Passiontide

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Sunday, 13 April 2025 : Palm Sunday of the Passion of the Lord (Gospel Reading)

Liturgical Colour : Red

Luke 19 : 28-40

At that time, Jesus spoke, and then He passed on ahead of them, on His way to Jerusalem. When He drew near to Bethphage and Bethany, close to the Mount of Olives, He sent two of His disciples with these instructions, “Go to the village opposite; and, as you enter it, you will find a colt tied up, that no one has yet ridden. Untie it, and bring it here. And if anyone says to you, ‘Why are you untying this colt?’ You shall say, ‘The Master needs it.’”

So the two disciples went and found things just as Jesus had said. As they were untying the colt, the owner said to them, “Why are you untying the colt?” And they answered, “The Master needs it.” So they brought it to Jesus and, throwing their cloaks on the colt, they mounted Jesus on it. And as He went along, people spread their cloaks on the road.

When Jesus came near Jerusalem, to the place where the road slopes down from the Mount of Olives, the whole multitude of His disciples began to rejoice, and to praise God with a loud voice for all the miracles they had seen; and they cried out, “Blessed is He Who comes as King in the Name of the Lord. Peace in heaven, and glory in the highest heavens.”

Some Pharisees in the crowd said to Him, “Master, rebuke Your disciples!” But Jesus answered, “I tell you, if they were to remain silent, the stones would cry out.”

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Sunday, 6 April 2025 : Fifth Sunday of Lent (Homily and Scripture Reflections)

Liturgical Colour : Purple/Violet

Dear brothers and sisters in Christ, this Sunday we mark the occasion of the Fifth Sunday of Lent, and this reminds us how close we are to the beginning of the Holy Week and the Paschal Triduum, with the former beginning a week from now with Palm Sunday. Therefore, as we enter into this moment of contemplation and reflection, and remembering what we have just heard from our Scripture readings earlier on, the Word of God, we are all called to keep in mind how we ought to prepare ourselves well so that we may truly embody our faith and belief in our every moments in life, that we may truly bear the rich fruits of this Lenten observance and practice that hopefully we have carried out well and faithfully throughout this blessed time and season of Lent provided to us.

In our first reading this Sunday, we heard from the Book of the prophet Isaiah in which the Lord said to His people, reminding them all of the great deeds which He had done before them and their ancestors, mentioning how He had opened the path for the Israelites through the sea, and crushing the forces of armies, chariots and horses sent to chase after them. We heard how the Lord reminded His people of everything that He had done in guiding them to the land that He has promised to them from the time of their forefathers, opening the path before them and clearing their enemies and those who sought their downfall and destruction, leading the armies of His people to triumph and victory. All those things God had done for the people that He truly cherished and loved, but unfortunately they and their descendants forgot about them and ignored the Lord.

That was why He sent them these reminders and made them known His intentions and thoughts just as He had done through His prophets, like that of Isaiah. God wanted all of His people to know that He is always with them and that He will not abandon us, unlike just how unfaithful and weak our faith and obedience to Him have been. He wants all of us to know that we are all precious to Him, and none of us are to be separated from Him. God will do whatever it takes to help us to find reconciliation, healing and forgiveness through His most generous and rich mercy, calling on all of us to embrace His love and to put our trust once again in Him. If we know we are truly beloved by God, would it not indeed make us happy and hopeful knowing that we have God by our side, journeying with us together and supporting us in each and every moments of our lives?

Then, from our second reading this Sunday, taken from the Epistle of St. Paul to the Church and the faithful people of God in the city and region of Ephesus, we are being reminded of the great love which God has given to us, and the grace that He has bestowed upon us, His beloved children and people, by the Covenant which He has established and made firm through His own only Begotten Son, Our Lord and Saviour, Jesus Christ, the One sent into our midst to reveal to us the manifestation of God’s most generous love and mercy, which He has freely given to all of us so that we may receive life through Him. And as St. Paul highlighted in that passage today, through Christ we have received the promise of the Resurrection, the ultimate triumph against sin and death, which we all shall share just as we have shared in His sufferings and death on the Cross.

