Vigil Mass

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Sunday, 15 May 2016 : Solemnity of Pentecost Sunday (Second Reading)

Liturgical Colour : Red

Romans 8 : 8-17

So, those walking according to the flesh cannot please God. Yet your existence is not in the flesh, but in the Spirit, because the Spirit of God is within you. If you did not have the Spirit of Christ, you would not belong to Him. But Christ is within you; though the body is branded by death as a consequence of sin, the Spirit is life and holiness.

And if the Spirit of Him Who raised Jesus from the dead is within you, He Who raised Jesus Christ from among the dead will also give life to your mortal bodies. Yes, He will do it through His Spirit Who dwells within you. Then, brothers, let us leave the flesh and no longer live according to it. If not, we will die. Rather, walking in the Spirit, let us put to death the body’s deeds so that we may live.

All those who walk in the Spirit of God are sons and daughters of God. Then, no more fear : you did not receive a spirit of slavery, but the Spirit that makes you sons and daughters and every time we cry, “Abba! (This is Dad!) Father!” the Spirit assures our spirit that we are sons and daughters of God.

If we are children, we are heirs, too. Ours will be the inheritance of God and we will share it with Christ; for if we now suffer with Him, we will also share Glory with Him.

Alternative reading

1 Corinthians 12 : 3b-7, 12-13

No one can say, “Jesus is the Lord,” except by the Holy Spirit. There is diversity of gifts, but the Spirit is the same. There is diversity of ministries, but the Lord is the same. There is diversity of works, but the same God works in all.

The Spirit reveals His presence in each one with a gift that is also a service. As the body is one, having many members, and all the members, while being many, form one body, so it is with Christ. All of us, whether Jews or Greeks, slaves or free, have been baptised in one Spirit to form one body and all of us have been given to drink from the one Spirit.

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Sunday, 15 May 2016 : Solemnity of Pentecost Sunday (Psalm)

Liturgical Colour : Red

Psalm 103 : 1ab and 24ac, 29bc-30, 31 and 34

Bless the Lord, my soul! Clothed in majesty and splendour. How varied o Lord, are Your works! The earth full of Your creatures.

You take away their breath, they expire and return to dust. When You send forth Your Spirit, they are created, and the face of the earth is renewed.

May the glory of the Lord endure forever; may the Lord rejoice in His works! May my song give Him pleasure, as the Lord gives me delight.

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Sunday, 15 May 2016 : Solemnity of Pentecost Sunday (First Reading)

Liturgical Colour : Red

Acts 2 : 1-11

When the day of Pentecost came, they were all together in one place. And suddenly out of the sky came a sound like a strong rushing wind and it filled the whole house where they were sitting. There appeared tongues as if of fire which parted and came to rest upon each one of them. All were filled with Holy Spirit and began to speak other languages, as the Spirit enabled them to speak.

Staying in Jerusalem were religious Jews from every nation under heaven. Whey they heard this sound, a crowd gathered, all excited because each heard them speaking in his own language. Full of amazement and wonder, they asked, “Are not all these who are speaking Galileans? How is it that we hear them in our own native language?”

“Here are Parthians, Medes and Elamites and residents of Mesopotamia, Judea and Cappadocia, Pontus and Asia, Phrygia, Pamphylia, Egypt and the parts of Libya belonging to Cyrene, and visitors from Rome, both Jews and foreigners who accept Jewish beliefs, Cretians and Arabians; and all of us hear them proclaiming in our own language what God, the Saviour, does.”

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Saturday, 14 May 2016 : Vigil Mass of the Solemnity of Pentecost Sunday (Gospel Reading)

Liturgical Colour : Red

John 7 : 37-39

At that time, on the last and greatest day of the Festival of the Tent, Jesus stood up and proclaimed, “Let anyone who is thirsty come to Me; and let the one who believes in Me drink, for the Scripture says : ‘Out of the believer’s heart shall flow rivers of living water.'”

Jesus was referring to the Spirit, which those who believe in Him were to receive ; the Spirit had not yet been given, because Jesus had not yet entered into His glory.

