Tuesday

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Tuesday, 17 April 2018 : 3rd Week of Easter (First Reading)

Liturgical Colour : White

Acts 7 : 51 – Acts 8 : 1a

Stephen said to the Council, “But you are a stubborn people, you hardened your hearts and closed your ears. You have always resisted the Holy Spirit just as your fathers did. Was there a prophet whom your ancestors did not persecute? They killed those who announced the coming of the Just One Whom you have now betrayed and murdered, you who received the Law through the Angels but did not fulfil it.”

When the Council heard the reproach Stephen made against them, they were enraged and they gnashed their teeth against him. But he, full of the Holy Spirit, fixed his eyes on heaven and saw the glory of God and Jesus at God’s right hand, so he declared : “I see the heavens open and the Son of Man at the right hand of God.”

But they shouted and covered their ears with their hands and rushed together upon him. They brought him out of the city and stoned him, and the witnesses laid down their cloaks at the feet of a young man named Saul. As they were stoning him, Stephen prayed saying : “Lord Jesus, receive my spirit.”

Then he knelt down and said in a loud voice : “Lord, do not hold this sin against them.” And when he had said this, he died. Saul was there, approving his murder. This was the beginning of a great persecution against the Church in Jerusalem.

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Tuesday, 10 April 2018 : 2nd Week of Easter (Homily and Scripture Reflections)

Liturgical Colour : White

Dear brothers and sisters in Christ, on this day, all of us are called to reflect on our lives and our actions, whether we have led a true Christian life, especially as we heard from the first reading passage today, taken from the Acts of the Apostles, how the first Christian communities lived their lives. In that account, we heard how they cared for each other and loved one another tenderly, with true charity and generosity.

They had no need to worry or be concerned, for they shared what they possessed with one another and lived with virtue, and no one was ever hungry or in need. Those who had more would share what they had excess with those who had less, and everyone therefore had enough to sustain themselves. They would also offer part of their possessions and incomes to the Apostles, who would then distribute them according to what the people needed.

And that was how the first Christian communities lived. They followed the examples of the Lord, their God and Master, Who had shown them the example of perfect, unblemished love that surpassed any other forms of love, by His own example, the love He showed from the cross, by which we have been saved. That was what He mentioned to the Pharisee, Nicodemus, as we heard in our Gospel passage today.

Jesus mentioned to Nicodemus, the truth about Himself, as the One sent by God because He loved us all so much, that He gave us all His own beloved Son, so that through Him, all of us may not perish, but instead have eternal life. And He mentioned to Nicodemus a premonition of how He would exactly do it, by telling him about the comparison with the bronze serpent of Moses.

The story of the bronze serpent of Moses was that at the time when the people of Israel went through the desert during their Exodus from Egypt, they rebelled and sinned against God. As a result of their sins, God sent fiery serpents after the people, and those serpents bit many among the people of Israel and as a result, those who were bitten, they perished in the desert.

The people have sinned greatly against God, and they deserved to be crushed and destroyed for their disobedience. But God heard their pleas for mercy and cries for help. Thus, He informed Moses to craft a bronze serpent and place it on a pole that it might be raised up high before the people. Those who were bitten and saw the bronze serpent were healed and did not perish.

The Lord Jesus compared Himself, the Son of Man, with the bronze serpent of Moses. He said that just as the bronze serpent was raised up high, so was the Son of Man to be raised up high before all, on the cross at Calvary. Through that act of perfect and selfless love, He has redeemed us from our sins, that by gathering to Himself all of our sins, the sting of Satan’s works, and all of the corruption and wickedness that had been with us and in us, He brought us all a new hope of a new life.

Brothers and sisters in Christ, it was this selfless and perfect love which the Lord Jesus had shown us all His disciples, that has led to many of His followers to imitate and to emulate Him, in the living of their own lives and in their actions, just as the early Christian communities had done. Unfortunately, many of us have forgotten to do this, and we have instead been tempted and persuaded by the devil to walk away from God and from the path He has shown us.

