St. Raymond of Penyafort

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Tuesday, 7 January 2025 : Tuesday after the Epiphany, Memorial of St. Raymond of Penyafort, Priest (Homily and Scripture Reflections)

Liturgical Colour : White

Dear brothers and sisters in Christ, while we still continue celebrating the joyful time and season of Christmas, focusing our attention on the birth and coming of Our Lord Jesus Christ, bearing the salvation for everyone, we now begin to focus more on the works and actions of Christ during His ministry as we are about to come to the end of this season and begin the first round of the Ordinary Time. Through what we have heard in our Scripture passages today, we are reminded of God’s love which He has manifested before us through His Son, Jesus Christ, the Saviour of all. We are reminded that by His coming into our world, the love of God and all has become real, tangible and approachable to us, which is what we celebrate in Christmas, that is the Love of God made Man.

In our first reading today, we heard from the Epistle of St. John the Apostle in which St. John reiterated the great and most generous love which God has for all of us mankind, and this love is shown to us through the giving of His Son, and He gave us this Son so that He might be able to bring us all from the brink of destruction, and through His suffering and death, which He obeyed perfectly and carried out willingly, all of us have received the assurance of salvation and eternal life, because He offered for us all, on our behalf, the one and only perfect offering and sacrifice for the atonement of our innumerable sins, as the Lamb of God, the Sacrificial Lamb offering His own Most Precious Body and Blood, the perfect unblemished sacrifice that can heal us from all of our sins.

That is why today as we continue to celebrate this joyous occasion of Christmas, at the same time we are also reminded that ultimately Christmas will not have its meaning, importance and relevance without what we will celebrate soon in Holy Week and Easter. For if Christmas is a celebration of the Lord’s coming into this world as a little Child, to be God Who dwells with His people, then it is in the Holy Week and Easter that everything He was about to do came into perfect fulfilment and completion. If Christ did not suffer and die on the Cross, and then rose in glory and triumph, conquering sin and death, then this birthday is just a celebration of the birthday of an ordinary person, not unlike any other person. But this is certainly not the case.

It is precisely because Christ has become Man at Christmas and then went on to fulfil all that the Lord has planned perfectly at Holy Week and Easter, that we rejoice even all the more because we know that by becoming a Man like us all, He has united our humanity to Himself and gathered us all as one united people and flock of the Lord, and made us all to share in His death and Resurrection. He became the Mediator of the New Covenant between God and all mankind, an everlasting Covenant sealed with the Precious Blood of the Son of God, the Paschal Lamb of sacrifice. Truly, as the Lord Himself had said in the Gospel according to St. John, that ‘God so loved the world that He gave us His only begotten Son, so that all who believe in Him may have eternal life.’ And these are the concrete proofs of this love.

Then, in our Gospel passage today taken from the Gospel according to St. Mark, we heard the moment when the Lord Jesus performed a wonderful and well-known miracle of the feeding of the five thousand men and many others who were gathered to listen to the Lord and who were hungry after many days without having any food. The Lord showed His genuine and powerful love for His beloved ones, that He provided for them what they needed, not just the spiritual nourishment through His words and teachings, but also even in terms of physical needs and the fulfilment of the flesh and the body through food. He miraculously multiplied five loaves of bread and two fishes, that all those thousands of people had more than enough to eat, with plenty of leftovers.

Through what the Lord had done and shown us, again we are all reminded that truly Jesus Christ is Our Lord and Saviour, the One Whom God had sent into this world to be our Saviour and the Hope for all of us who have long awaited His salvation in the darkness of sin. His Light and Hope had dispelled this darkness and overcome the power of sin, and broke free the chains that had kept us down and dominated by the forces of darkness, bringing us all through the reconciliation with God, and by His direct contact with us, showing us that the Lord truly cares for us, and wants us all to be sharing in His love, and to be the ones enjoying the fullness of our inheritance as He has always intended for us all.

Today, the Church also celebrates the Feast of St. Raymond of Penyafort, also known as St. Raymond of Penafort, a famous Dominican preacher and missionary who was well-known for his great piety and charisma, his many great works and efforts for the sake of the Church, all the theological works he created and prepared, as well as his miracles and signs. He was known for his efforts to codify the Canon Law as well as outreach towards sinners, including his efforts to bring King James I of Aragon into the right path, as St. Raymond was the king’s confessor. At that time, the king was living in sin with a mistress, and when the king kept on refusing to change his ways, St. Raymond told the king that he would leave him behind for having not listened to his advice so many times.

