6th Sunday of Easter

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Thursday, 9 May 2024 : Solemnity of the Ascension of the Lord (Second Reading)

Liturgical Colour : White

Ephesians 4 : 1-13

Therefore, I, the prisoner of Christ, invite you, to live the vocation you have received. Be humble, kind, patient and bear with one another in love. Make every effort to keep among you, the unity of spirit, through bonds of peace. Let there be one body, and one Spirit, just as one hope is the goal of your calling by God. One Lord, one faith, one baptism; one God, the Father of all, Who is above all, and works through all, and is in all.

But to each of us, divine grace is given, according to the measure of Christ’s gift. Therefore, it is said : When He ascended to the heights, He brought captives and gave His gifts to people. He ascended, what does it mean, but, that He had also descended to the lower parts of the world? He, Himself, Who went down, then ascended far above all the heavens, to fill all things.

As for His gifts, to some, He gave to be Apostles; to others, prophets, or even evangelists; or pastors and teachers. So, He prepared those who belong to Him, for the ministry, in order to build up the Body of Christ, until we are all united, in the same faith and knowledge of the Son of God. Thus, we shall become the perfect Man, upon reaching maturity, and sharing the fullness of Christ.

Alternative reading (shorter version)

Ephesians 4 : 1-7, 11-13

Therefore, I, the prisoner of Christ, invite you, to live the vocation you have received. Be humble, kind, patient and bear with one another in love. Make every effort to keep among you, the unity of spirit, through bonds of peace. Let there be one body, and one Spirit, just as one hope is the goal of your calling by God. One Lord, one faith, one baptism; one God, the Father of all, Who is above all, and works through all, and is in all.

But to each of us, divine grace is given, according to the measure of Christ’s gift. As for His gifts, to some, He gave to be Apostles; to others, prophets, or even evangelists; or pastors and teachers. So, He prepared those who belong to Him, for the ministry, in order to build up the Body of Christ, until we are all united, in the same faith and knowledge of the Son of God. Thus, we shall become the perfect Man, upon reaching maturity, and sharing the fullness of Christ.

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Thursday, 9 May 2024 : Solemnity of the Ascension of the Lord (Psalm)

Liturgical Colour : White

Psalm 46 : 2-3, 6-7, 8-9

Clap your hands, all you peoples; acclaim God with shouts of joy. For the Lord, the Most High, is to be feared; He is a great King all over the earth.

God ascends amid joyful shouts, the Lord amid trumpet blasts. Sing praises to God, sing praises! Sing praises to our King, sing praises!

God is King of all the earth; sing to Him a hymn of praise. For God now rules over the nations, God reigns from His holy throne.

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Thursday, 9 May 2024 : Solemnity of the Ascension of the Lord (First Reading)

Liturgical Colour : White

Acts 1 : 1-11

In the first part of my work, Theophilus, I wrote of all that Jesus did and taught from the beginning until the day when He ascended to heaven. But first He had instructed through the Holy Spirit, the Apostles He had chosen. After His passion, He presented Himself to them, giving many signs that He was alive, over a period of forty days He appeared to them and taught them concerning the kingdom of God.

Once when He had been eating with them, He told them, “Do not leave Jerusalem, but wait for the fulfilment of the Father’s promise about which I have spoken to you : John baptised with water, but you will be baptised with the Holy Spirit within a few days.”

When they had come together, they asked Him, “Is it now that You will restore the Kingdom of Israel?” And He answered, “It is not for you to know the time and the steps that the Father has fixed by His own authority. But you will receive power when the Holy Spirit comes upon you; and you will be My witnesses in Jerusalem, throughout Judea and Samaria, even to the ends of the earth.”

After Jesus said this, He was taken up before their eyes and a cloud hid Him from their sight. While they were still looking up to heaven where He went, suddenly, two men dressed in white stood beside them, and said, “Men of Galilee, why do you stand here looking up at the sky? This Jesus Who has been taken from you into heaven, will return in the same way as you have seen Him go there.”

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Wednesday, 8 May 2024 : 6th Week of Easter (Homily and Scripture Reflections)

Liturgical Colour : White

Dear brothers and sisters in Christ, today the Sacred Scriptures presented to all of us with the reassurance and reminder that as Christians, each and every one of us are the bearers of God’s truth and love, His salvation and light to the nations. Each and every one of us have received from God the assurance of His love and salvation, and He has blessed us all wonderfully with His care and compassion, leading us down the path of truth, and we are then entrusted with the responsibility and the mission to reach out to more and more of our fellow brothers and sisters so that through us and our efforts and works, through our every good actions, words and deeds, our interactions and outreach, we may inspire ever more people to come to believe in the Lord as well.

