The Lord YHVH has taught me so I speak as His disciple, and I know how to sustain the weary. Morning after morning He wakes me up to hear, to listen like a disciple.
The Lord YHVH has opened my ear. I have not rebelled, nor have I withdrawn. I offered my back to those who strike me, my cheeks to those who pulled my beard; neither did I shield my face from blows, spittle, and disgrace.
I have not despaired, for the Lord YHVH comes to my help. So, like a flint I set my face, knowing that I will not be disgraced.
You will then say to them : Thus says YHVH : “I am about to withdraw the Israelites from where they were among the nations. I shall gather them from all around and bring them back to their land. I shall make them into one people on the mountains of Israel and one king is to be king of them all. They will no longer form two nations or be two separate kingdoms, nor will they defile themselves again with their idols, their detestable practices, and their sins.”
“I shall free them from the guilt of their treachery; I shall cleanse them and they will be for Me a people and I shall be God for them. My servant David will reign over them, one shepherd for all. They will live according to My laws and follow and practice My decrees. They will settle in the land I gave to My servant Jacob where their ancestors lived. There they will live forever, their children and their children’s children. David, My servant, will be their prince forever.”
“I shall establish a covenant of peace with them, an everlasting covenant. I shall settle them and they will increase, and I shall put My sanctuary in their midst forever. I shall make My home at their side; I shall be their God and they will be My people. Then the nations will know that I am YHVH, who makes Israel holy, having My sanctuary among them forever.”
Jesus Christ, is indeed the Son of God, a third of the Holy Trinity, in perfect unity with the Father and the Holy Spirit, as one and only God. He came from the Father to save us from the certainty of death caused by our rebellions against God, and the sins that our forefathers, beginning from Adam and Eve, had done in the past. He came as the bringer of a new covenant and of salvation, through His own death and resurrection on the third day after that death.
Christ had brought a new hope for all mankind, for all creation to be brought back to be once again together in God’s great love and God’s loving embrace. He had given us Himself on the cross, that He had delivered us from the hands of Satan and his evil angels, who are determined to drag us away as far as possible from God and His love, and His grace. Christ through the cross had brought a new dawn, a new light, for all the people to see. That the people who lived in darkness, are now in the light, and became children of the light, and no longer that of the darkness.
Why did the Jews then not see the goodness of Christ, that of His mission, and His redemptive actions in this world? That is because they were blind, blinded by their blind obedience to their laws, in which they failed to see that the laws and the prophecy of the prophets of times past, all of them simply pointed out to God’s love, which He was to show through the Messiah, the Saviour, who would save God’s people, all mankind, from the destruction because of sin, evil, and death.
That is why today, we have to be careful, brothers and sisters in Christ, that we too will not fail into blindness as they were, but remain in the light, and remain aware of God and His loving presence, and His good works which are still always manifest through our Church, through His ministers, our Pope, bishops, and priests. Through them, we learn about Christ, and we know about His love through their teachings, and also through the Sacred Scripture upon which we base our faith, guided by our teachers in faith.
For all of us, we are already in the light through our baptism, and our eyes are already opened to God’s love, to Christ’s mission in saving all mankind, and our hearts are already opened to receive the new covenant Christ had brought with His death and resurrection. But, we must always cultivate the love and the fruits of the Spirit that God has planted in us, that they will remain alive and robust, and that they will not stay only within ourselves, but be shared for all others around us, especially those who still closed their hearts and their minds from God and His presence.
Teach one another and bring love to one another, that they too can learn about God, and feel God’s divine presence. Not necessarily by any miraculous experience, but even our simple loving acts will make God’s love and light manifest through us, to them, allowing them to witness God’s presence firsthand, and hopefully will bring them closer to God, and accept Him as their Saviour and their Lord.
Therefore, brothers and sisters in Christ, today, let us renew our resolve to love Christ, our Lord, ever more. For He is our Saviour who had brought us from death into life, through His own death and resurrection. Let us strive to share this love with one another, especially those who still yet to find out God’s love. Bring God to them through our own actions, and keep on praying for them, for all of us, and for all those who are working hard in the ministry of the Lord and His Gospels. Amen.
Jesus, our Lord, has been the harbinger of a new covenant between us and God, just as God had established His covenant with Abraham in the days long past. He made the covenant with Abraham because of Abraham’s great faith and love for God, and obedience to the point that he was willing to offer his own son, the promised son God had promised him, to be offered as sacrifice without hesitation. For his great faith, love, and obedience, he has been rewarded with God’s promise that he will be the father of a great nation and that his descendants be as countless as the stars, and his descendants will last forever.
