Wednesday

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Wednesday, 25 March 2015 : Solemnity of the Annunciation of the Lord (Psalm)

Liturgical Colour : White

Psalm 39 : 7-8a, 8b-9, 10, 11

Sacrifice and oblation You did not desire; this You had me understand. Burnt offering and sin offering You do not require. Then I said, “Here I come!”

As the scroll says of me, to do Your will is my delight, o God, for Your Law is within my heart.

In the great assembly I have proclaimed Your saving help. My lips, o Lord, I did not seal – You know that very well.

I have not locked up in my heart Your saving help, but have spoken about it – Your deliverance and Your faithfulness; I have made no secret of Your truth and Your kindness in the great assembly.

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Wednesday, 25 March 2015 : Solemnity of the Annunciation of the Lord (First Reading)

Liturgical Colour : White

Isaiah 7 : 10-14 and Isaiah 8 : 10

Once again YHVH addressed Ahaz, “Ask for a sign from YHVH your God, let it come either from the deepest depths or from the heights of heaven.”

But Ahaz answered, “I will not ask, I will not put YHVH to the test.” Then Isaiah said, “Now listen, descendants of David. Have you not been satisfied trying the patience of people, that you also try the patience of my God? Therefore the Lord Himself will give you a sign : The Virgin is with Child and bears a Son and calls His Name Immanuel.”

“Devise a plan and it will be thwarted, make a resolve and it will not stand, for God-is-with-us.”

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Wednesday, 18 March 2015 : 4th Week of Lent, Memorial of St. Cyril of Jerusalem, Bishop and Doctor of the Church (Homily and Scripture Reflections)

Liturgical Colour : Purple/Violet or White (Bishops)

Dear brothers and sisters in Christ, today we heard about the relationship between Jesus and His Father in heaven, as Jesus is the Son of God, begotten from the Father, and whom together with the Holy Spirit is part of the inseparable and indivisible Holy Trinity, One God with Three Divine Persons. The Word of God, the Son, was sent into the world in order to save it, through the person of Jesus.

And this is the central theme of this Lenten celebration, and indeed, the very central mystery of our faith itself. For we believe in the Lord who has come down from heaven, in order that we may be saved from the sure threat of death. Death is the consequence for sin, and because of sin, we have been subjected to death and to pain as well as suffering. It is the just punishment for the disobedience which we have shown to our Lord.

But God is willing to have mercy on us, and to forgive us all of our faults and trespasses. For we are all the beloved children of our God, who were beloved over all other creatures. He loves us very much, even as He also hates all of our infidelities and rebelliousness. He is willing to forgive us, but only if we also play our part, on renouncing our wickedness and to sin no more before both God and men alike.

Those who are faithful to the Lord will receive great blessings and graces, and they will have their sins and faults forgiven, because the Lord knows of their righteousness and He knows that in their hearts, they keep always a special place for Him to dwell in, and their ears and hearts are not closed against the ever constant reminders which He had sent to remind us of our sinfulness.

And He continues to urge all those who have yet to turn themselves to His ways to change themselves before it is too late. For when it is too late, when the embrace of death takes us before we are able to repent, then what is left for us will be just punishment for our faults, and as what awaits all those who are wicked, the eternal suffering and despair that all of them suffer in hellfire.

It is clear that God does not want this to be our fate. That is why He gave us constant reminders, and lastly by sending His own Son into the world. Remember the famous passage from the Scripture, that God so loved the world and all of us, so that He sent His only begotten Son, so that all who believe in Him may be saved? It was also mentioned that He came not to judge us, but to show us the fullness of God’s mercy and salvation.

Today we celebrate the feast of St. Cyril of Jerusalem, once the Patriarch of Jerusalem, the overseer of the See where most of the most wonderful things in the Scriptures has happened, and where our Lord Himself laid down His life and shed His Blood for our sake and for our salvation. He was a great theologian and servant of God and His Church, and as a leader of God’s faithful, he was devoted to the people entrusted under his care.

He was faithful in his leadership, and despite the heresies that filled the churches of God at that time, with Arianism being at the forefront, he led the people through the difficult times, and he kept their faith strongly within them. His dedication and hard work has helped the people greatly and many souls were saved because of him. St. Cyril had many enemies, many of those desired to bring about his downfall.

But he continued on with his hard work, and through those hard work, much goodness came from that, and many souls who had been at the gates of hell were saved because of what St. Cyril had preached. He defended the true faith and preached against the falsehoods of heresies. He preached true doctrine of the faith, and the orthodox beliefs of the faith, which provided the much needed light and guidance to all those who have lost their way in the darkness of this world.

