Feast

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(Usus Antiquior) Septuagesima Sunday (II Classis) – Sunday, 16 February 2025 : Gradual and Tract

Liturgical Colour : Violet

Gradual

Psalm 9 : 10-11, 19-20

Adjutor in opportunitatibus, in tribulatione : sperent in Te, qui noverunt Te : quoniam non derelinquis quaerentes Te, Domine.

Response : Quoniam non in finem oblivio erit pauperis : patientia pauperum non peribit in aeternum : exsurge, Domine, non praevaleat homo.

English translation

The helper in due time, in tribulation. Let them trust in You, who know You for You have not forsaken those who seek You, o Lord.

Response : For the poor man shall not be forgotten to the end, the patience of the poor shall not perish forever. Arise, o Lord, let not man be strengthened.

Tract

Psalm 129 : 1-4

De profundis clamavi ad Te, Domine : Domine, exaudi vocem meam.

Response : Fiant aures Tuae intendentes in orationem servi Tui.

Response : Si iniquitates observaveris, Domine : Domine, quis sustinebit?

Response : Quia apud Te propitiatio est, et propter legem Tuam sustinui Te, Domine.

English translation
From the depths I have cried to You, o Lord. Lord, hear my voice.

Response : Let Your ears be attentive to the prayer of Your servant.

Response : If You shall observe iniquities, o Lord, Lord, who shall endure it?

Response : For with You is propitiation, and by reason of Your Law I have waited for You, o Lord.

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(Usus Antiquior) Septuagesima Sunday (II Classis) – Sunday, 16 February 2025 : Epistle

Liturgical Colour : Violet

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

1 Corinthians 9 : 24-27 and 1 Corinthians 10 : 1-5

Fratres : Nescitis, quod ii, qui in stadio currunt, omnes quidem currunt, sed unus accipit bravium? Sic currite, ut comprehendatis. Omnis autem, qui in agone contendit, ab omnibus se abstinet : et illi quidem, ut corruptibilem coronam accipiant; nos autem incorruptam.

Ego igitur sic curro, non quasi in incertum : sic pugno, non quasi aerem verberans : sed castigo corpus meum, et in servitutem redigo : ne forte, cum aliis praedicaverim, ipse reprobus efficiar.

Nolo enim vos ignorare, fratres, quoniam patres nostri omnes sub nube fuerunt, et omnes mare transierunt, et omnes in Moyse baptizati sunt in nube et in mari : et omnes eamdem escam spiritalem manducaverunt, et omnes eumdem potum spiritalem biberunt (bibebant autem de spiritali, consequente eos, petra : petra autem erat Christus) : sed non in pluribus eorum beneplacitum est Deo.

English translation

Brethren, do you not know that those who run in the race, all run indeed, but one receives the prize? So run, that you may obtain. And every one who strives for the mastery, refrains himself from all things, and they indeed that they may receive a corruptible crown, but for us, an incorruptible one.

I therefore so run, not as at an uncertainty. I so fight, not as one beating the air, but I chastise my body, and bring it into subjection, lest perhaps, when I have preached to others, I myself should become a castaway.

For I would not have you as ignorants, brethren, that our fathers were all under the cloud, and all passed through the sea, and all in Moses were baptised, in the cloud and in the sea, and all did eat the same spiritual food, and all drank the same spiritual drink (and they drank of the spiritual rock that followed them, and the rock was Christ). But with the most of them God was not well pleased.

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(Usus Antiquior) Septuagesima Sunday (II Classis) – Sunday, 16 February 2025 : Introit and Collect

Liturgical Colour : Violet

Introit

Psalm 17 : 5, 6, 7 and 2-3

Circumdederunt me gemitus mortis, dolores inferni circumdederunt me : et in tribulatione mea invocavi Dominum, et exaudivit de templo sancto suo vocem meam.

Diligam Te, Domine, fortitudo mea : Dominus firmamentum meum, et refugium meum, et liberator meus.

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

English translation
The groans of death surround me, the sorrows of hell encompassed me : and in my affliction I called upon the Lord, and He heard my voice, from His holy Temple.

I will love You, o Lord, my strength. The Lord is my firmament, and my refuge and my deliverer.

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

Collect

Preces populi Tui, quaesumus, Domine, clementer exaudi : ut, qui juste pro peccatis nostris affligimur, pro Tui Nominis gloria misericorditer liberemur. Per Dominum nostrum Jesum Christum Filium Tuum, qui Tecum vivit et regnat in unitate Spiritus Sancti Deus, per omnia saecula saeculorum. Amen.

