St. Paul Miki and Companions

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Tuesday, 6 February 2018 : 5th Week of Ordinary Time, Memorial of St. Paul Miki and Companions, Martyrs (Psalm)

Liturgical Colour : Red

Psalm 83 : 3, 4, 5 and 10, 11

My soul yearns; pines, for the courts of YHVH. My heart and my flesh cry out for the living God.

Even the sparrow finds a home, and the swallow a nest where she may lay her young, at Your altars, o YHVH of Hosts, my King and my God!

Happy are those who live in Your House, continually singing Your praise! Look upon our shield, o God; look upon the face of Your Anointed!

One day in Your courts is better than a thousand elsewhere. I would rather be left at the threshold in the house of my God than to dwell in the tents of the wicked.

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Tuesday, 6 February 2018 : 5th Week of Ordinary Time, Memorial of St. Paul Miki and Companions, Martyrs (First Reading)

Liturgical Colour : Red

1 Kings 8 : 22-23, 27-30

Then Solomon stood before the Altar of YHVH in the presence of all the assembly of Israel. He raised his hands towards heaven and said, “O YHVH, God of Israel, there is no God like You either in heaven or on earth! You keep Your Covenant and show loving kindness to Your servants who walk before You wholeheartedly.”

“But will God really live among people on earth? If neither heavens nor the highest heavens can contain You, how much less can this House which I have built! Yet, listen to the prayer and supplication of Your servant, o YHVH my God; hearken to the cries and pleas which Your servant directs to You this day. Watch over this House of which You have said, ‘My Name shall rest there.’ Hear the prayer of Your servant in this place.”

“Listen to the supplication of Your servant and Your people Israel when they pray in this direction; listen from Your dwelling place in heaven and, on listening, forgive.”

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9th Anniversary of my experience at Mass in the Catholic Church (6 February 2004 – present)

Today marks the 9th anniversary since the very first Mass that I fully participated in. That Mass was not the first Mass I ever attended, since I had attended the wedding Mass of my aunt two years before that.

However, on Friday, 6 February 2004, on the first Friday of the month, on the feast day of Saints Paul Miki and Companion the martyrs, which remained as a strong memory in my mind, is the first Mass I attended and I participated in, save for receiving Communion of course.

Yes, I was not a born Catholic, but was baptised as a teenager in September 2004. This year marks my eighth year in the Catholic faith.

I would like to thank God for His constant love for me, and His constant guidance to me. I would not be here, not even writing this blog regularly on the faith, if God is not with me since the very beginning. Thank you everyone too, for your constant support, love, and prayers.

Sts. Paul Miki and Companions, pray for me, and for all of my brethren in faith.

St. Peter the Apostle, St. Peter Canisius, and St. Michael the Archangel, my patrons, pray for me too, and also for all my brethren in faith.

King David of Israel, my namesake, pray for me, and for all of God’s beloved children.