Wednesday

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Wednesday, 5 December 2018 : 1st Week of Advent (First Reading)

Liturgical Colour : Purple/Violet

Isaiah 25 : 6-10a

On this mountain YHVH Sabaoth will prepare for all peoples a feast of rich food and choice wines, meat full of marrow, fine wine strained. On this mountain He will destroy the pall cast over all peoples, this very shroud spread over all nations, and death will be no more. The Lord YHVH will wipe away the tears from all cheeks and eyes; He will take away the humiliation of His people all over the world : for YHVH has spoken.

On that day you will say : This is our God. We have waited for Him to save us, let us be glad and rejoice in His salvation. For on this mountain the hand of YHVH rests.

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Wednesday, 28 November 2018 : 34th 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 reality of what we are to expect in becoming one of the followers of Christ, as Christians. That is what the Lord presented before His disciples in the Gospel passage we heard today, on how there would be persecutions and trials awaiting those who are faithful to God.

The Lord presented this fact to the disciples, that they should expect to suffer for the sake of His Name, when they would have to endure all sorts of ridicule, rejection and oppression just as the Lord has suffered at the hands of all those who refused to believe in Him. He revealed to them in advance what many of them would suffer as Christians, as what was made evident by the great persecutions in the first few centuries of the Church.

First the Jewish authorities, the Sanhedrin and the chief priests hunted the Christian faithful in Jerusalem, Judea and beyond, and Saul, who would later become a Christian himself as St. Paul, hunted and persecuted Christians harshly before his conversion. And this scattered many of the early Christians to the various places around the world, where they would still encounter persecution and challenges from those Jews who refused to believe in God, and in addition, from the Romans, Greeks and the Persians.

Through the many centuries since the birth of the Church, persecutions have been staple for Christians, throughout time and age. When one persecution ended, another persecution would rise in its place, and the faithful were often forced even to choose between remaining faithful to God and suffer, or to abandon their faith and receive plenty of worldly rewards and pleasures of life.

We have seen these persecutions in the recent centuries and decades, and even to this very day. Many people had to suffer indignations, injustice and pain, suffering and wicked deeds, just because they were Christians, believeing in God and following His ways. And there were many of those who sought to obliterate the Church and eliminate the faithful and all the truths and the teachings of Christ.

Yet, all of these eventually came to no avail, as despite the persecutions, in fact the Church continues to grow, to this very day. The words and sayings that ‘the blood of martyrs is the seeds of Christians’ indeed ring true in this case, as all those who have suffered and been persecuted for their faith in turn, became sources of great inspiration and hope for all those who follow after them, including that of all of us.

And all of these were because of the great faith that the people of God and the faithful had in the Lord, which overcame the fear and the doubt in their hearts and minds, and the promise of everlasting glory and true happiness with God, as we heard in our first reading today from the Book of the Revelations of St. John. St. John saw how at the end of time, God will send His Angels to bring forth destruction on all the wicked and all those who refused to believe in Him, but those who believe in Him, He will raise up and glorify.

Brothers and sisters in Christ, let us reflect on our own lives. Have we been truly faithful to God and been faithful to Him despite the challenges and persecutions that we are facing daily in our lives? We are called to be bearers and witnesses of God’s truth, but have we been truly faithful to God in our actions? Have our words, actions and deeds make and inspire others to be more faithful or have they instead caused others to distance themselves from God and His Church?

Let us all turn ourselves to God, and renew our commitment to love and serve Him from now on, each and every days of our life. May the Lord be with us and may He continue to love us always and give us the strength and courage to persevere in faith in Him. May God bless us all in all of our endeavours, now and forevermore. Amen.

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Wednesday, 28 November 2018 : 34th Week of Ordinary Time (Gospel Reading)

Liturgical Colour : Green

Luke 21 : 12-19

At that time, Jesus said to His disciples, “Before all these things happen, people will lay their hands on you and persecute you; you will be delivered to the synagogues and put in prison, and for My sake you will be brought before kings and governors. This will be your opportunity to bear witness.”

“So keep this in mind : do not worry in advance about what to say, for I will give you words and wisdom that none of your opponents will be able to withstand or contradict. You will be betrayed even by parents and brothers, by relatives and friends, and some of you will be put to death.”

“But even though, because of My Name, you will be hated by everyone, not a hair of your head will perish. By your patient endurance you will save your souls.”

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Wednesday, 28 November 2018 : 34th Week of Ordinary Time (Psalm)

Liturgical Colour : Green

Psalm 97 : 1, 2-3ab, 7-8, 9

Sing to the Lord a new song, for He has done wonders; His right hand, His holy arm, has won victory for Him.

The Lord has shown His salvation, revealing His justice to the nations. He has not forgotten His love nor His faithfulness to Israel.

