violet

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Wednesday, 15 February 2023 : 6th Week of Ordinary Time (Gospel Reading)

Liturgical Colour : Green

Mark 8 : 22-26

At that time, when Jesus and His disciples came to Bethsaida, He was asked to touch a blind man who was brought to Him. He took the blind man by the hand and led him outside the village. When He had put spittle on his eyes and laid His hands upon him, He asked, “Can you see anything?”

The man, who was beginning to see, replied, “I see people! They look like trees, but they move around.” Then Jesus laid His hands on his eyes again and the man could see perfectly. His sight was restored and he could see everything clearly. Then Jesus sent him home, saying, “Do not return to the village.”

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Wednesday, 15 February 2023 : 6th Week of Ordinary Time (Psalm)

Liturgical Colour : Green

Psalm 115 : 12-13, 14-15, 18-19

How can I repay the Lord for all His goodness to me? I will lift up the cup of salvation and call on the Name of the Lord.

I will fulfil my vows to the Lord in the presence of all His people. It is painful to the Lord to see the death of His faithful.

I will carry out my vows to the Lord in the presence of His people, in the courts of the house of the Lord, in your midst, o Jerusalem.

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Wednesday, 15 February 2023 : 6th Week of Ordinary Time (First Reading)

Liturgical Colour : Green

Genesis 8 : 6-13, 20-22

At the end of the forty days Noah opened the window of the Ark that he had built and let the raven out. This went off and kept flying to and fro until the waters had dried up from the earth.

Then Noah let out the dove to see if the waters were receding from the earth. But the dove could not find a place to set its foot and flew back to him in the Ark for the waters still covered the surface of the whole earth. So Noah stretched out his hand, took hold of it and brought it back to himself in the Ark.

He waited some more days and again sent the dove out from the Ark. This time the dove came back to him in the evening with a fresh olive branch in its beak. Then Noah knew the waters had receded from the earth. He waited seven more days and let the dove loose, but it did not return to him any more.

In the year six hundred and one, in the first month, on the first day of the month, the waters dried up from the earth. Noah then removed the covering from the Ark and looked out and saw that the surface of the earth was dry. Noah built an altar to YHVH and, taking some of all the clean animals and all the clean birds, he offered burnt offerings on it.

YHVH smelled the pleasing aroma and said to Himself : “Never again will I curse the earth because of man, even though his heart is set on evil from childhood; never again will I strike down every living creature as I have done. As long as the earth lasts, seedtime and harvest, cold and heat, summer and winter, day and night, shall not cease to be.”

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Tuesday, 14 February 2023 : 6th Week of Ordinary Time, Memorial of St. Cyril, Monk and St. Methodius, Bishop, Patron Saints of Europe (Homily and Scripture Reflections)

Liturgical Colour : White

Dear brothers and sisters in Christ, today as we are all reminded both of the dangers and the threats of sin and evil present all around us, and at the same time we are also reassured through what we have heard in the Scripture passages today, of the guidance, help and providence which God has given us, just as the examples highlighted of the past, our predecessors should inspire and strengthen our faith and resolve to follow the Lord wholeheartedly and faithfully, entrusting ourselves completely and wholeheartedly to the cause of the Lord, and to be ever righteous, good and worthy of Him in all of our lives.

In our first reading today, we heard of the well-known story of the time when God sent a Great Flood to wipe out almost the entire race of mankind and other living things, due to the great wickedness of many of them who refused to believe in Him, and their continued disobedience and rebellion against the Lord and His Law. All of these great wickedness had come into the world due to the disobedience of man against God’s will and commandments, and then as we have just heard earlier in yesterday’s readings, on the murder of Abel by Cain, his own brother, the temptations of pride, ego, worldly sins and wickedness, all of these had led mankind further and further down the path towards evil and damnation.

As we heard in that passage from the Book of Genesis today, God was determined to save the only ones among the people who were still righteous and obedient to the will of the Lord, namely Noah and his family. That was how Noah was instructed by God to construct the immense Ark by which he would save not only his own family but also the living things all over the world, which God had chosen to spare amidst the destruction that He would bring to cleanse the world from all the wickedness, sins and evils. God showed how He treasured those whom He loves and cares for, those who are faithful to Him, while those who refused to obey Him and continued to live in sin, will suffer the just consequences for their wickedness.

