Sundays after Pentecost

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Wednesday, 23 June 2021 : 12th Week of Ordinary Time (First Reading)

Liturgical Colour : Green

Genesis 15 : 1-12, 17-18

After Abram met with Melchizedek, the word of YHVH was spoken to Abram in a vision : “Do not be afraid, Abram, I am your shield; your reward will be very great!” Abram said, “My Lord YHVH, where are Your promises? I am still childless and all I have will go to Eliezer of Damascus. You have given me no children, so a slave of mine will be my heir.”

Then the word of YHVH was spoken to him again, “Eliezer will not be your heir, but a child born of you (your own flesh and blood) will be your heir.” Then YHVH brought him outside and said to him, “Look up at the sky and count the stars if you can. Your descendants will be like that.”

Abram believed YHVH Who, because of this, held him to be an upright man. And He said, “I am YHVH Who brought you from Ur of the Chaldeans to give you this land as your possession.” Then Abram asked, “My Lord, how am I to know that it shall be mine?” YHVH replied, “Bring Me a three-year-old heifer, a three-year-old goat, a three-year-old ram, a turtle dove and a young pigeon.”

Abram brought all these animals, cut them in two, and laid each half facing its other half, but he did not cut the birds in half. The birds of prey came down upon them, but Abram drove them away. As the sun was going down, a deep sleep came over Abram, and a dreadful darkness took hold of him.

When the sun had set and darkness had fallen, a smoking firepot and a flaming torch passed between the halves of the victims. On that day YHVH made a Covenant with Abram, saying, “To your descendants I have given this country from the river of Egypt to the Great River, the Euphrates.”

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Tuesday, 22 June 2021 : 12th Week of Ordinary Time, Memorial of St. Paulinus of Nola, Bishop, and St. John Fisher, Bishop and Martyr, and St. Thomas More, Martyr (Homily and Scripture Reflections)

Liturgical Colour : Green or White (Bishops) or Red (Martyrs)

Dear brothers and sisters in Christ, today as we listened to the words of the Scriptures, we heard first from the Book of Genesis, the story between Abraham and Lot, and we heard about their disagreements and the conflicts between their employees and shepherds, who vied for the rich and fertile lands for their flocks and possessions. In the end, Abraham and Lot decided to part ways and divide the land among them.

God would then continue to guide Abraham, while at the same time also still watching over Lot, as we know in how Lot would later be involved in the destruction of Sodom and Gomorrah. Abraham meanwhile would continue to grow in God’s grace, and he continued to remain faithful and obedient to the path and guidance that the Lord has shown to him. As the Lord called him, Abraham responded with faith and gave his all to follow his Lord and Master.

Then in our Gospel today, the Lord spoke to His disciples, with regards to the matter of how they all should seek what is holy and not to throw all those things because of the temptations that they might face along the way. He told them all that the path towards the kingdom of God is not one that is easy and simple. Instead, there would likely be plenty of obstacles and challenges that would face them as they proceed forward with faith.

All of these serve as reminders for all of us brothers and sisters, that we should not allow ourselves to be swayed by the many temptations and allures of worldly glory, fame, wealth and many other tempting desires that can lead us astray from our path and distract us from our focus and faith in the Lord. That is why today we should seek the inspirations from the saints, our holy predecessors whose memory we recall this day at their feast.

St. Paulinus of Nola was a bishop in the early Church, who was remembered and renowned for his great piety, steadfast faith in the Lord, and the dedication with which he devoted himself to the members of his flock. While he was born into an influential senatorial family, he chose to follow the Lord and leave behind everything, all the glory and all the opportunities that he had, and committed himself fully to the Lord.

St. Paulinus of Nola spent much time in furthering the studies of the faith, writing extensively on many matters of the faith, and he was also deeply involved in serving his community, spending the time and effort to reach out to more and more of the people in his community, and doing all that he could in order to bring more and more people to believe in the Lord. He devoted himself wholly to this calling, and this is something that we can be inspired from.