By His death and resurrection, Christ our Lord has overcome sin and the world, and broke free the chains that prevented us from coming back to the Lord, our most loving Father and Creator. Our disobedience and refusal to obey the Lord’s truth and Law prevented us all from being reunited with our God and Father, and it was by Christ’s most selfless and loving sacrifice on the Altar of His Cross that He has offered on our behalf the perfect and most worthy offering on behalf of each and every one of us, so that He may redeem all of us, bringing about healing and atonement for each and every one of our innumerable sins, which had corrupted and ruled over us, dominating us, but now by the power of God, we have been made free and worthy once again to receive the fullness of His love and grace.

Then, last of all, from our Gospel passage today, taken from the Gospel according to St. John the Apostle and Evangelist we heard of the moment when the Lord Jesus encountered a group of Pharisees and teachers of the Law who sought to trap Him with the case of a woman who had been caught in the act of adultery. According to the Jewish laws and customs, especially the extra strict and rigid rule enforced and followed by the Pharisees and the teachers of the Law, such an act of adultery would have led to punishment by stoning to death. That was why the Pharisees asked and pressured the Lord to respond to the case of the adulterous woman with the wicked intention of hoping that they could find something wrong in what He was to say and therefore they could accuse Him or advance their own cause. 

For example, if the Lord had said that the adulterous woman should be forgiven and shown mercy, as His enemies would have expected Him to do, given His penchant for outreach to sinners like prostitutes and tax collectors, then the Pharisees could accuse the Lord of colluding and siding with sinners, disobeying and refusing to obey the commandments of the Law of God. On the other hand, if the Lord said that the adulterous woman ought to be stoned for the sin that she had committed, then it was exactly what the Pharisees themselves would have done, and thus they could add on or gain to their own popularity and cause by claiming that what the Lord Jesus taught was affirming the teachings and the ways of the Pharisees.

But the Lord calmly evaded the argument as we all have heard, while those Pharisees continued to pressure Him to take action on the adulterous woman. It was there and then that the Lord in His Divine Wisdom told those people that if any one among them had no sin in them, then that person could cast the first stone to be thrown at the woman. And we heard how one by one, all those people left, beginning from the oldest, who likely had committed the most sins and disobedience to God, to the youngest ones among them. The truth is that, there was indeed one person there at that place who was without sin, and that was none other than the Lord Jesus Himself. And although He could indeed have cast the first stone, Jesus showed us all the meaning and importance of God’s generous mercy and forgiveness.

He showed this to us all by forgiving that woman from her sins, pardoning her from the faults that she had made. Not only that, but as we heard, the Lord also told the woman that she should sin no more and live her life in the manner that is worthy of God from then on. And it is here exactly where we are reminded of what God has always desired to do with us, to forgive us all our sins and to bring us back to His loving embrace, while at the same time reminding us that we should no longer disobey Him, or to remain in the state of sin. Instead, all of us are called to embrace wholeheartedly the mercy which God has for us, and to change our way of life so that we are no longer corrupted and defiled by sin and its allures, showing that we truly commit ourselves to God and to His path of righteousness and virtue.

Brothers and sisters in Christ, each and every one of us as Christians, as God’s holy and beloved people, we are all expected to live our lives in the manner that God has shown and taught us to do, to be truly inspirational and exemplary in each and every things we do in life, in our every words, actions and deeds so that our every moments in life truly embody our belief and faith in God. God has called on all of us to be a truly holy and righteous people, those whom He had called and chosen to be His own. Therefore, we should indeed heed His call and do our part so that we may truly be worthy to be called the children and holy people of God. May our Lenten observances and practices help us all to draw ever closer to God, walking ever more courageously in the path that He has shown and led us through.

May God be with us all, and may He continue to bless our every good works, efforts and endeavours, in our desire to be reunited and reconciled with Him, so that one day all of us may enjoy forever the fullness of God’s glory and love. Amen.

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Sunday, 6 April 2025 : Fifth Sunday of Lent (Gospel Reading)

Liturgical Colour : Purple/Violet

John 8 : 1-11

At that time, Jesus went to the Mount of Olives. At daybreak, Jesus appeared in the Temple again. All the people came to Him, and He sat down and began to teach them.

Then the teachers of the Law and the Pharisees brought in a woman who had been caught in the act of adultery. They made her stand in front of everyone. “Master,” they said, “this woman has been caught in the act of adultery. Now the Law of Moses orders that such women be stoned to death; but You, what do You say?” They said this to test Jesus, in order to have some charge against Him.

Jesus bent down and started writing on the ground with His finger. And as they continued to ask Him, He straightened up and said to them, “Let anyone among you who has no sin be the first to throw a stone at her.” And He bent down, again, writing on the ground. As a result of these words, they went away, one by one, starting with the elders, and Jesus was left alone, with the woman standing before Him.

