Liturgical Colour : Green or Red (Martyrs)
Luke 21 : 1-4
At that time, Jesus looked up and saw rich people putting their gifts into the treasury of the Temple. He also saw a poor widow, who dropped in two small coins. And He said, “Truly, I tell you, this poor widow put in more than all of them. For all of them gave an offering from their plenty; but she, out of her poverty, gave all she had to live on.”
Liturgical Colour : Green or Red (Martyrs)
Daniel 3 : 52a, 53, 54, 55, 56
Blessed are You, Lord, God of our fathers, be praised and exalted forever.
Blessed are You in the Temple of Your sacred glory; Your praises are sung forever.
Blessed are You, on the throne of Your kingdom; honoured and glorified forever.
Blessed are You, Who fathom the depths, Who are enthroned on the Cherubim; praised and exalted forever.
Blessed are You, in the firmament of heaven; praised and glorified forever.
Liturgical Colour : Green or Red (Martyrs)
Daniel 1 : 1-6, 8-20
In the third year of Jehoiakim’s reign as king of Judah, king Nebuchadnezzar of Babylon besieged Jerusalem. The Lord delivered into his hands king Jehoiakim of Judah, and some of the vessels from the Temple of God as well. These he carried off, to the land of Shinar, and placed in the treasure house of his god.
King Nebuchadnezzar ordered his chief eunuch Ashpenaz to bring in some of the Israelites from the royal family and the nobility : young men without physical defect, handsome, intelligent and wise; well-informed, quick to learn and understand; and suitable for service in the king’s palace.
They were to be taught the language and literature of the Chaldeans. They were allotted a daily portion of food and wine from the king’s table; and were to be trained for three years, after which, they were to enter the king’s service. Among these were young men of Judah : Daniel, Hananiah, Mishael and Azariah.
As Daniel was resolved not to make himself unclean with the king’s food or wine, he begged the chief eunuch to spare him this defilement. By the grace of God, the chief eunuch had been sympathetic to Daniel. But he was afraid of the king, so he said, “If the king, who has allotted your food and drink, sees that you look more emaciated than the other young men of your age, he might think ill of me. It will put my life in danger to give in to your wish.”
Daniel then turned to the steward whom the chief eunuch had put in charge of Daniel, Hananiah, Mishael and Azariah. “Please test your servants for ten days. Give us only vegetables to eat and water to drink, and see how we look in comparison with the young men who eat food from the king’s table. Then treat us in accordance with what you see.”
The steward agreed and tested them for ten days, at the end of which, they looked healthier and better fed than any of the young men who ate the king’s food. So the steward continued to give them vegetables instead of the choice food and wine. To these four youths God gave wisdom and proficiency in literature, and to Daniel the gift of interpreting visions and dreams.
At the end of the period set by the king for the youths’ training, the chief eunuch presented them to Nebuchadnezzar. The king talked with them and found none to equal Daniel, Hananiah, Mishael and Azariah. These four became members of the king’s court. In any matter of wisdom and discernment about which the king consulted, he found them ten times better than all the magicians and enchanters in his whole kingdom.
Liturgical Colour : Green or White (Dedication of a Basilica)
Dear brothers and sisters in Christ, on this day we celebrate the memory of the anniversary of the Dedication of two of the great Papal Major Basilicas of Rome, namely the Basilica of St. Peter in Vatican, the largest of all the churches in the entire world and the primary place for the Papal ceremonies and liturgical celebrations while not being the Cathedral of Rome, and also the Dedication of the Basilica of St. Paul Outside the Walls.
On this day we therefore remember the memory of the Dedication of two of the four greatest churches in all Christendom, dedicated to none other than the two patron saints of Rome and the Universal Church, namely St. Peter the Apostle, the Prince of the Apostles and the Vicar of Christ and first Pope, to whom all of our Popes are successors of, and also St. Paul the Apostle, the Apostle to the Gentiles whose works among the pagans and the Gentiles were crucial to the establishment and growth of the Church in its earliest days.
