holy Popes

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Tuesday, 20 January 2026 : 2nd Week of Ordinary Time, Memorial of Pope St. Fabian, Pope and Martyr, and St. Sebastian, Martyr, and Week of Prayer for Christian Unity (Homily and Scripture Reflections)

Liturgical Colour : Green or Red (Martyrs)

Dear brothers and sisters in Christ, today as we all listened to the words of the Sacred Scriptures, each and every one of us are reminded that God sees beyond the externals and worldly categories, considerations and prejudices, and He sees what are within our hearts and minds, knowing everything that we are, even things that we ourselves may not be fully aware of. God does not think or consider things in the manner that we are familiar with in this world, and He does not become prejudiced against any of us by any means or any parameters. He has always loved us all equally and most generously, and He wants us all to realise that what He wants from us is our loveas well, and not merely blind obedience or empty gestures of piety.

In our first reading today, we heard from our first reading today, of the moment from the Book of the prophet Samuel detailing to us the moment when Samuel was sent by God to the household of Jesse in Bethlehem in Judah, where God had chosen from among his many sons, one who would be the new King of Israel succeeding Saul, who had failed and disobeyed Him, and hence unworthy to continue ruling over the Israelites, God’s people. We heard then how Samuel saw and encountered all the sons of Jesse, from the eldest to the youngest, and he initially thought the eldest and the best amongst them were the ones chosen by God, but God told Samuel that He did not judge and choose based on earthly criteria, but He saw the heart, and chose David, the youngest of all of the sons of Jesse.

David might indeed be the youngest among the sons of Jesse, and among them all, he most likely was the least physically imposing or adequate to become a great warrior and King to lead the people of God into battle against their enemies, and yet, why God chose David was not because of his physical prowess or greatness, but rather because in his heart, David loved the Lord greatly, sincerely and most wholeheartedly. Ever since his youth, David had always committed himself to God and did everything in his life in manner that was pleasing to the Lord, and he trusted wholly in God in all things. And it is for all these qualities that the Lord had chosen him to be the one to lead the people He had chosen to be His own.

Then, from our Gospel passage today, taken from the Gospel according to St. Mark the Evangelist, we heard of the moment when the Pharisees came up to the Lord and His disciples when they were all walking through the field on the day of the Sabbath, in which the latter were picking off the grains of the field, something that the Pharisees criticised harshly as it was against the manner in which the Sabbath Law was interpreted by those Pharisees. For the context, the Pharisees were very strict in their interpretation of the Law of God, and they were very much invested into the detailed application and enforcement of the Law, and with regards to the Sabbath Law, which prohibited any kind of work on the sacred day of the Sabbath, they were very rigid on this matter.

Yes, they were so rigid that they prohibited all kinds of works, even those that were necessary in the case of emergencies like that of the disciples who were very hungry after their constant travels and ministry among the people of God. And the Lord then also immediately rebuked those Pharisees for their lack of true appreciation of the Law, its meaning and purpose, which were not meant to punish the people of God for their wrongdoing or impose difficult expectations that make their lives challenging and impossible to be carried out with faith. God wanted instead to invite each and every one of us, His beloved ones, to come towards Him and to know His love, and all of His Law and commandments, including the Sabbath Law was meant to help them to focus their attention once again on Him, instead of being distracted by the many details on how those laws were to be implemented.

Today, we have two saints whose feast we are celebrating, whose lives can be great inspiration for us to follow. These two servants of God, Pope St. Fabian and St. Sebastian had endured great tribulations for their faith, and yet they remained faithful to the Lord, enduring those sufferings with great faith and commitment to the very end. Both of them had been facing great challenges from the official persecutions and the threats from the Roman state which were then very hostile against the Church and the Christian faith, and yet, these two great and holy men of God showed by their great faith and examples of courage and dedication to God, what it truly means to be faithful and committed to God even amidst heavy persecutions and troubles.

