Purple

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Sunday, 9 March 2025 : First Sunday of Lent (Homily and Scripture Reflections)

Liturgical Colour : Purple/Violet

Dear brothers and sisters in Christ, this Sunday is the very first Sunday of the season of Lent, in which we are reminded of the need for us to be careful in living our lives so that we do not allow ourselves to be swayed by the temptations that are ever always present around us, all the wickedness and evils that may lead us astray in the journey towards God. As we continue to progress through this time and season of Lent, we need to remind ourselves of the many challenges and trials that we may have to endure and encounter in our path so that we will not be easily distracted and lose our focus in the Lord. We have to keep in mind that the Lord wants us all to be holy like Him, and to be worthy of Him, and this is why during this season and time of Lent, we seek to purify ourselves and rid ourselves of all the corruptions of sin.

In our first reading this Sunday, taken from the Book of Deuteronomy, we heard of the words of Moses, the leader of the Israelites, who exhorted the people of God on how they ought to offer their sacrifices and present them before the Lord. In that passage, we heard how the priest offering the sacrifice recounted the great deeds that the Lord had done for the people and for their ancestors, guiding them all through the various trials and tribulations in life, and how He has moved His hands to guide them all, performing great deeds, signs and wonders in their midst, freeing them from all of their enemies and from those who have persecuted them, as evidenced in the great signs of the time of the Exodus from Egypt.

Essentially, through those words of the priests, the people were constantly being reminded of the great and wonderful graces that they have all received from God, all the love that God has constantly shown to them. This is a reminder of the great love of God, the enduring love that had transcended even the rebelliousness and the sins of the people, who have often disobeyed and rebelled against Him. He did not forget those whom He loved when they called upon Him, and He came to their help and gave them all His blessings, and bringing them to the Land of Promise, fulfilling the Covenant which He had made with their forefathers, with Abraham and his descendants. And therefore, it is also a reminder for all of us that if we sincerely seek God’s mercy and love, we shall be forgiven by Him, and we shall once again be found in His loving embrace and Presence.

Then, in the second reading taken from the Epistle of St. Paul the Apostle to the Church and the faithful people of God in Rome, we heard of the salvation which God had reassured all of us, His faithful ones, by the sure guarantee that He has given to all of us through His Son, Whom He had sent into our world to be our Saviour, so that everyone who believes in Him, all of us may receive through Him the sure path towards the eternal life and true happiness that can be found in God alone. And everyone, regardless of their background and origin, be it they are Jews or Greeks, or any other differences or categories that we often differentiate ourselves by, all of us are truly beloved by God, and God will bless and grant us His salvation if we are to put our trust and faith in Him.

This is yet again another reminder of the universal nature of God’s love, which is given freely to everyone without bias or preference. Everyone is equally beloved by God, be it those who are rich or poor, privileged or nobody, powerful or weak, healthy or sick, man or woman, and no artificial human divisions or groupings, prejudices and biases affect His love for all of us, love that He has genuinely shown us from the very beginning of time. God Who created us all out of love wants us all to be reconciled to Him, to be guided back to Him through our repentance and sincere desire for purification of our souls, for the atonement of our faults and mistakes, which He had accomplished once and for all, for all time and for all creation through His Son, Jesus Christ our Lord and Saviour, Who has triumphed and conquered sin and death.

And in the Gospel passage this Sunday, we heard that famous moment when the same Lord Jesus Christ, the Son of God Incarnate, was tempted by the Devil in the desert for the forty days period after His baptism at the Jordan. This baptism was the mark of the beginning of the Lord’s ministry, the time when He started to do everything that His heavenly Father, our loving God and Father, has entrusted to Him, for the sake of our salvation. But in order to do that, He Who also share in our humanity, and born into this world, also has to subject Himself to the same temptations that the Devil has brought upon our ancestors, by which he had led countless souls into the path of sin and damnation. Why is that so? That is because, by uniting Himself to our humanity, and by embracing our human nature, Christ our Lord showed us all that it is possible for us to defeat sin and reject the temptations to sin, by obeying God perfectly and wholeheartedly in our lives.

Now, let us all look at the three temptations that the Devil presented to the Lord. The first temptation was the temptation of hunger and food, in which the Devil told the Lord to turn the stones there in the desert into bread for Him to take and eat, because He was very hungry after having fasted in the desert for forty days. Clearly the Lord was capable of such a deed, but He rebuked Satan, telling him that ‘man does not live on bread alone, but on every words that come from the mouth of the Lord’. Essentially this is a reminder for all of us not to give in to the temptations of our flesh, our desires for things of this world, be it for food and other luxuries around us, or for the other goods and pleasurable things in this life. It is not that we cannot or should not eat, as certainly we need to eat to sustain ourselves, but we must not allow ourselves to be overcome by the attachment and desires we have for those things that we end up neglecting the Lord and His truth and words.

