Ordinary Time 2025

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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.”

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

Liturgical Colour : Green

Colossians 1 : 24-28

At present, I rejoice when I suffer for you; I complete, in my own flesh, what is lacking in the sufferings of Christ, for the sake of His Body, which is the Church. For I am serving the Church since God entrusted to me the ministry to make the word of God fully known. I mean that mysterious plan that, for centuries and generations, remained secret, and which God has now revealed to His holy ones.

God willed to make known to them the riches, and even the glory, that His mysterious plan reserved for the pagan nations : Christ is in you, the hope for glory. This Christ, we preach. We warn, and teach everyone true wisdom, aiming to make everyone perfect, in Christ.

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

Liturgical Colour : Green

Psalm 14 : 2-3ab, 3cd-4ab, 5

Those who walk blamelessly and do what is right, who speak truth from their heart and control their words, who do no harm to their neighbours.

Those who cast no discredit on their companions, who look down on evildoers but highly esteem God’s servants.

Those who do not lend money at interest and refuse a bribe against the innocent. Do this, and you will not be shaken.

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

Liturgical Colour : Green

Genesis 18 : 1-10a

YHVH appeared to Abraham near the oaks of Mamre. Abraham was sitting at the entrance to his tent, in the heat of the day, when he looked up and saw three Men standing nearby. When he saw Them he ran from the entrance of the tent to meet Them. He bowed to the ground and said, “My Lord, if I have found favour in Your sight, do not pass Your servant by. Let a little water be brought. Wash Your feet and then rest under the trees. I shall fetch some bread so that You can be refreshed and continue on Your way, since You have come to Your servant.”

They then said, “Do as you say.” Abraham hurried into the tent to Sarah and said to her, “Quick, take three measures of flour, knead it and make cakes.” Abraham then ran to the herd, took a fine, tender calf, gave it to the servant who hurried to prepare it. He took butter and milk and together with the calf he had prepared laid it all before them. And while he remained standing, they ate.

They then asked, “Where is Sarah, your wife?” Abraham answered, “She is in the tent.” And the visitor said, “At this same time next year I will return and Sarah by then will have a son.”

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(Usus Antiquior) Sixth Sunday after Pentecost (II Classis) – Sunday, 20 July 2025 : Offertory, Secret Prayer of the Priest, Communion and Post-Communion Prayer

Liturgical Colour : Green

Offertory

Psalm 16 : 5, 6-7

Perfice gressus meos in semitis Tuis, ut non moveantur vestigia mea : inclina aurem Tuam, et exaudi verba mea : mirifica misericordias Tuas, qui salvos facis sperantes in Te, Domine.

English translation

May You perfect my goings in Your paths, that my footsteps may not be moved. Incline Your ear, and hear my words. Show forth Your wonderful mercies, You who saved those who trust in You, o Lord.

Secret Prayer of the Priest

Propitiare, Domine, supplicationibus nostris, et has populi Tui oblationes benignus assume : et, ut nullius sit irritum votum, nullius vacua postulatio, praesta; ut, quod fideliter petimus, efficaciter consequamur. Per Dominum nostrum Jesum Christum Filium Tuum, qui Tecum vivit et regnat in unitate Spiritus Sancti Deus, per omnia saecula saeculorum. Amen.

English translation

Be propitious to our supplications, o Lord, and graciously accept these offerings of Your people, and that the prayer of none may be without effect, the petition of none that is vain, grant that what we ask in faith we may effectually obtain. 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 26 : 6

Circuibo et immolabo in tabernaculo ejus hostiam jubilationis : cantabo et psalmum dicam Domino.

English translation

I will go round, and offer up in His tabernacle a sacrifice of jubilation; I will sing and recite a psalm to the Lord.

Post-Communion Prayer

Repleti sumus, Domine, muneribus Tuis : tribue, quaesumus; ut eorum et mundemur effectu et muniamur auxilio. Per Dominum nostrum Jesum Christum Filium Tuum, qui Tecum vivit et regnat in unitate Spiritus Sancti Deus, per omnia saecula saeculorum. Amen.

English translation

We have been filled with Your gifts, o Lord, grant we beseech You, that by their effect we may be both cleansed and fortified. 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) Sixth Sunday after Pentecost (II Classis) – Sunday, 20 July 2025 : Holy Gospel

Liturgical Colour : Green

Sequentia Sancti Evangelii secundum Marcum – Continuation of the Holy Gospel according to St. Mark

Mark 8 : 1-9

In illo tempore : Cum turba multa esset cum Jesu, nec haberent, quod manducarent, convocatis discipulis, ait illis : Misereor super turbam : quia ecce jam triduo sustinent me, nec habent quod manducent : et si dimisero eos jejunos in domum suam, deficient in via : quidam enim ex eis de longe venerunt.

Et responderunt ei discipuli sui : Unde illos quis poterit hic saturare panibus in solitudine? Et interrogavit eos : Quot panes habetis? Qui dixerunt : Septem. Et praecepit turbae discumbere super terram. Et accipiens septem panes, gratias agens fregit, et dabat discipulis suis, ut apponerent, et apposuerunt turbae.

