Liturgical Colour : Green or White (Saturday Mass of Our Lady)
Psalm 127 : 1-2, 3, 4-5
Blessed are you who fear YHVH and walk in His ways. You will eat the fruit of your toil; you will be blessed and favoured.
Your wife, like a vine, will bear fruits in your home; your children, like olive shoots, will stand around your table.
Such are the blessings bestowed upon the man who fears YHVH. May YHVH praise you from Zion. May you see Jerusalem prosperous all the days of your life.
Liturgical Colour : Green or White (Saturday Mass of Our Lady)
Ruth 2 : 1-3, 8-11 and Ruth 4 : 13-17
Naomi had a well-to-do kinsman, Boaz, from the clan of her husband Elimelech. And Ruth the Moabite said to Naomi, “Let me go to pick up the left-over grain in the field whose owner will allow me that favour.” Naomi said, “Go ahead, my daughter.” So she went to glean in the fields behind the harvesters. It happened that, the field she entered belonged to Boaz of the clan of Elimelech.
Boaz said to Ruth, “Listen, my daughter. Do not go away from here to glean in anyone else’s field. Stay here with my women servants. See where the harvesters are and follow behind. I have ordered the men not to molest you. They have filled some jars with water. Go there and drink when you are thirsty.” Bowing down with her face to the ground, she exclaimed, “Why have I, a foreigner, found such favour in your eyes?”
Boaz answered, “I have been told all about you – what you have done for your mother-in-law since your husband’s death, how you have gone with her, leaving your own father and mother and homeland, to live with a people you knew nothing about before you came here.”
So Ruth was taken by Boaz and became his wife. YHVH made her conceive and give birth to a son. The women said to Naomi, “Blessed be YHVH Who has provided you today with an heir. May he become famous in Israel! He will be your comfort and stay in your old age, for he is born of a daughter-in-law who loves you and is worth more than seven sons.”
Naomi took the child as her own and became his nurse. And the women of the neighbourhood gave him his name, saying, “A son has been born for Naomi.” They named him Obed. He was the father of Jesse, who was David’s father.
Liturgical Colour : Green or White (Saints or Priests)
Dear brothers and sisters in Christ, all of us are reminded today through the readings of the Sacred Scriptures of the need for all of us to be truly dedicated and committed to God, in doing His will and in following His Law and commandments. Each one of us must always heed the words of God and obey Him wholeheartedly, understand His Law and teachings, and do what we can so that we may always do what is righteous and virtuous in His Presence. All of us have to strive to do this, for if we truly consider and call ourselves as Christians, as God’s faithful and dedicated people, then we cannot be complacent, ignorant and even contradictory in our actions and way of life. Otherwise, if our words and actions do not match with what we believe in, then we are no better than hypocrites and unbelievers, because all those who hear and witness our actions, will not even believe that we are Christians.
In our first reading today, we heard from the Book of Ruth, of the story of Ruth, a Moabite woman who was married to one of the two sons of Elimelech and his wife, Naomi. When everyone in that family have passed on, and left Ruth alone with Naomi and the other son of Naomi’s wife, as we heard, Ruth refused to leave Naomi and return to her own homeland, and she made a very firm profession of faith before Naomi, that her mother-in-law would be like her own mother, and her God would also be her own God. Through this act and dedication, Ruth has taken the Lord to be her own Lord and Master, and committed herself wholly to Him and to His people, and henceforth, was counted among the chosen people of God. Ruth was included among the many other women in the Scriptures, Israelite or otherwise and even has her own Book written about her because she was the mother of Obed, who was to be King David’s grandfather.
If we understand the context and common practice of that time, this was highly unusual as during that time period, there were great divisions and distrust between the Israelites and their neighbours such as the Moabites. There was also a great divide between the Israelites who worshipped the Lord God and God alone, while their neighbours like that of the Moabites, Edomites, Ammonites, Phoenicians and Hittites among others worshipped many gods and idols. Therefore, for Ruth to have put her trust so completely in the Lord and in her mother-in-law when she definitely had no obligation to do so, was a truly very significant expression and declaration of the faith. That is why Ruth has been made as a great role model of faith for all of the Israelites, God’s people, and also to all of us. Ruth is the role model and inspiration to everyone in how they all should commit themselves wholeheartedly to the Lord.
In our Gospel passage today, we heard of something related as the Pharisees and the teachers of the Law questioned and tested the Lord by asking Him what the most important commandment of the Law is, and the Lord told them that, in all the vast arrays of rules, regulations and all the customs which the Law of God had inspired by that time, all of them are ultimately originating from two main commandments, that is first of all for us to love the Lord our God with all our heart, with all our soul, and with all our mind, the most important commandment of all, and then immediately afterwards, is for us to love our neighbour as ourselves, which the Lord mentioned as the foundation of the whole entire Law and everything that the prophets had taught and delivered to the people of God. The Lord has reminded us all these today, together with the examples of Ruth, that all of us need to put our focus and attention on the Lord our God, in all things.
