Liturgical Colour : Green or Red
Luke 9 : 7-9
King Herod heard of all this, and did not know what to think, for people said, “This is John, raised from the dead.” Others believed that Elijah, or one of the ancient prophets, had come back to life. As for Herod, he said, “I had John beheaded. Who is this Man, about whom I hear such wonders?” And he was anxious to see Him.
Liturgical Colour : Green
Dear brothers and sisters in Christ, today we listened to the Lord who told His disciples on their mission and how they should perform it. We also listened to how the Lord was merciful to His people, even after they have transgressed against Him and disobeyed His commandments, causing great disappointments to Him who has loved us so much.
He wanted His disciples to be the true messengers of the Gospel, to be the bearers of the Lord’s message to the world, by their ministry among them, to the people who have yet to receive the Good News of the Lord. Therefore, as Christ had asked of His disciples as their mission before He departed from this world, the same too is expected of us today, we, who are the present day disciples and followers of Christ.
Into His disciples, Christ had given the same authority He possessed, the power that He has over evils and diseases, the teaching authority and the revelation of the Word of God and the Law. That is the same power and authority that had been passed down to our Church leaders, the bishops and the priests, to heal those who are hurt, and to help all of us on our way towards the Lord in salvation.
Armed with these gifts and endowment, the Lord sent them forth into the world, to the people of God, especially those who still lived in the depths of their sins. They were sent in pairs and went from place to place, visiting each of them and telling them on the Good News of salvation. They were to live humbly and act humbly, as the servants of God, that they would remain pure in their intentions, and would not veer away from their mission.
Yes, indeed, that is because mankind is inherently weak, especially against the temptations of the world. In our vulnerability lies a great risk, that we will misuse what we have been given, and use them for wickedness instead of using them for things that we are supposed to do, as the servants and children of God. That was what many of us today had done, and even among our priests and bishops, the shepherds appointed over us.
We either neglect the mission God had entrusted us with, and instead following the ways of the world, we live in wickedness and darkness, and we often drag even others with us into darkness. And the leaders of the faithful had also sometimes went wayward and caused much harm and divisions within the Church in various ways. This neglect and abandonment of the works that we ought to do, cause disruption and come against the plan that God has for each of us.
Dear brothers and sisters in Christ, today we are urged to get rid of the worldly distractions in our lives and in our mission as the bringer of the Good News to mankind. We are urged to forgo things that may steer us away from our true purpose in life, that is to love one another and to love the Lord our God. It is very easy for us to lose our purpose, if we put out focus in the wrong things, such as money, possessions, and in worldly desires.
As I have often mentioned, that money, wealth, and material goods are not in themselves bad or evil. It is a fuel for evil or for good depending on how we utilise them, the way that we use them. We can use them for love and charity, as well as for selfishness and evil. It is in our hands that they can become tool for good or for bad. However, indeed, mankind often use them disproportionately for negative purposes, because the temptation of the devil is indeed very great.
Therefore, brethren, it is important for us to avoid falling into the same trap of the devil, that we do not become ensnared with the false promises of pleasure and money, that we end up cursed and damned because we failed to look away from the temporary pleasures the devil has offered. What we need is prayer, a good and vibrant prayer life that we have a strong faith, that whatever the devil offers us, we will be able to resist.
It is also important for us to love, and to serve our community, especially to our brethren in need, that we reinforce in ourselves the love God has given us. And not only that, in doing so, we also obey the commands of Jesus our Lord, who had sent His disciples to serve all the children of God, giving to them their love, care, and attention.
Let us all be faithful, loving, and committed to the Lord, that we can truly carry out His will and the mission He had entrusted us all with, to love sincerely, and to resist all the approaches of Satan, using whatever graces we have given with, especially in material possessions, wisely and carefully, for the good and benefits of one another. God bless us all. Amen.
Liturgical Colour : Green
Tobit 13 : 2, 3-4a, 4bcd, 5, 8
It is He who punishes and He who has mercy; who makes people go down to hell and rise up again. No one can escape His hand.
Give Him thanks, people of Israel, before all the nations. Though He has dispersed you among them, He now shows you His greatness.