Then, we also celebrate the feast of the two courageous and holy martyrs of the ‘reformation’ in England, when King Henry VIII forcefully sundered the Church there from the Universal Church in personal pursuit of family matter and succession, in satisfying his ego and desire for dynastic success, which led to the painful splintering and division of the Church, which effects still lasted to this very day, even after hundreds of years.

Back then, St. Thomas More and St. John Fisher were among the few who stood against the king’s corrupted desire and efforts to separate the Church in England from the Universal Church. St. Thomas More himself was the trusted Chancellor of the King, who enjoyed close confidence from the king, while St. John Fisher was the influential Bishop of Rochester and one of the preeminent bishop in all of England. He was eventually made a Cardinal for his faith and dedication to the Church.

All of the entire kingdom, all the people and especially the high officials had been made to obey the king’s new decision and ruling in breaking ties from the Pope in Rome, as well as for various other changes and actions that the king had decided and taken. This was often done so under the certain threat of suffering and death. Some would eventually abandon their faith in exchange for guarantees of safety and comfort in life, while many others remained faithful.

St. Thomas More remained faithful to the true Mother Church and opposed the king, even while knowing that such a choice and action could not only just cause him to lose his role as Chancellor, but that could very well end up with his death. Yet, he chose to remain faithful, and resigned his chancellorship rather than betraying the true Church and faith in God. He was arrested and imprisoned, and eventually was put to death, faithful to the end. The same fate faced St. John Fisher, who also courageously spoke out in defence of the faith.

Brothers and sisters in Christ, let us all be inspired by all these examples showed by our holy predecessors, and let us all follow their actions and faith, that we too may glorify the Lord by our lives, and be inspiration ourselves to many more other people, many of whom had not yet known the Lord, and are still living in the darkness of sin and ignorance of God’s truth. May the Lord continue to guide us, and may He strengthen our faith at all times, that we may walk ever more faithfully in His path. Amen.

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Tuesday, 22 June 2021 : 12th Week of Ordinary Time, Memorial of St. Paulinus of Nola, Bishop, and St. John Fisher, Bishop and Martyr, and St. Thomas More, Martyr (Gospel Reading)

Liturgical Colour : Green or White (Bishops) or Red (Martyrs)

Matthew 7 : 6, 12-14

At that time, Jesus said to His disciples, “Do not give what is holy to the dogs, or throw your pearls before pigs. They might trample on them, and then turn on you and tear you to pieces.”

“So, do to others whatever you would that others do to you : there, you have the law and the prophets. Enter through the narrow gate : for wide is the gate, and broad is the road, that leads to destruction, and many go that way. How narrow is the gate that leads to life; and how rough, the road; few there are, who find it.”

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Tuesday, 22 June 2021 : 12th Week of Ordinary Time, Memorial of St. Paulinus of Nola, Bishop, and St. John Fisher, Bishop and Martyr, and St. Thomas More, Martyr (Psalm)

Liturgical Colour : Green or White (Bishops) or Red (Martyrs)

Psalm 14 : 2-3ab, 3cd-4ab, 5

Those who walk blamelessly and do what is right, who speak truth from their heart and control their words, who do no harm to their neighbours.

Those who cast no discredit on their companions, who look down on evildoers but highly esteem God’s servants.

Those who do not lend money at interest and refuse a bribe against the innocent. Do this, and you will not be shaken.

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Tuesday, 22 June 2021 : 12th Week of Ordinary Time, Memorial of St. Paulinus of Nola, Bishop, and St. John Fisher, Bishop and Martyr, and St. Thomas More, Martyr (First Reading)

Liturgical Colour : Green or White (Bishops) or Red (Martyrs)

Genesis 13 : 2, 5-18

Now Abram was very rich in flocks, silver and gold. Lot who went with Abram also had flocks, cattle and tents. The land was not sufficient to allow them to stay together, for their possessions were too great for them to live together.

