Liturgical Colour : White
Psalm 88 : 2-3, 21-22, 25 and 27
I will sing forever, o Lord, of Your love and proclaim Your faithfulness from age to age. I will declare how steadfast is Your love, how firm Your faithfulness.
I have found David My servant, and with My holy oil I have anointed him. My hand will be ever with him and My arm will sustain.
My faithfulness and love will be with him, and by My help he will be strong. He will call on Me, ‘You are my Father, my God, my Rock, my Saviour.’
Liturgical Colour : White
Acts 13 : 13-25
From Paphos, Paul and his companions set sail and came to Perga in Pamphylia. There John left them and returned to Jerusalem, while they went on from Perga and came to Antioch in Pisidia. On the Sabbath day they entered the synagogue and sat down. After the reading of the Law and the Prophets, the officials of the synagogue sent this message to them, “Brothers, if you have any word of encouragement for the assembly, please speak up.”
So Paul arose, motioned to them for silence and began, “Fellow Israelites and also all you who fear God, listen. The God of our people Israel chose our ancestors, and after He had made them increase during their stay in Egypt, He led them out by powerful deeds.”
“For forty years He fed them in the desert, and after He had destroyed seven nations in the land of Canaan, He gave them their land as an inheritance. All this took four hundred and fifty years. After that, he gave them Judges until Samuel the prophet. Then they asked for a king and God gave them Saul, son of Kish, of the tribe of Benjamin, and he was king for forty years.”
“After that time, God removed him and raised up David as king, to whom He bore witness saying : ‘I have found David, the son of Jesse, a man after My own heart, who will do all I want him to do.’ It is from the descendants of David that God has now raised up the promised Saviour of Israel, Jesus.”
“Before He appeared, John proclaimed a baptism of repentance for all the people of Israel. As John was ending his life’s work, he said : ‘I am not what you think I am, for after me another One is coming Whose sandal I am not worthy to untie.'”
Liturgical Colour : White or Red (Martyrs)
Dear brothers and sisters in Christ, today as we listened to the words of the Scripture we are presented with the story of the works of the Apostles and the followers of the Lord who went about from places to places, speaking about God and His truth, and calling on many to embrace the Christian faith. And the Lord reminded all of us through today’s Gospel passage that He will always be with us, and He will never abandon us, and that we are all proclaiming the same truth which He Himself has brought into this world, into our midst.
In our first reading today, we heard from the Acts of the Apostles on the ministry of the Apostles and the disciples who went to many parts of the regions of the Eastern Mediterranean while preaching the Good News and establishing the foundation of the Church and the Christian communities in those locations. And the Lord told His Apostles and disciples to send St. Paul and St. Barnabas to the Gentiles and minister to them, which marked the beginning of their ministry among the Gentiles and especially for St. Paul, his many decades of work in reaching out to them.
The Apostles prayed over the two and asked the Lord to guide them in their journey and in their efforts, and they were sent with much encouragement, to bring hope and light to those who have not yet known the Lord and are still living in the darkness. The Lord has sent His disciples to reveal more of His truth to all those who still have not heard of Him yet, and through these faithful disciples He is calling on all of them to follow Him.
He calls on everyone to follow Him, and He has done everything that we may find our way to Him. Yet, there were still many who refused to believe in Him and persecuted His disciples and followers. Yet, He still sent more and more people to turn even these stubborn and hard-hearted people, persuading them and asking them to listen to reason and to open their hearts and minds, listening to the truth that He has brought to them. His love for each and every one of us is the reason why He kept on doing that, again and again.
And therefore we are all called today to reflect firstly on ourselves and our own lives. Have we been stubborn in refusing to follow the Lord wholeheartedly, in continuing to act in ways that are contrary to the way of the Lord, in disobeying Him and being stubborn in following our own desires and the path of worldliness and sin? There are many who are just Christians in name only, and in their hearts and minds, God is not truly present, and He is also not the centre and focus.
Today all of us are therefore reminded to be truly faithful to God, and we are all called to give our whole heart and mind to Him, just as the Apostles and the countless disciples and followers of the Lord had done. In all that they had done, they are our wonderful sources of inspiration, in living up to their faith and in following what the Lord had called them to do, dedicating themselves wholeheartedly to the missions entrusted to them. The Lord called them and they heard Him, and they responded to that call with great dedication and faith.