Exalt Him before all the living, because He is our God and Lord, our Father forever.
He punishes us for our wrongdoing but again He will forgive us. He will bring us together again from amongst all the nations, among whom we have been dispersed.
I, in the land of my captivity, will return Him thanks and show His strength and greatness to my sinful people. Be converted, you sinners, and live justly before Him, certain that He will be pleased with you and show you mercy.
Liturgical Colour : White
Luke 8 : 16-18
No one, after lighting a lamp, covers it with a bowl or puts it under the bed; rather he puts it on a lampstand, so that people coming in may see the light.
In the same way, there is nothing hidden that shall not be uncovered; nothing kept secret that shall not be known clearly. Now, pay attention and listen well, for whoever produces will be given more, but from those who do not produce, even what they seem to have will be taken away from them.
Liturgical Colour : Green
Dear brothers and sisters in Christ, today, we are clearly asked to make a conscious and a decisive choice. That choice we need to make, to decide whether we will serve the Lord our God, or whether we will serve this world and all its wealth and glory. There is only one choice we can make, and we cannot be divided in this matter of our choice.
We must be decisive, brethren, to pick our side. We cannot serve two masters, as Christ had mentioned in the parable of the dishonest servant. As He had pointed out, we will only love one of the two masters and grow to resent and despise the other one. We cannot commit ourselves fully to more than one master. We will only give our wholehearted support to one, and halfhearted support at most for the other.
It is important, brethren, to take note that, in our world today, of the prevalence of our desire and even greed for things material in nature, and for things that bring about wealth, prosperity, and worldly happiness. Our world is deeply engulfed in a sea of commercialism and materialism, brethren, that we see it so often in our surroundings, the prevalence of the love for the material and for wealth in general.
As I have often mentioned, the wealth and properties themselves are not intrinsically evil or bad. Money, material goods, and possessions are neutral and can be used for either good or bad, depending on our own utilisation on them, or in short, how they are used and the way they are used. However, it is often that they are misused in a bad way, and also even in their procurement, plenty of evil had happened throughout the history of mankind.
When we do not learn to manage our own desires and needs, we will likely be taken over by them and be corrupted by the evils of the world. Many people became engrossed over possessions and wealth, that they became enslaved to these goods. We glorify them and desire to seek more and more of them. When we are unable to gain them through rightful and legal means, we begin to veer off from righteousness and seek shortcuts.
What are these shortcuts, brethren? They are ways evil in God’s eye. If we do not keep the faith in the Lord, we are likely to succumb to the temptations of the devil. When we desire more of these possessions, and when we are forced into an unfortunate situation, as the dishonest servant had done, they will be less likely to hesitate to seek the source of money and wealth that can help them, often in an illegal manner.
That was what the dishonest servant had done, in trying to saving himself after having first dishonestly manage the wealth of his master, by ensuring his own security after being fired, by doing even more dishonest acts, which were cheating against his master, by unilaterally changing the debts of his master’s debtors. This is wicked act, brethren, very, very wicked act before the Lord our God.
In the first reading, we also note the prophet Amos rebuking the people of Israel, especially the elders, who dishonestly cheated on the people by abusing their power and authority for their own benefits, especially in financial terms. And these often happened because of human greed, for things that they desire more, especially money, material goods, and wealth in general. But doing so means to go against the will of God, and that was why Christ was so critical against such practices, as was the prophet Amos.
This is also why, we cannot be servant to both God and money, and we cannot have both of them as masters. That is why we must make a choice. Do we want to serve God with all our heart? Or do we want to give it to something like money instead? Money ought to be used as means for us to do something good for one another, and ought not to be something that we treasure so much, that we forget about everything else, about God and our fellow men, and worse still if we even hurt others because of money!
Therefore, dear brothers and sisters, let us make this opportunity to affirm our faith and dedication to the Lord our God, that we love Him and serve Him more than any other things on earth and in heaven. That there is no one greater than God that we place at the first place within our hearts. That we fully dedicate ourselves to do the will of God, through our loving actions, using the graces given to us to do good for those around us who are less fortunate.
