Feast of St. Polycarp

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Friday, 23 February 2024 : 1st Week of Lent, Memorial of St. Polycarp, Bishop and Martyr (Homily and Scripture Reflections)

Liturgical Colour : Purple/Violet

Dear brothers and sisters in Christ, today we are all called to live our lives righteously and in accordance with the teachings and the ways which the Lord Himself has presented to us, that we should be good, righteous, just and worthy in all of our actions, words and deeds, in each and every moments of our lives, and therefore, we must always strive to do what we have been taught and shown to do through the Church. Each and every one of us must remind ourselves that righteousness and virtues, all these will be rewarded by the Lord, while sins and wickedness in our lives will be counted against us in the end, at the time of the Final and Last Judgment. We must keep this in mind so that we will continue to live virtuously and strive to do God’s will in all things and at all times.

In our first reading today, taken from the Book of the prophet Ezekiel, we heard the Lord speaking to His people through Ezekiel reminding all of them that the righteous and the just will be judged by the sins that they all committed, and should in the end, they are found wanting and lacking in faith overall, they shall be condemned and cast down by those sins and wickedness. In the meantime, the wicked and those who are considered as sinners, shall be saved and brought out of the darkness, saved and brought into the Holy Presence of God, filled with His grace and love, and receive from Him the assurance of eternal life and glory, by the righteous deeds and repentance through which they had done and embraced.

This means that first of all, no one is truly beyond God’s redemption and forgiveness, as even the worst of sinners can have the opportunity to turn away from their many sins and be forgiven from all of them, should they consciously choose to abandon those sinful ways and turn back once again towards the Lord. At the same time, it is also an important reminder for us that ultimately sin is still dangerous and harmful to us, as God despises sin and evil, and while He does not despise us, but as long as we continue to commit sins against the Lord and refuse to repent from those sins, then those sins and wickedness shall become our obstacles and shall be counted against us. This is a reminder for all of us to remain ever faithful and committed to the Lord, to His path at all times.

Then, in our Gospel passage today, we heard from the Gospel of St. Matthew in which the Lord Jesus Himself reminded His disciples and all of us once again to be truly full of faith and love for God, and to be sincere in how we live our Christian lives, our dedication to God in all things. We should always do our best in all of our actions and words, in every moments to follow God’s path, to do His will and to love one another, as we should always do. We should not hold grudges and hate each other, and we must learn how to forgive and to let go of our anger and emotions, forgiving each other just as the Lord Himself has been so merciful and forgiving towards us. We must keep in mind this love and kindness shown to us, and we must do the same in our own lives as well, that we ourselves may be good examples and inspirations to others.

Today, the Church celebrates the Feast of St. Polycarp, holy bishop and martyr, whose life and dedication to God should serve as good inspiration and examples for all of us as well, in how we ought to live out our lives. St. Polycarp was one of the earliest Church fathers who were the contemporaries of the successors of the Apostles like St. Ignatius of Antioch and others, and was a possible disciple of St. John the Apostle. According to the Apostolic traditions, he was converted by the Apostles, was made a priest and later on a bishop of the Church, and he was involved in many discussions about the works and proceedings of the Church, including the differences in practices such as the computation of the dates of Easter between the churches in Asia Minor and Rome.

Then, when persecutions came upon the Church and the faithful as it was common at that time in the early Church, St. Polycarp was persecuted and tortured, as he, like the many other Christians at the time, were forced to burn incense offerings and worship the Roman Emperors, which were considered as divine at the time. St. Polycarp refused to do so and proclaimed his faith before his persecutors, that he cannot betray and abandon his Lord and God, because in all his many years of life, God has always been with him and had done him no wrong. He also spoke bravely and firmly about the eternal flame of punishment that would punish all sinners, and whatever flames or torture he would have to endure, none of those could be compared to the eternal flames of hell. Thus, St. Polycarp was martyred by being burnt at the stake and pierced with a spear.

Brothers and sisters in Christ, the great courage and faith which St. Polycarp had in the Lord should inspire all of us to have that kind of strong and unwavering faith in God as well. We should have that strong desire to love and serve the Lord faithfully to the best of our abilities so that in all that we say and do, we will always strive to glorify the Lord by our lives, distancing ourselves from sin and evil, and like St. Polycarp before us, to be inspirations and good role models in faith for our fellow brothers and sisters. We must do our part in every moments of our lives, to proclaim the Lord’s path and His ways to everyone all around us. We must lead by example, and show that our faith is not merely just superficial, but instead, we are truly full of genuine and real faith in God.

