Month: March 2022

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(Usus Antiquior) Fourth Sunday of Lent, Laetare Sunday (I Classis) – Sunday, 27 March 2022 : Holy Gospel

Liturgical Colour : Violet or Rose (Laetare Sunday)

Sequentia Sancti Evangelii secundum Joannem – Continuation from the Holy Gospel according to St. John

John 6 : 1-15

In illo tempore : Abiit Jesus trans mare Galilaeae, quod est Tiberiadis : et sequebatur eum multitudo magna, quia videbant signa, quae faciebat super his, qui infirmabantur. Subiit ergo in montem Jesus : et ibi sedebat cum discipulis Suis.

Erat autem proximum Pascha, dies festus Judaeorum. Cum sublevasset ergo oculos Jesus et vidisset, quia multitudo maxima venit ad eum, dixit ad Philippum : Unde ememus panes, et manducat hi? Hoc autem dicebat tentans eum : ipse enim sciebat, quid esset facturus.

Respondit ei Philippus : Ducentorum denariorum panes non sufficiunt eis, et unusquisque modicum quid accipiat. Dicit ei unus ex discipulis Ejus, Andreas, frater Simonis Petri : Est puer unus hic, qui habet quinque panes hordeaceos et duos pisces : sed haec quid sunt inter tantos?

Dixit ergo Jesus : Facite homines discumbere. Erat autem foenum multum in loco. Discubuerunt ergo viri, numero quasi quinque milia. Accepit ergo Jesus panes, et cum gratias egisset distribuit discumbentibus : similiter et ex piscibus, quantum volebant.

Ut autem impleti sunt, dixit discipulis Suis : Colligite quae superaverunt fragmenta, ne pereant. Collegerunt ergo, et impleverunt duodecim cophinos fragmentorum ex quinque panibus hordeaceis, quae superfuerunt his, qui manducaverant.

Illi ergo homines cum vidissent, quod Jesus fecerat signum, dicebant : Quia hic est vere Propheta, qui venturus est in mundum. Jesus ergo cum cognovisset, quia venturi essent, ut raperent eum et facerent eum regem, fugit iterum in montem ipse solus.

English translation

At that time, Jesus went over the Sea of Galilee, which is that of Tiberias, and a great multitude followed Him, because they saw the miracles which He did on those who were diseased. Jesus therefore went up into a mountain, and there He sat with His disciples.

Now the Pasch, the festival day of the Jews, was near at hand. When Jesus therefore had lifted up His eyes, and saw that a very great multitude came to Him, He said to Philip, “Whence shall we buy bread that these may eat?” And this He said to try him, for He Himself knew what He would do.

Philip answered, “Two hundred denarius worth of bread is not sufficient for them, that every one may take a little.” One of His disciples, Andrew, the brother of Simon Peter, said to Him, “There is a boy here who had five barley loaves and two fishes, but what are these among so many?”

Then Jesus said, “Make the men sit down.” Now there was much grass in the place. The men therefore sat down, in number about five thousand. And Jesus took the loaves, and when He had given thanks, He distributed to those who sat down. In the same manner also of the fishes, as much as they would.

And when they were filled, He said to His disciples, “Gather up the fragments that remain, lest they be lost.” They gathered up therefore, and filled twelve baskets with the fragments of the twelve barley loaves, which remained over and above to those who had eaten.

Now those men, when they had seen what a miracle Jesus had done, said, “This is of a truth the Prophet Who is to come into the world.” Jesus therefore, when He knew that they would come to take Him by force and make Him King, fled again into the mountain by Himself alone.

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(Usus Antiquior) Fourth Sunday of Lent, Laetare Sunday (I Classis) – Sunday, 27 March 2022 : Gradual and Tract

Liturgical Colour : Violet or Rose (Laetare Sunday)

Gradual

Psalm 121 : 1, 7

Laetatus sum in his, quae dicta sunt mihi : in domum Domini ibimus.

Response : Fiat pax in virtute Tua : et abundantia in turribus Tuis.

