salvation of mankind

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Thursday, 18 December 2014 : Third Week of Advent (Homily and Scripture Reflections)

Liturgical Colour : Purple or Violet

Dear brothers and sisters in Christ, on this day we listen to the narrative of how Jesus our Lord and Saviour, the Promised Salvation of all mankind was conceived in the womb of Mary, His mother without human intervention or action, for the Saviour who came was not just a mere Man, but truly the Divine Word of God incarnate into flesh, God assuming the form of a humble and simple Man, to carry out and accomplish in perfection the plan of the Lord’s salvation for us.

The fulfillment of God’s long awaited salvation of His people had been seen by the prophet Jeremiah, who spoke of God’s eventual fulfillment of His promise, the coming of the great Messiah who would set the people of God free, just as He had once freed His people from the tyranny of the Pharaoh and led them out from slavery in Egypt into the Promised Land.

In the psalm we heard about the King who is to come and reign justly over the world and over all of God’s people, and through Him, deliverance would come and succour would be given to the poor, the weak and those who long for the lord and who live righteously in His ways. This is Christ our King, who has come into the world, and who in His own words, seek to bring healing and deliverance to all those lost in the darkness of the world.

In the Gospel, God would reiterate again this promise to all of us, the coming of the Emmanuel, God who dwells and lives among His people through Jesus, the Son of Mary, who by the power of the Holy Spirit was incarnate into the flesh of Man, and become one with our human substance and existence. This He reminded Joseph through His angel, when he discovered that Mary was pregnant and thought that she had committed adultery and thus wanted to divorce her quietly.

Through the angel God explained to Joseph how the Baby to be born of Mary is the Messiah, the long awaited Promise of God, who had finally come into the world. And we are witnesses to how great the love of God for us is, so great that He, who is Almighty and Omnipotent God, Lord of all the universe and all of creations, would want to stoop down to our level, to strip Himself of His divine might for a while and born as a fragile Baby, the One whose birth we are celebrating and commemorating this Christmas.

This Advent is coming to a close soon, brothers and sisters in Christ, with exactly just one more week from Christmas. I trust that each one of us had done our own preparations in our own way to prepare for Christmas, perhaps in physical and material terms, or perhaps in spiritual and mental terms, or perhaps both. Now, while there is still time, not just for Christmas, but indeed while we are still breathing and walking in this world, let us all use the opportunity to reflect.

Have we found Christ in our lives? Is He the centre and focus of our attentions? Yes, is He, who is the Saviour of us all, the One who will give us life everlasting, and He who had suffered and died for us, becoming Man like us just so that we may be brought from the precipice of death because of our sins, and bring us into eternal life? What is the point of our celebration of Christmas, and indeed what is the purpose of our lives?

If our answers to all of these are no, Christ is not the centre of our lives, and if we do not recognise what He has done for us either, or if we think that our lives are to be lived for ourselves, for our own self-enrichment and self-aggrandisment, to get more and more possessions, goods and pleasures for ourselves, and if we think that Christmas is about the parties, the drunkenness, the food and the bling, then I would say that we have lost our true purpose, and we have lost our way in this life.

How do we then make our Christmas celebrations meaningful? We have to return Christ to the centre of our celebrations, for He, and not us are the focus. Therefore, while we rejoice in this festive season, let us all understand the purpose of this very festivities, that is to celebrate, what the readings from the Holy Scriptures today had proclaimed, the joy at the coming of the long awaited Salvation.

It is exactly like what God had proclaimed through Jeremiah, that the day of His coming would be a grandiose and joyous day, where peace would come upon all those for whom He had come. Indeed, the joy and celebration this Christmas should be about spreading and sharing the hope, the peace, the joy and the love which Christ had brought into our world, with one another and especially with those who have less or none of these.

Yes, these four are what we have been focusing on for each of the four Sundays of Advent. Thus, while it is not too late yet to begin, let us catch on the ride, and make sure that we prepare ourselves, body, heart and mind, seeking to understand the true meaning of Christmas and rejoice with one another, as one community of the faithful, for the greatest Gift God had given us mankind, that is Jesus, His only Son, our Lord and Saviour. God bless us all. Amen.

