Liturgical Colour : Purple/Violet
Jeremiah 33 : 14-16
The days are coming when I shall fulfil the promise that I made in favour of Israel and Judah. In those days and at that time I will cause to sprout the Shoot of righteousness from David’s line; He will practice justice and righteousness in the land.
In those days Judah will experience salvation and Jerusalem will live in safety. He will be called YHVH-Our-Righteousness.
Liturgical Colour : White
Dear brothers and sisters in Christ, this Sunday marks the last Sunday of the current liturgical year, where the cycle of the Church’s liturgical celebrations reached a culmination in the celebration of Christ our Lord and King, as the One Who is the true ruler and authority over all things throughout the universe. Today we mark the occasion of the Solemnity of our Lord Jesus Christ, King of the Universe, Lord and Master of all things that are in existence.
Through the Scripture passages today, we heard about the Lord Jesus Who is a King, and the One True King from Whom all authority, power and wisdom came from. Yet, His kingship is not akin to one that is of the world, that is, His kingdom is not like the kingdoms that exist in this world. On the other hand, His kingship and His kingdom transcends the worldly boundaries of power, authority and majesty.
Why is this so? That is because the kingdoms of this world, their rulers and masters are all very bound and affected by the worldly aspects of glory, of fame, of influence and affluence, of human praise and positions of fame, and they continue to strive ever more for the greatness in accordance of human measures, and that is why the kingdoms and the powers of this world are ever concerned about the self-aggrandisement and gathering of more power and glory for themselves.
Human and worldly powers are always fragile and temporary. These powers did not last beyond certain criteria and requirements that need to be met in order to preserve the powers in accordance with the ways of this world. This is why much misery, sufferings and injustice occurred in the world, both past and present, because of the tempting nature of having in possession such power and authority, and thus our reluctance and unwillingness to let them go from us.
Just for an example, the kings, princes, dukes and other worldly powers went to war with each other because each of them wanted to increase their dominion, influence and power. And because they have given themselves in to the ways of this world, therefore, accordingly, they wanted to preserve what they had, even at the expense of morality and justice.
This is why, if we look at the many rulers and governments that are maintained with iron fist, they are always in constant fear of losing their power to those who do not belong to the ruling elites. And they would use all things and armaments in their disposal in order to protect themselves and avoid their own fall from power and glory. This was exactly what Jesus said to Pilate, about if His kingdom were to be of this world, His supporters would have gone out all the way to save Him.
Instead, Jesus clearly stated that His kingdom and His kingship are different from all that, from all the traditional notions of power and glory that we mankind and this world are familiar with. This is because His kingdom is a kingdom of truth, of justice, of righteousness, and ultimately His kingdom is a kingdom of love. He leads as a King, not by fear and tyranny, nor by anger or hatred, but through genuine leadership shown through example and perfect love.
We have to realise that all of us are truly fortunate to have been placed under the grace and sovereignty of our Lord’s eternal and universal kingship. His kingship is eternal because it is a kingdom which reign and rule will never end, and God’s rule will persist forever without end. And His great rule will extend all over the entire universe, over all of creation and over the entire existence, since He has created all things, and therefore rightfully, He also lords it all over all of them.
But He did not despise all those that He had created, nor did He oppress them and treat them as if they were slaves. This is unlike the common action and perception of the kings and princes of this world, who stand above the rest of their respective peoples and treat them as subjects and subordinates that need to serve their needs in all things.
Instead, God is a loving Master, Who had not just expected from us obedience and genuine faith, but He also gave us the love, care and commitment that is equivalent if not greater than the obedience, faith and commitment that He is expecting from us. His kingship is a kingship of love and justice, and He as the King, leads all by His examples, through servant leadership.
Do we all still remember what Jesus frequently told His disciples about Himself? That He came into this world to serve and not to be served, meaning that even though He is King, and truly the King and Master of all the universe, but all these did not make Him proud or haughty, but instead, in order to fulfil perfectly the love and compassion which He has for us, He came down into this world, not as a great conquering King, but instead as a humble and poor Man.
Yes, and He came offering Himself to be our Deliverance and as our Saviour, to save us from our distress, and by giving Himself up, He showed us an example how a leader should lead others, by example and not by power and tyranny. We know the phrase that power corrupts, and absolute power corrupts absolutely. This is a reminder that we should not be obsessed with worldly power but rather we should look up at our Lord and see His good examples.
Brothers and sisters in Christ, how is this relevant to us? It is very relevant indeed, since all of us by partaking in our Lord and as we become the members of His Body, we have also shared in His divine and eternal kingship. We have been called to be a shepherd, priest and king through our baptism, and in the divine kingship we share with our Lord, we have our responsibilities to play.
