Liturgical Colour : Green or White (Priests)
Luke 1 : 69-70, 71-72, 73-75
In the house of David His servant, He has raised up for us a victorious Saviour; as He promised through His prophets of old.
Salvation from our enemies and from the hand of our foes. He has shown mercy to our fathers; and remembered His holy Covenant.
The oath He swore to Abraham, our father, to deliver us from the enemy, that we might serve Him fearlessly, as a holy and righteous people, all the days of our lives.
Liturgical Colour : Green or White (Priests)
Romans 4 : 20-25
Abraham did not doubt, nor did he distrust the promise of God, and, by being strong in faith, he gave glory to God : He was convinced, that, He Who had given the promise, had power to fulfil it.
This was taken into account, for him to attain righteousness. This was taken into account : these words of Scripture are not only for him, but for us, too, because we believe in Him, Who raised Jesus, our Lord, from among the dead, He, Who was delivered for our sins, and raised to life, for us to receive true righteousness.
Liturgical Colour : Green or Red (Martyrs) or White (Priests)
Dear brothers and sisters in Christ, on this day through the Sacred Scriptures all of us are reminded of the love which God has shown us mankind, by wanting to forgive us from our sins and trespasses. All have sinned and fell from the grace of God, and should have merited them all destruction and damnation, according to St. Paul in his Epistle to the Church and the faithful in Rome.
Yet, the Lord still loves each and every one of us, for if He has not loved us, He would not have created us in the first place. He created us so that all of us, each and every one of us may experience His love and compassion, and share in that love. God Who is all perfect and filled with perfect love has no need for us or for our love, and yet because He wants to share that love with us, that is why He created us.
And because He has created us out of love, despite of our downfall and sinfulness, He still wants us to be freed from our bondage to sin, because He hates and despises our sins, but not us as human beings personally. As long as we are still capable of being forgiven, God will forgive us many times. But this also require from each one of us the commitment to repent from our sins and leave behind our sinful past way of life.
Yet, this is definitely easier said than done, as there are many who are adamant and stubborn in their refusal to leave behind their way of sin. The Lord Jesus used the example of the people of Israel who in the past refused to repent and to listen to the message and the words of the prophets sent to them by God. They hardened their hearts and became angry at the prophets, seizing them, torturing them and ended up killing many of them.
In the same manner, as Jesus compared it with, the Pharisees and the teachers of the Law were adamant in their refusal to believe in Jesus. They continued to walk in their path of sin, of pride and haughtiness, of human greed and desire. There were lots of temptations, of power, of worldly glory and the pleasures of the flesh that prevented many from being able to commit themselves to the cause of the Lord.
Brothers and sisters in Christ, this is an important lesson for each and every one of us, reminding us that we must not be complacent in how we live our lives in faith. And we must be aware of just how much suffering that sin can cause us, because sin makes us to be separated from the fullness of God’s love and grace. And it is easy for us to lose our way and to be tempted as the Pharisees, the teachers of the Law and their ancestors had been tempted.
To be a true Christian, many of us must truly live in accordance with our faith, and believe in God wholeheartedly, often through our very actions and deeds in life. We often make compromises with the world and its ways, so that we can live comfortably without worry, but by doing so, we allow ourselves to be swayed away from God’s righteousness and into the path of our downfall through sin.
Today, let us all reflect on the lives of the holy saints and martyrs whose feast we celebrate this very day, first of all the Holy Canadian Martyrs and then St. Paul of the Cross, a holy priest of God. The Holy Canadian Martyrs were brave and courageous missionaries, all of them were Jesuits, belonging to the Society of Jesus, who went to the uncharted and new lands of what is now known as Canada in the New World.
The Jesuit missionaries travelled through very difficult terrains and went from villages to villages, enduring difficulties through various weather conditions in the wilderness to proclaim the Good News of Christ to the people who were still pagans and unbelievers at that time. Some of the people were willing to listen to them, and gradually many of them gave themselves to be baptised and were converted.
Yet, there were many others who refused to believe in God, and they made life very difficult for the courageous Jesuit missionaries. Eventually, they arrested and tortured the missionaries, and made martyrs out of them, much in the same way as what we have heard happening to the prophets sent to the people of Israel in the old times. The sins of mankind and their stubbornness made them to refuse to listen to the truth.