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Saturday, 14 May 2016 : Vigil Mass of the Solemnity of Pentecost Sunday (Second Reading)

Liturgical Colour : Red

Romans 8 : 22-27

We know that the whole creation groans and suffers the pangs of birth. Not creation alone, but even ourselves, although the Spirit was given to us as a foretaste of what we are to receive, we groan in our innermost being, eagerly awaiting the day when God will give us full rights and rescue our bodies as well.

In hope we already have salvation. But if we saw what we hoped for, there would no longer be hope : how can you hope for what is already seen? So we hope for what we do not see and we will receive it through patient hope.

We are weak, but the Spirit comes to help us. How to ask? And what shall we ask for? We do not know, but the Spirit intercedes for us without words, as if with groans. And He Who sees inner secrets knows the desires of the Spirit, for He asks for the holy ones what is pleasing to God.

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Saturday, 14 May 2016 : Vigil Mass of the Solemnity of Pentecost Sunday (Psalm)

Liturgical Colour : Red

Psalm 103 : 1-2a, 24 and 35c, 27-28, 29bc-30

Bless the Lord, my soul! Clothed in majesty and splendour; o Lord, my God, how great You are! You are wrapped in light as with a garment.

How varied o Lord, are Your works! In wisdom You have made them all – the earth full of Your creatures. Bless the Lord, my soul!

They all look to You for their food in due time. You give it to them, and they gather it up; You open Your hand, they are filled with good things.

You take away their breath, they expire and return to dust. When You send forth Your Spirit, they are created, and the face of the earth is renewed.

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Saturday, 14 May 2016 : Vigil Mass of the Solemnity of Pentecost Sunday (First Reading)

Liturgical Colour : Red

Genesis 11 : 1-9

The whole world had one language and a common speech. As people moved from east, they found a plain in the country of Shinar where they settled. They said to one another, “Come, let us make bricks and bake them in fire.” They used brick for stone and bitumen for mortar.

They said also, “Come, let us build ourselves a city and a tower with its top reaching heaven; so that we may become a great people and not be scattered over the face of the earth!”

YHVH came down to see the city and the tower that the sons of man were building, and YHVH said, “They are one people and they have one language. If they carry this through, nothing they decide to do from now on will be impossible. Come! Let Us go down and confuse their language so that they will no longer understand each other.”

So YHVH scattered them over all the earth and they stopped building the city. That is why it was called Babel, because there YHVH confused the language of the whole earth and from there YHVH scattered them over the whole face of the earth.

Alternative reading

Exodus 19 : 3-8a, 16-20b

The Israelites camped there in front of the mountain, but Moses went up to God and YHVH called to him from the mountain, saying, “This is what you are to say and to explain to the Israelites : You have seen what I did to the Egyptians and how I carried you on eagle’s wings and brought you to Myself. Now if you listen to Me and keep My covenant, you shall be My very own possession among all the nations. For all the earth is Mine, but you will be for Me a kingdom of priests and a holy nation.”

And He added, “This is what you are to say to the people of Israel.” So Moses went and summoned all the elders of the people and related to them all that YHVH had commanded him to say. All the people responded with one voice, “All that YHVH has said, we will do.”

On the morning of the third day there was thunder and lightning and a dense cloud over the mountain, and a very loud trumpet blast was heard. All the people in the camp trembled. Moses then made the people leave the camp to meet God and stand at the foot of the mountain.

Mount Sinai was completely covered in smoke because YHVH had come down in fire, and the smoke rose as from a furnace. The whole mountain shook violently, while the blast of the trumpet became louder and louder. Moses spoke and God replied in thunder. When YHVH had come down to the summit of Mount Sinai, God called Moses who went to the summit.

Alternative reading

Ezekiel 37 : 1-14

The hand of YHVH was upon me. He brought me out and led me in Spirit to the middle of the valley which was full of bones. He made me walk to and fro among them and I could see there was a great number of them on the ground all along the valley and that they were very dry.

