Liturgical Colour : White
Psalm 83 : 2-3, 5-6, 9-10
How lovely are Your rooms, o YHVH of hosts! My soul yearns; pines, for the courts of YHVH. My heart and my flesh cry out for the living God.
Happy are those who live in Your house, continually singing Your praise! Happy, the pilgrims whom You strengthen, to make the ascent to You.
O YHVH of hosts, hear my prayer; give ear, o God of Jacob! Look upon our shield, o God; look upon the face of Your Anointed!
Liturgical Colour : White
1 Samuel 1 : 20-22, 24-28
And Hannah became pregnant. She gave birth to a son and called him Samuel because she said : “I have asked YHVH to give him to me.” Once more Elkanah went to the Temple with his family to offer his yearly sacrifice and to pay his vow to YHVH. Hannah would not go along but she said to her husband, “I will bring the child there as soon as he is weaned. He shall be presented to YHVH and stay there forever.”
When the child was weaned, Hannah took him with her along with a three year old bull, a measure of flour and a flask of wine, and she brought him to YHVH’s house of Shiloh. The child was still young.
After they had slain the bull, they brought the child to Eli. Hannah exclaimed : “Oh, my lord, look! I am the woman who was standing here in your presence, praying to YHVH. I asked for this child and YHVH granted me the favour I begged of Him. I think YHVH is now asking for this child. As long as he lives, he belongs to YHVH.”
And they worshipped YHVH there.
Liturgical Colour : White
Dear brothers and sisters in Christ, on this day we listened to the words of the Scripture speaking to us about the Law and the commandments of God, His precepts that He has revealed and given to us, for our benefit and for our salvation. God has given us this Law to guide us and to help us on our way, that we can remain strong in our faith, and not be lost to the sways and the temptations of the world, the temptations and pressures for us to sin.
God intends for us to be reconciled with Him, and to be with Him once again, in His grace. He presented before us the way to Himself, and reminding us again and again, to obey Him and to listen to Him, and through those, He guided us through the perilous and difficult path towards His salvation, and many amongst us fell into the traps of sin, the temptations of the devil who is always constantly at work trying to pull us into damnation.
Unfortunately, as history had shown, despite the laws and commandments that God had given to His people, but many among them failed to understand and appreciate the real purpose and meaning of the Law. The most obvious example was shown in the Gospels, as the actions and philosophy of the Pharisees and the teachers of the Law at the time of the Lord Jesus showed us. Those people claimed to be faithful, righteous and devout before others, but in reality, they were not.
The Pharisees and the teachers of the Law championed the way that required the people of God to live following a very strict and harsh application of the laws of Moses, where the people were expected to obey all the commandments, the precepts, the rules and regulations that were written in the Book of the Torah, as preserved from the time of Moses, the traditions and customs that were added along the way by the elders up to that time.
Yet, despite having outwardly showed piety and devotion to God, but in their hearts and minds, they did not give place to God. That was why, at the same time, many among them refused to listen to the Lord’s truth, when He came into their midst, even performing miracles and speaking words of God’s wisdom, revealing before them what the prophets had once spoken about, all being fulfilled in Christ.
That was because of the pride and ego that were in their hearts, which filled them up and prevented them from opening their hearts to God’s love. For they did obey the Law and follow the precepts of God, but they did so without knowing what the Law is actually all about. And the Law is in fact, all about love, just as Christ has revealed before us all, through His disciples. The essence and the heart of the Law is love, loving God and then loving one another.
And God is love, and He gave us the perfect example of His love, by giving us the perfect and best gift that nothing can surpass. He gave us His beloved Son, Who willingly emptied Himself from glory and majesty, and taking up the humble appearance of Man, born in the poorest conditions, in a dirty stable in Bethlehem, as a King Who was to save His people, and yet not with the power of arms and might, but with love, love that surpasses everything else.
