Saturday

by

Saturday, 15 November 2014 : 32nd Week of Ordinary Time, Memorial of St. Albert the Great, Bishop and Doctor of the Church (Homily and Scripture Reflections)

Liturgical Colour : Green or White (Bishops or Saturday Mass of our Lady)

Dear brothers and sisters in Christ, today we heard in the Gospel the parable mentioned by Jesus on an evil and proud judge, and a persistent old woman who continued to pester that particular judge to stand up for her case. And that judge, even though he did not fear God nor man, and did not listen or submit to anyone, eventually gave in to the old woman who continued to pester him and plead with him to advance her case.

This parable is a clear message to all of us, that we cannot be complacent in our faith. Besides that we need to act with concrete and genuine love, and live our faith fully through our deeds and actions, we also have to have a good and healthy prayer life. Prayer is for us a connection and a highway that links us to our Lord. It is a two-way conversation between Him and us, through which we can listen to Him and He too can listen to us speaking directly towards Him.

What our Lord Jesus mentioned to us today in the parable is that, if that evil judge, despicable, wicked and irresponsible as he was, not fearing God nor men, could eventually succumb to the pressures of the old woman, just so that she would no longer pester him, how much more will our loving God then harken and listen to our prayers and petitions?

However, be reminded, brothers and sisters, that our prayers and petitions do not equate with what demands we have in this life, and they do not equate with our desires and wants, that means, these do not include our desires for many things, from material wealth to other things. God is loving and He will listen to us, but He also knows our needs and our greatest details till the greatest secrets we keep in the depths of our hearts.

Therefore, our Lord is not held hostage to our wishes and demands, and He is not obliged to fulfill all of our wishes, and neither is He subordinate to us and our will. And He does what seems to fit His will. But this does not mean that He is a heartless God who does not care about us, as if we are in genuine need, He will know it, and He will want to help us.

On our part therefore, we have to act like the old woman who persistently pursued the evil judge in order to have her wishes fulfilled. But did she ask for her own selfish wish? No, it is so that she can have justice shown to her, for she had been wronged. It is the same therefore for all or us, that we have to take out two things from this day’s Scripture readings.

First, we have to persist in our prayers, to pray without cease, on regular basis, constantly contacting and talking with the Lord our God, like the old woman pestering the evil judge for his attention and help. But the difference is that, if the evil judge hated the woman’s persistence and pleas, our Lord who is loving and kind to us, will never be tired of listening to our constant pleas and prayers. Instead, He will listen to them and then act as it is right according to Him and His own will for us.

And then second, all of us must realise that God loves us all and He wants us to be righteous and just in all things. He wants us to have love and faith in ourselves, so that in all of our actions we will no longer put forward our desires or greed, but instead to submit to the greater will of the Lord. And therefore, in that, in our prayer life too, we have to realise that our prayers are not merely just list of petitions and demands against the Lord.

Prayer is all about keeping in contact with our Lord, from heart to heart, an intimate and personal relationship we must have and nourish between us and our God. In prayer, we should air our concerns and wishes, but at the same time, we must also open our ears wide in order to be able to listen to the word of God which He spoke softly deep in our hearts.

Therefore, we ought to learn to listen and to listen well, so that our hearts be cleared from all forms of hubris and pride, of desire and greed that we may truly be transformed from creatures of sin and darkness, into the children of the light, of our Lord who is Love. This is what we need to do, and there is today a saint, whose feast day we celebrate this day, and whose life examples may be an inspiration to all of us.

Today we celebrate the feast of St. Albert of Cologne, also more famously known by his epithet ‘the Great’ as St. Albertus Magnus or St. Albert the Great. He was a Dominican friar and then bishop in the High Middle Ages era Germany, who was renowned particularly for his faith, for his zeal, for his numerous works and writings, as well as for his great contributions to the growth of the spiritual aspect in many of the faithful, both whom he directly and indirectly touched.

St. Albert the Great is honoured with the title of the Doctor of the Church, to be among the few so honoured as such. His works in both philosophy and theology were of great importance to the Church and to the faithful. His dedication to the advancement of the Lord’s teaching and cause was truly remarkable and commendable, and he was also devoted to helping the people of God, both through his works and through his writings.

