Liturgical Colour : Red
Psalm 33 : 2-3, 4-5, 6-7
I will bless the Lord all my days; His praise will be ever on my lips. My soul makes its boast in the Lord; let the lowly hear and rejoice.
Oh, let us magnify the Lord, together let us glorify His Name! I sought the Lord, and He answered me; from all my fears He delivered me.
They who look to Him are radiant with joy, their faces never clouded with shame. When the poor cry out, the Lord hears and saves them from distress.
Liturgical Colour : Red
2 Corinthians 11 : 18, 21b-30
As some people boast of human advantages, I will do the same. But if others are so bold, I shall also dare, although I may speak like a fool. Are they Hebrews? So am I. Are they Israelites? So am I. Are they descendants of Abraham? So am I. Are they ministers of Christ? (I begin to talk like a madman) I am better than they.
Better than they with my numerous labours. Better than they with the time spent in prison. The beatings I received are beyond comparison. How many times have I found myself in danger of death! Five times the Jews sentenced me to thirty-nine lashes. Three times I was beaten with a rod, once I was stoned. Three times I was shipwrecked, and once I spent a night and a day adrift on the high seas.
I have been continually in hazards of travelling because of rivers, because of bandits, because of my fellow Jews, or because of the pagans; in danger in the city, in the open country, at sea; in danger from false brothers. I have worked and often laboured without sleep, I have been hungry and thirsty and starving, cold and without shelter.
Besides these and other things, there was my daily concern for all the churches. Who is weak that I do not feel weak as well? Whoever stumbles, am I not on hot bricks? If it is necessary to boast, let me proclaim the occasions on which I was found weak.
Liturgical Colour : White or Red (Martyrs)
Dear brothers and sisters in Christ, today we heard about the gift of baptism and the Holy Spirit which was given to the people who had turned their hearts to the Lord and who had hearkened to the Lord’s calling. The Lord in the Gospel today also mentioned to His disciples how He would go away from their midst for a while during His Passion and death, and how the disciples would be scattered. And yet, at the same time, He also promised that He would overcome the world and all the plots and evils designed against Him.
And it is through the Holy Spirit that our Lord worked His wonders. He sent the Holy Spirit to all of us who believe in Him, so that with the Spirit dwelling in us, we may be encouraged and strengthened in our conviction and in our faith, that no matter the difficulties and challenges, we would find strength and conviction to persevere through the challenges and oppositions that we would likely encounter as part of our journey of faith.
As we embark on this last week of Easter, we are preparing for the great solemnity of the Pentecost Sunday, when the Lord finally sent His promised Advocate and Helper, the Holy Spirit to His disciples in the form of tongues of flames. Therefore, since today, we should have started our preparations to celebrate this great feast and this significant event in the history of our Church and our salvation in God.
The Lord Jesus was telling us to be careful and to be ever vigilant, that if we adhere to His ways and follow His commandments and teachings, it is often that we will come into clash with the ways accepted and common to this world. And as a result therefore, there will be a few or even many times when we may be ostracised, rejected, looked down upon and persecuted for our faith and for our faithful actions and ways.
Remember that Jesus had also said that if the world hates us all, then we must keep in mind that it had hated Jesus first. Therefore, indeed, it is often that we have to make a conscious choice and decision, on whether to follow and obey the Lord but at the expense of rejection and persecution by the world and its forces, even by our own friends and relatives, or should we succumb to those pressures and embrace the acceptable ways of this world but at the expense of our faith?
Obviously, we should do the former and not the latter one. Jesus said, ‘Do not build for yourself a treasury that will not last, a treasury that thieves could steal and which moths and the elements could destroy. Rather, we all should build a treasury that lasts forevermore. This means that, rather than seeking for the acceptance of the world and risk losing our souls, which will bring us only temporary respite, human acceptance and praise that do not last, we should rather be concerned about the salvation of our souls.
Therefore, brothers and sisters in Christ, as we gather together today in devotion to God, let us all be mindful of our actions and what we are doing in our respective lives. All of us have been given the gift of the Holy Spirit and the Lord Himself dwells within us, therefore, we all have to make sure that we are worthy bearers of our Lord’s presence, as the Temples of His holy presence and His dwelling in this world.
