Easter Octave

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Thursday, 26 April 2018 : 4th Week of Easter (First Reading)

Liturgical Colour : White

Acts 13 : 13-25

From Paphos, Paul and his companions set sail and came to Perga in Pamphylia. There John left them and returned to Jerusalem, while they went on from Perga and came to Antioch in Pisidia. On the Sabbath day they entered the synagogue and sat down. After the reading of the Law and the Prophets, the officials of the synagogue sent this message to them, “Brothers, if you have any word of encouragement for the assembly, please speak up.”

So Paul arose, motioned to them for silence and began, “Fellow Israelites and also all you who fear God, listen. The God of our people Israel chose our ancestors, and after He had made them increase during their stay in Egypt, He led them out by powerful deeds.”

“For forty years He fed them in the desert, and after He had destroyed seven nations in the land of Canaan, He gave them their land as an inheritance. All this took four hundred and fifty years. After that, he gave them Judges until Samuel the prophet. Then they asked for a king and God gave them Saul, son of Kish, of the tribe of Benjamin, and he was king for forty years.”

“After that time, God removed him and raised up David as king, to whom He bore witness saying : ‘I have found David, the son of Jesse, a man after My own heart, who will do all I want him to do.’ It is from the descendants of David that God has now raised up the promised Saviour of Israel, Jesus.”

“Before He appeared, John proclaimed a baptism of repentance for all the people of Israel. As John was ending his life’s work, he said : ‘I am not what you think I am, for after me another One is coming Whose sandal I am not worthy to untie.'”

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Wednesday, 25 April 2018 : Feast of St. Mark, Evangelist (Homily and Scripture Reflections)

Liturgical Colour : Red

Dear brothers and sisters in Christ, on this day we celebrate together the feast of one of the Holy Evangelists, who wrote the Four Holy Gospels. And today we focus therefore on St. Mark the Evangelist, who wrote the Gospel of St. Mark, and who was also mentioned in the Acts of the Apostles as one of those who followed St. Paul in some of his journeys around the Mediterranean sea.

St. Mark wrote his Gospel book with the inspiration of the Holy Spirit, as well as with the accounts of the Apostles and the disciples, first-hand accounts from all those who have witnessed the actual events recorded in the Gospels and in the Book of the Acts of the Apostles. Through his works, St. Mark and the other three Evangelists made sure that all of us are also aware of what had happened at that time.

And that is how St. Mark had devoted himself in his effort of evangelisation, as he recorded all the things he saw and experienced throughout those journeys, so that he might be able to pass down the teachings of the Apostles through the recorded works in the Gospels, and later on, the Church would come together and decide what would encompass the body of Scriptures that would eventually become the Holy Scriptures or the Holy Bible.

We might misunderstand or we might not realise the importance and significance of St. Mark’s works, but do you realise that the power of a pen is truly mighty, just as the saying goes, that the power of pen is mightier than the power of swords. Just at the stroke of a pen, countries had gone to war and countless lives have been lost, just at the stroke of a mere pen.

And those were done by the wisdom of men. How much greater and mightier then, if the work was done by God and by His wisdom? Then, it would have ended up in a much greater deed! And that was exactly what happened with St. Mark and his Divine inspired works in the Gospel. Through the sacred treasure of the Word of God, compiled together as the Bible, the Church has spread the words of the Good News and salvation far and wide to many people.

And that was exactly what we have heard in our Gospel passage today. The Lord Jesus, just before He ascended into heaven and left this world, gave His disciples a final commandment, one that is still the command that He gives His Church to this very day, the obligation which He gave to His Church and to all of us as Christians. What is this obligation? It is the command that all of us should go forth to all the nations and preach the Good News of God’s salvation to all.

St. Mark has done his part, by doing such a great service to the Church and to countless faithful ones through his writing of the Holy Gospel, the one attributed to him. Many people have believed in God through what he had written, and many turned to Him and repented because of what they have read from the accounts of the life of Christ, the Saviour of the world in that Gospel.

