Ordinary season

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Sunday, 2 February 2025 : Feast of the Presentation of the Lord (Homily and Scripture Reflections)

Liturgical Colour : White

Dear brothers and sisters in Christ, this Sunday as it happens on the second day of February this year, it coincides with the celebration of the Feast of the Presentation of the Lord, traditionally also known as the Feast of the Purification of the Blessed Virgin Mary or Candlemas, the fortieth day since the beginning of the Christmas season on Christmas Day. This day marks the definitive end for all Christmas events and festivities, which traditionally observes forty days period for Christmas. On this day we remember once again everything that has happened during the time when the Lord Jesus, the Saviour of the world was finally born into the world, revealing to everyone the great grace and salvation which God has long assured us all His people.

In this celebration of the Presentation of the Lord, we celebrate the moment when the Holy Child, the firstborn Son of Mary and His foster father, St. Joseph was presented to the Temple and House of God in Jerusalem as prescribed by the Law of God revealed through Moses. The Law prescribed that all the firstborn sons of the Israelites ought to be offered to God as a sign of the Covenant which He has made with all of them, and that was what Mary and St. Joseph had done, bearing the Child that was born in Bethlehem, the Saviour of the world. And it was on this occasion that the Lord revealed Himself to the Jewish people, as He was welcomed by the old man and prophet Simeon, and the prophetess Anna at the Temple, representing His coming and arrival to the people who had long awaited Him.

This Presentation of the Lord also foreshadowed His later role and ministry, in what He would do and fulfil for the salvation of all mankind, in the role that He would take as our One, True and Eternal High Priest, as the One to offer the perfect and most worthy sacrifice and offering for our redemption and salvation, liberating us from the darkness of evil and death, breaking us free from the chains of sin and death that have dominated us over from the beginning of time. And this marks the definitive end of the Christmas Season, as henceforth, we are preparing ourselves to enter into the season of Lent, the time of preparation and renewal, the journey of faith towards the celebration the aforementioned works and ministry that the Lord Himself would perform, as our High Priest and the Lamb of God, in His Passion, suffering and death on the Cross, and ultimately, His glorious Resurrection.

In our first reading today, we heard from the Book of the prophet Malachi, of the prophecy which the Lord passed to His people through Malachi, one of the last of the prophets of the Old Testament, who lived and ministered to the people of God about three to four centuries before the coming of the Messiah. After which, the Lord sent no more prophets until the fulfilment of what He had spoken through Malachi in what we had heard in our first reading today, of the coming of the messenger of God, preparing the path for the coming of the Saviour of the world. This prophecy of God passed through the prophet Malachi was speaking about St. John the Baptist, the Herald and the one who would proclaim the coming of the Saviour to the people. Indirectly, it also preempted the coming of the Messiah and His role as well, in the salvation and purification which He would give to all of us, God’s people.

Many of the people of Israel and their descendants at that time had the idea and understanding, expectation and vision that the Messiah sent by God, the Son and Heir of David, the Heir to the Kingdom of Israel, would be a great and conquering King, the One to liberate them from their enemies and overlords, to reestablish the glorious Kingdom of Israel as how it was during the glorious days of King David and King Solomon. However, the truth and reality is such that God sent His Son, our Lord and Saviour, to all of us so that He can deliver us all from the certainty of death and destruction because of our sins, and as He revealed Himself to us, in the form of that Holy Child, presented at the Temple in Jerusalem, we are all reminded of how great God’s love is for us, that He chose to be incarnate and to assume our human form and existence so that we can be saved.

God has always loved us all and He has given us His Son, and just as the author of the Epistle to the Hebrews in our second reading today highlighted to us, and as we have just discussed earlier on, He has come to share in our nature, because exactly by doing so, He can purify us all from our sins and wickedness, from all the corruptions and evils which had held us in bondage, keeping us away from the salvation and grace in God. In order for Him to offer the perfect and most worthy offering for the atonement of our sins, He has to come to us in the flesh, and in His humanity, bear the punishments for our sins. In doing so, He has united us all through His suffering and death, and by sharing in that suffering and death, we are led to die to our past selves and sins, and brought into the glory of everlasting life through His glorious Resurrection.