English translation

I rejoiced at the things that were said to me, we shall go into the house of the Lord.

Response : Let peace be in your strength, and abundance in your towers.

Tract

Psalm 124 : 1-2

Qui confidunt in Domino, sicut mons Sion : non commovebitur in aeternum, qui habitat in Jerusalem.

Response : Montes in circuitu ejus : et Dominus in circuitu populi Sui, ex hoc nunc et usque in saeculum.

English translation

They who trust in the Lord shall be as Mount Zion, he shall not be moved forever, those who dwell in Jerusalem.

Response : Mountains are round about it, so the Lord is round about His people, from henceforth now and forever.

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(Usus Antiquior) Fourth Sunday of Lent, Laetare Sunday (I Classis) – Sunday, 27 March 2022 : Epistle

Liturgical Colour : Violet or Rose (Laetare Sunday)

Lectio Epistolae Beati Pauli Apostoli ad Galatas – Lesson from the Epistle of Blessed Paul the Apostle to the Galatians

Galatians 4 : 22-31

Fratres : Scriptum est : Quoniam Abraham duos filios habuit : unum de ancilla, et unum de libera. Sed qui de ancilla, secundum carnem natus est : qui autem de libera, per repromissionem : quae sunt per allegoriam dicta.

Haec enim sunt duo testamenta. Unum quidem in monte Sina, in servitutem generans : quae est Agar : Sina enim mons est in Arabia, qui conjunctus est ei, quae nunc est Jerusalem, et servit cum filiis suis.

Illa autem, quae sursum est Jerusalem, libera est, quae est mater nostra. Scriptum est enim : Laetare, sterilis, quae non paris : erumpe, et clama, quae non parturis : quia multi filii desertae, magis quam ejus, quae habet virum.

Nos autem, fratres, secundum Isaac promissionis filii sumus. Sed quomodo tunc is, qui secundum carnem natus fuerat, persequebantur eum, qui secundum spiritum : ita et nunc. Sed quid dicit Scriptura? Ejice ancillam et filium ejus : non enim heres erit filius ancillae cum filio liberae. Itaque, fratres, non sumus ancillae filii, sed liberae : qua libertate Christus nos liberavit.

English translation

Brethren, it is written that Abraham had two sons, the one by a bond-woman, and the other by a free woman. But he who was of the bond-woman was born according to the flesh, but he of the free woman was by promise. Which things are said by an allegory.

For these are the two testaments, the one from Mount Sinai, engendering unto bondage, which is Hagar, for Sinai is a mountain in Arabia, which had affinity to that Jerusalem which now is, and is in bondage with her children.

But that Jerusalem which is above is free, which is our mother. For it is written, “Rejoice, you barren ones who do not bear, break forth and cry, you who do not travail, for many are the children of the desolate, more than of her who had a husband.”

Now we, brethren, as Isaac was, are the children of promise. But as then he who was born according to the flesh persecuted he who was after the spirit, so it is also now. But what does the Scripture say? Cast out the bond-woman and her son, for the son of the bond-woman shall not be heir with the son of the free woman. So then, brethren, we are not the children of the bond-woman, but of the free, by the freedom wherewith Christ had made us free.

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(Usus Antiquior) Fourth Sunday of Lent, Laetare Sunday (I Classis) – Sunday, 27 March 2022 : Introit and Collect

Liturgical Colour : Violet or Rose (Laetare Sunday)

Introit

Isaiah 66 : 10, 11 and Psalm 121 : 1

Laetare, Jerusalem : et conventum facite, omnes qui diligitis eam : gaudete cum laetitia, qui in tristitia fuistis : ut exsultetis, et satiemini ab uberibus consolationis vestrae.

Laetatus sum in his, quae dicta sunt mihi : in domum Domini ibimus.

Response : Gloria Patri et Filio et Spiritui Sancto, sicut erat in principio, et nunc, et semper : et in saecula saeculorum. Amen.

English translation

Rejoice, o Jerusalem, and come together all you who love her, rejoice with joy, you who have been in sorrow, that you may exult and be filled from your breasts of your consolation.

