German bishops

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Saturday, 6 June 2026 : 9th Week of Ordinary Time, Memorial of St. Norbert, Bishop (Homily and Scripture Reflections)

Liturgical Colour : Green or White (Bishops or Saturday Mass of Our Lady)

Dear brothers and sisters in Christ, on this day we heard that as Christians, for us to love God and to devote ourselves to God, we do not need to seek to do ambitious things and achievements, and we do not need to think of the many things we desire and want, as serving the Lord does not mean that we focus the attention to ourselves. On the contrary, to be Christians mean that we ought to give our whole selves to God and to dedicate ourselves wholeheartedly and live our lives with the focus on God in everything that we say and do. We are called to be generous in giving and be compassionate in all of our actions, words and deeds, following the examples of the Lord Himself Who has come to serve and not to be served.

As Christians we ought to reflect carefully on what we have heard in our Gospel passage today as we heard of the account of the Lord Who spoke with regards to the people who came to the Temple of Jerusalem, there were the rich people making lots of offerings probably showing off what they were offering to each other and also to the other people around, while there was a poor, old woman who came by quietly and placed in two small coins to the Temple treasury. That old widow or old woman had almost nothing with her, and yet, she had given to the Lord through His Temple, the most generous gift of all, because she gave them with all of her heart, seeking not fame or any potential returns or reward, but she gave them out of her love for God.

And the Lord also mentioned of the excesses of the Pharisees and the teachers of the Law, warning His disciples against their behaviour and how they exercised and practiced their faith. The Pharisees and the teachers of the Law often prided themselves in their privileged and highly respected position in the community, and showed off their faith, seeking important and privileged positions, basking in the praise and respect from the other people who saw them and their actions. Therefore, contrary to the way how the old woman had behaved, those Pharisees and the teachers of the Law had put the emphasis on their own selfish ambitions and desires, seeking glory, prestige and benefits for themselves, rather than truly loving and serving God.

Brothers and sisters in Christ, essentially what the Lord had told us all is to be careful and vigilant against the temptations of ego and pride in our lives. We must focus our attention on God and put Him first and foremost in our lives, or else we will be easily swayed and tempted just as many of our ancestors had done in the past. Ever since the time of Adam and Eve in the Gardens of Eden, Satan has tempted us mankind with the temptation of pride, desires of our flesh and with the temptation of knowledge, and our great enemy definitely knows very well our vulnerabilities and weaknesses. This is why each and every one of us need to be very careful lest we may be tempted in the same manner as well.

Now, brothers and sisters in Christ, we also have to understand that God was not against the rich and neither does He have any bias or prejudice against the rich and those who are wealthy, powerful and the elites of the society, and unlike what some would have argued otherwise, the Lord was not only concerned about the poor, the marginalised and the needy. For the truth is that, every single sons and daughters of mankind are precious to Him, and all of us, regardless of our background and origins, are equal before Him, and are equally beloved by Him. That is why what matters is that each and every one of us, be it rich or poor, powerful or weak, privileged or not, all of us must always strive to appreciate this love of God and practice it well in our own lives.

What the Lord is warning us is rather the fact that we mankind are easily distracted and tempted, and the more attachments we have to worldly things and the more concerns we have, the more vulnerable we become. Instead, he wanted us all to develop more trust and faith in Him. He wants us to be like the old woman who entrusted herself to the Lord and gave from her heart, even if she had only very little to live on with. At this, all of us are called to believe in God in this manner. We are reminded that the greater we have been blessed with, then the more that we are called to do to be generous in helping others, not necessarily just in monetary or material terms, but even in the giving of our time and ourselves, our love, because there are many more ways of giving than just that of money.

We heard in our first reading today on the great courage shown by St. Paul, who recounted to St. Timothy, his protege, of the great sufferings he had endured for the sake of the Lord, all the things he had to go through as many opposed his good works and efforts, rejecting him and his message of God’s truth. St. Paul stood by his faith in the Lord and his famous words, ‘I have fought the good fight, I have finished the race. I have kept the faith.’ are reminders to us just how dedicated St. Paul had been throughout his missionary works and efforts to bring the Good News to many peoples, even to all those who have rejected these truths.

