Wednesday

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Wednesday, 6 November 2019 : 31st Week of Ordinary Time (Homily and Scripture Reflections)

Liturgical Colour : Green

Dear brothers and sisters in Christ, today we heard a very clear message from the Scriptures, reminding us all that to be a disciple of Christ we must be prepared for everything, even difficulties and challenges, that we will have to be prepared to endure what Christ Himself had endured in being rejected, ridiculed and being humiliated at times, even from those who were close and dear to us.

We have to know that this is the full reality of becoming a Christian, which means that we dedicate ourselves fully to God, and because we believe in Him, it is only right that we walk in His path and obeying His laws and commandments. But as the Lord’s parable in our Gospel passage today ought to remind us, we must be ready for all sorts of things that are to come as we commit ourselves to God and His way.

In that parable the Lord spoke of how anyone who wanted to build a house would have considered all the costs that are going to be incurred and add them up together to see if they have enough resources and money in order to build the house until its completion without being lacking in anything. And then in another example, the Lord used the comparison with kings who were about to go to war, and how they would have planned for everything before deciding to go to war or to seek for peace.

In using these examples and comparisons from the world, the Lord wants us to do the same with our own lives and how we proceed on in life knowing that what lies ahead of us is nothing less than a very important choice we need to make between following God and following the ways of this world or the way of Satan in contradiction with God. If man can think through and discern for the less important matter of the world like building of houses and planning for war, then all the more important that we make the effort to discern the path for the salvation of our souls.

There are two path lying ahead of us, one of following God, which means that we follow His commandments and laws, obeying Him and His will through the teachings and the commandments preserved through His Church, or instead we can choose to ignore Him and forge our own path in life, doing things in life according to our own preferences and desires, doing things with the primary intention of gaining benefits and good things for ourselves.

In the end, the path of the Lord will lead to eternal life and glory together with Him, which He has promised to all those who remain faithful to Him and hold on to His commandments. On the other hand, disobeying Him and remaining in a state of sin without the desire to be reconciled with God will lead us down a different path, one that will likely end up in an eternity of suffering and regret, the damnation in hell.

Do we want to follow the Lord or to walk away from Him? The choice is clearly ours to make, and we have been given many opportunities, again and again to make the conscious choice for ourselves. God has presented to us what will be our fate if we choose to be with Him and what will happen instead if we abandon Him and choose the way of this world, the way of Satan and his many temptations and falsehoods.

The path that God has shown us indeed will not be easy and convenient for us. If we expect that becoming a Christian means that we will enjoy the bounties and wonders of life in this world then we do not know yet what being a Christian truly entails. To be a Christian as I mentioned earlier means that not only we will share in the joy of Christ, but also in His many sorrows, sharing the cross He has borne for our sake, and suffer with Him.

Are we ready to make the commitment to follow Christ and to carry up our crosses with Him? Let us all dedicate ourselves to Him anew and spend our best efforts to love Him and to commit ourselves to Him from now on. May the Lord help us all to resist the temptation to move away from the path He has shown us, and reject all the false pleasures and joys that the Satan and the forces of this world are bound to show us to detract us from reaching towards God and His salvation. May God bless us always, now and forevermore. Amen.

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Wednesday, 6 November 2019 : 31st Week of Ordinary Time (Gospel Reading)

Liturgical Colour : Green

Luke 14 : 25-33

At that time, when large crowds were walking along with Jesus, He turned and said to them, “If you come to Me, unwilling to sacrifice your love for your father and mother, your spouse and children, your brothers and sisters, and indeed yourself, you cannot be My disciple. Whoever does not follow Me, carrying his own cross, cannot be My disciple.”

“Do you build a house without first sitting down to count the cost, to see whether you have enough to complete it? Otherwise, if you, have laid the foundation and are not able to finish it, everyone will make fun of you : ‘This fellow began to build and was not able to finish.'”

“And when a king wages war against another king, does he go to fight without first sitting down to consider whether his ten thousand can stand against the twenty thousand of his opponent? And if not, while the other is still a long way off, he sends messengers for peace talks. In the same way, none of you may become My disciple, if he does not give up everything he has.”

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Wednesday, 6 November 2019 : 31st Week of Ordinary Time (Psalm)

Liturgical Colour : Green

Psalm 111 : 1-2, 4-5, 9

Alleluia! Blessed is the one who fears YHVH, who greatly delights in His commands. His children will be powerful on earth; the upright’s offspring will be blessed.

He is for the righteous a light in darkness; He is kind, merciful and upright. It will be well with him who lends freely, who leads a life of justice and honesty.

He gives generously to the poor; his merits will last forever; and his head will be raised in honour.

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Wednesday, 6 November 2019 : 31st Week of Ordinary Time (First Reading)

Liturgical Colour : Green

Romans 13 : 8-10

Do not be in debt to anyone. Let this be the only debt of one to another : Love. The one who loves his or her neighbour fulfils the Law. For the commandments : Do not commit adultery, do not kill, do not covet, and whatever else, are summarised in this one : You will love your neighbour as yourself.

