Liturgical Colour : Purple/Violet or Rose (Gaudete Sunday)
Psalm 145 : 7, 8-9a, 9bc-10
The Lord gives justice to the oppressed and gives food to the hungry. The Lord sets the prisoners free.
The Lord gives sight to the blind, the Lord straightens the bent. The Lord protects the stranger.
The Lord sustains the widow and the orphan. The Lord loves the virtuous, but He brings to ruin the way of the wicked. The Lord will reign forever, your God, o Zion, from generation to generation. Alleluia!
Liturgical Colour : Purple/Violet or Rose (Gaudete Sunday)
Isaiah 35 : 1-6a, 10
Let the wilderness and the arid land rejoice, the desert be glad and blossom. Covered with flowers, it sings and shouts with joy, adorned with the splendour of Lebanon, the magnificence of Carmel and Sharon. They, my people, see the glory of YHVH, the majesty of our God.
Give vigour to weary hands and strength to enfeebled knees. Say to those who are afraid : “Have courage, do not fear. See, your God comes, demanding justice. He is the God who rewards, the God who comes to save you.” Then will the eyes of the blind be opened and the ears of the deaf unsealed. Then will the lame leap as a hart and the tongue of the dumb sing and shout.
For the ransomed of YHVH will return : with everlasting joy upon their heads, they will come to Zion singing, gladness and joy marching with them, while sorrow and sighing flee away.
Liturgical Colour : Purple/Violet or White (Priests)
Brothers and sisters in Christ, today we heard how Elijah, the great prophet of old, came once again into this world, in the form of John the Baptist, the messenger of God and the one who prepared the way for the coming of God. Indeed according to the Scriptures, both of them are likely to be one and the same.
While John the Baptist was not mentioned much in the Holy Scripture, and the details about his life and works are relatively scarce, gathering from what we have in the Holy Gospels, the story about the prophet Elijah, one of the greatest of the prophets, are plentiful. We can read many of his works in the Book of Kings in the Old Testament.
There are many parallels that we can find, between the prophet Elijah and John the Baptist, the last of God’s messengers before the coming of the Messiah, Jesus Christ. Elijah was sent to the people of Israel, when the people of God went through times of struggle, of an identity crisis, the crisis of their soul. The people of God had not been faithful to the Lord of their fathers, and they had turned away from His ways.
The people of the northern kingdom of Israel, whom Elijah was sent to, was under a rule of wickedness, under the king Ahab, whom many of you would know as one of the most wicked and unfaithful king of Israel. The people who remained faithful to the Lord suffered and even had to lose their lives. One of them was Nabot, whom the king murdered through false testimonies, and he was killed so that the king could have his land, fertile and rich.
Elijah lived through difficult times, where those who believe in God were persecuted. It was therefore even more difficult for one like the prophet and messenger of the Lord’s will. Elijah was persecuted and had to go from one exile to another, fleeing at times from the persecutioners and the forces of the king. Elijah yet persevered and with the power and guidance of God, he continued to work, calling the people to repent from their sinful ways and returned to the worship of the One, True God.
Elijah challenged the four hundred and fifty priests of Baal on Mount Carmel, and won against them, showing the people of God who is the One and only True God. He did many other works of wonders across the land, and even went to the land of the pagans, and found truly great faith there. He brought back to life the son of the widow, and feed them with oil when the land was in famine.
Elijah ended his works in this world and found in Elisha, a successor to his works. It was unique that he among the others, did not die, but was taken up on flaming chariots into heaven. Such was a spectacular and dramatic end for this great prophet of God. But no, that was not the end. Elijah was taken up into heaven to be at God’s side so that the Lord can entrust him to do an even greater work.
Yes, that is to be the one to prepare the way for the Lord, who would come as the Saviour of all, the long promised Messiah. As John the Baptist, what he did, were truly not different from what he had done as Elijah. He proclaimed to the people the need for repentance, and to change their ways, so as to prepare the way for the coming of the Lord Himself.
