Liturgical Colour : Green or White (Bishops)
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!
Liturgical Colour : Green or White (Bishops)
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.
Liturgical Colour : White
Dear brothers and sisters in Christ, today the Church celebrates the Feast of St. Martha, St. Mary and St. Lazarus, the friends of Our Lord and Saviour, Jesus Christ, who were also counter among His close disciples and followers. St. Martha and St. Mary were known in how they hosted the Lord in their house during one of His visits and how they mourned for their brother, St. Lazarus, who was very sick in one occasion and then passed away before the Lord arrived to where they were living near Jerusalem. It was then that the Lord showed His power and resurrected Lazarus from the dead, and the three of them likely continued to be part of the Lord’s disciples and were actively involved in the early Church.
In our first reading today, we heard from the first Epistle of St. John the Apostle in which the Apostle spoke about God’s love and how this great and most wonderful love has been manifested and shown to us all in the most tangible and real way through His Son, Our Lord and Saviour Himself, Jesus Christ. This echoes what St. John himself also recorded in his Gospel, in the encounter between the Lord and Nicodemus the faithful Pharisee, with Jesus saying to the latter that ‘For God so loved the world, that He gave us all His only Begotten Son, so that through Him all may have hope and assurance of eternal life, and that everyone will not perish, but all those who trust in Him will have eternal life through Him.’
And it is by this perfect manifestation of God’s love in the flesh that we are shown by Christ Himself and everything that He had done for us of the perfect love of God and that indeed, the nature of God is Love. We must also understand that in the past, during the time of the Old Testament, God was often seen as a distant and mighty figure Who only showed Himself to a select few like Abraham, Jacob, Moses, Elijah among some others. He was also often depicted as a God that punished the wicked and those who have disobeyed Him, and through the Law and commandments which He had given His people, He was seen as a God Who rewarded the faithful and the just, and Who despised the wicked and those who did not belong among those whom He had chosen.
But the Lord Jesus showed us the true nature of God, that is Love, and this is Love that is truly boundless and selfless, a most wonderful and gracious Love which God has shown unto us all, as He did not spare even His own Begotten Son to be given to us, and not only that, but this same Son of God was offered to us so that through His own actions, in showing the Love of God to everyone, even to those whom the Jewish people shunned and rejected, to the oppressed and the marginalised, and to the Gentiles or the non-Jewish people, that God’s truly universal and boundless Love is known to us. And by His willing embrace of the Cross, the sufferings and punishments that should have been ours because of our sins, the Lord Jesus, our Saviour showed us all the ultimate manifestation and proof of God’s ever enduring and infinite Love. That is why, truly, God is Love.dus
In our Gospel passage today, we then heard from the Gospel according to St. John the Apostle and Evangelist in which we heard of the account of the resurrection of the dead St. Lazarus when he passed away from the sickness that he suffered from. His sisters, St. Martha and St. Mary were devastated by what happened, but they had faith in the Lord and trusted in Him when He finally came to their place, and the Lord reassured them all that He is the Resurrection, the Master of Life and Death, and hence, by the power of God, Christ resurrected St. Lazarus and used that experience and miracle as yet another proof of what the Lord had planned to do through Him, and revealing further the truth about God and His ever enduring love for all of us, prefiguring the suffering, death and resurrection of Christ Himself, through which God’s Love for us have been made truly evident.
Then, in another alternative Gospel passage for today, we heard as mentioned earlier, the moment when the Lord went to visit the house of St. Martha and St. Mary, and we heard how He was being hosted and welcomed by the two sisters in different ways. St. Martha was very busy preparing the welcome, presumably cooking the meals and the various food to welcome the Lord in the kitchen, doing all the chores and works, while St. Mary stayed by the side of the Lord, listening to Him speaking and teaching to her. Each one of them were welcoming the Lord in their own way, and neither one was wrong, as what St. Martha did was certainly done out of the desire to make the Lord happy and feel welcomed in her house. But the Lord did point out to her when she got agitated at her sister and asked the Lord to tell her to help in her chores, that she should not allow her preoccupations with all those chores and works to distract her from what truly matters, that is the Lord Himself and to spend time with Him.
