Wednesday

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Wednesday, 26 October 2016 : 30th Week of Ordinary Time (Homily and Scripture Reflections)

Liturgical Colour : Green
Dear brothers and sisters in Christ, on this day we are reminded that it is not easy for us to attain salvation in God, and thus we should not take for granted the fact that God has offered us His forgiveness and pardon for our sins, and something has to be done for us in order to be worthy of that prize and treasure which await us at the end of the way.

The Lord made it clear by His story of how many of those who knew Him, and even those who were with Him and walked with Him by His side would be rejected, because these had not been truly faithful to Him. They claimed to know Him and to have met and interacted with Him, and yet He rejected them because He did not know them, and thus they are deprived of their eternal life and inheritance from God.

And why is this so, brothers and sisters in Christ? That is because it is possible for us to claim to be faithful to God, and yet in our hearts, we do not have the Lord enthroned in them. Many of us are easily tempted by the persuasions and temptations of goodness and pleasure, all the things with which the devil is trying to pull us away from our path to salvation.

Many of us pursued our own ego and our own greed and selfish desires, which led to us veering off that path towards righteousness and eternal life. Many of us instead chose to walk on the path of worldly desires, doing things to preserve ourselves and our desires first. And those actions over our history, the history of mankind, had led to destruction, pain, suffering and terrible things to occur for many.

We should all realise that as those whom God had chosen to be His people, we must be righteous and just in all things. We cannot and we should not act in ways that are in contradiction to what we are, or else we are going to bring scandal both to the Lord, to our faith and to all the other faithful in the Church, and by our wickedness and lack of faith we shall be judged and will be found wanting.

We are hypocrites when we profess our faith in one way, and yet we act in another way. If we do not do what our faith requires us to do, then what good is our faith? To be a Christian, that is a true and genuine Christian, we have to heed what the Lord and His Apostles had exhorted us all to do, that is to obey God in all of His ways and to follow His laws and commandments, and not just doing them and obeying them blindly, but instead, do them with proper and genuine understanding.

That means, as St. Paul laid it out in the Epistle he wrote to the Church and the faithful in Ephesus, all of us ought to show love, concern, compassion and kindness to our brethren, starting from our very own families, and then to our relatives and friends and all others whom we meet and encounter on a daily basis, and even to strangers. And as what the Lord had taught us, we as Christians should learn and indeed, commit to forgive the faults of our enemies and all those who hate us, for we too in some point of our lives, might have caused harm, suffering and pain to others as well.

That is the essence of being a true Christian, in how we should follow the Lord through genuine dedication and commitment, loving each other just as the Lord has loved us first. If God has loved us all even when we are still sinners and filled with wickedness, should we not then love our brethren all the more, with their imperfections and iniquities? We ourselves are also filled with the same sins, corruptions and iniquities as well.

Brothers and sisters in Christ, let us all therefore from now on renew our commitment as Christians, to devote ourselves wholly for the Lord, for the cause of His people, and that through the love with which He had loved us, we too may show the same kind of love to Him, and also to love our brethren in the same manner. May the Lord help us in this endeavour, and keep us always forever in His love and grace. Amen.

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Wednesday, 26 October 2016 : 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, 26 October 2016 : 30th Week of Ordinary Time (Psalm)

Liturgical Colour : Green
Psalm 144 : 10-11, 12-13ab, 13cd-14

All Your works will give You thanks; all Your saints, o Lord, will praise You. They will tell of the glory of Your kingdom and speak of Your power.

That all may know of Your mighty deeds, Your reign and its glorious splendour. Your reign is from age to age; Your dominion endures from generation to generation.

The Lord is true to His promises and lets His mercy show in all He does. The Lord lifts up those who are falling and raises those who are beaten down.

