Thursday

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(Holy Week) Thursday, 13 April 2017 : Holy Thursday, Chrism Mass (Gospel Reading)

Liturgical Colour : White
Luke 4 : 16-21

At that time, when Jesus came to Nazareth, where He had been brought up, He entered the synagogue on the Sabbath, as He usually did. He stood up to read, and they handed Him the book of the prophet Isaiah.

Jesus then unrolled the scroll and found the place where it is written : “The Spirit of the Lord is upon Me. He has anointed Me to bring good news to the poor, to proclaim liberty to captives and new sight to the blind; to free the oppressed and to announce the Lord’s year of mercy.”

Jesus then rolled up the scroll, gave it to the attendant and sat down; and the eyes of all in the synagogue were fixed on Him. Then He said to them, “Today these prophetic words come true, even as you listen.”

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(Holy Week) Thursday, 13 April 2017 : Holy Thursday, Chrism Mass (Second Reading)

Liturgical Colour : White
Revelations 1 : 5-8

And from Jesus Christ, the faithful Witness, the Firstborn of the dead, the Ruler of the kings of the earth. To Him Who loves us and has washed away our sins with His own Blood, making us a kingdom and priests for God His Father, to Him be the glory and power forever and ever. Amen.

See He comes with the clouds and everyone will see Him, even those who pierced Him; on His account all the nations of the earth will beat his breast. Yes. It will be so. “I am the Alpha and the Omega,” says the Lord God, He Who is, Who was and Who is to come : the Master of the universe.

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(Holy Week) Thursday, 13 April 2017 : Holy Thursday, Chrism Mass (Psalm)

Liturgical Colour : White
Psalm 88 : 21-22, 25 and 27

I have found David my servant, and with My holy oil I have anointed him. My hand will be ever with him and My arm will sustain him.

My faithfulness and love will be with him, and by My help he will be strong. He will call on Me, ‘You are my Father, my God, my Rock, my Saviour.’

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(Holy Week) Thursday, 13 April 2017 : Holy Thursday, Chrism Mass (First Reading)

Liturgical Colour : White
Isaiah 61 : 1-3a, 6a, 8b-9

The Spirit of the Lord YHVH is upon Me, because YHVH has anointed Me to bring good news to the poor. He has sent Me to bind up broken hearts, to proclaim liberty to the captives, freedom to those languishing in prison; to announce the year of YHVH’s favour and the day of vengeance of our God; to give comfort to all who grieve; (to comfort those who mourn in Zion) and give them a garland instead of ashes.

But you will be named priests of YHVH, you will be called ministers of our God. I will give them their due reward and make an everlasting covenant with them. Their descendants shall be known among the nations and their offspring among the peoples. All who see them will acknowledge that they are a race YHVH has blessed.

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Thursday, 6 April 2017 : 5th Week of Lent (Homily and Scripture Reflections)

Liturgical Colour : Purple/Violet
Dear brothers and sisters in Christ, on this day we heard about the faith of Abraham, the father of many nations and peoples, who had heard the Lord’s call and followed His call to go to the land He had promised to him and to his descendants. And that was why God blessed Abraham and made His covenant with him, and with all of his descendants.

But the Israelites at the time of Jesus refused to believe in Him when He came into this world to establish a new covenant with them. They were very proud of themselves as the descendants of Abraham, and yet in their actions, they showed what were contrary to how Abraham had lived his life. They were vain, filled with human ambitions and desires, acted unjustly upon others and did what was sinful in the sight of God.

They thought that by being born children and direct descendants of Abraham, then they alone deserved God’s love, grace and salvation. Unfortunately, because of their actions and wicked deeds, even Abraham himself would be ashamed to have these people calling themselves his descendants. Their actions have brought scandal to the name of Abraham, for they have not acted and did things in the same manner as Abraham had done.

They have not been faithful to God, and they have not done what the Lord had asked them to do. They gave in to worldly temptations of power, desire and all other sorts of things that kept them away from being truly faithful to God. And they forgot that, as God mentioned to Abraham at that time, and written in the book of Genesis, they need to obey the commandments of God and be actively involved in living up their part of the covenant.

Yes, a covenant is not a one-directional transaction between God and Abraham. A covenant instead is a transaction and agreement, between two parties, and in this case, involving both God and Abraham. Both sides would have to fulfil their respective part of the covenant, or else, the covenant would not be fulfilled. And that was what happened to the Israelites, as they disregarded their obligations to fulfil the commandments of God, they had lost their right for the covenant with God.

That was why they also suffered the consequences, having been conquered and put down by their enemies, having to leave behind which God had promised to them and to their forefathers, because of their lack of faith. They were brought to faraway lands and had to endure humiliation among the foreigners, who as written in the Scriptures, mocked them for their disobedience and fate.

