loving kindness

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Tuesday, 20 January 2015 : 2nd Week of Ordinary Time, Memorial of Pope St. Fabian, Pope and Martyr, and St. Sebastian, Martyr, Week of Prayer for Christian Unity (Gospel Reading)

Liturgical Colour : Green or Red (Martyrs)

Mark 2 : 23-28

At that time, one Sabbath, Jesus was walking through grainfields. As His disciples walked along with Him, they began to pick the heads of grain and crush them in their hands. Then the Pharisees said to Jesus, “Look! They are doing what is forbidden on the Sabbath!”

And He said to them, “Have you never read what David did in his time of need, when he and his men were very hungry? He went into the house of God, when Abiathar was High Priest, and ate the bread of offering, which only the priests are allowed to eat, and he also gave some to the men who were with him.”

Then Jesus said to them, “The sabbath was made for man, not man for the Sabbath. So the Son of Man is Master even of the Sabbath.”

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Saturday, 17 January 2015 : 1st Week of Ordinary Time, Memorial of St. Anthony, Abbot (Psalm)

Liturgical Colour : White

Psalm 18 : 8, 9, 10, 15

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

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

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

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

 

Homily and Reflection : 

https://petercanisiusmichaeldavidkang.com/2015/01/17/saturday-17-january-2015-1st-week-of-ordinary-time-memorial-of-st-anthony-abbot-homily-and-scripture-reflections/

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Friday, 16 January 2015 : 1st Week of Ordinary Time (Gospel Reading)

Liturgical Colour : Green

Mark 2 : 1-12

At that time, after some days Jesus returned to Capernaum. As the news spread that He was in the house, so many people gathered, that there was no longer room even outside the door. While Jesus was preaching the Word to them, some people brought a paralysed man to Him.

The four men who carried him could not get near Jesus because of the crowd, so they opened the roof above the room where Jesus was and, through the hole, lowered the man on his mat. When Jesus saw the faith of these people, He said to the paralytic, “My son, your sins are forgiven.”

Now some teachers of the Law, who were sitting there, wondered within themselves, “How can He speak like this, insulting God? Who can forgive sins except God?” At once Jesus knew in His Spirit what they were thinking, and asked, “Why do you wonder? Is it easier to say to this paralysed man, ‘Your sins are forgiven,’ or to say, ‘Rise, take up your mat and walk?'”

“But now you shall know that the Son of Man has authority on earth to forgive sins.” And He said to the paralytic, “Stand up, take up your mat and go home.” The man rose and, in the sight of all those people, he took up his mat and went out. All of them were astonished and praised God, saying, “Never have we seen anything like this!”

 

Homily and Reflection :

https://petercanisiusmichaeldavidkang.com/2015/01/15/friday-16-january-2015-1st-week-of-ordinary-time-homily-and-scripture-reflections/

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Friday, 16 January 2015 : 1st Week of Ordinary Time (First Reading)

Liturgical Colour : Green

Hebrews 4 : 1-5, 11

Therefore let us fear while we are invited to enter the rest of God, lest any of you be left behind. We received the Gospel exactly as they did, but hearing the message did them no good, because they did not share the faith of those who did listen.

We are now to enter this rest because we believed, as it was said : ‘I was angry and made a solemn vow : they will never enter My rest’ – that is the rest of God after He created the world. In another part it was said about the seventh day : ‘And God rested on the seventh day from all His works.’

But now it is said : ‘They will not enter My rest.’ Let us strive, then, to enter the rest and not to share the misfortune of those who disobeyed.

 

Homily and Reflection :

https://petercanisiusmichaeldavidkang.com/2015/01/15/friday-16-january-2015-1st-week-of-ordinary-time-homily-and-scripture-reflections/

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Thursday, 15 January 2015 : 1st Week of Ordinary Time (Homily and Scripture Reflections)

Liturgical Colour : Green

Dear brothers and sisters in Christ, today we heard how Jesus cleansed a leper and made him whole and clean once again. The Gospel today from the Gospel of St. Mark showed the manifestation of God’s love and mercy through Jesus, who healed many people from the troubles of their flesh as well as their spirit. What we heard today was the healing of the flesh, the freedom from the diseases of the body.

Brethren, what we witnessed on this day through the Gospel is to show us that our Lord and God, Jesus Christ, is superior to all other things, and all things have been subsumed under His power and authority. Christ alone has the authority to heal diseases and sickness, and in Him alone ultimately lies the authority to heal also the diseases and sickness of our soul and spirit, that is our sinfulness.

