rejoice

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Sunday, 14 December 2014 : Third Sunday of Advent, Gaudete Sunday, Memorial of St. John of the Cross, Priest and Doctor of the Church (First Reading)

Liturgical Colour : Purple/Violet or Rose (Gaudete Sunday)

Isaiah 61 : 1-2a, 10-11

The Spirit of the Lord YHVH is upon Me, because YHVH has anointed Me to bring Good News to the poor. He has sent Me to bind up broken hearts, to proclaim liberty to the captives, freedom to those languishing in prison; to announce the year of YHVH’s favour and the day of vengeance of our God.

I rejoice greatly in YHVH, My soul exults for joy in My God, for He has clothed Me in the garments of His salvation, He has covered Me with the robe of His righteousness, like a bridegroom wearing a garland, like a bride adorned with jewels.

For as the earth brings forth its growth, and as a garden makes seeds spring up, so will the Lord YHVH make justice and praise spring up in the sight of all nations.

 

Homily and Reflection :

https://petercanisiusmichaeldavidkang.com/2014/12/13/sunday-14-december-2014-third-sunday-of-advent-gaudete-sunday-memorial-of-st-john-of-the-cross-priest-and-doctor-of-the-church-homily-and-scripture-reflections/

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Friday, 27 June 2014 : Solemnity of the Most Sacred Heart of Jesus, World Day of Prayer for the Sanctity of Priestly Life (Gospel Reading)

Liturgical Colour : White

Matthew 11 : 25-30

On that occasion Jesus said, “Father, Lord of heaven and earth, I praise You, because You have hidden these things from the wise and learned, and revealed them to simple people. Yes, Father, this is what pleased You.”

“Everything has been entrusted to Me by My Father. No one knows the Son except the Father, and no one knows the Father except the Son, and those to whom the Son chooses to reveal Him.”

“Come to Me, all you who work hard and who carry heavy burdens, and I will refresh you. Take My yoke upon you and learn from Me, for I am gentle and humble of heart and you will find rest. For My yoke is good, and My burden is light.”

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Tuesday, 24 June 2014 : Solemnity of the Nativity of St. John the Baptist (Scripture Reflections)

Liturgical Colour : White

Dear brothers and sisters in Christ, today we celebrate the solemnity of the nativity, or the birth of St. John the Baptist, the herald and messenger of the Messiah, the Holy One, Jesus Christ. Today we celebrate this saint whose works had preceded the Lord, and who prepared Him for His eventual coming into the world, that the works of the Lord might be made ever more wonderful and glorious.

St. John the Baptist was the herald of the Messiah, and he acted as His spokesperson before the whole world, and we all certainly remember what he said to his own disciples, as he encouraged them to follow the Messiah, with the words ‘There is the Lamb of God who takes away the sins of the world!’, as a proclamation of truth, that the Messiah has come, and He was in Jesus Christ, identifying Him to the world, and yet many still refused to believe and listen to St. John the Baptist.

The same thing had happened before during the time of the prophets in Israel, when Elijah walked the land, calling for the land and the people to repent their sins and follow the Lord once again, after having indulged for so long in their sinfulness. He was rejected, pursued and hunted by the king, and he was always under the threat of death.

Elijah nevertheless persevered in his works and he continued with his devotion to his mission, calling more and more people to repentance and to a renewed faith in God. He did these all the way until he was called into heaven by the Lord, who sent him away through the flaming chariot. It was well known by the people of Israel that Elijah would one day come again to declare the coming of the Messiah. However, many failed to realise that Elijah had in fact come again into the world.

Yes, St. John the Baptist is Elijah sent again into the world to be the herald and messenger of the Lord, to bring the word of salvation into mankind. St. John the Baptist yet, sadly, encountered a people not much different from the time when he was Elijah, when he laboured hard for the sake of the Lord and His people. Wickedness remained rampant, and there were much evil in the world.

Yet St. John the Baptist did not give up and continued to work hard, often against difficulties and persecutions that were laid up on his path. He was born for that purpose, to deliver the message of God to mankind, to turn their hearts to the Lord, even though eventually not all of them would believe, as the Pharisees and the elders of the people would show.

