St. Athanasius

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Saturday, 2 May 2026 : 4th Week of Easter, Memorial of St. Athanasius, Bishop and Doctor of the Church (Homily and Scripture Reflections)

Liturgical Colour : White

Dear brothers and sisters in Christ, today as we listened to the words of the Scriptures, all of us are reminded of the need for us all to have faith in the Lord and to be humble in listening to Him and allowing Him to speak to us in the depth of our hearts and minds. Sometimes we have allowed our ego and pride to get the better of us, and those things prevented us from being able to come close to the Lord and becoming His true disciples and followers. We are all reminded to have this strong and genuine faith in the Lord, committing ourselves and our efforts, time and attention to glorify Him in all of the moments of our lives. As Christians, all of us should be great role models and inspirations for others all around us in how we live our lives.

In our first reading today, taken from the Acts of the Apostles, we heard of the works of St. Paul and St. Barnabas, who preached and spoke courageously and zealously about the salvation in God which have been made available to all the people, be it to the Jewish people or the non-Jewish ones, also known as the Gentiles among the Jews then. The word Gentile itself came from the Latin word ‘gentes’ which means clan and family, that in the context of the then relationship between the Jewish and non-Jewish people became associated with the non-Jewish people, and that was how the Jews called those who did not belong to their race and to their beliefs, with some considering the Gentiles as being pagans, impure, evil and wicked, being unworthy of God, while they viewed themselves as being superior, better and more worthy of God.

This stemmed forth from the beliefs of some amongst the Jews that being descended from the ancient people of Israel, the people that God had first called and chosen to be His people, then they had exclusive privileges and access to the Lord, while the Gentiles were barred from similar access because they did not believe in the Lord in the same way as the Jewish people had done, especially referring to the way how the Pharisees and the teachers of the Law had done, in their very extensive and strict observance of the Jewish Law and customs as passed down unto them from the time of Moses, and which was modified further with numerous rules and regulations. All those things unfortunately made the Law becoming more and more cumbersome, and losing its initial meaning and purpose of bringing the people of God closer to their Lord and Master.

In truth, God did not want to save only His people Israel exclusively, as it has always been His intent to save every one of us, all the children of mankind, regardless of our race and origins, because He loves each and every single one of us all the same. The Jewish people and their ancestors, the Israelites, were merely the ones who have been called by the Lord first, and it was through them that the salvation of God, made manifest in His Son, Our Lord Jesus Christ, came through from. He wants everyone to realise that His love is ever enduring and universal, and everyone has the same chance to come to His love, to be reunited and reconciled with our most loving God, Father and Creator. And our Risen Lord is the Way through Whom all of us can find the sure path to this salvation and grace, the path of eternal life and redemption.

The Gospel passage today made it even clearer of this love of God that has been manifested and made real for us through Christ, the Son of God incarnate in the flesh, has indeed come into our midst, and He has shown us all the true love that God has always kept for each and every one of us. This same love is carried on all the way to the Cross, promising and guaranteeing for all of us who are faithful to the Lord, the promise of eternal life and grace with God. The Lord has reached out to us through His Son, gathering all of us who have been lost to His Father, because of our sins, as our Good Shepherd and Guide, leading and guiding us so that we may find our path and our way to our loving Father. Through Christ, all of us have received the pardon and forgiveness, and yet, one that requires us to embrace Him and His love and mercy wholeheartedly and fully.

However, the problem facing many of us today, is just like that of the Jewish people in the past, that many of us think that we are all alright and have no need for God or His mercy. Many of us are too preoccupied with our many worldly desires, concerns and attachments, all of our pursuits for fame, glory and worldly pleasures among other things which prevented us from finding our path towards the Lord and His salvation. Worse still, we also tend to become judgmental of others and thinking that we are better and more worthy, while the fact is that many of us are in need of God’s healing and mercy, and many of us have also become lukewarm and wayward in our way of life, as many of us have forgotten about God’s Law and precepts, no longer obeying Him and His commandments as we should, living our lives the way we want it to be. Today hence all of us are reminded to purge from ourselves all traces of this ego and pride barring us from God and the fullness of His love.

