Liturgical Colour : Green or White (Saturday Mass of Our Lady)
Luke 11 : 27-28
At that time, as Jesus was speaking, a woman spoke from the crowd and said to Him, “Blessed is the one who gave You birth and nursed You!”
Jesus replied, “Truly blessed are those who hear the word of God, and keep it as well.”
Liturgical Colour : Green or White (Saturday Mass of Our Lady)
Psalm 104 : 2-3, 4-5, 6-7
Sing to the Lord, sing His praise, proclaim all His wondrous deeds. Glory in His holy Name; let those who seek the Lord rejoice.
Look to the Lord and be strong; seek His face always. Remember His wonderful works, His miracles and His judgments.
You descendants of His servant Abraham, you sons of Jacob, His chosen ones! He is the Lord our God; His judgments reach the whole world.
Liturgical Colour : Green or White (Saturday Mass of Our Lady)
Galatians 3 : 22-29
But the Scriptures have declared, that we are all prisoners of sin. So, the only way to receive God’s promise is to believe in Jesus Christ. Before the time of faith had come, the Law confined us, and kept us in custody, until the time in which faith would show up. The Law, then, was serving as a slave, to look after us until Christ came, so that we might be justified by faith.
With the coming of faith, we are no longer submitted to this guidance. Now, in Christ Jesus, all of you are sons and daughters of God, through faith. All of you, who were given to Christ through Baptism, have put on Christ. Here, there is no longer any difference between Jew or Greek, or between slave or freed, or between man and woman : but all of you are one, in Christ Jesus. And because you belong to Christ, you are of Abraham’s race and you are to inherit God’s promise.
Liturgical Colour : Green or White (Saturday Mass of Our Lady)
Dear brothers and sisters in Christ, today each and every one of us are reminded of God’s love and His faithfulness to the Covenant which He has made with all of us. From the Book of Job, we heard how the Lord restored Job and blessed him even more than he had been previously blessed after all of his sufferings. And from the Gospel passage we heard the Lord affirming His disciples and followers.
In our first reading today, from the Book of Job we heard how after all the sufferings that Job had to endure, losing everything he possessed and even most of his family members, humiliated and denounced even by his family and close friends, who told him that he must have sinned against God to merit such sufferings. Job remained firm in his faith in God, but through all that he suffered, he did wonder why he had endured all those bitterness, and gave in to despair.
The Lord reminded Job that He has always been by his side even through his darkest moments, and He has always cared for him, and He told Job that it is not right for him to despair and to question His motives, and he needs to put his trust and faith completely in God. As we heard, the Lord opened Job’s perspectives and revealed the magnitude of His plans and works, and how He would bless him for his faith.
Job recognised his errors and repented from his mistakes, and embraced God’s love fully, never having abandoned Him and remaining faithful even through his most difficult days. And God, who brought Job out of his misery, helped and blessed him even much more generously than before. And therefore, God shows us all that those who hold onto Him, despite the trials they may have to endure, will receive eternal glory, true joy and satisfaction in the end.
In our Gospel passage today, the Lord proclaimed to His followers and disciples just how blessed and fortunate they were, for having been counted among His followers and how He has been victorious against the forces of Satan, the devil and the great enemy of all the people of God. Satan has been cast down from Heaven and punished with all the other rebel angels. And this is the prelude to the final defeat of Satan and all of his plots and plans against God’s people that will come with the Cross.
Satan and all of his wicked forces have always been trying to crush us and to make our lives difficult. And by the means of many temptations and false promises, they have been working hard in dragging us down with them, as they hoped to turn us against God and to subvert us by persuading us to reject the path of God and embrace instead the seemingly ‘easier’ and ‘better’ path that the devil offered to us. And Satan always makes to think that it is futile to try to oppose him, and he wants us to fear him and to suffer so much that we give in to our temptations and all of his persuasions and coercions.
However, this is where we are all reminded yet again, that no matter what, and no matter how mighty Satan and his forces arrayed against us may seem to be, but they are all nothing compared with the power and the glory of God. And despite all of Satan’s efforts, his power is limited and his might has been crushed, as his rebellion has been defeated, he was cast out and condemned, and his final defeat had been predetermined by God, Who is all powerful and all knowing, revealing before all that we do not need to fear Satan because while he will be cast down into hell for eternity, we, who are God’s people and followers, will be raised to eternal glory and true joy with God.
