Sundays after Epiphany

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Friday, 27 June 2025 : Solemnity of the Most Sacred Heart of Jesus (First Reading)

Liturgical Colour : White

Ezekiel 34 : 11-16

Indeed YHVH says this : I, Myself, will care for My sheep and watch over them. As the shepherd looks after his flock when he finds them scattered, so will I watch over My sheep; and gather them from all the places where they were scattered in a time of cloud and fog. I will bring them out from the nations and gather them from their countries. I will lead them to their own land; and pasture them on the mountains of Israel, in all the valleys and inhabited regions of the land.

I will take them to good pastures on the high mountains of Israel. They will rest where the grazing is good, and feed in lush pastures on the heights of Israel. I, Myself, will tend My sheep and let them rest, word of YHVH. I will search for the lost and lead back the strays. I will bind up the injured and strengthen the weak; but the fat and strong will be eliminated. I will shepherd My flock with justice.

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Thursday, 26 June 2025 : 12th Week of Ordinary Time (Homily and Scripture Reflections)

Liturgical Colour : Green

Dear brothers and sisters in Christ, today as we all listened to the words of the Lord contained within the Sacred Scriptures we are reminded that we have to put our faith and trust in the Lord and not in our own often weak and flawed human judgment and intellect, our ideals and thoughts without putting regard to God’s will and wisdom which He has shared with all of us. At the same time of course we are also being reminded that each and every one of us have been given the free will and the freedom to choose our course of action and path in life. And God will allow us to act within the freedom that He has granted to us and still give us all His blessings regardless even though it is not the ideal case. This is why we should always seek to know God’s will by regularly communicating with Him and being attuned to Him through a life well-lived in faith.

In our first reading today, we heard of the account of what happened from the Book of Genesis in which Abram, the one later known as Abraham, took Hagar, his wife’s maid to bed according to what Sarai, his wife had suggested to him. In order to understand what happened here, we must first understand the context in which this action took place, as according to the customs of the time, it was common for a woman who could not bear a child for her husband to take one of her slaves to bear a child on her behalf with her husband. Any child born of such an action would be then considered legally as the child of the woman and not of the slave, as slaves were not considered to have any rights at all at the time, and lived in the mercy of their masters and mistresses.

Therefore, this suggestion made by Sarai for Abram to take Hagar, her own Egyptian slave, to be the one to bear for her a child, made common sense if understood through the context and understanding of the common event and practice at tha time. However, at the same time we must also remember that God also promised Abram and had been reassuring him that he would indeed have a son after what must have been very long wait, of being childless with his wife, and God told him that it would be through his wife that he would bear a child, even if any human logic or understanding would have considered such a thing to be impossible. The reality is such that there is nothing impossible or beyond God’s power to do, and He wanted Abram and his wife to have faith in Him.

But Sarai chose to take the easier way out and did not listen to God, and chose to ask and persuade Abram to agree with her instead, and therefore, that was how Ishmael, the son of Abram and Hagar was conceived and born. And according to what we have just discussed earlier, Ishmael was indeed a legal son of Abram and his eldest born son according to the social customs and practices at the time, and therefore Ishmael did have the right to inheritance of what Abram had in his possessions and all, but God still told Abram nonetheless that His promises would be fulfilled through the son to be born for him from Sarai, and not Hagar. And as we can read in the later account from the Book of Genesis, although this happened not in accordance to what God had told Abram, but God still blessed Ishmael and promised Abram that as his son, he would also become the father of many nations, although implicitly, being inferior to Isaac, the promised son to be born to Abram by Sarai.

Therefore, through what we have heard in today’s reading from the Book of Genesis, we are reminded that we should not allow ourselves to be tempted by the many temptations and coercions of worldly nature, of desires and attachments to worldly ambitions and ways. Or else we will end up like the predicament of Abram, Sarai and Hagar, having two sons who eventually competed for inheritance from their father, resulting in the then Sarah asking Abraham to send Hagar and Ishmael away, essentially banishing them away from the family. And God still did take care of both Hagar and Ishmael despite all these, showing just how patient and loving God towards all of us are, and how He wants us all to follow Him and to obey Him in all things, at all times.