We heard how the Ark saved Noah and his family amidst all the destruction of the Great Flood. The other people laughed at Noah when he built the Ark and refused to listen to his warnings and heedings, and hence, no one else save from Noah and his family were saved from the Flood. The whole world was covered with the wrath of God’s Flood, and was cleansed from all the wickedness that had afflicted it throughout. Noah was saved in the Ark, and when the Flood receded, we heard how God promised Noah and his descendants, that is all of us, that He would never again destroy the world and us with the water, with the rainbow as the sign of this promise. That is the story how rainbow appears after the rain, as reminders to both God and us of what had happened once.

This does not mean however that sin has no more consequences afterwards. Sin is still afflicting us, and through disobedience and sin, many more people since the days of Noah would fall into sin, right up to the present day. The Lord however did not give up on us and continued to love us and care for us, as He sent us His promised salvation in Jesus Christ, His own beloved and begotten Son, Who gave Himself to us, walking in our midst and reaching out to us, encouraging and strengthening us with the concrete show of God’s love and compassionate mercy. Through Him, we have seen yet again the proof of God’s ever enduring and persistent love for all of us. He has shown us His love as mentioned the Gospel passage today, by His feeding of the multitudes and many thousands of people.

At the same time, He also warned His disciples of the ‘yeast of the Pharisees’ and the ‘yeast of Herod’, which were actually reminders to them and also all of us to be ever vigilant against the temptations and allures of sin which are always present all around us. If we are not careful, we may end up falling into the same pride, ego and ambitions which became the downfall of many of the Pharisees, who refused to believe in the Lord because they hardened their hearts and minds, and remained in their stubborn refusal to believe. Meanwhile, the ‘yeast of Herod’ is a reminder for all of us not to allow the vices of worldly pleasures, the corruption of the sins of the flesh to mislead and corrupt us down the wrong path in life. We have to resist those temptations to sin and remain virtuous, good and worthy of God all the time, remembering all the good things and the love that God has lavished on us.

Brothers and sisters in Christ, hence today let us all discern our path in life very carefully, minding the examples shown to us from the time of Noah and the Great Flood, to the sins of the Pharisees and Herod which the Lord warned His disciples against, and all the loving actions that God had done for us. Let us all also heed upon the good examples set by our holy predecessors, namely the great saints and brothers, St. Cyril and St. Methodius, the Patron Saints of Europe and great missionaries of the Christian faith, renowned for their great commitment to the spreading and proclamation of the Good News of God amidst the Slavic peoples, who were still mostly pagan back then, and by whose works, many of them eventually turned to the Christian faith and embracing the Lord as their Saviour and God.

They spent a lot of time and effort to evangelise in various places, and at the same time also developing the alphabets for the Slavic peoples that will eventually be known as the Glagolitic and the Cyrillic alphabets, and they also spent a lot of energy in reaching out to many people, both the rulers and the commoners alike, in introducing God and His truth to all of them. God has truly done His many great and wonderful works amongst His people through St. Cyril and St. Methodius. He has led them all to do His great deeds, and He has strengthened us all through their great inspiration and actions as our great role models. Can we all follow the Lord faithfully in the same way that St. Cyril and St. Methodius had done, brothers and sisters?

Let us all hence draw ever closer to the Lord, and let us continue to dedicate our time, our lives, actions and efforts to glorify the Lord by our lives, by our every words, actions and works in every time and in every opportunities provided to us. Let us all continue to follow the Lord wholeheartedly, distancing ourselves from sin and from the temptations to sin and to disobey the Lord, reminding ourselves and one another each time, to continue to walk the path of God’s righteousness and love, at all times. May God be with us always, and may He bless us in our every good works and endeavours. Amen.

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Tuesday, 14 February 2023 : 6th Week of Ordinary Time, Memorial of St. Cyril, Monk and St. Methodius, Bishop, Patron Saints of Europe (Gospel Reading)

Liturgical Colour : White

Mark 8 : 14-21

At that time, the disciples had forgotten to bring more bread, and had only one loaf with the in the boat. Then Jesus warned them, “Keep your eyes open, and beware of the yeast of the Pharisees and the yeast of Herod.” And they said of one another, “He saw that we have no bread.”