And today’s Scripture readings cannot have been more apt, including even the first reading from the regular weekday readings if the special readings for the Dedication of the two Basilicas are not used. That passage was taken from the first Book of the Maccabees relating to us the beginning of the Maccabean Revolt when the Greek Seleucid Empire under King Antiochus IV began to persecute the Jews in his kingdom because he wanted to enforce all the peoples in his Empire to embrace the Greek customs and practices.
At that time, many among the Jewish populations refused to follow the king’s commands just as there were sizeable numbers of the community who acceded to the king’s demands. The king used force to occupy the city of Jerusalem and built a great fortress there, and also desecrated the Temple of God in the city, the Second Temple of Jerusalem which became a pagan temple, its altar desecrated with idols and pagan worship and offerings.
It is significant that this passage is a reminder of the great sorrow which the people of Israel then suffered because their House of God had been defiled and they were made to bow low and humiliated as a people. And yet, that was the beginning of the Maccabean Revolt, in which by God’s grace and guidance, strength and power, eventually the Seleucids were driven out, the city of Jerusalem retaken and the Temple of God purified and cleansed from all of the defilements and corruptions.
And then through the special readings dedicated to the Dedication of the two Basilicas today, we heard of both the labours of St. Paul the Apostle, as he embarked on his last journey and ministry in Rome, preaching and witnessing for Christ among the Christian and Jewish populations, as well as the Gentiles in Rome alike, establishing firm foundation of the Church in Rome together with St. Peter, who is the first Bishop of Rome.
In our Gospel passage today, we heard of the Lord Jesus walking miraculously on the water in a terrible and great storm, that famous miracle which most of us should have been familiar with. The disciples were all scared and fearful, thinking that they had seen a ghost because they could not truly believe that it was the Lord Jesus Whom they had seen. St. Peter tried to walk towards Him, but overcame by fear, he began to sink in the waves.
The Lord helped St. Peter up and rebuked him for his little faith. He then calmed the whole storm and made everything calm again. And through all these, we can see how the Lord reminded His disciples and all of us that truly, He is the Head and the true Foundation of the Church, the sole focus and reason of our existence, the power and the strength behind His Church today, as it had always been since when He founded it.
But at the same time, He built that Church based on the strong foundation of His Apostles, who are the pillars and the support of the Church, under the leadership of none other than St. Peter, whom He appointed as His Vicar, the Vicar of the true Head of the Church. Yet, we saw how weak and feeble the faith the disciples of the Lord had, and this is an important reminder for us that even once, those Apostles were just like us, weak in faith and sinful men. But God strengthened them and gave them the authority, wisdom and power.
That was how St. Peter and St. Paul eventually performed many wonderful works, as were the other Apostles and the many disciples, holy saints and martyrs of the Church. St. Peter and St. Paul both had to suffer in many occasions, and were martyred for the sake of the Lord and their faith in Him in Rome. St. Peter was crucified upside down at the place where the great Basilica of St. Peter on Vatican hills is now at, while St. Paul was beheaded and buried at the place where the Basilica of St. Paul Outside the Walls was built.
Brothers and sisters in Christ, the significance of our celebration of the Dedication of these two great Basilicas cannot therefore be underrated, for we celebrate and remember nothing less than the memory of our great predecessors in faith and the struggles that the Church had to go through in standing up for the truth of God. And even more importantly, all of us must then realise that we are all part of the Church of God.
Going back to the reading from the first Book of the Maccabees, we are reminded of what had happened as the Temple of God was defiled. We are all also Temples of God’s Holy Presence, for in us, the Lord Himself is truly present, we who have partaken His Body and Blood in the Eucharist, and who have received the Holy Spirit of God, poured to us by the grace of our Baptism and reaffirmed in the Sacrament of Confirmation.
