Thursday

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Thursday, 11 January 2018 : 1st Week of Ordinary Time (Homily and Scripture Reflections)

Liturgical Colour : Green

Dear brothers and sisters in Christ, on this day we listened to two stories from the Scriptures, beginning with the Book of the prophet Samuel, from which we heard about the time when Israel went to war against the Philistines, who were hostile against the Israelites and frequently carried out raids against them. As mentioned in the Scripture passage, we heard how the Israelites brought the Ark of God with them, because they thought that God would be with them and would help them win the war against their enemies.

But as we heard in the same reading, even though the Ark of the Covenant was with them, but the Philistines inflicted a serious defeat upon the Israelites, killing the two sons of Eli, the judge and high priest of Israel at the time, and capturing the Ark of God itself, they brought the Ark to their own land. It was truly a very humiliating and disastrous moment for the people of Israel.

We may be wondering, as we listen to this story, as to why the Lord would abandon His people in such a manner. If you heard the story, you must have seen how they believed that God would be with them in the battle, and that He would lead them to win against their enemies. But He did not do so, as if He had, the Israelites would have won the battle and the Ark would not have been captured by the Philistines.

In order to understand the passage better, let us all look to the Gospel passage which we have heard just now as well. In today’s Gospel, we heard of Jesus Our Lord healing a leper, who asked Him to heal him from his sickness. Our Lord was moved with pity and love for the leper, and He healed him from his leprosy. But the Lord also mentioned to him, that he must not tell others of what had happened to him, that Jesus healed him. Instead, he must go to the priests as prescribed by the Law, and follow the necessary procedure.

Yet, the man healed of his leprosy disobeyed Jesus and went on to tell many others of what He had done to him. As a result, Jesus ended up suffering many difficulties and persecutions, and He could no longer enter any town openly, lest He became the object of criticism and harassment. And the reason for this is truly multifaceted, but if we are to understand it deeper, we should be more careful in our reading of what had happened at that time.

Jesus healed the leper by stretching out His hand and touching him. Instantly, the leprosy left the man and he was completely healed. However, according to the Jewish laws and customs, it was forbidden for someone to come into close contact, less still touch, those who have contracted leprosy. If anyone has come into close contact with someone who had leprosy, then they would also be considered as a leper, and would be cast out of the society.

This shows us that if we are faithful to the Lord, and if we truly love Him, then we should obey Him in all that He had commanded and told us to do. Because of what the healed leper man had done, Jesus and His disciples encountered much difficulty and challenges, and their good works were hampered in various ways. And this is how it is indeed related to what we have heard from the first reading today, of the time when the Philistines defeated Israel even when they brought the Ark of God with them.

If we read through the Book of Judges and the Book of the prophet Samuel, we will realise that after the people of Israel had reached the Promised Land from their Exodus from Egypt, they had not always been faithful to God. They frequently disobeyed Him and refused to listen to Him and His judges, despite the Lord having frequently sent help along the way to rescue His people from their troubles and from their enemies.

Brothers and sisters in Christ, on this day, as we listened to God’s words in the Scriptures and as we reflect on what had happened to our predecessors, let us all therefore commit to renew our faith in God, and devote ourselves more faithfully and more wholeheartedly to Him, to love Him genuinely with all of our hearts, and to obey Him in all the things we do, and in all that He has commanded us to do. Let us not be halfhearted or superficial in our faith.

Let us remember the Lord always in good times and in bad times. He will always be faithful to the Covenant which He had established and renewed with us through Christ His Son, that He willingly died for us on the cross, a show of His ultimate and pure love for each one of us. Let us show Him the love that He therefore deserves. May God bless us all, now and always. Amen.

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Thursday, 11 January 2018 : 1st Week of Ordinary Time (Gospel Reading)

Liturgical Colour : Green

Mark 1 : 40-45

A leper came to Jesus and begged Him, “If You want to, You can make me clean.” Moved with pity, Jesus stretched out His hand and touched him, saying, “I do want to; be clean.”

