Word of God

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Wednesday, 26 February 2014 : 7th Week of Ordinary Time (First Reading)

Liturgical Colour : Green

James 4 : 13-17

Listen now, you who speak like this, “Today or tomorrow we will go off to this city and spend a year there; we will do business and make money.” You have no idea what tomorrow will bring. What is your life? No more than a mist which appears for a moment and then disappears.

Instead of this, you should say, “God willing, we will live and do this or that.” But no! You boast of your plans : this brazen pride is wicked. Anyone who knows what is good and does not do it, sins.

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Tuesday, 25 February 2014 : 7th Week of Ordinary Time (Scripture Reflections)

Liturgical Colour : Green

Be righteous, be humble and be faithful. These are the key takeaways from today’s readings, from both the letter of St. James, urging us to seek the Lord and His will in our lives, and to be humble, and in the Gospel today, taken from the Gospel of St. Mark, that we may have a genuine faith, that is like the faith of a young children.

Brothers and sisters in Christ, today we are presented with the things that were reality at the time of Jesus, and indeed is still a reality even today. We squabble and fight with our own friends and neighbours, because we desire certain things, be it power, affluence, wealth, friendships, and many other things, and we as mankind, has in our nature to be greedy and to desire for more and more things.

And in the end we often miss the point on what it means to be the children and disciples of the Lord. We often seek power and glory, position and honour, that we often forget about the Lord. We did not keep faithful to His commandments but instead walk in our own ways, that is following the ways of this world, which include violence, hatred, prejudice and many other things.

We follow the ways of the world often because it offers us very many things, things that look beautiful and tempting in our eyes. It offers us influence, power, authority, wealth and other things that may prevent us from reaching out to the truth in God. The reality is that, while these things seem to be very enjoyable and pleasurable to us, they are merely temporary. The pursuit of these things will not bear us much fruits, other than bitterness and regret at the end of our lives.

For if we make friends with the ways of the world, in all its corruption by evil, then we are no longer following God or remain as His disciples. We instead walk in the rebellious path of the devil. And God does not want this to happen to us, and that is why He sent to us Jesus His own Son, to straighten the path for us and to make us aware what it truly means to be followers of the Lord.

We have to be genuine in our faith and love for God, and we have to change our mindset and actions, that we no longer adhere to the ways of the world, but instead follow the Lord in His ways and walk in His ways. We cannot be half-hearted in our faith, because we must be firm and strong in resisting the temptations and challenges of this world.

We have to put away our pride and dull the edge of our human ego. At the same time, we should also remain humble, and keep strong this humility at all times in our life. Pride and arrogance often separates us from the Lord, and they act as barriers preventing us from accessing the Lord, keeping us away from His salvation. Humility, on the other hand, allow us to open ourselves to the Lord.

Brothers and sisters in Christ, let us heed the Lord and His call. Let us not turn our back towards Him, and let us give Him our full attention without divide. We have to dedicate ourselves to the Lord, and practice it in our words, deeds and actions. As the prophet Micah said, let us walk humbly with our God, and let us follow Him with all of our hearts. Amen.

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Monday, 24 February 2014 : 7th Week of Ordinary Time (Psalm)

Liturgical Colour : Green

Psalm 18 : 8, 9, 10, 15

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

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

The fear of the Lord is pure, it endures forever; the judgments of the Lord 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 Lord – my Redeemer, my Rock!

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Sunday, 23 February 2014 : 7th Sunday of Ordinary Time (Second Reading)

Liturgical Colour : Green

1 Corinthians 3 : 16-23

Do you not know that you are God’s Temple, and that God’s Spirit abides within you? If anyone destroys the Temple of God, God will destroy him. God’s Temple is holy, and you are this Temple.

Do not deceive yourselves. If anyone of you considers himself wise in the ways of the world, let him become a fool, so that he may become wise. For the wisdom of this world is foolishness in God’s eyes. To this, Scripture says : God catches the wise in their own wisdom. It also says : The Lord knows the reasoning of the wise, that it is useless.

Because of this, let no one boast about human beings, for everything belongs to you, Paul, Apollos, Cephas – life, death, the present and the future. Everything is yours, and you, you belong to Christ, and Christ is of God.

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Wednesday, 19 February 2014 : 6th Week of Ordinary Time (First Reading)

Liturgical Colour : Green

James 1 : 19-27

My beloved, be quick to hear but slow to speak and slow to anger, for human anger does not fulfill the justice of God. So get rid of any filth and reject the prevailing evil, and welcome the Word that has been planted in you and has the power to save you.

Be doers of the Word and not just hearers, lest you deceive yourselves. The hearer who does not become a doer is like that one who looked himself at the mirror. He looked and then promptly forgot what he was like. But those who fix their gaze on the perfect law of freedom and hold onto it, not listening and then forgetting, but acting on it, will find blessing on their deeds.

Those who think they are religious but do not restrain their tongue, deceive themselves and their religion is in vain. In the sight of God, our Father, pure and blameless religion lies in helping the orphans and widows in their need and keeping oneself from the world’s corruption.

