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
Dear brothers and sisters in Christ, on this day all of us heard of how the Lord has called all of the peoples from various nations and places to follow Him, to walk in His path and to listen to Him, for He is the One true Shepherd and Lord of all, the Good Shepherd of all the flock and people of God. We who have been created by God are His people and we are all part of this same flock He has been gathering from the nations, called to be His people.
And we are all equal before God, equally loved and cherished by Him, for that is why He created each and every one of us, with equal opportunities to enjoy His wonderful love and grace, and with equal attention from His loving and tender care. This is precisely the message that He had told His Apostle St. Peter, the chief shepherd that He had appointed to be His Vicar and the leader of the whole of His universal flock, the Church, that everyone may come to know of the love of God and come to His loving embrace.
In today’s first reading, we heard about the testimony of St. Peter the Apostle to the other Apostles and disciples in Judea, in the light that some among the disciples wanted to impose strict Jewish laws and customs to all the faithful, while some even despised those who went to the Gentiles, spoke with them and ministered to them. And that included St. Peter himself who was attacked for his travel to Joppa, his works among the Gentiles and his visit to the house of Cornelius, a Roman and a Gentile in the eyes of the Jews.
At that time, the prevailing sentiment among the Jewish people especially in Judea, and even more so amongst the members of the Pharisees was that association and contacts with the Gentiles or the non-Jewish people were undesirable and to be avoided as far as possible. To them the Gentiles were pagans and unbelievers, filthy and corrupted by their sins, and because of this, they did not want to defile themselves by associating, meeting or going to the house of a Gentile.
And this was made even more complicated by the then recent history of the persecution of the Jewish faith and traditions by the Greeks under the Seleucid Greek kings, overcome only by years of stiff and stubborn resistance by the local Jewish rebels and fighters under the Maccabees. Then, later on the Romans came and took over power, and their taxation and persecution of the Jews made the sentiment against the Gentiles even worse as years passed by.
But the Lord showed St. Peter a vision, showing him all the food in the form of animals that had been considered as unclean under the old Jewish laws and customs. The Lord told St. Peter to eat of the food from the animals considered unclean, but St. Peter resisted and said that he should not eat of what the Law considered to be unclean, and the Lord chided him for not following and doing what the Lord had declared to be clean and good. As He repeated this divine vision three times, the Lord told St. Peter the truth and His intention, that He wants all of His people to be reconciled to Him, to find their way to Him and to be part of His Church.
This is in contrast to what those hardline Jews and the Pharisees among the earliest Christian converts upheld, in their view that only the Jewish customs, practices and ways of life can assure them of God’s salvation and grace. The Lord wanted the Apostles, His disciples and all of us to know that He, our Good Shepherd has called us all, His scattered flock and sheep all around the world, that we may be reunited with Him, and find our way to the salvation and new life through Him.
We are all truly blessed that our Lord, the Good Shepherd has revealed God’s most wonderful love to each and every one of us. We have been given a new lease of life by the Lord and we must appreciate whatever it is that we have been given. We are all reminded that indeed there is only one flock, and there is just one Shepherd. All the whole Church is this flock of the Lord, and all of us have been called by the Lord from all the nations that there will be no more divisions among us, Gentile or Jew, poor or rich, or by any other standards of life we often use to divide ourselves.
Brothers and sisters in Christ, all of us are called to be good examples to one another, imitating the Good Shepherd, our Lord Himself. If our Good Shepherd has been so loving and caring towards us, then we should also show the same love towards our fellow brothers and sisters, as after all we are all part of this same flock of our Lord, and we have all been loved equally by God. Let us all love one another just as the Lord, our Good Shepherd has loved us.
And let us all focus our lives once again on the Lord and put Him at the centre of all of our lives and existence. May the Lord be with us always, and may He strengthen each and every one of us that we may be ever filled with love and conviction to serve God with all of our strength, now and always. Amen.
Liturgical Colour : White
John 10 : 11-18
Jesus said to His disciples, “I am the Good Shepherd. The Good Shepherd gives His life for the sheep. Not so the hired hand, or any other person who is not the shepherd, and to whom the sheep do not belong. They abandon the sheep as soon as they see the wolf coming; then the wolf snatches and scatters the sheep. This is because the hired hand works for pay and cares nothing for the sheep.”
“I am the Good Shepherd. I know My own and My own know Me, as the Father knows Me and I know the Father. Because of this, I give My life for My sheep. I have other sheep which are not of this fold. These I have to lead as well, and they shall listen to My voice. Then there will be one flock, since there is one Shepherd.”
