Tuesday

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Tuesday, 21 March 2023 : 4th Week of Lent (Homily and Scripture Reflections)

Liturgical Colour : Purple/Violet

Dear brothers and sisters in Christ, today as we listened to the words of the Scriptures, all of us are reminded of the grace and healing that all of us receive from the Lord, Who alone is the source of all our hope and inspiration, grace and strength amidst the darkness, challenges and hardships of this world. The Lord our Saviour and our God has shown us His ever enduring love and patience with us, offering us freely and most generously the gift of His love and mercy despite our sinfulness and stubbornness in refusing His love and mercy. The Lord has always been patient and kind towards us, as we are all His beloved people and children, who are truly precious to Him. None of us can be separated from His love unless we ourselves have rejected Him and resisted Him all the way to the very end, as how some of our predecessors had done.

In our first reading today, we heard from the Book of the prophet Ezekiel about the vision of the Temple of God in Heaven, the great Sanctuary and the place of the Holy Presence of God, which represents the Lord’s glory and presence, and from which came forth a great river and flood of water that went down from the side of the Temple, which provided life for many of the things that dwell in the water, and which brought forth life to spring forth from wherever it touched. This vision of Ezekiel is a reminder that from God comes healing and hope for all of us, as we see the life-giving water of the great river springing forth from the Temple of God’s Presence. He is truly the source of our strength and redemption, and from Whom we shall once again be reconciled and be led back to His most loving embrace and to the path towards eternal life and true joy.

In the Gospel passage today, we then heard a rather similar experience and story linked to that of our first reading, when we heard of the account of the healing that came upon a paralysed man who was lying by the Pool of Bethzatha, by the Lord Jesus, Who came to him and took pity on him. That man had been paralysed for a very long period of thirty-eight years, which is a truly long time, and surpassing even perhaps the lifetime of many of us here. He had suffered all those while and no one lifted a hand to help him. The link to the spring of the healing water in our first reading today is the Pool of Bethzatha itself, which according to the tradition and belief of the Jewish people, had a miraculous healing property, that as mentioned, when an Angel of God came down upon the water, the first person to touch the water would be healed.

It was then that the Lord came to the poor man, who had no one to help him for those thirty-eight years of paralysis, and went on to heal him and made him to be able to walk again. That was another Sabbath day that the Lord performed His miracle in, and the Pharisees and the teachers of the Law were quick to criticise and persecute the Lord for His continuous actions in healing and performing many good deeds on the Sabbath. Those people had misunderstood and misinterpreted the Law, treating the Law as a means for them to gain recognition and praise by others, as they imposed very difficult terms and tenets on the people of God, forcing them to practice the Law in the way that they had done. They prohibited every single actions on the Sabbath, even those deeds and actions that are good in purpose and can help others.

The Lord made it clear that in His actions in healing those sick people and others who suffered other maladies and troubles, that the Law was not made to be the lord over man, but instead, it was meant to help lead mankind back towards God and to help them to discover the truth about His love and ways. The Law itself was meant to help the people of God to rediscover the love that they ought to have for the Lord and the obedience and the effort that they should be spending in building a strong and genuine relationship with Him. It is also a reminder that as those whom God had loved and cared, and as His people, we should also show the same love, kindness and compassion on others around us. We should not act like those Pharisees and teachers of the Law who often took great pride in their own piety and supposed righteousness and faith, and who looked down on others and even persecuted those who disagreed with them and did not follow their way.

This is also a reminder that each one of us are sinners in need of God’s healing and mercy, without which we cannot find our way to the true joy and eternal life that we can find in God alone. As we have heard from the readings today, the Lord alone is the source of our Hope, healing and grace, and through Him, we have received the rich grace and blessing of His love, which He poured upon us most generously, even when we are still sinners and stubborn in our constant rebellion and refusal to listen to Him. He patiently led and guided us to Himself, sending His help and guidance to us in various ways, caring for all of us and calling on all of us to turn away from the path of sin and evil, showing us the sure path forward to eternal life and true joy with Him. He has come into our midst in the flesh, in the person of His own beloved Son, Our Lord and Saviour, Jesus Christ, so that all may be saved through Him.

