February 18, 2015 by petercanisiusmichaeldavidkang

Thursday, 19 February 2015 : Thursday after Ash Wednesday (Homily and Scripture Reflections)

Liturgical Colour : Purple/Violet

Dear brothers and sisters in Christ, today as we progress through the season of Lent, and as we recall yesterday’s imposition of ashes on our foreheads, we continue to prepare ourselves to welcome Christ into our lives and celebrate with full joy and attention, and earnestly seeking to reconcile ourselves with the Lord, so that through this perfect opportunity during this Lenten season, we may be fully prepared to rejoice together with Him at the coming of Easter.

What is the significance for this, brothers and sisters in Christ? It is that we have been given a great opportunity to redeem ourselves, despite all of our wickedness and sins, so that we may be made clean and worthy once more. God is loving and forgiving and He desires for us all to be reconciled with Him through our Lord Jesus Christ, who had offered Himself in exchange for the consequences of our sins.

By dying on the cross He destroyed our death, and freed us from the bonds of death and from the chains of sin, and by rising from the dead, He restores us to life and give us the hope of a new and eternal life, one that is no longer tainted by sin, but filled forever with grace and the light of God. But if we think that this is going to be easy or to be a honeymoon period, then we have to really think it through very carefully.

For as we heard in the Gospel today, following Christ our Lord means taking up our cross and follow on the path of the cross of Christ. And if Jesus was rejected, mocked and spat upon during His arduous path towards Calvary, then the same will also happen to us all who decided to follow Christ. All the followers of Christ will also suffer as our Lord had suffered.

We must be ready to make a commitment and to devote ourselves to walk righteously on the path towards the Lord. Otherwise, if we are not able to commit and to show genuine devotion, and continue in our sinful ways, then we will not be able to receive the fullness of God’s grace, or even worse, that is to be rejected by God and receive condemnation.

Our faith must be real and concrete, and we all must be dedicated in our actions to show the faith we have to God. We have to practice what we believe in, or otherwise, our faith is useless and has no meaning. This season of Lent is therefore a time for all of us to look back into our own actions in the past and reflect on them. Have we been acting in accordance with our faith? Or have our actions proved otherwise instead?

This is the season of forgiveness, and it is also the best time for us to return to the Lord and ask for His mercy. And having been given this great chance, let us not waste it and make best use of the time available. Do you know that the souls suffering in hell wish that they are able to relive their existence on earth even if just for a single second?

Why is this so? In that single second, they wish that they would have been able to repent and change their ways before the Lord, and they wished that the Lord would have forgiven them. It is too late for them now, and nothing can save them from the fiery and painful suffering of hell, a total separation from God from where there can be no escape. That will also be our fate if we decide to do nothing and ignore our Lord’s call for our repentance.

Brothers and sisters in Christ, therefore, let us all be proactive in this season of Lent. Forgive one another and do not be in conflict anymore with any of our brethren. If we are angry with anyone or hold any grudge upon someone, let us quickly seek to restore the relationship between us and forgive each other. Love all those who are around us, and love also those who have hated us and persecuted us.

May Almighty God bless us all in this holy season of Lent, that we will find our way in getting closer and closer to Himself. May He forgive us our sins, just as we have forgiven the faults of those who had hurt us and caused trouble to us. Let the grace and love of God fill us in this time onward, so that from now on, the community of the people of God will grow greater ever in grace. God be with us all. Amen.

February 16, 2015 by petercanisiusmichaeldavidkang

Wednesday, 18 February 2015 : Ash Wednesday (Psalm)

Liturgical Colour : Purple or Violet

Psalm 50 : 3-4, 5-6a, 12-13, 14 and 17

Have mercy on me, o God, in Your love. In Your great compassion blot out my sin. Wash me thoroughly of my guilt; cleanse me of evil.

For I acknowledge my wrongdoings and have my sins ever in mind. Against You alone have I sinned.

Create in me, o God, a pure heart; give me a new and steadfast spirit. Do not cast me out of Your presence nor take Your Holy Spirit from me.

Give me again the joy of Your salvation and sustain me with a willing spirit. O Lord, open my lips, and I will declare Your praise.

February 9, 2015 by petercanisiusmichaeldavidkang

Wednesday, 11 February 2015 : 5th Week of Ordinary Time, Memorial of our Lady of Lourdes, World Day of the Sick (Homily and Scripture Reflections)

Liturgical Colour : Green or White (our Lady of Lourdes)

Dear brothers and sisters in Christ, today we celebrate the great feast day of Mary, the mother of our Lord and God Jesus Christ, who had appeared to her people, that is all of us, through the intermediary of St. Bernadette Soubirous just over a hundred and fifty years ago, in the quiet village and area of Lourdes in southern France. Today is the feast of our Lady of Lourdes, also known as the day of universal prayer for the sick and those afflicted with diseases both of body and soul.

