Thursday

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Thursday, 16 May 2024 : 7th Week of Easter (Homily and Scripture Reflections)

Liturgical Colour : White

Dear brothers and sisters in Christ, today we heard from the readings of the Sacred Scriptures reminding all of us that we must always remain united in purpose, faith and commitment in our whole lives, in all the things that we say and do in the Lord, our God and Master. We must not allow ourselves to be swayed and tempted to the wrong paths because of the many temptations present all around us in this world, or else we may find it easy to lose ourselves amidst all the distractions and temptations which may lead us astray from the path towards righteousness and salvation in God. This is what the Scriptures have been reminding us all today, that is to remain firmly rooted in our faith in the Lord.

In our first reading today, we heard from the account in the Acts of the Apostles detailing to us about the moment when St. Paul the Apostle faced the whole assembly of the Sanhedrin or the Jewish High Council in Jerusalem, who had been making lots of complaints and pressured the Roman authorities about the works and activities which St. Paul had done in teaching and proclaiming the Risen Lord Jesus and all of His truth to the many people, both to the Jews and the Gentiles or non-Jewish people alike. This was one of the several things which made St. Paul to be hated by many among the Sanhedrin, who worked hard to prevent further spread of the teachings of the Lord, with little success or progress. Instead, the Church kept on growing faster and more quickly even when they were persecuted.

At that time, the Sanhedrin was also composed of two main, very influential groups within the Jewish community, namely the Sadducees and the Pharisees, who dominated the political and religious landscape of the people of God at the time. The former, the Sadducees were those who were composed on the richer and more influential elites, the caste of the high priests which were selected from among them, the nobles and aristocrats within the Jewish community, as well as the rich and powerful merchants. Their great influence and power, coming from their control over the Temple and the commerce in the region made their position to be very powerful, and they clashed with St. Paul and the teachings of Christ over the belief in the Resurrection, in the other spiritual matters and the afterlife, which the Sadducees tend not to believe in, as they were people who were very much attached to the world, and they did not believe in the life beyond this world, a world where they thrived and excelled because of their power, wealth and influence.

They saw the Lord Jesus as a great threat to their status, power and influence, and the works which the Apostles including that of St. Paul had done in his many missionary journeys and works, all those things were seen by the Sadducees as threats to them, and therefore, they wanted to stop whatever that St. Paul had done, just as they had attempted to stop the Lord by persecuting, arresting and crucifying Him. Obviously none of them were successful, and the Church kept on growing rapidly, as more and more people came to believe in the Lord, listening to the words of the missionaries of the Lord, and being inspired by their great and loving examples, through which God’s love has been made manifest and real to them all. The Lord was also with them, with His Church and His disciples, and that was why they were all very successful despite the challenges facing them.

On the other hand, the Pharisees represent the religious and intellectual elite, all the experts on the Law and the Scriptures, the ones who were very concerned about the preservation of the Law and the Jewish ways of life, unlike the Sadducees who were more influenced by the Hellenic or Greek culture. The Pharisees also believed in a more egalitarian view of the participation of the people in worship, and not one that is dominated by the priestly caste, which quite a number among the Sadducees belonged to. They were in opposition to the Lord and His teachings, His ways and workings, and also those done by His Apostles and other disciples because of the disagreements in the manner how the Law should be observed, practiced and enforced. This had also led to bitter experiences and disagreements as recorded throughout the Gospels and the New Testament, like that with the Sadducees.

But we heard how the so-called united disagreement and plotting against the disciples of the Lord like St. Paul quickly disintegrated the moment St. Paul, ever so wise and astute, guided by the Holy Spirit, uttered before the whole Sanhedrin that he believed in the Resurrection and believed like how a Pharisee was, just as he himself was a Pharisee in his youth. We heard how the whole assembly ended up tearing apart and being divided, focusing on their own strife and disagreements with each other. Essentially this showed how God was not with the efforts and works of the Pharisees and the Sadducees, in trying to destroy and crush the early Christian Church and the faith in the Lord Jesus Christ. Those who did not have the Lord’s guidance and help, would see their efforts flounder and fail against those whom God had guided and strengthened, as what happened proved this point really well.

