Tempus Paschalis

by

Friday, 16 April 2021 : 2nd Week of Easter (Homily and Scripture Reflections)

Liturgical Colour : White

Dear brothers and sisters in Christ, today as we listened to the words of the Lord in the Scriptures, we continue to be reminded of the wonderful deeds of the Lord, the love by which He has showered upon us as the concrete proof of His dedication and commitment to the Covenant which He has forged with us, that He wants us to be reconciled and to be together with Him as we come closer to Him and receive His truth and love.

In our first reading today, we heard of the intervention by the respected member of the Sanhedrin, Gamaliel, a senior member of the Pharisees and one of the chief priests who urged caution and moderation in terms of the Sanhedrin’s opposition to the works and the efforts of the Lord’s Apostles and followers in preaching His truth and doing miracles in His Name, as he cited how the previous attempts by false Messiahs to claim their identity had failed and their followers dispersed and disbanded shortly afterwards.

Therefore, Gamaliel said that they should leave the disciples and the Apostles be as if they and their mission did not come from God, then it would fail in a short while and everything would fall apart just as what had happened to all the other false Messiahs. On the contrary, if the works of the Apostles were truly divine inspired, then the Sanhedrin, no matter what they were doing, would be going against God and thus it would have been futile to try to stop the works of God.

Through those words of wisdom from Gamaliel, we can see how indeed the fact that the Church and the works of the Apostles that had persevered for the past two thousand years, and not only that, but as how the history of the Church had shown us, the works of the Apostles and their successors had expanded the reach of the Lord and countless souls had been saved all throughout these past two millennia, heeding the Lord’s call for repentance and to be reconciled to Him.

The Lord had gathered all of His faithful ones to Himself just as we heard in our Gospel passage today, that just as we heard the well-known account of the miraculous feeding of the five thousand men and thousands of other women and children, we are reminded of how fortunate we are to have God Who is always ever on our side, loving us and wanting to be reconciled with us, and Who selflessly and ever willingly giving Himself to us.

In that moment when the Lord saw over five thousand men and thousands others gathered before Him, He showed pity and love for them, feeding them all miraculously with only five loaves of bread and two fishes. He broke the bread and shared the fishes, feeding them all just as He has fed their ancestors the manna in the desert. And that was only a prelude to an even far greater giving, that in the discourse that would come after this event, He alluded to how He would be the Bread of Life to all, as the Bread broken and shared for all, so that all who partake in Him will not perish but have eternal life.

That is how the Lord offered Himself and sacrificed Himself on the Cross, shedding His own Most Precious Body and Blood, for all of us who believe in Him, so that by sharing in His Precious Body and Blood, freely offered and given for us, we can share in the everlasting life and true joy and happiness which He has promised to all of us. He has showed us all His love and grace all these while, and how do we respond to this love from God, brothers and sisters in Christ?

Are we going to just pretend that His love did not exist? Or are we going to pretend that nothing had happened at all? God so loved the world, all of us that He has given us all His only begotten Son, for our sake that we may live and not perish, and yet, more often than not we have rejected Him, ignored Him, abandoned Him and betrayed Him. Yet, the Lord still patiently tries to reach out to us and help us, and He still wants to be reconciled with us.

Are we willing to embrace God’s love and mercy, brothers and sisters in Christ? Let us all harden our hearts and minds no more, and do our very best to seek Him at every possible opportunity, that we may come ever closer to Him and be more worthy to share in His glory and love. May God be with us all and may He strengthen us to live our lives with commitment and faith, with each and every passing moments in our lives. May God bless us all and guide us in our journey of faith, now and always. Amen.

by

Friday, 16 April 2021 : 2nd Week of Easter (Gospel Reading)

Liturgical Colour : White

John 6 : 1-15

At that time, Jesus went to the other side of the Sea of Galilee, near Tiberias, and large crowds followed Him, because of the miraculous signs they saw, when He healed the sick. So He went up into the hills and sat down there with His disciples. Now the Passover, the feast of the Jews, was at hand.