We heard in the Gospel today of the creation of mankind, good and wonderful and perfect, filled with all the goodness of God, and made in the image of God. All of us were destined for a life filled with bliss and great happiness. Sickness and death were never meant for us, for these are the things of darkness, and we are the children of the Light, that is God.

Yet, it was because of our disobedience that we have sinned before the Lord and before all men, and therefore, in our disobedience and lack of faith, we brought the sickness unto ourselves, and sickness as well as corruption become a part of us. And that is what our Lord wants us to overcome and be freed from. He came into the world and through His teachings and works, He made whole a people that had been claimed by the darkness.

In the psalms, we heard about the praise upon Judith, the brave and courageous daughter of Israel and a holy woman, who despite of the great threat that faced her people, in the great force of the Babylonians under the leadership of the mighty general Holofernes, she went forth by herself to the camp of the enemy and in full faith of the Lord’s providence, she gained a great victory, triumph and salvation for her people by slaying the general when he was drunk with wine in his sleep.

Thus a great disaster was averted for the people of God, a people that had been subjected to the might and power of the conquering nation, expecting nothing else other than annihilation and slavery. It was because of the faith of one woman, who put her trust in the Lord, that salvation came for the people of God, and God heard the sincere prayers of the woman, Judith, which she made before she ventured into the enemy’s camp.

In the Gospel today, we hear something similar, and of an even greater significance for us all, as we heard about the Wedding at Cana, a story that we are surely all familiar with. In that wedding, the wedding couple who are the hosts of the wedding went into great trouble for their wine supply had run out. This is a great taboo in the Jewish society, and had the guests and the steward knew about it, the couple would be shamed and reviled for the rest of their lives.

That is when we know that Mary knew about the problem which the couple had, and she performed something that would set a great precedent. She requested for her Son to help the couple and get them out of trouble. Indeed, Jesus seemingly refused this when He remarked to her that it was not His time just yet. But, what Mary told the servants would be indeed amazing, as she said that whatever He would tell them, they have to listen to Him.

And indeed, Jesus performed His very first miracle right there and then. He turned the water into wine, and the reputation of the wedding couple was saved. But what is the true significance of this, brothers and sisters? It is that our beloved mother and the mother of our Lord Jesus, that is Mary, never forgets us when we are in trouble. Just as she was very observant of the problem faced by the couple, she too from heaven can see our troubles and the obstacles that lay in our path.

Mary is the greatest of all saints, not just because of her piety and her faithful life, which she spent in total and complete dedication to the will of God, mirroring what Judith had done even to a much greater scale, but she is also the mother of our Lord and God, Jesus Christ our Saviour and King. And she sits the closest to her Son’s throne in heaven, at His right hand, giving Him advice, prayers and petitions from all of us.

And she is also our mother, for remember that before His death on the cross, Jesus entrusted His own mother to His disciple John, just as He entrusted John to her. In this manner, He therefore entrusted all of us to the care of Mary, His mother. And that is how significant this feast day is for us. As we know with the other famous Marian apparitions, Mary appeared to many people, calling for them to repent and change from their sinful ways. She asked the people to devote themselves more and more to her Son, our Lord.

And in Lourdes, it was no different, for Mary also mentioned to St. Bernadette Soubirous, the need for the world to be converted for the sake of Christ, that everyone may receive the grace of salvation and liberation from their sins. And through her intercession for our sake, many had received miraculous healing at the Lourdes site ever since the apparition.

The water of the spring at Lourdes appeared since the time when Mary appeared to St. Bernadette, and those who bathed and immersed themselves in the water had been healed from their afflictions. This is why today we also pray for the sake of all those who are sick, as a reminder of this great grace of God. But we have to remember that, it is not that the water has any magical properties, or that Mary is the one who performed the miracle for us.

Rather, just like at the wedding at Cana, she is our intercessor, bringing our prayers directly to her Son, Jesus our Lord. Through her prayers, we are all made whole again by the grace of her Son, Jesus, who performed the healing and the miracle for us. What is the key? None other than our faith and our effort in living up to that faith. It is our faith in the power of our Lord, and the effort we have done to seek Him, which healed us from our afflictions, both of the body, and also of the soul, that is sin.

Therefore, brothers and sisters in Christ, on this great feast day of our Lady of Lourdes, let us all renew our commitment to our loving God, and let us all be ever more devoted to His mother, Mary, who is also our mother, and who like a mother is always concerned about us and daily pray for our sake, bringing our petitions and plight before her Son in heaven. Mary, our Lady of Lourdes, pray for us sinners that your Son may bring us to a new life everlasting freed from the afflictions of our body and soul. Amen.

