Liturgical Colour : White

Dear brothers and sisters in Christ, today we listened to the words of the Lord contained in the Scriptures which reminded us all of the great love and compassion, mercy and kindness which He has often shown us all, we mankind who are sinners and unworthy of His love, having often betrayed and abandoned Him for false gods and idols, and all the other distractions and temptations which kept us away from the path that the Lord has shown us. Each and every one of us have been given this great grace of God’s mercy and love, which He constantly showered upon us, as He wants us all to return to Him, and to find our way back to Him, as we are all truly precious and important to Him, and He does not hold grudge or hate us because of the fact that we are sinners, as He despises not us, but our sins and wickedness.

That is why, as we listened to our first reading today from the Book of Exodus, we are reminded of this great love and compassionate mercy of God, as Moses came to the Tent of Meeting where the Lord’s Presence resided, shortly after the people of Israel had been chastised and punished for their great betrayal of the Lord in the building of the golden calf idol at Mount Sinai, at the time when the Lord was establishing His new Covenant with all of them and was giving them all His Law and commandments. The Lord in His righteous anger had wanted to destroy the people for their sins, but Moses pleaded before the Lord to spare them, and after the golden calf idol had been destroyed, as we heard in our first reading today, he once again pleaded to the Lord to show mercy upon the people who had sinned against Him and disobeyed His Law and commandments.

Moses went to the Tent of Meeting to meet God Himself, Who came clad in the a mighty pillar of cloud and light, and he called upon the Lord to show His kindness and to continue to dwell along His people even when they had disobeyed and refused to listen to Him in numerous occasions. The Lord then responded in showing him and all the Israelites that He was indeed full of mercy and compassion, as the One and only True God of all, Who wants to be reconciled and reunited with all of His scattered and lost loved ones, the lost sheep of the Lord’s flock. The Lord then at the same time also highlighted that He would still punish those who committed sins and evil deeds, and mete out justice against those who have not walked in the path of righteousness and those who have committed sins and wickedness in His sight and presence. It is a reminder for us that God loves us, but He does not tolerate our sins and wickedness, our waywardness and disobedience.

This is why we need to be alert and vigilant against the temptations of evil and all the allures of worldly pleasures and ambitions. We should not allow ourselves to be easily tempted and swayed by all those falsehoods and lies, which the devil and all of his wicked allies propagated in order to lead us all down the wrong paths to our downfall and damnation. In our Gospel passage today, the Lord Jesus highlighted to His disciples and hence to all of us, the parable of the weeds in the field, which is related to the parable of the sower which the Lord elaborated just earlier on. In that parable of the weeds, the Lord mentioned how the enemy came to sow the seeds of weeds among the good seeds of the crops of the field spread by the master and owner of the field. Those bad seeds represent all the wickedness and evils present in us, which the devil and all of his forces had constantly spread in our midst, in trying to pull us away from God and His salvation.

At the same time, God, the Master of all of us, and the Lord and Master of this whole world has planted in us the seeds of His truth, the seeds of faith and love, the seeds of righteousness and justice, the seeds of His Wisdom and grace. These gifts and good things are present in us, just as the weeds and all the vices and wickedness are present within and all around us, in our lives and in our beings, in our communities and in all of our families and circles of friends. It is a reminder for us, through that parable of the weeds, that in the end, all the weeds will be gathered, burnt and destroyed, while the good crops, the wheat and other fruitful harvest will be gathered into the Lord’s glorious kingdom one day. It is representative of how the wicked and those who commit evil shall one day have to answer for their wickedness and evils, and meanwhile, the righteous and the just shall be made worthy by their obedience and faith in the Lord.

Now, the question is, what are we then going to do with our lives? Are we going to allow the seeds of evil and wickedness, the seeds of weeds to grow and suffocate us all in our lives? And are we going to let them to mislead us down the path of damnation and downfall? Or can we resist those temptations and strive instead to remain faithful and true to the Lord in all of our dedication and faith towards Him? Can we commit ourselves once again to walk with zeal and true faith in God? Just as Moses and all the whole people of Israel came before the Lord with repentance and regret for their sins and wickedness, can we all do the same as well? It is our pride and greed, our inability to resist the many temptations and evils around us that had often led us down the wrong path, and hence, we should now entrust ourselves wholly to the Lord, and humbly seek Him with faith and genuine love, as our holy predecessors and the many holy men and women of God have shown in their lives.

Today, the Church celebrates the feast of St. Alphonsus Liguori, the renowned founder of the religious order known as the Congregation of the Most Holy Redeemer, also known as the Redemptorists. St. Alphonsus Liguori was truly a great man of God, a bishop and faithful servant of the Lord, who dedicated his whole life to the service of God, his Lord and Master. He was born into a small minor noble family, and went on to excel in his academics and studies, and became a lawyer for quite a number of years. However, he did not truly find true satisfaction and joy in life, and was looking for deeper meaning in his life. St. Alphonsus Liguori then eventually sought the Lord in the consecrated life, as a priest and missionary of the Lord, in proclaiming the love and truth of God to many people, with his initiatives and efforts reaching out to tens of thousands of people, who were touched by his genuine and clear sermons, filled with truth and genuine love of the Lord.

St. Alphonsus Liguori desired to show more of the Lord’s compassionate and merciful side to many of the people who have been lost to Him, while at the same time also stressing the importance of repentance and turning away from one’s sins. St. Alphonsus Liguori hence established the Congregation of the Most Holy Redeemer, the Redemptorists, which began a great campaign of ministry all throughout the whole world, in bringing the knowledge of the Divine Redeemer, the Mercy of God to more and more of the people of God. Later on, the order would also add on to their charism and ministry, the propagation of the devotion to Our Mother of Perpetual Help, having been entrusted by the Pope himself with the care of the Byzantine Icon of the Mother of Perpetual Help, which complemented and added on to their missions in seeking the salvation of souls, the redemption of sinners and the liberation of the whole world from the forces of sin and darkness.

St. Alphonsus Liguori himself, despite having been appointed and made a bishop in his later years continued to dedicate himself wholeheartedly to the people entrusted to his care, never ceasing to carry out his hard work and efforts for the salvation of souls. He ensured the discipline and the well-being of his priests and members of his congregations, encouraging more and more among the people of God to lead a life that is truly worthy of the Lord. Hence, all of us should really look carefully upon the examples and the actions which St. Alphonsus Liguori had done in his life, in all of his ministry and works, and be inspired by them, so that we ourselves may also carry out the same mission and work, in dedicating ourselves to the glory of God, and to the salvation of our fellow men, all those who are still suffering the tyranny and bondage to sin.

Let us all therefore renew our commitment to the Lord, and being inspired by the examples of the saints, the holy people of God, particularly that of St. Alphonsus Liguori, let us all hence be great role models and inspirations ourselves, in leading lives that are truly worthy of the Lord, by doing God’s will and obeying His Law and commandments at all times. May the Lord continue to help and guide us in our journey, and may He empower us all to carry on with our lives with great zeal and obedience to God, now and always, forevermore. St. Alphonsus Liguori, holy servant of God, pray for us all sinners, that the Lord, the Most Holy Redeemer, may always show His mercy and compassion towards us all. Amen.