In our first reading today, we heard from the Acts of the Apostles of the time when St. Paul continued his missionary journey and this time, he went to Athens, the centre of Greek culture and civilisation for many centuries, and where philosophical debates and studies were commonplace. St. Paul went to Athens, to the place called the Areopagus, where historically philosophers went to debate and discern their philosophical theories and thinking. He spoke courageously to those who were there about their pagan ways and how they recognised an ‘Unknown God’ amidst their numerous gods and goddesses in their vast pantheon of divine beings. St. Paul introduced them all to the One and only True God, the Creator of the whole Universe, the Almighty God, the One that he associated with this Unknown God.

St. Paul presented it in a way that the Greeks had been worshipping inanimate objects and beings, and their pagan gods and goddesses, all the beings that were mythological and not real, and yet, the Lord and God that he was revealing to them was indeed true and genuine, and has shown His truth and might, His signs and wonders through none other than His own Beloved Son, Jesus Christ, the Son of God and Son of Man, through Whom we have seen and witnessed the perfect manifestation of God and His love in the flesh. St. Paul told the Greeks and their philosophers in Athens of the truth of God, and of everything that He had done and revealed to us, through His Son and the Holy Spirit, and the wisdom and truth bestowed upon the Church.

He told the people not to worship the inanimate and created objects and beings of the Universe, which were what the Greeks worshipped then, the deities and false gods and goddesses based on natural phenomena and observances, as many if not most of their gods and goddesses were based on those aforementioned phenomena, places like the sky, the seas and the earth itself, which were given human perspective and actions to bring them to life, as those who are familiar with the Greek mythology and pantheon will quickly know and realise how the Greek gods and goddesses in their actions and behaviour, were no different at all from the people who were supposed to be their subjects, and in fact those gods and goddesses might even behave in a worse and more scandalous way than that of the people themselves.

That was why St. Paul presented to those philosophers and others who were there listening to him, the One and only True God, the One Who created all things and the One Who alone is worthy of all worship and honour, and not the inanimate idols and objects, or the natural phenomena and other things which the Greeks and other pagans had been adopting as their gods and deities. St. Paul tried very hard to convince them that the Lord alone is worthy of following and worship because He has indeed shown His truth, His identity and fulfilled all that He had promised through all the events which had happened and which St. Paul himself was one of the witnesses, sharing the many testimonials of faith made by the other ones who have seen and experienced the Lord’s works and wonders. And as we heard, while he was mocked by quite a number of those philosophers especially when he talked about the Resurrection, but there were also some who were genuinely intrigued and wanted to know more about God.

Then, in our Gospel passage today, we heard of the words of the Lord speaking to His disciples, reminding them of His guidance and the Holy Spirit, the Helper and Advocate that the Father would be sending to all of them through Him. The Lord reminded His disciples that the Lord would send them all His wisdom and strength, His guidance and providence so that even after He had departed from them eventually, after He would ascend into the glory of Heaven, to return to where He came from, but the Church and all those who are part of it shall always be guided, strengthened and provided in their path and way by the Lord, through His many works and wonders, and through His guiding hand and encouragement, He would lead them to do great and wonderful things just as the Apostles like St. Paul and many others had done.

Therefore, each and every one of us as Christians today are also reminded to do the same as well in our own respective lives. All of us have been given various blessings, opportunities and vocations specific to whichever areas in life that God has called us into. The Lord entrusted to us His many blessings and wonders, so that through all these, we may truly do great things and proclaim His truth, Good News and salvation to many more people all around us. And hopefully, we may touch the lives of more people who have not yet seen and experienced God’s light, truth and salvation. Each and every one of us should indeed be good and worthy bearers of God’s truth and salvation, in living our own lives worthily, that our every actions and words, our every interactions will truly bear the light of God’s truth, that all may come to see Who He is, and realise that He alone is worthy of our worship and adoration.

Brothers and sisters, let us all therefore continue to live our lives with God’s guidance and help, so that we may continue to be good and shining examples of our Christian faith and virtues in wherever we are living in, in our various communities and areas of responsibility, in our dedication and commitment to God. Let our Christian faith and truth continue to lead more and more people towards the Lord, so that they may also be saved from the darkness and destruction because of sin. May God be with us all and with His Church, and may He continue to empower all of us to walk ever more faithfully in His path, now and always. Amen.

