Liturgical Colour : Green
Psalm 109 : 1, 2, 3, 4
The Lord said to my Lord, “Sit at My right hand till I make Your foes Your footstool.”
From Zion the Lord will extend Your mighty sceptre and You will rule in the midst of Your enemies.
Yours is royal dignity from the day You were born in holy majesty. Like dew from the womb of the dawn, I have begotten You.
The Lord has sworn, and He will not take back His word : “You are a Priest forever in the order of Melchizedek.”
Liturgical Colour : Green
Hebrews 5 : 1-10
Every High Priest is taken from among mortals and appointed to be their representative before God to offer gifts and sacrifices for sin. He is able to understand the ignorant and erring for he himself is subject to weakness. This is why he is bound to offer sacrifices for his sins as well as for the sins of the people.
Besides, one does not presume to take this dignity, but takes it only when called by God, as Aaron was. Nor did Christ become High Priest in taking upon Himself this dignity, but it was given to Him by the One Who says : You are My Son, I have begotten You today. And in another place : You are a Priest forever in the priestly order of Melchizedek.
Christ, in the days of His mortal life, offered His sacrifice with tears and cries. He prayed to Him Who could save Him from death, and He was heard because of His humble submission. Although He was Son, He learnt through suffering what obedience was, and once made perfect, He became the source of eternal salvation for those who obey Him. This is how God proclaimed Him Priest in the order of Melchizedek.
Liturgical Colour : Green
Dear brothers and sisters in Christ, this Sunday is the Second Sunday in Ordinary Time, as we have progressed from the season of Christmas into this time and season of the Ordinary Time. As we recall the words that we have just heard from our Scripture passages today, we are reminded that all of us are Christians because we believe in the salvation that Our Lord Jesus Christ, the Son of God and the Saviour of all the whole world had brought upon us into our midst. He, the Divine Word of God Who has willingly embraced our humanity and descended down into our midst, to be with us as Emmanuel, God Who is with us, and He has shown us the Love of God manifested in the flesh, approachable and reachable by each one of us. This Sunday we are reminded of our faith in Him and then also what each one of us as Christians ought to do with our lives.
In our first reading today, we heard from the Book of the prophet Isaiah in which the Lord spoke to Isaiah regarding the servant of God that God would send to His people in order to proclaim to them His salvation, gathering them from the nations, calling them back to His loving embrace once again. This can be interpreted as referring to the prophet Isaiah himself, whom God had sent into the people of Judah to help remind them to walk down the right path, turning away from their sinful past. But, this was also in fact a premonition and prediction of the coming of the One Whom God had proclaimed to His people throughout history, a promise renewed yet again and again through His many prophets, of the Messiah or Saviour Who will be the Shepherd and Guide of all of God’s beloved people.
The prophet Isaiah often spoke about the coming of the Messiah, and made many prophecies regarding Him as recorded throughout the Book of Isaiah, and hence, this would be yet another one of God’s renewed promises that He would send into the midst of His people the Deliverer, the Saviour of all, Who as the one and true Good Shepherd, would reassemble the body of the faithful people of God, gathering all the lost sheep of the Lord and bringing them all once again into the most loving embrace of God’s love. Through Christ, each and every one of us have been brought closer to the Lord, our Heavenly Father, as He offered on our behalf the perfect offering of love, the offering of Himself as the Lamb of God, the Paschal Lamb of Sacrifice, as well as being the High Priest Himself, and all these were highlighted in our Scripture passages today to remind us of this fact and truth.
As we heard in our Gospel passage today, St. John the Baptist proclaimed before his own disciples how the one Jesus of Nazareth Who had come to him at the River Jordan, and asked to be baptised was indeed the Messiah, the One Whom everyone had been long waiting for. St. John the Baptist also said that, there was the Lamb of God, Who takes away the sins of the world, the One Whom St. John the Baptist had been labouring and working to prepare the coming for. He spoke also of what happened when the Lord Jesus was baptised, of how the Holy Spirit descended upon Him as a Dove coming down from Heaven, and the Father’s voice being heard, proclaiming that Jesus is truly His Son, the Son of God manifested in this world, as the proof of God’s ever enduring Love for each and every one of us.
And as mentioned earlier, what St. John the Baptist spoke of, as the Herald of the Messiah, was in fact also a foreshadowing and premonition of what the Lord Jesus would do for our sake, as the Lamb of God Who would be sacrificed on the Altar of His Cross, with His Most Precious Body broken and His Most Precious Blood spilt and poured down upon us, for the atonement of all of our sins, and for our redemption. The Lord Jesus would gather us all to His heavenly Father’s presence, by giving Himself, bearing upon His own shoulders the whole burden, punishments and consequences due for our many and innumerable sins. He manifested therefore God’s most generous and selfless Love, by His own actions, as He reached out to all of us, even to the most marginalised and those ostracised and rejected by the society, and calling on us to turn away from our sins, and once again embracing God’s Love and grace to the fullest.
