Wednesday

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Wednesday, 4 March 2020 : 1st Week of Lent, Memorial of St. Casimir (Gospel Reading)

Liturgical Colour : Purple/Violet

Luke 11 : 29-32

At that time, as the crowd increased, Jesus spoke the following words : “People of the present time are troubled people. They ask for a sign, but no sign will be given to them except the sign of Jonah. As Jonah became a sign for the people of Nineveh, so will the Son of Man be a sign for this generation.”

“The Queen of the South will rise up on Judgment Day with the people of these times and accuse them, for she came from the ends of the earth to hear the wisdom of Solomon; and here, there is greater than Solomon. The people of Nineveh will rise up on Judgment Day with the people of these times and accuse them, for Jonah’s preaching made them turn from their sins, and here, there is greater than Jonah.”

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Wednesday, 4 March 2020 : 1st Week of Lent, Memorial of St. Casimir (Psalm)

Liturgical Colour : Purple/Violet

Psalm 50 : 3-4, 12-13, 18-19

Have mercy on me, o God, in Your love. In Your great compassion blot out my sin. Wash me thoroughly of my guilt; cleanse me of evil.

Create in me, o God, a pure heart; give me a new and steadfast spirit. Do not cast me out of Your presence nor take Your Holy Spirit from me.

You take no pleasure in sacrifice; were I to give a burnt offering, You would not delight in it. O God, my sacrifice is a broken spirit; a contrite heart, You will not despise.

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Wednesday, 4 March 2020 : 1st Week of Lent, Memorial of St. Casimir (First Reading)

Liturgical Colour : Purple/Violet

Jonah 3 : 1-10

The word of YHVH came to Jonah a second time : “Go to Nineveh, the great city, and announce to them the message I give you.”

In obedience to the word of YHVH, Jonah went to Nineveh. It was a very large city, and it took three days just to cross it. So Jonah walked a single day’s journey and began proclaiming, “Forty days more and Nineveh will be destroyed.”

The people of the city believed God. They declared a fast, and all of them, from the greatest to the least, put on sackcloth. Upon hearing the news, the king of Nineveh got up from his throne, took off his royal robe, put on sackcloth and sat down in ashes. He issued a proclamation throughout Nineveh :

“By the decree of the king and his nobles, no people or beasts, herd or flock, will taste anything; neither will they eat nor drink. But let people and beasts be covered with sackcloth. Let everyone call aloud to God, turn from his evil ways and violence. Who knows? God may yet relent, turn from His fierce anger and spare us.”

When God saw what they did and how they turned from their evil ways, He had compassion and did not carry out the destruction He had threatened upon them.

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Wednesday, 26 February 2020 : Ash Wednesday (Homily and Scripture Reflections)

Liturgical Colour : Purple/Violet

Dear brothers and sisters in Christ, on this day we mark the beginning of the sacred season of Lent, the forty days of preparation for the season of Easter. On this day which is Ash Wednesday, all of us as Christians are reminded of our own sinfulness, vulnerability and mortality, with the symbolic use of the blessed ashes sprinkled or marked on our foreheads that is accompanied by the words, ‘Remember that you are dust and to dust you shall return’ or ‘Repent and believe in the Gospel’.

Today on Ash Wednesday we mark a break from our usual life with the practice of fasting and abstinence, in which all of us Christians are bound to do in accordance with the laws and rules of the Church. Abstinence is a must for all Christians aged fourteen years and above, for them to abstain from eating of meat, as well as other form of restraining of oneself from a desire. Meanwhile, fasting is compulsory for all Christians aged between eighteen and fifty-nine years old for them to have only one full meal during the day with two smaller meals called collations that when added do not constitute a full meal.

The practice of fasting and abstinence are done as part of our faith and the Church law as these help us to remind ourselves to not be overcome by the many temptations present in our lives, be it the temptation of wealth, the temptation of glory and fame, the temptation of pleasure and all sorts of other worldly pursuits that we often face daily in this life. This is why we practice fasting and abstinence because we want to control ourselves and restrain our desires and attachments to worldly things.

