Wednesday

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Wednesday, 30 October 2024 : 30th Week of Ordinary Time (First Reading)

Liturgical Colour : Green

Ephesians 6 : 1-9

Children, obey your parents for this is right : Honour your father and your mother. And this is the first commandment that has promise : that you may be happy and enjoy long life in the land. And you, fathers, do not make rebels of your children, but educate them by correction and instruction which the Lord may inspire.

Servants, obey your masters of this world with fear and respect, with simplicity of heart, as if obeying Christ. Do not serve only when you are watched or in order to please others, but become servants of Christ who do God’s will with all your heart. Work willingly, for the Lord and not for humans, mindful that the good each one has done, whether servant or free, will be rewarded by the Lord.

And you, masters, deal with your servants in the same way, and do not threaten them, since you know that they and you have the same Lord Who is in heaven, and He treats all fairly.

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Wednesday, 23 October 2024 : 29th Week of Ordinary Time, Memorial of St. John of Capestrano, Priest (Homily and Scripture Reflections)

Liturgical Colour : Green or White (Priests)

Dear brothers and sisters in Christ, today as we all listened to the words of the Sacred Scriptures, we are all reminded again just as we had been yesterday, to be ever more vigilant in each and every moments of our lives so that we may truly follow His path and embrace all the love which He has shown us. God’s great and ever patient and generous love has always been shown to all of us, His beloved children, regardless of our background, identity and groups, and we must realise that all of us are equally beloved by God and dear to Him. He has provided us the various means to lead us all back to Him, and opened the path for us to return to the life everlasting and true happiness that He has intended for us all to enjoy, to get away from the darkness and sin which had separated us all from Him.

In our first reading today, we heard from the Epistle of St. Paul to the Church and the faithful people of God in Ephesus in which the Apostle reiterated the universal nature of God’s ever generous and bountiful love, which He has always shown to us all, to every one of His beloved children, regardless of whether they were Jews or not. At that time, we must understand the context of the situation in the early Church, as significant parts of the early Christian converts were from the Jewish people, including even some of the Pharisees that had many of its members often criticising and opposing the Lord, and who also held a rather exclusivist and supremacist view on who deserved God’s salvation and grace. There were at the same time many converts and believers from among the non-Jewish people, the Gentiles, namely the Greeks, Romans and the many local people in Ephesus and elsewhere.

St. Paul the Apostle spent a lot of time and effort to evangelise and reach out to the non-Jewish people, to dialogue with them and to introduce Christ and His teachings and truth, His Good News and love for everyone. He was also always supportive of the cause of the Gentiles against the excesses of those converts from the more conservative and hardline Pharisees, who had also made attempts to impose strict Jewish customs, rules and requirements on all the faithful, which was completely unnecessary, and the Apostle was especially critical of those who claimed that obedience and observance of those customs, rites and practices were essential and prerequisite for salvation. Instead, St. Paul kept on reiterating the true teachings and Good News of Christ against all those falsehoods, reaching out to many more people to proclaim God’s salvation.

Then, in our Gospel passage today from the Gospel according to St. Luke, we heard of the words of the Lord speaking to His disciples using a parable of the lazy and diligent servant and their master, in order to highlight the importance of being truly faithful and active in living our lives with true Christian charity and dedication, commitment and effort. In that parable the Lord highlighted the story of a master of a household who went away for a business or errand, and his servants who were entrusted with the care of the master’s estate and property. And He also highlighted how the master could return at any time unannounced and suddenly, and all those servants who were lazy and caught not doing what they had been expected and entrusted to do would be punished, while those who obeyed the master and did as expected would be rewarded and honoured.

This is a clear comparison to how the Lord is our Master and we are all His servants, the stewards who have been entrusted with the care of His creation, that is this world, as well as our brothers and sisters around us, in the various unique capacities and opportunities that He had provided to us. If we do not make good use of those opportunities that we have been provided, neglecting our responsibilities and calling, in whatever area that we have been called to proclaim God and His truth, then in the end, we will have to account for our failure to act and obey the Lord’s will, and to do what He has commanded us to do. As Christians, it is imperative that we always use the opportunities, gifts and talents, all the provisions that God has given us so that we may truly fulfil whatever it is that He has entrusted us to do in our lives, to be truly worthy of Him, our Lord and Master.

