Wednesday

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Wednesday, 25 January 2017 : Feast of the Conversion of St. Paul the Apostle, Week of Prayer for Christian Unity (First Reading)

Liturgical Colour : White
Acts 22 : 3-16

I am a Jew, born in Tarsus in Cilicia, but brought up here in this city where I was educated in the school of Gamaliel, according to the strict observance of our Law. And I was dedicated to God’s service, as are all of you today. As for this way, I persecuted it to the point of death and arrested its followers, both men and women, throwing them into prison.

The High Priest and the whole Council of elders can bear witness to this. From them I received letters for the Jewish brothers in Damascus and I set out to arrest those who were there and bring them back to Jerusalem for punishment. But as I was travelling along, nearing Damascus, at about noon a great light from the sky suddenly flashed about me. I fell to the ground and heard a voice saying to me, “Saul, Saul, why do you persecute Me?”

I answered, “Who are You, Lord?” And He said to me : ‘I am Jesus the Nazarean Whom you persecute.’ The men who were with me saw the light, but they did not understand the voice of the One Who was speaking to me. I asked : ‘What shall I do, Lord?’ And the Lord replied : ‘Get up and go to Damascus; there you will be told all that you are destined to do.’ Yet the brightness of that light had blinded me and so I was led by the hand into Damascus by my companions.

There a certain Ananias came to me. He was a devout observer of the Law and well spoken of by all the Jews who were living there. As he stood by me, he said : ‘Brother Saul, recover your sight.’ At that moment I could see and I looked at him. He then said, ‘The God of our ancestors has chosen you to know His will, to see the Just One and to hear the words from His mouth.”

“From now on you shall be His witness before all the pagan peoples and tell them all that you have seen and heard. And now, why delay? Get up and be baptised and have your sins washed away by calling upon His Name.”

Alternative reading
Acts 9 : 1-22

Meanwhile Saul considered nothing but violence and death for the disciples of the Lord. He went to the High Priest and asked him for letters to the synagogues of Damascus that would authorise him to arrest and bring to Jerusalem anyone he might find, man or woman, belonging to the Way.

As he travelled along and was approaching Damascus, a light from the sky suddenly flashed around him. He fell to the ground and heard a voice saying to him, “Saul, Saul! Why do you persecute me?” And he asked, “Who are You, Lord?” The voice replied, “I am Jesus Whom you persecute. Now get up and go into the city; there you will be told what you are to do.”

The men who were travelling with him stood there speechless : they had heard the sound, but could see no one. Saul got up from the ground and, opening his eyes, he could not see. They took him by the hand and brought him to Damascus. He was blind and he did not eat or drink for three days.

There was a disciple in Damascus named Ananias, to whom the Lord called in a vision, “Ananias!” He answered, “Here I am, Lord!” Then the Lord said to him, “Go at once to Straight Street and ask, at the house of Judas, for a man of Tarsus named Saul. You will find him praying, for he has just seen in a vision that a man named Ananias has come in and placed his hands upon him, to restore his sight.”

Ananias answered, “Lord, I have heard from many sources about this man and all the harm he has done to Your saints in Jerusalem, and now he is here with authority from the High Priest to arrest all who call upon Your Name.” But the Lord said to him, “Go! This man is My chosen instrument to bring My Name to the pagan nations and their kings, and the people of Israel as well. I Myself will show him how much he will have to suffer for My Name.”

So Ananias left and went to the house. He laid his hands upon Saul and said, “Saul, my brother, the Lord Jesus, Who appeared to you on your way here, has sent me to you so that you may receive your sight and be filled with Holy Spirit.” Immediately something like scales fell from his eyes and he could see; he got up and was baptised. Then he took food and was strengthened.

For several days Saul stayed with the disciples at Damascus, and he soon began to proclaim in the synagogues that Jesus was the Son of God. All who heard were astonished and said, “Is this not the one who cast out in Jerusalem all those calling upon this Name? Did he not come here to bring them bound before the chief priests?”

But Saul grew more and more powerful, and he confounded the Jews living in Damascus when he proved that Jesus was the Messiah.

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Wednesday, 18 January 2017 : 2nd Week of Ordinary Time, Week of Prayer for Christian Unity (Homily and Scripture Reflections)

Liturgical Colour : Green
Dear brothers and sisters in Christ, on this day all of us heard yet again about the works of our Lord Jesus Christ, our great High Priest, Whom God had made to be His Saviour, the One through Whom He willed to make all of His people worthy and purified once more, that they will be filled with grace and will be cleansed from the taints of their sins and wickedness.

