Liturgical Colour : Green
Psalm 85 : 5-6, 9-10, 15-16a
You are good and forgiving, o YHVH, caring for those who call on You. Listen, o YHVH, to my prayer, hear the voice of my pleading.
All the nations You have made will come; they will worship before You, o YHVH, and bring glory to Your Name. For You are great, and wonderful are Your deeds; You alone, are God.
But You, o YHVH God, are merciful, slow to anger, loving and faithful. Turn to me, take pity on me.
Liturgical Colour : Green
Wisdom 12 : 13, 16-19
For there is no other god besides You, One Who cares for everyone, who could ask You to justify Your judgments. Your strength is the source of Your justice and because You are the Lord of all, You can be merciful to everyone.
To those who doubt Your sovereign power You show Your strength and You confound the insolence of those who ignore it. But You, the Lord of strength, judge with prudence and govern us with great patience, because You are able to do anything at the time You want.
In this way You have taught Your people that a righteous person must love his human fellows; You have also given Your people cause for hope by prompting them to repent of their sin.
Liturgical Colour : Green
Offertory
Daniel 3 : 40
Sicut in holocaustis arietum et taurorum, et sicut in milibus agnorum pinguium : sic fiat sacrificium nostrum in conspectu Tuo hodie, ut placeat Tibi : quia non est confusio confidentibus in Te, Domine.
English translation
As in holocausts of rams and bullocks, and as in thousands of fat lambs, so let our sacrifice be made in Your sight this day, that it may please You, for there is no confusion to those who trust in You, o Lord.
Secret Prayer of the Priest
Deus, qui legalium differentiam hostiarum unius sacrificii perfectione sanxisti : accipe sacrificium a devotis Tibi famulis, et pari benedictione, sicut munera Abel, sanctifica; ut, quod singuli obtulerunt ad majestatis Tuae honorem, cunctis proficiat ad salutem. Per Dominum nostrum Jesum Christum Filium Tuum, qui Tecum vivit et regnat in unitate Spiritus Sancti Deus, per omnia saecula saeculorum. Amen.
English translation
O God, You Who have sanctioned the diversity of offerings by the perfection of one sacrifice, receive the sacrifice offered to You by Your devoted servants, and sanctify it as You had sanctified the gifts of Abel, that which each one had offered to the glory of Your majesty may profit for the salvation of all. Through our Lord Jesus Christ Your Son, who with You lives and reigns in the unity of the Holy Spirit, God, world without end. Amen.
Communion
Psalm 30 : 3
Inclina aurem Tuam, accelera, ut eripias me.
English translation
Bow down Your ear, make haste to deliver me.
Post-Communion Prayer
Tua nos, Domine, medicinalis operatio, et a nostris perversitatibus clementer expediat, et ad ea, quae sunt recta, perducat. Per Dominum nostrum Jesum Christum Filium Tuum, qui Tecum vivit et regnat in unitate Spiritus Sancti Deus, per omnia saecula saeculorum. Amen.
English translation
May Your health giving operation, o Lord, mercifully rid us of our evil inclinations and unto rightful ways strongly lead us. Through our Lord Jesus Christ Your Son, who with You lives and reigns in the unity of the Holy Spirit, God, world without end. Amen.
Liturgical Colour : Green
Sequentia Sancti Evangelii secundum Matthaeum – Continuation of the Holy Gospel according to St. Matthew
Matthew 7 : 15-21
In illo tempore : Dixit Jesus discipulis Suis : Attendite a falsis prophetis, qui veniunt ad vos in vestimentis ovium, intrinsecus autem sunt lupi rapaces : a fructibus eorum cognoscetis eos. Numquid colligunt de spinis uvas, aut de tribulis ficus? Sic omnis arbor bona fructus bonos facit : mala autem arbor malos fructus facit.
Non potest arbor bona malos fructus facere : neque arbor mala bonos fructus facere. Omnis arbor, quae non facit fructum bonum, excidetur et in ignem mittetur. Igitur ex fructibus eorum cognoscetis eos. Non omnis, qui dicit mihi, Domine, Domine, intrabit in regnum caelorum : sed qui facit voluntatem Patris Mei, qui in caelis est, ipse intrabit in regnum caelorum.
English translation
At that time, Jesus said to His disciples, “Beware of false prophets, who come to you in the clothing of sheep, but inwardly they are ravening wolves. By their fruits you shall know them. Do men gather grapes of thorns, or figs of thistles? Even so, every good tree brings forth good fruit, and the evil tree brings forth evil fruit.”
