teachings of the Church

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Friday, 14 November 2014 : 32nd Week of Ordinary Time (Homily and Scripture Reflections)

Liturgical Colour : Green

Dear brothers and sisters in Christ, it is again repeated and emphasized today the imminent and urgent nature of the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ, which may happen at any time. It was mentioned how the coming of the Day of Judgment, when God will come to take His people, is like a thief entering and breaking into a house, without the owner knowing what had happened.

Therefore, it will be the same with us all, as when the Lord comes again, as He had promised, it will be like a flash and all of us will be caught unaware and unprepared, that is if we do not take the steps necessary to prepare ourselves for the coming of our Lord Jesus. The evidence and the warnings are ample, and if we regularly read the Holy Scriptures and go about in our Faith, we can realise how imminent it is to be, and how dangerous it is for us if we come unprepared.

Yet, as with the timing of His second coming, none of this are under our control. When I say that it is imminent, it does not imply that it will be today or tomorrow, but rather that it can happen any time, and therefore we should not be complacent in our Faith. Every day, every moments of our life, we must use them well to live out our faith in God to the very fullest.

And how do we do this, brothers and sisters in Christ? St. John in his second letter which is our First Reading today gave us a hint, which also reaffirmed the teachings of Christ, that all of us should be righteous and walk faithfully in the ways of the Lord. And what is this way? That is to fully and genuinely fulfill His commandments, which is love.

This can be done by loving our neighbours, one another, our brothers and sisters around us without prejudice and without fear. And this love must be genuine and real, cannot be just because we want to be praised by others for our actions, but because we have the love that pours forth from our hearts like torrents of water that no dam can stop.

And indeed, with the illusion of dams, we must stop damming ourselves, and the love that is in us. We have been given the seeds of faith, hope and love within us by the Lord who gave us life through His Spirit. But if we do not act on these in our lives and instead lead a debauched and wicked lifestyle, succumbing to our desires and ignoring the plight of others, then the seeds will remain just that, seeds, with no fruits to be shown as the concrete proof of our faith.

If we allow the love in ourselves to grow, then it will grow so great that it will not be able to be contained in ourselves, and it will enrich others around us. If we love each other, believe me, that many of this world’s problems will disappear and be solved. Wars, violence, injustice and prejudice all stemmed from our inability to love one another, and instead we fall into the traps of sin, as we engulf ourselves in hatred, bias, jealousy, greed and many other vices in our lives.

And the lack of love and respect for the Lord, in those who think that they are better than others, in those who are proud and thinking only of themselves, stem from the same root of the lack of action infused with love. If we have put love ahead of ourselves, and if we practice our faith with full sincerity and genuine intention, then that is why we are not capable of recognising the generous love of God for us.

And if we are not able to recognise the love which God has for us, then that is why we grow selfish and thinking only of our own benefits. In the end, this will become our downfall. Do we all remember what did Jesus say about the Last Judgment? The Last Judgment is the time when the Lord Jesus, who is the Judge of all the living and the dead will pronounce the final judgments on the fate of all mankind.

To those who have been righteous and just, and to all those who have loved one another and loved the Lord with all of their hearts, even if they do not know it, the Lord praises them and gives them the gift of eternal life, for they have been justified by love and by their faith. He told them that whenever they do something good and show love to the least and the smallest in their society, they have done it also to Him.

In the psalm today, it was written how are the types of the people desired by the Lord, namely those who are upright and who seek the Lord in all things, and who are righteous in all of their actions and faithfully obeyed God’s commandments, by loving their fellow brothers and sisters and ultimately, to show love and devotion to God Himself, all these without fear or reservation.

If we fail to achieve these, then the Lord at the Last Judgment will cast us out to be with Satan and his angels, as we have not loved Him, and neither that we have loved our brothers and sisters in the way which He had described in His Laws and commandments. If this happens, and if we are also caught unaware and unprepared, then we have no more hope with us. It is eternal despair and suffering for us.

Remember, brothers and sisters in Christ, the second coming of our Lord will be sudden and unexpected, and if we are not prepared, despite the numerous reminders and warnings He had given us, then it is eternal regret for us. And there is no escape, brethren, so do not wait until it is way too late for us. Let us all begin today, from now on, to know what is love and how to show genuine love.

May our Lord Jesus Christ bless us and strengthen us with His love, so that we may be proactive in our actions, to be filled with love. That we may be justified by our actions, showing our real, genuine and living faith, through which we resolve our devotion to the Lord, and be committed to Him, as our only Lord and our only God. God bless us all. Amen.

 

First Reading : 

https://petercanisiusmichaeldavidkang.com/2014/11/13/friday-14-november-2014-32nd-week-of-ordinary-time-first-reading/

Psalm : 

https://petercanisiusmichaeldavidkang.com/2014/11/13/friday-14-november-2014-32nd-week-of-ordinary-time-psalm/

Gospel Reading : 

https://petercanisiusmichaeldavidkang.com/2014/11/13/friday-14-november-2014-32nd-week-of-ordinary-time-gospel-reading/

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Thursday, 13 November 2014 : 32nd Week of Ordinary Time (Homily and Scripture Reflections)

Liturgical Colour : Green

Dear brothers and sisters in Christ, as we approach the end of our liturgical year, that is as we approach towards the season of Advent in preparation of Christmas, we hear the readings of the Holy Scriptures that are taken in preparation for the coming of the end of times, that is when the Lord will come again as He had promised His people, the time when the Kingdom of God is truly here.

But Jesus also warned us, all of His people that we have to be careful and vigilant against false prophets who claimed that they know about the coming of the kingdom of God. Or those who attributed certain celestial signs to the Second Coming of Christ. This group, often called the Millenials and with all other sorts of names are trying to mislead the faithful by twisting the truths of the Sacred Scripture to suit their own purposes.

There is no one who knows of God’s plan except that of God Himself, He who planned everything meticulously, all prepared in advance for the salvation of all of us, from death into new life. And Jesus Himself in the Gospel today, as He often did many times during His ministry, prophesied about His own upcoming suffering and death on the cross, as the crucial part of God’s plan for salvation of mankind.

Everything has been planned well and meticulously for our sake, and the Lord Himself came down to execute His plan, and to bring mankind back to Himself. and just as in his letter to Philemon, St. Paul mentioned this Onesimus whom he was sending to Philemon, and how he was made free and liberated from slavery, the same our Lord had done to us, through His Son Jesus Christ, our Lord and Saviour.

And indeed, St. Paul also mentioned how in sending Onesimus to Philemon, he was sending a part of his own heart to him. That is because Onesimus was dear and precious, a good friend to St. Paul, and sending him off to another is naturally not an easy decision. Thus, it should even be much more difficult for our Lord to part with a part of Himself, One of the Holy Trinity, whose members are united to each other in perfect love.

Yet, He willingly sent His Son to us, knowing that in doing so, He may gain us back from our downfall into sin. He loves His Son very much, but He also equally loves us all as well. By His coming and His loving Passion, the sacrifice He went through at Calvary, He broke us free from our slavery to sin, by bearing all those sins and all of their consequences upon Himself.

Brothers and sisters in Christ, therefore, we are asked and called to realise that all of us have been granted such a great grace by God, to have our punishment nullified, and a new chance of life given to us, and what seemed once hopeless and what seemed like an eternal slavery to sin, the Lord had made a new path, through which He might exercise His power to rescue us from that darkness.

And He also gave of Himself to us, through His Most Precious Body and Blood, that He may dwell in us, and us in Him, and by sharing in His Most Precious Self, we indeed have the kingdom of God coming within us, for the Holy Presence of God itself is in us, and through our transformation in faith, we become the concrete and true symbol and concrete evidence of the coming of the kingdom of God.