“The Father loves Me, because I lay down My life in order to take it up again. No one takes it from Me, but I lay it down freely. It is Mine to lay down and to take up again : this mission I received from My Father.”
Liturgical Colour : White
Psalm 41 : 2-3 and Psalm 42 : 3, 4
As a deer longs for flowing streams, so my soul longs for You, o God.
My soul thirsts for God, for the living God. When shall I go and see the face of God?
Send forth Your light and Your truth; let them be my guide, let them take me to Your holy mountain, to the place where You reside.
Then will I go to the Altar of God, to God, my gladness and delight. I will praise You with the lyre an harp, o God, my God.
Liturgical Colour : White
Acts 11 : 1-18
News came to the Apostles and the brothers and sisters in Judea that even foreigners had received the Word of God. So, when Peter went up to Jerusalem, these Jewish believers began to argue with him, “You went to the home of uncircumcised people and ate with them!”
So Peter began to give them the facts as they had happened, “I was at prayer in the city of Joppa when, in a trance, I saw a vision. Something like a large sheet came down from the sky and drew near to me, landing on the ground by its four corners. As I stared at it, I saw four-legged creatures of the earth, wild beasts and reptiles, and birds of the sky.”
“Then I heard a voice saying to me : ‘Get up, Peter, kill and eat!’ I replied, ‘Certainly not, Lord! No common or unclean creature has ever entered my mouth.’ A second time the voice from the heavens spoke, ‘What God has made clean, you must not call unclean.’ This happened three times, and then it was all drawn up into the sky. At that moment three men, who had been sent to me from Caesarea, arrived at the house where we were staying.”
“The Spirit instructed me to go with them without hesitation; so these six brothers came along with me and we entered into the man’s house. He told us how he had seen an Angel standing in his house and telling him : ‘Send someone to Joppa and fetch Simon, also known as Peter. He will bring you a message by which you and all your household will be saved.”
“I had begun to address them when suddenly the Holy Spirit came upon them, just as it had come upon us at the beginning. Then I remembered what the Lord had said : ‘John baptised with water, but you shall be baptised with the Holy Spirit.’ If, then, God had given them the same gift that He had given us when we believed in the Lord Jesus Christ, who was I to resist God?”
When they heard this they set their minds at rest and praised God saying, “Then God has granted life-giving repentance to the pagan nations as well.”
Liturgical Colour : White
Dear brothers and sisters in Christ, on this day we heard of the courageous testimony of one of the early Church saints and martyrs, namely St. Stephen, who was one of the original seven holy deacons appointed to serve the Church and was also the first of those who were martyred for their faith. St. Stephen spoke openly and courageously of the Lord’s truth and salvation, and he stood alone before the entire assembly of the Sanhedrin defending the truth he has been called to proclaim.
St. Stephen spoke the truth of God’s salvation and all of His plans for us mankind, as he presented before all gathered, with great wisdom and clarity, what God had spoken and repeated so many times through His prophets and messengers. Many of these prophets and messengers had been put to great suffering themselves as the people they were sent to refused to believe in the truth, and that was then that St. Stephen had his turn to suffer for the Lord’s sake, for speaking the truth and defending that truth.
God has done all of His wonderful deeds through Christ, His Son, and He has blessed us through the suffering and Passion of His Son, as He laid dying on the Cross, bearing the full burden of our combined sins, and by suffering for us, Christ has given us this path to freedom and reconciliation with His heavenly Father. It is this same Jesus Christ Whom we have heard in our Gospel passage, performing His work and ministry among the people in Galilee, preaching the truth of God and showing the love of God to them.
And He told the people gathered there of the simple instruction and desire in His heart, that all of them ought to believe in the One Whom God had sent into the world, that is in Him and in His truth, in all that He has spoken and revealed to them, the revelation of God’s love and the desire He has to save us all mankind, liberating us from our many sins and reconciling us to Himself. It is this same truth that St. Stephen has also been preaching so courageously about, dedicating his life to serve the Lord’s will to the best of his abilities.
Now, brothers and sisters in Christ, through what we have heard from our Scripture passages today, we have been reminded of our calling as Christians to follow the good examples and inspiration set by St. Stephen, the first martyr of the Church. It does not mean that we have to be martyred or to suffer like St. Stephen had gone through, but rather, we are called to have the same courage and dedication that this saint and martyr had shown in fulfilling his calling and in living up to his ministry.
