Wednesday

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Wednesday, 11 May 2022 : 4th Week of Easter (Gospel Reading)

Liturgical Colour : White

John 12 : 44-50

At that time, yet Jesus had said, and even cried out, “Whoever believes in Me, believes not in Me, but in Him Who sent Me. And whoever sees Me, sees Him Who sent Me. I have come into the world as light, so that whoever believes in Me may not remain in darkness.”

“If anyone hears My words and does not keep them, I am not the One to condemn him; for I have come, not to condemn the world, but to save the world. The one who rejects Me, and does not receive My word, already has a judge : the very word I have spoken will condemn him on the last day.”

“For I have not spoken on My own authority; the Father, Who sent Me, has instructed Me in what to say and how to speak. I know that His commandment is eternal life, and that is why the message I give, I give as the Father instructed Me.”

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Wednesday, 11 May 2022 : 4th Week of Easter (Psalm)

Liturgical Colour : White

Psalm 66 : 2-3, 5, 6 and 8

May God be gracious and bless us, may He let His face shine upon us, that Your way be known on earth and Your salvation among the nations.

May the countries be glad and sing for joy, for You rule the peoples with justice and guide the nations of the world.

May the people praise You, o God, may all the peoples praise You! May God bless us and be revered, to the very ends of the earth.

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Wednesday, 11 May 2022 : 4th Week of Easter (First Reading)

Liturgical Colour : White

Acts 12 : 24 – Acts 13 : 5a

Meanwhile the word of God was increasing and spreading. Barnabas and Saul carried out their mission and then came back to Jerusalem, taking with them John also called Mark.

There were at Antioch – in the Church which was there – prophets and teachers : Barnabas, Symeon known as Niger, Lucius of Cyrene, Manaen who had been brought up with Herod, and Saul.

On one occasion while they were celebrating the Lord and fasting, the Holy Spirit said to them, “Set apart for Me Barnabas and Saul to do the work for which I have called them.” So, after fasting and praying, they laid their hands on them and sent them off.

These then, sent by the Holy Spirit, went down the port of Seleucia and from there sailed to Cyprus. Upon their arrival in Salamis they proclaimed the word of God in the Jewish synagogue.

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Wednesday, 4 May 2022 : 3rd Week of Easter (Homily and Scripture Reflections)

Liturgical Colour : White

Dear brothers and sisters in Christ, today as we continue to progress through the Easter season and listened to the words of the Scriptures, we are reminded of the works of the Apostles who ministered to the people of God, proclaiming the Gospels and the word of God’s truth and salvation to them, caring for their sick and many more, building up the Church community and sharing in the Eucharist, the same Bread of Life that is Jesus Christ, Our Lord and Saviour, Who had commissioned the Apostles and His Church to go forth to the nations and proclaim His Good News and truth to them.

In our first reading, as mentioned, from the Acts of the Apostles we heard how the despite the persecution that the Church began to face from the Jewish authorities and its other opponents, especially after the martyrdom of St. Stephen, the first martyr of the Church, the Apostles despite being scattered all over Judea and in other places, tried their best to continue the works of God, ministering to the people of God, proclaiming the truth and salvation in Jesus Christ, and despite the hardships and trials they had to endure, the early Christian communities continued to grow and flourish, spreading even beyond the lands of Judea, Samaria and Galilee.

This had to be credited to the hard work and labour of the Apostles, who went through the land, with the other disciples of the Lord, evangelising to those who have not yet heard about the Lord and His actions, His teachings and truths. Often times they had to do things in secret, hiding from the persecution of the authorities, which chronologically at that time was intensifying and led by Saul, one of the young Pharisees who zealously persecuted the faithful people of God, before later on he himself would be converted to be the Lord’s disciples as St. Paul the Apostle. Regardless of the hardships, the Church continued to grow and flourish.

The Apostles and disciples of the Lord continued to work for the greater glory of God, to speak about Him, the One Whom in our Gospel passage today referred to Himself as the Bread of Life. They had seen the Lord Himself, Who at that time referred to Himself as the Bread of Life and said that He would give them His own flesh to eat and His own Blood for them to drink. They would not have understood it yet at that time, but later on, they would witness the Passion, the suffering and death of the same Lord, Who offered Himself on the Cross as the perfect and worthy offering and sacrifice for the atonement of our sins.

The Apostles witnessed the Lord’s sacrifice and death, and how at the Last Supper He gave Himself to His disciples, which meaning again eluded them until they saw His suffering and death, and eventually after the Holy Spirit came to them, giving them the wisdom and strength, the understanding and knowledge to know what the Lord had done for His people, in offering Himself and sharing in His Body and Blood with us all that we may share in the eternal life He has promised us, that in His own words He Himself had said that those who eat of His flesh and drink His Blood will not perish, but have eternal life.

