repentance of sinners

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Tuesday, 23 December 2014 : Fourth Week of Advent, Memorial of St. John of Kanty, Priest (Homily and Scripture Reflections)

Liturgical Colour : Purple or Violet

Dear brothers and sisters in Christ, today we hear yet another repetition of the readings on St. John the Baptist and the sending of the messenger who would be the one to prepare the way for the coming of the Lord. This is a theme often repeated throughout the Advent season, as the very nature of this season is of preparation for the Advent, or the Coming of the Christ our Lord.

This coming of Christ into the world is often associated by all of us with the celebration of Christmas, when we commemorate the birth of the Baby Jesus, Word of God (Logos), Divine incarnate into Flesh. That was His first coming, yes. The first time when God extended His love into the world, to fulfill completely and perfectly the plan for our salvation and deliverance which He had planned since the beginning of time.

But the Lord also said and promised that, while then He departed the world and ascended into heaven after His death and resurrection, He promised that He would come at the very end of time and ages, as the Great Judge of all the living and the dead, precisely just as we believe in our Faith and which we profess in our solemn Creed. Therefore, what we have to realise is that we do not just celebrate what had happened in the past, but also with joy and expectation, we wait for the coming of Christ as He had promised.

We do not just rejoice and be happy in this celebration of Christmas. Yes, we should all be joyful for Christ our Lord Himself had decided to come Himself into this world so that through Him a new hope for all of us might arise. But at the same time, on all of us had been charged the same responsibility as had been given to St. John the Baptist, that is to prepare the way for the Lord when He comes.

The Lord had planned for the salvation of His people, who had sinned and disobeyed Him, falling into sin. But as long as the people remained attached to sin and unable to detach themselves from such sins, then it is difficult for them to change their ways and for them to heed the call of the Lord when He came. From time to time, God sent them His servants, the prophets and messengers to remind them. But whenever these passed away, they returned back their previous ways of sin.

Hence, in order to prepare the way for the coming of the Saviour, and to make the best out of it, God had sent forth His messenger, John, who was sent to the people and as prophesied by the prophet Isaiah, he would chastise the people of God and called them to repentance. For it is in repentance from their sins that they would be able to discard the veil of sin and allow the Word of God to come into their lives and transform them.

But this does not end there, brothers and sisters in Christ, for sin remains at large in the world, and many remained under its thrall and influence. If this continues, many would be under the threat of eternal damnation. That is why, today, as we approach Christmas, we have to also realise that there are new John the Baptists required in our world today. And who else would do that besides us?

Jesus our Lord taught His disciples to take up their cross and follow Him. This cross is the commandment, which Christ had entrusted His disciples with, and therefore it has also been entrusted to us. This is to call and bring all peoples of all nations to the Lord, baptising them with the Holy Spirit. We who have been made the children of God has thus this duty to spread the Good News to others, by our words and actions, calling them to repentance as St. John the Baptist once did.

Today we celebrate the feast of St. John of Kanty, also known as St. John Cantius, a Polish priest and saint who was renowned for his great piety and his great dedication to the advancement of Catholic education. St. John of Kanty established Catholic educational institutes and universities, and helped define many aspects of Catholic teachings and made his own ample contributions.

St. John of Kanty was also renowned as a very charitable and pious person, who often donated to the poor and helped to care for those whom he met on the road. He also was well-known for his extensive pilgrimages, even on foot, at one time to the Threshold of the Apostles, to Rome the Eternal City of the saints. St. John of Kanty had many contributions, and through his examples and works, countless peoples were inspired and turned to the faith and were saved.

Even today, what he has done is still a great inspiration for all of us. Therefore, brothers and sisters in Christ, shall we follow in his footsteps? If we do things as St. John of Kanty had done, be assured that many people who see how we speak, how we act and how we conduct ourselves will come to believe in the Lord. Therefore, as this Advent is ending and as we pass on to Christmas, let us all make a new resolution, to be there for our brethren in need, and bring the Light of Christ to them, that they may be saved. God bless us all. Amen.