English translation

May You, we beseech You, o Lord, graciously hear the prayers of Your people, that we, who are justly afflicted for our sins, may be mercifully delivered for the glory of Your Name. Through our Lord Jesus Christ, Your Son, Who with You lives and reigns in the unity of the Holy Spirit, God, world without end. Amen.

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(Singapore) Friday, 14 February 2025 : Feast of the Anniversary of the Dedication of the Cathedral of the Good Shepherd (Homily and Scripture Reflections)

Liturgical Colour : White

Dear brothers and sisters in Christ, today, the fourteenth day of February marks the anniversary of the Dedication or Consecration of the Cathedral of the Good Shepherd, the Mother Church of the Archdiocese of Singapore, which was dedicated in the Year of Our Lord 1897, about five decades after it was originally built and established as the first church in the land of Singapore. This year, it has been a hundred and twenty-eight years since its original Consecration as mentioned, and also eight years since it has been rededicated in the Year of Our Lord 2017 after the latest round of major restoration and renovation, bringing back the glory and the glamour in this great House of God, restored and renovated for the glory of God and for the good of the flock of the Lord in Singapore.

Now, as we all rejoice in the anniversary of the dedication of our Mother Church in Singapore, let us all spend some time to reflect upon the messages of the Sacred Scriptures that we have received today, which reminds us all of the significance of this Dedication of the Cathedral, as with the dedication of any other churches, the places which had been set aside for the purpose of sacred use and the worship of the Divine. All of us have to be aware that the celebration of the Holy Mass has to be done in a place that has been blessed and also dedicated to God, upon the Altar that had been dedicated and reserved for the sole use of Sacred and Divine Worship, which happened during the Dedication of this great House of God.

In our first reading today, we heard the customary reading from the Book of the prophet Ezekiel used for the dedication of churches, detailing the heavenly vision of the prophet Ezekiel who saw the great Temple in Heaven, the Temple of the Lord’s Holy Presence, from which came forth the spring of life-giving water, and the figure of a Son of Man Who guided him throughout the Temple, which was a prefigurement of the Messiah, the Lord Jesus, the Son of Man. This Holy and great Temple of God in Heaven is the model upon which all of our churches, God’s House in this world have been modelled upon, all consecrated and dedicated to the Lord, to be the same representation of the perfect Temple of God’s Holy Presence in Heaven, which has come into our midst, as God came to dwell among us.

As we all come to the churches, to come to worship and glorify the Lord, it reminds us all to come forth to God’s Holy Presence, seeking His love, kindness and mercy, while distancing ourselves from all sorts of wickedness and evils, keeping ourselves holy and worthy in all things. That is why each and every one of us are reminded to keep the sanctity of God’s House, to be at our best whenever we come to the Holy Mass and any other celebrations and liturgical events taking place in our churches, including in this Cathedral which dedication anniversary we are celebrating today. If we profane the sanctity of the Lord’s Holy Temple, then we will be made accountable for this act, and we will be judged and found wanting for this action that is unbecoming of us all as Christians.

Then, in our second reading passage today, we listened to the words of St. Paul the Apostle in his Epistle to the Church and the faithful in the city and region of Corinth where he spoke of the nature of all of us, the faithful people of God, as God’s Holy Temples, how our bodies and our whole beings are truly the Temples of His Holy Presence, the Temples of His Holy Spirit, and therefore all of us must always strive to keep ourselves holy and free from sin, or else, again, the sin of us having defiled the sanctity of this Temple of God, that is our own body, heart, mind and soul, our whole beings, will eventually fall upon us and we will have to account for our failure to keep this sanctity and purity of our bodies, our minds, hearts and souls, which God had graced upon and dwelled within.

Each and every one of us have received God Himself in the flesh, first of all through the life that God has given to each and every one of us, the Holy Spirit that He has given to us, dwelling within us, and the gift of the Holy Spirit through the Sacraments of Baptism and Confirmation, where the gifts of the Holy Spirit were affirmed in us, and through which we have been strengthened by God’s Spirit and Presence. And then, not only that, but through the Sacrament of the Holy Eucharist, and as we all believe firmly that the Lord is truly and really present in the Eucharist, in our faith in the Real Presence and the Dogma of Transubstantiation, we believe that the Lord Himself, Who has made Himself available in His Most Precious Body and Blood, has come into us, through the Holy Eucharist that we have received and partaken at the Holy Mass.

