Liturgical Colour : White
Dear brothers and sisters in Christ, on this day as we continue to progress through the season of Easter, through the Scripture passages we heard, we are reminded that it is important for us to draw closer to the Lord, for if we do not come to the Lord and experience living in His light, then we remain in the darkness, the darkness of sin.

We often think that the Lord our God is a loving and merciful God, which is indeed true, but we often forget that in His love and mercy, He also demands and requires from us our obedience and adherence to His laws and precepts. It does not mean that He loves us then we are free to do in our lives as however we wish it to be. We are free to do things as long as it is in accordance with God’s will, and not committing sinful deeds.

Remember, brothers and sisters in Christ, that the Lord our God loves each and every one of us, but at the same time, He also despises all forms of sins, all forms of perversions and corruptions, all the wickedness of man and the evils in this world. No sin may come before Him, and if an unrepentant sinner continue to live in the state of sin, then he or she shall perish because of his or her sins.

Yes, brothers and sisters in Christ, it is indeed right what the Lord Jesus had said in the Gospel today, that it is not Him Who shall judge the people, not because He does not judge them, indeed He judges all the people, as the Judge mentioned at the Last Judgement accounts, but Jesus our Lord does not judge arbitrarily or without good reason. Instead, it is our very own sins that will judge us on the last day.

Our sins will be removed from us if only that we are sincere in seeking forgiveness for those sins, and if we repent from them, making the commitment to abandon those sins and our sinful deeds, and from now on to live faithfully and righteously in God. Otherwise, our sins will remain in us, and it is by those sins, be it unconfessed or not repented, that we will be judged by.

Brothers and sisters in Christ, therefore the challenge given to us today, as we continue living as Christians, is for us to live righteously and justly as the Lord had taught us, by obeying His commandments and laws, and to help one another to live in such a way, adhering closely to the Lord. It is our obligation and calling for us to bring our fellow brethren from the darkness, calling them to the same light of Christ, in which we are living in today.

That was what the Apostles had done, by preaching the truths of the Gospel and the message of the Good News to the people, of many nations and races, to the Gentiles and the pagan nations, and also to the Jewish people. They preached about the salvation found only in Jesus Christ, that they all should abandon their old sinful and mistaken ways, and follow from thereafter, only the Lord, the One and only true God.

Of course, such an undertaking was not an easy one for the Apostles and the disciples of the Lord to bear. They encountered many difficulties and much opposition to their works. The same will be our lot when we walk in their footsteps and do the same in our own lives and in our own communities. But that is the crosses which the faithful Apostles had born upon themselves, and which we too should bear on ourselves, our crosses in life.

And we should carry them on, putting our faith in the Lord as we do so, carrying our crosses together with Christ. Therefore, let us all renew our commitment to love and serve the Lord our God, and in the same manner, love our fellow brethren, and teaching one another the truth of God, by practicing in our lives genuine faith and commitment to the ways of the Lord, so that all of us may draw ever closer to the Lord, and therefore come closer to attain salvation through Him.

May the Lord bless us all, forgive us all our sins, and renew our faith in Him, so that we may courageously live our lives filled with faith and love, becoming true and committed disciples of His. Amen.