Today, the Church celebrates the Feast of St. John of Capestrano, a renowned Franciscan friar and priest who was courageous in his life and dedication to God, in all the actions he took in ministering to the people of God and in defending the faith against those who seek to harm the faithful. He was once a soldier and then a civil administrator and governor of the region of Perugia in Italy, who was also a lawyer and then theologian. During years of conflict and difficulties, he had a change of heart and calling, embracing a renewed commitment to God and deciding to follow the Lord as a Franciscan friar and priest. He would go on many missionary trips and works, spending a lot of time in various places and cities, proclaiming the Lord and working with the less privileged and fortunate, living truly holy and pious life, which soon made him very popular, drawing huge crowds to his preachings and works.

At the same time, he was also working tirelessly against heresies and all sorts of falsehoods that had threatened many Christians of his time. He wrote many treatises and works countering all the falsehoods of the heresies and the false teachings that were quite rampant at the time. He was also active in helping to reform the Church and many religious orders and congregations of his time, rooting out wickedness and corrupt worldly practices and influences from the Church and from among the faithful. This included the reform of his own Franciscan order that he belonged to, and he was also involved even in the Crusade against the forces of unbelievers, the mighty Ottomans that were then threatening the security and safety of Christendom and many Christians, persecuted by those who sought to turn them away from the Lord’s truth. In his many works and efforts, St. John of Capestrano always did his best to reach out to more and more people, teaching them about the truth of Christ, directing them away from heresies, while leading them ever closer towards God.

Brothers and sisters in Christ, today as we all discerned from the words of the Scriptures and from the life and examples of St. John of Capestrano, we are all reminded to do our best at all times, to be ever faithful and committed to Him, exemplary and inspirational to one another in our own words, actions and deeds, in each and every things that we do in life, we will always be the beacons of God’s light, His Good News, His love and truth, and all the things which He has shown us. We should never think that our actions and words, our deeds and interactions, no matter how small, may have no effect or impact on others around us. They can be either good and worthy of God, or wicked and unworthy, and it is up to us to decide how we are to live our lives, and how we are to act and to do things even in the smallest things that we do.

May the Lord, our ever loving and compassionate God and Father, our Lord and Master, continue to love us all most generously and help us all to come towards Him with great faith and dedication, now and always. May He continue to strengthen us with the resolve to do His will, to do what is right, just and worthy according to His will, that we may help one another to come and reach the Lord, through each and every things we do in life, to help more and more people to come towards the Holy Presence of God, to be forgiven and reconciled with Him together with us. Amen.

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Wednesday, 23 October 2024 : 29th Week of Ordinary Time, Memorial of St. John of Capestrano, Priest (Gospel Reading)

Liturgical Colour : Green or White (Priests)

Luke 12 : 39-48

At that time, Jesus said to His disciples, “Pay attention to this : If the master of the house had known at what time the thief would come, he would not have let his house be broken into. You also must be ready, for the Son of Man will come at an hour you do not expect.”

Peter said, “Lord, did You tell this parable only for us, or for everyone?” And the Lord replied, “Imagine, then, the wise and faithful steward, whom the master sets over his other servants, to give them wheat at the proper time. Fortunate is this servant if his master, on coming home, finds him doing his work. Truly, I say to you, the master will put him in charge of all his property.”

“But it may be that the steward thinks, ‘My lord delays in coming,’ and he begins to abuse the male servants and the servant girls, eating and drinking and getting drunk. Then the master will come on a day he does not expect, and at an hour he does not know. He will cut him off, and send him to the same fate as the unfaithful.”

“The servant who knew his master’s will, but did not prepare and do what his master wanted, will be soundly beaten; but the one who does unconsciously what deserves punishment, shall receive fewer blows. Much will be required of the one who has been given much, and more will be asked of the one who has been entrusted with more.”

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Wednesday, 23 October 2024 : 29th Week of Ordinary Time, Memorial of St. John of Capestrano, Priest (Psalm)

Liturgical Colour : Green or White (Priests)

Isaiah 12 : 2-3, 4bcd, 5-6

He is the God of my salvation; in Him I trust and am not afraid, YHVH is my strength : Him I will praise, the One Who saved me.

You will draw water with joy from the very fountain of salvation. Then you will say : “Praise to the Lord, break into songs of joy for Him, proclaim His marvellous deeds among the nations and exalt His Name.”

“Sing to the Lord : wonders He has done, let these be known all over the earth. Sing for joy, o people of Zion, for great in your midst is the Holy One of Israel.”

