Matthew 12 : 46-50
While Jesus was still talking to the people, His mother and His brothers wanted to speak to Him, and they waited outside. So someone said to Him, “Your mother and Your brothers are standing outside; they want to speak with You.”
Jesus answered, “Who is My mother? Who are My brothers?” Then He pointed to His disciples and said, “Look! Here are My mother and My brothers. Whoever does the will of My Father in heaven is for Me brother, sister, or mother.”
Luke 10 : 38-42
As Jesus and His disciples were on their way, He entered a village, and a woman called Martha welcomed Him to her house. She had a sister named Mary, who sat down at the Lord’s feet to listen to His words. Martha, meanwhile, was busy with all the serving, and finally she said, “Lord, don’t you care that my sister has left me to do all the work? Tell her to help me!”
But the Lord answered, “Martha, Martha, you worry and are troubled about many things, whereas only one thing is needed. Mary has chosen the better part, and it will not be taken away from her.”
Brothers and sisters, today we heard the story of Moses, how he was called from his exile in Midian, from his job as a shepherd, to be the liberator of the people of Israel, how God appeared to him through the means of a burning bush that remained untouched by the fire. God called him to be the shepherd of His people, Israel, and to guide them as a leader to lead them to the promised Land that God had given to Abraham and his descendants.
The same happened to us, because Christ had called all of us to follow Him, to follow Him out of the land of our slavery, that is our world of sin and evil. He called us out of the land of sin, just as He had once called His people, the people of Israel, whom He had chosen among the nations, out of the land of Egypt and the slavery under the Pharaohs.
Just as He had brought freedom to the people of Israel from the yoke of the Egyptians, so He had brought liberation to us suffering from the yoke of Satan, that is the yoke of sin. He opened the gates of salvation just as He had opened the sea for the people of Israel to walk through in the past. He led His people to safety in His love and care for all those who belong to Him, because we are His sheep and He is our shepherd.
The Lord revealed the truth through His Son, to all of us, as we had heard them through the teachings passed down directly from the Apostles themselves, who listened to the words of the Lord, when He still walked on this earth. He hid the knowledge from the haughty and the prideful, those who trusted their wisdom better than the true wisdom of the Lord. It does not mean that God hates those who are learned and knowledgeable or wise, but in fact, the Lord wants us to focus on Him and not on ourselves, and that is why He rebuked those who thought highly of themselves and their wisdom, because they did not honour God and give due glory to Him, who is the source of all wisdom, but give glory to themselves.
Those who put their trust in human wisdom and achievements often did not give due glory to God, because without God, mankind is nothing, and they will not have wisdom, if it has not been instilled by the Holy Spirit. Only through Jesus and His disciples that the teachings they took can be passed down to us in revelation.
In our pride and natural sense of arrogance, in our human achievements and brilliance, we like to glorify ourselves upon our successes, and did not give proper thanks to the Lord who had actually made it possible for us to gain those successes. In our world of knowledge today, we tend to think that we have found what we need to know about literally everything, and begin to shun the Lord whom we think as inexistent.
But the Lord is real, brothers and sisters, as real as His death for us, for our sake that we do not have to suffer death, but gain a new life in Him. Our wisdom does help us, brothers and sisters, as our intelligence is given by the Lord, but if we do not use it correctly, our wisdom can become a trap, in that it prevents us from reaching out to the Lord, because in our wisdom, we can succumb to our sense of pride, that we would close ourselves, our hearts from the Lord.
To us, God has given wisdom and knowledge, so that we can use them for the sake of ourselves and the world around us. It is not for us to be proud in ourselves and shut ourselves from God’s love. He came so that we can be saved, from the tyranny of sin, evil, and thus, death. Just as He had lifted up the people of Israel from the slavery in Egypt and brought them to the Promised Land of milk and honey, so He did bring us up from this slavery of sin, into a new life, and eventually the eternal bliss of everlasting life in happiness in heaven.
