Third Week of Easter

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Thursday, 4 May 2017 : 3rd Week of Easter (Gospel Reading)

Liturgical Colour : White
John 6 : 44-51

At that time, Jesus said to the Jews, “No one can come to Me unless he is drawn by the Father Who sent Me; and I will raise Him up on the last day. It has been written in the Prophets : They shall all be taught by God. So whoever listens and learns from the Father comes to Me.”

“For no one has seen the Father except the One Who comes from God; He has seen the Father. Truly, I say to you, whoever believes has eternal life. I am the Bread of Life. Though your ancestors ate the manna in the desert, they died. But here you have the Bread which comes from heaven, so that you may eat of it, and not die.”

“I am the Living Bread which as come from heaven; whoever eats of this Bread will live forever. The Bread I shall give is My flesh, and I will give it for the life of the world.”

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Thursday, 4 May 2017 : 3rd Week of Easter (Psalm)

Liturgical Colour : White
Psalm 65 : 8-9, 16-17, 20

Praise our God, o nations, let the sound of His praise be heard, for He has preserved us among the living and kept our feet from stumbling.

All you who fear God, come and listen; let me tell you what He has done. I cried aloud to Him, extolling Him with my tongue.

May God be blessed! He has not rejected my prayer; nor withheld His love from me.

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Thursday, 4 May 2017 : 3rd Week of Easter (First Reading)

Liturgical Colour : White
Acts 8 : 26-40

An Angel of the Lord said to Philip, “Go south towards the road that goes down from Jerusalem to Gaza, the desert road.” So he set out and it happened that an Ethiopian was passing along that way. He was an official in charge of the treasury of the queen of the Ethiopians; he had come on pilgrimage to Jerusalem and was on his way home. He was sitting in his carriage and reading the prophet Isaiah.

The Spirit said to Philip, “Go and catch up with that carriage.” So Philip ran up and heard the man reading the prophet Isaiah; and he asked, “Do you really understand what you are reading?” The Ethiopian replied, “How can I, unless someone explains it to me?” He then invited Philip to get in and sit beside him.

This was the passage of Scripture he was reading : He was led like a sheep to be slaughtered; like a lamb that is dumb before the shearer, He did not open His mouth. He was humbled and deprived of His rights. Who can speak of His descendants? For He was uprooted from the earth.

The official asked Philip, “Tell me, please, does the prophet speak of himself or of Someone else?” Then Philip began to tell him the Good News of Jesus, using this text of Scripture as his starting point. As they travelled down the road they came to a place where there was some water. Then the Ethiopian official said, “Look, here is water; what is to keep me from being baptised?”

And Philip said, “If you believe with all your heart, you may.” And he answered and said, “I believe that Jesus Christ is the Son of God.” Then he ordered the carriage to stop; both Philip and the Ethiopian went down into the water and Philip baptised him. When they came out of the water, the Spirit of the Lord took Philip away. The Ethiopian saw him no more, but he continued on his way full of joy.

Philip found himself at Azotus, and he went about announcing the Good News in all the towns until he reached Caesarea.

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Wednesday, 3 May 2017 : Feast of St. Philip and St. James, Apostles (Homily and Scripture Reflections)

Liturgical Colour : Red
Dear brothers and sisters in Christ, today we celebrate the great feast of not just one, but two of the Lord’s very own Twelve Apostles, namely St. Philip the Apostle, and St. James the Apostle, or St. James the Greater, to distinguish him from the other St. James, the Lesser, the half-brother and relative of the Lord. The Apostles were all those whom God had chosen to be His principal disciples, those whom He had entrusted great tasks in carrying out the Good News and its preaching to the many nations, and also as those who would lead the Church that He had established in this world.

It was told in the Acts of the Apostles that St. Philip converted the official of the Queen of the Ethiopians, who was travelling home from Jerusalem to his homeland. St. Philip taught him the truth about what the prophets, particularly that of the prophet Isaiah, had spoken out about the coming of the Messiah and the salvation of the world. He explained to him how Jesus is the Messiah and the perfect fulfilment of God’s long promised salvation for His people.

St. Philip explained with such great clarity and zeal that the official believed in him and the truth which he had heard. As a result, the official asked to be baptised as a Christian, and St. Philip agreed to do so. The official then went on his way to home, carrying the truth of God and the message of the Gospels to his own people. This was told to be the beginning of the Church and the Christian faith among the Ethiopians.

St. Philip and also St. James went to various places, from town to town, and from places to places, spreading the Good News of God to the people, preaching about the salvation in Jesus Christ among the Jews, among the Samaritans and among Gentiles, the Greeks and other foreign peoples. Many converted to the faith and believed in the Lord, having heard the testimony of the faith of the Apostles, and after having seen the miracles of God performed through them.

