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Wednesday, 5 November 2014 : 31st Week of Ordinary Time (Homily and Scripture Reflections)

Liturgical Colour : Green

Dear brothers and sisters in Christ, today we are reminded of the need for us to be prepared in our faith and in our lives, that we will be ready when the Lord comes again. We cannot be idle in our faith and we cannot be slack, as our faith is not just by mere words or proclamations, nor can it be an empty faith, for an empty faith is no good at all. Rather, we must have a living faith that is founded upon action, and love in those actions.

Our faith must be carried on through our life, and we must therefore be prepared for the day of judgment. Before every time we act we must also think it through thoroughly first, just as Jesus mentioned in the parable He taught the people, on the matter of kings fighting a war with another king. A careful deliberation and preparation will help us, just as it helped the kings, to carry out a wisely thought and considered option in life.

Why is this so important? That is because many of us acted in this life without proper consideration and even without thinking first. Many of us acted at the whim of our desires and wants, which often resulted in acts of incredible selfishness that cared for only ourselves, and frequently causing a disadvantage if not even pain and suffering for others around us.

By following our own desires, the desires of our hearts, and following in the corruptions of Satan, we are not true to our faith, as our faith requires us to be truly faithful to the Lord. Jesus said that when one is not ready to forgo his links and connections to the world and to people who are dear to us, in order to follow the Lord with all of our hearts and strength, then we are not ready to become His disciples.

Jesus did not mean that we must segregate or detach ourselves from our loved ones, our families and friends, and others known to us. He did not mean that we should hate them or anything of the sort. On the contrary, He wants us to love them and embrace them, just as much as we love Him. As I have often mentioned, there can be no perfect love for God if we do not love our neighbours and those around us, and vice versa, that there can be no perfect love for our neighbours if we do not first love the Lord our God with all of our might.

What He meant was that if our attachment to those around us prevent us from loving God sincerely and completely, then we have to do something about it. For example if our relatives and families, or our friends are doing things that are considered wicked and horrendous in the sight of God, then we have to stand up to it, and we have to do what is right, that is to remind them that they should not do such wickedness and stop sinning.

And this may cost us our relationship with them, and our friendship with them too. And this is a risk we have to take. We have a choice, brothers and sisters in Christ, either to conform to their actions, and save our relationships, keeping our friendship with them, at the cost of perhaps most likely their souls, for they committed sin before God and did not repent.

How about us in that case? Because we did not act as we should have done, and refused to follow the Lord’s commandments, bringing souls of men into jeopardy and damnation, we too will have to answer for our lack of action, as we caused them to fall into hell and thus lost to God. If we had done our part to remind them of their sinfulness, they might have the chance to change their ways and become better.

Thus, brothers and sisters in Christ, we are indeed reminded of the need for us to be proactive in our faith, and to take action whenever it is possible for us. This is part of our duty and responsibility as the member of the Church of God. We must be fully ready to take up our crosses in life, following the Lord in His ways. And one way to do that is indeed to remind our fellow brothers and sisters in Christ, despite of our relationships, to keep faithful in the Lord.

Let us all together be as what St. Paul said in the letter which was read as our First Reading today, to be children of the Light, and therefore we ought to do as what the children of the Light should do, that is to shun all forms of sins and fornications of the body and the soul. We have to help one another in this, as all of us are predisposed to sin, and we are all vulnerable to temptations of the flesh and of this life.

At times, the soft approach to remind one another may not work, so it may be necessary at times to bring sense back to us, and to awaken us from our sinfulness and back into the light. May our Lord Jesus therefore give us strength, both to resist the temptations of sin and the body, and also to have the strength to be able to overcome our hesitation when we see someone whom we knew, who commits a sin before God, that for his or her own good, that someone may be delivered from the gates of damnation into salvation in God. God bless us all. Amen.

