Pope Leo XIV

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Monday, 9 June 2025 : 10th Week of Ordinary Time, Memorial of Our Lady, Mother of the Church (Homily and Scripture Reflections)

Liturgical Colour : White

Dear brothers and sisters in Christ, today on the day after Pentecost Sunday, the beginning of the second half of the Ordinary Time of this current liturgical year, we celebrate the Feast of Our Lady, Mary, the Mother of the Church, or also known in her Latin title as ‘Mater Ecclesiae’. On this day we recall Mary’s important role as the Mother of the Church and our Mother, as the Mother of all the faithful, because the faithful themselves form that visible Body of the Church, the Body of Christ. And through Mary, the Church has been made manifest, in her instrumental role in the earliest days of the Church, when the Christian faith was still in its infancy. It was Mary’s faith and steadfastness which allowed the Church to remain united and strong against all those who sought to destroy it.

For Mary was always there throughout the times after the Resurrection just as she has always been there throughout the time of her Son’s Passion, patiently following Him even though seeing Him in great suffering and persecution must have pained her Immaculate Heart greatly. And yet, she remained faithful and committed, patient in her perseverance and endurance, and followed Him all the way to the Cross. The Church also teaches that the moment of the Lord’s Passion, His suffering and death on the Cross marks the very occasion and moment when the Church itself was born into the world, when the Lord instituted His Church, the One, Holy, Catholic and Apostolic Church, which according to the Catechism of the Catholic Church, was born from the side of the Lord, from the wounds of His Body, from the Precious Blood outpoured from His broken Precious Body.

Therefore, Mary, the Mother of God and of Our Saviour, having been there at the moment of her Son’s suffering and death, which we have heard in our Gospel passage today from the Gospel of St. John the Apostle and Evangelist, is truly indeed the Mother of the Church, witnessing through every events, and most significantly because the Lord Himself has entrusted her to all of us, and at the same time also entrusting all of us to her as well, in a reciprocal manner. This was done as the Lord entrusted His beloved Mother Mary to His beloved disciple St. John from His Cross just before He was about to accomplish perfectly His sacrifice and die for all of our sins. He gave His mother to all of us so that we can be loved by her in the same way that Mary had loved her Son, and we too may love her as well, as our Mother.

Mary herself is both the Mother of the Church and also a part of the same Church, as the Church of God consists of all those who believe in the Lord, which Mary is also a part therefore of. But why she is truly very special and revered so in her many important roles, most important of all as the Mother of God is due to her great and ever enduring faith by which she obeyed God’s will so perfectly and allowed Him to make use of her life for His purpose and plans, that she has indeed become for us all the perfect example of faith and obedience, as the greatest of all the saints, and as the New Eve, the Woman through whom the Lord would restore all things to Himself, by her willing acceptance of the part that she was to play in the history of salvation.

In our first reading today, we heard from the Book of Genesis the account of the moment when mankind first fell into sin, Adam and Eve in the Garden of Eden when Satan managed to tempt them to eat of the fruits of the forbidden Tree of Knowledge of Good and Evil. At that time, Satan tempted our first ancestors with the temptations of knowledge and power, which was enticing enough with the sweet words and lies which promised to man that they would become just like God, to know all things good and evil and to be like Him. In contrast after their disobedience and sins had come into light, they ended up blaming each other and Satan for having tricked them into eating of the forbidden fruits and therefore disobeying and sinning against God.

Therefore if the first Eve, the first woman led all mankind into sin by her willing disobedience against God and embracing of sin, then Mary as the New Eve has shown us the example of true faith and commitment in God, leading us all towards God. By her total commitment and trust in the Lord, her willing acceptance of the role that she has played in the story of our salvation, Mary has shown us all the example of faith and obedience, which all of us should also be following in our own lives as well. And as our Mother and the Mother of the Church, Mary is indeed the figure that we all can turn towards especially during difficult and challenging moments in life. If we seek her help and intercession, Mary will surely be there for us, ever ready to intercede and pray for us all, her beloved children.