Through the examples of St. Albert the Great, we can see how if we devoted ourselves in deep prayer and develop our spirituality in the way of St. Albert the Great, we can truly be like him. St. Albert the Great spent much of his time in prayer and devotion to God, and through that devotion, he produced many good works that benefit not just himself, but countless others around him.

And in the first reading, St. John the Apostle and Evangelist advised us all how we should live out our lives, to be righteous and just before God, by loving one another sincerely and genuinely, and most especially, to show our love and care to our brothers and sisters around us, who needs our love the most. Thus these are the two pillars of our faith, namely our loving actions to one another, and our strong and devoted prayer life.

Brothers and sisters in Christ, let us therefore from now on, renew our commitment to the Lord and ask for the intercession of St. Albert the Great, that our faith too may be strengthened by God just as his was strengthened. May we all grow stronger and more devoted in our prayer life, so that we may not be lost but remain in close and intimate contact with the Lord our loving God, at all the moments of our lives. God bless us all. Amen.

 

First Reading :

https://petercanisiusmichaeldavidkang.com/2014/11/13/saturday-15-november-2014-32nd-week-of-ordinary-time-memorial-of-st-albert-the-great-bishop-and-doctor-of-the-church-first-reading/

Psalm :

https://petercanisiusmichaeldavidkang.com/2014/11/13/saturday-15-november-2014-32nd-week-of-ordinary-time-memorial-of-st-albert-the-great-bishop-and-doctor-of-the-church-psalm/

Gospel Reading :

https://petercanisiusmichaeldavidkang.com/2014/11/13/saturday-15-november-2014-32nd-week-of-ordinary-time-memorial-of-st-albert-the-great-bishop-and-doctor-of-the-church-gospel-reading/

by

Saturday, 15 November 2014 : 32nd Week of Ordinary Time, Memorial of St. Albert the Great, Bishop and Doctor of the Church (Gospel Reading)

Liturgical Colour : Green or White (Bishops or Saturday Mass of our Lady)

Luke 18 : 1-8

At that time, Jesus told His disciples a parable, to show them that they should pray continually, and not lose heart. He said, “In a certain town there was a judge, who neither feared God nor people. In the same town there was a widow, who kept coming to him, saying, ‘Defend my rights against my opponent!'”

“For a time he refused, but finally he thought, ‘Even though I neither fear God nor care about people, this widow bothers me so much, I will see that she gets justice; then she will stop coming and wearing me out.'”

And Jesus said, “Listen to what the evil judge says. Will God not do justice for His chosen ones, who cry to Him day and night, even if He delays in answering them? I tell you, He will speedily do them justice. But, when the Son of Man comes, will He find faith on earth?”

 

Homily and Reflection :

https://petercanisiusmichaeldavidkang.com/2014/11/13/saturday-15-november-2014-32nd-week-of-ordinary-time-memorial-of-st-albert-the-great-bishop-and-doctor-of-the-church-homily-and-scripture-reflections/

by

Saturday, 15 November 2014 : 32nd Week of Ordinary Time, Memorial of St. Albert the Great, Bishop and Doctor of the Church (Psalm)

Liturgical Colour : Green or White (Bishops or Saturday Mass of our Lady)

Psalm 111 : 1-2, 3-4, 5-6

Alleluia! Blessed is the one who fears the Lord, who greatly delights in His commands. His children will be powerful on earth; the upright’s offspring will be blessed.

Wealth and riches are for his family, there his integrity will remain. He is for the righteous a light in darkness, he is kind, merciful and upright.

It will be well with him who lends freely, who leads a life of justice and honesty. For the righteous will never be moved; he will be remembered and loved forever.

 

Homily and Reflection :

https://petercanisiusmichaeldavidkang.com/2014/11/13/saturday-15-november-2014-32nd-week-of-ordinary-time-memorial-of-st-albert-the-great-bishop-and-doctor-of-the-church-homily-and-scripture-reflections/

by

Saturday, 15 November 2014 : 32nd Week of Ordinary Time, Memorial of St. Albert the Great, Bishop and Doctor of the Church (First Reading)

Liturgical Colour : Green or White (Bishops or Saturday Mass of our Lady)

3 John : 5-8

Beloved, you do well to care for the brothers and sisters as you do. I mean those coming from other places. They spoke of your charity before the assembled Church. It will be well to provide them with what they need to continue their journey, as if you did it for God.

