Tuesday

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Tuesday, 16 May 2017 : 5th Week of Easter (Homily and Scripture Reflections)

Liturgical Colour : White
Dear brothers and sisters in Christ, on this day, we heard the words of the Lord Jesus, reassuring us all that He came bearing unto us His peace. It is not peace as the world knows it, but an everlasting peace, that will be ours when we place our complete trust in the Lord, and follow Him wholeheartedly, as the Apostles and the disciples of the Lord had once done.

The Apostles did not have it easy on their missions around the world at that time, as they encountered many oppositions to their works, challenges from all those who refuse to follow their lead and those who refuse to listen to their call to conversion, namely those who persist in their sinfulness and wickedness, and closed their hearts against God’s words that the Apostles and the disciples had preached.

There was hardly much time for the Apostles and the disciples had to be savoured in peace. They constantly met the opposition from the Jewish leaders, from the local populace who refused to listen to them and abandon their pagan gods, and from the Roman authorities who found the teachings of Christ as a threat to their own authority, and from various other sources.

But the Lord was with them, and He guided them throughout their journey, that even though there were many who wished for their arrest, their demise and destruction of the Church, in reality, the Church and the faithful flourished both in number and in their zeal. The Lord provided for what they needed, and gave them the strength to persevere in the troubled times.

The Lord had revealed it all to them, how they would have to suffer in order to glorify God, by their works of evangelisation and mercy, calling many nations and peoples to repentance and conversion in God. But they found true peace in fulfilling God’s will and in doing whatever He had led them to do. They knew that even though the world was against them, but if they continued their good works and remained faithful, they would gain true peace, as the Lord would reward them with eternal glory and joy with Him.

Brothers and sisters in Christ, as we reflect on this, and as we remember how many people have faithfully obeyed the Lord, and had to suffer in order to bring the truth of the Gospel and the Good News to all the peoples, including to us, let us all remember that their works have not been completed, as even now, there are still many more people out there who have not yet received or welcomed the truths found in the word of God.

Let us all remember this as we continue to live out our lives today. There are many more people whom we can help, by our good works and efforts, to spread the truths of the Gospel, the message of God’s peace and love. There are still so many anguish, sorrow, anger, hatred and all sorts of negativities in this world, because people cannot find in them God’s love and peace.

Let us all therefore, work together, in order to bring the peace of God to all peoples, to all the nations, as the Lord had commanded us. Let us all place our complete trust in God, knowing that He will give us all true peace, and let us share that peace we have with one another. Let us all bring our brethren out of the darkness of sin, and into the new light of God, into a new life blessed by the peace of God, that all of us may find our way towards that peace we long for.

May all of us endeavour from now on to seek true peace and joy found in the Lord alone, and not be distracted by all the desires and false peace that the world offers us. May the Lord help us on our journey of faith, and help us all to live faithfully in accordance with His will. May God bless us all, now and forevermore. Amen.

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Tuesday, 16 May 2017 : 5th Week of Easter (Gospel Reading)

Liturgical Colour : White
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.”

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Tuesday, 16 May 2017 : 5th Week of Easter (Psalm)

Liturgical Colour : White
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.

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Tuesday, 16 May 2017 : 5th Week of Easter (First Reading)

Liturgical Colour : White
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.

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Tuesday, 9 May 2017 : 4th Week of Easter (Homily and Scripture Reflections)

Liturgical Colour : White
Dear brothers and sisters in Christ, in today’s readings taken from the Scriptures, we heard how the Church was flourishing and growing, among the Jews and the Gentiles alike, after St. Paul had evangelised to the people in many places, and after the grace of God allowing the faithful to multiply in number quickly despite the challenges and persecutions facing them.

It is a sign that God was with His people, as it was then at that time, and all the way to today, the same Church and the same people which God had chosen from the world, to be those to whom He had granted His grace and salvation. And those who place their trust in God will not be disappointed, for He is ever faithful and ever trustworthy. All those who place their trust in Him will find full satisfaction.

The hand of the Lord was with the Apostles as mentioned in the Acts of the Apostles today, and He guided them through their works and efforts, leading them through from place to place, even though they faced much troubles, persecutions, challenges and oppositions from the world, from the authorities and from all those who closed their hearts against God and rejected His words.

That is because the devil, Satan, our old enemy is always busy at work, trying to oppose the good works of God. He is always hard at work trying to undermine the Church and seek out the faithful, like that of wolves seeking for the sheep to be caught and eaten. The devil and his allies are busy at work trying to steal the souls of the faithful, but God will not allow them to have a free reign at hand in doing so.

