Saturday

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Saturday, 18 April 2026 : 2nd Week of Easter (Homily and Scripture Reflections)

Liturgical Colour : White

Dear brothers and sisters in Christ, today as we listened to the words of the Scriptures, we are all called to continue following the Lord, to be faithful to Him and His commandments, doing our best to serve Him and to walk in the path that He has shown us so that each and every one of us may come to His Holy Presence and be fully reconciled and reunited with Him. The Lord has sent His Holy Spirit to strengthen to guide us all within His Church, to help and lead us down the right path as He continued to lead us through the path of righteousness, helping and guiding us in our Christian living and existence to be the beacons of His light and truth, to be the bearers of His love and compassion into this world, and therefore, all of us as Christians should spend our time and effort in doing what the Lord has called on all of us to do. Each and every one of us should follow the good examples set by our holy predecessors, the saints and the followers of the Lord as we heard in our Sacred Scriptures.

In our first reading today, we heard from the Acts of the Apostles of the moment during the early Church when the Church began to grow rapidly, as more and more people became believers and followers of the Lord, as the Apostles and the other disciples went forth to proclaim the Good News of the Lord to more and more people. Back then, as the Acts of the Apostles themselves highlighted, the early Christian community existed in a state of loving grace, as they shared their blessings, graces and possessions with one another, and many of the early Christians lived in the community of believers, caring for one another. However, as we heard from our first reading passage today, there were indeed difficulties and challenges that the early Christians faced, particularly because of the friction and disagreements between those Christians who came from among the Jewish people and from among the Pharisees, and those Christian converts from the Gentiles or the non-Jewish people.

We heard of the disparity between the distribution of resources and support those who belonged to the Jewish Christians group and those who belonged to the Hellenists, likely the ones who came from Gentile background. This was in fact understandable as back then there was quite a bit of racial and religious superiority shown by the Jewish people, especially the Pharisees among them, who considered themselves better and more worthy as compared to the Gentiles. But such divisions and disparities should not have existed among the Christian community, as they have been made through their sacred baptism, as the adopted sons and daughters of God, all equal and same before the Holy Presence of God. Each and every one of them had been called to get rid from themselves whatever prejudices and bias that they used to have against each other, and to follow the Lord wholeheartedly.

The Apostles decided as we heard, to appoint seven men to become the first of the Deacons of the Church. This was in fact the moment when the office of Deacons came to be in the Church, which served to complement the role of the priestly ministry of the Apostles and their successors. If the Lord Himself has instituted the Sacred Priesthood at the Last Supper, entrusting the priestly ministry to His Apostles, thus the Deacons served to help and assist the Apostles and their successors in their work and ministry to the people of God. It was obvious that the Apostles and the other leaders of the Church could not be everywhere at once and they could not minister to all the faithful effectively without assistance. Hence, the office of the Deaconate was established as the holy office meant for those who answered God’s call to minister to the people, to care for their needs, both physical and spiritual, assisting the works of the Lord through His Church.

Those holy deacons dedicated themselves to the ministry to the people of God, and one of them, St. Stephen, was well-known due to his suffering and martyrdom at the hands of the opponents of the Lord and His Church, becoming the very first martyr or Protomartyr of the Church. The other deacons and other holy servants of God also faced great trials and challenges, but they lived their lives and carried out their missions with great dedication, becoming great role models and inspiration for many of the faithful, gaining for the Lord and His Church many people touched by their efforts and works, new converts and rejuvenated members of the Church which led to the even more rapid growth of the Church in the early years of its existence despite the increasingly intensified persecutions and challenges facing them from both the Jewish and the Roman authorities.

They remained firmly faithful and dedicated themselves wholeheartedly to the Lord, just as the Gospel passage today reminded us all that none of us can survive or do our part well without entrusting ourselves to the Lord. We are reminded through what we heard in our Gospel passage today that the Church of God has survived and endured through so many challenges and trials because the Lord has always been there for us, guiding us through His Presence and the Holy Spirit. As the disciples of the Lord panicked and feared amidst the great winds and waves that battered against their boat in the storm, the Lord appeared to them walking on the water, and reassured and calmed them down, reminding all of them that He was there, and that they had nothing to be worried or fearful about. He calmed the storm and the wind down, and led the disciples to where they were about to go.

