Saints

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Monday, 7 August 2023 : 18th Week of Ordinary Time, Memorial of Pope St. Sixtus II, Pope and Martyr, and Companions, Martyrs, and St. Cajetan, Priest (First Reading)

Liturgical Colour : Green or Red (Martyrs) or White (Priests)

Numbers 11 : 4b-15

The Israelites wept and said, “Who will give us meat to eat? We remember the fish we ate without cost in Egypt, the cucumbers, the melons, the leeks, the onions and garlic. Now our appetite is gone; there is nothing to look at, nothing but manna.”

Now the manna was like coriander seed and had the appearance of bedellium. The people went about gathering it up and then ground it between millstones or pounded it in a mortar. They boiled it in a pot and made cakes with it which tasted like cakes made with oil. As soon as dew fell at night in the camp, the manna came with it.

Moses heard the people crying, family by family at the entrance to their tent and YHVH became very angry. This displeased Moses. Then Moses said to YHVH, “Why have You treated Your servant so badly? Is it because You do not love me that You burdened me with this people? Did I conceive all these people and did I give them birth?”

“And now You want me to carry them in my bosom as a nurse carries an infant, to the land You promised on oath to their fathers? Where would I get meat for all these people, when they cry to me saying :’Give us meat that we may eat?'”

“I cannot, myself alone, carry all these people; the burden is too heavy for me. Kill me rather than treat me like this, I beg of You, if You look kindly on me, and let me not see Your anger.”

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Sunday, 6 August 2023 : Feast of the Transfiguration of the Lord (Homily and Scripture Reflections)

Liturgical Colour : White

Dear brothers and sisters in Christ, on this Sunday, we celebrate the occasion of the Feast of the Transfiguration of the Lord, celebrating and rejoicing at the occasion when Our Lord Jesus Christ, the Saviour of the whole entire world, Son of Man and Son of God, was transfigured, that is transformed in His being and appearance, to reveal to the three of His closest disciples at Mount Tabor, His true nature and His intentions to all of us. When the Lord revealed Himself in all of His glory that day, accompanied by Moses and Elijah, two very well renowned figures from the Old Testament, He laid bare everything that He had planned from the very beginning, the plan to save all of us mankind, His beloved ones, from the certain destruction and hardships, the sufferings due for us due to our wickedness, disobedience and sins.

In our first reading today, taken from the Book of the prophet Daniel, we heard of the account of the heavenly vision that Daniel received regarding two figures, One was named as the One of Great Age, while the other One was named as the Son of Man. This vision of Heaven and all of God’s glory clearly indicated and revealed to all of us of the true nature of the Messiah or the Saviour that had been long awaited by the people of God. Why is that so? That is because in the heavenly vision of Daniel, he saw not just God in all of His majesty, glory and power, but he also witnessed and saw the Son of God, the One Who would be sent into the world to be the One through Whom God would fulfil and exercise His plan to save all of His beloved ones, in Jesus Christ, His Son, Our Lord and Saviour.

Daniel saw how the One of Great Age, Who is the Father, granting dominion, power and authority to the Son of Man, His beloved and begotten Son, Jesus Christ, Son of God, to be the One to establish anew the Eternal and New Covenant with each and every one of us, and to bring forth unto us the long-awaited salvation and liberation from all the tyranny and dominion of sin and evil. Kingship and dominion have been granted to Him, the One to be born as the Son and Heir of David, so that God might indeed fulfil the promises He made to David, how the House of David and his throne would last forever. This is because Christ Himself, Who has embraced our humanity and being born into this world, is to become its King and Master, the Lord over all universe and Creation, to reign over us all forevermore.

In our second reading, we then heard from St. Peter the Apostle in his Epistle, who wrote about the experience of the Transfiguration, in which he himself and the other two of the Apostles, St. James and St. John, personally experienced at Mount Tabor. He spoke of the experiences that they had, when their Lord and Master was transformed before their very own eyes, revealing His divinity and power, that He was not just mere man like any others, or like any other prophets and servants of God in the past, but that He is a Being far greater than any others, even as compared to Moses and Elijah who had also made an appearance at the moment of the Transfiguration. Jesus Christ, the Transfigured Lord and Messiah, was indeed not just a mere Man, but also God Himself in the flesh.

