Liturgical Colour : White
Psalm 46 : 2-3, 6-7, 8-9
Clap your hands, all you peoples; acclaim God with shouts of joy. For the Lord, the Most High, is to be feared; He is a great King all over the earth.
God ascends amid joyful shouts, the Lord amid trumpet blasts. Sing praises to God, sing praises! Sing praises to our King, sing praises!
God is King of all the earth; sing to Him a hymn of praise. For God now rules over the nations, God reigns from His holy throne.
Liturgical Colour : White
Acts 1 : 1-11
In the first part of my work, Theophilus, I wrote of all that Jesus did and taught from the beginning until the day when He ascended to heaven. But first He had instructed through the Holy Spirit, the Apostles He had chosen. After His passion, He presented Himself to them, giving many signs that He was alive, over a period of forty days He appeared to them and taught them concerning the kingdom of God.
Once when He had been eating with them, He told them, “Do not leave Jerusalem, but wait for the fulfilment of the Father’s promise about which I have spoken to you : John baptised with water, but you will be baptised with the Holy Spirit within a few days.”
When they had come together, they asked Him, “Is it now that You will restore the Kingdom of Israel?” And He answered, “It is not for you to know the time and the steps that the Father has fixed by His own authority. But you will receive power when the Holy Spirit comes upon you; and you will be My witnesses in Jerusalem, throughout Judea and Samaria, even to the ends of the earth.”
After Jesus said this, He was taken up before their eyes and a cloud hid Him from their sight. While they were still looking up to heaven where He went, suddenly, two men dressed in white stood beside them, and said, “Men of Galilee, why do you stand here looking up at the sky? This Jesus Who has been taken from you into heaven, will return in the same way as you have seen Him go there.”
Liturgical Colour : White
Dear brothers and sisters in Christ, on this day as we approach the end of the season of Easter and as we are about to celebrate the Solemnity of the Ascension tomorrow, each and every one of us are called as Christians to be the witnesses of the truth of Christ, that is to proclaim Him in our lives and in our daily actions, that others may come to believe in the Lord and follow Him into their salvation much as we have received the same offer of salvation.
In our first reading today, we heard the account of how St. Paul went to the renowned forum in the great city of Athens, named Areopagus, where many people often came for philosophical debates and discussions between those who were interested. St. Paul went and joined in the debate as he came forth presenting the words of God and His calling, preaching to many of the pagan philosophers about the one and only true God, Jesus Christ, the Saviour of all the whole world.
St. Paul revealed the truth about God, the One Who loved all mankind, regardless of whoever and wherever they are, the One Who created the whole world and the entire universe, to those philosophers, many of whom had probably spent many years, decades and even perhaps their entire lives just to find the meaning and purpose of their lives. Some among the philosophers and pagans were intrigued by what St. Paul had revealed and spoken to them, and were open to listen more to him.
Unfortunately, many among the people ridiculed St. Paul and his revelations and words, laughed at him, ignored him and scorned him. This was to be expected given that the commonly held ideas and thoughts of that time were polytheism in worship, where people believed in many gods and deities, as well as many who worshipped elements and aspects of nature, including the Greeks and Romans, many of whom linked the elements of these paganism into their philosophical thinking.
Nonetheless, St. Paul tried and did his best to explain about God to these people in the place many considered to be the heart of Hellenistic paganism and philosophy, many of which aspect were against the Christian faith. He was patient yet succinct and detailed in his explanation and refute of the false pagan ways and practices. As a result, some of the pagans as mentioned did become intrigued by the revelations made by St. Paul, and it was likely that some among them did become Christians in the end.
St. Paul laboured and worked hard, revealing what he himself has received from the Spirit of Truth as mentioned in our Gospel passage today. The Holy Spirit has been sent from God to all the Apostles and disciples, who by laying of hands have passed the same Holy Spirit to all Christians, all throughout the ages and up to us all living today. We too have received the same Spirit, the same revelation and truth, as what we believe in our Christian faith and Creed that we believe in the One and only True God Who created all the world and the universe.
