Liturgical Colour : Green or White (Priests)
Luke 1 : 69-70, 71-72, 73-75
In the house of David His servant, He has raised up for us a victorious Saviour; as He promised through His prophets of old.
Salvation from our enemies and from the hand of our foes. He has shown mercy to our fathers; and remembered His holy covenant.
The oath He swore to Abraham, our father, to deliver us from the enemy, that we might serve Him fearlessly, as a holy and righteous people, all the days of our lives.
Liturgical Colour : Green or White (Priests)
Galatians 3 : 1-5
How foolish you are Galatians! How could they bewitch you after Jesus Christ has been presented to you as crucified? I shall ask you only this : Did you receive the Spirit by the practice of the Law, or by believing the message? How can you be such fools : you begin with the Spirit and end up with the flesh!
So you have experienced all this in vain! Would that it were not so! Did God give you the Spirit and work miracles among you, because of your observance of the Law or because you believed in His message?
Liturgical Colour : Green or White (Priests)
Dear brothers and sisters in Christ, on this day we heard about God and His merciful love for us, especially if we are willing to stop and spend some time for the Lord, instead of being busied and occupied with our many preoccupations, concerns and desires. This is a clear reminder that we should put God as a priority for us all, regardless of other things and concerns we may have.
In the Gospel today, we heard about how Martha, a close friend of Jesus was so busy with her chores and work, that the Lord reminded her, that even though her intention of doing so many work to prepare for the Lord and to make His stay comfortable is a good one, but at the same time, she should not forget about the most important thing of all, that is to listen to the Lord and His words.
That was what Mary, Martha’s sister had done. Martha thought that she was being lazy and not doing her part to help her, but she was in fact clinging to the one thing that she will not lose, and she has the assurance of listening to the word of life, and the Lord will not disappoint her. The case of Mary and Martha highlighted to us the importance of getting our priorities right, as it is often that we lose sight of the main goal because we are being preoccupied and distracted by other things along the way.
In the first reading, which was taken from the book of the prophet Jonah, we heard about how Jonah preached to the people of Nineveh about the upcoming punishment and ruin that God would bring about to the whole city of Nineveh and all its people for all the sins and wicked things that they had committed. But what is important for us to take note here is that, these people listened to the words of God spoken through Jonah, and they repented.
We witnessed the transformation and the effort in which they did in order to seek the mercy and forgiveness of the Lord, humbling and lowering themselves before the Lord, being penitent, whole people and the entire city, even to the animals and beasts, and even the nobles and the king. All of them showed sincere repentance for their sins and they begged the Lord for forgiveness.
In this, yet again we see how God rewards the faithful and those who have shown sincerity and ability to listen to His words and turn themselves to the path of righteousness. Had the people of Nineveh went on their usual and daily business, ignoring the Lord’s message through Jonah, they would have met their end in condemnation and destruction just as the Lord had said.
It is the same with all of us mankind. After our ancestors first sinned against the Lord, because of our disobedience, they have been cast out from the grace of God and a judgment and punishment had been declared on them. And these judgments should have been ours forevermore to, that is to roam the earth in suffering and to perish and death reclaim us just as what had happened to our ancestors.
But God showed His mercy and sent His prophets and messengers, to proclaim the coming of the salvation through which He would liberate all of His beloved ones from the tyranny of sin and death, only if they all would listen to Him, to the words spoken by the Saviour He had given us, and act on them, changing our ways from sinful ones to the acts pleasing to the Lord, and listened to what Jesus said just as how Mary did it, then all of us would achieve salvation with no issue.
Today we also celebrate the feast of St. Bruno, a holy German priest who lived during the time of the high Medieval era about a thousand years ago, also known as St. Bruno of Cologne. He is a truly devoted and dedicated servant of the Lord, who was devoted to the education of the faithful and to prayerful life in service to the Lord and to the faithful, inspiring many others to follow in his footsteps.
St. Bruno dedicated his whole life to the Lord and refused to be entangled in worldly matters. He even refused the offer and persuasion to make him the bishop of the diocese he was working in, as he wanted to devote more of his time to prayer and to serve the Lord’s people without being distracted with the many concerns of the world and with many other obligations that might have disrupted his focus away.
He wrote extensively and many of these writings, the verses and the works remained a source of inspiration for many of those who read them and study them, and his examples and lifestyle continued to become an example for many people to follow as they went on to live their lives in faith. And certainly, we too can do the same and follow in his footsteps.
Therefore, brothers and sisters in Christ, let us all devote ourselves all the more to the Lord our God, and commit everything in our heart, mind and body to attune ourselves to the Lord and follow His will. Let us learn to keep our minds and hearts away from distraction just as Jesus our Lord reminded Martha, and let us follow the example of Mary, as well as the example of St. Bruno. May Almighty God bless us and keep us faithful and strong on our way to Him. Amen.
