Saturday

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Saturday, 19 July 2025 : 15th Week of Ordinary Time (First Reading)

Liturgical Colour : Green or White (Saturday Mass of Our Lady)

Exodus 12 : 37-42

The Israelites left Rameses for Succoth, about six hundred thousand of them on the march, counting the men only, and not the children. A great number of other people of all descriptions went with them, as well as sheep and cattle in droves.

With the dough they had brought with them from Egypt, they made cakes of unleavened bread. It had not risen, for when they were driven from Egypt they could not delay and had not even provided themselves with food. The Israelites had been in Egypt for four hundred and thirty years. It was at the end of these four hundred and thirty years to the very day that the armies of YHVH left Egypt.

This is the watch for YHVH Who brought Israel out of Egypt. This night is for YHVH, and all the Israelites are also to keep vigil on this night, year after year, for all time.

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Saturday, 12 July 2025 : 14th Week of Ordinary Time (Homily and Scripture Reflections)

Liturgical Colour : Green or White (Saturday Mass of Our Lady)

Dear brothers and sisters in Christ, today as we all listened to the words of the Scriptures we are all reminded of the trust that each and every one of us ought to have in the Lord, believing in Him and His Providence, and not to worry about what we are to have in this life. God knows what we need, and He will give us what is necessary through various means, including through those whom we encounter in our daily lives so that we may gain what we need. God often blesses us in manners and ways that we may not fully understand and realise, but He did all these nonetheless, to care for us and to provide for us. We are never alone even in our darkest and most difficult moments, and this is something that we have to remember especially when we want to give up or are overwhelmed in life.

In our first reading today, taken from the Book of Genesis, we heard of the conclusion of the story of the family of the patriarchs, Abraham, Isaac and Jacob with the passing of both Jacob and Joseph in the land of Egypt. Jacob had been reunited with his long lost son Joseph in Egypt after earlier on Joseph’s brothers were reconciled and reunited with their brother. And if we recalled what we have covered in the earlier days, that the brothers of Joseph were jealous of him and were trying to kill him, and ended up selling him to slavers who brought Joseph to Egypt. God was with Joseph and made him to be appointed by the Pharaoh of Egypt as the Regent of his kingdom. And that was eventually how he was reunited with his brothers and then with his family including his father.

Jacob, after having arrived in Egypt with his whole extended family, eventually passed away in peace, after blessing all of his sons and their families as we heard in today’s reading. After he was buried back in his homeland in Canaan together with his father Isaac and grandfather Abraham, as we heard, the brothers of Joseph were worried that Joseph would treat them badly as how they had once treated him, and yet Joseph reassured his brothers that everything that happened truly occurred because it was all part of God’s plan, and all of their evil and wicked designs were turned into good things by the Lord. That was why Joseph did not hold any grudge against his brothers and was in fact happy to be reunited with them and his family.

Then, from our Gospel passage today, taken from the Gospel according to St. Matthew the Apostle and Evangelist, the Lord spoke to His disciples, telling them about several matters, all of which reminding us that we are truly fortunate that we have God our Father Who has always loved us all at all times and in all circumstances, and we really should not take this love and grace for granted. The Lord was reassuring them all that God and His love are truly above all things, greater than anything that can harm any one of them, any earthly forces and the forces of the evil ones arrayed against them. God will take good care of all those whom He loves, that is all of us, and we have to trust in Him, in His constant love and providence.

Each and every one of us are truly precious and dear to the Lord, as the ones whom He had created out of His great and ever enduring love for us, and we truly have no need to fear or be afraid because God Himself will be by our side, journeying with us, holding us all up amidst our struggles and hardships in life. We are never alone in our endeavours, paths and efforts, and God is aware of everything that we are going through, all the good and bad ones, all of our fortunes and misfortunes. And He wants us all to trust in Him regardless whether we are experiencing good times or bad times. We must never lose faith in Him, and we must always stay by His side, following Him and remaining committed to Him at all times, remembering His love and providence always.enduring all things with God 

From what we have heard in our Scripture readings, we are reminded that God has always been around in our lives, providing for us and helping us even in the most mysterious and unexpected ways and moments, and that is why we should really appreciate all the love which He has constantly shown us all these while. We should continue to love the Lord to the best of our abilities and at the same time, love our fellow brothers and sisters in the same way as well. This is what we have been called to do as Christians, as those whom the Lord had called and chosen, and whom He had blessed and guided in each and every moments of our lives, and we should love Him as best as possible, and love one another as love is the hallmark of our Christian faith and life.

