investment

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Wednesday, 19 November 2014 : 33rd Week of Ordinary Time (Homily and Scripture Reflections)

Liturgical Colour : Green

Dear brothers and sisters in Christ, today in the first reading we continue through the reading of the Book of the Apocalypse according to St. John the Evangelist, who received the vision of the coming of the end of time while he was exiled at the Isle of Patmos. In that reading, we see the glory of God fully revealed, the triumphant glory of our Lord and King, He who is enthroned in heaven, Jesus the Lamb of God who had shed His blood to purchase us from the hands of death.

Such was the love and care which our Lord and God had showered us with, and we have been given so many things, just as Jesus Himself explained to the people using the parable of the talents in the Gospel today, the well-known parable where Jesus told of a master of the house and his servants, to whom the master entrusted silver talents as he left to assume the kingship in a distant country.

God gave us all many gifts in us, and each of us have different sets of this gift according to our own uniqueness and abilities. That is how unique and wonderful God’s works is. We are not meant to be perfect in all things, but we are to complement each other, and to live with one another, helping each other and showing love to one another. We cannot isolate ourselves from others around us, especially those who are in need of what God had given us.

The parable of the talents is a classic example of how Jesus showed mankind of His future coming into the world, as a triumphant King and Master of all, even though He once came in the form of a humble Human being, a mere carpenter’s son. At the end of time, as we all keep strongly the faith in our Creed, we believe that He will come again as the Great Judge of all, to judge all the living and the dead for all of their deeds in life.

The master is the Lord Jesus, who came into the world, and by His life, His suffering, death and resurrection, obtained for us all who believe in Him, the grace and gift of eternal life and salvation, a gift beyond any comparison. Thus, all of us who have been baptised in the Name of the Father, Son and Holy Spirit, are truly like the servants whom the master entrusted with the silver talents.

Why is this so? That is because, indeed, we have life in us, as the basic and most fundamental gift of the Lord to us, but then, when we received the sacrament of baptism, we ourselves were welcomed into the Church and were made sons and daughters of the Lord. And as the children of God and the members of His Church, we receive the gifts of the Holy Spirit into us, and principal among these gifts are namely faith, hope and love.

But these gifts are dormant, brothers and sisters in Christ, and like a farmer sowing seeds in his field, if the field is not worked and tilled with hoe and effort put into the growing of the crops, then the seed will remain just that, that is as seed, and will not grow. In order for the seeds to grow into bountiful and strong plants, they need to be cared for and nourished with effort.

The same therefore applies to us all, as the gifts of God lying dormant within us are waiting for us to unleash them and release them to those around us, whom we can indeed touch and benefit with the gifts we have. We have a choice here, either to let those gifts remain dormant, because we are reluctant, or fearful, or doubtful, or simply plain lazy or selfish, that we are like the lazy and worthless servant, who hid his master’s silver talent, and in the end, the silver talent bore no profit or use.

Thus, our talents, gifts and blessings from God will be useless and worthless if we let them lie dormant in us. The other choice we have is to open up the doors of our heart, and allow these gifts to flow from us, and in the process, they will grow plenty, just like a small seed growing to such a big tree and plant, and just as the silver talent invested carefully bearing much profits and income for those who had wisely invested it.

Remember, just as in the parable, the master would return from the distant kingdom to ask all of his servants to account for the silver talents they have been entrusted with. The master who went off to a faraway kingdom, was indeed Jesus who after His resurrection, went forth to His kingdom in heaven, the everlasting kingdom, to prepare a place for all those who believe in Him. He ascended into heaven, but He will indeed come again as He had foretold.

And His return will be sudden and unannounced, so that many people will be caught unaware and unprepared. At that time, those who had lived righteously and acted according to the will of God are like the faithful and diligent servants, who worked on the silver talents and brought handsome returns with it, doubling whatever had been given to them.