Pope St. Fabian was the leader of the Universal Church during the difficult years of persecution of Christians under the Roman Emperors and the state. He was chosen when according to tradition, the Holy Spirit descended on him in the shape of a dove, in the sight of the assembled faithful. He was credited with the evangelisation and the efforts to spread the Good News in Gaul, what is today part of France. This happened during a relative lull and relaxation in the harsh persecution of Christians. However, the rise of Emperor Decius to power ended the temporary halt to persecutions and this was accompanied with renewed attack against the Christian communities, in which many of the faithful were arrested and persecuted, and many among them suffered martyrdom for their faith. He ordered all the subjects of the Empire to offer incense to the images and figures of the Roman deities, the pagan gods and the idol of the Emperor, which were refused by the Christian communities as idolatrous.

That was how Pope St. Fabian became one of the first to suffer persecution and then martyrdom under the reign of the new Emperor, either through imprisonment or execution according to different Apostolic traditions. Pope St. Fabian remained faithful to his mission to the very end, giving himself wholly to the works entrusted to him by the Lord. And through his courageous defence of the faith and zeal of evangelisation, he inspired all of us on how to become good and faithful disciples and followers of the Lord. Although his papacy and period as leader of the faithful was relatively short, but this great man and servant of God has shown us all what it truly means to be committed to God even amidst many challenges of this world.

Meanwhile, St. Sebastian was a soldier who was a high ranking member of the Roman military and likely one of the elite members or even captain of the Praetorian Guards involved in protecting the Emperor. At that time, the Roman Emperor Diocletian and the other leaders of the Roman state ordered a particularly harsh and brutal persecution of Christians, as they forced the faithful to either obey the order of the Emperor to give offerings to the pagan idols and to abandon their faith or face certain suffering and death. At that time, many people had to face great tribulations and challenges especially as Christians, in hiding their faith especially those Christians who were employed in the armed forces like that of St. Sebastian himself.

St. Sebastian according to tradition was involved in the conversion of several prisoners, who became Christians and helped some others to be freed from persecution. Eventually he himself was discovered and when he was confronted to reveal the truth about his conversion, put under arrest and was tied to a tree, and archers were told to shoot their arrows at St. Sebastian. Miraculously, even as endured the torture and pain,St. Sebastian never flinched from his sufferings. He remained strong in faith and was eventually martyred later after he rebuked the Emperor and his actions. He is indeed a great example of courageous faith that we all should also have in our own lives as Christians, in each and every things that we do.

May the examples of Pope St. Fabian and St. Fabian be good inspiration for all of us so that we may also be courageous in standing up to our faith in every aspects of our lives, in being faithful bearers of the truth of God, His Good News and being the worthy witnesses of Our Lord’s Resurrection and salvation to everyone around us. May God be with us always, and may He continue to guide us through His providence and guidance, the love and compassion, the patience and generosity which He has shown us all these while. May God bless our every endeavours and efforts, all done for His greater glory, now and always. Amen.

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Tuesday, 20 January 2026 : 2nd Week of Ordinary Time, Memorial of Pope St. Fabian, Pope and Martyr, and St. Sebastian, Martyr, and Week of Prayer for Christian Unity (Gospel Reading)

Liturgical Colour : Green or Red (Martyrs)

Mark 2 : 23-28

At that time, on one Sabbath Jesus was walking through grain fields. As His disciples walked along with Him, they began to pick the heads of grain and crush them in their hands. Then the Pharisees said to Jesus, “Look! They are doing what is forbidden on the Sabbath!”

And He said to them, “Have you never read what David did in his time of need; when he and his men were very hungry? He went into the House of God, when Abiathar was High Priest, and ate; the bread of offering, which only the priests are allowed to eat, and he also gave some to the men who were with him.”

Then Jesus said to them, “The Sabbath was made for man, not man for the Sabbath. So the Son of Man is Master even of the Sabbath.”

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Tuesday, 20 January 2026 : 2nd Week of Ordinary Time, Memorial of Pope St. Fabian, Pope and Martyr, and St. Sebastian, Martyr, and Week of Prayer for Christian Unity (Psalm)

Liturgical Colour : Green or Red (Martyrs)

Psalm 88 : 20, 21-22, 27-28

In the past, You spoke in a vision; You said of Your faithful servant : “I have set the crown upon a mighty one; on one chosen from the people.”

I have found David My servant, and, with My holy oil, I have anointed him. My hand will be ever with him; and My arm will sustain him.

He will call on Me, “You are my Father, my God, my Rock, my Saviour.” I will make him the firstborn, the highest of the kings of the earth.

