holy bishops

by

Thursday, 24 October 2024 : 29th Week of Ordinary Time, Memorial of St. Anthony Mary Claret, Bishop (First Reading)

Liturgical Colour : Green or White (Bishops)

Ephesians 3 : 14-21

And, now, I kneel in the presence of the Father, from Whom, every family in heaven and on earth has received its name. May He strengthen in you, the inner self, through His Spirit, according to the riches of His glory; may Christ dwell in your hearts, through faith; may you be rooted and founded in love.

All of this, so that you may understand, with all the holy ones, the width, the length, the height and the depth – in a word, that you may know the love of Christ, that surpasses all knowledge, that you may be filled, and reach the fullness of God.

Glory to God, Who shows His power in us, and can do much more than we could ask or imagine; glory to Him, in the Church, and in Christ Jesus, through all generations, forever and ever. Amen.

by

Thursday, 17 October 2024 : 28th Week of Ordinary Time, Memorial of St. Ignatius of Antioch, Bishop and Martyr (Homily and Scripture Reflections)

Liturgical Colour : Red

Dear brothers and sisters in Christ, today as we all listened to the words of the Scriptures, we are all reminded of the need for each and every one of us as Christians, as God’s holy and beloved people to continue to obey wholeheartedly the teachings of the Lord, our loving God and Saviour, Who has revealed His love to us through His Son, Jesus Christ, manifesting His love to us in the fullest and in manner that is tangible and approachable by us, so that we may come to benefit from His love and salvation, and that we may be assured of His ever patient guidance and help throughout our respective journeys in life. Consequently, we should also strive to keep away from ourselves all the 

In our first reading todayreadinb, taken from the Epistle of St. Paul the Apostle to the Church and the faithful people of God in the city and region of Ephesus, we heard the greeting from the Apostle to the faithful in Ephesus, reminding them all of the salvation in Jesus Christ, their Lord and Saviour, which he and the other Apostles and missionaries had been proclaiming about, reminding them that the salvation in the Lord came through Christ and whatever He had revealed to them through His disciples and Church, and not through other means such as through the obedience of the Law and commandments of God, as some of the converts from the Jewish background, especially those from the Pharisees and the teachers of the Law group claimed and wanted to enforce the Jewish customs and ways on the rest of the Church and the Christian faithful.

As they were making such coercions and efforts, they were also claiming that unless the people of God obeyed the Law of Moses in how they were interpreted by the Pharisees and the teachers of the Law, then they could not be saved or have a share in God’s grace. This claim and false interpretations of the Law and their attempts to impose these on the Church and the faithful therefore were met with opposition and rebuke from St. Paul, just as the Lord Himself has also told the people that the path towards the Lord and eternal life is through Himself, and not through the obedience to the man-made laws, rules, regulations, customs and boundaries which men tried to set in their midst, in order to make some among themselves more righteous, worthy and better than others.

Then in our Gospel passage today, we heard from the continuation of the account from the Gospel according to St. Luke the Evangelist where the Lord continued to rebuke and criticise the Pharisees and the teachers of the Law for their actions and for their lack of faith in God and His Saviour. The context in all these must be understood in that the Lord had faced constant opposition and rejection, stubborn attitudes and obstacles from all those aforementioned Pharisees and the teachers of the Law who often doubted His teachings, questioned His authority to teach and perform the miracles, and used their own strict and rigid interpretation and understanding of the Law of God to oppose what the Lord had revealed and attempted to teach to them. As such, the Lord often faced a lot of hardships throughout His ministry because of all that.

That was why the Lord criticised and rebuked those Pharisees for their attitudes, which He highlighted as being similar with the attitudes that their ancestors and predecessors had once shown, in their stubbornness to follow the whim of their own desires, their own understanding and interpretation of things rather than to trust in the Lord and His truth. Their pride and ego, ambitions and desires of this world led them to walk down the wrong path and made them to be ever more distant from the Lord, as they had closed the doors of their hearts and minds to the Lord. This is the attitude that the Lord does not want any of us to have, so that we do not end up thinking that our ways and methods are better or that we are somehow better and superior than others around us. Instead, as Christians, it is always important that we remain humble and willing to listen to others, especially in listening to God.

