Liturgical Colour : White
Psalm 96 : 1-2, 5-6, 9
The Lord reigns; let the earth rejoice; let the distant islands be glad. Cloud and darkness surround Him; justice and right are His throne.
The mountains melt like wax before the Lord, the Lord of all the earth. The heavens proclaim His justice, all peoples see His glory.
For You are the Master of the universe, exalted far above all gods.
Liturgical Colour : White
Daniel 7 : 9-10, 13-14
I looked and saw the following : Some thrones were set in place and One of Great Age took His seat. His robe was white as snow, His hair white as washed wool. His throne was flames of fire with wheels of blazing fire. A river of fire sprang forth and flowed before Him. Thousands upon thousands served Him and a countless multitude stood before Him. Those in the tribunal took their seats and opened the book.
I continued watching the nocturnal vision : One like a Son of Man came on the clouds of heaven. He faced the One of Great Age and was brought into His presence. Dominion, honour and kingship were given Him, and all the peoples and nations of every language served Him. His dominion is eternal and shall never pass away; His kingdom will never be destroyed.
Alternative reading
2 Peter 1 : 16-19
Indeed, what we taught you about the power and the return of Christ Jesus our Lord was not drawn from myths or formulated theories. We ourselves were eyewitnesses of His majesty, when He received glory and honour from God the Father, when from the magnificent Glory this most extraordinary word came upon Him : “This is My Beloved Son, this is My Chosen One.” We ourselves heard this voice from heaven when we were with Him on the holy mountain.”
Therefore, we believe most firmly in the message of the prophets which you should consider rightly as a lamp shining in a dark place, until the break of day, when the Morning Star shines in your hearts.
Liturgical Colour : Green or White (Dedication of a Basilica)
Dear brothers and sisters in Christ, on this day we celebrate a great feast of the Church, particularly that of the Church of Rome, the Eternal and Holy City, the heart of Christendom. For not only that on this day we celebrate the commemoration of the dedication of one of the four Papal Basilicas, that is the Papal Basilica of St. Mary Major or Santa Maria Maggiore, but we should also learn the reason behind why this great edifice of worship and House of God was built.
The Basilica of Santa Maria Maggiore was built on a site where about over a thousand and five hundred years ago, a noble family in Rome prayed for help and blessing, because they had no children, and they vowed to dedicate their possessions to the Blessed Virgin, mother of our Lord and God. They prayed for her intercession, so that she might guide them on how to dispose their properties for the sake of the Lord.
As a sign, for their prayers had been heard, there happened that in the midst and during the peak of the summer season, at a site on where the great Papal Basilica of Santa Maria Maggiore now stands, there happened that snow was falling on that site, as the clear sign of the Lord’s favour and blessing on those who have given themselves and dedicated what they had for the Lord’s sake.
The Pope at the time, Pope Liberius also received a vision about what had happened, and when he and the aforementioned noble couple went to the site, they gave thanks to the Lord and His Blessed Mother, who had shown their grace and love for all those who were faithful. And the great Basilica dedicated in the honour of the Blessed Virgin Mary, known thereafter also as our Lady of Snows, in reference of what had happened, was built on that site, and the memory its dedication and consecration we celebrate on this day.
On that site also, there is a very famous and very venerated image of our Blessed Mother, known as the Protector of the City of Rome and the Roman people, or Salus Populi Romani, an icon of the Mother of God, who had been invoked again and again from time to time as the defender of the faithful. And we can see indeed the great veneration and honour which we have accorded to the mother of our Lord.
Why is this so, brothers and sisters in Christ? That is precisely because, she is a great role model to all of us. It was her faith and devotion to the Lord, who is also her Son, in how she brought up Him from His birth and how she walked with Him and accompanied Him on His journeys, and how she endured the bitter agony of seeing her Son suffer for the sake of all mankind.
And we know the fact, which I have often reiterated, that our Lord who loves us and cares for us all greatly without exception, have given us a great gift, in His own mother, whom He had given to us as someone whom all of us can treat and indeed should treat as our own mother. This is just as she had been entrusted with all of us, through St. John, the Lord’s Apostle, that He had entrusted to her.
What does this mean? This means that we have such a great helper and we have been blessed with such a great assistance, that the very mother of our Lord is with us and guiding us, as well as aiding us on our way. Indeed, the saying is true, that we ought to go to the Lord, seek Him out and reach out to Him, through Mary, His mother. Ad Jesum per Mariam, or to Jesus through Mary.
