Liturgical Colour : Green or White (Saints)
Psalm 65 : 1-3a, 5 and 16-17
Shout with joy to God, all you on earth; sing to the glory of His Name; proclaim His glorious praise. Say to God, "How great are Your deeds!"
Come, and see God's wonders; His deeds, awesome for humans. All you, who fear God, come, and listen; let me tell you what He has done. I cried aloud to Him, extolling Him with my tongue.
Liturgical Colour : Green or White (Saints)
Deuteronomy 34 : 1-12
From the barren plain of Moab, Moses went up to Mount Nebo, to the summit of Pisgah, opposite Jericho. And YHVH showed him all the Land : from Gilead to Dan, the whole of Naphtali, the land of Ephraim, and of Manasseh, the whole land of Judah, as far as the Western Sea, the Negeb, the Plains, the valley of Jericho, the city of palm trees, as far as Zoar.
And YHVH said to him : "This is the land about which I swore to Abraham, Isaac and Jacob, promising it to their descendants. I have let you see it with your own eyes, but you shall not enter it."
Moses, the servant of God, died there in the land of Moab, according to the will of YHVH. They buried him in the valley in the land of Moab opposite Beth-peor; but to this very day, no one knows where his tomb is. Moses was a hundred and twenty years old when he died. He did not lose his vigour and his eyes still saw clearly.
The children of Israel mourned for him in the plains of Moab for thirty days. But Joshua, son of Nun, was full of the spirit of wisdom because Moses had laid his hands upon him. The children of Israel obeyed him and did as YHVH had commanded Moses.
No prophet like Moses has appeared again. YHVH conversed with him face to face. What signs and wonders he worked in Egypt against Pharaoh, against his people and all his land! He displayed great power and awesome might in view of all Israel!
Liturgical Colour : Green or Red (Martyrs)
Dear brothers and sisters in Christ, on this day we heard how the people of Israel rebelled against the Lord at the time when they were about to enter into the Promised Land of Canaan after God had led them through the desert from their slavery in Egypt. The scouts who were sent forth to survey the land ahead of the people incited the people to turn against God and against Moses, His servant, charging that they have been led to a land of danger and harm, not trusting in the power and providence of God, which He surely would have given them.
Israel failed to understand that God was with them all the way throughout their journey, even though they have seen in many occasions the great wonders of God, His works and His efforts, from the ten plagues He sent to the Egyptians and their Pharaoh to pressure them to let the Israelites to go free, to the opening of the Red Sea and the destruction of the armies of the Egyptians, to the care and love which He showered them with through the desert, providing them with food and water, protection from their enemies and all others.
That is why God punished them all, by making them to wander through the desert for another forty years, in the process letting all those who have rejected His love to perish in the desert, except for Caleb, the only one among the scouts to remain faithful and trusting in God, as well as Joshua, the faithful right hand man to Moses and his successor as the leader over all of Israel.
They had faith in their own power, their own intellect and their own ways, instead of listening to the Lord and obeying His will. And this is linked to what we have heard in the Gospel passage today, in which we witnessed how our Lord Jesus interacted with a Syro-Phoenician or Canaanite woman, who was not considered to belong among the people of Israel.
We must have wondered why did the Lord Jesus said such things to the woman, who begged Him to heal her daughter who was possessed by an evil spirit. Why did He rebuke her and seemingly rejected her request to have her daughter healed? And He was even comparing her to the lowly and unworthy dogs begging for the food from the master of the table. Why is this so, brothers and sisters in Christ?
The truth is that, our Lord Jesus was merely displaying to all of us the reality of the situation at that time, the prejudice and the attitude which the people of Israel, the Jewish people showed against their non-Jewish or also known as Gentiles, neighbours. The Jews looked down on their neighbours because they took pride in their status as the chosen people of God, and looked at others with contempt as if they were unworthy of God's love.
That is why, literally, they treated the pagan nations and the Gentiles as if they were below par, as what Jesus had illustrated in His interaction with the Syro-Phoenician woman. But, the Lord Jesus showed just how faithful that woman had been, much more so than the people of Israel had been. The same case was evident from another part of the Gospels, where the army centurion who was likely to be a Gentile or non-Jew, was praised by the Lord for his faith which the Lord had not seen even among the Jews.
What is the lesson that all of us must learn from what we have heard in today's Scripture passages? It is that we must never have prejudice against others, but instead we must help each other on our journey towards the Lord. There has been plenty of sorrow and suffering caused throughout the history of this world when we mankind showed prejudice to our fellow men, and discriminate, just because we thought that it is right to do so.
