Thursday

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Thursday, 17 October 2024 : 28th Week of Ordinary Time, Memorial of St. Ignatius of Antioch, Bishop and Martyr (Homily and Scripture Reflections)

Liturgical Colour : Red

Dear brothers and sisters in Christ, today as we all listened to the words of the Scriptures, we are all reminded of the need for each and every one of us as Christians, as God’s holy and beloved people to continue to obey wholeheartedly the teachings of the Lord, our loving God and Saviour, Who has revealed His love to us through His Son, Jesus Christ, manifesting His love to us in the fullest and in manner that is tangible and approachable by us, so that we may come to benefit from His love and salvation, and that we may be assured of His ever patient guidance and help throughout our respective journeys in life. Consequently, we should also strive to keep away from ourselves all the 

In our first reading todayreadinb, taken from the Epistle of St. Paul the Apostle to the Church and the faithful people of God in the city and region of Ephesus, we heard the greeting from the Apostle to the faithful in Ephesus, reminding them all of the salvation in Jesus Christ, their Lord and Saviour, which he and the other Apostles and missionaries had been proclaiming about, reminding them that the salvation in the Lord came through Christ and whatever He had revealed to them through His disciples and Church, and not through other means such as through the obedience of the Law and commandments of God, as some of the converts from the Jewish background, especially those from the Pharisees and the teachers of the Law group claimed and wanted to enforce the Jewish customs and ways on the rest of the Church and the Christian faithful.

As they were making such coercions and efforts, they were also claiming that unless the people of God obeyed the Law of Moses in how they were interpreted by the Pharisees and the teachers of the Law, then they could not be saved or have a share in God’s grace. This claim and false interpretations of the Law and their attempts to impose these on the Church and the faithful therefore were met with opposition and rebuke from St. Paul, just as the Lord Himself has also told the people that the path towards the Lord and eternal life is through Himself, and not through the obedience to the man-made laws, rules, regulations, customs and boundaries which men tried to set in their midst, in order to make some among themselves more righteous, worthy and better than others.

Then in our Gospel passage today, we heard from the continuation of the account from the Gospel according to St. Luke the Evangelist where the Lord continued to rebuke and criticise the Pharisees and the teachers of the Law for their actions and for their lack of faith in God and His Saviour. The context in all these must be understood in that the Lord had faced constant opposition and rejection, stubborn attitudes and obstacles from all those aforementioned Pharisees and the teachers of the Law who often doubted His teachings, questioned His authority to teach and perform the miracles, and used their own strict and rigid interpretation and understanding of the Law of God to oppose what the Lord had revealed and attempted to teach to them. As such, the Lord often faced a lot of hardships throughout His ministry because of all that.

That was why the Lord criticised and rebuked those Pharisees for their attitudes, which He highlighted as being similar with the attitudes that their ancestors and predecessors had once shown, in their stubbornness to follow the whim of their own desires, their own understanding and interpretation of things rather than to trust in the Lord and His truth. Their pride and ego, ambitions and desires of this world led them to walk down the wrong path and made them to be ever more distant from the Lord, as they had closed the doors of their hearts and minds to the Lord. This is the attitude that the Lord does not want any of us to have, so that we do not end up thinking that our ways and methods are better or that we are somehow better and superior than others around us. Instead, as Christians, it is always important that we remain humble and willing to listen to others, especially in listening to God.

Today, the Church celebrates the Feast of the renowned St. Ignatius of Antioch, a great Church father and one of the famous martyrs of the early Church, whose courage, faith and dedication to God are truly exemplary and inspirational to all of us. St. Ignatius of Antioch was one of the early successors of the Apostles and was a convert to the Christian faith during the time of the great missionary works of the Apostles, who were establishing the Church and spreading the Good News to many people all throughout the world. St. Ignatius of Antioch according to the Church history and tradition was the disciple of St. John the Apostle, and therefore knew about the Apostles directly and received the truth from them, which he himself upheld most faithfully and continued to propagate in his own ministry.