For all these attachments, desires and temptations in life often caused us to falter in our lives and in our journey towards God. As long as we allow ourselves to be distracted with those temptations in life, we will not be able to fully reconcile ourselves with God, and as a result too, we will likely be drawn further and further away from Him as if we allow our desires and all the worldly temptations to affect us, we will end up seeking self preservation and fulfilment in life, in our actions and words and deeds, thinking of our own wants and desires above that of serving God.

That is why so many of us mankind have forgotten about God, overlooking Him and denying Him His rightful presence and position in our lives. Instead of being the sole focal point and centre of attention, God has often been sidelined and ignored, and we only remember Him when we are in trouble and in need of help. Even then, many of us prefer to seek comfort and help from other sources besides God, as we are often tied by our own attachments to wealth, power, fame and all sorts of worldliness as mentioned.

The Lord has called all of us as Christians to free ourselves from all those things that often become obstacles in our path towards God and His salvation. He wants us to be rid of the excesses of our greed that kept our attention to be focused on fulfilling our desires and doing things that are contrary to what God has taught us through our Christian faith and the Church. That is why we fast, we abstain and restrain ourselves with humility and determination that we will not end up falling deeper and deeper into the path of sin.

That is why beginning on today, Ash Wednesday, we enter into this time and season of purification and the rediscovery of our faith. It is also a time to reorientate our lives and find our path towards God if we have fallen away or moved in the direction all these while. God has always been willing to welcome us back and forgive us all our sins, provided that we are willing to change our ways and repent wholeheartedly from our previous waywardness and sinful ways.

Brothers and sisters in Christ, this is exactly where the difficult part is, as too many of us are prevented by our ego and pride to admit that we have erred and made mistakes in our lives. We are too proud to admit that we have been wrong and that we are in need of healing, and that is why then many among us just carry on through life not bothered by our sins and failures to keep God’s laws and commandments. And thus on this particular day, as the blessed ashes are sprinkled on the crown of our heads or marked on our foreheads, we are reminded to humble ourselves that after all, no matter how great or prideful we are, if we allow sin to continue to reign over our lives, there will truly be nothing left for us but annihilation and damnation.

Many of us are distracted by the temptations I mentioned earlier, and we spent so much time and effort trying to pamper and satisfy ourselves, pleasing ourselves will all sorts of worldly preoccupations and rejoicing. We live thinking as if we will live forever or that whatever we have accumulated in life will be ours forever. We are obsessed with our appearances and with maintaining our good persona in front of everyone else, and yet, we forget that no matter how much we have invested into all these, it takes just one moment of death to separate us from all these.

As I said before, the blessed ashes remind us that ultimately, all of our ambitions and desires, our obsessions and schemings are meaningless due to our mortality, and we are all reminded of the shortness of our lives. We should not think that we can just do it as we please, and take advantage of God’s generous and rich offer of mercy. If we keep on postponing and delaying, waiting for the right moment for us to repent, we will be disappointed to know eventually that we may likely end up in damnation before we manage to repent.

We should not delay or wait any longer, brothers and sisters in Christ, and we have to make good use of this precious opportunity given to us to embrace fully God’s generous mercy and love. That is why this season of Lent is also known as the season of preparation for Easter, as not only just that we are looking forward to the glorious joy of Easter, but we are also reminded that during this period, we are to make ourselves ready in heart, mind, soul and indeed in our whole being to fully immerse ourselves in the celebration of the most important moments of the history of our salvation.

For Lent is when we are constantly reminded of the nature of our frail and weak human existence, easily tempted by the devil and all his wicked allies the evil spirits who are always ready all around us trying to bring about our downfall. And it is also then a reminder that while we have sinned and fallen from grace, but we must remember that in the end, the love of God for each and every one of us is even far greater than the terrible weight of our sins.

And that is why today we are reminded, that for all of our Lenten practices and observances, such as fasting and abstinence, as the Lord mentioned in our Gospel passage today, must have the right intention and purpose. We are warned not to follow the examples of the Pharisees who fasted publicly and with great emphasis to be seen and praised by others for their piety and observance of the Law of God. That kind of faith is empty and meaningless as deep inside their hearts, God was not present. Instead they were too full of pride to allow God to enter.

