Wednesday

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Wednesday, 12 November 2025 : 32nd Week of Ordinary Time, Memorial of St. Josaphat, Bishop and Martyr (Homily and Scripture Reflections)

Liturgical Colour : Red

Dear brothers and sisters in Christ, today as we listened to the words of the Sacred Scriptures we are reminded that God is the source of all power and sovereignty in this world and nothing exists in this world that do not have their origin in God, the true Lord and Master over all things, over the whole entire Universe and all of existence. And yet, at the same time, this Lord and Master of all the Universe is so loving and kind, compassionate and merciful towards us that He wants us all to be loved and taken care of by Him, to be healed from whatever afflictions that affected us all which had caused us to endure sufferings, trials and challenges in our respective lives.

In our first reading today, taken from the Book of Wisdom, we heard of the words of the author regarding the matter of power and authority in this world, and just as mentioned earlier, how God is the ultimate source of all power and authority, and no one, no king, powers, groups or anything in this world have power or sovereignty that did not come from God. God has entrusted this world in our care and He has entrusted to each one of us respective unique responsibilities and opportunities, which He wants us to embrace courageously and willingly, so that we may indeed make good use of all those things and opportunities that we have been provided with by God.

We should not allow ourselves to be deluded into thinking that we owe the Lord nothing, as it is important that we remember what the author of the Book of Wisdom said, that those who have been given greater power, authority and responsibility, more will be expected and required of them. This is a reminder to each and every one of us that we must always take seriously all the opportunities, expectations and responsibilities entrusted to each one of us in the many diverse areas of our lives. We should not take for granted whatever the Lord has given and entrusted to us, as whatever He has blessed us with, we will have to account for later on in the end. Have we made good use of what God has given to us?

Then, from our Gospel passage today, taken from the Gospel according to St. Luke the Evangelist, we heard of the occasion when the Lord Jesus encountered ten lepers in the wilderness as He and His disciples were on their journey towards their next mission. At that time, leprosy was a disease that was truly feared as it was a contagious disease that was difficult to be cured, and easily spread between people especially in close quarters. That was why in the Law of God that was presented to the Israelites through Moses, those who contracted leprosy had to wander off in the wilderness away from the rest of the community with the practical intention of preventing further spread of the disease among the people. Those who suffered from the disease could only return if they showed themselves to the priest and the latter certified that they no longer had the leprosy.

And as we heard, the Lord did not fear the lepers who were calling on Him to have mercy on them and He did not distance Himself from them, and He healed them all because of their faith, telling all the ten of them to follow the commandments of the Law and showed themselves to the priest. They obeyed and followed the Lord’s instruction, and was healed along the way. But only a Samaritan among the ten lepers returned to the Lord and thanked Him while the other nine lepers, presumably all Jews, kept on going their way with great joy. The Samaritans were then greatly reviled and hated by the Jews, and were often seen as heretical or even outright pagans by the latter, and yet, here we see a truly great faith that eclipsed that of the others.

We are reminded of two important things through this story of the healing of the ten lepers. First of them is obedience, which the ten lepers did, in obeying the Lord’s words and command, and therefore we should also obey the Lord our God in the same way as well. Although we may be perfectly well physically without any diseases of the flesh unlike those lepers, but we must not forget that we are all sinners, and if we understand sin and how it works against us, sin is no different from leprosy, and is arguably far worse. Sin kept us away from God, just as leprosy kept those who suffered from it from the community of God’s people. And only the Lord alone can heal us from our afflictions of sin, through His mercy and forgiveness, which we ought to be truly thankful for. That is the second important lesson that we should learn from the Samaritan leper, that is of gratitude.

Today, we should all be inspired by the examples set by St. Josaphat Kuntsevych, the saint and martyr whose feast we are celebrating. His great examples in being faithful and loving to God, faith in Him, and also his love and care for his flock, those people entrusted to him by God, all should inspire us all to become better and more dedicated disciples and followers of God ourselves. St. Josaphat Kuntsevych was the Archbishop of  Polotsk over the territories in what is now Belarus and parts of northern Ukraine, where back then there were divisions among the faithful people of God between those who were in Communion with the Pope in Rome and those who were in rebellion against the authority of the Vicar of Christ.

