Third Week of Ordinary Time

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Wednesday, 28 January 2015 : 3rd Week of Ordinary Time, Memorial of St. Thomas Aquinas, Priest and Doctor of the Church (Gospel Reading)

Liturgical Colour : White

Mark 4 : 1-20

At that time, again Jesus began to teach by the lake; but such a large crowd gathered about Him, that He got into a boat and sat in it on the lake, while the crowd stood on the shore. He taught them many things through parables. In His teaching He said, “Listen! The sower went out to sow. As he sowed, some of the seed fell along a path, and the birds came and ate it up.”

“Some of the seed fell on rocky ground, where it had little soil; it sprang up immediately because it had no depth; but when the sun rose and burned it, it withered because it had no roots. Other seed fell among thornbushes, and the thorns grew and choked it, so it did not produce any grain.”

“But some seed fell on good soil, grew and increased and yielded grain; some seed produced thirty times as much, some sixty, and some one hundred times as much.” And Jesus added, “Listen then, if you have ears.”

When the crowd went away, some who were around Him with the Twelve asked about the parables. He answered them, “The mystery of the kingdom of God has been given to you. But for those outside, everything comes in parables, so that the more they see, they do not perceive; the more they hear, they do not understand; otherwise they would be converted and pardoned.”

Jesus said to them, “Do you not understand this parable? How then will you understand any of the parables? What the sower is sowing is the word. Those along the path, where the seed fell, are people who hear the word, but as soon as they hear it, Satan comes and takes away the word that was sown in them.”

“Other people receive the word like rocky ground. As soon as they hear the word, they accept it with joy, but they have no roots, so it lasts only a little while. No sooner does trouble or persecution come because of the word, than they fall. Others receive the seed, as seed among thorns. After they hear the word, they are caught up in the worries of this life, false hopes of riches and other desires. All these come in and choke the word, so that finally it produces nothing.”

“And there are others who receive the word as good soil. They hear the word, take it to heart and produce : some thirty, some sixty and some one hundred times as much.”

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Wednesday, 28 January 2015 : 3rd Week of Ordinary Time, Memorial of St. Thomas Aquinas, Priest and Doctor of the Church (Psalm)

Liturgical Colour : White

Psalm 109 : 1, 2, 3, 4

The Lord said to my Lord, “Sit at My right hand till I make Your foes Your footstool.”

From Zion the Lord will extend Your mighty sceptre and You will rule in the midst of Your enemies.

Yours is royal dignity from the day You were born in holy majesty. Like dew from the womb of the dawn, I have begotten You.

The Lord has sworn, and He will not take back His word : “You are a Priest forever in the order of Melchizedek.”

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Wednesday, 28 January 2015 : 3rd Week of Ordinary Time, Memorial of St. Thomas Aquinas, Priest and Doctor of the Church (First Reading)

Liturgical Colour : White

Hebrews 10 : 11-18

So, whereas every priest stands daily by the altar offering repeatedly the same sacrifices that can never take away sins, Christ has offered for all times a single sacrifice for sins and has taken His seat at the right hand of God, waiting until God puts His enemies as a footstool under His feet. By a single sacrifice He has brought those who are sanctified to what is perfect forever.

This also was testified by the Holy Spirit. For after having declared : ‘This is the covenant that I will make with them in the days to come’ – says the Lord – ‘I will put My laws in their hearts and write them on their minds.’ He says : ‘Their sins and evil deeds I will remember no more.’

So, if sins are forgiven, there is no longer need of any sacrifice for sin.

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Tuesday, 27 January 2015 : 3rd Week of Ordinary Time, Memorial of St. Angela Merici, Virgin (Homily and Scripture Reflections)

Liturgical Colour : Green or White (Virgins)

Dear brothers and sisters in Christ, the readings today spoke very clearly of what the Lord wants from us, not outward obligations and observations of rituals and celebrations of our faith without understanding the meaning behind them, that is the love which we should have for our loving God. We should not just observe our faith externally, or because we feel forced to do so, but rather, we should all have the awareness and the desire to truly seek and love the Lord our God with all of our hearts.

In the Gospel our Lord Jesus made it clear to His disciples and followers, that all those who does the will of God and obey His commandments, by their understanding of the Law, will be considered as His brethren and His family. And therefore, by this, Jesus showed us all, that those who will be rewarded, will be those who hear of the word of God, but did not just let it remain as that, and instead they take concrete action, showing their faith by doing things according to what they believe in.

And this is true faith, not the faith of hypocrites, who spoke loudly of worshipping God and worshipping Him through outward actions and gestures, but in their hearts, they kept no God inside, but instead, their own ego and selfishness. They cared only about themselves and about their own good. That was why, God was angry with them and cast them away from His presence.

