Liturgical Colour : Red
Psalm 116 : 1, 2
Alleluia! Praise YHVH, all you nations; all you peoples, praise Him.
How great is His love for us! His faithfulness lasts forever.
Thursday
Thursday, 3 July 2025 : Feast of St. Thomas, Apostle (First Reading)
Liturgical Colour : Red
Ephesians 2 : 19-22
Now, you are no longer strangers or guests, but fellow citizens of the holy people : you are of the household of God. You are the house, whose foundations are the Apostles and prophets, and whose cornerstone is Christ Jesus. In Him, the whole structure is joined together, and rises, to be a holy Temple, in the Lord.
In Him, you, too, are being built, to become the spiritual Sanctuary of God.
Thursday, 26 June 2025 : 12th Week of Ordinary Time (Homily and Scripture Reflections)
Liturgical Colour : Green
Dear brothers and sisters in Christ, today as we all listened to the words of the Lord contained within the Sacred Scriptures we are reminded that we have to put our faith and trust in the Lord and not in our own often weak and flawed human judgment and intellect, our ideals and thoughts without putting regard to God’s will and wisdom which He has shared with all of us. At the same time of course we are also being reminded that each and every one of us have been given the free will and the freedom to choose our course of action and path in life. And God will allow us to act within the freedom that He has granted to us and still give us all His blessings regardless even though it is not the ideal case. This is why we should always seek to know God’s will by regularly communicating with Him and being attuned to Him through a life well-lived in faith.
In our first reading today, we heard of the account of what happened from the Book of Genesis in which Abram, the one later known as Abraham, took Hagar, his wife’s maid to bed according to what Sarai, his wife had suggested to him. In order to understand what happened here, we must first understand the context in which this action took place, as according to the customs of the time, it was common for a woman who could not bear a child for her husband to take one of her slaves to bear a child on her behalf with her husband. Any child born of such an action would be then considered legally as the child of the woman and not of the slave, as slaves were not considered to have any rights at all at the time, and lived in the mercy of their masters and mistresses.
Therefore, this suggestion made by Sarai for Abram to take Hagar, her own Egyptian slave, to be the one to bear for her a child, made common sense if understood through the context and understanding of the common event and practice at tha time. However, at the same time we must also remember that God also promised Abram and had been reassuring him that he would indeed have a son after what must have been very long wait, of being childless with his wife, and God told him that it would be through his wife that he would bear a child, even if any human logic or understanding would have considered such a thing to be impossible. The reality is such that there is nothing impossible or beyond God’s power to do, and He wanted Abram and his wife to have faith in Him.
But Sarai chose to take the easier way out and did not listen to God, and chose to ask and persuade Abram to agree with her instead, and therefore, that was how Ishmael, the son of Abram and Hagar was conceived and born. And according to what we have just discussed earlier, Ishmael was indeed a legal son of Abram and his eldest born son according to the social customs and practices at the time, and therefore Ishmael did have the right to inheritance of what Abram had in his possessions and all, but God still told Abram nonetheless that His promises would be fulfilled through the son to be born for him from Sarai, and not Hagar. And as we can read in the later account from the Book of Genesis, although this happened not in accordance to what God had told Abram, but God still blessed Ishmael and promised Abram that as his son, he would also become the father of many nations, although implicitly, being inferior to Isaac, the promised son to be born to Abram by Sarai.
Therefore, through what we have heard in today’s reading from the Book of Genesis, we are reminded that we should not allow ourselves to be tempted by the many temptations and coercions of worldly nature, of desires and attachments to worldly ambitions and ways. Or else we will end up like the predicament of Abram, Sarai and Hagar, having two sons who eventually competed for inheritance from their father, resulting in the then Sarah asking Abraham to send Hagar and Ishmael away, essentially banishing them away from the family. And God still did take care of both Hagar and Ishmael despite all these, showing just how patient and loving God towards all of us are, and how He wants us all to follow Him and to obey Him in all things, at all times.