This is exactly what our Christian faith truly believes in, in the central tenet of belief in the person of Jesus Christ, as our Lord and Saviour, He Who is both Son of God and Son of Man, having two distinct, unique and yet inseparable natures united in His one Person, with two Natures, both Divine and Human, being distinct and yet inseparably united in a perfect union of love in the Person of Jesus, the Transfigured Lord and Messiah. The Transfiguration of the Lord is therefore a revelation of Who the Lord Jesus truly is, and what His agenda and will is for us, what His ministry and works entailed for us, in all that He would do for the sake of our salvation and liberation from the tyranny of sin and death. And at the same time, His glorious Transfiguration is also a premonition and prefigurement of what will happen to us at the end of days, if we remain truly faithful to Him and stay on His path.

In our Gospel passage, detailing for us the events of the Transfiguration at Mount Tabor, we are brought to focus our attention on the moment when the Lord appeared in all of His Divine glory with Moses and Elijah, who as mentioned were very famous and important figures of the Old Testament. First of all, Moses was the leader of the Israelites during the time of the Exodus from Egypt and also the journey of the Israelites towards the land of Canaan, the Promised Land. Moses was the one who received the Ten Commandments and the Law of God, and hence he represented the Law of God, which God revealed and passed down to all of us, His people, to help lead and guide us all to the right path. His appearance before the Lord Jesus Christ at the moment of His glorious Transfiguration served to highlight that the Lord Jesus came to fulfil and perfect the Law which God has given us, to explain and to reveal the true meaning and intentions behind the Law that God has so generously provided for us.

Not only that, but Moses also represented the role that Christ Himself would do, in the former’s foreshadowing of the Latter by his leadership in bringing the whole people of Israel out of the land of their slavery in Egypt, and by whose works and hands, God led His people out of the land of their suffering and misery, and even brought them through the Red Sea, opening the very sea itself before them and crushing the forces of the Pharaoh and the Egyptians sent to chase after them. In the same manner, the Lord Jesus as the Saviour of all and as our Eternal High Priest has led us all mankind, God’s beloved ones, to go out from and leave behind the state of our enslavement and domination by sin. Through His Son, Whom He has sent into the world, God led us all by hand, to go out from the darkness and enter into the new Light of His Presence and truth.

He led us all by His suffering, death and Resurrection, and through the water of baptism, that just like the Israelites who have crossed the Red Sea from slavery in Egypt into their freedom, we may all pass from the darkness and slavery of sin and death, into the Light of God and His salvation and grace, to be reunited with Him and to be wholly reconciled through the forgiveness of our many sins, which Christ Himself had atoned for us through the outpouring and perfect offering of His Most Precious Body and Blood. Thus, God is leading all of us, His beloved ones, out of the darkness of sin, to enter once again into the great light and purity of heart, mind and soul which we have always been intended to be, and one that is represented and shown to us by our Lord’s own Transfiguration. That Transfiguration shows us what each and all of us mankind are always meant to be, to be glorified and worthy of God, full of God’s grace and light, and free from the darkness of sin and evil.

Then, the appearance of Elijah before the Lord highlighted the fact that Elijah was often considered both by his contemporaries and others in the later eras as the greatest and the most prominent of all of God’s prophets and messengers. Just as Moses represented the Law of God, thus Elijah represented the words of the prophets, all the prophecies and truths which God had revealed to His people through them. And therefore, the Lord Jesus is first of all the fulfilment of all those prophecies, affirmed by Elijah’s appearance at Mount Tabor, while at the same time, He is also the One to bring forth into this world the Good News, the news of God’s truth and salvation, revealing the true intentions and meanings of God’s Law and commandments, His plans for all of us, revealing all of these to us with the greatest clarity, through His teachings and words, and through the Holy Spirit and Wisdom that He imparted upon us and His Church.

Now, brothers and sisters in Christ, having heard and understood the significance and the symbolic importance of the events and things surrounding the Lord’s glorious Transfiguration, let us all realise that this Feast that we are celebrating and are rejoicing in this Sunday is a reminder and call for us to embrace once again the true nature of our beings, that is of the Light, as God’s beloved children and people. Each and every one of us have been created by God with the intention of the sharing of His everlasting love and grace, and we were meant to live in perfect bliss, harmony and joy with Him. However, all of these had been denied to us thanks to us and our own ancestors and predecessors own disobedience and rebellions against God, through which sin had defiled and corrupted us, and gained its dominion over us. This is something that our Lord’s Transfiguration is calling us to reflect, that we must remember our true nature, undefiled and uncorrupted by sin.