January 31, 2015 by petercanisiusmichaeldavidkang

Sunday, 1 February 2015 : Fourth Sunday of Ordinary Time, Septuagesima Sunday (Second Reading)

Liturgical Colour : Green

1 Corinthians 7 : 32-35

I would like you to be free from anxieties. He who is not married is concerned about the things of the Lord and how to please the Lord. While he who is married is taken up with the things of the world and how to please his wife, and he is divided in his interests.

Likewise, the unmarried woman and the virgin are concerned with the service of the Lord, to be holy in body and spirit. The married woman, instead, worries about the things of the world and how to please their husband.

I say this for your own good. I do not wish to lay traps for you but to lead you to a beautiful life, entirely united with the Lord.

Alternative reading (Epistle for Septuagesima Sunday – Usus Antiquior)

1 Corinthians 9 : 24-27 and 1 Corinthians 10 : 1-5

Brethren, do you not know that those who run in the race, all run indeed, but only one received the prize? So run, that you may obtain. And everyone who strives for the mastery, refrains himself from all things, and they indeed so that they may receive a corruptible crown, but we receive an incorruptible one.

I therefore so run, not as at an uncertainty, I so fight, not as one beating the air but I chastise my body, and bring it into subjection, lest perhaps, when I have preached to others, I myself should become a castaway.

For I would not have you ignorant, brethren, that our fathers were all under the cloud, and all passed through the sea, and all in Moses were baptised, in the cloud and in the sea, and all did eat the same spiritual food, and all drank the same spiritual drink, (and they drank of the spiritual drink that followed them, and the Rock was Christ). But with the most of them God was not well pleased.

January 24, 2015 by petercanisiusmichaeldavidkang

Sunday, 25 January 2015 : Third Sunday of Ordinary Time, Feast of the Conversion of St. Paul the Apostle, Week of Prayer for Christian Unity (Homily and Scripture Reflections)

Liturgical Colour : Green

Dear brothers and sisters in Christ, today we celebrate the great feast of the conversion of the great Apostle St. Paul, who was once known as Saul, the great enemy and persecutor of the Church and the faithful ones of God. God made him to be an Apostle and the great champion of the Faith, spreading the Good News of the Gospel to the farthest ends of the known world at the time. By his works, many followed in his footsteps and were converted as well.

This is in line with the readings we heard today in the Holy Scriptures, the first reading taken from the Book of the prophet Jonah spoke of the repentance and penitence shown by the people of Nineveh, the great capital of the Assyrian Empire, which God had marked to be annihilated for their sins and wickedness. The people, from the king to the lowest servants and slaves immediately repented from their sins after they listened to the warnings of the prophet Jonah.

This is to highlight God’s nature, that is His love and mercy, which He freely gives to all those who put their trust in Him and those who want to be forgiven for their wickedness. Thus, He forgave those who have come to His throne and mercy, and most importantly, those who dedicated themselves to change their way of life and committed to a life free from sin and to walk in the way of the Lord from then on.

Thus was Paul forgiven and called by God, to change his ways of sin and wickedness, the sin of the rejection of Christ and of the persecution of the faithful ones of God, into one that is devoted to the salvation of souls and total faith and trust in God. Indeed, even today, we can only be truly amazed at how God called one of His greatest servants and defenders from among the sinners and among those who have once hated Him so much so as to swore to destroy His entire Church.

And in the Gospel today, the theme is repeated yet again, for God through Christ called the servants whom He would make to be His greatest servants and witnesses in the world, the Holy Apostles, who have been given the authority to teach and preach the Good News, the power to heal and to forgive sins, just as the Lord gave them all these.

This is to show us that God does not want to punish us sinners and rebels against His will, even though rightfully and justly we should have been punished very severely for the disobedience we have committed against the Lord. Yes, just as St. Paul who once as Saul became a scourge for the faithful, getting hundreds or maybe even thousands or more of the faithful of the early Church to become martyrs, and yet God was willing to forgive him and embrace him back into His love.

That is why we have to always remember that God truly loves us sinners, but He hates entirely our sins, our wickedness and all the filthy things we have committed in this life. Condemn not the sinners but the sin. That said, we must not have the false attitude of showing mercy to those who have committed sin but without seeking for their repentance and changing of their ways.

And why is this so important, brothers and sisters in Christ? If we look at what St. Paul himself wrote in the second reading, which was taken from his letter to the faithful in Corinth, he wrote about the imminence of the coming of the end, of the coming of the kingdom of God, and therefore, as we all should be aware of, that is the imminence of the coming of the last and final judgment of all creation, of all mankind.

Are we not too concerned of the fate of our fellow brethren? Are we all too selfish and concerned only about ourselves that we forget about others who still linger in the darkness and in sin? Are we proud of ourselves having been saved by the Lord and do we look down on those who are still filled with the filth of sin, without us offering a hand to help them out of their sinfulness into grace?