That is why He presented before us, what the Law truly means, that is first and foremost, love for God, like the love which Christ as the Son has for His Father, as example for each and every one of us to follow. Instead of loving ourselves and being selfish, He emptied Himself and gave Himself so completely for the love of God His Father, and for the love He has for each and every one of us. He bore all the sufferings and pains, all of our sins, so that by His suffering and death, we may live.
Brothers and sisters in Christ, today’s Scripture readings and what we have just discussed, all spoke of how we should follow the Law of God, with understanding and appreciation of its meaning and purpose, by doing what the Lord Himself had shown us. We must first of all, love God with all of our strength, with all of our ability, and place Him as the first and foremost in our respective lives. And then, we must also love our fellow brethren in the same way, and as much as we love ourselves.
It is when we do not do this, but instead succumb to the temptations of our pride, ego and greed, that we end up sinning against God. Today, we celebrate the feast of a saint, whose devotion and love for God, whose faith and commitment to serve Him, caused him to suffer and to die in martyrdom when he stood by his faith against those who sought to attack the Church and who wished to follow their own ego, pride and greed.
Today we celebrate the feast of St. Thomas Becket, a famous saint and bishop who was the Archbishop of Canterbury and thus, the Primate of England, the most important bishop and leader of the Church in the British isles. St. Thomas Becket, prior to his reign as the Archbishop of Canterbury, was once a powerful noble, who was a good and close friend to king Henry II of England, and was appointed as the Chancellor of England, a position that is probably just second to the king in the secular realm.
King Henry II then appointed St. Thomas Becket as the Archbishop of Canterbury, hoping that keeping the highest ranked clergy in his realm close to him, as one of his closest confidants, the king and his fellow nobles could benefit financially and from other collaborations because of this appointment. However, little did king Henry II realised or could have predicted that St. Thomas Becket had a change of heart and conversion after taking up the role of the Archbishop of Canterbury.
Amidst the struggle and controversies between the Church and the state, especially with matters of state jurisdiction and control over the Church, and the appropriation of properties and the right of nobles and the king over the Church matters, St. Thomas Becket stood up for his fellow churchmen, and defended the rights of the Church against the egoistic and corrupt desires of the nobility and the king.
As a result, the growing tension between the Archbishop and the king eventually resulted in the action taken by four nobles with tacit support from the king, in assassinating St. Thomas Becket right at his Cathedral, and thus making him a martyr of the Church, who died defending his faith and the rights of the Church of God, against those who sought to attack it for corrupt purposes.
Brothers and sisters in Christ, we have seen how St. Thomas Becket went through a conversion of heart and being, from one who lived his life of pleasure and debauchery, into a courageous and committed defender of the faith, who did not fear even going against the mighty and the powerful in his love for God and for His people, the flock whose souls were entrusted under his care. We too can follow in his examples and imitate his commitment to the Lord.
Today therefore, let us all reflect on our own lives, and see in which area that we have failed to live up to our expectation to observe the Law of God, not just in words and in paying lip service like what many of the Pharisees, the teachers of the Law, king Henry II and his nobles had done, but with pure and genuine love for God as St. Thomas Becket and many other holy men and women of God had done. May the Lord be with us all, and bless us in our effort to live more worthily of Him, day after day. Amen.
Liturgical Colour : White
Luke 2 : 22-35
When the day came for the purification according to the law of Moses, they brought the Baby up to Jerusalem, to present Him to the Lord, as it is written in the law of the Lord : Every firstborn male shall be consecrated to God. And they offered a sacrifice, as ordered in the law of the Lord : a pair of turtledoves or two young pigeons.
There lived in Jerusalem at this time a very upright and devout man named Simeon; the Holy Spirit was in him. He looked forward to the time when the Lord would comfort Israel, and he had been assured, by the Holy Spirit, that he would not die before seeing the Messiah of the Lord. So he was led into the Temple by the Holy Spirit at the time the parents brought the Child Jesus, to do for Him according to the custom of the Law.
