Liturgical Colour : White
Psalm 143 : 1, 2, 9-10
Blessed be YHVH, my Rock, Who trains my hands for war and my fingers for battle.
My loving God, my Fortress; my Protector and Deliverer, my Shield; Where I take refuge; Who conquers nations and subjects them to my rule.
I will sing a new song to You, o God; I will make music on the ten-stringed harp, for You, Who give victory to kings and deliver David, Your servant.
Liturgical Colour : White
1 Samuel 17 : 32-33, 37, 40-51
David said to Saul, “Let no one be discouraged on account of this Philistine, for your servant will engage him in battle.” Saul told David, “You cannot fight with this Philistine for you are still young, whereas this man has been a warrior from his youth.”
David continued, “YHVH, Who delivered me from the paws of lions and bears, will deliver me from the hands of the Philistine.” Saul then told David, “Go, and may YHVH be with you!”
David took his staff, picked up five smooth stones from the brook and dropped them inside his shepherd’s bag. And with his sling in hand, he drew near to the Philistine. The Philistine moved forward, closing in on David, his shield-bearer in front of him. When he saw that David was only a lad, (he was of fresh complexion and handsome) he despised him and said, “Am I a dog that you should approach me with a stick?”
Cursing David by his gods, he continued, “Come, and I will give your flesh to the birds of the sky and the beasts of the field!” David answered the Philistine, “You have come against me with sword, spear and javelin, but I come against you with YHVH, the God of the armies of Israel whom you have defied. YHVH will deliver you this day into my hands and I will strike you down and cut off your head.”
“I will give the corpses of the Philistine army today to the birds of the sky and the wild beasts of the earth, and all the earth shall know that there is a God of Israel. All the people gathered here shall know that YHVH saves not by sword or spear; the battle belongs to YHVH, and He will deliver you into our hands.”
No sooner had the Philistine moved to attack him, than David rushed to the battleground. Putting his hand into his bag, he took out a stone, slung it and struck the Philistine on the forehead; it penetrated his forehead and he fell on his face to the ground. David triumphed over the Philistine with a sling and a stone, felling him without using a sword.
He rushed forward, stood over him, took the Philistine’s sword and slew him by cutting off his head. When the Philistines saw that their champion was dead, they scattered in all directions.
Liturgical Colour : White
Dear brothers and sisters in Christ, in today’s Scripture passages we heard first of all from the Epistle to the Hebrews, which urged everyone to remember God’s promise and covenant, which He had made with His people out of His love for them. We are all reminded of God’s faith in us, and we are all called to place our trust and hope in Him.
He has sworn by Himself, to assure us that He will deliver us from our sins and from our troubles. He Himself has assured us that He will deliver us and free us from the chains and bondage to sin. We have nothing to fear but to trust completely in Him, because while the world and its words are untrustworthy, and while mankind are untrustworthy in our dealings, but God alone can be completely trusted, for He is honest and just, and having sworn by Himself, He cannot deny Himself.
But it is rather us mankind who had not been faithful as I have mentioned, because we always try to find excuses and other alternatives, instead of obeying God. We ended up trusting in our own human instincts and judgments, rather than obeying and listening to the Lord our God. That was why in the Gospel passage today, the Pharisees and the teachers of the Law were rebuked by Jesus, as He had also done in various other occasions throughout the Gospels, because of their refusal to believe in what He had to tell them, that their ways were wrong.
They were the guardians of the laws of God as passed down to them from the time of Moses, down through many generations. But throughout those times, the essence of the Law became lost, and people became servants to the laws of God, not knowing what they were all about. Instead of obeying the Law because it was right to serve and please the Lord with their obedience, many of them enforced the laws and follow them for the sake of doing it.
For example, on the well known issue of the day of the Sabbath and its observance among the Israelites. The Sabbath was instituted by the Lord at the time when Israel went out from Egypt and were travelling through the desert towards the Promised Land. It was meant as a holy day dedicated to the Lord, as a day when all the people of Israel should focus themselves and their whole attention to the Lord.
And why was that so? That is because those Israelites have not been faithful to God in many occasions, they grumbled and disobeyed His laws and commandments as soon as after God had liberated and brought them out from the land of Egypt. God wanted to save them from their rebelliousness, and He wanted to discipline them by the means of those laws, but never had He intended for them to be oppressed by those measures.
