Tempus Ordinaria

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Wednesday, 15 October 2025 : 28th Week of Ordinary Time, Memorial of St. Teresa of Jesus, Virgin and Doctor of the Church (Homily and Scripture Reflections)

Liturgical Colour : White

Dear brothers and sisters in Christ, today as we all listened to the words of the Sacred Scriptures, we are reminded that God will reward those who are faithful to Him, and He will punish all those who are wicked and who oppress and manipulate those who are around them. The Lord is never blind or ignorant of everything that we have done, or have not done, and He always knows our hearts, our minds and thoughts, everything that we say and do and how we interact with each other. God knows everything about us and He wants to lead all of us to Himself, showing us how we can be truly holy and worthy of Him, through what He has taught us and through the good inspirations that His saints, our holy predecessors that had shown us the way to be truly devoted and faithful to God in our lives.

In our first reading today, we heard from the Epistle of St. Paul the Apostle to the Church and the faithful people of God in Rome, in which the Apostle continued to speak about how one ought to live his or her life as a Christian, that is as a disciple of Christ, the Saviour of all, Whom St. Paul had reminded the faithful in Rome as being sent for all mankind, regardless whether one was a Jew or whether one was a Gentile or a non-Jew. All of them are equally beloved by God and all have the same chance at salvation and eternal life, because all of us are created by God out of love, and He loves all of us without exception, even to the greatest of sinners. He has given us all many opportunities to return to Him and to be reconciled with Him, ever ready to forgive us our sins.

It is also an important reminder for each one of us as St. Paul mentioned it in that same passage we heard today, that we do not judge and condemn others especially because we think that we are better or more deserving of God’s grace and blessings than those whom we are judgmental, biased and opposed against. All of us are sinners and we all have disobeyed God in some way or form or another, and we must be humble and willing to be open-minded and to listen to others speaking to us, lest we think that we can do no wrong or that we are in any way better or more deserving than the others. It is this attitude among other things which had caused so many divisions and problems in the Church even up to this day, pushing people away from the Lord and His Church instead of towards Him.

Then, from our Gospel passage today, from the Gospel according to St. Luke the Evangelist, we heard of the continuation of the rebukes and woes which the Lord Jesus pronounced against the Pharisees, who were back then one of the very influential groups within the community of the people of God, the Jewish people, together with the Sadducees. The Pharisees were the intellectual and religious elites of the community, where they took great pride in their supposed superiority in piety and way of living their faith and lives, in the manner how they observed the Law and commandments of God. The Lord Himself rebuked the Pharisees for their great pride, ego and superficial faith, as well as their desire and craving for power and worldly glory.

Not only that but through their actions and attitudes, many among those Pharisees had also pushed people away from God, just as we have discussed earlier from our first reading passage today. They made it more difficult for those that they discriminated and were biased against to come towards the Lord, and they made it more difficult for many others as well for them to come towards God because of the excessive requirements and their very stringent and rigid application and interpretation of God’s Law and rules, the regulations and other things that made it hard for many people to be faithful to God. And in doing so, they have also forgotten and overlooked the fact that God gave His Law to His people to show them how they ought to love Him and to make it easier for them to come towards Him.

Today, the Church also celebrates the Feast of St. Teresa of Jesus, also better known by her other appelation of St. Teresa of Avila, named after her birthplace in Avila in Spain today. Her life may indeed be good source of inspirations and hope, strength and encouragement for all of us in how each and every one of us ought to be living up our lives. All of us are reminded that we are all called to follow the good examples of the saints, like that of St. Teresa of Jesus, who was the founder of the Order of the Discalced Carmelites. Together with St. John of the Cross, St. Teresa of Jesus was credited with the very important reform within the Carmelite Order, seeking to lead a more committed and virtuous religious life and observance, as compared to the then increasingly lax standards of the Carmelites.

St. Teresa of Jesus sought to reform the Carmelite order, and was also involved in the arbitration of certain other issues facing both her order and the wider Christian communities around her convent. St. Teresa of Jesus together with her companion, St. John of the Cross, continued to labour hard and well for the sake of the glory of God and the salvation and well-being of God’s people. They faced a lot of opposition from both within the Carmelite Order itself and from the community, but they pressed on with the reforms, and their hard works and efforts eventually bore fruit, for the benefit of both the religious order and the general Christian community.