Today, let us all be inspired by the great examples shown by the great servant of God, St. Athanasius, a renowned and most faithful disciple of the Lord, a most courageous and fearless defender of the faith, whose feast day we are celebrating on this very day. St. Athanasius was also known as St. Athanasius the Great or St. Athanasius of Alexandria, and was the Bishop of Alexandria, also known as the Pope and Patriarch of Alexandria, as one of the most prominent leaders of the Church during his time. He led the Church of Alexandria and was involved greatly throughout Christendom for a long period of forty-five years, which was intermittent due to the challenges and trials that he had to face during his ministry, which saw him being exiled and punished several times by those who opposed and oppressed him.

St. Athanasius lived and ministered to the faithful during a time of great change to the Church, as it was the years and decades following after the end of the long state persecution of Christianity by the Romans, with the Edict of Milan by the Roman Emperor Constantine the Great, ever sympathetic to the Christian cause. However, this joy at the end of the persecution of the Church and Christians was then overshadow by the intensifying divisions within the Church due to various heresies, and most importantly then, was the rapidly rising heretical teachings of the arch-heretic Arius, a very popular preacher that claimed and taught that Jesus Christ, the Son of God and Messiah, was not equal to God the Father, but rather subservient to Him and existed after the Father, not Co-Eternal and not Co-Equal, neither Consubstantial with Him.

This heretical teachings gained wide support throughout Christendom and gained the support and belief of even many among the Church leaders and bishops, especially throughout the Eastern part of the Roman Empire, including Alexandria where St. Athanasius himself was Bishop at, with Arius himself hailing from the same region as well. St. Athanasius was very passionate and courageous, hardworking and zealous in his many efforts against the Arian heresy, resisting those who sought to subvert and divide the Church for their own selfish ambitions and desires. St. Athanasius did not give up even when many of the upper echelon of the Roman society and government were swayed by the Arians and some of them even becoming ardent supporters of the Arians and their false faith.

St. Athanasius faced a lot of struggles and hardships, having to endure persecution and even exile from his See of Alexandria, by the order and working of those who were favourable and supporters of the Arians. But he continued to faithfully carry out his works, writing extensively on the matters of the faith, supporting and strengthening all the others who also struggled with the various persecutions, hardships, divisions, heretical teachings and other challenges that they had to face throughout their lives and ministry. Despite the repeated challenges, exiles, hardships and all the other things that he had to endure, St. Athanasius continued to remain faithful to the calling and mission he had as the shepherd of the Lord’s flock, to the very end, and his courage and faithfulness, his persistence and perseverance in carrying out his works and mission should inspire us all as Christians to do the same as well.

Therefore, brothers and sisters in Christ, let us all be inspired by the good examples of St. Athanasius, holy servant of God, our role model and most courageous defender of the Christian faith, in believing in what He Himself has taught and revealed to us, and not to fall into false ideas and thoughts that did not come from God. Let us all be good role models and inspirations to one another as well, through our every words, actions and deeds, so that we may inspire more and more people to be ever more committed to the Lord and to follow Him. That is our calling and that is what we should be doing in our daily lives as those who truly believe in the Lord. May the Lord, our Saviour and Good Shepherd, be our guide and help and may He empower us all to be like His servants, like St. Athanasius and others in their faith and commitment. May God bless our every good works and efforts, for the greater glory of His Name. Amen.

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Saturday, 2 May 2026 : 4th Week of Easter, Memorial of St. Athanasius, Bishop and Doctor of the Church (Gospel Reading)

Liturgical Colour : White

John 14 : 7-14

At that time, Jesus said to His disciples, “If you know Me, you will know the Father also; indeed you know Him, and you have seen Him.”