In reality, they have set out on the road for His Name without accepting anything from the pagans. We should receive such persons, making ourselves their cooperators in the work of the truth.

 

Homily and Reflection :

https://petercanisiusmichaeldavidkang.com/2014/11/13/saturday-15-november-2014-32nd-week-of-ordinary-time-memorial-of-st-albert-the-great-bishop-and-doctor-of-the-church-homily-and-scripture-reflections/

by

Saturday, 8 November 2014 : 31st Week of Ordinary Time (Homily and Scripture Reflections)

Liturgical Colour : Green or White (Saturday Mass of our Lady)

Dear brothers and sisters in Christ, today we are reminded of the need for us to stay true to our faith. We cannot be lukewarm and be passive in our faith, and we cannot just pay a mere lip service and obedience to the Lord. This is what Jesus meant that we cannot be servant to both God and money, as when we serve one, we will loath the other, and refuse to follow the other.

Why is this so? That is because the ways of the Lord and the ways of this world are diametrically opposite to each other. While one is filled with love, with genuine care and devotion to the Lord and to one’s fellow brothers and sisters, and filled with forgiveness and mercy, truth and justice, the other is filled with the desires of the flesh, that is our human desires and the things of this world, filled with not love but hatred, filled with jealousy and vanity rather than humility and harmony and peace.

The people of the Lord lives according to the ways of God and desires things that reflect the teachings of Christ. Meanwhile, the people of the world lives according to the ways of this world and desiring things that belongs to this world. But if we notice, we mankind are never easy to satisfy, and in fact, in many cases, we are often unable to be satisfied.

It is in the nature of mankind that we often ask for even more when we have received some things for ourselves. We always feel that we do not have enough and always wanting for more to satisfy our ever growing desires. And there is no better example than our own contemporary culture and livelihood, in the world around us today. Our world is thoroughly filled with the materialistic and consumeristic culture, which pervades all aspects of our lives.

Materialism and consumerism are the vile aspects of our world and our society today, in which we live in a world obsessed with the earthly materials and possessions. We can ask ourselves, and remember every time when we watch the television and access the internet these days, on how many advertisements we see every single moment we do these?

Those advertisements are promoting materialistic behaviours, as they play directly into our desire for more of the material goods and possessions. Some are dealing with food, which may lead us into greed and gluttony, desiring always the best of foods in our lives. We have to note, though, that food is not something to be shunned from, and it is not wrong for us to enjoy our food.

However, the problem is when we start to eat our foods lavishly without abandon, and without proper consideration for our brethren who are less fortunate than us and have less to eat than us. Greed is the undoing for many people, as we desire for ever more things, and in the process, we often trample at the rights of others and even cause suffering to them.

Hence, if we walk in the ways of the world and follow our own desires, we are likely to come into confrontation and clash with the ways of the Lord. If we do so, then at the day of judgment we will be found wanting by the Lord, for not only that we failed to do as we supposed to do, as the children of God, but also because we are likely to have caused pain and suffering for those around us.

Certainly this is not the fate that we want in this life. And that is why, we need to learn to follow the true path as shown by the Lord, that is the path of love, the path of peace, the path of humility, and the path of temperance. All of these are important if we are to seek the Lord’s salvation and His promised salvation for us, the eternal life which He had promised all those who believe in Him.

It is important for us to have temperance in us, that is to be able to restrain ourselves and know the limits of our desires, so that we know how to limit our wants such that we will not fall into greed. Temperance is also knowing the truth, how our Lord and God cares so much for us, that He provided us all with everything that we will ever need, in all His various ways, which we often do not realise. He gives us His grace and blessing, and just as St. Paul had mentioned in his letter, we too need to learn to know how to be satisfied with what we have, the blessings of the Lord.

