Thursday

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Thursday, 3 September 2026 : 22nd Week of Ordinary Time, Memorial of Pope St. Gregory the Great, Pope and Doctor of the Church (Homily and Scripture Reflections)

Liturgical Colour : White

Dear brothers and sisters in Christ, today we listened to the words of the Scripture, we are all called to keep in mind that we should trust in the Lord’s wisdom and allow Him to guide us in our path and journey throughout life. We should not do things in the way that the world often told us to do, or to trust in the wisdom of the world because as Christians, many of the things we learnt through the truth and wisdom of God show us that what the world considers as folly and stupid, irrational or strange, is actually the best path, as God knows all things while we mankind, even in our best intellect and wisdom knew only a part of all things, and it is not possible for us to know all things, no matter how much we try.

In our first reading today, taken from the Epistle of St. Paul to the Church and the faithful in Corinth, continuing from the discourse earlier this week, we heard of the Apostle mentioning how what is wise in the sight of the world is considered as foolish in the eyes of God. This, together with the reference that was made regarding the leaders of the faithful and evangelisers like St. Paul himself, Apollos, a popular Jewish Christian convert and preacher, Cephas, that is St. Peter, the leader of the Apostles and the Vicar of Christ, among others, all these were meant to remind the faithful in Corinth that they must keep their focus in the Lord and not in their own selfishness and divided nature. Otherwise all those divisions could harm and destroy the Church and community of the people of God.

For back then, there had been a rather bitter division amongst the members of the Church and the faithful people of God, as some of the faithful sided with St. Paul while others were siding with Apollos, having differences in their thoughts and preferences. While that would have been natural in any organisation and in our Church even today, but from what St. Paul had elaborated and shared in his Epistle to the Corinthians showed us that the divisions that happened among the faithful seemed to be rather bitter, where that led to the break in the unity of the Church of God, the Body of Christ. Not only that, but the divisions were often particularly bitter and harsh, and they ended up attacking each other, often violently instead of working together to do God’s works.

That was why St. Paul appealed to the people of God in Corinth, to stay away from the temptations of their pride and ego, and to be willing to listen to God’s wisdom and truth, rather than to follow the whim of human and worldly wisdom and ways. Otherwise, that would have caused the divisions and disunity to continue even further, leading to further fracture in the unity within God’s Holy Church, the Christian community. Through the words of the Lord, God and His servants kept on reminding us the members of His Church to trust in His wisdom and love, His truth and grace, because in Him alone we can find the sure path to true happiness and salvation. And this is what we have been constantly reminded, as we heard in these readings today, that we should not cause division among the faithful, and strive to remain united in God.

In our Gospel passage today, we heard of the Lord and His disciples, as He called on His first disciples by the Lake of Galilee or Gennesaret. There He encountered Simon, the future St. Peter, as well as the other fishermen, who had not been able to get any fishes all night long despite their efforts. The Lord told them to lower their nets according to His instruction, and while Simon told Him that they had done work all night and got nothing, but he still obeyed the Lord and did as He asked of him to do. According to conventional and worldly wisdom, this would have been foolish to do, as all the more that Simon Peter and the others must have been experienced fishermen, who must have known that it was pointless to try more.

Yet, as shown by the Lord’s instructions and what happened afterwards, Simon Peter and the other fishermen immediately got a catch so massive, with so many fishes trapped in their nets that their boats almost sank from the great weight of the fishes. This miracle showed us all that what the world considered foolish, is actually the truth and possible in the sight of God. We must not put our faith in the Lord and His truth on the backbench, but instead, put it at the forefront of our lives. We have to prioritise Him and not to forget that His way and truth is the better way forward. We have to learn to trust in Him more the way that Simon, St. Peter, trusted in Him and humbled himself before the Lord, in listening to and obeying the Lord’s words.

In the same way therefore, each and every one of us as Christians ought to be more trusting in God, putting our faith and trust in Him, and not to pride ourselves on our human achievements and greatness, our wisdom and glory. We have to learn to listen to the Lord and allow Him to lead and guide us down the right path. We should listen to the Lord calling us deep within our hearts and minds, and turn towards Him with full of faith and desire to obey Him and to do His will. And as we heard in our Gospel passage today, through the same event of the miraculous catching of fishes, we see how through God’s guidance, as the Church, all of us can gain so much more from our efforts. We ought to trust in God to guide us in our actions so that we may continue to go forth in faithfully obeying His commandments and doing His will.

