Leader of the Church

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Saturday, 15 August 2026 : Solemnity of the Assumption of the Blessed Virgin Mary (Gospel Reading)

Liturgical Colour : White

Luke 1 : 39-56

Mary then set out for a town in the hill country of Judah. She entered the house of Zechariah and greeted Elizabeth. When Elizabeth heard Mary’s greeting, the baby leapt in her womb.

Elizabeth was filled with Holy Spirit, and giving a loud cry, said, “You are most blessed among women, and blessed is the Fruit of your womb! How is it that the mother of my Lord comes to me? The moment your greeting sounded in my ears, the baby within me suddenly leapt for joy. Blessed are you who believed that the Lord’s word would come true!”

And Mary said, “My soul proclaims the greatness of the Lord, my spirit exults in God my Saviour! He has looked upon His servant in her lowliness, and people forever will call me blessed.”

“The Mighty One has done great things for me, Holy is His Name! From age to age His mercy extends to those who live in His presence. He has acted with power and done wonders, and scattered the proud with their plans. He has put down the mighty from their thrones, and lifted up those who are downtrodden. He has filled the hungry with good things, but has sent the rich away empty.”

“He held out His hand to Israel, His servant, for He remembered His mercy, even as He promised to our fathers, to Abraham and his descendants forever.”

Mary remained with Elizabeth about three months, and then returned home.

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Saturday, 15 August 2026 : Solemnity of the Assumption of the Blessed Virgin Mary (Second Reading)

Liturgical Colour : White

1 Corinthians 15 : 20-27

But no, Christ has been raised from the dead, and He comes before all those who have fallen asleep. A human being brought death; a Human Being also brings resurrection of the dead. For, as in Adam all die, so, in Christ, all will be made alive. However, each one in his own time : first Christ, then Christ’s people, when He comes.

Then, the end will come, when Christ delivers the kingdom to God the Father, after having destroyed every rule, authority and power. For He must reign and put all enemies under His feet. The last enemy to be destroyed will be death. As Scripture says : God has subjected everything under His feet.

When we say that everything is put under His feet, we exclude, of course, the Father, Who subjects everything to Him. As Scripture says : God has subjected everything under His feet. When we say that everything is put under His feet, we exclude, of course, the Father, Who subjects everything to Him.

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Saturday, 15 August 2026 : Solemnity of the Assumption of the Blessed Virgin Mary (Psalm)

Liturgical Colour : White

Psalm 44 : 10bc, 11, 12ab, 16

At your right hand, in gold of Ophir, stands the queen.

Listen, o daughter, pay attention; forget your father’s house and your nation.

And your beauty will charm the King, for He is your Lord.

Amid cheers and general rejoicing, they enter the palace of the King.

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Saturday, 15 August 2026 : Solemnity of the Assumption of the Blessed Virgin Mary (First Reading)

Liturgical Colour : White

Revelations 11 : 19a and Revelations 12 : 1-6a, 10ab

Then, the Sanctuary of God, in the heavens, was opened, and the Ark of the Covenant of God could be seen inside the Sanctuary.

A great sign appeared in heaven : a woman, clothed with the sun, with the moon under her feet, and a crown of twelve stars on her head. She was pregnant, and cried out in pain, looking to her time of delivery.

Then, another sign appeared : a huge, red dragon, with seven heads and ten horns, and wearing seven crowns on its heads. It had just swept along a third of the stars of heaven with its tail, throwing them down to the earth. The dragon stood in front of the woman, who was about to give birth, so that, it might devour the Child as soon as It was born.

She gave birth to a male Child, the One Who is to rule all the nations with an iron sceptre; then, her Child was seized, and taken up to God, and to His throne, while the woman fled to the desert, where God had prepared a place for her. Then, I heard a loud voice from heaven : Now has salvation come, with the power and the kingdom of our God.

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Saturday, 15 August 2026 : Vigil Mass of the Solemnity of the Assumption of the Blessed Virgin Mary (Homily and Scripture Reflections)

Liturgical Colour : White

Dear brothers and sisters in Christ, this evening we celebrate the Vigil Mass of the Solemnity of the Assumption of the Blessed Virgin Mary, as we prepare for the celebration of the great moment when Mary, the Mother of our Lord and God, Jesus Christ, was assumed body and soul, in her whole being into the glory of Heaven. This event marked the end of Mary’s presence in this world, and is a truly significant one because it reminds us, just as the Feast of the Transfiguration of the Lord had reminded us of the future that all of us ought to look forward to, in our own transfiguration when we shall exist with the Lord in glory, in our own transfigured bodies, thus, Mary’s Assumption into Heaven affirmed this hope we have, in the promises of salvation and eternal life which the Lord had given to all of us.

