Liturgical Colour : Purple/Violet
Psalm 104 : 4-5, 6-7, 8-9
Look to the Lord and be strong; seek His face always. Remember His wonderful works, His miracles and His judgments.
You descendants of His servant Abraham, you sons of Jacob, His chosen ones! He is the Lord our God; His judgments reach the whole world.
He remembers His covenant forever, His promise to a thousand generations, the covenant He made with Abraham, the promise He swore to Isaac.
Liturgical Colour : Purple/Violet
Genesis 17 : 3-9
Abram fell face down and God said to him, “This is My covenant with you : you will be the father of a multitude of nations. No longer will you be called Abram, but Abraham, because I will make you the father of a multitude of nations. I will make you more and more famous; I will multiply your descendants; nations shall spring from you, kings shall be among your descendants.”
“And I will establish a covenant, an everlasting covenant between Myself and you and your descendants after you; from now on I will be your God and the God of your descendants after you, for generations to come. I will give to you and your descendants after you the land you are living in, all the land of Canaan, as an everlasting possession and I will be the God of your race.”
God said to Abraham, “For your part, you shall keep My covenant, you and your descendants after you, generation after generation.”
Liturgical Colour : Green or White (Popes)
Dear brothers and sisters in Christ, on this day we listened to the Word of God in the Scriptures reminding each and every one of us to be centred on God and to be faithful to Him, and not be distracted by the many temptations and allures of worldly pleasures, wealth, money, happiness, all sorts of conveniences, possessions, fame, influence, and all sorts of other things that are indeed, obstacles in the way of our faith.
In the Gospel passage today, we heard of the parable told by the Lord Jesus, referring to a rich man who had plenty of possessions and goods, who was not satisfied with what he had received and wanted to gain even more. He had big plans for himself and his riches, wanting to tear down the barns that he had, so that he could build even bigger barns to store even more of the possessions he had.
This means that the man had the desire in his heart for even more, and not being satisfied by what he already possessed. And this is natural to us man, to have this greed inside our hearts and minds, and if we indulge in allowing our greed to overtake us, then eventually we will end up like that rich man, who thought of nothing else either than to gain more for his own desires and wants, for earthly riches and pleasures.
And in doing so, like the rich man, we will end up forgetting that all of these worldly things, items, objects and possessions are merely temporary, illusory and fleeing in nature. None of these, our money, our wealth, our material possessions, branded goods, cars, vehicles, and all things will be retained with us when we are called to give the account of our life before Our Lord and Master.
In what St. Paul mentioned in his Epistle to the Church and the faithful in Ephesus, God has given us a far greater and more tremendous gift, that is the gift of His eternal and infinite love. His mercy and love has been given to us freely, and made it evident and tangible to us through Christ, His Son, Our Saviour. There is no greater gift than this, and there is no greater love than what Our Lord and Saviour has shown us, not by mere action, but through what He had borne upon Himself, the suffering of the Cross.
We must realise that our greed and our inability to resist the temptations of the devil have become the source of our failures and our downfall, from the very moment that he caused our ancestors to sin by disobeying God. The devil knows exactly where to strike, and how to strike at us, especially by taking advantage of our predisposition and vulnerability to pride and greed. And by these, he had lured many souls who did not know that they had fallen into the trap of the evil one.
But the Lord did not remain silent and neither did He show any apathy to our fallen state. And that was exactly how He gave us the source of our new life and deliverance through the giving of His Son, by Whose death on the Cross, the Precious Blood that flows down from that Cross, then our faults and sins are washed away and we are cleansed and made anew. This is in truth, the selfless and perfect love that God desired to shoe us.
The Lord Himself was also tempted by the devil as shown in the three temptations Satan made to the Lord in the desert right after He was baptised by St. John the Baptist. We can see here just how persistent the devil is, in trying to prevent us mankind from being saved, and the method by which he did all these, was mentioned clearly in the Gospels, that he played along with our human desires, for power, for glory, for wealth, for satisfaction of the body and the flesh, which includes that of gluttony and many more.
