Wednesday

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Wednesday, 8 July 2020 : 14th Week of Ordinary Time (First Reading)

Liturgical Colour : Green

Hosea 10 : 1-3, 7-8, 12

Israel was a spreading vine, rich in fruit. The more his fruit increased, the more altars he built; the more his land prospered, the more he adorned his sacred stones. Their heart is divided! They shall pay for it. Their altars will be thrown down and their sacred stones broken to pieces. Now they say, “We have no king (because we have no fear of God) and what good would a king do us?”

As for the king of Samaria, he has been carried off like foam on water. The idolatrous high places – the sin of Israel – will be destroyed. Thorn and thistle will creep over the altars. Then they will say to the mountains : “Cover us,” and to the hills : “Fall on us.”

Plow new ground, sow for yourselves justice and reap the harvest of kindness. It is the time to go seeking YHVH, until He comes to rain salvation on you.

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Wednesday, 1 July 2020 : 13th Week of Ordinary Time (Homily and Scripture Reflections)

Liturgical Colour : Green

Dear brothers and sisters in Christ, on this day we are reminded by the words of the Sacred Scripture to reject all sorts of evil and wicked behaviours, all sorts of things that can lead us into sin. In our first reading today, the prophet Amos urged the people to turn away from evil and sin, and to seek God’s forgiveness and mercy, while in the Gospel passage today, we heard of the moment when the Lord Jesus performed exorcism on two possessed men in the region of Gadara.

In our first reading today, the prophet Amos delivered the message of God to the people of Israel who had long been disobedient against God and abandoned His precepts and laws, preferring instead the wicked ways of their neighbours, adopting pagan practices and worshipping idols instead of worshipping the one and only true God as they should have. Their sins and their wickedness led them to suffer and unless they repented from their sins, they would be destroyed by those same sins they had committed.

This is where the prophet Amos then reminded the people to turn once again towards God and to have genuine faith once again in Him. The Lord spoke to the people through Amos that what He cared about was not the offerings and sacrifices, but rather the sincerity of faith and the genuineness of the love that each and every one of His people ought to have for Him, just as He has loved them all dearly first.

This means that the laws of God, the offerings of sacrifices and obedience to the law must come with genuine desire to love God and the love for God which leads to this obedience, and not empty and meaningless obedience for the sake of merely fulfilling the law and the words of the law. That was why, the Lord Jesus later on would often be very critical on the actions of the Pharisees, who have pushed for the blind obedience of the law, obeying the tenets and the detailed customs of the law, and yet, failing to understand its true meaning and purpose.

Linking what we have heard to the Gospel passage today, the Lord came by the region of Gadara beyond the Jordan, in the wilderness where He encountered two men possessed by the evil spirits, who lived in that wilderness away from civilisation and from the community, shunned and feared by the other people. The Lord commanded the evil spirits to leave the two men, and the spirits begged to be let to go into the herd of pigs that were in the area.

This healing of the two possessed men was symbolic of the healing of God’s people, the same people who had sinned and disobeyed God, and because of those sins, as warned by the prophet Amos, led to the destruction of their kingdom, their subjugation by their enemies, and enduring shameful long period of exile far away from their homeland, just as the two possessed men had to live in the wilderness away from the community.

Through the Lord’s action, each and every one of us are reminded that no matter how great our sins are, by which we have been separated from God and cast away from His presence and grace, God alone has the power to heal us and to bring us back into His embrace. But at the same time, we must also be willing to welcome the Lord, and to allow Him to heal us, and get rid from ourselves all these taints and corruptions of sin.

The Lord spoke through the prophet Amos highlighting that He wanted His people to be righteous and good, in all of their actions. He wanted all of them to be good and to follow His path, to be good just as He is good. But are we willing and able to commit to Him in this way, brothers and sisters in Christ? We are often tempted and swayed by the many desires we have in life, and as a result, we end up failing to recognise our sinfulness and just how much we need God’s healing and mercy.

Let us all therefore turn wholeheartedly towards God and let us all seek the Lord once again with all of our hearts, with all of our might and strength. May the Lord be with us always, and may He strengthen each and every one of us that we may ever more faithfully walk in the path He has set before us. May God bless us all, and may He guide us to eternal life in Him. Amen.

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Wednesday, 1 July 2020 : 13th Week of Ordinary Time (Gospel Reading)

Liturgical Colour : Green

Matthew 8 : 28-34

At that time, when Jesus reached Gadara, on the other side, He was met by two men, possessed by devils, who came out from the tombs. They were so fierce that no one dared to pass that way. They cried out, “Son of God, leave us alone! Have You come here to torment us before the time?”

Some distance away there was a large herd of pigs feeding. So the demons begged Him, “If You drive us out, send us into that herd of pigs.” Jesus ordered them, “Go!” So the demons left the men and went into the pigs. The whole herd rushed down the cliff into the lake and was drowned.