 

First Reading :

https://petercanisiusmichaeldavidkang.com/2014/12/22/tuesday-23-december-2014-fourth-week-of-advent-memorial-of-st-john-of-kanty-priest-first-reading/

 

Psalm :

https://petercanisiusmichaeldavidkang.com/2014/12/22/tuesday-23-december-2014-fourth-week-of-advent-memorial-of-st-john-of-kanty-priest-psalm/

 

Gospel Reading :

https://petercanisiusmichaeldavidkang.com/2014/12/22/tuesday-23-december-2014-fourth-week-of-advent-memorial-of-st-john-of-kanty-priest-gospel-reading/

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Tuesday, 16 December 2014 : Third Week of Advent (Gospel Reading)

Liturgical Colour : Purple or Violet

Matthew 21 : 28-32

At that time, Jesus went on to say, “What do you think of this? A man had two sons. He went to the first and said to him, ‘Son, go and work today in my vineyard.’ And the son answered, ‘I do not want to.’ But later he thought better of it and went. Then the father went to his other son and gave him the same command. This son replied, ‘I will go, sir,’ but he did not go.”

“Which of the two did what the father wanted?” They answered, “The first.” And Jesus said to them, “Truly, I say to you : the publicans and the prostitutes are ahead of you on the way to the kingdom of heaven. For John came to show you the way of goodness, and you did not believe him; but the publicans and the prostitutes did. You were witnesses of this, but you neither repented nor believed him.”

 

Homily and Reflection :

https://petercanisiusmichaeldavidkang.com/2014/12/15/tuesday-16-december-2014-third-week-of-advent-homily-and-scripture-reflections/

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Saturday, 13 December 2014 : Second Week of Advent, Memorial of St. Lucy, Virgin and Martyr (Homily and Scripture Reflections)

Liturgical Colour : Red

Dear brothers and sisters in Christ, today we continue again to hear about the prophet Elijah and John the Baptist in our Scripture readings. Why is this so, brothers and sisters? That is because in this Advent season, it is particularly appropriate for us to heed their actions and their words, the proclamations of these faithful servants of God, who were sent to the people in order to turn their hearts back to the Lord.

They were sent to a people who had long lived in darkness and sin, and therefore, through their works, God hoped to bring back a people whom He loved to Himself so that they would be lost no more. Yes, He is the Good Shepherd who looks actively for His lost sheep, and desires greatly that all of us be reunited with Him. He wants us all to be freed from our bondage to the darkness of sin, and to this extent, He did the unbelievable, yes, indeed, for all those who did not have faith indeed, it was unbelievable, for He gave Himself, as the One through whom mankind would be saved.

Which other gods or entities who claimed divinity do this? None, and none beside our Lord and God, the One and only True God, who loves all that He created, and loves us in particular so much that He sent us Jesus, the incarnation of the Divine Word of God, to be our salvation. But so that the works of Jesus may come to a full completion and perfection, therefore, before His coming, God sent His servants to prepare the way for Him.

That was the purpose of the prophets and the messengers of God, great and chief among whom were St. John the Baptist and Elijah, who were in fact the one and same person, called to the service of God at two different times and eras, but nevertheless, they were called to the same mission, to call the people to repentance and for them to seek the mercy of God, and to change their ways and sin no more.

This is in perfect resonance to the very purpose and reason of this season of Advent, which means literally ‘coming’ or the coming of Christ our Lord at the end of time, when He will come again in glory to judge all the living and the dead, and it is for that coming of Christ that we should prepare ourselves thoroughly and completely. And in this, we should heed the examples of the prophets and the messengers of God.

All of us who have been baptised in the Name of Father, Son and the Holy Spirit had been made children of God, and also therefore as the members of His Body and His Church, the unity of all the faithful ones in the Lord. But at the same time, through our baptism, we have been given a mission, the same mission which Christ had given His Apostles and disciples before He left this world for heaven at the Ascension.

That mission was to proclaim the Good News and the salvation in Jesus Christ to all the nations, to all the peoples of the world, without exception, and to baptise them in the Name of the Father, Son and the Holy Spirit. It is a call for all of us to walk in the same path as the prophet Elijah, who called for the people of the northern kingdom of Israel to repent from their sins, and also St. John the Baptist, who cried out in the wilderness for the people to repent and change their ways, to prepare for the coming of God’s kingdom, and who baptised them with the baptism of water.

We have the faith in us, and we have been granted God’s grace through baptism. Therefore, it is only fitting that we help one another, especially those who are still lost and in the darkness of the world, to find their way to God, so that at the end of the day, God may see in all of us, the same faithfulness shown by Elijah and John the Baptist.

