Liturgical Colour : Green
Psalm 97 : 5-6, 7-8, 9
With melody of the lyre and with music of the harp. With trumpet blast and sound of the horn, rejoice before the King, the Lord!
Let the sea resound and everything in it, the world and all its peoples. Let rivers clap their hands, hills and mountains sing with joy.
Before the Lord, for He comes to rule the earth. He will judge the world with justice and the peoples with fairness.
Liturgical Colour : Green
Malachi 3 : 19-20a
The day already comes, flaming as a furnace. On that day all the proud and evildoers will be burnt like straw in the fire. They will be left without branches or roots. On the other hand the sun of justice will shine upon you who respect My Name and bring health in its rays.
Liturgical Colour : Green or White (Bishops or Saturday Mass of Our Lady)
Dear brothers and sisters in Christ, today as we all listened to the words of the Sacred Scriptures, we continue to be reminded of the greatness of God Who is capable of doing every wonders and good things in our lives, if we only put our trust and faith in Him. For the Lord Who has created this world and the whole Universe in all of its goodness has always intended for us to enjoy the fullness of His love and grace, and He would not want for any of us to suffer or endure all the challenges that we are facing in life now. But it was our own waywardness and disobedience against Him which had led to our own downfall and sufferings, as we end up causing harm and hurt to one another in our quest and pursuit of selfish desires.
In our first reading today, taken from the Book of Wisdom, we heard from that passage of the might and power of God as He carried out everything that He has always planned, in leading all of His beloved people to righteousness and to the path that He has prepared for them. He did everything according to His designs and plans, which He has gradually revealed to us through His Spirit and Wisdom provided to us through the same Spirit. He has always been for those whom He has loved, that is all of us mankind, without exception, and He has always patiently provided for us without cease and constantly, ever caring for us and loving us all unconditionally and generously.
God has always shown us all His Providence even through the most difficult moments, sending His help, guidance and protection, companionship and presence through the most difficult moments of our lives. We are therefore never alone in our journey, and whenever we want to give up in this struggle and whenever we fall into temptations to sin, and want to give up the struggles against the pressures of the world, we should remember that God is always ever present around us and supporting us in our daily struggles and challenges. It is often however that we do not realise or appreciate God being there for us because we do not have enough faith in Him and we are so preoccupied with ourselves and the things are busy fussing about instead.
Then, from our Gospel passage today, taken from the Gospel according to St. Luke the Evangelist, we heard of the parable that the Lord Jesus used to teach His disciples, using that of an evil judge who feared neither God or man, and an old widow who constantly went to the old judge and demanded that the latter pursue her case and win justice for her. As expected, of course the evil and wicked judge refused to arbitrate on her behalf or even to take heed of her. But the old widow kept on persisting and insisting daily on the evil judge, kept on pestering her to take up her case until we heard that eventually he gave in to the demands of the old widow if only that he could rid himself of her incessant persistent demands.
As we heard in this Gospel passage, the Lord Jesus was making this comparison and reference to the case between the evil judge and the old widow to highlight just how much more generous and willing for the Lord our God to hear and heed our prayers and requests, if the evil judge himself granted the desires of the old widow. This is an important reminder and encouragement for all of us as Christians that no matter what, we should not lose faith or trust in the Lord because if we continue to have faith in Him and if we put our hope ever always in Him and His Providence, the Lord will be with us and will provide us all that we need, and eventually, while the wait may seem to be long and delayed, everything will be fine for us all. We must keep up this faith in the Lord, always.
Today, the Church celebrates the Feast of St. Albert the Great, or St. Albertus Magnus, a renowned man of God and great teacher of the faith, whose life, works and dedication to God should inspire us all to be dedicated and committed to Him ourselves. Each and every one of us should heed the good examples set by this wonderful man of God, so that we may also be always faithful to Him, at all times. St. Albert the Great was born in what is now Bavaria in southern part of Germany, during the High Middle Ages. He was brought up well academically and showed his talents early on. He then became a member of the Dominican Order, and studied to become a theologian, which began his great and long ministry as a teacher and theologian henceforth.
St. Albert the Great later on became one of the provincials of the Dominican Order, and carried out his duties with great obedience and dedication. And while later on he was appointed as a bishop, as the Bishop of Regensburg, he remained humble and committed to the missions entrusted to him, walking all around his diocese on foot instead of riding a horse as he was entitled to. He dedicated himself to whatever missions God had entrusted him with, and despite the honour and respect that many people and his positions entitled him with, he remained very humble and focused on the Lord, not being swayed by the temptations of worldly power and glory. Instead, he committed himself wholly to the Lord and to the people of God, all throughout his life, and this is something that we should be inspired to follow as well.