We have been tempted to be selfish in our actions, in seeking to satisfy our own personal desires and attain personal glories and achievements first. But this is not what all of us as Christians should be doing. Let us all realise this truth, and turn away from all the selfish and wicked acts we have been doing thus far. Let us instead follow the example of our holy and devout predecessors, loving one another and caring for those who are in need, and therefore, be worthy people of God.

May the Lord be with us always, and may He empower us to live faithfully and walk with zeal in the path He has shown us. May He bless us all and all of our endeavours, now and always. Amen.

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Tuesday, 10 April 2018 : 2nd Week of Easter (Gospel Reading)

Liturgical Colour : White

John 3 : 7b-15

Jesus said to Nicodemus, “You must be born again from above. The wind blows where it pleases and you hear its sound, but you do not know where it comes from or where it is going. It is like that with everyone who is born of the Spirit.”

Nicodemus asked again, “How can this be?” And Jesus answered, “You are a teacher in Israel, and you do not know these things! Truly, I say to you, we speak of what we know and we witness to the things we have seen, but you do not accept Our testimony. If you do not believe when I speak of earthly things, what then, when I speak to you of heavenly things? No one has ever gone up to heaven except the One Who came from heaven, the Son of Man.”

“As Moses lifted up the serpent in the desert, so must the Son of Man be lifted up, so that whoever believes in Him may have eternal life.”

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Tuesday, 10 April 2018 : 2nd Week of Easter (Psalm)

Liturgical Colour : White

Psalm 92 : 1ab, 1c-2, 5

YHVH reigns, robed in majesty; YHVH is girded with strength.

The world now, is firm; it cannot be moved. Your throne stands from long ago, o YHVH; from all eternity You are.

Your decrees can be trusted; holiness dwells in Your House, day after day, without end, o YHVH.

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Tuesday, 10 April 2018 : 2nd Week of Easter (First Reading)

Liturgical Colour : White

Acts 4 : 32-37

The whole community of believers was one in heart and mind. No one claimed private ownership of any possessions; but rather, they shared all things in common. With great power, the Apostles bore witness to the resurrection of the Lord Jesus, for all of them were living in an exceptional time of grace.

There was no needy person among them, for those who owned land or houses, sold them and brought the proceeds of the sale. And they laid it at the feet of the Apostles, who distributed it, according to each one’s need. This is what a certain Joseph did. He was a Levite from Cyprus, whom the Apostles called Barnabas, meaning : “The encouraging one.” He sold a field which he owned and handed the money to the Apostles.

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Tuesday, 3 April 2018 : Tuesday within Easter Octave (Homily and Scripture Reflections)

Liturgical Colour : White

Dear brothers and sisters in Christ, on this day we continue to hear the testimony of St. Peter the Apostle, who spoke to the multitudes of people gathered in Jerusalem, about the Lord Jesus Christ, Saviour of all mankind, by Whose death and resurrection He had given all of us a new hope of being saved and being liberated from the tyranny of sin.

Then in the Gospel, we heard about the Lord Who appeared to Mary Magdalene, one of His closest disciples, right after He was risen from the dead. Mary was distraught and sorrowful, thinking that someone had indeed stolen the body of the Lord, but the Lord appeared to her and showed her the truth, how He has conquered death, and by appearing to her in the flesh, He proved that He has indeed truly risen from the dead.

Whatever St. Peter and St. Mary Magdalene has witnessed, of the Lord Who fulfilled all of His words and promises, was based on true witness and true senses, as the disciples saw with their own eyes, heard with their own ears, and touched with their own hands and limbs, the Lord resurrected from the dead, in the Body and in His real presence. He was not a mere Spirit or Ghost, but present again amongst them in Body, until the day when He ascended into heaven.

And that is why the Apostles and the disciples were so courageous and so devoted in spreading the truth and their witness of the Resurrection. Had the resurrection of the Lord been a lie, as propagated by the chief priests and the Pharisees, who tried to prevent the truth from going out to the public, the disciples would not have done what they have done, even risking suffering and martyrdom for the sake of the Lord.

