Feast of Holy Apostles

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Saturday, 3 May 2025 : Feast of St. Philip and St. James, Apostles (Homily and Scripture Reflections)

Liturgical Colour : Red

Dear brothers and sisters in Christ, today the Church celebrates not just one but two of the great Apostles of the Lord, two of the Twelve Apostles that the Lord had chosen to be His principal disciples and followers, the ones who belonged to His inner circle, those whom He had called and chosen to be the ones to continue to lead His works and all that He had entrusted to His Church. They are St. Philip and also St. James, the latter of which should not be confused with St. James the brother of St. John. The St. James that we are celebrating today is also known as St. James the Less, who was mentioned as such likely because of his smaller posture and not because of lesser in importance. Both of these great servants of God dedicated their lives to the Lord and did their best to carry out the missions entrusted to them.

First of all, let us look through our Scripture passages today before we delve into the lives and works of those two great Apostles. In our first reading today, taken from the Epistle of St. Paul to the Church and the faithful people of God in the region of Corinth, we heard of the testimony of faith by St. Paul himself who exhorted the people of God to share the faith which they have in God so that many more people may come to believe in Him as well, just as he shared how he himself had received the faith through encounter with the Lord and the other Apostles. Through what we have heard today in this passage from the Epistle to the Corinthians we are reminded that we should always be ready to proclaim our faith wherever we are and to whoever it is that we encounter in life.

Then, from our Gospel passage today taken from the Gospel according to St. John the Apostle and Evangelist. In that account we heard the Lord Jesus interacting with His disciples who listened to Him teaching to them, and that was where St. Philip, whom we celebrate today, asked Him after He said that He is the Way, the Truth and the Life, for Him to show them the Father. The Lord then told the disciples that whenever they see Him, they had truly seen and known the Father, highlighting the special relationship between Him as the Son and the Heavenly Father. The Lord told them that since He came from the Father, and that He is indeed co-equal and co-eternal, consubstantial with the Father, therefore His Presence in their midst indeed shows the loving Presence of the Father, the Creator Lord Himself.

And this is why the Apostles, having witnessed the Lord Himself, being presented to them in the flesh, approachable and tangible to them, and having listened to the words and teachings of the Lord, the many miracles and signs that He has performed before them, they truly believed and had firm faith in the Lord. This firm and strong faith was what they passed on to the others around them, proclaiming the Risen Lord and His truth and Good News, touching the lives and hearts of many people, calling them to conversion and to follow the Lord wholeheartedly. This faith is what we have ourselves received through the Church, having been passed down to us through the many generations of Christians, many of whom have suffered and faced challenges and difficulties in living their faith in God.

For St. Philip and St. James themselves, they had devoted their lives in ministering to the people of God and to proclaim the Gospel of Christ to more and more people who have not yet heard of the Good News of God. St. Philip went to the region of Syria, Phrygia and Greece together with other Apostles like St. Bartholomew. St. Philip according to one Apostolic tradition was martyred together with St. Bartholomew in the city known as Hierapolis. It was told that through his preaching about the Lord and miracles that he performed, he converted the wife of the city’s pro-consul who was therefore enraged and ordered the Apostles to be arrested, persecuted and eventually martyred by crucifixion. But St. Philip remained firm in his faith to the very end, suffering martyrdom for the glory of God.

Meanwhile, St. James the Apostle, also known as St. James the Less was associated with other St. James the relative of Jesus and St. James, son of Alphaeus. The former was the first Bishop of Jerusalem, ministering to the faithful people of God in Jerusalem and Judea, while the other St. James also took part in missionary activities to the people in various places like that of St. Philip. Eventually, despite the relative lack of detailed evidence and historiography on these Apostles, what is certain is such that those holy servants of God gave their all in serving God, and they suffered persecutions and hardships from all those who hardened their hearts and closed the doors of their minds and hearts against the truth and Good News of God. St. James, like that of St. Philip also faced similar trials and sufferings. But both of them remained strong and courageous amidst the persecutions and kept their faith in the Lord.