Therefore, brothers and sisters in Christ, let us reaffirm our faith in our God, the source of our wisdom, our intelligence, and of course, our salvation. It is from the Lord Jesus Christ that we received this new life, filled with hope, and the wisdom that came from the Holy Spirit. It is because of our Lord Jesus Christ that we no longer need to fear death, because He has taken away our sins through His sacrifice in death, that all of us who remain faithful in Him, will be free from the tyranny of sin, forever, just as the people of Israel had been liberated from the yoke of the Pharaoh.
May the Lord be with us, protect us, and empower us, that we will remain strong against the challenges of life, the yoke of suffering that is bearing down with us, and together with Christ, let us carry our crosses, walking towards the Lord our God, who loves us, and who wants us to be reunited with Him.
Matthew 10 : 34 – Matthew 11 : 1
Do not think that I have come to establish peace on earth. I have not come to bring peace, but a sword. For I have come to set a man against his father, and a daughter against her mother, a daughter-in-law against her mother-in-law. Each one will have as enemies those of one’s own family.
Whoever loves father or mother more than Me is not worthy of Me. And whoever loves son or daughter more than Me is not worthy of Me. And whoever does not take up his cross and come after Me is not worthy of Me. Whoever finds his life will lose it; but whoever loses his life for My sake will find it.
Whoever welcomes you welcomes Me, and whoever welcomes Me welcomes Him who sent Me. The one who welcomes a prophet as a prophet will receive the reward of a prophet; the one who welcomes a just man, because he is a just man, will receive the reward of a just man. And if anyone gives even a cup of cold water to one of these little ones, because he is My disciple, I assure you, he will not go unrewarded.
When Jesus had finished giving His twelve disciples these instructions, He went on from there to teach and to proclaim His message in their towns.
Brothers and sisters in Christ, the Lord is driven to compassion for the sake of all of us, because of our poverty, the poverty of our souls, of our sinfulness, and our lack of leadership. That is because we are all like sheep without a shepherd, going in all directions and getting lost. Christ came into this world, and painstakingly taking all of us into His fold, as the Good Shepherd, seeking the lost ones one by one, until all of us are found once again and reunited.
The Lord our God does not wish us to be lost or forever separated from Him. He came down Himself and suffered for our sake, that eventually we can be reunited with Him for eternity. For there is no other option besides salvation, other than eternal damnation. That is why Christ came to us to offer us the other option that is salvation and eternal life. He became our shepherd, the Good Shepherd, so that we will no longer be lost. He became our guide, our leader, the light of our path, and our God.
Today we celebrate the memorial and feast of St. Augustine Zhao Rong and his companions, who are the Catholic martyrs from China, and many of them were martyred during the Boxer Rebellion at the turn of the twentieth century, when a severe persecution against Christians in China occurred. Many Christians, including St. Augustine Zhao Rong and his companions were murdered brutally for their faith, because they refused to renounce their faith and kept holding steadfastly to their faith.
St. Augustine Zhao Rong himself was a Chinese diocesan priest who served in several areas in China before he was arrested, tortured until his death in the defense of his Christian faith. He did not give up on the Lord and remained faithful. The same case had happened for many other martyrs of China, many of whom were repeatedly asked and offered to reject the Lord and reembrace pagan practices, but they refused and were received into heaven with a martyr’s glory.
These martyrs, the local Chinese and the Western missionaries, were joined in death for the sake of their faith in Christ, and they embody to us, the virtues of a faithful life dedicated to the Lord. A life lived with zeal and love for the Lord and His people, and with purpose. Opposition and persecution will naturally come, but they will be able to subvert the faith of the just ones.
Indeed, brothers and sisters in Christ, even today, the Church throughout the world, particularly in China, where St. Augustine Zhao Rong and companions met their martyrdom, where religious freedom, superficial as it is, is very limited and bordering on being non-existent. The Church was forced to serve the atheistic government, who views the Church as a hostile entity, and therefore they tried to destroy it. When the attempts to destroy the Church had not been successful, they resolve to weaken the Church by seizing it out of the Universal Church.