The scouts were prejudiced against the inhabitants of Canaan, thinking that because they were all fearsome and powerful, they would rather trust in their own judgment instead of trusting in God's providence, therefore resulting in the people of God falling into sin. Yet, still others used prejudice as a method to achieve their own selfish agenda and objective, one of the worst of which is the Holocaust during the Second World War, a great atrocity against humanity by the NAZI German government.
Today it also happened that we celebrate the feast of one of the many victims of that terrible Holocaust, namely St. Teresa Benedicta of the Cross, also better known by her name, St. Edith Stein, a Jewish convert to the Christian faith, who then joined the religious order of the Discalced Carmelites. She was remembered for her great many works and writings, involvement in the Catholic education and dedication to the Lord.
As the NAZI government of Germany at that time played on the prejudice and racism against the Jewish population, firstly in Germany itself, and then later on, among the countries that they have conquered, gathering all of them to be put into concentration camps and then massacred without mercy, the same would eventually happen to St. Teresa Benedicta, who endured the suffering with grace and faith, believing that God has already planned everything for her, and entrusted everything to God.
We see how mankind could end up committing such cruel acts like murder and genocide, based on their human prejudice alone, when they abandoned God's laws and commandments, and instead putting their trust in their own human judgment and intellect. St. Teresa Benedicta of the Cross showed all of us how we should then act, against all these prejudices and wickedness, by our total and complete surrender to the Lord and His will.
Brothers and sisters in Christ, let us all as Christians be true disciples of the Lord through our every words, actions and deeds. Let us all put our faith in Him, rather than trusting in our own flawed human power, judgment and prejudices. Let us not follow in the footsteps of the Israelites who disobeyed God because of their fears and prejudices, and then, also, as we remember the faith of the Syro-Phoenician woman, let us all never be prejudiced against others or look down on anyone just because we think that we are more faithful than them. After all, no matter what, all of us are still the same, brethren, as sinners still needing the healing and mercy from God.
Let us all therefore from now on, commit ourselves to be righteous and true in our every deeds. Let us all not be passive or be ignorant when others are being bullied because of their race, appearance, or any other things. Let us instead be active in helping one another to reach out to the Lord in faith. May the Lord bless us all, and may He empower us to become ever better disciples of His, always. Amen.
Liturgical Colour : Green or Red (Martyrs)
Matthew 15 : 21-28
At that time, leaving that area, Jesus withdrew to the region of Tyre and Sidon. A Canaanite woman from the area, came and cried out, "Lord, Son of David, have pity on me! My daughter is tormented by a demon."
But Jesus did not answer her, not even a word. So His disciples approached Him and said, "Send her away! See how she is shouting after us." Then Jesus said to her, "I was sent only to the lost sheep of the nation of Israel."
But the woman was already kneeling before Jesus, and said, "Sir, help me!" Jesus answered, "It is not right to take the bread from the children and throw it to puppies."
The woman replied, "That is true, Sir, but even puppies eat the crumbs which fall from their master's table." Then Jesus said, "Woman, how great is your faith! Let it be as you wish." And her daughter was healed at that moment.
Liturgical Colour : Green or Red (Martyrs)
Psalm 105 : 6-7a, 13-14, 21-22, 23
We have sinned like our ancestors; we have done wrong and acted wickedly. When they were in Egypt, our ancestors had no regard for Your wondrous deeds.
But soon they forgot His works and did not wait for His counsel. They gave way to wanton craving and tempted God in the desert.
They forgot their Saviour God, Who had done great things in Egypt, wonderful works in the land of Ham, and awesome deeds by the Sea of Reeds.
So He spoke of destroying them, but Moses, His chosen one, stood in the breach before Him to shield them from destruction.
Liturgical Colour : Green or Red (Martyrs)
Numbers 13 : 1-2, 25 – Numbers 14 : 1, 26-30, 34-35
YHVH then spoke to Moses, saying, "Send men to explore the land of Canaan that I am giving to the Israelites; send one man from each of the ancestral tribes, all of them leaders."
After forty days of exploration, they returned. They went and met Moses, Aaron and the whole community of Israelites in the wilderness of Paran at Kadesh. They gave an account to them and the whole community and showed them the fruit of this land.
And they said, "We entered the land where you sent us, truly a land flowing with milk and honey and here is the fruit. But how strong are the people who inhabit the land! The cities are fortified with walls and bars, and we even saw there descendants of the Anakites. Amalekites live in the region of the Negeb; Hittites, Jebusites and Amorites live in the hill country; the Canaanites are by the sea and along the banks of the Jordan."