That is why, each one of us as Christians living today in our world of the present day, we have to do our part in obeying God’s Law and commandments, and not only with our words and actions, or by external show or sign of faith, but we must also genuinely be filled with love and commitment to the Lord, so that in all things, we may truly show our Christian faith and character, at all times and opportunities. We must not allow ourselves to be swayed by the many temptations of the world, and by the allures of worldly glory, fame and riches, all the things that may end up distracting and pulling us away from the path towards God’s grace, and distancing ourselves from truly attaining righteousness and being worthy of Him. This is what we have to remind one another as always, and we should not disregard this, as it is indeed easy for us to lose track and focus of our lives, and falling into temptations, should we allow those things to enter into us and influence our lives.
Today, the Church celebrates the feast of two great saints, holy men of God whose lives and faith in God should be sources of strength and inspiration for all of us to follow, so that we may all know how we should also dedicate ourselves, our time and effort to serve the Lord wholeheartedly if we have not yet done so. One of them is St. Louis of France, also known better as King Louis IX of France, a great and renowned King of France and holy servant of God. Meanwhile, the other one is St. Joseph Calasanz, a renowned Spanish Catholic priest remembered for his dedication to the less fortunate, especially to those who did not have access to education and proper upbringing in life, by establishing schools and institutions to help them. Both of them were remembered for their great commitment and dedication to God, their piety and love for both God and their fellow brothers and sisters alike, and for all the efforts that they had done for the greater glory of God and for the good of the people of God.
St. Louis, as the King of France, Louis IX, was a great king remembered for his many efforts to improve the livelihood of his people, working hard to ensure the well-being and prosperity of his people and kingdom, in his efforts to spread the Good News and the works of the Church by his support of various Church institutions and efforts. He was also well-known for his efforts in eradicating heresies and false teachings as was rampant at that time with the Albigensian heresy, which led to the efforts known as the Albigensian Crusades, where many priests and other missionaries went to convert the people back to the truth of God, having been deluded and misled by the falsehoods of the Cathars that led to the Albigensian heresy. St. Louis dedicated himself to the greater glory of God, and did everything he could for the glory of God, and had done so much for the prosperity and future of those entrusted under his care.
St. Joseph Calasanz was born into a family of minor Spanish nobleman, and he was brought up with good education and upbringing which likely gave a good impression on him on the importance of education on the youth and children. It also brought up in him the desire to become a priest, in serving the Lord in greater ways. This was initially opposed by his parents, but after a great sickness that almost led him to his death, eventually his father relented and allowed St. Joseph Calasanz to be a priest. As a priest, he dedicated himself to many great works and missions, and paid particular focus as mentioned to the youths and children who had not been able to access education. He helped to establish and open the first free public school in all of Europe, and establishing even more public schools and institutions meant to help and assist many people who have been disadvantaged. He continued to commit himself to this mission and encourage many more efforts to be done for the sick, the disadvantaged and the uneducated, to the end of his life.
Brothers and sisters in Christ, as we have heard from the life stories and the works of St. Louis and St. Joseph Calasanz, all of us should be reminded, together with the examples of Ruth and her faith mentioned earlier, that all of us should follow the Lord with greater zeal and commitment, and develop that strong faith and love which we ought to have for Him. Each and every one of us should do our part, as members of the Church and as God’s own beloved people, to carry out His will and to do whatever we can so that we may indeed proclaim Him and His Good News through our own exemplary lives and actions. We should do what we can so that more and more people may be inspired to follow the Lord by our examples, just as we have been inspired by His holy servants, the holy saints and martyrs. May He continue to guide and strengthen us all in our faith, and may His saints continue to intercede for us and inspire us in our way of life, now and always. Amen.
Liturgical Colour : Green or White (Saints or Priests)
Matthew 22 : 34-40
At that time, when the Pharisees heard how Jesus had silenced the Sadducees, they assembled together. One of them, a lawyer, questioned Him to test Him, “Teacher, which commandment of the Law is the greatest?”
Jesus answered, “You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, with all your soul, and with all your mind. This is the first and the most important of the commandments. The second is like it : You shall love your neighbour as yourself. The whole Law and prophets are founded on these two commandments.”
Liturgical Colour : Green or White (Saints or Priests)
Psalm 145 : 5-6ab, 6c-7, 8-9a, 9bc-10
Blessed are they whose help is the God of Jacob, whose hope is in YHVH their God, Maker of heaven and earth, the sea and all they contain.
The Lord is forever faithful; He gives justice to the oppressed and gives food to the hungry. The Lord sets the prisoners free.
