Author: petercanisiusmichaeldavidkang

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Wednesday, 1 April 2026 : Wednesday of Holy Week (First Reading)

Liturgical Colour : Purple/Violet

Isaiah 50 : 4-9a

The Lord YHVH has taught Me so I speak as His disciple and I know how to sustain the weary. Morning after morning He wakes Me up to hear, to listen like a disciple. The Lord YHVH has opened My ear. I have not rebelled, nor have I withdrawn.

I offered My back to those who strike Me, My cheeks to those who pulled My beard; neither did I shield My face from blows, spittle and disgrace. I have not despaired, for the Lord YHVH comes to My help. So, like a flint I set My face, knowing that I will not be disgraced.

He Who avenges Me is near. Who then will accuse Me? Let us confront each other. Who is now My accuser? Let him approach. If the Lord YHVH is my Help, who will condemn Me?

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Tuesday, 31 March 2026 : Tuesday of Holy Week (Homily and Scripture Reflections)

Liturgical Colour : Purple/Violet

Dear brothers and sisters in Christ, we are reminded today as we continue to approach the time of the Easter or Paschal Triduum ever closer now, of the coming events that we are going to commemorate during that most solemn period, remembering how God manifested His love most perfectly to us through His most Beloved and only Begotten Son, Jesus Christ, the Saviour of the world, through Whom we have seen the love of God, our heavenly Father, Who has always patiently reached out to us in love, generously providing us all the sure pathway to salvation and eternal life, by nothing less than the breaking of the Body and the outpouring of the Blood of the Lamb of God, Christ Himself, Whose sufferings and death on the Cross is at the centre and focus of our entire Paschal Triduum.

In our first reading today, taken from the Book of the prophet Isaiah, we heard the continuation of the Lord’s prophecy and words to His people through the prophet Isaiah, in which He proclaimed His salvation to His people and to all the nations, through the Saviour Whom He would one day send into this world to bring about deliverance for all of us away from our sins and the darkness surrounding us. And this Saviour is none other than the Lord Himself, the Divine Word of God, the Logos, incarnate in the flesh, making tangible and real, approachable and direct, His Love being manifested perfectly towards us. Through Him, we have received the promise and the fulfilment of everything which the Lord had reassured us all throughout time.

We heard how the Lord promised His people that they would no longer be scattered all around the world and be separated from the love and grace of God. They would once again be reunited as one people, blessed by God and brought under His light once more. They and their ancestors might have erred and committed sins against God, but God’s mercy and love are greater than His anger towards them and their waywardness. And He is always ever ready to welcome them all back to His loving Presence, to heal them all and to make them whole once again, that everyone will truly know that they belong to God. And this is the same promise that God has also shown towards us as well, and we are therefore reminded of this today that we may continue to have hope in the Lord, in His constant love and providence.

Then, from our Gospel passage today, taken from the Gospel according to St. John the Apostle and Evangelist, we heard of the upcoming betrayal of Judas Iscariot just as it was narrated to us, from the perspective of the Lord and His Twelve disciples at the time of the Last Supper just right before He began His Passion in Jerusalem. We heard how the Lord knew that one of His closest disciples would betray Him, and He knew exactly who that person was, and told everyone about everything that would happen, just as He had foretold to them before. It was at this moment that, as we heard, Judas Iscariot, did exactly as the Lord had told the traitor would do, and yet, everyone were still unaware of the fact. The Lord, knowing exactly what would happen and what would happen to Him, told Judas to do what he must do.

We also then heard in that same passage how the Lord also predicted that the Twelve would be scattered when the enemy were to strike at Him, their Master. Despite the protests from the disciples and especially from St. Peter, who boldly and loudly proclaimed his faith and steadfastness before everyone and the Lord Himself, the Lord told Peter of what would happen to him that very night, how he would deny the very same Lord whom he proclaimed that he would give up his life and die for. The Lord told all these to Peter and the other disciples, reminding them all of the dangers of fear and hopelessness amidst darkness and despair, and how they all should still hold on to faith and hope in Him, regardless of whatever that happened. For hope in God is more powerful than even the greatest darkness.