And it is that all of us should live righteously before the Lord, leading one another by example through our own actions, that in all the things we do, we become paragons of righteousness, virtue, love and justice. Let us all remember this even as we rejoice and honour our Lord Jesus Christ, King of all kings and King of all the universe, that we also have a share in His kingship, both in the privilege and honour, as well as in its responsibilities.
May our Lord Jesus Christ, our King, Lord and Master be with us always, and may He guide us on our path, that we shall become ever better guides for our own brethren, and may through our actions and deeds, more souls shall come closer to the Lord and His salvation. Be with us, Lord, our Master and King. Amen.
Liturgical Colour : White
John 18 : 33b-37
At that time Pilate asked Jesus, “Are You the King of the Jews?” Jesus replied, “Does this word come from you, or did you hear it from others?”
Pilate answered, “Am I a Jew? Your own nation and the chief priests have handed You over to me. What have You done?” Jesus answered, “My kingship does not come from this world. If I were a King, like those of this world, my guards would have fought to save Me from being handed over to the Jews. But My kingship is not of this world.”
Pilate asked Him, “So You are a King?” And Jesus answered, “Just as you say, I am a King. For this I was born and for this I have come into the world, to bear witness to the truth. Everyone who is on the side of truth hears My voice.”
Liturgical Colour : White
Revelations 1 : 5-8
And from Jesus Christ, the faithful Witness, the Firstborn of the dead, the Ruler of the kings of the earth. To Him Who loves us and has washed away our sins with His own blood, making us a kingdom and priests for God His Father, to Him be the glory and power forever and ever. Amen.
See He comes with the clouds and everyone will see Him, even those who pierced Him; on His account all the nations of the earth will beat his breast. Yes. It will be so. “I am the Alpha and the Omega,” says the Lord God, He Who is, Who was, and Who is to come : the Master of the universe.
Liturgical Colour : White
Psalm 92 : 1ab, 1c-2, 5
The Lord reigns, robed in majesty; the Lord is girded with strength.
The world now is firm, it cannot be moved. Your throne stands from long ago, o Lord, from all eternity You are.
Your decrees can be trusted; holiness dwells in Your house day after day without end, o Lord.
Liturgical Colour : White
Daniel 7 : 13-14
I continued watching the nocturnal vision : One like a Son of Man came on the clouds of heaven. He faced the One of Great Age and was brought into His presence. Dominion, honour and kingship were given Him, and all the peoples and nations of every language served Him. His dominion is eternal and shall never pass away; His kingdom will never be destroyed.
Liturgical Colour : Green
Dear brothers and sisters in Christ, on this sacred day we celebrate together the Holy Mass in remembrance of the fact which the the Lord Who had offered and given Himself for our sake, that through Him and through His loving works, we may be given safety and assurance of the eternal life, which God has promised to all of those who remain faithful to Him.
And His desire is for us to bring us out of the darkness and back into the light. And through His works, He will liberate us from all the wickedness and vile things that held us back from our path to salvation. God will deliver us from the punishment and the suffering that awaits us all if we continue to progress on this path towards damnation. This path is the path of selfishness, of individualism and indifference and apathy towards God and His people.
Many of us in our human nature, we have the tendency to satisfy our own needs and desires first before the needs of others, and it is often that we even trample on the rights of others and bring suffering to others in order to make ourselves feel happy and satisfied. As a result, through these behaviours, we committed sin before the Lord, and thus we sink deeper into the darkness that seeks to claim our souls.
At first, indeed, there seemed to be no hope out of the darkness, for through sin, our ancestors had been cast out of the good and wonderful life they had led in the Gardens of Eden, and for their sins they had to suffer the consequences of their disobedience, succumbing to the sentence and the power of death. And death would have won the final victory had it not been for our Lord Himself, Who endeavoured and did His best to help us all.
Because of sin, we have been defiled and corrupted in our bodies, hearts, minds and souls. And because of the filth and corruption, we have been sundered from the Lord our God, Who is all good and perfect, as no evil and wickedness can withstand His presence. But this does not mean that we have been condemned forever or assured of hell, as sin is just like debt, and debt can indeed be paid for.
In the past, the priests offered sacrifices for the sake of the people by sacrificing unblemished lamb and other animals, shedding their blood and pouring them on the altar. The sweet offering of these goods pleased the Lord, who took them as the payment for our debts, that is our sins. The sweet smell of the offerings and the blood which is then sprayed on the people of God are the symbol of purification from the sins that had assailed them.
But these sacrifices and the blood of the lamb and the other animals are only temporary solutions to our problem of sin, as these do not offer us lasting protection and absolution from all of our sins. No amount of mortal blood, sacrifices and offerings can remove from us the multitudes and the huge amounts of our wickedness, sins, and unworthiness.
