Liturgical Colour : White
Psalm 23 : 7, 8, 9, 10
Lift up, o gateways, your lintels, open up, you ancient doors, that the King of glory may enter!
Who is the King of glory? YHVH, the Strong, the Mighty, YHVH, valiant in battle.
Lift up your lintels, o gateways, open up, you ancient doors, that the King of glory may enter!
Who is the King of glory? YHVH of Hosts, He is the King of glory!
Liturgical Colour : White
Malachi 3 : 1-4
Now I am sending My messenger ahead of Me to clear the way; then suddenly the Lord for Whom you long will enter the sanctuary. The Envoy of the covenant which you so greatly desire already comes, says YHVH of hosts. Who can bear the day of His coming and remain standing when He appears? For He will be like fire in the foundry and like the lye used for bleaching.
He will be as a refiner or a fuller. He will purify the sons of Levi and refine them like gold and silver. So YHVH will have priests who will present the offering as it should be. Then YHVH will accept with pleasure the offering of Judah and Jerusalem, as in former days.
Alternative reading (Second Reading if this Feast is celebrated as a Solemnity)
Hebrews 2 : 14-18
And because all those children share one same nature of flesh and blood, Jesus, likewise, had to share this nature. This is why His death destroyed the one holding the power of death, that is the devil, and freed those who remained in bondage all their lifetime, because of the fear of death.
Jesus came, to take by the hand, not the Angels but the human race. So, He had to be like His brothers and sisters, in every respect, in order to be the High Priest, faithful to God and merciful to them, a Priest, able to ask pardon, and atone for their sins. Having been tested through suffering, He is able to help those who are tested.
Liturgical Colour : White
Dear brothers and sisters in Christ, today the Church celebrates the Feast of the two great saints and Church fathers, St. Timothy and St. Titus, both of whom were the disciples and followers of St. Paul the Apostle, the Apostle to the Gentiles. Both of them were inspired and mentored by St. Paul who taught them more about the Christian faith and guided them in their path, that they, in their own ways, contributed greatly to the development and the growth of the early Church. St. Timothy and St. Titus were among the earliest bishops of the Church, as those who have been chosen and appointed to be the successors of the Apostles, who had the Apostles laying their hands upon them, giving them the strength and guidance of the Holy Spirit.
St. Timothy was one of the companions of St. Paul during his missionary journeys, and as mentioned, the latter was the mentor of St. Timothy, guiding him in the way of the Christian faith. He was a native of Lystra or Derbe in what is today part of Turkey, then known as Anatolia, one of the places that St. Paul visited during his missionary journeys, and where he performed miracles and healings that brought quite a number of the locals, likely including that of St. Timothy, to embrace the Christian faith. Eventually, St. Timothy became the disciple of St. Paul, and helped him during the later missionary journeys that he carried out, proclaiming the Good News of God to more and more people all throughout the region, where many accepted the Lord as their God and Saviour.
St. Timothy continued the works of St. Paul when he left for Rome in his final missionary journey, which would led to St. Paul’s martyrdom there. He was appointed as bishop in Asia Minor, likely in Ephesus, one of the great early centres of Christianity. There, he continued to work hard for the glory of God and for the salvation of souls, courageously spreading the Word of God and His Good News to more and more people. According to the Apostolic and Church traditions, he was also persecuted and endured prison more than once, eventually suffering martyrdom for his faith and commitment to God, after many decades of continuous and courageous hard work for the Lord. Yet, his examples continued to inspire many people long after his time.
Meanwhile, St. Titus also had a similar story to St. Timothy, as he was also likely converted by St. Paul, and then later on followed him on his missionary journeys, assisting him as a scribe and interpreter. He was sent by St. Paul from Ephesus to Corinth to settle the issues which arose there, and which was highlighted in St. Paul’s Epistle to the Corinthians. He managed to resolve the issue and the situation successfully, and later on continued to join St. Paul in his various further missionary and evangelising works. Eventually St. Titus was also chosen and appointed as bishop to succeed and continue the works of the Apostles, and was entrusted with the care of his native island of Crete. There he continued to minister to the people of God much as St. Timothy had done, and perhaps had also suffered martyrdom as well, although the information was scant regarding this.
