Liturgical Colour : Green

Dear brothers and sisters in Christ, the readings taken from the Holy Scriptures today all spoke about how we should not be trapped in our obsession of the exterior and appearances, which is part of our human nature, as it is in our nature for us to value appearances and our external vanity above all else. We often place value on others and judge them based on what we see in them, but we do not bother to look deeper inward into the hearts and minds of one another.

And that is why St. Paul in his letter to the faithful and the Church in Rome spoke about the foolishness of those who gave up the truth and the wonders of the Lord God our Creator, and instead settled for something less, such as the created things and objects that mankind elevated to become their gods and which they worshipped by giving them sacrifices, praise and honour.

This is referring to the practices of those who made idols made of wood, gold, silver and other precious metals and items as their gods, thinking that in the wonders of the beautiful appearances lie the power of the One who had created them. And thus similarly, mankind worshipped objects like the sun, the moon and the stars, and gave glory to natural phenomena such as lightning, fire, water and other inanimate objects.

And the Pharisees in the Gospel reading today were no different. They may be faithful to the Lord and showing it through their devout prayers and complete strict observance of the whole of the laws of Moses and the Jewish customs and traditions, but as Jesus often rebuked them and criticised them, they had no love and care for the Lord and for those who had been placed under their care as shepherds of the people of God.

Their blind obedience to the Law and their obsession in fulfilling them, while judging and condemning others who did not follow the Law as they did, had made them to be the same as those who worshipped the pagan gods and idols. Why is this so? That is because of the attitudes of the Pharisees and the teachers of the Law, who pretended as if the Law, or rather, their interpretation of the Law is above everything else.

And it was in this matter that they have erred. They have made their human made laws and customs as their idols, empty, foolish and meaningless if they did not understand the true meaning of the Law. They would merely be applying these for appearances and to their exterior being, but on the other hand, their interior being, namely their hearts, their minds and their souls remained darkened and corrupted.

This is the hypocrisy that Jesus had warned the people against, namely the hypocrisy and faithlessness of the Pharisees and the teachers of the Law, that even though outwardly they seemed to be good, pious and righteous, they did not do all those for the glory of God or for the good of their fellow men, but rather for themselves and their own glory.

Thus, the Lord is also warning us all not to do the same and not to walk in the footsteps of these people, or else we risk damnation because of our wicked interior, even though outwardly we may seem to be good and fine. Thus, this is a reminder for us to not be overly preoccupied making ourselves look good in front of others or be too worried about our image in the eyes of others, at the expense of true righteousness, justice and faith.

Let us all look deep into ourselves and reflect on our own lives. Have we been too focused on making ourselves look good and acceptable to others around us and the world? Have we compromised our faith just so that others will compliment and praise us? If we are truly faithful to the Lord, then certainly we will look far beyond those trivial things and focus on what the Lord had taught us about how to become His true disciples and followers.

May all of us devote ourselves more to love one another, to care for those who are sick and dying, oppressed and unloved, and give ourselves to care for them from our heart, so that in all that we do and say, we may bring justification for ourselves not just outwardly, but inwardly as well, so that our whole being will be found worthy and just before the Lord on the day of judgment, God bless us all. Amen.