Then Jesus stood up and said to her, “Woman, where are they? Has no one condemned you?” She replied, “No one.” And Jesus said, “Neither do I condemn you; go away and do not sin again.”

Alternative reading (Reading from Year A)

John 11 : 1-45

At that time, there was a sick man named Lazarus who was from Bethany, the village of Mary and her sister Martha. This is the same Mary, who anointed the Lord with perfume and wiped His feet with her hair. Her brother Lazarus was sick.

So the sisters sent this message to Jesus, “Lord, the one You love is sick.” On hearing this, Jesus said, “This illness will not end in death; rather it is for God’s glory, and the Son of God will be glorified through it.”

It is a fact that Jesus loved Martha and her sister and Lazarus; yet, after He heard of the illness of Lazarus, He stayed two days longer in the place where He was. Only then did He say to His disciples, “Let us go into Judea again.” They replied, “Master, recently the Jews wanted to stone You. Are You going there again?”

Jesus said to them, “Are not twelve working hours needed to complete a day? Those who walk in the daytime shall not stumble, for they see the light of this world. But those who walk at night stumble, for there is no light in them.” After that Jesus said to them, “Our friend Lazarus has fallen asleep, but I am going to wake him.”

The disciples replied, “Lord, a sick person who sleeps will recover.” But Jesus had referred to Lazarus’ death, while they thought that He had meant the repose of sleep. So Jesus said plainly, “Lazarus is dead; and for your sake I am glad I was not there, for now you may believe. But let us go there, where he is.” Then Thomas, called the Twin, said to his fellow disciples, “Let us also go, that we may die with Him.”

When Jesus came, He found that Lazarus had been in the tomb for four days. As Bethany is near Jerusalem, about two miles away, many Jews had come to Martha and Mary, after the death of their brother, to comfort them. When Martha heard that Jesus was coming, she went to meet Him, while Mary remained sitting in the house. And she said to Jesus, “If You had been here, my brother would not have died. But I know that whatever You ask from God, God will give You.” Jesus said, “Your brother will rise again.”

Martha replied, “I know that he will rise in the resurrection, at the last day.” But Jesus said to her, “I am the Resurrection. Whoever believes in Me, though he die, shall live. Whoever lives and believes in Me will never die. Do you believe this?” Martha then answered, “Yes, Lord, I have come to believe that You are the Christ, the Son of God, He Who is coming into the world.”

After that Martha went and called her sister Mary secretly, saying, “The Master is here and is calling for you.” As soon as Mary heard this, she rose and went to Him. Jesus had not yet come into the village, but was still in the place where Martha had met Him. The Jews, who were with her in the house consoling her, also came. When they saw her get up and go out, they followed her, thinking that she was going to the tomb to weep.

As for Mary, when she came to the place where Jesus was and saw Him, she fell at His feet and said, “Lord, if You had been here, my brother would not have died.” When Jesus saw her weeping, and the Jews also weeping, who had come with her, He was moved in the depths of His Spirit and troubled. Then He asked, “Where have you laid him?” They answered, “Lord, come and see.” Jesus wept.

The Jews said, “See how He loved him!” But some of them said, “If He could open the eyes of the blind man, could He not have kept this man from dying?” Jesus was deeply moved again, and drew near to the tomb. It was a cave with a stone laid across it. Jesus said, “Take the stone away.” Martha said to Him, “Lord, by now he will smell, for this is the fourth day.” Jesus replied, “Have I not told you that, if you believe, you will see the glory of God?” So they removed the stone.

Jesus lifted up His eyes and said, “Father, I thank You for You have heard Me. I knew that You hear Me always; but My prayer was for the sake of these people, that they may believe that You sent Me.” When Jesus had said this, He cried out in a loud voice, “Lazarus, come out!”

The dead man came out, his hands and feet bound with linen strips, and his face wrapped in a cloth. Jesus said to them, “Untie him, and let him go.” Many of the Jews who had come with Mary believed in Jesus when they saw what He did.

Alternative reading (shorter version of reading from Year A)

John 11 : 3-7, 17, 20-27, 33b-45

So the sisters sent this message to Jesus, “Lord, the one You love is sick.” On hearing this, Jesus said, “This illness will not end in death; rather it is for God’s glory, and the Son of God will be glorified through it.”

