divine providence

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Monday, 22 December 2014 : Fourth Week of Advent (First Reading)

Liturgical Colour : Purple or Violet

1 Samuel 1 : 24-28

When the child was weaned, Hannah took him with her along with a three year old bull, a measure of flour and a flask of wine, and she brought him to YHVH’s house at Shiloh. The child was still young.

After they had slain the bull, they brought the child to Eli. Hannah exclaimed : “Oh, my lord, look! I am the woman who was standing here in your presence, praying to YHVH. I asked for this child and YHVH granted me the favour I begged of Him. Now, I think, YHVH is asking for this child. As long as he lives, he belongs to YHVH.”

And they worshipped YHVH there.

 

Homily and Reflection :

https://petercanisiusmichaeldavidkang.com/2014/12/21/monday-22-december-2014-fourth-week-of-advent-homily-and-scripture-reflections/

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Monday, 15 December 2014 : Third Week of Advent (Homily and Scripture Reflections)

Liturgical Colour : Purple or Violet

Dear brothers and sisters in Christ, today we continue with our observation of the season of Advent, as we go into the third week. Today we heard about the blessing of Balaam on the people of Israel, even though he, a seer of God, was told by an enemy king to curse them. He instead blessed them and brought God’s grace to them. And then in the Gospel we heard about the Pharisees and the teachers of the Law who doubted Jesus and His works and tried in vain to question His authority.

The blessing of Balaam told the prophecy which would be repeated by many other prophets through the ages, that the Saviour would come among the people of Israel, the Star of Jacob, the Son of David, the Salvation that would come from God. Balaam, the seer of God had seen the Figure of the Saviour in his vision, and through his vision, he foresee the coming of the Messiah in Jesus our Lord.

It is truly intriguing that while Balaam, who was not of the people of Israel, believed in the Lord and Saviour who would come as he had seen in the vision, the Pharisees and the teachers of the Law refused to believe in Him even though they were supposed to be the ones who knew the most about the Sacred Scriptures and the revelations of God’s words.

The teachers of the Law refused to believe in Jesus because in their hearts they were not ready for the coming of the Lord. The same also happened to their ancestors, the people of Israel, who constantly rebelled against God since their Exodus from Egypt, because they do not have God in their hearts, but their hearts were filled with human desires and greed of the world. They thought not of God and His ways, but of their own selfishness and concerns about themselves.

How about us, brothers and sisters in Christ? We too are often distracted by the many things and goods of the world that we forget about our Lord in our lives. In our celebration of Christmas in particular, we often overlook the central figure of Christmas who we should celebrate, that is Christ our Lord. We often forget about Him in our busy schedules and celebrations, and we overlook the birthday Boy, who we should truly celebrate about.

Jesus Christ is the centre of the celebrations of Christmas, for it is His birthday that we are rejoicing for, but instead, many of us end up using Christmas as the opportunity and occasion to showcase our possessions, giving one another ever more expensive and extravagant gifts, and decorating our homes with all the decorations. Do we truly understand what we are doing all these for?

We focus so much on the externals and the superficial celebrations, but we often ignore the true meaning of Christmas. Christ who came into the world heralded the aspects which we celebrate this Advent season, namely hope, peace, joy and love. Have we realised these aspects which we ought to celebrate this coming Christmas? Have we brought hope to others, or peace into this world filled with hatred and evil? Have we brought joy, not the joy of the world, but the true joy in Christ to others and to all around us?

Brothers and sisters in Christ, let us continue to realise that Advent is a season and time for preparation, that is to prepare for the coming of our Lord, as He had promised us. And how do we prepare for it? By doing His will and doing what He had taught us. As we have to remember that when the Lord comes again, it will be a time of reckoning, when the Lord will judge us according to what we have done and what we have not done.

Thus, how do we make our Christmas truly meaningful? By not following the path of the Pharisees and the teachers of the Law, who were so captivated by their personal ambitions and pride so as to fail to see Christ when He comes, and failing to see the truth in what He has done. Therefore, it is imperative that starting from now, and especially this Christmas, we should share the hope, the peace, the joy and the love of Christmas with one another, and most especially those who are in need of them.