Brothers and sisters in Christ, therefore, as we all reflect upon these words of the Scriptures and upon the lives of the Holy Apostles, St. Philip and St. James, who have dedicated themselves so wonderfully to the Lord and His cause, let us all also follow in their examples in how we ourselves should live faithful and committed lives as Christians, in loving God and in loving those whom we love and everyone else around us. We are the ones to continue the good works that the Apostles had started and there are indeed still a lot of areas where our contributions are important and needed. We must remember that our actions and efforts are part of the larger works and efforts of the Church, and hence we should be active in living our lives faithfully and contributing actively to the good of the Church, to the works of charity and evangelisation, among others.

May the glorious Risen Lord continue to be with us all, His faithful ones just as He has always guided His faithful servants, especially St. Philip and St. James, Holy Apostles, whose lives and works we remember today. May He continue to bless us in our every good works, our deeds and actions so that by our every endeavours, our dedication and commitment to Him, we may truly glorify Him and proclaim Him to our world today. Holy Apostles, St. Philip and St. James, pray for us all always. Amen.

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Saturday, 3 May 2025 : Feast of St. Philip and St. James, Apostles (Gospel Reading)

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.”

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Saturday, 3 May 2025 : Feast of St. Philip and St. James, Apostles (Psalm)

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.

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Saturday, 3 May 2025 : Feast of St. Philip and St. James, Apostles (First Reading)

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.

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Saturday, 24 August 2024 : Feast of St. Bartholomew, Apostle (Homily and Scripture Reflections)

Liturgical Colour : Red

Dear brothers and sisters in Christ, today the Church celebrates the Feast of one of the Twelve Holy Apostles of the Lord, namely that of St. Bartholomew the Apostle. The name Bartholomew had its origin from the patronymic name, Bar-Tholomew, indicating that this St. Bartholomew was the son of someone named Tholomew, Tholomaios or Talmai. In the Scriptures and Apostolic tradition, he was also known and associated with Nathanael, as we all heard his story today from the Gospel according to St. John. Regardless of his actual name, on whether it is Bartholomew or Nathanael, or whether it is Nathanael bar Talmai/Ptolemy or Nathanael son of Talmai/Ptolemy as some Biblical scholars proposed, what matters is that this faithful servant of God has lived his life in commitment to God and has done many wonderful deeds in His service.

In our first reading today, we heard from the Book of Revelations of St. John about the vision of St. John the Apostle who saw the vision of the great city of New Jerusalem, the City of God that has come down from Heaven. This vision of the heavenly and new Jerusalem is the symbol of the coming of the eternal Kingdom of God, the restoration of everything that had fallen into disarray by our disobedience and sins. Everything would be restored to how God had intended it to be at the beginning of time and creation. God had always meant for us all to enjoy the fullness of His love and grace, to share in everything that He had created and prepared for us, the eternal joy and happiness which He has meant for us to have with us. And St. John saw the vision of the twelve gates of the city decorated richly with precious stones, with the names of the Twelve Apostles written on them.

From what we have heard in this account of the heavenly vision of St. John the Apostle, we heard of the ultimate destination which we all have in our lives, that is to be reunited completely and fully with God, with our loving Father and Creator. The heavenly and new Jerusalem present at the end of time, after all the tribulations, trials and sufferings which St. John witnessed in his visions, showed us all the end of all of our journeys and hardships, as we endure all those in our path to seek God’s salvation and to be reunited with Him. We must not give up easily on this journey, as in the end, all of us will have a share in the eternal glory of God, and we are meant to live and exist with Him in an eternity of joy, free from all hardships and sufferings. The Apostles themselves have also received this same assurance, and they would indeed be the ones by the side of the Lord, honoured greatly as the pillars of His Church.