Brothers and sisters in Christ, let us all therefore remind ourselves that we have this most wonderful Mother in Mary, our loving Mother and the Mother of the Church. Let us all ask her to intercede for us and for the whole Universal Church. Through Mary, our Mother we can find the surest and straightest path to Our Lord and Saviour, and as one Church we should strive to emulate her example and faith to live a most wholesome and faithful Christian living as well, in our every moments in life, within our every words, actions and deeds, in our every interactions with one another so that we truly will show this faith we have within us to everyone whom we encounter in life and in all the opportunities that God has provided to us.

Holy Mary, Mother of God, our Mother and the Mother of the Church, please pray for us all sinners and intercede on behalf of God’s Church, all of us the faithful and holy people of God. Please help us in our journey towards your beloved Son, Our Lord and Saviour, Our Master and King. May you, beloved Mother, continue to help and guide us in our journey towards His loving mercy and embrace, and assist us in our respective journeys and struggles in life. May the Lord be with us all and may He bless our every good works, efforts and endeavours, now and always. Amen.

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Monday, 9 June 2025 : 10th Week of Ordinary Time, Memorial of Our Lady, Mother of the Church (Gospel Reading)

Liturgical Colour : White

John 19 : 25-34

At that time, near the cross of Jesus stood His mother, His mother’s sister Mary, who was the wife of Cleophas, and Mary of Magdala. When Jesus saw the mother, and the disciple whom He loved, He said to the mother, “Woman, this is your son.” Then He said to the disciple, “This is your mother.” And from that moment the disciple took her to his own home.

Jesus knew all was now finished and, in order to fulfil what was written in Scripture, He said, “I am thirsty.” A jar full of bitter wine stood there; so, putting a sponge soaked in the wine on a twig of hyssop, they raised it to His lips. Jesus took the wine and said, “It is accomplished.” Then He bowed His head and gave up the Spirit.

As it was Preparation Day, the Jews did not want the bodies to remain on the cross during the Sabbath, for this Sabbath was a very solemn day. They asked Pilate to have the legs of the condemned men broken, so that the bodies might be taken away. The soldiers came and broke the legs of the first man and of the other man, who had been crucified with Jesus.

When they came to Jesus, they saw that He was already dead, so they did not break His legs. One of the soldiers, however, pierced His side with a lance, and immediately there came out Blood and water.

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Monday, 9 June 2025 : 10th Week of Ordinary Time, Memorial of Our Lady, Mother of the Church (Psalm)

Liturgical Colour : White

Psalm 86 : 1-2, 3 and 5, 6-7

He Himself has built it in His holy mountain; YHVH prefers the gates of Zion to all of Jacob’s towns.

Great things have been foretold of you, o city of God. But of Zion, it shall be said, “More and more are being born in her.” For the Most High Himself has founded her.

And YHVH notes in the people’s register : “All these were also born in Zion.” And all will dance and sing joyfully for you.

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Monday, 9 June 2025 : 10th Week of Ordinary Time, Memorial of Our Lady, Mother of the Church (First Reading)

Liturgical Colour : White

Genesis 3 : 9-15, 20

YHVH God called the man saying to him, “Where are you?” He said, “I heard Your voice in the garden and I was afraid because I was naked, so I hid.” God said, “Who told you that you were naked? Have you eaten of the tree I ordered you not to eat?”

The man answered, “The woman You put with me gave me fruit from the tree and I ate it.” God said to the woman, “What have you done?” The woman said, “The serpent deceived me and I ate.”

YHVH God said to the serpent, “Since you have done that, be cursed among all the cattle and wild beasts! You will crawl on your belly and eat dust all the days of your life. I will make you enemies, you and the woman, your offspring and her offspring. He will crush your head and you will strike his heel.”

The man called his wife by the name of Eve, because she was the mother of all the living.

Alternative reading

Acts 1 : 12-14

Then they returned to Jerusalem from the Mount called Olives, which is a fifteen minute walk away. On entering the city they went to the room upstairs where they were staying. Present there were Peter, John, James and Andrew; Philip and Thomas, Bartholomew and Matthew, James, son of Alpheus; Simon the Zealot and Judas son of James.

