Liturgical Colour : Green
Zechariah 9 : 9-10
Rejoice greatly, daughter of Zion! Shout for joy, daughter of Jerusalem! For your King is coming, just and victorious, humble and riding on a donkey, on a colt, the foal of a donkey.
No more chariots in Ephraim, no more horses in Jerusalem, for He will do away with them. The warrior’s bow shall be broken when He dictates peace to the nations. He will reign from sea to sea, and from the River to the ends of the earth.
Liturgical Colour : Green or Red (Martyrs) or White (Saturday Mass of our Lady)
Dear brothers and sisters in Christ, on this day, the theme of today’s readings are clear, and they all spoke to us, encouraging us and empowering us to do more for the sake of the Lord and His Church, that is to fulfil our calling and mission as those whom God has chosen out of the people in the whole world as those called Christians.
We may think that being a Christian is easy, but we are in fact mistaken if we think in such a manner. If we think that being a Christian is easy and does not require much effort, that is because we ourselves have not done what is expected of us as Christians, as those who truly heard the call of God, understood His laws and precepts, and followed Him with all of our heart’s might.
As it was in Jesus’ time, opposition and challenges are likely to await all of us if we follow the path of the Lord faithfully. Many of the people to whom Jesus was sent to, was adamant in their refusal to obey and listen to the words which the Lord had revealed to them through Jesus His Son. And they persecuted Him and His followers, trying to undermine them and even harm them in all opportunities given to them. The same or more can be expected of us as well.
But should we all then be afraid or be hesitant in answering God’s call? Shall we all be passive and no longer respond to God’s call? No, that is exactly what we should not do at all. To reject God’s calling out of fear and indecisiveness, as well as the desire to preserve ourselves, avoiding danger and trouble is selfishness, and selfishness has no place before God.
In the first reading today, we heard how the prophet Isaiah was called by God to be His servant and to be His messenger to the people of the kingdom of Judah, preaching to them the truth of His anger at their sins, and what they should be doing to repent from their sins and their wickedness, that they might be saved. Such a task was not easy, and indeed, it would lead to persecution and many troubles for him, as it was not easy to turn the heart of the people who had been accustomed to their sinful ways.
But God calmed him down and gave him the courage to do so. In the vision that he saw, he saw the great glory of God which surpasses everything else. He saw the throne of God in heaven, and the glory of the Angels and all that essentially will be the promise of his salvation and faith in God. And God purified him and made him worthy to be His servant through the blazing fire of the Temple of God in heaven, and from that moment on, he spoke only the truth and the will of God.
And we knew how the prophet Isaiah spoke many things about God, and from him we knew the hope of our salvation, as he also spoke about Christ our Lord, the One Who was promised to bring us out of our sufferings and misery, to bring us into the eternal life which has been promised to all those who are faithful to God. And Isaiah spoke of all this, while berating the people for their sins, even the king of Judea, Ahaz, without fear for his life.
Jesus told His disciples in the Gospel passage today, that we must not be afraid of the one who is only able to harm the body, that is Satan, all of his allies and all of the forces of the world. Instead, we must be wary and fear the One Who is able to harm the eternal soul, that is the Lord our God, our great Judge, He Who will judge all the peoples without exception, on their eternal fate.
And if we are faithful to Him, God will take care of us all, as He loved us all as His beloved children. And Jesus represented this with how much God cared for even the animals and the plants we can find around us, and how much more He therefore would love us and care for us, as we are the most beloved of all His creations? Therefore we do not need to worry, since worry will only distract us from the true goal, that is to be with our God.
Let us all draw the example from the holy martyrs and saints whose feast we celebrate on this day. St. Augustine Zhao Rong and his many fellow compatriots in faith all have tasted great sufferings and pains in their lives as Christians. They were all together beatified and later were canonised as saints, as the Holy Martyr Saints of China. They have endured challenges and persecution, torture and ridicule, and even had to bare their lives before their accusers, all those who resented and rejected the one true Faith.