Today the Church also celebrates the Feast of Pope St. Gregory the Great, one of the great Popes, a great servant of God and reformer, who dedicated himself to the greater glory of God. Pope St. Gregory the Great reformed the Church in many different ways, reformed the Roman clergy and also influenced the greater Church community, purifying them from the excesses and corruptions of the world, enforcing a new and more rigorous practice and discipline in the Christian community. Pope St. Gregory the Great also spent his time and effort in expanding the reach of the Church and the Christian faith, sending out many missionaries to spread the Good News of God to more and more people all around the world.

Pope St. Gregory the Great spent a lot of time reforming the way the Church worshipped as well, laying the foundations of what would later be known as the Gregorian Chant, and also regulated the liturgy into a more synchronous form, and also brought the Church liturgy both in the West and the East to be more coordinated and laid the foundations of what today would become the Holy Mass as well as the Divine Liturgy in the Eastern Church. He wrote extensively in various letters and also other works, in opposing the various heresies of the day and in helping to guide the members of the faithful to turn back towards the Lord with faith. It was thanks to his efforts and all the initiatives that he began which helped the Church to grow and remain strong as it was during his time and for centuries afterwards.

Brothers and sisters in Christ, today as we listened to and remember the words of the Scripture and as we remember the great deeds and works, the faith and dedication with which Pope St. Gregory the Great had committed himself, each and every one of us are reminded to live our lives to the fullest, in the path that God has shown us, obeying Him and focusing our attention on Him and not to ourselves, distancing ourselves from the temptations of worldly glory and greatness, and turning away from the allures of worldly excesses and ambitions, of pride and immorality, of hubris and human greed. All of us should guard ourselves against all those temptations and do our best to inspire one another to remain true in faith in God in the way that Pope St. Gregory the Great himself had inspired us.

Let us all therefore seek the Lord with all our heart, committing ourselves at all times to glorify Him by our lives. Let us all renew our commitment to serve Him with zeal and dedication, that we will always put God as the priority and focus of our lives. Let us all continue to work towards unity and harmony within the Church, and do our part to contribute to the good missions of the Church, the works and efforts of evangelisation and proclaiming of the Good News to many more people all around us, throughout our own exemplary living as Christians. May the Lord be with us always and may He empower each one of us to live ever more faithfully in His presence, now and always, forevermore. Amen.

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Thursday, 3 September 2026 : 22nd Week of Ordinary Time, Memorial of Pope St. Gregory the Great, Pope and Doctor of the Church (Gospel Reading)

Liturgical Colour : White

Luke 5 : 1-11

At that time, one day, as Jesus stood by the Lake of Gennesaret, with a crowd gathered around Him listening to the word of God, He caught sight of two boats, left at the water’s edge by fishermen, now washing their nets. He got into one of the boats, the one belonging to Simon, and asked him to pull out a little from the shore. There He sat, and continued to teach the crowd.

When He had finished speaking, He said to Simon, “Put out into deep water and lower your nets for a catch.” Simon replied, “Master, we worked hard all night and caught nothing. But if You say so, I will lower the nets.” This they did, and caught such a large number of fish that their nets began to break. They signalled their partners in the other boat to come and help them. They came, and they filled both almost to the point of sinking.

Upon seeing this, Simon Peter fell at Jesus’ knees, saying, “Leave me, Lord, for I am a sinful man!” For he and his companions were amazed at the catch they had made, and so were Simon’s partners, James and John, Zebedee’s sons. Jesus said to Simon, “Do not be afraid. You will catch people from now on.” So they brought their boats to land and followed Him, leaving everything.

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Thursday, 3 September 2026 : 22nd Week of Ordinary Time, Memorial of Pope St. Gregory the Great, Pope and Doctor of the Church (Psalm)

Liturgical Colour : White

Psalm 23 : 1-2, 3-4ab, 5-6

The earth and its fullness belong to YHVH, the world and all that dwell in it. He has founded it upon the ocean and set it firmly upon the waters.

