Tuesday

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Tuesday, 15 March 2016 : 5th Week of Lent (Homily and Scripture Reflections)

Liturgical Colour : Purple/Violet

Dear brothers and sisters in Christ, on this day we heard and witnessed the salvation of the Lord, the help and the liberation which He is bringing to all of us mankind, His beloved ones, that He may free us from our afflictions, and that through Him we may have true life in us and do not perish, but instead gaining for ourselves the graces of life eternal.

Today we heard about how the Israelites were punished when they disobeyed the Lord in the desert, as they went through the long journey on the way to the lands promised to them and their ancestors. They grumbled against the Lord and made complaints after complaints against Him, protesting about many things, and not even once giving thanks to God through Whom they have received so many great blessings.

For who else in this world, past, present and future, would ever and will ever see the blessings that God gave His people Israel when He led them through the desert? He gave them clear and sweet water to drink in abundance, springing from the earth itself, when they walked around thirsty and parched in their throats. And when they were hungry, He gave them the bread of the angels itself, sharing in the feast of heaven, and even with large birds He made to fly to them, that they might have enough to eat and be satisfied.

And yet with all that, the people of God did not feel that they have had enough. Instead, they clamoured for more, and allowed themselves to be corrupted by the wickedness of their desires and by the weaknesses of their flesh. And that was how they fell into the temptation of sin and were condemned. But God Who loved all of them did not give up on them.

We saw how even though they have wronged Him, He still gave them a chance, giving them through Moses His servant, the hope of redemption and salvation, with the bronze serpent He let the people saw the hope He promised them, the way out of punishment and suffering, raised up high between the heavens and the earth, as a prelude to the true salvation He was bringing to all through Jesus.

Yes, our Lord Jesus Christ suffered and died for our sins, and in doing so, He bore upon Himself the punishment that should have been intended for us. He gave Himself out of love for us, so that we may not perish but live a new life of hope in Him. This is what He has promised to all those who are faithful to Him, and those who trusts in Him and puts their faith in Him shall not be disappointed.

Brothers and sisters in Christ, in this time and season of Lent, a season of renewal, of forgiveness and reconciliation, let us reorientate ourselves, and let us all refocus our efforts and actions in life, so that we may become ever more righteous followers of our God, not just in words alone, but also in real deeds and actions. Let us turn our back from our sins and stop walking on towards destruction and damnation in hell.

Let us all embrace the love, mercy and forgiveness our Lord offers us, so that we who believe in Christ, and who look upon Him present in our midst and through the Eucharist, let us all be made whole again, pure, blameless and worthy of eternal life in Him. God bless us all. Amen.

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Tuesday, 15 March 2016 : 5th Week of Lent (Gospel Reading)

Liturgical Colour : Purple/Violet

John 8 : 21-30

At that time, again Jesus said to the people, “I am going away, and though you look for Me, you will die in your sin. Where I am going you cannot come.” The Jews wondered, “Why does He say that we cannot come where He is going? Will He kill Himself?”

But Jesus said, “You are from below and I am from above; you are of this world and I am not of this world. That is why I told you that you will die in your sins. And you shall die in your sins, unless you believe that I am He.”

They asked Him, “Who are You?”; and Jesus said, “Just what I have told you from the beginning. I have much to say about you and much to condemn; but the One Who sent Me is truthful and everything I learnt from Him, I proclaim to the world.”

They did not understand that Jesus was speaking to them about the Father. So Jesus said, “When you have lifted up the Son of Man, then you will know that I am He and that I do nothing of Myself, but I say just what the Father taught Me. He Who sent Me is with Me and has not left Me alone; because I always do what pleases Him.”

As Jesus spoke like this, many believed in Him.

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Tuesday, 15 March 2016 : 5th Week of Lent (Psalm)

Liturgical Colour : Purple/Violet

Psalm 101 : 2-3, 16-18, 19-21

O Lord, hear my prayer; let my cry for help come to You. Do not hide Your face from me when I am in trouble. Turn Your ear to me; make haste to answer me when I call.

