Liturgical Colour : Green
Psalm 130 : 1, 2, 3
O Lord, my heart is not proud nor do I have arrogant eyes. I am not engrossed in ambitious matters, nor in things too great for me.
I have quieted and stilled my soul like a weaned child on its mother’s lap; like a contented child is my soul.
Hope in the Lord, o Israel, now and forever.
Liturgical Colour : Green
Philippians 2 : 1-4
If I may advise you in the Name of Christ and if you can hear it as the voice of love; if we share the same Spirit and are capable of mercy and compassion, then I beg of you, make me very happy : have one love, one Spirit, one feeling, do nothing through rivalry or vain conceit.
On the contrary let each of you gently consider the others as more important than yourselves. Do not seek your own interest, but rather that of others.
Liturgical Colour : Green
Dear brothers and sisters in Christ, on this day we heard that well known story of Jesus and Zaccheus, one of the stories that many of us must have heard while we were having our catechism classes, where we heard about how Zaccheus, the rich tax collector but a short man, desired to see Jesus and endeavoured to climb a tree just so that he could see Him, and for that, the Lord rewarded him with the privilege of Him coming to his house to eat with him and the other tax collectors.
And through that story, we heard the loving kindness, compassion and mercy of our Lord, Who loves each and every one of us equally, from the greatest of sinners to the greatest of the virtuous and righteous ones. God showed us all His love and mercy even though we have disobeyed Him and have been rebellious and delinquent in our ways. It is His desire that we are able to find our way to His loving mercy and be forgiven for our trespasses and sins.
That is the essence of our Gospel passage today, as well as some other stories of Jesus’ works, where He showed mercy to the woman caught in adultery, whom the Pharisees and the teachers of the Law wanted to stone to death. And that is also what He told His disciples when He related to them the parable of the prodigal son, telling them about a son who have disobeyed his father, and following his own desires, committed wicked lifestyle and eventually after having suffered, decided to repent and return to the house of his father, and the father accepted him back with love.
All of these showed to us the infinite mercy of our Lord, how great an extent He is willing to go in order to regain us back, all of us who have been sundered from Him because of our iniquities and sins, which resulted in our estrangement and fall into sin. But at the same time, as was the case when Jesus forgave the woman caught committing adultery, He told her not to sin anymore and go in peace from then on.
This is a reminder for us that while God’s mercy is given to us freely and unconditionally, but whether we will receive the fullness of His love and mercy depends solely on our desire to be forgiven, that is through genuine repentance and desire to change ourselves. No mercy and forgiveness can take place without repentance just as much as we cannot clap using only one hand. We have to have mercy and repentance working in tandem and only then we will be shown mercy and forgiveness.
After all, let us look at the examples of the Pharisees and the teachers of the Law, the scribes, elders and the chief priests themselves. God came into this world not just to save the prostitutes, tax collectors and all considered as sinners, since it is one misconception that can easily be made when we read today’s Gospel and other passages from the Sacred Scriptures.
Rather, God came to save all, be it those who are righteous or those considered as sinners, or those who have high and noble birth, and those who have low and common birth. He does not look at appearances, status or other worldly classifications of ourselves, but instead, He is looking deep into our hearts in order to see if we are truly worthy of His salvation.
Jesus forgave His enemies and those who have made Him to suffer from the cross, by saying to God His Father, ‘Father, do not hold this sin against them, for they do not know what they are doing.’ And through these words we can see that even Jesus came to deliver these people from their sins, and showed mercy as well as compassion to them, instead of cursing them and being angry with them. Now then the question is, did they take up His offer of mercy? Did they change their ways and repent? Or did they go on with their lives as how it was?
Therefore, we can see here that while God came for all of His people, to the Pharisees, to the tax collectors, to the chief priests, to the prostitutes, to people big and small in statures and status in the society, to those who have good appearances and bad appearances, all ultimately depend on their acceptance of that mercy and forgiveness.
