Saints

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Thursday, 26 December 2024 : Feast of St. Stephen, Protomartyr (Gospel Reading)

Liturgical Colour : Red

Matthew 10 : 17-22

At that time, Jesus said to His disciples, “Be on your guard with people, for they will hand you over to their courts, and they will flog you in their synagogues. You will be brought to trial before rulers and kings because of Me, so you may witness to them and the pagans.”

“But when you are arrested, do not worry about what you are to say, or how you are to say it; when the hour comes, you will be given what you are to say. For it is not you who will speak, but the Spirit of your Father in you. Brother will hand over brother to death, and a father his child; children will turn again parents and have them put to death.”

“Everyone will hate you because of Me, but whoever stands firm to the end will be saved.”

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Thursday, 26 December 2024 : Feast of St. Stephen, Protomartyr (Psalm)

Liturgical Colour : Red

Psalm 30 : 3cd-4, 6 and 8ab, 16bc and 17

Be a Rock of refuge for me, a Fortress for my safety. For You are my Rock and my Stronghold, lead me for Your Name’s sake.

Into Your hands I commend my spirit; You have redeemed me, o Lord, faithful God. I will rejoice and be glad in Your love, for You have seen my affliction.

Deliver me from the hand of my enemies, from those after my skin. Make Your face shine upon Your servant; save me in Your love.

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Thursday, 26 December 2024 : Feast of St. Stephen, Protomartyr (First Reading)

Liturgical Colour : Red

Acts 6 : 8-10 and Acts 7 : 54-59

Stephen, full of grace and power, did great wonders and miraculous signs among the people. Some persons then came forward, who belonged to the so-called Synagogue of Freedmen from Cyrene, Alexandria, Cilicia and Asia. They argued with Stephen but they could not match the wisdom and the spirit with which he spoke.

When the Council heard the reproach Stephen made against them, they were enraged and they gnashed their teeth against him. But he, full of the Holy Spirit, fixed his eyes on heaven and saw the glory of God and Jesus at God’s right hand, so he declared : “I see the heavens open and the Son of Man at the right hand of God.”

But they shouted and covered their ears with their hands and rushed together upon him. They brought him out of the city and stoned him, and the witnesses laid down their cloaks at the feet of a young man named Saul. As they were stoning him, Stephen prayed saying : “Lord Jesus, receive my spirit.”

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Thursday, 26 December 2024 : Feast of St. Stephen, Protomartyr (First Reading)

Liturgical Colour : Red

Acts 6 : 8-10 and Acts 7 : 54-59

Stephen, full of grace and power, did great wonders and miraculous signs among the people. Some persons then came forward, who belonged to the so-called Synagogue of Freedmen from Cyrene, Alexandria, Cilicia and Asia. They argued with Stephen but they could not match the wisdom and the spirit with which he spoke.

When the Council heard the reproach Stephen made against them, they were enraged and they gnashed their teeth against him. But he, full of the Holy Spirit, fixed his eyes on heaven and saw the glory of God and Jesus at God’s right hand, so he declared : “I see the heavens open and the Son of Man at the right hand of God.”

But they shouted and covered their ears with their hands and rushed together upon him. They brought him out of the city and stoned him, and the witnesses laid down their cloaks at the feet of a young man named Saul. As they were stoning him, Stephen prayed saying : “Lord Jesus, receive my spirit.”

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Monday, 23 December 2024 : 4th Week of Ordinary Time, Memorial of St. John of Kanty, Priest (Homily and Scripture Reflections)

Liturgical Colour : Purple/Violet

Dear brothers and sisters in Christ, today as we all listened to the words of the Scriptures and as we are about to come to the end of this Advent season, the time of preparation for Christmas, we heard of the prophecy and the fulfilment of the coming of God’s salvation which He has repeatedly promised and renewed to us through His prophets and messengers, everything came true beginning with the coming of the one to prepare the way for the Saviour, the one whom the prophet Malachi had spoken about in our first reading passage today, and which was fulfilled with the arrival of St. John the Baptist, the Herald of the Messiah into this world.

As mentioned, in that first reading passage from the Old Testament, the prophet Malachi spoke about the moment when the Lord was sending His salvation, heralded by the coming of the Envoy who would prepare the way, straightening His path, the one who would call on all the people of God and their leaders to turn away from their many sins and wickedness, from all the things that prevented them from returning towards the Lord their God. The prophet Malachi was sent to the people at the time after the return of the Israelites from their exile in the distant lands of Mesopotamia, Assyria and Babylon during the reign and dominion of the Persians, who allowed the Israelites to return to their homeland and rebuild their cities and the Temple in Jerusalem.