Let us all as Christians be the ones to show God’s love and kindness, His ever enduring compassion for each and every one of us, through our lives lived with true and genuine faith, with fullness of love for each other and for all those whom we encounter in life. For this is what the Lord had called us all to do, and what He has entrusted to us, in being genuine examples of Christian love and generosity, compassion and care for one another, in a world where it is more common to encounter selfish actions, prideful attitudes, ego and ambition, all the things that we have commonly been exposed to. As Christians, we are called and reminded to be good and loving in all of our actions, words and deeds to one another, even to those who have hurt and made our lives difficult, and to be forgiving, just as how Joseph had forgiven his brothers for what they had done.

May the Lord, our most loving, compassionate and wonderful God continue to bless each and every one of us, and strengthen us all with His courage and power, with His love and compassion, so that we may continue to show love and compassion in our own lives, in our interactions with one another and in all the things that we say and do. Let us all continue to be the beacons of light and hope to our brethren, particularly those who are suffering and are in darkness. May God bless our every loving endeavours and efforts, now and always. Amen.

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Saturday, 12 July 2025 : 14th Week of Ordinary Time (Gospel Reading)

Liturgical Colour : Green or White (Saturday Mass of Our Lady)

Matthew 10 : 24-33

At that time, Jesus said to His disciples, “A student is not above his teacher, nor a slave above his master. A student should be content to become like his teacher, and the slave like his master. If the head of the household has been called Beelzebul, how much more, those of his household! So, do not be afraid of them!”

“There is nothing covered that will not be uncovered. There is nothing hidden that will not be made known. What I am telling you in the dark, you must speak in the light. What you hear in private, proclaim from the housetops. Do not be afraid of those who kill the body, but have no power to kill the soul. Rather, be afraid of Him Who can destroy both body and soul in hell.”

“For a few cents you can buy two sparrows. Yet not one sparrow falls to the ground without your Father knowing. As for you, every hair of your head has been counted. Do not be afraid : you are worth more than many sparrows! Whoever acknowledges Me before others, I will acknowledge before My Father in heaven. Whoever rejects Me before others, I will reject before My Father in heaven.”

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Saturday, 12 July 2025 : 14th Week of Ordinary Time (Psalm)

Liturgical Colour : Green or White (Saturday Mass of Our Lady)

Psalm 104 : 1-2, 3-4, 6-7

Give thanks to YHVH, call on His Name; make known His works among the nations. Sing to Him, sing His praise, proclaim all His wondrous deeds.

Glory in His holy Name; let those who seek YHVH rejoice. Look to YHVH and be strong; seek His face always.

You descendants of His servant Abraham, you sons of Jacob, His chosen ones! He is YHVH our God; His judgments reach the whole world.

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Saturday, 12 July 2025 : 14th Week of Ordinary Time (First Reading)

Liturgical Colour : Green or White (Saturday Mass of Our Lady)

Genesis 49 : 29-32 and Genesis 50 : 15-26a

Jacob then gave his sons these instructions : “I am soon to be gathered to my people; bury me near my fathers, in the cave in the field of Ephron, the Hittite; in the cave in the field of Machpelah, to the east of Mamre in Canaan, the field that Abraham bought from Ephron the Hittite as a burial place. It was there that Abraham and his wife Sarah were buried. There they buried Leah. The field and the cave in it were purchased from the Hittites.”