Now, brothers and sisters in Christ, as we continue to progress through this penitential season of Lent, let us ask ourselves if we are going to continue to live our lives in the way of worldliness and sin as we have often done, or whether we are able to make the commitment to embrace God and His path, turning away from sin and evil, and returning to the loving embrace of God. The Lord has freely offered us His love, compassionate mercy and forgiveness, and it is up to us whether we want to take up His offer or not. We cannot truly be forgiven unless we are willing to embrace God wholeheartedly, and to turn our backs against our past, sinful way of life. This is of course much easier said than done, but that does not mean that we should be discouraged and disheartened by the challenges and trials that we may have to face in being a disciple and follower of the Lord. Instead, this should spur us ever more to commit ourselves even more to God.

Brothers and sisters in Christ, let us all therefore make good use of the time and opportunities that we have been given in the duration of this season of Lent so that we may endeavour to listen to God’s call deep in our hearts and minds, and open ourselves to Him coming into our midst, so that like the paralysed man by the Pool of Bethzatha, He may come to heal us from our wretched condition and our sinfulness. all of us are in need of God’s healing and mercy, as there is no cure for sin apart from God’s mercy. That is why we should humble ourselves and be contrite in our hearts, in regretting our many sins and wickedness, and strive so that we will no longer continue to harden our hearts against God, and that we may embrace wholly the love that God has always generously poured down upon us. Let the spring of God’s living water continue to wash over us, encouraging and inspiring us to live our lives in the best way possible, to do what He has wanted us to do.

May the Lord continue to be with us, and may He empower each and every one of us to persevere despite the many trials and hardships that we may have to face in the journey of our faith throughout our respective lives. May God continue to help us to go forth as His faithful and committed disciples, becoming the true beacons of His light and truth, that our every words, actions and deeds may inspire many others to come to the Lord, His salvation, truth and grace as well. May God bless us all and keep us in His love, through all time and always. May God bless our Lenten observance and time, and may He remain by our side, in this faithful journey we make. Amen.

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Tuesday, 21 March 2023 : 4th Week of Lent (Gospel Reading)

Liturgical Colour : Purple/Violet

John 5 : 1-16

At that time, there was a feast of the Jews, and Jesus went up to Jerusalem. Now, by the Sheep Gate in Jerusalem, there is a pool (called Bethzatha in Hebrew) surrounded by five galleries. In these galleries lay a multitude of sick people : blind, lame and paralysed.

(All were waiting for the water to move, for at times an Angel of the Lord would descend into the pool and stir up the water; and the first person to enter the pool, after this movement of the water, would be healed of whatever disease that he had.)

There was a man who had been sick for thirty-eight years. Jesus saw him, and because He knew how long this man had been lying there, He said to him, “Do you want to be healed?” And the sick man answered, “Sir, I have no one to put me into the pool when the water is disturbed; so while I am still on my way, another steps down before me.”

Jesus then said to him, “Stand up, take your mat and walk!” And at once the man was healed, and he took up his mat and walked. Now that day happened to be the Sabbath. So the Jews said to the man who had just been healed, “It is the Sabbath, and the Law does not allow you to carry your mat.” He answered them, “The One Who healed me said to me, “Take up your mat and walk!”

They asked him, “Who is the One Who said to you : Take up your mat and walk?” But the sick man had no idea who it was Who had cured him, for Jesus had slipped away among the crowd that filled the place. Afterwards Jesus met him in the Temple court and told him, “Now you are well; do not sin again, lest something worse happen to you.”

And the man went back and told the Jews that it was Jesus Who had healed him. So the Jews persecuted Jesus because He performs healings like that on the Sabbath.

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Tuesday, 21 March 2023 : 4th Week of Lent (Psalm)

Liturgical Colour : Purple/Violet

Psalm 45 : 2-3, 5-6, 8-9ab

God is our strength and protection, an ever-present help in affliction. We will not fear, therefore, though the earth be shaken and the mountains plunge into the seas.

There is a river whose streams bring joy to the city of God, the holy place where the Most High dwells. God is within, the city cannot quake, for God’s help is upon it at the break of day.

For with us is the Lord of hosts, the God of Jacob, our refuge. Come, see the works of the Lord – the marvellous things He has done in the world.

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Tuesday, 21 March 2023 : 4th Week of Lent (First Reading)

Liturgical Colour : Purple/Violet

Ezekiel 47 : 1-9, 12

The man brought me back to the entrance of the Temple and I saw water coming out from the threshold of the Temple and flowing eastwards. The Temple faced the east and the water flowed from the south side of the Temple, from the south side of the altar. He then brought me out through the north gate and led me around the outside to the outer gate facing the east and there I saw the stream coming from the south side.

