Liturgical Colour : White
Psalm 147 : 12-13, 14-15, 19-20
Exalt the Lord, o Jerusalem; praise your God, o Zion! For He strengthens the bars of your gates and blesses your children within you.
He grants peace on your borders and feeds you with the finest grain. He sends His command to the earth and swiftly runs His word.
It is He Who tells Jacob His words, His laws and decrees to Israel. This He has not done for other nations, so His laws remain unknown to them. Alleluia!
Liturgical Colour : White
Matthew 5 : 1-12a
At that time, when Jesus saw the crowds, He went up the mountain. He sat down and His disciples gathered around Him. Then He spoke and began to teach them :
“Fortunate are those who are poor in spirit, for theirs is the kingdom of Heaven. Fortunate are those who mourn, they shall be comforted.”
“Fortunate are the gentle, they shall possess the land. Fortunate are those who hunger and thirst for justice, for they shall be satisfied.”
“Fortunate are the merciful, for they shall find mercy. Fortunate are those with a pure heart, for they shall see God.”
“Fortunate are those who work for peace, they shall be called children of God. Fortunate are those who are persecuted for the cause of justice, for theirs is the kingdom of Heaven.”
“Fortunate are you, when people insult you and persecute you and speak all kinds of evil against you because you are My followers. Be glad and joyful, for a great reward is kept for you in God.”
Liturgical Colour : White
Psalm 23 : 1-2, 3-4ab, 5-6
The earth and its fullness belong to the Lord, the world and all that dwell in it. He has founded it upon the ocean and set it firmly upon the waters.
Who will ascend the mountain of the Lord? Who will stand in His holy place? Those with clean hands and pure heart, who desire not what is vain.
They will receive blessings from the Lord, a reward from God, their Saviour. Such are the people who seek Him, who seek the face of Jacob’s God.
Liturgical Colour : Green
Psalm 127 : 1-2, 3, 4-5, 6
Blessed are you who fear the Lord and walk in His ways. You will eat the fruit of your toil; you will 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 the Lord. May the Lord bless you from Zion. May you see Jerusalem prosperous all the days of your life.
May you see your children’s children, and Israel at peace!
Liturgical Colour : Purple/Violet
Jeremiah 7 : 23-28
YHVH said, “One thing I did command them : Listen to My voice and I will be your God and you will be My people. Walk in the way I command you and all will be well with you. But they did not listen and paid no attention; they followed the bad habits of their stubborn heart and turned away from Me.”
“From the time I brought their forebearers out of Egypt until this day I have continually sent them My servants, the prophets, but this stiff-necked people did not listen. They paid no attention and were worse than their forebearers.”
“You may say all these things to them but they will not listen; you will call them but they will not answer. This is a nation that did not obey YHVH and refused to be disciplined; truth has perished and is no longer heard from their lips.”
Liturgical Colour : Violet
Lectio Epistolae Beati Pauli Apostoli ad Thessalonicenses – Lesson from the Epistle of Blessed Paul the Apostle to the Thessalonians
1 Thessalonians 4 : 1-7
Fratres : Rogamus vos et obsecramus in Domino Jesu : ut, quemadmodum accepistis a nobis, quomodo oporteat vos ambulare et placere Deo, sic et ambuletis, ut abundetis magis. Scitis enim, quae praecepta dederim vobis per Dominum Jesum.
Haec est enim voluntas Dei, sanctificatio vestra : ut abstineatis vos a fornicatione, ut sciat unusquisque vestrum vas suum possidere in sanctificatione et honore; non in passione desiderii, sicut et gentes, quae ignorant Deum : et ne quis supergrediatur neque circumveniat in negotio fratrem suum : quoniam vindex est Dominus de his omnibus, sicut praediximus vobis et testificati sumus.
Non enim vocavit nos Deus in immunditiam, sed in sanctificationem : in Christo Jesu, Domino nostro.
English translation
Brethren, we pray and beseech you in the Lord Jesus, that as you have received of us, how you ought to walk, and to please God, so you also would walk, that you may abound the more. For you know what precepts I have given to you by the Lord Jesus.
