Liturgical Colour : Green or White (Priests)
Psalm 138 : 1-3, 4-6
O Lord, You know me : You have scrutinised me. You know when I sit and when I rise; beforehand You discern my thoughts. You observe my activities and times of rest; You are familiar with all my ways.
Before a word is formed in my mouth, You know what it is all about, o Lord. From front to back You hedge me round, shielding me with Your protecting hand. Your knowledge leaves me astounded, it is too high for me to reach.
Liturgical Colour : Red
Dear brothers and sisters in Christ, on this day, we celebrate the feast of one of the Twelve Holy Apostles of our Lord Jesus Christ, the principal and greatest followers and disciples of our Lord, who were the ones that helped to establish His Church on earth. And today, we celebrate therefore the feast of St. Bartholomew, also known by his other name of Nathaniel.
He was unique among the Twelve Apostles, for the Lord seemed to have a high opinion of him, when He called him to be His follower. He proclaimed to His other disciples, that St. Bartholomew, then known as Nathaniel, was a true and upright man in Israel, and that there are none other like him. Indeed, this is to show that Jesus called His disciples from various origins, from the humblest and the simplest, to the educated, and the righteous as well as the wicked ones.
But when He called the Apostles, Jesus made it clear to them that He did not call them for a life of privilege, and neither that their lives would be an easy one. They would not be called to a life of privilege and prestige, and the Lord made it clear again from time to time, that they would suffer the same persecution, challenges and difficulties that their Master had also experienced.
And indeed, many of the Apostles and the other disciples and followers of our Lord were harassed, rejected, cast out and had their lives made difficult because of what they believed in, and because of what they were preaching to the people so that these people would come to believe in Jesus and be saved. They would be led to torture places, imprisoned, and then most of them were martyred, that is they gave up their earthly life for the sake of the Lord and their faith in Him.
But all these were the prelude to the eternal inheritance and glory which our Lord had promised to all of them. As in the Gospel today, when Nathaniel, St. Bartholomew expressed his doubt at Jesus because He was from Nazareth in Galilee, Jesus spoke of how they would see great things, and they would see the Son of Man, Jesus Himself, glorified and revealed in His majesty.
This indeed they had seen, and they witnessed it, and they therefore preached about what they have witnessed and seen with their own eyes and felt with their own senses, of the Lord who died and rose from the dead in glory, and by His works, all are made whole and saved. And for that there were greatly rewarded. The clue to this is in our first reading from the Book of the Revelation of St. John.
St. John saw the vision of the new and heavenly Jerusalem, the Holy City that comes down from heaven, with all of its incomparable and unparalleled beauty and greatness, and the city has twelve great gates, on which lies twelve stones on which are carved the names of the Twelve Holy Apostles. Indeed, this is the vision of the fulfilment of Christ’s promise to the Apostles, as in His own words, He had said that the Apostles will sit on the twelve thrones to judge the people of God.
The essence of today’s Scripture readings, and what we have to take away with us today is that all of us have a share in the works of the Apostles, and we are their successors, in terms of the mission which God had entrusted them with. His mission for us is to go forth to all the nations, to all the peoples and preach to them, and be witnesses of His resurrection, and be the bearers of the Good News of His salvation.
There will indeed be challenges and difficulties, and our way forward will not be an easy one, but so had the Apostles and the disciples of the Lord met all kinds of resistance and oppositions during their ministry in this world. But we have to remember that God is always with those who keep their faith in Him. If we keep our trust in Him and place our faith in Him, then we truly have nothing to fear at all.
Let us all be ever more dedicated and devoted to our faith in the Lord, and let us all walk in the footsteps of St. Bartholomew the Apostle, committing ourselves ever more to bring forth the Gospel and the Good News to all the peoples, so that all may be saved together in God. May Almighty God bless us in all of our endeavours and shine His light upon us always. Amen.
Liturgical Colour : Green
Dear brothers and sisters in Christ, on this day we are faced with the reality and the truth in the Scripture readings which we have heard today. In the first reading we heard about how Joshua, the leader who succeeded Moses in bringing Israel out of Egypt into the Promised Land, exhorted to them to remain faithful in the Lord, and then in the second reading, St. Paul in his letter to the Ephesians urged people in the family to remain faithful to each other and to remain committed to their vow of marriage, having been united by God.
