Tuesday

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Tuesday, 9 February 2016 : 5th Week of Ordinary Time (Homily and Scripture Reflections)

Liturgical Colour : Green

Dear brothers and sisters in Christ, today we are presented with the prayer of Solomon, the king of Israel, asking God to bless His people and to forgive them from their trespasses, and to welcome them back whenever they have erred and wandered away from their path. He praised God for the love which He had shown to them, so great is that love, that it is unprecedented and nothing is like the love which God showed us.

And Solomon thus praised the Lord for His love and care for His people, even though they were sinners, delinquents and frequently disobeyed His laws and precepts. This love that God has for all of us is great and boundless, and it is why He gave us opportunities, chances, and the paths through which He could help to bring us closer to Him, by providing us with the Law and with the commandments that help us to find our way to Him.

Yet unfortunately, as we saw in the Gospel, that Jesus our Lord rebuked the Pharisees, the elders of Israel, the scribes and the teachers of the Law, because instead of understanding the need for the people to love God with sincerity from the heart, and with true devotion and commitment guided by the precepts of the Law, the leaders of the people had misguided the people of God through their own laws and commandments.

Yes, brothers and sisters in Christ, they have become lost in the attempt to fulfil the laws and commandments that they have made themselves. Their concerns became whether they fulfilled the law in the right ways and manner, in the rites and rituals they prescribed from the law, and they punished those who have not obeyed in the way that they wanted the people to obey.

In that way, not only that they have misunderstood the intentions of the laws and ordinances which God had given to His people, but they also misled the people who have been entrusted under their care, guidance and leadership. Instead of bringing the people of God closer to Him through love and dedication, they caused these people to fear the Lord, thinking that He is an angry God Who will punish and destroy all those who did not obey the entirety of the Law.

And the Pharisees and the elders of Israel themselves were also mistaken in their approach, as they used the Law as an opportunity to showcase themselves to the other people, and to indulge in their pride and hubris, and to cultivate the desire of their human ego. They prayed in the public places, showed how faithful they were in obeying God’s ordinances and commandments in everything, and criticising and persecuting those that did not do so, all for the sake of being seen and praised, and not for the sake of the glory of God, save for some of the Pharisees.

Therefore, today, what Jesus said to the Pharisees, to the people and to His disciples should be a reminder to all of us, that we all should not have faith without understanding, or obey without true conscience and knowledge of the will of God, which He made clear through the Law He gave to us mankind. We have to discern the will of God, that is His love, and not to think that obeying the Law merely means just fulfilling what the Law requires of us.

In the same manner therefore, as we live our lives and in obeying the teachings of the Lord through the Church. We cannot go through it with just blind obedience or by merely trying to fulfil them as an obligation and stop at that. If we stop at that, then we are not doing anything truly beneficial for ourselves, and we are no closer to salvation as the Pharisees and the teachers of the Law.

Instead, brothers and sisters in Christ, let us devote ourselves, our time and attention, our effort and our focus on the Lord our God, and let us all realise the love which He has for us all, that He was willing to show us the way to reach Him, and to guide us step by step on this path, littered with difficulties and challenges. Let us all renew today our commitment to the Lord.

And tomorrow we shall begin the season of Lent, the season of penitential and repentance, the season of mercy and forgiveness. Thus, let us all draw ever closer to God’s mercy and love, and let us all be ever more devoted and committed to Him in all our lives. God be with us all, now and forever. Amen.

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Tuesday, 9 February 2016 : 5th Week of Ordinary Time (Gospel Reading)

Liturgical Colour : Green

Mark 7 : 1-13

At that time, 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.”

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Tuesday, 9 February 2016 : 5th Week of Ordinary Time (Psalm)

Liturgical Colour : Green

Psalm 83 : 3, 4, 5 and 10, 11

My soul yearns, pines, for the courts of the Lord. My heart and my flesh cry out for the living God.

Even the sparrow finds a home, and the swallow a nest where she may lay her young, at Your altars, o Lord of hosts, my King and my God!

Happy are those who live in Your house, continually singing Your praise! Look upon our shield, o God; look upon the face of Your anointed!

One day in Your courts is better than a thousand elsewhere. I would rather be left at the threshold in the house of my God than to dwell in the tents of the wicked.

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Tuesday, 9 February 2016 : 5th Week of Ordinary Time (First Reading)

Liturgical Colour : Green

1 Kings 8 : 22-23, 27-30

Then Solomon stood before the altar of YHVH in the presence of all the assembly of Israel. He raised his hands towards heaven and said, “O YHVH, God of Israel, there is no god like You either in heaven or on earth! You keep Your covenant and show loving kindness to Your servants who walk before You wholeheartedly.”