I rejoiced at the things that were said to me, we shall go into the house of the Lord.

Response : Glory be to the Father and to the Son and to the Holy Spirit, as it was in the beginning, is now, and ever shall be, world without end. Amen.

Collect

Concede, quaesumus, omnipotens Deus : ut, qui ex merito nostrae actionis affligimur, Tuae gratiae consolatione respiremus. Per Dominum nostrum Jesum Christum Filium Tuum, qui Tecum vivit et regnat in unitate Spiritus Sancti Deus, per omnia saecula saeculorum. Amen.

English translation

Grant, we beseech You, o Almighty God, that we who justly suffer for our deeds, may be relieved by the consolation of Your grace. Through our Lord Jesus Christ, Your Son, Who with You lives and reigns in the unity of the Holy Spirit, God, world without end. Amen.

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Saturday, 26 March 2022 : 3rd Week of Lent (Homily and Scripture Reflections)

Liturgical Colour : Purple/Violet

Dear brothers and sisters in Christ, today as we listened to the words of the Scripture, each and every one of us are reminded to be meek and humble, and seek the Lord’s mercy and forgiveness for our many sins, for all the faults and mistakes we have committed in life against God and against our fellow brothers and sisters. All of us have deserved punishment and even annihilation because of those sins that we have committed, and yet God still wants to forgive us our sins and be reconciled with us because He truly loves us very, very much.

In our first reading today, we listened to the words of the prophet Hosea reminding the people of God to turn away from their sins and to embrace once again God’s love and grace, to change their ways for the better and reject their old ways of sin and disobedience. The Lord has always been kind and patient with us, and He has always provided us in our time of need. He calls us all to return to Him so that we may find our way and be saved through Him. Yet it was often our pride, ego and hubris, our inability to resist the temptations to sin which became great obstacles in our journey back towards the Lord.

In our Gospel passage today, this was clearly highlighted by the Lord Himself in the parable which He used to bring across this fact to the people who were listening to Him. The Lord used the parable of the Pharisee and the tax collector to highlight how our attitudes can be a very significant factor in either leading us towards or away from God’s grace and salvation. In that occasion, the Pharisee and the tax collector both were in the Temple praying before the Lord, but how they prayed reflect the differences in attitudes that were generally correct for that time.

The Pharisee prayed looking up to Heaven and praising himself and all his deeds before God and anyone who could hear him, saying all that he had done in accordance with the Law and everything that he was superior in as compared to the tax collector who was a great sinner in the eyes of the people and especially for the Pharisee himself. Meanwhile, the tax collector did not even dare to look up and abashing himself, he humbly sought forgiveness from God for his many sins, all the faults he had committed and perhaps all the unlawful and selfish profiteering and other misdeeds he had committed.

Contextually, we must understand that the Pharisees at that time were the group of educated and intellectual elite in the community who make up one major portion of the Council of the Sanhedrin or the Jewish High Council. The Pharisees together with the scribes or the teachers of the Law were very particular and strict in their interpretation of the Law of God as revealed through Moses. They were unbending in their very rigid and literal understanding of the Law, and they would not allow anyone to challenge them in this manner.

Over the many centuries, through the long period of time, the Law went through many additions, modifications, changes, reinterpretations and many other things that made it excessive and even punitive and difficult for the people to follow and observe. And worst of it all was the way the Pharisees used the Law as means for them to gain more power and favour for themselves. They prayed aloud and made great show of their piety in public places like marketplaces.

That is why the Lord used this example to highlight how it was difficult for many of us to be forgiven and to seek God’s path and righteousness, as our pride and ego often makes us feeling self-righteous and self-justified, and failing to recognise our own sins and faults, as what happened to the Pharisee clearly showed us. The Pharisee was so focused on his self-righteousness, pride and hubris that he failed to realise that he himself was also a sinner. And in condemning the tax collector instead of reaching out to him, in his part in making it difficult and tough for many to follow the Law, he and the other Pharisees had committed sins before God and man alike.

