Thirtieth Week of Ordinary Time

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Saturday, 1 November 2014 : Solemnity of All Saints (Homily and Scripture Reflections)

Liturgical Colour : White

Dear brothers and sisters in Christ, today is a great feast day of the entire Universal Church, and not just of the Church which is in this world, but also together with the entire Church of the heavenly realm, as we celebrate today the feast and solemnity of All Saints, rejoicing with all creation, for the gift of the saints, who were once of mankind, but have been raised to the glory of the Altar and had been deemed by the Church as worthy of heaven by the virtue of their life and works.

This day marks the very important concept in our Faith, that is of the belief in saints and also to that extent, the blesseds or the Beati, who were also deemed worthy of praise and veneration, due to their actions in life, and in how they have faithfully lived their life in accordance with the ways and teachings of our Lord Jesus Christ, and in how they have dedicated their lives in service both to God and to their fellow men.

Then, in order to start, we have to understand who are saints in the first place and why they were so special, and how they can inspire us all in our own lives and drive towards salvation in God. Saints were also once living and walking in this world just like us, and they were also once sinners like us. Some saints were even once great sinners, who committed even abominable acts in the sight of God, when they were still alive.

Some saints were once murderers, and some were heretics and rebels against the orthodox teachings of the faith, and yet some were also fornicators and those who gave in to the pleasures of the flesh and the temptations of the world. St. Augustine of Hippo, the renowned Doctor of the Church and great saint is a traditional example of this, as well as St. Paul the Apostle, the great Apostle to the Gentiles and the one who wrote the many letters that today form the majority of our New Testament in the Scripture.

St. Augustine of Hippo was the son of another well-known saint, St. Monica, who was a devout Christian and had hoped that her son would be one too. She brought him up in the Faith with zeal and love, only to be greatly disappointed when he grew up to be a fornicator and a heretic, following the heresy of Manichaeanism, and indulging in various pleasures of the flesh and the world with his friends and companies.

Meanwhile, we know that St. Paul the Apostle was once Saul, the great scourge and enemy of the Church and the faithful, who hunted down many of the faithful, persecuted many of the saints and martyrs of the early Church, destroyed many of the communities of the faithful, and were once a bitter and zealous enemy of Christ. He went to Damascus with the evil intent of bringing the faithful who lived and hid there to the justice of the Pharisees and the chief priests.

And yet, what differentiated them from those who sin and was lost to us into eternal damnation? It is because they did not remain forever in their sins and in their sinful state, and instead, they sought complete change and turnaround in their own lives. They abandoned what were wicked and evil in their lives, casting out wickedness from their actions and deeds, and they embraced the mercy and love of God, taking up instead the armour of God, that is faith, hope, love and justice.

St. Augustine of Hippo was converted to the truth through both the endless intercession and prayer by his mother, St. Monica, who ceaselessly prayed for him and his soul, and he changed his ways, finding eventually the Lord his God, abandoning all of his past wickedness and since then, walked faithfully in the Lord, becoming among the greatest of the saints of Christendom, through his acts and works.

Saul as we know, was changed since he encountered our Lord Jesus personally, on that fateful day, on the way to the city of Damascus. He was blinded and was helpless, but the Lord through Ananias, His servant, he was healed and made wholesome once again. He was baptised and regained his old strength, but instead of resuming his old ways of hunting and persecuting the faithful, he made a turnaround and indeed, he from then on preached the Good News of God.

Thus, as we can see from their examples, saints does not have to be perfect people. Indeed, they were just as imperfect as we are, and they were sinners as we are. What matters is however that, they did not remain in their sinfulness and neither did they remain steadfast in their rebellion against the will of God. They changed their ways and had a turnaround in their lives, and therefore, they are converted to the cause of the Lord, and through their new lives, they gained justification in their faith and actions.

Some saints and blesseds were indeed already holy for most of their lives, and they were exemplary throughout the life they led, and in all of their actions. Some of these saints even died young, at a teenage or young adult age. This is in fact God’s way to preserve their saintliness and holiness, and to prevent them from falling into sin as they progressed further in life.

St. John Bosco or John de Bosco, St. Stanislaus Kostka, St. Bernadette Soubirous and many other saints who died young, because of sickness and other reasons, showed great holiness and piety since youth, and because of that, as the Lord Himself had said through His prophets and messengers, that He would rather that they be brought to His presence early and in their youth, rather than to allow the corruptions of the world and the temptations of Satan to get into them.

