holy saints of God

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Tuesday, 17 February 2026 : 6th Week of Ordinary Time, Memorial of the Seven Holy Founders of the Servite Order (Homily and Scripture Reflections)

Liturgical Colour : Green or White (Saints)

Dear brothers and sisters in Christ, isters in Christ, all of us are reminded today as we are about to enter the time and season of Lent tomorrow, that each and every one of us should always be vigilant, prepared and ever ready to resist the temptations of sin and other worldly desires and ambitions, all of which can be the reason for our downfall and destruction. We should always put our trust and faith instead in the Lord, and do our best as Christians to live righteously and worthily in accordance to the ways and paths that the Lord Himself has taught and shown us, through His Church and all that He has revealed to us through His Son, Our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ.

In our first reading today, taken from the Epistle of St. James, we heard the words of the author highlighting about how sins and wickedness came about because of our own inability to resist the temptations to commit such sins, and not because God gave us the temptations. It is a reminder for each and every one of us not to allow ourselves to be easily swayed and tempted by the allures of sin and evil all around us, all of which can easily turn us away from the path of God and His righteousness into the path of downfall and damnation. Each and every one of us are called as Christians to be good role models and inspirations to one another in following God’s will and doing our best to live virtuously in accordance to what the Lord has told and shown us to do.

And we should not do it by our own strength alone, as it is often that we fall into temptation and fail to resist its allures whenever we depend only on our own strength and power. With God however, we can have the strength, courage and fortitude to resist the temptations and we can therefore walk ever more courageously in the path that He has called us to follow and which He has set our feet upon. If we put our faith and trust in the Lord, therefore, we shall we guarded and given the strength to persevere the journey of faith and life. The question is then, do we trust the Lord enough and do we put our faith in Him in all of these? Do we listen to Him and allow Him to guide us carefully in our paths in life?

Then, from our Gospel passage today, taken from the Gospel according to St. Mark the Evangelist, we heard of the words of the Lord Jesus to His disciples after He has performed miracle of the multiplication of the loaves of bread, showing the power of God and the love which the Lord has always had for those whom He has loved and were precious to Him. He warned them all about the yeast of the Pharisees and the yeast of Herod, that they do not end up falling into the same trap, using yeast as a metaphor to represent the sins and faults of those Pharisees and those in the court of Herod and the king himself, each of whom had been harbouring in them sins and faults that prevented them from truly believing in the Lord.

This metaphor of yeast is used in the context of how unleavened bread were used for the celebration of the Passover, and that was because back at the time of their Exodus from Egypt, there was no time for them to let the dough to ferment and grow into the bread through the agent of yeast, which took some time and place. Thereafter, yeast was used in some of the symbolisms to represent the impurities and corruptions of the world which had corrupted the purity of mankind, that is none other than sin. And with regards to the yeast of the Pharisees and that of Herod, these yeasts represent the sin of pride, ego and arrogance for the former, and the sin of lust and greed for the latter.

The Pharisees were those religious and intellectual elites of the community of the Jewish people at that time, and composed one of the major factions within the Jewish High Council or the Sanhedrin. They took great pride in their status and achievements, and it was likely their ego and arrogance which prevented them from listening to reason or accepting the Wisdom of God. Meanwhile, Herod was the king that ruled Galilee at that time, the son of Herod the Great, who lived in an immoral way, living in adultery with his brother’s wife, Herodias, and living in a court filled with greed and lust, among other sins. That was why the Lord warned His disciples, followers and the people listening to Him of these ‘yeasts’ of the Pharisees and Herod.

Brothers and sisters in Christ, today all of us should follow the good examples set by our holy predecessors as we celebrate their feast day today, namely the Seven Holy Founders of the Servite Order. These seven holy men of God, known by their names of Bonfilius, Alexis, Manettus, Amideus, Hugh, Sostene and Buonagiunta of Florence. All of them found each other in a bond of spiritual friendship which then grew on and having received a vision from the Blessed Mother of God, they were resolved to leave behind everything and followed God, marking the foundation of the Servite Order.

The seven holy founders worked hard and dedicatedly through the Order of the Servites, caring for the poor and the needy, those who were abandoned and without any proper attention and care. They all were dedicated with the care for the physical and material needs of those people, of whom the Lord Himself had said to us, that we have to show love and care for the least of our brethren, to the poor and those who had no one to love them and care for them. The seven holy founders of the Servites did their best within their capacity to care for these people. They are indeed good examples and inspirations for all of us to follow in how we should live our own lives with virtue and faith in God.