Let us all therefore do our best, especially in this blessed time and moment of Lent which we have been presented with, so that in all the things we do, we will continue to walk ever more courageously and faithfully in the path of the Lord, as we continue to draw ever closer to Him. Let us all continue to be the worthy and shining beacons of God’s light, truth, Good News and love in our world today, filled with sin, darkness and evil. May the Lord be with us always, and may He bless us in our every good endeavours and efforts. Amen.

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Friday, 23 February 2024 : 1st Week of Lent, Memorial of St. Polycarp, Bishop and Martyr (Gospel Reading)

Liturgical Colour : Purple/Violet

Matthew 5 : 20-26

At that time, Jesus said to His disciples, “I tell you then, if you are not righteous in a much broader way than the teachers of the Law and the Pharisees, you cannot enter the kingdom of heaven. You have heard that it was said to our people in the past : Do not commit murder; anyone who does kill will have to face trial. But now I tell you : whoever gets angry with a brother or sister will have to face trial.”

“Whoever insults a brother or sister deserves to be brought before the council. Whoever calls a brother or a sister, ‘Fool!’ deserves to be thrown into the fire of hell. So, if you are about to offer your gift at the altar, and you remember that your brother has something against you, leave your gift there in front of the altar, go at once and make peace with him, and then come back and offer your gift to God.”

“Do not forget this : be reconciled with your opponent quickly when you are together on the way to court. Otherwise he will turn you over to the judge, who will hand you over to the police, who will put you in jail. There you will stay, until you have paid the last penny.”

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Friday, 23 February 2024 : 1st Week of Lent, Memorial of St. Polycarp, Bishop and Martyr (Psalm)

Liturgical Colour : Purple/Violet

Psalm 129 : 1-2, 3-4, 5-7a, 7bc-8

Out of the depths I cry to You, o Lord, o Lord, hear my voice! Let Your ears pay attention to the voice of my supplication.

If You should mark our evil, o Lord, who could stand? But with You is forgiveness.

For that You are revered. I waited for the Lord, my soul waits, and I put my hope in His word. My soul expects the Lord more than watchmen the dawn.

O Israel, hope in the Lord, for with Him is unfailing love and with Him full deliverance. He will deliver Israel from all its sins.

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Friday, 23 February 2024 : 1st Week of Lent, Memorial of St. Polycarp, Bishop and Martyr (First Reading)

Liturgical Colour : Purple/Violet

Ezekiel 18 : 21-28

If the sinner turns from his sin, observes My decrees and practices what is right and just, he will live, he will not die. None of the sins he committed will be charged against him, he will live as a consequence of his righteous deeds. Do I want the death of the sinner? – word of YHVH. Do I not rather want him to turn from his ways and live?

But if the righteous man turns away from what is good and commits sins as the wicked do, will he live? His righteous deeds will no longer be credited to him, but he will die because of his infidelity and his sins. But you say : YHVH’s way is not just! Why, Israel! Is My position wrong? Is it not rather that yours is wrong?”

“If the righteous man dies after turning from his righteous deeds and sinning, he dies because of his sins. And if the wicked man does what is good and right, after turning from the sins he committed, he will save his life. He will live and not die, because he has opened his eyes and turned from the sins he had committed.”

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Thursday, 23 February 2023 : Thursday after Ash Wednesday, Memorial of St. Polycarp, Bishop and Martyr (Homily and Scripture Reflections)

Liturgical Colour : Purple/Violet

Dear brothers and sisters in Christ, today as we listened to the words of the Lord in the Scriptures, we are all called to remember that each and every one of us have been given the choice from the Lord to follow the path that He has revealed before us, or to turn our back against Him and walk away from Him, by continuing to live in the state of sin. All of us have been given the freedom to choose, the free will to discern the path that we are going to choose in our path forward in life. That is why the Lord reminds us today, through His Church, at the beginning of this Lenten season that we should be very careful and vigilant in how we live our lives so that we do not end up falling into the path of sin and evil, and we do not end up making the wrong choice because we are swayed by the temptations of the world.

