Liturgical Colour : White
1 Corinthians 10 : 16-17
The cup of blessing that we bless, is it not a communion with the Blood of Christ? And the bread that we break, is it not a communion with the Body of Christ?
The bread is one, and so we, though many, form one body, sharing the one bread.
Liturgical Colour : White
Psalm 147 : 12-13, 14-15, 19-20
Exalt the Lord, o Jerusalem; praise your God, o Zion! For He strengthens the bars of your gates and blesses your children within you.
He grants peace on your borders and feeds you with the finest grain. He sends His command to the earth and swiftly runs His word.
It is He who tells Jacob His words, His laws and decrees to Israel. This He has not done for other nations, so His laws remain unknown to them. Alleluia!
Liturgical Colour : White
Deuteronomy 8 : 2-3, 14b-16a
Remember how YHVH, your God, brought you through the desert for forty years. He humbled you, to test you and know what was in your heart, whether you would keep His commandments or not.
He made you experience want, He made you experience hunger, but He gave you manna to eat which neither you nor your fathers had known, to show you that man lives not on bread alone, but that all that proceeds from the mouth of God is life for man.
Do not forget YHVH, your God, who brought you out of the land of Egypt, the house of slavery. It is He who has led you across this great and terrible desert, full of fiery serpents and scorpions, an arid land where there is no water. But for you He made water gush forth from the hardest rock. And He fed you in the desert with manna which your fathers did not know.
Liturgical Colour : White
Brothers and sisters in Christ, we are reminded yet again today that we should put our trust in God and leave all things to Him who cares for us. We do not need to worry or think about what we are to do today and what we ought to have in our lives. As I have often mentioned, in this life, we often confuse between our needs and our wants, between the things that we truly need in life and things that is in our desire and greed.
Yes, we also often confuse between things that are truly precious and dear to us, and things that are what form our desire and our greed. In our world today filled with materialism and consumerism, this is becoming more and more out of hand, and instead of doing what the Lord wants us to do, we are getting more and more separated from Him by committing things unworthy in His sight.
What are some of the examples? We always worry about the latest gadgets and newest inventions that are marketed to us as things that we need to have so that we look ‘cool’ and acceptable to the society, and we also often beg and seek these things to fulfill our own feeling of inferiority and need for acceptance, but we fail to look beyond that, to find what we truly want and need in life.
God is with us, brothers and sisters, and He knows perfectly all the things that we need at all the moments of our lives. I am sure many of us did not realise this, but if we do take some time to think and reflect, have you realised that actually in many moments of our lives, we have been blessed by God who intervened in His own way and in His own time to help us and to be with us? God never left us alone.
We have to learn to let go of the many desires and egoistic feelings that we have in us. We cannot succumb to our desires and wants, as this will inevitably lead to more and more desire and more and more wants. Mankind are inherently greedy and desire pleasure, hence, we are predisposed to seek pleasures and comfort in life, forgetting what we truly need to do in life.
Today we commemorate the feast of St. Aloysius Gonzaga, a holy man and a dedicated worker of the faith and servant of God, who was born in the late Renaissance Italy, into a noble and wealthy family, one of the most influential and powerful families of that era in Italy. He was destined for greatness, both in inheritance and great wealth. However, the heart of St. Aloysius Gonzaga turned somewhere else.
Instead of dwelling in his privileged status and in his material wealth, of which he had so much that he need no more, St. Aloysius Gonzaga wanted to become a priest and a missionary, working to spread the Good News to the lands which were still in the darkness without the knowledge of God. As such, he wanted to join the Jesuits, but his family was adamantly against his choice.
However, despite persuasions and negotiations, his family failed to convince St. Aloysius Gonzaga to do otherwise. Eventually, St. Aloysius Gonzaga fulfilled his desire and became a Jesuit, and he committed himself totally to God, and even during a plague, when many died from the sickness, he did not fear and continued to commit himself to the patients and the sick in love, eventually succumbing to the disease himself. But in dying, he had shown us all, the power of love and faith that is lived in that love.
Therefore, brothers and sisters in Christ, are we able to live like St. Aloysius Gonzaga had done? Are we able to get our eyes and our minds away from our continuous desire for more and more goods and pleasures? We must really make the effort to do good for others as St. Aloysius Gonzaga had done for others. Let us really live our faith and be faithful to God, practicing our faith with love. May God be our guide and our strength. Amen.
Liturgical Colour : White
Matthew 6 : 24-34
No one can serve two masters; for he will either hate one and love the other, or he will be loyal to the first and look down on the second. You cannot at the same time serve God and money.
This is why I tell you not to be worried about food or drink for yourself, or about clothes for your body. Is not life more important than food, and is not the body more important than clothes? Look at the birds of the air; they do not sow, they do not harvest and do not store food in barns, and yet your heavenly Father feeds them. Are you not less worthy than they are?
