This year is the Year of St. Joseph. For many years, I have been saying the following daily consecration prayer to St. Joseph. Dearest St. Joseph, I consecrate myself to your service. I give myself to you, that you may always be my father, my protector, and my guide in the way of salvation. Obtain for me a great purity of heart, a fervent love of the interior life, and the spirit of prayer. After your example may I do all my actions for the greater glory of God, in union with the Divine Heart of Jesus and the Immaculate Heart of Mary. And you, blessed St. Joseph, pray for me, that I may share in the peace and joy of your holy death. Amen.

This weekend, the Church celebrates the First Sunday of Lent. In today's Gospel, Jesus goes into the wilderness to be tempted by the devil, showing us that we have yet to enter Heaven and must therefore make sacrifices to conform ourselves to God's grace. During Lent, we traditionally pray, fast, and give alms. Prayer includes meditation, especially on the Passion, and some good prayers are the Rosary and the Divine Mercy Chaplet. Fasting lifts up our thoughts to heavenly subjects and strengthens us to do spiritual works and resist temptation, as well as making reparations for past sins. When we offer up our sufferings to Christ, we grow closer to Him. Some sacrifices are chosen, such as giving up eating candies. But others are not, such as humbly accepting sufferings that God has permitted to happen in our life. Finally, we can help others through almsgiving. If we cannot help through money, action, or verbal encouragement, then we can at least pray for them. This Lent, we ought to diligently pray, fast, and give alms.

This weekend, the Church celebrates the Fifth Sunday of Ordinary Time. Today's Gospel comes from Mark 1:29-39, where we hear what Jesus does in a single day. In the morning, He taught and exorcised demons at the synagogue, in the afternoon He healed Peter's mother-in-law and others at Peter's house, and in the evening, Jesus went off to pray. From this, we can reflect on we arrange time for work and prayer in our daily lives as Jesus had. Although He was extremely busy, He still took the time to pray, showing us how important prayer is. A saint once said, "The one who preserves order will be preserved by order." We need a schedule to order our time, so that we will cherish it and not waste it. We must arrange regular times to work, rest, and pray to yield good fruit and make the glory of God and the salvation of souls the core motivation of our lives. The Virgin Mary once appeared to two children in France, telling them to pray the Lord's Prayer and the Hail Mary once every morning and evening. If they had more time, they ought to pray more. Lately, many of us are unable to receive the Eucharist, but we ought to use this opportunity to know God's Word better. There is an app called iBreviary which provides the morning and evening prayers and daily readings for Lectio Divina. This can help us increase our discipline for prayer and reading. We ought to imitate Christ and set regular times for work and prayer, so that we can improve our communication skills and increase our friendship with God.

This weekend, the Church celebrates the Fourth Sunday of Ordinary Time. Today's Gospel comes from Mark 1:21-28, where Jesus drives out devils to save us from their jealous temptations with the help of His angels. Temptation can come from three spiritual enemies: the flesh, the world, and the devil. If the temptation arrives suddenly and intensely, it could possibly come from a devil. The saints advise three ways to combat temptation. Firstly, we ought to humbly ask God, His angels, and His saints in prayer for supernatural help, especially St. Michael and St. Joseph, of whom the devils are particularly afraid. Secondly, we ought to faithfully receive the Sacraments and use sacramentals, such as the Sign of the Cross, Holy Cards, and Holy Water. Thirdly, we ought to view devils with condescension in order to attack their pride. St. Teresa of Avila once said that devils are just like tied-up dogs. No matter how much they bark, they cannot bite us unless we are lured by fear to approach close enough. St. John Bosco once learned in a dream what devils are most afraid of: the intention of a believer after Confesion and reverence for the Virgin Mary. We ought to follow the good advice of the saints and combat the temptations of the devil.