Today, the Church celebrates the Feast of the renowned St. Ignatius of Antioch, a great Church father and one of the famous martyrs of the early Church, whose courage, faith and dedication to God are truly exemplary and inspirational to all of us. St. Ignatius of Antioch was one of the early successors of the Apostles and was a convert to the Christian faith during the time of the great missionary works of the Apostles, who were establishing the Church and spreading the Good News to many people all throughout the world. St. Ignatius of Antioch according to the Church history and tradition was the disciple of St. John the Apostle, and therefore knew about the Apostles directly and received the truth from them, which he himself upheld most faithfully and continued to propagate in his own ministry.

St. Ignatius of Antioch went to Antioch, to the city where one of the first community of Christians outside of Judah, Galilee and Jerusalem was formed, and there he succeeded St. Peter the Apostle who was the first Bishop of Antioch in eventually becoming the shepherd of the flock of God’s people in that great city, ministering to the faithful and proclaiming God’s Good News to many more of the people in that region, and eventually, during the intense persecutions against Christians at that time, he was martyred like most of the Apostles and many other disciples and missionaries of the Lord, and he remained firmly faithful to the Lord to the very end, not giving up his commitment to Him and remaining strong in his conviction to follow the Lord despite the sufferings and trials that he had to endure, and his great courage and faith strengthened many other faithful people of God.

Brothers and sisters in Christ, as we have heard from the life and examples of St. Ignatius of Antioch, and as we have discerned the words of the Sacred Scriptures, let us all therefore do our best so that we may follow in the footsteps of those who have gone before us and been exemplary in their lives and faith in God. Let us all cast away our pride and ego, greed and other forms of desires that can lead us to the path towards our downfall. Let us all strive to do God’s will ever more faithfully in each and every moments of our lives from now on, and let us continue to inspire one another by our own exemplary lives that we may draw everyone ever closer towards the Lord. May God be with us all and may He bless our every endeavours and efforts that we may continue to glorify Him in all things. Amen.

by

Thursday, 17 October 2024 : 28th Week of Ordinary Time, Memorial of St. Ignatius of Antioch, Bishop and Martyr (Gospel Reading)

Liturgical Colour : Red

Luke 11 : 47-54

At that time, Jesus said to the teachers of the Law, “A curse is on you, for you build monuments to the prophets your ancestors killed. So you approve and agree with what your ancestors did. Is it not so? They got rid of the prophets, and you build monuments to them!”

“For that reason the wisdom of God also said : I will send prophets and Apostles and these people will kill and persecute some of them. But the present generation will have to answer for the blood of all the prophets that has been shed since the foundation of the world, from the blood of Abel to the blood of Zechariah, who was murdered between the altar and the Sanctuary. Yes, I tell you, the people of this time will have to answer for them all.”

“A curse is on you, teachers of the Law, for you have taken the key of knowledge. You yourselves have not entered, and you prevented others from entering.”

As Jesus left that place, the teachers of the Law and the Pharisees began to harass Him, asking Him endless questions, setting traps to catch Him in something He might say.

by

Thursday, 17 October 2024 : 28th Week of Ordinary Time, Memorial of St. Ignatius of Antioch, Bishop and Martyr (Psalm)

Liturgical Colour : Red

Psalm 97 : 1, 2-3ab, 3cd-4, 5-6

Sing to the Lord a new song, for He has done wonders; His right hand, His holy arm, has won victory for Him.

The Lord 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 the Lord, break into song and sing praise.

With melody of the lyre and with music of the harp. With trumpet blast and sound of the horn, rejoice before the King, the Lord!

by

Thursday, 17 October 2024 : 28th Week of Ordinary Time, Memorial of St. Ignatius of Antioch, Bishop and Martyr (First Reading)

Liturgical Colour : Red

Ephesians 1 : 1-10

Paul, an Apostle of Christ Jesus, by the will of God, to the saints in Ephesus, to you, who share Christian faith : receive grace and peace from God, our Father, and from Jesus, the Lord.

