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Thursday, 9 July 2026 : 14th Week of Ordinary Time, Memorial of St. Augustine Zhao Rong, Priest and Martyr, and Companions, Martyrs (Homily and Scripture Reflections)

Liturgical Colour : Green or Red (Martyrs)

Dear brothers and sisters in Christ, today we all heard from the readings of the Scriptures the words of the Lord proclaiming yet again His love and generous compassion for each and every one of us. The Lord has shown us His generosity and kindness, even though we have often sinned against Him, disobeyed Him and refusing to listen to Him. He still loves us no matter what, but at the same time, is calling us to turn away from our path of sin and evil, and to embrace once again His ways, to return to Him with contrite heart filled with love for Him. And God Who is always full of kindness and mercy towards us will embrace us and welcome us back to His fullness of grace and love once again.

In our first reading today, we heard from the prophet Hosea, the words of the Lord reassuring His people of the love that He has always had for them, and how He would continue to love them and provide for them, as He had done in the past even though they had disobeyed and transgressed against Him. God highlighted the sins and wickedness that the people had done, in worshipping the pagan gods and idols, in persecuting the prophets and servants whom the Lord had sent to their midst to remind them and to guide them back to the right path. Despite all these, God still loved them and desired for them to be reconciled with Him, and that was why He has always been patient in loving them because of His ever great and generous love.

However, as I mentioned earlier, the people’s sins and transgressions still had to be addressed and resolved. They could not continue to remain in sin, and as long as they still stubbornly remained on their path, they would have to suffer the consequences. If we remember what the prophet Hosea spoke in the other occasions throughout this week’s passages, in other parts of his book, then we should also remember that God also told His people of the consequences of their continued sins and transgressions, that they would be uprooted from the lands of their ancestors, their cities destroyed and them scattered throughout the nations.

Through what we have heard in our first reading today, we can see that God is indeed like a Father to all of us, His people. As as our Father, He certainly loves us all, just as He showed the Israelites through the words of the prophet Hosea and the actions He had done for their ancestors in the past. But at the same time, as a Father Who truly loves His children, He also does not want any of us His children to fall into the wrong path. Hence, as any fathers should rightly do, at times, there is a need for us to be disciplined and to understand and feel, to experience the consequences for our mistakes. That is also why we need to learn to be accountable and responsible for everything we do, both the good and wicked ones.

And God did not do so because He hated us. Instead, it was exactly because of that love He has for us that He has reached out to us with that same love. He loves us such that He wants us all to learn that in order for us to be truly worthy to be called His children and His people, then each and every one of us must do what we can, in our respective areas and capacities, in whatever callings and vocations we have in life, to be active in living up to our faith, and be exemplary in our every words, actions and deeds, in our interactions with one another so that everyone can indeed recognise God being present through us, with us being the bearers of God’s light and truth in our world today.

That is why all of us are called as we heard in our Gospel passage today, to be His faithful disciples and witnesses, like the ones whom the Lord Jesus Himself sent out before Him, to go forth to the many places that He Himself was to visit, and others, so that they might proclaim the Good News of truth to more and more of the people who have not yet known them. The Lord called on those disciples to do His will, and they went forth, dedicating themselves to their ministry. In the same manner, all of us are also called by God in the same way, to turn our backs against our old ways of sin, and to embrace wholeheartedly His path and righteousness.

The Lord has called on us all, His children and His people to follow Him and to reach out to others who have not yet known Him. And the best way for us to do it, is by living our lives faithfully to the best way we can do it. We have to lead good examples so that we may become inspiration for all others whom we encounter in life, or else, if we do not do so, or worse still, doing things that are contrary to our faith, then we may end up turning people away from God and preventing them from finding their way towards God’s salvation and grace. And in doing that, we become responsible for the downfall of those who have been lost to God due to our own unworthy actions, and we will have to face the consequences for those.

Today, the Church also celebrates the Feast of St. Augustine Zhao Rong and his companions, who were persecuted, made to suffer and eventually were martyred in China. At that time, missionaries went to China to bring the Christian faith to many people who have not yet known the Lord, proclaiming the Good News of God to more and more people. However, the Christian faith and the missionaries were seen with great suspicion and even treated with hostility by the government and officials who saw them as threats to their power and control over the people. The government persecuted the Christian missionaries and local converts sporadically and systematically at times, forcing them to abandon their faith in the Lord at the threat of great sufferings and torture.