Today, we are called to follow the examples of St. Peter Chanel and St. Louis Marie Grignion de Montfort, whose feast day we are celebrating today. St. Peter Chanel was a renowned French priest and missionary, who always had great zeal for missionary work and outreach, and as he joined the congregation dedicated for missionary work in both local and far flung foreign areas. In this regard, St. Peter Chanel was eventually sent to French Polynesia, where he ministered to the people there and to all the others that he visited on his way to the place of his ministry.
In Futuna, where he ministered to the locals, he was initially welcomed by the local king and tribe, but in time, as more and more of the locals were converted, the king and his nobles began to fear that Christianity and Christian missionaries would become great threat to their own influence and power, especially the king as the high priest and the leader of the pagan faith of the locals. Hence, eventually, when St. Peter Chanel managed to persuade even the king’s son to be baptised, the king arranged for his champion to kill St. Peter Chanel, who died a martyr defending his faith.
Meanwhile, St. Louis Marie de Montfort was a renowned priest who is remembered well for his intense Marian devotion and also great contributions to the field of Mariology. He is remembered for his courageous efforts in evangelisation and preaching in various places where he helped many people to discover the Lord and renew their faith in Him, while encouraging the devotion to His Blessed Mother Mary, and calling on many people to repent and turn away from their sins. Thanks to his dedication, many people, even after his passing, have been inspired by him and chose to follow the Lord.
Brothers and sisters in Christ, let us all therefore commit ourselves to the Lord following the good examples of these two saints, and that of the Apostles, especially St. Paul and St. Barnabas, that each and every one of us, in our own ways, and in each and every of our own capacities and abilities, we may glorify the Lord by our lives, and may show great and wonderful testimony of our faith through our actions, words and deeds in life. May all of us be blessed and strengthened by the Lord in all of our efforts and good works, now and always. Amen.
Liturgical Colour : White or Red (Martyrs)
John 12 : 44-50
At that time, yet Jesus had said, and even cried out, “Whoever believes in Me, believes not in Me, but in Him Who sent Me. And whoever sees Me, sees Him Who sent Me. I have come into the world as light, so that whoever believes in Me may not remain in darkness.”
“If anyone hears My words and does not keep them, I am not the One to condemn him; for I have come, not to condemn the world, but to save the world. The one who rejects Me, and does not receive My word, already has a judge : the very word I have spoken will condemn him on the last day.”
“For I have not spoken on My own authority; the Father, Who sent Me, has instructed Me in what to say and how to speak. I know that His commandment is eternal life, and that is why the message I give, I give as the Father instructed Me.”
Liturgical Colour : White or Red (Martyrs)
Psalm 66 : 2-3, 5, 6 and 8
May God be gracious and bless us, may He let His face shine upon us, that Your way be known on earth and Your salvation among the nations.
May the countries be glad and sing for joy, for You rule the peoples with justice and guide the nations of the world.
May the people praise You, o God, may all the peoples praise You! May God bless us and be revered, to the very ends of the earth.
Liturgical Colour : White or Red (Martyrs)
Acts 12 : 24 – Acts 13 : 5
Meanwhile the word of God was increasing and spreading. Barnabas and Saul carried out their mission and then came back to Jerusalem, taking with them John also called Mark.
There were at Antioch – in the Church which was there – prophets and teachers : Barnabas, Symeon known as Niger, Lucius of Cyrene, Manaen who had been brought up with Herod, and Saul.
On one occasion while they were celebrating the Lord and fasting, the Holy Spirit said to them, “Set apart for Me Barnabas and Saul to do the work for which I have called them.” So, after fasting and praying, they laid their hands on them and sent them off.
These then, sent by the Holy Spirit, went down the port of Seleucia and from there sailed to Cyprus. Upon their arrival in Salamis they proclaimed the word of God in the Jewish synagogue.
Liturgical Colour : White
Dear brothers and sisters in Christ, today as we listened to the words of the Scripture, we are reminded that we all are the sheep of the Lord, the members of His flock, and we are constantly guided and protected by Him, as our Lord and most loving Shepherd, the Good Shepherd of all. He extends His love and compassion, His mercy and grace to all those whom He loves. He wants each and every one of us to be truly beloved and filled with grace, and He is always with us no matter what, journeying with us and remaining with us.
In our first reading today we heard from the Acts of the Apostles on how the Church in its earliest days faced a lot of challenges, persecution and opposition from the authorities, and how they faced those obstacles frequently, and yet, the Church grew and flourished, gaining converts and new followers each day, as the Apostles went around many places, visiting communities of the faithful and strengthening their faith, while preaching the Good News and the truth of God to more and more people who were willing to listen to them.
