holy martyrs

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Friday, 30 June 2017 : 12th Week of Ordinary Time, Memorial of the First Martyrs of the Holy Roman Church (First Reading)

Liturgical Colour : Green or Red (Martyrs)
Genesis 17 : 1, 9-10, 15-22

When Abram was ninety-nine years old, YHVH appeared to him and said, “I am God Almighty. Walk in My presence and be without blame! For your part, you shall keep My covenant, you and your descendants after you, generation after generation. This is My Covenant with you, that you will keep, you and your descendants after you : Every male among you shall be circumcised.”

God said to Abraham, “As for Sarai, your wife, no longer are you to call her Sarai, but Sarah. I will bless her, and I will give you a son by her. I will bless her and from her will come nations; kings and peoples shall come from her.”

Then Abraham fell face down, and he laughed and said to himself, “Will a son be born to a man a hundred years old? And can Sarah who is ninety have a child?” And Abraham said to God, “If only You would accept Ishmael as Yours!” But God said, “Not at all! It is Sarah, your wife, who will give birth to your son and you will name him Isaac. I will establish My Covenant with him and his descendants after him forever.”

“As for Ishmael, I heard you. I will bless him and make him fruitful, and I will multiply his race. He shall be the father of twelve princes and I will make of him a great nation. But My Covenant I will establish with Isaac, the child Sarah will have this time next year.” When He had finished speaking with Abraham, God went away from him.

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Wednesday, 28 June 2017 : 12th Week of Ordinary Time, Memorial of St. Irenaeus, Bishop and Martyr (Homily and Scripture Reflections)

Liturgical Colour : Red
Dear brothers and sisters in Christ, on this day, we heard about the false prophets from Jesus our Lord, Who told His disciples to beware of all those people who pretended to be good on the outside, and yet, on the inside, they are truly wicked and evil. This is not what the Lord want from us all Christians, as all of us are called to be good and to devote ourselves to the Lord, both inside and outside, that our whole being truly bring glory to God.

If we truly belong to God, then our actions and deeds must indeed reflect that nature, that we do what the Lord had told us to do, and be genuine in our actions. Otherwise, we will be like the hypocrites, who pretended that they believed, and yet in their actions, showed what was contrary to their faith. All of us must be genuine Christians in actions and deeds, and we must really spend the time and put the effort to live in accordance with what the Lord taught us.

Remember, brothers and sisters in Christ, that the Lord Jesus in the Gospel today said how bad trees will produce bad fruits, while good trees will produce good fruits. And all those trees that are bad will be cast out into the fire and given to be burnt away. All those trees are representing us mankind, both with our good and bad deeds, with all of our imperfections, which then ends up in our actions, be it that they are righteous or wicked.

Bad trees will produce bad fruits, which will not be desired or wanted, and the Lord will cast these out on the day of the harvest, or the Day of Judgment, out to the eternal damnation. Do we want to end up with this fate, brethren? Certainly we do not want to end up like that. Yet, that will be our lot, if we do not truly practice our faith and instead doing what is wicked in the sight and presence of God and man alike.

And we cannot hide our intentions and actions, for even though we may be successful in hiding them from others around us, but the Lord will always know all of our intentions and actions. Nothing that we do that we can hide away from the Lord Who knows everything that is in our hearts and in out minds. If we are like the hypocrites, who pretended to do good on the outside but yet having malicious intent in the heart, or for those whose faith is just for show, the Lord will know it all.

We should instead be like the fruitful vine of Abraham, who has devoted himself wholeheartedly to the Lord, and obeyed the will of God with commitment and zeal. We should follow his examples, in how he has devoted himself wholeheartedly and committed himself to God in all that He had asked him to do. And because of the faith of Abraham, countless people who were his descendants have been blessed because of him.

He was sincere in his faith, and no falsehood could be found in him. He is the example of one who has true faith in God, and we ought to look up to him. If our faith can be like that of Abraham, then surely the Lord will find no fault in us, and He will bless us all and welcome us into His eternal glory and happiness. That is what all of us can look forward to, if we follow the Lord faithfully.

