Sundays after Epiphany

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Thursday, 19 June 2025 : Solemnity of the Most Holy Body and Blood of the Lord, Corpus Christi (Homily and Scripture Reflections)

Liturgical Colour : White

Dear brothers and sisters in Christ, today we celebrate a very great occasion, a core tenet of our Christian faith, that is the belief in the Real Presence of Our Lord Himself in the Eucharist, in the bread and wine used during the Holy Mass, transformed by the will of the Father and the incarnation of the Son, and by the power and descent of the Holy Spirit, into the very substance and essence of Our Lord Himself, truly present in Body, Heart, Mind, Soul and Divinity before us all. This is the Dogma of the Transubstantiation, our firm belief that the bread and wine has been transformed completely into the Lord’s own Presence and Body and Blood, although in terms of appearance they may seem to still have the appearance, feel and taste of bread and wine.

On this day, we remember the same Sacrifice that the Lord Jesus had done at the Cross at Calvary, which is being celebrated at every celebration of the Holy Sacrifice of the Mass, at every Masses celebrated everywhere in the world, from the time of the Apostles, throughout history and up to the present day, and which will continue to be in the future until the end of time. This Holy Sacrifice that the Lord Himself has offered constituted Him as the Eternal High Priest of all, the One True High Priest Who offered on our behalf the only perfect and worthy offering for the atonement of our sins, as it is only by the breaking of the Most Precious Body and the shedding of the Most Precious Blood of the Lamb of God, Our Paschal Lamb, that we can be saved.

In our first reading today, we heard of the passage from the Book of Genesis in which the story of the interaction between Abraham and Melchizedek, the King of Salem was highlighted to us. This happened as Abraham came to settle in the Promised Land of Canaan after he had followed the Lord Who called him to go to the land that He would show him and entrusted to him and his descendants. Abraham trusted in the Lord even though he was childless even until he was close to a hundred years old, and he followed the Lord to where He led him, and in the occasion mentioned in today’s reading, he was just triumphant in a battle against the Canaanite kings in a mission to protect and recover Lot, his cousin that had been captured by those kings.

This figure of Melchizedek, the King of Salem was indeed a mysterious one, as he was described as a high priest of the Lord Most High, and it was told that no one knew his origins or that he was even without a father. In this sense therefore, many saw Melchizedek as a prefigurement of Christ Himself, Our Lord and Saviour, Who would indeed eventually come into this world, to do exactly the same thing that Melchizedek had done in offering the sacrifices to God as the High Priest of all creation. Melchizedek received Abraham’s offerings which the latter made in thanksgiving to God, and offered it on his behalf to the Lord, and this city of Salem that Melchizedek was king of, was indeed likely to be the one and the same as the city of Jerusalem, the city and place where the Lord would accomplish His mission in His Passion, suffering and death on the Cross.

Then, from our second reading today, we heard from the account made by St. Paul the Apostle in his Epistle to the Church and the faithful people of God in the region of Corinth regarding the events that happened at the moment when the Lord instituted the Holy Eucharist, this perfect gift from God, the Most Holy Sacrament, the manifestation of His Real Presence in the bread and wine which the priests and the other celebrants of the Mass offer to the Lord on our behalf, much like Melchizedek had done for Abraham, and this is done ‘in persona Christi’, as the priests celebrate the Mass in representing Christ Himself, our One and True Eternal High Priest. They do not offer the Mass on their own accord and their own strength, but representing the Lord Who has given us all most generously His own Most Precious Body and Blood for us.

When the Lord told the disciples at the moment of the Last Supper which St. Paul recounted to us, He truly meant every single words that He said, and He truly meant it when He said that the bread He had broken, blessed and shared with the disciples was indeed His Body, and the wine that He has also blessed and passed to be shared with the disciples was indeed His Blood. The Lord did not say that those were merely symbolic or representative, or a memorial or any of those sorts, replicating or resembling His Body and Blood. What He said, as affirmed further by St. Paul the Apostle and by the teaching of the early Church fathers, is that the bread and wine truly became the very Real Presence of the Lord, and are indeed the Most Holy and Precious Body and Blood of the Lord, through the actions of the priest, in invoking the power of God to enact this.

