Christmas Weekday

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Monday, 6 January 2025 : Monday after the Epiphany (Homily and Scripture Reflections)

Liturgical Colour : White

Dear brothers and sisters in Christ, as we heard from our Scripture passages today, once again we are all reminded of the need for each and every one of us as Christians to hold firmly to our faith in the Lord, to trust in Him and to walk ever more faithfully in the path that He has revealed to each and every one of us. We must not easily be swayed by the temptations and the falsehoods of the world, of all things which may lead us astray into the path towards our downfall and destruction if we are not careful and vigilant, in resisting the various temptations to disobey God and to embrace the different pleasures and false joys of the world instead of following the Lord and truly walking in the path of His virtuous righteousness and justice.

In our first reading today, this is what St. John spoke about in one of his Epistles, continuing from what we have heard from earlier parts of the Epistle in the earlier days. The Apostle reminded all the faithful people of God, including all of us to remain vigilant of what we listen to and receive, for there would indeed be false prophets, messengers and antichrists, all those who do not speak the truth and perhaps even try to distort the truth that God has given to us through His Son and through His Holy Spirit. St. John spoke clearly reminding all of us of the salvation which all of us have received and been reassured with by the coming of the Son of God, Jesus Christ, Our Lord and Saviour, the One by Whom we have all been gathered and reunited once again with the Lord, our Creator and loving Father.

This is why as Christians, all of us must always proclaim Christ our Lord, our Saviour and King, our Divine Master and God, the One and only Master whom we honour and worship, and we remember His coming into our midst, in His incarnation in the flesh, by which He has made Himself approachable and visible to us, that He has bridged the gap between us and God, our Heavenly Father and Creator. We must always remember that the Christ our Lord is at the centre and is the focus of our whole existence, and we must not let the world and all those false prophets and messengers to distract us from the Lord by their offer of alternatives that do not adhere to the Lord’s teachings and truths. We must be vigilant and careful lest we may be tempted to follow those falsehoods, as many of our predecessors had fallen to their snare.

In our Gospel passage today, we then heard of the passage from the Gospel of St. Matthew the Apostle in which the works of the Lord Jesus, the Saviour of the world are recounted to us, all that He has done for the sake of the people of God after He embarked on His ministry. St. Matthew in his Gospel also spoke clearly about how the Lord Jesus and everything that He had done were fulfilment of all the prophecies and the promises of God which He had made through His prophets such as Isaiah and many others. And if we understand the main target audience of this Gospel by St. Matthew, we will understand better why this was highlighted, as St. Matthew intended for his Gospel to be read and used by the Jewish Christians, those among the Jewish people who converted to the Christian faith and became believers in Christ.

Therefore, as this Gospel was mainly directed to the Jewish community and the early Jewish Christians, we can see that St. Matthew wanted to convince those Jewish people and community that the Lord Jesus was indeed the one True Messiah, the Saviour Whom God had promised to His people and renewed those promises through the prophets. At the time of the Lord’s ministry and even before that, historically there had been several failed rebellions, some of which were recorded in the Scriptures, of those who had claimed to be the Messiah, and yet, they were truly false Messiahs, having called on the people to believe in them, but they did not represent the truth and Good News that God only proclaimed and brought into our midst through Christ His Son alone.

And not only that, as the Jewish leaders, like the members of the Sanhedrin or the Jewish High Council, the members of the Pharisees and the Sadducees among others, many of them did not believe in the Lord Jesus, doubted and even openly opposed Him, both during His ministry and during the early days of the Church, by opposing the efforts of the Apostles and the other disciples and missionaries of the Lord, persecuting and oppressing them in many places and occasions. Therefore, St. Matthew testified that Jesus Christ was indeed the Messiah promised by God and His coming and His actions, in His many works and miracles, signs and wonders, in all of His words of wisdom, He has fulfilled the previous prophecies and predictions made about Him.