Love cannot do the neighbour any harm; so love fulfils the whole Law.

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Wednesday, 30 October 2019 : 30th 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 Scripture speaking to us about the need for us to make the effort to be righteous and worthy of God as even though we seek His salvation and the eternal life He has promised us, but the path that we have to follow is littered with much suffering and challenges.

There are plenty of temptations and pressures that are pushing us away from the path of the Lord, and we are often easily swayed and tempted by these things. The Lord Himself plainly said how the path to the kingdom of God is through a narrow door, and while many may claim that they know God or profess faith in Him, but they cannot attain the salvation in God because they did not have genuine faith in Him.

What does this mean, brothers and sisters in Christ? It means that we can call ourselves as Christians and claim that we have been saved by God but unless our hearts and minds are truly attuned to Him, centred on Him and all of our attention and focus are on Him, then we may still be far away from being saved, as our faith is not genuine or only nominal on paper alone.

There are many of us who call ourselves as Christians, and yet in the way we interact with one another, in the words we say and use, in the actions we took and in the way we live our lives, the presence of God can neither be felt or seen. People who saw us, heard us and witnessed our actions and deeds saw in us not God’s presence and love, but worldliness, selfishness, pride, greed and many others.

And why is that so? That is because we are often too proud and take things into our own hands, thinking that we are able to brave through all the challenges and obstacles alone on our own. But we are by nature weak and easily tempted, and unless we have a firm foundation of faith, we are likely to fall deeper and deeper into sin and darkness, and from there, eventually to damnation.

In our first reading today, St. Paul in his Epistle to the Church and the faithful in Rome reminded them of the need for the faithful people of God to put their trust in the Lord through the works of the Holy Spirit, for it is through the Holy Spirit that God guides His people into the right path, strengthening them and encouraging them to live and persevere through the difficulties with faith.

But we often do not allow the Spirit of God to do its work in us and through us. As mentioned, our pride and our attachments to worldliness prevented us from allowing God and His Holy Spirit from transforming us, our beings and our actions from one of sin and darkness into one of faith and light. Unless we allow God and His Holy Spirit to be an integral part of our daily living, in our every words and actions, there can be little progress for us in the way of faith.

Therefore, brothers and sisters in Christ, let us all from now on learn to put our trust in God and open our hearts and minds to allow Him and His Spirit to penetrate through the deepest part of our inner beings and no longer being lukewarm in how we live our faith from now on. Instead of living our lives the way we see fit or how the world wants it to be, let us from now on truly live up to our faith, in our every words, actions and deeds.

May the Lord our God continue to bless us and guide us, so that throughout our lives’ journeys we may persevere through the many challenges and temptations, and grow ever deeper in our faith and devotion to the Lord. May God be with us always, now and forevermore. Amen.

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Wednesday, 30 October 2019 : 30th Week of Ordinary Time (Gospel Reading)

Liturgical Colour : Green

Luke 13 : 22-30

At that time, Jesus went through towns and villages teaching, and making His way to Jerusalem. Someone asked Him, “Lord, is it true that few people will be saved?”

And Jesus answered, “Do your best to enter by the narrow door, for many, I tell you, will try to enter and will not be able. When once the master of the house has gone inside and locked the door, you will stand outside. Then you will knock at the door, calling, ‘Lord, open to us!’ But He will say to you, ‘I do not know where you come from.'”

“Then you will say, ‘We ate and drank with you, and you taught in our streets!’ But He will reply, ‘I do not know where you come from. Away from Me, all you workers of evil.’ You will weep and grind your teeth, when you see Abraham and Jacob and all the prophets in the kingdom of God, and you yourselves left outside.”

“Others will sit at table in the kingdom of God, people coming from east and west, from north and south. Some who are among the last, will be first; and some who are among the first, will be last!”

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Wednesday, 30 October 2019 : 30th Week of Ordinary Time (Psalm)

Liturgical Colour : Green

Psalm 12 : 4-5, 6

Look upon me and answer, o YHVH my God! Give light to my eyes, lest I sleep the sleep of death; lest my enemy say, “I have routed him,” lest my foes rejoice of my fall.

But I put my trust in Your unfailing love, my heart will rejoice on seeing Your salvation. I will sing to YHVH, for He has been good to me!

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Wednesday, 30 October 2019 : 30th Week of Ordinary Time (First Reading)

Liturgical Colour : Green

Romans 8 : 26-30

Likewise, the Spirit helps us in our weakness; for we do not know how to pray as we ought, but that very Spirit intercedes for us, without words, as if with groans. And He, Who sees inner secrets, knows the desires of the Spirit, for He asks for the holy ones, what is pleasing to God.

We know that in everything, God works for the good of those who love Him, whom He has called, according to His plan. Those whom He knew beforehand, He has also predestined, to be like His Son, similar to Him, so, that, He may be the Firstborn among many brothers and sisters. And so, those whom God predestined, He called; and those whom He called, He makes righteous; and to those whom He makes righteous, He will give His glory.

