Wednesday

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Wednesday, 20 November 2024 : 33rd Week of Ordinary Time (Gospel Reading)

Liturgical Colour : Green

Luke 19 : 11-28

At that time, Jesus was then near Jerusalem, and the people with Him thought that God’s reign was about to appear. So as they were listening to Him, Jesus went on to tell them a parable. He said, “A man of noble birth went to a distant country to assume regal authority, after which he planned to return home.”

“Before he left, he summoned ten od his servants and gave them ten pounds of silver. He said, ‘Put this money to work until I get back.’ But his compatriots, who disliked him, sent a delegation after him with this message, ‘We do not want this man to be our king.'”

“He returned, however, appointed as king. At once he sent for the servants, to whom he had given the money, to find out what profit each had made. The first came in, and reported, ‘Sir, your pound of silver has earned ten more pounds of silver.’ The master replied, ‘Well done, my good servant! Since you have proved yourself faithful in a small matter, I can trust you to take charge of ten cities.'”

“The second reported, ‘Sir, your pound of silver earned five more pounds of silver.’ The master replied, ‘And you, take charge of five cities!’ The third came in, and said, ‘Sir, here is your money, which I hid for safekeeping. I was afraid of you, for you are an exacting person : you take up what you did not lay down, and you reap what you did not sow.'”

“The master replied, ‘You worthless servant, I will judge you by your own words! So you knew I was an exacting person, taking up what I did not lay down, and reaping what I did not sow? Why, then, did you not put my money on loan, so that, when I got back, I could have collected it with interest?'”

“Then the master said to those standing by, ‘Take from him that pound, and give it to the one with ten pounds.’ But they objected, ‘Sir, he already has ten pounds!’ The master replied, ‘I tell you, everyone who has will be given more; but from those who have nothing, even what they have will be taken away. As for my enemies who did not want me to be their king, bring them in, and execute them right here in front me.'”

So Jesus spoke, and then He passed on ahead of them, on His way to Jerusalem.

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Wednesday, 20 November 2024 : 33rd Week of Ordinary Time (Psalm)

Liturgical Colour : Green

Psalm 150 : 1-2, 3-4, 5-6

Alleluia! Praise God in His sanctuary; praise Him in the vault of heaven. Praise Him for His mighty deeds; praise Him for His own greatness.

Praise Him with trumpet blast; praise Him with lyre and harp. Praise Him with dance and tambourines; praise Him with pipe and strings.

Praise Him with clashing cymbals; praise Him with clanging cymbals. Let everything that breathes sing praise to the Lord. Alleluia!

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Wednesday, 20 November 2024 : 33rd Week of Ordinary Time (First Reading)

Liturgical Colour : Green

Revelations 4 : 1-11

After this, I looked up to the wall of the sky and saw an open door. The voice which I had first speaking to me like a trumpet said, “Come up here and I will show you what will come in the future.”

Immediately I was seized by the Spirit. There, in heaven, was a throne and One sitting on it. He Who sat there looked like jasper and carnelian and round the throne was a rainbow resembling an emerald. In a circle around the throne are twenty-four thrones and seated on these are twenty-four elders, dressed in white clothes, with golden crowns on their heads.

Flashes of lightning come forth from the throne, with voices and thunderclaps. Seven flaming torches burn before the throne; these are the seven Spirits of God. Before the throne there is a platform, transparent like crystal. Around and beside the throne stand four living creatures, full of eyes, both in front and behind.

The first living creature is like a lion, the second like a bull, the third has the face of a man and the fourth looks like a flying eagle. Each of the four living creatures has six wings full of eyes, all around as well as within; day and night they sing without ceasing, “Holy, holy, holy is the Lord God, Master of the universe, Who was, and is and is to come.”

Whenever the living creatures give glory, honour and thanks to the One on the throne, He Who lives forever and ever, the twenty-four elders fall down before Him and worship the One Who lives forever and ever. They lay their crowns in front of the throne and say, “Our Lord and God, worthy are You to receive glory, honour and power! For You have created all things; by Your will they came to be and were made.”

