Tuesday

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Tuesday, 10 January 2023 : 1st Week of Ordinary Time (Homily and Scripture Reflections)

Liturgical Colour : Green

Dear brothers and sisters in Christ, today marks the beginning of the Ordinary Time of the year, the first of the two Ordinary Time periods in which this one spans the period between the Christmas season and the season of Lent that will begin later on Ash Wednesday towards the end of February for this year. During this period, while it is called Ordinary Time, it is often most typical for us to misunderstand what the ‘ordinary’ in Ordinary Time actually means. This ordinary does not imply or mean mundane or usual at all, but rather it implies the time and occasion where we are supposed to continue to live our lives faithfully and with great dedication, as good examples and role models for one another, that we may indeed be the beacons of God’s light and truth in the midst of our respective communities.

In our first reading today, we heard from the Epistle to the Hebrews in which the author of the Epistle spoke about how mankind has been honoured and considered even greater than the Angels of God, and the author also spoke of the dominion and glory which God has given to His Son, Jesus Christ, Our Lord and Saviour, Who came down into our midst, to this world to save us all from our fated destruction due to sin and death. Through Him, all of us have received the sure guarantee of eternal life and the light of hope, all of us who believe in Him and remain in His love and grace. The Lord Jesus has come into this world so that we may directly experience the love of God, and that God’s love may become tangible and approachable by us, no longer a distant wish but having become a reality in the flesh.

Through Christ, all of us have been united to His suffering, His death on the Cross and His glorious Resurrection, through which He gathered us all and redeemed us by the most loving and selfless sacrifice He had offered and made on the Cross, both as our High Priest and also as the sacrificial Paschal Lamb. He united us all to His perfection and glory, His human nature being the same with us, and by sharing in our humanity, He has therefore shown us the path out of the darkness and into the eternal light of God. Christ, according to St. Paul, is the New Adam, Who, in contrast with the old and first Adam who led mankind into sin by his disobedience and sins, Christ as the New Adam led us all into the righteousness of God by His perfect submission and obedience to the will of God, His heavenly Father.

Through Christ, all of us have been made the children of God by adoption, as fellow brothers and sisters of the same Jesus Christ, the Son of God, Our Lord and Saviour. And that is what we have been reminded of through this day’s Scripture readings. All of us are God’s people, His children and followers, and we all belong to Him, His one flock and family. As such, all of us as Christians have the important responsibilities and obligations, duties and things that we will be expected to do and follow in our lives. We cannot be acting in ways contrary to what we believe in and what we are expected to do as Christians, or else we are acting like hypocrites and all those who have no faith in God. If our actions and works, our words and beliefs do not align with our Christian faith and teachings, then we may end up scandalising our faith and the Lord Himself.

That is why as we enter into this Ordinary Time and season, all of us are reminded and called to an active participation in the life and works of the Church, to be missionary and evangelising in our lives as disciples and followers of Christ so that in everything we say and do, at all times, we will always proclaim the truth and love of God, and be beacons of His light and hope in the midst of our darkened world full of evil and sin. As Christians, each and every one of us are called and expected to do what the Lord Himself has taught to us and revealed to us through His Church, by the works of the Apostles and the saints, and also by the Wisdom and the knowledge that the Holy Spirit has imparted upon us. Each one of us as God’s people, members of His flock and His followers should reflect well His righteousness and truth, at all times.

Brothers and sisters in Christ, let us ponder and discern well what our path forward will be, as we continue to progress through each and every days of our lives in this world. We should not indeed let our Ordinary Time and season be ‘ordinary’ in any sense that we are not doing anything or remaining idle. Instead, we should make good use of the opportunity provided to us by the Lord to make these days and moments truly ‘extraordinary’ by doing whatever we can in order to proclaim the truth and love of God in the midst of our respective communities, reaching out to those who have not yet heard God’s truth and love, and caring for the need of our fellow brothers and sisters, especially all those who are less fortunate than us, those who are suffering and in despair, everyone who are in need of help and love.

Let us all hence do whatever we can, in our every opportunities and at every possible moments, to glorify the Lord by our lives, to show forth the light of God’s grace, salvation and truth at all times and in all occasions, in every places and in every people. Let us all be good role models and source of inspiration to our fellow brethren all around us, and let us all do our part as Christians to do the will of God and to contribute our efforts and works for the greater glory of God and His Church. All of us are expected and reminded to be ever more faithful in carrying out ourselves and our duties as those who walk in the light of Christ’s Presence, and as those whom the Lord had called and chosen from among the nations. We have to be active in doing what is expected of us so that hopefully through our examples more and more people will be inspired and encouraged to do the same as well.

