Tuesday

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Tuesday, 12 January 2016 : 1st Week of Ordinary Time (Gospel Reading)

Liturgical Colour : Green

Mark 1 : 21b-28

At that time, Jesus taught in the synagogue on the Sabbath day. The people were astonished at the way He taught, for He spoke as one having authority and not like the teachers of the Law.

It happened that a man with an evil spirit was in their synagogue, and he shouted, “What do You want with us, Jesus of Nazareth? Have You come to destroy us? I know Who You are : You are the Holy One of God.”

Then Jesus faced him and said with authority, “Be silent, and come out of this man!” The evil spirit shook the man violently and, with a loud shriek, came out of him. All the people were astonished, and they wondered, “What is this? With what authority He preaches! He even gives orders to evil spirits and they obey Him!”

And Jesus’ fame spread throughout all the country of Galilee.

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Tuesday, 12 January 2016 : 1st Week of Ordinary Time (Psalm)

Liturgical Colour : Green

1 Samuel 2 : 1, 4-5, 6-7, 8abcd

My heart exults in YHVH, I feel strong in my God. I rejoice and laugh at my enemies for You came with power to save me.

The bow of the mighty is broken but the weak are girded with strength. The well-fed must labour for bread but the hungry need work no more. The childless wife has borne seven children, but the proud mother is left alone.

YHVH is the Lord of life and death, He brings down to the grave and raises up. YHVH makes poor and makes rich, He brings low and He exalts.

He lifts up the lowly from the dust, and raises the poor from the ash heap; they will be called to the company of princes, and inherit a seat of honour.

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Tuesday, 12 January 2016 : 1st Week of Ordinary Time (First Reading)

Liturgical Colour : Green

1 Samuel 1 : 9-20

After they had eaten and drunk in Shiloh, Hannah stood up not far from Eli, the priest : his seat was beside the doorpost of YHVH’s House. Deeply distressed she wept and prayed to YHVH and made this vow, “O YHVH of hosts, if only You will have compassion on Your maidservant and give me a son, I will put him in Your service for as long as he lives and no razor shall touch his head.”

As she prayed before YHVH, Eli observed the movement of her lips. Hannah was praying silently; she moved her lips but uttered no sound and Eli thought Hannah was drunk. He, therefore, said to her : “For how long will you be drunk? Let your drunkenness pass.”

But Hannah answered : “No, my lord, I am a woman in great distress, not drunk. I have not drunk wine or strong drink, but I am pouring out my soul before YHVH. Do not take me for a bad woman. I was so afflicted that my prayer flowed continuously.”

Then Eli said, “Go in peace and may the God of Israel grant you what you asked for.” Hannah answered, “Let Your maidservant deserve Your kindness.” Then she left the Temple and when she was at table, she seemed a different woman.

Elkanah rose early in the morning and worshipped before YHVH with his wives. Then they went back home to Ramah. When Elkanah slept with his wife, Hannah, YHVH took compassion on her, and she became pregnant. She gave birth to a son and called him Samuel because she said : “I have asked YHVH to give him to me.”

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Tuesday, 5 January 2016 : Tuesday after the Epiphany (Homily and Scripture Reflections)

Liturgical Colour : White

Dear brothers and sisters in Christ, on this day we heard the readings taken from the Holy Scriptures talking to us about the love of God, how the love of God had shown itself and manifested itself to us, in none other than Jesus Christ our Lord, the One Whom we celebrate in this Christmas season, for His coming into the world had brought God’s love itself upon us.

And we see one example of how God loved us all mankind in the Gospel reading today, where we heard the well-known story of how Jesus fed the multitudes of five thousand men, not including women and children, which would certainly add even much more to the number of those whom the Lord had fed with just five loaves and two fish.

The Lord Jesus saw the people who followed Him and listened to Him teaching for many days, and they were hungry, for although they heard the word of God and were satisfied in spirit, but they are still creatures of the flesh, and their flesh were weak, and they were hungry, just as we are all going to be hungry if we do not eat any food or little amount of food for quite a period of time.

And God was loving and merciful towards His children and His people, and that was why Jesus showed compassion and mercy on all those poor souls who hunger for food. He took the five loaves of bread and the two fish, blessed them and broke them into many pieces by His power and gave all the people to eat until they were all satisfied and full in their stomach, with even many pieces of bread and fish to spare.

This is how loving God is, but that is not just what God has loved us with, for the gift of the physical food that Jesus had done on that day with the five thousand men and countless other women and children were insignificant compared to what other things God had done for His people, that is for all of us. This is because, He has indeed spared nothing but He gave Himself completely, in His own Body and Blood for us all to eat and partake, that all of us may have life in us.