And just as Elijah had to suffer rejection and persecution, John the Baptist too faced mockery and rejection from the Pharisees and the Sadducees, who were too self-righteous to listen to the calling of John to repent and change their sinful ways. John the Baptist led the way for Christ, the Messiah, who came in Jesus, the One who finally came to liberate the people of God from sin. And finally both great servants did not hesitate to rebuke even worldly authorities, when they were faced with wickedness. Elijah rebuked king Ahab for his actions in causing the death of Nabot
And those who persecuted Elijah and John the Baptist, as opposed as they were against the Lord and His ways, would also be against the Lord, as was evident, when they opposed the Lord Jesus and all of His works during His earthly ministry. And if they persecuted Elijah, seeking to end his life, and which they succeeded in John, when through Herodias’ daughter, they ended the life of the servant of God. The Lord too, was rejected, reviled, mocked, and finally condemned to death, a death most shameful on the cross.
Yet, did the Lord give up on us? Did He turn away from us even after we have rejected so many of His prophets, and even murdered them? Did He give up the cross so that He no longer needed to suffer for the sake of our rebellious and sinful selves? No, He did not! And that is most important, for the actions of the two great servants of God, Elijah and John the Baptist, were ultimately designed after the examples of God Himself, who in His great love for us, was willing to lower Himself and die as slaves did, so that we can be liberated from our own slavery to sin.
And today, we celebrate a saint whose life has been dedicated to the Lord in much the same way. St. John of the Cross was born in Spain in the sixteenth century and joined the Carmelite order, and went on to be a famous preacher and teacher of the faith to many across Spain. And St. John of the Cross was known for his many works together with St. Teresa of Jesus, also known as St. Teresa of Avila, and both of them were declared Doctors of the Church for their numerous contributions.
St. John of the Cross took part in what was known to be the Reform of Avila, commenced by St. Teresa of Jesus herself, aimed at restoring the purity within the Carmelite order, restoring the venerable and holy traditions designed to keep disciplined and holy, dedicated lifestyle in those who had dedicated themselves to the service of the Lord.
And this was just one of the many contributions that St. John of the Cross had given to the Church. He has written many writings and books that helped greatly in the rediscovery of the purity of the faith among many people during the Counter-Reformation period. And just as many other holy people before him, as were Elijah and John the Baptist, he faced opposition, and even persecution and imprisonment.
There were many who were disgruntled and vehemently against the reforms initiated by both St. Teresa of Avila and St. John of the Cross, and yet, regardless of all these, St. John of the Cross continued his hard work and did not give up despite the difficulties. He continued to labour for the Lord’s sake until his death.
Dear brothers and sisters in Christ, it is easy and often even inevitable for us to act like those who persecuted and condemned these holy people and messengers of God’s will, because simply they speak in a way that truly pierced us to the very depths of our souls.
We have grown decadent and complacent, and we have grown accustomed to the ways of this world. We find comfort in the ways of the world, no matter how wicked they actually are. We prefer to keep to our wicked ways rather than listening to the words of God that these holy people and messengers have brought with them.
That is why we persecuted these people appointed by God to be our help and our guide. Instead of persecuting them, should we not then begin to take this opportunity to reflect on what we had done? Should we not use this chance to begin our path towards salvation by taking even small steps but steps that are certain. We can no longer be ignorant of the faith we have in God. We have to embrace that faith and listen to what the saints and the holy people of God had done and preached, and suffered for in God’s Name.
May the Lord with the help of His saints, and through their intercession, help us to keep on track, on the path towards the Lord, that we will remain faithful, and will be blessed by the faith we have, that on the last day, the Lord will reward us together with His saints. Amen.
Liturgical Colour : Purple/Violet or White (Priests)
Sirach 48 : 1-4, 9-11
Then came the prophet Elijah like a fire, his words a burning torch. He brought a famine on the people and in his zealous love had them reduced in number. Speaking in the name of the Lord he closed the heavens, and on three occasions called down fire.