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Wednesday, 8 May 2024 : 6th Week of Easter (Gospel Reading)

Liturgical Colour : White

John 16 : 12-15

At that time, Jesus said to His disciples, “I still have many things to tell you, but you cannot bear them now. When He, the Spirit of Truth comes, He will guide you into the whole truth. He has nothing to say of Himself, but He will speak of what He hears, and He will tell you of the things to come.”

“He will take what is Mine and make it known to you; in doing this, He will glorify Me. All that the Father has is Mine; because of this, I have just told you that the Spirit will take what is Mine, and make it known to you.”

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Wednesday, 8 May 2024 : 6th Week of Easter (Psalm)

Liturgical Colour : White

Psalm 148 : 1-2, 11-12, 13, 14

Alleluia! Praise the Lord from the heavens; praise Him in the heavenly heights. Praise Him, all His Angels; praise Him, all His heavenly hosts.

Kings of the earth and nations, princes and all rulers of the world, young men and maidens, old and young together.

Let them praise the Name of the Lord. For His Name alone is exalted; His majesty is above earth and heaven.

He has given His people glory; He has a praise to His faithful, to Israel, the people close to Him. Alleluia.

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Wednesday, 8 May 2024 : 6th Week of Easter (First Reading)

Liturgical Colour : White

Acts 17 : 15, 22 – Acts 18 : 1

Paul was taken as far as Athens by his escort, who then returned to Beroea with instructions for Silas and Timothy to come to him as soon as possible. Then Paul stood up in the Areopagus hall and said, “Athenian citizens, I note that in every way you are very religious. As I walked around looking at your shrines, I even discovered an altar with this inscription : To an unknown God. Now, what you worship as unknown, I intend to make known to you.”

“God, Who made the world and all that is in it, does not dwell in sanctuaries made by human hands, being as He is Lord of heaven and earth. Nor does His worship depend on anything made by human hands, as if He were in need. Rather it is He Who gives life and breath and everything else to everyone.”

“From one stock He created the whole human race to live throughout all the earth, and He fixed the time and the boundaries of each nation. He wanted them to seek Him by themselves, even if it were only by groping for Him, succeed in finding Him. Yet He is not far from any one of us. For in Him we live and move and have our being, as some of your poets have said : for we too are His offspring.”

“If we are indeed God’s offspring, we ought not to think of divinity as something like a statue of gold or silver or stone, a product of human art and imagination. But now God prefers to overlook this time of ignorance and He calls on all people to change their ways. He has already set a day on which He will judge the world with justice through a Man He has appointed. And, so that all may believe it, He has just given a sign by raising this Man from the dead.”

When they heard Paul speak of a resurrection from death, some made fun of him, while others said, “We must hear you on this topic some other time.” At that point Paul left. But a few did join him, and believed. Among them were Dionysius, a member of the Areopagus court, a woman named Damaris, and some others. After this, Paul left Athens and went to Corinth.

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Tuesday, 7 May 2024 : 6th Week of Easter (Homily and Scripture Reflections)

Liturgical Colour : White

Dear brothers and sisters in Christ, today all of us are reminded through the reading passages taken from the Sacred Scriptures of the many trials, obstacles and challenges that we shall face as God’s holy people, as we embark on our respective missions and vocations in life. Each and every one of us must realise that to be Christians is not going to be like a walk in the park, as to be true, genuine and active Christians, we may often have to go up against the currents and customs of the world, just as the Lord Himself had done. If He Himself had been persecuted, endured hardships and rejection, then as He said to His disciples, then all of us can also expect similar treatment, challenges and difficulties in our path as well. But we must not worry or be afraid, because God is always ultimately by our side at every step of the way.

In our first reading today, we heard of the difficulties which the Apostle St. Paul and his companion, St. Silas encountered as they were carrying out their ministry among the people in Philippi, in the region of Macedonia in northern part of Greece. Over there, as they began the ministry among all those who have not yet known the Lord, they attracted the attention of many slaves in the region, who welcomed the message and encouragement of the Apostles and the other Christian missionaries who presented to them the message of Christian equality and egalitarianism in the face of the rampant slavery which was quite common at that time in the Roman Empire. Because slaves were often exploited and badly treated, therefore the promise of equality in the eyes of God and the liberation that Christ has brought and promised to everyone is truly promising indeed.