This day’s readings had a clear theme, that is sin and rebellion against the will of God. Both of them are related, as indeed sin is in fact what is happening when we disobey the will of God and the Laws which He had set upon this world when He created us all. Just as our first ancestors chose to listen to Satan and eat the forbidden fruit, and thus disobeyed God and sinned.

Sin is the sickness of our soul, of our very spirit, which permeates deep within us and affect every part of our being. And it is indeed harmful, for sin causes the separation between us and our Lord. We cannot survive without God, and without God we are nothing. And death would have been our eternal fate, had God not intervened and prevented us from suffering such a fate.

Those who have sinned and did not repent, including the people of Israel, at the place known as Massah and Meribah, go directly into hell for their disobedience and refusal to listen to the Lord and also for their rejection of God’s grace and abundant love. Despite what the Lord had done for them, liberating them from the forces of the Pharaoh and from their slavery in Egypt, and despite Him having given them the bread from heaven, the manna, and even large birds for them to eat and sweet, crystal-clear water from the rocks to drink.

They constantly complained and complained, bringing shame indeed to the Lord, for this ungrateful chosen people, whom He had brought out of their slavery and suffering. They contended that their lives back in Egypt was much better, and they protested against what they saw as a restraint on their desires. They did not want it difficult and wanted to have it easy. And they were so caught up in it, that they failed to recognise and to appreciate what God had done for them.

They were blessed beyond measure and they received such great graces from God as never seen before in this universe. And yet they were so ungrateful, cursing and complaining against God, profaning the Holy Name of God. As such, their portion was destruction and eternal damnation, and they were cast down into hell. Do we want to share their fate? If we continue to be ungrateful ourselves for His love and care, then we will share their fate too.

Brothers and sisters in Christ, today let us all abandon all forms of sins and commit ourselves to a life without sin and corruption. Instead, let us all embrace the love which God has for us, and let us all seek the Lord with renewed strength and commitment. Let us all recognise the love with which God had shown us through Christ, and accept the rich graces He had bestowed us with and thank Him for all of them. Be not proud nor be filled with desires, but instead put on humility in our hearts.

Therefore, shall we all truly practice our faith in our own respective lives? Let our faith be no longer empty and dead, and let it no longer be meaningless. Let our faith be true and genuine, filled with love and actions showing that we truly are faithful servants and children of our Lord and God. May Almighty God give us His blessings, protect us and strengthen us always in this life, so that we may be courageous in living the Faith we have, and bear witness to His goodness all the days of our life. Amen.

 

First Reading : 

https://petercanisiusmichaeldavidkang.com/2015/01/14/thursday-15-january-2015-1st-week-of-ordinary-time-first-reading/

 

Psalm : 

https://petercanisiusmichaeldavidkang.com/2015/01/14/thursday-15-january-2015-1st-week-of-ordinary-time-psalm/

 

Gospel Reading : 

https://petercanisiusmichaeldavidkang.com/2015/01/14/thursday-15-january-2015-1st-week-of-ordinary-time-gospel-reading/

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Wednesday, 14 January 2015 : 1st Week of Ordinary Time (Homily and Scripture Reflections)

Liturgical Colour : Green

Dear brothers and sisters in Christ, today we heard about the great act of God’s love again, the love which He had for us mankind, so much so that He took up our human form and by what He did, He sanctified the whole human race because He sanctified His very humanity and that essence of humanity by the mingling of His divinity with the Flesh and Blood that He offered for our salvation on the cross.

Yes, God had made us all sanctified and justified by Jesus, the Word of God made flesh and incarnate through Mary. As Christ is both God and Man at the same time, fully human and fully divine, He shares with us our human nature and our human body with all of its properties, and yet for He is without sin and pure, through His selfless offering of Himself as the sacrificial victim in place for our sins, thus He made all of us pure, just as the priests of Israel of old offered lambs and their blood for the purification of sins.

But while the priests of old offered the sacrifices for the people and also for themselves, for they were also sinners, and therefore having to offer the gifts and sacrifices again and again for the people continued to sin and deny the Lord, meanwhile the sacrifice of Christ is the sacrifice of the pure and blameless condemned to death, but one that was done out of great and infinite love. That sincere and selfless offering was accepted by God and became the source of our salvation.