Through His perfect obedience to the will of His heavenly Father, Christ our Lord and Saviour has also shown us all the example to follow in how we all ought to obey the Lord, His Law, His commandments and will. It was because of our disobedience and unwillingness to follow His Law and commandments, our rebellion and our choice to follow the temptations of Satan and our desires that led us into ruin, separating us from the grace and love of God, falling into the path towards damnation and destruction, for separated from God and His love, He Who is the Lord and Master of Life, there can be no hope and future for us. But God never gave up on us, and He loves us all so much that He has promised us to send us the deliverance, which He fulfilled and accomplished through His only Begotten Son, Our Lord Jesus Christ, Whose Presentation at the Temple we commemorate today.

Brothers and sisters in Christ, as we all rejoice greatly today celebrating this occasion of the Presentation of Our Lord and Saviour at the Temple, let us all remember the love that God has for us, and the coming of this great Light and Hope that we have received through His coming into our midst. This day is also known as Candlemas, because in our Church tradition, this day the blessing of candles is carried out, with the lighted candles as reminders of the Light of Christ, the Light of our Hope and salvation which we have received through Christ and His coming into this world. And it is because of His coming that we have the assurance of freedom from the domination and bondage to sin and corruption of evil around us, which only the Lord can free us from.

Let us all therefore renew our commitment to the Lord, to follow Him wholeheartedly and to remain ever faithful to His cause, doing our best so that in everything that we say and do we will always strive to be worthy of God and be good examples and role models for one another. We also should remind ourselves of the commitments that we all have as Christians, as those whom God had called and chosen, that we all have been entrusted with the unique missions and vocations in life. Particularly today we pray on this day, which is also the World Day of Consecrated Life, for those who have dedicated and committed themselves in religious life, offering themselves to a life of prayer and virtue, as members of religious congregations and orders. Let us all pray that all of them will continue to be faithful to the Lord and continue to carry out their respective missions faithfully, just as we ourselves also do the same in our lives.

May our Lord and Saviour, Jesus Christ, the Light of the world, and our One, True Eternal High Priest, Who has offered Himself as the perfect and most worthy offering for the atonement of our many sins, continue to bless us all and guide us in our journey of faith through life, and may He continue to strengthen and bless us all so that we will continue to persevere well throughout the many obstacles, hardships and challenges that we may encounter in our path, so that one day, we may truly be completely and fully reunited with Him in the glory of everlasting life with Him. May God bless our every good efforts and endeavours, now and always. Amen.

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Sunday, 2 February 2025 : Feast of the Presentation of the Lord (Gospel Reading)

Liturgical Colour : White

Luke 2 : 22-40

When the day came for the purification according to the law of Moses, they brought the Baby up to Jerusalem, to present Him to the Lord, as it is written in the law of the Lord : Every firstborn male shall be consecrated to God. And they offered a sacrifice, as ordered in the law of the Lord : a pair of turtledoves or two young pigeons.

There lived in Jerusalem at this time a very upright and devout man named Simeon; the Holy Spirit was in him. He looked forward to the time when the Lord would comfort Israel, and he had been assured, by the Holy Spirit, that he would not die before seeing the Messiah of the Lord. So he was led into the Temple by the Holy Spirit at the time the parents brought the Child Jesus, to do for Him according to the custom of the Law.

Simeon took the Child in his arms, and blessed God, saying, “Now, o Lord, You can dismiss Your servant in peace, for You have fulfilled Your word and my eyes have seen Your salvation, which You display for all the people to see. Here is the Light You will reveal to the nations, and the glory of Your people Israel.”

His father and mother wondered at what was said about the Child. Simeon blessed them, and said to Mary, His mother, “Know this : your Son is a Sign, a Sign established for the falling and rising of many in Israel, a Sign of contradiction; and a sword will pierce your own soul, so that, out of many hearts, thoughts may be revealed.”

There was also a prophetess named Anna, daughter of Phanuel, of the tribe of Asher. After leaving her father’s home, she had been seven years with her husband, and since then she had been continually about the Temple, serving God as a widow night and day in fasting and prayer. She was now eighty-four. Coming up at that time, she gave praise to God, and spoke of the Child to all who looked forward to the deliverance of Jerusalem.

When the parents had fulfilled all that was required by the law of the Lord, they returned to their town, Nazareth in Galilee. There the Child grew in stature and strength, and was filled with wisdom: the grace of God was upon Him.

