Liturgical Colour : White
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.’
Liturgical Colour : White
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.'”
Liturgical Colour : White
Dear brothers and sisters in Christ, on this day we heard the story of the conversion of the Ethiopian official by the Apostle St. Philip when the Apostle encountered the official who was on his way back to his homeland after a pilgrimage to Jerusalem. At that time, it had been a thousand years since the coming of Queen of Sheba, who was told to be the ruler of the country at the region later known as Ethiopia, when she visited Jerusalem and paid homage to king Solomon of Israel.
As a result, the relations between the lands of Israel and Ethiopia had been established for many centuries since then, as they were definitely involved in trade and economic cooperation, as well as even religious encounter and exchanges. That was why the Ethiopian official was reading the passage from the prophet Isaiah’s prophecies and records, as it was likely that there were also some Jews and descendants of the Israelites who settled in Ethiopia and based on the history of relations between the two countries, it is likely that the Hebrew Scriptures have been widespread and read by many.
This was where then that St. Philip the Apostle came in, as he came up to the Ethiopian official who was reading the particular passage from the prophet Isaiah regarding the Suffering Servant or the Suffering Messiah. No doubt during that time, as he visited Jerusalem during those days, it was quite likely that he had also witnessed or at least heard about the events that had been happening in and around Jerusalem regarding Jesus the Messiah, Who had been condemned to death and crucified, and yet was told to have been resurrected from the dead.
Thus, St. Philip explained to the official what the passages of the Scriptures and the prophecies of Isaiah truly meant, explaining with the wisdom of the Holy Spirit, the revelations of God’s truth and also the personal experiences he had when he was travelling and journeying along with the Lord. And thus the Ethiopian official allowed himself to be persuaded and believed in the truth of Christ. He asked to be baptised at a nearby water source, and once he had been baptised by St. Philip, the Apostle was spirited away from him, and the official joyfully went back to his country, likely to be the first Christian among the Ethiopians, and establishing the seeds of the faith in that land that are to remain till to this day.
In our Gospel passage today, we heard of the Lord Jesus speaking to the people that He is truly the Bread of Life Who has come down from Heaven itself, the very One Whom the prophets had spoken and prophesied about. And He spoke of His relationship with the Father, how all can only know the Father through Him as He was the only One Who had come down from Heaven, revealing the truth of God into this world and among us all, God’s beloved people. He has come into this world to save us all from certain destruction.
Through what we have read in our Gospel today, we are therefore brought to pay attention to our faith in God, just as Christ has spoken to us all as a reminder that no one can come to the Father except through Him. And all of us have been called by Christ to be His followers as we received His truth through His Church. Like that of the Ethiopian official and many other people of all the various nations and races, all have been called by God to follow Him and to be His people.
Are we appreciative of what the Lord had done for us? Are we able to recognise just how much the Lord had loved us all these while, that even when we are all still sinners, rebellious and indignant in our attitudes, we are all still beloved by Him and God still did all He could to save us, that is by His selfless sacrifice on the Cross. God has called us all to follow Him, and we are all called to be witnesses of His truth, to proclaim this truth to our fellow brethren, through our lives and actions.
How do we do this, brothers and sisters in Christ? It is by our faithful witness through virtue and love, through real dedication and trust in the Lord. And we should also have a great zeal for the Lord, like that of the Apostle St. Philip, whose conviction and faith, wisdom and devotion persuaded the Ethiopian official to believe in God. The Lord will always be by our side, guiding us and helping us, but we need to trust in Him and open ourselves to His providence, guidance and strength.
Today, all of us should look upon the good examples set by one of our holy predecessors, namely Pope St. Pius V, one of the great Popes and leaders of the Church. At that time, with the Church and Christendom under great threat from both within and without, Pope St. Pius V helped to lead the Church and the Christian faithful through those difficult times. His personal piety, dedication to the reform of the Church and the faith, as well as his leadership and commitment to the Lord allowed the Church and the faithful to endure the worst years successfully.
When the Christian world was threatened by the forces of the infidels and unbelievers under the Ottoman Empire, Pope St. Pius V helped to raise a great alliance of the faithful forces and handed the enemies of the Church and the Lord a great defeat at the Battle of Lepanto. And facing the great challenges of the heresies of Protestantism in much of Christendom, Pope St. Pius V helped to bring the instrumental Council of Trent to a successful conclusion, and helped to enforce the much needed reforms that reinvigorated the Church and the faithful, in a strong Counter Reformation effort that reversed much of the damages in the past decades.
Brothers and sisters in Christ, as we can see in the great dedication and efforts put in by Pope St. Pius V, let us all as Christians be ourselves inspired to follow in his footsteps, as well as in the footsteps of the Apostles, to be cheerful and courageous bearers of Christ’s truth and light to all the peoples of all the nations. May the Lord be with us always, and may He continue to guide us and bless our many good endeavours for His greater glory. Amen.
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.”