Brothers and sisters in Christ, are we aware of just how beloved we are by God? We are God’s most beloved ones, and God provides us in everything that we need. As long as we hold strongly to our faith in Him, we shall never be disappointed. Whatever sufferings we may be experiencing now, all these are nothing compared to the joy that is to come for us, in the end and at the conclusion of our faithful journey. But many of us often do not realise this and we are often too busy in trying to get away from fear, all of our insecurities, and we lack the faith in our Lord.
Let us therefore follow the example of Job, and strive to persevere in faith regardless of the challenges and trials that he had faced, and which we are likely to face as well in our own lives. Are we able to persevere in faith the way that our holy and dedicated predecessors had done? We have all been called to follow the path of the Lord, and we are called to entrust ourselves to His cause. And because we have also witnessed and received this faith from the Lord, we are now called to be God’s witnesses among all of our communities in this world today.
Through our actions, our words and our deeds, each and every one of us should become faithful and great inspirations for our fellow brothers and sisters in faith. May the Lord help us and guide us in our journey of faith, and help us in resisting the temptations of all the desires and the coercions by which the devil has always been busy using in trying to drag us into the path of sin, and lead us into our downfall. May the Lord strengthen us all and give us the courage and perseverance to be always faithful in each and every moments of our lives. May God be with us all, now and forevermore. Amen.
Liturgical Colour : Green or White (Saturday Mass of Our Lady)
Luke 10 : 17-24
At that time, the seventy-two disciples returned full of joy. They said, “Lord, even the demons obeyed us when we called on Your Name.” Then Jesus replied, “I saw Satan fall like lightning from heaven. You see, I have given you authority to trample on snakes and scorpions and to overcome all the power of the Enemy, so that nothing will harm you. Nevertheless, do not rejoice because the evil spirits submit to you; rejoice, rather, than your names are written in heaven.”
At that time, Jesus was filled with the joy of the Holy Spirit, and said, “I praise You, Father, Lord of heaven and earth, for You have hidden these things from the wise and learned, and made them known to little ones. Yes, Father, such has been Your gracious will. I have been given all things by My Father, so that no one knows the Son except the Father, and no one knows the Father except the Son, and he to whom the Son chooses to reveal Him.”
Then Jesus turned to His disciples and said to them privately, “Fortunate are you to see what you see, for I tell you, that many prophets and kings would have liked to see what you see, but did not see it; and to hear what you hear, but did not hear it.”
Liturgical Colour : Green or White (Saturday Mass of Our Lady)
Psalm 118 : 66, 71, 75, 91, 125, 130
Give me knowledge and good judgment, for I trust in Your commands.
It is good for me to have been afflicted, for I have deeply learnt Your statutes.
I know, o YHVH, that Your laws are just; and there is justice in my affliction.
Your ordinances last to this day, for all things are made to serve You.
Give me knowledge; I am Your servant, who desires to understand Your statutes.
As Your words unfold, light is shed, and the simple-hearted understand.
Liturgical Colour : Green or White (Saturday Mass of Our Lady)
Job 42 : 1-3, 5-6, 12-16 (Hebrew version – Job 42 : 1-3, 5-6, 12-17)
This was the answer Job gave to YHVH : “I know that You are all powerful; no plan of Yours can be thwarted. I spoke of things I did not understand, too wonderful for me to know. My ears had heard of You, but now my eyes have seen You. Therefore I retract all I have said, and in dust and ashes I repent.”
YHVH blessed Job’s latter days much more than his earlier ones. He came to own fourteen thousand sheep, six thousand camels, a thousand yoke of oxen, and a thousand she-donkeys. He was also blessed with seven sons and three daughters. The first daughter he named Dove, the second Cinnamon, and the third Bottle of Perfume. Nowhere in the land was there found any woman who could compare in beauty with Job’s daughters. Their father granted them an inheritance along with their brothers.
Job lived a hundred and forty years; he saw his children and their children to the fourth generation.
Liturgical Colour : Green or Red (Martyrs) or White (Saturday Mass of Our Lady)
Dear brothers and sisters in Christ, on this day we are all reminded of the shortness of our lives, the temporary nature of our earthly existence, and how we are reminded not to lose ourselves in the pursuit of worldly matters and pleasures, just as we have been reminded in the past few days from this Book of Qoheleth or Ecclesiastes.
The author of this book clearly intended to remind the people of his time of the many excesses of worldly desires, their decadent lifestyle and refusal to obey the Law of God. And throughout history, we have seen how greed and attachment to desire had led to the conflicts that raged in wars and conquests, in the exploitation of the weak and the vulnerable, those who were poor and sick.