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Tuesday, 18 February 2014 : 6th Week of Ordinary Time (First Reading)

Liturgical Colour : Green

James 1 : 12-18

Happy are those who patiently endure trials, because afterwards they will receive the crown of life which the Lord promised to those who love Him. No one, when tempted, should say, “This temptation comes from God.”

God is never tempted and He can never tempt anyone. Instead, each of us is lured and enticed by our own evil desire. Once this desire has conceived, it gives birth to sin, and sin, when fully grown, gives birth to death.

Do not be deceived, my beloved. Every good and perfect gift comes from above, from the Father of Light, in whom there is no change or shadow of a change. By His own will He gave us life through the Word of Truth; that we might be a kind of offering to Him among His creatures.

 

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Saturday, 8 February 2014 : 4th Week of Ordinary Time, Memorial of St. Jerome Emiliani, and St. Josephine Bakhita, Virgin (Psalm)

Liturgical Colour : Green or White (Virgins and Saints, or Saturday Mass of our Lady)

Psalm 118 : 9, 10, 11, 12, 13, 14

How can young people remain pure? By living according to Your word.

I seek You with my whole heart; let me not stray from Your commands.

In my heart I have kept Your word, that I may not sin against my Lord.

Praise to You, o Lord; instruct me in Your statutes.

That with my lips I may declare all Your spoken decrees.

I delight in following Your laws, more so than in all riches.

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Sunday, 2 February 2014 : Feast of the Presentation of the Lord (Gospel Reading)

Liturgical Colour : White

Luke 2 : 22-40

When the day came for the purification according to the law of Moses, they brought the Baby up to Jerusalem, to present Him to the Lord, as it is written in the Law of the Lord : ‘Every firstborn male shall be consecrated to God.’ And they offered a sacrifice, as ordered in the law of the Lord : ‘a pair of turtledoves or two young pigeons.’

There lived in Jerusalem at this time a very upright and devout man named Simeon; the Holy Spirit was in him. He looked forward to the time when the Lord would comfort Israel, and he had been assured, by the Holy Spirit, that he would not die before seeing the Messiah of the Lord.

So he was led into the Temple by the Holy Spirit at the time the parents brought the child Jesus, to do for Him according to the custom of the Law. Simeon took the Child in his arms, and blessed God, saying, “Now, o Lord, You can dismiss Your servant in peace, for You have fulfilled Your word and my eyes have seen Your salvation, which You display for all the people to see.”

“Here is the Light You will reveal to the nations, and the glory of Your people Israel.”

His father and mother wondered at what was said about the Child. Simeon blessed them, and said to Mary, His mother, “Know this : your Son is a sign, a sign established for the falling and rising of many in Israel, a sign of contradiction; and a sword will pierce your own soul, so that, out of many hearts, thoughts may be revealed.”

There was also a prophetess named Anna, daughter of Phanuel, of the tribe of Asher. After leaving her father’s home, she had been seven years with her husband, and since then she had been continually about the Temple, serving God as a widow night and day in fasting and prayer. She was now eighty-four.

Coming up at that time, she gave praise to God, and spoke of the Child to all who looked forward to the deliverance of Jerusalem.

When the parents had fulfilled all that was required by the law of the Lord, they returned to their town, Nazareth in Galilee. There the Child grew in stature and strength, and was filled with wisdom : the grace of God was upon Him.

Alternative Reading (shorter version)

Luke 2 : 22-32

When the day came for the purification according to the law of Moses, they brought the Baby up to Jerusalem, to present Him to the Lord, as it is written in the Law of the Lord : ‘Every firstborn male shall be consecrated to God.’ And they offered a sacrifice, as ordered in the law of the Lord : ‘a pair of turtledoves or two young pigeons.’

There lived in Jerusalem at this time a very upright and devout man named Simeon; the Holy Spirit was in him. He looked forward to the time when the Lord would comfort Israel, and he had been assured, by the Holy Spirit, that he would not die before seeing the Messiah of the Lord.

So he was led into the Temple by the Holy Spirit at the time the parents brought the child Jesus, to do for Him according to the custom of the Law. Simeon took the Child in his arms, and blessed God, saying, “Now, o Lord, You can dismiss Your servant in peace, for You have fulfilled Your word and my eyes have seen Your salvation, which You display for all the people to see.”

“Here is the Light You will reveal to the nations, and the glory of Your people Israel.”

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Wednesday, 29 January 2014 : 3rd Week of Ordinary Time (Gospel Reading)

Liturgical Colour : Green

Mark 4 : 1-20

Again Jesus began to teach by the lake; but such a large crowd gathered about Him, that He got into a boat and sat in it on the lake, while the crowd stood on the shore. He taught them many things through parables. In His teaching He said, “Listen! The sower went out to sow. As he sowed, some of the seed fell along a path, and the birds came and ate it up.”

“Some of the seed fell on rocky ground, where it had little soil; it sprang up immediately because it had no depth; but when the sun rose and burnt it, it withered because it had no roots. Other seed fell among thornbushes, and the thorns grew and choked it, so it did not produce any grain.”

“But some seed fell on good soil, grew and increased and yielded grain; some seed produced thirty times as much, some sixty, and some one hundred times as much.” And Jesus added, “Listen then, if you have ears.”