May the Lord continue to guide us each day throughout this season of Ordinary Time, so that we all may continue to live our lives most faithfully and most obediently, doing whatever we can to glorify the Lord through our lives, our actions and works, our words and interactions among many other things. May He empower each one of us and strengthen us all in faith, so that we may always draw ever closer to Him and continue to persevere and flourish in our faith in Him regardless of the challenges and trials we may have to face in our journey of faith with Him. Amen.

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Tuesday, 10 January 2023 : 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, 10 January 2023 : 1st Week of Ordinary Time (Psalm)

Liturgical Colour : Green

Psalm 8 : 2a and 5, 6-7, 8-9

O Lord, our Lord, how great is Your Name throughout the earth! What is man that You be mindful of him, the Son of Man, that You should care for Him?

Yet You made Him a little lower than the Angels; You crowned Him with glory and honour and gave Him the works of Your hands; You have put all things under His feet.

Sheep and oxen without number and even the beasts of the field, the birds of the air, the fish of the sea, and all that swim the paths of the ocean.

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Tuesday, 10 January 2023 : 1st Week of Ordinary Time (First Reading)

Liturgical Colour : Green

Hebrews 2 : 5-12

The Angels were not given dominion over the new world of which we are speaking. Instead someone declared in Scripture : What is man, that You should be mindful of him, what is the Son of Man that You should care for Him? For a while You placed Him a little lower than the Angels, but You crowned Him with glory and honour. You have given Him dominion over all things.

When it is said that God gave Him dominion over all things, nothing is excluded. As it is, we do not yet see His dominion over all things. But Jesus Who suffered death and for a little while was placed lower than the Angels has been crowned with honour and glory. For the merciful plan of God demanded that He experience death on behalf of everyone.

God, from Whom all come and by Whom all things exist, wanted to bring many children to glory, and He thought it fitting to make perfect through suffering the Initiator of their salvation. So He Who gives and those who receive holiness are one. He Himself is not ashamed of calling us brothers and sisters, as we read : Lord, I will proclaim Your Name to My brothers; I will praise You in the congregation.

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Tuesday, 3 January 2023 : Weekday of Christmas Time, Memorial of the Most Holy Name of Jesus (Homily and Scripture Reflections)

Liturgical Colour : White

Dear brothers and sisters in Christ, today the Church marks the Feast of the Most Holy Name of Jesus, just as we continue to progress through this Christmas season. On this day we recall the very Name of the Lord that He has been given and revealed to us through the Archangel Gabriel. The Archangel Gabriel told Mary, the Mother of the Lord that she would bear within her the Son of God Himself, and that this Son ought to be named Jesus. Through this Name, Jesus or roughly Yeshua in the old Hebrew and Aramaic, we come to know the Name of the Lord Himself, made approachable and utterable for us, so that by His coming into our midst, He might restore us all and renew us, just as He had done with His loving sacrifice on the Cross.

We may be wandering, why is it that we celebrate the Name of the Lord with a Feast like this day? A person’s name is very important, as first of all, it marks that we are building a genuine relationship with someone whose name is known to us and vice versa. While strangers and acquaintances are mostly not known to us by name, and most of us do not bother to know them by their names, knowing a person’s name is often the first step in the often long and complicated process of establishing relationship. Hence, as the Lord revealed His Name to us, it shows us that He is willing to come close to us and to know us personally, just as He has chosen to come down into this world, becoming Incarnate as the Son of Man. Thus just as we celebrate Christmas season, we should also spend more time reflecting on the mystery of God’s Incarnation, that He has become tangible and approachable by us, with a Name that we can call and speak of.

We also have to understand that in the past, among the first chosen people of God, the Israelites, the Holy Name of God was considered so sacred and holy that this Name cannot be mentioned or uttered at all. Hence, while His Name is usually written as the Tetragrammaton of YHVH, which leads to what is mentioned as Yahweh in some of our contemporary worship music, it cannot and should not be pronounced in any normal occasion, as this added on to the mystical nature of the Holy Name of God and meant to highlight just how infinitely great God is beyond our ability to fathom Him, just as in the Old Testament God is considered as being mighty and unapproachable by any of the mortal beings. It is in fact a taboo for anyone to utter or try to say the Name of the Lord, and only the High Priest was allowed to do so, and even only at a particular time in the year.