Who will ascend the mountain of YHVH? Who will stand in His holy place? Those with clean hands and pure heart, who desire not what is vain.

They will receive blessings from YHVH, a reward from God, their Saviour. Such are the people who seek Him, who seek the face of Jacob’s God.

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Thursday, 3 September 2026 : 22nd Week of Ordinary Time, Memorial of Pope St. Gregory the Great, Pope and Doctor of the Church (First Reading)

Liturgical Colour : White

1 Corinthians 3 : 18-23

Do not deceive yourselves. If anyone of you considers himself wise in the ways of the world, let him become a fool, so that he may become wise. For the wisdom of this world is foolishness in God’s eyes. To this, Scripture says : God catches the wise in their own wisdom. It also says : The Lord knows the reasoning of the wise, that it is useless.

Because of this, let no one boast about human beings, for everything belongs to you; Paul, Apollos, Cephas – life, death, the present and the future. Everything is yours, and you, you belong to Christ, and Christ is of God.

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Thursday, 27 August 2026 : 21st Week of Ordinary Time, Memorial of St. Monica (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 reminded of the calling for all of us as Christians to remain faithful to the truth, teachings and the way of Our Lord and Saviour, Jesus Christ. We must always be ready and vigilant, and not to fall into the trap of complacency and sloth, or lukewarmness in faith and mediocracy. Each and every one of us as Christians are expected to live our lives full of faith and to do whatever we can in order to proclaim the truth of God and the glory of God through our daily living, our every words, actions and deeds. As Christians we are all called to proclaim the Lord and His Good News not just through words only, but also through our real actions and deeds rooted in our strong and genuine faith in God.

In our first reading today, we heard from the Epistle of St. Paul to the Church and the faithful in the city of Corinth, as the Apostle exhorted the faithful there to continue to remain steadfast in their faith and obedience to God through His Son, their Lord and Saviour, Jesus Christ. He reminded them of the wisdom and the light that they all had received from the Lord Himself, as they received those through the Apostles, from St. Paul himself and the other missionaries, and inspired from the Holy Spirit that has been given to them by the laying of the hands. They had received the wisdom and truth of God, and are therefore called to be faithful witnesses of the Lord and their Christian faith as they have been entrusted with by the Lord Himself.

In our Gospel passage today, we heard the Lord speaking to His disciples with the parable of the faithful and bad servants, through which the Lord wanted to highlight the importance for each one of us, His followers and disciples, to live our lives most worthily at all times, and to do whatever we can in obeying His Law and commandments, and in doing our best to proclaim the truth of God by our exemplary actions. We cannot live our lives the way that hypocrites had done, that we do things contrary to what we profess to believe in. And we can neither neglect our obligations and responsibilities in living a good and faithful Christian life, when we are all called to be leading virtuous and good Christian living at all times and circumstances.

That is because as the Lord highlighted, the moment of our reckoning, for our actions and deeds, and for our whole lives can come at anytime. Through that parable of the two stewards, the Lord compared their examples with our own lives, reminding us that the moment for us as the stewards of the Lord’s creation, accounting for our lives in this world, can happen at anytime. We all ought to remember and know that while the most certain thing that will happen to each one of us is death, but at the same time, the most uncertain thing for us is to know the time of our death, as no one will ever know when they exactly will reach the end of their worldly existence. God alone knows that detail and all of us certainly will face that moment of reckoning when we will have to account for our lives and actions before Him.

That is why, all of us as Christians ought to prepare ourselves well for the inevitable, and we have to keep in mind what we have heard in today’s Scripture passages so that we can keep ourselves in check and also attuned to the expectations that the Lord has placed on us. If we have been delaying and been lukewarm in our faith, and not doing what the Lord has expected each one of us to do, then we really should spend the time to start doing what we should be doing, in living our lives in accordance with God and His ways from now on, and we can also seek inspiration on how to do so by looking upon the good examples set by our holy predecessors who have lived courageously and faithfully in the manner that God Himself has taught and shown them.

