Tuesday

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Tuesday, 23 August 2016 : 21st Week of Ordinary Time, Memorial of St. Rose of Lima, Virgin (First Reading)

Liturgical Colour : Green or White (Virgins)

2 Thessalonians 2 : 1-3a, 14-17

Brothers and sisters, let us speak about the coming of Christ Jesus, our Lord, and our gathering to meet Him. Do not be easily unsettled. Do not be alarmed by what a prophet says or by any report, or by some letter said to be ours, saying the day of the Lord is at hand.

Do not let yourselves be deceived in any way. To this end He called you through the Gospel we preach, for He willed you to share the glory of Christ Jesus our Lord. Because of that, brothers and sisters, stand firm and hold to the traditions that we taught you by word or by letter.

May Christ Jesus our Lord Who has loved us, may God our Father, Who in His mercy gives us everlasting comfort and true hope, strengthen you. May He encourage your hearts and make you steadfast in every good work and word.

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Tuesday, 16 August 2016 : 20th Week of Ordinary Time, Memorial of St. Stephen of Hungary (Homily and Scripture Reflections)

Liturgical Colour : Green or White

Dear brothers and sisters in Christ, on this day we heard the message of the Holy Scriptures telling us about how difficult it is to follow the Lord and to be the disciples of the kingdom of God, and what is meant to be a true disciple, and what awaits the disciples of the Lord at the end of their earthly life and journey. All these were succinctly presented to us in today’s readings.

In the first reading, the Lord our God spoke through the prophet Ezekiel His servant, telling us about the chastisement He spoke of the prince of Tyre. In that context, we have to understand that Tyre was a city on the coast of the Mediterranean Sea known as the home of the Phoenician race, who were well known to be master traders and navigators, controlling much of the trade and the wealth at the time.

And thus, Tyre was incredibly wealthy, and in that great abundance and prosperity, we can imagine that it was very easy for its people and its rulers to fall into the familiar traps of hubris and human pride, as well as greed and unbound desires. But the Lord was not just in fact talking about Tyre and its rulers and its people, rather He was truly referring to all of us as well.

How many of us have become proud of our own achievements, our own intellects, especially in how we are able to beat others in some things, and even worse, that we looked down on others around us just because we think that we are in any way better or superior than them? Remember, brethren, that we are God’s creations, and thus whenever we achieve great things, it is truly not because of our own power and might alone that we have accomplished those deeds.

It is a fact which many of us willingly overlooked, and thus it led us into our hubris and unbounded pride and greed. We mankind are by our nature difficult to satisfy, and once we have something that we like, we tend to want and desire for more and more of that which we like. And this is what often prevented us from reaching towards the kingdom of God, as many obstacles and distractions lie on our path to the Lord.

This was what Jesus meant in the Gospel when He spoke of how the rich and the powerful had great difficulties in entering the kingdom of God, alluding to how it will be easier for a camel to enter through the eyes of a needle rather than those who are endowed with wealth, properties, fame and power. And that is because, as the symbolism Jesus used resounded with us, camels usually lower their heads and necks when they want to enter into a place through a doorway that is shorter than they are.

And that was used by God to symbolise humility and the lack of pride and hubris. Jesus was in fact not attacking or discriminating against the rich and the powerful in what He spoke of in the Gospel today. He was not against the rich and the powerful, but instead was against how mankind tend to use their riches and power the moment they have more of them.

Perhaps in this we should see the examples of St. Stephen of Hungary, also known in Hungary as St. Istvan the Great, the first Christian king of Hungary who brought the whole nation of Hungary to the faith. Previously the kingdom of Hungary followed pagan and barbaric ways until St. Stephen of Hungary, the first. Christian king led the whole nation into the faith.

He helped to convert the whole nation of the Hungarians, and even in his position of power and wealth, as well as fame and greatness as king, he remained humble and committed to his duties and responsibilities as a king and leader of his people. He often helped the poor and the less fortunate in his kingdom, serving their needs and caring for them with love and compassion.