Perhaps we all should also heed the examples of St. Irenaeus, a holy bishop and martyr of the Faith, who was the Bishop of Lugdunum, now known as Lyon in Roman Gaul, now France. He was a devout priest and later on bishop, who was determined to root out all heresies among Christians, by his numerous works through which he helped to dispel the falsehood of those heresies, most serious of which is the syncretic and heretical Gnosticism, which had a strong hold among many of the people at the time.

Through his extensive works, St. Irenaeus helped to keep many from falling into heresy, and in his exhortations and evangelisations, he helped to bring many more souls to salvation through the Church. He has given his all for the sake of the Lord and for the people of God. In the end, it was told by some sources, that he suffered martyrdom, but nonetheless, by his life, he has bring glory to God and to His people.

Brothers and sisters in Christ, shall we walk in the footsteps of Abraham, our father in faith, and St. Irenaeus, the brave and courageous servant of God and defender of the faith? Let us all devote ourselves wholeheartedly to the Lord in the same manner as these holy predecessors of ours had done, shunning all that is evil, all pretensions and be honest in our devotion to God. May the Lord help us in our efforts and endeavours, and may He guide us always in our lives, that we will be able to find our way to His salvation. Amen.

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Wednesday, 28 June 2017 : 12th Week of Ordinary Time, Memorial of St. Irenaeus, Bishop and Martyr (Gospel Reading)

Liturgical Colour : Red
Matthew 7 : 15-20

At that time, Jesus said to His disciples, “Beware of false prophets : they come to you in sheep’s clothing; but inside, they are voracious wolves. You will recognise them by their fruits. Do you ever pick grapes from thorn bushes; or figs, from thistles?”

“A good tree always produces good fruit. A rotten tree produces bad fruit. A good tree cannot produce bad fruit; and a rotten fruit cannot bear good fruit. Any tree that does not bear good fruit is cut down and thrown into the fire. So then, you will know them by their fruit.”

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Wednesday, 28 June 2017 : 12th Week of Ordinary Time, Memorial of St. Irenaeus, Bishop and Martyr (Psalm)

Liturgical Colour : Red
Psalm 104 : 1-2, 3-4, 6-7, 8-9

Give thanks to YHVH, call on His Name; make known His works among the nations. Sing to Him, sing His praise, proclaim all His wondrous deeds.

Glory in His holy Name; let those who seek YHVH rejoice. Look to YHVH and be strong; seek His face always.

You descendants of His servant Abraham, you sons of Jacob, His chosen ones! He is YHVH our God; His judgments reach the whole world.

He remembers His Covenant forever, His promise to a thousand generations, the Covenant He made with Abraham, the promise He swore to Isaac.

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Wednesday, 28 June 2017 : 12th Week of Ordinary Time, Memorial of St. Irenaeus, Bishop and Martyr (First Reading)

Liturgical Colour : Red
Genesis 15 : 1-12, 17-18

After Abram met with Melchizedek, the word of YHVH was spoken to Abram in a vision : “Do not be afraid, Abram, I am your shield; your reward will be very great!” Abram said, “My Lord YHVH, where are Your promises? I am still childless and all I have will go to Eliezer of Damascus. You have given me no children, so a slave of mine will be my heir.”

Then the word of YHVH was spoken to him again, “Eliezer will not be your heir, but a child born of you (your own flesh and blood) will be your heir.” Then YHVH brought him outside and said to him, “Look up at the sky and count the stars if you can. Your descendants will be like that.”

Abram believed YHVH Who, because of this, held him to be an upright man. And He said, “I am YHVH Who brought you from Ur of the Chaldeans to give you this land as your possession.” Then Abram asked, “My Lord, how am I to know that it shall be mine?” YHVH replied, “Bring Me a three-year-old heifer, a three-year-old goat, a three-year-old ram, a turtle dove and a young pigeon.”

Abram brought all these animals, cut them in two, and laid each half facing its other half, but he did not cut the birds in half. The birds of prey came down upon them, but Abram drove them away. As the sun was going down, a deep sleep came over Abram, and a dreadful darkness took hold of him.

