First Week of Lent

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Monday, 23 February 2015 : 1st Week of Lent, Memorial of St. Polycarp, Bishop and Martyr (Homily and Scripture Reflections)

Liturgical Colour : Purple/Violet

Dear brothers and sisters in Christ, today we listened to the words of the Holy Scriptures which mentioned to us about what is to come in the future. At the end of time, as all of us should be aware of, there will be a Last Judgment of all creation, where there will be one last separation of the good from the bad, the worthy from the unworthy, the faithful ones from the unfaithful ones, and the repentant from the unrepentant.

And the Lord also made it clear and simple for all to understand, what we all need to do in order to be counted among the righteous ones. It is not that difficult, but at the same time, it is also not that easy. What we need to do is simply to be there for those of our brethren around us who need our help and assistance. If we think for only ourselves and disregard the call for help from our brethren, then we are truly, really evil and wicked.

The key to achieve salvation is truly for us to open our hearts to love one another, and to see with our eyes and hear with our ears the plight and suffering of those who need our help. Salvation lies in those who have heard the words and teachings of the Lord, keep them in their hearts, and practiced them in their daily lives. Humans are selfish in nature, and they tend to always care about themselves first before even thinking about others. And it is this mindset and mentality, as well as the habit that we really need to change.

Our faith cannot be expressed merely with words and empty devotions, as I have often mentioned that a faith without action or deed is an empty and dead faith. It is just the same as if we do not have any faith at all. Our faith must be based on real deeds and actions, as works complement faith. Faith and works together made us justified and not just either of them only alone.

There are many people who thought that they are assured of salvation because they are faithful to the Lord, showing external devotions to the Lord and piety towards the people. But, in their hearts there was no God, for in their actions and deeds towards others, they showed not the faith they supposedly have, but instead they showed selfishness, greed, jealousy, hatred and many others that were unbecoming of the children of the Lord.

That was why, those people, whose prime examples were the Pharisees and the Scribes have received their just judgment, that is to be cast among the goats, the ones on the left of Christ, and to receive eternal damnation and punishment, not just for whatever wicked things they had done, but also by whatever things they have failed to do as expected of them by the Lord.

Today we celebrate the feast of St. Polycarp, also known as St. Polycarpus, a Roman saint, bishop and martyr of the Church. He was the Bishop of Smyrna in today’s Western Turkey, one of the earliest centres of the Church and the faithful. He served the people of God faithfully and was a convert to the Faith himself. He served the people entrusted under his care with love and devotion, teaching them to be faithful to the Lord and to follow sound doctrine and teachings, so that they may truly be true disciples of Christ in not just words but also in deeds and actions.

St. Polycarp also did not hesitate to labour for and defend his flock, preaching to them and ministering to them whenever and wherever he was available to do so, despite the threat of persecution by the pagan government and officials of the Roman Empire. Eventually, St. Polycarp was captured, tortured, incarcerated before he was put to death for defending his faith bravely and courageously. Fire would not hurt him and thus, he was then martyred by another means, shedding his blood for the Lord and for the faithful.

Therefore, we should all be aware by the example of St. Polycarp and the other saints and martyrs, who had done so much hard work in their own different ways to help the works of God in this world. They did not remain idle or centred only on their own selves, and indeed, as we have seen, they did not even hesitate to lay down their lives and to suffer for the sake of their fellow men, their fellow brethren in faith.

As the Last Judgment story by Jesus should remind us, let us all take concrete steps to be true disciples of the Lord, that is by walking the faith we have, and therefore not just having an empty faith, but a living and real one, justified by our actions and deeds, helping those who have less or none, loving one another and forgiving one another our sins and faults, so that we truly practice what we believe in and which Jesus our Lord had taught us.

Let us never falter but continue to strengthen our faith, that when the time comes, our Lord will find us just, righteous and worthy of the eternal glory He had prepared for all those who have listened to Him and does His will. God be with us all. Amen.

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Monday, 23 February 2015 : 1st Week of Lent, Memorial of St. Polycarp, Bishop and Martyr (Gospel Reading)

Liturgical Colour : Purple/Violet

Matthew 25 : 31-46

At that time, Jesus said to His disciples, “When the Son of Man comes in His glory with all His angels, He will sit on the throne of His glory. All the nations will be brought before Him, and as a shepherd separates the sheep from the goats, so will He do with them, placing the sheep on His right hand and the goats on His left.”

