Jesuits

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Wednesday, 21 December 2016 : 4th Week of Advent, Memorial of St. Peter Canisius, Priest and Doctor of the Church (Homily and Scripture Reflections)

Liturgical Colour : Purple/Violet
Dear brothers and sisters in Christ, on this day, as we approach closer to the great celebrations of Christmas, when we rejoice together as all the people of God in memory of the birth of our Lord and Saviour, Jesus Christ, the Son of God born of the Blessed Virgin Mary. On that day two millennia ago, the Lord had sent into this world His salvation through Jesus, through Whom He revealed to the whole world and to all creation, what needs to be done for us to be redeemed and freed from our fated destruction.

The Lord is our Hope, and in Him alone lies our salvation and grace. But this is a fact that many of us tend to forget, and many of us are often too busy and preoccupied in our lives to notice and to understand the love of our God. We seek instead for the comforts of this world, trying to satisfy our desires and our wants, for either money, possessions, wealth and other things, for things that supposedly bring us joy and happiness.

However, none of these will last us and none of them are permanent. All these are distractions that prevent us from discovering the true joy and love of our lives. Our reaction upon seeing the Lord and upon receiving His love and grace should be that of joy, and indeed of extreme joy and happiness, knowing that because He has come into this world, He has made all things new and filled with hope once again. We should be happy, as the children are happy when their parents come back from work and see them again.

Yet, many of us are like prodigal children, who ignored our Father’s love and pretended as if He is not there. He has blessed us with many things, and yet we are often ensnared in these same things, and rather than giving thanks and rejoicing in the One Who had made all of these possible, we instead end up being entangled in the falsehoods and in the lies of the evil one, he who desired our destruction and damnation.

And it is the same with us who have come to celebrate Christmas without properly understanding what it is that we are celebrating about. Many of us have lost the focus of our celebration and rejoicing, to the point that instead of putting our focus in the Lord, we ended up getting distracted with all the worldly revelry and rejoicing, as what we often see every time we come to the season of Christmas.

That is the sad reality of our world today, in how many of us celebrate Christmas. Many of us, even Christians alike forgot that Christmas is truly about Christ, from Whom the name Christmas came about. Without Christ there can be no Christmas, and if we take out Christ from the equation of our celebrations and joy, then there is no meaning to Christmas. For Christmas cannot exist without Christ, Whose birth is celebrated on that day, and for Whom we should be truly grateful.

As we move on through Advent towards Christmas, it is imperative that we should understand what is our focus this Christmas. In all of our plans, do we have the Lord in mind as we rejoice and are happy with each other? Have we prepared everything with the birthday and coming of our Lord Jesus Christ in mind? Have we told our children and our young ones about the Christ and what He had done, His significance to all of us that in this Christmas we merit the opportunity to rejoice?

It is important that during this time of Advent, a season and time of preparation, that we should prepare ourselves well to welcome the Lord Who comes into the world, as we should prepare ourselves such that we are well prepared for the Lord in our hearts and minds, as well as in our souls and in our bodies. This is important so that we will realise that when we celebrate Christmas, we are not just remembering He Who has come before, but also He Who has promised us all that He will come again.

And in that, we should also seek help and guidance from His saints, who are our examples in their faith and obedience to God. Today, we celebrate the feast day of a great saint and a holy man, whose faith and actions can help and guide us on the path towards the Lord. St. Peter Canisius is a Jesuit priest, who was among the first members of the Jesuit order or the Society of Jesus founded by St. Ignatius of Loyola.

At that time, the Church was rife with troubles and with corruption due to the worldliness of many of its members, both the laity and the members of the priestly and episcopal orders alike. Many people openly vie for positions in the world and in the Church, not shying away from misusing their positions and power in order to do so. As a result, the Church became divided and there were many who chose to follow false and heretical teachings and became sundered from the salvation of God in the Church.

