Feast of Holy Apostles

by

Tuesday, 28 June 2016 : Vigil Mass of the Solemnity of St. Peter and St. Paul, Apostles, Great Feast of the Church of Rome and the Universal Church (First Reading)

Liturgical Colour : Red

Acts 3 : 1-10

Once when Peter and John were going up to the Temple at three in the afternoon, the hour for prayer, a man crippled from birth was being carried in. Every day they would bring him and put him at the Temple gate called “Beautiful”; there he begged from those who entered the Temple.

When he saw Peter and John on their way into the Temple, he asked for alms. Then Peter with John at his side looked straight at him and said, “Look at us.” So he looked at them, expecting to receive something from them. But Peter said, “I have neither silver nor gold, but what I have I give you : In the Name of Jesus of Nazareth, the Messiah, walk!”

Then he took the beggar by his right hand and helped him up. At once his feet and ankles became firm, and jumping up he stood on his feet and began to walk. And he went with them into the Temple walking and leaping and praising God. All the people saw him walking and praising God; they recognised him as the one who used to sit begging at the Beautiful Gate of the Temple, and they were all astonished and amazed at what had happened to him.

by

Tuesday, 3 May 2016 : Feast of St. Philip and St. James, Apostles (Homily and Scripture Reflections)

Liturgical Colour : Red

Dear brothers and sisters in Christ, today is indeed a great day, the day when we celebrate the feast of not just one, but two of Christ’s Twelve Apostles, His principal and the greatest of His disciples. We celebrate on this day the feast of the Apostles St. Philip and St. James. Both of them worked hard for the sake of the people of God, and as the other Apostles had done, they spread the Good News to many during their missions.

St. Philip was also known as Nathanael, a learnt and wise man of Israel, who was told to be fluent in Greek, and thus eventually he went on to preach the Lord and His truth in the regions of Greece and Roman Asia at the time, going from cities to cities, preaching to the masses and gaining for the Church many new converts and members. He went about the Greek communities and gaining many new faithful from among them.

In the end, in one account, St. Philip even managed to convert the wife of the proconsul of a region where he ministered in through his miracles and preaching. The proconsul was enraged and ordered St. Philip to be arrested, and he together with the other Apostle, St. Bartholomew, and other disciples were crucified upside down by the order of the proconsul. And it was told how St. Philip preached to the crowd gathering there from the cross, such that they wanted to release him, but this was not allowed by St. Philip himself.

Meanwhile, St. James the Greater was the brother of St. John the Apostle, once a fisherman along the Lake of Galilee, whom Jesus called together with His other Apostles, St. Peter, St. Andrew and St. John his brother. St. James the Greater played an important role during the early Church, spreading the Good News of God’s salvation after Christ’s resurrection and ascension into heaven.

It was told that St. James went to preach the Good News to the faraway regions such as the province of Iberia in what is today Spain, spreading the Gospel to the people there and helped to establish the Church in faraway regions from its origins in Jerusalem and the Holy Land. And he was therefore today renowned especially in the region known as Santiago de Compostela, where his body lay buried, because it was there where he apparently did his works of evangelisation.

And it was told that, as written in the Acts of the Apostles, how king Herod arrested St. James when he returned to the Holy Land, and in order to please the Jewish authorities, the Pharisees and the chief priests, he executed him. Thus, St. James was among the first of the Apostles to meet his end in martyrdom, but certainly, his works and legacies could still be felt even many years after his death.

Through his tireless works and commitment to the cause of the salvation of mankind, St. James and St. Philip the two Apostles of our Lord, they might have gone ahead of us to the glory of heaven. However, the impact of their actions can still be felt clearly even today. In this regard, we indeed need more and more people who are willing to commit themselves to the Lord and walk in His path as these two Apostles had one.

Truly, it will not be an easy one for us, as there would opposition against all those who are faithful and kept their faith. But Jesus reminded us yet again in the Gospel today, that we who have believed in Him, has seen the Lord Himself through Jesus, and by our faith in Him, we have been justified. And because we know the Lord, we will also do what He has asked us to do, and through these therefore, we would be blessed and saved.

During this season of Easter, which is coming to an end soon, let us therefore reflect on our own lives, and on how we have acted in our life so far. Have we been committed to our Lord, and have we been faithful to Him, through all of our words and actions? Can we call ourselves true Christians, as those who do not just believe in the Lord through mere words, but also through real action?

The examples of the Apostles St. Philip and St. James show us that there are still many things that we can do as the followers of Christ in order to fulfil the commands which our Lord had placed in the shoulders of the Apostles. Both the Apostles took the charge with zeal and vigour, and despite the challenges and the difficulties that faced them, all these did not prevent them from carrying out the missions which the Lord entrusted to them.