This weekend, the Church celebrates the Third Sunday of Ordinary Time. Today's Gospel comes from Mark 1:14-20, where Jesus announces the coming of the Kingdom of Heaven and calls for repentance and belief in the Gospel. The Apostles quickly gave up everything to follow Jesus, like Peter and Andrew who gave up their fishing nets, James and John who left their father. Perhaps the things we leave may differ but what is important is that we abandon those obstacles on our way to follow God's will, and use them instead to serve Him. January 18 to 25 is the Week of Prayer for Christian Unity, while January 24 is the Feast of St. Francis de Sales. This saint's mission was simple: to bring those Catholics who had left the Church back home. He laboured in a French village for three years without producing a single convert. Nonetheless, he laboured on and, thinking that the villagers might not have heard his preaching, decided to slip in his pamphlets under their doors. He used his warmth and generosity to win souls. If the adults were unwilling to listen, he would play with their children. Once their parents saw how loving he was up close, their prejudices would disappear. After he left the village, forty thousand people converted to the Catholic faith. During this Week of Prayer for Christian Unity, we ought to pray for non-Catholic Christians to strengthen our mutual understanding and spread Christian values across the world. If we imitate St. Francis, we must use both words and actions to open people's hearts.

This weekend, the Church celebrates the Second Sunday of Ordinary Time. Today's Gospel comes from John 1:35-42, where Jesus calls the first disciples. Originally, John and Andrew were disciples of John the Baptist but they followed Jesus after the Baptist told them to. On approaching Jesus, He asked them, "What are you looking for?" Some approach Jesus out of habit, curiosity, or family tradition, but the proper reason is this: only He can give us true love and eternal life. St. Augustine lived a life of debauchery in his youth but later realized that our hearts are made for God, and unless they rest in Him, they cannot find rest. The disciples asked Jesus where He lived, only to be told to follow Him. Perhaps they had other plans that day but they decided to stay with Jesus until sunset. If we want to truly follow Jesus, we mustn't force Him into our schedules but must break them to give Him control over our time and lives. Before we follow Jesus, our lives are like sitting in the driver's seat but once we follow Him, we must switch places and let Him decide where to go. Although Andrew had yet to learn that Jesus was the Son of God, he still shared what had happened with his brother Peter. When we share the Gospel, we do not need a theology degree. Oftentimes, people are converted not by theological arguments, but by the good example and words of their friends and family. We ought to ask ourselves whether we are following Jesus for the right reasons and taking the time to grow closer to God in prayer every day.

This weekend, the Church celebrates the Feast of the Baptism of the Lord, which is commemorated as the first of the Luminous Mysteries added to the Rosary by Pope John Paul II in 2002. Jesus was baptized with sinners in the River Jordan, representing how He would take on the consequences of our sins. Just as Christmas commemorates the birth of Christ, the Feast of His Baptism which ends the Christmas season commemorates our spiritual birth. When Christ was baptized, three things happened, which give our own baptisms much spiritual significance. First, the sky was opened, which calls to mind Moses' parting of the Red Sea to enter the Promised Land--we likewise have a path to enter the Kingdom of God through baptism. Second, the Holy Spirit descended over the waters to above Christ's head in the form of a dove, which calls to mind the dove that Noah sent over the waters, representing new creation--we likewise become new Temples of the Holy Spirit in Baptism. Third, the Father called Jesus "my beloved Son". When we are baptized, the grace of God makes us His sons and daughters, and forgives all our sins. From this, we can see how important baptism is and even during this time of pandemic, we ought to continue baptizing with fewer people in attendance. As Christians, we should be zealous for evangelizing, so that others might experience the grace of baptism and join the big family that is the Church.

This weekend, the Church celebrates the Feast of Epiphany to commemorate Jesus revealing Himself to three groups of people: firstly, to the Gentiles when He accepted the gifts of the Three Magi from the East; secondly, to the Jews when He was baptized by John the Baptist; and thirdly, to His Apostles when He turned water into wine in the wedding at Cana. The first reading from the Book of Isaiah speaks of the glory of God while the second reading from the Letter to the Ephesians teaches that the Gentiles have also been called. The gifts of the three Magi have significance: gold represents Christ's kingship, frankincense represents His divinity, while myrrh represents His humanity. We can also offer up our meritorious works as spiritual gold, our prayers as frankincense, and our mortifications as myrrh. The Church has a tradition of inviting the laity to offer up the bread and wine at the Offertory. The bread can represent all we have in our lives, while the wine can represent the needs of others. The perfect sacrifice of the Mass not only benefits Catholics, but also blesses the entire world, for the fruits of Christ's sacrifice on the Cross are distributed to all lands and times through the Mass. During this pandemic, the faithful will certainly receive the graces of the Mass if they sincerely thirst to receive the Eucharist and unite themselves spiritually to the Mass.

