Thursday

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Thursday, 10 April 2025 : 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, 10 April 2025 : 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, 10 April 2025 : 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, 3 April 2025 : 4th Week of Lent (Homily and Scripture Reflections)

Liturgical Colour : Purple/Violet

Dear brothers and sisters in Christ, today as we all continue to journey through this holy and penitential season of Lent, we are all reminded of the sins and wickedness which we have committed in this life, and all the things which bring about the Divine displeasure because sin is abhorrent before God, and sin cannot exist in God’s Presence or else we will be crushed and destroyed by those sins. If yesterday we were reminded of God’s generous mercy and love, His ever present desire to forgive us all our sins, then in today’s Scripture readings we are reminded that the same Lord, our God, is also a Holy and Just God, One Who is all good and perfect, and will not have corruption of sin and evil in His Presence.

God’s generous and rich mercy provides for us the sure avenue and path for us to return to Him and to be forgiven from our many sins. However, we must also realise that those sins require us to embrace God’s forgiveness and mercy wholeheartedly, committing ourselves to the path of repentance and reconciliation with God. Without repentance and contrition over our sins, there can be no true forgiveness, because while God’s mercy is truly rich and boundless, but if we are still strongly attached to sin and disobedience against God, eventually we will still be drawn again and again back into sin and its corruptions. That is why especially during this time and season of Lent, we are reminded to rid ourselves of all these sins and the attachments to sin.

In our first reading today, taken from the Book of Exodus, we heard of the moment when the Israelites committed a great sin against God because they intentionally abandoned and betrayed Him by establishing a golden calf idol over them and calling it their lord and master, their god and the one who saved them out of the land of Egypt. In this well-known occasion and story, the Israelites chose to rebel against God because they were impatient and they also assumed that Moses, the leader whom God had sent to them and appointed to lead them to the Promised Land had perished on the mountain, and therefore, they were free to choose their own path and some among them likely instigated the people to adopt the practices of the Egyptians that they were known well to them, having lived in Egypt for a few centuries before their emancipation by God.

But in doing so, the people of God had broken the very first commandment of the Law which God was about to give them, what we all now know as the Ten Commandments, and at the core of those laws and rules governing the people, is the love that the people of God, and hence, all of us mankind, ought to give wholeheartedly to the Lord, our God and Master of the whole Universe, to Him and Him alone. There is only one God and there is no other gods besides Him, and this is the heart of the Commandments and the guidance which He has given to all of those people. Unfortunately, they had taken His love and generosity for granted, and instead of being thankful and appreciative of the love and kindness that He has shown them, they rejected His love and betrayed Him instead for pagan and false idols.

God was angered by what He had seen and He told Moses that He would destroy all of them, sparing only Moses and that He would make Moses to be the progenitor of a great people like that of Abraham before him. But Moses begged the Lord on behalf of the people of Israel, reminding God of the love which He had for those people, no matter how sinful and wicked they had been. God certainly loved His people very much, and we can see that love being manifested to us as well. But through this moment, we are all reminded of just how serious our sins are, and how dangerous they can be as they can truly lead us down the path to destruction, and if we are not careful, we may end up being judged and condemned by those sins which we had committed in our lives.

In our Gospel passage today, taken from the Gospel according to St. John the Apostle and Evangelist, we heard the Lord Jesus speaking to the people of God, especially referring to the actions of those who have not yet believed in Him and in everything that He had revealed to them from God up to that point, as well as the words and teachings of St. John the Baptist before Him. For the context, St. John the Baptist was the one sent by God to prepare the way for the coming of His Son, Our Lord and Saviour, and he called on all the people to turn away from their sins and to repent their wicked ways, as the coming of the Messiah and the Kingdom of God was at hand. And everything would indeed come to fulfilment with the coming of Christ. But quite a number among those people, like many among the Pharisees and the teachers of the Law refused to believe, doubted and even questioned the authority and credibility of both St. John the Baptist and the Lord Himself.

But why did they all harden their hearts and minds as such? The reason was highlighted in our Gospel passage today and also in what the Pharisees believed in, namely in the very strict and rigid interpretation of the Jewish laws and customs, the Law that God had first revealed through Moses and granted to the people as we heard in our first reading passage today. However, they often did not truly understand the true intention and purpose of why those laws and rules were put in place by God. They were meant by God to show and teach His beloved people on how they can love Him and put their hearts and minds with the right focus and attention on Him, and not be easily swayed or tempted to follow the path of the world instead.

But pride is something that is truly difficult to overcome, as it was their sense of superiority, their knowledge and thoughts that they knew it better than others around them, that they were more worthy and more knowledgeable about the Law and the prophets that led them to disobey the Lord and rebel against Him, much as how those Israelites, their ancestors, had thought that Moses had perished at the Mountain of God, and instead, they thought that by establishing a golden calf over themselves as god, they were doing the right thing. And through these things that we have discussed and heard from the Sacred Scriptures today, we are reminded to distance ourselves from this prideful thoughts and ways, and we should instead humble ourselves, recognising our flaws and sinfulness so that we will not continue to fall into sin.

