Liturgical Colour : Green or White (Bishops)

Dear brothers and sisters in Christ, today as we all listened to the words of the Sacred Scriptures, we are all reminded of the need for each and every one of us to heed the call of the Lord for us to obey His Law and commandments, to follow His ways and to love in the way that He has shown and taught us because in the end, we will be held accountable for all of our actions and deeds, our show of love to our brothers and sisters around us or any lack of love instead. If we have not loved our fellow brothers and sisters if we should have done, then we shall also be held accountable for our lack of action and love for our brethren. We have to keep all this in mind as we all continue living our lives as Christians, as God’s holy and beloved people, at all times.

In our first reading today, taken from the Epistle of St. John, we heard of the reminder from the Apostle to the faithful and hence to all of us, of the need for us to show love in al of our every actions and deeds, in our every interactions and works with one another because ultimately, our God is Love, and if He is Love Himself, the manifestation of perfect and most selfless love, then all of us must also be manifestation of God’s love, embodied in our every actions and deeds, in all the words we speak and in every moments of our lives. God Himself has shown His love to us through His beloved Son, Whom He had sent into the world, into our midst so that He may show us all the manifested and most perfect love of God in the flesh, becoming tangible and approachable for all of us.

As Christians, it is imperative that we keep reminding ourselves that we have been called to love most generously and sincerely to our fellow brothers and sisters around us. We should not ignore those who need our love and kindness, our help and compassion. There are many out there who have not been loved, ignored and ostracised by those who are around them, and if we are in the position to show love to these brethren of ours, then we should really make good use of the opportunities that God has given us so that we may truly love our brothers and sisters in the same way that the Lord Himself has first loved us all, in all the kindness and patient love and care that He has shown us all these while. We should therefore show the same love in each and every moments of our lives too.

Then, in our Gospel passage today, we heard from the Gospel according to St. Luke in which the Lord Jesus gave truly grim premonition to His disciples about the coming of the time of reckoning at the end of time, when the moment will come all of a sudden, without anyone knowing or realising it, making use of the examples of past catastrophes and events like that of the Great Flood of Noah, which happened suddenly without warning, destroying the whole entire world and civilisations that existed prior to that, and for those people who had rejected the call of the Lord to repent and follow Noah and his family, it was too late for them once the rain poured down and the waters flood the whole earth. Similarly, the example of Sodom and Gomorrah was also presented, when the rain of fire and brimstone destroyed both cities and their people for their wickedness and sins, and their refusal to repent.

Everything will happen in the same manner as the destructions that happened in the past, swift and without warning, and no one save the Lord Himself knows when the exact time of this happening is. No one among us, past, present and future will ever know the time of the Lord’s Second Coming, which He Himself has predicted and reassured us, just as none of us can ever know the exact time of our passing from this world, the end of our earthly life through death. And just like death, which is a certainty that is definitely going to happen, the Lord’s coming into this world and the time of reckoning, of the Final Judgment is something that is a sure certainty, and having been reminded, all of us should make sure that we prepare ourselves and make ourselves ready for that moment.

And how do we do that, brothers and sisters? We should therefore make sure that we practice our faith and whatever it is that we believe in actively in our lives. We should not merely be making lip service of our faith, but we must always be loving and generous just as our Lord and God has always been kind, generous and loving towards us. That is the mark of a true Christian, and one that we have always been reminded of and been challenged to do, to be truly like God in all things, to be loving and compassionate just as He has been towards us. Let us all hence commit ourselves anew to the Lord in our loving actions towards one another, just as St. John the Apostle had exhorted and reminded the faithful back then. Through our actions and efforts, many more people will come to know of the Lord and His love.

Today, the Church also celebrates the Feast of St. Albert the Great or Albertus Magnus, a great and renowned bishop and faithful servant of God who had devoted his life to the Lord and to all the people and the flock which God has entrusted to him as bishop and shepherd. St. Albert the Great, also known as St. Albert of Swabia or St. Albert of Cologne, was a Dominican priest who dedicated himself to a lifelong learning of all sorts of matter of the faith, involved in the teaching and formation of many other priests and religious who encountered him in his many academic efforts and pursuits, devoting himself to explore more about the Lord, His nature of love and to reveal more about the teachings of the Christian faith to many people who sought to know Him better. Among his students was another famous theologian and saint, St. Thomas Aquinas.

And later on, as he was appointed by the Pope himself as the Bishop of Regensburg in Germany, he was known for his great humility and piety, in his dedication to his flock, traversing the whole of his large diocese not on horse or carriage as was common for bishops of his time, but on foot instead. He resigned after a period of three years, humbly returning to the academic and intellectual pursuits that had made him to be so influential at that time and even long after his time. For his great faith in the Lord and his many contributions to the Church, he was later not only honoured and canonised as a saint, but was also made as one of the esteemed Doctors of the Church, as a great role model and inspiration for many of us as Christians.

Brothers and sisters in Christ, as we have heard from the Scriptures and the life of St. Albert the Great that we have just discussed earlier, we are all reminded to commit ourselves to a life of faith and dedication to God. We should always walk ever more faithfully in the Lord’s path, and do our best so that in each and every moments of our lives, we will continue to glorify the Lord by our every actions and deeds, our every efforts and works, like St. Albert the Great and so many of our other holy predecessors had done. May all of us be able to follow them in their footsteps as well, and strive to live our lives worthily as Christians, now and always. Amen.