Tuesday

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Tuesday, 24 February 2026 : 1st Week of Lent (Psalm)

Liturgical Colour : Purple/Violet

Psalm 33 : 4-5, 6-7, 16-17, 18-19

Oh, let us magnify YHVH; together, let us glorify His Name! I sought YHVH, and He answered me; from all my fears He delivered me.

They who look to Him are radiant with joy, their faces never clouded with shame. When the poor cry out, YHVH hears and saves them from distress.

The eyes of YHVH are fixed on the righteous; His ears are inclined to their cries. But His face is set against the wicked, to destroy their memory from the earth.

YHVH hears the cry of the righteous and rescues them from all their troubles. YHVH is close to the brokenhearted and saves the distraught.

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Tuesday, 24 February 2026 : 1st Week of Lent (First Reading)

Liturgical Colour : Purple/Violet

Isaiah 55 : 10-11

As the rain and snow come down from the heavens and do not return till they have watered the earth, making it yield seed for the sower and food for others to eat, so is My Word that goes forth out of My mouth : It will not return to Me idle, but It shall accomplish My will, the purpose for which It has been sent.

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Tuesday, 17 February 2026 : 6th Week of Ordinary Time, Memorial of the Seven Holy Founders of the Servite Order (Homily and Scripture Reflections)

Liturgical Colour : Green or White (Saints)

Dear brothers and sisters in Christ, isters in Christ, all of us are reminded today as we are about to enter the time and season of Lent tomorrow, that each and every one of us should always be vigilant, prepared and ever ready to resist the temptations of sin and other worldly desires and ambitions, all of which can be the reason for our downfall and destruction. We should always put our trust and faith instead in the Lord, and do our best as Christians to live righteously and worthily in accordance to the ways and paths that the Lord Himself has taught and shown us, through His Church and all that He has revealed to us through His Son, Our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ.

In our first reading today, taken from the Epistle of St. James, we heard the words of the author highlighting about how sins and wickedness came about because of our own inability to resist the temptations to commit such sins, and not because God gave us the temptations. It is a reminder for each and every one of us not to allow ourselves to be easily swayed and tempted by the allures of sin and evil all around us, all of which can easily turn us away from the path of God and His righteousness into the path of downfall and damnation. Each and every one of us are called as Christians to be good role models and inspirations to one another in following God’s will and doing our best to live virtuously in accordance to what the Lord has told and shown us to do.

And we should not do it by our own strength alone, as it is often that we fall into temptation and fail to resist its allures whenever we depend only on our own strength and power. With God however, we can have the strength, courage and fortitude to resist the temptations and we can therefore walk ever more courageously in the path that He has called us to follow and which He has set our feet upon. If we put our faith and trust in the Lord, therefore, we shall we guarded and given the strength to persevere the journey of faith and life. The question is then, do we trust the Lord enough and do we put our faith in Him in all of these? Do we listen to Him and allow Him to guide us carefully in our paths in life?

Then, from our Gospel passage today, taken from the Gospel according to St. Mark the Evangelist, we heard of the words of the Lord Jesus to His disciples after He has performed miracle of the multiplication of the loaves of bread, showing the power of God and the love which the Lord has always had for those whom He has loved and were precious to Him. He warned them all about the yeast of the Pharisees and the yeast of Herod, that they do not end up falling into the same trap, using yeast as a metaphor to represent the sins and faults of those Pharisees and those in the court of Herod and the king himself, each of whom had been harbouring in them sins and faults that prevented them from truly believing in the Lord.

This metaphor of yeast is used in the context of how unleavened bread were used for the celebration of the Passover, and that was because back at the time of their Exodus from Egypt, there was no time for them to let the dough to ferment and grow into the bread through the agent of yeast, which took some time and place. Thereafter, yeast was used in some of the symbolisms to represent the impurities and corruptions of the world which had corrupted the purity of mankind, that is none other than sin. And with regards to the yeast of the Pharisees and that of Herod, these yeasts represent the sin of pride, ego and arrogance for the former, and the sin of lust and greed for the latter.

