Feast

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Friday, 25 July 2025 : Feast of St. James, Apostle (Homily and Scripture Reflections)

Liturgical Colour : Red

Dear brothers and sisters in Christ, today the Church celebrates together the occasion of the Feast of St. James the Apostle, one of the Twelve Apostles and one of the three who were always brought by the Lord to His important events and works, together with his brother, St. John the Apostle, and with St. Peter the Apostle. This St. James is also known as St. James the Greater and must not be confused with other St. James, such as St. James the Lesser or St. James, son of Alphaeus, or with St. James, the first Bishop of Jerusalem who was also associated with the Lord as one of His brothers, likely one of the sons of St. Joseph from prior marriage. St. James the Apostle that we celebrate today is St. James, son of Zebedee, the elder brother of St. John the Apostle.

Let us all now first look upon our Scripture passages today, beginning with our first reading today, where we heard of the account from the Epistle of St. Paul the Apostle to the Church and the faithful people of God in the region of Corinth where the Apostle spoke of the hope that each and every one of the faithful and holy people of God ought to have with them, trusting in the Lord and in His Providence so that all of us who believe in Him will not lose faith in Him and will not lose hope, knowing that in the Lord there is always hope and renewal, consolation and true happiness that no one and nothing else can provide to us. The Lord will always be with His people that while they may have to encounter sufferings and challenges in life, trials and difficulties, and all sorts of obstacles but those things will not crush them or utterly defeat them as long as the Lord is by their side.

And God is also ever always faithful to the Covenant which He had made with all of us, His beloved ones, all the promises and reassurances that He has provided to us. He has never been wrong in all the things that He has said, He was never fickle or untrustworthy, He is always ever loyal even when we ourselves have been disobedient, disloyal and untrustworthy. God is always ever consistent in loving us, and He chose to willingly bear the burden of that Cross as the ultimate proof of His consistency and love, His faithfulness to the Covenant He made with us, and why we too should trust in God and in His Providence, that through our genuine and strong faith in all that God provides us, we will always remain truly attuned to Him, not being easily swayed by all sorts of temptations and presents around us.

Then, from our Gospel passage today, taken from the Gospel according to St. Matthew the Apostle and Evangelist, we heard of the moment when St. James and St. John together with their mother came before the Lord and asked Him for a special favour, for the two of them to be granted a seat by the Lord’s left and right in His Kingdom. This reflects the general and common understanding of the role of the Messiah or the Saviour promised by God at that time. At that time, many among the Jewish people, the descendants of the Israelites, the chosen people of God, thought that the Messiah would come into their midst as the mighty Heir of David, a conquering King that would lead all the people of God in a great war of liberation and crusade, freeing themselves from their Roman overlords adn then restoring the Kingdom of Israel as how it was in the days of David and Solomon.

That was why both St. James and St. John, when they went with their mother to ask for favour and position in Christ’s Kingdom, they were in fact referring to this earthly and worldly kingdom that many fellow Jewish people had been looking forward to. And as two among the three disciples that the Lord had always brought with Him on His important events and works, they had a good chance to gain special favours ahead of those other disciples, and becoming the trusted right hand men of the King. But they were still thinking in worldly terms, in worldly ambitions and glory, and all the pursuits of worldly power that were actually fleeting in nature. And that was why the Lord Jesus told them that things actually did not work in the manner that they had visualised or understood it, and being His followers is not about worldly glory and greatness, but faith and trust in Him, and readiness to share in the sufferings of the Lord.

Now, let us all examine the Apostolic ministry of St. James the Apostle after he and the other Apostles had been commissioned, entrusted and sent forth by the Lord to evangelise and spread His Good News, truth and salvation to all the people of all the nations. St. James, according to Apostolic traditions and hagiographies, went to the region of Hispania, the present day parts of Spain and Portugal, a region that at the time of the Lord was a rather distant place, being at the two extreme ends of the Roman Empire as compared to Judea and Jerusalem. Yet, despite the great distance and the challenges that he might have faced and encountered, that did not deter St. James from doing his best in his ministry and work of evangelisation.