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Tuesday, 20 January 2026 : 2nd Week of Ordinary Time, Memorial of Pope St. Fabian, Pope and Martyr, and St. Sebastian, Martyr, and Week of Prayer for Christian Unity (First Reading)

Liturgical Colour : Green or Red (Martyrs)

1 Samuel 16 : 1-13

YHVH asked Samuel, “How long will you be grieving over Saul whom I have rejected as king of Israel? Fill your horn with oil and be on your way to Jesse the Bethlehemite, for I have chosen My king from among his sons.”

Samuel asked, “How can I go? If Saul hears of this, he will kill me!” YHVH replied, “Take a heifer with you and say, ‘I have come to sacrifice to YHVH.’ Invite Jesse to the sacrifice and I will let you know what to do next. You shall anoint for Me the one I point out to you.”

Samuel did what YHVH commanded and left for Bethlehem. When he appeared, the elders of the city came to him asking, fearfully, “Do you bring us peace?” Samuel replied, “I come in peace; I am here to sacrifice to YHVH. Cleanse yourselves and join me in the sacrifice.” He also had Jesse and his sons cleansed and invited them to the sacrifice.

As they came, Samuel looked at Eliab the older and thought, “This must be YHVH’s anointed.” But YHVH told Samuel, “Do not judge by his looks or his stature for I have rejected him. YHVH does not judge as man judges; humans see with the eyes; YHVH sees the heart.”

Jesse called his son Abinadab and presented him to Samuel who said, “YHVH has not chosen this one either.” Jesse presented Shammah and Samuel said, “Nor has YHVH chosen this one.” Jesse presented seven of his sons to Samuel who said, “YHVH has chosen none of them. But are all your sons here?”

Jesse replied, “There is still the youngest, tending the flock just now.” Samuel said to him, “Send for him and bring him to me; we shall not sit down to eat until he arrives.” So Jesse sent for his youngest son and brought him to Samuel. He was a handsome lad with a ruddy complexion and beautiful eyes. And YHVH spoke, “Go, anoint him for he is the one.”

Samuel then took the horn of oil and anointed him in his brothers’ presence. From that day onwards, YHVH’s Spirit took hold of David. Then Samuel left for Ramah.

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Wednesday, 31 December 2025 : Seventh Day within Octave of Christmas, Memorial of Pope St. Silvester I, Pope (Homily and Scripture Reflections)

Liturgical Colour : White

Dear brothers and sisters in Christ, today as we listened to the words of the Scriptures, on this very last day of the current Gregorian Solar Calendar of this Year of Our Lord 2025, we are all reminded of the need for each one of us to contemplate and reflect on the year that has just passed us by. This year has also been a most monumental, happening and memorable year with it being the Ordinary Jubilee Year of Hope that happens only every twenty-five years. And at the same time we should also spend some time to consider our options going forward to the next, new year in 2026. We have to spend some time at the end of this year to see how we can make the next and new year better for all of us, in terms of our lives as Christians and as members of our various, diverse communities and peoples, as well as in terms of our mission and calling to serve the communities we are living in.

In our first reading today, we heard from the words of St. John the Apostle in his Epistle to the faithful people of God in which he spoke of the imminent coming of the end times, and also the rise of the antichrists, who were the false prophets and teachers, that misled the people of God to the wrong paths. Back then, there were quite a few of these false leaders and teachers who distorted the teachings of the Lord and His Church for their own benefits and purposes. Those false leaders endangered the unity of the Church and the faithful, causing schisms and heresies to happen, even in the days of the Apostles as St. John himself experienced. In the next few hundred years, more of those heresies and divisions would appear, as people of God chose to embrace falsehoods and lies instead of the truth of God. St. John and the other Apostles were hard at work in trying to bring many of those who have been swayed by those false teachings back to the Church.

This is when as we heard from our Gospel passage today, by the same St. John the Apostle and Evangelist, we are reminded in the midst of this joyful Christmas season of Who it is that we are celebrating about. St. John reminded all of us that it is the Word of God Himself, the Son of God, Incarnate in the flesh that we are all celebrating for, for His coming into this world, appearing before all of us as the Son of Man, the Saviour of all. By His incarnation in the flesh, and by being born of His mother Mary, He has shown us the love of God made manifest and tangible to us. While once mankind can only see and feel the greatness of God from afar, now through Christ, everything had been made real and approachable to us. Through Christ, we have come into the realisation of God’s love made Man, approachable and touchable to us. Therefore, we ought to continue to firmly hold onto the truth that He has shown and taught to us through His Church.

