That they all may be One

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Friday, 24 July 2015 : 16th Week of Ordinary Time, Memorial of St. Sharbel Makhluf, Priest (Psalm)

Liturgical Colour : Green or White (Priests)

Psalm 18 : 8, 9, 10, 11

The Law of the Lord is perfect : it gives life to the soul. The word of the Lord is trustworthy : it gives wisdom to the simple.

The precepts of the Lord are right : they give joy to the heart. The commandments of the Lord are clear : they enlighten the eyes.

The fear of the Lord is pure, it endures forever; the judgments of the Lord are true, all of them just and right.

They are more precious than gold – pure gold of a jeweller; they are much sweeter than honey which drops from the honeycomb.

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Friday, 24 July 2015 : 16th Week of Ordinary Time, Memorial of St. Sharbel Makhluf, Priest (First Reading)

Liturgical Colour : Green or White (Priests)

Exodus 20 : 1-17

God spoke all these words. He said, “I am YHVH your God who brought you out of the land of Egypt, out of the house of slavery.”

“Do not have other gods before Me.”

“Do not make yourself a carved image or any likeness of anything in heaven, or on the earth beneath, or in the waters under the earth; you shall not bow down to them or serve them. For I, YHVH your God, am a jealous God; for the sin of the fathers, when they rebel against Me, I punish the sons, the grandsons and the great-grandsons; but I show steadfast love until the thousandth generation for those who love Me and keep My commandments.”

“Do not take the Name of YHVH your God in vain for YHVH will not leave unpunished anyone who takes His Name in vain.”

“Remember the sabbath day and keep it holy. For six days you will labour and do all your work, but the seventh day is a sabbath for YHVH your God. Do not work that day, neither you, nor your son, nor your daughter nor your servants, men or women, nor your animals, nor the stranger who is staying with you. For in six days YHVH made the heavens and the earth and the sea and all that is in them, but on the seventh day He rested; that is why YHVH has blessed the sabbath day and made it holy.”

“Honour your father and your mother that you may have a long life in the land that YHVH has given you.”

“Do not kill.”

“Do not commit adultery.”

“Do not steal.”

“Do not give false witness against your neighbour.”

“Do not covet your neighbour’s house. Do not covet your neighbour’s wife, or his servant, man or woman, or his ox, or his donkey, or anything that is his.”

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Thursday, 23 July 2015 : 16th Week of Ordinary Time, Memorial of St. Bridget of Sweden, Religious (Homily and Scripture Reflections)

Liturgical Colour : Green or White (Religious)

Dear brothers and sisters in Christ, on this day we heard about how Jesus spoke to the people in parables, using stories and examples that link to the meaning which He wanted to convey to the people. And in the Gospel He explained how He told these parables because of the stubbornness of the people and their refusal to believe, even though they have seen the many great works of the Lord.

And this is linked to what we heard in the first reading today from the Book of Exodus, which told us about the moment after Israel had been brought out of Egypt into the presence of God at His holy mountain, Mount Horeb, where they would encounter the Lord, and renewed the covenant which God had established with their ancestors.

And we know how the people of Israel rebelled against God during that occasion. Moses went up the mountain to speak with God and to receive His commandments and laws, and the people below having seen Moses gone for many days to the mountain, obscured by the clouds of the glory of God, lost faith in the Lord and in Moses, and they forced Aaron his brother to make for them a god of gold, the golden calf.

In direct defiance and disobedience against God, even after they have seen the glorious works and power of God who freed them from slavery in Egypt, the people sinned by abandoning their God and sought for themselves a pagan idol that had done nothing for them. This was a great insult to the Lord, who punished all those who have rebelled against Him and did not repent from their mistakes.

Throughout the Old Testament, as well as the New Testament, we see repeatedly how the people of God continued in their sinful ways many, many times, and despite having been shown the works and the blessings of God numerous times, their hearts and minds were often unfazed. God did not cease to call on His people to follow Him, but there were indeed too many times when they did not obey Him and refused to listen to His call.