When the sun had set and darkness had fallen, a smoking firepot and a flaming torch passed between the halves of the victims. On that day YHVH made a Covenant with Abram, saying, “To your descendants I have given this country from the river of Egypt to the Great River, the Euphrates.”

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Thursday, 22 June 2017 : 11th Week of Ordinary Time, Memorial of St. Paulinus of Nola, Bishop, St. John Fisher, Bishop and Martyr, and St. Thomas More, Martyr (Homily and Scripture Reflections)

Liturgical Colour : Green or White (Bishops) or Red (Martyrs)
Dear brothers and sisters in Christ, on this day we heard about the Lord Jesus teaching His disciples how to pray. He told them and taught them what we now know as the Lord’s Prayer, the perfect prayer composed by none other than our Lord Jesus Himself. It was a prayer of pure intention and faith showing obedience, the desire to glorify God and to thank Him for all the blessings and graces He had given to us His beloved ones.

We may think that it is kind of unnecessary for the Lord to teach His disciples how to pray, but this is in fact His way to show us all, His people, how to truly pray from the heart, to be able to communicate with the Lord, that is the essence of what a prayer is. That is important because, many of us Christians, might have forgotten what it truly means for us to pray.

At that time, the people of God followed the ways that were shown to them by the Pharisees and the teachers of the Law in the way they themselves prayed before the Lord. Those people prayed long prayers in the public places, making themselves seen by everyone, who praised them for their piety and devotion. Yet, their long prayers were empty and meaningless, since the focus of their prayers were upon themselves, upon their own vanity, and not upon God.

That is how we ourselves also might have often done with our prayers. We pray for the purpose of our own selfish desires, wishing to gain something for our own benefit. And many of us have that mistaken concept that God is One Who we can depend on for everything, and that whatever we ask of Him, He will give them to us. But that in fact is making God as if He is a servant to us, and we are demanding Him to do something for us, which is not right.

That is exactly why many people in fact had turned away from the Lord, because they were unable to get rid of their human ego, their desires which they had allowed to lead their way. When they prayed, they said litany of requests, desires and even demands, asking God to grant them what they wanted. I am sure that many of us had done something similar to this, at one or more points in our respective lives. And when He did not grant what we wanted, we became angry at Him and turned our back from Him.

How many of us will be able to realise that what many of us had done might not have been right? Many of us have placed ourselves, our desired and our selfish wants above that of our obligation to love and to serve the Lord our God. It is often that we are not able to let go of our desires, or to lie down our human pride, and as a result, we ended up doing what is disgraceful and sinful in the sight of God and men alike.

That was what the actions and examples of the holy saints and martyrs whose feast we celebrate on this day ought to show us the way forward. St. John Fisher and St. Thomas More were the saints and martyrs of the English reformation, at which time, the persecution was against all the faithful when the faithless king of England, Henry VIII, for his own personal reasons and refusal to obey the will of God through His Church, broke the communion between the churches in England from the Holy Mother Church.

St. Thomas More was the Chancellor of the King, the position akin to that of Prime Minister in our present day world. He was a person of great influence and power, having a position of great prestige and honour. And yet, when the king asked for all of his officials, advisers, and members of the English Church to declare their oath of obedience to him and break away from the obedience to the Holy Mother Church, St. Thomas More and St. John Fisher, who was one of the holy bishops of the Church, refused to do so.

Even though the king lavished worldly honour and privileges on all those who would recant their faith and devotion to the Church, and especially on St. Thomas More, who was the trusted Chancellor and chief adviser to the king himself, but St. Thomas More chose to remain true to his faith and did not get swayed by all the temptations and pressured heaped on him to make him change his mind.

Brothers and sisters in Christ, the saints and martyrs had given us their examples for us to follow, in their devotion and zeal, and in how they lived their lives in accordance with the will of God, and not according to their own human desires. Had they succumbed to their desires, their pride and ego, they would have given up their faith and betrayed the Lord for worldly happiness instead.

This is what all of us Christians must do, from now on, that all of us become true disciples and followers of the Lord, not just in name or formality only, but through real action, commitment and work. Let us all follow in the footsteps of our good and holy predecessors, and strive to do our best in our everyday life, to be good and worthy children of our God. Let us all have a genuine and healthy prayerful life, that we are always in constant communication with God, knowing what it is that He wants us to do in our respective lives. May the Lord bless us all in our endeavours. Amen.

