Ut omnes unum sint

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Wednesday, 19 January 2022 : 2nd Week of Ordinary Time, Week of Prayer for Christian Unity (First Reading)

Liturgical Colour : Green

1 Samuel 17 : 32-33, 37, 40-51

David said to Saul, “Let no one be discouraged on account of this Philistine, for your servant will engage him in battle.” Saul told David, “You cannot fight with this Philistine for you are still young, whereas this man has been a warrior from his youth.”

David continued, “YHVH, Who delivered me from the paws of lions and bears, will deliver me from the hands of the Philistine.” Saul then told David, “Go, and may YHVH be with you!”

David took his staff, picked up five smooth stones from the brook and dropped them inside his shepherd’s bag. And with his sling in hand, he drew near to the Philistine. The Philistine moved forward, closing in on David, his shield-bearer in front of him. When he saw that David was only a lad, (he was of fresh complexion and handsome) he despised him and said, “Am I a dog that you should approach me with a stick?”

Cursing David by his gods, he continued, “Come, and I will give your flesh to the birds of the sky and the beasts of the field!” David answered the Philistine, “You have come against me with sword, spear and javelin, but I come against you with YHVH, the God of the armies of Israel whom you have defied. YHVH will deliver you this day into my hands and I will strike you down and cut off your head.”

“I will give the corpses of the Philistine army today to the birds of the sky and the wild beasts of the earth, and all the earth shall know that there is a God of Israel. All the people gathered here shall know that YHVH saves not by sword or spear; the battle belongs to YHVH, and He will deliver you into our hands.”

No sooner had the Philistine moved to attack him, than David rushed to the battleground. Putting his hand into his bag, he took out a stone, slung it and struck the Philistine on the forehead; it penetrated his forehead and he fell on his face to the ground. David triumphed over the Philistine with a sling and a stone, felling him without using a sword.

He rushed forward, stood over him, took the Philistine’s sword and slew him by cutting off his head. When the Philistines saw that their champion was dead, they scattered in all directions.

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Tuesday, 18 January 2022 : 2nd Week of Ordinary Time, Week of Prayer for Christian Unity (Homily and Scripture Reflections)

Liturgical Colour : Green

Dear brothers and sisters in Christ, today as we listened to the words of the Lord in the Scriptures, we are called to remember the Lord’s love for each and every one of us, and how He had endeavoured to do everything for our sake. He sent us His faithful servants to help lead and guide us in our journey through life. He won’t let us to walk down the wrong path without guidance, and for that, He gave us all leaders and kings, and ultimately, His own Son, Who came into our world to be our Shepherd and King.

In our first reading today, we heard the story from the Book of the prophet Samuel, as a continuation of what we have heard earlier this and last week regarding the actions of Samuel and how Saul, the first king that God had appointed to lead the people of Israel had disobeyed Him and led the people into the wrong path through sin. Therefore, God told Samuel to find the one whom He had chosen to be the successor of Saul as the King of Israel.

David was one of the many sons of Jesse, and in fact he was the youngest among all the sons of Jesse. The prophet Samuel came to pay Jesse a visit and he came to call out all of Jesse’s sons in order to see whom among them had been chosen by God to be the new King of Israel. Initially, he thought that the oldest one among them would be the one chosen by God due to his appearance and stature, but God said to Samuel that He did not choose by appearances, but by heart.

Eventually, Samuel anointed David as the King of Israel, as God’s chosen leader for His people, and David would later on prove to be a most faithful servant of God, and while he did make mistakes and erred in several occasions, yet, he still loved God first and foremost, and he ruled over the people of God with justice and virtue. He regretted his sins, mistakes and faults, and repented from them, making the efforts to make amends for those mistakes, often humbling himself before God.

David truly loved God, and he also loved the companions who was travelling with him. As mentioned in our Gospel passage today, during the confrontation between the Lord Jesus and the Pharisees regarding the Law of the Sabbath, the Lord Jesus mentioned how during his time on the run from King Saul with some of his companions, David took of the bread from the bread of offering that were reserved only for the High Priest, and even also gave some of them for his men to eat, as they were all very hungry.

At that time, during the Sabbath day, the Lord’s disciples who had been travelling with Him during His ministry and works must have been hungry, and therefore, they picked some grains of wheat along the way. To the Pharisees, who often interpreted the Law very strictly, this would be a violation of the Law, and in particular, given the tensions existing between the Lord and the Pharisees in quite a few occasions, it was not surprising that they would have made such an issue over the disciples’ actions.

