Liturgical Colour : White
Zechariah 2 : 14-17
Sing and rejoice, o daughter of Zion, for I am about to come, I shall dwell among you,” says YHVH. “On that day, many nations will join YHVH and be My people, but My dwelling is among you.”
The people of Judah will be for YHVH as His portion in His holy land. He will choose Jerusalem again. Keep still in YHVH’s presence, for He comes, having risen from His holy dwelling.
Liturgical Colour : Green
Dear brothers and sisters in Christ, today as we all listened to the words of the Sacred Scriptures, we are all reminded that we should not be ignorant of the Lord and His Presence, His Wisdom and truth being present all around us. We should always heed in mind of the signs of times and all the teachings that He has revealed to us so that we may truly be committed and faithful to all things that He has taught us to do as His followers and disciples. We must always do our best as Christians, as God’s holy and beloved people to bear witness to our faith and commitment to God in all things and in all circumstances, in all of our works and interactions with one another.
In our first reading today, taken from the continuation of the Book of Wisdom, we heard of the words from the author highlighting the futility of all those pagans and unbelievers who worshipped the elements and aspects of the natural environment around them instead of worshipping the Lord, their God. It was common for the many polytheistic worship at that time to feature many deities, gods and goddesses that had their background in the nature’s diverse aspects and features, like the Sun, the Moon, the sky, the stars, lightning, the sea, earthquakes, volcanoes, nature and many other parts of nature, some of which awed and brought about terror to many, which led them to worship these as their gods and deities.
But the Lord had made it clear and showed His desire to reveal His truth to all the nations, which was exactly what St. Paul and the other Apostles and missionaries of the Lord had been doing. St. Paul went around to the many places where people still had not yet known about the Lord, and he introduced the Lord to them all, not only through words and preaching, but also more importantly through real and concrete actions and how he and the other missionaries lived their lives sincerely and worthily at all times, becoming great examples and role models to everyone who witnessed their works and actions. The way how they had lived their lives sincerely as Christians persuaded many more people than what they had preached.
St. Paul showed great wisdom and courage in revealing how the one and only one ought to be worshipped is indeed none other than the Lord Himself, and not all the other created things and natural phenomena as the pagans had believed and worshipped in. And how does this then relate to us? Essentially, even though many of us do not worship the pagan gods and idols in the present day world, but the truth is that we are all still idolising and even to the point of worshipping worldly things, desires and attachments, all the things that tend to keep us away from the Lord. Examples of these include money, titles, wealth, status, among other things, which themselves are not bad or evil, but our desires for them are what made these great distractions for us.
Then, from our Gospel passage today, taken from the Gospel according to St. Luke the Evangelist, we heard the Lord Jesus making the speech to the people gathered before Him about what would happen at the time when the Lord will come again at the end of time, the time of the reckoning and the Final Judgment of all things. He spoke of the historical past occasions when God’s judgment fell upon His people suddenly after they had been given many chances one after another. God has always been patient in loving His people throughout time and He has been giving them many chances, again and again because He wanted them all, all of us to be truly reconciled and reunited with Him.
But at the same time, we must also remember that He despises all forms of sins and wickedness, all forms of disobedience and corruptions caused by our sins against Him and against each other. And that is why as Christians it is important that we must always keep in mind how we behave and act in life. We must not take God’s love, mercy and generosity for granted, or else, retribution will come towards us. All those people who perished during the time of Noah, in Sodom and Gomorrah and others that the Lord referred to, shared common traits, namely pride, arrogance, haughtiness and refusal to listen to God and His kind reminders and words, and that was why they all perished.
Brothers and sisters in Christ, we are therefore reminded by the Lord through these words we have received in the Scriptures today. Are we willing to reflect on our way of life and how we have lived them so far? Have we spent so much time in pursuing for worldly interests and ambitions that we have forgotten to see the bigger picture and realise what it is that God truly wants us to do in life? It is very easy for us to lose sight on the way that the Lord has shown and taught us when we are so busy pursuing many things we often desire excessively in this world, which lead us to the wrong paths away from God and His salvation.
