Tuesday

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Tuesday, 17 March 2020 : 3rd Week of Lent, Memorial of St. Patrick, Bishop (Homily and Scripture Reflections)

Liturgical Colour : Purple/Violet

Dear brothers and sisters in Christ, on this day all of us as we go deeper through the season of Lent, we are called to reflect on God’s forgiveness and mercy, His compassionate love and the wonderful providence and care that He has shown us all, His people, all throughout history. We heard from our first reading today, the prayer of Azariah, one of the three friends of Daniel, the prophet of God at the time of the Babylonian exile, and from the Gospel we heard the Lord’s parable of the unforgiving servant. Through these, God wants us to learn about forgiveness ourselves, that we may forgive our brothers and sisters, despite of the pain and troubles they may have done to us.

In our first reading today, Azariah and his companions prayed to God asking for His help and protection, at the time when the exiles of Israel in Babylon were suffering as they had lost their homeland and their Temple, shamed and suffering the consequences of their disobedience and refusal to obey the Lord. Their ancestors had rejected the many prophets and messengers that were sent in order to remind them to turn away from their sins and embrace once again God’s righteousness and justice.

When the king of Babylon, Nebuchadnezzar ordered all of his subjects to worship a great, golden statue made in the image of himself or to be executed, almost everyone obeyed out of fear for their lives except for the three young men of the exiled Israelites, the three friends, Azariah, Hananiah and Mishael. The three of them remained firm in their faith in God and refused to worship the golden idol which was a direct violation of their faith. They did not fear death and remained faithful as they knew that God would be with them no matter what might happen to them.

Azariah made his prayer to God, showing exactly that faith which he held firmly even when he and his two companions were thrown into a blazing furnace that was made much, much hotter on the orders of the king, who was very angry at the firm faith of the three young men. Azariah trusted in God and asked Him to remember His Covenant with His people, the descendants of His servants, Abraham, Isaac and Jacob, the love which He has shown to all of them. And by showing the remorse that all of the people had for their past sinfulness, Azariah hoped that God would spare His people and help them in their hour of need.

God saved the three men from harm, protected them and showed them that He has forgiven His people, as He later would help them and let them all go home to their ancestral lands. And that is what He expect of them all to do as well, to be merciful and forgiving just as He has been merciful and forgiving towards us. And this is reiterated very well in our Gospel passage today, as we heard the Lord speaking to us on the parabloe of the unforgiving servant. In that parable, using the example of a servant who did not follow his master’s good example, God wants to teach us to be merciful and good towards others.

In that parable, the master represents the Lord, our God, Who is the Lord and Master over all of us. Those servants of the master represent all of us mankind, who indeed have been indebted to the master, as those debts represent our sins, with some of us having more and some of us having less, but all of us are sinners nonetheless. And everyone ought to suffer punishments because of those debts, but the master generously forgave the servant who begged to be given more time to pay off his debts. This actually showed just how loving and merciful our God has been to us, that even when we have sinned so greatly against Him, He will still forgive us and love us if we truly mean to repent from our sins.

God has always been kind to us, but it is usually we ourselves who have not appreciated this kindness, and we have often been mean towards our felllow brethren. That was shown in the Gospel parable, as the servant who had been forgiven his relatively immense debt, refused to forgive his fellow servant who had owed him a much smaller sum of debt. This represent how we mankind often ask to be forgiven our sins, but we forget to forgive our fellow brothers and sisters the debts we have made to one another.

We are therefore called to reflect and discern how we can be more loving and forgiving to one another, as we progress through this season of Lent, this time of renewal and rejuvenation of our faith. We are called to be more Christ-like in all of our actions, interactions with each other and deeds. That means, we should learn to forgive each others’ faults, remembering that all of us after all have been forgiven our sins and debts by God, even though they were much more serious than what we have owed one another.

Brothers and sisters in Christ, today we should focus our attention on one of our holy predecessors, namely St. Patrick of Ireland, the famous patron saint of that island country and many people of Irish descent all around the world. St. Patrick, his faith, dedication and love for God can be a great source of inspiration for all of us in how we live our lives as Christians. For his courage and dedication as a great missionary in Ireland still inspire many of our modern day missionaries and also many among us Christians.

