children of God

by

Sunday, 1 February 2015 : Fourth Sunday of Ordinary Time, Septuagesima Sunday (Homily and Scripture Reflections)

Liturgical Colour : Green or Violet (Septuagesima Sunday – Usus Antiquior)

Dear brothers and sisters in Christ, today we celebrate the Septuagesima Sunday, which literally means ‘seventy’. This is to remind us that as this is the ninth Sunday before Easter, we are about seventy days away from the great feast and celebration of our Lord’s Passion, death and ultimately, the most important of all, the Resurrection through which He made whole all mankind and bring hope into the world engulfed in the darkness.

As is appropriate, the Gospel today from the Gospel of St. Mark spoke about time and works that men take up, to fulfill the Lord’s call for all of us. The parable of the vineyard workers and the owner is speaking about how we mankind, the people of God are called by the Lord to be His servants and to do the good works which He had initiated in this world.

The Gospel from the readings for the Fourth Sunday of Ordinary Time spoke of how Jesus our Lord exercised His power and authority to cast out demons and heal all those afflicted by the physical and spiritual sickness and diseases. And that is just how our Lord does His work to liberate us all from the clutches of Satan, and ti show the way for us all to seek the Lord our God.

And in the first reading of the Ordinary Time readings, from the Book of Deuteronomy, the Lord had promised His people that He would send them a Prophet, that is the One who would bear His will and His words of truth to the people. Jesus is that Prophet, who taught the people and His own disciples through stories and parables which bore the truth of God inside them. He is the Word of God made flesh.

In the parable told by Jesus in the Gospel for Septuagesima Sunday, the vineyard owner is truly the Lord our God, who is the Lord of all. The vineyard itself is the world that is saved, that is the Church of God, and the workers are all of us, the race of men. God seeks out all of us at different times, and He sought us in the darkened world outside the Church, that is everything else beyond the vineyard. Like the owner who went out to seek more workers for his field at various hours, the Lord too seeks us at all the time, desiring to find us and bring us to salvation.

There are therefore three main things I want and I hope all of us will take away from the readings of today, that we may reflect on them and understand the necessity for us to know what the Lord wants from us. First, it is that we should not wait until it is too late and then only then we desire to seek the Lord. The Lord always wants to seek us, but if we ourselves refuse to listen to His call, then we will be forever damned in the darkness.

And we do not know when death will come for us. All of us will die one day, at the time and place that only the Lord our God knows. There are many who continue to ignore the Lord’s heedings for us, and they wait, thinking that there is still time for them. But death may claim them on the next day, and even on the next minute or second! And when that happens, no matter how we beg or how we plead with the Lord, He will refuse us for we have ourselves refused the generous and repeated offer of mercy which He had given us.

And then secondly, the Lord invites us to enter His Church, to be saved with all those who have been saved earlier. The Church of God is represented in the Gospel with the vineyard and all the workers inside it. All those whom the Lord calls and accepted His call and worked in His Church are saved. Thus, we ought to rejoice indeed, for we have received baptism that initiated us to be the members of the Church, the children of God and thus the partakers of God’s saving works and grace.

And last of all, as we see, that all the workers received equal pay of one denarius or silver coin, regardless of how long they have worked in the vineyard. Thus, the same applies to all of us the children of God. Regardless of what we have in this life, our possessions, our abilities and talents, our works and contributions, as long as we are all faithful to God and keep His commandments, we are all equal before the Lord.

This does not mean literally that everyone should be equal. As we can see, that different workers work at different hours and for different lengths of time. This means that each of us in the Church of God have distinct roles, each according to his or her own abilities. We should not be jealous that others had done less, or be proud that we have attained salvation earlier because He called us earlier than others.

This means that we should not be proud of our justification and look down on others who have yet to be saved. After all, as long as we receive His salvation and agree to become part of His Church, we shall receive the same reward, represented by the equal pay of one denarius for each worker, that is our salvation and eternal life, to live together in perfect bliss and happiness without end, with the Lord our God.

Therefore, brothers and sisters in Christ, let us all realise that we all have much to do in order to bring others into the salvation in God. We should help one another, and as part of the Church, to be examples and role models for all those who have yet to find their way to the Lord, so that they too may be saved. And we have to realise as well, that the vineyard of the Lord, that is His Church, still require many people to help as the servants of the works of God.

