SOLEMNITY OF THE BLESSED VIRGIN MARY, MOTHER OF GOD – JANUARY 01, 2019

Tuesday, January 01, 2019

SOLEMNITY OF THE BLESSED VIRGIN MARY, MOTHER OF GOD

8:00 pm  New Year’s Day Mass - Multilingual

First Reading

NUMBERS 6:22-27

22 Yahweh spoke to Moses and said,

23 'Speak to Aaron and his sons and say: "This is how you must bless the Israelites. You will say:

24 May Yahweh bless you and keep you.

25 May Yahweh let his face shine on you and be gracious to you.

26 May Yahweh show you his face and bring you peace."

27 This is how they must call down my name on the Israelites, and then I shall bless them.'

“The Word of the Lord”

PSALMS 67:2-3, 5, 6, 8

2 Then the earth will acknowledge your ways, and all nations your power to save.

3 Let the nations praise you, God, let all the nations praise you.

4 Let the nations rejoice and sing for joy, for you judge the world with justice, you judge the peoples with fairness, you guide the nations on earth.

5 Let the nations praise you, God, let all the nations praise you.

6 The earth has yielded its produce; God, our God has blessed us.

7 May God continue to bless us, and be revered by the whole wide world.

Second Reading

GALATIANS 4:4-7

4 but when the completion of the time came, God sent his Son, born of a woman, born a subject of the Law,

5 to redeem the subjects of the Law, so that we could receive adoption as sons.

6 As you are sons, God has sent into our hearts the Spirit of his Son crying, 'Abba, Father';

7 and so you are no longer a slave, but a son; and if a son, then an heir, by God's own act.

“The Word of the Lord”

Gospel Reading

LUKE 2:16-21

16 So they hurried away and found Mary and Joseph, and the baby lying in the manger.

17 When they saw the child they repeated what they had been told about him,

18 and everyone who heard it was astonished at what the shepherds said to them.

19 As for Mary, she treasured all these things and pondered them in her heart.

20 And the shepherds went back glorifying and praising God for all they had heard and seen, just as they had been told.

21 When the eighth day came and the child was to be circumcised, they gave him the name Jesus, the name the angel had given him before his conception.

“The Gospel of the Lord”

FIRST SUNDAY OF ORDINARY TIME (YEAR C) – 30TH DECEMBER, 2018

Saturday, 29th December, 2018

1st Sunday of Ordinary Time – Year C

5:00 pm  Novena to Our Lady

5:30 pm  Sunset Mass in English

First Reading

Sirach 3:2-6, 12-14

2 for the Lord honours the father above his children and upholds the rights of a mother over her sons.

3 Whoever respects a father expiates sins,

4 whoever honours a mother is like someone amassing a fortune.

5 Whoever respects a father will in turn be happy with children, the day he prays for help, he will be heard.

6 Long life comes to anyone who honours a father, whoever obeys the Lord makes a mother happy.

12 I know there is no happiness for a human being except in pleasure and enjoyment through life.

13 And when we eat and drink and find happiness in all our achievements, this is a gift from God.

14 I know that whatever God does will be for ever. To this there is nothing to add, from this there is nothing to subtract, and the way God acts inspires dread.

“The Word of the Lord”

PSALMS 128:1-2, 3, 4-5

1 [Song of Ascents] How blessed are all who fear Yahweh, who walk in his ways!

2 Your own labours will yield you a living, happy and prosperous will you be.

3 Your wife a fruitful vine in the inner places of your house. Your children round your table like shoots of an olive tree.

4 Such are the blessings that fall on those who fear Yahweh.

5 May Yahweh bless you from Zion! May you see Jerusalem prosper all the days of your life,

Second Reading

COLOSSIANS 3:12-21

12 As the chosen of God, then, the holy people whom he loves, you are to be clothed in heartfelt compassion, in generosity and humility, gentleness and patience.

13 Bear with one another; forgive each other if one of you has a complaint against another. The Lord has forgiven you; now you must do the same.

14 Over all these clothes, put on love, the perfect bond.

15 And may the peace of Christ reign in your hearts, because it is for this that you were called together in one body. Always be thankful.

