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Tuesday, 10 February 2026 : 5th Week of Ordinary Time, Memorial of St. Scholastica, Virgin (Homily and Scripture Reflections)

Liturgical Colour : White

Dear brothers and sisters in Christ, today we are all reminded that we should be truly faithful and committed to God beyond just merely having superficial faith, or worse still faith that is not centred on God but on ourselves and our ego like how the Pharisees and the teachers of the Law had done in the past. All of us should learn to be humble and truly obedient to what the Lord has shown and taught us. We should not allow our pride, ego, ambition and worldly desires to influence and mislead us down the wrong path in life, simply because we cannot resist those temptations and falling ever deeper therefore into the slippery slope and path towards damnation and destruction.

In our first reading today, we heard from the Book of the Kings of Israel and Judah, we heard of the prayer which King Solomon offered to the Lord for His Providence, love and kindness to all the people and to him as King, in everything that He had done in extending His ever patient love and forgiveness to the people whom He truly loved and cared for, despite their stubbornness in constantly disobeying and rebelling against Him. God’s love did not cease just because of all that, and instead, He truly loved us all the more and went all out to seek those who had been separated and lost to Him because of their disobedience and sins.

King Solomon gave thanks to God for Him having willed to come and dwell amongst His people, as the Ark of the Covenant was brought into the grand Temple that he had built for the Lord. The Ark of the Covenant symbolised God’s Presence among His people, and that grand Temple, prepared and planned by David, Solomon’s father, and finally built and realised by Solomon himself, was meant to be the tangible centre and heart of the Kingdom of God’s people, and to where they all would come to worship the Lord their God, their Master and Creator. And King Solomon interceded on behalf of the people asking for the Lord’s mercy and forgiveness for their many sins, and for His continued presence and love among them.

Then, from our Gospel passage today, we heard from the Gospel according to St. Mark the Evangelist in which the Lord Jesus heavily criticised the Pharisees and the teachers of the Law for their way of interpreting, practicing and applying the Law and commandments of God according to their own interpretation and preferences. They were too strict and rigid in implementing the Law and its statutes, focusing so much on the externals and appearances that they neglected to understand and appreciate the true meaning and intention of the Law, and why God has given His Law and provided them to His people in the first place. God never intended for the Law to make it difficult for His people or to burden them unnecessarily.

In fact, He meant for the Law to teach and show them, to guide and lead them on how to love Him and one another in the same way that He has loved all of them. That is why we are reminded today that our faith and how we observe it must always be rooted firmly in the Lord and not be tainted and swayed by the temptations of worldly glory and ambitions like how the Pharisees had done. Those Pharisees used their piety and their way of observing the Law to be comparison and to judge against those whom they deemed to be less than worthy, which usually meant anyone else who did not practice the Law in the same manner as they had done. This is not what we should be doing as Christians, as we should be faithful and obey the Lord while also loving our fellow brethren at the same time, without any prejudice or bias.

Today, the Church celebrates the Feast of St. Scholastica, a holy and devoted woman whose life and examples had inspired many throughout the history of the Church. St. Scholastica was the fraternal twin sister of St. Benedict of Nursia according to Church tradition, who was another great saint of God and who was widely considered as the Father of Western Monasticism. St. Scholastica herself was renowned in her own way for her great piety and commitment to God, for her dedication and faith, which had inspired many others to follow her examples to a life of holiness and grace, resisting the many temptations of worldly glory, pleasures, fame and ambitions, and instead, seeking God wholeheartedly and turning themselves into the right path.

While the details on her early life was rather scant, but St. Scholastica eventually joined religious life much like St. Benedict, and she was credited with the foundation of the Benedictine nuns, which mirrored her brother’s role in founding the Benedictine monks and monasteries. St. Scholastica led a quiet and contemplative life in prayer, committing herself in prayer and study of the Scriptures, through which she inspired many other women of her time to follow the Lord in the same way, rejecting the excesses of wickedness and evils of the world, all the worldly temptations, pleasures and comforts, that they may all lead a holy life with the Lord, caring for one another in a holy community of the faithful consecrated ones to God.

Brothers and sisters in Christ, let us all therefore be inspired by the good examples, piety and faith which St. Scholastica has shown us, in all of her life and work, dedicating herself wholly to the Lord and to His path. Let us all reject the temptations of worldly power and glory, and remind ourselves that we do not end up being swayed by all those things and fall into the path of sin and evil. Let us instead deepen our relationship with God, by spending more quality time with Him, through prayer, charity and almsgiving, and by our exemplary way of life at all times. May God be with us always, and may He bless our every good works and efforts, now and forevermore. Amen.

