Thursday

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Thursday, 19 February 2026 : Thursday after Ash Wednesday (Homily and Scripture Reflections)

Liturgical Colour : Purple/Violet

Dear brothers and sisters in Christ, on this day as we embark on this journey of the Lenten time and season, we are reminded that all of us as Christians, that is all those whom God Himself has called and chosen to be His own people, we are all caleled to live our lives in the manner that is truly worthy and pleasing to God. This means that we should always do our best to walk in the path that God Himself has revealed to us and led us through. We should not allow ourselves to be easily swayed by worldly temptations, glory, desires and all the things which can lead us astray in our path towards God and His salvation. Each and every one of us as Christians should be good role models in living our lives with great and genuine faith at all times.

In our first reading today, taken from the Book of Deuteronomy, we heard of the words of Moses, the one whom God had sent to the midst of His first chosen people, the Israelites, to be the one to lead them out from the land of Egypt to their Promised Land of Canaan where they would dwell in true happiness and satisfaction after many years and decades at least living under the tyranny of the Egyptians. The Lord Himself had led the Israelites out of the land of Egypt through Moses, and defeated their enemies before them, and He also made a Covenant with every one of them at Mount Sinai, putting His Law and commandments to them.

And with those Law and commandments in place, the Lord revealed that as His people, each and every one of them ought to live their lives faithfully in the manner that He has taught and shown them through those same Law and commandments, which in essence were meant to guide and help them all in their manner of living so that their lives and actions, all of those would always be aligned to God and His ways and that they would always live their lives with God at the very centre of their existence as they should all have done.

The Israelites often disobeyed the Lord and rebelled against Him, if we read through the whole account of the Exodus from the Old Testament, and many among those same Israelites perished and died in the desert because of their rebelliousness. They perished and died because of their disobedience and refusal to follow the ways of the Lord, allowing themselves to be swayed by worldly desires and temptations that led them to sin against God. But at the same time, God also revealed that He has always been full of love and mercy towards His people, and wanted them all to be reconciled with Him.

Therefore, Moses as he gathered the people in the latter part of his ministry and towards the end of the long Exodus journey from the land of Egypt to Canaan, he told them all very clearly and bluntly that they all had been given the freedom to choose their course and path in life, and that if they were to choose to obey the Lord, then they would be blessed and receive the bounty of God’s grace. However, like those who had perished earlier on during their sojourn in the desert, should the people of God choose to disobey God, then they would suffer for their disobedience and lack of faith.

Then, from our Gospel passage today, taken from the Gospel according to St. Luke the Evangelist, we heard of the Lord Jesus speaking to His disciples and followers on how He would be betrayed by His own, handed over to His enemies and made to suffer grievously for the sins and mistakes of the people, all of which were due to the wickedness and the ego, pride and greed of those who have frequently opposed the Lord and His efforts to minister to the people of God, such as many among the Pharisees and the teachers of the Law, the Temple authorities, the chief priests and the Sanhedrin and many others.

The Lord also told His disciples and followers that if they want to be His true disciples, then they all ought to take up their crosses and follow Him. Now, brothers and sisters in Christ, what does it really mean by taking up the crosses? It is a figurative speech representing the need for all of us as the disciples and followers of the Lord to follow Him wholeheartedly and confidently, in resisting the temptations of sin and worldly vices, which is a path that is more difficult to take and walk in as compared to following the worldly ways and manners. Hence, this is the cross that all of us have to bear as Christians.

But, we must also remember that we do not carry these crosses alone, by ourselves, as the truth is that, we carry them together with the Lord, and we never suffer alone, as the Lord Himself is always often by our side, providing for us and giving us the strength necessary for us all to persevere and to walk faithfully in the ways that He has revealed to us. When He is calling on us to follow Him, He is not putting unreasonable demand from us, and He is there with us, journeying together with us, as we walk side by side towards His salvation and grace as one people.