Let us all therefore look forward, and as we are about to celebrate the Solemnity of the Pentecost Sunday soon, let us all recommit ourselves, and rediscover the gifts of the Holy Spirit which had been given to us, and make use of them all in order to help those who are still in darkness, by showing them the love of God manifested through each and every one of us the faithful ones of our Lord, that more and more souls may see the light of God and be saved. God bless us all. Amen.

by

Tuesday, 3 May 2016 : Feast of St. Philip and St. James, Apostles (Gospel Reading)

Liturgical Colour : Red

John 14 : 6-14

At that time, Jesus spoke to His disciples at the Last Supper, “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.”

by

Tuesday, 3 May 2016 : 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.

by

Tuesday, 3 May 2016 : 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.

by

Monday, 25 January 2016 : Feast of the Conversion of St. Paul, Apostle, Week of Prayer for Christian Unity (Homily and Scripture Reflections)

Liturgical Colour : White

Dear brothers and sisters in Christ, today the whole Church celebrates an important event in our faith, when the great Apostle St. Paul was called by God from his old life and way of sin, and into righteousness and truth in Him, to be His servant and worker, bringing the fruits of the Good News to many nations, that many, countless souls were saved from certain destruction.

Today, we all celebrate the feast of the conversion of St. Paul, he who was once called Saul, a great enemy of the Church and the faithful, who had sworn to destroy the Church and to bring great suffering to all the faithful that he encountered. In his false and misled zeal, he persecuted the Church and brought misery to many of the faithful disciples of Christ.

Naturally, it was easy for many people, many among the faithful, to resent and hate him because of the vile and harsh actions that he had done. But, God had another plan for that young man, as He wanted him to be His mouthpiece and speaker to the many nations. It is indeed mysterious and amazing how God worked in ways incomprehensible to men, that He would make a great enemy of His Church to become its greatest defender and champion.

But that was exactly what had happened, and as God Himself appeared to Saul, He revealed the truth about Himself to him, and told him the path that he was to take. And ever since that fateful moment, Saul was never the same again, and having received the gift of purification by the sacrament of baptism, and by receiving the wisdom and strength of the Holy Spirit, he turned a new life, a life dedicated completely and entirely to the Lord, his God.

And because of that, many were saved, because Saul had chosen to abandon his easy life, a life approved by the society, the elders and the chief priests because of his opposition to Jesus, and thus accepting for himself, the cross of Christ which he would bear with great faith and commitment. And Saul, who later called himself as Paul, dedicated the rest of his life to help the people of God find their way to the Lord through his many travels, works and writings.

Brothers and sisters in Christ, after we have heard all about St. Paul and how he was called by God to His service, surely then we ask ourselves, what is the significance of this event to all of us? Why is it so important that the Church rejoices together and celebrates it as a great feast? That is not just because St. Paul was truly a great Apostle and servant of God, but also because of the example and the inspiration that his conversion has for all of us.

In this matter, those of us who chose to join the Church not during our infancy may be able to relate better to what I am going to share with all of you about how relevant is the conversion of St. Paul to us, but even those among us who are cradle Catholics, or having received the gift of baptism since birth, we too will be able to relate well with it. This is because the story of the conversion of St. Paul, is the story of God’s love and mercy for us.

At the crux of the matter is the desire of our God Who loves all of us to bring us back into His embrace, and thus His desire that all of us should leave behind our sinfulness and wicked past lives, and begin anew in a life in Him, a life that is founded on the foundation of His ways and teachings, just as St. Paul had done. What God wants us to know is that, He wants to show us sinners His mercy, and if we are to accept His mercy, there will be much for us to do.

Yes, what is important is the desire of us sinners to repent from our sins and abandon behind all of our wickedness, that we sin no more and commit ourselves anew to a new life thoroughly dedicated to God. And there are few examples for us better than what St. Paul himself had shown us. He repented sincerely of all the evil things he had done while he persecuted the followers of the Lord, and he showed it through concrete action, by standing up for his faith in God.

Are we all able to do the same as well? It is what we should do too, considering that all of us are in one way or another, sinners and unworthy of God. And yet God has shown us His willingness to forgive us our sins and to love us once again with the fullness of His grace. It is something that we have to ponder and reflect on as we go along through our daily lives, that we would be able to understand better what we need to do from now on.

Saints themselves were once sinners, but what mattered the most was the very fact that they abandoned their past sins and wickedness, and from disobedience, they turned to a good faith and trust in the Lord. This is how they were made great and honoured. God is indeed mercy and love, but without the commitment from the sinner to accept that love and mercy, and act on them, then truly it is all meaningless for them.