“The King will say to those on His right, ‘Come, blessed of My Father! Take possession of the kingdom prepared for you from the beginning of the world. For I was hungry, and you fed Me. I was thirsty, and you gave Me something to drink. I was a stranger, and you welcomed Me into your house. I was naked, and you clothed Me. I was sick, and you visited Me. I was in prison, and you came to see Me.'”

“Then the good people will ask Him, ‘Lord, when did we see You hungry, and give You food; thirsty, and give You something to drink; or a stranger, and welcome You; or naked, and clothe You? When did we see You sick, or in prison, and go to see You?'”

“The King will answer, ‘Truly I say to you : whenever you did this to these little ones who are My brothers and sisters, you did it to Me.'”

“Then He will say to those on His left, ‘Go, cursed people, out of My sight into the eternal fire, which has been prepared for the devil and his angels! For I was hungry, and you did not give Me anything to eat; I was thirsty, and you gave Me nothing to drink; I was a stranger, and you did not welcome Me into your house; I was naked, and you did not clothe Me; I was sick, and in prison, and you did not visit Me.'”

“They, too, will ask, ‘Lord, when did we see You hungry, thirsty, naked or a stranger, sick or in prison, and did not help You?’ The King will answer them, ‘Truly I say to you : whatever you did not do for these little ones, you did not do it for Me.'”

“And these will go into eternal punishment, but the just to eternal life.”

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Monday, 23 February 2015 : 1st Week of Lent, Memorial of St. Polycarp, Bishop and Martyr (Psalm)

Liturgical Colour : Purple/Violet

Psalm 18 : 8, 9, 10, 15

The Law of the Lord is perfect; it gives life to the soul. The word of the Lord is trustworthy : it gives wisdom to the simple.

The precepts of the Lord are right : they give joy to the heart. The commandments of the Lord are clear : they enlighten the eyes.

The fear of the Lord is pure, it endures forever; the judgments of the Lord are true, all of them just and right.

May the words of my mouth and the meditations of my heart find favour in Your sight, o Lord – my Redeemer, my Rock!

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Monday, 23 February 2015 : 1st Week of Lent, Memorial of St. Polycarp, Bishop and Martyr (First Reading)

Liturgical Colour : Purple/Violet

Leviticus 19 : 1-2, 11-18

YHVH spoke to Moses and said, “Speak to the entire assembly of the people of Israel and say to them : Be holy for I, YHVH, your God, am holy. Do not steal or lie or deceive one another. Do not swear falsely by My Name so as to profane the Name of your God; I am YHVH.”

“Do not oppress your neighbour or rob him. The wages of a hired man are not to remain with you all night until morning. You shall not curse a deaf man nor put a stumbling block in the way of the blind; but you shall fear your God; I am YHVH.”

“Do not pervert justice; do not show partiality to the poor nor bow to the great; you are to judge your neighbour fairly so as not to share in his guilt. Do not go about as a slanderer of your people and do not seek the death of your neighbour; I am YHVH.”

“Do not hate your brother in your heart; rebuke your neighbour frankly so as not to share in his guilt. Do not seek revenge or nurture a grudge against one of your people, but love your neighbour as yourself; I am YHVH.”

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Sunday, 22 February 2015 : First Sunday of Lent, Feast of the Chair of St. Peter the Apostle (Homily and Scripture Reflections)

Liturgical Colour : Purple/Violet

Dear brothers and sisters in Christ, today we celebrate the occasion of the First Sunday of Lent, the first of five sundays dedicated to the celebration of this holy season of preparation for the Holy Week and Easter. Today also happens to be the feast and celebration of the Chair of St. Peter the Apostle in Rome, the Apostolic authority of the Chief and Prince of the Apostles, the Vicar of Christ and the Leader of the Universal Church.

On this day, the theme of the Scripture readings is about God, His love and mercy that He showed to all those who have sincerely looked for Him and are genuine in their desire to repent and address their wrongs. Today we heard of the promise which God had made, that so long as we are faithful to Him, we shall receive His grace and will not perish, but receive eternal life.

In the first reading, which was taken from the Book of Genesis, we heard of the narrative of what happened after Noah had been saved by God through the ark he was told to build. God made a covenant with Noah and his descendants, that includes all of us, that He shall never again destroy us with water, the waters of the Great Flood that had made all creations to perish, except that of Noah and his family, and all those which had been gathered in the ark.

