17 May 2019

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Friday, 17 May 2019 : 4th Week of Easter (Homily and Scripture Reflections)

Liturgical Colour : White

Dear brothers and sisters in Christ, on this day we listened to the words of the Scripture speaking to us about the need for us to trust in God, Our Lord and Saviour, Jesus Christ, He Who has come into this world to be our Saviour, to free us from our bondage to sin, and to liberate us from the power of death, as He has promised us all, and as He has delivered by His selfless and loving sacrifice on the Cross.

In the first reading today we listened from the Acts of the Apostles, about the message and truth which St. Paul delivered to the Jews in the city of Antioch in Pisidia, where the many of the Jewish people there hardened their hearts and minds, refusing to believe in the truth of Christ. And St. Paul still did not want to give up, as he reiterated before them yet again, the truth of God’s love and care for His people, that He has sent into this world, His own Begotten Son, to be our Saviour.

We are reminded therefore yet again that our hope and our trust should be in God alone, the One Who made everything possible for us. God has loved and cared for us so much that He has provided everything for us as He sent us the deliverance through His Son, Who did nothing less than baring down His own life and His own body to endure the painful torture and suffering of the Cross for our sake.

Through His Resurrection and triumphant victory over death, all of us have been brought to freedom and liberation from the power of sin and death, as His glory and resurrection show that not even the gates of hell and the power of death can chain Him. And He brought us all from the darkness into the new light and hope that He alone can provide us.

Now, brothers and sisters in Christ, how many of us truly have that genuine and strong faith in God, that commitment and devotion to Him, so that in our daily lives, we keep hold on God strongly and are able to live our lives in the way that He has shown and taught us to do? Let us all reflect on our own actions in life, whether we have walked in His path or whether we have rather put our hope in other things in this world.

And these things are distractions for us all, such as power, money, ambition, human and worldly glories, all the things that prevent us from being able to reach out to God and His saving grace. And many of us are currently trapped in these ambitions, as we are unable to get ourselves freed from the allures of those temptations and the pressure to conform to the norms and ways of the world.

Brothers and sisters in Christ, therefore, let us all reorientate ourselves and our lives towards God, and devote ourselves wholeheartedly from now on, so that in everything we do, in all of our actions and deeds, in all of our words and dealings, we will always put our hope and trust in God, in Him Who has willingly given us everything, and everything in the sense that He did not even hold back His own Son from us.

May the Lord continue to guide and bless us, and give us the courage and strength to carry out our lives from now on, with all sincerity and effort to be true disciples of the Lord. May God be with us always, now and forevermore. Amen.

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Friday, 17 May 2019 : 4th Week of Easter (Gospel Reading)

Liturgical Colour : White

John 14 : 1-6

At that time, Jesus said to His disciples, “Do not be troubled! Trust in God and trust in Me! In My Father’s house there are many rooms; otherwise, I would not have told you that I go to prepare a place for you. After I have gone and prepared a place for you, I shall come again and take you to Me, so that where I am, you also may be. Yet you know the way where I am going.”

Thomas said to Him, “Lord, we do not know where You are going; how can we know the way?” Jesus said, “I am the Way, the Truth and the Life; no one comes to the Father but through Me.”

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Friday, 17 May 2019 : 4th Week of Easter (Psalm)

Liturgical Colour : White

Psalm 2 : 6-7, 8-9, 10-11

“Behold the King I have installed, in Zion, upon My holy hill!” I will proclaim the decree of the Lord. He said to Me : “You are My Son. This day I have begotten You.”

“Ask of Me and I will give You the nations for Your inheritance, the ends of the earth for Your possession. You shall rule them with iron sceptre and shatter them as a potter’s vase.”

Now therefore, learn wisdom, o kings; be warned, o rulers of the earth. Serve the Lord with fear and fall at His feet; lest He be angry and you perish when His anger suddenly flares. Blessed are all who take refuge in Him!

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Friday, 17 May 2019 : 4th Week of Easter (First Reading)

Liturgical Colour : White

Acts 13 : 26-33

Paul said to the Jews in the synagogue of Antioch in Pisidia, “Brothers, children and descendants of Abraham, and you also who fear God, it is to you that this message of salvation has been sent. It is a fact that the inhabitants of Jerusalem and their leaders did not recognise Jesus.”

“Yet in condemning Him, they fulfilled the words of the prophets that are read every Sabbath but not understood. Even though they found no charge against Him that deserved death, they asked Pilate to have Him executed. And after they have carried out all that had been written concerning Him, they took Him down from the cross and laid Him in a tomb.”

But God raised Him from the dead, and for many days thereafter He showed Himself to those who had come up with Him from Galilee to Jerusalem. They have now become His witnesses before the people. We ourselves announce to you this Good News : All that God promised our ancestors, He has fulfilled for us, their descendants, by raising Jesus, according to what is written in the second psalm : You are My Son, this day I have begotten You.”