unity in the Church

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Monday, 6 July 2015 : 14th Week of Ordinary Time, Memorial of St. Maria Goretti, Virgin and Martyr (Psalm)

Liturgical Colour : Green or Red (Martyrs)

Psalm 90 : 1-2, 3-4, 14-15ab

You who dwell in the shelter of the Most High, who rest in the shadow of the Almighty, say to the Lord, “My stronghold, my refuge, my God in whom I trust!”

He will rescue you from the fowler’s snare and from the deadly pestilence. He will cover you with His pinions and give you refuge under His wings.

“Because they cling to Me, I will rescue them,” says the Lord, “I will protect those who know My Name. When they call to Me, I will answer; in time of trouble I will be with them.”

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Monday, 6 July 2015 : 14th Week of Ordinary Time, Memorial of St. Maria Goretti, Virgin and Martyr (First Reading)

Liturgical Colour : Green or Red (Martyrs)

Genesis 28 : 10-22a

Jacob left Beersheba and set out for Haran. When he reached a certain place the sun had set and he spent the night there. He took one of the stones that were there and using it as a pillow, he lay down to sleep.

While Jacob was sleeping, he had a dream in which a ladder stood on the earth with its top reaching to heaven and on it were angels of God going up and coming down. And YHVH was standing there near him and said, “I am YHVH, the God of your father, Abraham, and the God of Isaac. The land on which you sleep, I give to you and your descendants.”

“Your descendants will be numerous like the specks of dust of the earth and you will spread out to the west and the east, to the north and the south. Through you and your descendants all the nations of the earth will be blessed. See, I am with you and I will keep you safe wherever you go. I will bring you back to this land and not leave you until I have done what I promised.”

Jacob woke from his dream and said, “Truly YHVH was in this place and I was not aware of it.” He was afraid and said, “How full of awe is this place! It is nothing less than a House of God; it is the Gate to Heaven!”

Then Jacob rose early and took the stone he had put under his head and set it up as a pillar and poured oil on the top of it. He named that place Bethel although before that it was called Luz.

Then Jacob made a vow, “If YHVH will be with me and keep me safe during this journey I am making, if He gives me bread to eat and clothes to wear, and if I return in peace to my father’s house, then YHVH will be my God. This stone which I have set up as a pillar will be God’s house.”

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Sunday, 5 July 2015 : Fourteenth Sunday of Ordinary Time, Memorial of St. Anthony Zaccaria, Priest (Homily and Scripture Reflections)

Liturgical Colour : Green

Dear brothers and sisters in Christ, on this Sunday, we heard about how Jesus went back to His hometown of Nazareth, and the people doubted Him and rejected Him, because they thought they knew who He was and where He came from, His background and family, that they refused to listen to Him. This defiance was indeed what the Lord had told His prophet Ezekiel in the first reading we has today.

The Lord sent many prophets and messengers to let the people know His will through many ages, when the people of God had walked astray from His path, and followed the ways of the world into their doom. God wanted to save them all and turn them all back to the faith, to salvation and liberation from all of the punishment that are due for their sins, but yet, in many cases, the people refused to believe.

Why is this so, brothers and sisters in Christ? That is because we mankind have been afflicted with what is called pride, and with what is called greed, desire, stubbornness, and many others. Because of all these, which we are all vulnerable from, we ended up acting like the people of Nazareth, who in their pride and refusal to acknowledge their sins, they have refused God’s salvation which He had freely offered through Jesus.

Many of us are by our nature selfish, and we like to think about ourselves first before that of others, and we like to judge others based on the standards that we set ourselves, including the standards of this world. It is in our nature to be judgmental and to criticise, and yet, while we are so concerned about others’ faults and shortcomings, we fail to see our own shortcomings and weaknesses.

Jesus rebuked all those who have acted as though they were so righteous and just, but in truth, they had no love in them. He rebuked all those who have been judging others for their little faults and yet failed to see the big flaws present in each one of them. This is the faith of the hypocrites, and the action of hypocrites do not gain much favour in the sight of God.