“But will God really live among people on earth? If neither heavens nor the highest heavens can contain You, how much less can this House which I have built! Yet, listen to the prayer and supplication of Your servant, o YHVH my God; hearken to the cries and pleas which Your servant directs to You this day.”

“Watch over this House of which You have said, ‘My Name shall rest there.’ Hear the prayer of Your servant in this place. Listen to the supplication of Your servant and Your people Israel when they pray in this direction; listen from Your dwelling place in heaven and, on listening, forgive.”

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Tuesday, 2 February 2016 : Feast of the Presentation of the Lord, World Day for Consecrated Life and Closing of the Year of Consecrated Life (Homily and Scripture Reflections)

Liturgical Colour : White

Dear brothers and sisters in Christ, on this day, we celebrate together a great feast in the memory and in honour of our Lord Jesus and His presentation at the Temple of God in Jerusalem, on the eighth day after His birth just as the Law of God had prescribed it, a compulsory matter for all the firstborn sons of Israel, just as Jesus is the Firstborn Son of Mary.

He was presented at the Temple, as a sign to all the peoples, revealed to the nation of Israel and to all others, that the Messiah of the Lord had come into the world. The servant of God, Simeon and the prophetess Anna also ensured that His coming into this world was known, and that His future good works would be known and expected by the people of God.

The expression and actions of the servant of God, Simeon showed us the kind of anxiety, the expectation and the hope that mankind had placed in the awaiting process for the coming of the Messiah. The people of God had expected the coming of God’s Messiah for a long time, and they have long awaited for His coming into the world in order to rescue them from their fated destruction.

And today’s celebration is so significant because of that fact, as the Lord today in truth, He was not just presented and consecrated to God on that day as all the firstborn of Israel were consecrated to God, but in that same way, God also presented His own Son to us, to be our Deliverer and Saviour from all of our troubles, from our fate of encountering and facing destruction in hell.

Do we remember the passage from the Holy Scriptures regarding Abraham and his son, Isaac? The promised son whom God had promised Abraham? That through that son, he would have his descendants to rule over the nations and to have them as many as the stars in the sky and as many as the grains of sand on the seashore? Then, we have to remember about the time when God asked Abraham to sacrifice his own beloved son to Him as a sacrificial offering.

Anyone would have refused to do so, and they would have doubted and complained against God and His seemingly wicked request to sacrifice one’s own son, all the more that, that very son was the one whom God Himself had promised to be the son awaited for a long time by the childless Abraham and Sarah, and through whom God had promised that many nations would be his children.

But Abraham remained faithful and true to the Lord, and despite how sad that must have been for him, he went on and brought his son, Isaac to the mountain of Moria where he would sacrifice him to the Lord as He had wished for. But God was only testing Abraham for his faith, whether he would remain in faith and keep strong in his faith despite that kind of horrendous request, or whether he would sway and leave the Lord behind.

For his faith, God rewarded Abraham greatly, and He fulfilled all the promises which He had made to him, and then, interestingly, it was in the same way as Abraham had acted, that God Himself through His action made all of His promises to all mankind fulfilled in all of its perfection. It was through Jesus His Son, that God made everything whole once again.

Brothers and sisters in Christ, just as Abraham did not hold back his own son from God, neither did God hold back His own Son, His own Precious Word, from us, as He gave Jesus, to be our Deliverer, our Saviour and our Hope, through none else but another sacrifice, the ultimate sacrifice of God Who loves all of His people, His beloved children, that He willingly offered Himself as the perfect and loving sacrifice on the altar of the cross.

This is the joy of the nations that the prophet and servant of God Simeon had foretold as how it would happen to the people of Israel and for the rest of the world. It was through the hard work and the toils and labours of our Lord Himself, that through His hard effort, that we all mankind, who have been scattered in the darkness by our sins, would be gathered together again and receive God’s blessings and grace.

Thus, today, as we commemorate this great feast of the Presentation of our Lord, just as we receive God’s rich and wonderful offering of His own Son, to be our Lord, Saviour, Redeemer and Hope, then let us all dedicate ourselves to Him all the more, commit ourselves to Him in love and in all of our actions and deeds, so that in everything that we do and say, we may always bring glory to Him, and help to gather more of our scattered brethren unto Him.

Let us also pray for all of those who have dedicated their whole lives to God, our religious brothers and sisters, and even more those who have committed themselves to the sacred priesthood and the episcopate, dedicating and committing their whole lives to serve the people of God. Let us pray that God will keep them faithful and dedicated in their service. And may God bless us all, now and forever. Amen.

