holy martyrs

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Friday, 28 April 2023 : 3rd Week of Easter, Memorial of St. Peter Chanel, Priest and Martyr, and St. Louis Marie Grignion de Montfort, Priest (First Reading)

Liturgical Colour : White or Red (Martyrs)

Acts 9 : 1-20

Meanwhile Saul considered nothing but violence and death for the disciples of the Lord. He went to the High Priest and asked him for letters to the synagogues of Damascus that would authorise him to arrest and bring to Jerusalem anyone he might find, man or woman, belonging to the Way.

As he travelled along and was approaching Damascus, a light from the sky suddenly flashed around him. He fell to the ground and heard a voice saying to him, “Saul, Saul! Why do you persecute me?” And he asked, “Who are You, Lord?” The voice replied, “I am Jesus Whom you persecute. Now get up and go into the city; there you will be told what you are to do.”

The men who were travelling with him stood there speechless : they had heard the sound, but could see no one. Saul got up from the ground and, opening his eyes, he could not see. They took him by the hand and brought him to Damascus. He was blind and he did not eat or drink for three days.

There was a disciple in Damascus named Ananias, to whom the Lord called in a vision, “Ananias!” He answered, “Here I am, Lord!” Then the Lord said to him, “Go at once to Straight Street and ask, at the house of Judas, for a man of Tarsus named Saul. You will find him praying, for he has just seen in a vision that a man named Ananias has come in and placed his hands upon him, to restore his sight.”

Ananias answered, “Lord, I have heard from many sources about this man and all the harm he has done to Your saints in Jerusalem, and now he is here with authority from the High Priest to arrest all who call upon Your Name.” But the Lord said to him, “Go! This man is My chosen instrument to bring My Name to the pagan nations and their kings, and the people of Israel as well. I Myself will show him how much he will have to suffer for My Name.”

So Ananias left and went to the house. He laid his hands upon Saul and said, “Saul, my brother, the Lord Jesus, Who appeared to you on your way here, has sent me to you so that you may receive your sight and be filled with Holy Spirit.” Immediately something like scales fell from his eyes and he could see; he got up and was baptised. Then he took food and was strengthened.

For several days Saul stayed with the disciples at Damascus, and he soon began to proclaim in the synagogues that Jesus was the Son of God.

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Monday, 24 April 2023 : 3rd Week of Easter, Memorial of St. Fidelis of Sigmaringen, Priest and Martyr (Homily and Scripture Reflections)

Liturgical Colour : White or Red (Martyrs)

Dear brothers and sisters in Christ, today as we listened to the words of the Scriptures, all of us are reminded of our calling as Christians to be the disciples and followers of Our Lord Jesus Christ, the Risen Messiah, and to proclaim His Resurrection, His truth and love to all the people of all the nations. We are also reminded that in doing our mission and calling, in our ministry and life as Christians, there may be hurdles, trials and obstacles facing us, and yet we have to stay strong and devout in faith, and we should not lose faith and hope because the Lord is and has always, and will always ever be with us, journeying with us by our side. All of us are reminded that we all should stay by the Lord and remain truly faithful to Him, and to trust always in His guidance and providence for us. We must believe in Him and follow Him, even if things in life go against us, and that is what we are being reminded this day.

In our first reading today, taken from the Acts of the Apostles, we heard of the moment when St. Stephen, one of the first seven holy Deacons of the Church, appointed to assist in the works and mission of the Church, was confronted by those who opposed the Lord and His teachings, as they debated about the things which St. Stephen has been proclaiming and teaching to the people, regarding the truth and the Good News of the Lord, as well as His Resurrection from the dead. St. Stephen spoke with great wisdom, courage and strength despite all the challenges and the plotting against him. His opponents even bribed people to give false testimonies and accusations against St. Stephen, twisting the truth and the words that the Lord Himself has spoken, accusing St. Stephen for spreading the teachings of the Lord Jesus among the people.

Those people were trying hard to drive the sentiments of the assembly and the members of the Sanhedrin to go against St. Stephen, with efforts and attempts to discredit the servant of God and to persecute him. However, no matter whatever accusations and falsehoods they tried to blame on him, St. Stephen, empowered, strengthened and guided by the Holy Spirit, full of the Wisdom of God, broke through all of their arguments and wicked falsehoods, and he refuted all of their nonsense arguments and lies. As mentioned in the first reading passage today, St. Stephen’s face appeared before all the assembled people like as if the face of an Angel, a manifestation of the great strength, power and Wisdom that the Lord has bestowed upon Him through the Holy Spirit. As mentioned, this was one proof of how the Lord never abandoned His faithful ones in their hour of need.