May the Lord continue to bless us and guide us all in our journey and life, so that in everything that we say and do, we will continue to walk ever more faithfully in the path that God Himself has called us to walk through. May God bless our every good works and endeavours, and help us to be the shining beacon of His truth and wisdom in our world today. May all of us ever be more courageous to live our lives well as Christians, now and always. Amen.

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Tuesday, 17 February 2026 : 6th Week of Ordinary Time, Memorial of the Seven Holy Founders of the Servite Order (Gospel Reading)

Liturgical Colour : Green or White (Saints)

Mark 8 : 14-21

At that time, the disciples had forgotten to bring more bread, and had only one loaf with the in the boat. Then Jesus warned them, “Keep your eyes open, and beware of the yeast of the Pharisees and the yeast of Herod.” And they said of one another, “He saw that we have no bread.”

Aware of this, Jesus asked them, “Why are you talking about the loaves you are short of? Do you not see or understand? Are your minds closed? Have your eyes that do not see and ears that do not hear? And do you not remember when I broke the five loaves among five thousand? How many baskets full of letfovers did you collect?”

They answered, “Twelve.” “And having distributed seven loaves to the four thousand, how many wicker baskets of leftovers did you collect?” They answered, “Seven.” Then Jesus said to them, “Do you still not understand?”

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Tuesday, 17 February 2026 : 6th Week of Ordinary Time, Memorial of the Seven Holy Founders of the Servite Order (Psalm)

Liturgical Colour : Green or White (Saints)

Psalm 93 : 12-13a, 14-15, 18-19

Fortunate the one You correct, o YHVH, the one You teach Your Law; You give them relief from distress.

YHVH will not reject His people, nor will He forsake His heritage. Justice will return to the just; and the upright will follow, in its wake.

No sooner did I say, “My foot is slipping,” Your kindness, o YHVH, held me up. The more worries and trouble assailed me, the more You consoled me.

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Tuesday, 17 February 2026 : 6th Week of Ordinary Time, Memorial of the Seven Holy Founders of the Servite Order (First Reading)

Liturgical Colour : Green or White (Saints)

James 1 : 12-18

Happy are those who patiently endure trials, because, afterward, they will receive the crown of life, which the Lord promised to those who love Him. No one, when tempted, should say, “This temptation comes from God.” God is never tempted, and He can never tempt anyone. Instead, each of us is lured, and enticed, by our own evil desire. Once this desire has conceived, it gives birth to sin, and sin, when fully grown, gives birth to death.

Do not be deceived, my beloved. Every good and perfect gift comes from above, from the Father of Light, in Whom there is no change, or a shadow of a change. By His own will, He gave us life, through the word of truth, that we might be a kind of offering to Him, among His creatures.

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Thursday, 15 January 2026 : 1st Week of Ordinary Time, Memorial of St. Paul the Hermit (Homily and Scripture Reflections)

Liturgical Colour : Green or White (Saints)

Dear brothers and sisters in Christ, today as we all gather together to reflect upon the words of the Lord that we have received from the Scriptures, we are reminded that all of us should put our faith and trust in the Lord, and we should always strive to obey Him and His words, His will, His Law and commandments. We should not do things in the manner that we decide by our own whim or ambition, or else it may likely cause difficulties and for us to lose our path and way amidst all the trials, challenges and obstacles that we may encounter in our respective paths in life. God has called on each one of us to follow Him and to trust in Him, to trust in His words and providence. God will never fail us and if we put our trust instead in worldly things, sooner or later we will realise that we will be disappointed by that decision.

In our first reading today, we heard from the Book of the prophet Samuel in which the story of how the Israelites went to battle against their great enemy, the Philistines, was told to us. We also heard how the Israelites were desperate after their defeats and tried to gain favour and advantage by bringing the Ark of the Covenant from Shiloh where it has been kept to the battlefield. In that occasion, we also heard of the two sons of Eli who was Judge of Israel, in which those two likely led the forces of the Israelites into battle as Eli was already very old at that time. For the context, Eli’s two sons, Hophni and Phinehas who led the Israelites in battle were wicked in their ways and actions, unbecoming of their position as priests and leaders of the people of God.

Those two were priests serving the people of God and yet, they kept the best of the people’s offerings for themselves while offering what were inferior to God, in contradiction to what the Lord had commanded them as His priests to do. This and other violations of the Law, and their wicked deeds have indeed been found wanting by God, and as such, just as we heard, the Philistines defeated the Israelites even as they brought their Ark of the Covenant with them, and those two wicked sons of Eli were slain. This was indeed a just retribution to all the wickedness and the sins which they had committed against God and His people alike, which led not just to the defeat of the Israelites but also the humiliating loss and hostage of their most precious Ark of the Covenant.