St. John the Baptist was truly exemplary in his life and in his faith. He had the opportunity to gain glory and fame through his works and missions. And yet he did not indulge in the glory of the world, but he remained true to his mission. He humbly let go of his fame when the Lord Jesus came and began His own work in the world, and his works as the herald completed, he withdrew quietly into the background.

Can we be like him, brothers and sisters? It is not easy, but if we have the will, we can certainly do it. Temptations are great, and in this world, it is especially difficult for us to overcome the temptations of glory and power. This world is in the stage where more and more temptations are growing to prevent our way to the Lord, and the path is increasingly becoming more and more arduous.

But if we never take any action, we will never be able to proceed further, and we will forever be trapped in the trap of glory and power, as well as any other obstacles we have in life. We must be proactive and be confident, and remember the Lord is always on our side, just as He had been with St. John the Baptist. Let St. John the Baptist be an inspiration for us as we live our faith.

Let us all pray, that the Lord will continue to guide us in our lives, so that our lives may be plentiful and happy, filled with love and the Holy Spirit, and that we may practice our faith openly and in a concrete manner in our own lives. Let us help one another to seek the Lord that together we may glorify Him and bring more and more of our brethren into salvation in His hands. God bless us all. Amen.

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Monday, 16 June 2014 : 11th Week of Ordinary Time (Psalm)

Liturgical Colour : Green

Psalm 5 : 2-3, 5-6, 7

O Lord, listen to my words and hear my complaint, give heed to my sighs, my King and my God.

You are not a God who delights in wickedness; evil has no place in You. The arrogant cannot stand before You. You hate all who do evil.

You destroy all who speak falsehood, who thirst for blood and live on lies; all of them the Lord detests.

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Sunday, 8 June 2014 : Solemnity of Pentecost Sunday (Psalm)

Liturgical Colour : Red

Psalm 103 : 1ab and 24ac, 29bc-30, 31 and 34

Bless the Lord, my soul! Clothed in majesty and splendour. How varied o Lord, are Your works! The earth full of Your creatures.

You take away their breath, they expire and return to dust. When You send forth Your Spirit, they are created, and the face of the earth is renewed.

May the glory of the Lord endure forever; may the Lord rejoice in His works! May my song give Him pleasure, as the Lord gives me delight.

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Monday, 2 June 2014 : 7th Week of Easter, Memorial of St. Marcellinus and St. Peter, Martyrs (Gospel Reading)

Liturgical Colour : White or Red (Martyrs)

John 16 : 29-33

The disciples said to Him, “Now You are speaking plainly and not in veiled language! Now we see that You know all things, even before we question You. Because of this we believe that You came from God.”

Jesus answered them, “You say that you believe? The hour is coming, indeed it has come, when you will be scattered, each one to his home, and you will leave Me alone. Yet I am not alone, for the Father is with Me.”

“I have told you all this, so that in Me you may have peace. You will have trouble in the world; but, courage! I have overcome the world.”

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Monday, 21 April 2014 : Monday within Easter Octave (Psalm)

Liturgical Colour : White

Psalm 15 : 1-2a and 5, 7-8, 9-10, 11

Keep me safe, o God, for in You I take refuge. I say to the Lord, “O Lord, my inheritance and my cup, my chosen portion – hold secure my lot.”

I bless the Lord who counsels me; even at night my inmost self instructs me. I keep the Lord always before me; for with Him at my right hand, I will never be shaken.

My heart, therefore, exults, my soul rejoices; my body too will rest assured. For You will not abandon my soul to the grave, nor will You suffer Your Holy One to see decay in the land of the dead.

You will show me the path of life, in Your presence the fullness of joy, at Your right hand happiness forever.

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Monday, 14 April 2014 : Monday of Holy Week (Gospel Reading)

Liturgical Colour : Purple/Violet

John 12 : 1-11

Six days before the Passover, Jesus came to Bethany, where He had raised Lazarus, the dead man, to life. Now they gave a dinner for Him, and while Martha waited on them, Lazarus sat at the table with Jesus.