And following the Lord means for us to know how to love, first that is to love God our Lord who had first loved us very much, and then to love one another just as much as we loved our Lord and just as much as we loved ourselves. If we have loved in that way, certainly we will no longer commit whatever evils that are the ways of this world. How is this so?

It is because if we know love, how can we stand when someone is being hurt and being cheated out of his or her money and possessions? And indeed, how can we even contemplate causing pain and suffering to others for our own benefit? And how can we contemplate doing something that bring goodness and riches to us, but bring about poverty and pain to others?

And if we know justice, how can we stand when injustice happen to others, and how can we even contemplate acting in a way such as to disadvantage others around us, for our own personal advantage? That is why, as I have mentioned, that the ways of the Lord are diametrically opposite to the ways of this world, and we cannot serve both at once, as our heart and our conscience will soon lead to contradict one action from the other.

Therefore, brothers and sisters in Christ, let us all no longer be lukewarm in our faith, and let us all no longer be on the fence. We have to make a conscious and clear choice to stand up for the Faith and be firmly at the side of the Lord. And when we do so, we will find ourselves becoming more attuned to the ways of Christ, and as such, we will grow better and stronger in the faith, and in love within our actions.

May Almighty God guide us to be loving in all of our actions, rejecting all forms of hatred and violence, rejecting all forms of fornications of the flesh and the soul, the ways of this world, and exchange it for the ways of our Lord. Let us all seek salvation in our Lord Jesus Christ, by being righteous and just, as well as loving in all of our actions, and live our lives fully in genuine faith in the Lord. God bless us all. Amen.

 

First Reading : 

https://petercanisiusmichaeldavidkang.com/2014/11/07/saturday-8-november-2014-31st-week-of-ordinary-time-first-reading/

Psalm : 

https://petercanisiusmichaeldavidkang.com/2014/11/07/saturday-8-november-2014-31st-week-of-ordinary-time-psalm/

Gospel Reading : 

https://petercanisiusmichaeldavidkang.com/2014/11/07/saturday-8-november-2014-31st-week-of-ordinary-time-gospel-reading/

by

Saturday, 8 November 2014 : 31st Week of Ordinary Time (Gospel Reading)

Liturgical Colour : Green or White (Saturday Mass of our Lady)

Luke 16 : 9-15

At that time, Jesus said, “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.”

The Pharisees who loved money, heard al this and sneered at Jesus. He said to them, “You do your best to be considered righteous by people. But God knows the heart, and what is highly esteemed by human beings is loathed by God.”

 

Homily and Scripture Reflection : 

https://petercanisiusmichaeldavidkang.com/2014/11/07/saturday-8-november-2014-31st-week-of-ordinary-time-homily-and-scripture-reflections/

by

Saturday, 8 November 2014 : 31st Week of Ordinary Time (Psalm)

Liturgical Colour : Green or White (Saturday Mass of our Lady)

Psalm 111 : 1-2, 5-6, 8a and 9

Alleluia! Blessed is the one who fears the Lord, who greatly delights in His commands. His children will be powerful on earth; the upright’s offspring will be blessed.

It will be well with him who lends freely, who leads a life of justice and honesty. For the righteous will never be moved; he will be remembered and loved forever.

His heart is confident, he gives generously to the poor, his merits will last forever and his head will be raised in honour.

 

Homily and Scripture Reflection : 

https://petercanisiusmichaeldavidkang.com/2014/11/07/saturday-8-november-2014-31st-week-of-ordinary-time-homily-and-scripture-reflections/

by

Saturday, 8 November 2014 : 31st Week of Ordinary Time (First Reading)

Liturgical Colour : Green or White (Saturday Mass of our Lady)

Philippians 4 : 10-19

I rejoice in the Lord because of your concern for me. You were indeed concerned for me before, but you had no opportunity to show it. I do not say this because of being in want; I have learnt to manage with what I have. I know what it is to be in want and what it is to have plenty. I am trained for both : to be hungry or satisfied, to have much or little. I can do all things in Him who strengthens me.

However you did right in sharing my trials. You Philippians, remember that in the beginning, when we first preached the Gospel, after I left Macedonia you alone opened for me a debit and credit account, and when I was in Thessalonica, twice you sent me what I needed.

