unity in the Church

by

Saturday, 27 June 2015 : 12th Week of Ordinary Time, Memorial of St. Cyril of Alexandria, Bishop and Doctor of the Church (First Reading)

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

Genesis 18 : 1-15

YHVH appeared to Abraham near the oak of Mamre. Abraham was sitting at the entrance to his tent, in the heat of the day, when he looked up and saw three men standing nearby. When he saw them he ran from the entrance of the tent to meet them.

He bowed to the ground and said, “My Lord, if I have found favour in Your sight, do not pass Your servant by. Let a little water be brought. Wash Your feet and then rest under the trees. I shall fetch some bread so that You can be refreshed and continue on Your way, since You have come to Your servant.”

They then said, “Do as you say.” Abraham hurried into the tent to Sarah and said to her, “Quick, take three measures of flour, knead it and make cakes.” Abraham then ran to the herd, took a fine, tender calf, gave it to the servant who hurried to prepare it. He took butter and milk and together with the calf he had prepared laid it all before Them.

And while he remained standing, They ate. They then asked, “Where is Sarah, your wife?” Abraham answered, “She is in the tent. And the visitor said, “At this same time next year I will return and Sarah by then will have a son.”

Now Sarah was behind Him, listening at the entrance to the tent. Abraham and Sarah were old, well on in years, and Sarah no longer had her monthly periods. Sarah laughed to herself saying, “Now that I am old and worn and my husband is an old man, am I to have this pleasure?”

YHVH said to Abraham, “Why did Sarah laugh, saying : ‘Am I really going to have a child now that I am old?’ Is there anything that is impossible for God? At this same time next year I will return and Sarah by then will have a son.”

Sarah denied saying, “I did not laugh,” for she was afraid. But He said, “You did laugh.”

by

Friday, 26 June 2015 : 12th Week of Ordinary Time (Homily and Scripture Reflections)

Liturgical Colour : Green

Dear brothers and sisters in Christ, on this day, we heard about how Jesus cured a leper from his illness, making him whole once again and liberating him from the shame and curse which had once been upon him. And in the first reading, God renewed His promise and covenant with Abraham, His chosen one, that through the son He had promised Abraham, He would make His servant great and mighty among mankind.

Today’s Scripture readings therefore all spoke about the love and care with which God had showered us His many blessings and graces throughout these ages. God is willing to bless and cherish Abraham, His chosen one who had faithfully walked in His ways and followed completely His precepts and laws. The faithful shall indeed receive their just reward from the Lord.

And the leper was also made clean and healthy again through his faith, which he had shown to Jesus, by his genuine and sincere dedication of trust and love to the Lord. The leper did not fear persecution or rebuke from the Lord, for he knew that the Lord in Whom he trust will succour him and bring him out of his misery. Those who hold firm in their faith in God will never be disappointed.

On this day, we are called to remember once again the faith of Abraham, our father in faith. He was the father of many nations, because God blessed him, for he has abandoned everything to follow the Lord with all of his heart and his might. He has abandoned his relatives, his wealth and inheritance, his homeland and everything he had, because he had heard the Lord calling him and promising him even greater things if only he was faithful.

It is this ability to be faithful and devoted to God despite the challenges, difficulties and temptations that God found to be excellent in Abraham, as were in the many other holy men and women throughout the ages. And it was the same kind of faith that made the leper to deserve God’s mercy and healing, as it had been given to the army centurion, whose faith was so great that he refused to have Jesus come to his home because he was unworthy of Him.

It was the same faith that the Syro-Phoenician woman exhibited when she begged Jesus to heal her daughter, not even minding the supposed ‘insult’ when Jesus told her that the gifts He brought were not to be shared with non-Jews like her. It was this same faith that saved the woman who suffered from haemorrhage for twelve years, who believed that if she could just touch the fringe of Jesus’ cloak, then she would be healed.

Brothers and sisters in Christ, these are just some well-known examples of how God is caring and loving, and to all those who keep their faith firm in Him, will have a firm foundation in Him and will not be shaken. On the other hand, those who do not put their trust in God and those who has no faith in God will be shaken, for their foundation is worldly goods and wealth, which can be destroyed.

How is this relevant for us, brethren? It is a gentle reminder for us that we ought to build up for ourselves the everlasting treasures in heaven and not to build for ourselves a repository of the treasure that will not last in this world. Our lives must not be filled with selfishness, jealousy and desire, in that we should not be myopic in our sight, and focus only on our own heart’s desires in life. Instead, we must find ways to renew our commitment and faith in God.