Let us all therefore make good use of the opportunities which had been provided to us in this time and season of Lent so that we may truly be sincere in seeking God’s love and mercy, to be forgiven from our many sins and faults, and to be reconciled fully with our loving Father and Creator. We must not take for granted God’s love for each one of us, but we must strive to seek Him with sincere and contrite hearts, desiring forgiveness for our many sins. Let us all not harden our hearts or be prideful any longer, but instead strive to live our lives henceforth with faith and true devotion towards God, be exemplary in our way of living that we may truly be worthy of being called as Christians. May God be with us always, and may He continue to bless us in everything we do. Amen.

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Thursday, 3 April 2025 : 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?”

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Thursday, 3 April 2025 : 4th Week of Lent (Psalm)

Liturgical Colour : Purple/Violet

Psalm 105 : 19-20, 21-22, 23

They made a calf at Horeb and worshipped the molten image. They exchanged the glory of God for the image of a bull that eats grass.

They forgot their Saviour God, Who had done great things in Egypt, wonderful works in the land of Ham, and awesome deeds by the Sea of Reeds.

So He spoke of destroying them, but Moses, His chosen one, stood in the breach before Him to shield them from destruction.

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Thursday, 3 April 2025 : 4th Week of Lent (First Reading)

Liturgical Colour : Purple/Violet

Exodus 32 : 7-14

Then YHVH said to Moses, “Go down at once, for your people, whom you brought up from the land of Egypt, have corrupted themselves. They have quickly turned from the way I commanded them and have made for themselves a molten calf; they have bowed down before it and sacrificed to it and said : ‘These are your gods, Israel, who brought you out of Egypt.'”

And YHVH said to Moses, “I see that these people are a stiff-necked people. Now just leave Me that My anger may blaze against them. I will destroy them, but of you I will make a great nation.” But Moses calmed the anger of YHVH, his God, and said, “Why, o YHVH, should Your anger burst against Your people whom You brought out of the land of Egypt with such great power and with a mighty hand?”

“Let not the Egyptians say : ‘YHVH brought them out with evil intent, for He wanted to kill them in the mountains and wipe them from the face of the earth.’ Turn away from the heat of Your anger and do not bring disaster on Your people. Remember Your servants, Abraham, Isaac and Jacob, and the promise You Yourself swore : I will multiply Your descendants like the stars of heaven, and all this land I spoke about I will give to them as an everlasting inheritance.”

YHVH then changed His mind and would not yet harm His people.

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Thursday, 27 March 2025 : 3rd Week of Lent (Homily and Scripture Reflections)

Liturgical Colour : Purple/Violet

Dear brothers and sisters in Christ, today all of us are reminded of our sins and evils, all caused by our disobedience against God and our refusal to listen to Him and our persistence in doing things that are contrary to His will and teachings. We must not allow our stubbornness and all the wicked desires and temptations in us and around us to distract us from the Lord and from the path that He has guided us through in this life. We must not allow ourselves to be divided easily one against another because of the instigation and the efforts of those wicked forces of evil which will often play on our insecurities, desires, ambitions and all the means they have in their disposal to bring us to our ruin and downfall. That is why during this time of Lent, each and every one of us should reevaluate our paths and choices in life through these reminders.

In our first reading passage today, taken from the Book of the prophet Jeremiah, we heard of the words of the Lord to His people, showing the frustrations that the Lord had in guiding all of them, despite having shown them and their forebears, all of their ancestors, a lot of loving care and patience in guiding and helping all of them, in reassuring them constantly and defending them from all of their enemies, and in being always true to the Covenant which He had made with them and their ancestors. The people of Israel however were unfaithful, and they were stubborn in their consistent refusal to obey Him wholeheartedly, falling ever constantly into the temptations to sin, being swayed by the many desires and ambitions they were tempted with, that they ended up disobeying Him and walking down the path of rebellion, getting further and further away from their loving God and Master.

That was why the Lord put those words of warning through the prophet Jeremiah, whom He had sent to the people and the kingdom of Judah in order to remind them all of their waywardness and their lack of faith in Him, all of which had led them all deeper and deeper into the path of darkness and sin. And through these warnings and reminders, God wanted to tell them all to stop from going down this path of rebellion so that they would not continue to suffer the effects of their disobedience. This came at the important juncture of the history of the people of God, many of whom had suffered the effects of their sins, with those who used to live in the northern kingdom of Israel had been conquered and had their kingdom destroyed by the Assyrians, and brought into exile in the distant and far-off lands.

