Thursday

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Thursday, 2 September 2021 : 22nd Week of Ordinary Time (Homily and Scripture Reflections)

Liturgical Colour : Green

Dear brothers and sisters in Christ, on this day as we listened to the words of the Scripture, all of us are called to live our lives in an exemplary Christian way, and to be worthy of God by following the path that He Himself has shown us. And we are also called to reach out to our fellow brothers and sisters, and be part of the Church’s evangelising mission, in calling more and more people to believe in the Lord and His truth, of which the best way is by our living our lives worthily, as true and genuine Christians.

In our first reading today, we heard the words of St. Paul the Apostle as he exhorted the faithful to to lead a lifestyle and to act in accordance with the way of the Lord, that they do not fall into temptations and remain faithful in all things, and to persevere through the difficulties and the challenges that we may face through life. We must be careful and wary lest those difficulties and challenges deter us from doing what we can and should do as Christians, in showing our faith and love for God and our fellow men alike.

In our Gospel passage today, we then heard of the moment when the Lord called some of His Twelve Apostles, as He was at the Lake Gennesaret or the Lake of Galilee, in which the four fishermen had been spending long hours the previous night in order to catch fish without any success. As the Lord saw those fishermen, Simon and his brother Andrew, and the brothers James and John, He told them to try and reach out for fishes again, despite their fruitless search over the past night.

He told them all to ‘put out into the deep waters’ and lower their nets there. Although they were skeptical at first and told the Lord that they had not found anything despite all night efforts, they obeyed in the end, and immediately, there were so many fishes trapped in the nets that it almost made the fishing boats to sink under their weight. Those four fishermen, amazed by what they had witnessed, believed in the Lord, chose to abandon their fishing trade and followed Him, becoming the first of the Lord’s disciples.

What we have just heard in our Scripture passage today is actually a symbolic representation of what each and every one of us are called to do as Christians, that is to listen to the Lord and to obey His will, by allowing Him to lead us and to help guide us in what we should do, just as He has told the fishermen, the future four disciples and Apostles to reach out and put their nets our into the deep waters. We have to do what the Lord has asked us to do, and trust in Him in the path that He is leading us through.

It is often that we are not able to gain true success in what we are doing, simply because we trust more in our own strength and powers rather than to listen to the Lord. We do things in our own way, and some of us are stubborn even after the Lord has shown us advice and guidance. Instead, we should be like the Apostles who listened to the Lord even though they had reservations and doubts earlier on. They chose to follow the Lord, and they saw the benefit in doing so.

Brothers and sisters in Christ, at the same time we are all also reminded that we should not be afraid to reach out beyond our comfort zone, which is when the Lord mentioned ‘to go and put out in the deep waters’. Too often many of us are hesitant to follow the Lord because we are afraid of the risks and we are more concerned about our safety and needs. And this is also because we did not have enough trust and faith in the Lord. If only we can trust in the Lord more, then surely we can even do many things we might have think to be impossible.

The question is, are we all willing to commit ourselves to the Lord wholeheartedly? Are we willing to entrust ourselves to His care and providence, and are we capable of walking down this path that the Lord has shown us with faith? Each and every one of us have been entrusted by the Lord with specific mission and responsibility in life, and as St. Paul mentioned in his Epistle in our first reading today, all of us are called to lead a life that is worthy of God, to be faithful and committed to Him, and to be exemplary in all things.

May the Lord continue to bless us and guide us in all things, and may He strengthen each and every one of us so that we may always persevere in faith, and will not easily give in to worldly temptations. May He remain with us all and may He bless us all in our every good efforts and endeavours, at all times, now and always, forevermore. Amen.

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Thursday, 2 September 2021 : 22nd Week of Ordinary Time (Gospel Reading)

Liturgical Colour : Green

Luke 5 : 1-11

At that time, one day, as Jesus stood by the Lake of Gennesaret, with a crowd gathered around Him listening to the word of God, He caught sight of two boats, left at the water’s edge by fishermen, now washing their nets. He got into one of the boats, the one belonging to Simon, and asked him to pull out a little from the shore. There He sat, and continued to teach the crowd.

When He had finished speaking, He said to Simon, “Put out into deep water and lower your nets for a catch.” Simon replied, “Master, we worked hard all night and caught nothing. But if You say so, I will lower the nets.” This they did, and caught such a large number of fish that their nets began to break. They signalled their partners in the other boat to come and help them. They came, and they filled both almost to the point of sinking.

