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Category: Year I

Ordinary Time / Thirty-Second Week / Weekdays / Year I

THERE IS GOD!

⏰Friday of the Thirty-Second Week of Ordinary Time 1 (17 Nov. 2023 – Memorial of St. Elizabeth of Hungary) 📖Wis 7:22 – 8:1; Ps 119:89, 90, 91, 130, 135, 175 (R.v.89a); Luke 17:20-25 🎤THERE IS GOD! Do you still have any doubts, either by your actions or in your mind or even manner of speech, that there is God? Funny question, abi? OK. Let’s see how funny it is. There are different ways to doubt the existence of God:👉That time I was in a big trouble and decided to seek solutions in the house of witch doctors, or give out...

Feasts and Solemnities / Ordinary Time / Twentieth Week / Weekdays / Year I

“I WILL BE WITH YOU… DO NOT FEAR, YOU SHALL NOT DIE” (Judges 6:16, 23)

⏰Tuesday of the Twentieth Week in Ordinary Time 2 (22 Aug. 2023 – Memorial of the Queenship of the Blessed Virgin Mary) 📖Judges 6:11-24; Ps 85:9, 11-12, 13-14 (R.v.9b); Matt 19:23-30 🎤”I WILL BE WITH YOU… DO NOT FEAR, YOU SHALL NOT DIE” (Judges 6:16, 23) Beloved in Christ, in the Queenship of Mary, we celebrate her privileged connection with Jesus who is the King of Kings. Such honour is not an invention of man but a setting by God whose angel delivered the message to Mary, “Do not be afraid, Mary, for you have found favour with God” (Luke...

Eleventh Week / Ordinary Time / Weekdays / Year I

“LAY UP FOR YOURSELVES TREASURES IN HEAVEN” (Matt 6:20)

⏰Friday of the Eleventh Week of Ordinary Time 1 (23 June 2023) 📖2 Cor 11:18, 21b-30; Ps 34:2-3, 4-5, 6-7 (R.v.18b); Matt 6:19-23 🎤”LAY UP FOR YOURSELVES TREASURES IN HEAVEN” (Matt 6:20) In our world that is bedeviled by quest for consumerism and vain glory, the message of Jesus in Matt 6:19-23 makes an important meaning to us. What is the goal of my worship to God? Is it for the glory of God or for my own glory? Like Jesus who encouraged us to seek eternal treasure, St Paul reminds us in 2 Cor 11:18-30 of the importance of...

Ordinary Time / Twentieth Week / Weekdays / Year I

“I HAVE OPENED MY MOUTH TO THE LORD, AND I CANNOT TAKE BACK MY VOW” (Judg 11:35)

⏰Thursday of the Twentieth Week of Ordinary Time 1 (19 August 2021) 📖Judg 11:29-39a; Ps 40:5, 7-8a, 8b-9, 10 (R.v.8a, 9a); Matt 22:1-14 🎤”I HAVE OPENED MY MOUTH TO THE LORD, AND I CANNOT TAKE BACK MY VOW” (Judg 11:35) Reading through Judg 11:29-39, something keeps me from being blinded by the fact that the actions of Jephthah in sacrificing his only daughter were borne of a pagan custom that was already condemned by God (cf. Lev 18:21; 20:2-5; Deut 12:31). Instead, the FAITHFULNESS OF JEPHTHAH TO FULFIL HIS VOWS TO THE LORD struck me. How often do we keep...

Eighteenth Week / Ordinary Time / Weekdays / Year I

“WHEREVER THERE IS JEALOUSY AND SELFISH AMBITION, YOU WILL ALSO FIND DISCORD AND ALL THAT IS EVIL” (Jam 3:16)

⏰Tuesday of the Eighteenth Week of Ordinary Time (03 August 2021) 📖Num 12:1-13; Ps 51:3-4, 5-6ab, 6cd-7, 12-13 (R.v.3a); Matt 14:22-36 🎤”WHEREVER THERE IS JEALOUSY AND SELFISH AMBITION, YOU WILL ALSO FIND DISCORD AND ALL THAT IS EVIL” (Jam 3:16) There is one Igbo adage which says, “Nwata kpachuo ibe ya na nke, asi na o kpara nke ya n’ajo ohia,” literally meaning that when a child fetches more firewood than his mates, they will allege that he fetched his from the evil forest. Why would that happen? ENVY AND JEALOUSY! They want to rubbish his integrity so that they...

Ordinary Time / Seventeenth Week / Weekdays / Year I

FOCUS ON THE KINGDOM FOR YOUR BLESSING

⏰Monday of the Seventeenth Week of Ordinary Time 1 (26 July 2021 – Memorial of Ss. Joachim and Anne) 📖Exod 32:15-24, 30-34; Ps 106:19-20, 21-22, 23 (R.v.1b); Matt 13:31-35 🎤FOCUS ON THE KINGDOM FOR YOUR BLESSING Beloved in Christ, things might be rough, slow and unstable at the beginning, but if you put your trust in the Lord and persevere to the end, you shall reap the fruit of abundance. In our journey of faith, our destination is the kingdom of God. The two parables that Jesus gave in Matt 13:31-35 speak of the kingdom as one one with a...

Fourteenth Week / Ordinary Time / Weekdays / Year I

“EVEN THE HAIRS OF YOUR HEAD ARE ALL NUMBERED” (Matt 10:30)

⏰Saturday of the Fourteenth Week of Ordinary Time 1 (10 July 2021) 📖Gen 49:29-33, 50:15-26a; Ps 105:1-2, 3-4, 6-7 (R. Ps 69:33); Matt 10:24-33 🎤”EVEN THE HAIRS OF YOUR HEAD ARE ALL NUMBERED” (Matt 10:30) Beloved in Christ, do you know that you are not an accident? Not minding whatever might be the circumstances surrounding your birth, God knows you before you were born and approved of your birth and made out plans for what he shall achieve with you (cf. Jer 1:5). You are a child of destiny and no one can do anything to you without God’s approval...

Ordinary Time / Tenth Week / Weekdays / Year I

BE AN AUTHENTIC AND DEDICATED WITNESS

⏰Tuesday of the Tenth Week in Ordinary Time 1 (08 June 2021) 📖2 Cor 1:18-22; Ps 119:129, 130, 131, 132, 133, 135 (R.v.135a); Matt 5:13-16 🎤BE AN AUTHENTIC AND DEDICATED WITNESS Immediately after his teaching on the beatitudes, Jesus went on to teach them on how they can be effective in transforming the world, using three important allegories – light of the world, salt of the earth and city built on a hill. Light has many roles; it dispels darkness and illuminates the world. As Christians, we are expected to also dispel the darkness of evil and hatred in the...

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Ninth Week / Year I

GOD CAN DO ALL THINGS!

⏰Wednesday of the Ninth Week in Ordinary Time 1 (02 June 2021) 📖Tob 3:1-11, 16-17a; Ps 25:2-3, 4-5ab, 6 and 7bc, 8-9 (R.v.1); Mark 12:18-27 Our view of life influences how we embrace it. For those who believe that everything ends in this present world, anything goes. And they can afford to live as they wish without the thought of eternal life. But we believe that there is life after death where those who have died go into eternal bliss or eternal damnation. The Sadducees belong to the elite class among the Jews. Things were obviously going well for them...