St. Perpetua and St. Felicity

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Thursday, 7 March 2019 : Thursday after Ash Wednesday, Memorial of St. Perpetua and St. Felicity, Martyrs (Homily and Scripture Reflections)

Liturgical Colour : Purple/Violet

Dear brothers and sisters in Christ, on this day each and every one of us are reminded of the need for us to dedicate ourselves to the Lord wholeheartedly, and be ready to commit ourselves to His path. On this day, the day after Ash Wednesday, we continue to uphold our resolve to live through this blessed season of Lent, spending our time to be closer to God, carrying our crosses with Him.

In the first reading today from the Book of Deuteronomy, God through His servant Moses communicated clearly to the people the choice that they had before them, as they went through their forty years of journey in the desert while waiting to enter into the land promised to them by God. Many of them had disobeyed the Lord and refused to follow His ways and His commandments, preferring to follow their own, sinful ways, and hardening their hearts and minds against Him.

And thus, through this we are reminded that we too have been given a choice, that is either for us to live in God’s way and obey His laws and commandments, or for us to abandon Him and turn instead to the ways of the world that is full of temptations and are seemingly easier and less challenging for us. We are presented with the choice between the seemingly tougher and less appealing way that God showed us, and the seemingly more enjoyable path of this world.

We are no strangers to the alternative path shown to us by the world, for indeed, we are surrounded by many of the temptations. At the time of the Israelites in the days of the Exodus, the people of Israel constantly grumbled before God and before Moses, complaining that they were hungry without good food, or thirsty without water and good drinks to enjoy. They refused to budge even after they have seen many of the miraculous deeds God performed before them through Moses.

They desired to return to Egypt, saying that it was better for them to go back to Egypt and suffer again under slavery, as they would at least be able to eat decently and not having to worry about dying in the desert without food or drink. They complained and refused to comply to the Lord’s will, just because they had little faith in God. If only they know just how much God loved each and every one of them, as He gave them everything they needed, and yet even those were not enough for those stubborn people.

Brothers and sisters in Christ, we can see the parallel between their examples and our own lives in this present world today. The path of the world seems to be easier to us, and it seems to be less arduous, less challenging and more promising to us, as this is the effort by the devil and all of his forces, trying to tempt us into sin, into disobedience against God, by presenting all sorts of wicked temptations that go straight into our pride and ego, our desires and our hearts’ greed.

Some of us may even think that just because we are Christians, then we should expect to have good lives full of graces and blessings, that we do not have to suffer but instead, with greater faith comes greater blessings in life, in physical and material terms. But this is the false ‘gospel of prosperity’ that is unfortunately adopted by some of our separated brethren in faith. We must not fall into that same trap of the devil, who tries to tempt us with worldly temptations.

The Lord made it clear, in our Gospel passage today, that He Himself was to suffer grievously at the hands of His enemies. This was fulfilled when He went through His Passion, suffering persecution and rejection, brutal pain and sufferings, as He was beaten and spat on, ridiculed and made to bear a heavy cross, stripped and nailed to that cross, and made to suffer and die for the sake of all of us mankind.

Brothers and sisters in Christ, that is the suffering that our Lord had to endure, and all of that is caused by His love for us, which is so great that He was willing to even endure those painful torture and experience just so that by His selfless and loving sacrifice, we may be saved from certain destruction. And He Himself said that if we are to be His disciples, then we must follow Him and have a share in the cross that He bore out of love for us.

It does not mean that we will suffer forever. Instead, our suffering now on earth is just a temporary prelude of the greater glory and joy that is to come. God has promised that all those who are faithful to Him will not be disappointed, for in the end of the journey it is nothing less than an eternity of glory and true happiness being in the presence of God forever, where we will not suffer any longer, and all that we need are no longer there, for God alone is enough for everything.

The devil knows this, and he does not want us to be saved. And that is why he is so hard at work, trying to prevent us from finding our way towards Him. He is always at work, trying to lure us away from the right path, and turn us away from righteousness and faith. In fact, we will realise that frequently, we will have to go up even against our friends and those who are dear to us, and we have to make often difficult choices, to choose between obeying God and suffer, or to obey the devil instead and receive satisfaction from him.