Let us never leave anyone without these, and let us not abandon those who are without hope, those who are without peace, those who are sorrowful and without love. May this Christmas celebration be truly meaningful to us and our brethren, and therefore let this Advent time be a great opportunity for us to get ourselves closer to our God and be more faithful through our real actions, showing the real and living faith that we have in He who loves us.

May Almighty God guide us this Advent, and make us all ready to welcome Him when He comes again in glory, and may He find us all good and worthy. Amen.

 

First Reading :

https://petercanisiusmichaeldavidkang.com/2014/12/14/monday-15-december-2014-third-week-of-advent-first-reading/

 

Psalm :

https://petercanisiusmichaeldavidkang.com/2014/12/14/monday-15-december-2014-third-week-of-advent-psalm/

 

Gospel Reading :

https://petercanisiusmichaeldavidkang.com/2014/12/14/monday-15-december-2014-third-week-of-advent-gospel-reading/

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Friday, 12 December 2014 : Second Week of Advent, Memorial of our Lady of Guadalupe (Psalm)

Liturgical Colour : Purple/Violet or White (our Lady of Guadalupe)

Psalm 1 : 1-2, 3, 4 and 6

Blessed is the one who does not go where the wicked gather, or stand in the way of sinners, or sit where the scoffers sit! Instead, he finds delight in the Law of the Lord and meditates day and night on His commandments.

He is like a tree beside a brook producing its fruit in due season, its leaves never withering. Everything he does is a success.

But it is different with the wicked. They are like chaff driven away by the wind. For the Lord knows the way of the righteous but cuts off the way of the wicked.

Alternative reading (Mass of our Lady of Guadalupe)

1 Samuel 2 : 1, 4-8

My heart exults in YHVH, I feel strong in my God. I rejoice and laugh at my enemies for You came with power to save me.

The bow of the mighty is broken but the weak are girded with strength. The well-fed must labour for bread but the hungry need work no more. The childless wife has borne seven children, but the proud mother is left alone.

YHVH is Lord of life and death; He brings down to the grave and raises up. YHVH makes poor and makes rich, He brings low and He exalts.

He lifts up the lowly from the dust, and raises the poor from the ash heap; they will be called to the company of princes, and inherit a seat of honour. The earth to its pillars belongs to YHVH and on them He has set the world.

 

Homily and Reflection :

https://petercanisiusmichaeldavidkang.com/2014/12/11/friday-12-december-2014-second-week-of-advent-memorial-of-our-lady-of-guadalupe-homily-and-scripture-reflections/

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Wednesday, 10 December 2014 : Second Week of Advent (Homily and Scripture Reflections)

Liturgical Colour : Purple or Violet

Dear brothers and sisters in Christ, today we listen to the Lord our God, who is our Strength, our Provider in everything we need, and as a Father who loves us all as His beloved children. He will not abandon us without help or ignore us when we have need in us. That is how much God had loved us, and indeed He continues to love us from day to day.

Indeed, to follow God does not mean that it will be easy and like a simple walk along the pond. To follow the Lord means to face the challenges and the suffering which will inevitably come upon our way if we choose to side with the Lord and become His disciples. We know that the ways of the Lord are opposite from the ways of this world, as the world itself is the dominion of Satan, the evil one, filled with sin and darkness since the beginning of the world and the fall of mankind.

Just as Satan had done all he could to subvert mankind to his cause, and laid many obstacles in the path of God’s plan of salvation for mankind, by plotting against the servants and messengers of God with the people themselves, whom he set against the prophets and the disciples of the Lord. Thus the lamentation of Jesus against Jerusalem, which represented His people, how they had slaughtered the prophets and messengers sent to them to remind them to change their ways of sin.

Satan himself tried to tempt Jesus and tried to stop His works to fulfill God’s plan to save mankind, that is to liberate us all from his yoke, the yoke that Satan had placed on us, that is sin. Yes, in the Gospel today, God spoke about His yoke, which He encouraged us all to take up, in place of the yoke which we currently have. Yes, the yoke of sin which burdened us up to now, and still burdens us even today and will be for tomorrow and beyond if we do nothing about it.

Why did Jesus mention that His yoke is light and that we will find rest in Him? That is because sin is a yoke that is truly sinister. This yoke which had enslaved us from the day when Satan tempted our ancestors, Adam and Eve, the first of men, to sin against God, was truly a yoke and a chain which tied us to Satan, our tyrannical oppressor, and yet, sin at the same time is also in a way, enjoyable and preferable for many of us, and many of us, liked this yoke.