St. Stephen the King of Hungary showed his subjects a good example through his leadership and actions. He showed the love of God to them, and how a faithful ought to act in following the Lord, regardless of their wealth, status and standing in the society. This is a lesson which many of us ought to learn from, that we should not be distracted and be tempted by the wealth and possessions we have, and we should resist those pulling forces trying to sever our relationship with God.

Let us all walk in the footsteps of the Lord, and follow Him through the examples of St. Stephen of Hungary, in how we ought to be responsible and be faithful in our words, actions and deeds, and not be swayed by the temptations of wealth, possessions and worldly glory. Let us confidently venture forth and seek the Lord’s kingdom with renewed zeal and faith. God bless us all. Amen.

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Tuesday, 16 August 2016 : 20th Week of Ordinary Time, Memorial of St. Stephen of Hungary (Gospel Reading)

Liturgical Colour : Green or White

Matthew 19 : 23-30

At that time, Jesus said to His disciples, “Truly I say to you : it will be hard for one who is rich to enter the kingdom of heaven. Yes, believe Me : it is easier for a camel to go through the eye of a needle than for the one who is rich to enter the kingdom of heaven.”

On hearing this the disciples were astonished and said, “Who, then, can be saved?” Jesus looked steadily at them and answered, “For human beings it is impossible, but for God all things are possible.”

Then Peter spoke up and said, “You see we have given up everything to follow You. What will be our lot?” Jesus answered, “You who have followed Me, listen to My words : on the Day of Renewal, when the Son of Man sits on His throne in glory, you also will sit on twelve thrones, to judge the twelve tribes of Israel.”

“As for those who have left houses, brothers, sisters, father, mother, children or property for My Name’s sake, they will receive a hundredfold, and be given eternal life. Many who are now first will be last, and many who are now last will be first.”

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Tuesday, 16 August 2016 : 20th Week of Ordinary Time, Memorial of St. Stephen of Hungary (Psalm)

Liturgical Colour : Green or White

Deuteronomy 32 : 26-27ab, 27cd-28, 30, 35cd-36ab

I said I would scatter them afar and blot out their memory among humankind, but I feared the enemy’s boasting, lest the adversary misunderstand.

And say, “We have triumphed, the Lord has not brought this about.” They are a senseless and undiscerning nation. Had they wisdom, they would have known.

For how could one or two men put to flight a thousand or ten thousand, unless their Rock had abandoned them, unless their Lord had given them up?

Their day of calamity is at hand, and swiftly their doom will come. The Lord will give justice to His people and have mercy on His servants.

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Tuesday, 16 August 2016 : 20th Week of Ordinary Time, Memorial of St. Stephen of Hungary (First Reading)

Liturgical Colour : Green or White

Ezekiel 28 : 1-10

The word of YHVH came to me in these terms, “Son of man, say to the prince of Tyre : You are very proud and self-satisfied : ‘I am a god, I sit like a god in the heart of the sea.’ Yet you are man and not a god; would you hold yourself as wise as God?”

“You consider yourself wiser than Daniel; no secret is hidden from you. Your wisdom and know-how have earned you a fortune, gold and silver flowed to your treasury. Clever in trade, you became wealthy and as your fortune increased, your heart became prouder.”

“But now YHVH has spoken to you, to the one who is like God : I am bringing foreigners against you, the most feared of all the nations. Their sword will challenge your wisdom and debase your refined culture. They will bring you down to the pit and you will die in the depths of the sea.”

“Will you be able to say ‘I am a god’ when your murderers are killing you? You are a man and not a god. You will die the death of the uncircumcised snd perish at the hands of aliens, for I have spoken – word of YHVH.”

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Tuesday, 9 August 2016 : 19th Week of Ordinary Time, Memorial of St. Teresa Benedicta of the Cross, Virgin and Martyr (Homily and Scripture Reflections)

Liturgical Colour : Green or Red (Martyrs)

Dear brothers and sisters in Christ, on this day we listened to the words of the Holy Scriptures speaking to us about what we ought to do in order to be able to enter into the kingdom of heaven and receive fully the blessings and graces of God promised to His faithful ones. And that was made very clear in what we heard in the Gospel today.