Now, brothers and sisters in Christ, it is our turn to do our part, to follow in the footsteps of the Lord, in doing whatever we can, to be the bearers of the truth of God and His Good News to the people of many nations. And how can we do this? It is by living our faith seriously and with commitment, devoting ourselves and our entire lives to God, by doing His will, and by practicing our faith with real and concrete action, that we truly live up to our Christian obligations.

Let us all do this, brothers and sisters in Christ. Let us do our best and spend time and effort to develop ourselves in faith further and deepen our spirituality and relationship with God. Let us all follow in the footsteps of St. Mark the Evangelist, that we may, in our own way, be it through words, or actions, or through our works and writings even, as the Evangelist had done, or both, or all, we may bring more and more souls closer to God. May God bless us all and our endeavours. Amen.

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Wednesday, 25 April 2018 : Feast of St. Mark, Evangelist (Gospel Reading)

Liturgical Colour : Red

Mark 16 : 15-20

At that time, Jesus told His disciples, “Go out to the whole world and proclaim the Good News to all creation. The one who believes and is baptised will be saved; the one who refuses to believe will be condemned.”

“Signs like these will accompany those who have believed : in My Name they will cast out demons and speak new languages; they will pick up snakes, and if they drink anything poisonous, they will be unharmed; they will lay their hands on the sick, and they will be healed.”

So then, after speaking to them, the Lord Jesus was taken up into heaven and took His place at the right hand of God. The Eleven went forth and preached everywhere, while the Lord worked with them and confirmed the message by the signs that accompanied it.

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Wednesday, 25 April 2018 : Feast of St. Mark, Evangelist (Psalm)

Liturgical Colour : Red

Psalm 88 : 2-3, 6-7, 16-17

I will sing forever, o Lord, of Your love and proclaim Your faithfulness from age to age. I will declare how steadfast is Your love, how firm Your faithfulness.

The heavens proclaim Your wonders, o Lord; the assembly of the holy ones recalls Your faithfulness. Who in the skies can compare with the Lord; who of the heaven-born is like Him?

Blessed is the people who know Your praise. They walk in the light of Your face. They celebrate all day Your Name and Your protection lifts them up.

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Wednesday, 25 April 2018 : Feast of St. Mark, Evangelist (First Reading)

Liturgical Colour : Red

1 Peter 5 : 5b-14

All of you must clothe yourself with humility in your dealings with one another, because God opposes the proud but gives His grace to the humble. Bow down, then, before the power of God so that He will raise you up at the appointed time. Place all your worries on Him since He takes care of you.

Be sober and alert because your enemy the devil prowls about like a roaring lion seeking someone to devour. Stand your ground, firm in your faith, knowing that our brothers and sisters, scattered throughout the world, are confronting similar sufferings. God, the Giver of all grace, has called you to share in Christ’s eternal Glory and after you have suffered a little He will bring you to perfection : He will confirm, strengthen and establish You forever. Glory be to Him forever and ever. Amen.

I have had these few lines of encouragement written to you by Silvanus, our brother, whom I know to be trustworthy. For I wanted to remind you of the kindness of God really present in all this. Hold on to it. Greetings from the community in Babylon, gathered by God, and from my son, Mark. Greet one another with a friendly embrace. Peace to you all who are in Christ.

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Tuesday, 24 April 2018 : 4th Week of Easter, Memorial of St. Fidelis of Sigmaringen, Priest and Martyr (Homily and Scripture Reflections)

Liturgical Colour : White or Red (Martyrs)

Dear brothers and sisters in Christ, on this day we heard from the Acts of the Apostles, our first reading today, about the state of the Church in its early days, when the Apostles were out and about, going from places to places, to visit the communities of the faithful and to preach to more people about the Lord and His Good News.