But does this stop the Church and God’s servants from trying to bring those who were stubborn towards the truth and salvation in God? No, in fact, it only spurs them all the more, trying to save the souls of as many as possible, many of whom were misguided by their lack of understanding about our faith and about the Lord our God. That was what St. Paul of the Cross was doing in his life, working for the greater good of the people of God.
St. Paul of the Cross was remembered for his work in founding the Congregation of the Passion of Jesus Christ, or also known as the Passionists. Through his works and dedications, he called many people to be thoroughly converted to the Lord, to turn away from their mistaken and misguided way of life, and be penitent throughout their days of life. He was also committed to a life of charity and work among the people of God, and their works had inspired many more people to join in his efforts and be converted to God’s cause.
Brothers and sisters in Christ, as Christians, all of us should follow the footsteps of our holy predecessors, and not those who refused to listen to God and repent from their sins. There will indeed be difficulties and challenges, as those who went before us would have known and understood. But we must persevere, and we must realise that it is not just us who need to have a change of heart and conversion, but even more so, those around us also need the same conversion.
It is through our works and participation that we will be able to help our brethren on their way towards the Lord, following the examples of the Holy Canadian Martyrs and St. Paul of the Cross. Let us all renew our commitment to God, and to serve Him through our actions all the days of our lives. May God be with us always and may He empower us to be true Christians always. Amen.
Liturgical Colour : Green or Red (Martyrs) or White (Priests)
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.
Liturgical Colour : Green or Red (Martyrs) or White (Priests)
Psalm 129 : 1-2, 3-4, 5-7a
Out of the depths I cry to You, o YHVH, o YHVH, hear my voice! Let Your ears pay attention to the voice of my supplication.
If You should mark our evil, o YHVH, who could stand? But with You, is forgiveness, and for that You are revered.
I waited for YHVH, my soul waits; and I put my hope in His word. My soul expects YHVH more than watchmen, the dawn. O Israel, hope in YHVH.
Liturgical Colour : Green or Red (Martyrs) or White (Priests)
Romans 3 : 21-30a
But, now it has been revealed, altogether apart from the Law, as it was already foretold in the Law and the prophets : God makes us righteous by means of faith in Jesus Christ, and this is applied to all who believe, without distinction of persons.
Because all have sinned and all fall short of the glory of God; and all are graciously forgiven and made righteous, through the redemption effected in Christ Jesus. For God has given Him to be the Victim, Whose Blood obtains us forgiveness, through faith.
So God shows us, how He makes us righteous. Past sins are forgiven, which God overlooked till now. For, now, He wants to reveal His way of righteousness : how He is just, and how He makes us righteous, through faith in Jesus. Then, what becomes of our pride? It is excluded. How? Not through the Law and its observances, but through another Law, which is faith. For we hold, that people are in God’s grace, by faith, and not because of all the things ordered by the Law.
Otherwise, God would be the God of the Jews; but is He not God of pagan nations as well? Of course He is, for there is only one God.
Liturgical Colour : Green or Red (Martyrs) or White (Priests)
Dear brothers and sisters in Christ, today we listened to the Sacred Scriptures in which we are challenged as Christians to be ever more ready and willing to devote our effort and works for the sake of those who are in need of our help. For ultimately our faith cannot be kept within us alone, but instead we must share this faith which we have, and make use of whatever blessings God had given us, for the good of each other.
In the first reading today, we heard from the Book of the prophet Jonah, of the time when God called Jonah to be the instrument of His will, to deliver the message to the people of Nineveh, the capital of the Assyrian Empire, that their city together with the entire inhabitants would be destroyed because of the great sins which the Assyrians had committed. But Jonah refused to obey God, and instead he tried to flee the Lord to a faraway land.
Jonah ran away because he was hesitant, and he was unwilling to do what the Lord had wanted him to do. Instead, he tried to do his own will, and fled to the faraway land on a ship. Yet, God reminded him in His own way, that no matter what he tried to do, if the Lord had willed something, His will shall be done. Thus, when the storm came upon the ship carrying Jonah, the shipmen had no choice but to throw him into the water, and a great whale took him in its belly for three days and nights before releasing him on the shore.
