holy cross

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Tuesday, 15 September 2015 : 24th Week of Ordinary Time, Memorial of our Lady of Sorrows (Psalm)

Liturgical Colour : White

Psalm 30 : 2-3a, 3bc-4, 5-6, 15-16, 20

In You, o Lord, I take refuge, may I never be disgraced; deliver Me in Your justice. Give heed to My plea, and make haste to rescue Me.

Be a rock of refuge for Me, a fortress for My safety. For You are My rock and My stronghold, lead Me for Your Name’s sake.

Free Me from the snare that they have set for Me. Indeed You are my Protector. Into Your hands I commend My Spirit; You have redeemed Me, o Lord, faithful God.

But I put My trust in You, o Lord, I said : “You are My God;” My days are in Your hand. Deliver Me from the hand of My enemies, from those after My skin.

How great is the goodness which You have stored for those who fear You, which You show, for all to see, to those who take refuge in You!

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Tuesday, 15 September 2015 : 24th Week of Ordinary Time, Memorial of our Lady of Sorrows (First Reading)

Liturgical Colour : White

Hebrews 5 : 7-9

Christ, in the days of His mortal life, offered His sacrifice with tears and cries. He prayed to Him who could save Him from death, and He was heard because of His humble submission.

Although He was Son, He learnt through suffering what obedience was, and once made perfect, He became the source of eternal salvation for those who obey Him.

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Monday, 14 September 2015 : Feast of the Exaltation of the Holy Cross (Homily and Scripture Reflections)

Liturgical Colour : Red

Dear brothers and sisters in Christ, on this day we celebrate a special solemnity in the honour of the triumph of the glorious Cross of our Saviour. Today we exalt the Holy Cross as the real symbol of triumph of good versus the forces of evil, and as a clear reminder to all of us, that our Lord had won the battle for us in a triumphant victory against the forces of Satan.

The cross was once an instrument of suffering and torture, and it was once an instrument of humiliation and ultimate defeat and surrender of all those who have been convicted and deemed guilty by the state, particularly the Romans who used them to be an instrument of fear, to show example of what would happen to those who dared to oppose their rule.

But among all the countless thousands and more who suffered on the wood of the cross, hanged and nailed for all the people to see, there was One of them who did not deserve to be punished, and yet He took up for Himself, the punishment of a slave, the scourges designed for convicts and villains, and took upon Himself the responsibility of the entire human race, so that instead of us, He took our sufferings upon Himself.

He did not have to do that, and He could just abandon us, but it was not in His nature to do that, because He is Love, and because He is love, He cannot possibly abandon us when we are in need of help. Thus, He was willing to lower Himself and empty Himself of His greatness, and assume the humble form of a Man. And in Jesus Christ, fully God and fully Man, God made Himself an example to all so that by His actions and by His example, He made us all righteous and showed us the way to go.

Brothers and sisters in Christ, in the first reading today from the Book of Numbers, we heard about how God punished His people, the Israelites for their refusal to listen to His will and walk in His ways. He punished them by sending them the fiery and poisonous serpents to bite them and bring death to them. This is the punishment for all those who disobeyed and refused to listen to God, just as the price for death is sin.

The serpents are like the angels of death, representing the judgment of God for all those who have sinned and have committed wicked things before the Lord and before men. And their destruction was seemingly assured, until Moses begged the Lord and beseeched Him to have mercy on His people, and to give them deliverance out of their great predicament.

And God instructed Moses to build up a bronze serpent and place it on a high pole, so that raising it up, it could be seen by many people who have been bitten and harassed by the fiery serpents. Those who saw the bronze serpent became well again and lived, and they did not die. This is a very clear and strong premonition to God’s own plan of salvation, where He Himself would raise Himself up for all to see, so that through Him, all who believe in Him will be saved.

As you all should see, that the fiery serpents are the punishment for the sins that caused us to all suffer death and destruction, but Christ is the new bronze serpent, raised up high even as He bore all of our sins upon Himself, all the punishment due to us, and on the cross, lifted high up between the heavens and the earth, He made Himself an example visible to all, and the testimonies of His truth were passed on to His Apostles, and from them to us.

St. Paul pointed out that just as the first Adam, our ancestor, had sinned and disobeyed the Lord, and by his actions, he had made us all condemned and fallen into sin, and if one man’s action brought all of mankind into sin and into condemnation, then it needs One Man’s action to bring all mankind back towards the Lord and towards salvation, with eternal life promised by the Lord as the goal.

And thus, Jesus Christ our Lord is the new Adam, through whom the salvation of the world was to come from. It is because of His perfect obedience to the will of His Father that had brought mankind to righteousness, because just as He is God, He is at the same time also fully Man, and by assuming the flesh of Man, by His obedience, He restored to all of us, the life and the grace of God which had been withdrawn from us when we disobeyed through sin.