And when the king forbade St. Raymond of Penyafort from leaving the island where he was living in, the island of Majorca, according to tradition St. Raymond and a Dominican companion went to the seashore and taking off his long black Dominican cloak, spreading it on the water, and then rode on it on the water, sailing towards Barcelona at the court of the king, witnessed by many people who thereafter became proof of this amazing occasion. Having heard of this and witnessed the great sanctity of the man of God, the king eventually repented and changed his ways. There are many other great deeds that the Lord had done through St. Raymond of Penyafort, and we ought to be inspired by his exemplary faith and life in how we ought to live our own lives in faith.

Brothers and sisters in Christ, as we have discussed from the passages of the Sacred Scriptures and inspired by the life of St. Raymond of Penyafort, let us all therefore strive to love the Lord our God with all our heart and strength, and to be truly devoted to Him above all other things, doing whatever we can to glorify Him by our lives. Each and every one of us should be good examples and inspiration in how we live our lives with faith, much as how St. Raymond of Penyafort had done for us. May the Lord our loving God and Saviour continue to guide and strengthen us in our faith and path, now and always. Amen.

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Tuesday, 7 January 2025 : Tuesday after the Epiphany, Memorial of St. Raymond of Penyafort, Priest (Gospel Reading)

Liturgical Colour : White

Mark 6 : 34-44

At that time, as Jesus went ashore, He saw a large crowd, and He had compassion on them, for they were like sheep without a shepherd. And He began to teach them many things. It was now getting late, so His disciples came to Him and said, “This is a lonely place and it is now late. You should send the people away and let them go to the farms and villages around here, to buy themselves something to eat.”

Jesus replied, “You, yourselves, give them something to eat.” They answered, “If we are to feed them, we need two hundred silver coins to go and buy enough bread.” But Jesus said, “You have some loaves; how many? Go and see.” The disciples found out and said, “There are five loaves and two fish.”

Then He told them to have the people sit down, together in groups, on the green grass. This they did, in groups of hundreds and fifties. And Jesus took the five loaves and the two fish and, raising His eyes to heaven, He pronounced a blessing, broke the loaves, and handed them to His disciples to distribute to the people. He also divided the two fish among them.

They all ate and everyone had enough. The disciples gathered up what was left, and filled twelve baskets with broken pieces of bread and fish. Five thousand men had eaten there.

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Tuesday, 7 January 2025 : Tuesday after the Epiphany, Memorial of St. Raymond of Penyafort, Priest (Psalm)

Liturgical Colour : White

Psalm 71 : 1-2, 3-4ab, 7-8

O God, endow the King with Your justice, the Royal Son with Your righteousness. May He rule Your people justly and defend the rights of the lowly.

Let the mountains bring peace to the people, and the hills justice. He will defend the cause of the poor, deliver the children of the needy.

Justice will flower in His days, and peace abound till the moon be no more. For He reigns from sea to sea, from the River to the ends of the earth.

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Tuesday, 7 January 2025 : Tuesday after the Epiphany, Memorial of St. Raymond of Penyafort, Priest (First Reading)

Liturgical Colour : White

1 John 4 : 7-10

My dear friends, let us love one another, for love comes from God. Everyone who loves, is born of God and knows God. Those who do not love have not known God, for God is love.

How did the love of God appear among us? God sent His only Son into this world, that we might have life, through Him. This is love : not that we loved God, but that, He first loved us and sent His Son, as an atoning sacrifice for our sins.

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Saturday, 7 January 2023 : Weekday of Christmas Time, Memorial of St. Raymond of Penyafort, Priest (Homily and Scripture Reflections)

Liturgical Colour : White

Dear brothers and sisters in Christ, today all of us have listened to the words of the Scriptures, reminding us of the calling for each one of us to remain firmly faithful to the path that the Lord has shown before us, for we have been shown the salvation in our Lord, Jesus Christ, the Saviour of all and we have also received the gift of the Holy Spirit and the Wisdom from God. Through all of these we are all called and reminded to walk in the path of God’s Light and resist the temptations of the world that will definitely become great obstacles in our path towards God’s grace and salvation. But if we persevere and remain faithful in Him, God will strengthen us and help us in our journey, and as long as we remain in His grace, we shall be empowered and kept in the path that He has shown us.