There are many symbolisms in the readings today, the first of which is water itself. God will no longer destroy mankind with water, but instead, through water, life will come forth. Water becomes a life-giving object, and it is not just because we need water to survive and live, but even more importantly, because we all know that all of us at one point of time in our lives, be it as a very young infant or as a child, a teenager or as an adult, we have been baptised in the Name of the Lord

Thus, we can see clearly, the symbolism of the reading on Noah and the Great Flood. The Church is often portrayed as an ark, a large boat or a ship, where all the faithful are gathered inside and safe from the storms and the waves outside. Therefore, the rites and the sacrament of baptism is also a reminder of the Great Flood, the time when God separated the righteous from the sinners by the means of water that destroyed and annihilated the wicked, but saved the righteous out of the water and into the ark.

Therefore in the same way, through the waters of baptism, we who have made the conscious decision, or the decision by our parents and godparents, have been saved from the darkness and ignorance of the world, and were joined into the Church of God, the Ark of salvation, and together we are braving through the storms of this world, the difficulties, the oppositions, the challenges and the temptations that come our way from the devil and all of his forces.

And the significance of this to the other feast we celebrate today is that, the one who helped to steer the great ship that is the Church, is the Vicar of Christ, the one who had been entrusted with the governance and authority over all the souls of the faithful, who is our Pope, the successor of St. Peter the Apostle, who is the first of the Vicars of Christ, and whose seat of authority is in Rome, as the Bishop of Rome.

Thus, on this feast of the Chair of St. Peter the Apostle, we should all reflect on the nature of the Church itself, the Ark of salvation, which is rooted in Christ and because it is safely and strongly anchored in Christ, no storm or wave can overcome it, and steered by St. Peter and his successors, the Church is moving forward in this world full of challenges, chair being the symbol of authority and teaching in the Church.

Therefore, all of these remind us that even though we have been saved by the grace of God through the waters of baptism, where our sins, the taints of the original sins of our ancestors had been erased from us, but we must still adhere closely to the teaching authority of the Church, which is centred upon the authority of the Bishop of Rome, our Pope, as the Vicar of our Lord Jesus Christ, His representative in this world.

And another strong reminder for us all today is about the nature of evil and what Satan and his allies are always busy doing on continuous basis, in trying to tempt us back into sin. Sin is always around us, and the temptations of the world are always very hard to resist at times. Temptation is the tool of the devil to bring us back into his dominion and so that we will suffer together with him in the eternal suffering of hell.

In the Gospel, we heard about the temptation of Jesus in the desert, when Jesus went for forty days and forty nights right after His baptism in the Jordan. He did not eat or drink anything during that period, and being in the desert where practically nothing lives, it must be really a great hunger and thirst that affected Him by the end of the forty days.

After all, although Jesus is divine and Lord of all creations, but at the same time He is also fully human, being both God and Man, and therefore, as all of us mankind are, He was also feeling the fatigue and the hunger that tempted Him to have something to eat. Although He is without sin, but He allowed Himself to be tempted by Satan to show us all an example, of what we should be and how we should live our lives and reject all forms of temptations and sin.

There are three things that we have to be aware of, brothers and sisters in Christ, the three greatest dangers that will often be on our path, which threaten to prevent us from achieving salvation in God. These three are gluttony and desire, human pride and finally the desire for power. These three were aptly showcased by Jesus, as He resisted the temptations of the devil who used these three against Him.

The first temptation, that of hunger, is playing against our human weakness against our stomach. When we have plenty with us, be it in terms of food or in terms of possessions, we tend to keep them all to ourselves. It is indeed not very wrong to say that we live by our stomach and for our stomach. When we have more, we tend to seek more and want for more, and when we do not have, we do all we can to obtain what we want, often at the disadvantage of others.

We are always worried about our lives, every single days of our life. We worry about what we are to have, what we have to eat, what will happen to us on this day and that, but in worrying so much, we forget that we have One who is always looking after us and He who indeed knows all that we will ever need in our lives. We have to learn to break free from our desires and know when to limit our desires.

There is no point if we are all well fed and had everything in the world, but we have no God inside of us, and if His words does not take root in us. In that manner, we secure for ourselves a good and prosperous life in this world, but we fail to secure the life that is in the world to come, then it is truly pointless. Remember of what had happened to the rich man in the story of Jesus on the rich man and Lazarus. He had all the food that he would ever want, and Lazarus had none. The rich man was cast down into hell because he had no love inside of him. He failed to show mercy, concern and love to those around him who need them.

And then, human pride, a great danger and threat to all of us. All of us mankind are by nature predisposed to hubris, arrogance and pride in ourselves. It is our pride that often make us boast of our own accomplishment and even looking down upon others because we think of ourselves as superior to them. It is pride that Satan was trying on Jesus, by pushing Him to glory in His greatness as God and Lord of all and show off to all the peoples His power, and therefore saving Him the need to labour and work hard as if He had done what Satan wanted Him to do, everyone would likely believe in Him and followed Him.

