unfaithful people

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Saturday, 13 August 2016 : 19th Week of Ordinary Time, Memorial of Pope St. Pontian, Pope and St. Hippolytus, Priest, Martyrs (First Reading)

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

Ezekiel 18 : 1-10, 13b, 30-32

The word of YHVH came to me in these terms, “Why are you applying this proverb to the land of Israel : ‘The parents have eaten sour grapes and the children’s teeth are set on edge?'”

“As I live, word of YHVH, this proverb will no longer be quoted in Israel. All life is in My hands, the life of the parent and the life of the child are Mine. The lives of both are in My hands, so the one who sins will die. Imagine a man who is righteous and practices what is just and right.”

“He does not eat in the mountain shrines, or look towards the filthy idols of Israel, does not defile his neighbour’s wife, or have intercourse with a woman during her period; he molests no one, pays what he owes, does not steal, gives food to the hungry and clothes to the naked, demands no interest on a loan and does not lend for interest, refrains from injustice, practices true justice, man to man, follows My decrees and obeys My laws in acting loyally.”

“Because such a man is truly righteous, he will live, word of YHVH. But perhaps this man has a son who steals and sheds blood, committing crimes which his father never did. Will such a man live? No, he will not! Because he has committed all these abominations he will die : his guilt will fall upon him.”

“That is why I will judge you, Israel, each one according to his ways, word of YHVH. Come back, turn away from your offences, that you may not deserve punishment. Free yourselves from all the offences you have committed and get a new heart and a new spirit. Why should you die, Israel? I do not want the death of anyone, word of YHVH, but that you be converted and live!”

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Friday, 12 August 2016 : 19th Week of Ordinary Time, Memorial of St. Jane Frances de Chantal, Religious (First Reading)

Liturgical Colour : Green or White (Religious)

Ezekiel 16 : 1-15, 60, 63

The word of YHVH came to me in these terms, “Son of man, make known go Jerusalem its sins. You say on My behalf : Your beginning was in Canaan; there you were born. Your father was an Amorite and your mother a Hittite.”

“On the day you were born your cord was not cut, you were not bathed in water to make you clean, you were not rubbed with salt nor were you wrapped in cloth. There was no one to look with pity on you or compassionate enough to give you any of these attentions. You were left exposed in the open fields because you were looked upon with disgust on the day you were born.”

“But I passed by and saw you immersed in your blood. I said to you in the midst of your blood, ‘Live!’ I made you grow like a plant of the field. You grew up and became tall and were becoming of marriageable age. Your breasts were formed and your hair had grown but you were naked and exposed. I passed by later and saw you were at the age of love and spread part of My garment over you to cover your nudity. I made a covenant with you with an oath – word of YHVH – and you were Mine.”

“Then I bathed you in water, I cleansed you of your blood and anointed you with oil. I clothed you with embroidered cloth and put soft leather sandals on your feet. I dressed you in fine linen and covered you with silk. I adorned you with necklace around your neck and a ring in your nose. I gave you earrings and a magnificent crown for your head.”

“You were adorned with gold and silver; your clothing was fine linen, silk and embroidered cloth. You were fed on finest flour, honey and oil; you became very beautiful and rose to be queen. Your beauty was perfect and your renown spread through the nations, because of the splendour I had given you – word of YHVH.”

“But you relied on your beauty; you trusted in your fame and you began to give yourself to every passerby like a prostitute. But I will remember My covenant with you in the days of your youth and make in your favour an eternal covenant. So that you may remember, be ashamed and never open your mouth again because of your humiliation, when I have pardoned you for all you have done,” word of YHVH.

Alternative reading

Ezekiel 16 : 59-63

For thus says YHVH : “I will treat you as you deserve, you who despised the oath and broke the covenant. But I will remember My covenant with you in the days of your youth and make in your favour an eternal covenant. You will be mindful of your ways and be ashamed when I take your sisters, both the elder and the younger, and give them to you as daughters, without prejudice to My covenant with you.”

“For I will uphold My covenant with you and you will know that I am YHVH, so that you may remember, be ashamed and never open your mouth again because of your humiliation, when I have pardoned you for all you have done,” word of YHVH.

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Wednesday, 6 July 2016 : 14th Week of Ordinary Time, Memorial of St. Maria Goretti, Virgin and Martyr (First Reading)

Liturgical Colour : Green or Red (Martyrs)

Hosea 10 : 1-3, 7-8, 12

Israel was a spreading vine, rich in fruit. The more his fruit increased, the more altars he built, the his land prospered, the more he adorned his sacred stones. Their heart is divided! They shall pay for it. Their altars will be thrown down and their sacred stones broken to pieces.