The Pharisees were those religious and intellectual elites of the community of the Jewish people at that time, and composed one of the major factions within the Jewish High Council or the Sanhedrin. They took great pride in their status and achievements, and it was likely their ego and arrogance which prevented them from listening to reason or accepting the Wisdom of God. Meanwhile, Herod was the king that ruled Galilee at that time, the son of Herod the Great, who lived in an immoral way, living in adultery with his brother’s wife, Herodias, and living in a court filled with greed and lust, among other sins. That was why the Lord warned His disciples, followers and the people listening to Him of these ‘yeasts’ of the Pharisees and Herod.

Brothers and sisters in Christ, today all of us should follow the good examples set by our holy predecessors as we celebrate their feast day today, namely the Seven Holy Founders of the Servite Order. These seven holy men of God, known by their names of Bonfilius, Alexis, Manettus, Amideus, Hugh, Sostene and Buonagiunta of Florence. All of them found each other in a bond of spiritual friendship which then grew on and having received a vision from the Blessed Mother of God, they were resolved to leave behind everything and followed God, marking the foundation of the Servite Order.

The seven holy founders worked hard and dedicatedly through the Order of the Servites, caring for the poor and the needy, those who were abandoned and without any proper attention and care. They all were dedicated with the care for the physical and material needs of those people, of whom the Lord Himself had said to us, that we have to show love and care for the least of our brethren, to the poor and those who had no one to love them and care for them. The seven holy founders of the Servites did their best within their capacity to care for these people. They are indeed good examples and inspirations for all of us to follow in how we should live our own lives with virtue and faith in God.

May the Lord continue to bless us and guide us all in our journey and life, so that in everything that we say and do, we will continue to walk ever more faithfully in the path that God Himself has called us to walk through. May God bless our every good works and endeavours, and help us to be the shining beacon of His truth and wisdom in our world today. May all of us ever be more courageous to live our lives well as Christians, now and always. Amen.

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Tuesday, 17 February 2026 : 6th Week of Ordinary Time, Memorial of the Seven Holy Founders of the Servite Order (Gospel Reading)

Liturgical Colour : Green or White (Saints)

Mark 8 : 14-21

At that time, the disciples had forgotten to bring more bread, and had only one loaf with the in the boat. Then Jesus warned them, “Keep your eyes open, and beware of the yeast of the Pharisees and the yeast of Herod.” And they said of one another, “He saw that we have no bread.”

Aware of this, Jesus asked them, “Why are you talking about the loaves you are short of? Do you not see or understand? Are your minds closed? Have your eyes that do not see and ears that do not hear? And do you not remember when I broke the five loaves among five thousand? How many baskets full of letfovers did you collect?”

They answered, “Twelve.” “And having distributed seven loaves to the four thousand, how many wicker baskets of leftovers did you collect?” They answered, “Seven.” Then Jesus said to them, “Do you still not understand?”

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Tuesday, 17 February 2026 : 6th Week of Ordinary Time, Memorial of the Seven Holy Founders of the Servite Order (Psalm)

Liturgical Colour : Green or White (Saints)

Psalm 93 : 12-13a, 14-15, 18-19

Fortunate the one You correct, o YHVH, the one You teach Your Law; You give them relief from distress.

YHVH will not reject His people, nor will He forsake His heritage. Justice will return to the just; and the upright will follow, in its wake.

No sooner did I say, “My foot is slipping,” Your kindness, o YHVH, held me up. The more worries and trouble assailed me, the more You consoled me.

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Tuesday, 17 February 2026 : 6th Week of Ordinary Time, Memorial of the Seven Holy Founders of the Servite Order (First Reading)

Liturgical Colour : Green or White (Saints)

James 1 : 12-18

Happy are those who patiently endure trials, because, afterward, they will receive the crown of life, which the Lord promised to those who love Him. No one, when tempted, should say, “This temptation comes from God.” God is never tempted, and He can never tempt anyone. Instead, each of us is lured, and enticed, by our own evil desire. Once this desire has conceived, it gives birth to sin, and sin, when fully grown, gives birth to death.