All of these, together, gave themselves to constant prayer. With them were some women, and also Mary, the mother of Jesus, and His brothers.

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Sunday, 8 June 2025 : Solemnity of Pentecost Sunday (Homily and Scripture Reflections)

Liturgical Colour : Red

Dear brothers and sisters in Christ, this Sunday marks the very last day of this joyful and glorious Easter season, the fiftieth day since Easter Sunday, when we mark the Day of Our Lord’s glorious Resurrection from the dead. This Sunday is the Pentecost Sunday, with the word Pentecost meaning ‘fifty’ dating from the ancient Jewish and Israelite tradition of celebrating the Festival of the Pentecost, fifty days after the Passover. And since Easter is truly the New, Christian and Eternal Passover which the Lord Jesus, Our Lord, God and Saviour had sealed and made with all of us, therefore, this Pentecost is the celebration of the renewed Pentecost of the ancient past. This is why we celebrate this fiftieth day of Easter marking the coming of the Holy Spirit upon the Church as a very significant event.

On this Sunday’s celebration, we remember the moment when the Lord’s promised Advocate or Helper, the Holy Third of the Holy Trinity, the Holy Spirit, came down upon the Apostles and the disciples of the Lord, marking the moment when the Church was revealed to the whole world. This day of the Pentecost was often mistaken as the ‘birthday of the Church’ as it is understandable that many would have seen it that way. After all, it was the moment when the Church was manifested and became real to the world, as the Apostles and the other disciples, traditionally numbering a hundred and twenty of them all according to Apostolic traditions, went forth from their hiding place to go public and courageously proclaiming the Good News of God, gaining three thousand converts that day, and hence laying the foundation for the visible Body of Christ, the Church.

However, the true birthday of the Church actually happened on the Good Friday according to the Catechism of the Catholic Church, as the Church of God came forth from the side of the Lord, His pierced side that gave the outpoured Precious Blood and water, coming forth into this world after He has proclaimed it before the disciples, the Church of God, the Body that the Lord Himself has broken and shared with us all, so that by His gift of His Most Precious Body and Blood, all of us become sharers and partakers in the same Eucharist, the Real Presence of Our Lord, and thus becoming united as one Body of Christian believers, and hence, the Church of God. Nevertheless, this does not mean that what happened at Pentecost was less important in any way, as up to the Descent of the Holy Spirit, the Church was hidden from the world, hiding in fear and uncertainty.

In our first reading this Sunday, we heard of the account of what had happened at the moment of that Pentecost, when the Holy Spirit descended upon the Apostles and disciples, strengthening and rejuvenating them all with hope and great courage, overcoming all their doubts, fears and all the things that had kept them in hiding from all those who sought to persecute and oppress them with threats and harm. They went forth joyfully in carrying out everything that the Lord had commanded them all to do, to proclaim Him and His Good News to all the people of all the nations. The Lord has reassured them of the Holy Spirit that He would send to them to remind them of everything that He had taught them and to strengthen them in their labours, and that was exactly what He had done for them.

Through the Holy Spirit, God had strengthened the hearts of the disciples, and gave them the wisdom and knowledge of languages and tongues, through which they had proclaimed courageously the Good News and truth of God to all those people who were assembled in Jerusalem at that time for the Festival of the Pentecost. It was symbolic reversal of what had happened in the past with the Tower of Babel, which if we recalled was the moment when God confused the language of mankind when they all came in pride and arrogance in trying to become like God themselves. Through the Holy Spirit, God brought back the unity that was lost to us mankind, gathering us all from the nations, regardless of our languages, races and origins, all called to become the same children and holy people of God.

Then, from our second reading, taken from the Epistle to the Romans, St. Paul the Apostle spoke to the faithful people of God in Rome referring to the Holy Spirit that has been given to all of the faithful, calling on all of them to holiness and to live their lives in accordance to the way of the Lord and the Holy Spirit. It is a reminder that all of us as Christians should also always strive to live in the manner that is worthy of the Lord, following His examples and the inspiration of the Holy Spirit at all times, keeping ourselves away from the wickedness of the world and from all the sins and darkness present all around us. By the Holy Spirit that we have received from the Lord, we should be encouraged and strengthened in our faith so that we can continue to persevere and be strong despite the challenges and trials that we may have to face and endure in life.