The Transfigured Lord is showing all of us, of what and who we all can be, if we truly embrace the Lord’s path and commit ourselves wholeheartedly to Him. The Lord is showing us what we should be, if we want to walk down the path that He has shown us and called us to walk in together with Him. And through His Transfiguration, He also showed us all that His love, His light and Holy Presence is no longer unreachable and unapproachable by us, because by His Incarnation, He has made us to be within reach of salvation and eternal life, through Him and with Him, as He restored us and our connection with God. By His indwelling in the flesh of man, His full Divine glory and majesty are now made accessible to us, as compared to how in the days of the Old Testament, when Moses and Elijah alone could have seen the glory of God to their faces and lived, as everyone else would have been struck dead and be destroyed on the account of their sins and wickedness.

Brothers and sisters in Christ, let us all therefore remind ourselves and one another this day, that as we rejoice and celebrate the glorious memory of the Transfiguration of Our Lord and Saviour, Jesus Christ, Son of God and Son of Man, let us all commit ourselves once again anew in the path that the Lord has shown us, and obey Him, in all that He has told us and taught us to do in our lives. Let us all turn away from the wickedness of the world and from all the allures of sin and evil, and obey the Lord ever more wholeheartedly from now on. Let us all walk down this path of faith from now on, together with Christ, Who is journeying and walking with us, leading us down this path of faith, calling upon us to trust in Him. There will be hardships, challenges and trials likely facing us in our journey forward, but we must always remain firm in faith, reminding ourselves ever always, of the glory and true joy of our future Transfigured selves, in the hope and light of the Resurrection.

One day, with the Lord, we shall no longer suffer anymore, and everything will be all good and right again just as the Lord has always intended for us. In the meantime, let us all be exemplary, inspirational and great role models of our Christian faith and living in all of our words, actions and deeds, in our every interactions and efforts, good works and endeavours for the greater glory of God. May the Lord Jesus Christ, Our Lord and Saviour, Who has been Transfigured in glory at Mount Tabor, continue to shine His light upon us and help us in our journey and dedication towards Him, now and always, that we too may be the shining beacons of His light and truth, in every occasions and opportunities. Amen.

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Friday, 4 August 2023 : 17th Week of Ordinary Time, Memorial of St. John Vianney, Priest and Patron of All Priests (Homily and Scripture Reflections)

Liturgical Colour : White

Dear brothers and sisters in Christ, today as we listened to the words of the Sacred Scriptures, we are all reminded and called to remember the Lord, obey His Law and commandments, celebrate the feasts and festivals that He had appointed and placed before us, and which His Church had stipulated for us to commemorate. We should remain active in the living of our faith and participate as much as possible in the life of the Church and in Christian actions and commitments. Those are our calling and our responsibilities as the ones whom God had called and chosen, as Christians, as the holy people of God. We cannot ignore these responsibilities and we cannot be idle and ignorant, in disregarding what we are expected and what we have been shown to do by the Lord Himself. As long as we remain idle in our faith and close ourselves against the truth of God, His words and love, then we will likely remain distant and away from Him and His grace.

In our first reading today, taken from the Book of Leviticus, we heard of the Lord speaking to His servant Moses, in which He told him to tell the people how they should celebrate their various events and celebrations of faith, and all those celebrations were meant to keep so that they would always put the Lord and His precepts and laws at the very centre and as the focus of the whole entire community. Those were not just merely celebrations and spectacles, but in truth, they helped to keep the Lord present in the hearts and minds of the people, who were often rebellious and delinquent in their activities and lives. They have often disobeyed the Lord and abandoned Him for pagan gods and false idols, and hence, that was why the Lord gave them His Law and commandments, and all those celebrations to remind them of the path that they all should follow, and the way that they should obey in their lives.