If our answers to all of this self-reflecting questions are yes, then we really have to look into ourselves, and ask us what is our faith truly about? Our faith in God is about believing in the Lord who have so much love for us sinners, that despite of all the filth of sin surrounding us, He still resolved to help and rescue us, and that was why He gave us Jesus His Son, to be our Redeemer.

Those of us who heard of the Good News of God and believed, and chose to accept Him as our Lord and Saviour, had been bathed and cleansed from the taints of our sins, of original sins and of our own sins, by the Blood of the Lamb of God, Christ who sacrificed Himself on the cross for us. By His death we were cast free from the suffering of death, and by His resurrection we are brought to a new life, life filled with the grace of God.

We have to realise that even great saints were themselves sinners once. No one was born a saint, except perhaps the Blessed Mother of our Lord, Mary, who was born clean and immaculate, free from sin, in order to prepare her in her role as the bearer of the Almighty God and Saviour, and of course our Lord Himself, born a Man and yet free from sin. All saints and holy people of God were once sinners too.

Yes, some saints were once murderers, adulterers, and we knew how St. Augustine lived in his youth, in debauchery and in the midst of worldliness, that his mother St. Monica prayed day and night with tears for the conversion of her son. And that is the attitude we should all have, to pray fervently for those around us who still sin, that they may receive the call and grace of God, and hope that they will turn their ways and embrace God’s mercy and forgiveness.

Like St. Paul, who had done so much great evils and sins in his youth, had he not been called, or if he had been rejected by God, and had he been rejected by the community of the faithful, then surely many countless souls would have been lost, those whom he had directly and indirectly touched throughout his long mission and service to God, whom without him would likely not have heard the word of God, spoken through St. Paul, the faithful servant, and the repentant sinner.

Therefore, shall we all realise that our action and proactive act are necessary for us to help our brethren to also find their way to the Lord? That is true Christian faith and true love, as Christ had taught us, that we embrace those who have hated and persecuted us because of our faith, those who have sinned and refused to believe in God, and by our actions, in which we show and infuse God’s love and mercy, we may bring them to realise the gravity of their sins, and the threat of eternal death they are facing, and therefore, immediately to turn their ways to find the Lord our God and their God, before it is too late for them.

May all of us be strengthened with the new Spirit of God, in the evangelisation and conversion of the world, so that many more people and many more souls can be saved and will be saved from the clutches of Satan, through our actions, be it through direct acts, or through our words and our loving acts to them, or even if it is through a simple prayer, prayed for their sake.

Let us all no longer be indifferent or ignorant of the plight of others around us who still dwell in sin, but let us free them, just as the Lord freed Saul from his sins and called him to be His servant, and thus let us help one another, to become holy people of God, saintly and devoted, that in the end, as many as possible are saved and brought into the Holy Presence of God. God be with us all, and forgive us sinners from our sins. Amen.

January 24, 2015 by petercanisiusmichaeldavidkang

Sunday, 25 January 2015 : Third Sunday of Ordinary Time, Feast of the Conversion of St. Paul the Apostle, Week of Prayer for Christian Unity (First Reading)

Liturgical Colour : Green

Jonah 3 : 1-5, 10

The word of YHVH came to Jonah a second time : “Go to Nineveh, the great city, and announce to them the message I give you.”

In obedience to the word of YHVH, Jonah went to Nineveh. It was a very large city, and it took three days just to cross it. So Jonah walked a single day’s journey and began proclaiming, “Forty days more and Nineveh will be destroyed.”

The people of the city believed God. They declared a fast, and all of them, from the greatest to the least, put on sackcloth.

When God saw what they did and how they turned from their evil ways, He had compassion and did not carry out the destruction He had threatened upon them.

January 12, 2015 by petercanisiusmichaeldavidkang

Tuesday, 13 January 2015 : 1st Week of Ordinary Time, Memorial of St. Hilary, Bishop and Doctor of the Church (Homily and Scripture Reflections)

Liturgical Colour : Green or White (Bishops)

Dear brothers and sisters in Christ, today we heard about the Lord Jesus healing the sick, the possessed and the suffering ones, from whom He cast out the demons. Yes, even demons had to obey that Man, our Lord Jesus Christ, for He is not just merely a Man, but also the Lord and Master of all creations. Satan was also once counted among His angels, and so did the other evil spirits, who were cast down from heaven for their rebellion against God.

He had come into the world to set everything straight and to take all things into His own hands, the Lord of all creations and all existences. He came to reclaim us from the clutches of Satan and to free us from the chains of sin and death. Thus, He came through Jesus, who became Man for our sake, and for our sake He laboured and toiled, resisting and fighting the forces of evil wherever He went during His ministry in this world.