Yes, this is the Sacrament of the Most Holy Eucharist, which our priests during each Holy Mass offered in union with that ultimate sacrifice on the cross, when our Lord Jesus Christ took upon Himself all of our sins and all the punishments due to our sins, and being lifted up high on the cross, He gave up His own life for our sake, that through His death, and by the shedding and thus the sharing of His Body and Blood, all may have a share in the life of His resurrection.

All of us who believed in God and who faithfully obeyed His laws and teachings through the Church, and who have shared in the Most Holy Eucharist with proper decorum and being worthy of it, have been blessed with this life which our Lord promised to all those who have faith in Him. He dwells in us just as we all dwell in Him, and united to Him Who is the Lord of all life, we have the promise of everlasting life through Him.

Today, as we heard the words of the Holy Scriptures, let us all reflect on what we have heard, and think of how we have all lived our lives, in our actions, words and deeds. Have we been faithful to God in all things? Or have we allowed our worldly concerns and desires to cloud our judgments and be unfaithful in what we do or say? As we continue on the season of Christmas and rejoice in the coming of the Lord Jesus, these are important questions that we really should ask ourselves.

This is because He Who have once come in a manger through the Blessed Virgin Mary, Who have suffered and died for us all, and Who rose from the dead in glory and ascended into Heaven in might, will come again for certain just as He had promised. If He comes again, at a time which we do not know or expect, and He finds us empty of faith and action based on that faith which we should have for Him, then what can we expect of what He will do with us?

If we want a part in God’s kingdom and be sharers of His love and blessings, then all of us should from now on reorientate our lives and refocus them in order to attune ourselves to the way of the Lord, and that in all the things we say and do, we may glorify God and proclaim His truth to the nations. May God awaken in all of us the love and the devotion which all of us ought to have for Him. God bless us all. Amen.

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Tuesday, 5 January 2016 : Tuesday after the Epiphany (Gospel Reading)

Liturgical Colour : White

Mark 6 : 34-44

At that time, as Jesus went ashore, He saw a large crowd, and He had compassion on them for they were like sheep without a shepherd. And He began a long teaching session with them.

It was now getting late, so His disciples came to Him and said, “This is a lonely place and it is now late. You should send the people away, and let them go to the farms and villages around here, to buy themselves something to eat.”

Jesus replied, “You yourselves give them something to eat.” They answered, “If we are to feed them, we need two hundred silver coins to go and buy enough bread.” But Jesus said, “You have some loaves; how many? Go and see.” The disciples found out and said, “There are five loaves and two fish.”

Then He told them to have the people sit down together in groups on the green grass. This they did in groups of hundreds and fifties. And Jesus took the five loaves and the two fish and, raising His eyes to Heaven, He pronounced a blessing, broke the loaves, and handed them to His disciples to distribute to the people. He also divided the two fish among them.

They all ate and everyone had enough. The disciples gathered up what was left, and filled twelve baskets with broken pieces of bread and fish. Five thousand men had eaten there.

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Tuesday, 5 January 2016 : Tuesday after the Epiphany (Psalm)

Liturgical Colour : White

Psalm 71 : 1-2, 3-4ab, 7-8

O God, endow the King with Your justice, the Royal Son with Your righteousness. May He rule Your people justly and defend the rights of the lowly.

Let the mountains bring peace to the people, and the hills justice. He will defend the cause of the poor, deliver the children of the needy.

Justice will flower in His days, and peace abound till the moon be no more. For He reigns from sea to sea, from the River to the ends of the earth.

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Tuesday, 5 January 2016 : Tuesday after the Epiphany (First Reading)

Liturgical Colour : White

1 John 4 : 7-10

My dear friends, let us love one another for love comes from God. Everyone who loves is born of God and knows God. Those who do not love have not known God, for God is love.

How did the love of God appear among us? God sent His only Son into this world that we might have life through Him. This is love : not that we loved God but that He first loved us and sent His Son as an atoning sacrifice for our sins.

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Tuesday, 29 December 2015 : Fifth Day within Octave of Christmas, Memorial of St. Thomas Becket, Bishop and Martyr (Homily and Scripture Reflections)

Liturgical Colour : White

Dear brothers and sisters in Christ, on this day we heard about the Lord Jesus Who was presented at the Temple of God at the time when He was just eight days old, as He was the Firstborn Son of Mary, which according to the Law and the commandments of God, all the firstborn sons of Israel and his descendants should be presented to the Lord after their birth as a sign of the renewed covenant between God and His people.

This can be linked to what had happened in the past during the time of Abraham, when God made a covenant with him, and established the promise which He had vowed to Abraham, the faithful servant of God, that He would make him and his descendants to be a great nation. But one day, God asked Abraham to bring the son God had promised him, Isaac, to a mountain and sacrifice him as an offering to Him.

