Apostles of Jesus Christ

by

Tuesday, 24 August 2021 : Feast of St. Bartholomew, Apostle (Homily and Scripture Reflections)

Liturgical Colour : Red

Dear brothers and sisters in Christ, today we mark the feast of St. Bartholomew the Apostle, one of the Twelve great Apostles of the Lord, and therefore we remember the memory of his great dedication and life, the time he has spent in following the Lord and carrying out His will, in the evangelisation of the world and the spreading of the truth and the Good News of the Gospels.

St. Bartholomew was, according to the Apostolic tradition, also known as Nathanael, whose story we heard in our Gospel passage today. We heard how Nathanael was called by the Lord to follow Him and become His disciples, and how he was initially skeptical of the Lord, when he heard that the Lord had come from the land of Galilee. He was one of the most qualified and educated among the disciples, an intellectual and knew the Law of God and the prophets well, and thus he knew that no prophet or Saviour would come from Galilee.

Yet, his doubts and hesitation were immediately dispelled when the Lord miraculously told him about himself and how He knew about him, where he was and the things that He would show him. Nathanael put behind his doubts and hesitation, embracing the Lord Jesus wholeheartedly as his Lord and Master, following Him for His ministry from then henceforth, being chosen as one of the Twelve, and becoming an Apostle later on, at the forefront of the early Church’s ministry and evangelisation.

It was told that St. Bartholomew went to various parts of the world, including India, Parthia and Mesopotamia, and parts of Asia Minor and Armenia, focusing on the eastern parts of the known world at the time, spending much time in spreading the word of God to the many people who have not yet heard or known about Him. He helped the other disciples and Apostles to establish firm foundations of Christian communities in various places, and instilled the truth of God among many others, leading to many embracing the call to God’s grace and salvation.

His mission brought him to Armenia where together with St. Jude Thaddeus, the other one of the Twelve Apostles, he helped to establish the Christian faith in Armenia, which would eventually become the first nation in the world to officially adapt Christianity as their state faith. It was there that St. Bartholomew was martyred, in the city of Albanopolis, due to him having successfully converted the local king into the Christian faith, which was then opposed by the king’s brother and the other nobles, who then arrested, tortured and executed St. Bartholomew by flaying.

Brothers and sisters in Christ, as we recall the great passion and dedication by which St. Bartholomew had given his life in dedication to the Lord, and as we seek to emulate his examples and be inspired by his deeds, we are all called to discern carefully on our own path in life. Are we capable of devoting ourselves to the Lord in the same manner, brothers and sisters in Christ? And are we willing to commit our time, effort, resources and attention to glorify the Lord daily and at all times, in our own words, actions and every deeds?

Today as we remember the courage and the faith of St. Bartholomew the Apostle, we are reminded that for all the great deeds he had done, it was all possible because the faithful Apostle entrusted himself completely to the Lord and gave himself completely to His cause, and allowed Him to lead him down the path of great virtue and succour for many others. We may be ordinary ourselves, but God called on the ordinary ones to follow Him, and made them worthy, and bestowed on them the strength and courage, the wisdom and intellect, and the power required for them to fulfil their calling.

Now it is really up to us all, brothers and sisters in Christ, whether we are willing to embrace the Lord wholeheartedly as St. Bartholomew and the other Apostles and disciples of the Lord had done. The Lord has called us all to follow Him and to walk in the path that He has shown us. It is up to us now to follow Him and to remain true to our faith, not by mere formality alone, but rather also through genuine actions and efforts, through our every contributions, no matter how small or insignificant they may seem to be.