It is also an important reminder that we should not orientate our lives around the material things in this world, which is what the second temptation that the Lord was given by the Devil, who brought Him up a very tall mountain, showing Him all the glory and riches of the world, all the kingdoms and the glory of all those things. The Lord told the Devil off when he said to Him that everything would be His if only He would worship the Devil. The Lord rebuked the Devil saying that the Lord God alone is worthy of worship, and nothing or noone else do. This is an important reminder for all of us because many of us may truly realise that we may have idolised or turned into an idol our obsession and desire for worldly glory, wealth, possessions and all the other things that we usually desire for in our lives, such as praise, renown, money, material goods, pleasures of the flesh, and many more.

That is why during this time and season of Lent, we practice fasting and abstinence to remind us all of the need to restrain these desires which we may have in us so that we do not end up being swayed and led down the path of sin. We have to make the conscious effort to keep ourselves free from the unhealthy attachments to worldly matters, and fasting and abstinence, done with the right spirit and desire to keep ourselves focused on the Lord will help us in our journey towards the Lord, particularly during this time of Lent. We also should deepen our relationship with God, and remind ourselves to spend more and more time during this season in particular, so that if we have not really spent the time with Him all these while, we should change our way of life, and begin to spend more time with God, good quality time through prayer and other means.

Lastly, the third and final temptation that the Lord Jesus faced from the Devil is the greatest temptation of all, that is pride. This happened as the Devil brought Him up to the parapet or the peak of the Temple of Jerusalem, asking Him to drop down from there, even quoting from the Scriptures that ‘The Lord would not let His Holy One to be hurt, and would send His Angels to protect Him’. This was meant to test the Lord with pride, as doing such an action in the view of so many people present at the Temple and miraculously surviving such an action, would make the Lord praised and glorified by the people, and everyone certainly would have believed in Him with such a wonderful miracle. But the Lord rebuked Satan again, telling him that no one should test the Lord, and He refused to be tempted by pride.

Pride is certainly something that the Devil was very familiar with. After all, it was pride that brought him to his downfall, he who was the greatest and most brilliant of all the Angels of God, Lucifer, the lightbearer. His great brilliance and might made him to grow proud and to think that he can ascend above God, aspiring to take over the Throne of Heaven. And thus that was how Lucifer fell from power and grace, becoming the Devil, the great Enemy of all the people of God. He used this same temptation of pride to tempt us mankind, to lead us astray from the path towards God by causing us to indulge in our pride, ego, ambition and desires, so that we end up following his path of rebellion and disobedience, turning us into the followers of the Devil instead of the faithful disciples and holy people of God.

Therefore, brothers and sisters in Christ, after we have heard all these words from the Sacred Scriptures, and hopefully after carefully discerning together our path in life, we may come to realisation that sin and the temptations to sin are serious obstacles preventing us from coming back to God, our loving Father and Creator. Each and every one of us should make good use of the time and opportunities which the Lord Himself has provided to us so that by our sincere efforts in seeking Him and His forgiveness, God may be kind to show us His love, His compassion and mercy, allowing us to be fully and truly reconciled and reunited with Him. We should humble ourselves and resist the temptations of pride, ambition, ego, desires and all the attachments to worldly pleasures, vices and all those distractions that can keep us away from God.

May the Lord continue to guide us throughout this Lenten journey, so that our observances of Lent, our practices such as fasting, abstinence, prayer and almsgiving, among others, may truly benefit us and strengthen us all in our faith and in our relationship with the Lord, our most loving God, as we journey towards the pinnacle of the story of our salvation at Holy Week and Easter. May God continue to bless our efforts and good works in bringing ourselves ever closer to His loving embrace, so that we may one day be worthy to be at His Holy Presence, to share forever His eternal joy and glory, having been forgiven from our many sins and faults, and be reunited with our loving Father, to live forever in His Presence. Amen.

