Liturgical Colour : Green or Red (Martyrs)
Psalm 88 : 20, 21-22, 27-28
In the past, You spoke in a vision; You said of Your faithful servant : “I have set the crown upon a mighty one; on one chosen from the people.”
I have found David My servant, and, with My holy oil, I have anointed him. My hand will be ever with him; and My arm will sustain him.
He will call on Me, “You are my Father, my God, my Rock, my Saviour.” I will make him the firstborn, the highest of the kings of the earth.
Liturgical Colour : Green or Red (Martyrs)
1 Samuel 16 : 1-13
YHVH asked Samuel, “How long will you be grieving over Saul whom I have rejected as king of Israel? Fill your horn with oil and be on your way to Jesse the Bethlehemite, for I have chosen My king from among his sons.”
Samuel asked, “How can I go? If Saul hears of this, he will kill me!” YHVH replied, “Take a heifer with you and say, ‘I have come to sacrifice to YHVH.’ Invite Jesse to the sacrifice and I will let you know what to do next. You shall anoint for Me the one I point out to you.”
Samuel did what YHVH commanded and left for Bethlehem. When he appeared, the elders of the city came to him asking, fearfully, “Do you bring us peace?” Samuel replied, “I come in peace; I am here to sacrifice to YHVH. Cleanse yourselves and join me in the sacrifice.” He also had Jesse and his sons cleansed and invited them to the sacrifice.
As they came, Samuel looked at Eliab the older and thought, “This must be YHVH’s anointed.” But YHVH told Samuel, “Do not judge by his looks or his stature for I have rejected him. YHVH does not judge as man judges; humans see with the eyes; YHVH sees the heart.”
Jesse called his son Abinadab and presented him to Samuel who said, “YHVH has not chosen this one either.” Jesse presented Shammah and Samuel said, “Nor has YHVH chosen this one.” Jesse presented seven of his sons to Samuel who said, “YHVH has chosen none of them. But are all your sons here?”
Jesse replied, “There is still the youngest, tending the flock just now.” Samuel said to him, “Send for him and bring him to me; we shall not sit down to eat until he arrives.” So Jesse sent for his youngest son and brought him to Samuel. He was a handsome lad with a ruddy complexion and beautiful eyes. And YHVH spoke, “Go, anoint him for he is the one.”
Samuel then took the horn of oil and anointed him in his brothers’ presence. From that day onwards, YHVH’s Spirit took hold of David. Then Samuel left for Ramah.
Liturgical Colour : White
Dear brothers and sisters in Christ, today as we all listened to the words of the Sacred Scriptures, each and every one of us are reminded that God chose not the proud and the haughty, but He sees the hearts and minds of those whom He has called and chosen. But in the end, it is really up to us how we respond to the Lord in what He has called us to do, as He has also given us all the means and the abilities, the opportunities and all the chances for all of us to make good of everything that we have been called to do in our respective lives. In our own distinct and unique vocations in life, all of us should always realise that we should use those gifts that God has provided to us for the common good of all those around us and in being good role models for all.
In our first reading today, taken from the Book of the prophet Samuel, we heard about the moment when Samuel went to look for the man whom God had chosen to be the new king for His people, the Israelites, that was Saul from the tribe of Benjamin. Saul was great in physical appearance and stature although he hailed from the least of the families of the smallest tribe of the Israelites, the tribe of Benjamin. God chose that man to become the leader over all of His people and Samuel was sent to seek for him so that Saul could be anointed as the King of Israel just as the people fervently and stubbornly demanded earlier on as we heard yesterday in the passage from the same Book of the prophet Samuel.
And Samuel did encounter Saul and sought him where God had led him to, and God revealed to Samuel the man that He had willed and chosen to be this worthy man to take up the leadership over the people of Israel. That was indeed how the days of the kings began in Israel. Surely since we all should know how Saul behaved as king later on in his life, we may be wondering if God had made a mistake in choosing Saul. But then we must also realise and understand that God does not make mistakes in His actions and in everything that He does. Instead, what happens is such that God gives each one of us the free will and the freedom to choose our course of actions and way of living our lives, and that applied to Saul and his actions as king as well.
It is God Who chose men and women to do unique things in their lives, according to the respective gifts, talents and opportunities which He had provided to them. God gives us all the free will and all the freedom to choose what we are to do with these gifts, talents and opportunities, but ideally, we should do what the Lord has gently nudged us to do, in our every moments in life, even in the smallest and seemingly least significant things. The question is now then, are we all willing to listen to the Lord and to pay attention to what He has told us and revealed to us? This is a timely reminder for all of us that we, as God’s holy and beloved people, should always strive to do what is truly good and worthy in the Presence of God and our fellow mankind alike.
