Liturgical Colour : White
Psalm 67 : 10-11, 20-21
Then You gave a rain of blessings to comfort Your weary children. Your people found a dwelling and in Your mercy, o God, You provided for the needy.
Blessed be the Lord, God our Saviour, Who daily bears our burdens! Ours is a God Who saves; our Lord lets us escape from death.
Liturgical Colour : White
Acts 20 : 17-27
From Miletus Paul sent word to Ephesus, summoning the elders of the Church. When they came to him, he addressed them, “You know how I lived among you from the first day I set foot in the province of Asia, how I served the Lord in humility through the sorrows and trials that the Jews caused me.”
“You know that I never held back from doing anything that could be useful for you; I spoke publicly and in your homes, and I urged Jews and non-Jews alike to turn to God and believe in our Lord Jesus.”
“But now I am going to Jerusalem, chained by the Spirit, without knowing what will happen to me there. Yet in every city the Holy Spirit warns me that imprisonment and troubles await me. Indeed I put no value on my life, if only I can finish my race and complete the service to which I have been assigned by the Lord Jesus, to announce the Good News of God’s grace.”
“I now feel sure that none of you among whom I have gone about proclaiming the kingdom of God will ever see me again. Therefore I declare to you this day that my conscience is clear with regard to all of you. For I have spared no effort in fully declaring to you God’s will.”
Liturgical Colour : White
Dear brothers and sisters in Christ, on this day as we listened to the Scriptures we are called to turn towards God with hope and courage, and embrace His love and grace at all times. God has called us all to be His people and He has revealed to us how He will always be ever faithful to the Covenant He had made with us and with our ancestors. If we trust Him, we shall not be disappointed for in God alone is our sure hope and assistance even during the darkest days of our lives.
In our first reading today we heard of the story of St. Paul and St. Silas, one of his companions in the missionary journeys, and in this case, in the city of Philippi in Macedonia they encountered a great problem as the slave owners of the city set up a mob against them and they were thrown into prison. It was possible that the slave owners were unhappy that these missionaries had been preaching about the Christian faith in the city, and many especially among the slaves were touched and deeply affected by the teachings of Christ which they had heard.
At that time, during the height of the Roman Empire, slavery were rampant all across the whole Empire and beyond, with slaves performing many essential functions in the community, many of them were needed by their slave masters and owners to sustain their livelihood and incomes, and many among the slaves were made to be gladiators to fight, often to the death, just in order to satisfy the desires of some of the elites in the population. Many of the slaves were not treated with basic human dignity as they were often considered as being less than human.
And when St. Paul and St. Silas were arrested and put into prison, that was in fact a very powerful symbol from God and a reminder of God’s love for us mankind. The slave owners wanted to silence these holy men of God because they were challenging the status quo by their teachings which emphasised on equality between men and all the children of God, and which also emphasised a lot on charity, love and compassion, especially for the weak, poor and the marginalised, the group that were essentially most of the slaves living and working at that time.
The slave owners tried to put a stop to this nascent and growing Christian faith before it affected their sources of income and livelihood, and thus imprisoned St. Paul and St. Silas. Their arrest and imprisonment, them being chained in prison were in fact a reminder of the slavery of men, not just the physical slavery of the slaves they had encountered, but also the slavery of all mankind to the power of sin, death and darkness. When the two servants prayed to God, God listened to them and brought help to them in ways totally unimaginable.
What happened was that a great earthquake struck the town and freed the two men from their bondage, releasing them from their chains and bonds, and breaking free their prison cell. The jailer was so distraught and afraid by what he had witnessed, and he wanted to kill himself in despair, as he thought that he would definitely be severely punished for allowing so many of his prisoners to escape. But St. Paul and St. Silas stopped the jailer, and then even convinced him and his family to embrace the Christian faith.
By the baptism which the jailer and his family received, even more powerful bondage were broken, and that was the chains of sin and evil, the chains of damnation and ruin, from which God has delivered us out into a new life and existence, free from tyranny sin and from the fate of our destruction because of those sins. He freed the converts from their bondage just as St. Paul and St. Silas were freed from their chains and bondage.