Many people there still suffer today, and Christians in the Church suffer an even greater suffering, being seen as ‘hostile’ by the government, and as a ‘threat’ that needs to be eliminated. Yet, as the saying goes, that the blood of martyrs is the seed of Christians, persecution and opposition brings fervour and zeal to the people of God, that they may not just persevere through the tough times, but indeed prosper and grow.
But seeds cannot grow without proper care and provision, as we need labourers to constantly care and give all their time into the effort. That is why the Lord said that though the harvest is plentiful, but the labourers are few. We need more labourers to harvest the field of the Lord, and these harvests are simply the people who come to know the Lord, and to be saved. The labourers are none other than our priests, supported by all of us, the laity.
All around the world, including in China, there are increasing shortage of priests to serve the people of God. The number of the people in the Church has grown significantly while the number of priests had been stagnating for quite a long time. This makes it increasingly difficult, especially in the areas where the Church is growing, to project itself through love and service, and also to conduct worship in the Mass, in which priests are badly needed.
It is more and more difficult to gain new priests nowadays, brethren, because the world increasingly shut the Lord out of the minds of the young people, many of whom are called by the Lord. Yes, many are called, but few responded, and among those who responded, even fewer followed his calling through to the end in service of the people of the Lord. It is important that we bring the zeal and devotion, and the love for God back to all of us, especially those whom the Lord had called and entrusted with His flock.
Even priests and religious brothers and sisters must also be growing in faith and love. All of us cannot be complacent otherwise we would be caught unprepared by the devil, whose works are many, and whose deceit and trickery threatened to corrupt many people and turn them away from the Lord their God.
Therefore, brothers and sisters, inspired by the devotion and zeal of St. Augustine Zhao Rong, his companions, the martyrs of China, let us persevere against the opposition and the persecution of the faith in any form that is there in this world, in our society, and even in our families. Let us foster a prayerful and loving atmosphere in our homes, in our communities, in our parishes, that we can allow the faith to grow strong in all of us, especially our youths, some of whom may be future priests and servants of God and His people.
Pray, brethren, and pray hard, for the sake of our Church, for God’s people, and especially a special intention for the Church in China, for our brethren in faith unjustly treated and persecuted for their faith and obedience to the Lord rather than to the secular and Godless authority. May the Lord strengthen them in faith, give them courage, and remain with them through their ordeal, and may He also be with us, at all times. Amen.
Galatians 6 : 14-18
For me, I do not wish to take pride in anything except in the cross of Christ Jesus our Lord. Through Him the world has been crucified to me and I to the world. Let us no longer speak of the circumcised and of non-Jews, but of a new creation. Let those who live according to this rule receive peace and mercy : they are the Israel of God!
Let no one trouble me any longer : for my part, I bear in my body the marks of Jesus. May the grace of Christ Jesus our Lord be with your spirit, brothers and sisters. Amen.
Matthew 9 : 1-8
Jesus got back into the boat, crossed the lake again, and came to His hometown. Here they brought a paralysed man to Him, lying on a bed. Jesus saw their faith and said to the paralytic, “Courage, My son! Your sins are forgiven.”
Then some teachers of the Law said within themselves, “This Man insults God.” Jesus was aware of what they were thinking, and said, “Why have you such evil thoughts? Which is easier to say : ‘Your sins are forgiven’ or ‘Stand up, and walk’? You must know that the Son of Man has authority on earth to forgive sins.”
He then said to the paralysed man, “Stand up! Take your stretcher and go home.” The man got up and went home. When the crowds saw this, they were filled with awe, and praised God for giving such power to human beings.
Matthew 7 : 21-29
“Not everyone who says to Me, ‘Lord! Lord!’ will enter the kingdom of heaven, but the one who does the will of My heavenly Father. Many will say to Me on that day, ‘Lord, Lord, did we not speak in Your Name? Did we not cast out devils and perform many miracles in Your Name?’ Then I will tell them openly, ‘I have never known you; away from Me, you evil people!'”
“So then, anyone who hears these words of Mine, and acts accordingly, is like a wise man, who built his house on rock. The rain poured, the rivers flooded, and the wind blew and struck that house, but it did not collapse because it was built on rock. But anyone who hears these words of mine, and does not act accordingly, is like a fool who built his house on sand. The rain poured, the rivers flooded, and the wind blew and struck that house; it collapsed, and what a terrible fall that was!”