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Tuesday, 2 February 2016 : Feast of the Presentation of the Lord, World Day for Consecrated Life and Closing of the Year of Consecrated Life (Gospel Reading)

Liturgical Colour : White

Luke 2 : 22-40

At that time, when the day came for the purification according to the Law of Moses, they brought the Baby up to Jerusalem, to present Him to the Lord, as it is written in the Law of the Lord : Every firstborn male shall be consecrated to God. And they offered a sacrifice, as ordered in the Law of the Lord : a pair of turtledoves or two young pigeons.

There lived in Jerusalem at this time a very upright and devout man named Simeon; the Holy Spirit was in him. He looked forward to the time when the Lord would comfort Israel, and he had been assured, by the Holy Spirit, that he would not die before seeing the Messiah of the Lord.

So he was led into the Temple by the Holy Spirit at the time the parents brought the Child Jesus, to do for Him according to the custom of the Law. Simeon took the Child in his arms, and blessed God, saying, “Now, o Lord, You can dismiss Your servant in peace, for You have fulfilled Your word and my eyes have seen Your salvation, which You display for all the people to see. Here is the light You will reveal to the nations, and the glory of Your people Israel.”

His father and mother wondered at what was said about the Child. Simeon blessed them, and said to Mary, His mother, “Know this : your Son is a sign, a sign established for the falling and rising of many in Israel, a sign of contradiction; and a sword will pierce your own soul, so that, out of many hearts, thoughts may be revealed.”

There was also a prophetess named Anna, daughter of Phanuel, of the tribe of Asher. After leaving her father’s home, she had been seven years with her husband, and since then she had been continually about the Temple, serving God as a widow night and day in fasting and prayer. She was now eighty-four.

Coming up at that time, she gave praise to God, and spoke of the Child to all who looked forward to the deliverance of Jerusalem. When the parents had fulfilled all that was required by the Law of the Lord, they returned to their town, Nazareth in Galilee. There the Child grew in stature and strength, and was filled with wisdom : the grace of God was upon Him.

Alternative reading (shorter version)

Luke 2 : 22-32

At that time, when the day came for the purification according to the Law of Moses, they brought the Baby up to Jerusalem, to present Him to the Lord, as it is written in the Law of the Lord : Every firstborn male shall be consecrated to God. And they offered a sacrifice, as ordered in the Law of the Lord : a pair of turtledoves or two young pigeons.

There lived in Jerusalem at this time a very upright and devout man named Simeon; the Holy Spirit was in him. He looked forward to the time when the Lord would comfort Israel, and he had been assured, by the Holy Spirit, that he would not die before seeing the Messiah of the Lord.

So he was led into the Temple by the Holy Spirit at the time the parents brought the Child Jesus, to do for Him according to the custom of the Law. Simeon took the Child in his arms, and blessed God, saying, “Now, o Lord, You can dismiss Your servant in peace, for You have fulfilled Your word and my eyes have seen Your salvation, which You display for all the people to see. Here is the light You will reveal to the nations, and the glory of Your people Israel.”

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Tuesday, 2 February 2016 : Feast of the Presentation of the Lord, World Day for Consecrated Life and Closing of the Year of Consecrated Life (Psalm)

Liturgical Colour : White

Psalm 23 : 7, 8, 9, 10

Lift up, o gateways, your lintels, open up, you ancient doors, that the King of glory may enter!

Who is the King of glory? The Lord, the Strong, the Mighty, the Lord, valiant in battle.

Lift up your lintels, o gateways, open up, you ancient doors, that the King of glory may enter!

Who is the King of glory? The Lord of Hosts, He is the King of glory!

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Tuesday, 2 February 2016 : Feast of the Presentation of the Lord, World Day for Consecrated Life and Closing of the Year of Consecrated Life (First Reading)

Liturgical Colour : White

Malachi 3 : 1-4

Now I am sending My messenger ahead of Me to clear the way; then suddenly the Lord for Whom you long will enter the sanctuary. The envoy of the covenant which you so greatly desire already comes, says YHVH of hosts. Who can bear the day of His coming and remain standing when He appears? For He will be like fire in the foundry and like the lye used for bleaching.

He will be as a refiner of a fuller, He will purify the sons of Levi and refine them like gold and silver. So YHVH will have priests who will present the offering as it should be. Then YHVH will accept with pleasure the offering of Judah and Jerusalem, as in former days.

Alternative reading

Hebrews 2 : 14-18

And because all those children share one same nature of flesh and blood, Jesus likewise had to share this nature. This is why His death destroyed the one holding the power of death, that is the devil, and freed those who remained in bondage all their lifetime because of the fear of death.