Blessed be God, the Father of Christ Jesus our Lord, Who, in Christ, has blessed us from heaven, with every spiritual blessing. God chose us, in Christ, before the creation of the world, to be holy, and without sin in His presence.

From eternity He destined us, in love, to be His adopted sons and daughters, through Christ Jesus, thus fulfilling His free and generous will. This goal suited Him : that His loving-kindness, which He granted us His beloved might finally receive all glory and praise.

For, in Christ, we obtain freedom, sealed by His Blood, and have the forgiveness of sins. In this, appears the greatness of His grace, which He lavished on us. In all wisdom and understanding, God has made known to us His mysterious design, in accordance with His loving-kindness, in Christ.

In Him, and under Him, God wanted to unite, when the fullness of time had come, everything in heaven and on earth.

by

Friday, 20 September 2024 : 24th Week of Ordinary Time, Memorial of St. Laurent Imbert, Bishop and Martyr, St. Jacques Chastan, Priest and Martyr, and St. Andrew Kim Tae-gon, Priest and Martyr, and St. Paul Chong Ha-sang and Companions, Martyrs (Homily and Scripture Reflections)

Liturgical Colour : Red

Dear brothers and sisters in Christ, today as we listened to the words of the Scriptures, we are all reminded that we are all believers in the Lord’s resurrection from the dear and the promise of the life that is to come for us with God. Each and every one of us as Christians are partakers of the Lord’s promise and the eternal life and grace which He will bless us all with, and which He has shown us and proven to us through the Resurrection which He Himself has experienced, gloriously risen from the dead and triumphant against all the forces of sin and evil, crushing forever the dominion and power of Satan, and opening for us all the sure path to eternal life and salvation with Him and in Him. Today we are reminded that as Christians, all of us ought to have firm and strong faith in Him and the resurrection.

In our first reading today, we heard from the Epistle of St. Paul the Apostle to the Church and the faithful people of God in the city and region of Corinth in which the Apostle spoke to the Corinthian faithful with regards to the important and core Christian tenet and belief in the resurrection from the dead. There were likely those among the faithful in Corinth who did not truly believe in the resurrection from the dead, and they may not have believed in the Apostles and the other disciples who had come to them bearing the news of the Lord’s resurrection. Therefore, St. Paul reiterated again that the belief in the resurrection from the dead, particularly in the Resurrection of Our Lord is an essential and crucial part of our Christian beliefs and faith.

He stated that if the Lord had not risen from the dead, then all of their beliefs and faith in Him would have been useless, as if the Lord Jesus Himself had perished and been defeated by the power of Satan, by sin and death, by all of His enemies and all those who have persecuted and oppressed Him, then it would indeed be folly for any of them to believe in the Lord and His teachings. Then there would also have been no hope for any one of them to be able to overcome sin and death, and death itself would have been the end of everything. Among the Jewish people themselves, there were those like the Sadducees, the priestly elites who did not believe in the resurrection from the dead or in any forms of life after death. Even among the Jewish elders and traditions themselves there were many disagreements on this matter.

But St. Paul firmly spoke of the most fundamental Christian belief in the resurrection from the dead, and how the faithful ought to hold firmly to this faith, trusting that there is life and existence after death and end of our lives in this world as we know it to be. The Lord Himself has shown it, as He revealed Himself and His Risen glory right after He rose from the dead, reassuring all of His disciples and followers of the truth which He has told all of them. He reassured them that through the resurrection of the dead, all of them, and hence each and every one of us shall share in the glory of Our Lord’s Resurrection, and share the joy and happiness that He has promised to each and every one of us, the true and lasting happiness that can be found in Him alone, and this is the faith which all of us Christians share together as one beloved and holy people of God.