St. Peter Canisius helped to refocus the people’s attention towards the Lord, through his hard work, his preachings through which he taught the people, many of them, about the truth found in the fullness of faith through the Church alone. He endured many rejections, ridicule and challenges and many thousands flocked back to the Lord as a result of the hard works of St. Peter Canisius and his fellow compatriots in faith.

Through the drive of the Counter-Reformation as it is now known, the Church through the Society of Jesus led by St. Ignatius of Loyola and aided greatly by St. Peter Canisius and the other prominent members of the Church such as St. John of the Cross and St. Teresa of Avila helped to reform the Church and root out the corruptions and wickedness that had plagued the Church at that time, returning it to its pure intention for the salvation of the souls of mankind.

St. Peter Canisius is renowned not just for his actions, but also through his works in the Three Catechisms he wrote, a series of teachings of the faith which he made clear and available to the people so that, they would no longer fall into heresy and into the false teachings and ways. Through these Catechisms, many people after the time of St. Peter Canisius had benefitted greatly, and many returned to the faith and were saved from damnation because of his works.

And St. Peter Canisius was also renowned for his deep and strong devotion to Mary, the mother of our Lord and God, Jesus Christ. His many works include a series of Mariology works through which he explained in great detail the role of Mary as the bearer of the Saviour of the world, and how in her own life examples she has become a great example to all of us to follow, in how we ought to live our lives in accordance with the will of God.

Brothers and sisters in Christ, following the examples of St. Peter Canisius and the other brave and courageous saints of the Lord, let us all reorientate our lives and rededicate our lives to the Lord our God, and shed away all the sins and wickedness of our lives, surrendering ourselves to God and obeying Him in the same way that Mary our role model had done.

May the Lord help us all to remain ever faithful to Him, and not to give up amidst the many temptations present in this world. May He bless us all and keep us all in His grace, now and forevermore. May all of us use the remaining time in this Advent season to prepare ourselves well to celebrate Christmas meaningfully and with full faith in the Lord. God bless us all. Amen.

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Wednesday, 21 December 2016 : 4th Week of Advent, Memorial of St. Peter Canisius, Priest and Doctor of the Church (Gospel Reading)

Liturgical Colour : Purple/Violet
Luke 1 : 39-45

Mary then set out for a town in the hill country of Judah. She entered the house of Zechariah and greeted Elizabeth. When Elizabeth heard Mary’s greeting, the baby leapt in her womb.

Elizabeth was filled with Holy Spirit, and giving a loud cry, said, “You are most blessed among women, and blessed is the Fruit of your womb! How is it that the mother of my Lord comes to me? The moment your greeting sounded in my ears, the baby within me suddenly leapt for joy. Blessed are you who believed that the Lord’s word would come true!”

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Wednesday, 21 December 2016 : 4th Week of Advent, Memorial of St. Peter Canisius, Priest and Doctor of the Church (First Reading)

Liturgical Colour : Purple/Violet
Song of Songs 2 : 8-14

The voice of my lover! Behold He comes, springing across the mountains, jumping over the hills, like a gazelle or a young stag. Now He stands behind our wall, looking through the windows, peering through the lattice.

My lover speaks to me, “Arise, my love, my beautiful one! Come, the winter is gone, the rains are over. Flowers have appeared on earth; the season of singing has come; the cooing of doves is heard. The fig tree forms its early fruit, the vines in blossom are fragrant. Arise, my beautiful one, come with Me, my love, come.”

“O my dove in the rocky cleft, in the secret places of the cliff, let me see your face, let me hear your voice. Your face – how lovely! Your voice – how sweet!”

Alternative reading
Zephaniah 3 : 14-18a

Cry out with joy, o daughter of Zion; rejoice, o people of Israel! Sing joyfully with all your heart, daughter of Jerusalem! YHVH has lifted your sentence and has driven your enemies away. YHVH, the King of Israel is with you; do not fear any misfortune.