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Wednesday, 23 October 2024 : 29th Week of Ordinary Time, Memorial of St. John of Capestrano, Priest (First Reading)

Liturgical Colour : Green or White (Priests)

Ephesians 3 : 2-12

You may have heard of the graces God bestowed on me for your sake. By a revelation He gave me the knowledge of His mysterious design, as I have explained in a few words. On reading them, you will have some idea of how I understand the mystery of Christ. This mystery was not made known to past generations but only now, through revelations given to holy Apostles and prophets.

Now the non-Jewish people share the Inheritance; in Christ Jesus the non-Jews are incorporated and are to enjoy the Promise. This is the Good News, of which I have become a minister, by a gift of God; a grace He gave me, when His power worked in me.

This grace, was given to me, the least, among all the holy ones : to announce to the pagan nations, the immeasurable riches of Christ, and to make clear to all, how the mystery, hidden from the beginning, in God, the Creator of all things, is to be fulfilled.

Even the heavenly forces and powers will now discover, through the Church, the wisdom of God in its manifold expression, as the plan is being fulfilled, which God designed from the beginning, in Christ Jesus, Our Lord. In Him, we receive boldness and confidence to approach God.

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Wednesday, 16 October 2024 : 28th Week of Ordinary Time, Memorial of St. Hedwig, Religious, and St. Margaret Mary Alacoque, Virgin (Homily and Scripture Reflections)

Liturgical Colour : Green or White (Religious or Holy Virgins)

Dear brothers and sisters in Christ, on this day we continue to be reminded as we have been in previous days of the need for us to truly follow the Lord wholeheartedly and faithfully, distancing ourselves from all the worldliness and all the temptations and wickedness which had been present all around us in this world. We have to embrace the Lord’s path faithfully, doing whatever we can so that we truly embody our faith in Him fully and not just merely practicing all the external applications and practices but inside, there is no space for the Lord in our hearts and minds, which can indeed happen to us, as how it had happened to many among our predecessors as mentioned in our Scripture passages today.

In our first reading today, we heard from the Epistle of St. Paul the Apostle to the Church and the faithful people of God in Galatia in which the Apostle continue to speak to the people about the matter of true obedience to the Law of God, referring to the Law in this instance as a reference to the way how the Law of God that was revealed through Moses had been interpreted and practiced by the Jewish authorities, such as by the Pharisees and the other members of the Jewish High Council, and which some of them were also influential among the members of the Jewish diaspora in Galatia. At that time, St. Paul, who had embarked on several missionary journeys and travels all throughout the Mediterranean region, proclaiming the Good News of God in all of those occasions, including the region and people of Galatia.

There in Galatia, there were quite a few Jewish people in diaspora away from their homeland who embraced the Lord as their Saviour and Master together with the non-Jewish people like the Greeks, Romans and other local populations who also believed in the Lord and chose to become Christians. And there were those among the Jewish converts who claimed and even forced the non-Jewish converts to follow the ways and customs of the Jews, claiming that they are necessary for salvation. This also happened in the many other places that St. Paul had ministered in, and it was one of the main issues that St. Paul consistently wanted to settle by reminding all the faithful that the obedience and the ways of the old Jewish customs and laws are no longer binding on the people of God, because they have received the fullness of truth through Christ, and they should instead obey what the Lord has taught them.

He reminded them all of the fruits of the Holy Spirit, of love and all the other good fruits which are distinct from the ones offered by the world, from all the corruptions of evil and sin, and highlighting the difference between following the Law that is mostly human made and which had been flawed and wrongly applied by the religious leaders of the time with the true obedience to God’s Law which all the faithful ought to have, not in the superficial and external faith, piety and obedience to the rules and rituals which those religious leaders had practiced and enforced to the people of God, but rather, a true commitment and love for the Lord, which are often lacking, is what God had wanted. As mentioned in the Scriptures, that what the Lord wanted is love and not sacrifice. Without true love and commitment to God, no amount of piety and sacrifice can be meaningful.

Then, in our Gospel passage today, we heard from the Gospel according to St. Luke the Evangelist in which we continue to listen to the words of the Lord Jesus as He rebuked and criticised many of the members of the Pharisees and those who have opposed Him constantly and fervently because of the disagreements that they had with Him, and how they stubbornly refused to listen to His words and teachings, or dialogue with Him despite the efforts that He had made, and the outreach He had shown them, and still insisting on living the lives and in the manner that they had always done, in glorifying themselves and indulging in self-gratification over their supposedly superior status among the community of the people of God.