Then, in our Gospel passage today, we then heard of the short passage from the Gospel according to St. Luke in which the Lord’s ministry was highlighted to us, and we heard the names of several women being mentioned to us, and how the Lord went about many places healing people and performing miracles, casting out demons and helping many people out of their predicaments. Although that passage was rather short, it did show to us the dedication which many of the Lord’s disciples, particularly that of the women, who spent many efforts to help and facilitate the Lord’s ministry and works, and that also included St. Mary Magdalene, a woman from whom the Lord had cast out seven demons or evil spirits, and who later on would become a truly great and respected saint, highlighting to us again, how important it is for us as Christians to put our trust in the Lord, to follow Him wholehearted as always.

Today, the Church celebrates the Feast of the Holy Korean Martyrs, or the Holy Martyrs of Korea, which are composed of many local Korean Christians and converts, both among the clergy and the laity alike, as well as the many missionaries who had come from distant lands, serving the Lord and His people, and all of whom endured great challenges, trials and sufferings amidst their ministry and living of their Christian faith. Today we remember all of these most courageous, faithful and loving people of God, who have borne the pains and struggles of being God’s faithful and beloved children and disciples, suffering prison, pains and sufferings, humiliations and hardships, and many of them even died as martyrs, choosing to die in faith rather than to give up their faith in God or to abandon Him and His Church.

At that time, the Korean state and government were very suspicious and hostile against the Christians and the missionaries who came to Korea to evangelise and proclaim the Lord and His Good News. They viewed the Christian faith and the missionaries as threat to their way of life and the authority of the state, as opposed to the strict Confucian nature of the society and the worldview of the time prevailing in Korea. And therefore, the state persecuted the Christians, both the foreign missionaries and also the local converts, oppressing and attacking them, forcing them to choose between their faith and suffering, or to obey the commands and demands of the state and abandoning their newfound faith and trust in the Lord.

St. Andrew Kim Taegon was particularly renowned among the saints and martyrs commemorated today as he was the first Korean Catholic priest, and he had a rough early life because his family, who had converted to the Christian faith were persecuted and he had his family members martyred for being followers of Christ. At a young age of fifteen, St. Andrew Kim Taegon chose to be baptised and then went to Macau to study as a seminarian and eventually was ordained as a priest in Shanghai in China. He later on returned to Korea to preach the Christian faith and Good News, evangelising to many of the people in his homeland. Eventually, he was persecuted with many other Christians, both missionaries, clergy and laity alike during intense persecutions against them, but he and the other faithful martyrs remained firmly faithful to the very end.

There was also the story of the faith of St. Laurent Imbert, the first Vicar Apostolic of Korea, the missionary which the Pope appointed to be the representative of the Church in Korea, laying down the important groundwork for the growth of Christianity in that area. St. Laurent Imbert dedicated himself to minister to the faithful people of God, the flock entrusted to his care by the Lord, despite the intensifying persecutions against him and many other missionaries. When he and the other missionaries had to go into hiding during those persecutions, St. Laurent Imbert voluntarily surrendered himself to the authorities, and encouraged two other priests to do the same as he hoped that by doing so, he might spare many other Christians, his own flock, from suffering more for being followers of Christ. Before he was martyred, he was remembered for his great quote from the Gospel, ‘The Good Shepherd lays down His life for His sheep.’, showing the action that he and the Lord Himself had done in ensuring our salvation and liberation from sin and destruction.

Therefore, brothers and sisters in Christ, let us all be inspired by the faith and examples shown to us by the Holy Martyrs of Korea, those whose lives and dedication to God have been most exemplary and strong, and who have inspired us all to continue to live our lives with genuine and strong faith in the Lord as we should have always done. Each and every one of us as Christians have been called to commit ourselves thoroughly and wholeheartedly to the cause of the Lord, to be truly loving and generous with our compassion and mercy to one another, and to trust in the Lord’s providence and care, and in everything which He has reassured and promised us, the promise of everlasting life and true happiness, of glory everlasting with Him.