At that time, the people of God had regained their lands and their cities had been reestablished, and God sent the prophet Malachi to reaffirm what He has always told them in the previous centuries, of everything that He would do for their sake, the prophecies of the coming of the Messiah or Saviour, the One Who would restore the greatness of the people of God, reconcile them all to Him, and reestablish the Kingdom of Israel, the Kingdom of God and His people. And as the prophet Malachi mentioned, the Envoy of the Messiah would be sent to precede His coming, and this Envoy would either be the prophet Elijah or the one like Elijah, who was taken from the world by the Lord in a flaming chariot.

Therefore, Elijah did not suffer from physical death, and was one of the few who was taken up to Heaven in this manner. The people believed that the prophet Elijah would come again to bring God’s salvation and promises to His people, and all of these would come true with the coming of St. John the Baptist, the Herald of the Messiah that was long awaited. A few centuries after the prophet Malachi, who was one of the last or the last among the long line of God’s prophets, the Hope and Light that God has promised to His people has finally arrived and dawned with the arrival of this servant of God into the world, and we are reminded of this today so that we may also realise that this same Hope has been given to us all as well.

From the Gospel passage taken from the Gospel according to St. Luke the Evangelist, we heard the account of the time when St. John the Baptist was born into this world. After a miraculous pregnancy that happened when Elizabeth, the mother of St. John the Baptist was already old and way beyond childbearing age, the servant of God was born and all his relatives and other people, neighbours and all came to celebrate his birth. At the moment of his circumcision, we heard how they all wanted to name him after his father, but Elizabeth intervened and said that he ought to be named as John or Yohanna as per what the Angel of God, likely the Archangel Gabriel had told Zechariah, his father. And the moment that Zechariah confirmed this fact, he was miraculously able to speak again.

The great events surrounding the birth of this Herald of the Messiah preceded all the great things that he would do for the people of God, in how he devoted himself thoroughly to God’s cause, living in the wilderness as one consecrated to God and then calling upon everyone to return to God with repentance and the genuine desire to be forgiven from their sins and wickedness. He baptised many people at the River Jordan, with that water baptism as the sign of commitment by those who went through it to do the necessary penance and to follow through the path of God’s forgiveness and mercy. He would also call on more and more to come back towards God, while also courageously rebuking the chief priests and the Pharisees for their wicked attitudes.

Today, the Church also celebrates the Feast of St. John of Kanty, also known as St. John Cantius, who hailed from the region of Kanty near the city of Krakow in what is today part of Poland. He eventually became a priest and academic, teaching in the local university. He was well known for his generosity and love for the poor people throughout the city especially towards the poor students who were studying at the university. He lived humbly and without much glamour, while being generous and loving, caring and compassionate towards all of those who were in need. He also spent long hours doing many good works for the sake of the Lord and His Church, showing great charity and generosity in His interactions towards everyone around him.

Brothers and sisters in Christ, let us all therefore be inspired by great courage and faith showed by the holy servants of God, our predecessors, namely St. John of Kanty in his virtues and great faith, as well as by St. John the Baptist, the Herald of the Messiah in obeying the commandments of God and in committing himself to the mission which God has entrusted to him. Let us all as Christians strive to be the bearers of God’s hope, light, truth and love in our daily lives, and also in how we celebrate our upcoming Christian celebrations and festivities so that hopefully we may showcase the love and generosity of our ever loving God and Father in everything that we do, and share the generous love of God, our joy and blessings to everyone around us, now and always. Amen.

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Monday, 23 December 2024 : 4th Week of Ordinary Time, Memorial of St. John of Kanty, Priest (Gospel Reading)

Liturgical Colour : Purple/Violet

Luke 1 : 57-66

When the time came for Elizabeth, she gave birth to a son. Her neighbours and relatives heard that the merciful Lord had done a wonderful thing for her, and they rejoiced with her. When, on the eighth day, they came to attend the circumcision of the child, they wanted to name him Zechariah after his father. But his mother said, “Not so; he shall be called John.”

They said to her, “But no one in your family has that name!” and they asked the father, by means of signs, for the name he wanted to give him. Zechariah asked for a writing tablet, and wrote on it, “His name is John,” and they were very surprised. Immediately Zechariah could speak again, and his first words were in praise of God.

A holy fear came on all in the neighbourhood, and throughout the hill country of Judea the people talked about these events. All who heard of it pondered in their minds, and wondered, “What will this child be?” For they understood that the hand of the Lord was with him.