Therefore, the fact that the Lord has provided us with a Name that is approachable and utterable, Jesus, the Name that is above every other names as we heard from the Epistle of St. Paul to the Philippians in our first reading today, revealed that He truly wants to make us to be able to approach Him, and for Him to be with us, and that God is no longer One Who is distant and infinitely beyond our reach. He has became one like us, assuming our humble human reality and existence, so that He truly becomes Emmanuel, God Who is with us. He is no longer a distant God Who reigns over His people with impunity and only punishes all who disobey Him. He has become God that is manifested and personified in all of His love for us, in the person of Jesus Christ, and through this same Name, we have been saved.

In our Gospel passage today, we heard again of the salvation which has come into our midst through Jesus Christ, that by His Name and His works, we have been reconciled with God. Through His Name, we have received the fullness of God’s grace and love, and we know of that God and Man united in the same person of Jesus, by Whom we have been redeemed from the precipice of destruction and death, because He obeyed His Father’s will so perfectly that He became for us all the source of hope and the assurance of eternal life. In the Name of Jesus, which we hang on to with faith and hope, we know that God is truly with us, knowing us and understanding us. He made Himself available and accessible to us so that we may reach out to Him as well, and turn towards Him with hope and confidence, that through Him there is path to light and eternal life.

Yet, at the same time we are also reminded that while we have received great graces and favour through the Name of Jesus, our Lord and Saviour, but we also must still not take the Name of the Lord in vain, even after He has made Himself approachable to us. It is one of the Ten Commandments that stated to us, ‘Keep holy the Name of the Lord’ or ‘Do not take the Lord’s Name in vain’. This same commandment and Law still applies to us, and we have to hold His Name with the highest regard. There had been quite a few instances when people have been misusing the Lord’s Name and treated His Name with disdain and utter disrespect, even using them with expletives and vulgarities among other things most unbecoming of our attitudes with regards to the Lord’s Holy Name. The sad thing is that even many of us Christians have done that as well.

Brothers and sisters in Christ, let us all heed what St. Paul mentioned in the first reading today again as he spoke regarding the Holy Name of Jesus. The Name of the Lord is the Name above every other names, to which all knees shall bend, be it in Heaven, on earth, or below the earth, that is in hell and in the underworld. It means that this Name, while indeed approachable to us, is still the Most Holy Name of our Sovereign and Almighty God, to which the Angels and all of us ought to obey and bend our knee in worship, and even Satan in all of his power has no authority before the Name of the Lord, and had to bend his knee as well. After all, the Lord has a Universal dominion and authority, and even Satan has to obey Him. That is why, we must never (again) take the Lord’s Name in vain or disrespect Him in that manner.

Brothers and sisters in Christ, as we continue to celebrate the joyful season and time of Christmas, let us all reflect carefully upon the role that our Saviour, Jesus Christ has in the history of our salvation that by His coming into this world which we celebrate at this Christmas season, He had made Himself approachable and tangible for us, to make God’s love within our reach, dwelling in our midst as God Who is always ever present among His people, Emmanuel. This Christmas we are reminded yet again that Christ has manifested Himself before us, and give us His Name as the assurance for a new hope and light that illuminates our path towards the future with Him. Let us not forget about Christ in our Christmas joy and festivities, and let us return Him to the rightful position at the heart of our every celebrations, and also enthrone Him within our hearts, always ever keeping His Holy Name with the utmost honour and respect.

May the Lord Jesus Christ, in Whose Name we have been saved, be with us always, and may He continue to guide us and strengthen us in our journey of faith, so that we may continue to persevere in faith and do our very best to commit ourselves to a life fully dedicated to Him and worthy of His love and grace. Let us all invoke His Name from now on with faith, and strive to be ever more worthy of uttering His Name, at all times. May God bless us always, in all of our efforts and endeavours, now and forevermore. Amen.

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Tuesday, 3 January 2023 : Weekday of Christmas Time, Memorial of the Most Holy Name of Jesus (Gospel Reading)

Liturgical Colour : White

John 1 : 29-34

At that time, the next day John saw Jesus coming towards him, and said, “There is the Lamb of God, Who takes away the sin of the world! It is He of Whom I said : A Man comes after me, Who is already ahead of me, for He was before me. I myself did not know Him, but I came baptising to prepare for Him, so that He might be revealed in Israel.”

And John also gave this testimony, “I saw the Spirit coming down on Him like a dove from heaven, and resting on Him. I myself did not know Him, but God, Who sent me to baptise, told me, “You will see the Spirit coming down, and resting, on the One Who baptises with the Holy Spirit.’ Yes, I have seen! And I declare that this is the Chosen One of God!”

Alternative reading (Mass of the Most Holy Name of Jesus)

Luke 2 : 21-24

On the eighth day, the circumcision of the Baby had to be performed; He was named Jesus, the Name the Angel had given Him before He was conceived. 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.

