Sunday

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Sunday, 20 September 2015 : Twenty-Fifth Sunday of Ordinary Time, Memorial of St. Laurent Imbert, Bishop, St. Jacques Chastan, Priest and St. Andrew Kim Tae-gon, Priest, and St. Paul Chong Ha-sang, and Companions, Martyrs (Homily and Scripture Reflections)

Liturgical Colour : Green

Dear brothers and sisters in Christ, on this day we heard from the Scripture the difficulties and challenges that we all will encounter on our way as we live out our lives in faith in the Lord. It is important for us to take note that to have faith in the Lord, it is likely for us to encounter challenges, opposition, ridicule, rejection and bad treatment, even from those whom we considered to be good friends and relatives.

It will not be an easy life for us if we decide to walk the Lord’s path and follow Him to His salvation. Those who think that becoming the disciples of the Lord Jesus is easy will find that they are mistaken. This is because to become a member of God’s Church, as His disciples and children, it is necessary for us to make sacrifices and to let go of certain things that prevent us from achieving what God seeks from us to be saved

And this is the attitude of rejecting oneself, one’s own ego, needs, desires and all the temptations of the flesh, the temptation of worldly glory and fame, and the temptation to be ignorant and exclusive towards the sufferings of the world around us, our brethren who need our help. If we are able to accomplish all these, then we are indeed one step closer to be good and devoted disciples of our Lord.

God Himself mentioned through the parable of the dishonest and wicked steward, who cheated his master of his possessions, and when he was discovered and fired from his position, he used his power to safeguard himself, by using his trickery to cheat out of his master’s debts owned by several people, where he gained favour by reducing those debts and so, while he lost his job, he hoped that those whom he had helped would help him in return.

That is the way of the world, the way of the wicked, the way of those who serve themselves and are servants of money and possessions, and not servants and followers of the Lord. This is what the Lord mentioned, when He said that those who follow one master will not be able to obey another master, for either he will despise one and love the other, or vice versa.

In that way therefore, to reinforce what I have mentioned earlier on, that all those who want to follow the Lord faithfully shall suffer and face numerous and various challenges and obstacles on their way, that is their lives. There are many differences between the way and customs of this world as compared to the ways taught to us by our Lord, that is faith, righteousness, justice and love. The world on the other hand, prioritises selfish desires, money and pleasures of the flesh.

It is not necessary that the two ways should clash with each other, but what is to be expected is that it is inevitable that conflicts between the two will arise in time, as we will be made to choose between our Lord and His ways, and with the world and its ways. There will be moment when the difficult choice will be presented to us, or it might even have happened to us in the past, when we have no choice but to choose between appeasing the world and displeasing the Lord, or appeasing the Lord but displeasing the world.

Do not be surprised that one day people will scold us, rebuke us, reject us and ostracise us because we decide to do what is right for the Lord but considered wrong in the eyes and perception of the world. For example, if we have been aware of the state of the world so far, we would already know how far the culture of death is spreading throughout the world and into all echelons of society. And it is worrying indeed how our faith and the Church are under increasing pressure to give up our struggle and fight in the defence of the faith.

For instance, many people around the world, and even regretfully even counting among those who are in the Church, who believe that committing something as heinous and unthinkable as abortion and euthanasia, and many other actions that trample on the sanctity and dignity of life is not wrong or considered morally acceptable to do so. And there are many of those who pushed and lobbied for the acceptance of such sinful things, and claim that they are representing and defending our human rights to be able to do as we please with our bodies and with ourselves.

But they did not realise that such abominations are wicked and evil in the sight of not only men, but in the sight of God as well. Life is sacred and holy, no matter under what circumstances it is. Instead of honouring and protecting life in all the means they are able to contribute, we mankind instead strive to destroy them, whenever we think of them as obstacles to our own selfish desires and wants.

Indeed, the pressure is great for many of us to accept and acknowledge the legality of such vileness, but as those who truly believe in the Lord, if we really are faithful to the Lord, then all of us should persist in our resistance against such injustice and wickedness committed against innocent lives. Let us all not ignore or shy away or be afraid from standing up for our faith, as it is better for us to suffer and be rejected, and yet receive God’s approval and salvation, rather than to be accepted by the world but we lose the grace and favour of our Lord.