And that was exactly what led to His works in this world, His casting out of demons and healing of the sick, so that He might make full again a people who had been torn apart by the darkness of the world, and bring them to the salvation which He had brought into the world. He came to save sinners and rescue those who are lost, the ones who could not find their way, blinded by sin and darkness.

Thus is the love which God has for us all mankind, so great that He was willing to humble Himself to come down to dwell among us as a simple Man, and to suffer for us, bearing all of our sins and the sufferings for those sins, that we may be liberated and brought free, released from the bonds and shackles which Satan has imposed on us, that is sin, the wickedness within our body, heart and soul, the disease of the soul that separated us from our loving God.

Many of us think that we are perfectly healthy, capable of doing many things we want in life, and many of us think of ourselves as unassailable and invincible, and great as well, because of our achievements and many other things. However, do we realise that all of us are truly afflicted with the sickness of sin? All of us without exception, all of mankind save for Christ alone are subjected to sin and corrupted by it in one way or another.

That is why our Lord who loves us, desires that we be brought to Him and be healed from the affliction of sin. He offered nothing else more precious and greater than Himself, as the Lamb of Sacrifice, offered on the Altar of Calvary, shedding His own Blood and offering it with His Body as a pleasing sacrifice to God, so that by that act of ultimate love and sacrifice, He purchased us and freed us from the slavery and bondage under Satan, and paid for our sinfulness in full.

And that is what Satan fears very much, his ultimate and greatest defeat, when mankind was snatched from his grasp and he knew of his ultimate defeat at the hands of the triumphant Lord. Even the devil knows that he has to submit and acknowledge his defeat before the Lord no matter how much he refused to do so and no matter how reluctant he was.

Therefore, today, as we continue to live our lives faithfully, we have to realise that our hope lies only in the Lord, for it is only He who is the source of salvation and life that can deliver us from the hands of the evil one and his allies. We cannot triumph and succeed on our own, but with the Lord on our side, nothing is impossible. Let us all ask the Lord to come to us and heal us from our afflictions of sin, and remove from us this corruption from our souls, minds, bodies and hearts.

Today, we celebrate the feast of St. Hilary of Poitiers, one of the greatest and most influential early Church father, whose works and teachings still profoundly affect many of the faithful and the Church of God even until today. St. Hilary of Poitiers was born a Roman pagan, but after studying the Scriptures thoroughly, he became convinced of the salvation which only our Lord God can offer, and he and his family converted to the true Faith.

At that time, many of the faithful came under the sway of the lies of the devil, and by the devil’s machinations, many were lost in the heresy as espoused and preached by Arius, now known as the Arian heresy. Arianism swept like wildfire across Christendom and caught many countless souls among its victims. Many went into hellfire and condemnation because they were swayed and tempted by the lies of the devil.

St. Hilary of Poitiers worked hard to reverse all that and saved as many souls as he could from the clutches of the devil. He succeeded in converting many but his path was not easy. It is often that those who have been ensnared in the lies of the devil and who had power, used that power to persecute the faithful ones, including St. Hilary of Poitiers. But St. Hilary never gave up and until the end of his life he continued to minister to the people of God and call them to repent from their sins. This is indeed an example we all should follow in our own lives.

Dear brothers and sisters in Christ, let us all the children of God and the members of His Church commit ourselves anew to reject Satan and all of his false promises and lies. With the intercession and the help of St. Hilary of Poitiers, let us cast aside his sweet words and falsehoods and instead put our complete trust and faith in God alone. Yes, we ought to put our trust in He who had given His all for our sake so that we may be healed and freed from sin. God be with us all, now and forever. Amen.

First Reading :

https://petercanisiusmichaeldavidkang.com/2015/01/12/tuesday-13-january-2015-1st-week-of-ordinary-time-memorial-of-st-hilary-bishop-and-doctor-of-the-church-first-reading/

Psalm :

https://petercanisiusmichaeldavidkang.com/2015/01/12/tuesday-13-january-2015-1st-week-of-ordinary-time-memorial-of-st-hilary-bishop-and-doctor-of-the-church-psalm/

Gospel Reading :

https://petercanisiusmichaeldavidkang.com/2015/01/12/tuesday-13-january-2015-1st-week-of-ordinary-time-memorial-of-st-hilary-bishop-and-doctor-of-the-church-gospel-reading/

January 11, 2015 by petercanisiusmichaeldavidkang

Monday, 12 January 2015 : 1st Week of Ordinary Time (Gospel Reading)

Liturgical Colour : Green

Mark 1 : 14-20

At that time, after John was arrested, Jesus went into Galilee and began preaching the Good News of God. He said, “The time has come; the kingdom of God is at hand. Change your ways and believe the Good News.”

