Liturgical Colour : White
Psalm 144 : 17-18, 19-20, 21
Righteous is the Lord in all His ways, His mercy shows in all His deeds. He is near those who call on Him, who call trustfully upon His Name.
He fulfils the wish of those who fear Him; He hears their cry and saves them. For those who love Him, the Lord has compassion; but the wicked, He will destroy.
Let my mouth speak in praise of the Lord, let every creature bless His holy Name, forever and ever.
Liturgical Colour : White
1 Corinthians 4 : 6b-15
Learn by this example not to believe yourselves superior by siding with one against the other. How then are you more than the others? What have you that you have not received? And if you received it, why are you proud, as if you did not receive it?
So, then, you are already rich and satisfied, and feel like kings without us! I wish you really were kings, so that we might enjoy the kingship with you! It seems to me that God has placed us, the Apostles, in the last place, as if condemned to death, and as spectacles for the whole world, for the Angels as well as for mortals.
We are fools for Christ, while you show forth the wisdom of Christ. We are weak, you are strong. You are honoured, while we are despised. Until now we hunger and thirst, we are poorly clothed and badly treated, while moving from place to place.
We labour, working with our hands. People insult us and we bless them, they persecute us and we endure everything; they speak evil against us, and ours are works of peace. We have become like the scum of the earth, like the garbage of humankind until now.
I do not write this to shame you, but to warn you as very dear children. Because even though you may have ten thousand guardians in the Christian life, you have only one father; and it was I who gave you life in Christ through the Gospel.
Liturgical Colour : Green
Dear brothers and sisters in Christ, today’s readings are reminder for us to live in accordance with the ways of our Lord Jesus Christ, as how He had taught us, and not in accordance with the ways of the world. And that was presented clearly through the parable which many of us are probably familiar with, that is the parable of the wineskins and the coat.
The context of the event that happened on that day was such that the Pharisees and the disciples of John the Baptist existed alongside the disciples of Jesus. The Pharisees together with the teachers of the Law deemed as the elites of the society, who were supposed to be guardians and masters of the Law of God, while the disciples of John were those who listened to St. John the Baptist and followed him much like how the people followed Jesus.
But they followed the old path, that is the Old Testament and Covenant between God and mankind. They walked through the Covenant which had been made null not by the action of its Maker, the Lord our God, but rather through the disobedience which their ancestors, the ones with whom God had made His covenant with. Those people have sinned and disobeyed the commands of the Lord and profaned His holy covenant.
Yet, God still wished to remake that Covenant which had been broken, and reestablish it so that through the new Covenant He was bringing to them, His rebellious people may have a chance at redemption if they repent from their sins. And to that extent, He brought about a new Covenant which He made not through the sacrifice of the imperfect and worldly animals and blood, but instead through the perfect offering and sacrifice of the Blood of the Lamb, God made that new Covenant with us.
Brothers and sisters in Christ, that new Covenant was more complete and perfect than the first covenant. This new Covenant revealed to the people what He expected from each and every one of them, that is to show genuine faith and love for Him, and not just to show it through sacrifices and offerings as what the people in the past had done.
Especially for the Pharisees and the teachers of the Law, they were so fixated on their rites and traditions, in how they have preserved the observances and the Jewish customs, that they have neglected what they ought to do, that is loving and showing devotion to God. They were too focused on things that are superficial, and in the end, they end up misleading the people of God into the wrong paths.
The New Covenant of God showed forth new norms and ways that ought to be obeyed. And we are all people of the new Covenant. We no longer live under the bonds of the old one, and we are promised the glorious and joyful outcome of the new Covenant so long as we are able to fulfil our commitment to God, showing forth our devotion and love for our God.
And if we are all people of the new Covenant, then can our actions be representative of those who truly belong to it? If we do things that are not in accordance to the Lord and His ways, then we may bring about scandal upon ourselves, and not just to ourselves but also to the Church and to the people of God. Let us all reflect on this, so that in all the things we do, we may always proclaim the greater glory of God.
May the Lord bless us and keep us, and may He protect us all, and guide us, so that we may learn how we ought to seek Him, and approach Him, that through our many works, through our actions, we may find our salvation through being steadfast to the new Covenant God has established with us His people. May God bless us and keep our paths to Him straight and secure. God be with all of us. Amen.
Liturgical Colour : Green
Luke 5 : 33-39
At that time, some people asked Jesus, “The disciples of John fast often and say long prayers, and so do the disciples of the Pharisees. Why is it that Your disciples eat and drink?”
Then Jesus said to them, “You cannot make wedding guests fast while the Bridegroom is with them. But later the Bridegroom will be taken away from them, and they will fast in those days.”
Jesus also told them this parable : “No one tears a piece from a new coat to put it on an old one; otherwise the new will be torn, and the piece taken from the new will not match the old. No one puts new wine into old wineskins; otherwise the new wine will burst the skins and be spilt, and the skins will be destroyed as well.”
“But new wine must be put into fresh skins. Yet no one who has tasted old wine is eager to drink new wine, but says, ‘The old is good.'”
Liturgical Colour : Green
Psalm 36 : 3-4, 5-6, 27-28, 39-40
Trust in the Lord and do good, dwell in the land and live on it. Make the Lord your delight, and He will grant your heart’s desire.
Commit your way to the Lord; put your trust in Him and let Him act. Then will your revenge come, beautiful as the dawn, and the justification of your cause, bright as the noonday sun.
Do good and shun evil, so that you will live secure forever. For the Lord loves justice and right, and never forsakes His faithful ones. The wicked instead will perish and their breed will be cut off.
The Lord is the salvation of the righteous; in time of distress, He is their refuge. The Lord helps them, and rescues them from the oppressor; He saves them for they sought shelter in Him.
Liturgical Colour : Green
1 Corinthians 4 : 1-5
Let everyone then see us as the servants of Christ and stewards of the secret works of God. Being stewards, faithfulness shall be demanded of us; but I do not mind if you or any human court judges me. I do not even judge myself; my conscience indeed does not accuse me of anything, but that is not enough for me to be set right with God : the Lord is the One who judges me.
Therefore, do not judge before the time, until the coming of the Lord. He will bring to light whatever was hidden in darkness and will disclose the secret intentions of the hearts. Then each one will receive praise from God.
petercanisiusmichaeldavidkang 