Let us all then reflect on the lives of the holy saints and martyrs whose feast we are celebrating today, the martyr saints of Korea. There were many of them, and all of them had had different lives and came from different periods of time spanning about two centuries, but they all share one thing in common, that is they gave their lives up in the defence of their faith, or that they were martyred and killed on the frontline of their works as the servants of the Lord and His Church.

Today there are many Christians, our brethren in faith in Korea, and the numbers are continuing to increase rapidly over the years. But if we look at the current situation, in comparison with how it was in the past and what it meant to evangelise to the people of Korea about the Lord Jesus, then we certainly will find it difficult to understand the kind of challenges and sufferings these faithful servants of the Lord and the faithful encountered there.

St. Andrew Kim Tae-gon was the first indigenous Korean who was ordained a priest of the Church, and he and many of his other Korean brethren who have believed in the Lord encountered great persecutions by the government of Korea at the time, which was intensely against the Faith and persecuted these people whom they considered as traitors to their nation.

And counted among these martyrs were also the missionaries from different countries, but many came from France as part of the missionaries to Asia. Among them were St. Laurent Imbert, the Vicar Apostolic of Korea, one of the first bishops of Korea, and St. Jacques Chastan with many other priests and missionaries who braved rejection, cultural and linguistic barriers, and even the threat and real risk of death to bring the Lord Jesus and His truth to the people who have yet to hear of Him.

And they did their works faithfully, carrying out all the missions which had been entrusted to them without worry or fear. And when many of the faithful were under the threat of death and suffering, and the government was offering an exchange, allowing the faithful to live and to go unpunished if the missionaries and the leaders gave themselves up, St. Laurent Imbert as the bishop of the faithful gave himself up willingly, saying in his now famous words, which he took from the words of Jesus, that ‘the good shepherd lay down his life for his sheep.’

He and the other missionaries could have continued to hide themselves or to run away and abandon their mission, and in the process saving their lives, but they did not do so, because they know that if they try to preserve themselves and to put themselves first before the needs of others, as the world advocated them to do, then they would not preserve their lives in the world that is to come.

Remember that Jesus Himself said that those who tried to preserve their lives on earth would lose them, and those who lost their lives for God’s sake, in the defence of their faith would gain eternal life? This is precisely what it meant, and all of us ought to heed it as well and learn our lesson from what we have talked about on this day, or else we risk falling into sin and darkness yet again.

Brothers and sisters in Christ, all of us have to realise that suffering is a part of our faith, and rather than fearing it or running away from it, why not we embrace it with full faith and full trust in the Lord, that He will be with us through it all? Running away from the problem does not resolve it, and indeed made the matter even worse. Instead, we really should face it with faith and trust in the Lord, and make a solid stand for our faith and for what we truly believe in.

May Almighty God bless us all and keep us always in His grace, and may we all learn to put our trust in Him and know that He will be with us as long as we are faithful to Him, and He will not let harm that lasts to come to us. Let us all realise that at the end of the difficulties and the sufferings we are to endure as the followers of our God are our crosses that we carry together with us, that in the end, just as our Lord is risen in glory, we too may rise with Him together into the glory of eternal life. God bless us all. Amen.

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Sunday, 20 September 2015 : Twenty-Fifth Sunday of Ordinary Time, Memorial of St. Laurent Imbert, Bishop, St. Jacques Chastan, Priest and St. Andrew Kim Tae-gon, Priest, and St. Paul Chong Ha-sang, and Companions, Martyrs (Gospel Reading)

Liturgical Colour : Green

Mark 9 : 30-37

At that time, after leaving the place where He drove out demons from a young boy, Jesus and His disciples made their way through Galilee; but He did not want people to know where He was because He was teaching His disciples.

And He told them, “The Son of Man will be delivered into the hands of men. They will kill Him, but three days after He has been killed, He will rise.” The disciples, however, did not understand these words and they were afraid to ask Him what He meant.

They came to Capernaum and, once inside the house, Jesus asked them, “What were you discussing on the way?” But they did not answer, because they had been arguing about who was the greatest. Then He sat down, called the Twelve and said to them, “If someone wants to be first, let him be last of all and servant of all.”

Then He took a little child, placed him in their midst, and putting His arms around him He said to them, “Whoever welcomes a child such as this in My Name, welcomes Me; and whoever welcomes Me, welcomes not Me but the One who sent Me.”