Today, we also celebrate the feast of a martyr and holy virgin, St. Lucy, whose actions may also inspire us further to live according to the will of God, and according to what we have just discussed. St. Lucy was a young Christian maiden, who lived in Syracuse in the island of Sicily. St. Lucy or St. Lucia was a martyr of the Faith during the last great persecution of the faithful by the Roman Emperor Diocletian, and according to tradition, she was executed for being faithful and refusing to recant her faith to the Lord.

St. Lucy devoted herself totally to the Lord, and like many of her contemporaries, she committed herself to a life of sanctity and chastity, vowing to remain in holy virginity for the sake of the Lord. But her mother, not knowing of this and sickened with disease, betrothed her to a rich young man from a pagan family. Nonetheless, through the intercession of St. Agatha, St. Lucy’s mother was healed and St. Lucy managed to persuade her to donate in charitable acts, her riches and wealth to help the poor of the society.

St. Lucy thus showed her genuine and real faith through her loving actions to her brethren in need, and thus stand as a witness of the Lord and of the faith in Him by her concrete actions. Her betrothed complained against her actions to the local governor, who demanded that she offered sacrifices to the Emperor, which she refused immediately and firmly.

St. Lucy was therefore tortured and punished severely, and the authorities tried to kill her by various means, but they always failed. The wood would not burn when they tried to burn her at a stake. She eventually was martyred by the sword. Nevertheless, through her witness and defense of the faith, she became a great inspiration to many of the later generations, and many were saved by her intercession and examples.

Brothers and sisters in Christ, here we have seen what the faithful, that is all of us, have to do. The examples of St. Lucy and what we have discussed earlier showed that all of us have a responsibility to be witnesses of the faith, just as Elijah and St. John the Baptist had once done, to call the people who have lived in sin and darkness to return to the light of Christ, our Lord.

Indeed, it does not meant that we have to follow St. Lucy into martyrdom for this, but what is necessary is that we must realise that our faith cannot be a lukewarm one. We cannot sit on the fence and wait for things to happen. It is essential that we are proactive in our faith and actively spreading the Good News of our Lord, not just by words, but also through our concrete actions and love towards one another.

May St. Lucy intercede for us, that God may strengthen our faith and affirm us all in His love. May day by day we all grow stronger and more devoted in our lives. God bless us all, now and forever. Amen.

 

First Reading :

https://petercanisiusmichaeldavidkang.com/2014/12/12/saturday-13-december-2014-second-week-of-advent-memorial-of-st-lucy-virgin-and-martyr-first-reading/

 

Psalm :

https://petercanisiusmichaeldavidkang.com/2014/12/12/saturday-13-december-2014-second-week-of-advent-memorial-of-st-lucy-virgin-and-martyr-psalm/

 

Gospel Reading :

https://petercanisiusmichaeldavidkang.com/2014/12/12/saturday-13-december-2014-second-week-of-advent-memorial-of-st-lucy-virgin-and-martyr-gospel-reading/

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Thursday, 6 November 2014 : 31st Week of Ordinary Time (Gospel Reading)

Liturgical Colour : Green

Luke 15 : 1-10

At that time, tax collectors and sinners were seeking the company of Jesus, all of them eager to hear what He had to say. But the Pharisees and the scribes frowned at this, muttering, “This Man welcomes sinners and eats with them.” So Jesus told them this parable :

“Who among you, having a hundred sheep and losing one of them, will not leave the ninety-nine in the wilderness, and seek the lost one till he finds it? And finding it, will he not joyfully carry it home on his shoulders? Then he will call his friends and neighbours together, and say, ‘Celebrate with me, for I have found my lost sheep!'”

“I tell you, in the same way, there will be more rejoicing in heaven over one repentant sinner, than over ninety-nine decent people, who do not need to repent. What woman, if she has ten silver coins and loses one, will not light a lamp, and sweep the house in a thorough search, till she finds the lost coin?”

“And finding it, she will call her friends and neighbours, and say, ‘Celebrate with me, for I have found the silver coin I lost!’ I tell you, in the same way, there is rejoicing among the angels of God over one repentant sinner.”

 

Homily and Reflection : 
https://petercanisiusmichaeldavidkang.com/2014/11/05/thursday-6-november-2014-31st-week-of-ordinary-time-homily-and-scripture-reflections/

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Tuesday, 14 October 2014 : 28th Week of Ordinary Time, Memorial of Pope St. Callistus I, Pope and Martyr (Homily and Scripture Reflections)

Liturgical Colour : Green or Red (Martyrs)

Brothers and sisters in Christ, today we heard in the Holy Scriptures and the Gospel about the nature of the Law of God, and how we ought to keep it in faith, and how important it is to understand what the Law is all about, and how to best apply it in our lives. It also highlighted the hypocrisy of the Pharisees and the teachers of the Law, who kept a superficial vigil and observance over the Law, but not understanding the true intent and meaning of the Law.

