teachings of the Church

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Sunday, 21 December 2014 : Fourth Sunday of Advent, Memorial of St. Peter Canisius, Priest and Doctor of the Church (Homily and Scripture Reflections)

Liturgical Colour : Purple or Violet

Dear brothers and sisters in Christ, today we celebrate the fourth and therefore the last Sunday of Advent in our liturgical year. Christmas is coming soon and this week is the time traditionally prescribed by the Church as the time for the final preparation for Christmas. This Sunday we continue to observe and reflect on the major aspects of Christmas, that is Love. We have previously reflected on Hope, on Peace, and finally on Joy at the Gaudete Sunday last week.

Love is the central nature of Christmas and all that we celebrate. Indeed, love is the centre of everything, of why we still live and breathe comfortably now in this world. God loves us all, for we were created special, with the very image of our God imprinted on us, and we have been given the greatest gift of all. And what is this gift? It is the Gift of all gifts, surpassing all other gifts, that is Christ our Lord Himself, the Gift of God to all mankind.

As we have often talked about and discussed throughout this Advent season, this season is a time for ardent prayer and genuine preparation, a time for us to prepare for the ‘Adventus’ or the coming of the Lord. And after going through four Sundays in which we discern the true meaning of Christmas, we should all be ready and prepared to celebrate this Christmas meaningfully.

Otherwise, if we fail to understand the true meaning of Christmas, then we will not benefit from the richness of God’s grace which He had given to us, which will benefit us most if we can appreciate what Christmas truly is. Christmas is not just about the glorious and bountiful food, not just about the festivities and the parties, and not just about the decorations and shopping that we often do to prepare for Christmas.

Christmas is truly about love, the love of God for mankind. Surely we know that the Gospel has clearly spoken about God who loves us all so much, that He gave us His only Son, so that all those who believe in Him, the Son, will not perish but gain eternal life (John 3:16). This is the essence of Christmas, the coming of the Son into the world, so that a new Hope arises for the nations and for all the peoples.

So the aspect of love that we reflect on this Sunday, reflects this Love that God had shown us, the true meaning of Christmas that I have often emphasized. Without the love of God, there can be no Christmas, and there can be no hope for us. There can no true peace in us, if we do not embrace the peace brought to us by God’s Love in Christ. There can also be no joy in us that lasts, if we do not share in the joy of God’s Love.

What is love, brothers and sisters in Christ? Is love shown by expensive gifts or romantic activities, and all the things taught and shown to us by the world? Is it like what are being advertised to us in many things, about love? No, it is not that kind of love, for that kind of love is often selfish, love that is bound to possessions and material goods, love that is conditional and once spent, then no love is left. Sadly, this is also the reason why there are so much sorrow in the world, of broken families, of abuses in the family, of infighting and jealousy, and many others.

Love, and indeed real love, is not about all these, but is the kind of love which Love Himself, Christ, had shown us. For God is Love, and He had shown us what love really is. His love is true love, genuine and pure, unconditional and gentle. His love does not have any prerequisite, nor does He demand us to give Him something for the love He had shown us. Indeed, He loved us even when we are still sinners, and even laid down His life for us.

St. Paul mentioned in his letter to the Romans, that someone may want to give their life for the just and righteous ones, but very unlikely to do so, for those who are wicked and evil. But Jesus suffered for us, bearing all of our sins, and died for us, laying down His life, even when we are still sinners and wicked (Romans 5:8). And as Jesus had said that the greatest kind of love is for someone to lay down his life for a friend (John 15:13), then we can see indeed how much greater the love God had for us when He chose to lay down His life for us, sinners and evildoers.

God does detest our sins greatly. Sin has no place in His presence, as sin is a taint and corruption, and for He who is perfectly good and pure, sin is completely disgusting. And yet, His love is even greater than His hatred for our sins. He loves us so much that He was willing to endure all those sufferings in order to rescue us from our predicament of sin.

This is the kind of love we should really have with us, and the love we should cherish. For it is through the love of God that we can enjoy a new hope, true peace and real joy which the world and others cannot provide. His love for us is unconditional, and by His coming into the world, that we celebrate in Christmas, He offered Himself, His love and mercy for all of us, so that we may be saved.

But at the same time, we have to be vigilant and be careful, for this world certainly has done much to prevent the love of God from reaching us, as Satan is the Lord of this world, and he has all in his possessions and within his means to tempt us and lead us away from the salvation and love which God freely offers us all. And today, we celebrate the feast of a great and faithful servant of God, who is a devout and courageous defender of the Faith in God.

St. Peter Canisius was a Dutch Jesuit, who lived during the time of the Protestant ‘reformation’, when many of the faithful and the members of the Church were misguided and misled by those who have been corrupted by the lies and the confusion of the evil one. They left the Church and the teachings of our Lord Jesus Christ as faithfully kept by the Church and chose to follow their own human desires, greed, selfishness, and other evils in them.

St. Peter Canisius joined the Society of Jesus, also known as the Jesuit order, which is the spearhead of the Church’s effort at Counter-Reformation, which main goal is to counter the heresy of Protestantism and bring as many souls as possible back to salvation that exists only in the Church of God. He led the effort of Counter-Reformation in what is now Germany, where the effects of the Protestant heresy is at its worst. He preached the true faith, and it was told that his preaching was so effective that hundreds and more returned to the true Faith.

He preached and taught in many places, and he persuaded many to return to the Faith not by coercion or force, but by clear reason and clear understanding of the Faith, and through that clarity in the teaching of the Faith, his words of truth, the truth of God rang deep into the depths of the hearts of many, who were convinced to abandon their heresy and return to the Holy Mother Church.

St. Peter Canisius was very particular in the matter of the education of the Faith to the people, and his most well-known legacy is the three books of Catechism he had written, which are the clear source of the teachings of the Faith, used in many generations and saved countless souls from sins and heresies. That is why his name today is also identical with Catholic education and several Jesuit education institutes adopted his name after he was made saint of the Holy Church.

He was also credited for his great devotion to Mary, and he taught that the best way to the Lord is through His mother Mary, and he was the one who added the response in the Ave Maria or Hail Mary prayer, “Holy Mary Mother of God, pray for us sinners.” This clearly showed the importance of Mary in the lives of the faithful, for through her intercessions and prayers for us, God our Lord His Son, is most likely to hear our pleas and petitions, and mercy shall be shown us.

Why did St. Peter Canisius do all of these, brothers and sisters in Christ? Why did he go forth and preach to the heretics and those who have been lost to the darkness of the world? That is because of none other than God’s love for us, and His desire that we be found and be gathered again, that we will be lost sheep no more but belonging once more to the one flock of Christ, that is the Church.

The love of God is such, that He, although despising our sins and repelled by our wickedness, endure all of them, and even endure all forms of humiliation and rejection, none less by His own people, the ones whom He was sent to save! And yet, He persevered, out of that eternal and infinite love which He has in Him, for He is Love, and just as He wanted to share that love with us when He created us, thus, He wanted us to be loved by Him even when we have fallen into sin.

