Tuesday

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Tuesday, 3 May 2016 : Feast of St. Philip and St. James, Apostles (Gospel Reading)

Liturgical Colour : Red

John 14 : 6-14

At that time, Jesus spoke to His disciples at the Last Supper, “I am the Way, the Truth and the Life; no one comes to the Father but through Me. If you know Me, you will know the Father also; indeed you know Him, and you have seen Him.”

Philip asked Him, “Lord, show us the Father, and that is enough.” Jesus said to him, “What! I have been with you so long and you still do not know Me, Philip? Whoever sees Me sees the Father; how can you say, ‘Show us the Father?’ Do you not believe that I am in the Father and the Father is in Me?”

“All that I say to you, I do not say of Myself. The Father Who dwells in Me is doing His own work. Believe Me when I say that I am in the Father and the Father is in Me; at least believe it on the evidence of these works that I do.”

“Truly, I say to you, the one who believes in Me will do the same works that I do; and he will even do greater than these, for I am going to the Father. Everything you ask in My Name, I will do, so that the Father may be glorified in the Son. Indeed, anything you ask, calling upon My Name, I will do.”

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Tuesday, 3 May 2016 : Feast of St. Philip and St. James, Apostles (Psalm)

Liturgical Colour : Red

Psalm 18 : 2-3, 4-5

The heavens declare the glory of God; the firmament proclaims the work of His hands. Day talks it over with day; night hands on the knowledge to night.

No speech, no words, no voice is heard – but the call goes on throughout the universe, the message is felt to the ends of the earth.

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Tuesday, 3 May 2016 : Feast of St. Philip and St. James, Apostles (First Reading)

Liturgical Colour : Red

1 Corinthians 15 : 1-8

Let me remind you, brothers and sisters, of the Good News that I preached to you and which you received and on which you stand firm. By that Gospel you are saved, provided that you hold to it as I preached it. Otherwise, you will have believed in vain.

In the first place, I have passed on to you what I myself received : that Christ died for our sins, as Scripture says; that He was buried; that He was raised on the third day, according to the Scriptures; that He appeared to Cephas and then to the Twelve. Afterwards He appeared to more than five hundred brothers and sisters together; most of them are still alive, although some have already gone to rest.

Then He appeared to James and after that to all the Apostles. And last of all, He appeared to the most despicable of them, this is to me.

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Tuesday, 26 April 2016 : Fifth Week of Easter (Homily and Scripture Reflections)

Liturgical Colour : White

Dear brothers and sisters in Christ, on this day we are reminded yet again that the work of the Apostles were hard and perilous work, where they endured suffering, persecution and rejection, one after another during their time when they evangelised and spread the Good News of the Gospel to the people of God. But their rewards were great, and none less than the kingdom of God which is given to them to enjoy forever in the glory of heaven.

They travelled from places to places, from cities to cities, from towns to towns, villages to villages, preaching the salvation of God to all the people, and God blessed them from time to time, leading them and guiding them to bring forth His light to even more people, especially to those who did not have the chance to witness His graces and works, and those who have not yet heard His words.

In the Gospel today, as Jesus spoke to His disciples during His Last Supper with them, He reaffirmed them and encouraged them to be courageous and strong in their faith, and to give it their all in helping to realise the good works of God. He reassured them that they belonged to Him, and the prince of this world had no power or authority over them, no matter how hard he would try.

That prince of the world was Satan, the devil and the great enemy of us all. And to all those who believe in God, indeed he is the great adversary, who is trying actively at all times to bring us to our downfall and to our destruction through various means, be it by coercion or temptation, or through persecution or pressure to force the people of God to walk the path to ruin.

But we should not fear him, brethren, as neither did the Apostles and the disciples of our Lord fear him. God had promised them that they would not be lost to the darkness, and He would never abandon them so long as they remained faithful to Him and walked in His ways. And thus, even though the Jews rejected them, the Jewish authorities chased after them, and later on they encountered opposition from the Roman authorities, but they did not stop their evangelising efforts.

And all of these should inspire us all, the disciples and followers of our Lord Jesus Christ living today in this world. We should also walk in their footsteps, and continue their good works, which they have started and initiated. We are the members of the Church in this time and age, and the responsibility and obligation fall therefore upon us to do the good works of our Lord as He had commanded us.

Let us all commit ourselves anew to the cause of our Lord, devoting our time, our commitment and efforts to spread His Good News to all of the world, sending the light of Christ to all those who are still living in the darkness and ignorance of the Lord. If the world hates us for doing that, then we should know that the world is in opposition to God, and as we hold on to the side of the Lord, then we should all be aware of what good things we shall receive from God.