Therefore, brothers and sisters in Christ, let us all then be reminded as always by God’s ever enduring and wonderful love for each and every one of us. Let us all continue to remember all the good things, blessings and wonders which the Lord had done for us, in loving and caring for us so patiently and wonderfully even when we have not reciprocated that love and attention, and when we continue to disobey and disregard Him in our many worldly pursuits and ambitions. Let us all realise that as Christians, our first priority is to serve the Lord and to follow Him and His path at all times, and to glorify Him and His Holy Name through our exemplary actions, words and deeds, through our every interactions with each other and with everyone we encounter daily in life.
May the examples and faith of St. Martha, St. Mary and St. Lazarus, especially in the love and hospitality that St. Martha had shown, in all the efforts she had put into welcoming the Lord, and in the attentiveness and focus which St. Mary had given to the Lord, her time and presence, so that all of us may also do the same in our own respective lives. Many of us have certainly not put the Lord as our true priority in life, remembering Him only when we need Him or when things are convenient for us. Let us all instead strive from now on to commit ourselves more wholeheartedly to the Lord, remembering always the love that He has always had for us, in each and every moment. Let us always be ready to thank Him for everything that He had done for us. St. Martha, St. Mary and St. Lazarus, pray for all of us! Amen.
Liturgical Colour : White
John 11 : 19-27
At that time, many Jews had come to Martha and Mary, after the death of their brother, to comfort them. When Martha heard that Jesus was coming, she went to meet Him, while Mary remained sitting in the house. Martha said to Jesus, “If You had been here, my brother would not have died. But I know that whatever You ask from God, God will give You.” Jesus said, “Your brother will rise again.”
Martha replied, “I know that He will rise in the resurrection, at the last day.” But Jesus said to her, “I am the Resurrection. Whoever believes in Me, though he die, shall live. Whoever lives and believes in Me will never die. Do you believe this?”
Martha then answered, “Yes, Lord, I have come to believe that You are the Christ, the Son of God, He Who is coming into the world.”
Alternative reading
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.”
Liturgical Colour : White
Psalm 33 : 2-3, 4-5, 6-7, 8-9, 10-11
I will praise YHVH all my days; His praise will be ever on my lips. My soul makes its boast in YHVH; let the lowly hear and rejoice.
Oh, let us magnify YHVH; together, let us glorify His Name! I sought YHVH, and He answered me; from all my fears He delivered me.
They who look to Him are radiant with joy, their faces never clouded with shame. When the poor cry out, YHVH hears and saves them from distress.
YHVH’s Angel encamps and patrols, to keep safe those who fear Him. Oh, see and taste the goodness of YHVH! Blessed is the one who finds shelter in Him!
Revere YHVH, all you, His saints, for those who fear Him do not live in want. The mighty may be hungry and in need; but those who seek YHVH lack nothing.
Liturgical Colour : White
1 John 4 : 7-16
My dear friends, let us love one another, for love comes from God. Everyone who loves, is born of God and knows God. Those who do not love have not known God, for God is love. How did the love of God appear among us? God sent His only Son into this world, that we might have life, through Him.
This is love : not that we loved God, but that, He first loved us and sent His Son, as an atoning sacrifice for our sins. Dear friends, if such has been the love of God, we, too, must love one another. No one has ever seen God, but if we love one another, God lives in us, and His love comes to its perfection in us.
How may we know that we live in God and He in us? Because God has given us His Spirit. We ourselves have seen, and declare, that the Father sent His Son to save the world. Those who confess that Jesus is the Son of God, God remains in them, and they in God. We have known the love of God and have believed in it. God is love. The one who lives in love, lives in God, and God in him.
Liturgical Colour : White
Dear brothers and sisters in Christ, today the Church celebrates the Feast of St. Joachim and St. Anne, the parents of the Blessed Virgin Mary, and therefore they were also the grandparents of the Lord, as Mary is the Mother of God, the Mother of Jesus Christ, Our Lord and Saviour. And we remember them today in particular because of their great faith and virtues in life, becoming good examples and role models in bringing up Mary to be a faithful and most worthy woman, to be the one whom God has shown His great favour to, in becoming the Mother and Bearer of the Son of God Most High Himself, to be the worthy Mother of God, the one through whom salvation has been revealed to all of us in this world.