Then in our Gospel Reading, we heard of the people who have been fed by the Lord in the well-known miracle of the feeding of the five thousand men and many thousands of others, who sought for the Lord and wanted to find out more from Him. The Lord told them how they sought Him for ulterior motives, as they were happy that they were fed and taken care of, and yet they have not yet had strong and genuine faith in them. This was because they sought for benefits and gains for themselves in their following and adherence to the Lord. But true faith requires total commitment and trust in the Lord, even amidst challenges and trials, oppression and tribulation, struggles and difficulties, just like how St. Stephen who faced such struggles and hardships and yet remained true to his commitment. Otherwise, we may find it really difficult to resist the temptations of sin in our daily living.

That is why we have to grow in faith and trust in the Lord, and we have to remain firmly rooted in Him. We have to endure the trials and tribulation, challenges and hardships that may come our way, or else, like how the disciples initially reacted upon seeing their Lord and Master being betrayed and arrested, they lost heart and abandoned Him, all fleeing to safeguard their own lives and to take care of their own well-being. Their faith back then were not strong enough and they were still driven by their own personal desires and wishes rather than true and genuine faith in the Lord, and hence, when persecutions came their way, their faith wavered and they chose to flee and abandon the Lord instead of persevering in faith. This is a reminder then that we should not waver in our faith, and continue to endure the challenges and trials, and help one another in doing so.

As we continue to progress through this season of Easter, let us all be good role models and live our lives faithfully each day, living as faithful Christians, as joyful Easter people, a people of the Resurrection, a people of faith and devotion to God. Let us all inspire our fellow brothers and sisters, particularly all those who are still struggling with their faith, and those enduring a lot of trials and challenges in being Christians in their respective communities and places. All of us can be sources of great inspiration for them and for one another just as the Apostles and the many other disciples of the Lord, the Church fathers and also the innumerable saints and martyrs, our holy predecessors had shown us. We should remain firm in our faith and put our trust in the Lord as they all had done.

Today, we have yet another saint, a holy man of God whose feast we celebrate and whose life can be yet another source of inspiration for us. St. Fidelis of Sigmaringen was a great priest and servant of God, known for his piety and holiness, as well as dedication in serving God and His people. He spent a lot of time caring for the people around him, even before becoming a priest, and later on, as member of the Capuchin Order, he spent even more effort and time in ministering to God’s people, and also to all those who have lapsed from their faith, and all those who have apostatised and abandoned their Christian faith for various heresies existing then. He faced many enemies and all those who openly threatened to kill him for his works and efforts, just as what St. Stephen had experienced, but St. Fidelis did not let this to deter him or to make him afraid. He kept on doing his works, until he was martyred in the midst of his ministry, faithful to the very end.

Brothers and sisters in Christ, let us therefore by the examples showed by the faithful servants of God, the many saints and martyrs who have gone before us, especially that of St. Fidelis of Sigmaringen and St. Stephen. Let us all be inspired by their trust and faith in the Lord, and their humility and willingness to allow the Lord to lead them in the right path, as they carried out their ministry faithfully. Let us all be inspired and strengthened by them, be courageous and strong in our faith. May our Risen Lord, Jesus Christ, be with us all and may He bless us all in our every good endeavours, efforts and works, always. Amen.

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Monday, 24 April 2023 : 3rd Week of Easter, Memorial of St. Fidelis of Sigmaringen, Priest and Martyr (Gospel Reading)

Liturgical Colour : White or Red (Martyrs)

John 6 : 22-29

At that time, the next day after Jesus fed the five thousand men, the people, who had stayed on the other side, realised that only one boat had been there, and that Jesus had not entered it with His disciples; but rather, the disciples had gone away alone.

Bigger boats from Tiberias came near the place where all these people had eaten the bread. When they saw that neither Jesus nor His disciples were there, they got into the boats and went to Capernaum looking for Jesus. When they found Him on the other side of the lake, they asked Him, “Master, when did You come here?”

Jesus answered, “Truly, I say to you, you look for Me, not because of the signs which you have seen, but because you ate bread and were satisfied. Work then, not for perishable food, but for the lasting food which gives eternal life. The Son of Man will give it to you, for He is the One on Whom the Father has put His mark.”