St. Augustine Zhao Rong himself was a Chinese soldier who accompanied Bishop John Gabriel Taurin Dufresse, a French missionary from the Paris Foreign Mission Society who was persecuted, arrested and then eventually martyred in the capital in Beijing. This experience among others led him to be a Christian convert himself, and eventually he became a diocesan priest serving the local Christian community, facing many challenges and hardships during his missions and works. Eventually, like many other Christians at that time, he was martyred about two centuries ago amidst an intense episode of persecutions against Christians. We remember this day the great courage and faith which St. Augustine Zhao Rong and the many other holy martyrs, the Holy Martyrs of China, have shown in their faith, dedication and commitment to God.

Brothers and sisters in Christ, let us all therefore strive to do our best to follow in the great footsteps of the holy martyrs, St. Augustine Zhao Rong and his companions in martyrdom, the Holy Martyrs of China. All of us should realise how much we have been blessed and loved by God, and by calling on us, and by us following Him and embracing His love, His compassion and kindness, we should always do our best to glorify Him and His Name in all things, and we should continue to live in the path of righteousness and justice, no longer distracted and misguided by sin and evil. Let us all be the great examples and inspirations for one another just as the holy martyrs had inspired us all in our own lives. May God be with us always and may He bless us in all of our good endeavours and works, all for His greater glory. Amen.

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Thursday, 9 July 2026 : 14th Week of Ordinary Time, Memorial of St. Augustine Zhao Rong, Priest and Martyr, and Companions, Martyrs (Gospel Reading)

Liturgical Colour : Green or Red (Martyrs)

Matthew 10 : 7-15

At that time, Jesus said to His disciples, “Go, and proclaim this message : The kingdom of Heaven is near. Heal the sick, bring the dead back to life, cleanse the lepers, and drive out demons. Freely have you received, freely give. Do not carry any gold or silver or money in your purses. Do not take a travelling bag, or an extra shirt, or sandals, or a walking stick : workers deserve to be compensated.”

“When you come to a town or a village, look for a worthy person, and stay there until you leave. When you enter the house, wish it peace. If the people are worthy people, your peace will rest on them; if they are not worthy people, your blessing will come back to you.”

“And if you are not welcomed, and your words are not listened to, leave that house or that town, and shake the dust off your feet. I assure you, it will go easier for the people of Sodom and Gomorrah on the day of judgment, than it will for the people of that town.”

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Thursday, 9 July 2026 : 14th Week of Ordinary Time, Memorial of St. Augustine Zhao Rong, Priest and Martyr, and Companions, Martyrs (Psalm)

Liturgical Colour : Green or Red (Martyrs)

Psalm 79 : 2ac and 3bc, 15-16

Listen, o Shepherd of Israel, You, Who sit enthroned between the Cherubim. Stir up Your might and come to save us.

Turn again, o YHVH of hosts, look down from heaven and see; care for this vine, and protect the stock Your hand has planted.

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Thursday, 9 July 2026 : 14th Week of Ordinary Time, Memorial of St. Augustine Zhao Rong, Priest and Martyr, and Companions, Martyrs (First Reading)

Liturgical Colour : Green or Red (Martyrs)

Hosea 11 : 1-4, 8c-9

I loved Israel when he was a child; out of Egypt I called My Son. But the more I have called, the further have they gone from Me – sacrificing to the Baals, burning incense to the idols. Yet, it was I Who taught Ephraim to walk, taking them by the arms; yet, little did they realise that it was I Who cared for them.

I led them with cords of human kindness, with leading strings of love, and I became for them as One Who eases the yoke upon their neck and stoops down to feed them. My heart is troubled within Me and I am moved with compassion. I will not give vent to My great anger; I will not return to destroy Ephraim, for I am God and not human. I am the Holy One in your midst; and I do not want to come to you in anger.

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Wednesday, 8 July 2026 : 14th 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 words of the Lord reminding us to distance ourselves from sin and evil, and to embrace His path, and to do what He has called us to do. Each and every one of us are called to be missionaries of our faith and witnesses of God’s truth and love to our fellow men. What we have heard in our Scripture readings today remind us that we are all called to holiness and to be committed to our Christian living and faith, in each and every opportunities and moments provided to us.

In our first reading today, we heard from the Book of the prophet Hosea, who ministered to the people of the northern kingdom of Israel during the last years of its existence. The prophet Hosea came to bring forth the word of God to those people who had rejected Him for so many years, refusing to listen to the advice and words of the prophets who had been sent to them to remind them and help them on their way, in rejecting the kindness and compassion that the Lord had extended to them for a long time, all the patience that He had shown them. Hence, through Hosea and other prophets, the Lord made it known that the kingdom of Israel would be crushed and destroyed.

The pride and haughtiness of the kings of Israel in Samaria and the unfaithfulness of the people would become their undoing, and their wickedness and disobedience would lead to them being uprooted from their lands, crushed and conquered by other nations, scattered and exiled to far-off lands. But at the same time, as we heard from the same passage, God still did not give up on them, and still yet called on them to return to Him, to abandon their stubborn attitudes and wicked actions, and called on them all to follow Him once again and heed His ways. He wanted them all to be saved, and to be reconciled to Him.