And this is why all of us should do our best to uphold this faith and trust in the Lord, in His Providence and everything that He has put in our path to help us in our journey of faith and life. All of us should remain firmly focused on the Lord and oppose all the falsehoods of the world, all the false teachings and ideas that can easily lead us astray down the wrong path, and be the good role models and inspirations to one another in how we all live up to our faith. We should not instead be the source of scandal and division, falsehoods and distractions ourselves, but be the worthy disciples and followers of the Lord, doing our best to glorify Him in each and every things that we do in our respective lives.

As we all continue to celebrate in the Lord’s coming in this season of Christmas, the season full of joy and celebration, let us all continue to remember why it is that we celebrate greatly this season, and continue to focus and help others to focus our attention towards the Lord in all things. May the Lord be with us always and may He give us all the strength and courage to continue living our lives from now on, ever virtuous and faithful, against all the challenges in life and against all the temptations that we may have to face in our journey. Amen.

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Monday, 6 January 2025 : Monday after the Epiphany (Gospel Reading)

Liturgical Colour : White

Matthew 4 : 12-17, 23-25

When Jesus heard that John had been arrested, He withdrew into Galilee. He left Nazareth and went to live in Capernaum, a town by the lake of Galilee, at the border of Zebulun and Naphtali.

In this way the word of the prophet Isaiah was fulfilled : Land of Zebulun and land of Naphtali, crossed by the Road of the Sea, and you who live beyond the Jordan, Galilee, land of pagans : The people who lived in darkness have seen a great Light; on those who live in the land of the shadow of death, a Light has shone.

From that time on, Jesus began to proclaim His message, “Change your ways : the kingdom of heaven is near.” Jesus went around all Galilee, teaching in their synagogues, proclaiming the Good News of the kingdom, and curing all kinds of sickness and disease among the people.

The news about Him spread through the whole of Syria, and the people brought all their sick to Him, and all those who suffered : the possessed, the deranged, the paralysed, and He healed them all. Large crowds followed Him from Galilee and the Ten Cities, from Jerusalem, Judea and from across the Jordan.

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Monday, 6 January 2025 : Monday after the Epiphany (Psalm)

Liturgical Colour : White

Psalm 2 : 7-8, 10-11

I will proclaim the decree of the Lord. He said to Me : “You are My Son. This day I have begotten You. Ask of Me and I will give You the nations for Your inheritance, the ends of the earth for Your possession.”

Now therefore, learn wisdom, o kings; be warned, o rulers of the earth. Serve the Lord with fear and fall at His feet; lest He be angry and you perish when His anger suddenly flares. Blessed are all who take refuge in Him!

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Monday, 6 January 2025 : Monday after the Epiphany (First Reading)

Liturgical Colour : White

1 John 3 : 22 – 1 John 4 : 6

Then whatever we ask we shall receive, since we keep His commands and do what pleases Him. His command is that we believe in the Name of His Son Jesus Christ and that we love one another, as He has commanded us. Whoever keeps His commands remains in God and God in him. It is by the Spirit God has given us that we know He lives in us.

My beloved, do not trust every inspiration. Test the spirits to see whether they come from God, because many false prophets are now in the world. How will you recognise the Spirit of God? Any spirit recognising Jesus as the Christ Who has taken our flesh is of God. But any spirit that does not recognise Jesus is not from God, it is the spirit of the antichrist. You have heard of his coming and even now he is in the world.

You, my dear children, are of God and you have already overcome these people, because the One Who is in you is more powerful than he who is in the world. They are of the world and the world inspires them and those of the world listen to them. We are of God and those who know God listen to us, but those who are not of God ignore us. This is how we know the spirit of truth and the spirit of error as well.

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Sunday, 5 January 2025 : Solemnity of the Epiphany of the Lord (Homily and Scripture Reflections)

Liturgical Colour : White

Dear brothers and sisters in Christ, today the Church celebrates the joyful occasion of the Solemnity of the Epiphany of the Lord, marking the occasion when the Lord revealed and made Himself known to all the people of all the nations as represented by the Three Magi or the Three Wise Men or Three Kings, a story which we all are certainly familiar with, in how they came from their distant lands to seek the Saviour of the world, the Light of His salvation and grace, and found it in the Holy Child born in Bethlehem over two millennia ago. On this day we all rejoice in the great Christmas joy celebrating the salvation and hope which we have all received from God’s most generous love and compassionate Heart, manifested in real and tangible form in His Son, Jesus Christ, Our Lord and Saviour.

