Liturgical Colour : Red
Psalm 27 : 2, 7, 8-9
Hear my cry for mercy as I call to You for help, as I lift up my hands toward Your innermost sanctuary.
The Lord is my strength, my shield, my heart was sure of Him, I have been helped and my heart exults, with my song I give Him thanks.
The Lord is the strength of His people, the saving refuge of His anointed. Save Your people, and bless Your inheritance, be their shepherd and carry them forever.
Liturgical Colour : Red
1 Timothy 2 : 1-8
First of all I urge that petitions, prayers, intercessions, and thanksgiving be made for everyone, for rulers of states and all in authority, that we may enjoy a quiet and peaceful life in godliness and respect. This is good and pleases God. For He wants all to be saved and come to the knowledge of truth.
As there is one God, there is one mediator between God and humankind, Christ Jesus, Himself human, who gave His life for the redemption of all. This is the testimony, given in its proper time, and of this, God has made me apostle and herald. I am not lying. I am telling the truth : He made me teacher of the nations regarding faith and truth.
I want the men in every place to lift pure hands in prayer to heaven without anger and dissension.
Liturgical Colour : Red
Dear brothers and sisters in Christ, today we commemorate a great feast in our faith, that is the Passion of St. John the Baptist, when he died in the prison of King Herod because of his uprightness, his faith, and his courage. St. John the Baptist, as we all know, is a relative to Jesus, the son of Elizabeth, the cousin of Mary, the Mother of our Lord. He was the one to open the way for Christ and straighten His path in this world.
St. John the Baptist was a truly upright man, who followed the Lord faithfully even unto his suffering and death. He was not even afraid of chastising a king, scolding him for having improper relationship with his brother’s wife, Herodias. He suffered prison, but he did not fear. He had also suffered rejection, mockery, and doubt, by the Pharisees and the chief priests, who disliked whatever he was doing when he baptised many people in the Jordan, and even questioned his authority.
He stood up courageously and rebuked them as an evil nest of vipers, just as he had in the same way rebuked Herod and his new wife. He feared not human hatred nor opposition, because to Him, it is the love of God that truly mattered to him. His death is part of the Lord’s plan for salvation, that his work in preparing the way for the Lord was then complete, having initiated our Lord Jesus through His baptism at the Jordan, marking the formal beginning of the Lord’s ministry on earth.
St. John the Baptist took his ministry seriously and dutifully, and he truly loved God and was glad of the part he had done in the Lord’s plan of salvation. When Jesus’ ministry began and many people began to come to Jesus instead of John, he was happy and slowly and quietly drifting away into nothingness, while still doing whatever he could to the people who came to him, and directed them to Christ the Lord. He showed true humility, unlike the Pharisees and the chief priests who viewed both him and Jesus as threats to their teaching authority.
Today we are reminded, and indeed urged to do more good and less of the vices, things abhorred in the eyes of the Lord our God. We are urged to follow the examples of St. John the Baptist while keeping away from the vices of Herod and Herodias, wicked people in the eyes of God. Yet, it is very natural for all of us to follow the path of Herod rather than that of John. Why is it so, brothers and sisters? Precisely because we all are weak, weak to sin, open to sin, and vulnerable to sin.
It is most likely that Herodias, even after she was widowed by Philip, the brother of Herod, remained very attractive and beautiful, and that was what attracted Herod to his own brother’s wife, even though as king, he could have had many women as his partner, he chose to follow his urges and desires and chose Herodias. The same can be said of Herodias, the wife. She certainly craved power and authority and wealth that only a king could muster, and that was why she was complicit in the improper relations between her and Herod, her husband’s brother.
Therefore, brothers and sisters in Christ, as we are reminded today of the unjust death of St. John the Baptist, messenger of God and the one who prepared the way before the Lord, that we too should be upright, just, and truthful in our lives, in all our words, actions, deeds, and dealings with others, and not be led by our human emotions and even less so to fall into the temptations of the devil and embrace them.
