Liturgical Colour : Red

Dear brothers and sisters in Christ, today as we listened to the words of the Scriptures, we are all reminded of God’s ever consistent and loving Presence in our midst. God has always been with us and He has never left us, no matter how much we have constantly caused Him to be angry at us because of our many wickedness, evils and sins. This is because of God’s ever enduring love for us, which He has always had since the very beginning of time. This love endures even when we have sundered ourselves off from His love and kindness, through our disobedience and sins. God has reached out to us, extending His love and compassionate mercy, which He has made ever ready to reconcile all of us to Him, for it was never His desire to condemn us to destruction.

In our first reading today, we heard of the moment recorded in the Book of Kings when King Solomon completed the building project of the Temple of God in Jerusalem, which would also become known as Solomon’s Temple. This was a grand project started and envisioned by Solomon’s father, King David, who had set aside and gathered large amount of resources in preparation for the building of the Temple and House worthy of God Himself to dwell in. We can get the details of all these and the preparations both in the Book of Chronicles as well as the other parts of the Book of Kings. After many years of construction and preparations, the Temple was finally completed and ready to be consecrated and dedicated to God, which was recorded in our first reading passage today.

King Solomon brought the Ark of the Covenant, in the presence of all the elders and leaders of the people of Israel to the new Temple of God, as the key event and moment in the completion and preparation of the Temple of God as the place of Divine worship and as the place where God Himself dwells among His beloved ones, the people of Israel, whom He had first called and chosen from all the children of Adam and Eve. That Ark of the Covenant was indeed important aspect of this event, because throughout the time since it was crafted and made at the time of the Exodus, it has always been the tangible and real sign of God’s Holy Presence amongst His people. We heard of the details of the Ark of the Covenant, the golden Cherubim crafted on top of it, which was where God’s Presence descended upon and rested whenever He came among His people.

Within the Ark was contained first of all the two slabs of stone on which the Ten Commandments, the centre of all of God’s Law and commandments were stored. It also stored the manna, the heavenly bread by which God had fed the Israelites throughout their entire time in the desert during the Exodus. Last of all it also contained the Staff of Aaron, the staff of authority and sign of God’s power, through which God had performed many wonders and signs, in liberating the people of Israel from the slavery in Egypt. All in all, the Ark of the Covenant is the tangible, real and symbolic reminder of God’s Covenant and Presence in this world, His Presence and ever enduring love for His people, and that it had been brought to the new Temple built by Solomon signified the renewal of this Covenant.

In our Gospel passage today, we then heard about the Lord Jesus amidst His ministry among the people of God, how He performed many miracles and healed many of the people who had come to Him with various ailments and sickness, troubles and difficulties. We heard how the Lord patiently cared for all of them, and how He healed all of those who came to Him. This is linked to what we have heard in our first reading today, because the Lord Jesus Himself is the bearer and Mediator of the New Covenant to be established between God and all of us mankind. He is the perfect manifestation of God’s Love, that God’s Divine Being has been manifested in the flesh, appearing and dwelling in our midst much as how He once descended upon us all through the Ark of the Covenant.

But the Lord Jesus has manifested to us God’s Presence in a much more real way, and far greater experience than what the people of Israel had once experienced through the Ark of the Covenant. But regardless, in both instances, God’s love and compassion, caring nature and attention to His beloved ones, all of us, have been shown. After all, He has sent us His own Beloved Son, to come into our midst, to be Emmanuel, God Who is with us, to be tangible, real and approachable in His love and grace, that through Christ, His love for us and ultimately His mercy and kindness have been revealed and shown to us. God Himself has come into our midst and He has shown it through real action, by dwelling among us just as He has always promised to us. This is a reminder for us all that we should indeed be faithful to Him, and do our best to live worthily as His beloved and holy people.

Today, the Church also celebrates the Feast of St. Agatha, a renowned saint and martyr of the faith who had lived her life worthily of the Lord, and whose actions and commitment to God, even through bitterness of sufferings and hardships, should inspire each and every one of us in how we should be living our own lives. St. Agatha was born in Sicily during the third century, when the Roman Empire was going through some upheavals and disturbances. She was born into a noble family and was approached by many suitors whom she rejected because of she had made a vow of virginity to the Lord, and the Roman prefect Quintianus, whose proposal St. Agatha had rejected, reported her to the authorities, as he knew of St. Agatha’s Christian faith.

At the time, it was the moment when a particularly intense persecution of Christians under the Roman Emperor Decius were occurring, and many Christians were tortured and put to death on account of their faith in God and their refusal to worship the Emperor or the pagan gods and idols. St. Agatha was arrested and persecuted greatly, by the same Roman prefect Quintianus, who hoped that St. Agatha would give in to his demands through the torture. However, St. Agatha remained firm in her faith in the Lord. She reaffirmed her faith in God through this powerful prayer, “Jesus Christ, Lord of all, You see my heart, You know my desires. Possess all that I am. I am Your sheep: make me worthy to overcome the devil.” Eventually, she was martyred as a great example to all the other Christians who were inspired by her faith and courage.

Brothers and sisters in Christ, let us all therefore also be inspired by the faith of St. Agatha, in all her commitment to God and the courage she showed in resisting all the efforts to turn her away from the Lord. Let us all be strengthened in faith in the Lord, being always reminded that God Himself has willingly dwelled in our midst, and He has always been loving and compassionate towards us. Let us all place Him at the centre of all of our lives, and let us continue to live our lives worthily in accordance to what God has shown and taught us, that we may be truly exemplary and inspirational in our own way of life. May God bless us always, now and forevermore. Amen.