Jan
Sunday, 24 January – All For One
24 Jan – Third Sunday in Ordinary Time
The Law Of The Lord
Today is a day of rejoicing in the New Law which Christ has given us and which unites us with Him, binds us together as His people, and enables us to work together for His kingdom. We listen to the words of the Law and ponder them in our hearts.
- The Sunday Missal
____________________
Nehemiah 8:2-6.8-10
Ezra the priest brought the Law before the assembly, consisting of men, women, and children old enough to understand. This was the first day of the seventh month. On the square before the Water Gate, in the presence of of the men and women, and children old enough to understand, he read from the book from early morning till noon; all the people listened attentively to the Book of the Law.
Ezra the scribe stood on wooden dais erected from the purpose. In full view of all the people – since he stood higher than all the people – Ezra opened the book; and when he opened it all the people stood up. Then Ezra blessed the Lord, the great God, and all the people raised their hands and answered, ‘Amen! Amen!; then they bowed down and, face to the ground, prospered themselves before the Lord. And Ezra read from the Law of God, translating and giving the sense, so that the people understood what was read.
Then Nehemiah – His Excellency – and Ezra, priest and scribe (and the Levites who were instructing the people) said to all the people, ‘This day is sacred to the Lord your God. Do not be mournful, do not weep.’ For the people were all in tears as they listened to the words of the Law.
He then said, ‘Go, eat the fat, drink the sweet wine, and send a portion to the man who has nothing prepared ready. For this day is sacred to our Lord. Do not be sad: the joy of the Lord is your stronghold.’
____________________
1 Corinthians 12:12-30
Just as a human body, though it is made up of many parts is a single unit because all these parts, though many, make one body, so it is with Christ. In the one Spirit we were all baptised, Jews as well as Greeks, slaves as well as citizens, and one Spirit was given to us all to drink.
Nor is the body to be identified with any one of its many parts. If the foot were to say, ‘I am not a hand and so I do not belong to the body’, would that mean that it stopped being part of the body? If the ear were to say, ‘I am not an eye, and so I do not belong to the body,’ would that mean that it is not a part of the body? If your whole body was just one eye, how would you hear anything? If it was just one ear, how would you smell anything?
Instead of that, God put all the separate parts into the body on purpose. If all the parts were the same, how could it be a body? As it is, the parts are many but the body is one. The eye cannot say to the hand, ‘I do not need you,’ nor can the head say to the feet, ‘I do not need you.’
What is more, it is precisely the parts of the boy that seem to the be weakest which are the indispensable ones; and it is the least honourable parts of the body that we clothe with the greatest care. So our more improper parts get decorated in a way that our more proper parts do not need. God has arranged the body so that more dignity is given to the parts which are without it, and so that there may not be disagreements inside the body, but that each part may be equally concerned for all the others. If one part is hurt, all parts are hurt with it. If one part is given special honour, all parts enjoy it.
Now you together are Christ’s body; but each of you is a different part of it. In the Church, God has given the first place to apostles, the second to prophets, the third to teachers; after them, miracles and after them the gift of healing; helpers, good leaders, those with many languages. Are all of them apostles, or all of them prophets, or all of them teachers? Do they all have the gift of miracles, or all have the gift of healing? Do all speak strange languages, and all interpret them?
____________________
Luke 1:1-4;4:14-21
Seeing that many others have undertaken to draw up accounts of the events that have taken place among us, exactly as these were handed down to us by those who from the outset were eyewitneses and ministers of the word, I in my turn, after carefully going over the whole story from the beginning, have decided to write an ordered account for you, Theophilus, so that your Excellency may learn how well founded the teaching is that you have received.
Jesus, with the power of the Spirit in him, returned to Galilee; and his reputation spread throughout the countryside. He taught in their synagogues and everyone praised him.
He came to Nazara, where he had been brought up, and went into the synagogue on the sabbath day as he usually did. He stood up to read, and they handed him the scroll of the prophet Isaiah. Unrolling the scroll he found the place where it is written:
The spirit of the Lord has been given to me, for he has anointed me.
He has sent me to bring the good news to the poor,
to proclaim liberty to captives
and to the blind new sight,
to set the downtrodden free,
to proclaim the Lord’s year of favour.
He then rolled up the scroll, gave it back to the assistant and sat down. And all eyes in the synagogue were fixed on him. Then he began to speak to them, ‘This text is being fulfilled today even as you listen.’
____________________
If one part is given special honour, all parts enjoy it
A few weeks back I attended the baptism of a friend’s baby. There were children with ages ranging from a few weeks to five years. I was actually crashing his baptism because I only knew of it the day before. I felt a sense of joy for my friend and the little one. When I entered the church, I did not feel like I was celebrating and rejoicing to just his baptism but to all the other twelve children who were there with their parents and families. I just wanted to ‘welcome’ every one of them as they approach the baptismal font.