A quarrel arose between the herdsmen of Abram’s flock and those of Lot. (The Canaanites and the Perizzites were living in the land at the time.) Abram said to Lot, “Do not let there be a dispute between you and me, nor between my herdsmen and yours, since we are brothers! Is not the whole land before you? Let us part company. If you go to the left, I will go to the right; if you go to the right, I will go to the left.”

Lot looked up and saw the whole valley of the Jordan : how well it was watered! Before YHVH destroyed Sodom and Gomorrah, this was like one of YHVH’s gardens, like the country of Egypt, on coming to Zoar. Lot chose for himself all the Jordan valley and journeyed eastward. In this way they separated from each other.

Abram settled in the country of Canaan while Lot lived among the towns of the plain and moved his tent as far as Sodom. Now the people of Sodom were wicked, sinning greatly against YHVH. YHVH said to Abram after Lot had left him, “Raise your eyes and look from where you are, towards the north, the south, the east and the west; all the land you see I will give to you and your descendants forever.”

“I will make your descendants as the dust of the earth; if the grains of the dust can be counted, then your descendants may be counted. Come, travel through the length and breadth of the land, for it is to you that I am giving it.” So Abram moved his tent and came to live by the oaks of Mamre at Hebron. There he built an altar to YHVH.

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Monday, 21 June 2021 : 12th Week of Ordinary Time, Memorial of St. Aloysius Gonzaga, Religious (Homily and Scripture Reflections)

Liturgical Colour : White

Dear brothers and sisters in Christ, today we heard the words of the Scripture speaking to us about the story of Abraham, our father in faith and the father of many nations, who was the faithful and dedicated servant of the Lord, as we heard how he embarked on the journey from his homeland and followed the Lord’s call, and leaving everything behind, leading a new life entrusted to the Lord alone. He listened to the Lord and obeyed Him, and for his faith and dedication, God blessed him and made His Covenant with him.

Abraham, then named Abram, put his life in the hands of the Lord, and despite all the wealth and power he had, he allowed the Lord to lead the way for him, and to guide him through the challenges that he would face throughout life. He allowed the Lord to make him into His most worthy servant, that through him and his exemplary actions, he might indeed inspire so many people, many among his own descendants and others to believe in the Lord as well, which includes each and every one of us, who can call Abraham as our father in faith.

Brothers and sisters in Christ, the story of Abraham and his faith and dedication to the Lord is a reminder to each and every one of us that as Christians we have to be like our father in faith in the way we carry on our own lives and actions. It means that we should be genuine in how we believe in the Lord and in fully entrusting ourselves to Him, and truly mean what we believe, being wholehearted and sincere in following Him and not being hypocrites as Christians, that is as those who profess to have faith in God.

In our Gospel passage today, we heard the Lord Jesus telling His disciples not to be hypocrites in how they lived their faith, and not to be judgmental towards others, in the sense that they sought to look down on others and glorifying oneself just because they thought that they were better than others, superior or more worthy than their fellow brethren. The Lord told them all that often they failed to realise that the same things that they accused others of wrongdoing, these they themselves had been doing, even without them realising it.

It is therefore important for all of us to recognise that we are all sinners, unworthy and wicked, and we have no right to look down on others or to despise others just because we think that we are in any way better than them. Instead, on the contrary, we should seek our fellow brethren and show concern and care for them. If we see someone who is struggling with their faith and life and who is falling into the path of sin, instead of looking down on them or judging them, we should instead help them and support them, showing them care and concern instead of despising them.

Today we also celebrate the feast of St. Aloysius Gonzaga, whose faith and commitment to the Lord should be inspiration to all of us in how we should be role model ourselves in living our faith wholeheartedly in the manner that he and the other saints had done, and in how Abraham, our father in faith had done in his life. Today, we are all called to look upon the examples set by this holy member of the Society of Jesus who devoted himself completely to the Lord even since such a young age.