 

First Reading : 
https://petercanisiusmichaeldavidkang.com/2014/11/04/wednesday-5-november-2014-31st-week-of-ordinary-time-first-reading/

Psalm : 
https://petercanisiusmichaeldavidkang.com/2014/11/04/wednesday-5-november-2014-31st-week-of-ordinary-time-psalm/

Gospel Reading : 
https://petercanisiusmichaeldavidkang.com/2014/11/04/wednesday-5-november-2014-31st-week-of-ordinary-time-gospel-reading/

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Saturday, 4 January 2014 : Weekday of Christmas Time (Scripture Reflections)

Liturgical Colour : White

Brothers and sisters in Christ, today we hear about the call that Jesus made to His first disciples, when St. John the Baptist announced to the people, the truth about Jesus, that is the Lamb of God. One may ask, why Lamb of God? To answer this, we have to look at the role of the lamb in the society of Israel and the faith that they had, that is following the laws of God as given through Moses.

The lamb is one of the few animals mentioned at the Book of Leviticus, used in the offerings to God, which in this book, were used for various purposes. The most important of these sacrifices were the sin and burnt offerings to God, in which the animals were slaughtered and their blood on the Altar of God represent the cleansing of the sins of God’s people, and the purification of their souls.

But these offering of lambs and other animals as sin offerings, were only temporary. They did not completely erase the sins of the people, nor did they justify the people in God. The people were only given a breather in their sinful daily lives, and they have to offer the sacrifices again and again to keep themselves worthy of the Lord.

That is because, even though unblemished lamb supposed to be used, they are not perfect, not in the way that the Lamb of God is perfect in all aspects. Then, to add to the point of the truth about the Lamb of God, we have to also remember about what happened when God saved His people Israel from their slavery in Egypt. God asked the people through Moses, to find unblemished lamb, and slaughter it so that its blood could be used to mark the houses of God’s people.

The blood let it known to the angels of death sent by God to kill the firstborn of the Egyptians, that the houses marked by the blood belong to God. Yes, death passed the houses of the faithful who obeyed the Lord, and the people of Israel were saved and liberated by the Lord who loved them. In this light therefore, we too, should see the Lord Jesus, the Lamb of God.

For indeed we can define the role of Lord Jesus Christ in these two characteristics. First that Jesus is the Lamb of sacrifice, the most worthy of all, to be the offering for all of our sins. As Jesus is Himself God incarnate, He is perfect and indeed the only One perfect to redeem us from our sinfulness, and to make worthy again all the people of God.

Then secondly, Jesus is the Lamb whose Blood becomes the mark of all the faithful ones in God, that when the Day of Judgment comes, God will know those who belong to Him, and those who had remained faithful and true to His ways. Remember that Jesus in the Last Supper gave His own Body and Blood in the transformed bread and wine for His disciples to eat and drink.

This is very much in the same way as the lamb of the Passover, where the lamb was slaughtered, and it was eaten by the family of the people who slaughtered it, and the blood used to mark the houses of the faithful. Jesus is our Passover Lamb, or more precisely the Paschal Lamb of sacrifice, who brought with Him the joy and hope of Easter. In this perfect sacrifice of Christ, which He made on the cross, He reunited mankind to the Lord, and made the whole creation to be filled once again with hope.

Jesus did not come into this world for leisure or without a clear purpose. He had a clear aim, that is to liberate mankind from their slavery to sin and evil, ever since mankind were sundered from God after they had sinned. Jesus laid Himself freely for us, as a lamb led to the place of slaughter, just as He went through grievous scourging and suffering during His Passion and way towards the cross. All these, He did for our sake, that we may be free forever from the dominion of sin and evil.

Yet, as we all know, brethren, many of us still live in darkness and prefer to be in the darkness rather than to be in the light. We turn ourselves away from the Lamb. He offered us freely the graces He had poured onto us with His sacrifice, and yet we still prefer to rebel against Him and reject His offer of salvation and eternal life.