We have to realise that what God desires from us, is love. And not just love as we often know it, brothers and sisters in Christ, but love that is genuine, unconditional and true, just as the love which our Lord had first shown us through Jesus. He loves us all sincerely and when we are still wicked sinners, filled to the brim with sin, He had loved us all regardless of that fact.

That is how great God’s love is for us, dear brethren, for we all heard how the greatest love is for one to die and give up his or her life for the sake of his or her friend, but that is done when the one has good relationship with those for whom he or she had sacrificed himself for. And our Lord Jesus, who calls us friends, brothers and also sisters, died for us all, when all of us are still locked in a state of bitter enmity and rebelliousness against Him.

Thus, as we live our faith, we all have to truly commit ourselves to the way of the Lord. Our faith cannot be mere lip service nor should it be merely external in appearances. Rather, our faith should be the centre of our very being, with God at our heart, and with all of His precepts and ways as our own way, which we realise through our actions in loving one another with passion and true faith.

Brothers and sisters in Christ, today we celebrate the feast of St. Angela Merici, a holy virgin and servant of God, who had dedicated herself to a life of service to the Lord. She had committed herself with many of her fellow religious, to a life of prayer and contemplation. Yet this does not mean that she ceased doing good for the world and for all others who were around her.

St. Angela Merici was particularly renowned for her efforts in improving Catholic education and its institutes, helping many people to have better lives through education, and saving many people from the sufferings of the world. St. Angela Merici championed the life that is consecrated and made holy, offered to God, but through that sanctity and holiness, she and many others who followed in her footsteps influenced all those whose lives she and her followers had touched.

Therefore, as all of us reflect on the life of St. Angela Merici, let us all realise what we should do in this life, in order to fulfill what God had wanted from us. We have to be truly devoted in our faith, and show that through our actions. Whenever we see others around us who are in need, we should be ever ready to provide help and love them regardless of what they have done to us before.

Be ready to forgive and be gentle to those who have caused us hurt. Do not seek revenge or build up hatred, but let our actions be filled with God’s love. May Almighty God witness our actions and that He may say to us on the last day, “Well done, My faithful servants, for You have done what I have asked you to do,” and then bring us into His eternal salvation. God bless us all. Amen.

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Tuesday, 27 January 2015 : 3rd Week of Ordinary Time, Memorial of St. Angela Merici, Virgin (Gospel Reading)

Liturgical Colour : Green or White (Virgins)

Mark 3 : 31-35

At that time, then the mother of Jesus and His brothers came. As they stood outside, they sent someone to call Him. The crowd sitting around Jesus told Him, “Your mother and Your brothers are outside asking for You.”

He replied, “Who are My mother and My brothers?” And looking around at those who sat there, He said, “Here are My mother and My brothers. Whoever does the will of God is brother and sister and mother to Me.”

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Tuesday, 27 January 2015 : 3rd Week of Ordinary Time, Memorial of St. Angela Merici, Virgin (Psalm)

Liturgical Colour : Green or White (Virgins)

Psalm 39 : 2 and 4ab, 7-8a, 10, 11

With resolve I waited for the Lord; He listened and heard me beg. He put a new song into my mouth, a song of praise to our God.

Sacrifice and oblation You did not desire; this You had me understand. Burnt offering and sin offering You do not require. Then I said, “Here I come!”

In the great assembly I have proclaimed Your saving help. My lips, o Lord, I did not seal – You know that very well.

I have not locked up in my heart Your saving help, but have spoken about it – Your deliverance and Your faithfulness; I have made no secret of Your truth and of Your kindness in the great assembly.

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Tuesday, 27 January 2015 : 3rd Week of Ordinary Time, Memorial of St. Angela Merici, Virgin (First Reading)

Liturgical Colour : Green or White (Virgins)

Hebrews 10 : 1-10

The religion of the Law is only a shadow of the good things to come; it has the patterns but not the realities. So, year after year, the same sacrifices are offered without bringing the worshippers to what is the end. If they had been cleansed once and for all, they would no longer have felt guilt and would have stopped offering the same sacrifices. But no, year after year their sacrifices witness to their sins and never will the blood of bulls and goats take away these sins.

This is why on entering the world, Christ says : ‘You did not desire sacrifice and offering; you were not pleased with burnt offerings and sin offerings.’ Then I said, ‘Here I am. It was written of me in the scroll. I will do Your will, o God.’

First He says : ‘Sacrifice, offerings, burnt offerings and sin offerings You did not desire nor were You pleased with them’ – although they were required by the Law. Then He says : ‘Here I am to do Your will.’ This is enough to nullify the first will and establish the new.

Now, by this will of God, we are sanctified once and for all by the sacrifice of the Body of Christ Jesus.

