Liturgical Colour : Green or White (Saturday Mass of our Lady)
Mark 3 : 20-21
At that time, Jesus and His disciples went home. The crowd began to gather again and they could not even have a meal. Knowing what was happening, His relatives came to take charge of Him, “He is out of His mind,” they said.
Liturgical Colour : Green or White (Saturday Mass of our Lady)
Psalm 79 : 2-3, 5-7
Listen, o Shepherd of Israel, You Who lead Joseph like a flock, You Who sit enthroned between the Cherubim. Shine forth before Ephraim, Benjamin and Manasseh. Stir up Your might and come to save us.
O Lord of hosts, how long will Your anger burn against the prayers of Your people? You have fed them with the bread of woe, and have given them tears to drink in their sorrow. You have made us the scorn of our neighbours and the laughingstock of our oppressors.
Liturgical Colour : Green or White (Saturday Mass of our Lady)
2 Samuel 1 : 1-4, 11-12, 19, 23-27
It was thus that Saul died. As for David, he returned after defeating the Amalekites. He was already two days in Ziklag when, on the third day, a man came from Saul’s camp, with his clothes torn and dust strewn on his head. He went to David and fell to the ground in homage.
David asked him, “Where are you from?” And he answered, “I have escaped from the Israelite camp.” David then said, “Tell me what happened.” And the man told him, “The soldiers fled from the battle but many of them fell and died. Saul and his son Jonathan – they too are dead.”
At this, David took hold of his clothes and tore them and his men did the same. And they mourned, weeping and fasting until evening, for the death of Saul and his son Jonathan, for all the people of Judah and for the nation of Israel. David sang, “Your glory, o Israel, is slain upon your mountains! How the mighty ones have fallen!”
“Saul and Jonathan, beloved and cherished, neither in life nor in death were they parted; swifter than eagles they were and stronger than lions. Women of Israel, weep over Saul who clothed you in precious scarlet. How the valiant have fallen!”
“In the midst of the battle Jonathan lies slain on your mountain. I grieve for you, my brother Jonathan; how dear have you been to me! Your love for me was wonderful, even more than the love of women. How the valiant have fallen! The weapons of war have perished!”
Liturgical Colour : Green or Red (Martyrs)
Dear brothers and sisters in Christ, on this day we heard about the rivalry between Saul, the first king of Israel, and David, the one whom God had chosen to become king after Saul, after Saul had disobeyed the Lord’s commandments and refused to follow His ways. And this rivalry had quickly become bad and the relationship between the two of them quickly soured.
And Saul tried his best to kill David to remove that great threat to his legitimacy and his reign, and in many occasions, he attempted to harm him and brought him to death, but by the grace and the will of God, David managed to escape from all those attempts. And the more that David escaped and survived those attempts, the more desperate that Saul became.
But today, we saw how David reacted to all these in the first reading we have from the Book of the prophet Samuel. In it we can see the good qualities that David had, which truly marked him as one who was really worthy to become the leader and king over all of Israel. It was not his might or greater charisma or other factors that made him great, but it was his devotion to God and the goodness in his heart that made him such a great choice to be a king over all Israel.
In the Gospel we saw how our Lord Jesus Christ picked the choice for His principal disciples, those whom He called the Apostles, which numbered twelve in all. The Apostles were not chosen from among great men or great figures and personages in the world at that time. Instead, they were just ordinary people leading simple lives, having diverse backgrounds, from tax collectors, to fishermen and criminals, those who were not famous or great in the eyes of the world.
But God did not choose His servants based on how great they were in the eyes of the world, but instead, He saw deep inside the heart, looking at what are their potentials in bringing about the good works of the Lord to their completion on earth. And indeed, except for Judas Iscariot, all of the other Twelve Apostles did their best to bring the Good News of God’s salvation to all the peoples in the four corners of the world.
And out of their great love and dedication for the Lord, they gave everything for Him, leaving everything els behind them, and they went forth to proclaim the truth of God, bringing salvation to many people, but at the same time, they also suffered persecution and suffering from those who refused to believe in God and those who adamantly rejected their message.
Today, we commemorate also the feast of St. Vincent, a renowned saint of the past, whose life and dedication to the Lord was truly exemplary, and indeed should have inspired all of us to be more like him in our faith. He was a deacon and a faithful servant of the Church, who lived during turbulent times in the history of the Church, when many of the faithful lived under fear from the persecution by the Roman Empire, particularly under the rule of the Emperor Diocletian.