If we do not do as what He had commanded us, then it will indeed be scandalous and besmirching to the Holy Name of our Lord. If we truly belong to Him and if we want to be counted among His faithful, then we ought to act like one and do as He had taught us to do. And by doing so, then we will also be able to spread the Good News further as the Apostles had once done. This is the commandment that the Lord had given us, and we ought to take it seriously.
No one will take us seriously or believe in what we preach if we ourselves do not practice and do what we preach about. It is only when we show what we preach both through words and actions then we will be able to convince others to follow us and walk in the same path that we had walked. This is the essence of being a Christian. Our faith is not just about ourselves and about our own salvation, but it must include care and genuine concern for each other.
Brethren, let us remember that we are called to love not just the Lord only, as although that is the most important thing of all, but we must also show the same kind of love to our fellow brethren, to our brothers and sisters. May Almighty God bless us all and awaken in us the strength and courage to carry out the Good News of the Lord to all peoples through words and actions. May God be with us all. Amen.
Liturgical Colour : White or Red (Martyrs)
John 16 : 29-33
At that time, the disciples of Jesus said to Him, “Now You are speaking plainly and not in veiled language! Now we see that You know all things, even before we question You. Because of this we believe that You came from God.”
Jesus answered them, “You say that you believe? The hour is coming, indeed it has come, when you will be scattered, each one to his home, and you will leave Me alone. Yet I am not alone, for the Father is with Me.”
“I have told you all this, so that in Me you may have peace. You will have trouble in the world; but, courage! I have overcome the world.”
Liturgical Colour : White or Red (Martyrs)
Psalm 67 : 2-3, 4-5ac, 6-7ab
Arise, o God, scatter Your enemies; let Your foes flee before You. As smoke is blown by the wind, so blow them away; as wax melts before the fire, so let the wicked perish before You.
But let the righteous be glad and exult before God; let them sing to God and shout for joy. Sing to God, sing praises to His Name. Rejoice in His presence.
Father of orphans and Protector of widows – such is our God in His holy dwelling. He gives shelter to the homeless, sets the prisoners free.
Liturgical Colour : White or Red (Martyrs)
Acts 19 : 1-8
While Apollos was in Corinth, Paul travelled through the interior of the country and came to Ephesus. There he found some disciples whom he asked, “Did you receive the Holy Spirit when you became believers?” They answered, “We have not even heard that anyone may receive the Holy Spirit.”
Paul then asked, “What kind of baptism have you received?” And they answered, “The baptism of John.” Paul then explained, “John’s baptism was for conversion, but he himself said that they should believe in the One who was to come, and that One is Jesus.”
Upon hearing this, they were baptised in the Name of the Lord Jesus. Then Paul laid his hands on them and the Holy Spirit came down upon them; and they began to speak in tongues and to prophesy. There were about twelve of them in all. Paul went into the synagogue and for three months he preached and discussed there boldly, trying to convince them about the Kingdom of God.
Liturgical Colour : White
Dear brothers and sisters in Christ, today we listen yet again to the news of our Lord’s resurrection and triumphant glory, the triumph against death and all the forces of evil. He is risen, and that is why we can be happy and truly be joyful, and revel in His glory, for He has conquered death, and we know that we have hope because of that.
And that is the message that He also wants us all to propagate to all of the world, so that all who hear of them may be turned in their hearts and be turned into righteousness and be saved as well. This is the mission and commandment which He had given us all, that we as one Church put all of our effort into this and work together in order to achieve that goal of salvation.
But as we heard in today’s readings as well, that there were those who were adamantly opposed to Christ and His teachings, and they commanded the Apostles to keep their mouth shut and not speak about the Lord and His truth. All these is because they feared that if the truth is to be known, then that would spell the end of their privileged status in the society, and the end of their worldly ambitions and power.
But as we heard, no amount of coercion, threats or challenges would deter the Apostles from speaking up about their faith and about the Risen Lord. Had they succumbed and obeyed the chief priests at that time, then none of us would have known about the Lord, and thus, none of us, and also countless others, millions upon billions and more would have been saved.
