Thursday

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Thursday, 12 May 2022 : 4th Week of Easter, Memorial of St. Nereus and St. Achilleus, Martyrs, and St. Pancras, Martyr (Psalm)

Liturgical Colour : White or Red (Martyrs)

Psalm 88 : 2-3, 21-22, 25 and 27

I will sing forever, o Lord, of Your love and proclaim Your faithfulness from age to age. I will declare how steadfast is Your love, how firm Your faithfulness.

I have found David My servant, and with My holy oil I have anointed him. My hand will be ever with him and My arm will sustain.

My faithfulness and love will be with him, and by My help he will be strong. He will call on Me, ‘You are my Father, my God, my Rock, my Saviour.’

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Thursday, 12 May 2022 : 4th Week of Easter, Memorial of St. Nereus and St. Achilleus, Martyrs, and St. Pancras, Martyr (First Reading)

Liturgical Colour : White or Red (Martyrs)

Acts 13 : 13-25

From Paphos, Paul and his companions set sail and came to Perga in Pamphylia. There John left them and returned to Jerusalem, while they went on from Perga and came to Antioch in Pisidia. On the Sabbath day they entered the synagogue and sat down. After the reading of the Law and the Prophets, the officials of the synagogue sent this message to them, “Brothers, if you have any word of encouragement for the assembly, please speak up.”

So Paul arose, motioned to them for silence and began, “Fellow Israelites and also all you who fear God, listen. The God of our people Israel chose our ancestors, and after He had made them increase during their stay in Egypt, He led them out by powerful deeds.”

“For forty years He fed them in the desert, and after He had destroyed seven nations in the land of Canaan, He gave them their land as an inheritance. All this took four hundred and fifty years. After that, he gave them Judges until Samuel the prophet. Then they asked for a king and God gave them Saul, son of Kish, of the tribe of Benjamin, and he was king for forty years.”

“After that time, God removed him and raised up David as king, to whom He bore witness saying : ‘I have found David, the son of Jesse, a man after My own heart, who will do all I want him to do.’ It is from the descendants of David that God has now raised up the promised Saviour of Israel, Jesus.”

“Before He appeared, John proclaimed a baptism of repentance for all the people of Israel. As John was ending his life’s work, he said : ‘I am not what you think I am, for after me another One is coming Whose sandal I am not worthy to untie.'”

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Thursday, 5 May 2022 : 3rd Week of Easter (Homily and Scripture Reflections)

Liturgical Colour : White

Dear brothers and sisters in Christ, what we heard in our Scripture passages today are again reminders for us as Christians to be the active partakers of the mission of the Church in the mission to evangelise and reveal the truth of God to more people of all the nations. We are all members of God’s Church and we are all expected to bear His truth and light to more people throughout the world, following in the examples of the Apostles and the other holy saints, holy men and women of God. We have to proclaim the Lord in all of our words, actions and deeds throughout life.

In our first reading today, we heard from the Acts of the Apostles the moment when St. Philip the Apostle encountered an Ethiopian official who was on his way home from Jerusalem. The official was reading the passage of the Scripture from the prophet Isaiah speaking about the Messiah, when St. Philip accompanied the official and explained the meaning of the Scriptures to him, and revealing that everything that he read in the Scriptures had been fulfilled in Christ, the One Whom God had sent into the world to save all mankind.

The Apostles had witnessed the Lord and His works, His many miracles and wonders, listened to His words and teachings, and they had also witnessed His suffering, death and resurrection from the dead. They had also received the gift of the Holy Spirit which strengthened them and gave them the courage to proclaim their faith in the Lord to all the people that they went to, and in the case of St. Philip, he proclaimed the Lord and all of His truth and works truthfully before the Ethiopian official, who therefore became convinced of everything he had heard, and that led him to desire to be baptised.

That was how the Apostles continued to reach out and touched the lives and hearts of those who came even from the distant, foreign lands, and from there, brought forth the truth of the Lord to more and more people. They revealed the truth about Christ, the Bread of Life, Who has delivered His truth into the world, just as we heard it and are reminded of by our Gospel passage today. Christ is the Bread of Life, the Son of God Who has laid down His life for us, obeying the will of His heavenly Father for our sake, so that by His suffering, death and resurrection, we may have new life and be reconciled with God.