It is not your gift that I value but rather the interest increasing in your own account. Now I have enough and more than enough with everything Epaphroditus brought me on your behalf and which I received as fragrant offerings pleasing to God. God Himself will provide you with everything you need, according to His riches, and show you His generosity in Christ Jesus.

 

Homily and Scripture Reflection : 

https://petercanisiusmichaeldavidkang.com/2014/11/07/saturday-8-november-2014-31st-week-of-ordinary-time-homily-and-scripture-reflections/

by

Saturday, 1 November 2014 : Solemnity of All Saints (Homily and Scripture Reflections)

Liturgical Colour : White

Dear brothers and sisters in Christ, today is a great feast day of the entire Universal Church, and not just of the Church which is in this world, but also together with the entire Church of the heavenly realm, as we celebrate today the feast and solemnity of All Saints, rejoicing with all creation, for the gift of the saints, who were once of mankind, but have been raised to the glory of the Altar and had been deemed by the Church as worthy of heaven by the virtue of their life and works.

This day marks the very important concept in our Faith, that is of the belief in saints and also to that extent, the blesseds or the Beati, who were also deemed worthy of praise and veneration, due to their actions in life, and in how they have faithfully lived their life in accordance with the ways and teachings of our Lord Jesus Christ, and in how they have dedicated their lives in service both to God and to their fellow men.

Then, in order to start, we have to understand who are saints in the first place and why they were so special, and how they can inspire us all in our own lives and drive towards salvation in God. Saints were also once living and walking in this world just like us, and they were also once sinners like us. Some saints were even once great sinners, who committed even abominable acts in the sight of God, when they were still alive.

Some saints were once murderers, and some were heretics and rebels against the orthodox teachings of the faith, and yet some were also fornicators and those who gave in to the pleasures of the flesh and the temptations of the world. St. Augustine of Hippo, the renowned Doctor of the Church and great saint is a traditional example of this, as well as St. Paul the Apostle, the great Apostle to the Gentiles and the one who wrote the many letters that today form the majority of our New Testament in the Scripture.

St. Augustine of Hippo was the son of another well-known saint, St. Monica, who was a devout Christian and had hoped that her son would be one too. She brought him up in the Faith with zeal and love, only to be greatly disappointed when he grew up to be a fornicator and a heretic, following the heresy of Manichaeanism, and indulging in various pleasures of the flesh and the world with his friends and companies.

Meanwhile, we know that St. Paul the Apostle was once Saul, the great scourge and enemy of the Church and the faithful, who hunted down many of the faithful, persecuted many of the saints and martyrs of the early Church, destroyed many of the communities of the faithful, and were once a bitter and zealous enemy of Christ. He went to Damascus with the evil intent of bringing the faithful who lived and hid there to the justice of the Pharisees and the chief priests.

And yet, what differentiated them from those who sin and was lost to us into eternal damnation? It is because they did not remain forever in their sins and in their sinful state, and instead, they sought complete change and turnaround in their own lives. They abandoned what were wicked and evil in their lives, casting out wickedness from their actions and deeds, and they embraced the mercy and love of God, taking up instead the armour of God, that is faith, hope, love and justice.

St. Augustine of Hippo was converted to the truth through both the endless intercession and prayer by his mother, St. Monica, who ceaselessly prayed for him and his soul, and he changed his ways, finding eventually the Lord his God, abandoning all of his past wickedness and since then, walked faithfully in the Lord, becoming among the greatest of the saints of Christendom, through his acts and works.

Saul as we know, was changed since he encountered our Lord Jesus personally, on that fateful day, on the way to the city of Damascus. He was blinded and was helpless, but the Lord through Ananias, His servant, he was healed and made wholesome once again. He was baptised and regained his old strength, but instead of resuming his old ways of hunting and persecuting the faithful, he made a turnaround and indeed, he from then on preached the Good News of God.

Thus, as we can see from their examples, saints does not have to be perfect people. Indeed, they were just as imperfect as we are, and they were sinners as we are. What matters is however that, they did not remain in their sinfulness and neither did they remain steadfast in their rebellion against the will of God. They changed their ways and had a turnaround in their lives, and therefore, they are converted to the cause of the Lord, and through their new lives, they gained justification in their faith and actions.