And closer to our era, we also know of the deeds of Blessed Mother Teresa of Calcutta, the simple Albanian woman who dedicated herself to the service of the Lord and of her fellow men, by becoming, in her own words, as the ‘pencil in the hand of God’, and she became a beacon of faith and hope in many of those who suffered at the hands of the world, the dejected, the ostracised, the poorest and the weakest in the society.

We also know of St. Maximilian Kolbe, the saint of the Holocaust, who gave up his own life in exchange for another prisoner, who was condemned to death while trying to escape from the persecution of NAZI Germany. And we know of several Popes who are also saints, namely, Pope St. Pius X, the holy and devout Pope of the Eucharist, who reformed the faith and allowed more people to come closer to the Lord in the Eucharist.

And just recently this year we have two new Popes who were declared saints by Pope Francis, our current Pope. They are Pope St. John XXIII, the Pope of the Second Vatican Council, the Pope of peace and the one who worked hard to bring about peace between nations in the height of superpower conflict, and also to usher unity among the quarrelling bodies of the faithful in God. Pope St. John Paul II is the one whom we are often know a lot about, as the Pope who helped to bring down the tyranny of Communism, and who helped the Church to stand up strongly against the evils of this world.

Now one may ask yet again, who are the saints? And how do they play a part in helping us to achieve our salvation in God? And no doubt there are those who misunderstood and having been led by the lies of the devil, thinking that we in the Church of God pray to the saints and worship them as if they are gods. These are among the many things we surely will encounter in our lives, the common opinion of the world around us, the lies of Satan!

So, it is important that we are thoroughly capable of understanding the role that the holy saints play in our faith life, and as I have mentioned the various examples of saints, their actions and their justifications in faith, we can already see that these saints were once also men like us, walking down the same paths we take in this world, but they all share one thing in common, that they truly love the Lord their God, as well as their fellow men, and allow their faith to grow and flourish through their actions which bring grace not just to themselves but also to all those they have interacted with.

Sainthood is a state of someone who had been found worthy by the Church, after a process of formal scrutiny, or through widespread public testimony, that the aforementioned is indeed worthy of heaven, by the virtue of his or her actions, and by the piety of his or her faith, living and substantiated by the actions, which made the person as someone who is assured of heaven at the moment of death.

Is there a precedent for this? Yes, there is, exactly, and none other than, as done by our Lord Jesus Christ Himself, when He was on the cross at Golgotha. If now the Pope, as the supreme leader and the Vicar of Christ invested with authority, proclaimed that a person is worthy of sainthood, then the first ever saint, was the humble sinner, the criminal who was on the right side of Jesus, who was crucified together with Him.

There were two criminals who were crucified together with Jesus, and the one on the left of Him cursed Jesus and mocked Him, even daring to ask Him to bring Himself down from the cross, so that he too could escape from the suffering and the death that was to come. And what did he get in the end? Nothing, and he went straight into hell, for his pride, arrogance, lack of faith and most importantly, for his lack of repentance.

Both of them were sinners, but what differentiated the criminal on the left, who was condemned, and the one on the right, who was made just and righteous? It was because the criminal on the right fully acknowledged his sins and misconducts in life, humbly seeking the forgiveness of God, and declaring his faith and love in Jesus, knowing that He who is the Master of all, has the power to save all, providing that he was willing to accept the salvation. And indeed, he accepted it, and Jesus praised his faith and humility, and his genuine repentance, saying to him, that he would be with Him that very day in paradise.

Thus, that criminal too, was made a saint, St. Dismas according to tradition, as he was assured of his place in heaven. And thus, following in the same manner, as a tradition, the Church also declares worthy individuals as saints, and many of these were once sinners, who changed their ways and embraced the love and faith in God. And now that they are assured of their places in heaven, and being in heaven, they lie close to the throne of our Lord.

Therefore, now we come to the matter whether we worship the saints as if they are gods. No, and this is absolutely not true, the lies of Satan, the prince of evil, which he spread to misguide many from the truth and bring many away from salvation in the Church. We do not worship the saints, but we ask them for their prayers and intercession instead, asking them sincerely for their support for us, as they are close to the throne of God, and hopefully, through their prayers, the Lord will be moved to have mercy on us.

But this eventually does not mean that we should be idle, and pretending to think that the saints can help us in everything, while we sit back and relax, enjoying ourselves in this world. The saints implore for us and pray for us, but if we ourselves are not proactive in our faith, and if we ourselves embrace wickedness and darkness in this life, then we have no hope for salvation ourselves. Indeed, unless if we follow in the path of the saints, those who have turned away from the darkness into the light and follow their examples.

