Tuesday

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Tuesday, 11 June 2019 : 10th Week of Ordinary Time, Memorial of St. Barnabas, Apostle (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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Tuesday, 11 June 2019 : 10th Week of Ordinary Time, Memorial of St. Barnabas, Apostle (First Reading)

Liturgical Colour : Red

Acts 11 : 21b-26 and Acts 13 : 1-3

A great number believed and turned to the Lord. News of this reached the ears of the Church in Jerusalem, so they sent Barnabas to Antioch. When he arrived and saw the manifest signs of God’s favour, he rejoiced and urged them all to remain firmly faithful to the Lord; for he, himself, was a good man, filled with the Holy Spirit and faith. Thus large crowds came to know the Lord.

Then Barnabas went off to Tarsus, to look for Saul; and when he found him, he brought him to Antioch. For a whole year, they had meetings with the Church and instructed many people. It was in Antioch that the disciples were first called Christians.

There were at Antioch – in the Church which was there – prophets and teachers : Barnabas, Symeon known as Niger, Lucius of Cyrene, Manaen who had been brought up with Herod, and Saul. On one occasion, while they were celebrating the Lord and fasting, the Holy Spirit said to them, “Set apart for Me Barnabas and Saul to do the work for which I have called them.”

So, after fasting and praying, they laid their hands on them and sent them off.

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Tuesday, 4 June 2019 : 7th Week of Easter (Homily and Scripture Reflections)

Liturgical Colour : White

Dear brothers and sisters in Christ, on this day we listened to the words of the Scripture speaking to us about the glorification of God by the works of the Lord Jesus and His Apostles, who fulfilled the many wonderful works that God had planned for the salvation of His beloved people. The Lord Jesus prayed to His heavenly Father in our Gospel passage today, in continuation of the Scriptural discourses of the past few weekdays on prayer.

And in today’s portion as mentioned, the Lord Jesus spoke of the glorification of God as the Son of God would soon glorify the Father by what He was about to do, in perfect obedience and following what the Lord has willed, that for the salvation of the world, the Son of God and Saviour of the world had to suffer, to bear the pains of the Cross which are the suffering and the burden of the sins of mankind.

Yet, it was precisely by humbling Himself so completely and by obeying His Father’s will so completely that the Lord Jesus accomplished exactly what the Lord has planned for the salvation of His people. The Lord Jesus took up willingly the heavy burden of the Cross so that by His humble obedience, He might reverse the damage and harm that sin had done to each and every one of us, and glorify God in all things.

Perhaps we will be better able to appreciate all these if we understand them in the context of how we mankind fell into sin in the first place. All creation, including Adam and Eve, the first of mankind were created without blame or blemish, and sin once did not have any hold over them. But temptation got the better of them and caused them to disobey God’s commands and will, and sin therefore entered into the hearts and minds of man, corrupting them and making them unworthy.

That is why the Lord crafted a remedy for us through none other than another Man, Who showed perfect obedience to God instead of obedience to the will and desire of man as Adam and Eve had done in succumbing to the temptations of the devil. Yes, in His humanity, the Lord Jesus was also tempted to give up the enormous task that He had to undertake as what the Agony in the Garden of Gethsemane showed us, but He remained completely obedient to His Father’s will, and thus becoming the New Adam, through Whom salvation came to our fallen race.

Ultimately, we should see and realise that sin came about because the desire in our hearts and minds to glorify ourselves and to bring satisfaction and joy to ourselves. It is selfishness, pride and greed that often lead us down the path of disobedience and sin. Instead, Christ and His Apostles offered us another path, the path of selflessness and obedience to God, which they showed by their own examples.

In our first reading today, we heard of the words that St. Paul spoke to the assembled elders of the people of God in Ephesus, which he made as a farewell just before he was about to embark on his last journey to Jerusalem to be tried for his crimes against the authorities. From Jerusalem, St. Paul would go on to Rome where he would finally be martyred, and he spoke based on his many experiences of being ridiculed and rejected, oppressed and made to suffer because of his faith and obedience to God.

Brothers and sisters in Christ, all of us should learn from the examples shown by the Apostles and by the Lord, in their obedience to God’s will in all the things they do and in all that they had to endure because of their obedience and faith. Are we able to follow in their footsteps, brothers and sisters in Christ? Are we able to persevere as they had persevered despite the pains and troubles they had to endure?

