Feast of North American martyrs

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Saturday, 19 October 2024 : 28th Week of Ordinary Time, Memorial of St. John de Brebeuf and St. Isaac Jogues, Priests and Martyrs, and Companions, Martyrs, and St. Paul of the Cross, Priest (Homily and Scripture Reflections)

Liturgical Colour : Green or Red (Martyrs) or White (Priests)

Dear brothers and sisters in Christ, today as we all listened to the words of the Lord speaking to us through the Sacred Scriptures, we are all reminded of the great things that the Lord has assured each and every one of us, the salvation that He has promised to us from time immemorial, and the revelation of everything that He has shown and done for us through His Son, the perfect manifestation of God’s ever enduring and wonderful love for all of us mankind. Through Christ, the Son of God that had taken up our nature and existence, God has opened for us all the path to eternal life and true happiness and fulfilment in Him. He has shown how great His power and love is, far surpassing anything else in this world and transcending all boundaries and limits, reassuring us as always of His ever present and boundless love, which we should therefore respond with the same love and faith.

In our first reading today, we heard from the Epistle of St. Paul to the Church and the faithful people of God in the city and region of Ephesus, in which the Apostle reminded all the faithful people of God of the Lord’s great and amazing power, His might and glorious dominion over the whole world. Through all of these, God has assured us all of the constant care and protection, love and compassion that He has always patiently had for each one of us. God has always been there for us and we have to remember this truth and fact, especially when we may be constantly facing a lot of trials and challenges in life. We must not easily give up our faith and commitment to God because we think that God did not care for us or that God was not there by our side through our challenges, trials and difficulties. Those were the main reasons why many people had abandoned the Lord and left Him, because they did not realise that God has actually always been with them.

The reality is such that, although we may not be able to see Him directly in person before us, but He is truly all around us, journeying with us and guiding us throughout the way. And if we do bother spending the time and effort to recognise His Presence around us, we can truly feel Him being there in our midst, walking with us and giving us all His assurance that He is always ever been there for us, being patient with us despite us having constantly been stubborn and disobedient against Him. God is always ever ready to forgive us and to reach out to us whenever we are regretful, repentant over our many sins and wickedness. God has always shown His great patience and kindness from the very beginning, as an ever loving Father Who truly loves His children very much, caring for us in each and every occasion without cease and with ever present patience, and always with the intention to bring us back to Himself..tiaenges anaempowe ov EPhes

Then, in our Gospel passage today from the Gospel according to St. Luke the Evangelist, we heard of the moment when the Lord told His disciples that everything which they had to face in the midst of their mission and journey, their work and commitment, all of these would be faced together with God by their side, and they would never be alone, as the Lord would give them His guidance, help and strength, granting and blessing them with His Holy Spirit, the great Advocate and Helper, Who would encourage and inflame our hearts, guiding us to the right path and giving us the strength and wisdom to stand up for our faith, if we continue to put our trust in His love and faithfulness, as we should always do. The Lord also prepared us saying that there would indeed be challenges, trials and obstacles, and we must be ready for them, but we must not be afraid of them.

As Christians, each and every one of us must always have that firm faith and conviction to trust the Lord and follow Him at all times. We must not allow ourselves to be dissuaded, tempted and coerced otherwise to think that we are alone in all the challenges and sufferings that we may be facing in life and in our journey and mission as Christians, because that is exactly what the evil one is trying hard to do, to convince us that we are all alone and that God is not there for us, when He has actually always been there for us, guiding us and strengthening us, providing us generously all throughout every steps and moments of the journey and mission in our lives. We should continue to be faithful to the Lord and to do whatever we can so that we may indeed live our lives in the manner that is truly holy and worthy of God at all times. Advhis H  erm

Today, the Church also celebrates the Feast of St. John de Brebeuf and St. Isaac Jogues, holy priests and martyrs, together with their many companions in holy martyrdom in the region now encompassing Canada and the northern part of North American continent. They were missionaries from the Society of Jesus sent from France to evangelise and minister to the native populations of the many parts and wilderness of French Canadian colony at the time and beyond. Many of these missionaries faced great challenges amidst their mission, as while they did encounter significant successes in having quite a number of the natives embracing the Lord and the Christian faith, but they also faced bitter and determined opposition from those who refused to believe and embrace the Christian faith, on top of the many harsh conditions they had to endure in their missionary journey and lives.