At that time, the Church was under great pressure by those who sought to have it destroyed, as persecutions came up against the faithful from various quarters, especially from the Jewish authorities and the Pharisees. Many of the faithful had to hide themselves or hide their affiliation to the true faith, out of fear of the Jews and their authority.

But at the same time, the Church was then constantly growing despite all the challenges it encountered. More and more people came to believe in the Lord and His teachings. They were willing to endure the challenges and difficulties they met along the way, even as the difficulties and challenges continued to increase in number and diversity.

Brothers and sisters in Christ, the Lord was with His Church and He did not let His Church to go alone on its way. Ultimately, He was always by the side of His Church and all of His faithful ones. God is never far away from His people, as He loves each and every one of us, whom He has created out of love, to be with us and to share His love with us.

For God is our Shepherd, our loving Good Shepherd. He has led us, His flock, His Church throughout the journey of these lives we have in this world. He has always shown each and every one of us the way forward, to walk in the path of grace and righteousness, that we will not end up falling into the wrong path and fall prey into the grip of Satan and his allies.

God has always been with us, and He is always ever loving and ever patient towards us, regardless of our disobedience and constant stubbornness. Nonetheless, we should be aware how we have this tendency to be swayed by various factors and things that keep us away from the true path towards the Lord and His salvation. And this tendency is caused by our predisposition and vulnerability to sin.

We need to realise just how vulnerable we are to the threats that are constantly always around us, trying to strike at us when we are least ready and aware of those threats. Satan has always been active at work, trying to snatch us from the hands of God and into his hands. Indeed, God has saved us and delivered us, bringing us together into His flock. However, we must still be ever vigilant, lest these ‘wolves’ try to snatch us, the ‘sheep’ when we are least prepared.

That is why we need to strengthen ourselves and deepen our relationship to God, that we may resist the lies, the falsehoods, the wicked temptations and false promises that Satan and his allies have put in place along our path in order to bring about our downfall. That is why there is a need for us to remain true to our faith and keep our trust in the Lord at all times.

Brothers and sisters in Christ, today, let us all also follow the examples and walk in the footsteps of St. Fidelis of Sigmaringen, a devout and committed servant of God, a Capuchin friar and preacher, by whose devotion and works, as a great teacher and confessor, many people were converted from the heresies which had arisen at the time, back into the true faith. However, his enemies also grew in number and they increasingly opposed him and his works.

St. Fidelis refused to be intimidated by all those threats and all the risks he had to face, and he continued to do his works among the people, placing the needs of his flock, the faithful ones of God entrusted under His care, above that of his own personal needs and desires. To this end, St. Fidelis eventually was martyred in great faith at that time. And even in death, St. Fidelis was able to convert the very people who had caused his martyrdom, who repented from their mistakes and turned towards God.

Brothers and sisters in Christ, on this day, therefore, we are called to reflect on our lives and on what we need to do as Christians in our own respective lives. Are we able to do what our predecessors, such as St. Fidelis had done? Are we able to devote our time and effort for the Lord, by leading a righteous and good life, founded on faith? Let us all be shepherds and guides to one another in faith from now on.

May the Lord be with us always, and may He guide us on our journey of faith, that in everything we do, as we must do our very best to be ever faithful and to be ever more committed in our faith to God. May God bless us all. Amen.

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Tuesday, 24 April 2018 : 4th Week of Easter, Memorial of St. Fidelis of Sigmaringen, Priest and Martyr (Gospel Reading)

Liturgical Colour : White or Red (Martyrs)

John 10 : 22-30

At that time, the time came for the Feast of the Dedication. It was winter, and Jesus walked back and forth in the portico of Solomon. The Jews then gathered around Him and said to Him, “How long will You keep us in doubt? If You are the Messiah, tell us plainly.”

Jesus answered, “I have already told you, but you do not believe. The works I do in My Father’s Name proclaim Who I am, but you do not believe because, as I said, you are not My sheep. My sheep hear My voice and I know them; they follow Me and I give them eternal life.”

