Sundays after Epiphany

by

Monday, 16 June 2025 : 11th Week of Ordinary Time (First Reading)

Liturgical Colour : Green

2 Corinthians 6 : 1-10

Being God’s helpers, we beg you : let it not be in vain, that you received this grace of God. Scripture says : At the favourable time I listened to you, on the day of salvation I helped you. This is the favourable time, this is the day of salvation.

We are concerned, not to give anyone an occasion to stumble or criticise our mission. Instead, we prove, we are true ministers of God, in every way, by our endurance in so many trials, in hardships, afflictions, floggings, imprisonment, riots, fatigue, sleepless nights and days of hunger.

People can notice, in our upright life, knowledge, patience and kindness, action of the Holy Spirit, sincere love, words of truth, and power of God. So we fight with the weapons of justice, to attack, as well as to defend. Sometimes, we are honoured, at other times, insulted; we receive criticism as well as praise. We are regarded as liars, although we speak the truth; as unknown, though we are well known; as dead, and yet we live.

Punishments come upon us, but we have not, as yet, been put to death. We appear to be afflicted, yet always joyful; we seem to be poor, but we enrich many; we have nothing, but we possess everything!

by

Sunday, 15 June 2025 : Solemnity of the Most Holy Trinity (Homily and Scripture Reflections)

Liturgical Colour : White

Dear brothers and sisters in Christ, this Sunday, the Sunday after the Solemnity of Pentecost Sunday we celebrate together the occasion of the Solemnity of the Most Holy Trinity, or also known popularly as the Trinity Sunday. In this Sunday’s celebration we mark one of the most important tenets of our Christian faith, indeed the very core of what we believe as Christians and what distinguishes us from other monotheistic and Abrahamic faiths. This is because we believe in God Who is One and only One, and yet at the same time, as the word ‘Trinity’ highlights to us, He is also Three at the same time. Therefore in our Trinitarian faith and formula of belief, we all believe in the Lord God, Master and Almighty Ruler over all the Universe that is One and yet Three, Three and yet One in nature.

Let us all first look at the readings of the Sacred Scriptures that we have heard on this Sunday before we delve deeper into the discussion on the nature and mystery of the Most Holy Trinity, beginning with what we heard in our first reading this Sunday taken from the Book of Proverbs. In that passage we heard of the prophetic and revealing words of the Lord through the prophets and messengers that He had sent into this world, and in this particular revelation, if we read it through again more carefully, it was actually revealing the relationship between that of the Father and the Son, as in that account from

the Book of Proverbs, we heard everything from the perspective of the Son describing and explaining what the Father is doing in all of His works and how He Himself also has a part in the work of Creation.

We heard how the Son truly existed before the Creation of the world and therefore is not part of Creation and neither He is one of the created beings that are inferior to God, unlike what some heresies had claimed as we will delve more into later on. Instead, the Son has been begotten by the Father before time, and has always existed with Him. And as we listened on, the Son was present at the time of the Creation of the world, because He was indeed there, co-responsible for the work of Creation with the Father and the Holy Spirit. Why is that so, brothers and sisters in Christ? That is because the Son is also the Logos, the Word of God, which later on became Incarnate into Flesh, becoming Son of Man and known to us as Jesus Christ, the Lord and Saviour of all. But at the time of Creation, He is the Word by which the Father created all things and made all things to be.

In the Book of Genesis, we heard how the Holy Spirit was present in all the whole universe before it came to be, and the Father declared all things to come to be, through His Word that is the Son, and then gave life and goodness to all things through the Holy Spirit, the same Spirit by which He has given life to our first ancestors, whom He crafted from dust in His own image and likeness. We can see here how the Most Holy Trinity, God Who is One but Three at the same time, in His Three Divine Persons carry out the work of Creation. And that is precisely what we all believe in, brothers and sisters, in the One and only One True God of all, and yet in His Oneness He existed in the Three distinct Divine Persons, the Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit, bound perfectly by love and indivisible from each other.