As Jesus was walking along the shore of Lake Galilee, He saw Simon and his brother Andrew casting a net in the lake, for they were fishermen. And Jesus said to them, “Follow Me, and I will make you fish for people.” At once, they abandoned their nets and followed Him.

Jesus went a little farther on and saw James and John, the sons of Zebedee; they were in their boat mending their nets. Immediately Jesus called them and they followed Him, leaving their father Zebedee in the boat with the hired men.

Homily and Reflection :

https://petercanisiusmichaeldavidkang.com/2015/01/11/monday-12-january-2015-1st-week-of-ordinary-time-homily-and-scripture-reflections/

January 4, 2015 by petercanisiusmichaeldavidkang

Monday, 5 January 2015 : Monday after the Epiphany (Homily and Scripture Reflections)

Liturgical Colour : White

Dear brothers and sisters in Christ, today we heard about the works of God made real and manifest in the Lord Jesus Christ, who is the Son of God incarnate as Man by the Holy Spirit, and who by the same Holy Spirit did many wonderful works that only God can do. And through Jesus, God exercised His mighty power, teaching and healing the people from their afflictions, bringing the Good News long awaited into full and complete fulfillment.

Yesterday was the Feast of the Epiphany, the commemoration of the moment when the Lord revealed Himself to His people, by the means of the gifts of the three Wise men or the Magi, who presented Him with gifts of gold, frankincense and myrrh. In that celebration we continue to reaffirm our faith in our Lord Jesus who is Lord and King, who is God and one true God incarnate into flesh, and the One who was to suffer the consequences of sin so that we may be saved.

Brothers and sisters in Christ, we know who is the Christ, and what He has done. The Gospel today precisely spoke about the things that Jesus had done, reaffirming the call of St. John the Baptist, calling the people to repent and to change their ways, so that they would sin no more but enter into the grace of God, thus becoming worthy of the salvation which Christ brought into the world.

Why would the Lord to bother with all these? Why would He come to save the stubborn people who continue to refuse His love, even until today? We know of how many people who were lost along the way, who preferred the ways of the world and succumbing to their heart’s desires and greed. Many lived a debauched life filled with wickedness, with no regard for the Law and commandments of God.

Yet, if we know of the Lord, we should know how much He treasures each and every one of us without exception, even for the greatest of sinners. He does not want to let even a single one of us to be lost without His effort to try to bring us all back to Him. That is why He put so much effort into the attempt to reunite us with Himself, to the point that He Himself came into the world, so that we will not be lost.

As we continue to proceed through our daily celebrations of life, we have to grow stronger and better in our realisation of the love that the Lord has for us all, and the mercy which He wants to show to us. It is too often that we lack the necessary gratitude and acknowledgement of what God had done for us. Thus in this time and season, we have to grow more dedicated and devoted to Him.

How do we do so, brothers and sisters in Christ? That is by practicing our faith genuinely through our actions and deeds. We cannot be true disciples of the Lord unless if we ourselves have already practiced our faith with real actions and deeds. If what we are doing contradict what we believe in, then our faith in the Lord is meaningless, but if we do what our faith had told us to do, then our faith will benefit us.

Brothers and sisters in Christ, in this world, there is still great darkness and many people are still lost in it, wandering around seeking for their Lord and God, and many were blinded by their own emotions, ego, greed, desire, jealousy, hatred and many others. Thus it is now entrusted to all of us, for us to continue the works of Christ in this world, proclaiming His salvation for all the peoples, and by our examples and actions, may we all be able to inspire more and more people to embrace the way of the Lord and abandon their old ways of sin.

May Almighty God, our Lord Jesus Christ, help us on our journey in this life, that we will always be able to stay faithful to His ways and remain steadfast in our faith to Him. May all the peoples find their ways to the Lord and be saved as one people, that we may rejoice together at the end of time, blessing His great Name. Amen.

First Reading :

https://petercanisiusmichaeldavidkang.com/2015/01/04/monday-5-january-2015-monday-after-the-epiphany-first-reading/

Psalm :

https://petercanisiusmichaeldavidkang.com/2015/01/04/monday-5-january-2015-monday-after-the-epiphany-psalm/

Gospel Reading :

https://petercanisiusmichaeldavidkang.com/2015/01/04/monday-5-january-2015-monday-after-the-epiphany-gospel-reading/

December 23, 2014 by petercanisiusmichaeldavidkang

Thursday, 25 December 2014 : Solemnity of the Nativity of the Lord, Christmas Mass (Homily and Scripture Reflections)

Liturgical Colour : White

Dear brothers and sisters in Christ, today is the great day of great joy! The day when the Lord came into this world, assuming the form of a humble Man, born in a manger, to be the Saviour of the world, through whom this world would be delivered from its afflictions of sin and death. A Royal Child had been born for us and His Name is Jesus, the Emmanuel, which means God is with us.

