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.
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.
Liturgical Colour : White
Dear brothers and sisters in Christ, all of us are reminded today through the readings of the Sacred Scriptures of the reality of being the followers and disciples of the Lord, to be Christians, in living our lives faithfully each day and in our dedication towards God. To be a Christian is not for us to expect that our lives will be fully happy and uneventful. Instead, the reality is such that as Christians, more likely than not we will be facing difficulties and hardships in our path. This is because the ways of the Lord and His truth are not compatible with those of the world and the forces of evil present all around us in this world. Therefore, if we choose to be faithful to God and follow Him wholeheartedly, there will likely be hardships, trials, tears and sorrow that we will have to endure in our path.
In our first reading today, taken from the Acts of the Apostles, we heard of the account of what happened in the immediate aftermath of the martyrdom of St. Stephen, one of the seven holy Deacons appointed and chosen by the Holy Spirit to be the ministers of the Church. St. Stephen was martyred after he courageously stood up for his faith in God before the whole assembly of the Sanhedrin, the Jewish High Council and all those plotting his downfall and destruction because they despised what he was teaching and preaching before the people of God. Thus, St. Stephen was stoned to death by the angry mob and all those who were opposed to him. Yet, despite all the sufferings, he followed the Lord’s example and forgave those who have persecuted him, asking the Lord not to hold their sins against them.
Then we heard how the persecutions continued throughout Judea and Jerusalem, led especially by one particular Saul, a very zealous young Pharisee, whom we also know as Paul later in his life after his conversion to be a committed and faithful Christian. At that time Saul was very ardent in his misguided zeal to destroy and eradicate all those who followed Jesus and His teachings, and he went around the whole area and using violent methods, arresting and striking against all those early Christian believers, many of whom had to go into hiding and be scattered throughout the land. Yet, as we have also heard how the Apostles and disciples of the Lord still continued with their works and ministries, spreading the words of the Lord and His Good News of salvation to everyone whom they encountered.
This is a reminder for all of us that while we may indeed have to face a lot of challenges and hardships in our path as Christians, but we should not give up our struggle and efforts to carry out the missions and works which the Lord Himself has entrusted to us, and as He Himself has promised and reassured us, He would always be with His Church, with His faithful ones, and He would not let us all to fail in our missions and works, as in the end, despite the many challenges and struggles, hardships and trails that we all have to face in our path and ministries, but with God and His guidance and providence, all of us will be strengthened and helped in our works and efforts, and we will be protected and guarded against the efforts of the evil ones seeking our downfall and destruction. But we must really have faith in the Lord, have trust and faith that He will provide for us.
In our Gospel passage today, taken from the Gospel according to St. John the Apostle and Evangelist, we continue to hear the discourse on the Bread of Life that we have started hearing from yesterday. In that passage, we heard how the Lord Jesus continued to refer to Himself as the Bread of Life, the Heavenly Bread that has come from the Father in Heaven. We heard how He reassured all those who believe in Him that they will all be blessed and be given the promise of eternal life. Such is indeed what the faithful people of God, all of us as Christians have received from the Lord this wonderful gift, the gift of the Living Bread, the Bread that will satisfy us forever and give us true happiness, joy and eternal life with Him.
And this promise of everlasting life is something which many of us as Christians have held up strongly in our own lives, in our own conviction to follow Him and dedicate ourselves to His cause. Like so many of our predecessors before us, they have all trusted in the Lord’s promise and been strengthened by the reassurances that they have received from God Himself, that their earthly existence, their many sufferings and hardships will eventually be vindicated, and through the guidance and providence of God, all of us as His people would be led to the eternity of true happiness and joy with Him. That is why we must not allow ourselves to be overcome by fear and doubt, uncertainty or insecurity because we think that we suffer all these things alone. God is always by our side, guiding and providing for us.
Brothers and sisters in Christ, let us all therefore put our trust in God and renew our faith in Him, trusting in whatever it is that He has planned for us. God has always been by our side, journeying with us and giving us the strength and courage to carry on this journey. Through His Presence in our midst, in His Real Presence in the Eucharist, in His Most Precious Body and Blood, the Lord has shown His ever-constant and present love, His ever enduring and persistent faithfulness to the Covenant which He had made with all of us. He has shown us that His promises and reassurances are not mere empty words, but are truly genuine and sincere commitment which He has made to us all, to His beloved children and people, whom He wants to love wholeheartedly, and which therefore we should reciprocate with our own love and devotion.
