Liturgical Colour : White
Psalm 67 : 29-30, 33-35a, 35bc and 36c
Summon Your power, o God, with the strength You have wielded for us. To Your Temple in Jerusalem, kings will come with gifts.
Sing to God, o kingdoms of the world; sing praises to the Lord, to Him who rides the ancient heavens and speaks in the voice of thunder. Proclaim the might of God.
He is great in Israel, powerful in heavens. Blessed be God!
Liturgical Colour : White
Acts 20 : 28-38
Paul said to the elders of Ephesus, “Keep watch over yourselves and over the whole flock the Holy Spirit has placed into your care. Shepherd the Church of the Lord that He has won at the price of His own Blood. I know that after I leave, ruthless wolves will come among you and not spare the flock.”
“And from among you, some will arise corrupting the truth and inducing the disciples to follow them. Be on the watch, therefore, remembering that for three years, night and day, I did not cease to warn everyone even with tears. Now I commend you to God and to His grace-filled word, which is able to make you grow and gain the inheritance that you shall share with all the saints.”
“I have not looked for anyone’s silver, gold or clothing. You yourselves know that these hands of mine have provided for both my needs and the needs of those who were with me. In every way I have shown you that by working hard one must help the weak, remembering the words that the Lord Jesus Himself said, ‘Happiness lies more in giving than in receiving.'”
After this discourse, Paul knelt down with them and prayed. Then they all began to weep and threw their arms around him and kissed him. They were deeply distressed because he had said that they would never see him again. And they went with him even to the ship.
Liturgical Colour : White
Dear brothers and sisters in Christ, today we celebrate the feast day of our Lady of Fatima, the ninety-eighth anniversary since the mother of our Lord Jesus Christ appeared to three young children at Fatima in Portugal almost a hundred years ago, in a series of apparitions where she revealed to them the messages of utmost importance, seeking for the repentance and conversion of the world, and the consecration of Russia to her, which was at that year, precisely at that very moment, was about to fall into the long darkness of communism.
This feast of our Lady of Fatima is a reminder for all of us yet again, how we have been given so many reminders and opportunities to repent and change from our sinful and wicked ways, and the one who had appeared so many times to us so that this may happen, is none other than the loving mother of our Lord, that is Mary, the ever faithful mother of us all. She appeared to us and reminded us from time to time, in her many apparitions, to reveal to us the truth about our sins and about the love and mercy that God is willing to show all those who repent from their sins.
Why does Mary care so much about us, brethren? And why is she our mother when she is clearly the mother of Jesus, our Lord and God? To understand this, we have to understand what happened at the very last moment of Jesus’s earthly life when He was on the cross. While He fulfilled the very act of perfect love by which He redeemed all of us and gave us new hope of life, He entrusted His mother to John, His beloved disciple, and then in the same way, He also entrusted His disciple to Mary, His mother.
This can be easily overlooked, but in that single moment, God had entrusted us all and gave us the very best gift He could give us, that is of His own mother, who in her selfless dedication and love, had cared for Him with ultimate patience and care since His birth, and then on that day, to follow His Son on the way to His suffering and death on the cross, which is for our sake.
Imagine the sorrow and the sadness that assaulted the heart of Mary, as she watched her own beloved Son, as He was mocked, ridiculed, rejected, scourged, carried that heavy and painful cross, fell on the ground three times, having His hands and legs pierced by the nails, lifted up for all to see, and eventually died on the cross. All these, our Lord Jesus Christ had done, so that through Him, we may be saved and not suffer the consequences of our sins, that is death and hell.
Which mother would just ignore the plight and the cries of her children? Therefore, in the same way, Mary, whom God had made to be our mother as well, cares for us deeply and she is concerned for the state of our souls, which if nothing is done, we are truly prone to fall deeper into our sinfulness and the darkness that surround us, so that we are forever lost to the Lord.
And this is what God, and therefore, His mother Mary do not want to happen. He died for us so that we may be saved, and not suffer the eternal death in hell because of our sins. This is why, we have our best ally and friend with us, Mary, our mother, who ceaselessly prays for our sake, with all the other saints and with all of the angels, particularly each of our guardian angels, that we may be awakened from our slumber in the darkness and make the effort to come back into the light.
Thus, our faithful devotions to our Lady of Fatima is a constant reminder for us to keep our own lives in check, so that in all the things we act, say and do, we will always do them in accordance with the will of God, and remain righteous and just in all of our ways without exception. Remember, brethren, that Mary is always interceding for our sake, near to the throne of Jesus, her Son our Lord and God. She weeps for us whenever we commit sin, and rejoices whenever we repent from those same sins.
Let us all therefore put in great effort to fulfill what our Lord mentioned in the Gospel passage we heard today, that if we listen to His words and does His will in all that we do, say and act, then we truly are worthy to be called His friends, His family and as people that belongs to Him alone, and thus, if we are worthy, then the fullness of God’s grace and blessings will be with us, and happiness as well as joy will be with us and never depart from us again.
