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Monday, 1 September 2025 : 22nd Week of Ordinary Time, World Day of Prayer for the Care of Creation (Psalm)

Liturgical Colour : Green

Psalm 95 : 1 and 3, 4-5, 11-12a, 12b-13

Sing to YHVH a new song, sing to YHVH, all the earth! Recall His glory among the nations, tell all the peoples His wonderful deeds.

How great is YHVH and worthy of praise! Above all gods, He is to be feared. For all other gods are worthless idols, but YHVH is the One Who made the heavens.

Let the heavens be glad, the earth rejoice; let the sea and all that fills it resound; let the fields exult and everything in them.

Let the forest, all the trees, sing for joy. Let them sing before YHVH Who comes to judge the earth. He will rule the world with justice, and the peoples, with fairness.

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Monday, 1 September 2025 : 22nd Week of Ordinary Time, World Day of Prayer for the Care of Creation (First Reading)

Liturgical Colour : Green

1 Thessalonians 4 : 13-18

Brothers and sisters, we want you not to be mistaken about those who are already asleep, lest you grieve as do those who have no hope. We believe that Jesus died and rose; it will be the same for those who have died in Jesus. God will bring them together, with Jesus, and for His sake.

By the same word of the Lord, we assert this : those of us who are to be alive at the Lord’s coming, will not go ahead of those who are already asleep. When the command by the Archangel’s voice is given, the Lord, Himself, will come down from heaven, while the divine trumpet call is sounding.

Then, those who have died in the Lord, will rise first; as for us who are still alive, we will be brought along with them, in the clouds, to meet the Lord in the celestial world. And we will be with the Lord forever. So then, comfort one another with these words.

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Sunday, 31 August 2025 : Twenty-Second Sunday of Ordinary Time (Homily and Scripture Reflections)

Liturgical Colour : Green

Dear brothers and sisters in Christ, on this Sunday, all of us are reminded clearly from the messages passed onto us through the words of the Sacred Scriptures, reminding us all that each and every one of us as Christians must always be humble in everything that we say and do, in our every interactions and works with one another, to all those whom we encounter in life, even strangers and everyone we meet in our path. If we allow ourselves to be swayed by our pride and desires, our ambitions and all the worldly attachments that we have all around us, then we may end up losing sight of what is truly important for us in our lives as Christians, that is our focus on God and His salvation. This is because we may likely end up being obsessed in shoring up our own worldly desires and ambitions, our pursuits for the satisfaction of this world.

In our first reading this Sunday, we heard from the Book of the prophet Sirach in which the prophet of God mentioned clearly in his words that the greater we all are, then the humbler each and every one of us should become, instead of us being prouder and more haughty, ambitious and greedy as how many in this world often behaved. The prophet reminded the people of God that they should continue to good in life, showing good virtues, obeying and following God in everything that He has taught and shown them all, and they should not seek or desire things that were beyond their reach, as what many often aspired to do at that time, and similarly even in our present day world. This is because many of us, by our unbridled desires, ambitions and all the other things which we seek in life, we may cause great sufferings and hardships for others around us.

In many occasions in this world, it was our pride and ego that often became the source of our undoing, as we do not want to give in to others and we tend to think that we are better than everyone else, or that we cannot be wrong or mistaken in our thoughts and ways. Unfortunately, this often led to clashes between us and others, and in our pursuit of things to satisfy our wants and desires, we may even cause sufferings to others around us, whether intentionally or unintentionally. Many people suffer because of the greed and desires of those who seek more glory and worldly satisfaction for themselves, be it for material goods, wealth and possessions, or be it for fame, renown and ambitions, for power, prestige and glory in this world.

As Christians, that is as those who believe in God and have Him as our Lord and Master, then it is only right and just for each and every one of us to shun all these worldly glory and ambitions, and to embrace true humility as an important virtue in our lives as Christians. And the best example for us all to follow is none other than the Lord Himself, Who has indeed humbled Himself and filled Himself with true and genuine humility before all. That was what He had done for our sake as He emptied Himself of His majesty and glory as the Lord and Master of the whole Universe. He chose to take upon Himself the form and nature of Man, to be one like us and to be tangible and approachable to us, His creations, by being incarnate and then born of His Mother, the Blessed Virgin Mary.

