Liturgical Colour : Red
Psalm 147 : 12-13, 14-15, 19-20
Exalt YHVH, o Jerusalem; praise your God, o Zion! For He strengthens the bars of your gates and blesses your children within you.
He grants peace on your borders and feeds you with the finest grain. He sends His command to the earth and swiftly runs His word.
It is He, Who tells Jacob His words; His laws and decrees, to Israel. This, He has not done for other nations, so His laws remain unknown to them. Alleluia!
Liturgical Colour : Red
Deuteronomy 10 : 12-22
So now, Israel, what is it that YHVH, your God, asks of you but to fear Him and follow all His ways? Love Him and serve Him with all your heart and with all your soul. Observe the commandments of YHVH and His laws which I command you today, for your good.
See : the heavens, those that are seen and those that are unseen, the earth and all that is in it, everything belongs to YHVH, your God. Nevertheless, it was on your fathers that YHVH set His heart. He loved them, and after them, He chose their descendants – you – preferring you to all the peoples, as you can see this day.
Purify your hearts, then, and do not be defiant towards YHVH because YHVH is the God of gods and the Lord of lords. He is the great God, the strong and terrible God. When He judges, He treats everyone equally; He does not let Himself be bought by gifts. He renders justice to the orphan and the widow, and loves the stranger, giving him bread and clothing.
Love the stranger then, because you yourselves were strangers in the land of Egypt. Fear YHVH, your God, serve Him, follow Him and call on His Name when you have to make an oath. He is your pride and He is your God, Who has done those amazing things for you. When you went down to Egypt, your ancestors were no more than seventy persons, but now, YHVH, your God, has made you as many as the stars of heaven.
Liturgical Colour : Red
Dear brothers and sisters in Christ, today we celebrate together the Feast of St. Lawrence of Rome, the great man of God who was one of the seven deacons of the city and See of Rome, and hence was a very important and prominent member of the Roman Church at that time. St. Lawrence was also the first among those seven deacons, as the Archdeacon of Rome, a position of great importance as he was indeed the right hand man of the then reigning Pope, Pope St. Sixtus II, whose feast we have just celebrated a few days ago. St. Lawrence of Rome was martyred at about the same time as Pope St. Sixtus and quite a number other Christians, who were persecuted during an episode of attack against the Church under the reign of the then Roman Emperor Valerian.
St. Lawrence himself was born in what is today part of Spain, where the later Pope St. Sixtus II met him in what is today Zaragoza, then known as Caesaraugusta. According to Church traditions, his parents were also Christians and were themselves martyrs, likely prior to the mission and works of St. Lawrence as deacon in Rome. Pope St. Sixtus II and St. Lawrence both travelled to Rome, where the former eventually became Pope succeeding his predecessor, Pope St. Stephen I. And as a trusted friend and member of his close inner circle, St. Lawrence was therefore appointed as the Archdeacon of Rome, responsible for the distribution of goods and for the care of the faithful people of God in the Diocese of Rome. He held the control and key of the treasuries and material goods of the Roman Church, and he did his duties most obediently, committing himself to care those entrusted under his supervision.
Then, at that time, the Roman state under Emperor Valerian began an intense persecution of Christians, arresting Pope St. Sixtus II and many others, who were martyred for their faith. As was customary, all those who were executed by the Roman state had their possessions and property confiscated and gathered to be added to the Imperial treasury. Hence, in order to avoid the property and goods of the Church meant for the people of God, especially the poor and the needy to fall into the hands of those who did not deserve them, St. Lawrence quickly worked to distribute the property of the Church to those who needed them, to the faithful so that they would not be seized. The Roman prefect of the city demanded and ordered St. Lawrence to hand over all the goods and properties of the Church, which was then responded by St. Lawrence who gathered the poor and the needy, and showed them as the true treasures of the Church.
That enraged the Roman prefect such that he ordered St. Lawrence to be arrested and tortured, and put on a great and hot gridiron, where this holy man of God was put to suffer terrible tortures. Yet, St. Lawrence fearlessly and courageously faced those sufferings and his upcoming martyrdom with calmness and joy, knowing that everything that he and the other martyrs had to suffer, were nothing compared to the true joy and glory that they would receive through the Lord. According to the Church traditions, St. Lawrence even cheerfully commented to his tortures to turn him over as in his own words, ‘I am well done on this side. Turn me over!’ All these showed just how courageous and brave St. Lawrence was in enduring those great persecutions and hardships, for the sake of God and His people. Eventually, he was executed and died as a martyr like many others.
