Saturday

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Saturday, 10 April 2021 : 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, 10 April 2021 : Saturday within Easter Octave (Psalm)

Liturgical Colour : White

Psalm 117 : 1 and 14-15, 16ab-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, 10 April 2021 : 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, 27 March 2021 : 5th Week of Lent (Homily and Scripture Reflections)

Liturgical Colour : Purple/Violet

Dear brothers and sisters in Christ, as we are about to begin the Holy Week of the Passion of Our Lord tomorrow on Palm Sunday, today we are reminded through the Scripture passages of the coming of God’s salvation and all of His loving promises as the prophet Ezekiel has revealed to the people of Israel in exile as we heard in our first reading today, and then we also heard of the coming of the time of the Lord’s Passion, His suffering and death as we heard of the meeting of the Sanhedrin or the Jewish high council in the Gospel today, plotting the end of the Lord.

Beginning with our first reading today, we all heard of the Lord speaking to His people through the prophet Ezekiel at the time when most of the descendants of the Israelites had been scattered away from their homeland, without a home to return to, without a nation and king to rule over them, without the Temple around and within which they could worship the Lord their God, for they have been defeated and crushed by the Babylonians. Their cities were destroyed, the kingdom destroyed and the Temple of God was also destroyed.

But God reassured His people through Ezekiel that He did not forget about them, and neither did He desire for them all to continue to suffer. On the contrary, He revealed that He would save all of them in due time, sending His salvation into the world, to gather all of His scattered children and call everyone to Himself through His Saviour, Who is none other than Jesus Christ, His only begotten Son, the Son of God and Son of Man, the Divine Word Incarnate.

It was therefore by the coming of Our Lord Jesus Christ into this world that we have seen the light and salvation of God, the hope and enlightenment through which we shall find our liberation and freedom from the tyranny of sin and death that had reigned over us all these while. Just as the Lord reassuring His people through Ezekiel that the dark and difficult times of their exile in Babylon and elsewhere would not last forever, thus the Lord through Christ, His own beloved Son, He would liberate all of His beloved ones and gather them all into His loving presence and grace.

Unfortunately, as we can see many people refused to believe in the Lord when He came to them bringing the revelations of God’s truth. This is likely because those chief priests, elders and the members of the Pharisees were to proud to admit that they had been wrong, and they did not want the good situation, prestige and respect they had garnered from the people to wane and disappear. That was why the High Priest Caiaphas discussed among the chief priests and elders, and mentioned the need to bring an end to Christ so that their whole nation could be saved, when in fact they meant that their own livelihood and status could be preserved.

Thus, as we heard, the Lord went in hiding and did not openly show Himself anymore in public until when He was arrested and put on trial before the Sanhedrin and later on eventually by Pontius Pilate, to be condemned like a criminal and to die a most painful and humiliating death on the Cross. But through all that, God had brought salvation unto us, that by the selfless, perfect and most loving sacrifice He had made, Christ reconciled us with God, our loving Father and Creator.

Brothers and sisters in Christ, through what we have heard in our Scripture passages today, we are therefore reminded first of all of the Lord’s ever gracious and generous mercy, the great patience by which He awaits us and is still waiting for us to return to His righteous embrace. We are all called to seek Him and to rend our hearts, minds and souls before Him, allowing Him to touch us with His love, compassion and mercy.

Let us all not harden our hearts or be swayed by our ego or pride. Instead, let us all humble ourselves and be inspired by Christ’s own humility and obedience to the will of His Father, that as we enter into the most solemn celebrations of Holy Week beginning tomorrow with Palm Sunday, we may reflect well on the great sufferings that Christ has suffered for our sake, in His willingness to endure the worst of humiliations, sufferings and pains for our salvation.

May the Lord be our guide, and may He strengthen each and every one of us, that we may find our way to Him, and be ever more committed and willing to live our lives as good and dedicated Christians from now on if we have not already done so. May all of us have a blessed Holy Week celebration beginning tomorrow, and become ever closer to the Lord, our God, through Jesus Christ, His Son. Amen.

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Saturday, 27 March 2021 : 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?”

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Saturday, 27 March 2021 : 5th Week of Lent (Psalm)

Liturgical Colour : Purple/Violet

Jeremiah 31 : 10, 11-12ab, 13

Hear the word of YHVH, o nations, proclaim it on distant coastlands : He Who scattered Israel will gather them and guard them as a shepherd guard his flock.

For YHVH has ransomed Jacob and redeemed him from the hand of his conqueror. They shall come shouting for joy, while ascending Zion; they will come streaming to YHVH’s blessings.

Maidens will make merry and dance, young men and old as well. I will turn their mourning into gladness, I will give them comfort and joy for sorrow.

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Saturday, 27 March 2021 : 5th Week of Lent (First Reading)

Liturgical Colour : Purple/Violet

Ezekiel 37 : 21-28

You will then say to them : Thus says YHVH : I am about to withdraw the Israelites from where they were among the nations. I shall gather them from all around and bring them back to their land. I shall make them into one people on the mountains of Israel and one king is to be the king of them all.

They will no longer form two nations or be two separate kingdoms, nor will they defile themselves again with their idols, their detestable practices and their sins. I shall free them from the guilt of their treachery; I shall cleanse them and they will be for Me a people and I shall be God for them.

My servant David will reign over them, one shepherd for all. They will live according to My laws and follow and practice My decrees. They will settle in the land I gave to My servant Jacob where their ancestors lived. There they will live forever, their children and their children’s children. David My servant will be their prince forever.

I shall establish a covenant of peace with them, an everlasting covenant. I shall settle them and they will increase and I shall put My sanctuary in their midst forever. I shall make My home at their side; I shall be their God and they will be My people. Then the nations will know that I am YHVH Who makes Israel holy, having My sanctuary among them forever.