Therefore, what we can do today and from now on, brothers and sisters? It is for us to follow the Lord and to show Him our sincerest gratitude and thanks for having done so much for us. He has loved us all so dearly and so much, that He did not even shy from suffering and dying for our sake, just so that we do not have to suffer those for eternity if we fall into the eternal hell.

Thus, we have to be righteous and just in all of our actions, and we have to be like Him, in what He had done, we too have to do it. That means, we should stop hating and showing violence in our actions, and instead we have to learn to forgive and love those who hated us, and also to love one another, helping those in need whenever and wherever we can do it. And ultimately, of course we have to give the best of our love to our Lord and God.

May Almighty God bless us all, forgive us our sins, and bring us all to everlasting life. Amen.

 

First Reading : 

https://petercanisiusmichaeldavidkang.com/2014/11/12/thursday-13-november-2014-32nd-week-of-ordinary-time-first-reading/

Psalm : 

https://petercanisiusmichaeldavidkang.com/2014/11/12/thursday-13-november-2014-32nd-week-of-ordinary-time-psalm/

Gospel Reading : 

https://petercanisiusmichaeldavidkang.com/2014/11/12/thursday-13-november-2014-32nd-week-of-ordinary-time-gospel-reading/

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Wednesday, 12 November 2014 : 32nd Week of Ordinary Time, Memorial of St. Josaphat, Bishop and Martyr (Homily and Scripture Reflections)

Liturgical Colour : Red

Dear brothers and sisters in Christ, today it is highlighted to us another virtue in our faith life, that is the value of humility and gratitude in our lives, and how important these are in shaping our lives. For the Lord our God, who loves us so much, had decided to forgive us our sins and show His mercy to us sinners, even though more often than not, our sins were such that they should have been unforgivable as they were so wicked in nature.

As mentioned in the first reading today, taken from the letter of St. Paul written to Titus, while he was in captivity in Rome, mankind were once foolish and misguided, and we were once wholly submissive to our desires and our human needs, that we always seek to better ourselves and find what is good for ourselves, even at the expense of others.

It is difficult for us to obey others, and already it is difficult for us to obey the earthly authorities who made their presence and authority felt, and thus not to say about the authority of our Lord, whom many of us failed to notice in our lives. We are fearless and not repentant of our rebelliousness, because we did not recognise the Lord who is around us and within us, and who is watching everything that we do in this life.

It is therefore difficult for us in our nature to look beyond ourselves, and for many of us, pride and arrogance has walled us in, into ourselves as our desire feeds our pride and that pride further feeds our desire, in a vicious cycle that never ends, and eventually uncontrolled, it will lead to a great danger for us. We will not be able to do the will of God if we continue to remain and linger within this darkness within ourselves.

The Gospel today shows how Jesus healed ten lepers, who sought for His help, and He told them to show themselves to the priests, as was written in the Law, on how they ought to show their purity to the priests before they could be admitted back into the society. God’s power worked along the way, and they were healed while on the way to the priests.

Yet, this was where the behaviour of the one Samaritan who was healed, differed greatly from the other nine, who was also healed. The nine lepers was healed, and they joyfully realised that fact, and gladfully went on their way, presumably and most likely, to return to their old lives, and resumed whatever it was that they had lost. Meanwhile, the Samaritan also realised that he was healed in body, but unlike the other nine, he turned back, knowing who it was that had made him clean once again.

The Samaritan turned back and returned to the Lord Jesus, who praised Him for His faith, and said how his faith had made him whole once again. It is because of his faith that he recognised how Jesus has the power to make him clean, and he had placed his full trust in God, and not in himself. This is the attitude many of us had to adopt and emulate, and we have to abandon our ways, which are more often than not, like the other nine who rejoiced and did not give thanks to God.

How many of us in our lives, and in our daily actions forget to give thanks to those who helped us in various ways? And how many of us in fact, in total lack of gratitude and appreciation even caused pain to those who have helped us, or asked even more from them to satisfy our ever-growing desires? It is difficult indeed for mankind to resist such temptation, as we always try to grab at things beyond our means, and we complain when we cannot obtain them.

It is often that we need the grace of humility, temperance and satisfaction, at what God had given and provided us with His love. In the psalm today, the famous and renowned psalm on the Good Shepherd, we are shown how the Lord is our Good Shepherd, who leads us away from danger and darkness, and providing for us in all that we need, so that all of us who believe in Him, will not be disappointed, but gain eternal life and happiness.

He guides us on our way, so that we may not lose our path and fall into darkness. This very life we have, and all the goodness we have in it, are all the blessings of the Lord, and we ought to be grateful and thankful for that love. Yet, do we realise how often it is that we complain against the Lord, when things seemingly did not go our way? How often is it that we are angry at the Lord for seemingly not fulfilling what we have asked for?

We have to therefore, learn from the faithful Samaritan, the people who were often marginalised and ostracised by the Jews as being pagans and unbelievers, as barbarians unworthy of salvation. And yet, it was the Samaritan who humbly sought Jesus to give Him thanks for having healed him from his leprosy. The Jews, just as the other nine lepers, failed to do so.

We should emulate the example of the Samaritan, seeking God’s love and mercy at all times, and realising the love which He has for us, our Good Shepherd who cares for His sheep. And today, we have the example of another shepherd, a holy saint, martyr and bishop whose example we should indeed follow. This is St. Josaphat the martyr, also known as St. Josaphat Kuntsevych, a Bishop who lived in the early modern time Lithuania during the sixteenth and seventeenth century.

St. Josaphat Kuntsevych was a bishop whose see was reunited with the leadership of the Roman Pontiff, the Pope, after it had been separated for many hundreds of years due to the Great Schism between the Western and Eastern Christianity. As such, St. Josaphat had a very difficult time in managing his flock, as many of them remained loyal to the old and rebellious ways, and refuse to follow their bishop and shepherd in obedience to the Vicar of Christ.

Nevertheless, St. Josaphat remained faithful and devoted, working tirelessly to serve God’s people, even serving those who were openly in rebellion against him. He preached to them the word of God and urged them to remain faithful, and also to follow the teachings of the true Faith. In the end, however, those who were opposed to St. Josaphat rose up and murdered him in cold blood, throwing his body in a river.

The body of St. Josaphat was recovered and brought with honour to Rome, where it received the honour of being buried at the hallowed ground of the Basilica of St. Peter. Later on, with the intercession of St. Josaphat himself, his archenemy, a rival bishop who set up his position in direct opposition to St. Josaphat, repented his sins and was reunited with Rome.

Today, brothers and sisters in Christ, inspired by the examples of St. Josaphat Kuntsevych the martyr and faithful bishop, let us all work together as one people, one Church of God. Let us help one another, in union with our bishops and those whom the Lord had placed over us, as representatives of His authority, so that we may learn of humility and obedience to God’s will.

Let us all pray to the Lord, that He will grant us grace, to diminish in our pride and desires, and grow stronger in our humility and desire to seek the Lord. Let us learn to obey fully the will of God and seek the fullness of His eternal love and mercy, like the Samaritan leper who was healed from his afflictions, giving thanks to God for that love shown to him, and was praised by the Lord for his faith. God bless us all. Amen.

 

First Reading : 

https://petercanisiusmichaeldavidkang.com/2014/11/11/wednesday-12-november-2014-32nd-week-of-ordinary-time-memorial-of-st-josaphat-bishop-and-martyr-first-reading/

Psalm : 

https://petercanisiusmichaeldavidkang.com/2014/11/11/wednesday-12-november-2014-32nd-week-of-ordinary-time-memorial-of-st-josaphat-bishop-and-martyr-psalm/

Gospel Reading : 

https://petercanisiusmichaeldavidkang.com/2014/11/11/wednesday-12-november-2014-32nd-week-of-ordinary-time-memorial-of-st-josaphat-bishop-and-martyr-gospel-reading/

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Monday, 10 November 2014 : 32nd Week of Ordinary Time, Memorial of Pope St. Leo the Great, Pope and Doctor of the Church (Homily and Scripture Reflections)

Liturgical Colour : White

Dear brothers and sisters in Christ, today it is mentioned to us in the readings from the Holy Scriptures, of a very important role and position in the hierarchy of the Church, which all of us indeed have to be aware of, and have to adhere to. St. Paul in his letter to Titus, his friend and fellow servant of God, while he was in captivity in Rome, mentioned of the criteria which should be strictly observed when the overseers of God’s faithful ones are chosen.

