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Saturday, 7 March 2026 : 2nd Week of Lent, Memorial of St. Perpetua and St. Felicity, Martyrs (Homily and Scripture Reflections)

Liturgical Colour : Purple/Violet

Dear brothers and sisters in Christ, today as we all continue to progress through this time and season of Lent, and as we all listened to the words of the Sacred Scriptures, we are all reminded of the great mercy and compassion which God has always shown us all, His beloved people. God is our Father Who has always been loving towards each and every one of us, despite our rebelliousness and refusals to obey His commandments and Law, and despite our stubborn attitudes, to which He has always shown patience and kindness, in His great perseverance in reaching out to all of us His people, to lead us all patiently back towards Him and to embrace us all once again with His ever generous and infinite love.

In our first reading today, taken from the Book of the prophet Micah, we heard of the words of the Lord as passed through the prophet Micah to the people of God in the southern kingdom of Judah, to which the prophet had been ministering in, in calling all those people to repentance from their sins and wickedness. For the context, like their northern neighbours, those living in the kingdom of Israel, which kingdom had been recently destroyed by the Assyrians, the people of Judah had also disobeyed the Lord and committed sins against Him through their worship of pagan idols and gods, and their stubborn attitudes in refusing to listen to the words of the prophets who had been sent to them to remind them.

And yet, as we have heard from the prophet Micah, God is truly a loving and forgiving God, Who like a Shepherd and loving Father, has always wanted nothing but the best for His beloved ones, His people, the Israelites, who had erred and fallen away from their paths, and seeking for all of them to return to Him with contrite and sorrowful hearts, regretting their sins and mistakes. As the loving Father and Shepherd of the people of God, Micah was also praying to Him asking for the Lord to show mercy and compassion on His beloved people, that despite of their sins and wickedness, He would still forgive them and help them out, just as how He has helped them out and provided for them all from their time of the Exodus from Egypt, before that and henceforth, throughout all history.

Then, from our Gospel passage today, taken from the Gospel according to St. Luke the Evangelist, we heard of the famous parable of the prodigal son, in which we heard the story of the prodigal and rebellious younger son of a rich father, who had two sons. That younger son chose to take the portion of his inheritance and leave his family behind, to enjoy a hedonistic and wicked lifestyle in distant, foreign lands, and eventually as we all know, that prodigal son ran out of money and possessions, and ended up as a penniless man in that distant and foreign country, with no one to care for him, and with all of his former friends and associates caring only about the wealth and possessions that he had, and not truly loving him, unlike his father back at home, whom the prodigal son had chosen to leave behind.

We heard how the prodigal son returned to the father with shame and humility, humbling himself and begging himself to be taken back to his house, even if he were to be like one of the servants, as he told his own father that he no longer deserved to call him as his father for everything that he had done. Yet, the father welcomed back the prodigal, rebellious and wicked younger son with great pomp, as he has found him once again, and he saw how this son had repented and regretted his past sins and faults, and hence, by coming back all the way to him, instead of staying on in that distant lands, that son had once again gained the favour of the father, and there was indeed a great joy as the prodigal son was once again part of the father’s family, and this represents just the way that all of us should act in reaching out to God, our most loving Father, Creator and Master.

First of all, just as the prodigal son had a choice of staying on in the distant lands instead of humbling himself and swallowing his pride to return to his home, thus, we also have the option to remain stubborn in our path and way of sin, instead of humbling ourselves to seek God’s forgiveness and compassionate mercy. Yes, brothers and sisters in Christ, that is why pride is such a dangerous thing for us, as pride often becomes a great obstacle in our path of seeking God’s forgiveness and grace. Pride has led so many people to their downfall, including Satan himself, and many other of our predecessors, as pride led us to separate ourselves from the love of God, and often prevented us to admit that we have been wrong and are in need of healing and forgiveness from God. Many people steadfastly continued to walk in their wrong paths because they rejected the fact that they were in need of help from God.

