Liturgical Colour : Green
Psalm 118 : 14, 24, 72, 103, 111, 131
I delight in following Your laws, more so than in all riches.
Your laws are my delight, my counsellors who uphold me.
Your law is more precious to me than heaps of silver and gold.
How sweet are Your promises to my taste, sweeter than honey to my mouth!
Your statutes are my heritage forever, they are the joy of my heart.
I gasp in ardent yearning for Your commandments that I love.
Liturgical Colour : Green
Revelations 10 : 8-11
And the voice I heard from heaven spoke again, saying to me, “Go near the Angel Who stands on the sea and on the land, and take the small book open in his hand.” So I approached the Angel and asked him for the small book; he said to me, “Take it and eat; although it be sweet as honey in your mouth, it will be bitter to your stomach.”
I took the small book from the hand of the Angel, and ate it. It was sweet as honey in my mouth, but when I had eaten it, it turned bitter in my stomach. Then I was told, “You must again proclaim God’s words about many peoples, nations, tongues and kings.”
Liturgical Colour : Green
Dear brothers and sisters in Christ, today all of us are called to keep in mind of our faith in God especially as we will not know the time and circumstance of the Lord’s coming as He has promised, the time of His second coming into this world. We must always be vigilant and be prepared, and not to allow the temptations of evil and wickedness to lead us astray, or the words of those who have made false promises and lies of the devil to tempt us. And we are going to hear more and more of this theme as we approach the end of the current liturgical cycle.
In our first reading today, St. John in his Epistle spoke of this as he told the people to remember what their faith is all about, the commandments of God’s love, the Law that He has passed unto us and revealed to us. Through this Law of love, God wants each and every one of us to follow Him and His examples, and obey the tenets and commandments He has given us through His Church, that each and every one of us may remain true to our Christian faith and remain faithful to the very end.
St. John spoke of how those who taught otherwise and differently from the true Christian teachings were antichrists and false prophets, as at that time there were quite a few of those who misinterpreted the teachings of Christ or muddled them with their own beliefs and other pagan practices in syncretism, which ended up misleading the faithful people of God and creating divisions in the Church of God. St. John as one of the Apostles of the Lord certainly did not wish to see the Church divided by all these falsehoods.
In our Gospel passage today, we heard the Lord speaking of the moments and times of reckoning as how it has happened earlier in the history of man, from the time of Noah, when the Great Flood came upon the world and drowned most of the creatures save for Noah and his family and all the animals he has saved. He has also spoken of the time of Lot, when the cities of Sodom and Gomorrah were destroyed by their sins and wickedness, save for Lot and his family, although his wife did perish in the event.
In those two occasions, we clearly see how God’s reckoning and judgment came upon all those who have committed heinous sins and wicked deeds before their faithful ones. Those sinful descendants of mankind had filled the world with their sins by the time of Noah that Noah and his family alone were counted among the righteous. Therefore, despite God’s repeated warnings and also premonition to them, as Noah took a long time to complete his great Ark, no one repented and they even laughed at Noah for his efforts.
It was the same with the case of Sodom and Gomorrah, that despite Lot’s efforts to open the eyes of the people of those cities, but they and their lust and desire to sin led them to their doom. And despite Abraham’s pleas to the Lord to spare the cities for the sake of his cousin Lot, his repeated efforts to ask the Lord to be merciful, the sins of those people of Sodom and Gomorrah, that no one save Lot and his immediate family could be found to be righteous, doomed and judged them.
It will therefore be the same for us, brothers and sisters, at the time of our reckoning and judgment. Do we want to end up like the the people of Noah’s time or the ones in Sodom and Gomorrah who perished together with their cities? As we listened to these readings we are in fact reminded by the Lord through His Church that we should not be complacent in the living of our faith, that we will not end up falling into the path of sin and evil.