Therefore, brothers and sisters in Christ, even as we prepare for the Christmas celebrations which will be here in less than a week’s time, and even as we prepare to rejoice together with the whole world and the whole Universal Church at the celebration of the Birth of our Lord Jesus, let us never forget that this event is there in the first place, because of God and His Love for us, that is made real and concrete through His Son Jesus, who performed the act of ultimate love for us, to die for us for our sins on the cross at Calvary.

This Christmas, shall we then ponder at the love God has for us, that He was willing to enter into our world, and indeed into our lives and dwell within us? Let us never forget that Christ is at the heart of Christmas, and at the very heart of that celebration and joy is the Love of God, the eternal and undying love Christ had shown us through the cross, the very purpose of His coming into this world, and thus to liberate us from the chains of sin.

Sin no more, repent, change our ways and be wholeheartedly devoted to God from now on, that this Christmas and the next ones will be decidedly different from the past ones, that this time, we truly understand and fully embrace the love of Christ, the true meaning of Christmas. God bless us all and may St. Peter Canisius intercede for us always with the Blessed Mother of our Lord, Mary our mother. Amen.

 

First Reading :

https://petercanisiusmichaeldavidkang.com/2014/12/19/sunday-21-december-2014-fourth-sunday-of-advent-memorial-of-st-peter-canisius-priest-and-doctor-of-the-church-first-reading/

 

Psalm :

https://petercanisiusmichaeldavidkang.com/2014/12/19/sunday-21-december-2014-fourth-sunday-of-advent-memorial-of-st-peter-canisius-priest-and-doctor-of-the-church-psalm/

 

Second Reading :

https://petercanisiusmichaeldavidkang.com/2014/12/19/sunday-21-december-2014-fourth-sunday-of-advent-memorial-of-st-peter-canisius-priest-and-doctor-of-the-church-second-reading/

 

Gospel Reading :

https://petercanisiusmichaeldavidkang.com/2014/12/19/sunday-21-december-2014-fourth-sunday-of-advent-memorial-of-st-peter-canisius-priest-and-doctor-of-the-church-gospel-reading/

 

Epistle (Usus Antiquior) :

https://petercanisiusmichaeldavidkang.com/2014/12/19/usus-antiquior-fourth-sunday-of-advent-i-classis-sunday-21-december-2014-epistle/

 

Gospel (Usus Antiquior) :

https://petercanisiusmichaeldavidkang.com/2014/12/19/usus-antiquior-fourth-sunday-of-advent-i-classis-sunday-21-december-2014-holy-gospel/

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Saturday, 20 December 2014 : Third Week of Advent (Homily and Scripture Reflections)

Liturgical Colour : Purple or Violet

Dear brothers and sisters in Christ, today we heard about the conception and birth of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Saviour of the world, Son of God incarnate into the flesh of Man. If yesterday we listened to the messenger of God, John the Baptist, who would prepare the way for Christ and His coming, then fittingly today we heard about the coming of Christ Himself.

In the first reading we heard about king Ahaz of Judea who refused to ask for a sign from God, when he was asked to do so by the prophet Isaiah. Why did God show His displeasure as He said through Isaiah? That is because it was hypocrisy and unfaithfulness at best on the side of Ahaz. He and many of his ancestors have not been faithful to the Lord, worshipping the pagan idols, committing wickedness after wickedness, and abandoning the Lord their God who had blessed them so much.

In refusing to ask for a sign from God, Ahaz was a hypocrite, since he pretended humility and meekness, that as if he lowered himself before God, but in fact he was not genuine in that gesture. The Sign which God has intended to give to His people is a Sign of His Love and a Sign of His mercy and forgiveness, and Ahaz refused it in his hypocritical attitude.

And that sign, is the Virgin who would bear a Child, and the Child would be named Emmanuel, which means literally, ‘God is with us’ and this is significant. Some of us may ask, how come then the Royal Baby born of Mary was not then named as Emmanuel? Why was He named as Jesus? Jesus is the Name of our Lord, the Name above every other names, the terror at the hearts of all demons, but He also has many other titles and names.

In the same book of the prophet Isaiah, we know that the Child to be born of the Virgin is to be known as the Prince of Peace, Wonderful Counsellor, Almighty God, and so on, and then, we also know that elsewhere in the Scriptures, the Child is also known as the Shoot of Jesse or the Shoot of David, the Son of David, Son of God and Son of Man. Emmanuel is one of His many titles, and its meaning underlines the very core of why we celebrate Christmas, that is God who dwells among us, His people.

Our Lord who is God has no need to be concerned about us. After all, He is God who is Almighty and sufficient in all things, and in love, He is perfectly united in love, the Three Aspects and Godhead, the Father, Son and Holy Spirit united in perfect love and harmony. Yet, He created us all out of His love, and He loved us all very much. To the point that even after we had sinned and deserved punishment and destruction, He was willing to forgive us and plan for our salvation.

And this salvation He had indeed given us through His own Son, part of His perfect Trinity, the Word, whom He sent into the world, so that from that moment on, God would truly dwell among His people, sharing their nature, inhabiting the flesh of Man, as the Son of Man, fully Man but also fully Divine at the same time. That is the wonder and mystery of Christmas, and one that we ought to celebrate with full and genuine understanding.

Brothers and sisters in Christ, God was willing to assume our lowly form, so that as a Human Being, He might suffer as we have suffered, and even more than that, so that He might bear the entirety of our sins and our iniquities. That even though He is innocent and pure, but He was punished for our sins, and by His wounds and His death on the cross, we are healed.

This Christmas, shall we reflect on these that we had just discussed? Our Christmas celebration is meaningless without Christ and without clear understanding of its true and real purpose. This is because if we do not understand, then our Christmas will be merely a loud fanfare without purpose and without reason, and it will be empty. Instead, we should place our focus on the true meaning of Christmas, that is our Lord, Emmanuel, God who is willing to dwell among His people out of His love for us.

In the remaining few days, let us prepare ourselves further, by discovering more and more about the love of God, which He made perfectly manifest through our Lord Jesus Christ, born in this Christmas Day. Let us follow Him and devote ourselves entirely to Him. Remember that He had loved us first, and we ought to also love Him back with all of our heart. God bless us all. Amen.

 

First Reading :

https://petercanisiusmichaeldavidkang.com/2014/12/18/saturday-20-december-2014-third-week-of-advent-first-reading/

 

Psalm :

https://petercanisiusmichaeldavidkang.com/2014/12/18/saturday-20-december-2014-third-week-of-advent-psalm/

 

Gospel Reading :

https://petercanisiusmichaeldavidkang.com/2014/12/18/saturday-20-december-2014-third-week-of-advent-gospel-reading/

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Friday, 19 December 2014 : Third Week of Advent (Homily and Scripture Reflections)

Liturgical Colour : Purple or Violet

Dear brothers and sisters in Christ, as we draw ever closer to Christmas, the Church and our Faith are preparing us all for the great celebration of the commemoration of the birth of our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ, and for this purpose today we are focusing on the two servants of God, Samson and St. John the Baptist, both of whom had been born into the world as a sign for many, a sign of God’s love for them.

