Weekdays of Lent

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Wednesday, 21 February 2024 : 1st Week of Lent, Memorial of St. Peter Damian, Bishop and Doctor of the Church (First Reading)

Liturgical Colour : Purple/Violet

Jonah 3 : 1-10

The word of YHVH came to Jonah a second time : “Go to Nineveh, the great city, and announce to them the message I give you.”

In obedience to the word of YHVH, Jonah went to Nineveh. It was a very large city, and it took three days just to cross it. So Jonah walked a single day’s journey and began proclaiming, “Forty days more and Nineveh will be destroyed.”

The people of the city believed God. They declared a fast, and all of them, from the greatest to the least, put on sackcloth. Upon hearing the news, the king of Nineveh got up from his throne, took off his royal robe, put on sackcloth and sat down in ashes. He issued a proclamation throughout Nineveh :

“By the decree of the king and his nobles, no people or beasts, herd or flock, will taste anything; neither will they eat nor drink. But let people and beasts be covered with sackcloth. Let everyone call aloud to God, turn from his evil ways and violence. Who knows? God may yet relent, turn from His fierce anger and spare us.”

When God saw what they did and how they turned from their evil ways, He had compassion and did not carry out the destruction He had threatened upon them.

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Tuesday, 20 February 2024 : 1st Week of Lent (Homily and Scripture Reflections)

Liturgical Colour : Purple/Violet

Dear brothers and sisters in Christ, today all of us are reminded of the virtue of obedience and the importance of prayer in our lives as Christians. This is because it is through prayer and obedience that all of us will likely come closer to God and His salvation, as it is through those that we will grow ever stronger and better in our Christian living, and each one of us will come to share in the grace of God, our loving Father and Creator, Whose love and compassion for us are truly boundless and wonderful. Each and every one of us are beloved by God, and that is why He has given us all the most wonderful and perfect gift of His own Son, the One He sent to us to become our Saviour.

In our first reading today, we heard from the Book of the prophet Isaiah in which God spoke to His people regarding His Word, Whom He sent into the world to do His will, to bless and to provide for all of us, His beloved ones. This was in fact a premonition and also a prophecy on what was to happen and come, with the coming of the Word of God, incarnate in the flesh as the Son of Man, Jesus Christ, Who had been sent into our midst to save us all from certain destruction and damnation, and to fulfil what God has always desired to do with us, and that is to love us all and to bring us all back to Himself, so that we will be reconciled with Him, and made perfect and good once again. And to this extent, that was why He gave us all the most perfect gift of all in His Son, Our Lord and Saviour, the Divine Word Incarnate.

God is truly full of love for each and every one of us, and He is indeed a loving Father to each and every one of us. No one is truly beyond the great love and compassion of God, which has endured throughout all time, from the very beginning. God could have erased us from existence and destroyed us because of our disobedience and wickedness, which had led to us committing sins against Him. Sin has separated us from the love and grace of God, and brought us all into this state of corruption, tainting us by the vileness of disgrace and the filth of evil. Yet, despite all these, God’s love for each one of us endures and remains, because nothing can overcome this love, and not even the power of sin. What God despises is our sins and wickedness, and not us. That is why, as a loving Father, He sent unto us His Son to save us.

How so? By embracing our human nature and existence, taking up our human flesh and becoming as one of us, Christ, the Son of God Who has also become the Son of Man, has united us all to His Sonship, and since He is the Son of the Father, He has made us all His brothers and sisters, and thus also the adopted sons and daughters of God, Who is truly our Father and Creator. That is why, we should really be thankful and grateful, appreciative and understanding, just how fortunate we all are to have been beloved so much by our God and Father. We must not take this for granted and we must always do what we can so that we reciprocate the love which our loving and merciful Father has always shown us, listening to Him and communicating with Him, which brings us to what we listened to in our Gospel passage today.

In our Gospel passage today, we heard from the Gospel of St. Matthew in which the Lord Jesus talked to His disciples and followers about the matter of praying to God. He told them all that when they pray, they must not be like those who often said a lot and made a lot of words and yet, they did not truly embody and understand what they were saying. The Lord also spoke against all those who spoke many words and did not even understand what prayer is all about, and hence, He taught all of His disciples on how they should be praying, with the prayer which He Himself has made, the prayer that we now know well as the Pater Noster, or ‘Our Father’, also known as ‘The Lord’s Prayer’ because it is He Himself Who has taught us this perfect prayer.