At the time, many of those missionaries faced bitter cold condition, diseases and other problems beside the persecution and attacks from the tribes that were opposed to the efforts of the missionaries in proclaiming the Good News of God. Some of the missionaries like St. John de Brebeuf and St. Isaac Jogues were captured by the hostile natives who persecuted and tortured them, and with some other Christians, both the missionaries and converts alike, many of them were martyred in the defence of their faith, refusing to give up their faith and remaining firmly committed to God to the very end, not allowing the sufferings and persecutions to tempt them to abandon their faith and trust in the Lord, their God and Master.

And we also commemorate St. Paul of the Cross on top of our commemoration of the Holy Martyrs of Canada. St. Paul of the Cross was an Italian priest who was the renowned founder of the Passionists, a religious congregation for men, dedicated to the devotion to the Lord’s Passion, His love and great compassion for all of us mankind. St. Paul of the Cross was convinced from when he was young and through the various experiences he encountered, that there was a need for a community to live together in total dedication and commitment to the Lord, particularly to His great Passion and love for us mankind, and this eventually became the inspiration and foundation for his eventual founding of the Passionists, whose members dedicate themselves to serve the people of God and to show His care and love to those who need them, to those who were marginalised and suffering.

Brothers and sisters in Christ, as we all have heard from the lives of the great and holy saints, the Holy Martyrs of Canada and that of St. Paul of the Cross, among others, and as we have discussed through the readings of the Sacred Scriptures we have heard, let us all therefore renew our commitment to God, our faith and trust in Him, as well as our desire to love Him wholeheartedly and to continue to do His will at all times and in all circumstances. Let us all remember and keep reminding one another of the great love that God has for each one of us, and strive therefore to show the same love to our fellow brothers and sisters around us, just as much as we all should love God and be ever thankful for His ever patient love.

May the Lord, our most loving God, Father and Creator continue to show us all His love, and may He continue to empower each and every one of us with His strength, guidance and love, and through His Holy Spirit so that we may always continue to live worthily of the Lord, full of His love and compassion towards everyone around us, and may He continue to guide and help us all, so that by our inspirational and exemplary way of life, we will draw ever closer to His loving Presence and be worthy to share in the glorious inheritance that He has promised and reassured us. May God be with us always and bless our every good efforts and endeavours, now and always. Amen.

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Saturday, 19 October 2024 : 28th Week of Ordinary Time, Memorial of St. John de Brebeuf and St. Isaac Jogues, Priests and Martyrs, and Companions, Martyrs, and St. Paul of the Cross, Priest (Gospel Reading)

Liturgical Colour : Green or Red (Martyrs) or White (Priests)

Luke 12 : 8-12

At that time, Jesus said to the people, “I tell you, whoever acknowledges Me before people, the Son of Man will also acknowledge before the Angels of God. But the one who denies Me before others will be denied before the Angels of God. There will be pardon for the one who criticises the Son of Man, but there will be no pardon for the one who slanders the Holy Spirit.”

“When you are brought before the synagogues, and before governors and rulers, do not worry about how you will defend yourself, or what to say; for the Holy Spirit will teach you at that time what you have to say.”

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Saturday, 19 October 2024 : 28th Week of Ordinary Time, Memorial of St. John de Brebeuf and St. Isaac Jogues, Priests and Martyrs, and Companions, Martyrs, and St. Paul of the Cross, Priest (Psalm)

Liturgical Colour : Green or Red (Martyrs) or White (Priests)

Psalm 8 : 2-3a, 4-5, 6-7

O YHVH, our YHVH, how great is Your Name throughout the earth! And Your glory in the heavens above. Even the mouths of children and infants exalt Your glory in front of Your foes.

When I observe the heavens, the work of Your hands, the moon, and the stars You set in their place – what is man, that You be mindful of him; the Son of Man, that You should care for Him?

Yet You made Him a little less than a god; You crowned Him with glory and honour, and gave Him the works of Your hands; You have put all things under His feet.