For this is the will of God, your sanctification; that you should abstain from fornication, that every one of you should know how to possess his vessel in sanctification and honour; not in the passion of lust, like the Gentiles that do not know God, and that no man overreach, nor deceive his brother in business, because the Lord is the Avenger of all these things, as we have told you before, and have testified.
For God had not called us unto uncleanness, but unto sanctification, in Christ Jesus our Lord.
Liturgical Colour : White
Isaiah 12 : 2-3, 4bcd, 5-6
He is the God of my salvation; in Him I trust and am not afraid, YHVH is my Strength : Him I will praise, the One who saved me. You will draw water with joy from the very fountain of salvation.
Praise to the Lord, break into songs of joy for Him, proclaim His marvellous deeds among the nations and exalt His Name.
Sing to the Lord : wonders He has done, let these be known all over the earth. Sing for joy, o people of Zion, for great in your midst is the Holy One of Israel.
Alternative reading (from the Readings of Year A)
Psalm 28 : 1a and 2, 3ac-4, 3b and 9b-10
Give the Lord, o sons of God, give the Lord the glory due His Name; worship the Lord in great liturgy.
The voice of the Lord is over the waters; the Lord thunders over vast waters. How powerful is the voice of the Lord, how splendorous is the voice of the Lord.
The God of glory thunders, the Lord strips the forests bare, and in His temple all cry, “Glory!” Over the flood the Lord was sitting; the Lord is King and He reigns forever.
Homily and Reflection :
Liturgical Colour : White
Brothers and sisters in Christ, after yesterday we celebrate the feast of St. Stephen, the first martyr of the Church, today we celebrate the feast of St. John the Evangelist, one of the four Evangelists, who wrote the Holy Gospels. He was the closest disciple to Christ, and also reputedly the youngest among them, the one to whom Christ entrusted His mother Mary to be under his care.
And St. John the Evangelist was special among the Apostles in a way that, he did not die from martyrdom of faith, but through a natural death of old age. Yet, before he met his death and pass from this world, he saw the final and complete fulfillment of God’s plan and promises as we can read in the Book of the Apocalypse or Revelation of St. John. This is the vision which John received regarding the coming of the end times.
St. John the Evangelist wrote his Gospel in a very different manner compared to the three other Gospels, as while the other three focuses more on the history and on the chronological actions of Christ, St. John in his Gospel is much deeper in terms of depth of the meaning of the words he had written, and this Gospel of St. John discusses more about the nature and the mission which Christ is undertaking in His salvation of the world, hidden behind the mysteries of the faith.
He has the gift of faith, readily believing and putting his trust in the Lord. As one of the very first disciples to be called by Jesus, he had followed the Lord on many occasions, and is among the most trusted by Jesus, along with St. Peter and St. James, his own brother. He witnessed the Transfiguration of the Lord, when Jesus was transformed right before his eyes and revealed the truth about His divinity.
All these serve to shape St. John the Evangelist as who he was and in how he wrote his Gospel, which serve to deepen the faith among the people of God, by revealing the great extent of the mysteries which surround the glory and majesty of the Lord made flesh in Jesus Christ. Through his works in the Gospels and through his letters and Epistles, he made clear to the faithful about who Christ is, and what He has been sent into this world for.
Brothers and sisters in Christ, we are now still in the midst of the Christmas season, which was just the day before yesterday. In Christmas we celebrate and honour our Lord Himself who has made Himself to assume the humble form of a Man, so that He may dwell among us, and by His works, He made manifest God’s love for us through the healing of the body and soul of many people. And ultimately, by His suffering and death on the cross, and by the offering of His own Body and Blood,
And that is exactly the focus of the Gospel of John, as it had been iterated very clearly in the first chapter of the Gospel, that the Word is God, He is with God, and He has been incarnate into flesh and born of the Virgin, that is Mary. It is this very nature of Christ which John is focusing on throughout his Gospel, and which we too should reflect as we live out our faith.