Through Him, and the gift of the Eucharist to the Apostles, the Lord had made all of us partakers of His Covenant and the members of His Church. The Apostles proclaimed the Lord to the people who have not yet seen or heard of Him so that they too may become part of the ever growing Church of God and find their way to His salvation and eternal life, by their faith and trust in the same Lord Jesus, the Bread of Life and Lamb of God, Who had given Himself for the life of all mankind, for the salvation and liberation of all the beloved children of God from the tyranny of sin and death.

Now, brothers and sisters in Christ, we ourselves are part of this Church of God, and we share in the same mission that the Lord had entrusted to His Apostles and disciples. The Lord has called us all to be His missionaries, to be His witnesses and be the ones to proclaim His truth to all the nations. If we are all wanting to be better disciples of the Lord, then we should also proclaim the Lord, the Bread of Life and the Saviour of all to whoever it is that we encounter in life. And lest we think that we are incapable of doing so, the Lord calls us to do whatever we can, in our own capacity and within the opportunities that He had presented to us.

Are we willing then to commit our time and effort to walk in the path trodden by the Apostles? Are we willing and able to dedicate ourselves to the service of God and do our best to glorify the Lord by our very own lives and actions? Let us all be sources of inspiration for one another so that by our lives we may inspire more and more people to come to believe in God because they can see the love and truth of God through us and our exemplary way of life. May God bless us all and our efforts and actions, now and always. Amen.

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Wednesday, 4 May 2022 : 3rd Week of Easter (Gospel Reading)

Liturgical Colour : White

John 6 : 35-40

At that time, Jesus said to the people, “I am the Bread of Life; whoever comes to Me shall never be hungry, and whoever believes in Me shall never be thirsty. Nevertheless, as I said, you refuse to believe, even when you have seen. Yet all those whom the Father gives Me will come to Me, and whoever comes to Me, I shall not turn away. For I have come from heaven, not to do My own will, but the will of the One Who sent Me.”

“And the will of Him Who sent Me is that I lose nothing of what He has given Me, but instead that I raise it up on the last day. This is the will of the Father, that whoever sees the Son and believes in Him shall live eternal life; and I will raise him up on the last day.”

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Wednesday, 4 May 2022 : 3rd Week of Easter (Psalm)

Liturgical Colour : White

Psalm 65 : 1-3a, 4-5, 6-7a

Shout with joy to God, all you on earth; sing to the glory of His Name; proclaim His glorious praise. Say to God, “How great are Your deeds!”

All the earth bows down to You, making music, in praise of You, singing in honour of Your Name. Come, and see God’s wonders; His deeds, awesome for humans.

He has turned the sea into dry land, and the river was crossed on foot. Let us, therefore, rejoice in Him. He rules by His might forever.

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Wednesday, 4 May 2022 : 3rd Week of Easter (First Reading)

Liturgical Colour : White

Acts 8 : 1b-8

This was the beginning of a great persecution against the Church in Jerusalem. All, except the Apostles, were scattered throughout the region of Judea and Samaria. Devout men buried Stephen and mourned deeply for him. Saul, meanwhile, was trying to destroy the Church. He entered house after house and dragged off men and women, and had them put in jail.

At the same time, those who were scattered went about, preaching the word. Philip went down to a town of Samaria and proclaimed the Christ there. All the people paid close attention to what Philip said as they listened to him, and saw the miraculous signs that he did. For, in cases of possession, the unclean spirits came out shrieking loudly. Many people who were paralysed or crippled, were healed. So there was great joy in the town.

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Wednesday, 27 April 2022 : 2nd Week of Easter (Homily and Scripture Reflections)

Liturgical Colour : White

Dear brothers and sisters in Christ, on this day as we continue to progress through the season of Easter, we are constantly reminded again of the Risen Lord, Whose coming into this world has revealed God’s most amazing love for us, and Whose death and resurrection had broken the chains of sin and death that had once enslaved and held us. And in being the followers of the Lord, as Christians, we are likely going to face challenges, trials and oppressions for our faith in Him. As Christians we may have to endure the same sufferings that the disciples and Apostles had suffered for their faith in God.

In our first reading, taken from the Acts of the Apostles, we heard of how the Sanhedrin or the Jewish High Council were angered by the actions of the Apostles, and the many other disciples of the Lord who had continued to carry on His works, proclaimed His truth and love among the people, many of whom were convinced and witnessed the miracles they had performed. The Sanhedrin were fearful of the Apostles and the Lord’s continuing influence, that despite their successful efforts in condemning the Lord Jesus to death by the Romans on the Cross, instead that had invigorated the Lord’s followers all the more.

