Wednesday

by

Wednesday, 29 September 2021 : Feast of the Holy Archangels Michael, Gabriel and Raphael (Gospel Reading)

Liturgical Colour : White

John 1 : 47-51

At that time, when Jesus saw Nathanael coming, He said to him, “Here comes an Israelite, a true one; there is nothing false in him.” Nathanael asked Him, “How do You know me?”

And Jesus said to him, “Before Philip called you, you were under the fig tree, and I saw you.” Nathanael answered, “Master, You are the Son of God! You are the King of Israel!” But Jesus replied, “You believe because I said, ‘I saw you under the fig tree.’ But you will see greater things than that.”

“Truly, I say to you, you will see the heavens opened, and the Angels of God ascending and descending upon the Son of Man.”

by

Wednesday, 29 September 2021 : Feast of the Holy Archangels Michael, Gabriel and Raphael (Psalm)

Liturgical Colour : White

Psalm 137 : 1-2a, 2bc-3, 4-5

I thank You, o YHVH, with all my heart, for You have heard the word of my lips. I sing Your praise in the presence of the gods. I bow down toward Your holy Temple and give thanks to Your Name.

For Your love and faithfulness, for Your word, which exceeds everything. You answered me when I called; You restored my soul and made me strong.

O YHVH, all kings on earth will give You praise, when they have heard Your words. They will celebrate the ways of YHVH, “Great is the glory of YHVH!”

by

Wednesday, 29 September 2021 : Feast of the Holy Archangels Michael, Gabriel and Raphael (First Reading)

Liturgical Colour : White

Daniel 7 : 9-10, 13-14

I looked and saw the following : Some thrones were set in place and One of Great Age took His seat. His robe was white, as snow, His hair, white as washed wool. His throne was flames of fire with wheels of blazing fire. A river of fire sprang forth and flowed before Him. Thousands upon thousands served Him and a countless multitude stood before Him.

Those in the tribunal took their seats and opened the book. I continued watching the nocturnal vision : One like a Son of Man came on the clouds of heaven. He faced the One of Great Age and was brought into His presence. Dominion, honour and kingship were given Him, and all the peoples and nations of every language served Him. His dominion is eternal and shall never pass away; His kingdom will never be destroyed.

Alternative reading

Revelations 12 : 7-12a

War broke out in heaven, with Michael and his Angels battling with the dragon. The dragon fought back with his angels, but they were defeated, and lost their place in heaven. The great dragon, the ancient serpent, known as the devil, or Satan, seducer of the whole world, was thrown out. He was hurled down to earth, together with his angels.

Then, I heard a loud voice from heaven : Now has salvation come, with the power and the kingdom of our God, and the rule of His Anointed. For our brothers’ accuser has been cast out, who accused them night and day, before God. They conquered him, by the Blood of the Lamb, and by the word of their testimony, for they gave up their lives, going to death.

Rejoice, therefore, o you heavens, and you who dwell in them.

by

Wednesday, 22 September 2021 : 25th Week of Ordinary Time (Homily and Scripture Reflections)

Liturgical Colour : Green

Dear brothers and sisters in Christ, today as we are reminded of God’s love and kindness, His ever present compassion and care for us, and His desire to be reunited with us, so that we who are sinners may be forgiven our sins, and receive from Him healing from our corruptions and sickness due to those sins, and that we may be reconciled and reunited with Him, that we may find our way back to Him, to be once again in His grace and presence.

We are all called to recall what we heard in our first reading today from the Book of the prophet Ezra, who was a priest of God that was instrumental in leading the remnants of the people of God in the days of their return from their exile in the land of Babylon and Assyria. King Cyrus of Persia had declared emancipation or liberation for all the Israelites to be able to go free to their homeland after having suffered in exile for many decades from the tyranny of the Babylonians who destroyed Jerusalem and its Temple.

Ezra was a priest and leader of the people who led them in their prayers and supplications before the Lord. Imagine the pain and consternation that those exiles might have experienced when they saw their homeland again for the first time after many decades. Most of them would not even have known or had any memories of living there before their exile, but they must have heard the tales of their historic homeland from their elders and parents, who shared with them the tales of the old kingdoms of Israel and Judah, of Jerusalem and its glorious Temple, built by King Solomon.