The Faith has been brought to China by the brave and courageous missionaries who braved the long journey from Europe to Asia, the hostile conditions on the way and the opposition they faced during their journeys. And when they arrived in China, they found a sophisticated and cultured people who have not yet heard of the Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ. And thus, they began to preach about Him to them, and slowly but gradually there were more and more who believed and the Church there steadily grew.
But the rulers and the officials viewed the Church and its activities in China with suspicion if not with open contempt and disdain. And they even openly tried to discourage the faith, just as how it had been under the early and middle years of the Roman Empire, when many of the faithful were persecuted and even killed for the reason of their faith in Jesus Christ.
Yet, despite all these, the courageous holy servants of God did not give up and persevered on, continuing to devote themselves to God and committing themselves to the mission which had been entrusted to them. And even when they were cornered and offers were made to them to abandon their faith and reject the Lord in exchange for safety and assurance that they would be treated well from then on, they did not do so.
They remained true to the Lord and continued to defend their faith and their Lord to the very end. And God rewarded them with the glory of Heaven, which He had promised to all those who remain true to Him and keep their faith even though they had been pressured to do otherwise. God does not abandon those who have been faithful to Him, but He gave them the joy of His presence and grace.
Let us all heed the examples of these holy saints, and commit ourselves anew to God. Let us no longer be hesitant but instead be filled with courage for all of us as Christians have been called as the prophet Isaiah had once been called, to be the beacons of light to all the nations, bringing forth the word, the will and the truth of God to all the nations. May God bless us all, now and forever. Amen.
Liturgical Colour : Green or Red (Martyrs) or White (Saturday Mass of our Lady)
Matthew 10 : 24-33
At that time, Jesus spoke to His disciples, “A student is not above his teacher, nor a slave above his master. A student should be glad to become like his teacher, and the slave like his master. If the head of the family has been called Beelzebul, how much more the members of the family! So, do not be afraid of them.”
“There is nothing covered that will not be uncovered, and nothing hidden that will not be made known. What I am telling you in the dark, you must speak in the light. What you hear in private, proclaim from the housetops. Do not be afraid of those who kill the body, but have no power to kill the soul. Rather be afraid of Him Who can destroy both body and soul in hell.”
“For only a few cents you can buy two sparrows, yet not one sparrow falls to the ground without your Father knowing. As for you, every hair of your head has been counted. Do not be afraid : You are no less worthy than many sparrows!”
“Whoever acknowledges Me before others I will acknowledge before My Father in heaven. Whoever rejects Me before others I will reject before My Father in heaven.”
Liturgical Colour : Green or Red (Martyrs) or White (Saturday Mass of our Lady)
Psalm 92 : 1ab, 1c-2, 5
The Lord reigns, robed in majesty; the Lord is girded with strength.
The world now is firm, it cannot be moved. Your throne stands from long ago, o Lord, from all eternity You are.
Your decrees can be trusted; holiness dwells in Your house day after day without end, o Lord.
Liturgical Colour : Green or Red (Martyrs) or White (Saturday Mass of our Lady)
Isaiah 6 : 1-8
In the year that King Uzziah died I saw the Lord seated on a throne, high and exalted; the train of His robe filled the Temple. Above Him were Seraphs, each with six wings : two to cover the face, two to cover the feet, and two to fly with. They were calling to one another : “Holy, Holy, Holy is YHVH Sabaoth. All the earth is filled with His Glory!”
At the sound of their voices the foundations of the threshold shook and the Temple was filled with smoke. I said, “Poor me! I am doomed! For I am a man of unclean lips living among a people of unclean lips, and yet I have seen the King, YHVH Sabaoth.”
Then one of the Seraphs flew to me; in his hands was a live coal which he had taken with tongs from the altar. He touched my mouth with it and said, “See, this has touched your lips; your guilt is taken away and your sin is forgiven.”
Then I heard the voice of the Lord, “Whom shall I send? And who will go for Us?” I answered, “Here I am. Send me!”
