Liturgical Colour : Purple/Violet
Matthew 17 : 10-13
At that time, the disciples of Jesus asked Him, “Why do the teachers of the Law say that Elijah must come first?”
Jesus answered, “So it is : first comes Elijah; and he will restore all things. But I tell you, Elijah has already come; and they did not recognise him; and they treated him as they pleased. And they will also make the Son of Man suffer.”
Then the disciples understood that Jesus was referring to John the Baptist.
Liturgical Colour : Purple/Violet
Psalm 79 : 2ac and 3b, 15-16, 18-19
Listen, o Shepherd of Israel, You, Who sit enthroned between the Cherubim. Stir up Your might and come to save us.
Turn again, o YHVH of hosts, look down from heaven and see; care for this vine, and protect the stock Your hand has planted.
But lay Your hand on Your instrument, on the Son of Man, Whom You make strong for Yourself. Then, we will never turn away from You; give us life, and we will call on Your Name.
Liturgical Colour : Purple/Violet
Sirach 48 : 1-4, 9-11
Then came the prophet Elijah, like a fire, his words a burning torch. He brought a famine on the people and in his zealous love had them reduced in number. Speaking in the Name of the Lord he closed down the heavens, and on three occasions called down fire.
How marvellous you were, Elijah, in your wondrous deeds! Who could ever boast of being your equal? You were taken up by a whirlwind of flames in a chariot drawn by fiery horses. It was written that you should be the one to calm God’s anger in the future, before it broke out in fury, to turn the hearts of fathers to their sons and to restore the tribes of Jacob.
Happy are those who will see you and those who die in love, for we too shall live.
Liturgical Colour : Purple/Violet or White (Saints)
Dear brothers and sisters in Christ, on this day we listened to the Scriptures that first of all showed us the nature of our loving God towards us, from the book of the prophet Isaiah. Isaiah showed the prophecy of God’s love for His people, in how He will guide all of them back towards His grace, and will no longer be separated from them.
As we proceed through this season of Advent, approaching the time of Christmas, let us all use the time provided for us in order to reflect on our lives and on our actions. Many of us have fallen away from God’s grace and walked in the path of sin. We have not put God as the focus of our lives, but rather, we become distracted with the many temptations of life.
We have become like lost sheep, scattered and having no idea where to go, just like the people described by Jesus in the Gospel passage today, as ‘sheep who are without a shepherd’. And thus, at that time, because there were so many people who had become wayward in their ways and sinned, they have lost direction in their lives and sought the Lord to bring them back to the way of truth.
The Lord Who loves each and every one of His people had mercy on them, and had pity because He saw those people who would be doomed to damnation should they continue in their present path. Thus, if we read through the Gospels, the Lord spent a lot of time teaching the people and calling them to abandon their old ways of sin and embrace God’s ways.
But at the same time, He also mentioned how the labourers are few while the harvest is plentiful. This means that, while there are indeed vast potential for God’s work and grace to be done among the people, with many souls waiting to be saved, yet there are only few people who are willing to step forward and take up the mantle of the hard work of those who serve the Lord and preach His Good News.
What does all these mean for us, brothers and sisters in Christ? It means that first of all, each and every one of us should do our best to turn towards the Lord, and especially during this season of Advent, we are constantly reminded of the need to prepare ourselves for the eventual coming of the Lord Jesus and also eventually the final Judgment. We should do our best to prepare ourselves physically, mentally and spiritually, by turning away from sin, resisting the temptations to sin, and by doing what is right in the sight of God.
However, that is not all that God had asked us to do. All of us are also called to heed what the Lord Jesus had mentioned in the Gospel passage, ‘Ask the Master of the harvest to send labourers to gather His harvest,’ and also, ‘Go, instead to the lost sheep of the people of Israel.’ All of these are set to remind us of the obligations we have as Christians to reach out to those who have not yet known God, or those who have lapsed in their faith.
