Catholic homilies

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Saturday, 17 October 2026 : 28th Week of Ordinary Time, Memorial of St. Ignatius of Antioch, Bishop and Martyr (Homily and Scripture Reflections)

Liturgical Colour : Red

Dear brothers and sisters in Christ, today as we listened to the words of the Sacred Scriptures, all of us are reminded that as Christians, we have all believed in the Lord Jesus Christ as our Lord and Saviour. Each one of us have been called to embrace the Lord wholeheartedly and we have been called to follow His path and entrust ourselves to His Wisdom and truth. Otherwise how can we call ourselves as genuine Christians, as those whom the Lord had called and chosen to be His own beloved people, to be His beloved children? All of us may have to stand up and defend our faith even in the face of persecution, and are we ready for that? As Christians, we are called and reminded to remain firm and resolute amidst all these and be truly courageous in faith at all times.

In our first reading today, we heard of the reading from the Epistle of St. Paul to the Church and the faithful in Ephesus. In that passage, we heard of the Apostle speaking to the faithful there of the faith that each and every one of them shared as members of the same Church of Christ, the Body of Christ, the union of all the faithful people of God. And St. Paul reminded all of them what it truly meant to be Christians, to be good and true disciples and followers of the Lord. St. Paul encouraged them and strengthened them, reminding them that all of them were not alone in their struggle and journey of faith. They had each other and most importantly, the Lord Himself was always with them throughout their lives and journeys.

Back then, the Church everywhere including in Ephesus were struggling with challenges and difficulties, with divisions from within and challenges from external sources such as persecutions from both the Jewish authorities and the Roman state. There were many of the faithful who probably were facing hardships and persecutions, arrested and tortured, and even martyred for their faith. It was a truly difficult time to be Christians, and yet, many of the faithful remained firm in their faith and obedience to God, and they did not allow fear or uncertainty from persuading them to abandon their faith, and their great examples of courage and faith became source of inspiration for many others all around them.

That was why St. Paul encouraged and affirmed the faithful in Ephesus for their faith in the Lord, for all that they had done, in sacrificing their time, effort and even well-being to remain faithful and true to God. He told then to trust in the Lord and how everything will be subjected to the dominion and power of the triumphant Christ. No matter how they might be rejected and condemned by the world, the Lord will always win in the end, and all those who remain firm in their faith will be saved in the end, and will receive the fullness of God’s promises of love and grace. None of those who have entrusted themselves to God will be lost from Him.

Then, in our Gospel passage today we heard of the words of the Lord highlighting to the people and to His disciples how that there would be persecution and hardships that they all would have to face, just as He Himself, the Son of Man, would have to suffer most grievously for the sake of all mankind. The Lord Himself took up the massive and most certainly unimaginable burden of the Cross so that by such an action of pure and most selfless love for us, He might offer on all of our behalf, the worthy offering for the atonement and forgiveness of all the multitudes of our sins. And this great example of faith and obedience, and the hope and light that our Lord Himself had brought into our midst, ought to remind us all just how fortunate and blessed all of us truly are.

And the Lord highlighted the fact that just as the world itself had persecuted Him, therefore the disciples and followers of the Lord might have to suffer as well. The long history of the Church itself showed us just how many and even innumerable, the saints and martyrs who had suffered and died before us. And all of that serve as a reminder to us all that we should not and cannot afford to be complacent or idle in living our faith, as there will likely be a lot of temptation, pressure, and even coercions and forces trying to lead us down the wrong path, all around us. If we are not vigilant and careful, we may likely end up in the wrong path. That is why we should be inspired by the lives and examples of all the saints, those holy men and women who had lived their lives worthily and gone before us to God.

Today, the Church celebrates the Feast of St. Ignatius of Antioch, one of the earliest Church fathers and leaders of the Church, whose faith and dedication to the Lord was truly exemplary and great, and whose commitment and obedience, focus and emphasis on the Lord remains strong and firm despite his important position in the Church, as he led the flock entrusted to him with great zeal, courage and faith at all times. St. Ignatius of Antioch was one of the earliest Bishops of Antioch, as the successor of the Apostles, in being a disciple and follower of St. John the Apostle according to the Apostolic and Chruch traditions. He was also known as Theophorus, or God-Bearer, as according to some traditions, he was one of the children who had been brought to the Lord and blessed by Him.

St. Ignatius of Antioch dedicated himself to the well-being of his people, in spreading the Good News of God and the truth, love and hope that the Lord has revealed to His Apostles and disciples. Antioch was then one of the early and major centres of the Christian faith, and many people each day converted to the faith thanks to the efforts of the Apostles and their successors, including that of St. Ignatius of Antioch himself. St. Ignatius of Antioch courageously carried out his duties with great humility, and with great commitment and devotion, to be the Good Shepherd in managing the people of God and leading them to the right path. He was martyred during one of the persecutions of Christians running rampant at that time, but until the very end, St. Ignatius of Antioch has always remained firm in his conviction and faith in God, in serving Him all the time, throughout his life.

Brothers and sisters in Christ, as we remember what we have discerned and discussed earlier regarding the readings from the Sacred Scriptures, and as we heed and remember the life and examples of St. Ignatius of Antioch, let us all hence do our best so that we may truly embody our Christian faith at all times, and be truly exemplary and faithful in all things. Let us all continue to do our best, to work and to do our part as servants and followers of the Lord, in all things, so that we may be the shining and bright beacons of God’s light and Good News, to bring forth His hope and light to all the nations. May God be with us always, and may He empower each and every one of us to be truly worthy and faithful, despite the many trials and challenges facing us throughout our lives and journey. Amen.

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Friday, 16 October 2026 : 28th Week of Ordinary Time, Memorial of St. Hedwig, Religious, and St. Margaret Mary Alacoque, Virgin (Homily and Scripture Reflections)

Liturgical Colour : Green or White (Religious or Holy Virgins)

Dear brothers and sisters in Christ, today as we listened to the words of the Scriptures, we are reminded of the need for all of us to remain faithful to God in all things and not to be like the hypocrites who profess to believe and have faith in the Lord, and yet, act in a manner that is opposite, scandalous and unworthy of what Christians have been expected to do in their lives. All of us have to be truly faithful in God and we must put our trust in His path, genuinely believing in Him from our heart. We cannot be people who are lukewarm and apathetic about our faith, and we have to be sincere in our desire and commitment to walk the path that God has shown and taught us, through His own Beloved Son, our Lord and Saviour, and through what He has revealed to us through His Church.

In our first reading today, taken from the Epistle of St. Paul the Apostle to the Church and the faithful in Ephesus, we heard how the Apostle reminded the faithful there, composed of both Jews and Gentiles alike, had been made to be the children of God, and they had all been made sharers in God’s New and eternal Covenant through their baptism, sealed by the Holy Spirit, and by the will of God Himself. That is why all of them had been called and chosen from the world, and consequently, they should all reflect that change in state in their lives, by showing that change through their own actions and examples, so that they are truly worthy of being God’s faithful and beloved children, as those whom God had called and chosen to be His own.

In our Gospel passage today, we heard of the words of the Lord Jesus Himself calling on all the people to distance themselves from the yeast of the Pharisees. Contextually, the Lord was referring to the worldliness with which many among the Pharisees and the teachers of the Law had lived their lives and practiced their faith, which led to great scandals and their unbecoming attitudes as those who were entrusted with the guardianship of the Law and the people of God. The people of God, all of us included are all reminded of the need for us to distance ourselves from sin, and keep ourselves pure and worthy of the Lord in all things. That is why we are being constantly reminded of this through the reading of the Sacred Scriptures, to bring us all ever closer to God in all things.