And unlike the tax collector, because of his pride in not recognising such sins, the sin of the Pharisee remained, and as long as those sins remained unforgiven, then he shall be judged by those same sins, and if found wanting, may end up in eternal damnation, while the tax collector, the supposedly greater sinner, having been forgiven from his sins because of his honesty, humility and the desire to be reconciled with God, may end up in Heaven.

Yes, brothers and sisters in Christ, today we are therefore reminded that during this Lent, all of us are called to deepen our relationship with God and be more attuned with ourselves and we are all called to live our lives with greater fidelity to God, and to humble ourselves more before Him, as sinners all coming to seek His mercy and forgiveness, depending on His ever generous love and compassion. May the Lord be with us in our Lenten journey, and may He help us that we may draw ever closer to Him and find righteousness through following His path, and be fully reconciled with Him. May God bless us all, now and always. Amen.

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Saturday, 26 March 2022 : 3rd Week of Lent (Gospel Reading)

Liturgical Colour : Purple/Violet

Luke 18 : 9-14

At that time, Jesus told another parable to some people, fully convinced of their own righteousness, who looked down on others : “Two men went up to the Temple to pray; one was a Pharisee, and the other a tax collector.”

“The Pharisee stood by himself, and said, ‘I thank You, God, that I am not like other people, grasping, crooked, adulterous, or even like this tax collector. I fast twice a week, and give a tenth of all my income to the Temple.’ In the meantime the tax collector, standing far off, would not even lift his eyes to heaven, but beat his breast, saying, ‘O God, be merciful to me, a sinner.’”

“I tell you, when this man went back to his house, he had been reconciled with God, but not the other. For whoever makes himself out to be great will be humbled, and whoever humbles himself will be raised up.”

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Saturday, 26 March 2022 : 3rd Week of Lent (Psalm)

Liturgical Colour : Purple/Violet

Psalm 50 : 3-4, 18-19, 20-21

Have mercy on me, o God, in Your love. In Your great compassion blot out my sin. Wash me thoroughly of my guilt; cleanse me of evil.

You take no pleasure in sacrifice; were I to give a burnt offering, You would not delight in it. O God, my sacrifice is a broken spirit; a contrite heart, You will not despise.

Shower Zion with Your favour : rebuild the walls of Jerusalem. Then, You will delight in fitting sacrifices.

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Saturday, 26 March 2022 : 3rd Week of Lent (First Reading)

Liturgical Colour : Purple/Violet

Hosea 5 : 15 – Hosea 6 : 6

For in their anguish they will earnestly seek Me.

“Come, let us return to YHVH. He Who shattered us to pieces, will heal us as well; He has struck us down, but He will bind up our wounds. Two days later He will bring us back to life; on the third day, He will raise us up, and we shall live in His presence.”

“Let us strive to know YHVH. His coming is as certain as the dawn; His judgment will burst forth like the light; He will come to us as showers come, like spring rain that waters the earth.”

“O Ephraim, what shall I do with you? O Judah, how shall I deal with you? This love of yours is like morning mist, like morning dew that quickly disappears. This is why I smote you through the prophets, and have slain you by the words of My mouth. For it is love that I desire, not sacrifice; it is knowledge of God, not burnt offerings.”

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Official English Text of the Act of Consecration of Russia and Ukraine to the Immaculate Heart of Mary (25 March 2022)

Source: https://press.vatican.va/content/salastampa/it/bollettino/pubblico/2022/03/23/0202/00434.html
(Available in multiple languages, including original Italian, in English and 34 other languages)

O Mary, Mother of God and our Mother, in this time of trial we turn to you.  As our Mother, you love us and know us: no concern of our hearts is hidden from you.  Mother of mercy, how often we have experienced your watchful care and your peaceful presence!  You never cease to guide us to Jesus, the Prince of Peace.