Through Him, all had been made whole, because it was not just by any hands that all were healed, but through the sacrifice of the one and only Lamb of God. The Lamb of God has offered Himself, His own flesh and blood for the sake of the salvation of the entire world. Ha gave Himself for our sake so that even though He suffered and died on the cross, through Him we will not need to suffer the consequences of our sins.

Such was God’s love for us, that He was willing to approach us and seek us, as a Good Shepherd as He is, He went forth to collect us and to gather us all in, His wayward sheep and flock. Though all of us have been unfaithful many times, again and again, but He remains ever faithful, and His promise to those who are faithful to Him always stands no matter what.

But it was indeed sad to notice how there were such great oppositions against Christ as what we witnessed in our Gospel passage today. The Pharisees and the teachers of the Law were waiting for the opportunity to trap Jesus in His own words and in His works, so that they could accuse Him and arrest Him under the false charges of blasphemy or through breaking the laws of Moses.

To go to that extent in order to preserve themselves and to remove from their sight the opposition that they saw in Jesus, the Pharisees and the teachers of the Law had shown us all the ugly side of mankind, our own ugly side, which is our pride and our greed for worldly glory and power, for influence and fame, for human praise and for wealth. These are the things that have become an obstacle for each and every one of us, that prevent us from truly being able to reach out to the Lord our God.

Brothers and sisters in Christ, God wants to heal us from the sickness of our sins, from the corruption of our wickedness and from the taint of our disobedience. But are we willing to accept His offer of healing? Are we willing to receive the mercy which He had so generously granted to us? Are we open to the opportunity to welcome His forgiveness into ourselves? These are the questions that we need to ask ourselves to see if we ourselves are holding us back from God’s mercy and grace.

As Christians all of us should be humble, and should indeed be willing to listen and to welcome the truth of our God into our hearts. We should not be proud or be arrogant, but instead follow the example of Christ our High Priest, our Leader, our Shepherd and our Role Model, that through Him, and by following His examples, we may be able to lead a more Christian way of life.

Let us all reflect on this, especially as today we begin the week of prayer for Christian Unity. This week we are praying for the unity of all those who believe in God and in His ways, that each and every one of us may be reunited together once again in the one and only Church that God had established in this world, the One, Holy, Catholic and Apostolic Church, that is the Catholic Church, under the leadership of the Vicar of Christ, our Pope.

We hope for the unity of all Christians, that everyone may find their way to the Lord through the Church, and that all parties involved in the division of the Church may find the humility and the conviction to overcome their differences, and learn through the faith, what needs to be done in order to reconcile themselves to the truth found only in the Church, and therefore all may stand ready to be found worthy when the Lord comes again.

May the Lord bless us all, and bless our Church that it may remain united amidst all the challenges and the difficulties it encounters. We pray that all of us Christians will also be able to lead a more Christ-like life, that each and every one of us may devote ourselves wholeheartedly to Him, and make our world altogether a better place for us to live in. May God be with us all, His Church, and keep us all as one people and one flock, all faithful to Him. Amen.

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Wednesday, 18 January 2017 : 2nd Week of Ordinary Time, Week of Prayer for Christian Unity (Gospel Reading)

Liturgical Colour : Green
Mark 3 : 1-6

At that time, again Jesus entered the synagogue. A man, who had a paralysed hand, was there and some people watched Jesus : would He heal the man on the sabbath? If He did, they could accuse Him.

Jesus said to the man with the paralysed hand, “Stand here in the centre.” Then He asked them, “What does the Law allow us to do on the Sabbath? To do good or to do harm? To save life or to kill?” But they were silent.

Then Jesus looked around at them with anger and deep sadness, because they had closed their minds. And He said to the man, “Stretch out your hand.” He stretched it out, and his hand was healed. As soon as the Pharisees left, they met with Herod’s supporters, looking for a way to destroy Jesus.

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Wednesday, 18 January 2017 : 2nd Week of Ordinary Time, Week of Prayer for Christian Unity (Psalm)

Liturgical Colour : Green
Psalm 109 : 1, 2, 3, 4

The Lord said to my Lord, “Sit at My right hand till I make Your foes Your footstool.”

From Zion the Lord will extend Your mighty sceptre and You will rule in the midst of Your enemies.

Yours is royal dignity from the day You were born in holy majesty. Like dew from the womb of the dawn, I have begotten You.

The Lord has sworn, and He will not take back His word : “You are a Priest forever in the order of Melchizedek.”