Why do we fast or do abstinence, brothers and sisters in Christ? Is it so that others see us and applaud our faith? Or is it that we can satisfy certain desires we have, such as being cleansed and forgiven from our sins? The second and latter one is certainly not too far from what we ought to be doing, but as I mentioned earlier, for forgiveness and mercy to come fully to us, there is a need for us to have that love for God and the desire because of that love to seek to be forgiven from our sins.

Remember how Christ loved each and every one of us who are sinners, who betrayed Him and abandoned Him, who were among those who condemned Him to a most painful death on the Cross. And yet, it is exactly because He loved us so much, that He was willing to bear the burden of the Cross for us. That is how the Cross of Christ become for us a symbol of victory and triumph from our sins, a symbol of God’s ultimate love for us and our redemption.

Brothers and sisters in Christ, as we bear the symbol of the blessed ashes on the crown of our heads today, and begin the proper season of Lent, are we able to love God with a new zeal and commitment knowing just how much He has loved each and every one of us all these while? If He can love us all so much to bear the immense suffering of the Cross, then surely we can also make the effort to love Him no? And this is why we fast and do our abstinence today, and observe our Lenten observations and practices, because we love God and because we love Him, we want to be purified from our previous, wicked ways.

Let us all begin this season of Lent right, brethren in Christ, that we may make good use of this time and opportunity given to us to change our lives and repent wholeheartedly in this season of Lent so that we who are sinners may be forgiven our sins by God, our loving Lord and Father, and receive from Him the assurance of new life filled with true joy and grace, by His Son, Our Lord Jesus Christ and His loving sacrifice on the Cross for us. May the Lord be with us always and may His blessings always be upon us. I wish all of us, a most fruitful and blessed season and time of Lent. Amen.

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Wednesday, 26 February 2020 : Ash Wednesday (Gospel Reading)

Liturgical Colour : Purple/Violet

Matthew 6 : 1-6, 16-18

At that time, Jesus said to His disciples, “Be careful not to make a show of your righteousness before people. If you do so, you do not gain anything from your Father in heaven. When you give something to the poor, do not have it trumpeted before you, as do those who want to be seen in the synagogues and in the streets, in order to be praised by the people. I assure you, they have already been paid in full.”

“If you give something to the poor, do not let your left hand know what your right hand is doing, so that your gift remains really secret. Your Father, Who sees what is kept secret, will reward you. When you pray, do not be like those who want to be seen. They love to stand and pray in the synagogues or on street corners to be seen by everyone. I assure you, they have already been paid in full.”

“When you pray, go into your room, close the door, and pray to your Father Who is with you in secret; and your Father Who sees what is kept secret will reward you. When you fast, do not put on a miserable face as do the hypocrites. They put on a gloomy face, so that people can see they are fasting. I tell you this : they have already been paid in full.”

“When you fast, wash your face and make yourself look cheerful, because you are not fasting for appearances or for people, but for your Father Who sees beyond appearances. And your Father, Who sees what is kept secret, will reward you.”

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Wednesday, 26 February 2020 : Ash Wednesday (Second Reading)

Liturgical Colour : Purple/Violet

2 Corinthians 5 : 20 – 2 Corinthians 6 : 2

So we present ourselves as ambassadors in the Name of Christ, as if God Himself makes an appeal to you through us. Let God reconcile you; this we ask you in the Name of Christ. He had no sin, but God made Him bear our sin, so that in Him we might share the holiness of God.

Being God’s helpers we beg you : let it not be in vain that you received this grace of God. Scripture says : At the favourable time I listened to you, on the day of salvation I helped you. This is the favourable time, this is the day of salvation.

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Wednesday, 26 February 2020 : Ash Wednesday (Psalm)

Liturgical Colour : Purple/Violet

Psalm 50 : 3-4, 5-6a, 12-13, 14 and 17

Have mercy on me, o God, in Your love. In Your great compassion blot out my sin. Wash me thoroughly of my guilt; cleanse me of evil.

For I acknowledge my wrongdoings and have my sins ever in mind. Against You alone have I sinned; what is evil in Your sight I have done.

Create in me, o God, a pure heart; give me a new and steadfast spirit. Do not cast me out of Your presence nor take Your Holy Spirit from me.

Give me again the joy of Your salvation and sustain me with a willing spirit. O Lord, open my lips, and I will declare Your praise.