It is indeed easy for all of us Christians living in this world today, in our various capacities and areas of responsibilities to be facing lots of difficulties and challenges, daily and at every moments. And not only that, but we may realise that often, what makes things even more difficult for us is the fact that those who made these things challenging and difficult for us may even be fellow Christians and those who are close to us, like our friends and members of our own families. Like Judas Iscariot, who betrayed his own Master, the One whom he had been working with closely for few years, we too can face betrayal, hardships and trials even from those closest to us, and this can, and have been proven many times, cause scandal, hurt and evil things to surround us. This is where it is important for us to continue to hold on to hope in the Lord, knowing that in His Love and Providence, God will always be with us, and He always provides.

Brothers and sisters in Christ, as we listened to these words of the Sacred Scriptures, we are reminded that despite all the uncertainties, fears, hardships, struggles and challenges that we may be facing in our respective journeys and paths, we must not lose hope in the Lord, and we must continue to put our trust and hope in Him, keep moving forward with faith and courage no matter what. We must listen to the Lord and know what is His will for us, trusting in Him that He will make a way even when things are really difficult and challenging for us, and even when things seem to be impossible. For with the Lord, nothing is truly impossible, and even in the greatest moment of our sufferings, God can transform that to the greatest triumph in a single moment. Never lose hope in the Lord, never.

May the Lord continue to strengthen us in our resolve to walk ever more courageously and faithfully at all times, doing our best to glorify Him by our every actions, attitudes and conduct, so that through every moments, everything that we do, we will draw ever closer to Him and be ever greater and better examples for everyone around us. May God be glorified through us and may He continue to strengthen our faith, each and every moments of our lives. May our Holy Week observances be truly good and fruitful too. Amen.

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Tuesday, 31 March 2026 : Tuesday of Holy Week (Gospel Reading)

Liturgical Colour : Purple/Violet

John 13 : 21-33, 36-38

At that time, after He said a discourse to His disciples after He washed their feet, Jesus was distressed in Spirit, and said plainly, “Truly, one of you will betray Me.” The disciples then looked at one another, wondering whom He meant. One of the disciples, the one Jesus loved, was reclining near Jesus; so Simon Peter signalled him to ask Jesus whom He meant.

And the disciple, who was reclining near Jesus, asked Him, “Lord, who is it?” Jesus answered, “I shall dip a piece of bread in the dish, and he to whom I give it, is the one.” So Jesus dipped the bread and gave it to Judas Iscariot, the son of Simon. And as Judas took the piece of bread, Satan entered into him. Jesus then said to him, “What you are going to do, do quickly.”

None of the others, reclining at the table, understood why Jesus said this to Judas. As Judas had the common purse, they may have thought that Jesus was telling him, “Buy what we need for the feast,” or “Give something to the poor.” Judas left as soon as he had eaten the bread. It was night.

When Judas had gone out, Jesus said, “Now is the Son of Man glorified, and God is glorified in Him. God will glorify Him, and He will glorify Him very soon. My children, I am with you for only a little while; you will look for Me, but as I already told the Jews, so now I tell you : where I am going you cannot come.”

Simon Peter said to Him, “Lord, where are You going?” Jesus answered, “Where I am going you cannot follow Me now, but afterwards you will.” Peter said, “Lord, why can I not follow You now? I am ready to give my life for You.”

“To give your life for Me?” Jesus asked Peter, “Truly I tell you, the cock will not crow, before you have denied Me three times.”

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Tuesday, 31 March 2026 : Tuesday of Holy Week (Psalm)

Liturgical Colour : Purple/Violet

Psalm 70 : 1-2, 3-4a, 5-6ab, 15 and 17

In You, o Lord, I seek refuge; let me not be disgraced. In Your justice help me and deliver me, turn Your ear to me and save me!

Be my Rock of refuge, a Stronghold to give me safety, for You are my Rock and my Fortress. Rescue me, o my God, from the hand of the wicked.