And then in the Gospel, our Lord Jesus Christ spoke of how there will be those who refuse to listen to His words, and refuse to believe in His teachings, because of the doubts in their hearts, and their inability to grasp what the truth of the Lord is all about. He knew that there would be those who went astray and be lost because they refused to believe in the truth.
And yet of course, the Apostles, all save the one who had planned to betray Jesus, all remained faithful to the Lord Jesus, and continued to follow Him even though many others have left Him, and even though these have ridiculed the Lord they followed and served, and even though they must have been pressured and urged to leave behind their Master as well.
All of these would bring us to ask ourselves, about our faith in this ever-changing and ever more difficult world to live in. We know how this world follows its own ways. And often these ways are not in accordance to the ways of the Lord. This we should be aware of, that the world has been under the dominion and power of Satan, the evil and fallen one, ever since he brought sin into the world, and not until the day of judgment that he would be overthrown and the world made anew.
As we heard in the first reading today about Joshua and the people of Israel, Joshua gave a passionate exhortation and reminder to the people of Israel to remain faithful to the Lord, who had done so much wonders for them, and who had brought them and their fathers out of Egypt with might and power, crushing those who have enslaved them and liberated them to bring them to the lands and the bountiful gifts promised to their ancestors.
And yet, if we would read on, and which we should know, we should realise that the people of Israel did not remain faithful. They would revert to their ways of rebellion and disobedience, as they had often exhibited throughout their journey in the desert, beginning with their worship of the golden calf, betraying the Lord for the pagan idols of their neighbours, for statues and idols made of gold, silver and worldly goods.
They would sell their souls and their bodies to the vileness of the world many, many times, and they often became lost in the many temptations of the flesh coming their way. They worshipped the pagan gods of their neighbours and forgot entirely about the Lord who had led them to the lands they occupied then in prosperity. Therefore the Lord reminded them by allowing their neighbours to harass them and oppress them, so that they might know that human power is feeble, and the joy they have in the world is temporary. And everything means nothing if all are not bound to the Lord, the one true God.
Therefore, then we too should reflect on our own lives. Have we been truly faithful to the Lord? And if we say that we are faithful, then do our actions and our words, all the things we do and say, do they all show concretely and firmly that all of us truly belong to the Lord? Or did we instead do things contrary to what the Lord had taught and shown to us? Have we created scandal of our faith by not doing what we profess to believe?
Brethren, there are so many pressures and temptations from all sources and directions around us, from our own communities and societies, for us to abandon what we have believed in the Lord, and for us to betray the Lord, for other pagan and ungodly idols, just as the Israelites had done in the past, and just as they had done again at the time of Jesus, rejecting and refusing to believe in the Saviour who had come upon them in order to save them.
And if last time, they were tempted to worship the pagan gods and idols of wood, silver, gold and other earthly wares, and pushed to give sacrifices to these idols, we may think that in this modern world we no longer have such idols and hence we should be safe from such depredations and corrupted ways of our predecessors. However, many of us did not realise that we live in a world that is filled with idols, that is the new idol of wealth, of injustice, of selfishness and many others.
If we look around us, we would certainly realise how we live in such a commercialised and materialistic world, where money and possessions matter a great deal for many of us, where prestige and position, where fame and acceptance by others matter a great deal for us. If we lack any of these, it is our nature to go forth and seek ways to get more of them, to have more of what we do not have, be it money, or recognition from others.
These are the new idols that can tear us away from the true path and way of the Lord. And this path is the path of selfishness, where all of these lead to the pampering and the glorification of the self, the satisfaction of our ego and selfishness, where we end up closing ourselves up from knowing what others around us need and what we can do to help them.
It is in our human nature to think of ourselves first and even at the expense of others if necessary. And this is why St. Paul in his letter to the faithful in the city of Ephesus reminded them of the importance of the family and its unity, when every member of the family are devoted to each other, and obey one another. When each member of the family give in to their selfishness and the desire to satisfy themselves ahead of others, then it is where the very fabric of the family itself will fall apart.
The institution of the family is the anchor of faith for us all. The family is the basic unit of the Church and the faithful, where faith is disseminated and transferred from one generation to the next, and Satan knows this. This is why Satan is so particular in his efforts to destroy the family and its unity, by playing on mankind’s selfishness and self-satisfying attitudes.