Then, from our Gospel passage today, taken from the Gospel according to St. Mark the Evangelist, we heard of the moment when the Lord Jesus went to call the disciple known as Levi. Levi was a tax collector, which profession at the time were often considered as greedy and self-serving, and not few even treated the tax collectors badly because they were seen as traitors and collaborators to the Roman regime and rule, for their actions and works in collecting the taxes on behalf of these rulers, and some of them might have been corrupt as well, pocketing some of the taxes for their own benefits. And yet, despite all these and other prejudices surrounding the tax collectors, the Lord Jesus did not consider them in whom He called to be His disciples.
Indeed, the Lord called His disciples from the most questionable origins by the standards of the time and even today. He called the illiterate, poor fishermen, tax collectors, intellectuals, a zealot that rebelled against Roman authority among others to be His disciples and followers. Through this, we are shown that the Lord does not have prejudices or favourites of any kind, and everyone are equally precious and beloved to Him, all are called to God’s loving Presence. For the case of Levi, that tax collector left behind everything that he did, his past life and works, becoming a great disciple and one day, he became one of the writers of the Four Holy Gospels as St. Matthew, Holy Apostle and Evangelist.
Brothers and sisters in Christ, the Lord has laid out His path and His graces upon us, and the choice is now ours whether we want to embrace Him and journey together with Him, or else, if we rather choose the comforts of the world and the temptations of glory and power. And we can also imitate and follow upon the good examples and works set by one famous saint and Church father, St. Anthony the Abbot, also known as the St. Anthony the Great, who was one of the earliest monastics of the Church, and living in the land rampant with bitter persecutions and hardships by the Roman authorities. Modelled by the examples of some others who lived a similar lifestyle like St. Paul the Hermit, St. Anthony devoted himself wholeheartedly to the Lord, spending his every living moments and breaths to glorify God by their work. He had to face a lot of struggles, but St. Anthony remained faithful and patient.
For example, it was well known that the devil and other demons often came to torment St. Anthony, lifting him up and tempting him with all sorts of false and empty promises. He was under constant attacks from the evil one, and had to contend with the sufferings of this world as well as the pressures for us to conform and follow the ways of the world. Nonetheless, St. Anthony remained firm and strong in his faith, ministering to the needs of his community and other people who desired to seek the Lord and His forgiveness and grace. Through his inspirational works, he has become our great model in how we should live our own lives, in being faithful and committed to God, and his writings inspired generations of good and holy priests, and holy people of God. The question is that, are we willing to spend the time and effort for us to change our ways for the better? The choice is ours alone.
Brothers and sisters in Christ, as we have reflected from the passages from the Sacred Scriptures, and as we have heard from the examples in the life of St. Anthony the Abbot, let us all hence realise that all of us are called to specific purposes and meaning in life, in each and every one of our actions in life. We are all partakers of the mission of the Church of God, in reaching out to more and more people all around us, to all those whom we encounter in life, so that by our every actions, words and deeds, we will become good source of inspiration and hope, good role models for everyone around us. And that is how we can fulfil more of the missions which our Lord has entrusted to us.
May the Lord our most loving and compassionate God continue to guide us in life, encouraging and strengthening us so that by our trust and hope in Him, God will continue to support us all through even the most challenging and difficult moments, giving us all the courage to bear through them with perseverance and faith. Let us all be the worthy bearers of God’s truth and Good News, in our hope in His love and compassion at all times, now and forevermore. Amen.
Liturgical Colour : White
Mark 2 : 13-17
At that time, when Jesus went out again, beside the lake, a crowd came to Him, and He taught them. As He walked along, He saw a tax collector sitting in his office. This was Levi, the son of Alpheus. Jesus said to him, “Follow Me!” And Levi got up and followed Him.
And it so happened that, when Jesus was eating in Levi’s house, tax collectors and sinners sat with Him and His disciples; there were a lot of them, and they used to follow Jesus. But Pharisees, men educated in the Law, when they saw Jesus eating with sinners and tax collectors, said to His disciples, “Why does your Master eat and drink with tax collectors and sinners?”
Jesus heard them, and answered, “Healthy people do not need a doctor, but sick people do. I did not come to call the righteous, but sinners.”
Liturgical Colour : White
Psalm 20 : 2-3, 4-5, 6-7
The king rejoices in Your strength, o YHVH, and exults in Your saving help. You have granted him his desire; You have not rejected his request.
You have come to him with rich blessings; You have placed a golden crown upon his head. When he asked, You gave him life – length of days forever and ever.
He glories in the victory You gave him; You shall bestow on him splendour and majesty. You have given him eternal blessings, and gladdened him with the joy of Your presence.