In our Gospel passage today, we heard from the Gospel of St. John in which the continuation of the Lord’s prayers for His disciples and followers have been told to us. The Lord prayed for guidance, strength, wisdom and empowerment for all those who have answered and heeded His call, and that they all may remain united, one and strong together as a community of believers, the Church, the Body of Christ, amidst all the challenges and persecutions that they would be facing throughout all the time. The Lord prayed that they all may be One just as He and the Father are One, to be united in love and purpose with Him, and not be divided like those Pharisees and Sadducees in the Sanhedrin. All these showed just how much He truly cared for His Church and for all of His disciples and followers in the Church. He has always been with us throughout the whole entire journey, guiding and helping us, providing us with whatever we need in our path.

The Lord continued to help and guide His Church, and despite the many sufferings that His servants endured, including that of St. Paul himself, they all gladly did them and committed themselves because of their faith and trust in Him, and they knew that God was with them, by their side, protecting and providing for them at all times. They gave their all to serve the Lord and to do His will, entrusting their lives and missions to Him. That was how the Church kept on growing in strength, despite all the challenges and hardships that they were facing throughout all the time. This is why we are all reminded that we too should always continue to carry out the Lord’s works and all the things which God had entrusted to us to do in whatever circumstances and calling that He has presented to us.

Brothers and sisters in Christ, let us all therefore renew our commitment to serve the Lord ever more faithfully with every moments we have in our lives. Let us all continue to do our best to live our lives worthily as Christians in all of our actions, words and deeds, so that by our lives, by our faithful and inspirational examples throughout life, like that of St. Paul and the other Apostles and disciples of the Lord, we will continue to inspire and help others all around us to come ever closer to God, and to remain united to Him and with Him, and not be divided because of our worldly desires and ambitions. May God be with His Church, and bless all of us in our every good efforts, works and endeavours. Amen.

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Thursday, 16 May 2024 : 7th Week of Easter (Gospel Reading)

Liturgical Colour : White

John 17 : 20-26

At that time, Jesus prayed to God His Father, “I pray not only for these, but also for those who through their word will believe in Me. May they all be one, as You Father are in Me and I am in You. May they be one in Us, so that the world may believe that You have sent Me.”

“I have given them the glory You have given Me, that they may be one as We are One : I in them and You in Me. Thus they shall reach perfection in unity; and the world shall know that You have sent Me, and that I have loved them, just as You loved Me.”

“Father, since You have given them to Me, I want them to be with Me where I am, and see the glory You gave Me, for You loved Me before the foundation of the world. Righteous Father, the world has not known You, but I have known You, and these have known that You have sent Me.”

“As I revealed Your Name to them, so will I continue to reveal it, so that the love with which You loved Me may be in them, and also may be in them.”

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Thursday, 16 May 2024 : 7th Week of Easter (Psalm)

Liturgical Colour : White

Psalm 15 : 1-2a and 5, 7-8, 9-10, 11

Keep me safe, o God, for in You I take refuge. I say to the Lord, “O Lord, my inheritance and my cup, my chosen portion – hold secure my lot.”

I bless the Lord Who counsels me; even at night my inmost self instructs me. I keep the Lord always before me; for with Him at my right hand, I will never be shaken.

My heart, therefore, exults, my soul rejoices; my body too will rest assured. For You will not abandon my soul to the grave, nor will You suffer Your Holy One to see decay in the land of the dead.

You will show me the path of life, in Your presence the fullness of joy, at Your right hand happiness forever.

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Thursday, 16 May 2024 : 7th Week of Easter (First Reading)

Liturgical Colour : White

Acts 22 : 30 and Acts 23 : 6-11

The next day the commander wanted to know for certain the charges the Jews were making against Paul. So he released him from prison and called together the High Priest and the whole Council; and they brought Paul down and made him stand before them.

Paul knew that part of the Council were Sadducees and others Pharisees; so he spoke out in the Council, “Brothers, I am a Pharisee, son of a Pharisee. It is for the hope of the resurrection of the dead that I am on trial here.”

At these words, an argument broke out between the Pharisees and the Sadducees and the whole assembly was divided. For the Sadducees claim that there is neither resurrection, nor Angels nor spirits, while the Pharisees acknowledge all these things.