This is why we should continue to do our best to keep our focus in the Lord at all times, striving to glorify Him at each and every moments in our lives, through everything that we say and do. May the Lord also continue to bless us all in our every good efforts and endeavours, now and always. 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 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.
Liturgical Colour : Green
Wisdom 13 : 1-9
The natural helplessness of humans is seen in their ignorance of God. The experience of good things did not lead them to the knowledge of Him Who is. They were interested in His works, but they did not recognise the Author of them.
Fire, wind, air, the sphere of the stars, rushing water and the lights in the sky were held as the rulers of the world. If, charmed by such beauty, they took them for gods, let them know how far superior is their sovereign. And if they were impressed by their power and activity, let them understand from this how much mightier is He Who formed them. For the grandeur and beauty of creatures lead us to ponder on their Author, greater and more magnificent.
No doubt these people are not to be blamed severely, for possibly they strayed though they searched for God and desired to find Him. They pondered over the created things that surrounded them and were captivated by the sight of such beauty. Even so they are not to be excused, for if they were able to explore the world, why did they not discover first the world’s Sovereign?
Liturgical Colour : Green
Dear brothers and sisters in Christ, today as we all listened to the words of the Sacred Scriptures, we are reminded to be truly faithful in all the things that we do, in doing what God has entrusted to us to do, and not be dishonest in our dealings, in our every actions, efforts and works. We are challenged to make good use of everything that God has entrusted to us and blessed us with, so that everything that God has given us can be utilised for the greater glory of His Name and also for the good of those whom the Lord had placed in our paths and respective journeys in life.
In our first reading today, taken from the continuation of the Epistle of St. Paul the Apostle to the Church and the faithful in Rome, we heard of the words of the Apostle to the people there regarding what he had done in carrying out the missions which had been entrusted to him, in ministering to the people of God and in proclaiming the Good News to more and more people who have not yet known God and His truth. St. Paul also had done so many things to deliver this truth and Good News of God to more and more people, both among the Jews and the Gentiles, or the non-Jewish people, in everything that he had done.
He laboured for many years and even decades, patiently showing what the Lord had taught through both words and actions, through his every interactions with those he had encountered during all those journeys. In fact, he also laboured with collaborators and fellow workers and servants of the Gospel, working and growing with them as they journeyed together. They encountered many hardships and challenges, and they even fell out at times, disagreed and quarrelled with each other. But God was always with St. Paul and the others, helping and encouraging them through all the challenges and trials that they faced. The Lord has always been kind and supportive to all of those who have been faithful to Him.
In our Gospel passage today, we heard from the Gospel according to St. Luke the Evangelist in which the story of the Lord to His disciples using the example of a dishonest steward and his master has been told to us. The dishonest steward had been accused of dishonest actions and behaviours to his master, and he was hence confronted by the same master who then told him that he would soon be out of employment. In this story, the dishonest steward then did all that he could to secure for himself a way out of his predicament by carrying out even more dishonest actions. In case we did not get what he was trying to do as described in the Gospels, he was in fact cheating even more against his master.
Why was that so? That is because he manipulated the debts of those who were indebted to his master, by rewriting their debts to a lower value, essentially helping them to reduce their debt load, doing so without consulting his master. This was great help to those who were indebted to the master, and hence, it would have made them to be in turn indebted to the dishonest steward, and as he had planned, this would have given him some lifeline to secure himself when he became unemployed. This is what he had done in even further dishonesty to secure for himself his own selfish desires and ambitions.