In our first reading today, we heard from the Epistle of St. John regarding the love of God which had been manifested before all of us in the person of Jesus Christ, the Lord and Saviour of all the whole world. But at the same time, we also heard from the same passage a reminder and warning from the Apostle of those who sought to twist and subvert the message of truth, those false prophets and leaders, who did not remain in God’s path. St. John told all the faithful to keep faithfully the commandments of God, all the Law and the things which they had received from God, that they should remain dedicated to the Lord and everything that He has told them to do. He reminded them that Christ is far greater than everything that those false prophets and leaders had presented to them, the world, the evil one and anything that do not lead to the Holy Presence of God.

St. John told the people of God that they have to be vigilant and only listen to the words snd guidance of the true spirit of God, and not the false spirits and the evils that can mislead them down the wrong paths. The spirit of God shows the path towards the one true Saviour, and the path of righteousness and justice. The Spirit of God will lead the faithful towards Christ, while the false and evil spirits will lead the people towards their downfall and destruction, rejecting the salvation in Christ for false pleasures and joys of the world. Unfortunately, at that time, quite a few among the people of God were tempted away from the path of God’s grace and salvation, and fell into the wrong paths, leading down to damnation. There were indeed a lot of those parties seeking the ruination of the souls of mankind, back then and up till today.

In our Gospel today, we heard of the Lord’s works among His people after the arrest and death of St. John the Baptist, as He went from place to place, in Galilee and other places often considered then as the peripheries of the Jewish community and homeland. He visited those who had been without hope, ostracised and hated by others because of their sickness, their way of life and attitudes, healed them and restored them once again to life. The Lord gave them all the Light of His hope and showed them the path towards His grace and eternal life. He showed the face of God’s love, which became accessible and tangible for us, and the Apostles and many of the disciples who have experienced the same love of God in person, transmitted and passed down this same truth to us through the Church.

And through the Holy Spirit that the Church has been given, coming down upon us all at Pentecost, and passed down to us, through the Sacraments of Baptism and Confirmation, we too have received the same knowledge and Wisdom of God’s love and most wonderful grace. God has shown us His guidance and help throughout our journey of faith in life, and as long as we remain true and faithful to Him, not being easily swayed or tempted by the persuasions and temptations of the world. We shall remain firmly on the path towards His salvation and grace as long as we keep our focus on Him and not be easily distracted by the many false leads and guidance, and resisting the allures of the lies and the false pleasures of the world that the false prophets and messengers brought upon our midst.

Not only that but we also have the inspiration and examples from the saints, our holy predecessors, men and women who had dedicated their lives to the Lord and showed us all the right way going forward. Today, we celebrate the feast of one of those great saints, namely that of St. Raymond of Penyafort or St. Raymond of Penafort. He was a priest and member of the Dominican Order noted for his great holiness and hard work in evangelisation towards those who have veered off from their righteous path, including that of the King of Aragon, James I, to whom he was a confessor of. St. Raymond disapproved of the actions of the king, who kept a mistress and concubine despite being married in the eyes of the Lord and His Church. And when the king persecuted and disagreed with him, and tried to prevent him from leaving the island he was in, he performed a great miracle as he rode on his cloak on the water to reach Barcelona, where the court of the king was at, in the company of his fellow Dominicans.

Many people witnessed that occasion, the great miracle performed by St. Raymond, and became believers. That also included the king himself, who immediately set himself on the right path, ceasing his previous scandalous and wicked attitudes, and embracing the Lord wholeheartedly from then on. St. Raymond also performed other miracles and wonders, and also committed his work in the field of philosophy and theology, and in the reforms of the Church and other institutions both religious and secular in his role as confessor to the king and in his other responsibilities. St. Raymond of Penyafort always devoted his time and effort to glorify God and spared no expense in doing whatever he could to reach out to more of the people of God, helping to lead them all to the right path towards God.

Brothers and sisters in Christ, let us all therefore follow in the good examples set by St. Raymond of Penyafort, in his life and works, in all of the efforts he had done to glorify the Lord and in leading more of his fellow brethren to God’s path and salvation. Let us do our best to follow the Lord and commit ourselves to the same path as well. May the Lord continue to strengthen us in our desire to serve Him and to love Him, and may He empower us all in our journey of faith through life so that we may always remain firmly faithful to Him, guided by the Wisdom of the Holy Spirit and by our firm faith, love and devotion towards God. Amen.

