Liturgical Colour : White
Psalm 99 : 2, 3, 5
Serve the Lord with gladness; come before Him with joyful songs.
Know that the Lord is God; He created us and we are His people, the sheep of His fold.
For the Lord is good; His love lasts forever and His faithfulness through all generations.
Liturgical Colour : White
Acts 16 : 1-10
Paul travelled on to Derbe and then to Lystra. A disciple named Timothy lived there, whose mother was a believer of Jewish origin but whose father was a Greek. As the believers at Lystra and Iconium spoke well of him, Paul wanted Timothy to accompany him. So he took him and, because of the Jews of that place who all knew that his father was a Greek, he circumcised him.
As they travelled from town to town, they delivered the decisions of the Apostles and elders in Jerusalem, for the people to obey. Meanwhile, the churches grew stronger in faith and increased in number every day.
They travelled through Phrygia and Galatia, because they had been prevented by the Holy Spirit from preaching the message in the province of Asia. When they came to Mysia, they tried to go to Bithynia, but the Spirit of Jesus did not allow them to do this. So, passing by Mysia, they went down to Troas.
There one night Paul had a vision. A Macedonian stood before him and begged him, “Come over to Macedonia and help us!” When he awoke, he told us of this vision and we understood that the Lord was calling us to give the Good News to the Macedonian people.
Liturgical Colour : White
Dear brothers and sisters in Christ, on this day we listened to the continuation of the earlier story about the struggle of the Jewish and non-Jewish factions in the early Church, as recounted from the Acts of the Apostles. In that account, we see how the Apostles mediated the two factions, and found an ideal solution, the middle way between both factions’ ideas and desires.
The Jewish faction wanted a strict observation of the Jewish law, even among the Christians of non-Jewish background. This made difficulties in the work of evangelisation among the Greeks and the other Gentiles, as some of the provisions of the Jewish law were difficult to be followed by the non-Jewish peoples due to the cultural differences and practices.
Meanwhile, on the other hand, St. Paul, the Apostle to the Gentiles wanted a relaxation of the laws and the rules pertaining to the Jewish customs and tradition, not requiring those Christians of non-Jewish origins to follow those rules and regulations. Instead, as long as the faithful, those who have been newly baptised, obeyed all the rules and commandments as stipulated by the Church elders, which were much simpler and meaningful than the extensive Jewish traditions, then that would have been enough.
The dispute went on to the Apostles, who came together with the entire Church to settle the issue once and for all. They prayed to God over the matter, asking the guidance of the Holy Spirit, to be with them in their decision-making, and they decided that all the faithful, regardless of their prior background or customs, must adhere to a set of basic and fundamental rules, essentially, what the Lord has revealed to His disciples, as the true Law He has given us.
And this, is what the Christian faithful were exhorted to believe, and not the additional rules which became a burden to the faithful people of God. The Apostles agreed that the faithful should not be burdened by additional rules and regulations which have no meaningful impact on the genuine faith life as expected of all Christians, and this was the decision which was relayed to the entire Church at the time.
All of these ultimately redirected the focus of the Christian faith, back to what we have heard in today’s Gospel reading, in which Jesus said to His disciples, “Love one another just as I have loved you.” In that short sentence, the Lord Jesus summarised essentially all that is meant for us to be a good and faithful Christian, that is by obeying God’s commandments and laws, the Commandments of Love.
For love must be at the centre of every Christian persons, and at the very heart of our faith. Otherwise, our faith and indeed, our life is empty and meaningless, for God is not inside our hearts and beings. First of all, of course, we must love the Lord our God, with all of our heart, with all of our strength and capability, doing our best to focus ourselves on Him and do everything for the greater glory of His Name. This is the first and foremost thing that all of us as Christians must do.
If we do not love God, then of course we cannot call ourselves as Christians. And yet, that is what many of us often do in our lives. How is that so? Let us just see at how we often lived out our lives, in our daily actions, and in all that we do. We often spend so much time trying to attain for ourselves earthly pleasures and satisfactions, that we end up forgetting about God and putting Him aside, in our seeking of power, of wealth, of worldly pleasures and satisfaction?