It is this truth which those false leaders and prophets, messengers and heretics all tried to subvert and change for their own selfish purposes and desires. Some of them rejecting the Divinity of Christ while others rejected the Humanity of Christ, and others still reject the figure of Christ altogether and instead conflating the Christian faith with other syncretic pagan practices among others. These were what St. John warned the faithful all about, that they should not succumb to the temptations to sin, or to evil, falsehoods and wickedness in any sorts. St. John told all of us that we have to keep adhering to the truth of Jesus Christ, Our Lord and Saviour, the manifestation of God’s love Whom we celebrate this Christmas season. As His disciple and follower we have to commit ourselves wholeheartedly to Him.

Today, we celebrate the feast of a saint and servant of God whose life and devotion to God hopefully can become a great source of inspiration to follow, as we embark on our own journey of faith in this life. Pope St. Silvester I was one of the early Church fathers and leaders, who reigned during the moment of great change for the Church and the world. He succeeded Pope St. Miltiades whose reign coincided with the Edict of Milan, the Edict of toleration of all Christians and their faith as proclaimed by the Roman Emperors Constantine the Great and Licinius. That declaration and Edict marked the momentous time when Christians were no longer persecuted for their faith as they had been in the past three centuries, with the latest being the particularly vicious persecution under the Emperor Diocletian and his fellow Emperors.

Pope St. Silvester I succeeded Pope St. Miltiades and would go on to reign for a long over twenty years period, ushering a time of great renewal for the Church. He led the Church through both a turbulent and great period, characterised by great many conversions and growth of the Church, but at the same time also plenty of divisions within the Church. He led the Church through a time of great building of churches and institutions, but also a time when many heresies and divisions arose in the Church, and the faithful became increasingly more and more divided by their different priorities and ideals, and especially back then, the heresy of Arianism and Donatism, and also Gnosticism threatened the unity of the Church. To combat these divisions and restore unity of the Church, Pope St. Silvester I together with his brother bishops and with the support of the Emperor Constantine convened the first ever Ecumenical Council of the Church in Nicaea.

Pope St. Silvester I did not attend the Ecumenical Council of Nicaea himself, but sent his delegation with his full authority to the Council, which condemned the various heresies particularly that of Arianism, and upheld the true Christian faith as preserved and handed down from the days of the Apostles and the beginning of the Church. Eventually, the true Christian faith prevailed and the Church continued to flourish despite the many challenges and trials that it faced, also thanks to the firm and faithful leadership of Pope St. Silvester I, who became a source of inspiration to all the bishops all throughout Christendom and facing all sorts of pressures and hardships. And as we discern the life and works of Pope St. Silvester I, whose Pontificate was at the end and boundary between the old order of persecutions and hardships for the Church and a new beginning and renewal through freedom, we too should reflect upon our past year and what we are going to do this upcoming new year.

May the Lord continue to guide and strengthen us in our journey, and may He continue to help us to persevere through the challenges in life and also help us to direct our path to the right way as we continue to proceed to the new year with new hope and new expectations. Let us all look forward to the new year with hope and strive to be ever better Christians, in the spirit of Pope St. Silvester I, whose life is an inspiration to all of us. May God bless us always in all of our efforts and deeds, for His greater glory, and may He bless our year ahead with His most wonderful blessings and grace. Amen.

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Wednesday, 31 December 2025 : Seventh Day within Octave of Christmas, Memorial of Pope St. Silvester I, Pope (Gospel Reading)

Liturgical Colour : White

John 1 : 1-18

In the beginning was the Word. And the Word was with God and the Word was God; He was in the beginning with God. All things were made through Him, and without Him nothing came to be. Whatever has come to be, found life in Him; life, which for human beings, was also light, light that shines in darkness, light that darkness could not overcome.