Philip asked Him, “Lord, show us the Father, and that is enough.” Jesus said to him, “What! I have been with you so long and you still do not know Me, Philip? Whoever sees Me sees the Father; how can you say, ‘Show us the Father’? Do you not believe that I am in the Father and the Father is in Me?”

“All that I say to you, I do not say of Myself. The Father Who dwells in Me is doing His own work. Believe Me when I say that I am in the Father and the Father is in Me; at least believe it on the evidence of these works that I do. Truly, I say to you, the one who believes in Me will do the same works that I do; and he will even do greater than these, for I am going to the Father.”

“Everything you ask in My Name, I will do, so that the Father may be glorified in the Son. Indeed, anything you ask, calling upon My Name, I will do it.”

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Saturday, 2 May 2026 : 4th Week of Easter, Memorial of St. Athanasius, Bishop and Doctor of the Church (Psalm)

Liturgical Colour : White

Psalm 97 : 1, 2-3ab, 3cd-4

Sing to YHVH a new song, for He has done wonders; His right hand, His holy arm, has won victory for Him.

YHVH has shown His salvation, revealing His justice to the nations. He has not forgotten His love, nor His faithfulness to Israel.

The farthest ends of the earth all have seen God’s saving power. All you, lands, make a joyful noise to YHVH, break into song and sing praise.

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Saturday, 2 May 2026 : 4th Week of Easter, Memorial of St. Athanasius, Bishop and Doctor of the Church (First Reading)

Liturgical Colour : White

Acts 13 : 44-52

The following Sabbath almost the entire city gathered to listen to Paul, who spoke a fairly long time about the Lord. But the presence of such a crowd made the Jews jealous. So they began to oppose, with insults, whatever Paul said.

Then Paul and Barnabas spoke out firmly, saying, “It was necessary, that God’s word be first proclaimed to you, but since you now reject it, and judge yourselves to be unworthy of eternal life, we turn to non-Jewish people. For thus we were commanded by the Lord : I have set you as a light to the pagan nations, so that you may bring My salvation to the ends of the earth.”

Those who were not Jews rejoiced, when they heard this, and praised the message of the Lord; and all those, destined for everlasting life, believed in it. Thus the word spread, throughout the whole region. Some of the Jews, however, incited God-fearing women of the upper class, and the leading men of the city, as well, and stirred up an intense persecution against Paul and Barnabas.

Finally, they had them expelled from their region. The Apostles shook the dust from their feet, in protest against this people, and went to Iconium, leaving; the disciples, filled with joy and the Holy Spirit.

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Friday, 2 May 2025 : 2nd Week of Easter, Memorial of St. Athanasius, Bishop and Doctor of the Church (Homily and Scripture Reflections)

Liturgical Colour : White

Dear brothers and sisters in Christ, today as we all listened to the words of the Sacred Scriptures, we are all reminded that our faith in the Lord is truly worth it and we must always hold firmly to this faith and trust that we have in the Lord, no matter what challenges and trials may come our way. We need to continue to be faithful at all times and do not easily lose faith in God, even when times may be challenging and difficult. We must always trust in the Lord that He will be able to do great things for us, on our behalf. After all, He has shown His love and faithfulness all to us throughout history and most evidently through His Son, Who has come to us in the flesh, revealing the great love of God made Man. And since the Lord is always by our side, therefore, that is why we will be triumphant and successful in the end, and we will share in the true happiness and eternal glory that can be found in God alone.

In our first reading today, we heard from the Acts of the Apostles in which the High Priest and his fellow chief priests and the other members of the Sanhedrin, the Jewish High Council were debating about what they would do to the disciples of Jesus who had been performing miracles, wonders and other works in the Name of the Lord Jesus, the One Whom they had persecuted and handed over to the Romans to be crucified. Many among the Sanhedrin were hostile to Jesus and His teachings, and many of them wanted to destroy the disciples in the same manner how they had done to the Lord Himself. But as we heard, a renowned teacher of the faith, a rabbi known as Gamaliel calmed the whole Sanhedrin and spoke words of wisdom regarding what course of action that they ought to be taking.

