Third Week of Ordinary Time

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Monday, 23 January 2017 : 3rd Week of Ordinary Time, Week of Prayer for Christian Unity (Homily and Scripture Reflections)

Liturgical Colour : Green
Dear brothers and sisters in Christ, in today’s Scripture readings, we heard about the Lord’s saving work which He had done through Christ, by Whom all have been made whole and worthy, as He is the Mediator of the new Covenant between mankind and God. And yet, we heard in the last part of the Gospel today, where Jesus rebuked the teachers of the Law, mentioning that the sin of the Holy Spirit, will not be forgiven.

We may be confused, as what we may know of the Lord, is He not all merciful and forgiving? Had He not in fact sent His Son into this world, so that He may save all of us? That no one ought to be left behind and forgotten? But this is a misunderstanding of the truth of God, that He is indeed merciful, but only so far as we mankind accept the offer of His mercy.

Forgiveness is given to all those who are willing to accept the mercy of God, and not to those who refuse it. That is exactly what is meant by sinning against the Holy Spirit, that is the refusal to be forgiven, even though one knows fully that forgiveness has been offered. And that was what happened to the teachers of the Law, who knew what Jesus had done, witnessed what He had done, and yet they attributed His works to the works of Satan and his allies. They slandered against the Lord by doing so.

The mercy of God has been freely offered and freely given, but we Christians must not misunderstand and mislead others that God offers all unconditional forgiveness and mercy. Indeed, as long as we breathe, God will always try to give us a chance, and forgiveness will come upon us should we seek for it and genuinely trying to reform ourselves and our ways.

Those who doubt the Lord’s mercy and good works, and worse still, openly mocking the good works of God, and slander it such as what the teachers of the Law had done against Jesus, will have the door of mercy shut before them. That is not because God is not merciful or has practiced double standards in His mercy, but instead, because they themselves had rejected and shut the doors of their heart off to the Lord, Who wanted to come and heal them.

For this, our Lord Who loves each and every one of us resolved to become one like us, and to walk among us in this world, and taking up our own sins and their consequences upon Himself, He bore the cross of sins and wickedness on His way to Calvary, where He offered Himself as a perfect sacrifice, as an ultimate and loving sacrifice for the reparation and forgiveness of our sins.

Brothers and sisters in Christ, our Lord had done so much for our sake, and He has loved us so tenderly that He was willing to go through those immense sufferings during His Passion, just so that all of us mankind may be saved, and therefore do not need to suffer the consequences of our sins. Such was the love of our God, and are we able to reciprocate the same kind of love to Him? We have been given the opportunity, but are we ready to accept that opportunity?

Let us all renew our commitment to the Lord, and let us all commit ourselves to a life renewed by the grace of God. Let us no longer persist in our pride and in our refusal to obey the will of God, as well as His offers of mercy and forgiveness. Let us all hope in the Lord, and help one another to reach out to the Lord’s mercy. Let us not act stubbornly in the same manner as the teachers of the Law, who not only refused God’s mercy, but also slandered His good works and lied about Him.

May the Lord strengthen our faith, awaken in our hearts a warm love which we ought to have for Him, just as He had loved us. May He bless us all and give us all the opportunity to renew ourselves, accepting fully that we have been made whole again by the good works of Christ, the Lamb of God, by Whose Blood, we have been washed away from our sins. Amen.

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Monday, 23 January 2017 : 3rd Week of Ordinary Time, Week of Prayer for Christian Unity (Gospel Reading)

Liturgical Colour : Green
Mark 3 : 22-30

At that time, the teachers of the Law, who had come from Jerusalem, said, “He is in the power of Beelzebul : the chief of the demons helps Him to drive out demons.”

Jesus called them to Him, and began teaching them by means of histories, or parables. “How can Satan drive out Satan? If a nation is divided by civil war, that nation cannot stand. If a family divides itself into groups, that family will not survive.”

“In the same way, if Satan has risen against himself and is divided, he will not stand, he is finished. No one can break into the house of a strong man in order to plunder his goods, unless he first ties up the strong man. Then indeed, he can plunder his house.”

“Truly, I say to you, every sin will be forgiven humankind, even insults to God, however numerous. But whoever slanders the Holy Spirit will never be forgiven : he carries the guilt of his sin forever.” This was their sin when they said, “He has an unclean spirit in Him.”