In our Gospel passage today, we heard from the Gospel according to St. Matthew the Apostle and Evangelist in which the Lord Jesus spoke to His disciples and followers, telling all of them that they must have truly genuine and strong faith in God, and they cannot be fickle and shaky in their conviction and belief in the Lord, or else, they would be easily swept away by all the pressures, oppositions, pressures and challenges from all around them, which He highlighted using yet another parable to show and underscore His intentions and teachings to those same disciples. The Lord used the parable of the two foundations, one of shaky and unreliable sand, and another one of firm rock and solid foundation. Each of these foundations in fact represent one’s faith in the world, and the other the faith one has in the Lord.

The ones who built their foundation, the foundation of their homes on sand, shaky and weak, unreliable and unsupportive as it is, may have had an easier time, but in the end, their homes would be easily swept away by the wind and the waves, by all the forces arrayed against them. This is therefore similar to how those who out their trust in the world and all of their human strength without God guiding them and providing for them would end up in, as compared to those who trust in the Lord. Those who trust in the Lord are like those who built their houses on the firm foundation of solid rock, which while this may be more challenging, tedious and time consuming, but it leads to a much more sturdy and stronger house that can withstand all sorts of forces arrayed against it.

Brothers and sisters in Christ, therefore, as we have heard from our Scripture passages today, and as we should have reflected carefully therefore as we discuss this matter, we all should trust in the Lord more and have faith in Him, in everything that He has in plan for us instead of doing things rashly without considering carefully what the Lord truly wants from us. That is because such rash actions can cause harm and sufferings for others around us and also even problems for ourselves as well. What may seem to be easy may not be actually easy for us at all. In fact, trusting the Lord is something that we should always do because no matter what happens, only the Lord alone will never disappoint us, because He is always ever faithful to the Covenant which He had made with all of us.

May the Lord therefore continue to strengthen us in faith and give us the courage and power to continue striving in life with great faith and commitment, with the perseverance and ever stronger trust in Him. Let us all continue to be good role models and inspirations for one another in faith so that by our great examples of faith we may help many more of our fellow brethren to be strong in their commitment and conviction to serve the Lord to the best of their abilities as well. May God bless us all in our every good efforts and endeavours, all for His greater glory, now and always. Amen.

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Thursday, 26 June 2025 : 12th Week of Ordinary Time (Gospel Reading)

Liturgical Colour : Green

Matthew 7 : 21-29

At that time, Jesus said to the people, “Not everyone who says to Me, ‘Lord! Lord!’ will enter the kingdom of heaven, but the one who does the will of My heavenly Father. Many will say to Me on that day, ‘Lord, Lord, did we not speak in Your Name? Did we not cast out devils and perform many miracles in Your Name?’ Then I will tell them openly, ‘I have never known you; away from Me, you evil people!’”

“Therefore, anyone who hears these words of Mine, and acts according to them, is like a wise man, who built his house on rock. The rain poured down, the rivers flooded, and the wind blew and struck that house. But it did not collapse, because it was built on rock. But anyone who hears these words of Mine, and does not act accordingly, is like a fool who built his house on sand. The rain poured, the rivers flooded, and the wind blew and struck that house; it collapsed, and what a terrible collapse that was!”

When Jesus had finished this discourse, the crowds were struck by the way He taught, because He taught with authority, unlike their teachers of the Law.

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Thursday, 26 June 2025 : 12th Week of Ordinary Time (Psalm)

Liturgical Colour : Green

Psalm 105 : 1-2, 3-4a, 4b-5

Alleluia! Give thanks to YHVH, for He is good, for His love endures forever. Who can count YHVH’s mighty deeds, or declare all His praises?

Blessed are they who always do just and right. Remember me, o YHVH, when You show favour to Your people.

Rescue me when You deliver them; let me see the triumph of Your faithful; let me share the joy of Your nation; and join Your people in praising You.