And those in the kingdom of Judah, while they had seen for themselves and witnessed how their northern brethren had suffered because of the wickedness and sins that they had committed, that were relatively greater than their own ones, but they still did not repent from their own sins and wickedness. And while their sins were perhaps less severe due to some of the kings of Judah being faithful and devout followers of God that periodically led the people back to the true path of God, but nonetheless, they too would suffer a similar fate. They would also be conquered by the Babylonians in a short while from the time that those words of the Lord were pronounced to them, their cities destroyed and the Temple that was in Jerusalem, the House of God would be destroyed, as the clear sign of the Divine displeasure over the sins and wickedness of His people.

But God was not all full of anger and without compassion, for He ultimately still loved His people despite of their many sins and evils. He gave them opportunities, reminders and help throughout their history, their journey and existence, sending the prophets like Jeremiah among many others to assist them. He reassured them all of His salvation, and He gathered them all back from the lands of their exile, allowing them to return back to their homeland and settle back in the lands promised to them and their ancestors. He still showed them all His compassion and love, giving them the means to reach out to Him, to overcome the temptations and all the other obstacles which had prevented them all from coming back to Him. And ultimately, He gave us all the ultimate gift in His only Begotten Son, Whom He sent to us to find, gather and bring us all back to Him.

In our Gospel passage today, we heard of how the people of the time of the Lord treated this same Saviour and Son of God Who had been sent into our midst in order to save us all. The elders and the religious, intellectual elites of the people, namely many of the Pharisees and the teachers of the Law doubted the Lord and sowed dissension amongst the people by accusing the Lord falsely of collusion with the prince of demons in the performance of His miracles and works. They attributed His miracles to the works of Beelzebul, a known prince of demons, besmirching the Lord’s good reputation and directly spreading doubt on the authenticity and authority of the Lord’s works and miracles. And the Lord quickly went to rebuke those people for saying such false and baseless accusations by pointing out the utter folly in their arguments.

The Lord pointed out that if a kingdom had its members divided against each other, plotting and attacking one another, then that kingdom would quickly and readily be destroyed. In the same manner therefore, it does not make sense for the forces of evil to be divided against each other. In fact, they are more united than ever as always in their desire and efforts to see us all destroyed and dragged in damnation together with them. It was likely that all the accusations and the efforts of those Pharisees and the teachers of the Law who were jealous of the great successes of the Lord were instigated by those same wicked spirits and evil forces who worked really hard to divide us one against another, in their attempts to prevent the Lord from accomplishing His missions and works.

Brothers and sisters in Christ, therefore let us all keep in mind all these things that we have heard and discussed earlier through the Sacred Scriptures. Let us remember that God’s love is so great and indeed is and has always been so great that it surpasses all evil and all those who have placed themselves in between us and God’s offer of salvation and eternal life. It is now up to us to embrace His love and mercy wholeheartedly, as we dedicate ourselves anew to His cause, doing our very best to live our lives from now on in the manner that is truly worthy of God. We are called to come to the Lord with a contrite heart full of sorrow and regret for our many sins. May the Lord be with us always during this time and season of Lent, and may He continue to bless and empower us with the courage and strength to be good examples, inspirations and role models for one another. May all of us continue to have a blessed and fruitful Lenten season and observance, and come ever closer to the Lord and His salvation. Amen.

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Thursday, 27 March 2025 : 3rd Week of Lent (Gospel Reading)

Liturgical Colour : Purple/Violet

Luke 11 : 14-23

At that time, one day Jesus was driving out a demon, which was mute. When the demon had been driven out, the mute person could speak, and the people were amazed. Yet some of them said, “He drives out demons by the power of Beelzebul, the chief of the demons.” Others wanted to put Him to the test, by asking Him for a heavenly sign.

But Jesus knew their thoughts, and said to them, “Every nation divided by civil war is on the road to ruin, and will fall. If Satan also is divided, his empire is coming to an end. How can you say that I drive out demons by calling upon Beelzebul? If I drive them out by Beelzebul, by whom do your sons drive out demons? They will be your judges, then.”

“But if I drive out demons by the finger of God; would not this mean that the kingdom of God, has come upon you? As long as a man, strong and well armed, guards his house, his goods are safe. But when a stronger man attacks and overcomes him, the challenger takes away all the weapons he relied on, and disposes of his spoils.”

“Whoever is not with Me is against Me, and whoever does not gather with Me, scatters.”

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Thursday, 27 March 2025 : 3rd Week of Lent (Psalm)

Liturgical Colour : Purple/Violet

Psalm 94 : 1-2, 6-7, 8-9

Come, let us sing to the Lord, let us make a joyful sound to the Rock of our salvation. Let us come before Him giving thanks, with music and songs of praise.

Come and worship; let us bow down, kneel before the Lord, our Maker. He is our God, and we His people; the flock He leads and pastures. Would that today you heard His voice!

Do not be stubborn, as at Meribah, in the desert, on that day at Massah, when your ancestors challenged Me, and they put Me to the test.