St. Philip went to many places, throughout what is now Greece and Turkey, helping to establish many early Christian communities in those places. St. James meanwhile was told to travel to many places throughout the Roman Empire, and ended up in Spain, then called Hispania, preaching the Gospel of Christ there and helping to establish the first foundation of the Church in that remote area of the Empire.

Both St. Philip and St. James would encounter great persecutions, rejections and sufferings during their ministries and works. St. James himself was among the first of the Apostles of the Lord to suffer martyrdom, as mentioned in the Acts of the Apostles. St. James was arrested by king Herod, king of Galilee, who then proceeded to put him to death in order to please the Jewish leaders.

St. Philip, meanwhile, met great resistance in some of the places he went to, and eventually was put to death in the Greek city of Hierapolis by the local governor, who persecuted the Christians there and rejected the teachings of Christ. It was told that St. Philip, together with the other Apostle, St. Bartholomew, were crucified upside down, but they met their end in martyrdom with joy, knowing that God was with them all the way to the end.

Brothers and sisters in Christ, the examples of the holy Apostles St. Philip and St. Bartholomew should be inspiration for each one of us, in how we should live out our faith life. There are still many people out there who have not yet heard the Good News of the Lord, and still lived in the darkness of ignorance and sin. If we do not do anything, then these brethren of ours may fall into eternal damnation in hell, and surely, we should not allow such a thing to happen.

All of us should be courageous in our faith, and be strong in our commitment to the Lord as they had done. Let us all commit ourselves to God more faithfully and with more zeal and strength, as we listened to the truth and the story of the Apostles today. We have to continue the good works they have started, for the salvation of all mankind. Amen.

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Wednesday, 3 May 2017 : Feast of St. Philip and St. James, Apostles (Gospel Reading)

Liturgical Colour : Red
John 14 : 6-14

At that time, Jesus said to His disciples, “I am the Way, the Truth and the Life; no one comes to the Father but through Me. If you know Me, you will know the Father also; indeed you know Him, and you have seen Him.”

Philip asked Him, “Lord, show us the Father, and that is enough.” Jesus said to him, “What! I have been with you so long and you still do not know Me, Philip? Whoever sees Me sees the Father; how can you say, ‘Show us the Father’? Do you not believe that I am in the Father and the Father is in Me?”

“All that I say to you, I do not say of Myself. The Father Who dwells in Me is doing His own work. Believe Me when I say that I am in the Father and the Father is in Me; at least believe it on the evidence of these works that I do. Truly, I say to you, the one who believes in Me will do the same works that I do; and he will even do greater than these, for I am going to the Father.”

“Everything you ask in My Name, I will do, so that the Father may be glorified in the Son. Indeed, anything you ask, calling upon My Name, I will do.”

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Wednesday, 3 May 2017 : Feast of St. Philip and St. James, Apostles (Psalm)

Liturgical Colour : Red
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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Wednesday, 3 May 2017 : Feast of St. Philip and St. James, Apostles (First Reading)

Liturgical Colour : Red
1 Corinthians 15 : 1-8

Let me remind you, brothers and sisters, of the Good News that I preached to you and which you received and on which you stand firm. By that Gospel you are saved, provided that you hold to it as I preached it. Otherwise, you will have believed in vain.

In the first place, I have passed on to you what I myself received that Christ died for our sins, as Scripture says; that He was buried; that He was raised on the third day, according to the Scriptures; that He appeared to Cephas and then to the Twelve. Afterwards He appeared to more than five hundred brothers and sisters together; most of them are still alive, although some have already gone to rest.

Then He appeared to James and after that to all the Apostles. And last of all, He appeared to the most despicable of them, this is to me.

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Tuesday, 2 May 2017 : 3rd Week of Easter, Memorial of St. Athanasius, Bishop and Doctor of the Church (Homily and Scripture Reflections)

Liturgical Colour : White
Dear brothers and sisters in Christ, on this day from the Scripture readings all of us have heard about how the Church of God was persecuted by those who oppose it and refused to believe in the truth of Christ. We heard how St. Stephen the Deacon and Protomartyr, the first martyr of the Church, died defending his faith, after standing up for the Lord and proclaiming the fullness of His truth before the Jewish leaders.

The Jewish leaders, the elders and the chief priests refused to listen to the truth, they covered their ears, refusing to listen to the truth, as true and painfully real as it was to them, which St. Stephen had delivered to them. They hardened their hearts and closed the doors of their minds, rejecting the truth to continue living in the denial of the truth. That was why they persecuted the Lord, and then the disciples and followers of the Lord afterwards.

And what was this truth that St. Stephen had so boldly and courageously proclaimed? If we paid close attention to his testimony, it is about the Lord and His great love for each and every one of us, which had been manifested through the coming of the One Who is the Saviour of the whole world and of all mankind, Jesus Christ, our Lord and Saviour.

