Liturgical Colour : Green or White (Religious or Saturday Mass of our Lady)

Dear brothers and sisters in Christ, on this day we heard the words from the Holy Scriptures regarding the way of those who were full of empty words and gestures, who have no love for the Lord in their hearts. These people spoke loudly and proclaimed loudly that they belonged to God but in reality, they did not love Him but themselves. They did not do what the Lord wanted of them, and instead incited scandal for His holy Name because of their actions.

In the Gospel today, we heard Jesus our Lord Who told His disciples a parable, about how the enemy sowed weeds among a field of wheat such that weeds grew alongside the wheat and became entangled with them. If they were to remove the weeds at that moment, then the wheat would also be removed with them and they would die. Instead, the master asked his workers to remove them only after all of them had grown fully that they might be separated without killing the wheat.

What does this mean, brothers and sisters in Christ? It means that our God is very patient indeed, and He is always trying to help us and give us new opportunities and chances. But this does not mean that we should go and try out His patience, or wait until the time has run out for us. God is the master of the harvest, while the harvest is all of us living in the field, that is the world.

Then what are the weeds? The weeds are wickedness and vile things which we commit in this life, things that are not wanted by God, just as farmers do not want weeds to destroy their crops. The wheat are good and pious deeds, all the things which are done in accordance to the Law and to the will of God. Just as they are intertwined, thus all of us have good and bad deeds in us. Goodness and justice came from God, while our vile and wicked deeds came from Satan.

Now, if we have God in us, living deep in our hearts, whatever we do and all of our actions will be noticeably influenced by the presence of God in us. If our heart is evil, wicked and rotten, then there will be wickedness and evil in our actions, deeds and words as well. It is important that we keep ourselves pure and blameless, in our hearts by rejecting the lures of sin and by deepening our relationship with God.

Indeed, temptations will be abound, and there will be many challenges as we proceed on with this life, as we will be pulled in many directions and tempted to abandon this path which we have embarked on and get onto an easier and slacker path. We abandon our journey towards the Lord for the simple reprieve and to safeguard our own desires and purposes.

This is just as how in another parable, the parable of the sower, Jesus mentioned that only the seeds that fell on the rich soil were able to grow bountifully and successfully, while the other seeds were eaten up by the birds of the air, or scorched by the sun, or choked by the growing thistles and bushes around them. In this, we see how the ‘weeds’ that is those evils and wickedness in our heart can affect us adversely if we do not do anything about them. The concerns, worries that we have, as well as the tempting alternatives presented by the world have made us to be tainted and corrupted, unworthy of the Lord.

Now let us all ask ourselves sincerely in the heart. Do we want to be weeds or do we rather be considered as wheat? At the end of time, will we be considered as weeds or rather as wheat? When the Angels come to bring us to the judgment of the Lord, will He cast us out of His presence because of our disobedience and wickedness, or will He welcome us all due to our righteousness and faith?

The choice is ours alone, brothers and sisters in Christ. It is up to us to choose how we would live our lives, and how we would act in this life. Do we do things that are in accordance of the way taught to us by the Lord? Or do we rather do things for our own desires and convenience? This is an important matter for us to take note of and to reflect, lest we be dragged in deeper and deeper into damnation.

Brothers and sisters in Christ, let us all see the examples of St. Bridget of Sweden, the saint whose feast we celebrate today. St. Bridget of Sweden was a renowned holy woman who devoted herself to God and to the service of the people around her, and she helped the establishment of several religious orders which foundation were accredited to her.

St. Bridget of Sweden served the poor and the weak in her society, and she engaged in many acts of charity and love for her fellow brethren, while teaching them all about the Lord their God. She would gone on to Rome in a pilgrimage, desiring to help even more people, and as she stayed in Rome afterwards, she was a prominent figure in the reform of the Church and in the strengthening of the faith and spirituality of the Church.

St. Bridget received many visions of the Lord throughout her life, and as her devotion to Him was strengthened because of what she had seen, she came to receive even more visions through which Jesus our Lord revealed to her the love which He had for His people, even though in their sinfulness and wicked life, they have rejected Him and spurned His love.

Through St. Bridget and the many other holy saints, holy men and women who have walked among us throughout the ages, God wants to call us and welcome us back into His embrace, and yet many of us openly and actively refused His call. But all these require hard work and perseverance. We have to be strong and we have to resist that pull of sin and that pull of evil and wickedness which are trying to steer us away from the salvation in God.

Let us all work together, brothers and sisters in Christ. Let us all work together to help each other in finding our way to the Lord. Let us devote ourselves anew to Him and hesitate no longer in walking in His path, even though the odds may be stacked up against us, and even though challenges are abundant on our path, we should not give up, for giving up means that we may fall into eternal damnation and suffering.

May God be our guide, and may He help us in our journey towards Him. May we all endeavour to purify ourselves from all the taints of sin, that we may be freed from the entanglement of the weeds of evil and sin, and therefore be brought worthy to the holy presence of our Lord and God. May the Lord bless us all, now and forever. Amen.