Tuesday

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(Singapore – Solemn Pontifical High Mass) Tuesday, 14 February 2017 : 120th Anniversary of the Dedication of the Cathedral of the Good Shepherd (14 February 1897), Solemnity of the Dedication of the Cathedral of the Good Shepherd after 2013-2016 Major Restoration (Gospel Reading)

Liturgical Colour : White

Luke 19 : 1-10

Jesus entered Jericho and was passing through it. A man named Zaccheus lived there. He was a tax collector and a wealthy man. He wanted to see what Jesus was like, but he was a short man and could not see Him because of the crowd. So he ran ahead and climbed up a sycamore tree. From there he would be able to see Jesus, Who was going to pass that way.

When Jesus came to the place, He looked up and said to him, “Zaccheus, come down quickly, for I must stay at your house today.” So Zaccheus climbed down and received Him joyfully. All the people who saw it began to grumble, and said, “He has gone as a guest to the house of a sinner.”

But Zaccheus spoke to Jesus, “Half of what I own, Lord, I will give to the poor, and if I have cheated anyone, I will pay him back four times as much.” Looking at him Jesus said, “Salvation has come to this house today, for he is also a true son of Abraham. The Son of Man has come to seek and to save the lost.”

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(Singapore – Solemn Pontifical High Mass) Tuesday, 14 February 2017 : 120th Anniversary of the Dedication of the Cathedral of the Good Shepherd (14 February 1897), Solemnity of the Dedication of the Cathedral of the Good Shepherd after 2013-2016 Major Restoration (Second Reading)

Liturgical Colour : White
Ephesians 2 : 19-22

Now, you are no longer strangers or guests, but fellow citizens of the holy people : you are of the household of God. You are the house, whose foundations are the Apostles and prophets, and whose cornerstone is Christ Jesus.

In Him, the whole structure is joined together, and rises, to be a holy temple, in the Lord. In Him, you, too, are being built, to become the spiritual Sanctuary of God.

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(Singapore – Solemn Pontifical High Mass) Tuesday, 14 February 2017 : 120th Anniversary of the Dedication of the Cathedral of the Good Shepherd (14 February 1897), Solemnity of the Dedication of the Cathedral of the Good Shepherd after 2013-2016 Major Restoration (Psalm)

Liturgical Colour : White

Psalm 18: 8-10, 15

The Law of the Lord is perfect : it gives life to the soul. The word of YHVH is trustworthy : it gives wisdom to the simple.

The precepts of YHVH are right : they give joy to the heart. The commandments of YHVH are clear : they enlighten the eyes.

The fear of YHVH is pure, it endures forever; the judgments of YHVH are true, all of them just and right.

May the words of my mouth and the meditations of my heart find favour in Your sight, o YHVH – my Redeemer, my Rock!

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(Singapore – Solemn Pontifical High Mass) Tuesday, 14 February 2017 : 120th Anniversary of the Dedication of the Cathedral of the Good Shepherd (14 February 1897), Solemnity of the Dedication of the Cathedral of the Good Shepherd after 2013-2016 Major Restoration (First Reading)

Liturgical Colour : White
Nehemiah 8 : 1-4a, 5-6, 8-10

In the seventh month, all the people gathered as one man in the square before the Water Gate, and they asked Ezra to bring the book of the law of Moses, which YHVH had given to Israel. Ezra brought the law before the assembly, both men, women and all the children who could understand what was being read. It was the first day of the seventh month.

So he read it before the plaza in front of the Water Gate from dawn till noon, before the men, women and those children who could understand. All the people were eager to hear the book of the law. Ezra, the teacher of the law, stood on a wooden platform built for that occasion.

Ezra opened the book in the sight of all the people, for he was in a higher place; and when he opened it, all the people stood. Ezra praised YHVH the great God; and all the people lifted up their hands and answered, “Amen! Amen!” And they bowed their heads to the ground.

They read from the book of the law of God, clarifying and interpreting the meaning, so that everyone might understand what they were hearing. Then Ezra, the teacher of the law, said to the people, “This day is dedicated to YHVH, your God, so do not be sad or weep.”

He said this because all wept when they heard the reading of the law. Then he said to them, “Go and eat rich foods, drink sweet wine and share with him who has nothing prepared. This day is dedicated to the Lord, so do not be sad. The joy of YHVH is our strength.”