Liturgical Colour : Green or White (Priests)
Luke 10 : 38-42
At that time, as Jesus and His disciples were on their way, He entered a village, and a woman called Martha welcomed Him to her house. She had a sister named Mary, who sat down at the Lord’s feet to listen to His words. Martha, meanwhile, was busy with all the serving, and finally she said, “Lord, do You not care that my sister has left me to do all the work? Tell her to help me!”
But the Lord answered, “Martha, Martha, you worry and are troubled about many things, whereas only one thing is needed. Mary has chosen the better part, and it will not be taken away from her.”
Liturgical Colour : Green or White (Priests)
Psalm 129 : 1-2, 3-4, 7bc-8
Out of the depths I cry to You, o Lord, o Lord, hear my voice! Let Your ears pay attention to the voice of my supplication.
If You should mark our evil, o Lord, who could stand? But with You is forgiveness, and for that You are revered.
For with the Lord is unfailing love and with Him full deliverance. He will deliver Israel from all its sins.
Liturgical Colour : Green or White (Priests)
Jonah 3 : 1-10
The word of YHVH came to Jonah a second time : “Go to Nineveh, the great city, and announce to them the message I give you.”
In obedience to the word of YHVH, Jonah went to Nineveh. It was a very large city, and it took three days just to cross it. So Jonah walked a single day’s journey and began proclaiming, “Forty days more and Nineveh will be destroyed.”
The people of the city believed God. They declared a fast, and all of them, from the greatest to the least, put on sackcloth. Upon hearing the news, the king of Nineveh got up from his throne, took off his royal robe, put on sackcloth and sat down in ashes.
He issued a proclamation throughout Nineveh : “By the decree of the king and his nobles, no people or beasts, herd or flock, will taste anything; neither will they eat nor drink. But let people and beasts be covered with sackcloth. Let everyone call aloud to God, turn from his evil ways and violence. Who knows? God may yet relent, turn from His fierce anger and spare us.”
When God saw what they did and how they turned from their evil ways, He had compassion and did not carry out the destruction He had threatened upon them.
Liturgical Colour : Green or White (Priests)
Brothers and sisters in Christ, in today’s readings from the Holy Scripture and the Gospel, we heard about how the Lord through His servant Paul the Apostle wanted to remind us to remain true to our faith, and that we should keep strongly to the faith which we have received through the Church, that is the true and orthodox faith, and reject all forms of heresies and heterodoxies that is present in our society and all around us, the falsehoods and lies which Satan spread to try to divide the Church of God.
For there exists in our society, false prophets and false teachers trying to proclaim the word of God in a twisted manner, to serve their own purposes, and also to serve the purposes of Satan, the evil one, for these false prophets and teachers indeed belong to Satan and his allies, as the ones who tried so desperately to wrench control over us from the Lord and to themselves.
And the sad fact is that many mankind, our own brothers and sisters willingly heard their words and went over to their side, and therefore becoming corrupted and unworthy, many were lost to us and to the Lord, condemned for eternity together with the false prophets, with Satan and his fellow fallen angels, the demons. Some did repent and return to the faith, but the damage had indeed been done to the unity of the Church.
Over the centuries, numerous false prophets and teachers of the faith sprung up, causing various heresies and divisions in the Body of the Church of God, and while some of these were healed and brought back into the truth of the Holy Mother Church, many remained lost to us, and in turn, they led even more people to be lost from the salvation which God had promised through His Church.
And to those who believe in ‘new’ revelations supposedly proclaimed and brought through the means of angels, and in one, even claiming that the Archangel Gabriel himself brought the ‘new’ revelation, they have to all beware, that unless it affirms the faith in the Lord, and in our Lord Jesus Christ, who has died for us, and who has risen in glory and majesty, then it is no angel, but Satan and his evil spirits that came to deceive mankind with their lies.
Brothers and sisters in Christ, we should rebuke Satan and reject all of his empty and false promises. We should also ignore and not heed the false teachings and the lies of the false prophets who taught falsehood instead of the truth of the Lord. Instead, we should follow the true way of the Lord, as Jesus His own Son, who came into the world, had revealed to us.
If the false prophets often appealed to our sense of self-preservation and satisfaction of our self, and our needs and wants, then the Lord showed that the true way to the Lord is through love, and this is none other than through loving God and loving one another, to think less of the self and the ego, and grow deeper and stronger in the love that is in our heart.
We cannot truly love God without having love for our brethren and all those around us who are always in need of our love. Similarly, we cannot truly love one another with full sincerity and genuine nature, without love for God. Love without either or both of the love we ought to have for God and others is imperfect love, and it may lead to harm rather than good.
And Jesus showed that it is important for us to take heed on how to love. He showed it through the story we all know, on the actions of the Good Samaritan, who went all the way to tend to the robbed and wounded man, taking care of him with genuine love and care, as an example of what love is, and what love should be. The Good Samaritan, as compared to the supposedly pious and respected Levite and the priest, is the one who had gotten the essence of love.