It is a fact that Jesus loved Martha and her sister and Lazarus; yet, after He heard of the illness of Lazarus, He stayed two days longer in the place where He was. Only then did He say to His disciples, “Let us go into Judea again.”

When Jesus came, He found that Lazarus had been in the tomb for four days. When Martha heard that Jesus was coming, she went to meet Him, while Mary remained sitting in the house. And she said to Jesus, “If You had been here, my brother would not have died. But I know that whatever You ask from God, God will give You.” Jesus said, “Your brother will rise again.”

Martha replied, “I know that he will rise in the resurrection, at the last day.” But Jesus said to her, “I am the Resurrection. Whoever believes in Me, though he die, shall live. Whoever lives and believes in Me will never die. Do you believe this?” Martha then answered, “Yes, Lord, I have come to believe that You are the Christ, the Son of God, He Who is coming into the world.”

Jesus was moved in the depths of His Spirit and troubled. Then He asked, “Where have you laid him?” They answered, “Lord, come and see.” Jesus wept.

The Jews said, “See how He loved him!” But some of them said, “If He could open the eyes of the blind man, could He not have kept this man from dying?” Jesus was deeply moved again, and drew near to the tomb. It was a cave with a stone laid across it. Jesus said, “Take the stone away.” Martha said to Him, “Lord, by now he will smell, for this is the fourth day.” Jesus replied, “Have I not told you that, if you believe, you will see the glory of God?” So they removed the stone.

Jesus lifted up His eyes and said, “Father, I thank You for You have heard Me. I knew that You hear Me always; but My prayer was for the sake of these people, that they may believe that You sent Me.” When Jesus had said this, He cried out in a loud voice, “Lazarus, come out!”

The dead man came out, his hands and feet bound with linen strips, and his face wrapped in a cloth. Jesus said to them, “Untie him, and let him go.” Many of the Jews who had come with Mary believed in Jesus when they saw what He did.

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Sunday, 6 April 2025 : Fifth Sunday of Lent (Second Reading)

Liturgical Colour : Purple/Violet

Philippians 3 : 8-14

Still more, everything seems to me, as nothing, compared to the knowledge of Christ Jesus, my Lord. For His sake, I have let everything fall away, and I now consider all as garbage, if, instead, I may gain Christ. May I be found in Him, not having a righteousness of my own, that comes from the Law, but with the righteousness that God gives, to those who believe.

May I know Him, and experience the power of His resurrection, and share in His sufferings, and become like Him, in His death, and attain, through this, God willing, the resurrection from the dead! I do not believe I have already reached the goal, nor do I consider myself perfect, but I press on till I conquer Christ Jesus, as I have already been conquered by Him.

No, brothers and sisters, I do not claim to have claimed the prize yet. I say only this : forgetting what is behind me, I race forward, and run toward the goal, my eyes on the prize, to which God has called us from above, in Christ Jesus.

Alternative reading (Reading from Year A)

Romans 8 : 8-11

So, those walking according to the flesh cannot please God. Yet your existence is not in the flesh, but in the spirit, because the Spirit of God is within you. If you did not have the Spirit of Christ, you would not belong to Him.

But Christ is within you; though the body is branded by death as a consequence of sin, the spirit is life and holiness. And if the Spirit of Him Who raised Jesus from the dead is within you, He Who raised Jesus Christ from among the dead will also give life to your mortal bodies. Yes, He will do it through His Spirit Who dwells within you.

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Sunday, 6 April 2025 : Fifth Sunday of Lent (Psalm)

Liturgical Colour : Purple/Violet

Psalm 125 : 1-2ab, 2cd-3, 4-5, 6

When YHVH brought the exiles back to Zion, we were like those moving in a dream. Then, our mouths were filled with laughter, and our tongues with songs of joy.

Among the nations it was said, “YHVH has done great things for them.” YHVH had done great things for us, and we were glad indeed.

Bring back our exiles, o YHVH, like fresh streams in the desert. Those who sow in tears will reap with songs and shouts of joy.

They went forth weeping, bearing the seeds for sowing, they will come home with joyful shouts, bringing their harvested sheaves.

Alternative Psalm (Psalm from Year A)

Psalm 129 : 1-2, 3-4, 5-7a, 7bc-8

Out of the depths I cry to You, o Lord, o Lord, hear my voice! Let Your ears pay attention to the voice of my supplication.