Brothers and sisters in Christ, the same applies to us as well. We have lots of opportunities given to us by God to be redeemed and to be forgiven our sins in this life we are now enjoying in this earth. However, are we doing something in order to accept that salvation offered freely to us and do what is required of us? As Christians, all of us have been accepted by God to be members of His own Sacred Body, the Church, and we have been brought into one people, to be God’s own chosen ones, and be cleansed of the taints of original sins of our ancestors, but this does not mean that we can be complacent.
In fact, there are many Christians out there who are complacent and lukewarm in their faith, thinking that they are justified on the account of their faith alone, but then let me ask you, ‘What is faith?’ There may be many among us who do not really know or understand what is faith truly about, that is what is our faith is about. Can we truly say that we believe in God if we do not even act in the way that our faith requires of us, and which our Lord had taught us through His Church?
Just as Jesus Himself said, that not all who said ‘Lord, Lord’ will be saved, and also all who claimed to know Him and have indeed sat with Him and knew Him will be saved, just because they did not do as He had commanded them to do, and rather than doing what is good in the sight of God, through their wickedness and evil, they have besmirched and stained the good Name of the Lord in the sight of many people.
Yes, brothers and sisters in Christ, our faith requires active participation in good works and commitment to love, loving our brethren and showing our faith through true and living commitment in our words, actions and deeds, that we then shall be found just and worthy by the Lord, Who will then welcome us into His promise of eternal life, true joy and glory with Him in His heavenly kingdom, where we shall enjoy forever the joy of everlasting life without end.
But all of these, as mentioned earlier today, requires us to devote ourselves to do what is good and righteous before God, shunning evil and repenting from our sins. All of us are sinners, and all of us have disobeyed the Lord in one way or another, but that does not mean that any of us are beyond God’s salvation or hope. As long as we are still alive in this world, and desiring for a complete change of our own sinful life, there is always hope for us.
That is where we as Christians should contribute to the good works of our Lord’s salvation. There are many out there who have given up the hope of God’s salvation, and even many more who are still living in darkness and in ignorance of God’s truth and salvation. It is up to us then to help them, and to guide them that they may find their way to the Lord and thus be saved.
And as such, shall we not, brethren, commit ourselves anew to do the will of God and to obey Him in all things? And as St. Francis of Assisi was famous through his prayer, let us also pray it together, that when there is hatred, let us all sow love, and when there is injury, let us pardon, when there is doubt, let us all bring faith, when there is despair, let us all bring hope to each other, and when there is darkness, let us be light to one another, and finally when there is sadness and sorrow, let us bring joy to each other.
May God help us all to become better Christians and role model for one another, that in all the things we do and say, we always proclaim the Lord’s glory and be ever faithful to His ways and commandments, by showing mercy to sinners, and by seeking genuine repentance and regretting sincerely all of our sins, that all of us may eventually find our way to the Lord. God bless us all. Amen.
Liturgical Colour : Green or White (Saturday Mass of our Lady)
Dear brothers and sisters in Christ, on this day we are reminded through what we have heard in the Sacred Scriptures, that we should seek something better than worldly glories and fame which many of us mankind often strive for in this world. It is in our nature to seek for worldly treasures and glories, for these are the things that this world and our societies had taught us, and indeed which we are familiar with.
And that is what our first reading, the Epistle which St. Paul wrote to the faithful and the Church in Philippi is also about, as St. Paul spoke to them about living for the Lord and indeed, dying for the Lord, as the fulfilment and the ultimate form of the ways how we can perfect our lives in this world, that we ought to give our all to serve the Lord, by our deeds and actions, by our commitment and total devotion.
This is contrasted with what our Lord Jesus presented to His disciples, on the reality of how people then lived. They always sought the best places in events, parties, gatherings and other functions, and tried their best to undo one another in how they prepared and how they appeared to each other. And what do all of these lead to? What were their reasons? All mostly due to our sense of hubris, human ego and pride, all the things that prevented us from truly attaining salvation in God.
Human pride has often led for our undoing and downfall. Pride has led Lucifer, the mightiest of God’s Angels to fall and now he was known in disgrace as Satan, the Lord’s and our great enemy and adversary. He was created in might and glory, brilliance and wonders, but through his desire to rise up even higher, instead of rising he fell down and was cast down to complete humiliation and defeat.
