favour of God

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Sunday, 2 October 2016 : 27th Sunday of Ordinary Time, Memorial of the Holy Guardian Angels (First Reading)

Liturgical Colour : Green
Habakkuk 1 : 2-3 and Habakkuk 2 : 2-4

YHVH, how long will I cry for help while You pay no attention to me? I denounce the oppression and You do not save. Why do You make me see injustice? Are You pleased to look on tyranny? All I see is outrage, violence and quarrels.

Then YHVH answered me and said, “Write down the vision, inscribe it on tables so it can be easily read, since this is a vision for an appointed time; it will not fail but will be fulfilled in due time. If it delays, wait for it, for it will come and will not be deferred.”

“Look : I do not look with favour on the one who gives way; the upright, on the other hand, will live by his faithfulness.”

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Saturday, 17 January 2015 : 1st Week of Ordinary Time, Memorial of St. Anthony, Abbot (First Reading)

Liturgical Colour : White

Hebrews 4 : 12-16

For the word of God is living and effective, sharper than any two-edged sword. It pierces to the division of soul and spirit, of joints and marrow, and judges the intentions and thoughts of the heart. All creation is transparent to Him; everything is is uncovered and laid bare to the eyes of Him to whom we render account.

We have a great High Priest, Jesus, the Son of God, who has entered heaven. Let us, then, hold fast to the faith we profess. Our High Priest is not indifferent to our weaknesses, for He was tempted in every way just as we are, yet without sinning. Let us, then, with confidence approach the throne of grace; we will obtain mercy and, through His favour, help in due time.

 

Homily and Reflection : 

https://petercanisiusmichaeldavidkang.com/2015/01/17/saturday-17-january-2015-1st-week-of-ordinary-time-memorial-of-st-anthony-abbot-homily-and-scripture-reflections/

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Wednesday, 27 August 2014 : 21st Week of Ordinary Time, Memorial of St. Monica (Psalm)

Liturgical Colour : White

Psalm 127 : 1-2, 4-5

Blessed are you who fear the Lord and walk in His ways. You will eat the fruit of your toil; you will be blessed and favoured.

Such are the blessings bestowed upon the man who fears the Lord. May the Lord bless you from Zion. May you see Jerusalem prosperous all the days of your life.

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Wednesday, 16 April 2014 : Wednesday of Holy Week (Scripture Reflections)

Liturgical Colour : Purple/Violet

The Lord is our help, brothers and sisters in Christ, and when we are in the greatest predicaments and darkness, it is the Lord who is our only hope and our salvation. He was the very One who gave Himself to us, for our sake, so that we may live in His light and not die in the darkness.

The Lord is our help and our hope, and in Him alone lies our salvation, for the Holy One of God sacrificed Himself for the unworthy ones, that is all of us. We are all unworthy for our sins and our disobedience, and yet He who loves us continue without cease to help us and guide us to Himself, offering without cease His unfailing love.

And yet, who are the ones that rejected and spurned this love and opportunity? It is all of us, every time we sin, and every time we walk away thinking that we know better about things, and following the ways of the devil instead of looking towards the Lord our guide. We are like Judas who was tempted by money and the allures of the world, and hence we tend to fall, just as Judas had fallen.

That is why, brothers and sisters in Christ, just as I had mentioned, we must not blame Judas or anyone else for betraying Christ, for we ourselves have betrayed the Lord many, many times, every single time that we sinned before Him. God continued without cease to offer His help for us, and He continued without cease to love us and show His mercy on us, even as we continue in our indignant and unrepentant behaviour.

So how should we act then? We should start by imitating what the Lord had done Himself, by imitating the Christ who in His humility, is always obedient to the will of God the Father, accepting even His own death, the death on the cross. We have to learn to get rid of our ego, of our own selves, and surrender ourselves totally to God and His love.

In that way our life will be more attuned to the way of the Lord and we can walk more closely along the way of God. Brethren, we should not fall to the same trap that Judas had walked into, the trap and allure of money, the temptation and allure of the evil one. He fell because he did not remain true to God, even though he was so close to Him, but he failed to understand the way of Jesus and follow Him with all of his heart.

As we approach the holiest moments of our year, and to prepare to celebrate this sacred time, let us all fortify ourselves against the evil that is in our hearts, and be ready to reject him and all of his false promises during this Easter celebration, when we in great joy proclaim the glory of our Risen Lord and Saviour.

