Tempus post Epiphania

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Wednesday, 11 January 2023 : 1st Week of Ordinary Time (First Reading)

Liturgical Colour : Green

Hebrews 2 : 14-18

And because all those children share one same nature of flesh and blood, Jesus, likewise, had to share this nature. This is why His death destroyed the one holding the power of death, that is the devil, and freed those who remained in bondage all their lifetime, because of the fear of death.

Jesus came, to take by the hand, not the Angels but the human race. So, He had to be like His brothers and sisters, in every respect, in order to be the High Priest, faithful to God and merciful to them, a Priest, able to ask pardon, and atone for their sins. Having been tested through suffering, He is able to help those who are tested.

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Tuesday, 10 January 2023 : 1st Week of Ordinary Time (Homily and Scripture Reflections)

Liturgical Colour : Green

Dear brothers and sisters in Christ, today marks the beginning of the Ordinary Time of the year, the first of the two Ordinary Time periods in which this one spans the period between the Christmas season and the season of Lent that will begin later on Ash Wednesday towards the end of February for this year. During this period, while it is called Ordinary Time, it is often most typical for us to misunderstand what the ‘ordinary’ in Ordinary Time actually means. This ordinary does not imply or mean mundane or usual at all, but rather it implies the time and occasion where we are supposed to continue to live our lives faithfully and with great dedication, as good examples and role models for one another, that we may indeed be the beacons of God’s light and truth in the midst of our respective communities.

In our first reading today, we heard from the Epistle to the Hebrews in which the author of the Epistle spoke about how mankind has been honoured and considered even greater than the Angels of God, and the author also spoke of the dominion and glory which God has given to His Son, Jesus Christ, Our Lord and Saviour, Who came down into our midst, to this world to save us all from our fated destruction due to sin and death. Through Him, all of us have received the sure guarantee of eternal life and the light of hope, all of us who believe in Him and remain in His love and grace. The Lord Jesus has come into this world so that we may directly experience the love of God, and that God’s love may become tangible and approachable by us, no longer a distant wish but having become a reality in the flesh.

Through Christ, all of us have been united to His suffering, His death on the Cross and His glorious Resurrection, through which He gathered us all and redeemed us by the most loving and selfless sacrifice He had offered and made on the Cross, both as our High Priest and also as the sacrificial Paschal Lamb. He united us all to His perfection and glory, His human nature being the same with us, and by sharing in our humanity, He has therefore shown us the path out of the darkness and into the eternal light of God. Christ, according to St. Paul, is the New Adam, Who, in contrast with the old and first Adam who led mankind into sin by his disobedience and sins, Christ as the New Adam led us all into the righteousness of God by His perfect submission and obedience to the will of God, His heavenly Father.

Through Christ, all of us have been made the children of God by adoption, as fellow brothers and sisters of the same Jesus Christ, the Son of God, Our Lord and Saviour. And that is what we have been reminded of through this day’s Scripture readings. All of us are God’s people, His children and followers, and we all belong to Him, His one flock and family. As such, all of us as Christians have the important responsibilities and obligations, duties and things that we will be expected to do and follow in our lives. We cannot be acting in ways contrary to what we believe in and what we are expected to do as Christians, or else we are acting like hypocrites and all those who have no faith in God. If our actions and works, our words and beliefs do not align with our Christian faith and teachings, then we may end up scandalising our faith and the Lord Himself.

That is why as we enter into this Ordinary Time and season, all of us are reminded and called to an active participation in the life and works of the Church, to be missionary and evangelising in our lives as disciples and followers of Christ so that in everything we say and do, at all times, we will always proclaim the truth and love of God, and be beacons of His light and hope in the midst of our darkened world full of evil and sin. As Christians, each and every one of us are called and expected to do what the Lord Himself has taught to us and revealed to us through His Church, by the works of the Apostles and the saints, and also by the Wisdom and the knowledge that the Holy Spirit has imparted upon us. Each one of us as God’s people, members of His flock and His followers should reflect well His righteousness and truth, at all times.

Brothers and sisters in Christ, let us ponder and discern well what our path forward will be, as we continue to progress through each and every days of our lives in this world. We should not indeed let our Ordinary Time and season be ‘ordinary’ in any sense that we are not doing anything or remaining idle. Instead, we should make good use of the opportunity provided to us by the Lord to make these days and moments truly ‘extraordinary’ by doing whatever we can in order to proclaim the truth and love of God in the midst of our respective communities, reaching out to those who have not yet heard God’s truth and love, and caring for the need of our fellow brothers and sisters, especially all those who are less fortunate than us, those who are suffering and in despair, everyone who are in need of help and love.