If You should mark our evil, o Lord, who could stand? But with You is forgiveness.

For that You are revered. I waited for the Lord, my soul waits, and I put my hope in His word. My soul expects the Lord more than watchmen the dawn.

O Israel, hope in the Lord, for with Him is unfailing love and with Him full deliverance. He will deliver Israel from all its sins.

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Sunday, 6 April 2025 : Fifth Sunday of Lent (First Reading)

Liturgical Colour : Purple/Violet

Isaiah 43 : 16-21

Thus says YHVH, Who opened a way through the sea and a path in the mighty waters, Who brought down chariots and horses, a whole army of them, and there they lay, never to rise again, snuffed out like a wick. But do not dwell on the past, or remember the things of old. Look, I am doing a new thing : now it springs forth. Do you not see?

I am opening up a way in the wilderness and rivers in the desert. The beasts of the land will honour Me, jackals and ostriches, because I give water in the wilderness and rivers in the desert that My chosen people may drink. I have formed this people for Myself; they will proclaim My praise.

Alternative reading (Reading from Year A)

Ezekiel 37 : 12-14

YHVH said to Ezekiel, “So prophesy! Say to them : This is what YHVH says : I am going to open your tombs, My people, and lead you back to the land of Israel. You will know that I am YHVH, o My people! When I open your graves and bring you out of your graves.”

“When I put My Spirit in you and you live. I shall settle you in your land and you will know that I, YHVH, have done what I said I would do.”

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Sunday, 31 March 2024 : Easter Vigil Mass, Easter Sunday of the Resurrection of the Lord (Homily and Scripture Reflections)

Liturgical Colour : White

Dear brothers and sisters in Christ, Alleluia! Alleluia! Alleluia! Christ is Risen from the dead, He has risen and conquered sin, destroyed the chains that had held us down all these while, broken free the prisons of the underworld, and led all of those who have faith in Him to Himself. Alleluia! He is Risen! And we all truly rejoice greatly and wonderfully this evening because at this moment we mark the occasion when Jesus Christ, Our Lord and Saviour, the Son of God, on the third day of the Triduum of His Passion, His suffering, Crucifixion and death, rose in glory just as He Himself had predicted and told to His disciples, showing them and all of us, that sin and death truly have no power over Him, and that those do not have the final say over all of us.

At this moment, after having gone through the entire season and time of Lent from Ash Wednesday, having not sung the great and most joyful Alleluia, now we finally sing out with great joy this hymn of great praise to God, and rightly so because we give Him thanks for everything the He had done for our sake, and we thank Him most graciously for having given us all His Son to save us all, just as we have commemorated everything that happened throughout His Passion or Suffering, when Jesus Christ, Our Lord and Saviour, endured the worst punishments, sufferings and trials, all for the sake of our salvation and liberation from evil, sin and death. We rejoice because through His Resurrection afterwards, the Lord Jesus showed us all that not even sin and death can rule over us, and in the end, we can have the sure hope of eternal life with God.

In tonight’s Easter Vigil liturgy, we heard of the glorious retelling of the entire story of the salvation of the world, as narrated to us through the Scriptures, particularly from the seven readings taken from the Old Testament, while the number may vary, but the readings highlighting the Creation of the World from the Book of Genesis and the liberation of the Israelites from their slavery in Egypt in the moment when they walked through the Red Sea are always read in tonight’s Mass celebrations, as all these highlighted to us how God truly brought everything that He had created all good and perfect, back into their original state of perfection and goodness, by everything which His Son had done, in restoring the once broken relationship between God and mankind, His ultimate creation, made in His own image.

From the Book of Genesis where we heard the story of the Creation of the world, we heard how God created all things from nothingness, through the power of His will, and how the Son Himself was present in the work of Creation, for Christ Our Lord, the Son of God Incarnate, is also the Word of God, through Whom God created the world, when He willed all the things in Creation into being through His Word. God made all things perfect and all good, without blemish or flaw, until He created us all mankind in His own image, making us all to be partakers of His love, and to be the stewards of all the things that He had created. However, our ancestors chose to follow the falsehoods and lies of Satan instead, and succumbed to temptations, which was why sin entered into our hearts and bodies, corrupting us and leading to the loss of our state of grace, as well as expulsion from Eden.