This is the essence of what we have heard from the Gospel passage today, in which the account of how the Lord Jesus sent out the seventy-two disciples on various missions was told to us. At that time, the Lord appointed and sent out the seventy-two disciples, most of whom were not known by name, but all those people were instrumental in extending even further the reach of the Lord’s works, beyond what His Twelve Apostles had done and could do. Some of those among the seventy-two disciples were themselves appointed later on as the successors and companions of the Apostles, and through them, their witnessing of the Lord’s ministry and good works, and through the knowledge of truth that they had received from the Lord Himself and through the Holy Spirit, they passed on that truth to the Church of God, and therefore, eventually to all of us.
The Lord sent them all out to prepare His path and to do His works among the people of God, and telling them to be strong and courageous, and to remain faithful and committed to their mission, because they would likely face persecutions, hardships and trials for what they have done and worked for. Yet, the Lord also reassured all of them that He would be with them, guiding and helping them along the way. He told them to go to the houses of those who received them well and accepted their message, while those who have stubbornly refused to believe in the truth of God, they should ignore and leave behind. Through this reminder, the Lord wanted to tell His disciples and followers to place their trust in Him, and follow Him.
As we have heard from the lives and examples of St. Timothy and St. Titus, their courage and faith in God, and also from the passages of the Sacred Scriptures that we have heard today, let us all therefore discern carefully what the Lord may intend for us to do in our respective lives. Each and every one of us should always be attuned to the Lord and be willing to listen to Him, so that we all may know what it is that we are all called to do in our lives, in our respective vocations and areas of responsibilities. This is why we should not remain idle in life, but do our best, in showing by our own good examples, what we all can do in our everyday moments. Let us all be the good and worthy role models for others to follow.
May the Lord be with us always, and may He empower everyone of us, so that we can follow in the footsteps of His faithful servants, St. Timothy and St. Titus, in doing what we can for the glory of His Name and in proclaiming His truth and love to more and more people, all around us. May God bless our every good works and endeavours, now and forevermore. Amen.
Liturgical Colour : White
Luke 10 : 1-9
At that time, the Lord appointed seventy-two other disciples, and sent them, two by two, ahead of Him, to every town and place, where He Himself was to go. And He said to them, “The harvest is plentiful, but the workers are few. So you must ask the Lord of the harvest to send workers to His harvest.”
“Courage! I am sending you like lambs among wolves. Set off without purse or bag or sandals; and do not stop at the homes of those you know. Whatever house you enter, first bless them, saying, ‘Peace to this house!’ If a friend of peace lives there, the peace shall rest upon that person. But if not, the blessing will return to you. Stay in that house, eating and drinking at their table, for the worker deserves to be paid. Do not move from house to house.”
“When they welcome you to any town, eat what they offer you. Heal the sick who are there, and say to them : ‘The kingdom of God has drawn near to you.’”
Liturgical Colour : White
Psalm 95 : 1-2a, 2b-3, 7-8a, 10
Sing to YHVH a new song, sing to YHVH, all the earth! Sing to YHVH, praise His Name.
Proclaim His salvation, day after day. Recall His glory among the nations, tell all the peoples His wonderful deeds.
Give to YHVH, you families of nations, give to YHVH glory and strength. Give to YHVH the glory due His Name.
Say among the nations, “YHVH reigns!” He will judge the peoples with justice.
Liturgical Colour : White
2 Timothy 1 : 1-8
From Paul, Apostle of Christ Jesus, by the will of God, for the sake of His promise of eternal life, in Christ Jesus, to my dear son Timothy. May grace, mercy and peace be with you, from God, the Father, and Christ Jesus our Lord.
I give thanks to God, Whom I serve with a clear conscience, the way my ancestors did, as I remember you constantly, day and night, in my prayers. I recall your tears, and I long to see you, that I may be filled with joy. I am reminded of your sincere faith, so like the faith of your grandmother Lois and of your mother Eunice, which I am sure you have inherited.
For this reason, I invite you to fan into a flame, the gift of God you received, through the laying on of my hands. For God did not confer on us a spirit of fearfulness, but of strength, love and good judgment. Do not be ashamed of testifying to our Lord, nor of seeing me in chains. On the contrary, do your share in labouring for the Gospel, with the strength of God.