Brothers and sisters in Christ, let us all discern carefully what we have heard today and reflect deeply on the words of the Lord Himself, calling on all of us to follow Him and be faithful. It is a reminder that everything will happen as the Lord has ordained it, and we certainly do not want to end up in the wrong path or find ourselves on the wrong side. And what should we do then, brothers and sisters? We should renew our faith and commitment to the Lord and dedicate our time and effort to serve Him.
Let us all resist the temptations to sin, and reject the path of evil as we move forward in life. Let us turn towards God with a new commitment and love God with ever greater generosity and dedication from now on. May the Lord be with us and be our guide, helping us to endure the challenges and trials we are bound to encounter along this journey we walk through. May God bless us all and all of our good endeavours and efforts, each and every moments of our lives. Amen.
Liturgical Colour : Green
Luke 17 : 26-37
At that time, Jesus said to His disciples, “As it was in the days of Noah, so will it be on the day the Son of Man comes. In those days people ate and drank and got married; but on the day Noah entered the Ark, the flood came and destroyed them all.”
“So it was in the days of Lot : people ate and drank, and bought and sold, and planted and built; but on the day Lot left Sodom, God made fire and sulfur rain down from heaven, which destroyed them all. So will it be on the day the Son of Man is revealed.”
“On that day, if you are on the rooftop, do not go down into the house to get your belongings; and if you happen to be in the fields, do not turn back. Remember Lot’s wife! Whoever tries to save his life will lose himself, but whoever gives his life will be born again.”
“I tell you, though two men are sharing the same bed, it might happen that one will be taken, and the other left; though two women are grinding corn together, one might be taken and the other left.” Then they asked Jesus, “Where will this take place, Lord?” And He answered, “Where the body is, there too will the vultures gather.”
Liturgical Colour : Green
Psalm 118 : 1, 2, 10, 11, 17, 18
Blessed are they whose ways are upright, who follow the law of the Lord.
Blessed are they who treasure His word and seek Him with all their heart.
I seek You with my whole heart; let me not stray from Your commands.
In my heart I have kept Your word, that I may not sin against my Lord.
Be kind to Your servant, that I may live to follow Your word.
Open my eyes that I may see the marvellous truths in Your law.
Liturgical Colour : Green
2 John 4-9
I rejoiced greatly on meeting some of your children who live in accordance with the truth, according to the command we have received from the Father. And now, I ask you, Lady – I write to you not a new commandment but that which we had from the beginning – I ask you : let us love one another.
This is love : to walk according to His commandments. And this is the commandment : that you walk in love as you have learnt from the beginning. Many deceivers have gone out into the world, people who do not acknowledge that Jesus is the Christ Who came in the flesh. They are impostors and antichrists.
Take care of yourselves that you do not lose the fruit of your labours, but receive a perfect reward. Everyone who goes beyond and does not remain within the teaching of Christ does not have God. The one who remains in the teaching has both the Father and the Son.
Liturgical Colour : Green
Dear brothers and sisters in Christ, on this day we heard the Lord’s words through the Scriptures reminding all of us that ultimately, our citizenship is in Heaven, which means that regardless of whatever we have in this world, our allegiances and attachments, in the end, we are bound to Heaven, our ultimate and final destination, as how it should be. Yet, many may not make it to Heaven and end up in hell, because they got distracted and chose to live a life that is against God.
That is because we are often tempted by falsehoods of the devil and the temptations of worldly pleasures and desires, living as St. Paul said in our first reading today, as the ‘enemies of Christ’. These are those who have refused to believe in the Lord Jesus and His teachings of truth as well as those who have ignored Him and failed to live up to their faith as they should have. And as St. Paul said, that those are headed to ruin, that is hell.
That is why he mentioned that all of us Christ’s faithful are truly the citizens of Heaven, which we ought to aspire to and seek, as indeed, once we have been destined for the glory of God and Heaven, if not for our sins and iniquities. Through sin we have been separated from God and made to wander in this world and to suffer the consequences for our sins. But the Lord did not wish to see us continuing in this wretched state.
