Liturgical Colour : Red
Psalm 118 : 9, 10, 11, 12, 13, 14
How can young people remain pure? By living according to Your word.
I seek You with my whole heart; let me not stray from Your commands.
In my heart I have kept Your word, that I may not sin against my Lord.
Praise to You, o Lord; instruct me in Your statutes.
That with my lips I may declare all Your spoken decrees.
I delight in following Your laws, more so than in all riches.
Liturgical Colour : Red
1 Kings 3 : 4-13
The king used to sacrifice at Gibeon, the great high place; on the altar there he had offered a thousand burnt offerings. It was in Gibeon, during the night, that YHVH appeared to Solomon in a dream and said, “Ask what you want Me to give you.”
Solomon answered, “You have shown Your servant David my father a great and steadfast love because he served You faithfully and was righteous and sincere towards You. You have given him proof of Your steadfast love in making a son of his sit on his throne this day.”
“And now, o YHVH my God, You have made Your servant king in place of David my father, although I am but a young boy who does not know how to undertake anything. Meantime, Your servant is in the midst of Your people whom You have chosen – a people so great that they can neither be numbered nor counted.”
“Give me, therefore, an understanding mind in governing Your people that I may discern between good and evil. For who is able to govern this multitude of people of Yours?”
YHVH was pleased that Solomon had made this request. And He told him, “Because you have requested this rather than long life or wealth or even vengeance on your enemies; indeed, because you have asked for yourself understanding to discern what is right, I shall grant you your request. I now give you a wise and discerning mind such as no one has had before you nor anyone after you shall ever have.”
“I will also give you what you have not asked for, both wealth and fame; and no king shall be your equal during your lifetime.”
Liturgical Colour : Green or White (Saturday Mass of our Lady)
Dear brothers and sisters in Christ, on this day we heard the words from the Sacred Scriptures, beginning from how David was rebuked by God through the prophet Nathan for his unlawful and sinful seizing of the wife of one of his subordinates, and made her to be his own. As a result, God punished David for his insubordination and wayward attitude.
Then in the Gospel today we heard about the Lord Jesus Who made a storm calm and Who commanded even the wind and the waves to obey Him and to spare His boat and the disciples within it. We see the power and the authority of God being on display, where He made clear that if one is to have faith in Him, then he or she will not be disappointed, for in Him alone lies all power and all comfort.
How do these two readings match up together, brethren? It is where we see disobedience in both, in the first reading the disobedience and lack of faith due to an action that brought a faithful servant of God to sin, and in the Gospel we witnessed a lack of faith where the disciples of our Lord Jesus Christ lost their faith in Him in the face of danger and certain death.
This lack of faith was what brought the people involved into a state where they would be vulnerable to the temptation of Satan, which was proven by what David had done with Bathsheba, the wife of his own subordinate, whom he took to be his own wife after he plotted to kill her husband to hide his own adulterous relationship with her. This was a moment of weakness, when faith was overcome by the lust and the desires of men.
Then, heeding the message of the Gospel today, we also should see how the storm in the lake is a mirror of our own lives. The storm is a representation of the dangers and the challenges that we face in our daily lives as we live as followers and disciples of our Lord. The boat is a representation of the Church which unites all the believers and the followers of the Lord, with the Lord Himself at the helm.
During such situation, with violent waves and strong winds, it is understandable that our human instincts would tell us and convince us to jump from the boat and abandon the boat that is taking in water and is sinking rapidly, but if everyone is to abandon the boat and jump into the water, they themselves would be swallowed by the powerful waves, be brought under and perish.
Thus, it is a lesson and a reminder for all of us, that all of us should remain faithful to the Lord our God, and cling strongly to Him in faith, and all of us should resist the temptations to abandon Him for other good things, the temptations of life, the temptations of pleasure and temporary satisfaction of either the body or the soul. Let us all heed this lesson as we continue to live our lives, so that we will always be faithful to our Lord and God.
May God bless us all in this life, and may He strengthen our resolve to live ever more in accordance with His will. Let us not be afraid or worry if we make a mistake, but let us do what king David, His faithful servant had done, in humbly seeking His forgiveness and mercy. Let us all be reunited in the Lord and become worthy once again to receive His grace and blessings. God be with us all. Amen.