Thus, on this great feast in memory of the dedication of the Papal Basilica of Santa Maria Maggiore or St. Mary Major, let us all dedicate ourselves to a new life, one that is filled with the love of God, and strive to live our lives as faithfully as our mother Mary had lived her own life, in full and total dedication to her Son, our Lord Jesus Christ. Remember, brethren, she is the one closest to her Son in heaven, and whatever we ask her Son through her, surely it will be heard.
May Almighty God bless us all and guide us, and let us give Him thanks for the gift of His mother Mary, our greatest intercessor and protector against the wickedness and evils of this world. Let us be forevermore faithful to Him. God be with us all. Amen.
Liturgical Colour : Green or White (Dedication of a Basilica)
Matthew 15 : 21-28
At that time, leaving that place, Jesus withdrew to the region of Tyre and Sidon. Now a Canaanite woman came from those borders and began to cry out, “Lord, Son of David, have pity on me! My daughter is tormented by a demon.”
But Jesus did not answer her, not even a word. So His disciples approached Him and said, “Send her away! See how she is shouting after us.” Then Jesus said to her, “I was sent only to the lost sheep of the nation of Israel.”
But the woman was already kneeling before Jesus, and said, “Sir, help me!” Jesus answered, “It is not right to take the bread from the children and throw it to the puppy dogs.” The woman replied, “That is true, Sir, but even the puppy dogs eat the crumbs which fall from their master’s table.”
Then Jesus said, “Woman, how great is your faith! Let it be as you wish.” And her daughter was healed at that moment.
Alternative reading (Mass for Dedication of the Basilica of St. Mary Major)
Luke 11 : 27-28
At that time, as Jesus was speaking, a woman spoke from the crowd and said to Him, “Blessed is the one who gave You birth and nursed You!”
Jesus replied, “Truly blessed are those who hear the word of God, and keep it as well.”
Liturgical Colour : Green or White (Dedication of a Basilica)
Psalm 105 : 6-7a, 13-14, 21-22, 23
We have sinned like our ancestors; we have done wrong and acted wickedly. When they were in Egypt, our ancestors had no regard for Your wondrous deeds.
But soon they forgot His works and did not wait for His counsel. They gave way to wanton craving and tempted God in the desert.
They forgot their Saviour God, who had done great things in Egypt, wonderful works in the land of Ham, and awesome deeds by the Sea of Reeds.
So He spoke of destroying them, but Moses, His chosen one, stood in the breach before Him to shield them from destruction.
Alternative reading (Mass for Dedication of the Basilica of St. Mary Major)
Judith 13 : 18bcde, 19
My daughter, may the Most High God bless you more than all women on earth. And blessed be the Lord God, the Creator of heaven and earth, who has led you to behead the leader of our enemies.
Never will people forget the confidence you have shown; they will always remember the power of God.
Liturgical Colour : Green or White (Dedication of a Basilica)
Numbers 13 : 1-2, 25 – Numbers 14 : 1, 26-30, 34-35
YHVH then spoke to Moses, saying, “Send men to explore the land of Canaan that I am giving to the Israelites; send one man from each of the ancestral tribes, all of them leaders.”
After forty days of exploration, they returned. They went and met Moses, Aaron and the whole community of Israelites in the wilderness of Paran at Kadesh. They gave an account to them and the whole community and showed them the fruit of this land.
And they said, “We entered the land where you sent us, truly a land flowing with milk and honey and here is the fruit. But how strong are the people who inhabit the land! The cities are fortified with walls and bars, and we even saw there descendants of the Anakites. Amalekites live in the region of the Negeb; Hittites, Jebusites and Amorites live in the hill country; the Canaanites are by the sea and along the banks of the Jordan.”
Caleb then quieted the people who rose up against Moses and said, “We should go up and take over the land, for we shall surely overcome it.” But the men who had gone up with him said, “We cannot advance against these people for they are stronger than we are.”
And they spread an unfavourable report about the land that they had explored, saying to the Israelites, “The land we went through to explore is a land that devours its inhabitants and all the people we saw there are men of great size. We even saw giants (these giants were the Anakites). We felt like grasshoppers before them, and to them we must have seemed the same.”
