Thursday

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Thursday, 12 July 2018 : 14th Week of Ordinary Time (Gospel Reading)

Liturgical Colour : Green

Matthew 10 : 7-15

At that time, Jesus said to His disciples, “Go, and proclaim this message : The kingdom of Heaven is near. Heal the sick, bring the dead back to life, cleanse the lepers, and drive out demons. Freely have you received, freely give. Do not carry any gold or silver or money in your purses. Do not take a travelling bag, or an extra shirt, or sandals, or a walking stick : workers deserve to be compensated.”

“When you come to a town or a village, look for a worthy person, and stay there until you leave. When you enter the house, wish it peace. If the people are worthy people, your peace will rest on them; if they are not worthy people, your blessing will come back to you.”

“And if you are not welcomed, and your words are not listened to, leave that house or that town, and shake the dust off your feet. I assure you, it will go easier for the people of Sodom and Gomorrah on the day of judgment, than it will for the people of that town.”

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Thursday, 12 July 2018 : 14th Week of Ordinary Time (Psalm)

Liturgical Colour : Green

Psalm 79 : 2ac and 3bc, 15-16

Listen, o Shepherd of Israel, You, Who sit enthroned between the Cherubim. Stir up Your might and come to save us.

Turn again, o YHVH of hosts, look down from heaven and see; care for this vine, and protect the stock Your hand has planted.

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Thursday, 12 July 2018 : 14th Week of Ordinary Time (First Reading)

Liturgical Colour : Green

Hosea 11 : 1-4, 8c-9

I loved Israel when he was a child; out of Egypt I called My Son. But the more I have called, the further have they gone from Me – sacrificing to the Baals, burning incense to the idols. Yet, it was I Who taught Ephraim to walk, taking them by the arms; yet, little did they realise that it was I Who cared for them.

I led them with cords of human kindness, with leading strings of love, and I became for them as One Who eases the yoke upon their neck and stoops down to feed them. My heart is troubled within Me and I am moved with compassion. I will not give vent to My great anger; I will not return to destroy Ephraim, for I am God and not human. I am the Holy One in your midst; and I do not want to come to you in anger.

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Thursday, 5 July 2018 : 13th Week of Ordinary Time, Memorial of St. Anthony Zaccaria, Priest (Homily and Scripture Reflections)

Liturgical Colour : Green or White (Priests)

Dear brothers and sisters in Christ, on this day we listened to the readings from the Scripture, showing us the kind of opposition and difficulties that we, as the servants and followers of God may face in our life, over our faith, dedication and commitment to God, in doing His will and in performing His works, just as the prophet Amos and just as the Lord Jesus Himself had experienced.In the first reading today, we heard of the experiences of the prophet Amos, who was sent by God to the northern kingdom of Israel. To put everything into context, this happened during the time when the northern kingdom, called Israel, just broke off, not too many years previously, from the united kingdom ruled by kings David and Solomon. Solomon had disobeyed God and therefore, his kingdom was torn apart from under his heirs.

But Jeroboam, the king which God appointed over Israel’s northern portion had disobeyed God as fast as he was secure in power over his domains. In his fear that he would lose his kingdom and power because the people continued to go to the Temple and House of God in Jerusalem, he built two golden calves in his kingdom and ordered the people to worship them as their new gods instead of the One and only True God.

Thus, Amaziah, the priest of Bethel mentioned in the first reading today was the priest of this new pagan idol, who opposed the work of the prophet Amos, sent by God to chastise His people and call them to repentance. And instead of repenting or listening to God, they hardened their hearts, as what we can witness from the attitudes shown by Amaziah and the king of Israel, Jeroboam.

It was just the same attitude that was shown by the Pharisees and the teachers of the Law in our Gospel passage today, as they criticised the Lord for having healed a paralysed man and said that his sins has been forgiven. They argued that God alone could forgive sin, and that the Lord Jesus had committed a blasphemy by uttering such words. They were in fact angry at Him and wanted to arrest Him, but they could not do so immediately because of the crowd.

The Lord was exasperated at their indignant attitude and refusal to listen to the truth, despite the miraculous deeds He had performed before them. Only God alone could have done what the Lord had done, and yet, the Pharisees and the teachers of the Law hardened their hearts and minds, and even accused Him in another occasion of having colluded and worked with the prince of demons, Beelzebul.

Thus, as we have witnessed, there are just so many challenges and obstacles facing those who are faithful to God, the servants and messengers of God, as well as all of us. There will be lots of challenges and opposition, which can end up making us to give up the fight and lose the faith. But are we doing something in order to resist the temptation to do so?

Perhaps we should look at the examples of St. Anthony Zaccaria, a holy and devout priest, who was renowned for his great role in the early years of the Counter Reformation efforts against those heresies and rebels at the time, threatening the unity and the survival of the Church. St. Anthony Zaccaria instituted many efforts to strengthen the faith and commitment among many of the faithful, including the popular forty-hours devotion to the Blessed Sacrament.

