Liturgical Colour : White
Psalm 23 : 1-2, 3-4ab, 5-6
The earth and its fullness belong to YHVH, the world and all that dwell in it. He has founded it upon the ocean and set it firmly upon the waters.
Who will ascend the mountain of YHVH? Who will stand in His holy place? Those with clean hands and pure heart, who desire not what is vain.
They will receive blessings from YHVH, a reward from God, their Saviour. Such are the people who seek Him, who seek the face of Jacob’s God.
Liturgical Colour : White
Revelations 7 : 2-4, 9-14
I saw another Angel, ascending from the sunrise, carrying the seal of the living God, and he cried out with a loud voice, to the four Angels empowered to harm the earth and the sea, “Do not harm the earth or the sea or the trees, until we have sealed the servants of our God upon their foreheads.”
Then, I heard the number of those marked with the seal : a hundred and forty-four thousand, from all the tribes of the people of Israel. After this, I saw a great crowd, impossible to count, from every nation, race, people and tongue, standing before the Throne, and the Lamb, clothed in white, with palm branches in their hands, and they cried out with a loud voice, “Who saves, but our God, Who sits on the Throne, and the Lamb?”
All the Angels were around the Throne, the elders and the four living creatures; they, then, bowed before the Throne, with their faces to the ground, to worship God. They said, “Amen, Praise, glory, wisdom, thanks, honour, power and strength to our God forever and ever. Amen!”
At that moment, one of the elders spoke up, and said to me, “Who are these people clothed in white, and where did they come from?” I answered, “Sir, it is you who know this.” The elder replied, “They, are those who have come out of the great persecution, they have washed, and made their clothes white, in the Blood of the Lamb.”
Liturgical Colour : Green
Dear brothers and sisters in Christ, today as we listened to the words of the Scriptures, we are all called to reflect on the words we have heard reminding us to be faithful to God and to love Him as the same way as children are loving their parents, because we are God’s beloved children through baptism, by which all of us have been made sharers in God’s inheritance and received God’s grace and blessings, His love and providence.
In our first reading today, we heard from the Epistle of St. Paul to the Church and the faithful in Rome about the matter of following God and His ways, that all Christians as God’s own beloved sons and daughters ought to be truly faithful to Him and the commandments and laws which He has shown and given to them through the Church and its Apostles. They have been freed from the slavery of sin by God, and correspondingly should no longer subject themselves to the power and corruption of sin, and hence, they ought to live a life that is worthy of God.
St. Paul wrote this to the faithful in Rome with the context that there and elsewhere across the Mediterranean, in other communities of the faithful, quite a few of the Christian populations who were newly converted to the faith continued to practice pagan rituals and beliefs, and worse still, continue to live in a state of sin, full of debauchery and wickedness. Those behaviours and way of life were incompatible with the Christian faith, and in fact bring scandal upon the Church and the sanctity of our solemn faith and profession.
That is why, St. Paul reminded all of the people, and then, which includes all of us, that everyone who believe in God ought to be thoroughly converted to the path of God’s truth and righteousness. We must never allow our worldly desires and the many temptations to sin to bring and lead us to our downfall. If we are not careful, we may end up falling into those temptations and ended up sinning again, unless we make the conscious effort to reject Satan and his temptations for us to sin against God. We must realise just how blessed we are to have been beloved by God, and we should treasure how we have been saved by Him.
In our Gospel passage today, we heard the Lord and His healing of the woman who had been crippled for eighteen years, who had been suffering and tormented by her afflictions. And it was an evil spirit that forced her into that state. No one had been able to heal her, until that moment when she came before the Lord, and the Lord noticing her, had pity on her and showed her His most generous mercy, healed her by likely casting out the evil spirit that had tormented and troubled her. He made her whole again and liberated her.
Yet, the officials of the synagogue and the members of the Pharisees who were present there criticised the Lord for having done the healing on the day of the Sabbath, which to them was against their very strict interpretation of the Law of God. The Lord immediately rebuked them and pointed out the folly and illogical nature of their argument and their rigid attitude, as double standard quickly appeared when comparing how the people untied their donkey and oxen even on the Sabbath to provide for their needs, while the suffering woman had to wait to be healed, if the Lord had acted in the manner desired by the Pharisees and the synagogue officials.