Then, from our second reading passage this Sunday, we heard from the Epistle of St. Paul the Apostle to the Church and the faithful people of God in Rome reminding each and every one of us how we have been given great grace from God through the working of the Holy Trinity, with the love of God the Father having been manifested to us and revealed through His Son, Jesus Christ, Who has manifested the perfect love of God for us in the flesh, becoming tangible, accessible and approachable to us. And then, at the same time, we have also received the Holy Spirit just as St. Paul had mentioned, reminding us of the gifts which we have received through this outpouring of the grace of the Holy Spirit, strengthening and empowering us to be faithful and wonderful disciples and followers of the Lord.

Lastly, from our Gospel passage this Sunday taken from the Gospel according to St. John the Apostle and Evangelist, we heard of the words of the Lord speaking to His disciples and reassuring them all of how there were many things that He had taught and revealed to them from the Father, and how there were still many more things that would be revealed to them and reminded to them even though it would not be Him Who would do it for them. This would indeed happen with the coming of the Helper or Advocate that the Lord Jesus Himself promised, the Holy Spirit that would come upon the Church at Pentecost just as we have celebrated it last Sunday with great festivity. Through the Holy Spirit, we receive the fullness of truth from God, proceeding from the Father through the Son to us.

This is what the Church believes in how the Holy Spirit is related to the Father and the Son, in how the Holy Spirit is also Co-Equal and Co-Eternal with God the Father and God the Son, but proceeding to all of us from the Father and through the Son, just precisely as what we have heard in our Gospel passage this Sunday, as the Lord Jesus, the Son of God Himself mentioned that ‘All that the Father has is Mine; because of this, I have just told you that the Spirit will take what is Mine, and make it known to you.’ This clearly showed that the Holy Spirit came upon all of us through the Son, Who has manifested the perfect love of God in the flesh, He Who has reconciled us all with the Father and brought us back in connection with Him, as the great bridge linking us with our Creator. Thus, that was how we all received the Holy Spirit through the Church.

Now, brothers and sisters in Christ, having reflected and recalled what we have heard in our Scripture passages, let us all then now delve deeper into the mystery of the Most Holy Trinity. First of all, the nature of the Most Holy Trinity, Our God Who is both Three and One at the same time, Co-Equal, Co-Eternal and Consubstantial, Indivisible and yet Distinct, all of these have always intrigued many in the Church throughout its whole entire history. From the very beginning of the Church members of the faithful, theologians and teachers of the faith had debated and disagreed many times on the true nature of God, of the Holy Trinity and especially the relationship between each of the members of the Holy Trinity to each other, between God the Father, and the Son, and the Holy Spirit.

In fact, numerous schisms and heresies had been caused by these disagreements and differences in schools of thought, opinions, interpretations and understanding of what constitutes the Holy Trinity and the relationship between the Three Divine Persons of the Holy Trinity. The most famous ones of these include that of Arianism, which claimed and taught its followers that Jesus Christ, the Messiah or Saviour of the world, while is the Son of God, was not Co-Equal and Co-Eternal with God the Father, being instead the first of all of God’s creation, meaning that there was a time when the Son did not exist. But this was refuted by the First Ecumenical Council of Nicaea, the first of the Ecumenical Councils which declared that the Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit are Co-Equal and Co-Eternal, and the Son and the Father also share the same essence and substance, hence the word ‘consubstantial’ that we mention in the Nicene Creed formulated in that Ecumenical Council.

There were also the heresies of Nestorianism and Monophysitism, which were extremes of the wide spectrum of the beliefs then existing in the early Church regarding the true nature of the Most Holy Trinity particularly regarding the nature of Christ or Christology. Nestorianism alleged that Jesus the Man and the Divine Word of God, the Son of God were two separate and distinct beings and that they have separate will and identity, while on the other extreme, Monophysitism which in fact rose in response to the extreme ideas of Nestorian heresy alleged that the Son of Man and Son of God were united as one Being, indivisible and not having two distinct identities, unlike what we all believe and what the Church had preserved from the time of the Apostles.

We believe that Jesus Christ, the Son of God and Saviour of the world is truly fully God and fully Man at the same time. He is truly both the Son of God and the Son of Man, having two distinct natures, Man and Divine, but united perfectly and indivisibly in the one Person of Jesus Christ, the Saviour of the world. And this same Saviour that had taken up the Cross and saved us all is truly Man, tangible and approachable to us, and at the same time, is also Divine, the Word of God Incarnate, by Whose offering and death He has unlocked for us the gates of Heaven and assuring all of us of eternal salvation and grace. And together with the Father and the Holy Spirit, as One God, Three Divine Persons united perfectly in love, He has shown us this most wonderful love and grace.