Brothers and sisters in Christ, just as we have discussed earlier from the passages of the Sacred Scriptures and also from the life and examples shown by St. Albert the Great, let us all therefore continue to strive to live our lives worthily in the Lord, doing whatever we can so that we will always focus and centre our lives in God, and to be constantly faithful in our dedication to Him, remembering that in everything that we do, we should always bring glory to God. We must also continue to have faith in Him, trusting that if we continue to trust Him and seek for His guidance and help through persistent prayer as the old widow in the parable had done, the Lord will indeed move to help us and provide for us all that we need.
May the Lord continue to inspire and strengthen us all such that we can continue to move forward in life with fullness of faith and trust in Him, knowing that He is ever present in our lives, being by our side and constantly journeying with us without cease. He has always been supporting us, loving us and caring for us, and He will never cease providing for us and guiding us through good and bad times alike. Let us all no longer be doubtful and continue to walk forward with ever greater trust in God, now and always. Amen.
Liturgical Colour : Green or White (Bishops or Saturday Mass of Our Lady)
Luke 18 : 1-8
At that time, Jesus told them a parable, to show them that they should pray continually, and not lose heart. He said, “In a certain town there was a judge, who neither feared God nor people. In the same town there was a widow, who kept coming to him, saying, ‘Defend my rights against my adversary!'”
“For a time he refused, but finally he thought, ‘Even though I neither fear God nor care about people, this widow bothers me so much, I will see that she gets justice; then she will stop coming and wearing me out.'”
And Jesus said, “Listen to what the evil judge says. Will God not do justice for His chosen ones, who cry to Him day and night, even if He delays in answering them? I tell you, He will speedily do them justice. But, when the Son of Man comes, will He find faith on earth?”
Liturgical Colour : Green or White (Bishops or Saturday Mass of Our Lady)
Psalm 104 : 2-3, 36-37, 42-43
Sing to YHVH, sing His praise, proclaim all His wondrous deeds. Glory in His holy Name; let those who seek YHVH rejoice.
Then He smote all the firstborn, the first fruits of their manhood. He led Israel out of the alien land, laden with silver and gold, and none were left behind.
For He remembered His promise to Abraham, His servant. So He led forth His people with joy, His chosen ones with singing.
Liturgical Colour : Green or White (Bishops or Saturday Mass of Our Lady)
Wisdom 18 : 14-16 and Wisdom 19 : 6-9
While all was in quiet silence and the night was in the middle of its course, Your Almighty Word leapt down from the royal throne – a stern Warrior to a doomed world. Carrying Your fearful command like a sharpened sword and stretching from heaven to earth, He filled the universe with death.
All creation in its different forms was fashioned anew at Your command, in order to protect Your people. The cloud covered the camp with its shadow, dry land emerged where water had been. A safe passage was opened through the Red Sea, the tempestuous flood became a green plain where the whole nation of those protected by Your hand passed across, witnessing Your astounding deeds.
They were like horses led to pasture, or like frolicking lambs, praising You, their Lord, Who had delivered them.
Liturgical Colour : Green
Dear brothers and sisters in Christ, today as we all listened to the words of the Sacred Scriptures, we are all reminded that we should not be ignorant of the Lord and His Presence, His Wisdom and truth being present all around us. We should always heed in mind of the signs of times and all the teachings that He has revealed to us so that we may truly be committed and faithful to all things that He has taught us to do as His followers and disciples. We must always do our best as Christians, as God’s holy and beloved people to bear witness to our faith and commitment to God in all things and in all circumstances, in all of our works and interactions with one another.
In our first reading today, taken from the continuation of the Book of Wisdom, we heard of the words from the author highlighting the futility of all those pagans and unbelievers who worshipped the elements and aspects of the natural environment around them instead of worshipping the Lord, their God. It was common for the many polytheistic worship at that time to feature many deities, gods and goddesses that had their background in the nature’s diverse aspects and features, like the Sun, the Moon, the sky, the stars, lightning, the sea, earthquakes, volcanoes, nature and many other parts of nature, some of which awed and brought about terror to many, which led them to worship these as their gods and deities.
But the Lord had made it clear and showed His desire to reveal His truth to all the nations, which was exactly what St. Paul and the other Apostles and missionaries of the Lord had been doing. St. Paul went around to the many places where people still had not yet known about the Lord, and he introduced the Lord to them all, not only through words and preaching, but also more importantly through real and concrete actions and how he and the other missionaries lived their lives sincerely and worthily at all times, becoming great examples and role models to everyone who witnessed their works and actions. The way how they had lived their lives sincerely as Christians persuaded many more people than what they had preached.