What the Lord then highlighted to the Pharisees is then a reminder that what is important for us is not to worry about the way we should follow the Law and all the details, just as how the Pharisees were too fixated on those things that they failed to understand the true intention and purpose of the Law. They made use of the Law to elevate themselves above others as well as imposing their will and ideas on everyone they have been entrusted to lead and guide.

As Christians all of us are called to have genuine faith and love for God, in the manner how King David had lived his life, in love and obedience to God, as well as in his love for his fellow brothers and sisters. We should not be like many of the Pharisees who failed to love their fellow brethren, ignored the plight of the hungry and the needy, and ostracised those whom they deemed to be sinners and wicked, while praising themselves and placing themselves on a pedestal to gain fame and glory for their own benefits. This is not what it means for us to be Christians.

Let us all therefore renew our faith in the Lord, and do our very best to serve the Lord in our own capacities and in making use of the opportunities that God has given us. Remember, brothers and sisters, that our faith requires us to go out there and be inspiration to others in faith, to show genuine charity and love, concern and compassion for those who need our help and companionship. Let us be truly faithful in all things, and follow the Lord not just for appearances and formality, but dedicate ourselves thoroughly to Him. May God bless us all, now and always, evermore. Amen.

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Tuesday, 18 January 2022 : 2nd Week of Ordinary Time, Week of Prayer for Christian Unity (Gospel Reading)

Liturgical Colour : Green

Mark 2 : 23-28

At that time, on one Sabbath Jesus was walking through grain fields. As His disciples walked along with Him, they began to pick the heads of grain and crush them in their hands. Then the Pharisees said to Jesus, “Look! They are doing what is forbidden on the Sabbath!”

And He said to them, “Have you never read what David did in his time of need; when he and his men were very hungry? He went into the House of God, when Abiathar was High Priest, and ate; the bread of offering, which only the priests are allowed to eat, and he also gave some to the men who were with him.”

Then Jesus said to them, “The Sabbath was made for man, not man for the Sabbath. So the Son of Man is Master even of the Sabbath.”

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Tuesday, 18 January 2022 : 2nd Week of Ordinary Time, Week of Prayer for Christian Unity (Psalm)

Liturgical Colour : Green

Psalm 88 : 20, 21-22, 27-28

In the past, You spoke in a vision; You said of Your faithful servant : “I have set the crown upon a mighty one; on one chosen from the people.”

I have found David My servant, and, with My holy oil, I have anointed him. My hand will be ever with him; and My arm will sustain him.

He will call on Me, “You are my Father, my God, my Rock, my Saviour.” I will make him the firstborn, the highest of the kings of the earth.

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Tuesday, 18 January 2022 : 2nd Week of Ordinary Time, Week of Prayer for Christian Unity (First Reading)

Liturgical Colour : Green

1 Samuel 16 : 1-13

YHVH asked Samuel, “How long will you be grieving over Saul whom I have rejected as king of Israel? Fill your horn with oil and be on your way to Jesse the Bethlehemite, for I have chosen My king from among his sons.”

Samuel asked, “How can I go? If Saul hears of this, he will kill me!” YHVH replied, “Take a heifer with you and say, ‘I have come to sacrifice to YHVH.’ Invite Jesse to the sacrifice and I will let you know what to do next. You shall anoint for Me the one I point out to you.”

Samuel did what YHVH commanded and left for Bethlehem. When he appeared, the elders of the city came to him asking, fearfully, “Do you bring us peace?” Samuel replied, “I come in peace; I am here to sacrifice to YHVH. Cleanse yourselves and join me in the sacrifice.” He also had Jesse and his sons cleansed and invited them to the sacrifice.

As they came, Samuel looked at Eliab the older and thought, “This must be YHVH’s anointed.” But YHVH told Samuel, “Do not judge by his looks or his stature for I have rejected him. YHVH does not judge as man judges; humans see with the eyes; YHVH sees the heart.”

Jesse called his son Abinadab and presented him to Samuel who said, “YHVH has not chosen this one either.” Jesse presented Shammah and Samuel said, “Nor has YHVH chosen this one.” Jesse presented seven of his sons to Samuel who said, “YHVH has chosen none of them. But are all your sons here?”

Jesse replied, “There is still the youngest, tending the flock just now.” Samuel said to him, “Send for him and bring him to me; we shall not sit down to eat until he arrives.” So Jesse sent for his youngest son and brought him to Samuel. He was a handsome lad with a ruddy complexion and beautiful eyes. And YHVH spoke, “Go, anoint him for he is the one.”

Samuel then took the horn of oil and anointed him in his brothers’ presence. From that day onwards, YHVH’s Spirit took hold of David. Then Samuel left for Ramah.

