Liturgical Colour : Red
Psalm 122 : 1-2a, 2bcd
To You, I lift up my eyes; to You, Whose throne is in heaven. As the eyes of servants look to the hand of their master.
As the eyes of maids look to the hand of their mistress, so our eyes look to YHVH our God, till He shows us His mercy.
Liturgical Colour : Red
2 Timothy 1 : 1-3, 6-12
From Paul, Apostle of Christ Jesus, by the will of God, for the sake of His promise of eternal life, in Christ Jesus, to my dear son Timothy. May grace, mercy and peace be with you, from God, the Father, and Christ Jesus Our Lord.
I give thanks to God, Whom I serve with a clear conscience, the way my ancestors did, as I remember you constantly, day and night, in my prayers. For this reason, I invite you to fan into a flame, the gift of God you received, through the laying on of my hands. For God did not confer on us a spirit of fearfulness, but of strength, love and good judgment.
Do not be ashamed of testifying to Our Lord, nor of seeing me in chains. On the contrary, do your share in labouring for the Gospel, with the strength of God. He saved us and called us – a calling which proceeds from His holiness. This did not depend on our merits, but on His generosity and His own initiative.
This calling, given to us from all time, in Christ Jesus has just been manifested with the glorious appearance of Christ Jesus, Our Lord, Who destroyed death, and brought life and immortality to light, in His Gospel. Of this message, I was made herald, Apostle and teacher.
For its sake, I now suffer this trial, but I am not ashamed, for I know in Whom I have believed, and I am convinced, that He is capable of taking care of all I have entrusted to Him, until that day.
Liturgical Colour : Red
Dear brothers and sisters in Christ, today as we listened to the words of the Sacred Scriptures, we are all reminded that each and every one of us are called to a truly holy and worthy existence, one that is truly blessed by God, that in our every words, actions and deeds, in our every dealings and interactions with one another, we will always continue to do what is right according to what the Lord has taught and shown us. As Christians, that is as those who have professed our faith in the Lord and have embraced Him as our God and Saviour, each and every one of us must always be exemplary and inspirational in how we all carry out our actions throughout our respective lives. We must also be wary lest we may be tempted by those pleasures, coercions and temptations present all around us which may mislead us down the wrong path.
In our first reading today, we heard from the Epistle of St. Peter in which the Apostle spoke to the faithful regarding the need for all of them to follow the Lord and commit themselves to the path of Christian living, in doing what God has called them to do. This is because as St. Peter himself had explained and elaborated, all of us have shared in His divine nature and we are all indeed created in His image and likeness, and as His beloved children and chosen people, all of us truly should live our lives worthily and be holy just as our Lord Himself is holy. It is crucial that we must be Christians that are truly committed to God and truly genuine in our Christian living. Otherwise, we will end up being hypocrites and no better than unbelievers and pagans, if we do not truly live our lives in accordance to our faith.
Especially if we call ourselves as Christians and have known the way and the truth of God, and yet, we have allowed ourselves to be deluded and swayed by the evils of this world, by the corruptions of worldly pleasures and desires, all of which could lead us to actions that are contrary to God’s path and teachings. Many of our own predecessors have shown us of what could happen if we choose to follow those temptations and if we succumb to the forces of evil and darkness, to the temptations of power, glory and worldly comforts and pleasures. We cannot truly call ourselves as Christians if we have chosen this path, and not only that, but we may even scandalise our faith and sully the Holy Name of God and His Church, as many of our predecessors had done.
In our Gospel passage today, we then heard of the teaching that the Lord Jesus gave to His disciples through the parable of the evil tenants and the landowner of a field. In that parable, the Lord told His disciples about the story of how those evil tenants refused to pay their rental dues, and how they went to the great lengths even to resist the landowner and all the servants that he had sent to them to remind them of their obligations, going as far as to persecute the servants and to made their lives difficult, and finally, killing them, and lastly, even killing the son of the landowner, whom the latter had sent hoping that the evil tenants would listen to his son.
This parable was clearly referring to the way how the people of God treated His servants, the prophets and messengers of God and finally, His own beloved Son, Jesus Christ Himself. Therefore, the Lord was in fact making a premonition and predicting everything that He Himself would have to endure and to suffer from because of the stubbornness of those who continued to doubt Him and refusing to listen to Him and His words. Those evil tenants represent the people of this world, while the landowner himself represents God, Who had entrusted this world to us, and we are indeed His stewards and the guardians of His Creation. To each and every one of us He has entrusted to us this world with all of its obligations and responsibilities.