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Tuesday, 3 January 2023 : Weekday of Christmas Time, Memorial of the Most Holy Name of Jesus (Psalm)

Liturgical Colour : White

Psalm 97 : 1, 3cd-4, 5-6

Sing to the Lord a new song, for He has done wonders; His right hand, His holy arm, has won victory for Him.

The farthest ends of the earth all have seen God’s saving power. All you lands, make a joyful noise to the Lord, break into song and sing praise.

With melody of the lyre and with music of the harp. With trumpet blast and sound of the horn, rejoice before the King, the Lord!

Alternative Psalm (Mass of the Most Holy Name of Jesus)

Psalm 8 : 4-5, 6-7, 8-9

When I observe the heavens, the work of Your hands, the moon, and the stars You set in their place – what is man, that You be mindful of him; the Son of Man, that You should care for Him?

Yet You made Him a little less than a god; You crowned Him with glory and honour and gave Him the works of Your hands; You have put all things under His feet.

Sheep and oxen without number, and even the beasts of the field, the birds of the air, the fish of the sea, and all that swim the paths of the ocean.

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Tuesday, 3 January 2023 : Weekday of Christmas Time, Memorial of the Most Holy Name of Jesus (First Reading)

Liturgical Colour : White

1 John 2 : 29 – 1 John 3 : 6

You know that He is the Just One : know then that anyone living justly is born of God. See what singular love the Father has for us : we are called children of God, and we really are. This is why the world does not know us, because it did not know Him.

Beloved, we are God’s children and what we shall be has not yet been shown. Yet when He appears in His glory, we know that we shall be like Him, for then we shall see Him as He is. All who have such a hope try to be pure as He is pure. Anyone who commits a sin acts as an enemy of the law of God; any sin acts wickedly, because all sin is wickedness.

You know that He came to take away our sins, and that there is no sin in Him. Whoever remains in Him has no sin, whoever sins has not seen or known Him.

Alternative reading (Mass of the Most Holy Name of Jesus)

Philippians 2 : 1-11

If I may advise you, in the Name of Christ, and if you can hear it, as the voice of love; if we share the same Spirit, and are capable of mercy and compassion, then I beg of you, make me very happy : have one love, one spirit, one feeling, do nothing through rivalry or vain conceit.

On the contrary, let each of you gently consider the others, as more important than yourselves. Do not seek your own interest, but, rather, that of others. Your attitude should be the same as Jesus Christ had :

Though He was in the form of God, He did not regard equality with God as something to be grasped, but emptied Himself, taking on the nature of a servant, made in human likeness, and in His appearance found as a Man.

He humbled Himself by being obedient to death, death on the cross. That is why God exalted Him and gave Him the Name which outshines all names, so that at the Name of Jesus all knees should bend in heaven, on earth and among the dead, and all tongues proclaim that Christ Jesus is the Lord to the glory of God the Father.

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Tuesday, 27 December 2022 : Feast of St. John, Apostle and Evangelist (Homily and Scripture Reflections)

Liturgical Colour : White

Dear brothers and sisters in Christ, today as we gather together as a Church, we honour the memory of one of the great servants of God, His beloved Apostle, one of the Twelve, namely that of St. John the Apostle and Evangelist, the one who lived the longest among the Apostles and according to tradition was both the youngest among them during the Lord’s ministry as well as the only one who did not die in martyrdom, but still suffered greatly nonetheless for his faith and good works in God. St. John the Apostle and Evangelist lived to a long old life, even as he endured arrest, prison and exile in the island of Patmos, where he received the vision from God regarding the end times, as written in the Book of Revelations of St. John.

This Apostle was the younger brother of St. James the Greater, another one of the Twelve Apostles. Both of them were often referred to as the sons of Zebedee, and were fishermen at the lake of Galilee together with St. Peter and St. Andrew. All the four of them were among the first that the Lord had called to become His disciples, and St. John together with his brother, St. James and also St. Peter were often present in many of the important events throughout the ministry of the Lord Jesus such as the Transfiguration, the resurrection of the sick daughter of the synagogue official Jairus, as well as the moments of the Passion of the Lord like the Agony in the Garden of Gethsemane. All the three of them including St. John were present at those important events, and hence he truly must have had a great knowledge of what had happened during the Lord’s work and ministry.

In the Gospel passage we heard today, we heard of the story from the Gospel written by St. John himself of the moment when the Lord was risen from the dead. At that occasion, it was told that when St. Mary Magdalene came bearing the information that the Lord has risen and disappeared from the tomb, St. John was among the first of the Apostles, together with St. Peter, who went to check the truth of what they have just heard. St. John believed in what he had seen and heard, and had faith in God, which had kept him going throughout all those years afterwards when he had to endure a lot of trials and hardships as a missionary and a worker of the Lord, carrying out His will in faraway places and lands, and facing both successes and challenges throughout all those occasions and years.