When Joseph’s brothers realised that their father was dead they said, “What if Joseph turns against us in hate because of the evil we did him?” So they sent word to Joseph saying, “Before he died your father told us to say this to you : Please forgive the crime and the sin of your brothers in doing evil to you. Forgive the crime of the servants of your father’s God.”

When he was given the message, Joseph wept. His brothers went and threw themselves down before him, “We are your slaves,” they said. But Joseph reassured them, “Do not be afraid! Am I in the place of God? You intended to do me harm, but God intended to turn it to good in order to bring about what is happening today – the survival of many people. So have no fear! I will provide for you and your little ones.” In this way he touched their hearts and consoled them.

Joseph remained in Egypt together with all his father’s family. He lived for a hundred and ten years, long enough to see Ephraim’s great-grandchildren, and also to have the children of Machir, the son of Manasseh, placed on his knees after their birth.

Then Joseph said to his brothers, “I am going to die, but God will surely remember you and take you from this country to the land He promised to Abraham, Isaac and Jacob.” Joseph then made the sons of Israel swear, saying, “When God comes to bring you out from here, carry my bones with you.” Joseph died at the age of one hundred and ten.

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Saturday, 5 July 2025 : 13th Week of Ordinary Time, Memorial of St. Anthony Zaccaria, Priest (Homily and Scripture Reflections)

Liturgical Colour : Green or White (Priests or Saturday Mass of Our Lady)

Dear brothers and sisters in Christ, today as we all listened to the words of the Scriptures, we are all reminded of the Lord’s providence for His people, His love and care for all those whom He loves, and all those whom He has called and chosen to be His own. And we also have to put our trust in what He has provided for us, and taught us all to do, even if things may not go the way that we commonly think or expect, as we must also remember that God’s ways are truly above and beyond our ways, and often times we may not be aware of this fact especially if we assume that what we know of is what the Lord wants from us. Rather, the Lord inspires us and tells us through His revelations, through what He has brought us via His Son, and the Holy Spirit, of what He truly wants from us, the path that He wants us to follow Him through.

In our first reading today, taken from the Book of Genesis, we heard of the moment when Isaac, the son of Abraham was already ageing, and his two sons, the elder Esau and the younger Jacob, were vying for their father’s attention and blessing, the blessing which they coveted as whoever that Isaac blessed would become the one to inherit the blessing of God, which had been given to Abraham, and then to Isaac, and then to whoever it is that Isaac blessed, as the one whom God would choose and make to be a great nation. Isaac was favouring Esau the elder son, while Rebekah, Isaac’s wife was favouring their younger son, Jacob. There was also another context of what was not explicitly mentioned in the Scriptures, that Esau was also involved in relationship with Canaanite woman, while the preference of Abraham and his family was that they ought to take a wife from their own people, which Jacob eventually did.

Therefore, through the events that we heard today, while it might seem to be strange why God was party to this trickery which Jacob employed with the support of his mother, Rebekah, in tricking Isaac into thinking that he was his elder brother and therefore received the blessings which his father had intended to give to Esau, we must understand the bigger picture, knowing that what God desires and seeks may not be what is customary and usual, and also unlike what we may expect and desire ourselves. And that was how God in His mysterious will and design chose Jacob, the younger son over Esau, the older son, as it is also in accordance to His greater schemes and designs. This is also understood in the manner how Jacob was more interested in the spiritual blessings from Jacob, while Esau was looking for a more earthly and physical blessings, in the manner of possessions rather than true blessing that matters.

Then, from our Gospel passage today, taken from the Gospel according to St. Matthew the Apostle and Evangelist, we heard of the Lord Jesus telling the disciples of St. John the Baptist who came to Him asking Him about why He and His disciples did not fast in the manner that they themselves and the Pharisees had been fasting, which was following the customs and practices of the Jews at the time in their interpretation of the Law of God as revealed through Moses. Contextually we must also understand and appreciate the fact that the way how the Law of God had been interpreted by those same Pharisees and the people of God had been gradually veering away from what the Lord had intended for His Law and ways to be used by them.