This covenant made the people of Israel, God’s chosen people, the descendants of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, through whom God repeatedly renewed and reiterated His covenant with Israel. Yet, despite the constant proof of His love and His obedience to the covenant that He had made, the people of Israel, after their liberation from Egypt’s slavery, constantly were in rebellion against God, and were unrepentant, despite the numerous prophets and signals He had brought to the people over the centuries.
They rebelled against Him, and murdered His prophets, and smeared their blood on the streets of Samaria and Jerusalem, that eventually made God abandoned the kingdoms that His people had chosen to make, starting with Saul, and ended with Zedekia in Judea, and were brought away to the seventy years in exile in Babylon. He, however, did not forget at all the covenant He had made all those years ago with Abraham. He remembered the covenant perfectly, and He brought His people back to their homeland.
Yet, they still rebelled and many years passed where the people of Israel abandoned God. Remember the Book of Maccabees, and the story of the struggle of the Maccabees against their Greek overlords who imposed pagan gods over the people of Israel, which saw many readily threw away their love and obedience to God and His covenant. Yet, God always remained true to His covenant at all times, and as we knew, that God has sent His one and only deliverance to His people, and this people counted it not only that of Israel, but that of all the descendants of Adam, all mankind He had created.
That salvation came through Jesus Christ, the Son of God, Word of God, who is one with God the Father in perfect unity, and He is the only one worthy on heaven and earth, to end the chains of slavery of sin, to end the corruption of Satan and all his evil plans, and to bring all creation, all mankind, back towards God who loves them so much. Jesus Christ, is the harbinger of a new Covenant, in place of the covenant that God had made with Abraham.
No, not to replace that covenant, but rather to perfect that covenant. A new covenant not only to show God’s love and undying care for His people, but also to bring them to be once again fully reunited against Him. That love and that covenant came about and was fulfilled, as we remember it, in the events surrounding the Holy Week, in which the Passion of our Lord Jesus Christ is celebrated every year. Through Christ’s suffering, death, and finally resurrection on the third day in glory, He made the new covenant fulfilled, which He gave to us, through His Precious Body and Precious Blood.
Remember the words when the Blood of Christ in the chalice is elevated at the Mass at the consecration, “Take this all of you and drink for it, for this is the Chalice of My Blood, the Blood of the new and eternal covenant, which will be poured out for you and for many, for the forgiveness of sins, do this in the memory of Me.” Indeed, the Body and Blood of Christ that He had offered through His sacrifice and death on the cross marked the new Covenant God made with all of us.
If we remain true to this Covenant and remain faithful to this Covenant, God will definitely also bless us, and will keep true to the Covenant, for He is ever faithful and ever loving. Therefore, brothers and sisters in Christ, let us today pray for one another, that we will continue to keep our faith, hope, and love in God, and remain true to our part in this new Covenant of Christ. Remember this every time we take in His Body and His Blood at the Mass. May God remain with us always, and bless us, with eternal life. Amen.
Sin and the evil that comes with sin and rebellion against God has indeed enslaved us, even when many of us don’t realise that we are being enslaved. That is also because we adopt a rather open attitude at sin, and even embrace sin and evil, to the point that we are indeed almost glad at being slaves of sin and evil. We have been enslaved by sin as our forefathers were, since the days of rebellion of Adam, the first man, and Eve, the first woman.
Sin is evil, and is a state of rebellion against the love and authority of God. That is why God, who loves us so much, being the greatest of His creations, would want to send His own Son in order to save us. For slavery under sin is costly indeed, for anyone who want to liberate those slaves, that is us, from that mountains of sin. Imagine the amount of sin that we accumulate daily, not even counting yearly, or even our whole lives!
Imagine the weight of sin that Christ had to bear on Golgotha, that is Calvary, and on His journey towards there. When we do devotions especially in the form of the Stations of the Cross this Lent, indeed we would have heard and would have been reminded of the physical sufferings and burdens that Christ had to carry, with His heavy cross onto Calvary from Jerusalem. Yet, the heaviest weight, is not that of the visible and physical, but in fact, those that are invisible, and these were the mountains of our sins, all of us, past, present, and future.
Yes, in order to free us from our slavery, as Christ had mentioned in the Gospel today as what He wanted, a perfect and worthy sacrifice and exchange is necessary. No amount of animal blood and sacrifices will ever be worthy or enough to alleviate our sins, no matter how many times they were offered to God, as per the Law of Moses.