Therefore, in this holy season of Lent, we are all reminded that we have so much we can do in this world in order to help each other in achieving the path to salvation. There are many things that are in our ability which we can use to help in bringing salvation to all of us, to one another. If we think only about our own salvation, then we truly are selfish and we have no God’s love within us.

If we want to be truly righteous and loving people of God, then we all should show the love of God in our lives, in our own actions, in all the things that we say and do, so that by all of them, we will be found just and worthy, and God will reward us with His everlasting grace and blessings. God be with us all, and may He forgive us sinners our sins, and fill us with His light and with His love. Amen.

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Wednesday, 18 March 2015 : 4th Week of Lent, Memorial of St. Cyril of Jerusalem, Bishop and Doctor of the Church (Gospel Reading)

Liturgical Colour : Purple/Violet or White (Bishops)

John 5 : 17-30

At that time, after Jesus healed the sick man on the Sabbath, He replied to the Jews, “My Father goes on working and so do I.” And the Jews tried all the harder to kill Him, for Jesus not only broke the Sabbath observance, but also made Himself equal with God, calling God His own Father.

Jesus said to them, “Truly, I assure you, the Son cannot do anything by Himself, but only what He sees the Father do. And whatever He does, the Son also does. The Father loves the Son and shows Him everything He does; and He will show Him even greater things than these, so that you will be amazed.”

“As the Father raises the dead and gives them life, so the Son gives life to whom He wills. In the same way the Father judges no one, for He has entrusted all judgment to the Son, and He wants all to honour the Son as they honour the Father. Whoever ignores the Son, ignores as well the Father who sent Him.”

“Truly, I say to you, anyone who hears My word and believes Him who sent Me, has eternal life; and there is no judgement for him, because he has passed from death to life. Truly, the hour is coming and has indeed come, when the dead will hear the voice of the Son of God, and on hearing it, will live. For the Father has life in Himself, and He has given to the Son also to have life in Himself. And He has empowered Him as well to carry out Judgment, for He is the Son of Man.”

“Do not be surprised at this : the hour is coming when all those lying in tombs will hear My voice and come out; those who have done good shall rise to live, and those who have done evil will rise to be condemned. I can do nothing of Myself, and I need to hear Another One to judge; and My judgement is just, because I seek not My own will, but the will of Him who sent Me.”

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Wednesday, 18 March 2015 : 4th Week of Lent, Memorial of St. Cyril of Jerusalem, Bishop and Doctor of the Church (Psalm)

Liturgical Colour : Purple/Violet or White (Bishops)

Psalm 144 : 8-9, 13cd-14, 17-18

Compassionate and gracious is the Lord, slow to anger and abounding in love. The Lord is good to everyone; His mercy embraces all His creation.

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.

Righteous is the Lord in all His ways, His mercy shows in all His deeds. He is near those who call on Him, who call trustfully upon His Name.

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Wednesday, 18 March 2015 : 4th Week of Lent, Memorial of St. Cyril of Jerusalem, Bishop and Doctor of the Church (First Reading)

Liturgical Colour : Purple/Violet or White (Bishops)

Isaiah 49 : 8-15

This is what YHVH says : “At a favourable time I have answered you, on the day of salvation I have been your help; I have formed you and made you to be My covenant with the people. You will restore the land, and allot its abandoned farms. You will say to the captives : Come out, and to those in darkness : Show yourselves.”

“They will feed along the road; they will find pasture on barren hills. They will neither hunger nor thirst, nor will the scorching wind or the sun beat upon them; for He who has mercy on them will guide them and lead them to springs of water. I will turn all My mountains into roads and raise up My highways.”

“See, they come from afar, some from the north and west, others from the land of Sinim. Sing, o heavens, and rejoice, o earth; break forth into song, o mountains : for YHVH has comforted His people and taken pity on those who are afflicted. But Zion said : “YHVH has forsaken me, my Lord has forgotten me.”

“Can a woman forget the baby at her breast and have no compassion on the child of her womb? Yet though she forget, I will never forget you.”

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Wednesday, 11 March 2015 : 3rd Week of Lent (Homily and Scripture Reflections)

Liturgical Colour : Purple/Violet

Dear brothers and sisters in Christ, today we heard about the Law and commandments which God had given us all His people. The Law and the commandments are meant to be guides on how we should live our lives, and show the people the way to reach salvation in the Lord. He had given us these in order to lead us in our way, so that we will not be lost in the forest of temptations and falsehoods that are aplenty in this world.