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Sunday, 20 September 2015 : Twenty-Fifth Sunday of Ordinary Time, Memorial of St. Laurent Imbert, Bishop, St. Jacques Chastan, Priest and St. Andrew Kim Tae-gon, Priest, and St. Paul Chong Ha-sang, and Companions, Martyrs (Second Reading)

Liturgical Colour : Green

James 3 : 16 – James 4 : 3

Wherever there is jealousy and ambition, you will also find discord and all that is evil. Instead, the wisdom that comes from above is pure and peace-loving. Persons with this wisdom show understanding and listen to advice; they are full of compassion and good works; they are impartial and sincere. Peacemakers who sow peace reap a harvest of justice.

What causes these fights and quarrels among you? Is it not your cravings that make war within your own selves? When you long for something you cannot have, you kill for it and when you do not get what you desire, you squabble and fight. The fact is, you do not have what you want because you do not pray for it.

You pray for something and you do not get it because you pray with the wrong motive of indulging your pleasures.

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Sunday, 20 September 2015 : Twenty-Fifth Sunday of Ordinary Time, Memorial of St. Laurent Imbert, Bishop, St. Jacques Chastan, Priest and St. Andrew Kim Tae-gon, Priest, and St. Paul Chong Ha-sang, and Companions, Martyrs (Psalm)

Liturgical Colour : Green

Psalm 53 : 3-4, 5, 6 and 8

By Your Name, o God, save me; You, the Valiant, uphold my cause. Hear my prayer, o God; listen to the words of my mouth.

Strangers are against me – the ruthless seek my life; they have no regard for God.

See, God is my Helper; the Lord upholds my life. Freely will I offer sacrifice to You and praise Your Name, o Lord, for it is good.

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Sunday, 20 September 2015 : Twenty-Fifth Sunday of Ordinary Time, Memorial of St. Laurent Imbert, Bishop, St. Jacques Chastan, Priest and St. Andrew Kim Tae-gon, Priest, and St. Paul Chong Ha-sang, and Companions, Martyrs (First Reading)

Liturgical Colour : Green

Wisdom 2 : 12a, 17-20

Let us set a trap for the righteous, for He annoys us and opposes our way of life. Let us see the truth of what He says and find out what His end will be. If the Righteous is a Son of God, God will defend Him and deliver Him from His adversaries.

Let us humble and torture Him to prove His self-control and test His patience. When we have condemned Him to a shameful death, we may test His words.

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Sunday, 13 September 2015 : Twenty-Fourth Sunday of Ordinary Time, Memorial of St. John Chrysostom, Bishop and Doctor of the Church (Homily and Scripture Reflections)

Liturgical Colour : Green

Dear brothers and sisters in Christ, on this day, the core message of the Scripture readings from both the Old Testament and the New Testament, as well as from the Gospel is about the Lord who came down to this world to dwell among us, and then brought us free from the chains and the bonds of sin that have kept us enchained and enslaved to suffering and death.

It was through the willing sacrifice, the willingness to bear all the huge burdens and the mountains of our sins that had been accumulated and is accumulating through time, as every man committed sin before God, on the weight of the cross that Christ our Lord had brought with Him as He walked down that road from Jerusalem towards Calvary, where He would give Himself up for the sake of all mankind.

The cross of our Lord Jesus Christ is not just the physical burden of the wood that made it up. It is filled with the entirety of mankind’s sins and the punishments that were to be due for it. Ever since mankind had first sinned against the Lord, by disobeying Him and following their own path, they have been cast out from the grace and the love God had prepared for them, and they have gotten for themselves the sufferings of the world, for they have chosen the path of suffering by disobedience, and death claimed them as its own, as their sins brought about their mortality.

Yes, because of our sins, we would have endured eternal suffering and hell, not the hell filled with fire and all the imaginable forms of suffering as how hell was often illustrated like, but the hell of suffering due to the lack of the love of God, the lack and the total absence of hope, because God’s favour is not with us, and when we look on our Lord, our Father and Creator, He would say to us, “I do not know you, begone from My presence, you wicked people!”

But this is not to be the case, as our Lord is ever merciful and ever loving. Indeed, He despises all forms of sins and wickedness, all the disobedience and rebelliousness, all the evils that had kept us away from Him. Yet, God despises not each one of us individually and without good reason, but instead it is our sins He despises, and not us as a person.