Brothers and sisters in Christ, therefore, having been reminded of our calling and obligation as Christians, as those whom the Lord had called to be His disciples and followers, let us all live our lives worthily from now on, in obedience to His will, to follow faithfully the Law and commandments that He has passed down to us and taught us all through the Church. Let us all continue to observe this Lenten season faithfully and meaningfully, doing our very best to practice our faith and our Lenten practices with good appreciation and understanding of their importance in our lives. Amen.

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Thursday, 19 February 2026 : Thursday after Ash Wednesday (Gospel Reading)

Liturgical Colour : Purple/Violet

Luke 9 : 22-25

At that time, Jesus said to His disciples, “The Son of Man must suffer many things. He will be rejected by the elders and chief priests and teachers of the Law, and be put to death. Then after three days He will be raised to life.”

Jesus also said to all the people, “If you wish to be a follower of Mine, deny yourself and take up your cross each day, and follow Me! For if you choose to save your life, you will lose it; but if you lose your life for My sake, you will save it. What does it profit you to gain the whole world, if you destroy or damage yourself?”

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Thursday, 19 February 2026 : Thursday after Ash Wednesday (Psalm)

Liturgical Colour : Purple/Violet

Psalm 1 : 1-2, 3, 4 and 6

Blessed is the man who does not go where the wicked gather, or stand in the way of sinners, or sit where the scoffers sit! Instead, he finds delight in the Law of YHVH and meditates day and night on His commandments.

He is like a tree beside a brook producing its fruit in due season, its leaves never withering. Everything he does is a success.

But it is different with the wicked. They are like chaff driven away by the wind. For YHVH knows the way of the righteous but cuts off the way of the wicked.

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Thursday, 19 February 2026 : Thursday after Ash Wednesday (First Reading)

Liturgical Colour : Purple/Violet

Deuteronomy 30 : 15-20

See, I set before you on this day life and good, evil and death. I command you to love YHVH, your God and follow His ways. Observe His commandments, His norms and His laws, and you will live and increase, and YHVH will give you His blessing in the land you are going to possess.

But if your heart turns away and does not listen, if you are drawn away and bow before other gods to serve them, I declare on this day that you shall perish. You shall not last in the land you are going to occupy on the other side of the Jordan.

Let the heavens and the earth listen, that they may be witnesses against you. I have set before you life and death, blessing and curse. Therefore, choose life that you and your descendants may live, loving YHVH, listening to His voice, and being one with Him. In this life for you and length of days in the land which YHVH swore to give to your ancestors, to Abraham, Isaac and Jacob.

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Thursday, 12 February 2026 : 5th 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 Sacred Scriptures we are reminded that each and every one of us can always fall into the temptations of sin and the corruptions that come along with it. And if we are not careful, we may end up falling deeper and deeper into the wrong path, and hence, we need the power of God, His mercy, love and compassion to help us overcome this obstacle in our respective paths towards the Lord and His salvation. That is why we are being reminded again today through these passages so that we can always be vigilant and ready against all the obstacles facing us in our journey of faith and life.

In our first reading today, we heard from the Book of Kings of Israel and Judah the continuation of the story of the old Kingdom of Israel. And if in the previous days we heard about the glorious days and times of the reigns of David and Solomon, and how King Solomon inaugurated the Temple that he built for the Lord with a lot of great fanfare and celebration, and how the whole people and all the country rejoiced greatly on the great deeds that the Lord had done for them, then today we heard the unfortunate story of how in his old age, Solomon became lax in the manner of how he lived his life and reigned as King of Israel, likely swayed by his many accomplishments, glory and power that made him to forget and overlook what his responsibilities were as the King appointed and chosen by God.

We were told that King Solomon was swayed by his many wives and concubines which numbered in the hundreds, as was common practice at that time and in many cultures even to the present day. But regardless of that, what matters was that Solomon allowed worldly concerns and considerations to affect and influence his decisions and choice of actions. That was what the Lord was disappointed with and that was why He told them that all the glory and power that was Solomon’s, the glory and golden age of Israel, all would be taken away and shattered, all because of his hubris, pride and ambitions, which distinguished him from his father David. David himself was not a perfect man, as he had his own share of faults and mistakes. But David always tried to rectify them and he always kept the Lord as the priority in his life and reign as King.