But the Lord Jesus showed us how we should live our lives as Christians, that is the total surrender and giving of oneself to the will of God, Our Lord and loving Father. The Lord Jesus did not allow Himself to be tempted or swayed from His mission, and remained true to the calling which the Lord, His heavenly Father has given Him. He resisted the devil’s efforts to undermine His works and mission.
Indeed, He was tempted, to the very end, and in His humanity, He agonised over the upcoming suffering and pain, at the time when He prayed in the Garden of Gethsemane, but He persisted on, and by His love and generous will to forgive us our sins, He willingly took up our sins and faults, and bore it upon Himself, as He went on to His crucifixion, suffering and death.
As Christians therefore, we are called to follow the Lord’s example, in how He gave everything for the sake of His love for us, even to the point of laying down His own life for us. His surrender to the will of the Father was so complete and total, that indeed, all of us ought to learn from Him, in how we should also surrender ourselves to the will of God, Our Lord and loving Father.
Today, we all celebrate the feast of a great saint and servant of God, Pope St. John Paul II, whom many of us must have been quite familiar with. He was a very renowned figure in the Church, having reigned as the Supreme Pontiff and Successor of St. Peter the Apostle for twenty-seven years, achieving many significant milestones and important breakthroughs in the history of the Church and the salvation of God’s people.
And Pope St. John Paul II devoted himself totally to the work and the mission which the Lord had called him to, as shown in his motto, “Totus Tuus”, which means, “All is Yours”. This motto embodies exactly what Pope St. John Paul II believed in his life, in how he carried on performing his mission as a devout servant of God. He who has experienced bitter losses of family, friends and others he knew early on in his life due to sickness and war, gave everything he had to God, and entrusted himself completely to the Lord and to the guidance of His Blessed Mother Mary.
Many of us are aware of the many achievements and good works that Pope St. John Paul II had done throughout his life and throughout his reign as the Pope, as leader of the Universal Church. But this is an important lesson and reminder for all of us that each and every one of us can also do the same, if only that we learn to remove from ourselves all the attachments to worldly desires and pleasures, which have become obstacles and chains that kept us away from being able to give our very best effort.
Brothers and sisters in Christ, on this day, let us all renew our effort to love the Lord and to commit ourselves wholeheartedly again towards the Lord. Let us all give ourselves and love the Lord with a renewed spirit and zeal, from now on, that we may truly be able to receive the fullness of God’s mercy and love, and be worthy of the eternal life and glory He has promised to all those who are faithful to Him. May the Lord bless us all and our works, now and forevermore. Amen.
Liturgical Colour : Green or White (Popes)
Luke 12 : 13-21
At that time, someone in the crowd spoke to Jesus, “Master, tell my brother to share with me the family inheritance.” He replied, “My friend, who has appointed Me as your Judge or your Attorney?” Then Jesus said to the people, “Be on your guard and avoid every kind of greed, for even though you have many possessions, it is not that which gives you life.”
And Jesus continued, “There was a rich man, and his land had produced a good harvest. He thought, ‘What shall I do, for I am short of room to store my harvest? Alright, I know what I shall do : I will pull down my barns and I will build bigger ones, to store all this grain, which is my wealth. Then I will say to myself : My friend, you have a lot of good things put by for many years. Rest, eat, drink and enjoy yourself.'”
“But God said to him, ‘You fool! This very night your life will be taken from you. Tell Me, who shall get all you have put aside?’ This is the lot of the one who stores up riches for himself and is not wealthy in the eyes of God.”
Liturgical Colour : Green or White (Popes)
Psalm 99 : 2, 3, 4, 5
Serve the Lord with gladness; come before Him with joyful songs.
Know that the Lord is God; He created us and we are His people, the sheep of His fold.
Enter His gates with thanksgiving, His courts with praise. Give thanks to Him and bless His Name.
For the Lord is good; His love lasts forever and His faithfulness through all generations.
Liturgical Colour : Green or White (Popes)
Ephesians 2 : 1-10
You were dead, through the faults and sins. Once, you lived through them, according to this world, and followed the Sovereign Ruler Who reigns between heaven and earth, and Who goes on working, in those who resist the faith.
