Liturgical Colour : Green
Psalm 111 : 4-5, 6-7, 8a and 9
He is for the righteous a light in darkness, He is kind, merciful and upright. It will be well with Him who lends freely, who leads a life of justice and honesty.
For the righteous will never be moved; he will be remembered and loved forever. He has no fear of evil news, for his heart is firm, trusting in the Lord.
His heart is confident, he gives generously to the poor, his merits will last forever and his head will be raised in honour.
Liturgical Colour : Red (Martyrs)
Psalm 31 : 1-2, 5, 6, 7
Blessed is the one whose sin is forgiven, whose iniquity is wiped away. Blessed are those in whom the Lord sees no guilt and in whose spirit is found no doubt.
Then I made known to You my sin and uncovered before You my fault, saying to myself, “To the Lord I will now confess my wrong.” And You, You forgave my sin, You removed my guilt.
So let the faithful ones pray to You in time of distress; the overflowing waters will not reach them.
You are my refuge; You protect me from distress and surround me with the songs of deliverance.
Liturgical Colour : Green
Psalm 26 : 1, 4, 13-14
The Lord is my Light and my Salvation – whom shall I fear? The Lord is the rampart of my life; I will not be afraid.
One thing I ask of the Lord, one thing I seek – that I may dwell in His house all the days of my life, to gaze at His jewel and to visit His sanctuary.
I hope, I am sure, that I will see the goodness of the Lord in the land of the living. Trust in the Lord, be strong and courageous. Yes, put your hope in the Lord!
Liturgical Colour : Green
1 Samuel 18 : 6-9 and 1 Samuel 19 : 1-7
When the soldiers arrived after David had slain the Philistine, the women came out from the cities of Israel to meet king Saul singing and dancing with timbrels and musical instruments. They were merrily singing this song : “Saul has slain his thousands, and David, his tens of thousands.”
Saul was very displeased with this song and said, “They have given tens of thousands to David but to me only thousands! By now he has everything but the kingdom!” From then on, Saul became very distrustful of David.
Saul told his son Jonathan and his servants of his intention to kill David. But Jonathan, who liked David very much, said to David, “My father Saul wants to kill you. Be on your guard tomorrow morning and hide yourself in a secret place. I will go out and keep my father company in the countryside where you are and I will speak to him about you. If I find out something, I will let you know.”
Jonathan spoke well of David to his father Saul and said, “Let not the king sin against his servant David for he has not sinned against you. On the contrary, what he has done has benefitted you. He risked his life in killing the Philistine and YHVH brought about a great victory for Israel. You yourself saw this and greatly rejoiced. Why then sin against innocent blood and kill David without cause?”
Saul heeded Jonathan’s plea and swore, “As YHVH lives, he shall not be put to death.” So Jonathan called David and told him all these things. He then brought him to Saul and David was back in Saul’s service as before.
Liturgical Colour : Green or Red (Martyrs)
1 Samuel 17 : 32-33, 37, 40-51
David said to Saul, “Let no one be discouraged on account of this Philistine, for your servant will engage him in battle.”
Saul told David, “You cannot fight with this Philistine for you are still young, whereas this man has been a warrior from his youth.”
David continued, “YHVH, who delivered me from the paws of lions and bears, will deliver me from the hands of the Philistine.” Saul then told David, “Go and may YHVH be with you!”
David took his staff, picked up five smooth stones from the brook and dropped them inside his shepherd’s bag. And with his sling in hand, he drew near to the Philistine.
The Philistine moved forward, closing in on David, his shield-bearer in front of him. When he saw that David was only a lad, and he was of fresh complexion and handsome, he despised him and said, “Am I a dog that you should approach me with a stick?”
Cursing David by his gods, he continued, “Come and I will give your flesh to the birds of the sky and the beasts of the field!”
David answered the Philistine, “You have come against me with sword, spear and javelin, but I come against you with YHVH, the God of the armies of Israel whom you have defied. YHVH will deliver you this day into my hands and I will strike you down and cut off your head.”
“I will give the corpses of the Philistine army today to the birds of the sky and the wild beasts of the earth, and all the earth shall know that there is a God of Israel. All the people gathered here shall know that YHVH saves not by sword or spear; the battle belongs to YHVH, and He will deliver you into our hands.”