The church is no longer just a place of worship which I go to every Sunday, spend an hour plus, sometimes falling asleep over boring homilies and going through the motion of a weekly rite. It is a community in which every single member matters. This is God’s community and every individual matters to Him. I see all these in celebrations of baptisms, marriages, funerals and in the past years, ordinations as well. The involvement in ministry and embracing the understanding of community is in every aspect of how the church is guiding us to be in the presence of God.
In today’s first reading, the people rejoice in food and drink then send some to those who have nothing. In the second reading, St. Paul tells us of how every individual member is being honoured and God’s joy is shared by all. The lesser honoured and weaker ones will be taken care of more; the joyful spirit will be brought to them by other members. The Holy Spirit moves among us, every individual has a gift and God has given us those talents to exercise them to bring forth His joy to others so that there will be no grief among us. We live a holy day every day, where hope and joys are centred in our lives and not sadness and grief.
Let us (or know of friends or family) who have lost the will to go to church because it is boring and meaningless, to be able to find that it is a community that actually recognises individuals and rejoices in every step of your life. Let those of us who are a stronger ‘body-part’ aid those who are weaker, walk in a partnership that never let the other fall and together we rejoice in our Lord.
(Today’s OXYGEN by Austin Leong)
____________________
Prayer: Let us pray to realise the gifts we possess, so that these talents which you have given us, O Lord, will be exercised to help the weaker member.
Thanksgiving: Thank You, Lord, for the great partnerships I have with people around me that everyday is a gift from You and that we all rejoice in every moment.
Upcoming Readings:
Mon, 25 Jan – Acts of the Aposles 22:3-16 (or 9:1-22); Mark 16:15-18; Feast of the Conversion of St Paul, Apostle
Tue, 26 Jan – 2 Timothy 1:1-8 (or Titus 1:1-5); Luke 10:1-9; Memorial for Ss Timothy & Titus, Bishops
Wed, 27 Jan – 2 Samuel 7:4-17; Mark 4:1-20; Memorial for St Angela Merici, Virgin
Thu, 28 Jan – 2 Samuel 7:18-19.24-29; Mark 4:21-25; Memorial for St Thomas Aquinas, Priest and Doctor of the Church
Fri, 29 Jan – 2 Samuel 11:1-4.5-10.13-17; Mark 4:26-34
Sat, 30 Jan – 2 Samuel 12:1-7.10-17; Mark 4:35-41
Sun, 31 Jan – Jeremiah 1:4-5.17-19; 1 Corinthians 12:31-13:13 (or 13:4-13); Luke 4:21-30; Fourth Sunday in Ordinary Time
The Law Of The Lord
Today is a day of rejoicing in the New Law which Christ has given us and which unites us with Him, binds us together as His people, and enables us to work together for His kingdom. We listen to the words of the Law and ponder them in our hearts.
- The Sunday Missal
____________________
Nehemiah 8:2-6.8-10
Ezra the priest brought the Law before the assembly, consisting of men, women, and children old enough to understand. This was the first day of the seventh month. On the square before the Water Gate, in the presence of of the men and women, and children old enough to understand, he read from the book from early morning till noon; all the people listened attentively to the Book of the Law.
Ezra the scribe stood on wooden dais erected from the purpose. In full view of all the people – since he stood higher than all the people – Ezra opened the book; and when he opened it all the people stood up. Then Ezra blessed the Lord, the great God, and all the people raised their hands and answered, ‘Amen! Amen!; then they bowed down and, face to the ground, prospered themselves before the Lord. And Ezra read from the Law of God, translating and giving the sense, so that the people understood what was read.
Then Nehemiah – His Excellency – and Ezra, priest and scribe (and the Levites who were instructing the people) said to all the people, ‘This day is sacred to the Lord your God. Do not be mournful, do not weep.’ For the people were all in tears as they listened to the words of the Law.
He then said, ‘Go, eat the fat, drink the sweet wine, and send a portion to the man who has nothing prepared ready. FOr this day is sacred to our Lord. Do not be sad: the joy of the Lord is your stronghold.’
____________________
1 Corinthians 12:12-30
Just as a human body, though it is made up of many parts is a single unit because all these parts, though many, make one body, so it is with Christ. In the one Spirit we were all baptised, Jews as well as Greeks, slaves as well as citizens, and one Spirit was given to us all to drink.
Nor is the body to be identified with any one of its many parts. If the foot were to say, ‘I am not a hand and so I do not belong to the body’, would that mean that it stopped being part of the body? If the ear were to say, ‘I am not an eye, and so I do not belong to the body,’ would thast mean that it is not a part of the body? If your whole body was just one eye, how would yo uhear anything? If it was just one ear, how would you smell anything?
Instead of that, God put all the separate parts into the body on purpose. If all the parts were the same, how could it be a body? As it is, the parts are many but the body is one. The eye cannot say to the hand, ‘I do not need you,’ nor can the head say to the feet, ‘I do not need you.’