All of us belonged to them, at one time, and we followed human greed; we obeyed the urges of our human nature and consented to its desires. By ourselves, we went straight to the judgment, like the rest of humankind.
But God, Who is rich in mercy, revealed His immense love. As we were dead through our sins, He gave us life, with Christ. By grace, you have been saved! And He raised us to life, with Christ, giving us a place with Him in heaven.
In showing us such kindness, in Christ Jesus, God willed to reveal, and unfold in the coming ages, the extraordinary riches of His grace. By the grace of God, you have been saved, through faith.
This has not come from you : it is God’s gift. This was not the result of your works, so you are not to feel proud. What we are, is God’s work. He has created us, in Christ Jesus, for the good works He has prepared, that we should devote ourselves to them.
Liturgical Colour : Purple/Violet
Dear brothers and sisters in Christ, on this day we heard about how Jesus said that one of His own disciples would betray Him and surrendered Him to the hands of the chief priests and the elders. He was speaking of the time of His own suffering and death, which at that time was indeed about to occur. We heard of the betrayal of Judas who left to inform the chief priests and the elders on how and when to arrest Jesus in exchange for monetary compensation of thirty silver pieces.
Then we also heard how Jesus predicted that Peter would deny Him three times before others, even as he said that he would give his life for the sake of the Lord. This is what we are certainly quite well aware of, how during the time when Jesus had been arrested, out of fear and doubt, Peter denied three times knowing Jesus and had wanted nothing to do with Him when the bystanders at the trial of Jesus asked him.
In what we have heard thus far, what the Lord wants us to know is that all of us mankind have sinned, committed acts out of disobedience to Him, and we are easily tempted by various things, from money, to pleasures of the body, to desire, to lust and greed for power, human ambition, to fame and renown, and all other things that have caused us to doubt, to falter and to fall into sin, as the disciples had done when the Lord was arrested. They all abandoned Him and hid themselves out of fear.
Yet, we must be wondering why then did God call such weak and easily tempted men to be His disciples? Then, we should also think then that the Lord called people who were sinners like the tax collectors, prostitutes and all others whom the general public considered to be the dregs and the lowest of them all, outcasts and unworthy people, who should have been condemned because of all the wickedness that they had done.
But God called them and made them turn away from their past sinfulness and He made them to abandon their old ways of wickedness. He had transformed all of them from the beings of darkness and sin, into the children of the light, and therefore, we have to realise that even all saints were once themselves sinners too, just like each and every one of us.
What is it that differentiate between saints and all those who have fallen into damnation? Since all of them were once the same in what they had done, in whatever sins they have committed, we may not realise the answer for this question. But truly, it is because while saints turned away from their sins and made the commitment to sin no more, those who have been condemned ended up with such a fate because they continued to live in the state of sin.
As we progress through the Holy Week, and approach the time when we will commemorate again the suffering, death and resurrection of our Lord, let us all ponder upon these matters and reflect on our actions in life thus far. How have we made use of this life and opportunity given to us by our Lord? Have we used it in accordance with what He wanted us and willed for us? Or have we instead ignored His will and decided to follow our own path, by turning into sin and debauchery?
We should look upon the examples set by St. Stanislas or St. Stanislaus the Bishop and Martyr, who was a renowned saint and martyr from Poland, who lived almost a millennia ago, as the Bishop of Krakow in Poland. St. Stanislas was a just and upright man, who committed himself wholeheartedly to the mission to which he had been called to. He spent much of his time to help guide the people of God through difficulties, challenges and temptations in life to seek God and His ways.
And he was very courageous in standing up to his faith and to the truth that could be found in the Lord alone, as he even stood up against the king of Poland, king Boleslav who was told to be immoral in his life and in his activities. He was chastised by the courageous saint, who ended up excommunicating the king when he refused to change his ways and continued to commit scandalous acts before God and men alike.