In our Gospel passage today, we then heard of the time when the Lord Jesus was in His hometown of Nazareth in Galilee. He was not well-received over there as many among the people doubted Him and ridiculed Him when they heard Him teaching before them, proclaiming the Good News and truth of God. The Lord has proclaimed the fulfilment of the prophecies and the words that the prophets had spoken, particularly that of the prophet Isaiah regarding the coming of the Messiah, the Saviour that God has promised to all of His beloved ones. That was because they presumed and thought that they knew Him better and that He could not have been the Messiah simply by Him being the mere Son of the village carpenter, St. Joseph, His forefather. The people thought that it was impossible for the Lord Jesus to be the Saviour and doubted and could not reconcile how His supposedly humble origins and background led to such great Wisdom and Authority.

Why was that so? It was because they did not have a strong and enduring faith in the Lord. They also did not see things through the eyes of faith, and instead, they saw things from the worldly perspectives, with their biases and prejudices. They thought that a carpenter, being then a job that no one wanted to do, and as a lowly profession could not have possibly been great and glorious, or educated and intellectual, and hence, they looked down on the Lord because of that, especially since many of them had seen and witnessed Him growing up in His youth as the Son of the local carpenter, and they refused to let their prejudices and biases to go away, and despite the great wisdom that the Lord had shown, and the news of all the miracles, wonders and signs that He had performed in the areas of Galilee, they refused to believe in Him.

That is why there is a need for all of us as Christians to turn away from our many worldly attachments and prejudices, and we should purify ourselves and keep ourselves free from the corrupting influences of the world. Otherwise we may end up falling deeper and deeper into the wrong path, the path of sin and evil, the path of disobedience and rebellion, lacking in faith just as our predecessors have shown in their actions, in how they rejected and abandoned the Lord, even after they had seen His wonders, His love and faithfulness to the Covenant that He had made and established with all of them. This is also why we should dedicate ourselves and our time and effort, our every actions, words and deeds to Him, following in the footsteps and examples of our holy predecessors, the holy men and women, saints of God.

Today, the Church celebrates the feast of St. John Vianney, also known as John Maria Vianney, a simple parish priest from the village or town of Ars in southern part of what is today France. St. John Vianney was born into a simple, devout and faithful family where he grew up in faith and dedication to God, and grew to love the Lord in the Blessed Sacrament, which gradually made him to come to realisation of the calling to be a priest. Hence, he began his education with the intention of becoming a priest and answering his calling. He did not have an easy time with all the preparations as he struggled with all the academic requirements and especially with the learning of the Latin language, the official and liturgical language of the Church. While he failed that again and again, it was his determination and desire to serve the Lord as a priest which kept him going and he eventually succeeded in doing so after facing many challenges, including the disruptions due to the Napoleonic wars that happened at the time.

St. John Vianney was assigned to a small parish church in the small town of Ars, far from the great churches and parishes, the large religious institutions where the ambitious among the clergy tried to get into those days. However, St. John Vianney was in the priesthood not for the glory or achievement, ambition or worldly fame. Instead, it was his very intense love for the Lord and his love for his fellow brothers and sisters, who have been entrusted to his care that led him to a very deep and committed life as a parish priest, which soon began to earn him the fame of being a truly holy and devout man of God. He spent many hours in the confessional, waiting for many people, which crowd kept on growing, to confess their sins and to ask him for guidance in life, just as he patiently helped to guide the people back to the Lord, in his patient, compassionate and yet firm and persistent preaching and homilies, which were meant to help the people to resist the indifference to the Church and the faith.

More and more people came to know of this holy man and priest of Ars, and thousands came to flock upon the small town as pilgrims and as sinners seeking God’s forgiveness and mercy. Miraculous tales, stories and events came in droves as many recounted how they received great graces from God through the words and actions of St. John Vianney, and how in one case, it was told that St. John Vianney could even communicate with the suffering souls in purgatory, and asking the living to pray for them. Throughout his life, St. John Vianney had done many great and wonderful works, by which he had brought countless souls back towards the Lord and to His salvation. He has inspired many generations priests and other faithful alike, in their renewed commitment to serve and follow the Lord in their lives and works. St. John Vianney might have been born to a simple family and had a simple, unassuming life and work, but in his love for God and in his commitment, his great efforts and dedication, he has been a great inspiration and role model to many others.