Brothers and sisters in Christ, although we have not seen the Lord risen in person, but we too believe in the Risen Christ. Why is that so? That is because the Apostles who witnessed to the truth, spoke up about the truth, and did not hide anything from those to whom they spoke. In that way, they passed on the faith they had to their successors, the bishops and priests of the Church, and from them, to all of us the faithful throughout the ages.

Now, we are called to the same calling and to the same ministry as the Lord has given to His Apostles and disciples. All of us who have received the sacrament of holy baptism and therefore become a member of the Church are called to be witnesses of the Lord’s life, work, death and resurrection that is to speak the same truth as the Apostles and the disciples of Christ had spoken.

This is what each and every one of us as a baptised Christian have to do. It does not mean that we should go to the streets and preach about the Lord’s Good News, as indeed, we can speak directly of His truth to others just as St. Peter had done, but more importantly, have we embodied our faith in our own respective lives? Have we lived our lives filled with actions that truly mark us all as people worthy of God’s grace and love?

Let us all make this to be our Easter commitment and resolution, to be ever better Christians, devoting our time and effort to be the Lord’s faithful and hardworking servants, that through us and our works, we may bring more and more souls closer to God’s redeeming grace. As such, more and more people will come to receive God’s salvation and more souls will be saved from the threat of eternal damnation in hell.

May the Lord be with us all, that we may be ever more courageous in our faith, so that we will always persevere through the challenges we may face if we continue to be faithful Christians, devoted to the Lord our God. Amen.

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Tuesday, 3 April 2018 : Tuesday within Easter Octave (Gospel Reading)

Liturgical Colour : White

John 20 : 11-18

At that time, Mary stood weeping outside the tomb; and as she wept, she bent down to look inside. She saw two Angels in white, sitting where the Body of Jesus had been, one at the head, and the other at the feet. They said, “Woman, why are you weeping?”

She answered, “Because they have taken my Lord and I do not know where they have put Him.” As she said this, she turned around and saw Jesus standing there, but she did not recognise Him. Jesus said to her, “Woman, why are you weeping? Who are you looking for?”

She thought it was the gardener and answered Him, “Lord, if You have taken Him away, tell me where You have put Him, and I will go and remove Him.” Jesus said to her, “Mary!” She turned, and said to Him, “Rabboni!” – which means Master. Jesus said to her, “Do not touch Me, because I have not yet ascended to the Father. But go to My brothers and say to them : I am ascending to My Father, Who is your Father, to My God, Who is your God.”

So Mary of Magdala went and announced to the disciples, “I have seen the Lord, and this is what He said to me.”

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Tuesday, 3 April 2018 : Tuesday within Easter Octave (Psalm)

Liturgical Colour : White

Psalm 32 : 4-5, 18-19, 20 and 22

For upright is the Lord’s word and worthy of trust is His work. The Lord loves justice and righteousness; the earth is full of His kindness.

But the Lord’s eyes are upon those who fear Him, upon those who trust in His loving-kindness to deliver them from death and preserve them from famine.

In hope we wait for the Lord for He is our help and our shield. O Lord, let Your love rest upon us, even as our hope rests in You.

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Tuesday, 3 April 2018 : Tuesday within Easter Octave (First Reading)

Liturgical Colour : White

Acts 2 : 36-41

Peter said, “Let Israel then know for sure that God has made Lord and Christ this Jesus Whom you crucified.” When they heard this, they were deeply troubled. And they asked Peter and the other Apostles, “What shall we do, brothers?”

Peter answered : “Each of you must repent and be baptised in the Name of Jesus Christ, so that your sins may be forgiven. Then you will receive the gift of the Holy Spirit. For the promise of God was made to you and your children, and to all those from afar whom our God may call.”

With many other words Peter gave the message and appealed to them saying, “Save yourselves from this crooked generation.” So those who accepted his word were baptised; some three thousand persons were added to their numbers that day.