St. Josaphat Kuntsevych was one of the bishops who led the faithful who wished to reconcile themselves to the Bishop of Rome, the Pope and restore the unity of the Church, as part of the efforts known as the Union of Lublin. However, that reunification of the churches did not solve all the problems and divisions that existed, as quite a few among the clergy and the people resisted the efforts at reunification, and struggle to maintain their divisions and independence. St. Josaphat Kuntsevych laboured hard to minister to all of his flock and bridge the differences among his flock, including reaching out to those who resisted the efforts of reunification. He continued working hard despite all the opposition he encountered, and which led to his martyrdom as the mob rose up against him and murdered him.

Brothers and sisters in Christ, as we have reflected upon the life and examples shown by the faith and courageous dedication of St. Josaphat Kuntsevych, let us all continue to do our own part to serve the Lord ever more courageously and faithfully at all times. Let us all be good role models and inspiration for one another just like how the saints had been great inspiration for us in how we ought to live up to our faith. May God bless us always, and may He continue to strengthen us with the courage and commitment to continue glorifying Him by our lives, now and always. Amen.

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Wednesday, 12 November 2025 : 32nd Week of Ordinary Time, Memorial of St. Josaphat, Bishop and Martyr (Gospel Reading)

Liturgical Colour : Red

Luke 17 : 11-19

At that time, on the way to Jerusalem, Jesus passed through Samaria and Galilee, and as He entered a village, ten lepers came to meet Him. Keeping their distance, they called to Him, “Jesus, Master, have pity on us!”

Jesus said to them, “Go, and show yourselves to the priests.” Then, as they went on their way, they found they were cured. One of them, as soon as he saw that he was cleansed, turned back, praising God in a loud voice; and throwing himself on his face before Jesus, he gave Him thanks. This man was a Samaritan.

Then Jesus asked him, “Were not all ten healed? Where are the other nine? Did none of them decide to return and give praise to God, but this foreigner?” And Jesus said to him, “Stand up and go your way; your faith has saved you.”

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Wednesday, 12 November 2025 : 32nd Week of Ordinary Time, Memorial of St. Josaphat, Bishop and Martyr (Psalm)

Liturgical Colour : Red

Psalm 81 : 3-4, 6-7

Give justice to the weak and the orphan; defend the poor and the oppressed. Rescue the helpless and the needy; deliver them from the hand of the wicked.

“You are gods,” I said, “You are all sons of the Most High.” But now, you will die like the others; you will all fall, like any mortal.

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Wednesday, 12 November 2025 : 32nd Week of Ordinary Time, Memorial of St. Josaphat, Bishop and Martyr (First Reading)

Liturgical Colour : Red

Wisdom 6 : 1-11

Listen, o kings, and understand; rulers of the most distant lands, take warning. Pay attention, you who rule multitudes and boast of the numerous subjects in your pagan nations!

For authority was given you by the Lord, your kingship is from the Most High Who will examine your works and scrutinise your intentions. If, as officials of His kingdom, you have not judged justly or observed His law or walked the way God pointed our, He will oppose you swiftly and terribly; His sentence strikes the mighty suddenly.

For the lowly there may be excuses and pardon, but the great will be severely punished. For the Lord of all makes no distinction, nor does He take account of greatness. Both great and lowly are His work and He watches over all, but the powerful are to be judged more strictly.

It is to you then, sovereigns, that I speak, that you may learn Wisdom and not stumble. For those who keep the holy laws in a holy way will be acknowledged holy, and those who accept the teaching will find in it their defence. Welcome my words, desire them and they will instruct you.