Yes, brethren, for those of us who had been given much, much also will be expected of us. But this does not mean that of we are relatively poorer compared to others, then we cannot do anything with what we have. We have to play our own role in the society, be it small or large. We should utilise the goodness that had been given to us, be it in talents and skills, or in financial and material contributions.
And not only in utilising the resources that we have, including money, that we should discern carefully, but we also must be upright in our obtaining of these divine graces of our possessions. Do not cheat others or seek to gain in their suffering and loss. We are often corrupt because we seek to gain in the expense of others, and simply because we desire to possess more of these often material, goods.
Therefore, brethren, let us from today onwards, resolve to change our lives and lifestyle, that we no longer revolve around money, and instead revolve and centre it on God and His love. Let us come to view money as something that we can use for our own happiness, and the happiness of others. Let us then not live for money, but use that money and possession that we have, to bring good and do good, for ourselves, for our brethren, especially those in need, and for God.
May the Lord who is loving, show to us how to love, and how to care for one another, that we can use what had been given to us, for the good of everyone. God bless us all and be with us all, always, forever and ever. Amen.
Liturgical Colour : Green
Luke 16 : 1-13
At another time Jesus told His disciples, “There was a rich man, whose steward was reported to him for fraudulent service. He summoned the steward and asked him, ‘What is this I hear about you? I want you to render an account of your service, for it is about to be terminated.'”
“The steward thought to himself, ‘What am I to do now? My master will surely dismiss me. I am not strong enough to do hard work, and I am ashamed to beg. I know what I will do : I must make sure that when I am dismissed, there will be people who will welcome me into their homes.'”
“So he called his master’s debtors, one by one. He asked the first debtor, ‘How much do you owe my master?’ The reply was, ‘A hundred jars of oil.’ The steward said, ‘Here is your bill. Sit down quickly and write fifty.’ To the second debtor he put the same question, ‘How much do you owe?’ The answer was, ‘A hundred measures of wheat.’ Then the steward said, ‘Take your bill and write eighty.'”
“The master commended the dishonest steward for his astuteness : for the people of this world are more astute, in dealing with their own kind, than are the people of light. And so I tell you : use filthy money to make friends for yourselves, so that, when it fails, these people may welcome you into the eternal homes.”
“Whoever can be trusted in little things can also be trusted in great ones; whoever is dishonest in slight matters will also be dishonest in greater ones. So if you have been dishonest in handling filthy money, who would entrust you with true wealth? And if you have been dishonest with things that are not really yours, who will give you that wealth which is truly your own?”
“No servant can serve two masters. Either he does not like the one and is fond of the other, or he regards one highly and the other with contempt. You cannot give yourself both to God and to money.”
Alternative Reading (shorter version)
Luke 16 : 10-13
“Whoever can be trusted in little things can also be trusted in great ones; whoever is dishonest in slight matters will also be dishonest in greater ones. So if you have been dishonest in handling filthy money, who would entrust you with true wealth? And if you have been dishonest with things that are not really yours, who will give you that wealth which is truly your own?”
“No servant can serve two masters. Either he does not like the one and is fond of the other, or he regards one highly and the other with contempt. You cannot give yourself both to God and to money.”
Liturgical Colour : Green
Psalm 112 : 1-2, 4-6, 7-8
Alleluia! Praise, o servants of the Lord, praise the Name of the Lord. Blessed be the Name of the Lord now and forever!
The Lord is exalted over the nations, His glory above the heavens. Who is like the Lord our God, who sits enthroned on high, but also bends down to see on earth as in heaven?
He lifts up the poor from the dust and the needy from the ash heap. He makes them sit with princes, with rulers of His people.
Liturgical Colour : Red
Ephesians 4 : 1-7, 11-13
Therefore I, the prisoner of Christ, invite you to live the vocation you have received. Be humble, kind, patient, and bear with one another in love. Make every effort to keep among you the unity of Spirit through bonds of peace. Let there be one body and one spirit, for God, in calling you, gave the same Spirit to all.
