Liturgical Colour : Red
John 3 : 13-17
No one has ever gone up to heaven except the One who came from heaven, the Son of Man. As Moses lifted up the serpent in the desert, so must the Son of Man be lifted up, so that whoever believes in Him may have eternal life.
Yes, God so loved the world that He gave His only Son that whoever believes in Him may not be lost, but may have eternal life. God did not send the Son into the world to condemn the world; instead, through Him the world is to be saved.
Liturgical Colour : Red
Psalm 77 : 1-2, 34-35, 36-37, 38
Give heed, o My people, to My teaching; listen to the words of My mouth! I will speak in parables. I will talk of old mysteries.
When He slew them, they repented and sought Him earnestly. They remembered that God was their Rock, the Most High, their Redeemer.
But they flattered Him with their mouths, they lied to Him with their tongues, while their hearts were unfaithful; they were untrue to His covenant.
Even then, in His compassion, He forgave their offenses and did not destroy them. Many a time He restrained His anger and did not fully stir up His wrath.
Liturgical Colour : Red
Numbers 21 : 4b-9
The people were discouraged by the journey and began to complain against God and Moses, “Why have you brought us out of Egypt to die in the wilderness? There is neither bread nor water here and we are disgusted with this tasteless manna.”
YHVH then sent fiery serpents against them. They bit the people and many of the Israelites died. Then the people came to Moses and said, “We have sinned, speaking against YHVH and against you. Plead with YHVH to take the serpents away.”
Moses pleaded for the people and YHVH said to him, “Make a fiery serpent and set it on a standard; whoever has been bitten and then looks at it shall live.”
So Moses made a bronze serpent and set it on a standard. Whenever a man was bitten, he looked towards the bronze serpent and he lived.
Liturgical Colour : White
1 Timothy 1 : 1-2, 12-14
From Paul, apostle of Christ Jesus by a command of God our Saviour and of Christ Jesus our hope, to Timothy, my true son in the faith. May God the Father and Christ Jesus our Lord give you grace, mercy, and peace.
I give thanks to Christ Jesus, our Lord, who is my strength, who has considered me trustworthy and appointed me to His service, although I had been a blasphemer, a persecutor and a rabid enemy.
However He took mercy on me because I did not know what I was doing when I opposed the faith; and the grace of our Lord was more than abundant, together with faith and love that are in Christ Jesus.
Liturgical Colour : Green or White
Dear brothers and sisters in Christ, today we celebrate another important Marian feast, that is the Feast of the Holy Name of Mary, the mother of our Lord and God, Jesus Christ, God incarnate into man. Today we celebrate the name of the very woman through whom the salvation of this world and the salvation of all of us, came into this world, and through whom our salvation in Christ her Son was ensured in all its fullness.
Why the name of Mary? That is because the devil trembles every time he hears that name, just as he hides in fear every time he hears the Name of Jesus Christ our Lord, her Son. That is because in her and in Jesus, the devil suffered his ultimate defeat, and the sealing of his fate, that is to suffer most grievously for all eternity in the lake of fire prepared for him and the angels who followed him into rebellion against God.
Satan, the devil and the deceiver had scored an early victory in his struggle, by snatching the most beloved and the greatest of all the things created by God, that is mankind. He successfully deceived Eve, and then Adam, by playing into their innocence, making them disobey God and therefore in their sin and rebellion, they were to suffer the same fate as Satan and his angels, to suffer for eternity most grievously.
And yet, God did not leave mankind to their fate, as even to Adam and Eve, and to Satan, He had revealed His great plan of salvation, that a woman will come and crush the head of the snake, just as the snake had bitten the feet of mankind and their children. Yes, even though through the ‘bite’ of evil and his poisons, that is temptations and sins, many of our forefathers had fallen along the way, succumbing to the temptations of the devil, but in the end, the deliverance of all will come.
That was what was keeping the devil in constant fear, fear that the salvation would come and ruined all of his attempts to destroy mankind by his false promises and temptations. It is in Mary and her works that brought about this end for him, yes, Mary is that promised woman, who will crush the serpent under her feet, and end the tyranny of Satan and sin. She brought forth the very Messiah who saved all from their fate, that they would not suffer the fate of Satan and his angels.
Mary clothed herself with righteousness and faith, and in her perfect obedience to God and His plans, she had made herself into the vessel through which God finally made the final strike against Satan and his perversion, by sending His own Son Jesus to be incarnate into man through Mary. Through Mary’s obedience and role in God’s plan for salvation, she had therefore stomped hard on the head of that snake, Satan the deceiver and the enemy.