Let us get rid from ourselves wanton and unnecessary desires that kept us away from truly being able to have faith in God. May God help us in this endeavour and bless us always, so that we may be ever closer to Him, and may our faith in Him be forever stronger and firmer. Amen.

by

Friday, 26 June 2015 : 12th Week of Ordinary Time (Gospel Reading)

Liturgical Colour : Green

Matthew 8 : 1-4

At that time, when Jesus came down from the mountain, large crowds followed Him. Then a leper came forward. He knelt before Him and said, “Sir, if You want to, You can make me clean.”

Jesus stretched out His hand, touched him, and said, “I want to, be clean again.” At that very moment the man was cleansed from his leprosy. Then Jesus said to him, “See that you do not tell anyone, but go to the priest, have yourself declared clean, and offer the gift that Moses ordered as proof of it.”

by

Friday, 26 June 2015 : 12th Week of Ordinary Time (Psalm)

Liturgical Colour : Green

Psalm 127 : 1-2, 3, 4-5

Blessed are you who fear the Lord and walk in His ways. You will eat the fruit of your toil; you will be blessed and favoured.

Your wife, like a vine, will bear fruits in your home; your children, like olive shoots will stand around your table.

Such are the blessings bestowed upon the man who fears the Lord. May the Lord bless you from Zion. May you see Jerusalem prosperous all the days of your life.

by

Friday, 26 June 2015 : 12th Week of Ordinary Time (First Reading)

Liturgical Colour : Green

Genesis 17 : 1, 9-10, 15-22

When Abram was ninety-nine years old, YHVH appeared to him and said, “I am God Almighty. Walk in My presence and be without blame! For your part, you shall keep My covenant, you and your descendants after you, generation after generation. This is My covenant with you, that you will keep, you and your descendants after you : Every male among you shall be circumcised.”

God said to Abraham, “As for Sarai, your wife, no longer are you to call her Sarai, but Sarah. I will bless her, and I will give you a son by her. I will bless her and from her will come nations; kings and peoples shall come from her.”

Then Abraham fell face down, and he laughed and said to himself, “Will a son be born to a man a hundred years old? And can Sarah who is ninety have a child?” And Abraham said to God, “If only You would accept Ishmael as Yours!” But God said, “Not at all! It is Sarah, your wife, who will give birth to your son and you will name him Isaac. I will establish My covenant with him and his descendants after him forever.”

“As for Ishmael, I heard you. I will bless him and make him fruitful, and I will multiply his race. He shall be the father of twelve princes and I will make of him a great nation. But My covenant I will establish with Isaac, the child Sarah will have this time next year.” When He had finished speaking with Abraham, God went away from him.

by

Thursday, 25 June 2015 : 12th Week of Ordinary Time (Homily and Scripture Reflections)

Liturgical Colour : Green

Dear brothers and sisters in Christ, today’s readings have a theme that many of us might not be able to discern from them. This theme is that mankind need to be able to put their trust in God, and trust in what God had planned for them, obeying and listening to His will even as we proceed with our daily life. This is what we can imply from today’s readings, as evidenced from the reading on the tale between Abraham and Ishmael in the first reading, and from the parable on the building of a house in the Gospel.

In the first reading, we heard about how Abraham, then named Abram, who was in a way desperate to have the heir which God had promised him and who was yet to come through his wife, Sarah, then named Sarai. Therefore they devised a shortcut to that matter, by the giving of Sarah’s slave named Hagar to Abraham as a wife, so that she might bore for the sake of Sarah and Abraham a son.

In order to understand this practice, we must understand the customs at that time. It was commonplace at that time for a man to take more than one wife, and it was also common that a woman gave her slave to her husband so that her slave might act as a proxy to produce a child for her, if she was childless or unable to provide a son and heir. The son or child born to the slave would then be legally the son or child of the woman and not that of the slave.

This is the way of the world designed to solve the problem of inheritance and other things, but certainly as we can see, what Abraham and Sarah had done, was because they did not completely trust in the promises of God, which He would do through Sarah, when she was already old and beyond child-bearing age, she would bear a child, the promised son, whom we later know to be Isaac.

We may think that Abraham and Sarah were being disobedient and sinful by doing what they have done, in the matter of Hagar and Ishmael, but in fact, they were after all still human beings and not superhumans, and therefore they were still prone to making mistakes and sin. And God did not punish them, nor did He punish Hagar and Ishmael for what had happened, but instead, He showed forth His mercy and let the son to live and blessed him.

In the Gospel today, all these can be linked clearly to what Jesus had told His disciples and the people, using His parable on a man building his house on a firm rock foundations, and another who builds his house on a shaky foundation of sand. If we truly hear the word of God, believe in it and place it firmly in our hearts and minds, fully believing in Him and trusting in Him, then certainly we will not be shaken.