Therefore, it is important that each and every one of us as Christians must realise that we have to keep ourselves truly holy and worthy in everything that we say and do, or else, we have to account for our failures to do so. In our Gospel passage today, the Lord Jesus showed this by example, as He angrily cast out all those merchants, money changers and others peddling their businesses at the courtyard of the Temple of God in Jerusalem. First of all, the context of this event and the presence of those businesses were made necessary due to the many Jewish people which at that time had been living far away from the land of Israel, and since they would come to visit Jerusalem during festivals like the Passover, they would have to exchange the money and coins they brought from the lands they dwelled in for the coins issued by the local Temple authority, as foreign coins were considered unclean. And they would have to use those good and worthy Temple coins to buy the sacrifices to be offered to God.

However, what the Lord Jesus found issue with was the rampant practice of corruption and overcharging, where the pilgrims and many others coming to the Temple were overcharged for the services that those money changers and merchants did, and those people earned a lot from this practice. It was those immoral actions and behaviours, which were not allowed even according to the Law of God revealed through Moses, that led to the Lord Jesus to drive away all those merchants and money changers. The Temple officials and the chief priests had been turning a blind eye to those wicked actions because they themselves likely profitted from such activities as well, and therefore, the Lord also told them all as we heard, that the magnificent Temple which they had at that time, none of that would remain standing in just another few decades, as it would be destroyed by the Romans approximately four decades later.

What the Lord also wanted us all to remember is that this Temple of God is truly not just limited to any particular building. Yes, we designate and honour certain places and also this Cathedral of the Good Shepherd as God’s Holy House in this world, but even more importantly, the whole Church itself, the Body of Christ, the unity of all Christian believers are also where God is present and where He dwells in amongst us. Hence, as Christians, it is important that all of us strive to continue living our lives worthily and to continue to do our best in being the ‘living stones’ of God’s Holy Temple, to be good and faithful stewards and caretakers of this world that God has entrusted to us. Let us all also be active in our participation in the Holy Mass and in other events of the Church, and maintain always the sanctity of our churches and also our bodies, hearts, minds and souls as God’s Holy Temple in this world.

Brothers and sisters in Christ, let us all therefore as God’s faithful people in the Archdiocese of Singapore continue to do our best in all the things that we do in our everyday living, so that we may truly be evangelistic, missionary and faithful disciples of the Lord at every moments, doing our best to proclaim the Lord and His truth in everything that we say and do in our lives. Let us all be good examples and inspirations for the brothers and sisters in our midst so that together we may build the Living Church of God with Jesus Christ our Lord as its Head and founded upon the faith of the Apostles, and also our faith, which are the stones making up this Living Church of God. May God be with us always, and may He bless us all and all the churches in the world, particularly the Cathedral of the Good Shepherd, the great Mother Church of the Archdiocese of Singapore. Amen.

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(Singapore) Friday, 14 February 2025 : Feast of the Anniversary of the Dedication of the Cathedral of the Good Shepherd (Gospel Reading)

Liturgical Colour : White

John 2 : 13-22

At that time, as the Passover of the Jews was at hand, Jesus went up to Jerusalem. In the Temple court He found merchants selling oxen, sheep and doves, and money-changers seated at their tables.

Making a whip of cords, He drove them all out of the Temple court, together with the oxen and sheep. He knocked over the tables of the money-changers, scattering the coins, and ordered the people selling doves, “Take all this away, and stop making a marketplace of My Father’s house!” His disciples recalled the words of Scripture : Zeal for Your house devours me like fire.

The Jews then questioned Jesus, “Where are the miraculous signs which give You the right to do this?” And Jesus said, “Destroy this Temple and in three days I will raise it up.” The Jews then replied, “The building of this Temple has already taken forty-six years, and will You raise it up in three days?”

Actually, Jesus was referring to the Temple of His Body. Only when He had risen from the dead did His disciples remember these words; then they believed both the Scripture and the words Jesus had spoken.

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(Singapore) Friday, 14 February 2025 : Feast of the Anniversary of the Dedication of the Cathedral of the Good Shepherd (Second Reading)

Liturgical Colour : White

1 Corinthians 3 : 9-13, 16-17

But you are God’s field and building. I, as good architect, according to the capacity given to me, I laid the foundation, and another is to build upon it. Each one must be careful how to build upon it. No one can lay a foundation other than the One which is already laid, which is Jesus Christ.

Do you not know that you are God’s Temple, and that God’s Spirit abides within you? If anyone destroys the Temple of God, God will destroy him. God’s Temple is holy, and you are this Temple.