Brothers and sisters in Christ, as we listened to these words of the Scriptures reminding us of the salvation which the Lord has brought into our midst through Jesus Christ, His Son, Our Lord and Saviour, we are all therefore presented with the need for us all to focus our lives and efforts to follow the Lord, Our Saviour and King, our Good Shepherd and Guide, Who has shown us the way to the Father, to eternal life and true joy through Him. As Christians we cannot be idle or ignorant of what we are all expected to do in our respective lives, in the many opportunities and moments that the Lord has presented and provided to us. Each and every one of us have been blessed and granted various unique gifts and talents, so that we may make good use of them to do good and to follow in the footsteps and examples of Christ Himself, in how He has reached out to us and loved even the least amongst us.
Brothers and sisters in Christ, as we progress through this Ordinary Time and season, we are constantly being reminded again and again, that we cannot be ‘ordinary’ in our living and we should not let the time and moments pass us by just like that, without us doing anything of merit and worthy of the Lord. Instead this ordinary here ought to refer to the fact that this is the time for us to settle down and get to work, that is for us to do what the Lord has told us to do, to do our responsibilities and parts, in proclaiming the truth and love of God in the midst of our various communities, and in being exemplary and good role models in how we live our lives so that everyone who witness our works and actions, heard our words and interactions, witnessed our lives and more may truly believe in God through us, because our lives and actions have become beacons of God’s Light and source of the same truth that Christ has brought into this world.
The question is, are we willing and able to commit ourselves to follow the Lord wholeheartedly, if we have not done so yet, in our daily living and in our every interactions and works? Are we able to commit ourselves to a life of virtue and Christian values, as we have been called and reminded to do, by the Church and by the Lord Himself? These are things that we should really spend time to ponder upon, while also reflecting and discerning on what we can do better going forward in our respective lives as Christians, all those whom God had called and chosen, and have chosen in our own ways, to respond to His call. Let us not let our faith be an empty and dead one, but let us seek to be always ever courageous in how we live our faith through our actions, words, deeds, interactions and more that we may inspire even more people to follow our path as well.
May the Lord, our most loving God and Father continue to guide us in our lives, and help us to persevere through the many challenges and trials that we may have to face and endure in life. May He strengthen and empower us all in our everyday moments, so that we may always be firm in our faith and that we may resist the temptations to disobey and sin against Him. May God bless our every actions, our every works and efforts, our every good endeavours, all for His greater glory, now and always. Amen.
Liturgical Colour : Green
John 1 : 29-34
At that time, the next day John saw Jesus coming towards him, and said, “There is the Lamb of God, Who takes away the sin of the world! It is He of Whom I said : A Man comes after me, Who is already ahead of me, for He was before me. I myself did not know Him, but I came baptising to prepare for Him, so that He might be revealed in Israel.”
And John also gave this testimony, “I saw the Spirit coming down on Him like a dove from heaven, and resting on Him. I myself did not know Him, but God, Who sent me to baptise, told me, “You will see the Spirit coming down, and resting, on the One Who baptises with the Holy Spirit.’ Yes, I have seen! And I declare that this is the Chosen One of God!”
Liturgical Colour : Green
1 Corinthians 1 : 1-3
From Paul, called to be an Apostle of Christ Jesus by the will of God, and from Sosthenes, our brother, to God’s Church which is in Corinth; to you whom God has sanctified in Christ Jesus and called to be holy, together with those who everywhere call upon the Name of our Lord Christ Jesus, their Lord and ours.
Receive grace and peace from God our Father, and Christ Jesus our Lord.
Liturgical Colour : Green
Psalm 39 : 2 and 4ab, 7-8a, 8b-9, 10
With resolve I waited for the Lord; He listened and heard me beg. He put a new song in my mouth, a song of prayer to our God.
Sacrifice and oblation You did not desire; this You had me understand. Burnt offering and sin offering You do not require. Then I said, “Here I come!”
“As the scroll says of me. To do Your will is my delight, o God, for Your law is within my heart.”
In the great assembly I have proclaimed Your saving help. My lips, o Lord, I did not seal – You know that very well.
Liturgical Colour : Green
Isaiah 49 : 3, 5-6
YHVH said to me, “You are Israel, My servant. Through you I will be known.”
And now YHVH has spoken, He Who formed me in the womb to be His servant, to bring Jacob back to Him, to gather Israel to Him. He said : “It is not enough that you be My servant, to restore the tribes of Jacob, to bring back the remnant of Israel. I will make you the light of the nations, that My salvation will reach 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, today as we heard the words of the Lord in the Scriptures, we are reminded of the need for all of us to love the Lord and entrust ourselves to Him, and often times we will find that giving ourselves to the service of God would require making a sacrifice on our side, and believe in His loving kindness despite the trials, challenges and obstacles we may face in our respective journey through life.