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Sunday, 9 March 2025 : First Sunday of Lent (Gospel Reading)

Liturgical Colour : Purple/Violet

Luke 4 : 1-13

At that time, Jesus was full of the Holy Spirit. As He returned from the Jordan, the Spirit led Him into the desert, where He was tempted by the devil for forty days. He did not eat anything during that time, and at the end He was hungry. The devil then said to Him, “If You are the Son of God, tell this stone to turn into bread.” But Jesus answered, “Scripture says : People cannot live on bread alone.”

Then the devil took Him up to a high place, and showed Him, in a flash, all the nations of the world. And he said to Jesus, “I can give You power over all the nations; and their wealth will be Yours; for power and wealth have been delivered to me; and I give them to whom I wish. All this will be Yours, provided You worship me.” But Jesus replied, “Scripture says : You shall worship the Lord your God and serve Him alone.”

Then the devil took Him up to Jerusalem, and set Him on the highest wall of the Temple; and he said, “If You are God’s Son, throw Yourself down from here; for it is written : God will order His Angels to take care of you; and again : They will hold you in their hands, lest you hurt your foot on the stones.” But Jesus replied, “It is written : You shall not challenge the Lord your God.”

When the devil had exhausted every way of tempting Jesus, he left Him, to return another time.

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Sunday, 9 March 2025 : First Sunday of Lent (Second Reading)

Liturgical Colour : Purple/Violet

Romans 10 : 8-13

You are saved, if you confess with your lips that Jesus is Lord, and, in your heart, you believe that God raised Him from the dead. By believing from the heart, you obtain true righteousness; by confessing the faith with your lips, you are saved.

For Scripture says : No one who believes in Him will be ashamed. Here, there is no distinction between Jew and Greek; all have the same Lord, Who is very generous with whoever calls on Him. Truly, all who call upon the Name of the Lord will be saved.

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Sunday, 9 March 2025 : First Sunday of Lent (Psalm)

Liturgical Colour : Purple/Violet

Psalm 90 : 1-2, 10-11, 12-13, 14-15

You, who dwell in the shelter of the Most High, who rest in the shadow of the Almighty, say to YHVH, “My Stronghold, my Refuge, my God in Whom I trust!”

No harm will come upon you; no disaster will draw near your home. For He will command His Angels to guard you in all your ways.

They will lift you up with their hands, so that your foot will not hit a stone. You will tread on wildcats and snakes, and trample the lion and the dragon.

“Because they cling to Me, I will rescue them,” says YHVH. “I will protect those who know My Name. When they call to Me, I will answer; in time of trouble, I will be with them; I will deliver and honour them.”

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Sunday, 9 March 2025 : First Sunday of Lent (First Reading)

Liturgical Colour : Purple/Violet

Deuteronomy 26 : 4-10

Then the priest shall take the large basket from your hands and place it before the altar of YHVH, your God, and you shall say these words before YHVH, “My father was a wandering Aramean. He went down to Egypt to find refuge there, while still few in number; but in that country, he became a great and powerful nation.”

“The Egyptians maltreated us, oppressed us and subjected us to harsh slavery. So we called to YHVH, the God of our ancestors, and YHVH listened to us. He saw our humiliation, our hard labour and the oppression to which we were subjected. He brought us out of Egypt with a firm hand, manifesting His power with signs and awesome wonders. And He brought us here to give us this land flowing with milk and honey.”

“So now I bring and offer the first fruits of the land which You, YHVH, have given me.”

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Saturday, 8 March 2025 : Saturday after Ash Wednesday, Memorial of St. John of God, Religious (Homily and Scripture Reflections)

Liturgical Colour : Purple/Violet

Dear brothers and sisters in Christ, today as we all listened to the words of the Lord contained in the Sacred Scriptures, all of us are reminded of the need for us to live a holy and worthy life in God, one that is truly in accordance with the ways of the Lord, in tune with what He has revealed and taught to us through His Son and His Church. We must keep ourselves away from the corruptions and snares of sin, striving to seek the Lord and His forgiveness, His mercy and love, allowing Him to forgive us and heal us from this corruption of sin that had afflicted us all these while. We must not be discouraged from a truly holy life that is in harmony with God and His righteous path, and as we continue to progress through this season of Lent, we are constantly being reminded to stay true to this path of the Lord.

In our first reading today, we are called to heed the words from the Book of the prophet Isaiah in which the Lord spoke to His people through Isaiah, calling upon them all to remove from themselves the yoke of sin and disobedience, for them all to turn away from their rebelliousness and disobedience against Him, all which they had done for the many years of their existence and lives in the kingdoms of Israel and Judah. God has always been patient in helping and guiding all of them back to Himself, pointing out the path for them all to follow, sending to His people countless prophets, messengers and others to help and lead them all to the right path. Many of those people had lost the direction in their lives, being swayed by the temptations of worldly pleasures and glory, that they disobeying the Lord and His Law, and even persecuting His prophets.