These will be rewarded and blessed forever, and they will have inheritance in God’s kingdom. But for those who have failed to use whatever God had given them and blessed them with, they will suffer rejection by God and cast away into the utter darkness. The choice is ours, brothers and sisters, for it is fully in our control to utilise the gifts had given us.

May Almighty God give us the strength and courage to overcome our fears and reluctance, to put into use the various gifts, talents and abilities which He had given us, so that we may put them to good use, to benefit all those around us, our neighbours, our brothers and sisters. God bless us all. Amen.

 

First Reading : 

https://petercanisiusmichaeldavidkang.com/2014/11/17/wednesday-19-november-2014-33rd-week-of-ordinary-time-first-reading/

 

Psalm : 

https://petercanisiusmichaeldavidkang.com/2014/11/17/wednesday-19-november-2014-33rd-week-of-ordinary-time-psalm/

 

Gospel Reading : 

https://petercanisiusmichaeldavidkang.com/2014/11/17/wednesday-19-november-2014-33rd-week-of-ordinary-time-gospel-reading/

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Saturday, 30 August 2014 : 21st Week of Ordinary Time (Scripture Reflections)

Liturgical Colour : Green or White (Saturday Mass of our Lady)

Brothers and sisters in Christ, today we celebrate the word of God, in which we are reminded of the need to be proactive in our faith and in how we live our lives, depending also on the graces and wisdom which He had granted us mankind, so that we may grow further and develop what He had given to us and entrusted to us. Yes, so that we may be like the hardworking and good servants rather than becoming like the useless and lazy servant.

In each and every one of us, God had given many gifts in various ways, some more than others in certain things and some less than others in certain things, and while some have more, some have less than others. But regardless of the amounts, the Lord had given us something, blessings and graces He gave us, no matter how small or how big they are.

This is perfectly represented by Jesus through His telling of the parable of the servants with the silver talents. There were three servants who were given five talents of silver, two talents of silver and one talent of silver respectively, and they exactly represented all of us who had been given the gifts and blessings of God in the form of our abilities, talents and other gifts that we had been endowed with, no matter how great or small they are.

But what is important here is to reflect on the words and the true meaning of the parable which Jesus had told us through His disciples, on why it is so important for us not to be passive and be ridden with inaction, as these are great sins, the sins of omission. For it is not just the sin of action that is truly debilitating against the soul when we committed something evil and foul in the presence of God, but when we fail to do something when we clearly have the means and ability to do it, then we also commit a sin.

The key here is to understand that it is not when we have less then we deserve to be punished or anything of the sort. The servant who had been given the one talent could have been praised and be rewarded as well, had he not hidden his one silver talent in fear of losing it or in fear of retribution from his master and instead if he had invested it and worked on it, he would have received his due reward.

How does this relate to us then? We often fear to use our talents to be of use to others, and to work and do good works as well as good deeds using whatever abilities and gifts that God had given us. And when we were baptised and accepted as the member of the Body of Christ, the Church, God had given us even more gifts, the gift of faith, the gift of hope and the gift of love. However, these gifts are mere seeds that will only grow and become powerful tools for the Lord to works His wonders in this world if we take action and do something to use them for the good of all around us.

Remember the parable of the sower and the seeds that fell on different locations and conditions? The seeds will only grow well and produce bountiful returns of thirty, sixty, hundredfold and more if they fall on the rich soil. And this cannot be automatic for all of us. We have to work and toil hard just like all farmers do, so that the seeds may grow healthy and strong. A good heart and a favourable environment, represented by the rich soil is necessary, but even this require work on our part, and after that, we still need to toil and work hard till the harvest season.

That means, we have to be actively engaged in living our faith. We must be open to others, in terms of opening our hearts filled with this faith, hope and love so that others too may benefit from them and therefore stand to gain from what we are doing. Thus, in our words, our actions and deeds must reflect the nature of ourselves, that is as the children of God, who is Love, and thus we must have love, and hope, and faith in all of the things we do and say.