Then, if we heard and recalled the action of the elder son, who was angry at the father for welcoming the younger son back, it is also a reminder to all of us not to be judgmental on others just because we think that we are better than them. Like the actions of the Pharisees and the teachers of the Law back then during the time of the Lord Jesus, who often thought of themselves as holier and better than everyone else, condemning and being judgmental on those whom they deemed as sinners, unworthy and hopeless in their path towards God, they had closed the door of God’s mercy and kindness to so many of these people whom they could have helped if not for their own pride and arrogance. Again, here we can see how pride can even be the downfall of the righteous, if we allow pride to take over our actions and judgments in life.

Today, we all can also be inspired and strengthened by the good examples set by our holy predecessors, the holy martyrs and saints, St. Perpetua and St. Felicity, who were renowned martyrs of the Church, honoured and venerated for their righteousness, holiness and dedication to God, even in the face of suffering and martyrdom. According to the Church traditions and hagiography, St. Perpetua was a young noblewoman who was recently married and was a mother to a young infant son, while St. Felicity was a slave who were arrested with St. Perpetua for their Christian faith during the reign of the Roman Emperor Septimius Severus. It was told that this happened because St. Perpetua had a conflict with her father because he wanted her to abandon her Christian faith, and St. Perpetua refused to do so. It was likely that St. Perpetua met with St. Felicity and other fellow martyrs in prison, and they all endured the trials and hardships, resisting the temptations and pressures to abandon their faith in God.

The courage and dedication that those martyrs showed us all ought to remind us of the love and commitment that we ourselves ought to have for the Lord, and we are all reminded of how many of our predecessors have given their lives for the sake of the Lord. Brothers and sisters in Christ, as we reflect upon the story of the repentant prodigal son which we heard earlier on, and also the reminders of God’s love and mercy which He has generously provided us, let us all walk in great faith and trust in the Lord, in His mercy and compassion following the examples of the saints, like those of St. Perpetua and St. Felicity among others. May the Lord be with us always in our journey of faith and life, and help us to be good and worthy role models for another, now and always. Amen.

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Saturday, 7 March 2026 : 2nd Week of Lent, Memorial of St. Perpetua and St. Felicity, Martyrs (Gospel Reading)

Liturgical Colour : Purple/Violet

Luke 15 : 1-3, 11-32

At that time, tax collectors and sinners were seeking the company of Jesus, all of them eager to hear what He had to say. But the Pharisees and the scribes frowned at this, muttering, ‘This Man welcomes sinners and eats with them.”

So Jesus told them this parable : “There was a man with two sons. The younger said to his father, ‘Give me my share of the estate.’ So the father divided his property between them. Some days later, the younger son gathered all his belongings and started off for a distant land, where he squandered his wealth in loose living.”

“Having spent everything, he was hard pressed when a severe famine broke out in that land. So he hired himself out to a well-to-do citizen of that place, and was sent to work on a pig farm. So famished was he, that he longed to fill his stomach even with the food given to the pigs, but no one offered him anything.”

“Finally coming to his senses, he said, ‘How many of my father’s hired workers have food to spare, and here I am starving to death! I will get up and go back to my father, and say to him, Father, I have sinned against God, and before you. I no longer deserve to be called your son. Treat me then as one of your hired servants.’ With that thought in mind, he set off for his father’s house.”

“He was still a long way off, when his father caught sight of him. His father was so deeply moved with compassion that he ran out to meet him, threw his arms around his neck and kissed him. The son said, ‘Father, I have sinned against Heaven and before you. I no longer deserve to be called your son.'”

“But the father turned to his servants : ‘Quick!’ he said. ‘Bring out the finest robe and put it on him! Put a ring on his finger and sandals on his feet! Take the fattened calf and kill it! We shall celebrate and have a feast, for this son of mine was dead, and has come back to life; he was lost, and is found!’ And the celebration began.”

“Meanwhile, the elder son had been working in the fields. As he returned and approached the house, he heard the sound of music and dancing. He called one of the servants and asked what it was all about. The servant answered, ‘Your brother has come home safe and sound, and your father is so happy about it that he has ordered this celebration, and killed the fattened calf.'”

“The elder son became angry, and refused to go in. His father came out and pleaded with him. The son, very indignant, said, ‘Look, I have slaved for you all these years. Never have I disobeyed your orders. Yet you have never given me even a young goat to celebrate with my friends. Then when this son of yours returns, after squandering your property with loose women, you kill the fattened calf for him.'”

