Sunday of Easter Octave

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Tuesday, 8 May 2018 : 6th Week of Easter (Homily and Scripture Reflections)

Liturgical Colour : White

Dear brothers and sisters in Christ, on this day, we listened to the words of the Scripture, telling us about God’s love and providence to all those who believe in Him and walk in His ways, beginning with the story of St. Paul and St. Silas his companion, who were beset with trouble in prison during their missionary journey, and how God helped them overcome the trouble they were in.

And then, we listened to the Lord Jesus Himself speaking to His disciples about Him leaving His disciples as He would soon no longer walk physically among them. He was speaking about His suffering, and then His death on the cross, and after He had risen from the dead, in a short whole He would ascend into heaven to be at the right side of His Father. But He would not leave them alone.

He promised them that He would give them a Helper, in the Holy Spirit He would give all of them from the Father through Him. And He did fulfil that promise, at the occasion of the Pentecost, when the Holy Spirit came as tongues of fire descending on the Apostles and the disciples of the Lord, dwelling in them and giving them strength and courage, that from then on, all of them were ready to do everything for God’s sake.

The first reading today showed us all clearly enough what the Apostles had to face during their missionary works, where they had to encounter opposition and persecution, just as they were also openly accepted by some others who welcomed them and were willing to listen to the truth. St. Paul and his companion, St. Silas were persecuted by their opponents, who instigated the effort that ended up with them in prison.

This showed clearly the kind of difficulties and challenges that they had to encounter in life. They had to endure prison and suffering in the hands of their enemies, and it must have been difficult and inconvenient to them. However, they knew God was with them, and persevered through with prayer and devotion. And God showed His might before them, through the earthquake recorded in the Acts of the Apostles, freeing the two servants of God from their chains.

And not only that, they did not only have their physical chains broken, but they even managed to free others from the chains of sin and darkness. The jailer and his family believed in the Lord because of what they have witnessed, and converted to the Christian faith under the guidance of St. Paul and St. Silas. They repented from their actions and their sinful lives, and turned wholeheartedly towards God.

In that way, God showed His love and providence to all those who have been faithful to Him. He liberated them from their oppressors and guided them down the path towards salvation. He has always loved us and cared for us, and nothing will ever change that fact. It is us mankind who have always disobeyed and rejected God’s generous love and mercy. We often think that we know better, but the reality is that God knows what is best for us.

Brothers and sisters in Christ, on this day, we are all called to heed the examples of the Apostles, who have followed God’s way and obeyed Him, in the mission which had been entrusted to them. The Lord Jesus made it clear in the same Gospel passage today, that the sin of the world against Him, is disbelief, or the lack of faith in Him. We are all called therefore to be the witnesses of Christ, in spreading His truth to all the world.

Are we willing and able to do as God had commanded us to do? This will surely not be an easy task, just as we saw how the Apostles and the disciples of the Lord had suffered for the sake of their faith. Yet, they believed in the Lord, and kept their faith in Him. They knew and they believed that God was always with them, and would be with them through their most difficult moments.

It was this faith they had, which became their strength and the source of their inspiration. Are we able to have the same faith as theirs? Let us all reflect on this today, and do our best, to emulate our holy predecessors in everything they had done, for the salvation of our fellow men, all who are still living in the darkness and ignorance of God. May God be with us all, now and always. Amen.

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Tuesday, 8 May 2018 : 6th Week of Easter (Gospel Reading)

Liturgical Colour : White

John 16 : 5-11

At that time, Jesus said to His disciples, “But now I am going to the One Who sent Me, and none of you asks Me where I am going; instead you are overcome with grief, because of what I have said.”

“Believe Me, it is better for you that I go away, because as long as I do not leave, the Helper will not come to you. But if I go away, it is to send Him to you, and when He comes, He will vindicate the truth before a sinful world; and He will vindicate the paths of righteousness and justice.”