Brothers and sisters in Christ, as long as the Lord is with us, we shall not falter. He has promised this Himself when He established His Church in this world, by saying unto St. Peter the Apostle that, the Church He has established will be able to stand up against even the gates of hell itself. Nothing shall avail itself against the Church and the faithful, providing that the faithful stand together and put themselves to trust in their Master and Shepherd.

This is the promise which the Lord gave to us, but all of us must also work and put our efforts together in order to keep one another away from the clutches of the evil one. As He is our Good Shepherd, therefore as Christians, truly we have two obligations, and the first one is obvious, that is to follow our Shepherd and Master wherever He leads us to, and whatever is His will for us. This is our obedience to His will, and if we obey Him in all the things we say and do, it will never go wrong for us.

Then, another responsibility that we must bear, and one that requires our effort is that, just as He had taught us and shown us the way through His own actions and words, therefore, all of us must also commit ourselves to Him in the same way, and this means that we all must be shepherds for one another, guiding each other and helping one another, fellow brethren in the Lord, in our way to Him.

Therefore, all of us are called to be role models in our faith and in our lives, so that all those who see us will come to believe in God, as they see the actions of our Lord, the Good Shepherd of all mankind, through our own works and actions. If we do not do as He had done, then we will in fact drive people away from the Lord, for they then find it hard to believe in the Lord whose love must be made evident through us.

May the Lord, our Good Shepherd be our Guide in life, and may He strengthen our faith, and give us the courage to live day after day, filled with faith and commitment to Him. May He empower us to become His disciples, and allow us to serve Him in whatever way we can, for the salvation of all mankind, our brethren. Amen.

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Tuesday, 9 May 2017 : 4th Week of Easter (Gospel Reading)

Liturgical Colour : White
John 10 : 22-30

At that time, the time came for the Feast of the Dedication. It was winter, and Jesus walked back and forth in the portico of Solomon. The Jews then gathered around Him and said to Him, “How long will You keep us in doubt? If You are the Messiah, tell us plainly.”

Jesus answered, “I have already told you, but you do not believe. The works I do in My Father’s Name proclaim Who I am, but you do not believe because, as I said, you are not My sheep. My sheep hear My voice and I know them; they follow Me and I give them eternal life.”

“They shall never perish, and no one will ever steal them from Me. What the Father has given Me is above everything else, and no one can snatch it from out of the Father’s hand. I and the Father are One.”

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Tuesday, 9 May 2017 : 4th Week of Easter (Psalm)

Liturgical Colour : White
Psalm 86 : 1-3, 4-5, 6-7

He Himself has built it in His holy mountain; the Lord prefers the gates of Zion to all of Jacob’s towns. Great things have been foretold of you, o city of God.

Between friends we speak of Egypt and Babylon; and also Philistia, Tyre, Ethiopia : “Here so-and-so was born.” But of Zion it shall be said, “More and more are being born in her.” For the Most High Himself has founded her.

And the Lord notes in the people’s register : “All these were also born in Zion.” And all will dance and sing joyfully for You.

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Tuesday, 9 May 2017 : 4th Week of Easter (First Reading)

Liturgical Colour : White
Acts 11 : 19-26

Those who had been scattered because of the persecution over Stephen travelled as far as Phoenicia, Cyprus and Antioch, telling the message, but only to the Jews. But there were some natives of Cyprus and Cyrene among them who, on coming into Antioch, spoke also to the Greeks, giving them the Good News of the Lord Jesus. The hand of the Lord was with them so that a great number believed and turned to the Lord.

News of this reached the ears of the Church in Jerusalem, so they sent Barnabas to Antioch. When he arrived and saw the manifest signs of God’s favour, he rejoiced and urged them all to remain firmly faithful to the Lord; for he himself was a good man filled with Holy Spirit and faith. Thus large crowds came to know the Lord.

Then Barnabas went off to Tarsus to look for Saul and when he found him, he brought him to Antioch. For a whole year they had meetings with the Church and instructed many people. It was in Antioch that the disciples were first called Christians.

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Tuesday, 2 May 2017 : 3rd Week of Easter, Memorial of St. Athanasius, Bishop and Doctor of the Church (Homily and Scripture Reflections)

Liturgical Colour : White
Dear brothers and sisters in Christ, on this day from the Scripture readings all of us have heard about how the Church of God was persecuted by those who oppose it and refused to believe in the truth of Christ. We heard how St. Stephen the Deacon and Protomartyr, the first martyr of the Church, died defending his faith, after standing up for the Lord and proclaiming the fullness of His truth before the Jewish leaders.

