Liturgical Colour : Green or White (Dedication of the Basilica of St. Mary Major)

Dear brothers and sisters in Christ, today all of us are reminded through the readings of the Sacred Scriptures of the need for all of us to put our faith and trust in the Lord, and not in our own human power and intelligence. Whenever we do things and carry out our activities, we must always keep in mind that we should not seek our own glory but God’s, and we can do all things in God Who has always been with us, guiding and strengthening us in every steps of our journey. It is when we allow ourselves to be tempted and swayed by all sorts of worldly temptations, ambitions, power and desires that we end up losing sight of what truly matters in our lives. We have to resist those temptations and keep ourselves aligned to God and His will, at all times.

In our first reading today taken from the Book of Numbers we heard of the feuds and disagreements that happened between Moses and his siblings, Aaron and Miriam, instigated by those latter two because they desired to be in the leading position over the people of God, the Israelites. They did not want Moses to be the only one through Whom God would speak His words to, and they wanted to be the ones to lead the Israelites as well, claiming their position from their prominent roles during the time of the Exodus. This therefore led to the leadership contest and disagreements between Moses and his siblings, and it was mentioned also how Moses in truth was a very humble man, and this implies that all those bickering for power and influence, positions and prestige is not something that he wanted or desired.

This means that the blame for instigating the leadership challenge fell squarely on Moses’ siblings, Aaron and Miriam, and when they all stood before the Lord’s Presence, Who came to them in the pillar of cloud, to let Him be the judge over the matters and things, and it was clear that Moses was in the right and that He was truly the one chosen by God to lead the Israelites, as God struck Aaron and Miriam with the curse of leprosy. And even in that occasion we can see just how kind, compassionate and magnanimous Moses was, as he asked the Lord to heal his siblings and to spare them the punishment due for their actions. They were reconciled and Moses was reaffirmed in his leadership over the people of Israel, without any more dispute from his siblings.

Aaron and Miriam had essentially allowed their worldly desires and ambitions to mislead themselves down the path of rebellion and disobedience, and they strived for position and prestige likely because they were swayed by ambition and desire for renown, glory and more of the great signs and wonders that God had performed through Moses. But it was likely that they overlooked the fact that Moses himself had borne a lot of great grievances and had to endure many hardships throughout his ministry among the Israelites. And yet, Moses faithfully carried out his mission and duties, despite the oppositions, challenges and betrayals that he had to face even from those closest to him. These are reminders for all of us as well that we should not allow something like this to happen to us either.

Then, from our Gospel passage today, taken from the Gospel according to St. Matthew the Apostle and Evangelist, we heard of the account of the moment when the disciples of the Lord were struck by the great storm in the middle of the lake, likely the Lake of Galilee where they were travelling through while the Lord was not with them in the boat. They were terrified at the great waves and storm, and the fact that several of them were fishermen that must have been accustomed to such a condition, testified to the severity of the event. Yet, the Lord appeared to them, walking miraculously on the water and told them to have faith in Him and not to be afraid. It was at this occasion then that St. Peter asked the Lord to prove that it was truly Him Who appeared to them, and the Lord called on St. Peter to come to Him walking on the water as He did.

St. Peter did so and walked on the water, but as we heard, he was overwhelmed by fear and doubt upon seeing the great storm and the waves, and he began to falter and sink. The Lord rescued him and pulled him out from the water, and as He settled into the boat, He chided the disciples for their lack of faith and trust in Him, and showed forth His power by calming the storm and the waves with the mere command and power of His words. This astonished the disciples greatly and was yet another proof of the Lord’s truth and His identity before those same disciples. It is also an important reminder for all of us, relating to what we have just heard from our first reading today, that we should not depend only on our own human power, intelligence and methods, or else we may end up like Aaron and Miriam who tried to seize power from Moses for their own ambitions, or like the disciples in the storm who were overcome by doubt and fear.

As Christians, it is important that all of us should have complete trust and faith in the Lord, knowing that with Him, we shall not falter or fail. We have to put Him as the centre and priority in our lives, and we should always keep in mind His teachings, precepts and ways in every one of our actions, our interactions and dealings with each other. That is how we can protect ourselves from falling ever deeper into the temptations of worldly desires and ambitions, from the allures of the false treasures of this world which may distract us from truly seeking out the true treasures that we can find in the Lord alone. And it is also important that we should do our best to focus our attention on the Lord and resist the evil ones trying to tempt us in various ways to lead us astray in our paths in life.

Today also marks the celebration of the anniversary of the Dedication of the Basilica of St. Mary Major, one of the four Papal Major Basilica in Rome, which is also the chief and most important of Marian churches and shrines all around the world, dedicated to Mary herself, the Mother of God. And this shrine was dedicated originally to Our Lady of Snows as the history and tradition was such that during the time shortly after Christianity was tolerated by the Roman Empire and the Emperors such as Constantine the Great began supporting the building of great churches in Rome, there was an wealth, elderly and childless Christian couple who wanted to dedicate their wealth and possessions to the Lord, and they prayed to the Lord asking for guidance on what they ought to do.

It was then that the Lord guided them to a site on the Esquiline Hill, one of the seven hills of Rome, where miraculously, at the height of the Summer season, which was exactly today, the fifth day of August, when the weather and condition should have been at the hottest, that snow fell upon that very site that the Lord pointed out to the elderly Christian couple. They bought the site and there they built and established a great Basilica, a truly venerable House of God dedicated to the intercession of Mary, the Mother of God herself, in her title as Our Lady of the Snows, in remembering that great miracle. Over time, this devotion to Mary further developed with the arrival of the famous Byzantine style icon of Our Lady, the Protectress of the Roman People, also known as the Salus Populi Romani, which is venerated by many people.

It is upon that icon that our late Pope, Pope Francis, the predecessor of our current Pope, Pope Leo XIV, always prayed before he went on all of his Apostolic Journeys, and to which he also returned once he returned from those Apostolic Journeys. It is at this great Basilica too that Pope Francis himself chose to be buried, at the side of the Basilica’s shrine to Our Lady. And many others came to seek the intercession of the Blessed Mother, the Protectress of the Roman people, and many people had been helped and assisted by the kind assistance of the Mother of God, who is also our Mother that loves us all so much, and we recall Mary’s great faith and dedication to the mission entrusted to her as we rejoice in the memory of the Dedication of this great Basilica and House of God dedicated in her name.

Brothers and sisters in Christ, let us all therefore continue to live our lives as faithfully as we can as Christians, in following the example of Mary, our Most Blessed Mother, in her faith and dedication to her mission, and ask her to intercede for all of us in each and every one of our endeavours and efforts in life. May the Lord continue to bless us all and our good efforts and works, our every actions and interactions in life, now and always. Amen.