Why is this so? That is because the yoke of sin strikes directly at our human desires and wishes. Just as Satan played into our ancestors’ desire and curiosity, the curiosity for knowledge that made them to sin, and indeed, to grow even stronger in desire. For mankind by nature, our nature, is hard to be satisfied, and Satan knows this very well. That is why, he continues to feed our desire, giving us temptations after temptations to keep us enslaved to him.

But our Lord Jesus Christ had come into this world as the culmination of God’s plan to liberate us from this sinister burden and yoke. He had delivered us from the yoke of Satan into a new life filled with goodness, through His loving sacrifice and death on the cross, and by His rising from the dead into glory. He offered us all a new life, a life of salvation in God, one free from the yoke of sin. For the yoke of sin leads to nothing else other than eternal death. Hell is our destination if we remain chained to sin.

However, to many of us, the life in Christ seems to be difficult, for the Lord indeed does not hide from us the truth about what will happen to us if we are to follow Him and become His disciples. Certainly, Satan will not be pleased with us being released from his slavery and bondage, and he will do all that he can, just like the Pharaoh of Egypt of old trying to regain his former slaves, the Israelites.

And just as the Pharaoh had his chariots and armies to chase after the Israelites during the Exodus, thus Satan also had his means and powers of this world in order to harass us with, and he will indeed not rest before he catches all of us. But he has no power over us, brethren, for if we remember the Israelites and Moses, we know that God delivered them from the hands of the Pharaoh, with His own mighty power and deeds.

Therefore, brothers and sisters in Christ, in this season of Advent, let us all be awakened from our deep slumber in the darkness of this world, and be awakened to the light of Christ, which dispels all lies and temptations, and reveal to us the true ugly nature of sin. This Advent therefore is a perfect opportunity for all of us to start over anew and prepare ourselves for the coming of the Lord.

Let us all sin no more and reject the yoke of Satan, and in exchange of that, we should take up the yoke of Christ, who will give us eternal life and joy at the end of our journey. Indeed, the journey and path will be difficult, but nothing is impossible if we keep strong our faith in the Lord and adhere ourselves closely to Him. May this Advent therefore be a good time for us to reevaluate our lives and find our way to the Lord, our loving God and Father. Amen.

First Reading :

https://petercanisiusmichaeldavidkang.com/2014/12/09/wednesday-10-december-2014-second-week-of-advent-first-reading/

 

Psalm :

https://petercanisiusmichaeldavidkang.com/2014/12/09/wednesday-10-december-2014-second-week-of-advent-psalm/

 

Gospel Reading :

https://petercanisiusmichaeldavidkang.com/2014/12/09/wednesday-10-december-2014-second-week-of-advent-gospel-reading/

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Wednesday, 10 December 2014 : Second Week of Advent (First Reading)

Liturgical Colour : Purple or Violet

Isaiah 40 : 25-31

To whom, then, will you liken Me or make Me equal? says the Holy One. Lift up your eyes and see : who has created all this? He has ordered them as a starry host and called them each by name. So mighty is His power, so great His strength, that not one of them is missing.

How can you say, o Jacob, how can you complain, o Israel, that your destiny is hidden from Me, that your rights are ignored by YHVH? Have you not known, have you not heard that YHVH is an everlasting God, the Creator of the ends of the earth? He does not grow tired or weary, His knowledge is without limit.

He gives strength to the enfeebled, He gives vigour to the wearied. Youth may grow tired and faint, young men will stumble and fall, but those who hope in YHVH will renew their strength. They will soar as with eagle’s wings; they will run and not grow weary; they will walk and never tire.

 

Homily and Reflection :

https://petercanisiusmichaeldavidkang.com/2014/12/09/wednesday-10-december-2014-second-week-of-advent-homily-and-scripture-reflections/

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

Liturgical Colour : White

Psalm 97 : 1, 2-3ab, 3bc-4

Sing to the Lord a new song, for He has done wonders; His right hand, His holy arm, has won victory for Him.

The Lord has shown His salvation, revealing His justice to the nations. He has not forgotten His love nor His faithfulness to Israel.