We may not realise it, but in our own lives, we have committed so many sins in our life, from the beginning to its end, and even now for us still living in this world, our sins are still adding up and growing in amount. Even all the small sins we have committed will be considered, as we have to realise that no matter how small the sin is, it will still impact us and prevent us from reaching out to the Lord our God, for sin has no place in His presence.
And many of us are unaware of this fact, thinking that we are all alright and have no issues in living our lives, in ignorance of the sins which we committed. And even more of us are likely to be unaware of the very important role that our Lord had taken up and in which capacity He had endeavoured to bring us all into the salvation and eternal life which He had promised all of His faithful ones.
He has taken up the role to be our Saviour, and to be the One High Priest, the True High Priest, as Priest of all priests, to offer the perfect sacrifice through which He would sanctify all of His beloved people, purifying all of us mankind from the taints of our original sins, the accumulated sins of our rebellion and our iniquities since the very beginning of time and creation.
And He did not offer the blood of animals, or their flesh to be immolated and offered to God, but rather, He came down to us in the flesh of Man, that by mingling Himself with our substance, we become sharers in His divine mission, through which, He offered His own Most Precious Body and the Most Precious Blood to be the perfect sacrifice and offering, through which the salvation of this world came from.
He did not offer this offering many times, as the priests of old had done. Instead, through the one and only sacrifice which He performed on that fateful day at the hills of Calvary, bearing His cross on His back, He was lifted up high as the very perfect sacrifice that becomes the sacrifice which obliterates and absolves all of us from the taints of our sins. And this purification He offered to all of us, and to all of us who receive Him as our Lord and Saviour, He will bless us with the eternal life and blessings that He had promised all of us.
But this comes with a reminder, that all of us, even after we have been baptised into the Faith in God, and received as the members of His Church, we are still susceptible to the corrupting power of sin, and temptations are always abound around us. Satan and all of his allies, his fellow fallen angels, the demons and the tempters are always trying day and night to assault us, corrupt us and turn us away from the path towards salvation and instead into damnation.
It is important therefore that we are prepared for what is to come, that we must know that the Lord Jesus, our Lord, Saviour and God will come again just as He has said and promised to all of us, that when He comes again at the end of time, He shall judge all of creation, and all those who are righteous He will gather up and keep to Himself, while those who have not walked in His path will be rejected and cast out to eternal darkness.
What is important is that we must take note that the time of His coming will not be known to us. Only God alone knows at what exact and precise time He will come again to judge all things. This means that we cannot be lax and ignorant of this fact, living our lives as we please and as we want it, committing sins day and night, big and small, while thinking that we are assured of salvation.
Rather, all of us must always be vigilant and be ever ready to welcome the Lord when He comes again, and when He comes again, we want ourselves to be found worthy and in His grace, and thus merit the eternal life and joy He has promised to all those who remain true to Him to the end. Let us all strive for goodness in all things and commit ourselves to do good in all of our actions, trusting in God and in all of His promises, and make ourselves ever worthy of Him. God bless us all. Amen.
Liturgical Colour : Green
Mark 13 : 24-32
At that time, Jesus said to His disciples and to the people, “Later on in those days, after that disastrous time, the sun will grow dark, the moon will not give its light, the stars will fall out of the sky, and the whole universe will be shaken.”
“Then people will see the Son of Man coming in the clouds with great power and glory. And He will send the Angels to gather His chosen people from the four winds, from the ends of the earth to the ends of the sky.”
“Learn a lesson from the fig tree : as soon as its branches become tender and it begins to sprout leaves, you know that summer is near. In the same way, when you see these things happening, know that the time is near, even at the door. Truly, I say to you, this generation will not pass away until all this has happened. Heaven and earth will pass away, but My words will not pass away.”
“But, regarding that day and that hour, no one knows when it will come, not even the Angels, not even the Son, but only the Father.”
Liturgical Colour : Green
Hebrews 10 : 11-14, 18
So, whereas every priest stands daily by the altar offering repeatedly the same sacrifices that can never take away sins, Christ has offered for all times a single sacrifice for sins and has taken His seat at the right hand of God, waiting until God puts His enemies as a footstool under His feet. By a single sacrifice He has brought those who are sanctified to what is perfect forever.
So, if sins are forgiven, there is no longer need of any sacrifice for sin.
Liturgical Colour : Green
Psalm 15 : 5 and 8, 9-10, 11
O Lord, my inheritance and my cup, my chosen portion – hold secure my lot. I keep the Lord always before me; for with Him at my right hand, I will never be shaken.
My heart, therefore, exults, my soul rejoices; my body too will rest assured. For You will not abandon my soul to the grave, nor will You suffer Your Holy One to see decay in the land of the dead.
You will show me the path of life, in Your presence the fullness of joy, at Your right hand happiness forever.
petercanisiusmichaeldavidkang 