For example, the Pharisees in particular were so engrossed in the manner how the Law ought to be practiced that they often ended up forgetting and overlooking why the Law was given and entrusted to us in the first place, which is to help us to orientate ourselves in this world and to show us all how we can love God and love one another, and that is why He gave the Law and taught His people through Moses that they all might know how they could live in a manner that was more pleasing and worthy of God. But over the centuries since the Law was revealed to them, the people passing down the Law, the rules and regulations began to change and alter them to suit their desires and wants, and began to make amendments and having different interpretations on those laws and rules.

As a result, many among those Pharisees were practicing their faith in the wrong manner and with the wrong intentions. Many among them, as the Lord Jesus Himself criticised them for, paraded their faith and pious actions before everyone, and such as the matter of fasting, they made sure that everyone knew that they fasted, in their practices and in wearing of sackcloths. Such a public show of faith and piety, while not necessarily wrong, but with the improper focus and attention led to them being engrossed with their own self-importance and self-righteousness, and with their ego, pride and desire, in fact distanced them further from the Lord instead of making them truly righteous and worthy of Him.

That is why the Lord told those disciples of St. John the Baptist that His ways are greater and better than the ways which the Pharisees and those disciples of St. John the Baptist themselves had followed. He used the parable of the new and old cloth, and also the old and new wine and wineskins to highlight this, showing how the incompatibility between the new and old cloth, and also the new wineskin with old wine, and vice versa, are just like the incompatibility of what the Lord truly wanted from His people with what those same people, like the Pharisees and the disciples of St. John the Baptist had done. Therefore, in order to be truly faithful to the Lord, one ought to listen to the Lord and follow Him in everything which He had told them all to do in their lives, instead of opposing Him and refusing to follow Him.

Brothers and sisters in Christ, today the Church also celebrates the Feast of St. Anthony Zaccaria, a holy man of God and priest whose faith and dedication to the Lord should be an inspiration for all of us to follow in our own lives as well. St. Anthony Zaccaria was born in Italy during the Renaissance era, and he was inspired and called to the priesthood after studying to be a physician, eventually continuing to explore his calling in tending to the poor and the sick in his community. He eventually founded the congregation known as the Barnabites, and was also known for his popularisation of the forty-hours devotion to the Blessed Sacrament, through which he helped to deepen the faith and spirituality among many of the people of his time. Through his tireless efforts and works, St. Anthony Zaccaria had indeed done many wonderful deeds for the good of the Lord, and showed us what it truly means for us to be a follower of Christ, in doing His will and not in following the ways of the world.

May the Lord continue to inspire and strengthen us all in our resolve to live our lives faithfully as Christians from now, especially inspired by the examples of the great saints, particularly that of St. Anthony Zaccaria whose memory we venerate today, and may He nudge us all to commit to a good and worthy life in Him if we have not done so yet. May He give us the strength and courage to carry out our Christian faith most faithfully and genuinely in our every actions, in our every interactions with one another, in our every single contributions, even in the smallest and seemingly least important actions and works. May He bless our every good efforts and endeavours, now and always. Amen.

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Saturday, 5 July 2025 : 13th Week of Ordinary Time, Memorial of St. Anthony Zaccaria, Priest (Gospel Reading)

Liturgical Colour : Green or White (Priests or Saturday Mass of Our Lady)

Matthew 9 : 14-17

At that time, the disciples of John came to Jesus with the question, “How is it, that we and the Pharisees fast on many occasions, but not Your disciples?”

Jesus answered them, “How can you expect wedding guests to mourn as long as the bridegroom is with them? The time will come, when the bridegroom will be taken away from them, and then, they will fast.”

“No one patches an old coat with a piece of unshrunken cloth, for the patch will shrink and tear an even bigger hole in the coat. In the same way, you do not put new wine into old wine skins. If you do, the wine skins will burst and the wine will be spilt. No, you put new wine into fresh skins; then both are preserved.”

