinate bunch of people, who frequently and repeatedly rebelled against the Lord, as was evident from the accounts of the Exodus from Egypt. They had to endure a forty years detour and wait before they were allowed to enter the Promised Land of Canaan, after even though God had reassured them and showed them His providence and love throughout their journey, they chose willingly to abandon God and give in to their fears instead.

They failed to trust God, many times, as shown how just right after they were liberated from Egypt, they gave in to temptation, making a golden calf to be god for them, when Moses went up the mountain of Sinai to receive God’s commandments and Law. They grumbled and had many qualms, when the Lord had fed them daily with manna, the bread of Angels from heaven, and with large birds providing them with meat, and sweet, good tasting water from the rock.

Thus, in order to discipline a people that was so stubborn and obstinate, God gave them the Law in order to remind them to turn away from all their sins and wickedness, and for them to rediscover their love for God, by following the precepts and the rules of the Law. However, although the intention of the Law was good and the early application of the Law was meaningful, but in time, the elders, the priests and eventually the Pharisees and the teachers of the Law at the time of Jesus misunderstood and misinterpreted the Law, in its practice, meaning and intention.

They took the Law as a list of punitive regulations to be enforced among the people of Israel, and used them as benchmark of who was to be considered as faithful and who was to be considered as unfaithful. In time to come, this ended up creating divisions in the society, with the Pharisees, the teachers of the Law and the priests claiming themselves to be pious and good because of their observance of the Law, and looking down on the others, whom to them, were not as pious as they were.

Instead of bringing mankind closer to God as He intended, the Law was misused by those mentioned earlier, in keeping people away from God, by their judgmental attitude towards those whom they considered to be inferior to them in the matter of faith. They looked down on tax collectors, prostitutes and all others who suffered physical disabilities, such as blindness, paralysis and epilepsy.

To the Pharisees and the teachers of the Law, those sicknesses and professions are signs of them being cursed and unworthy of God’s love and grace. To them, they were the only ones who were worthy of God, and all others had to obey the way of the Law they prescribed to, or else, they too would be cast out from God’s grace. They espoused a very exclusivist attitude and perspective of the Law, one that is not focused on God, but on themselves, their ego, pride and desire.

Brothers and sisters in Christ, this is why, we need to appreciate and understand the true meaning and intention of God’s Law, which He has revealed unto us, through none other than His Son, Our Lord Jesus Christ, Who revealed the truth of God to all of us, His people. This is summarised succinctly in the Gospel passage we heard today, revealing to us the whole truth about what God intends to do with us through His Law.

And the heart and intention of the Law is love, and because of that, through the Law, God wants His people to rediscover the love which they ought to have for Him, and which they also ought to have for one another. The Lord came into this world, in order to dispel all the erroneous and false ways of the past elders and teachers of the Law, who had misinterpreted the Law of God and enforced an unjust and undue pressure on the people because of their misuse of the Law.

The Lord challenged all those who heard Him, to break free from that misunderstanding and the wrong ways in which they have done, in fulfilling the obligations of the Law. Instead of being self-centred and self-serving as the Pharisees and the teachers of the Law had been, we are called to refocus our attention to the Lord. The laws, rules and regulations that has been given to us, now renewed through the Church, must not be seen as burden or formalities that we need to fulfil in order to gain ourselves righteousness.

Otherwise, that is why, even within our Church today, there are many who did what the Church had commanded us to do, and yet, in their hearts and minds, God did not truly have a place in them. Indeed, it is possible for someone to act justly and piously in accordance with the Law and the Church rules and regulations, and yet, for the same person to have little or no love for God. That was how most of the Pharisees and the teachers of the Law acted, practicing the Law without understanding the spirit of the Law.

Brothers and sisters in Christ, that is why today, we are all called to turn ourselves wholeheartedly to the Lord once again, by rediscovering for ourselves what it truly means for us to be Christians. We must have love in us, and this is important as love is at the centre of our Christian faith and livelihood. Without love, for God and for others, then we will have no real and genuine faith in us.

The Lord Himself said that no matter how wonderful the things and the talents that we have, no matter what abilities we have, or even if we are able to speak in the tongue of Angels, but we have no love in us, then everything is meaningless. Without love, there can be no faith, for without love, how can we then believe in God Who is all about love? We call ourselves as Christians because we believe in Christ, Who is the personification of God’s ultimate love for us.

Let us all love one another just as the Lord Himself has loved us. Look at the example of Our Lord Jesus, Who gave Himself and His life for us, dying on the cross for our sake, willingly bearing the sins of ours because of His love for us, that He does not want us to be eternally separated from Him because of those sins. The Lord Jesus obeyed His Father’s will, and loved His Father, and because of that, He also loved us. In the perfect love which God has shown us, the perfect love between the Father, Son and the Holy Spirit, all of us are called to emulate this love in our own living.

Let us grow deeper in the understanding of our faith, the practices and customs of our faith, and all that the Church had given us through its teachings, the commandments of God and the laws of the Church. Let us appreciate better how we can grow ever more in our love for God through these, by meaningful and genuine participation in the life of the Church, from active participation in regular Holy Mass, and many other forms of our Christian worship.

May the Lord continue to guide each and every one of us, that through His Law of love, we may be able to find our way to Him, and be able to turn ourselves to Him, that we may love Him ever more wholeheartedly from now on. May God bless us all, now and forevermore. Amen.

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Sunday, 4 November 2018 : Thirty-First Sunday of Ordinary Time (Gospel Reading)

Liturgical Colour : Green

Mark 12 : 28b-34

At that time, a teacher of the Law came up and asked Jesus, “Which commandment is the first of all?”

Jesus answered, “The first is : Hear, Israel! The Lord, our God is One Lord; and you shall love the Lord, your God, with all your heart, with all your soul, with all your mind and with all your strength. And after this comes a second commandment : You shall love your neighbour as yourself. There is no commandment greater than these two.”

The teacher of the Law said to Him, “Well spoken, Master; You are right when You say that He is one, and there is no other besides Him. To love Him with all our heart, with all our understanding and with all our strength, and to love our neighbour as ourselves is more important than any burnt offering or sacrifice.”

Jesus approved of this answer and said, “You are not far from the kingdom of God.” And after that, no one dared to ask Him any more questions.