Today is the culmination of the four weeks of preparation which we have begun since the first Sunday of Advent, and in this period of time, we have done our preparation for the coming of Christ, to rejoice greatly in His entry into the world. He is God, the Divine Word through which God willed the world and all of creations into being, but He did not hesitate to descend down upon us and assume our earthly identity as a Man, born of the Virgin, His mother Mary.

And in this, Christ is the culmination and perfect fulfillment of all the prophecies which prophets and messengers of God throughout the ages had prophesied about Him. They all talked of the day when the Lord would come and save His people, Israel, and this Saviour is none other than the Lord, just as king David and many prophets saw, the One who is to come to bring salvation to the world. He was also to be born of the House of David, as the Heir of David, the fulfillment of yet another of God’s promise, that He made to David, ‘Your descendants will sit on your throne forever.’

St. John the Evangelist spoke of Him in the Gospel he wrote, that He is Word, and He is eternal with God, not created but begotten from the Father, as One of the Holy Trinity, perfectly united to each other through love. And it is so wonderful that He has decided to come to us, to dwell among us and to be present among us, as the Lord who cares and loves for His people. He would not want them to be lost to the darkness.

The prophet Isaiah mentioned how a people in the darkness had seen a great Light. This Light is the Christ our Saviour, who brought His Light to lighten our path. We mankind have lived long in the darkness, caused by our sin and disobedience against God. We have for long lost our way and do not know where we ought to go in life, ever since we detached ourselves from the Lord’s guidance.

Disobedience of men against God brought us from the lives lived in full trust of the Lord, into a life filled with selfish desires and the desires to preserve ourselves, to gain more for ourselves, in possessions, wealth, for more worldly fame and praise, and to trust more in ourselves rather than to put our trust in the Lord. Temptations after temptations come our way, and we tend to lose our path, as we follow the false leads of temptation, greed, desire and many others.

We have deserved damnation and death for the paths of sin we had taken in life. But our Lord who loves us very much is willing to give us another chance, to change our ways and to be reoriented in our lives, so that while once we followed our own human desires, now we should trust rather in the Light which Christ had brought into the world, for He is the True Light that dispels all forms of lies and tricks that Satan and the evil one had brought unto us.

If I would give an analogy, the coming of Christ into the world is like ships being lost in the darkness of the sea, with no land in sight, and with dangerous rocks and waves threatening to sink the ships. We are the ships that travel through that sea filled with storms and rocks, which represent the challenges and temptations that we face in this life. Then, the coming of the Lord is like a great Light, which disperses the darkness, and gives hope to all those in the ship, because as all sailors knew, a light is a sign for land, like the light of a lighthouse.

That light shows the path the ships should take, to avoid the rocks and dangers that are scattered throughout the sea, that is our life journey. And this light to us, the Light of salvation, is our Lord Jesus Christ, born to us in Bethlehem on this day, over two millennia ago, as the manifestation of God’s desire to bring us back to Himself, and to bring a new hope of life to us.

To this extent, God who does not wish us to be lost to Him, chose to assume the humility of a servant, born as a Man, and not just any man. He is King of all kings, the Lord of all lords, and the Master of all the universe, and yet, this King was born in a manger within a stable suitable only for animals and not for human use. His Kingship is not one of power and greed, as the kingdoms and nations of this world are, but one that is based on love.

He laid down His life for us, by dying on the cross, so that through His death, we may be free from our sins and our sins He bore with Him as He climbed that hill of Calvary, out of that same love. By His obedience to the Father He had brought us from our state of sin and darkness into the new light of hope.

And why do we ponder this on this day of great joy? That is because Christmas cannot be separated from the Passion of the Lord, His death and resurrection, or otherwise, Christmas will be meaningless. Christmas is part of that grand celebration of God’s love, through which He made Himself Man, that He might carry out to perfection what the Lord had intended for us, that is to be liberated from our slavery and bondage to sin, and to bring us back to Himself.

His care and concern for us is great, and He is a true King who cares for all of His people. He did not come into this world to boast of Himself, His power or His might, but He came to serve His people with love, teaching them the way how they ought to live their lives that they may avoid those that bring about harm to them. Remember what I have just told you about the light of the lighthouse and the ship lost in the darkness?

The light of Christ is that light, and His teachings are the light that leads the people, the ships, to Himself, avoiding the dangers and the darkness that threaten to destroy us and harm us. He offers us this freely, and if only that we would follow Him, then we are sure to be safe and protected from any harm that may threaten us. Not the kind of threat that harms our body, but instead those threats that can harm our eternal soul, such as sin.