St. Patrick was abducted by Irish pirates at a young age, but he managed to escape slavery and returned to his family. After becoming a priest, his past bitter experiences in Ireland did not prevent him from returning to that same island to spread the Word of God and the message of the Gospels to the islanders who were then still mostly pagan. St. Patrick performed many wonderful miracles and also remembered for his precious teachings to the pagans, many of whom turned to the Christian faith because of him, and he was also appointed the first Bishop in Ireland.

Brothers and sisters in Christ, are we able to love the Lord and our fellow men like St. Patrick? He has definitely suffered at the hands of those Irish pirates who brought him to slavery for a good six years or so, and yet, his return to Ireland and his dedication to serve the people of that island showed that he must have forgiven all those who have wronged him earlier on in his life, and instead worked hard to convert them all to the faith in Christ, teaching them about the love, mercy and compassion of God.

Let us all therefore follow in the footsteps of St. Patrick, in how we live our lives with faith from now on. Let us dedicate ourselves to serve God with all of our hearts and our might, and love Him and all of our fellow brothers and sisters with sincere love and compassion, showing mercy and forgiveness to those who wronged us, asking for forgiveness for our own shortcomings and faults, and showing care and love for those who need them. May God bless us all, and may St. Patrick, holy servant of God, intercede for us sinners. Amen.

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Tuesday, 17 March 2020 : 3rd Week of Lent, Memorial of St. Patrick, Bishop (Gospel Reading)

Liturgical Colour : Purple/Violet

Matthew 18 : 21-35

At that time, Peter asked Jesus, “Lord, how many times must I forgive the offences of my brother or sister? Seven times?” Jesus answered, “No, not seven times, but seventy-seven times. This story throws light on the kingdom of Heaven : A king decided to settle the accounts of his servants.”

“Among the first was one who owed him ten thousand pieces of gold. As the man could not repay the debt, the king commanded that he be sold as a slave with his wife, his children and all his goods, as repayment. The servant threw himself at the feet of the king and said, ‘Give me time, and I will pay you back everything.'”

“The king took pity on him, and not only set him free, but even cancelled his debt. When the servant left the king’s presence, he met one of his companions, who owed him a hundred pieces of silver. He grabbed him by the neck and almost choked him, shouting, ‘Pay me what you owe!'”

“His companion threw himself at his feet and begged him, ‘Give me time, and I will pay everything.’ The other did not agree, but sent him to prison until he had paid all his debt. Now his fellow servants saw what had happened. They were extremely upset, and so they went and reported everything to their lord.”

“Then the lord summoned his servant and said, ‘Wicked servant, I forgave you all that you owed when you begged me to do so. Were you not bound to have pity on your companion, as I had pity on you?’ The lord was now angry, so he handed his servant over to be punished, until he had paid his whole debt.”

Jesus added, “So will My heavenly Father do with you, unless you sincerely forgive your brothers and sisters.”

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Tuesday, 17 March 2020 : 3rd Week of Lent, Memorial of St. Patrick, Bishop (Psalm)

Liturgical Colour : Purple/Violet

Psalm 24 : 4-5ab, 6 and 7bc, 8-9

Teach me Your ways, o Lord; make known to me Your paths. Guide me in Your truth and instruct me, for You are my God, my Saviour.

Remember Your compassion, o Lord, Your unfailing love from of old. Remember not the sins of my youth, but in Your love remember me.

Good and upright, the Lord teaches sinners His way. He teaches the humble of heart and guides them in what is right.

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Tuesday, 17 March 2020 : 3rd Week of Lent, Memorial of St. Patrick, Bishop (First Reading)

Liturgical Colour : Purple/Violet

Daniel 3 : 25, 34-43

Azariah stood up in the midst of the fire and prayed aloud : Do not abandon us forever, do not reject Your covenant for Your Name’s sake. Do not withdraw Your mercy from us, for the sake of Abraham, Your friend, of Isaac, Your servant, of Israel, Your holy one, to whom You promised to multiply their race as the stars of heaven and the sand on the shore of the sea.

Lord, see, we have become the least among the nations in all the world, and we are humiliated because of our sins. At this time, we no longer have a king, or prophet, or leader. We cannot offer You holocausts, sacrifices, offerings, or incense. We have no place to present to You the first-fruits of our crops, and so obtain Your favour.