Why is that so, brothers and sisters in Christ? That is because sin is a dangerous thing that we should not treat trivially, as it can lead us further down the path towards our doom and downfall if we allow sin to corrupt us and our nature further. That is why we should not let it to influence us or tempt us any further. If we allow worldly influences or matters to affect our decisions and choices, then we may end up doing things that will draw us ever further from God and His path of virtue and righteousness. And the Lord Himself mentioned in our Gospel passage today, that we have to be afraid of the One Who is able to throw us into hell after killing us, referring to the Judgment that the Lord will pass on us who refuse to believe in Him and who continue to live in the state of sin.

We have to realise that while God is truly loving and merciful, but at the same time, He is also a good and virtuous God, in Whose Presence sin and evil cannot exist. If we continue to sin and refuse to accept His love and mercy, and refusing to abandon our sinful and wicked ways, then there can be no path to salvation for all of us. Unless we endeavour to commit ourselves to embrace God and His truth, His love and compassion, then there can be no way out for us from this downward slide towards damnation and hell. We have to abandon the wickedness of our past and commit ourselves anew to the righteous path that the Lord has taught and shown us to do. And we can do that better by looking upon the good examples set by our holy predecessors, the saints and martyrs.

Today, the Church celebrates the feast of two holy and great women, whose lives and great examples in faith and in their way of life should inspire each and every one of us in how we should be living our lives, and in how we can be good and devout Christians in all things, in putting our faith and trust in God, rather than in worldly matters and temptations. St. Hedwig, also known as St. Hedwig of Silesia was the Duchess of Silesia as the consort of the Silesian Duke, and was renowned for her great piety and dedication to God, while St. Margaret Mary Alacoque was a French religious nun, who was also renowned for her faith in God, as well as for having received visions and revelation from the Lord, which has shown His Most Sacred Heart to her.

St. Hedwig of Silesia was married to the heir of the Duke of Silesia when she was barely just twelve years old, and she was involved for many years in the great intrigue and court politics involving her husband, who struggled to maintain the ducal authority while at the same time expanding his rule and influence, against rival duchies and other rulers. In one occasion, St. Hedwig interceded on behalf of her husband, when the latter was in captivity, and her husband was released by her efforts. The virtues and good actions of St. Hedwig helped her husband in his rule, and also became great inspiration for many people of her time, and both St. Hedwig and her husband, Duke Henry of Silesia, were very pious and faithful to God. And when she was widowed after many decades of marriage, she moved into a monastery and dedicated the rest of her life in commitment to God.

Meanwhile, St. Margaret Mary Alacoque was a very devout servant of God who had great and intense love for the Lord even from her early childhood. She dedicated herself to the Blessed Sacrament and the Lord, as well as to His Blessed Mother Mary, since early on, especially after recovering from a bout of serious illness, and eventually became a religious nun after having received a vision of Christ, reminding her of her love for Him. St. Margaret Mary Alacoque received several private revelations on the Sacred Heart of Jesus over a period of eighteen months, in which the Lord Jesus revealed to her the intense love that God has for each and every one of us, as manifested through His Most Sacred Heart, injured and wounded because of our many sins and transgressions.

Eventually, St. Margaret Mary Alacoque revealed her visions to her superior, after a period of struggle and discernment, and the messages she received from the Lord were made known, writing testaments and other works to make the Lord’s intentions known better, for the state, the society and all the people of God. Ever since then, and after having her visions and revelations certified as genuine, the devotion to the Most Sacred Heart of Jesus, which had actually begun centuries earlier, came to take form in the manner that we are familiar with today, and became widespread among the people throughout Christendom, which continues to this very day, all thanks to the faith, devotion and commitment shown by St. Margaret Mary Alacoque.

Brothers and sisters in Christ, having reflected upon the Scripture readings we have heard today, and having listened to the lives and examples of both St. Hedwig of Silesia and St. Margaret Mary Alacoque, let us all therefore renew our faith in the Lord, and strive so that we will always be ever more virtuous, worthy and good in all of our works, actions and way of life, in our every interactions with one another. Let us all be truly worthy and faithful beacons of God’s light, truth and Good News, and be the ones to bear forth His love in the most tangible way in this world through our genuine love for one another. May the Lord continue to guide us in our journey of faith throughout our lives, and may He bless us in our every good works, efforts and endeavours, now and always. Amen.

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Thursday, 15 October 2026 : 28th Week of Ordinary Time, Memorial of St. Teresa of Jesus, Virgin and Doctor of the Church (Homily and Scripture Reflections)

Liturgical Colour : White

Dear brothers and sisters in Christ, today as we listened to the words of the Lord speaking to us, we are all called to keep in mind the commandments and ways of the Lord, distancing ourselves from sinful and wicked things, and doing our best to be holy and exemplary in our lives. We should be sincere in our faith and way of loving God and our fellow brethren, and not doing so because we have ulterior motives and desires, or because we want to be praised and adored for our actions and faith, which would otherwise lead us down the wrong path in life, a path of selfishness and sin instead of towards salvation in God. As Christians, it is very important that we show through genuine example what it truly means for us to live our lives well in accordance with God’s will.

In our first reading today, taken from the Epistle of St. Paul to the Church and the faithful in Ephesus, we heard of the truth of how each one of us as Christians, having been called to be God’s people, and having received the adoption from Him to be His own beloved sons and daughters, each one of us are expected to live our lives in the manner that the Lord has taught and shown us through His Church. All of us have received the great grace from God, the forgiveness for our sins, and having been shown the great and tender love from God. And yet, many of us still preferred to choose ways that are contrary to God and His path, those ways which are not aligned to the teachings of the Lord and His Church.

If we listened well to what we heard in our Gospel passage today, we heard of the rebuke which the Lord Jesus spoke and directed towards the Pharisees and the teachers of the Law, as many of them had not been truly obedient to God, and they had misused and abused their authority and position, to enrich and empower themselves instead of serving the Lord and the interest of the people of God. They made it difficult for many among the people of God to come close to God, as they imposed very harsh conditions, rules, regulations and practices which essentially deterred many people from following the Lord’s ways, as they made it very challenging for the ostracised and marginalised to follow God’s path

Not only that, the ways and the practices of the Pharisees and the teachers of the Law themselves were not truly founded upon the firm foundations of faith. In fact, as mentioned earlier on this week, the Law itself had been changed, affected and corrupted over the many centuries since it was handed down through Moses from God to His people. Over all that time, the various oral traditions and additions, modifications and changes had accumulated such that the Law in its essence and practice was no longer the same Law which the Lord had revealed and intended for His people in the first place. They had become tools of prejudice, bias and marginalisation, serving the purpose and intent of the strong and the elites rather than being the means to help and lead the people of God on their journey towards Him, especially those same people who needed the Lord’s love and mercy the most, to whom the Law at the time became most prejudiced against.

The people and their elders persecuted the faithful and the many prophets and messengers who were sent into their midst in order to remind them and call them back towards the path towards righteousness. They hardened their hearts and minds against the Lord, and refused to listen to the reminders made to them in many occasions. Instead, they chose to indulge in worldly desires and in corrupt ways, that led them further and further into sin. All these were caused by their pride and ego, their ambitions and their unbridled desires which led to them falling further and ever deeper into the traps laid on them by Satan and all those seeking their destruction and downfall.

