Liturgical Colour : Purple/Violet

Dear brothers and sisters in Christ, today as we listened to the words of the Sacred Scriptures, we are all reminded that trusting in the Lord, following His Law and commandments, all these are far more important and crucial than following the ways of the world. In particular, during this penitential time and season of Lent, we must remember to be careful of the temptations of sin which may lead us astray in the path of our journey towards God. We must always be vigilant of the efforts of those who seek our destruction and downfall, so that we do not end up falling into those temptations and lose our path towards the Lord. We must not let the comforts, pleasures and all the good things in this world around us to lead us into destruction, and we should be good role models of our faith, devoting our time and effort to lead others to God by our charity, love and kindness towards everyone around us.

In our first reading today, taken from the Book of the prophet Jeremiah, we heard of the words of the Lord to His people in the kingdom of Judah in which He chided, rebuked and warned against all those people who have abandoned His ways, refused to believe in Him and to put their trust in Him. This was brought against many among the people of Judah who had abandoned the path of the Lord, persecuted the prophets and messengers that God had sent to remind and help them, including that of Jeremiah himself. Those people chose to trust in the ways and means of the world rather than to trust in God and in His Providence, and hence, God warned them that they would all perish and be destroyed if they kept on putting their trust in the world.

For the context, at that time, during the time of the ministry of the prophet Jeremiah, the people of the kingdom of Judah had ignored the Lord and His prophets in many occasions, and as mentioned, persecuted those who had been sent to guide and help them like Jeremiah himself. False prophets and servants of God were aplenty, as those who sought to subvert the people to their own agenda and ideas clashed with Jeremiah on the course of action for the king and the people to follow. Jeremiah warned the people of God of their sins and how their disobedience would lead to their destruction, the destruction of Jerusalem and the Temple of God, which all would be destroyed and razed by the Babylonians just as the other prophets had also prophesied before. For all of these, Jeremiah was hated and despised, and labelled as a traitor and fearmonger.

On the other hand, the false prophets and messengers convinced the king and the nobles of the kingdom of Judah, as well as the people to side with the powers of the world at the time, either to submit to the King of Babylon, or as what the more common political agenda of the time dictated, to side with the Pharaoh and King of Egypt instead, using the power and protection of the Egyptian army and nation to balance the power of the Babylonians. Essentially, it was this action which the Lord warned His people about, that they trusted in the powers, means and providence of the world rather than to trust in Him. All of their plots and works would eventually be laid bare, and they would be meaningless and useless, and would in fact bring the people and the kingdom to their doom, as the prophet Jeremiah had prophesied and tried to warn them all.

The Lord at the same time also reassured His people that those who have held on to their faith in Him and remained righteous and just in their ways would be blessed and saved. God’s wrath and anger are reserved indeed only on those who constantly and repeatedly refused to listen to Him or obey Him. But ultimately, He loves all of His beloved people, His children, all those whom He had chosen to be His own. He wanted all of them to walk in the path of righteousness, to be holy, good and just, to be worthy of Him just as He has always intended. However, it was our disobedience and refusal to obey Him and His Law, our errors and mistakes, all of which had led to us ending up on this path towards damnation and destruction, in which case, God still wants to rescue us all from this path.

Then, in our Gospel passage today, we heard of the story of the parable of Lazarus and the rich man told by the Lord Jesus to His disciples in the Gospel according to St. Luke the Evangelist. In that well-known parable, we heard of the story of how Lazarus, a very poor man and beggar, was sitting daily at the side of the door of a rich man’s house or mansion, and while he was there begging for food, the rich man, who hosted parties and celebrations on daily basis, did not even give him anything from this table, from all the excesses of his celebrations, and Lazarus could only hope that some of the scraps of the bread and food from the rich man’s table could be his sustenance, but no one would give even those to him. And we heard how eventually both Lazarus and the rich man passed away.

In that parable, we heard how the actions of the rich man, his ignorance of the plight and sufferings of Lazarus led to him being cast into Hell for his lack of empathy and love for his fellow men, while Lazarus received his right rewards and was raised to the bosom of Abraham in Heaven, to enjoy forever the happiness and joy that he had been lacking in life. Through this example and story, the Lord wanted to let us all, His disciples and followers, know that as Christians, all of us must not be ignorant of the plight and sufferings of the poor and those others who are in need of help around us. We are reminded that should we follow the path of the rich man, then we may end up in the same fate as him, where an eternity of regret and suffering awaits us.

This is also an important reminder for us that just as we continue to progress through this time and season of Lent, we do not just keep ourselves away from the corruption of sins that may lead us into the damnation of Hell, but we must also remind ourselves not to commit the sin of omission. What is the sin of omission exactly, brothers and sisters in Christ? It refers to the sin that is caused by our own conscious neglect of our duties and responsibilities as Christians, where we could have done something for the benefit of those others present around us, but we have chosen not to do so, just as the rich man had consciously ignored the poor beggar Lazarus, while he could have stepped in to help and take care of Lazarus with the excessive wealth that he had. He had chosen not to do so, and hence, committed the sin of omission that led him down into Hell.

Brothers and sisters in Christ, let us all therefore strive to be more generous in loving and sharing our blessings with one another during this time and period of Lent. One of the important practices commonly practiced this Lent is that of almsgiving, which we should do willingly and generously, so that we may be able to help those who may not be as fortunate as us in life. But let us remember not to give because we want to be rewarded or to be praised for doing so. Instead, let us all give generously from our heart and out of the sincere desire to care for the less fortunate brethren around us. May God be with us always and may He continue to give us His guidance in life, so that we do not depend so much on worldly things but on Him and His Providence instead, and be generous in sharing our blessings with one another. Amen.