Fifth Sunday of Easter

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Saturday, 8 May 2021 : 5th Week of Easter (First Reading)

Liturgical Colour : White

Acts 16 : 1-10

Paul travelled on to Derbe and then to Lystra. A disciple named Timothy lived there, whose mother was a believer of Jewish origin but whose father was a Greek. As the believers at Lystra and Iconium spoke well of him, Paul wanted Timothy to accompany him. So he took him and, because of the Jews of that place who all knew that his father was a Greek, he circumcised him.

As they travelled from town to town, they delivered the decisions of the Apostles and elders in Jerusalem, for the people to obey. Meanwhile, the churches grew stronger in faith and increased in number every day.

They travelled through Phrygia and Galatia, because they had been prevented by the Holy Spirit from preaching the message in the province of Asia. When they came to Mysia, they tried to go to Bithynia, but the Spirit of Jesus did not allow them to do this. So, passing by Mysia, they went down to Troas.

There one night Paul had a vision. A Macedonian stood before him and begged him, “Come over to Macedonia and help us!” When he awoke, he told us of this vision and we understood that the Lord was calling us to give the Good News to the Macedonian people.

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Friday, 7 May 2021 : 5th Week of Easter (Homily and Scripture Reflections)

Liturgical Colour : White

Dear brothers and sisters in Christ, today as we listened to the words of the Scripture, we are all reminded of the need for all of us to be constantly filled with God’s love and grace, to be genuine in our faith and devotion to God, and to be sincere in following Him that we all may reflect the fullness of God’s love and compassion in our own lives. God has loved us all so much that He has given us His generous love which He has shown through His Church and by which He has called on all of us to be His disciples so that, as we turn towards Him and enter into His love, we may be saved from everlasting death.

In our first reading today from the Acts of the Apostles we heard of the conclusion of the First Council of Jerusalem in which the Apostles, led by St. Peter made an important decision on behalf of the entire Church with regards to the issue on whether the Church need to follow and obey the Jewish laws and customs, and whether those laws ought to be imposed on the non-Jewish people or the Gentiles or not. These matters divided the Church and the faithful back then quite bitterly, and the factions were in heated argument between each other.

The Pharisees and the teachers of the Law among the early converts to the Christian faith were on one side, arguing that all the Gentiles or the non-Jewish people must also follow the entire Jewish laws and customs, such as circumcision and many other rules as established by the Jewish tradition. This would have made it very difficult for the Gentiles to convert and become Christians as some of those regulations and customs were abhorred and found as incompatible by the societies in which the Gentiles came from, such as the Greeks and the Romans among others.

On the other side, St. Paul, St. Barnabas and all others who had ministered to the Gentiles spoke up on their behalf, in insisting that the Jewish laws and customs should not be imposed on all the faithful and the Gentiles should not be forced to do what was really difficult and unnecessary for them to do. After all, the Lord Himself has always criticised the excesses with which the Pharisees and the teachers of the Law enforced their version of the law and the commandments, imposing very heavy demands that the Jews themselves were unable to comply with, and even while followed, but those who followed them did not genuinely believe in God.

That was why, with the guidance of the Holy Spirit, the Apostles and the Council decided that all the faithful had no obligation to obey the full laws, rules and regulations as stipulated in the old laws and rules handed down from Moses and which since then had been heavily modified and expanded, and in the way they were practiced, they had lost their true meaning and purpose. Instead, the Apostles, represented by St. Peter, declared that what was truly necessary for all Christians, be it Jews or Gentiles alike, is to adhere to the core tenets of the faith, that is to act justly, avoid fornication and sinful ways, and to follow the Lord wholeheartedly.

The Lord sent forth His disciples to call all the people therefore to His presence, to turn away from their sins and wicked ways, and embrace wholeheartedly henceforth His ways, His commandments and laws. Just as all had been called to love the Lord, we all have been called to be bearers of this love, to make Him the focus and the centre of our whole life and existence. And we have to live our lives in this way, just as the Lord in our Gospel passage today spoke of the commandment He has entrusted to us, that we all love one another in the same way that we ought to love Him and dedicate ourselves to Him.

Unless we do this, brothers and sisters in Christ, then our faith is empty and meaningless, and no different from the faith of hypocrites. If we love only ourselves and not all our fellow brethren around us, then we should not call ourselves as Christians, because to be Christians means that we believe in Christ, Our Lord and Saviour wholeheartedly and entirely, that we embody His teachings, truth and ways in our every day living. This is what it truly means for us to be Christians, and that just as the Lord loves everyone, every single one of His children without exception, then we should also aspire to love all to the best of our abilities too.