Now they say, “We have no king (because we have no fear of God) and what good would a king do us?” As for the king of Samaria, he has been carried off like foam on water. The idolatrous high places – the sin of Israel – will be destroyed. Thorn and thistle will creep over the altars. Then they will say to the mountains, “Cover us,” and to the hills, “Fall on us.”

Plow new ground, sow for yourselves justice and reap the harvest of kindness. It is the time to go seeking YHVH until He comes to rain salvation on you.

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Tuesday, 5 July 2016 : 14th Week of Ordinary Time, Memorial of St. Anthony Zaccaria, Priest (First Reading)

Liturgical Colour : Green or White (Priests)

Hosea 8 : 4-7, 11-13

Without My approval they set up kings and without My blessing appointed leaders. With their silver and gold they fashioned idols to their own ruin. To Me, Samaria, your calf is loathsome and My anger blazes against you. How long will you remain defiled?

The calf is yours, Israel, a craftsman has made it; it is not God and will be broken into pieces. As they sow the wind, they will reap the whirlwind. Like the erect ear of corn they will bear no grain and produce no flour, or if they do, foreigners will devour it.

Ephraim built many altars but his altars made him more guilty. I wrote out for him the numerous precepts of My Law, but they look on them as coming from foreigners. They offer sacrifices to Me because they are those who eat the meat, but YHVH does not accept their sacrifices for He is mindful of their sin and remembers their wickedness. They will return to Egypt.

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Wednesday, 3 February 2016 : 4th Week of Ordinary Time, Memorial of St. Blaise, Bishop and Martyr and St. Ansgar, Bishop (Gospel Reading)

Liturgical Colour : Green or Red (Martyrs) or White (Bishops)

Mark 6 : 1-6

At that time, leaving the place where He raised up the dead girl, Jesus returned to His own country, and His disciples followed Him. When the Sabbath came, He began to teach on the synagogue, and most of those who heard Him were astonished.

But they said, “How did this come to Him? What kind of wisdom has been given to Him, that He also performs such miracles? Who is He but the Carpenter, the Son of Mary, and the Brother of James and Joses and Judas and Simon? His sisters, too, are they not here among us?” So they took offense at Him.

And Jesus said to them, “Prophets are despised only in their own country, among their relatives, and in their own family.” And He could work no miracles there, but only healed a few sick people, by laying His hands on them. Jesus Himself was astounded at their unbelief. Jesus then went around the villages, teaching.

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Tuesday, 2 December 2014 : First Week of Advent (Homily and Scripture Reflections)

Liturgical Colour : Purple or Violet

Dear brothers and sisters in Christ, today we heard of the words of the Holy Scriptures, which told us about the coming of the Son of God, Jesus Christ our Lord, who came into the world endowed with power and authority, so that through His entry into the world, many people including us all would be made righteous and worthy of the promises of the Lord.

The first reading taken from the book of the prophet Isaiah was a prophecy of the promise of the coming of the Messiah, who was told to be belonging to the house of David, as one of the descendants of the renowned king of Israel. Jesse was the father of king David, and thus he is also the ancestor of the Messiah of God, who is then titled the Shoot of Jesse, as well as His more famous title of Son of David as his Heir.

The coming of the Messiah was thus foretold by Isaiah the prophet, and He was told to be the One to bring into the world the salvation and the goodness of God, which will be extended to all the nations, the Jews and the Gentiles alike, so that God’s Name may be glorified throughout the whole of the earth. It was also told that His coming will usher a new era and age of peace throughout the entire world, where no more violence and hatred will remain, but only peace, harmony and love.

This was adeptly and thoroughly illustrated in the book of the prophet Isaiah with the allusion to the wolf and the lamb, the lion and the calf living together, and the snake and the boy which will live together and not harm one another. This refers to the age of peace where everyone will live in peace, in the peace of God, and God will reign over all of them as King, the inheritor of the throne of His ancestor David.

Unfortunately, the same passage was also often used, and indeed is still used by those who seek to deny the Lord Jesus as the Divine Messiah prophesied by Isaiah the prophet. They argued that the coming of Jesus into the world about two millennia ago did not bring about the era and age of peace as prophesied by the prophet Isaiah, and wars and violence continued to rage all over the earth. Or so they thought.

Jesus our Lord is truly the One whom the prophet Isaiah had mentioned in today’s reading, as He came with power and authority to bring healing of the body and forgiveness of the sins which we mankind had committed. He announced the amnesty for sinners and call all of mankind to return to the Lord. Yet He was rejected and reviled by the Pharisees and the Temple authorities, and His own people, who rejoiced in Him once as King during His triumphant entry to Jerusalem, were also the same ones who condemned Him to His death on the cross.