Caleb then quieted the people who rose up against Moses and said, "We should go up and take over the land, for we shall surely overcome it." But the men who had gone up with him said, "We cannot advance against these people for they are stronger than we are."
And they spread an unfavourable report about the land that they had explored, saying to the Israelites, "The land we went through to explore is a land that devours its inhabitants and all the people we saw there are men of great size. We even saw giants (these giants were the Anakites). We felt like grasshoppers before them, and to them we must have seemed the same."
Then all the community broke out in loud cries and wept during the night. Then YHVH spoke to Moses and Aaron saying, "How long will this wicked community grumble against Me? I have heard the grumblings of the people of Israel against Me. Say to them : As truly as I live, it is YHVH Who speaks, I will do to you what you have said in My hearing."
"All of you of twenty years and more, numbered in the census, who grumbled against Me, your corpses will fall in the desert. You will not enter the land where I swore to settle you, except Caleb, son of Jephunneh and Joshua, son of Nun. According to the number of days spent in exploring the land – forty days, for every day a year – for forty years you shall bear the guilt of your sins and you shall know what it is to oppose Me."
"I, YHVH, have spoken. Surely this is what I will do to this wicked community that has conspired against Me. In this wilderness they shall be destroyed and this is where they shall die."
Liturgical Colour : Green or White (Bishops or Priests)
Dear brothers and sisters in Christ, on this day we listened to the words of God in the Scriptures, beginning with what we heard in the Book of Exodus, our first reading today, when Moses descended down from the holy mountain of Sinai, where he was with God for forty days and forty nights, and where God passed on all of His laws and precepts to Moses so that he might teach them all to God's people Israel.
Then in the Gospel today, we heard the parables which Jesus taught His disciples and the people, explaining about the kingdom of heaven, the long awaited coming of the kingdom and reign of God, and what it truly means. He used common daily examples familiar to the people at the time, many of whom were farmers and fishermen, who could then associate the importance of the kingdom of heaven with the pearl of great value and the hidden treasure in a field.
The key message from these Scripture passages we heard today is the fact that God had willingly revealed Himself and all of His truths and teachings to us all, shown in the first reading, as He taught to Moses and revealed through him all of His divine laws and commandments, which He then commanded Israel to keep faithfully for all ages henceforth. In the Gospel, through Jesus our Lord, God wanted to teach all of us His truth, that we may turn away from our sinful ways and return to Him.
Brothers and sisters in Christ, the Law of God, His ways and His love is the greatest gift that all of us mankind can receive in life. God gives us many gifts and blessings, all of which are nothing compared to the gift that God gave us all. For the Law of God is the guiding path which the Lord put in place to help all of us that we may find our way to Him, and that we may be saved from the destruction in hell. Remember, brothers and sisters in Christ, that nothing that we gather in this life, be it wealth, possessions, material goods, fame or worldly glory will be able to save us from the fires of hell.
What the Scripture passages wanted to remind us today is that our priority in life should be for us to love the Lord and to devote ourselves wholeheartedly to Him. For He is the greatest treasure of all, and by right should be the focal point of all of us and the knowledge of God's love is that greatest treasure that all of us can gain, far beyond and far surpassing all the other gifts which we can gather from the world. There is nothing more precious than God's law, that shows us how we ought to love Him just as He has loved us, because in God we can find the sure and perfect assurance of eternal and true joy.
But, in reality, many of us do not obey what the Lord had commanded us all to do. We prefer to follow our own path, and do what the world had shown us all to do. The Lord commanded us to honour and worship Him alone above all other things, for He is the One and only God, and yet, many of us are so busy and so distracted in our pursuit of more wealth, more worldly possessions, or fame and glory, that it is as if we worship and adore these things much more than we love the Lord, Who had made all these things possible for us.
We conveniently often forget the fact that all of our blessings have been given to us by the grace of God, that for some, we may have received more of the blessings, and while for others, we may have received less. And yet, the trait that many of us share is that it is very difficult for us to satisfy our wants and desires. And it is in our human nature that we often desire for more when we have something, and we quickly become indulged in the pursuit of worldly pleasures and satisfaction.
We have to realise that many of us have veered away from the path which God had shown us, and this is often caused by our greed and desires, and our inability to restrain and control those desires. We ended up ignoring the Lord's commandments and laws, because we are so busy gathering for us all of those things mentioned which brought about temporary worldly satisfaction, but one that will not last forever.
After all, it does not matter how much money we have, how many material possessions and goods we have, and it does not matter how much worldly glory, status, prestige or fame that we have in this life, but none of these will avail us on the day of our reckoning, when the Lord calls us to Him, to be judged for all that we have done in our lives. Are we then able to confidently show before the Lord all that we have done, knowing that we have obeyed Him and done His will?