Now, the question is, brothers and sisters in Christ, are we willing and able to follow the great examples showed by St. John Vianney and the many other holy men and women who had gone before us, and who have shown us how we should all live our lives before the Lord? Are we able to turn away from the corruptions of worldly attachments and greed, desires and glory, and return our focus and attention back to the Lord? Are we capable of committing ourselves more wholeheartedly to the Lord and develop an ever better relationship with Him? May the Lord continue to help and strengthen us in our path, and may He empower and ever encourage us always so that we can continue to strive to live our lives as faithful and devout Christians, as God’s beloved and holy people. Amen.

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Friday, 4 August 2023 : 17th Week of Ordinary Time, Memorial of St. John Vianney, Priest and Patron of All Priests (Gospel Reading)

Liturgical Colour : White

Matthew 13 : 54-58

At that time, Jesus went to His hometown and taught the people in their synagogue. They were amazed and said, “Where did He get this wisdom and these special powers? Is He not the carpenter’s Son? Is Mary not His mother and are James, Joseph, Simon and Judas not His brothers? Are not all His sisters living here? Where did He get all these things?” And so they took offence at Him.

Jesus said to them, “The only place where prophets are not welcome is his hometown and in his own family.” And He did not perform many miracles there because of their lack of faith.

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Friday, 4 August 2023 : 17th Week of Ordinary Time, Memorial of St. John Vianney, Priest and Patron of All Priests (Psalm)

Liturgical Colour : White

Psalm 80 : 3-4, 5-6ab, 10-11ab

Start the music, strike the timbrel, play melodies on the harp and lyre. Sound the trumpet at the new moon, on our feast day, when the new moon is full.

This is a decree for Israel, an ordinance of the God of Jacob, a statute He wrote for Joseph when he went out of Egypt.

There shall be no strange god among you, you shall not worship any alien god, for I, YHVH, am your God.

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Friday, 4 August 2023 : 17th Week of Ordinary Time, Memorial of St. John Vianney, Priest and Patron of All Priests (First Reading)

Liturgical Colour : White

Leviticus 23 : 1, 4-11, 15-16, 27, 34b-37

YHVH spoke to Moses, “Then there are appointed feasts of YHVH at the times fixed for them, when you are to proclaim holy assemblies. At twilight on the fourteenth day of the first month is YHVH’s Passover. And on the fifteenth day of this month it is YHVH’s feast of Unleavened Bread.”

For seven days you shall eat bread without leaven. On the first day there will be a sacred assembly and no work of a worker shall be done. For seven days you shall present an offering by fire to YHVH and on the seventh day you shall hold a sacred assembly and do no work of a worker.”

YHVH spoke to Moses and said, “Speak to the Israelites and say to them : When you enter the land that I will give you and you reap its harvest, you will bring to the priest a sheaf, the first fruits of your harvest and he shall wave the sheaf before YHVH for you to be accepted; on the day after the Sabbath the priest shall wave it.”

“From the day after the Sabbath, on which you bring the sheaf of offering, you are to count seven full weeks. The day after the seventh Sabbath will be the fiftieth day and then you are to offer YHVH a new offering. The tenth day of this seventh month shall be the Day of Atonement. You are to hold a sacred assembly. You must fast, and you must offer a burnt offering to YHVH.”

“The fifteenth day of this seventh month shall be the feast of Tents for YHVH, lasting seven days. The first day you shall hold an assembly; you must do no work of a worker. For seven days you must offer a burnt offering to YHVH. On the eighth day you are to hold a sacred assembly and you must offer a burnt offering to YHVH. It is a day of solemn assembly in which you shall do no work of a worker.”

“These are the appointed feasts of YHVH in which you are to proclaim holy assemblies for the purpose of offering offerings by fire, burnt offerings, grain offerings and drink offerings to YHVH, according to the ritual of each day.”

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Wednesday, 2 August 2023 : 17th Week of Ordinary Time, Memorial of St. Eusebius of Vercelli, Bishop and St. Peter Julian Eymard, Priest (Homily and Scripture Reflections)

Liturgical Colour : Green or White (Bishops and Priests)

Dear brothers and sisters in Christ, today as we heard of the word of God from the passages of the Sacred Scriptures, we are all reminded of the need for all of us to come ever closer to the Lord and to seek His treasures of truth and love, of His glorious majesty and compassionate kindness, which He has always generously and richly granted to us. All of us as Christians are God’s beloved people, and we have all received His wisdom and truth, through the Holy Spirit that He has imparted upon us. However, many of us still do not realise the importance and the value of these treasures of faith which the Lord has promised us, and which He has shown and revealed to us. Instead, many of us are busy in pursuing worldly treasures and pursuits of worldly glory and pleasures, which truly distracted us from the path of righteousness, virtue and grace, through which we can reach out to the Lord and to His salvation.