Today, the Church celebrates the feast of St. Norbert, also known as St. Norbert of Xanten, a German bishop and founder of the religious order known as the Premonstratensian Order of Canons Regular. He was a priest and preacher who was particularly concerned about the lax nature of discipline amongst the priests and the immorality, worldly vices and wickedness that had grown rampant at that time within the Church, among both the clergy and the laity alike. Through his efforts and works, the Premonstre Order of Canons Regular was established, with customs, rules and practices combining aspects of several other more established religious orders, inspiring many people from all origins to come and join his religious order, which soon grew quickly in various places and in different countries.

He was also appointed as the Archbishop of Magdeburg by the Pope, in which role he instituted wide-ranging reforms in his local diocese, in uprooting the many corrupt practices of the Church and the community at that time. Not everyone approved and supported St. Norbert’s actions, and he faced not a few assassination attempts by those who disagreed with him and his reform works and efforts. Yet, all of those did not discourage St. Norbert who continued to carry out his reforms and works, a spirit and commitment that remain inspirational to countless generations of Christians right up to this day. St. Norbert never wavered in his hard work and efforts to lead more and more souls ever closer towards the Lord, and to help many to become more disciplined in how they lived their lives and in how they carried out their Christian actions.

Brothers and sisters in Christ, today let us all therefore reflect on the words of the Scriptures that we have received and the actions and life of St. Norbert that we have just discussed. Let us all always remember to live our lives worthily of the Lord as we should, and learn to discipline ourselves and keep ourselves aligned to the Lord and to His path at all times. Let us all follow the footsteps of the faithful servants of God and be good examples and role models of faith ourselves, now and always, in loving God and in loving one another, doing our best to be ever more generous in giving of our hearts, of our attention, effort and love. Amen.

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Saturday, 6 June 2026 : 9th Week of Ordinary Time, Memorial of St. Norbert, Bishop (Gospel Reading)

Liturgical Colour : Green or White (Bishops or Saturday Mass of Our Lady)

Mark 12 : 38-44

At that time, as Jesus was teaching, He also said to His disciples, “Beware of those teachers of the Law, who enjoy walking around in long robes and being greeted in the marketplace, and who like to occupy reserved seats in the synagogues, and the first places at feasts. They even devour the widow’s and the orphan’s goods while making a show of long prayers. How severe a sentence they will receive!”

Jesus sat down opposite the Temple treasury, and watched the people dropping money into the treasury box; and many rich people put in large offerings. But a poor widow also cane and dropped in two small coins. Then Jesus called His disciples and said to them, “Truly I say to you, this poor widow put in more than all those who gave offerings. For all of them gave from their plenty, but she gave from her poverty, and put in everything she had, her very living.”

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Saturday, 6 June 2026 : 9th Week of Ordinary Time, Memorial of St. Norbert, Bishop (Psalm)

Liturgical Colour : Green or White (Bishops or Saturday Mass of Our Lady)

Psalm 70 : 8-9, 14-15ab, 16-17, 22

My mouth is filled with Your praise, announcing Your glory, day by day. Do not cast me off in my old age, do not desert me when my strength fails.

Then, I may trust in You and praise You. My lips will proclaim Your intervention and tell of Your salvation all day, little though it is what I can understand.

I will come to Your strength, o YHVH, and announce Your justice, Yours alone. You have taught me from my youth and, until now, I proclaim Your marvels.

I will praise You with the harp, for Your faithfulness, o my God; I will sing Your praise with the lyre, o Holy One of Israel.

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Saturday, 6 June 2026 : 9th Week of Ordinary Time, Memorial of St. Norbert, Bishop (First Reading)

Liturgical Colour : Green or White (Bishops or Saturday Mass of Our Lady)

2 Timothy 4 : 1-8

In the presence of God and Christ Jesus, Who is to judge the living and the dead, and by the hope I have of His coming, and His kingdom, I urge you to preach the Word, in season and out of season, reproving, rebuking, or advising, always with patience, and providing instruction.