We must not let ourselves be swayed like Herod had done, in promising even up to half of his kingdom to the daughter of Herodias, just because he was fascinated by her and her dance. Lust, passion, and desire can indeed bring us to destruction, just as it had done to Herod. Herod killed the messenger of God, John the Baptist, and therefore incurred for certainty, the eternal wrath of God, all because of the vow he made to the daughter of Herodias, words that came out of desire and lust, which later on came back to haunt him.
Let us all, brothers and sisters in Christ, follow the example of John, that we will be ever courageous to stand up for our faith, to stand up for what we believe in, to be faithful defenders of the Lord in our increasingly hostile world. Let us not be afraid of saying the truth and live an upright life just as John had done. Guard our emotions and have a strong and healthy prayer life, that the devil will not be able to enter into our hearts and corrupt them, as he had done to Herod.
John showed his disciples that Christ is the Lamb of God, and therefore, today he too showed us to Christ, as the pathway and the only door to salvation. Let us be faithful to Christ our Lord, and be inspired by John His servant and messenger, and let us also adopt his humility, in not seeking human glory and human praise, but seeking the greater glory and praise in God instead. Let us strive to love God more by acting on His will, and do as He wants us, that is to love Him with all our strength and our being, and to give ourselves in love to our brethren, especially those who are unloved, those who are lonely, and those who are abandoned. May God bless us all. Amen.
Liturgical Colour : Red
Mark 6 : 17-29
For this is what had happened : Herod had ordered John to be arrested, and had had him bound and put in prison because of Herodias, the wife of his brother Philip. Herod had married her, and John had told him, “It is not right for you to live with your brother’s wife.”
So Herodias held a grudge against John; and wanted to kill him, but she could not, because Herod respected John. He knew John to be an upright and holy man, and kept him safe. And he liked listening to him, although he became very disturbed, whenever he heard him.
Herodias had her chance on Herod’s birthday, when he gave a dinner for all the senior government officials, military chiefs, and the leaders of Galilee. On that occasion the daughter of Herodias came in and danced; and she delighted Herod and his guests. The king said to the girl, “Ask me for anything you want and I will give it to you.” And he went so far as to say with many oaths, “I will give you anything you ask, even half my kingdom.”
She went out and said to her mother, “What shall I ask for?” The mother replied, “The head of John the Baptist.” The girl hurried to the king and made her request, “I want you to give me the head of John the Baptist, here and now, on a dish.”
The king was very displeased, but he would not refuse in front of his guests because of his oaths. So he sent one of the bodyguards with orders to bring John’s head. He went and beheaded John in prison; then he brought the head on a dish and gave it to the girl. And the girl gave it to her mother.
When John’s disciples heard of this, they came and took his body and buried it.
Liturgical Colour : Red
Psalm 70 : 1-2, 3-4a, 5-6ab, 15ab and 17
In You, o Lord, I seek refuge; let me not be disgraced. In Your justice help me and deliver me, turn Your ear to me and save me!
Be my rock of refuge, a stronghold to give me safety, for You are my rock and my fortress. Rescue me, o my God, from the hand of the wicked.
For You, o Lord, have been my hope, my trust, o God, from my youth. I have relied on You from birth : from my mother’s womb You brought me forth.
My lips will proclaim Your intervention and tell of Your salvation all day. You have taught me from my youth and until now I proclaim Your marvels.
Liturgical Colour : Red
Jeremiah 1 : 17-19
But you, get ready for action; stand up and say to them all that I command you. Be not scared of them or I will scare you in their presence!
See, I will make you a fortified city, a pillar of iron with walls of bronze, against all the nations, against the kings and princes of Judah, against the priests and the people of the land.
They will fight against you but shall not overcome you, for I am with you to rescue you – it is YHVH who speaks.
Liturgical Colour : Green
Dear brothers and sisters in Christ, today we are reminded on the mission that Christ had when He came upon this world. The mission that Christ had in saving this world, is not an easy mission, brethren, because even though He is God, it does not mean that He had an easy time. Yes, He had had much opposition and resistance during His time on earth, and during His ministry to the people of God.