Yet, the Lord is ever forgiving and loving, and that is what all of us need to remember as we progress through this time of Lent, and as we deepen our relationships with God. God sent us a new Hope in the person of Jesus Christ, His Son, the Saviour and Deliverer He had promised to all of us, as the sign of His love and faith, as well as commitment to His covenant with all of us, remembering the covenant He Himself made with Abraham.

To this extent, through Jesus God had established a new covenant with us all, one that will never end and be broken, for it is by none other than through His own Precious Blood and Body shed on the cross at Calvary, that He had sealed and made fulfilled the covenant that He made anew with us. This new Covenant is the covenant between us and God, and through this Covenant all of us are called to come closer to God, to be forgiven from all of our sins and to receive God’s everlasting grace.

Are we then able to commit ourselves to God in the same way that God had committed Himself. God is ever so faithful and committed to His words and covenants that He was willing to lay down His life for the sake of us all, the partakers of His covenant. If God Himself is willing to go so far for our sake, then should we all mankind then do the same? Shall we all show Him as great a commitment and faith that we can muster?

Brothers and sisters in Christ, let us all renew our commitment to God from now on. Let us all be renewed in faith, and show it through our actions and deeds. Everything we say and do, we should do it with genuine Christian love and charity. Let us all give ourselves to the service and help for our brethren in need, all those around us who are in need of help, and have no one to help them. May the Lord bless us all and our endeavours, and may He bring us all to His everlasting glory, all of us who partake in His wonderful covenant. Amen.

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Thursday, 6 April 2017 : 5th Week of Lent (Gospel Reading)

Liturgical Colour : Purple/Violet
John 8 : 51-59

At that time, Jesus said to the Jews, “Truly, I say to you, if anyone keeps My word, he will never experience death.” The Jews replied, “Now we know that You have a demon. Abraham died and the prophets as well, but You say, ‘Whoever keeps My word will never experience death.’ Who do You claim to be? Do You claim to be greater than our father Abraham, who died? And the prophets also died.”

Then Jesus said, “If I were to praise Myself, it would count for nothing. But He Who gives glory to Me is the Father, the very One you claim as your God, although you do not know Him. I know Him, and if I were to say that I do not know Him, I would be a liar like you. But I know Him and I keep His word. As for Abraham, your ancestor, he looked forward to the day when I would come; and he rejoiced when he saw it.”

The Jews then said to Him, “You are not yet fifty years old and You have seen Abraham?” And Jesus said, “Truly, I say to you, before Abraham was, I am.” They then picked up stones to throw at Him, but Jesus hid Himself and left the Temple.

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Thursday, 6 April 2017 : 5th Week of Lent (Psalm)

Liturgical Colour : Purple/Violet
Psalm 104 : 4-5, 6-7, 8-9

Look to the Lord and be strong; seek His face always. Remember His wonderful works, His miracles and His judgments.

You descendants of His servant Abraham, you sons of Jacob, His chosen ones! He is the Lord our God; His judgments reach the whole world.

He remembers His covenant forever, His promise to a thousand generations, the covenant He made with Abraham, the promise He swore to Isaac.

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Thursday, 6 April 2017 : 5th Week of Lent (First Reading)

Liturgical Colour : Purple/Violet
Genesis 17 : 3-9

Abram fell face down and God said to him, “This is My covenant with you : you will be the father of a multitude of nations. No longer will you be called Abram, but Abraham, because I will make you the father of a multitude of nations. I will make you more and more famous; I will multiply your descendants; nations shall spring from you, kings shall be among your descendants.”

“And I will establish a covenant, an everlasting covenant between Myself and you and your descendants after you; from now on I will be your God and the God of your descendants after you, for generations to come. I will give to you and your descendants after you the land you are living in, all the land of Canaan, as an everlasting possession and I will be the God of your race.”

God said to Abraham, “For your part, you shall keep My covenant, you and your descendants after you, generation after generation.”

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Thursday, 30 March 2017 : 4th Week of Lent (Homily and Scripture Reflections)

Liturgical Colour : Purple/Violet
Dear brothers and sisters in Christ, on this day we heard from the Book of Exodus, of the well known event when God was very angry against His people, the Israelites, because they have sinned against Him and disobeyed Him in the worst way possible. They carved for themselves a golden calf and chose this golden calf, the creation of the hands of man, to be their god and worshipped it.

Let us understand why God was very angry against the Israelites. Remember that God had just rescued all of His people from the hands of the Egyptians and the Pharaoh by His mighty deeds, the ten plagues that He had brought upon these people who enslaved His beloved ones. He did so many good things for them, opened the sea before them and allowed them to escape from the pursuit of their enemies and oppressors.