In our first reading today, taken from the Book of Deuteronomy, we heard of the Lord’s reminders to the people of Israel, which He gave them through His servant Moses, who led the people of God in the great Exodus from the land of Egypt, where the Israelites were enslaved. First, we must understand how the Lord has led them all out of Egypt through Moses and his brother Aaron, performing great wonders and miracles, and leading them even through the sea itself, as I am sure we are all aware of. During the journey to the land He has promised to them, God gave His Law and commandments, and made a Covenant with them on Mount Sinai. But the people even at that early stage already showed signs of rebellion and unwillingness to obey God’s Law and commandments.

They made for themselves a golden calf to be their god, and offered sacrifices to it, despite having witnessed and experienced all the things that God had done for them, in saving them from their troubles and slavery. Those who disobeyed the Lord and persisted in the rebellion were crushed by God, and at that day, when Moses returned from the Mount of God, three thousand people in total perished by their refusal to repent from their sinfulness, while the rest also had to endure the bitterness of their disobedience. Then, in another well-known occasion, at the place known as Massah and Meribah, the Israelites rebelled again in opposition to God because they complained and disagreed about their state in the desert, despite God having provided for their every needs, every step of their way.

In all those occasions, including the time when God finally led them all to the boundary of the Promised Land, and when they refused to enter because of the reports from the scouts they sent to find out more about the place, which brought fear to their hearts, God punished all of their whole generation for their continued hard-hearted attitude and wickedness, their stubbornness and refusal to believe in Him. They were barred from entering into the Promised Land, and the journey which was supposed to be a relatively short one, ended up becoming a sojourn in the desert lasting a whole period of forty years, in which the entire generation of those who had rebelled and refused to follow God, save that of Caleb and Joshua, who remained faithful to the end, perished and died. Like what happened in one occasion when the rebelling Israelites were struck by the plague of fiery serpents, many died for their rebellion and sin.

Brothers and sisters in Christ, what those examples and experiences highlighted to the people of Israel back then and also to all of us is that, those people made their choice of action, in rebelling against God and in disobeying Him by their own free will. They have been given so much by God, provided and helped throughout their journey, and even throughout that forty years period of punishment and delay, God still provided the people with everything that they needed to survive and even flourish in the middle of a hot and lifeless desert. Whatever the people did in disobeying God and rebelling against Him was therefore their own free will and free choice, as there were also those who remained firm in their faith in God, and did not fall into the sinful and rebellious ways. What is clear is that the path of disobedience and rebellion lead to death and destruction, while faith leads to salvation and liberation in God.

God Himself has said that those who kept their faith in Him will be blessed and will receive the fullness of His grace, and while the path that He was leading them towards will not be an easy one, but there is great merit for one to choose to remain faithful to God and to obey His Law and commandments. In our Gospel passage today, the Lord Jesus told His disciples that unless they take up their crosses and follow Him, there will be no salvation and path forward to eternal life for them, and He said clearly that even He Himself, as the Son of Man and Saviour of all, would have to endure great persecution and sufferings, as He eventually did at the moment of His Passion, when He chose willingly to bear the whole entire great and unimaginably heavy burden of our multitudes of sins, so that by His suffering and death, He might bring us all to the assurance of eternal life.

The Lord reminded us all that following Him is something that we should do, and we have the free will to choose that or to continue to live in the state of sin as what we may be more accustomed to in this world. His path is likely going to be a difficult and challenging one, as we often will have to resist the many temptations all around us, and as was evident from the example of the Israelites in the past, many of them and our predecessors failed to do so. Many veered off and fell off the path that God had led them through, and were tempted and ensnared by sin instead, tempted by their pride and ego, their greed and desires, their jealousy and lust, among others. But this should not discourage us from following the Lord. Instead, it should keep our flames of faith burning bright and strong, as we help one another to remain faithful to God.

Today, we should be inspired by the great examples and faith shown by St. Polycarp, a great Church father and our holy predecessor, who was a bishop of the Church, the Bishop of Smyrna in Asia Minor. St. Polycarp was known to be one of the disciples of St. John the Apostle, the last surviving Apostle of the Lord back then, and he was entrusted with the care of many of the faithful in the often persecuted but still thriving Church. He was regarded as one of the three greatest Apostolic Fathers, the successors of the Apostles, together with Pope St. Clement of Rome and St. Ignatius of Antioch, each of whom were great role models and sources of inspiration in their own right. St. Polycarp corresponded frequently with the other Church fathers and was a great example to his flock, caring much for their spiritual needs.