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Thursday, 26 June 2025 : 12th Week of Ordinary Time (First Reading)

Liturgical Colour : Green

Genesis 16 : 1-12, 15-16

Sarai, Abram’s wife had not borne him a child, but she had an Egyptian servant named Hagar, and she said to Abram, “Now, since YHVH has kept me from having children, go to my servant; perhaps I shall have a child by her.” Abram agreed to what Sarai said.

Abram had been in the land of Canaan ten years when Sarai, his wife, took Hagar, her Egyptian maid, and gave her to Abram her husband as wife. He went in to Hagar and she became pregnant. When she was aware of this, she began to despise her mistress. Sarai said to Abram, “May this injury done to me be yours. I put my servant in your arms and now that she knows she is pregnant, I count for nothing in her eyes. Let YHVH judge between me and you.”

Abram said to Sarai, “Your servant is in your power; do with her as you please.” Then Sarai treated her so badly that she ran away. The Angel of YHVH found her near a spring in the wilderness and said to her, “Hagar, servant of Sarai, where have you come from and where are you going?” She said, “I am running away from Sarai, my mistress.”

The Angel of YHVH said to her, “Go back to your mistress and humbly submit yourself to her.” The Angel of YHVH said to her, “I will so increase your descendants, that they will be too numerous to be counted.” Then the Angel of YHVH said to her, “Now you are with child and you will have a son, and you shall name him Ishmael, for YHVH has heard your distress. He shall be a wild ass of a man, his hand against everyone and everyone’s hand against him, defiant towards all his brothers.”

Hagar gave birth to a son and Abram called the child Hagar bore him, Ishmael. Abram was eighty-six years old when Hagar gave birth to Ishmael.

Alternative reading (shorter version)

Genesis 16 : 6b-12, 15-16

Then Sarai treated Hagar so badly that she ran away. The Angel of YHVH found her near a spring in the wilderness and said to her, “Hagar, servant of Sarai, where have you come from and where are you going?” She said, “I am running away from Sarai, my mistress.”

The Angel of YHVH said to her, “Go back to your mistress and humbly submit yourself to her.” The Angel of YHVH said to her, “I will so increase your descendants, that they will be too numerous to be counted.” Then the Angel of YHVH said to her, “Now you are with child and you will have a son, and you shall name him Ishmael, for YHVH has heard your distress. He shall be a wild ass of a man, his hand against everyone and everyone’s hand against him, defiant towards all his brothers.”

Hagar gave birth to a son and Abram called the child Hagar bore him, Ishmael. Abram was eighty-six years old when Hagar gave birth to Ishmael.

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Wednesday, 25 June 2025 : 12th Week of Ordinary Time (Homily and Scripture Reflections)

Liturgical Colour : Green

Dear brothers and sisters in Christ, today all of us listened to the words of the Sacred Scriptures in which we are all reminded of the need for all of us as Christians to be always truly faithful to the Lord in all things, in all of our actions, words, deeds, in each and every one of our dealings with one another, in our every efforts and endeavours, so that we can truly be good role models and examples to each other and to everyone else, in truly being faithful to the Lord in everything, and be the ones to bear good fruits of our faith in God. As Christians, we should always bear rich fruits of our faith, and our faith should truly be lived daily and in each and every moment so that we may indeed embody everything that we have believed in, and not merely paying lip service to the Lord or be superficial in our faith and beliefs.

In our first reading today, taken from the Book of Genesis we heard of the continuation from the account of the calling of Abram, the man whom the Lord had called to follow Him to the land that He would show and entrust to him and to his descendants, namely the Land of Canaan. And in today’s passage we heard of the very moment of time when the Lord made His Covenant with Abram, promising him not just the ownership of the lands that He had told him about, but even more importantly that he would have a son as promised, and became the father and progenitor of many nations, how his descendants would be as numerous as the stars in the sky and as the grains of sand on the shores of the seas. Essentially, God promised Abram many things, and everything did come true in the end.

