Liturgical Colour : White
Psalm 71 : 1-2, 14 and 15bc, 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.
He rescues them from oppression and strife, for their life is precious to Him. May people always pray for Him, and blessings be invoked for Him all day.
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.
Liturgical Colour : White
1 John 4 : 19 – 1 John 5 : 4
So let us love one another, since God loved us first. If you say, “I love God,” while you hate your brother or sister, you are a liar. How can you love God, Whom you do not see, if you do not love your brother, whom you see? We received from Him, this commandment : let those who love God also love their brothers.
All those, who believe that Jesus is the Anointed, are born of God; whoever loves the Father, loves the Son. How may we know, that we love the children of God? If we love God and fulfil His commands, for God’s love requires us to keep His commands. In fact, His commandments are not a burden because all those born of God overcome the world. And the victory, which overcomes the world, is our faith.
Liturgical Colour : White
Dear brothers and sisters in Christ, today as we all listened to the words of the Scriptures, we are all reminded again of the love of God, His Presence in our midst and His faithfulness to the Covenant which He had made with all of us, and how we all should not be afraid or hesitant to follow Him because if we put our faith and trust in Him then rest assured that we will be well taken care of and provided for, and even though we may encounter challenges, difficulties, obstacles and trials in our path, but as long as we remain firmly faithful in Him, then we shall not falter and shall continue to sail through the storms and troubles of life with God by our side, as He leads us to the right path and true happiness with Him.
In our first reading today, we heard from the Epistle of St. John the Apostle in which St. John spoke to the faithful regarding the matter of love and how each and every one of them ought to show their love to one another, their compassion and care for those who are around them, because that was exactly what the Lord had done for us all, out of His endless compassion for us, His ever generous love and care, His patience in showing us His loving kindness, in His desire to see us all saved from our predicament and certain destruction because of our many sins. While it is true that because of our disobedience we have fallen into sin and been corrupted by those sins, but God never condemned us or desired our destruction. Instead, it is by those sins, unrepented and unforgiven that we have fallen into damnation.
That is why as St. John mentioned very clearly in his Epistle that the salvation of God has come into our midst through His Son, Our Lord and Saviour, Jesus Christ, the Divine Word Incarnate, the Divine Son of God Who assumed our human nature and existence so that by His entry and arrival into this world, He might manifest before us all, the love of God in all of its perfection, and showed it all to us. And that was exactly what the Lord had done. He has given us all His only begotten Son so that by His suffering and death, all of us may be saved and redeemed from our sins, and have the sure path towards Him and the eternal life and true joy that can be found in Him alone. Through His perfect and ever enduring love, God has opened for us the path to salvation.
Then, in our Gospel passage today, we heard of the account from the Gospel according to St. Mark the Evangelist in which the famous encounter between the Lord and His disciples in a storm was told to us. At that time, as we heard, the Lord was going by Himself to pray while the disciples of the Lord were together in a boat sailing in the middle of the lake, likely the Lake of Galilee where they often travelled around during the Lord’s ministry. And we heard how the Lord then appeared to those disciples while great storm, wind and waves were battering against their ship, so much so that it would have sunk them. This was one of the few occasions that this had happened to the disciples, but each and every time it happened, the Lord was with them, came to them and helped them.
In this particular occasion, the Lord came to those disciples who were frightened by the waves and the wind, and His appearance, walking on the water made them to be frightened more, as they thought that He was a ghost or spirit. Yet, the Lord reassured them all immediately, telling them all that it was indeed Him Who was there, reaching out to them, and He went to them, miraculously walking on the water, and then calmed the storm and the waves, taming those wind and waves, as He came into their midst. All of these showed those disciples and also all of us that we are truly blessed to have the Lord and Saviour of the whole world to have come into our midst, in the person of Our Lord Jesus Christ.
That story of the Lord saving His disciples and being with them in the middle of the storm in the lake is a representation and reminder for us all that the Lord never abandons us, and He is always ever by our side, even in our deepest moments of struggle and despair. The boat that the disciples were travelling in is a symbol of the Church, and the disciples themselves represent each and every one of us, God’s beloved people. The storm, the waves and the wind are all representations of the danger, struggles and difficulties, all the trials that we may have to face in the midst of all these journey we have, and yet, we must not give in to fear and despair, for the Lord is and will always be by our side, protecting and providing for us.
Now, are we all going to put our trust and faith in the Lord, believing in Him, His love and providence, or are we going to let our fears, uncertainties and doubts to cloud our judgment and path in life? The choice is ours to make, and we must do our very best to remain firm in our dedication and commitment to God, opposing the temptations to abandon the Lord and instead embracing the many other alternatives and false assurances of the world. We must not give in to our fears, but instead trust in the Lord, just as those disciples remained in the boat, and believed in the Lord, and did not abandon the ship to save themselves.