We prefer to live in our sinfulness and our current way of life, instead of seeking the Lord in the way that the disciples had done. Remember what happened when John the Baptist proclaimed to the disciples, that Jesus is the Lamb of God. The disciples straight away went and follow Him, without questioning and without doubting!

Can we too, brothers and sisters, profess our faith in Jesus in the same way? Jesus offered Himself to us, for our sake, and died for us on the cross, that we will be saved and received new life in Him. He went quietly and obediently to the slaughtering table, so that we ourselves will not have to endure death and its punishment for eternity. We are sinners yes, but we do have the capacity and ability to change ourselves for the better.

Therefore, let us today seek first to know more about our Lord, the Lamb of God, and then learn to love Him and seek Him more and more, that we will be more intimate in our relationship with Him. Let us not be ignorant of His love but instead seek to increase even more the love we have for Him. May the Lamb of God, who takes away the sins of the world, free us from the hands of Satan, and bring us into new life eternal. Amen.

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Thursday, 14 November 2013 : 32nd Week of Ordinary Time (First Reading)

Liturgical Colour : Green

Wisdom 7 : 22 – Wisdom 8 : 1

Because Wisdom, who designed them all, taught me. In her is a Spirit that is intelligent, saintly, unique, manifold, subtle, active, concise, pure, and lucid. It cannot corrupt, loves what is good and nothing can restrain it; it is beneficent, loving humankind, steadfast, dependable, calm though almighty. It sees everything and penetrates all spirits, however intelligent, subtle, and pure they may be.

Wisdom, in fact, surpasses in mobility all that moves, and being so pure pervades and permeates all things. She is a breath of the power of God, a pure emanation of the glory of the Almighty; nothing impure can enter her. She is a reflection of eternal light, a spotless mirror of God’s action and an image of His goodness.

She is but One, yet Wisdom can do all things and, herself unchanging, she renews all things. She enters holy souls, making them prophets and friends of God, for God loves only those who live with Wisdom. She is indeed more beautiful than the sun and surpasses all the constellations; she outrivals light, for light gives way to night, but evil cannot prevail against Wisdom.

Wisdom displays her strength from one end of the earth to the other, ordering all things rightly.

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Tuesday, 24 September 2013 : 25th Week of Ordinary Time (Gospel Reading)

Liturgical Colour : Green

Luke 8 : 19-21

Then Jesus’ mother and His relatives came to Him, but they could not get to Him because of the crowd. Someone told Him, “Your mother and Your brothers  are standing outside and wish to meet You.” Then Jesus answered, “My mother and My brothers are those who hear the word of God and do it.”

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Wednesday, 18 September 2013 : 24th Week of Ordinary Time (Scripture Reflection)

Liturgical Colour : Green

Dear brothers and sisters in Christ, today we learn on how difficult it is to be the followers of Christ in our world. This is precisely because, mankind always judges others, and they judge based on their flawed understandings and assumptions, which they made on everyone and everything they encountered.

We also like to compare on things, especially with other people, tending to prefer things or person that we favour, and reject things that we dislike or person we abhor. In this, we create divisions and ill-feel between ourselves, which result in myriads of things such as prejudice, jealousy, persecution, oppression, ostracism, among many other things born of this evil.

We often put our trust more in our own human emotions and opinions, instead of trusting in the wisdom and judgement of the Lord our God. That is why we often end up in conflict with one another, and unable to resolve the differences between us, and thus leading to even more conflicts. We often judge people based on their backgrounds, their races, language and by many other criteria.

The Lord Jesus today challenges us to be different, to dare to be different in that we do not judge others based on their appearance, or indeed judge other people on how they are different from us. The Lord wants us to look in deeper, into one’s heart and to be fair in all our judgments. If we want to judge on something, we must not do it based on half-truths and lies, but instead, seek first for the truth, the real and unbiased truth, and only then, we can judge.