However, just as we have heard from the Gospel passage and the parable story, those evil tenants had grown greedy from their possession of the fields, and refused to give their dues, which represent our own human greed and inability to resist the temptations of worldly pleasures, glory, fame and ambition, all of which had dragged so many people into the path of ruin and destruction. Those people had refused to obey the Lord because their hearts and minds had been corrupted by the temptations of the world, and by the allures of the false pleasures and joys which deluded them into the wrong paths. As such, we are reminded that we should not follow this same path in our own lives. We are all again called to be holy just as the Lord is holy.
Today, the Church celebrates the Feast of St. Charles Lwanga and his companions in martyrdom, the Holy Martyrs of Uganda. St. Charles Lwanga himself was an important official in the Kingdom of Buganda in what is now part of Uganda, where the Christian missionaries had been active during the time of his life and martyrdom, proclaiming the Good News, truth and salvation in God to the people there who were then still mostly pagans. At the time, more and more people began to embrace the Christian faith, as well as abandoning the wicked practices of their past pagan beliefs and customs, and this brought about tension within the Kingdom, between those who still upheld the pagan ways and those who have embraced the Christian faith.
The then King of Buganda ordered the massacre of Christian missionaries and persecutions of Christians throughout his domain. He was also infamously renowned for his immoral behaviours and actions, which led to St. Charles Lwanga, who had secretly converted to the Christian faith, to take many of the Christian converts under his protection, finding ways to hide them from the persecutions by the authorities. St. Charles Lwanga also spread the faith among the people, teaching quite a few of them about the Lord and the Christian faith, and not few were baptised by him and the other missionaries. Eventually, this led to him suffering for his actions and courage in defending his faith.
St. Charles Lwanga stood by his faith and refused to renounce his faith when confronted by the King who ordered that all of his servants and court pages to renounce Christianity if they had become a convert to the faith. Thus, St. Charles Lwanga and others who have embraced the Lord were put to great sufferings and torture, and was eventually martyred by burning at the stake at the site of Namugongo, where a great Basilica and church now stands, marking the place where these faithful servants of God committed themselves to the very end, against the temptations of worldly comforts and glory, and chose to side with the Lord, His truth and love.
Through the examples and the inspirations from the story of the Holy Ugandan Martyrs, St. Charles Lwanga and his many companions in martyrdom, let us all therefore live our lives from now on to the fullest, in the best way possible as those who are committed to the Lord, devoting ourselves in each and every moments to glorify the Lord by our lives, to live in a holy and worthy way so that by our every actions, deeds and interactions with one another, we may always truly proclaim the Lord at all times, and be the shining beacons of His light, truth, love and Good News in this world, as we have all been called to do.
May the Lord continue to bless us all in all of our every good works, efforts and endeavours. May He empower each and every one of us so that by our good examples and actions, we will continue to shine forth with the light of faith, helping many around us to come to the fullness of God’s love and grace. May God be with us all, His beloved people, His Church and flock. Amen.
Liturgical Colour : Red
Mark 12 : 1-12
At that time, using parables, Jesus went on to say, “A man planted a vineyard, put a fence around it, dug a hole for the wine press and built a watch tower. Then he leased the vineyard to tenants and went abroad. In due time he sent a servant to receive from the tenants his share of the fruit. But they seized the servant, struck him and sent him back empty-handed.”
“Again the man sent another servant. They also struck him on the head and treated him shamefully. He sent another and they killed him. In the same way they treated many others : some they beat up and others they killed. One was still left, his beloved son. And so, last of all, he sent him to the tenants, for he said, “They will respect my son.”
“But those tenants said to one another, ‘This is the one who is to inherit the vineyard. Let us kill him and the property will be ours.’ So they seized him and killed him, and threw him out of the vineyard. Now what will the owner of the vineyard do? He will come and destroy those tenants and give the vineyard to others.”
And Jesus added, “Have you not read this text of the Scriptures : The stone which the builders rejected has become the keystone; this is the Lord’s doing, and we marvel at it?”
They wanted to arrest Him, for they realised that Jesus meant this parable for them, but they were afraid of the crowd; so they left Him and went away.
Liturgical Colour : Red
Psalm 90 : 1-2, 14-15ab, 15c-16
You, who dwell in the shelter of the Most High, who rest in the shadow of the Almighty, say to YHVH, “My Stronghold, my Refuge, my God in Whom I trust!”
