Liturgical Colour : Green or Red (Martyrs)

Dear brothers and sisters in Christ, today as we all listened to the words of the Sacred Scriptures, we are all reminded of the need for all of us to follow the Lord and to entrust ourselves to Him, to do what He has taught and commanded us all to do in our lives. We must always be focused and centred on God, and not be swayed easily by the comforts and the temptations present all around us in this world. Otherwise, we cannot truly call ourselves as Christians, as to be true and devout Christians, and to be worthy of God’s inheritance and grace, all of us must be truly committed to Him in all things, and not merely just a formality or for appearances only. In our every words, actions and deeds, we should be filled with true and genuine love for God.

In our first reading today, we heard from the Book of the prophet Haggai in which the prophet delivered God’s words to His people, reminding the leaders and elders of the people, the heir of David’s House, Zerubbabel, descendant of the kings of Judah, and also Joshua, the son of the High Priest, essentially that they should place their emphasis in honouring the Lord their God above all else, and do not forget of the obligation they have in rebuilding the House of God in Jerusalem. Back then, after several decades in exile, the people of God, Israelites and their descendants, had been allowed to return to their homeland by the Persians, their overlords, and they had by then resettled comfortably in the lands of their ancestors.

Hence, it was truly inappropriate that while they had all rebuilt their houses and cities, their livelihood and their activities, back to how it was before the destruction of Jerusalem and its Temple, that the House of God remained in ruins and shambles. The House of God is the pivotal site upon which the whole community of the people of God should revolve around, and they should prioritise rebuilding that place where the whole assembly of the faithful could once again worship the Lord, their God and Master. Otherwise, without that physical focal point and place for the Divine worship of God, it might be easy for the people to be swayed and tempted once again by the wickedness and evils of the world which had misguided and doomed their predecessors before.

In our Gospel passage today, we then heard a short passage from the Gospel of St. Luke in which we heard about the remarks made by King Herod Antipas who found out about the activities of the Lord Jesus, and was perplexed and affected by it because he was reminded of the martyrdom of St. John the Baptist, the Lord’s Herald that happened because of his own folly and failure to resist the temptations of sin. If we have known more about the events that happened then, we should be aware that it was Herod’s fall into temptations and sin of the flesh that led to him inadvertently causing the death of the saint, by being trapped into the machinations of his wife, Herodias, who was not validly and legally married to him, being his own brother’s wife.

This is why, just as we have been reminded by these Scripture readings, we must not allow ourselves to be swayed by worldly comforts, desires and attachments, all of which may cause us to forget our focus on the Lord, and end up causing us to be easily distracted by all those temptations and distractions which had caused so many of our predecessors to fall into their downfall through sin and disobedience against God. We must learn from their examples and strive so that we will not end up walking down the wrong path in life, and that we will always be faithful and committed to God, regardless of the circumstances. This is why we should always remind ourselves of the obligations we have in living our lives as faithfully as possible as Christians, God’s holy people.

Today, the Church also celebrates the Feast of St. Wenceslas, a great man of God who was the Duke of Bohemia in the early Middle Ages. He was a great and upright man, who was dedicated to his role as the ruler over his country and people. At that time, the land of Bohemia, in what is now Czech Republic, was still only recently converted to the Christian faith, with significant numbers of the people still held on to their old pagan faith and beliefs. St. Wenceslaus and his many efforts were instrumental in improving not just the livelihood and well-being of the people under his rule, but also in the establishment of the strong foundation of the Church and the Faith among the people, and he also tirelessly did his best to advance the cause of the Lord and His Church. Unfortunately, he fell into the court politics and oppositions against him and his rule eventually led to him being assassinated by the collusion of his own brother, becoming a martyr of the Faith.

Then, today also marks the Feast of the Holy Martyrs of Japan, St. Lawrence Ruiz and his companions in martyrdom. St. Lawrence Ruiz himself, also known better as St. Lorenzo Ruiz, was not a Japanese, but rather hailing from the Philippines, where he was falsely accused of a crime, which led him to seek refuge overseas, and which led him to end up in Japan after boarding a ship bearing some Catholic priests from Macau clandestinely trying to enter the country. At that time, Japan under the reign of the Tokugawa Shogunate had closed its doors to any foreigners, except for very few merchants, and especially banned the Christian faith and its missionaries. Christians and the foreign missionaries, as well as local clergy were persecuted harshly and many died for their faith as martyrs.

St. Lawrence Ruiz was among those Christians who were persecuted and arrested because of their faith, and they all chose to remain steadfast and true to their faith in God, rather than to safeguard their lives and betray their Lord and Master. They refused to give in to the pressures from the authorities, despite the threat of certain death and most agonising forms of sufferings that they all had to endure in defending their faith to the very end. Thus that was how St. Lawrence Ruiz and his fellow companions in martyrdom perished, but their bravery, faith and commitment to God became source of inspiration and strength for so many others who had witnessed and heard of their most exemplary faith in God.

Brothers and sisters in Christ, hence, all of us should also do our very best to live our lives worthily of the Lord, by doing whatever it is that He has commanded and taught us to do in our own respective lives. Let us all remind one another, and be inspired by the holy lives, virtues and the courage that our predecessors had shown, like those shown by St. Wenceslaus and by St. Lawrence Ruiz and his companions in martyrdom. May God also continue to help and guide us throughout the journey of faith and life, so that hopefully all of us can grow ever more committed in serving God, at all times. Amen.