How marvellous you were, Elijah, in your wondrous deeds! Who could ever boast of being your equal? You were taken up by a whirlwind of flames in a chariot drawn by fiery horses. It was written that you should be the one to calm God’s anger in the future before it broke out in fury, to turn the hearts of fathers to their sons and to restore the tribes of Jacob.
Happy are those who will see you and those who die in love, for we too shall live.
Liturgical Colour : Purple/Violet or Red (Martyrs)
Psalm 1 : 1-2, 3, 4 and 6
Blessed is the one who does not go where the wicked gather, or stand in the way of sinners, or sit where the scoffers sit! Instead, he finds delight in the law of the Lord and meditates day and night on His commandments.
He is like a tree beside a brook producing its fruit in due season, its leaves never withering. Everything he does is a success.
But it is different with the wicked. They are like chaff driven away by the wind. For the Lord knows the way of the righteous but cuts off the way of the wicked.
Liturgical Colour : Purple/Violet or White (Mass of our Lady)
Brothers and sisters in Christ, today we celebrate the feast of our Lady of Guadalupe, to commemorate the apparition of our Blessed Virgin Mary, the mother of God, in the land of the New World, in Guadalupe, in the present day Mexico. The Blessed Virgin and her apparition that would come to be known as the Lady of Guadalupe appeared to several people including to a peasant named Juan Diego, whom first promoted the devotion to our Lady in that new land. Many miracles and healing could be attributed to our Lady of Guadalupe, even until today at the site.
The Lady of Guadalupe, was a vision of the Blessed Virgin Mary, in her Immaculate Conception, and also identified as the woman of the Book of the Revelation, that is the woman crowned by stars whom the devil in the form of a red dragon, would want to swallow whole. Therefore, our Lady of Guadalupe represented the vision of hope to the world darkened with evil, for it is through this blessed woman, that the hope of this world was to come from, in Jesus.
The devotion to our Lady of Guadalupe is widespread in the New World, even today, and many continued to ask for her intercession and for her guidance towards her beloved Son. Through her, as promised and prophesied by the prophets, the One Saviour, Immanuel, God-is-with-us, was brought into this world, to be its light and guidance, so that all of us will once again live in the light and not in darkness.
In Mary a great strength was present, in her character and in her faith to God. She did not question the will of God but obeyed fully and willingly. Mary accepted her part in the plan of salvation, saying to the Lord, that she is His handmaid and servant, and therefore everything ought to happen as God wills it. It is truly not easy to find a faith such as Mary’s, and we too ought to follow her examples.
For this woman, despite being conceived and born without sin, and remaining pure all of her life, did not boast of her purity and special status before others. Instead, she remained humble, even knowing if she would become the Mother of God Himself, incarnate into flesh through her participation. She was indeed Blessed, as Elizabeth her cousin proclaimed her during the visitation.
The Blessed Virgin Mary is the fulfillment of God’s promise to mankind, when they first sinned against Him, that a woman would come to bring forth salvation to mankind, crushing the head of Satan under her feet. Not by her own power and might, but through the Son born from her, Jesus our Messiah, our Lord.
The Lord elevates her to a special position among mankind, not only because of her role as the bearer of the Messiah, but also because of her obedience and her attitude towards the will of God. But she is still human like us and not divine. It is a misconception for many, both outside and even inside the Church, that we worship her as a divine being. Yet, Mary is blessed among women, among all mankind, and she is our role model.
Mary is our role model, the greatest of the saints, and her life examples are exemplary. Her role in the plan of salvation is indeed intended for us to follow and emulate. So today, as we celebrate the feast of Our Lady of Guadalupe, and as we continue to proceed through the blessed season of Advent, we are reminded of the role that Mary has in the salvation of mankind, with our time now of preparing to celebrate the coming of Christ.
