Liturgical Colour : White
Ephesians 3 : 2-3a, 5-6
You may have heard of the graces God bestowed on me for your sake. By a revelation He gave me the knowledge of His mysterious design. This mystery was not made known to past generations but only now, through revelations given to holy Apostles and prophets.
Now the non-Jewish people share the Inheritance; in Christ Jesus the non-Jews are incorporated and are to enjoy the Promise. This is the Good News.
Liturgical Colour : White
Psalm 71 : 1-2, 7-8, 10-11, 12-13
O God, endow the King with Your justice, the Royal Son with Your righteousness. May He rule Your people justly and defend the rights of the lowly.
Justice will flower in His days, and peace abound till the moon be no more. For He reigns from sea to sea, from the River to the ends of the earth.
The kings of Tarshish and the islands render Him tribute, the kings of Sheba and Seba bring gifts, all kings bow down to Him, and all nations serve Him.
He delivers the needy who call on Him, the afflicted with no one to help them. His mercy is upon the weak and the poor, He saves the life of the poor.
Liturgical Colour : White
Isaiah 60 : 1-6
Arise, shine, for your Light has come. The Glory of YHVH rises upon you. Night still covers the earth and gloomy clouds veil the peoples, but YHVH now rises and over you His glory appears. Nations will come to your Light and kings to the brightness of your dawn.
Lift up your eyes round about and see : they are all gathered and come to you, your sons from afar, your daughters tenderly carried. This sight will make your face radiant, your heart throbbing and full; the riches of the sea will be turned to you, the wealth of the nations will come to you.
A flood of camels will cover you, caravans from Midian and Ephah. Those from Sheba will come, bringing with them gold and incense, all singing in praise of YHVH.
Liturgical Colour : White
Dear brothers and sisters in Christ, on this day we heard the testimonies of faith through the Scripture passages we heard, and we listened how St. John the Evangelist and Apostle spoke of the three testimonies of the water, Blood and the Spirit. These testimonies all agree that the Lord has come into the world, and He has done all that He had said He would do amongst us, and through the witnesses of the Apostles and the saints, His marvellous love for us had been made evident.
And the love of God was made real and evident in none other than the person of Jesus Christ, the Son of God, Who willingly assumed our human flesh and be born of the Blessed Virgin Mary, His mother, to dwell among us, that God’s love become a reality and a tangible experience for all of humanity, through the singular act of ultimate love which He has given to all of us.
In the Gospel passage today, we heard of the series of the ancestors of Our Lord Jesus Christ, to show that He was born into the race of man, which after many generations eventually came from God. Thus, everything in a sense come to a full circle, as God Himself became counted among those He had created, but yet, at the same time, He remained God as ever, never diminished in His majesty and authority, and neither was His divinity changed in any manner.
All of these was simply because of God’s great and incomparable love for all of us mankind, those whom He has willingly made to become His own adopted sons and daughters. It was God’s love for us that He gave us the ultimate gift above all else, the Son of God, Jesus Christ, born into our midst, and through Whom, He willingly revealed to us the full extent of His love, made evident none other than through the cross, upon which hung the Most Holy and Precious Body of Our Lord.
He Himself said to His disciples, that there is no greater love than for someone to lay down his or her life for a friend. And Jesus Our Lord has considered us all His friends, as those who are precious to Him. By His willing sacrifice, He endured all the entirety of the unimaginably heavy burdens of our sins, our combined faults and mistakes, all of our disobedience and shortcomings, by bearing the heavy cross, all the way to Calvary.
The testimonies mentioned earlier in today’s discourse prove this great love of God, as at the moment of the crucifixion and death of Our Lord and Saviour, Jesus Christ, that through water, the holy water of baptism, all of us have been saved by accepting Him as Our Lord and Saviour, and becoming God’s own children. Through the water of baptism, we are united to the loving sacrifice of Our Lord which saves us and redeems us.
At the time when the Lord Jesus was baptised in the water of the River Jordan, the testimony of the water and the Spirit came ringing true, witnessed by many. The Holy Spirit descended from the heavens, and the voice of God the Father Himself declared that Jesus is the Son of God, the Most Beloved of all, through Whom He would made all of His designs on us mankind into a reality.
And last of all, the testimony of the Blood is the strongest of all, for the Most Precious Blood of Our Lord Himself was spilled from the altar of the cross of Calvary. The Blood purifies us and saves us, just as the blood of the sacrificial lambs and animals became the offerings for the forgiveness of the sins of Israel in the ages past. The Most Precious Blood of Our Lord has washed us clean, through the works of the Holy Spirit and by the will of the Father, and by the obedience of the Son, working together to effect and bring about our salvation.