But God never forsake us, not even once. While we had to wander in this world, full of sufferings and challenges, as the consequences of our rebellion and disobedience against God, as sin and corruptions caused by those sins have separated us from God’s grace and Holy Presence, but God has proclaimed from the very beginning the salvation which He would bring unto us, the deliverance that He promised to all of us, and which He fulfilled perfectly through His Son, Our Lord Jesus Christ. Through His suffering and death, He has led us to die to our own sins, to our past sinful and wicked selves, abandoning our past evils and wickedness, so that through His glorious Resurrection from the dead, He might lead us all to a new existence and life, one that is full of God’s grace and love.

From the other reading taken from the Book of Genesis, we heard how God called Abraham to bring his beloved son, Isaac, and offer him as a sacrifice to God at Mount Moriah. This sacrificial offering of Isaac is indeed intriguing first of all because Isaac was Abraham’s beloved and long-awaited son, as he had not been able to have a child with his wife, Sarah for a long time. God promised Abraham and made a Covenant with him, saying that he would become the father of many nations, and that he and Sarah would bear a son, even in their old age, which came true with the arrival of Isaac. God was testing Abraham, to see if he truly had faith in Him, and Abraham obeyed completely, trusting in God, and telling Isaac to trust in the Lord and to obey His words. Abraham trusted that the Lord knew what was best for him and his son, and that God will never break the Covenant which He Himself had made with him and his descendants.

At Mount Moriah, where Abraham brought Isaac to, God told Abraham to stay his hands and not to sacrifice Isaac as He had seen Abraham’s faith, and how he chose to obey Him completely and unquestionably, sending a ram instead to be sacrificed in the place of Isaac at that mountain. Now, this Mount Moriah according to tradition was where Jerusalem itself now stands, where the Temple of God once stood, and most importantly, where the Lord Jesus went up with His Cross to Calvary, the hill located just outside of the city of Jerusalem, where He suffered and died on His Cross. That hill of Calvary or Golgotha is therefore likely the exact same Mount Moriah where Isaac was supposed to be offered to God, only for God to place a ram in his place instead.

That was in fact a prefigurement of what would happen on Good Friday, at the moment when the Lord Jesus suffered and died on the Cross at Calvary. God gave His Son willingly to us, mirroring what Abraham had done, in giving and offering his son Isaac willingly to God. And then, the ram which God put in place of Isaac to be sacrificed is also a prefigurement of the role of Christ as the Paschal Lamb, the Lamb of God Who has been slaughtered and offered on the Altar of the Cross, offering the most worthy sacrifice and offering on our behalf, for the atonement of our many sins, so that through this offering of His own Most Precious Body and Blood, all of us can have the assurance of eternal life and liberation from the tyranny and dominion of sin and death.

Yes, brothers and sisters in Christ, that reading reminds us of God’s love which has been manifested through His Son, Who bore upon Himself all the blame and punishments for our many sins and faults. He was blameless and without fault, and yet, He willingly took upon Himself the punishments due for our sins and evil deeds, offering us all the sure path to salvation, sparing us from the destruction that would have been our fate, had God not intervened and showed us all His love. God not sparing even His own beloved Son, all for our sake, is the ultimate proof of His faithfulness, His steadfastness to the Covenant which He had made with us, and renewed once and for all into a new and eternal Covenant through the Blood of His Son.

Then, as mentioned earlier, in the reading from the Book of Exodus we heard of the story of the moment when the people of Israel were brought out of the land of Egypt, stepping out from the land of their humiliation and misery, their slavery and sufferings in Egypt, as God miraculously opened the sea itself before all of them, through Moses His servant, who led the Israelites to walk safely through the sea to their freedom. The people of Israel was led by God to enter into the sea, safe from harm and led through to the other side on their journey to the land promised to them and their ancestors, and as we heard, later on God crushed their pursuers and enemies, the Egyptians and their war chariots, which God destroyed and smashed with the waves and the water of the same sea.

This reading is compulsory to be read this Easter Vigil because of its link and symbolism to the Sacrament of Baptism which many catechumens all around the world will be receiving during the Mass, as through baptism, they will receive the grace of sanctification from God, led through the waters of baptism to die to their old sinful lives and past actions not in harmony with God, sharing in the death of Christ on the Cross. Not only that, but just as Christ has risen gloriously from the dead, therefore, all those who have received the Sacrament of Baptism has also received a share in this glorious Resurrection, and at the appointed time, we shall also be raised in glory to enter into our heavenly and eternal existence with God, the life that is to come for us.