Brothers and sisters in Christ, all the examples which St. Lawrence, holy deacon and martyr had shown us exemplified what we have heard from our Scripture passages today. In our first reading passage, we heard from the Epistle of St. Paul to the Corinthians in which St. Paul spoke of those who sowed meagrely and how they would also reap meagrely while those who sowed generously would also reap generous harvests. This is showing how our faith in God must be truly filled with true dedication and commitment to God, and not merely an empty faith and proclamations only. Like St. Lawrence, who devoted himself to the cause of the Lord, that he risked his life in doing his mission and in ensuring that the properties and goods of the Church entrusted to his care did not fall into the wrong hands, and faced suffering and martyrdom for those, thus, we should also do our part in living our lives with true dedication and faith.
In our Gospel passage today, we then heard a related account of the Lord Jesus speaking to His disciples using a simple parable of comparing a grain of wheat that ought to fall to the ground and ‘die’ first so that it might bear plenty of fruits as the seed in the wheat would then germinate and grow into a new wheat plant that would bear many new wheat crops, and hence, be truly fruitful. This is related to the famous phrase of ‘the blood of martyrs is the seed of Christians’ which reminded us all of the sufferings and hardships that many of our predecessors had to face in the midst of living their faith. Yet, their faith and commitment to God, their courage and bravery, like what was shown by St. Lawrence as mentioned earlier, should inspire all of us to live our lives with great faith and dedication to God, and to be inspirational in our way of life.
This means that in our every moments and in our every words, actions and deeds in life, all of us should do our best so that we may be the shining light of God’s truth and love, the light of hope for many of our fellow brothers and sisters who may be facing a lot of hardships and challenges in their lives. Like St. Lawrence, whose faith and commitment, courage and dedication had strengthened the faith of so many of those who came after him, in how they endured the challenges and persecutions against their faith. All of us should live in accordance to the Law and the path that God has shown us, the path of His righteousness so that we may all walk down this path and not be swayed easily by the temptations of worldly glory and by the fear of sufferings and death. Becoming Christians mean that we have to be prepared to suffer for the Lord, but we must always remember that we never suffer alone, for the Lord is always ever by our side.
May the Lord continue to watch over us and strengthen us in our ways, and may His wonderful saints, St. Lawrence and many of our other holy predecessors continue to inspire us by their great examples and role models, and may they intercede for us sinners, that God may deign to show His mercy and kindness upon us, especially in the moments of our hardships and challenges. May God bless us always in all things and may He empower us all to be His worthy disciples in all things. Amen.
Liturgical Colour : Red
John 12 : 24-26
At that time, Jesus said to His disciples, “Truly, I say to you, unless the grain of wheat falls to the earth and dies, it remains alone; but if it dies, it produces much fruit. Those who love their life destroy it, and those who despise their life in this world save it even to everlasting life.”
“Whoever wants to serve Me, let him follow Me; and wherever I am, there shall My servant be also. If anyone serves Me, the Father will honour him.”
Liturgical Colour : Red
Psalm 111 : 1-2, 5-6, 7-8, 9
Alleluia! Blessed is the one who fears YHVH, who greatly delights in His commands. His children will be powerful on earth; the upright’s offspring will be blessed.
It will be well with him who lends freely, who leads a life of justice and honesty. For the righteous will never be moved; he will be remembered and loved forever.
He has no fear of evil news, for his heart is firm, trusting in YHVH. His heart is confident; he need not fear; he shall prevail over his foes at the end.
He gives generously to the poor; his merits will last forever; and his head will be raised in honour.
Liturgical Colour : Red
2 Corinthians 9 : 6-10
Remember : the one who sows meagerly will reap meagerly, and there shall be generous harvests for the one who sows generously. Each of you should give as you decided personally, and not reluctantly, as if obliged. God loves a cheerful giver. And God is able to fill you with every good thing, so that you have enough of everything, at all times, and may give abundantly for any good work.
Scripture says : He distributed, He gave to the poor, His good works last forever. God, Who provides the sower with seed, will also provide him with the bread he eats. He will multiply the seed for you and also increase the interest on your good works.
Liturgical Colour : Green or Red (Martyrs)
Dear brothers and sisters in Christ, today as we gather together to reflect upon the words of the Scripture passages we heard earlier, we are all reminded to be always full of love for one another, and never be biased or discriminatory upon anyone in our lives just because they have a different origin, background, skin colour, lifestyle, or other worldly constructs and distinctions that we might have used in the past to discriminate one against the other. We are all reminded this day that God truly loves each and every one of us, and He has blessed us most wonderfully and magnificently, in many things, and we are all called to be filled with the same love that God has for us, in how we love one another, especially for the less fortunate and the suffering amongst us. We are reminded to make sure that no one should be left out especially in our world today, when many are struggling to make their ends meet each day.