16 Let the Word of Christ, in all its richness, find a home with you. Teach each other, and advise each other, in all wisdom. With gratitude in your hearts sing psalms and hymns and inspired songs to God;

17 and whatever you say or do, let it be in the name of the Lord Jesus, in thanksgiving to God the Father through him.

18 Wives, be subject to your husbands, as you should in the Lord.

19 Husbands, love your wives and do not be sharp with them.

20 Children, be obedient to your parents always, because that is what will please the Lord.

21 Parents, do not irritate your children or they will lose heart.

“The Word of the Lord”

Gospel Reading

LUKE 2:41-52

41 Every year his parents used to go to Jerusalem for the feast of the Passover.

42 When he was twelve years old, they went up for the feast as usual.

43 When the days of the feast were over and they set off home, the boy Jesus stayed behind in Jerusalem without his parents knowing it.

44 They assumed he was somewhere in the party, and it was only after a day's journey that they went to look for him among their relations and acquaintances.

45 When they failed to find him they went back to Jerusalem looking for him everywhere.

46 It happened that, three days later, they found him in the Temple, sitting among the teachers, listening to them, and asking them questions;

47 and all those who heard him were astounded at his intelligence and his replies.

48 They were overcome when they saw him, and his mother said to him, 'My child, why have you done this to us? See how worried your father and I have been, looking for you.'

49 He replied, 'Why were you looking for me? Did you not know that I must be in my Father's house?'

50 But they did not understand what he meant.

51 He went down with them then and came to Nazareth and lived under their authority. His mother stored up all these things in her heart.

52 And Jesus increased in wisdom, in stature, and in favour with God and with people.

“The Gospel of the Lord”

CHRISTMAS VIGIL AND CHRISTMAS DAY MASSES 2018

Monday, December 24, 2017

CHRISTMAS VIGIL

9:00 pm  Christmas Vigil Mass in Multilingual

Tuesday, December 25, 2018

CHRISTMAS DAY

10:00 am  Christmas Day Mass in Multilingual

First Reading

ISAIAH 52:7-10

7 How beautiful on the mountains, are the feet of the messenger announcing peace, of the messenger of good news, who proclaims salvation and says to Zion, 'Your God is king!'

8 The voices of your watchmen! Now they raise their voices, shouting for joy together, for with their own eyes they have seen Yahweh returning to Zion.

9 Break into shouts together, shouts of joy, you ruins of Jerusalem; for Yahweh has consoled his people, he has redeemed Jerusalem.

10 Yahweh has bared his holy arm for all the nations to see, and all the ends of the earth have seen the salvation of our God.

“The Word of the Lord”

PSALMS 98:1, 2-3, 3-4, 5-6

1 [Psalm] Sing a new song to Yahweh, for he has performed wonders, his saving power is in his right hand and his holy arm.

2 Yahweh has made known his saving power, revealed his saving justice for the nations to see,

3 mindful of his faithful love and his constancy to the House of Israel. The whole wide world has seen the saving power of our God.

4 Acclaim Yahweh, all the earth, burst into shouts of joy!

5 Play to Yahweh on the harp, to the sound of instruments;

6 to the sound of trumpet and horn, acclaim the presence of the King.

Second Reading

HEBREWS 1:1-6

1 At many moments in the past and by many means, God spoke to our ancestors through the prophets; but

2 in our time, the final days, he has spoken to us in the person of his Son, whom he appointed heir of all things and through whom he made the ages.

3 He is the reflection of God's glory and bears the impress of God's own being, sustaining all things by his powerful command; and now that he has purged sins away, he has taken his seat at the right hand of the divine Majesty on high.

4 So he is now as far above the angels as the title which he has inherited is higher than their own name.

5 To which of the angels, then, has God ever said: You are my Son, today I have fathered you, or: I shall be a father to him and he a son to me?

6 Again, when he brings the First-born into the world, he says: Let all the angels of God pay him homage.

“The Word of the Lord”

Gospel Reading

JOHN 1:1-18

1 In the beginning was the Word: the Word was with God and the Word was God.

2 He was with God in the beginning.

3 Through him all things came into being, not one thing came into being except through him.

4 What has come into being in him was life, life that was the light of men;

5 and light shines in darkness, and darkness could not overpower it.