Then, from our Gospel passage today, we are reminded through the Gospel according to St. Mark the Evangelist, of the interaction between the Lord Jesus and a Syro-Phoenician woman, who had come to the Lord seeking Him, begging Him and beseeching Him to heal her very sick daughter. And the Lord was seemingly very dismissive and rude towards her, not listening to her pleas and requests, and even as we heard, uttered words such as the food should not be given to the dogs, which literally degraded her as being less than a human being. At a glance, it might seem that the Lord was out of His character and was very mean and degrading in what He said to the Syro-Phoenician woman, but in truth, He was making a statement about the then common prejudice among the Jewish people about their non-Jewish neighbours.

For at that time, many among the Jewish people, especially the Pharisees among them and some others, had carried on from their ancestors a rather prideful and haughty attitude, full of arrogance and ego, thinking that because they were the chosen people of God, then they assumed that they were better than all the others particularly their neighbouring peoples whom at that time did not believe in God and typically worshipped pagan gods. They looked down on all those and also historically, because during the reign of the Greek kingdoms and rulers, such as the Seleucids, their ancestors had been persecuted for practicing Jewish customs and practices. Hence, some of them took their practices and ways to the extreme.

And in doing so, they had forgotten what it truly means to be genuinely faithful to God, focusing so much on the externals which led to the criticism that the Lord raised against them, forgetting that all the rituals, steps and details in their faith practices were not what truly mattered. To many of the Pharisees, if one did not follow the Law exactly in the manner they prescribed, to the letter and the sequence, to the details such as how they washed their hands right all the way to their elbow, it was considered unlawful and wicked. They missed entirely the point of the Law being guiding principles and means to help the people to regulate their lives and way of living them so that they could truly be worthy of their Lord and Master, and be the worthy recipients of all that He has promised to them.

That is why, brothers and sisters in Christ, all of us should also not be swayed in the same manner by our many egoistic and ambitious desires in life, all the things which may distract us from being able to follow the Lord wholeheartedly and genuinely. We must remember that the path of the Lord requires all of us to resist the worldly desires, ego and all the worldly pleasures and its excesses that can lead us astray. We have to strike a good balance between living a faithful life to the Lord and in fulfilling our responsibilities in this world, while not giving in to the extremes such as the indulgence of worldly desires, or in neglecting our responsibilities, and that is what we are all called to do as Christians.

May the Lord, our most loving God and Father continue to guide each and every one of us, so that we may continue to faithfully obey His commandments and ways, and to do what is right and just in our lives, resisting the temptations of worldly glory and desires, so that we do not end up falling into sin as how King Solomon and the Pharisees had experienced and suffered from. Instead, let us all trust ever more in the Lord our God, and do our best to live our lives with great humility and faith from now on. May God bless us all in all things we do, now and always. Amen.

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Thursday, 12 February 2026 : 5th Week of Ordinary Time (Gospel Reading)

Liturgical Colour : Green

Mark 7 : 24-30

At that time, when Jesus went to the border of the Tyrian country. There, He entered a house, and did not want anyone to know He was there; but He could not remain hidden. A woman, whose small daughter had an evil spirit, heard of Him, and came and fell at His feet.

Now this woman was a pagan, a Syro-Phoenician by birth, and she begged Him to drive the demon out of her daughter. Jesus told her, “Let the children be fed first, for it is not right to take the children’s bread and throw it to the puppies.”

But she replied, “Sir, even the puppies under the table eat the crumbs from the children’s bread.” Then Jesus said to her, “You may go your way; because of such a response, the demon has gone out of your daughter.”

And when the woman went home, she found her child lying in bed, and the demon gone.

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Thursday, 12 February 2026 : 5th Week of Ordinary Time (Psalm)

Liturgical Colour : Green

Psalm 105 : 3-4, 35-36, 37 and 40

Blessed are they who always do just and right. Remember me, o YHVH, when You show favour to Your people; rescue me when You deliver them.