Now, brothers and sisters in Christ, why Abram in particular? Abram was a man close to a hundred years old at that time, still not that old as a hundred is considered today, but was already rather advanced in age, and he was still childless in the marriage he had with Sarai, his wife. He was wealthy and having a lot of possessions, but without a legal heir, all of his earthly goods and possessions would indeed go to a servant. Abram was indeed ready to accept such an outcome, but as we heard, the Lord not only assured him of a son, but that through this son, he would be great and blessed, and his descendants would also be equally blessed, and God would make them all His people as well. And most importantly, Abram trusted fully in the Lord and knew that there is nothing impossible that God cannot do.

That is why as we listened to the story of the Covenant that God made with Abram, later known as Abraham after this Covenant, we are reminded of the great faith of Abraham, and all of his good character and qualities, the faith and love which he had for the Lord, which made the Lord to choose him out of all the others, to make him truly blessed and honoured among all the other people, and to make him the progenitor of many nations. And we are reminded also of the power and might of God, Who can make even the most impossible thing to be possible, as indeed, there is no limit to the power of God, and everything is possible for God as long as it is within His will. That is why we should always have strong and firm faith in the Lord at all times.

Then, as we heard from our Gospel passage today, taken from the Gospel according to St. Matthew the Apostle and Evangelist, what was highlighted was the Lord’s teaching to His disciples and followers using a parable, the parable of the good fruits and bad fruits, and the associated trees that produced them. By using parables as the Lord had often done, He wanted to explain His thoughts and intentions to His disciples and followers, many of whom were relatively uneducated, and yet knowledgeable about the experiences of the world such as in the field of agriculture, where this parable of the trees and their fruits would make good sense to those whom the Lord had spoken His words and teachings towards.

Therefore, as the Lord Himself highlighted, that the good trees would bear good fruits, and how the bad and unhealthy trees would produce bad and spoilt fruits, therefore, in the same manner that if they were not truly genuine in their faith and commitment to God, they would indeed be like the bad trees, producing bad fruits, and even though the tree might have looked good on the outside, yet the rottenness of its core could not be truly hidden, as if the tree is truly bad and rotten inside, then the fruits it produces will also be rotten and bad as well. Conversely, a good tree, even if it does not look very well from the outside, will certainly produce good fruits. Essentially, what the Lord told His disciples and followers is that, they all must be truly genuine in their faith and trust in the Lord.

This means that for all of us as Christians, as the disciples and followers of the Lord, we must also be genuine in our faith and belief in the Lord, and we should always be sincere in our desire to love Him and to follow His path as Abraham, our father in faith had done in his great and ever enduring faith and commitment to God despite the challenges and trials, all the uncertainties and difficulties that he had to face amidst his journey. All of us should learn to live our Christian life and faith sincerely and to the best of our abilities so that in all of our actions, words and deeds, and indeed in our every interactions we will always bear rich and good fruits of our faith, and not the rotten and wicked fruits of evil and sin. And all these require us to put into practice what we believe in.

Brothers and sisters in Christ, let us all hence renew our commitment to the Lord, the same Lord and God Who had made the Covenant with Abraham, and Who has renewed this Covenant with the New and Eternal one through His Son, Our Lord and Saviour, Jesus Christ. By the most loving and selfless sacrifice on the Cross, Christ has shown us the perfect love of God manifested to us. Let us all also love the Lord in the same manner then, and love one another similarly as well, manifesting this great and loving Covenant that we have with God, in all of our whole lives, in everything that we say and do, at all times. May God bless us always, now and forevermore. Amen.

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Wednesday, 25 June 2025 : 12th Week of Ordinary Time (Gospel Reading)

Liturgical Colour : Green

Matthew 7 : 15-20

At that time, Jesus said to His disciples, “Beware of false prophets : they come to you in sheep’s clothing; but inside, they are voracious wolves. You will recognise them by their fruits. Do you ever pick grapes from thorn bushes; or figs, from thistles?”