How do we then understand the Holy Trinity better, brothers and sisters in Christ? There are in fact many ways that we can use to appreciate better the nature of the Most Holy Trinity, in a more understandable and appreciable way. For example, St. Patrick, the famous missionary and Patron Saint of Ireland was remembered for his symbol of the shamrock, or a three-leaf clover that he used in order to explain the nature of God in the Holy Trinity to the pagans throughout Ireland, that they might come to understand Him better. For if one of the three leaves of the shamrock is taken away, then it is no longer the shamrocks as it is, incomplete and no longer can be properly called a shamrock. Each of the three leaves of the shamrock are also connected to each other and not distinct from each other while at the same time, each of the three leaves can be distinguished clearly from each other. They are therefore representative of the Holy Trinity, Three Divine Persons, but one Godhead, and one God in perfect unity, all Three distinct yet inseparable.

We can also use the example of the burning flame as a way to represent the Holy Trinity in a more understandable way. The burning flame produces heat, which many people for a long time had been using as a way to fend off cold and keep themselves warm. They also provide light to the place and dispel the darkness, so that we can see even in the darkest of nights and in places without any illumination. This light is produced as a result of the reaction between the particles involved in the burning, and lastly, the flame itself, which has a discernible shape, because it is in fact heated air and matter, that when heated produce that hue and shape of the flame. And the relationship between these three components of the flame is one other way I can use to illustrate the relationship between the Three Divine Persons in the Holy Trinity as if any of these properties and parts of the burning flame are missing or are taken out, then it will no longer be a burning flame.

Brothers and sisters in Christ, after we have discussed at length about the Holy Trinity, most importantly, let us have faith in our Triune God and not to be overly concerned about the full truth of what the Holy Trinity is all about. After all, St. Augustine of Hippo was famously told to have encountered the Lord at the seashore disguised as a child who was trying to pour the water from the sea into a hole in the sand. When St. Augustine asked the child and wondering why he was doing such an impossible task, then the child, Who was in fact the Lord Himself in disguise, told St. Augustine that therefore it would be similarly impossible for him to understand the whole nature and mystery of the Holy Trinity. St. Augustine, who was then pondering about the Holy Trinity was so profoundly touched by the experience that he wrote one of his masterpieces, De Trinitate or ‘On the Holy Trinity’.

Therefore, brothers and sisters in Christ, let us all hence continue to put our faith and trust in the Lord our God, Who is One and indivisible in unity and yet existing at the same time as Three distinct Divine Persons, the Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit. Let us all therefore continue to be truly faithful and committed in Him and do our best each day to proclaim Him in every opportunities that we have received, and do our part in the ministry of the Church to proclaim His Good News to the world. May the Lord, Triune God, Our Master and King continue to bless our every good efforts, works and endeavours, now and always. Amen.

by

Sunday, 15 June 2025 : Solemnity of the Most Holy Trinity (Gospel Reading)

Liturgical Colour : White

John 16 : 12-15

At that time, Jesus said to His disciples, “I still have many things to tell you, but you cannot bear them now. When He, the Spirit of Truth comes, He will guide you into the whole truth. He has nothing to say of Himself, but He will speak of what He hears, and He will tell you of the things to come.”

“He will take what is Mine and make it known to you; in doing this, He will glorify Me. All that the Father has is Mine; because of this, I have just told you that the Spirit will take what is Mine, and make it known to you.”

by

Sunday, 15 June 2025 : Solemnity of the Most Holy Trinity (Second Reading)

Liturgical Colour : White

Romans 5 : 1-5

By faith, we have received true righteousness, and we are at peace with God, through Jesus Christ, our Lord. Through Him, we obtain this favour, in which we remain, and we even boast to expect the glory of God.

