Ordinary Time 2025

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(Usus Antiquior) Seventh Sunday after Pentecost (II Classis) – Sunday, 27 July 2025 : Offertory, Secret Prayer of the Priest, Communion and Post-Communion Prayer

Liturgical Colour : Green

Offertory

Daniel 3 : 40

Sicut in holocaustis arietum et taurorum, et sicut in milibus agnorum pinguium : sic fiat sacrificium nostrum in conspectu Tuo hodie, ut placeat Tibi : quia non est confusio confidentibus in Te, Domine.

English translation

As in holocausts of rams and bullocks, and as in thousands of fat lambs, so let our sacrifice be made in Your sight this day, that it may please You, for there is no confusion to those who trust in You, o Lord.

Secret Prayer of the Priest

Deus, qui legalium differentiam hostiarum unius sacrificii perfectione sanxisti : accipe sacrificium a devotis Tibi famulis, et pari benedictione, sicut munera Abel, sanctifica; ut, quod singuli obtulerunt ad majestatis Tuae honorem, cunctis proficiat ad salutem. Per Dominum nostrum Jesum Christum Filium Tuum, qui Tecum vivit et regnat in unitate Spiritus Sancti Deus, per omnia saecula saeculorum. Amen.

English translation

O God, You Who have sanctioned the diversity of offerings by the perfection of one sacrifice, receive the sacrifice offered to You by Your devoted servants, and sanctify it as You had sanctified the gifts of Abel, that which each one had offered to the glory of Your majesty may profit for the salvation of all. 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.

Communion

Psalm 30 : 3

Inclina aurem Tuam, accelera, ut eripias me.

English translation

Bow down Your ear, make haste to deliver me.

Post-Communion Prayer

Tua nos, Domine, medicinalis operatio, et a nostris perversitatibus clementer expediat, et ad ea, quae sunt recta, perducat. 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 Your health giving operation, o Lord, mercifully rid us of our evil inclinations and unto rightful ways strongly lead us. 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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(Usus Antiquior) Seventh Sunday after Pentecost (II Classis) – Sunday, 27 July 2025 : Holy Gospel

Liturgical Colour : Green

Sequentia Sancti Evangelii secundum Matthaeum – Continuation of the Holy Gospel according to St. Matthew

Matthew 7 : 15-21

In illo tempore : Dixit Jesus discipulis Suis : Attendite a falsis prophetis, qui veniunt ad vos in vestimentis ovium, intrinsecus autem sunt lupi rapaces : a fructibus eorum cognoscetis eos. Numquid colligunt de spinis uvas, aut de tribulis ficus? Sic omnis arbor bona fructus bonos facit : mala autem arbor malos fructus facit.

Non potest arbor bona malos fructus facere : neque arbor mala bonos fructus facere. Omnis arbor, quae non facit fructum bonum, excidetur et in ignem mittetur. Igitur ex fructibus eorum cognoscetis eos. Non omnis, qui dicit mihi, Domine, Domine, intrabit in regnum caelorum : sed qui facit voluntatem Patris Mei, qui in caelis est, ipse intrabit in regnum caelorum.

English translation

At that time, Jesus said to His disciples, “Beware of false prophets, who come to you in the clothing of sheep, but inwardly they are ravening wolves. By their fruits you shall know them. Do men gather grapes of thorns, or figs of thistles? Even so, every good tree brings forth good fruit, and the evil tree brings forth evil fruit.”

“A good tree cannot bring forth evil fruit, neither can an evil tree bring forth good fruit. Every tree that does not bring good fruit shall be cut down, and shall be cast into the fire. Wherefore by their fruits you shall know them, not every one that says to Me, ‘Lord, Lord,’ shall enter into the kingdom of heaven, but he who does the will of My Father, Who is in heaven, he shall enter into the kingdom of heaven.”

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(Usus Antiquior) Seventh Sunday after Pentecost (II Classis) – Sunday, 27 July 2025 : Gradual and Alleluia

Liturgical Colour : Green

Psalm 33 : 12, 6 and Psalm 46 : 2

Venite, filii, audite me : timorem Domini docebo vos.

Response : Accedite ad eum, et illuminamini : et facies vestrae non confundentur.

Alleluja, Alleluja.

Response : Omnes gentes, plaudite manibus : jubilate Deo in voce exsultationis. Alleluja.