They mingled with these nations and learnt to do as they did. In serving the idols of the pagans, they were trapped.

Into sacrificing children to demons. The anger of YHVH grew intense and He abhorred His inheritance.

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Thursday, 12 February 2026 : 5th Week of Ordinary Time (First Reading)

Liturgical Colour : Green

1 Kings 11 : 4-13

In Solomon’s old age, his wives led him astray to serve other gods and, unlike his father David, his heart was no longer wholly given to YHVH his God. For he served Astarte the goddess of the Sidonians, and Milcom, the idol of the Ammonites.

He did what displeased YHVH and, unlike his father David, was unfaithful to Him. Solomon even built a high place for Chemosh, the idol of Moab, on the mountain east of Jerusalem and also for Molech, the idol of the Ammonites. He did the same for all his foreign wives who burnt incense and sacrificed to their gods.

YHVH became angry with Solomon because his heart had turned away from YHVH, the God of Israel. YHVH appeared to him twice and commanded him not to follow other gods. But he did not obey YHVH’s command. Therefore, YHVH said to Solomon, “Since this has been your choice and you have kept neither My Covenant nor the statutes I commanded you, I will take the kingdom from you and give it to your servant.”

“Nevertheless, I will not do this during your lifetime for the sake of your father David; I will take it from your son. But I will not take it all; I will reserve one tribe for your son for the sake of David My servant, and for the sake of Jerusalem, the city which I have chosen.”

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Thursday, 5 February 2026 : 4th Week of Ordinary Time, Memorial of St. Agatha, Virgin and Martyr (Homily and Scripture Reflections)

Liturgical Colour : Red

Dear brothers and sisters in Christ, today as we listened to the words of the Sacred Scriptures, we are reminded that as Christians, all of us as those whom God had called and chosen to be His own beloved people, we have the calling and mission in the various ways that God had intended for us, so that we may be the ones to bear witness to His truth, His Good News, love and ways in our world today, in our respective families and communities. Each and every one of us are entrusted by the Lord with the unique talents, abilities and opportunities for us to make good use of in our various areas of responsibility so that we may be the ones to show the Lord to many more people and lead them all towards God and His salvation.

In our first reading passage today, we heard of the account from the Book of the Kings of Israel and Judah detailing to us what happened at the time when King David of Israel, the famous King who led Israel to great triumph and victory of its many enemies, and brought Israel to its golden age, finally came to the end of his earthly life after a period of forty years reigning over Judah and the whole of Israel. And as David was going to the Lord and knew that his time was coming, we heard how he advised his son and heir, Solomon, the one whom God had revealed to David himself as the one to succeed him, in how Solomon ought to continue obeying the Lord, worshipping Him alone and leading the people righteously as their King as David himself had once done.

Through what we have heard in the first reading today and the accounts of the previous weekdays of the life and exploits of David as man and servant of God, and then as King of Israel, in all of his virtues and imperfections, we are reminded that we ourselves as God’s holy and beloved people, having been called to follow Him as well as His servants and disciples, each and every one of us should be inspired by the examples of David and his faithfulness to God, in how he has always strived to love God and his fellow men and women, in his conscious examination of his own actions, flaws and mistakes, and how he has always tried his best to be good and worthy of the Lord in all things. We too should therefore do the same in our own lives.

Then, from our Gospel passage today, taken from the Gospel according to St. Mark the Evangelist, we heard of the moment when the Lord Jesus sent out His disciples, two by two, centred upon His Twelve principal disciples, the ones later known as the Apostles, and the many other disciples whom He sent to carry out and extend His missions and works to more people and places. We heard how the Lord instructed them on what they ought to be doing in their mission, putting trust in the Lord instead of in their own resources, power and abilities. The Lord also told them all of the realities of what they may have to face in the midst of their missions, both the potential successes as well as the rejections and hardships that they may have to endure.