St. Paul showed great wisdom and courage in revealing how the one and only one ought to be worshipped is indeed none other than the Lord Himself, and not all the other created things and natural phenomena as the pagans had believed and worshipped in. And how does this then relate to us? Essentially, even though many of us do not worship the pagan gods and idols in the present day world, but the truth is that we are all still idolising and even to the point of worshipping worldly things, desires and attachments, all the things that tend to keep us away from the Lord. Examples of these include money, titles, wealth, status, among other things, which themselves are not bad or evil, but our desires for them are what made these great distractions for us.
Then, from our Gospel passage today, taken from the Gospel according to St. Luke the Evangelist, we heard the Lord Jesus making the speech to the people gathered before Him about what would happen at the time when the Lord will come again at the end of time, the time of the reckoning and the Final Judgment of all things. He spoke of the historical past occasions when God’s judgment fell upon His people suddenly after they had been given many chances one after another. God has always been patient in loving His people throughout time and He has been giving them many chances, again and again because He wanted them all, all of us to be truly reconciled and reunited with Him.
But at the same time, we must also remember that He despises all forms of sins and wickedness, all forms of disobedience and corruptions caused by our sins against Him and against each other. And that is why as Christians it is important that we must always keep in mind how we behave and act in life. We must not take God’s love, mercy and generosity for granted, or else, retribution will come towards us. All those people who perished during the time of Noah, in Sodom and Gomorrah and others that the Lord referred to, shared common traits, namely pride, arrogance, haughtiness and refusal to listen to God and His kind reminders and words, and that was why they all perished.
Brothers and sisters in Christ, we are therefore reminded by the Lord through these words we have received in the Scriptures today. Are we willing to reflect on our way of life and how we have lived them so far? Have we spent so much time in pursuing for worldly interests and ambitions that we have forgotten to see the bigger picture and realise what it is that God truly wants us to do in life? It is very easy for us to lose sight on the way that the Lord has shown and taught us when we are so busy pursuing many things we often desire excessively in this world, which lead us to the wrong paths away from God and His salvation.
This is why we should continue to do our best to keep our focus in the Lord at all times, striving to glorify Him at each and every moments in our lives, through everything that we say and do. May the Lord also continue to bless us all in our every good efforts and endeavours, now and always. Amen.
Liturgical Colour : Green
Luke 17 : 26-37
At that time, Jesus said to His disciples, “As it was in the days of Noah, so will it be on the day the Son of Man comes. In those days people ate and drank and got married; but on the day Noah entered the Ark, the flood came and destroyed them all.”
“So it was in the days of Lot : people ate and drank, and bought and sold, and planted and built; but on the day Lot left Sodom, God made fire and sulfur rain down from heaven, which destroyed them all. So will it be on the day the Son of Man is revealed.”
“On that day, if you are on the rooftop, do not go down into the house to get your belongings; and if you happen to be in the fields, do not turn back. Remember Lot’s wife! Whoever tries to save his life will lose himself, but whoever gives his life will be born again.”
“I tell you, though two men are sharing the same bed, it might happen that one will be taken, and the other left; though two women are grinding corn together, one might be taken and the other left.” Then they asked Jesus, “Where will this take place, Lord?” And He answered, “Where the body is, there too will the vultures gather.”
Liturgical Colour : Green
Psalm 18 : 2-3, 4-5
The heavens declare the glory of God; the firmament proclaims the work of His hands. Day talks it over with day; night hands on the knowledge to night.
No speech, no words, no voice is heard – but the call goes on, throughout the universe, the message is felt to the ends of the earth.
Liturgical Colour : Green
Wisdom 13 : 1-9
The natural helplessness of humans is seen in their ignorance of God. The experience of good things did not lead them to the knowledge of Him Who is. They were interested in His works, but they did not recognise the Author of them.
Fire, wind, air, the sphere of the stars, rushing water and the lights in the sky were held as the rulers of the world. If, charmed by such beauty, they took them for gods, let them know how far superior is their sovereign. And if they were impressed by their power and activity, let them understand from this how much mightier is He Who formed them. For the grandeur and beauty of creatures lead us to ponder on their Author, greater and more magnificent.
No doubt these people are not to be blamed severely, for possibly they strayed though they searched for God and desired to find Him. They pondered over the created things that surrounded them and were captivated by the sight of such beauty. Even so they are not to be excused, for if they were able to explore the world, why did they not discover first the world’s Sovereign?
petercanisiusmichaeldavidkang 