“A good tree always produces good fruit. A rotten tree produces bad fruit. A good tree cannot produce bad fruit; and a rotten fruit cannot bear good fruit. Any tree that does not bear good fruit is cut down and thrown into the fire. So then, you will know them by their fruit.”

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Wednesday, 25 June 2025 : 12th Week of Ordinary Time (Psalm)

Liturgical Colour : Green

Psalm 104 : 1-2, 3-4, 6-7, 8-9

Give thanks to YHVH, call on His Name; make known His works among the nations. Sing to Him, sing His praise, proclaim all His wondrous deeds.

Glory in His holy Name; let those who seek YHVH rejoice. Look to YHVH and be strong; seek His face always.

You descendants of His servant Abraham, you sons of Jacob, His chosen ones! He is YHVH our God; His judgments reach the whole world.

He remembers His Covenant forever, His promise to a thousand generations, the Covenant He made with Abraham, the promise He swore to Isaac.

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Wednesday, 25 June 2025 : 12th Week of Ordinary Time (First Reading)

Liturgical Colour : Green

Genesis 15 : 1-12, 17-18

After Abram met with Melchizedek, the word of YHVH was spoken to Abram in a vision : “Do not be afraid, Abram, I am your shield; your reward will be very great!” Abram said, “My Lord YHVH, where are Your promises? I am still childless and all I have will go to Eliezer of Damascus. You have given me no children, so a slave of mine will be my heir.”

Then the word of YHVH was spoken to him again, “Eliezer will not be your heir, but a child born of you (your own flesh and blood) will be your heir.” Then YHVH brought him outside and said to him, “Look up at the sky and count the stars if you can. Your descendants will be like that.”

Abram believed YHVH Who, because of this, held him to be an upright man. And He said, “I am YHVH Who brought you from Ur of the Chaldeans to give you this land as your possession.” Then Abram asked, “My Lord, how am I to know that it shall be mine?” YHVH replied, “Bring Me a three-year-old heifer, a three-year-old goat, a three-year-old ram, a turtle dove and a young pigeon.”

Abram brought all these animals, cut them in two, and laid each half facing its other half, but he did not cut the birds in half. The birds of prey came down upon them, but Abram drove them away. As the sun was going down, a deep sleep came over Abram, and a dreadful darkness took hold of him.

When the sun had set and darkness had fallen, a smoking firepot and a flaming torch passed between the halves of the victims. On that day YHVH made a Covenant with Abram, saying, “To your descendants I have given this country from the river of Egypt to the Great River, the Euphrates.”

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Tuesday, 24 June 2025 : Solemnity of the Nativity of St. John the Baptist (Homily and Scripture Reflections)

Liturgical Colour : White

Dear brothers and sisters in Christ, today the Church celebrates the joyful occasion of the Nativity of St. John the Baptist, which takes place on the twenty-fourth day of June, which is about six months before that of Christmas, based on the Scriptural evidence that Elizabeth, the mother of St. John the Baptist, the Herald of the Messiah, conceived a child in her old age, a truly miraculous occasion before Mary, the Mother of the Messiah and God herself conceived the Holy Child, and it was such that at the time when the Archangel Gabriel announced to Mary the good news of the miraculous event, Elizabeth was already pregnant for about six months. As such, the Church tradition dictated that this occasion of the Nativity of St. John the Baptist to take place about three months after the Annunciation of the Lord and six months before Christmas.

And St. John the Baptist is one of the only three figures in the entire liturgical calendar, whose Nativity or birth into this world are celebrated, together with the Lord Jesus Christ Himself, Our Lord and Saviour, as well as with Mary, the Mother of God, whose birthdays we celebrate respectively in Christmas, the Nativity of the Lord on the twenty-fifth day of December, and that of Mary’s Nativity on the eighth of September every year. And why is it that St. John the Baptist was so honoured in our faith and the Church’s celebrations, brothers and sisters in Christ? That is because St. John the Baptist was truly a very important figure in the history of the salvation of all mankind, almost as much involved in the history of salvation as Mary herself, who being the Mother of God is the one closest and most honoured among all of us mankind.