Indeed, it would be even better if we do not judge anybody at all. After all, who are we to judge when we ourselves deserve to be judged by the Lord who is the Great Judge of all? If we do not want to be judged ourselves, then we should not judge in the first place. Note that many of the world’s calamities were caused by people being prejudiced, judgmental, and bitterly opposed to one another. Holocaust, Rwandan Civil War, and many others, many of which atrocities are still fresh in our minds.

Instead let us put our complete trust in the true judgment of the Lord and give our full faith and attention to Him. Let us instead in this world, promote love, peace, and harmony among each one of us, ending the evil cycle of prejudice and being judgmental of one another. In doing so, we made ourselves worthy in the eyes of the Lord, and the Lord God who is the Judge of all, will not condemn  us in the Last Judgement.

Let us seek what unites us instead of focusing on the divisions that divide us or the things that caused such divisions to occur. Let us seek harmony and peace in love with one another, with our fellow brethren even from different backgrounds from us, that we may live together in the harmony and peace of God, free from discord, mayhem, and destructions wrought by Satan the deceiver.

If we fight among ourselves, between brethren in the Lord, and seek on what divides instead of unites, then we have fallen to the traps of the devil, who desires only to see us broken, destroying one another, that in the process, all of us will fall with him into condemnation, that is eternal suffering for all ages. The Lord clearly does not want this to happen to us, and that is why, through Christ, He wanted to show the importance of love and harmony between us, and between us and Himself.

May the Lord who is a loving God, continue to shower us with His love, bless us with His peace, and teach us how to be truly just to one another. God bless us all. Amen.

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On Homosexuality, Pope Francis’ comments, our Church teachings and our Priests

Regarding homosexuality and priesthood, I just have a simple answer to that.

If heterosexual people choose priesthood as their vocation in life, they have to abandon all sexual desires with the opposite sex and any kind of relationships henceforth all their life. So, the same too must apply to homosexual people who choose priesthood as their vocation in life.

It is really simple, but the problem is, many people, regardless whether they are heterosexual or homosexual, they cannot let go, and they give in to the temptations of the devil.

Yes, I agree that “I am not the one to judge”, and indeed, we must love the sinner, but not love the sin. The Church stance remains the same, and the teachings remain the same.

It is that we must not discriminate against those who may seem to be different, but what is important is that, we must make sure that all priests, no matter what orientation they have, must be pure and 100% focused on the Lord in celibate life, without any attachment, be it to the same or opposite gender, since the day they enter the seminary, the day of their ordination, till the day the Lord calls them back into His embrace in heaven.

It is a great sin, to turn one’s back to the Lord and embrace the devil, once he had committed himself fully to the Lord, and became His bride, in the sacred ordination, the moment when the priest is wed to God and His people, to be their servant, to be the leader and shepherd of God’s people.

So yes, sexual abuse by priests is no no, and no to married priests either, regardless of the needs of the diocese, and no to any sexual acts or perversion by priests whatsoever, with anyone, after they had committed themselves and made that choice.

If they cannot commit themselves 100% to the Lord, till the end of their life, then they cannot be priests. Priests are always tempted daily by the devil, but they must persevere. That is why it is so important for us to pray for our priests and support them!

And make sure to inculcate from early on the love for God and His people in our children and our youths, that if there are those who choose to follow the path of a priest, they will have a solid faith and rock-solid foundation, that will help them better to fight the assaults of the devil.

Remember that the Lord Himself had said that in the parable of the two houses, that a wise man builds his house on a solid ground, while a fool builds his house on sand, and when the wind and waves come and blow on them, only the one with solid foundation will remain standing. Therefore, our priests and our potential future priests too must always ensure that they have strong foundations, that is strong and unassailable faith in God, that no evil can shake and topple.