Essentially, prayer is all about communication that we have with God, and not merely a litany of words and demands, unlike what many of us had often misunderstood this important essence of prayer. Prayer is first of all about thanking and glorifying God, thanking Him for everything that He has done for us, for the many blessings we have received and ultimately for the lives we have been blessed with, all these while. Prayer is not about praising or glorifying ourselves, and also not about making demands of the Lord, asking and demanding Him to do things for us, which is what prayer is about, in our mistaken and flawed understanding. Prayer is something that needs to be made from the heart, our connection with God, our loving Father, as we speak and listen to Him, communicating with Him genuinely.

That is why, the Lord Himself has taught us how to communicate with our loving Father in Heaven, to thank Him and to allow Him to speak with us, to glorify Him and to ask Him for His blessings and providence in all things. This is what our prayers should be like, and not prayers made without true love and understanding of our relationship with the Father. We all should use prayer well in order to deepen our relationship with the Lord, our most loving and kind, patient and benevolent Father and Creator. We should practice a good spiritual and prayerful life so that we can grow ever closer to Him, distancing ourselves from the path of sin and evil, resisting all the temptations which may prevent us from coming close towards God and His salvation.

Let us all therefore spend more good and quality time with the Lord our God, through prayers and other means, and seek to understand and know better the will of God which He has presented to us through His Son, and through our interactions with Him. As Christians, let us all always be role model for one another, so that by our examples and dedication, we may inspire one another in faith, and in doing more and more to come ever closer to God and His grace. May God bless us all in all things, now and forevermore. Amen.

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Tuesday, 20 February 2024 : 1st Week of Lent (Gospel Reading)

Liturgical Colour : Purple/Violet

Matthew 6 : 7-15

At that time, Jesus said to His disciples, “When you pray, do not use a lot of words, as the pagans do; for they believe that, the more they say, the more chance they have of being heard. Do not be like them. Your Father knows what you need, even before you ask Him.”

“This, then, is how you should pray : Our Father in heaven, holy be Your Name, Your kingdom, come, Your will, be done on earth, as in heaven. Give us today, our daily bread. Forgive us our debts, as we forgive those who are in debt to us.”

“Do not bring us to the test, but deliver us from the evil one. If you forgive others their wrongdoings, your Father in heaven will also forgive yours. If you do not forgive others, then your Father will not forgive you.”

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Tuesday, 20 February 2024 : 1st Week of Lent (Psalm)

Liturgical Colour : Purple/Violet

Psalm 33 : 4-5, 6-7, 16-17, 18-19

Oh, let us magnify YHVH; together, let us glorify His Name! I sought YHVH, and He answered me; from all my fears He delivered me.

They who look to Him are radiant with joy, their faces never clouded with shame. When the poor cry out, YHVH hears and saves them from distress.

The eyes of YHVH are fixed on the righteous; His ears are inclined to their cries. But His face is set against the wicked, to destroy their memory from the earth.

YHVH hears the cry of the righteous and rescues them from all their troubles. YHVH is close to the brokenhearted and saves the distraught.

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Tuesday, 20 February 2024 : 1st Week of Lent (First Reading)

Liturgical Colour : Purple/Violet

Isaiah 55 : 10-11

As the rain and snow come down from the heavens and do not return till they have watered the earth, making it yield seed for the sower and food for others to eat, so is My Word that goes forth out of My mouth : It will not return to Me idle, but It shall accomplish My will, the purpose for which It has been sent.

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Monday, 19 February 2024 : 1st Week of Lent (Homily and Scripture Reflections)

Liturgical Colour : Purple/Violet

Dear brothers and sisters in Christ, today as we continue to proceed through this time and season of Lent, each and every one of us are reminded that as Christians, all of us must always strive to do what God has called and commanded us all to do with our lives, in being righteous, just and committed to the path which He has taught and shown us. Otherwise, if we do not do so, then we will end up being held accountable for our lack of faith and real commitment to the path of God, and in the end, we will have to account for all of our actions and commitments to God, or for our failure to do so, if we neglect our responsibilities and calling as Christians, in whichever areas and opportunities that we have been given by God.

In our first reading today, we heard the exhortations from the Book of Leviticus in which God spoke to His people, the Israelites, whom He had brought out of the land of Egypt through Moses, His servant, whom then He entrusted with the responsibilities of leading and guiding the Israelites through their time in Egypt, their liberation and then the journey through the desert to the Promised Land of Canaan. God told all of His people that they must be holy just as He is Holy, loving just as He is always full of Love, devoted to Him just as He has always been devoted to the Covenant that He had made with each and every one of them and with their ancestors. That was why Moses told the people what they all ought to do, in doing what is right and just, in loving and caring for one another, and in not oppressing or causing hardships and sufferings to others.

