Liturgical Colour : Red
Luke 8 : 1-3
At that time, Jesus walked through towns and countryside, preaching and giving the Good News of the kingdom of God. The Twelve followed Him, and also some women, who had been healed of evil spirits and diseases : Mary called Magdalene, who had been freed of seven demons; Joanna, wife of Chuza, Herod’s steward; Suzanna, and others who provided for them out of their own funds.
Liturgical Colour : Red
Psalm 16 : 1, 6-7, 8b and 15
Hear a just cause, o Lord, listen to my complaint. Give heed to my prayer for there is no deceit on my lips.
I call on You, You will answer me, o God; incline Your ear and hear my word. For You do wonders for Your faithful, You save those fleeing from the enemy as they seek refuge at Your right hand.
Under the shadow of Your wings hide me. As for me, righteous in Your sight, I shall see Your face and, awakening, gaze my fill on Your likeness.
Liturgical Colour : Red
1 Corinthians 15 : 12-20
Well, then, if Christ is preached as risen from the dead, how can some of you say that there is no resurrection of the dead? If there is no resurrection of the dead, then Christ has not been raised. And if Christ has not been raised, our preaching is empty and our belief comes to nothing.
And we become false witnesses of God, attesting that He raised Christ, whereas He could not raise Him if indeed the dead are not raised. If the dead are not raised, neither has Christ been raised. And if Christ has not been raised, your faith gives you nothing, and you are still in sin. Also those who fall asleep in Christ are lost.
If it is only for this life that we hope in Christ, we are the most unfortunate of all people. But no, Christ has been raised from the dead and He comes before all those who have fallen asleep.
Liturgical Colour : White
Dear brothers and sisters in Christ, on this day we heard the messages from the Sacred Scriptures, talking to us about the gifts which God had imparted upon His disciples, the Apostles and all others who devoted themselves to Him. To each and every members of the Church were given the gifts of the Holy Spirit, which manifested differently among the members of the Church, which is the united communion of all the faithful in the Body of Christ.
How do we understand this, brethren? We are all members of the Church, and we are the Church of God. The Church is not just its buildings and edifices, but also all of us, the faithful people of God. And in the Church there are many parts just as a body has many parts. We know that in a body, different parts and organs have different functions and purposes. Things will not work well if every parts are doing the same job and function.
Thus even in the Church, we have different people who have different calling, different missions and actions, but all with the same purpose, that is to bring greater glory to God, and to preach and deliver the Good News to as many people as possible. But everyone cannot be preachers at the same time, nor can everyone be those who are in the priestly and religious order, or otherwise, how can the Church support itself in that way?
There are many people who misunderstood the purpose and the workings of the Church. Some are even thinking that the laity has no role in the Church or has no part or participation in it. And some others are also thinking that the Church and its matters are the sole domain of the priests and the religious alike, and others have no interest or business in them. They cannot be further mistaken than this.
The fact is that the laity must work in tandem with the priests and the religious, all working together to support the good works of the Church for the sake of the Lord and for His people. In fact, the laity are the ones who contributed much of the Church’s effort for the help of the poor, the needy and all those who are in need of help. It is the contributions from the people, mostly from the laity, which enabled the Church to perform its extensive and numerous charitable activities.
Meanwhile the priests and the religious help to guide the Church and the faithful in their journey to God, providing them with the necessary spiritual guidance and help along the way. Thus, all the different parts of the Church working together in tandem and harmony is very important in ensuring that the works of the Lord made through His Church will be successful and feasible.
That said, we should be working to encourage vocations in the Church, that many more people whom God had called and chosen will be willing to join Him in a life of service and total commitment to Him and to His Church. In this world today, one of the greatest challenges facing the Church has been its lack of sufficient priests and also the dearth in the number of seminarians preparing themselves to be priests and also among the religious vocations as well.
Temptations of this world are hard to resist, and for many to let go of many of these in order to serve the Lord and His Church may be quite a difficult task for them. Therefore we have to help each other, and help to support the works of the entire Church so that the Church as a whole will be great and efficient in how it administers its functions and works.
Perhaps the example of the great saint, St. John Chrysostom will help to inspire us all in our faith and in our commitment to the Church. He was an important figure in the early Church, very important in his role in establishing the role of the Church and its members in the society. As the Archbishop of Constantinople, the eastern capital of the Roman Empire, his works and commitments had far-reaching effects in inspiring many others to follow in his footsteps.
Based on his name suffix title, he was known as the golden-mouthed, due to his many and constantly inspiring and encouraging homilies and sermons, through which he had called many people into repentance and into the salvation in God. He was hardworking and was thoroughly dedicated to help the people to find their way to the Lord. Many were inspired by his hard work and many respected him for his many contributions.