Today, we celebrate the feast of two famous martyrs of the Church, two courageous women who defended their faith in God to the very end with great dedication and courage. St. Perpetua was a noblewoman while St. Felicity was a slavewoman, both of whom shared the Christian faith. At that time, during the height of the Roman Empire, Christians have been harassed and persecuted again and again by the authorities, and many had to practice their faith in secret.

But eventually some were found out to be Christians, and put in prison and made to suffer with the hope that they would abandon their faith in God and sought safety and good assurance in life for themselves. Some did fall to the temptations or yielded to the strong pressures and abandoned their faith, but many remained firm in their faith in God, such as St. Perpetua and St. Felicity. These two women were firm in their conviction to remain faithful to God.

Having endured much suffering and pain, opposition and challenges, even from those who were close to them, St. Perpetua, who encountered great challenges from her family, who wanted her to recant her faith, as well as St. Felicity, who suffered in prison while being pregnant with a baby, both of them chose to remain true to their faith, and died as courageous martyrs and examples of true faith and dedication to God.

Brothers and sisters in Christ, today all of us are called to look upon the examples set before us by the holy saints and martyrs of God, particularly that of St. Perpetua and St. Felicity whose feast day we commemorate today. Are we able to make the same commitment and decision as they have done? They carried together the cross of Christ and endured the grievous sufferings just as the Lord had suffered, with the hope of eternal glory and salvation in the end of their earthly journey.

Let us all make good use of this season of Lent to reorientate ourselves and reorder our lives, so that from this moment onwards, we do not live any longer for ourselves, but rather, to serve the greater purpose of God, and to obey Him in all things, standing up to Him and remaining faithful to Him despite the challenges we may encounter in our daily lives. Let us all remain true to Him, and love Him ever more as we pass through this blessed Lent. May God be with us always, now and forevermore. Amen.

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Thursday, 7 March 2019 : Thursday after Ash Wednesday, Memorial of St. Perpetua and St. Felicity, Martyrs (Gospel Reading)

Liturgical Colour : Purple/Violet

Luke 9 : 22-25

At that time, Jesus said to His disciples, “The Son of Man must suffer many things. He will be rejected by the elders and chief priests and teachers of the Law, and be put to death. Then after three days He will be raised to life.”

Jesus also said to all the people, “If you wish to be a follower of Mine, deny yourself and take up your cross each day, and follow Me! For if you choose to save your life, you will lose it; but if you lose your life for My sake, you will save it. What does it profit you to gain the whole world, if you destroy or damage yourself?”

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Thursday, 7 March 2019 : Thursday after Ash Wednesday, Memorial of St. Perpetua and St. Felicity, Martyrs (Psalm)

Liturgical Colour : Purple/Violet

Psalm 1 : 1-2, 3, 4 and 6

Blessed is the man who does not go where the wicked gather, or stand in the way of sinners, or sit where the scoffers sit! Instead, he finds delight in the Law of YHVH and meditates day and night on His commandments.

He is like a tree beside a brook producing its fruit in due season, its leaves never withering. Everything he does is a success.

But it is different with the wicked. They are like chaff driven away by the wind. For YHVH knows the way of the righteous but cuts off the way of the wicked.

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Thursday, 7 March 2019 : Thursday after Ash Wednesday, Memorial of St. Perpetua and St. Felicity, Martyrs (First Reading)

Liturgical Colour : Purple/Violet

Deuteronomy 30 : 15-20

See, I set before you on this day life and good, evil and death. I command you to love YHVH, your God and follow His ways. Observe His commandments, His norms and His laws, and you will live and increase, and YHVH will give you His blessing in the land you are going to possess.

But if your heart turns away and does not listen, if you are drawn away and bow before other gods to serve them, I declare on this day that you shall perish. You shall not last in the land you are going to occupy on the other side of the Jordan.

Let the heavens and the earth listen, that they may be witnesses against you. I have set before you life and death, blessing and curse. Therefore, choose life that you and your descendants may live, loving YHVH, listening to His voice, and being one with Him. In this life for you and length of days in the land which YHVH swore to give to your ancestors, to Abraham, Isaac and Jacob.