Dear brothers and sisters in Christ, today, let us draw ever closer to the Lord, through the life and example of Mary His mother, who appeared to the people of Mexico in Guadalupe, that all of us will also be able to be like her, following the Lord, committing ourselves to the laws and precepts of the Lord, and be righteous and true in the eyes of God.
May the Lord our God who bless us with Mary His mother, whom He entrusted to us as our mother, continue to bless us, watch over us, and may through her intercession, we will be drawn ever closer to salvation in her Son. Amen.
Liturgical Colour : Purple/Violet or White (Mass of our Lady)
Matthew 11 : 11-15
I tell you this : no one greater than John the Baptist has come forward from among the sons of women, and yet the least the least in the kingdom of heaven is greater than he. From the days of John the Baptist until now, the kingdom of heaven is something to be conquered, and violent men seize it.
Up to the time of John, there was only prophesy : all the prophets and the Law. And if you believe Me, John is Elijah, whose coming was predicted. Let anyone with ears listen!
Alternative Reading (Mass of our Lady of Guadalupe)
Luke 1 : 39-47
Mary then set out for a town in the hill country of Judah. She entered the house of Zechariah and greeted Elizabeth. When Elizabeth heard Mary’a greeting, the baby leapt in her womb.
Elizabeth was filled with Holy Spirit, and giving a loud cry, said, “You are most blessed among women, and blessed is the Fruit of your womb! How is it that the mother of my Lord comes to me? The moment your greeting sounded in my ears, the baby within me suddenly leapt for joy. Blessed are you who believed that the Lord’s word would come true!”
And Mary said, “My soul proclaims the greatness of the Lord, my spirit exults in God my Saviour!”
Liturgical Colour : Purple/Violet or White (Popes)
Dear brothers and sisters in Christ, in the Lord lies our rest, and in Him lies our true joy and hope, and the hope of true happiness in Him. This hope of joy is not the same as the joy of this world, of that which is offered by the evil one to us, through the pleasures of this world. In God only lies all the comfort and satisfaction that the world cannot give.
It may seem to us that following the Lord is not an appealing option to us, and we would prefer indeed to follow the ways of the world, enjoying what is there in the world to give us, rather than troubling ourselves with the burdens of following the ways of God. But this is exactly where we are mistaken, for indeed, the burdens that are laid upon us if we follow the Lord, are temporary, but the burdens that we will have to endure, if we deny the Lord, is heavier and eternal.
Our God loves us in ways that all of us can never completely comprehend, due to the vastness and infinite nature of this divine love. He never gives up on us, even as we fell into sin and evil, and even as we betrayed Him and caused Him suffering, as He bore our sins down with Him on the way to Calvary, and onto the cross. He loves us all the same, even after all of that.
He is rich in mercy and great in compassion. We might have caused Him much sorrow, for our constant rebellions and disobedience against His will, but He did not give up His love and care for us all, unless we ourselves continue to defy Him, all the way to the end, and reject His offer of love and forgiveness. It is our defiance and arrogance that ultimately will lead us to ruin.
Following the Lord and to walk in His ways is not easy, not easy indeed for us. This is because we who have been tempted by Satan, in our ancestors, are predisposed to temptation by sin, and to be tempted to veer away from the true path towards salvation. We are easily swayed, by the goodness of the other way, that is the evil’s way, easier but deadly. We are also easily tempted by the offers of Satan, who gave us the offering of all the goods that he can give.
And as often mentioned, the ways of this world and the way of the Lord frequently do not match, and therefore, there will be displeasure and difficulties should we decide to follow the path of righteousness. There will be even jeers, mockery, and even hatred towards us, because we are different. Yet, such are the little price that we ought to pay, for the greater price of our salvation.