Throughout history, many people had aspired to be great and mighty, to aspire to great glory and not few want to be treated like the divine. In many civilisations, we saw how many people aspired to be honoured and even worshipped akin to that of the gods and the divines, and some of them even demanded this while they were still living, and meanwhile some others were honoured after their death with great tombs, monuments and other means to celebrate their glory and memories. But among all these, truly there is none like our God Himself, Who chose to do the exact opposite, that is to humble Himself, that while He is already full of majesty, power and glory, He chose to lower Himself, to assume the status of a servant, to be dwelling in our midst, He Who is the Almighty Lord and Master of all the Universe, born of His Mother as a small and frail Child in Bethlehem.

And through what He has done next after this incarnation and appearance in this world was even more mind-boggling in the perfect example of true humility, as Christ obeyed perfectly the will of His heavenly Father, choosing willingly to suffer and die for the sake of all of our sins, to endure the punishments that had been due for all of us so that we may not perish and face eternal damnation, but through Him, receive the sure promise and assurance of eternal life. This is also what the author of the second reading today, from the Epistle to the Hebrews, wrote about, detailing the call that the Lord, God of Israel and Master of the whole Universe, had made to all those whom He loves, that is all of us mankind, to be gathered in Him and to share in the love and inheritance that He has meant for us.

Through that, the author of this Epistle to the Hebrews wanted to highlight firstly to his audience, the faithful among the Jewish people, the descendants of those who were first called by God, the Israelites, that God has always loved them and shown them His care and concern, and He has shown them His most amazing love, manifested in all of its perfection in none other than His own Beloved Son, Jesus Christ, the One Whom He sent into this world to bring about its salvation, to gather each and every one of us to Himself, and to manifest His love in all of its most wonderful and perfect form, and He did all these through the ultimate show of humility, one that is truly genuine and full of love. And through the same Jesus Christ, the Saviour of all, God would bring us all into a New and Eternal Covenant which Christ is the Mediator of.

Lastly, from our Gospel passage this Sunday, we heard yet another reminder of the importance of humility in our lives, which the Lord Jesus Himself had spoken to His disciples and followers, and all those who have listened to Him and followed Him. He was bringing up the examples of the Pharisees and the religious and intellectual elites of the community, many of whom often had elitist attitudes and behaviours, seeking their own personal glory and ambitions, desiring for more worldly grandeur, glory and greatness, all of which brought them ever further away from the path that the Lord has asked them to walk through, as they indulged in human praise and adulation, seeking the most important places in banquets and other events, while looking down on those whom they deemed to be inferior to them.

Brothers and sisters in Christ, we are all reminded that all these temptations of worldly glory and ambitions, all the pursuits of worldly desires and all these attachments we often have to worldly things, greed and ego, all these can lead us all easily astray from the path which God has shown and taught us all to walk through. If we allow those temporary treasures of this world, those treasures that are passing and transitory in nature, impermanent and are easily destroyed, to tempt and keep us away from following the path towards the Lord and His salvation, then we will end up losing sight on what is truly important for us, and we will not be able to find our way towards the Lord. In the end, if we choose to follow the path of worldliness and pride, greed and ambition, we will only regret it at the end. Let us all seek instead the path of true Christian humility in all things.

Let us all therefore heed the Lord’s words which we have heard through the readings and passages of the Sacred Scriptures this Sunday, in which we have been reminded of the importance of the virtue of humility for all of us as Christians. Humility is a very important thing that we need to have in our everyday living and action, and humility is indeed the greatest means by which we can rid ourselves of worldly glory, ambitions, ego and pride, all of which are obstacles preventing us all from coming closer towards God. Let us all seek to be more humble in everything, and strive to put God ever first and foremost, and at the very centre of our lives. May God be with us always, and may He bless us all, now and forevermore. Amen.

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Sunday, 31 August 2025 : Twenty-Second Sunday of Ordinary Time (Gospel Reading)

Liturgical Colour : Green

Luke 14 : 1, 7-14

At that time, one Sabbath Jesus had gone to eat a meal in the house of a leading Pharisee, and He was carefully watched.

Jesus then told a parable to the guests, for He had noticed how they tried to take the places of honour. And He said, “When you are invited to a wedding party, do not choose the best seat. It may happen that someone more important than you had been invited; and your host, who invited both of you, will come and say to you, ‘Please give this person your place.’ What shame is yours when you take the lowest seat!”

“Whenever you are invited, go rather to the lowest seat, so that your host may come and say to you, ‘Friend, you must come up higher.’ And this will be a great honour for you in the presence of all the other guests. For whoever makes himself out to be great will be humbled, and whoever humbles himself will be raised.”

Jesus also addressed the man who had invited Him, and said, “When you give a lunch or a dinner, do not invite your friends, or your brothers and relatives, or your wealthy neighbours. For surely they will also invite you in return, and you will be repaid.”