For You, o Lord, have been my Hope, my Trust, o God, from my youth. I have relied on You from birth : from my mother’s womb You brought me forth.

My lips will proclaim Your intervention and tell of Your salvation all day, little though it is what I can understand. You have taught me from my youth and until now I proclaim Your marvels.

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Tuesday, 31 March 2026 : Tuesday of Holy Week (First Reading)

Liturgical Colour : Purple/Violet

Isaiah 49 : 1-6

Listen to me, o islands, pay attention, peoples from distant lands. YHVH called me from my mother’s womb; He pronounced my name before I was born. He made my mouth like a sharpened sword. He hid me in the shadow of His hand. He made me into a polished arrow set apart in His quiver.

He said to me, “You are Israel, my servant, through you I will be known.” “I have laboured in vain,” I thought, “and spent my strength for nothing.” Yet what is due me was in the hand of YHVH, and my reward was with my God. I am important in the sight of YHVH, and my God is my Strength.

And now YHVH has spoken, He Who formed me in the womb to be His servant, to bring Jacob back to Him, to gather Israel to Him. He said : “It is not enough that you be My servant, to restore the tribes of Jacob, to bring back the remnant of Israel. I will make you the light of the nations, that My salvation will reach to the ends of the earth.”

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Monday, 30 March 2026 : Monday of Holy Week (Homily and Scripture Reflections)

Liturgical Colour : Purple/Violet

Dear brothers and sisters in Christ, today as we all progress through this sacred time of this Holy Week, approaching the pinnacle of our whole entire liturgical year, we are all invited to focus our attention ever more and ever deeper in appreciating all that the Lord Himself has done for us in loving us all, the ultimate proof and evidence of which is what He had done for our salvation, in taking up willingly upon Himself and bearing on His own shoulders the combined weight of all of our sins, our faults and mistakes, everything that we should have suffered and endured by our disobedience and sins. And yet, through His infinite love and mercy, God has shown us all His redemption and ever enduring Love manifested to us in Christ His Son, Our Lord and Saviour.

In our first reading today, we heard from the Book of the prophet Isaiah in which the Lord spoke about the coming of the One that He had prepared for the salvation of the world and of His beloved people. This prophecy can and has indeed been interpreted and linked to the coming of the Messiah Himself, or that of His messenger and herald, none other than St. John the Baptist. In both cases, they have been prepared since before they were even conceived, with St. John the Baptist miraculously being conceived in the elderly couple Zechariah and Elizabeth, who had been barren for a long time, while the Lord Jesus Himself was conceived without man’s interference, by the will of God the Father and by the power of the Holy Spirit in His mother, Mary.

However, reading closely through the passage of this prophecy, we can see that this is specifically referring to what the Lord would do through His Passion, referring to His suffering, all the persecutions, humiliations that He would endure for our salvation, the mockery, opposition, hatred and all that He would receive amidst His Passion, all of which had been foretold by the prophets especially that of Isaiah just as we heard in our first reading today. This description of the Suffering Servant or the Suffering Messiah actually clashed and contradicted what was common in the understanding among the people of God, in their expectations on what the Messiah would be like. They thought that the Messiah would be the One to restore the Kingdom of Israel and liberate them from their enemies and oppressors.

That was why the Lord Jesus and His mission, and what would eventually happen to Him became an enigma to many among the Jewish people, especially to their leaders, the Pharisees and the chief priests, the members of the Sanhedrin and others who were more concerned about their worldly status and prestige, worrying about would happen should the Lord’s growing popularity led to the end of their privileged status among the community of God’s people and the status quo that they had been enjoying under the rule of the Romans and the kings they placed to rule them, the family members of Herod. It was from this opposition and refusals to follow what the Lord had intended, that led to them persecuting the Lord and fulfilling what the Lord Himself had promised through Isaiah.