“The father said, ‘My son, you are always with me, and everything I have is yours. But this brother of yours was dead, and has come back to life; he was lost, and is found. And for that we had to rejoice and be glad.'”

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Saturday, 7 March 2026 : 2nd Week of Lent, Memorial of St. Perpetua and St. Felicity, Martyrs (Psalm)

Liturgical Colour : Purple/Violet

Psalm 102 : 1-2, 3-4, 9-10, 11-12

Bless the Lord, my soul; all my being, bless His holy Name! Bless the Lord, my soul, and do not forget all His kindness.

He forgives all your sins and heals all your sickness; He redeems your life from destruction and crowns you with love and compassion.

He will not always scold nor will He be angry forever. He does not treat us according to our sins, nor does He punish us as we deserve.

As the heavens are high above the earth, so great is His love for those fearing Him; as far as the east is from the west, so far does He remove from us our sins.

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Saturday, 7 March 2026 : 2nd Week of Lent, Memorial of St. Perpetua and St. Felicity, Martyrs (First Reading)

Liturgical Colour : Purple/Violet

Micah 7 : 14-15, 18-20

Shepherd Your people with Your staff, shepherd the flock of Your inheritance that dwells alone in the scrub, in the midst of a fertile land. Let them feed in Bashan and Gilead as in the days of old, in the days when You went out of Egypt. Show us Your wonders.

Who is a God like You, Who takes away guilt and pardons crime for the remnant of His inheritance? Who is like You Whose anger does not last? For You delight in merciful forgiveness. Once again You will show us Your loving kindness and trample on our wrongs, casting all our sins into the depths of the sea.

Show faithfulness to Jacob, mercy to Abraham, as You have sworn to our ancestors from the days of old.

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Friday, 6 March 2026 : 2nd Week of Lent (Homily and Scripture Reflections)

Liturgical Colour : Purple/Violet

Dear brothers and sisters in Christ, today as we all listened to the words of the Sacred Scriptures, we are reminded of the harm and dangers that our greed, desires and ambitions, as well as jealousy and other negative traits which can lead us into our downfall and destruction if we continue to follow them, as what the Scripture passages today highlighted with the story of Joseph and his brothers, where jealousy almost led to those brothers committing fratricide, as well as the story of the parable of the evil tenants which the Lord Jesus told to His disciples, to remind them all of how our greed and personal ambitions can lead us into committing untold harm and evil deeds.

In our first reading today, taken from the Book of Genesis, we heard of the beginning of the story surrounding Joseph, one of the many sons of Jacob or Israel, whom we may all know as the one who was brought to Egypt and becoming regent there in that land, and ultimately rescuing his whole family from danger due to the great famine raging over the whole world at the time, making the Israelites, the descendants of Jacob or Israel, prosper greatly in Egypt and in the lands that God had brought them all to stay in. Through this story we can see how God was with His people, protecting them and providing for them, and even turning things that were meant for evil into good things.

First of all, Joseph as mentioned was one of the favourite sons of Jacob, and this was due to him being one of the two sons of Rachel, the woman whom Jacob truly loved wholeheartedly, more than his sister, Leah, who had also married Jacob and gave him the other children. Joseph and Benjamin were the sons borne to him by Rachel, and as his youngest sons, naturally it would have made them their father’s favourites. Joseph in particular received the ire of his other elder brothers because Benjamin was likely still very young, and therefore did not end up in their brothers’ crosshairs. Joseph himself also received many preferential treatments from his father, and his dreams which he shared with his brothers and family, highlighting how they all would be bowing down before him, brought about even more of his brothers’ jealousy.

And that was how Joseph eventually ended up being plotted against by his own brothers, and almost lost his life because many among his brothers wanted to kill him. Instead, by the intervention of some of his elder brothers, Joseph was instead sold off to the slavers of Midian who were on their way to the land fo Egypt, and was spared death. All of these were indeed part of God’s grand design, who influenced the brothers and prevented them from committing such a heinous sin of killing their own brother. He turned the misfortunes of Joseph into great plans for the future, which at that time no one could have seen yet, but it was in fact Joseph’s visions slowly coming to fruition and accomplishment.