Let us then follow in the footsteps of the holy saints, whose feast day we celebrate today, hoping that by following their examples, we may be able to refocus our lives to God, and find the way to be His faithful followers and people. St. Eusebius of Vercelli was a holy bishop and a devout servant of God who lived during the early days of the Church during the height of the Arian heresy, while St. Peter Julian Eymard was a French priest and founder of the religious congregations, the Congregation of the Blessed Sacrament Fathers and the Servants of the Blessed Sacrament.
St. Eusebius of Vercelli lived during a troubled time for the Church and the faithful, at the time when the Christian faith has been tolerated and welcomed in the Roman Empire, but at that same time there were also plenty of divisions and disagreements in the Church. At that time, the Arian heresy, which had been formally condemned by the Church, in their denial of the divinity of our Lord Jesus Christ, was still widespread among the people and the clergy alike.
There was great conflict and tribulations facing those who were faithful to the true teachings of the faith. St. Eusebius refused to condemn his fellow bishop, another holy man, St. Athanasius of Alexandria, who stood firmly in his orthodox, Nicaean faith, in which both of them affirmed the faith they had in the divinity of Christ, against those who followed the false teachings of Arianism.
He was persecuted and tortured by many, even by among those in power, as those people had been influenced by the same heresy. And yet, he did not give up his attempts and hard work to convince many and more people to return to the true faith through his sermons and writings. He continued to persevere through those challenges, doing what the Lord had called him to do, to be His servant among His people.
Meanwhile, St. Peter Julian Eymard was a renowned priest who dedicated his life to the Lord, and inspired many others to do the same, by his revitalisation of the places and parishes he worked at, by encouraging the active and strong devotion to the Lord, particularly in His Most Holy Presence in the Eucharist. To that extent, he encouraged the faithful to participate in the Forty Hours devotion to the Eucharist, and established two religious orders devoted to the Lord.
Through his works, St. Peter Julian Eymard helped to bring more and more people closer to the Lord, and turning away from their sinful lives and attachment to the world. He brought the Lord closer to those people, and as a result, many more souls received salvation from God and were put on the path towards the eternal life and glory promised by the Lord to all who are faithful to Him.
Brothers and sisters in Christ, the example of these two holy saints showed us that as Christians, there are many areas in which all of us will be able to contribute to, in order to bring ourselves and our fellow brethren closer to God. Let us all turn away from all of our selfishness, from all of our greed and worldly desires, and let us all no longer be tempted by all these, but instead focus ourselves on the Lord alone, and renew our commitment to live in accordance with His will and obeying His laws.
May the Lord bless us all in our endeavours, and may He strengthen in us the faith that we may be ever committed in our respective lives. May St. Eusebius of Vercelli and St. Peter Julian Eymard, faithful and holy servants of God intercede for us all and pray for us always. Amen.
Liturgical Colour : Green or White (Bishops or Priests)
Matthew 13 : 44-46
At that time, Jesus said to His disciples, "The kingdom of heaven is like a treasure, hidden in a field. The one who finds it, buries it again; and so happy is he, that he goes and sells everything he has, in order to buy that field."
"Again, the kingdom of heaven is like a trader, who is looking for fine pearls. Once he has found a pearl of exceptional quality, he goes away, sells everything he has and buys it."
Liturgical Colour : Green or White (Bishops or Priests)
Psalm 98 : 5, 6, 7, 9
Extol YHVH, our God; worship at His footstool. Holy is He! And mighty!
Among His priests were Moses and Aaron; and Samuel, among those who called on His Name. They called to YHVH, and He answered them.
In the pillar of cloud He spoke to them; and they kept His statutes and the decrees He gave them.
Extol YHVH our God; worship at His holy mountain. Holy is YHVH our God!
Liturgical Colour : Green or White (Bishops or Priests)
Exodus 34 : 29-35
When Moses came down from Mount Sinai, with the two tablets of the Testimony in his hands, he was not aware that the skin of his face was radiant after speaking with YHVH. Aaron and all the sons of Israel saw that Moses' face was radiant and they were afraid to go near him.
But Moses called them, and Aaron with all the leaders of the community drew near, and Moses spoke to them. Afterwards all the Israelites came near and he told them all that YHVH had commanded him on Mount Sinai. When Moses had finished speaking with them, he put a veil over his face.
Whenever Moses went before YHVH to speak with Him, he took off the veil until he came out again. And when he came out and told them what he had been commanded, the Israelites saw that his face was radiant. Moses would then replace the veil over his face until he went again to speak with YHVH.
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