St. Ignatius of Antioch went to Antioch, to the city where one of the first community of Christians outside of Judah, Galilee and Jerusalem was formed, and there he succeeded St. Peter the Apostle who was the first Bishop of Antioch in eventually becoming the shepherd of the flock of God’s people in that great city, ministering to the faithful and proclaiming God’s Good News to many more of the people in that region, and eventually, during the intense persecutions against Christians at that time, he was martyred like most of the Apostles and many other disciples and missionaries of the Lord, and he remained firmly faithful to the Lord to the very end, not giving up his commitment to Him and remaining strong in his conviction to follow the Lord despite the sufferings and trials that he had to endure, and his great courage and faith strengthened many other faithful people of God.

Brothers and sisters in Christ, as we have heard from the life and examples of St. Ignatius of Antioch, and as we have discerned the words of the Sacred Scriptures, let us all therefore do our best so that we may follow in the footsteps of those who have gone before us and been exemplary in their lives and faith in God. Let us all cast away our pride and ego, greed and other forms of desires that can lead us to the path towards our downfall. Let us all strive to do God’s will ever more faithfully in each and every moments of our lives from now on, and let us continue to inspire one another by our own exemplary lives that we may draw everyone ever closer towards the Lord. May God be with us all and may He bless our every endeavours and efforts that we may continue to glorify Him in all things. Amen.

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Thursday, 17 October 2024 : 28th Week of Ordinary Time, Memorial of St. Ignatius of Antioch, Bishop and Martyr (Gospel Reading)

Liturgical Colour : Red

Luke 11 : 47-54

At that time, Jesus said to the teachers of the Law, “A curse is on you, for you build monuments to the prophets your ancestors killed. So you approve and agree with what your ancestors did. Is it not so? They got rid of the prophets, and you build monuments to them!”

“For that reason the wisdom of God also said : I will send prophets and Apostles and these people will kill and persecute some of them. But the present generation will have to answer for the blood of all the prophets that has been shed since the foundation of the world, from the blood of Abel to the blood of Zechariah, who was murdered between the altar and the Sanctuary. Yes, I tell you, the people of this time will have to answer for them all.”

“A curse is on you, teachers of the Law, for you have taken the key of knowledge. You yourselves have not entered, and you prevented others from entering.”

As Jesus left that place, the teachers of the Law and the Pharisees began to harass Him, asking Him endless questions, setting traps to catch Him in something He might say.

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Thursday, 17 October 2024 : 28th Week of Ordinary Time, Memorial of St. Ignatius of Antioch, Bishop and Martyr (Psalm)

Liturgical Colour : Red

Psalm 97 : 1, 2-3ab, 3cd-4, 5-6

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

The Lord 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 the Lord, 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, the Lord!

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Thursday, 17 October 2024 : 28th Week of Ordinary Time, Memorial of St. Ignatius of Antioch, Bishop and Martyr (First Reading)

Liturgical Colour : Red

Ephesians 1 : 1-10

Paul, an Apostle of Christ Jesus, by the will of God, to the saints in Ephesus, to you, who share Christian faith : receive grace and peace from God, our Father, and from Jesus, the Lord.

Blessed be God, the Father of Christ Jesus our Lord, Who, in Christ, has blessed us from heaven, with every spiritual blessing. God chose us, in Christ, before the creation of the world, to be holy, and without sin in His presence.

From eternity He destined us, in love, to be His adopted sons and daughters, through Christ Jesus, thus fulfilling His free and generous will. This goal suited Him : that His loving-kindness, which He granted us His beloved might finally receive all glory and praise.

For, in Christ, we obtain freedom, sealed by His Blood, and have the forgiveness of sins. In this, appears the greatness of His grace, which He lavished on us. In all wisdom and understanding, God has made known to us His mysterious design, in accordance with His loving-kindness, in Christ.

In Him, and under Him, God wanted to unite, when the fullness of time had come, everything in heaven and on earth.

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Thursday, 10 October 2024 : 27th Week of Ordinary Time (Homily and Scripture Reflections)

Liturgical Colour : Green

Dear brothers and sisters in Christ, today as we all listened to the words of the Scriptures, we are all reminded of the love of God that has been presented and made manifest to us through His Son, Our Lord and Saviour, Jesus Christ. Each and every one of us as Christians, as God’s holy and beloved people have all received the assurance of the Lord for His kindness, compassion and generosity. Each and every one of us as God’s beloved people have the privilege of being called as God’s own beloved children, as those whom He has chosen to be His own and to receive the wonders of His blessings and graces. We should be thankful and appreciative of everything that we had been blessed with by the Lord and strive to live our lives worthily of Him, while asking Him for help and guidance whenever we have need of them.