Upon seeing this, Simon Peter fell at Jesus’ knees, saying, “Leave me, Lord, for I am a sinful man!” For he and his companions were amazed at the catch they had made, and so were Simon’s partners, James and John, Zebedee’s sons. Jesus said to Simon, “Do not be afraid. You will catch people from now on.” So they brought their boats to land and followed Him, leaving everything.

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Thursday, 2 September 2021 : 22nd Week of Ordinary Time (Psalm)

Liturgical Colour : Green

Psalm 97 : 2-3ab, 3cd-4, 5-6

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.

With melody of the lyre and with music of the harp. With trumpet blast and sound of the horn, rejoice before the King, YHVH!

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Thursday, 2 September 2021 : 22nd Week of Ordinary Time (First Reading)

Liturgical Colour : Green

Colossians 1 : 9-14

Because of this, from the day we received news of you, we have not ceased praying to God for you, that you may attain the full knowledge of His will, through all the gifts of wisdom and spiritual understanding.

May your lifestyle be worthy of the Lord and completely pleasing to Him. May you bear fruit in every good work and grow in the knowledge of God. May you become strong, in everything, by a sharing of the glory of God, so that you may have great endurance and perseverance in joy.

Constantly give thanks to the Father, Who has empowered us to receive our share in the inheritance of the saints, in His kingdom of light. He rescued us from the power of darkness and transferred us to the kingdom of His beloved Son. In Him, we are redeemed and forgiven.

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Thursday, 26 August 2021 : 21st 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 Scripture, we are all called to remain true to our faith in the Lord, and to persevere in faith so that we do not easily fall into the temptations to sin, and to disobey against God and His will. We are all called to be faithful at all times and to do our best at every possible opportunities given to us so that we will always be prepared whenever He comes, as He has promised us that He will.

We should always be aware and realise that we ought not to squander whatever opportunities and gifts that God has given us all these while. Yes, God is always ever patient and He is always persisting in His efforts to reach out to us, in each and every moments, but we have also been given the gift of free will and the wisdom to discern the right path, and the outcome of each paths that we encounter in life are often already known, and yet, many among us still hesitated and refused to believe in the Lord wholeheartedly or to trust Him fully.

Instead, we allow ourselves to be swayed by worldly desires, by our hesitation to act or to dedicate ourselves to action for God, and by our sloth and laziness, in remaining comfortable and idle wherever we are, that our lives, especially that of our spiritual lives become stagnant and lacking in vigour, as we allow the devil to tempt us with inaction and with personal comfort and the reluctance to move out of our comfort zone, in pursuit of our own personal happiness and desires, which led us to be like that of the lazy servant as described in our Gospel today.

In our Gospel passage today, we heard the Lord speaking in parables to the people, highlighting about servants of a lord and master of the house who were going to a long journey, and who entrusted to those same servants the care and responsibility over his household. The Lord clearly highlighted the two different attitudes of two different servants who acted differently upon what their lord and master had instructed them to do. Then we heard how the lazy servant was caught unprepared and red-handed in his laziness and idleness, in his debauched and wicked attitude towards those entrusted under his care when the master suddenly returned.

Meanwhile, the faithful servant who remained vigilant and did his best as was expected of him received great rewards and joy when he welcomed his master back, and he would be entrusted with far greater things on the account of his hard work and dedication to his duty and responsibilities. And this serves also as a reminder of who we are all expected to be, to walk faithfully in God’s presence, our Lord and Master, with true faith and dedication.

As we heard in that parable, all of us are called to follow the examples of the faithful and diligent servant, and not to be like the lazy and unfaithful servant. All of us have been given and entrusted with many great gifts by the Lord, in all of our various talents, abilities and different opportunities. And yet, many of us have often not used those things, gifts and opportunities as we have been called to do. Instead, we kept them hidden, ignored them, and we acted in ways that were against the Lord and in opposition to His truths.

Are we going to continue walking down that path, brothers and sisters in Christ? We should all know what lies at the end of that path, and if we are not careful, we will end up in eternity of regret, when the judgment is cast on us, and from which we have no further recourse or way out of. God has entrusted to us many things, and He has also given us many opportunities to turn things around, and He has called on us all to fulfil our responsibilities, all these while. Are we willing to listen to the Lord, and are we willing to turn to Him from now on, entrusting ourselves in His care and doing His will from now on?