 

First Reading :

https://petercanisiusmichaeldavidkang.com/2014/12/17/thursday-18-december-2014-third-week-of-advent-first-reading/

 

Psalm :

https://petercanisiusmichaeldavidkang.com/2014/12/17/thursday-18-december-2014-third-week-of-advent-psalm/

 

Gospel Reading :

https://petercanisiusmichaeldavidkang.com/2014/12/17/thursday-18-december-2014-third-week-of-advent-gospel-reading/

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Tuesday, 9 December 2014 : Second Week of Advent, Memorial of St. John Diego Cuauhtlatoatzin (Gospel Reading)

Liturgical Colour : Purple/Violet or White

Matthew 18 : 12-14

At that time, Jesus said to His disciples, “What do you think of this? If someone has a hundred sheep and one of them strays, will he not leave the ninety-nine on the hillside, and go to look for the stray one? And I tell you : when he finally finds it, he is more pleased about it than about the ninety-nine, that did not get lost.”

“It is the same with your Father in heaven : your Father in heaven does not want even one of these little ones to be lost.”

 

Homily and Reflection :

https://petercanisiusmichaeldavidkang.com/2014/12/08/tuesday-9-december-2014-second-week-of-advent-memorial-of-st-john-diego-cuauhtlatoatzin-homily-and-scripture-reflections/

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Tuesday, 9 December 2014 : Second Week of Advent, Memorial of St. John Diego Cuauhtlatoatzin (Psalm)

Liturgical Colour : Purple/Violet or White

Psalm 95 : 1-2, 3 and 10ac, 11-12, 13

Sing to the Lord a new song, sing to the Lord, all the earth! Sing to the Lord, bless His Name; proclaim His salvation day after day.

Recall His glory among the nations, tell all the peoples His wonderful deeds. Say among the nations, “He will judge the peoples with justice.”

Let the heavens be glad, the earth rejoice; let the sea and all that fills it resound; let the fields exult and everything in them; let the forest, all the trees, sing for joy.

Let them sing before the Lord who comes to judge the earth. He will rule the world with justice and the peoples with fairness.

 

Homily and Reflection :

https://petercanisiusmichaeldavidkang.com/2014/12/08/tuesday-9-december-2014-second-week-of-advent-memorial-of-st-john-diego-cuauhtlatoatzin-homily-and-scripture-reflections/

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Friday, 5 December 2014 : First Week of Advent (Homily and Scripture Reflections)

Liturgical Colour : Purple or Violet

Dear brothers and sisters in Christ, the reading today espoused the facts that as long as we believe in the Lord our God and be courageous to ask Him for what we need, He will listen to us and not abandon us in the darkness. He will answer us if we call, and He will give us what we need, just as the two blind men who sincerely asked for His mercy got what they asked for, and they were healed.

Those who in humility seek the Lord for His mercy will indeed be richly rewarded, namely all those who have realised the gravity of their sinfulness and the perilous state of their souls, and were committed to changing their ways so that they would no longer sin but live righteously from then on. This is what the first reading, taken from the book of the prophet Isaiah, told us about. The mighty and the powerful will be brought down, not because of their power, but because it is likely that their pride got the better of them, and it is likely to prevent them from seeking the mercy of the Lord.

The readings of today are reminders for us that our pride is often our undoing, and it often also serves as a great stumbling block on our path towards salvation. Take for example the Pharisees and the chief priests, who boasted in their dedication and observance of the numerous rituals and laws of Moses, that they thought that they alone would be worthy of God’s salvation and grace.

Yet, they were wrong. In their boasting and in their pride, in their search for human praise and worldly glory, they had not only failed to realise that they have not done what the Lord had wanted from them, but worse, that in their pride, they had not just condemned themselves but in fact also the many others who had been entrusted under their care, and those others who have been influenced by their worldly and corrupted ways.

They thought of themselves as being good and just, and they thought of themselves as deserving of honour and respect for such faith that they have. But what they ought is all about themselves, and God had no place in their hearts. At the Day of Judgment therefore, God would say to them, ‘Get lost, all of you the condemned ones, for all you ever thought of was yourselves, and you had no love for Me or for your brethren. Thus your place is among the fallen angels, with Satan to be punished for eternity.’

Pride is a disease of the soul, the same reason why Satan fell from grace, from being once as the mightiest and most wonderful of the angels, but because of his pride, he rebelled against God and fell into damnation. Where is he now? Is he exalted high above the heavens and the angels as he had boasted? No! He was cast down and his name was forever associated with those who in their pride, and destroyed themselves.

How is this important for us, brothers and sisters in Christ? This is because all of us are sinners, and we have been afflicted with sin, that is the disease of our soul. We may be physically healthy, but all of us inside us have been afflicted with sin, diseased and wicked, be it small or big, the nature of this sin. And sin is a veil which covers our eyes, preventing us from recognising the good in others and also the wickedness which we have committed in our lives.

