4th Week of Easter, Thursday, 30-04-2026

Acts 13:13-25 / John 13:16-20   

The profession of a teacher is not just a job.

To be a teacher is to answer a call to serve by forming others.

Teachers form their students intellectually and also their character and integrity.

A good teacher will always have a revered place in the student’s memory.

In the gospel, Jesus says that no servant is greater than his master, and no messenger is greater than one who sent him.

Similarly, it can also be said that no student will ever forget the lessons of life that was learnt from the teacher.

But pride can come and distort the order of life and the integrity of life.

Because out of pride and disobedience, a servant can try to overthrow his master and desire to be the master.

Out of pride and vested motives, a messenger might want to distort the original message to make it in favour of him.

Jesus is our Teacher, our Master and He is our Word of life.

May we follow His teachings, and may we be faithful and obedient to Him.

May we understand His Word, so that we can echo His Good News of life and love to others.

4th Week of Easter, Wednesday, 29-04-2026

Acts 12:24 - 13:5 / John 12:44-50   

To know what a business or an organization is about, the thing to look for is its core business or its main activity.

That core business or main activity defines the business enterprise and the purpose of the organization.

And that core business or main activity should be so obvious that it goes without saying and it is also like written on its walls.

As for the early Church, the core spirituality and main activity is praying and fasting and the mission is the proclamation of the Word of God.

Even in the church of Antioch, besides the disciples, there were also prophets and teachers.

It was not just the activities of praying and fasting and proclamation of the Word of God, the people in the church were living images of the church’s core spirituality and mission.

So, when the Holy Spirit spoke, they listened and they also knew God wanted Barnabas and Saul to be set apart for a mission.

May we always be focused on the core spirituality of praying and fasting, and be faithful in sharing and proclaiming the Word of God.

So that when the Holy Spirit speaks, we will be able to listen and do what God wants of us.

4th Week of Easter, Tuesday, 28-04-2026

Acts 11:19-26 / John 10:22-30   

We are quite familiar with the 10 Commandments.

One of the 10 Commandments is “thou shall not steal”, which is the 8th Commandment.

That Commandment prohibits theft, which is widely interpreted to include stealing property, dishonesty in dealings and taking credit for others' work.

So, stealing or theft is a serious sin because it is a disregard for another person’s right of ownership.

And it will also lead to a collapse of law and order in society.

On the interpersonal level, when property is stolen, it leads to suspicion and eventually a breakdown of relationships that are based on trust.

In the gospel, Jesus says that the sheep that belong to Him listen to His voice, and no one will ever steal them from Him. 

God the Father gave the sheep to Jesus and no one can ever steal from the Father.

But we can’t steal anyone from Jesus, yet we can also commit indirect theft.

When a Christian leads another Christian the wrong way, or when a Christian commits a scandal and causes another Christian to lose faith, then stealing or the theft of a soul is committed, and a soul is lost.

Let us always listen to the voice of our Good Shepherd and follow in His ways.

Let us help those who are lost to go back to the Good Shepherd, and together we journey into eternal life.

4th Week of Easter, Monday, 27-04-2026

Acts 11:1-18 / John 10:11-18 (Year A)   

We don’t like it when we are taken for granted by others.

When we go out of our way for others, when we make sacrifices for others, when we do a thankless task that is dumped onto us, we wished that there can be some gratitude shown to us.

Even if not a word of thanks is said, it would be enough for us to know that a difficulty is overcome or a problem is solved.

What will make us angry and bitter is when others expect us to something that no one else would want to.

And when we don’t do it, we get blamed for making things difficult and creating problems for others.

This may not happen all the time, but when it does, we may wonder if being good and doing good is worth it.

In the gospel, Jesus says that He is the Good Shepherd, and the good shepherd will lay down his life for his sheep.

On the Cross, Jesus fulfilled what He said about being the Good Shepherd and laying His life for us to save us.

Yes, Jesus died for us so that we can be saved from an eternal death.

So, are we truly grateful and thankful to Jesus for saving us by dying for us.

Let us not take the love of Jesus for granted, and let us also follow Jesus our Good Shepherd in doing good for others.

Let us focus on following Jesus to make this world a loving place.

4th Sunday of Easter, Year A, 26.04.2026

Acts 2:14, 36-41 / 1 Peter 2:20-25 / John 10:1-10  

The animals in this world are, by and large, beautiful as well as amazing. 

And they also have peculiarities that we have heard of, or have experienced it. 

For example, don’t ever wear red-colour clothes and stand in front of a bull. 

We don’t want to see those horns coming fast at us. 

And also don’t approach a horse from the back. We just might get a kick of our lives. 

As for good eyesight, it goes to the birds, especially the eagles and the hawks. 

They can spot a prey from distances of three to five kilometres. 

As for the sense of smell, it goes to the dogs. A lady wanted to bring some bak-kwa for her daughter who was studying in a country that bans cooked meats. 

So, she wrapped the bak-kwa with layers and layers of plastic, thinking that it can pass through the customs. 

But at the immigration, the sniffer dog went sniffing at the luggage, and then just sat on her luggage. 