6 A man came, sent by God. His name was John.

7 He came as a witness, to bear witness to the light, so that everyone might believe through him.

8 He was not the light, he was to bear witness to the light.

9 The Word was the real light that gives light to everyone; he was coming into the world.

10 He was in the world that had come into being through him, and the world did not recognise him.

11 He came to his own and his own people did not accept him.

12 But to those who did accept him he gave power to become children of God, to those who believed in his name

13 who were born not from human stock or human desire or human will but from God himself.

14 The Word became flesh, he lived among us, and we saw his glory, the glory that he has from the Father as only Son of the Father, full of grace and truth.

15 John witnesses to him. He proclaims: 'This is the one of whom I said: He who comes after me has passed ahead of me because he existed before me.'

16 Indeed, from his fullness we have, all of us, received -- one gift replacing another,

17 for the Law was given through Moses, grace and truth have come through Jesus Christ.

18 No one has ever seen God; it is the only Son, who is close to the Father's heart, who has made him known.

“The Gospel of the Lord”

FOURTH SUNDAY OF ADVENT (Year C) – DECEMBER 23, 2018

Saturday, December 22, 2018

Fourth Sunday of Advent – Year C

5:00 pm  Novena to Our Lady

5:30 pm  Sunset Mass

First Reading

Micah 5:1-4

1 But you (Bethlehem) Ephrathah, the least of the clans of Judah, from you will come for me a future ruler of Israel whose origins go back to the distant past, to the days of old.

2 Hence Yahweh will abandon them only until she who is in labour gives birth, and then those who survive of his race will be reunited to the Israelites.

3 He will take his stand and he will shepherd them with the power of Yahweh, with the majesty of the name of his God, and they will be secure, for his greatness will extend henceforth to the most distant parts of the country.

4 He himself will be peace! Should the Assyrian invade our country, should he set foot in our land, we shall raise seven shepherds against him, eight leaders of men;

“The Word of the Lord”

PSALMS 80:2-3, 15-16, 18-19

2 over Ephraim, Benjamin and Manasseh; rouse your valour and come to our help.

3 God, bring us back, let your face shine on us and we shall be safe.

15 protect what your own hand has planted.

16 They have thrown it on the fire like dung, the frown of your rebuke will destroy them.

18 Never again will we turn away from you, give us life and we will call upon your name.

19 God Sabaoth, bring us back, let your face shine on us and we shall be safe.

Second Reading

Hebrews 10:5-10

5 and that is why he said, on coming into the world: You wanted no sacrifice or cereal offering, but you gave me a body.

6 You took no pleasure in burnt offering or sacrifice for sin;

7 then I said, 'Here I am, I am coming,' in the scroll of the book it is written of me, to do your will, God.

8 He says first You did not want what the Law lays down as the things to be offered, that is: the sacrifices, the cereal offerings, the burnt offerings and the sacrifices for sin, and you took no pleasure in them;

9 and then he says: Here I am! I am coming to do your will. He is abolishing the first sort to establish the second.

10 And this will was for us to be made holy by the offering of the body of Jesus Christ made once and for all.

“The Word of the Lord”

Gospel Reading

Luke 1:39-45

39 Mary set out at that time and went as quickly as she could into the hill country to a town in Judah.

40 She went into Zechariah's house and greeted Elizabeth.

41 Now it happened that as soon as Elizabeth heard Mary's greeting, the child leapt in her womb and Elizabeth was filled with the Holy Spirit.

42 She gave a loud cry and said, 'Of all women you are the most blessed, and blessed is the fruit of your womb.

43 Why should I be honoured with a visit from the mother of my Lord?

44 Look, the moment your greeting reached my ears, the child in my womb leapt for joy.

45 Yes, blessed is she who believed that the promise made her by the Lord would be fulfilled.'

“The Gospel of the Lord”

THIRD SUNDAY OF ADVENT (Year C) – DECEMBER 16, 2018

Saturday, December 15, 2018

Third Sunday of Advent – Year C

5:00 pm  Novena to Our Lady

5:30 pm  Sunset Mass

First Reading

Zephaniah 3:14-18

14 Shout for joy, daughter of Zion, Israel, shout aloud! Rejoice, exult with all your heart, daughter of Jerusalem!

15 Yahweh has repealed your sentence; he has turned your enemy away. Yahweh is king among you, Israel, you have nothing more to fear.