O Lord, the nations will revere Your Name, and the kings of the earth Your glory, when the Lord will rebuild Zion and appear in all His splendour. For He will answer the prayer of the needy and will not despise their plea.

Let this be written for future ages, “The Lord will be praised by a people He will form.” From His holy height in heaven, the Lord has looked on the earth, to hear the groaning of the prisoners, and free those condemned to death.

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Tuesday, 15 March 2016 : 5th Week of Lent (First Reading)

Liturgical Colour : Purple/Violet

Numbers 21 : 4-9

From Mount Hor they set out by the Red Sea road to go around the land of Edom. The people were discouraged by the journey and began to complain against God and Moses, “Why have you brought us out of Egypt to die in the wilderness? There is neither bread nor water here and we are disgusted with this tasteless manna.”

YHVH then sent fiery serpents against them. They bit the people and many of the Israelites died. Then the people came to Moses and said, “We have sinned, speaking against YHVH and against you. Plead with YHVH to take the serpents away.”

Moses pleaded for the people and YHVH said to him, “Make a fiery serpent and set it on a standard; whoever has been bitten and then looks at it shall live.” So Moses made a bronze serpent and set it on a standard. Whenever a man was bitten, he looked towards the bronze serpent and he lived.

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Tuesday, 8 March 2016 : 4th Week of Lent, Memorial of St. John of God, Religious (Homily and Scripture Reflections)

Liturgical Colour : Purple/Violet

Dear brothers and sisters in Christ, on this day, we heard about God Who brought upon healing on His people, by His love and mercy through which He blessed the sick and those who were with illness, making them whole and healthy once again. God had mercy on them and wanted to bring them to healing and succour, and to remove from them their suffering.

But in order to do so, we ourselves must come to accept God’s offer of love and mercy. We must open ourselves to the outpouring of God’s care and concern for us. After all, if He had come down Himself from heaven, and if He had been willing to sacrifice Himself for our sake, for our liberation and redemption, then we too should show our gratitude and thanks, and devote ourselves to Him.

Brothers and sisters in Christ, God will not abandon us to the darkness and to destruction unless we ourselves desire that destruction, either because we refuse to accept His love and mercy, or if we are stubborn in our insistence to follow our own path and desires, in doing what the world wants from us. Satan, the evil one is trying his best to pull us all away from salvation because through his temptations of the world, he tempts us with many things that may prevent us from following our true path to God.

Sin is the chain that keeps us bound into this world, and prevented us from achieving true liberation in God. Sin is the disease and corruption that is eating at our hearts, our minds and our souls, corrupting us from the inside and turning us into wicked beings. And with the sin we have in us, we have been made unworthy to stand before the presence of God and to be with Him.

Why is this so, brethren? That is because while God loves us all perfectly and greatly, but sin has no place before Him, as He is pure good and perfect. And sin is something that is abominable to God, because it was born from disobedience and rebellion against Him. If we want to have a share in His glory, then we have to endeavour to leave behind our sinful ways and abandon all of those wickedness in favour of righteousness.

This means that, as Christians, all of us should be using our time, and especially during this season of Lent to rectify our ways and to repent from all of our sins. This is the best and perfect time for us to be renewed in all our dealings and in all our ways, and this is the moment for us to look for a new opportunity at redemption and forgiveness of sins, the time for us to reflect on our own lives, and if we have strayed from the path towards salvation, this is the time for us to turn back.

In this season of Lent, we are all called to the presence of God, to be humble and to be sorrowful over our sins and past wickedness. We are all called to commit ourselves anew to the Lord, and to show that faith through our own concrete actions and dedications, through which we are to bring ourselves into God’s loving hands, and to be forgiven from our countless trespasses.

Today, we celebrate the feast day of St. John of God, a faithful religious and preacher, a great and dedicated servant of God, who committed his whole life in the service of God and the Gospel, and the spreading of the Good News of the Gospel to the whole world. St. John of God is truly a role model to all of us the faithful, to follow as we make our progress on the path towards salvation.