Therefore, brothers and sisters in Christ, as we have reflected well upon these words from the Sacred Scriptures and reminded of what the Lord Himself had told His disciples in our Gospel passage today that all of us should keep His commandments, the Law of God, which is love, loving God and loving one another, and referring to the Holy Spirit that we have all received through Baptism, and which is then further strengthened and confirmed with us with the Sacrament of Confirmation, therefore, let us all as Christians joyfully proclaim the Lord at all times, all of His goodness and graces, through our works and actions, through everything we do, our every interactions with one another, filled ever more wonderfully by the gifts of the Holy Spirit within us, so that we may truly bear rich fruits of the Holy Spirit.

Come, Holy Spirit, fill the hearts of the faithful and enkindle in all of us the fire of Your love. Lord, send forth Your Holy Spirit upon us and this world, and renew the face of the earth. May all of us be the loving examples and inspirations to one another, the perfect manifestation of the Love of God and the works of the Holy Spirit in our world today, now and always. Amen.

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Sunday, 8 June 2025 : Solemnity of Pentecost Sunday (Gospel Reading)

Liturgical Colour : Red

John 14 : 15-16, 23b-26

At that time, Jesus said to His disciples, “If you love Me, you will keep My commandments; and I will ask the Father, and He will give you another Helper to be with you forever. If anyone loves Me, he will keep My word and My Father will love him; and We will come to him and make a room in his home.”

“But if anyone does not love Me, he will not keep My words; and these words that you hear are not Mine, but the Father’s Who sent Me. I told you all this while I was still with you. From now on the Helper, the Holy Spirit Whom the Father will send in My Name, will teach you all things, and remind you of all that I have told you.”

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Sunday, 8 June 2025 : Solemnity of Pentecost Sunday (Second Reading)

Liturgical Colour : Red

Romans 8 : 8-17

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.

Then, brothers, let us leave the flesh and no longer live according to it. If not, we will die. Rather, walking in the spirit, let us put to death the body’s deeds, so that we may live. All those who walk in the Spirit of God are sons and daughters of God.

Then, no more fear : you did not receive a spirit of slavery, but the spirit that makes you sons and daughters, and every time, we cry, “Abba! (this means Dad!) Father!” the Spirit assures our spirit, that we are sons and daughters of God. If we are children, we are heirs, too. Ours will be the inheritance of God, and we will share it with Christ; for, if we now suffer with Him, we will also share glory with Him.

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Sunday, 8 June 2025 : Solemnity of Pentecost Sunday (Psalm)

Liturgical Colour : Red

Psalm 103 : 1 ab and 24ac, 29bc-30, 31 and 34

Bless the Lord, my soul! Clothed in majesty and splendour; How varied o Lord, are Your works! The earth full of Your creatures.

You take away their breath, they expire and return to dust. When You send forth Your Spirit, they are created, and the face of the earth is renewed.

May the glory of the Lord endure forever; may the Lord rejoice in His works! May my song give Him pleasure, as the Lord gives me delight.

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Sunday, 8 June 2025 : Solemnity of Pentecost Sunday (First Reading)

Liturgical Colour : Red

Acts 2 : 1-11

When the day of Pentecost came, the disciples of Jesus were all together in one place. And suddenly out of the sky came a sound like a strong rushing wind and it filled the whole house where they were sitting. There appeared tongues as if of fire which parted and came to rest upon each one of them. All were filled with Holy Spirit and began to speak other languages, as the Spirit enabled them to speak.

Staying in Jerusalem were religious Jews from every nation under heaven. When they heard this sound, a crowd gathered, all excited because each heard them speaking in his own language. Full of amazement and wonder, they asked, “Are not all these who are speaking Galileans? How is it that we hear them in our own native language?”