St. Teresa also wrote very extensively on many articles on the faith, and all those writings and publications, books and works were what eventually led to her canonisation, and also the declaration that she was to be made one of the Doctors of the Church. Her many contributions and good works should serve as source of inspiration for all of us, in how each and every one of us should behave in our lives, and in what we should do as Christians, in doing the will of God and in putting our efforts in every moments of our lives to glorify God by our actions, words and deeds. This is what we have been called to do, brothers and sisters in Christ, to be 

Brothers and sisters in Christ, let us all therefore reflect on what we have just discussed from both the life and works of St. Teresa of Jesus and also from our Scripture passages today, particularly with regard to how we ought to live our lives faithfully and genuinely as Christians. Let our actions, words and deeds at all opportunities and circumstances truly show that we are indeed Christians, the ones whom God had called and chosen to be His own, that through us many more people may come to believe in God as well. May the Lord bless our every efforts, good works and endeavours, now and always. Amen.

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Wednesday, 15 October 2025 : 28th Week of Ordinary Time, Memorial of St. Teresa of Jesus, Virgin and Doctor of the Church (Gospel Reading)

Liturgical Colour : White

Luke 11 : 42-46

At that time, Jesus said to the people, “A curse is on you, Pharisees! To the Temple you give a tenth of all, including mint and rue and other herbs, but you neglect justice and the love of God. These ought to be practiced, without neglecting the other obligations.”

“A curse is on you, Pharisees, for you love the best seats in the synagogues and to be greeted in the marketplace. A curse is on you, for you are like tombstones of the dead which can hardly be seen; people do not notice them, and make themselves unclean by stepping on them.”

Then a teacher of the Law spoke up and said, “Master, when You speak like this, You insult us, too.” And Jesus answered, “A curse is on you also, teachers of the Law. For you prepare unbearable burdens and load them on the people, while you yourselves do not move a finger to help them.”

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Wednesday, 15 October 2025 : 28th Week of Ordinary Time, Memorial of St. Teresa of Jesus, Virgin and Doctor of the Church (Psalm)

Liturgical Colour : White

Psalm 61 : 2-3, 6-7, 9

My soul finds rest in God alone; from Him, comes my salvation. He alone, is my rock and salvation; with Him as my stronghold, I shall not be overcome.

Find rest in God alone, o my soul; from Him, comes my hope. He alone, is my rock and my salvation; with Him as my stronghold, I shall not be overcome.

Trust in Him at all times, my people; pour out your hearts before Him; God is our refuge.

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Wednesday, 15 October 2025 : 28th Week of Ordinary Time, Memorial of St. Teresa of Jesus, Virgin and Doctor of the Church (First Reading)

Liturgical Colour : White

Romans 2 : 1-11

Therefore, you have no excuse, whoever you are, if you are able to judge others. For, in judging your neighbour, you condemn yourself, for you practice what you are judging. We know, that the condemnation of God will justly reach those who commit these things, and do you think that by condemning others, you will escape from the judgment of God, you, who are doing the same?

This would be taking advantage of God, and His infinite goodness, patience and understanding; and not to realise that, His goodness is in order to lead you to conversion. If your heart becomes hard and you refuse to change, then you are storing for yourself a great punishment on the day of judgment, when God will appear as just Judge.

He will give each one his due, according to his actions. He will give everlasting life to those who seek glory, honour and immortality, and persevere in doing good. But anger and vengeance will be the lot of those who do not serve truth, but injustice. There will be suffering and anguish, for everyone committing evil, first the Jew, then the Greek.

But God will give glory, honour and peace to whoever does good, first, the Jew, then, the Greek, because one is not different from the other before God.

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Tuesday, 14 October 2025 : 28th Week of Ordinary Time, Memorial of Pope St. Callistus I, Pope and Martyr (Homily and Scripture Reflections)

Liturgical Colour : Green or Red (Martyrs)

Dear brothers and sisters in Christ, today as we listened to the words of the Sacred Scriptures presented to us, we are reminded of the need for all of us as Christians, as those whom God had called and chosen to be His own, to be truly faithful to Him in all things. We should be filled with genuine understanding of the faith and the appreciation of everything that God had shown and presented to us, all the love that He has bestowed on us, lavished on us and given to us time and again. We should not take for granted what God has given to us and we should also not allow any divisions and disagreements to tear us apart, to threaten the unity of the Church, the Body of Christ to which we all belonged to.