May the Lord our most loving, compassionate and merciful God continue to guide and strengthen us in our journey, and may He continue to empower and strengthen us in our resolve to live our lives worthily at all times, so that by each and every blessings and providence that He has given us, we may continue to stay firmly faithful in Him, dedicating ourselves to proclaim His truth, and be courageous witnesses of His glorious Resurrection, of His Good News and the everlasting life which He has promised to us. May God bless us all, now and always, forevermore. Amen.

by

Friday, 20 September 2024 : 24th Week of Ordinary Time, Memorial of St. Laurent Imbert, Bishop and Martyr, St. Jacques Chastan, Priest and Martyr, and St. Andrew Kim Tae-gon, Priest and Martyr, and St. Paul Chong Ha-sang and Companions, Martyrs (Gospel Reading)

Liturgical Colour : Red

Luke 8 : 1-3

At that time, Jesus walked through towns and countryside, preaching and giving the Good News of the kingdom of God. The Twelve followed Him, and also some women, who had been healed of evil spirits and diseases : Mary called Magdalene, who had been freed of seven demons; Joanna, wife of Chuza, Herod’s steward; Suzanna; and others, who provided for them out of their own funds.

by

Friday, 20 September 2024 : 24th Week of Ordinary Time, Memorial of St. Laurent Imbert, Bishop and Martyr, St. Jacques Chastan, Priest and Martyr, and St. Andrew Kim Tae-gon, Priest and Martyr, and St. Paul Chong Ha-sang and Companions, Martyrs (Psalm)

Liturgical Colour : Red

Psalm 16 : 1, 6-7, 8b and 15

Hear a just cause, o Lord, listen to my complaint. Give heed to my prayer for there is no deceit on my lips.

I call on You, You will answer me, o God; incline Your ear and hear my word. For You do wonders for Your faithful, You save those fleeing from the enemy as they seek refuge at Your right hand.

Keep me as the apple of Your eye; under the shadow of Your wings hide me. As for me, righteous in Your sight, I shall see Your face and, awakening, gaze my fill on Your likeness.

by

Friday, 20 September 2024 : 24th Week of Ordinary Time, Memorial of St. Laurent Imbert, Bishop and Martyr, St. Jacques Chastan, Priest and Martyr, and St. Andrew Kim Tae-gon, Priest and Martyr, and St. Paul Chong Ha-sang and Companions, Martyrs (First Reading)

Liturgical Colour : Red

1 Corinthians 15 : 12-20

Well, then, if Christ is preached as risen from the dead, how can some of you say, that there is no resurrection of the dead? If there is no resurrection of the dead, then Christ has not been raised. And if Christ has not been raised, our preaching is empty, and our belief comes to nothing. And we become false witnesses of God, attesting that He raised Christ, whereas He could not raise Him, if indeed, the dead are not raised.

If the dead are not raised, neither has Christ been raised. And if Christ has not been raised, your faith gives you nothing, and you are still in sin. Also, those who fall asleep, in Christ, are lost. If it is only for this life, that we hope in Christ, we are the most unfortunate of all people. But no, Christ has been raised from the dead, and He comes before all those who have fallen asleep.

by

Thursday, 19 September 2024 : 24th Week of Ordinary Time, Memorial of St. Januarius, Bishop and Martyr (Homily and Scripture Reflections)

Liturgical Colour : Green or Red (Martyrs)

Dear brothers and sisters in Christ, today all of us are reminded through what we have heard in our Scripture passages today that we have truly received God’s most generous love and mercy, and each and every one of us should truly be thankful and appreciative of the great wonders and kindness that God has given to us, in His patient and persistent love, in Him never giving up on us, in all of these moments. We are reminded how He has come into our midst, showing us His love and mercy manifested perfectly in the flesh, making Himself approachable and tangible for us, revealing the fullness of His patient and ever enduring love and care for us. All of us are truly fortunate that God has never given up on us and still wants us to be reconciled and reunited with Him.

In our first reading passage today, we heard from the Epistle of St. Paul to the Church and the faithful people of God in the city and region Corinth, in which the Apostle exhorted them all about everything that the Lord had done for their sake, in sending unto them the deliverance and salvation which He has promised and reassured them for, all that He had told them and their ancestors through the many prophets and messengers He sent to them. St. Paul spoke of how the Lord had begun and then carried out His ministry, calling His Apostles and disciples to follow Him, and to witness everything that He had done and performed. And He revealed all of that as well to St. Paul himself, whom God had called afterwards, turning from a great enemy of the Lord and the faithful to be a most courageous and faithful servant of God and champion of the faith.