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Saturday, 23 January 2021 : 2nd Week of Ordinary Time, Week of Prayer for Christian Unity (Homily and Scripture Reflections)

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

Dear brothers and sisters in Christ, today through the readings of the Sacred Scriptures all of us are again reminded of the redemptive work that Our Lord Himself had done for our sake on the Cross, and that by offering Himself as a worthy sacrifice for our sake and for our sins He has delivered us and led us into a new hope and a new life through Him. By His perfect obedience He has overcome the disobedience of man, and revealed to us the depths of God’s love.

And again we are also presented with the Lord as our High Priest Who has overcome the sins of mankind by His singular act of supreme love on the Cross, that for once and for all He has accomplished the offering for the atonement for our sins, by the outpouring of His own Most Precious Blood, the Blood of the Lamb of God. This Blood is far more precious than the blood of any lamb or sacrificial animals that had been prescribed by the old laws of Moses.

Then Christ, Our Lord and Saviour, the High Priest Himself is truly superior to the other priests, as while those priests of the Lord needed to offer for the sake of themselves and their own sins first, before they were to offer for the sake of the people, here is the Sinless One, Who had willingly embraced our humanity so that He could unite all of us and our every intentions, our cries for mercy and forgiveness, and offer them all through Himself to God, His heavenly Father.

Thus, there was no longer need for any sacrifices as prescribed by the old laws and the Covenant of Moses, and the Lord has promised all of us that if we believe in Him, and put our faith and trust in Him, we shall no longer need to be afraid, for He Himself will stand by us and through Him we have been healed. And then, if we are curious why is it that in the Church we are still celebrating the Eucharist during every single celebration of the Holy Mass, that is because the Holy Mass is not a repeat or a mere reminder of the Sacrifice of Christ, Our High Priest at Calvary.

On the contrary, the Holy Mass is the eternal celebration of the Sacrifice at Calvary itself, the very same Sacrifice that the Lord made at that day, when He shed His Blood and cast His Body onto the Cross, to bear our sins and all the multitudes of the weight and burden of the whole entire consequences and punishments due for those sins. By His power and authority, He has entrusted to His Church and to all of His priests, the power to turn the bread and wine at the Holy Mass to be the very substance and real existence of His own Precious Body and Blood.

And just as He has said, that He is the Bread of Life, and that all who partake and eat of this Bread of Life shall live forever and not perish, thus all of us who partake and receive the Eucharist, the Real Presence of Our Lord, the Lord Crucified at Calvary, shall have eternal life and a new life and existence through Him. As long as we put our trust and faith in Him, we shall not perish and will not be shaken by the evil forces arrayed against us.

That is why, brothers and sisters in Christ, as we listened to these words of the Scriptures, let us all turn towards the Lord with a new heart and with a new spirit, that all of us may grow to love Him with ever greater zeal and commitment, going forward in life. Let us all be ever grateful for the love, kindness and compassion that God has shown us ever so generously all these while, by giving us the best and the most perfect manifestation of His love through Christ, His Son.

May the Lord be with us always, and may He strengthen each and every one of us with the courage to live our lives with passion and the desire to follow Him and to serve Him in each and every moments of our living existence. May God bless us always in our every good endeavours and may He remain with us always, all the times. Amen.

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Saturday, 23 January 2021 : 2nd Week of Ordinary Time, Week of Prayer for Christian Unity (Gospel Reading)

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

Mark 3 : 20-21

At that time, Jesus and His disciples went home. The crowd began to gather again and they could not even have a meal. Knowing what was happening, His relatives came to take charge of Him, “He is out of His mind,” they said.

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Saturday, 23 January 2021 : 2nd Week of Ordinary Time, Week of Prayer for Christian Unity (Psalm)

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

Psalm 46 : 2-3, 6-7, 8-9

Clap your hands, all you peoples; acclaim God with shouts of joy. For the Lord, the Most High, is to be feared; He is a great King all over the earth.

God ascends amid joyful shouts, the Lord amid trumpet blasts. Sing praises to God, sing praises! Sing praises to our King, sing praises!

God is King of all the earth; sing to Him a hymn of praise. For God now rules over the nations. God reigns from His holy throne.

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Saturday, 23 January 2021 : 2nd Week of Ordinary Time, Week of Prayer for Christian Unity (First Reading)

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

Hebrews 9 : 2-3, 11-14

A first tent was prepared with the lampstand, the table and the bread of the Presence, this is called the Holy Place. Behind the second curtain, there is a second sanctuary called the Most Holy Place.