Aware of this, Jesus asked them, “Why are you talking about the loaves you are short of? Do you not see or understand? Are your minds closed? Have your eyes that do not see and ears that do not hear? And do you not remember when I broke the five loaves among five thousand? How many baskets full of letfovers did you collect?”

They answered, “Twelve.” “And having distributed seven loaves to the four thousand, how many wicker baskets of leftovers did you collect?” They answered, “Seven.” Then Jesus said to them, “Do you still not understand?”

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Tuesday, 14 February 2023 : 6th Week of Ordinary Time, Memorial of St. Cyril, Monk and St. Methodius, Bishop, Patron Saints of Europe (Psalm)

Liturgical Colour : White

Psalm 28 : 1a and 2, 3ac-4, 3b and 9-10

Give the Lord, o sons of God, give the Lord the glory due His Name; worship the Lord in great liturgy.

The voice of the Lord is over the waters; the Lord thunders over vast waters. How powerful is the voice of the Lord, how splendorous is the voice of the Lord.

The God of glory thunders, the Lord strips the forests bare, and in His Temple all cry, “Glory!” Over the flood the Lord was sitting; the Lord is King and He reigns forever.

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Tuesday, 14 February 2023 : 6th Week of Ordinary Time, Memorial of St. Cyril, Monk and St. Methodius, Bishop, Patron Saints of Europe (First Reading)

Liturgical Colour : White

Genesis 6 : 5-8 and Genesis 7 : 1-5, 10

YHVH saw how great was the wickedness of man on the earth and that evil was always the only thought of his heart. YHVH regretted having created man on the earth and His heart grieved. He said, “I will destroy man whom I created and blot him out from the face of the earth, as well as the beasts, creeping creatures and birds, for I am sorry I made them.” But Noah was pleasing to God.

YHVH said to Noah, “Go into the Ark, you and all your household, for I see that you are just in this generation. Of all the clean animals, you are to take with you seven of each kind, male and female, and a pair of unclean animals, a male and a female. In the same way for the birds of the air, take seven and seven, male and female, to keep their kind alive over all the earth, for in seven days I will send rain on the earth for forty days and forty nights. I will blot out from the face of the earth all the living creatures I have created.”

Noah did all as YHVH had commanded. And after seven days the waters of the flood were over the earth.

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Monday, 13 February 2023 : 6th Week of Ordinary Time (Homily and Scripture Reflections)

Liturgical Colour : Green

Dear brothers and sisters in Christ, today as we listened to the words of the Scriptures, all of us are reminded be vigilant against the temptations and allures of sin, all of which can lead us down the path towards ruin and damnation, and if we are not careful it is easy for us to end up on this path, slipping away from the path that God has set before us. If we continue to indulge on the temptations of worldly desire, on our greed and pride, then sooner or later we will end up falling further and further from God’s path towards His salvation and grace. We have to heed the examples used in the Scripture passages today to remind us of what may happen should we open ourselves to sin, allowing sin to corrupt and mislead us down the wrong path in life.

As we heard in our first reading today from the Book of Genesis, the account of what happened following the time of Creation Nd the downfall of man into sin, we heard of the famous story of Cain and Abel, the two sons of Adam and Eve, the first man and first woman created by God. Cain was jealous of Abel because what he has offered the Lord was considered inferior, as compared to the offering of Abel. As a context, Cain offered the produce of his agricultural works, while Abel offered the best of his livestock as offering to God. Back then, the Lord has cursed the earth and the ground itself just as we may have heard earlier on from the Book of Genesis, as one of the consequences of man’s fall into sin. God said that man had to labour hard and the they had to endure pain and suffering, and the earth and soil themselves may resist them and their efforts to toil on them.

As such, contextually, why Cain’s offering was rejected, some may think that it is because the earth itself had been cursed by God, therefore it ended up being the lesser and inferior offering as compared to Abel’s offering. If we just merely looking at the situation on the surface, that will likely be our conclusion. The truth is that, as later on the author of the Epistle of the Hebrews also discussed this matter in his Epistle, the offering of Cain was rejected more because he did not offer it sincerely with faith, and did not entrust himself wholeheartedly to the Lord. This can already be implied indirectly from the Book of Genesis itself, as the Book of Genesis showed how Abel made his offering with great enthusiasm and joy, offering the best of his possessions, the finest one amongst all of his flock, as a sign of his great faith in God.