As is with any forms of laws, the Law of God is often bound to be misinterpreted and misused, especially when its meaning and purpose are not fully understood by those who enforce these laws. It is imperative that the people of God understand what the Law is all about, that is about love, and not just any forms of love, but the love which comes from the source of all love itself, that is God.

The Law is meant as the symbol and representation of love of God for us mankind, by giving us this set of guidance and pointers to help us to orientate ourselves in this world filled with temptations, darkness, evils, and impurities. The ultimate aim of the Law is indeed ultimately to keep us in God’s grace, and to bring us back to His love all of us who have sinned and walked away from Him.

But when those who were tasked to safeguard and apply the Law erred in their judgments and refused to listen to what the Lord had to say about them, then the Law lost its purpose, and ended up becoming a chore and a tedious thing for the people of God to maintain and keep. As a result, that was why Jesus criticised the Pharisees and the teachers of the Law who were obsessed with the external applications of the Law rather than the holistic applications of the Law.

Being too engrossed in the external and superficial application of the Law is dangerous, as this ended up in the Pharisees and the teachers of the Law adopting an excessively strict and burdensome interpretation of the Law, which brought a great burden on the people of God, and sadly that this is done not in the spirit of true understanding of the purpose of the Law, ending in the observance of the Law just for the sake of observing it, which will bring no benefit but instead condemnation.

Brothers and sisters in Christ, therefore today we are all urged to turn deep into the Law of God, all the rules and observances which we have known in the Church, and begin to appreciate them in complete fullness and find the true meaning and purpose of the Law, that is the love of God for us, and His great desire to reunite us with Himself, so that we may be free from sin and unworthiness, and gain the eternal inheritance He had planned for us.

Today we celebrate together as the Church, the feast of Pope St. Callistus I, also known as Pope St. Callixtus I, the leader of the early Church and a martyr of the faith under the persecution of the Roman authorities at the time. Pope St. Callistus I was once a slave, who managed to escape his slavery and eventually became a servant of the Lord and His Church. He suffered many times for his Christian faith, and he was sent to many punishments by the authorities for that.

Nevertheless, eventually when Pope St. Callistus I was chosen as the Bishop of Rome and the successor of St. Peter the Apostle, and as the Vicar of Christ, he extended a new outreached hand towards those sinners and those who had erred in their path, committing adultery and fornication, allowing them to return to the Church to seek God’s mercy.

There were indeed serious oppositions to this policy, and some including the Saint Hippolytus were firmly opposed to the policies of Pope St. Callistus I who was seen as being too lenient against the sinners. St. Hippolytus was thus elected as a rival Bishop of Rome and Pope, in opposition to Pope St. Callistus I. But despite the differences and the rivalry between them, God continued to exercise His good intentions upon the world through them, as they continued to minister to the people of God in faith. Eventually both of them would also meet their end in martrydom, in the defense of their faith.

Brothers and sisters in Christ, the examples of the saints and the messages from the Holy Scriptures which we heard today, all call for us to reassess our own lives as well as our own actions and deeds. We have to remember that first, God is loving and merciful, and through the Law and rules which He had given us, He wants to bring us back to Him and be renewed in love, so that our sins may be cleansed, and we renewed and purified, may find justification and salvation in God.

However, at the same time, we cannot turn a blind eye on our sins and defects indeed. We cannot ignore them or to bypass them in our attempts to seek the Lord and find His mercy. For God hates and rejects sin and evil just as much as He loves and be merciful to all of us. Welcoming sinners is indeed important, and we should make it a priority to help sinners to come back to the Lord through Faith. However, this cannot be done at the expense of condoning sin or to reduce our contempt of sin.

Instead, brothers and sisters in Christ, from today onwards, if we have not done so before, let us all help one another so that we may remind ourselves of the sins we have committed, that we may repent from them and find our way to the Lord, seeking His mercy and forgiveness. Let us also from now on seek to understand the true meaning, purpose and intention of the Law of God, so that by obeying the Law in all its full meaning, we may gain the favour and the blessings of the Lord.

May Almighty God guide us always in life, and help us so that we may become ever better disciples and followers, rooted in love and abundant in charity and faith. God bless us all. Amen.