Not only that, we also boast even in trials, knowing that trials produce patience, from patience comes merit; merit is the source of hope, and hope does not disappoint us, because the Holy Spirit has been given to us, pouring into our hearts the love of God.

by

Sunday, 15 June 2025 : Solemnity of the Most Holy Trinity (Psalm)

Liturgical Colour : White

Psalm 8 : 4-5, 6-7, 8-9

When I observe the heavens, the work of Your hands, the moon and the stars You set in their place – what is man that You be mindful of him, the Son of Man that You should care for Him?

Yet You made Him a little lower than the Angels; You crowned Him with glory and honour and gave Him the works of Your hands; You have put all things under His feet.

Sheep and oxen without number and even the beasts of the field, the birds of the air, the fish of the sea and all that swim the paths of the ocean.

by

Sunday, 15 June 2025 : Solemnity of the Most Holy Trinity (First Reading)

Liturgical Colour : White

Proverbs 8 : 22-31

YHVH created Me first, at the beginning of His works. He formed Me from of old, from eternity, even before the earth. The abyss did not exist when I was born, the springs of the sea had not gushed forth, the mountains were still not set in their place nor the hills, when I was born before He made the earth or countryside, or the first grains of the world’s dust.

I was there when He made the skies and drew the earth’s compass on the abyss, when He formed the clouds above and when the springs of the ocean emerged; when He made the sea with its limits, that it might not overflow. When He laid the foundations of the earth, I was close beside Him, the designer of His works, and I was His daily delight, forever playing in His presence, playing throughout the world and delighting to be with humans.

by

Saturday, 14 June 2025 : 10th Week of Ordinary Time (Homily and Scripture Reflections)

Liturgical Colour : Green or White (Saturday Mass of Our Lady)

Dear brothers and sisters in Christ, today as we all listened to the words of the Lord contained within the Sacred Scriptures, we are all reminded as Christians, as God’s holy and beloved people that we must always ever be genuine in our faith in God and in how we live our lives so that our every actions, words and deeds may truly reflect what we believe in, or else we are no better than hypocrites who claim to believe in this way and yet, practice our lives, show our actions and deeds in a completely different and even contradictory way. All of us must always embody our Christian faith in each and every moments of our lives, and we must never take our faith just as a formality or merely paying lip service to the Lord, or mere externalities. It is important that we have to be truly genuine in our Christian faith at all times.

In our first reading today, taken from the Epistle of St. Paul to the Church and the faithful people of God in Corinth, we heard of the Apostle St. Paul speaking to the faithful people of God there regarding the matter of how Christ, the Lord and Saviour, had indeed died for everyone’s sake, and therefore, all of us members and parts of the Church, just as all those faithful in Corinth to whom St. Paul had addressed his Epistle to, are also partakers in this same New and Eternal Covenant that the Lord had established with us all, His holy and beloved people through His Son, the same Jesus Christ, Who has taken upon Himself the weight, burden and sufferings of the Cross, which is no other than all the weight and burden of all of our sins and wickedness.

Yes, brothers and sisters in Christ, all of us have gained great grace and forgiveness from God, the atonement for our many sins and wickedness through what God had done in sending His most Beloved Son to us, Who willingly bore upon Himself and putting it all on His shoulders, the weight of our innumerable sins and evils. He has done do so that we may indeed be freed from them, and that we will not have to suffer the consequences of the sins which we have committed, that is death and destruction. And the Lord did so because He truly loves each one of us genuinely and tenderly, with His generous love, compassion and mercy ever flowing from His Most Sacred Heart, ever bleeding and wounded by our sins, and yet, His infinite compassion, mercy and love have been poured upon us, always.

That is why, brothers and sisters in Christ, as Christians, we must always follow the examples of Our Lord Himself and be inspired by His great, ever wonderful compassionate love for us which He has never stopped giving to us, no matter what. We should therefore also show that same love which we have received generously from God, in our own love for Him and also more importantly, in how we love one another, how we act towards each other, our care and compassion for those whom the Lord had entrusted to us, even to the strangers and acquaintances we meet daily in life, in whichever circumstances and occasions we have encountered and received. We are all challenged and called to be the ones to bear the love of God to everyone around us.