Gamaliel quoted the examples of several false messiahs that had arisen during that period of time, stating how each and every one of them had come and claimed that they were the ones sent by God to save the people, and yet, their movement rapidly fizzled out the moment that they were killed and captured by the Romans when they rose up in rebellion against them. Therefore, Gamaliel urged caution and patience to the members of the Sanhedrin, telling them that they should refrain from taking harsh actions against the disciples and followers of Jesus, with the argument that if their movement did not come from God, then it would also fizzle out in the manner of how the other false messiahs’ followers had experienced. On the other hand, if the works of Jesus and His disciples truly came from God, then it would be impossible to stop.

Through this event of Gamaliel and his words to the Sanhedrin and how the disciples continued to proclaim the Lord, His teachings and works joyfully despite the trials, sufferings and hardships that they would have to face and endure amidst their respective ministries, all these are reminders for us of God’s faithful guidance and Presence in our lives. We should not easily be led to give up on God and our struggles for His cause. Instead, our faith should always be stronger, inspired and strengthened by the great love which God has always had for us, the ever wonderful and enduring love which the Lord has lavished on us, and His Resurrection is a reminder of this ever constant reassurance and hope that we can find in God alone. Therefore, with God we can do so many wonderful things, if we can only put more of our trust in Him.

In our Gospel passage today, we then heard of the account of the miraculous feeding of the five thousand men and many others by the Lord taken from the Gospel according to St. John the Apostle and Evangelist. In that well-known miracle, we heard how the Lord miraculously multiplied the loaves of bread and fishes to be fed to all the multitudes of the people, and we heard how everyone had their fill and even to the excess, a whole twelve baskets full of food. This is an important reminder for us that God’s love for us is so great that He will fill us up and strengthen us, providing us to the brim and beyond, fulfilling and empowering each and every one of us who trust in Him and who love Him. And we should indeed allow the Lord to guide and strengthen us with His love and blessings, seeking Him as the centre and focus of our lives.

This story of the miraculous feeding of the five thousand serves as an important reminder for each one of us that we should trust in the Lord for His Providence and not be easily swayed or distracted by the many temptations and disturbances, desires and other obstacles present all around us that may lead us astray from the path towards God. We should look to the Lord as the One Who has always loved us, and as the One Who has always provided us with the grace and blessings for us to be able to move forward in life, strengthening us in body, mind, heart and soul. When we have nothing with us, the Lord always provides, and He always knows what we need even when we ourselves may not know them. He has always showed His most patient and enduring love all the time, and He has revealed His loving kindness to every single one of us without exception.

Therefore, brothers and sisters in Christ, having been shown such great love of God and how precious we truly are to Him, that is why we must deepen our loves and relationship with Him, doing our very best and striving in each and every moments to glorify Him by our lives in this world. We must allow ourselves to be filled with His great love, and be willing to share the same love with each other, to be loving first and foremost to God, and then to show that same great love to everyone around us, especially to those whom we love the most. In our every moments in life, we should always be steadfast in living our lives as faithful Christians, in showing everyone that we truly belong to God by the way we live, through our continuous, steadfast and enduring love for one another.

Today, the Church also celebrates the Feast of St. Athanasius, a great and holy servant of God, a staunch defender of the Church and the Christian faith against all those that sought to lead the faithful astray into the wrong path of heresy and falsehoods. St. Athanasius was the Bishop and Patriarch of Alexandria, and hence, during that time, the middle of the fourth century, he was one of the most influential leaders of the Church, which had just recently emerged from the intense official persecution by the Romans. At that time, the Church was bitterly divided between those who supported the Arian party, namely the heresy proposed by one popular preacher named Arius which denied the equality of Jesus Christ, the Son of God to the Father, with those who, headed by among many, St. Athanasius himself, defended the true teachings of the Church.