Our Church is not a Church of passive people, who remain inactive and just wait patiently for the day of the Lord’s salvation. Instead, it is a living Church, a Church filled with saints, martyrs, and also sinners. We all are part of that Church, and it is living and thriving amidst the difficulties of the world, precisely because its members dared to stand up for their faith and speak up as witnesses in this world.
Today we celebrate the feast of St. Stanislaus, yet another of this brave man of God, whose life and even in death is an inspiration to all of us, on how we should live up to our faith in God. St. Stanislaus or St. Stanislaw is a very well known and famous Polish saint and martyr, who lived during the Middle Ages, at a time of turmoil and difficulty.
St. Stanislaus was the Bishop of the venerable city of Krakow, then capital of Poland, who was a vocal critic of the king, who lived in sin and wickedness, and whose actions did not bring about the glory of God, but sought for only his own glory. St. Stanislaus did not fear to speak up, because it was for the good of his flock, that they might not be misguided into sin and evil.
The king was very unpleased with this holy man and dedicated servant of God, and he plotted to kill St. Stanislaus and get rid of him. Thus, St. Stanislaus was martyred when he was celebrating the Holy Sacrifice of the Mass, killed by the king’s own hand himself. In defending the faith and the souls of God’s faithful, the holy man of God was raised to the Altar in glory, while his murderer was forced to go into exile and died in great ignominy and shame.
What St. Stanislaus showed us is that there are so many things that all of us as members of the Church can do in order to help out, by helping all those who have yet to be touched by the light of the Lord. This is what we should do, that by our actions and deeds, we show to the whole world, what our faith is about, and let us testify to the Risen Christ, our Lord, that His light may dispel all the darkness in the world. God bless us all. Amen.
Liturgical Colour : White
Mark 16 : 9-15
At that time, after Jesus rose early on the first day of the week, He appeared first to Mary of Magdala, from whom He had driven out seven demons. She went and reported the news to His followers, who were now mourning and weeping. But when they heard that He lived, and had been seen by her, they would not believe it.
After this, He showed Himself in another form to two of them, as they were walking into the country. These men also went back and told the others, but they did not believe them. Later Jesus showed Himself to the Eleven while they were at table. He reproached them for their unbelief, and stubbornness, in refusing to believe those who had seen Him after He had risen.
Then He told them, “Go out to the whole world and proclaim the Good News to all creation.”
Liturgical Colour : White
Psalm 117 : 1 and 14-15, 16ab-18, 19-21
Alleluia! Give thanks to the Lord, for He is good, His loving kindness endures forever. The Lord is my strength and my song; He has become my salvation. Joyful shouts of victory are heard in the tents of the just : “The right hand of the Lord is lifted high, the right hand of the Lord strikes mightily!”
The right hand of the Lord is lifted high, the right hand of the Lord strikes mightily! I shall not die, but live to proclaim what the Lord has done. The Lord has stricken me severely, but He has saved me from death.
Open to me the gates of the Just, and let me enter to give thanks. “This is the Lord’s gate, through which the upright enter.” I thank You for having answered me, for having rescued me.
Liturgical Colour : White
Acts 4 : 13-21
The chief priests, elders and teachers of the Law were astonished at the boldness of Peter and John, considering that they were uneducated and untrained men. They recognised also, that they had been with Jesus, but, as the man who had been cured stood beside them, they could make no reply.
So they ordered them to leave the council room while they consulted with one another. They asked, “What shall we do with these men? Everyone who lives in Jerusalem knows that a remarkable sign has been given through them, and we cannot deny it. But to stop this from spreading any further among the people, let us warn them never again to speak to anyone in the Name of Jesus.”
So they called them back and charged them not to speak or teach at all in the Name of Jesus. But Peter and John answered them, “Judge for yourselves whether it is right in God’s eyes for us to obey you rather than God. We cannot stop speaking about what we have seen and heard.”
Then the council threatened them once more and let them go. They could find no way of punishing them because of the people who glorified God for what had happened.
petercanisiusmichaeldavidkang 