Then, from our Gospel passage today taken from the Gospel according to St. Matthew the Apostle and Evangelist, we heard of the Lord speaking to His disciples and followers reminding them that while it was written in the Scriptures that one ought to make good and fulfil what one made in oath and commitment to God, but He told them that they ought not to make such oath and vows as they should not swear by the Lord or by anything in this world and beyond. Yet, this must be understood in the context of what the Lord had in mind when He told the disciples and followers of these words and teachings, as what He actually wanted to tell them is that as His disciples and followers, they must all truly be genuine and sincere in all of their words, actions and deeds, and not to say things or do things that they themselves may not mean or contradict later on.

That means as Christians all of us should always be true in our words, speech, actions, interactions and everything, and we should truly mean every single thing that we say, and not to make empty promises and commitments without honouring them. We are all challenged to be truly honest, loving, caring and compassionate in everything and to everyone. This is why we must always work on ourselves and our care and concern for everyone around us, and we must not allow ourselves to be swayed by our selfishness and desires, all the things that may lead us astray into the wrong paths, and worse still, may cause hurt and harm for those around us, especially to those whom we love and who love us all. This is what we must not do as Christians, as those whom God had called and chosen.

Brothers and sisters in Christ, as we have all heard from our Scripture passages today, let us all therefore reflect on what we have heard and consider, discern and think carefully on what we should do in our lives and how we should truly embody our faith in our daily lives. It is indeed important that as Christians, we are all truly practice our faith in the manner that the Lord Himself has shown and taught us, and we should always be ready to commit ourselves to the Lord whenever He calls us to do what is right and just in every moments in our lives. By our faithful action and truthful words, our genuine commitment and love for God and for our fellow brethren around us, that is how we can truly show that we are truly good and faithful Christians.

May the Lord continue to provide us His strength, wisdom and guidance so that in all and everything that we say and do, we will continue to be truly genuine, righteous and worthy of Him, and that we may always be truly faithful to Him in all things. May He also continue to bless us greatly and wonderfully in everything that we do, in our every actions, good deeds and endeavours, now and always. Amen.

by

Saturday, 14 June 2025 : 10th Week of Ordinary Time (Gospel Reading)

Liturgical Colour : Green or White (Saturday Mass of Our Lady)

Matthew 5 : 33-37

At that time, Jesus said to His disciples, “You have also heard that people were told in the past : Do not break your oath; an oath sworn to the Lord must be kept. But I tell you this : do not take oaths. Do not swear by the heavens, for they are God’s throne; nor by the earth, because it is His footstool; nor by Jerusalem, because it is the city of the great King.”

“Do not even swear by your head, because you cannot make a single hair white of black. Let your ‘Yes’ mean ‘Yes’ and your ‘No’ mean ‘No.’ Anything else you say comes from the evil one.”

by

Saturday, 14 June 2025 : 10th Week of Ordinary Time (Psalm)

Liturgical Colour : Green or White (Saturday Mass of Our Lady)

Psalm 102 : 1-2, 3-4, 8-9, 11-12

Praise YHVH, my soul; all my being, praise His Holy Name! Praise YHVH, my soul, and do not forget all His kindness.

He forgives all your sins and heals all your sickness; He redeems your life from destruction and crowns you with love and compassion.

YHVH is gracious and merciful, abounding in love and slow to anger; He will not always scold nor will He be angry forever.

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.

by

Saturday, 14 June 2025 : 10th Week of Ordinary Time (First Reading)

Liturgical Colour : Green or White (Saturday Mass of Our Lady)

2 Corinthians 5 : 14-21

Indeed, the love of Christ holds us, and we realise, that, if He died for all, all have died. He died for all, so, that, those who live, may live no longer for themselves, but for Him, Who died, and rose again for them. And so, from now on, we do not regard anyone from a human point of view; and even if we once knew Christ personally, we should now regard Him in another way.

For that same reason, the one who is in Christ is a new creature. For Him, the old things have passed away; a new world has come. All this is the work of God, Who, in Christ, reconciled us to Himself, and Who entrusted to us the ministry of reconciliation. Because, in Christ, God reconciled the world with Himself, no longer taking into account their trespasses, and entrusting to us the message of reconciliation.

So we present ourselves as ambassadors, in the Name of Christ, as in God, Himself, makes an appeal to you, through us. Let God reconcile you; this, we ask you, in the Name of Christ. He had no sin, but God made Him bear our sin, so, that, in Him, we might share the holiness of God.