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Monday, 23 December 2024 : 4th Week of Ordinary Time, Memorial of St. John of Kanty, Priest (Psalm)

Liturgical Colour : Purple/Violet

Psalm 24 : 4-5ab, 8-9, 10 and 14

Teach me Your ways, o Lord; make known to me Your paths. Guide me in Your truth and instruct me, for You are my God, my Saviour.

Good and upright, the Lord teaches sinners His way. He teaches the humble of heart and guides them in what is right.

The ways of the Lord are love and faithfulness for those who keep His covenant and precepts. The Lord gives advice to those who revere Him and makes His covenant known to them.

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Monday, 23 December 2024 : 4th Week of Ordinary Time, Memorial of St. John of Kanty, Priest (First Reading)

Liturgical Colour : Purple/Violet

Malachi 3 : 1-4, 23-24

Now I am sending My messenger ahead of Me to clear the way; then suddenly the Lord for Whom you long will enter the sanctuary. The Envoy of the covenant which you so greatly desire already comes, says YHVH of hosts. Who can bear the day of His coming and remain standing when He appears? For He will be like fire in the foundry and like the lye used for bleaching.

He will be as a refiner or a fuller. He will purify the sons of Levi and refine them like gold and silver. So YHVH will have priests who will present the offering as it should be. Then YHVH will accept with pleasure the offering of Judah and Jerusalem, as in former days.

I am going to send you the prophet Elijah before the day of YHVH comes, for it will be a great and terrible day. He will reconcile parents with their children, and the children with their parents, so that I may not have to curse this land when I come.

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Saturday, 21 December 2024 : 3rd Week of Advent, Memorial of St. Peter Canisius, Priest and Doctor of the Church (Homily and Scripture Reflections)

Liturgical Colour : Purple/Violet

Dear brothers and sisters in Christ, today as we all listened to the words of the Scriptures we are all reminded of the need for us to seek God at all times and to focus our attention to Him as our Lord and Master, as the One Whom our hearts desire and wish to be reunited with. If God is not the most important thing in our lives, then it may be easy for us to fall prey to all the temptations of the things around us, which may lead to us losing our sight on the most important thing and treasure in our lives. It is why we are constantly being told by the Lord Who has always patiently given us much help along the way, encouraging us all and making Himself approachable to us by His coming into this world, in His Incarnation in the flesh, born of the Virgin Mary, His mother. He became Emmanuel, God Who is with us, dwelling amongst us all.

In our first reading today, we heard of the readings from either Book of Song of Songs or from the Book of the prophet Zephaniah. From the Song of Songs we heard of the pursuit of one who seeks her Lover, and how this Lover gives encouragement, joy and strength to His beloved one. This is a metaphor representing our relationship with God, and the Lover represents the Lord, our God, with each and every one of us as the Lord’s beloved ones. And as we heard from this passage from the Book of Songs, there is that yearning for both the Lover and the beloved, and as they search for one another, as they are reunited, this will restore order in all things, showing us of the end of our sufferings and struggles, the restoration of grace and the beauty to everything, no longer defiled and corrupted by the darkness and evils of sin around us.

Then, from the Book of the prophet Zephaniah we heard yet another words of encouragement from God as we heard the proclamation to all the people of God, represented by the daughters of Zion, the common name used to represent Jerusalem, the Holy City of God. At that time, during the ministry of the prophet Zephaniah which happened after the reigns of the wicked kings of Judah, Manasseh and Amon, and during the time of the righteous king Josiah, the last righteous king to rule over Judah and Jerusalem, many among the people of God had fallen into the worship of the false gods and idols, Baal and Asherah, and that wicked deeds and blatant disobedience against God and His commandments had led to the imminent coming of the Divine retribution and just consequences for their actions in disobeying God and committing great sins against Him.

Yet, just as the Lord spoke through the prophet Zephaniah of the punishments and the consequences that those who have embraced the worship of the pagan and false idols would receive, He also reassured them at the same time of the salvation and redemption which He also offered for all those who sought His mercy and forgiveness. Essentially God wants us all to know that each and every one of us are truly dear, precious and beloved to Him, and it is far for Him to desire our destruction and damnation. However, at the same time, He is also a just and righteous God, Who is all good and perfect, and in Whose Holy Presence sin and evil cannot remain and survive. Therefore, each and every one of us, God’s people must not allow sin to continue corrupting and staining us, which may prevent us from finding the way to His salvation and grace. God has always been generous in offering us His mercy, but we must also be willing to embrace His mercy and forgiveness, and be ready to commit to repentance.