A man came, sent by God; his name was John. He came to bear witness, as a witness to introduce the Light, so that all might believe through him. He was not the Light, but a witness to introduce the Light; for the Light was coming into the world, the true Light that enlightens everyone. He was in the world, and through Him the world was made, the very world that did not know Him.

He came to His own, yet His own people did not receive Him; but to all who received Him, He empowers to become children of God, for they believe in His Name. These are born, but not by seed, or carnal desire, nor by the will of man : they are born of God.

And the Word was made flesh and dwelt among us; and we have seen His glory, the glory of the only Son of the Father : fullness of truth and loving-kindness. John bore witness to Him openly, saying, “This is the One Who comes after me, but He is already ahead of me, for He was before me.”

From His fullness we have all received, favour upon favour. For God had given us the Law through Moses, but Truth and Loving-kindness came through Jesus Christ. No one has ever seen God, but God-the-only-Son made Him known : the One, Who is in and with the Father.

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Wednesday, 31 December 2025 : Seventh Day within Octave of Christmas, Memorial of Pope St. Silvester I, Pope (Psalm)

Liturgical Colour : White

Psalm 95 : 1-2, 11-12a, 12b-13

Sing to the Lord a new song, sing to the Lord, all the earth! Sing to the Lord, bless His Name. Proclaim His salvation day after day.

Let the heavens be glad, the earth rejoice; let the sea and all that fills it resound; let the fields exult and everything in them; let the forest, all the trees, sing for joy. Let them sing before the Lord.

He Who comes to judge the earth. He will rule the world with justice and the peoples with fairness.

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Wednesday, 31 December 2025 : Seventh Day within Octave of Christmas, Memorial of Pope St. Silvester I, Pope (First Reading)

Liturgical Colour : White

1 John 2 : 18-21

My dear children, it is the last hour. You were told that an antichrist would come; but several antichrists have already come, by which we know that it is now the last hour.

They went out from us though they did not really belong to us. Had they belonged to us, they would have remained with us. So it became clear that not all of us were really ours. But you have the anointing from the Holy One, so that all of you have true wisdom.

I write to you, not because you lack knowledge of the truth, but because you already know it, and lies have nothing in common with the truth.

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Thursday, 11 December 2025 : 2nd Week of Advent, Memorial of Pope St. Damasus I, Pope (Homily and Scripture Reflections)

Liturgical Colour : Purple/Violet or White (Popes)

Dear brothers and sisters in Christ, on this day we heard again the reassuring words of the Lord through the Sacred Scriptures in which He continued to strengthen the faith in each and every one of us. During this time and season of Advent, each and every one of us are reminded of the hope that is coming for us from God Himself, all that He has promised to us and which He had made fully accomplished and fulfilled through His own Beloved Son, Jesus Christ, Our Lord and Saviour, Whom He had sent into this world to show unto us the ever wonderful and enduring love which He has always had for every one of us, without exception. 

In our first reading today, taken from the continuation of the Book of the prophet Isaiah we heard of the reassuring words of the Lord yet again for His people in which He promised all of them that He would provide for all of them, protect them and give them all His providence and blessings. He would not abandon them or be deaf or blind to their plights, difficulties and hardships. He listened to them and heard their cries for help, and all of these were clear to Him, and He would act in due time, to protect and guide all those who were truly dear and beloved to Him. He is ever faithful to His Covenant and to everything which He has promised and constantly reassured His people with, and therefore, we ourselves, inspired by this great reassurance that God has given to His beloved ones, should be reassured as well.

This Advent, this time of waiting, expectation and preparation for the coming of Our Lord and Saviour should be a time of redirection and rediscovery of ourselves and our faith in God. We should make good use of the time and opportunities that God has provided us such that we may indeed draw ever closer to His presence, embracing His ever patient, wonderful and generous love. We should believe that the Lord can truly provide for us in everything that we need, in reaching out to us whenever we need help and guidance, and in protecting us from harm, and even if we have to suffer challenges, trials and difficulties in our paths, we have to remember and keep in mind that the Lord Himself has gone through even worse sufferings for us. He did all these so that we may have a new hope in Him.