And then, if we do love God, then we have to show it in our interactions with one another, for each and every one of us are God’s children, the ones whom He loves. If God loves each and every one of us, then how can we not love one another as well? If we hate someone, would it not mean then that we do not love God as well? For surely God also loves the one whom we hate or are angry with?
Brothers and sisters in Christ, today we are therefore called to fulfil our Christian obligation to love, and to serve the Lord with love. Let us all from now on, if we have not done so, love the Lord our God and put Him at the centre of our lives and devote ourselves wholeheartedly to Him. And then, let us all love each other, just as we have loved God, and just as He has first loved us all.
May the Lord be with us all, and may He bless all of our endeavours, so that in all the things we do, we will always be blessed and be filled with God’s grace and love. May God bless all of us, and walk with us, all the days of our lives. Amen.
Liturgical Colour : White
John 15 : 12-17
At that time, Jesus said to His disciples, “This is My commandment : Love one another as I have loved you! There is no greater love than this, to give one’s life for one’s friends; and you are My friends, if you do what I command you.”
“I shall not call You servants any more, because servants do not know what their master is about. Instead I have called you friends, since I have made known to you everything I learnt from My Father.”
“You did not choose Me; it was I Who chose you and sent you to go and bear fruit, fruit that will last. And everything you ask the Father in My Name, He will give you. This is My command, that you love one another.”
Liturgical Colour : White
Psalm 56 : 8-9, 10-12
My heart is steadfast, o God, my heart is steadfast. I will sing and make music. Awake, my soul, awake, o harp and lyre! I will wake the dawn.
I will give thanks to You, o Lord, among the peoples; I will sing praise to You among the nations. For Your love reaches to the heavens, and Your faithfulness, to the clouds.
Be exalted, o God, above the heavens! Let Your Glory be over all the earth!
Liturgical Colour : White
Acts 15 : 22-31
Then the Apostles and elders together with the whole Church decided to choose representatives from among them to send to Antioch with Paul and Barnabas. These were Judas, known as Barsabbas, and Silas, both leading men among the brothers. They took with them the following letter :
“Greetings from the Apostles and elders, your brothers, to the believers of non-Jewish birth in Antioch, Syria and Cilicia. We have heard that some persons from among us have worried you with their discussions and troubled your peace of mind. They were not appointed by us.”
“But now, it has seemed right to us in an assembly, to choose representatives and to send them to you, along with our beloved Barnabas and Paul, who have dedicated their lives to the service of our Lord Jesus Christ. We send you then Judas and Silas who themselves will give you these instructions by word of mouth.”
“We, with the Holy Spirit, have decided not to put any other burden on you except what is necessary : You are to abstain from blood from the meat of strangled animals and from prohibited marriages. If you keep yourselves from these, you will do well. Farewell.”
After saying goodbye, the messengers went to Antioch, where they assembled the community and handed them the letter. When they read the news, all were delighted with the encouragement it gave them.
Liturgical Colour : Red
Dear brothers and sisters in Christ, on this day we celebrate the feast day of two of Christ’s great Apostles, counted among the Twelve. St. Philip was the Apostle renowned for his great intellect and wisdom even prior to being called by the Lord, and he was the one credited in the Acts of the Apostles for the baptism of the Ethiopian official. Meanwhile, St. James the Apostle, the one known as St. James the Lesser or St. James son of Alpheus, was relatively little mentioned in the Scriptures, but was credited with many evangelisation work in various places.
In today’s first reading, St. Paul, another Apostle spoke a testimony of his faith in the Lord, telling the faithful in the city of Corinth about how the Apostles were the beginning and the foundation of the Church, as they witnessed the events surrounding the life of Jesus, His ministry, His marvellous works and miracles, His suffering and Passion, His crucifixion and death, and then, His glorious resurrection and ascension into heaven.