But now Christ has appeared as the High Priest with regard to the good things of these new times. He passed through a sanctuary more noble and perfect, not made by hands, that is, not created. He did not take with Himself the blood of goats and bulls but His own Blood, when He entered once and for all into the sanctuary after obtaining definitive redemption.

If the sprinkling of people defiled by sin with the blood of goats and bulls or with the ashes of a heifer provided them with exterior cleanliness and holiness, how much more will it be with the Blood of Christ? He, moved by the eternal Spirit, offered Himself as an unblemished victim to God and His Blood cleanses us from dead works, so that we may serve the living God.

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Friday, 22 January 2021 : 2nd Week of Ordinary Time, Memorial of St. Vincent, Deacon and Martyr, Week of Prayer for Christian Unity (Homily and Scripture Reflections)

Liturgical Colour : Green or Red (Martyrs)

Dear brothers and sisters in Christ, all of us heard of the Lord’s assurance of a New Covenant that He had made with us all, His beloved people in our first reading today, as the author of the Epistle to the Hebrews presented the Lord Jesus as the Mediator of the New and Everlasting Covenant replacing the old Covenant between God and His people Israel.

The old Covenant, the old laws and ways, the practices of the past linked to that older pact no longer applied to anyone, after the Lord had revealed and sealed that New Covenant. The New Covenant was sealed by the loving sacrifice of Christ Himself, the Eternal High Priest on the Cross, as He laid His life bare on the Cross, as the Lamb to be sacrificed, the Lamb of God and the Paschal Lamb, by Whose Blood we have been saved.

Through this New Covenant, God had made full His promises to us, His promise to love us all and show His compassion to the very end. Each and every one of us have a share in this love, and the Lord had offered Himself as our High Priest before His heavenly Father, for the atonement and the forgiveness of all of our sins. His suffering and death were meant for us, and all of us have been called to partake in this New Covenant He had made with us.

God had revealed the fullness of His laws, all of His truth to His people as part of this Covenant, as He also sent us all the Holy Spirit to guide us to the truth, which He has revealed and passed down to us through His Church, by the sending of His Apostles to be the ones leading the charge in spreading His Good News and the truth He has revealed to us. In the calling of the Apostles, God has also called us all to follow in their footsteps, that we should also serve Him as those whom God had called had done earlier.

As we heard in our Gospel passage today, the Apostles were sent before the Lord to places to preach and to reveal His truth, and they were also given the power to heal and to cast out demons, doing the many good works of God. Their work did not stop with the death and resurrection of Our Lord, but in fact, guided by the Holy Spirit and the commission that God entrusted to them, they went forth to the many peoples of many nations, spreading the Word of God and calling many people to be a disciple and follower too.

They helped to build the Church and were truly its important foundation, and now, all of us who are members of the Church and belonging among Christ’s faithful ones, we have been entrusted with the same responsibility, as part of the Covenant that God has established with us, and which we have received generously through baptism. And therefore we are all called to live up to the Lord’s call, follow Him and dedicate ourselves to Him.

Today, we should reflect on the life and works of St. Vincent, holy Deacon and Martyr, whose examples can be great inspiration on how we can follow the Lord wholeheartedly in each and every moments of our lives. St. Vincent was also known as St. Vincent of Saragossa, one of the Deacons of Saragossa in Spain, the modern day Zaragoza, serving the bishop and local Christian community, occupying a very important position in the Church.

At that time, the Roman Emperor Diocletian carried out intense persecution against Christians, which caused many martyrs to emerge, and St. Vincent was one of these martyrs. St. Vincent was arrested together with his bishop and was threatened with great torture and suffering, unless he would burn the Sacred Scriptures and publicly repudiate his Christian faith.

St. Vincent spoke fervently and courageously against this and refused any further attempts to turn him and the other Christians away from the Lord in order to save their own lives. And the way St. Vincent spoke, with great courage and wisdom, without fear and anxiety greatly angered his persecutors so much so that he was tortured terribly and martyred by being grilled on a gridiron, which he was to be renowned for. But even in suffering, he remained resolute, firm and calm in adhering to his faith, which touched even his jailer, who became a convert afterwards.

Brothers and sisters in Christ, through the martyrdom of St. Vincent, all of us are shown what it means to be a Christian. As Christians, we need to put God above all else, and foremost before anything else. And our lives must be centred and focused on Him. We should love Him more than anything else, and through our words and actions, we should commit ourselves to Him and not to allow our actions or words to scandalise our faith.

Let us all be true disciples of the Lord from now on, and let us all commit more and more time, effort and attention so that we may be ever closer to God and be ever more worthy of Him, that God will bless us and bring us all into the everlasting inheritance He has prepared for each one of us. May the Lord be with us always, now and forevermore. Amen.