The king took matter to his own hands and personally killed the Bishop as he was celebrating the Holy Mass outside the city. The uproar over the killing of such a holy and pious man forced the king off from his throne, and it was told that he had to go into exile, and some accounts placed him as a penitent who went about trying to be forgiven from his grievous sin of murdering a holy man of God. Nevertheless, the faith of St. Stanislas were widely noted and many venerated him after his death.
Brothers and sisters in Christ, all of us should also walk in the footsteps of St. Stanislas. We should emulate his commitment to live a pious and worthy life, rejecting all forms of sins and wickedness. We should turn our way back from our sins, and reject all those things that had led us to sin. Let us all devote ourselves and our time from now on to serve the Lord with all of our hearts, with all of our strength, so that we may join the company of the saints, all the sinners whom God had forgiven and welcomed back into His embrace, and now enjoy the eternal glory of heaven. May the Lord bless us all. Amen.
Liturgical Colour : Purple/Violet
John 13 : 21-33, 36-38
At that time, after He said a discourse to His disciples after He washed their feet, Jesus was distressed in Spirit, and said plainly, “Truly, one of you will betray Me.” The disciples then looked at one another, wondering whom He meant. One of the disciples, the one Jesus loved, was reclining near Jesus; so Simon Peter signalled him to ask Jesus whom He meant.
And the disciple, who was reclining near Jesus, asked Him, “Lord, who is it?” Jesus answered, “I shall dip a piece of bread in the dish, and he to whom I give it, is the one.” So Jesus dipped the bread and gave it to Judas Iscariot, the son of Simon. And as Judas took the piece of bread, Satan entered into him. Jesus then said to him, “What you are going to do, do quickly.”
None of the others, reclining at the table, understood why Jesus said this to Judas. As Judas had the common purse, they may have thought that Jesus was telling him, “Buy what we need for the feast,” or “Give something to the poor.” Judas left as soon as he had eaten the bread. It was night.
When Judas had gone out, Jesus said, “Now is the Son of Man glorified, and God is glorified in Him. God will glorify Him, and He will glorify Him very soon. My children, I am with you for only a little while; you will look for Me, but as I already told the Jews, so now I tell you : where I am going you cannot come.”
Simon Peter said to Him, “Lord, where are You going?” Jesus answered, “Where I am going you cannot follow Me now, but afterwards you will.” Peter said, “Lord, why can I not follow You now? I am ready to give my life for You.”
“To give your life for Me?” Jesus asked Peter, “Truly I tell you, the cock will not crow, before you have denied Me three times.”
Liturgical Colour : Purple/Violet
Psalm 70 : 1-2, 3-4a, 5-6ab, 15 and 17
In You, o Lord, I seek refuge; let me not be disgraced. In Your justice help me and deliver me, turn Your ear to me and save me!
Be my Rock of refuge, a Stronghold to give me safety, for You are my Rock and my Fortress. Rescue me, o my God, from the hand of the wicked.
For You, o Lord, have been my Hope, my Trust, o God, from my youth. I have relied on You from birth : from my mother’s womb You brought me forth.
My lips will proclaim Your intervention and tell of Your salvation all day, little though it is what I can understand. You have taught me from my youth and until now I proclaim Your marvels.
Liturgical Colour : Purple/Violet
Isaiah 49 : 1-6
Listen to me, o islands, pay attention, peoples from distant lands. YHVH called me from my mother’s womb; He pronounced my name before I was born. He made my mouth like a sharpened sword. He hid me in the shadow of His hand. He made me into a polished arrow set apart in His quiver.
He said to me, “You are Israel, my servant, through you I will be known.” “I have laboured in vain,” I thought, “and spent my strength for nothing.” Yet what is due me was in the hand of YHVH, and my reward was with my God. I am important in the sight of YHVH, and my God is my Strength.
And now YHVH has spoken, He Who formed me in the womb to be His servant, to bring Jacob back to Him, to gather Israel to Him. He said : “It is not enough that you be My servant, to restore the tribes of Jacob, to bring back the remnant of Israel. I will make you the light of the nations, that My salvation will reach to the ends of the earth.”
petercanisiusmichaeldavidkang 