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Tuesday, 14 February 2017 : 6th Week of Ordinary Time, Memorial of St. Cyril, Monk and St. Methodius, Bishop, Patron Saints of Europe (Homily and Scripture Reflections)

Liturgical Colour : White
Dear brothers and sisters in Christ, in today’s Scripture readings, we heard of the time when God saved the righteous among His people from among the wicked and those who refused to repent their sins, when He cleansed the whole earth from the wickedness of the descendants of Cain, those who involved themselves in all sorts of debauchery and wickedness.

He saved Noah and his family with the Ark, rescuing them from the great flood that came to engulf all the wicked people of the world, bringing with them all sorts of animals and plants. This is a story which all of us are surely quite familiar with. But at the centre of it all is how God loves all of mankind, all those whom He had created with love, those who live in this world.

That is what Jesus had also done to the people whom He loved, in the Gospel today when we heard about how Jesus had fed the multitudes of the five thousand men, not counting the women and children, which led to even more people whom God had fed and cared for, out of the love and pity which He had for His people who are suffering.

Then one might ask, why then God sent a great flood to destroy all the wicked and erase their existence from the earth? Should He not be loving and kind, merciful and graceful to us? Should He not show His love to all, even to great sinners and disobedient people? But why did He then destroy His people? Surely this is what bothered many of us, something that we cannot comprehend, that the God of love should destroy His people?

That is because while God loves all of us mankind, each and every one of us without exception, and He also extends His mercy freely and gracefully, but His love and mercy only come to its fullness when we mankind are receptive to that love, and open our hearts to welcome the love which God gave us. The love of God then can enter our hearts, and transform us with love, and make us into a people filled with love, grace, righteousness and justice.

But when mankind refused to open their hearts to welcome God’s love, and stubbornly closed the doors of their heart before the Lord, rejecting the offer of God’s mercy and love, then God’s mercy and love will not take effect with us. And that is why while the sins of sinners who repent and commit themselves to change will be forgiven their sins, but sinners who refuse to repent will remain in the state of sin.

Brothers and sisters in Christ, today is a time of reflection, a time for us to take a step back and look into our lives, whether we have been faithful to God, and whether we have been receptive to God’s love and mercy. If we have been faithful thus far, then it is good with us, and we need to continue the good works that we have started. Meanwhile, if we have not been faithful, then we really need to do something in order to change our lives for the better.

Perhaps we should look up the examples of St. Cyril and St. Methodius, the saints whose feast we are celebrating on this day. St. Cyril and St. Methodius were brothers who devoted themselves and their lives into the service of God, and were known as Patron Saints of Europe because of what they had contributed massively in the field of evangelisation to many people, particularly to the pagans who lived in what is now central and eastern parts of Europe.

St. Cyril and St. Methodius helped to translate the Scriptures and the teachings of the Church into the versions readable and understandable by the pagans, particularly among the Slavic peoples. It was their evangelising work that laid the foundation of the faith among the Slavs, most of whom now call themselves as Christians, all of which were rooted from the work of these two saints.

They have allowed God to work His great and wonderful works through them, committing themselves to a life of service to Him, spreading and preaching the word of God to peoples in faraway lands, those who have not yet had the chance to listen to the word of God, and still lived in the darkness of sin. This is what all of us Christians ought to do, that we become God’s intermediate, that through us the conversions of many can be done.

Brothers and sisters in Christ, let us all commit ourselves anew to the Lord, and inspired by the examples of St. Cyril and St. Methodius, and also from the righteous Noah and his family, let us all commit ourselves to a life of virtue and grace, filled with God’s love and light, and share this faith we have with one another, helping each other to find our way to the Lord.

May the Lord bless us all and strengthen us, that our faith will be ever stronger, so that we may commit ourselves and empower one another to be righteous and be worthy of God’s love, that we will not find our due among those who perished in the great flood. May God be with us all, now and forever. Amen.

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Tuesday, 14 February 2017 : 6th Week of Ordinary Time, Memorial of St. Cyril, Monk and St. Methodius, Bishop, Patron Saints of Europe (Gospel Reading)

Liturgical Colour : White
Mark 8 : 14-21

At that time, the disciples had forgotten to bring more bread, and had only one loaf with the in the boat. Then Jesus warned them, “Keep your eyes open, and beware of the yeast of the Pharisees and the yeast of Herod.” And they said of one another, “He saw that we have no bread.”

Aware of this, Jesus asked them, “Why are you talking about the loaves you are short of? Do you not see or understand? Are your minds closed? Have your eyes that do not see and ears that do not hear? And do you not remember when I broke the five loaves among five thousand? How many baskets full of letfovers did you collect?”