“They shall never perish, and no one will ever steal them from Me. What the Father has given Me is above everything else, and no one can snatch it from out of the Father’s hand. I and the Father are One.”

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Tuesday, 24 April 2018 : 4th Week of Easter, Memorial of St. Fidelis of Sigmaringen, Priest and Martyr (Psalm)

Liturgical Colour : White or Red (Martyrs)

Psalm 86 : 1-3, 4-5, 6-7

He Himself has built it in His holy mountain; the Lord prefers the gates of Zion to all of Jacob’s towns. Great things have been foretold of you, o city of God.

Between friends we speak of Egypt and Babylon; and also Philistia, Tyre, Ethiopia : “Here so-and-so was born.” But of Zion it shall be said, “More and more are being born in her.” For the Most High Himself has founded her.

And the Lord notes in the people’s register : “All these were also born in Zion.” And all will dance and sing joyfully for You.

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Tuesday, 24 April 2018 : 4th Week of Easter, Memorial of St. Fidelis of Sigmaringen, Priest and Martyr (First Reading)

Liturgical Colour : White or Red (Martyrs)

Acts 11 : 19-26

Those who had been scattered because of the persecution over Stephen travelled as far as Phoenicia, Cyprus and Antioch, telling the message, but only to the Jews. But there were some natives of Cyprus and Cyrene among them who, on coming into Antioch, spoke also to the Greeks, giving them the Good News of the Lord Jesus. The hand of the Lord was with them so that a great number believed and turned to the Lord.

News of this reached the ears of the Church in Jerusalem, so they sent Barnabas to Antioch. When he arrived and saw the manifest signs of God’s favour, he rejoiced and urged them all to remain firmly faithful to the Lord; for he himself was a good man filled with Holy Spirit and faith. Thus large crowds came to know the Lord.

Then Barnabas went off to Tarsus to look for Saul and when he found him, he brought him to Antioch. For a whole year they had meetings with the Church and instructed many people. It was in Antioch that the disciples were first called Christians.

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Monday, 23 April 2018 : 4th Week of Easter, Memorial of St. George, Martyr and St. Adalbert, Bishop and Martyr (Homily and Scripture Reflections)

Liturgical Colour : White or Red (Martyrs)

Dear brothers and sisters in Christ, on this day all of us heard from the Acts of the Apostles, an excerpt from which our first reading was taken, about the experience which St. Peter the Apostle had received, when he was called by God to visit an influential Gentile, or a non-Jew named Cornelius. St. Peter initially received a vision from God, of animals from various kinds, which are not counted among those considered clean by the Jewish dietary laws.

God commanded St. Peter through His voice, to eat those animals, which St. Peter refused to do so, because he had been obedient to the Jewish dietary customs and would not want to do something contrary to those rules and laws. But God rebuked St. Peter and said that, whatever He had deemed to be clean and worthy, St. Peter should not have considered as unclean.

This vision repeated for three times, and which came to his mind once again, as St. Peter came to the house of Cornelius and his family, who believed in God and were baptised as Christians after having heard the Good News. Then St. Peter realised what God’s true intention was when He showed him the vision three times. It showed him that God, ultimately loves each and every one of us, regardless of who we are and what our background is, regardless of our race or language, appearance or by whichever parameter we often categorise ourselves with.

He is our Shepherd, Who knows each and every one of us, as He mentioned it in our Gospel passage today. And He has called all of His sheep to Himself, and leading them to the right path towards salvation. He desires nothing else for us other than our reconciliation and happiness in Him. And to Him, every one of us are equally beloved and dear to Him, unlike the Israelites at the time of Jesus, who thought that the Lord loved them alone over all the other nations.

Indeed, God has called the Israelites first from among all the other nations. They were His first chosen people, but that time, God wanted to reveal the truth about Himself, that all people, from all races and from all sorts of origins and backgrounds are His, and they are dear to Him. He has thus called on all of them to come to Him, to be reconciled and to be reunited in one flock, led and guided by Him, the Good Shepherd of all.