English translation

Come, children, hearken to me. I will teach you the fear of the Lord.

Response : Come all of you to Him and be enlightened, and your faces shall not be confounded.

Alleluia, Alleluia.

Response : O clap your hands, all you nations, shout unto God with the voice of joy. Alleluia.

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(Usus Antiquior) Seventh Sunday after Pentecost (II Classis) – Sunday, 27 July 2025 : Epistle

Liturgical Colour : Green

Lectio Epistolae Beati Pauli Apostoli ad Romanos – Letter from the Epistle of Blessed Paul the Apostle to the Romans

Romans 6 : 19-23

Fratres : Humanum dico, propter infirmitatem carnis vestrae : sicut enim exhibuistis membra vestra servire immunditiae et iniquitati ad iniquitatem, ita nunc exhibete membra vestra servire justitiae in sanctificationem. Cum enim servi essetis peccati, liberi fuistis justitiae.

Quem ergo fructum habuistis tunc in illis, in quibus nunc erubescitis? Nam finis illorum mors est. Nunc vero liberati a peccato, servi autem facti Deo, habetis fructum vestrum in sanctificationem, finem vero vitam aeternam.

Stipendia enim peccati mors. Gratia autem Dei vita aeterna, in Christo Jesu, Domino nostro.

English translation

Brethren, I speak a human thing, because of the infirmity of your flesh, for as you have yielded your members to serve uncleanness and iniquity unto iniquity, so now yield your members to serve justice, unto sanctification. For when you were the servants of sin, you were free from justice.

What fruit therefore did you then have in those things, of which you are now ashamed? For the end of them is death. But now being made free from sin, and become servants to God, you have your fruit unto sanctification, and the end life everlasting.

For the wages of sin is death. But the grace of God, life everlasting, in Christ Jesus our Lord.

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(Usus Antiquior) Seventh Sunday after Pentecost (II Classis) – Sunday, 27 July 2025 : Introit and Collect

Liturgical Colour : Green

Introit

Psalm 46 : 2, 3

Omnes gentes, plaudite manibus : jubilate Deo in voce exsultationis.

Quoniam Dominus excelsus, terribilis : Rex magnus super omnem terram.

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

English translation

O clap your hands, all you nations. Shout unto God with the voice of joy.

For the Lord is most high. He is terrible, He is a great King over all the earth.

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

Deus, cujus providentia in sui dispositione non fallitur : Te supplices exoramus; ut noxia cuncta submoveas, et omnia nobis profutura concedas. Per Dominum nostrum Jesum Christum Filium Tuum, qui Tecum vivit et regnat in unitate Spiritus Sancti Deus, per omnia saecula saeculorum. Amen.

English translation

O God, You Whose providence does not fail in setting things in order, we, Your suppliants, beseech You, that You would remove from us all things harmful and grant us all that makes for our welfare. 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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Saturday, 26 July 2025 : 16th Week of Ordinary Time, Memorial of St. Joachim and St. Anne, Parents of the Blessed Virgin Mary (Homily and Scripture Reflections)

Liturgical Colour : White

Dear brothers and sisters in Christ, today the Church celebrates the Feast of St. Joachim and St. Anne, the parents of the Blessed Virgin Mary, and therefore they were also the grandparents of the Lord, as Mary is the Mother of God, the Mother of Jesus Christ, Our Lord and Saviour. And we remember them today in particular because of their great faith and virtues in life, becoming good examples and role models in bringing up Mary to be a faithful and most worthy woman, to be the one whom God has shown His great favour to, in becoming the Mother and Bearer of the Son of God Most High Himself, to be the worthy Mother of God, the one through whom salvation has been revealed to all of us in this world.

Not much was known about the lives and activities of St. Joachim and St. Anne as both of them were not recorded in the four canonical Gospels, but they were recorded in other extra-Biblical sources and in the Apostolic traditions, as belonging to the tribe of Judah and Levi both. St. Joachim, the father of Mary came from the Tribe of Judah, and in some Apostolic traditions, it was believed that Jesus our Lord got His legal status as the Heir of David from both St. Joseph and Mary herself, and the latter through St. Joachim. Meanwhile, Mary’s mother, St. Anne, came from the Tribe of Levi, the tribe dedicated to the Lord to provide the members of the priests serving Him, and therefore, Mary had close connections to the priestly caste at that time through her mother.