Herod rejected Him, the innkeeper rejected Him and His family. The people rejected Him, and the priests and the Pharisees rejected Him, and together they even had condemned Him to die, to die a humiliating death on the cross. Basically, the path of the Lord is filled with obstacles and dangers, definitely not a walk in the park. That was why Christ said in the Gospel reading, in what some of us may feel a bit disturbed, that He came not to bring peace, but discord.
This discord come about exactly because of the divisions that the Lord, in His person and in His teachings, that divides the people, because some people will follow and obey the Lord, but there will always be some or many who will dissent and disagree with Him. They were those who had rejected Him in the first place. Those who mocked Him, His disciples, and even us, who believe in Him.
Many martyrs of the early Church faced suffering and martyrdom because their families and relatives rose up against them, either betraying them to the authorities or by dealing with the holy martyrs themselves. Discord existed between the people of God and those who still believed in the pagan gods. Even discord and persecution awaited God’s servants, the prophets like Jeremiah.
We tend to sway away from the path of the Lord, because just as the Lord Himself had been rejected, mocked, and treated badly, we too, who follow the Lord will face much opposition and discord in our lives, and in all our dealings. We will be rejected as well, and we will face discord even with our own families and relatives. This discord however, does bring about potential destruction and conflict that involve all of us. It is indeed much easier for us to follow the ways of the world, and give in to the temptations of this world, some of which include money, wealth, sexual pleasure, good life, and many other things.
The world offer us much goods, and much things that are indeed more enjoyable, pleasurable, and easier to be done than to follow the Lord, and that is exactly what caused the discord and friction that will surely exist within our families, within our circle of friends, and within our own societies, much like how it was during the early Church. In the early Church, being the followers of Christ means to be detached from the larger general population, and for those in the positions of privilege and power, following the Lord, or in short becoming Christian was a serious risk to them, both for their position and for their own lives.
Temptations are many, brethren, and even more so in this world of ours today. In this world, many things easily bring us astray from the true path towards the Lord. Money, wealth, world pleasures, and even good food can corrupt us and our hearts, subverting us from the purpose given to us. That is why, brethren, our churches are empty! Our seminaries are empty! Our new priests are getting fewer and older! All because of the challenges presented to us and the Church, especially important in this ever-changing times.
Yes, brethren, the need is greater than ever for us to support one another and pray for one another, that we remain faithful and dedicated to their faith in God. This is that we will not fall to the traps of the evil one, and therefore falter in our path towards salvation. We have to be strong and stand up against the temptations of evil and the pleasures of the flesh, and rebuke the devil and all that he offers us. But worry not, brothers and sisters, for our Lord is with us, and He will guide us and protect us, as long as we remain faithful and loving to Him.
God walks with us and remains with us if we are faithful to Him. He will not abandon us, just as He never abandoned Jeremiah in the sewers, and He lifted him up through king Zedekiah and his servants. The same happened to the disciples of Christ, the apostles, like St. Peter who was imprisoned by King Herod and intended to be executed, because of his faith in Christ, and was to be made an example to the other Christians. However, God rescued him through His angel, and He liberated him from his shackles in order to do many more good things for the sake of God, and God’s beloved people.
In our world today, there will be many challenges and persecutions, in many different forms, and do not be surprised that the devil may attack where we least expect, that is from within, from within ourselves, within our own families, within our own friend circles, and within our own societies. Indeed brethren, the one who caused divisions and discords among us is in fact not the Lord, but ultimately is the devil who sowed in us the seeds of his discord, his rebellion, and his disobedience against the will of God. Sin and our human weaknesses are the channels through which Satan nurture in us these seeds of evil. It is up to us whether we let divisions and discord rule over us, or that we give ourselves fully to the Lord and immerse ourselves in His love, that all of us may be reunited in harmony, as the one people of God, all of whom obey the Lord our God with all our hearts and with all our beings.