Brothers and sisters in Christ, St. John of God was renowned through his extensive service to the poor, the sick and the dying as part of the Knights Hospitallers, what we now know as the Military Order of Malta. He has devoted himself, his whole life and his efforts to serve the least and the last of the society, helping them to get by, and by showing his care and compassion for them, he showed the love of God to mankind.

Many people were inspired by his examples, and rightly, all of us should be inspired by those same examples as well. We should also lead the same exemplary life as those holy men and women had done. They too were once sinners, but what is important is that, they turned away from their sins, and found the path towards the glory of eternal life.

May God help us on our path, and may He bless us in all of our endeavours, so that in everything that we do, we may draw ever closer to the Lord and to His salvation. God bless us all. Amen.

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Tuesday, 8 March 2016 : 4th Week of Lent, Memorial of St. John of God, Religious (Gospel Reading)

Liturgical Colour : Purple/Violet

John 5 : 1-16

At that time, after Jesus healed the sick son of an official, there was a feast of the Jews, and Jesus went up to Jerusalem. Now, by the Sheep Gate in Jerusalem, there is a pool (called Bethzatha in Hebrew) surrounded by five galleries. In these galleries lay a multitude of sick people : blind, lame and paralysed.

(All were waiting for the water to move, for at times an Angel of the Lord would descend into the pool and stir up the water; and the first person to enter the pool, after this movement of the water, would be healed of whatever disease that he had.)

There was a man who had been sick for thirty-eight years. Jesus saw him, and because He knew how long this man had been lying there, He said to him, “Do you want to be healed?” And the sick man answered, “Sir, I have no one to put me into the pool when the water is disturbed; so while I am still on my way, another steps down before me.”

Jesus then said to him, “Stand up, take your mat and walk!” And at once the man was healed, and he took up his mat and walked. Now that day happened to be the Sabbath. So the Jews said to the man who had just been healed, “It is the Sabbath, and the Law does not allow you to carry your mat.”

He answered them, “The One Who healed me said to me, ‘Take up your mat and walk!'” They asked him, “Who is the One Who said to you : Take up your mat and walk?” But the sick man had no idea Who it was Who had cured him, for Jesus had slipped away among the crowd that filled the place.

Afterwards Jesus met him in the Temple court and told him, “Now, you are well; do not sin again, lest something worse happen to you.” And the man went back and told the Jews that it was Jesus Who had healed him. So the Jews persecuted Jesus because He performed healings like that on the Sabbath.

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Tuesday, 8 March 2016 : 4th Week of Lent, Memorial of St. John of God, Religious (Psalm)

Liturgical Colour : Purple/Violet

Psalm 45 : 2-3, 5-6, 8-9ab

God is our strength and protection, an ever-present help in affliction. We will not fear, therefore, though the earth be shaken and the mountains plunge into the seas.

There is a river whose streams bring joy to the city of God, the holy place where the Most High dwells. God is within, the city cannot quake, for God’s help is upon it at the break of day.

For with us is the Lord of hosts, the God of Jacob, our refuge. Come, see the works of the Lord – the marvellous things He has done in the world.

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Tuesday, 8 March 2016 : 4th Week of Lent, Memorial of St. John of God, Religious (First Reading)

Liturgical Colour : Purple/Violet

Ezekiel 47 : 1-9, 12

The man brought me back to the entrance of the Temple and I saw water coming out from the threshold of the Temple and flowing eastwards. The Temple faced the east and the water flowed from the south side of the Temple, from the south side of the altar.

He then brought me out through the north gate and led me around the outside to the outer gate facing the east and there I saw the stream coming from the south side. The man had a measuring cord in his hand. As he went towards the east he measured off a thousand cubits and led me across the water which was up to my ankles.