Let us all therefore, brothers and sisters in Christ, be the bearers of the truth of God, His faithful witnesses in our world today. Let us all be faithful to the Lord and walk in His path always, and be inspiration to one another, helping and supporting each other in our efforts and endeavours. May the Lord be with us all, and may He bless us in our every efforts and endeavours, now and always, forevermore. Amen.

by

Tuesday, 24 August 2021 : Feast of St. Bartholomew, Apostle (Gospel Reading)

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.”

by

Tuesday, 24 August 2021 : Feast of St. Bartholomew, Apostle (Psalm)

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.

by

Tuesday, 24 August 2021 : Feast of St. Bartholomew, Apostle (First Reading)

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.

by

Sunday, 18 July 2021 : Sixteenth Sunday of Ordinary Time (Gospel Reading)

Liturgical Colour : Green

Mark 6 : 30-34

At that time, the Apostles returned and reported to Jesus all they had done and taught. Then He said to them, “Let us go off by ourselves into a remote place and have some rest.” For there were so many people coming and going that the Apostles had no time even to eat. And they went away in the boat to a secluded area by themselves.

But people saw them leaving, and many could guess where they were going. So, from all the towns, they hurried there on foot, arriving ahead of them. As Jesus went ashore, He saw a large crowd, and He had compassion on them, for they were like sheep without a shepherd. And He began to teach them many things.

by

Wednesday, 7 July 2021 : 14th Week of Ordinary Time (Gospel Reading)

Liturgical Colour : Green

Matthew 10 : 1-7

At that time, Jesus called His Twelve disciples to Him, and gave them authority over unclean spirits, to drive them out, and to heal every disease and sickness.

These are the names of the Twelve Apostles : first Simon, called Peter, and his brother Andrew; James, the son of Zebedee, and his brother John; Philip and Bartholomew; Thomas and Matthew, the tax collector; James, the son of Alphaeus, and Thaddaeus; Simon, the Canaanite, and Judas Iscariot, the man who would betray Him.

Jesus sent these Twelve on mission, with the instruction : “Do not visit pagan territory and do not enter a Samaritan town. Go, instead, to the lost sheep of the people of Israel. Go, and proclaim this message : The kingdom of Heaven is near.”

by

Saturday, 3 July 2021 : Feast of St. Thomas, Apostle (Homily and Scripture Reflections)

Liturgical Colour : Red

Dear brothers and sisters in Christ, today we celebrate the feast day of one of Our Lord’s Twelve Apostles, namely St. Thomas the Apostle, also known as Thomas Didymus or the Twin, and as we may have known quite well, that he was one who often doubted the Lord and even publicly questioned His decisions and actions. Yet, later on he would become one of the Lord’s most fervent evangelisers and workers of faith, dying as a martyr in a distant land and glorifying the Lord.

St. Thomas was always the most skeptical among the Lord’s disciples, as he did not appear to fully trust in the Lord, and was pessimistic when the Lord wanted to go to Jerusalem to fulfil His mission, despite the advice against doing so by His disciples. St. Thomas publicly said before all of them that, in a rather sarcastic way, they should all follow the Lord so that they could also suffer with Him and die along with Him.

When the Lord was risen from the dead, St. Thomas happened to be not among the other disciples, and did not witness the Lord appearing for the first time in His Risen glory before all the other disciples. And we heard from our Gospel passage today, how St. Thomas again refused to believe and even then publicly declared before the other disciples how he would not believe unless he could prove that the Risen Lord is truly the same One crucified, by touching His wounds and putting his hand into the Lord’s pierced side.

And the Lord then appeared again before all the disciples and St. Thomas included, and asked him directly to do as he said he would do to prove that the Lord had indeed risen from the dead. From what we have heard in the Gospel passage, we can clearly see how dumbfounded and surprised St. Thomas was, as his doubt was proven to be wrong, and the Lord Himself appeared in the flesh before him. He humbled himself utterly and proclaimed before all, ‘My Lord and my God.’

These are the same words that we utter whenever the Lord’s Most Precious Body and Blood in the Eucharist are elevated and raised in the most solemn occasion, as the celebrant uttered the words of consecration, proclaiming the presence of the Lord before all the faithful, truly present in the bread and wine which the priest, by the power and authority of the Lord, had transformed completely into the matter, essence and reality of the Lord’s own Holy Body and Blood.

Then, do we all recall the Lord’s words after St. Thomas uttered those words? He said, ‘Happy are those who believe because they have seen, but even happier and more blessed are those who have not seen, and yet believed.’ This is truly significant for us because, while we have not seen the Lord in the human form as the disciples like St. Thomas had seen, but we still believe that the Eucharist is the Lord Himself, in the flesh, the Real Presence of Our Lord.