Jesus came to take by the hand not the angels but the human race. So He had to be like His brothers and sisters in every respect, in order to be the High Priest faithful to God and merciful to them, a Priest able to ask pardon and atone for their sins. Having been tested through suffering, He is able to help those who are tested.

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Tuesday, 26 January 2016 : 3rd Week of Ordinary Time, Memorial of St. Timothy and St. Titus, Bishops (Homily and Scripture Reflections)

Liturgical Colour : White

Dear brothers and sisters in Christ, on this day we heard the message from the Sacred Scriptures speaking to us about the Lord Who sent His disciples to precede Him, to go before Him and prepare the way for Him before He came to the places where He would perform the good works of God and save the people of God. Today we heard the Lord Jesus reminding those disciples about what they should expect about the mission they were to embark on.

The Lord spoke of a harvest, and the labourers for the harvest, that how the harvest and all the crops are truly plentiful but there were few if any workers were available to help harvest all of the rich crops and goods. This was what the Lord used to show the reality about the works that He had established on earth, that while there are ample opportunities and chances available to bring salvation to God’s people, but there had been few of those who took up the mantle and took part in the works of salvation in God.

The field represented this world and all of its people, which presents to us, even more so in this time and era, a rich and vast ocean of opportunities, where many people are awaiting the fruits of the good works of God’s salvation, and yet they were unable to receive them and be saved, simply because there were no workers to collect them. Those workers are all of us, God’s faithful people and God’s faithful followers.

The Lord needs workers for His field, and who else but all of us could rise up to the call of the Lord? It is our duty and responsibility to take up what God had entrusted in us. Otherwise, the rich harvest would be wasted, and all the good crops and plants would be destroyed, which symbolises the loss of the potential of all those who should have received God’s salvation through us.

Now, our world today is a difficult world for us if we want to be faithful to the Lord and be committed to Him. There are simply way too many distractions and temptations for us, through which the devil and his allies are constantly trying to lure us all away from the path leading towards the Lord our God. And in the eyes of many, the path of dedication and commitment to God had become difficult and unappealing.

Brothers and sisters in Christ, this world is in ever greater need for those who responded to the Lord’s call and devoted themselves to His service, those in the religious life and even more importantly those who have devoted themselves into the order of sacred priesthood. There are ever increasing attacks and troubles facing these faithful servants of our Lord, and there is also an ever growing need for more young people to take up the challenge and follow the Lord.

Let us all heed the examples of the two saints whom we are celebrating today, namely St. Timothy and St. Titus, both of whom had letters addressed to them by St. Paul, enshrined in our New Testament in the Sacred Scriptures, where they were encouraged and strengthened in their works and commitments to the cause of the Lord by St. Paul and his courageous and faithful devotion.

St. Timothy and St. Titus were among the first bishops of the Church, those who were appointed to lead the Church in the local communities, and help to guide the faithful to reach out to the Lord. They were those who were entrusted with the leadership and the guidance of the people of God, in finding the way to salvation. Their duties were many, and their works were not easy, as challenges and obstacles always came their way.

And yet, they did not give up or became distracted in their mission, and both St. Timothy and St. Titus continued to faithfully serve the people of God under their charge. This is an example that all of us should take note of, and especially the young ones among us should heed, that if the Lord calls us, we should be ready to take up the cross and lead the way so that through us, God’s work of salvation can be made ready and true for many people who need it.

May God bless us all in our works, and may He awaken in all of us the heart for service, so that all of us will realise how important it is for us to do the will of God, and to walk in His path faithfully, realising whatever roles we can play in helping to bring God’s salvation to one another. May God be with us all, now and forever. Amen.

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Tuesday, 26 January 2016 : 3rd Week of Ordinary Time, Memorial of St. Timothy and St. Titus, Bishops (Gospel Reading)

Liturgical Colour : White

Luke 10 : 1-9

At that time, the Lord Jesus appointed seventy-two other disciples, and sent them two by two ahead of Him to every town and place, where He Himself was to go. And He said to them, “The harvest is plentiful, but the workers are few. So you must ask the Lord of the harvest to send workers to His harvest.”

“Courage! I am sending you like lambs among wolves. Set off without purse or bag or sandals; and do not stop at the homes of those you know. Whatever house you enter, first bless them, saying, ‘Peace to this house!’ If a friend of peace lives there, the peace shall rest upon that person. But if not, the blessing will return to you.”

“Stay in that house, eating and drinking at their table, for the worker deserves to be paid. Do not move from house to house. When they welcome you to any town, eat what they offer you. Heal the sick who are there, and say to them : ‘The kingdom of God has drawn near to you.'”