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Wednesday, 13 November 2024 : 32nd Week of Ordinary Time (Homily and Scripture Reflections)

Liturgical Colour : Green

Dear brothers and sisters in Christ, today as we all listened to the words of the Sacred Scriptures, we are all reminded to seek the Lord Who is our ever loving, compassionate and merciful God, the One Who has always shown His patient love and grace, attention and kindness towards us, despite us having constantly and consistently been disobedient towards Him, not listening to Him and disobeying His will, His Law and commandments. As our loving Father, the Lord has always been patient in loving us and in caring for us, forgiving us all of our sins and mistakes, our faults and all the things which we have done in defiance against His will, patiently reaching out towards us, helping and guiding us to walk in the right path, and showing us the path towards salvation and eternal life, hoping that we will turn away from our wicked path and return towards Him with renewed love and faith.

In our first reading today, we heard from the Epistle of St. Paul to St. Titus in which the Apostle spoke about the matter of how everyone of the faithful and holy people of God ought to be truly faithful to the Lord, and to distance themselves from all sorts of vices, evils and corruptions of the world. As Christians, as God’s holy and beloved people, those whom He had called and chosen from this world, we are essentially expected to follow the path that the Lord has presented and guided us through, the path of His righteousness and virtue, through which we shall find the path to salvation in God. All of us are called to be good role models and inspirations for each other in faith, to be thoroughly dedicated to Him and to be the shining beacons of God’s light and truth from now on, if we have not yet done so.

That is because all of us have been saved by what the Lord had done for us in Jesus Christ, His Son, Our Lord and Saviour, just as St. Paul had reminded his protege, St. Titus and all of us, the faithful people of God. We must not take for granted everything that God had done for us, all the love that He has shown us most patiently and wonderfully. God has shown us all His love and generosity, compassion and kindness so that we can also follow His examples instead of as St. Paul said, hating one another and be filled with anger and malice in our hearts, thinking of nothing but ruin and destruction for others around us. As God’s holy and beloved people, each and every one of us are called to be those who are always filled with genuine love and kindness to one another, to be concerned with the needs and the plight of those who are suffering in our midst.

Then, in our Gospel passage today, we heard from the Gospel according to St. Luke in which the Lord Jesus encountered ten lepers that came to Him seeking for Him to heal them from their affliction. By that time, they certainly have heard well of the Lord and all the miraculous deeds and works that He had performed, and they hoped that they could heal them from their condition. At that time, as it had been since the time of Moses and the Exodus from the land of Egypt, those who suffered from leprosy had been ostracised and had to stay away from the cities and towns, having to wander off in the wilderness, and they could not rejoin the community and the other people of God until they had been healed from their afflictions and problems, showing themselves to a priest who could certify that they had been healed.

The Lord did indeed want to heal them all, but He also instructed them beforehand to show themselves to the priest according to the Law of God revealed through Moses. Those ten men obeyed His instruction, and on their way to the priest as we heard, they became healed and their leprosy left them. However, as all of them realised their fortune and became overjoyed, only one of the ten lepers bothered to come back to the Lord to thank Him for everything that He had done for them, while the other nine went on their way, presumably to resume their lives now that they were already free from their leprosy and problems. This is all a reminder for each and every one of us that we often seek God’s help, compassion and love, His mercy, forgiveness and grace, and we often cry out for His help, guidance and strength, and yet, we often forget about Him when things are good again for us.

Yes, brothers and sisters in Christ, it is the sad nature of our faith and way of living our Christian existence that we frequently put God as secondary importance in our lives. We ignore and abandon Him whenever we do not have need for Him or His help, and we only remember Him whenever we have any need for help and assistance. And is that how we treat God’s generosity and kindness, brethren? Have we stooped so low so as to ignore our loving Father’s kindness and love, His ever patient and enduring love for us? Let us all really think and reflect about all these, as we remember the love and mercy which the Lord has shown us through His Son, in healing those ten lepers, just as He has healed us all from the affliction of our sins, the corruptions that had darkened our souls and separated us from God.

Sin is indeed a leprosy of the soul, as one would have put it and compared it rightly, as just like leprosy that eats upon the flesh and corrupts it, sin is a far more dangerous affliction on us. For what can harm the body can be cured by worldly means, by doctors and other methods known to us, but there is no cure and healing for sin save that of the healing and forgiveness provided by God alone. And the Lord willingly provides us this healing and cure, calling upon all of us to come back to His ever loving and comfortable embrace, in His Holy Presence. However, we need to make the commitment for this, to commit ourselves to follow Him and to dedicate ourselves to His cause, in recognising that each and every one of us have the part to play in our salvation, by accepting God’s generous offer of mercy and salvation, and by cooperating with Him and being grateful at all the love that He has shown us.

