Wednesday

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Wednesday, 25 December 2013 : Midnight Mass of the Nativity of the Lord (Gospel Reading)

Liturgical Colour : White

Luke 2 : 1-14

At that time the emperor issued a decree for a census of the whole empire to be taken. This first census was taken when Quirinus was governor of Syria. Everyone had to be registered in his own town, so everyone set out for his own city.

Joseph too set out from Nazareth of Galilee. As he belonged to the family of David, being a descendant of his, he went to Judea, to David’s town of Bethlehem, to be registered with Mary, his wife, who was with Child.

They were in Bethlehem when the time came for her to have her Child, and she gave birth to a Son, her Firstborn. She wrapped Him in swaddling clothes, and laid Him in the manger, because there was no place for them in the inn.

There were shepherds camping in the countryside, taking turns to watch over their flocks by night. Suddenly an angel of the Lord appeared to them, with the Glory of the Lord shining around them.

As they were terrified, the angel said to them, “Do not be afraid; I am here to give you good news, great joy for all the people. Today a Saviour has been born to you in David’s town; He is the Messiah and the Lord. Let this be a sign to you : you will find a Baby wrapped in swaddling clothes and lying in a manger.”

Suddenly the angel was surrounded by many more heavenly spirits, praising God and saying, “Glory to God in the highest, and Peace, on earth, to those whom God loves.”

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Wednesday, 25 December 2013 : Midnight Mass of the Nativity of the Lord (Second Reading)

Liturgical Colour : White

Titus 2 : 11-14

For the grace of God has appeared, bringing salvation to all, teaching us to reject an irreligious way of life and worldly greed, and to live in this world as responsible persons, upright and serving God, while we await our blessed hope – the glorious manifestation of our great God and Saviour Christ Jesus.

He gave Himself to us, to redeem us from every evil and to purify a people He wanted to be His own and dedicated to what is good.

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Wednesday, 25 December 2013 : Midnight Mass of the Nativity of the Lord (Psalm)

Liturgical Colour : White

Psalm 95 : 1-2a, 2b-3, 11-12, 13

Sing to the Lord a new song, sing to the Lord, all the earth! Sing to the Lord, bless His Name.

Proclaim His salvation day after day. Recall His glory among the nations, tell all the peoples His wonderful deeds.

Let the heavens be glad, the earth rejoice; let the sea and all that fills it resound; let the fields exult and everything in them; let the forest, all the trees, sing for joy.

Let them sing before the Lord who comes to judge the earth. He will rule the world with justice and the peoples with fairness.

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Wednesday, 25 December 2013 : Midnight Mass of the Nativity of the Lord (First Reading)

Liturgical Colour : White

Isaiah 9 : 1-7

The people who walk in darkness have seen a great light. A light has dawned on those who live in the land of the shadow of death. You have enlarged the nation; You have increased their joy. They rejoice before You, as people rejoice at harvest time as they rejoice in dividing the spoil.

For the yoke of their burden, the bar across their shoulders, the rod of their oppressors, You have broken it as on the day of Midian. Every warrior’s boot that trampled in war, every cloak rolled in blood, will be thrown out for burning, will serve as fuel for the fire.

For a Child is born to us, a Son is given us; the royal ornament is laid upon His shoulder, and His Name is proclaimed : “Wonderful Counsellor, Mighty God, Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace.”

To the increase of His powerful rule in peace, there will be no end. Vast will be His dominion, He will reign on David’s throne and over all His kingdom, to establish and uphold it with justice and righteousness from this time onward and forever.

The zealous love of YHVH Sabaoth will do this. The Lord has sent a word against Jacob : the sentence fell upon Israel.

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Wednesday, 18 December 2013 : 3rd Week of Advent (Scripture Reflections)

Liturgical Colour : Purple/Violet

Dear brothers and sisters in Christ, the day is coming indeed, when the Lord will come again to be with His people, at which time, He will gather all those who remained faithful to Him and to His ways and His laws, rewarding them with the promises He had shown to them.

This coming Christmas, which celebration we are preparing for in this Advent season, celebrates indeed the already past coming of Christ, promised to the people of God through the prophets, which had happened in the birth of Jesus Christ the Messiah, as the Son of the virgin, given with power and authority as the Word of God made flesh. This was the first coming of the Lord, and one which we are most familiar with, but there is yet another dimension for Christmas.

This other dimension, is the awaiting of the promised Second Coming, when Christ will come again to be with His people. Remember that Christ is also called Emmanuel, which means that God is with us. God is indeed always with us, even though He may not be visible physically to us, and many of us indeed question if He even exists at all!

God loves us, brethren, very, very much. He does not abandon His people when they were in need, and He sent them many help along the way, in the form of the prophets, messengers, and many other forms unknown to us. It is mankind who often spurned His love and rejected His help, and yet we complained because we thought that God did not care for us.