Liturgical Colour : Green or White (Saturday Mass of our Lady)
Mark 4 : 35-41
At that time, on the same day, when evening had come, Jesus said to His disciples, “Let us go across to the other side.” So they left the crowd, and took Him away in the boat He had been sitting in, and other boats set out with Him.
Then a storm gathered and it began to blow a gale. The waves spilled over into the boat, so that it was soon filled with water. Jesus was in the stern, sleeping on a cushion. They woke Him up, and said, “Master, do You not care if we drown?” And rising up, Jesus rebuked the wind, and ordered the sea, “Quiet now! Be still!”
The wind dropped, and there was a great calm. Then Jesus said to them, “Why are you so frightened? Do you still have no faith?” But they were terrified, and they said to one another, “Who can this be? Even the wind and the sea obey Him!”
Liturgical Colour : Green or White (Saturday Mass of our Lady)
Psalm 50 : 12-13, 14-15, 16-17
Create in me, o God, a pure heart; give me a new and steadfast spirit. Do not cast me out of Your presence nor take Your Holy Spirit from me.
Give me again the joy of Your salvation and sustain me with a willing spirit. Then I will show wrongdoers Your ways and sinners will return to You.
Deliver me, o God, from the guilt of blood, and of Your justice I shall sing aloud. O Lord, open my lips, and I will declare Your praise.
Liturgical Colour : Green or White (Saturday Mass of our Lady)
2 Samuel 12 : 1-7a, 10-17
So YHVH sent the prophet Nathan to David. Nathan went to the king and said to him, “There were two men in a city : one was rich; the other, poor. The rich man had many sheep and cattle, but the poor man had only one little ewe lamb he had bought. He himself fed it and it grew up with him and his children.”
It shared his food, drank from his cup and slept on his lap. It was like a daughter to him. Now a traveller came to the rich man, but he would not take from his own flock or herd to prepare food for the traveller. Instead, he took the poor man’s lamb and prepared that for his visitor.”
David was furious because of this man and told Nathan, “As YHVH lives, the man who has done this deserves death! He must return the lamb fourfold for acting like this and showing no compassion.” Nathan said to David, “You are this man!”
“Now the sword will never be far from your family because you have despised Me and taken the wife of Uriah the Hittite for yourself. Thus says YHVH : Your misfortune will rise from your own house! I will take your wives from you and give them to your neighbour who shall lie with them in broad daylight. What you did was done secretly, but what I do will be done before Israel in broad daylight.”
David said to Nathan, “I have sinned against YHVH.” Nathan answered him, “YHVH has forgiven your sin; you shall not die. However, because you have dared to despise YHVH by doing such a thing, the child that is born to you shall die.” Then Nathan left and went to his house.
YHVH struck the child that Uriah’s wife bore to David and it became sick. David entreated God for the child; he kept a strict fast and lay on the ground the whole night. The elders of his house asked him to rise from the ground but he refused. Nor did he join them to eat.
Liturgical Colour : Green or White (Saturday Mass of our Lady)
Dear brothers and sisters in Christ, on this day we heard of the sorrowful mention of the death of the king of Israel, Saul and his son Jonathan in a battle between the Israelites and their Philistine enemies at Mount Gilboa. And David was particularly devastated to hear such a horrible news, and he mourned for them with the people who were with him.
Even though Saul and David were rivals for the throne of Israel, both of them having been anointed as the king of Israel, but David did not let the jealousy and rivalry of power between them to make him bitter and filled with anger as what had happened with Saul. He continued to be loyal to Saul and treated him as his king, even though the Lord had made it known to him that he was to be the one to replace Saul as the king of Israel.
In our thoughts, we would have thought of David as someone who was foolish and out of his mind, as in the eyes of the world, and in our common understanding, it would be difficult to imagine how someone with such an opportunity and with such situation would have done as what David had done. When he was given the golden opportunity to kill Saul, as he was fast asleep in one occasion without knowing that David and his men were around, David declined to seize the opportunity and instead he even chose the opportunity to renew his loyalty to the king.