Eventually, Jonah continued on and did what the Lord had asked him to do, and as a result, through his warning of the doom awaiting the city and people of Nineveh, the whole city repented from their sins, from the king to the least among the slaves and inhabitants, and showed true and sincere remorse before God. And God stayed His hand, sparing the population of Nineveh and the city the destruction He had planned for them.
Had Jonah continued to refuse to obey the Lord, the city would not have turned away from its sins, and God’s punishment would still be carried out even though it might have gone unannounced. And many more people would have been damned because of the failure of one man to do what he could have done to avoid the catastrophic outcome. And it is a similar case which the Gospel passage today also presented us.
In the Gospel passage, we heard the familiar story of the Good Samaritan, a parable which the Lord Jesus spoke to the people, including the Pharisees, to show them that it was in doing what was pleasing to God, that a man is considered to be righteous, as exemplified in the person of the Good Samaritan. It will also be good if we can understand the nuances and the context of the story as told by Jesus, as we can then truly understand why the Lord Jesus came up with such a parable.
The Jewish people, especially the priests and the Pharisees often looked down on the Samaritans and criticised them as pagans. On the other hand, they looked on themselves as pious and holy, as those whom God had chosen out from the many nations to be His people, and they were fiercely proud about that fact. However, their pride and their stubbornness ended up becoming the sources of their downfall.
In the story that Jesus told the people, three people passed by the man on the way from Jerusalem to Jericho, who was attacked by bandits and left to die on the road. The priest and the Levite passed by without stopping to help the poor man, who without any help would surely end up dead. Instead, it was a Samaritan passing by, who stopped and showed compassion on the man.
Jesus was not glorifying the Samaritan or chastising the Jewish priest or the Levite by the fact of their background and race. Rather, through the story, He chastised the inaction of the people who were supposed to be holy and pious, in their mind. Those people were perfectly capable of helping the man, and yet, they ignored him and walked past by. The Samaritan was praised because of his action, and the fact that he ignored the prejudices existing between the two peoples, that a Jew ought to have no interaction whatsoever with a Samaritan and vice versa.
Brothers and sisters in Christ, all of these that we have heard today are reminders for us that as Christians we should not be idle or be lukewarm in our faith. We cannot be passive as Christians, or thinking selfishly only about our own salvation and not be concerned about others. Instead, we have to actively reach out to others, just as our Lord Jesus taught us to love our brethren, and commanded us just as He had commanded His disciples to preach the Good News to all the peoples.
Perhaps we should follow the examples of the holy saints whose feast we celebrate today. St. Denis and his companions were the holy martyrs of the Roman Empire’s persecution of Christians during the time of the Emperor Decius. He was the Bishop of Paris, and together with his companions in martyrdom, were arrested because of their Christian faith. As they refused to recant their faith and abandon the Lord, they were persecuted and tortured.
In the end, they were martyred by beheading. But miraculously, it was told that St. Denis continued to preach to the people around him after his head had been separated from his body. Many people were inspired by this action, a miracle of God that strengthened the hearts of the faithful and stirred the faith in many others who witnessed the miraculous spectacle. St. Denis preached for several more miles before he died.
Meanwhile, St. John Leonardi was a renowned priest and hardworking servant of God, who went out of his way to help educate the youths in his areas of work about the faith and spread the devotion to the Lord, through the dedication to the Blessed Virgin Mary as well as the popular Forty Hours devotion to the Lord. Through the works of St. John Leonardi, many people were turned from their sins, and became righteous and worthy of God.
As we can see, brothers and sisters in Christ, that the servants of God must be active in their faith, and must be ready to stand up for the Lord whenever it is necessary. And as we heard today from the Scriptures, there are truly many opportunities around us in which we are able to do our part to contribute as Christians, as those who believe in the Lord and walk in His ways.
Let us all therefore, heed the call of the Lord, and do our best in order to devote our time, effort and attention to those who need us. Let us all renew our commitment in faith to God, so that we will always be ever faithful to Him, and be zealous in how we live our lives just as the holy saints, St. Denis and his companions, and St. John Leonardi had lived theirs. May God bless us always. Amen.