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Wednesday, 23 October 2019 : 29th Week of Ordinary Time, Memorial of St. John of Capestrano, Priest (Homily and Scripture Reflections)

Liturgical Colour : Green or White (Priests)

Dear brothers and sisters in Christ, on this day we listened to the Sacred Scriptures in which we are reminded of the importance for us to stay vigilant and resist the temptation to sin. Sin is a very dangerous threat to us and if we allow sin to have its way with us, we will end up being dragged deeper and deeper into the darkness and in the end, we have nothing left but eternal regret and despair.

And St. Paul reminded us all in his Epistle to the Romans in our first reading today that all of us truly belong to God, and as Christians, we who believe in God and take Him as our Lord and Master should only obey and listen to Him alone, and not to any other things. It is when we allow ourselves to be tempted and swayed that we end up falling into sin, and from sin into eventually damnation.

We are all called to resist the temptation and urge to sin, restraining the desires of our body and mind. As these temptations can easily lead us astray and make us to forget what it is that we, God’s people ought to be doing with our lives, just as the Gospel passage today elaborated further to us. In that passage we heard the Lord Jesus teaching His disciples using a parable describing the actions of the stewards of a master.

In that parable, the actions of a lazy steward was described, as that steward delayed in doing the will of his master when the master was away on a journey. The lazy steward indulged in all sorts of things, in drunkenness and gluttony, and also abused the other male servants and maids. He thought that he could get away with all that because of his position and thinking that the master would not return so soon.

That was when he was truly very wrong, as the master returned and caught that lazy steward in all of his wickedness and he got his well-deserved punishment. This is something that all of us must keep in mind as we go on living our own lives, as the Lord’s way to remind us to be truly faithful to Him. The stewards represent all of us, God’s people and His servants, just as the master is a representation of the Lord, our God.

And sin leads us to fall astray just as the lazy steward fell into those temptations, disobeying his master and failed to do as he has been told and instructed to do. In the end, the lazy steward met a terrible reckoning as he delayed on and assumed that the master would not have come in time for him to rectify everything and sort things out first. He was wrong, and we can be wrong too, if we choose to follow the example of the lazy steward.

What does this mean, brothers and sisters in Christ? It means that we must not delay any longer in rejecting sin and in turning away from the path of sin and wickedness we have been walking along all these while. We must embrace God and obey Him from now on, for we do not know when the end of our mortal existence in this world will come to us. If we keep on delaying and dragging our feet, it will come eventually to the point when we will regret for not having done something much earlier.

Brothers and sisters in Christ, we must realise just how much God loves each and every one of us and how He is always willing to welcome us back to His presence and how He wants to embrace us all with love, forgiving us our sins. But are we willing to be forgiven and to take the necessary steps needed to embrace His love fully by being repentant of all of our sins and by leading a holy life from now on.

Today perhaps we can imitate the good examples of St. John of Capestrano, a holy priest and dedicated servant of God who can show us what it truly means to be a good, dedicated and faithful steward and servant of God. St. John of Capestrano was a member of the Franciscan Order dedicated to the service of God, ministering to the people of God, calling them to a renewed faith and a holy life in God.

He was also remembered for his dedication to God, that he zealously opposed the falsehoods of the many heresies that sprung up during the years of his ministry in the fifteenth century, a few hundred years ago. He went about spreading the truth of God and wrote extensively against the heresies. On top of this, he was remembered for his courageous participation in the Crusade against the enemies of the faithful.

St. John of Capestrano showed us all what it means to be a true disciple and servant of God, and we are all therefore called to follow in his footsteps. Are we able to dedicate ourselves in the same manner as this faithful and holy servant of God? Let us all discern our lives carefully and think of what we can do from now on to serve the Lord ever more courageously and faithfully, delaying no more and embracing fully His ways. May God bless us all in our journey of faith and remain with us always. Amen.

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Wednesday, 23 October 2019 : 29th Week of Ordinary Time, Memorial of St. John of Capestrano, Priest (Gospel Reading)

Liturgical Colour : Green or White (Priests)

Luke 12 : 39-48

At that time, Jesus said to His disciples, “Pay attention to this : If the master of the house had known at what time the thief would come, he would not have let his house be broken into. You also must be ready, for the Son of Man will come at an hour you do not expect.”

Peter said, “Lord, did You tell this parable only for us, or for everyone?” And the Lord replied, “Imagine, then, the wise and faithful steward, whom the master sets over his other servants, to give them wheat at the proper time. Fortunate is this servant if his master, on coming home, finds him doing his work. Truly, I say to you, the master will put him in charge of all his property.”

“But it may be that the steward thinks, ‘My lord delays in coming,’ and he begins to abuse the male servants and the servant girls, eating and drinking and getting drunk. Then the master will come on a day he does not expect, and at an hour he does not know. He will cut him off, and send him to the same fate as the unfaithful.”

“The servant who knew his master’s will, but did not prepare and do what his master wanted, will be soundly beaten; but the one who does unconsciously what deserves punishment, shall receive fewer blows. Much will be required of the one who has been given much, and more will be asked of the one who has been entrusted with more.”