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Saturday, 19 October 2024 : 28th Week of Ordinary Time, Memorial of St. John de Brebeuf and St. Isaac Jogues, Priests and Martyrs, and Companions, Martyrs, and St. Paul of the Cross, Priest (First Reading)

Liturgical Colour : Green or Red (Martyrs) or White (Priests)

Ephesians 1 : 15-23

I have been told of your faith and your affection toward all the believers, so I always give thanks to God, remembering you in my prayers. May the God of Christ Jesus our Lord, the Father of glory, reveal Himself to you, and give you a spirit of wisdom and revelation, that you may know Him.

May He enlighten your inner vision, that you may appreciate the things we hope for, since we were called by God. May you know how great is the inheritance, the glory, God sets apart for His saints; may you understand, with what extraordinary power, He acts in favour of us who believe.

He revealed His Almighty power in Christ when He raised Him from the dead, and had Him sit at His right hand in heaven, far above all rule, power, authority, dominion, or any other supernatural force that could be named, not only in this world, but in the world to come as well. Thus has God put all things under the feet of Christ and set Him above all things, as Head of the Church, which is His Body, the fullness of Him, Who fills all in all.

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Monday, 19 October 2015 : 29th Week of Ordinary Time, Memorial of St. John de Brebeuf and St. Isaac Jogues, Priests and Companions, Martyrs, and St. Paul of the Cross, Priest (Homily and Scripture Reflections)

Liturgical Colour : Green or Red (Martyrs) or White (Priests)

Brothers and sisters in Christ, today’s Scripture message for us is very clear indeed, that all those who place their trust in earthly goods and worldly things shall falter and fail, as they put their faith in perishable things and on things that do not last forever. This is a clear lesson to all of us, so that we may learn to detach ourselves from our commonly excessive attachment to the goods of this world.

Jesus our Lord used the example of the rich man who thought that he had it all, and all the wealth and possessions he had accumulated all the years of his life would bring him pleasure and prosperity in his life. Yet, he did not realise that he is not the true master of his own life. It is the Lord God who is the true Master of all life, and He is the One who has control over all the lives of mankind, including all of us without exception.

That rich man had placed his trust in his great might and power in accordance with the standards and norms of this world, and he thought that he had nothing else to worry about, but he failed to understand that those things he had will not be brought with him over when he comes to his judgment in the presence of God. And he would have nothing to boast of, because nothing that he had accumulated would carry over to the world that is to come.

Instead of all these, our Lord advocated that we all should walk in His path, shedding all of our attachments to the worldly things and desires, and instead we all should adhere closely to the teachings and the truth of our Lord, which is the path of humility, of love and devotion to the Lord. Instead of being overly attached or obsessed with the goods of this world, with money or material goods, we should instead build up the true treasure that we will attain in heaven.

The earthly treasure of money, possessions and wealth shall eventually rot and be destroyed, but not the heavenly treasure that we shall build up if we live faithfully in accordance to the will of God. What is this treasure? It is the treasure of the love of God. While the worldly treasures bring about conflict and suffering, jealousy and hatred, the true treasure of love bring with it consolation and happiness to everyone.

How then, should we build up this heavenly treasure? It is by committing ourselves to actions that are founded upon love, and not the selfish love of men or love for money and possessions, but the selfless and perfect love that our Lord Jesus Himself had shown us, by laying down His life and suffered for the sake of all of us, bearing upon Himself all of our sins and all of their consequences.

We shall build up the true treasures of heaven by showing love in our own actions, caring for those who are lonely, rejected and downtrodden, and by giving hope to all those who are without hope. It is built by our act of giving light of love and hope to all those who have been living in the darkness and the uncertainty of this world, and by showing the path of the Lord to all those who need to be saved.

Let us all also heed the examples of the saints whose life we honour and remember today. Today is the feast of St. John de Brebeuf, St. Isaac Jogues and their companions, the martyr saints of North America, namely French missionaries who spent their lives spreading the Gospel to the pagan and unenlightened people of the New World, especially in what is now Canada and North America.

They went through many hardships and difficult challenges, the difficulty of preaching in place so cold and hostile to life, and in places where the locals and the natives were quite unwilling to open up themselves to listen to the word of God, and the barrier of language differences that made things difficult for these devoted missionaries, who regardless of all these challenges, they continued to persevere through and preached the truth of God to the people.