This is therefore a reminder to all of us as Christians that we should always strive to follow the Lord in what He has entrusted to each one of us to do in life. It does not mean that we must do exactly as what those disciples had done in the past, but rather we are called to do what the Lord had entrusted to us in our own unique circumstances, in the gifts, talents, abilities and opportunities that He had provided to us. We should do our best in our respective areas and places of responsibility, in whatever vocations that the Lord has called us to do, so that by our every words, actions and deeds, by our every efforts and endeavours, we may truly bear faithful witness to the Lord and glorify His Name at all times.

Today, all of us are called to be like David, the King of Israel, in humbling ourselves before the Lord and asking for His guidance and wisdom at all times, in living our lives virtuously and righteously, in embracing the Lord and His love wholeheartedly at all times. And today, we also have another role model to follow in our own lives as Christians, based on the examples set by one of our holy predecessors, whose feast we celebrate today. St. Agatha of Sicily, a renowned martyr and saint from the time of the Great Persecution of Christians by the Roman Emperors can indeed inspire us to be better Christians in true deeds and actions.

St. Agatha was born into a noble Roman family and she made a vow of holy and perpetual virginity, which she offered to God freely and wholeheartedly. Her great beauty was noted by a pagan Roman prefect named Quintianus, who did all he could to try to persuade and coax her to marry him. But despite his best efforts, his pressure and even threats, all those could not sway St. Agatha from abandoning her vow of virginity and her faith in the Lord. She remained resolute in her conviction and desire to follow the Lord, even when pressures and threats were piled up against her to conform to what the society demanded of her.

As that time coincided with the intense persecution of Christians under the Roman Emperor Decius, which was a particularly brutal period of intense persecution against Christians, the displeased and disappointed prefect reported St. Agatha to the authorities, and as the prefect Quintianus himself presided over the trial, he hoped that the threat of suffering and death would make St. Agatha to give up her stubborn resistance and refusal to abandon her faith in God. Instead, St. Agatha remained even more ardent in her faith and refused to give up, entrusting her fate completely to the Lord, not fearing the harsh persecutions and sufferings that would surely be hers for having stood up for her faith.

She prayed to the Lord saying, “Jesus Christ, Lord of all, you see my heart, You know my desires. Possess all that I am. I am Your sheep: make me worthy to overcome the devil.” And despite the efforts the prefect tried to incarcerate, torture and make her life difficult, St. Agatha would not be swayed and she remained faithful to the very end. She was tortured with all sorts of punishments, and had her breasts cut, surviving a burning at the stake before eventually dying in prison, remaining faithful to the very end. Her great courage and faith, her enduring trust and love for the Lord even in the face of greatest hardships should indeed inspire us all to live our own Christian faith with greater sincerity and courage at all times.

Brothers and sisters in Christ, as we have heard from our Scripture passages today and from the life examples and inspirations from the life of St. Agatha of Sicily, holy woman and devout servant of God, let us all continue to commit ourselves with greater devotion and strength, and do our very best at every circumstances and opportunities so that we may indeed be truly faithful, zealous and worthy disciples of the Lord, in leading many more souls to the salvation in God. May God therefore bless us all and guide us all with His strength and wisdom at all times, that we may truly always be fruitful in our every efforts and endeavours for His greater glory. Amen.

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Thursday, 5 February 2026 : 4th Week of Ordinary Time, Memorial of St. Agatha, Virgin and Martyr (Gospel Reading)

Liturgical Colour : Red

Mark 6 : 7-13

At that time, Jesus called the Twelve to Him, and began to send them out two by two, giving them authority over evil spirits, and He ordered them to take nothing for the journey, except a staff : no food, no bag, no money on their belts. They were to wear sandals and were not to take an extra tunic.

And He added, “In whatever house you are welcomed, stay there until you leave the place. If any place does not receive you, and the people refuse to listen to you, leave after shaking the dust off your feet. It will be a testimony against them.”

So they set out to proclaim that this was the time to repent. They drove out many demons and healed many sick people by anointing them.