Weekdays of Lent

by

Friday, 1 March 2024 : 2nd Week of Lent (Homily and Scripture Reflections)

Liturgical Colour : Purple/Violet

Dear brothers and sisters in Christ, today all of us are reminded through the readings we have heard from the Sacred Scriptures, that we must always be vigilant against the temptations of evil and sin all around us, which can lead us astray from the path that the Lord has shown and taught us to follow, and as the Scriptures showed us, it can even lead to intrigue and divisions within those as close as family members and relatives, and can also lead to us desiring more of the wicked wants and ambitions in life, for all the things that we often crave and desire in life, that can lead to us falling further and further away from the path towards God’s salvation and grace, and resulting in us falling towards the path of sin and destruction, if we are not careful and vigilant with how we live our lives.

In our first reading today, we heard from the Book of Genesis in which the story of Joseph and his brothers, the sons of Jacob or Israel, were told to us. Joseph was one of the twelve sons of Jacob, and he was one of the only two sons that Rachel, Jacob’s beloved wife, had borne for him, together with Benjamin, Joseph’s younger brother. They were also borne to Jacob at his relatively old age, and hence, they were shown greater care and favour by their father as compared to their elder brothers who were borne by Jacob’s other wife and his wives’ servants. And we heard how Joseph had been given the gift of dreams and vision by the Lord, as he received dreams about his family, and as premonition of the future which was yet to come.

In fact, Joseph’s dreams which was not detailed in today’s first reading, showing how his family, including his own father and brothers would bow down to him, was a revelation from God of how things would turn out to be, when Joseph was sent to Egypt, and eventually became the great Regent of the whole Egyptian kingdom, second only to the Pharaoh. It was there that all the brothers of Joseph eventually went, and they would indeed bow down to him, not knowing that the Regent was in fact Joseph, whom they had persecuted, betrayed and sold off to the Midianite slavers a long time before. Thus, what they had designed out of jealousy and anger against their own brother, God had turned into great benefit for themselves, when Joseph helped all of them, his whole family to stay well provisioned and cared for during the difficult years of famine that happened then.

In that passage, we heard of how jealousy and anger, all these things can easily get out of hand and made one to abandon and betray one’s own brother, one’s own family member and flesh and blood in such a manner. All the more then it can cause harm to those who are not even close to us. That is why, we must be careful and vigilant lest the temptations of worldly ambitions, pressures and desires may lead us astray into the path of wickedness, evil and hence sin against God and against our fellow brothers and sisters, as what the brothers of Joseph had done for their own brother, in wanting to kill him at first, and then selling him off to the Midianite merchants, lying to their own father that their brother had been beset and killed by wild beasts.

In our Gospel passage today, we heard of the Lord’s words to His disciples and followers, of the parable of the evil tenant in which He highlighted the actions of the evil tenants who tried to usurp and take over the control of the lands rented out to them from the landowner. In that parable we heard how the landowner sent his servants and even his own son to remind all those tenants to pay their due rents, and yet, they hardened their hearts, refused to do as they were obliged to, and they also persecuted and even murdered the servants and the son of the landowner sent to them to help and remind them in their journey. And why was that the case? That is because those tenants must have been tempted by the wealth of their lands and those which they had received and been rented for by the landowner.

That temptations grew into great attachment, ego and greed, leading to the refusal and the stubbornness of those tenants in not paying their rents, and even killing those sent to them to remind them. This is a clear reminder from the Lord for all of us that just as the brothers of Joseph had shown us earlier from our first reading today, the greed and desire of mankind, the desire for power and earthly things can lead us down the path of evil and ruin. As long as we allow ourselves to be swayed by those temptations of worldly ambitions and glory, we may find it difficult to get rid of those obstacles for us to attain true righteousness in God. We must always be aware that if we let the devil and all that he tempted us with to lead us down this path of ruin, then in the end, there will be nothing left but regret when we are judged to be unworthy of God and His grace.