Simeon took the Child in his arms, and blessed God, saying, “Now, o Lord, You can dismiss Your servant in peace, for You have fulfilled Your word and my eyes have seen Your salvation, which You display for all the people to see. Here is the Light You will reveal to the nations, and the glory of Your people Israel.”
His father and mother wondered at what was said about the Child. Simeon blessed them, and said to Mary, His mother, “Know this : your Son is a Sign, a Sign established for the falling and rising of many in Israel, a Sign of contradiction; and a sword will pierce your own soul, so that, out of many hearts, thoughts may be revealed.”
Liturgical Colour : White
Psalm 95 : 1-2a, 2b-3, 5b-6
Sing to the Lord a new song, sing to the Lord, all the earth! Sing to the Lord, bless His Name.
Proclaim His salvation day after day. Recall His glory among the nations, tell all the peoples His wonderful deeds.
YHVH is the One Who made the heavens. Splendour and majesty go before Him; power and glory fill His sanctuary.
Liturgical Colour : White
1 John 2 : 3-11
How can we know that we know Him? If we fulfil His commands. If you say, “I know Him,” but do not fulfil His commands, you are a liar and the truth is not in you. But if you keep His word, God’s love is made complete in you. This is how we know that we are in Him : he who claims to live in Him must live as He lived.
My dear friends, I am not writing you a new commandment, but reminding you of an old one, one you had from the beginning. This old commandment is the word you have heard. But, in a way, I give it as a new commandment that is true in Him and in you, because the darkness is passing away and true light already shines.
If you claim to be in the light but hate your brother, you are still in darkness. If you love your brothers and sisters, you remain in the light and nothing in you will make you fall. But if you hate your brother you are in the dark and walk in darkness without knowing where you go, for the darkness has blinded you.
Liturgical Colour : Red
Dear brothers and sisters in Christ, today we celebrate together the feast of the Holy Innocents, one of the earliest martyrs in the Church, for those innocents were the young infants of the town of Bethlehem, who was killed by the order of king Herod the Great of Judea, in his futile effort to try to destroy the coming Messiah and King, as written in the Holy Gospels and prophesied in the Old Testament by the prophets.
The Holy Innocents were the victims of human greed, ego and pride, the outcome of man’s attachment to worldly glory and the temptations of the world. I am sure that some of us may have wondered, why God allowed those infants in Bethlehem to be killed. Surely he could have intervened and prevented the infants from being killed? But this is where we need to understand that, the cause of this sad tragedy, was our attachments to sin and our refusal to obey God’s will.
God gave each and every one of us free will and the wisdom to discern His will. Yet, by our own conscious choice and abuse of our freedom, we chose to be selfish and to entertain the wicked temptations which Satan put in our place, as obstacles in our way towards the Lord. Throughout the history of mankind, there had been countless occasions when people suffered, because of the tyranny of those who had power, glory, prestige and superiority over others.
For this particular case on the Holy Innocents, we should also understand the context and the reason why king Herod did what he had done, in the slaughter of the innocent infants of Bethlehem. King Herod the Great was the first king and the founder of the Herodian dynasty of kings who would rule Judea, Galilee and parts of southern Syria, which at that time, just came under the rule and domination of the mighty Roman Empire.
King Herod took over control of Judea from the previous native, Jewish dynasty of the Hasmoneans, descendants of the Maccabees, who were the ones that won the independence of Judea from foreign rule, as written in the Book of the Maccabees. King Herod took over power by deceit and with support from the Romans, who made Herod some sort of a client king, who had some authority and autonomy over Judea, but ultimately had to submit to the Romans. Herod himself was not a Jew, but an Idumean.
Herod therefore, was insecure in his power and kingdom, and therefore, the news of the coming of the King among the Jewish people, was a very bad news for him. As a foreigner ruling as king over the Jewish population, he would have felt even more insecure with this revelation, and of the Three Wise Men who came to him saying that the King of Kings would be born in Bethlehem in the territory of his kingdom.