In our Gospel passage today, we heard then of the Lord feeding all of the multitudes of the five thousand people in the famous miracle that I am sure we are all well familiar with. Through this miracle we can see how the Lord is so loving and compassionate towards us, realising our physical needs just as much as we have our spiritual needs as well. He blessed the five loaves of bread and the two fishes that were presented to Him, breaking them and sharing them, and we heard how miraculously those small amount of food was enough to feed the whole multitude of five thousand people, with plenty of leftovers collected, amounting to twelve whole full baskets worth of food. Many people were happy and satisfied, fully filled by their experience with this miracle.

And after this event, chronologically in the events of the Lord’s ministry, many people came seeking Him and wanting Him to be their King, and the Lord told them that they desired this because they were happy to get the food from all those miraculous multiplication of the loaves of bread and fish, the food that satisfied the physical self and the body. However, the Lord told them then that what is more important is the food that lasts forever, and the true and real Food which He would share to them which would bring them all to the promise of eternal life and true happiness with Him. This was highlighted in the discourse on the Bread of Life in the Gospel of St. John the Apostle, where the Lord Jesus clearly stated to all those who followed Him that He is that Bread of Life which has come down from Heaven.

The Lord also stated, just as He had done in the Last Supper, that His Body is real Food and His Blood is real Drink, and they were to be given to everyone to partake and share, so that all those who partake in the Body and Blood of the Son of God and Son of Man would have eternal life in them. Again, all these highlighted the undeniable and clear fact that what the Lord Himself has instituted at the Last Supper was truly His Most Precious Body and Blood manifested in the bread and wine which He had transformed into the very Essence and Reality of His Body and Blood, His own Presence with them, which we therefore partake and therefore God Himself dwell within us all. And should we wonder if this is possible, we do not have to look far but the miracle that He Himself performed in feeding the five thousand people. What seems impossible for us mankind, is possible for God, as there is nothing impossible for God.

Now, brothers and sisters in Christ, let us all consider carefully how we have believed in the Real Presence of Our Lord in the Most Holy Eucharist. The sad truth and reality facing our Church today is the ever dwindling faith that many Catholics are exhibiting towards the Real Presence in many parts around the world, especially in the places in Europe and the Americas where the Christian faith used to be predominant and strongly embraced by the people. This is then also linked to the ever rapidly dwindling attendance and participation in the Masses and other liturgical events and activities of the Church. If we start losing our faith and belief in the Real Presence of the Lord in the Eucharist, then sooner or later, we will also grow detached and be easily distracted by the many temptations and pressures around us in this world.

And in the manner of how we treat the Lord in His Real Presence in the Eucharist is also alarming, as many of us no longer have that faith in this important and core tenet of our faith, in the manner how we act nonchalantly in receiving the Holy Eucharist and even in how we are usually so impatient and cannot wait for the Holy Mass to end so that we can continue with our activities and other busy way of living in the world outside there. This is something that we are constantly being reminded of, especially on this Solemnity of the Most Holy Body and Blood of the Lord, that there is a need for all of us as Christians to return once again to the root of our faith in the Holy Eucharist, a faith that is truly centred on the Lord truly present in our midst, with sure hope in His Providence and with a heart full of love for Him and for our fellow brothers and sisters around us.

Brothers and sisters in Christ, let us all therefore seek to renew our commitment to the Lord our God, our most loving Saviour and King, He Who has made Himself available to us all through the Eucharist, His perfect gift of love to all of us, ever tied and linked to the ultimate and most loving Sacrifice that He has performed at the Cross at Calvary. Therefore, every time we come and participate at the Holy Mass, let us all renew our faith and commitment to the Lord in what He has shown and given us through the Most Holy Eucharist from now on, and be the worthy bearers of His truth and love by living our lives in the manner that He has taught us to do, now and always. Amen.