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 or Red (Martyrs)
Dear brothers and sisters in Christ, on this day we listened to the words of the Lord in the Scriptures which spoke to us about the Lord and His truth, which He has revealed to us all through His Son, Jesus Christ, Our Lord and Saviour. And this truth has been passed down to us through His Apostles and disciples and through His Church, and defended by many who had devoted themselves to the Lord and remained faithful despite all the oppositions and even persecutions they encountered.
In our first reading today we heard of the story of the persecution of the Apostles, who were opposed by most of the members of the Sanhedrin, the Jewish High Council who were also opposed to their Lord and Master, Jesus Christ. The Sanhedrin and many of the Pharisees had tried hard to clamp down on the activity and the works of the Apostles who were then rapidly gaining converts to the Christian faith among the populace. They even put the Apostles under arrest and wanted to try them and condemn them, but God sent His Angel to free the Apostles.
The Apostles remained firm in their faith and despite the efforts of their opponents and oppressors to stop them from doing their works and from proclaiming the truth, the Apostles did not fear all the threats and persecutions, and as they bravely said before all the Sanhedrin that they would rather obey Divine authority and the Lord’s commandments rather than to listen or obey to human authority especially when that authority ordered them to do what is obviously and completely contrary to the Divine mandate and instructions.
And their words there before the Sanhedrin matched what the Lord Jesus Himself told the Pharisee Nicodemus, in their secret meeting, when the Lord spoke of Himself as the One Whom God had promised us mankind as the Saviour, and because He was sent from above, He spoke of things that are heavenly in nature and from God, and His truth was known to only those who were willing to listen to Him and believe in Him. And that was what the Apostles had also spoken and preached before the people of God, which the Pharisees and the Sanhedrin had also heard and yet refused to believe.
And the Lord also put it very plainly that those who believe in Him will have eternal life through Him while those who do not believe in Him will not. And thus, this is why the Apostles having been called and sent out to the world to carry out the will of God refused to stop their works just because of the unreasonable opposition from the Pharisees and the Sanhedrin on the account of their jealousy and personal hatred and agenda against the Lord. They had been sent on the mission to save countless souls, and they would want to see it through to the very end.
Brothers and sisters in Christ, this is what the Lord had asked us to do as part of our Christian calling. We have been sent out into the world like that of the Apostles, continuing their works and doing what we can to bring God’s truth to all of the peoples for the salvation of souls. Are we all willing to commit ourselves to the Lord in that way? And are we willing to commit our time, effort and attention to serve the Lord with all of our hearts and with our strength?
Today we also celebrate the feast of St. George and St. Adalbert, two devoted servants of God and holy martyrs who have given their lives in service to God, toiling and doing what they could through their lives to be inspirations to all the faithful. St. George was a Christian soldier, a member of the Praetorian Guard or the personal guards of the Roman Emperor Diocletian, while St. Adalbert was a Bohemian bishop and saint, who was involved in the works of evangelisation and in establishing the Church in various places.
St. George was a member of the elite Praetorian guards who guarded the Roman Emperor Diocletian, who was infamous for his great persecution of Christians living throughout the Empire. And especially among the members of the army and the Praetorians, Christians who had to practice their faith in secret had a truly difficult time. But St. George stood firm and refused to offer sacrifices to the Roman Emperor as required by the law and by the order of the Emperor himself, and as such, publicly declared himself as a Christian.
Suffering greatly from the torture, pain and the persecution, St. George endured it all and remained true to his faith, refusing to recant his faith even under the pain and certainty of death. It was told by tradition that St. George was beheaded on the city wall of Emperor Diocletian’s capital in Nicomedia, and afterwards, many people began to venerate St. George, inspired deeply by the saint’s great and deep devotion to the Lord and for his righteousness and courage.
Meanwhile, St. Adalbert was the Bishop of Prague in what is now Czech Republic, ministering to the people of God at what was then the frontier of Christendom. Many pagans still lived in the area of St. Adalbert’s diocese, and the Church there was still being established. St. Adalbert had to face much difficulty and opposition from those who still held on their pagan ways, and his opposition to the pagans’ practice of slavery and polygamy among others earned him enemies within the nobles and courtiers.
But St. Adalbert remained firm in his faith and in his conviction to serve God and His people. He continued to fight for the Church in those difficult and challenging moments, and endured all sorts of tribulations in the process. In the end, he left behind his diocese and stepped down as bishop, and set out as a missionary to the still pagan Prussians in what is now eastern part of Germany and Poland. It was there that St. Adalbert was martyred for his faith after attaining some successes among the pagans.
Brothers and sisters in Christ, we can indeed see how these faithful and holy predecessors of ours have inspired so many of us to follow in their footsteps in how we ought to be faithful to God and serve Him through our lives. We are all called as Christians to continue on the works of the Apostles and the saints, and we are called today to reflect on this calling. Are we willing and able to commit ourselves to God in this way, brothers and sisters?
Let us all draw ever closer to God and find our strength in Him, seeking to be ever more faithful and devoted to Him as the Apostles, and also St. George and St. Adalbert had shown us through their lives and works. May God give us the strength to persevere and to give our very best in our service to Him, in each and every single moments. May God bless us all, now and forevermore. Amen.
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.”
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.
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.
petercanisiusmichaeldavidkang 