The readings today focused on the similarities between the two great servants of God, whom one is a Judge of Israel, the leader God had appointed and chosen from among the people to protect them, to deliver them from their enemies, and to keep them in line with the teachings of God and stay faithful to Him amidst the temptations of the world. The other is the messenger of God, born with the spirit and power of Elijah, whom many believed, even as the second coming of the prophet Elijah into the world, and to be the one who would straighten the path for the Lord, for he came just before the Lord Himself was to come.

Samson and John the Baptist were both born of parents who had for long been unable to conceive a child on their own. Their prayers were answered by the Lord, and even more so, their children were both chosen to have the special roles in God’s plan of saving His people from the darkness of the world. Samson was born to deliver the Israelites from the hands of the Philistines, the people who caused them great suffering and enslaved them, because they were not faithful to the commandments of God and instead worshipped pagan idols.

Meanwhile, John the Baptist was born to prepare the way for the Messiah in an age and time where although outwardly the people and their elders showed faith and piety to the Lord, but they were not sincere in this, and they even failed to understand the true meaning of their faith, giving in into their own vanity and self-praise, and lacking the understanding of the faith, their rituals and customs are empty and meaningless, and they paid only lip service to God.

These were the societies to whom they were sent to, and they had to encounter many difficulties in doing so, in bringing the people of God back to the love and grace of God. Both of them were consecrated to God from even before their birth, set aside for the service of God, called the Nazirites. Samson was a Nazirite, that means, he should not drink wine or alcoholic drinks throughout his life, nor should his hair be cut at all. This means to live according to what God had appointed him to do, shunning all the beautiful things and the temptations of the world.

But what we need to understand is, what is exactly their mission in this world? Why did God set them apart from the many others in such a manner? Their mission is to prepare for the coming of the Lord’s salvation and power to His people, and in that, they encountered the challenges and persevered through them, calling for people to change their ways by their own example, and follow God.

Samson came at the time when the Israelites after they had settled in the Promised Land constantly came under attack from their neighbours, who persecuted them, raided them and enslaved them. The judges were sent by God to liberate them and lead them back to the path of righteousness. But no sooner than each judges passed, then they returned to their ways of sin. Samson was the among the last mentioned judges, before the time of the prophet Samuel, which then would lead on to the era of king David, the era of prosperity, the time when peace and prosperity reigns in the land of Israel.

Therefore, in a sense, there is a parallel between Samson and John the Baptist, in that while Samson heralded the coming of the era of peace and greatness under King David of Israel, then St. John the Baptist heralded the coming of an even greater era, the time of the coming of the King of kings, the Divine Messiah, our Lord Jesus Christ, the One whom we are celebrating this Christmas.

God had sent His faithful servants in order to prepare for the coming of His glory and love, and in the coming of Jesus His Son into the world, He had sent John to prepare the way for Him. Why is this so, brothers and sisters in Christ? That is because this world is filled with sin and darkness, and with all of these distractions and corruptions, we would not be able to listen to the teachings of Christ and we would not be able to recognise Him.

That is why Advent is here, as a time for us to prepare, and indeed prepare thoroughly, for the coming of Christ, not just for this Christmas celebration, but also for His eventual return into the world, to claim all of His faithful ones and to judge all the living and the dead. If God had done such an ample and thorough preparation for His own coming, then we too should do our part to prepare ourselves for Christmas. This is to shun sin and reject all the temptations of evil, seeking from now on, only the truth in the Light of Christ.

Otherwise, it would be very easy for us to lose our focus in our celebrations, and it may likely end up that we celebrate Christmas for its fun, for its feasting and partying, but not for Christ, who we should place at the centre of our celebrations. May Almighty God help us all to prepare ourselves in this Advent season to welcome His Son, that when He comes again, He will find us ready and alert. May He help us all to change our ways and shun forever the sinful ways of our past. God bless us all. Amen.

 

First Reading :

https://petercanisiusmichaeldavidkang.com/2014/12/18/friday-19-december-2014-third-week-of-advent-first-reading/

 

Psalm :

https://petercanisiusmichaeldavidkang.com/2014/12/18/friday-19-december-2014-third-week-of-advent-psalm/

 

Gospel Reading :

https://petercanisiusmichaeldavidkang.com/2014/12/18/friday-19-december-2014-third-week-of-advent-gospel-reading/

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Thursday, 18 December 2014 : Third Week of Advent (Homily and Scripture Reflections)

Liturgical Colour : Purple or Violet

Dear brothers and sisters in Christ, on this day we listen to the narrative of how Jesus our Lord and Saviour, the Promised Salvation of all mankind was conceived in the womb of Mary, His mother without human intervention or action, for the Saviour who came was not just a mere Man, but truly the Divine Word of God incarnate into flesh, God assuming the form of a humble and simple Man, to carry out and accomplish in perfection the plan of the Lord’s salvation for us.

The fulfillment of God’s long awaited salvation of His people had been seen by the prophet Jeremiah, who spoke of God’s eventual fulfillment of His promise, the coming of the great Messiah who would set the people of God free, just as He had once freed His people from the tyranny of the Pharaoh and led them out from slavery in Egypt into the Promised Land.

In the psalm we heard about the King who is to come and reign justly over the world and over all of God’s people, and through Him, deliverance would come and succour would be given to the poor, the weak and those who long for the lord and who live righteously in His ways. This is Christ our King, who has come into the world, and who in His own words, seek to bring healing and deliverance to all those lost in the darkness of the world.

In the Gospel, God would reiterate again this promise to all of us, the coming of the Emmanuel, God who dwells and lives among His people through Jesus, the Son of Mary, who by the power of the Holy Spirit was incarnate into the flesh of Man, and become one with our human substance and existence. This He reminded Joseph through His angel, when he discovered that Mary was pregnant and thought that she had committed adultery and thus wanted to divorce her quietly.

Through the angel God explained to Joseph how the Baby to be born of Mary is the Messiah, the long awaited Promise of God, who had finally come into the world. And we are witnesses to how great the love of God for us is, so great that He, who is Almighty and Omnipotent God, Lord of all the universe and all of creations, would want to stoop down to our level, to strip Himself of His divine might for a while and born as a fragile Baby, the One whose birth we are celebrating and commemorating this Christmas.

This Advent is coming to a close soon, brothers and sisters in Christ, with exactly just one more week from Christmas. I trust that each one of us had done our own preparations in our own way to prepare for Christmas, perhaps in physical and material terms, or perhaps in spiritual and mental terms, or perhaps both. Now, while there is still time, not just for Christmas, but indeed while we are still breathing and walking in this world, let us all use the opportunity to reflect.

Have we found Christ in our lives? Is He the centre and focus of our attentions? Yes, is He, who is the Saviour of us all, the One who will give us life everlasting, and He who had suffered and died for us, becoming Man like us just so that we may be brought from the precipice of death because of our sins, and bring us into eternal life? What is the point of our celebration of Christmas, and indeed what is the purpose of our lives?

