DATE: 10TH JUNE 2017 SATURDAY OF THE NINTH WEEK IN ORDINARY TIME FIRST READING: Tobit 12:1, 5-15,20 PSALM: Tobit 13:2, 6-8 GOSPEL: Mark 12:38-44 THEME: GOD CARES

Often, God sends people into our lives who have the ''anointing'' of an angel. In other words, some people walk into our lives as messengers of God sent to serve us. They often enter our personal worlds at critical moments on our life's journey and offer some help to us. Today's first reading is a perfect example of how God sends angels to minister to us.

Raphael, in the Book of Tobit, appears human in many ways, and yet he was an angel sent by God on an extraordinary mission to bring healing to Tobit and help Sarah find a rightful marriage partner.  In today's First Reading, he finally reveals his true identity. He tells Tobit, ''God sent me to heal you and your daughter-in-law Sarah. I am Raphael, one of the seven angels who stand ever ready to enter the presence of the glory of the Lord.'' 

Raphael also revealed what moves heaven to send angels to us: ''Prayer with fasting and alms with uprightness are better than riches with iniquity. Better to practise almsgiving than to hoard up gold. Almsgiving saves from death and purges every kind of sin. Those who give alms have their fill of days; those who commit sin and do evil bring harm on themselves'' (Tob. 12:8-10).

Inherent in the above statement are four pillars of a sound spiritual life: PRAYER, FASTING, ALMSGIVING and UPRIGHTNESS (i.e. right conduct). The eyes of God are continually on the person who builds his/her life on these pillars and the Lord does not hesitate to send angels to minister to  such a person.

To pray, fast, give alms and have a right conduct (uprightness) is a form of spiritual investment. In times of need one can fall on the fruits of this investment.

God who cares about each one of us is more than willing to help us in times of need. In taking our spiritual life seriously,  we dispose ourselves to be served by angels.

PRAYER OF BLESSING: ''For he shall give his angels charge over you, to keep you in all your ways. They shall bear you up in their hands, lest you dash your foot against a stone'' (Psalm 91:11-12)

May God send an angel to snatch you out of every fire and water. As you wait upon God in prayer, may you mount up with wings as eagles; may you run and not be weary. May you walk and not faint. Amen

DATE: 9TH JUNE 2017 FRIDAY OF THE NINTH WEEK IN ORDINARY TIME FIRST READING: Tobit 11:5-17 PSALM: Psalm 146:1-2, 6-10 GOSPEL: Mark 12:35-37 THEME: TAKE HEART!

Life has its ups and downs. There are moments when thick dark clouds rob one's world of brightness but no matter how long the dark clouds hang up there in the sky, we are confident that the sun would shine again. There are certain events in life that can shake our faith in God and make us wonder whether God cares. However, the good news is that tears of pain have an expiry date. Yes, ''weeping may linger for the night but joy comes with the morning '' (Psalm 30:5).

The First Reading from the Book of Tobit confirms the above point. We started reflecting on the Book of Tobit on a painful note. We relived the story of a Jewish man who was among the captives deported to Nineveh - Assyria from the Northern Kingdom of Israel in 722/721 B.C. We shared in his agony of seeing his fellow Jews die and having to bury them and eat his food in sorrow. We relived the agony Tobit had to go through when he became blind and how the taunt of his wife broke his heart leading him to offer a prayer of lamentation to God.

Now in today's First Reading, Tobit receives his sight back. His tears of pain change into tears of joy. He bursts out into a song of praise: ?Blessed be God! Blessed be his great name! Blessed be all his holy angels! Blessed be his great name for evermore! For, having afflicted me, he has had pity on me and now I see my son Tobias!  (Tob 11:14-15). In sum, the touch of the Lord changed his mourning into dancing.

Today, let us turn to everyone who is mourning and tell him/her: Take heart! Tell everyone who has lost someone or something precious: Take heart! Tell the one who is drowning in pain: Take heart! No matter how deep one?s pain is, in Christ one would smile again.

PRAYER: Lord God, you are the strength and salvation of all those who hope in you. Comfort the sorrowing and cause your light to shine in the dark hours  of the journey of the night. For the sake of Christ, I pray. Amen 

DATE: 8TH JUNE 2017 THURSDAY OF THE NINTH WEEK IN ORDINARY TIME FIRST READING: Tobit 6:10-11; 7:1, 9-14; 8:4-9 PSALM: Psalm 128: 1-5 GOSPEL: Mark 12:28-34 THEME: THE MARRIAGE OF SARAH

A prayerless person is like a ship on the high sea with no specific bearing. Such a person is easily driven and tossed about by the wind and goes around in circles. Prayer gives focus and leads to a divine destination. It puts the pieces of the puzzle of one's life together and gives meaning to one's existence.

The marriage of Sarah is a testimony of the efficacy of prayer. Seven men had sought to marry her but on each occasion the story of love turned sour  'one by one each of the men died on the very night they approached her. It was believed that a demon (Asmodeus) was in love with her'  you may call it ''spiritual marriage'' and therefore she had become unmarriageable in relation to any man (cf. Tb. 3:8; 6:14-15). In fact, one of her father's maid even insulted her: ''You are the one who kills you husband'' (cf. Tob. 3:8). However, when Sarah chose to pray, God chose to answer, and the answer of God was the coming into her life of a God-fearing man by name Tobias.
Eventually the two got married.