In our first reading today, we heard about the premonition and prediction of this event which the Lord had made through His prophet Isaiah many centuries before everything came true. The prophet Isaiah had been sent to the people of God who have suffered difficulties, challenges and trials, as those in the southern kingdom of Judah had witnessed their northern neighbours and fellow Israelites in the kingdom of Israel conquered and having their cities destroyed by the Assyrians recently, and how many of those people had been brought into distant and far-off lands by those same Assyrians, bereft of their homeland and their dwelling, forced to live as exiles among the foreigners, all because of their lack of faith and virtue, their disobedience against God.

And similarly, those in Judah itself had not been spared from all those difficult moments, as in the context of the time when this prophecy was revealed through the prophet Isaiah, it was likely that the people of God in Judah had faced and survived the event when the King of Assyria, Sennacherib brought with him a mighty force numbering in the hundreds of thousands with the intent of conquering and destroying Judah and Jerusalem, just as they had done with their northern brethren earlier on. And as the Assyrians besieged Jerusalem, their king even mocked the Lord and made blasphemous comments about Him, trying to make the Israelites to give in to fear and despair, saying how the other gods of the other people the Assyrians had conquered were powerless to stop them.

But God showed His might and crushed all the forces of those Assyrians, and sent their king back home in great shame. And through this and many other events, the Lord proved His love and providence for His people, reassuring them of His constant presence and help, and as what we have heard in today’s first reading, the Lord promised the coming of His Salvation and Light which will be revealed and shared to all the nations, which will all come to Him, seeking His love and compassion, His kindness and grace. God does not desire the destruction or damnation of any one of His children and He loves all of us mankind without exception. That is why He gave us all His Son, Our Lord and Saviour, and revealed Him to everyone, and showed that His salvation is given freely to all and not just to a select group of people.

In our second reading today, St. Paul in his Epistle to the Church and the faithful people of God in Ephesus spoke of this same revelation, that God reveals the desire He has to save each and every one of us mankind, without exception, His love and kindness, His generous mercy, that all those who seek Him, regardless whether they are Jewish or non-Jewish, they will all be saved and become part of the one holy people of God, those whom God has called and chosen. This is the response to those whom at the time of the Lord’s ministry and the early Church who claimed that only the Jewish people deserved salvation from God, or that everyone who sought to be saved must adopt all the customs, practices and beliefs of the Jews to the extent that they themselves became Jewish.

Thus, St. Paul refuted such a claim, and the fact that it was he who did so is significant because St. Paul was a Pharisee who adhered to such beliefs in the superiority and exclusivity of salvation to only the Jewish people. But God revealed the truth to St. Paul, and upon whose conversion received the reality and true intention of God in calling all of His people to Himself, regardless of their background, race, origin or by any other worldly parameters we often differentiated ourselves by. To the Lord, everyone is truly equal, equal in stature, equal in opportunity and equally beloved by Him without prejudice or discrimination. And He has given us all the ultimate means to achieve this salvation, and that is through His Son and His coming into this world.

In our Gospel passage this day we then heard of the story of the moment that we are celebrating about this Epiphany of the Lord, when the Lord Jesus had been born in Bethlehem, the Saviour of the world and the Son of God Most High, the Divine Word of God Himself incarnate in the flesh. At that time, a great and bright sign has appeared in the sky, the Great Star of Bethlehem, clearly heralding the coming of the Saviour. And three wise men from the East, from distant places and renowned for their great wisdom and knowledge of astronomy, which were studied for signs from God and they all saw the great Star heralding the coming and arrival of the Messiah, the Saviour from God. The three of them went on a long journey towards the land of Judea, coming to seek the salvation of God, which has come into our midst, and the Lord showed Himself to everyone, symbolically presented through the Three Magi.