Hence, we heard how the Sanhedrin attempted to crush the early Church as much as possible by arresting the Apostles and the other disciples. However, the Lord was with His servants and His beloved ones, and He protected them, sending them His Angels to rescue them from their prison, breaking free their chains. And the Lord told His disciples to continue their work, to proclaim His truth and love among the people of God, and not fearing the attempts of those who tried to dissuade or force them to abandon their missions and works. Hence, those same disciples of the Lord continued to preach the Good News of God’s salvation fearlessly, and saved numerous more people.

In our Gospel passage today, we heard of the words of the Lord Jesus that He spoke to Nicodemus, a Pharisee who was quite sympathetic to Him and His teachings. Nicodemus had come at night to ask the Lord and to discuss matters with Him, and the Lord revealed to him many things about Himself, and most importantly, the truth that He is indeed the Son of God, and this same, only begotten Son of God has been sent to us, to be with us and to show us the amazing love of God. The Lord loved His people so much that He would be willing to endure the toughest challenges and trials for our sake, in order to call us back into the Light.

Brothers and sisters in Christ, Our Lord and Saviour had done all these because He does not want us to fall into eternal damnation and be lost from Him forever. And hence, He has given us the means to leave behind our past, sinful existence and enter into the new existence in His light and truth. Through Him and His teachings, He has called on all of us to return to the path of justice and righteousness, abandoning our rebellious and wicked attitudes, obeying once again the Law and the Commandments of God wholeheartedly as we should have done.

And He also pointed out that those who believe in Him shall walk in the path of the Light, doing what is right and just before God. He has presented to us the path of righteousness, the path of light that all of us the children of God should follow faithfully. If we call ourselves as Christians and consider ourselves as the followers of Christ, then naturally we should have followed Him and His path instead of following our own flawed path and ways. Unfortunately, more often than not, in reality, many of us Christians had not walked in the right path, and many of us do not act and do things according to what our faith dictates.

That is why many of us are still like hypocrites in our way of living our faith. Many of us are lukewarm and not serious at all in living our lives in accordance with God’s will. Too often we are more concerned with our own worldly pursuits and desires than listening to God and His words of truth. In the way we live our lives, many of us even bring scandal to our faith, making people to find it difficult to believe in God because it is we Christians who in fact live our lives in ways worse than what other, non-Christians are doing. Then, how can we be inspiration for them to follow? How can we evangelise to them if we ourselves have not sorted out our own actions and way of life?

Brothers and sisters in Christ, all of us are being reminded again today to put our faith in the Risen Lord and to follow Him wholeheartedly. We should no longer allow worldly desires, temptations, or any fears and doubts to prevent us from doing what has been expected of us as Christians. Let us all henceforth commit ourselves anew to the Lord, and strive to do our best in our respective way of life so that we may be good examples and inspiration for many others that they too may come to believe in God through us, just as how the Apostles and the countless saints and martyrs had inspired us.

May God be with us always and may He continue to guide us through life, bless our actions and our dealings, all of our good efforts and works. May He empower and strengthen us to do His will faithfully, at all times and in every place we are at. May our Risen Lord be ever glorified through us. Amen.

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Wednesday, 27 April 2022 : 2nd Week of Easter (Gospel Reading)

Liturgical Colour : White

John 3 : 16-21

At that time, Jesus said to Nicodemus, “Yes, God so loved the world that He gave His only Son that whoever believes in Him may not be lost, but may have eternal life. God did not send the Son into the world to condemn the world; instead, through Him the world is to be saved.”

“Whoever believes in Him will not be condemned. He who does not believe is already condemned, because he has not believed in the Name of the only Son of God. This is how the Judgment is made : Light has come into the world, and people loved darkness rather than light, because their deeds were evil.”

“For whoever does wrong hates the light, and does not come to the light, for fear that his deeds will be seen as evil. But whoever lives according to the truth comes into the light, so that it can be clearly seen that his works have been done in God.”

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Wednesday, 27 April 2022 : 2nd Week of Easter (Psalm)

Liturgical Colour : White

Psalm 33 : 2-3, 4-5, 6-7, 8-9

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.

Oh, let us magnify the Lord, together let us glorify His Name! I sought the Lord, and He answered me; from all my fears He delivered me.

They who look to Him are radiant with joy, their faces never clouded with shame. When the poor cry out, the Lord hears and saves them from distress.

The Lord’s Angel encamps and patrols to keep safe those who fear Him. Oh, see and taste the goodness of the Lord! Blessed is the one who finds shelter in Him!