At that time, the Pharisees together with the Sadducees, the chief priests and the teachers of the Law formed the bulk of the religious and intellectual elite of the community of the Jewish people, the descendants of the people of God living in Judea, Galilee and Jerusalem, where many of them were members of the Sanhedrin, or the Jewish High Council governing over the religious matters, customs and practices of the people of God. Those people enjoyed being praised and honoured for their piety and obedience to the Law, and they also liked to get the attention and fame that they enjoyed from all of their external piety, and all those things distract them from truly following the Lord wholeheartedly and genuinely.

Just as discussed earlier in the matter from the Epistle of St. Paul to the Galatians, we are reminded that we must not be swayed by all these external glory and all the worldly temptations that may distract us from the Lord and His path, and from whatever He has taught and revealed to us. In their moment of pride and ego, blinded by their ambition and desires, those Pharisees and the teachers of the Law had failed to understand that the Law of God was meant to lead everyone to God, and to teach everyone to love Him, and not to become tools to be misused for the benefit and selfish intentions of a select few, which was why the Lord rebuked those who had done so. We are also reminded that as Christians we should not do the same as well.

Today, the Church celebrates the Feast of two great saints whose life and devotion to God can truly become a great example for each and every one of us as Christians. They are St. Hedwig, also known as St. Hedwig of Silesia and St. Margaret Mary Alacoque. First of all St. Hedwig of Silesia was the Duchess of Silesia, in what is today part of western Poland, where she was remembered well for her great piety, generosity and upright living, as a truly great and holy woman, whose faith and love for God and also love for her fellow men and women were truly exemplary and inspirational. She was born in a noble German family and was married at a young age to the Duke of Silesia. She lived a good and holy life, and with her husband, both of them were renowned for their great piety and dedication to God, for their generosity to the poor and the less privileged.

And after she was widowed, St. Hedwig went to a monastery and took up the habit of a religious sister although she did not take the religious vows. She continued to show care and compassionate love, concern and mercy for the needy all around her as she had done when she was still the Duchess of Silesia. She was known to even go barefoot during her ministry and works, during the height of the cold winter. She was truly a great and humble woman, dedicated to the Lord and she showed us all the meaning and application of the Law of God, that true piety and faith came through one’s passionate and strong love for the Lord that is also inculcated and embodied in the same strong and genuine love for one’s fellow men and women, particularly to those who were less fortunate and poor.

Then, St. Margaret Mary Alacoque was a renowned mystic and saint, whose life was also a great inspiration to many of the faithful throughout history. She was most well-known for her visions related to the Most Sacred Heart of Jesus, and who was behind the now very popular Devotion to the Most Sacred Heart of Jesus. All these experienced eventually led her to take up the religious vows and vocation, becoming a member of the Order of the Visitation of Holy Mary congregation. In the monastery, she continued to receive more and more message and revelation from the Most Sacred Heart of Jesus, through which the Lord showed His infinite love and mercy for His beloved people, ever outpouring from His wounded and bleeding Heart. She recorded all these revelations and words of the Lord, and which became eventually the basis for the popular Devotion to the Most Sacred Heart of Jesus.

Brothers and sisters in Christ, having heard from the great examples of St. Hedwig of Silesia and St. Margaret Mary Alacoque, and having discern the words and message from the Sacred Scriptures earlier on, let us all therefore continue to do our best to live our lives worthily of the Lord at all times, and to show true love and devotion to Him, as St. Hedwig of Silesia and St. Margaret Mary Alacoque and the innumerable other saints had done in their lives. We should not be paying mere lip service and obedience to the Law of God like those Pharisees and teachers of the Law, but truly embody the Law and love of God in every parts and moments of our lives, from now on and always, evermore. Amen.

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Wednesday, 16 October 2024 : 28th Week of Ordinary Time, Memorial of St. Hedwig, Religious, and St. Margaret Mary Alacoque, Virgin (Gospel Reading)

Liturgical Colour : Green or White (Religious or Holy Virgins)

Luke 11 : 42-46

At that time, Jesus said to the people, “A curse is on you, Pharisees! To the Temple you give a tenth of all, including mint and rue and other herbs, but you neglect justice and the love of God. These ought to be practiced, without neglecting the other obligations.”