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Thursday, 19 June 2025 : Solemnity of the Most Holy Body and Blood of the Lord, Corpus Christi (Gospel Reading)

Liturgical Colour : White

Luke 9 : 11b-17

At that time, Jesus welcomed the people of Bethsaida, and began speaking about the kingdom of God, curing those who needed healing. The day was drawing to a close, and the Twelve drew near to tell Him, “Send the crowd away, and let them go into the villages and farms around, to find lodging and food, for we are here in a lonely place.”

But Jesus replied, “You yourselves, give them something to eat.” They answered, “We have only five loaves and two fish. Do You want us to go and buy food for all this crowd?” for there were about five thousand men. Then Jesus said to His disciples, “Make them sit down in groups of fifty.”

So they made all of them sit down. Jesus then took the five loaves and two fish, and, raising His eyes to heaven, pronounced a blessing over them; He broke them, and gave them to the disciples to distribute to the crowd. They ate and everyone had enough; and when they gathered up what was left, twelve baskets were filled with broken pieces.

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Thursday, 19 June 2025 : Solemnity of the Most Holy Body and Blood of the Lord, Corpus Christi (Second Reading)

Liturgical Colour : White

1 Corinthians 11 : 23-26

This is the tradition of the Lord that I received and that in my turn I have handed on to you; the Lord Jesus, on the night that He was delivered up, took bread and, after giving thanks, broke it, saying, “This is My Body which is broken for you; do this in memory of Me.”

In the same manner, taking the cup after the supper, He said, “This cup is the new Covenant in My Blood. Whenever you drink it, do it in memory of Me.” So, then, whenever you eat of this bread and drink from this cup, you are proclaiming the death of the Lord until He comes.

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Thursday, 19 June 2025 : Solemnity of the Most Holy Body and Blood of the Lord, Corpus Christi (Psalm)

Liturgical Colour : White

Psalm 109 : 1, 2, 3, 4

The Lord said to my Lord, “Sit at My right hand till I make Your foes Your footstool.”

From Zion the Lord will extend Your mighty sceptre and You will rule in the midst of Your enemies.

Yours is royal dignity from the day You were born in holy majesty. Like dew from the womb of the dawn, I have begotten You.

The Lord has sworn, and He will not take back His word : “You are a Priest forever in the order of Melchizedek.”

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Thursday, 19 June 2025 : Solemnity of the Most Holy Body and Blood of the Lord, Corpus Christi (First Reading)

Liturgical Colour : White

Genesis 14 : 18-20

Then Melchizedek, king of Salem, brought bread and wine; he was a priest of God Most High, and he blessed Abram saying, “Blessed be Abram by God Most High, Maker of heaven and earth! And blessed be God Most High Who has delivered your enemies into your hands!”

And Abram gave him a tenth part of everything.

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Thursday, 19 June 2025 : 11th Week of Ordinary Time, Memorial of St. Philip Minh, Priest and Martyr, and Companions, Martyrs (Homily and Scripture Reflections)

Liturgical Colour : Red

Dear brothers and sisters in Christ, today as we all listened to the words of the Sacred Scriptures, we are reminded of the need for all of us to be firmly rooted in faith and to be truly committed to God, so that we do not easily fall into the false paths due to the temptations of worldly vices and falsehoods spread by those who seek our downfall and destruction. Each and every one of us as Christians are always called to remain vigilant against all those false teachings and to remain rooted firmly in God, and the best way for us all to do this is by doing what the Lord Jesus had taught us, His disciples to do, that is to pray to our Heavenly Father and to constantly communicate with Him so that we may truly realise what He wants us all to do in our lives.

In our first reading today, we heard from the Epistle of St. Paul to the Church and the faithful people of God in the region of Corinth, warning them of the temptations of Satan and all those seeking to mislead them all into the wrong paths, mentioning how there were others who taught differently from the way that St. Paul had already taught to the faithful there. This highlighted the reality of the earliest days of the Church, in those days when there was not yet any united doctrine or organised Church organisation in the manner that we are all familiar with these days. There were still preachers and charismatic teachers of the faith going around then spreading the teachings that might not have been in accordance to what the Lord had revealed to His Apostles and the Church.