O, our Lady of Fatima, blessed Mother of our Lord Jesus Christ, who had appeared to the children at Fatima calling for the repentance of sinners and the conversion of the world, pray for us all always, so that we may always heed the word of God in all that we do, and abandon all sorts of evil and wickedness. Remember that what matters for us in this life, is the state of our soul, and let us not seek the suffering and damnation of hell, but let us together with our blessed mother Mary, enjoy forever the glory of heaven. God bless us all. Amen.
Liturgical Colour : White
John 16 : 12-15
At that time, Jesus said to His disciples, “I still have many things to tell you, but you cannot bear them now. When He, the Spirit of truth comes, He will guide you into the whole truth. He has nothing to say of Himself, but He will speak of what He hears, and He will tell you of the things to come.”
“He will take what is Mine and make it known to you; in doing this, He will glorify Me. All that the Father has is Mine; because of this, I have just told you that the Spirit will take what is Mine, and make it known to you.”
Alternative reading (Mass of our Lady of Fatima)
Luke 11 : 27-28
At that time, as Jesus was speaking, a woman spoke from the crowd and said to Him, “Blessed is the one who gave You birth and nursed You!”
Jesus replied, “Truly blessed are those who hear the word of God, and keep it as well.”
Liturgical Colour : White
Psalm 148 : 1-2, 11-12, 13, 14
Alleluia! Praise the Lord from the heavens; praise Him in the heavenly heights. Praise Him, all His angels; praise Him, all His heavenly hosts.
Kings of the earth and nations, princes and all rulers of the world, young men and maidens, old and young together.
Let them praise the Name of the Lord. For His Name alone is exalted; His majesty is above earth and heaven.
He has given His people glory; He has given a praise to His faithful, to Israel, the people close to Him. Alleluia.
Alternative reading (Mass of our Lady of Fatima)
Psalm 44 : 11, 12, 14-15, 16-17
Listen, o daughter, pay attention; forget your father’s house and your nation.
And your beauty will charm the King, for He is your Lord.
All glorious as she enters is the princess in her gold-woven robes. She is led in royal attire to the King, following behind is her train of virgins.
Amid cheers and general rejoicing, they enter the palace of the King. Forget your fathers and think of your sons, you will make them princes throughout the land.
Liturgical Colour : White
Acts 17 : 15, 22 – Acts 18 : 1
Paul was taken as far as Athens by his escort, who then returned to Beroea with instructions for Silas and Timothy to come to him as soon as possible. Then Paul stood up in the Areopagus hall and said, “Athenian citizens, I note that in every way you are very religious. As I walked around looking at your shrines, I even discovered an altar with this inscription : ‘To an unknown God.'”
“Now, what you worship as unknown, I intend to make known to you. God, who made the world and all that is in it, does not dwell in sanctuaries made by human hands, being as He is Lord of heaven and earth. Nor does His worship depend on anything made by human hands, as if He were in need. Rather it is He who gives life and breath and everything else to everyone.”
“From one stock He created the whole human race to live throughout all the earth, and He fixed the time and the boundaries of each nation. He wanted them to seek Him by themselves, even if it were only by groping for Him, succeed in finding Him. Yet He is not far from any one of us. For in Him we live and move and have our being, as some of your poets have said : ‘For we too are His offspring.’ If we are indeed God’s offspring, we ought not to think of divinity as something like a statue of gold or silver or stone, a product of human art and imagination.”
“But now God prefers to overlook this time of ignorance and He calls on all people to change their ways. He has already set a day on which He will judge the world with justice through a Man He has appointed. And, so that all may believe it, He has just given a sign by raising this Man from the dead.”
When they heard Paul speak of a resurrection from death, some made fun of him, while others said, “We must hear you on this topic some other time.” At that point Paul left. But a few did join him, and believed. Among them were Dionysius, a member of the Areopagus court, a woman named Damaris, and some others.
After this, Paul left Athens and went to Corinth.
Alternative reading (Mass of our Lady of Fatima)
Isaiah 61 : 9-11
My people’s descendants shall be known among the nations and their offspring among the peoples. All who see them will acknowledge that they are a race YHVH has blessed.
I rejoice greatly in YHVH, my soul exults for joy in my God, for He has clothed me in the garments of His salvation, He has covered me with the robe of His righteousness, like a bridegroom wearing a garland, like a bride adorned with jewels.
For as the earth brings forth its growth, and as a garden makes seeds spring up, so will the Lord YHVH make justice and praise spring up in the sight of all nations.
Liturgical Colour : White
Dear brothers and sisters in Christ, on this day we hear again on the parable of the vine, where Jesus compared Himself to a vine, which was tended by the vinegrower, who is the Father in heaven. We are His branches, that come out branching from the vine. This is a very good and indeed perfect representation of how God does His work in this world and in all of us.
We who are living have all been created by the Lord, who then breathed life into us through the Spirit. All of us share the same life that God had granted us, and this life is a blessing. We are all like the branches that share the same life and are sustained by that life which the stem and the vine provides. If the branch falls of from the stem and vine, then it will die, for it no longer has any connection with the life-giving vine.