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Wednesday, 26 October 2016 : 30th Week of Ordinary Time (First Reading)

Liturgical Colour : Green
Ephesians 6 : 1-9

Children, obey your parents for this is right : Honour your father and your mother. And this is the first commandment that has promise : that you may be happy and enjoy long life in the land. And you, fathers, do not make rebels of your children, but educate them by correction and instruction which the Lord may inspire.

Servants, obey your masters of this world with fear and respect, with simplicity of heart, as if obeying Christ. Do not serve only when you are watched or in order to please others, but become servants of Christ who do God’s will with all your heart. Work willingly, for the Lord and not for humans, mindful that the good each one has done, whether servant or free, will be rewarded by the Lord.

And you, masters, deal with your servants in the same way, and do not threaten them, since you know that they and you have the same Lord Who is in heaven, and He treats all fairly.

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Wednesday, 19 October 2016 : 29th Week of Ordinary Time, Memorial of St. John de Brebeuf and St. Isaac Jogues, Priests and Companions, Martyrs, and St. Paul of the Cross, Priest (Homily and Scripture Reflections)

Liturgical Colour : Green or Red (Martyrs) or White (Priests)
Dear brothers and sisters in Christ, on this day we heard the Scripture passages telling us firstly about the works of St. Paul the Apostle who was called by God and was sent to preach the Good News of God into the foreign lands to the pagan peoples who have yet to hear the Good News, and who have yet to know the identity of their true Lord and Saviour.

He has worked among them and preached among them the Good News, calling them to conversion and to understand the will of God for them. God helped him and guided him along the path, and in doing so he has been like the good and hardworking steward that Jesus our Lord mentioned in the Gospel today, where He praised the actions of the good steward who was committed to fulfil the work he was entrusted with by his master.

This was contrasted with the lazy and wicked servant whose actions were not what his master wanted from him. The lazy and wicked servant was not forthcoming with his works, and he thought that when the master was not around, he could do whatever he wanted and nothing would happen to him if he did not do as what was expected of him.

Unfortunately the master came back unexpectedly and he found out that the lazy servant had been neglecting his works, and he had therefore become unworthy of his position, and thus, the master sacked him and punished him heavily, while he praised and graced the good servant who did his work admirably, and this is a reminder to each and every one of us, we who are God’s people, His servants and followers, that we should not neglect what the Lord had entrusted to us.

And what is that brothers and sisters in Christ? What is it that God entrusted to us? It is the mission of evangelisation, to preach the Good News to our brethren, to one another, to all those who have yet to receive and to hear the Good News, all those who are living in sin and corruption of their darkness and wickedness, that all of these may be saved and may be freed from the evils that beset them and be brought into eternal life in God.

Many of us Christians are not aware of this mission which God had entrusted to us through His Apostles and His Church. We are all called to continue the works of the Apostles, continuing the good works that St. Paul had started, the labours and hardships he had encountered which we have heard in our first reading today. We may have thought that their works were completed, but in reality, there are always more work out there to be done.

Perhaps we should look at the examples of the holy saints whose feast we are celebrating today. This day we celebrate firstly the feast of the martyrs of North America, namely St. John de Brebeuf and St. Isaac Jogues, and their many companions, fellow priests and missionaries, as well as many laymen who died defending their faith and in their mission to spread the Good News in the region now known as Canada and the rest of North America.

These missionaries, who were members of the Jesuit order, went from France to the wild lands and unexplored territories known now as Quebec and Canada, working and preaching among the local American Indian populations, introducing them to the Lord Jesus and to His salvation. Their work was not easy, as although there were some of the Indian populations who listened to them and converted to the Faith, but there were many others who refused to believe and were hostile to the missionaries and their efforts.

Nevertheless, these brave and courageous missionaries did not let the difficulties and challenges to overcome them, and despite all the mounting challenges facing them, they persevered on and continued to minister to the people whom they have called from the darkness. But several of them were martyred as they were captured and tortured by those tribes who refused to believe in Jesus and in His salvation.

