Thursday of Week 30 in Ordinary Time Eph 6:10-20Luke 13:31-35 Put God's armour on so as to be able to resist the devil's tactics. When I was a child, I liked a hymn called "Put on the armour of Jesus Christ". Now, reading this passage from St Paul's letter to the Ephesians, I realise how closely... Continue Reading →
30 October, Wednesday — Fear and Trembling
Wednesday of Week 30 in Ordinary Time Eph 6:1-9 Lk 13:22-30 "Try your best to enter by the narrow door..." In Luke's gospel today, Jesus had some acerbic words to the question of who will be saved. What Jesus said implies that the path to salvation is not going to be an easy one. We know this, and... Continue Reading →
29 October, Tuesday — Pride and Prejudice
Tuesday of Week 30 in Ordinary Time Eph 5:21-33Lk 13:18-21 Give way to one another in obedience to Christ. I am a sinner. And one of my root sins is the mortal sin of Pride. I do not like it when people look down on me, and I really don’t like it when people don’t... Continue Reading →
28 October, Monday — Abandoning oneself to God
Oct 28 – Feast of Sts. Simon and Jude, Apostles St. Simon was an apostle called the Cananean or Zealot because of his zeal for the Jewish law. He was not from Cana, nor a member of the Zealot party. Like all the Apostles, he was a convert, and was trained by St. Peter the... Continue Reading →
27 October, Sunday – Crying Out to Jesus
30th Sunday in Ordinary Time Jer 31:7-9Heb 5:1-6Mk 10:46-52 When he heard that it was Jesus of Nazareth, he began to shout... Today's gospel revolves around the story of the blind Bartimaeus, who called out to Jesus while sitting by the roadside, begging. Obviously, the commotion attracted many bystanders to rebuke him, asking him to... Continue Reading →
26 October, Saturday — Repentance
Saturday of Week 29 in Ordinary Time Eph 4:7-16Lk 13:1-9 “No; but unless you repent you will all perish as they did.” It has been more than 6 months since my last confession. The reason is quite simple. For the past two years, I have been attending the 7am Sunday mass at Church of St... Continue Reading →
25 October, Friday — Do you want to be saved?
Friday of Week 29 in Ordinary Time Eph 4:1-6Lk 12:54-59 There is one Lord, one faith, one baptism, and one God who is Father over all… On a recent Friday night at around 8pm, I walked around a Shell petrol station along Paya Lebar Road. As an insurance agent, I was doing a road show... Continue Reading →
24 October, Thursday — On Fire
Oct 24 – Memorial for St. Anthony Mary Claret, Bishop St. Anthony Mary Claret (1807–1870) was a weaver and a seminary student with Blessed Francis Coll. He was ordained on 13 June 1835, and became a missionary in Catalonia and the Canary Islands. He directed retreats and founded the Congregation of Missionary Sons of the... Continue Reading →
23 October, Wednesday — Readiness
Oct 23 – Memorial for St John of Capistrano, priest John of Capistrano was a Franciscan friar and Catholic priest from the Italian town of Capestrano, Abruzzo. Famous as a preacher, theologian, and inquisitor, he earned himself the nickname “the Soldier Saint” when in 1456 at age 70 he led a Crusade against the invading Ottoman Empire at the siege of Belgrade with the Hungarian military commander John Hunyadi. Elevated to... Continue Reading →
22 October, Tuesday — Always prepared
Oct 22 – Memorial for St. John Paul II Karol Józef Wojtyla was born in 1920 in Wadowice, Poland. After his ordination to the priesthood and theological studies in Rome, he returned to his homeland and resumed various pastoral and academic tasks. He became first auxiliary bishop and, in 1964, Archbishop of Kraków and took... Continue Reading →