In the Gospel today, the Lord also spoke to His disciples and the Twelve Apostles, about Himself, and the truth about Himself, as the Messiah and the Son of God, the One promised to all of mankind by God ever since the beginning of time. But at that time, as St. Philip uttered to the Lord, “Show us the Father”, the disciples were still unable to comprehend all the things that the Lord had shown them, despite all the deeds and miracles He had done before them.
The Lord taught them and opened their eyes, and later on, after His resurrection, He sent them the Holy Spirit, Who descended on them and dwelled in them, giving them the strength and the courage to go on with their appointed mission, preaching the Good News of the Gospel to the people all over the world. They carried on God’s truth upon the people living in ignorance and darkness, and despite the challenges they faced, they remained strong and faithful.
But as we have seen, the Apostles were not strong people at the start, and neither were they very firm in their faith. They were once also ignorant, and many of them were called by the Lord from the most undesirable of origins, at least according to the standards of the time. Some of them were uneducated fishermen of the lake of Galilee, while others were murderers and rebels, and one was a tax collector.
Yet, it was not mankind who decided what one would become, as man often looked only at the superficial matters and not at the heart and the mind. But God looked inside the heart and the mind, and He saw in the Apostles, a heart with the capacity for faith, for hope and for love. It was all these qualities which eventually allowed them to be open to God working His power and wonders through them.
Now, all of us have to realise that each and every one of us as Christians must also walk in the same path as those Apostles had walked. They dedicated their whole lives to the Lord, caring for the needs of the Church and all the faithful. All of us are also called to this same mission, as the works of the Apostles are still ongoing and not yet completed. There are still more people out there who have not yet heard of the Word of God and the Good News of His salvation.
And how do we carry on our lives from now on then? It is not by going to the streets and preach openly about God. Rather, we must be thoroughly transformed in our lives, just as the Apostles had been, in all of our words, actions and deeds, so that, others may see us and believe in God through us. We are all called to be active disciples of the Lord, living out our faith through our daily actions.
Let us all draw ever closer to the Lord, and be ever more faithful, day after day, inspired by the courage and the faith of the Apostles. Let us all seek to love the Lord ever more devoutly, and find our way to bring greater glory of God through all we do in our lives. May God bless us all, now and forevermore. Amen.
Liturgical Colour : Red
John 14 : 6-14
At that time, Jesus said to His disciples, “I am the Way, the Truth and the Life; no one comes to the Father but through Me. If you know Me, you will know the Father also; indeed you know Him, and you have seen Him.”
Philip asked Him, “Lord, show us the Father, and that is enough.” Jesus said to him, “What! I have been with you so long and you still do not know Me, Philip? Whoever sees Me sees the Father; how can you say, ‘Show us the Father’? Do you not believe that I am in the Father and the Father is in Me?”
“All that I say to you, I do not say of Myself. The Father Who dwells in Me is doing His own work. Believe Me when I say that I am in the Father and the Father is in Me; at least believe it on the evidence of these works that I do. Truly, I say to you, the one who believes in Me will do the same works that I do; and he will even do greater than these, for I am going to the Father.”
“Everything you ask in My Name, I will do, so that the Father may be glorified in the Son. Indeed, anything you ask, calling upon My Name, I will do.”
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.
Liturgical Colour : Red
1 Corinthians 15 : 1-8
Let me remind you, brothers and sisters, of the Good News that I preached to you and which you received and on which you stand firm. By that Gospel you are saved, provided that you hold to it as I preached it. Otherwise, you will have believed in vain.
In the first place, I have passed on to you what I myself received that Christ died for our sins, as Scripture says; that He was buried; that He was raised on the third day, according to the Scriptures; that He appeared to Cephas and then to the Twelve. Afterwards He appeared to more than five hundred brothers and sisters together; most of them are still alive, although some have already gone to rest.
Then He appeared to James and after that to all the Apostles. And last of all, He appeared to the most despicable of them, this is to me.
petercanisiusmichaeldavidkang 