When nothing seems to work, always remember there is still one thing that works  'prayer'. God's ways of answering prayer are as mysterious as prayer itself. For example, Tobias' initial intention for going to Media, where Sarah lived, was not to go and marry but to retrieve some money from someone but as divine destiny would have it, he found himself in the home of Sarah and they got married.

When you have prayed, trust God to answer. He answers in his own way and ''in his time he makes all things beautiful.''

PRAYER: Eternal Father, I lay my case before your throne of grace and look up to you for your intervention. In you I trust and I am confident that with you all is well. Grant this through Christ, our Lord. Amen

DATE: 7TH JUNE 2017 WEDNESDAY OF THE NINTH WEEK IN ORDINARY TIME FIRST READING: Tobit 3:1-11, 16-17 PSALM: Psalm 25:2-9 GOSPEL: Mark 12:18-27 THEME: THE PRAYER OF ANGUISH

God hears every prayer but there are certain prayers that carry a note of urgency. They pierce through the clouds and do not relent until they have been answered. Such prayers emanate from the deepest part of a person's being and ''move'' God into action. It is called the prayer of anguish.

In a prayer of anguish, a person travails to prevail. It often flows from a broken heart amidst tears and/or sweat. It was the prayer of Hannah in the House of the Lord at Shiloh and the prayer of Jesus in the Garden of Gethsemane.

The First Reading offers us two examples of a prayer of anguish. Misfortune had hit the good man Tobit -- he had gone blind. On one occasion, he had a misunderstanding with his wife on an issue and the wife made a statement that broke his heart: ''Where are your charitable deeds now? Where are your righteous acts? Look! All that has happened to you is well known!? (Tob 2:14). Hearing this, he groaned, wept aloud and prayed'' a prayer of anguish.

In another scene, we also have an account of a woman by name Sarah who had experienced successive failures in marriage. One of her father's maids reproached her saying, ''You are the one who kills your husbands! Look! You have already been given in marriage to seven husbands, but you do not bear the name of a single one of them'' (Tob 3: 8). That insult broke her heart and made her cry. In her anguish, she too stretched her hands toward Jerusalem and prayed. 

We are told that ''at that very time, the prayer of both of them was heard in the glorious presence of God''.

Like the cry of a baby that moves a mother into action, prayers of anguish cause God to arise. Perhaps what makes a prayer of anguish to 'move mountains' is not so much the tears or sweat that falls to the ground but the sincerity, trust and childlikeness that characterise it. In a prayer of anguish, a person places all his/her hope in the God who hears the cry of the poor.

Has your heart been broken? Have you been hurt badly? Have you lost taste for earthly existence? Do you feel as if you have come to the end of the road? Is hope for a brighter tomorrow fizzling away? Are you faced with a big problem? Cry out to God in your moment of anguish. He will hear you and readily answer.

PRAYER: Lord, "I lift up my eyes unto the mountains; from where will my help come from? My help comes from you who made heaven and earth." Come to my aid Lord and rescue me from this dark and gloomy pit. For the sake of the name of Jesus Christ I pray. Amen

DATE: 6TH JUNE 2017 TUESDAY OF THE NINTH WEEK IN ORDINARY TIME FIRST READING: Tobit 2:9-14 PSALM: Psalm 112:1-2, 7-9 GOSPEL: Mark 12:13-17 THEME: WHEN EVIL HAPPENS TO GOOD PEOPLE

It sounds logical when good things come the way of good people and evil goes the way of chronic evildoers.  However, when the inverse takes place and evil happens to a good person the very foundation of our understanding and existence is shaken to the core.

Tobit was a man of prayer and almsgiving. He was a sincere worshipper of the Lord. He continually risked his life in order to serve the needs of his people far away in the land of exile in Assyria.  In our First Reading, we have an account of evil befalling him. The droppings of birds fell on his eyes. He did all he could to save his eyes  ''he applied the medicine given to him by doctors'' and yet he went blind. Now come the questions: Could God not have prevented the birds from causing harm to him? Of course he could. Could God not have given wisdom to the doctors to prescribe the right medicine that would cure him? Of course he could. Could God not have healed him instantly without any human intervention. Sure he could. Why did God not do all that?

Just as the sun rises and the rain falls on both the just and unjust, the unpleasant effect of earthquakes and hurricanes are equally felt by all. That is the reality of life here on this earth. There are moments when prayer, as powerful as it is, would not stop a storm. At best it would strengthen a person to go through the storm.

When evil happens to an evildoer, it gives birth to more evil but when it happens to a good person, goodness is multiplied and spread abroad. Jesus rightly said, ''Unless a grain of wheat falls into the earth and dies, it remains alone; but if it dies, it bears much fruit'' (Jn. 12:24).

We should never desire that evil should come our way; however, like manure with all its unpleasant smell, if evil should fall on our soil, may we seize that opportunity to produce abundance of good fruits.