What does this mean, brothers and sisters in Christ? That means, even today, as we celebrate together the great feast of all the holy saints of God, we too should realise that in each and every one of us lie the potential to become saints and holy before God, just as the saints who have gone before us had done. What matters is whether we make that potential a reality, by following the examples of the saints, embracing the goodness of God and rejecting all the falsehood, the lies and the temptations of the devil.

Therefore, brothers and sisters in Christ, today let us ask the multitudes of the saints, the people who have been righteous and worthy in life, and were chosen and marked as belonging to God, for them to pray for us sinners who still live and roam in this world. Let us ask them for their intercession before the throne of our Lord’s mercy, so that God may be moved in His love, to help us to overcome our own sinfulness and vulnerabilities to sin, that we too may become worthy as His saints had been.

May Almighty God be with us always, and may the glory and joy of His saints remind us always of the everlasting promise of happiness and goodness which He gave all those who keep their faith in Him, and who lived according to what He had wanted us to live, so that we too may one day be found worthy of the glorious sainthood, and be holy people, one people united in our praise to God, forever and ever more. Amen.

 

First Reading :
https://petercanisiusmichaeldavidkang.com/2014/10/30/saturday-1-november-2014-solemnity-of-all-saints-first-reading/

Psalm :
https://petercanisiusmichaeldavidkang.com/2014/10/30/saturday-1-november-2014-solemnity-of-all-saints-psalm/

Second Reading :
https://petercanisiusmichaeldavidkang.com/2014/10/30/saturday-1-november-2014-solemnity-of-all-saints-second-reading/

Gospel Reading :
https://petercanisiusmichaeldavidkang.com/2014/10/30/saturday-1-november-2014-solemnity-of-all-saints-gospel-reading/

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Saturday, 1 November 2014 : Solemnity of All Saints (Gospel Reading)

Liturgical Colour : White

Matthew 5 : 1-12a

At that time, when Jesus saw the crowds, He went up the mountain. He sat down and His disciples gathered around Him. Then He spoke and began to teach them :

“Fortunate are those who are poor in spirit, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven. Fortunate are those who mourn, they shall be comforted.”

“Fortunate are the gentle, they shall possess the land. Fortunate are those who hunger and thirst for justice, for they shall be satisfied.”

“Fortunate are the merciful, for they shall find mercy. Fortunate are those with a pure heart, for they shall see God.”

“Fortunate are those who work for peace, they shall be called children of God. Fortunate are those who are persecuted for the cause of justice, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.”

“Fortunate are you, when people insult you and persecute you and speak all kinds of evil against you because you are My followers. Be glad and joyful, for a great reward is kept for you in God.”

 

Homily and Reflection :

https://petercanisiusmichaeldavidkang.com/2014/10/30/saturday-1-november-2014-solemnity-of-all-saints-homily-and-scripture-reflections/

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Saturday, 1 November 2014 : Solemnity of All Saints (Second Reading)

Liturgical Colour : White

1 John 3 : 1-3

See what singular love the Father has for us : we are called children of God, and we really are. This is why the world does not know us, because it did not know Him.

Beloved, we are God’s children and what we shall be has not yet been shown. Yet when He appears in His glory, we know that we shall be like Him, for then we shall see Him as He is. All who have such a hope try to be pure as He is pure.

 

Homily and Reflection :

https://petercanisiusmichaeldavidkang.com/2014/10/30/saturday-1-november-2014-solemnity-of-all-saints-homily-and-scripture-reflections/

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Saturday, 1 November 2014 : Solemnity of All Saints (Psalm)

Liturgical Colour : White

Psalm 23 : 1-2, 3-4ab, 5-6

The earth and its fullness belong to the Lord, the world and all that dwell in it. He has founded it upon the ocean and set it firmly upon the waters.

Who will ascend the mountain of the Lord? Who will stand in His holy place? Those with clean hands and pure heart, who desire not what is vain.

They will receive blessings from the Lord, a reward from God, their Saviour. Such are the people who seek Him, who seek the face of Jacob’s God.

 

Homily and Reflection :

https://petercanisiusmichaeldavidkang.com/2014/10/30/saturday-1-november-2014-solemnity-of-all-saints-homily-and-scripture-reflections/

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Saturday, 1 November 2014 : Solemnity of All Saints (First Reading)

Liturgical Colour : White

Revelations 7 : 2-4, 9-14

I saw another angel ascending from the sunrise, carrying the seal of the living God, and he cried out with a loud voice to the four angels empowered to harm the earth and the sea, “Do not harm the earth or the sea or the trees until we have sealed the servants of our God upon their foreheads.”