Today we celebrate the feast of Pope St. Damasus I, one of the saints who were also jeered, mocked, and opposed in his ministry. This is exactly as how the Lord Himself had been opposed and rejected by those who walked in the ways of evil. Pope St. Damasus I was opposed by his own people, many of whom supported a rival candidate as Pope, nominating him as an Antipope. Nevertheless, Pope St. Damasus I did not fear nor was he affected by all those negative opinions about him.
Pope St. Damasus I stood strong in the face of those oppositions and campaigned against them with the fury and wrath that is of the Lord Himself. He was particularly staunch in his opposition against heresy, particularly Arianism, which was truly widespread in Christendom at the time, poisoning the minds of many people against the true faith.
Pope St. Damasus I worked hard to strengthen the faith in many people and many areas under his care, as the Vicar of Christ. He was also credited with the codification of the Holy Scriptures and its translation of the Scripture into the Latin language in the Vulgate Bible as done by St. Jerome. Pope St. Damasus I was the patron of that great saint and Doctor of the Church.
Dear brothers and sisters in Christ, you have seen how walking in the way of the Lord and to be His servant, is by no means easy. There will be many challenges and opposition, precisely as what had been experienced by Pope St. Damasus I, and by many other saints and the Apostles themselves. But they did not let these to hinder them, and instead these oppositions helped to further push them on to work even harder for the sake of the Lord.
Pope St. Damasus I and the other saints showed us that, we should not worry or fear rejection from this world, for after all, it has first rejected the Lord Himself. Instead, we should put our complete faith and trust in the Lord, in whom we will have true joy and true rest. For indeed, the Lord did offer us a burden, because His path is not an easy one, but that burden is a light one, and at the end of the way, He will lift up that burden from us, and give us an unparalled crown of unending and heavenly glory.
May the Lord with the intercession of Pope St. Damasus I and other holy men and women who ceaselessly praise Him daily with the angels, continue to watch over us, strengthen us, and reinforce our faith in Him. God bless us all. Amen.
Liturgical Colour : Purple/Violet or White (Popes)
Isaiah 40 : 25-31
To whom, then, will you liken Me or make Me equal?, says the Holy One. Lift up your eyes and see : who has created all this?
He has ordered them as a starry host and called them each by name. So mighty is His power, so great His strength, that not one of them is missing.
How can you say, o Jacob, how can you complain, o Israel, that your destiny is hidden from Me, that your rights are ignored by YHVH?
Have you not known, have you not heard that YHVH is an everlasting God, the Creator of the ends of the earth? He does not grow tired or weary, His knowledge is without limit.
He gives strength to the enfeebled, He gives vigour to the wearied. Youth may grow tired and faint, young men will stumble and fall, but those who hope in YHVH will renew their strength. They will soar as with eagle’s wings; they will run and not grow weary; they will walk and never tire.
Liturgical Colour : Purple/Violet
Brothers and sisters in Christ, the Lord is our shepherd, and we are His sheep. That is how close we are to Him, and how dear and precious we are to Him. For a good shepherd, his sheep would be everything in life, and a good shepherd gives his all for the sake of his sheep. He feeds them, cares for them, protects them from harm, and finds them if they lost their way in the wilderness.
That is precisely what our Lord did, and what He will do for our sake. The Lord is our shepherd, who cares for us, and provides for all our needs. We have been lost in the darkness, and have been destined to death. Yet, He did not give up on us, and went all the way out to seek us and find us in the darkness and bring us back into the light.
Jesus is the Good Shepherd. He did not fear oppositions and rejections, and He went straight out, seeking those who were considered by many to be lost. He sought tax collectors, prostitutes, and the least and rejected of the society. He sought them and lifted them up from the darkness that once engulfed them, bringing them back into the light. Precisely just like a shepherd tending to his lost sheep and the injured ones, bringing them back to their old selves.
And He as the shepherd rejoices when the lost sheep comes back to the fold. And these who have been saved, will enjoy the fullness of the graces of God, with all the joy and promises He had made to us since the beginning of time. And He did not just make those promises, as He in fact, fulfilled every single one of them without fail.