Brothers and sisters in Christ, on this day we are therefore reminded of how God Himself has done wonders in reaching out to us and liberating us from our bondage to sin. Through Christ, His Son, God has shown us all the path to salvation and liberation, the path of hope and freedom, the way to eternal life, true joy and glory. And in the Gospel today, the Lord has also promised His Helper to His Apostles and disciples, the Holy Spirit that would be sent down to them and which they had indeed received, and passed down to all of us, all the members of God’s Church.
Brothers and sisters in Christ, now, after hearing all these, are we more appreciative of everything that God had done for our sake? Are we more willing to do what He has commanded us to do, to follow Him and to walk in His path? God has liberated us from our bondage to sin and freed us from the darkest depths of despair and hopelessness. He has restored hope and light to us, and returning purpose to our lives. Are we willing to commit ourselves to Him from now on?
In these dark and uncertain times, when the whole world is gripped with fear and paranoia, filled with irrational, selfish and unreasonable attitudes because we try to protect ourselves, let us all remind ourselves not to be enslaved by our desires and by our own fears. Many of us were too worried about our lives, our livelihood and way of life, our worldly concerns and dealings, that we end up forgetting what is truly important about our lives here on earth.
Many of us are enslaved to our desires for comfort, worldly possessions and matters, that when we are suddenly deprived of these, we end up acting irrationally and being selfish, even to the point of hurting others just so that we may protect ourselves and give ourselves whatever we wanted. We have heard of many people who are impatient and causing nuisance during this period when many places and countries imposed restrictions due to the current pandemic, and we have also heard about the sharp increase in the cases of mental issues and other related problems.
Brothers and sisters in Christ, let us all bring God to our fellow brothers and sisters through our own actions, through our own words and deeds. If our words bring hope to others, bring encouragement and strength amidst these difficult and challenging times, then in no time many will come to believe in God because we ourselves have believed, and by our actions we may make a great difference in the lives of others. Just as St. Paul and St. Silas stopped the jailer from killing himself out of despair and make him believe once again that there is hope in life, we too should do the same for all of our fellow men around us.
Let us all be sources of hope, light and inspiration for one another, drawing from the light and hope of God Himself, that our lives may inspire and strengthen others, and help us to break free from the bonds and slavery, not just to sin, but also to the fears and uncertainties in our hearts and minds, which have enslaved us and prevented us from realising what our lives truly mean and what we are living for in this world.
May the Lord help each and every one of us to be better connected to Him and to be more attuned to our hearts and minds, that we may be better able to live our lives as genuine and faithful Christians from now on. May the Lord help us all and may He strengthen us that we may remain faithful throughout even through the most difficult and challenging moments of our lives. May God bless us always, now and forevermore. Amen.
Liturgical Colour : White
John 16 : 5-11
At that time, Jesus said to His disciples, “But now I am going to the One Who sent Me, and none of you asks Me where I am going; instead you are overcome with grief, because of what I have said.”
“Believe Me, it is better for you that I go away, because as long as I do not leave, the Helper will not come to you. But if I go away, it is to send Him to you, and when He comes, He will vindicate the truth before a sinful world; and He will vindicate the paths of righteousness and justice.”
“What is the world’s sin, in regard to Me? Disbelief. What is the path of righteousness? It is the path I walk, by which I go to the Father; and you shall see Me no more. What is the path of justice? It is the path on which the prince of this world will always stand condemned.”
Liturgical Colour : White
Psalm 137 : 1-2a, 2bc-3, 7c-8
I thank You, o Lord with all my heart, for You have heard the word of my lips. I sing Your praise in the presence of the gods. I bow down towards Your holy Temple and give thanks to Your Name.
For Your love and faithfulness, for Your word which exceeds everything. You answered me when I called; You restored my soul and made me strong.
You save me from the wrath of my foes, with Your right hand You deliver me. How the Lord cares for me! Your kindness, o Lord, endures forever. Forsake not the work of Your hands.
