Liturgical Colour : Purple/Violet
Psalm 104 : 4-5, 6-7, 8-9
Look to the Lord and be strong; seek His face always. Remember His wonderful works, His miracles and His judgments.
You descendants of His servant Abraham, you sons of Jacob, His chosen ones! He is the Lord our God; His judgments reach the whole world.
He remembers His covenant forever, His promise to a thousand generations, the covenant He made with Abraham, the promise He swore to Isaac.
Liturgical Colour : Purple/Violet
Genesis 17 : 3-9
Abram fell face down and God said to him, “This is My covenant with you : you will be the father of a multitude of nations. No longer will you be called Abram, but Abraham, because I will make you the father of a multitude of nations. I will make you more and more famous; I will multiply your descendants; nations shall spring from you, kings shall be among your descendants.”
“And I will establish a covenant, an everlasting covenant between Myself and you and your descendants after you; from now on I will be your God and the God of your descendants after you, for generations to come. I will give to you and your descendants after you the land you are living in, all the land of Canaan, as an everlasting possession and I will be the God of your race.”
God said to Abraham, “For your part, you shall keep My covenant, you and your descendants after you, generation after generation.”
Liturgical Colour : Purple/Violet
Dear brothers and sisters in Christ, on this day all of us are reminded of just how merciful God has been to us, how patient He had been with our stubbornness and constant disobedience, our sinful ways and our rebelliousness all these while, as He has continually forgiven us when we seek His forgiveness and mercy. God has always loved us so much even when we have disobeyed Him and did so much evil before Him.
But at the same time, we must also not forget that God still despises our sins and wickedness, and His anger remains against all of our sins and disobedience. He loves us all the sinners but despises our sins, as sin is corruption on us, and no corruption and wickedness may remain in His presence. If we remain in our sinful ways and stubbornly hold on to our wickedness, then we will be judged according to those standards, and we will not be spared on the day of judgment.
Moses pleaded with God as described in our first reading today from the Book of Exodus, as at that time the Israelites rebelled against God in a very terrible manner, because they made for themselves a golden idol, shaped like a calf, as a god and idol for them to worship, while God had just earlier on delivered them from the hands of the Egyptians and their Pharaoh. It was just very recently then that God opened the sea before the people of Israel that they might pass safely on the dry seabed, while destroying all the chariots and armies sent after them.
God made a Covenant with His people and renewed the Covenant and promise which He had made much earlier on with Abraham, Isaac and Jacob, the ancestors of the Israelites. He gave them His laws and commandments, centred on the Ten Commandments that He Himself wrote on two slabs of stone, which He gave to Moses on Mount Sinai, the Mountain of God. On that mountain, Moses spent forty days and forty nights with God, receiving the many commandments God had set before His people to help and guide them in their lives.
But the people, probably being impatient and restless, and weak in their faith, chose to take the drastic action of forcing Aaron, the brother of Moses to make for themselves a golden calf idol as god over them, as they thought that Moses had died on the mountain after spending forty days up there away from the people. They committed all sorts of debauchery and terrible sinful deeds with the golden idol, and God was very angry against them as we can clearly heard in our first reading passage today.
God could have destroyed the people, but He listened to Moses who pleaded on their behalf, for Him to show mercy and to forgive them for their lapses and mistakes. God spared the people but some of those worst offenders and the leaders of the rebellion were indeed not spared by the wrath of God, for it was by their instigation that the whole people of Israel ended up disobeying God and sinned against Him. From then on nonetheless, God continued to love His people and was still patient with them despite their infidelity and wickedness from time to time.
In our Gospel passage today, we then heard of the Lord Jesus in the midst of His rebuke of the people of His time, particularly those who opposed Him stubbornly such as the many among the Pharisees and the teachers of the Law. Jesus spoke of St. John the Baptist in that same occasion, pointing out how that messenger of God himself was also rejected and ignored by the people, the same ones who was rejecting and ignoring the message that Christ was bringing to them.