“What is the world’s sin, in regard to Me? Disbelief. What is the path of righteousness? It is the path I walk, by which I go to the Father; and you shall see Me no more. What is the path of justice? It is the path on which the prince of this world will always stand condemned.”

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Tuesday, 8 May 2018 : 6th Week of Easter (Psalm)

Liturgical Colour : White

Psalm 137 : 1-2a, 2bc-3, 7c-8

I thank You, o Lord with all my heart, for You have heard the word of my lips. I sing Your praise in the presence of the gods. I bow down towards Your holy Temple and give thanks to Your Name.

For Your love and faithfulness, for Your word which exceeds everything. You answered me when I called; You restored my soul and made me strong.

You save me from the wrath of my foes, with Your right hand You deliver me. How the Lord cares for me! Your kindness, o Lord, endures forever. Forsake not the work of Your hands.

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Tuesday, 8 May 2018 : 6th Week of Easter (First Reading)

Liturgical Colour : White

Acts 16 : 22-34

So the slave owners of Philippi set the crowd against Paul and Silas and the officials tore the clothes of them and ordered them to be flogged. And after inflicting many blows on them, they threw them into prison, charging the jailer to guard them safely. Upon receiving these instructions, he threw them into the inner cell and fastened their feet in the stocks.

About midnight, Paul and Silas were praying and singing hymns to God, and the other prisoners were listening. Suddenly a severe earthquake shook the place, rocking the prison to its foundations. Immediately all the doors flew open and the chains of all the prisoners fell off.

The jailer woke up to see the prison gates wide open. Thinking that the prisoners had escaped, he drew his sword to kill himself, but Paul shouted to him, “Do not harm yourself! We are all still here.” The jailer asked for a light, then rushed in, and fell at the feet of Paul and Silas. After he had secured the other prisoners, he led them out and asked, “Sirs, what must I do to be saved?”

They answered, “Believe in the Lord Jesus Christ and you and your household will be saved.” Then they spoke the word of God to him and to all his household. Even at that hour of the night, the jailer took care of them and washed their wounds; and he and his whole household were baptised at once. He led them to his house, spread a meal before them and joyfully celebrated with his whole household his newfound faith in God.

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Monday, 7 May 2018 : 6th Week of Easter (Homily and Scripture Reflections)

Liturgical Colour : White

Dear brothers and sisters in Christ, on this day we heard about the works of St. Paul as he travelled further on through the cities of the Eastern Mediterranean region, gaining more and more followers and believers for the Lord as he did so. In today’s passage from the Acts of the Apostles, we heard how St. Paul converted a God-fearing and faithful woman in Thyatira city, who converted along with her entire family after having heard of the teachings of St. Paul.

In the Gospel passage, we heard the continuation of the Lord Jesus’ teaching to His disciples, reminding them of what was to come for Him and for them, at the moment just prior to His Passion, that is His suffering, death and resurrection. He mentioned how everything must proceed just as how it has been foretold in the Scriptures, how He had to suffer and die, and eventually go away from them, but the truth is that, He would never leave them behind.

That was because the Lord promised them the Holy Spirit would be with them, and He would be their Guide and Helper. This happened on the occasion of the Pentecost, ten days after the Lord has ascended into heaven. The Holy Spirit came and descended upon all the Apostles and the disciples of the Lord, as tongues of flame rested on their heads, inflaming their hearts with courage and zeal.

The same Holy Spirit was also imparted to all the other faithful through the laying of the hands on their heads, including to that of St. Paul, who received baptism and the Holy Spirit from Ananias in Damascus after he encountered the Lord and repented from his previous sins. That was the motivation behind St. Paul’s great zeal and commitment to the Lord, in preaching His Good News to more and more people.

Brothers and sisters in Christ, on this day, all of us are called to reflect on the readings from the Scripture, that we may realise just how the same Holy Spirit has been given to us by God, at the moment when we were baptised, sealed no less than in the Name of the Father, Son and the Holy Spirit. And those who have received the Sacrament of Confirmation among us have been affirmed and strengthened by the same Holy Spirit, fully ready to take up the mantle of the Apostles.