Then lifting up His eyes, Jesus saw the crowds that were coming to Him, and said to Philip, “Where shall we buy bread so that these people may eat?” He said this to test Philip, for He Himself knew what He was going to do. Philip answered Him, “Two hundred silver coins would not buy enough bread for each of them to have a piece.”

Then one of Jesus’ disciples, Andrew, Simon Peter’s brother, said, “There is a boy here who has five barley loaves and two fish; but what good are these for so many?” Jesus said, “Make the people sit down.” There was plenty of grass there, so the people, about five thousand men, sat down. Jesus then took the loaves, gave thanks, and distributed them to those who were seated. He did the same with the fish, and gave them as much as they wanted.

And when they had eaten enough, He told His disciples, “Gather up the pieces left over, that nothing may be lost.” So they gathered them up and filled twelve baskets with bread, that is, with pieces of the five barley loaves left over by those who had eaten.

When the people saw the miracle which Jesus had performed, they said, “This is really the Prophet, the One Who is to come into the world.” Jesus realised that they would come and take Him by force to make Him King; so He fled to the hills by Himself.

by

Friday, 16 April 2021 : 2nd Week of Easter (Psalm)

Liturgical Colour : White

Psalm 26 : 1, 4, 13-14

The Lord is my Light and my Salvation – whom shall I fear? The Lord is the Rampart of my life; I will not be afraid.

One thing I ask of the Lord, one thing I seek – that I may dwell in His house all the days of my life, to gaze at His jewel and to visit His sanctuary.

I hope, I am sure, that I will see the goodness of the Lord in the land of the living. Trust in the Lord, be strong and courageous. Yes, put your hope in the Lord!

by

Friday, 16 April 2021 : 2nd Week of Easter (First Reading)

Liturgical Colour : White

Acts 5 : 34-42

But one of the members of the Council, a Pharisee named Gamaliel, a teacher of the Law highly respected by the people, stood up in the Sanhedrin. He ordered the men to be taken outside for a few minutes and then he spoke to the assembly.

“Fellow Israelites, consider well what you intend to do to these men. For some time ago Theudas came forward, claiming to be somebody, and about four hundred men joined him. But he was killed and all his followers were dispersed or disappeared.”

“After him, Judas the Galilean appeared at the time of the census and persuaded many people to follow him. But he too perished and his whole following was scattered. So, in this present case, I advise you to have nothing to do with these men. Leave them alone. If their project or activity is of human origin, it will destroy itself. If, on the other hand, it is from God, you will not be able to destroy it and you may indeed find yourselves fighting against God.”

The Council let themselves be persuaded. They called in the Apostles and had them whipped, and ordered them not to speak again of Jesus Saviour. Then they set them free. The Apostles went out from the Council rejoicing that they were considered worthy to suffer disgrace for the sake of the Name. Day after day, both in the Temple and in people’s homes, they continued to teach and to proclaim that Jesus was the Messiah.

by

Thursday, 15 April 2021 : 2nd Week of Easter (Homily and Scripture Reflections)

Liturgical Colour : White

Dear brothers and sisters in Christ, today as we listened to the words of the Scriptures, once again we are brought to focus on the mission that God has entrusted to us all as Christians, as those whom He has chosen and called to be His own, that each and every one of us be part of the same mission He has entrusted to His Church, that is to all of us who are also members of His Church, the One Body of Christ, the faithful people of God.

We have all been called to follow in the footsteps of the Apostles, the same Apostles whom as described in our first reading today, stood before the whole Sanhedrin or the Jewish High Council facing opposition and bitter resentment from most of its members. The Sanhedrin clearly made known what they wanted, that they all ceased their works and efforts to preach in the Name of the Lord Jesus, recently crucified by the Sanhedrin’s works, and risen from the dead.

St. Peter and the other Apostles firmly rejected and resisted the commands of the Sanhedrin, and stated with great determination and conviction that they would rather obey God and His commandments rather than to obey and follow the commands of fallible men, those who failed to understand the truth of God and those who stubbornly refused to believe in Him because of their pride and arrogance, their desire for fame and power.