Brothers and sisters in Christ, this is what happens when we place our own selfish desires above our faith, and when we allow all these to tempt us and sway us to indulge in all sorts of worldly and materials pursuits. And we are reminded by these readings, including from our Psalm today, ‘Make us know the shortness of our lives, that we may gain wisdom of heart.’
Yes, often we may end up becoming foolish in our endless and persistent desire for all that I have mentioned earlier. We spent so much time to worry about all those things, and spent much of our energy to gain for ourselves all these so that we can gain satisfaction. And our greed makes us to desire for even more and more, never fully satisfying or fulfilling our needs and desires.
In the end, with all these accumulated in our hands, what are we going to do with it, brothers and sisters in Christ? Even the greatest piles of money and wealth can be destroyed or vanished overnight, as how past financial crises had showed us. Many despaired after the Great Depression after losing all that they had, even when they were very wealthy earlier on. And no amount of food, luxury and other goods can be lasting to us.
In the end, we must realise as how Job did, that naked we had been born into this world, empty and without any possessions, and thus in the same manner we shall depart from this world, from our earthly existence. We shall not bring any of our worldly possessions, or fame or glory with us. What we shall receive in the end, is either eternal glory and true joy with God, or eternity of regret and suffering, especially if we have rejected God for the sake of our worldly pursuits.
It is indeed a great folly for us to reject true happiness and joy that can be found in the Lord alone. But if we are wondering why this is the case, that is because we are easily tempted, and we often look for quick happiness and pleasure that all these false happiness are offering us. That is why many of us fell and failed in our journey of faith, as we prioritise our own selfish desires rather than our faith in God.
Today, all of us should look upon the examples of our holy predecessors to help guide us in what we should do in order to be faithful to God. We celebrate the feast of St. Cosmas and St. Damian, renowned saints, who were physicians by trade and according to some traditions, were twin brothers. They lived through the difficult years for the Christian faith, as the Roman Empire and its administration persecuted all the Christians, and forced them to abandon their faith on the pain of death.
They were renowned for their services as physicians, caring for the needs of the sick and all the diseased. And most notably, they refused to accept any payment or returns for their services, which they offered voluntarily and with much love and great care for those whom they treated. It was told that miracles even happened as there were those who were miraculously healed by their intercession.
When the Christian faith was persecuted even more harshly under the reign of the Roman Emperor Diocletian, both of them were arrested and were tortured to force them to abandon their Christian faith. But St. Cosmas and St. Damian remained faithful and chose to suffer, which according to some accounts including being hung on a cross, stoned and shot by arrows and finally they were beheaded, dying a martyr’s death.
Brothers and sisters in Christ, let us all look upon the exemplary faith of the brothers St. Cosmas and St. Damian, generous in love and compassion, putting God and their fellow brothers and sisters above their own needs and desires. Are we able and willing to follow that example? Let us all spend some time to discern carefully on these and do what we can to be ever more faithful and be genuine in how we live up to our Christian faith.
May the Lord be with us always, and may He guide us in our journey of faith. May He bless us and strengthen us, and empower us all to live virtuously and not be swayed or shaken by the many temptations of worldly matters. Let us all dedicate ourselves ever more faithfully to the Lord from now on and always. Amen.
Liturgical Colour : Green or Red (Martyrs) or White (Saturday Mass of Our Lady)
Luke 9 : 43b-45
At that time, while all were amazed at everything Jesus did, He said to His disciples, “Listen, and remember what I tell you now : The Son of Man will be betrayed into the hands of men.” But the disciples did not understand this saying; something prevented them from grasping what He meant, and they were afraid to ask Him about it.
Liturgical Colour : Green or Red (Martyrs) or White (Saturday Mass of Our Lady)
Psalm 89 : 3-4, 5-6, 12-13, 14 and 17
You turn humans back to dust, saying, “Return, o mortals!” A thousand years in Your sight are like a day that has passed, or like a watch in the night.
You sow them in their time, a dawn they peep out. In the morning they blossom, but the flower fades and withers in the evening.
So make us know the shortness of our life, that we may gain wisdom of heart. How long will You be angry, o YHVH? Have mercy on Your servant.
Fill us at daybreak with Your goodness, that we may be glad all our days. May the sweetness of YHVH be upon us; may He prosper the work of our hands.
petercanisiusmichaeldavidkang 