Instead of doing what the Lord had told them to do, and instead of loving one another as fellow brothers and sisters, all belonging to the same family of God, they used the Law as excuses to gain renown and fame for themselves. They preferred to satisfy their own desires for power, worldly glory, fame and more, rather than to do the will of God. They made it difficult for many of those who were in need of help from God, and who would have benefitted the most from God’s mercy and love, to come towards Him. That is why God chastised those elders and leaders who had not done and lived their lives the way that they should have done.

Today, the Church celebrates the Feast of a great saint and holy woman of the Church, one of the esteemed and honoured Doctors of the Church, namely St. Teresa of Jesus, also known as St. Teresa of Avila. St. Teresa of Avila was one of the founders of the Discalced Carmelites Order, which was born out of the extensive reform of the original Carmelite Order during the time of the Counter-Reformation. St. Teresa of Avila was born during the time when there were great changes and turmoils in Christendom, and she was brought up as a devout Christian by her mother and family, and after losing her mother at a rather early age of eleven, this experience further brought St. Teresa of Avila closer to the Lord, eventually desiring to join religious life and to commit herself to the Lord.

St. Teresa of Avila eventually joined the Carmelites and lived with great piety and dedication to God, committing herself to a life of prayer and self-mortification, resisting the temptations of the world and while experiencing many spiritual ecstasy and mystical visions that eventually led her even closer to God. She was known for her many other spiritual experiences and sufferings, which she endured patiently with faith, and her piety and examples became great inspiration for everyone both during her time and afterwards. Then, as mentioned, she became a great reformer of the Carmelite Order that she belonged to, seeing the laxity and worldly corruption that had crept up into her religious order and community, that many of the religious no longer committed themselves faithfully to the Lord in the manner that the founder of the Order intended to.

To this extent, together with several others, including St. John of the Cross and all those who shared her vision, St. Teresa of Avila resolved to establish the reformed Carmelite order, which would henceforth be known as the Discalced Carmelites, for their willingness and commitment to adhere more faithfully to the tenets and the practices of the original founders and intentions of the Carmelites, which is kind of similar to what we have been hearing in our Scripture passages earlier and discussed today. The Lord also intended to return everyone to the true intention and practice of the Law that God had granted and given to them, purifying the Law that had been misinterpreted and wrongly practiced in the past centuries by the people of God and their leaders, which had led them to the wrong path. In the similar way therefore, St. Teresa of Avila and the other reformers did the same, as they courageously went through the challenges and trials that they had to face amidst their attempts and efforts to establish the reformed Carmelite order.

Brothers and sisters in Christ, as we have heard from the Scripture readings today and from the life and examples of St. Teresa of Jesus or St. Teresa of Avila, let us all therefore strive as Christians, as God’s holy and beloved people to follow Him ever more wholeheartedly and worthily in all things. Let us all continue to do our best so that our whole lives, our every actions and deeds, our words and interactions with one another will continue to proclaim the glory of God, and not merely be paying lip service to God’s Law and commandments, or worse still, misusing them to serve our own selfish desires. May God bless each and every one of us, and may He continue to guide us in our journey through life and strengthen us in our every efforts and endeavours to glorify Him like His holy saints had done before us, now and always. Amen.

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Wednesday, 14 October 2026 : 28th Week of Ordinary Time, Memorial of Pope St. Callistus I, Pope and Martyr (Homily and Scripture Reflections)

Liturgical Colour : Green or Red (Martyrs)

Dear brothers and sisters in Christ, today as we heard the words of the Lord contained in the Scripture passages, we are all reminded to be truly faithful to God in all things, in each and every one of our actions and works, in our every words and interactions with one another. All of us as Christians, as those who believe in the Lord are expected and called to follow His path and obey His ways sincerely and genuinely from our hearts. Otherwise, if we call ourselves as Christians and then yet behave in the manner that is not worthy of being called as disciples and followers of Christ, then we are no better than just hypocrites and unbelievers, like those Pharisees and the teachers of the Law who loved themselves and their prideful ego and ambition more than they loved God and His Law.

In our first reading today from the Epistle of St. Paul to the Church and the faithful in Galatia, the Apostle St. Paul exhorted the faithful there in Galatia to adhere to the path that the Lord has shown them and not to fall into the path of worldliness, or to the wrong and mistaken path that the old Law had been guiding them through. This is a reference to the Law as how the Pharisees and the teachers of the Law had preserved it and enforced it to the people of God. That old Law, composed of the many rules, regulations, customs and practices was already outdated and imperfect, flawed by the many additions that it had over the centuries. All of these led to misunderstandings and abuses of the Law meant to benefit those who enforced them, as well as their biases and prejudices.

We have to understand that the Law of God was passed down from generations to generations among the faithful people of God, and this Law had undergone numerous modifications and additions throughout the long history of the people of God. As such, it led to the Law being excessive, tedious and cumbersome, and not only that, as mentioned, it has also frequently been misused and misinterpreted even by the very ones who were entrusted with its upkeep and propagation, like those Pharisees and the teachers of the Law themselves, who took great pride and ego in how they observed the Law and how they enforced it to the Jewish community. This is especially due to the Pharisees tending to be prejudiced against those group of people they deemed to be unworthy of God, like tax collectors and prostitutes, or those suffering from sickness and demonic possessions.

Unfortunately, that led to difficulties among the faithful in Galatia and elsewhere. As we heard in our Gospel passage today, there were significant frictions and disagreements between the Lord and those who upheld the old ways of doing things, the Pharisees and the teachers of the Law, who desired to enforce the excesses of the old Law to the people of God. There were some of the sympathisers of the Pharisees and the Pharisees themselves who had become believers of the Lord, but they still held on to their old customs and ways. According to their way of doing things, there were as many as six hundred and thirteen customs, precepts, rules and regulations which the people of God had to fulfil, and imposing all these placed unnecessary burden on the people of God.

Not only that the way the Pharisees and the teachers of the Law obeyed and observed those rules and customs were wrong, as many of them ended up doing them for their own vanity and pride, showing off their piety and obedience so that others might praise them for their actions and piety. They focused on themselves instead of on God, and they made it difficult for many others to be closer to God, as many were deterred by the tedious and the harsh nature of the laws and customs presented by the Pharisees and the teachers of the Law. This was especially true for those who needed God and His healing and mercy the most, like those suffering from maladies and diseases, those possessed by evil spirits, the tax collectors and the prostitutes among others as mentioned. Yet, the irony is such that the latter were often the ones who were most fervent in seeking God and His mercy, love and compassion.

That is why St. Paul exhorted and reminded the members of the Christian faithful in Galatia to turn away from their misguided ways, their obsession over the many trivial and unnecessary parts from the old Jewish laws and customs, as well as in their prejudice and elitist attitudes against the Gentiles or the non-Jewish people. This attitude at that time had persisted even against those pagans and Gentiles who had embraced the Christian faith, with some among the Jewish Christian converts arguing and trying to enforce the whole Jewish customs and laws on all the faithful including on the converts from the Gentiles and pagans.

That is not what Christians ought to be doing, and hence, St. Paul told all of them to distance themselves from the worldly excesses of those misguided paths and ways, and instead, embrace the Lord, His truth and ways, in loving Him sincerely and in doing the same to our fellow brothers and sisters, to our fellow men and women, regardless of our status, origins, background and affiliations, and thus, showing genuine and most generous love to each other just as how the Lord Himself has loved us all sinners, even those who were most wicked and seemingly unworthy. Through His Son, Our Lord and Saviour, Jesus Christ, God has come into our midst to redeem us all, even the ones who were furthest away from Him.

