Liturgical Colour : White
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
Genesis 3 : 9-15, 20
YHVH God called the man saying to him, “Where are you?” He said, “I heard Your voice in the garden and I was afraid because I was naked, so I hid.” God said, “Who told you that you were naked? Have you eaten of the tree I ordered you not to eat?”
The man answered, “The woman You put with me gave me fruit from the tree and I ate it.” God said to the woman, “What have you done?” The woman said, “The serpent deceived me and I ate.”
YHVH God said to the serpent, “Since you have done that, be cursed among all the cattle and wild beasts! You will crawl on your belly and eat dust all the days of your life. I will make you enemies, you and the woman, your offspring and her offspring. He will crush your head and you will strike his heel.”
The man called his wife by the name of Eve, because she was the mother of all the living.
Liturgical Colour : White
Dear brothers and sisters in Christ, today as we listened to the words of the Scriptures, we are reminded of the faith and the obedience of Mary, as the Mother of Our Lord, Saviour and God, Jesus Christ. Today the Church marks the occasion of the Feast of the Presentation of the Blessed Virgin Mary, and it is apt therefore for us to reflect upon the life and the works of Mary, whose examples and faith in God should be our source of inspiration and strength in following the Lord, in being faithful and committed to Him all the days of our lives. Each and every one of us as Christians should look up upon our beloved Mother Mary, as the role model and shining beacon of God’s light who have shown us the way towards the salvation in her Son, Our Lord, God and Master.
Mary was presented at the Temple of Jerusalem, the House of God as was common at that time. According to the Law of God, as revealed through Moses, the firstborn child of any family ought to be offered and consecrated to God, and in that manner therefore, the parents of Mary, St. Joachim and St. Anne both dedicated Mary to the Lord at His House as prescribed by the Law. According to some tradition, Mary was also descended from the priestly tribe of Levi, and it was therefore even more significant as members of the tribe of Levi had been dedicated to God to be the priests and servants of the Lord. While it was not definitive whether Mary was descended from either the tribe of Judah or Levi through her parents, but what is clear and certain is that she has truly been dedicated and committed to God for the missions entrusted to her.
Mary has been prepared specially by the Lord, through the singular grace He has granted her, that she was conceived free from the taints of the original sin that have tainted all the rest of us mankind. God hallowed her such, so that through her sanctity and purity, through her Immaculate Conception and perfect state of grace, she may truly become a most worthy Ark of the Covenant, the New Ark for the New Covenant that God wanted to make and establish with all of us, His beloved people, children and flock. The Lord has prepared her to bear the Saviour of the world, the very Word of God incarnate in the flesh, descending into this world and into our midst, and to bear Him within her, Mary indeed has to be worthy, and compared to the old Ark, truly, we can see how God had prepared everything for this.
In the Old Testament, as the Lord told Moses to make the Ark of the Covenant, the original Ark bearing the two tablets of the Law of God, the Ten Commandments, as well as the manna and the staff of Aaron, God ordered His people to make the Ark from the most precious of materials, from gold and the finest goods of the world, and it was hallowed, blessed and sanctified as such that, no one was allowed to touch the Ark of the Covenant. When a priest accidentally touched the Ark during the time of king David and his effort to bring the Ark to Jerusalem, the priest was struck dead immediately after he touched the Ark. The Ark of the Covenant was indeed so holy because God’s Holy Presence rested and dwelled in it, seated upon the Cherubim carved atop the Ark.
That Ark was placed at the Holy of Holies of the Tent of Meeting and later on the Temple of Jerusalem, into which only the High Priest was allowed to enter, and even that, only in one occasion throughout the entire year. That was just how sacrosanct the old Ark was, and that was made by mere human hands. How it relates to Mary is that, in Mary, whom God herself made and crafted by His hands, she was entrusted with the Lord Himself, present in the flesh, in Body, Blood, Soul and Divinity, that her Son, in her womb and born from her, was truly the Holy Presence of God in the flesh, tangible and manifested perfectly in this world. And as such, she is the worthy Ark of the New Covenant, the Covenant that God would establish through Christ His Son, as she is truly full of grace, free from the taints of sin and evil.