It is the very Precious Body and Blood of Christ, the Lamb of God, that is worthy of cleansing us from our sins and ‘purchasing’ us to free us from the slavery of sin. He has to die on the cross for that to happen. And yet so many people wished for His death, not because they want to be freed from their sins, but because they had grown so comfortable in sin, that they did not want sin to end enslaving them, but continue to dominate them in perpetuation.
So blinded were the people that they failed to see the freedom that God had brought them. Remember the rebellion of Israel against Moses and God at Massah and Meribah? When they grumbled that God had led them to the desert to die? That the life under slavery in Egypt were much better and much more suitable to them? That is the same, but now the Lord, through Jesus Christ had come to liberate all mankind, not just Israel, from the slavery of sin, but yet, there were still those who rejected our Lord just like at Massah and Meribah.
God offers His salvation and liberation of all of us from sin for free, for the price of His Body and Blood, which we receive regularly at the Mass, as the result of the Sacrifice offered by the priest, in union with the Sacrifice on Calvary. It is readily offered and available for us, if only our heart and our being are open to this freedom by the Lord.
Therefore, brothers and sisters in Christ, let us pray, that we will remain strong in our faith and in our conviction to remain in the Lord, and be free from sin and the chains of slavery it brings. May we remain in God’s love and remember always His love and sacrifice on the cross for our sake. God bless us all. Amen.
Joseph, the husband of the Blessed Virgin Mary, Mother of Jesus, and Mother of God, was not the natural and biological father of Jesus, our Lord, but legally and in all understandings, he is a father of our Lord, the foster father, who took care of Jesus while He was still young, and also protected Mary, His mother, in the Holy Family. He is the role model of how a father should be like, a loving and caring person, who put their family at their utmost care and attention.
Joseph was an upright man, and he was also righteous in the eyes of God. This is why, in the addition to Mary and her ultimate obedience to God, why God decided to come into this world through them, through Mary, as His mother, whose womb would be where He would come forth, and through Joseph, whose character and personality, made him as good as a foster father as one can be for Jesus, the Son of God Most High.
For Jesus was human as much as He is divine. Fully human yet also fully divine, all united in the person of Jesus, the Christ. He needs a father figure who can love Him and care for Him in the human and earthly manner, just like God His Father in heaven is His true Father provides for Him through the Holy Spirit. This father figure is Joseph, who by that virtue, is also the ‘father’ and patron of our Church.
For our Church was established by Christ Himself, and which He built on Peter His Apostle. This Church can therefore be considered to be under the protection and patronage of Joseph, God’s foster father. For he protected our Lord when King Herod chased after Him after His birth, and by the initiatives given by the angel in the dream, he brought the Holy Family to Egypt.
He cared for our Lord in His early years and teach Him all the trades that he knew, that is as a carpenter, that is why Jesus was also known as the ‘Son of a carpenter’, for his foster father Joseph, was neither a rich, influential, nor a powerful man. He was just a righteous man of God, dedicated to his family, as well as to whatever God has given him the hands for, that is to make good works with the wood, and from there perhaps bring glory to God.
Many of us today are shy about our upbringing and our backgrounds. Worse still, many of us are reluctant to tell people about who our parents are and what they are like, especially when we have become successful, influential, powerful, and rich. Many of us tend to prefer to forget our past and ‘move on’, to enter the world as new men and women, forgetting our parents who had brought us up to who we are today. Through their hard work, just as Joseph’s hard work and care as the father, and Mary’s nurturing love, they had brought us up, to be strong men and strong women we are today.
Jesus learnt His lessons on humanity and what it is like directly from His parents, who prepared Him for His eventual ministry after His baptism at the Jordan. Joseph particularly taught Him the virtues of hard work and being upright just as he was upright before the eyes of God, just as Mary showed Him the love and care that a mother would have on her son.
How many of us, in our families had done as what the Holy Family had done? and how many of fathers out there who had shown their care for their sons, their daughters, and their wives? Yes, indeed, I can say that there are many amongst us who had done so, or at least aspired to do so, but there are yet still many out there who ignored all these noble examples of Joseph, in bringing up the child Jesus to be whom we eventually know Him to be, the Christ, the Saviour of the world.