Let us all hence do whatever we can, in our every opportunities and at every possible moments, to glorify the Lord by our lives, to show forth the light of God’s grace, salvation and truth at all times and in all occasions, in every places and in every people. Let us all be good role models and source of inspiration to our fellow brethren all around us, and let us all do our part as Christians to do the will of God and to contribute our efforts and works for the greater glory of God and His Church. All of us are expected and reminded to be ever more faithful in carrying out ourselves and our duties as those who walk in the light of Christ’s Presence, and as those whom the Lord had called and chosen from among the nations. We have to be active in doing what is expected of us so that hopefully through our examples more and more people will be inspired and encouraged to do the same as well.

May the Lord continue to guide us each day throughout this season of Ordinary Time, so that we all may continue to live our lives most faithfully and most obediently, doing whatever we can to glorify the Lord through our lives, our actions and works, our words and interactions among many other things. May He empower each one of us and strengthen us all in faith, so that we may always draw ever closer to Him and continue to persevere and flourish in our faith in Him regardless of the challenges and trials we may have to face in our journey of faith with Him. Amen.

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Tuesday, 10 January 2023 : 1st Week of Ordinary Time (Gospel Reading)

Liturgical Colour : Green

Mark 1 : 21b-28

At that time, Jesus taught in the synagogue on the sabbath day. The people were astonished at the way He taught, for He spoke as One having authority and not like the teachers of the Law.

It happened that a man with an evil spirit was in their synagogue, and he shouted, “What do You want with us, Jesus of Nazareth? Have You come to destroy us? I know Who You are : You are the Holy One of God.”

Then Jesus faced him and said with authority, “Be silent, and come out of this man!” The evil spirit shook the man violently and, with a loud shriek, came out of him. All the people were astonished, and they wondered, “What is this? With what authority He preaches! He even gives orders to evil spirits and they obey Him!” And Jesus’ fame spread throughout all the country of Galilee.

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Tuesday, 10 January 2023 : 1st Week of Ordinary Time (Psalm)

Liturgical Colour : Green

Psalm 8 : 2a and 5, 6-7, 8-9

O Lord, our Lord, how great is Your Name throughout the earth! What is man that You be mindful of him, the Son of Man, that You should care for Him?

Yet You made Him a little lower than the Angels; You crowned Him with glory and honour and gave Him the works of Your hands; You have put all things under His feet.

Sheep and oxen without number and even the beasts of the field, the birds of the air, the fish of the sea, and all that swim the paths of the ocean.

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Tuesday, 10 January 2023 : 1st Week of Ordinary Time (First Reading)

Liturgical Colour : Green

Hebrews 2 : 5-12

The Angels were not given dominion over the new world of which we are speaking. Instead someone declared in Scripture : What is man, that You should be mindful of him, what is the Son of Man that You should care for Him? For a while You placed Him a little lower than the Angels, but You crowned Him with glory and honour. You have given Him dominion over all things.

When it is said that God gave Him dominion over all things, nothing is excluded. As it is, we do not yet see His dominion over all things. But Jesus Who suffered death and for a little while was placed lower than the Angels has been crowned with honour and glory. For the merciful plan of God demanded that He experience death on behalf of everyone.

God, from Whom all come and by Whom all things exist, wanted to bring many children to glory, and He thought it fitting to make perfect through suffering the Initiator of their salvation. So He Who gives and those who receive holiness are one. He Himself is not ashamed of calling us brothers and sisters, as we read : Lord, I will proclaim Your Name to My brothers; I will praise You in the congregation.

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Tuesday, 1 March 2022 : 8th Week of Ordinary Time (Homily and Scripture Reflections)

Liturgical Colour : Green

Dear brothers and sisters in Christ, today as we listened to the words of the Lord in the Scriptures, we are all called to follow the Lord with great devotion and commitment, giving ourselves to the mission which He has entrusted all of us and which He has called us to do in our lives, in our world today. Each and every one of us as Christians have received this same calling from the Lord, to follow Him and to dedicate ourselves and our every beings and contributions to His cause. We are God’s chosen people, His beloved children.