And in the Gospel reading, Jesus warned His disciples against creating scandals in the faith, and as such, they should avoid creating scandal among the faithful and in the Church. Such scandals are harmful when it causes damage both physical and spiritual to the faithful and to the Church as a whole, and Jesus condemned those who have brought others into damnation because of their actions that brought about scandal and therefore not in accordance to what Jesus had taught His disciples.

How are the readings today link to each other? The bishops are very important building blocks of the Church, as the key figures that link the laity and the priests, to the Vicar of Christ, the Pope, who leads all the faithful, in union with the love of God, the true Head of the Church. The bishops, from the Latin term of their title, episcopus which means literally overseers, are truly the overseers of the faithful in their faith.

It is important that the candidates of bishops are first scrutinised thoroughly before one of them, who is found worthy and good, is selected as the bishop of a diocese. That is because the growth of the spiritual life and the well-being of the faithful ones of the Lord, depend on the state of the spiritual life of the shepherd of the flock, that is the bishop, who is the shepherd entrusted with the care of the people of God, the flock of Christ, in his diocese to be under his protection and care.

Jesus often mentioned in His teachings that we should not be hypocrites who merely show an external aspect of our faith and devotion to God, for others to see us, or even worse, for them to praise us because of what we have done. If our faith is like this, and if we pretend to be faithful for such purposes, then we may be held accountable for these actions.

It is precisely like the actions of the Pharisees, as well as the teachers of the Law, who proudly present the way they lived their faith to the people, and basked in their praise. In turn, they also misled the people by not practicing the Law with the whole of their hearts, and instead they served their own glory and purposes rather than serving the greater purpose of God.

They were bad shepherds, whose actions in opposing the Lord Jesus at every turn and opportunity were truly scandal in the faith. Their way of living and their way of seeing the world around them were also scandals of the faith, such that they were truly worthy of being rebuked endlessly by the Lord, who revealed the truth about their wickedness to the people of God, so that they may be wary of them and therefore also do their best to avoid doing the same as those wicked elders had done.

It was in particular mentioned that those who misled the little children of God are in particular to be blamed for their wickedness and evil. And indeed, those children are truly born pure and blameless, a blank and clean slate upon which, true and genuine teaching of the faith would have brought much goodness. A proper upbringing in faith for these, through proper catechism and role modelling in the faith.

If someone is to corrupt the faith by not doing what he is supposed to do, and worse still, if this person is the appointed shepherd of the people, as bishop and overseer, then it will bring much damnation to those sheep that had been entrusted to the aforementioned bishop. And in the end, the entire Church and the body of the faithful suffer, because of the wickedness and corruption this improperly elected bishop had done for his flock.

Therefore, this is why in our present time today, as it had been for quite a long time, bishops are carefully selected from among the priests, through a careful and extensive process of selection, from a shortlist produced by the diocese, to list down at first, the most worthy, holy, devoted and dedicated among the priests, to be made the bishop.

The final decision is to be done by the Vicar of Christ, the Pope, who through his representatives to the dioceses, the Apostolic nuncios and the delegates, keep in close contact with the various dioceses. Thus, it is why the responsibility and the role of the Pope is so important, as he is the Head of the entire Universal Church, and the ultimate and greatest guardian of the true and orthodox Faith.

That means, the Pope is charged with the final decision on who is truly worthy and who is truly best for the position and role of bishop for the dioceses. It is so that the Church may avoid scandal or any risk of problems that may likely arise if an unworthy individual became who they should not have become. If this happens, then the risk to the faithful sheep of the Lord is truly very, very great.

Thus, in consideration of the roles of the bishops and the Pope, even the position of the Pope, who is also the Bishop of Rome, is very, very carefully chosen, through the conclave, where the Cardinals, carefully selected members of the Church who then elect the most worthy amongst them to be the Supreme Pontiff and leader of the Universal Church.

And today, we celebrate the memory of a great Pope, whose feast we celebrate today, the very first Pope to be accorded with the title of ‘the Great’, in recognition of his great role and fundamental role in the development of the Faith and the Church. He is Pope St. Leo the Great, who lived and reigned during the waning years of the Roman Empire in the West.

Pope St. Leo the Great led the Church at the time when the civil authority and order of the Roman Empire is crumbling, especially in its western regions, including the city of Rome, and the society as it was known then, was under great threat from barbarian attacks. It was for this that Pope St. Leo the Great was mostly known for, that is in his role in stopping the great conqueror, Attila the Hun, from ransacking the Eternal City, or Rome, the Holy City of the Apostles.

When the great conqueror came, and when everyone else, including the Roman Emperor and the civil authorities all hid in fear, this holy servant of God, and the shepherd of the flocks of Christ went forth without fear and with zeal, to meet with the Hunnic king, and by the grace of God, persuaded him to retreat. Such was the courage and faith of this great Pope, that he managed to protect and prevent his flock from suffering.

However, what was less well known is the role which Pope St. Leo the Great played in the Church, and in the combatting of heresies and wickedness among the members of the Church at the time. Ever since the beginnings of the Church, there had been some among the faithful who did not remain true to the teachings of the true Faith, as they syncretised their faith, and they followed their own fancy and heretical ways of the Faith.

Therefore, many Ecumenical Councils were held in the early Church to standardise the true and orthodox teachings of the faith, and to condemn and anathemise all heresies and falsehoods in the teachings of the faith, including the errant and unfaithful bishops who misled many of their faithful, the precise scandal of the Faith mentioned earlier.

Pope St. Leo the Great was instrumental in his role in guiding the Church to keep the orthodox faith against those forces of men, who tried to subvert the teachings of the Faith to suit their own desires, their own purposes and their own wickedness. The teachings of Pope St. Leo the Great, his writings and works remain until even today, a very defining standard of the faith, which even this generation today look up to, in order to maintain the orthodox and true faith.

Therefore, on this special and sacred occasion, let us all come together and pray, pray for our bishops, our priests, and also our Pope, so that all of them will keep strongly the faith entrusted to them. So that they will keep without reservation the sound doctrine of the faith, without bending to the demands and temptations of the flesh and the world.

May Almighty God bless our Church, that day by day, our faith may grow stronger and stronger. That our Church may grow ever more faithful in the Lord. May the bishops, the shepherds of faith remain strong in their faith so that they will lead the faithful, following the examples of Pope St. Leo the Great, and abandoning all forms of fornications and evils, so that no scandal may arise, and the faithful may all benefit greatly from their care and love. God bless us all. Amen.

 

First Reading :

https://petercanisiusmichaeldavidkang.com/2014/11/09/monday-10-november-2014-32nd-week-of-ordinary-time-memorial-of-pope-st-leo-the-great-pope-and-doctor-of-the-church-first-reading/

Psalm :

https://petercanisiusmichaeldavidkang.com/2014/11/09/monday-10-november-2014-32nd-week-of-ordinary-time-memorial-of-pope-st-leo-the-great-pope-and-doctor-of-the-church-psalm/

Gospel Reading :

https://petercanisiusmichaeldavidkang.com/2014/11/09/monday-10-november-2014-32nd-week-of-ordinary-time-memorial-of-pope-st-leo-the-great-pope-and-doctor-of-the-church-gospel-reading/

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Sunday, 9 November 2014 : 32nd Sunday of Ordinary Time, Feast of the Dedication of the Lateran Basilica, Archbasilica of the Most Holy Saviour and Saints John the Baptist and the Evangelist at the Lateran (Homily and Scripture Reflections)

Liturgical Colour : White

Dear brothers and sisters in Christ, on this day we celebrate a great feast of the whole Universal Church, and especially the Church of Rome, the heart of Christendom, as established by the Vicar of Christ, the Supreme leader of the entire Body of Christ, the Church, St. Peter the Apostle, who established his seat in the once Imperial capital of the Roman Empire, the city of Rome, and where he was martyred for his faith in God.

