Liturgical Colour : Green or White (Saturday Mass of our Lady)
Dear brothers and sisters in Christ, today the readings of the Scripture may not show clearly their intentions to us, but the intention of the Church for selecting these particular passages from the Scripture is actually so that we may understand that for all that we have prepared for, planned for, looked forward to, and anticipated in this life, nothing will come to fruition unless it is in accordance with God’s will.

In order to understand fully what the Scripture readings today brought to us, we have to understand the mentality and the thinking behind those people who followed Jesus at that time, His Apostles, disciples and all the throng of people who came to see Him and to listen to His preachings. At that time, many had the opinion that the Messiah would come to liberate the people of Israel from the tyranny of their oppressors, the Romans for example, and reestablish the old kingdom of Israel, with the Messiah as the King over Israel.

Many had attempted over the years to restore the glory of the kingdom of Israel, claiming to be the Saviour sent by God and rose up in insurrection and rebellion, but these were all crushed and defeated, for they did not come from God, but instead from mankind and their efforts and desires alone. That was why they have been hindered and did not find success in their endeavours. Mankind can plan all the things they want, but often, things will not go their way, no matter how well planned everything are.

For the disciples of Jesus, for their Master and Saviour to have uttered not just once, but many times about the future fate that awaited Him must have been hard to accept, and some might have found it to be utterly bizarre for someone like Jesus, Whom God had sent to be the Saviour and Messiah of all, to be rejected, and ultimately to suffer and to perish in a humiliating death on the cross, handed over to the pagans to be humiliated and punished for causes that were not His to begin with.

But that is how the Lord did His works, by submitting humbly to the will of the Father and Creator, that He, the Divine Word Who had descended into the flesh to the world, may be able to bear the burden of the wholeness of all of our sins, as many and countless as they are. He bore all the sufferings, consequences, punishments and all that came about because of our wickedness and disobedience, that all of us who come to put our faith in Him may be saved and be spared from the eternal damnation.

In all these, let us all spend some time to reflect on what our life has been to us and how our actions and deeds have been shaped by mostly our concerns in this life, our worldly and human desires, that have made us to neglect our faith and devotion to the Lord. Many of us are too bogged down and distracted by our worldly concerns, desires, and all the temptations that the devil and his allies are placing ahead of us and on our journey in order to pull us away from our effort to find the Lord and His salvation.

Instead, let us all abandon all these meaningless and useless acts, all the preoccupations we have in gathering fame, honour, wealth, renown and all the other worldly glories to ourselves. The Lord will bless all those who are righteous and just in their deeds, and He will care for all of us, giving us all that we need in due time. We have no need to worry about anything if we are truly faithful to our Lord.

We have to learn to put our trust in the Lord, in His blessings and in His ways. Let us not be discouraged but continue to believe in our Lord despite all the challenges and the difficulties that we have faced, are facing, or will face because of our faith in Him. It is not safe for us to build for ourselves treasures in this world, for anything in this world can be easily destroyed and perish without a trace.

But building up for ourselves treasures in heaven is guaranteed and safe, for the Lord Himself has assured us that all of His faithful ones will receive rich graces and the gift of everlasting life in pure joy and bliss. Therefore, let us all from now on seek to do what is right and just in the sight of God, and learn to tame and resist our desires and human greed, that we will not be swallowed by these and therefore, will be able to persevere well in our journey to find justification and salvation in the Lord. May the Lord help us and bless us in this journey. Amen.