The farthest ends of the earth all have seen God’s saving power. All you lands, make a joyful noise to the Lord, break into song and sing praise.

 

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/

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Saturday, 6 December 2014 : First Week of Advent, Memorial of St. Nicholas, Bishop (First Reading)

Liturgical Colour : Purple/Violet or White (Bishops)

Isaiah 30 : 19-21, 23-26

O people of Zion, who dwell in Jerusalem, you will weep no more. When you cry, YHVH will listen; when He hears, He will answer. When the Lord has given you the bread of anguish and the water of distress, He, your Teacher, will hide no longer. Your own eyes will see Him, and your ear will listen to His words behind you : “This is the way, walk in it.”

He will then give rain for the seed you sow and make the harvest abundant from the crops you grow. On that day your cattle will graze in wide pastures. Your beasts of burden will eat silage tossed to them with pitchfork and shovel. For on the day of the great slaughter, when fortresses fall, streams of water will flow on every mountain and lofty hill.

The light of the moon will be as the light of the sun, and the light of the sun seven times greater, like the light of seven days, when YHVH binds up the wounds of His people and heals the bruises inflicted by His blows.

 

Homily and Reflection :

https://petercanisiusmichaeldavidkang.com/2014/12/04/saturday-6-december-2014-first-week-of-advent-memorial-of-st-nicholas-bishop-homily-and-scripture-reflections/

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Thursday, 4 December 2014 : First Week of Advent, Memorial of St. John Damascene, Priest and Doctor of the Church (Psalm)

Liturgical Colour : Purple/Violet or White (Priests)

Psalm 117 : 1 and 8-9, 19-21, 25-27a

Alleluia! Give thanks to the Lord, for He is good, His loving kindness endures forever. It is better to take refuge in the Lord than to trust in the help of humans. It is better to take refuge in the Lord than to trust in the might of princes.

Open to me the gates of the Just, and let me enter to give thanks. “This is the Lord’s gate, through which the upright enter.” I thank You for having answered me, for having rescued me.

Save us, o Lord, deliver us, o Lord! Blessed is He who comes in the Lord’s Name! We bless You from the house of the Lord. The Lord is God; may His light shine upon us.

 

Homily and Reflection :

https://petercanisiusmichaeldavidkang.com/2014/12/03/thursday-4-december-2014-first-week-of-advent-memorial-of-st-john-damascene-priest-and-doctor-of-the-church-homily-and-scripture-reflections/

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Tuesday, 2 December 2014 : First Week of Advent (Psalm)

Liturgical Colour : Purple or Violet

Psalm 71 : 1-2, 7-8, 12-13, 17

O God, endow the King with Your justice, the Royal Son with Your righteousness. May He rule Your people justly and defend the rights of the lowly.

Justice will flower in His days, and peace abound till the moon be no more. For He reigns from sea to sea, from the River to the ends of the earth.

He delivers the needy who call on Him, the afflicted with no one to help them. His mercy is upon the weak and the poor, He saves the life of the poor.

May His Name endure forever; May His Name be as lasting as the sun. All the races will boast about Him, and He will be blessed by all nations.

 

Homily and Reflection :

https://petercanisiusmichaeldavidkang.com/2014/12/01/tuesday-2-december-2014-first-week-of-advent-homily-and-scripture-reflections/

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Monday, 1 December 2014 : First Week of Advent (Psalm)

Liturgical Colour : Purple or Violet

Psalm 121 : 1-2, 3-4a, 4b-5, 6-7, 8-9

I rejoiced with those who said to me, “Let us go to the house of the Lord!” And now we have set foot within your gates, o Jerusalem!

Jerusalem, just like a city, where everything falls into place. There the tribes go up.

The tribes of the Lord, the assembly of Israel, to give thanks to the Lord’s Name. There stand the courts of justice, the offices of the house of David.

Pray for peace of Jerusalem : “May those who love you prosper! May peace be within your walls and security within your citadels!”

For the sake of my relatives and friends I will say, “Peace be with you!” For the sake of the house of our Lord, I will pray for your good.

 

Homily and Reflection :

https://petercanisiusmichaeldavidkang.com/2014/11/30/monday-1-december-2014-first-week-of-advent-homily-and-scripture-reflections/