He is the very first Bishop of Rome, and the very first one to lead the growing faithful community there in the Imperial capital. St. Peter the Apostle is indeed also accredited with the establishment of several other important and key dioceses throughout the Empire, and indeed, the See of Antioch also had St. Peter as its first bishop and leader. However, it was in Rome, where St. Peter truly established his seat and served the people of God until he was martyred in the reign of the Roman Emperor Nero.

And when we talk about the Church, we know of the various hierarchy of structures and personnels that made up the whole universal Church, and the administrative divisions in it, which in fact mirrored closely the division of the civil administration of the Roman Empire. The name diocese, was taken from the name used to describe a provincial division of the late Roman Empire, and this is taken into the structure of the Church as a group of the faithful led by a bishop, with many priests and the laity both under his care and supervision.

Bishops are overseers and leaders of God’s people, and they also supervise and coordinate the actions and works of the priests, the holy servants of God. And the premier and the foremost of all bishops is the Bishop of Rome, who as the bishop of the very diocese where St. Peter the Apostle had established himself and martyred, is the successor of that holy saint and shepherd which our Lord Jesus Himself had entrusted with all of His faithful on earth.

St. Peter affirmed his faith in the Lord with his threefold declaration of faith, a reminder that he had once denied his Lord and God three times during the Passion. And Jesus forgave him, and entrusted him with the entire the Church, as His Vicar, by the words, “Feed My sheep.” The Bishops of Rome, the Popes, therefore inherit the same commandment which Jesus had given to Peter, to lead His entire Universal Church.

And as bishop, indeed, he has a cathedral too, the Bishop of Rome having the Cathedral of Rome as his seat. We have to take note that the Cathedral mentioned here does not refer to the largest or the most beautiful churches present in the diocese, but rather the place, the very church where the seat of the bishop is. And this seat is the bishop’s throne, or the Cathedra, where a Cathedral gets its name from.

For many of us, we may think that the Basilica of St. Peter in the Vatican is the Cathedral of the Pope and the principal church of Christendom. However, this was wrong. Indeed, the Basilica of St. Peter has a special importance, both as a Papal Basilica, of which there are only four in the whole world, and then because it itself is located on top of the Vatican necropolis, which was the very spot where St. Peter was martyred during the reign of the Emperor Nero.

The Basilica therefore housed the remains of St. Peter, and is also the regular residence of the Popes, and where he celebrates the majority of his liturgical functions in Rome. However, the Pope’s Cathedra as the Bishop of Rome is not located at the Basilica of St. Peter, but rather at the Basilica of St. John Lateran, located in Rome, and not in the Vatican City.

Basilica of St. John Lateran was the site of the original Lateran Basilica donated by the Roman Emperor Constantine the Great, who was the first Christian Roman Emperor, and it became the official residence of the Popes, the adjacent Lateran Palace, and the Basilica became the Cathedral of the Bishop of Rome. The reason why the Popes no longer stay at the site, was because of the upheavals of two centuries ago, where worldly conflicts forced the Pope to abandon the Lateran for the safety of the Vatican, where he resided from then on.

As the Cathedral of the Diocese of Rome, the first and principal diocese of the Church, therefore it is also the Mother Church of the entire and whole Christendom, the very first and most important of all churches in the world, superseding even the Basilica of St. Peter, and noticed in its official name, the Archbasilica of the Most Holy Saviour and Saints John the Baptist and the Evangelist at the Lateran. It is the only Archbasilica in the world and was dedicated first to the Lord, who is the Saviour of the whole world, and then to both St. John the Baptist and St. John the Evangelist.

Today, we celebrate the day of the dedication of that sacred and hallowed Cathedral, the heart of the entire Christendom as the seat of the Popes. Dedication of a church is a very important event, for it is the moment when the particular location is consecrated and blessed, as a sacred and worthy space, for all the faithful to celebrate together the Holy Sacrifice of the Mass, the commemoration of the Lord’s Passion and death on the cross.

This is what the first reading today is all about, the vision of Ezekiel who saw the great and holy Temple of heaven, filled with divine glory and majesty, and he saw a torrent of water coming out from the Temple. This is what the hymn which we sung at Easter, Vidi Aquam, was taken from. ‘I saw water pouring out from the Temple…’ and what is this water? It is the holy water of our baptism, a reminder for us all to be holy and pure as we are at the moment of our baptism.

This is why we have the custom of signing ourselves with the sign of the Cross and the holy water when we enter the church. This is to remind us that we are coming into the holy place of God, which had been dedicated, consecrated and blessed for holy use of the Mass. Remember that Moses was asked to remove his sandals when he came to see the burning bush in the mountain of God? That is because the sandals represent all the vile and unworthy things of the world, which ought not to be present in the holy presence of God.

And therefore, similarly, when we come to the church, we should come with only a single intent, that is to be with our Lord, and to be fully present there, with all of our heart, soul and body completely present, ready to give thanks and praise to the Lord for His love, which we commemorate in the Holy Eucharist in the Mass. We should never even have the mind to do other things inappropriate for us to do when we are in the holy place and presence of God.

Therefore, it is absolutely saddening and disheartening if we see our own behaviours when we come for the Holy Mass, especially when those behaviour represent our disrespect to the Lord and His holiness, in His very temple no less! How many of us are guilty of talking and gossiping, as well as chatting things that are most of the time irrelevant to the celebration of the Holy Mass?

How many of us look to our gadgets and to our smartphones, to our mobile phones and others, instead of looking at the One whom we all should look towards, the Holy One who had given up Himself in death, so that we may not suffer the consequences of death, but gain life in His resurrection from the dead. How many of us therefore profaned His holiness and presence with our insolence and lack of respect for the Lord?

Brothers and sisters in Christ, our actions as I have just mentioned cannot be separated from our own internal disposition. Why is this so? If we look carefully, at the second reading today, taken from letter of St. Paul to the Church in Corinth, he also mentioned that our body is also a holy temple, that is the Temple of the Holy Spirit. This echoes the same words of Jesus, who also taught that our bodies are the Temples of the Holy Spirit, and therefore they should be pure and devoid of all forms of sins and iniquities.

What did Jesus do in the Gospel reading, brothers and sisters? Precisely, He drove out all of the merchants and the money changers who set up their stalls in front, at the courtyard of the Temple of Jerusalem, the House of God. The courtyard itself, even though it is not part of the main temple building, as a whole, still considered as an integral part of the Temple complex, and therefore, what the merchants and the money changers had done there, were abominable in God’s eyes.

What did the merchants do? They sold the animals to be sacrificed in the Temple to the people who wanted to offer those sacrifices, and they did so, by selling those animals at a high price, so that they gained much profits and benefits over the suffering of the people. The money changers did similarly, with charging the people for their money exchange services at exorbitant rates, gaining much more from those transactions.

What those people had done, had profaned the Temple of God, its holiness was marred by the wickedness of men. And our Lord who is a just God certainly did not take a kind look upon these wickedness, and that was why, Jesus our Lord literally went berserk in His wrath, because of the great evil committed by these in His holy Temple. He drove them out with whips and shouts, casting them out of His house and cursed them.