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Saturday, 20 March 2021 : 4th Week of Lent (Homily and Scripture Reflections)

Liturgical Colour : Purple/Violet

Dear brothers and sisters in Christ, today all of us heard of the rejection of God’s message and truth by those to whom God had sent His servants and messengers, as shown in our first reading with the lamentation of the prophet Jeremiah against those who plotted against Him, and then in our Gospel passage today, when the Pharisees rejected the Lord Jesus and many of them refused to believe in Him and in the message that He has brought into this world.

In our first reading today, we heard of the problems faced by the prophet Jeremiah and how he lamented that many were plotting against him simply because he spoke the words of the Lord, and brought His revelation and truth to the people who refused to believe in him and in the Lord. They branded him as doomsayer, fear-monger, prophet of doom and even as a traitor against the nation and king, for speaking up and revealing how the kingdom of Judah would be destroyed because of the sins of its people and their refusal to repent.

The prophet Jeremiah had spent a lot of time and effort trying to call on the people to return to the Lord, but they remained firm in their stubbornness and refusal to repent, remaining in their sinful ways and rebellious attitudes. He had to go up against many false prophets and messengers who claimed to speak the words and the will of God, but who in reality were only interested in their own benefits and selfish desires by flattering the king and the nobles. They spoke not of God’s truth but the lies of the devil.

Why did the people of Judah harden their hearts as such against the efforts of the prophet Jeremiah, brothers and sisters in Christ? That is because of their ego and pride, thinking that they could not have done wrong or erred in their choice of actions in life. And their worldly desires and succumbing to temptations led them to refuse to believe in the Lord, as they continued on living their lives following their own path rather than following the Lord and His path.

This same attitude was also shown by the Pharisees in our Gospel passage today. They gathered together because of the need to discuss about the Lord Jesus and the works He had done among the Jewish people in Judea and Galilee. Many among the Pharisees opposed the Lord and refused to believe in His message of truth, while a small minority of the Pharisees actually believed in the Lord, for example Nicodemus and some others.

They refused to believe because they thought that the Lord was a false Messiah and a fraud, as they thought that He had originated from the region of Galilee which was back then at the fringe of the Jewish society and community. Of course they did not know that the Lord was actually born in Bethlehem, the city of David and the place where the Messiah was prophesied to be born in. Regardless, as they were already against the Lord and formed opinion against Him, no matter where He hailed from, they would likely still have opposed Him.

The Lord had shown His might and wondrous miracles before many of those same Pharisees, and yet many of them still refused to believe in Him, doubted Him and questioned His authority and the legitimacy of His actions. He has patiently reached out to them, but they still refused to believe just like how their ancestors refused to believe in Jeremiah, accusing the Lord of heresy and other false accusations just as the enemies of Jeremiah had also accused him earlier on.

Brothers and sisters in Christ, how is this important for us all? It is a kind reminder from the Lord through His Church during this very important season of Lent that we must not allow ourselves be controlled by our ego and desires, by the temptations of worldly allures and pride, and all other things that often distracted us in our journey towards the Lord and His salvation. We are all called to turn once again towards the Lord and to humble ourselves before Him, that we may find forgiveness and grace from Him.

It is our pride and ego that often prevented us from finding the salvation in God, because we are too proud to accept the fact that we may be mistaken or at fault, and the desires we have in life may be the serious stumbling blocks that kept us all from truly being able to follow the Lord wholeheartedly and with genuine faith. That is why we are reminded yet again of just how each and every one of us are sinners, all in need of healing and forgiveness from God.

This Lent is the perfect time and opportunity for us to turn towards the Lord once again and be reconciled with Him. Let us therefore make good use of the time and opportunity, and do whatever we can, to the best of our abilities, to be ever closer to God and to attune ourselves to Him and His ways, and do our best to glorify Him by our way of life and by our dedication through faith. May God bless us all, and may He guide us through our Lenten observance, that we may find true joy in Him at the end of our struggles and journey. Amen.

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Saturday, 20 March 2021 : 4th Week of Lent (Gospel Reading)

Liturgical Colour : Purple/Violet

John 7 : 40-53

At that time, many who had been listening to these words began to say, “This is the Prophet.” Others said, “This is the Christ.” But some wondered, “Would the Christ come from Galilee? Does Scripture not say that the Christ is a descendant of David and from Bethlehem, the city of David? The crowd was divided over Him. Some wanted to arrest Him, but no one laid hands on Him.

The officers of the Temple went back to the chief priests, who asked them, “Why did you not bring Him?” The officers answered, “No one ever spoke like this Man.” The Pharisees then said, “So you, too, have been led astray! Have any of the rulers or any of the Pharisees believed in Him? Only those cursed people, who have no knowledge of the Law!”

Yet one of them, Nicodemus, who had gone to Jesus earlier, spoke out, “Does our law condemn people without first hearing them and knowing the facts?” They replied, “Do you, too, come from Galilee? Look it up and see for yourself that no prophet is to come from Galilee.” And they all went home.

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Saturday, 20 March 2021 : 4th Week of Lent (Psalm)

Liturgical Colour : Purple/Violet

Psalm 7 : 2-3, 9bc-10, 11-12

O Lord, my God, in You I take shelter; deliver me and save me from all my pursuers, lest lions tear me to pieces with no one to rescue me.

O Lord, my righteousness; You see that I am blameless. Bring to an end the power of the wicked, but affirm the just, o righteous God, searcher of mind and heart.

You cover me as a shield. Oh God, for You protect the upright. A righteous judge is God, His anger ever awaiting those who refuse to repent.