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Thursday, 22 June 2017 : 11th Week of Ordinary Time, Memorial of St. Paulinus of Nola, Bishop, St. John Fisher, Bishop and Martyr, and St. Thomas More, Martyr (Gospel Reading)

Liturgical Colour : Green or White (Bishops) or Red (Martyrs)
Matthew 6 : 7-15

At that time, Jesus said to His disciples, “When you pray, do not use a lot of words, as the pagans do; for they believe that, the more they say, the more chance they have of being heard. Do not be like them. Your Father knows what you need, even before you ask Him.”

“This, then, is how you should pray : Our Father in heaven, holy be Your Name, Your kingdom, come, Your will be done on earth, as in heaven. Give us today, our daily bread. Forgive us our debts, as we forgive those who are in debt to us. Do not bring us to the test, but deliver us from the evil one.”

“If you forgive others their wrongdoings, your Father in heaven will also forgive yours. If you do not forgive others, then your Father will not forgive you.”

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Thursday, 22 June 2017 : 11th Week of Ordinary Time, Memorial of St. Paulinus of Nola, Bishop, St. John Fisher, Bishop and Martyr, and St. Thomas More, Martyr (Psalm)

Liturgical Colour : Green or White (Bishops) or Red (Martyrs)
Psalm 110 : 1-2, 3-4, 7-8

Alleluia! I thank YHVH with all my heart in the council of the just, in the assembly. The works of YHVH are great and pondered by all who delight in them.

Glorious and majestic are His deeds, His righteousness endures forever. He lets us remember His wondrous deeds; YHVH is merciful and kind.

The works of His hands are faithful and just, trustworthy are all His precepts, ordained to last forever, bearers of truth and uprightness.

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Thursday, 22 June 2017 : 11th Week of Ordinary Time, Memorial of St. Paulinus of Nola, Bishop, St. John Fisher, Bishop and Martyr, and St. Thomas More, Martyr (First Reading)

Liturgical Colour : Green or White (Bishops) or Red (Martyrs)
2 Corinthians 11 : 1-11

May you bear with me in some little foolishness! But surely you will. I confess that I share the jealousy of God for you, for I have promised you, in marriage, to Christ, the only Spouse; to present you to Him, as a pure virgin. And this is my fear : the serpent that seduced Eve, with cunning, could also corrupt your minds, and divert you from Christian sincerity.

Someone, now, comes, and preaches another Jesus, different from the One we preach, or you are offered a different spirit from the One you have received, with a different gospel from the one you have accepted – and you agree! I do not see how I am inferior to those super Apostles. Does my speaking leave much to be desired? Perhaps, but not my knowledge, as I have abundantly shown to you in every way.

Perhaps my fault was, that I humbled myself, in order to uplift you, or that, I gave you the Gospel free of charge. I called upon the services of other churches, and served you with the support I received from them. When I was with you, although I was in need, I did not become a burden to anyone. The friends from Macedonia gave me what I needed. I have taken care, not to be a burden to you in anything, and I will continue to do so.

By the truth of Christ within me, I will let no one in the land of Achaia stop this boasting of mine. Why? Because I do not love you? God knows that I do!

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Monday, 5 June 2017 : 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, on this day we heard about the person Tobit, an Israeli exile at the time of the Assyrian destruction of the northern kingdom, who was among the many descendants of Israel carried off to the exile in Assyria and in faraway lands. And even though many of the people of the northern kingdom abandoned the Lord and worshipped the pagan gods, but Tobit and his family remained faithful to the Lord God of Israel.

Indeed, Tobit was righteous and just in his actions, obeying the Lord and all of His commandments. He gave alms and cared for his fellow countrymen in exile, many of whom were suffering in poverty and slavery. Yet, in today’s reading, we heard also the reality of life, how people were persecuted and even killed because of their race, or because of they were weak and powerless, as what happened to the Israelites at that time, persecuted and scattered among the nations.