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Monday, 23 January 2017 : 3rd Week of Ordinary Time, Week of Prayer for Christian Unity (Psalm)

Liturgical Colour : Green
Psalm 97 : 1, 2-3ab, 3cd-4, 5-6

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

The Lord 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 the Lord, break into song and sing praise.

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!

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Monday, 23 January 2017 : 3rd Week of Ordinary Time, Week of Prayer for Christian Unity (First Reading)

Liturgical Colour : Green
Hebrews 9 : 15, 24-28

So Christ is the Mediator of a new covenant or testament. His death made atonement for the sins committed under the old testament, and the promise is handed over to all who are called to the everlasting inheritance.

Christ did not enter some sanctuary made by hands, a copy of the true one, but heaven itself. He is now in the presence of God on our behalf. He had not to offer Himself many times, as the High Priest does : he who may return every year, because the blood is not his own.

Otherwise He would have suffered many times from the creation of the world. But no; He manifested Himself only now at the end of the ages, to take away sin by sacrifice, and, as humans die only once and afterwards are judged, in the same way Christ sacrificed Himself once to take away the sins of the multitude. There will be no further question of sin when He comes again to save those waiting for Him.

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Sunday, 22 January 2017 : Third Sunday of Ordinary Time, Memorial of St. Vincent, Deacon and Martyr, Week of Prayer for Christian Unity (Homily and Scripture Reflections)

Liturgical Colour : Green
Dear brothers and sisters in Christ, on this Sunday, as we go through the midst of the Week of Prayer for Christian Unity, it is appropriate for us to reflect firstly on what we heard in the second reading, taken from the Epistle of St. Paul to the Church and the faithful in Corinth, where he rebuked the Christians there for their divisiveness. At that time, the Church and the faithful there were divided bitterly among themselves as they were not able to agree on exactly who to believe in.

In order to understand this, we should understand the very nature of our Christian faith. Our faith is a faith by proclamation and witness. We received our faith and the teachings of those faith from those who have themselves received it from their teachers. Thus we believe because of witness, and because of the faith of those who have themselves received the same teachings.

But then, the question is that, how do we then make sure that the teachings are genuine, accurate and true? After all, as we have already seen, that even in the earliest days of the Church, there had been divisions and also conflict amongst the faithful because of the different ways the faith and its teachings were interpreted amongst the faithful, with both St. Paul and Apollos being charismatic and great preachers. Certainly they would gain plenty of following among the people.

Both of them might have indeed taught the exact same set of teachings, and although as told in the other part of the Acts of the Apostles, that Apollos had some mistakes in his teachings as he was not fully versed in the fullness of the Church’s teachings, unlike St. Paul, who have received the Holy Spirit and coordinated with St. Peter and the other Apostles, but as soon as some other disciples of the Lord pointed out his errors, he quickly rectified the mistake.

Rather, most likely the problem came about because of how we the hearers of the Good News interpret the message, and each of us make a different interpretation among ourselves. It is our human nature that we often like what we like to hear, such as parts that suit our objectives and needs, while at the same time we filter out the messages and parts that we do not like or do not favour us.

That is why the divisions came about in the Church and amongst the faithful, precisely because each and every person interpret the faith in the way that they like, and not in the way that it should be interpreted and understood. And then we may have the question of how then can we receive the faith that we now have in the correct and accurate manner?

This is where the Church comes in, brothers and sisters, the importance of the Church as an institution, not just in terms of the Church hierarchy and leadership that maintain control over the teachings and the traditions of our faith, but more importantly because it, being the collective Body of Christ on earth, as the union of all those who believe in God and call themselves as Christians, is the very important safeguard against those who would corrupt, misrepresent and misinterpret the faith and its teachings.

Without such a safeguard, then it is difficult to maintain the integrity and the truth of the faith as how it should be. The Church is the safe-keeper of the truth which our Lord Jesus Christ had proclaimed to the world, which then were passed down through His Apostles, and from them to their successors, and from their successors to their successors’ successors. And thus it was through the Church, through our bishops and priests, the successors of the Apostles that we have received this faith.