And during a time of great and intense persecution of the Church by the Roman state, which carried out many rounds and episodes of persecutions and attacks against the Church and the faithful, St. Polycarp helped to lead his flock to remain faithful to God, and to endure the hardships and challenges that they had to face in the defence of their faith in God. In the end, St. Polycarp himself was arrested and persecuted, when he was already in the advanced age of eighty-six years old. Even then, in that old age, he remained strong in his desire to love and serve the Lord, and in persevering through the hardships and sufferings that he had to suffer, together with the rest of his flock, which was truly an example of them carrying their cross with the Lord. St. Polycarp died a martyr, inspiring countless others to follow the Lord more faithfully and with greater love, and I hope he has inspired us similarly too.

Brothers and sisters in Christ, let us all therefore renew our faith and commitment in God as we enter into this holy and blessed season of Lent. Let us make good use of this time and opportunity that God has given us so that each and every one of us may distance ourselves from the many temptations of sin, the allures of worldly fame, glory, pleasures, and the pressure from our pride, ego, greed, jealousy, ambition, and more. Let us all control all those desires and negative things within us, and help one another to be strong in enduring the challenges and trials of this world, carrying our crosses together faithfully with God. May the Lord continue to guide us and strengthen us, and give us all the courage to continue to live our lives as good and dedicated Christians, blessing our every works and efforts, our every endeavours at all times. Amen.

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Thursday, 23 February 2023 : Thursday after Ash Wednesday, Memorial of St. Polycarp, Bishop and Martyr (Gospel Reading)

Liturgical Colour : Purple/Violet

Luke 9 : 22-25

At that time, Jesus said to His disciples, “The Son of Man must suffer many things. He will be rejected by the elders and chief priests and teachers of the Law, and be put to death. Then after three days He will be raised to life.”

Jesus also said to all the people, “If you wish to be a follower of Mine, deny yourself and take up your cross each day, and follow Me! For if you choose to save your life, you will lose it; but if you lose your life for My sake, you will save it. What does it profit you to gain the whole world, if you destroy or damage yourself?”

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Thursday, 23 February 2023 : Thursday after Ash Wednesday, Memorial of St. Polycarp, Bishop and Martyr (Psalm)

Liturgical Colour : Purple/Violet

Psalm 1 : 1-2, 3, 4 and 6

Blessed is the man who does not go where the wicked gather, or stand in the way of sinners, or sit where the scoffers sit! Instead, he finds delight in the Law of YHVH and meditates day and night on His commandments.

He is like a tree beside a brook producing its fruit in due season, its leaves never withering. Everything he does is a success.

But it is different with the wicked. They are like chaff driven away by the wind. For YHVH knows the way of the righteous but cuts off the way of the wicked.

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Thursday, 23 February 2023 : Thursday after Ash Wednesday, Memorial of St. Polycarp, Bishop and Martyr (First Reading)

Liturgical Colour : Purple/Violet

Deuteronomy 30 : 15-20

See, I set before you on this day life and good, evil and death. I command you to love YHVH, your God and follow His ways. Observe His commandments, His norms and His laws, and you will live and increase, and YHVH will give you His blessing in the land you are going to possess.

But if your heart turns away and does not listen, if you are drawn away and bow before other gods to serve them, I declare on this day that you shall perish. You shall not last in the land you are going to occupy on the other side of the Jordan.

Let the heavens and the earth listen, that they may be witnesses against you. I have set before you life and death, blessing and curse. Therefore, choose life that you and your descendants may live, loving YHVH, listening to His voice, and being one with Him. In this life for you and length of days in the land which YHVH swore to give to your ancestors, to Abraham, Isaac and Jacob.

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Wednesday, 23 February 2022 : 7th Week of Ordinary Time, Memorial of St. Polycarp, Bishop and Martyr (Homily and Scripture Reflections)

Liturgical Colour : Red

Dear brothers and sisters in Christ, today as we listened to the words of the Scriptures all of us are called to do what we can to contribute to the works of the Lord, the mission and the actions that we have been called to do as the followers and the disciples of Our Lord and Saviour. As Christians we have to do whatever we can to do the will of God and to support one another in doing so, and not to do things for only our own personal glory and achievements, satisfaction or pleasure.