Now, brothers and sisters in Christ, although this happened a really long time ago, but whatever Moses had told the people of Israel are still applicable to us all as well. For are we not God’s beloved and chosen people as well? Through baptism we have willingly embraced the Lord as our God and Saviour, and we have become part of God’s One Church, His united Body, where all of us have been brought together to be one holy people, filled with grace and blessings of God. That is why all of us should also strive to be righteous and just, full of love for God and for our fellow brothers and sisters around us. We should not ignore all these things, the Law and the commandments which the Lord had given and revealed to us, and which He has also explained and taught to us through His Church.

Then, in our Gospel passage today, we heard of the account of the Last Judgment as presented by the Lord Jesus to His disciples and all those who have gathered to listen to Him. He told all of them that He Himself, the Son of Man, will come at the end of time, the moment of the Final Judgment of all the living and the dead, when everyone will have to account for everything which they have said, done, and even all those things that they had failed to say, do or act upon when they had been given the good opportunities and means to by the Lord. The Lord Jesus showed how everyone will be separated by whether they have been found worthy of the Lord and His salvation, or whether they have been found lacking and wanting in their faith.

The Lord also made it clear that all those who have been deemed worthy are all those who have always lived their lives faithfully, and did whatever they could to reach out to their fellow brethren, particularly those who are less fortunate and blessed than they are, that through their care and love, they have shown themselves to be the epitome of Christian love and truth. Meanwhile, all those who have been found lacking and wanting for their faith are not only those who did what are wicked and evil in the sight of God, but also those who neglect their responsibilities, calling and spurned all the opportunities which God had provided them, as they cared more for themselves and selfishly caring and loving themselves only at the expense of others around them.

The Lord made it very clear too of what will happen to the righteous and to those who have been condemned and are deemed unworthy. The worthy and righteous ones will share together in the glory of God, forever enjoying the fullness of God’s grace and all the joy and happiness they shall receive from the Lord Himself, while those who are wicked and unworthy have condemned themselves by their wickedness and by their lack of genuine faith, to an eternity of suffering and darkness, despair and destruction in Hell. The fates of each of these groups have been made clear to us, and therefore we are given the choice by the Lord on which path we want to follow and end up in. We should not waste and squander these opportunities which God has given us, and while it is not yet too late for us.

Therefore, brothers and sisters in Christ, having been reminded of all these things from the passages of the Sacred Scriptures, let us all therefore do whatever we can so that we may always strive to fulfil what we have been entrusted to do, to do what we can so that our lives may be holy, worthy and exemplary in all things. Let us all resist the temptations of Satan and all the false promises and lies which he and all the other fallen beings had given us, and also we ought to restrain our pride, ego, greed and all the things that may lead us all to our downfall if we allow ourselves to be easily swayed and tempted by them. Let us all remind ourselves of our Christian duties and our respective vocations in life, as we all embark through this Lenten journey, journeying with renewed faith in the Lord.

May the Lord continue to help and guide us in our journey through life, so that we may truly be blessed by our faith and commitment to Him, and may our lives be good inspirations and examples for everyone else all around us, so that all of us may share together the desire to love the Lord and to obey Him, to follow His Law and commandments, rejecting the evil and wicked ways of the world. May God bless our every good efforts and endeavours, now and always. Amen.

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Monday, 19 February 2024 : 1st Week of Lent (Gospel Reading)

Liturgical Colour : Purple/Violet

Matthew 25 : 31-46

At that time, Jesus said to His disciples, “When the Son of Man comes in His glory with all His Angels, He will sit on the throne of His glory. All the nations will be brought before Him; and, as a shepherd separates the sheep from the goats, so will He do with them, placing the sheep on His right hand and the goats on His left.”

“The King will say to those on His right, ‘Come, blessed of My Father! Take possession of the kingdom prepared for you from the beginning of the world. For I was hungry, and you fed Me. I was thirsty, and you gave Me something to drink. I was a stranger, and you welcomed Me into your home. I was naked, and you clothed Me. I was sick, and you visited Me. I was in prison, and you came to see Me.’”

