Liturgical Colour : Green

Dear brothers and sisters in Christ, today as we listened to the words of the Scripture, we are all called to remain true to our faith in the Lord, and to persevere in faith so that we do not easily fall into the temptations to sin, and to disobey against God and His will. We are all called to be faithful at all times and to do our best at every possible opportunities given to us so that we will always be prepared whenever He comes, as He has promised us that He will.

We should always be aware and realise that we ought not to squander whatever opportunities and gifts that God has given us all these while. Yes, God is always ever patient and He is always persisting in His efforts to reach out to us, in each and every moments, but we have also been given the gift of free will and the wisdom to discern the right path, and the outcome of each paths that we encounter in life are often already known, and yet, many among us still hesitated and refused to believe in the Lord wholeheartedly or to trust Him fully.

Instead, we allow ourselves to be swayed by worldly desires, by our hesitation to act or to dedicate ourselves to action for God, and by our sloth and laziness, in remaining comfortable and idle wherever we are, that our lives, especially that of our spiritual lives become stagnant and lacking in vigour, as we allow the devil to tempt us with inaction and with personal comfort and the reluctance to move out of our comfort zone, in pursuit of our own personal happiness and desires, which led us to be like that of the lazy servant as described in our Gospel today.

In our Gospel passage today, we heard the Lord speaking in parables to the people, highlighting about servants of a lord and master of the house who were going to a long journey, and who entrusted to those same servants the care and responsibility over his household. The Lord clearly highlighted the two different attitudes of two different servants who acted differently upon what their lord and master had instructed them to do. Then we heard how the lazy servant was caught unprepared and red-handed in his laziness and idleness, in his debauched and wicked attitude towards those entrusted under his care when the master suddenly returned.

Meanwhile, the faithful servant who remained vigilant and did his best as was expected of him received great rewards and joy when he welcomed his master back, and he would be entrusted with far greater things on the account of his hard work and dedication to his duty and responsibilities. And this serves also as a reminder of who we are all expected to be, to walk faithfully in God’s presence, our Lord and Master, with true faith and dedication.

As we heard in that parable, all of us are called to follow the examples of the faithful and diligent servant, and not to be like the lazy and unfaithful servant. All of us have been given and entrusted with many great gifts by the Lord, in all of our various talents, abilities and different opportunities. And yet, many of us have often not used those things, gifts and opportunities as we have been called to do. Instead, we kept them hidden, ignored them, and we acted in ways that were against the Lord and in opposition to His truths.

Are we going to continue walking down that path, brothers and sisters in Christ? We should all know what lies at the end of that path, and if we are not careful, we will end up in eternity of regret, when the judgment is cast on us, and from which we have no further recourse or way out of. God has entrusted to us many things, and He has also given us many opportunities to turn things around, and He has called on us all to fulfil our responsibilities, all these while. Are we willing to listen to the Lord, and are we willing to turn to Him from now on, entrusting ourselves in His care and doing His will from now on?

Let us all therefore strive to be ever more faithful and dedicated with each and every passing opportunities, and do our very best to be worthy servants and disciples of the Lord, so that in everything we say and do, we may always glorify the Lord and praise Him, and as His worthy disciples and followers, we will be worthy of His presence and everlasting life, promised to all those who are faithful to Him. May God bless us always, in all things, and may He guide us in our journey of faith in life, even to the smallest things. Amen.