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Tuesday, 10 February 2026 : 5th Week of Ordinary Time, Memorial of St. Scholastica, Virgin (Gospel Reading)

Liturgical Colour : White

Mark 7 : 1-13

At that time, one day, the Pharisees gathered around Jesus, and with them were some teachers of the Law who had just come from Jerusalem. They noticed that some of His disciples were eating their meal with unclean hands, that is, without washing them.

Now the Pharisees, and in fact all the Jews, never eat without washing their hands, for they follow the tradition received from their ancestors. Nor do they eat anything, when they come from the market, without first washing themselves. And there are many other traditions they observe; for example, the ritual washing of cups, pots and plates.

So the Pharisees and the teachers of the Law asked Him, “Why do Your disciples not follow the tradition of the elders, but eat with unclean hands?” Jesus answered, “You shallow people! How well Isaiah prophesied of you when he wrote : ‘This people honours Me with their lips, but their heart is far from Me. The worship they offer Me is worthless, for what they teach are only human rules.’ You even put aside the commandment of God to hold fast to human tradition.”

And Jesus commented, “You have a fine way of disregarding the commandments of God in order to enforce your own traditions! For example, Moses said : Do your duty to your father and your mother, and : Whoever curses his father or his mother is to be put to death. But according to you, someone could say to his father or mother, ‘I already declared Corban (which means “offered to God”) what you could have expected from me.’”

“In this case, you no longer require him to do anything for his father or mother; and so you nullify the word of God through the tradition you have handed on. And you do many other things like that.”

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Tuesday, 10 February 2026 : 5th Week of Ordinary Time, Memorial of St. Scholastica, Virgin (Psalm)

Liturgical Colour : White

Psalm 83 : 3, 4, 5 and 10, 11

My soul yearns; pines, for the courts of YHVH. My heart and my flesh cry out for the living God.

Even the sparrow finds a home, and the swallow a nest where she may lay her young, at Your altars, o YHVH of Hosts, my King and my God!

Happy are those who live in Your House, continually singing Your praise! Look upon our shield, o God; look upon the face of Your Anointed!

One day in Your courts is better than a thousand elsewhere. I would rather be left at the threshold in the house of my God than to dwell in the tents of the wicked.

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Tuesday, 10 February 2026 : 5th Week of Ordinary Time, Memorial of St. Scholastica, Virgin (First Reading)

Liturgical Colour : White

1 Kings 8 : 22-23, 27-30

Then Solomon stood before the Altar of YHVH in the presence of all the assembly of Israel. He raised his hands towards heaven and said, “O YHVH, God of Israel, there is no God like You either in heaven or on earth! You keep Your Covenant and show loving kindness to Your servants who walk before You wholeheartedly.”

“But will God really live among people on earth? If neither heavens nor the highest heavens can contain You, how much less can this House which I have built! Yet, listen to the prayer and supplication of Your servant, o YHVH my God; hearken to the cries and pleas which Your servant directs to You this day. Watch over this House of which You have said, ‘My Name shall rest there.’ Hear the prayer of Your servant in this place.”

“Listen to the supplication of Your servant and Your people Israel when they pray in this direction; listen from Your dwelling place in heaven and, on listening, forgive.”

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Monday, 9 February 2026 : 5th Week of Ordinary Time (Homily and Scripture Reflections)

Liturgical Colour : Green

Dear brothers and sisters in Christ, today as we all listened to the words of the Sacred Scriptures, we are reminded that we have our loving and most compassionate God Who is always with us all, His beloved and chosen people. God is always ever in our midst, in our communities, in our presence and in everything that we do. In each and every moments of our lives, God is always ever present, and He has never abandoned us, no matter what, even when we ourselves have been disobedient and unfaithful in our own lives and in our lack of faith and dedication towards Him. God has always freely given Himself to us all, in a most generous and wonderful way, just as He has shown throughout all of history.

In our first reading today, taken from the Book of the Kings of Israel and Judah, we heard of the moment when the grand Temple that King David had prepared and his son, King Solomon had built for the Lord, finally came to completion and everything was finally ready for the grand inauguration and opening of the Temple of God, as well as for the transfer of the Ark of the Covenant, the Ark of God itself, where God’s Presence descended upon, as the tangible and real presence of God amongst His people. This was the moment long awaited by the people of God, and was the very important moment when God Himself came to dwell among His people, at the heart of the capital of the Kingdom of Israel.