The man had a measuring cord in his hand. As he went towards the east he measured off a thousand cubits and led me across the water which was up to my ankles. He measured off another thousand cubits and made me cross the water which came to my knees. He measured off another thousand cubits and we crossed the water which was up to my waist. When he had again measured a thousand cubits, I could not cross the torrent for it had swollen to a depth which was impossible to cross without swimming.

The man then said to me, “Son of man, did you see?” He led me on further and then brought me back to the bank of the river. There I saw a number of trees on both sides of the river. He said to me, “This water goes to the east, down to the Arabah, and when it flows into the sea of foul-smelling water, the water will become wholesome.”

“Wherever the river flows, swarms of creatures will live in it; fish will be plentiful and the sea water will become fresh. Wherever it flows, life will abound. Near the river on both banks there will be all kinds of fruit trees with foliage that will not wither and fruit that will never fail; each month they will bear a fresh crop because the water comes from the Temple. The fruit will be good to eat and the leaves will be used for healing.”

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Tuesday, 14 March 2023 : 3rd Week of Lent (Homily and Scripture Reflections)

Liturgical Colour : Purple/Violet

Dear brothers and sisters in Christ, today all of us heard from the passages of the Scriptures, the clear reminder and call for all of us to be merciful, kind and forgiving just as the Lord, our God has been merciful, kind and forgiving towards us all. Each one of us should remember the great love and mercy that God has generously shown us, even when we have erred so badly and when we have disobeyed Him time and again. Whenever we come to Him, seeking for His forgiveness and mercy, with a contrite and regretful heart, God is always ready to welcome us back and forgive us, and while He chastised and punished us for our sins, but He did so out of love for us and the desire to see us changed and converted, that we do not allow sin to corrupt and attach itself to us any longer. These are the things that we have been reminded to do this Lenten season, and we should very well heed this call.

In our first reading today, taken from the Book of the prophet Daniel, we heard of the prayer made by Azariah, one of the friends of Daniel who was at that time persecuted upon the orders of the King of Babylon, Nebuchadnezzar, who sentenced him and two others, Hananiah and Mishael into a great furnace of fire because of their refusal to bend their knee and worship the great golden idol and statue built by Nebuchadnezzar in his own image. They would have perished if not for God’s intervention, and God sent His Angel to be with them, protecting them from the flames. It was there inside the blazing furnace that Azariah made this heartfelt prayer to God, asking Him to remember His love for His people, to reconcile them to Himself and to forgive them their many sins and mistakes, and to remember the love that He always had for Him.

Azariah highlighted the Covenant that God had made with His beloved people, with their ancestors, and how they had been humbled and truly brought low by their own actions and disobedience, how they had lost everything, and they had been scattered and crushed for their persistent wickedness and evils. Azariah presented before the Lord the face of a people who have regretted their sins and mistakes, and were committed to a path of repentance and atonement. It was henceforth that God rescued His people, beginning with Azariah and his companions, and eventually the rest of the people of God when He moved the heart of the Great King of Persia, Cyrus the Great, after he conquered the Babylonians and freed the Israelites and their descendants, allowing them to return to their homeland after many decades in exile, and to reestablish their cities and towns, as well as the Temple of God in Jerusalem.

In our Gospel passage today, we then heard of the parable of the ungrateful servant, who has been forgiven a great deal of debt towards his master, when he did not do the same with his own fellow servant, who owed him a much smaller sum as compared to what the ungrateful servant owed to the master in the first place. That wicked and ungrateful servant did not show any gratitude or understanding of just how fortunate he has been in being forgiven from his massive debt to his master. He chose to persecute his own fellow servant for a much smaller debt that the latter owed him. This was what angered the master when he found out about what kind of ingratitude and wicked behaviour his servant had done to his fellow man, and as such, that servant had to pay his dues and the prior forgiveness that he received was rescinded from him.