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Monday, 29 July 2013 : 17th Week of Ordinary Time, Memorial of St. Martha (First Reading)

1 John 4 : 7-16

My dear friends, let us love one another for love comes from God. Everyone who loves is born of God and knows God. Those who do not love have not known God, for God is love.

How did the love of God appear among us? God sent His only Son into this world that we might have life through Him. This is love : not that we loved God but that He first loved us and sent His Son as an atoning sacrifice for our sins.

Dear friends, if such has been the love of God, we, too, must love one another. No one has ever seen God, but if we love one another, God lives in us, and His love comes to its perfection in us.

How may we know that we live in God and He in us? Because God has given us His Spirit. We ourselves have seen and declare that the Father sent His Son to save the world. Those who confess that Jesus is the Son of God, God remains in them and they in God.

We have known the love of God and have believed in it. God is love. The one who lives in love, lives in God and God in him.

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Saturday, 13 July 2013 : 14th Week of Ordinary Time, Memorial of St. Henry (Gospel Reading)

Matthew 10 : 24-33

A student is not above his teacher, nor a slave above his master. A student should be glad to become  like his teacher, and the slave like his master. If the head of the family has been called Beelzebul, how much more the members of the family! So, do not be afraid of them.

There is nothing covered that will not be uncovered, and nothing hidden that will not be made known. What I am telling you in the dark, you must speak in the light. What you hear in private, proclaim from the housetops.

Do not be afraid of those who kill the body, but have no power to kill the soul. Rather be afraid of Him who can destroy both body and soul in hell. For only a few cents you can buy two sparrows, yet not one sparrow falls to the ground without your Father knowing. As for you, every hair of your head has been counted. Do not be afraid : you are no less worthy than many sparrows!

Whoever acknowledges Me before others I will acknowledge before My Father in heaven. Whoever rejects Me before others I will reject before My Father in heaven.

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Wednesday, 10 July 2013 : 14th Week of Ordinary Time (First Reading)

Genesis 41 : 55-57 and Genesis 42 : 5-7a, 17-24a

When the land of Egypt began to suffer from the famine, the people came to Pharaoh for bread. But Pharaoh told all the Egyptians, “Go to Joseph and do as he tells you.”

When the famine had spread throughout the land, Joseph opened all the storehouses and sold grain to the Egyptians for the famine was indeed severe over the land. As the famine had worsened throughout the whole world, people came from other countries to buy grain from Joseph.

So the sons of Israel were among those going to buy grain, for there was famine in Canaan. It was Joseph, as governor of the land, who sold the grain to all the people. When his brothers arrived they bowed before him, with their faces to the ground. Joseph recognised his brothers but did not make himself known. And so he put them all in prison for three days.

On the third day Joseph said to them, “I will help you to save yourselves, for I am a man who fears God. If you are sincere, let one of your brothers remain prisoner in the house of the guard where you now are, and the rest of you take the grain to save your families from famine. Then you will bring back your youngest brother; so the truth of what you say will be proved and your lives spared.”

They did as they were ordered and said among themselves, “Alas! We are guilty because of the way we treated our brother when he pleaded with us for mercy, but we did not listen. That is why this trouble has come upon us.”

Reuben answered them, “Did I not tell you not to sin against the boy? But you did not listen and now we are brought to account for his blood.” Now they did not know that Joseph understood them as there was an interpreter between them. As for Joseph, he withdrew and wept.

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Monday, 8 July 2013 : 14th Week of Ordinary Time (Scripture Reflection)

Brothers and sisters in Christ, today we heard how Jesus healed the woman suffering from a bleeding problem and also resurrected the daughter of the official, all because of their faith in Him and in what He can do. Faith can indeed go a long way, brethren. Our Lord rewards those who are faithful to Him. He wants only our love and our obedience to His will.

Faith is essential for salvation, as without faith, there is no hope at all for us to be saved. For we have been tainted by sin and darkness, of evil and this world, that we were unworthy of the Lord and His perfection. But yet, Jesus Christ came, the very Son of God, who opened the path to salvation by His death and resurrection. Through Him hope came into the world and dwell in us, in the Holy Spirit, that He sent to the Apostles on Pentecost.