What does it mean by Mary being full of grace, brothers and sisters in Christ? It means that Mary obeyed the Lord and loved Him so much and so perfectly, that she could not even contemplate the thought of disobeying Him. It was through such disobedience that sin entered into our midst, and that sin began to corrupt our hearts, minds, bodies and souls. Whereas Mary devoted herself so thoroughly to God and obeyed Him, just as she responded to the Archangel Gabriel at the moment of the Annunciation, ‘I am the handmaid of the Lord. Be it done unto me according to Your will.’ She showed us all therefore what it means to be a true disciple and follower of our Lord, as each one of us are called to embrace His path, His Law and commandments, and be faithful in Him, in a most genuine and sincere way as Mary herself has done.
Brothers and sisters in Christ, as we gather together today to celebrate this Feast of the Presentation of the Blessed Virgin Mary, let us all therefore look upon Mary, the Mother of God and our mother as our role model and examples in life, as our guide and help in our journey of faith towards God. And we also should know just how much Mary loves us all as well, because even after she has been assumed into Heaven by her Son’s grace, she still looked upon us and cared for us, as proven by her many apparitions and efforts through those and more to reach out to us and to help us find our way out of the darkness and back into the light of Christ. All of us as Christians should strive to renew our faith and dedicate ourselves all the more to the Lord, spending more time and effort to love Him, and to follow Him wholeheartedly in the way that Mary herself had done.
May our beloved mother Mary continue to watch over us and inspire us by her life, her dedication and commitment to God. May she continue to intercede and pray for our sake, we sinners who have often betrayed and hurt her Son. May all of us be shown mercy and forgiveness, and may we all draw ever closer to God, to His love and grace, now and always, and may He continue to bless us all and remain with us, forevermore. Amen.
Liturgical Colour : White
Matthew 12 : 46-50
At that time, while Jesus was talking to the people, His mother and His brothers wanted to speak to Him, and they waited outside. So someone said to Him, “Your mother and Your brothers are standing outside; they want to speak with You.”
Jesus answered, “Who is My mother? Who are My brothers?” Then He pointed to His disciples and said, “Look! Here are My mother and My brothers. Whoever does the will of My Father in heaven is My brother and sister and mother.”
Liturgical Colour : White
Luke 1 : 46-47, 48-49, 50-51, 52-53, 54-55
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.
Liturgical Colour : White
Zechariah 2 : 14-17
Sing and rejoice, o daughter of Zion, for I am about to come, I shall dwell among you,” says YHVH. “On that day, many nations will join YHVH and be My people, but My dwelling is among you.”
The people of Judah will be for YHVH as His portion in His holy land. He will choose Jerusalem again. Keep still in YHVH’s presence, for He comes, having risen from His holy dwelling.
Liturgical Colour : White
Dear brothers and sisters in Christ, today as we gather to reflect on the words of the Lord in the Scriptures we just heard, we remember that this day we celebrate the Feast of Our Lady of Sorrows, remembering the great sorrow that Mary, the Mother of our Lord and Saviour, Jesus Christ, had experienced and suffered from, having witnessed everything that her Son had to suffer during His ministry, and then having to see her own Son being persecuted and tortured, betrayed by His own disciple, abandoned by others and condemned to die a most painful and humiliating death on the Cross for sins and faults that He Himself had not committed, and framed for crimes that He was not responsible for.
As with any mothers, seeing her own Son to suffer in such a manner must have been so difficult for Mary. Yet, she persevered through it all, and as sorrowful and painful it must have been for her, she remained true to her commitment to the mission entrusted to her, as the Mother of God, the Mother of the Saviour, to Whom she has dedicated much of her life to, in caring for Him since before He was even born into this world, and right up through most of His life, and unto the very foot of the Cross, where she witnessed her Son dying both as the Paschal Lamb of Sacrifice and the High Priest of all mankind, offering Himself for the salvation of all the whole world.
Mary had received premonition and warning for all these from Simeon the old prophet and servant of God who was awaiting the Messiah or Saviour of the world at the Temple of Jerusalem just as we heard in our Gospel passage today. Simeon told her how Mary would have to see her Son as a Sign for all the nations and how she would have to witness and experience great moments of pain, suffering and anguish, which he described as likened to a sword piercing her very own heart, the most loving and Immaculate Heart of Mary, the Mother of God. All those eventually came true and we knew the image of the grieving Mary, who grieved over the death of her Son.