May we remain faithful in God, remain in His love, grace and favour, forever and be filled always with His Spirit, that we may always remain faithful. God bless us all. Amen.

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Sunday, 22 December 2013 : Fourth Sunday of Advent (Scripture Reflections)

Liturgical Colour : Purple/Violet

Brothers and sisters, today we enter into the last Sunday of Advent, the fourth one of all. We celebrate today the theme of love, after we had celebrated the themes of hope, peace, and joy. For indeed, these are all the things we rejoice and celebrate for in Christmas. And the most important of all, is love. That is because there will be no Christmas without love, and the greatest love is the love that God has for all of us.

For God so loved the world, that He gave us His only Son, that we who believe in Him shall not die nor suffer the effects of death, but receive life eternal in that Son. This well-known and well-read passage from the Gospel of John chapter three verse sixteen is that proof of the everlasting love and the ultimate form of love that God had shown us, and which was made manifest this Christmas.

Christmas is not just about Christmas lights, decorations, and about gifts. Christmas is not just about promotions, new goods, shopping opportunities, and something on the same line as those. Christmas is not the day preceding the Boxing Day if we think it in the terms of the gifts that we will receive and benefit from. Instead, indeed, it is all about love, about sharing the love that God had for all of us, and share it with one another in love.

Without love, our lives will not be perfect nor fulfilling. And without love, we will not have hope, peace, and joy. Love lies at the centre of our lives and is the centre of our faith. Our faith must always be based on love, because we believe in God, who is Love Himself. God is Love, and He cannot withhold His love for us, and that was why He wanted to be with us, and for us to be with Him.

Emmanuel, God is with us, is one of the many titles that Jesus Christ our Lord has. And His very presence in this world, as the Divine incarnate to the flesh of mortals, is a true example of this love. For as the omnipotent and all powerful God, eternal and limitless, God has no need for any worries or concerns because He has everything, and everything in creation belongs to Him. Yet, He concerned Himself with us, seeking our welfare and well-being.

Without this divine love, we would certainly have no hope whatsoever. Life will be meaningless and death will truly be fearsome. That is why the Lord came to us, to be with us, and to dwell with us, in Jesus Christ His Son. In Jesus lies all of our hope, and in Him we find true love, and this love is the joy of Christmas, the true joy that we should be celebrating.

So, brothers and sisters in Christ, do we come together to celebrate Christmas because we like to revel in the festivities and the partying, in all the merrymaking? Do we enjoy and look forward to Christmas because of the gifts we are to get from our friends and families? Do we look forward to Christmas because it is a time for us to travel around as it is the holiday period?

If our answers to these questions are yes, then we have missed the true intention of Christmas and the true joy of Christmas. That is precisely the problem with our modern world, where Christmas has been extensively and thoroughly transformed into a commercial property. Christmas is no longer about Christ, after which it was named for. Christmas which was about the birth of Christ, had become the fascination on Santa Claus, gift elves and all the pagan fantasies that mankind had indulged themselves in, submitting to the temptations of the world.

Every time we celebrate Christmas, we should always remember that it is about Christ, about the wondrous birth of Christ our Lord and Saviour, and about the perfect manifestation of love that God our Father showed us. He showed us all His favour, by choosing to be born of the Virgin Mary, to become one of us, and to be the lowest among us, born in a poor and dirty stable even though He was destined to be a King.

So are we ready now to celebrate the coming of Christ this Christmas? We have to bring Christ into Christmas, or otherwise our celebrations will be meaningless. Invoke Christ as we rejoice with one another, and use this opportunity to share our blessings and graces with those who have less. As people often said, that Christmas is a season of giving, but we must not limit this giving just to among ourselves and our own circle of friends.

Share the love of God this Christmas, and proclaim the joy of His coming to everyone. As we welcome Christ into our world, let us also welcome Him into our hearts, and share this Love incarnate, Christ Himself, with everyone we encountered, especially those who lack the sweetness of love.

May the Lord our God continue to bless us with love, that we will grow to love one another, and love Him more and more. May our Christmas be bountiful, peaceful, and be filled with love and joy, not for ourselves, but for the glory of God and the glory of all of God’s people! Amen.