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Saturday, 5 July 2025 : 13th Week of Ordinary Time, Memorial of St. Anthony Zaccaria, Priest (Psalm)

Liturgical Colour : Green or White (Priests or Saturday Mass of Our Lady)

Psalm 134 : 1-2, 3-4, 5-6

Alleluia! Praise the Name of YHVH. O servants of YHVH, praise Him, you, who serve in the house of YHVH, in the courts of the house of our God.

Praise YHVH, for He is good; praise His Name, for it is beautiful; for YHVH has chosen Jacob as His own, Israel as His possession.

I know that YHVH is great, that our YHVH is above all gods. Whatever YHVH pleases, He does – in heaven and on earth, in the seas and in their depths.

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Saturday, 5 July 2025 : 13th Week of Ordinary Time, Memorial of St. Anthony Zaccaria, Priest (First Reading)

Liturgical Colour : Green or White (Priests or Saturday Mass of Our Lady)

Genesis 27 : 1-5, 15-29

When Isaac was old and his eyes so weak that he could no longer see, he called Esau, his older son, and said to him, “My son.” “Here I am,” he answered. Isaac continued, “You see I am old and I do not know when I shall die; so take your weapons, your bow and arrow, go out into the country and hunt some game for me. Then prepare some of the savoury food I like and bring it to me so that I may eat and give you my blessing before I die.”

Now Rebekah was listening when Isaac spoke to his son Esau. When Esau went into the country to hunt game and bring it back, she took the best clothes of her elder son Esau that she had in the house and put them on Jacob, her younger son. With the goatskin she covered his hands and the smooth part of his neck, and she handed to him the bread and food she had prepared.

He went to his father and said, “Father!” He answered, “Yes, my son, who is it?” And Jacob said to his father, “It is Esau, your firstborn; I have done what you told me to do. Come, sit up and eat my game so that you may give me your blessing.” Isaac said, “How quick you have been my son!” Jacob said, “YHVH, your God, guided me.”

Isaac said to Jacob, “Come near and let me feel you, my son, and know that it is you, Esau my son, or not.” When Jacob drew near to Isaac, his father felt him and said, “The voice is the voice of Jacob but the hands are the hands of Esau.” He did not recognise him, for his hands were hairy like the hands of Esau his brother and so he blessed him.

He asked, “Are you really my son Esau?” And Jacob answered, “I am.” Isaac said, “Bring me some of your game, my son, so that I may eat and give you my blessing.” So Jacob brought it to him and he ate. And he brought him wine and he drank. Then his father Isaac said to him, “Come near and kiss me, my son.” So Jacob came near and kissed him.

Isaac then caught the smell of his clothes and blessed him, saying, “The smell of my son is like the smell of a field which the Lord has blessed. May God give you the dew of heaven; and of the richness of the earth; and abundance of grain and wine. Let peoples serve you and nations bow down before you. Be lord over your brothers, and let your mother’s sons bow down to you. Cursed be everyone that curses you and blessed be everyone that blesses you!”

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Saturday, 28 June 2025 : 12th Week of Ordinary Time, Memorial of the Immaculate Heart of the Blessed Virgin Mary (Homily and Scripture Reflections)

Liturgical Colour : White

Dear brothers and sisters in Christ, today, on the day after the Solemnity of the Most Sacred Heart of Jesus, we celebrate the Feast of the Immaculate Heart of His most loving Mother, the Blessed Virgin Mary, Mother of God. On this day we remember the loving and most Immaculate Heart of Mary who has always been filled with love for God, for her Son, the One entrusted to her to care, and also for all of us, all of whom had also been entrusted to her as her own children, that she may truly love us all as much as she has loved Jesus, her Son, Our Lord and Saviour. On this day we remember the Immaculate Heart of Mary, our loving Mother, which has been pierced by the sword of pain of seeing her own Son, Jesus, being made to suffer, to be crucified and to die on the Cross for faults that were not His own.