Like those tenants, the Lord, represented by the landowner in that parable, has entrusted each and every one of us with the many talents, gifts, blessings, opportunities and with the many other things that can allow us all to make good use of them for the good of all, for the benefits of not just ourselves but for everyone around us, which is what the Lord has always intended for us when He gave us all those gifts and blessings. However, many of us tend to selfishly hold onto all those gifts and blessings, and refused to do as what we have been called and told to do by the Lord, just as those evil and wicked tenants refused to pay their dues to the landowner as they should have done. Hence, this parable today is an important reminder for us all not to ignore our responsibilities and the many opportunities and blessings which God had granted us so that we may make good use of them for the common good.

Brothers and sisters in Christ, echoing what we have been reminded throughout the various Scripture passages today, let us all hence do what we can such that our lives may be truly full of faith in God, free from the allures and temptations of this world, from the dangers of ego and greed, all of which can bring us into our downfall if we are not careful. We have to strive to live righteously and worthily of the Lord, focusing our attention on Him and not on the many worldly things and matters, all the distractions, concerns, ambitions and desires that we may have all around and within us, so that we do not end up falling ever further away from the path of God’s salvation and grace. Let us always seek the Lord and do our best to come to Him, asking Him for the grace, the strength and courage to be able to do His will, at all times.

May the Lord be with us all, and may He continue to bless and guide us all in all things, and may He lead us all through the path of righteousness and grace, as we continue to walk down this path, and as we continue to mortify ourselves, our sins and evils, resisting all the temptations of the world during this time and season of Lent. May we draw ever closer to the Lord, and may we all be good examples for one another in how we live our lives, at all times. Amen.

by

Friday, 1 March 2024 : 2nd Week of Lent (Gospel Reading)

Liturgical Colour : Purple/Violet

Matthew 21 : 33-43, 45-46

At that time, Jesus said to His disciples, “Listen to another example : There was a landowner who planted a vineyard. He put a fence around it, dug a hole for the winepress, built a watchtower, leased the vineyard to tenants, and then went to a distant country.”

“When harvest time came, the landowner sent his servants to the tenants to collect his share of the harvest. But the tenants seized his servants, beat one, killed another and stoned a third. Again the owner sent more servants, but they were treated in the same way.”

“Finally, he sent his son, thinking, ‘They will respect my son.’ But when the tenants saw the son, they thought, ‘This is the one who is to inherit the vineyard. Let us kill him, and his inheritance will be ours.’ So they seized him, threw him out of the vineyard and killed him.”

“Now, what will the owner of the vineyard do with the tenants when he comes?” They said to him, “He will bring those evil men to an evil end, and lease the vineyard to others, who will pay him in due time.” And Jesus replied, “Have you never read what the Scriptures say? The stone which the builders rejected has become the cornerstone. This was the Lord’s doing, and we marvel at it.”

“Therefore I say to you : the kingdom of heaven will be taken from you, and given to a people who will yield a harvest.”

When the chief priests and the Pharisees heard these parables, they realised that Jesus was referring to them. They would have arrested Him, but they were afraid of the crowd, who regarded Him as a Prophet.

by

Friday, 1 March 2024 : 2nd Week of Lent (Psalm)

Liturgical Colour : Purple/Violet

Psalm 104 : 16-17, 18-19, 20-21

Then the Lord sent a famine and ruined the crop that sustained the land; He sent a man ahead of them, Joseph, who was sold as a slave.

His feet in shackles, his neck in irons till what he foretold came to pass, and the Lord’s word proved him true.

The king sent for him, set him free, the ruler of the peoples released him. He put him in charge of his household and made him ruler of all his possessions.

by

Friday, 1 March 2024 : 2nd Week of Lent (First Reading)

Liturgical Colour : Purple/Violet

Genesis 37 : 3-4, 12-13a, 17b-28

Now Israel loved Joseph more than any of his other children, for he was the son of his old age and he had a coat with long sleeves made for him. His brothers who saw that their father loved him more than he loved them, hated him and could no longer speak to him in a friendly way.

His brothers had gone to pasture their father’s flock at Shechem, and Israel said to Joseph, “Your brothers are pasturing the flock at Shechem.” So Joseph went off after his brothers and found them at Dothan. They saw him in the distance and before he reached them, they plotted to kill him.