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Wednesday, 7 March 2018 : 3rd Week of Lent, Memorial of St. Perpetua and St. Felicity, Martyrs (Homily and Scripture Reflections)

Liturgical Colour : Purple/Violet

Dear brothers and sisters in Christ, in today’s Scripture readings, we listened to the Lord speaking to us about His laws and commandments, which He had given to us His people. In the first reading today, we heard about the Lord speaking through Moses, His servant, teaching His people about the laws and commandments. The people were reminded to follow the Law and to obey God in all that He had taught them to do.

God has blessed them with His commandments and norms which He did not yet reveal to the other people and nations, and He expected them all to obey those laws and commandments. And He showed to them that if they remained true and faithful to His laws and commandments, they would be blessed and honoured, and they would be able to enjoy the graces He gave to them, in the land promised to them, all the prosperity meant for them as He promised their ancestors.

It is also exactly what the Lord Jesus reiterated in the words He said in the Gospel passage today. Yet, we see in those words, the frustration that the Lord showed as He was faced with opposition by the Pharisees and the teachers of the Law. Why is that so? That is because the Pharisees and the teachers of the Law accused the Lord Jesus and His disciples of trying to supplant the Law they carefully and zealously guarded, with a new version of the Law.

But Jesus rebuked them and said that what He brought unto them was the true meaning and obedience to the Law which God had revealed to His people so long ago through Moses. The problem lies in the fact that the laws as preserved and observed by the Pharisees and the teachers of the Law had been misunderstood and misapplied in such a way that the people were not able to appreciate why is it that they need to be faithful and obedient to the Law.

At that time, most of the Pharisees and the teachers of the Law were so focused on their aim to purify the people of Israel from all of their past impurities and sins, that they ended up creating many more rules and regulations which distracted the people of God from the true intention of the Law that is to bring the people closer to God and to love God more in their daily life. They were so caught up in their attempt to live up to their so-called obedience to the laws of Moses that they forgot why they ought to be doing all those actions and to Whom they ought to be doing it.

Brothers and sisters in Christ, what the Lord Jesus had done was merely to redress the errors of the Pharisees and the corruption which had twisted the laws and commandments of God. He revealed to us all the true meaning of the Law, that is love. For all the rules and regulations added in and modified by the elders and the traditions of the Jewish people, the actual Law is truly simple, that is to love God with all of our entire effort, and to love one another with the same kind of love.

That is all that the Lord wanted from His people, a pure and unconditional love, just as He Himself has loved them first with that kind of love, commitment and devotion. Unfortunately, that was not what He received from His people, and when He came into their midst, in Jesus Christ, all that He received was scorn, rejection and refusal to believe in Him and His truth.

Brothers and sisters in Christ, let us reflect, is that our attitude as Christians as well? Is that how we have treated the Lord? So far in our respective lives how many of us have truly lived them with true obedience to the Lord, loving Him genuinely in all that we do and say, in every action we take and in every moment? Or have we blindly obeyed or followed the ways and the rules taught to us by the Church without really understanding why we have done so?

Today, we celebrate the feast of St. Perpetua and St. Felicity, two renowned saints and martyrs of the Church, who lived during difficult years of intense persecution against the Church and the faithful, under the Roman Empire. St. Perpetua was a young noblewoman who resolved to become a Christian convert despite the objection from her father, while St. Felicity was a young slavewoman, who were imprisoned together with St. Perpetua for their faith.

They remained strong in their faith despite the physical sufferings and torture they had to endure, all the ridicule, scorn and anger directed at them, because of their great love for God. They did not mind enduring the same hatred of the world just as the Lord Himself had endured it. They willingly embraced martyrdom rather than to give up their faith in God. Their courage and commitment to the Lord inspired many people even many centuries after their passing from this world.

Now, brothers and sisters in Christ, are we able to live the same Christian life as St. Perpetua and St. Felicity have lived theirs? Are we able to love God in the same way that God has loved us, that is with all of our hearts, minds, bodies and souls, with our entire beings? Let us all make use of this time of Lent to prepare ourselves mentally, spiritually and physically to grow deeper in our love and commitment to God.