YHVH said to me, “Son of man, can these bones live again?” I said, “Lord YHVH, only You know that.” He then said, “Speak on my behalf concerning these bones; say to them : Dry bones, hear the word of YHVH! YHVH says : I am going to put Spirit in you and make you live. I shall put sinews on you and make flesh grow on you; I shall cover you with skin and give you My Spirit, that you may live. And you will know that I am YHVH.”

I prophesied as I had been commanded and then there was a noise and commotion; the bones joined together. I looked and saw that they had sinews, that flesh was growing on the, and that He was covering them with skin. But there was no Spirit in them.

So YHVH said to me, “Speak on My behalf and call on the Spirit, son of man! Say to the Spirit : This is the word of YHVH : Spirit, come from the four winds. Breathe into these dead bones and let them live!”

I prophesied as He had commanded me and breath entered them; they came alive, standing on their feet – a great, immense army! He then said to me, “Son of man, these bones are all Israel. They keep saying : ‘Our bones are dry, hope has gone, it is the end of us.’ So prophesy! Say to them : This is what YHVH says : I am going to open your tombs, I shall bring you out of your tombs, My people, and lead you back to the land of Israel.”

“You will know that I am YHVH, o My people! when I open your graves and bring you out of your graves, when I put My Spirit in you and you live. I shall settle you in your land and you will know that I, YHVH, have done what I said I would do.”

Alternative reading

Joel 3 : 1-5

In the last days, I will pour out My Spirit on every mortal. Your sons and daughters will prophesy, your old men will dream dreams, your young men will see visions. Even upon My servants and maidens, I will pour out My Spirit on that day.

I will show wonders in the heavens, and on earth blood and fire and columns of smoke. The sun will darken and the moon turn to blood at the approach of the great and dreadful day of God. Then all who call upon the Name of YHVH will be saved. For on Mount Zion there will be a remnant, as YHVH has said; in Jerusalem some will be saved – those whom YHVH will call.

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Sunday, 16 August 2015 : Twentieth Sunday of Ordinary Time, Memorial of St. Stephen of Hungary (Homily and Scripture Reflections)

Liturgical Colour : Green

Dear brothers and sisters in Christ, on this day we heard about Wisdom, how it calls upon the foolish and the unenlightened, so that they may abandon their foolishness and embrace true wisdom and understanding. And what is this Wisdom about? It is the wisdom which can come from God alone, the understanding of all things and whatever happens around us, and not the false wisdom of men, or the false wisdom of the world.

If we read the exhortation by St. Paul in his letter to the faithful and the Church in Ephesus, then we would realise what is the distinguishing factor between the wisdom and ways of the Lord, and ways and the wisdom of this world, of mankind. The wisdom of God is far better than the wisdom of men, and the ways of the Lord are far beyond what men know in what they do.

But we are often too proud of what we know to let go of our own selfishness and pride, pride in the wisdom which we thought would lead us to greatness, to fame, to affluence and to might. And yet, these lead us only into destruction and annihilation in the end. For we have gained knowledge and wisdom through disobedience and sin, by our ancestors who wrongly ate of the fruits of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil.

Satan tempted us to find a shortcut in life, by tempting them with knowledge and power. He tempted them by saying that if they follow what he said, then they would become like God. And in their foolishness, they believed in Satan and forgot or placed aside the restriction and prohibition which God had put in place, ate from the tree of knowledge of good and evil, and once they found out what happened, they were ashamed and they felt guilty.

In the Gospel today, we heard about how the Jews doubted about what Jesus said about Himself, and they refused to believe that He could give His flesh for them to eat, and His blood for them to drink. To them, to have such a notion or idea was totally repulsive, and they could not comprehend what He meant when He said those words.

As a result, they abandoned Him, and many of the disciples of Jesus rejected and renounced Him after they heard this truth from Him. They might have thought of Him as a crazy Man who ranted on something that is both impossible and repulsive, but they did not know or understand, that it was their human wisdom and presumptive behaviour that had prevented them from seeing the truth in Christ.

It was also the same with the people of Nazareth, who had rejected Jesus when He came and proclaimed Himself before them, telling them who He was and what He was about to do in their midst. They did not believe in Him because they thought that they knew who He was, namely the humble Son of a mere village carpenter. They thought that it was impossible for a carpenter’s Son, and Jesus was likely a carpenter Himself, such a menial and thankless job to be able to bring about such things as Jesus Himself proclaimed.