We heard about the grand celebrations and the festivities which accompanied all the preparations to welcome the Ark of the Covenant into the Temple that King Solomon had built for the Lord. The whole people from the King down to the lowest among the members of the community all rejoiced greatly because the Lord has been willing to dwell among them, and how He has always blessed and protected them all throughout time and history, never neglecting and abandoning them even when the Israelites themselves had been unfaithful and lacking in trust and obedience to Him. We are reminded through these that this is the same kind of joy we should also have in us and experience because we know that God has always provided for us in all things.

That is why we should always keep in mind that God should always be at the heart and centre of our lives, our every actions, and we should alwys remember that God never abandons us no matter what, and each one of us are precious to Him. This is why we should not be afraid to reach out to Him and to seek His help and guidance especially whenever we are facing lots of hardships and difficulties in life. It is by trusting in the Lord that we can truly find our path in life and gain true joy and security in all things, which the world cannot provide to us. We must always believe that God is always ever present in our midst, helping and providing for us, guiding and strengthening us even through the darkest and most difficult moments we may be facing.

Then, from our Gospel passage today, taken from the Gospel of St. Mark the Evangelist, we heard of the account of the actions of the Lord Jesus and His disciples as they carried out their works among the people of God. They went around from place to place serving the people, as the Lord went to reach out to those who had looked out for Him for healing and hope, caring for them and strengthening them all, so that they all could regain their strength and courage, to trust once again in God Who has always loved them so patiently and generously. And unlike the old Ark of the Covenant mentioned and highlighted in our first reading passage today, what the people had before them was no less than the Lord Himself in the flesh, manifesting perfectly His Love through His Son, incarnate as the Son of Man.

While the Old Ark of the Covenant was crafted from the finest materials and containing the two slabs of stone on which the Law of God was written, and also the miraculous heavenly bread, manna, and the staff of Aaron, the staff of authority over the people of God, in Jesus Christ, the Saviour, the perfect Manifestation and Revelation of God’s everlasting Love for us, we have seen in person and in the most tangible way, the Law of God made flesh, the Bread of Life and Lamb of God Who has sacrificed Himself for us and offered Himself for us, His own Most Precious Body and Blood offered for our sake on the Cross, and our Good Shepherd, the One Who guides us all with authority, love and compassion towards the Father.

That is why we should really be grateful that God is so loving towards us that He has willingly come into our midst, showing us all that He truly loves us all and cares for us even after our lack of faith and commitment towards Him. God does not abandon us in our time and hour of need, and He will always be there for us no matter what happens. We should appreciate that we are the beloved children of God, and hence we should also be full of love, compassion and kindness to everyone just as our loving God and Father had done towards us. We should always be exemplary and loving at all times, and be the worthy bearers of our Lord’s truth, Good News, love and compassion in our world today, manifesting further what He has shown us through His Son.

Brothers and sisters in Christ, today as we all reflect upon the message of the Sacred Scriptures that we have received earlier, let us all therefore continue to strive to love the Lord our God first and foremost, with all of our hearts, with all of our strength and with everything we have, remembering how He has loved us first in the same way and intensity, and then we should also, as Christians, love one another in the way that we have loved the Lord and ourselves, especially those whom we love the most. May the Lord our most loving God and Father continue to bless us all and strengthen us in our every good efforts and endeavours, now and always. Amen.

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Monday, 9 February 2026 : 5th Week of Ordinary Time (Gospel Reading)

Liturgical Colour : Green

Mark 6 : 53-56

At that time, having crossed the lake, Jesus and His disciples came ashore at Gennesaret, where they tied up the boat. As soon as they landed, people recognised Jesus, and ran to spread the news throughout the countryside.

Wherever He was, they brought to Him the sick lying on their mats; and wherever He went, to villages, towns or farms, they laid the sick in the marketplace, and begged Him to let them touch just the fringe of His cloak. And all who touched Him were cured.

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Monday, 9 February 2026 : 5th Week of Ordinary Time (Psalm)

Liturgical Colour : Green

Psalm 131 : 6-7, 8-10

The Ark is in Ephrata, we found it in the fields of Jaar. Let us go to where He dwells and worship at His footstool!

Arise, o YHVH, and come to Your rest; You, and the Ark of Your might. May Your priests be arrayed in glorious mantle; may Your faithful ones shout in gladness. For the sake of Your servant, David, do not turn away the face of Your Anointed.