Then the Jews asked Him, “What shall we do? What are the works that God wants us to do?” And Jesus answered them, “The work God wants is this : that you believe in the One Whom God has sent.”

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Monday, 24 April 2023 : 3rd Week of Easter, Memorial of St. Fidelis of Sigmaringen, Priest and Martyr (Psalm)

Liturgical Colour : White or Red (Martyrs)

Psalm 118 : 23-24, 26-27, 29-30

Although princes conspire against me, Your servant will observe Your decrees. Your laws are my delight, my counsellors who uphold me.

When I explained my ways, You responded; instruct me then in Your precepts. Explain to me all Your ordinances, and I will meditate on Your wondrous deeds.

Keep me away from deceitful paths; be gracious and teach me Your law. I have chosen the way of truth; I have set my heart upon Your laws.

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Monday, 24 April 2023 : 3rd Week of Easter, Memorial of St. Fidelis of Sigmaringen, Priest and Martyr (First Reading)

Liturgical Colour : White or Red (Martyrs)

Acts 6 : 8-15

Stephen, full of grace and power, did great wonders and miraculous signs among the people. Some persons then came forward, who belonged to the so-called Synagogue of Freedmen from Cyrene, Alexandria, Cilicia and Asia. They argued with Stephen but they could not match the wisdom and the spirit with which he spoke.

As they were unable to face the truth, they bribed some men to say, ‘We heard him speak against Moses and against God.’ So they stirred up the people, the elders and the teachers of the Law; they took him by surprise, seized him and brought him before the Council.

Then they produced false witnesses who said, “This man never stops speaking against our Holy Place and the Law. We even heard him say that Jesus the Nazarean will destroy our Holy Place and change the customs which Moses handed down to us.” And all who sat in the Council fixed their eyes on him, and his face appeared to them like the face of an Angel.

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Tuesday, 7 March 2023 : 2nd Week of Lent, Memorial of St. Perpetua and St. Felicity, Martyrs (Homily and Scripture Reflections)

Liturgical Colour : Purple/Violet

Dear brothers and sisters in Christ, today as we listened to the words of the Scriptures, all of us are reminded yet again in the duration of this penitential season of Lent, not to be sinful or to disobey the Lord and His commandments. All of us are reminded to seek the Lord to be forgiven from our many sins and wickedness, to be healed by God from the affliction of sin that has been corrupting and affecting us all these while. Each one of us are called to turn away from the path of sin and to do what God has told and commanded us to do, to be holy just as He is Holy. This is our calling as Christians especially during this time and season of Lent, and hopefully, more and more of us, holy people of God can truly live our lives in the manner and way that God has shown and taught us to do.

In our first reading today, we heard from the Book of the prophet Isaiah, the call from the prophet in which he called on the people of God to turn away from their wicked and sinful ways. He purposefully referred to them all as the rulers of Sodom and Gomorrah, as a reminder of what had happened to those two cities in the ancient past. Sodom and Gomorrah were infamous for their great wickedness and sins, their immoral and evil behaviours, and were crushed and destroyed by God by a rain of brimstone and fire from Heaven. God gave them a chance when He sent His Angel to them to save Lot, the nephew of His servant Abraham, our father in faith, and as Abraham had also earlier on pleaded with Him to spare the two cities if just a few of the righteous could be found there. Unfortunately, only Lot and his immediate family alone were righteous among all of the people dwelling in Sodom and Gomorrah, and all were destroyed.

God wants us to know once again that He truly loves each one of us most generously and tenderly, but He does not condone our sins and wickedness. He despises those sins and chastised us for all those wicked deeds and things that are unbecoming of us being His followers and disciples. Disobedience and sin are our greatest downfall, as it was through those that we have been sundered and separated from the fullness of God’s love and grace, cast out from the bliss and joy of Eden, and having to suffer the consequences of our sins in this world. Yet, He gave us all help and guidance along the way at the same time, in order to help us to find our way to Him, to seek for His forgiveness and mercy. But many people still resisted God’s mercy and love, especially because their hearts and minds were still full of wickedness, evil, pride, greed and many other things that prevented us from finding our path to the Lord and His saving grace.