But at least when we present ourselves with a contrite soul and humbled spirit may we then be acceptable to You, more than by offerings of rams and calves as holocausts, and of thousands of fat lambs. May this sacrifice of ours today obtain for us Your favour for we know that those who trust in You shall never be disappointed.

And now, we serve You with our whole heart, we fear You and we seek Your face. Do not leave us in our humiliation, but treat us according to Your kindness and Your great mercy. Free us in keeping with Your wonders, and give us the glory of Your Name, Lord.

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Tuesday, 10 March 2020 : 2nd Week of Lent (Homily and Scripture Reflections)

Liturgical Colour : Purple/Violet

Dear brothers and sisters in Christ, on this day as we listened to the words of the Scriptures we heard the need for us all to be humble before God and before men alike so that we may find forgiveness for our many sins, and we need to be humble so that we may know indeed what it truly means to be Christians, in serving others and in loving one another, following the examples of Christ the Lord.

In our first reading today from the Book of the prophet Isaiah, we heard right from the opening of the Book of Isaiah, the reminder of what had happened to the two cities of Sodom and Gomorrah, which were destroyed by God for their terrible sins and wickedness, their refusal to repent from their sinful ways despite opportunities for them to do so. At that occasion, the whole two cities perished because of their refusal to repent from their sins and their continued indulgence in sin for which they were infamous for.

The Lord then revealed to us all, just how though sinners perished because of their sins, but it was not His intention at all to bring about our destruction. Those who were destroyed and condemned suffered all that because of their own sins and their refusal to let go of their sinful ways. It was their sins that condemned them to such a state. But God wanted us all to be freed from our sins and to be released from our troubles, and He wanted to be reconciled with us, but such reconciliation can only happen if we are cleansed from our sins.

And it is important for us to take note that God wants us to be clean, and He can cleanse us from our sins, which He has already done and offered us freely through the loving sacrifice of His Son, Our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ. Through His suffering and death on the Cross, the Lord Jesus brought upon all of us the assurances of salvation and freedom from our sins if we put our faith in Him and believe in Him with all of our heart. And again, there is a need for us to be renewed in our lives, to change our way of life and to reject our past sinful way of life.

In our Gospel passage today, we heard the Lord Jesus Who made a reference to the way of the Pharisees and the teachers of the Law, who always looked highly upon themselves and were proud of their status and supposedly greater piety and honour among God’s faithful ones. But they have forgotten that amidst their pride, ambition and preoccupations with their desire to be praised and honoured for their piousness and actions, they have forgotten about God and why they ought to be faithful in the first place.

To many of them, their actions became the means to gain for themselves more satisfaction from the recognition, the glory and fame which they gained from others’ praise and acknowledgements. But did they truly love God? It was doubtful that they did so, as their attentions were focused mostly on themselves. That was why the Lord criticised them, saying that His followers, that is all of us Christians, must not follow their examples and instead, be humble and be ready to serve others rather than to serve ourselves.

As Christians all of us are called today, and especially throughout this season of Lent to reflect on what we have just heard through the Scriptures, an important reminder to get rid from ourselves the excesses of pride and ego, of greed and worldly desires, of lust and gluttony, of other forms of desires and distractions that prevented us from being reconciled with God and which tempted us to continue walking down the path of sin and wickedness. It is all those things which had led sinners to their doom as these prevented them from accepting and acknowledging God’s generous offer of mercy and love.

Brothers and sisters in Christ, in this season of Lent, all of us are called to open ourselves, our hearts, minds, bodies and souls, our whole beings to receive the Lord and to be welcoming of His grace of love and mercy. We have been called by God to embrace His forgiveness and His compassionate love, through which He wanted to release us from the bondage of our sins. However, we cannot be released from this enslavement to our sins unless we allow God to heal us and to forgive us our sins, which is something that God alone can do.

In order for us to be welcoming to God’s forgiveness and mercy, we must therefore ourselves be merciful and be humble, to recognise our shortcomings, our faults and sins. We have to heed what the Lord had said in our Gospel passage today, that the greater we are, the more humble we must become so that we will not allow pride to corrupt us and turn us away from God as it had done on the Pharisees and the teachers of the Law. This is what we are called to do as good Christians from now on.