Brothers and sisters in Christ, today all of us need to reflect on our own lives, on whether we have understood all these beautiful and wondrous mysteries of Our Lord, Who loved us so much that He was willing to forgive us our many sins and overlook our trespasses, so long as we are willing to be forgiven, and willing to repent from our sinful ways. God has loved us so much, in so many ways, and yet, many of us have not realised this, and we still continue to live in sin and disobedience against Him.
As Christians, all of us believe that Jesus Christ is the Lord and He is God’s ultimate expression of love for us mankind, His people, His beloved children. Therefore, as we are all also made God’s children through adoption, by the coming of Our Lord Jesus Christ into this world, God sharing in our humanity and dwelling among us, let us all walk faithfully in His ways and show our exemplary faith and ways, that hopefully many others will come to see the truth as well and believe.
May the Lord be with us always, and may He continue to strengthen our faith and empower us all to become ever more courageous in living our faith with devotion, day after day. May God bless us all, and sanctify us, that all of our works and endeavours will always be for the greater glory of His Name. Amen.
Liturgical Colour : White
Mark 1 : 7-11
John preached to the people, saying, “After me comes One Who is more powerful than I am; I have baptised you with water, but He will baptise you in the Holy Spirit.”
At that time Jesus came from Nazareth, a town of Galilee, and was baptised by John in the Jordan. And the moment He came up out of the water, heaven opened up before Him, and He saw the Spirit coming down on Him like a dove. And these words were heard from heaven, “You are My Son, the Beloved, the One I have chosen.”
Alternative reading
Luke 3 : 23-38
When Jesus made His appearance, He had reached the age of thirty years. He was known as the Son of Joseph, whose father and forefathers were : Heli, Matthat, Levi, Melchi, Jannai, Joseph, Matthathias, Amos, Nahum, Esli, Naggai, Maath, Mattathias, Semein, Josech, Joda, Joanan, Rhesa, Zerubbabel, Shealtiel, Neri, Melchi, Addi, Cosam, Elmadam, Er, Joshua, Eliezer, Jorim, Matthat, Levi, Simeon, Judah, Joseph, Jonam, Eliakim, Melea, Menna, Mattatha, Nathan, David, Jesse, Obed, Boaz, Salmon, Nahson, Amminadab, Adnim, Arni, Hezron, Perez, Judah, Jacob, Isaac, Abraham, Terah, Nahor, Serug, Reu, Peleg, Eber, Shelah, Cainan, Arphaxad, Shem, Noah, Lamech, Methuselah, Enoch, Jared, Malaleel, Cainan, Enos, Seth and Adam – who was from God.
Alternative reading (shorter version)
Luke 3 : 23, 31-34, 36, 38
When Jesus made His appearance, He had reached the age of thirty years. He was known as the Son of Joseph, whose father and forefathers were : Heli, Melea, Menna, Mattatha, Nathan, David, Jesse, Obed, Boaz, Salmon, Nahson, Amminadab, Adnim, Arni, Hezron, Perez, Judah, Jacob, Isaac, Abraham, Terah, Nahor, Cainan, Arphaxad, Shem, Noah, Lamech, Enos, Seth and Adam – who was from God.
Liturgical Colour : White
Psalm 147 : 12-13, 14-15, 19-20
Exalt the Lord, o Jerusalem; praise your God, o Zion! For He strengthens the bars of your gates and blesses your children within you.
He grants peace on your borders and feeds you with the finest grain. He sends His command to the earth and swiftly runs His word.
It is He Who tells Jacob His words, His laws and decrees to Israel. This He has not done for other nations, so His laws remain unknown to them. Alleluia!
Liturgical Colour : White
1 John 5 : 5-13
Who has overcome the world? The one who believes that Jesus is the Son of God. Jesus Christ was acknowledged through water, but also through Blood. Not only water but water and Blood. And the Spirit, too, witnesses to Him for the Spirit is truth.
There are then three testimonies : the Spirit, the water and the Blood, and these three witnesses agree. If we accept human testimony, with greater reason must we accept that of God, given in favour of His Son. If you believe in the Son of God, you have God’s testimony in you.
But those who do not believe make God a liar, since they do not believe His words when He witnesses to His Son. What has God said? That He has granted us eternal life and this life is in His Son. The one who has the Son has life, the one who do not have the Son of God do not have life.