Unfortunately that was what the Pharisees did, burdening the people with the many observances and obligations to the Law, by one count approximately six hundred and thirteen of them in total, and yet, many of these were human made laws that did not bring about greater understanding of the true meaning of God’s Law, which in fact was about God’s love for us all, so that He gave us those guiding oaths to help us in our path.
That was why Jesus told them all about how the king David in the past broke the law of the Sabbath because he and his soldiers, his followers were hungry. He ate the bread that were supposed to be offered for the Lord, as a form of sustenance to support them after their long journey. And the high priest then, Abiathar, allowed them to do so, even though that was supposedly against the Law.
It is because the Law was indeed meant to help mankind and to assist them on their path towards salvation, and not to oppress them. As Jesus mentioned, it was the Law which was made for man, and not man for the Law. It was because of love that God had given His instructions to mankind, in order to save them and to liberate them from the wrong paths they were following.
That is why, in all things, as Christians, all of us ought to remember that first of all, God wants each and every one of us to be saved. He wants us all to live and not to perish. We must not close the path towards salvation to those who are in need of it, by looking down on sinners and by refusing to welcome them back when they come to seek God’s forgiveness and grace. Let us remember that we ourselves are sinners and are in need of God’s mercy.
Brothers and sisters in Christ, let us today reflect on the examples and the life of St. Anthony the Abbot, the famous saint and religious who was known also as St. Anthony the Great, a renowned monk and religious from the Roman era Egypt known to be the father of monasticism and one of the first to commit himself in a contemplative life filled with prayer and devotion to God.
St. Anthony left behind everything in his former life, and he spent the rest of his life in contemplative prayer and commitment to God. He lived in the wilderness, much as St. John the Baptist had done in the past, shunning the comforts of life and leaving behind all worldly concerns. He also ministered to the people by helping the poor and the communities nearby where he lived, and called them to a life of holiness and devotion to God.
The devil often tempted St. Anthony, and it was told that he even tried hard to undermine all of St. Anthony’s works, and attacked him in various occasions, and yet St. Anthony persevered through all of them via a life committed to God in devotion and prayer. He overcame the devil by the power of prayer and piety, committing his whole being to God. From all of his examples, we truly should be inspired by his dedication and discipline in his life.
Brothers and sisters in Christ, we all live in a world filled with many temptations, many of which are trying to keep us away from attaining God’s salvation. The devil is always at work, trying to undermine our progress and by pulling us away with his lies and falsehoods. This is where we need to be careful, that we should not fall into his traps. We must learn to resist the temptations of this world and commit ourselves in the same way as the holy saints, including that of St. Anthony, had done.
May the Lord help us in all of our endeavours, so that through all of our good and committed works, we may put the Lord as the focus of all our actions, and indeed, as the focus of our lives. May the Lord bless us and keep us, and may He strengthen in our hearts, the faith which we ought to have for Him, and help us to be faithful to God, just as He Himself had been truly faithful to us. Let us all help one another on our path to the Lord, and keep ourselves worthy of Him at all times. May God bless us all. Amen.
Liturgical Colour : White
Mark 2 : 23-28
At that time, one Sabbath Jesus was walking through grainfields. As His disciples walked along with Him, they began to pick the heads of grain and crush them in their hands. Then the Pharisees said to Jesus, “Look! They are doing what is forbidden on the Sabbath!”
And He said to them, “Have you never read what David did in his time of need, when he and his men were very hungry? He went into the house of God, when Abiathar was High Priest, and ate the bread of offering, which only the priests are allowed to eat, and he also gave some to the men who were with him.”
Then Jesus said to them, “The sabbath was made for man, not man for the Sabbath. So the Son of Man is Master even of the Sabbath.”
Liturgical Colour : White
Psalm 110 : 1-2, 4-5, 9 and 10c
Alleluia! I thank the Lord with all my heart in the council of the just, in the assembly. The works of the Lord are great and pondered by all who delight in them.
He lets us remember His wondrous deeds; the Lord is merciful and kind. Always mindful of His covenant, He provides food for those who fear Him.
He has sent His people deliverances and made with them a covenant forever. His holy Name is to be revered! To Him belongs everlasting praise.
Liturgical Colour : White
Hebrews 6 : 10-20
God is not unjust and will not forget everything you have done for love of His Name; you have helped and still help the believers. We desire each of you to have, until the end, the same zeal for reaching what you have hoped for. Do not grow careless but imitate those who, by their faith and determination, inherit the promise.