The Lord gives sight to the blind, the Lord straightens the bent. The Lord loves the virtuous, but He brings to ruin the way of the wicked. The Lord protects the stranger.
He sustains the widow and the orphan. The Lord will reign forever, your God, o Zion, from generation to generation. Alleluia!
Liturgical Colour : Green or White (Saints or Priests)
Ruth 1 : 1, 3-6, 14b-16, 22
There was a famine in the land during the time of the Judges, and a man from Bethlehem in Judah departed with his wife and two sons, to sojourn in the country of Moab. Naomi’s husband Elimelech died. She was left with her two sons, who married Moabite women, one named Orpah and the other Ruth.
After living in Moab for about ten years, Mahlon and Chilion also died; and Naomi was left bereft of husband and two sons. Having heard that YHVH had come to help His people by giving them food, Naomi prepared to return home.
But Ruth clung to her. Naomi said, “Look, your sister-in-law returns to her people and her gods. You too, must return. Go after her.” Ruth replied, “Do not ask me to leave you. For I will go where you go and stay where you stay. Your people will be my people and your God, my God.”
Thus it was that Naomi returned from Moab with her Moabite daughter-in-law and arrived in Bethlehem as the barley harvest began.
Liturgical Colour : Red
Dear brothers and sisters in Christ, today we celebrate the Feast of St. Bartholomew the Apostle, one of the Twelve Apostles of the Lord, and therefore one of the great pillars of the Church. St. Bartholomew was also likely known as Nathanael as according to today’s Gospel passage, one of the Lord’s Twelve Apostles was one named Nathanael, whom the Lord called in an amazing way, and known for his great intellect and wisdom. There was no one else among the known Twelve Apostles who can fit the description of Nathanael except for St. Bartholomew the Apostle. There was scant reference to him otherwise in the Scriptures, but Church and Apostolic traditions and histories had extensive details about the efforts and works of St. Bartholomew, including that of his ministry and his martyrdom, how he died in the face of opposition and persecution against Christians.
St. Bartholomew was likely named as such because he was the son of a man named Talmai or Ptolemy, with the ‘bar’ in Hebrew meaning ‘son of’. As Ptolemy or Ptolemeus at that time was a Greek name, it was likely that he was a Hellenised Jew, with the given name of Nathanael. He was a wise and learned man, who knew the Law and the Prophets well, just as we heard in our Gospel passage today. In what he said upon knowing that the Lord Jesus had come from the region of Nazareth in Galilee, with the words, ‘Can anything good come from Nazareth?’, it indicated to us his familiarity with the prophets and their prophecies about the coming of the Messiah or the Saviour of Israel. But the Lord convinced Nathanael and showed Him His power, wisdom and truth, as He told him that He saw him below the fig tree, revealing His ability to know the thoughts and the location of Nathanael, showing that He was truly the Messiah of God promised to the people that He loved. Thus, Nathanael or St. Bartholomew recognised the Lord Jesus as the Son of God and King of Israel, the Holy One of God.
Later on, after everything that happened with the Lord and His Passion, His suffering and death on the Cross, and the events surrounding His Resurrection and Ascension into Heaven, as well as the coming of the Holy Spirit, it was told according to the Apostolic traditions that St. Bartholomew went on missions to spread the Good News and truth of God to many distant places including India and Armenia among other places. In India, it was told that St. Bartholomew went to the ancient city of Kalyan and other places, spreading the word of God and His truth, complementing the works of St. Thomas who also went to that land. He also went to Armenia as mentioned, together with another Apostle, St. Jude Thaddeus, in proclaiming the Good News and in calling more and more people to come to know their Lord and Saviour. In his travels and works throughout that region, St. Bartholomew managed to gain converts to the true Faith, while facing opposition and hardships in the midst of his missions.
In Armenia, it was told that St. Bartholomew managed to convert the ruler or king of Armenia named Polymius, who embraced the Christian faith because of the preaching and the works of St. Bartholomew. This brought about a resistance from the pagans and the powerful nobles, led by the king’s brother, Astyages, who therefore ordered the arrest and then torture of St. Bartholomew. In what would become truly renowned about St. Bartholomew, the Apostle was flayed or skinned alive and then beheaded. Thus, that is why many of the portrayals of St. Bartholomew showed the Apostle holding onto his own flayed skin. Another tradition stated that St. Bartholomew was crucified upside-down in the manner just like another Apostle, St. Peter. In the end, regardless in what way St. Bartholomew was martyred, what matters is that he died defending his faith, and suffered just as the Lord Himself had suffered, for the glory of God and for the good of His people.