He preached the Good News to the people of the region of Hispania, planting the seeds of the faith in that area, and in the miraculous occasion of Our Lady of the Pillar, it was told that when his evangelisation works encountered great obstacles and he was demoralised, at the banks of the River Ebro in Hispania, St. James encountered a vision of Mary, the Blessed Mother of God, who likely then still alive, appearing before him surrounded by a mighty host of a thousand Angels of God, and encouraging him, while at the same time also calling on him to return to Jerusalem where his presence was needed. That is why, brothers and sisters in Christ, while the famous tomb and shrine of St. James is located at Santiago de Compostela in northern Spain, the place of his ministry, but he was martyred in Jerusalem in Judea as recorded in the Acts of the Apostles.

It was in Jerusalem that he was arrested with the other Apostles and under the order from King Herod Agrippa I, the then king of Judea, Samaria and Idumea, he was beheaded, which the king did in order to please and satisfy the Jewish leaders, the members of the Sanhedrin, the Jewish High Council. That was how this faithful Apostle and great servant of God met the end of his life, in service to God and in great courage in carrying out the commands of the Lord. And as we can see, he did indeed drink of the cup of suffering that the Lord Himself had drunk, dying in martyrdom for his faith. His true glory and joy came not with the glory of the world that he and his brother had once sought, but through true faith and dedication to their Lord and Saviour.

Let us all continue to be inspired by the examples and faith of St. James the Apostle, and let us all do our very best so that in our own lives, in each and every one of our own actions, we will continue to be faithful to God, be committed to Him in all things, and strive to glorify Him by our every lives and every things we have, in our every actions, words and deeds. May all of our efforts, good endeavours and works continue to inspire everyone around us, and that we may be good and worthy beacons of God’s light and truth, His Good News and love, to all those whom we encounter daily in life. May God be with us always, now and forevermore. Amen.

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Friday, 25 July 2025 : Feast of St. James, Apostle (Gospel Reading)

Liturgical Colour : Red

Matthew 20 : 20-28

At that time, the mother of James and John came to Jesus with her sons, and she knelt down, to ask a favour. Jesus said to her, “What do you want?” And she answered, “Here, You have my two sons. Grant, that they may sit, one at Your right hand and one at Your left, in Your kingdom.”

Jesus said to the brothers, “You do not know what you are asking. Can you drink the cup that I am about to drink?” They answered, “We can.” Jesus replied, “You will indeed drink My cup; but to sit at My right or at My left is not for Me to grant. That will be for those, for whom My Father has prepared it.”

The other then heard all this, and were angry with the two brothers. Then Jesus called them to Him and said, “You know, that the rulers of nations behave like tyrants, and the powerful oppress them. It shall not be so among you : whoever wants to be great in your community, let him minister to the community. And if you want to be the first of all, make yourself the servant of all. Be like the Son of Man, Who came not to be served, but to serve, and to give His life to redeem many.”

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Friday, 25 July 2025 : Feast of St. James, Apostle (Psalm)

Liturgical Colour : Red

Psalm 125 : 1-2ab, 2cd-3, 4-5, 6

When YHVH brought the exiles back to Zion, we were like those moving in a dream. Then, our mouths were filled with laughter, and our tongues with songs of joy.

Among the nations it was said, “YHVH has done great things for them.” YHVH had done great things for us, and we were glad indeed.

Bring back our exiles, o YHVH, like fresh streams in the desert. Those who sow in tears will reap with songs and shouts of joy.

They went forth weeping, bearing the seeds for sowing, they will come home with joyful shouts, bringing their harvested sheaves.

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Friday, 25 July 2025 : Feast of St. James, Apostle (First Reading)

Liturgical Colour : Red

2 Corinthians 4 : 7-15

However, we carry this treasure in vessels of clay, so that this all-surpassing power may not be seen as ours, but as God’s. Trials of every sort come to us, but we are not discouraged. We are left without answer, but do not despair; persecuted but not abandoned, knocked down but not crushed.