And this salvation that God offered through Jesus Christ was the proof of His love and care for us. He cannot even bear to witness us falling into damnation and annihilation, the consequences of our rebelliousness and sinfulness. He wants us to be rescued from our great predicament, and thus He went forth showing that love through His healing of the sick, as what He had done with the mother-in-law of St. Peter.

By those miracles and healings, He became the sign of hope for many who saw in Him the salvation of God, and it gave them the hope of the liberation from the shackles of sin. Many flocked and thronged to see Him, and they brought many of the sick people to Him, so that He might heal them and make them whole once again. And many others also sought Him to hear Him and listen to His teachings, which dispelled the confusion and mystery of the Law of God, and revealed the Law in all of its full truth and reality.

And how is this relevant to us all, brothers and sisters in Christ? It is because we often forget the fact that we are sinners and we have been afflicted with that sickness of our soul. Sin taints our beings, and it separates us from the Lord, as long as we live in that sin and embrace the ways of sin as the way of life we adopt. We have to realise how we need to seek the Lord and ask Him to heal us and liberate us from our sins.

Brothers and sisters in Christ, just as the disciples told Jesus that everyone was looking for Him, and He responded by going forth to those people who sought Him, thus we too should seek out our Lord, who loves us very much, and who had given us the sanctification and purification by His death on the cross. He had given us so much, so what we should do is indeed to appreciate that love and has respect for our Lord’s sacrifice.

Therefore, as children of God, we should behave like what is expected from us, that is to live faithfully and keep love in our hearts always. If our actions, deeds and words reflect who we are supposed to be, then we have lived our faith quite well and in the end, not only we will be saved, but also others who see our faith, and through that they are saved as well together with us.

May Almighty God bless us all, grant us strength and perseverance to continue living this life we have with zeal and love, with the same love that God had given us, so that we may love one another and inspire each other in faith that all may be saved. God bless us all. Amen.

 

First Reading :

https://petercanisiusmichaeldavidkang.com/2015/01/13/wednesday-14-january-2015-1st-week-of-ordinary-time-first-reading/

 

Psalm :

https://petercanisiusmichaeldavidkang.com/2015/01/13/wednesday-14-january-2015-1st-week-of-ordinary-time-psalm/

 

Gospel Reading :

https://petercanisiusmichaeldavidkang.com/2015/01/13/wednesday-14-january-2015-1st-week-of-ordinary-time-gospel-reading/

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Wednesday, 14 January 2015 : 1st Week of Ordinary Time (Psalm)

Liturgical Colour : Green

Psalm 104 : 1-2, 3-4, 6-7, 8-9

Give thanks to the Lord, call on His Name; make known His works among the nations. Sing to Him, sing His praise, proclaim all His wondrous deeds.

Glory in His holy Name; let those who seek the Lord rejoice. Look to the Lord and be strong; seek His face always.

You descendants of His servant Abraham, you sons of Jacob, His chosen ones! He is the Lord our God; His judgments reach the whole world.

He remembers His covenant forever, His promise to a thousand generations, the covenant He made with Abraham, the promise He swore to Isaac.

 

Homily and Reflection :

https://petercanisiusmichaeldavidkang.com/2015/01/13/wednesday-14-january-2015-1st-week-of-ordinary-time-homily-and-scripture-reflections/

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Tuesday, 13 January 2015 : 1st Week of Ordinary Time, Memorial of St. Hilary, Bishop and Doctor of the Church (Homily and Scripture Reflections)

Liturgical Colour : Green or White (Bishops)

Dear brothers and sisters in Christ, today we heard about the Lord Jesus healing the sick, the possessed and the suffering ones, from whom He cast out the demons. Yes, even demons had to obey that Man, our Lord Jesus Christ, for He is not just merely a Man, but also the Lord and Master of all creations. Satan was also once counted among His angels, and so did the other evil spirits, who were cast down from heaven for their rebellion against God.

He had come into the world to set everything straight and to take all things into His own hands, the Lord of all creations and all existences. He came to reclaim us from the clutches of Satan and to free us from the chains of sin and death. Thus, He came through Jesus, who became Man for our sake, and for our sake He laboured and toiled, resisting and fighting the forces of evil wherever He went during His ministry in this world.

And that was exactly what led to His works in this world, His casting out of demons and healing of the sick, so that He might make full again a people who had been torn apart by the darkness of the world, and bring them to the salvation which He had brought into the world. He came to save sinners and rescue those who are lost, the ones who could not find their way, blinded by sin and darkness.