May the Lord be with us all, and may He awaken in each one of us the same love, dedication and commitment as shown by His saints and martyrs, especially St. Perpetua and St. Felicity, whose memory we remember today. Let us ask for their intercession, that by their prayers God may be moved to call us all to Himself, to be forgiven and redeemed from our sins and unworthiness. St. Perpetua and St. Felicity, pray for us. Amen.

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Wednesday, 7 March 2018 : 3rd Week of Lent, Memorial of St. Perpetua and St. Felicity, Martyrs (Gospel Reading)

Liturgical Colour : Purple/Violet

Matthew 5 : 17-19

At that time, Jesus said to His disciples, “Do not think that I have come to annul the Law and the Prophets. I have not come to annul them but to fulfil them. I tell you this : as long as heaven and earth last, not the smallest letter or dot in the Law will change until all is fulfilled.”

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Wednesday, 7 March 2018 : 3rd Week of Lent, Memorial of St. Perpetua and St. Felicity, Martyrs (Psalm)

Liturgical Colour : Purple/Violet

Psalm 147 : 12-13, 15-16, 19-20

Exalt the Lord, o Jerusalem; praise your God, o Zion! For He strengthens the bars of your gates and blesses your children within you.

He sends His command to the earth and swiftly runs His word. He spreads snow like wool; He scatters frost like ashes.

It is He Who tells Jacob His words, His laws and decrees to Israel. This He has not done for other nations, so His laws remain unknown to them. Alleluia!

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Wednesday, 7 March 2018 : 3rd Week of Lent, Memorial of St. Perpetua and St. Felicity, Martyrs (First Reading)

Liturgical Colour : Purple/Violet

Deuteronomy 4 : 1, 5-9

And now, Israel, listen to the norms and laws which I teach that you may put them into practice. And you will live and enter and take possession of the land which YHVH, the God of your fathers, gives you.

See, as YHVH, my God, ordered me, I am teaching you the norms and the laws that you may put them into practice in the land you are going to enter and have as your own. If you observe and practice them, other peoples will regard you as wise and intelligent. When they come to know of all these laws, they will say, ‘There is no people as wise and as intelligent as this great nation.’

For in truth, is there a nation as great as ours, whose gods are as near to it as YHVH, our God, is to us whenever we call upon Him? And is there a nation as great as ours whose norms and laws are as just as this Law which I give you today?

But be careful and be on your guard. Do not forget these things which your own eyes have seen or let them depart from your heart as long as you live. But on the contrary, teach them to your children and to your children’s children.

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Tuesday, 7 March 2017 : 1st Week of Lent, Memorial of St. Perpetua and St. Felicity, Martyrs (Homily and Scripture Reflections)

Liturgical Colour : Purple/Violet
Dear brothers and sisters in Christ, on this day we listened to the words of the Sacred Scriptures speaking to us about prayer and its importance, as well as how we ought to pray to the Lord our God, that is with sincerity and genuine intention, and not to serve our own selfish purposes and desires. Prayer is important for our internal spiritual development, and our relationship with God. And it is important that in this season of Lent, we have a prayerful Lent.

Why is this so? That is because it is quite often that many of us when we pray, we do not truly understand what a prayer really is. We think that prayer is a source of help for us when we are desperate and are in need, and that is where we begin to demand for God to act through our prayers. We make a long list of demands and requests to God, thinking that prayer is a source of help for us, and God will definitely listen to us and accede to our request.

But that is clearly very wrong, brothers and sisters in Christ. God is indeed loving and compassionate, but He is not someone for us to demand something from. He will give us what we need, and what He thinks is right for us, at His own time and at His own will. Many of us when we do not get what we want through prayer, then we become angry at God, and then that is when many of us left God behind, thinking that He was not there for us.

Brothers and sisters in Christ, through prayer all of us should and must come closer to God and grow ever more faithful to Him, but that is when we use prayer not as a medium through which we demand the Lord to do something for our lives, for that is not what prayers are for. What is prayer? In truth prayer is the conversation that we have and which we make with the Lord our God.

And being a conversation, a prayer is a two-way dialogue between us and God. It is often that we do the talking all the time, asking God for things, or bombarding Him with our worries and petitions, but we shut God out from our hearts, because we are too focused on ourselves and our needs. And we failed to realise that in the silence and depth of our hearts, God is speaking to us, revealing to us His will and what it is that He wants from us.