At any moment, we carry, in our person, the death of Jesus, so, that, the life of Jesus may also be manifested in us. For we, the living, are given up continually to death, for the sake of Jesus, so, that, the life of Jesus may appear in our mortal existence. And as death is at work in us, life comes to you.

We have received the same Spirit of faith referred to in Scripture, that says : I believed and so I spoke. We also believed, and so we speak. We know that He, Who raised the Lord Jesus, will also raise us, with Jesus, and bring us, with you, into His presence. Finally, everything is for your good, so that grace will come more abundantly upon you, and great will be the thanksgiving for the glory of God.

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Tuesday, 22 July 2025 : Feast of St. Mary Magdalene, Apostle of the Apostles (Homily and Scripture Reflections)

Liturgical Colour : White

Dear brothers and sisters in Christ, today the Church celebrates the Feast of St. Mary Magdalene, a truly important woman and figure in the early Church and who was also highly visible throughout the narrative of the Gospels, the story of the activities of the Lord Jesus during His ministry in this world. This was because St. Mary Magdalene, although not numbered among the Twelve Apostles, was truly an integral part of the Lord’s group, and was one of the women who had always journeyed with the Lord and followed Him throughout His ministry and works. She was also honoured greatly as an equal to the Apostles, and indeed, was considered as one of the Apostles. In fact, she was known as the Apostle to the Apostles, Apostolorum Apostola, for her role in bringing the news of the Lord’s Resurrection to the Apostles.

In our first reading today, we heard of the reading from the Book of Song of Songs in which we heard the words of the author of this book speaking about the love that the author has been seeking, the love of the Lord, the One Who is truly the true love of our lives. That passage from the Book of Song of Songs highlighted the seeking and longing within one’s heart, seeking the great love of God that alone can truly satisfy our longing for love that is indeed true and fulfilling, and the effort that one ought to have and put in, in our journey to seek the love of God, to find this most wonderful and generous love that He has imparted upon us, and which we all experienced in every aspects and parts of our lives.

Then in the other alternative first reading from the Epistle of St. Paul the Apostle to the Church and the faithful people of God in the region of Corinth, we heard of the Apostle speaking also on the love of Christ, the perfect manifestation, proof and example of God’s love being made manifest for all of us. He spoke of how the love of Christ has transformed all the Christian believers, the people of God with the transformational love, the most selfless and wonderful love which He has selflessly and most lovingly provided upon us. That is why all of us as Christians, as those who profess to believe in Christ, must all be filled with the same love which Christ our Lord has shown us most generously and most lovingly from His Cross, for the sake of our salvation.

Lastly, from the Gospel passage today from the Gospel according to St. John the Apostle and Evangelist, we heard the moment when the Lord Jesus rose from the dead and how He revealed Himself first of all to none other than St. Mary Magdalene, the one to whom the Lord entrusted the news of His Resurrection. That was why as mentioned, St. Mary Magdalene was the Apostle to the Apostles, with the word ‘Apostle’ meaning someone who brings forth a testimony and Good News, and it was through her that the Twelve Apostles and the other disciples came to know of the Risen Lord before He appeared to them as well. She was distraught when she went to the Lord’s tomb and saw that the tomb had been opened and the Lord’s Body went missing.

And despite the words of the Angels that were there to tell St. Mary Magdalene and the other women of the Lord’s Resurrection, we heard how at first she was distraught that someone might have stolen His Body. But the Lord appeared to her in all of His Risen glory and reassured her of His Resurrection. She was distraught because she truly cared for the Lord, and having been one of His most ardent and faithful followers, she genuinely felt the loss when she saw and witnessed everything that happened during the Lord’s Passion on the Cross, as He suffered and died, and St. Mary Magdalene herself being specifically mentioned being there at the Lord’s side during His crucifixion when many of the disciples had fled and hid themselves. And when His Body apparently disappeared as well, that must have been terrible to her. But the Lord reassured her and strengthened her in her faith.

