Liturgical Colour : Green or White (Bishops or Saturday Mass of Our Lady)

Dear brothers and sisters in Christ, today as we all listened to the words of the Sacred Scriptures, we continue to be reminded of the greatness of God Who is capable of doing every wonders and good things in our lives, if we only put our trust and faith in Him. For the Lord Who has created this world and the whole Universe in all of its goodness has always intended for us to enjoy the fullness of His love and grace, and He would not want for any of us to suffer or endure all the challenges that we are facing in life now. But it was our own waywardness and disobedience against Him which had led to our own downfall and sufferings, as we end up causing harm and hurt to one another in our quest and pursuit of selfish desires.

In our first reading today, taken from the Book of Wisdom, we heard from that passage of the might and power of God as He carried out everything that He has always planned, in leading all of His beloved people to righteousness and to the path that He has prepared for them. He did everything according to His designs and plans, which He has gradually revealed to us through His Spirit and Wisdom provided to us through the same Spirit. He has always been for those whom He has loved, that is all of us mankind, without exception, and He has always patiently provided for us without cease and constantly, ever caring for us and loving us all unconditionally and generously.

God has always shown us all His Providence even through the most difficult moments, sending His help, guidance and protection, companionship and presence through the most difficult moments of our lives. We are therefore never alone in our journey, and whenever we want to give up in this struggle and whenever we fall into temptations to sin, and want to give up the struggles against the pressures of the world, we should remember that God is always ever present around us and supporting us in our daily struggles and challenges. It is often however that we do not realise or appreciate God being there for us because we do not have enough faith in Him and we are so preoccupied with ourselves and the things are busy fussing about instead.

Then, from our Gospel passage today, taken from the Gospel according to St. Luke the Evangelist, we heard of the parable that the Lord Jesus used to teach His disciples, using that of an evil judge who feared neither God or man, and an old widow who constantly went to the old judge and demanded that the latter pursue her case and win justice for her. As expected, of course the evil and wicked judge refused to arbitrate on her behalf or even to take heed of her. But the old widow kept on persisting and insisting daily on the evil judge, kept on pestering her to take up her case until we heard that eventually he gave in to the demands of the old widow if only that he could rid himself of her incessant persistent demands.

As we heard in this Gospel passage, the Lord Jesus was making this comparison and reference to the case between the evil judge and the old widow to highlight just how much more generous and willing for the Lord our God to hear and heed our prayers and requests, if the evil judge himself granted the desires of the old widow. This is an important reminder and encouragement for all of us as Christians that no matter what, we should not lose faith or trust in the Lord because if we continue to have faith in Him and if we put our hope ever always in Him and His Providence, the Lord will be with us and will provide us all that we need, and eventually, while the wait may seem to be long and delayed, everything will be fine for us all. We must keep up this faith in the Lord, always.

Today, the Church celebrates the Feast of St. Albert the Great, or St. Albertus Magnus, a renowned man of God and great teacher of the faith, whose life, works and dedication to God should inspire us all to be dedicated and committed to Him ourselves. Each and every one of us should heed the good examples set by this wonderful man of God, so that we may also be always faithful to Him, at all times. St. Albert the Great was born in what is now Bavaria in southern part of Germany, during the High Middle Ages. He was brought up well academically and showed his talents early on. He then became a member of the Dominican Order, and studied to become a theologian, which began his great and long ministry as a teacher and theologian henceforth.

St. Albert the Great later on became one of the provincials of the Dominican Order, and carried out his duties with great obedience and dedication. And while later on he was appointed as a bishop, as the Bishop of Regensburg, he remained humble and committed to the missions entrusted to him, walking all around his diocese on foot instead of riding a horse as he was entitled to. He dedicated himself to whatever missions God had entrusted him with, and despite the honour and respect that many people and his positions entitled him with, he remained very humble and focused on the Lord, not being swayed by the temptations of worldly power and glory. Instead, he committed himself wholly to the Lord and to the people of God, all throughout his life, and this is something that we should be inspired to follow as well. 

Brothers and sisters in Christ, just as we have discussed earlier from the passages of the Sacred Scriptures and also from the life and examples shown by St. Albert the Great, let us all therefore continue to strive to live our lives worthily in the Lord, doing whatever we can so that we will always focus and centre our lives in God, and to be constantly faithful in our dedication to Him, remembering that in everything that we do, we should always bring glory to God. We must also continue to have faith in Him, trusting that if we continue to trust Him and seek for His guidance and help through persistent prayer as the old widow in the parable had done, the Lord will indeed move to help us and provide for us all that we need.

May the Lord continue to inspire and strengthen us all such that we can continue to move forward in life with fullness of faith and trust in Him, knowing that He is ever present in our lives, being by our side and constantly journeying with us without cease. He has always been supporting us, loving us and caring for us, and He will never cease providing for us and guiding us through good and bad times alike. Let us all no longer be doubtful and continue to walk forward with ever greater trust in God, now and always. Amen.