They said to one another, “Here comes the specialist in dreams! Now is the time! Let us kill him and throw him into a well. We will say a wild animal devoured him. Then we will see what his dreams were all about!” But Reuben heard this and tried to save him from their hands saying, “Let us not kill him; shed no blood! Throw him in this well in the wilderness, but do him no violence.” This he said to save him from them and take him back to his father.

So as soon as Joseph arrived, they stripped him of his long-sleeved coat that he wore and then took him and threw him in the well, now the well was empty, without water. They were sitting for a meal when they looked up and saw a caravan of Ishmaelites coming from Gilead, their camels laden with spices, balm and myrrh, which they were taking down to Egypt.

Judah then said to his brothers, “What do we gain by killing our brother and hiding his blood? Come! We will sell him to the Ishmaelites and not lay our hands on him, for he is our brother and our own flesh!” His brothers agreed to this. So when the Midianite merchants came along they pulled Joseph up and lifted him out of the well. For twenty pieces of silver they sold Joseph to the Midianites, who took him with them to Egypt.

by

Thursday, 29 February 2024 : 2nd Week of Lent (Homily and Scripture Reflections)

Liturgical Colour : Purple/Violet

Dear brothers and sisters in Christ, through what we have heard in our Scripture readings today, we are all reminded that we should always trust in the Lord and resist the many temptations of worldly desires and attachments, all of which can lead us down the path of ruin and destruction, because they can prevent us from doing what the Lord has told and taught us to do, and as they can lead us to sin, from which we may receive judgment and damnation for all the wickedness and evils that we have committed. It is important that we heed whatever we are reminded of through this day’s Scripture passages so that we can discern well our next course of action in life, and plan how we should continue living our lives, as good and faithful Christians.

In our first reading today, taken from the Book of the prophet Jeremiah, where the Lord spoke to His people in the kingdom of Judah through His prophet, regarding how they all should not put their trust in mankind, and how they should instead believe in the Lord and place their faith in Him. The context for this was that, at the time, the kingdom of Judah, to whom the Lord had sent Jeremiah to, had been beset by many troubles and difficulties, and was in fact in the last years of its existence, just before it was wiped out and destroyed by the Babylonians, who would conquer and destroy Jerusalem, ransack and tear down the Temple of God that King Solomon had built for the Lord, and carry many of the people of Judah into exile in distant lands.

At that time, the prophet Jeremiah had been sent by God to the people of Judah to call them to repent from their sins and wickedness, warning them all that everything would happen just as the Lord has always reminded them, their fated destruction and sufferings, because of their disobedience and refusal to believe in God, their failures to obey the Law and the commandments of God. But many of the people refused to listen to Jeremiah and persisted in their rebellious and sinful ways, choosing to believe in the many false prophets and leaders who claimed that the Lord would bless them and protect them against their enemies despite their many sins and disobedience against Him. Those people advocated the king and the people to seek help and support from the worldly powers like the Egyptians in their struggle against the Babylonians.

If we read through more of the accounts of what happened at that time, we will realise how Judah was caught in the midst of the struggles between the worldly powers, and amidst all the geopolitical manoeuvres, the people of Judah eventually faced the consequences of their lack of faith in the Lord, since they chose to side with the worldly powers instead. When the king of Judah chose to rebel against the Babylonians, under the assurance of support from the Egyptians, backed by many of the nobles and the powerful members of the kingdom, that eventually led to the destruction of Jerusalem and Judah, when the Egyptians either failed to intervene or successfully protect their ally in Judah against the forces of the Babylonians. Hence, we see for ourselves the example of the futility of depending on worldly means against trusting in God.

In our Gospel passage today, we heard of the well-known story and parable which the Lord Jesus told the disciples and all the people, of the tale between Lazarus and the rich man, in which Lazarus, a poor man and beggar, who sat by the doorway of the house of a rich man, suffered greatly from his predicaments, and the rich man did nothing to help the poor Lazarus, and although he was in the position to help Lazarus, but he did not lift a finger or even offer anything from his table to help. Lazarus as we heard was truly poor and without anything, and he was hoping to get just even the scraps of food from the rich man’s table, and instead, wild dogs came to lick his sores, and he eventually died in suffering and loneliness.