This is an example that all of us mankind can learn from, that no amount of human pride will be able to sustain us and make us great, if all that we have done do not have their roots in the Lord. It is through God alone that we are capable of the great deeds we have done, for it was Him Who had placed in each and every one of us our talents and abilities, which we then are expected to use for the benefit of one another, and not just to satisfy our own selfish needs.
Brothers and sisters in Christ, let us all ask ourselves, how have we lived our lives thus far? Have we been faithful to our God and have we lived in accordance with His ways? Or have we rather lived by our desires, trying to fulfil our needs and wants, competing with one another, seeing who can get a better position, more fame, or more prestigious occupations?
We have to realise that whatever we seek, we should seek those that are considered true treasures, and not the false treasures of this world. Indeed the reality is that we need money and all the other worldly goods in order to sustain ourselves and our lives, but we should not fall into the trap of desiring all these in more than what we truly need.
Rather, let us all realise that the more we have, the more we should give to our brethren in need, those who have less than what we have. That is the joy in sharing, as the saying goes that, shared sorrows is half a sorrow, while shared joy is double the joy. Let us always remember that whatever we share with our brethren, is not a loss for us, but instead is a gain, for whatever we do for the good of our brethren, the Lord will not overlook it.
And He Who knows all that we have done, will judge us to be worthy and good, and He shall bless us and welcome us into the inheritance and the promise of eternal life and glory which He had promised to all of us who have kept our faith in Him and done what He asked us to do. He shall not forget about us. May God therefore continue to love us as He had done all these while, and be with us to the time of our reunion with Him in glory. Amen.
Liturgical Colour : Green or White (Saturday Mass of our Lady)
Luke 14 : 1, 7-11
At that time, one Sabbath Jesus had gone to eat a meal in the house of a leading Pharisee, and He was carefully watched.
Jesus then told a parable to the guests, for He had noticed how they tried to take the places of honour. And He said, “When you are invited to a wedding party, do not choose the best seat. It may happen that someone more important than you had been invited; and your host, who invited both of you, will come and say to you, ‘Please give this person your place.’ What shame is yours when you take the lowest seat!”
“Whenever you are invited, go rather to the lowest seat, so that your host may come and say to you, ‘Friend, you must come up higher.’ And this will be a great honour for you in the presence of all the other guests. For whoever makes himself out to be great will be humbled, and whoever humbles himself will be raised.”
Liturgical Colour : Green or White (Saturday Mass of our Lady)
Psalm 41 : 2, 3, 5bcde
As a deer longs for flowing streams, so my soul longs for You, o God.
My soul thirsts for God, for the living God. When shall I go and see the face of God?
I remember all this – how I used to lead the faithful in procession to the house of God, amid shouts of joy and thanksgiving, among the feasting throng.
Liturgical Colour : Green or White (Saturday Mass of our Lady)
Philippians 1 : 18b-26
Christ is proclaimed and because of this I rejoice and have no regrets. I know that all this will be a grace for me because of your prayers and the help given by the Spirit of Christ. I am hopeful, even certain, that I shall not be ashamed. I feel as assured now, as before, that Christ will be exalted through my person, whether I live or die.
For to me, living is for Christ, and dying is even better. But if I am to go on living, I shall be able to enjoy fruitful labour. Which shall I choose? So I feel torn between the two. I desire greatly to leave this life and to be with Christ, which will be better by far, but it is necessary for you that I remain in this life. And because I am convinced of this, I know that I will stay and remain with you for your progress and happiness in the faith.
I will surely come to you again, and give you more reason for being proud of belonging to Christ Jesus.
Liturgical Colour : Red
Dear brothers and sisters in Christ, on this day we celebrate with great joy the feast of not just one, but two of the Lord’s very own Twelve Apostles, St. Simon and St. Jude. St. Simon the Apostle was once known as Simon the Zealot, likely from his former work and contributions to the Zealots, a community of people who led an active and passive resistance against the Romans. Meanwhile, St. Jude Thaddeus was a disciple often confused with Judas Iscariot, the traitor, and yet, he had done many wonderful deeds for the Lord and for His people.