Instead, the Lord through His action showed us that we are all truly precious for Him, as His lost sheep that He has gathered again from among the nations, from all those scattered and spread far and wide, and we are all His beloved ones that He would do nothing less than give His own life in exchange for our salvation. Through His Cross, Christ has suffered and died a most terrible, humiliating and painful death, all for our sake, that we may have new life through Him, and share in His glorious Resurrection and the eternal life promised to us.
Having been beloved in such a way, brothers and sisters in Christ, are we still willing to allow ourselves to be commanded and misguided by our desires, and by the temptations to sin? Having been rescued and redeemed from our sins, are we still insisting on following a path of sin and evil, in disobedience against God? Are we still stubborn in our refusal to open our hearts and minds, in order to welcome Him into them, that He may dwell in us and we may be made wholesome like that suffering woman? Let us all carefully consider our path in life from now on, that we will walk in the presence and grace of God.
Let us all inspire and strengthen one another to live ever more faithfully in God’s path, and let us be exemplary in our every actions and interactions in life, so that all who see us, hear us and witness our works, will come to know the Lord and will know that we are truly His beloved children, and come to believe in Him as well. May God, our loving Father and Creator, continue to bless us and our good efforts and endeavours, all for His greater glory, now and always. Amen.
Liturgical Colour : Green
Luke 13 : 10-17
At that time, Jesus was teaching in a synagogue on the Sabbath, and a crippled woman was there. An evil spirit had kept her bent for eighteen years, so that she could not straighten up at all. On seeing her, Jesus called her and said, “Woman, you are freed from your infirmity.” Then He laid His hands upon her, and immediately she was made straight and praised God.
But the ruler of the synagogue was indignant, because Jesus had performed this healing on the Sabbath day, and he said to the people, “There are six days in which to work. Come on those days to be healed, and not on the Sabbath!”
But the Lord replied, “You hypocrites! Everyone of you unties his ox or his donkey on the Sabbath, and leads it out of the barn to give it water. And here you have a daughter of Abraham, whom Satan had bound for eighteen years. Should she not be freed from her bonds on the Sabbath?”
When Jesus said this, all His opponents felt ashamed. But the people rejoiced at the many wonderful things that happened because of Him.
Liturgical Colour : Green
Psalm 67 : 2 and 4, 6-7ab, 20-21
Arise, o God, scatter Your enemies; let Your foes flee before You. But let the righteous be glad and exult before God; let them sing to God and shout for joy.
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.
Blessed be the Lord, God, our Saviour, Who daily bears our burdens! Ours is a God Who saves; our YHVH lets us escape from death.
Liturgical Colour : Green
Romans 8 : 12-17
Then, brothers, let us leave the flesh and no longer live according to it. If not, we will die. Rather, walking in the spirit, let us put to death the body’s deeds, so that we may live. All those who walk in the Spirit of God are sons and daughters of God.
Then, no more fear : you did not receive a spirit of slavery, but the spirit that makes you sons and daughters, and every time, we cry, “Abba! (this means Dad!) Father!” the Spirit assures our spirit, that we are sons and daughters of God. If we are children, we are heirs, too. Ours will be the inheritance of God, and we will share it with Christ; for, if we now suffer with Him, we will also share glory with Him.
Liturgical Colour : Red
Dear brothers and sisters in Christ, on this day we celebrate the Feast of St. Luke the Evangelist, one of the four great Evangelists who wrote the Holy Gospels together with St. Matthew, St. Mark and St. John. According to Apostolic tradition, St. Luke was a physician and a follower and disciple of St. Paul the Apostle, who accompanied him for quite a few of his missionary journeys, and who wrote the accounts of those travels and also other actions of the Apostles in the Acts of the Apostles that he also authored. It was even told in some traditions that he was also the author of the Epistle to the Hebrews.
St. Luke according to different traditions was either a Hellenised Jew or a Greek who embraced the Christian faith as one of the earliest converts and as among the earliest of Christ’s disciples and missionaries. He was a physician and therefore likely highly educated and intelligent, which was also probably why God gave him the gift of wisdom and talent for writing, through which St. Luke recorded the very important events that he heard about the Lord’s life and ministry, and also as inspired by the Holy Spirit, to evangelise to those who have not yet known Him.
St. Luke through his efforts converted many to the Christian faith, turning many people towards the Lord and called them to embrace His truth and love. In his travels with St. Paul, he had assisted the great Apostle in preaching the truth of God, and through his Gospel and the Acts of the Apostles, he had reached out even far beyond mere words and interactions, as by his courageous efforts in writing the words of God, he has, just like St. Paul and his many Epistles, kept the faith alive and the truth to remain firmly found in the Sacred Scriptures.