At the name of Mary therefore, Satan will tremble and hide, because first of her role as the mother of Jesus the Messiah, as well as her own virtue and goodness that terrified Satan, because just as her Son, and unlike all other mankind, Mary was conceived without sin, and lived upright throughout her life, and thus, Satan has no power at all over her.
Yes, brethren, that is why we honour Mary, because she had made a new hope available to all of us, in Jesus her Son. It is also because of her upright and life dedicated to the Lord, that we honour and emulate her often in our own lives. Yes, brethren, she is our role model, the best of all role models after Christ our Lord Himself, and she is the greatest among the saints in heaven, the first of all, and the one closest to the throne of God, constantly advising her Son and interceding for our sake that her Son will be merciful and always loving to us.
Therefore, let us take this opportunity to deepen our love for the Lord, and our love for things good, things in complete tandem and harmony with the Lord. Let us not be led to fall into temptation by the evil one. Let us remain focused on the Lord, and ask His mother Mary to be our help in our journey back towards the Lord.
If the devil comes and threatens us with his temptations, we have to be brave and stand up to him, and utter the holy name of Mary and Jesus, and he will tremble and leave. He has no power over us, brethren, not since the sacrifice of Jesus on the cross had liberated all of us for eternity and broken the chains of sin. Never fear and trust in the power and providence of the Lord. Mary is also there to support us, as our mother and protector and our guide.
May the Lord and His mother Mary continue to watch for us and protect us, as we walk down this long and arduous path towards salvation in God. May we remain in the favour of the Lord, and seek His love at all times, reminding ourselves of the love He had shown us throughout all ages. God bless us all. Amen.
Liturgical Colour : Green or White
Luke 6 : 27-38
But I say to you who hear Me : Love your enemies, do good to those who hate you. Bless those who curse you, and pray for those who treat you badly. To the one who strikes you on the cheek, turn the other cheek; from the one who takes your coat, do not keep back your shirt. Give to the one who asks and if anyone has taken something from you, do not demand it back.
Do to others as you would have others do to you. If you love only those who love you, what kind of grace is yours? Even sinners love those who love them. If you do favours to those who are good to you, what kind of grace is yours? Even sinners do the same. If you lend only when you expect to receive, what kind of grace is yours? For sinners also lend to sinners, expecting to receive something in return.
But love your enemies and do good to them, and lend when there is nothing to expect in return. Then will your reward be great, and you will be sons and daughters of the Most High. For He is kind towards the ungrateful and the wicked. Be merciful, just as your Father is merciful.
Do not be a judge of others and you will not be judged; do not condemn and you will not be condemned; forgive and you will be forgiven; give and it will be given to you, and you will receive in your sack good measure, pressed down, full and running over. For the measure you give will be the measure you receive back.
Alternative Reading (from the Mass of the Most Holy Name of Mary)
Luke 1 : 39-47
Mary then set out for a town in the hill country of Judah. She entered the house of Zechariah and greeted Elizabeth. When Elizabeth heard Mary’s greeting, the baby leapt in her womb.
Elizabeth was filled with Holy Spirit, and giving a loud cry, said, “You are most blessed among women, and blessed is the Fruit of your womb! How is it that the mother of my Lord comes to me? The moment your greeting sounded in my ears, the baby within me suddenly leapt for joy. Blessed are you who believed that the Lord’s word would come true!”
And Mary said, “My soul proclaims the greatness of the Lord, my spirit exults in God my Saviour!”
Liturgical Colour : Green or White
Colossians 3 : 12-17
Clothe yourself, then, as is fitting for God’s chosen people, holy and beloved of Him. Put on compassion, kindness, humility, meekness, and patience to bear with one another and forgive whenever there is any occasion to do so. As the Lord has forgiven you, forgive one another.
Above all, clothe yourselves with love which binds everything together in perfect harmony. May the peace of Christ overflow in your hearts; for this end you were called to be one body. And be thankful.
Let the word of God dwell in you in all its richness. Teach and admonish one another with words of wisdom. With thankful hearts sing to God psalms, hymns, and spontaneous praise. And whatever you do or say, do it in the Name of Jesus, the Lord, giving thanks to God the Father through Him.
