Liturgical Colour : Red

Dear brothers and sisters in Christ, today as we listened to the words of the Scriptures, we are all reminded of the need for all of us as Christians, that is as God’s followers and disciples, to truly obey and follow the Law and commandments of God in all things, and in all of our words, actions and deeds. Otherwise, our faith is empty and meaningless, and have no bearing upon us and our identity as God’s people, those whom the Lord had called and chosen to be His own people and beloved ones. We have to be genuinely and truly faithful to God, knowing and appreciating His Law and commandments, that we may indeed embody our faith in all the things we say and do, at all times.

In our first reading today, taken from the Epistle of St. Paul to St. Timothy, we heard of the Apostle telling St. Timothy of the fundamental belief that all of us Christians believe in, that we all believe in the salvation that we all have attained through Jesus Christ, our Lord and Saviour, Whom God the Father had sent into this world, so that by His coming and entry into our world, all of us might be brought into the new life and existence that He has revealed to us, the Lord Jesus, the Son of God, our Saviour, might lead us into full and complete reconciliation with God, our loving Father and Creator. We may be freed therefore from the threat of eternal damnation and sufferings in the darkness and in hellfire, reserved to those who have rejected God and disobeyed Him. Without the grace of God and His salvation, we would have ended up in the same fate as well.

But the Lord showed forth His compassion and great mercy, His desire to be reunited with us and through all of these, He has opened for us the certain and sure path to His grace and salvation, by sending unto us His Son, to bear the Cross that contained our sins and our innumerable iniquities, so that by His loving sacrifice on the Cross at Calvary, He might crush the dominion and tyranny of sin that have burdened us all these while, and through Him, we have seen the light of sure hope and grace, the path out of the darkness that surrounded us and kept us away from the fullness of God’s love and care. Yet, many of us still do not have true, strong and genuine faith in God, and many of us still allow ourselves to be easily swayed by the temptations and wickedness present all around us.

In our Gospel passage today, we heard from the Lord speaking to His disciples that no good trees produce bad fruits and vice versa, and using that parable to teach them all how those who are good in their hearts draw upon those goodness to do what is good and righteous in their lives, while those whose hearts and minds were steeped in evil and wicked things, would inevitably draw upon those and commit what are evil and wicked in the sight of God and men alike. He also used another well-known parable, comparing two people with different attitudes towards God’s truth and teachings, likening them to people who built their houses upon two different types of foundations, be it foundation of solid rock, or a house that was not built on any foundation or support at all.

These all showed us how faith in God is truly very important for each and every one of us, and is here represented by that foundation in the Lord’s parable. For without faith, we can live our lives and do our actions and works, but what we say, do and carry out in our lives may not bring us to the fullness and true righteousness and virtues, grace and salvation that are found in God alone. If we put our trust in our own achievements, power and ability, and in worldly desires and means, then sooner or later we will realise that none of those things can truly satisfy or guarantee us, as none of those last forever, unlike putting our trust and faith in God, through which we can truly gain assurance of salvation and true glory and joy, the guarantee of eternal life and true satisfaction in life, which the world cannot give to us, no matter how many things we possess or how powerful we may be in this world. We must always trust in the love and mercy of God.

Today, the Church celebrates the feast of two great and holy men, whose faith and lives can and should indeed give us the inspiration and courage to carry out our lives and actions in accordance with God and His path. Pope St. Cornelius was the leader of the Universal Church during the time of great persecutions against the Christians throughout the Roman Empire, and also during a time when the Church was torn apart by great disagreement and schisms, particularly by those who disagreed with the practice of readmitting those who had lapsed in their Christian faith, or practiced pagan ways in order to protect themselves and avoid the harsh persecutions common at that time. Those who refused to allow those lapsed Christians who repented to rejoin the Church were known as the Novatianists after their most prominent leader, whom they elected as a rival Pope or Antipope.

That leader, Novatian, rejected the election of Pope St. Cornelius as the leader of the Church succeeding the martyred Pope St. Fabian because to the former, the latter was too lenient in allowing the lapsed Christians to rejoin the Church as according to the Novatianists, once a Christian has lapsed in the faith, then they can no longer be forgiven or be readmitted in their lives, in a rather self-righteous and almost Pharisaical kind of attitude, without understanding and appreciating how the Lord Himself would have reached out to those lapsed Christians and those who had been lost, like the ones who during the time of the Lord’s ministry were deemed as unworthy and sinful, like the tax collectors, prostitutes and those who suffered from ailments and demonic possessions. In the same manner therefore, Pope St. Cornelius and his compatriot, St. Cyprian of Carthage, another renowned leader of the Church, sought to champion this true ideal of the Church.

Essentially, as what we all still believe to this day, all of us believe that the Church is not just a museum for the ones who are holy, but is also a hospital for sinners. The Church is the Lord’s manifest outreach to the whole world, to all of the children of mankind, that each and every one of them may come to know the Lord, and be part of the one Body of Christ, called and chosen from the world to walk once again righteously in the path that God has shown them. The Church should not close its doors to those who truly and genuinely repented, and have been willing to carry out the penance for their sins, if the sinners desired to return to the Lord and to seek His mercy. After all, that is what the Lord Himself entrusted to His Church through St. Peter, as He entrusted to him the keys of the kingdom of Heaven, the power to bind or loosen those on earth that they may also be either bound or loosened in Heaven.

Pope St. Cornelius and St. Cyprian both courageously led the Church and resisted against all the efforts of those who sought to exclude the lapsed Christians from returning to the Lord, and their great efforts and works eventually prevailed, as the support for the Novatian heretics floundered and the Church kept its open arms and doors, ever ready to welcome those sinners who come seeking God’s forgiveness and grace. This is therefore also a reminder to all of us that we should not allow ourselves to be swayed by the sense of pride and self-righteousness, which may end up causing us to behave in the same Pharisaical and prideful way as those Novatianists, but instead, we should always be caring and concerned about our fellow brothers and sisters, many of whom are in need of our help and assistance in their struggles to live lives worthy of the Lord.

Let us all therefore today resolve to live our lives ever more worthily of the Lord, by doing what He has willed and commanded us to do, obeying Him as best as we are able to, in every moments and opportunities. Let us all remind one another of God’s ever gracious and generous love for us, His mercy and compassion which have always been generously given to us, at all times. Let us also help one another to walk with ever greater dedication in the path of our Christian faith, and be great role models, examples and inspirations to one another, now and always. May God bless each one of us in our every good efforts and endeavours. Amen.