All these are reminders for us Christians that we should not allow ourselves to be tempted and corrupted by all these worldly ambitions and desires, all of which can lead us to even further dishonesty and sins, just as the dishonest steward had done. We may also be confused on why the master praised the dishonest steward for his dishonest actions, for his supposed astuteness and selfish deeds, but this is in fact a reminder for all of us that we should resist these worldliness and selfish desires, and use this example as a lesson for us to make good use of our lives and means in this world to aim for more worthy and righteous way of life, manner of life that is in accordance with God’s will in all things.
Brothers and sisters in Christ, today as we all listened to these words of the Scriptures and all that we have discussed and discerned earlier on, we are reminded that each one of us have been entrusted by God with the unique responsibilities, opportunities and callings, in making good use of these opportunities, blessings and paths that God had provided to us. Now what remains is for us to embrace these opportunities and blessings, all these things that God had put in our path so that we may indeed be truly dedicated and fruitful in all the things that we say and do, in our every actions, words and deeds.
May the Lord continue to guide and strengthen each and every one of us in all of our every good efforts and endeavours. May He continue to provide us all for everything that we do, in our every efforts and works such that we will keep on glorifying God by our lives and actions, even in the smallest things that we do. In each and every moments of our lives, let us all be good role models and examples for everyone around us, showing our genuine Christian faith in all things, 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 because of 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 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 97 : 1, 2-3ab, 3cd-4
Sing to YHVH a new song, for He has done wonders; His right hand, His holy arm, has won victory for Him.
YHVH has shown His salvation, revealing His justice to the nations. He has not forgotten His love, nor His faithfulness to Israel.
The farthest ends of the earth all have seen God’s saving power. All you, lands, make a joyful noise to YHVH, break into song and sing praise.
Liturgical Colour : Green
Romans 15 : 14-21
As for me, brothers and sisters, I am convinced, that you have goodwill, knowledge, and the capacity to advise each other; nevertheless, I have written boldly in some parts of this letter, to remind you of what you already know. I do this, according to the grace God has given to me, when I was sent to the pagan nations. I dedicated myself to the service of the Good News of God, as a minister of Christ Jesus, in order to present the non-Jews to God, as an agreeable offering, consecrated by the Holy Spirit. This service of God is, for me, a cause of pride, in Christ Jesus.
Of course, I would not dare to speak of other things, but what Christ, Himself, has done, through me, my words and my works, with miracles and signs, by the power of the Holy Spirit – so, that, non-Jews may obey the faith. In this way, I have extended the Good News to all parts, from Jerusalem to Illyricum.
I have been very careful, however, and I am proud of this, not to preach in places where Christ is already known, and not to build upon foundations laid by others. Let it be as Scripture says : Those not told about Him will see, and those who have not heard will understand.
Liturgical Colour : Green
Dear brothers and sisters in Christ, today as we all listened to the words of the Sacred Scriptures, we are reminded that we should be truly sincere and genuine in our faith in the Lord, and not merely paying lip service for Him. In all the things that we say and do, we should continue to do our best to be fully attuned to God in everything that we say, do and act, so that by our every words, actions and deeds we will always showcase our Christian faith in all sincerity and all those whom we encounter can realise and know what we truly believe in, through what they had experienced and witnessed in our actions, way of life and attitudes, in how we interact with them and in even the smallest things we carry out in life.
In our first reading today, we heard from the Epistle of St. Paul the Apostle to the Romans in which the Apostle spoke about the anguish and the struggles that he had been facing because of the issues that he had faced from the Jewish people, the members of the Jewish diaspora in the various places that he visited and ministered at, as well as the Jewish authorities, the Sanhedrin, the members of the Jewish High Council that were often at odds and in opposition towards him and the other missionaries. And that was why he felt conflicted and anguished because it was to the Jewish people that the word of God and His salvation was first announced and shown, and yet, many of them were the ones who refused to listen and believe in what they have heard and received.