How do we do that, brethren? We should not think that we need to do many wondrous and ambitious large-scale works. Rather, we should begin from ourselves, from our immediate family, friends and acquaintances. We should role model our faith through our actions and by devoting ourselves to God in everything. We should help the Church in its works of evangelisation, by becoming beacons of light through which many others can see God and His light through us and therefore believe.
We should also heed the examples of St. John Diego Cuauhtlatoatzin. St. John Diego or also known as St. Juan Diego was a saint who lived a few hundred years ago in Spanish America, at the place where now the Basilica of Our Lady of Guadalupe is located at. St. John Diego was a native of the land, a convert from his previous pagan faith, who witnessed the apparition of the Blessed Virgin Mary in Guadalupe.
St. John Diego has always been a righteous person, living his life humbly and gracefully. Through him, Our Blessed Mother delivered her messages to the people, calling on them to repent from their sins and wickedness. And when they doubted St. John Diego and his accounts about the apparition, Our Lady showed him a sign through his cloak or ‘tilma’ in the local language.
It was told that Our Lady asked him to gather some flowers at the site of the apparition, and present them to the local bishop. When St. John Diego presented the flowers, which are not local or seasonal to the area, the bishop was amazed as the very likeness of Our Lady herself was imprinted on the cloak of St. John Diego. Many came to believe in this miraculous occasion, and many people repented from their sins and were saved.
The story of St. John Diego and Our Lady of Guadalupe should inspire all of us to do what we can in order to be faithful disciples of the Lord, by encouraging one another to live righteously in accordance with God’s ways. Let us all be good messengers of God, delivering the truth of the Lord through our righteous life, that we may convince more and more people, that less and less souls may be lost from God.
Let us be lost sheep no longer and help those who are still lost that they may find their way to the Lord, their Good Shepherd. Let us be His faithful labourers, to help Him gather the rich harvest of this world, that is the salvation of the souls of our fellow brothers and sisters. May God help us in these endeavours. Amen.
Liturgical Colour : Purple/Violet or White (Saints)
Matthew 9 : 35 – Matthew 10 : 1, 5a, 6-8
At that time, Jesus went around all the towns and villages, teaching in their synagogues and proclaiming the Good News of the kingdom; and He cured every sickness and disease. When He saw the crowds, He was moved with pity; for they were harassed and helpless, like sheep without a shepherd.
Then He said to His disciples, “The harvest is abundant, but the workers are only few. Ask the Master of the harvest to send workers to gather His harvest.”
Jesus called His Twelve disciples to Him, and gave them authority over unclean spirits, to drive them out, and to heal every disease and sickness. Jesus sent these Twelve on mission, with the instruction : “Go, instead, to the lost sheep of the people of Israel. Go, and proclaim this message : The kingdom of heaven is near. Heal the sick, bring the dead back to life, cleanse the lepers, and drive out demons. Freely have you received, freely give.”
Liturgical Colour : Purple/Violet or White (Saints)
Psalm 146 : 1-2, 3-4, 5-6
Alleluia! How good it is to sing to our God, how sweet and befitting, to praise Him! YHVH rebuilds Jerusalem; He gathers the exiles of Israel.
He heals their broken hearts and binds up their wounds. He determines the number of stars; He calls each of them by name.
The Lord is great, and mighty in power; His wisdom is beyond measure. YHVH lifts up the humble, but casts the wicked to the ground.
Liturgical Colour : Purple/Violet or White (Saints)
Isaiah 30 : 19-21, 23-26
O people of Zion, who dwell in Jerusalem, you will weep no more. When you cry, He will listen; when He hears, He will answer. When the Lord has given you the bread of anguish and the water of distress, He, your Teacher will hide no longer. Your own eyes will see Him, and your ear will listen to His words behind you : “This is the way, walk in it.”
He will then give rain for the seed you sow and make the harvest abundant from the crops you grow. On that day your cattle will graze in wide pastures. Your beasts of burden will eat silage tossed to them with pitchfork and shovel. For on the day of the great slaughter, when fortresses fall, streams of water will flow on every mountain and lofty hill.