Such was the degree of human greed and desire, that they would even exploit others and made others to suffer in order to satisfy their own selfish needs and wants, and achieve their own personal glory. That is what the Lord Jesus wanted to show through the parable which He taught His disciples, what we heard in our Gospel today about the evil tenants who refused to pay their due to their landlord and master.

Brothers and sisters in Christ, the evil tenants represent all those people who were wicked and who were controlled by their desires and greed. They should have paid their due to the landlord and master, who is none other than the Lord our God, Who has given them all the opportunity to live and to prosper from all His graces and blessings. Yet, they disobeyed Him and refused to listen to Him, even hurting and killing all those whom the Master had sent to them to remind them about their obligations.

This is representative of how mankind itself reacted to the Lord, as He constantly reminded them through His messengers and servants, whom He sent to be among His people, in order to call them to repent from all of their sinful ways, from all of their selfish deeds that brought about suffering and difficulties to their fellow men, and from all that they had done which were wicked in the sight of the Lord and men alike.

But many of those people turned a deaf ear and persecuted all those who had been sent to remind them and guide them. And thus the messengers, prophets and servants of God had suffered and died, and last of all, as Jesus Himself prophesied through His parable, they would even kill the son of the master, Who is representative of Jesus, the Son of God.

They rejected Him, ridiculed and mocked Him, and then arrested Him, putting Him under false charges and accusations made by false witnesses. They made Him to bear the burden of the cross, and condemned Him to death, death on the cross. And yet, as we all know, the Lord Jesus had transformed that suffering to grace, by obeying perfectly the will of God, His Father. That means, when the people had been unfaithful, His faith and obedience has become a great light that led the people from the darkness.

That was what the Lord had taught us all, His disciples and followers to do in our own respective lives. The Lord has shown us all by His own example, on how all of us ought to live in accordance with His will, helping to guide all those who have been swayed and corrupted by the evils of greed and desire, by telling them with gentle and yet firm words of reminders.

That means, all of us as Christians ought to do what the holy saints and martyrs had done, as they lived upright life and led an example for the rest of the people, all of whom had been struggling under the weight of their sins and wickedness. All of the saints themselves had been sinners like us as well, for everyone had committed sin at least once in their lives. And yet, they turned towards the Lord, and endeavoured to show others the way to do the same.

St. Boniface, the saint whose memory we remember today, did exactly just that, brothers and sisters in Christ. He was a bishop appointed to serve the people living in the areas and regions which now comprise the northern part of Germany, which at that time had not yet received the words and truth of God, as paganism was still the norm for the people living in those places, living in state of sin and wickedness, and doing what were abhorrent in the sight of God.

Yet, St. Boniface took up the challenge and set out to preach to those people, bearing to them the message of truth, as he patiently and courageously went about from towns to towns, from villages to villages, to proclaim God’s ways and calling on the pagans to repent from their sins and turn towards the Lord, their true God and Master. Yes, he was persecuted and faced many challenges, but he never gave up.

It is his conviction to help all those who were still separated from the love of God, be it because of ignorance or because of the temptations of the world, so that all those people would not end up in hell, damned because of their sins. He called them out of the darkness and into the light, through all of his hard work and commitment. This is what all of us Christians have to do in our own lives, as St. Boniface carried on doing his duty, even until he was martyred in the midst of his ministry, as told that he was attacked by brigands and was martyred defending his faith in God.

Brothers and sisters in Christ, therefore, all of us are called to be the messengers of God’s truth, that we may not end up becoming like those evil tenants who were swallowed by their greed and desire for personal glory and power. We should help one another, especially our brethren who are still struggling in their journey towards the Lord, not by great and marvellous deeds, but beginning from ourselves, from our own actions and deeds in life.

Brethren, let us all show exemplary actions and deeds in life, so that through all the work that we have done, and through all of our dedication, by loving tenderly and sincerely, and by showing genuine care and concern for all those who have fallen along the way, we may convince more and more people to repent and to turn themselves completely and wholeheartedly towards the Lord, their God. So that, ultimately, all of us will rejoice together in the end, enjoying together as one people, the heavenly glory the Lord promised to all those who keep their faith in Him. May God bless us all. Amen.