According to tradition and our Catholic Dogma, we believe that Mary was conceived without the taint of original sin, the Dogma of the Immaculate Conception of the Blessed Virgin Mary, in the womb of her mother, St. Anne, and she was born to her and St. Joachim as the eldest daughter, and hence, according to the Law of Moses, she was presented to the Lord according to the sacred traditions, at the Temple of God. Mary henceforth remained as a truly faithful servant of God, living her life full of virtue and in the fullness of God’s grace, until the appointed time when the Archangel Gabriel appeared before her and telling her the role that she was to play as the Mother of the Son of God, the one to bear the Messiah within her. In that meantime, certainly she was brought up well by her parents, St. Joachim and St. Anne, whose memory we venerate today.

Let us all then look upon the readings of the Sacred Scriptures to reflect more carefully upon what the Lord has revealed to us, so that we can better appreciate today’s celebration and its relevance to our lives. In our first reading today, taken from the Book of Exodus, we heard of the moment when God established His Covenant with His people through Moses, the one that God had appointed to lead all of His people Israel to journey to the land promised for them. And there at Mount Sinai, the holy Mountain of God’s Presence, God made a pact with His people, that they all would be His people, His beloved ones, obeying His Law and commandments, rules and precepts as He would reveal to them through Moses, and that He would be their God, their loving Father and Master.

And Moses sealed that Covenant between God and His people at the Altar established there at Mount Sinai, with the blood of the sacrifices offered to God, and the blood sprinkled on the people as mark of the Covenant which God had made with all of them. This marked the solemn commitment between God and His people, which He had sealed and made clear before everyone, that Israel was indeed God’s beloved and chosen people, a people that He Himself had rescued and brought out from their slavery in the land of Egypt. That is what God had promised to His people and to their ancestors, and He showed His love and faithfulness through this commitment, showing how He will always take care of those whom He has loved so generously and wonderfully, without limits and ever patiently doing so at all times.

In our Gospel passage today, taken from the Gospel according to St. Matthew the Apostle and Evangelist, we heard of the teachings of the Lord to His disciples using the parable of the kingdom of Heaven, comparing the kingdom of Heaven to the works of a man who sowed good seeds in his field, and how an enemy came and sowed bad seeds of weeds in between those good seeds. Those good plants and crops ended up growing together with the unwanted weeds, but the truth is that, as the Lord used this comparison to highlight His ideas and teachings, He wanted to tell everyone that God is truly so good and loving that He allowed both the good and evil ones, the righteous and the wicked to grow along, side by side with each other.

At that time, and as it is still valid today, certain plants considered as weeds were actually related if not similar to the crop plants that were planted in the field. The reason why those plants were considered as weeds were simply because they did not provide the farmers with the products that they desired, and they were therefore competing for the important resources and nutrients needed by the crops desired by the farmers. Some of those weeds might even be the less productive variants of the crops planted by the farmers. Therefore, one interpretation of this parable is such that it shows how the Lord our God is so kind, loving and compassionate to all, that no one is truly beyond God’s love and redemption, that even the wicked and worst of sinners have been given chances and opportunities by the Lord to come back to Him and embrace His love once again.

That was precisely what He had done with those whom He had called and chosen, first the Israelites, and now all of us who have been called by Him to be His disciples and His followers. All of us are sinners and have disobeyed Him, sinning and doing things against His will, and yet, He has always been so patient in loving us and showing us all His compassion and His enduring attention and desire to care for us, regardless of everything that we have done. He has always made His love, mercy and forgiveness available to us, giving us all the means for us to reach out to Him, sending us help and assistance in many means and avenues so that as many as us as possible can be saved and reunited with Him, and not be lost to Him to eternal damnation. And we should all indeed appreciate the great and enduring love that God has for each one of us, and for the Covenant He had made with all of us through His Son, Our Lord and Saviour.

Today, in conjunction with this celebration of this Feast of St. Joachim and St. Anne, as the Grandparents of Our Lord and Saviour, we also celebrate the World Day of the Grandparents and the Elderly, which was instituted by the late Pope Francis so that we may remember and honour our grandparents who have taken care of us and shown us their great love even in their old age, and also other elderly people in general, all those who have lived their lives well and have shown us their wisdom and good examples. Let us all pray and take good care of them in their golden years, and make sure that they are not forgotten and abandoned, just as the Lord Himself never abandoned any one of us. Let our love for our elderly and our grandparents be the hallmark and good examples of our Christian love and identity, at all times.