Thus is the love which God has for us all mankind, so great that He was willing to humble Himself to come down to dwell among us as a simple Man, and to suffer for us, bearing all of our sins and the sufferings for those sins, that we may be liberated and brought free, released from the bonds and shackles which Satan has imposed on us, that is sin, the wickedness within our body, heart and soul, the disease of the soul that separated us from our loving God.

Many of us think that we are perfectly healthy, capable of doing many things we want in life, and many of us think of ourselves as unassailable and invincible, and great as well, because of our achievements and many other things. However, do we realise that all of us are truly afflicted with the sickness of sin? All of us without exception, all of mankind save for Christ alone are subjected to sin and corrupted by it in one way or another.

That is why our Lord who loves us, desires that we be brought to Him and be healed from the affliction of sin. He offered nothing else more precious and greater than Himself, as the Lamb of Sacrifice, offered on the Altar of Calvary, shedding His own Blood and offering it with His Body as a pleasing sacrifice to God, so that by that act of ultimate love and sacrifice, He purchased us and freed us from the slavery and bondage under Satan, and paid for our sinfulness in full.

And that is what Satan fears very much, his ultimate and greatest defeat, when mankind was snatched from his grasp and he knew of his ultimate defeat at the hands of the triumphant Lord. Even the devil knows that he has to submit and acknowledge his defeat before the Lord no matter how much he refused to do so and no matter how reluctant he was.

Therefore, today, as we continue to live our lives faithfully, we have to realise that our hope lies only in the Lord, for it is only He who is the source of salvation and life that can deliver us from the hands of the evil one and his allies. We cannot triumph and succeed on our own, but with the Lord on our side, nothing is impossible. Let us all ask the Lord to come to us and heal us from our afflictions of sin, and remove from us this corruption from our souls, minds, bodies and hearts.

Today, we celebrate the feast of St. Hilary of Poitiers, one of the greatest and most influential early Church father, whose works and teachings still profoundly affect many of the faithful and the Church of God even until today. St. Hilary of Poitiers was born a Roman pagan, but after studying the Scriptures thoroughly, he became convinced of the salvation which only our Lord God can offer, and he and his family converted to the true Faith.

At that time, many of the faithful came under the sway of the lies of the devil, and by the devil’s machinations, many were lost in the heresy as espoused and preached by Arius, now known as the Arian heresy. Arianism swept like wildfire across Christendom and caught many countless souls among its victims. Many went into hellfire and condemnation because they were swayed and tempted by the lies of the devil.

St. Hilary of Poitiers worked hard to reverse all that and saved as many souls as he could from the clutches of the devil. He succeeded in converting many but his path was not easy. It is often that those who have been ensnared in the lies of the devil and who had power, used that power to persecute the faithful ones, including St. Hilary of Poitiers. But St. Hilary never gave up and until the end of his life he continued to minister to the people of God and call them to repent from their sins. This is indeed an example we all should follow in our own lives.

Dear brothers and sisters in Christ, let us all the children of God and the members of His Church commit ourselves anew to reject Satan and all of his false promises and lies. With the intercession and the help of St. Hilary of Poitiers, let us cast aside his sweet words and falsehoods and instead put our complete trust and faith in God alone. Yes, we ought to put our trust in He who had given His all for our sake so that we may be healed and freed from sin. God be with us all, now and forever. Amen.

 

First Reading : 

https://petercanisiusmichaeldavidkang.com/2015/01/12/tuesday-13-january-2015-1st-week-of-ordinary-time-memorial-of-st-hilary-bishop-and-doctor-of-the-church-first-reading/

 

Psalm : 

https://petercanisiusmichaeldavidkang.com/2015/01/12/tuesday-13-january-2015-1st-week-of-ordinary-time-memorial-of-st-hilary-bishop-and-doctor-of-the-church-psalm/

 

Gospel Reading : 

https://petercanisiusmichaeldavidkang.com/2015/01/12/tuesday-13-january-2015-1st-week-of-ordinary-time-memorial-of-st-hilary-bishop-and-doctor-of-the-church-gospel-reading/

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Monday, 12 January 2015 : 1st Week of Ordinary Time (Homily and Scripture Reflections)

Liturgical Colour : Green

Dear brothers and sisters in Christ, today we begin the Ordinary Time proper, and traditionally, today is still the season of Christmas as well, which will end only at the second of February, at the Feast of the Purification of the Blessed Virgin Mary or which we now know more commonly as the Feast of the Presentation of the Lord. Thus, as we continue the readings from the past few days, we know that yesterday as we commemorate the Feast of our Lord’s Baptism, His mission on earth began from that moment onwards.

