Monday

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Monday, 16 May 2022 : 5th Week of Easter (Homily and Scripture Reflections)

Liturgical Colour : White

Dear brothers and sisters in Christ, today as we listened to the words of the Scriptures, we are reminded that we are God’s people, His beloved ones who are therefore expected to follow Him, and we are expected to walk in His path, doing what He Himself had done for us, to show us love and compassion, kindness and mercy. And therefore each and every one of us as Christians are challenged to live a life filled with love and God’s compassion, that all of those who see us and witness our works and actions may come to realise that we are truly God’s chosen and beloved ones.

In our Gospel passage today, that is the essence of what the Lord has told us, in the conversation that He was having with His disciples at the Last Supper. He was revealing Himself and what He was about to do to all of them, saying to them how He has been sent from the Father to the world, to show them the love of God manifested in the flesh, and to show them the truth that He wants to give to us, so that we may find the way to eternal life through Him. When the disciples asked Him to show them the Father, the Lord was kind of disappointed as they still failed to realise that He and the Father were truly One, and as He Himself said, that knowing Him is already equal to knowing the Father.

Most importantly, the Lord also called on all of His followers and disciples to love one another just as He has loved them. He entrusted to them the commandment of love, the new commandment that He has revealed and brought into our midst, in order to rectify and make perfect the ancient laws and commandments, which at that time had been misunderstood and misinterpreted by many among the people of God. That was why the Lord told them all the truth of what the Law was all about, as He had actually told them many times previously, that the Law was truly all about love.

One ought to love the Lord with all of their strength, with all of their heart and mind, and then the same love ought to be shown as well to the others all around us, which is the essence of what the Ten Commandments and the many laws of Moses were. The Lord told His disciples to do as He has commanded them to do, and showed them by example, what He Himself was about to do for them and all of us, so that they might understand truly what it means to be His followers and disciples. And He would also send His Holy Spirit to guide them and to give them the wisdom to find their path in life, which He has given to all of us through His Church.

The Lord Himself showed us His infinite and most amazing love by His willingness to take up the Cross, to suffer on it and to endure the worst humiliation and pain, so that we may all be saved through Him. Our Lord did all these things because He truly loved us, and He wants to embrace us all back, and be reconciled with us. His love for us is greater than even the combined wickedness of our sins, which He wants to forgive and which He wants to help us to overcome, through His love and by showing us the path to repentance through His Cross. The Lord has loved us all so tenderly, that by His love all of us have received the assurance and hope of eternal life.

That is the message that all of us have received today, as we listened to the words of truth from the Scriptures, reminding us of the great love that God has shown us, and how we as His disciples ought to show Him the same love as well. We have to commit ourselves to the path of God’s love and testify His love to all the people whom we encounter, just as the Apostles and disciples had done, and which served as inspiration for all of us. In our first reading today, we heard how St. Paul and St. Barnabas preached about the Lord in Lystra, to the people who thought that they were their pagan gods when they saw the miraculous signs that the Apostles performed.

St. Paul and St. Barnabas were not swayed or distracted when the people were hailing them and treating them like gods, bringing them offerings and sacrifices, and instead, they courageously and wholeheartedly tried to tell them that what they were doing was wrong. They told the townspeople that they were not gods and that they were proclaiming Christ, as Lord and Saviour of the whole world, and they were merely the messengers of His truth and love. It was their love and compassion for their brethren, which allowed them to share so courageously their faith amidst a people who were not really willing to listen to them.

Brothers and sisters in Christ, let us all therefore go forth and be courageous like that of the Apostles and the other disciples of the Lord, like the saints and martyrs of ages past, in their wholehearted dedication to God, everything that they had done and all that they had endured for the sake of the Lord, their obedience to God and the love which they had shown their fellow men, the compassion, care and concern that they had for those who had not yet known the Lord, and the patience by which they had carried our their ministry and vocation. Each one of us are also called to be the same courageous and faithful disciples, and are we able to do that, brothers and sisters?

Let us all therefore do our best to follow the Lord from now on, in all of our lives, to devote our time, effort and attention to serve the Lord with all of our actions and deeds, to be His faithful witnesses and disciples in our respective communities, showing the love of God to all the people, to all those whom we encounter in life, through our every words, actions and deeds. May God bless us all in our every good works and endeavours, for His greater glory, now and always. Amen.