St. Aloysius Gonzaga was born into a noble family, as the eldest born no less, and he was expected to succeed to his father’s titles and inherit his possessions. However, as he experienced and became exposed to the brutality and wickedness of the society of his time, gradually he turned to the Christian faith and to the life of saints which then slowly began to lead him to walk down a path of commitment to the Lord, abandoning eventually all of his inheritance and status, and joined the Society of Jesus.

He dedicated himself to the Lord and to the ministry of those whom he gave himself, his time and efforts to, such as the sick and the poor, which at that time were particularly affected by a great epidemic spreading in the community. And he kept on doing his best to care for all those people despite himself eventually succumbing to the disease, and dying at a very young age, faithful to the Lord and loving towards his fellow brothers and sisters to the very end.

Brothers and sisters in Christ, let us all be inspired by the examples showed by St. Aloysius Gonzaga that in everything that we say and do, in our every actions in life we will always be exemplary and strive to do our best in loving God, in caring for our fellow brothers and sisters. Let us all trust the Lord more and grow ever deeper in our faith and devotion from now on, that we can become ever more genuine in our Christian faith from now on. May God bless each and every one of us, now and always. Amen.

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Monday, 21 June 2021 : 12th Week of Ordinary Time, Memorial of St. Aloysius Gonzaga, Religious (Gospel Reading)

Liturgical Colour : White

Matthew 7 : 1-5

At that time, Jesus said to His disciples, “Do not judge; and you will not be judged. In the same way you judge others, you will be judged; and the measure you use for others will be used for you. Why do you look at the speck in your brother’s eye, and not see the plank in your own eye?”

“How can you say to your brother, ‘Come, let me take the speck from your eye,’ as long as that plank is in your own? Hypocrite, remove the plank out of your own eye; then, you will see clearly, to remove the speck out of your brother’s eye.”

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Monday, 21 June 2021 : 12th Week of Ordinary Time, Memorial of St. Aloysius Gonzaga, Religious (Psalm)

Liturgical Colour : White

Psalm 32 : 12-13, 18-19, 20 and 22

Blessed is the nation whose God is YHVH – the people He has chosen for His inheritance. YHVH looks down from heaven and sees the whole race of mortals.

But YHVH’s eyes are upon those who fear Him, upon those who trust in His loving-kindness; to deliver them from death and preserve them from famine.

In hope, we wait for YHVH, for He is our help and our shield. O YHVH, let Your love rest upon us, even as our hope rests in You.

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Monday, 21 June 2021 : 12th Week of Ordinary Time, Memorial of St. Aloysius Gonzaga, Religious (First Reading)

Liturgical Colour : White

Genesis 12 : 1-9

YHVH said to Abram, “Leave your country, your family and your father’s house, for the land I will show you. I will make you a great nation. I will bless you and make your name great, and you will be a blessing. I will bless those who bless you, and whoever curses you, I will curse, and in you all people of the earth will be blessed.”

So Abram went as YHVH had told him, and Lot went with him. Abram was seventy-five years old when he left Haran. Abram took Sarai, his wife, his nephew Lot, all the possessions they had accumulated and the people they had acquired in Haran. They set out for the land of Canaan.

They arrived at Canaan. Abram travelled through the country as far as Shechem, to the oak of Moreh. At that time the Canaanites were in the land. YHVH appeared to Abram and said, “To your descendants I will give this land.” There he built an altar to YHVH Who had appeared to him.

From there he went on to the mountains east of Bethel and pitched his tent, with Bethel to the west and Ai to the east. There also he built an altar to YHVH and called on the Name of YHVH. Then Abram set out in the direction of Negeb.

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Sunday, 20 June 2021 : Twelfth Sunday of Ordinary Time (Homily and Scripture Reflections)

Liturgical Colour : Green

Dear brothers and sisters in Christ, this Sunday we are all reminded that we should put our trust in the Lord and not to let fear to cloud our judgment or mislead us down the wrong path. We should trust in the Lord and how in Him alone we can gain true assurance and true hope, and through Him, we shall never be disappointed or need to be afraid anymore, as He is always with us, by our side, and He has always watched over us, and in Him we shall find succour and true joy in life.

