way of the Lord

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Friday, 19 August 2016 : 20th Week of Ordinary Time, Memorial of St. John Eudes, Priest (First Reading)

Liturgical Colour : Green or White (Priests)

Ezekiel 37 : 1-14

The hand of YHVH was upon me. He brought me out and led me in Spirit to the middle of the valley which was full of bones. He made me walk to and fro among them and I could see there was a great number of them on the ground all along the valley and that they were very dry.

YHVH said to me, “Son of man, can these bones live again?” I said, “Lord YHVH, only You know that.” He then said, “Speak on my behalf concerning these bones; say to them : Dry bones, hear the word of YHVH! YHVH says : I am going to put Spirit in you and make you live. I shall put sinews on you and make flesh grow on you; I shall cover you with skin and give you My Spirit, that you may live. And you will know that I am YHVH.”

I prophesied as I had been commanded and then there was a noise and commotion; the bones joined together. I looked and saw that they had sinews, that flesh was growing on the, and that He was covering them with skin. But there was no Spirit in them.

So YHVH said to me, “Speak on My behalf and call on the Spirit, son of man! Say to the Spirit : This is the word of YHVH : Spirit, come from the four winds. Breathe into these dead bones and let them live!”

I prophesied as He had commanded me and breath entered them; they came alive, standing on their feet – a great, immense army! He then said to me, “Son of man, these bones are all Israel. They keep saying : ‘Our bones are dry, hope has gone, it is the end of us.’ So prophesy! Say to them : This is what YHVH says : I am going to open your tombs, I shall bring you out of your tombs, My people, and lead you back to the land of Israel.”

“You will know that I am YHVH, o My people! when I open your graves and bring you out of your graves, when I put My Spirit in you and you live. I shall settle you in your land and you will know that I, YHVH, have done what I said I would do.”

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Thursday, 18 August 2016 : 20th Week of Ordinary Time (Homily and Scripture Reflections)

Liturgical Colour : Green

Dear brothers and sisters in Christ, on this day we heard the Lord Jesus spoke to His disciples about the parable of the wedding feast and the wedding garment. And this is linked to what God Himself had spoken to His prophet Ezekiel regarding the promise that He would gather His people scattered through the nations of the world, and brought them back to His presence, giving them His own Spirit to dwell among them.

And that promise had been brought to a complete fruition through Jesus Christ, the One Whom God had sent into the world, to be our Saviour and the Liberator of us all from our sins. He has come to dwell among us, to bring everyone to the liberation and freedom which God had made available to all those who believe in Him and trust in Him.

That is what the essence of today’s Scripture readings is about. He has invited all of His people to the grand banquet, the grand celebration of our life and our salvation in Him, just as the king in the parable Jesus told His disciples invited the guests, as the banquet is ready and everything is about to proceed but lacking only the guests.

Yet, the guests refused to come, and they made many excuses and reasons why they were not able to attend the banquet which the king had set up for all of them. Worse still, some of them even ignored the invitation but instead continued on doing their daily business as if nothing had happened. They rejected the master and the king, and in his anger, the king destroyed these rebellious and ungrateful people.

These rebellious and ungrateful people refer to none other than us mankind, the people whom God had blessed with many good things, and yet, they have taken His love for granted, thinking that they have no need for it, and as such, they became very immersed in the worldly matters that eventually brought about their downfall.

It is a kind and clear reminder to all of us, brothers and sisters in Christ, that as we live our lives, we have to be wary and to be careful of all the temptations and the persuasions with which the devil and all of his forces are trying to lure us away with, in the attempt to distract us and to derail us from the path towards our salvation. And if we are not aware of it, let us all look back and reflect, brethren, how often is it that we have rejected the Lord or choose things other than the Lord and His words, just because we are busy and too preoccupied with our own busy schedules and work?

Let us all devote ourselves to the Lord anew. It is not enough that we just commit ourselves to Him in words or on appearances alone. Rather, we have to have that commitment growing and emerging from deep within us, from the deepest depths of our heart, that we truly internalise our faith and be genuine in our devotion and ability to give of ourselves wholeheartedly for the sake of the Lord and for His people.

