Liturgical Colour : White
John 10 : 27-30
At that time, Jesus said to the Jews, “My sheep hear My voice and I know them; they follow Me and I give them eternal life. They shall never perish, and no one will ever steal them from Me. What the Father has given Me is above everything else, and no one can snatch it from out of the Father’s hand. I and the Father are One.”
Liturgical Colour : White
Revelations 7 : 9, 14b-17
After this I saw a great crowd, impossible to count, from every nation, race, people and tongue, standing before the Throne and the Lamb, clothed in white, with palm branches in their hands.
The elder replied, “They are those who have come out of the great persecution; they have washed and made their clothes white in the blood of the Lamb. This is why they stand before the Throne of God and serve Him day and night in His sanctuary. He Who sits on the Throne will spread His tent over them.”
“Never again will they suffer hunger or thirst or be burnt by the sun or any scorching wind. For the Lamb near the Throne will be their Shepherd, and He will bring them to springs of life-giving water, and God will wipe away their tears.”
Liturgical Colour : White
Psalm 99 : 2, 3, 5
Serve the Lord with gladness. Come before Him with joyful songs.
Know that the Lord is God; He created us and we are His people, the sheep of His fold.
For the Lord is good; His love lasts forever and His faithfulness through all generations.
Liturgical Colour : White
Acts 13 : 14, 43-52
Paul and his companions went on from Perga and came to Antioch in Pisidia. On the Sabbath day they entered the synagogue and sat down.
After that, when the assembly broke up, many Jews and devout God-fearing people followed them and to these they spoke, urging them to hold fast to the grace of God.
The following Sabbath almost the entire city gathered to listen to Paul, who spoke a fairly long time about the Lord. But the presence of such a crowd made the Jews jealous. So they began to oppose with insults whatever Paul said.
Then Paul and Barnabas spoke out firmly, saying, “It was necessary that God’s word be first proclaimed to you, but since you now reject it and judge yourselves to be unworthy of eternal life, we turn to non-Jewish people. For thus we were commanded by the Lord : I have set you as a light to the pagan nations, so that you may bring My salvation to the ends of the earth.”
Those who were not Jews rejoiced when they heard this and praised the message of the Lord, and all those destined for everlasting life believed in it. Thus the Word spread throughout the whole region.
Some of the Jews, however, incited God-fearing women of the upper class and the leading men of the city, as well, and stirred up an intense persecution against Paul and Barnabas. Finally they had them expelled from their region. The Apostles shook the dust from their feet in protest against this people and went to Iconium, leaving the disciples filled with joy and Holy Spirit.
Liturgical Colour : White
Brothers and sisters in Christ, on this day, what we can take away from what the Lord had said to the people who followed Him, is the very fact that Christ is the bringer of truth, and as the One Who revealed to the world, everything as it is deemed true and good by God, but which the world had failed to understand. It may be hard for us to accept the truth, but if we are to become true disciples of Christ, and therefore as true Christians, then we must learn to accept it.
We may find our path and our ways to be wrong, all that we have believed in thus far to be wrong, because what Jesus brought to us through His words, are the words of truth, dispelling the lies and all the darkness that the devil and his allies had been placing in this world in order to deceive us and to turn us away from our Lord and from His salvation.
The people found it hard to believe in the truth that Jesus had said, because they themselves for a long time had been accustomed to the ways where they were not chastised or rebuked for any of their wrongdoings. In fact, these were encouraged if not tolerated. And they used to think of everything as in accordance to their own human understanding and intellect, dismissing all those that seemed to be foreign and alien to their understanding.
But this is what Jesus precisely brought to them, shattering their presumptions and their sense of self-righteousness, and bringing to them the truth, as difficult and as painful it is to bear the truth in them. That is why many of them wavered, and many of them in the end refused to believe and left Jesus and His teachings behind, continuing their lives as it had been before.