Samaritans as we all know, were highly discriminated against at the time of Jesus, in the territory of Judea in particular, where the robbing incident took place between Jerusalem and Jericho. They were seen as pagans and barbarians who did not follow the way of the Jews and did not worship and believe in the one true God. Yet, when Jesus came into the world, they were among the first to believe Him while the Jews doubted and rejected Him.
The actions and the deeds of the Jews did not represent what they professed to believe in. Their actions, as represented by the priests and the Levites were not representative of what they said they have faith in. All said, it is not all of the Jews that were in the wrong, as there were also many among them who followed Christ, such as His family and His disciples, but the problem truly lay with the prejudice with which the Jews in general held against the Samaritans.
Brothers and sisters in Christ, therefore, all of us should learn from the readings of the Holy Scripture and the Gospel today, from the actions of the Good Samaritan, who went the extra mile to help the unfortunate man. We should also therefore do the same, not just to those whom we loved, but also to everybody, including to those who are even against us and those who are not among those who we normally care for.
And we do not have to accomplish big and extensive things in order to do this. Even in simple things, like helping anyone, even strangers around us who are in need of even simple help, will do it just nicely. Therefore, brothers and sisters in Christ, let us all commit ourselves to a new life filled with love, both for God and for our fellow brothers and sisters, in real action, that in everything we do, we may show love, and through that love we may find justification for our faith.
Today, we celebrate the feast of St. Bruno, a priest and a contemporary of many other saints of the tenth and eleventh century Middle Ages Europe. He was the founder of the Carthusian religious order, and he was a great intellectual and a great educator. Many of those whom he had educated and influenced in life eventually became great saints themselves, as well as great and influential leaders of the Church, including even Pope Urban II, who initiated the First holy Crusade against the infidels.
St. Bruno, even though he was influential and well-respected, he remained humble and dedicated to his works, to advance the cause of the Faith in the world and to save souls. He refused the opportunity to be appointed and made a bishop, and he rather renounced himself from all worldliness, that he might focus much more of his abilities and time to help those who need his help, just as the Good Samaritan had once done.
May Almighty God put in us the spirit of love, that we may be more like the Good Samaritan, who devoted himself in love to his suffering brethren in need, and that we may also follow in the footsteps of St. Bruno of Cologne. May we grow less dependent and free from our ego, our desire and our selfishness, that we may truly be found righteous and just in the sight of our Lord and our God. God be with us always, and may His blessings and graces always be abundant in our lives. Amen.
Liturgical Colour : Green or White (Priests)
Luke 10 : 25-37
Then a teacher of the Law came and began putting Jesus to the test. And he said, “Master, what shall I do to receive eternal life?” Jesus replied, “What is written in the Scripture? How do you understand it?”
The man answered, “It is written : ‘You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, with all your soul, with all your strength and with all your mind. And you shall love your neighbour as yourself.'” Jesus replied, “What a good answer! Do this and you shall live.” The man wanted to justify his question, so he asked, “Who is my neighbour?”
Jesus then said, “There was a man going down from Jerusalem to Jericho, and he fell into the hands of robbers. They stripped him, beat him and went off, leaving him half-dead. It happened that a priest was going along that road and saw the man, but passed by on the other side.”
“Likewise a Levite saw the man, and passed by on the other side. But a Samaritan also was going that way, and when he came upon the man, he was moved with compassion. He went over to him, and cleaned his wounds with oil and wine, and wrapped them in bandages. Then he put him on his own mount, and brought him to an inn, where he took care of him.”
“The next day he had to set off; but he gave two silver coins to the innkeeper, and said, ‘Take care of him, and whatever you spend on him, I will repay when I return.'”
Jesus then asked, “Which of these three, do you think, made himself neighbour to the man who fell into the hands of robbers?” The teacher of the Law answered, “The one who had mercy on him.” And Jesus said, “Then go and do the same.”
Liturgical Colour : Green or White (Priests)
Psalm 110 : 1-2, 7-8, 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.
The works of His hands are faithful and just, trustworthy are all His precepts, ordained to last forever, bearers of truth and uprightness.
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 : Green or White (Priests)
Galatians 1 : 6-12
I am surprised at how quickly you have abandoned God who called you according to the grace of Christ, and have gone to another gospel.
Indeed, there is no other gospel but some people who are sowing confusion among you want to turn the Gospel of Christ upside down. But even if we ourselves were giving you another gospel different from the one we preached to you, or of it were an angel from heaven, I would say : let God’s curse be on him!
As I have said I now say again : if anyone preaches the Gospel in a way other than you received it, fire that one. Are we to please humans or obey God? Do you think that I try to please people? If I were still trying to please people, I would not be a servant of Christ.
Let me remind you, brothers and sisters, that the Gospel we preached to you is not a human message, nor did I receive it from anyone, I was not taught of it but it came to me as a revelation from Christ Jesus.
petercanisiusmichaeldavidkang 