In our first reading today, we heard from the Epistle of St. James the Apostle in which the Apostle spoke of the futility of many people who make plans and ambitious aims, concerted efforts and other things to advance their own often selfish and greedy goals in life. All those things that man have often done to preserve themselves, their gains and self-interests are ultimately meaningless because no matter how many things we accumulate and gather in life, we will never bring them forth beyond this life.

That is why, St. James told all of us the faithful people of God that we should not immerse ourselves in worldly desires and all the corrupt and wicked things that are present in our world today. We have to do our best to resist the temptations to sin, or else we may end up falling away further and further from the path of God. Many of our predecessors had fallen in such a manner, and unless we heed the words of the Apostle St. James, we may end up suffering the same fate as well, forgetting God and His ways as we got distracted by the many temptations of this world.

In our Gospel passage today, we heard from the Lord Jesus speaking to His disciples when the latter tried to stop a person performing works and miracles in the Name of the Lord, just because they did not belong to their group. The disciples must have seen the man as a rival to their work and influence, and unwittingly, without them knowing it, they actually had done exactly what the Pharisees and the teachers of the Lord had often done, in trying to stop the Lord and His disciples in their works of carrying out the will of God.

The Pharisees and the teachers of the Law were also thinking that they were doing the work of God as they opposed the Lord and His disciples, thinking that they alone had obeyed and followed the Lord in the right manner. As such, they ended up obstructing and made it difficult for the Lord to perform His works, and that was the unfortunate result when man allowed their worldly desires, their greed and ego, their ambition, jealousy and others to cloud their judgment and lead them down the path of disobedience and sin.

The Lord therefore had reminded His disciples and thus, also all of us that we cannot allow those things from distracting and misleading us any further in life. We have to resist the temptations of worldly ambitions and thinking that we do things for our own benefits and glory. The disciples must have thought of that as they went to the Lord asking Him to prohibit the other man from doing his works in His Name. But the Lord immediately reminded them that as long as he works in His Name and for His glory, that is all that matters.

Now, all of us as Christians are called to reflect on these things, keeping in mind how we are going to live our lives from now on. We are called to refocus our attention towards the Lord and model ourselves on our great and holy predecessors, whose examples should inspire us to follow in their footsteps in being faithful to God. Today, we celebrate one of those great saints, namely that of St. Polycarp, a holy bishop and servant of God, and devout martyr of the faith and the Church.

St. Polycarp was one of the early Church fathers and successor to the Apostles, who was a contemporary of the disciples of the Twelve Apostles, and might have encountered and corresponded with some of the Apostles, especially that of St. John the Apostle. He collaborated with the other leaders of the Church and helped the Church in the place under his responsibility to grow and prosper, even through the times of great hardships and occasional persecutions from the Roman state.

He continued to work hard and devote his time, effort and attention to the people entrusted to him, even until a very advanced age, and it was at that time, when he was already eighty-six years old, that he was martyred in the defence of his faith, likely during the time of one of the persecutions against Christians. He had proclaimed the Christian truth and faith with great courage throughout his life, and to the very end, he showed that not even suffering and death could stop him from doing so, for the greater glory of God.

Brothers and sisters in Christ, let us all therefore do whatever we can to follow in the footsteps of St. Polycarp and our many other holy predecessors, in putting God as the focus and emphasis of their lives, in making their lives worthy of Him through their actions and commitment. Let us all not be distracted and tempted any further by worldly temptations from now on, and instead be good role models for one another and assist each other in our respective journey of faith towards the Lord, now and always. Amen.

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Wednesday, 23 February 2022 : 7th Week of Ordinary Time, Memorial of St. Polycarp, Bishop and Martyr (Gospel Reading)

Liturgical Colour : Red

Mark 9 : 38-40

At that time, John said to Jesus, “Master, we saw someone who drove out demons by calling upon Your Name, and we tried to forbid him, because he does not belong to our group.”

Jesus answered, “Do not forbid him, for no one who works a miracle in My Name can soon after speak evil of Me. For whoever is not against us is for us.”