Brothers and sisters in Christ, let us venture forth to bring and share God’s blessings with one another. We are called to be Christians to be active and to put forth through our works, the light that will illuminate the path for many that they may find their way to God, and therefore attain eternal life and salvation. Let us all be part of this great endeavour, and let us not lose heart, even if the world itself conspires against us, for God is and will always be with us. Amen.

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Tuesday, 26 April 2016 : Fifth Week of Easter (Gospel Reading)

Liturgical Colour : White

John 14 : 27-31a

At that time, Jesus spoke to His disciples at the Last Supper, “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, 26 April 2016 : Fifth 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, 26 April 2016 : Fifth 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, 19 April 2016 : Fourth Week of Easter, Eleventh Anniversary of the Pontificate of Pope Benedict XVI, Vicar of Christ and Supreme Pontiff (Homily and Scripture Reflections)

Liturgical Colour : White

Dear brothers and sisters in Christ, on this day we commemorate together the anniversary of the election of our Pope and Supreme Pontiff, Pope Benedict XVI, the Bishop of Rome and Successor of St. Peter the Apostle, the chief and Prince of all the Apostles and the Vicar of Christ. We rejoice in the eleven years that have passed since Pope Benedict XVI was elected to be the leader of the entire Universal Church and as God’s vice-gerent on earth.

Therefore, as we celebrate together this great occasion, today we are called to remember the words from the Sacred Scriptures which mentioned to us about the works of the Holy Apostles in the first reading today from the Acts of the Apostles. It was mentioned all the great and wonderful works that the Apostles Paul and Barnabas had done in evangelising and spreading the Good News to all mankind.

The works of the Apostles were of great importance in establishing the foundations of the Church. And thus we were told how the Church was established during the first days and months of the early Church, and the number of followers grew rapidly during this time as more and more people received and accepted the Lord’s call to repentance and forgiveness.

And in the Gospel today we heard how Jesus mentioned about Himself as the Shepherd of all, and how we are all belonging to His flock, as sheep and all entrusted to Him. And there, we saw how Jesus contrasted those who accepted His message and believed in Him, as those whom He calls as His sheep, and those who refused to believe in Him and rejected His message. These are those who consciously refused to stay in the flock and went off on their own.

The flock of the Lord, all those whom the Lord had gathered, all these have received the word of God, and the revelations of truth from the Lord Himself. And how did they get the message of the Lord’s truth? It was none other than by the hard work and the labours of the Apostles, the saints and the martyrs, all the holy servants of God who had given all their lives for the sake of the salvation of the many souls lost in this world.

By their dedication and hard work, they had delivered the truth of God, and brought the salvation of God to the many souls who would have been lost and faced condemnation if they had not laboured hard for their sake. And that was the reason why the Church we have today is a thriving one, where more and more people are coming to believe in the Lord, and the works of the Apostles are continued through our Pope, the bishops and the priests who are working together to bring the Church of God to the fulfilment of its missions.

But we must all beware lest we are caught unprepared against the wicked things and the oppositions lined up against the Church. As it was in the days of the Apostles, the holy saints and martyrs of the early Church, there are oppositions against the good works of the Lord, both from the outside and even from the inside of the Church itself. These are the works of those who refuse to acknowledge the graces of God, and those who even rejected the Lord’s rich offer of mercy and salvation.

But now, it is our time to realise that there are so much we can do in order to help the works of the Church. For the Church is not just made up of its leaders and all the dedicated servants of the Lord who have given their lives in the service of God. Instead, all of us are also full members of the Church, and united as we are in this holy Body of the Lord, we should take part in bringing the Church’s works and evangelisation efforts, and continue the good works of the Apostles.

Being Christians should not mean that we are just believers in our Lord Jesus Christ by mere name only. Instead, we should give our very best and commit ourselves to actions that show how truly faithful we are, that our faith is not by merely words alone, but also through real actions and concrete plans that bear rich fruits.

Let us all help each other, and commit ourselves to serve the Lord ever more through our daily life actions, and may we draw ever closer to the Lord and attain His salvation and the life He promised to all those who are faithful to Him. God bless us all. Amen.

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Tuesday, 19 April 2016 : Fourth Week of Easter, Eleventh Anniversary of the Pontificate of Pope Benedict XVI, Vicar of Christ and Supreme Pontiff (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, 19 April 2016 : Fourth Week of Easter, Eleventh Anniversary of the Pontificate of Pope Benedict XVI, Vicar of Christ and Supreme Pontiff (Psalm)

Liturgical Colour : White

Psalm 86 : 1-3, 4-5, 6-7

He Himself has built 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.