Sunday of Easter Octave

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Saturday, 19 May 2018 : 7th Week of Easter (Gospel Reading)

Liturgical Colour : White

John 21 : 20-25

At that time, Peter looked back and saw that the disciple Jesus loved was following as well, the one who had reclined close to Jesus at the supper, and had asked Him, “Lord, who is to betray You?”

On seeing him, Peter asked Jesus, “Lord, what about him?” Jesus answered, “If I want him to remain until Income, does that concern you? Follow Me!” Because of this the rumour spread in the community that this disciple would not die. Yet Jesus had not said to Peter, “He will not die,” but, “Suppose I want him to remain until I come.”

It is this disciple who testifies about the things he has written here, and we know that his testimony is true. But Jesus did many other things; if all were written down, I think the world itself could not contain the books that should be written.

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Saturday, 19 May 2018 : 7th Week of Easter (Psalm)

Liturgical Colour : White

Psalm 10 : 4, 5 and 7

The Lord is in His holy place – our God Whose throne is in heaven. He looks down to earth to observe the race of Adam.

The Lord searches both righteous and wicked. He hates those who delight in violence, for the Lord is righteous; He loves justice. The upright will see His face.

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Saturday, 19 May 2018 : 7th Week of Easter (First Reading)

Liturgical Colour : White

Acts 28 : 16-20, 30-31

Upon our arrival in Rome, the captain turned the prisoners over to the military governor but permitted Paul to lodge in a private house with the soldier who guarded him. After three days, Paul called together the leaders of the Jews.

When they had gathered, he said to them : “Brothers, though I have not done anything against our people or against the traditions of our fathers, I was arrested in Jerusalem and handed over to the Romans. They examined me and wanted to set me free, for they saw nothing in my case that deserved death.”

“But the Jews objected, so I was forced to appeal to Caesar without the least intention of bringing any case against my own people. Therefore, I have asked to see you and speak with you, since it is because of the hope of Israel that I bear these chains.”

Paul stayed for two whole years in a house he himself rented, where he received without any hindrance all those who came to see him. He proclaimed the kingdom of God and taught the truth about Jesus Christ, the Lord, quite openly and without any hindrance.

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Friday, 18 May 2018 : 7th Week of Easter, Memorial of Pope St. John I, Pope and Martyr (Homily and Scripture Reflections)

Liturgical Colour : White or Red (Martyrs)

Dear brothers and sisters in Christ, today we listened to the Scriptures through which we are reminded that as Christians all of us are ultimately bound to live by the will of God, and we will be led in our lives to where God wants us to be, and it is often that life will not go according to how we want it to be, no matter what we have done and are going to do in order to secure our desire.

In the first reading today, we listened to how St. Paul defended himself before the king of Judea, Agrippa, as well as the Roman governor of Judea, Festus. He spoke with such a wisdom and eloquence that he even almost persuaded them to be Christians. He has appealed to the Emperor, and would go on to Rome, in order to face the judgment as meted by the most powerful man in the world at that time.

In his earlier years, St. Paul was known as Saul, a fanatical and influential young Pharisee, who was renowned and glorified for his intense persecution of all Christians and all those who profess faith in the Lord Jesus. He seemed to be destined for a life of greatness and influence among the people of God, to be among the elites of the society as member of the Pharisees.

However, God did not wish it to end that way, that Saul remained a great enemy of Christ and His faithful ones. God instead called Saul and gave him an entirely new purpose and calling in life. And Saul chose to accept that role given to him, a role through which he would save countless souls, through his direct teaching and efforts, as well as through the many disciples and students he had led through those years of his service.

Then, in the Gospel today, we also heard about another Apostle, St. Peter, the head and appointed leader of the Apostles. The Lord Jesus entrusted His Church to his care, just as He had said before, that He would build His Church upon the foundation of Peter, the Rock. And the Lord Jesus said to St. Peter about the same expectation as I have just mentioned, that at the end of it all, it was God’s will that will prevail.

God said to St. Peter that he would have to suffer for being a disciple of His, and he would be led to places that he would not want to go. That was a foretelling of what he had to encounter, to be brought to Rome, where he would meet his martyrdom just as St. Paul would. He was crucified upside down in the place where the Basilica of St. Peter now stands, while St. Paul was beheaded at around the same place.

Today we also remember the memory of another good servant of God, one of the early successors of St. Peter the Apostle, as the Vicar of Christ and Bishop of Rome. Pope St. John I was a devout servant of God, humble and faithful, elected to become the successor of St. Peter and lead the Church. At that time, the Church in Rome was under the rule of those who followed the false Arian heresy, and Pope St. John I was caught in the great dilemma of having to accommodate between the two sides in argument.