16 When that Day comes, the message for Jerusalem will be: Zion, have no fear, do not let your hands fall limp.

17 Yahweh your God is there with you, the warrior-Saviour. He will rejoice over you with happy song, he will renew you by his love, he will dance with shouts of joy for you,

18 as on a day of festival. I have taken away your misfortune, no longer need you bear the disgrace of it.

“The Word of the Lord”

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

2 Look, he is the God of my salvation: I shall have faith and not be afraid, for Yahweh is my strength and my song, he has been my salvation.'

3 Joyfully you will draw water from the springs of salvation

4 and, that day, you will say, 'Praise Yahweh, invoke his name. Proclaim his deeds to the people, declare his name sublime.

5 Sing of Yahweh, for his works are majestic, make them known throughout the world.

6 Cry and shout for joy, you who live in Zion, For the Holy One of Israel is among you in his greatness.'

Second Reading

Philippians 4:4-7

4 Always be joyful, then, in the Lord; I repeat, be joyful.

5 Let your good sense be obvious to everybody. The Lord is near.

6 Never worry about anything; but tell God all your desires of every kind in prayer and petition shot through with gratitude,

7 and the peace of God which is beyond our understanding will guard your hearts and your thoughts in Christ Jesus.

“The Word of the Lord”

Gospel Reading

Luke 3:10-18

10 When all the people asked him, 'What must we do, then?'

11 he answered, 'Anyone who has two tunics must share with the one who has none, and anyone with something to eat must do the same.'

12 There were tax collectors, too, who came for baptism, and these said to him, 'Master, what must we do?'

13 He said to them, 'Exact no more than the appointed rate.'

14 Some soldiers asked him in their turn, 'What about us? What must we do?' He said to them, 'No intimidation! No extortion! Be content with your pay!'

15 A feeling of expectancy had grown among the people, who were beginning to wonder whether John might be the Christ,

16 so John declared before them all, 'I baptise you with water, but someone is coming, who is more powerful than me, and I am not fit to undo the strap of his sandals; he will baptise you with the Holy Spirit and fire.

17 His winnowing-fan is in his hand, to clear his threshing-floor and to gather the wheat into his barn; but the chaff he will burn in a fire that will never go out.'

18 And he proclaimed the good news to the people with many other exhortations too.

“The Gospel of the Lord”

SECOND SUNDAY OF ADVENT (Year C) – DECEMBER 09, 2018

Saturday, December 08, 2018

Second Sunday of Advent – Year C

5:00 pm  Novena to Our Lady

5:30 pm  Sunset Mass

First Reading

BARUCH 5:1-9

1 Jerusalem, take off your dress of sorrow and distress, put on the beauty of God's glory for evermore,

2 wrap the cloak of God's saving justice around you, put the diadem of the Eternal One's glory on your head,

3 for God means to show your splendour to every nation under heaven,

4 and the name God gives you for evermore will be, 'Peace-through-Justice, and Glory-through-Devotion'.

5 Arise, Jerusalem, stand on the heights and turn your eyes to the east: see your children reassembled from west and east at the Holy One's command, rejoicing because God has remembered.

6 Though they left you on foot driven by enemies, now God brings them back to you, carried gloriously, like a royal throne.

7 For God has decreed the flattening of each high mountain, of the everlasting hills, the filling of the valleys to make the ground level so that Israel can walk safely in God's glory.

8 And the forests and every fragrant tree will provide shade for Israel, at God's command;

9 for God will guide Israel in joy by the light of his glory, with the mercy and saving justice which come from him. A copy of the letter which Jeremiah sent to those about to be led captive to Babylon by the king of the Babylonians, to tell them what he had been commanded by God:

“The Word of the Lord”

PSALMS 126:1-2, 2-3, 4-5, 6

1  [Song of Ascents] When Yahweh brought back Zion's captives we lived in a dream;

2 then our mouths filled with laughter, and our lips with song. Then the nations kept saying, 'What great deeds Yahweh has done for them!'

