evil in mankind

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Friday, 6 March 2015 : 2nd Week of Lent (First Reading)

Liturgical Colour : Purple/Violet

Genesis 37 : 3-4, 12-13a, 17b-28

Now Israel loved Joseph more than any of his other children, for he was the son of his old age and he had a coat with long sleeves made for him. His brothers who saw that their father loved him more than he loved them, hated him and could no longer speak to him in a friendly way.

His brothers had gone to pasture their father’s flock at Shechem, and Israel said to Joseph, “Your brothers are pasturing the flock at Shechem.” So Joseph went off after his brothers and found them at Dothan. They saw him in the distance and before he reached them, they plotted to kill him.

They said to one another, “Here comes the specialist in dreams! Now is the time! Let us kill him and throw him into a well. We will say a wild animal devoured him. Then we will see what his dreams were all about!” But Reuben heard this and tried to save him from their hands saying, “Let us not kill him; shed no blood! Throw him in this well in the wilderness, but do him no violence.” This he said to save him from them and take him back to his father.

So as soon as Joseph arrived, they stripped him of his long-sleeved coat that he wore and then took him and threw him in the well. Now the well was empty, without water. They were sitting for a meal when they looked up and saw a caravan of Ishmaelites coming from Gilead, their camels laden with spices, balm and myrrh, which they were taking down to Egypt.

Judah then said to his brothers, “What do we gain by killing our brother and hiding his blood? Come! We will sell him to the Ishmaelites and not lay our hands on him, for he is our brother and our own flesh!” His brothers agreed to this. So when the Midianite merchants came along they pulled Joseph up and lifted him out of the well. For twenty pieces of silver they sold Joseph to the Midianites, who took him with them to Egypt.

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

Liturgical Colour : Red

Dear brothers and sisters in Christ, today we celebrate the feast of the Holy Innocents, commemorating those children in Bethlehem who were slaughtered mercilessly by King Herod the Great, in his insecurity and fear that the promised King of Kings, Heir of David would dethrone him and made him to lose everything. He slaughtered all the infants and babies of age two and below, innocent as they were, in order to fulfill his own ambitions and desires. Thus, he had sinned greatly against God.

This feast of the Holy Innocents reminds us of our human nature. We are by nature often selfish and thinking only about ourselves and how to aggrandise ourselves. And in the process of that, we often bring harm and suffering to others, as we stride forth in our quest to bring more to ourselves, be it fame, human praise, wealth, influence, and many other things we often covet and desire.

In order to fully understand the story of the slaughter of the Holy Innocents we have to understand more about who King Herod the Great and why he did the deeds he had done. King Herod was an Idumean or a Nabatean, the group of people who lived to the south of the land of Israel. He was not even one of the Jewish people, but he was rewarded the kingship by the help of the Romans, who contracted the help of King Herod and his father to overthrow the previous ruler of Judea.

In exchange, king Herod had to pay his respects to the Romans who became his overlords, and Herod had to acknowledge their power and superiority over him, and thus he was no more than just a puppet king installed by the Romans. Yet his example then shows us how the greed and ambition of men can have no bounds. In the case of king Herod, he did all he could to preserve his own power and kingship, showing jealousy and hatred to all those who seek to challenge his authority.

But while Herod dwelled on earthly things and sought in vain to aggravate his own personal and worldly agenda, Jesus the true and one King of all showed that His kingship and authority is not one based on the ways of the world, but based on the goodness that is in Him. In this we can make a stark comparison between Herod and Jesus, and this comparison can also be extended into our own, personal lives.

While Herod was vain and power-hungry, Jesus was humble and contented. And while Herod used violence to project his authority, the Lord Jesus had no need for such a thing, as He made His authority clear simply by the clarity of His teachings and messages, and the truth which He preached and bore witness to. By His obedience, He brought mankind into the Light of God and many are saved through Him, while Herod committed a great sin trying to eliminate the One whom to him is none other than a potential rival.

Brothers and sisters, it is therefore a clear reminder to all of us, that as we live this life, we cannot strive to seek what is vain and what is worldly, in expense of the fate we are to have in the world to come. Christ Himself told His disciples explicitly, not to build for themselves wealth and power in this world, but build instead the guarantee and wealth in the world to come.

And how do we do this? We have to stop and reject the temptation to bring about our own benefit and selfishness at the expense of others. Otherwise, we will end up like king Herod, who committed a great sin of murdering the holy innocents of Bethlehem just so that he might satisfy his worldly desires and greed. And in the end, those who have committed wicked deeds will be punished, just as Herod died not long after that, and his kingdom divided among his sons, and eventually these were destroyed shortly after by the Romans.

Most importantly, he has to answer before God for what he had committed. The holy innocents gained the glory of heaven even though they were still very young, as they have suffered great persecution and martyrdom for the sake of the Lord. But Herod is likely to fall into hell for what he had committed. He is likely to suffer there for eternity without any hope for salvation.