Today, the Church celebrates the Feast of St. Monica, the mother of the well-known St. Augustine of Hippo, and who is the patron saint of mothers. St. Monica is a truly great saint who can be our great inspiration in how we should live our lives as faithful and holy people of God, in her tireless commitment to her son, her prayers and patience in guiding him towards the Lord. St. Monica was a Christian married to a Roman pagan influential man, and her son, St. Augustine of Hippo was a brilliant young man, but he was easily influenced by the many debauched and wicked influences of his time, and became a Manichaean, indulging himself in all sorts of wicked behaviours and even fathered a child out of wedlock. One can only imagine the frustrations that St. Monica might have to experience.

And yet, St. Monica went through it all patiently, always there to pray and support her son, praying for his conversion and change of heart. Slowly but surely, this impacted the members of her family, beginning from her husband, who converted to be a Christian before he passed away, and then St. Augustine of Hippo himself, who was called by God and then, under the tutelage of St. Ambrose of Milan, finally embraced the Christian faith and the Lord fully, abandoning his past wicked way of life. St. Monica was by her son’s side throughout the whole entire journey, and has always shown her love to him, reminding us all what it means for us to be a Christian and a disciple of Christ, in how we ought to love one another and to help one another in our path towards the Lord’s salvation.

Brothers and sisters in Christ, let us all therefore continue to do our best to proclaim the Lord ever more faithfully in our whole lives inspired by the courage and faith, the dedication and love which St. Monica has shown, especially to her son, St. Augustine of Hippo, and do our part as Christians to be good role models and inspirations for everyone around us. May the Lord, our most loving God and Father continue to bless and guide us in our journey, strengthening us all to walk ever more faithfully in His path, now and always. Amen.

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Thursday, 27 August 2026 : 21st Week of Ordinary Time, Memorial of St. Monica (Gospel Reading)

Liturgical Colour : White

Matthew 24 : 42-51

At that time, Jesus said to His disciples, “Stay awake then, for you do not know on what day your Lord will come. Obviously, if the owner of the house knew at what time the thief was coming, he would certainly stay up and not allow his house to be broken into. So be alert, for the Son of Man will come at the hour you least expect.”

“Imagine a faithful and prudent servant, whom his master has put in charge of his household, to give them food at the proper time. Fortunate, indeed, is that servant, whom his master will find at work when he comes. Truly I say to you, his lord will entrust him with everything he has.”

“Not so with the bad servant, who thinks, ‘My master is delayed.’ And he begins to ill-treat his fellow servants, while eating and drinking with drunkards. But his master will come on the day he does not know, and at the hour he least expects. He will punish that servant severely; and place him with the hypocrites. There will be weeping and gnashing of teeth.”

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Thursday, 27 August 2026 : 21st Week of Ordinary Time, Memorial of St. Monica (Psalm)

Liturgical Colour : White

Psalm 144 : 2-3, 4-5, 6-7

I will praise You, day after day; and exalt Your Name forever. Great is YHVH, most worthy of praise; and His deeds are beyond measure.

Parents commend Your works to their children and tell them Your feats. They proclaim the splendour of Your majesty and recall Your wondrous works.

People will proclaim Your mighty deeds; and I will declare Your greatness. They will celebrate Your abundant kindness, and rejoice in singing of Your justice.

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Thursday, 27 August 2026 : 21st Week of Ordinary Time, Memorial of St. Monica (First Reading)

Liturgical Colour : White

1 Corinthians 1 : 1-9

From Paul, called to be an Apostle of Christ Jesus, by the will of God, and from Sosthenes, our brother, to God’s Church which is in Corinth; to you, whom God has sanctified in Christ Jesus, and called, to be holy, together, with those, who, everywhere, call upon the Name of Our Lord Christ Jesus, their Lord and ours.

Receive grace, and peace from God, Our Father, and Christ Jesus, Our Lord. I give thanks, constantly, to my God, for you, and for the grace of God given to you, in Christ Jesus. For you have been fully enriched, in Him, with words, as well as with knowledge, even as the testimony concerning Christ was confirmed in you. You do not lack any spiritual gift and only await the glorious coming of Christ Jesus, Our Lord.

He will keep you steadfast to the end, and you will be without reproach, on the day of the coming of Our Lord Jesus. The faithful God will not fail you, after calling you to this fellowship with His Son, Christ Jesus, Our Lord.