In our first reading today, as we listened to the words of the Lord, we heard the tragic story of the defeat of King Saul and the forces of Israel at the battle of Mount Gilboa against the Philistines. The Philistines were a powerful neighbouring people of the Israelites who at that time were on the rise and were making attacks and raids deep into the lands of the Israelites causing untold sufferings and harm to the people of God.
The forces of the Israelites was defeated, King Saul and his sons, including Jonathan, David’s close friend, were killed. The sins committed by Saul and his disobedience against God eventually contributed to this loss, as his lack of faith in God meant that they lost the guidance and providence from God. The news of that bitter defeat was relayed to David, who as the one chosen by God and anointed as the new King of Israel, had been waiting anxiously for the news of what happened.
Certainly, David was devastated at the news of the loss of not just the king and the forces of Israel, but also his close friend, Jonathan, Saul’s son. He sang a song of lamentation for them, even for Saul, who had previously tried to harm him and plotted against his life because of his place as the chosen one to replace the former as King. David entrusted his fate to the Lord, and if we recall yesterday’s reading, of David sparing Saul and his men, and did not kill them despite having the perfect chance to do so, showed us just how much David trusted in the Lord, unlike Saul who disobeyed Him.
Then, in our Gospel passage today, we heard the curious passage from the Gospel, in which we heard about the Lord and His disciples performing their work, and they were so busy in doing their work that they had no time to rest at all and even eat, and they all became hungry. We heard how the relatives of the Lord took charge of Him and told the people, that He was out of His mind. That was because He spent so much time at work and His ministry, that He did not spend much time with His family.
The Lord and His disciples, whom He had called from diverse origins, all committed themselves to the calling and ministry that God had entrusted to them. In the Lord’s own words, we heard in another occasion in the Gospels how He had no place to lay His head, and He and His disciples often had to spend time in the wilderness, travelling from places to places in ministering to the people of God, and at times also evading the Pharisees and the teachers of the Law who often shadowed and followed them.
This is a reminder for us that following the Lord isn’t always an easy and comfortable journey, and more often than not, we may be required to make plenty of sacrifices along the way. Those sacrifices were not without merit though, as everyone who had given themselves to the Lord and committed themselves to Him shall receive from Him the affirmation and assurance of eternal life and glory. They shall never be disappointed and they shall attain the grace of heavenly glory reserved for those who have kept their faith in God.
Today we celebrate the feast of a great saint whose faith and dedication to the Lord can inspire us to follow Him more wholeheartedly, namely that of St. Vincent the Deacon, a holy martyr of the faith. St. Vincent, also known as St. Vincent of Zaragoza, was a deacon in the Roman town of Caesar Augusta, the precursor of modern Zaragoza. He was serving the Bishop of Zaragoza and the flock of the faithful there during the difficult years of intense persecutions of the faithful under the Roman Emperor Diocletian.
St. Vincent and the bishop among many other Christians were arrested as part of that great persecution, and he refused to burn the Sacred Scriptures as ordered by the Roman governor, and chose to stay faithful despite the certainty of death in doing so. He also rebuked the actions of the governor and affirmed that no amount of coercions or threats could change their minds, as they would rather choose to suffer and die rather than to disobey and abandon God. That was how St. Vincent was martyred, according to tradition, by burning on a hot gridiron.
Brothers and sisters in Christ, today let us all follow the inspiring examples set by St. Vincent the Deacon and many other of our holy and dedicated predecessors, and let us no longer be lukewarm in our faith but instead doing all that we can to follow the Lord wholeheartedly from now on, without fear and having full trust of the Lord, Who is always with us and journeying with us, even in the darkest moments of our lives. May God be with us all and may He bless all of our good endeavours, now and always. Amen.
Liturgical Colour : Green or Red (Martyrs) or White (Saturday Mass of Our Lady)
Mark 3 : 20-21
At that time, Jesus and His disciples went home. The crowd began to gather again and they could not even have a meal. Knowing what was happening, His relatives came to take charge of Him, “He is out of His mind,” they said.
Liturgical Colour : Green or Red (Martyrs) or White (Saturday Mass of Our Lady)
Psalm 79 : 2-3, 5-7
Listen, o Shepherd of Israel, You, Who lead Joseph like a flock; You, Who sit enthroned between the Cherubim. Shine forth before Ephraim, Benjamin and Manasseh. Stir up Your might and come to save us.
O YHVH of hosts, how long will Your anger burn against the prayers of Your people? You have fed them with the bread of woe, and have given them tears to drink in their sorrow. You have made us the scorn of our neighbours and the laughingstock of our oppressors.
petercanisiusmichaeldavidkang 