If our answers to all of these are no, Christ is not the centre of our lives, and if we do not recognise what He has done for us either, or if we think that our lives are to be lived for ourselves, for our own self-enrichment and self-aggrandisment, to get more and more possessions, goods and pleasures for ourselves, and if we think that Christmas is about the parties, the drunkenness, the food and the bling, then I would say that we have lost our true purpose, and we have lost our way in this life.

How do we then make our Christmas celebrations meaningful? We have to return Christ to the centre of our celebrations, for He, and not us are the focus. Therefore, while we rejoice in this festive season, let us all understand the purpose of this very festivities, that is to celebrate, what the readings from the Holy Scriptures today had proclaimed, the joy at the coming of the long awaited Salvation.

It is exactly like what God had proclaimed through Jeremiah, that the day of His coming would be a grandiose and joyous day, where peace would come upon all those for whom He had come. Indeed, the joy and celebration this Christmas should be about spreading and sharing the hope, the peace, the joy and the love which Christ had brought into our world, with one another and especially with those who have less or none of these.

Yes, these four are what we have been focusing on for each of the four Sundays of Advent. Thus, while it is not too late yet to begin, let us catch on the ride, and make sure that we prepare ourselves, body, heart and mind, seeking to understand the true meaning of Christmas and rejoice with one another, as one community of the faithful, for the greatest Gift God had given us mankind, that is Jesus, His only Son, our Lord and Saviour. God bless us all. Amen.

 

First Reading :

https://petercanisiusmichaeldavidkang.com/2014/12/17/thursday-18-december-2014-third-week-of-advent-first-reading/

 

Psalm :

https://petercanisiusmichaeldavidkang.com/2014/12/17/thursday-18-december-2014-third-week-of-advent-psalm/

 

Gospel Reading :

https://petercanisiusmichaeldavidkang.com/2014/12/17/thursday-18-december-2014-third-week-of-advent-gospel-reading/

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Wednesday, 17 December 2014 : Third Week of Advent (Homily and Scripture Reflections)

Liturgical Colour : Purple or Violet

Dear brothers and sisters in Christ, today it was told to us about the genealogy of our Lord Jesus Christ, who is a descendant of Abraham, the father of many nations and our father in faith, and also a descendant of Jacob later known as Israel, who is the one blessed by God to be the chosen people, Israel, His people. He is also the descendant of David, the King of Israel, who belonged to the tribe of Judah.

We can see that Jacob, who in our first reading today from the last chapters of the Book of Genesis, blessed his children one by one, pronouncing their future and their goodness, showed how God had shown to Jacob the vision of what would happen in the far future after his own time. Jacob must have seen the vision of the coming of the Messiah, although he did not know exactly who He is, but he knew that He is to come.

And indeed, He was to come through Judah his own son, whom Jacob then blessed more than all of his other sons, even more than his eldest Reuben and even more than his most beloved ones, Joseph and his two children and Benjamin. For Judah had been prophesied to be the from whom the King of kings would come from, the one from whom would come a king who would rule all of Israel, and this was David, the one whom God had appointed in place of Saul as the king of Israel, and on whom God had promised that his throne will remain secure forever.

The sceptre of power and rule will be given to the descendant of David, the Shoot of David, who is the One we are going to celebrate this coming Christmas. Yes, the Christ, whose birthday is on Christmas. The Christ who was given the Name above every other name, Jesus, our Lord. For He is indeed the Son of David, his Heir who will rule over all Israel, and not just Israel, but the whole world, the Son of Man through Mary His mother, but also the Son of God, the Divine Word incarnate into the flesh of Man.

He is a King with power and authority, the source of all worldly power and authorities, but yet, He is not the kind of king that we commonly know about in this world. Jesus Himself said that His kingdom is not of this world, because His kingdom is the kingdom of God, not like any of the kingdoms of the world, which are built on possessions, material wealth, power, land, peoples and many others. The kingdom of God is the place where God and His beloved people may live together, those who have been found to be worthy, to enjoy forever the blessings and graces of God.

Jesus is a King, but He is simple and humble, and He showed His authority and power not by intimidation and fear, but through service and love towards all those who have been placed under His authority. He showed His leadership and kingship by service, showing care and genuine love for the poor, defending the rights of the weak and challenging those who have persecuted these people for their own benefits.

It is this King who we are welcoming into our midst in this coming Christmas, the Royal Baby born for us, so that through Him we are to get salvation and liberation from sin and evil. We must not forget this fact, or else, our Christmas celebration is meaningless and empty, filled with worldly desires and things of this world. We celebrate not to show off our wealth, not to be engulfed in excesses and drunkenness, but we celebrate because the Hope of this world, and the Hope of all mankind, had been born.

This Advent, as I have often mentioned, is a time for preparation for the coming of our Lord and Saviour. Not just to prepare for Christmas, but also to prepare for His coming again at the end of time, when He will come to judge all creations, and all of us according to our deeds. How do we prepare properly for this then? It is by exactly doing what Jesus had done throughout His ministry, what He taught His disciples to do, and we ought to follow them too.

Thus this Advent we should involve ourselves in more charitable and loving actions to our brethren in need. We should share the joy we have, the fortune and happiness we have with those who have less or none. In doing all these, we will be able to find the true meaning of Advent, and the true meaning of Christmas, that is to celebrate with God, our Lord Jesus Christ, for the love, hope and peace which He had brought into us all, so that we may rejoice with Him.

May Almighty God be with us all and awaken in us an ever stronger desire to seek Him and to love Him, as well as our brethren around us. May this Advent be a fruitful one for all of us, and may the coming Christmas bring God’s love ever closer to us. Amen.

 

First Reading :

https://petercanisiusmichaeldavidkang.com/2014/12/16/wednesday-17-december-2014-third-week-of-advent-first-reading/

 

Psalm :

https://petercanisiusmichaeldavidkang.com/2014/12/16/wednesday-17-december-2014-third-week-of-advent-psalm/

 

Gospel Reading :

https://petercanisiusmichaeldavidkang.com/2014/12/16/wednesday-17-december-2014-third-week-of-advent-gospel-reading/

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Tuesday, 16 December 2014 : Third Week of Advent (Homily and Scripture Reflections)

Liturgical Colour : Purple or Violet

Dear brothers and sisters in Christ, today we heard about obedience to the will of God and obedience to what He had taught us to do. He pointed out those who pretended to listen and obey, but in the end, never actually obeyed what the Lord had taught them to do, and then compared these to those who did not seem to listen but eventually obeyed and listened to God and do His will.

What Jesus had done in the Gospel today was to establish the common perceptions and prejudices of the time, and the divisions that exist between the Jews, the people of Israel, who regarded themselves as a chosen race and a chosen people, having descended directly from Abraham and Jacob, and who had been brought out of Egypt by the power of God Himself, and who received the Promised Land, the sign of God’s faithfulness to His promise to Abraham, and the people who are non-Jews and generally called the Gentiles.