Therefore, on this day, it is important for us all to discern on our lives and our actions carefully. Have we treated our bodies, our minds, our hearts and our whole beings in the way and manner that is worthy of God’s House and Temple, we the faithful and the living Church of God? Or have we instead defiled ourselves and God’s Temples by our sins and by our disobedience against Him? Let us all think carefully of how we can move forward from now on.
If we have sinned by our disobedience against Him, then let us all remember that God is ever merciful and willing to forgive us our sins, if we are truly repentant and willing to return to Him with faith. Let us all be righteous and follow the Lord with a renewed faith and love for Him from now on then, following in the footsteps of the great Saints, St. Peter and St. Paul, holy Apostles of the Lord. May the Lord be our guide and be our strength in life, always, now and forevermore. Amen.
Liturgical Colour : Green or White (Dedication of a Basilica)
Luke 18 : 35-43
At that time, when Jesus drew near to Jericho, a blind man was sitting by the road, begging. As he heard the crowd passing by, he inquired what was happening, and they told him that Jesus of Nazareth was going by. Then he cried out, “Jesus, Son of David, have mercy on me!”
The people in front of him scolded him, “Be quiet!” they said, but he cried out all the more, “Jesus, Son of David, have mercy on me!” Jesus stopped, and ordered the blind man to be brought to Him; and when he came near, Jesus asked him, “What do you want Me to do for you?” And the man said, “Lord, that I may see!”
Jesus said, “Receive your sight, your faith has saved you.” At once the blind man was able to see, and he followed Jesus, giving praise to God. And all the people who were there also praised God.
Alternative reading (Mass for Dedication of the Basilicas)
Matthew 14 : 22-33
At that time, immediately, Jesus obliged His disciples to get into the boat and go ahead of Him to the other side, while He sent the crowd away. And having sent the people away, He went up the mountain by Himself, to pray. At nightfall, He was there alone. Meanwhile, the boat was very far from land, dangerously rocked by the waves, for the wind was against it.
At daybreak, Jesus came to them, walking on the sea. When they saw Him walking on the sea, they were terrified, thinking that it was a ghost. And they cried out in fear. But at once, Jesus said to them, “Courage! Do not be afraid. It is Me!” Peter answered, “Lord, if it is You, command me to come to You on the water.”
Jesus said to him, “Come!” And Peter got out of the boat, and walked on the water to go to Jesus. But seeing the strong wind, he was afraid, and began to sink; and he cried out, “Lord, save me!” Jesus immediately stretched out His hand and took hold of him, saying, “Man of little faith, why did you doubt?”
As they got into the boat, the wind dropped. Then those in the boat bowed down before Jesus, saying, “Truly, You are the Son of God!”
Liturgical Colour : Green or White (Dedication of a Basilica)
Psalm 118 : 53, 61, 134, 150, 155, 158
I feel indignant at the wicked who have forsaken Your law.
The wicked have me trapped in their snares, but I have not forgotten Your laws.
Rescue me from human oppression, and help me keep Your precepts.
My persecutors close in with evil intent; they are far from Your law.
Salvation is far from the wicked, for they do not seek Your statutes.
I look upon the faithless with loathing, because they do not obey Your ruling.
Alternative reading (Mass for Dedication of the Basilicas)
Psalm 97 : 1, 2-3ab, 3cd-4, 5-6
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.
With melody of the lyre and with music of the harp. With trumpet blast and sound of the horn, rejoice before the King, YHVH!
Liturgical Colour : Green or White (Dedication of a Basilica)
1 Maccabees 1 : 10-15, 41-43, 54-57, 62-64
From their descendants there came a godless offshoot, Antiochus Epiphanes, son of king Antiochus, who had been held as hostage in Rome. He became king in the one hundred and thirty-seventh year of the Greek era, in the year 175 B.C..