Many people came to believe in the Lord, not only from among the Jewish communities and diaspora, but then increasingly more and more of the Gentiles or the non-Jewish people, the Greeks, the Egyptians, the Romans and many others came to believe in the Lord as well, and gave themselves to be baptised. The Apostles St. Barnabas and later on St. Paul was sent to these people to evangelise to them, to minister and deliver to them the truth of God and to reach out to them.
These Apostles had to endure difficult trials and challenges, facing persecution not only from the Jewish authorities, but also from the Roman governors and authorities, the local rulers and magnates, from the pagans and their priests who rejected the efforts of the Apostles in bringing the truth of God to their land. Yet, despite all the challenges and difficulties that they faced, they remained firm in their resolution and commitment to serve the Lord and fulfil the mission entrusted to them, and God was with them throughout the way.
As mentioned in our Gospel passage today, the Lord Himself reassured His disciples and all of us that He is always with us and He will never abandon us. He is our Good Shepherd Who is always ever filled with lots of concern for us, for His beloved ones. He is always by our side, guiding us and He patiently leads us through the difficult paths of life as we learn to navigate our way in our respective journeys of life. Unless we ourselves have rejected Him, the Lord will never abandon us, and He is always ever faithful to the Covenant that He has established with each one of us.
With this in mind, brothers and sisters in Christ, what are we then as Christians going to do with our lives? The Lord has commissioned all of us to be His disciples and witnesses in our respective communities, to be the ones to proclaim His truth and love in the midst of this darkened and sinful world. Through us, like as He had done through the Apostles, God can touch so many more lives and call upon so many more people who are still seeking for the truth and who hunger for the love of God.
It is often that many of us have been idle and ignorant of our responsibilities as Christians, in what we should be doing in reaching out to those who are in need of the truth and the love of God. We should not continue this attitude and this lack of participation in the active efforts of the Church in the evangelisation of the world and in being role models in faith to all. Let us all truly discern what each and every one of us can do, even in the smallest ways, to help and guide, to inspire and encourage each other in living a true and dedicated Christian life.
May all of us be good and devoted Christians in all things, not just as a mere formality only, but also in all of our words, actions and deeds. May all of us be genuine bearers of God’s truth, and help to inspire so many others whom we encounter in life, that through us, God’s Name may truly be glorified, and many more shall come to know of Christ, Our Good Shepherd and Saviour, through Whom all of us shall rejoice forever, with Him and with one another. May God bless all of us, now and always. Amen.
Liturgical Colour : White
John 10 : 22-30
At that time, the time came for the Feast of the Dedication. It was winter, and Jesus walked back and forth in the portico of Solomon. The Jews then gathered around Him and said to Him, “How long will You keep us in doubt? If You are the Messiah, tell us plainly.”
Jesus answered, “I have already told you, but you do not believe. The works I do in My Father’s Name proclaim Who I am, but you do not believe because, as I said, you are not My sheep. 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
Psalm 86 : 1-3, 4-5, 6-7
He Himself has built it in His holy mountain; the Lord prefers the gates of Zion to all of Jacob’s towns. Great things have been foretold of you, o city of God.
Between friends we speak of Egypt and Babylon; and also Philistia, Tyre, Ethiopia : “Here so-and-so was born.” But of Zion it shall be said, “More and more are being born in her.” For the Most High Himself has founded her.
And the Lord notes in the people’s register : “All these were also born in Zion.” And all will dance and sing joyfully for You.
Liturgical Colour : White
Acts 11 : 19-26
Those who had been scattered because of the persecution over Stephen travelled as far as Phoenicia, Cyprus and Antioch, telling the message, but only to the Jews. But there were some natives of Cyprus and Cyrene among them who, on coming into Antioch, spoke also to the Greeks, giving them the Good News of the Lord Jesus. The hand of the Lord was with them so that a great number believed and turned to the Lord.
News of this reached the ears of the Church in Jerusalem, so they sent Barnabas to Antioch. When he arrived and saw the manifest signs of God’s favour, he rejoiced and urged them all to remain firmly faithful to the Lord; for he himself was a good man filled with Holy Spirit and faith. Thus large crowds came to know the Lord.
Then Barnabas went off to Tarsus to look for Saul and when he found him, he brought him to Antioch. For a whole year they had meetings with the Church and instructed many people. It was in Antioch that the disciples were first called Christians.
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