Liturgical Colour : Green

Dear brothers and sisters in Christ, today as we listened to the words of the Sacred Scriptures, all of us are reminded of the need for each and every one of us to put our trust in God and to follow Him faithfully and wholeheartedly. We should also realise that each and every one of us as Christians, as God’s holy and beloved people have been entrusted with various gifts, talents and opportunities, as well as the various missions and works that He has given to us that we may make good use of everything that He has blessed us with to carry out His will and to touch the lives and hearts of many people, and to lead more and more towards the Lord and His salvation.

In our first reading today, we heard the continuation from the Book of Job in which the interactions between Job and his friends were presented to us. For context, Job was a faithful servant of God who lived in the distant past, and he was a very rich man, but Satan came to tempt him and brought destruction to many of his possessions and riches, and any other people would have given in to despair, but Job did not lose faith in God, and he remained firm in his convictions to follow the Lord and to obey Him, not blaming the Lord for his predicaments and sufferings, blaming himself instead for his predicaments and sufferings. He did not curse God or abandoning his Lord and Master even when he had to encounter great challenges, including having his own body and health being attacked by the devil.

He remained steadfast in faith even when his so-called friends attacked him and told him that it must have been because of his sins and evils that he had fallen to such a state, as we heard part of their debates and discussions here. While at moments he did experience despair and occurrences of desolation, but ultimately he held on fast to his faith and trust in God, and God blessed Job greatly in the end, restoring all of His blessings and graces back to him, granting him double and more of what he used to have before he encountered all the misfortunes and attacks from the evil one. Job’s example is one of the reminders for us to continue to hold on fast to our faith in the Lord, and not to easily give up even when we face challenges and trials in life.

In our Gospel passage today, we then heard of the account of the Lord from the Gospel of St. Luke when He sent out His disciples in pairs to go forth to the various places that He Himself would be visiting and ministering in. He told them all that He wanted them to do in those places, preparing His path and ministry, to reach out to all those whom God had wanted to encounter, and to prepare everyone to receive the fullness of His truth, His love and Good News. He instructed them all only to bring what is essential and not to bring too much with them, to bring only what is necessary for them to sustain the barest minimum, while depending on the good graces and love from others, especially from those whom they visited, and ultimately, to trust in God’s Providence.

This is because if they prepared a lot for their missions and did a lot of preparations and brought a lot of resources with them, they would often end up thinking that it was by their own readiness, preparations and efforts that they had attained successes and glory for their endeavours and works. And this would eventually lead to them becoming proud and conceited, thinking that they did not need God at all to succeed in whatever they were doing, and their missions and works would end up turning from one that is God-centric to one that is man-centric and self-centred, and this is what the Lord does not want us all, His disciples and followers, to end up doing in our respective lives and missions, in whatever we do throughout our every day moments and works, our efforts and endeavours.

He also reminded the disciples and hence all of us that they would truly have to face challenges, difficulties and trials in their path, and that they might have to endure through rejection, oppression, persecution and various other obstacles, all of which are caused by the opposition of the world and all the forces of evil against the good works of God and the salvation which He has offered to His people, freely and generously. However, God reminds us all not to give in to the temptations and pressures to abandon His path, because ultimately, like Job, and like many others of His holy ones, His messengers, prophets and disciples, all the saints and martyrs, all of us will be triumphant with Him forever, and will have wonderful share in His promised glory and true happiness with Him.

Brothers and sisters in Christ, let us all therefore continue to commit ourselves to the Lord and remain steadfast despite the many hardships, trials, obstacles and barriers that we may encounter each and every day in our path of life as Christians, and let us all continue to devote ourselves, our time, attention and efforts to follow the Lord most wholeheartedly at all times, doing whatever we can so that our lives may truly be holy and inspiring upon others all around us. Let us all be inspiration, strength and encouragement for everyone we encounter in life, our fellow brothers and sisters so that by our perseverance, commitment and dedication, our steadfastness in faith and refusal to abandon God and His path of righteousness, like Job and the many other holy men and women before us, we will continue to lead more and more people towards God.

May the Lord, our most loving and compassionate God continue to bless each and every one of us, empower us and grant us the strength and perseverance to continue living our lives with great grace and obedience to Him in all things, and may we all continue to be strong in living our lives each day in accordance to how He has shown and taught us, to be truly loving and compassionate in all things, as He has done towards us. May God bless us all, and be with us always, now and forevermore. Amen.