Now, brothers and sisters in Christ, to us have been entrusted the same mission and calling as St. Paul, and the missions and works of the Church are still far from being completed. On the contrary, there are still many areas where we can still contribute more in our own various capacities, to engage our fellow brothers and sisters especially those who have not yet known Christ in meaningful and respectful discourse that they too may come to believe in Him through us.
But if we want others to believe in God through us, then we ourselves must have genuine and strong faith in Him. Otherwise, how can we expect others to believe when we ourselves do not fully believe and practice our faith in our own daily lives and actions? We will be hypocrites and wicked if we do otherwise. That is why we should follow the good examples set by our predecessors. Today, we happen to celebrate the feast of St. Bernardine of Siena, a devout and holy priest, a dedicated servant of God whose examples can definitely inspire us.
St. Bernardine of Siena was renowned for his great piety and revolutionary style of preaching. Just like St. Paul, St. Bernardine of Siena spoke honestly and freely to the people. St. Bernardine of Siena reached out to the people and spoke to them about matters that directly influenced their lives. His efforts led to many people beginning to seek God more earnestly or trying to reevaluate their way of life. Many turned away from excesses of life and reorientate their lives towards God once again.
Of course, this did not mean that St. Bernardine did not encounter troubles during his journeys and works. There were also those that opposed and despised him, and in more than one occasions, people had tried to disturb and sabotage his sermons and works. That was the same rejection and difficulties that St. Paul and the other early Christian missionaries have experienced as well, and which we may experience ourselves during our own lives too.
Brothers and sisters in Christ, let us all realise that we have been called to be faithful witnesses of the Lord in all occasions. Let us all be inspired by the faith of our holy predecessors, St. Paul and many other Apostles, saints and martyrs, St. Bernardine of Siena whose memory we celebrate today. Let us strive to be ever more committed to our faith, and dedicate ourselves with ever greater passion with each and every passing moments, giving ourselves to the service of God and our fellow men. May God bless us all, now and always. Amen.
Liturgical Colour : White
John 16 : 12-15
At that time, Jesus said to His disciples, “I still have many things to tell you, but you cannot bear them now. When He, the Spirit of Truth comes, He will guide you into the whole truth. He has nothing to say of Himself, but He will speak of what He hears, and He will tell you of the things to come.”
“He will take what is Mine and make it known to you; in doing this, He will glorify Me. All that the Father has is Mine; because of this, I have just told you that the Spirit will take what is Mine, and make it known to you.”
Liturgical Colour : White
Psalm 148 : 1-2, 11-12, 13, 14
Alleluia! Praise the Lord from the heavens; praise Him in the heavenly heights. Praise Him, all His Angels; praise Him, all His heavenly hosts.
Kings of the earth and nations, princes and all rulers of the world, young men and maidens, old and young together.
Let them praise the Name of the Lord. For His Name alone is exalted; His majesty is above earth and heaven.
He has given His people glory; He has a praise to His faithful, to Israel, the people close to Him. Alleluia.
Liturgical Colour : White
Acts 17 : 15, 22 – Acts 18 : 1
Paul was taken as far as Athens by his escort, who then returned to Beroea with instructions for Silas and Timothy to come to him as soon as possible. Then Paul stood up in the Areopagus hall and said, “Athenian citizens, I note that in every way you are very religious. As I walked around looking at your shrines, I even discovered an altar with this inscription : To an unknown God. Now, what you worship as unknown, I intend to make known to you.”
“God, Who made the world and all that is in it, does not dwell in sanctuaries made by human hands, being as He is Lord of heaven and earth. Nor does His worship depend on anything made by human hands, as if He were in need. Rather it is He Who gives life and breath and everything else to everyone.”
“From one stock He created the whole human race to live throughout all the earth, and He fixed the time and the boundaries of each nation. He wanted them to seek Him by themselves, even if it were only by groping for Him, succeed in finding Him. Yet He is not far from any one of us. For in Him we live and move and have our being, as some of your poets have said : for we too are His offspring.”
“If we are indeed God’s offspring, we ought not to think of divinity as something like a statue of gold or silver or stone, a product of human art and imagination. But now God prefers to overlook this time of ignorance and He calls on all people to change their ways. He has already set a day on which He will judge the world with justice through a Man He has appointed. And, so that all may believe it, He has just given a sign by raising this Man from the dead.”