Yet, there are also still so many of us who doubted this truth, and many of us who refused to believe in the Real Presence, especially among some of our separated brethren in faith. And within the Church, there are sadly still many of those who outwardly profess to believe in the Real Presence of God in the Eucharist, but behaved in the manner that is contradictory to that belief, in how they treated the Eucharist, by receiving the Eucharist in an unworthy state, or treating it as no more than just mere bread and wine, without proper decorum, respect and honour, less still worship and adoration.

Then in that manner, we are also no better than how St. Thomas was before he turned wholeheartedly to the Lord at the moment when he fully acknowledged Him as his Lord and Master. And now, we are called to reflect on our own attitudes in life, and also our perception and attitude towards the Lord in the Eucharist. Have we been truly faithful to the Lord? Or have we allowed our doubts and lack of faith and understanding of this faith to mislead us and make us to doubt the Lord and His truth and love for us?

Many of us often do not realise that we are doing exactly what St. Thomas had been doing in doubting the Lord earlier in his life, by our own lack of reverence and adoration for the Holy Eucharist, as well as our own sinful and wayward lifestyle, in contrast with the righteousness of God. We are often stubborn in walking down the path of sin rather than the path of righteousness. This is why, we should then be like St. Thomas, who turned away from his doubts and embraced the Lord wholeheartedly.

He would go on to preach the Christian faith in many places, most famously and significantly in what is now the southern regions of India, where he established the firm foundations of Christian communities there, which lasted till this very day, often known as the ‘St. Thomas Christians’. He brought God’s truth to all these people, and revealed Him to them so that through this, more and more people can be saved from their sins and wicked ways. St. Thomas would suffer and die a martyr’s death in the end of his missionary journey, obedient and faithful to the very end.

Brothers and sisters in Christ, let us also therefore cast off the shade and veil of doubt from our eyes and from our minds, and from our hearts. Let us entrust ourselves fully from now on to the Lord, and commit ourselves, each and every moments of our lives, that we may always walk in the path of His light and truth, and we may always be faithful and righteous in all things, that everyone who see us and witness our works and actions, will know that we belong to the Lord and that God lives within us.

May God bless us always and may He remain with us in our journey of faith and life. May He strengthen each one of us with courage and hope, to endure and persevere through the challenges and trials we are facing daily, for His sake, and for the greater glory of His Name. Amen.

by

Saturday, 3 July 2021 : Feast of St. Thomas, Apostle (Gospel Reading)

Liturgical Colour : Red

John 20 : 24-29

At that time, Thomas, the Twin, one of the Twelve, was not with the other Eleven when Jesus came. The other disciples told Him, “We have seen the Lord.” But he replied, “Until I have seen in His hands the print of the nails, and put my finger in the mark of the nails and my hand in His side, I will not believe.”

Eight days later, the disciples were again inside the house and Thomas was with them. Although the doors were locked, Jesus came and stood in their midst and said, “Peace be with you!” Then He said to Thomas, “Put your finger here, and see My hands; stretch out your hand, and put it into My side. Do not continue in your unbelief, but believe!”

Thomas said, “You are my Lord and my God.” Jesus replied, “You believe because you see Me, do you not? Happy are those who have not seen and yet have come to believe.”

by

Saturday, 3 July 2021 : Feast of St. Thomas, Apostle (Psalm)

Liturgical Colour : Red

Psalm 116 : 1, 2

Alleluia! Praise YHVH, all you nations; all you peoples, praise Him.

How great is His love for us! His faithfulness lasts forever.

by

Saturday, 3 July 2021 : Feast of St. Thomas, Apostle (First Reading)

Liturgical Colour : Red

Ephesians 2 : 19-22

Now, you are no longer strangers or guests, but fellow citizens of the holy people : you are of the household of God. You are the house, whose foundations are the Apostles and prophets, and whose cornerstone is Christ Jesus. In Him, the whole structure is joined together, and rises, to be a holy Temple, in the Lord.

In Him, you, too, are being built, to become the spiritual Sanctuary of God.