Let us all renew our efforts to be ever better and ever more committed disciple of our Lord, and be exemplary in all of our actions and deeds, that through us, many of the good works of the Lord may be made to fulfilment and may many people be able to come and approach the Lord through us. God bless us all, and may He ever strengthen our faith. Amen.

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Thursday, 18 August 2016 : 20th Week of Ordinary Time (First Reading)

Liturgical Colour : Green

Ezekiel 36 : 23-28

I will make known the holiness of My great Name, profaned among the nations because of You, and they will know that I am YHVH when I show them My holiness among you.

For I will gather you from all the nations and bring you back to your own land. Then I shall pour pure water over you and you shall be made clean – cleansed from the defilement of all your idols. I shall give you a new heart and put a new spirit within you. I shall removed your heart of stone and give you a heart of flesh.

I shall put My Spirit within you and move you to follow My decrees and keep My laws. You will live in the land I gave your ancestors; you shall be My people and I will be your God.

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Wednesday, 17 August 2016 : 20th Week of Ordinary Time (Homily and Scripture Reflections)

Liturgical Colour : Green

Dear brothers and sisters in Christ, on this day we listened to the words of the Holy Scriptures speaking to us about the Lord Who is our Shepherd, our Guide and our Master, Who leads us to the salvation and life which He promised all those who remain faithful to Him and who obeys His laws and commandments, and practice these in their own lives with zeal and true dedication.

He is the true and good Shepherd, Who truly loves all of His people, the sheep of His flock. Unlike those shepherds, the leaders and guides whom He had appointed to be caretakers of His people, who had not been faithful and be committed to their duties and instead served their own wants and greedy desires first. Those were the false shepherds who were not genuine in their duties to the ones to whom they have been entrusted with.

Those were also the ones mentioned in the Lord’s words through the prophet Ezekiel, where He spoke of those who have misled the people into sin and into the darkness, the false guides who showed the wrong way to the people, corrupting them instead of bringing them into the light. God was angry with them and chastised them, scolded them for their irresponsible and selfish attitude and actions.

These people were like all those workers who came earlier in the parable that Jesus told His disciples in the Gospel today. Those workers worked in the fields of the Master, and was angry when they received the same wage as all those who joined the work later on in the day. They argued that since they have worked longer then they deserved to receive more than those who came later.

But they did not understand what the Lord and Master had intended for them. They have entirely missed out the point of why they had been called in the first place. They thought that their supposedly pious and devout way of life gave them the privilege to do things as they like, and they thought that such privilege gave them the right to look down on others whom they deemed to be less worthy in the presence of God.

But no, brothers and sisters in Christ, that is not how God works. He considers everyone to be equal, and all are the same in His presence. Everyone are the sheep of His flock, which He guides to be walking on the way He has appointed them. And He has appointed us to be shepherds for each other, especially those who among us have been called by God earlier and have received His words earlier than others.

The Pharisees and the teachers of the Law abused their authority and did not do as they were supposed to do. They misguided the people and rather than helping them to be on their way to God, instead they made it much more difficult for them to follow the Lord, and in that way they have become the false and wicked shepherds, as those who put themselves first before the needs of others.

But that is where Jesus our Lord also mentioned something that all of us should take heed of, that is, the first shall be last while the last shall be first. Thus, it is a reminder for all of us Christians, that we should not be greedy, and neither should we be focused so much on our desires and our wants, as if we do these, we tend to want to glorify ourselves and thus tend to cause us to sin in the sight and in the presence of God.

Instead, let us all realise just how much it is that we all can do in order to help one another, our brothers and sisters, our neighbours and all who we interact with, that through our interactions and work, we may together work such that we can draw closer to the Lord our God, and obey Him in all of His laws and precepts. We are called by God to return to Him, our Good Shepherd. Let us all together heed His call and walk together in His path of grace. May God bless us all and remain with us all forevermore. Amen.