“Because they cling to Me, I will rescue them,” says YHVH. “I will protect those who know My Name. When they call to Me, I will answer; in time of trouble, I will be with them.
“I will deliver and honour them. I will satisfy them with long life; and show them My salvation.”
Liturgical Colour : Red
2 Peter 1 : 2-7
May grace and peace abound in you, through the knowledge of God and of Jesus, Our Lord. His divine power has given us everything we need for life and piety. First, the knowledge of the One Who called us through His own glory and Might, by which we were given the most extraordinary and precious promises. Through them, you share in the divine nature, after repelling the corruption and evil desires of this world.
So, strive with the greatest determination, and increase your faith, with goodness, goodness with knowledge, knowledge with moderation, moderation with constancy, constancy with piety, piety with mutual affection, mutual affection with charity.
Liturgical Colour : Red
Dear brothers and sisters in Christ, today the readings from the Sacred Scriptures remind us that all of us are Christians must always be firmly established in our faith in God, as we are called to live a most worthy and wholesome life, in each and every moments of our lives, as God’s disciples and followers. As those who believe in the Lord, we are all expected to put our trust and faith in Him, and strive to do whatever we can so that by our exemplary commitments and devotion to God, we may always continue to do His will and to carry out whatever missions that He has entrusted to us even amidst all the challenges and trials that we may have to face in our lives and in our journey as faithful Christians, that is as holy and beloved people of God.
In our first reading today, we listened from the Epistle of St. Jude in which St. Jude the Apostle exhorted all the faithful people of God to live worthily and truly obedient to God’s will and Law, walking in the path which He has shown and taught us to do. St. Jude also spoke of the need for all the faithful to build their lives upon the foundation of God, and to do all of their actions and to base their whole lives upon the compassion and love of God, to show love in their whole lives so that by their every words, actions and deeds, they may indeed show that they truly belong to the Lord and are truly His disciples and followers in all things, not merely in words and formality only.
The Lord calls upon His disciples through this exhortation by St. Jude, including that of all of us that we must always strive to live our lives in the most Christ-like manner, in our desire to keep away from all sins and evils, from all the temptations of worldly pleasures and all the other things that often misled many people to their downfall and destruction. Each and every one of us are reminded that we must indeed be holy just like our Lord is all holy and perfect, or else we are hypocrites and we may sully and slander the goodness and holiness of His Name and Presence. Many people have been scandalised and put off from embracing the Christian faith precisely because of the wicked attitudes and behaviours of some of our fellow Christians, if not we ourselves.
Then, in our Gospel passage today, we heard from the Gospel of St. Mark where the Lord Jesus was faced with disapproval and questioning from the chief priests who questioned Him and interrogated Him about His activities and works, which they disapproved of and refused to accept and embrace. They also did the same with St. John the Baptist, the Herald of the Lord, the one who went before Him to prepare His way. The chief priests and the Pharisees also went to St. John the Baptist, questioning him of his authenticity and the authority behind which he had performed all of his works and conducted all of his teachings and ministry. All these were because what the Lord and St. John the Baptist had done were not in accordance with what the chief priests had upheld and preferred.
This was where the Lord pointed out firmly to those chief priests that whatever He and St. John the Baptist had done were indeed sanctioned by God, and were Divine in origin. He challenged those chief priests and Pharisees to answer if the works and actions of St. John the Baptist, who was also highly esteemed like the Lord among the Jewish community, whether his works were human or Divine in origin. Those chief priests and those who opposed the Lord could not answer that challenge because they were afraid of the crowd and the people, and it showed just how shallow their accusations and oppositions against the Lord were. They opposed the Lord and His disciples and servants because they thought that they were better and more worthy, as the bearers and keepers of the Law, looking down on those who did not follow their path.
But this is also an important reminder for all of us that just as the Lord Himself has faced a lot of hardships and opposition in His work and ministry, therefore we can expect to face similar hardships and opposition as well. We must also remember how those chief priests were swayed by the temptations of worldly glory and power, by their jealousy against the Lord and St. John the Baptist, seeing how many of the people chose to flock to the two of them rather than following the path of the chief priests and the Pharisees. They opposed the Lord and His servants because they feared losing their prestige, influence and privileges in the community, and this led them to disobey and sin against God. This is what we must be vigilant against, and we must not allow ourselves to be swayed in the same manner.