Do we want this fate for us? Certainly not. I am sure that we want to avoid this as far as possible. But in order to do that, that is why we have to take the lesson from king Herod and his actions in slaughtering the holy innocents to our heart. We have to get rid of our selfishness and desires that often come in the way of our ability to follow the Lord with the whole of our heart.

As we still continue to proceed through this Christmas season, let us share the joy we have and the graces and blessings which we have received. Let the Lord’s love and grace permeate through all the peoples and all creations so that all of us together may be drawn closer to His ways and away from the selfish ways of the world. May Almighty God bless us and guard us, so that we may not succumb to our emotions and desires, the same one that had brought down Herod to damnation in his murder of the Holy Innocents. Holy Innocents of Bethlehem, pray for us! Amen.

 

Epistle :

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

 

Gospel :

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

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Sunday, 27 July 2014 : 17th Sunday of Ordinary Time (Scripture Reflections)

Liturgical Colour : Green

Dear brothers and sisters in Christ, today we are fielded with a good question, one that asks us and looks deep into the depths of our souls, hearts and minds. It is this question, ‘What is truly precious to us in our life?’ And this asks us exactly what we consider as something precious and to be guarded well in our lives.

There are many things that mankind find precious in life. Yes, some of the examples are wealth, possessions, family, loved ones, and many other things. To different people, these may command different level of preciousness. Yet, it is quire common for many of us to treasure wealth, possession, fame and standing in the society as things truly precious to us. This is especially more so in our world today, which is filled with greed and evil.

In the first reading today, we heard about the story of young King Solomon of Israel, just after he had succeeded to the throne from King David his father. This is a story how King Solomon prayed for wisdom before the Lord when the Lord offered to him all the things that he desired to have. King Solomon is renowned for his incomparable wisdom, in the story how he settled the issue of two mothers who are claiming to be the mother of the same baby.

God did not just give great wisdom, intellect and understanding to King Solomon, but as He Himself mentioned to the king, He granted him more than just what he had asked for, just because in his humility and meekness, he asked not for the wealth or power of the world, but for wisdom and understanding of things good and evil. God saw this and granted him what he had asked for, and in addition to that, all the others that he had not asked for.

But the example of Solomon is an example of how mankind can be corrupted by our desire and our greed. Our pride and desire will come in the way of righteousness, and prevent us from thinking and feeling rationally. Solomon grew wise and great, but he also gained much power and wealth during his long reign as king of Israel. If we read the first part of the Second Book of Kings, it would be clear how much wealth and greatness and fame that King Solomon had attained in his reign.

King Solomon was great, and his reign, together with that of King David his father was seen by all the people as the golden age of Israel, when the people of God were in the peak of their glory and power. However, with great power comes great responsibility, as well as great temptation and corruption. We know the phrase, that power corrupts, great power corrupts greatly, and absolute power corrupts absolutely. This is what exactly happened to Solomon, as well as many of the kings who followed after him in both Israel and Judah.

When mankind began to gain power and goodness such as wealth and possession, they can be tempted to get more and more, often by means that are wicked and unjust in nature. This is how Solomon also fell into sin and failed to live up to the expectations and failed to follow God in the same way as his father, king David had done.

But this does not mean that this is limited to the case of king Solomon or anyone who is powerful and rich. All of us are prone to this same fault. Mankind are all naturally predisposed to greed and desire, and this is something we really need to put in our greatest effort to escape from. If we are able to resist that wicked desire for more wealth, possession, affluence, fame and many other things that corrupt our hearts, then we can draw closer to God, and avoid those obstacles which Satan had placed on our way.

Brothers and sisters in Christ, it is important that we all realise how blessed we are in God. The Lord Jesus had taught us all that the kingdom of heaven is at the end of our path in life, if we remain faithful and devoted to God, without falling inti temptation of this world as King Solomon had done. King Solomon was faithful to God, but over time, his attachments to the worldly goods, and the attachments he had to his numerous wives and concubines, designed to grant him greater power and prestige, had dulled his mind and heart. Great wisdom is of no use if your heart and mind are dulled and confounded by the evils of this world.

It is ultimately not that we should shun all forms of contact with the world or anything of the sort. They are themselves neutral and none are inherently evil in purpose. Money and possessions are in particular capable of both good and bad actions and uses. It is when mankind use them and get hold of them, that they have the choice of either using them for good or bad, more often for bad than good in many cases.

Let us all ponder on all these, and think, on what do we consider or what we can consider as true and genuine treasure in our lives. Is it that all we can get as treasure is only in this world, in all the things we can see, touch, hear and enjoy? If we think that this is so, then we are in the danger of falling into the same pitfall into which Solomon and so many other men had fallen into. Even king David himself fell into this when he was tempted by Bathsheba, and plotted to kill her husband so that she might belong to him, and so committed a sin before God.