May the Risen Lord, our most loving God and Saviour continue to guide us all in our path and journey in faith and life. May He, the Bread of Life, the Living Bread from Heaven, continue to provide for us all whatever we need in this journey, which may be heavy and difficult. The challenges and hardships that we may encounter in our path should not make us to doubt the Lord’s Providence and Presence in our midst. Instead, we should continue to be reminded of His love and grace, of everything that He has given us all, of all the kindness and compassionate love which He has granted to us. May He bless us all in our every good efforts and works, our every endeavours, now and always. Amen.
Liturgical Colour : White
John 6 : 35-40
At that time, Jesus said to the people, “I am the Bread of Life; whoever comes to Me shall never be hungry, and whoever believes in Me shall never be thirsty. Nevertheless, as I said, you refuse to believe, even when you have seen. Yet all those whom the Father gives Me will come to Me, and whoever comes to Me, I shall not turn away. For I have come from heaven, not to do My own will, but the will of the One Who sent Me.”
“And the will of Him Who sent Me is that I lose nothing of what He has given Me, but instead that I raise it up on the last day. This is the will of the Father, that whoever sees the Son and believes in Him shall live eternal life; and I will raise him up on the last day.”
Liturgical Colour : White
Psalm 65 : 1-3a, 4-5, 6-7a
Shout with joy to God, all you on earth; sing to the glory of His Name; proclaim His glorious praise. Say to God, “How great are Your deeds!”
All the earth bows down to You, making music, in praise of You, singing in honour of Your Name. Come, and see God’s wonders; His deeds, awesome for humans.
He has turned the sea into dry land, and the river was crossed on foot. Let us, therefore, rejoice in Him. He rules by His might forever.
Liturgical Colour : White
Acts 8 : 1b-8
This was the beginning of a great persecution against the Church in Jerusalem. All, except the Apostles, were scattered throughout the region of Judea and Samaria. Devout men buried Stephen and mourned deeply for him. Saul, meanwhile, was trying to destroy the Church. He entered house after house and dragged off men and women, and had them put in jail.
At the same time, those who were scattered went about, preaching the word. Philip went down to a town of Samaria and proclaimed the Christ there. All the people paid close attention to what Philip said as they listened to him, and saw the miraculous signs that he did. For, in cases of possession, the unclean spirits came out shrieking loudly. Many people who were paralysed or crippled, were healed. So there was great joy in the town.
Liturgical Colour : White
Dear brothers and sisters in Christ, in our Scripture passages today, as we all continue to progress through this joyful and glorious season of Easter, we are all reminded of our Christian calling to be the faithful and committed disciples and missionaries of our faith in the Lord, in our belief in the Lord Who has manifested Himself in the flesh before us, embracing our human nature and becoming for all of us the source of our eternal life and salvation. And yes, as we listen to the Gospel passage later today, we will begin to hear from today and for the next few days, the discourse of the Bread of Life from the Lord, reminding all of us that through Jesus and everything that He had done for us, we have been given access to this most wonderful gift of the Bread of Life, by which we have been assured of the promise of eternal life and true happiness with God if we all remain truly faithful to Him.
In our first reading today, we heard of the continuation of the account of the martyrdom of St. Stephen the Protomartyr, as we have heard since yesterday. In that occasion, St. Stephen, one of the seven original Deacons appointed by the Church with the guidance of the Holy Spirit, was arrested and brought before the Sanhedrin or the Jewish High Council, before the High Priests and other priests, and members of the Sadducees and the Pharisees, many of whom were hostile against the Lord and His disciples, and when they all brought false accusations and witnesses against St. Stephen in trying to silence and discredit him in his works and efforts at evangelisation among the people, St. Stephen, full of the Holy Spirit, courageously stood up for his faith before all of his opponents, and with great wisdom, spoke of the truth about the works of Christ and everything that He had done, and how He had been persecuted because of the stubbornness of those same people who were persecuting him.
St. Stephen courageously spoke such words because the Sanhedrin had been quite persistent in trying to silence the truth about the Lord’s Resurrection, even to the point of bribing the guards at the Lord’s Tomb to spread lies about how the disciples had stolen the Body of the Lord and claiming that He had risen from the dead. That was why St. Stephen, likely having witnessed the Resurrection himself as one of the earliest disciples and followers of the Lord, or at least having received the faith through the Apostles and the Holy Spirit, chose to remain steadfast and courageously proclaimed the truth as the Light that pierced through the darkness of the lies and falsehoods that the members of the Jewish High Council and their supporters had been spreading in the community. In doing so, he welcomed the sufferings and the martyrdom that he eventually experienced.