We too can follow in his footsteps, and we can commit ourselves to help the Church as its members, spending our time, effort and even money to help its works. Let us all devote ourselves and no longed be hesitant in contributing to the Church and to the works of God. May the Lord help us and bless us, and may He keep us in His grace at all times. Amen.
Liturgical Colour : White
Luke 7 : 11-17
At that time, a little later after Jesus healed the servant of a captain, He went to a town called Naim. He was accompanied by His disciples and a great number of people. As He reached the gate of the town, a dead man was being carried out. He was the only son of his mother, and she was a widow; there followed a large crowd of townspeople.
On seeing her, the Lord had pity on her and said, “Do not cry.” Then He came up and touched the stretcher, and the men who carried it stopped. Jesus then said, “Young man, I say to you, wake up!” And the dead man sat up and began to speak, and Jesus gave him to his mother.
A holy fear came over them all, and they praised God saying, “A great Prophet has appeared among us; God, has visited His people.” This news spread throughout Judea and the surrounding places.
Liturgical Colour : White
Psalm 99 : 2, 3, 4, 5
Serve the Lord with gladness; come before Him with joyful songs.
Know that the Lord is God; He created us and we are His people, the sheep of His fold.
Enter His gates with thanksgiving, His courts with praise. Give thanks to Him and bless His Name.
For the Lord is good; His love lasts forever and His faithfulness through all generations.
Liturgical Colour : White
1 Corinthians 12 : 12-14, 27-31a
As the body is one, having many members, and all the members, while being many, form one body, so it is with Christ. All of us, whether Jews or Greeks, slaves or free, have been baptised in one Spirit to form one body and all of us have been given to drink from the one Spirit.
The body has not just one member, but many. Now, you are the body of Christ and each of you individually is a member of it. So God has appointed us in the Church. First Apostles, second prophets, third teachers. Then come miracles, then the gift of healing, material help, administration in the Church and the gift of tongues.
Are all Apostles? Are all prophets? Are all teachers? Can all perform miracles, or cure the sick, or speak in tongues, or explain what was said in tongues? Be that as it may, set your hearts on the most precious gifts.
Liturgical Colour : White
Dear brothers and sisters in Christ, the key message and the gist of today’s Scripture readings is really very simple, and yet it is at the same time, something very important for us all to take note of, as disciples and followers of our Lord. And that is the value and virtue of humility, and of rejecting pride and hubris, understanding that we mankind are not greater than God and His authority.
In order to understand fully the meaning and nuances behind what transpired between the Lord Jesus and the Pharisees in today’s Gospel, we have to appreciate and be able to understand the history of how it came to be as what it was like at the time of Jesus. By that time, the Jewish people, the descendants of Israel had had the Law revealed to them for over a thousand years, with many generations of peoples passing down the Law of God from mouth to mouth.
God made it clear in the beginning that He created mankind because of His love for all that He had created, and the greatest of which He reserved for us, the most perfect and beloved of all His creations, created in His very own Image. And because of that love, He has endeavoured to forgive them and rescue them from their own downfall, that is sin. Sin has entered into the hearts of men because of disobedience, and the reward for sin is death.
But God did not want such a fate for those whom He had intended to give His love to, and for the ones whom He had cared for, certainly He did not desire for them to perish, but to live and to rejoice together with Him. That was why He sent His messengers and servants among His people, to call them to repentance and to turn themselves to the loving and caring hands of the Lord, that He might take them up and bless them once more.
To that extent also, therefore, God sent Moses to rescue His people from their suffering and tribulation in the land of Egypt. They went out with the guidance from God’s own mighty Hand, and He showed His might before them. And in order to seal the promise He had made with them, He sealed it with the Covenant which He established through the Law that He passed down to Moses His servant, that His people would observe them forever.
These laws and commandments are love, brothers and sisters in Christ. If we read through the Ten Commandments, love the Lord your God and have no idols or false gods before Him, honouring His holy Name and the day of the Lord, all these speak of how we ought to have that love and dedication for God, just in the same manner as God has loved us first.
And the other commandments, exhorting us not to kill, not to steal, honouring one’s mother and father, all are speaking about how we ought then to show the same love we have shown to the Lord, in how we also love our brethren, our neighbours around us. This is what the Lord wanted from us all mankind, His beloved people, that we have love in us, His love, that we may love Him just as much as we have been loved by Him.