In the Gospel according to St. Matthew, Jesus told His disciples, that unless their faith be like those of the little children, they would have no part in the kingdom of heaven promised to them. Unless they welcomed the dear little children in His Name, they would have no part in His glory and inheritance. And if they misled these children into the darkness, their punishment and fate will be even more severe than otherwise.

And at the same time, He also told them of how God is like the loving shepherd who cares for all of his sheep without exception. And when even just one of the hundred sheep was lost, the shepherd went out of his way, doing what he could do best to bring that lost sheep back, so that it would not perish out of the reach of his love. When he found the sheep, he would celebrate and rejoice greatly.

Thus, in the same manner, we are the sheep of the Lord, who are part of the same flock which He has led and guided, through the intermediary of His servants, the prophets and leaders whom He had appointed over all of His people, those who had been sent into the world with the message calling all of mankind to return to the Lord, their one and only true God.

And we are lost in this world, lost in the darkness, lost and being unable to find our way to reach out to the Lord because of the veil of darkness, the veil of confusion, discord and unbelief which Satan and his allies had placed over our eyes, over our senses, over our minds, over our hearts, and over our souls, preventing us from seeing the truth, and remaining blind in the darkness.

And how did they do this? It is by playing and manipulating our fears, our desires and wants, that they have done these so excellently to the extent that many of us became wayward and committed many grievous sins and wicked deeds. We have put ourselves, our ego, our desires and all other obstacles in front of us, preventing ourselves from being able to reach out to the Lord, Who is trying to help us and to pull us out of this darkness, this trap.

And that is why He told His disciples, and thus all of us, that our faith must be like that of those little children who believed in Him wholeheartedly without any reservation. In case we are not aware of it, children are innocent until a certain age when they begin to be formed in their thoughts and moral ideas by those who are around them. And thus, when they believe in the Lord, they truly give it their all and believe in Him.

Are we able to do the same as well? We may not because of our various commitments and all the things that kept us back, held us back from being able to give it all for the Lord our God. And that was where sin came into our hearts and corrupted us, trying to pull us away and sunder us away from the Lord and His love. And in this, perhaps today we should seek to understand and follow what the great saint we celebrate today had done in her own life.

St. Teresa Benedicta of the Cross, or much more famously known throughout the world as St. Edith Stein was a Jewish convert to the Christian faith. She was born as an ardent Jewish believer, but grew to believe in the Lord after having read the works of another great saint, the Carmelite saint, St. Teresa of Jesus. She studied her writings thoroughly, and in the process, came to believe in the Lord and gave herself to be baptised into the faith, and eventually, after many years of struggle, joined the religious order of the Carmelites as well.

At that time, as she lived in Germany, where the tide was rising against the Jewish population in the NAZI dominated government of Adolf Hitler, threats and dangers grew more and more vivid every single day on St. Edith Stein and many other Jews living under their tyranny. Even throughout the war, when her life was in constant danger, she continued to write and gave encouragement to the faithful and to the oppressed people of God, never to give up for the Lord Who loves them all would be with them.

To the very end, St. Edith Stein gave it her all to serve the Lord. She gave it all even to the very end, encouraging and strengthening the faith of all those who wavered and those who suffered grievously by persecutions and all the forces applied against the faithful by those who were wicked and evil. She withstood all the challenges, and willingly gave up her life, when she and many others were brutally murdered by the NAZI forces in the concentration camps.

The zeal and courage of St. Teresa Benedicta of the Cross, St. Edith Stein, should be our example and inspiration as well. We should learn to walk in her footsteps, be strong and be courageous in our faith. Let us no longer be hesitant in following the Lord our God, but give it our all to serve Him, rejecting all the worldly temptations and all the lies of Satan that had no value in them.

May God bless us all and strengthen us, and may He, our Good Shepherd, care for us all just as He had cared for His servant, St. Edith Stein, and the many other people throughout the world, throughout the ages, who suffered because of their faith in Him. May God be with us all, now and forever. Amen.