Then, in our Gospel passage today, we heard of the moment when the Lord Jesus called the person named Nathanael to Him, and when He convinced this same Nathanael to join Him in His mission to the people of Israel. As mentioned earlier, this Nathanael is likely the same as Bartholomew, by his patronymic ‘son of Talmai or Ptolemy’, and this Nathanael was a rather wise and learned man, as someone who was knowledgeable in the Scriptures and the prophets. When it was mentioned that the Lord Jesus hailed from the area of Galilee, Nathanael knew that no prophet or great man would come from that region, showing his knowledge and understanding of the prophets and the Scriptures, but he did not know that the Lord Jesus was born in Bethlehem in Judea just as the prophets had prophesied about Him and His coming.

The Lord then told Nathanael that He knew of what he was doing and where he was, a truly supernatural experience and ability which convinced Nathanael that the Lord Jesus was truly the One Whom the prophets and the Scriptures had predicted, the Messiah or the Saviour of the whole world. He told them that he and the other Apostles would see even more great and wonderful things, all the signs and wonders that He would perform before them, and ultimately, in the end of their respective journeys, they would be among the first to experience the beatific vision of Heaven, of the Angels of God glorifying the Lord, the One Whom St. Bartholomew himself had seen, witnessed and interacted with. His faith and commitment to the Lord would truly be rewarded by the Lord, and they would share in the glory of their Lord and Master just as St. John had seen and shared with us.

St. Bartholomew according to the Apostolic traditions would go on to carry out the mission which had been entrusted to him by the Lord after He has accomplished His works, His Passion and death, and after He has risen from the dead and ascended into Heaven. St. Bartholomew went on missionary journeys to many places, such as Mesopotamia, Parthia, Armenia, Lycaonia, Ethiopia and even as far as India. He worked tirelessly to proclaim the word of God to those places, ministering to the people of God and proclaiming God and His truth to many more people who have not yet known Him. St. Bartholomew spent his life to do whatever he could to evangelise the truth of God to more people, committing himself to the service of God.

According to Apostolic tradition, St. Bartholomew went to Armenia where he managed to convert Polymius, the local Armenian king, who became a Christian. This resulted in the riot and rebellion from the local pagan population, which led to the king’s brother to order the arrest, torture and execution of St. Bartholomew. Yet another related and popular tradition stated that St. Bartholomew was martyred in the nearby region of what is today Azerbaijan, where he was skinned alive and then beheaded. Regardless of the details of the sufferings and martyrdom of St. Bartholomew, what was clear is that he has truly devoted himself to the service of God, proclaiming His truth and Good News to the far ends of the world, suffering many things amidst his efforts and works, not fearing the persecutions, oppressions and tribulations that he had to face in the midst of doing so.

Brothers and sisters in Christ, let us all therefore be inspired by the examples of St. Bartholomew the Apostle and remember that each and every one of us as Christians, as God’s holy and beloved people, we have the shared responsibilities to continue the good works and ministry which the Apostles and disciples of the Lord, our predecessors have started. We should continue to do our best in whatever opportunities that have been given to us so that we may always be exemplary and good role models for our fellow brethren, and that our whole lives may truly shine with God’s ever present and wonderful light. May God continue to empower and bless us all in all of our endeavours, and may St. Bartholomew, Holy Apostle of the Lord continue to intercede and pray for us sinners still struggling and persevering daily in this world today. Amen.

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Saturday, 24 August 2024 : Feast of St. Bartholomew, Apostle (Gospel Reading)

Liturgical Colour : Red

John 1 : 45-51

At that time, Philip found Nathanael and said to him, “We have found the One Moses wrote about in the Law, and the prophets : He is Jesus, Son of Joseph, from Nazareth.”

Nathanael replied, “Can anything good come from Nazareth?” Philip said to him, “Come and see.” When Jesus saw Nathanael coming, He said of him, “Here comes an Israelite, a true one; there is nothing false in him.” Nathanael asked Him, “How do You know me?” And Jesus said to him, “Before Philip called you, you were under the fig tree, and I saw you.”