On that day they will say to Jerusalem : Do not be afraid nor let your hands tremble, for YHVH your God is within you, YHVH, saving Warrior. He will jump for joy on seeing you, for He has revived His love. For you He will cry out with joy, as you do in the days of the Feast.

I will drive away the evil I warned you about.

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Wednesday, 21 December 2016 : 4th Week of Advent, Memorial of St. Peter Canisius, Priest and Doctor of the Church (Psalm)

Liturgical Colour : Purple/Violet
Psalm 32 : 2-3, 11-12, 20-21

Give thanks to Him on the harp and lyre, making melody and chanting praises. Amid loud shouts of joy, sing to Him a new song and play the ten-stringed harp.

But His plan stands forever, and His heart’s design through all generations. Blessed is the nation whose God is the Lord – the people He has chosen for His inheritance.

In hope we wait for the Lord, for He is our help and our shield. Our hearts rejoice in Him, for we trust in His holy Name.

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Saturday, 3 December 2016 : Feast of St. Francis Xavier, Priest and Patron of Missions (Homily and Scripture Reflections)

Liturgical Colour : White
Dear brothers and sisters in Christ, on this day we commemorate together the feast of St. Francis Xavier, a renowned Jesuit priest and missionary, whose hard work in evangelisation throughout especially South, Southeast and East Asia had led to the foundation of the roots of the Church in the many countries existing there today, where many millions upon millions of the faithful now live, a growing and thriving Church.

And for what he had done, he was named as the Patron of Missions, as the patron saints for all missionaries and their mission areas, for his pioneering work and dedication in establishing many of the buds of the faith in those far flung areas. And he did not have it easy, because such a task at that time was indeed very monumental and challenging to be done.

First of all, St. Francis Xavier lived during a time of great difficulties in the Church, a time of turmoil, both within and outside the Church, where conflicts and wars were rampant. At that time, from outside, the Turks who reigned in the Ottoman Empire were resurgent and powerful, seizing lands after lands from Christendom, putting many of the faithful under the rule of these pagans. As a result, great suffering occurred and also a great fear arose to threaten the Church, as then, there was a real threat that the Ottoman Turks would be able to overcome all of Christendom.

And at the same time, from within, there were divisions among the faithful, where false prophets and heretical teachings arose in the population, heresies such as Hussites and later on, during the time of St. Francis Xavier, the heresy known as the Protestant ‘reformation’, where many people rebelled against the authority of the Church and established splinter groups on their own, with their own teachings that are deviant and in contradiction with the teachings of Christ through His Church.

And within the Church itself, there was plenty of corruption and immorality, where many of the members of the clergy, even to the higher ranks were corrupt and wicked. They engaged in corrupt practices, demanding money and worldly goods for the absolution of sins, a practice known as indulgence, but which was twisted and corrupted by these irresponsible Church leaders and officials.

Amidst all of these challenges and difficulties facing the Church at that time, St. Francis lived through a time of great change and renewal within the Church, known as the Counter-Reformation, spearheaded by his contemporaries, and which he was also part of, through the Society of Jesus or the Jesuit religious order which was established by St. Ignatius of Loyola. Through their hard work, the Church began to purify itself from all its excesses and corrupt practices, and brought back many to the true faith.

It was told that at first, St. Francis Xavier was reluctant to join the effort, and he had aspirations of worldly glories and achievements. Initially St. Ignatius of Loyola and some other of these saints also had similar condition, where they sought for personal glory and achievement and ignored God’s calling at the beginning. But through persistence and constant guidance, who was said to quote to St. Francis Xavier at one time the saying of Jesus, “What would it benefit a man if he gains the whole world, but lose his own soul.” Eventually, he became convinced and decided to dedicate himself to the Lord.