And the cross He made to become a symbol of triumph and victory, and a symbol of the glory that we all are to have, if we keep our faith in the cross of Christ. But it is not just any cross, for cross by itself has no meaning, and a cross would still always be remembered for being the brutal method which the Romans used to treat those who rebelled against them. Instead, it is the Holy Cross of Jesus Christ which we commemorate, the crucifix, where our Saviour hung upon on that day in Calvary.

It was from that cross that Jesus was shown to the whole world, just as the bronze serpent was lifted up in the desert, that all who look up to Christ, believe in Him and follow Him shall not suffer the penalty of death, but live and live forever with the Lord, enjoying forever the bliss of heavenly glory, as worthy disciples, followers and children of our God.

And the empty Cross of Christ is a reminder always, that Christ had won that victory over sin and death, and nothing could hold Him, even death itself. The empty tomb is the proof of triumph together with the Holy Cross, that our Lord had won a complete, total and resounding victory forever against Satan and all of his allies and forces. And whenever Satan looks upon the Cross, he knows that his defeat is assured and his doom is at hand, and the Lord who stood by us had dealt that crushing victory against him.

Therefore, today, brothers and sisters in Christ, let us put our trust ever more in the Cross, and as Christ had at one time showed Himself to the Roman Emperor Constantine, the first to be baptised as a Christian, ‘In Hoc Signo Vinces’ or ‘In this Sign you shall conquer’, and indeed he won a resounding victory against his enemies by placing his trust and faith in the Lord, then we too should do the same.

Let us ever put our trust in the Holy Cross, the symbol of our triumph and victory against all forms of evil, the bane of Satan and the sign of our deliverance. May our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ continue to be with us and guiding us on this way, so that the Cross will be our guide, and we continue to have hope as we look on the triumphant Cross, and fear no more. May Almighty God, the Crucified Lord, be with us and bless us always. Amen.

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Monday, 14 September 2015 : Feast of the Exaltation of the Holy Cross (Gospel Reading)

Liturgical Colour : Red

John 3 : 13-17

At that time, Jesus said to the people and to His disciples, “No one has ever gone up to heaven except the One who came from heaven, the Son of Man. As Moses lifted up the serpent in the desert, so must the Son of Man be lifted up, so that whoever believes in Him may have eternal life.”

“Yes, God so loved the world that He gave His only Son that whoever believes in Him may not be lost, but may have eternal life. God did not send the Son into the world to condemn the world; instead, through Him the world is to be saved.”

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Monday, 14 September 2015 : Feast of the Exaltation of the Holy Cross (Second Reading)

Liturgical Colour : Red

Philippians 2 : 6-11

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.

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Monday, 14 September 2015 : Feast of the Exaltation of the Holy Cross (Psalm)

Liturgical Colour : Red

Psalm 77 : 1-2, 34-35, 36-37, 38

Give heed, o My people, to My teaching; listen to the words of My mouth! I will speak in parables, I will talk of old mysteries.

When God slew His people who sinned against Him, they repented and sought Him earnestly. They remembered that God was their Rock, the Most High, their Redeemer.

But they flattered Him with their mouths, they lied to Him with their tongues, while their hearts were unfaithful; they were untrue to His covenant.

Even then, in His compassion, He forgave their offences and did not destroy them. Many a time He restrained His anger and did not fully stir up His wrath.

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Monday, 14 September 2015 : Feast of the Exaltation of the Holy Cross (First Reading)

Liturgical Colour : Red

Numbers 21 : 4b-9

The people were discouraged by the journey and began to complain against God and Moses, “Why have you brought us out of Egypt to die in the wilderness? There is neither bread nor water here and we are disgusted with this tasteless manna.”

YHVH then sent fiery serpents against them. They bit the people and many of the Israelites died. Then the people came to Moses and said, “We have sinned, speaking against YHVH and against you. Plead with YHVH to take the serpents away.”

Moses pleaded for the people and YHVH said to him, “Make a fiery serpent and set it on a standard; whoever has been bitten and then looks at it shall live.” So Moses made a bronze serpent and set it on a standard. Whenever a man was bitten, he looked towards the bronze serpent and he lived.

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Friday, 7 November 2014 : 31st Week of Ordinary Time (First Reading)

Liturgical Colour : Green

Philippians 3 : 17 – Philippians 4 : 1

Unite in imitating Me, brothers and sisters, and look at those who walk in our way of life. For many live as enemies of the cross of Christ. I have said it to you many times, and now I repeat it with tears : they are heading for ruin; their belly is their god and they feel proud of what should be their shame. They only think of earthly things.

For us, our citizenship is in heaven, from where we await the coming of our Saviour, Jesus Christ, the Lord. He will transfigure our lowly body, making it like His own Body, radiant in Glory, through the power which is His to submit everything to Himself.

Therefore, my brothers and sisters, whom I love and long for, you my glory and crown, be steadfast in the Lord.