When the descendants of those who were exiled arrived back in their ancestral homeland, what awaited them was likely mere ruins, as Jerusalem was thoroughly looted and ransacked by the forces of King Nebuchadnezzar of Babylon during its conquest. The Temple was destroyed and nothing much was left of the great House of God that was once there. It was with this context that the prophet Ezra spoke on behalf of the people, as their High Priest before the Lord, in supplication for them seeking God’s mercy and forgiveness for the sins they and their ancestors had committed.

For it was because of the disobedience of the Israelites that they had fallen in disgrace and were conquered and overcome by their enemies and were bereft of their homeland. The destruction of the Temple built by Solomon to be the House of the Lord was a very visible sign of God’s displeasure and also their abandonment of Him. It was not God Who abandoned His people, for in truth, He has always been with them despite their constant and persistent refusal to obey Him or listen to Him through the words of His many prophets. It was the people who chose to follow the path of sin and Satan’s lies rather than God’s truth.

Hence, Ezra offered before the Lord on behalf of the people a public admission of sinfulness and the deep remorse that they all had on the sins they had committed and which their ancestors had stubbornly done against the Lord and His loving kindness. Ezra pleaded with the Lord to restore His people and to show them once again the same love that He has always shown to them from the very beginning. In time to come, the Temple of God would be rebuild again in Jerusalem, under the supervision of Ezra and Nehemiah, another faithful servant of God entrusted with the care of the people.

Then, in our Gospel passage today we heard about the Lord Jesus, the Saviour of the world Whom God had sent into this world, the Son of God, Who sent His disciples forth, especially the Twelve, to whom He entrusted the power and authority to teach, to heal and to empower others, to bring to them the Good News of God’s truth and salvation. Through this, the Lord wants each and every one of us to know that, answering our petitions and supplications, our cries for His mercy and forgiveness, God has always ever loved us, and He has never abandoned us. On the contrary, He had done everything He could to gather us all and to reconcile us to Himself.

And through Christ, Who manifested to us the perfect and ultimate love of God, by His Passion, His suffering and death on the Cross for our sake, for our salvation, all of us have seen the proof of just how fortunate and beloved we are. And we should indeed be thankful and happy that the Lord still thinks about us all the time, and is always ever concerned about us, for our redemption and return to Him. He wants us to be reunited with Him, and this is what each and every one of us should reflect on this day and onwards.

Brothers and sisters in Christ, have we lived our lives faithfully thus far as Christians? Have we truly followed the Lord wholeheartedly, or have we only had a shallow and superficial faith in Him? Have we lived our lives according to His way and truth, and have we heeded the words of those whom He had entrusted with our care, such as the Church, our bishops and our priests, as well as the wisdom of the saints and the prophets as contained in the Sacred Scriptures and the Church traditions and Magisterium?

If our answers to these are no, then we need to act now to change our lives for the better. We cannot be idle or ignorant anymore about how we live our faith from now on. On the contrary, we should do our best to commit ourselves to the Lord, and be great role models and inspiration for one another. Let us all commit ourselves thoroughly to the Lord, brothers and sisters in Christ, and do whatever we can to follow the Lord and obey Him and His truth from now on. May God be with us always, and may He bless us all in our every good works and endeavours in His Name. Amen.

by

Wednesday, 22 September 2021 : 25th Week of Ordinary Time (Gospel Reading)

Liturgical Colour : Green

Luke 9 : 1-6

At that time, Jesus called His Twelve disciples and gave them power and authority to drive out all evil spirits and to heal diseases. And He sent them to proclaim the kingdom of God and to heal the sick. He instructed them, “Do not take anything for the journey, neither staff, nor bag, nor bread, nor money; and do not even take a spare tunic.”

“Whatever house you enter, remain there until you leave that place. And wherever they do not welcome you, leave the town and shake the dust from your feet : it will be as a testimony against them.”