Liturgical Colour : White
Acts 16 : 22-34
So the slave owners of Philippi set the crowd against Paul and Silas and the officials tore the clothes of them and ordered them to be flogged. And after inflicting many blows on them, they threw them into prison, charging the jailer to guard them safely. Upon receiving these instructions, he threw them into the inner cell and fastened their feet in the stocks.
About midnight, Paul and Silas were praying and singing hymns to God, and the other prisoners were listening. Suddenly a severe earthquake shook the place, rocking the prison to its foundations. Immediately all the doors flew open and the chains of all the prisoners fell off.
The jailer woke up to see the prison gates wide open. Thinking that the prisoners had escaped, he drew his sword to kill himself, but Paul shouted to him, “Do not harm yourself! We are all still here.” The jailer asked for a light, then rushed in, and fell at the feet of Paul and Silas. After he had secured the other prisoners, he led them out and asked, “Sirs, what must I do to be saved?”
They answered, “Believe in the Lord Jesus Christ and you and your household will be saved.” Then they spoke the word of God to him and to all his household. Even at that hour of the night, the jailer took care of them and washed their wounds; and he and his whole household were baptised at once. He led them to his house, spread a meal before them and joyfully celebrated with his whole household his newfound faith in God.
Liturgical Colour : White or Red (Martyrs)
Dear brothers and sisters in Christ, on this day as we listened to the words of the Scripture, we heard of the promises of the Lord reassuring all of His disciples and therefore all of us His faithful ones that He will always be with us and will be faithful to the Covenant He has established with us and our ancestors. And this is indeed a very important and powerful reminder for each and every one of us as at the same time we are also reminded that being Christians will likely lead us down the path of many challenges to come, if we have not already experienced them.
In our first reading today, we heard how the Apostles St. Paul and St. Barnabas encountered trouble during their missionary journey, as they were harassed and attacked by the Jewish people from Antioch and Iconium who incited the pagans and Gentiles to attack the two Apostles as well which resulted in both of them almost being killed by the masses. Thankfully by God’s providence and protection, the two of them managed to survive and they went on to another place.
Yet, that did not dampen their spirit and they remained firm in their commitment to serve God. If we noticed carefully, as both St. Paul and St. Barnabas went back towards Antioch, one of the important early centres of Christianity, they passed through the same city of Lystra and Iconium, where they had encountered troubles with the Jews and others who had almost persecuted them to death just earlier on. And in Antioch itself there had been many other forms of difficulties the Christians had encountered, just as how it was in Judea and Jerusalem.
Many among the faithful had suffered greatly because of their faith in Christ, either because they encountered stiff opposition and anger from some among the Jewish communities as well as from the Jewish authorities, some of whom were very strongly and ardently opposed to the Lord Jesus, His Way, ministry and teachings. In addition, they also encountered challenges from the pagans especially the pagan priests and ardent worshippers who saw the Christian faith as dangerous threat to their own popularity, authority, way of life and their pagan deities.
And to the Romans, who were the rulers and overlords of much of the known world and the Mediterranean region then, the rapid growth of Christianity were also often viewed with much suspicion and distrust, as the Romans also tended to group the Christians, especially during its earliest days with the Jews, whose rebellious ways and growing tensions almost resulted in uprisings and open rebellions during the earliest days of the Church. It was amidst all of these challenges and trials that the early Christians lived and professed their faith in God.
The Apostles strengthened and encouraged the resolve and faith of the people of God as mentioned in our first reading today, by reminding all of them of God’s providence and love, His faithfulness and commitment to the Covenant and the promises He had made with all of them. The Apostles encouraged the people of God and reassured them with the same reassurance from the Lord than even though they might be suffering the effects of the rejection and persecutions of the world, but the Lord was always with them and He would guide them through all the way.
And this was how so many courageous saints and martyrs came to be throughout the long history of the Church especially during times and moments of great persecutions. And today alone we are celebrating the feast of three of these great servants of God, who have all suffered martyrdom for their faith. They are St. Nereus and St. Achilleus, as well as St. Pancras, all the martyrs of the Lord from the earlier years and time in the Church.