Then, in the Gospel today, we heard of the testimony of truth that both the Lord Jesus Himself and St. John the Baptist, His herald had revealed and spoken of, revealing the fullness of the long planned salvation of mankind, that only the One Who had come down from Heaven would have known of. St. John the Baptist proclaimed the coming of the Messiah and called the people to repentance and to abandon their sinful ways that they may come to accept the Lord and His truth when He came.

For all of that, he had to suffer, and the Pharisees and the chief priests doubted him, just as they would later on also refused to believe in the Lord when He came, and he would suffer martyrdom at the hands of king Herod and his unlawful wife, Herodias when he spoke courageously against the immoral behaviour and adultery between the two. And the Lord Himself also suffered as He spoke the truth and was rejected by many among the Sanhedrin, who handed Him over to the Romans to be condemned to death and crucified.

Thus, as we can see here, often, to walk in the path of the Lord is to endure the opposition, challenges and sufferings that are likely to be in that path, and which we have to endure as we walk in His path. The Lord calls us to follow Him nonetheless, and as we embark on this journey of faith, and are we willing to commit ourselves to His cause? Rest assured that the Lord will be with us just as He has been with His Apostles, guiding them and giving them the strength to persevere over their challenges and trials.

Today, in this world there are still many who have not yet known God and who have not witnessed His love and His truth. And we are all as Christians are the ones who have been called to be those who shall bring the Good News of God, His love and presence into the midst of those who have not yet known God and are still in darkness and in ignorance of God’s truth. We are all called to be faithful witnesses of our Christian faith and we should not just be idle or be Christians in name only.

That is why, thus far, as we rejoice during this season of Easter, we are constantly being reminded again and again that the Lord is calling on us to be active and devout Christians, to be genuine in our beliefs and faith, and to be zealous and dedicated in how we live our lives, so that we can become good role models for one another, as we reach out towards our fellow brothers and sisters, and speaking the truth about the Lord, His truth and love, and the salvation He has promised all of us.

Let us all discern carefully therefore what we should be doing, as we move forward in life. Let us make good use of the time and opportunities which we have been given, and be fruitful in all of our good efforts and endeavours, in what we do in each and every moments of our lives to glorify the Lord and to be ray of hope for our fellow brothers and sisters who are suffering especially during this and the past year, that through us, they may also come to know of God and His love. May God bless us all, now and always. Amen.

by

Thursday, 15 April 2021 : 2nd Week of Easter (Gospel Reading)

Liturgical Colour : White

John 3 : 31-36

At that time, John the Baptist said, “He Who comes from above is above all; he who comes from the earth belongs to the earth, and his words belong to the earth. He Who comes from heaven speaks of the things He has seen and heard; He bears witness to these things, but no one accepts His testimony. Whoever does receive His testimony acknowledges the truthfulness of God.”

“The One sent by God speaks God’s words, and gives the Spirit unstintingly. The Father loves the Son and has entrusted everything into His hands. Whoever believes in the Son lives with eternal life; but he who will not believe in the Son will never know life, and always faces the justice of God.”

by

Thursday, 15 April 2021 : 2nd Week of Easter (Psalm)

Liturgical Colour : White

Psalm 33 : 2 and 9, 17-18, 19-20

I will bless the Lord all my days; His praise will be ever on my lips. Oh, see and taste the goodness of the Lord! Blessed is the one who finds shelter in Him!

But His face is set against the wicked to destroy their memory from the earth. The Lord hears the cry of the righteous and rescues them from all their troubles.

The Lord is close to the brokenhearted and saves the distraught. Many are the troubles of the just, but the Lord delivers them from all.

by

Thursday, 15 April 2021 : 2nd Week of Easter (First Reading)

Liturgical Colour : White

Acts 5 : 27-33

So the High Priest and his supporters brought the Apostles in and made them stand before the Council and the High Priest questioned them, “We gave you strict orders not to preach such a Saviour; but you have filled Jerusalem with your teaching and you intend charging us with the killing of this Man.”

To this Peter and the Apostles replied, “Better for us to obey God rather than any human authority! The God of our ancestors raised Jesus Whom you killed by hanging Him on a wooden post. God set Him at His right hand as Leader and Saviour, to grant repentance and forgiveness of sins to Israel. We are witnesses to all these things, as well as the Holy Spirit Whom God has given to those who obey Him.