People would have indeed thought that this man had lost his mind or was a fool who acted in ways contrary to the norms of this world. But indeed, it was precisely because he acted in this manner that he was great in the sight and in the presence of God. God chose David as king because He knew that in David’s heart, he was much like Him, and even with his imperfections and faults, he would try to love the Lord with all of his strength and might.
In the same way therefore, as we see in the Gospel today, how people ridiculed Jesus, even those who were His own relatives. They thought that He was out of His mind, doing things as He had done, which seemed to go against every norms and all notions of what were expected in the society at that time. After all, Who in the right mind would have abandoned everything, going up the mountains and from cities to cities to preach the word of God?
But all these serve to show all of us, that the ways of this world are often fundamentally different from the ways of our Lord. While this world praise and worship individualism, freedom of self, selfishness, desire and affluence, in the presence of God, all of our human and worldly might and power truly seem very insignificant and meaningless.
Let us all spend some time to think and reflect about this matter. There are many people who have devoted themselves, their lives and their time in order to pursue greater things for themselves, be it in money, possessions, fame or influence in the society. And yet, how many of them ever stopped to think what would happen to all of these when they pass away? They will not carry all of these things with them.
Therefore, let us all also examine our own lives and see how we have lived this life. Have we also been preoccupied with such pursuits? Have we been to busy to look at ourselves and in trying to make ourselves look better in the eyes and perception of others that we forget about the many things that we are able to do to to benefit others around us? As Christians it is our responsibility to take care and love one another, and if we profess to be the Lord’s disciple, then I think it is time that we show it with concrete action.
Brothers and sisters in Christ, let us renew our efforts and strengthen our resolve, so that our lives will be filled with the love of God, and faith will become the foundation of our lives. May God bless us and keep us within His love and grace forever, and may His light shine forth upon our path. Amen.
Liturgical Colour : Green or White (Saturday Mass of our Lady)
Mark 3 : 20-21
At that time, Jesus and His disciples went home. The crowd began to gather again and they could not even have a meal. Knowing what was happening, His relatives came to take charge of Him, “He is out of His mind,” they said.
Liturgical Colour : Green or White (Saturday Mass of our Lady)
Psalm 79 : 2-3, 5-7
Listen, o Shepherd of Israel, You Who lead Joseph like a flock, You Who sit enthroned between the Cherubim. Shine forth before Ephraim, Benjamin and Manasseh. Stir up Your might and come to save us.
O Lord of hosts, how long will Your anger burn against the prayers of Your people? You have fed them with the bread of woe, and have given them tears to drink in their sorrow. You have made us the scorn of our neighbours and the laughingstock of our oppressors.
Liturgical Colour : Green or White (Saturday Mass of our Lady)
2 Samuel 1 : 1-4, 11-12, 19, 23-27
It was thus that Saul died. As for David, he returned after defeating the Amalekites. He was already two days in Ziklag when, on the third day, a man came from Saul’s camp, with his clothes torn and dust strewn on his head. He went to David and fell to the ground in homage.
David asked him, “Where are you from?” And he answered, “I have escaped from the Israelite camp.” David then said, “Tell me what happened.” And the man told him, “The soldiers fled from the battle but many of them fell and died. Saul and his son Jonathan – they too are dead.”
At this, David took hold of his clothes and tore them and his men did the same. And they mourned, weeping and fasting until evening, for the death of Saul and his son Jonathan, for all the people of Judah and for the nation of Israel. David sang, “Your glory, o Israel, is slain upon your mountains! How the mighty ones have fallen!”
“Saul and Jonathan, beloved and cherished, neither in life nor in death were they parted; swifter than eagles they were and stronger than lions. Women of Israel, weep over Saul who clothed you in precious scarlet. How the valiant have fallen!”
“In the midst of the battle Jonathan lies slain on your mountain. I grieve for you, my brother Jonathan; how dear have you been to me! Your love for me was wonderful, even more than the love of women. How the valiant have fallen! The weapons of war have perished!”
petercanisiusmichaeldavidkang 