Liturgical Colour : White
1 Samuel 9 : 1-4, 17-19 and 1 Samuel 10 : 1a
There was a man from the tribe of Benjamin whose name was Kish. He was the son of Abiel, son of Zeror, son of Becorath, son of Aphiah, a valiant Benjaminite. Kish had a son named Saul, a handsome young man who had no equal among the Israelites, for he was a head taller than any of them.
It happened that the asses of Kish were lost. So he said to his son Saul, “Take one of the boys with you and go look for the asses.” They went all over the hill country of Ephraim and the land of Shalishah but did not find them. They passed through the land of Shaalim and the land of Benjamin, but the asses were nowhere to be found.
So, when Samuel saw Saul, YHVH told him, “Here is the man I spoke to you about! He shall rule over My people.” Saul approached Samuel in the gateway and said, “Tell me, where is the house of the seer?” Samuel answered Saul, “I am the seer. Go up ahead of me to the high place, for today you shall eat with me. In the morning, before you leave, I will tell you all that is in your heart.”
Then Samuel took a vial of oil and poured it on Saul’s head.
Liturgical Colour : Green or White (Saints)
Dear brothers and sisters in Christ, today as we all gather together to reflect upon the words of the Lord that we have received from the Scriptures, we are reminded that all of us should put our faith and trust in the Lord, and we should always strive to obey Him and His words, His will, His Law and commandments. We should not do things in the manner that we decide by our own whim or ambition, or else it may likely cause difficulties and for us to lose our path and way amidst all the trials, challenges and obstacles that we may encounter in our respective paths in life. God has called on each one of us to follow Him and to trust in Him, to trust in His words and providence. God will never fail us and if we put our trust instead in worldly things, sooner or later we will realise that we will be disappointed by that decision.
In our first reading today, we heard from the Book of the prophet Samuel in which the story of how the Israelites went to battle against their great enemy, the Philistines, was told to us. We also heard how the Israelites were desperate after their defeats and tried to gain favour and advantage by bringing the Ark of the Covenant from Shiloh where it has been kept to the battlefield. In that occasion, we also heard of the two sons of Eli who was Judge of Israel, in which those two likely led the forces of the Israelites into battle as Eli was already very old at that time. For the context, Eli’s two sons, Hophni and Phinehas who led the Israelites in battle were wicked in their ways and actions, unbecoming of their position as priests and leaders of the people of God.
Those two were priests serving the people of God and yet, they kept the best of the people’s offerings for themselves while offering what were inferior to God, in contradiction to what the Lord had commanded them as His priests to do. This and other violations of the Law, and their wicked deeds have indeed been found wanting by God, and as such, just as we heard, the Philistines defeated the Israelites even as they brought their Ark of the Covenant with them, and those two wicked sons of Eli were slain. This was indeed a just retribution to all the wickedness and the sins which they had committed against God and His people alike, which led not just to the defeat of the Israelites but also the humiliating loss and hostage of their most precious Ark of the Covenant.
Then, from our Gospel passage today, taken from the Gospel according to St. Mark the Evangelist, we heard of the moment when a man suffering from leprosy came towards the Lord and asked Him to heal him, and it happened indeed that the Lord miraculously healed the man from his leprosy. At the same time, He also left strict instruction to the healed leper that he should immediately go to see the priest as prescribed by the Law of Moses and traditions, that he might be certified as being clean and healed from leprosy such that he might return back to the community. Back then, those who suffered from leprosy were not allowed to remain in the community and had to wander off in the wilderness, which was a result of the rules and laws that were practiced since the time of the Exodus when the Israelites were living in very close proximity to each other.
Therefore, those who suffered from leprosy and other contagious diseases were forced to leave the community until they were cured of the symptoms. And unlike what we may know about leprosy today, back then, all sorts of skin diseases were known and mentioned together as ‘leprosy’ and some were caused by fungal infection that were easily spread through direct or indirect contact, and were eventually curable. Regardless of what the man had actually suffered from, what mattered was that he sought help from the Lord and believed that He was able to heal him and make him to be rid of whatever it was that afflicted him. For that faith, he has been healed and made completely well again, and he must have indeed been very jubilant over it.
However, when the Lord instructed the man to not speak about the matter and the healing to anyone at all, he disobeyed the Lord and did not do as the Lord asked of him to do. But why is it that the Lord Jesus was so adamant about the man not letting anyone know about the way how he was healed by Jesus? That is likely because of various reasons, first of all the disease of leprosy being considered as taboo and unclean, and the fact that the leper had come to the Lord when he was still diseased would have made it taboo as well for the people to come near to the Lord, and hence, this led to difficulties in the Lord’s ministry, not considering also the oppositions and the unhappiness that the Lord faced from the Temple authorities, the chief priests and the Pharisees among others.