Alternative reading (shorter version)

Luke 2 : 22-32

When the day came for the purification according to the law of Moses, they brought the Baby up to Jerusalem, to present Him to the Lord, as it is written in the law of the Lord : Every firstborn male shall be consecrated to God. And they offered a sacrifice, as ordered in the law of the Lord : a pair of turtledoves or two young pigeons.

There lived in Jerusalem at this time a very upright and devout man named Simeon; the Holy Spirit was in him. He looked forward to the time when the Lord would comfort Israel, and he had been assured, by the Holy Spirit, that he would not die before seeing the Messiah of the Lord. So he was led into the Temple by the Holy Spirit at the time the parents brought the Child Jesus, to do for Him according to the custom of the Law.

Simeon took the Child in his arms, and blessed God, saying, “Now, o Lord, You can dismiss Your servant in peace, for You have fulfilled Your word and my eyes have seen Your salvation, which You display for all the people to see. Here is the Light You will reveal to the nations, and the glory of Your people Israel.”

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Sunday, 2 February 2025 : Feast of the Presentation of the Lord (Second Reading)

Liturgical Colour : White

Hebrews 2 : 14-18

And because all those children share one same nature of flesh and blood, Jesus, likewise, had to share this nature. This is why His death destroyed the one holding the power of death, that is the devil, and freed those who remained in bondage all their lifetime, because of the fear of death.

Jesus came, to take by the hand, not the Angels but the human race. So, He had to be like His brothers and sisters, in every respect, in order to be the High Priest, faithful to God and merciful to them, a Priest, able to ask pardon, and atone for their sins. Having been tested through suffering, He is able to help those who are tested.

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Sunday, 2 February 2025 : Feast of the Presentation of the Lord (Psalm)

Liturgical Colour : White

Psalm 23 : 7, 8, 9, 10

Lift up, o gateways, your lintels, open up, you ancient doors, that the King of glory may enter!

Who is the King of glory? YHVH, the Strong, the Mighty, YHVH, valiant in battle.

Lift up your lintels, o gateways, open up, you ancient doors, that the King of glory may enter!

Who is the King of glory? YHVH of Hosts, He is the King of glory!

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Sunday, 2 February 2025 : Feast of the Presentation of the Lord (First Reading)

Liturgical Colour : White

Malachi 3 : 1-4

Now I am sending My messenger ahead of Me to clear the way; then suddenly the Lord for Whom you long will enter the sanctuary. The Envoy of the covenant which you so greatly desire already comes, says YHVH of hosts. Who can bear the day of His coming and remain standing when He appears? For He will be like fire in the foundry and like the lye used for bleaching.

He will be as a refiner or a fuller. He will purify the sons of Levi and refine them like gold and silver. So YHVH will have priests who will present the offering as it should be. Then YHVH will accept with pleasure the offering of Judah and Jerusalem, as in former days.

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Saturday, 1 February 2025 : 3rd Week of Ordinary Time (Homily and Scripture Reflections)

Liturgical Colour : Green or White (Saturday Mass of Our Lady)

Dear brothers and sisters in Christ, as we all listened from the words of the Sacred Scriptures today, we are all reminded of the need for us to put our complete trust and faith in the Lord, and we should have genuine and true faith in Him, a faith that is not easily shaken by the many temptations, troubles, trials and challenges that we may have to face in our lives today. We must always keep in mind that the Lord is always faithful to the Covenant which He has made with each and every one of us, and He is always by our side, guiding and strengthening us in our journey throughout life, in everything that we say and do, in our every moments in life. We must not be easily frightened or threatened by the obstacles that we experience because if we remain true to the Lord, we will share in His triumph and victory.

In our first reading today, we heard from the Epistle to the Hebrews in which the author of this Epistle spoke to the Jewish community and believers about their well-known forefather, Abraham, the father of all the Israelites and many other nations, the one whom God had called from the land of Ur in Mesopotamia to follow Him and to go to the land that He would grant to him and his descendants. God called this rich but old man, Abram, from the land of his forefathers, together with his wife, then named Sarai, who by then had also been very old and beyond childbearing age, after having failed to conceive and bear a child even after many years with her husband. God called this family to follow Him and made them to be the ones with whom He established His Covenant. And everything happened as the Lord has promised it, all because Abram, who changed his name to be Abraham after the Covenant, and Sarah, his wife, believed in the Lord and His Covenant.