Each and every one of us as Christians have been given our respective calling, mission and we have been blessed by God with various gifts, talents and abilities to contribute to the greater good and work of the Church. We have been blessed with various opportunities and graces, to reach out to our fellow brothers and sisters, to be witnesses for Christ, to proclaim His truth and love through our lives and through we live our lives and our daily actions, our words and deeds.
It is indeed not going to be easy for us to be obedient to Christ and to follow faithfully the path that God has laid before us. The sufferings of St. Stephen, his martyrdom and also what the prophets before him had encountered, coupled with what the Lord Jesus Himself had to face throughout His ministry, all the suffering He had to endure during His Passion and crucifixion, all of these show us that to be a faithful Christian, it requires us to really put our effort and commitment that we truly become the followers of Christ not just in name but also in the spirit and in truth.
Are we able and willing to become the witnesses of Christ’s truth and resurrection? This is our challenge, brothers and sisters in Christ, the challenge that we have been given as part of our common baptismal mission and calling. We are called to be the beacons of Christ’s light, to bear His hope and salvation to the world, especially important during this most challenging time and these moments when we are struggling and having difficulties because of all the troubles our world and our various communities are facing these days.
Brothers and sisters in Christ, can we bring more hope into this world and help others to get out of their despair and suffering, their darkness and their hopelessness, by showing them that in Christ alone there is hope for our redemption and eternal life? Let us show that hope to our fellow men, and let us all unite our sufferings and troubles to the sufferings of Christ on the Cross, bearing in mind that Christ has suffered for us, the ultimate suffering that we may live and have hope again.
And let us also not forget the suffering that St. Stephen and the many other holy martyrs of the Lord had to suffer in the midst of their ministry and throughout their lives. All these sufferings ultimately remind us that even though we may suffer for now in the world, but as long as we stay faithful to the Lord, remain committed to Him and dedicate ourselves wholeheartedly to Him, we will receive the assurance of eternal life and salvation in God.
May the Lord be with us always in our journey, and may He help us to remain faithful despite all the challenges and difficulties we may have to endure throughout our journey of faith. Let us all commit ourselves from now on with a renewed spirit and strength, to serve God in all of our daily actions and in our daily lives, doing our best to glorify Him through our words, actions and deeds, now and forevermore. Amen.
Liturgical Colour : White
John 6 : 22-29
At that time, the next day after Jesus fed the five thousand men, the people, who had stayed on the other side, realised that only one boat had been there, and that Jesus had not entered it with His disciples; but rather, the disciples had gone away alone.
Bigger boats from Tiberias came near the place where all these people had eaten the bread. When they saw that neither Jesus nor His disciples were there, they got into the boats and went to Capernaum looking for Jesus. When they found Him on the other side of the lake, they asked Him, “Master, when did You come here?”
Jesus answered, “Truly, I say to you, you look for Me, not because of the signs which you have seen, but because you ate bread and were satisfied. Work then, not for perishable food, but for the lasting food which gives eternal life. The Son of Man will give it to you, for He is the One on Whom the Father has put His mark.”
Then the Jews asked Him, “What shall we do? What are the works that God wants us to do?” And Jesus answered them, “The work God wants is this : that you believe in the One Whom God has sent.”
Liturgical Colour : White
Psalm 118 : 23-24, 26-27, 29-30
Although princes conspire against me, Your servant will observe Your decrees. Your laws are my delight, my counsellors who uphold me.
When I explained my ways, You responded; instruct me then in Your precepts. Explain to me all Your ordinances, and I will meditate on Your wondrous deeds.
Keep me away from deceitful paths; be gracious and teach me Your law. I have chosen the way of truth; I have set my heart upon Your laws.
Liturgical Colour : White
Acts 6 : 8-15
Stephen, full of grace and power, did great wonders and miraculous signs among the people. Some persons then came forward, who belonged to the so-called Synagogue of Freedmen from Cyrene, Alexandria, Cilicia and Asia. They argued with Stephen but they could not match the wisdom and the spirit with which he spoke.
As they were unable to face the truth, they bribed some men to say, ‘We heard him speak against Moses and against God.’ So they stirred up the people, the elders and the teachers of the Law; they took him by surprise, seized him and brought him before the Council.
Then they produced false witnesses who said, “This man never stops speaking against our Holy Place and the Law. We even heard him say that Jesus the Nazarean will destroy our Holy Place and change the customs which Moses handed down to us.” And all who sat in the Council fixed their eyes on him, and his face appeared to them like the face of an Angel.
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