God wanted to remind all of His beloved people that while He chastised them all for their sins and wickedness, but ultimately, He loved them very much and wanted all of them to find their path to Him, to be reconciled and fully reunited with Him, no longer separated from Him because of their sins and wickedness. He told them that if they were to change their ways and abandon their sins, they would be blessed by Him again, and they shall all be His people once more. God’s love is truly great, and He wants all of His people, that is all of us to be united to Him, but sin and the temptations to sin have always been great obstacles barring our path towards Him. As long as we are corrupted and afflicted by sin, then we will always be separated from God. But God has always been patient in helping us and showing us the path to return to Him, and we should not take this for granted.

Then, in our Gospel passage today, we heard from the Gospel according to St. Luke the Evangelist the account of the Lord Jesus speaking to Levi, one of the tax collectors that He encountered in His ministry, and called on this same Levi to follow Him and become His disciple. Levi listened to the Lord and followed Him, leaving behind everything that he had, all of his possessions, money and profession. Not only that, but he also invited the Lord to his place, to have dinner with him and many other tax collectors who sought to know Him and listen to Him as well. This brought about immediate outcry and protest from the Pharisees who were often following the Lord, as those people regarded the tax collectors as being sinners and wicked, and would have nothing to do with them because this was considered as making them ritually unclean.

But the Lord rebuked those Pharisees for their wrong ideas and ways, and told them that it was exactly for this purpose that He had been sent into this world. The Lord came into this world to save us all, His beloved people, and He has reached out to us with His generous compassion and love, calling upon each one of us to follow Him and to repent from our sins. As He told those Pharisees that He came into this world to heal those who were broken and sick, and to gather all of us from the precipice of darkness, preventing us from falling into the darkness. That is why, He reached out to the least and the lost, and to those whom others would have rejected and ostracised, like those tax collectors, prostitutes and others marginalised by the society, and this is an example for all of us as Christians to follow in our own lives.

Today, the Church celebrates the Feast of St. John of God, a holy man of God and renowned founder of the religious order and institute, the Brothers Hospitallers of Saint John of God, which is an institute dedicated to the care of those who are poor, sick and suffering from mental disorders. St. John of God was born in Portugal in the late fifteenth century to an impoverished but pious family of prominent heritage, but met an unfortunate incident early in his life as he was lost from his family at the age of eight, and eventually became an orphan in Spain. He was raised by a farmer who gave the young St. John of God a job as a shepherd. Then he escaped the farmer’s place after he consistently tried to make St. John of God marry his daughter and become his heir, becoming a member of the military.

St. John of God spent some time in the military until he was wrongly suspected of theft of what he had been entrusted to guard, and for the next twenty years, this and many other challenges, uncertainties and difficulties that he encountered in his involvement as a soldier fighting various wars and conflicts, and after periods of internal struggles and spiritual barrenness, and some period of soul-searching, it was told that after receiving an apparition of the Holy Child, the Infant Jesus, St. John of God, whose name of John of God was apparently bestowed on him by the Lord Himself, eventually St. John of God decided to leave behind his past life and work in the military and other fields, and decided to devote himself thoroughly to God.

St. John of God had a profound moment of conversion then, and he began to live his life with the intention to reach out to the less fortunate, the sick and suffering in the midst of the community, gathering like-minded individuals to establish the aforementioned Brothers Hospitallers of Saint John of God. This community of devout men spent their time and effort to reach out to those who are suffering, those who are sick from various illnesses and maladies, and St. John of God devoted himself and the rest of his life to this ministry for the sake of God’s people. His great faith and dedication to the Lord, while only lasted for about ten years before he passed away, inspired many other people both during his lifetime and afterwards, in putting themselves to make the lives of their fellow brethren to be a better one.

Brothers and sisters in Christ, as we have reflected from the words of the Sacred Scriptures, and also as we have discussed from the life and good examples shown to us by St. John of God, we should be inspired to follow the Lord faithfully in the manner that he and our many other holy predecessors had done. Each and every one of us as Christians ought to be good role models and examples, the ones to show everyone what it truly means for us to live as Christians, as the disciples and followers of the Lord. And in particular during this time of Lent, we are reminded to attune ourselves well to the path of the Lord, reorientating our lives as per necessary if we have strayed away from the path of the Lord, that we may spend more time and effort to benefit all those around us who are in need, those who are poor, sick and marginalised, among others who are in need of our love and care.