Henceforth, St. Francis Xavier together with the saints of the Counter-Reformation, St. Ignatius of Loyola, St. Peter Canisius, St. Teresa of Avila, St. Philip Neri and many others, St. Francis Xavier helped to rejuvenate the faith in many people, and he led the efforts to spread the Good News of God to those areas of the world which have yet to hear it. For at that time was a time of great discovery, the Age of Exploration, where new lands were discovered, and the Christian nations have the opportunity to evangelise to the peoples who have for the past one and a half millennia no chance to listen to the teachings of the faith.

But at that time, travel was not as convenient and easy as it is now. If it is now possible to go from one end of the earth to the other end in a mere day or less, and with relative comfort and little risk, at that time, the only available method of travel was either by land or by sea. The sea route was the faster route, but it was rife with danger, as storms and strong gales could cause the ships to be broken up and sink, and at the fastest, the journey took many months to complete.

Amidst all of these challenges, St. Francis Xavier was one of the first pioneers of the works of evangelisation in that time, bringing the Good News of the Gospel to many countries along the route of his travel, from India to the Malayan Archipelago, to the region of China and the Philippines, and as far as Japan to the furthest part of East Asia.

St. Francis Xavier visited all of these places, sometimes by himself, and sometimes with his fellow brother priests and missionaries, planting the seeds of the faith among the indigenous population, sowing the seeds for the growth of the future Church that would be established in those areas. Some welcomed him openly and willingly, while some others viewed his teachings and the Christian faith with suspect, and still some others outrightly banned the faith and persecuted its followers.

But amidst all these difficult challenges, nevertheless St. Francis Xavier persevered on, visiting many places and countries on his way, preaching to the people wherever he landed on and stopped by on, guiding the priests and missionaries and helping to delegate these faithful servants of God in their mission to bring the salvation of God to these people.

It was told that one time, St. Francis Xavier travelled in a boat with some others, and a great storm occurred, with huge waves that threatened to sink the boat. All of the people in the boat feared for their lives, save for St. Francis Xavier who prayed to the Lord fervently asking for His help. He put a crucifix into the water and the waves and the wind calmed down. But the crucifix was lost as it slipped through his fingers.

When he landed in one of the islands of the Moluccas Islands, it was told that a crab appeared from the water, with a crucifix marked on its back, and holding onto the crucifix which St. Francis Xavier had used earlier on and lost. And St. Francis Xavier thanked God and blessed the crab. This crab does exist and is indeed prevalent in the Malayan Archipelago where St. Francis Xavier once did extensive works.

There are many other miraculous works attributed to St. Francis Xavier, and this is related to what we heard in the Gospel today, that the Lord Jesus said that all those who do His work and bring the Good News to others will perform wondrous works, not necessarily be miracles, but most importantly, as St. Francis Xavier had proved and done, many millions upon millions up to this day have been saved from hell, and many among them were saints and martyrs themselves.

Today, as we all commemorate the feast of this holy and courageous, hardworking and diligent Patron saints of all missionaries and the Mission itself, let us all look again at all the examples which St. Francis Xavier had done, some of which we have discussed earlier on, and then let us ask ourselves, are we able to do what he has done, and contribute to the good works of the Church in preaching the faith to many others?

We may be thinking that in this world today, where all the peoples are easily connected to each other and where travel is so commonplace and easy that everyone would have heard of the Good News, but the reality is that, there are still many people outside the bounds of the Church, either because they rejected the Good News, or were ignorant of the Good News, or received the wrong messages because of false prophets and messengers in our midst.

And within the Church itself, there are many who have slipped away from their faith, because they were lukewarm and also for some, lazy, as they did not live out their faith with zeal, but instead, were what we often call as nominal Christians, those who call themselves as Christians, and they are indeed Christians, but in their actions in life, they do otherwise.

If we look at it, the situation today is pretty much just as how it was five and six centuries ago, at the time of St. Francis Xavier and his fellow saintly contemporaries and martyrs, all the holy missionaries who went through a great deal of suffering and persecution, difficulties and inconveniences to bring the Good News and the truth of God to many people. But because of their dedication, many were saved.