The Gentiles were all the people who lived around and with the Jews at the time, consisting of the Samaritans, Nabateans, Egyptians, the Arabs, the Phoenicians, the Greeks and the Romans, and many other nations, including all those whom we heard to be at Jerusalem during the Pentecost. They were looked down by the Jews, since they thought that these people, being not part of the ‘chosen race’, they were not worthy of salvation, as they were pagans and not believing in God, their One and only God.

Yet, what Jesus sought to challenge was this perception, which was really false and misleading. What He mentioned as the son who listened and heard the word of the father, but never actually obeyed and did the work asked of him, referred to the Pharisees and the teachers of the Law and many of those who held the view and attitude that they were above others because they were part of the chosen ones, and thus according to them, deserved salvation while others did not.

The son who did not listen but eventually did the work as his father had commanded him, represented the Gentiles and all the people whom the Jews considered as pagans including the prostitutes and tax collectors from among themselves, and whom they condemned as damned. Yet, it is among these people that the words of Jesus and the teachings of the Faith found strong roots, and the people who heard them truly listened, changed their ways and found redemption in Christ. They were the son who did not listen, precisely because they did not have the opportunity to listen to the word of God before the coming of the Christ in Jesus.

There were also some among the Jews who believed in Jesus and in His teachings, but many especially the Pharisees and the teachers of the Law were ardently against Him and attempted to even undermine His efforts and good works among the people. This is truly the son who had the opportunity to listen to the word and commands of the father but refused to do the work according to what he had been told.

The people of Israel had had so many opportunities that God had given to them, by the sending of the numerous prophets and messengers of God’s will to them, who spoke to them and urged them to repent from their sins, and yet they refused to listen. Remember the parable of the tenants of the vineyard? In that parable, the tenants refused to pay the proceeds agreed between them and the owner, and they persecuted and even murdered the servants sent to remind them.

And in the parable, when the owner sent his own son to remind the tenants, they murdered him as well. This is the same as how the Pharisees and the elders rejected Jesus and loathed what He taught them. Indeed, they preferred to remain in their sinful pride and greed rather than to accept the grace and forgiveness of God. And God who will judge all according to their deeds, will hold them accountable for all of their sinful deeds.

What is the lesson for us today, brothers and sisters in Christ? It is that we should never allow our pride and greed to blind us to the love and truth of Christ. We have to submit ourselves humbly to the will of God and commit ourselves to do His will dutifully, just as the latter son had done. We cannot be prejudiced just simply because we have faith in God and thus think that we are then safe from all harm. Yes, faith alone is not enough as faith without good works is dead.

We have to show our faith in our actions and in all of our deeds, so that all who sees us will then know that we truly belong to the Lord. Jesus had commissioned His Apostles and disciples to go and spread the Good News to all of the world and to baptise all peoples of all the nations in the Name of the Father, Son and Holy Spirit. But how are we to persuade others to believe if we ourselves do not practice what we believe in?

Let this Advent be a time of prayer, reflection and sincere preparation of ourselves, of our body, heart and mind so that we may truly live out our lives in faith and that we all may become good examples and role models of the faith, so as to bring many more souls to salvation. Do not become disobedient like the former son who listened but never did what his father wanted, but instead be obedient and be faithful to God, our loving Father, who will reward us for our living faith. God bless us all. Amen.

 

First Reading :

https://petercanisiusmichaeldavidkang.com/2014/12/15/tuesday-16-december-2014-third-week-of-advent-first-reading/

 

Psalm :

https://petercanisiusmichaeldavidkang.com/2014/12/15/tuesday-16-december-2014-third-week-of-advent-psalm/

 

Gospel Reading :

https://petercanisiusmichaeldavidkang.com/2014/12/15/tuesday-16-december-2014-third-week-of-advent-gospel-reading/

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Saturday, 13 December 2014 : Second Week of Advent, Memorial of St. Lucy, Virgin and Martyr (Homily and Scripture Reflections)

Liturgical Colour : Red

Dear brothers and sisters in Christ, today we continue again to hear about the prophet Elijah and John the Baptist in our Scripture readings. Why is this so, brothers and sisters? That is because in this Advent season, it is particularly appropriate for us to heed their actions and their words, the proclamations of these faithful servants of God, who were sent to the people in order to turn their hearts back to the Lord.

They were sent to a people who had long lived in darkness and sin, and therefore, through their works, God hoped to bring back a people whom He loved to Himself so that they would be lost no more. Yes, He is the Good Shepherd who looks actively for His lost sheep, and desires greatly that all of us be reunited with Him. He wants us all to be freed from our bondage to the darkness of sin, and to this extent, He did the unbelievable, yes, indeed, for all those who did not have faith indeed, it was unbelievable, for He gave Himself, as the One through whom mankind would be saved.

Which other gods or entities who claimed divinity do this? None, and none beside our Lord and God, the One and only True God, who loves all that He created, and loves us in particular so much that He sent us Jesus, the incarnation of the Divine Word of God, to be our salvation. But so that the works of Jesus may come to a full completion and perfection, therefore, before His coming, God sent His servants to prepare the way for Him.

That was the purpose of the prophets and the messengers of God, great and chief among whom were St. John the Baptist and Elijah, who were in fact the one and same person, called to the service of God at two different times and eras, but nevertheless, they were called to the same mission, to call the people to repentance and for them to seek the mercy of God, and to change their ways and sin no more.

This is in perfect resonance to the very purpose and reason of this season of Advent, which means literally ‘coming’ or the coming of Christ our Lord at the end of time, when He will come again in glory to judge all the living and the dead, and it is for that coming of Christ that we should prepare ourselves thoroughly and completely. And in this, we should heed the examples of the prophets and the messengers of God.

All of us who have been baptised in the Name of Father, Son and the Holy Spirit had been made children of God, and also therefore as the members of His Body and His Church, the unity of all the faithful ones in the Lord. But at the same time, through our baptism, we have been given a mission, the same mission which Christ had given His Apostles and disciples before He left this world for heaven at the Ascension.

That mission was to proclaim the Good News and the salvation in Jesus Christ to all the nations, to all the peoples of the world, without exception, and to baptise them in the Name of the Father, Son and the Holy Spirit. It is a call for all of us to walk in the same path as the prophet Elijah, who called for the people of the northern kingdom of Israel to repent from their sins, and also St. John the Baptist, who cried out in the wilderness for the people to repent and change their ways, to prepare for the coming of God’s kingdom, and who baptised them with the baptism of water.

We have the faith in us, and we have been granted God’s grace through baptism. Therefore, it is only fitting that we help one another, especially those who are still lost and in the darkness of the world, to find their way to God, so that at the end of the day, God may see in all of us, the same faithfulness shown by Elijah and John the Baptist.

Today, we also celebrate the feast of a martyr and holy virgin, St. Lucy, whose actions may also inspire us further to live according to the will of God, and according to what we have just discussed. St. Lucy was a young Christian maiden, who lived in Syracuse in the island of Sicily. St. Lucy or St. Lucia was a martyr of the Faith during the last great persecution of the faithful by the Roman Emperor Diocletian, and according to tradition, she was executed for being faithful and refusing to recant her faith to the Lord.