And worse still, the persecutions that they had faced made it difficult for the Apostles and the missionaries to continue with their works and efforts to proclaim the Good News. Nonetheless, all those things did not discourage St. Paul and his fellow missionaries, and being confident of the strength, guidance and providence from God, Who has never left them in their hour of greatest need and distress. God has always strengthened them and encouraged them to continue doing good works for His sake, and He always provided them help through various means, causing them and their works to be ultimately successful even through the many challenges that they had to face in their path. That was how despite those difficulties, the Church kept on growing and flourishing over the years.
Then, from our Gospel passage today, we heard from the Gospel according to St. Luke the Evangelist in which we heard of how the Lord was watched carefully as He was having a meal at the house of one of the leading Pharisees, with a person suffering from the disease of dropsy being there on the Day of the Sabbath, a day when any kind of work was forbidden according to the Law, no doubt and quite likely was put there to test the Lord and to see how He would respond, knowing from His past history how He had been facing lots of difficulties and obstacles by the Pharisees, the teachers of the Law and all those who questioned and doubted His teaching authority and all of His miraculous works. And yet, He still patiently engaged them and tried His best to show and teach them the truth that God wanted them all to know and realise.
The Lord highlighted the fact as He healed the man who was suffering from dropsy on the Sabbath, that the overly strict and rigid interpretation of the Law of God by the Pharisees and the teachers of the Law completely missed the point and purpose of the Law of God and why God had given those Law and commandments to His people in the first place. He used the comparison to how when harm came to the sheep and ox belonging to any one of them, they would go and rescue those if they truly understood the Law, to show that forbidding anyone from doing any actions on the Sabbath, even good, lawful and worthy actions is in truth failing to understand the spirit and the true purpose and meaning of the Law that God has given to each one of us.
The Law of God was never meant to restrict us or to make us suffer or our lives to be difficult and troubled. And as the Lord Himself mentioned in another occasion in the Gospels, the Law of the Sabbath is made for the sake of mankind, and not the other way round, that the Son of Man is ultimately the Lord of the Sabbath, and not the Sabbath and the extraordinarily rigid laws and practices as enforced by the Pharisees which lorded over the people, restricting them and made them to have difficulties in living their lives with faith. The Law of God was given by Him to all of us, His beloved people so that He may teach us all how to love Him and how to live our lives according to what He has revealed to us, and He wants us all to learn how to focus our attention on HIm and be truly righteous and worthy in all things.
Brothers and sisters in Christ, let us all therefore continue to be faithful to God in all things and not be like those Pharisees and those who were proud and haughty in their way of living their faith such that they ended up hardening their hearts and minds against the Lord and His truth. Instead, we should always ever be humble and be willing to listen to the Lord, by being open-minded and considerate at all times, knowing that the Lord can speak to us through various means and methods, and even through the people we encounter in our daily lives, and sometimes even through the people we least expect. We must not harden our hearts and think that we know it better than others or that we are more worthy or holy than those whom we may disagree with in the matter of the faith.
Instead, we should be more humble in our attitudes and in our outlook in life. We should embrace what the Lord has shown and taught us, and be more exemplary in our lives and actions, in doing what God has truly wanted us to do, and not merely observing the Law of God for appearances and external piety only, but truly embodying our faith with great vigour and sincerity, in living our every days and every moments in life with genuine faith and obedience to God. We should not think that we are better than others around us, or worse still by acting judgmental and in being arrogant and haughty in our attitudes, all of which are not what the Lord had taught us to do. As genuine Christians, as beloved people of God, we should always be centred on God and not be self-centred and self righteous in all things.
May the Lord continue to strengthen us all and provide us with the courage and the determination to continue living our faith genuinely and confidently at all times. May He give us all the wisdom and the strength to carry on through the various challenges and opportunities that we encounter in our path so that hopefully through His strength and empowerment, we may truly be able to show forth the sincerity and truth of our faith to all those we encounter in life, becoming the faithful bearers of our Christian faith in all things. May God bless our every efforts and endeavours, our good works and efforts, now and always. Amen.
petercanisiusmichaeldavidkang 