Then the shouting grew louder, and some teachers of the Law of the Pharisee party protested, “We find nothing wrong with this man. Maybe a spirit or an Angel has spoken to him.” With this the argument became so violent that the commander feared that Paul would be torn to pieces by them. He therefore ordered the soldiers to go down and rescue him from their midst and take him back to the fortress.

That night the Lord stood by Paul and said, “Courage! As you have borne witness to Me here in Jerusalem, so must you do in Rome.”

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Thursday, 9 May 2024 : Solemnity of the Ascension of the Lord (Homily and Scripture Reflections)

Liturgical Colour : White

Dear brothers and sisters in Christ, today we celebrate the Solemnity of the Ascension of the Lord, which is celebrated on the fortieth day in the season of Easter. Sometimes this celebration is moved to the Sunday after which is the Seventh Sunday of Easter. This important feast marks the moment when the Lord Jesus Christ, Our Lord and Saviour, Son of God and Son of Man, Who had risen triumphantly from the dead, ascended in glory into Heaven. Through His Ascension, He returned triumphantly and gloriously to where He had come from, the Throne of God as the only begotten Son of God and the Divine Word Incarnate, and to prepare a place for all of us, His disciples and followers in the world that is to come.

If the Resurrection proved that the Lord had conquered death itself, and broken the chains of sin and evil which had dominated us from the beginning of time, from the moment of our downfall, then the Ascension proved that the Lord truly had come down from Heaven itself, and He rose gloriously by His own power, to show that He is indeed the same Almighty God and Creator of all, one in unity with the Father and the Holy Spirit. Through His Incarnation, the Lord has shown us all His love and His Presence, manifested and made approachable to us in the flesh, and reminding us that we mankind are indeed made in the image of God. And He has also reassured all of His disciples and followers that He would still be with them even though He has ascended into Heaven and can no longer be physically present with them in the form they are familiar with.

In our first reading today from the Acts of the Apostles, that is what we heard from the accounts of the moment when the Lord ascended into Heaven. As mentioned, He reassured all His disciples that the Holy Spirit would be with them, guiding and strengthening them throughout their journey and ministry. The Holy Spirit would indeed come upon all the Apostles and disciples of the Lord at the Pentecost, ten days later, on the fiftieth day after the Resurrection at Easter, which we will celebrate soon as the Pentecost Sunday. Through the guidance, wisdom and strength provided to them through the Holy Spirit, the Lord’s disciples and followers were strengthened and encouraged to go and continue their works and missions in answering God’s call and in fulfilling what they had been entrusted to do, in proclaiming the truth and Good News of God to the nations.

This is the main purpose and mission which the Lord had entrusted to all of us the members of His Body, the Church of God, all the faithful and holy people who have received the truth and light of His salvation and grace. And since He has revealed to us all these, therefore each and every one of us are also entrusted with the same mission which the Lord had placed upon His Church, also known as the Great Commission, that is to make Him known to all the people of all the nations, and to proclaim His Good News and salvation in all the whole world, to lead the world and all mankind to return back towards God and be reconciled with Him. Then this will lead to the whole world to acknowledge that Christ is truly the Lord and Master of all, and receive baptism in the Name of the Father, and the Son and the Holy Spirit.

Then in our second reading today, taken from the Epistle of St. Paul to the Church and the faithful in Ephesus, we heard of the words of St. Paul the Apostle to the faithful reminding them all to remain united as one Body of Christ and one united community of believers, encouraged and strengthened by the same Spirit of God, the Holy Spirit Whom God had sent into this world, to dwell in His Church and among all of His faithful ones. The Apostle reminded all of them of the mission which the Lord had entrusted to each and every one of them through the bestowal of the Holy Spirit, by Whom God had guided and led His Church to continue the good works and missions which He Himself had begun in this world. He has bestowed upon His Church and the faithful many gifts and blessings, the many opportunities and chances for them all to proclaim the Gospel to all.

That was why St. Paul the Apostle also reminded all of the faithful in Ephesus and beyond, that each and every one of them have received those various and diverse gifts, blessings and talents, and everyone have their own calling and mission in life, in doing their part to contribute to the overall great and wonderful works of the Church. Some are meant to be preachers, while others are called to show their contributions in other ways, in their own daily living and actions, while others teach and help others to understand better the meaning of the Christian faith, and many more diverse calling and ministries are present in the Church. This applies to all of us even to this day, just as we all have been given diverse blessings, talents and opportunities in the Church, and in our world today, to which we are all called to minister as God’s disciples and followers.