Then, from our Gospel passage today, taken from the Gospel according to St. Mark the Evangelist, we heard of the moment when a man suffering from leprosy came towards the Lord and asked Him to heal him, and it happened indeed that the Lord miraculously healed the man from his leprosy. At the same time, He also left strict instruction to the healed leper that he should immediately go to see the priest as prescribed by the Law of Moses and traditions, that he might be certified as being clean and healed from leprosy such that he might return back to the community. Back then, those who suffered from leprosy were not allowed to remain in the community and had to wander off in the wilderness, which was a result of the rules and laws that were practiced since the time of the Exodus when the Israelites were living in very close proximity to each other.

Therefore, those who suffered from leprosy and other contagious diseases were forced to leave the community until they were cured of the symptoms. And unlike what we may know about leprosy today, back then, all sorts of skin diseases were known and mentioned together as ‘leprosy’ and some were caused by fungal infection that were easily spread through direct or indirect contact, and were eventually curable. Regardless of what the man had actually suffered from, what mattered was that he sought help from the Lord and believed that He was able to heal him and make him to be rid of whatever it was that afflicted him. For that faith, he has been healed and made completely well again, and he must have indeed been very jubilant over it.

However, when the Lord instructed the man to not speak about the matter and the healing to anyone at all, he disobeyed the Lord and did not do as the Lord asked of him to do. But why is it that the Lord Jesus was so adamant about the man not letting anyone know about the way how he was healed by Jesus? That is likely because of various reasons, first of all the disease of leprosy being considered as taboo and unclean, and the fact that the leper had come to the Lord when he was still diseased would have made it taboo as well for the people to come near to the Lord, and hence, this led to difficulties in the Lord’s ministry, not considering also the oppositions and the unhappiness that the Lord faced from the Temple authorities, the chief priests and the Pharisees among others.

Today, the Church also celebrates the Feast of St. Paul the Hermit, also known by his epithet of St. Paul of Thebes. He lived during the third and fourth century in what was then Roman Egypt and reputedly lived through a long life, more than a century long and most of that long life was spent in a life of seclusion as a hermit, as one of the earliest known desert fathers, pre-dating even the more well-known St. Anthony the Abbot. It was told according to his hagiography that he and his sister lost their parents early on in their lives and their relatives cheated them out of their inheritance. Not only that but in his youth, St. Paul the Hermit had to face the effects of the intense persecution of Christians by the Roman Emperor Decius and his successor, Emperor Valerian. Consequently, he fled to the desert and lived in seclusion for quite a number of years in the beginning, but eventually he remained there for the rest of his life.

According to the same legend and hagiography, a raven would come each day bringing him food and provision, and St. Paul the Hermit remained in that life of seclusion, dedicated completely to prayer and meditation, inspiring others especially those who sought deeper relationship with God, purpose in life and disillusionment with earthly and worldly ambitions, desires and pursuits to come and follow his example. And as one of the first, if not the first person who adopted this kind of lifestyle, he was also known as ‘the first monk’, and his great personal holiness and piety served as an inspiration to many people long after he passed away. And while what he had done and chosen with his life is certainly not what most of us would ever consider, but we can indeed be inspired by the great commitment that this holy man of God had in focusing his attention wholly on the Lord.

Brothers and sisters in Christ, therefore, as we reflect upon the life and examples of St. Paul the Hermit, and also upon the readings of the Scriptures that we have received today, let us all seek to obey the Lord in all things, in obeying His will and in embracing what He has commanded and entrusted to us to do. Let us therefore be good and genuine Christians in all things, not just in words, but also in our every actions and deeds. May God bless our every good works and endeavours, now and forevermore. Amen.

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Thursday, 15 January 2026 : 1st Week of Ordinary Time, Memorial of St. Paul the Hermit (Gospel Reading)

Liturgical Colour : Green or White (Saints)

Mark 1 : 40-45

A leper came to Jesus and begged Him, “If You want to, You can make me clean.” Moved with pity, Jesus stretched out His hand and touched him, saying, “I do want to; be clean.”

The leprosy left the man at once and he was made clean. As Jesus sent the man away, He sternly warned him, “Do not tell anyone about this, but go and show yourself to the priest; and for the cleansing, bring the offering ordered by Moses in this way, you will give to them your testimony.”

However, as soon as the man went out, he began spreading the news everywhere, so that Jesus could no longer openly enter any town. But even though He stayed in the rural areas, people came to Him from everywhere.