Let the sea resound and everything in it, the world and all its peoples. Let rivers clap their hands, hills and mountains sing with joy.

Before the Lord, for He comes to rule the earth. He will judge the world with justice and the peoples with fairness.

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Wednesday, 28 November 2018 : 34th Week of Ordinary Time (First Reading)

Liturgical Colour : Green

Revelations 15 : 1-4

Then I saw another great and marvellous sign in the heavens : seven Angels brought seven plagues which are the last, for with these the wrath of God will end. There was a sea of crystal mingled with fire, and the conquerors of the beast, of its name and the mark of its name stood by it.

They had been given the celestial harps and they sang the song of Moses the servant of God and the song of the Lamb : Great and marvellous are Your works, o Lord, God and Master of the universe. Justice and truth guide Your steps, o King of the nations.

Lord, who will not give honour and glory to Your Name? For You alone are holy. All the nations will come and bow before You, for they have now seen Your judgments.

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Wednesday, 21 November 2018 : 33rd Week of Ordinary Time, Memorial of the Presentation of the Blessed Virgin Mary (Homily and Scripture Reflections)

Liturgical Colour : White

Dear brothers and sisters in Christ, on this day we celebrate the feast of the Presentation of the Blessed Virgin Mary, Mother of God. On this day we remember the moment and the time when Mary was presented at the Temple of God after she was born, as prescribed by the Law. She was the firstborn of her family, her parents St. Joachim and St. Anne. And through this presentation, she was presented before God.

And in Mary, the prophecies that God has given to His people would be fulfilled, including what we heard today from the prophet Zechariah, that the Lord would dwell once again among His people, and that they would once again be His possession. That prophecy would be fulfilled in Mary because through her, the Lord’s salvation would come into the world, as she bore in her the Saviour and Lord.

We also believe that Mary has been specially chosen and prepared by God over all other creatures and over all other sons and daughters of man, that she was conceived without sin, and was also completely free from the same taint of sin, the blemish of the original sin of Adam and Eve, our ancestors, through whose disobedience against God, sin entered into this world.

Mary was presented at the Temple today, as the perfect and unblemished offering before God, as the perfect creature and man, worthy to be the vessel through which God would execute His plan of salvation, by sending down His Son, Our Lord Jesus Christ, to be born of the Virgin, Mary, by the power of the Holy Spirit. And because God Himself would dwell in her, in Body and Spirit, thus Mary was hallowed and made worthy.

Yet, brothers and sisters in Christ, we should not see Mary as someone who is superhuman and as someone whose status and wonders are impossible for us to reach. On the contrary, as we remember Mary, the Mother of God, presented before us all, God’s people today, in all of her faith, commitment and devotion to God, in all of her loving and compassionate heart, in the love she has for God, we also should see in ourselves the potential to be like Mary in how we live our faith.

Brothers and sisters in Christ, on this day let us all reflect on our lives and on all of our actions. Let us all imitate the good examples which Mary has shown us, in how she obeyed God and followed His commandments faithfully with all her heart, entrusting herself to the divine will that she became the Mother of Our Lord and Saviour, and become therefore, the Co-Redemptrix of all of us.

Let us all have this conversion of heart, mind, and indeed, of our whole being, that while once we may have led a life of sin and disobedience against God, now we can find a new existence in God’s love and grace. Let us all follow the examples of Mary, striving to make our lives to be more like hers, to be righteous and worthy of the Lord, by rejecting sin and resisting the temptations to sin.

May the Lord continue to guide us on our way, that we may continue to persevere through this life with faith despite the challenges, temptations and hardships we may remain in the way that God has shown us, and follow Him through Mary, His mother. May we all strive to be holy and worthy, each and every moments of our life. May God bless us all, now and forevermore. Amen.

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Wednesday, 21 November 2018 : 33rd Week of Ordinary Time, Memorial of the Presentation of the Blessed Virgin Mary (Gospel Reading)

Liturgical Colour : White

Matthew 12 : 46-50

At that time, while Jesus was talking to the people, His mother and His brothers wanted to speak to Him, and they waited outside. So someone said to Him, “Your mother and Your brothers are standing outside; they want to speak with You.”

Jesus answered, “Who is My mother? Who are My brothers?” Then He pointed to His disciples and said, “Look! Here are My mother and My brothers. Whoever does the will of My Father in heaven is My brother and sister and mother.”

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Wednesday, 21 November 2018 : 33rd Week of Ordinary Time, Memorial of the Presentation of the Blessed Virgin Mary (Psalm)

Liturgical Colour : White

Luke 1 : 46-47, 48-49, 50-51, 52-53, 54-55

My soul proclaims the greatness of the Lord, my spirit exults in God, my Saviour!