How is this relevant to us? Our bodies are the Temples of the Holy Spirit, the place where our Lord Himself came to dwell in us, and we know this because we who are faithful to Him, He will sanctify us and make us pure and justified. But if we do things as what the merchants and the money changers had done, then we are all going to receive great punishment and condemnation for our fornication and corruption of the holiness of the Temple of our body with sin.

How is this so? If we act in ways such as to serve our own desires, acting selfishly, thinking only of ourselves, just as the merchants and the money changers overcharging the people to gain profits for themselves, or if we act in disrespect of others, disregarding the teachings and reminders of the Lord, just as we had often disrespected the holiness of the sacred space in the church, the holy place of God, then our due is to be condemned and to suffer for those sins we have committed.

Therefore, today, as we celebrate with the entire universal Church, the feast of the dedication of the great Basilica of St. John Lateran, the Mother Church of all Christendom, the seat of authority and the site of the Cathedra of the Successors of St. Peter, let us be reminded of two very important things, that we must not leave today without.

First, we have to make sure that we respect the holy places and act appropriately in the places of divine worship. We have to truly be focused in the celebration of the Holy Mass, that we should dispose of any distractions or any attitudes incompatible with maintaining holiness in such solemn space, consecrated and dedicated to God. Let us remember that first and foremost, we have to come to celebrate the Holy Mass regularly, and when we do so, we have to be truly committed.

Then secondly, and even more important for us, is that we have to realise that all of us are also Temples of the Lord, Temple of the Holy Spirit. We have to keep this in mind, every single seconds of our lives. This is so that before we do every single act, or emit every single word from our mouth, we may think it through twice, or even more than twice, so that we can consider well before we act or say anything, that we may avoid ourselves from committing a sin before God.

May Almighty God, our Lord and Father, bless us all with faith and perseverance, that amidst this sinful and darkened world, we may become sources of light for the world to see, that all of us, the Temples of the Lord, may be consecrated in holiness, just as the Basilica of St. John Lateran, the Mother Church of our Faith has been consecrated in holiness and love by the Lord, to be the anchor upon which the Church keeps its faith strongly, that all of us may also remain forever faithful, and keep the sanctity and holiness of the Temple of God that is our bodies, our hearts and our souls. God be with us all. Amen.

 

First Reading :

https://petercanisiusmichaeldavidkang.com/2014/11/08/sunday-9-november-2014-32nd-sunday-of-ordinary-time-feast-of-the-dedication-of-the-lateran-basilica-archbasilica-of-the-most-holy-saviour-and-saints-john-the-baptist-and-the-evangelist-at-the-lat/

Psalm :

https://petercanisiusmichaeldavidkang.com/2014/11/08/sunday-9-november-2014-32nd-sunday-of-ordinary-time-feast-of-the-dedication-of-the-lateran-basilica-archbasilica-of-the-most-holy-saviour-and-saints-john-the-baptist-and-the-evangelist-at-the-lat-2/

Second Reading :

https://petercanisiusmichaeldavidkang.com/2014/11/08/sunday-9-november-2014-32nd-sunday-of-ordinary-time-feast-of-the-dedication-of-the-lateran-basilica-archbasilica-of-the-most-holy-saviour-and-saints-john-the-baptist-and-the-evangelist-at-the-lat-3/

Gospel Reading :

https://petercanisiusmichaeldavidkang.com/2014/11/08/sunday-9-november-2014-32nd-sunday-of-ordinary-time-feast-of-the-dedication-of-the-lateran-basilica-archbasilica-of-the-most-holy-saviour-and-saints-john-the-baptist-and-the-evangelist-at-the-lat-4/

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(Usus Antiquior) Dedication of the Archbasilica of our Saviour, Twenty-Second Sunday after Pentecost, Feast of St. Theodore, Martyr (II Classis) – Sunday, 9 November 2014 : Homily and Scripture Reflections

Dear brothers and sisters in Christ, today we celebrate with the entire Universal Church, the feast of the dedication of the greatest church in Christendom, the very heart of our Faith, the very seat of the Successor of St. Peter in this world, that is the Basilica of St. John Lateran, also known by its official name of the Archbasilica of the Most Holy Saviour and Saints John the Baptist and the Evangelist in the Lateran.

The Basilica of St. John Lateran is where the Bishops of Rome, the Popes have their Cathedra at. Cathedra is the seat of the bishop, the seat of authority and his throne, representing the teaching authority which had been handed down to him by his predecessors, in an unbroken chain of Apostolic succession. And for the Pope, as the Bishop of Rome, this succession originated from none other than St. Peter the Apostle, the Prince of Apostles, leader of the Universal Church and the Vicar of Christ.

Therefore today we celebrate both the authority of the Popes as the successors of St. Peter the Apostle, and more particularly, their seat of authority as the Bishop of Rome, the Cathedral of the Popes, the Cathedral of Rome itself, that is the Archbasilica of our Saviour, the Basilica of St. John Lateran, which is rightly often called, the Mother Church of the entire Christendom, because it is exactly the pivot and the centre, around which the entire Universal Church spins.

Today is the commemoration of the very date this Basilica was dedicated and consecrated to the Lord, a very important event which marked the moment when the building of the church was made holy and sacrosanct, blessed and dedicated to the Lord, to be a place of holy worship, worthy of the celebration of the Holy Sacrifice of the Mass.

And in the Epistle today, we heard on how the Lord is willing to come down from heaven to dwell with us, and this He had done, through His Son Jesus Christ, the One who saved us all through His suffering and death on the cross. He is the tabernacle of God who came down from heaven, to dwell among us forever. What is a tabernacle? Surely we are all aware that the tabernacle is the holiest place in the Church, where the very Holy and Real Presence of God in the Eucharist is housed.

Therefore, Jesus Christ who came into the world, both the Son of Man and Son of God, both fully human and fully divine, is the Word of God made flesh, who took up the humanity and the flesh of mankind to manifest the perfect love of God in this world. Through Him, God has dwelled among men forever, and this He kept true, even until now and beyond, because He has given us His own Body and Blood through the Eucharist, and for us who receive them worthily, the Lord dwells in us, and we dwell in Him.

We have to realise therefore, today, as we celebrate this feast of the dedication of the Archbasilica of St. John Lateran, we should realise also that just as the holiness and sanctity of that sacred place was created by its dedication and there is a need to maintain that holiness, then we too must realise that as I have mentioned, that because the Lord has dwelled among us, we are also the tabernacles of God, that is the Temple of the Holy Spirit.

We are all therefore also meant to be the Temples of God. As such, we have to maintain the purity and holiness of our lives, of our bodies and hearts, or else, the corruption of sin would come to pollute the purity of the Temple of our body and heart. If we allow this fornication and corruption to affect this holy Temple, then our lot will be condemnation and destruction by the Lord, who will destroy us for our sinfulness.

How do then we do this, brothers and sisters in Christ? That means all of us should avoid any kinds of actions and attitudes that cause sin to develop and corrupt our hearts. We should keep ourselves clean and pure, by doing what is good in the sight of God, and abandoning all forms of fornications and evils from everything we do, and from everything we say.

Our Lord loves us, brothers and sisters in Christ, and He actively seeks all those who have sinned and have fallen into the darkness, like that of a shepherd looking for his lost sheep. The Gospel today clearly showed this to us, as Jesus showed His love and mercy for Zachaeus, the rich merchant and tax collector, who was seen by the Pharisees as a great sinner for his actions.

Yet it was his sincere desire and effort to seek the Lord, even to climb up a tall tree just so that he could see Him, that brought him into salvation. Jesus also praised him for his faith, and for his commitment to doing what is good and righteous, even to the point of declaring his love for the Lord publicly, and vowed to give to the poor, his love and care.