Then, from our Gospel passage today, taken from the Gospel according to St. John the Apostle and Evangelist, we are all reminded by the Lord Himself that we should not be hypocrites in our faith and way of life, and we should not forget to show love towards the Lord and towards one another, and not merely putting our focus and attention on one or the other. As true and genuine Christians, each and every one of us are called to heed the words of the Lord as we heard in that Gospel passage today, reminding us all to be humble and generous in loving God and others, as He Himself has taught us to, and not to be like traitor Judas Iscariot, who was a hypocrite, prideful and haughty, in looking down on the actions of others done in love.

As we heard, Mary, also known as Mary of Bethany, the sister of Lazarus, took a jar of pure nard, an expensive perfume and anointed the Lord’s feet with it, and then with her tears and hair, she dried the Lord’s feet, something that immediately brought criticism and condemnation from Judas Iscariot, one of the Lord’s inner circle and member of the Twelve. And we heard how this same Judas, the one who would come to betray the Lord just a few days later after this occasion, was in fact a thief, a liar and a hypocrite, as he often helped himself to the common fund that he managed for the Lord and His disciples. Therefore, whatever he said to Mary regarding wastefulness and how the perfume could have been sold to give the proceeds to the poor was no less than pure hypocrisy, and can even be surmised as having risen from greed.

That is because he could have then taken even more from the proceeds and the common fund, and for a greedy man like him, Judas could not understand and appreciate the actions of Mary. But Mary showed us all the great example of obedience and humility, humbling herself and even using her own hair, which has always been considered as a woman’s crown of beauty and glory, to wipe the Lord’s feet, the part of the human body which is often considered as the dirtiest and most disgusting, and hence, it was a tremendous act of humility and love for Mary to do such a thing before everyone to see, in showing her love and gratitude towards the Lord for His kindness, compassion and mercy. Let us also not forget that this is the same Mary whose brother Lazarus had died and then the Lord resurrected him from the dead.

Brothers and sisters in Christ, today as we all gather together to reflect upon the message of this Word of God contained within the Scriptures, let us all therefore reflect carefully on what we have just received, remembering the great love which God had given us through His most Beloved and only Begotten Son, so that by examining and reflecting every events that we are going to celebrate in this upcoming period of Holy Week and then Easter, we can truly carry on living our lives with genuine faith and not merely paying lip service to the Lord, or merely going through the motion in how we observe the Law and commandments of God. We should be truly sincere in living our faith and become good role models and examples to everyone around us. Let us all be humble and remember that each and every one of us are equally sinners in need of God’s mercy and forgiveness, instead of looking down on others.

May the Lord our most loving God, our most compassionate and merciful Saviour continue to help us persevere and remain strong throughout this journey of faith and life, as we continue to progress through this time of Holy Week, the upcoming joyful and glorious season of Easter and beyond, so that in our every efforts, endeavours and all the things we do in love, in showing genuine care and concern for everyone around us, in manifesting God’s love ever more perfectly in this world we may truly be genuine, faithful and good Christians, exemplary in our every deeds, following the examples of Mary who anointed the feet of the Lord, in showing love both for God and for others around us, especially to those dearly beloved to us and to others who need our love too. May God bless all of us and remain with us always. Amen.

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Monday, 30 March 2026 : Monday of Holy Week (Gospel Reading)

Liturgical Colour : Purple/Violet

John 12 : 1-11

At that time, six days before the Passover, Jesus came to Bethany, where He had raised Lazarus, the dead man, to life. Now they gave a dinner for Him, and while Martha waited on them, Lazarus sat at the table with Jesus.

Then Mary took a pound of costly perfume, made from genuine spikenard and anointed the feet of Jesus, wiping them with her hair. And the whole house was filled with the fragrance of the perfume.

Judas Iscariot – the disciple who was to betray Jesus – remarked, “This perfume could have been sold for three hundred silver coins, and the money given to the poor.” Judas, indeed, had no concern for the poor; he was a thief, and as he held the common purse, he used to help himself to the funds.

But Jesus spoke up, “Leave her alone. Was she not keeping it for the day of My burial? (The poor you always have with you, but you will not always have Me.)” Many Jews heard that Jesus was there and they came, not only because of Jesus, but also to see Lazarus whom He had raised from the dead.