Why is this so? That is because He knew that all of us have good in each one of us, and each of us has the potential for both good and for evil. He had crafted each one of us from the earth, from the dust and the ground, fashioned us in His own image and then breathed life upon all of us, giving us His own Spirit of life. The Lord created us pure and immaculate, although the taint of original sin once overshadowed us, but we have been freed though the works of Christ.

And as all of us were created pure and clean, white as wool and immaculate as an empty slate, then all of us have to write and define what our lives would become. And we have to realise that this faith which we have through baptism, by the Sacrament of Baptism we have been made clean, freed from the taints of any sins, our original sins, our other sins big and small.

But our faith should not be just that, and our faith cannot be just a mere profession of faith or a mere proclamation or testimony. That is not enough, as faith is more than just words or profession, but it involves true and real commitment, as St. James made it clear in his epistle or letter to the faithful in the Church, that faith without good works is just the same as a dead and nonexistent faith.

For faith that benefits us and the state of the salvation of our souls is the kind of faith which Jesus had taught us all through His many parables. Faith cannot just be left by itself or else it will perish and be gone without any good. Let is look into the parable of the sower that Christ had taught His disciples, which represents all of us, the faith which we have received, and the outcome of our faith depending on our actions.

The Word of God are the seeds of faith which God, the Sower had placed in our hearts, by the life He had given us, and by the truth which God had revealed to us through the Scriptures and through the Church. And yet, if we notice in that parable, depending on where the seeds fell, be it on the roadside, on rocky ground, amongst thorny bushes or amongst rich soil, the result of the crop is very, very different.

If our faith is not strong or founded upon solid foundation built by hard work, devotion and total commitment to the Lord, then it will be like the seeds that fell on the roadside, or on the rocky ground, or on the thorny bushes, because the devil comes and then plant his seeds of evil and dissension, and the temptations which he brings us all is too much for us to bear, and without deep roots in the faith, it is very easy for us all to fall back once again into sin and darkness.

That is why, in the Gospel today, we have to pay very close attention to what the Lord Jesus spoke to His disciples, and how He rebuked Peter for refusing to believe what would happen to Him. To the feeble and easily tempted minds of men, it might indeed seem to be incoherent and impossible to hear Jesus speaking on one side, of His truth as the Messiah and Lord of all, but then on the other hand, to hear of His prophecy of His own suffering at the very hands of the people to whom He had been sent to.

Satan’s temptation is exactly that we may think that to follow the Lord is all good and easy, and when we find that it is not so, then we feel confused and vulnerable, and then Satan comes in to tempt us and to lure us back into sin, by offering us the alternative pathway that seems to be easier and without obstacle, unlike the path which we will face if we are to follow the Lord our God.

Jesus Himself had endured this when He was tempted by Satan in the desert during His forty days of fasting and preparation in the desert after His baptism by St. John the Baptist. At that moment, Satan tried to persuade Jesus to sin and to disobey the Lord without success, and He remained committed to the mission given to Him, that is the salvation of all mankind.

And when Satan saw that his temptations and attempts were thwarted, he tried yet again to persuade Jesus to abandon His ministry and works, by trying to dissuade Him from taking such a perilous task and enduring such sufferings for the sake of men, and indeed, a common argument for Satan in doing so is that mankind is not worth the great suffering which our Lord Jesus was to endure for the sake of all of us.

But to our Lord who loves us all beyond anything else, no pain or suffering is great enough to warrant Him to abandon us or to cast us out without trying to release us from the burden that had weighed us down all these while. He rebuked Satan and rejected him, and warned him that his dominion over men has come to an end, for God has come to take back His people, and He did so through the cross.

Tomorrow we shall be celebrating the feast of the exaltation of the Holy Cross, and indeed it is very timely and apt that the celebration of the triumph of the Holy Cross ties in very closely to today’s readings and theme. It is indeed through the cross that our Lord had redeemed us all from our sins and bore the punishments meant for us, and He has also turned that symbol of ultimate shame and defeat, into the ultimate symbol of triumph and victory.

Now, all that remains for us is that, if we become the followers and disciples of Christ, we take a share in the suffering which He bore, the rejection and the ridicule He endured, not because of our sins, which have been taken from us and from which we have been redeemed, but it is because of the opposition and jealousy of Satan and all of his allies that had brought about this suffering.