Then I heard the number of those marked with the seal : a hundred and forty-four thousand from all the tribes of the people of Israel. After this I saw a great crowd, impossible to count, from every nation, race, people and tongue, standing before the throne and the Lamb, clothed in white, with palm branches in their hands, and they cried out with a loud voice, “Who saves but our God who sits on the throne and the Lamb?”

All the angels were around the throne, the elders and the four living creatures; they then bowed before the throne with their faces to the ground to worship God. They said, “Amen. Praise, glory, wisdom, thanks, honour, power and strength to our God forever and ever. Amen!”

At that moment, one of the elders spoke up and said to me, “Who are these people clothed in white, and where did they come from?” I answered, “Sir, it is you who know this.”

The elder replied, “They are those who have come out of the great persecution; they have washed and made their clothes white in the blood of the Lamb.”

 

Homily and Reflection :

https://petercanisiusmichaeldavidkang.com/2014/10/30/saturday-1-november-2014-solemnity-of-all-saints-homily-and-scripture-reflections/

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Friday, 31 October 2014 : 30th Week of Ordinary Time (Homily and Scripture Reflections)

Liturgical Colour : Green

Brothers and sisters in Christ, today we are reminded yet again not to be hypocrites in our faith to God, and that our faith should move beyond just a mere observation of Laws and customs, which will be empty if they are not based on genuine love and care and concern which we ought to have for one another, and ultimately, the love we also ought to show to the Lord.

Our faith must be a living one, filled with love and action, and be filled with genuine understanding of the Laws of the Lord, knowing fully what God intended for us all, that is none other than our salvation, our prosperity and our good, and never to punish us without good reason and without first offering His mercy as a chance for us to repent from our sinfulness.

This was what Jesus had done, when He rebuked the Pharisees for their rigid and misunderstanding of the Faith and the Law of God, when they constantly and regularly opposed the good works of Jesus when He healed and restored many people even during the Sabbath, which was sacrosanct to the Pharisees and the elders of Israel, the puritan factions of the society of the people of God.

They often stood in the path of salvation of many, burdening the people with countless regulations and rules which they imposed very strictly on them, and on one count totalled an enormous six hundred and thirteen laws and rules, if not more, the regulations largely created by men to observe the norms and mores of the society, but in many of their applications, the Pharisees failed to understand the true meaning of the original Law as the Lord revealed to Moses.

Yes, the Pharisees and the teachers of the Law, the scribes and the elders of the people were often proud of their own achievement, in keeping the commandment of the Law and all of its rules, in particular the Pharisees. However, as they did these observances and fulfillments of the rules, regulations and the customs of the Law, they did not do them for the sake of the salvation of the people, but they did them often for their own glory and fame.

Thus, Jesus was angry with them and rebuked them, because in their irresponsible and selfish actions, they closed the path to salvation for many, just as they have closed it for themselves, by ignoring and disobeying the true commandment of God, that is love. What they loved is not God nor men, but they loved only themselves, the love of their own vanity and pride, and the love of their own selves.

Indeed, what Jesus wants from us has been aptly summarised by St. Paul in the letter he wrote to the Church and the faithful in Philippi, which exhorted the faithful people of God to live righteously, doing good works based upon love and commitment to God, and abandoning all forms of wickedness and vices and sin, and therefore live without blame and blemish in the sight of God. But this is not achieved through self-serving methods and hypocrisy of the Pharisees, but through real and concrete works of love.

What does that mean, brothers and sisters in Christ? That means, we have to work together as one community of the faithful ones in Christ. We are after all the members of His Church, the Body of Christ, and we are all justified through our actions as a member of the Church and thus as children of our Lord. We cannot have an empty faith and a faith that is merely words alone. The Pharisees’ faith are exactly that, and that did not bring them justification and salvation, and we can indeed do better than that.

We have to help one another, and give mercy and help to the ones who are suffering and in need, just as Jesus had done to many people who are afflicted with either physical or spiritual disabilities. Remember that Jesus once said, that whatever we did to the least of our brethren, the weakest, the least, the most ostracised and all, we did it for the Lord, and He who sees all, will reward us for our actions.