In the Gospel today, we heard the Lord Jesus Himself, telling the people who doubted Him and wanted Him to show them a miraculous sign from heaven, that He is the real and true miracle beyond any other miracles, far greater than all the miraculous deeds He had performed before the people in various places, greater than all the healing and the opening of the eyes of the blind, the making of deaf and mute people to be able to hear and speak again, and the healing of the paralytic and lepers.

It was by giving Himself as the Bread of Life for all those who have received Him and accepted His truth that the Lord had revealed Himself wonderfully before all people. He brought forth a new life for those who have accepted Him as their Lord and Saviour, and through the giving of His Body and Blood, He has reunited us all with Himself, reconciling us with the One Who gave us life.

It was for this truth and for this Lord, that St. Stephen had stood up for his faith for, as he refused to remain idle and silent while the chief priests and the elders tried hard to deny the truth of Jesus, and also about His resurrection from the dead. St. Stephen spoke up for the Lord, in front of the people, so that all those who have ears and listened, might be touched in their hearts and be converted to the Lord, even though there were perhaps many others who remained stubborn.

Today, we also celebrate the feast of St. Athanasius, a renowned and holy saint, who lived through a particularly difficult time for the Church. As one of the most prominent of the leaders of the Church at his time, leading the Church in Alexandria in Egypt, he had to deal with the enormous impact of the heresy caused by one Arius, the one who brought about the Arian heresy.

Arius was a popular preacher who swayed many people to follow his false teachings and therefore into heresy. There were many of the faithful, priests and even bishops who believed in Arius’ teachings, claiming that Jesus our Lord, was not God and Man as the Church had taught, but only merely Man, a created Being instead of the Creator. This false teachings had misled many of the faithful into the wrong path.

And St. Athanasius was determined to root out the heresy from among his flock, persevering against opposition and challenges that he had to encounter as he went about preaching the truth against the heresies that Arius had preached. St. Athanasius remained firm in his convictions to guide his flock, the people of God entrusted to his care, into the right path, and therefore, even though there were priests and bishops who opposed him, slandered him and accused him wrongly with false accusations, St. Athanasius never stopped his hard work.

In total, St. Athanasius had to endure five exiles from his See, because of all the oppositions he encountered. And every time, his enemies and all those who refused to listen to the truth St. Athanasius preached came about with new reason to accuse him of wrongdoing, resulting in great difficulties that the holy saint had to endure. Yet, St. Athanasius never gave up, and continued to do great deeds among the people, converting countless souls to the Lord.

Brothers and sisters in Christ, shall we all follow in the footsteps of St. Athanasius? Shall we walk in the path of his faith, his commitment and devotion to serve the Lord? There will indeed be challenges, opposition and difficulties, as once encountered by St. Stephen the Martyr, St. Athanasius himself, and many other holy saints and martyrs of the Church. But they all placed their trust in God, and never gave up, for if they had given up, many souls would have been lost to hell.

Let us all renew therefore our own conviction in faith, our commitment and devotion to the Lord and His ways. May the Lord bless us and strengthen our faith, so that we may continue to grow closer to Him, and remain true and faithful to Him as St. Stephen, St. Athanasius and the other holy men and women of God had done. May God be with us all, in our lives, now and forever. Amen.

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Tuesday, 2 May 2017 : 3rd Week of Easter, Memorial of St. Athanasius, Bishop and Doctor of the Church (Gospel Reading)

Liturgical Colour : White
John 6 : 30-35

At that time, the Jews said to Jesus, “Show us miraculous signs, that we may see and believe You. What sign do You perform? Our ancestors ate manna in the desert; as Scripture says : They were given bread from heaven to eat.”

Jesus then said to them, “Truly, I say to you, it was not Moses who gave you the bread from heaven. My Father gives you the true Bread from heaven. The Bread God gives is the One Who comes from heaven and gives life to the world.” And they said to Him, “Give us this bread always.”

Jesus said to them, “I am the Bread of Life; whoever comes to Me shall never be hungry, and whoever believes in Me shall never be thirsty.”

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Tuesday, 2 May 2017 : 3rd Week of Easter, Memorial of St. Athanasius, Bishop and Doctor of the Church (Psalm)

Liturgical Colour : White
Psalm 30 : 3cd-4, 6ab and 7b and 8a, 17 and 21ab

Be a Rock of refuge for me, a Fortress for my safety. For You are my Rock and my Stronghold, lead me for Your Name’s sake.

Into Your hands I commend my spirit; but I put all my trust in the Lord. I will rejoice and be glad in Your love, for You have seen my affliction.

Make Your face shine upon Your servant; save me in Your love. In the shelter of Your presence You hide them from human wiles; You keep them in Your dwelling.