Mary’s Assumption is often confused with the Ascension of the Lord because both seems to involve the same events, but in reality, if we look deeper and more carefully into it, we will realise that both are different from each other because Mary’s Assumption into Heaven was done by the power of God, Who raised His mother Mary, body and soul from this world and lifted her up to assume her place in Heaven, while the Lord Ascended by His own power and will, to assume His rightful place in Heaven. There we can see a very clear distinction, of how Mary, while she is indeed the Mother of God and the greatest of all saints, but fundamentally she is still a human being, unlike her Son, Jesus Christ, Who is both fully Man and fully Divine, the Divine Son of God Incarnate.

Nonetheless, Mary is honoured above all other beings because she is truly the greatest among all those that God had created. The Lord created Mary and prepared her specially for the purpose of bearing the Messiah, or the Saviour of the world in her, which in this case would be His own begotten Son, the Divine Son of God Who was clad in the flesh and nature of Man that He might come and dwell in our midst. Mary was to be the one to bear this Man-Divine being in her, bearing her Son for nine months of pregnancy just like any other mothers, but with the exception that she had no one but the Holy Spirit through Whom, the Lord was Incarnate in the flesh, and becoming existent, conceived within her holy womb. This is why Mary is also known as the Ark of the Covenant, the New Covenant that God has established with us, His beloved people.

In our first reading today, taken from the Book of Chronicles of Israel and Judah, we heard of how the famous King David of Israel brought the great Ark of the Covenant from its place in the Holy Tent of Meeting into the city of Jerusalem, to enter into the city where God would dwell among His chosen people. This original Ark of the Covenant refers to the Ark and container built by Moses during the time of the Exodus to bear the Law of God in the Ten Commandments, the Staff of Aaron representing the authority and power of God, and the manna, the miraculous bread from Heaven by which God fed His people during their time in the desert. This Ark of the Covenant was where God’s Presence would come down periodically to speak and reveal His will to Moses, and to the High Priests that He had appointed.

Now, in the case of Mary, her participation in bearing the Messiah Himself, the Son of God within her, is the reason why she is called the Ark of the New Covenant, hallowed, sanctified and made perfect by God, as we all believe that Mary was conceived without the taint and corruption of sin, in the Dogma of the Immaculate Conception of the Blessed Virgin Mary, one of the key tenets of the Church teachings. Why is that so, brothers and sisters in Christ? That is because like the original Ark, which was made from the most precious materials available to mankind, hallowed and sanctified by God, and which was so holy that no one could touch the original Ark, and one who touched the Ark by accident was struck dead, hence, the Ark of the New Covenant of God, Mary herself, was also made special, holy and immaculate for this purpose.

This is because God is all perfect and good, and sin, imperfections and evil have no place before Him. Therefore, Mary as the New Ark prepared for the New Covenant of God, was made perfect and all good by the Lord, and according to our core beliefs and Church teachings, Mary was also full of grace, as the Archangel Gabriel himself said when he greeted Mary at the Annunciation, which means that not only Mary was free from the taint of original sin, but throughout her life, she remained fully attuned to the Lord and is full of His grace, meaning that she has not done things that were in disobedience of God and His Law and commandments, and consequently, remained pure and immaculate, without sin and evil, unlike the rest of us. If we wonder if such thing is possible, then let us remind ourselves that God is all powerful, Almighty, and everything is possible for Him, even in things that we may think is impossible to happen.

Therefore, if Mary has been conceived without the taint of sin, and remains free from sin throughout her whole life, to the moment when she met the end of her earthly existence, how can sin and death then claim her just like any one of us? First of all, we must realise that death is a consequence of sin, which itself is due to our disobedience against God’s will, in doing what is against His ways and against His Law. Hence, that is why every man and woman since Adam and Eve had encountered death at the end of their earthly lives, because they all have sinned against God. And until the time when Christ came into our world and release us from the bondage to this original sin, the sin of Adam and Eve, all of our predecessors before the time of Christ were bound by that original sin, and by their own sins borne out of their disobedience.