The leprosy left the man at once and he was made clean. As Jesus sent the man away, He sternly warned him, “Do not tell anyone about this, but go and show yourself to the priest; and for the cleansing, bring the offering ordered by Moses in this way, you will give to them your testimony.”

However, as soon as the man went out, he began spreading the news everywhere, so that Jesus could no longer openly enter any town. But even though He stayed in the rural areas, people came to Him from everywhere.

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Thursday, 11 January 2018 : 1st Week of Ordinary Time (Psalm)

Liturgical Colour : Green

Psalm 43 : 10-11, 14-15, 24-25

Yet now, You have rejected and humbled us; You no longer go forth with our armies. You have let our enemies drive us back and our adversaries plunder us.

You have made us the butt of our neighbours’ insult, the scorn and laughingstock of those around us. You have made us a byword among the nations; they look at us and shake their heads.

Awake, o Lord! Why are You asleep? Arise! Reject us not forever. Why hide Your face from us? Why forget our misery and woes?

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Thursday, 11 January 2018 : 1st Week of Ordinary Time (First Reading)

Liturgical Colour : Green

1 Samuel 4 : 1-11

At that time Samuel was a prophet of Israel. The Israelites went out to battle against the Philistines. They encamped at Ebenezer, while the Philistines encamped at Aphek. The Philistines then drew up in battle formation. They attacked Israel and after a fierce fighting, Israel was defeated, leaving about four thousand men dead on the battlefield.

When the troops retreated to their camp, the elders of Israel asked, “Why has YHVH allowed us to be defeated by the Philistines? Let us take the Ark of God from Shiloh and bring it here so that YHVH may be with us and save us from our enemies.” So the people sent messengers to Shiloh to take the Ark of YHVH Who is seated on the Cherubim. Eli’s two sons, Hophni and Phinehas, accompanied the Ark.

As soon as the Ark of YHVH entered the camp, the Israelites began to cheer so loudly that the earth resounded. The Philistines heard the shouting and asked, “What does this loud shout in the camp of the Hebrews mean?” And they were told that the Ark of YHVH had been brought to the camp.

The Philistines were overcome with fear. They exclaimed, “A God has come into the camp. Woe to us! For nothing like this has happened before. Woe to us! Who can save us from the power of these mighty Gods? These are the Gods Who struck the Egyptians with all sorts of plagues – and in the desert. Take courage and conduct yourselves like men, o Philistines, lest you become slaves to the Hebrews in the same way they have been slaves to you. Be manly and fight.”

So the Philistines fought and Israel was defeated. Everyone fled to his home. It was a disastrous defeat; thirty thousand foot soldiers of Israel were killed. The Ark of God was captured and the two sons of Eli, Hophni and Phinehas, were slain.

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Thursday, 4 January 2018 : Weekday of Christmas Time (Homily and Scripture Reflections)

Liturgical Colour : White

Dear brothers and sisters in Christ, today’s Scripture readings have a very clear message to all of us. We are all called by the Lord to follow Him and to walk in His path, just as He has called His Apostles at that time. In the Gospel today, we heard the story of how Jesus called His first Apostles, at the shores of the river Jordan, calling simple fishermen who were there catching the fishes in the river.

All of those fishermen, the four of them had no idea that they were called to an entirely new life, a new existence and reality, in which they were transformed wholly from their humble origins, once doing a job that no one really wanted, fishers of fish and equally the same for the other Apostles, who were once thief, tax collector, or rebel, and many more. They became fishers of men, after accepting the Lord’s call.

They left behind their past lives and careers in order to become fully committed to the missions and the works God entrusted to them. They served the Lord faithfully in the missions they went through, declaring the glory of God and preaching His truth to the many nations. They had a great change in mind and attitude, as they allowed the Lord to inflame their hearts through the Holy Spirit He gave them.

Once, they were doubtful, not strong in their faith and afraid to do what the Lord had entrusted them to do. They hesitated and doubted, but the Lord strengthened them, and eventually, they were transformed into courageous and hardworking servants of God, who went about preaching the Good News tirelessly, and secured for countless souls they have touched, the promise of eternal life by their salvation in God.