They answered, “Twelve.” “And having distributed seven loaves to the four thousand, how many wicker baskets of leftovers did you collect?” They answered, “Seven.” Then Jesus said to them, “Do you still not understand?”

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Tuesday, 14 February 2017 : 6th Week of Ordinary Time, Memorial of St. Cyril, Monk and St. Methodius, Bishop, Patron Saints of Europe (Psalm)

Liturgical Colour : White
Psalm 28 : 1a and 2, 3ac-4, 3b and 9b-10

Give the Lord, o sons of God, give the Lord the glory due His Name; worship the Lord in great liturgy.

The voice of the Lord is over the waters; the Lord thunders over vast waters. How powerful is the voice of the Lord, how splendorous is the voice of the Lord.

The God of glory thunders, the Lord strips the forests bare, and in His Temple all cry, “Glory!” Over the flood the Lord was sitting; the Lord is King and He reigns forever.

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Tuesday, 14 February 2017 : 6th Week of Ordinary Time, Memorial of St. Cyril, Monk and St. Methodius, Bishop, Patron Saints of Europe (First Reading)

Liturgical Colour : White
Genesis 6 : 5-8 and Genesis 7 : 1-5, 10

YHVH saw how great was the wickedness of man on the earth and that evil was always the only thought of his heart. YHVH regretted having created man on the earth and His heart grieved. He said, “I will destroy man whom I created and blot him out from the face of the earth, as well as the beasts, creeping creatures and birds, for I am sorry I made them.” But Noah was pleasing to God.

YHVH said to Noah, “Go into the Ark, you and all your household, for I see that you are just in this generation. Of all the clean animals, you are to take with you seven of each kind, male and female, and a pair of unclean animals, a male and a female. In the same way for the birds of the air, take seven and seven, male and female, to keep their kind alive over all the earth, for in seven days I will send rain on the earth for forty days and forty nights. I will blot out from the face of the earth all the living creatures I have created.”

Noah did all as YHVH had commanded. And after seven days the waters of the flood were over the earth.

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Tuesday, 7 February 2017 : 5th Week of Ordinary Time (Homily and Scripture Reflections)

Liturgical Colour : Green
Dear brothers and sisters in Christ, on this day we continue to hear the discourse on the creation of the world, in which we heard how in the Book of Genesis it was describe, the process involved when God created this world with all of its living creatures, from plants to animals, from the smallest to the greatest of living things, just as He had created all the non-living objects, and the crowning moment in which that He created above all things in this world, He created mankind.

Man has been created as the last of God’s creation, as the crowning glory of all of His wondrous creations, because no one and nothing else was created in the very image of God Himself. All of us have been created in God’s own image, and in our faces, we bear within ourselves, the very Image of God. God Himself breathed life into us, turning mere dust and earth into a living being, namely Man.

But why God created all of us in the first place? It was because of His love. God is perfectly fine with Himself, a perfect being with a perfect love, needing nothing else. But He wants to share the love He has inside Him, and that was why, He created all of us. He loves all that He has created, and in particular He loves each and every one of us mankind, whom He had made to be even His own children.

Indeed, He has not intended for us to suffer in this world, or to suffer the pain of death. If we read through the first chapters of the Book of Genesis, we would realise just how wonderful and perfect was the world that was before the entry of sin into our hearts. Before sin came into mankind’s hearts, all things were good, and indeed were very good because God created all things perfect and good. All that men ever needed were there, and our first ancestors Adam and Eve had been given great privileges, having been given command over all other things on earth.

But mankind disobeyed the Lord, following rather their own greed and desire, tempted by the devil, instead of listening to God’s ways. And when we sinned, that was when we were sundered and separated from God’s love and grace. And by right, we would have been doomed to destruction, as a result of our own folly. But God did not give up on us, and He continued to love us all nonetheless, even as He punished our ancestors and banished them from the Garden of Eden.

To that extent of His great love, that God had given us all His laws and commandments, His precepts and ways to be followed and to be obeyed. That was what the Ten Commandments and all the laws given to Moses was about. The Law of God was meant to be a guide for us to find our way back to Him, and to repent our sins and be saved in the state of grace, having been reconciled with Him.

Yet, the reason why in the Gospel today Jesus was very angry at the Pharisees and the teachers of the Law, as He also did in various other parts of the four Holy Gospels was that, the Law which God had given to men, had been misinterpreted, misunderstood, and worst of all, misused, that in the end, instead of helping to bring mankind closer to God, they ended up being used otherwise, either as means to bring glory instead to man, or to shut people out from salvation.