St. Luke continued his ministry among the people of God, ministering to the many people whom he encountered throughout his life and work, and he spread the word of God faithfully according to the tradition of the Church, until he died at an old age in the region of Boeotia in Roman Greece, after a very long life of service to God, and after having bestowed on us the wonders of his work in the Scriptures, which enriched our knowledge of God and His truth. Through his works, all of us ought to have known more about God and His works.
Today, as we celebrate this great feast in honour of St. Luke the Evangelist, all of us are called to be inspired by the faith and the commitment which he has shown in his life and work, and in all that he has done for the greater glory of God. We are called to follow in his examples and to do whatever we can in order to emulate his examples in our own daily lives. We may think that it is impossible for us to be like St. Luke or like any other great saints, but this is not true.
God has called His Apostles and many other disciples from various backgrounds and origins, some rich, some poor, some educated, some illiterate, some privileged and powerful, while others were weak and not noteworthy, and there had been countless of these whom God had called, all sinners, who came to the Lord’s side and listened to His call. They answered Him and His call, and He led them down the path of mission and commitment, as St. Luke and so many other innumerable saints had shown us.
Brothers and sisters in Christ, today all of us are called to heed the Lord’s call, to be His faithful and committed disciples, in doing His will and in walking down His glorious path. We do not have to do great and wonderful things. Rather, in our own daily living and in every single thing we do, even in the smallest, we should strive to do our best, to show our faith in God and to be inspiration to one another. We are all called to walk down this path of discipleship, with our respective gifts and talents, with all that God has given to us.
Let us all discern carefully our path in life, and let us consider what each and every one of us can do to contribute to the works of the Lord, to the mission which He has entrusted to His Church and to all of us as Christians. We can no longer be idle in our lives as Christians and we should dedicate ourselves from now on to be ever truly faithful to God. Let us be inspired and walk in the path which St. Luke has shown us, that we too may bear rich fruits in faith from now on.
May God bless us all and may He strengthen each and every one of us to live our Christian lives genuinely and be the beacons of God’s light and truth to all who have seen us, witnessed our actions and interacted with us. May our lives bring hope and light of God’s truth, now and always, forevermore. Amen.
Liturgical Colour : Red
Luke 10 : 1-9
At that time, the Lord appointed seventy-two other disciples, and sent them, two by two, ahead of Him, to every town and place, where He Himself was to go. And He said to them, “The harvest is plentiful, but the workers are few. So you must ask the Lord of the harvest to send workers to His harvest. Courage! I am sending you like lambs among wolves. Set off without purse or bag or sandals; and do not stop at the homes of those you know.”
“Whatever house you enter, first bless them, saying, ‘Peace to this house!’ If a friend of peace lives there, the peace shall rest upon that person. But if not, the blessing will return to you. Stay in that house, eating and drinking at their table, for the worker deserves to be paid. Do not move from house to house.”
“When they welcome you to any town, eat what they offer you. Heal the sick who are there, and say to them : ‘The kingdom of God has drawn near to you.'”
Liturgical Colour : Red
Psalm 144 : 10-11, 12-13ab, 17-18
All Your works will give You thanks; all Your saints, o YHVH, will praise You. They will tell of the glory of Your kingdom, and speak of Your power.
That all may know of Your mighty deeds, Your reign, and its glorious splendour. Your reign is from age to age; Your dominion endured, from generation to generation.
Righteous is YHVH in all His ways, His mercy shows in all His deeds. He is near those who call on Him, who call trustfully upon His Name.
Liturgical Colour : Red
2 Timothy 4 : 10-17b
You must know, that Demas has deserted me, for the love of this world : he returned to Thessalonica. Crescens has gone to Galatia and Titus to Dalmatia. Only Luke remains with me. Get Mark and bring him with you, for he is a useful helper in my work. I sent Tychicus to Ephesus.
Bring with you the cloak I left at Troas, in Carpos’ house, and also the scrolls, especially the parchments. Alexander, the metalworker, has caused me great harm. The Lord will repay him for what he has done. Distrust him, for he has been very much opposed to our preaching.
At my first hearing in court, no one supported me; all deserted me. May the Lord not hold it against them. But the Lord was at my side, giving me strength, to proclaim the word fully, and to let all the pagans hear it.
petercanisiusmichaeldavidkang 