Therefore, the example of Zachaeus in the Gospel today can be an inspiration for us all, that it is never too late for us to begin a new life in Christ. Although we may have sinned greatly in the past, but with the help of the Lord and sincere effort from our side, we can attain a new holy, pure and committed life to God, and therefore create for ourselves, the holy Temple of God, that is our body, heart and soul.

Today we also celebrate the memory and feast of St. Theodore, a holy martyr of the faith, who was once a soldier in the Roman Army, at the time of the late Roman Empire. He was one of the faithful, and in the still pagan Roman Empire, and especially in the Roman Army, that was a difficult thing to do. He remained true to his faith, and when the Emperor at the time, who was very staunchly pagan and anti-Christian, ordered all those in the army to give idol offering to the pagan gods, St. Theodore refused to do so.

St. Theodore therefore was martyred for his faith, in the zealous and unbending devotion to God, like a true soldier of the Lord indeed. He was therefore the patron saints of warriors and crusaders, the holy warriors fighting in the Name of the Lord. Many who seek help against the forces of evil and darkness pray for the intercession of St. Theodore, the holy and brave martyr of God.

Therefore, on this holy and joyous occasion, let us all ask for the intercession of St. Theodore the martyr, and also all the saints of God, and most especially the Blessed Mother of our God, our Blessed Virgin Mary, to pray for us and intercede for our sake, that we may be strengthened against the forces of evil trying to corrupt us, our bodies, our minds, our hearts and souls, which are the Temples of the Lord’s Holy Presence.

Let us all always be mindful of our words, actions and deeds, that we think twice, thrice and even more, before we even think of committing any sin or any acts deplorable to God. Let us all follow the example of Zachaeus, to declare our love for the Lord and devote ourselves completely and entirely to Him without fear, and give the best of our effort to follow the Lord and walk in His ways.

May Almighty God guide us in this battle of life, so that just as He had sanctified the Basilica of St. John Lateran as the Mother Church of all of His Church and the whole of Christendom, He may also sanctify us as the Temples of His Presence within us, through the Most Holy Eucharist which we receive into ourselves. May God bless us for our faith, and keep us in His love always, forever and ever. Amen.

 

Epistle :

https://petercanisiusmichaeldavidkang.com/2014/11/07/usus-antiquior-dedication-of-the-archbasilica-of-our-saviour-twenty-second-sunday-after-pentecost-feast-of-st-theodore-martyr-ii-classis-sunday-9-november-2014-epistle/

Gospel :

https://petercanisiusmichaeldavidkang.com/2014/11/07/usus-antiquior-dedication-of-the-archbasilica-of-our-saviour-twenty-second-sunday-after-pentecost-feast-of-st-theodore-martyr-ii-classis-sunday-9-november-2014-holy-gospel/

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

 

First Reading : 

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

Psalm : 

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

Gospel Reading : 

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

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Friday, 7 November 2014 : 31st Week of Ordinary Time (Homily and Scripture Reflections)

Liturgical Colour : Green

Dear brothers and sisters in Christ, today we heard the parable of the wicked and dishonest servant, whom the master punished for his dishonesty with his properties. Jesus told this parable to the people, so that they may understand that, the ways of this world are diametrically opposite to the ways of the Lord. And in the first reading, St. Paul told us how there are many those who did not follow the way of the Lord, as the enemies of the Lord, and there are then others who walk in the way of Christ.

It was mentioned that those who did not put their trust in God think only of earthly things, and their belly was their god. And this is indeed what the unfaithful and dishonest servant had done, as he was first of all, serving his own purposes and desires. The dishonest servant was not honest in his activities, and he was clearly not faithful to the charge given to him by his master.

It is likely that what the dishonest servant had done, that he was reported to his master, was exactly what he is doing afterwards to save his own neck. He lied to his master even more, corrupting the funds which is supposed to be under his care and responsibility. A steward is charged with taking care of his master’s wealth and property, and he is supposed to oversee all transactions done in his master’s name.

Thus the debts which the master collects from the people, were the responsibilities of that dishonest steward. And what did the steward do, according to Jesus? He was not trying to defend his innocence or try to do something good to atone for his mistakes. Instead, what he was doing, was exactly what he knew how to do, that is the wicked way of corruption. He went about to secure his own livelihood after his firing from his job.

He made the debts of those who owed money and things to his master to become lesser, for what purpose? It is so that when he was out of job, he would have people who were grateful for what he had done, even though it was wicked and dishonest, so that he would be taken care of properly. And this is indeed the way of the world, how the people of this world commonly act, to preserve their own well-being and safety, over that of the concerns for others, and over the principles of justice and righteousness.

But are we children of this world? Yes, we once were children of this world, and we lived according to the ways of this world. But ever since we were baptised in the Lord, and when we were immersed in the holy water of baptism, we were made the children of God, and as the children of God, we are no longer bound to the ways and customs of this world, but we are bound to the ways of the Lord.

And what the wicked servant had done, will not save him when he goes to face the Lord for judgment. Why is this so? It is indeed right that when Jesus said that the children of this world is good with the ways of the world, and indeed they do, for they know how to deal with the world. But all these are useless when we talk about the life that is to come. These ways may endear us to the world and its inhabitants, but it is not right and good in the sight of God.

Instead, the actions that conform to the desires of this world are contrary to the ways of the Lord, and they bring about condemnation rather than safety. Remember what Jesus said in one of the occasions? He said that it is better for us to build up and store riches for the afterlife, the world that is to come, rather than to build up wealth for ourselves in this world.

Why is this so? That is because whatever we have in this world, we will not carry over into the next life, that we will have with the Lord. Nothing that we have in this world, all the riches and wealth will help us to attain the glorious promises of God. Instead, what will truly help us on our way, is by obeying the will of God and His teachings, that is to love, to be merciful and forgiving, and to be faithful.

And we also have to be righteous and just in all judgments and in all the dealings we make with others. We must have love in all of our actions, and indeed if we have love, we would not even do anything that cause any discomfort for others and benefit only ourselves, which is exactly what the dishonest steward had done. Many people corrupted the funds in this world, which would have gone to help the poor and the less fortunate, and instead, they corrupted the funds to serve their own purposes and made themselves richer at the expense of others.

Brothers and sisters in Christ, therefore what the master of the house praised the unworthy and dishonest servant was because that his cunning had saved him from the troubles of this world, and indeed, through what he does, he will certainly do well and thrive in the world. However, it does not secure him the passage to the life that is to come. To cheat and to be dishonest, and to be infatuated with money and possession are behaviours that will lead to damnation, or eternal death in hell.

Therefore, we are all presented with a clear choice. Should we strive to do well in this world, by being cunning, selfish and filled with desires? Or should we rather focus on building up our wealth in the life to come? Certainly, the answer is clear, that we have to do the latter. It does not mean that we have to reject or shun the world completely, but rather that we have to mind our actions, that they be based not our own human and personal desires, for wealth, possessions or anything else, but based on love which we ought to show first for God, and then also to our fellow brethren, our neighbours.

We cannot serve both God and money, and we cannot be both devoted to the Lord and to the possessions we have. Rather, what we should do is that, whatever blessings and graces we have received in the possessions we have, and what excess we have with us, we should dedicate it to helping those around us in need.

May Almighty God therefore awaken in us the love which we need to have, that in our actions, we may grow less and less selfish, and become ever more selfless. We hope that at the end of the day, we will be able to gain justification through our actions, and be found worthy of the glory of heaven, through what we have done well in this life, in accordance with the will of God. Amen.

