Liturgical Colour : Green or White (Religious)

Dear brothers and sisters in Christ, today as we listened to the words of the Scriptures, we heard the reminder of how much God has loved us and how much He had done for all of us, throughout all the time. God has always shown us His patient care and love, and He was always ever patient although we have often disregarded His love, disobeyed Him and being wayward and wicked in our way of life. The Lord wants us to listen to Him, hearken to His words and to follow His path that we may not end up falling into the wrong paths, and be trapped by the whims of our desires and sin, which can lead us down the path towards ruin and destruction.

In our first reading today, we heard from the Book of the prophet Jeremiah in which the Lord spoke of the great and wonderful things which He had done for them, and all the love He had shown them throughout the ages, and yet at the same time, of how those same people had rejected Him and refused His love, in worshipping pagan idols and gods, offering sacrifices to them and by doing what were wicked in the eyes of the Lord. They had not been faithful to God and disregarded His reminders and calls, persecuting the prophets who had been sent to them in order to remind them to be faithful to God and to be reconciled with Him, and still God continued to patiently love them and care for them nonetheless.

Today we are then presented with the words of the Lord speaking to the disciples regarding the matter why He always preferred to speak in parables, as the disciples were wondering why He did so. The Lord told all of them that He revealed the secrets and truths of the kingdom of Heaven to them, while those who have not committed themselves to Him and refused to believe in Him would not understand or appreciate those words of truth that He has spoken to them. The ones who were willing to listen to the Lord would receive the revelation and the truth, by their faith and the guidance, the wisdom and the Holy Spirit that the Lord would grant them to help them find their way towards Him.

All these are therefore reminders for us, that we should not harden our hearts and minds against the Lord, especially viewing how in the past, many of our predecessors had faltered and fallen off unto the path of sin precisely because they shut themselves off from the Lord, were proud and haughty, and unwilling to listen to the Lord calling in their hearts and minds, for them to seek His truth and to repent from their wayward paths. They often trusted in their own abilities, intellects and strengths rather than to trust in God and in His providence, all of which had been given freely by God to guide all people to Himself. And therefore if we do not heed this examples and lessons, we ourselves may fall as well.

As such, that is why by learning that how many had fallen in the past in the path towards redemption in God, we are reminded that we ourselves should not fall into that same path and traps, of temptations and worldly attachments that can easily lead us astray in our journey towards the Lord. That is why we are called to live our lives from now on with greater and more genuine faith, dedicating ourselves to the service of God and glorifying Him by our lives and actions, in how we carry ourselves in our daily living and actions. And today, we should reflect upon the great examples and inspiration that had been shown by one of our predecessors, namely that of St. Bridget of Sweden.

Today, our Church celebrates the feast of this great woman and servant of God, St. Bridget of Sweden, honoured as one of the great Patron Saints of Europe. She was born into a rich landowning family in medieval era Sweden, and was then married at a relatively young age to a Swedish nobleman, having six of her own children surviving their infancy years. One of them is another Swedish saint, namely St. Catherine of Sweden. This, coupled with the facts and evidences of the holy and devout life carried out by St. Bridget of Sweden in her devotion as a mother, a wife and as a daughter of God, all of these showed us all how St. Bridget is truly a great role model for all of us in all of our lives, in what we all ourselves can do to glorify the Lord by our lives.

St. Bridget lived a truly holy life, and when her husband passed away and she was widowed, she dedicated herself thoroughly to God by becoming a member of the Third Order of St. Francis, comprised of all the laity who sought to emulate the examples and charism of St. Francis of Assisi and his Franciscan Order in dedicating themselves to God and to His people, which St. Bridget carried out most faithfully in her life of prayer and service to those who were poor and sick. In addition, St. Bridget also initiated the idea and started the religious congregation known as the Order of the Most Holy Saviour, or as the Bridgettines after their founder. This order gathered men and women into communities dedicated to serving the Lord and His people, committing themselves to the good of all of God’s beloved.

St. Bridget was also known for her many mystical experiences and visions, which she recorded down, as well as for her pilgrimage to  Rome, Jerusalem and Bethlehem which were well recorded and known, and in Rome she was in particular honoured and respected for her great piety and holy life, for her commitment and faith in the Lord. She inspired many others through her life and good examples, and she also committed to help and inspire the much needed reforms of the Church. Through her lifelong commitment and devotion to God, many of us should be inspired and strengthened in our own faith in God, so that we may truly know how we should live our lives worthily in the path that God has shown us all.

Brothers and sisters in Christ, having heard of the inspiring examples and the life story of St. Bridget of Sweden, let us all therefore strive to be good and worthy disciples of the Lord in all that we say and do, and that in every parts of our lives, we will always continue to glorify God and be the good role models and inspirations for one another, helping everyone around us to come ever closer to God as we should be doing, to manifest God’s truth and Good News tangibly in our own faithful and good lives. Our lives should be truly holy and faithful, filled with virtues and good deeds at all times. May we all continue to dedicate and commit ourselves to God and His path, as how St. Bridget of Sweden and many other holy men and women had done. Amen.