Those people disobeyed the Lord much like their predecessors disobeyed and hardened their hearts by making idol for themselves to be worshipped as their god. While the Pharisees and the teachers of the Law proudly claimed themselves as the sole and crucial guardians of the faith, they ended up idolising their way of observing the laws of Moses to the point that they forgot why they have the Law in the first place and why they need to listen to the Lord and His truth.
The Lord rebuked and reminded the Pharisees and the teachers of the Law in particular that they need to get rid of their pride and the desire to be praised and honoured by others. The Lord said that all these were preventing them from being able to be truly faithful as they were fixated on their pride and ego, their desire to maintain their prestige and honour, which they ended up idolising and caused them to fall into sin. This is why today, all of us are also then reminded through all these past examples that we should be more humble and be careful with the many temptations around us that are keeping us from being faithful to God.
Brothers and sisters in Christ, let us all make good use of the opportunities we have received in this season of Lent, that we approach the throne of God’s mercy and love, with the desire to be forgiven from our many sins and faults. Let us all be humble before God and strive to repent from our mistakes and sins, knowing that God is always ready to forgive us if we ourselves are willing to accept His mercy, and accepting God’s mercy require us to make that profound change in our way of life, devoting ourselves to God with a renewed faith and commitment.
May God be with us in our journey of faith, and may He continue to guide us in the midst of this current challenging moments, as the world is still struggling with the coronavirus pandemic. May God bless all those who have given their lives and their efforts to care for the sick and the dying. Let us pray for all of them, and let us also put our faith in God, knowing that He will provide for us all, no matter what. Amen.
Liturgical Colour : Purple/Violet
John 5 : 31-47
At that time, Jesus said to the Jews, “If I bore witness to Myself, My testimony would be worthless. But Another One is bearing witness to Me, and I know that His testimony is true when He bears witness to Me. John also bore witness to the truth when you sent messengers to him, but I do not seek such human testimony; I recall this for you, so that you may be saved.”
“John was a burning and shining lamp, and for a while you were willing to enjoy his light. But I have greater evidence than that of John – the works which the Father entrusted to Me to carry out. The very works I do bear witness : The Father has sent Me. Thus He Who bears witness to Me is the Father Who sent Me. You have never heard His voice and have never seen His likeness; therefore, as long as you do not believe His messenger, His word is not in you.”
“You search in the Scriptures, thinking that in them you will find life; yet Scripture bears witness to Me. But you refuse to come to Me, that you may live. I am not seeking human praise; but I have known that love of God is not within you, for I have come in My Father’s Name and you do not accept Me. If another comes in his own name, you will accept him. As long as you seek praise from one another, instead of seeking the glory which comes from the only God, how can you believe?”
“Do not think that I shall accuse you to the Father. Moses himself, in whom you placed your hope, accuses you. If you believed Moses, you would believe Me, for he wrote of Me. But if you do not believe what he wrote, how will you believe what I say?”
Liturgical Colour : Purple/Violet
Psalm 105 : 19-20, 21-22, 23
They made a calf at Horeb and worshipped the molten image. They exchanged the glory of God for the image of a bull that eats grass.
They forgot their Saviour God, Who had done great things in Egypt, wonderful works in the land of Ham, and awesome deeds by the Sea of Reeds.
So He spoke of destroying them, but Moses, His chosen one, stood in the breach before Him to shield them from destruction.
Liturgical Colour : Purple/Violet
Exodus 32 : 7-14
Then YHVH said to Moses, “Go down at once, for your people, whom you brought up from the land of Egypt, have corrupted themselves. They have quickly turned from the way I commanded them and have made for themselves a molten calf; they have bowed down before it and sacrificed to it and said : ‘These are your gods, Israel, who brought you out of Egypt.'”
And YHVH said to Moses, “I see that these people are a stiff-necked people. Now just leave Me that My anger may blaze against them. I will destroy them, but of you I will make a great nation.” But Moses calmed the anger of YHVH, his God, and said, “Why, o YHVH, should Your anger burst against Your people whom You brought out of the land of Egypt with such great power and with a mighty hand?”