Remember God’s promise to Abraham, God wanted to confirm it with an oath and, as no one is higher than God, He swore by Himself : I shall bless you and give you many descendants. By just patiently waiting, Abraham obtained the promise.
People are used to swearing by someone higher than themselves and their oath affirms everything that could be denied. So God committed Himself with an oath in order to convince those who were to wait for His promise that He would never change His mind.
Thus we have two certainties in which it is impossible that God be proved false : promise and oath. That is enough to encourage us strongly when we leave everything to hold to the hope set before us. This hope is like a steadfast anchor of the soul, secure and firm, thrust beyond the curtain of the Temple into the sanctuary itself, where Jesus has entered ahead of us – Jesus, High Priest forever in the order of Melchizedek.
Liturgical Colour : Green
Dear brothers and sisters in Christ, today we heard about the Lord and how His providence had given His people a new hope in Him, by His promise of glory and redemption that He would give them if they would repent and change their ways, following Him and obeying Him, and they would receive the fullness of His grace and blessings, which He had made real and concrete through Jesus.
Through Jesus, our glory in the Lord has been made clear and transparent, and all of us have a knowledge of what is to come for us if we keep our faith in Him and walk in His ways faithfully. The Lord Himself made it clear on many occasions, that His disciples and all those who believe in Him will receive the gift of the Lord and the Holy Spirit, receiving the power and the authority from the Lord Himself.
Jesus Himself said that His disciples would possess the gifts of wisdom and knowledge, the ability to preach the Word of God, and the ability to perform miracles and many good deeds. Then, some of us may wonder why all of us today who live in faith in Him, are seemingly unable to perform those miracles, the great feats as what the Apostles and the disciples have done in the Name of Jesus, such as healing the sick and casting out of evil spirits.
The reason for this, is what St. Paul elaborated in the second reading today, where he wrote to the faithful and the Church in the city of Corinth, of the nature of the gifts of the Lord through the Holy Spirit, and how different people receive different gifts and fruits of the Holy Spirit. It was mentioned by St. Paul how some people were given the gift of healing and miracles, while others were given the gift of speaking in tongues and wisdom, and yet more are given various other gifts such as caring, loving for the people of God, and the teaching of the faith.
In all these, we should really look into our own lives, and see how we fit in the whole grand scheme and structure that is our Church, the Church of the Lord our God. It is natural that many of us would want to be those who are gifted with the healing touch of the Apostles, healing people who are sick, casting out demons and evil spirits, as after all, those were what the Apostles did, were they not?
But the Church cannot exist solely and entirely of healers and miracle workers. Neither can the Church exist entirely of preachers and teachers of the faith. No, and this is should be in our realisation that the Church is composed of many different peoples, of different backgrounds and origins, of abilities and gifts, that came together as one people, and working together to bring greater glory to God.
We have to just ask ourselves, and compare it to the running of a country, or an institution. If an organisation consists entirely of managers and CEOs, then it will not be able to function at all, as everyone will want to manage and want others to do the work for them, and yet no one is available to do the work, and the managers themselves by their nature would be unwilling to dirty their hands doing the menial work necessary.
Similarly, a nation cannot be run if everyone wants to be the leader. There must be those who are gifted with leadership and charisma, and yet there must also be those who are gifted with good works and service, and there must be many departments of state in a country, handling different areas such as education, social services, economy, defence, and many others.
This is why in the Church we see people who have received the gifts of priesthood, heeding God’s call to service, dedicating their whole lives to the Lord, those whose duties are to preach the word of God, and in acting in the person of Christ, in persona Christi, representing Christ Himself, offer the same sacrifice of Calvary and transform the bread and wine into the Most Holy and Precious Body and Blood of our Lord Himself in the Eucharist.
And there are of course those among them who have been entrusted with leadership, the bishops who lead the people of God as shepherds, leading the priests in giving guidance to the people of God. They have their own responsibilities in making sure that the whole Church runs smoothly and they were tasked with keeping the faith in the Church, that the faithful will not lose sight of the path which they are to walk on.
And of course, many in the Church are the laity, those who continue to live their own lives in this world, doing about their daily business, and yet giving themselves also to the service of the Lord, believing in Him and walking in His ways. And many of us belong to the laity, who have their own specific roles to play in the works of the Church, in the works of the salvation of God’s people.
If the priests are the leaders and the brains of God’s Church, then the laity are the muscles, through which the Church can move and be run efficiently, if they are working together in harmony. It is therefore necessary for us all to know what roles we are able to play in the Church and how we can contribute to the good works of the Church in this world.