We have to take note of this, brothers and sisters in Christ. Therefore, as we reflect on the readings from the Scripture which we have heard today, let us all keep in mind our own families, and reflect on whether in our families, we have practiced our faith together as one, and put the family ahead of our own selves. Have we put God at the centre of our family? Have we prayed together and worked together as one?
These are important questions we have to ask ourselves, if we are to help ourselves in resisting the temptations of the world through which Satan is trying to pull us away from the path towards salvation. Let us all work together as one, through our own families, by keeping the sanctity and holiness in our own families, placing God at the centre of our lives, and then working together as the whole Church to help one another in finding our way to the Lord and reaching out to Him.
May Almighty God keep our faith strong and guide us in our life’s endeavours, that in all the things we do, we will always practice what He had taught us, and remember always His mercy and love, which He generously pours upon us. May God bless us all, now and forever. Amen.
Liturgical Colour : Green
Psalm 33 : 2-3, 16-17, 18-19, 20-21, 22-23
I will bless the Lord all my days; His praise will be ever on my lips. My soul makes its boast in the Lord; let the lowly hear and rejoice.
The eyes of the Lord 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.
The Lord hears the cry of the righteous and rescues them from all their troubles. The Lord is close to the brokenhearted and saves the distraught.
Many are the troubles of the just, but the Lord delivers them from all. He keeps all their bones intact, and none of them will be broken.
Evil will slay the wicked; the enemies of the just will be doomed. But the Lord will redeem the life of His servants; none of those who trust in Him will be doomed.
Liturgical Colour : Green
Joshua 24 : 1-2a, 15-17, 18b
Joshua summoned all the tribes of Israel in Shechem, and assembled the elders, leaders, judges and secretaries. And together they presented themselves before God.
Addressing the people, Joshua said to them : “YHVH, the God of Israel, commands me to say to you : But if you do not want to serve YHVH, make known this very day whom you shall serve – whether they be the gods your ancestors served in Mesopotamia or the gods of the Amorites who formerly occupied the land in which you now live. As for me, I and my household will serve YHVH.”
The people answered : “May God not permit that we ever abandon YHVH to serve other gods! For it was He who brought us and our ancestors out of Egypt, the house of slavery. It was He who did those great wonders that we have seen; He protected us on the way and through all the land where we passed. So we shall also serve YHVH : He is our God!”
Liturgical Colour : White
Dear brothers and sisters in Christ, on this day we celebrate the feast of the Queenship of the Blessed Mother of our Lord Jesus Christ, when we celebrate this honour which had been accorded to her, the glory and majesty that we accord her due to her unique position, as the Mother of the one and true King of all, the font of all power and authority, none other than Jesus our Lord, King of the Universe.
It is not by her own power and majesty that she was accorded the title of Queen, but it is nonetheless equally great and honourable, because she truly deserves to be called Queen of all saints, as Queen of all angels, as Queen of queens, Queen of Heaven and the Queen of all mankind and all creation. For she is indeed the first and greatest among all creation, being the closest to the throne of her own Son, and dearest to Him in His heart.
In the readings today we heard about the salvation which God had brought about to mankind, and by the sending of His own Son into the world, He made possible what everyone would have thought to be impossible, that is the salvation and liberation of all mankind from the tyranny of sin and evil, and from all the wickedness and vile things that had bound them since the first time they fell into sin.
God brought His Son into the world, by the work through Mary, the one whom He had favoured and blessed among all women and among all the children of Adam. She had been fully participative in the work of God’s salvation, by the full surrender of herself to God’s will, which was made clear to her by the Archangel Gabriel, on the night which we heard today in the Gospel.
Mary obeyed the Lord completely and perfectly, giving the best of her ability to fulfil what God had revealed to her, that she would become the mother of the Saviour of the world. She took full charge of the responsibility placed on her shoulders. She took all the responsibilities seriously and did all she could, to bring up her Son, Jesus Christ, to be the One who would save all mankind from their sins.
Thus, as we can witness from the Scriptures, Mary had been such a great example to all of us, because she showed us all precisely how we ought to live our lives in accordance with the will of God. And because of her great and exemplary faith, and in honour of her unique position as the mother of Jesus our Lord, He crowned her as Queen, as the Queen of heaven and of all God’s creations, over all the angels and men.