3 Yes, Yahweh did great deeds for us, and we were overjoyed.

4 Bring back, Yahweh, our people from captivity like torrents in the Negeb!

5 Those who sow in tears sing as they reap.

6 He went off, went off weeping, carrying the seed. He comes back, comes back singing, bringing in his sheaves.

Second Reading

PHILIPPIANS 1:4-6, 8-11

4 and every time I pray for you all, I always pray with joy

5 for your partnership in the gospel from the very first day up to the present.

6 I am quite confident that the One who began a good work in you will go on completing it until the Day of Jesus Christ comes.

8 For God will testify for me how much I long for you all with the warm longing of Christ Jesus;

9 it is my prayer that your love for one another may grow more and more with the knowledge and complete understanding

10 that will help you to come to true discernment, so that you will be innocent and free of any trace of guilt when the Day of Christ comes,

11 entirely filled with the fruits of uprightness through Jesus Christ, for the glory and praise of God.

“The Word of the Lord”

Gospel Reading

LUKE 3:1-6

1 In the fifteenth year of Tiberius Caesar's reign, when Pontius Pilate was governor of Judaea, Herod tetrarch of Galilee, his brother Philip tetrarch of the territories of Ituraea and Trachonitis, Lysanias tetrarch of Abilene,

2 and while the high-priesthood was held by Annas and Caiaphas, the word of God came to John the son of Zechariah, in the desert.

3 He went through the whole Jordan area proclaiming a baptism of repentance for the forgiveness of sins,

4 as it is written in the book of the sayings of Isaiah the prophet: A voice of one that cries in the desert: Prepare a way for the Lord, make his paths straight!

5 Let every valley be filled in, every mountain and hill be levelled, winding ways be straightened and rough roads made smooth,

6 and all humanity will see the salvation of God.

“The Gospel of the Lord”

FIRST SUNDAY OF ADVENT – DECEMBER 02, 2018

Saturday, December 01, 2018

First Sunday of Advent

5:00 pm  Novena to Our Lady

5:30 pm  Sunset Mass

First Reading

JEREMIAH 33:14-16

14 "Look, the days are coming, Yahweh declares, when I shall fulfil the promise of happiness I made to the House of Israel and the House of Judah:

15 In those days and at that time, I shall make an upright Branch grow for David, who will do what is just and upright in the country.

16 In those days Judah will triumph and Israel live in safety. And this is the name the city will be called: Yahweh-is-our-Saving-Justice."

“The Word of the Lord”

PSALMS 25:4-5, 8-9, 10, 14

4 DIRECT me in your ways, Yahweh, and teach me your paths.

5 ENCOURAGE me to walk in your truth and teach me since you are the God who saves me. FOR my hope is in you all day long -- such is your generosity, Yahweh.

8 INTEGRITY and generosity are marks of Yahweh for he brings sinners back to the path.

9 JUDICIOUSLY he guides the humble, instructing the poor in his way.

10 KINDNESS unfailing and constancy mark all Yahweh's paths, for those who keep his covenant and his decrees.

14 ONLY those who fear Yahweh have his secret and his covenant, for their understanding.

Second Reading

First Thessalonians 3:12--4:2

12 May the Lord increase and enrich your love for each other and for all, so that it matches ours for you.

13 And may he so confirm your hearts in holiness that you may be blameless in the sight of our God and Father when our Lord Jesus comes with all his holy ones.

1 Finally, brothers, we urge you and appeal to you in the Lord Jesus; we instructed you how to live in the way that pleases God, and you are so living; but make more progress still.

2 You are well aware of the instructions we gave you on the authority of the Lord Jesus.

“The Word of the Lord”

Gospel Reading

LUKE 21:25-28, 34-36

25 'There will be signs in the sun and moon and stars; on earth nations in agony, bewildered by the turmoil of the ocean and its waves;

26 men fainting away with terror and fear at what menaces the world, for the powers of heaven will be shaken.

27 And then they will see the Son of man coming in a cloud with power and great glory.

28 When these things begin to take place, stand erect, hold your heads high, because your liberation is near at hand.'

34 'Watch yourselves, or your hearts will be coarsened by debauchery and drunkenness and the cares of life, and that day will come upon you unexpectedly,

35 like a trap. For it will come down on all those living on the face of the earth.

36 Stay awake, praying at all times for the strength to survive all that is going to happen, and to hold your ground before the Son of man.'

“The Gospel of the Lord”