But Jesus knew that pride is not the way to go, as pride, hubris and arrogance will inevitably make us to be disobedient and rebellious, as we are less likely to admit that we have made a mistake and persist therefore in our sinfulness. Just as Lucifer the greatest and mightiest angel had been brought down by his pride, and becoming Satan, accursed and condemned, therefore, pride will lead us down the same path to destruction.

And the last of all, and the greatest of all temptations is power, and the desire to have that power. Indeed the saying is correct, that power corrupts, and absolute power corrupts absolutely. Satan showed Jesus the power He could have if He would just worship him, who is the master of all the powers of the world, and also all the wealth that would accompany that. He would no longer need to go on and suffer for the sake of mankind and die for them.

That temptation is indeed the ultimate and greatest temptation of all. Any man would be sorely tempted by such offer, and with the offer literally given to them on a silver platter, it is obvious why it can be so easy for us to be tempted and fall into sin. But Jesus knew that true power does not lie in earthly wealth or through tyranny.

Rather, true power lies in the responsibility that comes together with that power and how to use that power responsibly. He chose to let go of all those temptations and faithfully carried out the mission which the Father had entrusted to Him. And because of that, all power and glory now belongs to Him alone, and dominion was passed from Satan and his allies to the triumphant Saviour.

Brothers and sisters in Christ, we have been told of all these, so that we too may learn of the devices of the devil in his attempts to bring us down with him into eternal damnation. He is wicked as well as cunning, and he has many means within his disposal to trick us and to mislead us into sinning before God, including what he had tried out with Jesus and failed.

Yes, what I mean is that we must be ever vigilant, as the devil himself can use the verses of the Holy Scriptures itself and twist them to serve his own desires. That was what He did with Jesus, but our Lord knew what was the true meaning of the devil’s words and He did not fall for Satan’s trickery. But we may not be as capable in resisting the devil and knowing the right from the wrong when the devil assails us.

That is why today all of these are a reminder yet again that we should all seek to deepen our faith in God, by growing deeper in our understanding of the teachings of the Faith, and the way to do so is by putting ourselves ever close to the teachings of the Church and obey her teachings completely and fully as espoused by the Vicar of Christ, our Pope, who is leading the Church of God and all the faithful in it through the tumultuous times and tribulations, facing the forces of the devil in this world.

Therefore, as we progress through this season of Lent, let us all renew our faith for the Lord and let us no longer sin and commit any sort of evil, but strengthen our commitment and devotion to Him, so that we may resist all of the devil’s tricks and false promises and remain truly faithful to our Lord, who then will reward us for our faith and bring us to eternal life and glory. Amen.

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Sunday, 22 February 2015 : First Sunday of Lent, Feast of the Chair of St. Peter the Apostle (Gospel Reading)

Liturgical Colour : Purple/Violet

Mark 1 : 12-15

At that time, the Spirit of God drove Jesus into the desert after His baptism. Jesus stayed in the desert forty days and was tempted by Satan. He was with the wild animals, but angels ministered to Him.

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.”

Homily and Reflection :
https://petercanisiusmichaeldavidkang.com/2015/02/20/sunday-22-february-2015-first-sunday-of-lent-feast-of-the-chair-of-st-peter-the-apostle-homily-and-scripture-reflections/

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Sunday, 22 February 2015 : First Sunday of Lent, Feast of the Chair of St. Peter the Apostle (Second Reading)

Liturgical Colour : Purple/Violet

1 Peter 3 : 18-22

Remember how Christ died, once and for all, for our sins, He, the Just One, died for the unjust in order to lead us to God. In the body He was put to death, in the Spirit He was raised to life, and it was then that He went to preach to the imprisoned spirits.

They were the generation who did not believe when God, in His great patience, delayed punishing the world while Noah was building the ark in which a small group of eight persons escaped through water. That was a type of the baptism that now saves you; this baptism is not a matter of physical cleansing but of asking God to reconcile us through the resurrection of Christ Jesus.

He has ascended to heaven and is at the right hand of God, having subjected the angels, Dominations and Powers.