“Let not the Egyptians say : ‘YHVH brought them out with evil intent, for He wanted to kill them in the mountains and wipe them from the face of the earth.’ Turn away from the heat of Your anger and do not bring disaster on Your people. Remember Your servants, Abraham, Isaac and Jacob, and the promise You Yourself swore : I will multiply Your descendants like the stars of heaven, and all this land I spoke about I will give to them as an everlasting inheritance.”
YHVH then changed His mind and would not yet harm His people.
Liturgical Colour : White
Dear brothers and sisters in Christ, on this day the Church celebrates together the great Solemnity of the Spouse of the Blessed Virgin Mary, the Foster-Father of Our Lord Jesus, that is St. Joseph. On this day we rejoice in the memory of this great saint who had been made the Patron and Protector of the Church by Blessed Pope Pius IX in the mid-nineteenth century, invoking his intercession and protection for the Church just as he protected the Lord and His mother Mary as the Holy Family.
St. Joseph was a humble and simple carpenter in the small town of Nazareth, who married the young virgin Mary, and he was remembered as a righteous and God-fearing man, obedient to the Law and the commandments, and was upright in all of his dealings and actions. He acted with faith and justice, caring for others as shown in how he tried to preserve Mary’s life and dignity when he wanted to divorce her in secret because she was found to be with a Child before their marriage.
St. Joseph cared for her because had he let it be known to others of Mary’s condition, she would have been stoned to death by the prevailing Jewish laws and customs as she would have been considered as an adulterer and wicked woman. Her whole family would have also been shamed and disgraced. This was not what St. Joseph would have wanted as he certainly knew that Mary could not have cheated on him by her character, which shows us just how righteous and caring he was, not being selfish or egoistic, but putting the needs and concerns of others before that of his.
And it was St. Joseph who cared for Mary and the Lord Jesus, as they travelled while Jesus was still in His mother’s womb on the way from Nazareth to Bethlehem, a difficult journey for a heavily pregnant woman, and in securing an accommodation for them at the time when all the inns and accommodations in Bethlehem were full. St. Joseph also protected Mary and the Baby Jesus when they fled to Egypt away from the hands of king Herod who wanted to kill the Child.
It was likely also St. Joseph, as the Foster-Father of the Lord, who guided the Lord Jesus during His early years, caring for Him and teaching Him the necessary skills and ways to survive and do well in the world. It was even possible that the Lord Jesus was also taught on carpentry and other skills of the trade from St. Joseph, among others, which was why He indeed grew up so well in wisdom in the eyes of men, not only because He is indeed the Divine Son of God, but also likely because of the patience and the perseverance of St. Joseph together with Mary, His Mother.
Brothers and sisters in Christ, today as we celebrate this great Solemnity of St. Joseph, all of us are called to look upon the great examples shown by this faithful, righteous and wonderful saint, whose life was truly an inspiration for all of us as Christians, in how he had lived his life, in the way he has acted towards others, in his commitment to the mission which God had entrusted to him as the head, caretaker and protector of the Holy Family, and as a role model in fatherhood and family for many of our own Christian families.
Today, we all live in a world where the virtues upheld by St. Joseph were no longer honoured and these virtues were often forgotten and ignored, as many were focused on attaining selfish desires and aims, the pursuits of personal satisfaction and glory, the emphasis on personal pride and ambition, that we enjoy and be happy even at the cost of hurting others. And we have also seen how many of us Christians are no longer obedient to God and not following His laws and commandments, and we also see divisions in the families and breaking down in meaningful and genuine Christian relationships.
This is why it is all the more important that today we direct our attention to look upon St. Joseph and invoke him as the Patron and Protector of the Church, that we may look upon his examples of faith and devotion, his upright life and virtues so that we may once again be faithful to God and commit ourselves to Him anew, by following the example and inspirations from St. Joseph, and see how we can be true Christians through our actions and sincerity in following God from now on.