“Then the righteous will ask Him, ‘Lord, when did we see You hungry, and give You food; thirsty, and give You something to drink; or a stranger, and welcome You; or naked, and clothe You? When did we see You sick, or in prison, and go to see You?’ The King will answer, ‘Truly I say to you : just as you did it for one of the least of these brothers or sisters of Mine, you did it to Me.’”

“Then He will say to those on His left, ‘Go, cursed people, out of My sight, into the eternal fire, which has been prepared for the devil and his angels! For I was hungry, and you did not give Me anything to eat; I was thirsty, and you gave Me nothing to drink; I was a stranger, and you did not welcome Me into your house; I was naked, and you did not clothe Me; I was sick, and in prison, and you did not visit Me.’”

“They, too, will ask, ‘Lord, when did we see You hungry, thirsty, naked or a stranger, sick or in prison, and did not help You?’ The King will answer them, ‘Truly I say to you : just as you did not do it for one of the least of these, you did not do it for Me.’ And these will go into eternal punishments; but the just, to eternal life.”

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Monday, 19 February 2024 : 1st Week of Lent (Psalm)

Liturgical Colour : Purple/Violet

Psalm 18 : 8, 9, 10, 15

The Law of YHVH is perfect : it gives life to the soul. The word of YHVH is trustworthy : it gives wisdom to the simple.

The precepts of YHVH are right : they give joy to the heart. The commandments of YHVH are clear : they enlighten the eyes.

The fear of YHVH is pure, it endures forever; the judgments of YHVH are true, all of them just and right.

May the words of my mouth and the meditations of my heart find favour in Your sight, o YHVH – my Redeemer, my Rock!

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Monday, 19 February 2024 : 1st Week of Lent (First Reading)

Liturgical Colour : Purple/Violet

Leviticus 19 : 1-2, 11-18

YHVH spoke to Moses and said, “Speak to the entire assembly of the people of Israel and say to them : Be holy for I, YHVH, your God, am holy. Do not steal or lie or deceive one another. Do not swear falsely by My Name so as to profane the Name of your God; I am YHVH.”

“Do not oppress your neighbour or rob him. The wages of a hired man are not to remain with you all night until morning. You shall not curse a deaf man nor put a stumbling block in the way of the blind; but you shall fear your God; I am YHVH.”

“Do not pervert justice; do not show partiality to the poor nor bow to the great; you are to judge your neighbour fairly so as not to share in his guilt. Do not go about as a slanderer of your people and do not seek the death of your neighbour; I am YHVH.”

“Do not hate your brother in your heart; rebuke your neighbour frankly so as not to share in his guilt. Do not seek revenge or nurture a grudge against one of your people, but love your neighbour as yourself; I am YHVH.”

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Sunday, 18 February 2024 : First Sunday of Lent (Homily and Scripture Reflections)

Liturgical Colour : Purple/Violet

Dear brothers and sisters in Christ, this Sunday, which is the first Sunday in the season of Lent, we are all reminded of the nature and the importance of this time and season of preparation, in which we prepare ourselves for the upcoming commemoration and celebration of the most important events in Holy Week and Easter, which is highlighted in our Scripture passages today, using the story of Noah and the Great Flood as a reminder for us first of all of the fate of sinners who are unrepentant, the dangers of sin, and ultimately, how God’s love and grace can help us to overcome all these dangers, threats and dominion of sin, evil and death. If we put our faith and trust in the Lord, He will help and guide us all into the path of righteousness and freedom from all these.

In our first reading this Sunday, we heard from the Book of Genesis of the aftermath of the Great Flood when God sent a great rain and flood to inundate the whole world, causing the destruction and death of all the people, the descendants of Adam and Eve, except for Noah and his immediate family, who had been spared by God for their faith and obedience to God, while all the others were wicked and filled with all sorts of sins and vices of the world. God ordered Noah to build a great ship, the Ark of Noah, for which he would become very famous for, and everyone and all the living things that were present in that ship were saved by God, Who then as we heard in our first reading, made a Covenant and promise with Noah and his family, that He would never destroy anyone again with a similar Great Flood.

Through that narrative of the Great Flood, its destruction of all the unrepentant and wicked sinners in the world, and its aftermath, all of us are first of all reminded as we begin this penitential season and time of Lent, of the need for all of us to be reconciled with God by the forgiveness of our many sins and wicked ways, which have separated us all from the wonderful and generous love of God. For there can be no sin or wickedness, imperfections and corruption present before the Lord our God, Who is all good and perfect. Sin is caused by our disobedience and refusal to obey the Lord’s will, His Law and commandments, and through sin, we have been corrupted and defiled, and hence, we have to be separated from God, and cast out from the bliss of the Gardens of Eden, where everything was once perfect.

