Liturgical Colour : White
Dear brothers and sisters in Christ, on this day through the readings of the Sacred Scriptures we have been reaffirmed in our faith, as we receive the story of how the disciples of our Lord Jesus Christ propagated the faith and the truth which they had received, and by their works, as shown through the works of St. Paul the Apostle and his contemporaries, that they had devoted their time to reveal the truth of God to His people.

In the Gospel today, we heard how Jesus revealed the truth which He had told His disciples with clarity. He has always taught the people using parables, that is using stories such as the story of farmers sowing seeds, or the story of the prodigal son, or the story of the mustard seed, the story of good versus bad shepherds, and many other stories, all of which are means by which Jesus delivered His teachings, which contained many truths hidden behind the story.

Why did Jesus use parables in order to deliver His message to the people? That was because the truth that Jesus brought may be too difficult to be understood, and that is why Jesus used those stories, which could be easily related to by the people, who were mostly uneducated, illiterate farmers, fishermen or shepherds. And that was why Jesus used many terms related to farming, fishing and husbandry in order to deliver His messages.

But more importantly, it was then through the Apostles that Jesus revealed the fullness of His truth, as He explained the full truth of His messages, explaining the meaning behind His parables and teachings. And to them, He had given the gifts of the Holy Spirit, descending upon them, granting them the full knowledge of the faith. The Lord Himself said that they would not need to worry what to say or preach, for the Holy Spirit Himself would guide them in all of that.

The Lord had granted the Holy Spirit to guide us in our way, by putting in us the seeds of faith, hope and love, and by revealing to us the fullness of the truth which the Lord Himself had brought into the world. And that was how the Church grew and spread, from what was just a small group of the Apostles and disciples of the Lord, eventually making up thousands, and then millions and billions upon billions of souls which have been saved in God.

All of these would not have been possible, had the Apostles and the other disciples of the Lord had not laboured hard in the way that they had, sacrificing their time and effort, suffering and being persecuted for doing what they had done, and many of them had to endure prison, torture and difficulties in doing so. And yet, as the saying goes, the blood of martyrs is the seed of Christians. Without their sacrifice, many people would not have had the chance to attain salvation.

It is therefore now up to us mankind, in our world today, to continue the good works of the Apostles, to continue the mission which God had entrusted to them. Their mission has not yet ended, brothers and sisters in Christ, for in our world today, still filled with wickedness and evil, with all sorts of selfishness and human greed, we still need to be witnesses to God’s truth and revelations to the people who have not yet believed in God.

All of us need to do our part in order to evangelise and preach the Good News, not only by words and proclamations, but more importantly also through our actions. In all the things we say and do, we must show that we are truly and genuinely a people who belong to God, who obey His will and who walk in His path. And if we are to persuade others to believe in Him as we have done, we have to be genuine in our faith, and devoted wholeheartedly to Him.

Let us all pray, brothers and sisters in Christ, that all of us will be able to devote ourselves ever more faithfully to God, committing ourselves, our time and our efforts to serve Him and our fellow brethren, children of the same God. May the Lord bless us all and strengthen us in our faith always. Amen.