May all of us be awakened to follow the Lord and to righteously walk in His way. Let us all seek the Lord and harken to His call. Do not wait until it is too late for us, but let us stir ourselves from our slumber and walk from now on, only in the path of the Lord. God bless us all. Amen.

by

Friday, 16 January 2015 : 1st Week of Ordinary Time (Psalm)

Liturgical Colour : Green

Psalm 77 : 3 and 4bc, 6c-7, 8

Old mysteries which we have heard and known, which our ancestors have told us. We will announce them to the coming generation : the glorious deeds of the Lord, His might and the wonders He has done.

So the next generation would learn and teach their own children. They would then put their trust in God, and not forget His deeds and His commands.

And not be like their ancestors, stubborn and rebellious people, a people of inconstant heart whose spirit was fickle.

 

Homily and Reflection :

https://petercanisiusmichaeldavidkang.com/2015/01/15/friday-16-january-2015-1st-week-of-ordinary-time-homily-and-scripture-reflections/

by

Saturday, 10 January 2015 : Saturday after the Epiphany (First Reading)

Liturgical Colour : White

1 John 5 : 14-21

Through the Son of God we are fully confident that whatever we ask, according to His will, He will grant us. If we know that He hears us whenever we ask, we know that we already have what we asked of Him.

If you see your brother committing sin, a sin which does not lead to death, pray for him, and God will give life to your brother. I speak, of course, of the sin which does not lead to death. There is also a sin that leads to death; I do not speak of praying about this. Every kind of wrongdoing is sin, but not all sin leads to death.

We know that those born of God do not sin, but the one who was born of God protects them and the evil one does not touch them. We know that we belong to God, while the whole world lies in evil. We know that the Son of God has come and has given us power to know the truth. We are in Him who is true, His Son Jesus Christ. He is the true God and eternal life.

My dear children, keep yourselves from idols.

Homily and Reflection :
https://petercanisiusmichaeldavidkang.com/2015/01/09/saturday-10-january-2015-saturday-after-the-epiphany-homily-and-scripture-reflections/

by

Saturday, 3 January 2015 : Weekday of Christmas Time, Memorial of the Most Holy Name of Jesus (First Reading)

Liturgical Colour : White

1 John 2 : 29 – 1 John 3 : 6

You know that He is the Just One : know then that anyone living justly is born of God. See what singular love the Father has for us : we are called children of God, and we really are. This is why the world does not know us, because it did not know Him.

Beloved, we are God’s children and what we shall be has not yet been shown. Yet when He appears in His glory, we know that we shall be like Him, for then we shall see Him as He is. All who have such a hope try to be pure as He is pure. Anyone who commits a sin acts as an enemy of the Law of God; any sin acts wickedly, because all sin is wickedness.

You know that He came to take away our sins, and that there is no sin in Him. Whoever remains in Him has no sin, whoever sins has not seen or known Him.

 

Alternative reading (Mass of the Most Holy Name of Jesus)

Philippians 2 : 1-11

If I may advise you in the Name of Christ and if you can hear it as the voice of love; if we share the same Spirit and are capable of mercy and compassion, then I beg of you, make me very happy : have one love, one Spirit, one feeling, do nothing through rivalry or vain conceit.

On the contrary let each of you gently consider the others as more important than yourselves. Do not seek your own interest, but rather that of others. Your attitude should be the same as Jesus Christ had :

Though He was in the form of God, He did not regard equality with God as something to be grasped, but emptied Himself, taking on the nature of a servant, made in human likeness, and in His appearance found as a Man. He humbled Himself by being obedient to death, death on the cross.

That is why God exalted Him and gave Him the Name which outshines all names, so that at the Name of Jesus all knees should bend in heaven, on earth and among the dead, and all tongues proclaim that Christ Jesus is the Lord to the glory of God the Father.

 

Homily and Reflection :

https://petercanisiusmichaeldavidkang.com/2015/01/03/saturday-3-january-2015-weekday-of-christmas-time-memorial-of-the-most-holy-name-of-jesus-homily-and-scripture-reflections/

by

(Usus Antiquior) Feast of the Holy Innocents, Martyrs (Double II Classis) – Sunday, 28 December 2014 : Epistle

Liturgical Colour : Red

Lectio Epistolae Beati Pauli Apostoli ad Galatas – Lesson from the Epistle of Blessed Paul the Apostle to the Galatians

Galatians 4 : 1-7

Fratres : Quanto tempore heres parvulus est, nihil differt a servo, cum sit dominus omnium : sed sub tutoribus et actoribus est usque ad praefinitum tempus a patre : ita et nos, cum essemus parvuli, sub elementis mundi eramus servientes.