In our first reading today, taken from the Book of Exodus, we heard the continuation of the story of what happened around the time when the Israelites were camping at Mount Sinai, the holy Mountain of God, where Moses, God’s servant and the leader of the Israelites went up and gained for the people of God, for all of us, the set of Law and commandments, especially the Ten Commandments which God set over all of His beloved people, to guide and help them to remain true to the Covenant which He had set up with all of them. The Lord has called upon all of His people to follow Him faithfully, as He freed them from the slavery in Egypt. Many of them had grumbled and rebelled against Him, and just right after He gave them His Law and His Covenant, they established and built a golden calf idol to be their god and lord over them, in defiance and betrayal of God’s love and kindness.

But God forgave His people and showed them His most wonderful mercy. Those who were responsible most for the rebellion and the disgraceful pagan worship of the golden calf were crushed and made to suffer the consequences of their sins, while the rest of the people repented from their mistakes. And hence, as we heard, God did not hate us all and instead, He truly loves each one of us, but He detested and despised the sins and wickedness that we have committed in our lives. Each one of us should not take God’s love for granted and we should not spurn the love that He has always generously lavished upon us all these while. Like the people of Israel, who had often been ungrateful of the love of God despite them having been shown the great compassion and love of God in many occasions, and yet, they still grumbled, disobeyed and rebelled against God.

In our Gospel passage today, we heard of the parables that the Lord used in revealing the truth and knowledge of the kingdom of God to His disciples, that is with the examples of the treasures of the field and also the pearl of great price. Those examples represent just how important the great graces and blessings of God can be to us, and how each and every one of us should learn to put the Lord and His truth, Law and commandments as the centre and focus of our attention and our whole lives. We should not allow the worldly temptations and the allure of power, greed and desire to turn us away from the righteousness and salvation in God, just as those had mislead and misguided the people of God in the past, in their inability to resist the temptations of evil and sin, of worldly attachments, of glory and fame, amongst many others. The Lord has always been patient in guiding them all to His path, and sent His messengers to help and correct the people whenever they were wrong.

That is why, today all of us are reminded as Christians, as God’s beloved people, that we should always strive to lead a life that is truly worthy of the Lord as well as exemplary and filled with righteousness and justice. We should not allow the false treasures, pleasures and the excesses of our worldly existence and life to prevent us and to become obstacles in our path and journey towards the Lord. We have to keep in mind that it is only the true treasures and the precious grace of God that will last forever and that will keep us safe and good to the end of days and beyond. No matter how many worldly things and goods we have with us, none of these will be sufficient to satisfy us, and none of them can last forever. No form of worldly glory and fame, of joy and pleasures of the flesh, of the body and all the money and material satisfactions all around us can replace the true joy that we can only find in the Lord alone. Hence, that is why we should strive to resist those worldly temptations and allures, and reorientate ourselves and our lives towards the Lord and His path.

Today, the Church celebrates the feast of not just one but two of God’s faithful servant, holy men who dedicated their lives to the Lord, who lived their lives with great commitment and love for God, and the Lord has made them to be great and inspiring role models and examples for many of us, the faithful people of God so that we may follow their examples and inspiration, in their dedication and commitment, their holiness and great actions. St. Eusebius of Vercelli and St. Peter Julian Eymard are truly blessed and worthy servants of God, His holy and just role models, for us all to follow. St. Eusebius of Vercelli was one of the Church fathers, a Roman bishop from Sardinia, in what is today part of Italy, who was remembered as a great and humble shepherd of the people that were entrusted to his care. St. Eusebius of Vercelli dedicated a lot of his time in living among his priests and flock, and cared for their spiritual needs, helping and guiding them on the way to the truth and salvation in God.

