Liturgical Colour : White
Psalm 32 : 4-5, 18-19, 20 and 22
For upright is the Lord’s word and worthy of trust is His work. The Lord loves justice and righteousness; the earth is full of His kindness.
But the Lord’s eyes are upon those who fear Him, upon those who trust in His loving-kindness to deliver them from death and preserve them from famine.
In hope we wait for the Lord for He is our help and our shield. O Lord, let Your love rest upon us, even as our hope rests in You.
Liturgical Colour : White
Acts 2 : 36-41
Peter said, “Let Israel then know for sure that God has made Lord and Christ this Jesus Whom you crucified.” When they heard this, they were deeply troubled. And they asked Peter and the other Apostles, “What shall we do, brothers?”
Peter answered : “Each of you must repent and be baptised in the Name of Jesus Christ, so that your sins may be forgiven. Then you will receive the gift of the Holy Spirit. For the promise of God was made to you and your children, and to all those from afar whom our God may call.”
With many other words Peter gave the message and appealed to them saying, “Save yourselves from this crooked generation.” So those who accepted his word were baptised; some three thousand persons were added to their numbers that day.
Liturgical Colour : Purple/Violet
Dear brothers and sisters in Christ, today as we listened to the words of the Scriptures and as we move even closer to the beginning of the sacred Easter Triduum, we are reminded of the important events that had happened when the Lord went through His Passion, betrayed by one of His own, persecuted and rejected by His own people, and condemned to suffer and die like a terrible criminal, nailed to the Cross, all for our sake and for our salvation.
In our first reading today, we continue to hear the discourse of the Servant of God in which we are brought to focus our attention on the Servant Whom God had sent into this world, to be the One through Whom God would deliver all of His people, all of mankind and reconcile with them, gathering them all back in from being scattered throughout the world. Through Jesus Christ, Our Lord and Saviour, Son of God Most High, therefore God endeavoured to bring His salvation to us, fulfilling all the promises He had made to us through the prophets.
In our Gospel passage today, we heard then of the moments of the Last Supper when the Lord had the Passover meal with His disciples, and a mention was made of the moment earlier on when Judas Iscariot, the disciple who were to betray the Lord, plotted with the chief priests to hand Him over to them, on the price of thirty pieces of silver. This happened before the Last Supper as on the day of the Last Supper itself, the deed had been done, and that very night of the Last Supper, the Lord was arrested at the Gardens of Gethsemane.
In this occasion, as we heard of the account of the Last Supper, where the Lord again revealed how He would very soon suffer and endure bitter persecution and torture at the hands of His enemies, and how His own disciples and followers would abandon Him and all be scattered, we heard the disciples then saying that they all would never abandon Him and some like St. Peter even said to the extent that they would give their lives for Him.
But the reality was that all those same disciples were shaken deeply when the Lord was betrayed by none other than one of their own, all the more because Judas the betrayer was counted among the Lord’s inner circle. They were all overcome with fear and their courage left them, and even St. Peter wavered, denying the Lord publicly not just once, but a total of three times before the dawn broke, and St. Peter was overcome with regret, sorrow and anguish.
The Lord has shown us that when we try to depend on our own human strength, or depend on the many worldly things we possess, from money to material possessions, to our connections and various other resources in life, we will not be able to sustain ourselves, and eventually will break and fall apart, just as what had happened to Judas Iscariot, who allowed himself to be tempted by money and Satan’s false promises and lies.
Or like that of St. Peter, who thought that his strength was enough for him to persevere on his own, just as he militantly tried to show strength by saying that he would even give his life for the Lord, and even later on, cutting the ears of the High Priest’s servant Malchus. But when everything fell apart all around him, and seeing his Lord and Master being arrested, humiliated and condemned, he lost his courage and wavered in faith, leading to his thrice denial of the Lord.
That is why we are all called today to turn our attention towards the Lord, to entrust ourselves to the Lord and to have faith in Him, just as the Lord Jesus Himself prayed to His heavenly Father, while He was in full agony in the Gardens of Gethsemane. He did not give in to despair and temptations to abandon His Passion, and instead, went on full ahead, willingly bearing the Cross for our sake, and even after being scourged, humiliated and fell three times, He kept on going up again and again, all for the love of us.
Brothers and sisters in Christ, we should look upon the Lord’s own example, and be inspired to hold faith firmly in Him, entrusting ourselves to Him because we all know that while everything else, material and any other worldly things, and even people and relationship, power and worldly glory may fail, but the Lord and His love for us will never fail. This is the love that stood the test of time, and which allowed Him to suffer even unto His death on the Cross.
Let us all therefore strive to be ever more dedicated and faithful in this Holy Week, the time of reconciliation and rediscovery of our faith and love for God. Let us all turn towards God with a new heart, no longer filled by greed and worldly desires, by pride and ego, but by real and genuine desire to love the Lord with all of our strength, and by our desire to be reconciled with Him through repentance from our sinful ways.