Yet we have strayed from that path of peace.  We have forgotten the lesson learned from the tragedies of the last century, the sacrifice of the millions who fell in two world wars.  We have disregarded the commitments we made as a community of nations.  We have betrayed peoples’ dreams of peace and the hopes of the young.  We grew sick with greed, we thought only of our own nations and their interests, we grew indifferent and caught up in our selfish needs and concerns.  We chose to ignore God, to be satisfied with our illusions, to grow arrogant and aggressive, to suppress innocent lives and to stockpile weapons.  We stopped being our neighbour’s keepers and stewards of our common home.  We have ravaged the garden of the earth with war and by our sins we have broken the heart of our heavenly Father, who desires us to be brothers and sisters.  We grew indifferent to everyone and everything except ourselves.  Now with shame we cry out: Forgive us, Lord!

Holy Mother, amid the misery of our sinfulness, amid our struggles and weaknesses, amid the mystery of iniquity that is evil and war, you remind us that God never abandons us, but continues to look upon us with love, ever ready to forgive us and raise us up to new life.  He has given you to us and made your Immaculate Heart a refuge for the Church and for all humanity.  By God’s gracious will, you are ever with us; even in the most troubled moments of our history, you are there to guide us with tender love.

We now turn to you and knock at the door of your heart.  We are your beloved children.  In every age you make yourself known to us, calling us to conversion.  At this dark hour, help us and grant us your comfort.  Say to us once more: “Am I not here, I who am your Mother?”  You are able to untie the knots of our hearts and of our times.  In you we place our trust.  We are confident that, especially in moments of trial, you will not be deaf to our supplication and will come to our aid.

That is what you did at Cana in Galilee, when you interceded with Jesus and he worked the first of his signs.  To preserve the joy of the wedding feast, you said to him: “They have no wine” (Jn 2:3).  Now, O Mother, repeat those words and that prayer, for in our own day we have run out of the wine of hope, joy has fled, fraternity has faded.  We have forgotten our humanity and squandered the gift of peace.  We opened our hearts to violence and destructiveness.  How greatly we need your maternal help!

Therefore, O Mother, hear our prayer.
Star of the Sea, do not let us be shipwrecked in the tempest of war.
Ark of the New Covenant, inspire projects and paths of reconciliation.
Queen of Heaven, restore God’s peace to the world.
Eliminate hatred and the thirst for revenge, and teach us forgiveness.
Free us from war, protect our world from the menace of nuclear weapons.
Queen of the Rosary, make us realize our need to pray and to love.
Queen of the Human Family, show people the path of fraternity.
Queen of Peace, obtain peace for our world.

O Mother, may your sorrowful plea stir our hardened hearts.  May the tears you shed for us make this valley parched by our hatred blossom anew.  Amid the thunder of weapons, may your prayer turn our thoughts to peace.  May your maternal touch soothe those who suffer and flee from the rain of bombs.  May your motherly embrace comfort those forced to leave their homes and their native land.  May your Sorrowful Heart move us to compassion and inspire us to open our doors and to care for our brothers and sisters who are injured and cast aside.

Holy Mother of God, as you stood beneath the cross, Jesus, seeing the disciple at your side, said: “Behold your son” (Jn 19:26).  In this way he entrusted each of us to you.  To the disciple, and to each of us, he said: “Behold, your Mother” (v. 27).  Mother Mary, we now desire to welcome you into our lives and our history.  At this hour, a weary and distraught humanity stands with you beneath the cross, needing to entrust itself to you and, through you, to consecrate itself to Christ.  The people of Ukraine and Russia, who venerate you with great love, now turn to you, even as your heart beats with compassion for them and for all those peoples decimated by war, hunger, injustice and poverty.

Therefore, Mother of God and our Mother, to your Immaculate Heart we solemnly entrust and consecrate ourselves, the Church and all humanity, especially Russia and Ukraine.

Accept this act that we carry out with confidence and love.  Grant that war may end and peace spread throughout the world.  The “Fiat” that arose from your heart opened the doors of history to the Prince of Peace.  We trust that, through your heart, peace will dawn once more.  To you we consecrate the future of the whole human family, the needs and expectations of every people, the anxieties and hopes of the world.