We heard the parts of the story of Abraham, who followed the Lord faithfully and committed himself to Him even if he himself was unable to witness everything that God had told him and promised him. He was told that he would become the father of many nations, through the son that the Lord had promised him, the son that his wife Sarah would bear to him, namely Isaac, who was mentioned in that reading passage today. When God called on Abraham to offer his beloved son Isaac as a sacrifice at Mount Moriah, Abraham committed himself to the Lord without hesitation, trusting in God wholeheartedly and surrendered his own beloved son Isaac to be offered to God. God was just testing Abraham to see if he was truly faithful to the Covenant that God has established with him, and for this great and genuine faith, God blessed Abraham all the more.

In fact, this event of the offering of Isaac, the beloved son of Abraham was a prefigurement of what the Lord Himself would do for us mankind, as He sent us all His own only Begotten Son, Jesus Christ, the Son of God to be incarnate and to be born as a Man like us, taking up our own human nature and existence, becoming the means through Whom God would save all of us, His beloved people, by the selfless and most perfect and worthy sacrifice which He offered on the Cross, breaking His own Most Precious Body and pouring out His own Most Precious Blood to bring forth the salvation which He has assured us all from the very beginning. And by this singular action, God has brought unto us what He has promised, and established with us a New and Eternal Covenant.

In our Gospel passage today, we heard from the Gospel according to St. Mark the Evangelist in which we heard of the miraculous occasion in which the Lord Jesus calmed down the wind and waves in a storm as He was travelling together with His disciples in a boat. The disciples were all spooked and horrified when they encountered a great storm with large waves and strong wind as they were travelling in the lake, likely the Lake of Galilee where the Lord often ministered at, and in the meantime, Jesus Himself was sleeping in the boat. The disciples begged Him to do something, and He rebuked them for their little faith, and then proceeded on to calm the storm which immediately came to an end, showing the great power of God over all things, even over the forces of nature.

In that story from the Gospel we can see clearly the manifestation and representation of the Church of God and all of us the faithful people of God, represented by the Lord’s disciples, and the Lord Himself Who is at the helm of the Church journeying together through the turbulent and dangerous storms, waves and the many uncertainties surrounding us all in this life we have in this world. The waves and the storm represent all the challenges, hardships and difficulties which we all may have to endure amidst our journey in life. The boat represents the Church of God, which is often represented as an Ark, also alluding to the historical Noah’s Ark. As long as we remain united in the Church and anchored firmly in our faith in the Lord, we will be truly triumphant in the end with the Lord.

But if we allow our fears, doubts and uncertainties, and also all the temptations and evils around us to distract us from the Lord, and lead us down the path of ruin and destruction, then like those who may choose to jump from the boat to save themselves, they are likely going to be swallowed by the waves and drown. This is why no matter what sufferings and hardships that we may have to encounter in this life, we have to remember that we are not suffering from them alone, and first of all, the Lord Himself is always by our side, providing for us and guiding us throughout, and we are also surrounded by our fellow brothers and sisters, our fellow Christians all around us, as we are all part of this one Church of God, one Body of Christ and one flock of God’s faithful, who will always be remembered and loved by God, our loving and Good Shepherd.

Brothers and sisters in Christ, let us all therefore be reminded of the great faith of Abraham and our other forefathers, the saints, the holy men and women who had dedicated themselves to God, and who have lived their lives worthily as God’s holy and beloved people, as inspirations and great role models to others, even when they were facing great trials, challenges, and sufferings, in which many of them suffered martyrdom and destruction, but all those things they endured faithfully and willingly for the Lord. Let us also be reminded as mentioned earlier, of the great love that God has shown us all, in establishing and affirming His Covenant with us through His only Begotten Son, Who has willingly taken up and embraced all of our sins, and Who suffered and died for us so that we all may live and share in the everlasting life that He has assured us all of.

May the Lord, our most loving God and Father continue to be with us in all things, and may He continue to empower each and every one of us so that we may continue to grow ever stronger in faith, and that we may always uphold a strong faith truly anchored in Him. Let us all be good inspirations and role models ourselves in how we live our lives so that we may help lead many others to the Lord as well. May God bless our every good works and endeavours, now and always. Amen.

