Liturgical Colour : Green

Dear brothers and sisters in Christ, today all of us are reminded of the Law and the commandments which the Lord our God and Master have revealed to us and given us all, beginning from the time when He first revealed it all to Moses, His servant, to be passed on to the people of Israel, the people that God first called and chose from among all the nations. The Law of God, His commandments and precepts, are all meant to help and lead us to the path of salvation in God, and they are the means by which God planted in us the seeds of faith, which we will need to nurture, or else, we may end up becoming stagnant in faith, or lukewarm in it, and falling deeper and deeper into the path of evil, wickedness and sin, distancing ourselves from God. All of us are reminded today to be ever more faithful to the Lord, to do His will and to obey His Law and commandments, living a good and faithful Christian life.

In our first reading today, we heard of the moment when God revealed His Ten Commandments to Moses, His servant, at the top of Mount Sinai, where He appeared before Moses and dictated to him His Law and commandments. It was also at that time that the Lord established His Covenant with His people Israel, and therefore, as part of that Covenant, all of His people ought to follow and obey the Law and the commandments that He has set before them, because by following Him, and becoming His people, they have put themselves in the Presence of God, and become His own adopted children, and hence, they submit themselves to His rule and power, and as is only right and just, they have to do what their Lord and Master have told them to do.

Not only that, but as God’s beloved people and children, if they, the Israelites, and therefore, all of us Christians today, did not do as our Lord and Father had taught and shown them and all of us to do, then their faith and actions would have become a mockery of the Lord and would have sullied His Holy Name. All of the pagans and all those who have not believed in the Lord would have laughed at the infidelities and the lack of faith of God’s own people and children, and it is not possible for us to expect that others come to believe in the Lord and follow Him, if the people of God themselves have not done as He has commanded and taught us to do. And His path and ways are actually not that difficult to do, but unfortunately, many of us preferred to follow the easier paths of the world.

That was why the Lord had difficulties with His people, the people of Israel, because they continuously rebelled against Him and disobeyed Him, abandoning and betraying Him for the many pagan idols and gods which they chose over the Lord and Master Who had liberated them from their slavery in Egypt, and Who had taken care of them and provided for them throughout the entire journey in the desert and beyond, and Who fought with them against their enemies, crushing those who oppressed them and guarding them from harm, again and again throughout history. The Lord has always proved to be faithful to the Covenant that He has made with us all, with all His beloved ones, but we are the ones who have often gone astray from the path of the Lord.

In our Gospel passage today, as mentioned, we heard of the famous parable of the sower, in which the Lord told His disciples regarding the matter of nurturing one’s faith with the righteous actions and way of living their lives, so that the Lord’s words and teachings, that are the seeds which He has brought into our midst, may truly germinate and grow in us, and grow well and strongly, into a faith that is vibrant and enduring, despite the many challenges, trials and obstacles that we may have to face in the midst of our lives and actions. That is why, we are all reminded of this parable, so that we may indeed discern how we are to live our lives from now on, and consider what kind of actions and paths that we should take so that we may live our lives more worthily of God.

As we heard in the parable of the sower, those who are represented by the seeds falling by the roadside are those who ignored the words of the Lord, His Law and commandments, choosing to live their lives the way they want to live it, and not heeding the Lord’s call and teachings. As a result, they lost the words and the truth of God, and the devil came to steal all of those with them, putting instead his falsehoods and lies, by which he had probably been successful in leading countless souls into damnation in hell. Meanwhile, those who are represented by the seeds that fell on the rocky ground are those who did not allow the words of the Lord, His Law and commandments to take strong roots in them, as they were rather superficial in their faith, only following the Law and commandments of God without understanding, realising and appreciating their meaning and significance.

That was what happened to many among the Pharisees and the teachers of the Law that the Lord Jesus frequently criticised against and rebuked, because of their empty faith and actions, as well as piety that were all for show, and not truly genuine faith in the Lord. And they were also like those who are represented by the seeds that fell among the brambles and thistles, as the young plants that grew from them were choked by the brambles and thistles, and thus, could not grow or be fruitful. Many of those mentioned, as well as many others throughout history, our predecessors, allowed themselves to be swayed by worldly temptations and therefore fell into evil and wicked ways, drawn to the allures of worldly attachments and pleasures which prevented them from truly living their lives as faithful people of God.

Instead, as we have been reminded constantly through these Scripture readings and by weeks and weeks of exhortations from the Church, its teachings and others, all of us are reminded to be like the rich and fertile soil, upon which the seeds of faith, the words of God’s truth, and all of His grace may grow well in us and bear rich fruits, thirty, sixty and hundred-fold if not even more. And how can we do this, brothers and sisters in Christ? It is by understanding God’s Law and commandments, and live them well in our lives, by doing what God has told us to do. In all of His Law as well as the Ten Commandments which we heard in our first reading today, the Lord has taught us how to love, first of all, to love Him, our Lord and Master, with all of our might and strength, and then, how to love our fellow brothers and sisters, in the same manner, and at least as much as we love ourselves.

Therefore, if we have spent a lot of time trying to love and please ourselves at the expense of loving God and our fellow brothers and sisters around us, let us all take a step back and discern carefully how we are going to go forward from here. Let us strive to do what we can in obeying the Lord, His Law and commandments so that in everything we say and do, in all of our actions in life, we will always do what the Lord wants us to do, and be exemplary and inspiration in faith to our fellow brothers and sisters. May the Lord be with us all, and may He empower us all to be His faithful and worthy disciples, at all times, and may He bless our every good works and efforts, now and always. Amen.