Not much was known about the lives and activities of St. Joachim and St. Anne as both of them were not recorded in the four canonical Gospels, but they were recorded in other extra-Biblical sources and in the Apostolic traditions, as belonging to the tribe of Judah and Levi both. St. Joachim, the father of Mary came from the Tribe of Judah, and in some Apostolic traditions, it was believed that Jesus our Lord got His legal status as the Heir of David from both St. Joseph and Mary herself, and the latter through St. Joachim. Meanwhile, Mary’s mother, St. Anne, came from the Tribe of Levi, the tribe dedicated to the Lord to provide the members of the priests serving Him, and therefore, Mary had close connections to the priestly caste at that time through her mother.
According to tradition and our Catholic Dogma, we believe that Mary was conceived without the taint of original sin, the Dogma of the Immaculate Conception of the Blessed Virgin Mary, in the womb of her mother, St. Anne, and she was born to her and St. Joachim as the eldest daughter, and hence, according to the Law of Moses, she was presented to the Lord according to the sacred traditions, at the Temple of God. Mary henceforth remained as a truly faithful servant of God, living her life full of virtue and in the fullness of God’s grace, until the appointed time when the Archangel Gabriel appeared before her and telling her the role that she was to play as the Mother of the Son of God, the one to bear the Messiah within her. In that meantime, certainly she was brought up well by her parents, St. Joachim and St. Anne, whose memory we venerate today.
Let us all then look upon the readings of the Sacred Scriptures to reflect more carefully upon what the Lord has revealed to us, so that we can better appreciate today’s celebration and its relevance to our lives. In our first reading today, taken from the Book of Exodus, we heard of the moment when God established His Covenant with His people through Moses, the one that God had appointed to lead all of His people Israel to journey to the land promised for them. And there at Mount Sinai, the holy Mountain of God’s Presence, God made a pact with His people, that they all would be His people, His beloved ones, obeying His Law and commandments, rules and precepts as He would reveal to them through Moses, and that He would be their God, their loving Father and Master.
And Moses sealed that Covenant between God and His people at the Altar established there at Mount Sinai, with the blood of the sacrifices offered to God, and the blood sprinkled on the people as mark of the Covenant which God had made with all of them. This marked the solemn commitment between God and His people, which He had sealed and made clear before everyone, that Israel was indeed God’s beloved and chosen people, a people that He Himself had rescued and brought out from their slavery in the land of Egypt. That is what God had promised to His people and to their ancestors, and He showed His love and faithfulness through this commitment, showing how He will always take care of those whom He has loved so generously and wonderfully, without limits and ever patiently doing so at all times.
In our Gospel passage today, taken from the Gospel according to St. Matthew the Apostle and Evangelist, we heard of the teachings of the Lord to His disciples using the parable of the kingdom of Heaven, comparing the kingdom of Heaven to the works of a man who sowed good seeds in his field, and how an enemy came and sowed bad seeds of weeds in between those good seeds. Those good plants and crops ended up growing together with the unwanted weeds, but the truth is that, as the Lord used this comparison to highlight His ideas and teachings, He wanted to tell everyone that God is truly so good and loving that He allowed both the good and evil ones, the righteous and the wicked to grow along, side by side with each other.
At that time, and as it is still valid today, certain plants considered as weeds were actually related if not similar to the crop plants that were planted in the field. The reason why those plants were considered as weeds were simply because they did not provide the farmers with the products that they desired, and they were therefore competing for the important resources and nutrients needed by the crops desired by the farmers. Some of those weeds might even be the less productive variants of the crops planted by the farmers. Therefore, one interpretation of this parable is such that it shows how the Lord our God is so kind, loving and compassionate to all, that no one is truly beyond God’s love and redemption, that even the wicked and worst of sinners have been given chances and opportunities by the Lord to come back to Him and embrace His love once again.
That was precisely what He had done with those whom He had called and chosen, first the Israelites, and now all of us who have been called by Him to be His disciples and His followers. All of us are sinners and have disobeyed Him, sinning and doing things against His will, and yet, He has always been so patient in loving us and showing us all His compassion and His enduring attention and desire to care for us, regardless of everything that we have done. He has always made His love, mercy and forgiveness available to us, giving us all the means for us to reach out to Him, sending us help and assistance in many means and avenues so that as many as us as possible can be saved and reunited with Him, and not be lost to Him to eternal damnation. And we should all indeed appreciate the great and enduring love that God has for each one of us, and for the Covenant He had made with all of us through His Son, Our Lord and Saviour.