“When you give a feast, invite instead the poor, the crippled, the lame and the blind. Fortunate are you then, because they cannot repay you; you will be repaid at the resurrection of the upright.”

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Sunday, 31 August 2025 : Twenty-Second Sunday of Ordinary Time (Second Reading)

Liturgical Colour : Green

Hebrews 12 : 18-19, 22-24a

What you have come to, is nothing known to the senses : nor heat of a blazing fire, darkness and gloom and storms, blasts of trumpet or such a voice that the people pleaded, that no further word be spoken.

But you came near to Mount Zion, to the City of the living God, to the heavenly Jerusalem, with its innumerable Angels. You have come to the solemn feast, the assembly of the firstborn of God, whose names are written in heaven.

There is God, Judge of all, with the spirits of the upright, brought to perfection. There is Jesus, the Mediator of the New Covenant, with the sprinkled Blood that cries out more effectively than Abel’s.

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Sunday, 31 August 2025 : Twenty-Second Sunday of Ordinary Time (Psalm)

Liturgical Colour : Green

Psalm 67 : 4-5ac, 6-7ab, 10-11

But let the righteous be glad and exult before God; let them sing to God and shout for joy. Sing to God, sing praises to His Name; YHVH is His Name. Rejoice in His presence.

Father of orphans and Protector of widows – such is our God in His holy dwelling. He gives shelter to the homeless, sets the prisoners free.

Then You gave a rain of blessings, to comfort Your weary children. Your people found a dwelling, and, in Your mercy, o God, You provided for the needy.

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Sunday, 31 August 2025 : Twenty-Second Sunday of Ordinary Time (First Reading)

Liturgical Colour : Green

Sirach 3 : 19-21, 30-31

The greater you are, the more you should humble yourself and thus you will find favour with God. For great is the power of the Lord and it is the humble who give Him glory. Do not seek what is beyond your powers nor search into what is beyond your ability.

As water extinguishes the burning flames, almsgiving obtains pardon for sins. The man who responds by doing good prepares for the future, at the moment of his downfall he will find support.

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Saturday, 30 August 2025 : 21st Week of Ordinary Time (Homily and Scripture Reflections)

Liturgical Colour : Green or White (Saturday Mass of Our Lady)

Dear brothers and sisters in Christ, today as we all listened to the words of the Sacred Scriptures, we are reminded that all of us as Christians, as God’s holy and beloved people, His disciples and followers, we have been given important tasks and missions in our respective lives, in whichever area we are, to carry out what God Himself has shown and taught us all, in loving Him first and foremost before all else, and then in showing that same love to our brothers and sisters all around us, especially to all those whom we truly find dear and beloved to us. If we have been called by the Lord to show love even to strangers and to those who hated and persecuted us, then all the more we should love those dear and beloved to us even more.

However, this is not what many of us have done in our lives, and many of us failed to love in the way that God has called us all to do. We often love ourselves and our selfish desires and ambitions more, and we allow ourselves to be swayed by those selfish ambitions and desires, to the point that we have forgotten what it truly means to be truly and genuinely caring towards those whom God had placed in our lives, to all those whom we encounter in life, because we are too busy and preoccupied into seeking for our own personal ambitions, desires and achievements, and in the process, we may even cause harm and neglect upon others, even to those whom we love and are dear to us. That is why today all of us are being reminded that we should always be sincere and committed in living our lives as Christians in the manner that God has taught us.

In our first reading today, taken from the Epistle of St. Paul to the Church and the faithful people of God in the city and region of Thessalonica, we heard of how they have been faithful to the teachings of the Lord and His disciples and missionaries, following closely to what St. Paul and the other Christian missionaries and disciples had been preaching and showing to them. Contextually, we must also remember, based on the earlier part of this Epistle, St. Paul had praised the faithful in Thessalonica for their exemplary faith which was contrasted by the rather cold and unwelcoming attitudes of the people in the neighbouring regions. The Thessalonians therefore stood out as the rare examples of those who have willingly listened to the Lord and embraced His truth and Good News, and not only that, but also lived according to what they had believed.

That is why St. Paul was truly happy and pleased at their good attitudes in living their faith. They had been exemplary and inspirational in the way they treated one another, with love and genuine care, as how all Christians are supposed to live their lives. However, many among Christians then, and throughout history and even to the present day world we are living in, many among us now have not truly lived our lives in the manner expected of us as disciples and followers of Christ. Many among us Christians even treat our fellow Christians, our fellow brothers in the manner unbecoming of our Christian faith and identity, causing hurt and divisions among us, by our way of manipulating and exploiting even those closest to us for our own advantages and benefits.