It is only then that we will be able to grow our faith, hope and love, and all of the various gifts God had given us, so that just like the faithful and good servants, their silver talents grow and multiply as they invested them, so do our gifts and our strength in God. And therefore, the Lord who sees all that we do will reward us and keep us in His love and grace.

May Almighty God bless us on this day, and strengthen us that we may continue to persevere amidst the difficulties of this world and commit ourselves to greater acts of faith, hope and love, so that all those around us may benefit from them and we too may be found worthy of the everlasting heaven. God be with us all. Amen.

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Saturday, 30 August 2014 : 21st Week of Ordinary Time (Gospel Reading)

Liturgical Colour : Green or White (Saturday Mass of our Lady)

Matthew 25 : 14-30

Imagine someone who, before going abroad, summoned his servants to entrust his property to them. He gave five talents of silver to one servant, two talents to another servant, and one talent to a third, to each according to his ability; and he went away.

He who received five talents went at once to do business with the money, and gained another five. The one who received two talents did the same, and gained another two. But the one who received one talent dug a hole, and hid his master’s money.

After a long time, the master of those servants returned and asked for a reckoning. The one who had received five talents came with another five talents, saying, “Lord, you entrusted me with five talents, but see, I have gained five more.” The master answered, “Very well, good and faithful servant, since you have been faithful in a few things, I will entrust you with much more. Come and share the joy of your master.”

Then the one who had received two talents came and said, “Lord, you entrusted me with two talents; with them I have gained two more.” The master said, “Well, good and faithful servant, since you have been faithful in little things, I will entrust you with much more. Come and share the joy of your master.”

Finally, the one who had received one talent came and said, “Master, I know that you are a hard man. You reap what you have not sown, and gather what you have not scattered. I was afraid, so I hid your money in the ground. Here, take what is yours!”

But his master replied, “Wicked and worthless servant, you know that I reap where I have not sown, and gather where I have not scattered; so you should have deposited my money in the bank, and on my return you would have given it back to me with interest.”

“Therefore, take the talent from him, and give it to the one who has ten. For to all those who have, more will be given, and they will have an abundance; but from those who are unproductive, even what they have will be taken from them. As for that useless servant, throw him out into the dark, where there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth.”

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Saturday, 31 August 2013 : 21st Week of Ordinary Time (Scripture Reflection)

Liturgical Colour : Green or White

Dear brothers and sisters in Christ, today we listened to the parable of the talents, the silver talents entrusted by the master of the house to his servants, his properties to be taken care of by them while he was away doing his business away from the house. The hardworking and industrious servants were rewarded, while the lazy and wicked servant was punished, and what he had was taken away from him and given to the trustworthy servant.

Yes, brethren, this parable precisely applies to all of us, to each and every one of us. We also have ‘silver talents’ within us, all gifts from God, in different ways and different colours, each with his and her own gifts. Some do receive more and some received less, but all are being equally gifted by the Lord our God who trusted us with these gifts, not to be left idle, but to be used, for the cause of good.

What are then these ‘silver talents’ we have within each and every one of us? These ‘talents’ are in fact the skills, abilities, and knowledge that we have within us, that makes every one of us special, all special and unique children of the same, one God. Some of us has certain abilities and skills that can be useful if we use them properly and efficiently. These, just like the silver talents in the parable, can ‘grow’ when we utilise them and invest on them.

We are urged to be like the faithful and industrious servants, the ones who made good use of the money and invest them that when the master returned, not only that the original silver talents had remained, but even it had grown and multiplied twofold. Therefore, the master’s investment in his servants had not been wasted, that after all the time, the money made a worthwhile return.

Yet, brethren, many of us tend to be more like the lazy and unproductive servant, who dug a hole and hid the silver talent there in the hole, from the day that the master left it with him to the day when he returned and expected a return from his servant. In the similar way, we tend to remain within our comfort zone and remain idle, and hence, the buried silver talent, just as buried as our talents and skills, the gifts God had given to us to use for our own good, and for the good of people around us.

