Liturgical Colour : White
Psalm 113B : 1-2, 3-4, 15-16
Not to us, o Lord, not to us, but to Your Name be the glory, for the sake of Your love and faithfulness. Why should the pagans say, “Where is their God?”
There in heaven is our God; whatever He wishes, He does. Not so the hand-made idols, crafted in silver and gold.
May you be blessed by the Lord, Maker of heaven and earth. Heaven belongs to the Lord, but the earth He has given to humans.
Liturgical Colour : White
Acts 14 : 5-18
A move was made by pagans and Jews, together with their leaders, to harm the Apostles and to stone them. But Paul and Barnabas learnt of this and fled to Lycaonian towns of Lystra and Derbe and to the surrounding countryside, where they continued preaching the Good News.
Paul and Barnabas spent a fairly long time at Lystra. There was a crippled man in Lystra who had never been able to stand or walk. One day, as he was listening to the preaching, Paul looked intently at him and saw that he had the faith to be saved. So he spoke to him in a loud voice, “In the Name of the Lord Jesus Christ, I command you to stand up on your feet!” And the man stood up and began to walk around.
When the people saw what Paul had done, they cried out in the language of Lycaonia, “The gods have come to us in human likeness!” They named Barnabas Zeus, and Paul they called Hermes, since he was the chief speaker. Even the priest of the Temple of Zeus, which stood outside the town, brought oxen and garlands to the gate; together with the people, he wanted to offer sacrifice to them.
When Barnabas and Paul heard this, they tore their garment to show their indignation and rushed into the crowd, shouting, “Friends, why are you doing this? We are human beings with the same weakness you have and we are now telling you to turn away from these useless things to the living God Who made the heavens, the earth, the sea and all that is in them.”
“In past generations He allowed each nation to go its own way, though He never stopped making Himself known; for He is continually doing good, giving you rain from heaven and fruitful seasons, providing you with food and filling your hearts with gladness.”
Even these words could hardly keep the crowd from offering sacrifice to them.
Liturgical Colour : White or Red (Martyrs)
Dear brothers and sisters in Christ, on this day we listened to the words of the truth as revealed by the Lord, and which we have heard through the Church, having been passed down through the Apostles, and from the Apostles to their successors. And we call ourselves as Christians, because we believe in the message of truth which Christ, Our Lord Jesus Christ, delivered into this world.
Unfortunately, as we can see in both the Acts of the Apostles and in the Gospel today, there were many of those who were skeptical and who refused to believe in the truth that Christ had brought into this world, and this included initially even the Apostles themselves. They failed to believe at first, how He is truly the Son of God and the Saviour of the world.
They failed to see this truth at first, even though the Lord Jesus had stated it plainly from the beginning to them, and even though they have directly experienced and witnessed God’s miraculous works through Jesus, as no one else had ever done before. They saw how He had turned water into wine, healed and opened the eyes of the blind, loosened the tongues of the mute and opening the ears of the deaf, feeding five thousand and four thousand men and more with just a few loaves of bread and fishes.
And then, they saw how He even raised people who have been dead back into life. He raised Lazarus from the dead after four days, and all who saw these miracles were astonished. Yet, equally many of those who had seen these miracles, were also the ones who would later on condemn the Lord Jesus to death, death on the cross when they were instigated by the Pharisees and the elders of the people.
In the Acts of the Apostles, as St. Paul and St. Barnabas went around many cities and towns in the Eastern Mediterranean area, they preached about the Lord, the Saviour of this world. Many of the Gentiles, or the non-Jewish people, mostly Greek and some Romans, believed in their teachings and came to convert to the Christian faith. Some of the Jews also believed in them, and they enthusiastically welcomed them and asked them to preach to them.
However, there were many of those who refused to believe, some among the Gentiles because they saw the efforts of the Apostles as an affront to their traditional pagan gods and way of life. While there were quite a few among the Jews who believed in the lies spread by the elders about the disciples having stolen the body of Jesus and therefore spoke lies about the resurrection of the Lord.
Thus, they persecuted the Apostles and rejected their message, chasing them out of their town. Why is that so, brothers and sisters in Christ? Why with all the challenges and difficulties that the Lord and His disciples had faced throughout their work? These were all caused by our stubbornness, mankind’s pride and hardened hearts. The enemies of the Lord had many reasons to oppose Him.