As we celebrate this Solemnity of St. Joseph today, let us all spend some time to reflect on our lives especially in the midst of this season of Lent. As we still continue our busy lives and schedules, our daily activities and all, let us all remind ourselves to be faithful and to be good in our actions and deeds, so that inspired by the good examples of St. Joseph, we may indeed become more like him and be more righteous and devoted to God. In the end, we will then be more worthy of God and His salvation, through our changed life.
Let us all turn away from sin, and embrace God’s love more willingly, and strive to be obedient to the Law of God, to be more generous in love, to be more selfless and less selfish, to be less attached to the many tempting desires of this life. Let us all share our love and blessings with one another, be more welcoming to those who are unloved and rejected, be more forgiving on those who have hurt and caused us pain and troubles. Let us all be committed in our faith like that of St. Joseph, our great role model.
Let us ask for the intercession of St. Joseph, that he may pray for us and help to lead us in our way, so that we may be strengthened by God in our faith and in being more courageous to live our lives with greater fidelity, righteousness and love for God from now on. O St. Joseph, Holy Patron and Protector of the Church, our great role model and intercessor, pray for us all sinners, and show us the way forward in faith towards your Foster-Son, Our Lord Jesus Christ. Amen.
Liturgical Colour : White
Matthew 1 : 16, 18-21, 24a
Jacob was the father of Joseph, the husband of Mary, and from her came Jesus Who is called the Christ – the Messiah.
This is how Jesus Christ was born : Mary His mother had been given to Joseph in marriage, but before they lived together, she was found to be pregnant through the Holy Spirit. Then Joseph, her husband, made plans to divorce her in all secrecy. He was an upright man, and in no way did he want to discredit her.
While he was pondering over this, an Angel of the Lord appeared to him in a dream and said, “Joseph, descendant of David, do not be afraid to take Mary as your wife. She has conceived by the Holy Spirit, and now she will bear a Son. You shall call Him ‘Jesus’ for He will save His people from their sins.”
When Joseph woke up, he did what the Angel of the Lord had told him to do.
Alternative reading
Luke 2 : 41-51a
Every year the parents of Jesus went to Jerusalem for the Feast of the Passover, as was customary. And when Jesus was twelve years old, He went up with them, according to the custom of this feast. After the festival was over, they returned, but the Boy Jesus remained in Jerusalem, and His parents did not know it.
They thought He was in the company, and after walking the whole day they looked for Him among their relatives and friends. As they did not find Him, they went back to Jerusalem searching for Him, and on the third day they found Him in the Temple, sitting among the teachers, listening to them and asking questions. And all the people were amazed at His understanding and His answers.
His parents were very surprised when they saw Him, and His mother said to Him, “Son, why have You done this to us? Your father and I were very worried while searching for You.” Then He said to them, “Why were you looking for Me? Did you not know that I must be in My Father’s house?” But they did not understand this answer.
Jesus went down with them, returning to Nazareth, and He continued to be subject to them.
Liturgical Colour : White
Romans 4 : 13, 16-18, 22
If God promised Abraham, or rather his descendants, that the world would belong to him, this was not because of his obeying the Law, but because he was just and a friend of God through faith.
For that reason, faith is the way and all is given by grace; and the promises of Abraham are fulfilled for all his descendants, not only for his children according to the Law, but also for all the others who have believed.
Abraham is the father of all of us, as it is written : I will make you father of many nations. He is our father in the eyes of Him Who gives life to the dead, and calls into existence what does not yet exist, for this is the God in Whom he believed. Abraham believed and hoped against all expectation, thus becoming father of many nations, as he had been told : See how many will be your descendants.
This was taken into account for him to attain righteousness.
Liturgical Colour : White
Psalm 88 : 2-3, 4-5, 27 and 29
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.
You said, “I have made a covenant with David, My chosen one; I have made a pledge to My servant. I establish his descendants forever; I build his throne for all generations.”
“He will call on Me, ‘You are my Father, my God, my Rock, my Saviour.’ I will keep My covenant firm forever, and My love for him will endure.
petercanisiusmichaeldavidkang 