At ubi venit plenitudo temporis, misit Deus Filium suum, factum ex muliere, factum sub lege, ut eos, qui sub lege erant, redimeret, ut adoptionem filiorum recipieremus. Quoniam autem estis filii, misit Deus Spiritum Filii sui in corda vestra, clamantem : Abba, Pater.

Itaque jam non est servus, sed filius quod si filius, et heres per Deum.

 

English translation

Brethren, as long as the heir is a child, he does not differ from a servant, though he is lord of all, but is under tutors and governors until the time appointed by the father, so we also, when we were children, were serving under the elements of the world.

But when the fullness of time was come, God sent His Son, made of a woman, made under the Law : that He might redeem those who were under the Law, that we might receive the adoption of sons. And because you are sons, God had sent the Spirit of His Son into your hearts, crying : Abba, Father.

Therefore now he is not a servant, but a son, and if a son, an heir also through God.

 

Homily and Reflection :

https://petercanisiusmichaeldavidkang.com/2014/12/26/usus-antiquior-feast-of-the-holy-innocents-martyrs-double-ii-classis-sunday-28-december-2014-homily-and-scripture-reflections/

by

Friday, 26 December 2014 : Feast of St. Stephen, Protomartyr of the Church (Gospel Reading)

Liturgical Colour : Red

Matthew 10 : 17-22

At that time, Jesus said to His disciples, “Be on your guard with people, for they will hand you over to their courts, and they will flog you in their synagogues. You will be brought to trial before rulers and kings because of Me, so you may witness to them and the pagans.”

“But when you are arrested, do not worry about what you are to say, or how you are to say it; when the hour comes, you will be given what you are to say. For it is not you who will speak, but the Spirit of your Father in you.”

“Brother will hand over brother to death, and a father his child; children will turn against parents and have them put to death. Everyone will hate you because of Me, but whoever stands firm to the end will be saved.”

 

Homily and Reflection :

https://petercanisiusmichaeldavidkang.com/2014/12/25/friday-26-december-2014-feast-of-st-stephen-protomartyr-of-the-church-homily-and-scripture-reflections/

by

Tuesday, 16 December 2014 : Third Week of Advent (Homily and Scripture Reflections)

Liturgical Colour : Purple or Violet

Dear brothers and sisters in Christ, today we heard about obedience to the will of God and obedience to what He had taught us to do. He pointed out those who pretended to listen and obey, but in the end, never actually obeyed what the Lord had taught them to do, and then compared these to those who did not seem to listen but eventually obeyed and listened to God and do His will.

What Jesus had done in the Gospel today was to establish the common perceptions and prejudices of the time, and the divisions that exist between the Jews, the people of Israel, who regarded themselves as a chosen race and a chosen people, having descended directly from Abraham and Jacob, and who had been brought out of Egypt by the power of God Himself, and who received the Promised Land, the sign of God’s faithfulness to His promise to Abraham, and the people who are non-Jews and generally called the Gentiles.

The Gentiles were all the people who lived around and with the Jews at the time, consisting of the Samaritans, Nabateans, Egyptians, the Arabs, the Phoenicians, the Greeks and the Romans, and many other nations, including all those whom we heard to be at Jerusalem during the Pentecost. They were looked down by the Jews, since they thought that these people, being not part of the ‘chosen race’, they were not worthy of salvation, as they were pagans and not believing in God, their One and only God.

Yet, what Jesus sought to challenge was this perception, which was really false and misleading. What He mentioned as the son who listened and heard the word of the father, but never actually obeyed and did the work asked of him, referred to the Pharisees and the teachers of the Law and many of those who held the view and attitude that they were above others because they were part of the chosen ones, and thus according to them, deserved salvation while others did not.

The son who did not listen but eventually did the work as his father had commanded him, represented the Gentiles and all the people whom the Jews considered as pagans including the prostitutes and tax collectors from among themselves, and whom they condemned as damned. Yet, it is among these people that the words of Jesus and the teachings of the Faith found strong roots, and the people who heard them truly listened, changed their ways and found redemption in Christ. They were the son who did not listen, precisely because they did not have the opportunity to listen to the word of God before the coming of the Christ in Jesus.

There were also some among the Jews who believed in Jesus and in His teachings, but many especially the Pharisees and the teachers of the Law were ardently against Him and attempted to even undermine His efforts and good works among the people. This is truly the son who had the opportunity to listen to the word and commands of the father but refused to do the work according to what he had been told.

The people of Israel had had so many opportunities that God had given to them, by the sending of the numerous prophets and messengers of God’s will to them, who spoke to them and urged them to repent from their sins, and yet they refused to listen. Remember the parable of the tenants of the vineyard? In that parable, the tenants refused to pay the proceeds agreed between them and the owner, and they persecuted and even murdered the servants sent to remind them.