They wanted to preserve their earthly influence, status and authority, and they saw the Lord as a great threat to all that they have accumulated for their own benefit. Now, these were the same things which faced the followers of the Lord, whose memory we remember today. St. Peter Chanel, missionary to the Oceanian islands of Wallis and Futuna, and St. Louis Marie de Montfort, founder of the Montfortians.
St. Peter Chanel was a missionary who went to the islands to evangelise to the people living there, who have not yet heard of the Lord and His truth, much like St. Paul and St. Barnabas who went to faraway places in the past. Many came to believe in the Lord through St. Peter Chanel’s works, and even the son of the king of the island came to believe, and asked to be baptised as a Christian.
The king was furious and did whatever he could to prevent that from happening. When that failed, he sent his son-in-law to murder St. Peter Chanel, and thus, eventually this courageous servant of God was martyred. Yet, his martyrdom proved to be fruitful in the end, as eventually, most of the people embraced the Christian faith, and even his murderer converted to the faith as well and repented his sin.
Meanwhile, St. Louis Marie de Montfort was renowned for his effort at preaching and evangelisation, as well as commitment to the Catholic education of youths. Yet, he did not have it all easy during his ministry, as he had his share of opponents, who disagreed with him and refused to listen to him. He was assaulted and even poisoned before, all for his hard work in preaching the truth of God.
Brothers and sisters in Christ, what each one of us must realise is that God will always His enemies and all those who disagree with Him. And definitely, these will also be against us if we are faithful to the Lord and His ways. But are we going to side with those who oppose the Lord? Or are we going to stand up for our faith as St. Paul had done? The choice is ours to make.
Let us all pray therefore, asking the Lord for faith, that we may truly be able to believe in Him wholeheartedly, and not be swayed by the falsehoods of this world, or by the sweet lies of Satan and his tempters. Let us all pray also for strength and courage, and guidance of the Holy Spirit, that we may follow faithfully in the footsteps of the Holy Apostles, in their courage and outspokenness, in preaching the truth and standing up for their faith.
May the Lord be with us always, and may He continue to guide us in our journey of faith, that we may always draw closer to Him, day after day, and receive from Him the gift of eternal life. May God bless us all. Amen.
Liturgical Colour : White or Red (Martyrs)
John 14 : 7-14
At that time, Jesus said to His disciples, “If you know Me, you will know the Father also; indeed you know Him, and you have seen Him.”
Philip asked Him, “Lord, show us the Father, and that is enough.” Jesus said to him, “What! I have been with you so long and you still do not know Me, Philip? Whoever sees Me sees the Father; how can you say, ‘Show us the Father’? Do you not believe that I am in the Father and the Father is in Me?”
“All that I say to you, I do not say of Myself. The Father Who dwells in Me is doing His own work. Believe Me when I say that I am in the Father and the Father is in Me; at least believe it on the evidence of these works that I do. Truly, I say to you, the one who believes in Me will do the same works that I do; and he will even do greater than these, for I am going to the Father.”
“Everything you ask in My Name, I will do, so that the Father may be glorified in the Son. Indeed, anything you ask, calling upon My Name, I will do it.”
Liturgical Colour : White or Red (Martyrs)
Psalm 97 : 1, 2-3ab, 3cd-4
Sing to YHVH a new song, for He has done wonders; His right hand, His holy arm, has won victory for Him.
YHVH has shown His salvation, revealing His justice to the nations. He has not forgotten His love, nor His faithfulness to Israel.
The farthest ends of the earth all have seen God’s saving power. All you, lands, make a joyful noise to YHVH, break into song and sing praise.
Liturgical Colour : White or Red (Martyrs)
Acts 13 : 44-52
The following Sabbath almost the entire city gathered to listen to Paul, who spoke a fairly long time about the Lord. But the presence of such a crowd made the Jews jealous. So they began to oppose, with insults, whatever Paul said.
Then Paul and Barnabas spoke out firmly, saying, “It was necessary, that God’s word be first proclaimed to you, but since you now reject it, and judge yourselves to be unworthy of eternal life, we turn to non-Jewish people. For thus we were commanded by the Lord : I have set you as a light to the pagan nations, so that you may bring My salvation to the ends of the earth.”
