Month: November 2025

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Wednesday, 3 December 2025 : Feast of St. Francis Xavier, Priest, Patron of Missions and Missionaries (Homily and Scripture Reflections)

Liturgical Colour : White

Dear brothers and sisters in Christ, on this day as we gather together to worship the Lord and to proclaim His glory, and as we all heard from the passages of the Sacred Scriptures, we are reminded that as we continue to progress through this time and season of Advent, we should continue to do our part as Christians, as those whom God had called and chosen so that we may truly embody our Christian faith in everything  that we say and do, that we may indeed proclaim the Lord in every opportunities that had been provided for us, in all the encounters with those who are around us, we may always be the bearers of God’s Good News and His love, compassion, truth and hope to everyone we meet and work with, to our communities and everyone whom we care for, as is our mission in life to do so.

Today we mark the Feast of St. Francis Xavier, the Patron of Missions and Missionaries and hence, the Scripture readings speak strongly about what is the meaning of Christian mission and the role of missionaries in fulfilling and completing what the Lord has entrusted to each and every one of us, His beloved people. In the first reading from the Epistle of St. Paul the Apostle to the Corinthians, the Apostle spoke of what he was called to do as a minister of the Good News of God, and that everything which he had done, he did for the greater glory of God and not for his own benefits, while in our Gospel passage today, we heard of the words of the Lord Jesus Himself to His disciples and followers after His Resurrection, reminding them all of the missions which He has entrusted to them, to go forth to all the nations and to proclaim His truth and Good News, and how He would always be with them in all of their efforts and works.

Today as mentioned, the Church marks the occasion of the Feast of St. Francis Xavier, the Patron of Missions and a member of the Society of Jesus or the Jesuits renowned for his lengthy and great missionary journeys to different parts of the world, especially his works in Asia, in the regions of India and South Asia, then Southeast Asia and the Far East, in Macau, China and Japan. St. Francis Xavier gave inspiration to many others in how he dedicated his life and service to God, in his perseverance to continue the mission despite the challenges and hardships he encountered during his journeys, and his passion and love for his fellow brothers and sisters, in the genuine desire he has to proclaim the Word of God and His Good News to more and more of the people of God all around the world.

St. Francis Xavier was born in what is today Spain as Francisco de Jasso y Azpilicueta in the town of Javier or Xavier which would later on made him known as Francis Xavier as we know him today. He was one of the companions of the Founder of the Society of Jesus, St. Ignatius of Loyola and one of the first members of the Jesuits, considered as one of its founding members. Back then, during the height of the Protestant reformation, St. Ignatius of Loyola gathered his companions and other like-minded people to commit themselves to the works of evangelisation and other ministries to spearhead the efforts in countering the terrible effects of the so-called reformation, which splintered the Church in many places into several factions and ‘churches’, and heresies and falsehoods were abound because of errant heretics and preachers.

The Jesuits were founded with the aim to help the Pope and the Church to oppose the tide of heresy and disunity, as well as to reform the Church in the right way. St. Ignatius of Loyola sent out the Jesuits in ministering both to the traditional areas of Christendom like in what is today Germany, the hotbed of the reformation, and also to those mission areas beyond Europe, where European explorers and adventurers made many discoveries of distant lands, all of which had not yet heard the message of God’s truth, His Gospels and the Good News of His salvation. St. Francis Xavier was among those entrusted with the responsibility to proclaim the Good News in the foreign and distant lands, and hence, he went forth, never returning to his homeland ever again.

He followed the long journey to the newly discovered areas, embarking on an extensive missionary journeys in parts of India, where missionaries had already laid some foundations earlier on, as well as areas of Southeast Asia like Malacca and the Spice Islands where he went to several islands and communities, preaching about God and gaining some people who were interested to know more about the Lord and became the first Christian converts in those areas. He did not always have it smooth though, as he did face rejection and hardships along the way, and in a well-known story about him, St. Francis Xavier almost met his end in a terrible storm in the sea, where the boat he was in was battered by waves and the strong wind. He prayed to God and thrust his crucifix into the waves, which then fell into the water and the storm stopped miraculously. A crab later on brought the crucifix back to St. Francis Xavier, who blessed it, and that crab later on always had a cross on its back.