Therefore, all of us ought to follow in the footsteps of the Apostles and the saints, and be inspired by their examples, seek to preach the Good News of God to more and more people. But more importantly, we have to realise that if we truly are Christians, then in all that we say, in all that we do, in our actions and how we interact with one another, and even with strangers, we have to embody our Christian faith, in which we have believed.

That was how St. Paul managed to convince so many people to come to the faith, and be converted and repent from their previous sins and way of life. He embodied the faith which he preached, by showing love, care and concern for the needy, the weak, the poor, and all those who have been oppressed and downtrodden. He gave them hope and a new light to those who were despairing and in darkness.

How about us, brothers and sisters in Christ? Unfortunately, the reality is such that, many of us have not acted in ways that are not Christian-like and indeed, end up scandalising our faith and God at the same time. That is why we have not been truly faithful to the Lord, because our hearts are divided, and we do not put Him at the centre of our lives. We have not given our all to the Lord when He Himself had given His all for us.

Therefore, brothers and sisters in Christ, let us all therefore seek to be more devoted and committed to God with each and every passing day. Let us all be ever more faithful and seek to do God’s will through our actions. May the Lord be with us always, and may He guide us all in our every actions and bless all of our good works and endeavours. God bless us all. Amen.

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Monday, 7 May 2018 : 6th Week of Easter (Gospel Reading)

Liturgical Colour : White

John 15 : 26 – John 16 : 4a

At that time, Jesus said to His disciples, “From now on the Helper, the Holy Spirit Whom the Father will send in My Name, will teach you all things, and remind you of all that I have told you.”

“Peace be with you! I give you My peace; not as the world gives peace do I give it to you. Do not be troubled; do not be afraid. You heard Me say, ‘I am going away, but I am coming to you.’ If you loved Me, you would be glad that I go to the Father, for the Father is greater than I.”

“I have told you this now before it takes place, so that when it does happen you may believe. It is very little what I may still tell you, for the prince of this world is at hand, although there is nothing in Me that he can claim. But see, the world must know that I love the Father, and that I do what the Father has taught Me to do. Come now, let us go.”

“I am the True Vine and My Father is the Vinegrower. If any of My branches does not bear fruit, He breaks it off; and He prunes every branch that does bear fruit, that it may bear even more fruit. You are already made clean by the word I have spoken to you. Live in Me as I live in you.”

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Monday, 7 May 2018 : 6th Week of Easter (Psalm)

Liturgical Colour : White

Psalm 149 : 1-2, 3-4, 5-6a and 9b

Alleluia! Sing to the Lord a new song, sing His praise in the assembly of His saints! Let Israel rejoice in his Maker, let the people of Zion glory in their King!

Let them dance to praise of His Name and make music for Him with harp and timbrel. For the Lord delights in His people; He crowns the lowly with victory.

The saints will exult in triumph; even at night on their couches. Let the praise of God be on their lips; this is the glory of all His saints. Alleluia!

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Monday, 7 May 2018 : 6th Week of Easter (First Reading)

Liturgical Colour : White

Acts 16 : 11-15

So we put out to sea from Troas and sailed straight across to Samothrace Island, and the next day to Neapolis. From there we went inland to Philippi, the leading city of the district of Macedonia, and a Roman colony. We spent some days in that city.

On the sabbath we went outside the city gate to the bank of the river where we thought the Jews would gather to pray. We sat down and began speaking to the women who were gathering there. One of them was a God-fearing woman named Lydia from Thyatira City, a dealer in purple cloth.

As she listened, the Lord opened her heart to respond to what Paul was saying. After she had been baptised together with her household, she invited us to her house, “If you think I am faithful to the Lord, come and stay at my house.” And she persuaded us to accept her invitation.