In our Gospel passage today, taken from the Gospel according to St. Matthew the Apostle and Evangelist, we heard of the well-known parable of the Lord which He spoke to the disciples and followers in order to remind them what it truly means to be His followers and disciples, to do God’s will and to live in accordance to what He has shown and taught all of us. In that parable, also known as the parable of the talents, we heard how the master entrusted to his servants different amounts of the silver talents from his possessions for them to take good care and make good use of while he went away. We then heard how two of the servants make good use of the silver talents given to them and eventually doubled their silver talents by the time the master came back, while another servant hid the silver talent and did not use it at all.

The purpose and idea behind this parable is such that God wants each and every one of us to make good use of what He has given to us in our unique talents, abilities and the various opportunities which He had presented to us. The master represents the Lord, our God Himself while the servants represent each and every one of us, God’s beloved people. Those who invested their talents and got rewarded in the end represent all of us who have made good use of our various blessings and opportunities provided by God to us, and benefitted those whom God had entrusted to us and put in our paths. Meanwhile, the servant who was punished for his lack of action represents all those who failed to make good use of what God has given to them for the good of others, and instead keeping these idle or for themselves only.

Brothers and sisters in Christ, therefore, let us all reflect carefully on what we have heard in our Scripture reflections today. Let us all remember that as those whom the Lord has called and chosen to be His own beloved and holy people, each and every one of us have the responsibility and obligation to follow the Lord’s will and to do what He has taught and shown us to do, to be loving towards Him and to show that same love to everyone around us. That is what each and every one of us should do, just as the servants in the Lord’s parable were expected to do good upon the silver talents that had been entrusted to them. And we are reminded that we have to be accountable to the works that we are doing in this life, as well as what we may not have done for the good of others around us.

Let us all therefore do our very best to live our lives in the manner that the Lord Himself has taught and shown us all to do, to be truly loving in all things, full of love for God, for one another and for ourselves. As Christians, each and every one of us should always be exemplary in our way of life, in inspiring faith, hope and love in everyone whom we encounter daily in life, in each and every one of our actions, words and deeds. May the Lord continue to guide and strengthen each and every one of us so that by our every efforts, endeavours and contributions, we may continue to glorify His Name at all times, now and forevermore. Amen.

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Saturday, 30 August 2025 : 21st Week of Ordinary Time (Gospel Reading)

Liturgical Colour : Green or White (Saturday Mass of Our Lady)

Matthew 25 : 14-30

At that time, Jesus said to His disciples, “Imagine someone who, before going abroad, summoned his servants to entrust his property to them. He gave five talents of silver to one servant, two talents to another servant, and one talent to a third, to each, according to his ability; and he went away.”

“He who received five talents went at once to do business with the talents, and gained another five. The one who received two talents did the same, and gained another two. But the one who received one talent dug a hole in the ground, and hid his master’s money.”

“After a long time, the master of those servants returned and asked for a reckoning. The one who had received five talents came with another five talents, saying, ‘Lord, you entrusted me with five talents, but see, I have gained five more.’ The master answered, ‘Well done, good and faithful servant, since you have been faithful in a few things, I will entrust you in charge of many things. Come and share the joy of your master.'”

“Then the one who had received two talents came and said, ‘Lord, you entrusted me with two talents; with them I have gained two more.’ The master said, ‘Well done, good and faithful servant, since you have been faithful in little things, I will entrust you in charge of many things. Come and share the joy of your master.'”

“Finally, the one who had received one talent came and said, ‘Master, I know that you are a hard man. You reap what you have not sown, and gather what you have not scattered. I was afraid, so I hid your money in the ground. Here, take what is yours!’ But his master replied, ‘Wicked and worthless servant, you know that I reap where I have not sown, and gather where I have not scattered. You should have deposited my money in the bank, and given it back to me with interest on my return.'”

“Therefore, take the talent from him, and give it to the one who has ten. For to all those who have, more will be given, and they will have an abundance; but from those who are unproductive, even what they have will be taken from them. As for that useless servant, thrown him out into outer darkness, where there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth.”

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Saturday, 30 August 2025 : 21st Week of Ordinary Time (Psalm)

Liturgical Colour : Green or White (Saturday Mass of Our Lady)

Psalm 97 : 1, 7-8, 9

Sing to YHVH a new song, for He has done wonders; His right hand, His holy arm, has won victory for Him.

Let the sea resound and everything in it, the world and all its people. Let rivers clap their hands, hills and mountains sing with joy.

Before YHVH, for He comes to rule the earth. He will judge the world with justice, and the peoples, with fairness.