In our first reading today, we heard from the Epistle of St. Paul the Apostle to the Church and the faithful in Rome, the capital of the Roman Empire then, where the Apostle spoke to the faithful there that came from diverse origins, from among both the Jewish diaspora in Rome and from among the Gentiles or the non-Jewish people. St. Paul reminded all the faithful there that regardless of their origins, differences and whatever backgrounds they had, God had revealed Himself to all of them and called them all to do their will, to follow the path that He had shown to them, and not to fall into the temptations and the folly of those who have given themselves to the pagan worship of the idols that were commonplace at that time.

Essentially, St. Paul highlighted the foolishness of man in worshipping the created things like the Sun, Moon, the stars, the elements and other aspects of nature, which were the origins of many of the pagan idols and gods that they worshipped in their pagan temples. Instead, having learnt and realised the truth behind all things, St. Paul encouraged the faithful in Rome to continue to walk the path of faith, believing in the One and only True God that they ought to worship and believe in, the One Who has created this world and all things, instead of settling for the worship of worldly matters and created beings. It is a reminder for all of us as well as Christians that we need to be firm in our faith and continue to be good inspiration in our faith in God in all things.

Then, from our Gospel passage today, taken from the Gospel according to St. Luke the Evangelist, where the Lord Jesus was presented with a query from a Pharisee who had a meal with Him where He was questioned why He did not wash His hands according to the rules that were prescribed among the Jews, especially the particularly rigid and unbending version championed and promoted by the Pharisees. According to this application and observance of the Law of Moses, the Jews ought to observe many rituals and many practices that were superfluous and superficial in nature, and the Pharisees among all were the ones most absorbed into this way of practicing the faith. These rules and rituals developed from the manner how the Lord had prescribed to them through Moses while they were in their Exodus from Egypt towards the Promised Land.

There were indeed reason and importance behind such rules, and in this regard, the rule regarding the need to wash one’s hands before a meal was rooted in the importance of hygiene and in preventing the outbreak of epidemics and diseases that could easily happen during the period of Exodus in close quarters within the tents of the Israelites. However, by the time the Pharisees practiced these rituals and ways, they had made them so extensive and difficult to observe and follow that they also ended up focusing so much on the details, such as having to wash the hands and arms up to the elbows or else the Law would not have been observed properly, to the point that they forgot and overlooked why the Law was given by God to His people in the first place.

The Lord therefore rebuked the Pharisee and the others for their overly obsessed attitude in their way of believing and practicing their faith, how they valued appearances and external piety over true understanding of what the Lord had truly taught them and wanted them all to do in their lives. He does not want any of us, His faithful flock and people to follow in the same misguided and deluded way, to practice our faith in such a superficial way and focusing only on the externals. Instead, the people of God, that is all of us should have a strong, genuine, organic and living faith, one that is based on true appreciation of what the Lord has taught and revealed to us. Each and every one of us ought to be genuine and committed disciples of the Lord, not merely in appearances only, but also in every moments of our lives.

Today, the Church celebrates the feast of one of the holy saints, whose faith and devotion to God, and whose commitment and actions should inspire us all in our own lives, in how we ourselves can become good and committed disciples of the Lord, in all of our actions and works. Pope St. Callistus I was the Pope and leader of the Universal Church, as the Bishop of Rome and Vicar of Christ, successor of St. ‘Peter the Apostle, during a difficult time in the Church’s history, as at that time, persecutions were rampant against the Church and Christians throughout the Roman Empire. Oppression and sufferings were often part of life for many of the Lord’s faithful people, who had to endure those sufferings simply because of their faith in God.

Amidst all of these, Pope St. Callistus I, who was a deacon and assistant to the Pope St. Zephyrinus, in managing the catacombs of the city of Rome, serving the needs of the people of God in the Diocese of Rome, and then eventually becoming the successor of the same Pope St. Zephyrinus, he had involved himself with many of the works and the service for the sake of God’s people, caring for both of their physical and spiritual needs. The Lord has called Pope St. Callistus I to be His Vicar, and he carried out his duties most diligently, in embracing all of the people of God, including those who have lapsed from the faith and fallen into sin. At that time, this matter of welcoming and allowing lapsed Christians who have given in to the pressure to worship pagan gods and idols, either by choice or not, had caused great divisions and disagreements in the Church.