In our first reading today, the Epistle that St. John himself had written, to all the faithful people of God, we heard St. John yet again testifying about the Lord, highlighting how the Love of God has manifested in the Lord Jesus Christ, the One Whose every works and good deeds, wonders and miracles, wisdom and teachings he had witnessed and heard. St. John hence shared of what he had experienced and believed in, and placed particular emphasis on the Incarnation of the Word, the Divine Word of God, the Son, in the flesh, to come down into our midst as the Saviour of all. Like that of another of very popular quote from his Gospel, St. John wrote of the exchanges between the Lord Jesus and the Pharisee, Nicodemus in which Jesus said that, ‘For God so loved the world that He gave us all His only beloved Son, so that all those who believed in Him may not perish but have eternal life.’

Brothers and sisters in Christ, as we heard from these Scripture passages today, as written and recorded by St. John himself, we are reminded that each and every one of us are also witnesses and bearers of this same truth which St. John had himself received from the Lord, and just like St. John who had to labour and faced a lot of trials over the many years that he had spent in his ministry and calling as an Apostle and also an Evangelist, all of us as God’s holy people, the members of His same Church and part of that same one flock should therefore also carry out the respective missions, vocations and callings that each one of us have received as disciples and followers of the Lord. We cannot be ignorant of the responsibilities that each one of us as Christians have in being good bearers of the truth of God and as the beacons of His light and hope.

Yes, brothers and sisters in Christ, today as we rejoice together and celebrate the memory of St. John the Apostle and Evangelist, remembering all the great deeds he had done for the sake of the Lord and His people, all of us are reminded that the works that the Lord had begun and entrusted to His Church through His Apostles like St. John are far from being completed. On the contrary, there are always many more opportunities and occasions where there may be a lot of chance for us to be the bearers of God’s truth and love in our communities today, or within our own families and circles of friends, with acquaintances and even strangers we encounter daily in life. And this Christmas season is one of those occasions in which we can reach out to our fellow brethren with pure and genuine Christian love.

That is why it is important that each one of us understand the true meaning and importance of Christmas, knowing that Christmas is truly the manifestation of God’s Love, just as St. John had stated in various occasions, of the Divine Word and Son of God incarnate, taking up upon Himself our humble human nature and existence, so that by this action, He might accomplish everything that had been planned and prophesied for us, our salvation and liberation from the bondage of sin, evil and death. The question is whether we understand and appreciate this truth, and even more importantly, whether we show it in our way of celebrating Christmas, by putting Christ at the centre of all of our rejoicing, celebrations and festivities, or whether we have allowed the excesses of the secular form of Christmas, all the worldly merrymaking and parties to distract us from the true meaning of Christmas.

That is why we should reflect well on this, and if we have not done so, we should change our emphasis and focus in the way we celebrate Christmas. Christmas should no longer be about ourselves or be about our pleasures and happiness, while forgetting about others and those who are suffering around us. Instead of a selfish celebration and excessive merrymaking and feasting, we should be ever more committed as the followers and disciples of the Lord, in showing one another what true Christian love is all about, sharing the same love that Christ our Lord had come bearing with Him into this world, by reaching out to the less fortunate and all those who are not able to celebrate Christmas the way we do. Let us also seek reconciliation and forgiveness from one another for all the past faults we have made as well.

May the Lord through the examples and life of His faithful servant and Apostle, St. John, continue to strengthen and inspire us to be ever more dedicated and faithful in all things. May He help us to appreciate and understand better what He had Himself done for us so that we too may become good witnesses and bearers of His love, His truth and His ways. May God bless our every efforts and endeavours, our every actions and good works at all times, now and forevermore. Amen.

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Tuesday, 27 December 2022 : Feast of St. John, Apostle and Evangelist (Gospel Reading)

Liturgical Colour : White

John 20 : 2-8

At that time, Mary of Magdala ran to Peter, and the other disciple whom Jesus loved, and she said to them, “They have taken the Lord out of the tomb and we do not know where they have laid Him.”

Peter then set out with the other disciple to go out to the tomb. They ran together, but the other disciple outran Peter and reached the tomb first. He bent down and saw the linen cloths lying flat, but he did not enter. Then Simon Peter came, following him, and entered the tomb; he, too, saw the linen cloths lying flat.

The napkin, which had been around His head, was not lying flat like the other linen cloths, but lay rolled up in its place. Then the other disciple, who had reached the tomb first, also went in; he saw and believed.