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Monday, 16 May 2022 : 5th Week of Easter (Gospel Reading)

Liturgical Colour : White

John 14 : 21-26

At that time, Jesus said to His disciples, “Whoever keeps My commandments is the one who loves Me. If he loves Me, he will also be loved by My Father; I too shall love him and show Myself clearly to him.”

Judas – not Judas Iscariot – asked Jesus, “Lord, how can it be that You will show Yourself clearly to us and not to the world!” Jesus answered him, “If anyone loves Me, he will keep My word and My Father will love him; and We will come to him and make a room in his home.”

“But if anyone does not love Me, he will not keep My words; and these words that you hear are not Mine, but the Father’s Who sent Me. I told you all this while I was still with you. From now on the Helper, the Holy Spirit Whom the Father will send in My Name, will teach you all things, and remind you of all that I have told you.”

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Monday, 16 May 2022 : 5th Week of Easter (Psalm)

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.

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Monday, 16 May 2022 : 5th Week of Easter (First Reading)

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.

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Monday, 9 May 2022 : 4th Week of Easter (Homily and Scripture Reflections)

Liturgical Colour : White

Dear brothers and sisters in Christ, today as we listened to the words of the Scripture, we are all called to remember that each and every one of us are members of this same one Church, the One, Holy, Catholic and Apostolic Church, belonging to the one Body of Christ, with Christ Himself as the Head, Who is also our Good Shepherd. We are the lambs of the Lord’s flock and we have been called from the world by the Lord and been reunited into this one flock by His guidance and help. And all that are made possible because of His ever enduring love for each one of us, without exception, that even the least of us, and the worst sinners amongst us are called by God to return to Him.

Brothers and sisters, all of us have been separated from God due to sin, and sin is caused by our refusal to obey the Lord and His will. We trust instead in our own human desires and judgments, and we tend to deviate from the path that God has set before us and hence, ended up falling deeper and deeper into the wrong path in life. Yet, God has always ever been patient in reaching out to us, in patiently calling upon us to embrace Him, His compassionate love and mercy, and to be reconciled once again with Him. He, our ever loving Good Shepherd has looked upon each and every one of us, the members of His flock, with love and compassion, with the desire to be reunited with us, as He does not want us to be lost to Him.

That is what we have heard in our Gospel passage today, in the account of the Lord’s discourse to His disciples on the Good Shepherd. We heard the Lord referring to Himself as the Good Shepherd, and how He presaged what He would do Himself to save His flock, that by laying down His life, He has opened for us the path to salvation and eternal life with Him. He revealed to His disciples and hence also to all of us, through the Scriptures, how His love for each one of us is truly ever encompassing, ever present, and He would dedicate Himself to the Covenant He had made with all of us, protecting us and caring for us.

The Lord told all of us that as the Good Shepherd, He is not like that of the other hired men who were paid to look after the sheep, and did not know the sheep well. He made a comparison between what He would do and what those hired men did, as those hired men did not give themselves totally and wholeheartedly to the flock they were entrusted with, fleeing at the first sign of danger. Meanwhile, the Good Shepherd lays down His life for His sheep, and that was what the Lord had done, our of His love for us, when He willingly accepted and shouldered upon Himself the many punishments due for our sins, and lead us all to Himself through His Cross.

For God so loved the world, that He gave us His only begotten Son, so that all those who believe in Him may not perish but have eternal life. Such was the other words the Lord had spoken in another occasion in the Gospels. He came into our midst through His Son, so that by His actions, in gathering us, scattered throughout the world, and He has also reached out to the lost ones, like those who had been branded as sinners and unworthy of God, people like the tax collectors, prostitutes and adulterers, as well as those who had been crippled or afflicted by many diseases, and those possessed by the evil spirits.

Through this, God as our Good Shepherd leads everyone, all sinners back to Himself. He was patient and welcoming even to the Pharisees and many of the teachers of the Law who had constantly disagreed with Him and refused to listen to Him or believe in His truth. The Good Shepherd was patient in going forth, in looking out for His lost sheep, that they may be found once again, and be reconciled fully with Him, and that they all will be worthy to enter into the kingdom of eternal glory and true happiness together with Him. However, as we are also reminded today, the works of the Lord are far from being completed.