Eventually the rest would be martyred as they were caught in between conflict among the worldly powers as well as between the Indian tribes, but their missionary works and pioneering examples served as examples for many generations of Christians in that region and in other parts of the world alike. Many more missionaries were to perish and to suffer in their attempt to evangelise to the people living in ignorance and darkness, but their contributions had saved countless souls and helped to establish the Church in various places.

St. Paul of the Cross meanwhile was an Italian priest and mystic, who was a simple man devoting himself to a life of service to God and to His people, and he was very devoted in his prayer life to God, and established with many other similar-minded companions, the congregation of the Poor of Jesus, devoting their time and efforts to live in a life of poverty and commitment to God, while teaching many others how they can become closer to God.

He established many communities devoted to contemplative life to God, and through his many visions received from the Lord, St. Paul of the Cross shared with many of his followers and others about these revelations and through his many writings and works, he gave to them and also to all of us, the insight into how we ought to follow the Lord and walk in His ways.

The examples from these holy saints and all the faithful predecessors who have walked and laboured before us should be inspirations for us all to follow, that by walking in their footsteps, we may be able to draw closer to God ourselves, and at the same time, also help to bring one another especially those who have lost their ways, that we all may find our way to God together and receive the fullness of His grace together. May God be with us all, now and forevermore. Amen.

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Wednesday, 19 October 2016 : 29th Week of Ordinary Time, Memorial of St. John de Brebeuf and St. Isaac Jogues, Priests and Companions, Martyrs, and St. Paul of the Cross, Priest (Gospel Reading)

Liturgical Colour : Green or Red (Martyrs) 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.”

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Wednesday, 19 October 2016 : 29th Week of Ordinary Time, Memorial of St. John de Brebeuf and St. Isaac Jogues, Priests and Companions, Martyrs, and St. Paul of the Cross, Priest (Psalm)

Liturgical Colour : Green or Red (Martyrs) or White (Priests)
Isaiah 12 : 2-3, 4bcd, 5-6

He is the God of my salvation; in Him I trust and am not afraid, YHVH is my strength : Him I will praise, the One Who saved me. You will draw water with joy from the very fountain of salvation.

Praise to the Lord, break into songs of joy for Him, proclaim His marvellous deeds among the nations and exalt His Name.

Sing to the Lord : wonders He has done let these be known all over the earth. Sing for joy, o people of Zion, for great in your midst is the Holy One of Israel.

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Wednesday, 19 October 2016 : 29th Week of Ordinary Time, Memorial of St. John de Brebeuf and St. Isaac Jogues, Priests and Companions, Martyrs, and St. Paul of the Cross, Priest (First Reading)

Liturgical Colour : Green or Red (Martyrs) or White (Priests)
Ephesians 3 : 2-12

You may have heard of the graces God bestowed on me for your sake. By a revelation He gave me the knowledge of His mysterious design, as I have explained in a few words. On reading them you will have some idea of how I understand the mystery of Christ.

This mystery was not made known to past generations but only now, through revelations given to holy Apostles and prophets. Now the non-Jewish people share the inheritance; in Christ Jesus the non-Jews are incorporated and are to enjoy the Promise. This is the Good News of which I have become minister by a gift of God, a grace He gave me, when His power worked in me.

This grace was given to me, the least among all the holy ones : to announce to the pagan nations the immeasurable riches of Christ and to make clear to all how the mystery hidden from the beginning in God, the Creator of all things, is to be fulfilled.

Even the heavenly forces and powers will now discover through the Church the wisdom of God in its manifold expression, as the plan is being fulfilled which God designed from the beginning in Christ Jesus, our Lord. In Him we receive boldness and confidence to approach God.

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Wednesday, 12 October 2016 : 28th Week of Ordinary Time (Homily and Scripture Reflections)

Liturgical Colour : Green
Dear brothers and sisters in Christ, on this day we are reminded yet again how to live truly like a disciple and follower of the Lord our God. We are reminded and shown how the ways of those who have lived like the Pharisees and the teachers of the Law were wrong, as they put a lot of emphasis on worldliness and appearances, and yet they forgot to remember about the Lord, the One Who should be their focus in life.