All the divisions of the Church since the beginnings of the Church, even from the days of the Apostles to the present day are caused by the disobedience, pride, greed and the rebelliousness we mankind, the people of God had done, which because of the refusal of men to obey the teachings of the Church, they had gone wayward, interpreting the Scriptures as they wished and in their own limited understanding, which resulted in the splintering of the body of the faithful into many pieces.

At the same time, we also have to acknowledge that the Church itself also is not entirely out of blame. The Church is human just as much as it is Divine. It may be instituted by the Lord, and authority have been given to it and its stewards, the Apostles and their successors, but after all, it was still feeble and sinful men and women who had been part of this Church, led it, and sometimes brought it into erroneous ways.

It was because of the corruption within the Church, the immorality of its leaders and even the Popes themselves were wicked in their actions, which resulted in the desire of certain people to reform the Church. There had been many occasions, harking earlier to the earliest days of the Church that the Church had not always been faithful to the truth, but was misled by false and heretical ways, and yet, almost every time, God called holy and committed men and women to correct the wrong ways, and those who refused to return to the true faith were expelled from the Church. Many did eventually return and repent their sins.

Indeed, we have to take note that as what happened five centuries ago, when the ‘Reformation’ rocked the entire Church and brought great harm to many of the faithful, there were many good intentioned reformers who wanted to see the Church purged from its corruption and worldliness, as then the Church had been too absorbed into worldly and secular ways to the point that it was hardly a dependable and reliable source of spiritual guidance to the people.

And yet, while the intentions of those reformers were probably good, but their methods of going about trying to achieve their goals were very wrong. They took it upon themselves to sunder the unity of the Church, and by declaring that the Scriptures alone was their authority, each and every person soon took it upon themselves to interpret what the Scriptures meant for them, and therefore, what they believed in. Some chose what they liked to believe and others threw away all those that they refused to believe in. This created confusion, and a ripe ground for the devil to sow further division and discord.

Let us all look back at the Church fathers, the collective body of the saints and martyrs who had once led the Church in its earliest days. They have carefully preserved the teachings of Christ and His Good News just exactly as how He passed it down to His Apostles and to them. Those who damaged the unity of the Church did so because they misunderstood the faith, and they ignored the Church’s ways because they were too focused on its faults then, and refused to maintain the truth which it had kept and preserved throughout time, up to this very day.

It was also then misinformation, socio-political issues and other misunderstandings that prevented the reunion of the faithful people of God into His Church. There were many false informations, lies and other falsehoods which became entangled with political issues, social issues, and even issues of pride, human greed and stubbornness, which kept the gap and the chasm between the divided members of the Church wide and even growing ever wider.

This is where then it is important that as Christians, those who belong to God’s Church, and as a member of the holy and venerable Body of Christ, which had guarded the Apostolic Tradition of our faith, and the fullness of the teachings of Christ, led by the Apostle St. Peter and his successors, our Popes, that we must remember what is our faith truly about, which I have mentioned at the very beginning of this discourse, that is about being witnesses of Christ.

That is why each and every one of us have the calling and the mission from God, to be witnesses of the faith, showing through our deeds and actions that we truly belong to God, that is by loving one another and showing care and concern for our less fortunate brethren around us. And it is important that we stick closely to the Church and its teachings, as Jesus Himself had said in another occasion in the Gospels, that He is the true Vine, and all who have no part in Him and have separated themselves from Him will have no life in them.

Therefore, similarly, if we do not adhere closely to the Church and separates ourselves from it, then that is why divisions came about, and we are bringing upon ourselves and others not the grace of salvation but the sins of error and condemnation by God. As Christians, we must work to overcome the divisions and the misunderstandings, all the obstacles that had prevented many of those who believe in God, and yet outside the Church from returning to the Holy Mother Church.

In this week of Prayer for Christian Unity, let us all Christians pray fervently together, that everyone who believe in God will no longer be separated, that everyone will be just as what Jesus our Lord wants them to be, to be one and united just as He and the Father is one. This is the prayer which Jesus Himself prayed on the night before He was to suffer and die, and prayer that He had asked the Father to bestow on His Church.