St. Lucy devoted herself totally to the Lord, and like many of her contemporaries, she committed herself to a life of sanctity and chastity, vowing to remain in holy virginity for the sake of the Lord. But her mother, not knowing of this and sickened with disease, betrothed her to a rich young man from a pagan family. Nonetheless, through the intercession of St. Agatha, St. Lucy’s mother was healed and St. Lucy managed to persuade her to donate in charitable acts, her riches and wealth to help the poor of the society.

St. Lucy thus showed her genuine and real faith through her loving actions to her brethren in need, and thus stand as a witness of the Lord and of the faith in Him by her concrete actions. Her betrothed complained against her actions to the local governor, who demanded that she offered sacrifices to the Emperor, which she refused immediately and firmly.

St. Lucy was therefore tortured and punished severely, and the authorities tried to kill her by various means, but they always failed. The wood would not burn when they tried to burn her at a stake. She eventually was martyred by the sword. Nevertheless, through her witness and defense of the faith, she became a great inspiration to many of the later generations, and many were saved by her intercession and examples.

Brothers and sisters in Christ, here we have seen what the faithful, that is all of us, have to do. The examples of St. Lucy and what we have discussed earlier showed that all of us have a responsibility to be witnesses of the faith, just as Elijah and St. John the Baptist had once done, to call the people who have lived in sin and darkness to return to the light of Christ, our Lord.

Indeed, it does not meant that we have to follow St. Lucy into martyrdom for this, but what is necessary is that we must realise that our faith cannot be a lukewarm one. We cannot sit on the fence and wait for things to happen. It is essential that we are proactive in our faith and actively spreading the Good News of our Lord, not just by words, but also through our concrete actions and love towards one another.

May St. Lucy intercede for us, that God may strengthen our faith and affirm us all in His love. May day by day we all grow stronger and more devoted in our lives. God bless us all, now and forever. Amen.

 

First Reading :

https://petercanisiusmichaeldavidkang.com/2014/12/12/saturday-13-december-2014-second-week-of-advent-memorial-of-st-lucy-virgin-and-martyr-first-reading/

 

Psalm :

https://petercanisiusmichaeldavidkang.com/2014/12/12/saturday-13-december-2014-second-week-of-advent-memorial-of-st-lucy-virgin-and-martyr-psalm/

 

Gospel Reading :

https://petercanisiusmichaeldavidkang.com/2014/12/12/saturday-13-december-2014-second-week-of-advent-memorial-of-st-lucy-virgin-and-martyr-gospel-reading/

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Friday, 12 December 2014 : Second Week of Advent, Memorial of our Lady of Guadalupe (Homily and Scripture Reflections)

Liturgical Colour : Purple/Violet or White (our Lady of Guadalupe)

Dear brothers and sisters in Christ, today we celebrate a great feast day of the Church, celebrating the feast of Mary, the Mother of our Lord and God Jesus Christ, who manifested and showed herself about five hundred years ago, to a simple, humble but holy man in what is now Mexico, at the site called Tepeyac hill, now where the Basilica of our Lady of Guadalupe stands proudly as the centre of devotion and pilgrimage, and source of salvation for many in the centuries past since its establishment.

Our Lady of Guadalupe is the name given to this apparition of the Blessed Virgin Mary, who appeared to St. John Diego Cuauhtlatoatzin, the first native saint of the New World, now known as the American continent. According to the tradition, the Blessed Virgin Mary appeared to St. John Diego and revealed herself to him at a place known as the Tepeyac hills, as the Mother of our Lord and as the Mother of us all. She asked St. John Diego, if there is anything he needed, and that if there was anything he needed, he would have to just ask her, and through her intercession, everything would be made full.

St. John Diego immediately sought the local bishop and told him about what he had witnessed, but the bishop was skeptical, and did not believe him at first. Therefore, the bishop asked St. John Diego for a proof that the apparition was authentic, and thus, St. John Diego then rushed back to see the Lady once more for this purpose. The Blessed Virgin Mary had indeed mentioned to St. John Diego at their first meeting, of the time she would appear again.

But on the way, St. John Diego was told that his father was very sick, and thus he was forced to miss the meeting with the Blessed Virgin Mary, rushing to his home to be at the side of his sick father instead. However, on the way home, at the very exact time that he was to meet Mary once more, the Blessed Virgin appeared to him on the road, and told him that his father has been healed, and indeed, when St. John Diego reached home, he found that his father had been healed.

For the proof that the bishop asked St. John Diego, the Blessed Virgin Mary asked him to go to the hill, and there he found a cluster of flowers, Castilian roses, which are not naturally found in that land, but in Europe. Then St. John Diego gathered the flowers in his cloak, or also known as tilma, and then rushed back to show them to the bishop.

When St. John Diego showed the bishop what the Blessed Virgin Mary, our Lady of Guadalupe had shown him, what surprised the bishop was not so much the flowers, but in fact that when St. John Diego opened his tilma or cloak, there he saw the glowing and very beautiful image of the Blessed Virgin Mary, which we now know as our Lady of Guadalupe, in reference to the occasion and the place where this had taken place.

So whenever we see an image or pictorial representation of the Blessed Virgin Mary in a cloak and adorned by beautiful flowers, it is likely to be a representation of our Lady of Guadalupe. And it is in her honour that we celebrate this day with great joy, for through this great woman, many good things have been made possible for mankind, the greatest of all is, the freedom of mankind from the tyranny of sin and the promise of everlasting life through Jesus, her Son.

Many of the heretics and those who misunderstood the Faith wondered why we honoured Mary so much, if she was just a mere human, perhaps more special in a way because she is the Mother of our Lord Jesus Christ. But surely that is as far as things should go right? Do we Catholics and members of the Faith commit idolatry by worshipping and adoring Mary as if she is a goddess? No, and this is where all of us the faithful must be very clear in our Faith, lest we allow the same confusion to lead us astray.

Like the song of Hannah showed in the Psalm today, the song of joy and thanksgiving by Hannah, the mother of the prophet Samuel, who was granted her wish of having a son by God after years of barren marriage, and being ridiculed by the other wife of her husband. She was given Samuel, whom she gave up to be consecrated to God, and then she was given even more children, as the fulfillment of God’s love.

Hannah was humble, and she sought the Lord’s help through sincere prayers after she was bullied constantly by the first wife, who was proud of her many children. The proud was therefore rejected by God, but the humble, the meek and most importantly, the faithful ones are rewarded richly by God. He blesses those who are not proud with themselves and their achievements, but those who put their trust completely in the Lord.

Thus, Mary is truly blessed and she was honoured beyond any other men. Thus, Elizabeth her cousin said about her, ‘Blessed are you amongst women,’ for indeed, Mary was special and honoured, not just because she is the Mother of our Lord Jesus Christ and not just because she was prepared to be special by the Lord, free from the taint of sin as the Immaculate Conception, but also because of her exemplary faith, humility, devotion and total trust in God and in His plans.