I write you, then, all these things that you may know that you have eternal life, all you who believe in the Name of the Son of God.
Liturgical Colour : White
Dear brothers and sisters in Christ, on this day we listened to the exhortation by the Apostle St. John in his Epistle, our first reading today, in which he called on all of us to love God and not the things of this world. He mentioned how those who love the things of this world, its glamour, pleasures, joys, in all the temptations and desires, are not doing what God wants from us.
St. John reminds each one of us, that we must not be distracted by all those things, by the temptation of money, the temptation of the pleasures of the flesh, the temptation of glory and human approval, and many others. Yet, many of us have forgotten that the true goal and desire of our lives should indeed be the Lord, Our God. Yes, that is why all of us must be vigilant against the temptations that will come our way.
We should look at our Gospel passage today, which is a continuation of yesterday’s passage, about the time when the Lord Jesus, as a Baby, newly born, was brought by His mother Mary and His foster father St. Joseph to the Temple of Jerusalem to be presented to the Lord, in accordance to the laws of Moses. There were two people whom they encountered that day in the Temple, one was Simeon, who foretold the fate of the Baby as the Saviour of the world, and Anna the prophetess, as told in the Gospel passage today.
Both of them were so joyful because they were able to finally see the Messiah after awaiting Him for a very long time. God has promised them that they would be privileged to be able to lay their eyes on Him, while many other prophets, kings and people have not been given such a privilege. Many of them have long awaited the coming of the Lord’s salvation, and they did not live to see the day of its coming.
How is this significant for us, brothers and sisters? It is exactly the joy which these two faithful servants of God had shown, the exhilaration of welcoming the Lord into their midst, that is sadly absent in many of us. First of all, how many of us have gotten over Christmas and continued in our daily business and usual habits? We have indulged ourselves in merrymaking and partying during Christmas, but do we know what it is that we are celebrating about?
In fact, the Christmas season is still ongoing, for another week or so, until the Feast of the Baptism of the Lord. And Christmas should always be with us, for we rejoice in Christmas because of none other than the wondrous works of Our Lord and Saviour, Who was born into this world and celebrated on Christmas season. Our joy should be like that of Simeon and Anna, who cheered and were jubilant because of the love which God has shown them through the Saviour, Jesus Christ.
Let us all now reflect on each of our own individual lives. How many of us place the Lord at the centre and as the focus of our lives? How many of us prioritise Him over our worldly dealings, ambitions and all other distractions and temptations of this life? And if our response to all of these questions is that we have not been prioritising God over other things, then we have to ask ourselves, what is God really to us?
Is He someone we just turn to and remember when we are in difficulty and in need? Is He someone Whom we just forget and ignore when we have gotten what we need and are distracted by the many worldly concerns? If we think of God in this way, then perhaps we need to reevaluate our opinion of Him, and rediscover Who God truly is.
Brothers and sisters in Christ, let us all commit ourselves anew to the Lord, and seek Him with all of our hearts’ strength, with all of our minds and focus. Let us all rediscover the true joy of our hearts, that is also the true joy of Christmas, none other than the Lord Jesus, Who have chosen to come and dwell with us, that we may come to know Him personally.
May the Lord be with us always, journeying with us, so that eventually we may find our way to Him and His salvation, that we may be reunited with Him and live happily with Him forever after. May God bless us always, and be with all of our endeavours. Amen.
Liturgical Colour : White
Luke 2 : 36-40
There was also a prophetess named Anna, daughter of Phanuel, of the tribe of Asher. After leaving her father’s home, she had been seven years with her husband, and since then she had been continually about the Temple, serving God as a widow night and day in fasting and prayer. She was now eighty-four. Coming up at that time, she gave praise to God, and spoke of the Child to all who looked forward to the deliverance of Jerusalem.
When the parents had fulfilled all that was required by the law of the Lord, they returned to their town, Nazareth in Galilee. There the Child grew in stature and strength, and was filled with wisdom: the grace of God was upon Him.
Liturgical Colour : White
Psalm 95 : 7-8a, 8b-9, 10
Give to YHVH, you families of nations, give to YHVH glory and strength. Give to YHVH the glory due His Name.
Bring gifts and enter His courts. Worship YHVH with holy celebrations; stand in awe of Him, all the earth.
Say among the nations, “YHVH reigns!” He will judge the peoples with justice.
petercanisiusmichaeldavidkang 