Therefore, let us all remember our faith in God and also our obligation to take good care of one another, to help guide each other in our journey towards the Lord. We are all called to be good role models, inspirations and help for one another, to help lead and guide everyone towards the Lord and His salvation. As Christians, let us all be the bearers of the Good News of God, to be the shining beacons of His truth and love, to be His witnesses and courageous servants in our world today, so that by our exemplary living and actions, we may proclaim Him and His light, His love and truth to many more people around us, now and always. May God be with us all, and may He bless our every good works and endeavours, for His greater glory. Amen.
Liturgical Colour : White
Mark 6 : 45-52
At that time, immediately, Jesus obliged His disciples to get into the boat and go ahead of Him to the other side, toward Bethsaida, while He Himself sent the crowd away. And having sent the people off, He went by Himself to the hillside to pray.
When evening came, the boat was far out on the lake, while He was alone on the land. Jesus saw His disciples straining at the oars, for the wind was against them; and before daybreak He came to them, walking on the lake, and He was going to pass them by. When they saw Him walking on the lake, they thought it was a ghost and cried out; for they all saw Him and were terrified.
But, at once, He called to them, “Courage! It is I; do not be afraid!” Then Jesus got into the boat with them, and the wind died down. They were completely astonished, for they had not really grasped the fact of the loaves; their minds were dull.
Liturgical Colour : White
Psalm 71 : 1-2, 10-11, 12-13
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.
The kings of Tarshish and the islands render Him tribute, the kings of Sheba and Seba bring gifts, all kings bow down to Him, and all nations serve Him.
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.
Liturgical Colour : White
1 John 4 : 11-18
Dear friends, if such has been the love of God, we, too, must love one another. No one has ever seen God, but if we love one another, God lives in us, and His love comes to its perfection in us. How may we know that we live in God and He in us? Because God has given us His Spirit.
We ourselves have seen, and declare, that the Father sent His Son to save the world. Those who confess that Jesus is the Son of God, God remains in them, and they in God. We have known the love of God and have believed in it. God is love. The one who lives in love, lives in God, and God in him.
When do we know, that we have reached a perfect love? When, in this world, we are like Him, in everything, and expect, with confidence, the Day of Judgment. There is no fear in love. Perfect love drives away fear, for fear has to do with punishment; those who fear do not know perfect love.
Liturgical Colour : White
Dear brothers and sisters in Christ, while we still continue celebrating the joyful time and season of Christmas, focusing our attention on the birth and coming of Our Lord Jesus Christ, bearing the salvation for everyone, we now begin to focus more on the works and actions of Christ during His ministry as we are about to come to the end of this season and begin the first round of the Ordinary Time. Through what we have heard in our Scripture passages today, we are reminded of God’s love which He has manifested before us through His Son, Jesus Christ, the Saviour of all. We are reminded that by His coming into our world, the love of God and all has become real, tangible and approachable to us, which is what we celebrate in Christmas, that is the Love of God made Man.
In our first reading today, we heard from the Epistle of St. John the Apostle in which St. John reiterated the great and most generous love which God has for all of us mankind, and this love is shown to us through the giving of His Son, and He gave us this Son so that He might be able to bring us all from the brink of destruction, and through His suffering and death, which He obeyed perfectly and carried out willingly, all of us have received the assurance of salvation and eternal life, because He offered for us all, on our behalf, the one and only perfect offering and sacrifice for the atonement of our innumerable sins, as the Lamb of God, the Sacrificial Lamb offering His own Most Precious Body and Blood, the perfect unblemished sacrifice that can heal us from all of our sins.
That is why today as we continue to celebrate this joyous occasion of Christmas, at the same time we are also reminded that ultimately Christmas will not have its meaning, importance and relevance without what we will celebrate soon in Holy Week and Easter. For if Christmas is a celebration of the Lord’s coming into this world as a little Child, to be God Who dwells with His people, then it is in the Holy Week and Easter that everything He was about to do came into perfect fulfilment and completion. If Christ did not suffer and die on the Cross, and then rose in glory and triumph, conquering sin and death, then this birthday is just a celebration of the birthday of an ordinary person, not unlike any other person. But this is certainly not the case.
It is precisely because Christ has become Man at Christmas and then went on to fulfil all that the Lord has planned perfectly at Holy Week and Easter, that we rejoice even all the more because we know that by becoming a Man like us all, He has united our humanity to Himself and gathered us all as one united people and flock of the Lord, and made us all to share in His death and Resurrection. He became the Mediator of the New Covenant between God and all mankind, an everlasting Covenant sealed with the Precious Blood of the Son of God, the Paschal Lamb of sacrifice. Truly, as the Lord Himself had said in the Gospel according to St. John, that ‘God so loved the world that He gave us His only begotten Son, so that all who believe in Him may have eternal life.’ And these are the concrete proofs of this love.