Brothers and sisters in Christ, as we celebrate this feast of the Queenship of Mary, let us all realise first that all of us has a great ally in Mary, who is our greatest helper, intercessor, friend and protector, for she stands closest to her Son in heaven, always praying for us and interceding for our sake. For we all know that by entrusting His own mother to His disciple, God had made her to be our mother as well, and therefore our Queen, who watches over us all the time, ever concerned about us.
And then, she has also shown us great examples on how we ought to live our faith life, and thus, we should emulate her examples, and act in the way that we also obey the Lord and are considered righteous in all things we say and do. If we are good and are able to walk in the same path that Mary had walked, then the glory which Mary had received, and the honour which she had been accorded, will be ours as well.
This is a reminder for all of us that as we honour Mary, the mother of our Lord and God today, we too should emulate her in all of her actions and exemplary faith, so that we may, by the help of her guidance and intercession, find our way to the Lord, and be not lost again in the darkness of this world. Let us all be aware of our own sins and wickedness, and all the things that had barred us from finding our way to Him.
May Almighty God be with us all, and help us to be more like Mary, His mother, whom He had glorified as the Queen of heaven, the Queen of angels and men, for her piety, great devotion and dedication to the Lord and all of His ways. May all of us be made righteous and just through our actions and deeds which we commit in accordance with the teachings of our Lord and in obedience to His will. God bless us all. Amen.
Liturgical Colour : White
Dear brothers and sisters in Christ, on this day we heard about how a woman of Israel, Naomi, was left all alone after her husband and two sons passed away, leaving her with her daughters-in-law who followed her. One of the two daughters-in-law, Ruth, a Moabite woman, a foreigner in the eyes of the Israelites, refused to leave when Naomi decided to return to her homeland and asked them to go.
This same Ruth would eventually be the ancestor of David, the king of Israel, through whom God renewed His covenant with His people and with all of us. Ruth would go on to meet Boaz, her future husband, and by God’s will, and through Naomi’s faith and perseverance, the foundation of the family of David would be born. And through David, God made secure his kingdom and his family, and through him, the salvation of all mankind was made secure, through Jesus, Son of God, Son of David.
And Ruth as we heard in today’s reading, made the great profession of faith before Naomi, as even though she was a foreigner, a Moabite, usually looked with suspicion and often treated badly and with prejudice by the people of Israel, but her faith shone forth and true, for she proclaimed that Naomi’s God would be her God, and Israel would be her people, counting herself among them. This surrendering of oneself to the will of God is a great example for all of us to follow.
In the Gospel today, we heard about how Jesus explained to the teacher of the Law, who asked Him what the most important commandment in the Law is. Out of the Ten Commandments, and the numerous rules and regulations of the laws as revealed to Moses, the most important Law is indeed about love. It is for love of us mankind that God had revealed His Law, so that all of us may find our way to Him and keep ourselves steady amidst the temptations and challenges of the world.
Indeed, the essence of the Law is to love the Lord with all of our might, with all of our strength, with all of our minds and intellect, and with all of our very beings, that in everything we say, in everything we act and do, we do them for the love of God, for the sake of the Lord, and for the sake of everything that God had made, which includes all creation, and also all of us, mankind, loving one another, our own brothers and sisters in the Lord.
It is the same kind of faith and devotion which Ruth had shown us in the first reading today, the total commitment and devotion which all of us ought to have as well. We have to have this kind of faith if we are to call ourselves true disciples of the Lord. If we truly follow the Lord, then all of us should love Him, and give Him all the best things we have, the best of our attention and focus, our best devotion and commitment.
Brothers and sisters in Christ, today we celebrate a great feast day of the Church, when we celebrate the feast of one of its greatest saints and holy servants of God, namely that of Pope St. Pius X, the Pope of the Holy Eucharist, defender of the True Faith and defender against the evils and wickedness of Modernism. He is one of the greatest Popes of the modern era, who helped the Church to withstand the forces of darkness gathering and pushing against the Church.
Pope St. Pius X was born a humble and poor boy, by the name of Giuseppe Melchiorre Sarto, at a time when uncertainties and darkness started to cloud the judgments of mankind and nations. He rose through the occasion by his tireless dedication and strong stance against the sins and wickedness that were eating away at mankind’s heart and soul.
In his position, firstly as a lay person, then a priest, then a bishop, a Cardinal and Patriarch of Venice, and then as the Successor of St. Peter and Vicar of Christ, he remained as a beacon of faith and truth, and an inviolable and steadfast anchor of the faith, condemning sins whenever he found it, and helping and showing mercy to sinners whenever and wherever he could.