Brothers and sisters in Christ, the boat represents the Church of God and the disciples are those who lead the Church. The Lord was with His Church and guided all of His faithful ones to the right path, and helped His Church and those who trusted in Him to walk the path of righteousness, enduring the trials and challenges facing them, and not allowing the Church to be swallowed and destroyed by the forces of all those who opposed the Lord and His faithful ones. God has promised us His providence, love and guidance, and each and every one of us are called to walk faithfully in His path, and we should do our best to do our part in the mission and works of the Church, to proclaim the Lord in all things, and to do what we can so that we may be great role models and sources of inspiration for one another in how we live our lives, that many more people may come to believe in God through us.

May the Risen Lord continue to help and guide us in our journey of faith through life, and may He empower each and every one of us so that we may continue to strive and persevere through the many challenges and trials that we may have to endure as faithful disciples and followers of the Lord. May God be with us always and may He bless our every efforts and endeavours, our every good works for the greater glory of His Name. May all of us have a most blessed and wonderful Easter season, have a most fruitful time in our obedience to the Lord. Amen.

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Saturday, 18 April 2026 : 2nd Week of Easter (Gospel Reading)

Liturgical Colour : White

John 6 : 16-21

At that time, when evening came, the disciples went down to the shore. After a while they got into a boat to make for Capernaum on the other side of the sea, for it was now dark and Jesus had not yet come to them. But the sea was getting rough because a strong wind was blowing.

They had rowed about three or four miles, when they saw Jesus walking on the sea, and He was drawing near to the boat. They were frightened, but He said to them, “It is I! Do not be afraid!” They wanted to take Him into the boat, but immediately the boat was at the shore to which they were going.

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Saturday, 18 April 2026 : 2nd Week of Easter (Psalm)

Liturgical Colour : White

Psalm 32 : 1-2, 4-5, 18-19

Rejoice in the Lord, you who are just, praise is fitting for the upright. Give thanks to Him on the harp and lyre, making melody and chanting praises.

For upright is the Lord’s word and worthy of trust is His work. The Lord loves justice and righteousness; the earth is full of His kindness.

But the Lord’s eyes are upon those who fear Him, upon those who trust in His loving-kindness to deliver them from death and preserve them from famine.

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Saturday, 18 April 2026 : 2nd Week of Easter (First Reading)

Liturgical Colour : White

Acts 6 : 1-7

In those days, as the number of disciples grew, the so-called Hellenists complained against the so-called Hebrews, because their widows were being neglected in the daily distribution. 

So the Twelve summoned the whole body of disciples together and said, “It is not right that we should neglect the word of God to serve at tables. So, friends, choose from among yourselves seven respected men full of Spirit and wisdom, that we may appoint them to this task. As for us, we shall give ourselves to prayer and to the ministry of the Word.”

The whole community agreed and they chose Stephen, a man full of faith and Holy Spirit : Philip, Prochorus, Nicanor, Timon, Parmenus and Nicolaus of Antioch who was a proselyte. They presented these men to the Apostles who first prayed over them and then laid hands upon them.

The Word of God continued to spread, and the number of the disciples in Jerusalem increased greatly and even many priests accepted the faith.

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Saturday, 11 April 2026 : Saturday within Easter Octave (Homily and Scripture Reflections)

Liturgical Colour : White

Dear brothers and sisters in Christ, today as we listened to the words of the Sacred Scriptures, all of us are reminded of the mission that the Lord has entrusted to all of us as the members of His Church, that is to go forth and to proclaim His truth and love to the people of the whole world, and to announce His Good News and salvation to all. As part of the same Church of God we share the same calling and mission to reach out to more and more people all around us, to bring forth the true joy of Easter, that is none other than the Risen Christ Himself, Our Saviour, to all of them. As Christians, all of us should spend the time and effort to proclaim the Risen Lord through our every actions and works, in our every works and good efforts, doing whatever we can to proclaim the truth and love of God to all those whom we encounter in life.