Therefore, dear brothers and sisters in Christ, reminding ourselves of the words of the readings today, of the teachings of the Lord revealed through Christ our Lord, let us resolve to continue our total love and devotion towards He who had come into this world to save it. He who has punished the enemies of the Lord and the enemies of those who believe in Him. He who had taken those He had chosen from this world, and protect them, that despite the oppositions of this world against them, they remain triumphant because of the power and glory of God given them through Christ, who had marked them as His own.
May the Risen Christ who is triumphant against evil, bless us and strengthen us with His love, that we will persevere in our worldly struggle and indeed, daily struggle against sin and against the forces of evil arrayed against us. May the holy saints and martyrs of God who had gone before us, intercede for our sake and pray for us sinners still living in this world. God bless us all. Amen.
Liturgical Colour : Green
Hebrews 12 : 1-4
What a cloud of innumerable witnesses surround us! So let us be rid of every encumbrance, and especially of sin, to persevere in running the race marked out before us.
Let us look to Jesus the founder of our faith, who will bring it to completion. For the sake of joy reserved for Him, He endured the cross, scorning its shame, and then sat at the right of the throne of God.
Think of Jesus who suffered so many contradictions from evil people, and you will not be discouraged or grow weary. Have you already shed your blood in the struggle against sin?
Liturgical Colour : Green or Red (Martyrs)
Dear brothers and sisters in Christ, the Lord our God is a loving and merciful God, who is quick to forgive and slow to anger. He cares deeply for all of His children that is all of us. He gave His all to save His lost ones, likened by Christ Himself as the shepherd who went out to seek for the one lost sheep. Yes, brethren, so great is God’s love for all of us, that He was willing to come down to us, as a man, to be one of us, that He may save us all through His great sacrifice, a sacrifice for all our sins and our unworthiness.
The good shepherd gives his life for his sheep and is willing to die in exchange for the life of his sheep. That was exactly what Christ had done for the sake of us all, that is to die on the cross for us, to give up His life, that we may have life in us, through Him and through His action in His saving Passion. In order to look for us, the lost sheep, He was willing to go through painful suffering and rejection, so that He may find us, and not just find us, but also gather all of us, and return us into His most loving embrace.
We have been lost ever since our ancestors disobeyed the will of God and forsook His love, preferring the devil and the pleasures of this world instead of the love of our God. If our God does not love us or care for us, then He could have easily blasted us into oblivion, erasing us from existence. Remember, He is the Almighty God, who is all-powerful and almighty, and He is the God who created the universe. Just as easily as He created us, He can as easily erase us from creation, and therefore eliminate the evils present within us.
Yes, we have been dirtied by the evils within us, and the evils of this world, that we are unworthy for the Lord who is all good and perfect. Yet, He troubled Himself and went all the way, even to incarnate Himself as one of us, through the Blessed Virgin Mary, that He became one of us, sharing our sufferings, sharing our troubles and pains, even though He certainly was not obliged to do that. He was truly like a shepherd who shared the sufferings and experiences of his sheep, be it in the sun or in the rain, in safe times or in times of danger, when wolves are threatening to eat the sheep the shepherd is guarding.
Our loving God protects us from harm and shield us from pitfalls and from our enemies. That was evident in His great providence to His people, Israel. He blessed them, smote their enemies, and gave them food to eat and drinks to satiate their thirst. He brought them through the desert into the land He promised all of them. In His love and kindness, He had poured His love to His people, and protected them as He always had. Yet, the people lacked gratitude, and they made complaints after complaints against the Lord, chiding that He had not done enough good for them.
God kept His patience and continued without end to provide help to His people, by sending them His prophets and messengers. The people hardened their hearts and they rejected God’s messengers, casting them out of their cities and even killed them in cold blood. The Lord thundered His wrath on the rebellious ones and casted them out of His presence, but He kept on hoping in us mankind, that we will find our way back to Him our Father and our Good Shepherd.
To this end He sent us a great new hope, in Jesus Christ, part of the Most Holy Trinity, who became our connector to the Lord our Father, as the bridge that bridged the uncrossable and infinite chasm created as a result of our rebellion against God and His love. Christ is that shepherd who went out of his way to look for the lost sheep, and when the lost ones are found, great rejoicing happens, to the shepherd and the whole flock of the sheep, because the lost ones are no longer lost, but reunited as one once again, with the saved ones.