That was why we heard constantly about how God had always reached out to His people through His prophets and messengers like that of Hosea and many others, and even today, the Lord still does so through His Church, which we all belong to and are part of. We are reminded that all of us have a place in God”s Church and His Kingdom, and we are all called to holiness, to be one and united with God and with all of our fellow brethren, all making up the united Body of Christ, the Church of God, through which we all journey together in this world, and are called to seek the true happiness and eternal life that can be found in God alone.

In our Gospel passage today, we then heard the Lord Jesus and His calling of the Twelve Apostles, as He called on each one of them to be the chief ones among His disciples and followers. Each one of them were called from different places and they had different backgrounds and origins, but all of them were called with a mission, to be the ones through Whom God would perform and continue His many good works among the people, and to establish and allow His Church in this worlds to grow and flourish. They were all imperfect men and people with issues and troubles, whom God called to a new existence and holy life, and gave them the strength and guidance to do so.

Through the calling of the Apostles and the other disciples, whom the Lord commanded with the mission to reach out to all the peoples and to preach to them the Good News of salvation and eternal life, the Lord wanted each and every one of us to be active in contributing to the missions and works of the Church. We are all called to be exemplary in our way of life so that by our actions and deeds, we may inspire others all around us to follow our examples and to believe in God as well. Unless we devote ourselves to God wholeheartedly, and live to the best of our abilities to be virtuous in all things, we cannot then truly call ourselves as Christians.

That is why we are reminded today through the readings of the Sacred Scriptures that we have heard, and by the Church of the need for all of us to turn towards the Lord wholeheartedly, doing all that we can to proclaim His truth and love in our world today, by our own actions, words and deeds, our every interactions and good works which truly embody what it means for us to be Christians, to be those whom God had called and chosen as His own holy and beloved ones. Each and every one of us share in the missions of the Apostles and the Church, to do what the Lord had entrusted uniquely to each and every one of us, in calling more and more people to salvation in Him.

May the Lord, our most loving God, Father and Creator continue to help and guide each and every one of us in our journey in life so that we may continue to live our lives wholeheartedly and faithfully at all times, becoming good examples, role models and inspiration for everyone around us, to those whom we encounter in life, so that we may help lead many more people towards the salvation in God. May our lives be truly fruitful and blessed, not just for ourselves but also for everyone around us. May God bless us always, now and forevermore. Amen.

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Wednesday, 8 July 2026 : 14th Week of Ordinary Time (Gospel Reading)

Liturgical Colour : Green

Matthew 10 : 1-7

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

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

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

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Wednesday, 8 July 2026 : 14th Week of Ordinary Time (Psalm)

Liturgical Colour : Green

Psalm 104 : 2-3, 4-5, 6-7

Sing to the Lord, sing His praise, proclaim all His wondrous deeds. Glory in His holy Name; let those who seek the Lord rejoice.

Look to the Lord and be strong; seek His face always. Remember His wonderful works, His miracles and His judgments.

You descendants of His servant Abraham, you sons of Jacob, His chosen ones! He is the Lord our God; His judgments reach the whole world.

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Wednesday, 8 July 2026 : 14th Week of Ordinary Time (First Reading)

Liturgical Colour : Green

Hosea 10 : 1-3, 7-8, 12

Israel was a spreading vine, rich in fruit. The more his fruit increased, the more altars he built; the more his land prospered, the more he adorned his sacred stones. Their heart is divided! They shall pay for it. Their altars will be thrown down and their sacred stones broken to pieces. Now they say, “We have no king (because we have no fear of God) and what good would a king do us?”

As for the king of Samaria, he has been carried off like foam on water. The idolatrous high places – the sin of Israel – will be destroyed. Thorn and thistle will creep over the altars. Then they will say to the mountains : “Cover us,” and to the hills : “Fall on us.”

Plow new ground, sow for yourselves justice and reap the harvest of kindness. It is the time to go seeking YHVH, until He comes to rain salvation on you.

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Tuesday, 7 July 2026 : 14th 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 Lord as contained in the Scriptures, we are presented with the sins that we have often committed in life, as shown in what the people of Israel had done in the past, and how God is freeing us all from the bondage to those attachments to evil, wickedness and sin. Through Christ, His beloved Son, Our Lord and Saviour, God had brought His salvation and grace upon us, and He has shown us the path towards eternal life and joy through Him. Now, the question is for us Christians, is how do we respond then to His call for us? Are we going to embrace God’s call with faith or will we instead turn away from Him and seek what is evil in the world around us?