In the Scripture readings today, we heard how God called His Apostles from among the people, chose them and charged them to assist Him in His works and missions to help the people of God, to whom Christ had laboured for in His earthly ministry in order to bring them towards salvation. He sent them to help Him in spreading the good works He has intended for His people, and to call them to repentance and to change their ways that they may be saved.
But it was not an easy task, and Jesus our Lord Himself reminded His disciples and Apostles in particular, that challenges facing them would be plenty. They would be tempted to abandon their efforts, just as what the Passion of our Lord showed us. When Jesus was betrayed by Judas Iscariot, who was none other than one among His Twelve Apostles, tempted by money, all the other Apostles and disciples abandoned Him and went into hiding, fearing repercussions from the enemies of their Lord.
And when the Pharisees, the elders and the chief priests commenced persecution of all the faithful, spearheaded by Saul, the future St. Paul the Apostle, some among the faithful faltered in their faith and devotion to the Lord, and faced with the choice between suffering and staying faithful to their God, or to enjoy reprieve and safety in the world and abandoning their God, there were those who chose to do the latter.
These are the challenges facing us Christians, not only just during that time, when the Church was still growing and blooming in its early days, but also throughout the history of Christendom right up to now, to this very day, and also in the foreseeable future that we have and which we will experience. It is the challenge for us to remain faithful to the Lord despite the persecutions and challenges, ridicule and rejection that the world has inflicted upon us.
Are we up to the task? And do we indeed realise that as our Lord’s disciples and followers in this modern era and times, there are still a lot of things left to be done in this world? We are the successors of the works of the Apostles and the Church fathers, who had established the Church on the firm foundation of their faith and courageous devotion. We have to follow in their footsteps and be faithful in all of our ways.
Brothers and sisters in Christ, it was told that St. Simon and St. Jude Thaddeus went to many different places, serving the people in various locations and relating to them the revelation of truth which came from God. Through their works and assistance, many had come to believe in God, and many more have repented from their sins and received the salvation from God.
They were not always welcomed, and there were those who were opposed to their works, both among their own people and among the pagan nations. But they never gave up, and through their persistence, the foundations of the Church in many places had been made strong and firm. They have led by example in their faith, encouraging many to remain strong in the faith.
And eventually, even though they met their ends in the faraway lands, St. Simon in Armenia or Persia, where he might have been crucified or sawn in half, and St. Jude Thaddeus in Syria, where it was told that he was beheaded with an axe, and some accounts had his martyrdom together with St. Simon, which was why their feast days are celebrated together.
Brothers and sisters in Christ, shall we then follow the examples of these holy and venerable saints? Shall we follow in their footsteps as well? There are many things that we can learn from them, and perhaps we really should do so. We are called to continue the good works of the Apostles, and be courageous in spreading the message of the Good News of the Gospel, not worrying and fearing challenges that will come our way.
May the Lord help us in our endeavours and good works in serving Him, and may He ever bless us all always with abundant blessings, and bring us all ever closer to His everlasting love and mercy. Amen.
Liturgical Colour : Red
Luke 6 : 12-19
At that time, Jesus went out into the hills to pray, spending the whole night in prayer with God. When day came, He called His disciples to Him, and chose twelve of them, whom He called ‘Apostles’ : Simon, whom He named Peter, and his brother Andrew, James and John; Philip and Bartholomew; Matthew and Thomas; James son of Alpheus and Simon called the Zealot; Judas son of James, and Judas Iscariot, who would be the traitor.
Coming down the hill with them, Jesus stood in an open plain. Many of His disciples were there and a large crowd of people, who had come from all parts of Judea and Jerusalem, and from the coastal cities of Tyre and Sidon. They gathered to hear Him and to be healed of their diseases. And people troubled by unclean spirits were cured.
The entire crowd tried to touch Him, because of the power that went out from Him and healed them all.
Liturgical Colour : Red
Psalm 18 : 2-3, 4-5
The heavens declare the glory of God; the firmament proclaims the work of His hands. Day talks it over with day; night hands on the knowledge to night.
No speech, no words, no voice is heard – but the call goes on throughout the universe, the message is felt to the ends of the earth.
petercanisiusmichaeldavidkang 