He was instrumental in the efforts of the Church in combatting the heresy and falsehoods of Arianism, the great heresy which had afflicted the Church and many among the people of God at that time. And as part of that ministry and work, he had to endure great challenges and sufferings, as he went up together with those who upheld the orthodox and true teachings and Christian faith against those who sided with the heretics. He had to endure bitter sufferings as he faced the opposition from those who supported the heretics and the false wicked ways. However, he remained firmly true to his faith and commitment to the Lord, and devoted himself wholly to the Lord, to the very end of his life, dedicating himself to guard the faithful against the false and heretical teachings that misled many to their destruction and downfall. His commitment to the Lord and his inspiring examples should be great inspiration to all of us as Christians.

Then, St. Peter Julian Eymard was a great and dedicated priest of the Lord who was renowned for his commitment and piety to the Lord, and for his popularisation of the dedication to the Blessed Sacrament, to the Real Presence of the Lord in the Eucharist. He dedicated much of his time and work in reaching out to the faithful and to all those in his ministry and areas of responsibility, who are suffering and in need of both physical and spiritual help. St. Peter Julian Eymard spent a lot of time reaching out to the lost souls and to those who are facing difficulties and hardships of the world, and helped many to find their way to the Lord. His commitment to serve the Lord and his efforts in gathering like-minded men and women in the two religious orders he founded, the Congregation of the Blessed Sacrament and the Servants of the Blessed Sacrament, and the popularisation and spread of the effective Forty Hours devotion are truly great examples and inspirations for all of us to follow.

Brothers and sisters in Christ, let us all be inspired by the great examples shown by St. Eusebius of Vercelli, St. Peter Julian Eymard and countless other saints, holy men and women of God, all those who have shown us what it means for us to be truly dedicated and committed Christians, servants and followers of the Lord. Let us do our very best to lead a life of virtue that is truly worthy of the Lord, lives that are truly exemplary and great, free from the corruptions of various worldly temptations all around us, and worthy of those whom God had called and chosen, being ever thankful and grateful that He has always shown us such great compassion, tender love and mercy. And may He bless us all and keep us all in His grace, and empower each and every one of us to walk ever more faithfully in His Presence, now and always, forevermore. Amen.

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Wednesday, 2 August 2023 : 17th Week of Ordinary Time, Memorial of St. Eusebius of Vercelli, Bishop and St. Peter Julian Eymard, Priest (Gospel Reading)

Liturgical Colour : Green or White (Bishops and Priests)

Matthew 13 : 44-46

At that time, Jesus said to His disciples, “The kingdom of heaven is like a treasure, hidden in a field. The one who finds it, buries it again; and so happy is he, that he goes and sells everything he has, in order to buy that field.”

“Again, the kingdom of heaven is like a trader, who is looking for fine pearls. Once he has found a pearl of exceptional quality, he goes away, sells everything he has and buys it.”

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Wednesday, 2 August 2023 : 17th Week of Ordinary Time, Memorial of St. Eusebius of Vercelli, Bishop and St. Peter Julian Eymard, Priest (Psalm)

Liturgical Colour : Green or White (Bishops and Priests)

Psalm 98 : 5, 6, 7, 9

Extol YHVH, our God; worship at His footstool. Holy is He! And mighty!

Among His priests were Moses and Aaron; and Samuel, among those who called on His Name. They called to YHVH, and He answered them.

In the pillar of cloud He spoke to them; and they kept His statutes and the decrees He gave them.

Extol YHVH our God; worship at His holy mountain. Holy is YHVH our God!

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Wednesday, 2 August 2023 : 17th Week of Ordinary Time, Memorial of St. Eusebius of Vercelli, Bishop and St. Peter Julian Eymard, Priest (First Reading)

Liturgical Colour : Green or White (Bishops and Priests)

Exodus 34 : 29-35

When Moses came down from Mount Sinai, with the two tablets of the Testimony in his hands, he was not aware that the skin of his face was radiant after speaking with YHVH. Aaron and all the sons of Israel saw that Moses’ face was radiant and they were afraid to go near him.

But Moses called them, and Aaron with all the leaders of the community drew near, and Moses spoke to them. Afterwards all the Israelites came near and he told them all that YHVH had commanded him on Mount Sinai. When Moses had finished speaking with them, he put a veil over his face.

Whenever Moses went before YHVH to speak with Him, he took off the veil until he came out again. And when he came out and told them what he had been commanded, the Israelites saw that his face was radiant. Moses would then replace the veil over his face until he went again to speak with YHVH.