What is more, it is precisely the parts of the boy that seem to the be weakest which are the indispensable ones; and it is the least honourable parts of the body that we clothe with the greatest care. So our more improper parts get decorated in a way that our more proper parts do not need. God has arranged the body so that more dignity is given to the parts which are without it, and so that there may not be disagreements inside the body, but that each part may be equally concerned for all the others. If one part is hurt, all parts are hurt with it. If one part is given special honour, all parts enjoy it.
Now you together are Christ’s body; but each of you is a different part of it. In the Church, God has given the first place to apostles, the second to prophets, the third to teachers; after them, miracles and after them the gift of healing; helpers, good leaders, those with many languages. Are all of them apostles, or all of them prophets, or all of them teachers? Do they all have the gift of miracles, or all have the gift of healing? Do all speak strange languages, and all interpret them?
____________________
Luke 1:1-4;4:14-21
Seeing that many others have undertaken to draw up accounts of the events that have taken place among us, exactly as these were handed down to us by those who from the outset were eyewitneses and ministers of the word, I in my turn, after carefully going over the whole story from the beginning, have decided to write an ordered account for you, Theophilus, so that yuour Excellency may learn how well founded the teaching is that you have received.
Jesus, with the power of the Spirit in him, returned to Galilee; and his reputation spread throughout the countryside. He taught in their synagogues and everyone praised him.
He came to Nazara, where he had been brought up, and went into the synagogue on the sabbath day as he usually did. He stood up to read, and they handed him the scroll of the prophet Isaiah. Unrolling the scroll he found the place where it is writte:
The spirit of the Lord has been given to me, for he has anointed me.
He has sent me to bring the good news to the poor,
to proclaim liberty to captives
and to the blind new sight,
to set the downtrodden free,
to proclaim the Lord’s year of favour.
He then rolled up the scroll, gave it back to the assistant and sat down. And all eyes in the synagogue were fixed on him. Then he began to speak to them, ‘This text is being fulfilled today even as you listen.’
____________________
If one part is given special honour, all parts enjoy it
A few weeks back I attended the baptism of a friend’s baby. There were children with ages ranging from a few weeks to five years. I was actually crashing his baptism because I only knew of it the day before. I felt a sense of joy for my friend and the little one. When I entered the church, I did not feel like I was celebrating and rejoicing to just his baptism but to all the other twelve children who were there with their parents and families. I just wanted to ‘welcome’ every one of them as they approach the baptismal font.
The church is no longer just a place of worship which I go to every Sunday, spend an hour plus, sometimes falling asleep over boring homilies and going through the motion of a weekly rite. It is a community in which every single member matters. This is God’s community and every individual matters to Him. I see all these in celebrations of baptisms, marriages, funerals and in the past years, ordinations as well. The involvement in ministry and embracing the understanding of community is in every aspect of how the church is guiding us to be in the presence of God.
In today’s first reading, the people rejoice in food and drink then send some to those who have nothing. In the second reading, St. Paul tells us of how every individual member is being honoured and God’s joy is shared by all. The lesser honoured and weaker ones will be taken care of more; the joyful spirit will be brought to them by other members. The Holy Spirit moves among us, every individual has a gift and God has given us those talents to exercise them to bring forth His joy to others so that there will be no grief among us. We live a holy day every day, where hope and joys are centred in our lives and not sadness and grief.
Let us (or know of friends or family) who have lost the will to go to church because it is boring and meaningless, to be able to find that it is a community that actually recognises individuals and rejoices in every step of your life. Let those of us who are a stronger ‘body-part’ aid those who are weaker, walk in a partnership that never let the other fall and together we rejoice in our Lord.
(Today’s OXYGEN by Daniel Tay)
____________________
Prayer: Let us pray to realise the gifts we possess, so that these talents which you have given us, O Lord, will be exercised to help the weaker member.
Thanksgiving: Thank You, Lord, for the great partnerships I have with people around me that everyday is a gift from You and that we all rejoice in every moment.
Upcoming Readings:
Mon, 25 Jan – Acts of the Aposles 22:3-16 (or 9:1-22); Mark 16:15-18; Feast of the Conversion of St Paul, Apostle
Tue, 26 Jan – 2 Timothy 1:1-8 (or Titus 1:1-5); Luke 10:1-9; Memorial for Ss Timothy & Titus, Bishops
Wed, 27 Jan – 2 Samuel 7:4-17; Mark 4:1-20; Memorial for St Angela Merici, Virgin
Thu, 28 Jan – 2 Samuel 7:18-19.24-29; Mark 4:21-25; Memorial for St Thomas Aquinas, Priest and Doctor of the Church
Fri, 29 Jan – 2 Samuel 11:1-4.5-10.13-17; Mark 4:26-34
Sat, 30 Jan – 2 Samuel 12:1-7.10-17; Mark 4:35-41
Sun, 31 Jan – Jeremiah 1:4-5.17-19; 1 Corinthians 12:31-13:13 (or 13:4-13); Luke 4:21-30; Fourth Sunday in Ordinary Time