This is what each and every one of us as Christians ought to be doing, not to be exclusive and elitist in our attitude, and not to be self-righteous in our actions. Instead, we should always remind ourselves that each and every one of us are part of the same Body of Christ, the Church. We are all called to share in the brotherhood and the unity among us Christians, united through the love of God. We should be filled with God’s love and show that same love to the Lord and to our fellow brothers and sisters. Each and every one of us should inspire one another to continue to do what God has taught and shown us to do, and that is to live our lives as Christians and obey the Law and commandments of God as He had intended for us.

Today, the Church celebrates the feast of one of the holy saints, whose faith and devotion to God, and whose commitment and actions should inspire us all in our own lives, in how we ourselves can become good and committed disciples of the Lord, in all of our actions and works. Pope St. Callistus I was the Pope and leader of the Universal Church, as the Bishop of Rome and Vicar of Christ, successor of St. Peter the Apostle, during a difficult time in the Church’s history, as at that time, persecutions were rampant against the Church and Christians throughout the Roman Empire. Oppression and sufferings were often part of life for many of the Lord’s faithful people, who had to endure those sufferings simply because of their faith in God.

Amidst all of these, Pope St. Callistus I, who was a deacon and assistant to the Pope St. Zephyrinus, in managing the catacombs of the city of Rome, serving the needs of the people of God in the Diocese of Rome, and then eventually becoming the successor of the same Pope St. Zephyrinus, he had involved himself with many of the works and the service for the sake of God’s people, caring for both of their physical and spiritual needs. The Lord has called Pope St. Callistus I to be His Vicar, and he carried out his duties most diligently, in embracing all of the people of God, including those who have lapsed from the faith and fallen into sin. At that time, this matter of welcoming and allowing lapsed Christians who have given in to the pressure to worship pagan gods and idols, either by choice or not, had caused great divisions and disagreements in the Church.

This division and disagreement had led to one of the first schisms in the Church, as St. Hippolytus, a popular priest and preacher who disagreed with the practice of readmitting lapsed Christians without proper penance and consequences, was elected as a rival Pope to Pope St. Callistus I, becoming the first antipope. Pope St. Callistus I was determined to bridge the differences and worked hard to lead the people of God amidst the turbulent times, beset from all directions, both from outside and within, in the many persecutions and challenges that the faithful people of God were facing daily, and in the disagreements that turned fellow Christians against each other. Pope St. Callistus I patiently led the Church throughout all of that, and remained firm in his faith and conviction in dedicating himself and the Church to God. In the end, he was martyred for his faith, during one of those persecutions, but his efforts helped the Church to remain strong throughout the challenging years.

Brothers and sisters in Christ, let us all therefore follow in the good examples and in the inspiring actions of Pope St. Callistus I, and let us walk ever more faithfully in the path which God has set before us, in all that He has shown and taught us to do. Pope St. Callistus I has shown all of us what it truly means for us to be good and devout Christians, as God’s followers and disciples. We must always do whatever we can, in all the opportunities given to us so that our every words, actions and deeds truly show this commitment and faith in the Lord. It is through our lives and how we practice our faith in God in this world, in our daily living that we can truly show others the path towards the Lord.

May God continue to guide us all and strengthen each one of us in our courage and resolve to live our lives faithfully in Him, and to embrace once again the fullness of His love and mercy. Let us stay away from the path of sin and evil, and instead, strive to live our lives fully and worthily as good Christians from now on. Let us all truly embrace the love of God and His Law wholeheartedly with genuine faith, and not be merely superficial and hypocritical in our faith, as some of our predecessors had done. May all of us be truly faithful and worthy beacons of God’s light and truth, at all times. Amen.

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Tuesday, 13 October 2026 : 28th Week of Ordinary Time (Homily and Scripture Reflections)

Liturgical Colour : Green

Dear brothers and sisters in Christ, today as we listened to the words of the Scriptures, we are all presented with the reminders for each and every one of us to be firmly faithful to God and to believe in Him wholeheartedly, that we do not just pay a lip service to Him or observe the commandments and laws of God for the sake of doing them, or if we do them for the sake of being popular or to get fame and attention to ourselves. That is not how we should be living our faith, and that is not what Christians like us should be doing, or else, we are no better than hypocrites and unbelievers who have no true faith in God. We are reminded yet again that we need to be truly faithful and committed to God in words, in actions and in deeds alike.

In our first reading today, we heard from the continuation of the Epistle of St. Paul the Apostle to the Church and the faithful in Galatia. In that passage, St. Paul reminded the faithful in Galatia, many of whom were Jewish converts to the Christian faith, and there were also being a rather sizeable Jewish diaspora there, to no longer be ‘enslaved’ to the old Law, which was not actually really referring to the Law of God, but rather to the customs, traditions, practices and all those which the people of God in the past had gradually grown to ingrain themselves into, and not only that, but even becoming more and more obsessed on, as they became too engrossed and focused on obeying even the smallest details of those rules and regulations.

The Law of God historically and traditionally was revealed by God Himself to His servant, Moses, in the desert, during the time when the people of Israel had just been liberated from their enslavement by the Egyptians. The Lord Who brought them all out of the land of Egypt also showed them His guidance and wisdom, and especially after they had repeatedly shown their stubborn attitudes and disobedience, such as their building of the golden calf idol and its worship, their constant complaints regarding the matter of food and convenience as they journeyed through the desert, all of these led to them going wayward and out of their paths in following God. That was why God, out of His continued and constant love for His people, showed them His Law and commandments to guide and help them.

However, in time, those laws and commandments which had been modified and altered throughout the many centuries of them being passed from generations to generations, led to them being misunderstood and misused by those who failed to truly understand their meaning, purpose and significance. That was what we have also heard throughout the other parts of the New Testament and the Gospels, where there were frequent disagreements and clashes between the Lord Himself and the Pharisees and the teachers of the Law as the two latter groups were adamant on keeping, preserving and enforcing their way of obeying and observing the Law of God. As a matter of fact, after many centuries since the Law of God was passed down to the people through Moses, it had gone through very extensive changes and additions, such that the Law as was known and observed by those same Pharisees and teachers of the Law had become very cumbersome and oppressive.

Not only that, but those rules, regulations, practices and customs had become something that made it really difficult for many people to follow and to observe, and in fact became a distraction and barrier for many in their journey towards God. For the Pharisees and the teachers of the Law themselves, the Law became a tool for them to achieve fame and glory. Many of them became trapped in the desire to achieve greatness and praise through those laws, by showing off their piety and activities, and in the end, causing them to be focusing upon themselves and their ego rather than on God. While for others, the Law made it difficult for many to approach God, and made them to shun Him and turn away from Him instead.

That is why St. Paul exhorted and reminded the faithful in Galatia not to continue in the way and the path that their ancestors and predecessors had kept, which was erroneous and the Lord Himself had pointed out as He came to reveal the truth about the Law of God and all that He had told us all about Himself and how each one of us ought to live our lives in accordance with God’s will. Those who believe in the Lord and follow Him should heed the words that He has spoken and which He then reminded us again through His Apostles like St. Paul. They are all exhorted and reminded to embrace the path of God’s love, in loving God and one another, and in focusing their lives on Him and following His commandments in its true meaning and purpose. We should not be selfish or self-centred in our ways and actions, unlike those among the Pharisees and the teachers of the Law who were openly prejudiced against those whom they disliked and condemned.

