abundance

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Sunday, 23 November 2014 : 34th Sunday of Ordinary Time, Solemnity of our Lord Jesus Christ, King of the Universe, Memorial of Pope St. Clement I, Pope and Martyr, and St. Columban, Abbot (Psalm)

Liturgical Colour : White

Psalm 22 : 1-2a, 2b-3, 5-6

The Lord is my Shepherd, I shall not want. He makes me lie down in green pastures.

He leads me beside the still waters, He restores my soul. He guides me through the right paths for His Name’s sake.

You spread a table before me in the presence of my foes. You anoint my head with oil; my cup is overflowing. Goodness and kindness will follow me all the days of my life. I shall dwell in the house of the Lord as long as I live.

 

Homily and Reflection :

https://petercanisiusmichaeldavidkang.com/2014/11/19/sunday-23-november-2014-34th-sunday-of-ordinary-time-solemnity-of-our-lord-jesus-christ-king-of-the-universe-memorial-of-pope-st-clement-i-pope-and-martyr-and-st-columban-abbot-homily-and/

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Tuesday, 8 July 2014 : 14th Week of Ordinary Time (Gospel Reading)

Liturgical Colour : Green

Matthew 9 : 32-38

When they had just left, some people brought to Jesus a man who was dumb, because he was possessed by a demon. When the demon was driven out, the dumb man began to speak. The crowds were astonished and said, “Nothing like this has ever been seen in Israel.”

But the Pharisees said, “He drives away demons with the help of the prince of demons.”

Jesus went around all the towns and villages, teaching in their synagogues and proclaiming the Good News of the kingdom, and He cured every sickness and disease. When He saw the crowds, He was moved with pity, for they were harassed and helpless like sheep without a shepherd.

Then He said to His disciples, “The harvest is abundant, but the workers are only few. Ask the Master of the harvest to send workers to gather His harvest.”

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Tuesday, 10 June 2014 : 10th Week of Ordinary Time (First Reading)

Liturgical Colour : Green

1 Kings 17 : 7-16

After a while, the brook dried up because no rain had fallen in the land. Then YHVH spoke to Elijah, “Go to Zarephath of the Sidonites and stay there. I have given word to a widow there to give you food.”

So Elijah went to Zarephath. On reaching the gate of the town, he saw a widow gathering sticks. He called to her and said, “Bring me a little water in a vessel that I may drink.”

As she was going to bring it, he called after her and said, “Bring me also a piece of bread.” But she answered, “As YHVH your God lives, I have no bread left but only a handful of flour in a jar and a little oil in a jug. I am just now gathering some sticks so that I may go in and prepare something for myself and my son to eat – and die.”

Elijah then said to her, “Do not be afraid. Go and do as you have said, but first make me a little cake of it and bring it to me; then make some for yourself and your son. For this is the word of YHVH, the God of Israel, ‘The jar of meal shall not be emptied nor shall the jug of oil fail, until the day when YHVH sends rain to the earth.”

So she went and did as Elijah told her; and she had food for herself, Elijah and her son from that day on. The jar of flour was not emptied nor did the jug of oil fail, in accordance with what YHVH had said through Elijah.

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Thursday, 24 April 2014 : Thursday within Easter Octave (Psalm)

Liturgical Colour : White

Psalm 8 : 2a and 5, 6-7, 8-9

O Lord, our Lord, how great is Your Name throughout the earth! What is a man that You be mindful of him, the Son of Man, that You should care for Him?

Yet You made Him a little lower than the angels; You crowned Him with glory and honour and gave Him the works of Your hands; You have put all things under His feet.

Sheep and oxen without number and even the beasts of the field, the birds of the air, the fish of the sea, and all that swim the path of the ocean.

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Thursday, 6 March 2014 : Thursday after Ash Wednesday (First Reading)

Liturgical Colour : Purple/Violet

Deuteronomy 30 : 15-20

See, I set before you on this day life and good, evil and death. I command you to love YHVH, your God and follow His ways. Observe His commandments, His norms and His laws, and you will live and increase, and YHVH will give you His blessing in the land you are going to possess.

But if your heart turns away and does not listen, if you are drawn away and bow before other gods to serve them, I declare on this day that you shall perish. You shall not last in the land you are going to occupy on the other side of the Jordan.