Liturgical Colour : Green
Dear brothers and sisters in Christ, on this day we heard the words of comfort from our Lord, He Who is always rich in mercy and love, ready to forgive us our sins and wrongdoings, as long as we are genuine and real in our repentance and in our desire to be forgiven. God showed His mercy to all those who are willing to listen to Him and be thoroughly converted to His cause, abandoning all of their past wicked ways and sins, and commit themselves to righteousness from then on.
In the first reading today, taken from the Book of the prophet Hosea, God revealed His mercy to His people, willing to forgive them for the sins that they have committed. He would heal them from their afflictions and brought them from their suffering into the joy of everlasting life He promised to those who would devote themselves to Him. He shall be their foundation and they would be strong amidst the challenges they would face in the world.
But all these require penance and genuine turn towards the Lord, one that requires effort and hard work. One cannot be complacent and think that without effort they would be able to receive all the goodness of God. In the psalm today, which was taken from Psalm 50, was a psalm by the king David of Israel, renowned as it was inspired directly from a moment in David’s life, when he committed sin before God by committing adultery with the wife of his bannerman.
King David committed that sin, and the anger of God should have fallen upon him with all the curses and the condemnation. And yet, after David showed great remorse and humbly submitted himself before God, God had mercy on him, forgave him, and restored the graces and blessings which He had promised to him and to his descendants.
David was humble, and he was willing to commit himself fully to God. And that was one trait and quality which many of us unfortunately often lack. Those who would put their trust in God shall not be abandoned, for God is forever faithful. He gave them hope, as Jesus spoke to His disciples in the Gospel we heard today, how being His disciples would mean that they would encounter challenges and difficulties, but God through His Spirit would be with them through all those troubles.
All these therefore pointed out to us that we have to learn to let go of those things that keep us in the state of sin and which prevented us from finding our way to the Lord. All of us should learn to look beyond all our worldly attachments so that we may be better able to appreciate the kindness of our Lord, He Who is loving and merciful towards us.
Nothing in this world will be able to sustain us, not even our own power and might. If we trust in them, no sooner will it be that they fail us. Even David at the height of his power as the king over all Israel, all his enemies defeated and humbled around him, and even if everyone thought that he would be able to get whatever it was that he wanted, but he was humbled because of that ego and desire that was in him.
And even the richest and the mightiest among us, even the wealthiest person and the most powerful of kings and rulers will have to face the judgment of God at the end of their lives. Not even their vast wealth, influence or power will do them any good. These will not save them, but their deeds and faith in God will. The same applies to all of us as well. Shall we not now think about our actions and carefully decide of what we are going to do from now on?
Shall we obey God and follow His ways from now on? It is important that we truly go and devote ourselves to Him, for the sake of our souls. Let us all not wait until it is too late for us, but from now on, do our best so that we may gain favour with our God and be forgiven for all of our sins just as David had been forgiven in his humble submission. May God bless us and strengthen us all in our faith and devotion to Him. God be with us all, now and forever. Amen.
Liturgical Colour : Green
Matthew 10 : 16-23
At that time, Jesus spoke to His disciples, “Look, I send you out like sheep among wolves. You must be as clever as snakes and as innocent as doves. 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 against parents and have them put to death. Everyone will hate you because of Me, but whoever stands firm to the end will be saved.”
“When they persecute you in one town, flee to the next. I assure you, you will not have gone through all the towns of Israel before the Son of Man comes.”
Liturgical Colour : Green
Psalm 50 : 3-4, 8-9, 12-13, 14 and 17
Have mercy on me, o God, in Your love. In Your great compassion blot out my sin. Wash me thoroughly of my guilt; cleanse me of evil.
I know You desire truth in the heart, teach me wisdom in my inmost being. Cleanse me with hyssop and I shall be clean, wash me, I shall be whiter than snow.
Create in me, o God, a pure heart; give me a new and steadfast spirit. Do not cast me out of Your presence nor take Your Holy Spirit from me.
Give me again the joy of Your salvation and sustain me with a willing spirit. O Lord, open my lips, and I will declare Your praise.