While not much was known of the exploits and works of St. Mary Magdalene after this point during the early Church, it was quite certain that she was together with the other disciples when the Holy Spirit came upon them all, and she was likely part of the missions and evangelising works, the spreading of the Good News of God, bringing more and more of God’s people closer to Him, and calling on more to come to know Him. And through her efforts in encouraging the Apostles after the Lord’s Resurrection and the many other roles that she might have played in the early Church, many were touched by the love and devotion that St. Mary Magdalene had for the Lord, in her focus on Him and in her efforts to seek Him, as an exemplary disciple and follower of Christ.

Brothers and sisters in Christ, let us all therefore be inspired by the good examples, faith and love for God which St. Mary Magdalene, the Apostle to the Apostles, has shown to us. Let us all be inspired by the great love and dedication that she has shown, in following the Lord faithfully throughout His ministry, as she went to wherever the Lord and His disciples went, serving Him and being committed to Him and the mission He has entrusted to her and others. Let us all therefore also answer God’s call with fervent and loving hearts, full of love for Him and ever focused on Him at all times. Let us all be good, worthy and faithful Christians at all times, doing our very best so that through our actions, efforts and works, we may inspire many others to come to the Lord and His salvation as well.

St. Mary Magdalene, Holy Apostle to the Apostles, you who have restored hope to the Apostles and the disciples of the Lord through your faithful bearing of the Good News of the Resurrection, pray for all of us so that we too may be good and faithful witnesses of the Lord and His Resurrection in our world today, within our communities and to everyone whom we encounter and journey with each day, in every moments of our lives. May God be with us always, and may He continue to bless us all most wonderfully in all things, in our every efforts to glorify Him by our lives, now and always. Amen.

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Tuesday, 22 July 2025 : Feast of St. Mary Magdalene, Apostle of the Apostles (Gospel Reading)

Liturgical Colour : White

John 20 : 1-2, 11-18

Now, on the first day after the Sabbath, Mary of Magdala came to the tomb early in the morning while it was still dark, and she saw that the stone blocking the tomb had been moved away. She ran to Peter, and the other disciple whom Jesus loved, and she said to them, “They have taken the Lord out of the tomb and we do not know where they have laid Him.”

Mary stood weeping outside the tomb; and as she wept, she bent down to look inside. She saw two Angels in white, sitting where the Body of Jesus had been, one at the head, and the other at the feet. They said, “Woman, why are you weeping?”

She answered, “Because they have taken my Lord and I do not know where they have put Him.” As she said this, she turned around and saw Jesus standing there, but she did not recognise Him. Jesus said to her, “Woman, why are you weeping? Who are you looking for?”

She thought it was the gardener and answered Him, “Lord, if You have taken Him away, tell me where You have put Him, and I will go and remove Him.” Jesus said to her, “Mary!” She turned, and said to Him, “Rabboni!” – which means Master. Jesus said to her, “Do not touch Me, because I have not yet ascended to the Father. But go to My brothers and say to them : I am ascending to My Father, Who is your Father, to My God, Who is your God.”

So Mary of Magdala went and announced to the disciples, “I have seen the Lord, and this is what He said to me.”

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Tuesday, 22 July 2025 : Feast of St. Mary Magdalene, Apostle of the Apostles (Psalm)

Liturgical Colour : White

Psalm 62 : 2abc, 2d-4, 5-6, 8-9

O God, You are my God, it is You I seek; for You, my body longs and my soul thirsts.

As a dry and weary land without water. Thus have I gazed upon You in the Sanctuary, to see Your power and Your glory. Your love is better than life, my lips will glorify You.

I will praise You as long as I live, lift up my hands and call on Your Name. As with the richest food, my soul will feast; my mouth will praise You with joyful lips.

For You have been my help; I sing in the shadow of Your wings. My soul clings to You; Your right hand upholds me.