There are many reasons for such failure to invest the gifts God had granted us, and they are not limited to things such as sheer laziness, fear of failure, and the temptations and allures of the pleasures of the world. We tend to prefer our comfort zone and do nothing, and even if we are to do something, many of us tend to be selfish, and do it for our own good, for our own benefits, often at the expense of others. The last servant’s fear is precisely also caused by this, by his own selfishness, that is fearing for his own safety and therefore succumb to his fear of losing the money if he invested it, and therefore did nothing to the silver talent he had been given with.

Dear brothers and sisters in Christ, let us rediscover our true purpose in life, especially if all these while we had not done anything yet to utilise the gifts we have within us, for the good of others, for the good of everyone around us. Let us be proactive in our faith and in our lives, not to fear loss or discomfort for our works and for our actions, and not to be idle and lazy in using the good and the gift God had placed in us, in purposeful ways that will bring happiness, fulfillment, and contentment to all of us.

Be active, brothers and sisters, be loving and show mercy in all our words, actions, and all the things we do, to our fellow men, that we can care for one another, and when the Divine Master comes, what we sow in love, through our actions, we will reap in heaps, in heaps of reward that is eternal life. The Divine Master, that is our Lord Jesus would reward us according to what we had done in our lives, whether we had been like his faithful and hardworking servants, or rather be like the ungrateful and lazy servant.

Therefore, brothers and sisters in Christ, having heard the parable of the talents and the servants, let us be reminded of our mission in this life, that is to be true disciples of the Lord, ones that do not merely say, “Lord, Lord!” but do nothing, and instead take concrete actions, no matter how small or large it is, to make a difference for the better, for our fellow brothers and sisters, the children of the same, one God.

May the Lord our Master and our God be our guide, to lead us through the difficulties and challenges of this world, that we may work hand in hand, with one another, embracing one another with care, that all of us will reap together the fruits, the interests, and the benefits of our loving actions in this world. God bless us all forever. Amen.

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Saturday, 31 August 2013 : 21st Week of Ordinary Time (Gospel Reading)

Liturgical Colour : Green or White

Matthew 25 : 14-30

Imagine someone who, before going abroad, summoned his servants to entrust his property to them. He gave five talents of silver to one servant, two talents to another servant, and one talent to a third, to each according to his ability; and he went away.

He who received five talents went at once to do business with the money, and gained another five. The one who received two talents did the same, and gained another two. But the one who received one talent dug a hole, and hid his master’s money.

After a long time, the master of those servants returned and asked for a reckoning. The one who had received five talents came with another five talents, saying, “Lord, you entrusted me with five talents, but see, I have gained five more.” The master answered, “Very well, good and faithful servant, since you have been faithful in a few things, I will entrust you with much more. Come and share the joy of your master.”

Then the one who had received two talents came and said, “Lord, you entrusted me with two talents; with them I have gained two more.” The master said, “Well, good and faithful servant, since you have been faithful in little things, I will entrust you with much more. Come and share the joy of your master.”

Finally, the one who had received one talent came and said, “Master, I know that you are a hard man. You reap what you have not sown, and gather what you have not scattered. I was afraid, so I hid your money in the ground. Here, take what is yours!” But his master replied, “Wicked and worthless servant, you know that I reap where I have not sown, and gather where I have not scattered; so you should have deposited my money in the bank, and on my return you would have given it back to me with interest.”

“Therefore, take the talent from him, and give it to the one who has ten. For to all those who have, more will be given, and they will have an abundance; but from those who are unproductive, even what they have will be taken from them. As for that useless servant, throw him out into the dark, where there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth.”

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Sunday, 4 August 2013 : 18th Sunday of Ordinary Time (Scripture Reflection)

Liturgical Colour : Green

Brothers and sisters in Christ, our Lord today warns us against the sin of greed, the sin of pride, and the sin of selfishness. Especially in the aimless accumulation of wealth and accumulation of possessions, that we lose sight of the true aim in our life, that is our Lord and God. Wealth and accumulation are well-known sources of temptations that can divert us and our attention away from the path to salvation, that is the path to God.