Such is the love that our Lord has for us, that He did not hesitate to even lay down His life for our sake, that we who were lost, may once again be reunited with Him, and receive from Him the eternal joy and the rewards of heavenly glory. Remember the Psalm, “The Lord is my Shepherd?” Yes, in that psalm, we hear how the Lord will lead us to life-giving water, to quench our thirst for the love of God, and we will never hunger again, for our Lord will provide for us, for eternity.
We do not need to worry, if we put our trust and faith in God, because He will take care of us. Sadly, the reality is far from that. We worry, brothers and sisters, worry too much! We are too preoccupied with our worries to even be able to recognise and notice God’s love and care for us. We are so preoccupied and worried about so many things in our lives, that we end up living in constant fear and constant desire.
We always seek more and more things, because desire and greed grows within us. And this world too, increasingly offering us more and more exciting things that often distract us away from our attention to the Lord. We ignore the shepherd who calls out to us, the lost sheep, because we the sheep are too distracted with the things around us.
Let me illustrate it to you with a story. There was a hundred sheep living in peace, in a beautiful and lush meadow, with plenty of food and water for them. They lived in peace with a wonderful shepherd, who loved them as if they were his own family. The shepherd led them every day to the feeding ground, and to the spring of clear water for them to drink. All were good.
The sheep knew their shepherd and the shepherd knew all of them, each one of them, even if there were a hundred of them in all. All would have been good and continue to be good. And yet, one day, one of the sheep saw a beautiful butterfly flying at a far away forest at the edge of the meadow. The sheep was lured by the beautiful butterfly, and it chased the butterfly deep into the forest.
The sheep followed the butterfly until it lost sight of it. The sheep suddenly realised that it is in the middle of the dark forest. And a pair of hungry looking eyes were staring at the sheep, eagerly awaiting its next meal. It was a hungry wolf. The sheep realised that the wolf would eat it, and gave in to its fate. Yet, when the wolf lunged forward to bite and kill the lost sheep, something went in between them.
Lo, there was the shepherd, bleeding after being bitten by the wolf, standing in between it and the frightened sheep. The shepherd hit the wolf with his crook, and killed the wolf. The shepherd then turned to the lost sheep, picked it up, and happily returned to the flock, celebrating that he had found the one lost sheep, and his flock is complete once again. The shepherd knew all along that one sheep was lost because he knew them all, and went to search for the lost one.
This in essence, is what the readings today are about, that is about the Lord our God, who went out all the way to look for us, His lost children. Yes, we have been lost, ever since sin and the temptations of this world, the allures of worldly pleasures and false happiness, turned us away from our devotion to God. It is just like the sheep lured by the beautiful butterfly, that it followed the butterfly deep into the forest.
The devil is the wolf, awaiting for us in darkness, awaiting for the time when we fall to the trap, and then he will strike. But do you think that our God will just let us fall prey to the devil like that? That shepherd was Jesus Christ, who came to protect us from the schemes and devices of the evil one. He stood before us and the evil one, taking into Himself, the punishment intended for us.
Every single wound that Christ inflicted upon Himself, are every single sins that we had committed. Every single mankind past, present, and future, everyone that has ever sinned. These wounds represent the sorrows of the Lord for our sinfulness, but at the same time, they are the living testimonies of the great and eternal love for us all.
Therefore, brothers and sisters in Christ, are we ready to truly proclaim the Lord as our God? He did not hesitate to take upon Himself the sins and sufferings of mankind. Then should we also hesitate to love and dedicate ourselves to the Lord? Let us take this opportunity to seek further to love the One who gave His life for us, and to reach out to Him, reaching out our hands to welcome the Shepherd who wants us, His lost sheep, to be reunited with Him.
May the Lord our loving God and Shepherd, continue to watch over us and protect us, that we will always be in His grace and love, receiving the daily blessings and care from His hands. God be with us all. Amen.
petercanisiusmichaeldavidkang 