For God is Love, and He has loved us so much that He is willing to give Himself, a part of Himself, the Divine Logos or the Word, who created the universe, to save us from certain death and destruction. This is also the meaning of Christmas, that the Lord who has descended upon this world, to dwell among us His people, as one of us, and through His actions and works we are justified.
Although He is divine, but He is also Man at the same time, fully God and fully Man, and thus He was tempted as all of us were tempted, and He faced challenges just as we too face our challenges in life. And while Adam and all of us fell into the temptations and sinned, but Christ in His obedience and love for His Father became the exemplary Man, the new Adam, who became a beacon of true Light shining in the path of all mankind as an example to all.
Therefore, as we continue our celebration of this holy Christmas season, and as we honour St. John the Evangelist on his feast day, let us all deepen our faith in Christ, following the examples of faith of St. John the Evangelist, and also the obedience of Christ and the love He had shown to us, His beloved people. We cannot separate Christmas for this celebration of God’s love, for without Christ, our Christmas is meaningless.
Brothers and sisters in Christ, may our faith in the Lord be strengthened, and may all of us come to greater realisation of the love which our Lord has for us, so that we may appreciate His love and therefore come to also show this love to our fellow brethren. That is the true essence of Christmas, brothers and sisters in Christ. St. John had shown us that Christ is the manifestation of God’s love, and just as He had shared His love with us, we too should share this love with one another.
May our Christmas celebrations and joys be truly enriching and meaningful, that everyone may share in the Joy that Christ had brought us, our Lord and God who loved us so much that He was willing to come to us and even lay down His life to liberate us from eternal death. May God bless us all. Amen.
First Reading :
Psalm :
Gospel Reading :
Liturgical Colour : White
Epistle for the Christmas Midnight Mass
Lectio Epistolae Beati Pauli Apostoli ad Titum – Lesson from the Epistle of Blessed Paul the Apostle to Titus
Titus 2 : 11-15
Carissime : Apparuit gratia Dei Salvatoris nostri omnibus hominibus, erudiens nos, ut, abnegantes impietatem et saecularia desideria, sobrie et juste et pie vivamus in hoc saeculo, exspectantes beatam spem et adventum gloriae magni Dei et Salvatoris nostri Jesu Christi : qui dedit semetipsum pro nobis : ut nos redimeret ab omni iniquitate, et mundaret sibi populum acceptabilem, sectatorem honorum operum. Haec loquere et exhortare : in Christo Jesu, Domino nostro.
English translation
Dearly beloved, the grace of God our Saviour had appeared to all men, instructing us, that, denying ungodliness and worldly desires, we should live soberly and justly, and godly in this world, looking for the blessed hope and coming of the glory of the great God and our Saviour Jesus Christ, who gave Himself for us, that He might redeem us from all iniquity, and might cleanse to Himself a people acceptable, a pursuer of good works. These things speak, and exhort: In Christ Jesus our Lord.
Epistle for the Christmas Mass at Dawn
Lectio Epistolae Beati Pauli Apostoli ad Titum – Lesson from the Epistle of Blessed Paul the Apostle to Titus
Titus 3 : 4-7
Carissime : Apparuit benignitas et humanitas Salvatoris nostri Dei : non ex operibus justitiae, quae fecimus nos, sed secundum suam misericordiam salvos nos fecit per lavacrum regenerationis et renovationis Spiritus Sancti, quem effudit in nos abunde per Jesum Christum, Salvatorem nostrum : ut, justificati gratia ipsius, heredes simus secundum spem vitae aeternae : in Christo Jesu, Domino nostro.
English translation
Dearly beloved, the goodness and kindness of God our Saviour had appeared, not by the works of justice, which we have done, but according to His mercy He saved us by the laver of regeneration, and renovation of the Holy Spirit, whom He had poured forth upon us abundantly through Jesus Christ our Saviour, that, being justified by His grace, we may be heirs according to hope of life everlasting in Christ Jesus our Lord.