In this season and time of Easter, all of us are called to be courageous in faith, as well as to renew our commitments to the Lord. We are all called to follow in the footsteps of the Apostles and the disciples of the Lord, in being good role models and guides of our faith, that we may become inspirations for one another, and that we can help strengthen each other in the daily struggles in life we face. This is why we are reminded and called to be good Christians, not just as mere formality only. We must have that strong and ardent desire to seek the Lord and to love Him from now on.

Let us all therefore reach out to our fellow brethren, especially those who need much love, and those who have been ostracised and forgotten, marginalised and oppressed. Let us all bring God’s love, hope and light into their midst, and be the concrete proof of God’s love in our respective communities, that this world will become an ever better place for all of us. Let us all commit the effort, time and attention for this, brothers and sisters, responding to the Lord’s call as best as we can.

May the Lord be with us all, and may He continue to guide us through life, that all of us may grow ever stronger in our love for Him, and that in all things, we may continue to love Him and also our fellow brothers and sisters, as genuine and dedicated Christians, now and always. Amen.

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Friday, 7 May 2021 : 5th Week of Easter (Gospel Reading)

Liturgical Colour : White

John 15 : 12-17

At that time, Jesus said to His disciples, “This is My commandment : Love one another as I have loved you! There is no greater love than this, to give one’s life for one’s friends; and you are My friends, if you do what I command you.”

“I shall not call You servants any more, because servants do not know what their master is about. Instead I have called you friends, since I have made known to you everything I learnt from My Father.”

“You did not choose Me; it was I Who chose you and sent you to go and bear fruit, fruit that will last. And everything you ask the Father in My Name, He will give you. This is My command, that you love one another.”

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Friday, 7 May 2021 : 5th Week of Easter (Psalm)

Liturgical Colour : White

Psalm 56 : 8-9, 10-12

My heart is steadfast, o God, my heart is steadfast. I will sing and make music. Awake, my soul, awake, o harp and lyre! I will wake the dawn.

I will give thanks to You, o Lord, among the peoples; I will sing praise to You among the nations. For Your love reaches to the heavens, and Your faithfulness, to the clouds.

Be exalted, o God, above the heavens! Let Your Glory be over all the earth!

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Friday, 7 May 2021 : 5th Week of Easter (First Reading)

Liturgical Colour : White

Acts 15 : 22-31

Then the Apostles and elders together with the whole Church decided to choose representatives from among them to send to Antioch with Paul and Barnabas. These were Judas, known as Barsabbas, and Silas, both leading men among the brothers. They took with them the following letter :

“Greetings from the Apostles and elders, your brothers, to the believers of non-Jewish birth in Antioch, Syria and Cilicia. We have heard that some persons from among us have worried you with their discussions and troubled your peace of mind. They were not appointed by us.”

“But now, it has seemed right to us in an assembly, to choose representatives and to send them to you, along with our beloved Barnabas and Paul, who have dedicated their lives to the service of our Lord Jesus Christ. We send you then Judas and Silas who themselves will give you these instructions by word of mouth.”

“We, with the Holy Spirit, have decided not to put any other burden on you except what is necessary : You are to abstain from blood from the meat of strangled animals and from prohibited marriages. If you keep yourselves from these, you will do well. Farewell.”

After saying goodbye, the messengers went to Antioch, where they assembled the community and handed them the letter. When they read the news, all were delighted with the encouragement it gave them.

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Thursday, 6 May 2021 : 5th Week of Easter (Homily and Scripture Reflections)

Liturgical Colour : White

Dear brothers and sisters in Christ, today as we heard the words of the Lord in the Scripture, all of us are reminded of God’s love for each and every one of us, and then we are also reminded that because of this love, then we are all also called to be filled with the same love, to love our fellow brothers and sisters, all those whom we encounter in life that we may indeed be the bearers of the love of God in our world today. This is the commandment that the Lord has given us, and the mission which He has entrusted to each one of us.

In our first reading today, we heard the words of St. Peter the Apostle, the leader of the Church and all the Apostles, as he convened the First Council of Jerusalem, historically the first ever Council of the Church held to discuss the disagreements among the members of the Church, some of whom argued that everyone ought to be following and obeying the Jewish traditions and commandments, the very strict rules in the Jewish customs which they wanted to be imposed on the Gentile or the non-Jewish converts as well.

As St. Paul and St. Barnabas protested such an effort by those who wanted to impose the strict discipline of the Jewish laws and customs on the rest of the Church, the matter came to the attention of the other Apostles who then convened this meeting and Council to address the issue once and for all. They discerned and prayed over the matter, and St. Peter, with the wisdom of the Holy Spirit, revealed the decision of the Apostles and the Council, in negating the requirement for the Jewish laws, traditions and customs for the faithful, and instead, reminding everyone of the more important meaning of what it truly means to be a follower of Christ.