Let the heavens and the earth listen, that they may be witnesses against you. I have set before you life and death, blessing and curse. Therefore, choose life that you and your descendants may live, loving YHVH, listening to His voice, and being one with Him. In this life for you and length of days in the land which YHVH swore to give to your ancestors, to Abraham, Isaac and Jacob.

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Saturday, 15 February 2014 : 5th Week of Ordinary Time (Gospel Reading)

Liturgical Colour : Green or White (Saturday Mass of our Lady)

Mark 8 : 1-10

Soon afterwards Jesus was in the midst of another large crowd, that obviously had nothing to eat. So He called His disciples and said to them, “I feel sorry for these people, because they have been with Me for three days and now have nothing to eat. If I send them to their homes hungry, they will faint on the way; some of them have come a long way.”

His disciples replied, “Where, in a deserted place like this, could we get enough bread to feed these people?” He asked them, “How many loaves have you?” And they answered, “Seven.”

Then He ordered the crowd to sit down on the ground. Taking the seven loaves and giving thanks, He broke them, and handed them to His disciples to distribute. And they distributed them among the people. They also had some small fish, so Jesus said a blessing, and asked that these be shared as well.

The people ate and were satisfied. The broken pieces were collected, seven wicker baskets full of leftovers. Now those who had eaten were about four thousand in number. Jesus sent them away, and immediately got into the boat with His disciples, and went to the region of Dalmanutha.

 

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Wednesday, 12 February 2014 : 5th Week of Ordinary Time (First Reading)

Liturgical Colour : Green

1 Kings 10 : 1-10

The queen of Sheba heard about Solomon’s fame, and came to test him with difficult questions. She arrived in Jerusalem with a vast retinue and with camels loaded with spices, an abundance of gold and precious stones. When she came to Solomon, she told him all that she had on her mind and Solomon answered all her questions.

There was nothing that the king could not explain to her. And when the queen of Sheba had seen all the wisdom of Solomon, the palace he had built, the food on his table, the residence of his officials, the attendance of his servants and their clothing, his cupbearers, and the burnt offerings which he offered at YHVH’s House, it left her breathless.

Then she said to the king, “All that I heard in my own land concerning you and your wisdom was true. But I did not believe the reports until I came and saw with my own eyes. And what did I see! I was told only half the story; for your wisdom and wealth surpass the report I heard.”

“Fortunate are your wives! Fortunate are your servants who are ever in your presence and hear your wisdom! Blessed be YHVH your God, who has looked kindly on you and has put you on the throne of Israel! Because of YHVH’s eternal love for Israel, He has made you king so that you may dispense justice and righteousness.”

Then she gave the king a hundred and twenty talents of gold, spices in abundance, and precious stones. Such an abundance of spices as those which the queen of Sheba gave to king Solomon was never again seen.

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Tuesday, 1 October 2013 : 26th Week of Ordinary Time, Solemnity of St. Therese of the Child Jesus, Virgin and Doctor of the Church (First Reading)

Liturgical Colour : White

Isaiah 66 : 10-14

“Rejoice for Jerusalem and be glad for her, all you who love her. Be glad with her, rejoice with her, all you who were in grief over her, that you may suck of the milk from her comforting breasts, that you may drink deeply from the abundance of her glory.”

For this is what YHVH says : ‘I will send her peace, overflowing like a river; and the nations’ wealth, rushing like a torrent towards her. And you will be nursed and carried in her arms and fondled upon her lap. As a son comforted by his mother, so will I comfort you.’

‘At the sight of this, your heart will rejoice; like grass, your bones will flourish. For it shall be known that YHVH’s hand is with His servant, but His fury is upon His enemy.’

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Sunday, 8 September 2013 : 23rd Sunday of Ordinary Time (Scripture Reflection)

Liturgical Colour : Green

Brothers and sisters in Christ, today we learnt an important lesson of our lives, and on the nature of God Himself. We are mortals brethren, and one day we will all die, and that is an important thing that we all will have to realise at one point of time in our life.

The Lord our God has His plans for all of us, ever since He created us and this universe. The way that God thinks is not in short moments or days or weeks in our human perception. He thought of things far before things happen, and He formed in His thoughts the plan He had for all of us His creation.

Our transgressions and disobedience against Him, starting from Adam and Eve our ancestors did not disturb His plans for us at all, for everything truly moved as how He desired it, and in His great love for us, He planned a rescue mission for all of us, long before it was executed. That all because He cares for us, and just as He had planned since the very beginning, that He wanted us to be in His presence in true joy and happiness forever.