And indeed, many were converted to the true faith, and many followed on in the hardships and the challenges that await all those who decided to follow the Lord and His path. And they went through times of difficulty, attacked and tortured by those who refused to listen to the truth, and they were all eventually martyred for their faith, dying a painful death defending their faith and conviction to the Lord, and in the process, received the crown of everlasting glory.

And today we also celebrate the feast of St. Paul of the Cross, an Italian priest who was very devoted to the Lord, and he promoted the devotion to the Lord, especially to His most holy Passion, the love which He had shown to all of us, and the suffering which He had willingly endured for the sake of all of us, so that everyone of us may be liberated from the pain of death.

St. Paul of the Cross taught us that by meditating upon the suffering and death of our Lord Jesus Christ, and by focusing on the ultimate sacrifice which He had made out of perfect love for us all, we may be able to understand better what we need to do in life in order to become ever closer to the salvation which our Lord can give to us.

Brothers and sisters in Christ, let us all follow their examples and heed what we have heard in the Holy Scriptures today. Let us be better disciples and followers of our Lord, by persevering through difficulties and challenges, through temptations and resisting the pull of our desire, our human greed and wants, which threaten to engulf us into a life of hedonism and materialism opposed to the will of God.

Let us all be humble in all things, and grow ever more devoted to God, and find for ourselves and build up for ourselves not the temporary and illusory treasures of this world, but the treasure of the world that is to come. Let us all show our faith in God through our genuine love for Him and for our fellow men. God bless us all. Amen.

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Monday, 19 October 2015 : 29th Week of Ordinary Time, Memorial of St. John de Brebeuf and St. Isaac Jogues, Priests and Companions, Martyrs, and St. Paul of the Cross, Priest (Gospel Reading)

Liturgical Colour : Green or Red (Martyrs) or White (Priests)

Luke 12 : 13-21

At that time, someone in the crowd spoke to Jesus, “Master, tell my brother to share with me the family inheritance.” He replied, “My friend, who has appointed Me as your Judge or your Attorney?” Then Jesus said to the people, “Be on your guard and avoid every kind of greed, for even though you have many possessions, it is not that which gives you life.”

And Jesus continued with this story, “There was a rich man, and his land had produced a good harvest. He thought, ‘What shall I do, for I am short of room to store my harvest? Alright, I know what I shall do : I will pull down my barns and I will build bigger ones, to store all this grain, which is my wealth. Then I will say to myself : My friend, you have a lot of good things put by for many years. Rest, eat, drink and enjoy yourself.'”

“But God said to him, ‘You fool! This very night your life will be taken from you. Tell Me who shall get all you have put aside?’ This is the lot of the one who stores up riches for himself and is not wealthy in the eyes of God.”

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Monday, 19 October 2015 : 29th Week of Ordinary Time, Memorial of St. John de Brebeuf and St. Isaac Jogues, Priests and Companions, Martyrs, and St. Paul of the Cross, Priest (Psalm)

Liturgical Colour : Green or Red (Martyrs) or White (Priests)

Luke 1 : 69-70, 71-72, 73-75

In the house of David His servant, He has raised up for us a victorious Saviour; as He promised through His prophets of old.

Salvation from our enemies and from the hand of our foes. He has shown mercy to our fathers; and remembered His holy covenant.

The oath He swore to Abraham, our father, to deliver us from the enemy, that we might serve Him fearlessly, as a holy and righteous people, all the days of our lives.

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Monday, 19 October 2015 : 29th Week of Ordinary Time, Memorial of St. John de Brebeuf and St. Isaac Jogues, Priests and Companions, Martyrs, and St. Paul of the Cross, Priest (First Reading)

Liturgical Colour : Green or Red (Martyrs) or White (Priests)

Romans 4 : 20-25

Abraham did not doubt nor did he distrust the promise of God, and by being strong in faith, he gave glory to God : he was convinced that He who had given the promise had power to fulfil it.

This was taken into account for him to attain righteousness. This was taken into account : these words of Scripture are not only for him, but for us, too, because we believe in Him who raised Jesus, our Lord from among the dead, He who was delivered for our sins and raised to life for us to receive true righteousness.