Just as Abraham is faithful, and even to the point of giving his only son as a sacrifice to God, when he was tested, therefore even greater is the love and faith that God has in us, that as the perfect Father, He gave us His being in His only Son, a third of the Holy Trinity, to be a worthy sacrificial victim, worthy to redeem all of us from all our sins and our rebellions from Him. Why? Because we are also His children, as Christ is human just like us, He has lowered Himself to take the form of a lowly and humble Man, that we can be saved. They and Joseph, are indeed a role model to all fathers, but even not only just to the fathers, but also to all of us. Since all of us are called to love and care for one another.
Let us remember all this as we approach the Holy Week which will happen next week. As we approach the memorial of our Lord’s endless and unconditional love for us, to give Himself up for our sake. Also let us remember of course Joseph, His father, who gave so much to his Son and family, through his protection and his righteousness, protecting them from harm and showering them with love. Let us pray to St. Joseph, that we can be as loving as him, that we can be as righteous as he is, and we can take care and love for our families, friends, and all the people around us, just as he did, and just as our Lord did.
St. Joseph, spouse of the Blessed Virgin Mary, pray for us sinners. Amen.
Jesus taught us today that we need to become true witnesses and witnesses that are faithful and obsessed with the truth, just as He is truthful, the perfect witness with God the Father, who brought witness to the truth He taught while He was in this world, dispelling lies and all the evils that had ravaged our world since the beginning of time.
It is not easy to remain truthful, since our world itself is full of lies and deceit that is of the devil. He spreads lies and falsehoods so that we will be divided among ourselves, among fellow brothers and sisters in faith. This will weaken us in our struggle to fight against evil, and also reduce our resolve to life this life as God wants us, that is a life filled with love, truth, and faith in Christ.
Instead, indeed, many of us succumbed to the temptations of the world, and temporal pleasures, especially that of the flesh. This was what had happened to the two elders appointed over the people of Israel, given authority and responsibility, but failed in their given ministry, all due to the failure to restrain themselves and let themselves to be taken in by worldly temptation. Indeed, as we can see what unfolds for them in the end, they had given up the true happiness in heaven, as righteous and just servants of the Lord, for moments of temporary and unguarded lust, to seek the faithful wife, Susanna.
They have abandoned their duty and their ministry in search of what the devil offers for them, through lust and disobedience, they almost brought an innocent soul in the eyes of God, into condemnation to death. This is because they acted not as a witness based on love for justice and for the truth of God, but they acted as witness out of lies, and human selfishness, of self preservation and of greed and lust.
Because they wanted to gain the noble woman, which they failed, and in their minds, their lust turned into hatred and deceitful plot to destroy that woman before it can destroy them. It is as if they want to approach sinful actions, but they never realised the effects of those acts until they had already committed the acts.
Instead of humbling themselves before God and asking for forgiveness, they instead misused their power and the authority given to them as witnesses to persecute the weak and attempted to remove evidences against them. This is what the Lord wants us to avoid, so that we will not be witnesses of falsehoods and lies, but rather follow in the example of Christ, who taught the truth to the people of Israel, with God as His witness.
Today, we also celebrate the feast of a great saint of the early Church, St. Cyril of Jerusalem, who was a distinguished theologian of the early Church, and he was very pious and zealous in defending the truth on his ministry, which his opponents constantly attacked with falsehoods in order to remove him from his position as Bishop of Jerusalem. He defended the faithful as a strong witness for the truth that Christ had brought into this world, and stood firm against false teachings of the heretics at that time, Arians, Monophysites, and many other false witnesses of the Lord.
Therefore, dear brothers and sisters in Christ, have we done our part in proclaiming the Gospel of our Lord? To be His witnesses in this world? That no one can say like the Pharisees did, that asking and questioning the Lord’s power through need of witness, which they themselves, blinded by those same human weaknesses and faults that had blinded the two elders at the judgment of Susanna.
Let us strive to love one another, and to be truthful and honest in all dealings that we make, so that we reflect the truth of our God, Jesus Christ, who came to bring the true witness of the love of God, as we have read in the Gospels. That we may also be able to follow the examples of St. Cyril of Jerusalem in being true witness of the truth, and stood firm against any form of falsehoods and lies about the Lord and our faith. May God bless us all. Amen.
“I thank the Lord that I can celebrate this Holy Mass for the inauguration of my Petrine ministry on the solemnity of Saint Joseph, the spouse of the Virgin Mary and the patron of the universal Church. It is a significant coincidence, and it is also the name-day of my venerable predecessor: we are close to him with our prayers, full of affection and gratitude.