Then, from our Gospel passage today, taken from the Gospel according to St. Matthew the Apostle and Evangelist, we heard of the moment when the Lord Jesus told His disciples and followers using a parable to teach them about the dangers of worldly glory, ambitions and desires, which He highlighted with the story of the wicked and evil tenants who were given the plots of land by the landowner to work on, and yet, they all refused to pay their dues and the parts of the proceed just as they had certainly agreed on with the landowner. Those wicked tenants became greedy and wanted to keep all of their proceeds and profits, reneging on their earlier agreement, refusing to listen to the reminders sent to them by the landowner through his servants.

And not only that, just like the story of Joseph earlier in our first reading today, those evil tenants were affected by their greed and jealousy of the great wealth of the landowner, which led them to commit heinous crimes, persecuting and even murdering those servants sent to them to remind them of their obligations and works. We heard then how last of all, the evil tenants ganged up and plotted against the landowner’s son, whom he sent to those wicked tenants with the same purpose, thinking that they would have at least respected his son. This was in fact a premonition and prefigurement of what Christ Himself, represented by that landowner’s son, would go through as He would be persecuted and killed by those who opposed Him, those represented by the evil tenants.

This is why all of us are reminded as Christians, we should not allow these things to influence us negatively and leading us down the slippery slope towards wickedness and sin. We must realise that first and foremost we should focus our lives and attention on the Lord, and keep in mind that our every actions, words and deeds should always be rooted in our belief in the Lord, and not be rooted in our worldly ambitions, desires and greed. We must remember that nothing we have and gained in this world will last forever, and none of them will endure through difficulties and challenges we may encounter in our path. But if we put our faith and trust in the Lord, everything that we go through, all the challenges and difficulties, we will eventually be able to overcome it, and we will gain true eternal glory with Him.

Brothers and sisters in Christ, let us all therefore reflect upon all these which we have heard from the Lord, from the words He has spoken to us and reminded us all with. Let us all no longer hesitate to walk ever more courageously with Him, going forward with great faith that does not dim even amidst the most challenging and difficult moments. All of us should always do our best to live up to our Christian beliefs, particularly in our great love for God and in our generous love for one another, not putting ourselves and our selfish desires ahead of what we should do in loving God and His people, as we have been called to do.

May the Lord our God continue to strengthen us all and empower each and every one of us in our every efforts and endeavours especially throughout this time and season of Lent, so that all of us may continue to walk faithfully in the path which the Lord has shown us. Let us all remain firm in faith and trust in Him, and resist the temptations of worldly ambitions, glory and desires, all of which can drag us down the path of ruin and destruction. This Lent, let us all continue to strive to be ever more faithful and committed people of God, now and always. Amen.

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Friday, 6 March 2026 : 2nd Week of Lent (Gospel Reading)

Liturgical Colour : Purple/Violet

Matthew 21 : 33-43, 45-46

At that time, Jesus said to His disciples, “Listen to another example : There was a landowner who planted a vineyard. He put a fence around it, dug a hole for the winepress, built a watchtower, leased the vineyard to tenants, and then went to a distant country.”

“When harvest time came, the landowner sent his servants to the tenants to collect his share of the harvest. But the tenants seized his servants, beat one, killed another and stoned a third. Again the owner sent more servants, but they were treated in the same way.”

“Finally, he sent his son, thinking, ‘They will respect my son.’ But when the tenants saw the son, they thought, ‘This is the one who is to inherit the vineyard. Let us kill him, and his inheritance will be ours.’ So they seized him, threw him out of the vineyard and killed him.”

“Now, what will the owner of the vineyard do with the tenants when he comes?” They said to him, “He will bring those evil men to an evil end, and lease the vineyard to others, who will pay him in due time.” And Jesus replied, “Have you never read what the Scriptures say? The stone which the builders rejected has become the cornerstone. This was the Lord’s doing, and we marvel at it.”

“Therefore I say to you : the kingdom of heaven will be taken from you, and given to a people who will yield a harvest.”

When the chief priests and the Pharisees heard these parables, they realised that Jesus was referring to them. They would have arrested Him, but they were afraid of the crowd, who regarded Him as a Prophet.

