Liturgical Colour : Green or White (Priests)

Dear brothers and sisters in Christ, today as we listened to the words of the Lord, each and every one of us are reminded that no one is to be excluded from the love and grace of God, from the kindness and compassion that He has always shown each one of us. No one is truly beyond the reach of God’s grace and mercy, as the Scripture passages today can attest to us and remind us what God’s love has done for many amongst us even in the times of greatest distress and hardships. He has always shown His care and attention, and none of us are ever too far from His providence. That is why we are reminded this day that we should not lose hope and we should continue to hold on fast to our faith in the Lord even amidst great tribulations and trials in our lives.

In our first reading today, we heard from the Book of Genesis the story of the conflict that arose between Ishmael, the firstborn son of Abraham from his mother Hagar, a slave owned by Sarah, Abraham’s wife, and Isaac, the son that Sarah herself had borne for Abraham, the son that God had promised Abraham. It was logical to think that Sarah was afraid that Ishmael would try to snatch the inheritance away from Isaac, her own son, and all these ultimately happened because in his momentary weakness and moment of doubt, Abraham chose to find worldly solution to his problem rather than to trust in God for what He had promised and spoken to him about giving and granting him a son to continue his legacy and family. Abraham took Hagar, Sarah’s slave to bear a child for them, probably upon Sarah’s suggestion, a decision that would probably be regretted by the latter.

Now, despite all the problems and issues that arose from the fact that Abraham had two sons, Isaac and Ishmael, they are both still Abraham’s sons, and while Abraham did send Ishmael and his mother away, God did not abandon them but in fact took good care of them and helped them in their times of hardships, sending His Angel to take care of them and to provide for them in the wilderness. God has also promised Abraham that He would still take care of Ishmael for despite the child having been conceived against God’s will, but ultimately, as a child of Abraham, he was also still deserving of God’s blessings that God has promised his father Abraham. Ultimately, he was also one of God’s beloved children, just like all of us.

That is why, we can see how God’s love has been given so generously to us, as we have seen His blessings, love and compassion even to those who others may think as undeserving of God’s love and kindness. This He has yet again shown in our Gospel passage today as we heard of how the Lord had shown His mercy and compassion on two men who had been possessed by evil spirits in the region of Gadara beyond the Jordan River from Judea. Those two men had been living in the wilderness, shunned and rejected by the rest of the Jewish community for their condition, as they were struck by the evil spirits that made them to be very much feared by the rest of the people, who stayed away from them.

But the Lord did not abandon those two men, and He cast the demons from the two men into the herd of pigs nearby, freeing the two men from the possession by the evil spirits. The news of that miracle and exorcism astounded many of the people in the region, who have never heard or witnessed such things before. And the pig herders and owners in that area naturally were afraid of the Lord because He has caused many of their pigs to fall into their deaths, possessed by the evil spirits, and hence, they begged Him to leave their area. But in the end, the two men, who were once possessed by the evil spirits, had been freed from their bondage and from those wicked spirits, gained their freedom and position again among the people of God. The Lord did that for them, and again, we can see the love of God that has been generously shown to us.

Today, all of us are therefore reminded that we should continue to love the Lord wholeheartedly and commit ourselves totally to Him. All of us as Christians have been so fortunate that God has always watched over us and taken care of us even when He was not obliged to do so. After all, it was us who have disobeyed and abandoned Him first, betrayed Him and refusing to listen to Him. Yet, He still patiently cared for us and repeatedly sought for us, calling on us to return to Him so that we may find our way back to Him. All of us are beloved by God, and no one can indeed separate us from the love of God, unless we ourselves have consciously and repeatedly rejected His love right up to the very end.

This day, we also celebrate the feast of St. Anthony Zaccaria, a faithful priest and saint, man of God, whose life and actions hopefully can serve as inspiration for all of us to follow in our own lives, that we may indeed know how to follow the Lord faithfully as he had done in his own life. St. Anthony Zaccaria was a truly devout priest and preacher who spent a lot of time and effort to proclaim the truth of God, and calling upon the people of God to love the Lord through the devotion that now has become very popular, that is the Forty-hours devotion to the Blessed Sacrament. He laboured hard during the tough time of the Protestant reformation, leading the efforts with the Counter-Reformation, helping many among the faithful to realise the flaws and mistakes in the heretical ideas and teachings that were then running rampant all around Christendom.

St. Anthony Zaccaria dedicated himself so much to his work and ministry, and laid the foundations for not just one, but in fact three religious institutions, namely the Clerics Regular of St. Paul, the Angelic Sisters of St. Paul, as well as the lay organisation of the Laity of St. Paul. Through his establishments of these societies, and his many other works, and inspiration for many to work together for the greater glory of God, St. Anthony Zaccaria had truly brought about great good to many people, and helped many to realise their love for God, and to walk ever more faithfully in the path that God had called them to walk in. All of us as Christians therefore should also do our part in the manner that St. Anthony Zaccaria has shown us, in loving God, Who has loved us so dearly, and to show that love to one another.

Let our actions be truly Christ-like, and be the extensions of God’s love and compassion, so that we may truly, like God Himself had done, love one another, our fellow brothers and sisters with great and unconditional love. May the Lord continue to bless us in our every good works and endeavours, that we may ever grow stronger in our faith and commitment, to follow Him at all times. May God be with us all and be with Church, now and always, forevermore. Amen.