We heard how the rich man also died, and unlike Lazarus, he already had plentiful things in life, all the riches and pleasures he could have enjoyed, as well as the friends and people that were with him in the time of good and plenty. However, his failures to help the poor man who was in need of his help, that of Lazarus led him to face the consequences of his actions and also his lack of compassion and love for his fellow brethren in need. Thus, we heard in that same passage of the story of Lazarus being lifted up to Heaven, to enjoy the joy of Heaven with Abraham, while the rich man was cast down to Hell, to suffer for eternity in despair and destruction, for all the failures of his action to care for his fellow man. These are reminders for us that we should not take lightly the dangers of sin and evil, which are ever present around us.

Why is that so? That is because the same thing can happen to us all as well if we ignore the plight and the needs of all those around us who may not be so fortunate as we are. The Lord has given us all various means and opportunities to help those around us who are in need, and for us to share our blessings and good things with them, that they may be strengthened and cared for by our love and compassion. But we often allow ourselves to be swayed and tempted by various worldly temptations and attachments, and by the many allures and false paths all around us that we end up failing in these things and responsibilities that the Lord has entrusted to us, in ignoring the opportunities that we can do and make good use of, in helping those who we are perfectly in position to help.

Brothers and sisters in Christ, let us all therefore realise that each and every one of us have been given the blessings, the means, opportunities, the power and the ability to change the lives of others, to help them enjoy a better life in this world. All of us should do what the Lord has asked, called and entrusted to us to do, so that by our every words, actions and deeds, we may indeed glorify Him, and bring about good things and happiness to all our fellow brothers and sisters around us. We should not allow the temptations of this world to distract and mislead us down the wrong path, like that of the rich man who was likely tempted by the riches of the world and all of its pleasures, that he ignored the plight of Lazarus before him. Let us all as Christians be always filled with great love and compassion for our fellow brothers and sisters.

May the Lord continue to help and guide us in our journey of life, especially as we continue to progress through this penitential time and season of Lent, so that we may continue to grow ever stronger in faith, and be ever more devoted to Him, our ever loving and compassionate God, now and always. Amen.

by

Thursday, 29 February 2024 : 2nd Week of Lent (Gospel Reading)

Liturgical Colour : Purple/Violet

Luke 16 : 19-31

At that time, Jesus said to His disciples, “Once there was a rich man who dressed in purple and fine linen and feasted every day. At his gate lay Lazarus, a poor man covered with sores, who longed to eat just the scraps falling from the rich man’s table. Even dogs used to come and lick his sores.”

“It happened that the poor man died, and Angels carried him to take his place with Abraham. The rich man also died, and was buried. From hell where he was in torment, the rich man looked up and saw Abraham afar off, and with him Lazarus at rest. He called out, ‘Father Abraham, have pity on me, and send Lazarus, with the tip of his finger dipped in water, to cool my tongue, for I suffer so much in this fire.'”

“Abraham replied, ‘My son, remember that in your lifetime you were well-off, while the lot of Lazarus was misfortune. Now he is in comfort, and you are in agony. But that is not all. Between your place and ours a great chasm has been fixed, so that no one can cross over from here to you, or from your side to us.'”

“The rich man implored once more, ‘Then I beg you, Father Abraham, to send Lazarus to my father’s house, where my five brothers live, let him warn them, so that they may not end up in this place of torment.’ Abraham replied, ‘They have Moses and the prophets. Let them listen to them.'”

“But the rich man said, ‘No, Father Abraham; but if someone from the dead goes to them, they will repent.’ Abraham said, ‘If they will not listen to Moses and the prophets, they will not be convinced, even if someone rises from the dead.'”

by

Thursday, 29 February 2024 : 2nd Week of Lent (Psalm)

Liturgical Colour : Purple/Violet

Psalm 1 : 1-2, 3, 4 and 6

Blessed is the one who does not go where the wicked gather, or stand in the way of sinners, or sit where the scoffers sit! Instead, he finds delight in the law of the Lord and meditates day and night on His commandments.