So the chief priests thought about killing Lazarus as well, for many of the Jews were drifting away because of him, and believing in Jesus.

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Monday, 30 March 2026 : Monday of Holy Week (Psalm)

Liturgical Colour : Purple/Violet

Psalm 26 : 1, 2, 3, 13-14

The Lord is my Light and my Salvation – whom shall I fear? The Lord is the Rampart of my life; I will not be afraid.

When the wicked rush at me to devour my flesh, it is my foes who stumble, my enemies fall.

Though an army encamp against me, my heart will not fail; though war break out against me, I will still be confident.

I hope, I am sure, that I will see the goodness of the Lord in the land of the living. Trust in the Lord, be strong and courageous. Yes, put your hope in the Lord!

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Monday, 30 March 2026 : Monday of Holy Week (First Reading)

Liturgical Colour : Purple/Violet

Isaiah 42 : 1-7

Here is My Servant Whom I uphold, My Chosen One in Whom I delight. I have put My Spirit upon Him, and He will bring justice to the nations. He does not shout or raise His voice. Proclamations are not heard in the streets.

A broken reed He will not crush, nor will He snuff out the light of the wavering wick. He will make justice appear in truth. He will not waver or be broken until He has established justice on earth; the islands are waiting for His law.

Thus says God, YHVH, Who created the heavens and stretched them out, Who spread the earth and all that comes from it, Who gives life and breath to those who walk on it. I, YHVH, have called you for the sake of justice; I will hold your hand to make you firm; I will make you as a covenant to the people, and as a light to the nations, to open eyes that do not see, to free captives from prison, to bring out to light those who sit in darkness.

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Sunday, 29 March 2026 : Palm Sunday of the Passion of the Lord (Homily and Scripture Reflections)

Liturgical Colour : Red

Dear brothers and sisters in Christ, this Sunday, also known as Palm Sunday of the Passion of the Lord marks the beginning of the Holy Week and the entry into this most solemn and important period of time when we commemorate the Passion of Our Lord Jesus Christ, the Saviour of the whole world, the moment when He suffered for us all, bearing all the burdens of our sins and mistakes, our faults and iniquities, all the wickedness and evils we have committed, so that by His most generous and selfless love, shown to us in His loving sacrifice on the Cross, all of us may be saved and be brought into the assurance of eternal life and glory with Him. The Lord has willingly done all of these, in obedience to the will of His heavenly Father so that by His sacrifice offered most worthily on our behalf, each and every one of us may find the path to eternal life by the full reconciliation and the New and Eternal Covenant that He made, as our Eternal High Priest, all of which we commemorate during this most Holy Week.

In our Gospel reading today, which was read at the beginning of the Holy Mass, we heard the passage from the Gospel of St. Matthew detailing the time when the Lord was about to enter into the city of Jerusalem for His upcoming Passion as we all certainly well know of, that moment when the Lord rode on a donkey and welcomed into the city of Jerusalem with the people waving palm branches and putting their clothes for Him to pass through, as if He is the King that came in glory to enter into His City. This is why we call this Sunday’s celebration as Palm Sunday in the first place. It marks first of all the commemoration of the glorious entry of the King of Kings and the rightful King of Israel, the Son and Heir of David, entering into the City of His glorious inheritance and dominion, as the Lord has revealed in advance through His prophets and messengers, like that of the prophet Zechariah, who prophesied that the King and Messiah would come to His City riding on a humble donkey.

All of that had been fulfilled in the actions of the Lord Jesus that day, Who chose a donkey with its colt, or its young one, which had not borne any burden before. The donkey that had been tied on the pole itself is rich in symbolism, as it represents the first-called among God’s people, the Israelites, that had been burdened by many of the sins of their ancestors and by their enslavement in the hands of many rulers and oppressors, and the Lord freeing the donkey from its bondage has the symbolic meaning of His coming that is meant to bring true freedom to the people of God, beginning with the descendants of Israel, and then the colt, which represents the Gentiles, or the non-Jewish people, who followed along as the Lord rode on the donkey, representing His dominion and rule over not only the Jewish people, the descendants of the Israelites, but also over the Gentiles and hence over the whole world. His Kingship is Universal and inclusive, and all encompassing instead of just ruling over the Jewish people only.