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Thursday, 15 January 2026 : 1st Week of Ordinary Time, Memorial of St. Paul the Hermit (Psalm)

Liturgical Colour : Green or White (Saints)

Psalm 43 : 10-11, 14-15, 24-25

Yet now, You have rejected and humbled us; You no longer go forth with our armies. You have let our enemies drive us back and our adversaries plunder us.

You have made us the butt of our neighbours’ insult, the scorn and laughingstock of those around us. You have made us a byword among the nations; they look at us and shake their heads.

Awake, o Lord! Why are You asleep? Arise! Reject us not forever. Why hide Your face from us? Why forget our misery and woes?

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Thursday, 15 January 2026 : 1st Week of Ordinary Time, Memorial of St. Paul the Hermit (First Reading)

Liturgical Colour : Green or White (Saints)

1 Samuel 4 : 1-11

At that time Samuel was a prophet of Israel. The Israelites went out to battle against the Philistines. They encamped at Ebenezer, while the Philistines encamped at Aphek. The Philistines then drew up in battle formation. They attacked Israel and after a fierce fighting, Israel was defeated, leaving about four thousand men dead on the battlefield.

When the troops retreated to their camp, the elders of Israel asked, “Why has YHVH allowed us to be defeated by the Philistines? Let us take the Ark of God from Shiloh and bring it here so that YHVH may be with us and save us from our enemies.” So the people sent messengers to Shiloh to take the Ark of YHVH Who is seated on the Cherubim. Eli’s two sons, Hophni and Phinehas, accompanied the Ark.

As soon as the Ark of YHVH entered the camp, the Israelites began to cheer so loudly that the earth resounded. The Philistines heard the shouting and asked, “What does this loud shout in the camp of the Hebrews mean?” And they were told that the Ark of YHVH had been brought to the camp.

The Philistines were overcome with fear. They exclaimed, “A God has come into the camp. Woe to us! For nothing like this has happened before. Woe to us! Who can save us from the power of these mighty Gods? These are the Gods Who struck the Egyptians with all sorts of plagues – and in the desert. Take courage and conduct yourselves like men, o Philistines, lest you become slaves to the Hebrews in the same way they have been slaves to you. Be manly and fight.”

So the Philistines fought and Israel was defeated. Everyone fled to his home. It was a disastrous defeat; thirty thousand foot soldiers of Israel were killed. The Ark of God was captured and the two sons of Eli, Hophni and Phinehas, were slain.

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Saturday, 27 December 2025 : Feast of St. John, Apostle and Evangelist (Homily and Scripture Reflections)

Liturgical Colour : White

Dear brothers and sisters in Christ, today as we gather together as a Church, we honour the memory of one of the great servants of God, His beloved Apostle, one of the Twelve, namely that of St. John the Apostle and Evangelist, the one who lived the longest among the Apostles and according to tradition was both the youngest among them during the Lord’s ministry as well as the only one who did not die in martyrdom, but still suffered greatly nonetheless for his faith and good works in God. St. John the Apostle and Evangelist lived to a long old life, even as he endured arrest, prison and exile in the island of Patmos, where he received the vision from God regarding the end times, as written in the Book of Revelations of St. John.

This Apostle was the younger brother of St. James the Greater, another one of the Twelve Apostles. Both of them were often referred to as the sons of Zebedee, and were fishermen at the lake of Galilee together with St. Peter and St. Andrew. All the four of them were among the first that the Lord had called to become His disciples, and St. John together with his brother, St. James and also St. Peter were often present in many of the important events throughout the ministry of the Lord Jesus such as the Transfiguration, the resurrection of the sick daughter of the synagogue official Jairus, as well as the moments of the Passion of the Lord like the Agony in the Garden of Gethsemane. All the three of them including St. John were present at those important events, and hence he truly must have had a great knowledge of what had happened during the Lord’s work and ministry.

In the Gospel passage we heard today, we heard of the story from the Gospel written by St. John himself of the moment when the Lord was risen from the dead. At that occasion, it was told that when St. Mary Magdalene came bearing the information that the Lord has risen and disappeared from the tomb, St. John was among the first of the Apostles, together with St. Peter, who went to check the truth of what they have just heard. St. John believed in what he had seen and heard, and had faith in God, which had kept him going throughout all those years afterwards when he had to endure a lot of trials and hardships as a missionary and a worker of the Lord, carrying out His will in faraway places and lands, and facing both successes and challenges throughout all those occasions and years.