Nathanael answered, “Master, You are the Son of God! You are the King of Israel!” But Jesus replied, “You believe because I said, ‘I saw you under the fig tree.’ But you will see greater things than that. Truly, I say to you, you will see the heavens opened, and the Angels of God ascending and descending upon the Son of Man.”

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Saturday, 24 August 2024 : Feast of St. Bartholomew, Apostle (Psalm)

Liturgical Colour : Red

Psalm 144 : 10-11, 12-13ab, 17-18

All Your works will give You thanks; all Your saints, o Lord, will praise You. They will tell of the glory of Your kingdom and speak of Your power.

That all may know of Your mighty deeds, Your reign and its glorious splendour. Your reign is from age to age; Your dominion endures from generation to generation.

Righteous is YHVH in all His ways, His mercy shows in all His deeds. He is near those who call on Him, who call trustfully upon His Name.

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Saturday, 24 August 2024 : Feast of St. Bartholomew, Apostle (First Reading)

Liturgical Colour : Red

Revelations 21 : 9b-14

And one of the seven Angels who were with the seven bowls full of the seven last plagues said to me, “Come, I am going to show you the bride, the wife of the Lamb.”

He took me up, in a spiritual vision, to a very high mountain, and he showed me the holy city Jerusalem, coming down out of heaven, from God. It shines with the glory of God, like a precious jewel, with the colour of crystal-clear jasper. Its wall, large and high, has twelve gates; stationed at them are twelve Angels. 

Over the gates are written the names of the twelve tribes of the sons of Israel. Three gates face the east; three gates face the north; three gates face the south and three face the west. The city wall stands on twelve foundation stones, on which are written the names of the twelve Apostles of the Lamb.

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Saturday, 29 June 2024 : Solemnity of St. Peter and St. Paul, Apostles (Homily and Scripture Reflections)

Liturgical Colour : Red

Dear brothers and sisters in Christ, today the Universal Church mark the joyful and glorious occasion of the Solemnity of the two Holy Apostles, St. Peter the Apostle and St. Paul the Apostle, both of whom are among the most prominent of the Apostles, namely those who were considered the inner circle among the Lord’s disciples and followers, and who had been entrusted with the important roles in leading the spread and growth of the Church, with the mission to proclaim the Word of God and the Good News to all the people of all the nations. And in particular, this celebration of the two Apostles St. Peter and St. Paul here is related to their patronage over the city and Diocese of Rome, where the Vicar of Christ, the Pope, the Successor of St. Peter the Apostle as the leader of the whole Universal Church has his seat.

Yes, brothers and sisters in Christ, as we are part of the Roman Catholic Church, the One, Holy, Catholic and Apostolic Church formed and established by the Lord Himself in this world, and which He had entrusted to His Apostles and given to St. Peter in particular to lead and guide as His Vicar, therefore, the celebration of the Roman Church, that is the Diocese of Rome, the Pope’s See, is also a celebration that is celebrated throughout the whole entire world, throughout the whole entire Universal Church. It was these two great Apostles who helped to establish the Church in Rome, at the very centre and heart of the then mighty and powerful Roman Empire, the political giant and great power of its time, which ruled over the whole Mediterranean region and much of Europe, as well as the lands of the Holy Land where Our Lord carried out His ministry.

By establishing the presence of the Church in Rome, the Lord had called upon St. Peter and St. Paul to evangelise not only to the Jewish people, but as He had told them, to go forth to all the people of all the nations, and to proclaim His Good News and salvation to everyone, so that every people of every nations may come towards the Lord and receive salvation from Him. Therefore, while St. Peter had also founded the See of Antioch and was its first bishop, but it was the See of Rome that eventually became the See of the Vicar of Christ, St. Peter the Apostle and his successors, the Popes of the Church, right up to our current and reigning Pope, that is Pope Francis. Rome as the seat of secular and worldly power is symbolically made to be the seat of the Lord’s Vicar to highlight the authority that God has over all things, even over the secular world and rulers.