In their hearts, they were blinded by hubris and pride, thinking of themselves as better than others. It is in our human nature to be competitive and critical of others, as our ego and pride often fill us up to the extent that we are unable to think with good reason, and then we commit things that are wicked in the sight of the Lord, and made a fool of ourselves, piling up one sin after another.

Today we are all reminded that we are mere mortals, and our knowledge of things in this world is not perfect and neither it is comprehensive. Our knowledge is flawed and imperfect, and what we know is often marred and corrupted by our desires, by the lies of Satan and the temptations he had given us through this world, and our pride and arrogance also often became our undoing.

Brothers and sisters in Christ, shall we learn to be humble and to accept our weaknesses as a reality? Shall we all acknowledge how we can often be wrong in our own human wisdom and intellect, and how we can commit mistakes and faults if we depend only on our own power and intellect. And this include doubting the Lord who is Himself truly and really present in the Most Holy Eucharist.

There had been many people who doubted this, and they like the Jews did not and refused to believe that Jesus had given Himself, in the form of bread and wine transformed completely in matter and reality to be the Body and Blood of our Lord and Saviour. It was by this giving of the Body and Blood, willingly shed and given, that we have received a new hope from the Lord, the hope of a new and everlasting life, freed from sin and all of its snares, and where the true wisdom is revealed to us.

It may seem to be impossible for us that this happens, but we have to remember that nothing is truly impossible for our Lord, as everything that seem impossible for us, is possible for God. Remember that His ways are far beyond our worldly ways, and His wisdom is far greater than our human wisdom and intellect. It is therefore naive for us to think that we can try to explain what happened with our mere human wisdom and intellect alone, if we do not have the wisdom which our Lord had given to us.

Therefore, let us all today commit ourselves anew to the Lord, and throw far, far away hubris, pride and haughtiness from our hearts and minds, and humble ourselves before the Lord, He who knows everything, and everything inside our hearts and minds as well. Let us not put our trust in our own strength but give it all to the Lord our God, whose wisdom shall guide our path to righteousness.

May Almighty God, Holy Wisdom and the Truth, the Way and the Life be our guide always, and may He awaken in all of us the strong desire to love Him and to follow Him, walking in His ways and remain righteous and true to the end. God bless us all. Amen.

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Sunday, 16 August 2015 : Twentieth Sunday of Ordinary Time, Memorial of St. Stephen of Hungary (Gospel Reading)

Liturgical Colour : Green

John 6 : 51-58

At that time, Jesus said to the people, “I am the Living Bread which has come from heaven; whoever eats of this Bread will live forever. The bread I shall give is My Flesh, and I will give it for the life of the world.”

The Jews were arguing among themselves, “How can this Man give us flesh to eat?” So Jesus replied, “Truly, I say to you, if you do not eat the Flesh of the Son of Man and drink His Blood, you have no life in you. The one who eats My Flesh and drinks My Blood lives eternal life, and I will raise him up on the last day.”

“My Flesh is really food, and My Blood is truly drink. Those who eat My Flesh and drink My Blood, live in Me, and I in them. Just as the Father, who is Life, sent Me, and I have life from the Father, so whoever eats Me will have life from Me. This is the Bread which came from heaven; not like that of your ancestors, who ate and later died. Those who eat this Bread will live forever.”

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Sunday, 16 August 2015 : Twentieth Sunday of Ordinary Time, Memorial of St. Stephen of Hungary (Second Reading)

Liturgical Colour : Green



Ephesians 5 : 15-20

Pay attention to how you behave. Do not live as the unwise do, but as responsible persons. Try to make good use of the present time, because these days are evil. So do not be foolish but understand what the will of the Lord is.

Do not get drunk : wine leads to levity; but be filled with the Holy Spirit. Gather together to pray with psalms, hymns and spiritual songs. Sing and celebrate the Lord in your heart, giving thanks to God the Father in the Name of Christ Jesus, our Lord, always and for everything.