Alternative reading
Titus 1 : 1-5
From Paul, servant of God, Apostle of Christ Jesus, at the service of God’s chosen people, so that they may believe, and reach the knowledge of truth and godliness. The eternal life we are waiting for was promised from the very beginning, by God, Who never lies, and as the appointed time had come, He made it known, through the message entrusted to me by a command of God, our Saviour.
Greetings to you, Titus, my true son in the faith we share. May grace and peace be with you from God the Father and Christ Jesus our Lord. I left you in Crete because I wanted you to put right, what was defective, and appoint elders in every town, following my instructions.
Liturgical Colour : Green
Dear brothers and sisters in Christ, today as we listened to the words of the Scriptures, we are reminded of God’s calling for us to follow Him and His path, to do what is good and righteous, and in accordance with His Law and commandments. Each and every one of us as Christians should do what the Lord has shown and taught us, and also the examples set by His holy men and women, our holy predecessors, the saints and martyrs throughout time and history, and also like what King David of Israel had done in our Scripture passage today, in sparing the life of King Saul, his predecessor, who wanted to kill David out of jealousy and anger. All of us as Christians should always strive to do God’s will and to listen to Him speaking in our hearts and minds.
In our first reading today, we heard from the Book of the prophet Samuel in which the story of King Saul and his successor King David continues, after we have heard how God chose David to be the one to replace and succeed Saul as King and ruler over all of His people because of Saul’s disobedience and sin. Saul became deeply jealous and angry at David, and wanted to kill him so that he could eliminate this major threat to his rule and legitimacy. Yet, in doing so, Saul actually opened himself to even more temptations of the evil one and all the worldly attachments and temptations he had experienced, which led him to chase after David, and the latter had to flee from place to place with some of his supporters and friends.
But God was with David, and He protected him for all the years and time he spent in exile and on the run from King Saul. God’s favour was on him, and in this particular occasion highlighted in our first reading passage today, David and his companions encountered King Saul and his troops, who were all sleeping soundly, likely by God’s intervention. Such an opportunity was likely very rare, and it presented the perfect opportunity for David to end all of his struggles and difficulties, and in one strike, he could have killed Saul and therefore claim the kingdom completely for himself. His companions were urging him to do exactly that, but David resisted the temptations, and told his companions that they must not touch Saul, for he was also God’s anointed one.
Here we can see the great qualities and virtues that David had which made him to be truly worthy of the kingship as compared to Saul. While Saul was proud and arrogant, ambitious and disobedient, David was humble and committed to God, obeyed His Law and commandments, and he did not touch another person or harm him when he was vulnerable as we heard in our reading from the Book of Samuel today. Unlike Saul, who attempted on several occasions to harm and kill David in several separate occasions, out of jealousy and allowing himself to be tempted by Satan, David was humble and committed to God, and remembered His Law and commandments, while Saul had disobeyed them many times, especially with his desire to kill David, which is against God’s commandment, ‘You shall not kill.’
David himself was not a perfect and blameless man, as he had his flaws and shortcomings just like all of us, but he tried his best to remain faithful and committed to God, and resisted the temptations of worldly glory and desire as best as he could. He repented from his sins and mistakes, and tried his best to do what God has told him to do. In this way, therefore, he showed us all what it means for us to be disciples and followers of Christ, as we all should be obedient to the will, Law and commandments of God in all the things we say and do, in our whole entire lives. As Christians, we should always strive to live our lives most worthily as those whom the Lord had called and chosen to be His own beloved people, to proclaim His truth to the nations.
In our Gospel passage today, the Lord called His disciples and appointed twelve among them to be the principal and most important ones among them, as part of His innermost and most trusted circle, also known as the Twelve or the Twelve Apostles. We heard the name of each and every one of them by name, and what they were told to do, in doing God’s works and obeying God’s will. It does not mean that they are perfect men either, as just like David, they also made mistakes, and one among them even lost his way completely, betrayed the Lord and then took his own life in despair and regret, namely that of Judas Iscariot, the traitor. However, all of them except for Judas Iscariot did their best to do God’s will and to carry out His Law and commandments, and to proclaim His Good News and truth.