For the time is coming, when people will no longer endure sound doctrine, but, following their passions, they will surround themselves with teachers to please their itching ears. And they will abandon the truth to hear fables. So be prudent, do not mind your labour, give yourself to your work as an evangelist, fulfil your ministry.

As for me, I am already poured out as a libation, and the moment of my departure has come. I have fought the good fight, I have finished the race. I have kept the faith. Now, there is laid up for me the crown of righteousness, with which the Lord, the just Judge, will reward me, on that day, and not only me, but all those who have longed for His glorious coming.

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Saturday, 6 June 2015 : 9th Week of Ordinary Time, Memorial of St. Norbert, Bishop (Homily and Scripture Reflections)

Liturgical Colour : Green or White (Bishops and Saturday Mass of our Lady)

Dear brothers and sisters in Christ, on this day, what the Church wants us to remember and keep in our minds is very clear. The theme of the Scripture readings which we heard is on humility and on generosity of almsgiving, that when we give others we must be generous, and we must always think of others first before we think about ourselves.

Unfortunately, it is in our own human nature to resist this, and to do things in opposition to this. We are by nature selfish, and we always think of ourselves first. It is easy for us to fall into the temptation of money, possessions and other forms of worldliness. And indeed, most of mankind from time to time and from ages to ages had been seeking their own personal aggrandisement, and for the enlargement of their own ego, their own power and their own domain.

Wars and violence had been fought over the inability of men to let go of their ego and desires. As a result, many had died and suffered because of this inherent fault in men’s hearts and minds, the results of mankind’s greed and ego. In the first reading today, we heard how the Archangel Raphael who was sent by God to heal both Tobit and Sara revealed himself in full before all of them, to show the fullness of the work of God accomplished in them.

God wanted to show them all that He sees all and He knows all that they do, and therefore all that we do as well. He rewards those who are faithful to Him and keeps their faith in Him, those who have done what is good to one another. Those who shows love and compassion on all their brethren in need. God saw all that Tobit had done, his charity and love for his desolate and abandoned brethren, those who died and was murdered without anyone left to care for them.

Remember what Jesus Himself had said? In one of the Gospel passages, Jesus mentioned about how the righteous will be separated and put aside from the wicked at the Last Judgment on the last day, and God Himself will judge all of them. The righteous He will praise and bless, for they have done what is good to the least of their brethren. They did not turn a deaf ear to those who called for help and their eyes saw the plight of the suffering and their hands and legs were moved by it.

The wicked on the other hand did not do all these, and their eyes, their ears and senses were closed against the pleas of the weak, the innocent and the oppressed. They were unable to comprehend that true greatness lies in the service to others and helping one another, and not by advancing one’s own greatness and glory. Unfortunately, wealth and possessions have the tendency of corrupting ourselves and our priorities in life.

The wealthy have the tendency of wanting to preserve more and more of what they have already had, and also to add up to what they had and made their possessions even more. It does not mean however, that wealth, money, riches and possessions are inherently evil by itself, as in fact they were all neutral, but in how men had used them, more often than not, they used them for selfish purposes instead and for evil.

The lesson which all of us ought to take out from this is that we have to firstly care for one another with loving and tender care. And then, when we give to others, we must be truly sincere and generous. We should not even be expecting for any returns or rewards for having done so. If we expect rewards, then it is already selfish for us to do so.

The Archangel Raphael told Tobit and his family that those who were humble are blessed and praised by God. He revealed that God truly cares for those who are faithful to Him. He will never leave them behind. The same therefore, had happened in the Gospel today with the woman who had donated all of her belongings and possessions to the Temple. That is because in her heart, she had devoted it all to God, while the rich men did not have their hearts fully concentrated at the Lord.

Therefore, as we today also celebrate the memory of St. Norbert, also known as St. Norbert of Xanten, who was renowned for his devotion to the Lord and his devotion to renew the faith and purify it from all the corruptions and evils that had crept up into the Church and its faithful the years, and despite oppositions and even assassination attempts, he remained faithful and dedicated to his cause. Hence, all of us should also be inspired to follow in His footsteps.