Our true treasure is in heaven, the prize which God Himself had prepared for us. Jesus Himself had told His disciples, that He went ahead of them to prepare for them the place which He had made ready and reserved for them in the kingdom of the everlasting life, that is the life to come, in heaven. That is also, brothers and sisters, what is to be our reward. This is the treasure that we have to seek, and not what is in the world.

Seek not the treasures that can rot or be destroyed. Neither seek the treasures that we cannot bring with us into the life that is to come. Our material wealth and goods, and all else do not matter and do not affect what we will be like in the world of the afterlife, when we are either reunited once again with God in eternal happiness or whether we will be cast away forever from His presence and suffer forever in hellfire with Satan and his fellow fallen angels.

God is our true treasure, and the One who we should aspire to gain, that means to be closer to Him and to make Him our own, just as He had resolved to forgive us our sins and trespasses and make us His own. We should do what Jesus told us in His parable of the one who seek a precious pearl, or a precious treasure, and selling all that they have in order to gain the treasure.

Be warned that we should not interpret this literally and sell everything we have. Rather, what it means is that, we should not spare any thought or have any doubt about seeking the Lord and finding our way towards Him. We must put in a lot of effort to do this, as well as to counter any opposition that we will encounter on our way. We must put in our effort, which is through none other by understanding the Lord’s will and teachings, and putting them into concrete practice in our own lives.

May Almighty God guide us on our journey, and strengthen our faith, so that we may continue to persevere, despite all the difficulties and challenges, that we can eventually at the end of the day, receive our well-earned reward, the treasure of all treasures, that is for us to see and be one with God, our Lord and Father once again. Amen.

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Thursday, 10 July 2014 : 14th Week of Ordinary Time (Scripture Reflections)

Liturgical Colour : Green

Brothers and sisters in Christ, the words of the Lord in the Holy Scriptures today, both in the reading from the Old Testament and from the Holy Gospels are the true revelation that God is concerned with us, and He is truly not angry with us, or despise us in any way. On the contrary, He was concerned so much that He gave us none other than Jesus, to be our Hope and to be our Saviour from our certain destruction.

Yet in a way, it was also a lamentation by our God, on how mankind turned away and did not listen to the words of God, and spurned the love He had shown them, and did not care about the attention He had given them so much over the ages past. The words of Jesus in the Gospel also highlighted this fact. He taught His disciples to expect rejection, just as much as they should expect to be accepted by those whom they preach the word of God to.

Yes, brethren, our Lord seeks for us and He wants to be with us, accompany us, and talk with us, all the days of our lives. So much and so great is His love, that He truly does not want to be separated from us. But, what did we do to Him then? We often shut the door in front of Him, and we like to cast Him out of our lives. We rejected Him in favour of following the ways of the world.

Therefore, we cannot think that those who rejected the words of the Lord as mentioned in the Gospel, as well as the errant children of God in Israel, in the time of the Old Testament, are people separate from us, or that we are immune to the same errors and possibilities of falling into sin. As long as we remain in this world, we are always susceptible to the works of Satan and evil in corrupting our hearts to his purpose. We are always susceptible to sin, and we may also end up like those who were mentioned, unless if we take active steps to prevent it.

Let us today reflect on our lives, on the actions, words and everything we do, and see and think if all of them had been done in accordance to what the Lord taught us, and what He wanted us to do. Have we walked faithfully in His path, or do we prefer to follow our own path in life, following everything as we desired and as we wanted?

This is important for us, and indeed, it is crucial that we maintain a very healthy and active reflective lifestyle, thinking through our life actions, on whether they reflect ourselves as children of God, or as the children of this world, of Satan. It is easier for us to walk in the path of darkness compared to the path of light, and it is indeed tempting for us to be lax in our actions and deeds, so that we end up being like the people of Israel who disobeyed the Lord.

Brothers and sisters in Christ, shall we seek the Lord anew? Shall we truly renew our efforts in finding Him, and following Him in our lives? It is indeed not an easy path, but it is truly manageable. Shall we continue our rejection of the Lord’s free offer of love, which He extended to all of us? Or shall we rather ignore Him and close the doors of our hearts to Him? The choice is ours, and we have been given free will to choose our path.

Let us therefore discern well, and use this opportunity to think well, of our actions and deeds. Let us no longer follow the rebelliousness of Satan and his fellow fallen accomplices, but let us all show and profess our undying and eternal devotion to our Lord. Remember always, brethren, that He died for us, so that we may live. There is no greater love than this, and there is no care greater than the care shown by God to us.

May Almighty God be with us all, keep us safe, and bless us with His grace forever. Amen.