Yet, unfortunately, due to the obstinance and the rebelliousness of the people, they disagreed and doubted many times about the Lord, so much so that in order to keep them in check and to help ensure that they are able to restrain their negative desires and traits, God helped them by giving them rules and regulations to help them to manage themselves, that after having disciplined themselves, then they would be better able to find themselves on the right track towards the Lord.
Brothers and sisters in Christ, over time, the people of God forgot the intention of God why He established those rules and regulations in the first place. And as the Law was often transmitted from mouth to ear, and then from one to another again, over time, there were many misunderstandings and things that they had added into the laws, which then the Pharisees and the teachers of the Law zealously defended and imposed on the people.
These people saw themselves as superior to others, and they revelled in their pride knowing about their esteemed position and supposed greater piety and honour in the society, something which St. Paul clearly warned against in today’s First Reading, taken from the Epistle of St. Paul to the Church and the faithful in Corinth. He warned them about human pride and hubris, greed and desire for power which could easily takeover us mankind, and make us not faithful servants of the Lord, but instead as wayward people.
Brothers and sisters in Christ, as Christians we should learn to be more like king David, whom Jesus mentioned in His words in the Gospel today. When his men were hungry, the king David cared for them and found food for them in the Temple of God, that they might be sustained and not suffer from hunger. That is the kind of love which our Lord also expects from each and every one of us, that we do not overlook the sufferings of others, or worse, by imposing our views and opinions on others.
The Pharisees and the teachers of the Law were fixated on the wrong things. They were so blinded by their blind obedience to the laws of Moses, which was serious misunderstanding of the true intention of the Law of God, that is love. Instead of bringing mankind to love God more, they were making those people to fear Him, as the excessive obligations and rules ended up burdening the people, especially all those seeking to repent and to turn over a new leaf.
Rather, we should learn to be true disciples of our Lord, by not just having empty faith, but also through active participation and commitment of our loving works and deeds, that we show love in all that we do, in all that we say, and after all these, in not claiming the credit for ourselves, or be proud of our achievements and deeds, for all these we have done, all for the sake of the greater glory of our God.
Today we also commemorate the feast of the great and renowned Pope, Pope St. Gregory the Great, who was well known for his great devotion to God, in his efforts to live a truly Christian life. Even though he had been elected to such an important role and position in the Christian world, but he remained humble and was very dedicated to the mission which he had been entrusted with by the Lord.
Pope St. Gregory the Great helped to reform the Church and the lives of the faithful, bringing greater discipline to the Church and to help the people of God to learn how to live as a faithful disciple and follower of the Lord. He helped the poor and the weak in his areas of jurisdiction, improving the livelihood of those who once lived in squalor and filth, showing genuine Christian love to everyone who saw him.
And he also sent many missions to convert many Pagans and all those who still lived in the ignorance of the salvation of God, that through these courageous missionaries, the word of God, that is the love I have mentioned earlier, the desire of the Lord to have all of His beloved children to return to Him, may reach all the ends of the earth, and as many souls as possible could be saved.
In his short earthly life, we can already see how he embodied what we Christians have to do, and how we ought to do it. Can we all devote ourselves to God and to our fellow brethren in the same way that Pope St. Gregory the Great and many of the other holy saints had done, brethren? Are we able to commit ourselves to the Lord fully and wholly without being distracted by the temptations of worldliness, power and all others?
Let us all pray now, brethren, that we may be given the gift to discern carefully how we are to do our actions in life, that wherever we are, we will always be ready to show love where it is needed, to care for the life and wellbeing of others when they were under threat, and to stand up for our needy and poor fellow men who were unjustly oppressed. May God help us in these endeavours, and may He keep us all always in His everlasting grace. Amen.
Liturgical Colour : White
Luke 6 : 1-5
At that time, one Sabbath Jesus was going through the corn fields, and His disciples began to pick heads of grain, crushing them in their hands for food. Some of the Pharisees asked them, “Why do you do what is forbidden on the Sabbath?”
Then Jesus spoke up and asked them, “Have you never read what David did when he and his men were hungry? He entered the house of God, took and ate the bread of the offering, and even gave some to his men, though only priests are allowed to eat that bread.”
And Jesus added, “The Son of Man is Lord and rules over the sabbath.”
Liturgical Colour : White
Psalm 144 : 17-18, 19-20, 21
Righteous is the Lord in all His ways, His mercy shows in all His deeds. He is near those who call on Him, who call trustfully upon His Name.
He fulfils the wish of those who fear Him; He hears their cry and saves them. For those who love Him, the Lord has compassion; but the wicked, He will destroy.
Let my mouth speak in praise of the Lord, let every creature bless His holy Name, forever and ever.
petercanisiusmichaeldavidkang 