PRAYER: Eternal Father, when evil comes our way, may we never lose faith in you but trust that in Christ all things work for good with those who love you. Amen

DATE: 5TH JUNE 2017 MEMORIAL OF SAINT BONIFACE, BISHOP AND MARTYR FIRST READING: Tobit 1:3; 2:1-8 PSALM: Psalm 112: 1-6 GOSPEL: Mark 12:1-12 THEME: THE PROBLEM OF EVIL

A philosopher decided to topple a priest after a sermon on the goodness of God. He said to the priest: ''You claim that there is God and that he is good and all-powerful, and yet look around you,  there is so much evil in the world. How can this be?'' In response the priest said to him, ''You are God's answer to the problem of evil. God put you where you are so that you would quench the flames of evil with the goodness in your heart.'' There is a Chinese proverb which says, ''better to light a candle than curse the darkness.''

The Gospel text and the First Reading for today give narrations of the evil of murder meted out to some individuals. Apart from maltreating and killing the servants, a group of evil-minded tenants, in our Gospel text, chose to lynch the beloved son of a vineyard owner. They said concerning his son, "This is the heir. Come on, let us kill him, and the inheritance will be ours" (Mk. 12:7). After saying this, ''they seized him and killed him and threw him out of the vineyard'' (Mk. 12:8).

In the First Reading, Tobias also brought his father (Tobit) a piece of unpleasant news as he sat down to feast:  "Father, one of our nation has been murdered and thrown into the market place" (Tob. 2:3). Upon hearing this news, Tobit sprang up at once, left his meal untouched, took the man from the market place and laid him in one of his rooms, waiting until sunset to bury him (cf. Tob. 2:4). In sum, he was moved with empathy and he expressed it concretely.

The attitude of Tobit in the face of evil is worth emulating. We do not need to know somebody personally before seeking to do good to that person. Whenever and wherever evil pops its ugly head up, we must respond with goodness. Like Tobit who abandoned his own pleasure in order to carry out a work of mercy towards a victim of evil, we too must be ready to step out of our comfort zones and pour the water of goodness on the sparks of evil.

The Lord planted you wherever you are right now for a purpose. Have you seen something gone wrong? Is evil taking place around you? God has imbedded in you what it takes to do something about it. Yes, evil can be defeated when good people arise and confront it.

PRAYER: Lord Jesus, lead me to conquer hatred with the power of love and to sow seeds of peace in times of strife. Amen

DATE: 4TH JUNE 2017 PENTECOST SUNDAY FIRST READING: Acts 2:1-11 PSALM: Psalm 104:1, 24, 29-30, 31, 34 SECOND READING: 1Corinthians 12:3-7, 12-13 GOSPEL: John 20:19-23 THEME: RECEIVE THE HOLY SPIRIT

Plant two naturally good seeds in a potentially good soil. Give one of them adequate water and sunshine but deprive the other of these elements. The result, after some days, would be obvious  the one that received sufficient water and sunshine would find itself enabled to sprout and bear fruits, whereas the other, though a good seed too, would perish in the soil.  The descent of the Holy Spirit upon a person makes a big difference. Like water and sunshine, the Holy Spirit gives a person the ability to sprout and bear fruits.

To understand the account of the Pentecost event, as recorded in our First Reading, we need to look at Acts 1:8. In that text, Jesus is reported to have told his disciples, ''You will receive power when the Holy Spirit has come upon you; and you will be my witnesses in Jerusalem, in all Judea and Samaria, and to the ends of the earth." Now on Pentecost day, we read, ''And they were all filled with the Holy Spirit and began to speak with other tongues, as the Spirit was giving them utterance'' (Acts 2:4). In other words, the disciples received an ability to do what they could not do all by themselves, i.e. to witness.

The ability that the Holy Spirit gives for witnessing is echoed in the Gospel text where Jesus tells the disciples, ''As the Father has sent me, even so I send you, Receive the Holy Spirit'' (Jn. 20:21-22).

Paul, in the Second Reading, helps us to appreciate the fact that the Spirit that the early Christians received on Pentecost day is the same Spirit that is offered to all believers: ''We were baptised into one body in a single Spirit, Jews as well as Greeks, slaves as well as free men, and we were all given the same Spirit to drink'' (1 Cor. 12:13). It means that we too can manifest the presence of the Holy Spirit in ways akin to that of the early Christian community. It is therefore scripturally and theologically inaccurate to think or say that some gifts and abilities that the Holy Spirit gives, as enumerated in Scripture, are not meant for our generation. On the contrary, Paul writes, ''To each is given the manifestation of the Spirit for the common good'' (1 Cor. 12:7).

As we celebrate Pentecost Sunday, we each need to do some sober reflection and ask ourselves some few questions: Am I truly living a life in the Spirit? In what ways is the Holy Spirit manifesting His presence in my life? Have I allowed the Holy Spirit to make me an active agent of evangelization?

The Holy Spirit is not an idea. He is a real divine person. He desires to make a big difference in the life of each one of us. Would you give Him the chance?

PRAYER: Come Holy Spirit, we need you. Give us power and make us witnesses of the Kingdom. Amen