He helped to reform the Church and made it stronger by codifying a new set of the Canon Law which were crucial to help the Church to withstand the forces of change and corruption that were threatening many of the faithful. He showed by example in many situations, with his great piety and dedication to the Lord. He also tried to bring the faithful closer to God, by championing and pushing for frequent reception of the Holy Communion, which up to then was only done very irregularly.
Through his hard work, he was known to be a saintly Pope even before he passed away, and the push for his beatification and sainthood came immediately after his death. He became an inspiration to many of the faithful, and I hope that through his intercession, he will also become an inspiration to many of us. May all of us show the great faith and devotion to the Lord, as Ruth and as Pope St. Pius X had done. May God be with us in all of our good endeavour. God bless us all. Amen.
Liturgical Colour : White
Dear brothers and sisters in Christ, on this day we heard about how God yet called another, and chose him to be judge over His people Israel, Jephthah, to liberate the people of God from oppression and tyranny of the Ammonites. He called Jephthah and made him the tool of victory against the Ammonites, crushing them and freeing the Israelites after many years of suffering.
But Jephthah made a vow before God, which certainly made him to regret having made such a vow. He vowed that whatever came out of his house, he would sacrifice it to God, and his own daughter became a victim of his own lack of faith and impulsiveness. He made a vow to the Lord, likely because there remained doubt in his heart that he could have done what he was called to do.
Remember that Jesus told His disciples and the people not to swear or make a vow in the Name of God? That is because when one makes a vow, that means actually that the person is not entirely sure or committed to the cause for which he was making a vow for. If one is sure about making a commitment or a decision, and if one is able to make a stand, then surely, a simple ‘yes’ or ‘no’ would suffice.
In the Gospel today, Jesus told His disciples and the people of God the parable of the wedding garment, which is related to what we have heard in the first reading. In that parable we heard how the king held a wedding feast where he invited many of his invited guests, to come and join in the celebration, and yet those invited guests refused to come and continued with their own lives as if ignoring the king and his wedding feast.
The king represents the Lord, and the wedding feast represents the gathering of the people of God who had been invited to the feast, where the King, our Lord, had given us His blessings, to share in the food and drink which He blesses us with. And in this, we see yet another connection with what we have witnessed in the first reading today.
And what is this connection? Jephthah indeed had made such a great vow, and on one side, we can see how he should not have done that. However, the connection that we should see is how Jephthah fulfilled the vow which he had made to the Lord, and gave even his only daughter to God, as a sacrifice according to his vow, and how this is in perfect parallel and harmony to the example of Jesus, the Son of God.
For God Himself had been perfectly faithful to His promise and vow to us, to the covenants which He had established and renewed again and again with us mankind, since the days of Adam, to the days of Abraham and then David, and until the time of Jesus, and until this very day and on the days that are to come. God showed His perfect faithfulness and love, by giving us and not holding back from us, His only Son, whom He sent into the world to be our Redeemer.
And through this God had also invited all of us, His beloved people, to the banquet which He had prepared for all of us. He had prepared for us the banquet, the wedding feast, in which God and mankind are to be reunited again, because the shackles and obstacles of sin had been removed from all of us who heeded His call and join in the feast of the Lord.
The Holy Mass is the banquet of the Lord, where God gives us His own Body and Blood, that we may share in them and therefore, partake of the Lord, and be made holy and just. For the Lord Himself would dwell in us and make us the Temples of His holy presence.
And then, this is where we must take heed of another part of the Gospel today. The man without the wedding garment was taken out of the banquet and cast out into utter darkness. This means that, when we take part in the Holy Mass, and whenever we live our daily lives, we who have the Lord dwelling in us, the Temple of His presence and His Spirit, should act according to what He had shown and taught us, abandon all forms of wickedness and sin, or else risk to suffer the consequences of our Lord’s wrath.
Let us all follow the example of St. Bernard the Abbot, also known as St. Bernard of Clairvaux, whose feast we celebrate today. He was truly a holy and great man, whose works and devotions to the Lord was fully well known throughout Christendom, and many aspired to follow his examples. He dedicated his whole life in good service of the Lord, preaching the truth about the Lord and calling many sinners to forgiveness and grace of God.