King Theoderic the Great of the Ostrogoths, who was an Arian, demanded that the Pope present his argument before the Roman Emperor in the city of Constantinople, that toleration and concessions must be given to those who believe in the Arian heresy. However, Pope St. John I resolutely supported the position of the Orthodox and true teachings of the faith as espoused in the Ecumenical Councils of the Church, and in the end, he was imprisoned by the king.

Pope St. John I would eventually die a prisoner of the faith, refusing to bend to the demands of the king. He and the Apostles of the Lord had shown us that, even many in the world will oppose us and persecute us, just because we believe in God and walk in His ways. They entrusted themselves to the Lord, and remained true and faithful to Him. And despite having suffered and died in pain, they now enjoy forever the glory of heaven.

Brothers and sisters in Christ, now, as Christians, all of us are also expected to have that same faith and commitment to the Lord, just as shown by our holy and devout predecessors. Let us all henceforth renew our commitment to our faith, and spend more time and effort in our relationship with God. May the Lord be with us all, and may He continue to be with us and bless us, all the days of our lives. Holy Apostles, St. Peter and St. Paul, and Pope St. John I, holy martyr, pray for us all. Amen.

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Friday, 18 May 2018 : 7th Week of Easter, Memorial of Pope St. John I, Pope and Martyr (Gospel Reading)

Liturgical Colour : White or Red (Martyrs)

John 21 : 15-19

At that time, after Jesus and His disciples had finished breakfast, He said to Simon Peter, “Simon, son of John, do you love Me more than these?” He answered, “Yes, Lord, You know that I love You.” And Jesus said, “Feed My lambs.”

A second time Jesus said to him, “Simon, son of John, do you love Me?” And Peter answered, “Yes, Lord, You know that I love You.” Jesus said to him, “Look after My sheep.” And a third time He said to him, “Simon, son of John, do you love Me?”

Peter was saddened because Jesus asked him a third time, “Do you love Me?” and he said, “Lord, You know everything; You know that I love You.” Jesus then said, “Feed My sheep! Truly, I say to you, when you were young, you put on your belt and walked where you liked. But when you grow old, you will stretch out your hands, and another will put a belt around you, and lead you where you do not wish to go.”

Jesus said this to make known the kind of death by which Peter was to glorify God. And He added, “Follow Me.”

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Friday, 18 May 2018 : 7th Week of Easter, Memorial of Pope St. John I, Pope and Martyr (Psalm)

Liturgical Colour : White or Red (Martyrs)

Psalm 102 : 1-2, 11-12, 19-20ab

Bless the Lord, my soul; all my being, bless His holy Name! Bless the Lord, my soul, and do not forget all His kindness.

As the heavens are high above the earth, so great is His love for those fearing Him; as far as the east is from the west, so far does He remove from us our sins.

The Lord has set His throne in heaven; He rules, He has power everywhere. Praise the Lord, all you His Angels.

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Friday, 18 May 2018 : 7th Week of Easter, Memorial of Pope St. John I, Pope and Martyr (First Reading)

Liturgical Colour : White or Red (Martyrs)

Acts 25 : 13b-21

As King Agrippa and his sister Berenice were to stay in Caesarea several days, Festus told him about Paul’s case and said to him, “We have here a man whom Felix left as a prisoner. When I was in Jerusalem, the chief priests and the elders of the Jews accused him and asked me to sentence him.”

“I told them that it is not the custom of the Romans to hand over a man without giving him an opportunity to defend himself in front of his accusers. So they came and I took my seat without delay on the tribunal and sent for the man. When the accusers had the floor, they did not accuse him of any of the crimes that I was led to think he had committed; instead they quarrelled with him about religion and about a certain Jesus Who has died but whom Paul asserted to be alive.”

“I did not know what to do about this case, so I asked Paul if he wanted to go to Jerusalem to be tried there. But Paul appealed to be judged by the Emperor. So I ordered that he be kept in custody until I send him to Caesar.”

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Thursday, 17 May 2018 : 7th Week of Easter (Homily and Scripture Reflections)

Liturgical Colour : White

Dear brothers and sisters in Christ, in today’s Scripture readings, through what we have heard from the first reading taken from the Acts of the Apostles, in which we heard the great squabble between the Pharisees and the Sadducees during the hearing scheduled in the Jewish High Council regarding the Apostle, St. Paul, who was accused of sedition against the Jewish laws.