Brothers and sisters, let us all pray to the Almighty God, that He may keep us strong and faithful to our calling, and let us all be closer ever to the throne of His love. Let us all devote ourselves ever more strongly to our God. May God be with us all. Amen.

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Saturday, 6 June 2015 : 9th Week of Ordinary Time, Memorial of St. Norbert, Bishop (Gospel Reading)

Liturgical Colour : Green or White (Bishops and Saturday Mass of our Lady)

Mark 12 : 38-44

At that time, as Jesus was teaching, He also said to the people, “Beware of those teachers of the Law, who enjoy walking around in long robes and being greeted in the marketplace, and who like to occupy reserved seats in the synagogues, and the first places at feasts. They even devour the widow’s and the orphan’s goods while making a show of long prayers. How severe a sentence they will receive!”

Jesus sat down opposite the Temple treasury, and watched the people dropping money into the treasury box; and many rich people put in large offerings, but a poor widow also came and dropped in two small coins. Then Jesus called His disciples and said to them, “Truly, I say to you, this poor widow put in more than all those who gave offerings. For all of them gave from their plenty, but she gave from her poverty, and put in everything she had, her very living.”

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Saturday, 6 June 2015 : 9th Week of Ordinary Time, Memorial of St. Norbert, Bishop (Psalm)

Liturgical Colour : Green or White (Bishops and Saturday Mass of our Lady)

Tobit 13 : 2cdef, 6fghi, 6klmn

It is God who punishes and He who has mercy; who makes people go down to hell and rise up again. No one can escape His hand.

If you turn back to Him with all your heart and soul, and live justly before Him, then He will turn back to you and will no longer hide His face from you.

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Saturday, 6 June 2015 : 9th Week of Ordinary Time, Memorial of St. Norbert, Bishop (First Reading)

Liturgical Colour : Green or White (Bishops and Saturday Mass of our Lady)

Tobit 12 : 1, 5-15, 20

When the wedding feast was over, Tobit called Tobias, his son, and said to him, “Be sure you give the wages to the man who accompanied you, and we should add something extra.”

Then Tobias called the angel and said to him, “Please take half of all that you have brought.” The angel took Tobit and Tobias to one side and said to them, “Bless God, return thanks to Him, proclaim His glory and render Him thanks before all the living for all He has done for you. It is good to praise God and to exalt His Name, by making known in a worthy manner the story of God’s deeds.”

“Do not be slow in giving Him thanks. It is good to hide the secrets of kings but to make known publicly the works of God. Do the works of God. Do good, and evil will not harm you. It is a good thing to accompany prayer with fasting, almsgiving and justice. It is better to do a little with honour than much with injustice. It is better to give alms than to treasure up gold.”

“Almsgiving preserves from death; it purifies from all sin. Those people who give alms and act justly will have a long life, but sinners only harm themselves. I will hide nothing from you. Yes, I have said that it is good to keep the secrets of kings but to make known publicly the glorious works of God.”

“Tobit, when you and your daughter-in-law Sara prayed, I kept the remembrance of your prayer before the Holy One; when you, Tobit, buried the dead, I was with you in the same way; and when you did not hesitate to rise up and leave your meal in order to hide the dead man, your good deed did not go unnoticed because I was with you.”

“Well, God sent me to cure you and also to cure Sara, your daughter-in-law. I am Raphael, one of the seven holy angels who present the prayers of holy people and who stand before the glory of God. Now bless and give thanks to God, because I am returning to the One who sent me. Write down in a book all that has happened.”

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Friday, 5 June 2015 : 9th Week of Ordinary Time, Memorial of St. Boniface, Bishop and Martyr (Homily and Scripture Reflections)

Liturgical Colour : Red

Dear brothers and sisters in Christ, today we heard about the healing of Tobit, who had long suffered from blindness. The Lord had mercy on him and blessed him through His agent, the Archangel Raphael. He sent Raphael to bring about healing to both Sara who was afflicted by the demon Asmodeus who killed her seven husbands, and to Tobit, to open his eyes so that he might see again.