In our first reading today, we heard from the Acts of the Apostles the culmination of the story of the miraculous healing of the crippled beggar who was sitting by the Beautiful Gate of the Temple of Jerusalem. That beggar had been crippled for a long time and the Apostles St. Peter and St. John had healed him from his afflictions in the Name of the Lord Jesus, the Risen Lord and Saviour. This immediately brought about a great amazement among the people, and an equally rapid attempt by the members of the Sanhedrin or the Jewish High Council, in trying to snuff out the fledgling and rapidly growing popularity of the Christian faith, the belief in the truth and teachings of the Lord Jesus Christ, in His Resurrection and other things, which those chief priests, Pharisees and other members of the Sanhedrin found to be offensive and undesirable.

We heard how those same members of the Sanhedrin were astonished and amazed at the great wisdom shown by the two Apostles, who were merely fishermen from the lake of Galilee, illiterate and from poor background. Yet, they spoke with such wisdom and eloquence, inspired and strengthened by the Holy Spirit that God had sent to them, that they were conflicted because they had seen such great signs and wonders being performed in the Name of the Lord Jesus, and yet, on the other hand, they were still stubborn in their refusal to accept the truth and the teachings that the Lord had brought with Him, and they were still adamant in their opposition to the Lord, considering Him as a blasphemer, criminal and as a False Messiah. Yet, the Apostles spoke courageously despite them being alone in the chamber against the whole multitudes of the Sanhedrin, preaching the truth of Christ to all of them.

The Apostles still courageously and fervently proclaimed the Risen Lord despite having been warned and threatened by the members of the Sanhedrin, and blatantly spoke that they could not remain silent or not to speak of what they themselves had heard and seen, and that they had to obey the commandments and the missions that the Lord had entrusted to them, rather than to obey the earthly orders and enforcements from those Sanhedrin officials. St. Peter and St. John, together with the other disciples of the Lord therefore continued to labour hard for the greater glory of God, spending much of their time and efforts, their whole lives in the service of God. They travelled extensively from place to place, reaching out to the people of God, proclaiming the Risen Lord, His truth and resurrection to more and more people, including to many of the Gentiles, the non-Jewish people.

In the midst of all that ministry and work, the disciples of the Lord and the faithful missionaries encountered great successes, with many among the Jews and the Gentiles alike turning towards the Lord, becoming members of the Christian faithful. They also encountered many challenges and trials in the midst of performing their works, as they faced bitter opposition and challenges not just from the Jewish authorities, the same members of the Sanhedrin mentioned earlier, and the efforts that those people had done in placing obstacles and hardships in the path of the Lord’s Apostles and disciples, but not only that, as the missionaries and Christian servants also faced challenges and opposition from many of the local rulers and authorities in the many places that they had visited and ministered in. They also faced opposition and persecution from the mighty Roman overlords and rulers, who began to persecute Christians throughout the Empire, a persecution that would last several centuries.

Yet, despite all those trials and challenges, the faithful disciples of the Lord still went forth and proclaim the truth of God nonetheless, fearlessly and courageously much as how the two Apostles, St. Peter and St. John had done. Many had to encounter a lot of hardships and struggles, but they were inspired by the examples of those who had come before them and faithfully served the Lord despite the trials. Not few even gave their lives in martyrdom to defend their Christian faith and the truth of God, and this served to inspire even more people, passing down the fundamental beliefs that they had received from the Apostles themselves, continuing what the Lord in our Gospel passage today had told His disciples, that all of His disciples and followers ought to go forth to the whole world, proclaim His Good News and make all to be His disciples.

Brothers and sisters in Christ, now, as we continue to progress through this season of Easter, let us ask ourselves if we are able to do what the Apostles and the other disciples of the Lord had done, in doing what the Lord had told and entrusted to them to do, in all the wonderful and great things that each one of them had done in their various capacities and ministries. Each one of us have received various gifts, abilities, talents, opportunities, blessings and graces, through which we certainly can do our part to proclaim the truth of God more and more in our various communities and in the many opportunities presented to us. The question for us now is, are we willing to commit the effort and the time to do so? By looking at the great examples shown by our holy predecessors, can we all be inspired to follow them as well?

May the Risen Lord, Our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ, continue to strengthen and guide us all in our journey of life, so that each one of us may continue to serve Him faithfully, making good use of whatever He had presented to us, and doing whatever we can to glorify Him by our lives. Let us all be good examples and source of inspiration for everyone all around us, and let us all be the shining beacons of Christ’s Light, Hope and truth at all times. May God bless all of us and be with us always. Amen.