“A good tree cannot bring forth evil fruit, neither can an evil tree bring forth good fruit. Every tree that does not bring good fruit shall be cut down, and shall be cast into the fire. Wherefore by their fruits you shall know them, not every one that says to Me, ‘Lord, Lord,’ shall enter into the kingdom of heaven, but he who does the will of My Father, Who is in heaven, he shall enter into the kingdom of heaven.”
Liturgical Colour : Green
Psalm 33 : 12, 6 and Psalm 46 : 2
Venite, filii, audite me : timorem Domini docebo vos.
Response : Accedite ad eum, et illuminamini : et facies vestrae non confundentur.
Alleluja, Alleluja.
Response : Omnes gentes, plaudite manibus : jubilate Deo in voce exsultationis. Alleluja.
English translation
Come, children, hearken to me. I will teach you the fear of the Lord.
Response : Come all of you to Him and be enlightened, and your faces shall not be confounded.
Alleluia, Alleluia.
Response : O clap your hands, all you nations, shout unto God with the voice of joy. Alleluia.
Liturgical Colour : Green
Lectio Epistolae Beati Pauli Apostoli ad Romanos – Letter from the Epistle of Blessed Paul the Apostle to the Romans
Romans 6 : 19-23
Fratres : Humanum dico, propter infirmitatem carnis vestrae : sicut enim exhibuistis membra vestra servire immunditiae et iniquitati ad iniquitatem, ita nunc exhibete membra vestra servire justitiae in sanctificationem. Cum enim servi essetis peccati, liberi fuistis justitiae.
Quem ergo fructum habuistis tunc in illis, in quibus nunc erubescitis? Nam finis illorum mors est. Nunc vero liberati a peccato, servi autem facti Deo, habetis fructum vestrum in sanctificationem, finem vero vitam aeternam.
Stipendia enim peccati mors. Gratia autem Dei vita aeterna, in Christo Jesu, Domino nostro.
English translation
Brethren, I speak a human thing, because of the infirmity of your flesh, for as you have yielded your members to serve uncleanness and iniquity unto iniquity, so now yield your members to serve justice, unto sanctification. For when you were the servants of sin, you were free from justice.
What fruit therefore did you then have in those things, of which you are now ashamed? For the end of them is death. But now being made free from sin, and become servants to God, you have your fruit unto sanctification, and the end life everlasting.
For the wages of sin is death. But the grace of God, life everlasting, in Christ Jesus our Lord.
Liturgical Colour : Green
Introit
Psalm 46 : 2, 3
Omnes gentes, plaudite manibus : jubilate Deo in voce exsultationis.
Quoniam Dominus excelsus, terribilis : Rex magnus super omnem terram.
Response : Gloria Patri et Filio et Spiritui Sancto, sicut erat in principio, et nunc, et semper : et in saecula saeculorum. Amen.
English translation
O clap your hands, all you nations. Shout unto God with the voice of joy.
For the Lord is most high. He is terrible, He is a great King over all the earth.
Response : Glory be to the Father and to the Son and to the Holy Spirit, as it was in the beginning, is now, and ever shall be, world without end. Amen.
Collect
Deus, cujus providentia in sui dispositione non fallitur : Te supplices exoramus; ut noxia cuncta submoveas, et omnia nobis profutura concedas. Per Dominum nostrum Jesum Christum Filium Tuum, qui Tecum vivit et regnat in unitate Spiritus Sancti Deus, per omnia saecula saeculorum. Amen.
English translation
O God, You Whose providence does not fail in setting things in order, we, Your suppliants, beseech You, that You would remove from us all things harmful and grant us all that makes for our welfare. Through our Lord Jesus Christ, Your Son, who with You lives and reigns in the unity of the Holy Spirit, God, world without end. Amen.
Liturgical Colour : Green or White (Saturday Mass of Our Lady)
Dear brothers and sisters in Christ, on this day all of us we are reminded of just how fortunate we have been to receive the grace and love of God through His Son, Jesus Christ Our Lord and Saviour, Who have come into the world, becoming the salvation and the fulfilment of the many promises and the prophecies that God had spoken to His people. He is the manifestation of God’s infinite and enduring love for each and every one of us.