This is why, combined with Herod’s own megalomania and grandeur, as he was known for his many huge building projects, including vast expansion of the Temple of Jerusalem and a building named after himself, the Herodium, it would be natural for Herod to want the King of Kings to be killed as a rival to his power and authority. Yet, we have to understand that he clearly had a choice in this matter. He had it within his free will and choice not to do what was so abominable and wicked as killing innocent children, but he did it nonetheless.
And why is that so, brothers and sisters in Christ? It is because of his selfishness, his inability to detach himself from his pride and ego, and his greed for power. He did not want to allow a rival King to emerge, someone who might snatch the kingdom, power and glory that was in his hands. And unfortunately, this was the same reason why many of us mankind, throughout history had done, and caused untold sufferings and pains for countless others.
Therefore, today as we celebrate this feast of the Holy Innocents of Bethlehem, all of us are called to reflect on our vulnerabilities to the temptations of pride and greed in our own lives, and how we can fall deep into the trap of sin should we indulge ourselves in them as Herod had done. Unless we consciously choose to resist those temptations, it is likely that we will cause sufferings and pains to others just as king Herod had done to the innocent infants of Bethlehem, all to satisfy his pride, ego and megalomania.
Brothers and sisters in Christ, during this blessed Christmas season, are we able to devote ourselves to God with a new strength and zeal? Are we willing to resist the pull and the temptation of worldly desires and to get rid of ourselves the pride and ego within our hearts and minds? Let us all instead turn towards God and follow the selfless example of Christ in everything we say, act and do, so that from now on, we are no longer living in sin, but in the grace of God. May God be with us always. Amen.
Liturgical Colour : Red
Matthew 2 : 13-18
After the wise men had left, an Angel of the Lord appeared in a dream to Joseph and said, “Get up, take the Child and His mother and flee to Egypt, and stay there until I tell you, for Herod will soon be looking for the Child in order to kill Him.”
Joseph got up, took the Child and His mother, and left that night for Egypt, where He stayed until the death of Herod. In this way, what the Lord had said through the prophet was fulfilled : I called My Son out of Egypt.
When Herod found out that he had been tricked by the wise men, he was furious. He gave orders to kill all the boys in Bethlehem and its neighbourhood who were two years old or under. This was done in line with what he had learnt from the wise men about the time when the star appeared.
In this way, what the prophet Jeremiah had said was fulfilled : A cry is heard in Ramah, wailing and loud lamentation : Rachel weeps for her children. She refuses to be comforted, for they are no more.
Liturgical Colour : Red
Psalm 123 : 2-3, 4-5, 7cd-8
Had not the Lord been on our side, when people rose up against us, then they would have swallowed us alive; such was their anger against us.
A bit more and the flood would have engulfed us, the torrent would have swept over us, the raging waters would have swept us away.
The snare was broken and we were freed. Our help is in the Name of the Lord, Who made heaven and earth.
Liturgical Colour : Red
1 John 1 : 5 – 1 John 2 : 2
We heard His message from Him and announce it to you : God is light and there is no darkness in Him. If we say we are in fellowship with Him, while we walk in darkness, we lie instead of being in truth. But if we walk in the light, as He is in the light, we are in fellowship with one another, and the Blood of Jesus, the Son of God, purifies us from all sin.
If we say, “We have no sin,” we deceive ourselves and the truth is not in us. If we confess our sins, He Who is faithful and just will forgive us our sins and cleanse us from our wickedness. If we say that we do not sin, we make God a liar, His word is not in us.
My little children, I write to you that you may not sin. But if anyone sins, we have an Intercessor with the Father, Jesus Christ, the Just One. He is the sacrificial Victim for our sins and the sins of the whole world.
petercanisiusmichaeldavidkang 