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Tuesday, 16 August 2016 : 20th Week of Ordinary Time, Memorial of St. Stephen of Hungary (Homily and Scripture Reflections)

Liturgical Colour : Green or White

Dear brothers and sisters in Christ, on this day we heard the message of the Holy Scriptures telling us about how difficult it is to follow the Lord and to be the disciples of the kingdom of God, and what is meant to be a true disciple, and what awaits the disciples of the Lord at the end of their earthly life and journey. All these were succinctly presented to us in today’s readings.

In the first reading, the Lord our God spoke through the prophet Ezekiel His servant, telling us about the chastisement He spoke of the prince of Tyre. In that context, we have to understand that Tyre was a city on the coast of the Mediterranean Sea known as the home of the Phoenician race, who were well known to be master traders and navigators, controlling much of the trade and the wealth at the time.

And thus, Tyre was incredibly wealthy, and in that great abundance and prosperity, we can imagine that it was very easy for its people and its rulers to fall into the familiar traps of hubris and human pride, as well as greed and unbound desires. But the Lord was not just in fact talking about Tyre and its rulers and its people, rather He was truly referring to all of us as well.

How many of us have become proud of our own achievements, our own intellects, especially in how we are able to beat others in some things, and even worse, that we looked down on others around us just because we think that we are in any way better or superior than them? Remember, brethren, that we are God’s creations, and thus whenever we achieve great things, it is truly not because of our own power and might alone that we have accomplished those deeds.

It is a fact which many of us willingly overlooked, and thus it led us into our hubris and unbounded pride and greed. We mankind are by our nature difficult to satisfy, and once we have something that we like, we tend to want and desire for more and more of that which we like. And this is what often prevented us from reaching towards the kingdom of God, as many obstacles and distractions lie on our path to the Lord.

This was what Jesus meant in the Gospel when He spoke of how the rich and the powerful had great difficulties in entering the kingdom of God, alluding to how it will be easier for a camel to enter through the eyes of a needle rather than those who are endowed with wealth, properties, fame and power. And that is because, as the symbolism Jesus used resounded with us, camels usually lower their heads and necks when they want to enter into a place through a doorway that is shorter than they are.

And that was used by God to symbolise humility and the lack of pride and hubris. Jesus was in fact not attacking or discriminating against the rich and the powerful in what He spoke of in the Gospel today. He was not against the rich and the powerful, but instead was against how mankind tend to use their riches and power the moment they have more of them.

Perhaps in this we should see the examples of St. Stephen of Hungary, also known in Hungary as St. Istvan the Great, the first Christian king of Hungary who brought the whole nation of Hungary to the faith. Previously the kingdom of Hungary followed pagan and barbaric ways until St. Stephen of Hungary, the first. Christian king led the whole nation into the faith.

He helped to convert the whole nation of the Hungarians, and even in his position of power and wealth, as well as fame and greatness as king, he remained humble and committed to his duties and responsibilities as a king and leader of his people. He often helped the poor and the less fortunate in his kingdom, serving their needs and caring for them with love and compassion.

St. Stephen the King of Hungary showed his subjects a good example through his leadership and actions. He showed the love of God to them, and how a faithful ought to act in following the Lord, regardless of their wealth, status and standing in the society. This is a lesson which many of us ought to learn from, that we should not be distracted and be tempted by the wealth and possessions we have, and we should resist those pulling forces trying to sever our relationship with God.

Let us all walk in the footsteps of the Lord, and follow Him through the examples of St. Stephen of Hungary, in how we ought to be responsible and be faithful in our words, actions and deeds, and not be swayed by the temptations of wealth, possessions and worldly glory. Let us confidently venture forth and seek the Lord’s kingdom with renewed zeal and faith. God bless us all. Amen.