Then all the community broke out in loud cries and wept during the night. Then YHVH spoke to Moses and Aaron saying, “How long will this wicked community grumble against Me? I have heard the grumblings of the people of Israel against Me. Say to them : As truly as I live, it is YHVH who speaks, I will do to you what you have said in My hearing.”
“All of you of twenty years or more, numbered in the census, who grumbled against Me, your corpses will fall in the desert. You will not enter the land where I swore to settle you, except Caleb, son of Jephunneh and Joshua, son of Nun. According to the number of days spent in exploring the land – forty days, for every day a year – for forty years you shall bear the guilt of your sins and you shall know what it is to oppose Me.”
“I, YHVH, have spoken. Surely this is what I will do to this wicked community that has conspired against Me. In this wilderness they shall be destroyed and this is where they shall die.”
Alternative reading (Mass for Dedication of the Basilica of St. Mary Major)
Revelations 21 : 1-5a
Then I saw a new heaven and a new earth. The first heaven and the first earth had passed away and no longer was there any sea. I saw the new Jerusalem, the Holy City coming down from God, out of heaven, adorned as a bride prepared for her husband.
A loud voice came from the throne, “Here is the dwelling of God among mortals : He will pitch His tent among them and they will be His people; He will be God-with-them. He will wipe away every tear from their eyes. There shall be no more death or mourning, crying out of pain, for the world that was has passed away.”
The One seated on the throne said, “See, I make all things new.”
Liturgical Colour : White
Dear brothers and sisters in Christ, today’s Scripture readings have a clear theme, that all of them spoke of the faults and mistakes which all of us have committed in this life, and how we ought to humble ourselves before God and seek His ever great mercy, so that we may be forgiven of our sins and therefore we will not be cast away from His presence and from the life which He had promised to all of us.
In the first reading we heard how in the time during the Exodus from Egypt, Moses had some sort of power struggle with his siblings, namely Miriam and Aaron, his sister and brother respectively. They were unhappy at what they perceived as something unjust when God favoured Moses such that he was the only one through whom God communicated His will to His people.
As his brother and his sister, Miriam and Aaron had that kind of jealousy, thinking that if Moses had received such favours, then they too would deserve it as well. They therefore grumbled and rose up against Moses, all for the sake of the glory and praise which in our opinion, we think that they were expecting by sharing the same power and privilege which Moses had enjoyed.
But God was angry at them, because they had unjustly and wickedly tried to usurp and contest what God had decided, and they tried to wrest the rightful blessings and grace which God had shown His servant Moses, just because they were jealous in their hearts. And as a result, God showed His displeasure at them, and Miriam contracted leprosy, which was a disease that was one of the most taboo and humiliating at the time.
Yet, we should note how Moses did not rejoice over what had happened to his brother and his sister, and instead, he begged God to show mercy on them. Truly, this is something that we have to take note of. This means that, we cannot be like Aaron and Miriam in their behaviour towards Moses, in all the injustice they had shown him. Yet, their behaviour and actions are precisely what many of us mankind are suffering from.
How many of us have this tendency in us to be jealous at the achievement of others? How many of us also covet what others have? If we look at our own lives, then surely we would realise how many times we have caused this great discomfort upon others and bicker with them for what they have, because we are unable to restrain ourselves. We succumb ourselves to the pressure of our desires and wants, and therefore, we fell into sin.
Today, we celebrate the feast of a holy man, a holy saint, whose in life was known as a hardworking and dedicated man of God, whose concerns were for those whose souls were lost in the darkness, for those who were in a state of mortal danger and sin. He was known as the Cure of Ars, also known by his name of St. John Vianney or St. John Mary Vianney.
We know him as the patron saint for priests, who was the one whose examples inspired so many of the priests past and today. Through his hard and tireless works, he had brought about a great transformation in the lives of those people who were around him, transforming his community and many others who flocked to his place to see him and to hear from his teachings, and to be healed by his hands.
Through St. John Vianney and his works, countless souls had been saved, and many others were initiated on their path towards salvation. This is what Jesus in the Gospel today had mentioned, that salvation and someone’s righteousness does not begin with exterior cleanliness and purity, but instead, begins from the inside. St. John Vianney worked to heal not the body but the soul.
And in the Gospel today, we also heard about how Jesus chided Peter for his lack of faith, because he tried to walk on the water as Jesus had done, but the wind and the waves made him to fear, and in his fear, he trembled and started to sink. He lacked faith in the Lord, and the concerns and fears of this world began to affect him, the same things that had brought Aaron and Miriam to commit sin against God by being jealous to their own brother.