St. Nereus and St. Achilleus were servants of a niece of the Roman Emperor Domitian, one of the early Roman Emperors, during whose reign the Apostle St. John wrote the Book of Revelations during his exile at the island of Patmos. St. Nereus and St. Achilleus were secret Christians who were probably persecuted by the early Christian persecution especially during the reign of that Emperor Domitian, who after Nero was the second Emperor to carry out harsh persecution against Christians. Those two faithful followers of God suffered and were martyred.
Meanwhile, St. Pancras, also known as St. Pancras of Rome was a young Christian man who was martyred under the reign of another Roman Emperor who was notorious for his particularly harsh and terrible persecution of Christians, namely Emperor Diocletian. He was forced to offer sacrifices to the Roman pagan gods and to the Emperor, then treated as if equal to the pagan deities, but St. Pancras, who was still just a teenager then, refused to do so.
The Emperor was really impressed with the courage and dedication showed by St. Pancras that he promised the teenager a lot of wealth and power if he would only abandon his faith in God. But St. Pancras still remained firm in his faith and would not be swayed or tempted by the Emperor’s offers, and in the end, he was also martyred by beheading, a true Christian and a devout son of God to the very end.
Brothers and sisters in Christ, what all these three saints and martyrs had shown us is that suffering and persecution in some form will be inevitable in our journey and life. However, we must not lose faith or focus, and we must always remember that God is always by our side, protecting us, providing us with our needs among other things. That was how those faithful servants of God remained firm in their faith despite the challenges and sufferings that they had to face.
Let us all be inspired by their examples, their great courage and faith, and let us all be more committed and faithful in following the Lord from now on. May the Lord be with us always, and may He strengthen each and every one of us to be ever stronger in our piety and desire to love Him with all of our hearts, now and forevermore. Amen.
Liturgical Colour : White or Red (Martyrs)
John 14 : 27-31a
At that time, Jesus said to His disciples, “Peace be with you! I give you My peace; not as the world gives peace do I give it to you. Do not be troubled; do not be afraid. You heard Me say, ‘I am going away, but I am coming to you.’ If you loved Me, you would be glad that I go to the Father, for the Father is greater than I.”
“I have told you this now before it takes place, so that when it does happen you may believe. It is very little what I may still tell you, for the prince of this world is at hand, although there is nothing in Me that he can claim. But see, the world must know that I love the Father, and that I do what the Father has taught Me to do.”
Liturgical Colour : White or Red (Martyrs)
Psalm 144 : 10-11, 12-13ab, 21
All Your works will give You thanks; all Your saints, o Lord, will praise You. They will tell of the glory of Your kingdom and speak of Your power.
That all may know of Your mighty deeds, Your reign and its glorious splendour. Your reign is from age to age; Your dominion endures from generation to generation.
Let my mouth speak in praise of the Lord, let every creature bless His holy Name, forever and ever.
Liturgical Colour : White or Red (Martyrs)
Acts 14 : 19-28
Then some Jews arrived from Antioch and Iconium and turned the people against Paul and Barnabas. They stoned Paul and dragged him out of the town, leaving him for dead. But when his disciples gathered around him, he stood up and returned to the town. And the next day he left for Derbe with Barnabas.
After proclaiming the Gospel in that town and making many disciples, they returned to Lystra and Iconium and on to Antioch. They were strengthening the disciples and encouraging them to remain firm in the faith, for they said, “We must go through many trials to enter the Kingdom of God.”
In each Church they appointed elders and, after praying and fasting, they commended them to the Lord in Whom they had placed their faith. Then they travelled through Pisidia, and came to Pamphylia. They preached the Word in Perga and went down to Attalia. From there they sailed back to Antioch, where they had first been commended to God’s grace for the task they had now completed.
On their arrival they gathered the Church together and told them all that God had done through them and how He had opened the door of faith to the non-Jews. They spent a fairly long time there with the disciples.