That is why Mary has always been so attentive to us throughout history, as she continued to reach out to us, appearing in many occasions to different people, encouraging the people of God to be faithful to Him and to return to Him with regret and the desire to be forgiven from their many sins. That is because just as she has experienced losing her Son to suffering and death, and knowing that He had suffered and died for all of our sake, for our redemption and salvation, surely she did not want the sacrifice made by her Son to be wasted by us, as many of us still ignore Him and refuse to follow Him and His truth, and fail to recognise His love.
Not only that, but Mary herself has also been entrusted to each one of us as our own loving mother, as the Lord Himself as we heard in our Gospel passage today, entrusted Mary to St. John the Apostle, His beloved disciple to be his own mother, and he as the son entrusted to Mary. This is a symbolic act by which the Church and the Lord has extended the loving hands of Mary, her love and compassion, her motherly care and her attention to us, her beloved children, to each one of us as her own adopted and equally beloved precious children. We are all so fortunate that our mother even in her sorrow continues to show us her love, through which she has always hoped that we may find the salvation in her Son.
Now, brothers and sisters in Christ, what has always brought sorrow to our loving Mother’s heart is our constant disobedience and refusal to listen to the words that her Son has always spoken to us. All of us have received His truth and love, His instructions, will, Law and commandments, His teachings and ways through the Church and the Scriptures, but we often still preferred to follow our own paths in life, and those paths more often than not led us down the path of sin and ruin. Many of us have fallen on the wayside in our path towards God and His salvation, tempted and swayed by the many efforts of the devil and his allies in their works to prevent us from being reunited and reconciled with God.
That is why today, as we commemorate this Feast of Our Lady of Sorrows, let us all reflect first of all on everything that the Lord, our God and Saviour had done for our sake, in His ever enduring and wonderful love, in reaching out to us with love and in sacrificing Himself for our sake so that through Him we may have life and not perish. Then we also should remember the love that His mother Mary has shown us all, and how we have been entrusted to her as her own adopted children. She has always prayed and interceded for our sake, and wanted the best for us, ever reminding us to turn towards her Son and to be righteous and good at all times.
Let us all therefore ask our beloved Mother Mary, Our Lady of Sorrows, to continue to love us patiently and to not be sorrowful anymore, by our commitment and desire to repent from our sins and by our efforts to live our lives with faith from now on, making good use of all the opportunities given to us, in each and every moments to be exemplary in life and to inspire one another to follow the Lord and to be ever faithful always. May God be with us always and may His blessed Mother, Mary, Our Lady of Sorrows, our Mother, pray for us always. Amen.
Liturgical Colour : White
John 19 : 25-27
At that time, near the cross of Jesus stood His mother, His mother’s sister Mary, who was the wife of Cleophas, and Mary of Magdala. When Jesus saw the mother, and the disciple whom He loved, He said to the mother, “Woman, this is your son.”
Then He said to the disciple, “This is your mother.” And from that moment the disciple took her to his own home.
Alternative reading
Luke 2 : 33-35
At that time, the father and mother of Jesus wondered at what was said about the Child. Simeon blessed them, and said to Mary, His mother, “Know this : your Son is a Sign; a Sign established for the falling and rising of many in Israel, a Sign of contradiction; and a sword will pierce your own soul, so that, out of many hearts, thoughts may be revealed.”
Liturgical Colour : White
Psalm 30 : 2-3a, 3bc-4, 5-6, 15-16, 20
In You, o YHVH, I take refuge, may I never be disgraced; deliver me in Your justice. Give heed to my plea, and make haste to rescue me.
Be a Rock of refuge for me, a Fortress for my safety. For You are my Rock and my Stronghold, lead me for Your Name’s sake.
Free me from the snare that they have set for me. Indeed You are my Protector. Into Your hands I commend my spirit; You have redeemed me, o YHVH, faithful God.
But I put my trust in You, o YHVH, I said : “You are my God.” My days are in Your hand. Deliver me from the hand of my enemies, from those after my skin.
How great is the goodness which You have stored for those who fear You, which You show, for all to see, to those who take refuge in You!
Liturgical Colour : White
Hebrews 5 : 7-9
Christ, in the days of His mortal life, offered His sacrifice with tears and cries. He prayed to Him, Who could save Him from death, and He was heard, because of His humble submission. Although He was Son, He learnt, through suffering, what obedience was, and, once made perfect, He became the Source of eternal salvation, for those who obey Him.
petercanisiusmichaeldavidkang 