Then, for all of us here today, even though Christ has already come and given us all His salvation and freed us from the bondage to sin and death, but we are still vulnerable to sin, because there are times again and again when we are tempted and drawn towards the path of sin and evil, and at least on few if not more occasions, we succumbed to those temptations and sinned against God. It is for these sins that we encounter death. However, death is not our final fate, because God has assured all of us that there is life and existence beyond death, which He showed us through His Resurrection, and His own Mother’s Assumption into Heaven is a proof of that. And this Assumption again, was what happened to Mary rightly because of her special circumstances.

Therefore, there are two main schools of thought in which some believed that Mary was assumed or taken up body and soul into Heaven without experiencing any death at all, and hence, entered into the glory of Heaven directly because if she had not been corrupted at all by sin, and remained free of sin and is full of God’s grace, then death itself has no power at all over her, and death should not have claimed her at all. The other school of thought teaches that Mary did encounter death, not because that death is a punishment for sin, as she was free from sin and is full of God’s grace, but because of her intense love for her Son, and in her death, she shared in her Son’s own death and Resurrection. However, Mary did not remain in that state of death, which according to the Apostolic tradition, in what is known as the Dormition, came like that of deep sleep for her, and the Lord then assumed her into Heaven, to enter into the glory that had been prepared for her by her own Son.

Now, brothers and sisters in Christ, regardless in whatever circumstances and what really happened to Mary, the Mother of God, and our loving Mother, on whether she actually experienced death or not, what we all know now for sure is that, Mary is now in Heaven, by the side of her beloved Son, our Lord and Saviour, Jesus Christ. And through her, we see a glimpse of what we will ourselves experience in the end. While we may not immediately experience the glory of Heaven, unlike Mary and the other saints whose lives were worthy enough to enter immediately into the glory prepared for them, but all of us who have been faithful to the Lord and kept ourselves away from mortal sins, we are all assured of salvation and eternal life in God. In the end of days, we shall be reunited completely with God, as our bodies and souls shall be reunited with God, together in our new, transfigured bodies, just as the Lord’s Transfiguration also assured us earlier on this month.

And in Mary, we also have a great and most powerful ally and helper, as she is our most dedicated intercessor, together with that of the other saints, in constantly praying for our sake, for us sinners who are still toiling and labouring in this world. Mary has been entrusted by Christ Himself to be our own Mother, and we have been entrusted to her to be like her own children. Naturally, she will always look out for us and pray for us, no? That also explains why she has made so many Apparitions, many of which had been officially approved by the Church, in trying to reach out to us and to remind us to be faithful to the Lord, so that we may not continue to live in the state of sin, and will strive to reject sin and its evils, and return once again to God with all of our heart.

Let us also look upon Mary as our role model in life, as the Lord Himself said in our Gospel passage today, that ‘Truly blessed are those who hear the word of God, and keep it as well.’ which is in fact the Lord praising His own Mother as Mary had always followed the Lord and dedicated her whole life to God, keeping herself in state of perfect harmony with God. We are all reminded as Christians, as God’s people, as His disciples and chosen ones, that each and every one of us should do our very best to live lives that are truly virtuous and good, in accordance to the Law and the commandments that the Lord Himself has shown us. We must not allow ourselves to be swayed by the temptations of worldly pleasures and the allures of sin, and we should inspire one another to remain truly faithful and obedient to God in all things.

Mary, our most beloved Mother, assumed in glory into Heaven, intercede for us all sinners, your children, who always look up to you with hope, seeing that in you, we can see the reflection of your Son, Our Lord and Saviour, in Whom we put our full trust and faith, hoping that we will one day enter into the glory of Heaven together with you, and all the glorious saints and holy martyrs. Pray for us sinners, o Holy Mother of God, and may your Son continue to show us His mercy, compassion and love. Amen.

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Saturday, 15 August 2026 : Vigil Mass of the Solemnity of the Assumption of the Blessed Virgin Mary (Gospel Reading)

Liturgical Colour : White

Luke 11 : 27-28

At that time, as Jesus was speaking, a woman spoke from the crowd and said to Him, “Blessed is the one who gave You birth and nursed You!”

Jesus replied, “Truly blessed are those who hear the word of God, and keep it as well.”