St. Anthony Zaccaria was also known for the practice of ringing the bells at three p.m., as a reminder of the Lord’s crucifixion and death on the cross. His many other contributions helped to rejuvenate the faith during a challenging time, when people were slipping away from the Church and from God’s truth. St. Anthony Zaccaria also established several congregations of the devout servants of God, who continued the good works which he had started.

Brothers and sisters in Christ, are we able to follow in the footsteps of this good and holy saint? In the face of difficulties and challenges, are we easily overwhelmed by our fears and doubts? Or are we trying our best to persevere despite the difficulties? The choice is ours, brothers and sisters in Christ, whether we want to be a faithful follower of God, or be merely swayed by the tides and currents of the world.

May the Lord be with us always, and may He strengthen each and every one of us with faith, and help us all to persevere through our daily challenges and difficulties, all sorts of troubles and obstacles that are in our way. May God bless us all and our endeavours. Amen.

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Thursday, 5 July 2018 : 13th Week of Ordinary Time, Memorial of St. Anthony Zaccaria, Priest (Gospel Reading)

Liturgical Colour : Green or White (Priests)

Matthew 9 : 1-8

At that time, Jesus got back into the boat, crossed the lake again, and came to His hometown. Here, they brought to Him a paralysed man, lying on a bed. Jesus saw their faith and said to the paralytic, “Courage, My son! Your sins are forgiven.

”Some teachers of the Law said within themselves, “This Man insults God.” Jesus was aware of what they were thinking; and said, “Why have you such evil thoughts? Which is easier to say : ‘Your sins are forgiven’ or ‘Stand up and walk’? But that you may know, that the Son of Man has power on earth to forgive sins,” He said to the paralysed man, “Stand up! Take your stretcher and go home!”

The man got up, and went home. When the crowds saw this, they were filled with awe, and praised God for giving such power to human beings.

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Thursday, 5 July 2018 : 13th Week of Ordinary Time, Memorial of St. Anthony Zaccaria, 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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Thursday, 5 July 2018 : 13th Week of Ordinary Time, Memorial of St. Anthony Zaccaria, Priest (First Reading)

Liturgical Colour : Green or White (Priests)

Amos 7 : 10-17

Amaziah, the priest of Bethel, then sent word to king Jeroboam of Israel, “Amos is conspiring against you in the very centre of Israel; what he says goes too far. These are his very words : Jeroboam shall die by the sword and Israel shall be exiled from its land.”

Amaziah then said to Amos, “Off with you, seer, go back to the land of Judah. Earn your bread there by prophesying. But never again prophesy at Bethel, for it is a king’s sanctuary and a national shrine.”

Amos replied to Amaziah, “I am not a prophet or one of the fellow prophets. I am a breeder of sheep and a dresser of sycamore trees. But YHVH took me from shepherding the flock and said to me : Go, prophesy to My people Israel. Now hear the word of YHVH, you who say : No more prophesy against Israel, no more insults against the family of Isaac!”

“This is what YHVH says : Your wife shall be made a harlot in the city, your sons and daughters shall fall by the sword, your land shall be divided up and given to others, and you, yourself, shall die in a foreign land, for Israel shall be driven far from its land.”

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Thursday, 28 June 2018 : 12th Week of Ordinary Time, Memorial of St. Irenaeus, Bishop and Martyr (Homily and Scripture Reflections)

Liturgical Colour : Red

Dear brothers and sisters in Christ, on this day we listened to the story of the beginning of the final downfall of the kingdom of Judah from the Book of Kings, when the king of Judah, Jehoiachin, was taken away into Babylon by its king Nebuchadnezzar and his forces, during the invasion of the Babylonians towards Judah and Jerusalem. The forces of Judah were no match for the Babylonians and they surrendered to the Babylonians.

At that time, the geopolitical situation of the region was volatile, and the kingdom of Judah was caught in between the major powers of the Egyptians and the Babylonians. The kingdom of Judah and its people depended on the Egyptians for protection against the Babylonians instead of depending on God, and they committed sins and wickedness against God. After king Josiah of Judah, there was no more kings of Judah who were faithful to God.

They depended on worldly power and strength to sustain themselves, and they did not repent despite the messengers and prophets sent into their midst calling them to repent from their sins and to turn themselves to God’s mercy and forgiveness. The prophet Jeremiah in particular was active during those days, up to the time of the destruction of Jerusalem and the exile to Babylon.

But the people and their king refused to listen to God or to obey His will. They would rather listen to false prophets who arose, claiming that they spoke in the authority of God, bearing false witnesses and falsehoods that blinded the people of Judah from the upcoming retribution and judgment for their sins. They are indeed acting in the manner that the Lord mentioned in the Gospel today, as those who built their houses on the foundation of sand.