In our first reading today, we heard from the Book of Job, God’s words to Job stating how all things, even the mighty roaring waves and all sorts of forces of nature have a limit, and God has power over all of them delineating what each and every things in nature can do, and manages the scope of their appearance and influence. Contextually, this conversation between God and Job came to be because Job, who was God’s faithful servant, encountered great misfortune as many of us would have been familiar with his story.

Job remained firm in his faith despite the efforts of the devil who tried to test him, tempt him and coerce him through his misfortunes and sufferings in order to make him abandon the Lord. He did not blame God but he did wonder and ask the Lord why he had to suffer all that he had suffered, and in fact, blamed himself for his misfortune. And thus, for most of the Book of Job, the Lord brought him to a journey of discovery, as He revealed Himself to be in charge of everything, and how there are just so many things that are beyond our control and power.

But that is also exactly why we are all so fortunate that the Lord is always by our side and we always have Him loving us and caring for us. The Lord has always given us His attention and love at all times because we are His beloved ones, and we are precious to Him. The Lord has always put us as a priority, for after all, did He not give us the best and most ultimate gift of all gifts, by giving us His own Beloved Son, to be our Lord and Saviour. He gave it all for our sake that through His Son, we may find our way to eternal life and salvation in Him.

Brothers and sisters in Christ, that is why as we recall what we have just heard in our Scripture readings today, we are all called to look at the Lord and put our trust in Him. For just as He has reassured His disciples and shown His might before all of them, we too should put our trust in Him. We should not be afraid of those obstacles, trials and challenges that we encounter throughout our lives, just as those disciples should not be afraid of the threats that the waves and the wind brought to them.

The Lord was in the boat together with His disciples, who were all representative of all of us, and the boat itself symbolises the Church. The great waves and the wind facing the boat, which threatened to sink the boat in fact represent the difficulties and challenges that are facing us in this world, in our path of life, facing us be it as individuals or as the Church of God together. But we should not be afraid because the Lord is with us, just as He was with His disciples, which symbolises His union with the Church and His presence in our midst.

We should not be afraid like those disciples who feared for their lives and doubted the Lord. They allowed their fears and uncertainties to sway their hearts and minds, that they lost faith in the Lord and failed to trust in Him, when they though that their end surely had come. The Lord hence chastised them and reminded them to keep faith and to trust in Him, as He calmed the wind and rebuked the waves, just as He has once reassured and reminded Job, that all things are under God’s control and power, and as long as we trust in Him, we have nothing to fear at all.

Now, brothers and sisters in Christ, are we going to entrust ourselves to Him and believe in Him, or are we going to allow fear and worldly concerns to affect us and to lead us down the path to ruin? Let us all keep this in mind as we discern the path that we are going to take forward in life and also as one Church, one Body of all the believers in Christ. Let us all stay firm in our faith and commitment to the Lord, and not to abandon Him or the Church, for if we abandon Him for false leads of safety and false hope, then we surely shall perish, just as those who jump off the boat in the storm will surely drown and sink.

Let us hence renew our faith in the Lord and strive to love Him just as much as He has loved us first. God has been so generous in loving us and caring for us all these time, all along. If He has loved us so patiently despite all of our stubborn refusal to follow Him and even our betrayals and infidelities, then we should appreciate how beloved we are and strive to return Him the same love that we should have given Him. Let us all grow together in our faith and love, and commit ourselves anew to the Lord with a new zealous faith from now on.

May the Lord be with us and may He guide and lead us down the right path, and give us the courage and strength to walk down this path faithfully, each and every moments of our lives. May God bless us all in our every good works, efforts and endeavours, and may He help us to love Him more and more and trust in Him in all things. Amen.