In the Gospel passage, we heard of the words of the Lord Jesus speaking to the disciples, proclaiming His guidance and providence to all of them, reassuring them that as long as they continue to proclaim His truth and Good News, while they might indeed encounter hardships and difficulties, challenges and tribulations, but they shall be protected and guarded, and the Lord would always be by their side, suffering and enduring all those things with them, and through His Holy Spirit, the Church and all the faithful servants of God will continue to be strengthened and empowered even through their greatest moments of hardships and their deepest trials. The Lord would guide and bless them so that they might indeed continue to live their lives worthily of Him, and to continue to proclaim His truth and Good News to all the people of all the nations.

Now, brothers and sisters in Christ, let us all therefore realise well that we are all called to continue the good works that the Lord had begun with His Apostles and our holy predecessors. There are indeed still many opportunities and chances presented to us in our world today, with its unique challenges and difficulties, and with many are still lost to the Lord, or having forgotten His love and truth, in their pursuit of worldly glory, ambition and pleasures. It is up to us then to make good use of the blessings, talents and opportunities that God has given to us so that we may continue to be good role models and inspirations for one another, at all times. Through our lives and examples, we may indeed be the shining beacons of God’s light and truth, proclaiming His Good News to all the people around us and beyond.

May the Risen Lord Who had ascended in glory into Heaven, as He takes up His Throne, continue to be with us all His Church, and continue to guide and strengthen us all in our path. May He continue to empower each and every one of us with the strength and courage to see things through and to persevere despite the many challenges and trials that we may have to encounter and endure in our respective paths in life and in our respective vocations and ministries. May He continue to bless and guide us in our every good works, efforts and endeavours, all for His greater glory and for the good and salvation of all mankind. Amen.

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Thursday, 9 May 2024 : Solemnity of the Ascension of the Lord (Gospel Reading)

Liturgical Colour : White

Mark 16 : 15-20

At that time, Jesus told His disciples, “Go out to the whole world and proclaim the Good News to all creation. The one who believes and is baptised will be saved; the one who refuses to believe will be condemned.”

“Signs like these will accompany those who have believed : in My Name they will cast out demons and speak new languages; they will pick up snakes, and if they drink anything poisonous, they will be unharmed; they will lay their hands on the sick, and they will be healed.”

So then, after speaking to them, the Lord Jesus was taken up into heaven and took His place at the right hand of God. The Eleven went forth and preached everywhere, while the Lord worked with them and confirmed the message by the signs that accompanied it.

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Thursday, 9 May 2024 : Solemnity of the Ascension of the Lord (Second Reading)

Liturgical Colour : White

Ephesians 4 : 1-13

Therefore, I, the prisoner of Christ, invite you, to live the vocation you have received. Be humble, kind, patient and bear with one another in love. Make every effort to keep among you, the unity of spirit, through bonds of peace. Let there be one body, and one Spirit, just as one hope is the goal of your calling by God. One Lord, one faith, one baptism; one God, the Father of all, Who is above all, and works through all, and is in all.

But to each of us, divine grace is given, according to the measure of Christ’s gift. Therefore, it is said : When He ascended to the heights, He brought captives and gave His gifts to people. He ascended, what does it mean, but, that He had also descended to the lower parts of the world? He, Himself, Who went down, then ascended far above all the heavens, to fill all things.

As for His gifts, to some, He gave to be Apostles; to others, prophets, or even evangelists; or pastors and teachers. So, He prepared those who belong to Him, for the ministry, in order to build up the Body of Christ, until we are all united, in the same faith and knowledge of the Son of God. Thus, we shall become the perfect Man, upon reaching maturity, and sharing the fullness of Christ.

Alternative reading (shorter version)

Ephesians 4 : 1-7, 11-13

Therefore, I, the prisoner of Christ, invite you, to live the vocation you have received. Be humble, kind, patient and bear with one another in love. Make every effort to keep among you, the unity of spirit, through bonds of peace. Let there be one body, and one Spirit, just as one hope is the goal of your calling by God. One Lord, one faith, one baptism; one God, the Father of all, Who is above all, and works through all, and is in all.

