Thursday

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Thursday, 7 September 2017 : 22nd Week of Ordinary Time (Homily and Scripture Reflections)

Liturgical Colour : Green

Dear brothers and sisters in Christ, on this day through the readings taken from the Sacred Scriptures, all of us are reminded that each and every one of us have been called by God to be holy, and to be those who had been entrusted to be the fishers of men, to gain for God a holy people, converted and turned from their sinfulness into righteousness.

All of us as Christians, as those who have been called by God, and who had been baptised in the Name of the Most Holy Trinity, have been gathered and called by God to be His people, sealed with the Sacraments of Initiation, of Baptism, Confirmation and the Holy Eucharist. However, out there, there are still many people who have not yet heard of the Lord and His salvation, and there are also still many people who are living in sin because they do not know the way to go on forward, trapped in the darkness of their sins.

And all of us are called to follow in the footsteps of the Apostles, who had been called to gather the race of man, from all nations and states, from all languages and backgrounds, from all kinds of peoples, that all of them may be gathered in the holy presence of God, having been redeemed from the darkness and from their sins. This is what the Lord wants each one of us to do, because the works that He had begun through His Apostles had not yet been complete.

Why is that so? That is because the Church which the Apostles built has been founded upon the faith and the good works that they had done, in going forth to the various places and showing the truth of God to the people, calling many of them to repentance and to turn away from their sinfulness, embracing the Lord Jesus Christ as their Lord, Saviour and God.

And all of us, led by the successors of the Apostles, our bishops and priests, are the ones who have been called to continue their good works. We cannot stand idle thinking that we do not have any obligations or needs to do as Christians, that is as those who follow the Lord and obey His will. We cannot be lukewarm or inactive Christians whose actions do not show that we truly belong to the Lord and that we are faithful to Him.

If we then wonder if we are capable of doing what the Lord had asked us to do, let us all remember that many of the Apostles and disciples of the Lord were merely fishermen, tax collectors, and sinners, many of them who came from the low strata in the society, and many were poor and uneducated. He did not choose the mighty, the powerful and the intellectuals to serve Him, but instead, He called on normal people, whom He then transformed wonderfully to be His disciples.

Are we still not sure on what we are to do then, brothers and sisters in Christ? Let us all remember that each and every one of us have been given unique abilities and talents by the Lord our God, and we should make use of these talents and abilities for the good of our brethren in need. We should be active as the members of the Church of God, as Christians, to bring the Word of God to others whom we are in contact with.

Do not worry about how we are going to do it. Instead, let us just place our trust in God, and let Him guide us in our efforts. Let us then do our best, to the best of our abilities, that in each of our actions, words and deeds we will always bring glory to God, and we will always be exemplary in all that we do, so that through us, many more people will be saved. May God be with us always and may He continue to bless us in our good works. Amen.

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Thursday, 7 September 2017 : 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, 7 September 2017 : 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, 7 September 2017 : 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, 31 August 2017 : 21st Week of Ordinary Time (Homily and Scripture Reflections)

Liturgical Colour : Green

Dear brothers and sisters in Christ, on this day the Word of God in the Scriptures speak to us the need to be ever vigilant, day and night, from time to time, that we will not be caught unaware and unprepared, should the Lord come again in His own time, as He had promised. This we heard ourselves from the parable which Jesus our Lord spoke to the people, the parable of the faithful and the bad servants.

In that parable, Jesus spoke first of a faithful and devoted servant to whom his master entrusted his household, his servants and his entire properties while he was away from his residence, essentially becoming his steward and the caretaker of his many possessions. And the faithful servant did all that his master had ordered him to do, fulfilling all that was required of him, and when his master came back, the servant was richly rewarded.

And then, we also heard about another servant, who was also entrusted with the possessions and the household of his master when he was away. Yet this servant was different from the previous one, as this servant was lazy, and he misused the authority given to him by his master, abusing the other servants and by shirking his duties and abandoning his responsibilities, thinking that he could get away with all that, as his master was away.

The reality only came to strike at that lazy servant when the master suddenly came back without warning and found the lazy servant to be idling at his work and even abusing the servants. The servant was punished and earned what he deserved, and all these are reminders for us all that these things will come to us as well if we are not vigilant in how we live our lives daily.

What does this mean, brothers and sisters in Christ? It means that each one of us have been entrusted by God with this life we have, just as the master of the house entrusted his properties and household to the servants. And how well we do in this life, we will then be judged by the Lord, Who is our Lord and Master. He will know of what we have done in our lives, as well as what we have not done.

Now, the question is that, who is it that we want to be, brothers and sisters in Christ? Do we want to be like the faithful servant, whom the master found to be faithful and good in his work, even though those labours and works might be hard, and yet, provided him with bountiful returns and rewards? Or would we rather be like the lazy servant, who had done nothing and wasted his time?

That brings us then to the need to question ourselves, what have done as a Christian and as a member of the Church of God? We cannot be lukewarm in our faith, and that means, we cannot be ignorant of what we need to do, that is to love God with all of our heart, with all of our mind and our strength, indeed, with our whole being. And that means for us to spend time with Him and to be true to our faith to Him in all the things we say and do.

We may think that it is something that is easy to be done, but in reality, it can be quite difficult. There are plenty of temptations and pressures around us tempting us to do otherwise. And we must also not forget that as Christians, we are also called to love our fellow brethren just as much as we love ourselves and just as how we loved God. Are we ready and able to give our love to our brethren, unconditionally and generously?