The Lord also reminded us that we are mortals, mortals because of the original sins of our ancestors, and we are dust, because we are created from dust. Yet, though we are dust, we have life in us because the Lord breathed into us the breath of life, that is the Spirit of life. Yet, we still have limit in our lives in this world. Our lives are temporary, and everyone will eventually meet the end of their respective lives, at the appointed time that God has for all of us.

That is why, the Lord always stresses the importance of being ever vigilant in our lives, to always lead a righteous and upright life, filled with love and obedience to the will of God. We may be mortal and our lives may be short, but if we put our faith and complete trust in God, we will be immortals! Why? That is because the Lord had promised all of us salvation through His Son, and with the Risen Lord Jesus, we too will be reborn to a new life, and receive at the end of our earthly lives, new and eternal life in the glory and bliss of God’s heavenly kingdom.

Yes, that is our inheritance, brothers and sisters in Christ, the true inheritance that we will receive from the Lord, that He had promised us, and Christ His Son had made available to all of us through His death and resurrection from the dead. It is important that we seek the true treasure and not false treasures of the world. Seek what brings us true happiness, the true happiness that only God can give.

We have to choose brothers and sisters, just because we cannot serve two masters as Christ had made it clear to His disciples, we too have to choose between the wealth of the world, and the eternal wealth of the Lord. It does not mean that one is entirely in opposition to the other though. It does not mean that we have to impoverish ourselves of one while we seek the other. What is important is, that we know that ultimately, the wealth and possessions of this world serve only a temporary purpose, bring only a temporary satisfaction, and only temporary pleasure and happiness, while the wealth that we have in God is eternal, and is perfectly and completely satisfying to all of us.

Yes, we can be both rich in this world and in the world after, that is in the eyes of man, and in the eyes of God. That is if we are able to wisely use whatever had been given to us, and look beyond the temptations of the evil one and the allure of wealth, and also to be able to look beyond ourselves and our own desires and needs, to see the true use and function of the wealth and possessions we have received in this world.

We must never ever have the mentality of selfishness in ourselves, and only thinking about our own benefits and happiness, especially at the expense of others, which usually happen when we begin to put our own interests first. We must not be like the rich man who wasted his time in this world worrying about his own future and thus accumulated much wealth which he stored in barns and storage spaces, that he would, in his mind, think that he has a secure and prosperous future to be spent in happiness.

Yes, I want to again stress of our own mortality and the fragility of our own lives. It is unwise to spend so much time worrying about the future and then close ourselves from any concerns beside concerns for ourselves. We do not know when our death will be, nor in what way our death will come to us. It will come to us whenever we are most unprepared, just as the Second Coming of Christ will be. The time is appointed by the Lord, and we have no way to know about it.

Many of us are obsessed with maintaining our beauty, our lives and attempting to even make it better whenever possible. Plastic surgery, and even genetic manipulations to ensure that we can live longer and live more prosperously, gaining more fame through beauty and our possessions. Yet what do these all do? These things will not ensure our beauty nor our prosperity forever. If death knocks at our door tomorrow, despite all these things that we do, would they not all be wasted?

Much more resources should have been allocated to other, better purposes in our lives. It is not that we cannot indulge ourselves or bring happiness to ourselves, but we must never be consumed by our search for such wealth or happiness, that we forget about everything else, about those beloved to us, about God, and about everyone around us who needs us, who needs our love, care, and compassion.

Our wealth in this world is also not permanent. Many things may happen that can wipe out all of our hard-earned savings and ‘happiness’ in an instant, and after that a lifetime of work may be wasted. Earthquakes, tsunamis, tornadoes, floods, fires, and many other natural calamities that may happen anytime in our world unexpectedly, will wipe out most of our hard work if not all in much shorter time than that required to gather them.