The commitment of sin desensitised us, brethren, and the more we commit sin, the tendency is for us to feel less and less guilty about it. That is why it is just like the two blind men for us all. Indeed, they were blind in the eyes and were unable to see the world around them, but it is also the same for us all, in failing to recognise our own sinfulness and shortcomings, and instead we often acted like the Pharisees, indulging in self-praise and boasting of our so-called accomplishments, and not giving glory to God.

Brothers and sisters in Christ, we should all imitate the action of the two blind men. Even though they were not able to see with their eyes, yet they were able to recognise Jesus and who He is. Therefore, we too should recognise the presence of the Lord around us, in all that He had done for us. We too should recognise our Lord who has come into this world and offered Himself so that we may be forgiven and be healed from our sickness of these sins.

Therefore, let us all, brothers and sisters in Christ, commit ourselves to be humble and meek, seeking the Lord’s forgiveness for all of our sins and wickedness. Our Lord had come into this world to seek the salvation of sinners, and that is what we should make use of, by genuinely and sincerely believing in Jesus our Lord, be forgiven for our sins, and most importantly, to stop sinning and sin no more from now on.

May our Lord Jesus bless us and guide us, so that in this season of Advent, we may come to greater realisation about ourselves, and about how sinful we have been, and how urgent it is indeed for us to seek the Lord’s mercy and forgiveness, so that when He comes again, He may find us worthy and righteous to receive His blessing and the inheritance He had promised us all. God bless us all. Amen.

 

First Reading :

https://petercanisiusmichaeldavidkang.com/2014/12/04/friday-5-december-2014-first-week-of-advent-first-reading/

 

Psalm :

https://petercanisiusmichaeldavidkang.com/2014/12/04/friday-5-december-2014-first-week-of-advent-psalm/

 

Gospel Reading :

https://petercanisiusmichaeldavidkang.com/2014/12/04/friday-5-december-2014-first-week-of-advent-gospel-reading/

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Monday, 24 November 2014 : 34th Week of Ordinary Time, Memorial of St. Andrew Dung-Lac, Priest and Companions, Martyrs (First Reading)

Liturgical Colour : Red

Revelations 14 : 1-3, 4b-5

I was given another vision : The Lamb was standing on Mount Zion, surrounded by one hundred and forty-four thousand people who had His Name and His Father’s Name written on their foreheads. A sound reverberated in heaven like the sound of roaring of waves or deafening thunder; it was like a chorus of singers, accompanied by their harps.

They sing a new song before the throne, in the presence of the four living creatures and the elders, a song which no one can learn except the hundred and forty-four thousand who have been taken from the earth. These are given to follow the Lamb wherever He goes. They are the first taken from humankind who are already of God and the Lamb.

No deceit has been found in them; they are faultless.

 

Homily and Reflection :

https://petercanisiusmichaeldavidkang.com/2014/11/23/monday-24-november-2014-34th-week-of-ordinary-time-memorial-of-st-andrew-dung-lac-priest-and-companions-martyrs-homily-and-scripture-reflections/

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Friday, 21 November 2014 : 33rd Week of Ordinary Time, Memorial of the Presentation of the Blessed Virgin Mary (Psalm)

Liturgical Colour : White

Luke 1 : 46-47, 48-49, 50-51, 52-53, 54-55

My soul proclaims the greatness of the Lord, my spirit exults in God my Saviour!

He has looked upon His servant in her lowliness, and people forever will call me blessed. The Mighty One has done great things for me, Holy is His Name!

From age to age His mercy extends to those who live in His presence. He has acted with power and done wonders, and scattered the proud with their plans.

He has put down the mighty from their thrones, and lifted up those who are downtrodden. He has filled the hungry with good things, but has sent the rich away empty.

He held out His hand to Israel, His servant, for He remembered His mercy, even as He promised to our fathers, to Abraham and his descendants forever.

 

Homily and Reflection :

https://petercanisiusmichaeldavidkang.com/2014/11/18/friday-21-november-2014-33rd-week-of-ordinary-time-memorial-of-the-presentation-of-the-blessed-virgin-mary-homily-and-scripture-reflections/

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Tuesday, 11 November 2014 : 32nd Week of Ordinary Time, Memorial of St. Martin of Tours, Bishop (First Reading)

Liturgical Colour : White

Titus 2 : 1-8, 11-14

Let your words strengthen sound doctrine. Tell the older men to be sober, serious, wise, sound in faith, love and perseverance.