Thus, for their indignant behaviour and stubbornness, God also refused to reveal the fullness of His truth, and held it back for those who are truly willing to listen to Him and walk in His ways. He only showed the fullness of His truth to those who were willing to commit themselves fully to Him, such as the Apostles, the saints and martyrs of the faith, many of whom had their faith tested in tribulation by sword and fire, by persecution and oppression, and by the pain of death.

We should consider ourselves fortunate, for we have received the revelation of God’s truth through the Church and we received therefore the teachings of our Lord passed down through the Apostles and the disciples. Yet, by our own nature, we can still be wayward, and we can still close ourselves from the love of God and acting in the same way as that of our predecessors.

Brothers and sisters in Christ, on this day let us all reflect on our own actions. Have all of us been truly faithful to our Lord, and have we listened to Him and obeyed His will? Or have we rather followed the pagan idols and gods of wealth, money, possessions and worldly goods? Today let us look at the examples shown by St. Bridget of Sweden, whose feast we celebrate on this day.

St. Bridget of Sweden was born during the Middle Ages, and she was married into a noble Swedish family, and gained a high prestige life during her time as a member of the noble family, whose descendants were counted among the queens and prominent saints of that country. But all these did not get her to be proud and haughty, and instead these made her even more committed to help others around her using what she had to assist those who were poor and suffering.

She joined religious life after her husband was deceased, and she ventured to help many of the poor and less fortunate in the society around her. And she travelled in well-known pilgrimages to sites such as Jerusalem and Rome to garner support for her efforts to help the plight of the poor. She was renowned for her great piety and dedication to the Lord and to her fellow men, even though she was born into privilege and had once lived a life in power.

The examples and the charitable works of St. Bridget of Sweden should inspire us all to live like she had done, resisting the temptations of the flesh and this world, and instead seek to devote ourselves in faith to the Lord our God. The choice is ours alone, whether we would be like the people of God of old, who have seen what great things the Lord had done, and refused to believe, or for us to accept Him as our Lord and God.

God will bless all those who have kept their faith in Him, and He will graciously grant the needs of those who placed their trust in Him. Thus, let us all pray so that He may strengthen in us the faith which we ought to have for Him. Let us all devote ourselves ever more to our Lord and God who had given so much for our sake.

May Almighty God, through the intercession of St. Bridget of Sweden, help us on this path of life, that we may find Him and be blessed by His grace forevermore. God bless us all. Amen.

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Thursday, 23 July 2015 : 16th Week of Ordinary Time, Memorial of St. Bridget of Sweden, Religious (Gospel Reading)

Liturgical Colour : Green or White (Religious)

Matthew 13 : 10-17

At that time, the disciples of Jesus came to Him and said, “Why do You speak to them in parables?” Jesus answered, “To you it has been given to know the secrets of the kingdom of heaven, but not to these people. For the one who has, will be given more and he will have in abundance. But the one who does not have will be deprived of even what he has.”

“That is why I speak to them in parables, because they look and do not see; they hear, but they do not listen or understand. In the words of the prophet Isaiah are fulfilled : However much you hear, you do not understand; however much you see, you do not perceive.”

“For the heart of this people has grown dull. Their ears hardly hear and their eyes dare not see. If they were to see with their eyes, hear with their ears and understand with their heart, they would turn back, and I would heal them. But blessed are your eyes because they see, and your ears, because they hear.”

“For I tell you that many prophets and upright people have longed to see the things you see, but they did not see them, and to hear the things you hear, but they did not hear them.”

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Thursday, 23 July 2015 : 16th Week of Ordinary Time, Memorial of St. Bridget of Sweden, Religious (Psalm)

Liturgical Colour : Green or White (Religious)

Daniel 3 : 52a, 53, 54, 55, 56

Blessed are You, Lord, God of our fathers, be praised and exalted forever.