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Thursday, 20 August 2026 : 20th Week of Ordinary Time, Memorial of St. Bernard, Abbot 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 each one of us to be transformed in our lives through Christ and through our faith in Him so that our lives may be exemplary as Christians, and be good inspirations and we may also be role models for one another in how each and every one of us ought to live up our lives each day. God has shown us the way to Him, and what we need to do is to embrace Him and to prepare ourselves to be good Christians, obedient and observant of God’s Law and commandments, in always doing our best in every moments to practice what we believe in and not just merely paying lip service to God.

In our first reading today, taken from the Book of the prophet Ezekiel we heard the words of the Lord calling on all of His people to abandon their wickedness, their evil ways and all the sins they had committed, and to turn to Him with a new heart. He told them all that He would give them all a new heart, replacing their old wicked heart of stone and giving them a new heart full of love and life, through which they will come closer to God, purified from their sins and evils, returning back to Him, and reunited with Him, to be His people and be blessed and filled with grace once again. It was indeed the sincere hope of the Lord Who has always loved His people despite all the challenges and tribulations those people faced and their often turbulent relationship with their Lord, Master and Creator.

Back then, the Israelites had went though a lot of tribulations and hardships from various kinds and origins, with their kingdoms and homeland destroyed, them uprooted from their lands and humiliated by losing the lands of their ancestors. They and their ancestors had disobeyed the Lord, abandoned His Law and commandments, refusing to listen to and obey the Law of the Lord, and hardening their hearts and minds against Him. They worshipped pagan idols and gods, and even persecuting and killing the prophets and messengers whom God had sent to them to help and remind them of their obligation and calling as His people, stubbornly continuing to go down the path of disobedience and rebellion, trusting in themselves and in worldly powers instead of depending and trusting in God.

As such, because of the hardening of their hearts, many of the people of God had been sundered from Him, and many were lost to Him, falling into the path of sin and probably to eternal damnation. This is a fate which the Lord’s parable in our Gospel passage today also echoed. In that parable, the Lord spoke of a king who hosted a wedding banquet for his son, and when he invited his guests, those guests refused to listen to him or to attend the banquet despite the reminders and the invitations that they had sent to them, making excuses and even insulting and killing those servants whom the king had sent to them, a tacit comparison with the state of how the people of God persecuted the prophets and messengers of God in the past.

Thus, the king sent a new invitation to the new batch of guests, after he had punished and crushed all those unworthy and deviant guests who refused to attend the wedding banquet. The king called forth everyone to come to his banquet, calling them from all sorts of places, which is a reference to how the Lord has called everyone, all the children of mankind, and not just the Israelites anymore, to be His disciples and followers, and to enter into His kingdom and way of truth. The Lord called on all of us to enter into His banquet, to rejoice together in His presence forevermore, in all the bounty and riches that He has graciously and lovingly prepared for each and every one of us, without exception.

However, as we all know, in order to attend a banquet, or any important event, there are certain expectations for us to fulfil, and one of them is that we have to be properly dressed and attired. Even at the time of the Lord Jesus, when many of the people were poor, during the time of any religious festivals and celebrations, the people would still come dressed in the best clothes they could afford or which they possessed, that they might worthily be present in the celebration. That is referring to our attitudes and our way of living our lives with faith, brothers and sisters in Christ. If we are to come to the presence of the Lord, then should we not do our very best to live our lives according to His ways?

That is why we heard what happened to the guest who came without the wedding garment, or a garment suitable to be worn into that event. The king asked the guest and then sent that unworthy guest out, cast out to suffer in the darkness, much as those who had rejected his invitation in the first place. This is an important reminder that unless we come to the Lord with a heart and mind filled with love for Him, with genuine and true faith, then we can have no place with Him and in Him in His kingdom. And if we remain stubborn with this attitude, then unfortunately our lot will be to endure forever the suffering and the damnation that comes with our own conscious rejection of God’s love, grace and truth.