We need faith to be the anchor of our lives, and as the centre of our very being, as with faith, we will have a strong anchor in God, and we will not be easily swayed by the temptations of Satan and the evils that are in the world. Without faith, we cannot love God, and consequently we would not be able to embrace Him and the salvation He offered to all of us freely.

To Christ had been granted all the authority on the heaven and the earth, over the living and the dead. That was why, He healed the suffering of the bleeding woman, and resurrected the dead daughter of the official. The readings today showed that Jesus did not just heal anybody and everyone. In fact, He sought those who truly were repentant, and sought God’s mercy, and showed their sincere love, devotion, and most importantly faith in Him, faith in His divinity, that He healed them from their afflictions and sickness.

Yet, faith alone is not sufficient, brothers and sisters in Christ, as the Lord taught us and His disciples, that faith must be in tandem with love and hope, as the three most important values of being a Christian, that is faith, hope, and love. These three virtues embody all that a Christian must be, must become, and must aspire to.

For faith without love is akin to a faith that is dead, and a faith that is empty, because this faith does not generate love and life. Love can simply be expressed as our service and care for our brothers and sisters, that is part of doing good works. This is why we do not believe in salvation through faith alone, but salvation through faith and good works, that is faith made alive through good works and actions that reflect love, and generate hope in others.

For faith lacking in love and hope is also a selfish faith, where we are concerned only in our own salvation and not others. A true Christian desires the salvation of all mankind, himself or herself and all those around him or her. Most especially, a true Christian desires the salvation of those who had caused suffering and pain to the Christian, and those who had wronged the Christian, or in short, the ‘enemy’. That is also in tandem with Christ’s teaching that we should love our enemies and those who persecute us.

Then going back to what we talked about earlier, love can neither exist without faith and hope, for love is intricately linked to faith and hope. It is not possible to truly love someone without first having faith in that person. We certainly will not truly love someone if we cannot even trust the person completely without fear or concern, or otherwise that love will by an empty love, or infatuation in some situations, where relationships are not born out of love but sexual desires and lust.

Then love also must bring hope, because in love, there is hope, hope for a new beginning, and indeed, hope for a new life. If you allow me to digress a little bit, yes, love does bring life and hope, that is children. For marriage as we know it, must be based on love, and as far as possible, should be fruitful and bear children, the gifts of God to man. Children represent this new hope, in a new life, a promising life, that should be nurtured with love and faith. That is also why it is important for us, to always link love with faith and hope, even in our own families, in the development of the spiritual faith of our children.

Then finally, hope itself cannot exist without faith and love, for to have hope in something means that we must at least have faith in that something. Hope itself cannot exist as long as we do not have faith in Christ, because Christ is the source of all hope, because only in Christ exist salvation, and out of Christ, we can have no hope. And hope itself begets love, because when we hope, we also express love, and because we love that someone, we have hope in that one. No better example than our Lord Himself, who loves us so much, that in His hope that we will be reunited with Him, that He sent His only Son, Jesus Christ to be our Redeemer and our Saviour.

Therefore, brothers and sisters in Christ, in this excellence experience of the Year of the Faith, let us renew and rejuvenate our faith in God, and dedicate ourselves fully and completely in Him, together with our hope in Him and our offering of the love for Him that is within our hearts. This Year of the Faith is the excellent opportunity for all of us to renew our commitment to our God and commit ourselves to Him and His cause.

Do not be afraid my brothers and sisters, for our Lord will always stand by our side, and supporting us, comforting us, as He had done to Israel of old. He is true to His covenant and promises, as He had once promised Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob. What we need to do, is to keep our part of the covenant, and remain faithful, loving, and hopeful, to God and our fellow men. God bless us all. Amen.