We have been saved, brothers and sisters in Christ, because we have believed in Jesus our Lord and Saviour, and accepting His offer to salvation, which He granted freely to all who trust in Him and all who put their faith in Him. We have been saved because we have been joined to that One Body of Christ that is the Church, the One and only Church that God had established, to be the united body of His faithful ones, that is the flock of the Lord’s sheep. We have been baptised in the Name of the Most Holy Trinity, and we have been taken away from this world and its evils, and brought together with other faithful ones, into the One, Holy, Catholic, and Apostolic Church, out of which there is no salvation.
Today, brethren, we commemorate the feast of two great saints and martyrs of the early Church, namely Pope St. Pontian or St. Ponziano, Bishop of Rome and successor of St. Peter the Apostle as the Vicar of Christ, and St. Hippolytus, a priest of the Church of God, also known as St. Hippolytus of Rome. Pope St. Pontian lived through the turbulent times of the third century Rome, when the Roman Empire went through a series of military and political upheavals. Pope St. Pontian initially led the Church in a relatively peaceful state, but soon faced a tough persecution of the faithful when a new Emperor came into power and began to persecute Christians once again.
St. Hippolytus lived in the same era, a contemporary of Pope St. Pontian, and in fact they clashed over certain issues during the time prior to their martyrdom. They were bitter rivals, and their rivalry even threatened to split the Church under factions led by each of them respectively. However, over time, they reconciled their differences, and worked together to bring back the lost sheep of the Lord caused by the divisions in the Church and among the faithful. Both St. Hippolytus and Pope St. Pontian were captured and exiled together by the Emperor who persecuted Christians harshly.
Eventually both of them met their end in death, in sacred martyrdom, in the defense of their faith, and in their courageous and vibrant love, which they showed to their fellow men, the flock of the Lord that they have been appointed as shepherds for. They did not fear death, because the Lord who had conquered death through His own death on the cross, has been triumphant, and death will not have the last word. Through their actions and deeds, many of the lost sheep of the Lord, and those who have yet to hear the Lord’s word were inspired to seek the Lord and find His truth, bringing to them the salvation of our Lord.
Brothers and sisters in Christ, even though both Pope St. Pontian and St. Hippolytus had died a long time ago, but the spirit of their hearts and their works are still evident even until today. They have inspired all of us to also be shepherds for one another, to take care for one another, dissolving the differences between us, and seeking for what unites rather than what divides.
Let us seek our God the Good Shepherd, and if we are lost, let us find He who looks for us day and night. Let us not to forget to ask the assistance and help from His faithful servants, the saints, Pope St. Pontian and St. Hippolytus, all the other saints and martyrs, and the holy angels of the Lord. Last but not least, let us also seek the help of the greatest saint of all, the mother of our Lord, the Blessed Virgin Mary. Let us continue to walk in the path of the Lord, and not to be led astray by the temptations of evil, that we will be reunited by the Lord our God in complete and eternal happiness. God bless us all. Amen.
Liturgical Colour : Green or Red (Martyrs)
Matthew 18 : 1-5, 10, 12-14
At that time the disciples came to Jesus and asked Him, “Who is the greatest in the kingdom of heaven?”
Then Jesus called a little child, set the child in the midst of the disciples, and said, “I assure you that, unless you change and become like little children, you cannot enter the kingdom of heaven. Whoever becomes lowly like this child is the greatest in the kingdom of heaven, and whoever receives such a child in My Name receives Me.”
“See that you do not despise any of these little ones, for I tell you : their angels in heaven continually see the face of My heavenly Father.”
“What do you think of this? If someone has a hundred sheep and one of them strays, will he not leave the ninety-nine on the hillside, and go to look for the stray one? And I tell you : when he finally finds it, he is more pleased about it than about the ninety-nine, that did not get lost. It is the same with your Father in heaven : your Father in heaven does not want even one of these little ones to be lost.”
petercanisiusmichaeldavidkang 