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Wednesday, 26 February 2020 : Ash Wednesday (First Reading)

Liturgical Colour : Purple/Violet

Joel 2 : 12-18

YHVH says, “Yet even now, return to Me with your whole heart, with fasting, weeping and mourning. Rend your heart, not your garment. Return to YHVH, your God – gracious and compassionate.” YHVH is slow to anger, full of kindness, and He repents of having punished.

Who knows? Probably He will relent once more and spare some part of the harvest from which we may bring sacred offerings to YHVH, your God. Blow the trumpet in Zion, proclaim a sacred fast, call a solemn assembly. Gather the people, sanctify the community, bring together the elders, even the children and infants at the breast. Let the bridegroom leave his bed, and the bride her room.

Between the vestibule and the altar, let the priests, YHVH’s ministers, weep and say : Spare Your people, YHVH? Do not humble them or make them an object of scorn among the nations. Why should it be said among the peoples : Where is their God?

YHVH has become jealous for His land; He has had pity on His people.

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Wednesday, 19 February 2020 : 6th 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 God in the Scriptures through which we are reminded that all of us need to be righteous in God’s eyes and have genuine faith in Him. We must not give in to the temptations of our pride, ego, ambition and desire which are great obstacles in our journey of faith towards God. St. James reminded us of this in his Epistle in our first reading passage today.

In that passage, St. James reminded all of us as Christians to keep ourselves pure and blameless from all the corrupting power of sin and evil. And as he described it to us, he was actually making a reference of the Pharisees and the teachers of the Law of that time, who were the religious elites of the community that were deeply engrossed in maintaining their way of observing the laws of Moses, and enforced it to great detail.

They prided themselves in their pious observance of those laws, their supposed righteousness and uprightness, praying openly in public places and seeking praise and honour from the people of God. They were also quick to judge all those whom they deemed to be unworthy, or those whom they saw to be less pious than they were. They opposed the Lord Jesus and His disciples for the same reason, persecuting Christians in the early Church for their faith.

Yet, as St. James mentioned in his Epistle, they failed to look upon themselves in the mirror. They were so caught up in their vanity and pride, greed and ego that they failed to see how they were sinners too, and in fact, their desires and pride made them to be sinners even greater than those whom they had persecuted and judged against. They were busy pointing out the flaws and faults in others, that they failed to see how their own pride and ego brought them to love themselves much more than they loved God, and their treatment of their brethren was not what the Lord had commanded us all to do.

Brothers and sisters in Christ, that is why we need to learn from this experience and from what St. James had shared with us. The Pharisees and the teachers of the Law were blinded by their pride, their attachments to worldly pleasures and pursuits, their fears and jealousy, their insecurities and their desires that caused them to act in the manner that led them further and further into the slippery path of sin.

In our Gospel passage today, we then heard of the miracle which Our Lord performed as He healed a blind man from his trouble, restoring his sight completely to him. The man could see again and was overjoyed, but the Lord told him not to tell of that to anyone. The Lord did not want unwanted attention because of what He has done, which may cause difficulty for Him and His disciples, especially because the Pharisees and the teachers of the Law were always after Him and seeking for the opportunity to attack and accuse Him.

In addition, He also does not want the publicity to make Him to be distracted from His works, as He humbly obeyed the will of His heavenly Father, in ministering to the people, healing and making them whole once again. We can see how this is in contrast to the attitude of the Pharisees and the teachers of the Law who succumbed to their pride and desire. And the Lord showed us all that as long as we are blinded by those things, it will be difficult for us to progress in our faith journey.

We should seek the Lord, just like the blind man, who was healed from his blindness. But instead of being healed from physical blindness, we seek to be healed from our spiritual blindness instead. We should seek the healing of our souls and minds, our hearts and our beings that have been blinded by pride, ego, ambition, desire and human greed that led us into sin against God. Let us all be touched by God’s healing and compassionate love, that in His wonderful and generous mercy, we may be forgiven our sins and be made whole again.

May the Lord bless each and every one of us, and may He strengthen us in faith, that we may live courageously and faithfully from now on, as God’s faithful disciples and as true witnesses of our faith in Him in everything we say and do in our lives. Amen.

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Wednesday, 19 February 2020 : 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.”