On the other hand, Cain was rather half-hearted and insincere in making his offering. Yes, his offering had been rejected by God, but his response to God and how his offering was rejected showed the intention behind his offering and what was in his heart and mind. If Cain truly had faith in God and offered his sacrifice to God sincerely and generously, he would not have minded the Lord’s rejection, and would have offered it anyway. The fact that he immediately became angry and jealous of his brother showed us that he made his offering not really because he truly loved and dedicated himself to the Lord, but rather saw it as some form of competition, greed and even a matter of pride and ego, comparing himself with his sibling, something that we may indeed be familiar with, as these things do happen in our world, and even in fact, perhaps quite frequently too.

Therefore, it was likely Cain’s wrong predisposition and his wrong focus and intentions, his lack of faith and trust in God, all of which led to his offering being rejected by God. It was not because his offering was of lesser quality, or even the excuse that some gave in defending Cain that he was disadvantaged against Abel. As I mentioned earlier, had Cain truly had the right intentions and purpose in his mind and heart, he would not have become angry and he would not have even gone to the extent of murdering his own brother, of his own flesh and blood, without mercy and compassion. Cain was blinded by arrogance and pride, by his greed and jealousy, and he opened the doors of his heart wide to these temptations to sin, and naturally, it led to what he had done in committing a truly grave sin against God and against his own brother.

In our Gospel passage today, we then heard of the actions of the Pharisees who openly questioned the Lord and doubted His authority by asking Him for a sign before everyone. And we have to understand that the Lord Himself has actually performed many miracles and wonders before all the people and especially the Pharisees should have known better as they often followed the Lord and His disciples all around the various places that He has ministered in, even to the wilderness and places away from towns. They had seen so many examples and proofs of the Lord’s power and works, and yet, they still refused to believe in Him and His truth. They stood fast their mistaken beliefs and convictions, and that led to further conflicts and disagreements between them and the Lord. All of these were indeed just like how Cain had opened himself to the temptations and allures of sin, as those Pharisees allowed themselves to be deluded by their pride and wicked desires too.

Brothers and sisters in Christ, as we can see very clearly from our Scripture passages today, the allures and temptations of sin are indeed dangerous, and they can easily lead us down the path to our downfall if we are not careful. We are reminded that if we do not remain vigilant and keep ourselves free from the snares of our own pride, ego and all sorts of worldly desires and ambitions, we are likely going to end up falling further and deeper into the temptations of sin, and we will end up being like Cain, consumed by our own anger, desire, jealousy, pride and greed, committing heinous and wicked sins that will lead us to our downfall and destruction. That is why all of us are reminded to remain focused on the Lord and His truth, and resist the many temptations and pressures around us to disobey the Lord and His commandments. We are reminded to keep ourselves firmly grounded in our faith, and to strengthen ever more our relationship with the Lord, our most loving God.

Brothers and sisters in Christ, let us all hence strive to live our lives from now on ever more worthily of the Lord and dedicate ourselves, in each and every moment, to walk in His path and to love Him more and more, with each and every moment and opportunities that He has granted us. May the Lord continue to guide and strengthen us all so that we may have the resolve and perseverance to live our lives as good and faithful Christians at all times. May God bless our works and endeavours, and be with us always, through our lives, at all times, helping us to resist the many temptations of sin and worldly glory. Amen.

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Monday, 13 February 2023 : 6th Week of Ordinary Time (Gospel Reading)

Liturgical Colour : Green

Mark 8 : 11-13

At that time, the Pharisees came and started to argue with Jesus. Hoping to embarrass Him, they asked for some heavenly sign. Then His Spirit was moved. He gave a deep sigh and said, “Why do the people of this present time ask for a sign? Truly, I say to you, no sign shall be given to this people.”

Then He left them, got into the boat again and went to the other side of the lake.

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Monday, 13 February 2023 : 6th Week of Ordinary Time (Psalm)

Liturgical Colour : Green

Psalm 49 : 1 and 8, 16bc-17, 20-21

The God of gods, the Lord has spoken, He summons the earth from the rising of the sun to its setting. Not for your sacrifices do I reprove you, for your burnt offerings are ever before Me.

What right have you to mouth My laws, or to talk about My covenant? You hate My commands and cast My words behind you.

You speak ill of your brother, and slander your own mother’s son. Because I was silent while you did these things, you thought I was like you. But now I rebuke you and make this charge against you.