In our Gospel passage today, we heard from the Gospel according to St. Matthew the Apostle and Evangelist in which the Lord Jesus spoke to His disciples and followers, telling all of them that they must have truly genuine and strong faith in God, and they cannot be fickle and shaky in their conviction and belief in the Lord, or else, they would be easily swept away by all the pressures, oppositions, pressures and challenges from all around them, which He highlighted using yet another parable to show and underscore His intentions and teachings to those same disciples. The Lord used the parable of the two foundations, one of shaky and unreliable sand, and another one of firm rock and solid foundation. Each of these foundations in fact represent one’s faith in the world, and the other the faith one has in the Lord.
The ones who built their foundation, the foundation of their homes on sand, shaky and weak, unreliable and unsupportive as it is, may have had an easier time, but in the end, their homes would be easily swept away by the wind and the waves, by all the forces arrayed against them. This is therefore similar to how those who out their trust in the world and all of their human strength without God guiding them and providing for them would end up in, as compared to those who trust in the Lord. Those who trust in the Lord are like those who built their houses on the firm foundation of solid rock, which while this may be more challenging, tedious and time consuming, but it leads to a much more sturdy and stronger house that can withstand all sorts of forces arrayed against it.
Brothers and sisters in Christ, therefore, as we have heard from our Scripture passages today, and as we should have reflected carefully therefore as we discuss this matter, we all should trust in the Lord more and have faith in Him, in everything that He has in plan for us instead of doing things rashly without considering carefully what the Lord truly wants from us. That is because such rash actions can cause harm and sufferings for others around us and also even problems for ourselves as well. What may seem to be easy may not be actually easy for us at all. In fact, trusting the Lord is something that we should always do because no matter what happens, only the Lord alone will never disappoint us, because He is always ever faithful to the Covenant which He had made with all of us.
May the Lord therefore continue to strengthen us in faith and give us the courage and power to continue striving in life with great faith and commitment, with the perseverance and ever stronger trust in Him. Let us all continue to be good role models and inspirations for one another in faith so that by our great examples of faith we may help many more of our fellow brethren to be strong in their commitment and conviction to serve the Lord to the best of their abilities as well. May God bless us all in our every good efforts and endeavours, all for His greater glory, now and always. Amen.
Thursday, 26 June 2025 : 12th Week of Ordinary Time (Gospel Reading)
Liturgical Colour : Green
Matthew 7 : 21-29
At that time, Jesus said to the people, “Not everyone who says to Me, ‘Lord! Lord!’ will enter the kingdom of heaven, but the one who does the will of My heavenly Father. Many will say to Me on that day, ‘Lord, Lord, did we not speak in Your Name? Did we not cast out devils and perform many miracles in Your Name?’ Then I will tell them openly, ‘I have never known you; away from Me, you evil people!’”
“Therefore, anyone who hears these words of Mine, and acts according to them, is like a wise man, who built his house on rock. The rain poured down, the rivers flooded, and the wind blew and struck that house. But it did not collapse, because it was built on rock. But anyone who hears these words of Mine, and does not act accordingly, is like a fool who built his house on sand. The rain poured, the rivers flooded, and the wind blew and struck that house; it collapsed, and what a terrible collapse that was!”
When Jesus had finished this discourse, the crowds were struck by the way He taught, because He taught with authority, unlike their teachers of the Law.
Thursday, 26 June 2025 : 12th Week of Ordinary Time (Psalm)
Liturgical Colour : Green
Psalm 105 : 1-2, 3-4a, 4b-5
Alleluia! Give thanks to YHVH, for He is good, for His love endures forever. Who can count YHVH’s mighty deeds, or declare all His praises?
Blessed are they who always do just and right. Remember me, o YHVH, when You show favour to Your people.
Rescue me when You deliver them; let me see the triumph of Your faithful; let me share the joy of Your nation; and join Your people in praising You.
Thursday, 26 June 2025 : 12th Week of Ordinary Time (First Reading)
Liturgical Colour : Green
Genesis 16 : 1-12, 15-16
Sarai, Abram’s wife had not borne him a child, but she had an Egyptian servant named Hagar, and she said to Abram, “Now, since YHVH has kept me from having children, go to my servant; perhaps I shall have a child by her.” Abram agreed to what Sarai said.