What do I mean, brothers and sisters in Christ? I mean that those elders and leaders of the Israelites had not been faithful in their duties and responsibilities. They had not been using the Law of God in the right manner, but instead, continued the mistakes of their ancestors. The laws which God had given to Moses had become a formality, and they had been twisted in meaning and purpose, becoming instead a series of laws that were done without understanding of its real purpose, that is for mankind to know God, to love God and to find their way to Him.

Instead, they became a burden to the people, for the Pharisees and the elders insisted that all of the people must obey the commandments and laws in its entirety, in its application, from the smallest details to the greatest. And they themselves did obey the laws, but not because they loved God, but because they were concerned about their own image, enjoying being praised and lauded for their obedience and adherence to the laws of God.

This was what Jesus meant when He criticised the Pharisees because they first criticised Him and His disciples for not washing their hands in the manner prescribed in the laws they had formulated, where the people ought to wash their hands in a certain manner, that is to wash thoroughly the entire hand and arms before they could eat or drink. But in doing so, if they did so without having God in all the things they did, then whatever they were doing would not benefit them at all.

They were also arbitrary in their judgments, allowing people to contravene the laws and commandments where they liked it, as long as they were able to benefit from it. It was just like how they allowed the Temple of God to be defiled with the presence of merchants and money changers, selling goods and even tricking people, many of them honest people and indeed poor, in order to gain profits, not just for the merchants but also for themselves.

In all that we had heard today, brothers and sisters in Christ, we are all reminded that all the things we do, we must do it with the love of God in everything. God must be the reason that we do every single thing and action in our lives, or else we are bound to do things as the Pharisees had done. Instead of bringing us closer to God, we would end up doing things that keeping us further away from Him.

We must remember always that God created us all out of love, and all that He had done for us is because of His love. He does not need anything else from us except for our obedience, and most importantly for our love. We ought to love Him in the same manner and intensity just as He had first loved us all. We must not see what God had done unto us as a matter of punishment, that God ought to be feared and obeyed without understanding that all He had done, He did it out of love for us.

Therefore, brothers and sisters in Christ, let us all strive that each and every one of us will be able to appreciate the grace of life that all of us have received from God, the love which He had showered us with, so that we may come to the realisation that we need to repent from our sinful and wicked ways, and draw closer to God’s mercy and love. God wants to forgive us, brethren, but do we realise that we need to do something in order to be forgiven?

And that is by opening the doors of our hearts to welcome His love and His mercy. Let us all let the Lord enter into our hearts, and destroy the pride, greed, apathy, hatred, and all the things that had kept us away from being able to love God with all of our strength. May the Lord help us in this journey and strengthen our faith that we will persevere through the challenges and the difficulties that will come our way, that in the end, we will be found righteous and worthy to receive the inheritance promised to us by the Lord, but once lost because of our sins. God bless us all. Amen.

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Tuesday, 7 February 2017 : 5th Week of Ordinary Time (Gospel Reading)

Liturgical Colour : Green
Mark 7 : 1-13

One day the Pharisees gathered around Jesus, and with them were some teachers of the Law who had just come from Jerusalem. They noticed that some of His disciples were eating their meal with unclean hands, that is, without washing them.

Now the Pharisees, and in fact all the Jews never eat without washing their hands, for they follow the tradition received from their ancestors. Nor do they eat anything, when they come from the market, without first washing themselves. And there are many other traditions they observe; for example, the ritual washing of cups, pots and plates.

So the Pharisees and the teachers of the Law asked Him, “Why do Your disciples not follow the tradition of the elders, but eat with unclean hands?” Jesus answered, “You shallow people! How well Isaiah prophesied of you when he wrote : This people honours Me with their lips, but their heart is far from Me. The worship they offer Me is worthless, for what they teach are only human rules. You even put aside the commandment of God to hold fast to human tradition.”

And Jesus commented, “You have a fine way of disregarding the commandments of God in order to enforce your own traditions! For example, Moses said : Do your duty to your father and your mother, and : Whoever curses his father or his mother is to be put to death. But according to you, someone could say to his father or mother, ‘I already declared Corban (which means “offered to God”) what you could have expected from me.'”

“In this case you no longer require him to do anything for his father or mother, and so you nullify the word of God through the tradition you have handed on. And you do many other things like that.”