Therefore, today, inspired by the examples, the courage and the faith of St. Paul, a great sinner who turned away from all of his sins and wickedness, and decided to follow fully and completely the path of the Lord, becoming a great servant and blessed in the process, we pray that all of us will also be given the strength and the courage to do the same as well.

Let us all renew our commitment and our faith to the Lord, not just in words but also in actions. Let our every deeds be testimony of our faith to the Lord, not fearing the prejudice and ridicule or persecution by the world, but be more concerned about one another, especially those who are under the threat by those who mislead them in life, and thus it is our duty to help each other to persevere in faith. Love one another and show our faith through our actions, brethren. God bless us all. Amen.

by

Monday, 25 January 2016 : Feast of the Conversion of St. Paul, Apostle, Week of Prayer for Christian Unity (Gospel Reading)

Liturgical Colour : White

Mark 16 : 15-18

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.”

by

Monday, 25 January 2016 : Feast of the Conversion of St. Paul, Apostle, Week of Prayer for Christian Unity (Psalm)

Liturgical Colour : White

Psalm 116 : 1, 2

Alleluia! Praise the Lord, all you nations; all you peoples, praise Him.

How great is His love for us! His faithfulness lasts forever.

by

Monday, 25 January 2016 : Feast of the Conversion of St. Paul, Apostle, Week of Prayer for Christian Unity (First Reading)

Liturgical Colour : White

Acts 22 : 3-16

Paul said to the Jews, “I am a Jew, born in Tarsus in Cilicia, but brought up here in this city where I was educated in the school of Gamaliel, according to the strict observance of our Law. And I was dedicated to God’s service, as are all of you today. As for this Way, I persecuted it to the point of death and arrested its followers, both men and women, throwing them into prison.”

“The High Priest and the whole Council of elders can bear witness to this. From them I received letters for the Jewish brothers in Damascus and I set out to arrest those who were there and bring them back to Jerusalem for punishment. But as I was travelling along, nearing Damascus, at about noon a great light from the sky suddenly flashed about me.”

“I fell to the ground and heard a voice saying to me : ‘Saul, Saul, why do you persecute Me?’ I answered, ‘Who are You, Lord?’ And He said to me : ‘I am Jesus the Nazarean Whom you persecute.’ The men who were with me saw the light, but they did not understand the voice of the One Who was speaking to me.”

“I asked : ‘What shall I do, Lord?’ And the Lord replied : ‘Get up and go to Damascus; there you will be told all that you are destined to do.’ Yet the brightness of that Light had blinded me and so I was led by the hand into Damascus by my companions.”

“There a certain Ananias came to me. He was a devout observer of the Law and well spoken by all the Jews who were living there. As he stood by me, he said : ‘Brother Saul, recover your sight.’ At that moment I could see and I looked at him. He then said, ‘The God of our ancestors has chosen you to know His will, to see the Just One and to hear the words from His mouth.'”

“‘From now on you shall be His witness before all the pagan peoples and tell them all that you have seen and heard. And now, why delay? Get up and be baptised and have your sins washed away by calling upon His Name.'”

Alternative reading

Acts 9 : 1-22

Meanwhile, Saul considered nothing but violence and death for the disciples of the Lord. He went to the High Priest and asked him for letters to the synagogues of Damascus that would authorise him to arrest and bring to Jerusalem anyone he might find, man or woman, belonging to the Way.

As he travelled along and was approaching Damascus, a light from the sky suddenly flashed around him. He fell to the ground and heard a voice saying to him, “Saul, Saul! Why do you persecute Me?” And he asked, “Who are You, Lord?” The voice replied, “I am Jesus Whom you persecute. Now get up and go into the city; there you will be told what you are to do.”

The men who were travelling with him stood there speechless; they had heard the sound, but could see no one. Saul got up from the ground and opening his eyes, he could not see. They took him by the hand and brought him to Damascus. He was blind and he did not eat or drink for three days.

There was a disciple in Damascus named Ananias, to whom the Lord called in a vision, “Ananias!” He answered, “Here I am, Lord!” Then the Lord said to him, “Go at once to Straight Street and ask, at the house of Judas, for a man of Tarsus named Saul. You will find him praying, for he has just seen in a vision that a man named Ananias has come in and placed his hands upon him, to restore his sight.”

Ananias answered, “Lord, I have heard from many sources about this man and all the harm he has done to your saints in Jerusalem, and now he is here with authority from the High Priest to arrest all who call upon Your Name.” But the Lord said to him, “Go! This man is My chosen instrument to bring My Name to the pagan nations and their kings, and the people of Israel as well. I Myself will show him how much he will have to suffer for My Name.”

So Ananias left and went to the house. He laid his hands upon Saul and said, “Saul, my brother, the Lord Jesus, Who appeared to you on your way here, has sent me to you so that you may receive your sight and be filled with Holy Spirit.” Immediately something like scales fell from his eyes and he could see; he got up and was baptised. Then he took food and was strengthened.