“Here are Parthians, Medes and Elamites and residents of Mesopotamia, Judea and Cappadocia, Pontus and Asia, Phrygia, Pamphylia, Egypt and the parts of Libya belonging to Cyrene, and visitors from Rome, both Jews and foreigners who accept Jewish beliefs, Cretians and Arabians; and all of us hear them proclaiming in our own language what God, the Saviour, does.”

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Sunday, 8 June 2025 : Vigil Mass of the Solemnity of Pentecost Sunday (Homily and Scripture Reflections)

Liturgical Colour : Red

Dear brothers and sisters in Christ, in this evening we celebrate the Vigil of the great Solemnity and Feast of Pentecost Sunday, marking the fiftieth day since the celebration of the Day of the Lord’s glorious Resurrection from the dead, that is Easter Sunday. This Solemnity of the Pentecost Sunday, one of the greatest feasts and celebrations of the Church, together with Easter and Christmas had its roots from the ancient Jewish and Israelite Festival of the Pentecost, which means ‘fifty’, marking fifty days from the time of the Passover. And since Easter is truly the New, Christian and Eternal Passover which the Lord Jesus, Our Lord, God and Saviour had sealed and made with all of us, therefore, this Pentecost is the celebration of the renewed Pentecost of the ancient past.

On this Sunday’s celebration, we remember the moment when the Lord’s promised Advocate or Helper, the Holy Third of the Holy Trinity, the Holy Spirit, came down upon the Apostles and the disciples of the Lord, marking the moment when the Church was revealed to the whole world. This day of the Pentecost was often mistaken as the ‘birthday of the Church’ as it is understandable that many would have seen it that way. After all, it was the moment when the Church was manifested and became real to the world, as the Apostles and the other disciples, traditionally numbering a hundred and twenty of them all according to Apostolic traditions, went forth from their hiding place to go public and courageously proclaiming the Good News of God, gaining three thousand converts that day, and hence laying the foundation for the visible Body of Christ, the Church.

However, the true birthday of the Church actually happened on the Good Friday according to the Catechism of the Catholic Church, as the Church of God came forth from the side of the Lord, His pierced side that gave the outpoured Precious Blood and water, coming forth into this world after He has proclaimed it before the disciples, the Church of God, the Body that the Lord Himself has broken and shared with us all, so that by His gift of His Most Precious Body and Blood, all of us become sharers and partakers in the same Eucharist, the Real Presence of Our Lord, and thus becoming united as one Body of Christian believers, and hence, the Church of God. Nevertheless, this does not mean that what happened at Pentecost was less important in any way, as up to the Descent of the Holy Spirit, the Church was hidden from the world, hiding in fear and uncertainty.

In this Pentecost Vigil’s many readings, which stemmed from the ancient practice and tradition that Pentecost Vigil in fact mirrored that of Easter Vigil with its multiple readings from the Old Testament, with the most solemn and greatest of solemn celebrations, symbolising the fulfilment of God’s plan of salvation, and also the fulfilment of everything that the Lord Himself has promised, in promising to send the Holy Spirit, the Holy Advocate and Helper to strengthen, guide and encourage all the disciples and the others whom He has called and chosen to be part of His Church, the members of His Body. We heard of the many occurrences and instances in the past when the Holy Spirit had been at work and highlighting to us what the nature of the Holy Spirit is all about, in all of His works among us mankind.

In the first one from the Book of Genesis we heard of the time after the Great Flood, the Flood that had destroyed most of mankind except that of Noah and his immediate family, and we heard how at that time the whole earth still spoke in one same language. And at that time, the people grew proud and haughty in their achievements and abilities, boasting that they could build a tower that reached to the Heaven itself, known as the Tower of Babel, building ever higher and seeking to be like God’s equal. And hence, in their moment of pride and arrogance, they had sinned against God and the Lord then withdrew the gift of His Spirit, the gift of understanding and unity, and hence, bringing about divisions and lack of understanding, as the people became unable to comprehend each other, and henceforth, stopped the project that they had pridefully undertaken.