From our Gospel passage today, we then heard of the time when Mary, the Mother of God visited Elizabeth, the mother of St. John the Baptist, her relative, when both of them were expecting and during their respective pregnancies. We heard how Elizabeth and her child, St. John the Baptist in her womb recognised the coming of the Messiah, the Saviour Son of God in the holy womb of Mary when Mary came and approached their house. And this was another revelation of God’s loving care and compassion towards each and every one of us, reminding us of everything which He has done for our sake and for our salvation. He sent us all His Beloved Son so that by His entry into this world, He may show us all the sure path towards His loving embrace, grace and eternal life. The coming of Jesus Christ into this world, which we are celebrating in Christmas, is the fulfilment of what God had promised through the prophet Zephaniah and many other prophets.

Through the coming of Christ into this world, the Lord wants us all to embrace His ever present and enduring love, that He has manifested in His Son, and making us all to share in the fullness of His compassionate love and mercy, to make available to all of us His boundless and ever bountiful mercy, forgiveness and grace. We cannot save ourselves, and it is only by the grace of God that we can be saved and liberated from the bondage to our sins and the evils around us. That is why God in His boundless mercy reached out to us to help us to leave our predicaments and bondage to sin, leading and bringing us all into the straight path of redemption by His Son’s saving works on the Cross. This is what we are truly celebrating this upcoming Christmas time and season.

Now, today the Church also celebrates the Feast of St. Peter Canisius, holy priest and an esteemed Doctor of the Church, one of my patron saints and also the patron of this blog. St. Peter Canisius was born as Peter Kanis in Nijmegen, which is now part of the Netherlands but which was then considered a dominion of the Holy Roman Empire. St. Peter Canisius was born to a wealthy merchant family and he also had prodigious talent in academic studies, gaining his master’s degree at the mere age of nineteen. It was during his study that he encountered St. Peter Faber, who later on together with St. Peter Canisius, St. Ignatius of Loyola, St. Francis Xavier and other men would become the founder and co-founders of the Society of Jesus or the Jesuits.

St. Peter Canisius was called and convinced to give himself to the mission of the Jesuits, and after a period of preparation, he was ordained as a priest, and became one of the Jesuits’ spearhead in the efforts of Counter-Reformation against the rampant Protestant heresies and other wrong teachings and practices that was then widespread throughout the region that are now parts of Germany, Netherlands and Switzerland. St. Peter Canisius put strong emphasis on education both of the priests and the laity as part of the efforts to rejuvenate the faith and to combat the false ideas and heresies. He was also renowned for his crafting and authorship of his ‘Catechism’ also known as the German Catechism, composed of the important articles and teachings of the Christian faith for the formation of Christians, especially that of Catechumens going through preparation for baptism.

St. Peter Canisius was also a strong advocate for dialogue and cooperation, mutual understanding and empathy during his works and efforts in the Counter-Reformation, quoted for his words, ‘with this kind of attitude, this condition becomes incurable’ referring to the hardline attitude and approach that some of the Counter-Reformation figures took in approaching those who have embraced the ideals of the reformation and other heretical teachings. In addition, he was also a strong Marian devotee and the final words of the prayer ‘Hail Mary’ or ‘Ave Maria’, that is ‘Holy Mary, Mother of God, pray for us sinners now and at the hour of our death.’ was composed and added by none other than St. Peter Canisius, who was ever faithful to the very end of his life.

Brothers and sisters in Christ, let us all therefore reflect upon our own lives after having heard and discussed the messages from the Sacred Scriptures, and by the inspiration from the life of St. Peter Canisius, holy servant of God, let us all continue to strive to do what is right and just, worthy and appropriate for all of us as Christians in our everyday living so that we may truly be committed to a life that inspires others to follow in our footsteps in glorifying God by our lives and actions, just as we have been inspired by our holy predecessors, particularly that of St. Peter Canisius, holy priest and Doctor of the Church. Let our lives truly be reflection of God’s light, hope and love, and may the Lord be with us always in our every good endeavours. Amen.

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Saturday, 21 December 2024 : 3rd Week of Advent, Memorial of St. Peter Canisius, Priest and Doctor of the Church (Gospel Reading)

Liturgical Colour : Purple/Violet

Luke 1 : 39-45

Mary then set out for a town in the hill country of Judah. She entered the house of Zechariah and greeted Elizabeth. When Elizabeth heard Mary’s greeting, the baby leapt in her womb.

Elizabeth was filled with the Holy Spirit, and, giving a loud cry, said, “You are most blessed among women; and blessed is the Fruit of your womb! How is it, that the mother of my Lord comes to me? The moment your greeting sounded in my ears, the baby within me suddenly leapt for joy. Blessed are you, who believed that the Lord’s word would come true!”