Can any of you add a day to your life by worrying about it? Why are you so worried about your clothes? Look at how the flowers in the fields grow. They do not toil or spin. But I tell you that not even Solomon in all his wealth was clothed like one of these.
If God so clothed the grass in the field, which blooms today and is to be burned tomorrow in an oven, how much more will he clothe you? What little faith you have!
Do not worry and say : What are we going to eat? What are we going to drink? or : What shall we wear? The pagans busy themselves with such things; but your heavenly Father knows that you need them all. Set your heart first on the kingdom and justice of God, and all these things will also be given to you.
Do not worry about tomorrow, for tomorrow will worry about itself. Each day has enough trouble of its own.
Liturgical Colour : White
Psalm 88 : 4-5, 29-30, 31-32, 33-34
You said, “I have made a covenant with David, My chosen one; I have made a pledge to My servant. I establish his descendants forever; I build his throne for all generations.”
I will keep My covenant firm forever, and My love for him will endure. His dynasty will last forever, and his throne as long as the heavens.
If his sons forsake My law and fail to follow My decrees, if they violate My statutes and do not keep My commandments.
I will punish their crime with the rod and their offenses with the scourge; yet I will not withdraw My love from him, nor will I withdraw My faithfulness.
Liturgical Colour : White
2 Chronicles 24 : 17-25
After the death of Jehoiada, the officials of Judah came to pay court to the king, and the king now turned to them for advice. The Judaeans abandoned the house of YHVH, the God of their ancestors, for the worship of sacred trunks and idols and God’s anger fell on Judah and Jerusalem because of their guilt.
He sent them prophets to bring them back to YHVH, but when the prophets spoke, they would not listen. The Spirit of God took control of Zechariah, son of Jehoiada the priest. He stood up before the people and said, “God says this : Why are you disobeying the commandments of YHVH? You cannot prosper. You have abandoned YHVH and He will abandon you.”
They then plotted against him and by order of the king stoned him in the court of YHVH’s House. King Joash forgot the kindness of Jehoiada, the father of Zechariah, and killed Jehoiada’s son who cried out as he died, “Let YHVH see and do justice!”
When a year had gone by, the Aramean army made war on Joash. They reached Judah and Jerusalem, and killed all the officials among the people, sending back to the king of Damascus all that they had plundered from them. Though the Aramean army was small, YHVH delivered into its power an army of great size for they had abandoned Him, the God of their ancestors.
The Arameans wounded Joash and when they withdrew they left him a very sick man; and his officers, plotting against him to avenge the death of the son of Jehoiada the priest, murdered him in his bed. So he died, and they buried him in the City of David, though not in the tombs of the kings.
Wednesday, Aug. 13, 2014
4:00 p.m. Leave by plane from Rome’s Fiumicino International Airport for Seoul
Thursday, Aug. 14, 2014
10:30 a.m. Arrival at the Seoul Air Base
12:00 p.m. Private Mass at the Apostolic Nunciature to Korea
3:45 p.m. Welcoming ceremony in the garden of the Blue House (Presidential Palace) in Seoul and courtesy visit to the president of the Republic in the Blue House
4:30 p.m. Meeting with the authorities and government officials in the Chungmu Hall of the Blue House of Seoul
5:30 p.m. Meeting with Korean bishops in the conference headquarters of the Episcopal Conference of Korea
Friday, Aug. 15, 2014
8:45 a.m. Transfer by helicopter to Daejeon (Metropolitan Archdiocese of Daejeon)
10:30 a.m. Holy Mass on the Solemnity of the Annunciation in the World Cup stadium of Daejeon and praying of the Angelus
1:30 p.m. Lunch with the youth of the Major Seminary of Daejeon
4:30 p.m. Transfer by helicopter to the Solmoe shrine
5:30 p.m. Meeting with the Asian youths at the Solmoe shrine (As part of Sixth Asian Youth Day – 2014)
7:15 p.m. Transfer by helicopter to Seoul
Saturday, Aug. 16, 2014
8:55 a.m. Visit to the Shrine of the Martyrs of Seosomun
10:00 a.m. Holy Mass and Beatification Paul Yun Ji-Chung and his 123 companions (Korean Martyrs) at the Door of Gwanghwamun in Seoul
3:30 p.m. Transfer by helicopter to Kkottongnae
4:30 p.m. Visit to the Rehabilitation Center for the Disabled in the House of Hope in Kkottongnae
5:15 p.m. Meeting with the religious communities of Korea in the School of Love training center of Kkottongnae
6:30 p.m. Meeting with the leaders of the Lay Apostolate at the Spirituality Center of Kkottongnae
7:00 p.m. Transfer by helicopter to Seoul
Sunday, Aug. 17, 2014
10:00 a.m. Transfer by helicopter to Haemi
11:00 a.m. Meeting with the Asian bishops in the Haemi shrine
1:00 p.m. Lunch with the bishops of Asia in the refectory of Haemi shrine
4:30 p.m. Holy Mass concluding the Sixth Asian Youth Day in the castle of Haemi
7:00 p.m. Transfer by helicopter to Seoul
Monday, Aug. 18, 2014
9:00 a.m. Encounter with religious leaders in the palace of the old Curia of the Metropolitan Archdiocese of Seoul
9:45 a.m. Holy Mass for peace and reconciliation in the Myeongdong Cathedral of the Metropolitan Archdiocese of Seoul
12:45 p.m. Farewell ceremony from the Republic of Korea at the Air Base of Seoul
1:00 p.m. Departure by plane from the Air Base of Seoul to Rome’s Ciampino International Airport
5:45 p.m. Arrival at Rome’s Ciampino International Airport
Liturgical Colour : Green
Brothers and sisters in Christ, today’s readings from the Scripture tell us a strong message that God wants all of us to know. He wants us to realise that we should not crave for human glory and power, or in any form of worldly glory and earthly recognition, but rather instead, we should rely on the Lord and on His precepts, building up our spiritual account rather than piling up our earthly and material wealth.