And in the parable, when the owner sent his own son to remind the tenants, they murdered him as well. This is the same as how the Pharisees and the elders rejected Jesus and loathed what He taught them. Indeed, they preferred to remain in their sinful pride and greed rather than to accept the grace and forgiveness of God. And God who will judge all according to their deeds, will hold them accountable for all of their sinful deeds.

What is the lesson for us today, brothers and sisters in Christ? It is that we should never allow our pride and greed to blind us to the love and truth of Christ. We have to submit ourselves humbly to the will of God and commit ourselves to do His will dutifully, just as the latter son had done. We cannot be prejudiced just simply because we have faith in God and thus think that we are then safe from all harm. Yes, faith alone is not enough as faith without good works is dead.

We have to show our faith in our actions and in all of our deeds, so that all who sees us will then know that we truly belong to the Lord. Jesus had commissioned His Apostles and disciples to go and spread the Good News to all of the world and to baptise all peoples of all the nations in the Name of the Father, Son and Holy Spirit. But how are we to persuade others to believe if we ourselves do not practice what we believe in?

Let this Advent be a time of prayer, reflection and sincere preparation of ourselves, of our body, heart and mind so that we may truly live out our lives in faith and that we all may become good examples and role models of the faith, so as to bring many more souls to salvation. Do not become disobedient like the former son who listened but never did what his father wanted, but instead be obedient and be faithful to God, our loving Father, who will reward us for our living faith. God bless us all. Amen.

 

First Reading :

https://petercanisiusmichaeldavidkang.com/2014/12/15/tuesday-16-december-2014-third-week-of-advent-first-reading/

 

Psalm :

https://petercanisiusmichaeldavidkang.com/2014/12/15/tuesday-16-december-2014-third-week-of-advent-psalm/

 

Gospel Reading :

https://petercanisiusmichaeldavidkang.com/2014/12/15/tuesday-16-december-2014-third-week-of-advent-gospel-reading/

by

Monday, 8 December 2014 : Solemnity of the Immaculate Conception of the Blessed Virgin Mary (Second Reading)

Liturgical Colour : White

Ephesians 1 : 3-6, 11-12

Blessed be God, the Father of Christ Jesus our Lord, who in Christ has blessed us from heaven with every spiritual blessing. God chose us in Christ before the creation of the world to be holy and without sin in His presence.

From eternity He destined us in love to be His adopted sons and daughters through Christ Jesus, thus fulfilling His free and generous will. This goal suited Him : that His loving kindness which He granted us in His Beloved might finally receive all glory and praise.

By a decree of Him who disposes all things according to His own plan and decision, we, the Jews, have been chosen and called, and we were awaiting the Messiah, for the praise of His glory.

 

Homily and Reflection :

https://petercanisiusmichaeldavidkang.com/2014/12/06/monday-8-december-2014-solemnity-of-the-immaculate-conception-of-the-blessed-virgin-mary-homily-and-scripture-reflections/

by

Saturday, 8 November 2014 : 31st Week of Ordinary Time (Psalm)

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

Psalm 111 : 1-2, 5-6, 8a and 9

Alleluia! Blessed is the one who fears the Lord, who greatly delights in His commands. His children will be powerful on earth; the upright’s offspring will be blessed.

It will be well with him who lends freely, who leads a life of justice and honesty. For the righteous will never be moved; he will be remembered and loved forever.

His heart is confident, he gives generously to the poor, his merits will last forever and his head will be raised in honour.

 

Homily and Scripture Reflection : 

https://petercanisiusmichaeldavidkang.com/2014/11/07/saturday-8-november-2014-31st-week-of-ordinary-time-homily-and-scripture-reflections/

by

Thursday, 6 November 2014 : 31st Week of Ordinary Time (Psalm)

Liturgical Colour : Green

Psalm 104 : 2-3, 4-5, 6-7

Sing to Him, sing His praise, proclaim all His wondrous deeds. Glory in His holy Name; let those who seek the Lord rejoice.

Look to the Lord and be strong; seek His face always. Remember His wonderful works, His miracles and His judgments.

You descendants of His servant Abraham, you sons of Jacob, His chosen ones! He is the Lord our God; His judgments reach the whole world.

 

Homily and Reflection : 
https://petercanisiusmichaeldavidkang.com/2014/11/05/thursday-6-november-2014-31st-week-of-ordinary-time-homily-and-scripture-reflections/