We ought to reflect on this, brothers and sisters, on the fact that we have also often walked in the same path as them. Look at the people of Nazareth, and why did Jesus say about them such things, such that the prophets are welcome except in their own home countries and towns? This is because of the same reason. We like to make assumptions and judgments to please our own purposes, and we are quick to get jealous when someone else have something that we do not have.

The people of Nazareth thought that it was preposterous to think of someone who apparently lived with them and walked among them for many years, the son of a mere humble carpenter could have been a great prophet and someone with such powers to heal and restore many peoples with illnesses and diseases. What do you think was it that happened inside of their hearts and minds?

Precisely, it was the devil who was at work, planting the seeds of distrust, jealousy and desire inside of them. He fanned the flames of jealousy in them, making them think that it was unfair for this mere carpenter’s Son to assume such power, and deep in their hearts, it was likely that they secretly desired the same power and authority as the one had by Jesus.

If we succumb to these wicked thoughts and behaviours, then this is where the root cause of all the sufferings and pains of this world came from. We live in a world where violence and struggle between members of families, friends, relations and peoples can happen because one covets what others possessed but not him or her. We should learn from the history of our race, to know from many occasions how mankind were willing to cause hurt to others just to satisfy their carnal desires, to possess more of this world’s goodness.

And it is our bad tendency and nature that we like to judge based on appearances. We always focus on how we appear before others, and we deem people worthy and suitable, even unto placing values on them based on how their appearances are. Unfortunately, this is reality and indeed, we often fail to realise what someone’s true worth is, as we focus on appearances but not what is inside the heart.

Does God look at appearances? No, such thing is superficial. What God sees is what lies inside each of our hearts and minds. And under His gaze, nothing even hidden deep inside men’s hearts and minds can escape His sight. What God values most is what is the contents of our hearts, whether they are filled with love, tenderness, care and concern for one another, and with love for Him, or whether they are filled with greed, desire, pride, arrogance and selfishness.

God created each one of us with our own strengths and weaknesses. No one is made perfect. Therefore, it is important for us to realise how we need to open up our eyes, and not just the physical eyes that we have to perceive the world and others as they appear around us, but even more importantly, we need to open up the eyes of our hearts, which allow us to see one another in a new light.

I assure you that if we do so, then we will be able to perceive the world around us in a different, and in a much better way. And we will then be able to see our true goal in life, that is to seek the Lord with all of our might and strength, and therefore carry out all of His will, which is for us to love each other, especially those who are least among us, the poor, the lonely, the downtrodden, the oppressed and many others who are not as fortunate as us.

Do we ignore the plight of these people when we look at them? Do we just focus on the appearances and externals, and fail to open our eyes, the eyes of our heart to see and understand the truth of what we can do to help them? Let us all reflect on what Jesus had told His disciples about what will happen at the last judgment of the living and the dead.

Jesus told them that those who have loved those who are least among them, helped them and gave them love, will be worthy of the kingdom of God, while those who have ignored those who need our love, will be rejected and cast out of God’s presence forever. Thus all of us ought to be aware that if we do not realise what we ought to do to vindicate our faith and devotion to God, then what awaits us will certainly be something that we do not desire.

Therefore, let us from now on learn how to live faithfully this life which we have received from God, and learn to open the eyes of our heart, to see the plight and suffering of others around us, that we may realise how earthly goods and possessions are not everything for us, and there is indeed a greater goal in our lives, namely to seek God our Lord, with all of our strength and might.

And let us all grow stronger in our humility before the Lord knowing that we are sinners who ought to be forgiven despite the sins and faults which we have committed, and for that forgiveness to take place, we ourselves too must die to ourselves, to our pride and desire, to all of our earthly desires and wants. Let us all remind one another to live righteously and justly in the presence of God, and making ourselves available to help others who are in need of help. God bless us all. Amen.