Brothers and sisters in Christ, let us all hence strive to live our lives worthily as Christians, to listen to and obey the Lord’s words and will, to heed His call for us to follow Him, and to realise just how blessed and fortunate we are to have been beloved by God. Let us all contemplate God’s generous love and then strive to embody the same love in all of our actions and dealings, interactions and works. Let our love be generously given as well then, in our love for the Lord and also in our love for our fellow brothers and sisters, so that by our love, people will indeed know the Lord and His love, and that they will also know that we are all His holy and beloved people. May God bless each one of us in our journey of faith and life, now and always. Amen.

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Wednesday, 13 November 2024 : 32nd Week of Ordinary Time (Gospel Reading)

Liturgical Colour : Green

Luke 17 : 11-19

At that time, on the way to Jerusalem, Jesus passed through Samaria and Galilee, and as He entered a village, ten lepers came to meet Him. Keeping their distance, they called to Him, “Jesus, Master, have pity on us!”

Jesus said to them, “Go, and show yourselves to the priests.” Then, as they went on their way, they found they were cured. One of them, as soon as he saw that he was cleansed, turned back, praising God in a loud voice; and throwing himself on his face before Jesus, he gave Him thanks. This man was a Samaritan.

Then Jesus asked him, “Were not all ten healed? Where are the other nine? Did none of them decide to return and give praise to God, but this foreigner?” And Jesus said to him, “Stand up and go your way; your faith has saved you.”

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Wednesday, 13 November 2024 : 32nd Week of Ordinary Time (Psalm)

Liturgical Colour : Green

Psalm 22 : 1-3a, 3b-4, 5, 6

The Lord is my Shepherd, I shall not want. He makes me lie down in green pastures. He leads me beside the still waters. He restores my soul.

He guides me through the right paths for His Name’s sake. Although I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I fear no evil, for You are beside me : Your rod and Your staff comfort me.

You spread a table before me in the presence of my foes. You anoint my head with oil; my cup is overflowing.

Goodness and kindness will follow me all the days of my life. I shall dwell in the house of the Lord as long as I live.

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Wednesday, 13 November 2024 : 32nd Week of Ordinary Time (First Reading)

Liturgical Colour : Green

Titus 3 : 1-7

Remind the believers, to be submissive to rulers and authorities, to be obedient, and to be ready for every good work. Tell them to insult no one; they must not be quarrelsome, but gentle and understanding with everyone. We ourselves were once foolish, disobedient and misled. We were slaves of our desires, seeking pleasures of every kind. We lived in malice and envy, hateful, and hating each other.

But God, Our Saviour, revealed His eminent goodness and love for humankind, and saved us, not because of good deeds we may have done, but for the sake of His own mercy, to the water of rebirth and renewal, by the Holy Spirit poured over us through Christ Jesus, Our Saviour, so that, having been justified by His grace, we should become heirs, in hope of eternal life.

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Wednesday, 6 November 2024 : 31st Week of Ordinary Time (Homily and Scripture Reflections)

Liturgical Colour : Green

Dear brothers and sisters in Christ, today as we all listened to the words of the Sacred Scriptures, we are all reminded that as Christians, as God’s holy and beloved people, each and every one of us are called and expected to do what is right and just according to what the Lord has taught and shown us, to obey Him and His will at all times and be inspirations and good role models for one another. We are reminded to do what is pleasing to God as it is what we are truly expected to do, to be worthy of God and to be faithful to Him, to be the beacons of His light, truth and Good News among the nations. And since we have known this fact, truth and the mission entrusted to us, hence, it is imperative that we have to live our lives courageously and worthily as true and genuine Christians.

In our first reading today, taken from the Epistle of St. Paul the Apostle to the Church and the faithful in the city and region of Philippi in what is Greece today, we heard of the Apostle reminding the people of God there to live their lives righteously and worthily of God so that in everything that they say and do, they will be good examples and inspirations for one another, to stand apart from the wickedness of those who did not believe in God or those who embraced the ways of the world. At that time, there were many people in the community who had lived wickedly in the manner of the pagans, those who were influenced by the many hedonistic and worldly attitudes and practices of that time, and it was these practices which St. Paul reminded the faithful against doing.

St. Paul wanted to remind all the Christians in Philippi and also all of us who have listened to his message today through the Scriptures that we cannot be idle in the living of our faith, and we should not conform to the ways of the world simply because we live in it. On the contrary, since we have been taught and shown by the Lord Himself through His Church on how we ought to live our lives as Christians, as His holy and beloved people, then we truly ought to show it through our real actions, words and commitments, and not only through empty gestures and proclamations, or empty and meaningless faith that is essentially just a formality. A true Christian is someone who truly acts upon whatever he or she believes in, and this is what all of us should be doing in our lives as well.