Shall we not then do the same, brethren? Shall we not follow in the footsteps of the Apostles and these saints? Jesus our Lord has given all of His disciples and followers that final command before He left them to ascend into His heavenly glory, that all of us should go to the nations, and preach the Good News to all the peoples, that all may believe in God and give themselves to be baptised in the Lord’s Name. And it is also important that we have people who have that quality in their faith.

Brothers and sisters in Christ, what shall we do then? How do we do what the Lord had asked us? We do not have to start from very big things. We can and indeed should begin from ourselves. Live our lives faithfully with real care and mercy for our brethren, showing concern for our neighbours and those who are suffering. Let us all through our actions show one another and all the people of God, that the Lord Jesus calls all to repentance and to turn our hearts towards Him, that in the end, all may be saved through Him.

May God bless us and help us in all of our endeavours. May He strengthen our faith and show our commitment to Him, that like St. Francis Xavier and all the good workers of the faith, missionaries of the Good News, we may continue the works that they have started, and by our works, we may awaken the faith in many people who are in need of God’s salvation. May the Lord be with us all. Amen.

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Wednesday, 3 December 2014 : Feast of St. Francis Xavier, Priest and Patron of Missions (Homily and Scripture Reflections)

Liturgical Colour : White

Dear brothers and sisters in Christ, today we celebrate the feast of a truly great and renowned saint, of whom many of our brethren around the world, particularly in Asia and in the Pacific region owed their faith to in the beginning, when the Church and the Faith first reached those regions of the world and was able to anchor themselves until today as flourishing communities of the faithful as we witness today.

Today we celebrate the feast of St. Francis Xavier, or Franciscus Xaverius, a Spanish Jesuit priest and great missionary, whose missionary works caused a great flowering of the cause of the Faith in the East Indies, in countries now encompassing India, Malaysia, Singapore, Indonesia, Macau, Hong Kong, China, and also Japan. It is also likely that his works had also had even wider contributions to the whole Universal Church both in the mission areas and at home, in the heart of Christendom.

For St. Francis Xavier lived during a very difficult time for the Faith and the Church of God. This is because at that time, the very heart of Christendom were besieged both inside and outside by its enemies, both heretics, heathens, pagans and other enemies of God and His Church alike. The Islamic Ottoman Turks were on the rise and they had conquered many nations, and after vanquishing and subjugating Christian nations one after another, it seemed that they were poised to strike at the remaining nations faithful to the Lord.

Meanwhile, the so-called false Protestant ‘reformation’ was on the rage in most of Europe at the time, with many people, rulers and even clergy alike were swayed by the lies of the devil and by the greed of men, in following their own hearts’ desire and following false doctrines, forsaking the truth and the wholeness of the teachings of Christ as espoused and kept by the Church of God. Princes and peoples alike rebelled and broke free from the Church of God, destroying the unity of the Church.

Wars were fought in many places for the sake of the souls of the faithful. Many were lost to the Lord, but many also were called back to the Faith and repented their sins and rebellions. But at a time when external threats to the Faith were mounting as mentioned earlier, the Church and the faithful were not in good position to deal with all of them at once.

This is not to mention that within the Church itself there were many corruption and wickedness, with simony and even sexual impropriety all over the places. Buying of positions and honours were abound, nepotism and collusion were commonplace. And these further caused troubles to the already beleaguered Faith, Church and the faithful of God. This was why, there were a new movement then within the Church aiming for a great reform and purification of the Faith, which led to the great Council of Trent and Counter-Reformation, to reclaim the souls of many from heresy.

The Society of Jesus founded by St. Ignatius of Loyola, together with many others of his comrades, St. Peter Canisius and including St. Francis Xavier, the Patron Saint of Missions whose feast we are celebrating today, they were pivotal in the efforts of Counter-Reformation, to reclaim for the Lord His people who have been lost to the darkness of the world and all those who had been lost to heresy of men.