Et habebant pisciculos paucos : et ipsos benedixit, et jussit apponi. Et manducaverunt, et saturati sunt, et sistulerunt quod superaverat de fragmentis, septem sportas. Erant autem qui manducaverant, quasi quatuor milia : et dimisit eos.

English translation

At that time, when there was a great multitude with Jesus, and they had nothing to eat, calling His disciples together, He said to them, “I have compassion on the multitude, for behold they have now been with Me for three days, and have nothing to eat, and if I shall send them away fasting to their home they will faint in the way, for some of them came from afar off.”

And His disciples answered Him, “From where can any one fill those who are here with bread in the wilderness?” And He asked them, “How many loaves do you have,” and they answered, “Seven.” And He commanded the people to sit down on the ground. And taking the seven loaves, giving thanks He broke them, and gave them to His disciples to set before them, and they set them before the people.

And they had a few little fishes, and He blessed them, and commanded them to be set before them. And they did eat, and were filled, and they took up those that were left of the fragments and filled seven baskets, and those who had eaten were about four thousand. And He sent them away.

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(Usus Antiquior) Sixth Sunday after Pentecost (II Classis) – Sunday, 20 July 2025 : Gradual and Alleluia

Liturgical Colour : Green

Psalm 89 : 13, 1 and Psalm 30 : 2-3

Convertere, Domine, aliquantulum, et deprecare super servos Tuos.

Response : Domine, refugium factus es nobis, a generatione et progenie.

Alleluja, Alleluja.

Response : In Te, Domine, speravi, non confundar in aeternum : in justitia Tua libera me et eripe me : inclina ad me aurem Tuam, accelera, ut eripias me. Alleluja.

English translation

Return, o Lord, a little, and be entreated in favour of Your servants.

Response : Lord, You have been our refuge from generation to generation.

Alleluia, Alleluia.

Response : In You, o Lord, I have hoped, let me never be confounded, deliver me in Your justice, and release me. Bow down Your ear to me, make haste to deliver me. Alleluia.

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(Usus Antiquior) Sixth Sunday after Pentecost (II Classis) – Sunday, 20 July 2025 : Epistle

Liturgical Colour : Green

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

Romans 6 : 3-11

Fratres : Quicumque baptizati sumus in Christo Jesu, in morte ipsius baptizati sumus. Consepulti enim sumus cum illo per baptismum in mortem : ut, quomodo Christus surrexit a mortuis per gloriam Patris, ita et nos in novitate vitae ambulemus. Si enim complantati facti sumus similitudini mortis ejus : simul et resurrectionis erimus.

Hoc scientes, quia vetus homo noster simul crucifixus est : ut destruatur corpus peccati, et ultra non serviamus peccato. Qui enim mortuus est, justificatus est a peccato. Si autem mortui sumus cum Christo : credimus, quia simul etiam vivemus cum Christo : scientes, quod Christus resurgens ex mortuis, jam non moritur, mors illi ultra non dominabitur.

Quod enim mortuus est peccato, mortuus est semel : quod autem vivit, vivit Deo. Ita et vos existimate, vos mortuos quidem esse peccato, viventes autem Deo, in Christo Jesu, Domino nostro.

English translation

Brethren, all of us who are baptised in Christ Jesus are baptised into His death. For we are buried together with Him by baptism unto death, that as Christ is risen from the dead by the glory of the Father, so we also may walk in newness of life. For if we have been planted together in the likeness of His death, we shall also be in the likeness of His resurrection.

Knowing this, that our old man is crucified with Him, that the body of sin may be destroyed, and that we may serve sin no longer. For he who is dead is justified from sin. Now if we are dead with Christ, we believe that we shall also live together with Christ. Knowing that Christ, rising again from the dead, dies no more, death shall no longer have dominion over Him.

For in that He died to sin, He died once, but in that He lives, He lives unto God. So if you also reckon yourselves to be dead indeed to sin, but alive to God, in Christ Jesus our Lord.

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(Usus Antiquior) Sixth Sunday after Pentecost (II Classis) – Sunday, 20 July 2025 : Introit and Collect

Liturgical Colour : Green

Introit

Psalm 27 : 8-9, 1

Dominus fortitudo plebis suae, et protector salutarium Christi sui est : salvum fac populum Tuum, Domine, et benedic hereditati Tuae, et rege eos usque in saeculum.

Ad Te, Domine, clamabo, Deus meus, ne sileas a me : ne quando taceas a me, et assimilabor descendentibus in lacum.

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

English translation

The Lord is the strength of His people, and the protector of the salvation of His anointed. Save, o Lord, Your people, and bless Your inheritance, and rule them forever.

Unto You I will cry, o Lord, o my God, may You be not silent to me, lest if You are silent to me, I become like those who go down into the pit.