In our Gospel passage today, the Lord told His disciples not to be like the Pharisees and the teachers of the Law who often liked to make a show of their faith, by parading their piety and prayers in the public, in the Temple and the marketplaces so that they could be seen by everyone and be praised for their actions. They wore the widest of prayer bands and made a show of their faith, and yet, as the Lord often mentioned, they had little faith in their hearts, and little love for God. They were so full of their own pride and arrogance that they could not bring it to humble themselves and realise that their way of practicing their faith had been wrong, and their way of life had been wicked and sinful, perhaps without them even realising it. They imposed harsh standards on others and persecuted those who disagreed with them and those whom they deemed to be inferior to them simply because they did not do what they themselves had done.

They had actually been entrusted with the responsibilities and calling to help lead and guide others from their sinful paths, by their faithful observance and preservation of the Law of God as it had been revealed and passed down to them through the generations. But, instead of faithfully carrying out their obligations and works, they fell into the temptation of pride, ego and human ambition. They chose to indulge in praise and adulations, seeking for fame and glory instead of true obedience to God. They sought for popularity and power, and as a result, they lost sight of the true destination and aim of their lives, substituting the true joy and glory that they can find and gain in the Lord alone, with temporary and fleeting gains in this world, which do not last and are superficial in nature.

That is why the Lord reminded all of His people to be careful and to guard themselves against the temptations of worldly glory, fame and the threats from our own pride, ego, ambition and desires. All these things are truly great obstacles in the path of our reconciliation with God, and unless we do our best to resist them, we may find it difficult for us to resist the temptations to sin, just as how many of our predecessors had fallen into sin. This is why during this season of Lent, the Lord continually reminded us that there is a need for us to have the genuine conversion of heart, so that we may truly change our way of life and our actions, that we do not live in ways that are against the Lord and His path anymore, but instead, following Him with greater zeal and sincerity from now on, and do our best to be great role models and sources of inspiration to others all around us.

Today, we all can also be inspired and strengthened by the good examples set by our holy predecessors, the holy martyrs and saints, St. Perpetua and St. Felicity, who were renowned martyrs of the Church, honoured and venerated for their righteousness, holiness and dedication to God, even in the face of suffering and martyrdom. According to the Church traditions and hagiography, St. Perpetua was a young noblewoman who was recently married and was a mother to a young infant son, while St. Felicity was a slave who were arrested with St. Perpetua for their Christian faith during the reign of the Roman Emperor Septimius Severus. It was told that this happened because St. Perpetua had a conflict with her father because he wanted her to abandon her Christian faith, and St. Perpetua refused to do so. It was likely that St. Perpetua met with St. Felicity and other fellow martyrs in prison, and they all endured the trials and hardships, resisting the temptations and pressures to abandon their faith in God.

The courage and dedication that those martyrs showed us all ought to remind us of the love and commitment that we ourselves ought to have for the Lord, and we are all reminded of how many of our predecessors have given their lives for the sake of the Lord. God has been calling on us to follow on their examples and He has shown us the path towards eternal life and true joy through Him. Now what matters is for us to make the conscious choice and decision to follow the Lord and to commit ourselves to Him, doing whatever we can to glorify the Lord and to live our lives worthily to the best of our abilities, as those who follow the Lord and believe in Him. This season of Lent should be a time for us to recalibrate our lives and to redirect our focus and attention back towards the Lord, so that we may grow ever closer to Him, and we may find our path towards His love and grace. Let us all remember His great love and compassion which He has always given to us, all these while.

May the Lord continue to bless and guide us in our journey that we may live our lives in the most Christ-like way, and in obeying His Law, commandments and precepts, at all times. May God be with us always and may He empower each one of us that we may continue to persevere in faith and dedicate our lives for His greater glory, much like the glorious saints and martyrs, like St. Perpetua and St. Felicity, now and always, forevermore. Amen.

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Tuesday, 7 March 2023 : 2nd Week of Lent, Memorial of St. Perpetua and St. Felicity, Martyrs (Gospel Reading)

Liturgical Colour : Purple/Violet

Matthew 23 : 1-12

At that time, then Jesus said to the crowds and to His disciples, “The teachers of the Law and the Pharisees have sat down on the chair of Moses. So you shall do and observe all they say, but do not do as they do, for they do not do what they say. They tie up heavy burdens and load them on the shoulders of the people, but they do not even raise a finger to move them.”