In today’s Gospel passage, we heard of the Lord Jesus teaching the people with a parable, comparing houses built on two different kinds of foundations. One house was built on the foundation of sand, while the other house was built on the solid foundation of rock. And the Lord mentioned how the house built on the firm foundation of rock was able to withstand the forces of wind and waves that batter it, and remained standing, while the house built on the weak foundation of sand collapsed.

What the Lord mentioned to the people with this parable was in fact comparing those who put their trust in the Lord, which is referring to the house built on the solid rock foundation, with those who place their trust in worldly power, strength and abilities, that is those who built their houses on the shaky and weak foundation of sand. For it is in the Lord alone, that we have a certain and sure future, and not in all worldly things that are merely temporary and uncertain.

Yet, it is often that we mankind put our trust too much in worldly things, shown in how we value money, material possessions, fame, glory and honour. We spent a lot of time trying to gain more of those things for ourselves, in pursuit of a successful career, gaining material benefits and fulfilling whatever standards of success and happiness, in accordance to the ways of the world.

And in doing so, we often end up forgetting the main purpose of our lives, that is, to glorify God, by our actions and deeds in life. Instead, our pride and our ego become the centre focus of our lives. We live not for God and for glorifying Him, but instead, for satisfying our own selfish desires, greed and to entertain our own pride, ambition and ego. That was why the people of Judah and their king had fallen into sin, just as we have fallen.

Now, perhaps each and every one of us should look upon the example of one particular saint, whose feast we celebrate today. St. Irenaeus, a renowned bishop and holy martyr of the Church, was exemplary in his actions in life and in his faith, that he ought to be an inspiration for each and every one of us as Christians. St. Irenaeus was the Bishop of Lugdunum in the Roman province of Gaul, in what is now modern day France.

He was especially remembered for his masterpiece, ‘Against Heresies’ written against the dangerous heresies at the time, particularly Gnosticism which were rampant at his time. The Gnostic heresy was a syncretic and false faith, created by the distortion of the truth of the Gospels and the teachings of the Apostles, which gained a lot of influence and sway in many members of the Church.

In particular, Gnosticism espoused exactly all the things that we have just mentioned earlier, the glorification of the earthly and worldly things, the embrace of the pleasures and corruption of the flesh, against the truth of the Lord, which liberated us from all of these temptations and false happiness. St. Irenaeus devoted himself to combatting these heresies and ensured that his flock remained true to the faith in Christ.

Dear brothers and sisters in Christ, are we able to follow in the footsteps of St. Irenaeus, in how he courageously defended his faith and the truth of Christ against the opposition of the world itself, from the pagans who were persecuting the Church and from the heretics who sought to distort and turn the teachings of the Church upside down? Let us all follow in his footsteps and renew our faith in the Lord.

May the Lord be with us all, and may He continue to watch over us, day after day, that we will grow ever more devoted and more committed to Him, in every actions and deeds we do, so that in all of them, we will always glorify God every day and every moment that we live. Amen.

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Thursday, 28 June 2018 : 12th Week of Ordinary Time, Memorial of St. Irenaeus, Bishop and Martyr (Gospel Reading)

Liturgical Colour : Red

Matthew 7 : 21-29

At that time, Jesus said to the people, “Not everyone who says to Me, ‘Lord! Lord!’ will enter the kingdom of heaven, but the one who does the will of My heavenly Father. Many will say to Me on that day, ‘Lord, Lord, did we not speak in Your Name? Did we not cast out devils and perform many miracles in Your Name?’ Then I will tell them openly, ‘I have never known you; away from Me, you evil people!’”

“Therefore, anyone who hears these words of Mine, and acts according to them, is like a wise man, who built his house on rock. The rain poured down, the rivers flooded, and the wind blew and struck that house. But it did not collapse, because it was built on rock. But anyone who hears these words of Mine, and does not act accordingly, is like a fool who built his house on sand. The rain poured, the rivers flooded, and the wind blew and struck that house; it collapsed, and what a terrible collapse that was!”

When Jesus had finished this discourse, the crowds were struck by the way He taught, because He taught with authority, unlike their teachers of the Law.

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Thursday, 28 June 2018 : 12th Week of Ordinary Time, Memorial of St. Irenaeus, Bishop and Martyr (Psalm)

Liturgical Colour : Red

Psalm 78 : 1-2, 3-5, 8, 9

O God, the pagans have invaded Your inheritance; they have defiled Your holy Temple and reduced Jerusalem to rubble. They have given Your servants’ corpses to the birds, and the flesh of Your saints, to the beasts of the earth.

They have poured out the blood of Your faithful, like water around Jerusalem, and there was no one to bury them. Mocked and reviled by those around us, we are scorned by our neighbours. How long will this last, o YHVH? Will You be angry forever? Will Your wrath always burn to avenge Your rights?

Do not remember against us the sins of our fathers. Let Your compassion hurry to us, for we have been brought very low.

Help us, God, our Saviour, for the glory of Your Name; forgive us, for the sake of Your Name.