The older women in like manner must behave as befits holy women, not given to gossiping or drinking wine, but as good counsellors, able to teach younger women to love their husbands and children, to be judicious and chaste, to take care of their households, to be kind and submissive to their husbands, lest our faith be attacked.

Encourage the young men to be self-controlled. Set them an example by your own way of doing. Let your teaching be earnest and sincere, and your preaching beyond reproach. Then your opponents will feel ashamed and will have nothing to criticise.

For the grace of God has appeared, bringing salvation to all, teachings us to reject an irreligious way of life and worldly greed, and to live in this world as responsible persons, upright and serving God, while we await our blessed hope – the glorious manifestation of our great God and Saviour Christ Jesus.

He gave Himself for us, to redeem us from every evil and to purify a people He wanted to be His own and dedicated to what is good.

 

Homily and Reflection :

https://petercanisiusmichaeldavidkang.com/2014/11/10/tuesday-11-november-2014-32nd-week-of-ordinary-time-memorial-of-st-martin-of-tours-bishop-homily-and-scripture-reflections/

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Monday, 27 October 2014 : 30th Week of Ordinary Time (Gospel Reading)

Liturgical Colour : Green

Luke 13 : 10-17

At that time, Jesus was teaching in a synagogue on the Sabbath, and a crippled woman was there. An evil spirit had kept her bent for eighteen years, so that she could not straighten up at all.

On seeing her, Jesus called her and said, “Woman, you are freed from your infirmity.” Then He laid His hands upon her, and immediately she was made straight and praised God.

But the ruler of the synagogue was indignant, because Jesus had performed this healing on the Sabbath day, and he said to the people, “There are six days in which to work. Come on those days to be healed, and not on the Sabbath!”

But the Lord replied, “You hypocrites! Everyone of you unties his ox or his donkey on the Sabbath, and leads it out of the barn to give it water. And here you have a daughter of Abraham, whom Satan had bound for eighteen years. Should she not be freed from her bonds on the Sabbath?”

When Jesus said this, all His opponents felt ashamed. But the people rejoiced at the many wonderful things that happened because of Him.

 

Homily and Reflections : https://petercanisiusmichaeldavidkang.com/2014/10/26/monday-27-october-2014-30th-week-of-ordinary-time-homily-and-scripture-reflections/

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Saturday, 18 October 2014 : 28th Week of Ordinary Time, Feast of St. Luke the Evangelist (Homily and Scripture Reflections)

Liturgical Colour : Red

Brothers and sisters in Christ, today we celebrate with the entire Universal Church, the feast of one of the four great Evangelists, that is the four writers of the Holy Gospels. Today is thus the feast of St. Luke the Evangelist, who wrote the Gospel accorded with his name, the Gospel of St. Luke. As a background, St. Luke was once a renowned physician, who became one of the faithful and followed St. Paul in some of his journeys, including what St. Paul wrote in the letter he wrote to Timothy, another faithful disciple of the Lord.

As we can see from what St. Paul shared with Timothy, St. Luke remained faithful and devoted to the tasks entrusted to him. Yes, this is true even though his fellow journeymen had left to pursue their own interests or for various other reasons. They encountered difficulties along the way, and not all the people they were sent to welcomed them. There were indeed instances when they were welcomed and accepted gladly, but more often than not, they literally had the doors slammed on their faces.

This is exactly what Jesus mentioned as He sent His group of seventy-two disciples, who were meant to help both Jesus Himself and His Apostles in the ministries and works they were doing. Jesus mentioned how they would be sent like lambs among wolves. They would not encounter easy works and acceptance easily, but will be constantly subjected to difficulties and suffering. The lambs rightly represent the disciples and the Apostles, while the wolves represent the various people of God, from which a great majority refused to listen to the Word of God.

Remember that in the other occasion in the Gospels, Jesus also mentioned how that as He who is the Lord and Master of all would suffer rejection and suffering at the hands of mankind, the very people of God to whom He had been sent, then His disciples and Apostles, as well as all those who follow Him and walk in His path will also suffer the same fate. Thus, it explained the fate which St. Paul and St. Luke the Evangelist met during their journeys.

But did they stop on their path? No! That is what made them different from those others who gave up along the way, who could not endure the difficulties and challenges and preferred the comfort of their old lives, settling for the less worthy. What can indeed be more worthy than the Lord and to live to proclaim the Lord’s words to the nations? And St. Luke, together with the other saints continued courageously to defend their faith and to continue the hard works for which they are admired and adored now.