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Saturday, 15 August 2026 : Vigil Mass of the Solemnity of the Assumption of the Blessed Virgin Mary (Second Reading)

Liturgical Colour : White

1 Corinthians 15 : 54b-57

When our mortal being puts on immortality, the word of Scripture will be fulfilled : Death has been swallowed up by victory. Death, where is your victory? Death, where is your sting?

Sin is the sting of death, to kill, and the Law is what gives force to sin. But give thanks to God, Who gives us the victory, through Christ Jesus, our Lord.

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Saturday, 15 August 2026 : Vigil Mass of the Solemnity of the Assumption of the Blessed Virgin Mary (Psalm)

Liturgical Colour : White

Psalm 131 : 6-7, 9-10, 13-14

Then came the news, “The Ark is in Ephrata, we found it in the fields of Jaar.” Let us go to where He dwells and worship at His footstool!

May Your priests be arrayed in glorious mantle; may Your faithful ones shout in gladness. For the sake of Your servant, David, do not turn away the face of Your Anointed.

For YHVH has chosen Zion; He has desired it for His dwelling : “This is My resting place forever; this I prefer; here, will I dwell.”

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Saturday, 15 August 2026 : Vigil Mass of the Solemnity of the Assumption of the Blessed Virgin Mary (First Reading)

Liturgical Colour : White

1 Chronicles 15 : 3-4, 15-16 and 1 Chronicles 16 : 1-2

Then David gathered all Israel together in Jerusalem to bring the Ark of God up to the place he had prepared for it. David called together the sons of Aaron and the sons of Levi. And the Levites carried the Ark of God with the poles on their shoulders, as Moses had ordered according to the command of YHVH.

David then told the leaders of the Levites to assign duties for some Levites to sing and play a joyful tune with their various musical instruments : harps and lyres and cymbals. They brought the Ark of God in and put it inside the tent that David had prepared for it; and they offered burnt offerings and peace offerings to God.

And when David had finished offering the sacrifices, he blessed the people in the Name of YHVH.

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Friday, 14 August 2026 : 19th Week of Ordinary Time, Memorial of St. Maximilian Kolbe, Priest and Martyr (Homily and Scripture Reflections)

Liturgical Colour : Red

Dear brothers and sisters in Christ, today as we listened to the words of the Scriptures we are all presented with the words of the Lord calling on us to guard ourselves against all sorts of worldly temptations, and in particular today we are called to focus our attention on the sin of the flesh, the desire that we mankind often have for the pleasures of the body, which led us down the path of sin and wickedness as we are often tempted to seek for the worldly pleasures first and ignoring the Lord’s truth and teachings. That is also why many people had ended up being deep in the state of sin, as well as breaking up families and relationships as they are not able to love those whom God had entrusted them to in the manner that is proper and right, instead leading to instances of cheating and unfaithfulness.

In our first reading today taken from the Book of the prophet Ezekiel, we heard the Lord speaking to His people through Ezekiel regarding all that He had done for them, for all the years and ages, throughout all the generations. He had made His Covenant with them, blessed them and gave them and their ancestors much blessing and bounty, providence and help, as He rescued them, took good care of them, guided them, purified and made them clean again when they had erred and fallen into the wrong paths. He rescued them from their enemies and struck their enemies down before them, guarding and strengthening them, giving them glory and joy.

Yet, as we heard the Lord spoke, He showed His frustrations and lamentations at how those same people continued to be wayward, rejecting Him and His ways, choosing instead to forge their own path and committing whatever is wicked in the sight of God and men alike. They worshipped the pagan idols and gods, persecuted God’s prophets and messengers who had been sent to them to guide them and remind them to stay faithful to the truth of God. The people had chosen to trust in their own strength and judgment, turning deaf ear to the Lord’s call. Yet, the Lord was still ever patient and continued to reach out to them nonetheless, listening to their cries and sending them His deliverance and providence, constantly, again and again.

That was what He told the people through Ezekiel, as He presented this truth to the people in exile in Babylon, reminding them that God still loved all of them regardless, and wanted to reach out to them, embracing them with love and forgiving them their sins. He would renew His Covenant with them, which He had always ever been faithful to, all those years, if only the people were willing to listen to Him, hearken to His call and answer Him with faith. The Lord has always been generous with His love, compassion and mercy, and in the end it is really up to those people to embrace what God had generously given and presented to them.