In our first reading today, we heard the words of the Apostle St. Peter who spoke to us through his Epistle regarding the revelation of God’s truth which all Christians have received from the Lord Himself, through Christ Who has come into this world, our Lord and Saviour, and which He has passed down to us through His Church and His disciples. And this truth which we have received, the love that we have been blessed with by God, the kindness and attention that we have received from the Lord, all these should be our motivation to live our lives wholeheartedly, walking in the path that God has shown us.

Unfortunately, the reality is such that, many of us are often not doing what we are supposed to do as God’s followers and disciples. We carry on living our lives while ignoring the calling of the Lord, living our lives in the way that we want it to be, and not following or listening to the words of the Lord speaking to us in our hearts. We often closed our hearts to God, and it is often simply because we are too busy thinking and worrying about our daily worldly agenda and matters. We barely spent any time even for the Lord, preferring to spend a lot of time instead for things that satisfy us, our desires and wishes.

We do not have to look far beyond ourselves and our fellow brothers and sisters in faith. How many of us know of fellow Christians, even those from within our own families and circle of friends, who have lapsed from the faith, or stopped attending and participating in the Holy Mass and other celebrations and events of our faith life? And even among all of us who are still actively participating in the Church and the various activities of faith, how many of us spend good quality time with the Lord, especially through prayer?

In our Gospel passage today we heard the Lord speaking to His disciples, reassuring them all that those who have given themselves and their lives to Him, in great dedication and commitment, shall never be disappointed. This is because God Himself knows everything that they have done, and while the disciples and followers of the Lord may encounter challenges, trials and sufferings because of their faith, but their faith and commitment to God will always be remembered, and because of this, all of us should not be hesitant anymore in following God.

That is yet another reason why people often did not follow the Lord wholeheartedly, as we are often afraid of the persecutions, sufferings, trials and various other obstacles that we may have to endure in following the Lord. And because of these too, we are often afraid of losing our worldly privileges and all the good things we have enjoyed in life, and we are afraid of losing them. Hence, that was why we ended up veering off away from the Lord’s path and turned more and more into the divergent paths of the world.

Brothers and sisters in Christ, today as we are about to begin the season of Lent starting tomorrow with Ash Wednesday, all of us are reminded to put away our many concerns, fears, attachments and all things that have kept us away from God for so long. If we have been distracted from following God all these while, then let us make it our Lenten commitment and pledge for us to follow the Lord with ever greater dedication and to purify ourselves from the many temptations and the many corruptions that have often prevented us from finding our way to the Lord.

Let us all devote ourselves anew to the Lord, and strive to give our very best to Him, making use of this great opportunity we have received in this upcoming season of Lent, to redirect our attention and focus once again on Our Lord, on His truth, love and grace. Let us be deepen our relationships with Him through prayer, and commit ourselves more and more to do greater works for His greater glory. May all of us have a blessed season of Lent starting tomorrow, and may God be with us all. Amen.

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Tuesday, 1 March 2022 : 8th Week of Ordinary Time (Gospel Reading)

Liturgical Colour : Green

Mark 10 : 28-31

At that time, Peter spoke up and said, “We have given up everything to follow You.” Jesus answered, “Truly, there is no one who has left house or brothers or sisters, or father or mother, or children, or lands, for My sake and for the Gospel, who will not receive his reward.”

“I say to you : even in the midst of persecution, he will receive a hundred times as many houses, brothers, sisters, mothers, children, and lands in the present time, and in the world to come eternal life. Do pay attention : many who are now first will be last, and the last, first.”

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Tuesday, 1 March 2022 : 8th Week of Ordinary Time (Psalm)

Liturgical Colour : Green

Psalm 97 : 1, 2-3ab, 3c-4

Sing to YHVH a new song, for He has done wonders; His right hand, His holy arm, has won victory for Him.

YHVH has shown His salvation, revealing His justice to the nations. He has not forgotten His love, nor His faithfulness to Israel.

The farthest ends of the earth all have seen God’s saving power. All you, lands, make a joyful noise to YHVH, break into song and sing praise.

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Tuesday, 1 March 2022 : 8th Week of Ordinary Time (First Reading)

Liturgical Colour : Green

1 Peter 1 : 10-16

This was the salvation for which the prophets so eagerly looked when, in days past, they foretold the favour of God, with regard to you. But they could only investigate when the Spirit of Christ present within them, pointed out the time and the circumstances, of this – the sufferings of Christ, and the glories which would follow.