This division and disagreement had led to one of the first schisms in the Church, as St. Hippolytus, a popular priest and preacher who disagreed with the practice of readmitting lapsed Christians without proper penance and consequences, was elected as a rival Pope to Pope St. Callistus I, becoming the first antipope. Pope St. Callistus I was determined to bridge the differences and worked hard to lead the people of God amidst the turbulent times, beset from all directions, both from outside and within, in the many persecutions and challenges that the faithful people of God were facing daily, and in the disagreements that turned fellow Christians against each other. Pope St. Callistus I patiently led the Church throughout all of that, and remained firm in his faith and conviction in dedicating himself and the Church to God. In the end, he was martyred for his faith, during one of those persecutions, but his efforts helped the Church to remain strong throughout the challenging years.

Brothers and sisters in Christ, as we have heard from the great examples of the faith shown by Pope St. Callistus I, a holy man of God and martyr of the Faith, most courageous in his desire to bring unity and reconciliation to the feuding factions of the Church, and which is our good role model and inspiration in how we should lead lives that are truly attuned to the Lord as well. Each and every one of us are reminded to walk faithfully in God’s Presence as Pope St. Callistus I and the many other saints and martyrs had done, and may we continue to glorify the Lord by each and every actions we carry out in life, now and always. Amen.

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Tuesday, 14 October 2025 : 28th Week of Ordinary Time, Memorial of Pope St. Callistus I, Pope and Martyr (Gospel Reading)

Liturgical Colour : Green or Red (Martyrs)

Luke 11 : 37-41

At that time, as Jesus was speaking, a Pharisee asked Him to have a meal with him. So He went and sat at table. The Pharisee then wondered why Jesus did not wash His hands before the dinner.

But the Lord said to him, “So then, you Pharisees, you clean the outside of the cup and the dish, but inside yourselves you are full of greed and evil. Fools! He Who made the outside, also made the inside. But according to you, by the mere giving of alms everything is made clean.”

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Tuesday, 14 October 2025 : 28th Week of Ordinary Time, Memorial of Pope St. Callistus I, Pope and Martyr (Psalm)

Liturgical Colour : Green or Red (Martyrs)

Psalm 18 : 2-3, 4-5

The heavens declare the glory of God; the firmament proclaims the work of His hands. Day talks it over with day; night hands on the knowledge to night.

No speech, no words, no voice is heard – but the call goes on, throughout the universe, the message is felt to the ends of the earth.

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Tuesday, 14 October 2025 : 28th Week of Ordinary Time, Memorial of Pope St. Callistus I, Pope and Martyr (First Reading)

Liturgical Colour : Green or Red (Martyrs)

Romans 1 : 16-25

For I am not ashamed at all, of this Good News; it is God’s power, saving those who believe, first, the Jews, and then, the Greeks. This Good News shows us the saving justice of God; a justice that saves, exclusively by faith, as the Scripture says : The upright one shall live by faith.

For the wrath of God is being revealed from heaven, against all ungodliness, and injustice, of those who have silenced the truth by their wicked ways. For everything that could have been known about God, was clear to them : God Himself made it plain. Because His invisible attributes – His everlasting power and divinity – are made visible to reason, by means of His works, since the creation of the world.

So they have no excuse, for they knew God, and did not glorify Him, as was fitting; nor did they give thanks to Him. On the contrary, they lost themselves in their reasoning, and darkness filled their minds. Believing themselves wise, they became foolish : they exchanged the glory of the Immortal God, for the likes of mortal human beings, birds, animals and reptiles. Because of this, God gave them up to their inner cravings; they did shameful things and dishonoured their bodies.

They exchanged God’s truth for a lie; they honoured and worshipped created things, instead of the Creator, to Whom be praise forever. Amen!

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Monday, 13 October 2025 : 28th 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, we are reminded that all of us need to have true and genuine faith in God, believing wholeheartedly in everything which He Himself has presented to us through His Son, Our Lord and Saviour, Jesus Christ, Who has come into this world to bring salvation upon each and every one of us. We are all reminded that we should not harden our hearts or be stubborn anymore in refusing to listen to the Lord or to obey His will, because we think that we know it better than others and thinking that we are superior in all things compared to those who are around us. Instead, we should grow more humble, even the greater we are and our achievements in life. As Christians, this is what we have been reminded to do.