Brothers and sisters in Christ, let us all keep all these in mind as we continue to progress ever more in our lives, and remind ourselves to keep faithful to God in all things and at all times. We should remove from ourselves all taints of wickedness and evils, all stubbornness and allow the Lord to change us and our hearts and minds just as He had said that He would do. Let us allow the Lord to place in each one of us a new, beating heart, living and vibrant with love for Him and for our fellow brethren, and remove from ourselves our past hearts of stone, full of stubbornness, pride and ego. This is what many of us should be doing so that we can get closer to God instead of being distracted and pulled ever further away from Him.

Today, the Church celebrates the Feast of St. Bernard, also known as St. Bernard the Abbot and St. Bernard of Clairvaux. He was a great man of God, a dedicated monk and abbot, the founder of the Cistercian Order, formed from the reformation of the Benedictine order. He was also the co-founder of the renowned Knights Templar, and his many other contributions have been well-known throughout history, and are great inspirations for us all to follow, in how we ourselves live our lives as Christians. He was born into a family of high nobility in Burgundy, a region that is part of today’s France. Since his early youth, he has always had a strong devotion to the Blessed Virgin Mary, and he later on would promote his devotion to Mary throughout all of his works and missions.

St. Bernard has always wanted to become a priest, and later on, eventually he inspired many other men who followed his inspiration to join a monastic life, setting up the community of reformed Benedictines, which would eventually become the foundation of the Cistercian Order, and becoming the Abbot of Clairvaux, for which he was most well-known for. He soon had many following, and many people flocked to join his monastery, and support his endeavour, including his own father and brothers. He took part in many important events throughout the Church, supporting the Pope and others in embarking on the vigorous reforms of the Church and the Christian faith, improving the spirituality and discipline of the faithful, both those among the clergy and the laity alike.

Then, he was also remembered for his many works in opposing heresies and rooting out corrupt practices in the Church, taking part in Church councils and working on my writings, letters and documents which made his efforts and works truly influential at the time, as well as long after his passing and era. He had to face difficulties and challenges from the heretics and all those who opposed his reforms and efforts, but all these did not dampen his spirit and desire to follow the Lord faithfully and to do whatever he could to serve Him. He continued to labour hard in service to God and His people, as well as spreading the devotion to Mary, the Holy Mother of God in all of his works and missions throughout all of Christendom until the end of his life.

Brothers and sisters in Christ, from the great life and examples showed to us by St. Bernard of Clairvaux, his dedication and efforts to serve the Lord, and through what we have been discussing from our Scripture passages, we should strive to live our lives worthily at all times, putting Him as the focus and centre of all of our lives and not the many distractions and temptations of worldly matters, wealth, possessions and all the other things that often distract us from the path towards God and His salvation. Let us all reorientate our lives so that we may focus them once more towards the Lord and reject the excesses of the world around us. May God be with us always and may He empower us to be ever more faithful and committed in following Him, now and always. Amen.

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Thursday, 20 August 2026 : 20th Week of Ordinary Time, Memorial of St. Bernard, Abbot and Doctor of the Church (Gospel Reading)

Liturgical Colour : White

Matthew 22 : 1-14

At that time, Jesus continued speaking to the people in parables : “This story throws light on the kingdom of heaven : A king gave a wedding banquet for his son. He sent his servants to call the invited guests to the banquet, but the guests refused to come.”

“Again, He sent other servants, instructing them to say to the invited guests, ‘I have prepared a banquet, slaughtered my fattened calves and other animals, and now, everything is ready. Come to the wedding!’ But they paid no attention and went away, some to their farms, and some to their work. Others seized the servants of the king, insulted them and killed them.”

“The king was furious. He sent his troops to destroy those murderers and burn their city. Then he said to his servants, ‘The wedding banquet is prepared, but the invited guests were not worthy. Go instead to the main streets, and invite everyone you find to the wedding feast.'”

“The servants went out into the streets and gathered all they found, good and bad alike, so that the hall was filled with guests. The king came in to see the wedding guests, and he noticed a man not wearing a wedding garment. So he said to him, ‘Friend, how did you get in without the wedding clothes?'”

“But the man remained silent. So the king said to his servants, ‘Bind his hands and feet and throw him into the outer darkness, where there is weeping and gnashing of teeth.’ For many are called, but few are chosen.”