Brothers and sisters in Christ, in our first reading today from the Acts of the Apostles, we heard of how St. Peter spoke to the Jewish Christian converts regarding the matter of the outreach and approach in evangelisation to the Gentiles or the non-Jewish people. Quite a few of those Jewish Christians had once belonged to the Pharisees and the teachers of the Law who were very particular in terms of their adherence to the Jewish customs and laws, such as the enforcement of circumcision, the food and dietary prohibitions of the Jewish laws and customs, which would have made it very difficult for the Gentiles to accept the Christian faith or to live as Christians meaningfully.

Hence, St. Peter enlightened those hard-hearted Jewish Christians with the revelation of how God Himself had made known His desire to him, through a vision that he had received regarding the matter, as he saw the vision of a great many food and animals that are considered unclean according to the Jewish laws and customs. Naturally St. Peter refused to eat when the Lord asked him to eat from those food, but God showed and asked him to listen to him three times, and saying that he should not consider what God had deemed to be clean as unclean. This vision, coupled with what St. Peter himself experienced in meeting Cornelius and the other non-Jewish people who were interested in the Christian faith and truth remind us that God truly calls everyone to be His followers, to be gathered and reconciled to Him.

As our Good Shepherd, the Lord wants each and every one of us to find our way back to Him, and He called us all to return to Him and tasked His Church, disciples and servants to bring His salvation to all of the lost sheep of His flock. St. Peter and the other Apostles hence worked hard to spread the word of God and His salvation among the Gentiles just as much as they were labouring amongst the Jewish community. Through them and their successors, many people had managed to find their way back to the Lord, returning to the Holy Mother Church, to God’s loving embrace and forgiving mercy.

Now, brothers and sisters in Christ, all of us have also been called to do the same in our own lives. We are all called to be the ones to lead others to the Lord and His salvation, and in order to do that, we are challenged to live our lives in the most worthy way we can, so that in all things, our lives will reflect the light of God’s truth and love, and inspire many more people to follow Him. Let us all reflect the love and compassion that Jesus Christ, Our Lord and Good Shepherd has shown us. May God be with us always, and may He continue to guide us all through our journey of faith in life, now and always, leading us to the right path. Amen.

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Monday, 9 May 2022 : 4th Week of Easter (Gospel Reading)

Liturgical Colour : White

John 10 : 1-10

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.”

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Monday, 9 May 2022 : 4th Week of Easter (Psalm)

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.

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Monday, 9 May 2022 : 4th Week of Easter (First Reading)

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.”

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Monday, 2 May 2022 : 3rd Week of Easter, Memorial of St. Athanasius, Bishop and Doctor of the Church (Homily and Scripture Reflections)

Liturgical Colour : White

Dear brothers and sisters in Christ, today as we listened to the words of the Scriptures, we are presented with the nature of our faith, this faith that we have in the Lord Jesus Christ, Our Saviour. Each and every one of us as Christians are called to proclaim the Lord and His truth through our lives and actions, in everything we say and do. We ought to do what the Apostles and all the holy men and women of God had done before us, in proclaiming the Messiah, Jesus Christ, the One from Whom the salvation of the world had come from.

In our first reading today, we heard of the story of the time when St. Stephen, one of the seven first deacons of the Church, was confronted by the opponents of the Church, those who refused to believe in God and His truth as revealed through the Lord Jesus and His Apostles. The Sanhedrin and all those who have arrested and oppressed the Apostles tried a lot of effort to suppress the rapidly spreading Christian teachings and faith. And in order to do that, they even chose to employ false witnesses and other methods to try to persecute the disciples of the Lord like St. Stephen.

Hence, St. Stephen encountered great difficulty in going against the plots of those who sought to destroy him, against the authorities with the power to persecute him and who turned the people against him. Yet, he remained firm in his faith and convictions, not fearing the repercussions and threats against himself, but instead, inflamed by the Holy Spirit, encouraged and strengthened, he preached about the Lord and Saviour, openly proclaiming Him before the people, revealing all that God had done to them through His Son, Whom they had recently persecuted and gave to the Romans to be crucified, died and then risen in glory for the salvation of all the people.