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Saturday, 11 April 2026 : Saturday within Easter Octave (Gospel Reading)

Liturgical Colour : White

Mark 16 : 9-15

At that time, after Jesus rose early on the first day of the week, He appeared first to Mary of Magdala, from whom He had driven out seven demons. She went and reported the news to His followers, who were now mourning and weeping. But when they heard that He lived, and had been seen by her, they would not believe it.

After this He showed Himself in another form to two of them, as they were walking into the country. These men also went back and told the others, but they did not believe them. Later Jesus showed Himself to the Eleven while they were at table. He reproached them for their unbelief, and stubbornness, in refusing to believe those who had seen Him after He had risen.

Then He told them, “Go out to the whole world and proclaim the Good News to all creation.”

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Saturday, 11 April 2026 : Saturday within Easter Octave (Psalm)

Liturgical Colour : White

Psalm 117 : 1 and 14-15, 16ab and 17-18, 19-21

Alleluia! Give thanks to the Lord, for He is good, His loving kindness endures forever. The Lord is my strength and my song; He has become my salvation. Joyful shouts of victory are heard in the tents of the just : The right hand of the Lord strikes mightily.

The right hand of the Lord is lifted high, the right hand of the Lord strikes mightily! I shall not die, but live to proclaim what the Lord has done. The Lord has stricken me severely, but He has saved me from death.

Open to me the gates of the Just, and let me enter to give thanks. “This is the Lord’s gate, through which the upright enter.” I thank You for having answered me, for having rescued me.

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Saturday, 11 April 2026 : Saturday within Easter Octave (First Reading)

Liturgical Colour : White

Acts 4 : 13-21

The Jewish leaders, elders and teachers of the Law were astonished at the boldness of Peter and John, considering that they were uneducated and untrained men. They recognised also, that they had been with Jesus, but, as the man who had been cured stood beside them, they could make no reply.

So they ordered them to leave the council room while they consulted with one another. They asked, “What shall we do with these men? Everyone who lives in Jerusalem knows that a remarkable sign has been given through them, and we cannot deny it. But to stop this from spreading any further among the people, let us warn them never again to speak to anyone in the Name of Jesus.”

So they called them back and charged them not to speak or teach at all in the Name of Jesus. But Peter and John answered them, “Judge for yourselves whether it is right in God’s eyes for us to obey you rather than God. We cannot stop speaking about what we have seen and heard.”

Then the council threatened them once more and let them go. They could find no way of punishing them because of the people who glorified God for what happened.

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Saturday, 28 March 2026 : 5th Week of Lent (Homily and Scripture Reflections)

Liturgical Colour : Purple/Violet

Dear brothers and sisters in Christ, today as we all listened to the words of the Sacred Scriptures and as we approach the beginning of Holy Week which will begin tomorrow with the Palm Sunday, we are reminded what it is again that we are truly commemorating and marking during this upcoming Holy Week, which is focusing our attention on everything that the Lord had done for our salvation, His faithfulness to the Covenant which He had made with us, His beloved people, the promises that He has constantly repeated and reassured to us and our predecessors. And He bas fulfilled everything perfectly, even to the point of sending His own Beloved Son to us, to fully accomplish all that He had planned for the beginning of time.

In our first reading today, taken from the Book of the prophet Ezekiel, we heard of the words of the Lord Himself to His people in exile in Babylon through the prophet Ezekiel who was called to minister to them there. And the Lord reassured and promised to His people that He would not leave them to suffer alone in those places of exile, and that He would gather them all back to their ancestral lands, restoring them to grace and favour once again. While those people ended up there in those places of exile because of their disobedience and therefore sins against God, but the Lord did not seek or plan to have them eradicated and destroyed on purpose, as He still loved them all, and their exile was in fact a way that the Lord had done in showing His love by chastising them from their mistakes.