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Tuesday, 27 March 2018 : Tuesday of Holy Week (Homily and Scripture Reflections)

Liturgical Colour : Purple/Violet

Dear brothers and sisters in Christ, in today’s Scripture readings we are reminded of God’s salvation that He sent to us through His Son Jesus Christ, Our Lord, of Whom the prophet Isaiah wrote in our first reading passage today, of the coming of the liberation and reconciliation of the descendants of Israel to their Lord and God. God sent His Messiah or Saviour into the world, to gather back all the scattered children of God, and to reconcile them to Himself.

But remembering what we have just heard in another passage taken from the book of the prophet Elijah in our Palm Sunday readings, about the suffering Servant of God, the Suffering Messiah, God did all of His works through the suffering and the obedience of Jesus Christ, His beloved Son, that by accepting death, death on the cross, persecuted and rejected, and even betrayed by His own disciple, Judas Iscariot, He became the source of salvation for us all mankind.

That is how God gave us His love, the proof of His dedication and love for each and every one of us, that He was willing to bear and suffer the unimaginably heavy burden of the cross. The cross that the Lord Jesus bore was extremely heavy not only because of the physical mass and dimensions of the wooden cross, but even more so, because as He bore that cross, He bore for us, the multitudes of our countless sins and trespasses.

Every wound He endured and suffered from, every lashes of the whip He received, every ridicule and rejection He received and heard from those same people who have just so recently welcomed Him as King, but then quickly rejected Him and condemned Him to death, all of these, every single one of them, are our sins and wickedness. Yes, our sins and evils are the wounds that we have inflicted upon the Lord’s Body.

But many of us do not realise this, and we are not aware how our sins and faults have been borne by the Lord, Who suffered because of all the things we committed in our respective lives. Instead, we continue to sin more and more, and we continue to do what is wicked and unworthy in the sight of God. As a result, we are dragged deeper and deeper into the state of sin, and we become even more desensitised from sin, that we are no longer ashamed of what we have done.

Our attitude is also often like that of St. Peter, when he said before the Lord Jesus, that he would defend Him, even to the point of giving up his own life for His sake. The same thing was repeated by the other disciples as well. But when the time came, all of them abandoned the Lord and ran away, scared for their own lives, and when confronted about being a disciple of Christ, St. Peter denied knowing Him three times, just as He had foretold.

How many of us have this kind of faith, brothers and sisters in Christ? How many of us are not firm in our faith, that we flee the moment persecution and trouble come to us? Let me ask you now, brethren, when the Lord Jesus was presented with the great suffering and tribulation that He had to endure as part of His work of salvation, having to bear the heavy and painful cross, did He run away or reject the responsibility?

Indeed, His humanity agonised over this, for no human being should ever have to suffer such great misery and trouble. But in the end, He is always obedient to the will of His Father, Who loves each and every one of us, and thus He was obedient unto death, death on the cross for us, because of His great and undying love. If God can love us so much, to the point of enduring everything for our sake, then can we not love Him in the same way?

Today, as we continue to progress towards the Easter Triduum at the end of this Holy Week, are we reflecting upon these realities of our faith? Have we lived our lives with true and genuine faith? Have we loved the Lord just as He has loved us? If He can love us so much so as to accept a most painful death and to endure the most horrible of sufferings and pains, then why can’t we do the same?

Too many of us think that we have no time for God. But if we actually spend some time to think about it, we can actually take some time of our busy schedule if we want to. But do we want to? Do we want to spend time with God? Remember that He spent an entire six hours on the cross, and not counting the many more hours on the way to Golgotha, since the moment when He was arrested, full of ridicule, persecution, suffering, torture and difficulties for our sake.

Shall we all make a new commitment to the Lord during this Holy Week? Shall we devote our time, effort and attention to the Lord with renewed zeal and love for Him? This is what we should do, and which we should prioritise in our own lives. Remember, that if God can do so much for us, then at least we should give our very best to love Him as well.

May the Lord continue to be with us, guiding us on our way and blessing us all the days of our lives. May He empower us to live ever with more commitment and love for God, day after day, living with faith, alive and zealous. May our Holy Week celebrations be fruitful for us, for our salvation in God. Amen.