Let us all therefore continue to strive to live worthily in the Lord’s Presence, to do His will and to live in accordance with His Law and commandments at all times. Let us no longer remain idle or procrastinate in our efforts to seek the Lord, but do our best to expedite our journey towards the Lord, doing our very best to come to Him with contrite and repentant hearts, seeking His forgiveness and mercy for our many sins, for our most loving and forgiving God will surely forgive us if we are truly sincere in looking for Him and His mercy. May the Lord be with us always, and may He show us all His loving mercy, now and always. Amen.

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Saturday, 8 March 2025 : Saturday after Ash Wednesday, Memorial of St. John of God, Religious (Gospel Reading)

Liturgical Colour : Purple/Violet

Luke 5 : 27-32

At that time, after Jesus healed a paralytic man, He went out, and noticing a tax collector named Levi, sitting in the tax office, He said to him, “Follow Me!” So Levi, leaving everything, got up and followed Jesus.

Levi gave a great feast for Jesus, and many tax collectors came to his house, and took their places at the table with the other people. Then the Pharisees and their followers complained to Jesus’ disciples, “How is it, that you eat and drink with tax collectors and sinners?”

But Jesus spoke up, “Healthy people do not need a doctor, but sick people do. I have not come to call the just, but sinners, to a change of heart.”

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Saturday, 8 March 2025 : Saturday after Ash Wednesday, Memorial of St. John of God, Religious (Psalm)

Liturgical Colour : Purple/Violet

Psalm 85 : 1-2, 3-4, 5-6

Listen, o YHVH, and answer me, for I am afflicted and needy. Preserve my life, for I am God-fearing; save Your servant who trusts in You.

Have mercy on me, o YHVH, for I cry to You all day. Bring joy to the soul of Your servant; for You, o YHVH, I lift up my soul.

You are good and forgiving, o YHVH, caring for those who call on You. Listen, o YHVH, to my prayer, hear the voice of my pleading.

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Saturday, 8 March 2025 : Saturday after Ash Wednesday, Memorial of St. John of God, Religious (First Reading)

Liturgical Colour : Purple/Violet

Isaiah 58 : 9b-14

If you remove from your midst the yoke, the clenched fist and the wicked word. If you share your food with the hungry and give relief to the oppressed, then your light will rise in the dark, your night will be like noon.

YHVH will guide you always and give you relief in desert places. He will strengthen your bones; He will make you as a watered garden, like a spring of water whose waters never fall. Your ancient ruins will be rebuilt, the age-old foundations will be raised. You will be called the Breach-mender, and the Restorer of ruined houses.

If you stop profaning the Sabbath and doing as you please on the holy day, if you call the Sabbath a day of delight and keep sacred YHVH’s holy day, if you honour it by not going your own way, not doing as you please and not speaking with malice, then you will find happiness in YHVH, over the heights you will ride triumphantly, and feast joyfully on the inheritance of your father Jacob. The mouth of YHVH has spoken.

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Friday, 7 March 2025 : Friday after Ash Wednesday, Memorial of St. Perpetua and St. Felicity, Martyrs (Homily and Scripture Reflections)

Liturgical Colour : Purple/Violet

Dear brothers and sisters in Christ, today as we continue to progress through the season of Lent, this time of repentance and reorientation of our lives, we are all reminded that everything which we are doing during this time and season of Lent should always be focused on the Lord, our Saviour and Master. We should not allow ourselves to be deluded and misguided by the temptations of worldly glory, pleasures, or other pursuits and ambitions which can lead us into the wrong paths in life. This Lent we are all called to turn away from our many worldly attachments and distractions, as well as coming closer to the Lord by our deepening of this relationship which we ought to have for Him. Each and every one of us should seek to rend ourselves off the various shackles of worldly desires present around us, and come to the Lord with a sorrowful and contrite heart.

In our first reading today, taken from the Book of the prophet Isaiah, we heard of the words of the Lord to His people, the Israelites through Isaiah in which He called on all of them to turn towards Him with genuine faith and desire to love Him, and not merely paying lip service to Him and obeying His Law and commandments out of formality and mere outward observance only. The Lord pointed out how some of the people were doing exactly this, contradicting their own pious practices with other things that were not in accordance to His Law and commandments. The Lord quoted some examples how the people observed the fasting and the festivals, and yet, as they put ashes on their heads and wearing their sackcloth as they fast, they still persecuted and oppressed others around them, manipulating and benefitting over the sufferings of their fellow brethren.