He fed them with manna, the bread from heaven and also with clear and sweet water, providing them with all that they needed. He made their enemies to run away in fear away from them, defeating all those who sought for the destruction of Israel. He also made a covenant with them at His holy mountain, through Moses His servant, who led all of Israel to the foot of the mountain to receive His laws and commandments.

But they were quick to disobey the Lord and be wayward. When Moses left them behind to go up the mountain and receive the Law of God, they quickly assumed that they had no God with them, and had it on themselves to make a golden calf to be god over them, following the customs of their neighbours. It is therefore no surprise that God was angry at them, because they have not appreciated the love with which God had cared for them, and betrayed Him for the pagan idols and gods.

How does all these relate to us, brothers and sisters in Christ? How are they relevant to us? All of us are sinners, brothers and sisters, and all of us have been disobedient to God in one way or another, and we have been enslaved to sin. Sin has corrupted us and crushed us under its power and influence. It was just like how the Israelites suffered under the tyranny of the Pharaoh and the Egyptians.

But God loves each and every one of us, and He wants all of us to be saved and liberated from all those sins. And therefore, just as the Israelites were brought out of Egypt by the mighty hands of God, God also endeavoured to bring all of us, His beloved people, to freedom and liberation from our sins. And He had done that, by the sacrifice of His own Son, the Paschal Lamb of sacrifice, just as the Israelites ate the sacrifice of the Passover lambs on the night of their liberation from Egypt.

And thus, by the waters of our baptism, all of us who have received the Sacrament of Baptism have received the salvation from God, the liberation from our sins that we are all looking out for. And we have all been made the people of God, as the members of His Church. However, as a reminder to us, through the past example of the Israelites, if we are not careful, we may also fall into the same trap of sin as the Israelites had experienced.

That means, all of us must be vigilant and be careful lest we fall into the temptations and the obstacles which Satan and his allies had prepared before us. We have to be careful of the temptation of our human pride, thinking that it is by our own achievements and power that we have attained all the glories we have received. That is what the Israelites had done, thinking that they had no need for the Lord and instead made upon themselves and glorified the statues made of their own hands as their god.

We have to be vigilant against all the works and the temptations that the devil is placing on our path, that we do not fall into sin. Let us make use this time of Lent to reflect on our lives, and think carefully how we should proceed with our lives, judging well what we all should do, that we may turn away from our past sinfulness and embrace wholeheartedly God’s forgiveness and mercy.

God may indeed be angry at our sins and our disobedience, for He hates all forms of sin that is disobedience and wickedness in His sight. However, at the same time, He also loves each and every one of us, all those whom He had created with love, and to whom He had granted life and grace. He wants to forgive us our sins, but are we responding to His merciful love? Are we open to God’s mercy working its power in our hearts, bodies and minds?

Brothers and sisters in Christ, let us all recommit ourselves to God and to His ways from now on if we have not done so. Let us all appreciate the love that God has for each one of us, and let us no longer disobey Him, but learn to put our complete trust in Him and help one another to remain true and faithful to our God. May God bless us all, and help us to draw closer to Him, especially during this penitential season of Lent. Amen.

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Thursday, 30 March 2017 : 4th Week of Lent (Gospel Reading)

Liturgical Colour : Purple/Violet
John 5 : 31-47

At that time, Jesus said to the Jews, “If I bore witness to Myself, My testimony would be worthless. But Another One is bearing witness to Me, and I know that His testimony is true when He bears witness to Me. John also bore witness to the truth when you sent messengers to him, but I do not seek such human testimony; I recall this for you, so that you may be saved.”

“John was a burning and shining lamp, and for a while you were willing to enjoy his light. But I have greater evidence than that of John – the works which the Father entrusted to Me to carry out. The very works I do bear witness : The Father has sent Me. Thus He Who bears witness to Me is the Father Who sent Me. You have never heard His voice and have never seen His likeness; therefore, as long as you do not believe His messenger, His word is not in you.”

“You search in the Scriptures, thinking that in them you will find life; yet Scripture bears witness to Me. But you refuse to come to Me, that you may live. I am not seeking human praise; but I have known that love of God is not within you, for I have come in My Father’s Name and you do not accept Me. If another comes in his own name, you will accept him. As long as you seek praise from one another, instead of seeking the glory which comes from the only God, how can you believe?”

“Do not think that I shall accuse you to the Father. Moses himself, in whom you placed your hope, accuses you. If you believed Moses, you would believe Me, for he wrote of Me. But if you do not believe what he wrote, how will you believe what I say?”