St. Paul was alone, facing the opposition from all those who were against him and all that he had preached and taught among the people. The Sadducees were against him and the teachings of the Lord Jesus, as they feared that their esteemed and special position in the society would be seriously threatened, and they were also against the beliefs in the Christian faith, such as the resurrection from the dead among many others.

They had been fiercely against the Lord Jesus, and harassed Him with questions and challenges throughout His ministry. Therefore, the same challenge and difficulty also faced all those who spoke and taught in His Name, as St. Paul had experienced. And in addition to this trouble, St. Paul, just as the Lord had experienced, also faced the opposition from the Pharisees, the other major group holding power in the society, also fiercely against Jesus and His teaching authority.

The Pharisees include many of those who were experts and teachers of the Mosaic law, that is all those who were supposed to safeguard the tenets and the rules found within the law that governed the Jewish people, based on the Law which God had first given His people through Moses, His servant. However, they ended up being too fanatically attached to their interpretation of the Mosaic law, and became too rigid in their enforcement to the point of ignoring and forgetting the true purpose of the Law of God.

Thus, these influential elders and people were also bitterly against the Lord and His Apostles, as they feared that they would lose their influence should the teachings of Jesus spread throughout the people and the towns of Israel. They were afraid that they would lose their esteemed position, just as the Sadducees were afraid of the same thing, and that their authority would no longer be accepted.

But they did not consider and place God in all of their judgments at all. They were instead driven by their greed, pride and desires, which therefore, as we have probably noticed, was why they were divided among themselves, bickering between themselves, when St. Paul put a contentious matter among them. They fought and bickered so greatly that the Roman governor had to rescue St. Paul from their midst lest he was torn apart by the feuding parties.

In this, we see how, even though St. Paul seemed to be alone, but in truth, he was not alone. God was always with him, and all the whole Church was united with him in prayer. And that is what the Lord Jesus had also prayed to His Father, in our Gospel passage today, asking that all those who believe in Him remain as one people, as one united Church, just as He and His Father were one and indivisible.

Brothers and sisters in Christ, on this day, all of us are reminded of the fact that we do not exist for ourselves, but rather, first of all, for God. And then, secondly, we exist for each other, for our fellow brethren and for the Church of God. As Christians, we should not be tempted to satisfy our personal desires and ego, over that of our obligations to God and to our need to love and care for one another.

And it is important that we place God at the centre of our lives, just as we can see clearly, how those who did not place God at the centre or as the focus of their lives, like the Sadducees and Pharisees, are prone to division and conflict. And whenever conflict and division arise, it is actually a perfect opportunity for the devil to come in and manipulate us even further, to divide us and therefore, hopefully to snatch us away from God and His salvation.

Brothers and sisters in Christ, let us all therefore be role models in faith, devoting ourselves wholeheartedly to God, and committing ourselves to faith in Him, putting our complete trust, knowing that He will be with us along the way, and He will never abandon us in our time of need. May the Lord be with us all, and may He continue to watch over us all, that each and every one of us may always be united in Him, as one Church, and as one people of God. Amen.

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Thursday, 17 May 2018 : 7th Week of Easter (Gospel Reading)

Liturgical Colour : White

John 17 : 20-26

At that time, Jesus prayed to God His Father, “I pray not only for these, but also for those who through their word will believe in Me. May they all be one, as You Father are in Me and I am in You. May they be one in Us, so that the world may believe that You have sent Me.”

“I have given them the glory You have given Me, that they may be one as We are One : I in them and You in Me. Thus they shall reach perfection in unity; and the world shall know that You have sent Me, and that I have loved them, just as You loved Me.”

“Father, since You have given them to Me, I want them to be with Me where I am, and see the glory You gave Me, for You loved Me before the foundation of the world. Righteous Father, the world has not known You, but I have known You, and these have known that You have sent Me.”

“As I revealed Your Name to them, so will I continue to reveal it, so that the love with which You loved Me may be in them, and also may be in them.”

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Thursday, 17 May 2018 : 7th Week of Easter (Psalm)

Liturgical Colour : White

Psalm 15 : 1-2a and 5, 7-8, 9-10, 11

Keep me safe, o God, for in You I take refuge. I say to the Lord, “O Lord, my inheritance and my cup, my chosen portion – hold secure my lot.”

I bless the Lord Who counsels me; even at night my inmost self instructs me. I keep the Lord always before me; for with Him at my right hand, I will never be shaken.

My heart, therefore, exults, my soul rejoices; my body too will rest assured. For You will not abandon my soul to the grave, nor will You suffer Your Holy One to see decay in the land of the dead.

You will show me the path of life, in Your presence the fullness of joy, at Your right hand happiness forever.