Then, in our Gospel passage today, we heard of the account of the moment when the Lord was at a dinner in the house of a Pharisee who invited Him there, and an infamous and sinful woman who was living in that city came up to Him as we heard, anointing the feet of the Lord with the perfume she poured from the jar of alabaster she carried, and together with her tears and her hair, she wiped the feet of the Lord. This action and event immediately brought about the criticism and harsh remarks from the Pharisees who were gathered there, as they would not even come near those whom they deemed as sinners and unclean. To the Pharisees, such an action would have made them ritually unclean as well, defiling them by association and contact with one whom they deemed as sinners and unworthy before God.

But the Lord did not care about all that, and He let her to come to Him, honouring and respecting Him with great humility, humbling herself publicly and using her hair, the crown of her beauty and worldly appearances to wipe the feet of the Lord, with the feet often being associated with filth and dirt. Essentially, what she had just done was in fact a premonition of what the Lord Himself expected of us all, and what He wants to do with us, that is to come to Him with love and commitment towards Him, being sorrowful, regretful and humble over all of the sins and wickedness which we have committed in our own respective lives. And that the Lord Himself did not reject her but in fact embraced her warmly and defended her actions against the Pharisees showed clearly that God wants us all to come to Him and to be forgiven from our sins, to be reconciled and reunited with Him once again.

Today, the Church celebrates the Feast of St. Januarius, a great and holy servant of God, a faithful and committed shepherd to his flock as a bishop of the Church. St. Januarius was mainly known from his hagiography and popular Christian legends, as actual details were rather scant due to the harsh nature of the intense persecution of Christians during the time when St. Januarius carried out his mission and works as a bishop and suffered persecution and martyrdom under the infamous Emperor Diocletian and his attempts to oppress Christians throughout the Roman Empire. St. Januarius was born into a rich Roman patrician family in the third century, during time of turmoil in the Roman Empire and persecution of Christians.

Eventually, he became the Bishop of Naples at a relatively young age, and he had to help protect the various people under his care, his flock and the ones persecuted by the Roman state at that time. He had to hide many Christians under his care and made the efforts to visit those Christians and others that had been persecuted and arrested, jailed and made to suffer. He was caught and arrested by the Roman magistrates, and eventually he himself was persecuted and tortured, sentenced to death for sedition and treason, and according to the hagiographic stories, St. Januarius was either thrown to the wild beasts or into a furnace, but he was unharmed in both instances and stories. He was eventually put to death and martyred, but his courage and commitment to God inspired many long after his passing. His blood relic stored in Naples is the centre of popular devotion to this day.

Brothers and sisters in Christ, today as we have listened to the story of the faithful and courageous St. Januarius, and as we remember the words of the Scriptures that we have just discussed about God’s love and generous mercy, let us all therefore remember that each and every one of us are truly beloved by God, and He has always patiently looked after us, caring for us all these while, sending unto us His help and guidance through the various means all around us and in every aspects of our lives. We should therefore be more aware of this great love and blessings which we have indeed received from the Lord, and strive to do our best so that our lives may truly be more attuned and worthy towards Him, by doing what we can so that we may truly be faithful to Him, and to keep ourselves away from all sorts of vices and evils.

May the Lord, our ever always loving and merciful God continue to love us all tenderly and may He continue to strengthen us all in our faith so that in everything that we say and do, hopefully we may come ever closer to God and continue to commit ourselves in each and every moments with great compassion and love for both the Lord and for our fellow brethren around us. Let us all humble ourselves and realise that we are all sinners in need of healing and forgiveness from God, and therefore strive to seek Him and to love Him with ever greater passion and commitment with each and every passing moments in our lives. May God continue to bless us all and may He continue to empower and strengthen us in faith, in our resolve and commitment to follow Him, now and always. Amen.