Liturgical Colour : Green

Dear brothers and sisters in Christ, today we are reminded through the words of the Sacred Scriptures of the need for us to persevere and be strong in our faith, to be active in the living of our faith and belief in the Lord by doing our best in each and every moments of our lives, to glorify the Lord by everything that we say and do, to be genuine and truly faithful Christians in all things. We should not allow ourselves be swayed by the many pressures and temptations being present all around us, but instead allow the Lord our God to continue to lead us down the path of righteousness in the unique paths and vocations which He has given to each and every one of us, which can truly be so unique that it is something that He has indeed entrusted to us.

In our first reading today, taken from the Book of the Maccabees, we heard of the terrible persecution of the Jewish people in Judea and Galilee by the ruler of the Seleucid Empire, King Antiochus IV Epiphanes, who at that time wanted to impose uniformity to the practices, customs and beliefs of all of his subjects, which were made up very diverse groups of people, with very diverse practices, customs and beliefs including that of the Jewish people and their beliefs in YHVH, their Lord and God. The Greek king ordered that all of his subjects including the Jews must adopt the ways of the Greeks, including their practices and beliefs. Great resistance sprung up from many of those who refused to abandon their faith in God, including those whom we heard about today.

The seven brothers and their mother were persecuted because they refused to obey the king’s commands, particularly the one involving eating the meat of the animal deemed unclean by the Law which was prevailing at that time, the Law of Moses. Thus, we heard of the way how the king tortured the seven brothers one by one because they refused to obey the king, and one by one they perished while courageously defending their faith in God and staunchly refusing to obey the king’s commands, ending with their mother herself, who was the last one to die faithfully after having encouraged all of her sons and saw all of them perishing before her own eyes.

This story of the heartbreaking and painful persecution is a reminder for all of us the stark and sometimes harsh reality for us all as Christians, that to be truly faithful to God, sometimes if not often times, we may have to encounter challenges, trials and even persecutions, like what those seven brothers and their mother had encountered. It is not necessary that we will have to encounter martyrdom as each one of us will likely face different challenges in life, but at some point, it is likely that we may have to make difficult choices pertaining to remaining faithful to God or to conform to the ways of the world just as those seven brothers and their mother had encountered. The question is, will we choose the path of God then?

Then, in our Gospel reading today, we heard from the Gospel according to St. Luke the Evangelist, we heard of the moment when the Lord Jesus told His disciples using the parable of the silver talents or silver pounds to highlight the importance of why we need to be truly active and involved in making good use of our talents, abilities and opportunities which God has provided to us all, each one of us with our own diverse sets of gifts, talents and opportunities. God has provided us with these so that we may make use of them for the greater glory of God just as highlighted in that parable. The parable showed that those who refuse to make good use of what has been entrusted to them, like the lazy servant, would be punished, while those who have used them well, will be praised and rewarded.

Therefore, it is the same expectations that all of us as Christians are expected to have as well in our own actions in life. Each and every one of us are reminded that we should always use well what the Lord has given us and blessed us with, whether big or small, significant or insignificant, in whatever manner they may be. As the parable further highlighted, that those who have been entrusted with more, will have more expected of them, while those who have been entrusted with less, will be expected with less. This means that all of us should just do our best to make use of everything that God has entrusted to us and not to fuss or worry instead whether we have done enough to serve the Lord through our actions in life.

Brothers and sisters in Christ, as Christians, that is as those whom the Lord had called and chosen, and as we have decided to answer His call to come to Him, each and every one of us are reminded that we should always be good role models in our every actions, words and deeds throughout our lives, in all the things that we say and do so that we may always benefit all those whom we encounter in life, showing to one another the true nature of God, His truth, love and compassion among many other things. And that is why we should always strive to live up to our Christian faith and all the Lord’s ways and teachings in every moments and in every parts of our lives and actions, as we should always do.

May the Lord continue to strengthen and empower us all to walk ever more faithfully in our daily living, in how we carry out our lives and way of acting and interacting with one another, those whom the Lord had placed in our lives for us to make good use of what He has provided and entrusted to us. We should also not be afraid of persecutions and hardships, as that is indeed part and parcel of what it means to be true disciples and followers of the Lord. May He continue to bless our good works and efforts, our actions and endeavours, and strengthen us all in faith at all times. Let us all be ever more courageous in following our Lord’s path and examples, now and always. Amen.