Liturgical Colour : Purple/Violet

Dear brothers and sisters in Christ, today as we continue to progress through the season of Lent, we are all reminded through the Scriptures that sin is truly something that is very dangerous to us, and unless we allow ourselves to embrace the love and mercy of God, we will not be able to escape the fate of our destruction and downfall, in which we have been fated to by our rebellion and disobedience against God, His love and truth. We must always keep in mind that our disobedience and refusal to follow the Lord and to believe in His path have sundered us from the fullness of His grace and love, leading us into sin, and through sin, we have been corrupted and stained by the stain of evil. And as long as we are corrupted and stained by these taints of sin, we cannot be truly free from the chains of evil, darkness and death.

That is why we are all reminded that we should always seek God’s mercy and forgiveness before it is too late for us all. We have been given many opportunities, again and again, by our Lord Who has always been full of love, compassion and mercy to each and every one of us. Not even the worst of sinners can be separated from the love of God, His mercy and kindness, the forgiveness for their many sins, unless if they themselves have consciously rejected God’s mercy, forgiveness and love at every possible turns and opportunities that have been given to them. God has given us all the free will, the freedom to choose our course of actions and paths in life, to choose to walk in the path of the Lord, His righteousness and grace, or to choose instead to walk in the path of sin, wickedness and evil.

The first reading today from the Book of the prophet Isaiah showed us all the Lord’s reminders and warnings to His people, the people of Israel and Judah, about the dangers of sin and what sin and evil could bring about for them, ruin and destruction, just as it had happened in the past. The Lord presented the example of the two cities of Sodom and Gomorrah, which were infamous for their great wickedness and sins, the evils and disobedience which they had committed, and also their refusal to listen to the Lord and His messengers, that the two cities were destroyed by the great rain of fire and brimstone from Heaven, and henceforth, the two cities were eradicated from the face of the earth, never to be populated or remembered again.

By mentioning those two cities, and remarking that His people were like the people of Sodom and Gomorrah, the Lord was in fact making a clear point before all of them that they had all been disobedient and wicked in their way of life and in their actions, and the Lord certainly knew about all that they had done. He therefore warned them of what they would also suffer if they continued to persist in their path of rebellion and evil, and if they refused to repent from their many sins, wickedness and faults. However, at the same time, the Lord also presented to His people a clear avenue and pathway for them to come back to Him, telling them that even if their sins were truly terrible, He would still welcome them back to His loving Presence and forgive them, if they would reject their sinful ways and abandon their evil and wickedness.

In our Gospel passage today, we heard from the Gospel of St. Matthew in which the Lord spoke to His disciples and followers, and to the people who were assembled to listen to Him, about the hypocrisy of the Pharisees and the teachers of the Law and why they should listen to them but not to follow what they had been doing, in how they practiced their faith and in their actions, in parading their piety and actions before everyone so that they could be praised and honoured for all of those actions. The crux of the problem here is that, many among the Pharisees and the teachers of the Law at the time of the Lord acted high and mighty, lording over the others whom they deemed and considered as less worthy and less pious than they were, and they even persecuted those who did not practice the Law in the manner that they had done.

As such, in their pride, ego and greed, many of them succumbed to the temptations of worldly power and glory, and thus, being blinded by the worldly attachments and pride, they ended up closing their hearts and minds to the Lord, persisting in their mistaken paths and erroneous thinking, in their false sense of superiority and pride. This is what we must not do in our lives, as the more we harden our hearts and minds, thinking that we are better or superior, then the easier it will be for us to fall deeper into the path of sin. Instead, all of us should be humbler when we grow more in faith, realising that we have always been prone to sin, and we have committed sins in various forms from time to time, and we are in need of healing and forgiveness from God. This is where we can allow ourselves to come and approach Him, at the Throne of His Mercy, and be reconciled with Him.

Today the Church also celebrates the Feast of St. Gregory of Narek, one of the Doctors of the Church who was recently declared as such by Pope Francis, our current Pope, hailing from the Armenian Church tradition during the Middle Ages. St. Gregory of Narek lived in the then Kingdom of Vaspurakan, where he was born as the son of a local bishop. His father was suspected of siding with the Chalcedonian beliefs and ways, which is what we Catholics believe in today, as well as many other Christians, but at that time, the Armenian Church refused to accept the Ecumenical Council of Chalcedon because of some issues in the dogma and teachings of the Council which did not fit their beliefs. As such, St. Gregory of Narek’s father was excommunicated, and St. Gregory of Narek himself faced those who doubted his faith and beliefs, being suspected of the same faults as his father.

Nonetheless, despite all those challenges and difficulties, St. Gregory of Narek, having been raised in a religious family, grew to be God-fearing and faithful, and eventually took up the calling to be a priest and monk. He was a truly humble and pious man, who was very bright intellectually and wrote extensive works such as his renowned Book of Lamentations, showing many others how to connect to the Lord ever deeper spiritually. He also spent a lot of time teaching the other monks and those who desired to seek the Lord, and devoted himself to a life of prayer and seclusion until his passing from this world. Despite his humble demeanour, the great faith and commitment that St. Gregory of Narek has shown brought countless souls to salvation in God, and still inspired many even to this day.

Brothers and sisters in Christ, let us all therefore seek the Lord with renewed heart and mind, with the strong and genuine desire to be forgiven and to be reconciled with Him, with the strong desire to repent and turn away from our many sins and wickedness. Let us all seek the forgiveness and mercy of God, and do our best so that our lives from now on may be truly worthy of Him in all things, which we can gain inspiration from the life and faith that St. Gregory of Narek has shown us. May God be with us always and may He bless us all in our every actions and deeds. May God strengthen and encourage us in our faith. Amen.