In our first reading today, taken from the Epistle of St. Paul the Apostle to the Church and the faithful in Rome, we are reminded by the Apostle’s words that each and every one of us as Christian believers, all of us have received the truth and Good News about the salvation which God has promised and reassured us all through Christ His Son, by Whom He has restored us all to grace and brought all of us to redemption. And therefore, as St. Paul himself mentioned, that he and the other missionaries had been entrusted with the testimonies and the other works meant to spread the words of God’s truth to many more people, and therefore, they ought to continue to do great works for the greater glory of God and especially not for their own glory.

That was why St. Paul presented this clearly to the faithful in Rome and also to the other missionaries, reminding them all that they were all truly the servants of God Most High, the ones whom the Lord had entrusted with the mission to reach out to those whom He had been willing to reveal Himself and His truth to, and in all of their actions and works therefore, they ought to keep in mind that they did not do all these things for their own glory and pursuits of worldly power and fame, but instead, as what we all should do ourselves, in our own lives and actions, we should always put God at the heart and centre of everything that we say and do, and we should always walk in the path that He has shown us instead of allowing ourselves to be misled by greed and pride.

Then, in our Gospel passage today, we heard of the words of the Lord Jesus directed to all those who questioned Him and kept on asking Him to perform signs, miracles and wonders before them. Those people had in fact witnessed everything which the Lord had performed, all His miracles, signs and wonders, in all the parts of Galilee where the Lord had often worked and taught to those assembled to listen to Him. But despite having seen and heard everything, and having experienced what the Lord had done and brought to them, they continued to doubt and refuse to accept the truth that had been presented. It was likely that some of those people either belonged to the group of the Pharisees or might have been their supporters.

Why was that so? That is because the Pharisees were back then the religious and intellectual elites of the community of the Jewish people, and they were very rigid and particular in their understanding and application of the Law of Moses and the Jewish customs at that time. They also had a rather elitist and attitude thinking that they were better and morally superior compared to those around them, and that was why they, in their pride and ego, refused to accept that they could be wrong or flawed in their ways, or that anyone else could have known better than them in the matter of the faith and the Law of God. That was why despite having seen so many evidence and signs presented before them, they still doubted and refused to believe the clear truth from God Himself.

Brothers and sisters in Christ, today as we all listened to these readings from the Sacred Scriptures, we are all reminded that we should always strive to do our best in all things to be faithful to God, to trust in Him and to believe in Him beyond the superficials like how those Pharisees and those who doubted the Lord behaved. We should believe in the Lord even when we cannot see His works and miracles, wonders and power directly in our lives, as many of God’s works may be very subtle for us to see and realise. And yet, we must continue to be assured that God has always been by our side, journeying with us and supporting us throughout the way. God will always be there for us as He truly loves each one of us, and He wants us all to know that if we remain faithful in Him, our faith in Him will not disappoint us.

As Christians, each and every one of us are called to be the shining beacons of God’s light and truth, to be the ones to transmit the faith that we have in Him, true faith that is truly innate within us and faith that is not merely based on external appearances or affirmation from those around us. Instead, we should have faith that truly endures and is truly organic and living, through our faithful and dedicated commitment to God in all things, in how we practice our faith even in the smallest things that we say and do, in loving Him wholeheartedly and also even more importantly, in how we love those whom we love around us and also those whom we encounter each day in our lives. How we carry out our lives reflect on our true nature as Christians and as those whom God had called and chosen.

May the Lord continue to guide and strengthen each and every one of us in our paths, in all the things we carry out in life, in our every actions, words and deeds so that in all things we may always be good examples and inspirations for everyone around us, to all those whom we encounter each day. May He continue to provide us with the strength and blessings necessary that we may continue to persevere in glorifying Him at all times through our good works and efforts. Amen.

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Monday, 13 October 2025 : 28th Week of Ordinary Time (Gospel Reading)

Liturgical Colour : Green

Luke 11 : 29-32

At that time, as the crowd increased, Jesus spoke the following words : “People of the present time are troubled people. They ask for a sign, but no sign will be given to them except the sign of Jonah. As Jonah became a sign for the people of Nineveh, so will the Son of Man be a sign for this generation.”

“The Queen of the South will rise up on Judgment Day with the people of these times and accuse them, for she came from the ends of the earth to hear the wisdom of Solomon; and here, there is greater than Solomon. The people of Nineveh will rise up on Judgment Day with the people of these times and accuse them, for Jonah’s preaching made them turn from their sins, and here, there is greater than Jonah.”