We can just imagine what kind of thoughts and emotions that ran through Abraham’s mind at that time. Imagine that the Lord had given you such a great promise, and then suddenly it seemed as if He wanted to take that promise away from him by taking the one whom he had been expecting for a long time, that is a son to be his heir and to be the predecessor of the great nation promised to him.

Yet, if we see how Abraham reacted to the Lord’s request, we can immediately see how he was thoroughly committed to God and obeyed Him without question. He was ready to give up his son to the Lord, as his attitude was likely to be such as, whatever God has given me, God may take again from me. Yes, this is because He is the Lord and Master of all, and it is certainly within His power and authority to decide on the fate of all things.

And therefore, just as Abraham had been willing to give even his own beloved son, the promised son that would be his seed and a great nation, therefore, in this Christmas season, God also would not hold back Himself from giving His own Beloved Son, the Firstborn of all things, not created but Who was with Him since before the beginning of time.

Yes, God gave us none other than His own Beloved Son, the Divine Word of God Who was made Man, one of the Holy Trinity and inseparable part of the Lord, Who came down as a humble Man in Jesus, born of a carpenter and a young virgin, and consecrated to God as all other firstborns of Israel were, so that through Him, this world and all of God’s people might be saved.

This is the essence of Christmas, its true meaning, and which all of us should understand, that the love that God has for all of us is so great, His dedication and commitment to us is so great that He is willing to do all these just so that we may be reunited with Him in perfect love. This is the commitment that God has given to His part of the covenant that He had established with us. But a covenant is a two-way process, and thus we too need to give our part to the covenant.

How do we do this, brethren? Perhaps we should look at the examples of the saint whose life is a good barometer and example to follow in this regard, namely St. Thomas Becket, or St. Thomas of Canterbury, the Archbishop of Canterbury and therefore the Primate of England who lived and worked at about eight hundred years ago, at the time of the Medieval age Europe.

St. Thomas Becket was once the Chancellor of the Realm, the highest political office equivalent to that of today’s Prime Minister and also a good friend of the king of England at that time, king Henry. For a long time, St. Thomas Becket lived a life of privilege, of honour and worldly glory, with all the things that were made available to him because of his esteemed position.

All this changed when the king appointed him as the Archbishop of Canterbury, the highest position in the Church within the realm of the English king, with jurisdiction over the other English bishops, priests and also all of the laity. Such an esteemed position was bestowed on St. Thomas Becket by the king with the hope that he would be able to rein the Church that the king will gain better cooperation from a Church controlled by his own confidant.

Yet, St. Thomas Becket received the revelation of the Faith as he embarked on his new duty, and he wholeheartedly devoted himself to the mission he had been entrusted with. He took his new position of responsibility very seriously, and instead of championing the cause of the king as the king had intended when he appointed St. Thomas Becket as the Primate of England, the fact was completely contrary to the desires of the king.

He opposed the king and the nobles in many occasions, defending the rights of the Church and the faith, and also chastised certain nobles for their wicked ways and called for their repentance. Not even opposition and threats from the nobles and all those who had been negatively affected by St. Thomas Becket’s works could stop him from devoting himself completely to God’s works.

In the end, the nobles with the complicity from the king murdered him in a cold-blooded assassination when St. Thomas Becket celebrated the Mass in his own chapel. The assassination was immediately condemned by the Church and by the people, and those involved had to undergo painful penitential efforts before they were allowed to return to the Church, and St. Thomas Becket was universally recognised as a saint for his hard works and efforts.

Brothers and sisters in Christ, all of us should be inspired by his examples, and we should redouble our efforts and commit ourselves anew to the Lord. May all of us be able to give ourselves more and more to God our Lord and Father, and may He bless us and keep us always in His love. God bless us all. Amen.

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Tuesday, 29 December 2015 : Fifth Day within Octave of Christmas, Memorial of St. Thomas Becket, Bishop and Martyr (Gospel Reading)

Liturgical Colour : White

Luke 2 : 22-35

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.”

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Tuesday, 29 December 2015 : Fifth Day within Octave of Christmas, Memorial of St. Thomas Becket, Bishop and Martyr (Psalm)

Liturgical Colour : White

Psalm 95 : 1-2a, 2b-3, 5b-6

Sing to the Lord a new song, sing to the Lord, all the earth! Sing to the Lord, bless His Name.

Proclaim His salvation day after day. Recall His glory among the nations, tell all the peoples His wonderful deeds.

But YHVH is the One Who made the heavens. Splendour and majesty go before Him; power and glory fill His sanctuary.