May the Lord continue to help us all to be good and faithful Christians in all things, and inspired by the good and virtuous examples of St. Joachim and St. Anne, let us all show genuine love to everyone, and in particular to our grandparents and the elderly people around us. May God bless our every good and loving efforts, at all times, now and forevermore. Amen.

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Saturday, 26 July 2025 : 16th Week of Ordinary Time, Memorial of St. Joachim and St. Anne, Parents of the Blessed Virgin Mary (Gospel Reading)

Liturgical Colour : White

Matthew 13 : 24-30

At that time, Jesus told the people another parable, “The kingdom of Heaven can be compared to a man, who sowed good seed in his field. While everyone was asleep, his enemy came, and sowed weeds among the wheat, and went away. When the plants sprouted and produced grain, the weeds also appeared. Then, the servants of the owner came, and said to him, ‘Sir, was it not good seed that you sowed in your field? Where did the weeds come from?'”

“He answered them, ‘This is the work of an enemy.’ They asked him, ‘Do you want us to go and pull up the weeds?’ He told them, ‘No, when you pull up the weeds, you might uproot the wheat with them. Let them grow together, until harvest; and, at harvest time, I will say to the workers : Pull up the weeds first, tie them in bundles and burn them; then gather the wheat into my barn.'”

Alternative reading

Matthew 13 : 16-17

At that time, Jesus said to His disciples, “But blessed are your eyes, because they see; and your ears, because they hear. For I tell you, many prophets and righteous people have longed to see the things you see, but they did not see them; and to hear the things you hear, but they did not hear them.”

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Saturday, 26 July 2025 : 16th Week of Ordinary Time, Memorial of St. Joachim and St. Anne, Parents of the Blessed Virgin Mary (Psalm)

Liturgical Colour : White

Psalm 49 : 1-2, 5-6, 14-15

The God of gods, YHVH has spoken; He summons the earth, from the rising of the sun to its setting. God has shone from Zion, perfect in beauty.

Gather before Me, My faithful ones, who made a Covenant with Me by sacrifice. The heavens will proclaim His sentence, for God Himself is the Judge.

Yet, offer to God a sacrifice of thanks, and fulfil your vows to the Most High. Call on Me in time of calamity; I will deliver you, and you will glorify Me.

Alternative reading

Psalm 131 : 11, 13-14, 17-18

YHVH swore to David a promise, and He will remain true to it : “I will keep your descendants on your throne.”

For YHVH has chosen Zion; He has desired it for His dwelling : “This is My resting place forever; this I prefer; here, will I dwell.”

From here, a Saviour shall come forth, a Son of David; here, shall shine forever, the lamp of My Anointed. In shame will I clothe His enemies, but upon His head a crown shall shine.

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Saturday, 26 July 2025 : 16th Week of Ordinary Time, Memorial of St. Joachim and St. Anne, Parents of the Blessed Virgin Mary (First Reading)

Liturgical Colour : White

Exodus 24 : 3-8

Moses came and told the people all the words of YHVH and all His laws. The people replied with one voice : “Everything that YHVH has said, we shall do.”

Moses wrote down all the words of YHVH, then rose early in the morning and built an altar at the foot of the mountain with twelve raised stones for the twelve tribes of Israel. He then sent young men from among the sons of Israel to offer burnt offerings and sacrifice bullocks as peace offerings to YHVH.

And Moses took half the blood and put it in basins; and with the other half of the blood he sprinkled the altar. He then took the Book of the Covenant and read it in the hearing of the people. They said, “All that YHVH said we shall do and obey.”

Moses then took the blood and sprinkled it on the people saying, “Here is the blood of the Covenant that YHVH has made with you in accordance with all these words.”

Alternative reading

Sirach 44 : 1, 10-15

Let us now glorify illustrious men, the ancestors of our people. But now consider the godly men whose good deeds have not been forgotten. Those who came after them benefitted from the rich legacy they left; their race remained faithful to the Covenant, their children followed their example.

Their family will endure forever and never will its glory be tarnished. Their bodies will be buried in peace but their memory lives through generations. People will speak of their wisdom and the assembly will celebrate their praise.

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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.