Let us all put our trust in God, knowing that if we glorify Him by our commitment and obedience, we will be in God’s good hands. Let us all turn wholeheartedly to Him from now on, and dedicate ourselves to Him, all the days of our lives. May God bless us all and our every endeavours. Amen.

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Tuesday, 4 June 2019 : 7th Week of Easter (Gospel Reading)

Liturgical Colour : White

John 17 : 1-11a

At that time, after Jesus said all that He had said to His disciples, He lifted up His eyes to heaven and said, “Father, the hour has come! Give glory to Your Son, that the Son may give glory to You. You have given Him power over all humanity, so that He may give eternal life to all those You entrusted to Him. For this is eternal life : to know You, the only true God, and the One You sent, Jesus Christ.”

“I have glorified You on earth and finished the work that You gave Me to do. Now, Father, give Me, in Your presence, the same glory I had with You before the world began. I have made Your Name known to those You gave Me from the world. They were Yours, and You gave them to Me, and they kept Your word. And now they know that whatever You entrusted to Me, is indeed from You.”

“I have given them the teaching I received from You, and they received it, and know in truth that I came from You; and they believe that You sent Me. I pray for them. I do not pray for the world, but for those who belong to You, and whom You have given to Me. Indeed all I have is Yours and all You have is Mine; and now they are My glory.”

“I am no longer in the world, but they are in the world, and I come to You.”

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Tuesday, 4 June 2019 : 7th Week of Easter (Psalm)

Liturgical Colour : White

Psalm 67 : 10-11, 20-21

Then You gave a rain of blessings to comfort Your weary children. Your people found a dwelling and in Your mercy, o God, You provided for the needy.

Blessed be the Lord, God our Saviour, Who daily bears our burdens! Ours is a God Who saves; our Lord lets us escape from death.

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Tuesday, 4 June 2019 : 7th Week of Easter (First Reading)

Liturgical Colour : White

Acts 20 : 17-27

From Miletus Paul sent word to Ephesus, summoning the elders of the Church. When they came to him, he addressed them, “You know how I lived among you from the first day I set foot in the province of Asia, how I served the Lord in humility through the sorrows and trials that the Jews caused me.”

“You know that I never held back from doing anything that could be useful for you; I spoke publicly and in your homes, and I urged Jews and non-Jews alike to turn to God and believe in our Lord Jesus.”

“But now I am going to Jerusalem, chained by the Spirit, without knowing what will happen to me there. Yet in every city the Holy Spirit warns me that imprisonment and troubles await me. Indeed I put no value on my life, if only I can finish my race and complete the service to which I have been assigned by the Lord Jesus, to announce the Good News of God’s grace.”

“I now feel sure that none of you among whom I have gone about proclaiming the kingdom of God will ever see me again. Therefore I declare to you this day that my conscience is clear with regard to all of you. For I have spared no effort in fully declaring to you God’s will.”

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Tuesday, 28 May 2019 : 6th Week of Easter (Homily and Scripture Reflections)

Liturgical Colour : White

Dear brothers and sisters in Christ, on this day we listened to the Scriptures speaking to us about the power of God that is always with His faithful ones, how He will not abandon them to the darkness and to all those who seek their destruction. The Lord will provide for them and bless them, as shown in what we heard from our first reading today in the Acts of the Apostles.

In that occasion, the Apostles were arrested by the slave owners of the city of Philippi who likely feared their influence, wisdom and eloquence that they were afraid that their slaves would rise up against them. And when they have been tortured and put into prison, God did not leave them behind, but was with them as He miraculously freed them from prison through an earthquake that broke their chains and the imprisonment of their prison cells.

And not only that, but God even performed an even more wonderful work that night, by breaking yet another bond that has chained another person, not physically but spiritually. The jailer who that night watched the miracle that happened, heard the preaching of the Apostles and witnessed their faith, became a believer himself, and followed by his entire family who gave themselves to be baptised as Christians.

Through that act of faith, the jailer and his family were freed from the bondage and slavery to sin, and God brought them into a new life and existence, no longer following the path of the world but that of the path of Christ and His truth. In today’s Gospel, Christ clearly explained this to His disciples, that He was going away to His Father, so that He can bring about vindication and salvation to all the faithful.