 

First Reading : 
https://petercanisiusmichaeldavidkang.com/2014/11/06/friday-7-november-2014-31st-week-of-ordinary-time-first-reading/

Psalm :
https://petercanisiusmichaeldavidkang.com/2014/11/06/friday-7-november-2014-31st-week-of-ordinary-time-psalm/

Gospel Reading : 
https://petercanisiusmichaeldavidkang.com/2014/11/06/friday-7-november-2014-31st-week-of-ordinary-time-gospel-reading/

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(Usus Antiquior) Commemoration of All the Faithful Departed, All Souls’ Day (Feria II Classis) – Monday, 3 November 2014 : Homily and Scripture Reflections

Dear brothers and sisters in Christ, today, following the Usus Antiquior or the Extraordinary Form of the Latin Rite of the Holy Mass, we celebrate the commemoration of all the faithful departed, or the celebration of All Souls’ Day. We therefore today remember all of our loved ones and indeed, all of our fellow brothers and sisters who have gone before us into the afterlife.

The souls of the dead departed from their bodies, and to many of us, death seems like to be very dreadful and vile indeed. And that is why so many people feared death, as they see it as the separation from what is dear to them in the world, from all of their loved ones and from all of their possessions, indeed, from everything that they were and from everyone they ever knew.

Or so it seems. We often mourn at death because we do not understand death, and we often do not know that what we see as death, is not an eternal separation or indeed even as something to be dreaded at all. For some of us, we cannot endure death because we fear losing what we have in this life, our possessions and our ties to the things of this world. And then for some, we see death as something evil and scary, as how it was often portrayed to us.

What is death? Death is, as mentioned, the sting of sin, and death is the consequence of sin. Death is never meant for us, brothers and sisters in Christ, as we were created by God in perfection, intended to enjoy forever the bliss of life and harmony, with the Lord in complete and unadulterated love. Instead, men chose to follow their own path, and to listen to the lies of Satan, and thus sinned.

Sin is disobedience and rebellion against God’s will, against God who is love and who is life. As He is the source of life, when we rebelled against the Lord, we have been tainted by sin and therefore being cast off from Life itself, having no life in us. Hence, even though the breath of life which God had given us is within us, but the life we have in this world is temporary, and is bound to end one day, at the Lord’s time and choosing.

Yes, we are all mere mortals, and the life within us depends on God, who gives and takes Life as He pleases. And yet, this life which we have is in fact an opportunity for us all to atone and repent from our sinfulness. And the Lord Himself has presented us with a new hope and guidance, by the sending of His own Son, our Lord Jesus Christ into this world.

Why is this so? That is because our Lord Jesus Christ offers us a new life, that is life in Him, the Lord of Life. He has life in Him as given to Him by His Father, and He is the Bread of Life who came down from heaven. Why is this allusion to food, the Bread of Life? Because Christ Himself had offered His own flesh and blood to become the very food and drink that gives us new life and nourishes us.

This food and drink is the food that gives us new life, not the life that is still subjected to the power of death, but a new life that is free from the depredations of death. And Jesus offered us this Bread and this Wine, His own Body and Blood, to be part of us, when we receive them with faith, so that we who share in His gifts through the sacrifice He made on the cross, gain everlasting life through Him.

Our mortal existence in this world may come to an end, but we have been assured the final victory against death, as the Lord Himself had conquered death through His own resurrection from the dead. And that resurrection is our hope, because through it we know that there is escape from death, and it will not have the final say against us.

Brothers and sisters in Christ, there are three fates awaiting the souls when they depart from this earthly life. If they are wicked in life, disobeying the Lord and refusing to listen to His calling, and even refusing to repent and believe in Him, committing evil in life, then hell is their lot. Hell that is the total separation and rift from the love of God, without hope of escape and salvation. No amount of help or prayer will help souls that have been condemned to hell for their irredeemable sins.

Meanwhile, the souls of the faithful will end up either in heaven or in Purgatory, depending on what they had done in life. If their lives had been exemplary in faith, filled with all forms of goodness and righteousness, then they merit the glories and joy of heaven straight away, and these are the saints, the holy men and women who keep their lives pure and worthy in the sight of God.

How about Purgatory, then? Purgatory is the place where the souls of the faithful dead, who has been faithful and devoted to God, and were found righteous, but still have the taints of serious sins on them. As such, they were not yet worthy of the fullness of glory of heaven, as the Lord dwells there, and in the presence of God, no sin should stand.

Therefore, the souls whose sins have not been completely purified have to wait in the Purgatory, suffering the consequences of their sins, the pain and sorrow of not being able to be with the Lord their God, and at the same time, being fully aware of the wickedness of their sins and shortcomings, which made them to end up in the Purgatory at the first place. They will indeed eventually proceed to heaven, but only after their sins had been absolved completely.

Today is therefore a reminder for us, on this feast of All Souls, that we have a clear choice in this life to follow the will of God and walk in His ways, or otherwise to follow the whims of our own desire and to listen to Satan and thus to sin. If we are not careful, and if our lives are filled with wickedness, then we may end up in hell, without hope of ever escaping it.

And the souls in Purgatory and their suffering there reminds us to lead a righteous life, free from even venial and seemingly minuscule and light sins. Even these may hamper us as we make our way towards the Lord. And the souls in Purgatory needs our prayer, as they cannot pray for their own sake. If we pray for the souls in Purgatory, we may obtain for them plenary or partial indulgence for the remission and absolution of their sins, so that hopefully they will be able to end their sufferings in Purgatory and proceed to the eternal glory in heaven.

Brothers and sisters in Christ, therefore, let us ask the holy saints and angels of God to pray, first to pray for the souls in Purgatory, that together with their prayers, our prayers for these poor souls may rise to the presence of God, and God in His mercy and love, may forgive them their sins and bring them into heaven to be with Him, having been made pure and blameless, so that they may not need to suffer anymore.

And finally, for them to also pray for us sinners who still walk in this world in this mortal life. That we may realise our sinfulness and mortality, and of the suffering of the souls in Purgatory, so that we may change our ways, avoiding and rejecting sins, that we may eventually be found worthy in heaven and that none of us will be lost to hell. May all the souls of the faithful dead in the Lord, find rest in peace and receive the eternal glory of everlasting heaven with Him. Amen.

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Sunday, 2 November 2014 : Feast of All Souls, 31st Sunday of Ordinary Time (Homily and Scripture Reflections)

Liturgical Colour : Purple/Violet or Black

Dear brothers and sisters in Christ, today we celebrate the Feast of All Souls, which means that we celebrate the memory of all those who have departed this life before us into the afterlife. The souls of the dead are separated from their bodies, and while their bodies sleep, their souls await the resurrection of the dead at the end of time, during the Last Judgment, when Jesus the King will come again and judge all the living and the dead, and this is part of our faith.

We believe that all the souls of the righteous will be judged by God to belong to Him, and as the Last Judgment shows, they will be counted among the saved ones, and be granted the eternal life and happiness which God had promised all of us. Meanwhile, the souls of the wicked and all those who had done evil in life, and never repented from those evils, will be cast into the eternal damnation and punishment in hell, with Satan and his angels.

Why do we then celebrate today, as the day of commemoration of all the souls who have departed this life? That is because, our Faith believes that, while the righteous ones and those who have done justly in life, will enter heaven directly, being found worthy of it, who are the saints, whose feast day we just celebrated yesterday, the solemnity and feast of All Saints. And those who are wicked and evil in life, they would be condemned to a state of eternal death and suffering, cast into hell and the lake of fire.

But how about those who were with sin, but yet also were righteous? Many of us are in this state, as we commit venial sins and sometimes even mortal sins, and yet in our lives we also commit things that are good and righteous in the sight of God? God is loving and merciful to us, brothers and sisters in Christ, and therefore, if we had been faithful and righteous in life, despite of our sins, we will not be cast into hell and suffer for eternity without hope.

That is because hell is reserved only for those who constantly refused to listen to the Lord and commit mortal sins, and other form of sins, one after another and failing to seek the Lord’s mercy. Hell is however, not exactly a place, but a state, in which we are separated from God and His love for eternity, without hope of redemption and salvation, as we ourselves have rejected the salvation in Jesus in the first place, through our actions.