Then, from the Gospel today, taken from the Gospel according to St. Matthew the Apostle and Evangelist, we heard of the words of the Lord Jesus Himself speaking about St. John the Baptist, the one who had been sent to prepare His path and coming, and we heard how the Lord praised St. John the Baptist as the greatest one who have ever come from the children of mankind, and yet curiously also less than the least in the kingdom of heaven. We must understand first of all that St. John the Baptist was sent into this world to prepare the coming of the Messiah, the Saviour of the world, and hence he came from before the coming of Christ, representing the last one of the Old Testament, the so-called ‘seal of the Prophets’

Therefore, St. John the Baptist was indeed the greatest of those born under the Old Testament and the old Law, because he alone among all of the Prophets came to witness the Lord and Saviour Himself, and actively worked to prepare His coming into this world. But with the coming of Christ, all of us have been made partakers of His truth and Good News, and we are reminded therefore of just fortunate and blessed all of us are because we have received the assurance and sure evidence of God’s ever enduring love and compassion, all of His kindness, grace and blessings which He has manifested to all of us through none other than Christ, His Beloved and only Begotten Son, born into this world to lead us all into salvation through Him.

Today, we have yet another great servant of God who dedicated his life to Him, and who can also become our role model and inspiration in life. Pope St. Damasus I was the Pope, and therefore leader of the Universal Church during the important years and time of the Church when there were numerous converts and more and more coming to believe in God. At that same time, there were also a lot of divisions and disagreements in the Church, which Pope St. Damasus worked very hard to overcome as the leader of all God’s faithful people. There had been differing ideas and schools of thought at that time, where those different factions and their disagreements threatened to break up the Church unity and the Body of Christ.

Pope St. Damasus himself became Pope during a turbulent time of a succession crisis following the death of the previous reigning Pope due to interference from the secular ruling class and nobles of Rome. There was a contested election and two rival Popes were elected, in a heated campaign before Pope St. Damasus eventually prevailed against his rival. This rival himself belonged to the heretical party, the Arians, who had wrecked a lot of damage and divisions in the Church for many decades up to that time. The Arians had large following and support from the powerful and influential members of the community at the time, and they had even the backing from the Emperor and his nobles, and this made it difficult for the Pope and the Church, but nonetheless this did not discourage Pope St. Damasus I.

Pope St. Damasus was instrumental in leading the charge against the heretics and all of their false teachings, devoting much of his time and efforts to overcome the falsehoods spread by those who claimed to teach the truth of God, but in reality were spreading false ideas. He also helped the creation of the Biblical canon especially in the Western, Latin half of the Church by his works with St. Jerome, whom he tasked with the compilation and the proper translation of the Greek Septuagint Bible into Latin, which would become the renowned Latin Vulgate Bible. Through the many other contributions and great leadership which Pope St. Damasus I had shown and exhibited, 

Brothers and sisters in Christ, let us all continue to put our faith and trust in the Lord, doing our very best so that in everything that we say and do, in our every interactions, good works and efforts, through our every examples in life, we may indeed be ever focused on the Lord at the centre of our lives and existence, and that in what we carry out in our daily actions, we will continue to inspire hope and strength in others who may also face similar struggles in life, especially in the matters of remaining truly faithful and committed to the Lord and His path despite all the hardships, challenges and difficulties that all of us may have to encounter in our daily journeys and in our respective paths in life. We should not be idle but be ever ready to welcome the Lord when He comes again.

May the Lord continue to bless and guide us all in our respective journeys of faith and life, so that as we continue to progress through this time and season of Advent, we will continue to grow ever stronger in faith in God and in our love for Him. May He continue to inspire and guide us in practicing our Christian faith ever more courageously and faithfully in all things. May all of us continue to have a good and fruitful Advent season, now and always. Amen.

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Thursday, 11 December 2025 : 2nd Week of Advent, Memorial of Pope St. Damasus I, Pope (Gospel Reading)

Liturgical Colour : Purple/Violet or White (Popes)

Matthew 11 : 11-15

At that time, Jesus said to the people, “I tell you this : no one greater than John the Baptist has arisen from among sons of women; and yet, the least in the kingdom of heaven is greater than he. From the days of John the Baptist until now, the kingdom of heaven is something to be conquered; and violent men seize it.”

“Up to the time of John, there was only prophesy : all the prophets and the Law. And if you believe Me, John is indeed that Elijah, whose coming was predicted. Let anyone with ears listen!”