In that Gospel passage, we heard the continuation of the account of the Lord speaking to the disciples and the other people on Him being the Bread of Life. The Lord Jesus referred to Himself as the Bread of Life to the consternation of the people listening to Him, as they must have been astounded hearing that He would give them all His own Body and Blood to eat and drink, and comparing what they would have against the bread of heaven that their ancestors once had, the manna, during the time of their Exodus out of Egypt and journey in the desert towards the Promised Land. He said clearly that those who partake of His Body and Blood will have eternal life.

And that was exactly what He would do later on, although the people who were listening to Him could not have realised or understood what He was going to do. The Lord gave to us all His Precious Body and Blood through the Eucharist, which He gave to us all through His Church and His Apostles. He completed His offering and sacrifice through His Passion, suffering and death on the Cross, and by His wounds and by His Body and Blood shared with us, we have been made partakers of His New and Eternal Covenant, sealed by His own Blood, and which He Himself offered as our Eternal High Priest.

Having seen and witnessed all these themselves, and having been empowered by the Holy Spirit, the Lord’s disciples hence gave their all to proclaim the salvation of God and His truth to more and more people they encountered, much as how St. Philip spoke the truth to the Ethiopian official, gaining yet another person to the Lord’s cause. It is then also our own duty and mission as Christians to be the propagator and missionaries of Christ’s truth and the love of God, all that He had done for our salvation in each and every opportunities that we have been given. Each and every one of us have this important mission to be disciples of Our Lord and His witnesses in our respective communities today.

Brothers and sisters in Christ, let us all follow the examples of the Apostles and the many other disciples of the Lord, the many holy men and women, the various saints and martyrs who had gone before us, and whose lives are truly inspiration for us to follow in how we ought to live our lives with faith and dedication to God. We are all called to serve the Lord and do our best to bring His truth upon this world today. We do not have to do great and amazing things, as even the smallest and simplest things we do will matter a lot in leading more and more souls towards the salvation in God. May God be with us and may He continue to help us living our lives with faith and as Christ-like as possible. Amen.

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Thursday, 5 May 2022 : 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, 5 May 2022 : 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, 5 May 2022 : 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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Thursday, 28 April 2022 : 2nd Week of Easter, Memorial of St. Peter Chanel, Priest and Martyr, and St. Louis Marie Grignion de Montfort, Priest (Homily and Scripture Reflections)

Liturgical Colour : White or Red (Martyrs)

Dear brothers and sisters in Christ, today as we listened to the words of the Scriptures telling us about the importance for us to remain steady in our faith in God, and not to give in to the various temptations, pressures, coercions, or any other attempts to lure us away from the path that God has shown us. As His disciples and followers, as Christians, that is those who have been called and chosen by God, and we who have answered His call, we are all entrusted with the important mission and commandment, to be the bearers of God’s truth and love which He has revealed to us in Jesus Christ, Our Lord and Saviour.

In our first reading today, we heard of the confrontation between the Lord’s Apostles and the High Priest, the members of the Sanhedrin or the Jewish High Council. The Sanhedrin led by the High Priest had arrested and gathered the Apostles, who had earlier on been arrested for preaching about the Lord Jesus among the people of Jerusalem, and when they miraculously escaped the prison and were once again proclaiming God’s truth and resurrection, the Sanhedrin arrested them again and tried to pressure and coerce them not to preach anymore in the Name of the Lord under strong words and threat of persecution. Yet, none of those could persuade the Apostles to do otherwise, as they trusted in the Lord and His providence.

They refused to obey the commands of the High Priest and the Sanhedrin, and also refused to be coerced or pressured by their threats, as they were the servants of God and were tasked by the Lord with the evangelisation of the whole world. They were sent by the Lord and had been strengthened by the Holy Spirit to be His witnesses among the nations, and they would not back down or be silenced by the threats of the authorities or anyone else who were opposed to the Lord and His works among the people of God. They obeyed the Lord instead of the orders of men, and they suffered happily for His sake, for through them many would be saved.

In our Gospel passage today, we listened to the words of the Lord Jesus in His conversation with Nicodemus, one of the member of the Sanhedrin who was sympathetic to Him and His teachings, and who became one of His secret disciples. The Lord revealed to Nicodemus in their night time encounter that God has loved the world so much that He gave them all His most beloved Son, Himself Who was there and then speaking about the new and eternal life that He has brought and promised to all of us, such that everyone who believe in Him will not perish but will exist with true joy with God in an everlasting and true happiness.