That parable is a reminder for us to remember God’s love and compassionate mercy first of all, as He has forgiven us all our many sins and as He has reached out constantly to us despite us having often disobeyed and abandoned Him for other things in life, for the many distractions and temptations all around us. Each and every one of us have received such great grace and good things from God, just like how the master had shown pity on his servant, forgiving him a massive sum of debt, one that far surpassed the debt which that ungrateful servant refused to forgive his fellow servant. Similarly therefore, we need to ask ourselves and reflect, whether we ourselves are to be blamed for something similar as well. Have we ourselves held grudge or hatred against one another, and refused to forgive others whatever faults and sins that they had done to us?

It is here then that we need to remember that part of the Lord’s prayer in which we say, ‘Forgive us our sins as we forgive those who sinned against us’. This means that we have to forgive others first and be kind, compassionate, merciful and forgiving first before we expect to be forgiven our sins by God. That is because, even if we are forgiven our sins, but if we still continue to hate each other, then it is likely that we will still continue to sin, as if we allow hatred, anger, jealousy, greed, pride and all those things to enter into our hearts, they will likely cause us to hurt others, to make the people around us to experience suffering and pain, just as what the ungrateful servant had done to his own fellow servant. If we have not learnt to forgive like how God had forgiven us and loved us, then how can we gain true forgiveness and reconciliation with Him?

Not only that, but how can we claim that we truly belong to God, as His people and children if our actions and way of life are contrary to what the Lord Himself had done for us? Let us recall how God gave us all His own beloved Son, our Lord Jesus Christ, as our Saviour and Redeemer, when we have given Him so much hurt and problems, rejecting and abandoning Him, disobeying Him and more. God has done so much for us and yet we still hardened our hearts and minds against Him. That is what happens when we still allow ourselves to be swayed and deluded by the worldly glory, temptations, pleasures and all the things that often lead us down the wrong path in life. Each and every one of us are reminded that we should not be easily pulled by these into the false path of the evil one, and that we should do whatever we can to seek the Lord and His truth, love and mercy.

Let us all therefore strive from now on, especially during this holy and blessed season of Lent, brothers and sisters in Christ, to be exemplary in our faith and way of life that we may inspire many others to follow the Lord as well, and to be the source of hope and strength for all those who are still under the sway of sin and darkness of this world. Let us all do our best as Christian to be faithful to God and to be loving and forgiving in our lives, in our every actions, words and interactions from now on. May God bless us all, in all of our good efforts and endeavours, and may He be with us always in our journey throughout this Lenten season and beyond, and be ever generous with His mercy. Amen.

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Tuesday, 14 March 2023 : 3rd Week of Lent (Gospel Reading)

Liturgical Colour : Purple/Violet

Matthew 18 : 21-35

At that time, Peter asked Jesus, “Lord, how many times must I forgive the offences of my brother or sister? Seven times?” Jesus answered, “No, not seven times, but seventy-seven times. This story throws light on the kingdom of Heaven : A king decided to settle the accounts of his servants.”

“Among the first was one who owed him ten thousand pieces of gold. As the man could not repay the debt, the king commanded that he be sold as a slave with his wife, his children and all his goods, as repayment. The servant threw himself at the feet of the king and said, ‘Give me time, and I will pay you back everything.'”

“The king took pity on him, and not only set him free, but even cancelled his debt. When the servant left the king’s presence, he met one of his companions, who owed him a hundred pieces of silver. He grabbed him by the neck and almost choked him, shouting, ‘Pay me what you owe!'”

“His companion threw himself at his feet and begged him, ‘Give me time, and I will pay everything.’ The other did not agree, but sent him to prison until he had paid all his debt. Now his fellow servants saw what had happened. They were extremely upset, and so they went and reported everything to their lord.”

“Then the lord summoned his servant and said, ‘Wicked servant, I forgave you all that you owed when you begged me to do so. Were you not bound to have pity on your companion, as I had pity on you?’ The lord was now angry, so he handed his servant over to be punished, until he had paid his whole debt.”

Jesus added, “So will My heavenly Father do with you, unless you sincerely forgive your brothers and sisters.”

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Tuesday, 14 March 2023 : 3rd Week of Lent (Psalm)

Liturgical Colour : Purple/Violet

Psalm 24 : 4-5ab, 6 and 7bc, 8-9

Teach me Your ways, o Lord; make known to me Your paths. Guide me in Your truth and instruct me, for You are my God, my Saviour.

Remember Your compassion, o Lord, Your unfailing love from of old. Remember not the sins of my youth, but in Your love remember me.