He was in fact referring to the then imminent moment of His own suffering, crucifixion and death on the Cross, by which He would save all those who believe in Him, and free them all from the enslavement to sin and to their darkened past. And He has shown all of them the path of righteousness and truth, as opposed to the path of injustice, of wickedness and of sin, and all those who followed Him will not be disappointed, for they will all be triumphant with Him.

Yet, brothers and sisters in Christ, we must also be aware and be prepared that to be followers of Christ, often we may have to be exposed and be brought to suffering and persecution, just as what the Apostles experienced because of the opposition of the world and all those who refused to believe in the Lord and in the message of truth that He has sent to them via those Apostles and servants He sent into their midst.

In suffering we may often be tempted to give up on our faith, to accept what is convenient for us and to abandon the righteousness of God, and instead seeking what is good for ourselves. This is how sin continues to reign and rule over us for so many years, as the allures of sin and the temptation to remain in the darkness is truly strong, while the commitment and resolve we have in being faithful to God often falters in the face of temptations and the pressures of life.

That is why all of us as Christians must truly live our lives from now on with faith, committing ourselves wholeheartedly to the Lord, resisting the temptations to sin and seek to be righteous and be obedient in all things, following the commandments and laws of God at all times. Let us ask the Lord to give us the strength and the willpower to commit ourselves and to do what He has commanded us to do, each and every days of our lives.

May the example and the courage of the Apostles be our inspiration and source of strength, to be ever more devoted and to be ever more like Christ in our own lives and in our actions. Amen.

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Tuesday, 28 May 2019 : 6th Week of Easter (Gospel Reading)

Liturgical Colour : White

John 16 : 5-11

At that time, Jesus said to His disciples, “But now I am going to the One Who sent Me, and none of you asks Me where I am going; instead you are overcome with grief, because of what I have said.”

“Believe Me, it is better for you that I go away, because as long as I do not leave, the Helper will not come to you. But if I go away, it is to send Him to you, and when He comes, He will vindicate the truth before a sinful world; and He will vindicate the paths of righteousness and justice.”

“What is the world’s sin, in regard to Me? Disbelief. What is the path of righteousness? It is the path I walk, by which I go to the Father; and you shall see Me no more. What is the path of justice? It is the path on which the prince of this world will always stand condemned.”

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Tuesday, 28 May 2019 : 6th Week of Easter (Psalm)

Liturgical Colour : White

Psalm 137 : 1-2a, 2bc-3, 7c-8

I thank You, o Lord with all my heart, for You have heard the word of my lips. I sing Your praise in the presence of the gods. I bow down towards Your holy Temple and give thanks to Your Name.

For Your love and faithfulness, for Your word which exceeds everything. You answered me when I called; You restored my soul and made me strong.

You save me from the wrath of my foes, with Your right hand You deliver me. How the Lord cares for me! Your kindness, o Lord, endures forever. Forsake not the work of Your hands.

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Tuesday, 28 May 2019 : 6th Week of Easter (First Reading)

Liturgical Colour : White

Acts 16 : 22-34

So the slave owners of Philippi set the crowd against Paul and Silas and the officials tore the clothes of them and ordered them to be flogged. And after inflicting many blows on them, they threw them into prison, charging the jailer to guard them safely. Upon receiving these instructions, he threw them into the inner cell and fastened their feet in the stocks.

About midnight, Paul and Silas were praying and singing hymns to God, and the other prisoners were listening. Suddenly a severe earthquake shook the place, rocking the prison to its foundations. Immediately all the doors flew open and the chains of all the prisoners fell off.

The jailer woke up to see the prison gates wide open. Thinking that the prisoners had escaped, he drew his sword to kill himself, but Paul shouted to him, “Do not harm yourself! We are all still here.” The jailer asked for a light, then rushed in, and fell at the feet of Paul and Silas. After he had secured the other prisoners, he led them out and asked, “Sirs, what must I do to be saved?”

They answered, “Believe in the Lord Jesus Christ and you and your household will be saved.” Then they spoke the word of God to him and to all his household. Even at that hour of the night, the jailer took care of them and washed their wounds; and he and his whole household were baptised at once. He led them to his house, spread a meal before them and joyfully celebrated with his whole household his newfound faith in God.