4th Sunday of Advent
Installation of Fr. H. Paul Kim
Holy Korean Martyrs
December 20, 2025
Introduction
It is a joy to be with all of you so near to the Feast of Christmas, and on this joyful occasion, to install Fr. H. (Hasang) Paul Kim as your pastor. You have already know him as a devoted, and effective leader, especially as you build a new spiritual home for Holy Korean Martyrs Parish. I am grateful to the Archbishop of Daegu for his generosity in sending Father Kim here to serve as pastor. And I thank you, Father Kim, for your pastoral generosity, for your service as a good and loving shepherd for your the parishioners.
Today’s Scripture readings for the 4th Sunday of Advent help us to reflect on Father Kim’s role as your pastor. That role has two main components: First, is pointing out that God has come in search of us, witnessing to his presence in our midst, and serving as an instrument of God’s Presence. Second, is helping us to acknowledge and respond to God’s presence with an obedient faith in every aspect of our lives. Let us reflect for a few moments on these two points . . . beginning with this:
God’s Search for Us
Often, we are told that religion is all about our search for God, but in Advent, we discover again what lengths God went through to be with us. Indeed, today’s Scripture readings teach us that our faith is less about our search for God and more about God’s search for us. Not only did God create us, he kept pursuing us even after we rejected his friendship. He passionately sought us out so as to heal our relationship with him, and to restore his presence and friendship among us. That is why the Lord chose a people to be his own and promised them a Savior. The Lord stood by his people in good times and bad, all the while preparing them for the Messiah he would send to save them from their sins.
Isn’t this what we see in today’s first reading from Isaiah? King Ahaz is in trouble; his kingdom is falling apart. The Lord invites him to ask for a sign of his favor but he refuses not because of true reverence, but because of the weakness of his faith. The Lord overrules him and through Isaiah offers the House of David this sign: “…the virgin shall conceive and bear and son, and shall name him Emmanuel.” In the Gospel reading, we see Isaiah’s prophecy fulfilled. Joseph receives word in a dream that the child of Mary’s womb is of the Holy Spirit. The angel further instructs Joseph to name the child Jesus, because the child to be born would save God’s people from their sins. The child is also to be known as “Emmanuel”, a name which means “God is with us.”
As your pastor, Father Kim witnesses to the presence of God in your midst, and he serves as an instrument, a minister, of his presence among you. It is his role to seek out and gather the community of Holy Korean Martyrs, to invite you to encounter the Lord in your own language and in accord with your culture and traditions. As he preaches the Word of God, he points out God’s presence in your midst. As he celebrates the Sacraments, he is an instrument of the Lord’s presence, especially in the Eucharist and the Sacrament of Reconciliation. Your pastor is both a witness to and an instrument of the Lord’s presence as he leads you to serve Christ in the poor and vulnerable.
Our Response to God’s Presence
An even as your pastor, bears witness to Christ’s presence among you, so too he will want to help you respond to the Lord: to welcome him into your hearts, your homes, and your parish community. St. Paul identifies the response your pastor seeks to bring about in you: it is “the obedience of faith”, a commitment to the will of God that becomes possible only when our hearts have been transformed by God’s grace. We see how in King Ahaz how not to respond to the Lord. We see in Joseph how to respond: for when Joseph awoke from his dream, he did as the angel commanded him. We also see how to respond to God’s merciful love in the Holy Korean Martyrs who laid down their lives as witness to the Lord Jesus and to their faith.
By word, by example, by spiritual direction, by listening to you, by encouraging you, your pastor will help you respond to God’s presence with an obedient faith –that is to say, a faith in Jesus that is so alive and joyous that your deepest desire will be to conform your life to his, even that means thoroughly reforming our lives. As you respond to the Lord with a faith like that of St. Paul and St. Joseph – and the Holy Korean Martyrs – your parish community takes on ever-greater vibrancy, an ever-expanding capacity to attract those who no longer practice the faith and those who are searching for the Lord.
Collaboration
Pointing to the Lord’s presence, being an instrument of his presence, helping those he serves to respond with obedient faith to the Lord’s presence – these are the principal responsibilities of your good and loving pastor, Father Kim. Yet, good as he is, he cannot do it all by himself. He counts on your generosity, your understanding, and your willingness to work with him in advancing the Church’s mission. Father Kim will count on his dedicated staff, as well as the parish council, the finance council, and the corporators to assist him in leading and administering Holy Korean Martyrs Parish. He also counts on each and every parishioner to embrace the Lord & the faith, and to bear witness to their faith at home, at work, and at leisure. Let me thank the lay leadership of this parish and indeed this entire parish family for your strong faith, your generosity, and the witness of your lives in Christ Jesus.
Conclusion
So, as the feast of Christmas draws so near, let us rejoice and give thanks, and with confidence ask the Lord to bless Father Kim and all those he serves. At Christmas may we rejoice as never before the Incarnate Son of God and respond to our newborn Savior with a faith that never ceases to say “yes” to anything and everything God may ask of us. May God bless us and keep us always in his love!