It is also a very important reminder that as Christians, all of us must not allow ourselves to be  swayed by ambition, selfish desires and all the things that can distract us from our paths towards God. As those among the Pharisees and the elders have shown us, that whenever we deem and think of ourselves as superior than others, we end up causing hurt, discrimination, injustice and all sorts of irresponsible behaviours that are not in accordance to God’s teachings and truths. It is easy for us to fall prey to these temptations especially if we are not truly firmly rooted in our faith in God and in our understanding of what we truly profess to believe. And we are also called to live with the ultimate focus in the Lord, and not on ourselves.

May the Lord, our ever loving and compassionate God continue to shower us all with His love, show us His wisdom and guidance, through the examples which He Himself has shown us, the example of pure love and compassion towards the marginalised and those who were oppressed and hated. May through His inspiration and love, all of us as God’s beloved people be the beacons of His light and hope, and the bearers of His great love and grace in our world today, inspiring many more to follow Him wholeheartedly rather than merely paying lip service or understanding His Law and commandments superficially as some of our predecessors had done. May God bless our every good efforts and endeavours, now and always. Amen.

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Monday, 12 October 2026 : 28th Week of Ordinary Time (Homily and Scripture Reflections)

Liturgical Colour : Green

Dear brothers and sisters in Christ, all of us are reminded today through what we have heard in our Scripture passages of the need for us all to remember that we are the people of God, as Christians, as all those who have believed in the truth espoused and revealed to us through Jesus Christ, our Lord and Saviour, and how we have received the assurance of eternal life and salvation through Him. All of us have to put our faith and trust in Him, and not be easily swayed by worldly temptations and other things which may often end up as obstacles and barriers preventing us from truly being faithful to God, as we should be doing in our lives, even amidst the greatest of challenges and hardships. We need to continue having faith in God.

In our first reading today, we heard of the words of St. Paul the Apostle in his Epistle to the Church and the faithful in the city of Galatia, as he spoke to them regarding how the people of God having received the freedom from slavery through Christ, have been freed from the slavery of sin. He made the comparison with the case of the two sons of Abraham, in which he used this metaphor to highlight the difference between the past lives of the people of God, chained by sin and their past evils, and the new way of Christ and His saving grace, the salvation and new life which God offers to all those who believe in Him, and the path that He has called on everyone to follow, the path towards righteousness and eternal life.

The two sons of Abraham mentioned, Ishmael and Isaac, were born to two different mothers. Ishmael was born as the son between Abraham and Hagar, the slave of Abraham’s wife, Sarah, and he was conceived because Abraham and Sarah was kind of faltering in their faith in God, when they probably thought that it was impossible for them to have any son in their old age, as Sarah was then already way past childbearing age. Hence, as how the tradition went at that time, the wife could legally become the mother of a child born to her slave and her husband. Hence, Sarah gave Hagar as a means for her husband Abraham to have a son. But this was not what the Lord intended to happen, as He has always planned for Abraham to have a child between himself and his wife Sarah.

And the Lord proved that He would be true to His words, and that He would gave a son to Abraham and Sarah, not through any other intermediary, but through Sarah herself. What man might consider to be impossible, is possible for God. That was how God fulfilled His promises to Abraham, giving him a son, the one He had promised, in Isaac, the son between Abraham and Sarah. Sarah gave birth to Isaac in her old age, and through that, God reminded us all of His love and providence, and how His path is superior and better to whatever plans and ideas we may have in mind. Abraham and Sarah thought that by utilising the slave Hagar and her son Ishmael, that could provide an heir to Abraham, but that was not what God intended.

That is why, St. Paul used this as a comparison and metaphor to make it clear to the Galatians, especially to the Jewish converts to the Christian faith, who at that time were still following their old customs and ways, which were man’s constructs, and which was a corrupted and deviant version of the original Law of God. If we have been following the discourse of St. Paul to the Galatians in the past few days last week, we can clearly see how the Galatian faithful were divided, especially among racial and religious lines, between the Jews and Gentiles, and also between those who were slaves and those who were free, and even those who were rich and poor. These divisions should not happen in the Church of God.

In our Gospel passage today, we then heard of the Lord Jesus speaking to His disciples and to the people, many of whom still doubted Him and refused to believe in Him, telling them all that those who have seen His miracles and wonders, heard His wisdom and truth, and yet failed to believe or refused to have faith in Him were truly stubborn. That even the Queen of the South, the Queen of Sheba, came to believe in King Solomon of Israel for his wisdom and greatness, and there was One greater than Solomon there before the people, the very Son of God Himself, appearing in the flesh before the assembled people, showing His truth and wisdom before all, the Word and Wisdom of God in the flesh incarnate.

When the Lord said this, He meant that salvation is intended for everyone, that even people from afar will come to believe in Him and in His message of truth, and everyone who believe in Him will be saved, not just the exclusive right of the Jewish people only. Even the Jews themselves would not be saved if they refused to believe in Christ and His truth. What matters is not their birth or race anymore, but their faith. The Lord has brought His New Covenant and established it anew with all of us, by the suffering and death that Christ Himself suffered on the Cross. Through that, God has gathered us all to Himself, and led us all the assurance of eternal joy and glory with Him, and through Him, all would gain true satisfaction and joy.

Brothers and sisters in Christ, what all these reminded us is that, each and every one of us as Christians, members of God’s Church all ought to put our faith and trust in Him, as well as changing our ways and manners of life. Each one of us are expected to turn away from wickedness and evil, to sin no more and to live our lives virtuously and free from the taints of evil and wickedness from now on. We are all called to embrace the Lord wholeheartedly, and to love Him unreservedly, dedicating ourselves to His cause, believing wholly in His message of truth and love, now and always. This is what we have been called to do as Christians, as those whom God had shown His love and grace, and those whom He has called to be His own beloved people, and that we have responded to His call.

May the Lord our most loving God and Father continue to bless us and guide us in our lives so that in everything we say and do, we will always obey His will and do whatever is right and just that we may truly be worthy of Him. May God strengthen each one of us in our resolve to serve Him in each and every moments of our lives and at every opportunities possible. Amen.

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Sunday, 11 October 2026 : Twenty-Eighth Sunday of Ordinary Time (Homily and Scripture Reflections)

Liturgical Colour : Green

Dear brothers and sisters in Christ, this Sunday through the Scripture readings which we have just heard, all of us are reminded that as God’s beloved and holy people, each and every one of us are partakers of His Covenant and members of His One Church, the one united Body of Christ. Therefore, as we are all parts of this same Church of God, all of us are reminded that all of us should always put our trust and faith in the Lord, and know that it is in Him alone that we can gain true joy and happiness in life, both in this one and the one that is to come. We must also be careful lest we are swayed and tempted to seek for other things and desires which are not in accordance to God’s path, and which may end up leading us into damnation instead of eternal life.

In our first reading today, we heard from the Book of the prophet Isaiah in which the Lord reassured His people through Isaiah, of the coming of the days of true joy and happiness with Him, reminding all of them of the love and all the kindness that He has shown to them and their ancestors in the days past, even as they themselves then were suffering and facing humiliation and indignation due to their own sins and wickedness. Contextually, we have to understand that the prophet Isaiah was delivering the words of the Lord to a people that had been beset by many troubles, difficulties and challenges, as they were faced with many enemies and all those who oppressed them, which also happened because they had abandoned their Lord and God, and chose to follow the worship of the pagan and false gods, over the worship of God.