Abram had been in the land of Canaan ten years when Sarai, his wife, took Hagar, her Egyptian maid, and gave her to Abram her husband as wife. He went in to Hagar and she became pregnant. When she was aware of this, she began to despise her mistress. Sarai said to Abram, “May this injury done to me be yours. I put my servant in your arms and now that she knows she is pregnant, I count for nothing in her eyes. Let YHVH judge between me and you.”
Abram said to Sarai, “Your servant is in your power; do with her as you please.” Then Sarai treated her so badly that she ran away. The Angel of YHVH found her near a spring in the wilderness and said to her, “Hagar, servant of Sarai, where have you come from and where are you going?” She said, “I am running away from Sarai, my mistress.”
The Angel of YHVH said to her, “Go back to your mistress and humbly submit yourself to her.” The Angel of YHVH said to her, “I will so increase your descendants, that they will be too numerous to be counted.” Then the Angel of YHVH said to her, “Now you are with child and you will have a son, and you shall name him Ishmael, for YHVH has heard your distress. He shall be a wild ass of a man, his hand against everyone and everyone’s hand against him, defiant towards all his brothers.”
Hagar gave birth to a son and Abram called the child Hagar bore him, Ishmael. Abram was eighty-six years old when Hagar gave birth to Ishmael.
Alternative reading (shorter version)
Genesis 16 : 6b-12, 15-16
Then Sarai treated Hagar so badly that she ran away. The Angel of YHVH found her near a spring in the wilderness and said to her, “Hagar, servant of Sarai, where have you come from and where are you going?” She said, “I am running away from Sarai, my mistress.”
The Angel of YHVH said to her, “Go back to your mistress and humbly submit yourself to her.” The Angel of YHVH said to her, “I will so increase your descendants, that they will be too numerous to be counted.” Then the Angel of YHVH said to her, “Now you are with child and you will have a son, and you shall name him Ishmael, for YHVH has heard your distress. He shall be a wild ass of a man, his hand against everyone and everyone’s hand against him, defiant towards all his brothers.”
Hagar gave birth to a son and Abram called the child Hagar bore him, Ishmael. Abram was eighty-six years old when Hagar gave birth to Ishmael.
Thursday, 19 June 2025 : Solemnity of the Most Holy Body and Blood of the Lord, Corpus Christi (Homily and Scripture Reflections)
Liturgical Colour : White
Dear brothers and sisters in Christ, today we celebrate a very great occasion, a core tenet of our Christian faith, that is the belief in the Real Presence of Our Lord Himself in the Eucharist, in the bread and wine used during the Holy Mass, transformed by the will of the Father and the incarnation of the Son, and by the power and descent of the Holy Spirit, into the very substance and essence of Our Lord Himself, truly present in Body, Heart, Mind, Soul and Divinity before us all. This is the Dogma of the Transubstantiation, our firm belief that the bread and wine has been transformed completely into the Lord’s own Presence and Body and Blood, although in terms of appearance they may seem to still have the appearance, feel and taste of bread and wine.
On this day, we remember the same Sacrifice that the Lord Jesus had done at the Cross at Calvary, which is being celebrated at every celebration of the Holy Sacrifice of the Mass, at every Masses celebrated everywhere in the world, from the time of the Apostles, throughout history and up to the present day, and which will continue to be in the future until the end of time. This Holy Sacrifice that the Lord Himself has offered constituted Him as the Eternal High Priest of all, the One True High Priest Who offered on our behalf the only perfect and worthy offering for the atonement of our sins, as it is only by the breaking of the Most Precious Body and the shedding of the Most Precious Blood of the Lamb of God, Our Paschal Lamb, that we can be saved.
In our first reading today, we heard of the passage from the Book of Genesis in which the story of the interaction between Abraham and Melchizedek, the King of Salem was highlighted to us. This happened as Abraham came to settle in the Promised Land of Canaan after he had followed the Lord Who called him to go to the land that He would show him and entrusted to him and his descendants. Abraham trusted in the Lord even though he was childless even until he was close to a hundred years old, and he followed the Lord to where He led him, and in the occasion mentioned in today’s reading, he was just triumphant in a battle against the Canaanite kings in a mission to protect and recover Lot, his cousin that had been captured by those kings.