When the crowd went away, some who were around Him with the Twelve asked about the parables. He answered them, “The mystery of the kingdom of God has been given to you. But for those outside, everything comes in parables, so that the more they see, they do not perceive; the more they hear, they do not understand; otherwise they would be converted and pardoned.”

Jesus said to them, “Do you not understand this parable? How then will you understand any of the parables? What the sower is sowing is the word. Those along the path, where the seed fell, are people who hear the word, but as soon as they hear it, Satan comes and takes away the word that was sown in them.”

“Other people receive the word like rocky ground. As soon as they hear the word, they accept it with joy, but they have no roots, so it lasts only a little while. No sooner does trouble or persecution come because of the word, than they fall.”

“Others receive the seed, as seed among thorns. After they hear the word, they are caught up in the worries of this life, false hopes of riches and other desires. All these come in and choke the word, so that finally it produces nothing.”

“And there are others who receive the word as good soil. They hear the word, take it to heart and produce : some thirty, some sixty, and some one hundred times as much.”

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Tuesday, 28 January 2014 : 3rd Week of Ordinary Time, Memorial of St. Thomas Aquinas, Priest and Doctor of the Church (Scripture Reflections)

Liturgical Colour : White

Brothers and sisters in Christ, today you may think that Jesus was being uncharacteristically rude towards His own family, and His own mother in particular. After all, how could such a great Teacher of the faith disown and ridicule His own mother in front of the public He was teaching? Such are the thoughts that may circulate among many of us.

But in fact, Jesus was praising His own mother, Mary, with what He said, because  Mary as the obedient and faithful servant of the Lord, His handmaiden, was the perfect example of what Jesus referred to, as those who were considered part of His family. It is indeed her example of devotion to God that we all should follow.

We are all indeed one big family in Christ, for through baptism, on the day when we were sealed with the Sacrament of Baptism, that we were made to be children, the sons and daughters of God who is our Father. And therefore, Christ His Son, the Divine Word of God, also made us to be His brothers and sisters, to be part of the community of the faithful, which is called the Church, symbolised as the unity of the Body of Christ, as the body of all the faithful ones in God.

Today’s first reading also told us about King David of Israel, when he brought in the Ark of God into the city of Jerusalem. In king David’s example, much like that of Mary, he devoted himself to the Lord, so devoutly that he went straight to praise the Lord with dance and song ahead of the Ark of God, showcasing and representing the joy of the people in the coming of the Lord to them in the Ark.

God did not ask much from us, brothers and sisters in Christ. What is referred to by our Lord Jesus when He told the people about obedience to the will of God, is all about love. Yes, the love that we should have for our brothers and sisters, and the love we have to have for God our Lord and Father. It is pure, genuine, and undivided love and attention that God desires from us, and this is true faith.

What this highlights is that, as mentioned, that we were made sons and daughters of God our Father when we were welcomed into the Church upon our baptism. However, we cannot then just remain at that stage and do nothing. Our faith cannot be just a one-off thing, as our faith must keep growing and must be alive and vibrant.

That means our faith cannot be stagnant or mere lip-service, but like what David and Mary in their actions had shown, faith in God must be made through concrete action and real devotion. God wants from us our love and our devotion, in the same way that had been shown by David and Mary, as well as many other forms of love. Love for God must be genuine and pure, and not be mere incantation of prayers and rituals. Those are important, but they must be done with true understanding and genuine love for God.

Today we celebrate the feast of one of the greatest and well-known saints of Christendom, that is St. Thomas Aquinas, the renowned theologian and avid writer of the faith, in the many volumes of his works, he had inspired countless faithfuls, and inspire them to grow deeper in their faith and devotion to God.

St. Thomas Aquinas wanted to join the religious life from an early age, but was faced with strong opposition from his family. Nevertheless he managed his way to become a devotee in the end despite many attempts from his family to bar his way. St. Thomas Aquinas became a Dominican, the order of Preachers, and yet he was known to be a quiet man.

Nonetheless, as another saint was to announce prophetically about St. Thomas Aquinas, his quiet nature hides the true wisdom and greatness that is inside of him. St. Thomas Aquinas was a well educated person and helped to bring the faith to a clearer light through his various writings and works, as well as through his various evangelisation works as part of the Dominican order.

Of course, St. Thomas Aquinas did not have things going his way all the time. There were numerous oppositions from different sources as he went about doing his works. His teachings were even condemned at times and he was harassed at times too. But he did not budge, and St. Thomas Aquinas continued with his works for the sake of the Lord and His people.

His wisdom was eventually recognised and his piety became an encouragement and a model to everyone. And therefore, brethren, let us follow the examples of St. Thomas Aquinas and that of the other saints, that we may truly shine in our faith, through greater understanding of the faith itself, and that is why it is important for us to read great works of the faith, including that of St. Thomas Aquinas. And also to put that faith into practice, by loving one another, practising the same love that God had shown us through Jesus.

May our loving God continue to be with us and guide us, and bless us that we may continue to be faithful and loving till the end of our days. God be with us all, brethren, and may He bless you richly. Amen.