That was why the Israelites had been divided, fell into hard times and challenges, and by the time of the prophet Isaiah’s ministry, the northern half of the kingdom and the people had been crushed and destroyed by the Assyrians, who have come and conquered the northern kingdom, destroyed and razed its capital of Samaria, and brought off many of the people of God living in that place far away into exile in the lands of Assyria and Mesopotamia, while putting foreigners and other people to dwell in the lands once occupied and dwelled by the Israelites. The southern kingdom of Judah itself had not been spared, and had also faced similar challenges, being subjected to the might of the Assyrians, who almost conquered and destroyed Jerusalem and Judah when King Sennacherib of Assyria came with a mighty army to conquer them. It was only by God’s timely intervention and humiliation of Sennacherib that the people of God were saved.

Thus, the people of God in Judah had received a preview and a foretaste of what God’s salvation will be like, as they are all reminded of just how faithful God has always ever been to His Covenant and promises. After all, the people of Israel are all God’s beloved people and children, and He has made His Covenant with them and their ancestors, renewing them again and again, despite of the people’s lack of faith and frequent rebellions and disobedience against their Lord and Master. God still loved all of them despite of their many transgressions and stubborn attitudes, giving them many opportunities, time and again so that they might find their way back towards Him, opening the way towards His salvation and grace. He has always ever been so generous with His love, mercy and kindness, as He has always done from the very beginning. He could have easily destroyed and wiped us out by the power of His will alone, but instead, He chose to care for us, to heal us from our sins and troubles. We are shown just how beloved we are all to God, from the beginning, now and forevermore.

In our Gospel passage today, we are all reminded that we have all been invited to a life full of joy and happiness, as the Lord Himself has prepared a celebration and banquet for us. He has generously done all these for us, so that by His grace all of us may indeed enjoy forever the fullness of His love and generosity. However, as we heard in that Gospel passage today, many of us often rejected and refused to embrace God’s ever generous offer of love and kindness, as we were often swayed and tempted, distracted and confused because of our many temptations, desires and coercions of this world. In that parable of the wedding banquet, the people and guests whom the king had invited to the banquet, all of them refused to come to the celebration, and they were all busy with their own businesses and preoccupations, and there were even those who killed the ones sent to remind them.

This is a reminder for us that we can be like those who have rejected God’s love and grace, like those wayward guests whom the king had invited to his banquet and yet they all allowed their many distractions and the temptations all around them to get their priorities all wrong. As we heard, they were all punished and destroyed, and they had no part in the king’s banquet and inheritance. Thus, if we also do the same with our own lives, in not heeding God’s words and His call, in rejecting His love and kindness, mercy and compassion, then we will also be rejected in the same manner as well. We are all called to embrace God’s call, His love and mercy, His reminders that we should no longer be ignorant of His love and mercy, and we should not reject His compassion and generous offer of forgiveness. We should answer God’s call with faith and commitment.

And then, we also heard in the end of the same parable in our Gospel today, about how the king invited others who were called to fill up the seats and places vacated by those who have refused to come to the banquet. We heard of how a man, one of the guests, turned up without a wedding garment or a garment suitable for the celebration. As was the custom of that time, and as is also common elsewhere in our world, one ought to turn up in one’s best possible garments, and even the poor people often had their best reserved for the important celebrations in their lives and communities. Therefore, the point that the Lord wanted to make in making that part of the parable is that, in order for us to follow the Lord and to come into His banquet, celebration and into His Holy Presence, all of us need to take up that new garment of faith, and cast off the old garment of wickedness of sin. This is the hidden symbolism that we may often miss out as we read through this parable.

That means all of us must turn away from the temptations of the world, all the things, desires, attachments, all of which had kept us from truly being able to follow the Lord. This had been implied in the earlier part of the same parable, when the earlier invited guests of the king refused to heed the king’s call and invitation because they were all busy and preoccupied with their works and with whatever it is that busied them in their respective lives, their various concerns and attachments. This is why, in the same manner, unless we learn to restrain ourselves, our desires and various attachments, and also unless we strive to resist the temptations to disobey God and sin, it will likely be very difficult for us to follow the Lord wholeheartedly and faithfully as we should have done. In our second reading today, St. Paul in his Epistle to the Philippians reminded the faithful there of the need for all of them, and hence, all of us to trust in the Lord fully, and to heed these words of St. Paul himself, ‘I can do all things in Him Who strengthens me.’

Those words remind us all that the Lord and His Presence in our lives will strengthen us and give us the necessary ability, courage and power to do our part in living a most worthy and virtuous life, in becoming good, faithful and committed Christians, as God’s beloved children and people at all times and in all opportunities. We must always keep in mind that we are all, and we should indeed be good role models and inspirations for our fellow brothers and sisters, all around us. We should embrace God’s path, His ways and teachings wholeheartedly, and do whatever we can so that we truly wear the worthy garments of our faith, as we come to the Lord, to be part of His heavenly banquet, to enter into the glorious kingdom that He has prepared for each and every one of us. May the Lord continue to bless and guide us all, and may He continue to lead us down the path of righteousness and virtue towards Him, free from wickedness, sin, desire and evil, now and always. Amen.

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Saturday, 10 October 2026 : 27th 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 listened to the words of the Scriptures, each one of us are reminded of the need for all of us as Christians to obey the Lord and to follow His Law and commandments, and to entrust ourselves to His love, care and mercy. God has shown and taught us the way to reach His salvation and grace, and as Christians, it is our obligation and duty to follow Him and to do our best so that we may live our lives worthily and inspire many others all around us to live their lives worthily of the Lord as well. We are called to adapt the path of Christ and abandon our past, sinful and unworthy way of life, looking towards Him, our Light, our Hope and our sure path towards eternal life and grace.

In our first reading today, we heard from the Epistle of St. Paul to the Church and the faithful in Galatia, the exhortation from the Apostle to the people of God there for them to believe in the truth of Christ and embrace the fullness of His ways, His revelation and the renewal of the Law of God that He had brought. This was certainly and very likely addressed to the members of the Jewish community in the diaspora in Galatia, who had embraced the Christian faith, and became members of the Church. Some of those Jewish Christians still upheld their old Law and customs, the traditions of the Pharisees and the teachers of the Law, and they were seemingly quite militant and hardened about it just as they had been previously as members of the Pharisees.

That was the Law which St. Paul mentioned in that first reading passage we have today. This Law was a reference to the Jewish customs and traditions, practices and rites that the Jewish elders and communities had received from their ancestors, the Law of God as revealed through Moses, modified and added upon, accumulating over many centuries, which in the end resulted in the Law being further and further away from the true original intention and purpose. And in the manner how the Pharisees and the teachers of the Law practiced and enforced them, the Law became even more oppressive and further away from their true purpose and meaning, becoming tools of prejudice and judgment rather than becoming guide and inspiration for the people to follow on their way to God and His righteous path.

That is why St. Paul told the faithful in Galatia, especially those who hailed from the Jewish community converts, to abandon their past mistaken ways of obeying and practicing the Law, as those ways were no longer relevant and correct for them as Christians. The Lord had revealed to them through Christ Himself, and through the gifts of the Wisdom and the Holy Spirit, the fullness of truth which He preserved and passed to us through His Church and His Apostles. St. Paul, having received this same deposit of faith therefore shared it and reminded all the people of God, including those in Galatia, not to remain in their past mistaken and prejudiced ways.