Through your intercession, may God’s mercy be poured out on the earth and the gentle rhythm of peace return to mark our days.  Our Lady of the “Fiat”, on whom the Holy Spirit descended, restore among us the harmony that comes from God.  May you, our “living fountain of hope”, water the dryness of our hearts.  In your womb Jesus took flesh; help us to foster the growth of communion.  You once trod the streets of our world; lead us now on the paths of peace.  Amen.

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Friday, 25 March 2022 : Solemnity of the Annunciation of the Lord (Homily and Scripture Reflections)

Liturgical Colour : White

Dear brothers and sisters in Christ, today we celebrate the great Solemnity of the Annunciation of the Lord, marking the moment when the Archangel Gabriel came to the little town of Nazareth before Mary, the one God had chosen to be the bearer of His Messiah, and revealed to her the Good News that all of us mankind had awaited for a very long time. The word Annunciation itself has the same meaning as the word ‘announce’ as the Good News was announced and revealed in this world at long last, that God’s salvation was finally at hand.

The Lord has promised His salvation to all of us from the very beginning of time. In our first reading today, when we heard the account from the Book of the prophet Isaiah regarding the sign from God which Isaiah prophesied would come despite the lack of faith from the king, as when Isaiah told king Ahaz of Judah to ask for a sign from God, he refused to do so, and the prophet chastised the king for his refusal as that refusal was made not so much so by humility but rather by his lack of faith and trust in the Lord. Ahaz was one of the kings of Judah who was considered to be one of the unfaithful and wicked kings, whose actions further misled the people away from God.

Isaiah mentioned how God would show His sign in due time to all the people, that a woman would bear a Child, and that woman is a Virgin, who bears the Child with a most peculiar name, that is Emmanuel, or God-is-with-us. That was in fact an early revelation of what God would do for His people, that He Himself would come upon us through the Virgin, the Woman whom He had in fact spoken about right from the beginning of time, when mankind first fell into sin. In the Book of Genesis, we heard of how Adam and Eve, our first ancestors sinned against God, and how they ate of the forbidden tree’s fruits, and Satan deceived Eve in order to do that.

God sent Adam and Eve to wander on earth, into this world to endure the sufferings as the just consequences of our sins. However, at the same time, He still reassured us all of His love, and while we have to suffer the consequences of those disobedience and wickedness we had committed, but He still loved us no matter what, and He proclaimed before Satan, Adam and Eve, that while Satan might strike at the children of man, implying how he would come to drag more and more of the children of man into sin and therefore into damnation, but through the Woman He spoke of, God reassured and promised us all of the deliverance that would come, and that Saviour would crush the head of Satan.

Thus, the words of the prophet Isaiah was in fact yet another reassurance from God of the truth behind all that He would do for the sake of His people. God would come Himself upon us, by willingly taking up on our human existence and flesh, becoming incarnate through Mary, His mother, that He became tangible and approachable to us, conceived by the Holy Spirit and then born into this world, the Saviour Who had been long awaited for by the whole world. He is Jesus Christ, Our Lord and Saviour, the Son of God Most High and the Son of Man. Mary’s acceptance of her role in the bringing forth of God’s salvation into this world made all these possible.

Brothers and sisters in Christ, as we heard in our Gospel passage today, Mary had listened to the words of the Archangel Gabriel, revealing to her how she was to become the Mother of the Son of God Most High, and her acceptance of the role that the Lord had entrusted to her, sealed her role in the history of our salvation. That is why the Solemnity of the Annunciation of the Lord is exactly nine months before Christmas, as it was at the very moment that Mary answered the Archangel Gabriel with total submission to the will of God, ‘I am the handmaid of the Lord, let it be done to me as you have said,’ that by the power of the Holy Spirit, Our Lord was conceived in the womb of Mary, the Virgin who was to bear a Child, the Saviour of the world.