The light of the moon will be as the light of the sun, and the light of the sun seven times greater, like the light of seven days, when YHVH binds up the wounds of His people and heals the bruises inflicted by His blows.
Liturgical Colour : Green or White (Saturday Mass of Our Lady)
Dear brothers and sisters in Christ, today marks the last day of our current liturgical year, and as tomorrow’s Sunday marks the beginning of the season of Advent, through the Old Testament readings this week from the Book of Daniel, we heard the reminders for all of us to be ever vigilant, as the Lord is coming again, just as He has promised us, and we will not know the exact time of His coming.
And as Daniel saw in his vision, there will be trouble awaiting many of those who are faithful to God, because the four beasts seen in that vision represent the kingdoms of the world, those historical powers and rulers that persecuted and oppressed the Church and the faithful people of God. These are the domains of Satan, our great enemy and adversary, through which he was planning to bring about our downfall.
If we read on in the Book of Revelations written by St. John the Evangelist about the visions which he received at the island of Patmos, he also received the same vision about the coming of persecution and difficult times for the faithful ones, as those who adhere to Satan’s ways have rallied up against them, and they rejoiced even as the faithful suffer in agony, refusing to give up their faith in God.
Those people are going to do exactly what the Lord Jesus mentioned in the Gospel passage today, living their lives hedonistically, enjoying all the pleasures that the world can give, and doing all that are wicked in the eyes of the Lord. But they do not realise that the retribution of the Lord will come at a time they least expect of all. Many will be caught unprepared and unworthy, and their lot will be to share the fate of the evil one.
Brothers and sisters in Christ, Our Lord is a loving God, Who wants each and every one of us to be with Him, to be reconciled from our disobedience to Him, and therefore to be reunited with us in love. However, at the same time, He also gives us the free will to choose between obedience and disobedience, whether we want to be with God and walk in His ways, or whether we want to choose Satan’s side instead.
There will be great pressures and temptations for us to fall into those temptations the Lord mentioned, the temptations of pleasure and worldliness, which will lure us into the trap of sin. Are we able to resist the devil then in this manner? Are we able to stand up for our faith despite all the challenges and difficulties that we may encounter along the way?
Let us all see the examples of our holy predecessors, those who have been declared as saints and martyrs by the Church. They have done their best to resist and to remain truly devoted to God, and they led holy lives filled with piety, love and compassion for one another. They loved God first and foremost, and show the same love to each other, just as God has commanded them.
In our world today, it is not easy to remain faithful as a Christian. There will be obstacles, challenges, difficulties in our path. And there may even be opposition from those who are close to us, dear to us, and this will be our crosses for us to bear in this life. Are we willing to pick up those crosses and walk together with God, by remaining faithful despite the challenges we may encounter day after day?
Let us devote ourselves, our time and effort to serve the Lord, by our actions, through which we show our love for Him, and also loving one another just as He has commanded us. Let us do our very best to be prepared for the time of His coming, so that we will not be caught unprepared and by surprise. Instead, let us strive to be worthy of Him, that we may partake in the glorious inheritance that He has prepared for all of His faithful ones. May the Lord bless us always and be with us, till the end of time and beyond. Amen.
Liturgical Colour : Green or White (Saturday Mass of Our Lady)
Luke 21 : 34-36
At that time, Jesus said to the people, “Be on your guard : do not immerse yourselves in a life of pleasure, drunkenness and worldly cares, lest that day catch you unaware, like a trap! For, like a snare, will that day come upon all the inhabitants of the earth. But watch at all times and pray, that you may be able to escape all that is going to happen, and to stand before the Son of Man.”
Liturgical Colour : Green or White (Saturday Mass of Our Lady)
Daniel 3 : 82, 83, 84, 85, 86, 87
All people on earth, praise and exalt Him forever.
Israel, praise and exalt Him forever.
Priests of the Lord, praise and exalt Him forever.
Servants of the Lord, praise and exalt Him forever.
Spirits and souls of the just, praise and exalt Him forever.
Those who are holy and humble of heart, praise and exalt Him forever.
petercanisiusmichaeldavidkang 