When Jesus had finished this discourse, the crowds were struck by the way He taught, because He taught with authority, unlike their teachers of the Law.
Dear brothers and sisters in Christ, today we listen to the word of the Gospel, in which Jesus asked His disciples about His true identity. And we heard how Peter, the leader of the disciples, proclaimed the truth about Jesus, that He is indeed the Messiah sent by the Lord for the salvation of this world. The truth however, is not known to many, as the people, in their ignorance, thought Him merely just as another prophet sent by God, or a holy men. There were even those like the Pharisees, the elders, and the chief priests who rejected Him outright and saw Him as a rival to their teaching authority.
Christ our Lord is indeed the Messiah, and He is also the Son of God, one of the Holy Trinity, and therefore, is the Supreme King of all Creation, of all the Universe. He is the most powerful being in all creation, and yet, He lowered Himself by descending from His glory in heaven, to be like us, to be born of a humble virgin, in a stable. A king, yet born in a stable. That is also why Christ, though He is a king, He did not flaunt His power or authority, but remain humble through His service to others, to His disciples, and most importantly to the people who needed His help and mercy.
That was also why He strictly ordered the disciples not to tell anyone on the truth that Peter has shared with all of them, that Jesus was indeed the Messiah and God Himself. That is because, the mission of Jesus was not to be glorified in this life on earth and become like a king, but indeed, to suffer, through rejection, pain, and even more suffering, so that He could fulfill the mission that was entrusted to Him by His coming into this world, that is to save all mankind from their fate of death, through His own death, and the shedding of His blood.
Too long mankind had waded in the depths of darkness, in the depth of evil without the light of God, ever since creation, when they rebelled against the love of God by choosing to follow the words of Satan instead of the will of God. Although mankind seemingly prosper with wealth and affluence that they gained from their ownership of this world, but the pleasures of the flesh and the body cannot satisfy what mankind truly wants. They were hungry and thirsty, for the one thing that could solve all of their desire, that is the love of God.
God loves us, and that is why He wants to save us, save us from death that is our fate and punishment because of our forefathers’ rebellion against Him, and by our constantly sinful ways and evil doings in this world, that brought ever greater evil stain on our own souls. He came down into this world to show His ultimate love for us, to be one of us, save without sin. He lived among us, and we knew Him as Jesus Christ, and the people of Israel at that time too recognised Him through the great many miracles He had performed during His earthly ministry.
His death is the last piece of the plan of salvation that God had crafted ever since mankind left His embrace that day long ago in the Garden of Eden. The death of Christ and the shedding of the blood of the Lamb of God unites us to Christ, because He then became for us, the unending stream of the fountain of life, which water nourishes and satiates all kinds of thirst. His Blood cleanses and purifies us from our sins. If we accept Him and believe in Him as our Lord and our Saviour, just as Peter had done, He would be with us, and we would be with Him.
That is because upon accepting our Lord Jesus Christ, we become His, and He becomes ours. Through our unity with the Lord, we are made whole again, and we are once again worthy of our God and our Creator. Therefore, brothers and sisters in Christ, profess our faith in the Lord, just as Peter had done, but do not just stop there, but go further and make our faith truly alive, by practicing it through our love and our service to our neighbours in need, just as Christ had done during His ministry in this world.
Let us never be separated again from our Lord and our God, and let us be transformed by His love, that we will emerge from the depths of darkness we were in, and become truly the children of light. God be with us all, forever and ever. Amen.
Psalm 33 : 8-9, 10-11, 12-13
The Lord’s angel encamps and patrols to keep safe those who fear Him. Oh, see and taste the goodness of the Lord! Blessed is the one who finds shelter in Him!
Revere the Lord, all you His saints, for those who fear Him do not live in want. The mighty may be hungry and in need, but those who seek the Lord lack nothing.
Come, listen to me, my children; I will show you how to fear the Lord. If you desire long life, if you want to enjoy prosperity.
petercanisiusmichaeldavidkang 