It was then that some rebels emerged from Israel, who succeeded in winning over many people. They said, “Let us renew contact with the people around us for we had endured many misfortunes since we separated from them.”
This proposal was well-received and some eagerly went to the king. The king authorised them to adopt the customs of the pagan nations. With his permission, they built a gymnasium in Jerusalem in the pagan style. And as they wanted to be like the pagans in everything, they made artificial foreskins for themselves and abandoned the Holy Covenant, sinning as they pleased.
Antiochus issued a decree to his whole kingdom. All the people of his empire had to renounce their particular customs and become one people. All the pagan nations obeyed and respected the king’s decree, and, even in Israel, many accepted the imposed cult. They offered sacrifices to idols and no longer respected the Sabbath.
On the fifteenth day of the month of Chislev, in the year one hundred and forty-five, in the year 167 B.C., Antiochus erected the “abominable idol of the invaders” on the altar of the Temple. Pagan altars were built throughout the whole land of Judea; incense was offered at the doors of their houses and in the squares.
There wicked men tore up the books of the Law they found and burnt them. They killed anyone they caught in possession of the book of the Covenant and who fulfilled the precepts of the Law, as the royal decree had ordered. But in spite of all this, many Israelites still remained firm and determined not to eat unclean food. They preferred to die rather than to make themselves unclean with those foods prohibited by the Law that violated the Holy Covenant. And Israel suffered a very great trial.
Alternative reading (Mass for Dedication of the Basilicas)
Acts 28 : 11-16, 30-31
After three months, we boarded a ship that had spent the winter at the island. It belonged to an Alexandrian company, and carried the figurehead of Castor and Pollux as insignia. We sailed for Syracuse, staying there for three days; and, after circling the coast, we arrived at Rhegium.
On the following day, a south wind began to blow, and, at the end of two days, we arrived at Puteoli, where we found some of our brothers, who invited us to stay with them for a week. And that was how we came to Rome. There, the brothers and sisters had been informed of our arrival, and came out to meet us as far as the Appian Forum and the Three Taverns.
When Paul saw them, he gave thanks to God and took courage. Upon our arrival in Rome, the captain turned the prisoners over to the military governor, but permitted Paul to lodge in a private house, with the soldier who guarded him.
Paul stayed for two whole years, in a house he, himself, rented, where he received, without any hindrance, all those who came to see him. He proclaimed the kingdom of God, and taught the truth about Jesus Christ, the Lord, quite openly and without any hindrance.
Liturgical Colour : White
Dear brothers and sisters in Christ, on this day we listened to the words of the Scripture reminding us all about the importance of keeping ourselves open to the Wisdom of God through His Holy Spirit, by which His presence and truth enter into us and transform us in the manner that is perhaps incomprehensible to the world and to the norms of the society where we are living in. Yet, it is something that is necessary for us as we grow in our faith.
And it is also an important reminder to each and every one of us that all of us living in this world have been entrusted with the responsibility and the duty of being witnesses of Christ in our daily living with faith, as we are all visible to each other through our actions and our deeds. If we do not live our lives with faith, essentially we are turning ourselves away from God and from His truth and wisdom.
Unfortunately, many of us often succumbed to the temptations of this world, the temptation of power, of fame, of worldly material goods and prosperity, of glory and human praise and adulation. Many of us chose therefore to trust in our own strength and wisdom, and ended up falling into the trap that the devil and our tempters have put in place to make us stumble in our journey of faith.
And the devil knows how to manipulate and trick us well, and the greater the power and responsibility we have, the more that we will be tempted to stray away from the path of the Lord. Power indeed corrupts, as the people says, and absolute power corrupts absolutely. It is in our human nature, our predisposition and desire for power, for pleasures and happiness in life, for joy of this world that made us vulnerable to the temptations to sin.