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 virtutum, cujus est totum quod est optimum : insere pectoribus nostris amorem Tui Nominis, et praesta in nobis religionis augmentum; ut, quae sunt bona, nutrias, ac pietatis studio, quae sunt nutrita, custodias. 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 of virtues, to Whom belongs every excellent things, implant in our hearts the love of Your Name, and bestow upon us the increase of religion, fostering what things are good, and, by Your loving care, guarding what You have fostered. 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, 19 July 2025 : 15th Week of Ordinary Time (Homily and Scripture Reflections)

Liturgical Colour : Green or White (Saturday Mass of Our Lady)

Dear brothers and sisters in Christ, today all of us are reminded through the readings of the Sacred Scriptures we have received, of the great love and providence which God has given to all of us His beloved and holy people. He does not leave us without any providence and help, but He always acts in the way that leads us all into the ultimate happiness and true satisfaction in Him, even when we may have to face a lot of trials and struggles in our paths. That is why we must always keep in mind this even when we go through hardships and when things and prospects are dark and not really promising for us, remembering that we always have God with us even when everything else, all of our worldly matters, things that we usually rely on, and other means fail us.

In our first reading today, we heard of the account from the Book of Exodus regarding the moment when the people of Israel, God’s first chosen people finally set off on their journey from the land of Egypt, exactly four hundred and thirty years after they had first set onto that land during the days of Jacob and his sons, Joseph and his brothers. Initially, Jacob and his family had relocated to Egypt upon the invitation of Joseph, who was sent by God ahead of his family and became the Regent of Egypt. And in time, over the next few centuries, God’s guidance and blessings were with their descendants, and they became a great nation living in the bounty of the wealth and prosperity of Egypt, up to the time when new generation of Pharaohs came to power and feared the Israelites and their numbers and might.

That was how the Israelites came to be oppressed and enslaved by the Egyptians as all of us are surely aware of, and for many years and even decades they suffered greatly at the hands of their slavemasters, and yet, God’s reassurance and faithfulness to the Covenant which He had made with their forefathers remained strong in the hearts and minds of the people of Israel. They all hoped for the coming of a deliverer, the one who would lead them out of the land of their misery and return them to the land of overflowing milk and honey, the Promised Land of Canaan, the land promised to Abraham, Isaac and Jacob, their ancestors. And God did fulfil all these, sending Moses, His servant, whom He entrusted with the power and authority, delivering Ten Great Plagues against Egypt, the Egyptians and their Pharaoh.

And after all those things had happened and passed, as we heard, the Israelites were finally let free to go as they wished, as the Pharaoh gave in to the pressure and all the devastations that he and the other Egyptians had faced for him having disobeyed God and hardened his heart throughout the plagues that happened earlier. And we heard the great joy that the people of God experienced, after tasting freedom and true joy once again after being enslaved for a long time. They went forth with great joy and jubilation, thanking God for everything that He had done for them, and all these served as reminders for each and every one of us of all the great things that God Himself had done for us.

Then, in our Gospel passage today, we heard from the Gospel according to St. Matthew the Apostle and Evangelist, the works of the Lord Jesus Christ, the One Whom God had promised to His people as the Saviour of all, and how His works and ministry in this world fulfilled everything that God had revealed and promised through the prophets particularly the prophet Isaiah, who spoke in detail and at length regarding the coming of the salvation of God. And we also heard at the same time the challenges and trials which the Lord faced from those who disagreed with Him and bitterly opposed Him because they refused to accept the truth and embrace what the Lord Himself had actually clearly revealed and shown to them through the many wonders and miracles that He had performed.

But the Lord continued with His works and ministry nonetheless regardless of those oppositions and challenges that He and His disciples had faced. He did not let all those things to deter or dissuade Him from reaching out to those whom He had been sent to, the lost sheep of the people of God, calling and gathering them all back towards God’s loving embrace and showing unto them the perfect manifestation of God’s love, giving them renewed hope and strength amidst the struggles and challenges of the world, and in fulfilling everything that the prophet Isaiah and the other prophets had said, in all the miracles, signs and wonders that this Messiah or Saviour would be performing, He reminded the people that God has always been with them just as He had been with their ancestors as He led them out of their slavery in Egypt.

Yes, brothers and sisters in Christ, in fact what happened during the time of the Exodus from Egypt to the Israelites was indeed a precursor and prefigurement of everything that God Himself would also do for everyone, for all of His beloved ones, all of us mankind, in delivering us all from the slavery and bondage to sin and darkness of evil, just as He has delivered the Israelites from their bondage and slavery to the Egyptians and their Pharaoh. And He did all these through His own mighty hands, delivering unto us His sure deliverance, promises and providence, which He did first of all through Moses to the Israelites, and then in a far greater way through His own Begotten Son to the whole entire world, in manifesting His perfect Love in the flesh.

Brothers and sisters in Christ, let us all therefore be thankful of everything that the Lord our most loving and compassionate God had done for us, in loving us all so consistently and persistently despite our waywardness and our lack of commitment to Him. Let us be inspired by His great and ever enduring love so that we ourselves may love Him in the same way as well, and strive to love one another in the same manner too. Let us all follow Him wholeheartedly from now on, dedicating our time and efforts to proclaim Him and His truth, His Good News and love to all those whom we encounter in our daily lives, now and always. Amen.