God called on them and they refused to believe, but there were those who were willing to listen, and there were those who were even trying to do as what the Lord had told them to do, as difficult as it was for them. The Apostles themselves were trying very hard in their own efforts, and many times they failed and faltered. And Judas, one who was counted among them, betrayed Jesus in the end, simply because he was unable to detach himself from all the falsehoods and the temptations of the world, and thus chose the world and sin instead of choosing the Lord and His ways.
Brethren, it is a call for us all to reflect on ourselves and on our own actions in life. It is time for us to recall our actions and whatever we have done, all the things which we have done, on whether these are in tune with what the Lord had taught us, or whether we have done things our own way, refusing to follow what the Lord had taught us.
It is not enough for us to be Christians to be just paying lip service to God, brothers and sisters in Christ, as we have to be proactive and committed in serving Him in all of our ways. We cannot profess to be faithful to God, and yet we in our actions show it as otherwise, as this will show our hypocrisy, and how our faith is not a genuine one.
And it is not just that, brethren, as if we call ourselves Christians, and yet our actions show otherwise, by our selfishness, and by our lack of love, care and concern for our brethren around us, who are in need of our love and compassion, then how will people believe in us if we call them to become followers of Christ too? We should be bearers of truth, not just in mere words, but also through our real and concrete actions.
Let us therefore use this opportunity to reiterate our commitment to serve the Lord with all of our heart and give our best effort to Him, and from now on, let us no longer be divided in our actions and in our deeds, that everything we say and do from now on, should be in accordance to what God has taught us. May God help us and strengthen us in our faith, so that we may always be faithful to Him, and no longer be swayed by the falsehoods of the world.
May God help us in our endeavours, so that we may always walk in His path and persevere through all the challenges and even the suffering that may come our way if we stay faithful to Him. God be with us all. Amen.
Liturgical Colour : White
John 6 : 60-69
At that time, after hearing this, many of Jesus’ followers said, “This language is very hard! Who can accept it?”
Jesus was aware that His disciples were murmuring about this, and so He said to them, “Does this offend you? Then how will you react when you see the Son of Man ascending to where He was before? It is the Spirit that gives life, not the flesh. The words that I have spoken to you are Spirit and they are life. But among you there are some who do not believe.”
From the beginning, Jesus knew who would betray Him. So He added, “As I have told you, no one can come to Me unless it is granted by the Father.” After this many disciples withdrew and no longer followed Him. Jesus asked the Twelve, “Will you also go away?”
Peter answered Him, “Lord, to whom shall we go? You have the words of eternal life. We now believe and know that You are the Holy One of God.”
Liturgical Colour : White
Psalm 115 : 12-13, 14-15, 16-17
The Lord remembers us and will bless us; He will bless the family of Israel; He will bless the family of Aaron; He will bless those who fear the Lord, both the small and the great.
May the Lord shower blessings, on you and your children as well. May you be blessed by the Lord, Maker of heaven and earth.
Heaven belongs to the Lord, but the earth He has given to humans. It is not the dead who praise the Lord, for they have gone down to silence.
Liturgical Colour : White
Acts 9 : 31-42
Meanwhile, the Church had peace. It was building up throughout all Judea and Galilee and Samaria with eyes turned to the Lord and filled with comfort from the Holy Spirit.
As Peter travelled around, he went to visit the saints who lived in Lydda. There he found a man named Aeneas who was paralysed, and had been bedridden for eight years. Peter said to him, “Aeneas, Jesus Christ heals you; get up and make your bed!” And the man got up at once. All the people living in Lydda and Sharon saw him and turned to the Lord.
There was a disciple in Joppa named Tabitha, which means Dorcas or Gazelle. She was always doing good works and helping the poor. At that time she fell sick and died. After having washed her body, they laid her in the upstairs room. As Lydda is near Joppa, the disciples, on hearing that Peter was there, sent two men to him with the request, “Please come to us without delay.”
So Peter went with them. On his arrival they took him upstairs to the room. All the widows crowded around him in tears, showing him the clothes that Dorcas had made while she was with them. Peter made them all leave the room and then he knelt down and prayed. Turning to the dead body he said, “Tabitha, stand up.”