Remember what the Lord had said in the Gospel today, in the Gospel written by St. Luke himself, so that we may know it and hear it as if it was spoken directly by the Lord Jesus Himself to us? Yes, that the harvest is plentiful but the labourers and workers are few. So what did Jesus then tell His disciples? Exactly, that they should ask the Lord of the harvest to send more labourers and workers to tend to the harvest. This truly makes sense, as more labourers will help the Lord of the harvest to bring in even more harvest and bring about more bountiful returns.

But what does this mean, brothers and sisters in Christ? This means exactly that the harvest is truly plentiful in our world, and the harvest refers to the people of God, who are ripe for picking and salvation in God, are awaiting for the labourers and workers who serve the Lord, to pick mankind for the Lord of the harvest, that is the Lord our God.

The field itself refers to this world. This world is filled with much difficulties and uncertainties, but it also offers much opportunities and chances for the crops grown in the field of this world. The pests and the weeds that threaten the crops refer to the forces of darkness that is led by Satan, the father of lies and evil, who always try their best to seduce mankind and make them to follow him instead of the Lord.

The rich harvest is a very tempting thing to the pests and weeds, who will definitely try to snatch and destroy the good harvest from the hands of those who collect these rich harvests to the Lord of the harvest. Thus, the same applies to us, as Satan and his fellow fallen angels is out there trying to turn us mankind, by appealing to our human desires and weaknesses, so that we may fall along our path towards the Lord, and then into damnation with them.

The labourers and the workers of the harvest refer to the servants of God, the disciples of Christ and the Apostles, who like St. Luke the Evangelist and many other saints, worked hard and courageously, like lambs among wolves, to ensure that the harvest of the Lord is collected amidst all the pests and the weeds, that is amidst the challenges and difficulties. Their successors, our priests and bishops, and all who devoted themselves to the service of God, continued their hard works even until this very day.

But this does not mean that the works of the Lord are limited to them only. In fact, brothers and sisters in Christ, we too are the workers and servants of the Lord. How is this so? That is because all of us who believe in the Lord and had received the revelation of truth through the Holy Scriptures and the Church, and have been baptised and accepted into the Church of God have the responsibility to spread the Good News of the Lord.

If St. Luke the Evangelist wrote one of the four Holy Gospels and through it countless souls had been saved, then we too can do it in our own way, by showing the faith through our own actions, that show our sincere and genuine faith, which is not in mere words but also through real actions, so that all those who see us, may know that we belong to the Lord, and therefore hopefully they too will seek salvation in God.

Therefore, brothers and sisters in Christ, inspired by the examples of St. Luke the Evangelist and other holy saints of God, and remembering always the words of the Lord, how the harvest is plentiful but the labourers are few, let us all pray sincerely and fervently, so that we may truly know and understand what we can do in order to help the works of God in the salvation of mankind.

May Almighty God bless us all and strengthen us, that we may courageously take up the cross and bear the mission entrusted to us, so that we may help the works of God, saving many others who await God’s salvation and who still live in the darkness of the world, and so that those of us who are called, we may embrace our calling and devote our lives in the full and complete service of the Lord. God bless us all. Amen.

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Thursday, 16 October 2014 : 28th Week of Ordinary Time, Memorial of St. Hedwig, Religious and St. Margaret Mary Alacoque, Virgin (First Reading)

Liturgical Colour : Green or White (Religious and Virgins)

Ephesians 1 : 1-10

Paul, an Apostle of Christ Jesus by the will of God, to the saints in Ephesus, to you who share Christian faith : receive grace and peace from God our Father and from Jesus the Lord.

Blessed be God, the Father of Christ Jesus our Lord, who in Christ has blessed us from heaven with every spiritual blessing. God chose us in Christ before the creation of the world to be holy and without sin in His presence.

From eternity He destined us in love to be His adopted sons and daughters through Christ Jesus, thus fulfilling His free and generous will. This goal suited Him : that His loving kindness which He granted us in His Beloved might finally receive all glory and praise.

For in Christ we obtain freedom, sealed by His Blood, and have the forgiveness of sins. In this appears the greatness of His grace, which He lavished on us. In all wisdom and understanding, God has made known to us His mysterious design, in accordance with His loving kindness in Christ.

In Him and under Him God wanted to unite, when the fullness of time had come, everything in heaven and on earth.