This weekend, the Church celebrates the Feast of the Holy Family, honouring Jesus, the Virgin Mary, and St. Joseph. Pope Francis declared this year to be the Year of St. Joseph, the 150th anniversary of his declaration as the Patron of the Universal Church and also of Workers and the Protector of the Saviour in later years. Pope Francis reminds us that during the pandemic, frontline workers toil behind the scenes like Joseph to offer up their work and sacrifices for the needs of the world. He also suggests that those who have lost their jobs during the pandemic should ask St. Joseph for help in finding work. Joseph is a good example, for not only is he faithful in prayer and work, but also truly loves Jesus and Mary. He does not seek to control them but selflessly seeks their good. He is also deeply needed by our modern society as a model of chastity and fatherhood. In today's Gospel, Joseph and Mary dedicate Jesus in the Temple. This fourth Joyful Mystery shows that Joseph and Mary recognize the sovereignty of God over Jesus. Hence, we should not see other people as goods to be possessed, for all are children of God, entrusted to us in order to help them live good and holy lives. When children are baptized, they are consecrated to God, so they are merely entrusted to their parents, who must constantly discern the will of God for their children.

This weekend, the Church celebrates the Fourth Sunday of Advent and the Gospel reading comes from Luke 1:26-38. Before the Annunciation, the angel Gabriel appeared to announce the birth of John the Baptist to Zechariah while he was conducting his priestly duties at the Temple. Meanwhile, Mary--humble and unknown--received the angel at the small village of Nazareth. Mary's circumstances may have been humbler but the foretold reality was far greater. God often chooses the humble to carry out His will in order to show that truly great deeds are only done through His grace. By responding to God's will with obedience, Mary saved us from the disobedience of Eve. A Church Father once taught that while death came through Eve, life came through Mary. God entered humanity through the free choice of Mary, showing how much He values our free choice. Meanwhile, Mary freely accepted the consequences of being the Mother of God, including suffering at the foot of the Cross with her Son. Mary's humility is the good foundation of the spiritual life and we can pray the Angelus and the Hail Mary to imitate her in listening to God's will.

This weekend, the Church celebrates the Third Sunday of Advent and some churches are using rose-coloured vestments to represent the joy of Christmas, since the first half of Advent is already over. Today's Gospel reading comes from John 1 and although John the Baptist was suspected by many to be the Messiah, he did not claim to be so in order to increase his followers. Instead, he openly told people to follow Jesus. Oftentimes, we are tempted to seek the praise of others, perhaps through wealth, appearance, or position in order to affirm ourselves. And people often misunderstand their relationship with Jesus as only with a friend, teacher, or worker of miracles. But John the Baptist proclaimed Him as Lord and did not seek to control Him. If we are to establish an authentic relationship with Christ, every corner of our lives will be transformed, especially our interactions with our coworkers, our friends, family, and even strangers. If we use our possessions, work, position, and friends to measure our self-worth, we are worshipping idols. We can only use our relationship with God to measure our self-worth. Only in understanding our own frailty can we cultivate the humble heart of St. John the Baptist.

This weekend, the Church celebrates the Second Sunday of Advent and the Gospel reading comes from Mark 1:1-8. Mark's Gospel begins with the words "The beginning of the Gospel of Jesus Christ". In those days, a "Gospel" typically referred to celebrating the victory or birth of an emperor, who claimed to be a son of god. In saying this, Mark pointed out that true peace and victory come not from worldly princes, but from the true Son of God. In today's Gospel, John the Baptist prepares the way for Jesus by teaching through words and actions. He was so humble that he said he was not worthy to untie the sandals of the Messiah, a job deemed too demeaning for even a Jewish slave to perform. When we are baptized, our original sin, personal sin, and the temporal punishment of sin are all erased; we also receive an indelible mark which allows us to receive the other Sacraments. Although John's baptism had no actual authority to forgive sins, he used a liturgy to prepare people's hearts to receive Jesus. The Sacrament of Reconciliation has much greater spiritual graces than John's confessions, and form the pillars of salvation with Baptism. We ought to sincerely repent this Advent, in order to welcome Jesus' coming.