Mary’s obedience to the Lord and her total commitment to Him marks her as the New Eve as opposed to the first and old Eve of the Book of Genesis. While the old Eve disobeyed the Lord and gave in to her desires and listened to the lies of Satan tempting her with the allures of wisdom and knowledge, Mary as the New Eve remained faithful to the Lord and committed herself to Him, despite all the challenges and trials she might have to face for the path that she was led into. As an unmarried woman, to have a Child outside the bond of marriage it was very risky for her as she could have been stoned to death for her supposed adultery, and naturally Mary must have some hesitation in her heart, knowing all that. But she trusted wholeheartedly in the Lord and gave herself to what the Lord entrusted her with.

Mary has indeed been specially prepared by the Lord as we all know, conceived immaculate as the Immaculate Conception, set aside to be the worthy vessel to bear the Lord, as she is not just the New Eve but also the Ark of the New Covenant, the Covenant to be made and established by Jesus, her Son, Who resided in her womb for nine months. However, although she was made immaculate and free from the taint of original sin, to prepare her for her role, this did not strip from her the free will to choose. She chose consciously to follow God, to obey Him and to listen to Him instead of following the path of the evil one.

And that is not all, brothers and sisters in Christ. Just as we heard from our second reading passage today, from the Epistle to the Hebrews, the author of that Epistle spoke of the worthy offering offered to the Lord, and highlighted how the offerings of blood and animals of old cannot fully satisfy these offerings and requirements to the Lord. But the perfect and most worthy offering has then been made by none other than Christ Himself, the perfect offering of His own Most Precious Body and Blood, offered willingly and out of perfect and total obedience to the will of God, His heavenly Father.

In that way, Christ has become the New Adam much as His mother Mary is the New Eve. As the old Adam disobeyed the Lord and refused to follow His commands, and instead listened to the lies of Satan to satisfy his own desires and in seeking worldly achievements, thus Christ has rebuked and rejected Satan, showing us that we can break free from the power and domination of evil, from his lies and falsehoods, from all of his temptations and the pressures that he had placed on us in trying to mislead us and to distract us to fall into the path of sin. And not only that, but Christ also showed His perfect obedience to the will of His Father as a model for us all to follow.

Today, as we celebrate this great Solemnity of the Annunciation of the Lord, all of us are reminded of the assurances that God has given to us all these time, all that He had done for our sake and everything He has promised to us. If we are faithful to Him, we truly have nothing to fear. For He has shown us the path forward to eternal life, true happiness and joy with Him. Unfortunately, more often than not it is we who have faltered, stubbornly refusing to follow the Lord and all that He has shown us. The Lord has always patiently led us to Himself, and He wants us to know that all of us are beloved to Him, and He loves us all dearly.

Brothers and sisters in Christ, let us all remind ourselves today not to succumb to the temptations to sin, but instead be inspired by Mary, the Mother of Our Lord and God, Jesus Christ, and Our Lord Himself, who as the New Eve and New Adam respectively have shown us all the path out of the darkness of sin and evil, into the light of righteousness and faith. They have shown us that sin and death do not have the final say or power over us, as long as we have faith in God, walk in His path and devote ourselves wholeheartedly to Him.

The question is, are we all willing to walk down this path that God has shown us? Are we willing to walk down the path with God Who has always been with us, reassured us again and again, and Who has come down into our midst, to live with us and to be Emmanuel, God Who is with us, tangible and approachable? He has shown us all His light, the path and hope amidst the darkness of this world. Are we all willing to follow Him? Or are we still stuck in living in the darkness of this world and in following the temptations and pressures to disobey Him and to sin?

On this great Solemnity of the Annunciation of the Lord therefore, let us all reflect on these and discern carefully our path forward in life. Let us all follow the obedience showed by Mary, the Mother of God as she obeyed the will of God so perfectly, entrusting herself to the care of her Lord, and followed Him in all things. And let us all also follow the example of her Son, Our Lord and Saviour, Jesus Christ, in His faith and total obedience to the will of His heavenly Father. May all of us draw ever closer to God and may He strengthen us all to live ever more worthily in His presence, now and always. Amen.