St. Athanasius succeeded to the position of Patriarch of Alexandria approximately three years after the Ecumenical Council of Nicaea which affirmed the true, orthodox teaching of the Church and rejecting the heresy of Arianism. However, the influence and support that the Arians were receiving ensured that the conflict between the Arians and those who held on to the true faith would go on for the next few decades, in which St. Athanasius often found himself in direct crossfire, becoming target of those who supported the Arian teachings and heresy, including those in power and close to the Emperor himself. As such St. Athanasius even had to endure several exiles and other hardships that he had faced amidst his ministry as the shepherd of the flock of the faithful people of God. Nevertheless, St. Athanasius remained firm in his resolution to do the best for those entrusted to him, and continued to do God’s great works in good and bad times alike, to the very end of his life.

Brothers and sisters in Christ, as we have all heard from the life, ministry, work and dedication of St. Athanasius of Alexandria, let us all therefore strive to do our best in following Christ, our Risen Lord, and be the good role models and inspirations ourselves to our fellow brothers and sisters. Let us all be the bearers of Christ’s Light and Hope, the Light and Hope of His Resurrection to the people of all the nations, to everyone whom we encounter in our daily life, to our brothers and sisters, and even to strangers as well. May the Lord continue to inspire us and strengthen us in our commitment to serve Him most faithfully each day in our lives. Amen.

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Friday, 2 May 2025 : 2nd Week of Easter, Memorial of St. Athanasius, Bishop and Doctor of the Church (Gospel Reading)

Liturgical Colour : White

John 6 : 1-15

At that time, Jesus went to the other side of the Sea of Galilee, near Tiberias, and large crowds followed Him, because of the miraculous signs they saw, when He healed the sick. So He went up into the hills and sat down there with His disciples. Now the Passover, the feast of the Jews, was at hand.

Then lifting up His eyes, Jesus saw the crowds that were coming to Him, and said to Philip, “Where shall we buy bread so that these people may eat?” He said this to test Philip, for He Himself knew what He was going to do. Philip answered Him, “Two hundred silver coins would not buy enough bread for each of them to have a piece.”

Then one of Jesus’ disciples, Andrew, Simon Peter’s brother, said, “There is a boy here who has five barley loaves and two fish; but what good are these for so many?” Jesus said, “Make the people sit down.” There was plenty of grass there, so the people, about five thousand men, sat down. Jesus then took the loaves, gave thanks, and distributed them to those who were seated. He did the same with the fish, and gave them as much as they wanted.

And when they had eaten enough, He told His disciples, “Gather up the pieces left over, that nothing may be lost.” So they gathered them up and filled twelve baskets with bread, that is, with pieces of the five barley loaves left over by those who had eaten.

When the people saw the miracle which Jesus had performed, they said, “This is really the Prophet, the One Who is to come into the world.” Jesus realised that they would come and take Him by force to make Him King; so He fled to the hills by Himself.

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Friday, 2 May 2025 : 2nd Week of Easter, Memorial of St. Athanasius, Bishop and Doctor of the Church (Psalm)

Liturgical Colour : White

Psalm 26 : 1, 4, 13-14

The Lord is my Light and my Salvation – whom shall I fear? The Lord is the Rampart of my life; I will not be afraid.

One thing I ask of the Lord, one thing I seek – that I may dwell in His house all the days of my life, to gaze at His jewel and to visit His sanctuary.

I hope, I am sure, that I will see the goodness of the Lord in the land of the living. Trust in the Lord, be strong and courageous. Yes, put your hope in the Lord!

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Friday, 2 May 2025 : 2nd Week of Easter, Memorial of St. Athanasius, Bishop and Doctor of the Church (First Reading)

Liturgical Colour : White

Acts 5 : 34-42

But one of the members of the Council, a Pharisee named Gamaliel, a teacher of the Law highly respected by the people, stood up in the Sanhedrin. He ordered the men to be taken outside for a few minutes and then he spoke to the assembly.

