Liturgical Colour : Red

Dear brothers and sisters in Christ, today as we all listened to the words of the Lord contained in the Scriptures, we are all reminded and reassured of the constant and ever enduring love of God which He has always shown us throughout time and history, and which He has again and again renewed through His many promises made to us through His own words and through the prophets. And all these promises were not just mere empty words, as they all had been formalised and made complete, fulfilled and accomplished through none other than Jesus Christ, the Saviour of the whole world, Who has come into our midst to reveal to us the fullness of God’s love and grace, His mercy and kindness made tangible and real, approachable to us all.

In our first reading today, taken from the Epistle to the Hebrews we heard of the reminders from the author directed to the Jewish community and people of everything that the Lord their God has promised and reassured to them again and again throughout history, referring to the promises of the Covenant He had made with Abraham and others among His servants and people, and how it was the perseverance shown by Abraham and those who are faithful to the Lord which has earned them all their inheritance and blessings from God. Through God and His love, and their constant and enduring obedience and faith in Him, all of those faithful people of God have been truly blessed and become reminders for us all that God has given us all so wonderful a blessing.

Then, in our Gospel passage today, we heard from the Gospel according to St. Mark the Evangelist the arguments between the Lord Jesus and the Pharisees who argued that the Lord and His disciples had violated the Law of God on the matter of the Sabbath day because the disciples had plucked on the grains of wheat from the field when they were all very hungry. The Lord rebuked those Pharisees by quoting the example from the Scripture, how the venerated and well-respected King David of Israel and his companions were allowed to eat from the bread reserved only for the priests at the House of God. Neither David nor his companions were members of the priestly order, but they were allowed to eat when they were very hungry.

Those Pharisees belonged to those who very strictly and rigidly interpreted the Law of God, taking the meaning of the Law such as the Law on the Sabbath, to the point that they misunderstood the true purpose, meaning and intention of the Law of God, which were not meant to restrict, restrain or make their lives difficult. Instead, the Law had always been meant to help show and teach the people of God the true meaning of love and how they all can truly love Him wholeheartedly and to be filled fully with faith and trust in this love, because it is by His ever great, wonderful and enduring love that we all have been saved and provided with rich and sure assurance of eternal life and inheritance beyond measure or comparison.

We are therefore reminded through these Scripture passages today that we must always be truly faithful to the Lord and put our whole trust in Him, be filled with true and genuine love in Him and not merely observing His Law and commandments without truly understanding and appreciating their true importance, purpose and significance. If we want to be truly faithful to the Lord, then we must not be like those Pharisees who placed greater importance in their own selfish desires and personal ambitions in achieving their pious actions and practices so that they might be praised by others and be honoured for doing so. This is why all of us as Christians should always put God first and foremost in our lives, as Abraham and many of our predecessors had done before us.

Today, the Church also celebrates the Feast of St. Agnes, a renowned martyr of the faith who perished during one of the most intense persecutions of Christians and the Church. She was also known as St. Agnes of Rome, having been born into a Roman noble family and was raised as a Christian by her family during the difficult years of persecution against Christians by the Roman Emperor Diocletian and his fellow rulers in the then Tetrarchy. Eventually, due to her great beauty, St. Agnes had many suitors whom she all rejected as she wanted to devote herself to God, and as such, disgruntled suitors reported St. Agnes’ Christian identity to the authorities who then arrested her and forced her to deny God and abandon her faith, which she courageously refused to do.

When St. Agnes was brought before the Roman prefect, Sempronius, he condemned her to be paraded naked to a brothel for her to be defiled by those people who frequented the brothel in mockery of her holy virginity. According to Church tradition, St. Agnes prayed to God and her hair miraculously grew and covered her whole body, and anyone who wanted to rape her were immediately struck blind, and no one could harm her at all. And this included Sempronius’ own son, who was struck dead, and upon the intercession of St. Agnes, the dead son was revived again. Undoubtedly shaken by what he experienced and what happened to his son, the Roman prefect recused himself from the judgment and let another person to judge St. Agnes, who was thereafter martyred by either being beheaded or stabbed on her throat after even flames would not harm her.

Brothers and sisters in Christ, as we have heard from the Scripture passages today, and from the life and examples of St. Agnes, holy woman and martyr of the Church, let us all therefore learn to commit ourselves ever more, in each and every moments given to us, in every opportunities so that we may ever be courageous and most dedicated servant of God, with our lives and examples be the shining beacons of truth and the guiding light for everyone around us. May everyone knows the Lord and His love by the love He has shown us and which we have reflected in our own lives, in our complete and trust in God and in our love for our fellow brothers and sisters, for those who are less fortunate and in need for our love. May God, our ever loving Master and Creator be with us all, now and always. Amen.