Then, in our Gospel passage today, we heard of what the Lord Jesus spoke to His disciples and to the people listening to Him, teaching them using the comparison to the planning by those who wanted to build a house or by kings planning before a war so that they could gain the things that they wanted or desired. He used that comparison to show that if mankind can plan well in advance of the things that are to come, then all of us should do the same in preparing ourselves well for what we already know will come for us and will happen to us, just as the Lord has told us and reminded us. We all know that in the end, as we conclude our lives in this world, no matter how long it may be, we will have to account for our lives and for whatever it is that we have done, and for whatever it is that we may have failed to do.

That is why, knowing this, then all of us should very well prepare ourselves and commit ourselves to follow the Lord ever more faithfully in all things, doing our part to live our lives worthily of the Lord as good and faithful Christians, truly faithful in all things and not merely paying lip service to the Lord, and truly embodying our faith in our every moments in life, in our every actions, in our every words and interactions with one another, in our every efforts and endeavours, our every contributions and works, so that in all things, even in the smallest and seemingly least significant things, we will always show true and genuine faith in God, and we will be truly inspirational and good as role models of our Christian faith to one another.

This also means that we should not put the desires and pursuits of worldly glory and ambition, worldly matters and greatness, treasures and riches of the world to be our priority and focus in life, unlike what many others had done in their lives. Echoing what St. Paul the Apostle had told to the faithful in Philippi earlier on that we have just discussed, we too are challenged to live our lives worthily in the manner that God has shown and taught us, and to distance ourselves from all sorts of vices and wicked things, from unhealthy attachments and obsessions for worldly comforts, desires and ambitions, all of which may lead us down the path towards ruin and destruction, as they kept our focus and attention away from the Lord.

Brothers and sisters in Christ, as we have discussed and discerned, let us all ponder these carefully as we continue to progress through life. Are we going to continue living our lives in ignorance of what the Lord our God has entrusted and called us to do? Or are we going to embrace His call and to walk in the path that He has shown to us, following Him to wherever it is that He wants us to go in proclaiming His greatness and truth among the nations? Remember, brothers and sisters, that each and every one of us are important parts and members of the Church of God, and our every works and contributions do matter in advancing the cause of the Lord’s missions and works. Our every contributions and works are important parts of the Church overall missions and works in the outreach to more and more people and to bring God’s salvation to all mankind.

May the Lord continue to strengthen and encourage us all so that we may grow ever more committed in our dedication to the Lord, in our strong desire to love Him and to follow Him at all times. May He empower each and every one of us in our every actions, deeds and efforts, in our every encounter with those people around us so that we may continue to proclaim God’s truth and Good News to more and more people with ever greater zeal and courage, through our own exemplary living and actions, now and always. Amen.

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Wednesday, 6 November 2024 : 31st Week of Ordinary Time (Gospel Reading)

Liturgical Colour : Green

Luke 14 : 25-33

At that time, when large crowds were walking along with Jesus, He turned and said to them, “If you come to Me, unwilling to sacrifice your love for your father and mother, your spouse and children, your brothers and sisters, and indeed yourself, you cannot be My disciple. Whoever does not follow Me, carrying his own cross, cannot be My disciple.”

“Do you build a house without first sitting down to count the cost, to see whether you have enough to complete it? Otherwise, if you, have laid the foundation and are not able to finish it, everyone will make fun of you : ‘This fellow began to build and was not able to finish.'”

“And when a king wages war against another king, does he go to fight without first sitting down to consider whether his ten thousand can stand against the twenty thousand of his opponent? And if not, while the other is still a long way off, he sends messengers for peace talks. In the same way, none of you may become My disciple, if he does not give up everything he has.”

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Wednesday, 6 November 2024 : 31st Week of Ordinary Time (Psalm)

Liturgical Colour : Green

Psalm 26 : 1, 4, 13-14

The Lord is my Light and my Salvation – whom shall I fear? The Lord is the Rampart of my life; I will not be afraid.

One thing I ask of the Lord, one thing I seek – that I may dwell in His house all the days of my life, to gaze at His jewel and to visit His sanctuary.

I hope, I am sure, that I will see the goodness of the Lord in the land of the living. Trust in the Lord, be strong and courageous. Yes, put your hope in the Lord!