That is why through His servants, He reminded them all that they could be forgiven and return to Him should they choose to repent from their sinful ways and embrace fully His truth. As St. Paul reminded the Philippians, all of us are bound for Heaven, and as such, because we truly belong to God, we should act in manners that are in accordance and congruent with what God has taught to us through His Church.
What we then heard in our Gospel passage today in the parable of the dishonest steward is yet another reminder that we must not be like that dishonest steward who had not been honest and just in his actions and chose to be corrupt in his works. When the master found out about this, the steward was dismissed from service, and as the Lord told His disciples, that steward did things to make sure that he had a guarantee despite having lost his livelihood.
We heard the Lord saying how the master praised the dishonest steward for his astuteness. But in truth, what the Lord was saying to us is that, if we continue on living in ways contrary to the Lord’s ways, in embracing corrupt desires and pride, ambition, greed among others, we will end up getting deeper and even deeper into the trap of sin. That dishonest steward continued to employ dishonest methods to secure for himself a living after his dismissal that he essentially doubled down on his mistake.
Brothers and sisters in Christ, through what we have heard in our Gospel passage and related to what we heard in the Epistle of St. Paul to the Philippians, all of us are reminded that we have to live a genuine Christian life, and distance ourselves from sin and all of its corruptions. We have to resist the allures and pressure to sin, and live virtuously at all times. We have to be inspiration for one another in how we live up our faith to the fullest.
As we all know that Heaven is our true destination, let us all therefore do our very best to make our lives to be worthy of Heaven, to be worthy of God and His kingdom. Let us obey the Lord and His commandments, listen to Him and His truth, and commit ourselves to a holy life dedicated to God from here on after. Let us seek the Lord with all our hearts and devote ourselves to Him with ever greater zeal and sincerity, from now onwards. May God bless us all, now and always. Amen.
Liturgical Colour : Green
Luke 16 : 1-8
At that time, Jesus told His disciples, “There was a rich man, whose steward was reported to him for fraudulent service. He summoned the steward and asked him, “What is this I hear about you? I want you to render an account of your service, for it is about to be terminated.'”
“The steward thought to himself, ‘What am I to do now? My master will surely dismiss me. I am not strong enough to do hard work, and I am ashamed to beg. I know what I will do : I must make sure that when I am dismissed, there will be people who will welcome me into their homes.'”
“So he called his master’s debtors, one by one. He asked the first debtor, ‘How much do you owe my master?’ The reply was, ‘A hundred jars of oil.’ The steward said, ‘Here is your bill. Sit down quickly and write fifty.’ To the second debtor he put the same question. ‘How much do you owe?’ The answer was, ‘A hundred measures of wheat.’ Then the steward said, ‘Take your bill and write eighty.'”
“The master commended the dishonest steward for his astuteness : for the people of this world are more astute, in dealing with their own kind, than are the people of light.”
Liturgical Colour : Green
Psalm 121 : 1-2, 3-4a, 4b-5
I rejoiced with those who said to me, “Let us go to the house of the Lord!” And now we have set foot within your gates, o Jerusalem!
Jerusalem, just like a city, where everything falls into place! There the tribes go up.
The tribes of the Lord, the assembly of Israel, to give thanks to the Lord’s Name. There stand the courts of justice, the offices of the house of David.
Liturgical Colour : Green
Philippians 3 : 17 – Philippians 4 : 1
Unite in imitating me, brothers and sisters, and look at those who walk in our way of life. For many live as enemies of the cross of Christ. I have said it to you many times, and now I repeat it with tears : they are heading for ruin; their belly is their god and they feel proud of what should be their shame. They only think of earthly things.
For us, our citizenship is in heaven, from where we await the coming of our Saviour, Jesus Christ, the Lord. He will transfigure our lowly body, making it like His own Body, radiant in Glory, through the power which is His to submit everything to Himself.
Therefore, my brothers and sisters, whom I love and long for, you my glory and crown, be steadfast in the Lord.
petercanisiusmichaeldavidkang 