Then in our Gospel passage today, as I had just mentioned earlier, we heard of the beginning of the discourse of the Bread of Life by the Lord Jesus, Who told all the people who had come to follow Him after He had miraculously fed them with the multitudes of bread, that He is truly the Bread of Life, the Living Bread from Heaven that had come into our midst, descending upon this world to show the love of God manifested perfectly through His Son, Who has come into our midst, walking among us and becoming for us the source of our salvation. Through His own willing sacrifice on the Cross, Christ has opened for us the path to eternal life, in sharing His own Most Precious Body and Blood for us all to partake and share.
He gave us all freely His own Body and Blood for our salvation, which He has made available for us through His gift of the Eucharist to us, which He has instituted at the Last Supper, at the moment when He gave us all this perfect gift of love, breaking His Body and outpouring His Blood, a sacrifice accomplished and completed perfectly on the Cross, on the Altar of Calvary, offering Himself as the Paschal Lamb of sacrifice, by Whose Body and Blood we have been healed, strengthened and empowered, delivered from the power of darkness and the shackles of sin. And all of us who have received this grace from God should indeed appreciate just how greatly all of us have been beloved by our Lord and loving Father. We should not allow this wonderful gift from God to be neglected and ignored, but we should instead make great use of what we have been given.
Brothers and sisters in Christ, let us all therefore be truly faithful to God in all things and strive to do our best so that we may always centre our lives upon the Lord and His teachings and ways just as St. Stephen and our many other holy predecessors had done before us. Each and every one of us are called to be the disciples and followers of the Lord, in our every moments in life. We have been given such great love by the Lord, Who gave us all the gift of His own Body and Blood, so that He may be present with us and within us, in journeying together through this challenging and difficult journey in life. We must not easily give in to the temptations of evil and worldly ambitions and desires, but strive instead to live lives that are truly centred on God at all times, loving one another just as God has loved us.
That is what each and every one of us are called to do as Christians, to be truly loving and committed to each other and towards God, showing our faith by our examples and inspirations in life to one another. As Christians we should always be filled with genuine and generous love for God and for our fellow brothers and sisters around us, so that everyone may come to know God through us and our examples in life. Let us all be truly worthy as God’s disciples and followers, in our commitment to Him and in our righteousness and virtues, by which we may continue to serve Him faithfully through our every words, actions and deeds, through our every interactions with everyone around us, like what our holy predecessors had done before us.
May our loving God and Father, our Risen Lord and Saviour continue to guide us in our journey of faith and life. May He strengthen us all with the gift of His Body and Blood, He Who is the Bread and Source of all Life, so that we may always remain firmly faithful in Him, and not be distracted with any kind of temptations and pressures in life all around us. May all of us continue to be ever faithful and devoted to the Lord, and may all of us be blessed in our every good works, efforts and endeavours, now and always. Amen.
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.”
Liturgical Colour : White
Psalm 30 : 3cd-4, 6ab and 7b-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.
Liturgical Colour : White
Acts 7 : 51 – Acts 8 : 1a
Stephen said to the Council, “But you are a stubborn people, you hardened your hearts and closed your ears. You have always resisted the Holy Spirit just as your fathers did. Was there a prophet whom your ancestors did not persecute? They killed those who announced the coming of the Just One Whom you have now betrayed and murdered, you who received the Law through the Angels but did not fulfil it.”
When the Council heard the reproach Stephen made against them, they were enraged and they gnashed their teeth against him. But he, full of the Holy Spirit, fixed his eyes on heaven and saw the glory of God and Jesus at God’s right hand, so he declared : “I see the heavens open and the Son of Man at the right hand of God.”
But they shouted and covered their ears with their hands and rushed together upon him. They brought him out of the city and stoned him, and the witnesses laid down their cloaks at the feet of a young man named Saul. As they were stoning him, Stephen prayed saying : “Lord Jesus, receive my spirit.”
Then he knelt down and said in a loud voice : “Lord, do not hold this sin against them.” And when he had said this, he died. Saul was there, approving his murder. This was the beginning of a great persecution against the Church in Jerusalem.
petercanisiusmichaeldavidkang 