Brothers and sisters in Christ, it is time now for us to realise the significance and meaning of the Scripture passage which we have read in today’s first reading, taken from the Epistle of St. John. In that Scripture passage, we are reminded that each and every one of us have been made the children of God, as the adopted sons and daughters of God, Our Father in heaven. And therefore, as God’s own children, all of us should be walking in His path, as He has shown us, through none other than His Son, Jesus Christ.

Unfortunately, many of us mankind acted in ways akin to being prodigal sons and daughters, preferring to walk in our own path and disobeying the Lord and His commandments. We gave in to our pride and hubris, and we did many things for our own personal gain and worldly glory, rather than to serve the Lord and to live faithfully in accordance with God’s ways.

Brothers and sisters in Christ, God Himself has bestowed upon us the great gift of His Son, Our Lord Jesus Christ, Who came into this world and dwelled among us, uniting our humanity to Himself, that we all become God’s own children through Him. If God has loved us so much and gave us so many opportunities and goodness, then should we not do the same to Him? Should we not devote ourselves out of pure love for Him?

Let us all seek to be better disciples of the Lord, imitating the courageous examples of the Holy Apostles. Let us all renew our faith and commitment to Him, that in all of our actions and deeds, we will draw ever closer to God, and be able to live faithfully all the days of our lives, and in the end, be justified by God and found worthy to receive the fullness of His eternal glory and inheritance He promised us all. May God bless us all. Amen.

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Thursday, 4 January 2018 : Weekday of Christmas Time (Gospel Reading)

Liturgical Colour : White

John 1 : 35-42

On the following day John was standing there again with two of his disciples. As Jesus walked by, John looked at him and said, “There is the Lamb of God.” On hearing this, the two disciples followed Jesus. He turned and saw them following, and He said to them, “What are you looking for?”

They answered, “Rabbi (which means Master), where are You staying?” Jesus said, “Come and see.” So they went and saw where He stayed, and spent the rest of that day with Him. It was about four o’ clock in the afternoon.

Andrew, the brother of Simon Peter, was one of the two who heard what John had said, and followed Jesus. Early the next morning he found his brother Simon and said to him, “We have found the Messiah” (which means the Christ), and he brought Simon to Jesus. Jesus looked at him and said, “You are Simon, son of John, but you shall be called Cephas” (which means Rock).

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Thursday, 4 January 2018 : Weekday of Christmas Time (Psalm)

Liturgical Colour : White

Psalm 97 : 1, 7-8, 9

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

Let the sea resound and everything in it, the world and all its peoples. Let rivers clap their hands, hills and mountains sing with joy before the Lord.

For He comes to rule the earth. He will judge the world with justice and the peoples with fairness.

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Thursday, 4 January 2018 : Weekday of Christmas Time (First Reading)

Liturgical Colour : White

1 John 3 : 7-10

My little children, do not be led astray; those who do what is right are upright, just as Jesus Christ is upright. But those who sin belong to the devil, for the devil sins from the beginning.

This is why the Son of God was shown to us, He was to undo the works of the devil. Those born of God do not sin, for the seed of God remains in them; they cannot sin because they are born of God. What is the way to recognise the children of God and those of the devil? The one who does not do what is right is not of God; so, too, the one who does not love his brother or sister.

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Thursday, 28 December 2017 : Feast of the Holy Innocents, Martyrs (Homily and Scripture Reflections)

Liturgical Colour : Red

Dear brothers and sisters in Christ, on this day, we remember the memory of the Holy Innocents of Bethlehem, those young children of the place where the Lord and Saviour of the world was born, in Bethlehem, the City of David. The children were killed by the order of the king of Judea, Herod the Great, who was the ruler of the land of the time.

King Herod wanted to get rid of Jesus because the three Magi came to him asking him about the King Who was to come into the world, and they followed the Star of Bethlehem to the territory of Judea, Herod’s kingdom at the time. Herod himself came to power, according to history, through deceit and corrupt practices, including collaborating with the Romans that he was rewarded with the kingship over Judea and Samaria, and many other lands.