St. Peter reminded the assembled faithful how they should not be burdened by the great weight of the Jewish laws and customs, the traditions and rules, many of which the Jews themselves were unable and struggling at best to fulfil and follow, and as the Lord Himself has also criticised the hypocrisy of the Pharisees and the teachers of the Law in pursuing those laws and rules to a fault, then that was why the Church did not impose on the faithful those Jewish laws and customs that were deemed excessive and unnecessary.

Instead, everyone was reminded of the most important commandment that the Lord has given to them, and to all of us, that is the commandments of love as we heard it in our Gospel reading today. Those who belong to the Lord ought to love Him and to keep His commandments, the commandments of love, and remain in His love, by their own loving ways and actions. That is the true mark and identity of what being Christian is, and that is what we all should be doing in our lives as well. This means that we should avoid living our lives without genuine love and commitment towards the Lord.

God has called all of us to His salvation, and He has embraced us all with His generous love, and therefore, just as He has called on everyone to be His followers, Jews and Gentiles alike, from all the whole world, all equally beloved by Him, thus we are all called to love Him with all of our strength, to love Him wholeheartedly and from the deepest of our heart, giving our whole being to Him, and appreciating all that He has done for us all these while. He has also taught us to love one another, just as we ought to love Him, and thus this is what we should be doing as well, brothers and sisters in Christ.

In our world today there is often too little love and too much hatred, bitterness and negativity. We easily turn against each other and being focused too much on our own selfish desires, which led to us causing hurt and pain, suffering and difficulties for others. That is not how Christians should behave, and therefore, we should not let ourselves be tempted to act in this manner either. We should instead be the inspirations and examples for others in how we love one another, and how God’s love and truth are visible in us and our actions.

All of us are called to true holiness and faith in the Lord, that everyone who sees us and witnesses our actions, can see that we truly are God’s people, filled with His love and living our lives sincerely with genuine faith. That way, many more people can be touched by God’s love through us, and because of this, many more people can be saved, and join all of us in God’s everlasting kingdom. This is our Christian calling and mission, what each and every one of us have been called to do in our lives. Are we willing to commit ourselves and efforts to do what we can, for the greater glory of God, brothers and sisters?

May the Lord be with us all and may He give us all the strength and courage to live ever more faithfully, that in all things we may follow Him ever more zealously, and that we may give the inspiration to one another to remain true to God, to His love and truth, all the time. May God bless us all and our every good efforts and endeavours. Amen.

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Thursday, 6 May 2021 : 5th Week of Easter (Gospel Reading)

Liturgical Colour : White

John 15 : 9-11

At that time, Jesus said to His disciples, “As the Father has loved Me, so I have loved you. Remain in My love! You will remain in My love if you keep My commandments, just as I have kept My Father’s commandments and remain in His love.

I have told you all this, that My own joy may be in you, and your joy may be complete.”

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Thursday, 6 May 2021 : 5th Week of Easter (Psalm)

Liturgical Colour : White

Psalm 95 : 1-2a, 2b-3, 10

Sing to the Lord a new song, sing to the Lord, all the earth! Sing to the Lord, bless His Name.

Proclaim His salvation day after day. Recall His glory among the nations, tell all the peoples His wonderful deeds.

Say among the nations, “The Lord reigns!” He will judge the peoples with justice.

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Thursday, 6 May 2021 : 5th Week of Easter (First Reading)

Liturgical Colour : White

Acts 15 : 7-21

As the discussions became heated, Peter stood up and said to them, “Brothers, you know that from the beginning God chose me among you so that non-Jews could hear the Good News from me and believe. God, Who can read hearts, put Himself on their side by giving the Holy Spirit to them just as He did to us. He made no distinction between us and them and cleansed their hearts through faith.”

“So why do you want to put God to the test? Why do you lay on the disciples a burden that neither our ancestors nor we ourselves were able to carry? We believe, indeed, that we are saved through the grace of the Lord Jesus, just as they are.”

The whole assembly kept silent as they listened to Paul and Barnabas tell of all the miraculous signs and wonders that God had done through them among the non-Jews. After they had finished, James spoke up, “Listen to me, brothers. Symeon has just explained how God first showed His care by taking a people for Himself from non-Jewish nations.”

“And the words of the prophets agree with this, for Scripture says, ‘After this I will return and rebuild the booth of David which has fallen; I will rebuild its ruins and set it up again. Then the rest of humanity will look for the Lord, and all the nations will be consecrated to My Name. So says the Lord, Who does today what He decided from the beginning.'”