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Sunday, 6 May 2018 : Sixth Sunday of Easter (Homily and Scripture Reflections)

Liturgical Colour : White

Dear brothers and sisters in Christ, on this holy day, the sixth Sunday of the season of Easter, all of us are called to reflect on the one fundamental nature of our faith, and indeed, of Our God, in Whom we believe. And this fundamental nature is indeed so important that it is from which all of our faith came from, and by which, we have been saved. And what I have just spoken about, is love.

In the first reading today, we heard about St. Peter the Apostle, who went to visit the house of a Roman citizen named Cornelius, who together with his family greeted the Apostle and asked about the Christian faith. They wanted to believe in the Lord Jesus, and they listened to the teachings of the Apostle St. Peter, whom God also called to visit their house. They became believers, and received the Holy Spirit as St. Peter himself witnessed.

This is a very important event in the early Church, which was then divided between those who wanted to impose strict Jewish laws and discipline, and in fact, wanted the faith to be kept within the Jews only, as they believed that salvation was given only to the Jewish people, the direct descendants of Abraham, as God’s chosen people, and those who believe that the Lord did not restrict salvation from being given to the non-Jewish people, and in fact, as He had commanded, wanted everyone to be saved, and to follow Him.

And the Lord showed St. Peter, and the other Church fathers and elders, how He desired for the salvation of all mankind, for all of the race of men have been chosen by God, out of His love for all of them. When He showed a vision to St. Peter earlier prior to his visit to the house of Cornelius, in which a multitude of unclean animals according to the Jewish tradition was presented to St. Peter as food as commanded by God, and upon his refusal, God said to him that ‘what God has decreed to be clean, you cannot say to be unclean.’

This is related to what we heard in the Gospel today, as the Lord Jesus said to His disciples, “I shall not call you servants anymore, but I shall call you friends.” Through this, God revealed to us His true intention and nature. In the Old Testament, God was always portrayed as a mighty and angry God, Who is always ready to punish His people whenever they erred or turned against Him. But in reality, He did all of those because He loved His people.

Otherwise, why would God love those people who have rebelled against Him, disobeyed His commandments and laws? God did not intend for all of us to suffer difficulty and hardships in this world, as if we read the Book of Genesis, we should see how God intended for us all to live in perfect bliss and harmony, in eternal happiness with Him, as God had intended with Adam and Eve, our first ancestors in the Gardens of Eden.

Alas, our ancestors disobeyed God’s commandments and followed the lies of Satan instead, believing more in his sweet false promises rather than to obey the Lord, Who has given us His love so much, that He gave us everything in this world to be our own. Instead, we were banished out of Eden into the suffering of this world, and we came under the thralldom and tyranny of sin.

God could have destroyed us right there and then, and He could have crushed us, as He Who created us surely could also destroy us with the mere projection of His will. However, that was not what God has done. Instead, He called us to return to Him, beginning with the sons and daughters of Abraham, His faithful servant, and then by giving them His Law and commandments, the Ten Commandments.

But the people continued to sin and refused to obey Him, and instead, worshipping pagan gods and idols, performing what were wicked in God’s sight, by their unjust treatment of their peers and fellow men, they disgusted God and made Him to be angry at them. But that was not the true nature of God. God was angry at His people, because of their disobedience and their sins. It was these wickedness that God was angry with them for, but not because of themselves as human beings.

What does it mean, brothers and sisters in Christ? It means that God ultimately still loves us all, even though we are sinful and wicked in our deeds. However, it is these sins and wickedness which have separated us from Him, and which then prompted God to do what He had to do, in order to save us all from certain destruction because of those unrepented and unsettled sins.

And in this day’s Gospel passage, the Lord Jesus made it clear what He would do in order to fulfil the promise He has made to us mankind, that He would love us again and reconcile us to Himself, freeing us from our sins. He has considered us to be His friends, as those who are truly dear to Him. And what would Jesus do to His friends? In another Gospel passage, He said, “There is no greater love for someone than for him to lay down his life for a friend.”