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Monday, 26 January 2015 : 3rd Week of Ordinary Time, Memorial of St. Timothy and St. Titus, Bishops (Homily and Scripture Reflections)

Liturgical Colour : White

Dear brothers and sisters in Christ, today we celebrate the feast of two of the disciples of St. Paul, that is St. Timothy and St. Titus. Yesterday, we celebrate the feast of their benefactor’s conversion, that is the conversion of St. Paul after he met the Lord Himself on the way to Damascus. St. Timothy and St. Titus followed St. Paul in his journeys on different and separate occasions, and they helped him in the spreading of the Good News of God to the people.

St. Timothy and St. Titus were both made and appointed as bishops of the early Church, the successors of the Holy Apostles. They were among the first bishops of the Church, who were to continue the works of the Apostles and the first disciples of Christ, carrying with them the same mission which Jesus our Lord had given to His Apostles, that is to bring all mankind to God, and to bear to them the witness of the Good News of Christ, of His life, His works, His death and resurrection from the dead, and to baptise them in the Name of the Father, Son and the Holy Spirit.

In the first reading, we heard about how the Apostles passed on their mantle of leadership and service to the new generation of leaders, by the means of the laying of the hands on top of the heads of those who have been chosen as bishops, or overseers, that is those who had been entrusted with leadership in the Church, to become the leaders and shepherds of the people of God, overseeing the works of the priests and deacons in the areas given to them as their jurisdictions.

Brothers and sisters in Christ, in the Gospel today from the Gospel according to St. Luke, we heard about how Jesus appointed the seventy-two disciples to be His servants and helpers, indeed to help the work of the Holy Apostles, by ministering to the people of God, preaching the Good News, healing the sick and those possessed by evil spirits, and to be shepherds to the people of God.

They were sent like sheep among wolves, to bring the Light of Christ among a people who dwelled in the darkness. And that also means that they have to endure dangers and persecutions while they conduct their mission, and they have to bare their own lives on the frontlines of the battle against the forces of darkness of this world. Such are the responsibilities these people bear for the sake of the Lord, and they have been chosen to bear those burden, that many would be saved.

St. Timothy and St. Titus, as well as the many other bishops and elders of the Church kept the faithful and the Church afloat amidst the difficult times, times of persecution and great martyrdoms of the people of God. Many bishops were martyred with their people, with the priests and the servants of God, but thanks to them, we have the faith which we received through our priests, and which they themselves received through the long chain of succession from bishops and priests and all the servants of God, passed on by the laying on of the hands.

Therefore, brothers and sisters in Christ, all of us who heard these words of the Lord and the testimony of the faith of our predecessors ought to reflect, on what we need to do and what we can do to continue their works for the sake of the Lord and ultimately for the salvation of all mankind. We still have much work to do, and we should not remain idle, but we must be proactive in our faith.

This means that we have to live our faith with concrete and real actions. We have to love our brethren and help those who are in need. Practice our faith and let it be filled with genuine intention and not just for show or for garnering the praise of others. Let us all ask for the intercession of St. Timothy and St. Titus, that they may continue to inspire us, and pray for us, that our faith may be strengthened and become example for others to follow. May Almighty God be with us always. Amen.

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Monday, 26 January 2015 : 3rd Week of Ordinary Time, Memorial of St. Timothy and St. Titus, Bishops (Gospel Reading)

Liturgical Colour : White

Luke 10 : 1-9

At that time, the Lord appointed seventy-two other disciples, and sent them two by two ahead of Him to every town and place, where He Himself was to go. And He said to them, “The harvest is plentiful, but the workers are few. So you must ask the Lord of the harvest to send workers to His harvest.”

“Courage! I am sending you like lambs among wolves. Set off without purse or bag or sandals; and do not stop at the homes of those you know. Whatever house you enter, first bless them, saying, ‘Peace to this house!’ If a friend of peace lives there, the peace shall rest upon that person. But if not, the blessing will return to you. Stay in that house, eating and drinking at their table, for the worker deserves to be paid. Do not move from house to house.”

“When they welcome you to any town, eat what they offer you. Heal the sick who are there, and say to them : ‘The kingdom of God has drawn near to you.'”

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Monday, 26 January 2015 : 3rd Week of Ordinary Time, Memorial of St. Timothy and St. Titus, Bishops (Psalm)

Liturgical Colour : White

Psalm 95 : 1-2a, 2b-3, 7-8a, 10

Sing to the Lord a new song, sing to the Lord, all the earth! Sing to the Lord, bless His Name.

Proclaim His salvation day after day. Recall His glory among the nations, tell all the peoples His wonderful deeds.

Give to the Lord, you families of nations, give to the Lord glory and strength. Give to the Lord the glory due His Name.

Say among the nations, “The Lord reigns!” He will judge the peoples with justice.