So they set out, and went through the villages, proclaiming the Good News and healing people everywhere.

by

Wednesday, 22 September 2021 : 25th Week of Ordinary Time (Psalm)

Liturgical Colour : Green

Tobit 13 : 2, 3-4a, 4bcd, 5, 8

It is He Who punishes and He Who has mercy; Who makes people go down to the depths off the underworld and rise up again from the great abyss. No one can escape His hand.

Give Him thanks, people of Israel, before all the nations. Though He has dispersed you among them, He now shows you His greatness.

Exalt Him before all the living, because He is our God and Lord, our Father forever.

He punishes us for our wrongdoing but again He will forgive us. He will bring us together again from amongst all the nations among whom we have been dispersed.

I, in the land of my captivity, will return Him thanks and show His strength and greatness to My sinful people. Be converted, you sinners, and live justly before Him, certain that He will be pleased with you and show you mercy.

by

Wednesday, 22 September 2021 : 25th Week of Ordinary Time (First Reading)

Liturgical Colour : Green

Ezra 9 : 5-9

I remained seated and dismayed until the evening sacrifice; and then, at the time for the evening offering, I rose from my fasting, and with my clothes and mantle torn, I knelt down, spreading out my hands to YHVH, my God.

I said, “My God! I am ashamed and confused, my God, I do not dare raise my eyes to You; for our sins have increased over our heads and our crimes reach up to the heavens. From the days of our ancestors to this day, our guilt has been great. We, our kings and priests have been given into the hands of foreign kings because of our crimes; we have been delivered to the sword, to captivity, to plunder, and put to shame as on this day.”

“However, for a brief moment, the mercy of YHVH, our God, has been shown to us. He made a remnant of our people survive, and allowed the survivor to settle once again in His Holy Place. He has given us joy and life, though we are in bondage. We are no more than slaves, but in the midst of our slavery, God has not abandoned us, He has extended a merciful hand over us to support us before the kings of Persia. He has revived our life, enabled us to rebuild the House of our God, and to have walls in Jerusalem and in the other cities of Judah.”

by

Wednesday, 15 September 2021 : 24th Week of Ordinary Time, Memorial of Our Lady of Sorrows (Homily and Scripture Reflections)

Liturgical Colour : White

Dear brothers and sisters in Christ, on this day we celebrate the Feast of Our Lady of Sorrows, which is always celebrated on the day after the Feast of the Exaltation of the Holy Cross, reminding us of the important role that Mary, our Lady of Sorrows and the Mother of God, played in the history of our salvation, and how faithful she has been in obeying God’s will and in following her Son, Our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ, as He went to fulfil the mission entrusted to Him by His heavenly Father.

Yes, brothers and sisters in Christ, just as the Lord Jesus picked up His Cross on His shoulders and journeyed with much pain and sufferings, with scourges and wounds onwards to the hill of Golgotha or Calvary, the place of His execution, Mary followed Him throughout, shadowing Him along the journey, and it was also told by tradition that they also met each other during that Way of Sorrows, as Mary beheld her beloved Son, scourged and bruised from His many wounds.

We can only imagine just what kind of sorrow and suffering that Mary herself had experienced as she beheld her Son in such a state, rejected by the people that He had loved and cared for, condemned to die for sins that He did not commit, scourged and broken, tortured and bleeding from His many wounds. No mother should ever have to see her own children suffering, and yet, that was what Mary precisely experienced as she walked the Via Dolorosa together with her Son, on the way to Calvary.

Yet, just as the Lord Jesus remained faithful and firm to His convictions, holding up His Cross despite falling on three occasions, and reaching the place of His crucifixion, Mary also remained firm in her dedication to her Son, her great love for Him, that she stayed by His side even to the foot of the Cross. She looked upon her Son on the Cross as He laboured and spent the time of suffering for the atonement of all of our sins, fulfilling what the Lord has promised to all of us. Just as the prophet Simeon had said, a sword truly must have pierced Mary’s heart, seeing all that unfolding before her own eyes.