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Friday, 6 March 2026 : 2nd Week of Lent (Psalm)

Liturgical Colour : Purple/Violet

Psalm 104 : 16-17, 18-19, 20-21

Then the Lord sent a famine and ruined the crop that sustained the land; He sent a man ahead of them, Joseph, who was sold as a slave.

His feet in shackles, his neck in irons till what he foretold came to pass, and the Lord’s word proved him true.

The king sent for him, set him free, the ruler of the peoples released him. He put him in charge of his household and made him ruler of all his possessions.

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Friday, 6 March 2026 : 2nd Week of Lent (First Reading)

Liturgical Colour : Purple/Violet

Genesis 37 : 3-4, 12-13a, 17b-28

Now Israel loved Joseph more than any of his other children, for he was the son of his old age and he had a coat with long sleeves made for him. His brothers who saw that their father loved him more than he loved them, hated him and could no longer speak to him in a friendly way.

His brothers had gone to pasture their father’s flock at Shechem, and Israel said to Joseph, “Your brothers are pasturing the flock at Shechem.” So Joseph went off after his brothers and found them at Dothan. They saw him in the distance and before he reached them, they plotted to kill him.

They said to one another, “Here comes the specialist in dreams! Now is the time! Let us kill him and throw him into a well. We will say a wild animal devoured him. Then we will see what his dreams were all about!” But Reuben heard this and tried to save him from their hands saying, “Let us not kill him; shed no blood! Throw him in this well in the wilderness, but do him no violence.” This he said to save him from them and take him back to his father.

So as soon as Joseph arrived, they stripped him of his long-sleeved coat that he wore and then took him and threw him in the well, now the well was empty, without water. They were sitting for a meal when they looked up and saw a caravan of Ishmaelites coming from Gilead, their camels laden with spices, balm and myrrh, which they were taking down to Egypt.

Judah then said to his brothers, “What do we gain by killing our brother and hiding his blood? Come! We will sell him to the Ishmaelites and not lay our hands on him, for he is our brother and our own flesh!” His brothers agreed to this. So when the Midianite merchants came along they pulled Joseph up and lifted him out of the well. For twenty pieces of silver they sold Joseph to the Midianites, who took him with them to Egypt.

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Thursday, 5 March 2026 : 2nd Week of Lent (Homily and Scripture Reflections)

Liturgical Colour : Purple/Violet

Dear brothers and sisters in Christ, today as we all reminded that as the followers and disciples of the Lord, each and every one of us must always strive to live our lives faithfully in accordance to what He Himself has shown and taught us, in showing great love to one another, especially to those whom we love and those whom the Lord has placed in our lives to love, our beloved ones, and then also all those who are marginalised and less fortunate around us, the poor and the needy, and these are not limited only to those who are having financial and material difficulties, but also those who are ostracised, unloved and forgotten by the community.

In our first reading today, taken from the Book of the prophet Jeremiah, we heard of the words of the Lord which had been delivered by Him to His people through Jeremiah, calling on all of them to repent from their sinful and wicked ways, turning back from their worldly ways and returning once again to follow the path of the Lord. Back then, the prophet Jeremiah was sent to the people of God in the kingdom of Judah, at the last days of its existence to tell them all of the terrible fate that they would soon endure because of their lack of faith in the Lord from the time of their ancestors and predecessors, and their dependance on worldly powers and means rather than on the Lord their God, in Whom they should put their faith and trust in.

The people of Judah, the kingdom and the whole body of nobles, according to the Scriptural accounts, chose to depend on the backing and support of the Egyptians and their Pharaoh, in the struggle between the regional powers, just as the Babylonians were gaining strength and growing in power at that time. And this choice of depending on worldly means instead of trusting in the Lord was the very reason for their downfall, and there were also false prophets who went against the words of the prophet Jeremiah, convincing the king and his nobles to follow their preferred course of action instead, claiming that the Lord would crush the Babylonians with the help of the Egyptians and their forces.