And yes, death. What would those goods stored in barns and storages do if we die at the time appointed for us to die? Will they be able to provide anything for us in the afterlife? Or perhaps help us to climb from hell into paradise? No, they have not such power. Only God has such power, that is through Christ His Son, whose death had provided us all with a means to reach the true reward, that is everlasting life.

Seek not to build wealth that can be destroyed or wealth that can be stolen or disappear any moment, with or without our knowledge. Seek not wealth or pleasure that are short-lived and temporary, and disappear as quickly as the fleeting motion of our short, mortal lives on earth. Seek rather the eternal wealth and treasure in God, in heaven, that will never disappear, that will never expire, and that will never be destroyed. Let us all, while we still have the time, begin and continue to build our treasury in heaven, filling up with the wealth of our true treasure, that is love.

Brothers and sisters in Christ, let us follow the advice of the Lord, and begin from today, to open the storage of the things we have kept only for ourselves, and offer them to everyone in need. No, I am not just talking about money, wealth, or material possessions. Most important of all treasures is love itself, which God has placed in all of us, but we like to lock it deep within our hearts, that it does not become visible or evident. The same happens to faith and hope.

As long as we remain shut to the world and to the love of God and the plight of others, our wealth in God will never grow, because we never make use the gifts that God had given us and bless us with, that is in His Holy Spirit. If we exercise the faith, the hope, and the love He had given all of us through the Spirit, it will grow and multiply, thirty, sixty, hundredfold and more. Let us begin from today, if we have not done so, to invest in the building of our wealth in heaven, that when we are called back to God, He will truly see us as wealthy in His eyes. Not the wealth of the world, but the true and undiminished wealth of love.

May the Lord inflame in us the fire of His love, and may He push us to go out and render our service to others who are in need of our help and our love. May we be able to share our love with one another, as fellow children of God who loves us. God bless us all, always and forevermore. Amen.

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Sunday, 7 July 2013 : 14th Sunday of Ordinary Time (Scripture Reflection)

Dear brothers and sisters in Christ, today the Lord challenges all of us, to be His disciples and His followers, and what we are expected to do, when we choose to become His servants, the extensions of His will in this world. For to become the followers of Christ does not mean an easy life to us, or a leisurely work. Indeed, becoming the followers and disciples of Christ, mean that we die to this world, and abandon all the pleasures and the good that is in the world, for the sake of Christ.

There will be those who accept us, and there will likely be even more who will reject us, sometimes may not even be in a friendly manner. That is because not all people attune themselves to the Lord and His message, and many prefer to live in the ignorance provided by the world and all its temptations. To be a servant and disciple of Christ therefore means to struggle against the world and fight in this uphill battle for the sake of the Lord.

However, we must not give up, for certainly the Lord Himself did not give up on all of us. He still keeps up hope on us, and still continue to love all of us. Indeed, He embraced all of us, gave us all the love that He has in Him, that is infinite, and treat us like His own children. Nothing less indeed than giving us His own life, through His death on the cross, that we may have eternal life ourselves, those of us who believe in Him and accept Him as our Lord and Saviour.

God cares for all of us and He will bless us if we stay true to Him and follow Him as His disciples, particularly for those of us who have been called by the Lord to be His servants and serve His people. He will provide for all of us, and even if we face difficulties and opposition, as we surely will, the Lord will always be with us, and we should not need to worry at all.

The problem with our world today is that there are so much things that are good and enticing to men, and there are so much things that tempt us away from the Lord and His call. It is not that we should ignore or shun all of the world’s goodness, but we must know the limit to such goodness, otherwise we would succumb to our natural weakness of desire and greed. If we can understand self-control, we would be able to prevent the world from corrupting our hearts and blocking our path towards the Lord.