Therefore, brothers and sisters in Christ, let us all reflect on these questions and indeed think through of what each and every one of us are able to do in order to be good servants of God, walking faithfully in His ways, that in the end, when God comes again, and when it is time for us to render our accounts of our own lives, we will be able to receive worthily the graces and blessings which God had promised all of us.

May the Lord be with all of us, and may He bless us at all times, that He will always guide us on this journey of faith, that we may draw ever closer to Him with each passing day. Amen.

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Thursday, 31 August 2017 : 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, 31 August 2017 : 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, 31 August 2017 : 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, 24 August 2017 : Feast of St. Bartholomew, Apostle (Homily and Scripture Reflections)

Liturgical Colour : Red

Dear brothers and sisters in Christ, on this day we celebrate the feast day of one of the Holy Apostles, one of the Twelve Apostles of our Lord, namely St. Bartholomew the Apostle, also known as Nathanael, which we heard in the Gospel today being called by God to follow Him and to be His Apostle. And therefore, as we celebrate the feast of one of our Lord’s principal disciple, let us all recall what the Apostles had done for the sake of the Church.

The Apostles were called from diverse backgrounds and origins. Some of them were fishermen, while others were tax collectors and sinners, even some were zealots or fighters and thieves. The Apostles were called by the Lord Jesus Who called all of them and made them to become the twelve principal members of His disciples, recalling the twelve sons and tribes of the people of Israel. And they were the ones through whom God made His works in this world evident and true.

The Apostles followed the Lord Jesus and helped Him in His ministry, going ahead of the Lord to establish His presence and to prepare the people and the community for His coming. They prepared the path for the Lord and therefore they are indeed considered the pillars of the Church of God, as the invaluable foundation and key personnel involved in the establishment of God’s Church in this world. If not for their hard work and sacrifices, there would not have been the Church as we know it today.

And after the Lord Jesus had risen from the dead and ascended into Heaven, for St. Bartholomew, as was for the other Apostles, he went to various countries and places to spread the words of the Gospel and introduce the Lord to all those who had not yet heard about His salvation. He went to India to preach the faith there and many souls were saved because of his works. And from India, he went on to evangelise in the kingdom of Armenia where he met his death in martyrdom.

It was told that he managed to convince many people to embrace the Christian faith, and in fact St. Bartholomew even managed to convert the king of Armenia by his teachings and efforts. It was then that St. Bartholomew met his martyrdom when the king’s brother led the enemies of the faith and took over the saints and put them to death. By his efforts he had established the foundations of the Church in many communities, and many had been saved.

Brothers and sisters in Christ, how are all these things relevant to us? What is it that the Apostles like St. Bartholomew are able to show us? They showed us the strong devotion and commitment to the Lord, one that is often leading to the moments when they had to choose between safeguarding their own interests and serving God’s will. And they indeed chose to obey the Lord even though they knew that by doing so they had placed themselves at great risk.

All of us are called to walk in the footsteps of the Apostles, as because each of the Apostles have dedicated their whole lives to God. And all of us are the successors of the Apostles, the ones who have been passed the baton which we ought to take up in order to continue the good works of the Apostles. We are called to follow the examples of the Apostles in all that they have done, in their faith and dedication, and in everything they have given up for the sake of the Lord.

There are still a lot of work that the Church has to do, brothers and sisters in Christ. There are still plenty of opportunities in which we can contribute as members of the Church. There are still many out there who are still living in the darkness and in ignorance of God’s truth and ways. And it is by our efforts that the Church will be able to bring these brethren of ours that they will be able to find their way to the Lord and therefore together we will be worthy of Him.

Brothers and sisters in Christ, let us all today renew our commitment to the Lord through our actions, words and deeds. Let us rediscover that zeal which we ought to have for the Lord, that we will be able to devote ourselves in the giving of our time, our efforts and works for the greater glory of God and for the salvation of His people. Let us follow the footsteps of the Holy Apostles, St. Bartholomew and his fellow Apostles that we may advance the good cause of the Lord and bring ever more souls to the salvation in God.

St. Bartholomew, all the holy Apostles and saints of the Lord, all those who have lived worthily in God, pray for us all sinners, all of us who are still struggling daily in this world. May God be with us always and may He strengthen our faith in us, that we will always be close to Him, and may He bless us always. Amen.

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Thursday, 24 August 2017 : Feast of St. Bartholomew, Apostle (Gospel Reading)

Liturgical Colour : Red

John 1 : 45-51

At that time, Philip found Nathanael and said to him, “We have found the One Moses wrote about in the Law, and the prophets : He is Jesus, Son of Joseph, from Nazareth.”

Nathanael replied, “Can anything good come from Nazareth?” Philip said to him, “Come and see.” When Jesus saw Nathanael coming, He said of him, “Here comes an Israelite, a true one; there is nothing false in him.” Nathanael asked Him, “How do You know me?” And Jesus said to him, “Before Philip called you, you were under the fig tree, and I saw you.”

Nathanael answered, “Master, You are the Son of God! You are the King of Israel!” But Jesus replied, “You believe because I said, ‘I saw you under the fig tree.’ But you will see greater things than that. Truly, I say to you, you will see the heavens opened, and the Angels of God ascending and descending upon the Son of Man.”