May God bless us all, now and always, and may He guide us through life, and help us to grow ever more in faith, and be ever closer to Him, that one day we may be truly worthy to walk with Him together in His heavenly grace. Amen.
Liturgical Colour : Purple/Violet
John 13 : 21-33, 36-38
At that time, after He said a discourse to His disciples after He washed their feet, Jesus was distressed in Spirit, and said plainly, “Truly, one of you will betray Me.” The disciples then looked at one another, wondering whom He meant. One of the disciples, the one Jesus loved, was reclining near Jesus; so Simon Peter signalled him to ask Jesus whom He meant.
And the disciple, who was reclining near Jesus, asked Him, “Lord, who is it?” Jesus answered, “I shall dip a piece of bread in the dish, and he to whom I give it, is the one.” So Jesus dipped the bread and gave it to Judas Iscariot, the son of Simon. And as Judas took the piece of bread, Satan entered into him. Jesus then said to him, “What you are going to do, do quickly.”
None of the others, reclining at the table, understood why Jesus said this to Judas. As Judas had the common purse, they may have thought that Jesus was telling him, “Buy what we need for the feast,” or “Give something to the poor.” Judas left as soon as he had eaten the bread. It was night.
When Judas had gone out, Jesus said, “Now is the Son of Man glorified, and God is glorified in Him. God will glorify Him, and He will glorify Him very soon. My children, I am with you for only a little while; you will look for Me, but as I already told the Jews, so now I tell you : where I am going you cannot come.”
Simon Peter said to Him, “Lord, where are You going?” Jesus answered, “Where I am going you cannot follow Me now, but afterwards you will.” Peter said, “Lord, why can I not follow You now? I am ready to give my life for You.”
“To give your life for Me?” Jesus asked Peter, “Truly I tell you, the cock will not crow, before you have denied Me three times.”
Liturgical Colour : Purple/Violet
Psalm 70 : 1-2, 3-4a, 5-6ab, 15ab and 17
In You, o Lord, I seek refuge; let me not be disgraced. In Your justice help me and deliver me, turn Your ear to me and save me!
Be my Rock of refuge, a Stronghold to give me safety, for You are my Rock and my Fortress. Rescue me, o my God, from the hand of the wicked.
For You, o Lord, have been my Hope, my Trust, o God, from my youth. I have relied on You from birth : from my mother’s womb You brought me forth.
My lips will proclaim Your intervention and tell of Your salvation all day, little though it is what I can understand. You have taught me from my youth and until now I proclaim Your marvels.
Liturgical Colour : Purple/Violet
Isaiah 49 : 1-6
Listen to me, o islands, pay attention, peoples from distant lands. YHVH called me from my mother’s womb; He pronounced my name before I was born. He made my mouth like a sharpened sword. He hid me in the shadow of His hand. He made me into a polished arrow set apart in His quiver.
He said to me, “You are Israel, my servant, through you I will be known.” “I have laboured in vain,” I thought, “and spent my strength for nothing.” Yet what is due me was in the hand of YHVH, and my reward was with my God. I am important in the sight of YHVH, and my God is my Strength.
And now YHVH has spoken, He Who formed me in the womb to be His servant, to bring Jacob back to Him, to gather Israel to Him. He said : “It is not enough that you be My servant, to restore the tribes of Jacob, to bring back the remnant of Israel. I will make you the light of the nations, that My salvation will reach to the ends of the earth.”
Liturgical Colour : Purple/Violet
Dear brothers and sisters in Christ, on this day we listened to the words of the Scripture, hearing how the people of Israel rebelled against God and disobeyed Him when they grumbled and complained against Him as they journeyed through the desert from Egypt. They complained that they had a better life in Egypt even though over there they were slaves and were treated badly.
They did all these even though the Lord had in fact treated them very kindly, patiently answering their pleas and requests, giving them daily the bread from heaven itself, and also other food and plenty of water to drink in their journey through the desert. The Lord took good care of His people and patiently cared for them only to gain contempt, betrayal and disobedience, rebellion and wickedness in return.
The Lord then sent fiery serpents that were disastrous in their effects on the people, as many were bitten by those serpents and died. Those serpents killed many and the people begged the Lord for mercy, asking Moses to intercede for their sake. The Lord had pity on His people and showed them His clemency through instructing Moses to build a great bronze serpent standard, and lifting it up before the whole people that all those who had been bitten and saw the bronze serpent would be saved.
This is related to our Gospel passage today in which we heard of the Lord Jesus speaking plainly to the people and all gathered about what would happen to Him. Those Jews were the ones living in Judea and many of them supported the Pharisees and the teachers of the Law in opposition against Jesus. They doubted Him and refused to believe in Him, demanding to see miracles and signs from Him even when He had done all those wonders before them all.
And the Lord then revealed to all of them how He would be lifted up high above the Earth, a prelude to what He would endure during His Passion namely when He would be scourged, stripped and nailed to the Cross, and lifted up on the hill of Calvary, for all the same people to whom the Lord had spoken, to see the ultimate and greatest of all the signs of God’s wonders and love.