Alternative Reading (From the Mass of the Most Holy Name of Mary)
Galatians 4 : 4-7
But when the fullness of time came, God sent His Son. He came born of woman and subject to the Law, in order to redeem the subjects of the Law, that we might receive adoption as children of God. And because you are children, God has sent into your hearts the Spirit of His Son which cries out : ‘Abba!’ that is ‘Father!’
You yourself are no longer a slave but a son or daughter, and yours is the inheritance by God’s grace.
Alternative Reading (From the Mass of the Most Holy Name of Mary)
Ephesians 1 : 3-6, 11-12
Blessed be God, the Father of Christ Jesus our Lord, who in Christ has blessed us from heaven with every spiritual blessing. God chose us in Christ before the creation of the world to be holy and without sin in His presence.
From eternity He destined us in love to be His adopted sons and daughters through Christ Jesus, thus fulfilling His free and generous will. This goal suited Him : that His loving-kindness which He granted us in His Beloved might finally receive all glory and praise.
By a decree of Him who disposes all things according to His own plan and decision, we, the Jews, have been chosen and called, and we were awaiting the Messiah, for the praise of His glory.
Liturgical Colour : Green
Colossians 3 : 1-11
So then, if you are risen with Christ, seek the things that are above, where Christ is seated at the right hand of God. Set your mind on the things that are above, not on earthly things. For you have died and your life is now hidden with Christ in God. When Christ, who is your life, reveals Himself, you also will be revealed with Him in Glory.
Therefore, put to death what is earthly in your life, that is immorality, impurity, inordinate passions, wicked desires and greed which is a way of worshipping idols. These are the things that arouse the wrath of God.
For a time you followed this way and lived in such disorders. Well then, reject all that : anger, evil intentions, malice; and let no abusive words be heard from your lips.
Do not lie to one another. You have been stripped of the old self and its way of thinking to put on the new, which is being renewed and is to reach perfect knowledge and the likeness of its creator. There is no room for distinction between Greek or Jew, circumcised or uncircumcised, barbarian, foreigner, slave, or free, but Christ is all and in all.
Liturgical Colour : Green
Brothers and sisters in Christ, today we realise that the Lord our God loves us and He is willing to call us from the depth of our sins and the depth of our iniquities, to be with Him and to rejoice with Him in salvation. He did this through Christ His Son, who had descended into the world to be among us and to be the source of our salvation.
He cares for us and wants us to leave behind our world of sin that leads to death and damnation. That was why He offered all of us His enduring love, love that He carried through all the way to the cross on Calvary. He willed us to live, and that was why He did not hesitate even to give His own life for us that we may live.
He called the Apostles, the chosen twelve among His disciples, to be the primary helpers of His good works during His ministry in this world and even after He had departed it. They helped Him to administer the people and become the listening ear to His many teachings, through which He revealed much about Himself and God’s plan of salvation for mankind.
He offered them and all, a new hope in Himself, that all those who believe in Him and place their trust in Him will not suffer death and punishment for their sins and iniquities. Instead, it was indeed Christ who had undergone much suffering, pain, and eventually death in our place. The Body and Blood He offered us, through His pierced Body and the Blood outpouring from His wounds on the cross, become the gate into this new life.
Yes, brethren, and those who walk through this gate, will receive eternal life in God. The Body of Christ we receive in the Communion bread and the Blood in the wine bring Christ into ourselves, and thereafter, He dwells within us, becoming a light within our hearts. However, not everyone can just receive the Lord without due consideration.
We must first be welcomed into the Church of God, that is the entire community of the faithful ones in God, and become one body with all the faithful, as part of the one living Church, that is through the waters of baptism. Baptism marks that clear break between us and our past, the sinful lives and idol worshipping lives we had once led, and be purified in the Lord, to be made worthy to receive the salvation offered freely by the Lord.
That was why those who had not yet been received into the Church, may not receive the Lord because they are unworthy and had not yet placed their hearts and their beliefs fully in God. For those of us who had been received into the Church and receive the Lord into ourselves, we have accepted the Lord as our Lord and Saviour, just as the Apostles had done before.
However, it is not that we must be stagnant and be idle after we have been received into the Church. Otherwise we would be condemned by the Lord, just as He had done to the Pharisees, who had not done what was asked of them, and instead slandering the prophets and the Lord Himself. Constant vigilance and cultivation of that opportunity God has given us is therefore necessary and indeed, expected of us.