Therefore, brothers and sisters in Christ, let us no longer remain an unbeliever, and believe! Let us put our trust and faith fully in God and no longer be affected or corrupted by the many desires and worries of this world. Let us purify ourselves, our body, heart and soul from all sorts of jealousy, greed, desire, hatred and all other forms of negativities in us. May Almighty God bless us and guide us on our way. Amen.
Liturgical Colour : White
Matthew 14 : 22-36
At that time, immediately Jesus obliged His disciples to get into the boat and go ahead of Him to the other side, while He sent the crowd away. And having sent the people away, He went up the mountain by Himself to pray. At nightfall, He was there alone.
Meanwhile, the boat was very far from land, dangerously rocked by the waves, for the wind was against it. At daybreak, Jesus came to them walking on the sea. When they saw Him walking on the sea, they were terrified, thinking that it was a ghost. And they cried out in fear. But at once Jesus said to them, “Courage! Do not be afraid. It is Me!”
Peter answered, “Lord, if it is You, command me to come to You walking on the water.” Jesus said to him, “Come!” And Peter got out of the boat, and walked on the water to go to Jesus. But seeing the strong wind, he was afraid and began to sink; and he cried out, “Lord, save me!” Jesus immediately stretched out His hand and took hold of him, saying, “Man of little faith, why did you doubt?”
As they got into the boat, the wind dropped. Then those in the boat bowed down before Jesus, saying, “Truly, You are the Son of God!”
They came ashore at Gennesareth. The local people recognised Jesus and spread the news throughout the region. So they brought all the sick to Him, begging Him to let them touch just the hem of His cloak. All who touched it became perfectly well.
Alternative reading
Matthew 15 : 1-2, 10-14
At that time, some Pharisees and teachers of the Law who had come from Jerusalem gathered around Jesus. And they said to Him, “Why do Your disciples not follow the tradition of the elders? In fact, they do not wash their hands before eating.”
Jesus then called the people near Him, and said to them, “Listen and understand : What enters into the mouth does not make a person unclean. What defiles a person is what comes out of his mouth.” After a while the disciples gathered around Jesus and said, “Do You know that the Pharisees were offended by what You said?”
Jesus answered, “Every plant which My heavenly Father has not planted shall be uprooted. Pay no attention to them! They are blind leading the blind. When a blind person leads another, the two will fall into a pit.”
Liturgical Colour : White
Psalm 50 : 3-4, 5-6a, 6bc-7, 12-13
Have mercy on me, o God, in Your love. In Your great compassion blot out my sin. Wash me thoroughly of my guilt; cleanse me of evil.
For I acknowledge my wrongdoings and have my sins ever in mind. Against You alone have I sinned.
What is evil in Your sight I have done. You are right when You pass sentence and blameless in Your judgment. For I have been guilt-ridden from birth, a sinner from my mother’s womb.
Create in me, o God, a pure heart; give me a new and steadfast spirit. Do not cast me out of Your presence nor take Your Holy Spirit from me.
Liturgical Colour : White
Numbers 12 : 1-13
Miriam and Aaron spoke against Moses because of the Cushite woman he had married and they said, “Has YHVH only spoken through Moses? Has He not also spoken through us?” And YHVH heard. Now Moses was a very humble man, more humble than any man on the face of the earth. Yet suddenly YHVH said to Moses, Aaron and Miriam, “Come out, all three of you, to the Tent of Meeting.” The three of them came out.
YHVH came down in the pillar of cloud and, standing at the door of the Tent, called Aaron and Miriam. They both went out and He said, “Listen carefully to what I say : If there is a prophet among you, I reveal Myself to him in a vision and I speak to him in a dream. It is not so for My servant, Moses, My trusted steward in all My household. To him I speak face to face, openly, and not in riddles, and he sees the presence of YHVH. Why then did you not fear to speak against My servant, against Moses?”
YHVH became angry with them and He departed. The cloud moved away from above the Tent and Miriam was there white as snow with leprosy. Aaron turned towards Miriam and he saw that she was leprous. And he said to Moses, “My lord, I beg you, do not charge us with this sin that we have foolishly committed. Let her not be like the stillborn whose flesh is half-eaten when it comes from its mother’s womb.”
Then Moses cried to YHVH, “Heal her, o God, I beg of you.”
petercanisiusmichaeldavidkang 