It is not necessarily wrong for us to gain and accumulate wealth or possession, as the material and the goods themselves are neutral and are capable indeed for both good and evil, as I have often mentioned. We do need them to satisfy the basic needs of our life, and we also can use them to accomplish many good things for others around us.
The problem and the danger comes when we begin to lose sight on the purpose of our lives and the purpose of what we have with us. We end up succumbing to our own personal emotions and human vulnerabilities, which end up in us committing sins before men and before God. Such is what had happened in the first reading that we heard today, on the story of the rise and fall of Queen Athaliah of Judea.
Queen Athaliah was the wife of King Joram of Judea, who met his end together with King Ahaziah of the northern kingdom of Israel, when God meted out His punishment to the house of Ahab, who had brought much wickedness to the northern kingdom. With the death of the king, then one of his sons should have taken over his position as king of Judea. However, as we saw and heard, that was not how things turned out to be.
Queen Athaliah decided to take matters and power into her own hands. As she was not of the House of David, she had absolutely no right to rule in her own right as the Queen of Judea. Yet, she did what she did, and she took power into her own hands after murdering many sons and children of her husband the deceased king, and then installed herself in power, thinking that she had removed all obstacles and were then secure.
Her example was a clear-cut example of how things will go if we allow pride and human desire, in our greed and want, to take over our being, our heart, mind and soul. It corrupted her and many other people throughout history, causing them to fall into the trap of power which the devil had set up to attack us at our most vulnerable, that is our pride, ego and our desire.
Brothers and sisters in Christ, we must not let our pride, ego and desire to get the better of us, and we have to learn to control them, so that we may avoid what had happened to men and women throughout the centuries, as exemplified by Queen Athaliah, making them to fall into sin and committing things evil in the sight of God and mankind. We must forgo our pride and allow God to come into our love, and speak within our hearts. We have to listen to Him and find out what His will is for us.
In our world today, we are inundated with many things of the world, where achievements, glories, and the power among men are preeminent. Those who have more of all these will receive human approval and praise, and those who have less or none of those will be looked down upon and rejected by the society. This is the hard reality of the world we are living in now.
So what are we to do, brothers and sisters? What should we do? Most importantly, we need to do something that many of us had often not done, in the midst of our busy life schedules, that is to pray, and pray genuinely to the Lord our God. This prayer is not just empty prayers and a prayer without meaning or understanding. A prayer is a conversation with God, a two-way conversation in which we speak with God and He speaks with us.
That is how we should act, to bring ourselves ever closer to God and keeping ourselves always in touch with Him, and there is no better way to do this other than through prayer. Yes, prayer that is made with the heart and through the heart, when we open the doors of our hearts and minds to God who then may keep in touch with us and touch our heart with His love.
May the Lord guide us in our ways and our lives, so that we may not follow the path of decadence and evil, controlling our emotions and avoid falling into the temptation of power and pride, and give ourselves totally to God’s love and providence. May He bless us all always and forever. Amen.
Liturgical Colour : Green
Matthew 6 : 19-23
Do not store up treasures for yourself here on earth, where moth and rust destroy it, and where thieves can steal it. Store up treasures for yourself with God, where no moth or rust can destroy it, nor thief come and steal it.
For where your treasure is, there also your heart will be. The lamp of the body is the eye; if your eyes are sound, your whole body will be in the light. If your eyes are diseased, your whole body will be in darkness. Then, if your light has become darkness, how dark will be the darkest part of you!
petercanisiusmichaeldavidkang 