I offer a warm greeting to my brother cardinals and bishops, the priests, deacons, men and women religious, and all the lay faithful. I thank the representatives of the other Churches and ecclesial Communities, as well as the representatives of the Jewish community and the other religious communities, for their presence. My cordial greetings go to the Heads of State and Government, the members of the official Delegations from many countries throughout the world, and the Diplomatic Corps.
In the Gospel we heard that “Joseph did as the angel of the Lord commanded him and took Mary as his wife” (Mt 1:24). These words already point to the mission which God entrusts to Joseph: he is to be the custos, the protector. The protector of whom? Of Mary and Jesus; but this protection is then extended to the Church, as Blessed John Paul II pointed out: “Just as Saint Joseph took loving care of Mary and gladly dedicated himself to Jesus Christ’s upbringing, he likewise watches over and protects Christ’s Mystical Body, the Church, of which the Virgin Mary is the exemplar and model” (Redemptoris Custos, 1).
How does Joseph exercise his role as protector? Discreetly, humbly and silently, but with an unfailing presence and utter fidelity, even when he finds it hard to understand. From the time of his betrothal to Mary until the finding of the twelve-year-old Jesus in the Temple of Jerusalem, he is there at every moment with loving care. As the spouse of Mary, he is at her side in good times and bad, on the journey to Bethlehem for the census and in the anxious and joyful hours when she gave birth; amid the drama of the flight into Egypt and during the frantic search for their child in the Temple; and later in the day-to-day life of the home of Nazareth, in the workshop where he taught his trade to Jesus.
How does Joseph respond to his calling to be the protector of Mary, Jesus and the Church? By being constantly attentive to God, open to the signs of God’s presence and receptive to God’s plans, and not simply to his own. This is what God asked of David, as we heard in the first reading. God does not want a house built by men, but faithfulness to his word, to his plan. It is God himself who builds the house, but from living stones sealed by his Spirit. Joseph is a “protector” because he is able to hear God’s voice and be guided by his will; and for this reason he is all the more sensitive to the persons entrusted to his safekeeping. He can look at things realistically, he is in touch with his surroundings, he can make truly wise decisions. In him, dear friends, we learn how to respond to God’s call, readily and willingly, but we also see the core of the Christian vocation, which is Christ! Let us protect Christ in our lives, so that we can protect others, so that we can protect creation!
The vocation of being a “protector”, however, is not just something involving us Christians alone; it also has a prior dimension which is simply human, involving everyone. It means protecting all creation, the beauty of the created world, as the Book of Genesis tells us and as Saint Francis of Assisi showed us. It means respecting each of God’s creatures and respecting the environment in which we live. It means protecting people, showing loving concern for each and every person, especially children, the elderly, those in need, who are often the last we think about. It means caring for one another in our families: husbands and wives first protect one another, and then, as parents, they care for their children, and children themselves, in time, protect their parents. It means building sincere friendships in which we protect one another in trust, respect, and goodness. In the end, everything has been entrusted to our protection, and all of us are responsible for it. Be protectors of God’s gifts!
Whenever human beings fail to live up to this responsibility, whenever we fail to care for creation and for our brothers and sisters, the way is opened to destruction and hearts are hardened. Tragically, in every period of history there are “Herods” who plot death, wreak havoc, and mar the countenance of men and women.
Please, I would like to ask all those who have positions of responsibility in economic, political and social life, and all men and women of goodwill: let us be “protectors” of creation, protectors of God’s plan inscribed in nature, protectors of one another and of the environment. Let us not allow omens of destruction and death to accompany the advance of this world! But to be “protectors”, we also have to keep watch over ourselves! Let us not forget that hatred, envy and pride defile our lives! Being protectors, then, also means keeping watch over our emotions, over our hearts, because they are the seat of good and evil intentions: intentions that build up and tear down! We must not be afraid of goodness or even tenderness!
Here I would add one more thing: caring, protecting, demands goodness, it calls for a certain tenderness. In the Gospels, Saint Joseph appears as a strong and courageous man, a working man, yet in his heart we see great tenderness, which is not the virtue of the weak but rather a sign of strength of spirit and a capacity for concern, for compassion, for genuine openness to others, for love. We must not be afraid of goodness, of tenderness!