When they heard Paul speak of a resurrection from death, some made fun of him, while others said, “We must hear you on this topic some other time.” At that point Paul left. But a few did join him, and believed. Among them were Dionysius, a member of the Areopagus court, a woman named Damaris, and some others. After this, Paul left Athens and went to Corinth.
Liturgical Colour : White
Dear brothers and sisters in Christ, on this day as we listened to the Scriptures we are called to turn towards God with hope and courage, and embrace His love and grace at all times. God has called us all to be His people and He has revealed to us how He will always be ever faithful to the Covenant He had made with us and with our ancestors. If we trust Him, we shall not be disappointed for in God alone is our sure hope and assistance even during the darkest days of our lives.
In our first reading today we heard of the story of St. Paul and St. Silas, one of his companions in the missionary journeys, and in this case, in the city of Philippi in Macedonia they encountered a great problem as the slave owners of the city set up a mob against them and they were thrown into prison. It was possible that the slave owners were unhappy that these missionaries had been preaching about the Christian faith in the city, and many especially among the slaves were touched and deeply affected by the teachings of Christ which they had heard.
At that time, during the height of the Roman Empire, slavery were rampant all across the whole Empire and beyond, with slaves performing many essential functions in the community, many of them were needed by their slave masters and owners to sustain their livelihood and incomes, and many among the slaves were made to be gladiators to fight, often to the death, just in order to satisfy the desires of some of the elites in the population. Many of the slaves were not treated with basic human dignity as they were often considered as being less than human.
And when St. Paul and St. Silas were arrested and put into prison, that was in fact a very powerful symbol from God and a reminder of God’s love for us mankind. The slave owners wanted to silence these holy men of God because they were challenging the status quo by their teachings which emphasised on equality between men and all the children of God, and which also emphasised a lot on charity, love and compassion, especially for the weak, poor and the marginalised, the group that were essentially most of the slaves living and working at that time.
The slave owners tried to put a stop to this nascent and growing Christian faith before it affected their sources of income and livelihood, and thus imprisoned St. Paul and St. Silas. Their arrest and imprisonment, them being chained in prison were in fact a reminder of the slavery of men, not just the physical slavery of the slaves they had encountered, but also the slavery of all mankind to the power of sin, death and darkness. When the two servants prayed to God, God listened to them and brought help to them in ways totally unimaginable.
What happened was that a great earthquake struck the town and freed the two men from their bondage, releasing them from their chains and bonds, and breaking free their prison cell. The jailer was so distraught and afraid by what he had witnessed, and he wanted to kill himself in despair, as he thought that he would definitely be severely punished for allowing so many of his prisoners to escape. But St. Paul and St. Silas stopped the jailer, and then even convinced him and his family to embrace the Christian faith.
By the baptism which the jailer and his family received, even more powerful bondage were broken, and that was the chains of sin and evil, the chains of damnation and ruin, from which God has delivered us out into a new life and existence, free from tyranny sin and from the fate of our destruction because of those sins. He freed the converts from their bondage just as St. Paul and St. Silas were freed from their chains and bondage.
Brothers and sisters in Christ, on this day we are therefore reminded of how God Himself has done wonders in reaching out to us and liberating us from our bondage to sin. Through Christ, His Son, God has shown us all the path to salvation and liberation, the path of hope and freedom, the way to eternal life, true joy and glory. And in the Gospel today, the Lord has also promised His Helper to His Apostles and disciples, the Holy Spirit that would be sent down to them and which they had indeed received, and passed down to all of us, all the members of God’s Church.
Brothers and sisters in Christ, now, after hearing all these, are we more appreciative of everything that God had done for our sake? Are we more willing to do what He has commanded us to do, to follow Him and to walk in His path? God has liberated us from our bondage to sin and freed us from the darkest depths of despair and hopelessness. He has restored hope and light to us, and returning purpose to our lives. Are we willing to commit ourselves to Him from now on?
In these dark and uncertain times, when the whole world is gripped with fear and paranoia, filled with irrational, selfish and unreasonable attitudes because we try to protect ourselves, let us all remind ourselves not to be enslaved by our desires and by our own fears. Many of us were too worried about our lives, our livelihood and way of life, our worldly concerns and dealings, that we end up forgetting what is truly important about our lives here on earth.