In our first reading today, we heard from the Epistle of St. Paul to the Church and the faithful people of God in Galatia in part of what is now present day Turkey where the Apostle continued to speak to the people regarding the matters of how they ought to be truly be faithful and obedient to God, not by following the false leads and guidance from those who did not follow the Lord in the right manner, referring indirectly to the ways, beliefs and practices of the Pharisees and the teachers of the Law who often enforced a very rigid and legalistic way of observing and practicing the Law of God. But those people spent a lot of time, focus and emphasis on how the details and the various fine procedures on how the Law was to be practiced, yet, they failed to truly understand and appreciate the true meaning, intention and purpose of the Law.

Therefore, St. Paul was reminding the people of God that to be truly faithful to the Lord, they must always remember to truly understand the Lord’s Law, commandments, His will and teaching, the spirit of the Law rather than just the letter of the Law. Many of the people like the Pharisees and the teachers of the Law focused so much on the letter of the Law, on external appearances and details that they had neglected what was truly important in following God, that is obedience and the willingness to listen to the Lord, Who has shown them the way and revealed to them the truth through His Son, Our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ. But those people refused to believe in the truth and persisted in their erroneous and incorrect ways because they were too full of pride and ego, ambition and desires in life, that they could not detach themselves from those temptations and fell ever deeper into the path of disobedience against God.

Then, in our Gospel passage today, we heard from the Gospel of St. Luke in which the Lord told His disciples about how people will help another or a friend when this friend or someone has a need, and if the person seeks for help. Using that same analogy, the Lord therefore highlighted just how much more God will also help all those who seek His help, confide in His Presence and love, and entrust themselves to His care. God Who is our loving Father and Creator, our Lord and Master will not abandon us to the darkness, or ignore our cries and pleas for help. As long as we come to Him and open our hearts and minds to listen to Him, calling upon Him as our loving Father, He will respond to us and answer our pleas. While what we receive may not be what we desired and wanted, but God will respond to us in the manner according to His will.

This is why we must heed the message of this Gospel today, which was meant to remind us all not to easily lose faith and trust in the Lord, something which had happened to so many people all around the world. Many people no longer have truly genuine faith and trust in the Lord, and they did not live their lives with the Lord at the centre of their lives and existence anymore. Many of them even no longer regularly participate in the proper and genuine living and practice of their Christian faith, as we can easily count how many people still actually attend the weekly Sunday Masses and other practices and devotions of our faith, while so many others have simply stopped practicing their faith, and instead they put their efforts, commitment and trust in various other worldly means and methods, thinking that those things are better than God or what God can give them.

As Christians, each and every one of us are reminded to continue to have true and genuine faith in the Lord, and to be obedient and humble before Him, making ourselves to be truly attuned to God’s will, to what He wants us to do in each and every moments of our lives. All of us are invited to reorientate and refocus our lives once again upon the Lord if we have allowed ourselves to be swayed away from His path and grace. We should always keep in mind that how we live our lives is truly important because ultimately each and every one of us as disciples and children of God are seen by everyone around us and we may either lead others closer or further away from the Lord through our lives, our actions, words, deeds and interactions with one another.

Brothers and sisters in Christ, let us all therefore do our best in our everyday life and at each and every moments and opportunities provided to us so that we may continue to be good role models and inspiration for everyone around us and that our lives and actions may truly reflect who we are as Christians, as God’s holy and worthy people, those whom He had called and chosen to be His own. Let us all continue to devote our time, effort and attention to do what God has asked us to do, and at the same time, we ourselves should continue to deepen our relationship with God, to get to know Him better and to be more prayerful in our lives. Let every moment of our lives be attuned closely to God by our efforts to constantly communicate with the Lord our God, so that we may truly know what He wants us to do, and how we should go forward and reach Him.