In our first reading today, taken from the Book of Numbers, we heard of the time when the Lord sent out through Moses, the scouts of the Israelites to take a look at the lands which He has promised to all of them and their ancestors, the Promised Land of Canaan. At that time, the Lord had led His people through the desert from the land of Egypt where they were once enslaved, and He had made a Covenant with them, revealing to them all His Law and the Ten Commandments which He gave them in order to guide and help them in their lives and journey. However, when the scouts relayed back the news from the Promised Land that they had seen, in how wonderful the lands truly were and how bountiful they were, but with all the mighty people living in them, the people became scared and fearful, afraid of going up against those people.
Hence, that was where we saw the great rebellion of Israel against God, Who had provided and cared for them all those while, and Who had patiently guided and helped them along the way. Despite having seen the great works of the Lord, His signs and wonders, and everything that He had done for their sake, all of His miracles and might before the Egyptians and all the others, the people of God frequently doubted the Lord, disobeyed Him and His Law, and disregarded His commandments and instructions. And this ridiculous abandonment of God and doubt against His providence was the final straw which eventually led to the Israelites having to endure a forty years long sojourn in the desert before they were finally allowed to enter into the Promised Land.
Then in the Gospel passage today, we heard of the interactions between the Lord Jesus and a Canaanite woman who had a daughter who was beset by evil spirits and demons, which was initially met with great apathy and indifference by the Lord, Whose words might even be considered as really offensive, because He blatantly said that He was sent only to the lost sheep of the Israelites, and then dismissed her with the words comparing her to the dogs, when He said that it is not right to take the bread from the children and feeding them to the dogs. Yes, it might indeed seem at first that the Lord was being very rude and unfair to the Canaanite woman, but the Lord Jesus actually did all those on purpose so as to highlight the folly of the biases and the common prejudices which the Israelites themselves had against the non-Jewish people all around them.
We must understand the context in which back then, the Jewish people had grown proud of their unique inheritance and status as the chosen people of God, the direct descendants of the original Israelites, to the point of looking down greatly on all the other non-Jewish people, and this was an even worse attitude shown by their leaders, like the chief priests and the elders, and the Pharisees, who prided in their exclusive right to the grace and love of God, and in the Law, customs and practices which they had zealously guarded and enforced to all the people of God. It was such that they condemned all those who did not follow the Law and practice them in the manner that they themselves had demanded it to be, as sinners and unworthy of God.
The Lord used such harsh language to refer to the Canaanite woman to highlight the uncharitable and inappropriate nature of such treatment of one’s fellow brothers and sisters, and how the people of God back then had reached such a state, that He would like to show them an example with the great faith of the Canaanite woman, to break up and to discard all those prejudices and biases. As contrasted with what we heard in our first reading today, of the faithlessness of the Israelites in the face of hardships and trials, the Canaanite woman, who was not even counted among the chosen people of God, entrusted herself and her daughter so thoroughly in the Lord that not even the Lord’s harsh words and attitude could deter or stop her from persisting in seeking His help.
This showed just how strong her faith in God was, and the Lord therefore used her faith as an example to all of His disciples as the inspiration that all of them ought to follow in their own lives. It also showed us all that we must never be biased to another person, no matter what origin and background that someone might have, as each and every one of us are equally precious and beloved by God, and all of us are truly worthy of God as long we are faithful to Him and obey Him in all of His Law and commandments, and walk in His path at all times. Each one of us have been given this reminder so that we may indeed be truly committed to the Lord and His path, just as the Canaanite woman and our many predecessors had done, all the holy men and women who had lived their lives with virtue and righteousness, all those who showed true faith in God.
Today, the Church celebrates the Feast of St. Teresa Benedicta of the Cross, also better known by her name of Edith Stein. She was born into a religious Jewish family in Europe, in parts of what is now Poland. She became an agnostic later on in life, and during her studies and pursuit of academic career, she came to be acquainted with the story and life of St. Teresa of Avila, a great Carmelite saint and reformer, who led her to embrace God and to be baptised as a Catholic. She wanted to follow in the footstep of her patron saint, and became a member of the Discalced Carmelite, but was initially dissuaded from doing so. Instead, she became a tertiary member of the Order, dedicating herself to a life of prayer and ministry to the people all around her and to her community of the faithful.
Back then, at that time, great troubles and conflicts happened throughout Europe during the rise and hegemony of the NAZI rule in Germany, which saw the attempts of Adolf Hitler and his party and supporters to destroy and eradicate the Jewish people all throughout their dominions. St. Edith Stein, as a Jewish convert to the Catholic faith, was one of the many people deemed by the evil NAZI regime as those undesirables and those to be exterminated, by their ideology that championed the supremacy of their own racial background. She and other religious sisters were sent to the Netherlands to help safeguard them against the NAZI efforts to destroy the Jewish people, but eventually St. Edith Stein was arrested with many other Jewish Catholic converts, sent to the infamous Auschwitz concentration camp and was martyred.