Homily and Reflection :
https://petercanisiusmichaeldavidkang.com/2015/02/20/sunday-22-february-2015-first-sunday-of-lent-feast-of-the-chair-of-st-peter-the-apostle-homily-and-scripture-reflections/

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Sunday, 22 February 2015 : First Sunday of Lent, Feast of the Chair of St. Peter the Apostle (Psalm)

Liturgical Colour : Purple/Violet

Psalm 24 : 4-5ab, 6 and 7bc, 8-9

Teach me Your ways, o Lord; make known to me Your paths. Guide me in Your truth and instruct me, for You are my God, my Saviour.

Remember Your compassion, o Lord, Your unfailing love from of old. Remember not the sins of my youth, but in Your love remember me.

Good and upright, the Lord teaches sinners His way. He teaches the humble of heart and guides them in what is right.

Homily and Reflection :
https://petercanisiusmichaeldavidkang.com/2015/02/20/sunday-22-february-2015-first-sunday-of-lent-feast-of-the-chair-of-st-peter-the-apostle-homily-and-scripture-reflections/

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Sunday, 22 February 2015 : First Sunday of Lent, Feast of the Chair of St. Peter the Apostle (First Reading)

Liturgical Colour : Purple/Violet

Genesis 9 : 8-15

God spoke to Noah and his son, “See, I am making a covenant with you and with your descendants after you; also with every living animal with you : birds, cattle, that is, with every living creature of the earth that came out of the ark. I establish My covenant with you. Never again will all life be cut off by the waters of a flood, and never again will there be a flood to destroy the earth.”

God said, “This is the sign of the covenant I make between Me and you, and every animal living with you for all future generations. I set My bow in the clouds and it will be a sign of the covenant between Me and the earth. When I bring clouds over the earth and the rainbow appears in the clouds, I will remember the covenant between Me and you and every kind of living creature, so that never again will floodwaters destroy all flesh.”

Homily and Reflection :
https://petercanisiusmichaeldavidkang.com/2015/02/20/sunday-22-february-2015-first-sunday-of-lent-feast-of-the-chair-of-st-peter-the-apostle-homily-and-scripture-reflections/

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Saturday, 15 March 2014 : 1st Week of Lent (Scripture Reflections)

Liturgical Colour : Purple/Violet

Brothers and sisters in Christ, we all belong to God, just as He had mentioned it in the first reading we heard today. Just as He had claimed Israel to be His chosen ones, to be His chosen people, we too, in the new covenant that Jesus had established with all mankind, have been made to be the people of God, and consecrated to Him in His love.

And as He Himself mentioned, that those who belong to Him ought to be like Him in our actions, words and deeds, that we may reflect Him in all the things that we do. And therefore, we should follow all of His commandments and laws He had revealed to us through the prophets as written in the Scriptures, and through Jesus His Son.

We are God’s children, and like all children do, we ought to follow what our parents are doing, imitating them in their actions, deeds and thoughts. And as God our Father and Lord is Love Himself, we too have to love then, and love just as God loved us. And the commandments of God itself is love, designed to help us to be able to better love one another and to love and dedicate ourselves to God.

And in love, this love is not the kind of love that we often know in this world. There are many kinds and forms of love, but true and genuine love does not equate with lust and desire for pleasure, and neither can it be associated entirely with the love that someone express for another, between a man and a woman, or love that exists between those who had already loved one another in the first place.

Instead, true and genuine love means to love without discrimination and conditions. It is an unconditional love which we offer to all. Genuine love means to do what Christ had told us to do, that is to love even our enemies and pray for them, that they too may know love through the power of our prayer and the example of our unconditional and genuine love.

Yes, brethren, too often we have tried to fight fire with fire, and adding even more fuel to the fire, which ends up in everything being destroyed. And that is what usually happens, when we try to confront hatred and violence with even more violence. Everything will be destroyed and crushed in the end. That is what will happen if we response to someone’s hatred and enmity with even more enmity and hatred from our side.

Brothers and sisters in Christ, that is why it is important for us to instead fight the fire with water, to cool down the fire and let it die down, that in the end everything may be calm again, and through the water, the barren and burnt ground may once again hold life in it. The same therefore, we should practice in our own faith. We have to confront hatred and enmity with love, even if the other side does not yet love us.

Counter their curses with blessings, and show them that we can bring to them a valuable piece of truth, that hatred and violence does not solve everything, and instead will bring things to complete disarray and destruction. Love is the way out of things, as well as peace. We have to always remember this whenever we act.

Make peace with one another and love, and let us all come together in devotion to God in love. Let us show those who still linger in darkness and in the shadow of hatred, that love is the way, and may our actions based in love and forgiveness, help them to get out of the darkness and into the light that together, we may be saved. God be with us all, to the end of time. Amen.