Today, the Church also celebrates the Feast of St. Paul the Hermit, also known by his epithet of St. Paul of Thebes. He lived during the third and fourth century in what was then Roman Egypt and reputedly lived through a long life, more than a century long and most of that long life was spent in a life of seclusion as a hermit, as one of the earliest known desert fathers, pre-dating even the more well-known St. Anthony the Abbot. It was told according to his hagiography that he and his sister lost their parents early on in their lives and their relatives cheated them out of their inheritance. Not only that but in his youth, St. Paul the Hermit had to face the effects of the intense persecution of Christians by the Roman Emperor Decius and his successor, Emperor Valerian. Consequently, he fled to the desert and lived in seclusion for quite a number of years in the beginning, but eventually he remained there for the rest of his life.
According to the same legend and hagiography, a raven would come each day bringing him food and provision, and St. Paul the Hermit remained in that life of seclusion, dedicated completely to prayer and meditation, inspiring others especially those who sought deeper relationship with God, purpose in life and disillusionment with earthly and worldly ambitions, desires and pursuits to come and follow his example. And as one of the first, if not the first person who adopted this kind of lifestyle, he was also known as ‘the first monk’, and his great personal holiness and piety served as an inspiration to many people long after he passed away. And while what he had done and chosen with his life is certainly not what most of us would ever consider, but we can indeed be inspired by the great commitment that this holy man of God had in focusing his attention wholly on the Lord.
Brothers and sisters in Christ, therefore, as we reflect upon the life and examples of St. Paul the Hermit, and also upon the readings of the Scriptures that we have received today, let us all seek to obey the Lord in all things, in obeying His will and in embracing what He has commanded and entrusted to us to do. Let us therefore be good and genuine Christians in all things, not just in words, but also in our every actions and deeds. May God bless our every good works and endeavours, now and forevermore. Amen.
Liturgical Colour : Green or White (Saints)
Mark 1 : 40-45
A leper came to Jesus and begged Him, “If You want to, You can make me clean.” Moved with pity, Jesus stretched out His hand and touched him, saying, “I do want to; be clean.”
The leprosy left the man at once and he was made clean. As Jesus sent the man away, He sternly warned him, “Do not tell anyone about this, but go and show yourself to the priest; and for the cleansing, bring the offering ordered by Moses in this way, you will give to them your testimony.”
However, as soon as the man went out, he began spreading the news everywhere, so that Jesus could no longer openly enter any town. But even though He stayed in the rural areas, people came to Him from everywhere.
Liturgical Colour : Green or White (Saints)
Psalm 43 : 10-11, 14-15, 24-25
Yet now, You have rejected and humbled us; You no longer go forth with our armies. You have let our enemies drive us back and our adversaries plunder us.
You have made us the butt of our neighbours’ insult, the scorn and laughingstock of those around us. You have made us a byword among the nations; they look at us and shake their heads.
Awake, o Lord! Why are You asleep? Arise! Reject us not forever. Why hide Your face from us? Why forget our misery and woes?
Liturgical Colour : Green or White (Saints)
1 Samuel 4 : 1-11
At that time Samuel was a prophet of Israel. The Israelites went out to battle against the Philistines. They encamped at Ebenezer, while the Philistines encamped at Aphek. The Philistines then drew up in battle formation. They attacked Israel and after a fierce fighting, Israel was defeated, leaving about four thousand men dead on the battlefield.
When the troops retreated to their camp, the elders of Israel asked, “Why has YHVH allowed us to be defeated by the Philistines? Let us take the Ark of God from Shiloh and bring it here so that YHVH may be with us and save us from our enemies.” So the people sent messengers to Shiloh to take the Ark of YHVH Who is seated on the Cherubim. Eli’s two sons, Hophni and Phinehas, accompanied the Ark.
As soon as the Ark of YHVH entered the camp, the Israelites began to cheer so loudly that the earth resounded. The Philistines heard the shouting and asked, “What does this loud shout in the camp of the Hebrews mean?” And they were told that the Ark of YHVH had been brought to the camp.
The Philistines were overcome with fear. They exclaimed, “A God has come into the camp. Woe to us! For nothing like this has happened before. Woe to us! Who can save us from the power of these mighty Gods? These are the Gods Who struck the Egyptians with all sorts of plagues – and in the desert. Take courage and conduct yourselves like men, o Philistines, lest you become slaves to the Hebrews in the same way they have been slaves to you. Be manly and fight.”
So the Philistines fought and Israel was defeated. Everyone fled to his home. It was a disastrous defeat; thirty thousand foot soldiers of Israel were killed. The Ark of God was captured and the two sons of Eli, Hophni and Phinehas, were slain.
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