For several days Saul stayed with the disciples at Damascus, and he soon began to proclaim in the synagogues that Jesus was the Son of God. All who heard were astonished and said, “Is this not the one who cast out in Jerusalem all those calling upon this Name? Did he not come here to bring them bound before the chief priests?”

But Saul grew more and more powerful, and he confounded the Jews living in Damascus when he proved that Jesus was the Messiah.

by

Wednesday, 28 October 2015 : Feast of St. Simon and St. Jude, Apostles (Homily and Scripture Reflections)

Liturgical Colour : Red

Dear brothers and sisters in Christ, on this day we celebrate the great feast of two of our Lord’s chief disciples, the Holy Apostles, namely St. Simon and St. Jude. St. Simon was also known as Simon the Zealot, while St. Jude here is different from Judas Iscariot, the disciple who would eventually betray Jesus and died in sin, but rather, St. Judas Thaddeus or St. Judas son of James.

On this day we heard about the role of the Apostles, whom God had called and chosen from among His people, so that they might be the extension of the works of His hands, as His chief deputies and representatives in this world. Through the disciples and the Apostles, Jesus continues His works on earth, even long after the end of His earthly existence, when He ascended in glory into the glorious Heaven.

The Apostles went forth in accordance with the mission that Jesus had given to all of them, and they went to the various places on earth, spreading further the Word of God and the salvation that Jesus Christ our Lord offers to all those who have faith in Him. They are truly the foundations of the Church, which Jesus our Lord had established on this world, based on Peter, the cornerstone, upon which He had established His Church.

God had built a strong foundation for His Church, and the Apostles are also like the pillars that strengthened the building and structure of the entire Church. For not only that they had evangelised and spread the words of the Gospel and the Good News, but they have established a solid and strong core of support structures for the Church, namely by providing many bishops and other servants of the Lord, that gave strength to the Church.

Through them, God made His will and works visible to all of the world, by providing the means through which many of the souls that still lie in darkness are able to listen to the word of God, and be saved as a result of the works of these faithful servants of our Lord. The Apostles were the catalysts of God’s work of salvation, in bringing mankind ever closer to God, and in their hard labours, they even laid down their lives and shed their blood for His sake, and for the sake of His Church.

Thus, the saying is true, that the blood of martyrs are the seeds of Christians. For all of the Apostles except for one were martyred and died in great and excruciating agony for their faith. Yet, they accepted their deaths willingly and openly as they knew that their reward in heaven is truly very, very rich, for God will not forget about all those who have given up everything for His sake.

St. Simon the Zealot himself is often associated with St. Jude the Apostle, and that is why their feast days are celebrated together as one on this day. St. Simon together with St. Jude went to many places, from Egypt and then to Persia and lands of the east, before returning to the region now known as Lebanon, where they were martyred for their faith.

They did not give up until the end, and even unto the end, unto their own deaths, they still strove hard to work for the benefit and for the good of the people to whom they had been sent to by the Lord. They opened the eyes of many, healed many of their afflictions, both body and soul, and ultimately, they saved countless souls from the gates of hell, and brought these instead to the gates of heavenly glory.

Brothers and sisters in Christ, on this day, what is it that we all must take note of so that whatever we have heard on this day will benefit us all? It is the attitude of the Apostles and their perseverance that we all can model from, and we all have to also realise that the works of the Apostles and disciples of Christ are truly far from over. In fact, their works are still ongoing now, just as Jesus commissioned them to deliver the Good News to all the nations.

Yes, we are all modern day Apostles and disciples of our Lord, as we have been tasked in a similar manner, to bring as many souls as possible, to the salvation present only in the Lord Jesus our Saviour, and to His light so that all mankind, every people may receive redemption and forgiveness from their sins, and be found righteous and just, that they will be worthy of eternal life.

Let us all realise this mission that we have, so that each and every one of us may realise our roles in the Church of God, as the bearers of God’s will and as His servants, to deliver God’s words to all, not just by mere words or proclamations only, but also through real and genuine action grounded firmly in faith and love for our Lord and for His laws.

Let us all commit ourselves anew to Him, and devote ourselves ever more to our Lord’s way, that we may bring one another to salvation, and we ourselves will grow ever richer in God’s grace. Do not despise those who are still living and darkness, and do not hate them for their wickedness, but instead, let us try to bring them closer to God, and help them in their path of repentance, so that like the Apostles of old, like St. Simon and St. Jude, we may also bring about God’s healing to all of them.

May Almighty God bless us all, forgive us all our sins, and may we all through the intercession of His holy saints and Apostles, be ever more devoted and committed children of our Lord and loving Father. Amen.