Therefore, those who foment divisions and spread lies and misinformations about the faith, not adhering to the teachings of the Church as passed down unto us from the Apostles are against the wishes of the Lord. Yet, sadly it is the reality of our world today that there are many both outside and inside the Church who are against unity. Rather, it is important that we overcome those misinformations, and therefore, it is important that each and every one of us, members of the Church, know fully what our faith is about.

After all, if we ourselves are unaware of what our faith is about, how can we then convince others to reunite and reconcile themselves with the Church? There have been good signs, as there have been quite a few of those who have decided to repent and return to the embrace of the Mother Church, after they had studied the teachings of the Church fathers, read their writings and works, and found in them the same faith as what our Church, the Holy, Catholic and Apostolic Church have today, even almost two millennia away from the days of those holy saints.

Let us all therefore pray together, brethren, that the unity of the Church will be restored, and each and every one of us as Christians will know the fullness of the truth of God and the wholeness of His teachings, which He had passed on to His Apostles, and which the Church had preserved and kept for many ages. Let us all be agents of true unity in the Church, not by compromising our faith, but instead by being witnesses of the truth of God and knowing His truth.

We are all called to be shepherds and guides to all those who have fallen on their way towards the Lord. It is imperative then, even up to this present day and era, that we work to our best capabilities, in order to make many more people see the truth found in the Church. Let us all do our best, and pray that God will help us in all of our endeavours. May God be with His Church and with His people, bless all of their works, and bring all of His faithful one together as one flock, one people. Amen.

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Sunday, 22 January 2017 : Third Sunday of Ordinary Time, Memorial of St. Vincent, Deacon and Martyr, Week of Prayer for Christian Unity (Gospel Reading)

Liturgical Colour : Green
Matthew 4 : 12-23

When Jesus heard that John had been arrested, He withdrew into Galilee. He left Nazareth and went to live in Capernaum, a town by the lake of Galilee, at the border of Zebulun and Naphtali.

In this way the word of the prophet Isaiah was fulfilled : Land of Zebulun and land of Naphtali, crossed by the Road of the Sea, and you who live beyond the Jordan, Galilee, land of pagans : The people who lived in darkness have seen a great Light; on those who live in the land of the shadow of death, a Light has shone.

From that time on, Jesus began to proclaim His message, “Change your ways : the kingdom of heaven is near.” As Jesus walked by the lake of Galilee, He saw two brothers, Simon called Peter, and Andrew his brother, casting a net into the lake, for they were fishermen. He said to them, “Come, follow Me, and I will make you fish for people.”

At once they left their nets and followed Him. He went on from there and saw two other brothers, James, the son of Zebedee, and his brother John in a boat with their father Zebedee, mending their nets. Jesus called them. At once they left the boat and their father and followed Him.

Jesus went around all Galilee, teaching in their synagogues, proclaiming the Good News of the kingdom, and curing all kinds of sickness and disease among the people.

Alternative reading (shorter version)
Matthew 4 : 12-17

When Jesus heard that John had been arrested, He withdrew into Galilee. He left Nazareth and went to live in Capernaum, a town by the lake of Galilee, at the border of Zebulun and Naphtali.

In this way the word of the prophet Isaiah was fulfilled : Land of Zebulun and land of Naphtali, crossed by the Road of the Sea, and you who live beyond the Jordan, Galilee, land of pagans : The people who lived in darkness have seen a great Light; on those who live in the land of the shadow of death, a Light has shone.

From that time on, Jesus began to proclaim His message, “Change your ways : the kingdom of heaven is near.”

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Sunday, 22 January 2017 : Third Sunday of Ordinary Time, Memorial of St. Vincent, Deacon and Martyr, Week of Prayer for Christian Unity (Second Reading)

Liturgical Colour : Green
1 Corinthians 1 : 10-13, 17

I beg of you, brothers, in the Name of Christ Jesus, our Lord, to agree among yourselves and do away with divisions; please be perfectly united, with one mind and one judgment.

For I heard from people of Cloe’s house about your rivalries. What I mean is this : “I am for Paul,” and others, “I am for Apollo,” or “I am for Peter,” or “I am for Christ.” Is Christ divided or have I, Paul, been crucified for you? Have you been baptised in the name of Paul?

For Christ did not send me to baptise, but to proclaim His Gospel. And not with beautiful words! That would be like getting rid of the cross of Christ.