The Apostles themselves did not remain idle, even though after their baptism of fire, they can be certain of salvation. Yes, the Apostles received their baptism of fire by the Holy Spirit, on the day of the Pentecost, that truly marked the beginning of their ministry after the departure of Jesus from this world. The Apostles. They faced much opposition and rejection, just as they were received by many. Yet they did not fear, for God is with them, and they even gave their lives in the end, for the sake of the Gospel of Christ.
Dear brothers and sisters, today we are also called, to be the apostles of our modern day world. Let us therefore strive to follow in the footsteps of the Apostles, we who had been called and received into the Church. We must never be idle but we must be proactive and take the initiative to be the active disciples of Christ, spreading the Good News to all the people.
May the Lord guide us and protect us as we embark on this journey of evangelisation, that we may be fruitful and great, in our works for the sake of the Lord. God bless us all. Amen.
Liturgical Colour : Green or White
Dear brothers and sisters in Christ, indeed, as we heard today, God has His plans for all of us. And that plan is none other than in Jesus Christ, the Saviour of the world. He had prepared that plan for salvation long beforehand, ever since the time of creation, ever since the fall of our forefathers into sin.
God did not abandon us to our fate that is to die because of our wrongdoings, our betrayal against His love, but He wants us to live, an eternal life with Him in heaven. That was why He had given us His love throughout time, sending prophets and messengers one after another, in order to bring mankind back to the Lord their God and Father who loves them.
God’s prophets and messengers existed throughout time, especially ones we know in Israel, the people first chosen by the Lord to be His people. He sent these prophets and messengers to Israel and put in them the understanding and knowledge on His plan for salvation of mankind. The prophets proclaimed the message of the Lord, but many kept their hearts shut tight against the Lord, spurning His eternal love.
But God is not someone who easily gives up. Yes, He did punish those who had wronged and disobeyed His commandments, like what He did to the people of Israel in the desert, where they wandered for forty years to atone for their sins and rebelliousness, but He ultimately did all that, because He loved all of them so greatly, that it truly had caused Him pain to watch them going astray from His ways.
He had given His laws and commandments to His people, through Moses His servant and through the prophets. He gave them all these so that they will stay true to His ways and do not fall back into their past, sinful ways. These laws are to be their guide in their lives, and yet, over time, they had taken it for granted and misused them for their own purposes. They become enslaved to the Law and had forgotten what the true intention and meaning of the Law was.
That is why, He chose to send the deliverer, in Jesus, the long awaited Messiah , the Christ. In Him, the Lord finally revealed the true intent and the plan that He had crafted for our salvation. Through Christ He had revealed the nature of His Law, including that of the Sabbath. The Sabbath was made as a special day to honour the Lord, to love God, and not as a punishment for certain.
The Pharisees failed to see that, having had a set mind in their own version of the Law, and always set themselves in the path of Christ, always trying in futility to find fault with Him, particularly on the matter of the observance of the Sabbath Law. Instead of learning the true meaning of the Law, that is love, the love God has for all of us, they withdrew themselves into their sinfulness. This was what Christ had condemned them all for.
Today, we celebrate the feast of St. Peter Claver. He was a great priest and missionary, as a Spanish Jesuit who lived during the height of the Spanish American Empire in what is now known as Latin or South America. He lived at a time of conquest, when many native people of Spanish America were made into slaves of the Spanish conquerors.
St. Peter Claver worked hard as a missionary, and dedicated himself to his work, especially to the slaves, the enslaved natives of his mission work area. He denounced the slavery of fellow mankind, in an era when these slaves and the native people of the Americas in general were considered as less than human beings and were being traded as if they were animals.
He worked so hard that he kind of ‘enslaved himself to his work and ministry, but in this manner, his ‘enslavement’ is a good one. Unlike the Pharisees who enslaved themselves and the people they led on human laws, earning the condemnation of Christ, St. Peter Claver enslaved himself to the cause of love, the care of the least among all, the slaves and the lowest in the society.
Indeed, Christ Himself had done the same for all of us, for the sake of God’s children. He made Himself a slave for us, tortured and suffering, and died the humiliating death of a slave and a criminal on the cross, so that we may live and not die, so that we may not be slave again to sin, but to be free and not just any freedom, but eternal freedom from death and sin.
May the Lord who loves us so much that He is willing to die a slave’s death that we can be free from our enslavement to sin, together with St. Peter Claver and his love for the least among mankind and slaves, empower us, to dare to make a difference in our world today, and to be able to give our love and our entire being to them, in the way similar to what Christ and St. Peter Claver had done, that no one will remain unloved, and no one will remain a slave. Amen.
petercanisiusmichaeldavidkang 