Sin led mankind to this lack of grace from God, and our separation from the Lord and Master of life, and hence, that was why we had to suffer and experience death, which was the natural and logical consequence of our sins. Disobedience leads to sin and sin then leads to death. We had not meant to suffer such fate, or to endure and experience the bitterness of death, the separation from the Lord, and yet, by our own conscious choice, we have chosen to cast ourselves out of the Holy Presence of God. Yet, God has always desired to call us all back to Him, and He still loved us all despite all the wickedness and sins that we have committed. And this is because what He despises is not us per se, but rather our sins and wickedness, which we have done and committed in His sight. And God is so great and merciful that even the greatest of sinners are still within the reach of His mercy and compassion.

Then, in our second reading today, we also heard from the Epistle of St. Peter the Apostle to the Church and the faithful in which he reminded the faithful using the same example and story of Noah and the Great Ark he built, in obedience to God, in saving himself and his family from the Great Flood of his time. St. Peter showed how our salvation was just like the journey of Noah through the time of the Great Flood, and how he persisted and survived, and how God made a Covenant with him and his family. This is because through the example of the Great Flood, the waters involved in that event was clearly a force of destruction, but also at the same time a force that brought about new life and rejuvenation. The same experience was faced by the Israelites when the Lord brought them out of the land of Egypt through the leadership of Moses, as they walked through the waters of the Red Sea, into their freedom from their slavery.

In the same manner therefore, the Lord led us all through His death on the Cross, as He suffered and endured the worst punishments and trials for our sake, showing us the concrete and most enduring form of His love. His compassion and love have been shown unto us in the flesh in Jesus Christ, Our Lord and Saviour. He united us all, our humanity and our existence to Him, through His incarnation in the flesh, and by the waters of baptism, He has brought us all like how Noah led all of his family and the living things in the world into the Great Ark, and like how Moses led the Israelites through the Red Sea to their freedom. The Lord has therefore brought us through death and then to new life, through His most glorious Resurrection, through which He has defeated and conquered death itself, and broke forever the yoke of sin and evil over us. He renewed and made with us all, a perfect and Eternal Covenant, meant for our salvation and everlasting life.

Lastly, in our Gospel passage today, we heard how the Lord Jesus was tempted by Satan during His forty days time in the desert right after His baptism in the River Jordan. This current liturgical year’s account of this temptation story from the Gospel of St. Mark is the shortest among the other Gospels, but I am sure that all of us are familiar with the details on how the Lord rejected the advances and the efforts of the devil to make Him succumb to the temptations of sin and evil. He rebuked Satan, all of his false promises and lies, and through that, He began His ministry in this world, where He revealed to all of us the truth about God, His Good News and everything that He has planned for our salvation and how He was the One that the prophets had promised and prophesied about, the Saviour Who would redeem all of mankind and reconcile them all to God.

Brothers and sisters in Christ, having heard all of these passages from the Scriptures and reflecting upon what we have all just discussed and pondered about, let us all therefore make a firm resolve and commitment to God, renewing our faith in Him and reaffirming our desire to return to Him with a contrite and sorrowful heart, full of regret and sorrow for our many sins, our many evils and wickedness, all the things which had kept us away from the fullness of His love and grace. Let us also remind ourselves of just how blessed and fortunate all of us are, to have been beloved so much by God, that He has willingly sent unto us His own Beloved Son, to bring us all out of the darkness, sin and death, by leading us through the waters of baptism, that we may become part of His Church, His one united Body, and be united to Him in death and in the new life He has promised us, that we may one day share in His glorious Resurrection.

Let us all therefore begin our observances this Lenten season with great commitment and genuine faith, and let us all do our best so that in each and every moments of our lives, particularly during this Lenten season, we may make best use of them to draw ever closer to God, seeking His love and guidance, help and strength so that by His power and guidance we may come ever closer to His forgiveness, mercy and love. Let us all help one another in seeking God’s grace and salvation, and support each other with love and compassion, with generosity in how we share our blessings and excesses with those who have less or none. Let us be ever more worthy and committed Christians in all the things we say and do, now and always.

May the Lord continue to bless and guide us, and may He bless our every good efforts and endeavours, our Lenten journey and observances, our every moments and lives throughout this blessed season and time of Lent. Amen.