This figure of Melchizedek, the King of Salem was indeed a mysterious one, as he was described as a high priest of the Lord Most High, and it was told that no one knew his origins or that he was even without a father. In this sense therefore, many saw Melchizedek as a prefigurement of Christ Himself, Our Lord and Saviour, Who would indeed eventually come into this world, to do exactly the same thing that Melchizedek had done in offering the sacrifices to God as the High Priest of all creation. Melchizedek received Abraham’s offerings which the latter made in thanksgiving to God, and offered it on his behalf to the Lord, and this city of Salem that Melchizedek was king of, was indeed likely to be the one and the same as the city of Jerusalem, the city and place where the Lord would accomplish His mission in His Passion, suffering and death on the Cross.
Then, from our second reading today, we heard from the account made by St. Paul the Apostle in his Epistle to the Church and the faithful people of God in the region of Corinth regarding the events that happened at the moment when the Lord instituted the Holy Eucharist, this perfect gift from God, the Most Holy Sacrament, the manifestation of His Real Presence in the bread and wine which the priests and the other celebrants of the Mass offer to the Lord on our behalf, much like Melchizedek had done for Abraham, and this is done ‘in persona Christi’, as the priests celebrate the Mass in representing Christ Himself, our One and True Eternal High Priest. They do not offer the Mass on their own accord and their own strength, but representing the Lord Who has given us all most generously His own Most Precious Body and Blood for us.
When the Lord told the disciples at the moment of the Last Supper which St. Paul recounted to us, He truly meant every single words that He said, and He truly meant it when He said that the bread He had broken, blessed and shared with the disciples was indeed His Body, and the wine that He has also blessed and passed to be shared with the disciples was indeed His Blood. The Lord did not say that those were merely symbolic or representative, or a memorial or any of those sorts, replicating or resembling His Body and Blood. What He said, as affirmed further by St. Paul the Apostle and by the teaching of the early Church fathers, is that the bread and wine truly became the very Real Presence of the Lord, and are indeed the Most Holy and Precious Body and Blood of the Lord, through the actions of the priest, in invoking the power of God to enact this.
In our Gospel passage today, we heard then of the Lord feeding all of the multitudes of the five thousand people in the famous miracle that I am sure we are all well familiar with. Through this miracle we can see how the Lord is so loving and compassionate towards us, realising our physical needs just as much as we have our spiritual needs as well. He blessed the five loaves of bread and the two fishes that were presented to Him, breaking them and sharing them, and we heard how miraculously those small amount of food was enough to feed the whole multitude of five thousand people, with plenty of leftovers collected, amounting to twelve whole full baskets worth of food. Many people were happy and satisfied, fully filled by their experience with this miracle.
And after this event, chronologically in the events of the Lord’s ministry, many people came seeking Him and wanting Him to be their King, and the Lord told them that they desired this because they were happy to get the food from all those miraculous multiplication of the loaves of bread and fish, the food that satisfied the physical self and the body. However, the Lord told them then that what is more important is the food that lasts forever, and the true and real Food which He would share to them which would bring them all to the promise of eternal life and true happiness with Him. This was highlighted in the discourse on the Bread of Life in the Gospel of St. John the Apostle, where the Lord Jesus clearly stated to all those who followed Him that He is that Bread of Life which has come down from Heaven.
The Lord also stated, just as He had done in the Last Supper, that His Body is real Food and His Blood is real Drink, and they were to be given to everyone to partake and share, so that all those who partake in the Body and Blood of the Son of God and Son of Man would have eternal life in them. Again, all these highlighted the undeniable and clear fact that what the Lord Himself has instituted at the Last Supper was truly His Most Precious Body and Blood manifested in the bread and wine which He had transformed into the very Essence and Reality of His Body and Blood, His own Presence with them, which we therefore partake and therefore God Himself dwell within us all. And should we wonder if this is possible, we do not have to look far but the miracle that He Himself performed in feeding the five thousand people. What seems impossible for us mankind, is possible for God, as there is nothing impossible for God.