Many of these brave missionaries and servants of God preached throughout Christendom calling them to repent from their sins and return to the Faith in the Holy Mother Church. While many resisted and persecuted the missionaries, there were also many who were moved by the preachings and they returned to the one and true Faith. But at the same time, there were challenges and opportunities beyond what had been mentioned here.

For at that time, advances in technology allowed the people of God for the very first time, to explore the entirety of the world. New worlds and places were discovered and this represented a great opportunity for the evangelisation of the Faith as it could not have been done before. St. Francis Xavier was sent as part of the evangelisation effort, to spearhead the Faith’s effort to bring the Good News to many of those who have yet to hear it before, bringing the Light to a people still living in darkness.

All these are linked to the readings of this day we heard from the Holy Scriptures, all of which talked about one thing, that is evangelisation and the spreading of the Good News to all of the world. That was the last and ongoing mission given by the Lord Jesus to all of His Apostles and disciples after His resurrection and just before He ascended to heaven, as we heard in the Gospel today.

Jesus told His disciples to bring forth the Good News and preach it to the entire world, to the whole mankind, so that all peoples may hear and witness the truth of God’s love and salvation, and thus be stirred from their slumber, to be awakened to walk and seek the Lord’s saving grace. This is a mission which He charged the Church with, and thus the mission which the Lord entrusted to all of us His faithful ones.

And the actions of the Jesuits in the traditional home of Christendom in Europe, wrecked by the Protestant ‘reformation’ and heresy, represented also a kind of evangelisation and spreading the Good News. They worked hard to dispel the lies of the devil and the falsehoods spread by the wicked agents of the evil one, and instead preaching and teaching the truth of Christ which the Church had kept faithfully since the very beginning.

What St. Francis Xavier and his fellow missionaries had done, then also expand the works of evangelisation even further, carrying out the mission of our Lord Jesus as He had entrusted to His disciples. Yes, which is to spread the Good News to all the nations and to baptise many nations and peoples in the Name of the Father, Son and the Holy Spirit, which was exactly what St. Francis Xavier had laboured hard for.

St. Francis Xavier travelled from countries to countries and from places to places, spreading the Faith wherever he went. He baptised many of the local communities and populace whom he encountered along his missionary journeys, and gained for the Lord many more souls he had helped brought to salvation. He preached the Lord’s Good News wherever he went, and he also helped to build up the Church in various places in Asia, at Goa in India, Malacca in the Malay Archipelago, Macau in China, and Nagasaki in Japan.

He faced and encountered many difficulties and challenges along the way, and yet he persevered. He performed many miracles and wonders throughout his missionary journeys, and he also even calmed a terrible storm which threatened to sink his boat while he was sailing to a place he was to preach the Good News at. He healed many of the sick and cast out demons.

Yes, brethren, was this not what our Lord Jesus had told His disciples too in the Gospel today? Those whom He had sent to preach His Good News and those who had devoted themselves and their lives in the service of God and His Gospel, He will not leave alone, but He will grant them His blessings and power to carry out their mission successfully.

Therefore, brothers and sisters in Christ, on this holy occasion of the feast of St. Francis Xavier, the Patron Saint of Missions, let us all learn from what I have shared with you, of the courage of the missionaries and the servants of God in preaching the Good News of the Gospel to the nations, not only to those who had erred in their ways and walked away from the truth, but also to those who have not yet heard a single word of the Good News of Christ.

But it does not mean that their works ended just there, brothers and sisters in Christ. The mission which Jesus entrusted His disciples continues even today, and we are all, brothers and sisters in Christ, all the faithful ones of God are also tasked and entrusted with the same mission, to preach and spread the Good News of God’s salvation to all the nations and to all the peoples.