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Wednesday, 5 November 2025 : 31st Week of Ordinary Time (Homily and Scripture Reflections)

Liturgical Colour : Green

Dear brothers and sisters in Christ, today as we all listened to the words of the Sacred Scriptures, we are all reminded that we should always be prepared and ready in all circumstances and moments, to be truly dedicated in all of our words, actions and deeds, in everything that we carry out in life so that our whole lives may indeed be the worthy examples of our faith in God. We must not take for granted all the opportunities and chances which God had given and opened for us. He has entrusted to us all the time and the crucial missions in our own respective areas, to do what is fruitful and righteous according to His designs. And this is how we can live our lives as genuine and good Christians in each and every moments of our lives, and becoming good role models and examples for one another.

In our first reading today, we heard from the continuation of the Epistle of St. Paul the Apostle to the Church and the faithful people of God in Rome in which the Apostle continued to speak about the true meaning and the matter of understanding the Law of God, which is Love. For without love, whatever faith and piety we have in God, in all the actions and words we have presented, we will have no genuine and fruitful faith in us, and God will find us wanting. This also means that without love, it is not possible for us to be truly faithful to God, as if we do not love God and others in the manner that God has taught us to, and more than how we love ourselves, then it may be impossible for us to be truly and genuinely faithful to God.

Love is the hallmark of our Christian faith, something that makes us distinctive and unique, a reflection of God’s Love for us all. It is because He Himself is Love, and He has given us all the capacity to love through His Spirit, and He has taught us all how to love through His own Son, Our Lord and Saviour, Who has come into our midst, showing us the promise of eternal life and deliverance through His ultimate sacrifice on the Cross. And that is why as Christians we must always be full of love in all things, in all of our every actions, words and deeds, because without love, then our Christian faith and lives will be mostly empty, dead and meaningless. Is that what the Lord wants us to do in our lives? Certainly not! God wants us all to be truly filled with His genuine love at all times.

Then, from the Gospel passage today, we heard from the Gospel according to St. Luke the Evangelist, the words of the Lord Jesus to His disciples and to those who were gathered to listen to Him and His teachings, speaking to them about the importance of being prepared and ready in all the things that they do in their lives so that they may truly be worthy of God when they are to account for their lives and actions in the end. And this teaching was made such that the people of God will always do their best to observe the will of God and to accomplish His Law and commandments, and not to veer off or turn away from what He has Himself taught and shown them through His Church and through His words contained within the Scriptures.

The Lord told them that unless they were all willing to make sacrifices and follow Him wholeheartedly, they could not be His disciples. Of course, this must also be well understood from the context of His words, as He was saying this in reference to the calling to be the disciples of His who went with Him in ministering to the other people of God. This calling requires a lot more commitment because they had to follow the Lord everywhere and therefore, they had to leave their family members behind and commit themselves fully to God. This does not mean hence that we ought to abandon all our responsibilities to our families, beloved ones and those whom God had put in our lives. However, what the Lord wants us to know is that we have to know what it takes to follow the Lord.

And each one of us have different callings, purpose and missions in life, depending on what God had entrusted to us. We must not ignore what the Lord had entrusted to us, and we have to embrace His calling and missions for us wholeheartedly, devoting our actions, words and all of our works in each and every moments to reach out to all those whom we meet in our daily living and interactions. Like the Lord’s parable on the builders of houses who planned carefully on how and where to build the houses, and also like the king who would consider and plan carefully before going to war with another king, hence, all of us must also be prepared in all the things we do, in our whole lives, knowing that in the end, we will have to reckon our lives and actions before God.

Brothers and sisters in Christ, as we have heard from the Scriptures today and as we have reflected from the words of the Lord, we are reminded that in each and every moments, we should always do our very best to live lives that bring forth the teachings of our Christian faith to life and to be truly real and existent. Each and every one of us are called to be genuine Christians in all things, in our every works, actions and deeds, or else we are no better than hypocrites and unbelievers, in not truly being honest and genuine in the manner that we live our lives with faith. All of us must continue to walk the talk, doing our best to be the shining beacons of God’s light and truth in our communities and societies today.