St. John the Baptist was the Herald of the Messiah, the one whom God had sent into this world to proclaim the salvation and the fulfilment of the many promises which God Himself had constantly reassured all of us His people, from time to time through His many prophets and messengers. Through what the Lord shared through the Angel, traditionally associated with the Archangel Gabriel, to Zechariah, the father of St. John the Baptist, it was the very first clue of the fulfilment of God’s long awaited promises to His people, as it happened before the Good News itself came to Mary in Nazareth at the Annunciation of the Lord. That the Lord was sending His servant and messenger into this world to prepare the path for His Saviour and Son, it was indeed a great news and great joy awaiting the people of God, as prophesied through the prophets.

In our first reading today, taken from the Book of the prophet Isaiah, we have indeed heard of the prophecy which the Lord Himself has spoken through Isaiah regarding the servant that He would send to prepare the way for the coming of His salvation and grace, speaking of the coming of the one whom God had prepared since from within his mother’s womb, who has been pronounced by name before he was even born, as St. John the Baptist himself experienced, as the Angel of God told his father the name that the Lord had wanted him to name the yet to be conceived and born child of his, as John. Something similar also would happen to the Messiah Himself, whom the Archangel Gabriel told Mary the Name of Jesus at the moment of His conception at the Annunciation.

Therefore, the prophecy of Isaiah spoke of the coming of both St. John the Baptist and the Lord Jesus Himself, and particularly our attention today is brought towards St. John the Baptist himself, whom the Lord had sent to prepare the path for the coming of His Son, the long awaited Saviour of the world. From the time of his miraculous conception in the womb of Elizabeth, his mother, St. John the Baptist has been meant to serve the Lord all his life, dedicated to God from the time of his birth and set aside for the purpose of the glory of God. And today as we celebrate his Nativity, his appearance and entry into this world, let us all recall everything that he had done for the greater glory of God, in his lifelong commitment to the Lord, and in all the great works that God had done through him.

As St. Paul told the faithful people of God about St. John the Baptist in our second reading today from the Acts of the Apostles, this great and dedicated servant of God had done all he could to prepare and smoothen the path for the coming of the Lord’s Saviour, by calling on all the people to repent and turn away from their many sins and evils. He has called on them to embrace God’s grace and mercy, His forgiveness and love, calling on all of them to show their sincerity in repentance and in following God through their acceptance of baptism which St. John the Baptist was well-known for, in his works of baptism in the Jordan River, which he did for many years while preparing the way for the Lord, and which he continued on even after he had encountered and baptised the Lord Jesus Himself.

The same St. John the Baptist also spoke courageously against all those crooked and wicked leaders and elders of the people, the members of the Pharisees who had questioned him for his authority and the authenticity of his works, not mincing his words, calling them all ‘brood of vipers’ for their lack of genuine faith in God and for their failure in doing what they had been entrusted to do, in guiding God’s people to Himself. He also sternly criticised Herod, the King of Galilee for his improper and adulterious relationship with Herodias, the wife of his own brother that he took as his own wife even when his brother was still alive. And for this courage, he was imprisoned and later martyred by beheading on the instigation of the same Herodias, who held a great grudge against the man of God. But St. John the Baptist was faithful to the very end, and he is indeed an inspiration to all of us.

Brothers and sisters in Christ, as we all recall the great examples and faith, the dedication and courage which St. John the Baptist, the Herald of the Messiah and our role model has shown us, let us all therefore do our best to follow in his good examples, faith and commitment, such that in everything that we do, we will always be ready to commit ourselves to the Lord, be righteous in all of our deeds and works, and be exemplary in all of our way of living our Christian faith through real action and commitment to God. May the Lord continue to strengthen our faith in us, and give us the same courage and faith which He has given to St. John the Baptist, His Herald and courageous servant, that all of us may also dedicate ourselves in serving God in the same way as well, now and always. Amen.