Let us all therefore strive to be ever more faithful and dedicated with each and every passing opportunities, and do our very best to be worthy servants and disciples of the Lord, so that in everything we say and do, we may always glorify the Lord and praise Him, and as His worthy disciples and followers, we will be worthy of His presence and everlasting life, promised to all those who are faithful to Him. May God bless us always, in all things, and may He guide us in our journey of faith in life, even to the smallest things. Amen.

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Thursday, 26 August 2021 : 21st Week of Ordinary Time (Gospel Reading)

Liturgical Colour : Green

Matthew 24 : 42-51

At that time, Jesus said to His disciples, “Stay awake then, for you do not know on what day your Lord will come. Obviously, if the owner of the house knew at what time the thief was coming, he would certainly stay up and not allow his house to be broken into. So be alert, for the Son of Man will come at the hour you least expect.”

“Imagine a faithful and prudent servant, whom his master has put in charge of his household, to give them food at the proper time. Fortunate, indeed, is that servant, whom his master will find at work when he comes. Truly I say to you, his lord will entrust him with everything he has.”

“Not so with the bad servant, who thinks, ‘My master is delayed.’ And he begins to ill-treat his fellow servants, while eating and drinking with drunkards. But his master will come on the day he does not know, and at the hour he least expects. He will punish that servant severely; and place him with the hypocrites. There will be weeping and gnashing of teeth.”

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Thursday, 26 August 2021 : 21st Week of Ordinary Time (Psalm)

Liturgical Colour : Green

Psalm 89 : 3-4, 12-13, 14 and 17

You turn humans back to dust, saying, “Return, o mortals!” A thousand years in Your sight are like a day that has passed, or like a watch in the night.

So make us know the shortness of our life, that we may gain wisdom of heart. How long will You be angry, o YHVH? Have mercy on Your servant.

Fill us at daybreak with Your goodness, that we may be glad all our days. May the sweetness of YHVH be upon us; may He prosper the work of our hands.

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Thursday, 26 August 2021 : 21st Week of Ordinary Time (First Reading)

Liturgical Colour : Green

1 Thessalonians 3 : 7-13

What a consolation for us, brothers and sisters, in the midst of our troubles and trials, this faith of yours! It is a breath of life for us, when you stand firm in the Lord. How can we thank God enough, for all the joy that we feel before God, because of you? Day and night, we beg of Him, to let us see you again, that we may complete the instruction of the believers.

May God, our Father, and Jesus, our Lord, prepare the way for us to visit you. May the Lord increase, more and more, your love for each other and for all people, as He increases our love for you. May He strengthen you, internally, to be holy and blameless before God, our Father, on the day that Jesus, our Lord, will come with all His saints.

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Thursday, 19 August 2021 : 20th Week of Ordinary Time, Memorial of St. John Eudes, Priest (Homily and Scripture Reflections)

Liturgical Colour : Green or White (Priests)

Dear brothers and sisters in Christ, on this day as we listened to the words of the Scriptures, we are called to listen to the Lord and His words, and to trust in Him, that we may follow Him wholeheartedly, and doubt no longer but believe. We have to welcome the Lord into our hearts and devote ourselves to Him in all things. Without genuine love and commitment to the Lord, we may be easily swayed by worldly temptations and many other obstacles by which the devil has attempted to mislead and misguide us, through lies and false pleasures in life.

In our first reading today, we heard of the account of one of the Judge of Israel, namely Jephthah, who made vow before the Lord that if he could defeat the Ammonites, he would offer sacrifices to the Lord whatever it was that would cross the lintels of his door. Little did he know that his own daughter would be the one crossing the threshold of the door. Jephthah, having made the vow before God could not go back on his words and had to do as he had vowed to do. And it is a lesson for all of us as well, brothers and sisters in Christ.

How is that so? That is because we are all reminded not to doubt in the Lord’s providence. Jephthah, while believing in God, he was also filled with doubt as he made such a vow as he did not fully trust the Lord’s providence. The key phrase is that ‘If You make me victorious, I shall sacrifice to You whoever first comes out of my house to meet me when I return from battle. He shall be for YHVH and I shall offer him up through the fire.’ And all these, shows us that Jephthah have not yet fully given his trust to the Lord, that if God gave him his victory then he would offer Him a sacrifice.