That was why He prepared for us the salvation in the form of Christ, Himself incarnate into man like us in Jesus. Long before Christ was even born unto this world, He had made His preparations, to prepare this world and its people to be ready for the coming of the Saviour.  That was why He sent the prophets into this world, that they delivered to the people of God for the eventual coming of the Messiah.

He sent Moses to liberate His people, Israel, from bondage and slavery by the Pharaohs and the Egyptians. Through Moses too the people of God had received the very Laws of the Lord and His commandments. These laws were meant not to limit the people of God nor oppress them with even more burdens. In fact, these laws were meant to help us in our path towards God, towards freedom, freedom from evil, freedom from the burdens of sin.

God did not leave us behind without any help. If the prophets were rejected and murdered, then He would send even more, for our sake, that eventually was born through the Lord Jesus. With the arrival of Jesus, the new hope for this world had arisen. In Christ lay the perfection of all the prophecies of the prophets, the teachings of the elders of Israel, and ultimately the love of God.

But Jesus did not come into this world to enjoy a happy life and to just zap out our sins automatically. He had much work to do, and He had to endure rejection, pain, suffering, and mockery by others throughout His life. Even His hometown relations mocked Him in the synagogue when He revealed the truth about Himself, seeing Him as a mere carpenter’s son.

Yet all of these are within God’s divine and long-prepared plans for us and for our salvation. He endured all of that with the greatness of His love for us, and the love and obedience Jesus always has for His Father in heaven. So much so that even when His disciples abandoned Him, betrayed Him to the authorities and to His enemies, and despite facing such a great challenge of the monumental task of having to endure the sins of the entire mankind, He endured it with love, for us.

Through Christ’s suffering, pain, and Passion on the way to Calvary, and through His crucifixion unto His death, He had broken the hold of sin over mankind, by rising from the dead in glorious resurrection, He snatched us all away from the hands of Satan forever, if we embrace the salvation He had offered us through His death and resurrection.

All indeed are part of God’s plan, formed long ago since He created us from dust. Remember that after our ancestors fell into sin, He did not shun us or abandon us, even though He did punish them for their transgressions. He promised our ancestors, that One will be born of the woman, who will in a sense , enact revenge on Satan, the snake, the deceiver. That One to be born was truly Christ, born of the woman, the Blessed Virgin Mary.

Through the death and resurrection of Christ, He had dealt a crushing blow on Satan, as promised by God Himself at the beginning of time, showing how far the Lord’s foresight and plans had been. In Christ too, the promise God had first made to Abraham was fulfilled in its completion, that the descendants of Abraham would be great. He also fulfilled the promise made to David, that one of his descendants would rule forever, that is in Christ, the descendant. of David, also Son of God Most High, who is King of all Kings for all eternity.

Therefore, brothers and sisters in Christ, having seen truly the greatness of the love, the might, and the wisdom of our Lord, let us therefore realise the great love and care He has for all of us, planning from very early on, for our welfare and for our wellbeing. He did not even fear death for our sake, that He died for us, that we may live.

Let us thus not harden our hearts as our ancestors had done, and instead humble ourselves before Him, opening our hearts to His divine love. Let us also realise our mortality, of the nothingness we are compared to the all wonderful God. It is not to degrade ourselves or to make ourselves feel inferior. It is important for us to understand and take note of our shortcomings, that we will be able to seek to be better, that is to seek God, in whom we can find true wisdom and true enlightenment.

May the Lord who is ever loving, kind, and caring, continue to provide for us, protect us, and guide us to Himself that we will not fall into damnation with Satan and his angels. God be with us and bless us with abundance of graces forever. Amen.

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Sunday, 8 September 2013 : 23rd Sunday of Ordinary Time (Psalm)

Liturgical Colour : Green

Psalm 89 : 3-4, 5-6, 12-13, 14 and 17

You turn humans back to dust, saying, “Return, o mortals!” A thousand years in Your sight are like a day that has passed, or like a watch in the night.

You sow them in their time, at dawn they peep out. In the morning they blossom, but the flower fades and withers in the evening.

So make us know the shortness of our life, that we may gain wisdom of heart. How long will You be angry, o Lord? Have mercy on Your servant.

Fill us at daybreak with Your goodness, that we may be glad all our days. May the sweetness of the Lord be upon us; may He prosper the work of our hands.