Brothers and sisters in Christ, let us all go forth and make use of the gifts which our Lord had given us, that in the gifts which we have received, we may make use of them to the fullest, and thus fulfilling what is required from us as a member of God’s Church. If we do not work together in harmony, then surely the Church itself in its activities will not be able to perform them properly.
And in all these, we have our Lord Who is backing all of us with all of His might and power. In the Gospel today, as we heard about the story of the well-known wedding at Cana in Galilee, we see how God allowed Himself to perform an act of mercy and love, helping the poor couple in distress when they ran out of wine, and similarly therefore, if we are in need and in trouble, we only need to look for the Lord and seek for His help, and surely He will, in His own way, deliver us from our troubles.
And it is important to note how Mary has an important role in all of these, as we see how Jesus was initially reluctant to help the couple, as it was then not yet the time which Jesus wanted to reveal Himself, but after His mother Mary persistently in a way, asking for His help, to the extent of telling the servants to follow whatever Jesus said, our Lord allowed Himself to perform the miracle through which He helped the couple to escape their great predicament.
Therefore, all of us in the Church should also be devoted to Mary, the mother of our Lord, for she is indeed the closest one to her Son Jesus in heaven, at His side in a place of honour, and indeed thus having the special privilege of directly interceding for our sake through prayers. Each of us indeed have our own unique roles to play in the Church, but we have to remember that in all things we have to base all of our works in Christ and through His mother Mary.
Thus, on this day, let us pray for our Church, that each and every one of us will be able to perform our own respective obligations and works as members of God’s Church, and like the wedding at Cana, may our works be beneficial and good for the sake of our brethren in need, particularly the destitute and those without love, the homeless and those who have been ostracised because of various reasons.
Let us all commit ourselves anew to the Lord, and let us all through all of our actions, priests and laity alike, work together as one body, that through our works in harmony, we may bring greater glory to God, and bring the saving works of grace further and more to all the whole world, that the light of Christ may be seen and be followed by all the peoples. God bless us all. Amen.
Liturgical Colour : Green
John 2 : 1-11
At that time, three days later there was a wedding at Cana in Galilee, and the mother of Jesus was there. Jesus was also invited to the wedding with His disciples. When all the wine provided for the celebration had been served, and they had run out of wine, the mother of Jesus said to Him, “They have no wine.”
Jesus replied, “Woman, what concern is that to you and Me? My hour has not yet come.” However His mother said to the servants, “Do whatever He tells you.” Nearby were six stone water jars, set there for ritual washing as prescribed by the Jews; each jar could hold twenty or thirty gallons.
Jesus said to the servants, “Fill the jars with water.” And they filled them to the brim. Then Jesus said, “Now draw some out and take it to the steward.” So they did. The steward tasted the water that has become wine, without knowing from where it had come, for only the servants who had drawn the water knew.
So he called the bridegroom to tell him, “Everyone serves the best wine first, and when people have drunk enough, he serves that which is ordinary. Instead you have kept the best wine until the end.”
This miraculous sign was the first, and Jesus performed it at Cana in Galilee. In this way He let His glory appear, and His disciples believed in Him.
Liturgical Colour : Green
1 Corinthians 12 : 4-11
There is diversity of gifts, but the Spirit is the same. There is diversity of ministries, but the Lord is the same. There is diversity of works, but the same God works in all.
The Spirit reveals His presence in each one with a gift that is also a service. One is to speak with wisdom, through the Spirit. Another teaches according to the same Spirit. To another is given faith, in which the Spirit acts; to another the gift of healing, and it is the same Spirit.
Another works miracles, another is a prophet, another recognises what comes from the good or evil spirit; another speaks in tongues, and still another interprets what has been said in tongues. And all of this is the work of the one and only Spirit, Who gives to each one as He so desires.
Liturgical Colour : Green
Psalm 95 : 1-2a, 2b-3, 7-8a, 9-10a and 10c
Sing to the Lord a new song, sing to the Lord, all the earth! Sing to the Lord, bless His Name.
Proclaim His salvation day after day. Recall His glory among the nations, tell all the peoples His wonderful deeds.
Give to the Lord, you families of nations, give to the Lord glory and strength. Give to the Lord the glory due His Name
Worship the Lord with holy celebrations; stand in awe of Him, all the earth. Say among the nations, “The Lord reigns!” He will judge the peoples with justice.
petercanisiusmichaeldavidkang 