Liturgical Colour : Green or White (Bishops)
Psalm 145 : 1-2, 3-4, 5-6ab
Alleluia! Praise YHVH, my soul! I will sing to YHVH all my life; I will sing praise to God while I live.
Do not put your trust in princes, in a great one, who cannot save. Not sooner his spirit has left, that he goes back to the earth; on that very day, any plan comes to nothing.
Blessed are they whose help is the God of Jacob, whose hope is in YHVH their God, Maker of heaven and earth, the sea and all they contain.
Liturgical Colour : Green or White (Bishops)
Jeremiah 18 : 1-6
This is the word of YHVH that came to Jeremiah : “Go down to the potter’s house and there you will hear what I have to say.”
So I went to the potter’s house and found him working at the wheel. But the pot he was working on was spoilt in his hands, so he reworked it all over again into another pot that suits his desire.
Meanwhile YHVH sent me His word, “People of Israel, can I not do with you what this potter does? As clay in the potter’s hand so are you in My hands.”
Liturgical Colour : White
Dear brothers and sisters in Christ, today the Church celebrates the feast of one of the more renowned saints as she was mentioned in several occasions in the Gospels. St. Martha was the sister of Mary and Lazarus and featured prominently during the time when the Lord visited her household and also when Lazarus died and was resurrected by the Lord. They were considered as the close friends and disciples of the Lord.
St. Martha was remembered most for the moment when the Lord came to visit her house, and she was very busy preparing everything to serve the Lord and to show Him the best hospitality that she could offer. However, in doing so, she had in fact forgotten that she spent most of her time being busy in preparing all the hospitality and service rather than attending to the Lord and listening to Him, as Mary her sister had done.
Initially St. Martha was angry and unhappy that her sister had left her to do all the preparations, and she even told the Lord of her issues and asked Him to tell her sister to help her in her work and preparation. But the Lord kindly reminded St. Martha and told her that she had not done what she should have done, and that in fact her sister had chosen the right course of action. In her preoccupation with preparing for the Lord’s coming, St. Martha had been distracted and forgot that first and foremost, she had to be there for the Lord.
Instead, she allowed herself to be sucked into the procedures and details, into the things that she thought would impress the Lord as a good hostess and friend, not realising that she had spent the precious time she should have spent with the Lord away from Him, in the kitchen or elsewhere in the house. That is also why the Lord reminded her that her sister Mary had done the right thing, by doing what mattered the most, that is to be with the Lord.
Brothers and sisters in Christ, in our own lives, we are perhaps often like St. Martha, in how we have lived our lives. We may have been so busy with our lives and been so preoccupied with the many things and concerns we have in life that all of us have often forgotten about God and put Him aside for those other concerns and things we desire in life. We are often too busy to even notice how He has always cared for us and provided for us, even when we have been wayward and delinquent with our lives so far.
St. Martha reminded us all that even sometimes we can be busy and preoccupied to a fault, being particular and detailed to a fault but we forget the most important aspect of life itself and that is to focus ourselves and our attention on God. It is very easy otherwise for us to lose our focus and be distracted as St. Martha herself has experienced. But now that we know and have been reminded of this, it is then up to us how we want to proceed forward in life from now on.
Are we able and willing to detach ourselves from the attachment to our busy life schedules, especially to our work and profession, as well as our attachments to other pursuits in life? It is not that we cannot have job or be busy, but rather, we need to ask ourselves, what is truly, our priority in life? There are people who genuinely work hard because they need to earn to support their families and loved ones, but many among us seek for many unhealthy pursuits and addictions in life.
Instead of being tempted and swayed by the pursuits of power, glory, material wealth and fame, pleasures of the body and mind, among many others, all of which are distractions and are in fact leading us away from God, let us rather redirect our lives and our emphasis and focus, that like Mary, the sister of St. Martha, we find the true treasure and focus of our lives, that is God, knowing that in Him alone we can find true happiness, joy and satisfaction.