That is just one of the many well-known stories regarding St. Francis Xavier, in his many efforts to serve the Lord through his time and work, in proclaiming the Good News to the furthest ends of the world. He went on to proclaim the Gospels in Japan, and was instrumental in laying the foundations for the later very successful Jesuit mission in Japan, which despite its termination later by the very intense persecutions under the Tokugawa Shogunate, for a period of about fifty years, the Church managed to flourish really well in Japan, with an estimated three hundred thousand Christians during the very height of the mission there, several decades after the passing of St. Francis Xavier. St. Francis Xavier himself passed away in Shangchuan Island just on the shores of China as he awaited the opportunity to enter China to begin a mission there. Some of other Jesuits like the famous Matteo Ricci would then continue what St. Francis Xavier had started.

Brothers and sisters in Christ, let us all continue to follow therefore in the footsteps of the courageous St. Francis Xavier in his determination and commitment to serve the Lord in everything that he had done, in all the missions which he undertook even in the most difficult and challenging moments. Let us all be inspired by this great courage and faith which our holy predecessor had shown so that in our own actions, in our own words and interactions with one another, in our own lives as Christians, we will continue to be the shining examples and inspirations ourselves to everyone around us, to all those whom we encounter in our daily lives. May God bless our every good works, efforts and endeavours therefore, for His greater glory, in our respective missions in life. Amen.

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Wednesday, 3 December 2025 : Feast of St. Francis Xavier, Priest, Patron of Missions and Missionaries (Gospel Reading)

Liturgical Colour : White

Mark 16 : 15-20

At that time, Jesus told His disciples, “Go out to the whole world and proclaim the Good News to all creation. The one who believes and is baptised will be saved; the one who refuses to believe will be condemned.”

“Signs like these will accompany those who have believed : in My Name they will cast out demons and speak new languages; they will pick up snakes, and if they drink anything poisonous, they will be unharmed; they will lay their hands on the sick, and they will be healed.”

So then, after speaking to them, the Lord Jesus was taken up into heaven and took His place at the right hand of God. The Eleven went forth and preached everywhere, while the Lord worked with them and confirmed the message by the signs that accompanied it.

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Wednesday, 3 December 2025 : Feast of St. Francis Xavier, Priest, Patron of Missions and Missionaries (Psalm)

Liturgical Colour : White

Psalm 116 : 1-2

Alleluia! Praise the Lord, all you nations; all you peoples, praise Him.

How great is His love for us! His faithfulness lasts forever.

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Wednesday, 3 December 2025 : Feast of St. Francis Xavier, Priest, Patron of Missions and Missionaries (First Reading)

Liturgical Colour : White

1 Corinthians 9 : 16-19, 22-23

Because I cannot boast of announcing the Gospel : I am bound to do it. Woe to me if I do not preach the Gospel! If I preached voluntarily, I could expect my reward, but I have been trusted this office against my will. How can I, then, deserve a reward? In announcing the Gospel, I will do it freely without making use of the rights given to me by the Gospel.

So, feeling free with everybody, I have become everybody’s slave in order to gain a greater number. To the weak I made myself weak, to win the weak. So I made myself all things to all people in order to save, by all possible means, some of them. This I do for the Gospel, so that I too have a share of it.

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Tuesday, 2 December 2025 : 1st Week of Advent (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 and as we all continue to progress further through this season and time of Advent, the time of preparation for the coming of the joyful season of Christmas, let us all continue to ponder upon the words of the Lord that we have received and blessed with through the Sacred Scriptures, so that we may better be able to focus our attention on what truly matters, the Lord and His teachings and ways. Each and every one of us must truly be genuine in our faith and belief in the Lord as Christians, and in our preparations for Christmas, we are reminded that we should not just be focused on the worldly aspects of the celebrations, but more importantly, focus ourselves on the more wholesome understanding of what Christmas is truly about.

In our first reading today, taken from the Book of the prophet Isaiah, we heard of the words of the Lord given to the prophet Isaiah in which He reassured all of His people, the Israelites and their descendants that despite the difficulties, hardships, challenges and humiliations which they had been facing at that time and before, the day and time will eventually come when the Lord will come for His beloved ones, gathering each and every one of them, calling upon all of them to return back to Him and to be once again in His most loving and generous embrace. God has reassured His people of all of these things, and He would not say things that He Himself would not fulfil or make to come true.