That was why the Lord Jesus rebuked His opponents, likely referring to the Pharisees and the elders and the chief priests as He spoke out against those who have misled the children of God into the wrong path. And all of that was caused by their preoccupation with maintaining their prestige, power, influence and authority in the society that led them to their haughty and misled attitudes.
Therefore, after having discerned about what we have just discussed, we can see how that all of us are called to serve the Lord and follow Him in His way of truth. However, following God requires us to be open to His truth and wisdom as I mentioned, and we have to be humble and lay down our pride, or else it will be difficult for us to resist the temptations to follow instead the path of the devil, that is the path of worldliness.
Brothers and sisters in Christ, perhaps we can get some inspirations from the saint of today, a renowned saint whose life is truly exemplary before God. St. Martin of Tours was one of the early bishops of Tours in what is now southern France, at the years of the waning of the Roman Empire in the west, about a century after the toleration of Christians through the Edict of Milan. St. Martin of Tours came from a noble background and was an officer in the Roman army before he had a change in life and became eventually the Bishop of Tours.
It was told that on one occasion, on a cold night, as St. Martin rode along on his horse, he saw an old beggar by the roadside suffering and without anything to cover himself from the cold temperature. St. Martin, moved by what he saw, took his sword and cut part of his centurion’s cloak, and gave the cloak to the old beggar to be a comforter and protector in the midst of the cold condition.
That very night, the Lord appeared to St. Martin and revealed that the old beggar was none other than God Himself, and showed him how he had done a truly blessed action by his humility and generosity for the least and the poorest, which reminds us of what the Lord Jesus said, that whatever we do to the least of our brothers, we are doing it for the Lord Himself. Through that and all other experiences, St. Martin of Tours eventually decided to leave the military and deepen his spiritual life instead, becoming the Bishop of Tours by the support of his flock.
St. Martin of Tours was truly dedicated in his service as the shepherd of his flock, dedicating his time and efforts to take care of the needs of his flock, in particular their spiritual needs. He was a champion of the true faith amidst several heresies that were rampant at that time, protecting his flock from the false teachings and helped to guide them down the right path, leading by example through his own virtuous life.
Brothers and sisters in Christ, are we able to follow the good examples set by St. Martin of Tours? We ourselves can follow in his footsteps and do what he had once done in our own respective lives. What we need is the humility and the desire to resist the many temptations present all around us, and also the desire to love God with all of our heart. Let us ask for the intercession of St. Martin of Tours, that God will strengthen our faith through his prayers. May God bless us all, now and always. Amen.
Liturgical Colour : White
Luke 17 : 1-6
At that time, Jesus said to His disciples, “Scandals will necessarily come and cause people to fall; but woe to the one who brings them about. It would be better for him to be thrown into the sea with a millstone around his neck. Truly, this would be better for that person, than to cause one of these little ones to fall.”
“Listen carefully : if your brother offends you, tell him, and if he is sorry, forgive him. And if he offends you seven times in one day, but seven times he says to you, ‘I am sorry,’ forgive him.”
The Apostles said to the Lord, “Increase our faith.” And the Lord said, “If you have faith, even the size of a mustard seed, you may say to this tree, ‘Be uprooted, and plant yourself in the sea!’ and it will obey you.”
Liturgical Colour : White
Psalm 138 : 1-3, 4-6, 7-8, 9-10
O YHVH, You know me : You have scrutinised me. You know when I sit and when I rise; beforehand, You discern my thoughts. You observe my activities and times of rest; You are familiar with all my ways.
Before a word is formed in my mouth, You know what it is all about, o YHVH. From front to back You hedge me round, shielding me with Your protecting hand. Your knowledge leaves me astounded, it is too high for me to reach.
Where else could I go from Your Spirit? Where could I flee from Your presence? You are there, if I ascend the heavens; You are there, if I descend to the depths.
If I ride on the wings of the dawn, and settle on the far side of the sea, even there, Your hand shall guide me, and Your right hand shall hold me safely.
petercanisiusmichaeldavidkang 