But to each of us, divine grace is given, according to the measure of Christ’s gift. As for His gifts, to some, He gave to be Apostles; to others, prophets, or even evangelists; or pastors and teachers. So, He prepared those who belong to Him, for the ministry, in order to build up the Body of Christ, until we are all united, in the same faith and knowledge of the Son of God. Thus, we shall become the perfect Man, upon reaching maturity, and sharing the fullness of Christ.

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Thursday, 9 May 2024 : Solemnity of the Ascension of the Lord (Psalm)

Liturgical Colour : White

Psalm 46 : 2-3, 6-7, 8-9

Clap your hands, all you peoples; acclaim God with shouts of joy. For the Lord, the Most High, is to be feared; He is a great King all over the earth.

God ascends amid joyful shouts, the Lord amid trumpet blasts. Sing praises to God, sing praises! Sing praises to our King, sing praises!

God is King of all the earth; sing to Him a hymn of praise. For God now rules over the nations, God reigns from His holy throne.

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Thursday, 9 May 2024 : Solemnity of the Ascension of the Lord (First Reading)

Liturgical Colour : White

Acts 1 : 1-11

In the first part of my work, Theophilus, I wrote of all that Jesus did and taught from the beginning until the day when He ascended to heaven. But first He had instructed through the Holy Spirit, the Apostles He had chosen. After His passion, He presented Himself to them, giving many signs that He was alive, over a period of forty days He appeared to them and taught them concerning the kingdom of God.

Once when He had been eating with them, He told them, “Do not leave Jerusalem, but wait for the fulfilment of the Father’s promise about which I have spoken to you : John baptised with water, but you will be baptised with the Holy Spirit within a few days.”

When they had come together, they asked Him, “Is it now that You will restore the Kingdom of Israel?” And He answered, “It is not for you to know the time and the steps that the Father has fixed by His own authority. But you will receive power when the Holy Spirit comes upon you; and you will be My witnesses in Jerusalem, throughout Judea and Samaria, even to the ends of the earth.”

After Jesus said this, He was taken up before their eyes and a cloud hid Him from their sight. While they were still looking up to heaven where He went, suddenly, two men dressed in white stood beside them, and said, “Men of Galilee, why do you stand here looking up at the sky? This Jesus Who has been taken from you into heaven, will return in the same way as you have seen Him go there.”

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Thursday, 2 May 2024 : 5th 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, today as we listened to the words of the Scriptures we are all reminded of the need for us to follow and obey the commandments of God wholeheartedly and to understand what He has taught and entrusted to us so that in all the things we say and do, we shall always be focused and centred on the Lord, full of love and commitment for Him and then at the same time, also filled with genuine love for our fellow brothers and sisters all around us. We must not allow the temptations of worldly glory and desires from misleading us down the wrong path in life, as it is by following the Lord wholeheartedly and obeying Him that we shall find the path towards God’s grace and assured of His salvation.

In our first reading today, we heard of the continuation of the story from Acts of the Apostles when the Church was being divided on the issue of whether the Christian faithful ought to obey and follow the whole suit of the entire Jewish laws, customs, rituals and practices which was the favoured position of those who converted to the Christian faith from among the Pharisees and the more hardline ones among the Jewish people, demanding the Gentiles or the non-Jewish people to adopt wholesale the entire rules and laws concerning the Jewish customs and practices. This would have made it very difficult for the non-Jewish Christian converts to live their lives and consequently would have placed great burden on all those who seek to live their lives faithfully in God’s path.

That was why St. Paul and St. Barnabas adamantly insisted that this should not be the way how the Church should proceed forward. They brought the discussion to the table to the Apostles in Jerusalem, highlighting before the whole assembly of the faithful how God has done His great works, signs and miracles among the non-Jewish people as well, showing that He has truly called on everyone to follow Him regardless of their cultural, racial and original background, and He loved everyone regardless of their differences, and thus the Church should also act in the same manner by not making it difficult for those who did not come from Jewish background or origin to follow the Lord and His path, as the way how the Pharisees practiced the Law and the commandments of God was rather excessive and unnecessary.