Then, in the next reading from the Book of Exodus, we heard of the moment when the Israelites were encamped at Mount Sinai, the Mountain of God, at the time when the Lord was to establish a Covenant with all of them through Moses. God called all of His people to Himself, gathering them there and revealing His great glory before all of them, The Lord’s Holy Presence descended on the Mountain itself, and He spoke to them all with the voices that sounded like great thunder and roll of trumpets. And this is a very significant event, when compared to what happened at the actual Pentecost Sunday itself, two millennia ago, together with the earlier reading from the Book of Genesis. For we can see clear parallel and contrast between those events and that of the Coming of the Holy Spirit at Pentecost.

First of all, God made His Covenant with His people at Mount Sinai and wanted to establish it with them, and yet, as we all should also know, at that time, after waiting for many days, the Israelites grew restless and chose to act in a manner that displeased the Lord, in making a golden calf idol over themselves and calling it their god who saved them from Egypt. As a result, if we read on, three thousand people were destroyed and punished because of their rebellions and sins afterwards, and we can see the contrast with the three thousand people who accepted the Lord as their Saviour at the time of the Pentecost, where the Covenant of God was affirmed to His people, restoring the unity that was lost between God and us mankind.

Not only that, but the confusion of languages that happened at the Tower of Babel was also reversed as the Apostles and disciples also received the gift of languages and tongues at Pentecost, speaking in various languages understandable to the many people that gathered at that time in Jerusalem, that they all understood the message of God’s truth and Good News through the words spoken by those faithful servants of God. We can see how the Holy Spirit carried out His works, restoring the unity and the wisdom that had been lost to us mankind because of our rebelliousness, our pride and arrogance, our haughtiness and wickedness. Thus, through the Holy Spirit, God restored unto us the grace and the gifts which He has always intended for us from the beginning of time.

From the Book of the prophet Ezekiel, the other one of the Old Testament readings we heard of his vision of a great valley that was filled with vast multitudes of dry bones, which represented the people of God, that had been laid to waste by the darkness of sin and the corruption of evil. But then Ezekiel saw the Spirit of God came from the Lord and then gradually restoring those dry bones, bone by bone, sinew by sinew, flesh by flesh, reconstructing and rejuvenating what was once there, the life that had been lost from them. This highlighted to us what we believe in the Holy Spirit as we always say in the Nicene Creed, ‘I believe in the Holy Spirit, the Lord, the Giver of Life.’ And we also heard of God giving us all life and created the whole world by His Spirit, present in all.

Then lastly from the Book of the prophet Joel, we heard of the words of reassurance from the Lord telling the people, all of us that His Spirit will come in due time, to strengthen all of us and to be strong amidst the challenges and trials that we had to face in this world. And His salvation and grace would come upon us all, as He has indeed promised and fulfilled by the sending and arrival of His Son, Jesus Christ, Our Lord and Saviour, and by the outpouring of the Holy Spirit that had come upon us all, His Church. This is also echoed by St. Paul in his Epistle to the Romans, in our second reading this Vigil Mass, which spoke about the coming of the Holy Spirit upon us, which we have all received, and how salvation has been reassured to us and strengthening us with His hope and love, that we may have the courage and strength to fulfil everything that God had entrusted to us.

Therefore, brothers and sisters in Christ, as we have reflected well upon these words from the Sacred Scriptures and reminded of what the Lord Himself had told His disciples in our Gospel passage today, ‘Let anyone who is thirsty come to Me, and let the one who believes in Me drink, for the Scripture says : Out of the believer’s heart shall flow rivers of living water’, referring to the Holy Spirit that we have all received through Baptism, and which is then further strengthened and confirmed with us with the Sacrament of Confirmation, therefore, let us all as Christians joyfully proclaim the Lord at all times, all of His goodness and graces, through our works and actions, through everything we do, our every interactions with one another, filled ever more wonderfully by the gifts of the Holy Spirit within us, so that we may truly bear rich fruits of the Holy Spirit.

Come, Holy Spirit, fill the hearts of the faithful and enkindle in all of us the fire of Your love. Lord, send forth Your Holy Spirit upon us and this world, and renew the face of the earth. May all of us be the loving examples and inspirations to one another, the perfect manifestation of the Love of God and the works of the Holy Spirit in our world today, now and always. Amen.