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Tuesday, 22 July 2025 : Feast of St. Mary Magdalene, Apostle of the Apostles (First Reading)

Liturgical Colour : White

Song of Songs 3 : 1-4a

On my bed at night I looked for the one I love, I sought him without finding him; I called him and he did not answer. I will rise and go about the city, through the streets and the squares; I will seek the love of my heart…

I sought him without finding him; the watchmen came upon me, those who patrol the city. “Have you seen the love of my heart?” As soon as I left them, I found the love of my heart.

Alternative reading (Second Reading if this Feast is celebrated as a Solemnity)

2 Corinthians 5 : 14-17

Indeed, the love of Christ holds us, and we realise, that, if He died for all, all have died. He died for all, so, that, those who live, may live no longer for themselves, but for Him, Who died, and rose again for them. And so, from now on, we do not regard anyone from a human point of view; and even if we once knew Christ personally, we should now regard Him in another way.

For that same reason, the one who is in Christ is a new creature. For him, the old things have passed away; a new world has come.

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Sunday, 20 July 2025 : Sixteenth Sunday of Ordinary Time (Homily and Scripture Reflections)

Liturgical Colour : Green

Dear brothers and sisters in Christ, this Sunday all of us are reminded to have faith and trust in the Lord, to believe in Him wholeheartedly and to trust in the plans that He has for each and every one of us. There is truly nothing that is impossible for God, and everything that God has planned for us will come to fruition and completion in due time, provided that we trust in Him, listen to Him speaking to us and guiding us all towards the fulfilment and accomplishment of His promises to us. We should trust in His plans and designs, which we may not yet see in full or completeness, and which we may still wonder at and have a lot of questions about, but trust in the Lord nonetheless, because we know that in God alone is sure hope and certainty of salvation.

In our first reading today, we heard from the Book of Genesis of the account of the time when the Lord came to visit Abraham and Sarah at their encampment at the moment when both of them were still awaiting their promised son, whom God had promised to him many times from the time when He called Abraham, then still known as Abram, from the land of Ur in Mesopotamia, to follow Him to the land that He would bestow upon him and his descendants, the land of Canaan. And Abraham obeyed the Lord and trusted in Him even though he and his wife had not been able to conceive a child for a long time. He went to the land of Canaan and did everything just as God had told him to do, and he was righteous in all things, a truly obedient servant of God.

And for additional context, Sarah did try to circumvent the problem, if we are aware of the story of how everything turned out in the Book of Genesis, by using her slave Hagar to conceive a child with Abraham. That was how Ishmael, Abraham’s eldest son was born, born from Abraham and Hagar, Sarah’s Egyptian slave. At that time, it was common practice for a woman who owned a slave and had difficulty having a child, or for other reasons, to take her own slave to bear a child with her husband, and any children born by the slave would be considered as the legal child of the woman instead of the slave. This was because slave did not have any right at that time, and the slave and everything the slave possessed were considered to belong to the slave’s master, and that included any children the slave might have borne.

But God reassured Abraham and told him that the child that He had promised to him and Sarah would be born through Sarah and not through any other means, including that of Hagar and Ishmael. And the Lord appeared to both Abraham and Sarah as we heard in today’s first reading to remind and reassure them again on this matter. But as we heard, Sarah did not truly believe and still doubted, and she even laughed in secret about this. Yet, nothing could have escaped God’s attention and knowledge, and that was why He told Sarah that precisely that very moment the next year, she would be having a child with her, the child born from her own womb, just as God has promised. What God had promised might be delayed for a while, but eventually in His good time, everything will happen just as He has said it would.

That was how Isaac was to be conceived and born for Abraham and Sarah, the son that had been promised to them, the one through whom Abraham, the childless man, would become the father of many nations, and whose descendants would number as many as the stars in the sky, and as many as the grains of sand on the seashore. And he was named Isaac precisely because of this incident, because Sarah laughed at what the Lord had told her and Abraham about having a child at her age, something that is impossible for man, but not impossible for God. Indeed, God had the final laugh when everything did happen as He said it would, proving to Abraham and Sarah, and to all of us, the faithfulness and love that God has for all of us, and of the Covenant that He had made with us.