May the Lord, our ever loving God and compassionate Master continue to love us all most generously, and may He continue to strengthen and empower us all in our respective journey in life. May He bless our every works, efforts and endeavours, our every good attempts and all the things we say and do, in our interactions with one another, so that through these exemplary and inspirational deeds, we may lead ever more and more people towards the Lord and His salvation. May we grow ever more faithful and courageous in proclaiming the Good News of God in all of every moments of our lives, now and always. Amen.

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Thursday, 10 October 2024 : 27th Week of Ordinary Time (Gospel Reading)

Liturgical Colour : Green

Luke 11 : 5-13

At that time, Jesus said to His disciples, “Suppose one of you has a friend, and goes to his house in the middle of the night and says, ‘Friend, lend me three loaves, for a friend of mine who is travelling has just arrived, and I have nothing to offer him.’ Maybe your friend will answer from inside, ‘Do not bother me now; the door is locked, and my children and I are in bed, so I cannot get up and give you anything.'”

“But I tell you, even though he will not get up and attend to you because you are a friend, yet he will get up because you are a bother to him, and he will give you all you need. And so I say to you, ‘Ask, and it will be given to you; seek, and you will find; knock, and it will be opened to you. For the one who asks receives, and the one who searches finds, and to him who knocks the door will be opened.”

“If your child asks for a fish, will you give him a snake instead? And if your child asks for an egg, will you give him a scorpion? If you sinful people know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will your heavenly Father give the Holy Spirit to those who ask Him.”

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Thursday, 10 October 2024 : 27th Week of Ordinary Time (Psalm)

Liturgical Colour : Green

Luke 1 : 69-70, 71-72, 73-75

In the house of David His servant, He has raised up for us a victorious Saviour; as He promised through His prophets of old.

Salvation from our enemies and from the hand of our foes. He has shown mercy to our fathers; and remembered His holy Covenant.

The oath He swore to Abraham, our father, to deliver us from the enemy, that we might serve Him fearlessly, as a holy and righteous people, all the days of our lives.

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Thursday, 10 October 2024 : 27th Week of Ordinary Time (First Reading)

Liturgical Colour : Green

Galatians 3 : 1-5

How foolish you are, Galatians! How could they bewitch you after Jesus Christ has been presented to you as crucified? I shall ask you only this : Did you receive the Spirit by the practice of the Law, or by believing the message? How can you be such fools : you begin with the Spirit and end up with the flesh!

So, you have experienced all this in vain! Would that, it were not so! Did God give you the Spirit, and work miracles among you because of your observance of the Law, or because you believed in His message?

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Thursday, 3 October 2024 : 26th Week of Ordinary Time (Homily and Scripture Reflections)

Liturgical Colour : Green

Dear brothers and sisters in Christ, today as we listened to the words of the Sacred Scriptures, all of us are reminded of the need for each and every one of us to put our trust in God and to follow Him faithfully and wholeheartedly. We should also realise that each and every one of us as Christians, as God’s holy and beloved people have been entrusted with various gifts, talents and opportunities, as well as the various missions and works that He has given to us that we may make good use of everything that He has blessed us with to carry out His will and to touch the lives and hearts of many people, and to lead more and more towards the Lord and His salvation.

In our first reading today, we heard the continuation from the Book of Job in which the interactions between Job and his friends were presented to us. For context, Job was a faithful servant of God who lived in the distant past, and he was a very rich man, but Satan came to tempt him and brought destruction to many of his possessions and riches, and any other people would have given in to despair, but Job did not lose faith in God, and he remained firm in his convictions to follow the Lord and to obey Him, not blaming the Lord for his predicaments and sufferings, blaming himself instead for his predicaments and sufferings. He did not curse God or abandoning his Lord and Master even when he had to encounter great challenges, including having his own body and health being attacked by the devil.

He remained steadfast in faith even when his so-called friends attacked him and told him that it must have been because of his sins and evils that he had fallen to such a state, as we heard part of their debates and discussions here. While at moments he did experience despair and occurrences of desolation, but ultimately he held on fast to his faith and trust in God, and God blessed Job greatly in the end, restoring all of His blessings and graces back to him, granting him double and more of what he used to have before he encountered all the misfortunes and attacks from the evil one. Job’s example is one of the reminders for us to continue to hold on fast to our faith in the Lord, and not to easily give up even when we face challenges and trials in life.