Our world has become very materialistic and secular in nature, that many people no longer place God as first in their hearts, and even no longer has the Lord in their hearts. In God’s place came in all the greed that is of the world, for material wealth, possessions, luxury, comfort, and excesses. The crazed search for more money and wealth is just one of the many examples of how our world had changed for the worse.

Especially it is increasingly becoming very difficult for the Church to find new priests today, and new servants of the Lord. Even the numbers of religious brothers and sisters have also dropped significantly, a sign in tandem with the increasing secularism of the world, and the increasing temptation of the world on us mankind.

In the past it is easy for the Church to find new priests and religious members because God still lives strong in many people’s hearts, and many willingly give up everything they have in life for the sake of the Lord, and serve His people through the Church, be it as priests, brothers, nuns, or even as lay worker. However, as I had mentioned and all of you knew, that times had changed. Now, many people are too fixated on their material possessions that they are increasingly unwilling to abandon all of them for the sake of God and His people.

However, internal reasons are not the only reasons, though it does play a very important part in why we have a great decline in the number of people in our seminaries today. The other reasons are external, from our friends, our society, and ultimately, our own families. In many parts of the world, success in life had increasingly been equated with monetary and economic success, and educational achievements, both linked to each other in such a way that, our life becomes more like an investment than a life.

Yes, as you know, in our modern world, raising a child increasingly become more and more expensive as years go by. Every year, inflation brings all living costs higher and higher, and consequently it becomes ever more difficult to raise a child, with soaring expenditures and declining income relative to those expenditures. Education, in particular, became so expensive, that educating a child in our society today becomes something like a chore.

That is why, coupled with the increasingly stronger link between education, its achievements and success in life, made so many parents becoming more and more reluctant to let their children go, when they reveal to them about their intentions in life. You see, God chooses whom He wants to be His servants, and He calls them all, through subtle means. Not many would take up that offer and that call, but many did answer and treasure the calling.

Yet, parental objections often stood in the way of the Lord’s call, because the parents thought of priestly life and a life dedicated to the service of the Lord and His people is a wasted life, a shameful life, and indeed, an investment wasted, because we gradually see our lives less as a life that we truly should see it, but merely more and more as an investment, about money and material possessions.

Friends and society also play a great deal in shaping one’s calling, because peer pressure and objections in the society do prevent one’s calling from being realised, especially when coupled with parental objection. These are in fact, my dear brothers and sisters in Christ, some of the crosses that we must bear if we are to follow the Lord. This is exactly because the world does not love Christ, and neither does it welcome Him. The world follows its own ways, and those are not the ways of the Lord.

The purpose of today’s readings however is not to attack or put down parents, just because they rejected or opposed their children’s calling, but rather, to remind all of us that, life is not just about our possessions, or about how much money we have in the bank, or how big is the salary we receive in a month, or even, how many cars and other utilities we have. Life is indeed about Christ, and about loving Christ and our fellow brethren.

We Christians who believe in our Lord Jesus Christ must be brave and courageous, in defending our faith against the assaults of the world and its temptations, and must be ready at all times to take up our crosses, to walk alongside Christ in His suffering. These crosses mean to take an active part in our participation in the Church, according to our own calling, that is for those called and chosen to serve the Lord in divine priesthood, to be brave in embracing one’s calling and rejecting the voices that try to prevent one’s call from being realised; and for those in religious orders, to be faithful in prayer and service; and lastly, but not least, for the laity themselves, that they will take up a more active participation in the Church and groom themselves for better understanding of their faith.

In doing so, brothers and sisters in Christ, we have done God’s will, to be His disciples and preach the Good News to all of the world, including to our fellow brethren and ourselves. Therefore, now, let us pray that the Lord will give us strength and courage to face all the troubles in life, and also give us the understanding of the nature of God’s call and vocations, and bravely defend the faith of the Church in all of our deeds.

May the Lord give us His Holy Spirit, that we will always ever persevere, amidst the difficulties and challenges in this world, in showing God’s love to all, and also to preach the Good News of the Lord to all nations. God bless us all. Amen.