Good and upright, the Lord teaches sinners His way. He teaches the humble of heart and guides them in what is right.

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Tuesday, 14 March 2023 : 3rd Week of Lent (First Reading)

Liturgical Colour : Purple/Violet

Daniel 3 : 25, 34-43

Azariah stood up in the midst of the fire and prayed aloud : Do not abandon us forever, do not reject Your covenant for Your Name’s sake. Do not withdraw Your mercy from us, for the sake of Abraham, Your friend, of Isaac, Your servant, of Israel, Your holy one, to whom You promised to multiply their race as the stars of heaven and the sand on the shore of the sea.

Lord, see, we have become the least among the nations in all the world, and we are humiliated because of our sins. At this time, we no longer have a king, or prophet, or leader. We cannot offer You holocausts, sacrifices, offerings, or incense. We have no place to present to You the first-fruits of our crops, and so obtain Your favour.

But at least when we present ourselves with a contrite soul and humbled spirit may we then be acceptable to You, more than by offerings of rams and calves as holocausts, and of thousands of fat lambs. May this sacrifice of ours today obtain for us Your favour for we know that those who trust in You shall never be disappointed.

And now, we serve You with our whole heart, we fear You and we seek Your face. Do not leave us in our humiliation, but treat us according to Your kindness and Your great mercy. Free us in keeping with Your wonders, and give us the glory of Your Name, Lord.

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Tuesday, 7 March 2023 : 2nd Week of Lent, Memorial of St. Perpetua and St. Felicity, Martyrs (Homily and Scripture Reflections)

Liturgical Colour : Purple/Violet

Dear brothers and sisters in Christ, today as we listened to the words of the Scriptures, all of us are reminded yet again in the duration of this penitential season of Lent, not to be sinful or to disobey the Lord and His commandments. All of us are reminded to seek the Lord to be forgiven from our many sins and wickedness, to be healed by God from the affliction of sin that has been corrupting and affecting us all these while. Each one of us are called to turn away from the path of sin and to do what God has told and commanded us to do, to be holy just as He is Holy. This is our calling as Christians especially during this time and season of Lent, and hopefully, more and more of us, holy people of God can truly live our lives in the manner and way that God has shown and taught us to do.

In our first reading today, we heard from the Book of the prophet Isaiah, the call from the prophet in which he called on the people of God to turn away from their wicked and sinful ways. He purposefully referred to them all as the rulers of Sodom and Gomorrah, as a reminder of what had happened to those two cities in the ancient past. Sodom and Gomorrah were infamous for their great wickedness and sins, their immoral and evil behaviours, and were crushed and destroyed by God by a rain of brimstone and fire from Heaven. God gave them a chance when He sent His Angel to them to save Lot, the nephew of His servant Abraham, our father in faith, and as Abraham had also earlier on pleaded with Him to spare the two cities if just a few of the righteous could be found there. Unfortunately, only Lot and his immediate family alone were righteous among all of the people dwelling in Sodom and Gomorrah, and all were destroyed.

God wants us to know once again that He truly loves each one of us most generously and tenderly, but He does not condone our sins and wickedness. He despises those sins and chastised us for all those wicked deeds and things that are unbecoming of us being His followers and disciples. Disobedience and sin are our greatest downfall, as it was through those that we have been sundered and separated from the fullness of God’s love and grace, cast out from the bliss and joy of Eden, and having to suffer the consequences of our sins in this world. Yet, He gave us all help and guidance along the way at the same time, in order to help us to find our way to Him, to seek for His forgiveness and mercy. But many people still resisted God’s mercy and love, especially because their hearts and minds were still full of wickedness, evil, pride, greed and many other things that prevented us from finding our path to the Lord and His saving grace.

In our Gospel passage today, the Lord told His disciples not to be like the Pharisees and the teachers of the Law who often liked to make a show of their faith, by parading their piety and prayers in the public, in the Temple and the marketplaces so that they could be seen by everyone and be praised for their actions. They wore the widest of prayer bands and made a show of their faith, and yet, as the Lord often mentioned, they had little faith in their hearts, and little love for God. They were so full of their own pride and arrogance that they could not bring it to humble themselves and realise that their way of practicing their faith had been wrong, and their way of life had been wicked and sinful, perhaps without them even realising it. They imposed harsh standards on others and persecuted those who disagreed with them and those whom they deemed to be inferior to them simply because they did not do what they themselves had done.