He measured off another thousand cubits and made me cross the water which came to my knees. He measured off another thousand cubits and we crossed the water which was up to my waist. When he had again measured a thousand cubits, I could not cross the torrent for it had swollen to a depth which was impossible to cross without swimming.

The man then said to me, “Son of man, did you see?” He led me on further and brought me back to the bank of the river. There I saw a number of trees on both sides of the river. He said to me, “This water goes to the east, down to the Arabah, and when it flows into the sea of foul smelling water, the water will become wholesome.”

“Wherever the river flows, swarms of creatures will live in it; fish will be plentiful and the sea water will become fresh. Wherever it flows, life will abound. Near the river on both banks there will be all kinds of fruit trees with foliage that will not wither and fruit that will never fail; each month they will bear a fresh crop because the water comes from the Temple. The fruit will be good to eat and the leaves will be used for healing.”

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Tuesday, 1 March 2016 : 3rd Week of Lent (Homily and Scripture Reflections)

Liturgical Colour : Purple/Violet

Dear brothers and sisters in Christ, on this day we heard the passage from the Holy Scriptures, which message is very clear, asking us all to practice mercy and forgiveness in all things, as well as humility and sincerity in seeking to purify ourselves and free ourselves from our chains and bonds of sinfulness. We should not judge others unjustly and thinking that we are in the position to place ourselves as better than others, as we too were once sinners like them.

We heard Jesus speaking to Peter and to His other disciples, when he asked Him about forgiveness of those who have slighted or offended them. When we look at how mankind normally deal with this, our human nature would have made us to be angry against those who have slighted us, and we would have sought to make a revenge against them, and inflict on them the same pain that they have caused to us.

But Jesus reacted otherwise and told us to do things differently. He told Peter and the other disciples to forgive those who have wronged them, many, many times. Jesus told Peter not just to forgive seven times, but seventy-seven times. Did Jesus tell Peter and the other disciples to literally forgive their enemies seventy-seven times precisely? No, it is not what Jesus meant.

What Jesus wanted from them, and thus from all of us is that we all should learn to forgive one another our sins, so that we may always learn to let go of our anger, our jealousy and all of our hatred on others, and learn to forgive those who have caused us harm and those who have ill-intent on us. That means, we must have the heart to forgive others, and must have the heart filled with love that will love and care for all our brethren regardless of what they have done to us.

It is important for us to learn to love as our God has loved us, and to learn to forgive as God has loved us. We are all called to follow our Lord and Father in all the things that He has done. Just as children learn from their fathers and therefore gain good things that their fathers had done, thus, we too imitate our Lord in all the things that He had done, and take them up as our own.

This is because we cannot be hypocrites, those who profess faith in the Lord and yet our actions and words speak otherwise. This will instead bring scandal to our faith. How can people believe in us when we preach to them about the Lord, if our actions by themselves have made us all liars and hypocrites? How will people then listen to the Lord and His truth, if they see how wicked our actions have been?

If God has forgiven us all many, many times, even though we are sinners through and through, then we too must forgive one another, and seek to be forgiven ourselves. We have to learn to forgive those who have hurt us, just as we have to remember that we ourselves are sinners too. If we condemn others, then we ourselves will be condemned, and if we do not forgive others, then we too should not deserve to be forgiven. No one is truly beyond redemption.

It is not up to us to decide the fate of others around us, in the matters of sin and forgiveness of those sins. But we can do our part to do what our Lord had told us to do, that is to forgive others their faults, just as we heard in our Lord’s Prayer, that we ask God to forgive our sins, just as we have forgiven those who have sinned against us.

Let us in this season of Lent be model for one another in faith and in our lives. Let us commit ourselves anew to God and love Him and His creations, that means loving one another with all of our hearts, and devoting ourselves in love to the less fortunate ones among us. May God bless us in our endeavours, and may He awaken in our hearts the charity, care and concern for each other, that through our loving actions, we may be absolved from our sins and be brought into the life everlasting in God. Amen.

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Tuesday, 1 March 2016 : 3rd Week of Lent (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 this 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 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.”