Those false witnesses employed against him tried to bring St. Stephen down, and they used increasingly desperate means to discredit him, and yet, the great wisdom and courage that St. Stephen had shown would overpower whatever wicked means and plots arrayed against him. The Lord was working through His servant, and now, many years after his martyrdom, we are still inspired by the great courage and dedication that St. Stephen had shown, in facing even persecution, suffering and death squarely in the face, never once flinching or giving in to his fears and doubts, because he trusted fully in the Lord and His providence.

In our Gospel passage today, we heard of the interactions between the Lord Jesus and the multitudes of people who had followed Him and tried to follow Him wherever He went. They followed the Lord and He pointed out that they followed Him because of their desires to be satisfied and fulfilled, by the amazing miracles that He performed, particularly that of the miraculous feeding of the five thousand men and many more. The Lord knew that in the hearts and minds of those people, there were still yet doubts and lacking in genuine faith, and hence, He wanted to convince and persuade them to truly believe in Him and His truth, and not just superficially showing their faith.

This reminds all of us of the very important mission that God has entrusted to us as Christians, that each and every one of us ought to proclaim the Lord, our God and Saviour, His love and compassionate mercy, His kindness and His truth to all the people, to everyone we encounter throughout life. We are all called to be the ministers of God, following in the footsteps of St. Stephen, the Apostles and the many other saints and martyrs, all those who have devoted their time and life, who have often suffered for the sake of the Lord, His Church and His people. We are all called to continue their efforts and works in our own ways.

Today, we celebrate the feast of St. Athanasius, the great and renowned Church father and Doctor of the Church, who was especially remembered for his dedication in defending the orthodox and true Christian faith and teachings against the dangerous influence and the falsehoods of the many heresies and false teachings that were running rampant during his time and ministry, threatening to destroy the unity and harmony within the Church, and also threatening to mislead countless souls down the path towards damnation. Against this, St. Athanasius persevered faithfully, committing his time and effort to go against those who proclaim those falsehoods, much like how St. Stephen himself had courageously proclaimed the Lord before those who persecuted him.

St. Athanasius was the Pope and Patriarch of Alexandria whose tenure of work and ministry happened after the important Ecumenical Council of Nicaea. He led the Church in Alexandria and beyond against the heresy of Arius, the popular preacher who initiated the Arian heresy and controversy, who amassed a large following and support even amongst the bishops and the powerful rulers of the Roman Empire. However, that did not deter St. Athanasius from persevering in his efforts to bring the people of God and the Church out from the erroneous teachings of heretics like Arius among others, and even though he had to endure about seventeen years in various exiles from his See due to the opposition against him, he endured in his faith and struggle to the very end.

In what he would later be well known for, St. Athanasius was credited with the authorship or as the inspiration for the later codified Athanasian Creed, the expanded version of the Niceno-Constantinopolitan Creed that emphasised heavily on the true nature of God, the relationship of the Members of the Holy Trinity, the Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit, against the erroneous heretical teachings, particularly that of Arius and his Arian heresy and which is recited especially on this day, his feast day. St. Athanasius showed all of us, just as St. Stephen had done, what being true Christians is all about, to stand up for our faith and proclaim the truth of God, faithfully and courageously even amidst opposition and oppression.

Brothers and sisters in Christ, are we able to commit ourselves in the same way as St. Athanasius, St. Stephen and the many other holy servants of God had done? Are we able and willing to follow the Lord faithfully and wholeheartedly, and making use of the various talents, gifts and opportunities that He had provided for us, so that we may glorify the Lord by our lives, by our words, actions and deeds? Let us all reflect carefully on how we can be ever better and more committed disciples of His, from now on. May God be with us always, and may He strengthen us that we will remain faithful and true to our calling, and be courageous in proclaiming our faith in our respective lives, now and always. Amen.

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Monday, 2 May 2022 : 3rd Week of Easter, Memorial of St. Athanasius, Bishop and Doctor of the Church (Gospel Reading)

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.”