Therefore, brethren, let us from now on reflect on our own lives, and try our best to live out the most from our lives as children of God, and as the followers of our Lord who is Love. Let our faith be alive and vibrant, filled with love, care and concern for one another, and together, as the members of the Body of Christ, the Church, let us all seek together the Lord our God and be justified through our actions so that we may receive the eternal inheritance which He had promised all those who are faithful to Him. God bless us all. Amen.

 

First Reading : https://petercanisiusmichaeldavidkang.com/2014/10/30/friday-31-october-2014-30th-week-of-ordinary-time-first-reading/

Psalm : https://petercanisiusmichaeldavidkang.com/2014/10/30/friday-31-october-2014-30th-week-of-ordinary-time-psalm/

Gospel Reading : https://petercanisiusmichaeldavidkang.com/2014/10/30/friday-31-october-2014-30th-week-of-ordinary-time-gospel-reading/

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Friday, 31 October 2014 : 30th Week of Ordinary Time (Gospel Reading)

Liturgical Colour : Green

Luke 14 : 1-6

At that time, during one Sabbath, Jesus had gone to eat a meal in the house of a leading Pharisee, and He was carefully watched. In front of Him was a man suffering from dropsy; so Jesus asked the teachers of the Law and the Pharisees, “Is it lawful to heal on the Sabbath, or not?” But no one answered.

Jesus then took the man, healed him, and sent him away. And He said to them, “if your lamb or your ox falls into a well on a Sabbath day, who among you does not hurry to pull it out?” And they could not answer.

 

Homily and Reflection : https://petercanisiusmichaeldavidkang.com/2014/10/30/friday-31-october-2014-30th-week-of-ordinary-time-homily-and-scripture-reflections/

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Friday, 31 October 2014 : 30th Week of Ordinary Time (Psalm)

Liturgical Colour : Green

Psalm 110 : 1-2, 3-4, 5-6

Alleluia! I thank the Lord with all my heart in the council of the just, in the assembly. The works of the Lord are great and pondered by all who delight in them.

Glorious and majestic are His deeds, His righteousness endures forever. He lets us remember His wondrous deeds, the Lord is merciful and kind.

Always mindful of His covenant, He provides food for those who fear Him. He shows His people the power of His arm by giving them the lands of other nations.

 

Homily and Reflection : https://petercanisiusmichaeldavidkang.com/2014/10/30/friday-31-october-2014-30th-week-of-ordinary-time-homily-and-scripture-reflections/

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Friday, 31 October 2014 : 30th Week of Ordinary Time (First Reading)

Liturgical Colour : Green

Philippians 1 : 1-11

From Paul and Timothy, servants of Christ Jesus, to the saints in Philippi, with their bishops and deacons; to you all in Christ Jesus : May grace and peace be yours from God, our Father, and Christ Jesus the Lord.

I give thanks to my God each time I remember you, and when I pray for you, I pray with joy. I cannot forget all you shared with me in the service of the Gospel, from the first day until now. Since God began such a good work in you, I am certain that He will complete it in the day of Christ Jesus.

This is my hope for you, for I carry you all in my heart : whether I am in prison or defending and confirming the Gospel, you are with me and share the same grace. God knows that I love you dearly with the love of Christ Jesus, and in my prayers I ask that your love may lead you each day to a deeper knowledge and clearer discernment, that you may have good criteria for everything.

So you may be pure of heart and come blameless to the day of Christ, filled with the fruit of holiness that comes through Christ Jesus, for the glory and praise of God.

 

Homily and Reflection : https://petercanisiusmichaeldavidkang.com/2014/10/30/friday-31-october-2014-30th-week-of-ordinary-time-homily-and-scripture-reflections/

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Thursday, 30 October 2014 : 30th Week of Ordinary Time (Homily and Scripture Reflections)

Liturgical Colour : Green

Dear brothers and sisters in Christ, today we heard about the lamentation of Jesus on the evils that exist in the world, the forces of evil that prowl about seeking the destruction of all that is good, and the thwarting of all the good works of the Lord, designed to break mankind free from the tyranny of this force of darkness, represented by Satan and all of his fellow fallen angels, the demons.

But we also hear of the method on how to handle this great wickedness and evil, by the means of faith and zeal, and most importantly through the power of prayer, made in genuine devotion and love for God, which are our armour against the power and advances of the evil one. And therefore, we are not naked and defenseless against the attacks of the devil, for God is with us, as long as we put our trust in Him and live according to His teachings and love.