In our first reading today, the Epistle that St. John himself had written, to all the faithful people of God, we heard St. John yet again testifying about the Lord, highlighting how the Love of God has manifested in the Lord Jesus Christ, the One Whose every works and good deeds, wonders and miracles, wisdom and teachings he had witnessed and heard. St. John hence shared of what he had experienced and believed in, and placed particular emphasis on the Incarnation of the Word, the Divine Word of God, the Son, in the flesh, to come down into our midst as the Saviour of all. Like that of another of very popular quote from his Gospel, St. John wrote of the exchanges between the Lord Jesus and the Pharisee, Nicodemus in which Jesus said that, ‘For God so loved the world that He gave us all His only beloved Son, so that all those who believed in Him may not perish but have eternal life.’

Brothers and sisters in Christ, as we heard from these Scripture passages today, as written and recorded by St. John himself, we are reminded that each and every one of us are also witnesses and bearers of this same truth which St. John had himself received from the Lord, and just like St. John who had to labour and faced a lot of trials over the many years that he had spent in his ministry and calling as an Apostle and also an Evangelist, all of us as God’s holy people, the members of His same Church and part of that same one flock should therefore also carry out the respective missions, vocations and callings that each one of us have received as disciples and followers of the Lord. We cannot be ignorant of the responsibilities that each one of us as Christians have in being good bearers of the truth of God and as the beacons of His light and hope.

Yes, brothers and sisters in Christ, today as we rejoice together and celebrate the memory of St. John the Apostle and Evangelist, remembering all the great deeds he had done for the sake of the Lord and His people, all of us are reminded that the works that the Lord had begun and entrusted to His Church through His Apostles like St. John are far from being completed. On the contrary, there are always many more opportunities and occasions where there may be a lot of chance for us to be the bearers of God’s truth and love in our communities today, or within our own families and circles of friends, with acquaintances and even strangers we encounter daily in life. And this Christmas season is one of those occasions in which we can reach out to our fellow brethren with pure and genuine Christian love.

That is why it is important that each one of us understand the true meaning and importance of Christmas, knowing that Christmas is truly the manifestation of God’s Love, just as St. John had stated in various occasions, of the Divine Word and Son of God incarnate, taking up upon Himself our humble human nature and existence, so that by this action, He might accomplish everything that had been planned and prophesied for us, our salvation and liberation from the bondage of sin, evil and death. The question is whether we understand and appreciate this truth, and even more importantly, whether we show it in our way of celebrating Christmas, by putting Christ at the centre of all of our rejoicing, celebrations and festivities, or whether we have allowed the excesses of the secular form of Christmas, all the worldly merrymaking and parties to distract us from the true meaning of Christmas.

That is why we should reflect well on this, and if we have not done so, we should change our emphasis and focus in the way we celebrate Christmas. Christmas should no longer be about ourselves or be about our pleasures and happiness, while forgetting about others and those who are suffering around us. Instead of a selfish celebration and excessive merrymaking and feasting, we should be ever more committed as the followers and disciples of the Lord, in showing one another what true Christian love is all about, sharing the same love that Christ our Lord had come bearing with Him into this world, by reaching out to the less fortunate and all those who are not able to celebrate Christmas the way we do. Let us also seek reconciliation and forgiveness from one another for all the past faults we have made as well. We should not continue to hold grudges but be sincere and generous in our loving to one another.

May the Lord through the examples and life of His faithful servant and Apostle, St. John, continue to strengthen and inspire us to be ever more dedicated and faithful in all things. May He help us to appreciate and understand better what He had Himself done for us so that we too may become good witnesses and bearers of His love, His truth and His ways. We should always be the faithful and courageous bearers of God’s Light and Hope, continuing to love Him and our fellow brothers and sisters, doing whatever we can so that by our actions, words and deeds, we may lead more and more people towards God and His salvation. May God bless our every efforts and endeavours, our every actions and good works at all times, now and forevermore. Amen.

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Saturday, 27 December 2025 : Feast of St. John, Apostle and Evangelist (Gospel Reading)

Liturgical Colour : White

John 20 : 2-8

At that time, Mary of Magdala ran to Peter, and the other disciple whom Jesus loved, and she said to them, “They have taken the Lord out of the tomb and we do not know where they have laid Him.”

Peter then set out with the other disciple to go out to the tomb. They ran together, but the other disciple outran Peter and reached the tomb first. He bent down and saw the linen cloths lying flat, but he did not enter. Then Simon Peter came, following him, and entered the tomb; he, too, saw the linen cloths lying flat.

The napkin, which had been around His head, was not lying flat like the other linen cloths, but lay rolled up in its place. Then the other disciple, who had reached the tomb first, also went in; he saw and believed.