This is where we should emulate the example of the prophet Samuel, whose in his youth was visited by the Lord Who spoke to him in his sleep, calling him to speak to him. Samuel, upon the guidance of his mentor Eli, the Judge, spoke to God, ‘Speak Lord, for Your servant is listening’, and God then spoke to him, revealing His intentions to Samuel. How many of us can follow the example of Samuel, in letting God to come in and speak to us in our hearts? Or are we too busy to even take note that God wants to speak to us?

He wants us to love Him just as He had first loved us. He wants each and every one of us to repent from our sins and change our ways, to learn to forgive each other, as we said in the prayer we learnt from Jesus Himself, that we ask God to ‘forgive our trespasses and sins, just as we have forgiven those who have trespassed and sinned against us.’

Therefore, in this season of Lent, it is important that each and every one of us learn to pray right, to learn how to communicate with God properly through prayer, and how we should live our earthly lives that we may be always filled with grace and God’s love. This is a time of renewal and conversion, a time for reconciliation with our God. Let us all listen to the Lord speaking inside our hearts, and learn to take a brief pause in our hectic daily life, so that we may know what God wants to do with our lives.

Let us perhaps follow in the example of St. Perpetua and St. Felicity, the holy martyrs in the early days of the Church, who were martyred for their faith because they refused to reject the Lord, and despite the temptations to abandon their faith and receive life. St. Perpetua was a noblewoman who became attracted by the Christian faith, in opposition to her father and relatives, who wanted her to reject her newfound faith.

She was arrested and put in prison, and her relatives visited her and persuaded her to abandon her faith so that she could be freed and resumed her old life of privilege, but she refused to do so, and despite many attempts to torture her, all of the methods failed, and no harm would come to her. St. Perpetua was imprisoned along with St. Felicity, a slavewoman who also believed in the Lord, and also some others of the faithful.

When the time came for them to embrace death, they willingly let their earthly lives go, and bravely stood up for their faith to the very end, not hesitating to preserve their earthly existence, but instead becoming role models and examples, inspiration and strength for many other Christians who witnessed and listened to their fates. In the same manner as well, all of us Christians living today can learn from these two holy and venerable women.

This season of Lent is a time for us to reject wickedness and evil ways, to free ourselves from bondage to sin and to all of our worldly concerns, just as St. Perpetua, St. Felicity and their companions had done. It is a time for us to dedicate ourselves anew to the Lord our God, and to turn ourselves completely and fully to Him, and to entrust ourselves wholly to Him.

Indeed, as St. Perpetua and St. Felicity had shown us in their own lives, that there will be difficult and challenging times, when there will be harsh opposition and vicious persecution against all those who have followed the Lord and believed in Him, but if we are to give up and surrender ourselves to the demands of those who seek our downfall, then we will truly perish, but if we persevere, we shall rejoice and receive the eternal glory promised to us by Christ.

Therefore, brothers and sisters in Christ, let us all during this season of Lent commit ourselves to a life of holiness, filled with love and grace. Let us all live a more devoted and holy life, filled with prayer, so that we will not only be ready to celebrate the upcoming Holy Week and Easter season, but even more importantly that we will be ever ready and be ever worthy for the time when the Lord comes again in His glory. Amen.

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Tuesday, 7 March 2017 : 1st Week of Lent, Memorial of St. Perpetua and St. Felicity, Martyrs (Gospel Reading)

Liturgical Colour : Purple/Violet
Matthew 6 : 7-15

At that time, Jesus said to His disciples, “When you pray, do not use a lot of words, as the pagans do, for they believe that the more they say, the more chance they have of being heard. Do not be like them. Your Father knows what you need, even before you ask Him.”

“This, then, is how you should pray : Our Father in heaven, holy be Your Name, Your kingdom come, Your will be done on earth as in heaven. Give us today our daily bread. Forgive us our debts, just as we have forgiven those who are in debt to us. Do not bring us to the test, but deliver us from the evil one.”

“If you forgive others their wrongdoings, your Father in heaven will also forgive yours. If you do not forgive others, then your Father will not forgive you either.”