“Fellow Israelites, consider well what you intend to do to these men. For some time ago Theudas came forward, claiming to be somebody, and about four hundred men joined him. But he was killed and all his followers were dispersed or disappeared.”

“After him, Judas the Galilean appeared at the time of the census and persuaded many people to follow him. But he too perished and his whole following was scattered. So, in this present case, I advise you to have nothing to do with these men. Leave them alone. If their project or activity is of human origin, it will destroy itself. If, on the other hand, it is from God, you will not be able to destroy it and you may indeed find yourselves fighting against God.”

The Council let themselves be persuaded. They called in the Apostles and had them whipped, and ordered them not to speak again of Jesus Saviour. Then they set them free. The Apostles went out from the Council rejoicing that they were considered worthy to suffer disgrace for the sake of the Name. Day after day, both in the Temple and in people’s homes, they continued to teach and to proclaim that Jesus was the Messiah.

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Thursday, 2 May 2024 : 5th Week of Easter, Memorial of St. Athanasius, Bishop and Doctor of the Church (Homily and Scripture Reflections)

Liturgical Colour : White

Dear brothers and sisters in Christ, today as we listened to the words of the Scriptures we are all reminded of the need for us to follow and obey the commandments of God wholeheartedly and to understand what He has taught and entrusted to us so that in all the things we say and do, we shall always be focused and centred on the Lord, full of love and commitment for Him and then at the same time, also filled with genuine love for our fellow brothers and sisters all around us. We must not allow the temptations of worldly glory and desires from misleading us down the wrong path in life, as it is by following the Lord wholeheartedly and obeying Him that we shall find the path towards God’s grace and assured of His salvation.

In our first reading today, we heard of the continuation of the story from Acts of the Apostles when the Church was being divided on the issue of whether the Christian faithful ought to obey and follow the whole suit of the entire Jewish laws, customs, rituals and practices which was the favoured position of those who converted to the Christian faith from among the Pharisees and the more hardline ones among the Jewish people, demanding the Gentiles or the non-Jewish people to adopt wholesale the entire rules and laws concerning the Jewish customs and practices. This would have made it very difficult for the non-Jewish Christian converts to live their lives and consequently would have placed great burden on all those who seek to live their lives faithfully in God’s path.

That was why St. Paul and St. Barnabas adamantly insisted that this should not be the way how the Church should proceed forward. They brought the discussion to the table to the Apostles in Jerusalem, highlighting before the whole assembly of the faithful how God has done His great works, signs and miracles among the non-Jewish people as well, showing that He has truly called on everyone to follow Him regardless of their cultural, racial and original background, and He loved everyone regardless of their differences, and thus the Church should also act in the same manner by not making it difficult for those who did not come from Jewish background or origin to follow the Lord and His path, as the way how the Pharisees practiced the Law and the commandments of God was rather excessive and unnecessary.

Therefore in this first Council of the Church, historically known as the First Council of Jerusalem, the Apostles led by St. Peter, the first Pope and Vicar of Christ decided that all the faithful people of God are not bound to the extensive and rigid application of the Jewish laws, rules, customs and rituals, and they also set the standard of what the faithful ought to believe in, a standard which continued to evolve and became more standardised later on, and yet, in its basic form and core tenet remains what we also believe today in our Christian faith. We are all reminded through these that what truly matters in our faith as Christians is for us to follow the Lord faithfully and focus ourselves thoroughly in Him, making God as the centre and focus of our lives, and not like how those Pharisees and teachers of the Law who had become so obsessed in the laws and customs they preserved, that they ended up idolising those laws and customs while forgetting the very purpose why those laws and customs were given to us in the first place.