“Because of this, I think that we should not make difficulties for those non-Jews who are turning to God. Let us just tell them not to eat food that is unclean from having been offered to idols; to keep themselves from prohibited marriages; and not to eat the flesh of animals that have been strangled, or any blood. For from the earliest times Moses has been taught in every place, and every Sabbath his laws are recalled.”

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Wednesday, 5 May 2021 : 5th Week of Easter (Homily and Scripture Reflections)

Liturgical Colour : White

Dear brothers and sisters in Christ, today as we discern the truth contained in the Scripture passages we heard, all of us are reminded of the need for us all to remain attached and firmly centred on God throughout our whole lives, and we should not allow our own prejudices, biases, pride and desire to come between us and being a true follower of Christ. Through what the readings have shown us, we are reminded that it is very easy for us to be distracted away from the truth, from the path that the Lord has shown us, and end up becoming divided one against the other.

In our first reading today, we heard of this unfortunate occasion from the Acts of the Apostles as there were some among the Christian converts who wanted to impose the strict Jewish laws and customs on the entire Church, including on the Gentiles or the non-Jewish people like the Greeks and the Romans. Those people argued that unless they followed the laws and rules passed down from Moses, such as regarding circumcision and other regulations, they could not be saved. But St. Paul and others opposed this teaching and viewpoint.

Those were the views of some among the disciples who were members of the Pharisees and the teachers of the Law, some of whom indeed became believers and followers of the Lord while most remained in opposition against Him. However, even among those Pharisees and teachers of the Law who became the Lord’s disciples, it seems that they still held on their previous beliefs and way of life, in zealously enforcing the full rules and regulations of the laws of Moses. And they carried that mentality and habit with them as they entered the Church.

But in doing so, they were making it very difficult for the Gentiles who were converted to the faith, as while there are quite a few tenets of the laws of Moses that were difficult even for the Jewish people to follow, but there were some basic requirements of the old Jewish laws and customs that were seen as aberration and even disgusting by the Romans and the Greeks, such as the practice of circumcision as mentioned in the Acts of the Apostles today. Insisting that all the Gentiles convert to the Christian faith to be circumcised as the Jews had, would make it very difficult for them to continue living their lives in the world.

That is why St. Paul and St. Barnabas opposed the opinion and the efforts of those who attempted to enforce the Jewish laws and customs on the Gentiles among the converts, and sought the Apostles in Jerusalem to make a decision on the matter. That is because the situation was indeed threatening to split apart the Church, causing the Church to splinter into many parts with their different ideas. This is related to what we have heard in our Gospel passage today, we heard the Lord in His parable of the Vine, in which He referred to Himself as the True Vine, and all of us as the branches of the Vine.

The Lord Himself made it clear that unless we remain firmly attached to Him like the branches being attached to the vine, the stem from which the branches all came out from, then we as the branches will perish and be destroyed on our own. That was why, the Apostles later on would gather together with all the elders and the members of the faithful, and presided by St. Peter himself, as the Vicar of Christ, they decided that the Gentiles would not need to follow the full commandments and rules as laid down by the old laws and rules of Moses and the many other rules and customs set among the Israelites and their descendants throughout time.

Brothers and sisters in Christ, let us all ponder on all these and think of how each and every one of us can remain firmly faithful in God. The Lord has given us the Church as the firm foundation upon which we can remain firmly rooted in faith in Him, by following the tenets and the teachings of the Church, which are the truth of Christ Our Lord passed down to us through His Apostles and their successors. It was these same Apostles who had decided, with the wisdom and guidance from the Holy Spirit, to be faithful to the truth that the Lord Himself has revealed to them, in calling everyone to be saved, whether Jews or Gentiles.

Now, are we able to stay committed and faithful to the Lord as well, brothers and sisters in Christ? Are we willing and able to make the commitment to be ever more faithful to Him and to stay rooted in Him, to have faith and complete trust in Him, and to hold firmly to our Christian beliefs to the best of our abilities? In this world today there are so many temptations and pressures that threaten to mislead and misguide us down the wrong paths, and unless we remain strong and steady in our faith, we will end up falling into the trap of the devil and sin against God. Is that what we want, brothers and sisters?

Let us all therefore renew our commitment to the Lord, by deepening our relationship with Him and by finding out more about our faith, so that we truly may know what our belief in the Lord is all about, and that we may then glorify Him through our lives and actions, remaining firmly attached to Him, the True Vine and the Source of all truth. May the Lord be with us all and may He strengthen us in faith, and give us the courage to follow Him wholeheartedly from now on with devotion, at all times. Amen.