Just as in the story of Job, the suffering but faithful servant of God, this shows that God is ever faithful and ever loving, and He always cares for us and loves us all tenderly. He will never leave behind all those who are faithful to Him. His gift and grace will be ours if we are able to faithfully cling to Him and devote ourselves to His ways. And He showed this by the promise which He had made to His people and which He fulfilled through Jesus, His Son, whom He sent into the world.

The Gospel reading which we heard today does not mean that Jesus repudiated or rejected the fact that He is the Heir of David and the One whom God had revealed to the world as the promised Messiah. It rather shows that because the people associate the Messiah with merely human terms of power and kingship, that He would rule in the kingdom of His ancestor David, and nothing more.

They thought that He would renew the kingdom of Israel, again in earthly and worldly terms, but the Lord Jesus our Messiah is much more than that, for just as He is Man, the Son of David, Heir to the kingdom which His ancestor had established and made firm, thus He is also the Son of God, the One who was to come into the world in order to save it.

Thus, Jesus would make it clear to the people, that His nature is both Man and Divine. This is what we believe in our faith as well. We believe that our Lord Jesus Christ, the Son of God, Word of God made Flesh, had incarnated Himself as one of us while at the same time retaining His full divinity. This is important to be taken note of, especially considering what our Lord Jesus has done for our sake.

For what Christ had done is by suffering in our place, the suffering which all of us should have suffered from, that is the just punishment for our sins. We should have suffered death for our rebellion and disobedience against God, but through Christ who died for us, we will indeed die as a mortal being, but while once death had been the gateway to eternal darkness and suffering, now death is the new beginning of a new life in God, and it is not something that we should fear any longer.

This is because Jesus our Lord, Son of Man and Son of God, had shown us that He has the key to break free from the hold of death, that by His resurrection after His death, He showed us all how there is life to come after death for the faithful. Thus, all of us who keep our faith in God have nothing to fear, since if we continue to be faithful, God will remember our faith in Him and bless us richly.

If Christ is only Man, then His sacrifice would be in vain since no amount of mortal blood and sacrifice is going to be enough to redeem the fullness of mankind’s sins and faults. It is because of the great Divinity who chose to lay down His life that the whole human race may be healed and forgiven from their sins, since He assumed the very flesh of our beings, that by His death and resurrection, we too may follow in His ways.

Today we also celebrate the feast of St. Boniface, who was a bishop in what is now Germany, renowned for his many works in advancing the faith, preaching it and teaching it to many people. He was also renowned for his enforcement for the true practices of the faith against the evils of the world that had encroached even against the Church and the faithful at the time.

He was involved in many preaching and evangelisation missions, which brought him to many lands still inhabitant by pagan peoples and nations. He preached to all these people and hearkened them to listen to the word of God, repent and change their ways. And even when the people refused to turn their hearts to God, he kept trying and continued to persuade the people by his teachings, until one day when he was ambushed by armed robbers who struck at him and his followers.

Until the end of his life, he remained truly faithful to God, forgiving his assailants and telling his followers not to engage in violence to fight against violence. His example, together with the example of many other saints and holy people of God, highlighted the glory and rewards which God will give all those who have devoted themselves to Him. They are now in the glory of heaven because of their fatihful devotion to the Lord who have loved them first.

Let us all therefore devote ourselves completely to the Lord our God, throwing aside all distractions and distortions of the evil one, inspired by the examples of the holy saints, particularly that of St. Boniface whose examples and memory we celebrate on this day. May God be with us always, and may He bless us and heal us from all of our afflictions. Amen.

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Friday, 5 June 2015 : 9th Week of Ordinary Time, Memorial of St. Boniface, Bishop and Martyr (Gospel Reading)

Liturgical Colour : Red

Mark 12 : 35-37

At that time, as Jesus was teaching in the Temple, He said, “The teachers of the Law say that the Messiah is the Son of David. How can that be? For David himself, inspired by the Holy Spirit, declared : The Lord said to my Lord, ‘Sit at My right hand, until I put Your enemies under Your feet!'”

“If David himself calls Him Lord, in what way can He be His Son?” Many people came to Jesus, and listened to Him gladly.