And again we know that through His works, through His suffering and death on the cross, Jesus fulfilled the entirety of the prophecies of Isaiah and all the other prophets, showing that He is indeed the Messiah of us all. What the prophet Isaiah mentioned in the second half of the first reading today will indeed be fulfilled, not when Jesus first came, but rather when He comes again a second time into this world.

We believe that when the Lord comes again, He will judge all the living and the dead according to their deeds. The wicked will be condemned and cast out of the presence of God, while the righteous will be brought to the eternal kingdom of God with eternal happiness and joy. The peace of God will be with the righteous and God will be with them. Jesus the Lamb of God will be their Bridegroom and the people of God will live in perfect joy and comfort with Him.

And in the Gospel today, Jesus thanked and praised His Father, who had revealed to His disciples and the people the truth about Himself. And that was also how we all know about our Lord and Messiah. And now that we know, what are we going to do about it, brothers and sisters in Christ? Are we to remain idle and just sit passively while awaiting our salvation? Or are we to actively live out our faith as God had taught us?

This season of Advent is a good opportunity for us, brothers and sisters, to prepare and to wake up from our long slumber in darkness. It is the perfect opportunity for us to prepare for our Lord’s coming, which we believe in and which will indeed happen at a time we do not know and which will happen at a time we do not expect. Advent comes from the word ‘Adventus’ which means coming, and the coming of Christ is what we truly are preparing for here!

Therefore, let us all strengthen our faith, devote ourselves wholly to the cause of God. Let us show love to our brethren in need around us, those who need our help and our love. Let us show our Lord, that we truly believe in Him and have faith in Him, so that when He comes again, we may be counted among those who are saved, and be found worthy to receive the inheritance promised by our God. God bless us all. Amen.

 

First Reading :

https://petercanisiusmichaeldavidkang.com/2014/12/01/tuesday-2-december-2014-first-week-of-advent-first-reading/

 

Psalm :

https://petercanisiusmichaeldavidkang.com/2014/12/01/tuesday-2-december-2014-first-week-of-advent-psalm/

 

Gospel Reading :

https://petercanisiusmichaeldavidkang.com/2014/12/01/tuesday-2-december-2014-first-week-of-advent-gospel-reading/

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Tuesday, 2 September 2014 : 22nd Week of Ordinary Time (Scripture Reflections)

Liturgical Colour : Green

Brothers and sisters in Christ, today we celebrate together the love of God for us mankind, which He had shown by giving us Jesus, His own Son to bring this world and all mankind into salvation and eternal life with Him in heaven. And today we heard how Jesus performed His miracles, casting out demons and healing the sick as He ministered to the people of God, doing many good works.

Jesus showed us hope and strength by showing that evil and death has no power over us, and over all those who had put their trust in the Lord. Those who trust in the Lord will never be disappointed, for God will care for them and protect them, all the days of their lives. And through Jesus we have been given the Spirit of God, that is the Holy Spirit, who passed through the Son from the Father, and who revealed to us the truth about our Lord and God.

Those who belong to the spiritual world, that is the Spirit of God and the holy angels who serve the Lord, all are beyond our ability and physical senses to be able to detect them and know them, and yet through the Spirit and the revelations given to us through the Church, we know that they are there, and they are around us, and within us, that is the Spirit of God which had been placed in us.

And even the evil spirits, the allies and the servants of Satan, which we witnessed in the men possessed at the time when Jesus was ministering in Capernaum, knew Jesus and understood His true nature fully, for they too, once belonged to the same order of angels that served the Lord. They followed Lucifer, the evil one who fell and be trapped in his own pride, and entered into a rebellion against God, and thus they were together cast away from heaven.

God is truly loving towards us, and we are truly the most beloved and the greatest among His creations, created in the very image of God and be awakened with the very Spirit that came from the breath of God. Do you notice this? The Lord Himself breathed life into us through His Spirit, that dwelled in us and made us whole. Yet, we too fell when our ancestors followed Satan into his rebellion by listening to Satan and disobeying the will of God.

But the Lord gave us such a grace, that we are given another opportunity through life to redeem ourselves, and through the sending of many prophets and messengers that carried on the will and word of God to us, which all are aimed at our salvation and redemption from destruction and eternal damnation that is our fate. Yes, the fate of all who had defied the will of God and rebelled against His love is death, and yet, the Lord wanted us to know that we have no need for fear, as long as we put our complete trust in Him.

Satan and his angels, the evil spirits, were not given a second chance, and indeed, they remained in their rebellion and hatred of the Lord and all of His creations, that they are truly beyond any form of redemption. It is not the same for us humans, for God had made us special and to be the greatest and most beloved of all of His creatures.