Many of us are enslaved to our desires for comfort, worldly possessions and matters, that when we are suddenly deprived of these, we end up acting irrationally and being selfish, even to the point of hurting others just so that we may protect ourselves and give ourselves whatever we wanted. We have heard of many people who are impatient and causing nuisance during this period when many places and countries imposed restrictions due to the current pandemic, and we have also heard about the sharp increase in the cases of mental issues and other related problems.
Brothers and sisters in Christ, let us all bring God to our fellow brothers and sisters through our own actions, through our own words and deeds. If our words bring hope to others, bring encouragement and strength amidst these difficult and challenging times, then in no time many will come to believe in God because we ourselves have believed, and by our actions we may make a great difference in the lives of others. Just as St. Paul and St. Silas stopped the jailer from killing himself out of despair and make him believe once again that there is hope in life, we too should do the same for all of our fellow men around us.
Let us all be sources of hope, light and inspiration for one another, drawing from the light and hope of God Himself, that our lives may inspire and strengthen others, and help us to break free from the bonds and slavery, not just to sin, but also to the fears and uncertainties in our hearts and minds, which have enslaved us and prevented us from realising what our lives truly mean and what we are living for in this world.
May the Lord help each and every one of us to be better connected to Him and to be more attuned to our hearts and minds, that we may be better able to live our lives as genuine and faithful Christians from now on. May the Lord help us all and may He strengthen us that we may remain faithful throughout even through the most difficult and challenging moments of our lives. May God bless us always, now and forevermore. Amen.
Liturgical Colour : White
John 16 : 5-11
At that time, Jesus said to His disciples, “But now I am going to the One Who sent Me, and none of you asks Me where I am going; instead you are overcome with grief, because of what I have said.”
“Believe Me, it is better for you that I go away, because as long as I do not leave, the Helper will not come to you. But if I go away, it is to send Him to you, and when He comes, He will vindicate the truth before a sinful world; and He will vindicate the paths of righteousness and justice.”
“What is the world’s sin, in regard to Me? Disbelief. What is the path of righteousness? It is the path I walk, by which I go to the Father; and you shall see Me no more. What is the path of justice? It is the path on which the prince of this world will always stand condemned.”
Liturgical Colour : White
Psalm 137 : 1-2a, 2bc-3, 7c-8
I thank You, o Lord with all my heart, for You have heard the word of my lips. I sing Your praise in the presence of the gods. I bow down towards Your holy Temple and give thanks to Your Name.
For Your love and faithfulness, for Your word which exceeds everything. You answered me when I called; You restored my soul and made me strong.
You save me from the wrath of my foes, with Your right hand You deliver me. How the Lord cares for me! Your kindness, o Lord, endures forever. Forsake not the work of Your hands.
Liturgical Colour : White
Acts 16 : 22-34
So the slave owners of Philippi set the crowd against Paul and Silas and the officials tore the clothes of them and ordered them to be flogged. And after inflicting many blows on them, they threw them into prison, charging the jailer to guard them safely. Upon receiving these instructions, he threw them into the inner cell and fastened their feet in the stocks.
About midnight, Paul and Silas were praying and singing hymns to God, and the other prisoners were listening. Suddenly a severe earthquake shook the place, rocking the prison to its foundations. Immediately all the doors flew open and the chains of all the prisoners fell off.
The jailer woke up to see the prison gates wide open. Thinking that the prisoners had escaped, he drew his sword to kill himself, but Paul shouted to him, “Do not harm yourself! We are all still here.” The jailer asked for a light, then rushed in, and fell at the feet of Paul and Silas. After he had secured the other prisoners, he led them out and asked, “Sirs, what must I do to be saved?”
They answered, “Believe in the Lord Jesus Christ and you and your household will be saved.” Then they spoke the word of God to him and to all his household. Even at that hour of the night, the jailer took care of them and washed their wounds; and he and his whole household were baptised at once. He led them to his house, spread a meal before them and joyfully celebrated with his whole household his newfound faith in God.
petercanisiusmichaeldavidkang 