We heard how the Three Magi eventually found their way to Bethlehem to the presence of the Lord, the Holy Child after enquiring about Him at the court of King Herod the Great. The Three Magi came to the Lord to pay homage to Him, bearing the three unique gifts of gold, frankincense and myrrh. Gold represents the kingship and the glory of Christ, while the frankincense represents both His Divinity and also His role as our Eternal High Priest, and lastly the myrrh represents the way how the Lord would accomplish His mission, through the suffering and death that He would have to endure during His Passion, for our sake and our salvation. Through all these three gifts therefore, we all come to know the full extent of Who the Lord our God is, and what He has done for us through His Son, Our Lord and Saviour, Jesus Christ. This is the essence of what the Epiphany celebration is all about.

First of all, the gift of gold is a very symbolic sign of the kingship of Christ, as gold has always been a very valuable commodity and noble metal used in coinage and in collection of wealth, and they are often associated with power and worldly glory, and they also have associations with the Divine, as gold is often used on the ornaments and the worship of gods and idols in various cultures and traditions. Gold in this case symbolised that Christ is truly our Lord and King, the King of Kings, Lord and Master of all, all of creation and the whole of the Universe. It also showed the glory and divinity that our Lord and God has, and how each and every one of us are expected to give Him honour, glory and homage, as the King over all of us. He is the only One truly worthy of our worship and obedience.

Then, the gift of frankincense is a representation as earlier mentioned, of the divinity of Christ, as incense is often used in religious festivities and worship, and incense is used until this day in the Church to indicate the prayers of the faithful people of God rising towards God. At the same time, incense was also usually used by the priests in offering the sacrifices and offerings to God. Hence, this frankincense, which is among the finest type of incense available, is a representation that Christ our Lord is truly Divine, the Almighty God Who manifested Himself in the flesh, to be in our midst. Then, at the same time, it also highlighted Christ’s role as our one and true Eternal High Priest, the One Who would offer on our behalf the perfect and worthy offering, for the absolution and forgiveness of all of our sins.

Lastly, the gift of myrrh is the representation of what the Lord would do for our salvation, as myrrh is a precious spice used for the embalming of the bodies of the dead. It may indeed be a rather strange and curious gift for a newborn Child, but in this case, it is a representation of how Christ would suffer and die from the Cross that He Himself would bear, and through His death He would redeem all of us, by making us all free from sin, and then by His glorious Resurrection, He would lead us all into a new life, no longer subjected to sin and death, to evil and destruction. This is what the gift of myrrh had revealed to us, and we are all reminded that we are all truly so fortunate that God has done all of these for our sake. We must be thankful for all that He has done, and we must return to seek the Lord and His salvation.

Brothers and sisters in Christ, as we celebrate wonderfully during this time of the Solemnity of the Epiphany of the Lord, we are reminded through the three gifts of the Magi of the true nature of that Child Who has been born in Bethlehem two millennia ago, He Who revealed Himself to all of us through the symbolic representation of the Three Magi. In Christ our Lord, we have the Divine Lord Himself, Almighty and all-powerful coming down into our midst, to dwell among us and to be with us, and ultimately, to offer Himself for our sake, to suffer and die for us, so that all of us can receive the sure promise of eternal life and fullness of grace from Him. Let us all keep this in mind as we go forth to this world, to our communities around us, to proclaim the Lord our God and Saviour, He Who has come into this world and revealed His love, to everyone, calling them to His Presence and mercy.

May the Lord, Who has been manifested, ‘Epiphaneia’ in the flesh, revealed in His love and kindness through the Holy Child of Bethlehem, continue to be with us and bless our every endeavours and deeds, and may He continue to bless our every works, efforts and endeavours to glorify Him by our lives, our every actions, works and deeds. Holy God, Mighty God, Holy Immortal God, revealed to us all through the Wisdom and love You have shown us, have mercy on us and give us Your love and grace, now and forevermore. Amen.

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Sunday, 5 January 2025 : Solemnity of the Epiphany of the Lord (Gospel Reading)

Liturgical Colour : White

Matthew 2 : 1-12

When Jesus was born in Bethlehem, in Judea, during the days of king Herod, wise men from the East arrived in Jerusalem. They asked, “Where is the newborn King of the Jews? We saw the rising of His star in the East and have come to honour Him.”