In our first reading today, we heard from the Book of the prophet Hosea on all the wickedness that the Israelites in the northern kingdom centred at Samaria had done, in their rebellion against God. The kings and the people chose to worship pagan idols, the golden calf of king Jeroboam, the first to mislead the Israelites into sin, and then Baal and Asherah and many other Canaanite gods, on top of persecuting the many prophets and messengers that God had patiently sent into their midst to help them to rediscover the right path in life. They stubbornly refused the Lord and His messengers, and shut the doors of their hearts and minds against Him, persecuting and oppressing those prophets and messengers for correcting and reminding them.

Thus, through what we heard in our reading passage today, we are all reminded that while God’s mercy, compassion and love are truly vast and boundless, and while God is ever patient, but He also wants us to know that sin has no place before Him, and we cannot ignore those sins, or else they will threaten to drag us off the path towards God’s salvation. Sin is a terrible force that corrupts us and makes us defiled and unworthy of God, and God alone can heal us from this affliction through His forgiveness and grace. Yet, it also depends on us accepting and embracing His love and mercy. Without that active participation from us in embracing the great and generous mercy of God, then His mercy will not avail us and we will not have embraced the full extent of that mercy, love and kindness.

In our Gospel passage today, we heard the Lord speaking to the Pharisees and to His disciples at the time when He was accused by the Pharisees of colluding with the prince of demons in His miraculous healing and exorcism of the man who was possessed by evil spirits. Those Pharisees and the teachers of the Law were among the most educated and influential members of the community, but they were also those who were the most vocal in their opposition against God, against His works and efforts. Despite everything that the prophets had proclaimed and spoken regarding Him, many of the Pharisees and the teachers of the Law failed to see the truth as they were too preoccupied with their own prejudices and ideals that they refused to listen to the truth that God has brought unto them through His own Son.

And they also refused to open their hearts and minds to believe in God, much as how the people of Israel at the time of the prophet Hosea and before that had been unfaithful, stubborn and wicked in their actions. Much of this can be attributed to pride, ego and greed, all of which had often led mankind to their fall, all throughout history. Nonetheless, the Lord continued to persevere through His mission, reaching out to the people, who were described in our Gospel today, as likened to a flock of sheep without a shepherd. The Lord took pity of them, loving them and showed them His truth, teaching them and guiding them to the right path, sending them all His own beloved Son in the end to show us all the path towards the everlasting life in Him.

Brothers and sisters in Christ, through what we have heard in our Scripture passages today, therefore we are all reminded that all of us must be ever vigilant against sin, and we have to always be wary that we do not fall into the temptations to turn away from God and His path. We should not allow the pressures and the coercions of this world and the allures of sin to force us to embrace the ways of the world. There will be plenty of avenues through which Satan and his followers will try to strike at us, trying to turn us towards the path of sin and evil. We have to resist them and entrust ourselves in the Lord, and follow Him with commitment and faith, in doing what is right and just in His Presence at all times.

As Christians, as those whom God had called and chosen, and those who have responded with faith to His call, let us all therefore seek to humble ourselves more, turn away from the path of pride and from the vices of the world, resisting and rejecting the various temptations and pressures which had brought down many among our ancestors and predecessors. We should always remember everything that the Lord had done for our sake, in how He has reached out to us with love and mercy, and keep in mind that none of us are perfect, and none of us are truly better than the others around us, and therefore, instead of having a selfish and self-serving attitude, thinking that we are better than others, let us all begin from ourselves, by realising our sinfulness and strive to seek and embrace wholeheartedly God’s mercy and forgiveness, and love Him and our fellow mankind with the same kind of love that God has shown us all first.

May the Lord, our most loving, compassionate and merciful God continue to guide and strengthen us all in our paths in life so that we may continue to walk ever more faithfully in His path and in His loving Presence, becoming great source of inspiration and hope for everyone around us. May He bless our every good deeds, efforts and endeavours, in everything that we do for His greater glory, now and always. Amen.

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Tuesday, 7 July 2026 : 14th Week of Ordinary Time (Gospel Reading)

Liturgical Colour : Green

Matthew 9 : 32-38

At that time, as the two blind men were going away, some people brought to Jesus a man who was dumb, because he was possessed by a demon. When the demon was driven out, the dumb man began to speak. The crowds were astonished and said, “Nothing like this has ever been seen in Israel.”

But the Pharisees said, “He drives away demons with the help of the prince of demons.”

Jesus went around all the towns and villages, teaching in their synagogues and proclaiming the Good News of the kingdom; and He cured every sickness and disease. When He saw the crowds, He was moved with pity; for they were harassed and helpless, like sheep without a shepherd.

Then He said to His disciples, “The harvest is abundant, but the workers are only few. Ask the Master of the harvest to send workers to gather His harvest.”