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Sunday, 22 January 2017 : Third Sunday of Ordinary Time, Memorial of St. Vincent, Deacon and Martyr, Week of Prayer for Christian Unity (Psalm)

Liturgical Colour : Green
Psalm 26 : 1, 4, 13-14

The Lord is my Light and my Salvation – Whom shall I fear? The Lord is the Rampart of my life; I will not be afraid.

One thing I ask of the Lord, one thing I seek – that I may dwell in His house all the days of my life, to gaze at His jewel and to visit His sanctuary.

I hope, I am sure, that I will see the goodness of the Lord in the land of the living. Trust in the Lord, be strong and courageous. Yes, put your hope in the Lord!

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Sunday, 22 January 2017 : Third Sunday of Ordinary Time, Memorial of St. Vincent, Deacon and Martyr, Week of Prayer for Christian Unity (First Reading)

Liturgical Colour : Green
Isaiah 8 : 23b – Isaiah 9 : 3

YHVH has just afflicted the land of Zebulun and the land of Naphtali; but in the future He will confer glory on the way of the sea, on the land beyond the Jordan – the pagan’s Galilee.

The people who walk in darkness have seen a great light. A light has dawned on those who live in the land of the shadow of death. You have enlarged the nation; You have increased their joy. They rejoice before You, as people rejoice at harvest time as they rejoice in dividing the spoil.

For the yoke of their burden, the bar across their shoulders, the rod of their oppressors, You have broken it as on the day of Midian.

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Saturday, 30 January 2016 : 3rd Week of Ordinary Time (Homily and Scripture Reflections)

Liturgical Colour : Green or White (Saturday Mass of our Lady)

Dear brothers and sisters in Christ, on this day we heard the words from the Sacred Scriptures, beginning from how David was rebuked by God through the prophet Nathan for his unlawful and sinful seizing of the wife of one of his subordinates, and made her to be his own. As a result, God punished David for his insubordination and wayward attitude.

Then in the Gospel today we heard about the Lord Jesus Who made a storm calm and Who commanded even the wind and the waves to obey Him and to spare His boat and the disciples within it. We see the power and the authority of God being on display, where He made clear that if one is to have faith in Him, then he or she will not be disappointed, for in Him alone lies all power and all comfort.

How do these two readings match up together, brethren? It is where we see disobedience in both, in the first reading the disobedience and lack of faith due to an action that brought a faithful servant of God to sin, and in the Gospel we witnessed a lack of faith where the disciples of our Lord Jesus Christ lost their faith in Him in the face of danger and certain death.

This lack of faith was what brought the people involved into a state where they would be vulnerable to the temptation of Satan, which was proven by what David had done with Bathsheba, the wife of his own subordinate, whom he took to be his own wife after he plotted to kill her husband to hide his own adulterous relationship with her. This was a moment of weakness, when faith was overcome by the lust and the desires of men.

Then, heeding the message of the Gospel today, we also should see how the storm in the lake is a mirror of our own lives. The storm is a representation of the dangers and the challenges that we face in our daily lives as we live as followers and disciples of our Lord. The boat is a representation of the Church which unites all the believers and the followers of the Lord, with the Lord Himself at the helm.

During such situation, with violent waves and strong winds, it is understandable that our human instincts would tell us and convince us to jump from the boat and abandon the boat that is taking in water and is sinking rapidly, but if everyone is to abandon the boat and jump into the water, they themselves would be swallowed by the powerful waves, be brought under and perish.

Thus, it is a lesson and a reminder for all of us, that all of us should remain faithful to the Lord our God, and cling strongly to Him in faith, and all of us should resist the temptations to abandon Him for other good things, the temptations of life, the temptations of pleasure and temporary satisfaction of either the body or the soul. Let us all heed this lesson as we continue to live our lives, so that we will always be faithful to our Lord and God.

May God bless us all in this life, and may He strengthen our resolve to live ever more in accordance with His will. Let us not be afraid or worry if we make a mistake, but let us do what king David, His faithful servant had done, in humbly seeking His forgiveness and mercy. Let us all be reunited in the Lord and become worthy once again to receive His grace and blessings. God be with us all. Amen.