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Monday, 9 February 2026 : 5th Week of Ordinary Time (First Reading)

Liturgical Colour : Green

1 Kings 8 : 1-7, 9-13

Then Solomon assembled before him in Jerusalem the elders of Israel and all the heads of the tribes, as well as the leaders of the ancestral houses of the Israelites, to bring up the Ark of the Covenant of YHVH from the city of David, which is Zion.

All the Israelites assembled near king Solomon in the month of Ethanim, the seventh month. When all the elders of Israel arrived, the priests carried the Ark of YHVH and brought it up together with the Tent of Meeting and all the holy vessels that were in the tent.

After the priests and Levites had brought them up, king Solomon with the entire congregation of Israel that had assembled before him and were with him before the Ark, sacrificed so many sheep and oxen that they could neither be counted nor numbered.

Then the priests laid the Ark of the Covenant of YHVH in its place in the inner Sanctuary of the house – the Most Holy Place – underneath the wings of the Cherubim. The Cherubim had their wings spread out over the place of the Ark, providing a covering above the Ark and its poles.

There was nothing in the Ark except the two tablets of stone which Moses placed there at Horeb, where YHVH made a Covenant with the Israelites when they came out of the land of Egypt. And when the priests came out of the Holy Place, such a cloud filled YHVH’s House that the priests could not continue to minister. Indeed, the glory of YHVH filled His House.

Then Solomon said, “YHVH has said that He would dwell in thick darkness. So the House I have built You will be Your House, a place for You to dwell in forever.”

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Sunday, 8 February 2026 : Fifth Sunday of Ordinary Time (Homily and Scripture Reflections)

Liturgical Colour : Green

Dear brothers and sisters in Christ, this Sunday as we all listened to the words of the Sacred Scriptures, we are all reminded that as God’s people, each and every one of us are called to be ever faithful and committed to the commandments and Law that He has shown and taught us, and to follow Him and to trust Him in whatever that He is leading us all into in our respective lives. Each and every one of us share the responsibility as disciples and followers of the Lord, in doing whatever we can, even in the smallest and seemingly least significant things so that by our actions, examples and our every deeds, we may indeed inspire in many other people the hope and faith that we all share in the Lord.

In our first reading this Sunday, we heard from the Book of the prophet Isaiah in which the Lord told His people the Israelites clearly through Isaiah of what they were all expected to do as His holy and beloved people, to be exemplary in their way of life, righteous and just in dealing with one another. They should not cause harm and hurt to others around them and they should not act unjustly, in exploiting and benefitting from the sufferings of others unlike what people always commonly do in this world. At that time, during the time of the ministry of the prophet Isaiah, the people of God had been facing lots of sufferings because of the sins of their predecessors and their own, as they lived their lives in according to worldly ways, in not following God’s Law and commandments.

Hence, that was why God sent His prophet Isaiah and many others to help remind the people of what they ought to do as those whom God had called and chosen to be His own, and with whom God had made His Covenant out of His ever enduring and patient love for each and every one of them. God wants each and every one of His people, and therefore all of us included, to follow and obey what the Lord Himself has shown and taught us all to do, in offering ourselves and our actions, our everyday moments in life for the greater glory of God. We should live our lives worthily that we may truly be 

Then, from our second reading this Sunday, taken from the Epistle of St. Paul to the Church and the faithful people of God in the city and region of Corinth, in which the Apostle spoke of everything that he had done among them as a missionary for the Lord Jesus Christ, the Son of God and the Saviour Whom God has sent into this world to reveal all about His salvation and grace. St. Paul told the people of Corinth that he came to them with no other intentions or any other missions than to proclaim the truth and Good News of the Saviour, Jesus Christ, and to show all of them what He has brought into this world, the promise of salvation and eternal life which God has gracefully revealed to us all through His most beloved Son.

And through this short passage from the Epistle to the Corinthians, all of us as Christians are reminded that we too share in the same mission of St. Paul and the other Christian missionaries, in our own unique and distinct ways, in the various means, opportunities and paths that God has provided and shown to us. All of us should strive to do our best to embrace God’s calling, in doing our best to be good role models for one another as God’s beloved people, and as the shining beacons of His truth and love in our communities today. We must realise that our every actions, words and deeds do matter and they truly embody what it is that we believe in, and we should always mean what we believe in that our faith may truly be alive and well, at all times.