Now, brothers and sisters in Christ, as we celebrate this Feast of the Holy Apostle, St. Bartholomew, on this day, let us all therefore reflect upon the actions and dedication which St. Bartholomew had shown the Lord and all of us, in everything he had done, in all the works and missions he had gone to, in proclaiming the Good News of God courageously and fearlessly, and in living his life with great virtues and examples, that many were convinced by his words and actions, in accepting and embracing the Lord Jesus Christ as their own Lord and Master, and as their Saviour and King. For all that he had done, in doing God’s will to the very end, St. Bartholomew has been glorified and raised to the bliss and joy of Heaven, as the Lord had promised to all those who have been faithful to Him. As we heard in our first reading today, from the Revelation or Apocalypse of St. John, we heard how St. John saw the vision of the New Jerusalem, with the names of the Apostles inscribed upon its gates.
Thus, that is how the Lord will also treat all those who have been faithful and true to Him, all those who have given their lives to His cause, like all the Apostles and the holy saints and martyrs, and the innumerable other holy men and women, who have gone before us, and whose lives shone forth with great virtue and faith. Their works and examples should serve inspiration to all of us as Christians, God’s beloved people and disciples, on how each and every one of us should be living our own lives with faith. We should be inspired and strengthened by their examples, particularly that of St. Bartholomew, in how we should act and do our best to love one another, and to proclaim God’s truth and Good News by our faithful lives. This is our calling as Christians, and what each and every one of us should do, as those whom God had called and chosen to be His own.
Brothers and sisters in Christ, therefore all of us are reminded today that we cannot be idle in the living of our faith in life. Each one of us have been blessed and given the grace of God’s love and kindness, His gifts, talents, abilities and the various opportunities that have been presented to us. If the Apostles and the other holy saints and martyrs had not done what they did for the sake of the Lord, in doing what the Lord had called and told them to do, in making the effort and in sacrificing time and their comfort for the spread of the Good News and the Light of God’s truth, in sharing His love and compassionate mercy, many souls including ours would have been doomed to damnation, and we might not have received His love and kindness, His truth and Good News, His salvation and grace. We are all called and inspired to do our best that our lives may truly reflect our Christian faith and all that the Lord had taught us to do, just as St. Bartholomew had done with his life.
May the Lord continue to guide and strengthen all of us, in our every works and actions, in every moments of our lives. May He inspire and empower all of us so that we may serve Him ever more faithfully and with greater courage, in the manner that St. Bartholomew, and the other Holy Apostles, saints and martyrs had done. All of us are part of the Lord’s Church and each one of us are integral part of the missions which God has entrusted to us. Let us all strive to commit our every time and effort to glorify God and to seek the betterment of all mankind. May God bless us all and bless our every works, and may He remain with us always, and strengthen us in all of our endeavours. St. Bartholomew, Holy Apostle of the Lord, pray for us all sinners. Amen.
Liturgical Colour : Red
John 1 : 45-51
At that time, Philip found Nathanael and said to him, “We have found the One Moses wrote about in the Law, and the prophets : He is Jesus, Son of Joseph, from Nazareth.”
Nathanael replied, “Can anything good come from Nazareth?” Philip said to him, “Come and see.” When Jesus saw Nathanael coming, He said of him, “Here comes an Israelite, a true one; there is nothing false in him.” Nathanael asked Him, “How do You know me?” And Jesus said to him, “Before Philip called you, you were under the fig tree, and I saw you.”
Nathanael answered, “Master, You are the Son of God! You are the King of Israel!” But Jesus replied, “You believe because I said, ‘I saw you under the fig tree.’ But you will see greater things than that. Truly, I say to you, you will see the heavens opened, and the Angels of God ascending and descending upon the Son of Man.”
Liturgical Colour : Red
Psalm 144 : 10-11, 12-13ab, 17-18
All Your works will give You thanks; all Your saints, o Lord, will praise You. They will tell of the glory of Your kingdom and speak of Your power.
That all may know of Your mighty deeds, Your reign and its glorious splendour. Your reign is from age to age; Your dominion endures from generation to generation.
Righteous is YHVH in all His ways, His mercy shows in all His deeds. He is near those who call on Him, who call trustfully upon His Name.
Liturgical Colour : Red
Revelations 21 : 9b-14
And one of the seven Angels who were with the seven bowls full of the seven last plagues said to me, “Come, I am going to show you the bride, the wife of the Lamb.”
He took me up, in a spiritual vision, to a very high mountain, and he showed me the holy city Jerusalem, coming down out of heaven, from God. It shines with the glory of God, like a precious jewel, with the colour of crystal-clear jasper. Its wall, large and high, has twelve gates; stationed at them are twelve Angels.
Over the gates are written the names of the twelve tribes of the sons of Israel. Three gates face the east; three gates face the north; three gates face the south and three face the west. The city wall stands on twelve foundation stones, on which are written the names of the twelve Apostles of the Lamb.
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