If we look at the story of Christmas, we can see clearly how most of us have the attitudes that do not allow us to welcome Christ into our lives. He has offered us salvation and grace in Him, but are we willing to accept Him and all that He offered us? The temptations and allures of this world, of many kinds of possessions, material goods, even sexual vices and pleasures of the flesh surely seem more enticing to us than to follow Christ and His ways.

Mary and Joseph were not able to find any place in any of the inns and houses of Bethlehem, and therefore they had no choice but to find a stable instead. No one has a place available for the Lord, whose coming was imminent then. Mary was about to give birth, and all those inns lost out on the opportunity to be the place where the Lord and Saviour was to be born, and instead, a humble stable and the animals became the witness of the Good News that had come to its full truth and fulfillment with the birth of Jesus.

Therefore, let us ask ourselves. Have we opened the door wide for Christ when He comes to us, or did we instead close the door in front of Him or did not even bother to open it to Him? If the latter is the case, more often than not, we are too full of ourselves, so that we are unable to open our heart to Christ. It is in our nature to think first about ourselves, our pride and selfishness, our desire for more goods and things of this world.

Thus, this Christmas, let us all realise that God wants to be with us, and He wants to come into our lives, and when He knocks at the door, do not let Him pass us by because we are too full of ourselves and therefore unable to accept Him into us. Let us all be humble and lower ourselves, sinners as we are, and yet God is willing to forgive us and accept us back into His loving embrace.

But we have one last thing to consider. The Lord who was born as a Child, Emmanuel, which means God is with us, is not just a symbolic meaning, but it is truly real. God is truly with us, and He is with us still, within us who are faithful to Him, and who have been accepted as the members of His Church. We believe in His Real Presence in the Eucharist, and whenever we receive the Most Holy Eucharist, God Himself came into us and dwell within us.

Therefore, even as we rejoice in this great celebration of Christmas, let us also be aware that all of us are the dwellings of the Lord Most High God, Jesus Christ our King. Yes, the very same One who was born in a manger on this Christmas day. He had dwelled in us and will never leave us, ever since He gave Himself up as a worthy sacrifice for our sins, giving us His Body and Blood, His very Presence and Essence for us, that all of us who have share in Him, will never fall and die, but will enjoy the fruits of eternal life.

Nonetheless, we have to heed what St. Paul had written in his letter to the Corinthians, when he reminded them about them, the faithful, as the Temple of God, the places where the Lord Himself resides in. We are the Temple and the House of God, and God dwells in us. Therefore, it is only fitting that this Temple be kept pure and holy at all times, and thus, this Christmas, let us all be renewed with a new resolve in our lives, so that we will be ever more faithful disciples of the Lord, appreciating and accepting His love, and practicing what He had taught us, in our own actions in life.

The Lord will one day come again, and this Christmas should be a season to celebrate and rejoice the love of God, but also for self-introspection and rediscovery of our faith. Do not wait until it is too late, lest we be caught unready and unprepared. Do not be like the inns and the houses of Bethlehem which were full, and were not able to receive the Lord into their places, and thus we should not close ourselves or isolate ourselves from the love of God made evident and real through Jesus.

May the joy of Christmas be with us all, not the false joy of parties and drunken revelries, not in the shopping and the goods, not in the bright lights and decorations, but the true Joy of knowing and having the Love of God made manifest and dwelling among us, through Jesus Christ our Lord, the Royal Child born on this day in Bethlehem, over two millennia ago, the proof of God’s love for us. May He find us ready and alert when He comes again, all of us filled with the true joy of Christmas and sharing the love He had given us, with one another. God bless us all. Amen.

Merry Christmas! Buon Natale! May the peace and love of Christ be with all of us!

First Reading (Christmas Vigil Mass) :

https://petercanisiusmichaeldavidkang.com/2014/12/22/wednesday-24-december-2014-solemnity-of-the-nativity-of-the-lord-christmas-vigil-mass-first-reading/

Psalm (Christmas Vigil Mass) :

https://petercanisiusmichaeldavidkang.com/2014/12/22/wednesday-24-december-2014-solemnity-of-the-nativity-of-the-lord-christmas-vigil-mass-psalm/

Second Reading (Christmas Vigil Mass) :

https://petercanisiusmichaeldavidkang.com/2014/12/22/wednesday-24-december-2014-solemnity-of-the-nativity-of-the-lord-christmas-vigil-mass-second-reading/

Gospel Reading (Christmas Vigil Mass) :

https://petercanisiusmichaeldavidkang.com/2014/12/22/wednesday-24-december-2014-solemnity-of-the-nativity-of-the-lord-christmas-vigil-mass-gospel-reading/

First Reading :

https://petercanisiusmichaeldavidkang.com/2014/12/23/thursday-25-december-2014-solemnity-of-the-nativity-of-the-lord-christmas-mass-first-reading/

Psalm :