Thus in the Gospel today, we heard about the calling of the Apostles, beginning with those at the shore of the Lake of Galilee, including St. Andrew, the first called among the Apostles, his brother Simon Peter, who would become St. Peter, the chief of the Apostles and Christ’s Vicar on earth, as well as the two sons of Zebedee, St. James and St. John the Evangelist. They were the first of the disciples of Christ, who accompanied Him from the very beginning of His earthly ministry.

And in the first reading, from the Letter and Epistle the Hebrews, it was highlighted of the special nature of the mission which Christ had come into the world for. This Epistle was written specifically for the Jewish Christians and maybe also to the Jews, hoping that through it they would believe in Christ and follow Him, and therefore, many parts of this Epistle relate what had happened in the past eras of Israel, of the time of the prophets and the patriarchs with what Jesus Christ our Lord had done.

In the past God did not speak directly with His people except with several chosen and special individuals, who had been given the grace to speak with God, to receive the messages of the Lord by vision or speech, and in some cases even to see God directly face to face as Moses had been, and as Abraham had as well. The others whom God spoke to directly were His prophets and messengers whom He had sent to His people to be His mouthpiece and the ones to proclaim to them the words of the Lord.

But God also gave His people a prophecy of the time to come, when God no longer would speak through the prophets, but would instead directly speak to His people, and not just that, but even for Him to walk directly among His people, that they may see Him face to face. And all these were accomplished in the person of Jesus Christ, the Word of God and the Son of God, who came into the world and was incarnated into the flesh of Man.

Thus God spoke no longer through intermediaries but He spoke directly and plainly to His people through Jesus Christ, and He walked among them, showing them how good and great His love for them is. And that is why He bothered to come to us, so that He may directly bring about our salvation and liberation from the enslavement and tyranny of sin. For our sins and wickedness are so great that it requires nothing less than the effort of Christ to bring us to salvation and freedom.

But in that work and effort, Christ did not do it alone by Himself, but He sought the help and participation of men themselves, some of whom He called to be His disciples and followers, and through them, He would work many wonders. They would be the extensions of His love to mankind, and through their works as the servants of God and as the bearers of God’s Good News, many knew of the love of God and were stirred to seek Him and be saved.

But this did not just end there, brothers and sisters in Christ, as many people remain in the darkness and have yet to see the Light of Christ. They have yet to receive the Good News of our Lord’s salvation and they have yet to witness His love for us. That is why God called His disciples, whom He turned from being fishermen as well as of other professions, into the fishers of men. They were to bring mankind to God by introducing to them the Good News, being witnesses of the Faith they had professed.

And this continues even today, brothers and sisters in Christ, as many remains out in the darkness and enslaved to sin. It is our duty then as the followers of Christ and as the members of His Church to continue the good works of Christ and His Apostles, that is to preach the Good News of the Lord to mankind, to our fellow brethren who have yet to hear of it. We cannot be idle or worse to cause people to be misguided or lose the desire to seek the Lord, and that is why we have to live out our faith with real action and works, so that our faith is not just an empty profession but a real, genuine and living faith.

Therefore, brothers and sisters in Christ, let us all reaffirm our faith in God, by carrying out the works entrusted to us by Christ our Lord. We shall not be idle anymore and remain aloof to the plight of our brethren, but we shall make use of the gifts which God had bestowed on us, and help each other, so that together we may all be justified by our faith and actions, and together receive the glory of heaven everlasting. God bless us all. Amen.

 

First Reading :

https://petercanisiusmichaeldavidkang.com/2015/01/11/monday-12-january-2015-1st-week-of-ordinary-time-first-reading/

 

Psalm :

https://petercanisiusmichaeldavidkang.com/2015/01/11/monday-12-january-2015-1st-week-of-ordinary-time-psalm/

 

Gospel Reading :

https://petercanisiusmichaeldavidkang.com/2015/01/11/monday-12-january-2015-1st-week-of-ordinary-time-gospel-reading/

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Sunday, 11 January 2015 : Feast of the Baptism of the Lord (Homily and Scripture Reflections)

Liturgical Colour : White

Dear brothers and sisters in Christ, today we mark the feast of the Baptism of our Lord Jesus Christ, celebrating that moment when Christ began His ministry in this world, as the official beginning of His works, by the baptism which He took through John the Baptist, His herald and messenger, the one sent to prepare the way for Him. This is also to set the precedent for all of us the faithful, we who have received the holy seal of baptism as the mark and sign of divine favour, our Lord’s love for us.