Then, there is the symbolism of the donkey itself, as a humble beast of burden typically used as the means to carry the weight of cargo and objects that were not usually meant for carrying a human being, less so for One Who is a King, and less still supposedly for the King of Kings and Lord of Lords, the King of all the whole Universe, coming upon His City and people. Yet, the fact that the Lord rode into Jerusalem on a humble donkey and not on a mighty warhorse or other extravagant rides that other worldly rulers often rode on, highlighted the true nature of His Kingship and His mission in this world. He did not come to this world to conquer and to destroy, unlike what earthly and worldly kings usually do, and He did not come to lead His people in a war of liberation and resistance against the Romans or any others, unlike what many of the Jewish people in the past often mistakenly believed.

Instead, He came into this world and into our midst to bring His Peace upon us, to show us the love that He has always had for us from the very beginning, real and tangible in the flesh. He came into this world to serve and not to be served, to reach out to the least amongst us, and to every single one of us without exception. He does not discriminate against us, and He wants each and every one of us to be reconciled with Him, and that is why He came into our midst, to dwell and walk amongst us, and to show us His most generous love, so much so that He was willing to pay the ultimate price in order to do so. And that leads us to the second part of our celebration today, that as we proceed triumphantly with Christ to the Altar, entering with Him to the Holy City of Jerusalem, we then enter into a new phase of this Sunday’s events, as we remember what would take place within merely days after that glorious event.

That is when we remember how it was likely that many of the same people who have cried out with great joy and enthusiasm, ‘Hosanna! Hosanna to the Son of David! Blessed is He Who comes in the Name of the Lord’, were the same ones who later on cried out on Good Friday, ‘Crucify Him! Crucify Him!’ and ‘We have no King but Caesar!’. Through that we can see just how the mood and the attitude of the people so quickly changed within just a matter of a few days, from one of jubilation and adoration to one of disgust and rejection. No doubt that there must have been some coercion, persuasion and jockeying going around back then, as the members of the Jewish High Council or the Sanhedrin, which were mostly against the Lord and some were even openly hostile, must have encouraged, coerced and persuaded many of the people that the Lord Jesus was the False Messiah and a traitor to the Jewish nation and people, for His supposedly blasphemous teaching and actions against God.

All of these had been predicted beforehand by God Himself as He revealed it through His prophets, in what we heard from our first reading today, as we progress from the glorious procession of palms into Jerusalem towards the true nature of our Lord’s ministry and what He would do for each and every one of us. The prophet Isaiah spoke curiously on the Suffering Servant, the One Whom God would send to be with His people, and how this Servant of God would suffer and endure grievous beating and hardships, torture and trials, as He obeyed perfectly the will of the One Who had sent Him to us. He would be humiliated and made to suffer for the sins of the people of God, a reading that we shall further explore on Good Friday, in which that passage refer to the same Servant, Who would be lifted up high and exalted, that by His wounds and stripes, all of us would be healed, a clear reference to what the Lord Jesus Himself would do for our sake.

We heard how the Lord humbled Himself and emptied Himself of all glory, as we heard from our second reading passage from the Epistle of St. Paul to the Church and the faithful in Philippi. The Apostle St. Paul spoke of how the Lord Jesus, the Son of God, obeyed His Father’s will so perfectly, and humbled Himself such that He was willing to endure a most humiliating and painful death on the Cross, so that by His most selfless offering of Himself, and by His obedience, He became the Source of Hope and Salvation for all of us mankind, for the whole entire world. Through Christ, all of us have become sharers and partakers in the New and Eternal Covenant that He has established with all of us, as He is the Mediator of this Covenant, through which He has brought us into full reconciliation between us and the Lord God, our loving Father and Creator.