Epistle for the Christmas Daytime Mass
Lectio Epistolae Beati Pauli Apostoli ad Hebraeos – Lesson from the Epistle of Blessed Paul the Apostle to the Hebrews
Hebrews 1 : 1-12
Multifariam, multisque modis olim Deus loquens patribus in Prophetis : novissime diebus istis locutus est nobis in Filio, quem constituit heredem universorum, per quem fecit et saecula.
Qui cum sit splendor gloriae, et figura substantiae Ejus, portansque omnia verbo virtutis suae, purgationem peccatorum faciens, sedet ad dexteram Majestatis in excelsis : tanto melior Angelis effectus, quanto differentius prae illis Nomen hereditavit.
Cui enim dixit aliquando Angelorum : Filius Meus es Tu, ego hodie genui Te? Et rursum : Ego ero illi in Patrem, et ipse erit mihi in Filium? Et cum iterum introducit Primogenitum in orbem terrae, dicit : Et adorent eum omnes Angeli Dei.
Et ad Angelos quidem dicit : Qui facit Angelos suos spiritus, et ministros suos flammam ignis. Ad Filium autem : Thronus Tuus, Deus, in saeculum saeculi : virga aequitatis, virga regni Tui. Dilexisti justitiam et odisti iniquitatem : proptera unxit te Deus, Deus tuus, oleo exsultationis prae participibus tuis.
Et : Tu in principio, Domine, terram fundasti : et opera manuum Tuarum sunt caeli. Ipsi peribunt, Tu autem permanebis; et omnes ut vestimentum veterascent : et velut amictum mutabis eos, et mutabuntur : Tu autem idem ipse es, et anni Tui non deficient.
English translation
God, who diversely and in many ways spoke in times past to the fathers by the prophets, last of all, in these days had spoken to us by His Son, whom He had appointed Heir of all things, by whom He also made the world.
He who being the brightness of His glory, and the figure of His substance, and upholding all things by the word of His power, making purgation of sins, sitting on the right hand of the Majesty on high, being made so much better than the angels, as He had inherited a more excellent Name than theirs.
For to which of the angels had He said at any time, “You are My Son, today I have begotten You?” And again, “I will be to Him as a Father, and He shall be to Me as a Son?” And again, when He brings in the First-Begotten into the world, He said, “And let all the angels of God adore Him.”
And to the angels indeed He said, “He who made His angels spirits, and His ministers a flame of fire.” But to the Son, “Your throne, o God, is forever and ever, a sceptre of justice is the sceptre of Your kingdom. You have loved justice, and hated iniquity, therefore God, Your God had anointed You with the oil of gladness above Your fellows.”
And You in the beginning, o Lord, had founded the earth, and the works of Your hands are the heavens. They shall perish, but You shall continue, and they shall all grow old as a garment, and as a vesture You shall change them, and they shall be changed, but You are always the same, and Your years shall not fail.
Homily and Reflection :
Liturgical Colour : Green
Dear brothers and sisters in Christ, today the readings are about what is to come at the end of time, the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ as King and Master of all, and ultimately as the Judge of all creations. Our Lord Jesus Christ is going to come in triumph and glory, vanquishing and defeating evil once and for all, and cast them all into the utter darkness and the eternal lake of fire prepared for them.
In the first reading, it was told about the final defeat of Satan, who will be cast down and have his power forever broken. The authority which Satan once has over us, through sin, has been broken through the actions of our Lord Jesus, by His death and resurrection, and then the might and kingdom of Satan itself will be crushed when the Lord comes again.
That is because, brothers and sisters in Christ, as long as mankind still commit sin and evil in their actions, in their words and deeds, they will always come again under the rule and tyranny of Satan, who is the lord over evil and sin. As long as we sin and commit things evil and abhorrent in the eyes of God, Satan is our master and we are his thralls.
And as long as we remain in sin, and allow sin to affect our hearts and our lives, then death will also have power over us. This is the first death, and also will be the second death for us, if we do not change our ways. What is the first death and the second death, brothers and sisters? The second death was mentioned in the first reading today taken from the Book of Revelations. It is an eternal death and an eternal suffering, from which, all those who suffer that second death, will never be able to escape.