All of that eventually led to the ruin and destruction of Judah as the Babylonians came with their armies and forces, defeating the armies of the Egyptians and leaving Judah without means of protection. And as the Babylonians came upon them and besieged Jerusalem, destroying other cities and eventually conquering the kingdom, destroying the great Temple in Jerusalem and bringing many of the people of Judah to exile in distant lands, everything that Jeremiah had spoken finally came true. And to all of us listening to these words from the Scriptures, we are reminded that we should not put our faith and trust in the power of man and in worldly devices alone, but we must put our faith in the Lord together with all of our efforts.

Then, from our Gospel pasasge today, taken from the Gospel according to St. Luke the Evangelist, we heard of the moment when the Lord told His disciples and followers, of the parable of Lazarus and the rich man, using the example of Lazarus, a poor man who was always sitting by the doorway of the house or mansion of a rich man. We heard in this well-known story of how the rich man ignored the sufferings of the poor man Lazarus at his very own doorstep, refusing to allow him to even have the crumbs of bread from his table, even when there were a lot of opportunities for him to help the poor man. And we heard of how when both Lazarus and the rich man passed away, they ended up in different places.

From what we heard of the great joy and vindication of Lazarus, who was finally enjoying relief and happiness together with Abraham and the other righteous people of God, and in contrast how the rich man was suffering in the fires of hell. Through this example and parable which the Lord had used to highlight His points and ideas to the disciples, we ourselves are also being reminded that we should not ignore the plight of the poor and the needy all around us, or else, we will end up facing the same predicament as the rich man. It was not about his wealth or possessions that made him wrong, but the rich man’s apathy and lack of action had caused him to commit the sin of omission in not helping out his fellow man, Lazarus, when he could have done so, many times.

Brothers and sisters in Christ, as we all continue to progress through this time and season of Lent, let us all remember that all of us as Christians are called to do good in our daily living, to live up to our Christian calling and mission in whatever way we can, in each and every moments of our lives. We should always remember to put God at the centre of our lives and do our very best in our every actions, words and deeds so that by our everyday efforts and works, even in the smallest things that we do, we will always help more and more people all around us. As Christians, we are called to be active in reaching out to our fellow brothers and sisters around us, to our fellow men and women who need our help and company, among other things.

May the Lord, our most loving God and Father continue to help and guide us all in our lives, remembering that in each and every moments we should continue to live our lives virtuously, in loving God and in loving one another around us, especially those whom God has given us all to love, and also those whom we encounter in our lives, in our everyday moments that we have been given the opportunities to show care, love and concern for those who have been placed in our paths. Let us all continue to show them the generous love that we can give them, in whatever way we can, so that by our generous love and compassion, we may truly be worthy of God and His love, and show forth God’s love to all those whom we encounter, now and always. Amen.

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Thursday, 5 March 2026 : 2nd Week of Lent (Gospel Reading)

Liturgical Colour : Purple/Violet

Luke 16 : 19-31

At that time, Jesus said to His disciples, “Once there was a rich man who dressed in purple and fine linen and feasted every day. At his gate lay Lazarus, a poor man covered with sores, who longed to eat just the scraps falling from the rich man’s table. Even dogs used to come and lick his sores.”

“It happened that the poor man died, and Angels carried him to take his place with Abraham. The rich man also died, and was buried. From hell where he was in torment, the rich man looked up and saw Abraham afar off, and with him Lazarus at rest. He called out, ‘Father Abraham, have pity on me, and send Lazarus, with the tip of his finger dipped in water, to cool my tongue, for I suffer so much in this fire.'”

“Abraham replied, ‘My son, remember that in your lifetime you were well-off, while the lot of Lazarus was misfortune. Now he is in comfort, and you are in agony. But that is not all. Between your place and ours a great chasm has been fixed, so that no one can cross over from here to you, or from your side to us.'”

“The rich man implored once more, ‘Then I beg you, Father Abraham, to send Lazarus to my father’s house, where my five brothers live, let him warn them, so that they may not end up in this place of torment.’ Abraham replied, ‘They have Moses and the prophets. Let them listen to them.'”

“But the rich man said, ‘No, Father Abraham; but if someone from the dead goes to them, they will repent.’ Abraham said, ‘If they will not listen to Moses and the prophets, they will not be convinced, even if someone rises from the dead.'”