Today, in conjunction with this celebration of this Feast of St. Joachim and St. Anne, as the Grandparents of Our Lord and Saviour, we also celebrate the World Day of the Grandparents and the Elderly, which was instituted by the late Pope Francis so that we may remember and honour our grandparents who have taken care of us and shown us their great love even in their old age, and also other elderly people in general, all those who have lived their lives well and have shown us their wisdom and good examples. Let us all pray and take good care of them in their golden years, and make sure that they are not forgotten and abandoned, just as the Lord Himself never abandoned any one of us. Let our love for our elderly and our grandparents be the hallmark and good examples of our Christian love and identity, at all times.
May the Lord continue to help us all to be good and faithful Christians in all things, and inspired by the good and virtuous examples of St. Joachim and St. Anne, let us all show genuine love to everyone, and in particular to our grandparents and the elderly people around us. May God bless our every good and loving efforts, at all times, now and forevermore. Amen.
Liturgical Colour : White
Matthew 13 : 24-30
At that time, Jesus told the people another parable, “The kingdom of Heaven can be compared to a man, who sowed good seed in his field. While everyone was asleep, his enemy came, and sowed weeds among the wheat, and went away. When the plants sprouted and produced grain, the weeds also appeared. Then, the servants of the owner came, and said to him, ‘Sir, was it not good seed that you sowed in your field? Where did the weeds come from?'”
“He answered them, ‘This is the work of an enemy.’ They asked him, ‘Do you want us to go and pull up the weeds?’ He told them, ‘No, when you pull up the weeds, you might uproot the wheat with them. Let them grow together, until harvest; and, at harvest time, I will say to the workers : Pull up the weeds first, tie them in bundles and burn them; then gather the wheat into my barn.'”
Alternative reading
Matthew 13 : 16-17
At that time, Jesus said to His disciples, “But blessed are your eyes, because they see; and your ears, because they hear. For I tell you, many prophets and righteous people have longed to see the things you see, but they did not see them; and to hear the things you hear, but they did not hear them.”
Liturgical Colour : White
Psalm 49 : 1-2, 5-6, 14-15
The God of gods, YHVH has spoken; He summons the earth, from the rising of the sun to its setting. God has shone from Zion, perfect in beauty.
Gather before Me, My faithful ones, who made a Covenant with Me by sacrifice. The heavens will proclaim His sentence, for God Himself is the Judge.
Yet, offer to God a sacrifice of thanks, and fulfil your vows to the Most High. Call on Me in time of calamity; I will deliver you, and you will glorify Me.
Alternative reading
Psalm 131 : 11, 13-14, 17-18
YHVH swore to David a promise, and He will remain true to it : “I will keep your descendants on your throne.”
For YHVH has chosen Zion; He has desired it for His dwelling : “This is My resting place forever; this I prefer; here, will I dwell.”
From here, a Saviour shall come forth, a Son of David; here, shall shine forever, the lamp of My Anointed. In shame will I clothe His enemies, but upon His head a crown shall shine.
Liturgical Colour : White
Exodus 24 : 3-8
Moses came and told the people all the words of YHVH and all His laws. The people replied with one voice : “Everything that YHVH has said, we shall do.”
Moses wrote down all the words of YHVH, then rose early in the morning and built an altar at the foot of the mountain with twelve raised stones for the twelve tribes of Israel. He then sent young men from among the sons of Israel to offer burnt offerings and sacrifice bullocks as peace offerings to YHVH.
And Moses took half the blood and put it in basins; and with the other half of the blood he sprinkled the altar. He then took the Book of the Covenant and read it in the hearing of the people. They said, “All that YHVH said we shall do and obey.”
Moses then took the blood and sprinkled it on the people saying, “Here is the blood of the Covenant that YHVH has made with you in accordance with all these words.”
Alternative reading
Sirach 44 : 1, 10-15
Let us now glorify illustrious men, the ancestors of our people. But now consider the godly men whose good deeds have not been forgotten. Those who came after them benefitted from the rich legacy they left; their race remained faithful to the Covenant, their children followed their example.
Their family will endure forever and never will its glory be tarnished. Their bodies will be buried in peace but their memory lives through generations. People will speak of their wisdom and the assembly will celebrate their praise.
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