He has looked upon His servant, in her lowliness, and people, forever, will call me blessed. The Mighty One has done great things for me, Holy is His Name!

From age to age, His mercy extends to those who live in His presence. He has acted with power and done wonders, and scattered the proud with their plans.

He has put down the mighty from their thrones, and lifted up those who are downtrodden. He has filled the hungry with good things, but has sent the rich away empty.

He held out His hand to Israel, His servant, for He remembered His mercy, even as He promised to our fathers, to Abraham and his descendants forever.

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Wednesday, 21 November 2018 : 33rd Week of Ordinary Time, Memorial of the Presentation of the Blessed Virgin Mary (First Reading)

Liturgical Colour : White

Zechariah 2 : 14-17

Sing and rejoice, o daughter of Zion, for I am about to come, I shall dwell among you,” says YHVH. “On that day, many nations will join YHVH and be My people, but My dwelling is among you.”

The people of Judah will be for YHVH as His portion in His holy land. He will choose Jerusalem again. Keep still in YHVH’s presence, for He comes, having risen from His holy dwelling.

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Wednesday, 14 November 2018 : 32nd 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 Lord in the Scriptures telling us about the love and mercy which God has shown to each and every one of us, because of His great love and boundless mercy. This was shown first in our Gospel passage, when the Lord encountered ten lepers during His journey, all of whom begged for His mercy and love, to heal them from their leprosy.

In order to understand and appreciate fully the significance of this encounter, first of all, we must realise that leprosy was something that all of the Israelites dreaded, for someone who suffered or contracted leprosy was someone who would immediately become a pariah and outcast from the community of the people. According to the laws of Moses, as written in the Book of Leviticus, those who suffered from leprosy must stay outside the community until the time when they were completely healed.

It was likely that this leprosy is a contagious version of the leprosy that we know today, or might be even a different disease altogether. And it might have been quite dangerous that the law prescribed such a radical means to prevent the disease from spreading to the rest of the population. For if the disease were to spread, it would cause great havoc and suffering among the rest of population, and this would be undesirable to the people and their leaders.

However, the intention of the laws given to Moses was misunderstood by the people as they did not see it as a means to eventually reconcile the afflicted person back to the society, but instead, they saw it as a punishment and condemnation for the person. And this attitude remained in the hearts and minds of the people, who looked upon themselves with pride and haughtiness, thinking that they were just and righteous, while others who were afflicted, these were considered as unworthy and wicked.

But brothers and sisters in Christ, first and foremost we must always remember that each and every one of us are sinners, and sin is an even more deadly and contagious disease than leprosy. For leprosy only can afflict the flesh and the body, and it cannot attack the mind, the heart and the soul. On the other hand, sin attacks at the very root of our being, corrupting the soul and our whole being.

And because of this, that is why all of us have also been exiled, by our own disobedience and refusal to listen to the Lord, from the bliss and happiness destined for us in the garden of Eden. We mankind were not created to suffer and to die, which are all caused by our sins. Rather, God intended for each one of us to enjoy forever the fullness of His love and care, and to rejoice with Him in heavenly glory.

We chose, on our own accord, to disobey God and landed ourselves in this predicament. However, God still loves each and every one of us, that despite of our disobedience, stubbornness and refusal to listen to Him, He still gives us chances after chances, opportunities one after another, meant to provide us with the best chance to seek redemption and forgiveness, and become worthy once again to share in the eternal happiness and glory with Him.

Unfortunately, many of us chose to adopt the attitude of the Pharisees and the teachers of the Law, who saw themselves as righteous and as more pious and worthy than the other people, and looked down severely on all those who were considered to be dirty, wicked and unworthy, such as tax collectors, prostitutes and also those with diseases especially the lepers.

Instead, we should be like the lepers, recognising that each and every one of us are sinners, and therefore are unworthy of God caused by our sins. This is a reality that we must accept and appreciate in our lives, and this will allow us to open our hearts and minds to make the effort to seek the Lord, and for us to reach out to Him asking for His forgiveness and grace. That is how we will receive forgiveness and justification in God.

And let us also also be thankful of what the Lord has done for us. He is willing to forgive us, to heal us from the woundedness of our sins, from the imperfections and corruptions that have blemished us. He has loved us so much that He was willing to endure the burden of the cross, in order to save us and to reconcile us to Himself. Let us therefore be like the Samaritan leper, who recognised that he has been healed by the Lord Jesus, and thank the Lord for all that He has done for us.

May the Lord bless us all, and may He continue to love us and guide us in the right path. May He empower us to act justly and righteously, turning away from our sins and all the wickedness we have committed in life thus far. May the Lord be with us always, now and forevermore. Amen.