Therefore, let us all pray to the Lord, that in our hearts, the courage and desire we should have to preach His words and truth may be awakened and strengthened in us, so that we may also live faithfully and truly live out our faith with real action and real devotion, by loving one another as our Lord had loved us, and show love to all those around us who need them. Let us all follow and walk in the footsteps of St. Francis Xavier, the Patron Saint of missions! God bless us all. Amen.

 

First Reading :

https://petercanisiusmichaeldavidkang.com/2014/12/02/wednesday-3-december-2014-feast-of-st-francis-xavier-priest-and-patron-of-missions-first-reading/

 

Psalm :

https://petercanisiusmichaeldavidkang.com/2014/12/02/wednesday-3-december-2014-feast-of-st-francis-xavier-priest-and-patron-of-missions-psalm/

 

Gospel Reading :

https://petercanisiusmichaeldavidkang.com/2014/12/02/wednesday-3-december-2014-feast-of-st-francis-xavier-priest-and-patron-of-missions-gospel-reading/

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Wednesday, 3 December 2014 : Feast of St. Francis Xavier, Priest and Patron of Missions (Gospel Reading)

Liturgical Colour : White

Mark 16 : 15-20

At that time, Jesus told His disciples, “Go out to the whole world and proclaim the Good News to all creation. The one who believes and is baptised will be saved; the one who refuses to believe will be condemned.”

“Signs like these will accompany those who have believed : in My Name they will cast out demons and speak new languages; they will pick up snakes, and if they drink anything poisonous, they will be unharmed; they will lay their hands on the sick, and they will be healed.”

So then, after speaking to them, the Lord Jesus was taken up into heaven and took His place at the right hand of God. The Eleven went forth and preached everywhere, while the Lord worked with them and confirmed the message by the signs that accompanied it.

 

Homily and Reflection :

https://petercanisiusmichaeldavidkang.com/2014/12/02/wednesday-3-december-2014-feast-of-st-francis-xavier-priest-and-patron-of-missions-homily-and-scripture-reflections/

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Wednesday, 3 December 2014 : Feast of St. Francis Xavier, Priest and Patron of Missions (Psalm)

Liturgical Colour : White

Psalm 116 : 1-2

Alleluia! Praise the Lord, all you nations; all you peoples, praise Him. How great is His love for us! His faithfulness lasts forever.

 

Homily and Reflection :

https://petercanisiusmichaeldavidkang.com/2014/12/02/wednesday-3-december-2014-feast-of-st-francis-xavier-priest-and-patron-of-missions-homily-and-scripture-reflections/

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Wednesday, 3 December 2014 : Feast of St. Francis Xavier, Priest and Patron of Missions (First Reading)

Liturgical Colour : White

1 Corinthians 9 : 16-19, 22-23

Because I cannot boast of announcing the Gospel : I am bound to do it. Woe to me if I do not preach the Gospel! If I preached voluntarily, I could expect my reward, but I have been trusted this office against my will. How can I, then, deserve a reward? In announcing the Gospel, I will do it freely without making use of the rights given to me by the Gospel.

So, feeling free with everybody, I have become everybody’s slave in order to gain a greater number. To win the weak I made myself weak, to win the weak. So I made myself all things to all people in order to save, by all possible means, some of them. This I do for the Gospel, so that I too have a share of it.

 

Homily and Reflection :

https://petercanisiusmichaeldavidkang.com/2014/12/02/wednesday-3-december-2014-feast-of-st-francis-xavier-priest-and-patron-of-missions-homily-and-scripture-reflections/

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Thursday, 6 February 2014 : 4th Week of Ordinary Time, Memorial of St. Paul Miki and Companions, Martyrs (Scripture Reflections)

Liturgical Colour : Red (Martyrs)

Brothers and sisters in Christ, today’s readings and the saints we commemorate today match very nicely, in that today, we talk about mission, and about spreading the Good News of the Lord, in evangelisation and mission. Jesus sent His disciples to many places, to bring forth the fruits of the Holy Spirit in many through their works.