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Saturday, 1 February 2025 : 3rd Week of Ordinary Time (Gospel Reading)

Liturgical Colour : Green or White (Saturday Mass of Our Lady)

Mark 4 : 35-41

At that time, on that same day, when evening had come, Jesus said to them, “Let us go across to the other side.”

So they left the crowd, and took Him away in the boat He had been sitting in, and other boats set out with Him. Then a storm gathered and it began to blow a gale. The waves spilled over into the boat, so that it was soon filled with water. Jesus was in the stern, sleeping on a cushion.

They woke Him up, and said, “Master, do You not care if we drown?” And rising up, Jesus rebuked the wind, and ordered the sea, “Quiet now! Be still!” The wind dropped, and there was a great calm. Then Jesus said to them, “Why are you so frightened? Do you still have no faith?”

But they were terrified, and they said to one another, “Who can this be? Even the wind and the sea obey Him!”

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Saturday, 1 February 2025 : 3rd Week of Ordinary Time (Psalm)

Liturgical Colour : Green or White (Saturday Mass of Our Lady)

Luke 1 : 69–70, 71-72, 73-75

In the house of David His servant, He has raised up for us a victorious Saviour; as He promised through His prophets of old.

Salvation from our enemies and from the hand of our foes. He has shown mercy to our fathers; and remembered His holy covenant.

The oath He swore to Abraham, our father, to deliver us from the enemy, that we might serve Him fearlessly, as a holy and righteous people, all the days of our lives.

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Saturday, 1 February 2025 : 3rd Week of Ordinary Time (First Reading)

Liturgical Colour : Green or White (Saturday Mass of Our Lady)

Hebrews 11 : 1-2, 8-19

Faith is the assurance of what we hope for, being certain of what we cannot see. Because of their faith our ancestors were approved. It was by faith that Abraham, called by God, set out for a country that would be given to him as an inheritance; for he parted without knowing where he was going.

By faith he lived as a stranger in that promised land. There he lived in tents, as did Isaac and Jacob, beneficiaries of the same promise. Indeed, he looked forward to that city of solid foundation of which God is the Architect and Builder.

By faith Sarah herself received power to become a mother, in spite of her advanced age; since she believed that He Who had made the promise would be faithful. Therefore, from an almost impotent man were born descendants as numerous as the stars of heavens, as many as the grains of sand on the seashore.

Death found all these people strong in their faith. They had not received what was promised, but they had looked ahead and had rejoiced in it from afar, saying that they were foreigners and travellers on earth. Those who speak in this way prove that they are looking for their own country. For if they had longed for the land they had left, it would have been easy for them to return, but no, they aspired to a better city, that is, a supernatural one; so God, Who prepared the city for them is not ashamed of being called their God.

By faith Abraham went to offer Isaac when God tested him. And so he who had received the promise of God offered his only son although God had told him : Isaac’s descendants will bear your name. Abraham reasoned that God is capable even of raising the dead, and he received back his son, which has a figurative meaning.

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Friday, 31 January 2025 : 3rd Week of Ordinary Time, Memorial of St. John Bosco, Priest (Homily and Scripture Reflections)

Liturgical Colour : White

Dear brothers and sisters in Christ, today as we all listened to the words of the Sacred Scriptures, we are all reminded of the need for all of us as Christians to embody our faith in everything that we say and do, to be truly faithful to God in all things and to be sincere in how we live our lives with faith and not to be merely paying lip service or be superficial in how we live our Christian living and commitments. Each and every one of us are parts of the Kingdom of God, the Church, which the Lord has established in this world and made manifest through each and every one of us living our lives in the manner that He Himself has revealed and taught to us. If we do not truly live in our lives in the manner that we have been expected to, then we cannot truly call or consider ourselves as true and genuine Christians.

In our first reading today, we heard from the Epistle to the Hebrews in which the author of this Epistle continued to remind the faithful people of God, especially those who belonged to the Jewish community in the early Church of the guidance and providence that their Lord and God would grant them as He would always be by their side, journeying with them and remaining with them throughout their respective journeys in life. The author spoke of the sufferings, challenges and difficulties that the faithful people of God had to suffer amidst their lives as Christians, in opposing the falsehoods and the evils of the world, and also in facing the disapproval from all those who disagreed with them and did not believe in what they believed in. And he also spoke of the good deeds and actions which the faithful had continued to do despite those difficulties and challenges that they had to face.

