Liturgical Colour : White

Dear brothers and sisters in Christ, on this day we are called to continue the good works of the Apostles, as St. Paul and many other disciples of the Lord who have testified before the people about God and His many good works, and ultimately, ending in the perfect fulfilment of all that God has promised His people, and what the Apostles was testifying about.

God has loved us all His people, and it is why He has given us opportunities after opportunities, time and again, for us to repent and to turn away from our sins. He does not want us to fall into damnation, as what would have happened, if we continued down our path of sin. He has given us the way out of this predicament, by the coming of His Saviour, Our Lord Jesus Christ, and through the testimony of faith which His Apostles and their successors have brought us.

The Apostle St. Paul was not afraid to speak up for his faith in God, and he revealed before the Jewish people in today’s first reading passage from the Book of Acts, about the Lord Jesus, despite the threats which the Pharisees and the elders from Jerusalem had given, against all those who taught and preached in His Name. He was not afraid of all those threats, and continued to speak in the Lord’s Name courageously.

Brothers and sisters in Christ, this is the kind of faith and dedication which all of us as Christians should also have in our own respective lives. Sadly, however, many of us have been inactive, passive, ignorant, or even repulsed at the thought of living our lives for God’s sake and in obedience of God’s will. Instead, we follow the whims of our own desires, and we end up living our lives led by our selfishness.

That is why so many of us are still so far away from the Lord and from His salvation, as we have not been able to let go of our desires and petty ambitions. We have been tempted by this world, and Satan has given us false happiness and promises of false joy, which many of us took up too gladly and too happily, without thinking of the consequences of what would happen if we chose this path instead of God’s path.

And this is the reality which each and every one of us need to realise, right now. Many of us are still lost and not sure of how we should proceed forward with our lives. Many of us are still too preoccupied with the many worldly concerns through which in fact, Satan and his allies were trying to keep us chained and enslaved, to our sins and wickedness, which separated us from God and His love.

That is where, all of us as Christians must come in, following in the footsteps of the Apostles, such as that of St. Paul the Apostle. We must be ready to stand up for our faith, to show our faith through real and concrete dedication to our faith. This is what each and every one of us must do, as those who profess to believe in God, that in everything we say and do, we will always do all we can, to bring greater glory to God.

Let us all from now on, be inspiration to one another, by living our lives with faith, and committing ourselves to the Lord in our hearts, with all of our strength. Let us all be beacons of God’s light in this world, so that through us, the works of God and His loving mercy may be exercised amongst us, so that more and more people, many more souls will come to believe in God and be saved. May the Lord bless us all, and be with us in this journey. Amen.