Blessed are You in the Temple of Your sacred glory, Your praises are sung forever.

Blessed are You on the throne of Your kingdom, honoured and glorified forever.

Blessed are You who fathom the depths, who are enthroned on the cherubim, praised and exalted forever.

Blessed are You in the firmament of heaven, praised and glorified forever.

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Thursday, 23 July 2015 : 16th Week of Ordinary Time, Memorial of St. Bridget of Sweden, Religious (First Reading)

Liturgical Colour : Green or White (Religious)

Exodus 19 : 1-2, 9-11, 16-20b

Exactly two months after the Israelites had left Egypt, they arrived at the wilderness of Sinai. They arrived there coming from Rephidim and camped in the wilderness of Sinai.

YHVH spoke to Moses, “I am going to come to you in a dense cloud so that the people may hear Me speaking with you and trust you always.” Then Moses related to YHVH what the people had said. Again YHVH spoke to Moses, “Go to the people and have them sanctified today and tomorrow; let them wash their garments and be ready for the third day. For on the third day YHVH will come down on Mount Sinai in the sight of all the people.”

On the morning of the third day there was thunder and lightning and a dense cloud over the mountain, and a very loud trumpet blast was heard. All the people in the camp trembled. Moses then made the people leave the camp to meet God and stand at the foot of the mountain.

Mount Sinai was completely covered in smoke because YHVH had come down in fire, and the smoke rose as from a furnace. The whole mountain shook violently, while the blast of the trumpet became louder and louder. Moses spoke and God replied in thunder. When YHVH had come down to the summit of Mount Sinai, God called Moses who went to the summit.

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Wednesday, 22 July 2015 : 16th Week of Ordinary Time, Memorial of St. Mary Magdalene (Homily and Scripture Reflections)

Liturgical Colour : White

Dear brothers and sisters in Christ, on this day we celebrate the feast of one of the important figures in the Gospel, that is of St. Mary Magdalene, one of the women who followed Jesus constantly in His journeys and travels, and who was known as a sinner from whom Jesus cast out seven demons or evil spirits, and who thereafter followed Him and was one of the women who waited on Jesus as He hung from the cross.

She was also honoured to be one of the first to witness the Lord after His resurrection from the dead, to see Him in His glorious majesty which is revealed as the truth, that He has conquered death and sin. And this truly has a great significance for us all, just as it had a great significance on St. Mary Magdalene as well. This is how the Gospel today is very significant, as the culmination of our own journey in life.

If we look at the Psalm and the first reading today, all of them spoke about a certain longing for the Lord, for His wisdom and light, which all of us seek, for we all live in darkness and away from the bliss and true joy which is in God alone, and we long for it. But on our path to reach it, many of us were often distracted by false leads and false pleasures of this world, which Satan is offering us to keep us away from the true path towards salvation in God.

The story of the life and conversion of St. Mary Magdalene should be an inspiration to us all. In it we saw a woman whose life once was filled with vice, and demons dwelled in her, and no one would want to go near to her, for the debauchery and wickedness she committed and the demons within her kept most people away. But the Lord showed mercy on her, cast out those demons from her and liberated her from the tyranny of evil.

What He told her and her other contemporaries, sinful women condemned but then rescued by the Lord was that they ought to go and sin no more, for their faith had saved them. They have been reclaimed from the darkness and sin no longer has power over them. And the same applies to us all as well. This is why the scene of St. Mary Magdalene who witnessed the resurrection of the Lord Jesus is important, because Christ risen from the dead represents the triumph over the forces of sin and death.

Brothers and sisters in Christ, let us all reflect on this day on our own lives, on whether we have been like St. Mary Magdalene and all the other repentant sinners who became martyrs and saints like St. Augustine of Hippo, a great sinner once but turned to be a glorious saint because he turned his back to his past life of sin and embraced the love of God anew.