The Jewish leaders, the elders and the chief priests refused to listen to the truth, they covered their ears, refusing to listen to the truth, as true and painfully real as it was to them, which St. Stephen had delivered to them. They hardened their hearts and closed the doors of their minds, rejecting the truth to continue living in the denial of the truth. That was why they persecuted the Lord, and then the disciples and followers of the Lord afterwards.

And what was this truth that St. Stephen had so boldly and courageously proclaimed? If we paid close attention to his testimony, it is about the Lord and His great love for each and every one of us, which had been manifested through the coming of the One Who is the Saviour of the whole world and of all mankind, Jesus Christ, our Lord and Saviour.

In the Gospel today, we heard the Lord Jesus Himself, telling the people who doubted Him and wanted Him to show them a miraculous sign from heaven, that He is the real and true miracle beyond any other miracles, far greater than all the miraculous deeds He had performed before the people in various places, greater than all the healing and the opening of the eyes of the blind, the making of deaf and mute people to be able to hear and speak again, and the healing of the paralytic and lepers.

It was by giving Himself as the Bread of Life for all those who have received Him and accepted His truth that the Lord had revealed Himself wonderfully before all people. He brought forth a new life for those who have accepted Him as their Lord and Saviour, and through the giving of His Body and Blood, He has reunited us all with Himself, reconciling us with the One Who gave us life.

It was for this truth and for this Lord, that St. Stephen had stood up for his faith for, as he refused to remain idle and silent while the chief priests and the elders tried hard to deny the truth of Jesus, and also about His resurrection from the dead. St. Stephen spoke up for the Lord, in front of the people, so that all those who have ears and listened, might be touched in their hearts and be converted to the Lord, even though there were perhaps many others who remained stubborn.

Today, we also celebrate the feast of St. Athanasius, a renowned and holy saint, who lived through a particularly difficult time for the Church. As one of the most prominent of the leaders of the Church at his time, leading the Church in Alexandria in Egypt, he had to deal with the enormous impact of the heresy caused by one Arius, the one who brought about the Arian heresy.

Arius was a popular preacher who swayed many people to follow his false teachings and therefore into heresy. There were many of the faithful, priests and even bishops who believed in Arius’ teachings, claiming that Jesus our Lord, was not God and Man as the Church had taught, but only merely Man, a created Being instead of the Creator. This false teachings had misled many of the faithful into the wrong path.

And St. Athanasius was determined to root out the heresy from among his flock, persevering against opposition and challenges that he had to encounter as he went about preaching the truth against the heresies that Arius had preached. St. Athanasius remained firm in his convictions to guide his flock, the people of God entrusted to his care, into the right path, and therefore, even though there were priests and bishops who opposed him, slandered him and accused him wrongly with false accusations, St. Athanasius never stopped his hard work.

In total, St. Athanasius had to endure five exiles from his See, because of all the oppositions he encountered. And every time, his enemies and all those who refused to listen to the truth St. Athanasius preached came about with new reason to accuse him of wrongdoing, resulting in great difficulties that the holy saint had to endure. Yet, St. Athanasius never gave up, and continued to do great deeds among the people, converting countless souls to the Lord.

Brothers and sisters in Christ, shall we all follow in the footsteps of St. Athanasius? Shall we walk in the path of his faith, his commitment and devotion to serve the Lord? There will indeed be challenges, opposition and difficulties, as once encountered by St. Stephen the Martyr, St. Athanasius himself, and many other holy saints and martyrs of the Church. But they all placed their trust in God, and never gave up, for if they had given up, many souls would have been lost to hell.

Let us all renew therefore our own conviction in faith, our commitment and devotion to the Lord and His ways. May the Lord bless us and strengthen our faith, so that we may continue to grow closer to Him, and remain true and faithful to Him as St. Stephen, St. Athanasius and the other holy men and women of God had done. May God be with us all, in our lives, now and forever. Amen.

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Tuesday, 2 May 2017 : 3rd Week of Easter, Memorial of St. Athanasius, Bishop and Doctor of the Church (Gospel Reading)

Liturgical Colour : White
John 6 : 30-35

At that time, the Jews said to Jesus, “Show us miraculous signs, that we may see and believe You. What sign do You perform? Our ancestors ate manna in the desert; as Scripture says : They were given bread from heaven to eat.”

Jesus then said to them, “Truly, I say to you, it was not Moses who gave you the bread from heaven. My Father gives you the true Bread from heaven. The Bread God gives is the One Who comes from heaven and gives life to the world.” And they said to Him, “Give us this bread always.”

Jesus said to them, “I am the Bread of Life; whoever comes to Me shall never be hungry, and whoever believes in Me shall never be thirsty.”