When the Council heard this, they became very angry and wanted to kill them.

by

Wednesday, 14 April 2021 : 2nd Week of Easter (Homily and Scripture Reflections)

Liturgical Colour : White

Dear brothers and sisters in Christ, today all of us are reminded of the Lord’s providence and guidance towards us. He has given to us His protection and set His Angels before us, defending us in the constant struggle against those who oppose us and persecute us. He will never abandon us or let us all go unaided and unguided, and He has always extended freely His love and care, His concern and compassion towards us.

In our first reading today, taken from the Acts of the Apostles, we heard how the Apostles again got into trouble with the Jewish authorities, the members of the Sanhedrin and the chief priests who sent the guards to arrest them as they continued to preach in the Name of the Lord and worked miracles among the people even after having been told not to continue such works and actions anymore. The Apostles and the other disciples of the Lord deemed it right for them to obey the Lord’s commands rather than man’s commands.

Thus they persevered through those oppositions and the efforts to stop them and their works. They did not allow the threats and even arrest and imprisonment to hinder them or to make them afraid to do what the Lord had commanded them to do. Instead, they shouldered on and pushed on, and prayed frequently together, asking for the Lord’s guidance and strength. And the Lord sent His Angel to free the Apostles, leading them out of the prison unharmed as we heard in our first reading passage today.

The chief priests were all astonished and amazed at what happened and wondered how the disciples could have escaped from their imprisonment, because they still refused to believe that the Lord Jesus was indeed truly the Messiah and that the Apostles and the disciples were guided by God and strengthened by His Holy Spirit throughout their ministry and service, their efforts in reaching out and evangelisation to the people of God.

In the Gospel passage today, the Lord Himself had made the same assurance to Nicodemus, one of the few supporters of the Lord among the members of the Sanhedrin. The Lord uttered the famous phrase in the third chapter of the Gospel of St. John, that ‘God so loved the world that He gave His only Son so that all those who believe in Him shall not perish and die, but shall receive eternal life’, as a proof that God truly loved His people and cared for them.

And that was why He sent us Jesus, His only begotten Son, to be our Lord and Saviour, as He revealed to Nicodemus, and the truth which the Apostles and the disciples had been working on so hard to deliver to the people. And more and more people came to believe in God because of the works and the efforts of these faithful servants of the Lord, and the Church grew rapidly even amidst challenges and often intense persecution and opposition.

Brothers and sisters in Christ, how about us then? As the disciples of the Lord in this present day world, we still have the same duty and obligation, the calling and the mission to reach out to our fellow men and women, to more and more people, as though many had been saved, but there are many more out there who have not yet believed in God, and there are many more people still who have not yet known Him and heard about Him.

This is where we, all of us as Christians, should commit ourselves, our efforts, time and attention to continue the good works that were started by the Apostles and the disciples, in being role models and good examples of our Christian faith and living, so that all those who see us, hear us and witness our works and ways of life, will come to believe in us, and be touched by the Lord and be willing to follow Him in faith, that more may come to embrace the Lord and His salvation through us.

May God be with us always, and may He strengthen us all just as He has strengthened and protected the disciples and the Apostles. May the Holy Spirit give us the courage and wisdom to be good and exemplary role models of the Christian faith in our communities, and may God bless us all in our every good works, efforts and endeavours, always. Amen.

by

Wednesday, 14 April 2021 : 2nd Week of Easter (Gospel Reading)

Liturgical Colour : White

John 3 : 16-21

At that time, Jesus said to Nicodemus, “Yes, God so loved the world that He gave His only Son that whoever believes in Him may not be lost, but may have eternal life. God did not send the Son into the world to condemn the world; instead, through Him the world is to be saved.”

“Whoever believes in Him will not be condemned. He who does not believe is already condemned, because he has not believed in the Name of the only Son of God. This is how the Judgment is made : Light has come into the world, and people loved darkness rather than light, because their deeds were evil.”

“For whoever does wrong hates the light, and does not come to the light, for fear that his deeds will be seen as evil. But whoever lives according to the truth comes into the light, so that it can be clearly seen that his works have been done in God.”