That in itself might not have been wicked or negative in intention, as some of those preachers, one of which was the charismatic Jewish preacher named Apollos, or St. Apollos was in fact a believer of Christ, and yet, he had not yet received the full instruction of faith and the Holy Spirit yet, and hence, that was why what he taught and spoke to the people were somewhat different from what St. Paul and the other Apostles had taught and spoken to the faithful. However, there were indeed many other false teachers and preachers, whose heretical ideas and thoughts brought harm to the souls of many of the faithful, many of whom were ensnared by those wrong and perverted teachings and ways, leading to quite a number among them to be swayed by the tempting words and falsehoods.

This was what St. Paul had told the faithful in Corinth in order to remind and warn them so that they do not end up falling into temptations and all the falsehoods present all around them in the world. He was also sharing how while he was not among the members of the Twelve, which he probably jokingly mentioned as being ‘super-Apostles’, being those who were closest to the Lord and were present during His ministry unlike that of St. Paul, but whatever he had taught the faithful in Corinth and elsewhere, all that he had laboured for, all that he had shared to them were all the same as what the rest of the Apostles had taught as well. Essentially, he was telling them all that what he and the other Apostles have brought to them were the authentic and genuine expressions and details of their Christian faith, and they should remain rooted in that teaching, and not in the falsehoods.

Then, from our Gospel passage today, taken from the Gospel according to St. Matthew the Apostle and Evangelist, we heard of the Lord Jesus telling His disciples of how they ought to pray to their Father, not in the manner of the pagans and all those who usually use a lot of words in their prayers, a lot of actions and gestures, and yet, they did not truly pray in the right sense. That was why the Lord Jesus taught the disciples on how they ought to pray to their Father in Heaven, just as Jesus Himself frequently spent time in prayer and silent time with the Father. And that was how God wants us all to pray as well, in spending good, quality and committed time with Him as much as we are able to, in communicating actively with Him, in listening to Him just as we also speak to Him, as how we should in a proper communication.

In communicating with the Lord through prayer, all of us are taught and reminded by Our Lord Jesus Himself that first of all, we should not seek to impose on the Lord what we want, unlike how we normally conduct our prayers. If we do so, then we may end up not praying in the right manner. And this is what we all need to realise, as first of all we have to realise that the Lord is all holy and powerful, and we ought to thank Him first for every blessings that He has bestowed on us each day, even when we may not even realise it at all. Every breath we take and every moment that we are alive, each one of these are reminders for us of just how blessed we all are, and how fortunate for us to have the Lord our God, Who truly loves us all and Who has always been so generous with us.

And that is why we should always be grateful and thankful to God, and remember to ask Him to show us all His kindness and mercy, in giving us all that we need. The Lord knows all that we need, and we do not really actually need to tell Him what is in our hearts and minds, as God Who is all-knowing knows everything that we are, and all that are in our hearts and minds. Yet, at the same time, He also wants us all to call on Him, to come and ask Him for His Divine favours, and most importantly, He wants us to communicate with Him and to trust in Him instead of doing things with our own strength and power. Truly, with God, everything is possible and we can indeed do all things in Him Who strengthens and supports us. And this is why we need a good, prayerful relationship with God at all times.

Today, the Church also celebrates the Feast of St. Philip Minh and his companions in martyrdom, the Holy Martyrs of Vietnam. At that time, the Christian faith had just begun to spread to the land and region of Vietnam through the works of missionaries, particularly those from France, belonging mostly to the Society of the Paris Foreign Mission, also known as the Société des Missions Etrangères de Paris. These foreign missionaries went to distant lands to proclaim the Good News of the Lord and the Christian faith, and in this particular case, they came with the French to serve as missionaries to the land of Vietnam. However, due to their links with the French and their ulterior motives in coming to Vietnam, therefore the Christian missionaries and also the local converts were seen with great suspicion by the Vietnamese government then.