He is like a tree beside a brook producing its fruit in due season, its leaves never withering. Everything he does is a success.

But it is different with the wicked. They are like chaff driven away by the wind. For the Lord knows the way of the righteous but cuts off the way of the wicked.

by

Thursday, 29 February 2024 : 2nd Week of Lent (First Reading)

Liturgical Colour : Purple/Violet

Jeremiah 17 : 5-10

This is what YHVH says, “Cursed is the man who trusts in human beings and depends on a mortal for his life, while his heart is drawn away from YHVH! He is like a bunch of thistles in dry land, in parched desert places, in a salt land where no one lives and who never finds happiness.”

“Blessed is the man who puts his trust in YHVH and whose confidence is in Him! He is like a tree planted by the water, sending out its roots towards the stream. He has no fear when the heat comes, his leaves are always green; the year of drought is no problem and he can always bear fruit.”

“Most deceitful is the heart. What is there within man, who can understand him? I, YHVH, search the heart and penetrate the mind. I reward each one according to his ways and the fruit of his deeds.”

by

Wednesday, 28 February 2024 : 2nd Week of Lent (Homily and Scripture Reflections)

Liturgical Colour : Purple/Violet

Dear brothers and sisters in Christ, today as we continue to progress through this time and season of Lent, and as we reflect upon the words of the Sacred Scriptures which we have just heard from, let us all realise that we have to be truly committed and faithful to the path which the Lord has shown and led us into as Christians, as those whom He has called and chosen. All of us have been reminded that as Christians, it is likely that we will encounter some forms of hardships and challenges, trials and persecutions in our path in life, just as our Lord and Saviour has been rejected and persecuted for everything that He had done for our sake. If we have not suffered for being Christians, then it is likely that we have not truly lived our lives with true and genuine faith as we should have done.

In our first reading today, we heard from the Book of the prophet Jeremiah in which the prophet lamented for the persecutions, hardships, oppressions that he faced from the people of God, the people of the kingdom of Judah that he had been sent to minister by the Lord. At that time, the kingdom of Judah was the only remaining kingdom of the people of Israel, after the northern kingdom, called the kingdom of Israel, had been destroyed and conquered by the Assyrians. All that came about because of the sins and the wickedness of the people, who refused to follow the Lord, abandoned His Law and commandments, and persecuted the messengers and prophets sent into their midst to remind and help them to come back towards God.

But God still loved His people nonetheless, and He kept on sending His messengers and servants, the many prophets including Jeremiah to help and guide the people back to the right path. He sent Jeremiah to warn His people that if they persisted on their sinful and wicked way of life, then they would also suffer the same fate as their brethren that once lived in the northern kingdom, in having their kingdom and cities destroyed and conquered, and in being uprooted and exiled from their homeland to distant, far-off lands, being foreigners that faced humiliation and sufferings for having abandoned and betrayed the Covenant which God had established with them and with their ancestors. Yet, the people often refused to listen and continued to stubbornly harden their hearts and minds.

And hence, the people of Judah, misled and misguided by the false prophets that Satan had placed in their midst, refused to heed Jeremiah’s warning and his reassurances of God’s loving compassion and mercy. Jeremiah was persecuted, and faced great tribulations that he even almost lost his life on occasions. He had to endure prison and other forms of hardships throughout his ministry, and this was actually the similar fate which many of the martyrs and the saints of the early Church had suffered throughout their lives and works. Many of our holy predecessors had suffered and endured bitter struggles and humiliations, and not few even lost their lives, in the midst of their actions in loving and obeying the Lord. And yet, they remained true to their faith, and continued to commit themselves to God.

In our Gospel passage today, we then heard of the moment when the Lord Jesus told His disciples clearly of the hardships and the struggles that He Himself was soon to endure, in facing oppression, persecution and rejection from the chief priests and all those who were opposed to Him and His teachings. The Lord Jesus made it clear to all of them that He had to face those hardships as part of what He had been sent to do, in suffering and embracing all of the punishments due to our sins and wickedness, that by His sufferings and ultimately through His death on the Cross, He might lead us all into freedom from the bondage and the tyranny of sin, darkness, evil and death. And at the same time, it also means that those who follow Him may likely face the same oppressions, sufferings, trials and difficulties as He Himself has suffered.