That is exactly what the Lord has done, by voluntarily accepting the cross, as a punishment for all of our sins, the whole sum of the consequences that should have fallen unto us mankind, and yet, God willingly took all of them upon His own shoulders, and bore them on the way to Calvary, and He was crucified on it. He endured an unimaginably immense pain and sorrow, suffering and torture on the Cross, but He bore it all patiently.

And that is why, brothers and sisters in Christ, the Cross is the concrete and undeniable proof of God’s ultimate love for each and every one of us. God has loved us so much, that He did not only give us His only Son, through Whom He created us, the Word of God, made incarnate into the flesh of Man, but, in fact, through His singular act of perfect love and completely selfless sacrifice, He gave Himself up and His life, so that, by that loving act, He redeemed us all from our sins.

Now we have seen just how wonderful and amazing God’s love for us is. He has loved us all from the very beginning, and He wants to continue to love us. But unfortunately, many of us have not loved Him in the same manner. This is what God wants from each one of us, that we all love Him just as He has loved us first, and then we ought to show this love in our action and interactions with one another. That is the true essence of God’s commandments and Law.

Yet, how many of us truly love God in our hearts? How many of us put God as the priority in our lives? Instead of loving Him, we spent far more time worrying about our worldly concerns, about our career, our possessions and material wealth, about our relationships and concerns of the flesh? How many of us only remember God when we have need and we demand that God do something for us?

If we truly love God, then we cannot act in this manner. True love for God does not mean for us to just superficially be faithful to Him. Many of those Pharisees who obeyed the numerous rules and regulations of the Jewish customs seemed to be obedient to the Lord, but they did not love Him, for their love was for worldly power and influence, for their own satisfaction and pleasure, and not God.

How about us? Haven’t many of us been doing the same thus far? We are so busy and so preoccupied trying to accumulate for ourselves all these things, that we end up forgetting about God and about our obligation to Him. And then, we have also often forgotten about our obligation, to show the same love to our fellow brethren. Instead, we end up backstabbing others, being angry and jealous at others, desiring what others have and what we do not.

Brothers and sisters in Christ, as Christians, all of us are called to be true agents of love, that is the pure love which God has shown us, unconditional and selfless. Then, what is it that we need to do? We should begin to practice genuine love in our daily lives, by showing care and concern to those who are around us, forgiving those who have wronged us, and helping even strangers who need our help.

Let us not be prejudiced on others based on racial or national background, just as God Himself has not prejudiced against us, and love us all equally all the same. He has shown this to St. Peter, and by calling all the Gentiles, all the peoples from every nation, He wants to show us that He loves all mankind equally, and we too, should do the same with our own lives and in how we interact with our fellow brothers and sisters in the Lord, all children of the one and same God.

By doing these things, then we will grow stronger in our love for God, as we truly now internalise and appreciate the same love which He Himself has given us from the cross, and which we imitate in our own actions to one another. In this way then, we will grow ever more faithful to Him, and draw ever closer to Him. Let us all pray then, brothers and sisters, that God will always be with us, loving is as He has always done, and may He guide us in our lives, that we may love Him all the more, with each and every passing day. God bless us all. Amen.

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Sunday, 6 May 2018 : Sixth Sunday of Easter (Gospel Reading)

Liturgical Colour : White

John 15 : 9-17

At that time, Jesus said to His disciples, “As the Father has loved Me, so I have loved you. Remain in My love! You will remain in My love if you keep My commandments, just as I have kept My Father’s commandments and remain in His love.”

“I have told you all this, that My own joy may be in you, and your joy may be complete. This is My commandment : Love one another as I have loved you! There is no greater love than this, to give one’s life for one’s friends; and you are My friends, if you do what I command you.”

“I shall not call you servants any more, because servants do not know what their master is about. Instead, I have called you friends, since I have made known to you everything I learnt from My Father. You did not choose Me; it was I Who chose you and sent you to go and bear fruit, fruit that will last. And everything you ask the Father in My Name, He will give you.”

“This is My command, that you love one another.”