“A curse is on you, Pharisees, for you love the best seats in the synagogues and to be greeted in the marketplace. A curse is on you, for you are like tombstones of the dead which can hardly be seen; people do not notice them, and make themselves unclean by stepping on them.”

Then a teacher of the Law spoke up and said, “Master, when You speak like this, You insult us, too.” And Jesus answered, “A curse is on you also, teachers of the Law. For you prepare unbearable burdens and load them on the people, while you yourselves do not move a finger to help them.”

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Wednesday, 16 October 2024 : 28th Week of Ordinary Time, Memorial of St. Hedwig, Religious, and St. Margaret Mary Alacoque, Virgin (Psalm)

Liturgical Colour : Green or White (Religious or Holy Virgins)

Psalm 1 : 1-2, 3, 4 and 6

Blessed is the one who does not go where the wicked gather, or stand in the way of sinners, or sit where the scoffers sit! Instead, he finds delight in the law of the Lord and meditates day and night on His commandments.

He is like a tree beside a brook producing its fruit in due season, its leaves never withering. Everything he does is a success.

But it is different with the wicked. They are like chaff driven away by the wind. For the Lord knows the way of the righteous but cuts off the way of the wicked.

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Wednesday, 16 October 2024 : 28th Week of Ordinary Time, Memorial of St. Hedwig, Religious, and St. Margaret Mary Alacoque, Virgin (First Reading)

Liturgical Colour : Green or White (Religious or Holy Virgins)

Galatians 5 : 18-25

But when you are led by the Spirit you are not under the Law. You know what comes from the flesh : fornication, impurity and shamelessness, idol worship and sorcery, hatred, jealousy and violence, anger, ambition, division, factions, and envy, drunkenness, orgies and the like. I again say to you what I have already said : those who do these things shall not inherit the kingdom of God.

But the fruit of the Spirit is charity, joy and peace, patience, understanding of others, kindness and fidelity, gentleness and self-control. For such things there is no Law or punishment. Those who belong to Christ have crucified the flesh with its vices and desires. If we live by the Spirit, let us live in a spiritual way.

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Wednesday, 9 October 2024 : 27th Week of Ordinary Time, Memorial of St. Denis, Bishop and Martyr, and Companions, Martyrs, and St. John Leonardi, Priest (Homily and Scripture Reflections)

Liturgical Colour : Green or Red (Martyrs) or White (Priests)

Dear brothers and sisters in Christ, today as we all listened to the words of the Sacred Scriptures, we are all reminded that as Christians, as God’s holy and beloved people, each and every one of us are parts of the one Church of God and we all share together the mission of the Lord in reaching out to more and more people all throughout the whole world. All of us should continue to follow the Lord’s calling and embrace whatever missions that He had entrusted to us. Each one of us have the shared responsibility to proclaim the Gospel, the Good News of God to more and more people so that they may come to know of the Lord and that they may be inspired to follow Him and be saved together with all of us. All of us are called to continue remembering what the Lord has taught us and to follow Him in all of that. 

In our first reading today, taken from the Epistle of St. Paul the Apostle to the Church and the faithful in Galatia in what is now part of Turkey, we heard of the continuation of the story which the Apostle had told to the people of Galatia regarding his past experiences and journeys, on how he was sent to proclaim the Word of God to the people of various places together with other Apostles and disciples like that of St. Barnabas, and how he had various encounters and experiences with all those people whom he had met. He also recounted his experiences in meeting the other Apostles of the Lord in Jerusalem and Judea where many of them were based in, and how there were tensions within the early Church and Christian community because of the disagreements among those who sided with the view of St. Paul and the majority of the disciples and those who came from the strict Jewish background on the matter of whether the Jews and non-Jewish people among the faithful should mingle together or not.

Those who came from the strict Jewish background such as from among the members of the Pharisees and the teachers of the Law held very exclusivist view of the faith, and demanded that the Jewish customs and practices ought to be followed. On the other hand, St. Paul the Apostle championed the view that in order to reach out to the Gentiles or the non-Jewish people, the Church could not demand such unreasonable things from the non-Jewish people and in fact the faithful as a whole because the extent in which the Law of God was observed and practiced by the Pharisees and the teachers of the Law were very excessive, superfluous and extremely demanding, especially for the non-Jewish people to adapt, and hence St. Paul lightly rebuked St. Peter who was afraid offending those converts from the Jewish people and hence appeared to follow their ways.