That is why, for those people of Judah to whom the prophet Isaiah had ministered to, such great words of hope and consolation must have meant really a lot to them. They had faced lots of sufferings, humiliations, defeats and other misfortunes from their enemies and all those who opposed them because of their own disobedience and refusals to listen to the Lord and to the prophets and messengers whom He had sent into their midst to remind and help them. The Lord however did not forget about them and He still continued to love them nonetheless, helping them to find their way back to Him, patiently leading and guiding them all, with all the encouragement, reassurance and promises He made after He has first chastised and rebuked them for their sins and wickedness.

God truly cares for all those whom He has considered His own, all those whom He had created out of pure and perfect love. After all, He did not create us so that He can punish and destroy us, but He wants us instead to rediscover the love which we ourselves ought to have for Him, so that we may continue to grow ever stronger in faith, hope and love in Him and through Him. This is what He has constantly reminded His people through the prophets, and which we are therefore also reminded yet again, and again, each and every time we listen to these words of the Scriptures that we may truly be faithful and committed in all things, in doung what God has called us all to do, in being good role models and examples of our faith in our love for God and also our love for one another.

Then, from our Gospel passage today, taken from the Gospel according to St. Luke the Evangelist, we heard the prayer of thanksgiving and praise which the Lord Jesus Himself prayed to His Heavenly Father, giving Him thanks on behalf of everyone that He had been sent to, to all of us mankind, in thanking God for His ever present and enduring love, for all the wonderful things that He had done for us all, on our behalf, in reaching out to us all, and presenting to us the finest and best of His love which has been manifested perfectly to us in the Person of His own beloved and only Begotten Son, Our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ. Indeed, through Jesus Christ and all that He has done for us, are all perfect fulfilment of everything that God our loving Father and Creator has promised to each and every one of us and our ancestors.

And we must count ourselves truly lucky because we have been made partakers of God’s everlasting and true Covenant, which He has renewed and established firmly for us all through His Son, in all that He had done in offering on our behalf a most perfect and worthy offering of His own Most Precious Body and Blood, so that by that offering all of us may be redeemed and freed from the tyranny of evil, sin and darkness surrounding us. We are reminded that because Christ has come into our midst, God Himself in the flesh, we truly have hope of liberation and true happiness, in an eternity of joy and eternal existence with our most loving God and Father. We must continue to uphold this faith and hope within us, and embody the great and ever enduring love of God in ourselves and our own actions.

Brothers and sisters in Christ, today let us all therefore ponder and reflect upon the words of the Sacred Scriptures, ever being reminded that we are all called to put our trust in the Lord and in everything that He has promised to us. We have to trust that everything which the Lord has promised to us will eventually come true, and that we should not easily give up or lose faith in what He has told us. This is because we must realise that in God alone we can find hope and reassurance that will not fail us, and while anything in this world can fail us, the Lord alone is always with us without fail, and it is He alone that has been there for us, providing for us and steadily loving and supporting us through the darkest and most difficult moments, and He does this even through those whom He has provided to be with us.

May the Lord continue to bless us all in our Advent journey and progress, and as we continue to go deeper into this blessed time of preparation for Christmas and what we will celebrate during that season, let us all continue to deepen our faith and trust in the Lord, allowing Him to come into our lives and our hearts, strengthening our resolve and giving us the courage to continue going forth and doing our best to glorify Him by each and every moments of our lives, in all of our actions, words and deeds. May God bless our every good works, efforts and endeavours, now and always. Amen.

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Tuesday, 2 December 2025 : 1st Week of Advent (Gospel Reading)

Liturgical Colour : Purple/Violet

Luke 10 : 21-24

At that time, Jesus was filled with the joy of the Holy Spirit, and said, “I praise You, Father, Lord of heaven and earth, for You have hidden these things from the wise and learned, and made them known to little ones. Yes, Father, such has been Your gracious will. I have been given all things by My Father, so that no one knows the Son except the Father, and no one knows the Father except the Son, and he to whom the Son chooses to reveal Him.”