Then, afterwards in the same passage we heard how the mother of St. James and St. John, two of the Lord’s Twelve inner circle, the Twelve Apostles, came to Him with her sons, and asked Him if He could grant them favourable places on His left and His right when He comes into His Kingdom. This act was specifically an act asking for favour and preference from the Lord for her sons, St. James and St. John. At that time, as is the case now, to be able to sit beside the King is truly an honour that not everyone may have, and therefore, St. James, St. John and their mother were looking at the situation from the perspective of the commonly known earthly and worldly kingship, where they might have thought that they would enjoy earthly benefits, honour and glory, having been brought to witness some of the Lord’s miracles exclusively, as those who were closest to Him.

Yet, this was where the Lord told the two brothers and their mother, that they failed to recognise what being His disciples truly means. To be a disciple and follower of Christ, it does not mean that one will receive worldly honour, glory and satisfaction, and they should not think that by following Him, then they shall be glorious in the world or that they shall enjoy good and prosperous lives. Instead, the Lord told them all again that following Him would likely mean for them to face sufferings and hardships, which He symbolised with the cup of suffering that He had to drink, representing the suffering and death that He had to suffer at the moments of His Passion and death. Then, the Lord also told the two disciples that they would indeed drink the same cup of sufferings that He had to drink, foreshadowing what they both would have to endure for His sake.

St. James the Apostle, also known as St. James the Greater, would be the first among the Twelve Apostles to be martyred, which was highlighted in the New Testament, as he was arrested, imprisoned and eventually martyred at the orders of King Herod, who wanted to please the Jewish people and authorities by doing so. Meanwhile, St. John the Apostle would be the only one among all the Apostles who was not martyred, but in his long life, he had to endure so many hardships, difficulties, persecutions, arrests, exiles and other trials, that he had essentially lived his life through a kind of martyrdom called the ‘white martyrdom’, referring to all those who did not suffer death for their faith in God, and yet still suffered greatly for their faith and dedication to the Lord.

Brothers and sisters in Christ, through what we have heard from the Sacred Scriptures today, and from the things that we have just discussed, let us all therefore be reminded that our lives are meant to glorify the Lord, and our actions, words and deeds should be filled with genuine faith and obedience to God, in all things. We should not allow the temptations of worldly glory, fame, comfort and pleasures to distract and mislead us in our journey of faith towards God. Let us all ask the Lord to bless and guide us in this journey of faith, and let us continue to do our best, so that in everything that we say and do, we will continue to glorify Him, and to be great role models and inspirations for one another. May God be with us all, and may He bless us in our every good efforts and endeavours. Amen.

by

Wednesday, 28 February 2024 : 2nd Week of Lent (Gospel Reading)

Liturgical Colour : Purple/Violet

Matthew 20 : 17-28

At that time, when Jesus was going to Jerusalem, He took the twelve disciples and said to them, “See, we are going to Jerusalem. There the Son of Man will be betrayed to the chief priests and the teachers of the Law, who will condemn Him to death. They will hand Him over to the foreigners, who will mock Him, scourge Him and crucify Him. But He will be raised to life on the third day.”

Then the mother of James and John came to Jesus with her sons, and she knelt down, to ask a favour. Jesus said to her, “What do you want?” And she answered, “Here You have my two sons. Grant that they may sit, one at Your right hand and one at Your left, when You are in Your kingdom.”

Jesus said to the brothers, “You do not know what you are asking. Can you drink the cup that I am about to drink?” They answered, “We can.” Jesus replied, “You will indeed drink My cup, but to sit at My right or at My left is not for Me to grant. That will be for those, for whom My Father has prepared it.”

The other ten heard all this, and were angry with the two brothers. Then Jesus called them to Him and said, “You know that the rulers of the nations act as tyrants over them, and the powerful oppress them. It shall not be so among you : whoever wants to be more important in your community shall make himself your servant.”

“And if you want to be the first of all, make yourself the servant of all. Be like the Son of Man Who has come, not to be served but to serve, and to give His life to redeem many.”