Liturgical Colour : Green

Dear brothers and sisters in Christ, this Sunday all of us are reminded of God’s salvation and grace that He has freely and generously presented to each and every one of us, which He has always extended to all of us out of His ever loving and most merciful Sacred Heart. He has always loved us all so generously and wonderfully, and we must not be afraid that we will not be well taken care of and provided for. If we truly believe in the Lord and in His Providence, there will certainly be a sure path forward for us, and we should also strive to put our trust and faith in the Lord, showing this faith to others around us so that they all may also be strengthened in their resolve to follow the Lord and to commit themselves wholeheartedly to Him as well.

In our first reading today, taken from the Book of the prophet Zechariah, we heard of the words of the Lord’s assurances and providence to all of His people, reassuring and strengthening them all with the promise that He would not abandon them in their time and hour of darkness, and that He would always be with them, and He would show them all the fulfilment of His many promises, which the prophet Zechariah was well-known of, for speaking the words of hope to the people of Israel and their descendants Jerusalem and Judah at the time when the outlook of things for God’s people was not so good. The prophet Zechariah was active during the time and reign of the Persian ruler, Darius the Great, at the time when the Babylonian exile had been over, but which previously affected the people of God greatly.

Prior to that period of time, both the northern kingdom of Israel and the southern kingdom of Judah had been destroyed, and as a result, many among the people who were living in both kingdoms, the Twelve Tribes of Israel, had been uprooted from their ancestral lands, scattered throughout many distant places and exiled to far-off lands, into the lands of their exile and humiliation amongst the nations. But the Lord, their God, did not forget about them and still loved them all the same, even when those same people and their ancestors had betrayed, abandoned and disregarded His Law and teachings for so many years and centuries, refusing to listen to the many prophets and messengers that God Himself had sent to them patiently over all those years.

That was why these words that the Lord spoke through the prophet Zechariah, all the prophetic words and the assurances that he had told the people of God was truly reassuring and strengthening to them, although none of them probably could understand the full significance of what the prophet Zechariah had spoken, as just like the prophet Isaiah before him, he was also speaking of the Suffering Servant or the Suffering Messiah, the One Whom God would send into this world to redeem all of His people. And later on, as we all now know, all of these would indeed be fulfilled in none other than Jesus Christ, Saviour of the whole world, the Son of God and the Divine Word Incarnate, Who became Flesh and Man, so that by His loving sacrifice on the Cross, He might rescue all of us from certain destruction.

Then, from our second reading today, taken from the Epistle of St. Paul the Apostle to the Church and the faithful people of God in the region of Galatia in Asia Minor, which is today part of Turkey, regarding how all of the faithful people of God, Christians who have been baptised in the same Lord, have been given and dedicated to Christ Himself, and have indeed received Christ, His light and hope, His love and all of His truth and teachings, and had been granted the same assurance and liberation that the Lord had promised to all of His people through the prophets like Zechariah, Isaiah and many others. And as we have just covered earlier, the Lord’s coming would indeed bring about perfect fulfilment of all that the Lord had promised to all of us, and we should indeed consider ourselves truly fortunate to have been loved so greatly by God.

Finally, as we heard from our Gospel passage today taken from the Gospel according to St. Luke the Evangelist, we heard how the Lord Jesus was asking His disciples about His identity and truth, and about who was it that they thought or others had said about Him. That was where as we heard, they stated whatever the people of their time believed in Him, in thinking that He was a prophet of God or a great teacher of the faith that God had sent, but St. Peter the Apostle, Simon Peter, the chief of the Lord’s disciples, spoke bravely and courageously that he believed that Jesus was not merely a Man or just a Prophet, but was the very Messiah, Saviour and Son of God that the Lord Himself has promised to all of us, to be the One to lead us all to eternal life and glory with Him.

This great faith that we have in Him is then completed by the Lord telling His disciples at the same occasion that they, just as we all are, will likely face great hardships, challenges and difficulties in life. And He said how unless they all took up their crosses in life and carry it with Him, a premonition of His own suffering on the Cross, the Passion that He was to undertake for all of our sakes, out of the ever great, boundless and ever amazing love that He has for each and every one of us, ones for whom He has come into this world for. This is an important reminder for us that as long as we continue to be faithful and committed to the Lord, there may be difficulties, challenges and trials facing us in our journey, and yet, we should not give up faith as in the end, we shall be triumphant with God if we are truly faithful to Him.

Brothers and sisters in Christ, let us all therefore continue to reflect and discern carefully these words from the Sacred Scriptures as we continue to move forward in life, being fully and completely dedicated to the Lord at all times. Let us all continue to press on forward faithfully, carrying our crosses together with the Lord, remembering that He is always by our side, strengthening us and providing for us all. He shall never abandon us but He shall always be paving the way forward for us. For God indeed, there is nothing that is impossible, and as long as we continue to trust in Him and allow Him to guide us all in everything that we say and do, we will always be truly worthy and blessed by the Lord at all times.

May the Lord continue to strengthen our faith within us and give us all the courage to continue to push forward in life so that in everything that we say and do, in our every interactions and efforts in life, we will continue to glorify the Lord by our exemplary and faithful living of our Christian faith. May God bless our every efforts and endeavours, and may He empower each one of us to live in accordance to His will, now and always. Amen.