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Tuesday, 9 August 2016 : 19th Week of Ordinary Time, Memorial of St. Teresa Benedicta of the Cross, Virgin and Martyr (Gospel Reading)

Liturgical Colour : Green or Red (Martyrs)

Matthew 18 : 1-5, 10, 12-14

At that time, the disciples came to Jesus and asked Him, “Who is the greatest in the kingdom of heaven?” Then Jesus called a little child, set the child in the middle of the disciples, and said, “I assure you that, unless you change and become like little children, you cannot enter the kingdom of heaven. Whoever becomes lowly like this child is the greatest in the kingdom of heaven, and whoever receives such a child in My Name receives me.”

“See that you do not despise any of these little ones, for I tell you : their Angels in heaven continually see the face of My heavenly Father. What do you think of this? If someone has a hundred sheep and one of them strays, will he not leave the ninety-nine on the hillside, and go to look for the stray one?”

“And I tell you : when he finally finds it, he is more pleased about it than about the ninety-nine, that did not get lost. It is the same with your Father in heaven : your Father in heaven does not want even one of these little ones to be lost.”

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Tuesday, 9 August 2016 : 19th Week of Ordinary Time, Memorial of St. Teresa Benedicta of the Cross, Virgin and Martyr (Psalm)

Liturgical Colour : Green or Red (Martyrs)

Psalm 118 : 14, 24, 72, 103, 111, 131

I delight in following Your laws, more so than in all riches.

Your laws are my delight, my counsellors who uphold me.

Your Law is more precious to me than heaps of silver and gold.

How sweet are Your promises to my taste, sweeter than honey to my mouth!

Your statutes are my heritage forever, they are the joy of my heart.

I gasp in ardent yearning for Your commandments that I love.

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Tuesday, 9 August 2016 : 19th Week of Ordinary Time, Memorial of St. Teresa Benedicta of the Cross, Virgin and Martyr (First Reading)

Liturgical Colour : Green or Red (Martyrs)

Ezekiel 2 : 8 – Ezekiel 3 : 4

YHVH spoke to Ezekiel, “Listen then, son of man, to what I say and do not be a rebel among rebels. Open your mouth and take in what I am about to say.”

I looked and saw a hand stretched out in front of me holding a scroll. He unrolled it before me; on both sides were written lamentations, groanings and woes. He said to me, “Son of man, eat what is given to you. Eat this scroll and then go; speak to the people of Israel.”

I opened my mouth and He made me eat the scroll and then He said to me, “Eat and fill yourself with this scroll that I am giving you.” I ate and it tasted as sweet as honey. He said, “Son of man, go to the Israelites; speak to them with My words.”

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Tuesday, 2 August 2016 : 18th Week of Ordinary Time, Memorial of St. Eusebius of Vercelli, Bishop and St. Peter Julian Eymard, Priest (Homily and Scripture Reflections)

Liturgical Colour : Green or White (Bishops or Priests)

Dear brothers and sisters in Christ, on this day we are called by God through His words in the Scripture, and the centre theme of His calling to us, is for us all to have faith in Him. In the first reading, God spoke to His people through Jeremiah, His prophet, telling them the message of hope in the midst of hopelessness and darkness. He told them that He would restore them to their previous glory and grace, and He would remove from them the shame of their captivity and exile.

This was given in the context that the people of God had long disobeyed Him and preferred to forge their own path, worshipping pagan idols and gods, and committed all sorts of wicked deeds in His sight. They have lost faith in Him, and they have wavered many times, unable to commit themselves to Him. They fell into sin and thus had to endure the consequences of their disobedience.

And yet God still wanted to show them mercy, extending His hands to them and wanting to welcome them back into His embrace. Nevertheless, all of these would come to naught if the same people refused to take up the offer. And sadly that was the case. Many would rather continue in their state of sin and uncertainty rather than to surrender themselves completely to God and His ways.

Then let us all see what we have heard in the Gospel today. The Lord appeared to His disciples who were in the middle of the lake, trapped within a great storm, with high winds and strong waves, threatening to sink the whole ship with them inside. And the disciples were afraid when they saw the Lord for the first time, thinking that He was a ghost.