Rome was also most importantly the place where both St. Peter and St. Paul ended their respective ministries in martyrdom. St. Peter and St. Paul both encountered persecutions with the other Christians at that time in Rome during the reign of the infamous Roman Emperor Nero, who began the first intense persecution of Christians first in Rome and then elsewhere in the Empire. First to be martyred was St. Paul, who according to tradition was martyred by beheading at the time when the Great Fire of Rome happened in the Year of Our Lord 64. At that time, St. Paul had been in Rome for a while, awaiting the time of his appeal to the Emperor for the case raised against him by the Jewish authorities and the Sanhedrin. He and the other Christians persecuted were executed as they were blamed for causing the Great Fire of Rome, which according to historical evidences was probably started by the Emperor himself.

Meanwhile, St. Peter was also persecuted and was martyred slightly later, about four years later when he was crucified at the site where the great Basilica of St. Peter in Vatican now stands. Out of humility, St. Peter asked his executioners to be crucified upside-down so that he would not die in the same manner as his Lord and Master. And thus was how both St. Peter and St. Paul, Holy Apostles of the Lord, shed their blood and gave up their lives for the sake of the Lord, as they endured persecutions and oppressions in defending their faith, and in their commitment to continue proclaiming the truth of God to the people of all the nations. They did not fear persecution or death because they trusted in the Lord and they knew that even in martyrdom and death, they would share in the glory of God, Who Himself has suffered and died for the sake of all mankind.

If we wonder how we can follow in the footsteps of these two great saints, as we all indeed should do, we must first realise that they were all flawed and imperfect, normal human beings just like each and every one of us. They had their weaknesses and faults, just as we all had ours, but what matters is that, they let God guide them, answering His call and committing themselves to walk down the path which He has shown and told them to walk through. St. Peter himself was once a humble, illiterate and brash fisherman at the Lake of Galilee as Simon son of John, who would have been relegated to the footnotes of history and mankind’s existence just like many other countless fishermen and others out there from those seemingly humble backgrounds. He was not eloquent and he did commit mistakes, and he was also known for his not just once, but thrice denial of the Lord at the moment when He was arrested and persecuted at the beginning of His Passion.

Meanwhile St. Paul when earlier on he was still known as Saul, he was a great enemy of the early Church and Christians for his overzealous but ultimately misguided campaign to eradicate the followers of Christ. The young Saul was a young Pharisee who blindly followed the tenets and ways of the Pharisees, many of whom were also opposed to the Lord. Thus in his young, hot-tempered and overzealous passionate efforts, he brought a lot of grievances and hardships against the early Christian communities throughout Jerusalem, Judea and beyond. He was on his way to Damascus in Syria to continue the persecutions against the Christians there when the Lord appeared to him and had an encounter with him, which eventually led to Saul realising the mistakes and the folly of his misguided ways, and hence, embracing the Lord as his Saviour.

Both Simon and Saul had profound change in their lives upon encounter with the Lord, and they henceforth were known as Peter, from the word Petros in Greek, or the original Kephas or Cephas in Aramaic, which means ‘Rock’. Saul adopted the name Paul shortly after his conversion, and just like Abram and Jacob in the past, who both changed their names to Abraham and Israel respectively after life-changing moments, these name changes highlighted their commitment to a new life that is blessed and in accordance with God’s will. This is what we usually also practice as we adopt our baptismal names upon our baptism, and also when we add on our confirmation names as well. All of these symbolically signified our willingness to commit ourselves to the Lord, just as the two great Apostles St. Peter and St. Paul and other holy servants of God had done.