There are many things we desire in life, and we certainly know it. And we also know how all these desires cannot be fully satisfied one, as when we have what we want, we have the tendency to crave and desire even more, and that is why we fall into the trap of our routines, our busy activities and being distracted in life, and forget about God. Let us all therefore rediscover our love for God, and reorientate our lives once again towards Him from now on.
May the Lord help us in our journey and may He strengthen each and every one of us in our faith, that we may find our true focus in God, and that we may seek for what we will never lose, that is the love of God and to focus ourselves on Him, rather than on the mundane and repetitive schedules and preoccupations in life, to focus on God’s love rather than on our own desires, our own greed and wants, our own pursuits for the fleeting and temporary pleasures of the world. May the Lord bless us all and may St. Martha intercede for us sinners always. Amen.
Liturgical Colour : White
John 11 : 19-27
At that time, 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. Martha 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.”
Alternative reading
Luke 10 : 38-42
At that time, as Jesus and His disciples were on their way, He entered a village, and a woman called Martha welcomed Him to her house. She had a sister named Mary, who sat down at the Lord’s feet to listen to His words. Martha, meanwhile, was busy with all the serving, and finally she said, “Lord, do You not care that my sister has left me to do all the work? Tell her to help me!”
But the Lord answered, “Martha, Martha, you worry and are troubled about many things, whereas only one thing is needed. Mary has chosen the better part, and it will not be taken away from her.”
Liturgical Colour : White
Psalm 33 : 2-3, 4-5, 6-7, 8-9, 10-11
I will praise YHVH all my days; His praise will be ever on my lips. My soul makes its boast in YHVH; let the lowly hear and rejoice.
Oh, let us magnify YHVH; together, let us glorify His Name! I sought YHVH, and He answered me; from all my fears He delivered me.
They who look to Him are radiant with joy, their faces never clouded with shame. When the poor cry out, YHVH hears and saves them from distress.
YHVH’s Angel encamps and patrols, to keep safe those who fear Him. Oh, see and taste the goodness of YHVH! Blessed is the one who finds shelter in Him!
Revere YHVH, all you, His saints, for those who fear Him do not live in want. The mighty may be hungry and in need; but those who seek YHVH lack nothing.
Liturgical Colour : White
1 John 4 : 7-16
My dear friends, let us love one another, for love comes from God. Everyone who loves, is born of God and knows God. Those who do not love have not known God, for God is love. How did the love of God appear among us? God sent His only Son into this world, that we might have life, through Him.
This is love : not that we loved God, but that, He first loved us and sent His Son, as an atoning sacrifice for our sins. Dear friends, if such has been the love of God, we, too, must love one another. No one has ever seen God, but if we love one another, God lives in us, and His love comes to its perfection in us.
How may we know that we live in God and He in us? Because God has given us His Spirit. We ourselves have seen, and declare, that the Father sent His Son to save the world. Those who confess that Jesus is the Son of God, God remains in them, and they in God. We have known the love of God and have believed in it. God is love. The one who lives in love, lives in God, and God in him.
Liturgical Colour : Green
Dear brothers and sisters in Christ, on this day as we listened to the words of the Scripture, we are all reminded that the punishment for sins are suffering and death, and this will come about because sin is caused by disobedience and rebellion against God. And unless we turn away from our sins, we will end up falling deeper and deeper into these traps of sin, and in the end, we will be judged by those sins and by our refusal to follow the Lord and His ways.
This is what we have heard through the parable of the weeds among the wheat in a field, as we heard the Lord explaining the meaning of the parable to His disciples. In that parable we heard the enemy, the devil who spread the weeds in between the wheat and we heard how the wheat and the weeds grew together until the time of the harvest when the wheat would be harvested and the weeds would be thrown into the fire and destroyed.
The field represents all of us God’s people, on which He has sowed the seeds of faith, the seeds of His wisdom and love. But at the same time, through sin and by temptations, the devil has also spread the seeds of unfaithfulness, disobedience, doubt and other wickedness, and these seeds grow along with the faith within us. And the weeds compete with the wheat for nutrients, space, water among other things, and unless the wheat is strong, it will be outcompeted and die.