Then, in our Gospel passage today taken from the Gospel according to St. Mark, we heard the moment when the Lord Jesus performed a wonderful and well-known miracle of the feeding of the five thousand men and many others who were gathered to listen to the Lord and who were hungry after many days without having any food. The Lord showed His genuine and powerful love for His beloved ones, that He provided for them what they needed, not just the spiritual nourishment through His words and teachings, but also even in terms of physical needs and the fulfilment of the flesh and the body through food. He miraculously multiplied five loaves of bread and two fishes, that all those thousands of people had more than enough to eat, with plenty of leftovers.
Through what the Lord had done and shown us, again we are all reminded that truly Jesus Christ is Our Lord and Saviour, the One Whom God had sent into this world to be our Saviour and the Hope for all of us who have long awaited His salvation in the darkness of sin. His Light and Hope had dispelled this darkness and overcome the power of sin, and broke free the chains that had kept us down and dominated by the forces of darkness, bringing us all through the reconciliation with God, and by His direct contact with us, showing us that the Lord truly cares for us, and wants us all to be sharing in His love, and to be the ones enjoying the fullness of our inheritance as He has always intended for us all.
Today, the Church also celebrates the Feast of St. Raymond of Penyafort, also known as St. Raymond of Penafort, a famous Dominican preacher and missionary who was well-known for his great piety and charisma, his many great works and efforts for the sake of the Church, all the theological works he created and prepared, as well as his miracles and signs. He was known for his efforts to codify the Canon Law as well as outreach towards sinners, including his efforts to bring King James I of Aragon into the right path, as St. Raymond was the king’s confessor. At that time, the king was living in sin with a mistress, and when the king kept on refusing to change his ways, St. Raymond told the king that he would leave him behind for having not listened to his advice so many times.
And when the king forbade St. Raymond of Penyafort from leaving the island where he was living in, the island of Majorca, according to tradition St. Raymond and a Dominican companion went to the seashore and taking off his long black Dominican cloak, spreading it on the water, and then rode on it on the water, sailing towards Barcelona at the court of the king, witnessed by many people who thereafter became proof of this amazing occasion. Having heard of this and witnessed the great sanctity of the man of God, the king eventually repented and changed his ways. There are many other great deeds that the Lord had done through St. Raymond of Penyafort, and we ought to be inspired by his exemplary faith and life in how we ought to live our own lives in faith.
Brothers and sisters in Christ, as we have discussed from the passages of the Sacred Scriptures and inspired by the life of St. Raymond of Penyafort, let us all therefore strive to love the Lord our God with all our heart and strength, and to be truly devoted to Him above all other things, doing whatever we can to glorify Him by our lives. Each and every one of us should be good examples and inspiration in how we live our lives with faith, much as how St. Raymond of Penyafort had done for us. May the Lord our loving God and Saviour continue to guide and strengthen us in our faith and path, now and always. Amen.
Liturgical Colour : White
Mark 6 : 34-44
At that time, as Jesus went ashore, He saw a large crowd, and He had compassion on them, for they were like sheep without a shepherd. And He began to teach them many things. It was now getting late, so His disciples came to Him and said, “This is a lonely place and it is now late. You should send the people away and let them go to the farms and villages around here, to buy themselves something to eat.”
Jesus replied, “You, yourselves, give them something to eat.” They answered, “If we are to feed them, we need two hundred silver coins to go and buy enough bread.” But Jesus said, “You have some loaves; how many? Go and see.” The disciples found out and said, “There are five loaves and two fish.”
Then He told them to have the people sit down, together in groups, on the green grass. This they did, in groups of hundreds and fifties. And Jesus took the five loaves and the two fish and, raising His eyes to heaven, He pronounced a blessing, broke the loaves, and handed them to His disciples to distribute to the people. He also divided the two fish among them.
They all ate and everyone had enough. The disciples gathered up what was left, and filled twelve baskets with broken pieces of bread and fish. Five thousand men had eaten there.
Liturgical Colour : White
Psalm 71 : 1-2, 3-4ab, 7-8
O 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.
Let the mountains bring peace to the people, and the hills justice. He will defend the cause of the poor, deliver the children of the needy.
Justice will flower in 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.
Liturgical Colour : White
1 John 4 : 7-10
My dear friends, let us love one another, for love comes from God. Everyone who loves, is born of God and knows God. Those who do not love have not known God, for God is love.
How did the love of God appear among us? God sent His only Son into this world, that we might have life, through Him. This is love : not that we loved God, but that, He first loved us and sent His Son, as an atoning sacrifice for our sins.
petercanisiusmichaeldavidkang 