St. Paul also exhorted on all the faithful in Galatia to be united as Christians and as members of God’s Church. They should no longer be divided by their groups or origins, whether they were Jews or Greeks, or other Gentiles or non-Jewish people, or whether they were free or slaves, or whether they were rich or poor. St. Paul told them all that through Baptism they all have been made the children of God, and everyone are equal before the Lord. What matters is for all of us to obey the Lord and His commandments, His Law and will in the manner that He has taught and shown us to do, just as St. Paul had exhorted the Galatians. As Christians we should always heed the truth of the Lord and not be swayed by the false ideas and ways of the world around us.

That is what we heard in our Gospel passage today, when the Lord told His disciples and the people gathered before Him, that those who obeyed the Lord, walked in His ways, listened to Him and did His will are the ones who will be truly blessed by God. God will be with them and He will provide them all that they need, and they shall not falter and fail, for the Lord Himself will be with them and will strengthen them in the hour of their greatest need. The Lord will guide them and guard them against all harm, and He will lead them all to the ultimate triumph, and that, brothers and sisters in Christ, is what awaits us in the end if we are faithful to God and remain firm in our commitment to Him.

Brothers and sisters in Christ, today we are all therefore reminded as Christians and members of God’s Church that each and every one of us have the obligation and duty to follow the Lord and His teachings, to do His will and to obey His commandments. Each one of us must love the Lord our God with all of our strength and all of our might, and we have to put Him as the focus and the centre of our whole lives. We are nothing without God, and everything we do, our whole lives should be centred on Him. And at the same time, we must also love one another without distinctions, prejudices or bias, just as St. Paul exhorted the Galatians to do. That is in essence, is what we are called to do as Christians, obeying God’s Law and commandments in its true intention and purpose.

May the Lord our God continue to be with us and guide us, and may He empower and strengthen us all in all things. May He bless all of our efforts, good works and endeavours, all for the greater glory of His Name. May He continue to love us all and keep us always in His loving presence, in obeying Him and in living our lives to the fullest, shining with our great faith, dedication and love for God, and showing His love generously to all those around us, now and always. Amen.

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Friday, 9 October 2026 : 27th Week of Ordinary Time, Memorial of St. Denis, Bishop and Martyr, and Companions, Martyrs, and St. John Henry Newman, Priest and Doctor of the Church, and St. John Leonardi, Priest (Homily and Scripture Reflections)

Liturgical Colour : Green or Red (Martyrs) or White (Priests)

Dear brothers and sisters in Christ, today through the Scripture readings all of us are called to embrace God’s love and His path, and to believe in Him wholeheartedly, just as we heard how in the early Church and throughout the Lord’s ministry, there were all those who refused to believe in the Lord and preferred to keep to their old beliefs and their previous ways of the Law, and these disagreements had even led them to accuse the Lord Himself wrongly of a heinous sin and evil. However in doing that, they actually become serious hindrance to the good works that the Lord has carried out within the community of God’s people. Their stubbornness should serve as timely reminders for us that we should not continue to resist the Lord’s efforts to reach out to us and all of His wisdom and truth that is far greater than our own.

In our first reading today, we heard of St. Paul continuing with his address to the Church and the faithful in Galatia in Asia Minor, where for the past few days of our Scripture passages, we have heard how St. Paul chastised the faithful for their lack of faith and for believing in the misguided teachings of those who placed the Law above that of faith, and those who sought to divide the Church and lead the faithful astray. This is likely because in Galatia, as were in other cities and places where the first Christian communities appeared, many of the believers were from the Jewish diaspora, the Jewish people scattered throughout the world as they had been for centuries. It was to this people that St. Paul ministered to and directed his Epistle towards.

And among the Jews, some of whom became converts to the Christian faith, there were those who belonged to the Pharisees and believed in their tenets and way of living the faith. The Pharisees were very rigorous in their enforcement of the many rules and regulations, tenets and all which numbered no less than six hundred and thirteen, if not more, in how the Jewish people ought to live their faith. And the issue lies in the fanaticism in which these people carried on their beliefs, and their attitude in enforcing this belief on others made it problematic for the Christian faithful. That is because the Jewish customs and practices were often seen as contrary to the accepted customs and practices in many parts across the Mediterranean world at the time.

Those same people, the early Christian converts from the Pharisees and their supporters, also held strongly the view that the Jewish people were God’s sole chosen people and that they were far superior to the other peoples and races, and that they alone were worthy of God’s grace and blessings, His salvation and glory. They looked down on the Gentiles or the non-Jewish people, mainly the Greeks, Romans and other local populace that did not follow the laws of Moses preserved by the Jews and especially by the Pharisees. And they also demanded that the Gentiles who converted to the faith ought to adopt the Jewish laws and customs in their entirety, and that they ought to be circumcised and follow all the cultural traditions of the Jews, which essentially would have forced them to abandon their own customs and culture. And all these became significant source of friction between the members of the Christian community, that St. Paul wanted to resolve.

In our Gospel today, we heard the Pharisee accusing the Lord Himself of colluding with the devil, with the prince of demons Beelzebul when He miraculously drove out evil spirits from a person. Many of the Pharisees and the teachers of the Law were so adamant in their opposition against the Lord that they were unable to look beyond their narrow-mindedness and stubbornness in insisting that their way was the true way and others like the Lord were wrong and even blasphemous. The Lord then immediately pointed out the flaw in their argument and said that it did not make sense for the demons and the evil spirits to be divided among themselves and fighting against each other. For if that was the case, then the dominion of Satan and all of his forces would have been torn apart, and the truth was that, the evil one and all of his allies, all those wicked spirits desiring our downfall, are always ever united in their desire and aim to bring about our destruction.

The Lord knew this full well, and just as St. Paul did in his response to the happenings in Galatia, both of them were saddened by what they saw as the divisions sowed by the devil in the community of the faithful. And thus, the Lord used the example of how the devil’s dominion would have collapsed and fallen apart if all of its members were divided against each other to point out that this will happen to us unless we seek to overcome the divisions among us and seek true unity in Christ. It is when we allow ourselves to be swayed by our own ideologies and preferences, ambitions and desires that we end up forgetting what it truly means for us to follow the Lord and commit ourselves to His path. We end up doing things for our own selfish desires and ambitions instead of doing God’s will.

Brothers and sisters in Christ, today’s Scripture readings serve as a powerful reminder for us not to be easily misled by the devil and all of his forces, as they attempted to sow divisions and dissensions among us. We have to keep in mind what St. Paul said, that God has called on all, Jews and non-Jewish people alike, to follow Him, and that there should not be any distinction between them, for everyone is equal before God and is equally beloved. That is why, brothers and sisters in Christ, our challenge lies in how we should strive for unity in our Christian community, and hold firmly to the faith which we have received from the Church. We must not allow the forces of evil from successfully dividing us and destroying the unity within our Church. And we should be inspired by our holy predecessors, whose feast we are celebrating today. St. Denis and his companions in martyrdom, St. John Henry Newman, the famous theologian, as well as St. John Leonardi are good examples for us in how we should be faithful to God.