The men in charge of the pigs ran off to the town, where they told the whole story; and also what had happened to the men possessed with the demons. The whole town went out to meet Jesus; and when they saw Him, they begged Him to leave their region.

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Wednesday, 1 July 2020 : 13th Week of Ordinary Time (Psalm)

Liturgical Colour : Green

Psalm 49 : 7, 8-9, 10-11, 12-13, 16bc-17

“Hear, o My people, for I am speaking. I will accuse you, o Israel, I am God, your God!”

“Not for your sacrifices do I reprove you, for your burnt offerings are ever before Me. I need no bull from your stalls, nor he-goat from your pens.”

“For I own all the beasts of the forest and the animals of My thousand hills. All the birds of the air I know; all that move in the fields are Mine.”

“I need not tell you if I were hungry, for Mine is the world and all that it contains. Do I eat the flesh of bulls or drink the blood of goats?”

“What right have you to mouth My Laws, or to talk about My Covenant? You hate My commands and cast My words behind you.”

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Wednesday, 1 July 2020 : 13th Week of Ordinary Time (First Reading)

Liturgical Colour : Green

Amos 5 : 14-15, 21-24

Seek good and shun evil, that you may live. Then YHVH, the God of hosts, as you have claimed, will be with you. Hate wickedness and love virtue, and let justice prevail in the courts; perhaps YHVH, the God of hosts, will take pity on the remnant of Joseph.

YHVH said, “I hate, I reject your feasts, I take no pleasure when you assemble to offer Me your burnt offerings. Your cereal offerings, I will not accept! Your offerings of fattened beasts, I will not look upon! Away with the noise of your chanting, away with your strumming on harps. But let justice run its course like water, and righteousness be like an ever-flowing river.”

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Wednesday, 24 June 2020 : Solemnity of the Nativity of St. John the Baptist (Homily and Scripture Reflections)

Liturgical Colour : White

Dear brothers and sisters in Christ, today we celebrate the great Solemnity and celebration of the Nativity or the birth of St. John the Baptist, the only other person besides that of the Blessed Mother of God herself, Mary, who have their birthdays or nativities celebrated in the Church. And this highlighted the very important role which St. John the Baptist had in the history of the salvation of all mankind.

It was St. John the Baptist who was prophesied by the prophets to be the last among the prophets, for his role was to finally proclaim the coming of the salvation from God, the fulfilment of God’s long awaited plan of salvation, which would come through His Son, Our Lord Jesus Christ, Who happened to be also a relative of St. John the Baptist himself, as his mother Elizabeth was a relative of Mary, the Mother of the Lord. St. John the Baptist was the one prophesied by the prophet Isaiah to be the one who would be prepared and called from the womb of his mother to proclaim God’s salvation.

And this is linked to the equally amazing circumstances of St. John the Baptist’s birth, in which the old couple Zechariah and Elizabeth, way past childbearing age, received words from the Angel of God through Zechariah himself, at the Temple, saying that the Lord’s prophet would be born to Elizabeth. And when Zechariah doubted this, he became mute until the time when St. John was born, and when Zechariah wrote his name as spoken by the Angel of God, his tongue was loosened miraculously.

Brothers and sisters in Christ, the birth of St. John the Baptist was therefore indeed truly miraculous and as a clear show of God’s wonders and power, and a reminder of what God Himself had once done, when He made another elderly couple to be able to bear a child, namely the forefather of all the Israelites and many nations, that is Abraham and Sarah. Through his son Isaac, many nations were to be descended from Abraham as fulfilment of God’s promise to him. In the same way therefore, the birth of St. John the Baptist is the fulfilment of God’s promises through the prophets.

St. John the Baptist was the one entrusted with the difficult task of preparing the way for the coming of the Lord. He was to make straight the path for the Lord, and this was why, his renowned epithet of ‘the Baptist’ was not just to distinguish him from St. John the Apostle and Evangelist, but also to highlight his very important role in baptising the people as part of their call to repentance and turning again towards God.

St. John the Baptist was the one referred as the voice crying out in the wilderness, ‘Make straight the path for the Lord!’ and he also called the people to repent because the kingdom of God is at hand and already near, for the Messiah was about to come. And he laboured hard, baptising many people, at least in the thousands in all probabilities if not a lot more. Many people heeded his words and call, and many among them would then go on to follow the Lord and became Christians eventually.

Yet, St. John the Baptist also encountered many challenges and obstacles in his ministry and dedication to the Lord. Just as the many prophets who came before him and as what the Lord Jesus Himself was to suffer, St. John the Baptist encountered stubborn opposition and rejection from those who refused to listen to him and believe in his words, such as many among the Pharisees who doubted him and challenged him, and questioned under what authority he had performed his baptism and works.