Brothers and sisters in Christ, that is exactly why all of us must heed the Lord’s call and also warnings, that we should not take our sins and disobedience lightly. For if we continue to sin, essentially what we are doing is that we are encouraging the ‘weeds’ to grow unchecked and may end up destroying the ‘wheat’ within us. God has kindly given us all the opportunities to seek redemption and forgiveness, and that is why He has not judged us based on our sins and punish us. But in due time, unless we remove from ourselves these taints of sin, then we shall have to face the consequences in full.
And the reason for all of these is God’s love, His enduring love and compassion for each and every one of us. We must remember this fact, that each and every one of us are truly precious in the eyes of the Lord, and we are so fortunate to have this loving God by our side. And yet, more often than not we rejected God’s love and compassion, His mercy and forgiveness, and continue walking down the path to ruin because we are unable to resist the temptations of the devil.
Brothers and sisters in Christ, we have to be strong and we must have faith in the Lord. We must overcome the temptations that are present all around us, and free ourselves from the many shackles of worldly desires and pleasures, all the distractions that have kept us away from God and prevented us from loving God and seeking Him wholeheartedly. And we should not do this alone, but with the help of God and with the assistance of our fellow brothers and sisters around us.
Let us all from now on live our lives focusing them on the right thing and looking up to the right path, no longer indulging in the false temptations and the false pleasures of Satan and the world, but instead, focusing on the true joy and happiness, fulfilment and satisfaction that we can find in the Lord alone. And let us all seek the Lord with a new spirit and fervour, that the Lord will forgive our sins and love us tenderly as He has always done, and by our sincerity in faith we will be drawn ever closer to His grace and truth.
May the Lord help us and guide us in this journey, and may He give us all the courage and strength to resist the temptations and pressures from the world, the temptation and shackles of sin and evil. May He listen to our cries for His love and be touched by our sincerity and our fervour in following Him and being faithful to Him, and may He bring us into the glory of life everlasting. Amen.
Liturgical Colour : Green
Matthew 13 : 36-43
At that time, Jesus sent the crowds away and went into the house. And His disciples came to Him, saying, “Explain to us the parable of the weeds in the field.” Jesus answered them, “The One Who sows the good seed is the Son of Man. The field is the world; the good seed are the people of the kingdom; the weeds are those who follow the evil one. The enemy who sows the weeds is the devil; the harvest is the end of time, and the workers are the Angels.”
“Just as the weeds are pulled up and burnt in the fire, so will it be at the end of time. The Son of Man will send His Angels, and they will weed out of His kingdom all that is scandalous and all who do evil. And these will be thrown into the blazing furnace, where there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth. Then the just will shine, like the sun, in the kingdom of their Father. If you have ears, then hear.”
Liturgical Colour : Green
Psalm 78 : 8, 9, 11, 13
Do not remember against us the sins of our fathers. Let Your compassion hurry to us, for we have been brought very low.
Help us, God, our Saviour, for the glory of Your Name; forgive us for the sake of Your Name.
Listen to the groans of the prisoners; by the strength of Your arm, deliver those doomed to die.
Then we, Your people, the flock of Your pasture, will thank You forever. We will recount Your praise from generation to generation.
Liturgical Colour : Green
Jeremiah 14 : 17-22
This you will say to them : Let my eyes shed tears night and day without ceasing! For a great wound has the virgin daughter of my people been wounded, a most grievous wound. If I go into the country, I see those slain by the sword. If I enter the city I see the ravages of famine. For the prophet and the priest did not understand what was happening in the land.
Have You then rejected Judah forever? Do You abhor Zion? Why have You wounded us and left us with no hope of recovery? We hoped for salvation but received nothing good; we waited for healing, but terror came! YHVH, we know our wickedness and that of our ancestors, and the times we have sinned against You.
For Your Name’s sake do not despise us; do not dishonour the throne of Your glory. Remember us. Do not break Your Covenant with us! Among the worthless idols of the nations, are there any who can bring rain, or make the skies send showers? Only in You, YHVH our God, do we hope, for it is You Who do all this.
petercanisiusmichaeldavidkang 