Therefore in this first Council of the Church, historically known as the First Council of Jerusalem, the Apostles led by St. Peter, the first Pope and Vicar of Christ decided that all the faithful people of God are not bound to the extensive and rigid application of the Jewish laws, rules, customs and rituals, and they also set the standard of what the faithful ought to believe in, a standard which continued to evolve and became more standardised later on, and yet, in its basic form and core tenet remains what we also believe today in our Christian faith. We are all reminded through these that what truly matters in our faith as Christians is for us to follow the Lord faithfully and focus ourselves thoroughly in Him, making God as the centre and focus of our lives, and not like how those Pharisees and teachers of the Law who had become so obsessed in the laws and customs they preserved, that they ended up idolising those laws and customs while forgetting the very purpose why those laws and customs were given to us in the first place.

As Christians, all of us are reminded this day that we must truly have that strong and genuine love for the Lord our God and then also have the same love for our fellow brothers and sisters, our fellow men and women. All of us must always live our lives in a manner that is worthy of the Lord so that by our every actions, words and deeds, we will always continue to proclaim the glory of God and show His love and truth to everyone whom we encounter in life. Through our faithful and worthy lives therefore we may inspire countless others who have experienced us in their lives, either through their friendship or relationship with us, or through our simple actions and words, even for those whom we do not know at all, like strangers and others in our midst.

Today, the Church celebrates the feast of a great saint and man of God whose life and contributions to the Church and the Christian faithful were truly great and remarkable. St. Athanasius was renowned for his courageous stand and defence of the true and orthodox faith against the dangerous threats of heresies and falsehoods which were rampant and common at that time, threatening not just the fate and salvation of many souls but also destroying the unity of the Church through schisms and the divisions because of all the heresies which had misled so many of the faithful into the wrong and evil paths. St. Athanasius in his role as a great Church father and leader of the Church especially as the Pope and Patriarch of Alexandria, is an inspiration for all of us to follow in how we ought to live up to our Christian faith.

St. Athanasius was born into a Christian family in Egypt during the time of Diocletianic Persecution, the last great official persecution of Christians in the Roman Empire. He grew up and matured just as the Christians throughout the Empire began to be emancipated and freed from all the many years of persecutions they were facing back then. He was well educated and eventually was prepared for clerical life by the then Bishop of Alexandria for his outstanding character and talents even early on in his youth. St. Athanasius became a great theologian and was a strong supporter of the orthodox Christian truth against the then popular and widespread heresy of Arianism popularised by the very charismatic preacher named Arius who turned many people from the true faith into heresy and who had many supporters from even among the bishops and priests of the Church, as well as among the secular rulers and nobles.

Yet, that did not dampen the spirit and courage shown by St. Athanasius, who as the Patriarch of Alexandria and as one the most influential leaders of the Church at the time became one of the champions of the true faith against all those who sought to pervert and change God’s teachings and truths for their own selfish ambitions and desires. He was one of the supporters of the true teaching of the Lord, defending the equality and the consubstantiality of the Son of God with the Father, something that the Arians refused to accept. He continued to minister faithfully to the people of God and to all the flock entrusted to his care amidst all the conflicts against the heretics, particularly with all the Arians and their supporters. He had to endure a lot of trials and challenges, and even exile at times from his See.

Yet, St. Athanasius continued to be firmly faithful and devoted himself thoroughly to his mission and calling in defending the faithful and the faith itself from being tainted by the falsehoods and heresies of his time. He wrote extensively on the many matters of the faith and his writings on the defence against the heresies of his time remained well-known and well-read to this day. St. Athanasius like those of St. Paul and St. Barnabas before him did his best to do God’s will and courageously stood up for the true Christian faith and teachings against all those who sought to change or corrupt those teachings for their own selfish desires and ambitions. Through his good examples and actions, he had brought so many people and souls closer to God’s salvation and grace, and many others to be inspired by their courage and examples.

Brothers and sisters in Christ, let us all therefore continue to proclaim the Lord’s truth and reach out to our fellow brothers and sisters, to all those who have not yet known or experienced the Lord in their lives. Let our own lives and examples, like that of St. Athanasius and the Holy Apostles, the many other saints and holy men and women of God, be the source of light and hope, inspiration and strength for others. May the Risen Lord continue to bless our every good efforts and endeavours, and may He empower us all to live ever more worthily in His Presence, now and always. Amen.