And even after they have embarked on the path of God’s righteousness, as Apostles, these two men were not perfect either. St. Peter himself still made mistakes, as when he initially followed the opinion of those who sought to introduce strict Jewish customs and practices, and the Lord corrected and helped him to understand what the true desire and intention of the Lord truly was. And according to Church tradition, just before he was to be martyred, it was famously said that St. Peter did flee the city of Rome to flee the intense persecutions then happening against Christians, and he encountered the Lord along the way, carrying His Cross. When St. Peter asked the Lord, ‘Quo Vadis?’ meaning ‘Where are You going?’, the Lord told St. Peter that He was going to Rome to be crucified again. St. Peter, embarrassed at his lack of courage, resolved to go back to Rome, and was crucified upside-down as mentioned earlier on. St. Paul on the other hand was also involved with disputes with the other disciples of the Lord and the Apostles, such as the dispute which he had with St. Barnabas the Apostle who accompanied with him in some of his missionary journeys.

All these showed us all that the Apostles, such as St. Peter and St. Paul, and just like the many other saints and holy men and women of God, are not supermen or superwomen, and they are not people who are greater than us in nature. But what makes them distinct and eventually revered, is the fact that all of them allowed the Lord to lead them in their lives, so that through their imperfections and sins, made better and more perfect, forgiven and reconciled to God by His mercy and love, they have shown us all that all of us indeed have the potential to be saints as well, brothers and sisters in Christ. Today, as we rejoice in this great Solemnity of St. Peter and St. Paul, Holy Apostles of the Lord and the Patron saints of Rome and the Universal Church, we are all reminded that each and every one of us also have the same capacity and potential to be like them, and indeed, we have been entrusted with the same mission that the Lord had entrusted to His Apostles, to St. Peter and St. Paul, two millennia ago.

In our world today, there are still a lot of people who have not yet known the Lord and who are still living in the darkness, in ignorance of God’s truth and love. And it is up to us all, as members and parts of God’s One, Holy, Catholic and Apostolic Church, to continue the good works which the Apostles like St. Peter and St. Paul had started. All of us in our own respective areas in life, in our various commitments and vocations in life should always strive to do our best to sanctify our lives, our every good works and efforts, so that in everything that we say and do, in our every interactions with one another, we will always be the worthy and holy disciples and missionaries of the Lord, to proclaim the Good News and the Gospel of salvation through our own lives, just as the Holy Apostles had done. All of us are the ones who can touch the lives of many others and help them to come ever closer to God and His salvation.

Brothers and sisters in Christ, let us all therefore do our best to be good examples and role models for one another in our lives, to be like the Apostles St. Peter and St. Paul in their commitment and faith in the Lord. Let us all do our part as active and contributing members of the Church of God to evangelise and proclaim the Lord and His salvation to more and more people throughout the world. Let us joyfully reveal and show the Lord, His love and kindness to all, by our own loving actions and obedience to God’s will in our own respective lives, in how we love the Lord our God wholeheartedly, and in how we love one another, our fellow brothers and sisters, most generously and tenderly at all times. May God bless us all, and be with us in all of our journey throughout life, now and always. Amen.

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Saturday, 29 June 2024 : Solemnity of St. Peter and St. Paul, Apostles (Gospel Reading)

Liturgical Colour : Red

Matthew 16 : 13-19

At that time, Jesus came to Caesarea Philippi. He asked His disciples, “Who do people say the Son of Man is?” They said, “For some of them, You are John the Baptist; for others Elijah, or Jeremiah, or one of the prophets.”

Jesus asked them, “But you, who do you say I am?” Peter answered, “You are the Messiah, the Son of the living God.” Jesus replied, “It is well for you, Simon Bar-Jonah, for it is not flesh or blood that has revealed this to you, but My Father in heaven.”

“And now I say to you : You are Peter; and on this Rock I will build My Church; and never will the powers of death overcome it. I will give you the keys of the kingdom of heaven : whatever you bind on earth shall be bound in heaven; and whatever you unbind on earth shall be unbound in heaven.”