May the Lord, our loving God and Master continue to strengthen us all with the encouragement and strength to carry out faithfully the missions and to fulfil the opportunities which He has provided to us. May the Lord continue to bless each and every one of us and may He give us His blessings for all the good works and efforts that we have been inspired to do by His grace and love. May all of us continue to live our lives genuinely and courageously at all times, doing what the Lord has entrusted to us, that we may become courageous and true missionaries of the Lord in all circumstances and occasions. Amen.

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Wednesday, 5 November 2025 : 31st Week of Ordinary Time (Gospel Reading)

Liturgical Colour : Green

Luke 14 : 25-33

At that time, when large crowds were walking along with Jesus, He turned and said to them, “If you come to Me, unwilling to sacrifice your love for your father and mother, your spouse and children, your brothers and sisters, and indeed yourself, you cannot be My disciple. Whoever does not follow Me, carrying his own cross, cannot be My disciple.”

“Do you build a house without first sitting down to count the cost, to see whether you have enough to complete it? Otherwise, if you, have laid the foundation and are not able to finish it, everyone will make fun of you : ‘This fellow began to build and was not able to finish.'”

“And when a king wages war against another king, does he go to fight without first sitting down to consider whether his ten thousand can stand against the twenty thousand of his opponent? And if not, while the other is still a long way off, he sends messengers for peace talks. In the same way, none of you may become My disciple, if he does not give up everything he has.”

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Wednesday, 5 November 2025 : 31st Week of Ordinary Time (Psalm)

Liturgical Colour : Green

Psalm 111 : 1-2, 4-5, 9

Alleluia! Blessed is the one who fears YHVH, who greatly delights in His commands. His children will be powerful on earth; the upright’s offspring will be blessed.

He is for the righteous a light in darkness; He is kind, merciful and upright. It will be well with him who lends freely, who leads a life of justice and honesty.

He gives generously to the poor; his merits will last forever; and his head will be raised in honour.

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Wednesday, 5 November 2025 : 31st Week of Ordinary Time (First Reading)

Liturgical Colour : Green

Romans 13 : 8-10

Do not be in debt to anyone. Let this be the only debt of one to another : Love. The one who loves his or her neighbour fulfils the Law. For the commandments : Do not commit adultery, do not kill, do not covet, and whatever else, are summarised in this one : You will love your neighbour as yourself.

Love cannot do the neighbour any harm; so love fulfils the whole Law.

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Wednesday, 29 October 2025 : 30th Week of Ordinary Time (Homily and Scripture Reflections)

Liturgical Colour : Green

Dear brothers and sisters in Christ, today as we all listened to the words of the Sacred Scriptures, we are reminded that as Christians, that is as those whom the Lord Himself has called and chosen to be His own, we have to trust in the Lord and allow His Holy Spirit within us to guide us all in our paths and journeys in life, so that in everything that we do, in our every actions, words and deeds, in our choices that we made, and in how we all interact with our fellow brethren around us, we will always be guided to the right path, in the manner that is truly pleasing to God. Each and every one of us must remember that all of us are examples for everyone around us, be it fellow Christians or not, in the manner how we live up to our faith.

In our first reading today, we heard from the continuation of the Epistle of St. Paul to the Church and the faithful in Rome, in which the Apostle spoke of what I had just mentioned to the people of God in Rome, to both the converts from among the Jewish diaspora and the Gentiles alike, that each and every one of them ought to live out their lives courageously and faithfully at all times and in all circumstances as Christians, in doing God’s will, with the guidance of the Holy Spirit, so that they might indeed walk the path of virtue and righteousness, and not to succumb to the temptations of sin and evil being present all around them. And the Lord will make righteous all those whom He had called, and He will bless them and gather them all to Himself.

And this is also an important reminder therefore for each and every one of us as Christians, as if we truly seek to be genuine and faithful Christians, then it is important that our lives must indeed show this faith being manifested in each and every parts of our lives, in everything that we say, in all that we do, in all of the manner in how we interact with those we encounter daily in life. This means that if we truly obey the Lord, then we must always put our trust in Him and allow Him to subtly and gently lead us all in the path towards righteousness and virtues, in doing what is right, good and just in our daily actions, in everything that we do even to the smallest actions. It means that we should also continue to show genuine love and care to those around us, especially to those whom we love and those God had entrusted to us.