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(Singapore) Friday, 14 February 2025 : Feast of the Anniversary of the Dedication of the Cathedral of the Good Shepherd (Psalm)

Liturgical Colour : White

Psalm 45 : 2-3, 4-6, 8-9

God is our strength and protection, an ever-present help in affliction. We will not fear, therefore; though the earth be shaken and the mountains plunge into the seas.

There is a river whose streams bring joy to the City of God, the holy place, where the Most High dwells. God is within, the city cannot quake, for God’s help is upon it at the break of day.

For with us is YHVH of hosts, the God of Jacob, our refuge. Come, see the works of YHVH – the marvellous things He has done in the world.

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(Singapore) Friday, 14 February 2025 : Feast of the Anniversary of the Dedication of the Cathedral of the Good Shepherd (First Reading)

Liturgical Colour : White

Ezekiel 47 : 1-2, 8-9, 12

The Man brought me back to the entrance of the Temple and I saw water coming out from the threshold of the Temple and flowing eastward. The Temple faced the east and the water flowed from the south side of the Temple, from the south side of the Altar. He then brought me out through the north gate and led me around the outside, to the outer gate facing the east; and there I saw the stream coming from the south side.

He said to me, “This water goes to the east, down to the Arabah, and when it flows into the sea of foul-smelling water, the water will become wholesome. Wherever the river flows, swarms of creatures will live in it; fish will be plentiful; and the seawater will become fresh. Wherever it flows, life will abound.”

“Near the river on both banks, there will be all kinds of fruit trees, with foliage that will not wither; and fruit that will never fail; each month they will bear a fresh crop, because the water comes from the Temple. The fruit will be good to eat and the leaves will be used for healing.”

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Sunday, 9 February 2025 : Fifth Sunday of Ordinary Time (Homily and Scripture Reflections)

Liturgical Colour : Green

Dear brothers and sisters in Christ, this Sunday we are all reminded through what we have heard in the passages of the Sacred Scriptures of the calling which the Lord our God has given to each and every one of us, the mission that He Himself has entrusted to us through His Church. We are reminded today through the readings of the Scripture passages which all highlighted to us the importance of service and mission, and answering God’s call in our lives. Each one of us have been given the various gifts, talents, abilities and opportunities, all unique to us and our circumstances so that we may make good use of these things which God has given to us for the good of the Church and for the whole world, the salvation of all mankind.

In our first reading this Sunday, we heard from the Book of the prophet Isaiah in which the account of how Isaiah witnessed a great heavenly vision from the Lord was recounted to us. At that time, Isaiah, who lived in the kingdom of Judah, was called by God to be His servant, His prophet to the people of Judah, and He revealed Himself to Isaiah, showing him all of His glory in Heaven, with all the glorious Angels surrounding Him and attending to Him, praising Him ceaselessly, and then a great Seraph, one of the chief Angels of God came to Isaiah, putting the coal from the heavenly Altar and purified Isaiah, who was therefore called and chosen to be God’s servant, as the prophet of God, and Isaiah responded positively to God calling on him to minister to His people.

This was the beginning of Isaiah’s mission to the people of Judah, which had been alternating between rulers that were faithful to God and those who disobeyed God’s Law and commandments. King Uzziah, the king of Judah who had just passed away then, was one of those who disobeyed God and brought the people into sin, worshipping all sorts of pagan gods and idols. Meanwhile, the other kingdom of God’s people, the northern neighbour of Judah, the Kingdom of Israel had been been destroyed and conquered by the Assyrians a while earlier. Many of the people of the Kingdom of Israel had been uprooted from their homeland and forced to wander in exile in the distant lands of Assyria and Mesopotamia.

Therefore, Isaiah had been called to proclaim God’s words of His people in Judah, firstly to warn them of the similar fate that they might be facing if they were to continue to walk down the path of rebellion and disobedience against Him, and at the same time, to provide them all with the message of assurance of God’s love and providence, His kindness and mercy, because despite of their rebelliousness and sins, God still loved His people nonetheless, and He has always been patient in loving and caring for them, providing them all with the means and ways for them to seek Him and His merciful love. God wants to let His beloved ones know that He is there for them, and if they are willing to repent and turn away from their sinful ways, then He will welcome them all back most warmly and lovingly.