When Herod heard this he was greatly disturbed, and with him all Jerusalem. He immediately called a meeting of all high-ranking priests and scribes, and asked them where the Messiah was to be born.

“In the town of Bethlehem in Judea,” they told him, “For this is what the prophet wrote : And you, Bethlehem, in the land of Judah, you are by no means the least among the clans of Judah, for from you will come a Leader, the One Who is to shepherd My people Israel.”

Then Herod secretly called the wise men and asked them the precise time the star appeared. Then he sent them to Bethlehem with the instruction, “Go and get accurate information about the Child. As soon as you have found Him, report to me, so that I too may go and honour Him.”

After the meeting with the king, they set out. The star that they had seen in the East went ahead of them and stopped over the place where the Child was. The wise men were overjoyed on seeing the star again. They went into the house, and when they saw the Child with Mary His mother, they knelt and worshipped Him. They opened their bags and offered Him their gifts of gold, incense and myrrh.

In a dream they were warned not to go back to Herod, so they returned to their home country by another way.

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Sunday, 5 January 2025 : Solemnity of the Epiphany of the Lord (Second Reading)

Liturgical Colour : White

Ephesians 3 : 2-3a, 5-6

You may have heard of the graces God bestowed on me for your sake. By a revelation He gave me the knowledge of His mysterious design. This mystery was not made known to past generations but only now, through revelations given to holy Apostles and prophets.

Now the non-Jewish people share the Inheritance; in Christ Jesus the non-Jews are incorporated and are to enjoy the Promise. This is the Good News.

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Sunday, 5 January 2025 : Solemnity of the Epiphany of the Lord (Psalm)

Liturgical Colour : White

Psalm 71 : 1-2, 7-8, 10-11, 12-13

O God, endow the King with Your justice, the Royal Son with Your righteousness. May He rule Your people justly and defend the rights of the lowly.

Justice will flower in His days, and peace abound till the moon be no more. For He reigns from sea to sea, from the River to the ends of the earth.

The kings of Tarshish and the islands render Him tribute, the kings of Sheba and Seba bring gifts, all kings bow down to Him, and all nations serve Him.

He delivers the needy who call on Him, the afflicted with no one to help them. His mercy is upon the weak and the poor, He saves the life of the poor.

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Sunday, 5 January 2025 : Solemnity of the Epiphany of the Lord (First Reading)

Liturgical Colour : White

Isaiah 60 : 1-6

Arise, shine, for your Light has come. The Glory of YHVH rises upon you. Night still covers the earth and gloomy clouds veil the peoples, but YHVH now rises and over you His glory appears. Nations will come to your Light and kings to the brightness of your dawn.

Lift up your eyes round about and see : they are all gathered and come to you, your sons from afar, your daughters tenderly carried. This sight will make your face radiant, your heart throbbing and full; the riches of the sea will be turned to you, the wealth of the nations will come to you.

A flood of camels will cover you, caravans from Midian and Ephah. Those from Sheba will come, bringing with them gold and incense, all singing in praise of YHVH.

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Sunday, 5 January 2025 : Second Sunday after Christmas (Homily and Scripture Reflections)

Liturgical Colour : White

Dear brothers and sisters in Christ, this Sunday is the Second Sunday in the Christmas Season or the Second Sunday after Christmas. And as we are still currently celebrating the great joy of this Christmas time and season, we ought to continue reminding ourselves to keep the focus of our celebrations, festivities and rejoicing on Christ our Lord, the true reason for our joy and celebration this Christmas so that we do not end up forgetting the purpose, reason and intention why we are rejoicing during this period. We should always keep in mind that we rejoice not because we want to enjoy all the comforts and pleasures in life but rather we want to continue to be thankful to the Lord for all the love that He has shown us constantly all these while.

And as we all heard from our Scripture readings this Sunday, we are reminded of how God has sent us all His salvation, reassuring us all of His ever continued presence, guidance and help, loving us and giving us all the hope and light in the midst of the darkness surrounding us and our paths, so that by His light and hope we may be able to find our way out of our predicament and bondage to sin, and come to His loving Presence, be reunited and truly reconciled fully with Him. He has sent us all His Saviour in the form of His Son, the Divine Word Incarnate, Who has taken up our human existence and nature, dwelling in our midst and came to be born into this world through Mary, His Mother, the event which all of us celebrate as Christmas.