This weekend, the Church celebrates the First Sunday of Advent and the Gospel reading comes from Mark 13:33-37. Advent is the season to anticipate the coming of Christ and commemorates both His first coming on Christmas Day and His second coming at the Final Judgment. Jesus tells us today to be vigilant and awake because no one knows when He will return nor when they will die. Hence, God does not want us to calculate the time but for us to be constantly vigilant. A saint once said that those who constantly meditate on death find it easy to overcome disorderly thoughts, but those who think they will live long lives will be enslaved by worldly pleasures. For us who await Christ's coming, we ought to fulfill our responsibilities, respond to God's will, and dutifully keep the faith.

This weekend, the Church celebrates the Feast of Christ the King, the last Sunday of the liturgical year and the beginning of the four weeks of Advent. Christ is King, and He asks us to serve Him in our neighbours so that we might learn that no one is completely self-sufficient. When we love our neighbours, we simultaneously increase our love for God and outwardly express our welcome to him. Mother Teresa and the Sisters of Mercy which she founded spent time each day praying before the Lord in the Eucharist and to receive Him at Mass. Through this, they established a deep relationship with Jesus and derived the strength to recognize Him in the poor. Chrsit the King does not use violence to achieve victory but uses love, proven by works, to conquer the world. We must live likewise to expand the Kingdom of God.

This weekend, the Church celebrates the Thirty Third Sunday of Ordinary Time, and the Gospel reading comes from Matthew's Parable of the Talents. There was a master who entrusted his servants with talents before leaving--clearly, the master represents Christ, the servants represent His disciples, and the talents represent His graces. The departure of the master parallels the departure of Christ from His Ascension until His glorious return and general judgment. A saint once said that the servant who buried the talent represents those who bury their abilities in seeking only worldly things and not searching for spiritual truths. The other servants, on the other hand, worked diligently to earn more money for their master. The servant who buried the talent blamed the master for being harsh and painted himself as a victim, showing that he possibly envied the other servants for receiving more talents. But the master revealed that laziness was the real reason and although he did not lose any money, he could not bear the servant's laziness. We must also treasure the opportunities God gives to us and improve the world starting with ourselves. When Christians waste time, they might also waste their salvation. During the pandemic, we must not only watch television but should use the additional time to pray and care for our neighbours.

This weekend, the Church celebrates the Thirty Second Sunday of Ordinary Time, and begins the final three weeks before Advent. The Gospel readings all come from Matthew 25, and week's reading uses verses 1-13. It is the Parable of the Ten Virgins: the five wise ones brought oil, while the five foolish ones did not. When the bridegroom arrived, the wise virgins lit their lamps to greet him but the foolish ones could not enter the celebration. They thought that since the bridegroom was delayed, he would not come after all, or that they could borrow oil from the wise virgins. But they were rejected when they asked. The wise virgins, on the other hand, prepared enough oil, even when the bridegroom was late, so they did not have to worry when he would arrive. To the Church Fathers, the oil represented our own good works, which we cannot borrow from others before God. The foolish virgins cried out, "Lord! Lord!" but were rejected, just as Jesus in Matthew 7 described God rejecting those who called His name but lacked good works. If we possess true faith but do not live it out, it is useless. Mother Teresa is a good model of using our time wisely. Whenever she was delayed in transportation, she would often pray with her fellow nuns or talk with the people around her and explain the Good News. Maybe we are too well-off and are used to wasting our time on our phones whenever we have free time. We must remember: time is a gift from God and we must use it wisely to live out our faith.

This weekend, the Church celebrates all the saints together and asks their intercession on All Saint's Day. Today's Gospel reading comes from Matthew 5:1-12, where Jesus reveals the Beatitudes, which form our sanctifying path to resist the ways of the world and follow the spirit of the Gospel. "Blessed are the poor in spirit": our daily challenges remind us that cannot simply rely on our own abilities but must humbly rely on the aid of God and our neighbours. "Blessed are the pure of heart": in the Old Testament, whenever people encountered difficulties, their hearts would be divided and worship false gods. In modern times, we often draw a clear boundary between our faith and the other parts of our life, such as our family, our work, and our political views. We must be of one heart and not be obstructed by other things, in order to do all things for God. Nowadays, the Internet and our phones can easily tempt us to impure thoughts, so thankfully purityispossible.com teaches us to build good character and resist evil thoughts.