Let us all ask ourselves, if we are able to renew our commitment which we made at our baptism, either by ourselves or by our godparents, and which we renew yearly at Easter. If we want to be true disciples of our Lord, then we must be ready to reject Satan and all of his lies and false promises, and embrace fully the way of the Lord. And indeed, as our Lord had told us, that we all have to bear our own crosses, following the path of our Lord towards eternal life.

This means that the path ahead will be filled with challenges and difficulties for us, and there will likely be opposition ahead, even from amongst those close to us. But if we are truly committed, then I am sure that even all these should not hinder us from moving onward. Carrying our cross may be heavy for us, but that is where we should help one another, and doing the will of God by loving our brethren and helping those in need are also in fact part of what carrying our own crosses is about.

Brothers and sisters in Christ, let us grow ever more confident in our faith, and let us devote ourselves more and more to our loving God, and commit ourselves not just in mere words and proclamations of faith, but even more, through our own actions and deeds, so that in all the things that we do, we proclaim the glory of God, carrying the crosses of our lives, and following Jesus, may all of us attain the eternal life God has assured all of us who keep our faith in Him. God bless us all. Amen.

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Sunday, 13 September 2015 : Twenty-Fourth Sunday of Ordinary Time, Memorial of St. John Chrysostom, Bishop and Doctor of the Church (Gospel Reading)

Liturgical Colour : Green

Mark 8 : 27-35

At that time, Jesus set out with His disciples for the villages around Caesarea Philippi : and on the way He asked them, “Who do people say I am?” And they told Him, “Some say You are John the Baptist; others say You are Elijah or one of the prophets.”

Then Jesus asked them, “But You, who do You say I am?” Peter answered, “You are the Messiah.” And He ordered them not to tell anyone about Him. Jesus then began to teach them that the Son of Man had to suffer many things and be rejected by the elders, the chief priests and the teachers of the Law. He would be killed, and after three days rise again.

Jesus said all this quite openly, so that Peter took Him aside and began to protest strongly. But Jesus turned around, and looking at His disciples, rebuked Peter, saying, “Get behind Me, Satan! You are thinking not as God does, but as people do.”

Then Jesus called the people and His disciples, and said, “If you want to follow Me, deny yourself, take up your cross and follow Me. For if you choose to save your life, you will lose it; and if you lose your life for My sake and for the sake of the Gospel, you will save it.”

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Sunday, 13 September 2015 : Twenty-Fourth Sunday of Ordinary Time, Memorial of St. John Chrysostom, Bishop and Doctor of the Church (Second Reading)

Liturgical Colour : Green

James 2 : 14-18

What good is it, my brothers and sisters, to profess faith without showing works? Such faith has no power to save you. If a brother or sister is in need of clothes or food and one of you says, “May things go well for you; be warm and satisfied,” without attending to their material needs, what good is that? So it is for faith without deeds : it is totally dead.

Say to whoever challenges you, “You have faith and I have good deeds, show me your faith apart from actions and I, for my part, will show you my faith in the way I act.”

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Sunday, 13 September 2015 : Twenty-Fourth Sunday of Ordinary Time, Memorial of St. John Chrysostom, Bishop and Doctor of the Church (Psalm)

Liturgical Colour : Green

Psalm 114 : 1-2, 3-4, 5-6, 8-9

Alleluia! I am pleased that the Lord has heard my voice in supplication, that He has not been deaf to me, the day I called on Him.

When the cords of death entangled me, the snares of the grave laid hold of me, I called upon the Name of the Lord : “O Lord, save my life!”

Gracious and righteous is the Lord; full of compassion is our God. The Lord protects the simple : He saved me when I was humbled.

He has freed my soul from death, my eyes from weeping, my feet from stumbling; I will walk before the Lord in the land of the living.

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Sunday, 13 September 2015 : Twenty-Fourth Sunday of Ordinary Time, Memorial of St. John Chrysostom, Bishop and Doctor of the Church (First Reading)

Liturgical Colour : Green

Isaiah 50 : 5-9a

The Lord YHVH has opened My ear. I have not rebelled, nor have I withdrawn. I offered My back to those who strike Me, My cheeks to those who pulled My beard; neither did I shield My face from blows, spittle and disgrace.

I have not despaired, for the Lord YHVH comes to My help. So, like a flint I set My face, knowing that I will not be disgraced. He who avenges Me is near. Who then will accuse Me? Let us confront each other. Who is now My accuser? Let him approach. If the Lord YHVH is My help, who will condemn Me?