Then, in our Gospel passage today, we heard from the Gospel according to St. Luke in which the Lord told His disciples how to pray when they asked Him about it, and He taught them to pray the prayer we all well know as the Lord’s Prayer or the Pater Noster. Through this prayer, the Lord wanted to remind His disciples and hence all of us to continue to remain connected and attuned to the Lord, by constantly communicating with Him through prayers and other means, and growing ever stronger in our love and devotion to God. How we pray is also important, as the Lord has also criticised the Pharisees and the teachers of the Law for having made long prayers and saying litany of self-praise and glorification, and yet, they did not truly focus their attention and hearts towards the Lord.

This is why, as we all listened to these words from the Sacred Scriptures today, we are all reminded that we should always put our faith in the Lord as the focus and emphasis of our lives, and we must be careful that we do not allow ourselves to be misguided by our pride, ego, desires and ambitions around us which may lead us into our downfall and destruction. We should not easily be tempted to follow our own ideals and ideologies, but learning instead to trust in the Lord and in everything that He has taught, provided and revealed to us. We should continue to grow in our relationship and connection to God, spending good and quality time with Him, listening to Him speaking in the depth of our hearts, our minds and our beings, humbly obeying Him and His will.

Today, the Church also celebrate the Feast of great and holy men and women, holy saints and people dedicated to God whose lives and actions can be inspiration for each and every one of us to follow in how we ourselves ought to live our lives with faith and devotion to God. First of all is St. Denis, Bishop of Paris and his companions in martyrdom during the late Roman Empire. At that time, Christians throughout the Empire were under intense persecutions from the state during the reign of the Roman Emperors who were often violent in their attempt to destroy the Church and eradicate Christianity. St. Denis was the Bishop of Parisiorum, what is now Paris, the capital of France. He faithfully and courageously ministered to the faithful during those difficult moments, during the harshest persecutions.

Eventually, the persecutions under the Roman Emperor Decius and his successors caused many of the local Christians to be martyred and lost their lives. The authorities also arrested St. Denis and his companions in martyrdom, and after a long period in incarceration in prison, he and the other Christians were eventually led to the highest hill in Paris, a place now called Montmartre, which literally meant ‘Mountain of Martyrs’ in memory of their courageous defence of their faith and martyrdom. It was told that after he was beheaded, St. Denis did not die immediately and miraculously he continued on preaching, taking up his beheaded head and walking from the place of his martyrdom to the place where now stands the Basilica of St. Denis, the place where he was buried.

Meanwhile, the other saint celebrated today is that of St. John Leonardi, an Italian saint who was the founder of the Clerics Regular of the Mother of God of Lucca. He was the youngest of seven children and has always been devoted to the Lord since his youth, ever seeking consolation and refuge in God through prayer and meditation. Eventually he was ordained a priest and together with several other priests, he ministered to the people and reached out to many to strengthen their faith in God, especially during the time of confusion, division and hardships in the Church, being part of the Counter-Reformation efforts against the various heresies and the corruptions facing the Church and Christian faithful at the time. He propagated strong devotion to the Blessed Virgin Mary and also the popular Forty Hours Devotion to the Blessed Sacrament, which he continued on after he had established his congregation, inspiring many to follow in his examples and efforts as well.

Brothers and sisters in Christ, as we have all discussed through the messages of the Scriptures and from the life and examples of God’s holy saints, namely that of St. Denis and his companions in martyrdom, as well as St. John Leonardi, all of us are reminded that we have been called to share in the journey and faith of our holy predecessors, those who had also encountered lots of difficulties, challenges and obstacles in their own lives. Yet, we must remain strong in faith and we must not allow ourselves to be easily swayed by the temptations and pressures all around us, that we may continue to embody our faith in the Lord ever more worthily by our dedication and commitment to Him. We must be missionary and evangelising in each and every moments of our lives, and even in the smallest and seemingly least significant actions that we do.

May the Lord our ever loving and compassionate God continue to guide us in our respective journey in life, so that we may always continue to be faithful and committed to Him. May He continue to bless us in our every good efforts and endeavours to follow Him and to obey His Law and commandments, and to do what is right and just in accordance with His will. May God bless us all in our every efforts and endeavours, and continue to encourage and strengthen us in all the struggles and in persevering through the hardships and difficulties in our journey towards Him. Amen.