He served the faithful with great zeal and devotion in his role as a deacon, who was particularly involved in serving the poor and the destitute and in ensuring that the loving hands of the Church’s good works reached out to those who need help the most. He was therefore among those who were first to be captured and tortured by those who sought the destruction of the Church and the Faith during the great persecution of the Emperor Diocletian against the Christians.
He was outspoken in his defence of the faith and of the Church, and not only that he showed no fear of death or any hesitation, but he also refused any offer for release and good conduct if he would just abandon his faith and burn the Holy Scriptures. He was thus tortured and made to suffer grievously, but to the very end, he never gave up and continued to persevere, inspiring so many other people with his dedication and exemplary faith.
Brothers and sisters in Christ, today we have all heard the amazing stories of God’s good works through His servants and therefore, all of us should also be inspired to do the same as well. All of us should seek to follow our Lord ever more diligently and faithfully, and in all of our words, deeds and actions, we should conform to the Lord more and more, and dedicate ourselves ever more to His teachings.
May Almighty God, our Lord, bless us and keep us in His love. And may His grace continue to shine upon us that we who are sinners may draw closer to the fountain of His mercy. May God be with us all, now and forever. Amen.
Liturgical Colour : Green or Red (Martyrs)
Mark 3 : 13-19
At that time, Jesus went up into the hill country, and called those He wanted, and they came to Him. He appointed twelve to be with Him, and He called them Apostles. He wanted to send them out to preach, and He gave them authority to drive out demons.
These are the Twelve : Simon, to whom He gave the name Peter; James, son of Zebedee, and John his brother, to whom He gave the name Boanerges, which means men of thunder; Andrew, Philip, Bartholomew, Matthew, Thomas, James son of Alpheus, Thaddeus, Simon the Canaanean, and Judas Iscariot, the one who betrayed Him.
Liturgical Colour : Green or Red (Martyrs)
Psalm 56 : 2, 3-4, 6 and 11
Have mercy on me, o God, have mercy, for my soul takes refuge in You; I will find shelter in the shadow of Your wings till the disaster has passed.
I call on God the Most High, on God Who has done everything for me : may He send from Heaven a Saviour and put my oppressors to shame. May God send me His love and faithfulness.
Be exalted, o God, above the heavens! Your glory be over all the earth! For Your love reaches to the heavens, and Your faithfulness, to the clouds.
Liturgical Colour : Green or Red (Martyrs)
1 Samuel 24 : 3-21
So Saul took three thousand picked men from all Israel and went in search of David and his men to the east of the Wild Goat crags. When he came to the sheepfolds along the way, he entered a cave to relieve himself.
Now David and his men were far back in the cave. David’s men said to him, “This is the day which YHVH spoke of : Look I will deliver your enemy into your hands and you will do with him as you see fit.” So David moved up and stealthily cut off an end of Saul’s robe.
But afterward, David regretted having cut off an end of Saul’s robe, and he said to his men, “Let me not lay my hands on my master, for he is YHVH’s anointed.” With these words, David restrained his men and did not allow them to attack Saul. Saul then left the cave and went on his way.
Then David himself stepped out of the cave and called after Saul, “My master, the king!” When Saul looked back, David knelt and then bowed to the ground in homage and asked him, “Why do you listen to those who say that I want to harm you?”
“Look, today you have seen that YHVH delivered you into my hands in the cave, and I was told to kill you but I held myself back and I said : ‘I will not lift my hands against my master who is YHVH’s anointed. My father, look at this end of your robe which I am holding! I cut off the end of your robe, but did not kill you. Now you may know that I mean you no harm or treason. I have done you no wrong, and yet you are hunting me down to kill me.”
May YHVH be judge between you and me and may He exact justice from you in my case, but I shall do you no harm. As the saying goes, ‘From the wicked comes wickedness’; as for me, My hand shall not harm you. But who is it you are after, o king of Israel? Are you pursuing a dead dog? A flea? May YHVH be Judge between you and me. May He see and uphold my cause and deliver me from your hands.”
After David had spoken these words, Saul asked, “Is that your voice, my son David?” He wept aloud and said to David, “You are right and I am wrong, for you have repaid with kindness the harm I have inflicted on you. This day you have shown your righteousness to me by not taking my life when YHVH put me into your hands.”
“For if a man finds his enemy, will he let him go unharmed? May YHVH reward you for what you have done for me today. Now I know for certain that you shall reign and the kingdom of Israel will be firm in your hand.”