All of those things meant that those people had not truly understood the Law and commandments of God. They fulfilled the requirements of the Law more as formality and perhaps even out of fear for the Lord, but not because they truly desired to seek Him or to follow His path wholeheartedly as they all ought to have done. That is why the Lord reminded all of His people through Isaiah, who wanted to tell them all to turn away from this wicked path, and embrace once again wholeheartedly and meaningfully the path that He has shown them, and which He has helped and reminded them constantly through the many prophets that He had sent to them including that of Isaiah himself. God wanted all of His people, and this is a reminder to all of us as well, that we must truly be sincere in our faith and all the practices we do, especially during this time and season of Lent, that we do not end up being hypocrites, believing in one thing and yet doing something entirely contradictory and opposite on the other.

Then, in our Gospel passage today, taken from the Gospel according to St. Matthew the Apostle and Evangelist, we heard of the words of the Lord Jesus to the disciples of St. John the Baptist who came up to Him to question why He and His disciples did not practice fasting in the manner that the disciples of St. John the Baptist themselves and the Pharisees had done. Unfortunately, especially for the latter group, many of them did the practice of fasting and other pious practices not for the right purpose and intention, but rather to seek attention and praise from others around them. At the same time, the Lord also used this opportunity to reveal and highlight the truth about Himself and His mission, how He, the Lord God Himself descending into our midst in the flesh and form of Man, being in our presence is no circumstance for His disciples and followers to fast.

Ultimately, this is a reminder for all of us that fasting and abstinence are practices that serve to remind us all of our sin and mortality, our rebellion and disobedience against God. When we fast, we also in a way mourn and show our regret and sorrow against our separation from God, reflecting upon the sad reality of the state of our soul, tainted and corrupted by sin and evil. And yet, at the same time, we must always remind ourselves that God has provided us His help and love, His kindness and grace, offering us all generous forgiveness and mercy. We must not squander these opportunities that God had given us all, as He reached out patiently towards us, gathering us all and calling on us to come into His Holy Presence once again, to be loved by Him again and reunited with Him.

Today, all of us are called to repent from our sins and wickedness as we continue our progress through this penitential season and time of Lent. We are called to reevaluate our path in life, and whether we have truly lived our lives worthily in the Lord or whether we are still being wayward in disobeying the Lord and His commandments. This is why we need to heed the words of the Lord that we have listened to and discussed today so that our Lenten season and whatever we are doing to observe it can be truly beneficial and fruitful for us. We must not do those observances and actions without truly understanding their significance and importance, and whenever we fast, abstain, spending our time in prayer and performing acts of charity, we should do them because we sincerely desire to better ourselves and to come back towards the Lord with contrite hearts.

Today, the Church also celebrates the Feast of St. Perpetua and St. Felicity, two holy and devout women whose martyrdom during the era of persecution of Christians in the Roman Empire inspired many of the faithful throughout history. St. Perpetua was a Roman noblewoman who was recently married at the time of her martyrdom while St. Felicity was a slavewoman, who was arrested and imprisoned together with St. Perpetua during one of the episodes of persecution of Christians in the Empire. Despite their different backgrounds, both were united in the common faith they had in the Lord, in their belief in Christ, the Saviour of all. They refused to abandon their faith, and for St. Perpetua, she refused her father’s desire that she recant her faith in God. Eventually both of them were put to death for their faith in the Lord, courageously defending their faith to the very end.

Brothers and sisters in Christ, today as we reflect upon these words from the Sacred Scriptures and upon listening to the examples of the great saints, St. Perpetua and St. Felicity, let us all hence renew our commitments to the Lord, and renew that desire in each and every one of us to seek the Lord ever more wholeheartedly, by our exemplary living and deeds, by our obedience to the Law and commandments of God. The Lord has given us this time of Lent as the wonderful opportunity for us to embrace Him and His mercy, to reevaluate our lives and to reattune ourselves to His path. Let us all not squander these opportunities that He has given us, and let us all seek the Lord faithfully, being good role models for everyone around us, much as our holy predecessors, like that of St. Perpetua and St. Felicity had been for us.

May the Lord continue to bless us in our journey of life and strengthen us in our faith and commitment to Him, and bless our Lenten practices and observances so that through them, we may draw ever closer to Him and find the path to His Holy Presence, and remain ever firm in our desire to love and seek Him always in our lives. Amen.