Gradually, persecutions continued to increase against the Christian missionaries and the local converts alike, as Christianity was seen as a foreign influence and possibly dangerous supporters of the French colonial power, and hence ought to be removed and eliminated. St. Philip Minh was one of these Catholic converts, who went to join the seminary in College General in Penang for a few years before he was ordained as a priest, with the intention of continuing the work of mission in Vietnam, to proclaim the Good News of God to more and more of his fellow countrymen. However, the Vietnam that he returned to had become even more hostile to the Christian faith, and eventually, he himself was seized and arrested, and martyred for his faith together with many other missionaries and fellow converts over the many decades of persecution.

Yet, despite all these sufferings and hardships, those Catholics who were persecuted for their faith, just as their predecessors in the early Church had suffered, remained firmly faithful to the Lord, and they remained strong in their conviction to follow Him because they have strong connection and attunement to God, which is what we are again being reminded of today. Let us all therefore continue to deepen our prayer life and to spend all the time to glorify Him through our every words, actions and deeds, in continuing to communicate with our loving God and Father at all times. May the Lord continue to love each and every one of us, and may all of us grow ever stronger in our love and faith in Him. Amen.

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Thursday, 19 June 2025 : 11th Week of Ordinary Time, Memorial of St. Philip Minh, Priest and Martyr, and Companions, Martyrs (Gospel Reading)

Liturgical Colour : Red

Matthew 6 : 7-15

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

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

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

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Thursday, 19 June 2025 : 11th Week of Ordinary Time, Memorial of St. Philip Minh, Priest and Martyr, and Companions, Martyrs (Psalm)

Liturgical Colour : Red

Psalm 110 : 1-2, 3-4, 7-8

Alleluia! I thank YHVH with all my heart in the council of the just, in the assembly. The works of YHVH are great and pondered by all who delight in them.

Glorious and majestic are His deeds, His righteousness endures forever. He lets us remember His wondrous deeds; YHVH is merciful and kind.

The works of His hands are faithful and just, trustworthy are all His precepts, ordained to last forever, bearers of truth and uprightness.

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Thursday, 19 June 2025 : 11th Week of Ordinary Time, Memorial of St. Philip Minh, Priest and Martyr, and Companions, Martyrs (First Reading)

Liturgical Colour : Red

2 Corinthians 11 : 1-11

May you bear with me in some little foolishness! But surely you will. I confess that I share the jealousy of God for you, for I have promised you, in marriage, to Christ, the only Spouse; to present you to Him, as a pure virgin. And this is my fear : the serpent that seduced Eve, with cunning, could also corrupt your minds, and divert you from Christian sincerity.

Someone, now, comes, and preaches another Jesus, different from the One we preach, or you are offered a different spirit from the One you have received, with a different gospel from the one you have accepted – and you agree! I do not see how I am inferior to those super Apostles. Does my speaking leave much to be desired? Perhaps, but not my knowledge, as I have abundantly shown to you in every way.

Perhaps my fault was, that I humbled myself, in order to uplift you, or that, I gave you the Gospel free of charge. I called upon the services of other churches, and served you with the support I received from them. When I was with you, although I was in need, I did not become a burden to anyone. The friends from Macedonia gave me what I needed. I have taken care, not to be a burden to you in anything, and I will continue to do so.

By the truth of Christ within me, I will let no one in the land of Achaia stop this boasting of mine. Why? Because I do not love you? God knows that I do!

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Wednesday, 18 June 2025 : 11th 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 each and every one of us should always do our best to practice our faith in our daily living with true and genuine intentions, with sincerity and love for God and for our fellow brethren. This means that we should always live up to our faith in the faithful and genuine manner, and not in pursuing our various desires and ambitions for worldly things and matter. Once we begin to seek acclaim, praise for from others and all the other things we often crave for in life, we are likely going to be distracted away from our true faith in the Lord, and instead we will end up looking for all those worldly desires and ambitions instead of seeking what is truly good in the Lord.