Liturgical Colour : Red
Dear brothers and sisters in Christ, on this day we celebrate the feast day of a great saint and martyr of the Church, namely St. Agnes the martyr, a holy virgin whose faith and dedication to the Lord made her to be steadfast and adamant against the pressure from those who sought to have her abandon her faith in the Lord and her chastity, and until the end, she persevered in her faith and remained committed to the Lord in all things.
St. Agnes was a young and devout woman who lived through the last years of the great persecution of the Church and the faithful under the Roman Emperor Diocletian, who pursued Christians far and wide in a futile attempt to destroy the Church and the Christian faith once and for all. St. Agnes was born in Rome in a Christian family, and her beauty was so great that there were many of those who attempted to suit her and hoping to get her attention.
But St. Agnes refused all of those men’s advances, and she remained true to her vow of chastity and purity, resisting all the desires of the flesh and the desires for pleasure that all of them had sought. But the actions of St. Agnes brought her ti the attention of those who desired her and yet had been rejected. Eventually it was found that St. Agnes was a Christian, who were therefore bound to be condemned to death as per the Emperor’s decree.
And thus she was tortured and was made to endure grievous sufferings as she adamantly and resolutely stood by her faith in God, refusing to reject the Lord and to recant her faith in exchange for her safety and comfort in this world. None of those torture forms could dissuade her or made her to change her mind. And thus, as she endured painful death in the Name of the Lord, she was brought up in glory to heaven, to enjoy forever the eternal fruits of life in God.
In all these, we see how the faithful will be rewarded, if we are able to detach ourselves from the attachments to the world and to all forms of sins, just as St. Agnes had once done. In the first reading today, we witnessed how the first king of Israel, Saul, became jealous of David, who would be the one to succeed him as king over all of the people of God, because David was becoming greater in the favours of God and men alike.
And then, in the Gospel reading, we heard about how Jesus our Lord Who taught the people of God on the truth and the salvation that He brought into the world by His coming onto the earth. We saw our Lord’s love for His people, that is all of us mankind, as He blessed them, fed them and healed them from their afflictions and from the possession by demons and evil spirits.
What does all these mean to us, brothers and sisters in Christ? How are they relevant to us and our lives in this world? By looking at the examples of St. Agnes the great martyr, and also the lives of the many other holy men and women of God, and in how king David once acted before he became king over Israel, remaining humble and unassuming, totally devoted to the Lord even though he was essentially the rival of the reigning king, Saul, all of us should realise that to become great disciples and followers of our Lord, we must all resist the temptations of our flesh, and welcome in us all, the spirit of God’s love.
Let us all therefore heed those good examples, and let us all die to our pride, our desire, our haughtiness, the arrogance and the negativities that have kept us all wicked and unworthy of God’s grace all these while. Let us sharpen the edge of our humility and of our devotion to the Lord, that we may ever give more and more of ourselves to the Lord, and thus receive from Him the pledge of enduring love and eternal life.
May God bless us all in our endeavours, and may He enlighten us with His grace, and may His blessings strengthen us in all of the things we say and do with the full faith in Him, so that in all that we say and do, we may bring greater glory to His Name, and bring salvation closer to one another. God be with us all. Amen.
Liturgical Colour : Red
Mark 3 : 7-12
At that time, Jesus and His disciples withdrew to the lakeside, and a large crowd from Galilee followed Him. A great number of people also came from Judea, Jerusalem, Idumea, Transjordan, and from the region of Tyre and Sidon, for they had heard of all that He was doing.
Because of the crowd, Jesus told His disciples to have a boat ready for Him, to prevent the people from crushing Him. He healed so many, that all who had diseases kept pressing towards Him to touch Him. Even the people who had evil spirits, whenever they saw Him, they would fall down before Him and cry out, “You are the Son of God.” But He warned them sternly not to tell anyone Who He was.
Liturgical Colour : Red
Psalm 55 : 2-3, 9-10ab, 10c-11, 12-13
O God, show Your mercy to me, for my foes are in hot pursuit; they press their attack on me all the time. My accusers pursue me all day long, many attack me.
You have a record of my laments; my tears are stored in Your wineskin. Are they not written on Your scroll? My enemies turn back when I call on You for help.
Now I know that God is for me. In God Whose word I praise.
In God I trust without fear. What can mortals do against me? I am bound to You by vows, o God; I shall offer my thanksgiving.
petercanisiusmichaeldavidkang 