 

Homily and Reflection : 
https://petercanisiusmichaeldavidkang.com/2014/11/06/friday-7-november-2014-31st-week-of-ordinary-time-homily-and-scripture-reflections/

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Tuesday, 4 November 2014 : 31st Week of Ordinary Time, Memorial of St. Charles Borromeo, Bishop (First Reading)

Liturgical Colour : White

Philippians 2 : 5-11

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/2014/11/03/tuesday-4-november-2014-31st-week-of-ordinary-time-memorial-of-st-charles-borromeo-bishop-homily-and-scripture-reflections/

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(Usus Antiquior) Twenty-First Sunday after Pentecost (II Classis) – Sunday, 2 November 2014 : Homily and Scripture Reflections

Dear brothers and sisters in Christ, today we heard about how important it is for us to practice our faith with real commitment and zeal, and not just empty words and proclamations. And we cannot be hypocrites in our faith, like the example which our Lord Jesus gave us, in the wicked and unforgiving servant, who was forgiven in his own debts, but did not forgive the debts of others whose debts are even smaller then his own debt.

How is the parable of the wicked servant, as told by Jesus, relevant to us? It is indeed relevant, as the actions of the wicked servant and the other servants, are all in fact representative of our own actions, and our own dispositions in life. The wicked servant was in fact representative of the Pharisees and the chief priests, whom the Lord rebuked for their actions in life. But this could also easily mean the same for us, as it is easy for us to follow in their footsteps too.

How is this so? That is because we have to first realise the fact that we are all sinners, and sin is like a debt, a debt which we owe the Lord. Not that the Lord owns sins and neither it is that the Lord is the One who gave us sin. No, it is not. Sin is the disobedience of mankind against the will of God, and therefore, it directly and indirectly refers to the lack of love and honour which we should have given and presented to God.

Thus, when we sin before the Lord, we owe the Lord the love and honour, which we should have given to Him, which we instead gave to Satan, the father of sin and lies. And the more we sin, thus the greater is our debt of love towards God, and the more we have to pay back, just as the wicked servant owed the master a lot of money, to the point that he was unable to pay it back.

And this is why our Lord Jesus came in, for He is the Word incarnate into flesh, the Son of God who had been sent into the world by the Father, so that by what He had done, via His ultimate sacrifice of love on the cross, He offered Himself as a worthy Lamb of God, the ultimate price to be paid for our sins, the whole mountains of our sinfulness, indeed! For the sum of all of our sins are indeed so great, that it may seem to us at first that they are insurmountable.

But what is impossible for men, is indeed possible for God. Nothing is impossible, and just as the master forgave all the debts of the wicked servant, the Lord Jesus also absolved the sins of mankind when He sacrificed Himself on the cross, and gave justification and salvation to all mankind. But then, it cannot stop here, just as the parable has a continuation.

The wicked servant also had his fellow servants who owed him money, far smaller in amount than what the wicked servant had once owed his master. Yet, he did not emulate the example of his master, and persecuted his fellow servant just for the sake of that small debt, which he refused to forgive. This is a reality of our faith, and one which may easily occur to us as well.

The Pharisees and the teachers of the Law, no matter how much and how often they have hated Jesus and tried to undermine His works, were also forgiven their sins by Jesus, who even forgave them again on the cross, when He asked the Father not to take into account their actions filled with sin. And yet, despite this, they persecuted their fellow men, for their little sins, which according to them, taints a person and makes him or her unworthy of salvation. They were unbending in their rules and persecuted and ostracised the people for even the smallest matters of the Law.

And how about us, brothers and sisters in Christ? It is the same. We have also been forgiven our sins, but we do not follow the example of Christ in many if not most situations. How often can we remember that we do not forgive or take great offence at one another, even our own close family members, even for the smallest of matter? How often is it that we refused to forgive our brethren just because he or she had wronged us, and we remained in our anger and vengeance?

Therefore, brothers and sisters in Christ, the readings today from the Scripture made it very clear to us, how we have to take heed of the Lord Jesus’ actions and teachings, that is to wear all the aspects of our faith upon us, to guard over the possible temptations and advances of the devil. The breastplate of faith is the core of our faith in God, in the One who had forgiven us our debts, and give us a new chance in life, which however will not be complete, if it is not accompanied by action filled with justice, love and truth.

This means that our actions must emulate the actions of Christ, and we have to forgive one another the mistakes which we have committed to each other. We have to show justice in our actions to our fellow men, and if the Lord had forgiven us from such a great debt and sin, who are we not to follow His examples, and instead be like the wicked servant who persecuted his fellow servant for so small a debt?

Let us take heed of this, lest we suffer the same fate as the wicked servant, who was thrown into jail, into the darkness, having to pay every cent of his debt. And as mentioned, the great extent of our sins is immeasurable and insurmountable, by us. And therefore, the result of disobeying the Lord and following the path of the wicked servant is eternal suffering, or hell.

We certainly do not want this, and thus, let us change our ways, and become better children and servant of our God, that we may be worthy of life together with Him, in full bliss and happiness, forever. Amen.