Through what the Lord presented to the people by the words of the prophecy of the prophet Ezekiel, God was essentially going to restore them once again to grace and greatness, which had once been lost from them due to sin. They had been divided into two kingdoms and groups opposed to each other by their and their king’s refusal to obey the Law and commandments of God, preferring and choosing to follow their own ways and worshipping the pagan idols and false gods of their neighbours instead of trusting in their Lord and God, the One Who had constantly and repeatedly shown His love and kindness, ever greater patience and compassion towards each and every one of them. He would also gather them all back from their lands of exile

Then, from our Gospel passage today, we heard from the Gospel according to St. John the Apostle and Evangelist, in which we heard of the discussion and debate among the leaders of the influential Pharisees and other elders of the community, the chief priests and others who made up the members of the Sanhedrin, also known as the Jewish High Council. Those people debated about what they ought to do because the Lord Jesus kept on making miraculous signs and works among the people, and increasingly more and more people came to believe in Him, and as this happened, the members of the Jewish High Council were gradually losing their influence and prestige within the community of the people of God as the Lord often clashed with them and they themselves also stubbornly refused to listen to Him.

They thought that being those who had been charged and entrusted with the guardianship and leadership over the people of God, then they were better, superior and more worthy of God than the others, and that they could not have been wrong in how they practiced their faith and believed, in their understanding and application of the Law of God that has been revealed through Moses and passed down through the generations. This prideful attitude, haughtiness and sense of self-importance were what ultimately became the great stumbling blocks in their path to accept what the Lord had taught and shown them all through His many actions, miracles and wonders, which many of them had witnessed with their own eyes.

That was why the Lord revealed to them their insecurities and their lack of true and genuine faith, as a warning to all of us that we should also not end up walking down this same path. And yet, the Lord was still very patient in dealing with them, and He still reached out to them and forgave them their sins nonetheless, just as He had been patient with their ancestors, the people of Israel and Judah in the past. Nonetheless, as we heard, the great opposition, plots and all the things which the Lord had to endure as His ministry was coming to its climax at that time as He approached the moment of His Passion, His suffering and death, preparing all of us with these things we heard, for the coming commemorations of next week’s Holy Week.

Brothers and sisters in Christ, today as we all listened to these words from the Sacred Scriptures and as we reflect upon their meaning and importance to us, let us all therefore ponder on our own attitudes in life, in how we have lived our lives daily, on whether we have indeed been faithful to the Lord our God, on whether we are merely paying lip service to Him, outwardly faithful but on the inside, we are truly no better than those Pharisees and the chief priests, who served primarily themselves and their agenda, their ambitions and worldly desires, instead of listening to the Lord and obeying Him and His commandments. We are reminded not to harden our hearts and be humble and open-minded instead, and put our trust and faith in the Lord more.

May the Lord, our most loving God continue to help and strengthen us all through this journey of faith and life especially during this time of Lent and as we are about to enter into the solemn time of the Holy Week starting from tomorrow. May He continue to provide us all with the courage and strength to keep on going in living our lives with faith, doing our very best so that by our examples, actions and everything that we do, we will always inspire everyone around us, in continuing to move forward in life with great faith and courage, in doing our best to glorify God by our lives, in trusting in Him and believing in His promises, providence and love at all times. Let us all enter into the time and season of Holy Week with great enthusiasm and faith, and make best use of this time provided to us. Amen.

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Saturday, 28 March 2026 : 5th Week of Lent (Gospel Reading)

Liturgical Colour : Purple/Violet

John 11 : 45-56

At that time, many of the Jews who had come with Mary believed in Jesus when they saw what He did; but some went to the Pharisees and told them what Jesus had done. So the chief priests and the Pharisees called together the Council.

They said, “What are we to do? For this Man keeps on giving miraculous signs. If we let Him go on like this, all the people will believe in Him and, as a result of this, the Romans will come and destroy our Holy Place and our nation.”

Then one of them, Caiaphas, who was High Priest that year, spoke up, “You know nothing at all, nor do you see clearly what you need. It is better to have one Man die for the people than to let the whole nation be destroyed.” In saying this Caiaphas did not speak for himself, but being High Priest that year, he foretold like a prophet that Jesus would die for the nation, and not for the nation only, but also would die to gather into one the scattered children of God. So, from that day on, they were determined to kill Him.

Because of this, Jesus no longer moved about freely among the Jews. He withdrew instead to the country near the wilderness, and stayed with His disciples in a town called Ephraim. The Passover of the Jews was at hand, and people from everywhere were coming to Jerusalem to purify themselves before the Passover. They looked for Jesus and, as they stood in the Temple, they talked with one another, “What do you think? Will He come to the festival?”