However, as we heard, this led to stiff opposition and rejection by the slave owners who considered the efforts of the Apostles and the Christian teachings to be great threats to their position, status and way of life. That was why St. Paul and St. Silas encountered such great hardships, as the slave owners rose up against them and plotted to throw them into prison with the assistance of the local magistrate and rulers. We heard how both of them were imprisoned by the machinations of their enemies, and how God intervened most miraculously when an earthquake struck the area and the prison, which allowed both of the Apostles not just being unharmed, but was also free to leave the prison. We heard how the jailor of the prison was so distraught at what happened that he almost wanted to take his own life, as undoubtedly, he would be blamed for the escape of the prisoners.

Yet, the Apostles intervened and reached out to the jailor, who became a believer in Christ together with that of his entire family. We heard how God was with His servants and messengers in their time of great need, being with them, guarding and providing for them whenever they were in need. Despite the sufferings they faced, and all the challenges they encountered, God gave them the courage and the necessary help, the opportunities, and even the chance to continue their mission in the most unexpected way, just as we have heard from the conversion story of the jailor and his family. The same therefore happened to the Church, which continued to grow and flourish even amidst the intensifying persecutions and challenges against them, and many more people would come to be believers in Christ in the years afterwards.

In our Gospel passage today, we then heard of the Lord telling His disciples that He would go away from them, but He would still remain by their side, in His guidance through the sending of the Helper or the Advocate, the Holy Spirit. This was a reference of how the Lord Jesus eventually would leave the disciples physically and would no longer be visible to them after He has died, risen from the dead and then ascended into Heaven. Those same disciples witnessed the Risen Lord Who appeared to them on several occasions, and they saw His Ascension into Heaven, when the Lord reassured all of them once again of the promised Holy Spirit that God would send to them to help and guide them all in their work and ministry.

The Lord told them all everything that they might have to suffer and endure, and saying to them that the greatest flaw and sin that the world committed is that of disbelief, that is refusing to believe in the truth and love which God has revealed and shown to everyone, preferring to follow their own erroneous and wicked paths in life, ignoring the truth and the path which the Lord had revealed and shown to them, and this was often because they were not willing to open their hearts and minds to listen to His truth and to witness His loving care and compassion. Therefore, if the Lord Himself had faced this stubborn rejection and all sorts of persecutions and hardships, thus His Church and disciples might encounter the same things too.

Brothers and sisters in Christ, let us all therefore remind ourselves that living as Christians is not something that should be taken lightly and we should no longer be idle in our lives or in being ignorant of the truth which the Lord Himself has shown us. As Christians, that is as God’s chosen, holy and beloved people, we should always strive to be good role models and inspiration for one another in how we live our lives, in our every words, actions and deeds so that we may continue to proclaim the Lord and His truth in even the smallest actions we do, and like how the Apostles, the Christian missionaries and other holy men and women of God had inspired countless people to come and believe in God as well.

May the Risen Lord continue to guide each and every one of us, His Church, in our every efforts and endeavours so that by His guidance and strength, all of us may continue to persevere through the difficult challenges and trials which we may encounter in our journey. May all of us continue to put our trust and faith in the Lord and do our very best so that in everything that we say and do, we will always glorify the Lord and we will continue to proclaim Him in every occasions throughout our whole lives, now and always. Amen.

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Tuesday, 7 May 2024 : 6th Week of Easter (Gospel Reading)

Liturgical Colour : White

John 16 : 5-11

At that time, Jesus said to His disciples, “But now I am going to the One Who sent Me, and none of you asks Me where I am going; instead you are overcome with grief, because of what I have said.”

“Believe Me, it is better for you that I go away, because as long as I do not leave, the Helper will not come to you. But if I go away, it is to send Him to you, and when He comes, He will vindicate the truth before a sinful world; and He will vindicate the paths of righteousness and justice.”

“What is the world’s sin, in regard to Me? Disbelief. What is the path of righteousness? It is the path I walk, by which I go to the Father; and you shall see Me no more. What is the path of justice? It is the path on which the prince of this world will always stand condemned.”

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Tuesday, 7 May 2024 : 6th Week of Easter (Psalm)

Liturgical Colour : White

Psalm 137 : 1-2a, 2bc-3, 7c-8

I thank You, o Lord with all my heart, for You have heard the word of my lips. I sing Your praise in the presence of the gods. I bow down towards Your holy Temple and give thanks to Your Name.

For Your love and faithfulness, for Your word which exceeds everything. You answered me when I called; You restored my soul and made me strong.

You save me from the wrath of my foes, with Your right hand You deliver me. How the Lord cares for me! Your kindness, o Lord, endures forever. Forsake not the work of Your hands.