The Apostles had received the same assurance, promise and revelation that the Lord had given to Nicodemus, and He had shared with them the mission that He entrusted to them in bringing this truth and the same knowledge, as well as thand also the desire for this truth to be delivered to more and more people, as many people had not yet known about Him, His path and ways, and they were still living in the darkness and in the state of sin, and unless they repent and change their ways, and come to know of the Lord and His salvation, many of them may end up in eternal damnation and hell.

That is why they resist, refusing to give up their ministry and work, their struggles and all the things that they had done to accomplish the Lord’s works among His people. There were many more people who need to know about the Lord and His saving grace, and they were waiting for those who would bear this light of truth and redemption to them, as many among them did not yet have the opportunity to know Christ, and yet there were also many others who had known the Lord but still resisted Him and refused to follow Him. It was by the tireless efforts and works of the Apostles, the saints, the martyrs, and many other holy men and women of God that God’s truth and salvation were revealed to the people.

Now, brothers and sisters in Christ, each and every one of us as Christians have been entrusted with the same mission, which we have inherited through the Church, to be the ones to bring forth the Good News of God’s salvation, His light, truth and love to all the people, to all mankind, our fellow brothers and sisters throughout the whole world. We are given this task to fulfil the will of God, and to help countless brothers and sisters of ours, all our fellow men who are still wandering off in the darkness of this world. If we do not avail ourselves to reach out and help them, then who will do so? And if they fall into damnation when we could have done more to help them, then the blame and consequence for that will fall squarely on us.

That is why, brothers and sisters in Christ, through what we have heard in our Scripture readings today and reflecting on the examples of the Apostles of the Lord, we are all reminded to fulfil our Christian calling, to be faithful missionaries and witnesses of Our Lord’s truth and resurrection. What are we going to do from now on, brothers and sisters? Are we still going to continue to ignore our calling in life, to be true and faithful disciples of our Lord, in doing whatever we can to proclaim the Lord in our communities? Or are we going to embrace that calling wholeheartedly and follow the Lord wherever and whenever He calls us?

Today, we celebrate the feast of both St. Peter Chanel and St. Louis Marie Grignion de Montfort, two great saints whose lives should be inspiration for us in living our lives with faith. St. Peter Chanel was a great missionary who went to proclaim the Lord and His truth to the furthest ends of the world, travelling to the island of Futuna in the southern Pacific far away from his homeland in France as a missionary priest, converting many among the natives and earning both the respect and opposition by the local nobles and powerful men, which eventually led to his martyrdom by the local king who was angered by the conversion of his own son due to the works of St. Peter Chanel.

Meanwhile, St. Louis Marie de Monfort, also known well as the founder of the Montfortians was a renowned missionary priest, who ministered to the people in France, which at that time required a lot of guidance and help amidst the rise of numerous false teachings and heresies that could threaten to mislead many down the path of error and rebellion against God. St. Louis Marie de Montfort was known for his dedication in proclaiming the truth of God to His people, resulting in many people discovering the truth about Him and emerging out of the darkness of their erroneous ways, and be reconciled with God and His Church.

Let us all do our best, in whatever we can do, in even the smallest things we can contribute, following in the examples set by these holy people, as we must not forget than even in the smallest things we do, for the sake of the Lord, and for the last, the lost and the least amongst us, we glorify God by our works, and we shall surely be blessed and filled with His blessings. May God be with us always, and may He strengthen us all that we may always ever live worthily of His Presence, now and forevermore. Amen.

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Thursday, 28 April 2022 : 2nd Week of Easter, Memorial of St. Peter Chanel, Priest and Martyr, and St. Louis Marie Grignion de Montfort, Priest (Gospel Reading)

Liturgical Colour : White or Red (Martyrs)

John 3 : 31-36

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

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

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Thursday, 28 April 2022 : 2nd Week of Easter, Memorial of St. Peter Chanel, Priest and Martyr, and St. Louis Marie Grignion de Montfort, Priest (Psalm)

Liturgical Colour : White or Red (Martyrs)

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

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

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

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

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Thursday, 28 April 2022 : 2nd Week of Easter, Memorial of St. Peter Chanel, Priest and Martyr, and St. Louis Marie Grignion de Montfort, Priest (First Reading)

Liturgical Colour : White or Red (Martyrs)

Acts 5 : 27-33

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

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

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