Do not be deceived, my beloved. Every good and perfect gift comes from above, from the Father of Light, in Whom there is no change, or a shadow of a change. By His own will, He gave us life, through the word of truth, that we might be a kind of offering to Him, among His creatures.

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Tuesday, 10 February 2026 : 5th Week of Ordinary Time, Memorial of St. Scholastica, Virgin (Homily and Scripture Reflections)

Liturgical Colour : White

Dear brothers and sisters in Christ, today we are all reminded that we should be truly faithful and committed to God beyond just merely having superficial faith, or worse still faith that is not centred on God but on ourselves and our ego like how the Pharisees and the teachers of the Law had done in the past. All of us should learn to be humble and truly obedient to what the Lord has shown and taught us. We should not allow our pride, ego, ambition and worldly desires to influence and mislead us down the wrong path in life, simply because we cannot resist those temptations and falling ever deeper therefore into the slippery slope and path towards damnation and destruction.

In our first reading today, we heard from the Book of the Kings of Israel and Judah, we heard of the prayer which King Solomon offered to the Lord for His Providence, love and kindness to all the people and to him as King, in everything that He had done in extending His ever patient love and forgiveness to the people whom He truly loved and cared for, despite their stubbornness in constantly disobeying and rebelling against Him. God’s love did not cease just because of all that, and instead, He truly loved us all the more and went all out to seek those who had been separated and lost to Him because of their disobedience and sins.

King Solomon gave thanks to God for Him having willed to come and dwell amongst His people, as the Ark of the Covenant was brought into the grand Temple that he had built for the Lord. The Ark of the Covenant symbolised God’s Presence among His people, and that grand Temple, prepared and planned by David, Solomon’s father, and finally built and realised by Solomon himself, was meant to be the tangible centre and heart of the Kingdom of God’s people, and to where they all would come to worship the Lord their God, their Master and Creator. And King Solomon interceded on behalf of the people asking for the Lord’s mercy and forgiveness for their many sins, and for His continued presence and love among them.

Then, from our Gospel passage today, we heard from the Gospel according to St. Mark the Evangelist in which the Lord Jesus heavily criticised the Pharisees and the teachers of the Law for their way of interpreting, practicing and applying the Law and commandments of God according to their own interpretation and preferences. They were too strict and rigid in implementing the Law and its statutes, focusing so much on the externals and appearances that they neglected to understand and appreciate the true meaning and intention of the Law, and why God has given His Law and provided them to His people in the first place. God never intended for the Law to make it difficult for His people or to burden them unnecessarily.

In fact, He meant for the Law to teach and show them, to guide and lead them on how to love Him and one another in the same way that He has loved all of them. That is why we are reminded today that our faith and how we observe it must always be rooted firmly in the Lord and not be tainted and swayed by the temptations of worldly glory and ambitions like how the Pharisees had done. Those Pharisees used their piety and their way of observing the Law to be comparison and to judge against those whom they deemed to be less than worthy, which usually meant anyone else who did not practice the Law in the same manner as they had done. This is not what we should be doing as Christians, as we should be faithful and obey the Lord while also loving our fellow brethren at the same time, without any prejudice or bias.

Today, the Church celebrates the Feast of St. Scholastica, a holy and devoted woman whose life and examples had inspired many throughout the history of the Church. St. Scholastica was the fraternal twin sister of St. Benedict of Nursia according to Church tradition, who was another great saint of God and who was widely considered as the Father of Western Monasticism. St. Scholastica herself was renowned in her own way for her great piety and commitment to God, for her dedication and faith, which had inspired many others to follow her examples to a life of holiness and grace, resisting the many temptations of worldly glory, pleasures, fame and ambitions, and instead, seeking God wholeheartedly and turning themselves into the right path.