Those who trust in God are like those whose house are built on firm foundation of rock, unshakeable and firm even in the midst of the greatest challenge and disaster. God will not abandon them, and He will remain ever faithful. We can indeed trust in the love and protection of God, and God will never fail us. On the other hand, those who trust in men are like those who built their houses on shaky foundation of sand.

If we look at the case of Abraham and his sons, we would know that after Ishmael was born through Hagar by the shortcut which he took, Isaac the promised son would be born through Sarah, which was the concrete sign of God’s everlasting faithfulness and His firm steadfastness to His promises. And conflict soon arose between the two sons, and the conflicting parties, and ended up with the exile of both Hagar and Ishmael.

This conflict is a reminder that human affairs and depending on human power is not something that will bring about true stability and firmness, and as we know by human nature, it is inevitable for mankind to turn against one another in such situations, bringing much sorrow and divisions. Is this the path that we want? Certainly not.

Therefore, brothers and sisters in Christ, what today’s readings teach us is that, all of us ought to heed what Jesus had said to us, and whatever He had taught us through His disciples and through what we have received through the Gospels and the teachings of the Church. Let us all put our trust in God and not in the feeble power of men. For God’s strength is everlasting while the power of man is just temporary.

May Almighty God bless all of us, strengthen our faith in Him and give us all the courage to trust in Him and therefore receive from Him the gift of everlasting life. Amen.

by

Thursday, 25 June 2015 : 12th Week of Ordinary Time (Gospel Reading)

Liturgical Colour : Green

Matthew 7 : 21-29

At that time, Jesus said to the Jews, “Not everyone who says to Me, ‘Lord! Lord!’ will enter the kingdom of heaven, but the one who does the will of My heavenly Father. Many will say to Me on that day, ‘Lord, Lord, did we not speak in Your Name? Did we not cast out devils and perform many miracles in Your Name?'”

“Then I will tell them openly, ‘I have never known you; away from Me, you evil people!’ So then, anyone who hears these words of Mine, and acts accordingly, is like a wise man, who built his house on rock. The rain poured, the rivers flooded, and the wind blew and struck that house, but it did not collapse because it was built on rock.”

“But anyone who hears these words of Mine, and does not act accordingly, is like a fool who built his house on sand. The rain poured, the rivers flooded, and the wind blew and struck that house; it collapsed, and what a terrible fall that was!”

When Jesus had finished this discourse, the crowds were struck by the way He taught, because He taught with authority, unlike their teachers of the Law.

by

Thursday, 25 June 2015 : 12th Week of Ordinary Time (Psalm)

Liturgical Colour : Green

Psalm 105 : 1-2, 3-4a, 4b-5

Alleluia! Give thanks to the Lord, for He is good, for His love endures forever. Who can count on the Lord’s mighty deeds, or declare all His praises?

Blessed are they who always do just and right. Remember me, o Lord, when You show Your favour to Your people.

Rescue me when You deliver them. Let me see the triumph of Your faithful, let me share the joy of Your nation, and join Your people in praising You.

by

Thursday, 25 June 2015 : 12th Week of Ordinary Time (First Reading)

Liturgical Colour : Green

Genesis 16 : 1-12, 15-16

Sarai, Abram’s wife had not borne him a child, but she had an Egyptian servant named Hagar, and she said to Abram, “Now, since YHVH has kept me from having children, go to my servant; perhaps I shall have a child by her.” Abram agreed to what Sarai said.

Abram had been in the land of Canaan ten years when Sarai, his wife, took Hagar, her Egyptian maid, and gave her to Abram her husband as wife. He went in to Hagar and she became pregnant. When she was aware of this, she began to despise her mistress.

Sarai said to Abram, “May this injury done to me be yours. I put my servant in your arms and now that she knows she is pregnant, I count for nothing in her eyes. Let YHVH judge between me and you.” Abram said to Sarai, “Your servant is in your power; do with her as you please.” Then Sarai treated her so badly that she ran away.

The angel of YHVH found her near a spring in the wilderness, and said to her, “Hagar, servant of Sarai, where have you come from and where are you going?” She said, “I am running away from Sarai, my mistress.” The angel of YHVH said to her, “Go back to your mistress and humbly submit yourself to her.”

The angel of YHVH said to her, “I will so increase your descendants, that they will be too numerous to be counted.” Then the angel of YHVH said to her, “Now you are with child and you will have a son, and you shall name him Ishmael, for YHVH has heard your distress. He shall be a wild ass of a man, his hand against everyone and everyone’s hand against him, defiant towards all his brothers.”