Some saints and blesseds were indeed already holy for most of their lives, and they were exemplary throughout the life they led, and in all of their actions. Some of these saints even died young, at a teenage or young adult age. This is in fact God’s way to preserve their saintliness and holiness, and to prevent them from falling into sin as they progressed further in life.

St. John Bosco or John de Bosco, St. Stanislaus Kostka, St. Bernadette Soubirous and many other saints who died young, because of sickness and other reasons, showed great holiness and piety since youth, and because of that, as the Lord Himself had said through His prophets and messengers, that He would rather that they be brought to His presence early and in their youth, rather than to allow the corruptions of the world and the temptations of Satan to get into them.

And closer to our era, we also know of the deeds of Blessed Mother Teresa of Calcutta, the simple Albanian woman who dedicated herself to the service of the Lord and of her fellow men, by becoming, in her own words, as the ‘pencil in the hand of God’, and she became a beacon of faith and hope in many of those who suffered at the hands of the world, the dejected, the ostracised, the poorest and the weakest in the society.

We also know of St. Maximilian Kolbe, the saint of the Holocaust, who gave up his own life in exchange for another prisoner, who was condemned to death while trying to escape from the persecution of NAZI Germany. And we know of several Popes who are also saints, namely, Pope St. Pius X, the holy and devout Pope of the Eucharist, who reformed the faith and allowed more people to come closer to the Lord in the Eucharist.

And just recently this year we have two new Popes who were declared saints by Pope Francis, our current Pope. They are Pope St. John XXIII, the Pope of the Second Vatican Council, the Pope of peace and the one who worked hard to bring about peace between nations in the height of superpower conflict, and also to usher unity among the quarrelling bodies of the faithful in God. Pope St. John Paul II is the one whom we are often know a lot about, as the Pope who helped to bring down the tyranny of Communism, and who helped the Church to stand up strongly against the evils of this world.

Now one may ask yet again, who are the saints? And how do they play a part in helping us to achieve our salvation in God? And no doubt there are those who misunderstood and having been led by the lies of the devil, thinking that we in the Church of God pray to the saints and worship them as if they are gods. These are among the many things we surely will encounter in our lives, the common opinion of the world around us, the lies of Satan!

So, it is important that we are thoroughly capable of understanding the role that the holy saints play in our faith life, and as I have mentioned the various examples of saints, their actions and their justifications in faith, we can already see that these saints were once also men like us, walking down the same paths we take in this world, but they all share one thing in common, that they truly love the Lord their God, as well as their fellow men, and allow their faith to grow and flourish through their actions which bring grace not just to themselves but also to all those they have interacted with.

Sainthood is a state of someone who had been found worthy by the Church, after a process of formal scrutiny, or through widespread public testimony, that the aforementioned is indeed worthy of heaven, by the virtue of his or her actions, and by the piety of his or her faith, living and substantiated by the actions, which made the person as someone who is assured of heaven at the moment of death.

Is there a precedent for this? Yes, there is, exactly, and none other than, as done by our Lord Jesus Christ Himself, when He was on the cross at Golgotha. If now the Pope, as the supreme leader and the Vicar of Christ invested with authority, proclaimed that a person is worthy of sainthood, then the first ever saint, was the humble sinner, the criminal who was on the right side of Jesus, who was crucified together with Him.

There were two criminals who were crucified together with Jesus, and the one on the left of Him cursed Jesus and mocked Him, even daring to ask Him to bring Himself down from the cross, so that he too could escape from the suffering and the death that was to come. And what did he get in the end? Nothing, and he went straight into hell, for his pride, arrogance, lack of faith and most importantly, for his lack of repentance.

Both of them were sinners, but what differentiated the criminal on the left, who was condemned, and the one on the right, who was made just and righteous? It was because the criminal on the right fully acknowledged his sins and misconducts in life, humbly seeking the forgiveness of God, and declaring his faith and love in Jesus, knowing that He who is the Master of all, has the power to save all, providing that he was willing to accept the salvation. And indeed, he accepted it, and Jesus praised his faith and humility, and his genuine repentance, saying to him, that he would be with Him that very day in paradise.