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Saturday, 7 January 2023 : Weekday of Christmas Time, Memorial of St. Raymond of Penyafort, Priest (Gospel Reading)

Liturgical Colour : White

Matthew 4 : 12-17, 23-25

When Jesus heard that John had been arrested, He withdrew into Galilee. He left Nazareth and went to live in Capernaum, a town by the lake of Galilee, at the border of Zebulun and Naphtali.

In this way the word of the prophet Isaiah was fulfilled : Land of Zebulun and land of Naphtali, crossed by the Road of the Sea, and you who live beyond the Jordan, Galilee, land of pagans : The people who lived in darkness have seen a great Light; on those who live in the land of the shadow of death, a Light has shone.

From that time on, Jesus began to proclaim His message, “Change your ways : the kingdom of heaven is near.” Jesus went around all Galilee, teaching in their synagogues, proclaiming the Good News of the kingdom, and curing all kinds of sickness and disease among the people.

The news about Him spread through the whole of Syria, and the people brought all their sick to Him, and all those who suffered : the possessed, the deranged, the paralysed, and He healed them all. Large crowds followed Him from Galilee and the Ten Cities, from Jerusalem, Judea and from across the Jordan.

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Saturday, 7 January 2023 : Weekday of Christmas Time, Memorial of St. Raymond of Penyafort, Priest (Psalm)

Liturgical Colour : White

Psalm 2 : 7-8, 10-11

I will proclaim the decree of the Lord. He said to Me : “You are My Son. This day I have begotten You. Ask of Me and I will give You the nations for Your inheritance, the ends of the earth for Your possession.”

Now therefore, learn wisdom, o kings; be warned, o rulers of the earth. Serve the Lord with fear and fall at His feet; lest He be angry and you perish when His anger suddenly flares. Blessed are all who take refuge in Him!

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Saturday, 7 January 2023 : Weekday of Christmas Time, Memorial of St. Raymond of Penyafort, Priest (First Reading)

Liturgical Colour : White

1 John 3 : 22 – 1 John 4 : 6

Then whatever we ask we shall receive, since we keep His commands and do what pleases Him. His command is that we believe in the Name of His Son Jesus Christ and that we love one another, as He has commanded us. Whoever keeps His commands remains in God and God in him. It is by the Spirit God has given us that we know He lives in us.

My beloved, do not trust every inspiration. Test the spirits to see whether they come from God, because many false prophets are now in the world. How will you recognise the Spirit of God? Any spirit recognising Jesus as the Christ Who has taken our flesh is of God. But any spirit that does not recognise Jesus is not from God, it is the spirit of the antichrist. You have heard of his coming and even now he is in the world.

You, my dear children, are of God and you have already overcome these people, because the One Who is in you is more powerful than he who is in the world. They are of the world and the world inspires them and those of the world listen to them. We are of God and those who know God listen to us, but those who are not of God ignore us. This is how we know the spirit of truth and the spirit of error as well.

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Friday, 7 January 2022 : Friday after the Epiphany, Memorial of St. Raymond of Penyafort, Priest (Homily and Scripture Reflections)

Liturgical Colour : White

Dear brothers and sisters in Christ, today as we listened to the words of the Scripture, we are called to remember the love of God and all that He has done for our sake, which He has shown us and revealed to us through none other than Jesus Christ, Our Lord and Saviour. He has revealed to us just how fortunate we are to have been beloved in such a way by our Lord. God has always been kind and compassionate to us, and His love was what made His action possible, in sending us our salvation through Jesus Christ, Our Lord and Saviour.

In our first reading today, taken from the Epistle of St. John, we heard of the words of the Apostle concerning all that God had done for our sake, through His Son, Our Lord and Saviour, Jesus Christ. In that passage, we heard St. John speaking of how Christ has been acknowledged through water and through Blood and the Spirit of God. This was a reference of everything that we have received from Him, and how He has revealed Himself and God’s salvation, through His baptism at the Jordan, His crucifixion and death, and finally through the gift of the Holy Spirit.