It is however still up to us, and we all have a choice whether to follow and obey God’s laws or to follow our own path towards destruction and sin. We have been given free will by the Lord, but more often than not, this free will have been misused or corrupted by the temptations and allure of this world which threaten to lead us away from the path towards salvation and into annihilation.

He has reminded His people with many reminders and warnings, which He made clear through the succession of many prophets and messengers, and many servants who have come one after another to call back the people of God back into His loving embrace, that is to abandon their sinful ways and to turn their back on those sins and embrace instead the way of love of the Lord.

But the people refused to listen and they continued in their sinfulness. They rejected the Lord’s prophets and messengers, persecuting them, torturing them, casting them out of their cities and places, and eventually even killed them. And yet the Lord continued to provide them with opportunities and chances, to the point of fulfilling the promise which He had given them so many years before, in the sending of the Saviour who would save all of the world.

Jesus came as the fulfillment of all God’s promises made to us all throughout the ages. In Him lies the perfect fulfillment of the Law and the prophets. The Law spoke about Him, and the prophets were proclaiming His entry into the world. But by the time of Jesus, the Law and the teachings of the prophets had been so greatly misinterpreted and misappropriated by worldly things that they no longer recognised this fact in Jesus their Lord.

In fact, many of them would refuse the Lord their God when He came, thinking of themselves as better and more reliable arbiters and judges of the fate of the faithful, and of their own fate. They were blinded and deafened by their own pride and human desires which prevented them from seeing their own faults and flaws. As a result, they did not change but instead committed ever more sins in the presence of God and men alike.

Yet, God still wants us all to be saved, despite our rebellions and disobedience against Him. He continues to pour forth His heart and His love to us, but we also have to play our part in this. We have to accept the love and grace of God which He had so generously provided us with. Let us not waste this opportunity given by God to us to repent and change.

Therefore, in this holy season of Lent, we are all called to be better disciples and followers of our God, that is disciples who know how to restrain ourselves, our desires and our wants, our pride and our haughtiness, our human emotions and other things that prevented us from truly expressing our genuine and sincere love for our Lord and God, as well as for our fellow men.

This period of Lent, let us all reaffirm our faith for the Lord, and change our ways profoundly, so that while we were once sinful and disobedient against the Lord, from now on we may walk righteously in the path of the Lord. We hope that we may be justified through our actions, and become righteous and worthy of His salvation. God will reward all those who are faithful to Him, and He will grant them everlasting life. God bless us all. Amen.

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Wednesday, 11 March 2015 : 3rd Week of Lent (Gospel Reading)

Liturgical Colour : Purple/Violet

Matthew 5 : 17-19

At that time, Jesus said to the people, “Do not think that I have come to annul the Law and the Prophets. I have not come to annul them but to fulfill them. I tell you this : as long as heaven and earth last, not the smallest letter or dot in the Law will change until all is fulfilled.”

“So then, whoever breaks the least important of these commandments, and teaches others to do the same, will be the least in the kingdom of heaven. On the other hand, whoever obeys them, and teaches others to do the same, will be great in the kingdom of heaven.”

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Wednesday, 11 March 2015 : 3rd Week of Lent (Psalm)

Liturgical Colour : Purple/Violet

Psalm 147 : 12-13, 15-16, 19-20

Exalt the Lord, o Jerusalem; praise your God, o Zion! For He strengthens the bars of your gates and blesses your children within you.

He sends His command to the earth and swiftly runs His word. He spreads snow like wool; He scatters frost like ashes.

It is He who tells Jacob His words, His laws and decrees to Israel. This He has not done for other nations, so His laws remain unknown to them. Alleluia!

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Wednesday, 11 March 2015 : 3rd Week of Lent (First Reading)

Liturgical Colour : Purple/Violet

Deuteronomy 4 : 1, 5-9

And now, Israel, listen to the norms and laws which I teach that you may put them into practice. And you will live and enter and take possession of the land which YHVH, the God of your fathers, gives you.

See, as YHVH, my God, ordered me, I am teaching you the norms and the laws that you may put them into practice in the land you are going to enter and have as your own. If you observe and practice them, other peoples will regard you as wise and intelligent. When they come to know of all these laws, they will say, “There is no people as wise and as intelligent as this great nation.”

For in truth, is there a nation as great as ours, whose gods are as near to it as YHVH,  our God, is to us whenever we call upon Him? And is there a nation as great as ours whose norms and laws are as just as this Law which I give you today? But be careful and be on your guard.

Do not forget this these things which your own eyes have seen nor let them depart from your heart as long as you live. But on the contrary, teach them to your children and to your children’s children.