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Tuesday, 16 August 2016 : 20th Week of Ordinary Time, Memorial of St. Stephen of Hungary (Psalm)

Liturgical Colour : Green or White

Deuteronomy 32 : 26-27ab, 27cd-28, 30, 35cd-36ab

I said I would scatter them afar and blot out their memory among humankind, but I feared the enemy’s boasting, lest the adversary misunderstand.

And say, “We have triumphed, the Lord has not brought this about.” They are a senseless and undiscerning nation. Had they wisdom, they would have known.

For how could one or two men put to flight a thousand or ten thousand, unless their Rock had abandoned them, unless their Lord had given them up?

Their day of calamity is at hand, and swiftly their doom will come. The Lord will give justice to His people and have mercy on His servants.

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Tuesday, 16 August 2016 : 20th Week of Ordinary Time, Memorial of St. Stephen of Hungary (First Reading)

Liturgical Colour : Green or White

Ezekiel 28 : 1-10

The word of YHVH came to me in these terms, “Son of man, say to the prince of Tyre : You are very proud and self-satisfied : ‘I am a god, I sit like a god in the heart of the sea.’ Yet you are man and not a god; would you hold yourself as wise as God?”

“You consider yourself wiser than Daniel; no secret is hidden from you. Your wisdom and know-how have earned you a fortune, gold and silver flowed to your treasury. Clever in trade, you became wealthy and as your fortune increased, your heart became prouder.”

“But now YHVH has spoken to you, to the one who is like God : I am bringing foreigners against you, the most feared of all the nations. Their sword will challenge your wisdom and debase your refined culture. They will bring you down to the pit and you will die in the depths of the sea.”

“Will you be able to say ‘I am a god’ when your murderers are killing you? You are a man and not a god. You will die the death of the uncircumcised snd perish at the hands of aliens, for I have spoken – word of YHVH.”

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Monday, 15 August 2016 : Solemnity of the Assumption of the Blessed Virgin Mary (Homily and Scripture Reflections)

Liturgical Colour : White (Solemnity of the Assumption of the Blessed Virgin Mary)

Dear brothers and sisters in Christ, on this day we celebrate the great Solemnity of the Assumption of the Blessed Virgin Mary, honouring that moment when Mary, the mother of God, was bodily assumed or brought up directly to the presence of God in heaven, in glorious reward for the faith that she had exhibited and professed her whole life, and for her special role as the Bearer of the Saviour of the world.

Mary is the Ark of the New Covenant, as she bore within her the New Covenant in Jesus Christ that He has established anew with us. And so sacred is the Holy Ark that is Mary, exemplary in her faith and commitment to God, that God would not want her to suffer the pain of death, which is the consequence for sin. For she was conceived and prepared into the world without sin, and then throughout her life, she had obeyed and followed the Lord in all of His plans for the world and for all mankind, and thus, she deserved that glory which her Son had prepared for her.

And through her, all of us can see the premonition and the preview for our own fate, that is our salvation and the eternal life we can find only in the Lord alone. Mary showed unto us how all of us ought to believe in the Lord, not just in externals and appearances alone, but also deep in the heart and through concrete actions and devotions, by the outpouring of our love and our care for those who are less fortunate and those who are unloved around us.

Brothers and sisters in Christ, this is what Jesus meant when He told the young man in the Gospel today, of what he needed to do in order to fully follow the Lord in all of His ways. The young man had fulfilled and followed the whole laws of Moses, obeyed the commandments that God had given His people, but yet, he still had that question burning inside of him, as he felt that he still lacked something in him.

And that is because he was still not truly having the Lord inside of him. He has done all the laws and obeyed all the commandments, but do you know that it is possible for one to obey the laws and commandments of God and yet have no God in them? Of course the young man did not do so badly as that. But the Pharisees and the teachers of the Law had done exactly that.

These people obeyed the Law and appeared to follow the commandments of God, appearing pious and devout while at the same time having no love for God in their hearts. It is indeed possible for this to happen, as doing them as a routine and doing them genuinely with true love and devotion for God are two sides of the same coin. The Pharisees and the teachers of the Law did theirs as a routine, and also as a means to garner favour and popularity with the people instead of for the Lord as the Law had intended.