“They do everything in order to be seen by people : they wear very wide bands of the Law around their foreheads, and robes with large tassels. They enjoy the first places at feasts and reserved seats in the synagogues, and they like being greeted in the marketplace, and being called ‘Master’ by the people.”

“But you, do not let yourselves be called Master, because you have only one Master, and all of you are brothers and sisters. Neither should you call anyone on earth Father because you have only one Father, He Who is in heaven. Nor should you be called Leader, because Christ is the only Leader for you.”

“Let the greatest among you be the servant of all. For whoever makes himself great shall be humbled, and whoever humbles himself shall be made great.”

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Tuesday, 7 March 2023 : 2nd Week of Lent, Memorial of St. Perpetua and St. Felicity, Martyrs (Psalm)

Liturgical Colour : Purple/Violet

Psalm 49 : 8-9, 16bc-17, 21 and 23

Not for your sacrifices do I reprove you, for your burnt offerings are ever before Me. I need no bull from your stalls, nor he-goat from your pens.

What right have you to mouth My laws, or to talk about My covenant? You hate My commands and cast My words behind you.

Because I was silent while you did these things, you thought I was like you. But now I rebuke you and make this charge against you. Those who give with thanks offerings honour Me, but the one who walks blamelessly, I will show him the salvation of God.

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Tuesday, 7 March 2023 : 2nd Week of Lent, Memorial of St. Perpetua and St. Felicity, Martyrs (First Reading)

Liturgical Colour : Purple/Violet

Isaiah 1 : 10, 16-20

Hear the warning of YHVH, rulers of Sodom. Listen to the word of God, people of Gomorrah. Wash and make yourselves clean. Remove from My sight the evil of your deeds. Put an end to your wickedness and learn to do good.

Seek justice and keep in line the abusers; give the fatherless their rights and defend the widow. “Come,” says the Lord, “let us reason together. Though your sins be like scarlet, they will be white as snow; though they be as crimson red, they will be white as wool.”

“If you will obey Me, you will eat the goods of the earth; but if you resist and rebel, the sword will eat you instead.” Truly the Lord has spoken.

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Thursday, 23 February 2023 : Thursday after Ash Wednesday, Memorial of St. Polycarp, Bishop and Martyr (Homily and Scripture Reflections)

Liturgical Colour : Purple/Violet

Dear brothers and sisters in Christ, today as we listened to the words of the Lord in the Scriptures, we are all called to remember that each and every one of us have been given the choice from the Lord to follow the path that He has revealed before us, or to turn our back against Him and walk away from Him, by continuing to live in the state of sin. All of us have been given the freedom to choose, the free will to discern the path that we are going to choose in our path forward in life. That is why the Lord reminds us today, through His Church, at the beginning of this Lenten season that we should be very careful and vigilant in how we live our lives so that we do not end up falling into the path of sin and evil, and we do not end up making the wrong choice because we are swayed by the temptations of the world.

In our first reading today, taken from the Book of Deuteronomy, we heard of the Lord’s reminders to the people of Israel, which He gave them through His servant Moses, who led the people of God in the great Exodus from the land of Egypt, where the Israelites were enslaved. First, we must understand how the Lord has led them all out of Egypt through Moses and his brother Aaron, performing great wonders and miracles, and leading them even through the sea itself, as I am sure we are all aware of. During the journey to the land He has promised to them, God gave His Law and commandments, and made a Covenant with them on Mount Sinai. But the people even at that early stage already showed signs of rebellion and unwillingness to obey God’s Law and commandments.

They made for themselves a golden calf to be their god, and offered sacrifices to it, despite having witnessed and experienced all the things that God had done for them, in saving them from their troubles and slavery. Those who disobeyed the Lord and persisted in the rebellion were crushed by God, and at that day, when Moses returned from the Mount of God, three thousand people in total perished by their refusal to repent from their sinfulness, while the rest also had to endure the bitterness of their disobedience. Then, in another well-known occasion, at the place known as Massah and Meribah, the Israelites rebelled again in opposition to God because they complained and disagreed about their state in the desert, despite God having provided for their every needs, every step of their way.