St. John the Baptist fearlessly struck at the Pharisees by calling them the wicked ‘brood of vipers’, those hypocrites who claimed to be faithful and looked down on others they deemed less pious and worse than them, and yet, their attitudes and actions were wicked all the same. And yet, those people refused to listen to St. John and turn back against sin and walk towards God with repentance. And with the same zeal and courage he also chastised king Herod for his immoral and illegal relations with his brother’s wife, which eventually led to his arrest, imprisonment, and finally martyrdom.

Brothers and sisters in Christ, as we all celebrate the birth of this great saint and servant of God, let us all remember the great faith, commitment and the great zeal and courage with which St. John the Baptist had worked for the greater glory of God. Let us all discern then, what we ourselves can do in our own communities and in our own respective areas, in our own competencies and capabilities, to follow in the footsteps of St. John the Baptist.

Brothers and sisters in Christ, all of us have been blessed to live at an era and time when the Messiah and salvation of God have been revealed to us in Christ, and by faith which we have received through the Church. Now, the Lord has also commanded us all His disciples to go forth to the nations and spread the Good News and the truth of God to all peoples and all nations. How do we then do that? That is by making sure that in our every words, deeds and actions, we shall be exemplary in all things.

Let us all be good role models of faith, just as how St. John the Baptist and all the other saints, holy men and women of God had lived their lives with faith, so that by our good examples, we may indeed show the path to our fellow brothers and sisters to the Lord. May the Lord help us and strengthen us in our faith, and help us to live ever more like our holy predecessors in all things. May God bless us all, now and always. And may St. John the Baptist, great Herald of the Lord’s coming, always pray for us all. Amen.

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Wednesday, 24 June 2020 : Solemnity of the Nativity of St. John the Baptist (Gospel Reading)

Liturgical Colour : White

Luke 1 : 57-66, 80

When the time came for Elizabeth, she gave birth to a son. Her neighbours and relatives heard that the merciful Lord had done a wonderful thing for her, and they rejoiced with her. When, on the eighth day, they came to attend the circumcision of the child, they wanted to name him Zechariah after his father.

But his mother said, “Not so; he shall be called John.” They said to her, “But no one in your family has that name!” and they made signs to his father for the name he wanted to give him. Zechariah asked for a writing tablet, and wrote on it, “His name is John;” and they were very surprised. Immediately, Zechariah could speak again, and his first words were in praise of God.

A holy fear came on all in the neighbourhood, and throughout the hill country of Judea and the people talked about these events. All who heard of it, pondered in their minds, and wondered, “What will this child be?” For they understood that the hand of the Lord was with him.

As the child grew up, he was seen to be strong in the Spirit; and he lived in the desert, until the day when he appeared openly in Israel.

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Wednesday, 24 June 2020 : Solemnity of the Nativity of St. John the Baptist (Second Reading)

Liturgical Colour : White

Acts 13 : 22-26

After that time, God removed Saul and raised up David as king, to whom He bore witness saying : I have found David, the son of Jesse, a man after My own heart, who will do all I want him to do.

It is from the descendants of David that God has now raised up the promised Saviour of Israel, Jesus. Before He appeared, John proclaimed a baptism of repentance for all the people of Israel. As John was ending his life’s work, he said : ‘I am not what you think I am, for, after me, another One is coming, Whose sandal I am not worthy to untie.’

Brothers, children and descendants of Abraham, and you, also, who fear God, it is to you that this message of salvation has been sent.

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Wednesday, 24 June 2020 : Solemnity of the Nativity of St. John the Baptist (Psalm)

Liturgical Colour : White

Psalm 138 : 1-3, 13-14ab, 14c-15

O YHVH, You know me : You have scrutinised me. You know when I sit and when I rise; beforehand, You discern my thoughts. You observe my activities and times of rest; You are familiar with all my ways.

It was You Who formed my inmost part and knit me together in my mother’s womb. I thank You for these wonders You have done, and my heart praises You.

For Your marvellous deeds. Even my bones were known to You when I was being formed in secret, fashioned in the depths of the earth.

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Wednesday, 24 June 2020 : Solemnity of the Nativity of St. John the Baptist (First Reading)

Liturgical Colour : White

Isaiah 49 : 1-6

Listen to me, o islands, pay attention, people from distant lands. YHVH called me from my mother’s womb; He pronounced my name before I was born. He made my mouth like a sharpened sword. He hid me in the shadow of His hand. He made me into a polished arrow set apart in His quiver.

He said to me, “You are Israel, My servant. Through you I will be known.” “I have laboured in vain,” I thought, “and spent my strength for nothing.” Yet what is due me was in the hand of YHVH, and my reward was with my God. I am important in the sight of YHVH, and my God is my Strength.

And now YHVH has spoken, He Who formed me in the womb to be His servant, to bring Jacob back to Him, to gather Israel to Him. He said : “It is not enough that you be My servant, to restore the tribes of Jacob, to bring back the remnant of Israel. I will make you the light of the nations, that My salvation will reach to the ends of the earth.”