Finally, from our Gospel passage this Sunday, taken from the Gospel according to St. Matthew the Apostle and Evangelist, we heard of the words of the Lord to His disciples and followers, and the people who were listening to Him that they all ought to be like salt of the earth and light of the world, using these parables comparing salt and light and their importance to how all of us as the followers of the Lord should not be lukewarm but be truly active and committed in living our lives as Christians. These are the two commodities that are still important and crucial today, but which were even more indispensable and important back then. For without salt and light, the world at the time of the Lord Jesus cannot operate much, as salt and light both played very important roles in the communities of the people, in everyone’s homes and in many activities involving daily living and actions, in work and more things, more than what we may need of those two things today, that is salt and light in our lives.

First of all, salt is used as an important flavouring agent, which is necessary to impart taste and flavour to food which could usually be rather bland tasteless. Salt is also important for the body in order to replenish certain ions and substances that our bodies require in order to function properly. While salt may be easily available these days and many even have problems of excessive consumption of salt, back then, many people did not even have steady supply of salt, as salt production was rather difficult, labour intensive and tightly controlled by the state back then, and without modern technologies that allowed mass production of salt, salt became a rather expensive commodity that was widely sought and desired, and was truly a precious item back then. Salt was also used in the preservation of food, which was important in the era before the advent of effective refrigeration as is present in our world today.

Meanwhile, light was also something very important as although light is abundant from the Sun during the daytime, but at night time, light was often lacking, as even the full brightness of the Full Moon and the stars of the sky paled in comparison with the brightness of the Sun. Night time was therefore often dark, particularly during the time when the Moon was not visible. The roads and the areas outside towns and villages were often very dark and treacherous, filled with all sorts of wild animals and predators, and nobody dared to travel alone or in the dark without the guidance of any light, in the form of lanterns and torches, which could provide assurance and protection for anyone who wished to travel in the dark times. Otherwise, people would rather wait until the morning before they continued to travel. And this was the reality of a world before the advent of electricity and easily available lighting from electricity, a world that we may not be truly familiar with.

Hence, imagine just how useless it is for salt to lose its taste and flavour, its saltiness and hence the ability to give flavour and to prevent food from spoiling and becoming bad. How useless and pointless it is also therefore for light to be hidden without been used to dispel the darkness wherever they are needed, for this light to be hidden and not used as a source of inspiration, hope and assurance, in the times of darkness. What the Lord wanted to say to us in providing this parable to us all through His disciples is that, our lives have to be meaningful, virtuous, righteous, good and just, filled with the virtues and righteousness of God, with Christian values and goodness, with all the things that the Lord Himself has shown and taught us to do. However, many of us as Christians are still ignorant of this calling and this mission which each and every one of us have in this life.

Brothers and sisters in Christ, this Sunday we are therefore called and reminded yet again by the Lord to be active in living our Christian lives, full of commitment and devotion to God, and full of the sincerity and the desire to serve the Lord, and to do what He Himself has taught us to do, and to make it such that our every words and actions in our respective lives truly become great sources of inspiration and good examples for others to follow, just like the salt of the earth and light of the world. God has provided each and every one of us with so many distinct and unique sets of gifts, talents, abilities, blessings and opportunities, giving us many chances to make good use of them for everyone’s benefits and for the greater glory of God. Now the question is, are we willing to embrace God’s call and are we willing to follow Him and walk in His path, faithfully and with conviction?

Brothers and sisters in Christ, let us all hence help one another to remain firm in faith and to be ever more active in reaching out to our fellow men and women, in our respective communities and in whatever areas that we are able to contribute in. Let us no longer be ignorant of the many opportunities and chances that God had provided us in being able to live up to our Christian mission and calling. Like the Apostles, St. Paul and many other holy men and women of God, let us all truly be the flavourful salt of the earth and the ever wonderful light of the world, proclaiming the love and truth of God, in our daily living, in our every words, actions and deeds, at all times. May God be with us all and may He bless us all in our every good works and endeavours, as salt of the earth and light of the world. Amen.

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Sunday, 8 February 2026 : Fifth Sunday of Ordinary Time (Gospel Reading)

Liturgical Colour : Green

Matthew 5 : 13-16

At that time, Jesus said to His disciples and to the people, “You are the salt of the earth. But if salt has lost its saltiness, how can it be made salty again? It has become useless. It can only be thrown away and people will trample on it.”

“You are the light of the world. A city built on a mountain cannot be hidden. No one lights a lamp and covers it; instead it is put on a lampstand, where it gives light to everyone in the house. In the same way your light must shine before others, so that they may see the good you do and praise your Father in heaven.”