Then Jesus turned to His disciples and said to them privately, “Fortunate are you to see what you see, for I tell you, that many prophets and kings would have liked to see what you see, but did not see it; and to hear what you hear, but did not hear it.”

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Tuesday, 2 December 2025 : 1st Week of Advent (Psalm)

Liturgical Colour : Purple/Violet

Psalm 71 : 1-2, 7-8, 12-13, 17

God, endow the King with Your justice, the royal Son with Your righteousness. May He rule Your people justly and defend the rights of the lowly.

Justice will flower on His days, and peace abound, till the moon be no more. For He reigns from sea to sea, from the River to the ends of the earth.

He delivers the needy who call on Him, the afflicted, with no one to help them. His mercy is upon the weak and the poor; He saves the lives of the poor.

May His Name endure forever; may His Name be as lasting as the sun. All the races will boast about Him; and He will be praised by all nations.

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Tuesday, 2 December 2025 : 1st Week of Advent (First Reading)

Liturgical Colour : Purple/Violet

Isaiah 11 : 1-10

From the stump of Jesse a Shoot will come forth; from his roots a Branch will grow and bear fruit. The Spirit of the Lord will rest upon Him – a Spirit of wisdom and understanding, a Spirit of counsel and power, a Spirit of knowledge and fear of YHVH.

Not by appearances will He judge, nor by what is said must He decide, but with justice He will judge the poor and with righteousness decide for the meek. Like a rod, His word will strike the oppressor, and the breath of His lips slay the wicked. Justice will be the girdle of His waist, truth the girdle of His loins.

The wolf will dwell with the lamb, the leopard will rest beside the kid, the calf and the lion cub will feed together and a little child will lead them. Befriending each other, the cow and the bear will see their young ones lie down together. Like cattle, the lion will eat hay. By the cobra’s den the infant will play. The child will put his hand into the viper’s lair. No one will harm or destroy over My holy mountain, for as water fills the sea the earth will be filled with the knowledge of YHVH.

On that day the “Root of Jesse” will be raised as a signal for the nations. The people will come in search of Him, thus making His dwelling place glorious.

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Monday, 1 December 2025 : 1st Week of Advent (Homily and Scripture Reflections)

Liturgical Colour : Purple/Violet

Dear brothers and sisters in Christ, as we embark on this journey during this Season of Advent, entering into this appropriate time of contemplation, reflection and preparation, each and every one of us are called to reorientate our lives and rediscover that path towards the Lord and His salvation, especially if we have been so busy and distracted in life that we have forgotten what it truly means for us to be Christians, to be God’s holy and beloved people. Each and every one of us should always be prepared to welcome the Lord when He eventually comes again in glory, whenever it may be, as no one can know the exact timing of His Second Coming, but we know with certainty that this will definitely happen in the future. Therefore, all of us as Christians, we must 

In our first reading today, taken from the Book of the prophet Isaiah we heard the message of reassurance and encouragement from God to His people in the kingdom of Judah where He had sent Isaiah to minister at, reminding all of them that their sufferings, humiliations and struggles all would not last forever, and that eventually they would all be vindicated and rescued if they continued to walk faithfully in the presence of the Lord and commit themselves to follow His Law and commandments. In the first place, it was the disobedience and sins of the people which had distanced them away from the Lord and from His path and blessings, and due to this, that is why they had faced challenges and trials, and like their brethren in the northern kingdom of Israel, whose disobedience were even greater, they had to face defeat and destruction at the hands of their enemies.

Back then, at that time, during the beginning of the ministry of the prophet Isaiah, the forces of the Assyrians came up to Samaria, the capital of the northern kingdom, besieging it and thereafter destroying it, and this led to the downfall of the northern kingdom, with many of its people being brought off into exile in the lands of Assyria and even beyond, and throughout all those challenges and trials, God still wanted to remind His people that He was still with them, patiently guiding them and encouraging them even through their darkest and most difficult moments. Even though the people of God had been stubborn in refusing to listen to His words and reminders which He had made to them through His many prophets and messengers, but He still patiently sent to them more reminders and help nonetheless.