And to them, He sent His disciples, such as St. Peter, and especially St. Paul, the Apostle who had the most interaction with the Gentiles. Through these devoted servants and messengers, He turned the hearts of many of them to Him, and many were called to the faith, just as Cornelius and his family had shown us. Those Gentiles showed great faith, just as much and in fact even more than the Jews themselves, and they received the same gift of faith and the Holy Spirit as well.

Brothers and sisters in Christ, on this day all of us are called to remember the missionary nature of our faith. All of us have received this faith from someone else, be it from our own parents, or from someone who have instructed us in the faith. And they, in turn, have received the faith from others as well. Ultimately, all of us received our faith from God, through His Church, by the works of His Apostles and disciples, by which we have received the Good News and therefore made to share in His inheritance.

And many of these servants of God have suffered and died, just as the Apostles had, in order to bring us the faith and the Good News. Among them, today we remember two faithful saints, St. George and St. Adalbert, both of whom were martyred for their faith, and became source of great inspiration to many of the faithful throughout the ages. They have done all they could in order to bring God’s salvation to His people, imitating the example of He Who is the Good Shepherd.

St. George was a Roman soldier who served under the Roman Emperor Diocletian, who was renowned for his particularly intense persecution of Christians. St. George himself was secretly a Christian, and when the Emperor commanded a universal persecution of all Christians, their arrest and torture, and for all the members of the army to sacrifice to the pagan Roman gods and to the Emperor, St. George was said to have resolved to remain faithful to God, and embraced the likely fate of his own martyrdom.

St. George openly declared his faith before the Emperor, who in his outrage, sent St. George to be imprisoned and tortured, hoping that he would abandon his faith after having been subjected to torture, suffering, as well as persuasions and temptations. It was told that the Emperor even sent a beautiful young woman to seduce St. George, but it backfired, as the young woman was instead converted, after having been convinced as such by the holy saint.

In fact, it was told that the Empress herself was so touched by St. George’s faith that she herself became a convert, and henceforth known as St. Alexandra of Rome, martyred together with St. George for their faith in God. The Emperor was particularly angered by the fact that even his wife had been persuaded and convinced to accept the Christian faith.

Meanwhile, St. Adalbert was a faithful and devout servant of God, who in his capacity as the bishop of Prague in what is now Czech Republic, went to evangelise among the pagan peoples of Central and Eastern Europe. He was devoted to the mission entrusted to him, and despite challenges and opposition from those who disagreed with his ways, St. Adalbert persevered faithfully and his flock benefitted greatly from his commitment and hard work.

St. Adalbert devoted himself to missionary work, and many people were baptised under his work. Many souls were saved from certain damnation by his works, calling men to repentance and to be forgiven and reconciled with God. However, he did not have his work easily done before him, and instead, he encountered many challenges and opposition, not least from the pagans themselves, many of whom refused to be converted to the true faith.

That was how St. Adalbert met his martyrdom as he went on to preach to the Baltic pagans, many of whom refused to welcome him and accept the Lord as their Saviour. But, his perseverance and hard work won him the admiration of many among the faithful, as well as many others who walked in his footsteps throughout the years. As we can see, St. George and St. Adalbert have both shown us, how we can be faithful to the Lord, in the mission entrusted to them.

Now, brothers and sisters in Christ, we too, have been entrusted with the same mission. The Lord wanted all the people, all of mankind to be reconciled with Him, and there are still many out there who have not yet received the Lord and His Good News, and many still have rejected Him and wandered off His path. It is now up to us, to continue the good works that the Apostles, and the saints, St. George and St. Adalbert had begun.

May the Lord be with us and guide us in this journey, so that we may be able to find our own way to Him, and be able to devote ourselves wholeheartedly to the mission and cause He has entrusted to us. May the Lord bless us all and our endeavours, now and always. Amen.