It was revealed to them, that they were working, not for themselves, but for you. Thus, in these days, after the Holy Spirit has been sent from heaven, the Gospel’s preachers have taught you these mysteries, which even the Angels long to see.

So, then, let your spirit be ready. Be alert, with confident trust, in the grace you will receive, when Jesus Christ appears. Like obedient children, do not return to your former life, given over to ignorance and passions. Imitate the One Who called you. As He is holy, so you, too, be holy, in all your conduct, since Scripture says : Be holy for I am holy.

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Monday, 28 February 2022 : 8th Week of Ordinary Time (Homily and Scripture Reflections)

Liturgical Colour : Green

Dear brothers and sisters in Christ, today as we listened to the words of the Scriptures, we are being reminded of the importance for us to be truly faithful to God, to obey His Law and commandments, to be attuned to Him and strive to be genuine in our dedication and efforts to be ever committed to His cause. It means that as Christians we must not be lukewarm in our faith, and we should not be ignorant over what we are all called to do as Christians, in being true and good witnesses of the Lord’s truth in our world today.

In our first reading today, we listened to the words of St. Peter the Apostle speaking to us all through his Epistle regarding the matter of how faith in God is much more important than all the riches and pleasures of the world. In the end, no matter how much gold and wealth we mankind may gather, but unless we have faith in the Lord, we will have nothing left with us. All the riches and worldly things we have and gathered with us will never satisfy us, and it will not last forever. And we can neither bring all of those things with us.

That is exactly why it is folly for us to spend so much time and effort to build for ourselves a great and rich bounty and treasure in this world, and then end up losing our connection and links to the Lord. Unfortunately, that was exactly what many of us had done in the past. We often focused so much on worldly matters, our desires, ambitions and wants among many others, that we end up distancing ourselves more and more from the Lord. Many of us Christians ended up falling away from the path towards God and His salvation.

Today, in our Gospel passage we heard of how the Lord spoke to His disciples and a man who came up to Him and asking Him what he should do to seek the kingdom of God. In that occasion, the man already stated that he had already followed all the precepts and commandments of the Law, obeying everything as the Law of God as revealed through Moses had asked him to do. Yet, when the Lord then asked the man to do one last thing to follow Him, that is by leaving everything behind, selling all of his possessions and goods, and giving them to the poor, the man was immediately saddened, turning away and walked away from the Lord.

It was highlighted how the man was a man of great wealth. Therefore, it was implied that the man agonised a lot over the thought of being separated from all of his great possessions and wealth, and therefore, left in sorrow because he could not do it at all. Yet, lest we misunderstood thinking that God wants us to sell off all of our wealth and possessions, which is not what He intended for us, we must realise that the Lord wanted to prove us a point that our attachments to worldly things often become our greatest obstacle in our path towards the Lord and His salvation.

The man with great wealth loved his wealth and possessions much more than he loved the Lord, and despite his obedience to the precepts and details of the Law and the commandments of God, he had not yet made the Lord the number one priority in his life. And this was exactly what the Lord intended in saying through this encounter and experience. The man did not even try to do what the Lord had asked him to do, and instead, retreating in sorrow, without even trying to do what he can to fulfil the request from the Lord.

That is why, as Christians, all of us are called to detach ourselves from the worldly temptations and all the attachments that we often have towards the many corrupt desires of this world. We do not need to go to the extremes of selling all of our possessions and giving up everything we have, and rather, more importantly, we need to return the Lord to the most important part of our lives, to be the centre and focus of our lives. We have to put Him at the heart of our everyday living and strive to do whatever we can to glorify God by our lives, our every actions, words and deeds.

Brothers and sisters in Christ, as we are also about to enter into the season of Lent, the forty days of preparation, of fasting and abstinence and of reorientation of our lives, let us all make great use of this opportunity which God has given to us, so that we may draw ever closer to Him, and grow ever more in our faith and dedication to Him. Let us all devote our time, effort and attention to serve the Lord wholeheartedly from now on, and let us do whatever we can to be great role models and inspirations for one another in our faith and in how we live up to this faith in our respective lives.

May God be with us all always, and may He strengthen us in our desire and resolve to lead an ever more faithful life, and a life that is filled with ever greater sincere desire to follow the path which God has shown us, distancing ourselves from the allures of worldly excesses and evils. May God bless us always, in our every good works, deeds and endeavours, now and always, forevermore. Amen.