Then, from our Gospel passage today taken from the Gospel according to St. Luke the Evangelist, we heard of the words of the Lord to someone who asked Him of whether there would only be few people that would be saved. First of all, before we misunderstand the context of what the Lord answered and presented to the man afterwards, we must understand first of all the context in which this question was made, because to the ancient Jews and their ancestors, the Israelites, there was no clear concept of punishment and damnation, and quite a number of them actually believed that since they were the chosen people of God, they were then guaranteed salvation and eternal life with God. This was why in one other occasion, some of the people who opposed the Lord made the claim of righteousness simply by stating that they were ‘descended from Abraham’.

But the Lord Jesus told him and all those who were assembled there that, while the Lord their God indeed loved them all and showed them His compassion and love, but this does not mean that being chosen people of God means that we are immediately guaranteed salvation and eternal life. Instead, our lives and works have to be truly representative of this faith which we have in God, this attitude and predisposition by which we are truly seen and known as Christians, as those whom the Lord has called and chosen to be His own. We should always strive to follow what the Lord has taught us and in fact shown us to do, in every aspects of our lives, and not merely paying lip service to our faith. We need to be truly authentic and genuine in our faith at all times.

We must not think that we deserve salvation and eternal life from God more than others around us, or that we are better or superior than others, because it is precisely this hubris and arrogant attitude which cause us to face difficulties in our paths as Christians, in our journey towards God. That was what led many of the Pharisees to their downfall, in their inability to listen to the Lord speaking to them, trying to convince them of the reality and truth, and instead, they preferred to trust in their own often flawed judgment, ideals and perfection, thinking that others who do not share their insights, beliefs and ways of practicing the Law and the faith, were unworthy of God and were inferior to them, when they themselves were equally sinners before God.

 

Brothers and sisters in Christ, let us all therefore continue to walk ever more faithfully in God’s Presence, and strive to do our best at all times, to be really appreciative and understanding of what our Christian faith is truly all about. We are all called to be authentic witnesses of the Lord in all of our respective communities and among all those whom we encounter in life. We must always be full of God’s love that we ought to share with one another, especially to those whom God has placed in our lives, those whom we love dearly and also to all those whose lives we are capable of changing and influencing for the better, through our own inspirational actions, words and deeds. Each one of us have been given unique talents, abilities and opportunities for this purpose, and we should indeed make good use of them.

May the Lord continue to encourage and strengthen us all in all that we say and do, and may He continue to empower each and every one of us daily, in all that we do, so that by our every actions, words and deeds, we will always bring glory to Him, and be steady and committed in proclaiming God’s truth and Good News to all those whom we encounter daily in life. May He bless our every good efforts and deeds, our every good works and endeavours so that in all things, we will always be good role models and examples of our Christian faith, and be the genuine witnesses of the Lord and His teachings, now and always. Amen.

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Wednesday, 29 October 2025 : 30th Week of Ordinary Time (Gospel Reading)

Liturgical Colour : Green

Luke 13 : 22-30

At that time, Jesus went through towns and villages teaching, and making His way to Jerusalem. Someone asked Him, “Lord, is it true that few people will be saved?”

And Jesus answered, “Do your best to enter by the narrow door, for many, I tell you, will try to enter and will not be able. When once the master of the house has gone inside and locked the door, you will stand outside. Then you will knock at the door, calling, ‘Lord, open to us!’ But He will say to you, ‘I do not know where you come from.'”

“Then you will say, ‘We ate and drank with you, and you taught in our streets!’ But He will reply, ‘I do not know where you come from. Away from Me, all you workers of evil.’ You will weep and grind your teeth, when you see Abraham and Jacob and all the prophets in the kingdom of God, and you yourselves left outside.”

“Others will sit at table in the kingdom of God, people coming from east and west, from north and south. Some who are among the last, will be first; and some who are among the first, will be last!”