Water is both an agent of life and death, representing both the capacity for rejuvenation and destruction. It can take lives, but also can restore lives to those who need it. It is representing the renewal of our beings, our whole body, heart, mind and soul, as we are restored back to the unity and connection which we once had with God. Through Christ, Our Lord and Saviour, we have been brought from the darkness of this world into the light of God’s salvation and grace, taking us from the precipice of destruction back to where we are all supposed to be, to be once again in the loving presence of God and to enjoy once again the fullness of His love and grace, just as He has always intended it for us, from the very beginning, when He created us all, before sin corrupted us all and led us down this path of damnation.

That is why on this most joyous occasion of Easter, as we finally rejoice in great joy and exultation upon the glorious Resurrection of Our Lord, let us all therefore remember our own moment of baptism, the time when we pass through from the old life and existence of sin into the new life and existence once again filled with God’s grace and love. We must remember our calling, mission and whatever God has entrusted to us all as Christians, in embarking on this journey we have been entrusted with through our baptism. Baptism is merely just the beginning of our journey as Christians, the moment when we enter into this new life, and not the end of the journey. There are bound to be trials, challenges, difficulties and many other obstacles in our path, and if we are not careful, we may easily slip and fall again back into the path of sin. However, if we continue to remain true and faithful to our calling and mission as Christians, then we will surely remain true in our path towards God and His salvation.

Therefore, just as we pray today for our catechumens and all those who are going to be welcomed into the Church, let us all remind ourselves of our own journey as Christians, that each and every one of us will continue to go forth, ever joyfully proclaiming the Lord and His truth, His love and salvation to all the whole world through our lives, through our every actions, words and deeds. Let us all be truly good and worthy disciples and followers of the Lord, by doing His will and by continuing the great works which He has entrusted to us through His Church. May the Risen Lord be with us all and may He bless our every actions, efforts and endeavours, all for His greater glory, now and always. Alleluia! Amen!

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Sunday, 31 March 2024 : Easter Vigil Mass, Easter Sunday of the Resurrection of the Lord (Gospel Reading)

Liturgical Colour : White

Mark 16 : 1-7

At that time, when the Sabbath was over, Mary of Magdala, Mary the mother of James, and Salome bought spices so that they might go and anoint the Body. And very early in the morning, on the first day of the week, just after sunrise, they came to the tomb. They were saying to one another, “Who will roll back the stone for us from the entrance to the tomb?” But, as they looked up, they noticed that the stone had already been rolled away. It was a very big stone.

As they entered the tomb, they saw a young man in a white robe seated on the right, and they were amazed. But he said to them, “Do not be alarmed; you are looking for Jesus of Nazareth Who was crucified; He has been raised and is not here. This is, however, the place where they laid Him. Now go, and tell His disciples and Peter : Jesus is going ahead of you to Galilee; you will see Him there, just as He told you.”

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Sunday, 31 March 2024 : Easter Vigil Mass, Easter Sunday of the Resurrection of the Lord (Psalm after Epistle)

Liturgical Colour : White

Psalm 117 : 1-2, 16ab and 17, 22-23

Alleluia! Give thanks to the Lord, for He is good, His loving kindness endures forever. Let Israel say, “His loving kindness endures forever.”

The right hand of the Lord is lifted high, the right hand of the Lord strikes mightily! I shall not die, but live to proclaim what the Lord has done.

The stone rejected by the builders has become the cornerstone. This was the Lord’s doing and we marvel at it.

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Sunday, 31 March 2024 : Easter Vigil Mass, Easter Sunday of the Resurrection of the Lord (Epistle)

Liturgical Colour : White

Romans 6 : 3-11

Do you not know that in baptism which unites us to Christ we are all baptised and plunged into His death? By this baptism in His death, we were buried with Christ and, as Christ was raised from among the dead by the Glory of the Father, so we begin walking in a new life. If we have been joined to Him by dying a death like His so we shall be by a resurrection like His.

We know that our old self was crucified with Christ, so as to destroy what of us was sin, so that we may no longer serve sin – if we are dead, we are no longer in debt to sin. But if we have died with Christ, we believe we will also live with Him. We know that Christ, once risen from the dead, will not die again and death has no more dominion over Him. For by dying, He is dead to sin once and for all, and now the life that He lives is life with God.

So you, too, must consider yourselves dead to sin and alive to God in Christ Jesus.