Satan who tempted and made our ancestors to fall into sin certainly did not remain quiet and passive throughout this. In fact, he had marshalled all of his forces in the world and beyond, and he launched strikes after strikes at us mankind, so that more and more may fall with him and to suffer together in eternal damnation and separation from God. But the Lord who knows all and who created all had other plan for us.

He showed that He is truly in control, and He cast out the demons to show it clearly to them and to men, that in God, everything is possible, and that He is truly the One whom everyone ought to praise and worship. All honour belongs to God and to Him alone. And if He cares for us and loves us beyond everything else, then we are truly blessed, for we share in the Lord, the promise of salvation which He had made to us through Jesus.

Therefore, brothers and sisters in Christ, we all need to come to a greater realisation that God is with us, and that He has placed within us His Spirit, so that we may know the great works of Jesus, and by listening to the readings from the Holy Scriptures today, we are made aware of the assurances given to us by the Lord, who promised to protect us and guide us on our way, rebuking forever and rejecting forever the power and authority of Satan, the great enemy of all who are living.

Satan is afraid of the Lord, and he rightly did so, because he already knew his fate and the futility of his endeavour, for he goes up against none other than the Lord and Master of all the universe, and even Satan himself and all of his allies are bound and answerable to God and His authority. And he knew of his ultimate fate, that is destruction, eternal agony and suffering that await him, and thus, he and all of his angels feared the Lord greatly, for they knew that it is in Him that their doom will come. Jesus is the great Judge, the last Judge of all who would judge all creations at the end of time.

May our Lord Jesus Christ strengthen in our hearts, our desire to know more about Him, so that we may truly discern about His presence around us, and therefore bringing all of us to greater wisdom and understanding in the Holy Spirit of God. Let us reject Satan with all of our hearts, our strengths and our minds. If we have any trouble, let us all remember that, if we call on the Holy Name of Jesus with full faith, no evil may stand against us. May Almighty God instead bring you to triumph and victory in His Name. God bless us all. Amen.

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Sunday, 31 August 2014 : 22nd Sunday of Ordinary Time (First Reading)

Liturgical Colour : Green

Jeremiah 20 : 7-9

YHVH, You have seduced me and I let myself be seduced. You have taken me by force and prevailed. I have become a laughingstock all day long; they all make fun of me, for every time I speak I have to shout, “Violence! Devastation!”

YHVH’s word has brought me insult and derision all day long. So I decided to forget about Him and speak no more in His Name. But His word in my heart becomes like a fire burning deep within my bones. I try so hard to hold it in, but I cannot do it.

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Wednesday, 27 August 2014 : 21st Week of Ordinary Time, Memorial of St. Monica (Gospel Reading)

Liturgical Colour : White

Matthew 23 : 27-32

Woe to you, teachers of the Law and Pharisees, you hypocrites! You are like whitewashed tombs, beautiful in appearance, but inside there are only dead bones and uncleanness. In the same way, you appear religious to others, but you are full of hypocrisy and wickedness within.

Woe to you, teachers of the Law and Pharisees, you hypocrites! You build tombs for the prophets, and decorate the monuments of the righteous. You say : Had we lived in the time of our ancestors, we would not have joined them in shedding the blood of the prophets. So, you yourselves confess to be the descendants of those who murdered the prophets.

And now, finish off what your ancestors begin!

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Thursday, 14 August 2014 : 19th Week of Ordinary Time, Memorial of St. Maximilian Kolbe, Priest and Martyr (First Reading)

Liturgical Colour : Red

Ezekiel 12 : 1-12

This word of YHVH came to me, “Son of man, you live in the midst of a house of rebels : they have eyes for seeing but do not see; they have ears for hearing but do not hear, for they are a house of rebels. Because of this, son of man, prepare for yourself an exile’s baggage in their sight as an exile does; and go as an exile to another place in their sight. Would that they may understand, because they are a house of rebels.”

“You will gather your things, an exile’s baggage, by day to be seen by them, and you will leave in the evening as for a departure of deportees. While they look on, dig a hole in the wall and leave from there. As they look on, shoulder your baggage and leave in the dark. Veil your face and do not look at the land for I have made you a sign for Israel.”

I did as I was ordered, gathering my things by day, an exile’s baggage, and in the evening I made a hole in the wall with my hand. I left in the dark, in their presence, shouldering my baggage.

In the morning the word of YHVH came to me : “Son of man, did not the Israelites, these rebels, ask you, ‘What are you doing there?’ Answer them on behalf of YHVH : This oracle concerns the prince in Jerusalem and all the Israelites remaining in the city.”

“Say, ‘I am a sign for you,’ for what I have done will happen to them : They will be deported, exiled. The prince among them shall shoulder his baggage in the dark and depart. They will dig a hole in the wall to let him leave by it. He will cover his face because he must not see the land with his eyes.”