Liturgical Colour : Green
Hosea 14 : 2-10
Return to your God YHVH, o Israel! Your sins have caused your downfall. Return to YHVH with humble words. Say to Him, “Oh You Who show compassion to the fatherless, forgive our debt, be appeased. Instead of bulls and sacrifices, accept the praise from our lips. Assyria will not save us : no longer shall we look for horses nor ever again shall we say ‘Our gods’ to the work of our hands.”
I will heal their wavering and love them with all My heart for My anger has turned from them. I shall be like dew to Israel like the lily will he blossom. Like a cedar he will send down his roots; his young shoots will grow and spread. His splendour will be like an olive tree, his fragrance, like a Lebanon cedar.
They will dwell in My shade again, they will flourish like the grain, they will blossom like a vine, and their fame will be like Lebanon wine. What would Ephraim do with idols, when it is I Who hear and make him prosper? I am like an ever-green cypress tree; all your fruitfulness comes from Me.
Who is wise enough to grasp all this? Who is discerning and will understand? Straight are the ways of YHVH : the just walk in them, but the sinners stumble.
Liturgical Colour : Green
Dear brothers and sisters in Christ, on this day we heard about the love which God has shown to His people, and the anger that was aroused in His heart when those same people refused to acknowledge and to appreciate that great love which He had shown them. They have been rescued from their suffering and enslavement at the hand of the Egyptians and the Pharaohs, and God Himself carried them out of the land of Egypt by His mighty power.
God has provided them with many things, and even cleared their way ahead of them, destroying their enemies and all those who plotted evil against them. And yet, they were almost always unfaithful and disobedient, refusing to listen to the precepts of the Lord their God, disobeying their commands and preferring to follow their own selfish desires.
In their disobedience, they have brought upon themselves the anger and the punishment of God. But God still loved them, and He wanted to help them and rescue them from the destruction that awaited them. And hence to that extent, God sent them His promised salvation that is Jesus Christ, the Son of God, Who came into the world to deliver to all mankind the word of God.
Despite all the things which they have seen and witnessed, even the healing of the sick, the opening of the eyes of the blind, the curing of the tied tongues of the mute and the opening of the ears of the deaf, the people still refused to believe. They doubted Jesus and His teachings, as shown by the Pharisees and the teachers of the Law, who even went so far as to make it very difficult for Jesus and His disciples to do their works and ministry to the people.
And there were many others who followed Jesus just because He amazed them with the wonders of His miracles and works. These were satisfied by the food they ate when Jesus fed the multitudes of men and women, and they were astonished at what they saw when Jesus did all those miracles, even to the point of raising and returning someone from death back to life.
But they did not have strong and genuine faith in them. The moment their Lord was seized from them, and once Jesus was arrested, they abandoned Him quickly, everyone tending their own businesses and matters. It is the same with their ancestors who disobeyed the Lord and followed their own rebellious path, more often so because they were preoccupied with themselves and their desires so much that they were not able to let these go when the time comes for them to choose between God and the world.
Now let us ask ourselves, are we like them? Are our actions and all our directions in life mimic what those people had done? Have we been truly faithful to the Lord our God? Or have we rather been wayward and disobedient? The answer lies within ourselves. Let us all reflect on what we have done in life, and whether we have that courage and drive to follow on through with our faith, devoting our whole life to the Lord.
Do we let the temptations of this world to be obstacles on our path to God? Yes, they will become obstacles for us, but are we embracing them instead of pushing them aside or resisting them? Do we make the conscious effort to be faithful in all things? It will indeed not be easy for us, as challenges and difficulties are waiting for us, but the reward for remaining faithful to God to the end, is great.
Let us all no longer hesitate but be filled with faith and conviction, giving it all to be faithful and devoted to God in all things. Let us do our best in order to be devoted and committed servants of our God, and thus be worthy of His eternal glory and the life everlasting He had promised to all of His faithful ones. May God bless us all, now and forever. Amen.
petercanisiusmichaeldavidkang 