Brothers and sisters in Christ, let us all make good use of this season of Lent to grow ever deeper in our faith and commit ourselves to a new life of holiness, filled with humility and with the genuine desire and love for God in our hearts and in our minds. Are we able to challenge ourselves to be more faithful, to be more charitable in our actions, to be more generous in giving ourselves and our attention to the needy and the poor all around us.

May the Lord help us and guide us in our Lenten journey that we may find it fruitful and beneficial, drawing ever closer to God and walking ever more devoutly in His path from now on. May God bless us all and may He strengthen us in faith, now and always. Amen.

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Tuesday, 10 March 2020 : 2nd Week of Lent (Gospel Reading)

Liturgical Colour : Purple/Violet

Matthew 23 : 1-12

At that time, then Jesus said to the crowds and to His disciples, “The teachers of the Law and the Pharisees have sat down on the chair of Moses. So you shall do and observe all they say, but do not do as they do, for they do not do what they say. They tie up heavy burdens and load them on the shoulders of the people, but they do not even raise a finger to move them.”

“They do everything in order to be seen by people : they wear very wide bands of the Law around their foreheads, and robes with large tassels. They enjoy the first places at feasts and reserved seats in the synagogues, and they like being greeted in the marketplace, and being called ‘Master’ by the people.”

“But you, do not let yourselves be called Master, because you have only one Master, and all of you are brothers and sisters. Neither should you call anyone on earth Father because you have only one Father, He Who is in heaven. Nor should you be called Leader, because Christ is the only Leader for you.”

“Let the greatest among you be the servant of all. For whoever makes himself great shall be humbled, and whoever humbles himself shall be made great.”

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Tuesday, 10 March 2020 : 2nd Week of Lent (Psalm)

Liturgical Colour : Purple/Violet

Psalm 49 : 8-9, 16bc-17, 21 and 23

Not for your sacrifices do I reprove you, for your burnt offerings are ever before Me. I need no bull from your stalls, nor he-goat from your pens.

What right have you to mouth My laws, or to talk about My covenant? You hate My commands and cast My words behind you.

Because I was silent while you did these things, you thought I was like you. But now I rebuke you and make this charge against you. Those who give with thanks offerings honour Me, but the one who walks blamelessly, I will show him the salvation of God.

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Tuesday, 10 March 2020 : 2nd Week of Lent (First Reading)

Liturgical Colour : Purple/Violet

Isaiah 1 : 10, 16-20

Hear the warning of YHVH, rulers of Sodom. Listen to the word of God, people of Gomorrah. Wash and make yourselves clean. Remove from My sight the evil of your deeds. Put an end to your wickedness and learn to do good.

Seek justice and keep in line the abusers; give the fatherless their rights and defend the widow. “Come,” says the Lord, “let us reason together. Though your sins be like scarlet, they will be white as snow; though they be as crimson red, they will be white as wool.”

“If you will obey Me, you will eat the goods of the earth; but if you resist and rebel, the sword will eat you instead.” Truly the Lord has spoken.

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Tuesday, 3 March 2020 : 1st Week of Lent (Homily and Scripture Reflections)

Liturgical Colour : Purple/Violet

Dear brothers and sisters in Christ, on this day we listened to the words of the Scripture speaking to us about the Word of God, sent by the Father into this world, fulfilling His will and doing all that He has tasked the Word to do, as described in our first reading from the Book of the prophet Isaiah. And all these were part of the prophecies surrounding the coming of God’s Saviour, the Chosen One, Whom God promised His people that the Saviour would deliver them from their troubles and bring them into God’s eternal glory.

All these were then fulfilled completely in the person of Jesus Christ, the Messiah or Saviour of us all. For although He appeared to us in the manner and appearance of a Man, and indeed fully Man He is, but the truth of His nature has been prophesied to us as we heard from the prophet Isaiah, the Word of God Himself, sent into the world, the Divine Word Who is with the Father and Who is One with God the Father, sent into the world to execute God’s divine will amongst us all. He is the Son of God, the Divine Word Incarnate.

The Son of God has come into this world in order to heal us from our afflictions and to redeem us from our sins, and He also taught us more about God, our heavenly Father and Creator, and revealed the truth about Him to us all. And that is why, He taught us all to pray in our Gospel passage today, the prayer now known as the Lord’s Prayer as it was made and taught to us by Jesus Himself, or as the Pater Noster that is the Latin for Our Father, for it is a prayer address to God, our heavenly Father.