Those who were not Jews rejoiced, when they heard this, and praised the message of the Lord; and all those, destined for everlasting life, believed in it. Thus the word spread, throughout the whole region. Some of the Jews, however, incited God-fearing women of the upper class, and the leading men of the city, as well, and stirred up an intense persecution against Paul and Barnabas.
Finally, they had them expelled from their region. The Apostles shook the dust from their feet, in protest against this people, and went to Iconium, leaving; the disciples, filled with joy and the Holy Spirit.
Liturgical Colour : Green or White (Bishops or Priests)
Dear brothers and sisters in Christ, on this day we listened to the words of God in the Scriptures, beginning with what we heard in the Book of Exodus, our first reading today, when Moses descended down from the holy mountain of Sinai, where he was with God for forty days and forty nights, and where God passed on all of His laws and precepts to Moses so that he might teach them all to God's people Israel.
Then in the Gospel today, we heard the parables which Jesus taught His disciples and the people, explaining about the kingdom of heaven, the long awaited coming of the kingdom and reign of God, and what it truly means. He used common daily examples familiar to the people at the time, many of whom were farmers and fishermen, who could then associate the importance of the kingdom of heaven with the pearl of great value and the hidden treasure in a field.
The key message from these Scripture passages we heard today is the fact that God had willingly revealed Himself and all of His truths and teachings to us all, shown in the first reading, as He taught to Moses and revealed through him all of His divine laws and commandments, which He then commanded Israel to keep faithfully for all ages henceforth. In the Gospel, through Jesus our Lord, God wanted to teach all of us His truth, that we may turn away from our sinful ways and return to Him.
Brothers and sisters in Christ, the Law of God, His ways and His love is the greatest gift that all of us mankind can receive in life. God gives us many gifts and blessings, all of which are nothing compared to the gift that God gave us all. For the Law of God is the guiding path which the Lord put in place to help all of us that we may find our way to Him, and that we may be saved from the destruction in hell. Remember, brothers and sisters in Christ, that nothing that we gather in this life, be it wealth, possessions, material goods, fame or worldly glory will be able to save us from the fires of hell.
What the Scripture passages wanted to remind us today is that our priority in life should be for us to love the Lord and to devote ourselves wholeheartedly to Him. For He is the greatest treasure of all, and by right should be the focal point of all of us and the knowledge of God's love is that greatest treasure that all of us can gain, far beyond and far surpassing all the other gifts which we can gather from the world. There is nothing more precious than God's law, that shows us how we ought to love Him just as He has loved us, because in God we can find the sure and perfect assurance of eternal and true joy.
But, in reality, many of us do not obey what the Lord had commanded us all to do. We prefer to follow our own path, and do what the world had shown us all to do. The Lord commanded us to honour and worship Him alone above all other things, for He is the One and only God, and yet, many of us are so busy and so distracted in our pursuit of more wealth, more worldly possessions, or fame and glory, that it is as if we worship and adore these things much more than we love the Lord, Who had made all these things possible for us.
We conveniently often forget the fact that all of our blessings have been given to us by the grace of God, that for some, we may have received more of the blessings, and while for others, we may have received less. And yet, the trait that many of us share is that it is very difficult for us to satisfy our wants and desires. And it is in our human nature that we often desire for more when we have something, and we quickly become indulged in the pursuit of worldly pleasures and satisfaction.
We have to realise that many of us have veered away from the path which God had shown us, and this is often caused by our greed and desires, and our inability to restrain and control those desires. We ended up ignoring the Lord's commandments and laws, because we are so busy gathering for us all of those things mentioned which brought about temporary worldly satisfaction, but one that will not last forever.
After all, it does not matter how much money we have, how many material possessions and goods we have, and it does not matter how much worldly glory, status, prestige or fame that we have in this life, but none of these will avail us on the day of our reckoning, when the Lord calls us to Him, to be judged for all that we have done in our lives. Are we then able to confidently show before the Lord all that we have done, knowing that we have obeyed Him and done His will?
Let us then follow in the footsteps of the holy saints, whose feast day we celebrate today, hoping that by following their examples, we may be able to refocus our lives to God, and find the way to be His faithful followers and people. St. Eusebius of Vercelli was a holy bishop and a devout servant of God who lived during the early days of the Church during the height of the Arian heresy, while St. Peter Julian Eymard was a French priest and founder of the religious congregations, the Congregation of the Blessed Sacrament Fathers and the Servants of the Blessed Sacrament.