Liturgical Colour : Green or Red (Martyrs) or White (Priests)
Luke 10 : 25-37
At that time, then a teacher of the Law came and began putting Jesus to the test. And he said, “Master, what shall I do to receive eternal life?” Jesus replied, “What is written in the Law? How do You understand it?” The man answered, “It is written : You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, with all your soul, with all your strength and with all your mind. And you shall love your neighbour as yourself.”
Jesus replied, “What a good answer! Do this and you shall live.” The man wanted to justify his question, so he asked, “Who is my neighbour?” Jesus then said, “There was a man going down from Jerusalem to Jericho, and he fell into the hands of robbers. They stripped him, beat him and went off, leaving him half-dead.”
“It happened that a priest was going along that road and saw the man, but passed by on the other side. Likewise a Levite saw the man, and passed by on the other side. But a Samaritan also was going that way; and when he came upon the man, he was moved with compassion. He went over to him, and cleaned his wounds with oil and wine, and wrapped them in bandages. Then he put him on his own mount, and brought him to an inn, where he took care of him.”
“The next day, he had to set off; but he gave two silver coins to the innkeeper, and said, ‘Take care of him, and whatever you spend on him, I will repay when I return.'” Jesus then asked, “Which of these three, do you think, made himself neighbour to the man who fell into the hands of robbers?”
The teacher of the Law answered, “The one who had mercy on him.” And Jesus said, “Then go and do the same.”
Liturgical Colour : Green or Red (Martyrs) or White (Priests)
Jonah 2 : 3, 4, 5, 8
In my distress I cried to YHVH, and He answered me; from the belly of the netherworld You heard my voice when I called.
You cast me into the abyss, into the very heart of the sea, and the currents swirled about me; all Your breakers and Your billows passed over, engulfing me.
Then I thought : I have been cast out from Your presence, but I keep on looking to Your holy Temple.
When my soul was fainting within me, I remembered YHVH, and before You, rose my prayer up to Your holy Temple.
Liturgical Colour : Green or Red (Martyrs) or White (Priests)
Jonah 1 : 1 – Jonah 2 : 1, 11
The word of YHVH came to Jonah, son of Amittai, “Go to Nineveh, the great city, and preach against it, because I have known its wickedness.”
But Jonah decided to flee from YHVH and go to Tarshish. He went down to Joppa, found a ship bound for Tarshish, and paid the fare. Then he boarded it and went into the hold of the ship, journeying with them to Tarshish, far away from YHVH.
YHVH stirred up a storm wind on the sea, so there was a sea tempest, which threatened to destroy the ship. The sailors took fright, and each cried out to his own god. To lighten the ship, they threw its cargo into the sea. Meanwhile Jonah had gone into the hold of the ship, where he lay fast asleep. The captain came upon him and said, “How can you sleep? Get up and call on your God. Perhaps He will be mindful of us and will not allow us to die here.”
The sailors said to each other, “Let us cast lots to find out who is responsible for this disaster.” So they dod, and the lot fell on Jonah. They questioned him, “So you are responsible for this evil that has come upon us? Tell us where you are from. What is your country, your nationality?” And Jonah told them his story, “I am a Hebrew and I worship YHVH, God of heaven Who made the sea and the land…”
As they knew that he was fleeing from YHVH, the sailors were seized with great fear and said to him, “What a terrible thing have you done! What shall we do with you now, to make the sea calm down?” The sea was growing more and more agitated.
He said to them, “Pick me up and throw me into the sea. It will quiet down, for I know it is because of me that this storm has come.” The sailors, however, still did their best to row back to land. But they could not, for the sea had grown much rougher than before. Then they called on YHVH, “O YHVH, do not let us perish for taking this man’s life. Do not hold us guilty of shedding innocent blood. For You, YHVH, have done this as You have thought right.”
They took Jonah and threw him overboard, and the raging sea grew calm again. At this the men were seized with great fear of YHVH. They offered a sacrifice to YHVH and made vows to Him. YHVH provided a large fish which swallowed Jonah. He remained in the belly of the fish for three days and three nights. Then YHVH gave His command to the fish, and it belched out Jonah onto dry land.
petercanisiusmichaeldavidkang 