No sooner had the Philistine moved to attack him, than David rushed to the battleground. Putting his hand into his bag, he took out a stone, slung it and struck the Philistine on the forehead; it penetrated his forehead and he fell on his face to the ground.
David triumphed over the Philistine with a sling and a stone, felling him without using a sword. He rushed forward, stood over him, took the Philistine’s sword and slew him by cutting off his head.
When the Philistines saw that their champion was dead, they scattered in all directions.
Liturgical Colour : White
1 John 5 : 14-21
Through Him we are fully confident that whatever we ask, according to His will, He will grant us. If we know that He hears us whenever we ask, we know that we already have what we asked of Him.
If you see your brother committing sin, a sin which does not lead to death, pray for him, and God will give life to your brother. I speak, of course, of the sin which does not lead to death. There is also a sin that leads to death; I do not speak of praying about this. Every kind of wrongdoing is sin, but not all sin leads to death.
We know that those born of God do not sin, but the one who was born of God protects them and the evil one does not touch them. We know that we belong to God, while the whole world lies in evil.
We know that the Son of God has come and has given us power to know the truth. We are in Him who is true, His Son Jesus Christ. He is the true God and eternal life.
My dear children, keep yourselves from idols.
Liturgical Colour : White
1 John 5 : 5-13
Who has overcome the world? The one who believes that Jesus is the Son of God. Jesus Christ was acknowledged through water, but also through blood. And the Spirit, too, witnesses to Him for the Spirit is truth. There are then three testimonies : the Spirit, the water and the blood, and these three witnesses agree.
If we accept human testimony, with greater reason must we accept that of God, given in favour of His Son. If you believe in the Son of God, you have God’s testimony in you. But those who do not believe make God a liar, since they do not believe His words when He witnesses to His Son.
What has God said? That He has granted us eternal life and this life is in His Son. The one who has the Son has life, the one who do not have the Son of God do not have life.
I write to you, then, all these things that you may know that you have eternal life, all you who believe in the Name of the Son of God.
Liturgical Colour : White
1 John 4 : 19 – 1 John 5 : 4
So let us love one another, since He loved us first. If you say, “I love God” while you hate your brother or sister, you are a liar. How can you love God whom you do not see, if you do not love your brother whom you see? We received from Him this commandment : let those who love God also love their brothers.
All those who believe that Jesus is the Anointed, are born of God; whoever loves the Father, loves the Son. How may we know that we love the children of God? If we love God and fulfill His commands, for God’s love requires us to keep His commands. In fact, His commandments are not a burden because all those born of God overcome the world.
And the victory which overcomes the world is our faith.
Liturgical Colour : White
1 John 4 : 11-18
Dear friends, if such has been the love of God, we, too, must love one another. No one has ever seen God, but if we love one another, God lives in us, and His love comes to its perfection in us.
How may we know that we live in God and He in us? Because God has given us His Spirit. We ourselves have seen and declare that the Father sent His Son to save the world. Those who confess that Jesus is the Son of God, God remains in them and they in God.
We have known the love of God and have believed in it. God is love. The one who lives in love, lives in God and God in him. When do we know that we have reached a perfect love? When in this world, we are like Him in everything, and expect with confidence the Day of Judgment.
There is no fear in love. Perfect love drives away fear, for fear has to do with punishment; those who fear do not know perfect love.
Liturgical Colour : Red
Matthew 2 : 13-18
After the wise men had left, an angel of the Lord appeared in a dream to Joseph and said, “Get up, take the Child and His mother and flee to Egypt, and stay there until I tell you, for Herod will soon be looking for the Child in order to kill Him.”
Joseph got up, took the child and His mother, and left that night for Egypt, where he stayed until the death of Herod. In this way, what the Lord had said through the prophet was fulfilled : ‘I called My son out of Egypt.”
When Herod found out that he had been tricked by the wise men, he was furious. He gave orders to kill all the boys in Bethlehem and its neighbourhood who were two years old or under. This was done in line with what he had learnt from the wise men about the time when the star appeared.
In this way, what the prophet Jeremiah had said was fulfilled : ‘A cry is heard in Ramah, wailing and loud lamentation : Rachel weeps for her children. She refuses to be comforted, for they are no more.’
petercanisiusmichaeldavidkang 