And He showed that by making Himself as one of us, He who is divine, almighty, omnipotent and all powerful beyond measure, would lower Himself to be a lowly and weak human like us. That was the proof of our Lord’s love and dedication for all of us. And by doing that, He truly made complete His own promises, that He will be with us, as God who is not distant and uncaring on the conditions and plights of His people. Instead, He became one of us, like one of us, with all of our human weaknesses, emotions, and others, save for sin.

And as mentioned, Jesus came into this world not just for leisure or for holiday, or to enjoy His time with us all. Yes, indeed, He did enjoy the time He had while He was in this world. He was happy, surrounded by all His beloved ones, and even though He faced stiff oppositions from those who hated Him, He continued to seek for their redemption and return to the path towards salvation.

He came so that He can lead us all to be free from sin, our slavery by sins and evil! Yes, just as the people of Israel, the first to be chosen by God, had been liberated from their slavery in Egypt, the Lord too would liberate every men and women from their slavery by sin, ever since sin first entered into the hearts of mankind.

And while He sent Moses to be His tool for the deliverance of Israel, to be His tool and to represent His hand in delivering salvation and freedom to the people of God, He spared no expense in liberating us all, for ever, from the slavery under sin. He gave mankind hope in the words He had revealed to the messengers and prophets He had risen for mankind through the ages. And those words, promises and prophecies were fulfilled perfectly when Jesus came into this world, and when He fulfilled the long drawn plan of salvation.

Jesus is the Lord Himself who came to be our deliverer, to be the shepherd to lead us all out of the darkness of sin into the light of God, just as Moses led the people through the desert. And that is what we are going to celebrate about in Christmas, and what we are rejoicing for. We do not rejoice for the physical gifts, gadgets, and all the good things that we receive from each other during gift exchange at Christmas. We rejoice because of Jesus, who came unto us born as a humble man, which we celebrate as Christmas.

Sadly, just as the people of Israel grumbled and protested against the Lord because of the difficulties they faced along the way, we too often grumble and rebel whenever things do not go our way. We often prefer to choose the easy way out, and disobey God and His will. The people of Israel indulged themselves in the worship of the pagan gods, the golden calf and the gods of the people around them, enjoying the corrupted fruits of the world. So we too often enjoy the corrupted fruits of this world.

As we approach Christmas, brethren, we ought to take some time and reflect. Have we all made our Christmas truly centred on Christ? Have we all made Christ to be the One we celebrate with joy this Christmas? And not just this Christmas but from now on henceforth? It is not an easy path that we will have to take and endure, but if we make the effort, we will be well rewarded.

Let us all make the commitment to seek the Lord Jesus, who came to save us all and liberate us from the slavery under the power of sin. Let us all come and seek Him and follow Him, on the way towards salvation in Him, and let us always be faithful and remain loving towards our God and our Saviour. May the Lord continue to strengthen us, bless us, and watch over us as we walk through this life in this world. God be with us all. Amen.

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Wednesday, 18 December 2013 : 3rd Week of Advent (Gospel Reading)

Liturgical Colour : Purple/Violet

Matthew 1 : 18-24

This is how Jesus Christ was born : Mary His mother had been given to Joseph in marriage, but before they lived together, she was found to be pregnant through the Holy Spirit.

Then Joseph, her husband, made plans to divorce her in all secrecy. He was an upright man, and in no way did he want to discredit her. While he was pondering over this, an angel of the Lord appeared to him in a dream and said, “Joseph, descendant of David, do not be afraid to take Mary as your wife. She has conceived by the Holy Spirit, and now she will bear a Son. You shall call Him ‘Jesus’ for He will save His people from their sins.”

All this happened in order to fulfill what the Lord had said through the prophet : ‘The virgin will conceive and bear a Son, and He will be called Emmanuel, which means : God-with-us.’

When Joseph woke up, he did what the angel of the Lord had told him to do, and he took his wife to his home.

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Wednesday, 18 December 2013 : 3rd Week of Advent (Psalm)

Liturgical Colour : Purple/Violet

Psalm 71 : 2, 12-13, 18-19

May He rule Your people justly and defend the rights of the lowly.

He delivers the needy who call on Him, the afflicted with no one to help them. His mercy is upon the weak and the poor, He saves the life of the poor.

Praised be the Lord, God of Israel, who alone works so marvelously. Praised be His glorious Name forever; may the whole earth be filled with His glory! Amen. Amen.

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Wednesday, 18 December 2013 : 3rd Week of Advent (First Reading)

Liturgical Colour : Purple/Violet

Jeremiah 23 : 5-8

YHVH further says, “The day is coming when I will raise up a King who is David’s righteous successor. He will rule wisely and govern with justice and righteousness. That will be a grandiose era when Judah will enjoy peace and Israel will live in safety. He will be called YHVH-our-Justice!”