Indeed, what matters to all of us is that God does not call great men to do great things. On the other hand, He called sinners and people who had gone wayward to be His disciples and followers. Many great saints were once great sinners too, but most importantly, they changed their ways, repented and followed the Lord with a renewed faith and zeal.

The same too should happen to us all. We should also be renewed in our faith, so that by our conversion to the truth, we may be like St. Mary Magdalene in all her glory, for she is known no longer as a sinner, but as a devoted and holy woman, whose faith and righteousness has pleased the Lord. The Lord is willing to overlook our past sins and wickedness, if only that we abandon them thoroughly and commit ourselves to a new life in God.

May Almighty God be with all of us, and may He strengthen our resolve to look for Him, to embrace Him and to find Him, and be freed of the darkness and evils that had tainted our hearts and souls. May all of us be reunited to Him, our Lord and Master, and may we all love Him forevermore. God bless us all. Amen.

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Wednesday, 22 July 2015 : 16th Week of Ordinary Time, Memorial of St. Mary Magdalene (Gospel Reading)

Liturgical Colour : White

John 20 : 1-2, 11-18

At that time, on the first day after the Sabbath, Mary of Magdala came to the tomb early in the morning while it was still dark, and she saw that the stone blocking the tomb had been moved away. She ran to Peter, and the other disciple whom Jesus loved, and she said to them, “They have taken the Lord out of the tomb and we do not know where they have laid Him.”

Mary stood weeping outside the tomb; and as she wept, she bent down to look inside. She saw two angels in white, sitting where the Body of Jesus had been, one at the head, and the other at the feet. They said, “Woman, why are you weeping?” She answered, “Because they have taken my Lord and I do not know where they have put Him.”

As she said this, she turned around and saw Jesus standing there, but she did not recognise Him. Jesus said to her, “Woman, why are you weeping? Who are you looking for?” She thought it was the gardener and answered Him, “Lord, if You have taken Him away, tell me where You have put Him, and I will go and remove Him.”

Jesus said to her, “Mary!” She turned, and said to Him, “Rabboni!” – which means Master. Jesus said to her, “Do not touch Me, because I have not yet ascended to the Father. But go to My brothers and say to them : I am ascending to My Father, who is your Father, to my God, who is your God.”

So Mary of Magdala went and announced to the disciples, “I have seen the Lord, and this is what He said to me.”

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Wednesday, 22 July 2015 : 16th Week of Ordinary Time, Memorial of St. Mary Magdalene (Psalm)

Liturgical Colour : White

Psalm 62 : 2abc, 2d-4, 5-6, 8-9

O God, You are my God, it is You I seek; for You my body longs and my soul thirsts.

As a dry and weary land without water. Thus have I gazed upon You in the sanctuary, to see Your power and Your glory. Your love is better than life, my lips will glorify You.

Indeed they plan to topple Me. They take pleasure in telling lies; with their mouths they bless, but in their hearts they curse. Find rest in God alone, o my soul; from Him comes my hope.

On God rests my salvation and my honour, He is my refuge, my mighty rock. Trust in Him at all times, my people; pour out your hearts before Him; God is our refuge.

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Wednesday, 22 July 2015 : 16th Week of Ordinary Time, Memorial of St. Mary Magdalene (First Reading)

Liturgical Colour : White

Song of Songs 3 : 1-4a

On my bed at night, I looked for the one I love, I sought him without finding him; I called him and he did not answer. I will rise and go about the city, through the streets and the squares; I will seek the love of my heart…

I sought him without finding him; the watchmen came upon me, those who patrol the city. “Have you seen the love of my heart?” As soon as I left them, I found the love of my heart.

Alternative reading

2 Corinthians 5 : 14-17

Indeed the love of Christ holds us and we realise that if He died for all, all have died. He died for all so that those who live may live no longer for themselves, but for Him who died and rose again for them. And so from now on, we do not regard anyone from a human point of view; and even if we once knew Christ personally, we should now regard Him in another way.

For that same reason, the one who is in Christ is a new creature. For Him the old things have passed away; a new world has come.