Sadly, as today’s Scripture readings have also pointed out to us, despite the Lord’s generosity, love and kindness, the people had not been grateful for the generous love and compassion they have received. On the other hand, they had refused to accept God’s love, or that they had instead chosen to follow the path of the devil rather than to follow the Lord’s path. They persecuted His messengers and prophets and continued to live in a state of sin.
In our first reading today, we heard the account from the prophet Micah, one of the many prophets sent to the land of Israel, to remind the people of their God and the need for them to be reconciled with Him. The prophet Micah was among those prophets who had suffered, been rejected and reviled by the people, who refused to listen to them and made it difficult for them to carry out their ministry.
Thus, amidst the call to repentance and the call to walk with God with righteousness as the prophet Micah was famous for, the Lord also warned His people through Micah, that because of their wickedness, their selfishness and sins, they would be punished unless they change their ways, and their lamentations and regret would be as great if not even greater than the voice of their hubris and pride before God.
Unfortunately, as we heard in our Gospel passage today, despite having passed many generations, the descendants of God’s people still had not truly learnt their lesson, as they continued to plot against God and His servants, and that time, they acted against the Lord Jesus, the Messiah and Son of God Himself when they refused to listen to Him and His truth. They had seen the Lord’s many miracles and wonderful works, His great wisdom and the fulfilment of God’s many prophecies, but they hardened their hearts and minds with pride and ego, with greed and worldly desires.
In that same passage, we heard the premonition of what would happen to the Lord, as the rejection of the people who continued to refuse to believe in God, eventually led to them to arrest the Lord, laid false accusations against Him, and betrayed Him over to the Romans to be sentenced to death on the Cross. And yet, then, until the very end, reflecting on all these, we can see just how God is so loving and patient towards each and every one of us, that even from up on the Cross, in great pain and excruciating suffering, He forgave all those who persecuted Him and cried out for His death.
Brothers and sisters in Christ, let us all spend some good quality time to reflect upon what we have heard in the Scriptures today. The Lord has always loved us all dearly and we must consider ourselves very fortunate and blessed to have this opportunity to be loved in such a way, that as sinful, imperfect, and terrible we had been, God has always been willing to welcome us back to Him and be reconciled with us.
However, we must also remember that reconciliation and forgiveness also go hand in hand with our desire to be forgiven, our conviction and resolve to reject the past life of sin, to abandon our disobedience and wicked actions and ways of life, and instead, from now on, embracing anew God’s generous love, mercy and compassion. We have to be open to God’s love and mercy entering our lives and existence, that we may be transformed into people of light and be rid of the darkness of sin that have afflicted us for so long.
Brothers and sisters in Christ, let us all commit ourselves anew to God and let us seek Him with all of our hearts, knowing just how much He loves us and is willing to welcome us back and forgiving us our sins. Let us not take His love, kindness and compassion for granted, as we must also remember that if we remain in sin, then there is nothing left for us but eternal death, and eternal darkness, a suffering in everlasting despair out of which we have no hope of getting out from, because we have consciously rejected God’s love.
May God be with us always, and may He strengthen us with His love. May He continue to bless our work and endeavours, and guide us to the right paths in life. May God bless us all, now and always. Amen.
Liturgical Colour : Green or White (Saturday Mass of Our Lady)
Matthew 12 : 14-21
At that time, the Pharisees went out, and made plans to get rid of Jesus. As Jesus was aware of their plans, He left that place. Many people followed Him, and He cured all who were sick. But He gave them strict orders not to make Him known.
In this way, Isaiah’s prophecy was fulfilled : Here is My Servant, Whom I have chosen; the One I love, and with Whom I am pleased. I will put My Spirit upon Him; and He will announce My judgment to the nations. He will not argue or shout, nor will His voice be heard in the streets. The bruised reed He will not crush, nor snuff out the smouldering wick until He brings justice to victory, and in Him, all the nations will put their hope.
Liturgical Colour : Green or White (Saturday Mass of Our Lady)
Psalm 9 : 22-23, 24-25, 28-29, 35
Why, o YHVH, do You stand afar? Why hide from us in times of distress? The wicked are in power; the weak suffer harassment; the poor become victims of evil schemes.
Exploiters boast in their power and greed; the covetous blasphemes and defies God. In their pride the wicked say, “There is no God.” They see no further.
Their mouths are filled with cursing, deceit and threats; spite and mischief are under their tongues. They lie in ambush near the villages, murdering the innocent and the unfortunate, spying upon their next victim.
But You see those in misery, o God, and You take it in hand. The unfortunate commits himself to You; the orphan turns to You for help.