First of all, at the time of His baptism at the River Jordan by St. John the Baptist, the Lord has been proclaimed by the voice coming down from Heaven, as He was immersed in the water, and a Dove came to rest on Him, the Holy Spirit descending from the Father into this world through Jesus, the Son. The Father’s voice spoke the truth about the Man Who was baptised that day, that Jesus is indeed His Son and the One Whom He had promised to send into our midst, so that we may be saved from our fated destruction.

Then, at the moment of His crucifixion, as Christ bore His Cross, and was nailed to that Cross, enduring for us the punishments and the consequences that we ourselves ought to have suffered, He spilled His Most Precious Blood, which came down to us, as the Blood that washes us away from our sins. At that same time, when the soldiers were told to break the legs of those who had been crucified, Jesus was already dead, and one of the soldiers, later known as St. Longinus, took a spear and hit the side of the Lord with it, and immediately blood and water poured forth from it, a proof of God’s Love that endured even through His death on the Cross.

And lastly, the same Holy Spirit that had come down upon the Lord was also sent to the Apostles and the other disciples just as the Lord Himself has promised them, as tongues of fire descending on them at Pentecost, fulfilling what He has promised them and revealing to those who have received the Spirit, the fullness of truth of God’s love for us mankind and His saving grace. Through all these signs therefore we have been made aware of the most wonderful love that God has given us, through His most beloved Son, Whose coming into this world has given us all a new hope.

In our Gospel passage today, we then also heard from the Gospel of St. Luke regarding the healing of a man suffering from leprosy. The Lord wanted to heal him, and immediately, He cured the man from the leprosy. Leprosy was then a very dreaded disease that according to the old Law and customs of the Israelites would have led those who were suffering from it to be forced to live away from the rest of the society, to wander off in the wilderness until they could prove that their disease had been completely cured.

This is yet again another reminder for us of the most generous and wonderful love of God which He has kindly and generously shown us from the very beginning. God has reached out to us and make Himself approachable to us through Christ, and we ought to remember during this the blessed time of Christmas. We celebrate the most generous and amazing love God has bestowed on us, everything that He had done for us through His Son. We all rejoice because the Light of our Hope has come upon us.

Today, we celebrate the Feast of St. Raymond of Penyafort, also known as St. Raymond of Penafort, a renowned Dominican friar and priest who was instrumental in the codification of the laws of the Church that remained in force for many centuries, as well as his many contributions to the Church in the areas of theology and Catholic education, and in a most well-known miracle, he was also instrumental in the conversion of King James I of Aragon, who lived in a state of sin with his mistress and repeatedly refused to dismiss her.

St. Raymond of Penyafort sailed away from the city on his cloak, in a great miracle still remembered to this day, when the king forbade him to leave the capital city of Barcelona. This was seen by many of the sailors who witnessed the saint sailing on his cloak, as well as by many other spectators. The king was stunned by this great miracle, and was humbled, that he mended his path in life and from then on, lived more virtuously in accordance with the Law and the rules of the Church.

Brothers and sisters in Christ, through the short exposition of the life and examples showed by St. Raymond of Penyafort, all of us are called to follow his good examples and to show our faith sincerely to the Lord. Are we able and willing to show our love to the Lord, brothers and sisters in Christ? Remember how He has loved us so much through His Son, Our Lord and Saviour, just as discussed it earlier on. Let us then love the Lord in the same way that He has first loved us, and do our best to honour Him with our righteous and worthy lives from now on.

May the Lord be with us all, and may His love continue to be poured onto us, in our every day and every moments. May He bless us all in our every endeavours and good works for the greater glory of His Name. Amen.

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Friday, 7 January 2022 : Friday after the Epiphany, Memorial of St. Raymond of Penyafort, Priest (Gospel Reading)

Liturgical Colour : White

Luke 5 : 12-16

At that time, one day, in another town, a man came to Jesus covered with leprosy. On seeing Jesus, the man bowed down to the ground, and said, “Lord, if You want to, You can make me clean.”

Stretching out His hand, Jesus touched the man and said, “Yes, I want to. Be clean.” In an instant, the leprosy left him. Then Jesus instructed him, “Tell this to no one. But go, and show yourself to the priest. Make an offering for your healing, as Moses prescribed; that will serve as evidence for them.”

But the news about Jesus spread all the more; and large crowds came to Him, to listen and to be healed of their sickness. As for Jesus, He would often withdraw to solitary places and pray.