Brothers and sisters in Christ, today the Church reminds us through these passages from the Sacred Scriptures of the need for all of us to turn away from the path of sin, and resist the many temptations present all around us. We are all reminded to stay away from the path of wickedness and evil, from all sorts of greed and desires for worldly things, from our ambitions and ego, that we will not end up losing our way in this journey of life we have. Let us all do our best to help and remind one another so that we will continue to be faithful to the Lord despite all the trials and challenges, difficulties and hardships that we may have to endure in our path. We must be strengthened and inspired by following the good examples of the Lord’s servants, His saints, and all whom we have discussed earlier today.
May the Lord continue to bless us and guide us in our journey of faith so that we may continue to do our best in living our lives to the best of our abilities. May He empower each and every one of us, so that by our every actions, words and deeds, we will always be ever faithful and committed to the Lord, and our faith may truly be shown to all, and that through us and our works and efforts, more and more people may come to believe in God as well, like how King David, the Apostles and many other holy saints of God had inspired us all. Amen.
Liturgical Colour : Green
Mark 3 : 13-19
At that time, Jesus went up into the hill country, and called those He wanted, and they came to Him. He appointed Twelve to be with Him, and He called them ‘Apostles.’ He wanted to send them out to preach; and He gave them authority to drive out demons.
These are the Twelve : Simon, to whom He gave the name Peter; James, son of Zebedee, and John his brother, to whom He gave the name Boanerges, which means ‘men of thunder’; Andrew, Philip, Bartholomew, Matthew, Thomas, James son of Alpheus, Thaddeus, Simon the Canaanean, and Judas Iscariot, the one who betrayed Him.
Liturgical Colour : Green
Psalm 56 : 2, 3-4, 6 and 11
Have mercy on me, o God, have mercy; for my soul takes refuge in You; I will find shelter in the shadow of Your wings, till the disaster has passed.
I call on God the Most High; on God, Who has done everything for me : may He send from heaven, a Saviour, and put my oppressors to shame. May God send me His love and faithfulness.
Be exalted, o God, above the heavens! Your glory be over all the earth! For Your love reaches to the heavens, and Your faithfulness, to the clouds.
Liturgical Colour : Green
1 Samuel 24 : 3-21
So Saul took three thousand picked men from all Israel and went in search of David and his men to the east of the Wild Goat crags. When he came to the sheepfolds along the way, he entered a cave to relieve himself.
Now David and his men were far back in the cave. David’s men said to him, “This is the day which YHVH spoke of : ‘Look I will deliver your enemy into your hands and you will do with him as you see fit.’” So David moved up and stealthily cut off an end of Saul’s robe. But afterward, David regretted having cut off an end of Saul’s robe, and he said to his men, “Let me not lay my hands on my master, for he is YHVH’s anointed.”
With these words, David restrained his men and did not allow them to attack Saul. Saul then left the cave and went on his way. Then David himself stepped out of the cave and called after Saul, “My master, the king!” When Saul looked back, David knelt and then bowed to the ground in homage and asked him, “Why do you listen to those who say that I want to harm you?”
“Look, today you have seen that YHVH delivered you into my hands in the cave. I was told to kill you but I held myself back and said : ‘I will not lift my hands against my master who is YHVH’s anointed.’ My father, look at this end of your robe which I am holding! I cut off the end of your robe but did not kill you.”
“Now you may know that I mean you no harm or treason. I have done you no wrong and yet you are hunting me down to kill me. May YHVH be judge between you and me; and may He exact justice from you in my case. But I shall do you no harm. As the saying goes, ‘From the wicked comes wickedness’; as for me, my hand shall not harm you.”
“But who is it you are after, o king of Israel? Are you pursuing a dead dog? A flea? May YHVH be Judge between you and me. May He see and uphold my cause and deliver me from your hands.”
After David had spoken these words, Saul asked, “Is that your voice, my son David?” He wept aloud and said to David, “You are right and I am wrong, for you have repaid with kindness the harm I have inflicted on you. This day you have shown your righteousness to me by not taking my life when YHVH put me into your hands. For if a man finds his enemy, will he let him go unharmed?”
“May YHVH reward you for what you have done for me today. Now I know for certain that you shall reign and the kingdom of Israel will be firm in your hand.”
petercanisiusmichaeldavidkang 