St. Eusebius of Vercelli lived during a troubled time for the Church and the faithful, at the time when the Christian faith has been tolerated and welcomed in the Roman Empire, but at that same time there were also plenty of divisions and disagreements in the Church. At that time, the Arian heresy, which had been formally condemned by the Church, in their denial of the divinity of our Lord Jesus Christ, was still widespread among the people and the clergy alike.
There was great conflict and tribulations facing those who were faithful to the true teachings of the faith. St. Eusebius refused to condemn his fellow bishop, another holy man, St. Athanasius of Alexandria, who stood firmly in his orthodox, Nicaean faith, in which both of them affirmed the faith they had in the divinity of Christ, against those who followed the false teachings of Arianism.
He was persecuted and tortured by many, even by among those in power, as those people had been influenced by the same heresy. And yet, he did not give up his attempts and hard work to convince many and more people to return to the true faith through his sermons and writings. He continued to persevere through those challenges, doing what the Lord had called him to do, to be His servant among His people.
Meanwhile, St. Peter Julian Eymard was a renowned priest who dedicated his life to the Lord, and inspired many others to do the same, by his revitalisation of the places and parishes he worked at, by encouraging the active and strong devotion to the Lord, particularly in His Most Holy Presence in the Eucharist. To that extent, he encouraged the faithful to participate in the Forty Hours devotion to the Eucharist, and established two religious orders devoted to the Lord.
Through his works, St. Peter Julian Eymard helped to bring more and more people closer to the Lord, and turning away from their sinful lives and attachment to the world. He brought the Lord closer to those people, and as a result, many more souls received salvation from God and were put on the path towards the eternal life and glory promised by the Lord to all who are faithful to Him.
Brothers and sisters in Christ, the example of these two holy saints showed us that as Christians, there are many areas in which all of us will be able to contribute to, in order to bring ourselves and our fellow brethren closer to God. Let us all turn away from all of our selfishness, from all of our greed and worldly desires, and let us all no longer be tempted by all these, but instead focus ourselves on the Lord alone, and renew our commitment to live in accordance with His will and obeying His laws.
May the Lord bless us all in our endeavours, and may He strengthen in us the faith that we may be ever committed in our respective lives. May St. Eusebius of Vercelli and St. Peter Julian Eymard, faithful and holy servants of God intercede for us all and pray for us always. Amen.
Liturgical Colour : Green or White (Bishops or Priests)
Matthew 13 : 44-46
At that time, Jesus said to His disciples, "The kingdom of heaven is like a treasure, hidden in a field. The one who finds it, buries it again; and so happy is he, that he goes and sells everything he has, in order to buy that field."
"Again, the kingdom of heaven is like a trader, who is looking for fine pearls. Once he has found a pearl of exceptional quality, he goes away, sells everything he has and buys it."
Liturgical Colour : Green or White (Bishops or Priests)
Psalm 98 : 5, 6, 7, 9
Extol YHVH, our God; worship at His footstool. Holy is He! And mighty!
Among His priests were Moses and Aaron; and Samuel, among those who called on His Name. They called to YHVH, and He answered them.
In the pillar of cloud He spoke to them; and they kept His statutes and the decrees He gave them.
Extol YHVH our God; worship at His holy mountain. Holy is YHVH our God!
Liturgical Colour : Green or White (Bishops or Priests)
Exodus 34 : 29-35
When Moses came down from Mount Sinai, with the two tablets of the Testimony in his hands, he was not aware that the skin of his face was radiant after speaking with YHVH. Aaron and all the sons of Israel saw that Moses' face was radiant and they were afraid to go near him.
But Moses called them, and Aaron with all the leaders of the community drew near, and Moses spoke to them. Afterwards all the Israelites came near and he told them all that YHVH had commanded him on Mount Sinai. When Moses had finished speaking with them, he put a veil over his face.
Whenever Moses went before YHVH to speak with Him, he took off the veil until he came out again. And when he came out and told them what he had been commanded, the Israelites saw that his face was radiant. Moses would then replace the veil over his face until he went again to speak with YHVH.
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