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Sunday, 5 July 2015 : Fourteenth Sunday of Ordinary Time, Memorial of St. Anthony Zaccaria, Priest (Gospel Reading)

Liturgical Colour : Green

Mark 6 : 1-6

At that time, leaving that place, Jesus returned to His own country, and His disciples followed Him. When the Sabbath came, He began to teach in the synagogue, and most of those who heard Him were astonished.

But they said, “How did this come to Him? What kind of wisdom has been given to Him, that He also performs such miracles? Who is He but the carpenter, the Son of Mary, and the Brother of James and Joses and Judas and Simon? His sisters, too, are they not here among us?” So they took offense at Him.

And Jesus said to them, “Prophets are despised only in their own country, among their relatives, and in their own family.” And He could work no miracles there, but only healed a few sick people, by laying His hands on them. Jesus Himself was astounded at their unbelief. Jesus then went around the villages, teaching.

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Sunday, 5 July 2015 : Fourteenth Sunday of Ordinary Time, Memorial of St. Anthony Zaccaria, Priest (Second Reading)

Liturgical Colour : Green

2 Corinthians 12 : 7-10

However, I better give up lest somebody think more of me than what is seen in me or heard from me. Lest I become proud after so many and extraordinary revelations, I was given a thorn in my flesh, a true messenger of Satan, to slap me in the face. Three times I prayed to the Lord that it leave me, but He answered, “My grace is enough for you; My great strength is revealed in weakness.”

Gladly, then, will I boast of my weakness that the strength of Christ may be mine. So I rejoice when I suffer infirmities, humiliations, want, persecutions : all for Christ! For when I am weak, then I am strong.

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Sunday, 5 July 2015 : Fourteenth Sunday of Ordinary Time, Memorial of St. Anthony Zaccaria, Priest (Psalm)

Liturgical Colour : Green

Psalm 122 : 1-2a, 2bcd, 3-4

To You I lift up my eyes, to You whose throne is in heaven. As the eyes of servants look to the hand of their master.

As the eyes of maids look to the hand of their mistress, so our eyes look to the Lord our God, till He shows us His mercy.

Have mercy on us, o Lord, have mercy on us, for we have our fill of contempt. Too long have our souls been filled with the scorn of the arrogant, with the ridicule of the insolent.

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Sunday, 5 July 2015 : Fourteenth Sunday of Ordinary Time, Memorial of St. Anthony Zaccaria, Priest (First Reading)

Liturgical Colour : Green

Ezekiel 2 : 2-5

A Spirit came upon me as He spoke and kept me standing and then I heard Him speak, “Son of man, I am sending you to the Israelites, to a people who have rebelled against Me; they and their fathers have sinned against Me to this day.”

“Now I am sending you to these defiant and stubborn people to tell them, ‘this is the Lord YHVH’s word.’ So, whether they listen or not this set of rebels will know there is a prophet among them.”

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Saturday, 4 July 2015 : 13th Week of Ordinary Time, Memorial of St. Elizabeth of Portugal (Homily and Scripture Reflections)

Liturgical Colour : Green or White (Saints or Saturday Mass of our Lady)

Dear brothers and sisters in Christ, today we heard about how Isaac blessed his younger son Jacob with the blessing which was intended for Esau, the eldest son. And in the Gospel we heard how Jesus rebuked the Pharisees and the teachers of the Law who criticised the way that the disciples of Jesus followed, not fasting and following what the norm of traditions at the time dictated.

It may be difficult to see the link and connection between the two readings, but the truth is that the two are indeed very related, considering what Jesus told them about how new wine ought to be placed in new wineskins, and how old wine ought to be placed in old wineskins. This is related to the two sons of Isaac, Esau and Jacob, each of whom represent the old ways of the world, and the new ways of the Lord and His salvation.

The triumph of Jacob over his brother Esau showed the incompatibility of the old ways with the new ways, and that we must indeed make a choice between the two of them. This also means that if we call ourselves followers and disciples of the Lord, then all of us cannot do what is contrary to what is expected of us as the followers of the Lord.