Now, brothers and sisters in Christ, let us all consider carefully how we have believed in the Real Presence of Our Lord in the Most Holy Eucharist. The sad truth and reality facing our Church today is the ever dwindling faith that many Catholics are exhibiting towards the Real Presence in many parts around the world, especially in the places in Europe and the Americas where the Christian faith used to be predominant and strongly embraced by the people. This is then also linked to the ever rapidly dwindling attendance and participation in the Masses and other liturgical events and activities of the Church. If we start losing our faith and belief in the Real Presence of the Lord in the Eucharist, then sooner or later, we will also grow detached and be easily distracted by the many temptations and pressures around us in this world.
And in the manner of how we treat the Lord in His Real Presence in the Eucharist is also alarming, as many of us no longer have that faith in this important and core tenet of our faith, in the manner how we act nonchalantly in receiving the Holy Eucharist and even in how we are usually so impatient and cannot wait for the Holy Mass to end so that we can continue with our activities and other busy way of living in the world outside there. This is something that we are constantly being reminded of, especially on this Solemnity of the Most Holy Body and Blood of the Lord, that there is a need for all of us as Christians to return once again to the root of our faith in the Holy Eucharist, a faith that is truly centred on the Lord truly present in our midst, with sure hope in His Providence and with a heart full of love for Him and for our fellow brothers and sisters around us.
Brothers and sisters in Christ, let us all therefore seek to renew our commitment to the Lord our God, our most loving Saviour and King, He Who has made Himself available to us all through the Eucharist, His perfect gift of love to all of us, ever tied and linked to the ultimate and most loving Sacrifice that He has performed at the Cross at Calvary. Therefore, every time we come and participate at the Holy Mass, let us all renew our faith and commitment to the Lord in what He has shown and given us through the Most Holy Eucharist from now on, and be the worthy bearers of His truth and love by living our lives in the manner that He has taught us to do, now and always. Amen.
Thursday, 19 June 2025 : Solemnity of the Most Holy Body and Blood of the Lord, Corpus Christi (Gospel Reading)
Liturgical Colour : White
Luke 9 : 11b-17
At that time, Jesus welcomed the people of Bethsaida, and began speaking about the kingdom of God, curing those who needed healing. The day was drawing to a close, and the Twelve drew near to tell Him, “Send the crowd away, and let them go into the villages and farms around, to find lodging and food, for we are here in a lonely place.”
But Jesus replied, “You yourselves, give them something to eat.” They answered, “We have only five loaves and two fish. Do You want us to go and buy food for all this crowd?” for there were about five thousand men. Then Jesus said to His disciples, “Make them sit down in groups of fifty.”
So they made all of them sit down. Jesus then took the five loaves and two fish, and, raising His eyes to heaven, pronounced a blessing over them; He broke them, and gave them to the disciples to distribute to the crowd. They ate and everyone had enough; and when they gathered up what was left, twelve baskets were filled with broken pieces.
Thursday, 19 June 2025 : Solemnity of the Most Holy Body and Blood of the Lord, Corpus Christi (Second Reading)
Liturgical Colour : White
1 Corinthians 11 : 23-26
This is the tradition of the Lord that I received and that in my turn I have handed on to you; the Lord Jesus, on the night that He was delivered up, took bread and, after giving thanks, broke it, saying, “This is My Body which is broken for you; do this in memory of Me.”
In the same manner, taking the cup after the supper, He said, “This cup is the new Covenant in My Blood. Whenever you drink it, do it in memory of Me.” So, then, whenever you eat of this bread and drink from this cup, you are proclaiming the death of the Lord until He comes.
Thursday, 19 June 2025 : Solemnity of the Most Holy Body and Blood of the Lord, Corpus Christi (Psalm)
Liturgical Colour : White
Psalm 109 : 1, 2, 3, 4
The Lord said to my Lord, “Sit at My right hand till I make Your foes Your footstool.”
From Zion the Lord will extend Your mighty sceptre and You will rule in the midst of Your enemies.
Yours is royal dignity from the day You were born in holy majesty. Like dew from the womb of the dawn, I have begotten You.
The Lord has sworn, and He will not take back His word : “You are a Priest forever in the order of Melchizedek.”
petercanisiusmichaeldavidkang 