Therefore, on this feast of our Lady of Guadalupe, we look up to the Blessed Virgin Mary who had given her grace to appear before St. John Diego, so that all of us mankind may know more about her and her exemplary faith, and through her therefore, for us to find Jesus our Lord, and that we may be granted rich graces of God, the same grace which God had blessed Mary with, the one who is called blessed among all men and women, for all ages.

What we can learn from this sacred occasion is that, while Mary was created special by God, and prepared by the Lord to be the Mother of the Lord, but it is her examples, her faith, her actions and her loving dedication to God which all of us can emulate. God’s grace flows through Mary by her devotion and faith, and her undying dedication towards her Son, even unto following Him on the path of suffering to the cross at Calvary.

Thus, God had also given us all the singular and most important of all the saints, as the greatest among our intercessors, the one who prays for us without cease, for the sake of all of us sinners who still dwell in this world. That is why Mary, our Lady of Guadalupe, asked St. John Diego, ‘Is there anything that you still need’ and gave him her assurance that whatever he asked through her, he will get it, so long as it is within the bounds of the will of God.

She is the closest among all to the throne of her Son in heaven, and hers is the words which her Son will listen to the most. Remember the wedding at Cana? Jesus listened to the request by Mary, for Him to help the wedding couple in trouble, and performed His miracle of changing the water into wine, His very first miracle. If He would listen to His mother’s request there, then the same too will be the case for us, if we ask Mary, our mother, to help with our needs.

Mary is also our mother, for our Lord Jesus had entrusted His disciple John to His own mother, just as He entrusted her to him to be cared for. Through the entrusting of John to Mary, Jesus our Lord also entrusted all mankind to the care of His mother, who then becomes our Mother too. And if she is our mother, will she not care for us, fight for us and intercede for us? She loves all of us, and she does not want any of us to be lost to her Son.

Hence, let us all from now on reflect on our own lives. Have we done what the Lord had asked of us to do? Have we all been faithful as Mary our mother had been faithful? When we err, let us all correct our ways and also seek help. Our mother Mary, just as when she appeared to St. John Diego as our Lady of Guadalupe sincerely sought our salvation and liberation from sin. Therefore, shall we all accept her offer of grace, which may then flow from the Lord through her, and into us?

Let us all be righteous and be faithful in our actions, showing the love which we ought to show our Lord and which we also should show one another. May our Lady of Guadalupe, Mary our mother intercede for us sinners before the throne of her Son, the Divine Mercy, that He shall forgive us our sins, and in our sincere faith, may He grant us all eternal life. Amen.

 

First Reading :

https://petercanisiusmichaeldavidkang.com/2014/12/11/friday-12-december-2014-second-week-of-advent-memorial-of-our-lady-of-guadalupe-first-reading/

 

Psalm :

https://petercanisiusmichaeldavidkang.com/2014/12/11/friday-12-december-2014-second-week-of-advent-memorial-of-our-lady-of-guadalupe-psalm/

 

Gospel Reading :

https://petercanisiusmichaeldavidkang.com/2014/12/11/friday-12-december-2014-second-week-of-advent-memorial-of-our-lady-of-guadalupe-gospel-reading/

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Wednesday, 10 December 2014 : Second Week of Advent (Homily and Scripture Reflections)

Liturgical Colour : Purple or Violet

Dear brothers and sisters in Christ, today we listen to the Lord our God, who is our Strength, our Provider in everything we need, and as a Father who loves us all as His beloved children. He will not abandon us without help or ignore us when we have need in us. That is how much God had loved us, and indeed He continues to love us from day to day.

Indeed, to follow God does not mean that it will be easy and like a simple walk along the pond. To follow the Lord means to face the challenges and the suffering which will inevitably come upon our way if we choose to side with the Lord and become His disciples. We know that the ways of the Lord are opposite from the ways of this world, as the world itself is the dominion of Satan, the evil one, filled with sin and darkness since the beginning of the world and the fall of mankind.

Just as Satan had done all he could to subvert mankind to his cause, and laid many obstacles in the path of God’s plan of salvation for mankind, by plotting against the servants and messengers of God with the people themselves, whom he set against the prophets and the disciples of the Lord. Thus the lamentation of Jesus against Jerusalem, which represented His people, how they had slaughtered the prophets and messengers sent to them to remind them to change their ways of sin.

Satan himself tried to tempt Jesus and tried to stop His works to fulfill God’s plan to save mankind, that is to liberate us all from his yoke, the yoke that Satan had placed on us, that is sin. Yes, in the Gospel today, God spoke about His yoke, which He encouraged us all to take up, in place of the yoke which we currently have. Yes, the yoke of sin which burdened us up to now, and still burdens us even today and will be for tomorrow and beyond if we do nothing about it.

Why did Jesus mention that His yoke is light and that we will find rest in Him? That is because sin is a yoke that is truly sinister. This yoke which had enslaved us from the day when Satan tempted our ancestors, Adam and Eve, the first of men, to sin against God, was truly a yoke and a chain which tied us to Satan, our tyrannical oppressor, and yet, sin at the same time is also in a way, enjoyable and preferable for many of us, and many of us, liked this yoke.

Why is this so? That is because the yoke of sin strikes directly at our human desires and wishes. Just as Satan played into our ancestors’ desire and curiosity, the curiosity for knowledge that made them to sin, and indeed, to grow even stronger in desire. For mankind by nature, our nature, is hard to be satisfied, and Satan knows this very well. That is why, he continues to feed our desire, giving us temptations after temptations to keep us enslaved to him.

But our Lord Jesus Christ had come into this world as the culmination of God’s plan to liberate us from this sinister burden and yoke. He had delivered us from the yoke of Satan into a new life filled with goodness, through His loving sacrifice and death on the cross, and by His rising from the dead into glory. He offered us all a new life, a life of salvation in God, one free from the yoke of sin. For the yoke of sin leads to nothing else other than eternal death. Hell is our destination if we remain chained to sin.

However, to many of us, the life in Christ seems to be difficult, for the Lord indeed does not hide from us the truth about what will happen to us if we are to follow Him and become His disciples. Certainly, Satan will not be pleased with us being released from his slavery and bondage, and he will do all that he can, just like the Pharaoh of Egypt of old trying to regain his former slaves, the Israelites.

And just as the Pharaoh had his chariots and armies to chase after the Israelites during the Exodus, thus Satan also had his means and powers of this world in order to harass us with, and he will indeed not rest before he catches all of us. But he has no power over us, brethren, for if we remember the Israelites and Moses, we know that God delivered them from the hands of the Pharaoh, with His own mighty power and deeds.

Therefore, brothers and sisters in Christ, in this season of Advent, let us all be awakened from our deep slumber in the darkness of this world, and be awakened to the light of Christ, which dispels all lies and temptations, and reveal to us the true ugly nature of sin. This Advent therefore is a perfect opportunity for all of us to start over anew and prepare ourselves for the coming of the Lord.