Then, from our second reading this Sunday, taken from the Epistle of St. Paul the Apostle to the Church in Colossae in Asia Minor, we heard of the Apostle exhorting the faithful to hold firmly to the truth and the Good News which they have all received from the Apostles and the other missionaries, the truth which the Lord Jesus Christ Himself has come to reveal to the whole world, through the Apostles and the Church, from which the secrets and mysteries of the Lord that had been long hidden from our sight and understanding, had finally been revealed and made known in full to everyone who believe in Him and in His Providence. And all these had been made known to them all because God wants all those whom He loved and truly cared for to find their way to Him, and to trust in Him, in His Wisdom and guidance, that they may not be lost to Him.

This relates well to what God had Himself revealed to Abraham and Sarah from our story in the first reading passage today, as the Lord revealed His plan, slowly, through the wisdom and the encounters that He has put in the paths of men, and showed His faithfulness to the Covenants He had made and established, and constantly renewed with us. And lastly, He gave us all the perfect fulfilment of all of His promises, Covenant and all that He has reassured us all from time to time, through His only Begotten Son, Our Lord and Saviour, Jesus Christ, by Whom God has shown us all the perfect manifestation of His Love, teaching and revealing to us what His Law, commandments and ways are all about, and how we all ought to follow Him so that we may partake in the eternal life that He has prepared for all of us.

In our Gospel passage this Sunday, according to St. Luke the Evangelist, we then heard the short, more summarised account of what happened in the encounter between the Lord Jesus and the two sisters, Mary and Martha, who invited Him to their house. And we heard how Mary was listening to the Lord speaking and teaching to her while Martha was busy preparing all the things to welcome the Lord, probably a meal and more. But when Martha asked the Lord to tell Mary to help her out, likely that she was frustrated that she was left to do all the work by herself, the Lord told Martha that she should remember what is truly most important for her, and not to be distracted by all her works that she failed to notice how the Lord truly should be the priority at that time, and not all of her plans and chores.

This does not mean that what Martha had done was wrong. Martha had good intentions above all else, and she certainly and genuinely wanted to welcome the Lord and make Him happy with her hospitality. However, what the Lord wanted her to know was that she should not allow those busy preoccupations and the hectic preparations to distract her from appreciating the Lord’s Presence and the time when He was there at her place. This applies to all of us as well, brothers and sisters in Christ. How many of us, for example, were all so busy seeking for worldly pursuits and ambitions, in us seeking to climb the career ladder and in getting various wants and ambitions that we have, our desires and all that we ended up forgetting those whom we love all around us?

This is why we should learn to be more like Mary, to be ready to listen to the Lord and to be appreciative of everything we had done for us. We should have more faith and trust in God like Abraham had done, instead of being skeptical and doubtful as Sarah had done. If we put our trust more in God than in our own human power and works, then we can certainly see the clear difference in our lives, as we will find that trusting in God give us the peace and satisfaction that trusting in our own human means and workings cannot do for us. And we are reminded this Sunday that we should apply this to our lives, and do our best so that as Christians, we may be good role models and inspirations for one another, at all times, to show them God’s Providence, love and guidance in all things.

May the Lord continue to help and guide us in our journey and actions through life, and help us all so that we may continue to be strong and faithful in Him at all times. May He grant us the listening ears of Mary and the faith that Abraham, our father in faith had in Him. May God bless our every actions and good works, our efforts and endeavours, all done for His greater glory, now and always. Amen.

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Sunday, 20 July 2025 : Sixteenth Sunday of Ordinary Time (Gospel Reading)

Liturgical Colour : Green

Luke 10 : 38-42

At that time, as Jesus and His disciples were on their way, He entered a village, and a woman called Martha welcomed Him to her house. She had a sister named Mary, who sat down at the Lord’s feet to listen to His words. Martha, meanwhile, was busy with all the serving, and finally she said, “Lord, do You not care that my sister has left me to do all the work? Tell her to help me!”

But the Lord answered, “Martha, Martha, you worry and are troubled about many things, whereas only one thing is needed. Mary has chosen the better part, and it will not be taken away from her.”