Liturgical Colour : Green

Dear brothers and sisters in Christ, today as we listened to the Lord through the words of the Sacred Scriptures, we are all reminded again that God has always shown His love, kindness and compassion towards us, and He has kindly reached out to us, and blessed us all, especially those who are faithful to Him. God has always cared for us and He has never abandoned or forsaken us, despite our own frequent disobedience against Him and despite our stubbornness in doing what is against His will and His path, in indulging in worldly pleasures and temptations, leading to us constantly sinning against Him. God has always wanted to reach out to us and heal us from our afflictions, especially that of sin.

In our first reading today, taken from the Book of Genesis, we heard of the aftermath of the Great Flood which happened to the whole entire world in the days of Noah, one of the early man, who was spared with his family through the Ark that God had told him to construct to safeguard and protect himself and his family. Contextually, we must understand that Noah and his family alone were still considered righteous and worthy among all the multitudes of people that existed back then. The rest of mankind were so wicked and corrupt, afflicted by the original sin of our disobedience and also of the sin of Cain, who murdered his own brother Abel, that God decided to cleanse the whole world with the Great Flood. Noah was instructed to build the Ark, which safeguarded him and his family, and many living things that God sent two by two into the Ark.

The people of God, instead of repenting from their sins, mocked and laughed at Noah, and refusing to believe in God. Hence, they were doomed by their own stubbornness and refusal to obey the Lord, His Law and commandments. Noah and his family faithfully obeyed the Lord, and followed Him in whatever He told them to do, and hence, they were saved from the destruction and gained safety in the Ark during the period of great calamity and destruction of the Flood. They were brought to the new world, cleansed by the Flood, in which they were the only survivors among all the children of mankind. Noah offered sacrifices to God, while God reassured him and all of us that He shall always remember His love for us, and not destroy us anymore by the Flood. The rainbow that appears after the rain is a reminder to God and to all of us of this promise.

This does not mean that God no longer pay attention or heed the wickedness of our sins. Instead, He showed us that despite our disobedience against Him and our persistent attachment to sin, He still loved us nonetheless and wanted to be reconciled with us. That was why He kept on sending us assistance, help and encouragement throughout all the way, and He did not abandon us all in the midst of the darkness all around us. He still kindly reached out to us and called upon us to follow Him, and to repent from our sins. He called on us to turn away from all the temptations and the sins that could have brought us deeper and deeper into the path towards damnation, and He wants us all to embrace His love, mercy and compassion, by which He has sent unto us His own beloved Son to be our Saviour.

That is what we have heard in our Gospel passage today, as we heard of the account of how the Lord Jesus, the Son of God, our Saviour, healed a blind man from his blindness, opened his eyes and made him to be able to see once again. Through that action, the Lord had restored the man who had been afflicted and suffered, and helped him to regain once again his joy and vision, and this is actually really fitting with what we have just discussed earlier on. That is because due to sin, each and every one of us have also become blinded, distracted and kept away from being able to see the truth of God and His love. Just like the blind man who was afflicted with his physical blindness, sin which is an affliction that affects our souls, our hearts, minds and our whole beings, has corrupted us and kept us away from being able to see the righteousness and love of God.

That is why God wants to embrace us and heal us just as He has once healed the blind man and many others, to bring us out from the darkness of sin, to lead us out from the corruption and the dangers of sin. The Lord has shown us His love and kindness, and touched our lives with His most compassionate mercy, so that all of us may have hope once again, and be filled again with joy, the joy and light of the Lord’s glory and resurrection, and of knowing that through Him, all of us have the assurance of eternal life and true joy. All of us are reminded that the path of sin leads to damnation and destruction, while the path of righteousness in God leads to the true happiness that one can gain in the Lord and through Him alone.

Brothers and sisters in Christ, let us all therefore do our best to commit ourselves anew to the Lord, at every opportunities provided to us and in every possible areas where God has called us to do His will. Let us all draw ever closer to God and be committed to walk down the path of His righteousness and light, like Noah and his family had done, and like how God’s faithful servants, the innumerable saints, martyrs and all the other holy men and women of God had done all throughout the whole history. We are all called to be true to our faith in the Lord, to be filled with zeal and fervour in how we live our lives, that we may indeed be true Christians in all things and be good and inspirational role models to each other, and help inspire more and more people to be good disciples and followers of the Lord as well.

May God continue to strengthen and guide us in our journey so that each and every one of us may always be courageous and strong, in persevering in faith despite all of the challenges facing us, and despite all the trials and hardships that we have to endure throughout our journey of faith in life. May God bless our every efforts, good works and endeavours, now and always, all for His greater glory, and for the salvation of the world. Amen.