This weekend, the Church celebrates the Thirtieth Sunday of Ordinary Time and today's Gospel reading comes from Matthew 22:34-40. A scholar of the law questioned Jesus which commandment was the most important and Jesus responded: first, to love God with all your heart, strength, and will; and secondly, to love your neighbour as yourself. At that time, Jewish scholars constantly debated the precedence of the hundreds of commandments, so Jesus had just resolved the age-old debate: love. Jesus had taken the commandment to love God from Deuteronomy 6, which all Jews had memorized and yet which the Pharisees failed to live out. In fact, we can sometimes be like the Pharisees and think that we must completely understand God through our intellect, but God wants us to love whole-heartedly even more. For lower things like eating and drinking, we should choose with our intellect. But for higher things like religion, we should choose with our will. In recent years, numerous mystics have constantly reminded us that without love, the amount of money or time we give is worth nothing. There was once a priest who passed by a tombstone that read: this person died at age 90, but only lived three years. On asking what this meant, he was told that the deceased person began loving God at age 87 and wanted others to know after their death that only their final three years could be considered as truly living.

This weekend, the Church celebrates the Twenty Ninth Sunday of Ordinary Time and today's Gospel reading comes from Matthew 22:15-22. The Pharisees, Herodians, and other religious leaders were trying to ensnare Jesus with questions and they asked Him whether it was lawful to pay tax to Caesar. If Jesus responded yes, the Jews would see Him as a traitor to the Romans; if He responded no, then He could be accused of sedition before the Romans. Jesus instead accused His questioners of hypocrisy for asking Him questions out of a desire to test Him instead of a desire to discover the truth - they were doing the work of the devil. He told them to bring out a Roman coin - it had the image of a pagan god or king and was seen as idolatrous by the Jews. The religious leaders immediately brought such a coin, showing how they were just as worldly as the tax collectors they so despised. Jesus asked them whose image was on the coin and they responded, "Caesar's." He then said, "Give to Caesar what is Caesar's, and give to God what is God's." In those days, there were two taxes: a national tax to support the administration and a temple tax to support the liturgy and charitable works. Coins bearing pagan gods or kings had to be exchanged before paying the temple tax, so at the most basic level, Jesus was simply pointing out which coin could be used to pay tax. But at a deeper level, He was saying that we have a duty to the state. In the end, however, countries will end and what they can give us is limited, while we all have the image of God and belong to the everlasting Kingdom of God. History is filled with Caesars who sought to appropriate God's majesty, such as the state worship demanded by Communism. Christians ought to strongly resist such tendencies.

This weekend, the Church celebrates the Twenty Eighty Sunday of Ordinary Time and today's Gospel reading comes from Matthew 22:1-14. Jesus tells the Parable of the Wedding Feast: a king was holding a wedding feast for his son and sent his servants to invite his guests. But the guests not only made excuses and rejected the invitations, they also insulted and killed the servants. The king then sent his servants to invite people from the street and one of the new guests entered without a wedding garment, so the king drove him out. In this parable, the wedding feast of course represents the Heaven that God has already prepared for us and the wedding garment is sanctifying grace. In those days, wedding hosts would provide the wedding garments for his guests, so that travelling guests would not have them dirtied by the dust from the road. Thus, a guest who did not wear a wedding garment could only be insulting the host. Our souls are the life of our bodies and only with grace can we attain eternal life. Once we have received grace, we can only lose it through mortal sin, and fortunately we have the Sacraments of Baptism and Confession to restore us to grace. God has already prepared the eternal wedding banquet for us and paid the greatest price: the sacrifice of Christ on the Cross, which is the source of all seven Sacraments. We ought to beseech God to open our hearts and make us worthy to enter into the eternal Heavenly banquet.