One Lord, one faith, one baptism. One God, the Father of all, who is above all and works through all and is in all. But to each of us divine grace is given according to the measure of Christ’s gift. As for His gifts, to some He gave to be apostles, to others prophets, or even evangelists, or pastors and teachers.
So He prepared those who belong to Him for the ministry, in order to build up the Body of Christ, until we are all united in the same faith and knowledge of the Son of God. Thus we shall become the perfect Man, upon reaching maturity and sharing the fullness of Christ.
Liturgical Colour : Red
Dear brothers and sisters in Christ, today we listened to the need of loving God with all our hearts, that we place Him foremost before all other things, loving Him with all our might. For He had come into the world to ransom us from evil. He had given of Himself to all of us, as an example we all also ought to follow. That we have to love Him just as He had loved us, and love our brethren, without exception, in the same way.
For Christ had called us to be good, and to do good for everyone’s sake. He had taught us how to love, the same love He had shown us when He hung on that cross on Calvary. To Him had been granted authority and power, and He healed all from their afflictions, physically and spiritually. These people were among those who were mentioned in the Gospel today, particularly Mary Magdalene, whom He had liberated from the possession of Satan. Many of His disciples and Apostles also were once great sinners, even murderers and tax collectors.
He had called them from the darkness, that they would have a new life in Him, and through Him, just as He calls all of us to follow Him. This means to leave our old sinful and conceited selves behind, and do what the Lord had asked us to do. We ought to leave things that corrupt ourselves behind, and put on a new clothes of purity, as it had been on the day we were baptised, when we took up a new life, a clean and pure slate of life.
In the first reading today, St. Paul mentioned an important element of sin, that is possessions, meaning material possessions, in the form of visible and invisible wealth, in money and all its manifestation. It is first important to note, brethren, that money and possessions themselves are not innately evil. It is how they are gained and how they are utilised that can potentially bring about great evil.
Money can be used for good and noble purposes, as well as for evil and wicked purposes. It can be something that bring about blessings and life, and in the same way, also something that bring about destruction and suffering. That is why we must be careful on how we approach and utilise our money and our possessions. Remember always, that money and wealth are themselves not intrinsically evil, that it is we who can make that difference between good and evil from what we have.
For example, with the same money or wealth, we can choose, whether we spend it lavishly on the latest fashion items and gadgets that we do not really need. It is a really bad habit for some of us, considering the recent developments of the smartphone technology, that every time a new smartphone model comes out, we are always first to queue and get our hands on it. Remember again, smartphones can be very useful for good purposes, but it is how we use them and think of them, that differentiate between good and evil.
As in the earlier mentioned case, the money can be better used for other purposes, not only for charity, but even for ourselves, for our education, welfare, and improvement, basically, for many different things that we could not do, if we had spent all the money on these unnecessary excessiveness. Judge wisely therefore, brethren, what we are to do with our possessions, for they are God’s blessing to us. Let us not misuse these gifts that had been granted to us.
Today, we celebrate the feast of martyrs of Korea, St. Andrew Kim Tae-gon, St. Paul Chong Ha-sang and their companions. They were among the first Christians of Korea, convert from their native religions into the faith of the Lord. Korea at that time was tightly closed against any form of external influences, especially Christianity, and the practice of the faith was strictly forbidden by the state.
Christians were harshly persecuted and forced to renounce their ‘alien’ faith and abandon the practices seen by the Korean government to be barbaric in nature. Many Christians were imprisoned and tortured and not few lost their lives for the faith. They are the ones we are commemorating today, the martyr saints of Korea, especially St. Andrew Kim Tae-gon, the first martyr saint of Korea, and St. Paul Chong Ha-sang.
They stayed faithful to the Lord despite immense pressure by the authorities forcing them to abandon their faith, and preferred suffering for the Lord even until they met their death, staying true to the Lord to the end. They gave their life, so that more and more people would be inspired by their example, and stay faithful to the Lord and did not apostasize, despite the pressure or the temptations offered to them to abandon the Lord for worldly incentives.
Dear brothers and sisters in Christ, today, after listening to the word of God, and the advice on how we need to make sure that we use the blessings granted to us for the right cause, and especially after witnessing the life story of St. Andrew Kim Tae-gon, St. Paul Chong Ha-sang, and the other martyr saints of Korea, let us be motivated, brethren, to do what is good in the eyes of the Lord.