In our Gospel passage today, we then heard of the account of the Lord from the Gospel of St. Luke when He sent out His disciples in pairs to go forth to the various places that He Himself would be visiting and ministering in. He told them all that He wanted them to do in those places, preparing His path and ministry, to reach out to all those whom God had wanted to encounter, and to prepare everyone to receive the fullness of His truth, His love and Good News. He instructed them all only to bring what is essential and not to bring too much with them, to bring only what is necessary for them to sustain the barest minimum, while depending on the good graces and love from others, especially from those whom they visited, and ultimately, to trust in God’s Providence.

This is because if they prepared a lot for their missions and did a lot of preparations and brought a lot of resources with them, they would often end up thinking that it was by their own readiness, preparations and efforts that they had attained successes and glory for their endeavours and works. And this would eventually lead to them becoming proud and conceited, thinking that they did not need God at all to succeed in whatever they were doing, and their missions and works would end up turning from one that is God-centric to one that is man-centric and self-centred, and this is what the Lord does not want us all, His disciples and followers, to end up doing in our respective lives and missions, in whatever we do throughout our every day moments and works, our efforts and endeavours.

He also reminded the disciples and hence all of us that they would truly have to face challenges, difficulties and trials in their path, and that they might have to endure through rejection, oppression, persecution and various other obstacles, all of which are caused by the opposition of the world and all the forces of evil against the good works of God and the salvation which He has offered to His people, freely and generously. However, God reminds us all not to give in to the temptations and pressures to abandon His path, because ultimately, like Job, and like many others of His holy ones, His messengers, prophets and disciples, all the saints and martyrs, all of us will be triumphant with Him forever, and will have wonderful share in His promised glory and true happiness with Him.

Brothers and sisters in Christ, let us all therefore continue to commit ourselves to the Lord and remain steadfast despite the many hardships, trials, obstacles and barriers that we may encounter each and every day in our path of life as Christians, and let us all continue to devote ourselves, our time, attention and efforts to follow the Lord most wholeheartedly at all times, doing whatever we can so that our lives may truly be holy and inspiring upon others all around us. Let us all be inspiration, strength and encouragement for everyone we encounter in life, our fellow brothers and sisters so that by our perseverance, commitment and dedication, our steadfastness in faith and refusal to abandon God and His path of righteousness, like Job and the many other holy men and women before us, we will continue to lead more and more people towards God.

May the Lord, our most loving and compassionate God continue to bless each and every one of us, empower us and grant us the strength and perseverance to continue living our lives with great grace and obedience to Him in all things, and may we all continue to be strong in living our lives each day in accordance to how He has shown and taught us, to be truly loving and compassionate in all things, as He has done towards us. May God bless us all, and be with us always, now and forevermore. Amen.

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Thursday, 3 October 2024 : 26th Week of Ordinary Time (Gospel Reading)

Liturgical Colour : Green

Luke 10 : 1-12

At that time, the Lord appointed seventy-two other disciples, and sent them, two by two, ahead of Him, to every town and place, where He Himself was to go. And He said to them, “The harvest is plentiful, but the workers are few. So you must ask the Lord of the harvest to send workers to His harvest.”

“Courage! I am sending you like lambs among wolves. Set off without purse or bag or sandals; and do not stop at the homes of those you know. Whatever house you enter, first bless them, saying, ‘Peace to this house!’ If a friend of peace lives there, the peace shall rest upon that person. But if not, the blessing will return to you. Stay in that house, eating and drinking at their table, for the worker deserves to be paid. Do not move from house to house.”

“When they welcome you to any town, eat what they offer you. Heal the sick who are there, and say to them : ‘The kingdom of God has drawn near to you.’ But in any town where you are not welcome, go to the marketplace and proclaim : ‘Even the dust of your town that clings to our feet, we wipe off and leave with you. But know for a certainty that the kingdom of God has drawn near to you.'”

“I tell you, that on the Day of Judgment it will be better for Sodom than for this town.”