Hagar gave birth to a son and Abram called the child Hagar bore him, Ishmael. Abram was eighty-six years old when Hagar gave birth to Ishmael.

Alternative reading (shorter version)

Genesis 16 : 6b-12, 15-16

Sarai treated her Egyptian maid, Hagar so badly that she ran away. The angel of YHVH found her near a spring in the wilderness, and said to her, “Hagar, servant of Sarai, where have you come from and where are you going?” She said, “I am running away from Sarai, my mistress.” The angel of YHVH said to her, “Go back to your mistress and humbly submit yourself to her.”

The angel of YHVH said to her, “I will so increase your descendants, that they will be too numerous to be counted.” Then the angel of YHVH said to her, “Now you are with child and you will have a son, and you shall name him Ishmael, for YHVH has heard your distress. He shall be a wild ass of a man, his hand against everyone and everyone’s hand against him, defiant towards all his brothers.”

Hagar gave birth to a son and Abram called the child Hagar bore him, Ishmael. Abram was eighty-six years old when Hagar gave birth to Ishmael.

by

Wednesday, 24 June 2015 : Solemnity of the Nativity of St. John the Baptist (Homily and Scripture Reflections)

Liturgical Colour : White

Dear brothers and sisters in Christ, on this day, we commemorate the great solemnity of the birth of St. John the Baptist, the one who preceded Christ and who was His messenger and herald, proclaiming the coming of the Lord to the nations that when He came, the way had been prepared and paved ready for Him to pass through.

And the readings today dealt with how John was special and how he was chosen and marked to be one of the Lord’s greatest servants. He has been marked since before he was born, and foretold before he was even conceived, in the same manner as that of his Lord, Jesus Christ, for whom he was born into the world. He has been chosen and prepared such that, through him, many good works would be done.

Why do we put so much importance on this particular servant of God, John the Baptist? That is because he was the one who proclaimed to the world the coming of the Messiah, Jesus Christ, through his own words to his disciples, ‘This is the Lamb of God, He who takes away the sins of the world.’ These words which our priests utter every time they present the Most Holy Eucharist to us, sought to make it clear to all of us, who Christ truly is, and He is indeed present in the Eucharist.

And it was through John that we knew about Him, and it was some of His disciples who were also Jesus’ first disciples, because John told them to follow Him, the true Lord and Master who everyone ought to follow and worship, while he was just the messenger. Many people thought that he was the Messiah because of the many wondrous things he had done, and by the baptism and call to repentance which he had called the people to. Yet, he remained humble and continued to dedicate himself to his mission.

We have much to learn from this faithful man of God, a great servant and yet a humble follower of God’s will. He had many followers, and many had witnessed his miraculous deeds, and many listened to his teachings and his call to repentance, and many thousands upon thousands came to him to be baptised and to follow him. In any other man, the person would have succumbed to his pride and greed, and instead of being faithful to his mission, he would have made himself the Messiah, but not for St. John the Baptist.

St. John the Baptist remained true to his mission, revealing the true Messiah when He comes, and he humbly said to Him, that he would not be worthy to even untie the straps of His sandals, and yet Jesus asked him to baptise Him. Regardless of his doubts and his reluctance, he submitted to the will of his Master and God, and did as what he was told to do, and through that faith, the people could see that Jesus was indeed the Messiah, when the Holy Spirit came down upon Him as a dove, and the heavens opened with the voice of the Father proclaiming this truth.

And St. John the Baptist also uttered in another occasion, that he was happy when he was told that Jesus had done even more than what he had done, and had amassed even more followers than he did. And he said that, while He increased, he must decrease. This is yet another example of his great humility and his great faith in God, which all of us ought to follow and emulate in our own lives.

Brothers and sisters in Christ, as all of us reflect on this celebration of the birth of this great servant of God, St. John the Baptist, let us all think about all that he has done, all of the things which we can also apply in our own lives. We too, brothers and sisters, are servants of our Lord, and just as St. John the Baptist had prepared the way for the first coming of Jesus into the world, we are also charged with the preparation for His next coming, which He had promised all of us.

Jesus will come again, as He had promised, and our task today is to continue to the good works of the Apostles and the disciples of Christ, and to follow in the examples which St. John the Baptist had shown us, preparing the path for our Lord’s eventual second coming into this world. And how do we do this? It is by walking faithfully in His path, and practicing His way in all of our actions, words and deeds.

May Almighty God be with all of us, guide us on our ways, and help us so that we may exemplify and walk in the footsteps of His faithful servant, St. John the Baptist. May God bless us all and keep us in His love forever. Amen.