May the Lord protect us and continue to bless us to be strong, to be the true witnesses of the Gospel, as the martyr saints of Korea had done. God be with us always. Amen.
Liturgical Colour : Green or Red
Dear brothers and sisters in Christ, today we hear a very powerful story, one which certainly resonates with all of us. Firstly, it is that we ought not to let our apparent inferiority and weakness be an obstacle to us, and allow others to belittle us because of our apparent shortcomings. That is because, brethren, even the least one among mankind, and the worst of all sinners have hope in them, that is hope in Jesus the Lord.
It is often that people are ostracised, bullied, and treated badly, simply because they appeared weak to their surrounding people, simply because they are perceived to be inferior, and therefore, to the people around them, they are not worthy of anything good. We are indeed ourselves also guilty of the same thing, as we often let our prejudices and pre-formed generalisations and mindsets to interfere in our approach to these less fortunate ones.
And that is how we belittle others around us and ostracise them, often even without we ourselves knowing that we had done such evil acts on our fellow brethren, simply because we are often not aware of the impacts of the actions we had done. Indeed, in fact, we have to make the habit of continuously reflecting on our own actions, especially our own shortcomings, that we become aware that as mankind, each of us have our own shortcomings, our unworthiness before God, and therefore we should not judge others, less so belittling them or treating them badly.
That was exactly what the Pharisee in the story of Jesus in the Gospel today had not done. The Pharisees and the teachers of the Law are the supposed experts and examples for the entire people of God, because of their piety and strict observation of the entire Jewish laws. Yet, as Christ had repeatedly pointed out in many different occasions, they did not truly have God in their hearts, as what they truly yearned was the glory and praise of men instead of the love of God.
They give in to their pride and arrogance, especially being placed in high esteem by the people, that they often judge others whom they deemed to be not as ‘holy’ as they were. They condemned prostitutes, tax collectors, and those they had considered as sinners in general. They failed to notice that they too were sinners, and in condemning these people, they have in fact judge others, while they themselves ought to be judged for their own wickedness.
They acted mighty and proud, proud with their great ‘piety’ and ‘obedience’ to the Law, but in fact, all these were empty, because they did not have God in their hearts. It is such that they have always been in the way during the Lord’s ministry in this world, planting obstacles wherever they could, and sowed dissent and trouble for Jesus and His disciples.
They failed to see the great repentance in the woman, the great humility in her as she approached the Lord and Saviour. She showed her regret for her sins through her tears, and through her complete humility. She did not show her faith, love, and dedication for the Lord through loud and long prayers as the Pharisees had done, but through her concrete actions. And to the Lord our God, her faith and love for Him was truly far greater than all of them combined.
Prayers are important, brethren, as it is our way to communicate with the Lord our God, in a two-way communication between Him and us. That is why, it is even more important to make sure that the prayers that we make truly are prayers worthy of our God, that is not like the prayers of the Pharisees.
We must humble ourselves before the Lord as the prostitute had done, seeking for God’s most merciful heart, throwing far away our pride and arrogance. The Pharisees liked to praise themselves and their ‘piety’ in prayers, and did not humble themselves for their sins. This is what we must not do.
Today, brethren, we celebrate the feast day of St. Januarius, who was once the Bishop of Naples in the early Church in Italy. St. Januarius lived and ministered through the times of difficulty for the Church and the faithful. He worked hard for the faithful, and ministered piously, even despite the harsh persecutions of the faithful, by the Emperor Diocletian, who led the last great persecution of the Church.
St. Januarius died protecting his faith and in his loving service to the people of God. As a result, he provided much ground for the Church to continue to grow and he also defended the faith against threats both external and internal. Therefore, brothers and sisters in Christ, let us follow in the footsteps of St. Januarius, to serve the Lord with passion and commitment. Let us also be humble before the Lord our God. May the Lord who is merciful and loving, continue to watch over us and protect us sinners, that we may return to Him and praise Him forevermore.
petercanisiusmichaeldavidkang 