And worse still, they paraded themselves and were proud of what they have done, immersing themselves in the joys and in the pleasures of the world. They took pride at the praise and the fame they garnered through their acts of piety and by showing off their religiousness by praying loudly in open places and by seizing the first and most importance places in events, as if they were entitled to these.

They followed the path of the world, and attempted to satisfy the human needs and the desires of the flesh. As a result, they were misguided, and worse still, they also misguided others who were placed under their jurisdiction, responsibility and care. As the shepherds of the Lord’s flock, they should have led by example of their actions, but instead, they committed sinful and heinous deeds before God and His people alike.

Brothers and sisters in Christ, from what we heard in the Gospel today and from the Epistle of St. Paul to the Galatians, our first reading, we can see that between following the Lord and submitting ourselves to the whims and the desires of this world, there is a vast gap that requires us therefore to make a stand and choose which side we are to follow. We cannot remain indifferent and ignorant to what the Lord is showing us on the incompatibility of His ways and that of the world.

We should look at our own actions and words in this life, and wonder for ourselves, just how much is it that we have been devoting ourselves and our lives for the Lord, and how much we have cultivated the gifts that God has given to each and every one of us, which He had sown in our hearts, namely the gifts of the Holy Spirit, the gift of faith, hope and love.

This is what St. Paul mentioned in his Epistle to the Galatians, that the fruits of the Holy Spirit are what precisely he had preached to them, namely charity, joy, peace, patience, understanding, and basically, these gifts are not what the Pharisees and the teachers of the Law had brought into this world and among the Lord’s people when they acted as they did in how they observed the Law of God.

They sowed division and sin, fornication and temptation among the people by guiding them along the wrong path, and instead of opening the path to God’s salvation to many people who needed it, they closed the path before these people thinking that they alone deserved to be saved. And rightly God rebuked them for what they have done, as they have failed in their most important responsibility as God’s shepherds, that is to lead the people of God down the right path.

It is therefore a stark and real reminder to each and every one of us, that we should take heed of how they lived their faith life, and then not to follow them in what they have done. As Christians, each and every one of us should give our lives and ourselves in order to serve the Lord in all the things we do and say. We must be humble and be loving in all our deeds, as we are all mere creatures of the Lord, whom God had chosen to pour His love upon and to be saved.

We should deepen our spiritual love for the Lord and also the love which we ought to show our brethren. It is important that we learn how to resist our human desires and wants, which are often obstacles on our path as we attempt to draw closer to the Lord. If we can just resist those temptations and make the concerted effort to do what the Lord had asked us to do, and become true disciples filled with love and compassion, then surely God will bless us and keep us in His ever abundant grace.

Let the rebuke which God levelled on the Pharisees and the teachers of the Law be a reminder for all of us Christians and also be a challenge for us to live our lives ever more devoutly. Let us all help one another even as we draw closer to the Lord and His salvation. May God bless us all and be with us always. Amen.

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Wednesday, 12 October 2016 : 28th Week of Ordinary Time (Gospel Reading)

Liturgical Colour : Green
Luke 11 : 42-46

At that time, Jesus said to the Pharisees, “A curse is on you, Pharisees; to the Temple you give a tenth of all, including mint and rue and the other herbs, but you neglect justice and the love of God. These ought to be practiced, without neglecting those.”

“A curse is on you, Pharisees, for you love the best seats in the synagogues and to be greeted in the marketplace. A curse is on you, for you are like tombstones of the dead which can hardly be seen; people do not notice them, and make themselves unclean by stepping on them.”

Then a teacher of the Law spoke up and said, “Master, when You speak like this, You insult us, too.” And Jesus answered, “A curse is on you also, teachers of the Law. For you prepare unbearable burdens and load them on the people, while you yourselves do not move a finger to help them.”