“The days are coming,” says YHVH, “when people shall no longer swear by YHVH as the living God who freed the people of Israel from the land of Egypt. Rather, they will swear by YHVH as the living God who restored the descendants of Israel from the northern empire and from all the lands where He had driven them, to live again in their own land!”

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Wednesday, 11 December 2013 : 2nd Week of Advent, Memorial of Pope St. Damasus I, Pope (Scripture Reflections)

Liturgical Colour : Purple/Violet or White (Popes)

Dear brothers and sisters in Christ, in the Lord lies our rest, and in Him lies our true joy and hope, and the hope of true happiness in Him. This hope of joy is not the same as the joy of this world, of that which is offered by the evil one to us, through the pleasures of this world. In God only lies all the comfort and satisfaction that the world cannot give.

It may seem to us that following the Lord is not an appealing option to us, and we would prefer indeed to follow the ways of the world, enjoying what is there in the world to give us, rather than troubling ourselves with the burdens of following the ways of God. But this is exactly where we are mistaken, for indeed, the burdens that are laid upon us if we follow the Lord, are temporary, but the burdens that we will have to endure, if we deny the Lord, is heavier and eternal.

Our God loves us in ways that all of us can never completely comprehend, due to the vastness and infinite nature of this divine love. He never gives up on us, even as we fell into sin and evil, and even as we betrayed Him and caused Him suffering, as He bore our sins down with Him on the way to Calvary, and onto the cross. He loves us all the same, even after all of that.

He is rich in mercy and great in compassion. We might have caused Him much sorrow, for our constant rebellions and disobedience against His will, but He did not give up His love and care for us all, unless we ourselves continue to defy Him, all the way to the end, and reject His offer of love and forgiveness. It is our defiance and arrogance that ultimately will lead us to ruin.

Following the Lord and to walk in His ways is not easy, not easy indeed for us. This is because we who have been tempted by Satan, in our ancestors, are predisposed to temptation by sin, and to be tempted to veer away from the true path towards salvation. We are easily swayed, by the goodness of the other way, that is the evil’s way, easier but deadly. We are also easily tempted by the offers of Satan, who gave us the offering of all the goods that he can give.

And as often mentioned, the ways of this world and the way of the Lord frequently do not match, and therefore, there will be displeasure and difficulties should we decide to follow the path of righteousness. There will be even jeers, mockery, and even hatred towards us, because we are different. Yet, such are the little price that we ought to pay, for the greater price of our salvation.

Today we celebrate the feast of Pope St. Damasus I, one of the saints who were also jeered, mocked, and opposed in his ministry. This is exactly as how the Lord Himself had been opposed and rejected by those who walked in the ways of evil. Pope St. Damasus I was opposed by his own people, many of whom supported a rival candidate as Pope, nominating him as an Antipope. Nevertheless, Pope St. Damasus I did not fear nor was he affected by all those negative opinions about him.

Pope St. Damasus I stood strong in the face of those oppositions and campaigned against them with the fury and wrath that is of the Lord Himself. He was particularly staunch in his opposition against heresy, particularly Arianism, which was truly widespread in Christendom at the time, poisoning the minds of many people against the true faith.

Pope St. Damasus I worked hard to strengthen the faith in many people and many areas under his care, as the Vicar of Christ. He was also credited with the codification of the Holy Scriptures and its translation of the Scripture into the Latin language in the Vulgate Bible as done by St. Jerome. Pope St. Damasus I was the patron of that great saint and Doctor of the Church.

Dear brothers and sisters in Christ, you have seen how walking in the way of the Lord and to be His servant, is by no means easy. There will be many challenges and opposition, precisely as what had been experienced by Pope St. Damasus I, and by many other saints and the Apostles themselves. But they did not let these to hinder them, and instead these oppositions helped to further push them on to work even harder for the sake of the Lord.

Pope St. Damasus I and the other saints showed us that, we should not worry or fear rejection from this world, for after all, it has first rejected the Lord Himself. Instead, we should put our complete faith and trust in the Lord, in whom we will have true joy and true rest. For indeed, the Lord did offer us a burden, because His path is not an easy one, but that burden is a light one, and at the end of the way, He will lift up that burden from us, and give us an unparalled crown of unending and heavenly glory.

May the Lord with the intercession of Pope St. Damasus I and other holy men and women who ceaselessly praise Him daily with the angels, continue to watch over us, strengthen us, and reinforce our faith in Him. God bless us all. Amen.

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Wednesday, 11 December 2013 : 2nd Week of Advent, Memorial of Pope St. Damasus I, Pope (Gospel Reading)

Liturgical Colour : Purple/Violet or White (Popes)

Matthew 11 : 28-30

Come to Me, all you who work hard and who carry heavy burdens, and I will refresh you. Take My yoke upon you and learn from Me, for I am gentle and humble of heart and you will find rest. For My yoke is good, and My burden is light.