While the details on her early life was rather scant, but St. Scholastica eventually joined religious life much like St. Benedict, and she was credited with the foundation of the Benedictine nuns, which mirrored her brother’s role in founding the Benedictine monks and monasteries. St. Scholastica led a quiet and contemplative life in prayer, committing herself in prayer and study of the Scriptures, through which she inspired many other women of her time to follow the Lord in the same way, rejecting the excesses of wickedness and evils of the world, all the worldly temptations, pleasures and comforts, that they may all lead a holy life with the Lord, caring for one another in a holy community of the faithful consecrated ones to God.

Brothers and sisters in Christ, let us all therefore be inspired by the good examples, piety and faith which St. Scholastica has shown us, in all of her life and work, dedicating herself wholly to the Lord and to His path. Let us all reject the temptations of worldly power and glory, and remind ourselves that we do not end up being swayed by all those things and fall into the path of sin and evil. Let us instead deepen our relationship with God, by spending more quality time with Him, through prayer, charity and almsgiving, and by our exemplary way of life at all times. May God be with us always, and may He bless our every good works and efforts, now and forevermore. Amen.

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Tuesday, 10 February 2026 : 5th Week of Ordinary Time, Memorial of St. Scholastica, Virgin (Gospel Reading)

Liturgical Colour : White

Mark 7 : 1-13

At that time, one day, the Pharisees gathered around Jesus, and with them were some teachers of the Law who had just come from Jerusalem. They noticed that some of His disciples were eating their meal with unclean hands, that is, without washing them.

Now the Pharisees, and in fact all the Jews, never eat without washing their hands, for they follow the tradition received from their ancestors. Nor do they eat anything, when they come from the market, without first washing themselves. And there are many other traditions they observe; for example, the ritual washing of cups, pots and plates.

So the Pharisees and the teachers of the Law asked Him, “Why do Your disciples not follow the tradition of the elders, but eat with unclean hands?” Jesus answered, “You shallow people! How well Isaiah prophesied of you when he wrote : ‘This people honours Me with their lips, but their heart is far from Me. The worship they offer Me is worthless, for what they teach are only human rules.’ You even put aside the commandment of God to hold fast to human tradition.”

And Jesus commented, “You have a fine way of disregarding the commandments of God in order to enforce your own traditions! For example, Moses said : Do your duty to your father and your mother, and : Whoever curses his father or his mother is to be put to death. But according to you, someone could say to his father or mother, ‘I already declared Corban (which means “offered to God”) what you could have expected from me.’”

“In this case, you no longer require him to do anything for his father or mother; and so you nullify the word of God through the tradition you have handed on. And you do many other things like that.”

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Tuesday, 10 February 2026 : 5th Week of Ordinary Time, Memorial of St. Scholastica, Virgin (Psalm)

Liturgical Colour : White

Psalm 83 : 3, 4, 5 and 10, 11

My soul yearns; pines, for the courts of YHVH. My heart and my flesh cry out for the living God.

Even the sparrow finds a home, and the swallow a nest where she may lay her young, at Your altars, o YHVH of Hosts, my King and my God!

Happy are those who live in Your House, continually singing Your praise! Look upon our shield, o God; look upon the face of Your Anointed!

One day in Your courts is better than a thousand elsewhere. I would rather be left at the threshold in the house of my God than to dwell in the tents of the wicked.

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Tuesday, 10 February 2026 : 5th Week of Ordinary Time, Memorial of St. Scholastica, Virgin (First Reading)

Liturgical Colour : White

1 Kings 8 : 22-23, 27-30

Then Solomon stood before the Altar of YHVH in the presence of all the assembly of Israel. He raised his hands towards heaven and said, “O YHVH, God of Israel, there is no God like You either in heaven or on earth! You keep Your Covenant and show loving kindness to Your servants who walk before You wholeheartedly.”

“But will God really live among people on earth? If neither heavens nor the highest heavens can contain You, how much less can this House which I have built! Yet, listen to the prayer and supplication of Your servant, o YHVH my God; hearken to the cries and pleas which Your servant directs to You this day. Watch over this House of which You have said, ‘My Name shall rest there.’ Hear the prayer of Your servant in this place.”

“Listen to the supplication of Your servant and Your people Israel when they pray in this direction; listen from Your dwelling place in heaven and, on listening, forgive.”