On this feast day, all of us should be thinking about our own baptism, and remember the day when we were baptised, be it as a young infant newly born, or as a teenager or an adult, or even in our waning years, as we made the crucial and good decision of taking up the Lord’s cross and chose to follow Him as His disciples. We should all remember that day, when we are brought to the presence of God, and in His presence, we were sealed with the holy waters of baptism, marked as the children and possessions of our Lord.

And with that, Satan and his allies, the forces of darkness and this world no longer has power and authority over us, and they since that moment are not able to harm us anymore, for the Lord is ever before us, destroying all those who seek harm for us, His children and His beloved people. And baptism is also a pivotal moment, when our sins, the chains of the original sins of mankind, the disobedience our ancestors had shown to the Lord, are removed from us.

Sin is the tool that Satan is using to enslave us all mankind and prevent us from finding our way to the Lord. Sin is the means by which Satan tempts us to walk in his rebellious ways and turn against God, and baptism is meant to sever our connections and indeed our chains, the chains of our enslavement by sin. This is why we have to remember our own baptism, and for those among us who still seek the baptism of the Lord, then we have to put our entire heart’s focus on it. Because through baptism, we who were wicked and deserved death have been brought into the new hope of new life in Christ.

God is forever faithful and loving to us, and thus He shall never abandon us to destruction. It is we who have forsaken our Lord, who cares for us and the only One to show us true love. Therefore He made that act of love, of ultimate love, by the sending of His Son into the world, that through Him, the baptism He offers mankind, and through His loving sacrifice on the cross, the ultimate act of obedience to the will of God.

In the first reading of today from the book of the prophet Isaiah, God reaffirmed this love which He has for us, and called us back to Himself. He did not desire to punish us or to destroy us, unless if we ourselves want to be destroyed and rejected because we refused His generous offer of love, forgiveness and mercy. It was told that we should seek the Lord while we still can, and while it is not yet too late, and indeed, that is what we all ought to do.

Brothers and sisters in Christ, all of us who have received the Sacrament of Baptism in the Church ought to rejoice, for it had indeed not been too late for us. We have made that solemn and crucial decision of choosing the Lord over that of Satan and the world, and we were baptised in the Faith, and became the children of God. We surely have heard of those who prefer to postpone their baptism until the last minute, that is until death is knocking at the door.

But, those who did so failed to see, that firstly, we have no control or knowledge over what our fate will be in the days, months and years to come. We know only of the past we had, and the present in which we all live in. Only God knows what we are to face, and therefore, we should not wait until it is too late. There are certainly cases of those who delayed until the last minute, and when death comes without their knowledge, sudden and unexpected, only eternal regret and suffering will remain with them forever in hell.

Therefore, on this feast of the Baptism of our Lord Jesus Christ, we are all reminded that we should take our baptism seriously. Baptism is not just a one-off event after which we have no need to be concerned anymore with it and progress on with our own respective lives. Baptism is just the beginning, brethren, that is the beginning of a new chapter in our lives, the chapter of our life as the children of God and as the members of His Church.

Baptism is the beginning of our journey of faith together with God, and also together with all the members of the Church, with the Pope, the bishops and the priests, and with every single one of those who have been accepted into the Church, that is baptised in the Name of the Father, Son and the Holy Spirit. We believe that faith alone and baptism alone does not bring about salvation, as these require action and genuine effort for us to achieve it.

Baptism is like the reset button, which resets our life once again back to the zero point, and it is also like an eraser, providing us with a clean slate from which to begin anew. In the ceremony of the Sacrament of Baptism, all of us or our godparents made the profession of the Faith together and affirm our rejection of all of Satan’s lies and temptations, and this is the moment when we abandon our old lives filled with sin and embrace the new life offered by the Lord.

Yes, brethren, a life no longer filled with wanton desires, greed or selfishness, a life no longer filled by jealousy, lies and falsehoods, but from then on, from the moment of our baptism, we have a new life, a life following the teachings and the ways of our Lord, as He had revealed through His Son, Jesus Christ. This feast of His Baptism by John today is a remarkable event, when God revealed yet again to the world, the truth which He was bringing through Christ.

