Liturgical Colour : Green

Dear brothers and sisters in Christ, on this day as we listened to the word of God in the Scriptures we are reminded of the need for us to look forward with faith and put our trust in God that everything in the end will be as how God wills it to be, no matter how difficult the journey may be, no matter how bleak and hopeless the situation may seem to be for us at times. God will always be with us and He will guide us through our journey.

In our first reading and Gospel passage today, all of us are presented with the bleak outlook of the present day situation, as we struggle and face challenges in life. We may not be able to see the end point or what we are expecting to get in the end, but we must still keep up hope knowing that God is always there for us, and He is always ever faithful to those who have kept His commandments and remain true for His sake.

This is linked to our Gospel passage today as we heard the parable of the mustard seed and yeast, through which God wanted His people to realise that to journey with Him and to follow Him requires a lot of faith, hope and love from us. How is this so? First of all, at the start of the growing period, no one can expect how a small and tiny mustard seed can grow into a large and mighty tree, or how the dough that is tough and unappealing can become so edible and good when yeast has been added to it. To continue doing this regardless, we need faith and also hope.

But if we lose faith and hope, then the mustard seed will always remain a mustard seed and will never grow up to be the plant it is supposed to become. Similarly, if the yeast was never added to the dough and flour, the dough will not become bread in the end. One must have faith that everything will turn out fine in the end if we trust in God, the one and only anchor of our lives.

In the end, the most important of all things is love. Without love, there can be little hope and faith. Through love, first and foremost for God, and then for our fellow men and brethren, we are able to weather through difficult challenges and moments in life. If we do not love what we are doing also, how can we have anything good in the end? That is why we are called to embrace God and His ways fully in our daily living.

As St. Paul reminds us yet again through the excerpts from the Epistle to the Romans in our first reading today, we must remain strong and resolute despite the challenges we face, while at the same time trusting in God’s plan and providence for us. We must trust that God will bring us out of our predicaments, much like how St. Paul urged the Church and the faithful in Rome to remain faithful despite the sufferings they had to face, as persecutions against Christians were beginning to take place at that time.

Life is never easy, brothers and sisters in Christ, and it is filled with its ups and downs. There will be times when we are happy and satisfied, but there will also be times when we may feel said or even despair and losing hope just because we had it so tough. We must understand that God is always by our side, be it through happy times or through challenging times. He is always sharing with us our joys, just as He also shares our sorrows and pains.

Let us all not lose focus on our journey of faith in our respective lives. Instead, we should look forward to the true joy that we can find in God alone. Let us not be distracted by the many temptations through which Satan has always been busy in trying to turn us away from God and to lead us astray from the path towards our salvation.

May the Lord continue to be with us and bless us, as we carry on living our lives focusing on Him and loving Him with each and every living moments. Let us all keep up hope in the eternal joy and glory He will bring us into at the time of reckoning of our lives, should we remain true and faithful to Him and not fall into sin and wickedness of this world. May God bless us all, now and always. Amen.