In all those occasions, including the time when God finally led them all to the boundary of the Promised Land, and when they refused to enter because of the reports from the scouts they sent to find out more about the place, which brought fear to their hearts, God punished all of their whole generation for their continued hard-hearted attitude and wickedness, their stubbornness and refusal to believe in Him. They were barred from entering into the Promised Land, and the journey which was supposed to be a relatively short one, ended up becoming a sojourn in the desert lasting a whole period of forty years, in which the entire generation of those who had rebelled and refused to follow God, save that of Caleb and Joshua, who remained faithful to the end, perished and died. Like what happened in one occasion when the rebelling Israelites were struck by the plague of fiery serpents, many died for their rebellion and sin.

Brothers and sisters in Christ, what those examples and experiences highlighted to the people of Israel back then and also to all of us is that, those people made their choice of action, in rebelling against God and in disobeying Him by their own free will. They have been given so much by God, provided and helped throughout their journey, and even throughout that forty years period of punishment and delay, God still provided the people with everything that they needed to survive and even flourish in the middle of a hot and lifeless desert. Whatever the people did in disobeying God and rebelling against Him was therefore their own free will and free choice, as there were also those who remained firm in their faith in God, and did not fall into the sinful and rebellious ways. What is clear is that the path of disobedience and rebellion lead to death and destruction, while faith leads to salvation and liberation in God.

God Himself has said that those who kept their faith in Him will be blessed and will receive the fullness of His grace, and while the path that He was leading them towards will not be an easy one, but there is great merit for one to choose to remain faithful to God and to obey His Law and commandments. In our Gospel passage today, the Lord Jesus told His disciples that unless they take up their crosses and follow Him, there will be no salvation and path forward to eternal life for them, and He said clearly that even He Himself, as the Son of Man and Saviour of all, would have to endure great persecution and sufferings, as He eventually did at the moment of His Passion, when He chose willingly to bear the whole entire great and unimaginably heavy burden of our multitudes of sins, so that by His suffering and death, He might bring us all to the assurance of eternal life.

The Lord reminded us all that following Him is something that we should do, and we have the free will to choose that or to continue to live in the state of sin as what we may be more accustomed to in this world. His path is likely going to be a difficult and challenging one, as we often will have to resist the many temptations all around us, and as was evident from the example of the Israelites in the past, many of them and our predecessors failed to do so. Many veered off and fell off the path that God had led them through, and were tempted and ensnared by sin instead, tempted by their pride and ego, their greed and desires, their jealousy and lust, among others. But this should not discourage us from following the Lord. Instead, it should keep our flames of faith burning bright and strong, as we help one another to remain faithful to God.

Today, we should be inspired by the great examples and faith shown by St. Polycarp, a great Church father and our holy predecessor, who was a bishop of the Church, the Bishop of Smyrna in Asia Minor. St. Polycarp was known to be one of the disciples of St. John the Apostle, the last surviving Apostle of the Lord back then, and he was entrusted with the care of many of the faithful in the often persecuted but still thriving Church. He was regarded as one of the three greatest Apostolic Fathers, the successors of the Apostles, together with Pope St. Clement of Rome and St. Ignatius of Antioch, each of whom were great role models and sources of inspiration in their own right. St. Polycarp corresponded frequently with the other Church fathers and was a great example to his flock, caring much for their spiritual needs.

And during a time of great and intense persecution of the Church by the Roman state, which carried out many rounds and episodes of persecutions and attacks against the Church and the faithful, St. Polycarp helped to lead his flock to remain faithful to God, and to endure the hardships and challenges that they had to face in the defence of their faith in God. In the end, St. Polycarp himself was arrested and persecuted, when he was already in the advanced age of eighty-six years old. Even then, in that old age, he remained strong in his desire to love and serve the Lord, and in persevering through the hardships and sufferings that he had to suffer, together with the rest of his flock, which was truly an example of them carrying their cross with the Lord. St. Polycarp died a martyr, inspiring countless others to follow the Lord more faithfully and with greater love, and I hope he has inspired us similarly too.

Brothers and sisters in Christ, let us all therefore renew our faith and commitment in God as we enter into this holy and blessed season of Lent. Let us make good use of this time and opportunity that God has given us so that each and every one of us may distance ourselves from the many temptations of sin, the allures of worldly fame, glory, pleasures, and the pressure from our pride, ego, greed, jealousy, ambition, and more. Let us all control all those desires and negative things within us, and help one another to be strong in enduring the challenges and trials of this world, carrying our crosses together faithfully with God. May the Lord continue to guide us and strengthen us, and give us all the courage to continue to live our lives as good and dedicated Christians, blessing our every works and efforts, our every endeavours at all times. Amen.