Brothers and sisters in Christ, through the examples of the Canaanite woman and that of St. Teresa Benedicta of the Cross, St. Edith Stein, all of us can see how God called all of His people to holiness and greatness, and how everyone who has faith in Him will be blessed and honoured by God. Those who think that they are better than others simply because of their racial background or because of certain criteria and parameters, will likely stumble and falter because they placed their trust in their own sense of superiority and power, and not in their faith in God. This is why we should learn to trust more in the Lord and to resist the temptations of worldly pride, ambitions and our ego, which can easily lead us to our downfall. We should learn to love one another equally, and not be blinded by bias and prejudice, and do what we can to love the Lord our God, first and foremost before all else.
May God be with us always, and may He strengthen our faith and trust in Him, that we may not easily fall into doubt and fear, or uncertainties and temptations. Amen.
Liturgical Colour : Green or Red (Martyrs)
Matthew 15 : 21-28
At that time, leaving that area, Jesus withdrew to the region of Tyre and Sidon. A Canaanite woman from the area, came and cried out, “Lord, Son of David, have pity on me! My daughter is tormented by a demon.”
But Jesus did not answer her, not even a word. So His disciples approached Him and said, “Send her away! See how she is shouting after us.” Then Jesus said to her, “I was sent only to the lost sheep of the nation of Israel.”
But the woman was already kneeling before Jesus, and said, “Sir, help me!” Jesus answered, “It is not right to take the bread from the children and throw it to puppies.”
The woman replied, “That is true, Sir, but even puppies eat the crumbs which fall from their master’s table.” Then Jesus said, “Woman, how great is your faith! Let it be as you wish.” And her daughter was healed at that moment.
Liturgical Colour : Green or Red (Martyrs)
Psalm 105 : 6-7a, 13-14, 21-22, 23
We have sinned like our ancestors; we have done wrong and acted wickedly. When they were in Egypt, our ancestors had no regard for Your wondrous deeds.
But soon they forgot His works and did not wait for His counsel. They gave way to wanton craving and tempted God in the desert.
They forgot their Saviour God, Who had done great things in Egypt, wonderful works in the land of Ham, and awesome deeds by the Sea of Reeds.
So He spoke of destroying them, but Moses, His chosen one, stood in the breach before Him to shield them from destruction.
Liturgical Colour : Green or Red (Martyrs)
Numbers 13 : 1-2, 25 – Numbers 14 : 1, 26-30, 34-35
YHVH then spoke to Moses, saying, “Send men to explore the land of Canaan that I am giving to the Israelites; send one man from each of the ancestral tribes, all of them leaders.”
After forty days of exploration, they returned. They went and met Moses, Aaron and the whole community of Israelites in the wilderness of Paran at Kadesh. They gave an account to them and the whole community and showed them the fruit of this land.
And they said, “We entered the land where you sent us, truly a land flowing with milk and honey and here is the fruit. But how strong are the people who inhabit the land! The cities are fortified with walls and bars, and we even saw there descendants of the Anakites. Amalekites live in the region of the Negeb; Hittites, Jebusites and Amorites live in the hill country; the Canaanites are by the sea and along the banks of the Jordan.”
Caleb then quieted the people who rose up against Moses and said, “We should go up and take over the land, for we shall surely overcome it.” But the men who had gone up with him said, “We cannot advance against these people for they are stronger than we are.”
And they spread an unfavourable report about the land that they had explored, saying to the Israelites, “The land we went through to explore is a land that devours its inhabitants and all the people we saw there are men of great size. We even saw giants (these giants were the Anakites). We felt like grasshoppers before them, and to them we must have seemed the same.”
Then all the community broke out in loud cries and wept during the night. Then YHVH spoke to Moses and Aaron saying, “How long will this wicked community grumble against Me? I have heard the grumblings of the people of Israel against Me. Say to them : As truly as I live, it is YHVH Who speaks, I will do to you what you have said in My hearing.”
“All of you of twenty years and more, numbered in the census, who grumbled against Me, your corpses will fall in the desert. You will not enter the land where I swore to settle you, except Caleb, son of Jephunneh and Joshua, son of Nun. According to the number of days spent in exploring the land – forty days, for every day a year – for forty years you shall bear the guilt of your sins and you shall know what it is to oppose Me.”
“I, YHVH, have spoken. Surely this is what I will do to this wicked community that has conspired against Me. In this wilderness they shall be destroyed and this is where they shall die.”
petercanisiusmichaeldavidkang 