As Christians, all of us are reminded this day that we must truly have that strong and genuine love for the Lord our God and then also have the same love for our fellow brothers and sisters, our fellow men and women. All of us must always live our lives in a manner that is worthy of the Lord so that by our every actions, words and deeds, we will always continue to proclaim the glory of God and show His love and truth to everyone whom we encounter in life. Through our faithful and worthy lives therefore we may inspire countless others who have experienced us in their lives, either through their friendship or relationship with us, or through our simple actions and words, even for those whom we do not know at all, like strangers and others in our midst.

Today, the Church celebrates the feast of a great saint and man of God whose life and contributions to the Church and the Christian faithful were truly great and remarkable. St. Athanasius was renowned for his courageous stand and defence of the true and orthodox faith against the dangerous threats of heresies and falsehoods which were rampant and common at that time, threatening not just the fate and salvation of many souls but also destroying the unity of the Church through schisms and the divisions because of all the heresies which had misled so many of the faithful into the wrong and evil paths. St. Athanasius in his role as a great Church father and leader of the Church especially as the Pope and Patriarch of Alexandria, is an inspiration for all of us to follow in how we ought to live up to our Christian faith.

St. Athanasius was born into a Christian family in Egypt during the time of Diocletianic Persecution, the last great official persecution of Christians in the Roman Empire. He grew up and matured just as the Christians throughout the Empire began to be emancipated and freed from all the many years of persecutions they were facing back then. He was well educated and eventually was prepared for clerical life by the then Bishop of Alexandria for his outstanding character and talents even early on in his youth. St. Athanasius became a great theologian and was a strong supporter of the orthodox Christian truth against the then popular and widespread heresy of Arianism popularised by the very charismatic preacher named Arius who turned many people from the true faith into heresy and who had many supporters from even among the bishops and priests of the Church, as well as among the secular rulers and nobles.

Yet, that did not dampen the spirit and courage shown by St. Athanasius, who as the Patriarch of Alexandria and as one the most influential leaders of the Church at the time became one of the champions of the true faith against all those who sought to pervert and change God’s teachings and truths for their own selfish ambitions and desires. He was one of the supporters of the true teaching of the Lord, defending the equality and the consubstantiality of the Son of God with the Father, something that the Arians refused to accept. He continued to minister faithfully to the people of God and to all the flock entrusted to his care amidst all the conflicts against the heretics, particularly with all the Arians and their supporters. He had to endure a lot of trials and challenges, and even exile at times from his See.

Yet, St. Athanasius continued to be firmly faithful and devoted himself thoroughly to his mission and calling in defending the faithful and the faith itself from being tainted by the falsehoods and heresies of his time. He wrote extensively on the many matters of the faith and his writings on the defence against the heresies of his time remained well-known and well-read to this day. St. Athanasius like those of St. Paul and St. Barnabas before him did his best to do God’s will and courageously stood up for the true Christian faith and teachings against all those who sought to change or corrupt those teachings for their own selfish desires and ambitions. Through his good examples and actions, he had brought so many people and souls closer to God’s salvation and grace, and many others to be inspired by their courage and examples.

Brothers and sisters in Christ, let us all therefore continue to proclaim the Lord’s truth and reach out to our fellow brothers and sisters, to all those who have not yet known or experienced the Lord in their lives. Let our own lives and examples, like that of St. Athanasius and the Holy Apostles, the many other saints and holy men and women of God, be the source of light and hope, inspiration and strength for others. May the Risen Lord continue to bless our every good efforts and endeavours, and may He empower us all to live ever more worthily in His Presence, now and always. Amen.

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Thursday, 2 May 2024 : 5th Week of Easter, Memorial of St. Athanasius, Bishop and Doctor of the Church (Gospel Reading)

Liturgical Colour : White

John 15 : 9-11

At that time, Jesus said to His disciples, “As the Father has loved Me, so I have loved you. Remain in My love! You will remain in My love if you keep My commandments, just as I have kept My Father’s commandments and remain in His love.

I have told you all this, that My own joy may be in you, and your joy may be complete.”