In our first reading this Sunday, we heard of the words of the Lord’s assurance to His people, the Israelites and their descendants through the prophet Jeremiah in which the prophet spoke of God’s promise of redemption and help for all of them, liberation and good things to come. The prophet Jeremiah was known mostly for his message of warning against the sins of the people of God in the kingdom of Judah, the southern half of the once united Kingdom of Israel. Back then, the prophet Jeremiah ministered to the people of Judah during the last moments and years of its existence as an independent state, and Jeremiah spoke courageously on many occasions about the coming of destruction for Judah and Jerusalem because of the wickedness and sins of the people and also because they have all abandoned the Lord their God.

All of those things would indeed come true with the coming of the Babylonians and their mighty forces, the regional power of the time, which led to the siege of Jerusalem and the eventual downfall of the kingdom and the city of God’s people. Most of the people of Judah would be scattered to far-off places by the Babylonians, who burnt down the Temple of God and ransacked Jerusalem just as Jeremiah and many other earlier prophets had foretold. And yet, amidst all those prophecies as we have all heard today, God still did not give up hope on His people and He still loved them all nonetheless despite His anger against their wickedness and sins. Hence, Jeremiah also spoke of the love and compassion of God Who would eventually forgive His people and lead them and their descendants back once again to their lands.

In our second reading this Sunday, we then heard from the Epistle of St. Paul the Apostle to the Church and the faithful people of God in the city and region of Ephesus in Asia Minor. St. Paul spoke to the faithful regarding what God had done for us all in His most generous love and kindness, in giving us all His only begotten Son, Jesus Christ, to be the Mediator of our salvation and to help bring us all back and reunite us with our loving Father. Christ our Lord, through everything that He has done, in His incarnation and entry into this world which we celebrate this Christmas, and ultimately in His loving and most selfless sacrifice on the Cross, the Lord has fulfilled everything that He has promised to us since the very beginning, all made and accomplished through His Son.

For by the power of the Cross, Christ has triumphed and conquered death, and also broke forever the chains and dominion of sin and evil over us. He has provided each one of us the sure path to eternal life and salvation in God, which we can attain only through Him alone. And this is why we have been reminded of this great act of love from God because everything has been possible thanks to the Lord and His ever enduring and patient love for each and every one of us, His constant Presence, providence and guidance for us, His perseverance in continuing to care for us and in showing us compassion and mercy despite our repeated stubborn attitude in disobeying Him and in disregarding His Law and commandments.

And the Gospel passage from the famous first chapter of the Gospel according to St. John the Apostle perfectly summarised what the Lord had done in loving us regardless of our sins and wickedness, and in His continued desire to seek to be reconciled and reunited with us. His Incarnation from the Divine Word of God, the Son of God Most High, becoming the Son of Man is the pivotal moment in which God opened the way for us to return to Him because by becoming Man like us, Jesus Christ, the Divine Word Incarnate showed us all the example of perfect obedience to the will of His Heavenly Father, and by being our Eternal and one True High Priest, He offered for us on our behalf the perfect offering of His own Most Precious Body and Blood, the Body and Blood of the Lamb of God, slain and sacrificed for us all.

This is why this Sunday we should reflect well on these messages from the Sacred Scriptures and on all that we have been celebrating and focusing on this whole Christmas season. Has the Lord become the centre and focus of our whole lives? Or have we marginalised and ignored Him, putting Him as secondary in importance as compared to all the worldly distractions and pursuits around us? That is why we should renew our commitment to the Lord, doing our best to live our lives according to His will and following His commandments once again. And let us all make this a reality, turning our lives over a new leaf and do what we can to live a most Christian life that we have been called to do.

May the Lord our loving God, our Saviour, our loving Father and Creator continue to be with us, guide us and empower us all, giving us the means and the strength to live our lives with faith and grace, now and always, forevermore. Amen.