As a result, we can only deduce that Herod was immediately jealous and afraid of the Baby Jesus, Who was born as King, and as the True King of Israel. As Jesus is the King of Israel and indeed over the whole creation, Herod was merely a usurper and therefore, he was nobody. Yet, Herod wanted to preserve his power, kingship and privileges as king, and thus, instead of humbly recognising the true King, he plotted to have his rival destroyed.

That was why he tried to trick the three Magi to give him the location and information about the Messiah and King, but the Angel of God led the three Magi through another way, that Jesus was kept safe from the plots of Herod. That was when the Angel of God also led St. Joseph to bring both Mary and the Baby Jesus to Egypt, to keep him safe from His enemies. Herod was angry as he was not able to get his hands on Jesus, and ordered the massacre of all the babies and young children in Bethlehem aged two years old and younger.

Thus, today we remembered the memory of those innocent children who were martyred for the sake of the Lord, innocent victims of humanity’s greed and desire for power, for worldly glory and might, as displayed by king Herod and his attempt to kill Jesus the true King, and sacrificing many innocent people in the process. And therefore, we should spend some time to reflect about ourselves and our own lives, considering what had happened that day in Bethlehem.

Let us remember all the mothers and parents who lost their young children and babies because of the ambition and pride of humanity, as what happened in that occasion in Bethlehem. But we should not forget about the many other children and families affected in the same manner, throughout the world and throughout history. There are many other instances where many innocent ones suffered.

Let us remember all those young children and innocent ones who were manipulated into suffering, through vile practices that sadly still exist to this very day, as it was in the past, such as child labour, even child slavery and abuse, as well as the use of underage people in warfare and conflicts. This is the sad and wicked reality of our world today, just as it had happened to us mankind in the past.

Brothers and sisters in Christ, let us all do our best as Christians, to stand up for the sake of the innocent children and all those who have been caught up in the midst of warfare, conflict, sufferings, abuse and many others, all because of our own human greed and desire for power, for prestige, for glory, for more wealth and influence in this world. Let us all put an end to these vile works if we ourselves have done them, or have taken part in them, and if we have been silent all these while, let us speak up for their sake.

Let us remember, that all these innocent children are also children of God, beloved and dear to Him, just as all of us are. We must not allow any forms of abuse or mistreatment of these people, who are indeed our brethren and relatives. God will show His wrath to those who are mistreating and abusing His beloved ones, and they will suffer the consequences of their actions at the time of their judgment.

During this Christmas season, let us return to the Lord and make Him once again the focus and the centre of our lives. Let us not be swayed by the temptation of worldly glory, power and prestige, wealth or any other forms of persuasions, which had brought so many of our brethren down into the trap laid down by Satan, through which he endeavoured to make us mankind fight one against the other, and oppress our brethren.

May the Lord our God forgive us our trespasses, and all that we have caused our brethren, to suffer and to be in pain, or for our ignorance of their need and our deafness to their pleas for help. May we all become ever more courageous to live faithfully in accordance with our faith. May God bless us always, now and forever. Amen.

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Thursday, 28 December 2017 : Feast of the Holy Innocents, Martyrs (Gospel Reading)

Liturgical Colour : Red

Matthew 2 : 13-18

After the wise men had left, an Angel of the Lord appeared in a dream to Joseph and said, “Get up, take the Child and His mother and flee to Egypt, and stay there until I tell you, for Herod will soon be looking for the Child in order to kill Him.”

Joseph got up, took the Child and His mother, and left that night for Egypt, where He stayed until the death of Herod. In this way, what the Lord had said through the prophet was fulfilled : I called My Son out of Egypt.

When Herod found out that he had been tricked by the wise men, he was furious. He gave orders to kill all the boys in Bethlehem and its neighbourhood who were two years old or under. This was done in line with what he had learnt from the wise men about the time when the star appeared.

In this way, what the prophet Jeremiah had said was fulfilled : A cry is heard in Ramah, wailing and loud lamentation : Rachel weeps for her children. She refuses to be comforted, for they are no more.