First of all, let us all look upon our Scripture readings today, beginning with our first reading today from the Book of the prophet Isaiah. In that passage from the prophet Isaiah we heard the words of the Lord speaking to His people reassuring them that He will bless them and give them all His grace and kindness, restoring them to honour and happiness, allowing them to rejoice once again after they had suffered indignity and difficulties earlier on in their experiences and those faced by their ancestors. Contextually, we must understand the events that happened during the time of the ministry of the prophet Isaiah and what happened beforehand in order to appreciate the full significance of what the Lord had been telling His people with this message of hope and reassurance.

The prophet Isaiah ministered to the people of the southern kingdom of Judah, the southern half of the divided kingdom of Israel, during the reign of King Ahaz and King Hezekiah, during which time and reign the northern kingdom of Israel, the northern half of the divided kingdom with most of the twelve tribes of Israel, was destroyed by the mighty forces of the Assyrian Empire which brought destruction upon the kingdom of Israel and its capital, Samaria, and many of the people living in that kingdom had been uprooted and exiled in distant, far-off lands of Assyria and beyond, with foreigners being brought in to dwell in the lands that used to belong to the people of God. The same misfortune and hardship would in time also happen to the kingdom of Judah as well, and the threat of the Assyrians also happened against the people of Judah.

Therefore, amidst all these hardships, the Lord promised His people of restoration and hope, of renewed trust and assurance that if they were all to have faith and trust in Him, He would deliver them all from their troubles and difficulties. If the people of God trusted in Him and followed His path, and sinned no more against Him, eventually they would be liberated from all those troubles and be led into the right path through His patient and ever consistent guidance and help. God does not want any of us to be lost to Him, and that is why He has always done everything He could to find us and to help us to return to Him, giving us hope and help, and one of the ways that He has done this, is through entrusting to us His own Blessed Mother to be our own Mother and intercessor.

Then, from our Gospel passage today taken from the Gospel according to St. Luke the Evangelist, we heard of the events that happened during the time when the Lord Jesus was still only twelve years old, when He was left behind in the Temple of Jerusalem while His family was already on their way back to their hometown in Nazareth. We heard how Mary and Joseph realised that the young Jesus were not with them in the entourage, and therefore went back all the way to Jerusalem in order to find Him. And once there, they found Jesus in deep discussion with the priests and the educated men there, and the latter were all astonished at His great wisdom and eloquence. Mary in particular was mentioned as having heard and kept all the things that she witnessed in her heart.

This is a reminder for all of us of the loving heart of a Mother, who has been entrusted with the love of her Son, the One that was told to her as the Son of God Most High, and yet, through her also the Son of Man. And through His great love for us all mankind, from His Most Sacred Heart, therefore Mary also share the same love that her Son has for us, in how she has constantly loved all of us, her own beloved children, entrusted to her by her own Son from His Cross. And from her Immaculate Heart, immaculate because as we all believe that Mary was conceived without any taint or corruption of original sin, and remained full of grace throughout her life, Mary has shown the love of God manifested to us, the beautiful love of a Mother all these while.

That is why as we may have noticed, how often Mary, our loving Mother has appeared to us in various occasions, particularly during times of great upheavals and distress, most famously in the sites of Guadalupe, which happened after the Spanish conquests of the Americas and also during the time of the Protestant reformation, and also Lourdes, which happened during time of great upheavals in Europe and traditional Christendom regarding the relationship between the Church and the state, and at Fatima in Portugal, which happened during the height of the First World War. These famous apparitions, together with other apparations of Mary serve to remind us all of just how much love that Mary our loving Mother has for all of us, and how much she wants to show this love, care and attention in order to help us to find our way to her Son, our Lord and Saviour.

Brothers and sisters in Christ, let us all hence entrust ourselves to our Blessed Mother, to the Immaculate Heart of Mary, ever full of love for us and for her Son. Through her, let us all come ever closer to the path to salvation, knowing that through Mary is indeed the most direct path to her Son, Our Saviour and King. Blessed Mary, ever Virgin, our Mother and intercessor, pray for all of us always, and may your constant love for us, from your Immaculate Heart continue to inspire us all to love one another in the same manner as well. Amen.