And thus, this is where we should look up to Mary as our example. She placed her full trust in the Lord, even when she knew that the path forward for her would not be an easy one. She let the Lord to bring her to where He wanted her to be. And as the mother of Jesus Christ, our Lord, she devoted herself entirely to Him, giving Him the love that all mothers ought to give their children and even more.

Imagine the pain and sorrow she must have faced while following her Son through all the challenges and the difficulties He faced, and more than all these, was when He walked through the way of the Passion, carrying and bearing His cross through Jerusalem and up the hill to Calvary, where He was crucified, suffered and died for the sake of all.

Yet, through all these, Mary remained faithful and stayed truly faithful to the mission which God had entrusted her. And thus, she became our guiding light, the beacon to lead us to her Son, our Lord Jesus Christ. Through her we can find the best way that leads directly to God and to His salvation. As she was free from the abominable effects of sin, thus it was befitting for her to also escape the sting of sin, that is death.

Yes, we mankind have sinned before God, some small while others had bigger sins. But nevertheless, all of us have disobeyed God and refused to walk in His ways, resulting in sin that leads eventually to death. Yet, our Lord Himself by His glorious resurrection from the dead had shown us that there is a way out of death, that is if we are all faithful to God, and this is affirmed further by the example of Mary, who was brought into the heavenly glory, free from sin.

By sharing in the death of our Lord Jesus Christ through baptism, all of us have been freed from the taint of our original sins. And if we are to believe in Him with all of our heart and devote ourselves completely to Him, then we too shall share the joy of Mary, the joy of the Assumption, as the Lord Himself has promised that all of His faithful ones will not suffer eternal death, but instead receive the eternal life and glory promised to all of the holy people of God, to be forever with Him in heaven.

May the Lord help us, through the guidance and the intercession of His blessed mother Mary, the role model that He had set up for us, so that through her we may be better able to find our way to Him, and thus receive the eternal life and inheritance He has allotted for us all. May God bless us all, and let us all ask the Blessed Virgin Mary, assumed in glory to heaven, to pray for us all at all times. Amen.

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Monday, 15 August 2016 : Solemnity of the Assumption of the Blessed Virgin Mary (Psalm)

Liturgical Colour : White (Solemnity of the Assumption of the Blessed Virgin Mary)

Deuteronomy 32 : 18-19, 20-21

They have disowned the Rock Who fathered them; they have forgotten the God Who gave them birth. The Lord saw this, and in His anger rejected His sons and daughters.

He said, “I will hide My face from them and see what will become of them. They are so perverse, so unfaithful! They made Me jealous with their false gods and angered Me with their idols. I will, therefore, make them envious of a foolish people, I will provoke them to anger with an empty-headed nation.

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Monday, 15 August 2016 : Solemnity of the Assumption of the Blessed Virgin Mary (First Reading)

Liturgical Colour : White (Solemnity of the Assumption of the Blessed Virgin Mary)

Ezekiel 24 : 15-24

The word of YHVH came to me in these terms, “Son of man, I am about to suddenly take from you the delight of your eyes, but you are not to lament or weep or let your tears flow. Groan in silence and do not mourn for the dead; wear your turban, put on your sandals, do not cover your beard or eat the customary food of mourners.”

I spoke to the people in the morning and my wife died that evening. The next morning I did as I had been commanded. Then the people said to me : “Explain to us the meaning of your actions.” I said to them, “The word of YHVH came to me in these terms : ‘Say to Israel : I am about to profane My sanctuary, your pride, the delight of your eyes for which you long.”

“The sons and daughters you left behind will also fall by the sword, but you will do as I have done : you will not cover your beard or eat the customary food of mourners; you will keep your turbans on your heads and sandals on your feet. You will not lament or weep. Instead, because of your sin, you will waste away and groan among yourselves. Ezekiel will be a sign for you. Do as he did and when this happens you will know that I am YHVH.”