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Wednesday, 18 January 2017 : 2nd Week of Ordinary Time, Week of Prayer for Christian Unity (First Reading)

Liturgical Colour : Green
Hebrews 7 : 1-3, 15-17

Scripture says that Melchizedek, king of Salem, priest of the Most High God, came out to meet Abraham who returned from defeating the kings. He blessed Abraham and Abraham gave him a tenth of everything.

Let us note that the name Melchizedek means King of Justice, and that king of Salem means king of Peace. There is no mention of father, mother or genealogy; nothing is said about the beginning or the end of his life. In this he is the figure of the Son of God, the Priest Who remains forever.

All this, however, becomes clear if this Priest after the likeness of Melchizedek has in fact received His mission, not on the basis of any human law, but by the power of an immortal life. Because Scripture says : You are a Priest forever in the priestly order of Melchizedek.

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Wednesday, 11 January 2017 : 1st Week of Ordinary Time (Homily and Scripture Reflections)

Liturgical Colour : Green
Dear brothers and sisters in Christ, on this day we have heard about our Lord Jesus Christ being told to us both from our first reading, taken from the Epistle of St. Paul to the Hebrews, from our Psalm and from the Gospel according to St. mark, where we were told about the good works of Jesus our Lord, the One Who had come into the world, God became Man, so that through Him all of us may be saved from our fate of eternal damnation because of our sins.

We heard in the first reading from the Epistle to the Hebrews, how Jesus our Lord came into our world sharing our nature of flesh and blood, that the Divine Word and Son of God took up the raiment of human flesh and blood, through His mother Mary was born as the Son of Man, so that, by sharing in all the human nature we have, save for our sinfulness, He might unite all of us to Himself, and by offering Himself as the High Priest of all mankind, He might save us all.

Jesus is indeed the High Priest of all of us, and just like the priests of the ages old, He offered sacrifice for the sake of the sins of the people, but unlike those priests who offered sacrifices of animal fats and blood to the Lord, burnt offerings and sin offerings, Jesus offered Himself, His own Most Precious Body and Blood, the perfect and unblemished Lamb of God, the perfect offering and sacrifice, the only One which is worthy for the absolution of all of mankind’s countless sins.

And why is this so, brothers and sisters in Christ? Why did Jesus do so much for our sake, even to sacrifice Himself on the cross for us? That is because He loves each and every one of us. God loves us all, as He created all of us out of His great love for us. He did not create us to abandon us and to see us destroyed because of our sins. Yet, it was we ourselves who have rejected God and rebelled against Him, we refused His offer of mercy and love.

And yet, amongst the stubborn people, our Lord had endeavoured to come and to heal them from their afflictions. He went among them and walked among them, showing gentle love and mercy to those who were sick and dying, healing them from those afflictions of the flesh. And more importantly, He also healed from them the afflictions of their souls, that is sin. He welcomed sinners back into His embrace and called them to repent from their sinful ways.

Yes, brothers and sisters in Christ, sin is a disease of the flesh, one that will eventually devour us whole if we do not do anything about it. Sin corrupts our souls, hearts, minds and also our bodies. While the diseases of the flesh can be healed by doctors and by medical technology available today, but sin can only be healed by One, that is God Himself. No one else has the authority to forgive sins but God.

But are we willing to be forgiven? Are we willing to be healed from the affliction of our sins? It is our reluctance and refusal to be forgiven, because of our pride and our desires that led to our downfall. Are we the ones who place obstacles on our own path? The Lord wants to heal us and to forgive us our sins, but are we willing to accept His offer of mercy?

All that He asked of us is for us to commit ourselves wholeheartedly to Him, and to give our full commitment to repentance and to change our ways. We may think that this can be easily done, but in reality, it has been proven many times that mankind found it hard to commit themselves to God, and they kept getting distracted and tempted on their journey towards the Lord.

Let us spend some time to contemplate this matter, and think about what we can do in order to bring ourselves ever closer to God’s mercy and love. And let us also help one another to reach out to the Lord and let us make sure that none of us are lost to Him along the way. May God bless us all and all of our endeavours. Amen.

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Wednesday, 11 January 2017 : 1st Week of Ordinary Time (Gospel Reading)

Liturgical Colour : Green
Mark 1 : 29-39

At that time, on leaving the synagogue, Jesus went to the home of Simon and Andrew with James and John. As Simon’s mother-in-law was sick in bed with fever, they immediately told Him about her. Jesus went to her and, taking her by the hand, raised her up. The fever left her and she began to wait on them.

That evening at sundown, people brought to Jesus all the sick and those who had evil spirits : the whole town was pressing around the door. Jesus healed many who had various diseases, and drove out many demons; but He did not let them speak, for they knew Who He was.