The author of the Epistle to the Hebrews also spoke about the need for the people of God to remain strong and faithful amidst the many challenges, struggles and problems that they might have to face in their journey as followers of the Lord, and encouraged and reassured them that they would be vindicated and would earn their rest in the Lord in the end, if they continued to remain faithful and firm in their conviction to follow the Lord and in continuing to adhere to His Law, commandments and teachings. It is an important reminder for all of us that we must always centre our lives and focus our attention on the Lord, and put our complete trust and faith in Him, and we should not allow fear, worry or doubt to overcome us, or to distract us from our faith in the Lord, from this path towards Him and His salvation and eternal life.

Then, in our Gospel passage today taken from the Gospel according to St. Mark the Evangelist, we heard of the words of the Lord Jesus to His disciples and followers, and to all others who were listening to Him about the kingdom of God which He presented to them using parables to explain to them its importance, meaning and significance. The kingdom of God is likened to a man sowing seeds in the field, and how the seeds grew into plants and produce their fruits bountifully by the grace of God, reminding us of God’s guidance for His Church and for all of us Christians in each and every parts of our efforts and works. We must always have faith in the Lord and put our trust in Him, as without His guidance and providence, nothing that we do can bear any fruits, at all. Everything is possible because of God and His Presence in our lives.

The other parable that the Lord used was the parable of the mustard seed, which is a very small seed, and yet, when it grows, it becomes a very large tree relative to the size of its seed, and the Lord mentioned how this mustard tree can become shelter for many birds that came to seek roost and shelter upon the tree’s many branches. This is a reminder for us that each and every one of our works, efforts and contributions do matter a lot, and the Lord Himself used the same mustard seed example in another occasion to highlight how even small faith the size of a mustard seed, used as a figurative comparison, can move mountains, showing that a genuine and true faith, filled with devotion and true commitment to God can do amazing things, beyond our imagination and beliefs.

This is why we have been reminded through this reading today from the parables that the Lord had taught to His disciples, that we should always be active in living up to our Christian calling and mission, making good use of whatever gifts, blessings and opportunities that the Lord has provided us with, and we should not be afraid or fearful, or be doubtful of the Lord and His guidance and providence. The Lord Who is ever faithful and committed to the Covenant that He has made with us, will always be by our side, even through the most difficult and challenging moments. Yes, we may have to suffer and face hardships, but so has the Lord our Saviour Himself suffered for our sake, and He has triumphed over His enemies, over sin and death, and through His victory, all of us will also share in His triumph as well.

Today, the Church also celebrates the Feast of St. John Bosco, a well-renowned priest and saint, a holy man and devoted servant of God who have lived his life worthily of the Lord, ever devoted to the cause of the Lord and His Church particularly to those people whom he had committed himself in serving, the children and other juveniles living in the streets and those youths who had been abandoned by their families and the community. St. John Bosco spent his time working with the orphans and abandoned boys, especially those who were neglected and ignored by the society, establishing eventually a safe place and home for all of them to stay in and to be taken good care of, educated and equipped with good skills to help them to survive in the society.

This place, called the Oratorio, also served to take care of the needs of the community around it, and the efforts and works of St. John Bosco gained a lot of good fruits. But with the successes also came a lot of challenges and hardships, just as our Scripture passages today had told us and which we had just discussed. Some of the townspeople and council members opposed the works of St. John Bosco, slandered him and spread false accusations of his works with the orphans and abandoned boys, that they had to move from place to place, and had to face eviction in some occasions. Yet, St. John Bosco did not easily give up his works and efforts, and he continued to do his best to labour for the sake of the people of God, for the marginalised and least of the society, to the end of his life.

Brothers and sisters in Christ, let us all therefore be inspired by the good examples set by St. John Bosco and by our many other holy predecessors, and as members and parts of the Church of God, the Kingdom of God which the Lord Himself has established int his world, let us all realise our duties and responsibilities in fulfilling the missions which have been entrusted to us as those whom God had called and chosen to be His own. Let us all and our lives, each and every one of our words, actions and deeds continue to be inspired by our faith and obedience to God, our love for Him and our willingness to commit ourselves thoroughly to His cause. Let our efforts and good works be truly manifesting in the many successes of the works of the Church, in the salvation of ever more souls, leading more and more towards God and His salvation. May God be with us always, and bless our every good endeavours, now and forevermore. Amen.