And from the Cross, the Lord then entrusted His own mother to the care of St. John the Apostle, His beloved disciple, to be his own mother and for him to be her own son. Through this significant and symbolic act in fact, the Lord entrusted His Church, that is all of us, to His own mother Mary, giving her to us to be our mother and our caretaker, as a loving mother to her children, ever worried and concerned about us, and ever dedicated to each and every one of us, as her own adopted sons and daughters.

Brothers and sisters in Christ, it is little wonder then why the Blessed Virgin Mary, Mother of God and Our Lady of Sorrows appeared quite often especially after periods of great turmoil and troubles, during times of war and destruction. In many times she has shown herself in many forms, to serve as a reminder to each and every one of us, passing to us her wish and the message, that all of us may be converted to the truth and embrace the salvation that her own Son, Our Lord and Saviour has offered to us freely from the Cross.

In all of those occasions, Mary, Our Lady of Sorrows always called for us to turn back towards the Lord and be converted, to pray and to do our best efforts to contribute to the conversion of souls. Having seen how her Son had suffered under the weight of the burden of our many sins, all of His wounds and scourges essentially were due to our many faults and trespasses, which He bore out of love for us, henceforth, it is no surprise that Mary has always been concerned for us, as our own loving mother, who does not want to see her children to fall into the eternal damnation in hell.

That is why, brothers and sisters in Christ, as we celebrate this Feast of Our Lady of Sorrows and as we recall the celebrations of yesterday’s Feast of the Exaltation of the Holy Cross, we as the people of God, as fellow Christians, let us all help one another and be sources of inspiration to lead us all towards the path of redemption and eternal life in God. Let us all be courageous to stand up to our faith and be truly committed to God in all things, that by our deeds and commitment, many more may also come to believe in God.

Let us all confide in our sorrowful mother, Mary, Our Lady of Sorrows, who is always sorrowful upon seeing our many sins, the same sins that have caused her Son, Our Lord and Saviour, so much pain. Let us all ask her for her constant intercession, that she will continue to pray for us, even to the hour of our death, for the sake of all of us, sinners unworthy of God, and yet beloved and whom God desired to forgive, out of His everlasting love for us. May God be with us always, and may His beloved mother, Our Lady of Sorrows, continue to watch over us. Amen.

by

Wednesday, 15 September 2021 : 24th Week of Ordinary Time, Memorial of Our Lady of Sorrows (Gospel Reading)

Liturgical Colour : White

John 19 : 25-27

At that time, near the cross of Jesus stood His mother, His mother’s sister Mary, who was the wife of Cleophas, and Mary of Magdala. When Jesus saw the mother, and the disciple whom He loved, He said to the mother, “Woman, this is your son.”

Then He said to the disciple, “This is your mother.” And from that moment the disciple took her to his own home.

Alternative reading

Luke 2 : 33-35

At that time, the father and mother of Jesus wondered at what was said about the Child. Simeon blessed them, and said to Mary, His mother, “Know this : your Son is a Sign; a Sign established for the falling and rising of many in Israel, a Sign of contradiction; and a sword will pierce your own soul, so that, out of many hearts, thoughts may be revealed.”

by

Wednesday, 15 September 2021 : 24th Week of Ordinary Time, Memorial of Our Lady of Sorrows (Psalm)

Liturgical Colour : White

Psalm 30 : 2-3a, 3bc-4, 5-6, 15-16, 20

In You, o YHVH, I take refuge, may I never be disgraced; deliver me in Your justice. Give heed to my plea, and make haste to rescue me.

Be a Rock of refuge for me, a Fortress for my safety. For You are my Rock and my Stronghold, lead me for Your Name’s sake.

Free me from the snare that they have set for me. Indeed You are my Protector. Into Your hands I commend my spirit; You have redeemed me, o YHVH, faithful God.

But I put my trust in You, o YHVH, I said : “You are my God.” My days are in Your hand. Deliver me from the hand of my enemies, from those after my skin.

How great is the goodness which You have stored for those who fear You, which You show, for all to see, to those who take refuge in You!