Today, the Church celebrates the Feast of St. Justin, also known St. Justin Martyr, who was one of the early Church fathers and one of the Christian martyrs, whose faith and dedication to the Lord has been very inspiring to many people throughout time and history. St. Justin was born into a Greek family at the region of Samaria in the Holy Land according to Apostolic and Church tradition, and he was likely a convert to the Christian faith as his family had a pagan background and history. It was told that an old Syrian Christian whom he encountered on a seashore and the dialogues that St. Justin had with the old man convinced him to believe in God, having heard of the truth and the glory of God that the old Christian man spoke with great zeal and fervour, and thus that was how St. Justin became a Christian.
St. Justin was then involved in extensive missionary activities, going to various places to proclaim the Lord and His truth, His Good News and salvation, and as a renowned philosopher in his own right, he would also establish his own philosophy school in Rome, where according to the Church traditions, he was involved in debates and disputations with the local pagan philosophers, one of whom denounced him to the Roman authorities. Thus, that was how St. Justin ended up being arrested, made to endure sufferings and eventually was martyred for his faith in the Lord. But to the very end, St. Justin remained firmly faithful to the Lord, and just as his whole life had been, St. Justin committed himself thoroughly to the Lord, and through his many works, writings and his own martyrdom, he inspired countless Christians who were his contemporaries, and those who came after him, even to this day.
Brothers and sisters in Christ, as we listened to the great example and faith showed to us by St. Justin Martyr, let us all reflect upon our own lives and actions. Let us all look at how we have lived our lives as Christians, as God’s beloved and holy people. Have we truly dedicated and committed ourselves to the Lord, following Him with all our heart and with all our might? Or have we instead been idle and ignorant of our calling and the various missions which the Lord had entrusted to us? All of us are reminded today through the readings of the Sacred Scriptures and through the life and example of St. Justin Martyr that we must always have a genuine, living and active faith in the Lord, and we must always be ready to commit ourselves to Him, and be prepared for the challenges and sufferings that we may have to endure in the midst of our lives and journey in faith.
May the Lord continue to bless each and every one of us, and may He empower us all to be His ever faithful and worthy followers, so that in everything that we say and do, we will always do our very best to live our lives as good and worthy Christians, persevering amidst the many challenges and difficulties that we may have to face in our daily lives and journey as the faithful people of God. Let us all continue to go forth with faith and conviction, with the strength and guidance of God to guide our path. May God bless our every good works, efforts and endeavours, now and always. Amen.
Liturgical Colour : Red
Mark 11 : 27-33
At that time, Jesus and His disciples were once again in Jerusalem. As Jesus was walking in the Temple, the chief priests, the teachers of the Law and the elders came to Him, and asked, “What authority do You have to act like this? Who gave You authority to do the things You do.”
Jesus said to them, “I will ask you a question, only one, and if you give me an answer, then I will tell you what authority I have to act like this. Was John’s preaching and baptism a work of God, or was it merely something human? Answer Me.”
And they kept arguing among themselves, “If we answer that it was a work of God, He will say, ‘Why then did you not believe him?’” But neither could they answer before the people that the baptism of John was merely something human, for everyone regarded John as a prophet. So they answered Jesus, “We do not know.” And Jesus said to them, “Neither will I tell you what authority I have to act as I do.”
Liturgical Colour : Red
Psalm 62 : 2abc, 2d-4, 5-6, 8-9
O God, You are my God, it is You I seek; for You my body longs and my soul thirsts.
As a dry and weary land without water. Thus have I gazed upon You in the Sanctuary, to see Your power and Your glory. Your love is better than life, my lips will glorify You.
I will praise You as long as I live, lift up my hands and call on Your Name. As with the richest food, my soul will feast; my mouth will praise You with joyful lips.
For You have been my help; I sing in the shadow of Your wings. My soul clings to You; Your right hand upholds me.
Liturgical Colour : Red
Jude 17 : 20b-25
But, most beloved, remember what the Apostles of Christ Jesus, Our Lord, announced to you. Build your life on the foundation of your most holy faith, praying in the Holy Spirit. Remain firm, in the love of God, welcoming the mercy of Jesus Christ, Our Lord, which leads to eternal life.
Try to convince those who doubt; others you will save, snatching them from condemnation. Treat the others with compassion, but also with prudence, shunning even the clothes that touched their body. To the one God, Who is able to keep you from all sin, and bring you, happy and without blemish before His own glory, to the one God, Who saves us, through Jesus Christ, Our Lord, to Him be glory, honour, might and power, from past ages, now and forever. Amen.
petercanisiusmichaeldavidkang 