In our second reading this Sunday, we then heard from the Epistle of St. Paul the Apostle to the Church and the faithful in Corinth, which  told to us the experiences which St. Paul mentioned to the faithful there on how he became a believer himself, after having received the truth of God from the Apostles and the other disciples, and after having encountered the Lord Himself in a vision that led to His conversion. He shared with all of them this story of his conversion and calling firstly to remind them all of the same truth which the faithful in Corinth have also believed in, and how he has been tasked with the mission to continue proclaiming the same Good News and truth to more and more people that he encountered throughout his journeys.

Again, just like Isaiah before him, St. Paul had been called and sent to do God’s will, to continue the good works which He has initiated and started, and which He therefore entrusted to them. Through the good works that each of them had done, many more people came to know of the Lord, His love and mercy, and were led into the path of repentance and reconciliation, through which they were restored to grace in God and hence to the glorious inheritance that He has wanted to provide to them. And it is this same mission which all of us also share in, as our calling and responsibility as Christians, to be the ones to proclaim the Lord and His Good News to all the nations, to show the Lord to the world through our exemplary lives and actions, at all times.

In our Gospel passage this Sunday, we heard from the Gospel according to St. Luke the Evangelist of the moment when the Lord went to the Lake of Galilee where He encountered His first disciples, the fishermen who worked at the lake, namely the two pairs of brothers, Simon and Andrew, as well as James and John. And it was there that the four fishermen, who were fishing by the lakeside, were told by the Lord to put their nets out into the deep water, despite them having caught nothing after many hours of labour. Simon, as the leader of the group spoke about his frustrations of not getting the fish all night long, but he obeyed the Lord’s command, and as soon as the nets were lowered according to the Lord’s commands, as we heard, there were so many fishes trapped that the two boats were almost sunk by them.

This is an important reminder for all of us as Christians that as we embark on our journey of evangelisation as well as in our work of proclaiming the Good News of God to the people around us, we cannot do them without involving God and without putting our faith and trust in Him. And in every successes that we do and experience, the Lord is involved in them in some ways, beyond our knowledge, understanding and even ability to perceive. We must not be tempted or deluded into thinking that we can do everything by our own power and might, and as we respond to God’s call, in doing what He wants us all to do, in our outreach to everyone around us, in our respective communities and places, we must always root ourselves firmly in our faith in the Lord, and put Him at the centre of each and every one of our actions and works.

Brothers and sisters in Christ, as we have discerned and discussed through these passages of the Sacred Scriptures which we have received this Sunday, we can see clearly how God has called on all of us, His disciples and followers, to be His missionaries and workers, the ones to proclaim His salvation, the Good News He has brought into our midst, and to reveal His love to everyone. We should be inspired to follow the good examples set by our predecessors, like that of the prophet Isaiah, the many other prophets, and the disciples of the Lord like the Twelve Apostles, four of whom were mentioned in our Gospel passage today, and also St. Paul the Apostle, who followed the Lord wholeheartedly and dedicated himself to decades of service in being a missionary disciple, spreading the faith to countless people he encountered, to the very end of his life.

Let us all therefore do our best and strive to respond to God’s call, in His call for us to embrace our missions in life, to do what we can to glorify His Name, and also to save more and more people by showing them all the sure path towards God, by sharing our own faith with them and by becoming good examples, inspirations and as good role models ourselves in how we live our own lives as devoted and faithful Christians at all times. May the Lord, our most loving God and Father, continue to bless us all in our every good endeavours, and may He continue to empower and guide each one of us in everything we do. Amen.

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Sunday, 9 February 2025 : Fifth Sunday of Ordinary Time (Gospel Reading)

Liturgical Colour : Green

Luke 5 : 1-11

At that time, one day, as Jesus stood by the Lake of Gennesaret, with a crowd gathered around Him listening to the word of God, He caught sight of two boats, left at the water’s edge by fishermen, now washing their nets. He got into one of the boats, the one belonging to Simon, and asked him to pull out a little from the shore. There He sat, and continued to teach the crowd.

When He had finished speaking, He said to Simon, “Put out into deep water and lower your nets for a catch.” Simon replied, “Master, we worked hard all night and caught nothing. But if You say so, I will lower the nets.” This they did, and caught such a large number of fish that their nets began to break. They signalled their partners in the other boat to come and help them. They came, and they filled both almost to the point of sinking.

Upon seeing this, Simon Peter fell at Jesus’ knees, saying, “Leave me, Lord, for I am a sinful man!” For he and his companions were amazed at the catch they had made, and so were Simon’s partners, James and John, Zebedee’s sons. Jesus said to Simon, “Do not be afraid. You will catch people from now on.” So they brought their boats to land and followed Him, leaving everything.