And today we commemorate the feast of St. Paul Miki and his companions, the martyrs of Japan, who lived during the late Sengoku era Japan, when the earlier tolerant and welcoming attitude of the Japanese turned into one of open hostility and persecution, not unlike the persecutions of Christians during the Roman Empire.

And much like those saints and martyrs who died during the Roman persecutions, they were tortured, punished, and forced to reject their faith and embrace the pagan faith of their oppressors. Some of them relented and turned their back on the Lord, but many kept strong their faith in God, and did not give up the faith.

The example of St. Paul Miki and his companions showed us the reality of serving the Lord, particularly those who had chosen to dedicate themselves to a life of mission work, by becoming His priests and missionaries, all over the world, spreading the Good News via various means to different groups of people. And this reality is still true, even to this day.

They have no need to fear, because God Himself will provide for them and protect them. This is what David, the king of Israel, before he died, told his son Solomon, who would succeed him as king. Those who keep God’s commandments and keep their faith in God, shall have great rewards, and as Jesus and His disciples had taught us, that these rewards not necessarily mean a worldly reward, because an even greater reward awaits us in heaven.

Being a follower of Christ almost always means to be in constant odds with the ways of the world, simply because the world does not recognise the Lord, but instead it recognises Satan as its master. That is why being a follower of Christ often means to be rejected by the world, to be an outcast, and at the times of persecutions in the past, and even in the present, many had to brave death to defend their faith in God.

The world which does not know Christ, does not know us. But our Lord knows us and He loves us all equally. He knows us all by name, and He knows all about us. And He cares about all mankind, even those who had done evil things and even those who had persecuted His chosen ones and His faithful. He wants all to be reunited to Him, particularly those who are deepest in darkness and those who are far from His salvation.

Our Lord had offered us salvation in Jesus, His Son, through His own death and resurrection, that all who heard of Him and believe in Him, are promised the promise of eternal life and redemption in Jesus, gaining for eternity the glory God had intended for mankind since the beginning of time. That was what the martyrs gained for their constant and undying faith for the Lord. In death, they received the glory of heaven as saints of the Lord.

St. Paul Miki was born in Japan in Nagasaki, and he was converted to the faith by the missionaries of the faith, who introduced the faith to Japan, by their hard work and preaching. St. Paul Miki himself followed suit and joined the Jesuit order, preaching about the faith to many of his fellow countrymen.

At first, the faith was welcomed in Japan by the local rulers, but with ulterior motive of gaining the European technologies such as guns and other weaponries in exchange for tolerance of the faith. Some of those local lords even converted to the faith, some did it genuinely. However all this changed after a warlord named Hideyoshi Toyotomi managed to reunite Japan under his rule.

The warlord was always suspicious of the faith, and the reunion of the country under his rule gave him the excuse to persecute the faithful. Many Christians including St. Paul Miki and his many fellow faithful were arrested and tortured under threat of death to recant their faith. But they remained faithful and preferred death to apostasy.

He and his fellow companions were forced to march on foot from Kyoto the capital of Japan at that time to Nagasaki, a journey of almost a thousand kilometres, and they did so while praising the Lord and singing the hymn Te Deum. They were then crucified and martyred in Nagasaki, the centre of the faith in Japan at the time. Intended by the enemies of the faith as an example, they instead served as an inspiration to the faithful both in Japan and abroad.

Yes, brethren, we too should be inspired by their tale, and what they had to go through, and their perseverance and persistence for the sake of the faith in God. We must not let their sacrifice and perseverance to go to waste, brethren. Tell of this among many, and tell of their faith to all peoples, that they too may be inspired as we are inspired by them.

And let us seek to be part of God’s mission, which He indeed entrusted to us, that is to bring His Good News to all nations, and to bring all peoples to Him. Let us continue the good works of St. Paul Miki and his companions, and let us all keep our faith in our Lord alive and strong! St. Paul Miki and companions pray for us all! Amen.