They had actually been entrusted with the responsibilities and calling to help lead and guide others from their sinful paths, by their faithful observance and preservation of the Law of God as it had been revealed and passed down to them through the generations. But, instead of faithfully carrying out their obligations and works, they fell into the temptation of pride, ego and human ambition. They chose to indulge in praise and adulations, seeking for fame and glory instead of true obedience to God. They sought for popularity and power, and as a result, they lost sight of the true destination and aim of their lives, substituting the true joy and glory that they can find and gain in the Lord alone, with temporary and fleeting gains in this world, which do not last and are superficial in nature.

That is why the Lord reminded all of His people to be careful and to guard themselves against the temptations of worldly glory, fame and the threats from our own pride, ego, ambition and desires. All these things are truly great obstacles in the path of our reconciliation with God, and unless we do our best to resist them, we may find it difficult for us to resist the temptations to sin, just as how many of our predecessors had fallen into sin. This is why during this season of Lent, the Lord continually reminded us that there is a need for us to have the genuine conversion of heart, so that we may truly change our way of life and our actions, that we do not live in ways that are against the Lord and His path anymore, but instead, following Him with greater zeal and sincerity from now on, and do our best to be great role models and sources of inspiration to others all around us.

Today, we all can also be inspired and strengthened by the good examples set by our holy predecessors, the holy martyrs and saints, St. Perpetua and St. Felicity, who were renowned martyrs of the Church, honoured and venerated for their righteousness, holiness and dedication to God, even in the face of suffering and martyrdom. According to the Church traditions and hagiography, St. Perpetua was a young noblewoman who was recently married and was a mother to a young infant son, while St. Felicity was a slave who were arrested with St. Perpetua for their Christian faith during the reign of the Roman Emperor Septimius Severus. It was told that this happened because St. Perpetua had a conflict with her father because he wanted her to abandon her Christian faith, and St. Perpetua refused to do so. It was likely that St. Perpetua met with St. Felicity and other fellow martyrs in prison, and they all endured the trials and hardships, resisting the temptations and pressures to abandon their faith in God.

The courage and dedication that those martyrs showed us all ought to remind us of the love and commitment that we ourselves ought to have for the Lord, and we are all reminded of how many of our predecessors have given their lives for the sake of the Lord. God has been calling on us to follow on their examples and He has shown us the path towards eternal life and true joy through Him. Now what matters is for us to make the conscious choice and decision to follow the Lord and to commit ourselves to Him, doing whatever we can to glorify the Lord and to live our lives worthily to the best of our abilities, as those who follow the Lord and believe in Him. This season of Lent should be a time for us to recalibrate our lives and to redirect our focus and attention back towards the Lord, so that we may grow ever closer to Him, and we may find our path towards His love and grace. Let us all remember His great love and compassion which He has always given to us, all these while.

May the Lord continue to bless and guide us in our journey that we may live our lives in the most Christ-like way, and in obeying His Law, commandments and precepts, at all times. May God be with us always and may He empower each one of us that we may continue to persevere in faith and dedicate our lives for His greater glory, much like the glorious saints and martyrs, like St. Perpetua and St. Felicity, now and always, forevermore. Amen.

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Tuesday, 7 March 2023 : 2nd Week of Lent, Memorial of St. Perpetua and St. Felicity, Martyrs (Gospel Reading)

Liturgical Colour : Purple/Violet

Matthew 23 : 1-12

At that time, then Jesus said to the crowds and to His disciples, “The teachers of the Law and the Pharisees have sat down on the chair of Moses. So you shall do and observe all they say, but do not do as they do, for they do not do what they say. They tie up heavy burdens and load them on the shoulders of the people, but they do not even raise a finger to move them.”

“They do everything in order to be seen by people : they wear very wide bands of the Law around their foreheads, and robes with large tassels. They enjoy the first places at feasts and reserved seats in the synagogues, and they like being greeted in the marketplace, and being called ‘Master’ by the people.”

“But you, do not let yourselves be called Master, because you have only one Master, and all of you are brothers and sisters. Neither should you call anyone on earth Father because you have only one Father, He Who is in heaven. Nor should you be called Leader, because Christ is the only Leader for you.”

“Let the greatest among you be the servant of all. For whoever makes himself great shall be humbled, and whoever humbles himself shall be made great.”