Thus, that criminal too, was made a saint, St. Dismas according to tradition, as he was assured of his place in heaven. And thus, following in the same manner, as a tradition, the Church also declares worthy individuals as saints, and many of these were once sinners, who changed their ways and embraced the love and faith in God. And now that they are assured of their places in heaven, and being in heaven, they lie close to the throne of our Lord.

Therefore, now we come to the matter whether we worship the saints as if they are gods. No, and this is absolutely not true, the lies of Satan, the prince of evil, which he spread to misguide many from the truth and bring many away from salvation in the Church. We do not worship the saints, but we ask them for their prayers and intercession instead, asking them sincerely for their support for us, as they are close to the throne of God, and hopefully, through their prayers, the Lord will be moved to have mercy on us.

But this eventually does not mean that we should be idle, and pretending to think that the saints can help us in everything, while we sit back and relax, enjoying ourselves in this world. The saints implore for us and pray for us, but if we ourselves are not proactive in our faith, and if we ourselves embrace wickedness and darkness in this life, then we have no hope for salvation ourselves. Indeed, unless if we follow in the path of the saints, those who have turned away from the darkness into the light and follow their examples.

What does this mean, brothers and sisters in Christ? That means, even today, as we celebrate together the great feast of all the holy saints of God, we too should realise that in each and every one of us lie the potential to become saints and holy before God, just as the saints who have gone before us had done. What matters is whether we make that potential a reality, by following the examples of the saints, embracing the goodness of God and rejecting all the falsehood, the lies and the temptations of the devil.

Therefore, brothers and sisters in Christ, today let us ask the multitudes of the saints, the people who have been righteous and worthy in life, and were chosen and marked as belonging to God, for them to pray for us sinners who still live and roam in this world. Let us ask them for their intercession before the throne of our Lord’s mercy, so that God may be moved in His love, to help us to overcome our own sinfulness and vulnerabilities to sin, that we too may become worthy as His saints had been.

May Almighty God be with us always, and may the glory and joy of His saints remind us always of the everlasting promise of happiness and goodness which He gave all those who keep their faith in Him, and who lived according to what He had wanted us to live, so that we too may one day be found worthy of the glorious sainthood, and be holy people, one people united in our praise to God, forever and ever more. Amen.

 

First Reading :
https://petercanisiusmichaeldavidkang.com/2014/10/30/saturday-1-november-2014-solemnity-of-all-saints-first-reading/

Psalm :
https://petercanisiusmichaeldavidkang.com/2014/10/30/saturday-1-november-2014-solemnity-of-all-saints-psalm/

Second Reading :
https://petercanisiusmichaeldavidkang.com/2014/10/30/saturday-1-november-2014-solemnity-of-all-saints-second-reading/

Gospel Reading :
https://petercanisiusmichaeldavidkang.com/2014/10/30/saturday-1-november-2014-solemnity-of-all-saints-gospel-reading/

by

Saturday, 1 November 2014 : Solemnity of All Saints (Gospel Reading)

Liturgical Colour : White

Matthew 5 : 1-12a

At that time, when Jesus saw the crowds, He went up the mountain. He sat down and His disciples gathered around Him. Then He spoke and began to teach them :

“Fortunate are those who are poor in spirit, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven. Fortunate are those who mourn, they shall be comforted.”

“Fortunate are the gentle, they shall possess the land. Fortunate are those who hunger and thirst for justice, for they shall be satisfied.”

“Fortunate are the merciful, for they shall find mercy. Fortunate are those with a pure heart, for they shall see God.”

“Fortunate are those who work for peace, they shall be called children of God. Fortunate are those who are persecuted for the cause of justice, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.”

“Fortunate are you, when people insult you and persecute you and speak all kinds of evil against you because you are My followers. Be glad and joyful, for a great reward is kept for you in God.”

 

Homily and Reflection :

https://petercanisiusmichaeldavidkang.com/2014/10/30/saturday-1-november-2014-solemnity-of-all-saints-homily-and-scripture-reflections/