In our Gospel passage today, we heard from the Lord speaking to the Pharisees with regards to their question whether divorce was lawful or not according to the Law and whether it should be allowed or not. The Lord then highlighted the fact that the Law of God as revealed through Moses had been modified and changed according to the preferences of the people, as even Moses himself was scandalised by the behaviour of the Israelites back then, who hardened their hearts against God and gave them some concessions so as to help them accept the Law of God better, but those concessions ended up making them even more complacent and in the end, misunderstanding the whole purpose and intention of the Law.

And as today we focus on the matter of familial relationship, marriage and also obedience to God, we are all reminded how God had always intended for us to do His will, and each one of us as the Lord highlighted in His words, had our own particular calling and vocation in life. For those who have been called to married life, that bond of marriage as the Lord had defined it, is everlasting and unbreakable, and one who sought to break that bond with the reason other than that is acceptable, such as the desire to marry another person, is essentially committing a sin against God, the sin of adultery for both parties involved, as they failed to honour and fulfil the commitments that they had made.

The Lord highlighted that there are also others called to different calling and purposes in life, such as those who are destined for a life of service to God, and many among them will remain unmarried, and instead dedicating themselves wholly to God and His people. What is important here is that, whatever it is that God has called us to do, in our various vocation and calling in life, each one of us are called to listen to God and to dedicate ourselves more to Him, and to listen to Him earnestly, not hardening our hearts and minds against Him as our predecessors had often done. We should also resist the many temptations present all around us, in the desire and pressure to seek worldly pleasures and satisfaction among other things.

That is why, today all of us as Christians, we are all reminded that we need to grow in our true love and dedication to God. We should not allow our prejudices, biases and desires, our ego and pride to come between us and God. This is why we should seek and be inspired by the great examples set by our holy predecessors, the holy men and women who had lived their lives worthily and righteously in God’s path. Today, the Church celebrates the feast of the renowned St. Maximilian Kolbe, whose actions should be great inspiration for us all in how we ought to live our lives as faithful, loving and devoted Christians. St. Maximilian Kolbe was a Polish priest and missionary well-remembered for his works and dedication to God, in proclaiming Him to many people throughout his missions, in his time and efforts spent to reveal more of the Lord to those who have not yet known him.

As a Conventual Franciscan, St. Maximilian Kolbe spent some time in the Far East, in Japan and other places in Asia, in spreading the Good News of God, and was also active in promoting the devotion to the Blessed Mother of God, Mary in her Immaculate Heart and love for all of us. St. Maximilian Kolbe was also remembered for his publications and editorial works with the periodical Knights of the Immaculata, promoting devotions to the Lord and His Blessed Mother, calling on Christians to holiness. Eventually he returned to Poland where during the years of the Second World War, he was eventually arrested and brought to the infamous Auschwitz prison, where he and other priests and friars were incarcerated. It was there then another very well-known action that St. Maximilian Kolbe did, happened, as he offered himself in exchange of a Polish inmate who was to be executed because he failed to escape from the concentration camp.

At that time, the NAZI German regime oppressed many of the people and they indiscriminately tortured and executed many people in the many concentration camps they established, especially in the Auschwitz concentration camp. Many tried to escape, and while some succeeded, many including that Polish man failed and were bound to be executed. When that man, named Franciszek Gajowniczek cried out, ‘My wife! My children!’, St. Maximilian Kolbe offered his life in exchange of the man. Hence, St. Maximilian Kolbe was led to the execution cell, and was eventually executed after several days, dying as a martyr and a true Christian, devoting himself wholeheartedly to the Lord and doing what God Himself has done for us, that is to give his life for the sake of another, just as Christ Himself has suffered and died, and given His life for us and our salvation.

Brothers and sisters in Christ, today all of us are reminded that we should all also be like St. Maximilian Kolbe and other saints, holy men and women of God, who have truly loved the Lord and loved their fellow brothers and sisters, even to the point of facing hardships, trials and even martyrdom in doing so. Let us all be truly faithful once again to the Lord, and let us all be inspiration and great examples to one another in faith just as St. Maximilian Kolbe and other saints have been our inspiration, in how we should live our lives in the manner that is truly worthy and just. May God be with us always and may He bless and empower us in each and every moments of our lives, now and forevermore. Amen.