All of us mankind were not meant to suffer death or suffering, brethren, for our ancestor Adam, the first man, and his wife, Eve, the first woman, were created to enjoy the eternal bliss and happiness of the Lord’s creations in Eden. They were meant to enjoy for eternity the goodness of God and not to suffer death and suffering in this world. Alas, sin entered the hearts of men by the disobedience of men, who listened to the sweet lies of Satan, who charmed and twisted them away from true devotion to God.
Satan appeared to Eve as a snake, the most cunning and intelligent of all the creatures, and it is the same old snake that the angel of God will chain up at the end of times, Satan the deceiver, to be bound up so that all of us may be freed from his tyranny and control. Satan played on our desires and our curiosity, and those took the better of us, when he managed to persuade the first men to eat from the forbidden tree and thus sinned against God.
After mankind sinned against God, then we deserve to be punished, and that punishment, is to suffer in our life, whereas the original intention had been for us to enjoy our life in bliss and happiness, and then also to die, suffering from death, just as the words say that, ‘from dust you have come, and to dust you shall return’. This is the first death, the death because of men’s disobedience against God, and all of us mankind are subject to this.
Yes, one day we will all die, and all those who have gone before us have also tasted death, and those who are yet to be born, will one day also suffer death, the first death, but not a final death. For our Lord Jesus Christ had come as our Saviour, who offered a new hope and light amidst the darkened outlook of our future. By His death on the cross, He broke free the chains of sin that enslaved us to death, and by His resurrection, He brought us the offer of a new life everlasting.
And thus, we have no need to fear death, the first death. After all, all of us will go through it at one point of time or another. We will all die, but what matters is, if after that first death, whether we will suffer the second death or instead go into the eternal life promised by our God. This will depend on our actions and deeds in this life on earth, and will be judged upon us at the time of the Last Judgment.
Yes, the second part of our first reading today tells us about the Last Judgment, where the Lord will separate those who have done good and those who have failed to do so, or those who did what are wicked in the sight of God. The good ones He will give His promised reward of everlasting life, in the fullness of glory and happiness which He had always intended for His beloved men from the very beginning, but taken away from us because of the sins of our ancestors and also our own sins.
How about those who are found to be wicked and unworthy then? They will be judged and condemned for their actions, and the second death will be their portion. The second death is eternal, hell-like suffering of total and eternal separation from God and His love, and no hope is to be found there, for there is no escape, and those who are found wicked will be cast down there together with Satan and his fellow fallen angels, who also rebelled against God and brought mankind down with them.
Ultimately, the Gospel today reminds us of the fact that we need to do something, and that we can no longer be passive in our faith and in our lives. Jesus was talking about the signs of nature and the seasons, and how if the people of His time could tell of the coming of the season and time by observing the nature around them, then the coming of the Lord Jesus and the end of time can surely also be known by us, not in exact timing, but in the imminency of it.
Jesus always told us that the coming of the kingdom of God will be like that of a thief, sudden and unannounced. And indeed, only God Himself knows the exact time of His coming. If we think that we still have time and remain idle, not doing things which may help us to secure our salvation, then we may be caught unaware and unprepared, and at that time, if we are judged to be among the wicked, then no amount of pleading or begging will help us anymore.
Therefore, what we need to do brothers and sisters in Christ? We have to be proactive in our faith, and practice it with full sincerity and genuinely show love, as what the Lord had taught us. We have many opportunities in this life, every single day, hour or even minute. Whenever we see that there are people being ostracised, treated badly against, hungry or lonely, are we courageous enough to show them our love? Or do we prefer to remain idle and ignore them?
The choice is clearly ours, to be loving and good, or to be selfish and wicked. The ball is in our court, and it is our choice whether to take up the opportunity and use them, or let them go to waste. May Almighty God awaken in us the courage as well as the sense of urgency to seek Him and do what He had taught us to do, so that at the end of the days, He may find us worthy and righteous, and worthy to enjoy the eternal graces and happiness which He had prepared for all of us. God bless us all. Amen.
First Reading :
Psalm :
Gospel Reading :
petercanisiusmichaeldavidkang 