St. Bernard of Clairvaux did not fear trouble or heresy that were threatening the souls of many around him. He waded through the difficulties and challenges, and called out many people out of the darkness and out of the terrible heresies, by his tireless works and commitments, seeking to bring salvation to as many as possible. He preached well into his old age, and trying to advance the cause of the Lord and His Church wherever possible.
May Almighty God help us that we may also follow in the examples of St. Bernard of Clairvaux and become ever more devoted servants of our Lord, and in our words and actions, may all of us be true to our faith and bring love and goodness to each other in all the world. God bless us all. Amen.
Liturgical Colour : White
Psalm 39 : 5, 7-8a, 8b-9, 10
Blessed is the one who relies on the Lord and does not look to the proud nor go astray after false gods.
Sacrifice and oblation You did not desire; this You had me understand. Burnt offering and sin offering You do not require. Then I said, “Here I come!”
As the scroll says of me. To do Your will is my delight, o God, for Your Law is within my heart.
In the great assembly I have proclaimed Your saving help. My lips, o Lord, I did not seal – You know that very well.
Liturgical Colour : Green or White (Priests)
Dear brothers and sisters in Christ, on this day we heard about the story related by Jotham, youngest son of Jerubaal or Gideon, the one who saved Israel from the tyranny of the Midianites. This was related by him to the people, to protest against their support for Abimelech, another son of Gideon, who aspired to be king over the people of Israel, and in the process, killed all the other seventy sons of Gideon, except Jotham himself who managed to escape.
The people of Israel had lost their bearings in life, and as later occurrences would tell us, this would repeat itself again when Saul was made the king of Israel, as the people complained that they had no king over themselves, and they wanted the awe of human power and glory, to have someone powerful and mighty to lead them against their enemies and show the power of Israel to all those around them. But it was also the kings who then eventually led them to sin and to all sorts of wickedness that brought about their downfall.
They were buoyed and mesmerised by human power, and they failed to realise that human power and all sorts of good things that exist in the world are just temporary and will not last, whereas if they put their trust in God, they can be assured that they would not be disappointed because God Himself will take good care of them. And God through Jesus wanted to show them this in what we heard in the Gospel today.
In the Gospel, we heard about how Jesus spoke about the parable on the kingdom of God, using the workers gathered by a landlord, who were then paid one silver coin as their reward, to show the people on what the kingdom of God is like, and what they are expected to do. The workers represented all mankind, the landlord is God Himself, and the silver coin reward is God’s promise of eternal life.
God calls us mankind all the time, and regardless of when we decide to respond to His call, whether it is early or late, or even at the hour of death, but as long as inside our hearts, we are sincere about our desire to follow Him, and to abandon all of the past sins that we have committed, as well as all the wickedness in our hearts, and commit ourselves to a new path of righteousness and obedience to God, then all of us will have the path forward opened for us.
God treats all of mankind in the same manner, and all of us are equal before Him, and there is nothing that makes Him favour one of us over the other. This is what Jesus wanted us to understand, when He related the parable of the workers and their pay to the people. Each of the labourers, regardless of the time of their calling, received the same reward. And this shows that all of us regardless of whether we are called young or old, early or late in our lives, as long as we heed God’s call and change our lives in repentance, we will be saved.
And truly, we have to change our ways, from the ways of the people of Israel of old times, to the way that Jesus had shown us, and which we have preserved and received through the Church, passed down to us from the Holy Apostles and disciples of our Lord. This is what we need to do, or else, we will have no share in the inheritance of eternal life and blessings which our Lord had promised to us.
Today, we celebrate the life of a saint, whose examples may be our inspiration. He is St. John Eudes, a holy priest, whose life was entirely dedicated to God, and whose actions were reflections of what Christ had taught us. St. John Eudes was a very dedicated priest who rendered his service and many help to all those who were sick and dying, and all those who were ostracised, unloved and rejected.
St. John Eudes is an example to all of us, because he did not care about himself first, or in selfishness, caring about his own needs. He cared about others first, all those who are around him who are in need for his help. He showed his love to them, the love of God, and he shows how we ought to treat everyone equally, for all are our fellow men, our brothers and sisters before the Lord.
May Almighty God, through the help of St. John Eudes, our intercessor, help us to be more aware of the love which He has for us, and therefore, be stirred to love one another ourselves, and through that love, bear forth much good fruits of love, and bring us closer to Him as a result. God bless us all. Amen.