They were afraid and fearful, and their faith in God wavered, just as how it was in the past, at the time of the prophet Jeremiah. The people of God were unfaithful and they followed their own preferences and paths. And that was just as the disciples in the boat rocked by the strong winds and the strong waves, threatening to sink them. And thus, the temptations of the world were very strong, and pulling the people of God to them, these threatened to bring the people of God into eternal damnation.

But Jesus the Lord came, and He came to His disciples when they were in distress, telling them not to be afraid, for He was there with them. And He stretched out His hand, and called upon St. Peter when he was wavering. St. Peter reached out to the Lord and walked on the water, but his faith in Him wavered, and he was sinking into the water. And God helped him up, and chided him briefly for his doubts. And upon entering the boat, He calmed down the wind and the waves.

In this rich show of symbolism, we saw how in our own present time, the Church is that boat in which all of us the people of God are in. Indeed, the Church is often portrayed as a boat, in how the churches in both Western and Eastern Christendom were constructed, especially in the Eastern traditions. And all of us the people of God are in this boat, journeying across the troubled waters, facing the wind and the waves, that is this world and all of its troubles and challenges.

And just as all peoples when faced with a sinking boat would do, we have a choice, either to stay with the ship or to jump ship into the water, hoping that by jumping into the water we might be saved from sinking. But more often than not, that kind of decision is done out of fear and uncertainty, and lack of faith in the capability of the one guiding the ship to bring the people to safety.

And thus when God Who is the guide of the Church, as its Head, guided us all in His Church, all of us should hold fast and stay faithful and courageous for as long as we are able to. Let us all strengthen our faith in God, and learn to put our complete trust in Him, for even though we have been unfaithful, as it was for the people of Judah and Israel in the past, God is always forever faithful.

Let us all also heed the examples of the saints, St. Eusebius of Vercelli and St. Peter Julian Eymard, whose examples can be our inspiration in how we live our lives. St. Eusebius of Vercelli was a holy and devoted bishop of the region of Vercelli in Italy, who gave most of his life in the devout service of God. He was a strong believer in the Lord and an ardent defender of His truth against all those who would stir up the faithful by spreading heresies and falsehoods.

St. Eusebius of Vercelli lived at a turbulent time, and although at that time, Christianity had become a tolerated faith in the Roman Empire, and more and more people accepted the Lord as their Saviour, but there were many heresies and false teachings abound, threatening to sunder the Church and condemn many of the faithful people of God into oblivion.

He worked hard to convince the people to return from their erroneous path, and many responded in kind, following him back to the safety and the good embrace of their Lord and God. He helped many people to reconcile themselves with the Church and the Lord, rejected the heresies which they had come to believe, and instead embraced the truth and the fullness of the magisterium teaching of the Church.

Similarly, St. Peter Julian Eymard also devoted his life to the Lord, to bring the Good News to the people, promoting the devotion to the Lord, especially to His Real Presence in the Most Blessed Sacrament, adoring the Lord in all things, and calling all those who have sinned to repent and return to the embrace of the Lord through the Church.

He helped to establish two congregations of religious life whose aims were to bring the people of God closer to Him through the pious and strong devotion to the Eucharist. And many people responded in kind, devoting themselves to the Lord and changing their ways, and therefore many were brought to the salvation of God through what this holy saint has done.

Brothers and sisters in Christ, as we reflect on the words of the Holy Scriptures and on the examples of these holy saints, let us all do the same with our own lives, as all of us can also do what they have done. Let us stay committed and remain faithful to God, despite the challenges and the temptations calling us to do otherwise. Let us remain true to God through His Church, and help many others to remain firmly rooted in faith, that each and every one of us may be saved.

May God, our Lord and Saviour, our loving Father and Redeemer, may He bless us all and keep us forevermore in His grace, and may He never forget about us in our moments of distress, but come to us, and may we take up His offer of salvation, change our ways and go forth to meet Him in the salvation and eternal life He promised all those who are faithful to Him. Amen.