Why do we believe in the Holy Trinity, brothers and sisters? That is because at that baptism in the Jordan, we see the Father, Son and the Holy Spirit together as One unity, God inseparable and yet three in aspects. The Father affirms the Son, while the Son is in the world, doing the will of the Father, and the Spirit is the mover of all things. All three united in perfect harmony, and through John who witnessed all the events, He proclaimed Himself to the world.

This is God who has loved us so much that He is willing to send His own Son to us, so that we may be saved. And by that baptism we witnessed today we know that through the same baptism, we have experienced the same event of that day in the Jordan, sharing with Christ the grace of God. Just as Jesus Christ the Son received from the Lord God the Father the affirmation, that He is the Son, His Beloved, therefore all of us also share in the same kinship as Christ, being all made as the sons and daughters of God.

And now that we have been made the children of God through baptism, do we take it easy and continue to live our lives as we had lived before our baptism? Of course not! Imagine that if we live as we have lived before, with wickedness and vices, with selfishness and greed, then who will believe that we are the children of God? No one will believe that we belong to the Lord, but instead we belong to Satan and his allies, and though we have received baptism and be cleansed from our sins, but the sins we commit afterwards will be our undoing.

As long as we walk in this world, in our mortal flesh, we will always be prone and vulnerable to sin. Therefore we must be ever vigilant and be careful as we live in this world, that we sin no more or at least we must learn to restrain the urge and the temptation to sin again. It is part of the cross we have to carry as the followers of Christ, to resist the temptations of Satan. After all, brethren, remember that Christ our Lord was also tempted?

He was tempted in His humanity in every way we have been tempted, with greed, fame, power and praise, but He triumphed, to show that there is indeed a way out of sin, and that it is possible to say no to Satan and reject him. And His death on the cross and subsequent resurrection shows that sin and death does not have the final say on us mankind. All those who believe in Jesus and all of His teachings, and who accept to be baptised as He had commanded His Church to do, shall be saved and be freed from the fate of eternal death and suffering.

Now what remains is for us all to make ourselves truly worthy children of God. As I have mentioned, baptism is the new beginning for us, and from then on we have to prove that we stay faithful to the Lord. Our faith cannot be one that is passive and superficial, as faith without good works, as St. James mentioned in his epistle, is essentially dead.

Therefore today, brothers and sisters in Christ, as we celebrate this feast and celebration of our Lord Jesus’ baptism at the Jordan, let us all remember our own baptism, and if we were too young to remember it, then let us all seek those who have the memories of that event, such as our godparents and parents. This is so that we can remember the promise which we or our godparents had made on our behalf, the promise of resistance and rejection of all of Satan’s falsehoods and lies.

And lastly, let today be a reminder for us all as well, that we have a duty and mission to carry out as a baptised member of the Church. Jesus before He ascended to heaven leave one last mission to His Apostles, a mission that is still ongoing even today. He commanded them to go to all the ends of the earth preaching the Good News and calling on all the peoples to repent and follow the Lord, and to baptise them all in the Name of the Father, Son and the Holy Spirit.

Thus, let us all begin if we have not begun, to live according to our faith and according to what we believe in Jesus. Let us all from now on walk the talk, and truly mean what we preach. No one will believe us or follow us in the way of Christ, no matter how good we preach to them, if we ourselves do not show that faith in our lives, in our words, our deeds and actions.

Hence, let us all do the will of God by showing faith in our daily actions, and through that, let us reaffirm the profession of faith we made at our baptism, rejecting Satan in all of his lies and wickedness. God bless us all. Amen.

 

First Reading :

https://petercanisiusmichaeldavidkang.com/2015/01/10/sunday-11-january-2015-feast-of-the-baptism-of-the-lord-first-reading/

 

Psalm :

https://petercanisiusmichaeldavidkang.com/2015/01/10/sunday-11-january-2015-feast-of-the-baptism-of-the-lord-psalm/

 

Second Reading :

https://petercanisiusmichaeldavidkang.com/2015/01/10/sunday-11-january-2015-feast-of-the-baptism-of-the-lord-second-reading/

 

Gospel Reading :

https://petercanisiusmichaeldavidkang.com/2015/01/10/sunday-11-january-2015-feast-of-the-baptism-of-the-lord-gospel-reading/