St. Denis was the Bishop of Paris at the time of the late Roman Empire, during the reign of the Roman Emperor Decius, who was infamous for his particularly brutal persecution of Christians, in which even the Pope at the time, Pope St. Fabian, was martyred together with many other Christian faithful. St. Denis himself presided over the Christian population that was targeted by intense persecution, and despite the difficulties, laboured hard to preach the Good News which successfully converted many among the pagans, and which brought opposition against their efforts. Eventually, St. Denis, the bishop of Paris and two other clergy were arrested and then sentenced to death by the governor. They were executed by beheading, but miraculously, after his head had been cut off, St. Denis was still alive, picking up his severed head and preaching a sermon as he walked down for miles from the place of his martyrdom, and eventually stopped at a place where he died, in which now stood the great St. Denis’ Basilica built and named in his honour.

Then, St. John Henry Newman was the renowned theologian from about over a century ago, hailing from the nineteenth century England, where then the Catholic Church had just emerged from centuries of persecution and oppression by the state Anglican church, and St. John Henry Newman, who was born in that era, baptised as an Anglican and then ordained as an Anglican priest. That time, during the period known as the Oxford Movement within the Anglican church, there were quite a number of clergy and laity who began calling for a rediscovery of the Catholic traditions and practices which the Anglicans had abandoned during the Reformation period. St. John Henry Newman was one of those who were drawn to this movement, and eventually it led to him resigning his position and post in the Anglican church, deciding to join the Catholic Church, and became a Catholic priest.

As a Catholic, St. John Henry Newman continued to pursue the theological studies and efforts he had done as a prolific theologian and writer, which brought him to the attention of many people not just in England but also throughout the rest of Christendom. His efforts in rejuvenating and supporting the cause of the Catholic Church in England which eventually led to the emancipation and liberation of Catholic worship in that country led to the Pope, then Pope Leo XIII to recognise his efforts by making him a Cardinal of the Holy Roman Church. Henceforth, he was remembered for his Cardinal title and as a prominent English churchman, and more so for all the various writings and theological works that he had committed and done throughout his life as a servant of God and His Church.

Meanwhile, St. John Leonardi was a renowned and holy priest, who was the founder of the Order of the Clerks Regular of the Mother of God of Lucca, remembered for his devotion to God and also to Mary, the Blessed Mother of God. Through St. John Leonardi, many people came to be converted, after having been touched and inspired by his tireless efforts in reaching out particularly to sinners. He made popular the Forty Hours Devotion to the Blessed Sacrament and was instrumental in the Counter-Reformation effort in deepening the faith and spirituality of many among the faithful. St. John Leonardi faced difficulties and oppositions in his efforts and works as well, from those who were wary of his works and were skeptical of him, much like how the Pharisees and the teachers of the Law often ridiculed, opposed and went against the Lord and His works. Nonetheless, St. John Leonardi remained firm in his conviction and desire to help others and to lead more and more souls to the salvation in God.

Brothers and sisters in Christ, let us all be inspired by their examples, and after discerning the message of our Scripture passages today, let us strive to be more faithful as Christians, in genuinely loving God and devoting our time, effort and attention, in all things to glorify God by our lives. May the Lord, our loving God, bless us all and guide us in our journey, and help us all to remain united in faith, and not be divided and scattered by the falsehoods and dissent planted in our community by the evil one. May God be with us all, His Church, now and always. Amen.

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Thursday, 8 October 2026 : 27th Week of Ordinary Time (Homily and Scripture Reflections)

Liturgical Colour : Green

Dear brothers and sisters in Christ, today as we listened to the words of the Scriptures, we are all called to heed the Lord’s truth and His teachings, and ask Him for help whenever we are needing any assistance and help. We cannot struggle alone in this journey of faith, or else we will quickly realise that we will falter and be easily tempted, falling deeper and deeper into the path of sin, from which we may realise that there is no path out from. Unless we conscientiously follow the path of the Lord and remain firmly faithful to this path, striving to walk as good and devoted Christians, we may realise that we will be drawn into the ways of the world, and be tempted by sin.

In our first reading today, we heard from the Epistle of St. Paul to the Church and the faithful in Galatia, the words of the Apostle chiding and the rebuking the people of God there for their erroneous ways and wicked living, for having followed the ways and the teachings proposed and preached to them by the false prophets and by all those who did not adhere to the true deposit of the faith and the truth as preserved by the Apostles. Back then, there existed many variations of the teachings of Christ, with some people likely making use of those teachings as excuses to establish their own school of thought and ideologies, or by syncretising them with the pagan beliefs and customs.

As such, St. Paul reminded the people of God not to be easily swayed by those worldly temptations, and to adhere closely to what they have received, the pure truth as what St. Paul and the other authentic witnesses and missionaries had proclaimed to them. St. Paul reminded the faithful not to allow their desires and the weakness of their flesh to sway them to the wrong paths. Otherwise, they would end up losing their way and might even fell off away from the path towards God and His salvation. That is why, St. Paul told them not to listen to those who proclaimed different messages from what he and the other faithful servants of God had preached.

In our Gospel passage today, we heard the Lord speaking to His disciples about the matter of someone who asked a friend for a favour, and how a father would care for his children in the same way that a friend would have cared for his or her friend’s requests or pleas for assistance. The Lord used that as an example to highlight to His disciples and therefore to all of us that, often times we do not realise that we have such a great opportunity to ask the Lord for help at any moment in time, but for various reasons, we chose not to seek for His help, and preferred to do things our own way, which in the end led to us doing the wrong things and choosing the wrong paths.

And why is it that we did not seek God’s help? First of all, the most often reason was that we allow our pride and ego to get in the way. We let ourselves be swayed by our ego that we refused to allow the Lord to speak to us, and we refused to listen to Him and we chose rather to do things our own way rather than to admit that we can be wrong or mistaken in our ways, or that we want to preserve that semblance of face and strength, and we chose to press on in our erroneous ways of life rather than to submit to God’s will or to look for help from Him. That is why, brothers and sisters in Christ, our human pride and ego are such dangerous things that we must be ever vigilant against.

Then, another reason is that we are reluctant to ask, because we are afraid that God will punish us if we ask, and that He will chide and refuse to listen to us for our pleas and prayers. That, brothers and sisters in Christ is yet another reason why so many ended up getting further and further away from God. They rather chose to hide rather than to face the Lord, their loving God and Father. They did not have enough faith in God and in His mercy, that they chose to rather run away from Him and avoid Him, instead of entrusting themselves to His love and care. And this is what we must remind ourselves, that our Lord is our Father, and like all fathers, they will indeed chastise their children when they err, but they do so with love, and not hatred.

Which one should we rather choose, brethren? To be chastised by God and to be reminded to atone for our many sins and wickedness, for an eternity of joy and true happiness, filled with God’s love and grace because we have been reconciled to Him, or to run and hide away, to keep our pride and ego and then suffer an eternity of suffering and regret, because we keep on rejecting God’s ever generous mercy and love? Let us all not forget that all those countless souls in hell, all suffer because they have consciously rejected God’s offer of mercy and love, and chose to remain in the path of sin.

Brothers and sisters in Christ, as we continue to journey through our respective lives, let us all be reminded of the great love that our Lord and God has shown us, our loving Heavenly Father Who has always and as we continue to do our very best to glorify the Lord by our lives. He has always nudged us gently in our paths, reminding us to remain faithful to Him and to continue walking in His path. Let our lives therefore be testimony and good examples of our faith in God and be the shining beacons of Good News and truth. May God bless us always and be with us, in all the things we do. Amen.