This is what we have essentially heard through the long Passion narrative this Sunday, reminding us all of everything that Our Lord had done for our sake, in Him enduring the worst of punishments for us. He has not ignored or abandoned our plight and suffering, and by His ever enduring love and compassion towards us, He willingly took upon His shoulders and embraced us fully, and in His sharing of our human nature and existence, He took it upon Himself to offer on our behalf a most worthy offering, the offering of His own Most Precious Body and Most Precious Blood, as the Paschal Lamb of God, crushed and sacrificed for us, that He offered Himself on the Altar of His Cross at Calvary, He brought upon us the certainty of salvation and eternal life. All of us who believe in Him and in the truth that He has revealed to us, will receive from Him the gift of everlasting grace and life.

Thus, this Sunday as we mark the beginning of this most Holy Week, the Week celebrating and commemorating the most important events in the history of our salvation, let us all therefore immerse ourselves more deeply into the Lord’s Passion and all that He had done for us, as we remember how He began the final week of His most important mission, that is to offer and sacrifice Himself for our sake. Let us all remember the actions of our great and most loving King, Who has come into our midst to be with us, and to redeem all of us. Let us remember how He came humbly riding on a donkey into Jerusalem, hailed and adored by the people only to be cast out and rejected just barely a few days later, betrayed by His own disciple and condemned to death for sins and faults that He Himself did not commit. Yet, He had borne all of that upon Himself because He loves each and every one of us, and He wanted that by His selfless offering and sacrifice, and by His suffering and death, all of us may be saved, and has sure path to eternal life.

Brothers and sisters in Christ, therefore as we enter into this most solemn and important week, the holiest of all the weeks of the whole entire year, let us all spend some time to reflect on our Lenten journey thus far and how we have lived our lives in this world. Lent is a time for us to rediscover our true path in life towards God and to recalibrate and reconnect ourselves with God and His path especially if we have erred and wandered down the wrong path. And as we enter into this Holy Week of Our Lord’s Passion, each one of us are called to remind ourselves why our Lord has done all these for us, and that again, first of all, is because of His love for us. We have sinned against the Lord, and we should have deserved damnation and destruction for our faults and sins, and yet, God willingly came to us, and through His Passion, He showed us the path to a new life with Him, and by His sufferings, He shouldered the punishments of our own sins meant for us.

Let us all remember how God has been so patient with us and how much He has loved us, that He came into our midst to live amongst us and to suffer with us and for us. Let us all no longer harden our hearts and minds, and be no longer stubborn as many of our predecessors who have frequently and constantly rejected the Lord and His generous offer of love and mercy. Let us all look upon the Crucified Christ, Our Lord and Saviour, and see His loving gaze, ever always directed at us, so that we may indeed be ashamed by our many sins and wrongdoings, all of which had inflicted the many injuries and wounds that He had to painfully bear for our sake, and yet which He bore willingly and lovingly nonetheless because He truly and really loves us very much. Therefore, let us all deepen our appreciation of everything that Our Lord and Saviour had done for us, and deepen our relationship with Him.

May the Lord, our King and Saviour, our High Priest and our Paschal Lamb, He Who has done so much for us for our salvation, continue to be with us and guide us patiently as He has always done, so that we may grow ever more in faith in Him, and learn to love Him more and more, especially as we enter into this time of most solemn commemoration of His Passion, His suffering and death during this Holy Week and the upcoming Easter Triduum. Today, let us not just acclaim Him with our words and mouth only, but let us all acclaim Him from deep within our hearts. May He help us all to remain focused on Him and may He empower each every one of us so that we may persevere ever more against the many challenges, trials and temptations in life. May God bless us all in our every good works, efforts and endeavours, so that in everything we do, we may truly be ever more faithful to Him and be exemplary role models and good examples for others to follow, that through us and our actions, many more may come to believe in God and be saved. Wishing all of us a most blessed, holy and fruitful Holy Week. Amen.