Today Jesus spoke of His upcoming suffering and death, the Holy Passion which He would go through in Jerusalem. He knew of the fate of the many prophets who had been sent to the people of God and to the Holy City, who were rejected, cast aside and were tortured for their faith and works by the people who adamantly refused to believe in them and in the One who sent them.

Why did Jesus lament on Jerusalem and her people? Not because He feared the suffering and death that was to come for Him, and not because He was complaining about the treatment which His prophets had received, and which He would soon receive as well, but it was because He was genuinely and utterly concerned about the wickedness with which the city of Jerusalem, which in fact referred to God’s people, had lived, and how if they continued in such actions, they would be lost to Him forever into death.

Yes, as Jesus had said, with the metaphor of a chicken, a mother hen trying to gather her chicks under the protection and care of her wings, so does the Lord try His best to bring all of His beloved people, that is all of us, under His love and protection. God never intended us to suffer the consequences of our sins, that is death and separation from Him, but He wants us to be reunited with Him in full reconciliation and love.

This however, would not be possible if we do not embrace the ways of the Lord and continues with our ways of living in sin and darkness. If we allow Satan to have his ways on us, indeed we are defenseless, naked and weak against his assaults on our body, mind, heart and soul, which he corrupts through sin, and which therefore will bring mankind into eternal damnation.

This is why we have to heed the words and teachings of St. Paul, where in his letter to the Church and the faithful in Ephesus, he said that we need to wear the complete and whole ‘armour’ of God. This armour is not a physical armour of medieval knights we often associate with, but the spiritual armour which God gives to all those who put their complete trust and faith in Him.

And this spiritual armour is powerful tool against Satan’s attacks, and as long as we hold up high the shield and keep the armour together, no attack from Satan, no matter how vile and wicked they are, will be able to penetrate the defenses to reach into the depths of our soul, and thus we will remain free from corruption, the corruption of sin and wickedness.

This armour consists of faith, justice, zeal, truth and the grace of salvation in God. We have to be mindful that we are in constant and ever continuous battle, a spiritual battle for the sake of our souls. What is at stake is no less than our very souls which will be under great harm if we are not aware of this spiritual warfare raging around us. The angels, our guardian angels are also fighting for us, against the forces of the devil sent to corrupt us. But we cannot leave them to fight alone, as most importantly is that we have to take an active role in this spiritual warfare.

Hence, we have to wear the spiritual armour of faith, that is the firm belief in the truth and love of God, not dividing our focus and attention to the distractions and the corruptions of the world, and not listening to the lies and sweet words of Satan and his angels. And then we also must wear the shoes of zeal, that in all of our words, actions and deeds, we have to always implement our faith, whatever we believe in, and put them into concrete action, done for our own salvation and for the salvation of those around us.

And it is also important that we wear the armour of justice and truth, as all of our actions must be just, especially when we deal with one another and when we interact with each other. We must uphold justice and truth in all the things that we do. The moment that we allow injustice, desires and falsehood to darken our actions, then we can say that we have failed to prevent the devil and sin from penetrating into the depths of our heart and soul.

If we want to seek salvation in God, therefore, we must be serious in our faith and devotion to God, and we must be ever ready and vigilant. And the way to do this, according to St. Paul is through devout and genuine prayer. Yes, genuine prayer and not just recitation of prayer without a clear intention from the heart. It is indeed possible for us to pray just for the sake of praying, but our heart is not focused at the Lord and instead on some other things.

Therefore, brothers and sisters in Christ, let us all make it a habit to pray from our heart, to seek the Lord with all of the strength of our soul and heart, giving the best of our love as holy offering to God, who will then in turn affirm that love and strengthen our faith, giving us powerful armour and defense against all the possible assaults of the evil one and sin.

May all of us be strong amidst the persecution and the temptations of evil, and may we all be able to resist the temptations to follow Satan into our destruction, and let us all grow ever stronger in faith and love, and practicing them actively and regularly in our own lives, and show justice and mercy in all of our actions as well, that evil has no place in our hearts and we will be saved through the justification of our faith and actions. Amen.

 

First Reading : https://petercanisiusmichaeldavidkang.com/2014/10/29/thursday-30-october-2014-30th-week-of-ordinary-time-first-reading/

Psalm : https://petercanisiusmichaeldavidkang.com/2014/10/29/thursday-30-october-2014-30th-week-of-ordinary-time-psalm/

Gospel Reading : https://petercanisiusmichaeldavidkang.com/2014/10/29/thursday-30-october-2014-30th-week-of-ordinary-time-gospel-reading/