Liturgical Colour : Green
Dear brothers and sisters in Christ, what the Scriptures brought out to us today is the reminder for us that the Lord Jesus Christ brought upon us a new life, one that is free from the corruption of sin, one that is free from the old ways of wickedness and evil. He showed us the new path to tread on, as we approach the throne of His everlasting grace and mercy.

Brothers and sisters in Christ, we heard in the Gospel today, the usual and common argument that often arose between Jesus and His opposers, the Pharisees and the teachers of the Law, whether it was right and lawful to heal a sick man on the day of the Sabbath. The Sabbath day is a day in the week which is dedicated to the Lord, and according to Jewish customs, no one is allowed to do anything or any work.

The purpose of establishing such a day was so that the people of God has a time to rest and leave behind their work and busy life behind, and then spend some time with their Lord in prayer. Otherwise, they would forget about the Lord and carried on their daily works and thus paid no heed to the One Who had freed them from the slavery by the Egyptians and Who has loved them generously.

But over time, the people forgot the intention of the Sabbath, and the elders of the people, the teachers and masters of the Law ended up using these laws to further their own gains and agenda, and in this manner they have misled the people into thinking that to obey the Lord means to follow the rules imposed upon them without question, even when they did not fully grasp or understand them.

And what was intended for good things instead became a source of suffering and difficulties. God never intended for His laws to become a hindrance for people from doing what He desires of them, that is to do good and be good, to love and to care for their fellow brethren, and ultimately, by doing these, that they may be able to show the same love to their Lord and devote their whole lives to Him.

Doing the work of God is also the same as bringing glory to the Name of the Lord. It is a disgrace indeed if the people of God did not act in the way that God had taught them to do, but instead following their own whim and their own desires, which was exactly what the Pharisees and the teachers of the Law did. Not only that they misled the people and laid on them heavy burdens, but they also stopped people from doing good on the holy day just because the law they made said so.

Brothers and sisters in Christ, it is important that we realise how much God loves us all, and it is important for us to appreciate that love He has for all of us. He never abandon us in our times of need, and He always treasures us all and our company. Shall we not give Him back the same kind of love that He had shown us first? We have spurned and rejected His love many times, and yet He still offered His mercy to us all. Is that not enough reason for us to repent and change our ways?

As St. Paul mentioned to the faithful in Corinth, let us all also seek to purify ourselves and make ourselves anew in God. Through baptism we have been cleansed from the original sins of man, and thus now, from now on, let our actions, words and deeds be a reflection of who we truly are, the beloved children of our Lord and God, that all who see us may know that we belong to Him, and they too shall be converted to Him.

Today we also commemorate the feast of St. Teresa of Calcutta, whom we more commonly knew as Mother Teresa. She was an Albanian by birth, born about just over a century ago in a Macedonian village, and since her youth, St. Teresa of Calcutta, then known as Agnes Gonxhe Bojaxhiu had heard the calling of the Lord to devote herself to a life of piety and devotion in the religious life. She would went on to join the congregation of the Sisters of Loreto, where she eventually went to India, at which place she would devote the rest of her life serving and helping the poor and the least among the society.

She was touched and moved by what she had seen in the great suffering that poverty and disease had brought upon these least privileged among the community, especially those who had none to love them and care for them. Many were shunned by the society and were considered outcasts. Many suffered and died alone even in the worst of places, in slums and sewers not fit for a human being. And these were the reason why St. Teresa of Calcutta was renowned for her efforts in trying to alleviate their suffering, and ensuring that these people had someone to love and care for them.

To that extent, she established the Missionaries of Charity, where she gathered like minded individuals in a congregation to whip up the effort she had initiated to care for the last, the lost and the least of the society, ensuring that they are treated as humanely as possible, and even in dying, to die in peace and with dignity knowing that they too are counted among the children of God. We all know who St. Teresa of Calcutta is, and not because of marvellous and mighty deeds, but rather because she has endeavoured to make God’s love visible for us all, and make it available for everyone.

Through the examples of St. Teresa of Calcutta, may all of us be inspired to follow in her footsteps, caring and loving for our least loved and abandoned brethren. May God bless us all and our endeavours, and may our every actions and words be bearers of God’s salvation to many more lost souls among the nations, that all may be saved in the Holy Name of God. Amen.