Let us all sin no more and reject the yoke of Satan, and in exchange of that, we should take up the yoke of Christ, who will give us eternal life and joy at the end of our journey. Indeed, the journey and path will be difficult, but nothing is impossible if we keep strong our faith in the Lord and adhere ourselves closely to Him. May this Advent therefore be a good time for us to reevaluate our lives and find our way to the Lord, our loving God and Father. Amen.

First Reading :

https://petercanisiusmichaeldavidkang.com/2014/12/09/wednesday-10-december-2014-second-week-of-advent-first-reading/

 

Psalm :

https://petercanisiusmichaeldavidkang.com/2014/12/09/wednesday-10-december-2014-second-week-of-advent-psalm/

 

Gospel Reading :

https://petercanisiusmichaeldavidkang.com/2014/12/09/wednesday-10-december-2014-second-week-of-advent-gospel-reading/

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Tuesday, 9 December 2014 : Second Week of Advent, Memorial of St. John Diego Cuauhtlatoatzin (Homily and Scripture Reflections)

Liturgical Colour : Purple/Violet or White

Dear brothers and sisters in Christ, today we heard about the Lord who is our Shepherd and Guide. We heard about how the Lord loves us so much, that He uses all in His power to look for us and search for us, His lost sheep, who had wandered into the darkness of this world. He wants us not to die, but to live with Him forever in glory, and to receive the joyous inheritance which He had intended for us from the beginning of time.

Yes, we mankind were not meant to suffer terribly in this world and to suffer the ignominy and pain of death, but we have sinned and therefore, those sufferings and death became a part of us, as the punishments for our sins. Yet, the Lord our loving God and Father desires that all of us be freed from this punishment, by the turning of our hearts and bodies away from all those sins and back into the embrace of the Lord.

He does not want us to be lost anymore, and He desires for us to be found and to be safeguarded through His Son, Jesus Christ, who came into this world as one of us, to suffer pain and death, which are the just punishments for the sins we commit, bearing all of them upon Himself, so that we who believe in Him, will no longer suffer those consequences, but through our faith in Him, we may be brought to our everlasting joy in Christ.

The first reading from the book of the prophet Isaiah was from the prophecies of Isaiah the prophet, who lived during the latter years of the southern kingdom of Judah, hundreds of years after the division of the original kingdom of Israel, the kingdom of David and Solomon. The people of God had been scattered since then, each finding their own way, and each following their own pagan gods, the gods of their neighbours, and forgot all about the Lord, committing all sorts of wickedness and evil.

That is why God was angry at them, for not following His ways and for walking down the path of sin. Yet, He still loves them and wants them saved. That was why He sent them many helpers and reminders, through the prophets and leaders He had made and appointed throughout time. He showed His power and love to His people, and yet, many of them were still lost in the midst of the darkness of the world.

Yes, our Lord has given us many opportunities and chances to turn our lives from one filled by sin, into one that is filled with the grace and blessings of our Lord. This Advent is a time for preparation, the preparation of our soul, our mind, our heart and our body for the eventual coming of the Lord. Advent is a time of expectation, of waiting for the glorious coming of our Lord, who will come to deliver us from this world of darkness.

What is then, our response? Are we to accept His offer of mercy and forgiveness, or are we to continue living in sin, ignoring Him and His love? It is indeed more difficult for us to do the former than the latter. It is easy to continue to live as we have lived, to embrace human desires, possessions, material goods, greed, lust and all other human emotions and the temptations of the flesh and soul, but it is difficult to live according to the ways of the Lord.

But if we give in to the world and all its temptations, then we shall be lost forever to the darkness of this world, and we will be forever lost to our Lord. Without our Lord, we are nothing, and we will end up with nothing, no matter how much we possess in this world. Instead, the way for us is to welcome Him with open hands and open mind, allowing Him to come into our lives to transform us from beings of darkness to the children of the Light.

Brothers and sisters in Christ, today we celebrate the feast of St. John Diego Cuauhtlatoatzin, or also known in his original Spanish name, St. Juan Diego, the very first saint from the New World, then part of the Spanish America, in what is now Mexico. He was an Aztec, who was converted to the true Faith when the Spanish came to the New World in the early sixteenth century. After he was baptised St. John Diego lived a very pious and holy life, devoted to the Lord in all things.

He changed his ways from the ways of the old worldly things, abandoning human greed and desire, and instead, seeking the fullness of the Lord’s love and grace, devoting himself completely to the Faith he had found after having lived for a long time in the darkness of ignorance of the Lord. And for that, he was blessed to be given the opportunity to witness a great apparition of the Blessed Mother of God, Mary, who appeared to him at the place now known as the Basilica of our Lady of Guadalupe.

Through St. John Diego, the Blessed Mother Mary requested that a chapel be built at the site of the apparition, so that through her, many would be able to be helped in finding their way to the Lord, and therefore be saved. The bishop was skeptical at first, looking down at St. John Diego and his low background, but after the insistence of Mary and through a sign, the Blessed Mother Mary left her image as an imprint with flowers in St. John Diego’s cloak, also known as tilma in the local language, which from then on became the centre of veneration, of what is now known as our Lady of Guadalupe.

Therefore, brothers and sisters in Christ, through the example of the life and actions of St. John Diego Cuauhtlatoatzin, we can see that God has called us back to His love, and if we do so, then He can transform our lives, from a life filled with sin, into one that is filled with holiness, hope and also grace for others. St. John Diego found a new lease of life in God, and through his newfound devotion, he brought the grace of God, presented through Mary His mother, for countless souls who were then saved because of that.

In the same way therefore, we too should follow his footsteps, and walk in the ways of the Lord, courageously and fearlessly becoming His witnesses, and in that way, we will be richly rewarded with grace and blessings when He comes again. Therefore, brethren, this Advent, let us make best use of the time to prepare ourselves and to be ready. Deepen our devotion to our Lord, and also to His Blessed Mother Mary, who is our greatest ally against the darkness of the world.

Let us all embrace the Lord, our Good Shepherd, who wants us His lost sheep to return to Him and be found forever in His loving embrace. St. John Diego Cuauhtlatoatzin and our Lady of Guadalupe, pray for us sinners, that we may come to realise the depth and gravity of our sins, and thus seek ways to be closer to our Lord Jesus, to be saved and to be prepared for His second coming into the world in glory. God bless us all. Amen.

 

First Reading :

https://petercanisiusmichaeldavidkang.com/2014/12/08/tuesday-9-december-2014-second-week-of-advent-memorial-of-st-john-diego-cuauhtlatoatzin-first-reading/

 

Psalm :

https://petercanisiusmichaeldavidkang.com/2014/12/08/tuesday-9-december-2014-second-week-of-advent-memorial-of-st-john-diego-cuauhtlatoatzin-psalm/

 

Gospel Reading :

https://petercanisiusmichaeldavidkang.com/2014/12/08/tuesday-9-december-2014-second-week-of-advent-memorial-of-st-john-diego-cuauhtlatoatzin-gospel-reading/