What is the significance of this, brothers and sisters? It is just like the lifting of the bronze serpent of Moses in the past through which the people were saved from the deadly sting of the serpents, thus, the Lord also had Himself lifted up so that all those who see Him, believe in Him and have faith in Him will be saved from certain death and destruction from the sting of sin.
This is therefore an important reminder for each and every one of us that we are all called to shun the temptations to sin, the allure and pull of its corruption, and all the things that have led us to our downfall, and the downfall of so many who came and went before us. As we approach the beginning of the Holy Week in less than a week’s time, we are all called to reflect deeply of the Lord’s Passion, all that He had done, out of His great love for us.
It is thanks to Him, His enduring love and great patience that each and every one of us still have hope, the hope of entering into a new and blessed existence free from sin, and one that is no longer corrupted by those wicked and evil taints of the world. The Lord has willingly taken up His Cross, bearing our many sins and their consequences and punishments, all because of His love for us. If not for Him, we should have been lost to despair and the darkness.
That is why we should appreciate the love of God and everything that He had done for us, and we must not take the opportunities that He has given us for granted, or else, we may find it that we are too late to realise how fortunate we are to have been beloved by God and to have received so many good opportunities from Him. We need turn towards the Lord, look at Him crucified and remember the love by which He selflessly took up that sacrifice in order to save all of us.
Brothers and sisters in Christ, today we can also be inspired by the good examples set by St. Turibius de Mogrovejo, one of our holy predecessors. St. Turibius de Mogrovejo was a great and renowned Archbishop, who was once also the confessor and trusted advisor of the King of Spain. He was credited with the conversion of numerous people, many of whom he personally preached to and worked with. He dedicated himself wholeheartedly to the improvement of the life of his flock, and committed himself to care for them.
St. Turibius de Mogrovejo travelled extensively throughout his diocese and beyond, often on foot and baptising many, taking care of the spiritual needs of those whom he had encountered throughout his ministry. He established many chapels, convents, hospitals and schools for the benefit of many people, and many indeed were helped and touched by the actions of this saintly bishop that they became converts and believers.
Brothers and sisters in Christ, let us all turn towards the Lord with a new heart and desire to follow Him, inspired by the good examples of the saints, particularly that of St. Turibius de Mogrovejo. May the Lord be our guide that we may journey successfully through life with faith, and focusing our attention from now on, to the Lord and His saving grace. Let us always remember all the sufferings and humiliations that Our Lord had to face in order to save us all, out of His enduring and ever-present love for us. May God bless us all, now and always. Amen.
Liturgical Colour : Purple/Violet
John 8 : 21-30
At that time, Jesus said to the Jews, “I am going away, and though you look for Me, you will die in your sin. Where I am going you cannot come.” The Jews wondered, “Why does He say that we cannot come where He is going? Will He kill Himself?”
But Jesus said, “You are from below and I am from above; you are of this world and I am not of this world. That is why I told you that you will die in your sins. And you shall die in your sins, unless you believe that I am He.” They asked Him, “Who are You?”; and Jesus said, “Just what I have told you from the beginning. I have much to say about you and much to condemn; but the One Who sent Me is truthful and everything I learnt from Him; I proclaim to the world.”
They did not understand that Jesus was speaking to them about the Father. So Jesus said, “When you have lifted up the Son of Man, then you will know that I am He and that I do nothing of Myself, but I say just what the Father taught Me. He Who sent Me is with Me and has not left Me alone; because I always do what pleases Him.”
As Jesus spoke like this, many believed in Him.
Liturgical Colour : Purple/Violet
Psalm 101 : 2-3, 16-18, 19-21
O Lord, hear my prayer; let my cry for help come to You. Do not hide Your face from me when I am in trouble. Turn Your ear to me; make haste to answer me when I call.
O Lord, the nations will revere Your Name, and the kings of the earth Your glory, when the Lord will rebuild Zion and appear in all His splendour. For He will answer the prayer of the needy and will not despise their plea.
Let this be written for future ages, “The Lord will be praised by a people He will form.” From His holy height in heaven, the Lord has looked on the earth to hear the groaning of the prisoners, and free those condemned to death.
Liturgical Colour : Purple/Violet
Numbers 21 : 4-9
From Mount Hor they set out by the Red Sea road to go around the land of Edom. The people were discouraged by the journey and began to complain against God and Moses, “Why have you brought us out of Egypt to die in the wilderness? There is neither bread nor water here and we are disgusted with this tasteless manna.”
YHVH then sent fiery serpents against them. They bit the people and many of the Israelites died. Then the people came to Moses and said, “We have sinned, speaking against YHVH and against you. Plead with YHVH to take the serpents away.”
Moses pleaded for the people and YHVH said to him, “Make a fiery serpent and set it on a standard; whoever has been bitten and then looks at it shall live.” So Moses made a bronze serpent and set it on a standard. Whenever a man was bitten, he looked towards the bronze serpent and he lived.
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