The suffering is because of the unimaginable nature of losing God’s love and presence in our lives, which brought despair and sorrow so great that it is painful. This is certainly not the fate which God intended for all those who remain faithful to Him. But at the same time, for many of us, we are still not yet worthy of heaven, for the glory of heaven is reserved for those who are truly just alone, and sin has no place in the presence of God. Remember that God is just and His hatred against sin is as great as His mercy and love for us all.

Therefore, our Faith has the concept of what is called purgatory and limbo, in which the souls of the dead and all the souls of those who have not been baptised and yet are righteous among the nations, remain during their sojourn before they are worthy of heaven, suffering temporarily for the consequences of their sins. In the purgatory and limbo, the souls who are there are not without hope, unlike those who are in hell, but they also long for the happiness and joy of heaven which the saints enjoy, and that temporal separation from God, even though not permanent like those souls in hell, bring them great longing and great suffering.

Therefore, on this commemoration of the All Souls’ Day, we commemorate those souls of our brethren, who had departed before us, and we pray for them, asking also the intercession of the saints and imploring the Lord for His generous mercy, to be given to those souls who now suffer in purgatory, for the venial sins and other impurities which prevent them from truly being with God.

But at the same time, this occasion should also be a reminder for us who are still alive, that we should take heed of this fate of the souls suffering in purgatory, and even more so, that we take heed of what is going to happen to the wicked and those who embrace evil, who will be cast down into hell. We have to be vigilant in our own lives, and guard our actions, that evil will not have its way into us, and cause us to commit sin.

Brothers and sisters in Christ, our Church in fact consist not just all of us who believe in Christ in this world today, as this is just one component of the Church of God. We are the Church Militant, who are still living and walking on this world, fighting constantly and regularly in a spiritual battle against the forces of evil, and resisting all forms of sin, we ought to lead a righteous life, to guard against Satan and to be justified in our faith that we merit salvation.

But our Church also consists of the Church Triumphant, which consists of the holy saints, men and women who had been found worthy to merit the glory of heaven, and yet, as I have mentioned yesterday, and as we celebrated the feast of All Saints yesterday, they are still very much together with us, and they constantly pray for our sake, and being close to the throne of God, they are our intercessors, asking for God to show us His mercy and love.

And lastly, our Church also consists of the Church Suffering, namely the souls of the dead who are still in purgatory, suffering for their sins, on their path to heaven, and yet at the same time, they are again also very much still with us, as even death does not part them from us. They are all aware of their sins and how these sins had prevented them from directly enjoying the fullness of God’s promise and how they had suffered because of that.

Thus, they too are praying for our sake, imploring the Lord to send us reminders and strength, to overcome our evils and wickedness, while we still have time, and not to wait until it is too late for us. As at best, our sins will prevent us from being found worthy of heaven directly, and we will end up in purgatory just as they are now in purgatory, or even at worst, that we may end up falling into the endless pit of hell, without any way or hope of escaping it.

Therefore, on this day, we really should use the opportunity, to pray for our beloved ones, and also for every other souls who have departed this life, that the Lord will show mercy on them. We should ask the saints for their intercession, that they will also pray for the sake of the souls in purgatory, as well as pray for us too, so that all of us may be eventually found worthy by the Lord and escape suffering towards eternal life and salvation, together with them the saints, in the glory of heaven.

Let us commit all of us to prayer, that we pray for all the members of the Church, particularly all of us the Church Militant, fighting constantly against evil of this world, and those in purgatory, the Church Suffering. We should pray for one another and help one another to guard ourselves from wickedness, that God’s promised salvation will bear fruit in us, through our faith, our repentance and our devotion to Him.

Nevertheless, this day of All Souls remind us yet again, and the Scriptures also affirmed that we should have no reason to fear death, or fear the condemnation and suffering of hell at all. That is because, even though because of sin, our disobedience against God, we will die, but we will not die forever. Jesus our Lord Himself had made the ultimate proof, when He died on the cross for us, and then rose in glory and majesty, showing that He had conquered death.

Therefore, even as we remember the dead today, and even as we reflect on the nature and inevitability of death to all of us, we have to always remember and put our complete hope and trust in our Lord Jesus, our Risen Lord and Saviour. Through His death we have also died to our sins and to our past lives, and through His Resurrection we have been brought into a new life, a life that is justified by faith and by our love for God.

That is why the sacrament of Baptism is so important, just as the Scriptures mentioned, that through the waters of baptism, when we are immersed in it, we have been ‘drowned’ unto death, the death from our old lives, filled with sin, impurities and wickedness of our heart and soul, and we have been remade into a clean, pure slate, which the Lord transformed into a new life through His resurrection. We did not remain in death, but we rise with Him in glory, if we choose to follow Him faithfully and devotedly.

Death and sin has no say over us, brothers and sisters in Christ, if we remain faithful to the Lord, and if we put our trust solely in Him alone. The belief in the resurrection is central to our faith, and as long as we believe in this, we shall have the eternal assurance of life and salvation, which our loving God had made through Jesus His Son. The souls in purgatory and limbo also knows this, and they prayed ceaselessly for the end of their suffering, when their sins are made clean, and they once again reunite with their Lord. The Lord had indeed won the final victory over death.

Therefore, brothers and sisters in Christ, on this occasion today, let us first be reminded that the consequences of sin is death, and death is fatal for us, if we do not make the conscious effort to detach us from those sins, then we are in great danger of falling into eternal damnation. Let us not be deceived by our own glory and achievements, for remember that we are all mortals, and eventually whatever we have in this world, will mean nothing if we have not done them in the Name of God.

Let us instead, look upon the examples of the holy saints, who have put their trust in God, and walked in His path. They have abandoned their wicked past, and cast away their old lives of sin, and in return they received the glory of God, and the fullness of divine promise made through Jesus, our Lord. Following the examples of the saints is a foolproof and guaranteed path for us, that we may also become justified in our faith, and therefore be assured in our own salvation.

And lastly, let us never forget those who have gone before us, and those whom we have loved, who have predeceased us, and now who may be in purgatory, seeking to be united in complete fullness with God. We pray for them, and ask the saints for their intercession for the sake of these souls in purgatory and limbo as well, that they may be delivered from the suffering which they now endure for their sins.

May after their sufferings, their sins are cleansed and they may be brought into full and glorious unity with God, and may we one day also be with them, in the glory of heaven. Let us put our trust and faith ever in God, who is Lord of the living and the Judge of all, knowing that if we do so, death will not have its final say on us, and we will receive the fullness of our Lord’s promise of eternal life and happiness.

May all the souls of those departed in the Lord, receive the grace and love of God, rest in peace, the peace of Christ our Lord. And may we all who still walk in this world continue to walk faithfully in the way of our Lord, emulating the examples of the saints, that we all, together as one Church, Church Militant, Church Triumphant, and Church Suffering be one day be reunited fully in God’s glory when He comes again, and may we praise Him for eternity thereafter. Amen.

 

First Reading :
https://petercanisiusmichaeldavidkang.com/2014/10/31/sunday-2-november-2014-feast-of-all-souls-31st-sunday-of-ordinary-time-first-reading/

Psalm :
https://petercanisiusmichaeldavidkang.com/2014/10/31/sunday-2-november-2014-feast-of-all-souls-31st-sunday-of-ordinary-time-psalm/

Second Reading :
https://petercanisiusmichaeldavidkang.com/2014/10/31/sunday-2-november-2014-feast-of-all-souls-31st-sunday-of-ordinary-time-second-reading/

Gospel Reading :
https://petercanisiusmichaeldavidkang.com/2014/11/01/sunday-2-november-2014-feast-of-all-souls-31st-sunday-of-ordinary-time-gospel-reading/