God has no need for sacrifices, and He has no need for anything, as after all, is He not the Almighty Lord and Master of all creation? The Lord has everything and is in no need for anything, and He instead provides everything that we need, just as our Gospel passage today highlighted it even further through the parable of the wedding banquet and the wedding garment. God cared for His people, and the master of the wedding banquet, the king depicted in the parable, represents God.

The king invited all his guests to come freely and enjoy his wedding banquet, showing just how much he loved them all and how precious they were. For one to be invited to a king’s banquet, one must have thought that those who were invited have enjoyed such great favour and honour, and yet, as we heard from the parable, the people who were invited refused to come and to listen to the king’s call. They feigned ignorance and busy schedules to refuse the king despite the rich and great honour for them in receiving his invitation.

The king then invited and sought out all the people from all other places, from the streets and elsewhere, to come to his wedding banquet, and many people were indeed gathered and attended that wedding banquet in joy. But one of those who had been brought in did not wear the required wedding garment, and then refused to answer the king’s question when he was asked regarding his lack of proper wear, which resulted in him being cast out.

What we have just heard from that parable is a reminder to all of us that God has provided wonderfully for us, but what is lamentable is our lack of faith and trust in Him. We have not loved Him as much as He has loved us, and we have ignored Him when He called for us to come to Him. Instead, we preferred to linger in our own desires and walk in our own paths, in disobedience against God. We refused to trust in Him even after He has shown us repeatedly His love and dedication.

That is why today, we should spend some time to reflect on our attitude and actions. Have we been truly faithful to God and loved Him as we should have? These are the questions we should ask ourselves now. And today, we should also spend some time to reflect on the examples of our holy predecessors, that can serve as a source of inspiration and as guide on what we can do as Christians to follow the Lord and to obey Him in our daily living.

Today we celebrate the feast of St. John Eudes, a most devout and dedicated servant of God, a holy priest and founder of two great religious orders, the Order of Our Lady of Charity and the Congregation of Jesus and Mary, the latter of which was also known as the Eudists after their founder. He was renowned for his great piety and sanctity, as well as his great love for both God and his fellow men and women, spending a lot of time and effort to reach out to his fellow brethren.

Through his works among the people, and his particular concern for those who had led a wretched lifestyle such as prostitutes, he helped them by establishing the Order of Our Lady of Charity as mentioned to gather those who sought to provide refuge and help to prostitutes who had been caught in unfortunate situations, and helping them at the same time to overcome their issues. And through the Eudists, he also helped to advance proper education and formation of priests and missionaries among other magnificent works.

Brothers and sisters in Christ, through the good examples set by St. John Eudes, as well as the many other holy men and women of God, let us all therefore do our very best to follow their examples, to rediscover the love which we all should have for the Lord, and be ever more faithful in our daily lives. Let us all strive to do our best, to be ever more committed to God and to be His ever more dedicated disciples in our respective communities today.

May the Lord be with us always, and may He strengthen each and every one of us in our faith, that we may draw strength from Him and persevere through the challenges of life, and resist the temptations of evil and of our human desires. May God bless us all, now and always, in our every good efforts and endeavours. Amen.

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Thursday, 19 August 2021 : 20th Week of Ordinary Time, Memorial of St. John Eudes, Priest (Gospel Reading)

Liturgical Colour : Green or White (Priests)

Matthew 22 : 1-14

At that time, Jesus continued speaking to the people in parables : “This story throws light on the kingdom of heaven : A king gave a wedding banquet for his son. He sent his servants to call the invited guests to the banquet, but the guests refused to come.”

“Again, He sent other servants, instructing them to say to the invited guests, ‘I have prepared a banquet, slaughtered my fattened calves and other animals, and now, everything is ready. Come to the wedding!’ But they paid no attention and went away, some to their farms, and some to their work. Others seized the servants of the king, insulted them and killed them.”

“The king was furious. He sent his troops to destroy those murderers and burn their city. Then he said to his servants, ‘The wedding banquet is prepared, but the invited guests were not worthy. Go instead to the main streets, and invite everyone you find to the wedding feast.'”

“The servants went out into the streets and gathered all they found, good and bad alike, so that the hall was filled with guests. The king came in to see the wedding guests, and he noticed a man not wearing a wedding garment. So he said to him, ‘Friend, how did you get in without the wedding clothes?'”

“But the man remained silent. So the king said to his servants, ‘Bind his hands and feet and throw him into the outer darkness, where there is weeping and gnashing of teeth.’ For many are called, but few are chosen.”