This is why each and every one of us must realise just how fortunate we all are to have been loved by God in such a manner, and we should no longer take His most generous and patient love for granted. If we take God’s love, compassion and generous mercy for granted, in the end, there will only be regret for us all. We have been blessed by many opportunities which God has presented to us, again and again, as He calls on us to return to Him and to embrace His love once again, love that has always been made available for us even after we have continually disobeyed Him and disregarded His kindness and compassion. We should continue to strive to embrace God’s love and mercy, devoting ourselves anew to serve Him wholeheartedly from now on.

Then, from our Gospel passage today, taken from the Gospel according to St. Matthew the Apostle and Evangelist, we heard of the moment when an army captain or centurion came to the Lord Jesus in Capernaum in Galilee, requesting and beseeching Him to take pity upon his servant who had fallen very sick at home, firmly believing that the Lord could heal his servant and make him whole again. And the faith of the army centurion was such that he was willing to believe and trust in the Lord that even without making Him to go to his place to heal his servant, and merely by the command and power of His words alone, everything would be accomplished and his servant would be healed. This kind of faith was then highlighted by the Lord as a truly great and exemplary faith for all the people to follow.

In order to better understand the significance and importance of what this event entailed, we must first understand that this army centurion or captain was likely to be a Roman, or at least a Gentile or non-Jewish person, and at that time, the Jewish customs and practices were mostly limited to only those of Jewish descent, and hence, the army centurion was likely to be considered as a pagan or non-believer. And at that time, for a non-Jewish person to interact with a Jew like the Lord Jesus and His disciples was often considered taboo, and in fact, why the army captain was reluctant to let the Lord to come to his house and mentioned that he was unworthy to have Him under his roof was because of the common practice at that time, in which for a Jew to enter into the house of a Gentile would have made them ritually unclean.

That was the reason why the chief priests and the Pharisees did not enter into the Praetorium where Pontius Pilate resided as the governor of Judea during the time of the Lord’s Passion, and it was in fact specifically mentioned that this act would have made them to be ritually unclean and therefore would be unable to eat the Passover that was to happen that moment soon. Hence, not only that the army centurion had great faith in the Lord but he was also very humble and considerate, knowing the local customs and not wanting to cause hassle and difficulties on the Lord and His mission. And for his great faith in the Lord, his faith was rewarded and everything came true just as the Lord deemed it to be, with the servant being healed the very moment the Lord Himself declared it.

Brothers and sisters in Christ, as we enter into this season of Advent and progress through it, let us all therefore realise that each and every one of us are in need of God’s love, mercy and compassion, and we should no longer take all these for granted. Every opportunities that He has presented to us should be cherished by us, and we should always do our best in each and every one of us our actions, words and deeds, in our every steps in life so that we may draw ever closer to our most merciful and loving God. Let us make great use of this time and the opportunities that the Lord has presented to us such that we will not squander them and that we can continue to grow ever stronger in our faith as true and genuine Christians moving forward.

May the Lord continue to help and strengthen us in our journey of faith and life during this time and season of Advent, so that we can continue to grow ever stronger in our faith and commitment to God. Let us all do our very best to glorify the Lord by our lives and actions, in everything that we say and do. Let us all continue to be good and worthy bearers of our Christian faith, and do our very best to shine forth with the light of God, showcasing what we truly believe in the Lord, in His love for us, and in the hope that we have for Him. May the Lord be with us always and bless our every good efforts and endeavours. Amen.

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Monday, 1 December 2025 : 1st Week of Advent (Gospel Reading)

Liturgical Colour : Purple/Violet

Matthew 8 : 5-11

At that time, when Jesus entered Capernaum, an army captain approached Him, to ask His help, “Sir, my servant lies sick at home. He is paralysed and suffers terribly.” Jesus said to him, “I will come and heal him.”

The captain answered, “I am not worthy to have You under my roof. Just give an order and my boy will be healed. For I myself, a junior officer, give orders to my soldiers. And if I say to one, ‘Go!’ he goes; and if I say to another, ‘Come!’ he comes; and if I say to my servant, ‘Do this!’ he does it.”

When Jesus heard this, He was astonished; and said to those who were following Him, “I tell you, I have not found such faith in Israel. I say to you, many will come from east and west and sit down with Abraham, Isaac and Jacob at the feast in the kingdom of heaven.”