Liturgical Colour : Green or White (Saturday Mass of Our Lady)

Dear brothers and sisters in Christ, today as we all listened to the words of the Sacred Scriptures, we are all reminded of the constant need for each and every one of us to remember that we are all God’s people, all equally beloved and precious before Him and in His eyes. None of us can claim that we are better or more preferred simply because of our background, our circumstances, or by whatever other parameters that we usually tend to divide or categorise ourselves into. When we are called to follow Him as Christians, to be God’s beloved and holy people, each and every one of us are called to reflect His light and truth, and whatever He had taught us in our lives, so that our every words, actions and deeds truly show that we are His holy and blessed people.

In our first reading today, we heard from the continuation of this week’s discourse and passage from the Epistle of St. Paul the Apostle to the Church and the faithful people of God in Galatia in what is now part of modern day Turkey, where the Apostle continued to elaborate about the matter of obeying the old and outdated ways of the Law of Moses, of the manner how those laws, commandments and rules, rituals and regulations were observed and enforced by the Pharisees and the teachers of the Law, those who were considered as the religious and intellectual elites of the community in charge of the maintenance and enforcement of the Law of God. Those people were also rather rigid and inflexible in their understanding and application of the Law of God, enforcing them very strictly and harshly, forcing the faithful people of God to follow all of the numerous rules, regulations and precepts.

And in their pride, ego, ambition and greed they had ended up misusing the Law of God to serve their own selfish interests, desires and ambitions. They sought to be praised and acclaimed because of their great piety and supposed obedience and adherence to the fullness of the Law of God, and they judged others who did not follow or obey the Law of God in the manner that they had done it. It is this boundary and limits which man had established which St. Paul was quite adamantly against, and for which he had criticised those who still continued to insist that everyone ought to follow and obey those man-made boundaries and obligations that were not truly in accordance with God’s will and what He desired from His people.

Then, in our short Gospel passage today from the Gospel of St. Luke, the words of the Lord to His disciples and all the people who were listening to Him were very clear indeed in their intention and meaning. The Lord wanted to tell each and every one of us that what He wants from us is obedience to the will of God and for all of us to do what God has taught us through His Son, the Lord Jesus Himself, and everything that He has brought unto us in this world today. It is not by association or connection to Him that one would be blessed or favoured by God, as He pointed it out Himself that just because someone belongs to the relatives or family of the Lord, but it did not mean that they would be favoured solely by that connection.

This was unlike what was common in the world at that time, where people usually favoured those who were connected and of the same family or group as themselves. This same attitude is also shown by the Pharisees and the teachers of the Law mentioned earlier as they commonly favoured those who were in their own group and shared the same thoughts and beliefs as they were, and they despised and were judgmental against all those whom they disagreed or differed in views with. That was why despite the Lord having performed many of His good and wonderful works before their own eyes and spoke of His great wisdom and teachings before them, they would not believe and continued to reject the truth and the revelations of the Lord’s Good News, despite the irrefutable truth it has brought them.

This kind of favouritism and bias exist even right up to this day, and is something that all of us as Christians are reminded to be ever vigilant against. As Christians, we must not allow ourselves to be easily swayed and tempted by the various worldly temptations, distractions and pressures all around us, and not to be easily persuaded by false directions and falsehoods in our midst. The Lord showed us all that to be truly faithful to Him we have to be ready and willing to listen to Him, embracing His truth and love, doing whatever we can so that by our commitment to Him, we will continue to live our lives worthily and doing whatever we can to glorify Him by our every words, actions and deeds throughout each and every moments of our lives, which we should always offer to God and strive to proclaim His truth and love to all.

And as the Lord mentioned all that before His disciples, lest we may think that He was being disrespectful to His family members and relatives, particularly to His mother, Mary, we must realise that He was in fact praising His own mother’s great examples and her being a great role model and inspiration for each and every one of us to follow in our own lives as Christians. Mary through her life and dedication to God has always lived her life with full of commitment and love for God, and being in a state full of grace, she obeyed the Lord perfectly and completely, following Him and His commandments, doing His will and living the life of the exemplary and model Christian by her complete obedience and trust in God, which we all should follow as well. The Lord has pointed the path to Himself through His mother, and we all should follow this path.

Brothers and sisters in Christ, let us all therefore ponder carefully how we are to continue living our lives from now on, doing our best so that we may continue to glorify the Lord by our lives and by doing His will, and to remain humble at all times. And as the examples of the Pharisees and the teachers of the Law ought to have reminded us, we should not allow ourselves to be swayed by the temptations of worldly glory and ambitions, or by our pride and ego so that we will not end up falling ever deeper into the path of sin towards destruction and damnation. Let us all instead follow the Lord’s call and through the help of His loving Mother Mary and His many saints, holy men and women, our wonderful holy predecessors, we may continue to progress well in our journey towards Him. Amen.