In our first reading today, taken from the Epistle of St. Paul the Apostle to the Church and the faithful in the region of Corinth, we heard of the words of the Apostle speaking to the faithful there about the matter of being generous in giving and sharing one’s good blessings and gifts from God with one another because that is what the Lord Himself had done for us. We must always be generous in giving our love, care and attention to others because it is being generous in giving and in being compassionate, in sharing our blessings to those who have less than us or even none, that we will truly be faithful to the Lord and be found worthy. The Lord has indeed called us all to be generous in giving, to be loving and dedicated in our care and concern for each other.

And St. Paul also said that if we are generous and cheerful in giving, then God will also be generous with us as well. He always remembers all those who have shown love to one another, those who are always generous in giving and in being kind to everyone, and this is what He wants all of us as Christians to do in each and every moments of our lives. Therefore, just as St. Paul exhorted to the faithful people of God in Corinth, therefore all of us should also do the same in our own daily living and interactions with one another as well. We should always ever be ready to love those whom God had put in our path, and we should also love unconditionally and most generously, never seeking to hurt or harm anyone through our actions. And this is what the true measure of our Christian faith is all about.

Then, from our Gospel passage today, we heard from the Gospel according to St. Matthew the Apostle and Evangelist in which the Lord Jesus was telling His disciples on how they all can be truly and be more genuinely as His disciples in this world in the manner how they all carry out living their lives with true and genuine faith, rather than merely paying lip service to His teachings and ways. This is because true faith and love for God is more than just merely maintaining apperances and impression of holiness, and it is indeed easy for us to end up being misguided and misled by these desires and ambitions that we have, as the desire for fame, glory and acclamation can indeed lead us to be focused more on ourselves and our ego rather than on God.

That was precisely the attitude carried out by those Pharisees and teachers of the Law, the chief priests and elders of the people at that time, during the Lord’s ministry. Many among them went around parading their piety and faith, praying audibly in public places and wearing the prayer shawls with large tassels, wanting to be praised and adored for their supposed piety and obedience to God’s Law, when in fact, many of them did not even have strong and genuine faith in the Lord. They imposed heavy demands and obligations on the people of God when they themselves could not and failed to observe the very strict set of laws, rules and regulations that they themselves had interpreted and demanded that everyone ought to obey and follow.

Therefore, the Lord wants each and every one of us to remember that to be faithful to God, we must be more than all that, and we must not make grand gestures to proclaim our faith and piety for everyone to witness and see, or else, we may instead invite the spirit of ego and pride, the temptations of Satan and the other evil ones that may lead us astray into our downfall and destruction. Hence, we should keep reminding ourselves that we must remain focused and attentive to the Lord, to make Him as the centre and focus of our whole lives, our entire actions and everything that we say and do, or else we may end up losing sight on the true treasure and joy that we can find in the Lord alone, and end up chasing after worldly justifications and desires.

Brothers and sisters in Christ, as those who follow the Lord and believe wholeheartedly in Him, and as those who have dedicated themselves to walk in His path, let us all therefore be committed anew to the Lord, reminding ourselves that our primary aim in this world is to glorify the Lord by our lives. And hence, in everything that we say and do, in our interactions with one another, with our loved ones and all others whom we encounter in life, let us all be the bearers of the love of God manifested through our works and actions, our words and interactions that are truly full of love and compassion for those who are in need of them. Let us all be true and worthy bearers of the Lord’s Good News, love, truth and hope to the world around us.

May the Lord continue to strengthen and empower each and every one of us so that in all of our efforts, good works and dealings, we will always strive to do what is right and just according to the will of God, and that we will continue to glorify Him at all times through our exemplary actions and good works, all grounded on faith and commitment to God, our true Master and Lord, the One to Whom we will always commit ourselves in faith, hope and love, now and always. Amen.