Very early in the morning, before daylight, Jesus went off to a lonely place where He prayed. Simon and the others went out also, searching for Him; and when they found Him, they said, “Everyone is looking for You.” Then Jesus answered, “Let us go to the nearby villages so that I may preach there too; for that is why I came.”

So Jesus set out to preach in all the synagogues throughout Galilee; He also cast out demons.

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Wednesday, 11 January 2017 : 1st Week of Ordinary Time (Psalm)

Liturgical Colour : Green
Psalm 104 : 1-2, 3-4, 6-7, 8-9

Give thanks to the Lord, call on His Name; make known His works among the nations. Sing to Him, sing His praise, proclaim all His wondrous deeds.

Glory in His holy Name; let those who seek the Lord rejoice. Look to the Lord and be strong; seek His face always.

You descendants of His servant Abraham, you sons of Jacob, His chosen ones! He is the Lord our God; His judgments reach the whole world.

He remembers His covenant forever, His promise to a thousand generations, the covenant He made with Abraham, the promise He swore to Isaac.

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Wednesday, 11 January 2017 : 1st Week of Ordinary Time (First Reading)

Liturgical Colour : Green
Hebrews 2 : 14-18

And because all those children share one same nature of flesh and blood, Jesus likewise had to share this nature. This is why His death destroyed the one holding the power of death, that is the devil, and freed those who remained in bondage all their lifetime because of the fear of death.

Jesus came to take by the hand not the Angels but the human race. So He had to be like His brothers and sisters in every respect, in order to be the High Priest faithful to God and merciful to them, a Priest able to ask pardon and atone for their sins. Having been tested through suffering, He is able to help those who are tested.

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Wednesday, 4 January 2017 : Weekday of Christmas Time (Homily and Scripture Reflections)

Liturgical Colour : White
Dear brothers and sisters in Christ, today we heard from the Scriptures about the revelation of the Lamb of God and Saviour of the whole world, Jesus Christ our Lord and Master, Who had been revealed to the whole world, to each and every one of us, so that we may discover the path towards salvation through Him, our Lord and Saviour.

We have once lived in the darkness, sundered from God and His love because of our sins. Through our sins and disobedience we have been brought low. But God loves us all, brethren, and He was willing to forgive us and be reconciled with us. And to that extent, showing His infinite love and grace, He gave us the greatest gift and help of all, by the giving of His own Son, Who willingly out of love came down upon us and dwelled among us.

It was this very same Master and Lord which St. John the Baptist was preaching about throughout his ministry in the deserts of Judea. He proclaimed the repentance and baptism of sinners, that they might be cleansed from their sins and unworthiness before God, and therefore merit to receive eternal salvation from the Lord Himself. And he also preached to them about the One Who was to come after him, the One Whom he served, Who would come and brought salvation over all.

And St. John the Baptist did not hesitate to proclaim Him among all the people of Israel, calling His as the Lamb of God and the world’s saviour to even all of his own disciples. And therefore, that was how Jesus found the first among His holy Apostles, St. Peter and St. Andrew, St. James and St. John, the first ones whom Jesus our Lord had called into His service.

Perhaps many of us would not have seen the significance and the importance of this event in our journey towards the salvation in God. But this is where we as Christians need to imitate what St. John the Baptist had done, and be witnesses of our Lord and our faith in Him, to call many others into the salvation which can be found in the Lord alone.

It is through our witness and our examples that others are called to the faith, just as we ourselves have received the faith from our teachers in faith, be it members of the laity, the catechists and educators, or priests and even bishops who helped us, guided us and led us on this path towards the salvation in God. And ultimately, all these came down to us from the Apostles themselves, whom God had chosen and blessed with His love, to be witnesses of His works and salvation.

Brothers and sisters in Christ, now the challenge is for us to be witnesses for our faith and for our Lord in the same manner as the Apostles and the other holy disciples of our Lord had done. We have to live out our faith and commit ourselves wholeheartedly to our Lord in order to be able to do so. How can we convince others to believe in the Lord if we ourselves are not doing what we have been expected to do?

Our faith must be living and genuine, and only then, people who see us will know that we really and truly belong to God, and thus will believe in whatever we say to them. Witnessing about our faith and being a good Christian does not start with great and mighty deeds, but instead from ourselves, from seemingly simple things we always do in our lives and yet often forgotten.

That is why, brethren, it is important for us all to reevaluate our lives, in how we have lived it through and in how we have acted in our own daily lives. Let us all rededicate ourselves to God, and follow Him in all of our ways, just as the Lord had called His Apostles to follow Him, so let us all also walk in His ways, and lead others to Him all the same. God bless us all. Amen.