Then Mary took a pound of costly perfume, made from genuine spikenard and anointed the feet of Jesus, wiping them with her hair. And the whole house was filled with the fragrance of the perfume.

Judas Iscariot – the disciple who was to betray Jesus – remarked, “This perfume could have been sold for three hundred silver coins, and the money given to the poor.” Judas, indeed, had no concern for the poor; he was a thief, and as he held the common purse, he used to help himself to the funds.

But Jesus spoke up, “Leave her alone. Was she not keeping it for the day of My burial? The poor you always have with you, but you will not always have Me.”

Many Jews heard that Jesus was there and they came, not only because of Jesus, but also to see Lazarus whom He had raised from the dead. So the chief priests thought about killing Lazarus as well, for many of the Jews were drifting away because of him, and believing in Jesus.

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Wednesday, 9 April 2014 : 5th Week of Lent (Scripture Reflections)

Liturgical Colour : Purple/Violet

Brothers and sisters in Christ, as we go closer and closer to the time of celebration of the Holy Week, and as we continue to immerse ourselves in the dynamics of Lent, we need to make a clear and conscious choice on our part, that we resolve to be with God and be faithful to Him, or to reject Him and to follow instead, the devil and his ways of the world.

The three companions of Daniel, that is Shadrach, Meshach and Abednego, they are all presented with the choice to serve either God their Lord, or the King of Babylon, Nebuchadnezzar and worship him and the statue he had built for himself. And they proved their faith for the Lord, choosing to be burned in the big furnace rather than giving up their faith and worship the king’s statue.

They dedicated themselves to God even though they know that they will suffer from disobeying the king’s order and even knowing the punishment that they would have to suffer for such disobedience. Yet, in doing that they remain true to God and to His will, and as we saw, God did not want His servants to suffer, and therefore, He protected them from the wrath of the flames in the furnace.

We cannot be servants to two masters, as another parable of Jesus has told us, that for example, we cannot be servants of both God and money. In today’s Gospel the people claimed that they were the children of Abraham by the right of descendant, and yet what they did in their words and deeds clearly did not reflect that they were worthy of being the children of Abraham.

For Abraham obeyed the Lord without condition and with the fullness of devotion and giving of his heart. He did not even shy from giving up his own son, the very one long promised by God, to be sacrificed on the Mount of Moria, and for that kind of devotion, he was praised and rewarded by God. Abraham was faithful, in the same way as the three companions of Daniel had been, and they showed that faith in God cannot be one that is arbitrary, but must be something that is concrete and done in complete and full dedication.

Brothers and sisters in Christ, we cannot be like the people of Israel who rejected Jesus by claiming that they were the children of Abraham, in trying to justify their wickedness. They thought that being the children of Abraham, they were ensured and guaranteed of salvation, but they were wrong. In fact Abraham would have been ashamed that these people were born from his blood, and being his descendants.

Thus, like the three companions of Daniel, we too must make a firm and conscious choice, especially as we go on in this life, and during this perfect opportunity of Lent, to change our ways if we have erred and strayed away from God’s path. Let us make that concrete choice and action, to seek the Lord and ask Him for His mercy, surrendering ourselves totally to Him, and promise Him and dedicate our whole lives to Him, forsaking all the falsehoods of the devil and the temporal pleasures of this world.

Let us instead seek the Lord and the true happiness that only He can give. Let us be with Him and be in His grace forevermore. God bless us all. Amen.

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Monday, 31 March 2014 : 4th Week of Lent (First Reading)

Liturgical Colour : Purple/Violet

Isaiah 65 : 17-21

I now create new heavens and a new earth, and the former things will not be remembered, nor will they come to mind again. Be glad forever and rejoice in what I create; for I create Jerusalem to be a joy and its people to be a delight. I will rejoice over Jerusalem and take delight in My people.

The sound of distress and the voice of weeping will not be heard in it any more. You will no longer know of dead children or of adults who do not live out a lifetime. One who reaches a hundred years will have died a mere youth, but one who fails to reach a hundred will be considered accursed.

They will build houses and dwell in them; they will plant crops and eat their fruit.