This weekend, the Church celebrates the Twenty Seventh Sunday of Ordinary Time and today's Gospel reading comes from Matthew 21:33-46. Jesus tells two parables to accuse the religious authorities of injustice: the first tells of ungrateful vineyard tenants who refuse to give their produce to their master and kill the servants and son who are sent; and the second tells of the stone that the builders rejected that became the cornerstone. In the first parable, the master is clearly God, the vineyard is Israel, the fence is the Law, the tenants are the religious leaders, the servants are the prophets, and the son is Jesus. Jesus knew that the religious leaders planned to kill Him, so He prophesied what would happen to the vineyard once He was killed: the tenants would be evicted and the vineyard given over to new tenants. This predicted the destruction of Jerusalem in 70 AD by the Romans, which rendered the priestly profession obselete and left only the perfect sacrifice of Christ. The tenants did not recognize the master as their master, just as we often do not see God as our Lord, because we twist His Commandments and set ourselves as our own masters. Frequently, misfortune befalls us before we sin and we question where God was when in fact this was an opportunity given by God to repent. We ought to take full advantage of these opportunities and recognize God as our true master, offering up all the fruits of our life's work to Him.

This weekend, the Church celebrates the Twenty Sixth Sunday of Ordinary Time and today's Gospel reading comes from Matthew 21:28-32. The religious leaders question Jesus' authority, He asks them about the origin of John the Baptist's baptism: God or man. The leaders were afraid of the crowd and did not care to seek the truth. They refused to say John's baptism came from man, because they knew the crowd saw him as a prophet. They also refused to say his baptism came from God, because Jesus would ask them why they did not follow John. In the end, Jesus criticized them through a parable. Once, there was a father who told his two sons to do some work: the first agreed but ended up not doing the work, while the second refused but ended up doing it. Jesus asked which son did the will of the father and the leaders answered the second son. Jesus then said that the tax collectors and prostitutes would enter heaven before them because they refused to believe John the Baptist even after seeing him. From this, we can see that actions are greater than words and even a lay person who keeps the commandments is greater than a hypocritical consecrated person. Religious leaders must always be mindful of their station and must not praise God with their lips while doing the opposite in their actions. They are vulnerable to pride because they often delude themselves into thinking they cannot sin, whereas public sinners tend to realize their faults and repent. Perhaps we, because of lack of discipline, waste much time on the Internet and forsake our duties like the first son. We should practice discipline and serve God instead of ourselves.

This weekend, the Church celebrates the Twenty Fifth Sunday of Ordinary Time and today's Gospel reading comes from Matthew 20:1-16. Here, Jesus uses the analogy of a vineyard to describe the Kingdom of Heaven. The master of the vineyard hired workers at different times of the day and gathered them to distribute wages at dusk. The workers who had arrived earliest and latest received the same wages alike. Those who arrived earliest were indignant and thought they should receive more wages for working longer. But the master reminded them that they had all agreed to work for a denarius and if he chose to award those who worked less the same wages, that was his personal decision. He even criticized them for being jealous of his generosity. This parable reminds us that the Jews were the people first called by God and the Gentiles afterwards, so Jesus was telling the Jews not to be jealous of the Gentile newcomers. It also reminds us that God can call us at different points in life, whether we were born into a Catholic family, converted in middle age or as a student, or during old age or on our death bed. God rewards us not based on how long we have been His followers, but on how much charity we possess at the moment of our death. We must act wisely and persevere to the end. The master in the parable also met some people standing idle in the marketplace who had not found work because no one had yet called them. In the world, many people have not entered the Church, not because they intentionally chose to be atheist but because no one has yet invited them to be Catholic. The website "Catholics Come Home" works to bring lapsed Catholics back to the Church and they found that many people leave after Confirmation. They are unwilling to call themselves atheists and Christians alike, so they settle on being "without religious belief". One youth left the Church and then befriended a Catholic who invited him to help at a senior's home, go to Mass, and Confession. He agreed each time because he felt he finally had a friend to do religious activities with. Maybe we have friends who have not yet entered the Church, not because they reject Jesus, but because no one has invited them yet. September is the month many parishes start RCIA classes. Do not be afraid to invite your friends to know our Lord Jesus.