And therefore, we are called today to reflect on this matter of prayer as we progress through this season of Lent. Prayer is an essential part of our faith as we all should know, and it is important that especially during this period of Lent, prayer is something that we should do with greater devotion and sincerity, if we especially have not prayed often and regularly before. For it is through prayer that we grow in our relationship with God, and we may be more connected to Him and know more of His will and ways.

If we have not been able to discern God’s will and we have not had that close relationship with God, then perhaps we should consider whether our prayer life has been good and proper, and whether we have been praying in the right way or if we have been mistaken in our understanding of prayer thus far. As I said, prayer is very important for us and especially during this time of Lent to help us to reconnect with God and to strengthen our relationship with Him.

Many of us Christians treat prayer wrongly in the way that we see prayer as a means to achieve what we desired and wanted, and we wanted God to help us to get them. That is why some of us prayed and prayed with this kind of intention, while not entirely wrong, but we ended up being obsessed with our desire and in the end, we forgot what prayer is truly all about. Some of us prayed following the formulas and set prayers of the Church, which is again while a good practice, but we ended up spending lots of time reciting the prayers and yet we did not mean what we say.

What is a prayer, brothers and sisters in Christ? Prayer is a means of communication between us and God. And a prayer can indeed either be communal or private in nature, just as we address God and communicate with Him either as a community together or personally. And what is communication, brothers and sisters? Is communication about us speaking all the time while the other party is just listening to all of our words and speeches?

Certainly not, as we all know that in communication, both parties involved must be engaged actively in the conversation, or else it cannot be called communication but rather as ‘information’ or ‘instruction’. How can we then instruct God to do something? And yet that is what many of us often did with our prayers, as we ended up demanding God to do something for us, and we even often become angry when we do not get what we wanted.

This season of Lent, are we able to change our perspective and way of doing our prayers? Are we able to spend even just a little bit more time in prayer and connecting with God through the time we spent with Him? Let our prayers also be meaningful and be genuine from our hearts. If we pray just to achieve our goals of saying or reciting certain number of prayers or that we want to gain something with God’s help, then I am afraid that we still have a long way to go in improving the quality of our prayer life.

Let us look at Christ Himself, Who always prayed to His heavenly Father at every possible opportunities He had. And He always sought quiet and secluded places to pray. This is what we can also do with our own prayer life and practices, as if we find a good and conducive place, then the chance that we are distracted during our prayer time will be lesser, and we will have a better quality time spent with God. This is one way how we can improve our prayer and spiritual life, especially in this season of Lent.

And as I said earlier, let our prayers not be one of selfish desires for ourselves, but as Jesus did, let us begin by glorifying and thanking God for everything He had done for us, and open our hearts and minds that we may be attuned to Him and that we may be better able to listen to Him speaking in the depth of our hearts and minds. Brothers and sisters in Christ, ultimately we also have to know that God already knew all that are inside our hearts and minds, and we do not have to say it all out to Him. Instead of demanding Him to do what we desired and wanted, let us instead pray for the grace of wisdom, that we may proceed in life in the manner as faithful and true to our faith, and make our lives a shining example of our dedication and faith in God.

Brothers and sisters in Christ, let us all make our Lenten season fruitful and meaningful especially through prayer. And as far as possible, let us all share our good practices in praying to one another so that as many people as possible may draw closer to God in this special time of grace, that in this season of Lent, many more will repent from their sins and come to find God and make Him as the centre and focus of their lives once again. May God be with us always, and may He bless us in all of our good works and endeavours. Amen.

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Tuesday, 3 March 2020 : 1st Week of Lent (Gospel Reading)

Liturgical Colour : Purple/Violet

Matthew 6 : 7-15

At that time, Jesus said to His disciples, “When you pray, do not use a lot of words, as the pagans do; for they believe that, the more they say, the more chance they have of being heard. Do not be like them. Your Father knows what you need, even before you ask Him.”

“This, then, is how you should pray : Our Father in heaven, holy be Your Name, Your kingdom, come, Your will, be done on earth, as in heaven. Give us today, our daily bread. Forgive us our debts, as we forgive those who are in debt to us.”

“Do not bring us to the test, but deliver us from the evil one. If you forgive others their wrongdoings, your Father in heaven will also forgive yours. If you do not forgive others, then your Father will not forgive you.”