She opened her eyes, looked at Peter and sat up. Peter gave her his hand and helped her up. Then he called in the saints and widows and presented her to them alive. This became known throughout all of Joppa and many people believed in the Lord because of it.
Liturgical Colour : White
Dear brothers and sisters in Christ, today we heard the well-known story of how St. Paul, the great Apostle and servant of God was converted from his past life as Saul, the great enemy of the faithful and the nightmare of Christians at that time. St. Paul when he was young, he was a zealous and fanatical Pharisee who strictly obeyed the Law of God, and was inflamed with false zeal against the followers of Christ.
But he led a wrong life, thinking that what he had done was righteous and just, as he thought that he was serving the Lord when he hunted down the disciples and the followers of Christ. But he was mistaken, for in all of those works, he was chasing down the same fault that the Pharisees, the teachers of the Law and the elders of the people had done, that is to pursue their earthly matters first before that of the truth.
They refused to believe in Jesus, except for some who were willing to listen, because of their ego and pride, which prevented them from opening their hearts and minds to God, and therefore being able to follow Him. And in this misguided path therefore, St. Paul in his youth as Saul ended up committing great sins against many of the faithful, many of whom suffered grievously under his torture and works.
But God chose him to be an instrument of His salvation to the many nations. And he was called from a great sinner he was, a persecutor of the faithful, to be the champion and defender of the Faith in front of many of the enemies of the Lord, including his former friends, the Pharisees and the elders, and later on in his life, against the pagans who refused to follow the Lord and against the Roman authorities.
In all these, we see how great God’s work was. We see the greatness of His plan and His mysterious ways, which many of us may not be able to fathom, and yet from there came the salvation of the Lord to the many nations of this world. We have to keep in mind, as we remember this story of the conversion of St. Paul, from a great sinner who became a great saint, and as the invaluable tool of God’s work and evangelisation among the people especially among the pagan nations, that we too should do the same.
God did not call the mighty and the powerful, nor the perfect and unblemished to be those upon whom He showed His grace and blessings. In fact all of us should realise just how imperfect we were. We are all sinners, and so does all the saints as well. Even saints were themselves once sinners, and they also committed the same sins that we have committed. But there is one very important thing they did which distinguished them in the end.
And what is that, brethren? It is the ability to seek reparations for one’s own sins and faults. It is the ability to humble oneself and realise the nature of one’s own sins that have prevented that person from truly being able to reach out to God and to attain salvation in Him. God is calling not the perfect, but sinners and delinquents, rebels and disobedient ones, whom He was willing to forgive if they themselves make the effort to be forgiven.
Brothers and sisters in Christ, are we all ready to follow the path of St. Paul? St. Paul walked the path of repentance, turning his back against all those things, the awful deeds which he had committed against the followers of Christ. Those were grievous sins indeed, but through his actions and works, St. Paul has earned more than redemption for his faults, by totally committing himself to God, and submitting himself to His will.
We too can follow his examples, by practising our faith actively in our own lives. Let us no longer be lukewarm in our faith, but instead let us all be burning flames of faith, of true zeal in God, not brought out of hatred and human desire, but out of love, from the desire to love both our God, and our fellow men, who are our brethren in the same Lord. God bless us all. Amen.
Liturgical Colour : White
John 6 : 52-59
At that time, the Jews were arguing among themselves, “How can this Man give us flesh to eat?” So Jesus replied, “Truly, I say to you, if you do not eat the flesh of the Son of Man and drink His blood, you have no life in you. The one who eats My flesh and drinks My blood lives eternal life, and I will raise him up on the last day.”
“My flesh is really food, and My blood is truly drink. Those who eat My flesh and drink My blood, live in Me, and I in them. Just as the Father, Who is life, sent Me, and I have life from the Father, so whoever eats Me will have life from Me. This is the Bread which came from heaven; not like that of your ancestors, who ate and later died. Those who eat this Bread will live forever.”
Jesus spoke in this way in Capernaum when He taught them in the synagogue.
petercanisiusmichaeldavidkang 