Today, together with the feast of Saint Joseph, we are celebrating the beginning of the ministry of the new Bishop of Rome, the Successor of Peter, which also involves a certain power. Certainly, Jesus Christ conferred power upon Peter, but what sort of power was it? Jesus’ three questions to Peter about love are followed by three commands: feed my lambs, feed my sheep. Let us never forget that authentic power is service, and that the Pope too, when exercising power, must enter ever more fully into that service which has its radiant culmination on the Cross. He must be inspired by the lowly, concrete and faithful service which marked Saint Joseph and, like him, he must open his arms to protect all of God’s people and embrace with tender affection the whole of humanity, especially the poorest, the weakest, the least important, those whom Matthew lists in the final judgment on love: the hungry, the thirsty, the stranger, the naked, the sick and those in prison (cf. Mt 25:31-46). Only those who serve with love are able to protect!
In the second reading, Saint Paul speaks of Abraham, who, “hoping against hope, believed” (Rom 4:18). Hoping against hope! Today too, amid so much darkness, we need to see the light of hope and to be men and women who bring hope to others. To protect creation, to protect every man and every woman, to look upon them with tenderness and love, is to open up a horizon of hope; it is to let a shaft of light break through the heavy clouds; it is to bring the warmth of hope! For believers, for us Christians, like Abraham, like Saint Joseph, the hope that we bring is set against the horizon of God, which has opened up before us in Christ. It is a hope built on the rock which is God.
To protect Jesus with Mary, to protect the whole of creation, to protect each person, especially the poorest, to protect ourselves: this is a service that the Bishop of Rome is called to carry out, yet one to which all of us are called, so that the star of hope will shine brightly. Let us protect with love all that God has given us!
I implore the intercession of the Virgin Mary, Saint Joseph, Saints Peter and Paul, and Saint Francis, that the Holy Spirit may accompany my ministry, and I ask all of you to pray for me! Amen.”
God, the Lord of the Universe, who through Jesus Christ Your Son, has brought salvation upon this world. Hear me now I pray, with Your holy angels and holy saints as witness before Your Holy throne in Heaven.
I promise and offer my full and unconditional obedience on Franciscus, our Pope Francis, whom through the Holy Spirit You have inspired the Cardinals to elect, as the one to continue the mission of Peter, Your Apostle, upon whom You entrusted the keys to Your Kingdom, and upon whom You built Your very own Church, that is Your Most Precious Body, in union with all who believes in You, now led by Francis, as one indivisible union, the One, Holy, Catholic, and Apostolic Church.
I call upon the angels and the saints as witness on this promise, and I ask them too to pray for our Holy Father, that he will be strengthened in his new ministry, not just as the Bishop of Rome, but also the Successor of St. Peter, the Prince of the Apostles, as the leader of the Universal Church, all over the world.
May he be strengthened in faith, hope, and love, and exercise great charity as his namesake St. Francis of Assisi had done, and at the same time, profess to defend the Sacred Tradition of the Holy Apostles, and the orthodox Catholic faith, as it is, unchanging, since the beginning, now, and ever shall be, forever and ever! Amen!
On this Holy Gospel I make solemn my oath and promise, and I hope that not only that I will remain faithful to it, but also help our dear Holy Father, Pope Francis, in his mission to evangelise the Word of God to all corners of this world, through whatever means I can, including this humble blog of mine.
Ad multos annos, Papa Franciscus! Pontifex maximus et Beati Petri Apostolorum Principis succesori, Episcopus Romanus.
Tu es Petrus et super hanc petram aedificabo Ecclesiam meam, et portae inferi non praevalebunt adversus eam, et tibi dabo claves regni caelorum. Quodcumque ligaveris super terram, erit ligatum et in cælis, et quodcumque solveris super terram, erit solutum et in cælis.
(You are Peter, and on this Rock, I will build My Church, and the gates of hell will not prevail against It, and I will give you the keys of the kingdom of heaven. Whatever you bind on this earth, it will be bound in heaven, and whatever you loosen on this earth, it will be loosened in heaven).
+Peter Canisius Michael David Kang
(Ut Omnes Unum Sint, ad Maiorem Dei Gloriam – That they all may be One, for the greater glory of God)
The Lord is my shepherd, I shall not want. He makes me lie down in green pastures. He leads me beside the still waters. He restores my soul.
He guides me through the right paths for His Name’s sake. Although I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I fear no evil, for You are beside me : Your rod and Your staff comfort me.
You spread a table before me in the presence of my foes. You anoint my head with oil; my cup is overflowing.
Goodness and kindness will follow me, all the days of my life. I shall dwell in the house of the Lord, as long as I live.
petercanisiusmichaeldavidkang 