If we call ourselves the disciples of the Lord, and then we commit things wicked and evil in the sight of God and men, then we discredit and trample on our own faith. In this manner, we are exactly like the old wine being placed into new wineskins. The incompatibility between the two will tear apart the whole wineskin and wine inside it will be spilt and wasted. In the same manner, therefore, if we believe in God and yet did not do as is expected from us, then it created a scandal for us.

We have to realise, brothers and sisters in Christ, that in order to be true disciples of our Lord, then all of us have to show it not just by mere words or proclamations of faith, but instead, we must also show it through work and devotion, which will vindicate our faith, that it is indeed real and genuine. This is what we ought to do, and what we must stand up for.

Brothers and sisters in Christ, on this day, we have to wake up to the realisation that we have to listen to what the Lord had taught us. He had taught us about love, for He is love Himself, and by showing that love for us, He taught us that we need to love Him and love one another in the same manner. Yet, we know that even among us the faithful, we see so much discord and divisions, infighting and conflict among us.

We should know that faith is meaningless and dead without action and commitment. True faith requires us to go forth and do what the Lord had commanded us to do, to be righteous in all of our dealings, to defend the truth which He had revealed to us, and to stand up for the Lord. Indeed, the world will be hard on us and it will oppose us with all of its might.

But remember, they have also rejected the Lord when He came into the world, and they refused to listen to Him, and persecuted Him and His servants and disciples. This is why we have to have courage in our faith, and do not fear, for God is always with us, and He will guide us on the path, and if we remain faithful to Him, we will receive the fullness of the richness of God’s grace and blessings.

On this day, we commemorate the feast of St. Elizabeth of Portugal, who was the Queen of Portugal in the middle ages, who was renowned for her great faith and piety, and who after her husband’s death, she left everything behind and chose to devote the rest of her life in a prayerful retreat in a monastery. She continued to do great works of charity, even in her old age, helping those who were less fortunate, poor, weak and ostracised.

The examples of St. Elizabeth of Portugal reminds us that while we live in this world, filled with much vices and evil, it does not mean that we have to succumb to it and to follow the way of this world. We can choose to be righteous and just, as St. Elizabeth of Portugal and the other holy men and women of God had done throughout the ages. Let us all go forth and show God’s love to one another, a concrete show of our faith.

May Almighty God be with all of us, strengthen our faith and devotion to Him, and empower us to be even more devoted disciple of His cause. God bless us all. Amen.

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Saturday, 4 July 2015 : 13th Week of Ordinary Time, Memorial of St. Elizabeth of Portugal (Gospel Reading)

Liturgical Colour : Green or White (Saints or Saturday Mass of our Lady)

Matthew 9 : 14-17

At that time, the disciples of John came to Jesus with the question, “How is it that we and the Pharisees fast on many occasions, but not Your disciples?”

Jesus answered them, “How can you expect wedding guests to mourn as long as the bridegroom is with them? The time will come, when the bridegroom will be taken away from them, and then they will fast.”

“No one patches an old coat with a piece of unshrunken cloth, for the patch will shrink and tear an even bigger hole in the coat. In the same way, you do not put new wine in old wineskins. If you do, the wineskins will burst and the wine will be spilt. No, you put new wine in fresh skins; then both are preserved.”

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Saturday, 4 July 2015 : 13th Week of Ordinary Time, Memorial of St. Elizabeth of Portugal (Psalm)

Liturgical Colour : Green or White (Saints or Saturday Mass of our Lady)

Psalm 134 : 1-2, 3-4, 5-6

Alleluia! Praise the Name of the Lord. O servants of the Lord, praise Him, you who serve in the house of the Lord, in the courts of the house of our God.

Praise the Lord, for He is good, praise His Name, for it is beautiful; for the Lord has chosen Jacob as His own, Israel as His possession.

I know that the Lord is great, that our Lord is above all gods. Whatever the Lord pleases, He does – in heaven and on earth, in the seas and in their depths.