She had to surrender the bak-kwa. 

When it comes to sheep, we may not know much about their peculiarities, although we know that wool comes from sheep. 

But we have heard about two of their characteristics, and that is their sense of hearing, and their silence, even in the face of mortal danger. 

In today’s gospel, Jesus says that He is the gate of the sheepfold. 

He goes on to say that the sheep listen to the voice of the shepherd. 

The shepherd leads his sheep, and the sheep follow him because they know the shepherd’s voice. 

The sheep never follow a stranger, but run away from him. 

They do not recognise the voice of strangers. 

Today, the Church celebrates Good Shepherd Sunday, with an emphasis on the promotion of vocations to the priesthood and also to the religious life. 

Yes, the harvest is rich but the labourers are few, and we have to pray to the Lord of the harvest to send labourers to His harvest. 

The Lord of the harvest has called labourers to work in His harvest. 

Many are called, but not that many have responded. 

One of the reasons that not that many have responded is because the world has many loud noises.

These noises are loud, and even attractive, and they appeal to human desires and pleasures. 

Yes, we desire to be rich, famous, popular, successful and to have a high status in life. 

With these comes the benefits of pleasures and luxuries of gratification, although it may be momentary. 

And those cravings for pleasures and desires are like a bottomless pit; there can never be enough of it. 

In the midst of all these loud noises is that soft and gentle voice of the Good Shepherd, calling out to the chosen labourers of His sheepfold. 

More often than not, as well as in most cases, the voice of the Good Shepherd is heard in Church. 

The Church is the House of God and the House of prayer. 

It is in Church that the voice of the Good Shepherd is heard in worship and in prayer. 

And it is in worship and prayer that the chosen servants of the Lord are able to listen and respond to His call. 

On the 1st June, four deacons will be ordained to the sacred order of the priesthood. 

One of them, Deacon Eugene Chan, is from this parish. He was chosen from among us. 

He heard the Lord’s call in Church, and it is back to the Church that he response to the call. 

We pray for him as he makes his final preparation for his ordination.

We do this in the form of spiritual bouquets, and we will receive a spiritual bouquet card on our way out. 

Our little spiritual offering would be a great blessing for Deacon Eugene Chan, and also for the other three deacons. 

And on the 21st May, we will gather in prayer for the four deacons, and also to pray for vocations. 

May those whom the Lord has called be able to listen to the voice of the Good Shepherd. 

And may our prayer give them strength and courage to follow in the steps of the Good Shepherd, who came to give us life and life to the full.

St. Mark, Evangelist, Saturday, 25-04-2026

1 Peter 5:5-14 / Mark 16:15-20    

St. Mark, whose feast we celebrate today, was not one of the apostles.

Nonetheless, he was one of the disciples of St. Peter, and he was mentioned in the 1st reading as a "spiritual son" of St. Peter.

He could also possibly be one of the followers of Jesus and later on became a disciple of St. Peter and he eventually wrote the account of the life and ministry of Jesus, which became one of the gospels of the Church.

In his gospel, St. Mark captured the core and essence of the ministry and message of Jesus.

As we heard it in the gospel, and what is often called the "Great Commissioning", the way St. Mark puts it across straight and sharp in just a few words.

"Go out, proclaim the Good News, believe or be condemned, cast out devils, work signs and miracles, heal the sick".

As we hear this, we might be thinking - proclaim the Good News sounds ok, healing the sick sounds ok, work signs and miracles ... hmmm ... cast out devils ...

Well, the gospel is not a supermarket for us to pick and choose whatever we like.

It is one whole message; it's either we take all or we take all.

To understand and accept the Good News and the commissioning of Jesus, we need to "Go out" like St. Mark did.

Because when we are out there, and there is no dependency and certainty but Jesus Himself, then we will truly experience the power of the Good News and become true disciples of Jesus Christ.

3rd Week of Easter, Friday, 24-04-2026

Acts 9:1-20 / John 6:52-59       

One of the common traits in people is stubbornness.

For a stubborn person, it is almost impossible to change his mind.

Even if all the facts show that he is wrong, he may not even budge.

It is quite amazing the conviction that a stubborn person has .

In the 1st reading, Saul was so resolute about his conviction that only way of stopping the spread of Christianity was by capturing and slaughtering the Lord’s disciples.

Nothing could change his mind, until that strange encounter on the road to Damascus.

That voice asking him "Saul, Saul, why are you persecuting me?" was enough to break his conviction.

But even before that, the prayer of the Christian community cannot be discounted.

They would have prayed for protection against Saul, and in a way, they may have also slipped in a prayer for his conversion, which they thought may have been unlikely.

Even Ananias was hesitant when the Lord told him to go to lay his hands on Saul to give him back his sight.

This account in the history of the early Church tells us this.

In life, we will encounter wicked people doing evil deeds and we are affected.

We must turn to the Lord and pray for protection.

At the same time, we also must pray for the conversion of wicked sinners.

The Lord will do His part in breaking their stubbornness and lead them to conversion.

We then must do our part in accepting them and help them see the beautiful love of God.