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.
Liturgical Colour : White
Dear brothers and sisters in Christ, on this day all of us as Christians are reminded of God’s presence in our midst and within our lives as we are called to put our trust and faith in Him more and more especially during difficult and challenging moments of our lives, as we have truly become God’s own beloved ones, His children whom He had gathered from among the nations and received from Him the gift of His own Holy Spirit and love.
In our first reading today, we heard of the moment when the Apostles St. Peter and St. John had just been released from their ordeal of being interrogated by the Sanhedrin or the Jewish High Council. The members of the Sanhedrin were unhappy at the works and the teachings that they carried out in the community and wanted to silence all of them by threatening them not to preach anymore in the Name of the Lord Jesus, but this was not enough to stop the Apostles from the resolve to serve God in the same way.
The disciples were joyful to receive the two Apostles back safely at their place, and they prayed to God, giving thanks for all that He had done for them, and at the same time also praying for the guidance and strength to be able to face the challenges and trials that would certainly come their way. They trusted in the Lord fully and asked Him to stretch out His hand and provide them with strength and healing for their sake through Jesus Christ, His Son, that they might be able to endure through the difficult moments.
In our Gospel today then we heard of the encounter between the Lord Jesus and Nicodemus, one of the respected members of the Pharisees, who was one of the few Pharisees who were sympathetic to the cause and the teachings of Jesus. In fact, as mentioned by the Scriptures, Nicodemus was even faithful to the point of becoming Christ’s secret follower, and he together with Joseph of Arimathea helped to embalm and prepare the Body of Jesus for burial after His death.
Nicodemus was interested in the truth which was taught by the Lord and he was deeply intrigued by what he had heard in those teachings that Christ delivered to the people. And he told the Lord in that encounter as described in the Gospel, on how he truly believed that Christ had indeed come from God and was sent by Him into the world for its salvation. The Lord then told him that no one can truly see the kingdom of God unless he or she was to be born again from above, and in the Spirit, which intrigued Nicodemus even further.
What did the Lord mean by being born again in the Spirit, brothers and sisters in Christ? In truth, the meaning of this born again in the Spirit is first and foremost, fundamentally lies in our Sacrament of Baptism which all of us as Christians had gone through either as infants or as adult converts to the faith. But all of us share in that same Baptism, by which we have all been marked by the sign of faith, and sealed by that same Baptism, receive the fullness of God’s grace and also the gifts of His Holy Spirit.
Essentially what we have heard from the Lord is a reminder that through our baptism, we have been ‘reborn’ into this new life and existence in God, that we no longer live just according to our flesh, but also according to the Spirit, the Holy Spirit that we have received from God. This is significant because we are then called to live in holiness and strive for that holiness at all times, in all of our actions and in our every interactions, words and deeds. Are we able to do that, brothers and sisters in Christ?
We are challenged to do more as part of the Church and as a member of the faithful people of God, to be truly faithful in our words and actions that we truly embody and personalise what we have believed in. We are called to be genuine witnesses of His Resurrection and truth in our own communities, to be faithful even in the midst of opposition and challenges we may encounter throughout this journey of faith.
May the Lord be with us always, just as He has been with His disciples, blessing them and providing them with strength, courage and with His wonderful providence during their faithful commitment to the work of the Gospel and salvation. May God be with us and may He give us the strength and courage to follow in the footsteps of the Apostles. Amen.
Liturgical Colour : White
John 3 : 1-8
At that time, among the Pharisees there was a ruler of the Jews named Nicodemus. He came to Jesus by night and said, “Rabbi, we know that You have come from God to teach us, for no one can perform miraculous signs like Yours unless God is with Him.”
Jesus replied, “Truly, I say to you, no one can see the kingdom of God unless he is born again from above.” Nicodemus said, “How can there be rebirth for a grown man? Who could go back to his mother’s womb and be born again?” Jesus replied, “Truly, I say to you : No one can enter the kingdom of God without being born of water and Spirit. What is born of the flesh is flesh, and what is born of the Spirit is spirit.”
“Because of this, do not be surprised when I say, ‘You must be born again from above.’ The wind blows where it pleases and you hear its sound, but you do not know where it comes from or where it is going. It is like that with everyone who is born of the Spirit.”
Liturgical Colour : White
Psalm 2 : 1-3, 4-6, 7-9
Why do the nations conspire? Why do the peoples plot in vain? The kings of the earth brace themselves and the rulers together take their stand against the Lord and His Anointed. They say, “Let us break their bonds! Let us cast away their chains!”
The One enthroned in heaven laughs; the Lord looks at them in derision. Then in anger He speaks to them, terrifying them in the fury of His wrath : “Behold the King I have installed, in Zion, upon My holy hill!”
I will proclaim the decree of the Lord. He said to Me : “You are My Son. This day I have begotten You. Ask of Me and I will give You the nations for Your inheritance, the ends of the earth for Your possession. You shall rule them with iron sceptre and shatter them as a potter’s vase.”
Liturgical Colour : White
Acts 4 : 23-31
As soon as Peter and John were set free, they went to their friends and reported what the chief priests and elders had said to them. When they heard it, they raised their voices as one and called upon God, “Sovereign Lord, Maker of heaven and earth, of the sea and everything in them, You have put these words in the mouth of David, our father and Your servant, through the Holy Spirit : Why did the pagan nations rage and the people conspire in folly? The kings of the were aligned and the princes gathered together against the Lord and against His Messiah.”
“For indeed in this very city Herod with Pontius Pilate, and the pagans together with the people of Israel conspired against Your holy Servant Jesus, Whom You anointed. Thus, indeed, they brought about whatever Your powerful will had decided from all time would happen. But now, Lord, see their threats against us and enable Your servants to speak Your word with all boldness. Stretch out Your hand to heal and to work signs and wonders through the Name of Jesus Your holy Servant.”
When they had prayed, the place where they were gathered together shook, and they were all filled with Holy Spirit and began to speak the word of God boldly.