Thus, without the Lord, we can have no life in us, and we ought to be thankful for this life which He had granted us. And then, we are all also part of His living Church, that is His Body. With Christ as the Head of the Church, we are all united as part of this same Body, united by the communion we share with His Most Precious Body and Blood, which we all receive regularly through the Most Holy Eucharist.
That is why, all of us when we receive the Eucharist, it is important for us to realise how crucial this is, that we have received the Lord, who is Life and the sources of all life, into ourselves, that we have Him inside us, and therefore, as Jesus Himself once said to the Samaritan woman, that whoever drinks the water He provides will never be thirsty again, for indeed, He dwells in us all and become an eternal spring of water and life that satisfy us and make us to never be lacking again.
This means that as long as we adhere ourselves to the ways and the teachings of the Master of Life, then we will have life in us. And His way is love, that is to love both God and men alike. The way of the Lord is simple, and yet difficult to be done as it is very easy for us all to be tempted away from the truth and into the falsehoods of Satan, the pleasures of the flesh and the other factors that make it difficult for us to execute the will of God faithfully and courageously.
The most important matter is for us to achieve a state of harmony in our hearts and our being with the way of the Lord. This means that in all of our words, deeds and actions we must always proclaim the Lord and testify for His truth. If the Lord dwells in us, then our actions must profess Him and show that we are truly faithful to Him. In the first reading today from the Acts of the Apostles, we saw how there were tensions between the believers of Jewish and non-Jewish origins. And the tension is on the matter of whether the laws of Moses should be observed by the non-Jews as well.
Those laws, while centred on the Law of God, given through Moses, had many human additions and embellishment that were placed in, for the sake of the maintenance and preservation of the practices and customs of the Jews. Those who argued that the non-Jews had to also fulfill the entirety of the laws of Moses failed to see that truly, to be God’s followers and disciples, it would not be enough to just fulfill the outward application of the Law of God, but more importantly, is the conversion of our inner beings that we are truly the followers of God in all things.
Many of the laws of Moses deal with the purity of the exterior and appearances, and while these may be good, they often may distract us from the true goal, that is to be righteous and just in the presence of God, obeying His will and practicing our faith through real words, deeds and actions. That is why, St. Paul and the Apostles, led by St. Peter, eventually judged that the whole world does not have to observe the fullness of the laws of Moses, but as long as they do what is expected of them as the members of the Church of God and one of the faithful, then it would be enough.
Therefore, it is a good lesson for us, that we should not think of something big and beyond our means to do, as we live out our faith. But indeed we must begin with small and simple things, that in every small and little actions that we do, we must proclaim and glorify the Lord. Let us all therefore take small but concrete steps to change our lives for the better and walk more in the way of the Lord. May Almighty God be with us, guide us and strengthen us in our faith. God bless us all. Amen.
Liturgical Colour : White
John 15 : 1-8
Jesus said to His disciples, “I am the True Vine and My Father is the Vinegrower. If any of My branches does not bear fruit, He breaks it off; and He prunes every branch that does bear fruit, that it may bear even more fruit.”
“You are already made clean by the word I have spoken to you. Live in Me as I live in you. The branch cannot bear fruit by itself, but has to remain part of the vine; so neither can you, if you do not remain in Me.”
“I am the Vine and you are the branches. As long as you remain in Me and I in you, you bear much fruit; but apart from Me you can do nothing. Whoever does not remain in Me is thrown away, as they do with branches, and they wither. Then they are gathered and thrown into the fire and burned.”
“If you remain in Me and My words in you, you may ask whatever you want, and it will be given to you. My Father is glorified when you bear much fruit : it is then that you become My disciples.”
Liturgical Colour : White
Psalm 121 : 1-2, 3-4a, 4b-5
I rejoiced with those who said to me, “Let us go to the house of the Lord!” And now we have set foot within your gates, o Jerusalem!
Jerusalem, just like a city, where everything falls into place! There the tribes go up, the tribes of the Lord.
The assembly of Israel, to give thanks to the Lord’s Name. There stand the courts of justice, the offices of the house of David.
Liturgical Colour : White
Acts 15 : 1-6
Some persons who had come from Judea to Antioch were teaching the brothers in this way, “Unless you are circumcised according to the Law of Moses, you cannot be saved.”
Because of this there was trouble, and Paul and Barnabas had fierce arguments with them. For Paul told the people to remain as they were when they became believers. Finally those who had come from Jerusalem suggested that Paul and Barnabas and some others to go up to Jerusalem to discuss the matter with the Apostles and elders.
They were sent on their way by the Church. As they passed through Phoenicia and Samaria they reported how the non-Jews had turned to God, and there was great joy among all the brothers and sisters. On their arrival in Jerusalem, they were welcomed by the Church, the Apostles and the elders, to whom they told all that God had done through them.
Some believers, however, who belonged to the party of the Pharisees, stood up and said that non-Jewish men must be circumcised and instructed to keep the Law of Moses. So the Apostles and elders met together to consider this matter.
