Liturgical Colour : Green or White (Saturday Mass of Our Lady)

Dear brothers and sisters in Christ, today as we listened to the words of the Scripture we are reminded yet again by the continuation of St. Paul’s exhortations to the Church in Galatia, of the universal nature of God’s love, and how all of us, every single one of us are beloved by God, and we are precious to God, without any prejudices or biases. And this is why, all of us are called to listen to Him, follow His way, and believe in Him wholeheartedly.

In our first reading, we heard the conclusion of this week’s series of exhortations of St. Paul to the Church and the faithful in Galatia, which had been wrecked with divisions and confusion because of the differing teachings and disagreements among the members of the Church and the faithful community. St. Paul reminded all of them that their faith in God has surpassed the adherence and especially the blind obedience to the old laws of God, the laws of Moses, particularly in how it was upheld and enforced by the Pharisees and the teachers of the Law.

St. Paul revealed that the Law of God as it was revealed through Moses had been useful and had it means in maintaining the people’s faith, especially at the time when they were influenced by so many other corrupting influences of the world. If we read the accounts of the Exodus and journey of the Israelites from the land of Egypt to the Promised Land of Israel, we will know just how stubborn the Israelites were, and how often they had disobeyed the Lord and even broke His commandments and Covenant.

That is why, amidst that as a backdrop and context, the Lord issued a very harsh and restrictive Law to keep the people in check at the time, to keep them disciplined and in line during those crucial early years. We see their lack of faith that is so great, that despite having witnessed God’s miracles and powers, they still disobeyed and lost their faith nonetheless. That is why, to prevent them from committing even more sins and perish because of those sins, God imposed those rules to help and guide them to Himself.

However, as time passed on, this original intent had been forgotten and overlooked, and the people grew to observe the Law and its commandments and rules just because they found it as a formality and something to be fulfilled, or that they were afraid of God’s anger and wrath, as they heard how their ancestors had been punished severely for their sins, without realising that it was because of their own sins that they had suffered, and not because God was angry at them or sought for their destruction.

The truth is that God truly loves each and every one of us, His beloved people. He created us mankind as the crowning jewel of His creation, and God will do everything in order to bring us back and to be reconciled with us. It is we who are often negligent, rebellious and ignorant, and refuse to accept God’s generous love and His compassionate mercy. And this is why we have often erred and wandered off away from the path of God’s grace and salvation.

As the people of God forgot the love with which God has cared for them, and the Law by which He intended to teach them to love Him and to reorganise and redirect their lives to be more loving and faithful to Him, they ended up focusing on all the wrong things, on the unnecessary details on how the rules and regulations of the Law were to be enforced and followed, more than realising how the Law is just a means by which we mankind can better help and discipline ourselves to find the way to the Lord.

That is why today, as we listen to these readings from the Scriptures, we are constantly reminded that we need to appreciate just how much we are beloved, and how God loves everyone equally, without any more label like Jews or Gentiles, but all as God’s people all the same. As Christians, we need to live and bear witness to this love, loving one another equally and generously as much as we can, welcoming others as fellow brothers and sisters.

Brothers and sisters in Christ, are we willing to listen to God and obey His will from now on? God has called us all to be faithful to Him and to follow Him with all of our hearts, with all of our might. Let us all heed His call, and do our very best, in every opportunities, to walk faithfully in the presence of God, and be ever more faithful to Him, with each and every passing moments. Let us all be the genuine examples and bearers of God’s love in our communities today, be the light of God’s truth in this darkened world.

May God be with us always, and may He bless us all in our every good endeavours, guide us in our journey and lead us to Himself, that we may glorify Him at all times by our lives, our faithful dedication and exemplary lives. Amen.

Liturgical Colour : Green or White (Saturday Mass of Our Lady)

Dear brothers and sisters in Christ, today each and every one of us are reminded of God’s love and His faithfulness to the Covenant which He has made with all of us. From the Book of Job, we heard how the Lord restored Job and blessed him even more than he had been previously blessed after all of his sufferings. And from the Gospel passage we heard the Lord affirming His disciples and followers.

In our first reading today, from the Book of Job we heard how after all the sufferings that Job had to endure, losing everything he possessed and even most of his family members, humiliated and denounced even by his family and close friends, who told him that he must have sinned against God to merit such sufferings. Job remained firm in his faith in God, but through all that he suffered, he did wonder why he had endured all those bitterness, and gave in to despair.

The Lord reminded Job that He has always been by his side even through his darkest moments, and He has always cared for him, and He told Job that it is not right for him to despair and to question His motives, and he needs to put his trust and faith completely in God. As we heard, the Lord opened Job’s perspectives and revealed the magnitude of His plans and works, and how He would bless him for his faith.

Job recognised his errors and repented from his mistakes, and embraced God’s love fully, never having abandoned Him and remaining faithful even through his most difficult days. And God, who brought Job out of his misery, helped and blessed him even much more generously than before. And therefore, God shows us all that those who hold onto Him, despite the trials they may have to endure, will receive eternal glory, true joy and satisfaction in the end.

In our Gospel passage today, the Lord proclaimed to His followers and disciples just how blessed and fortunate they were, for having been counted among His followers and how He has been victorious against the forces of Satan, the devil and the great enemy of all the people of God. Satan has been cast down from Heaven and punished with all the other rebel angels. And this is the prelude to the final defeat of Satan and all of his plots and plans against God’s people that will come with the Cross.

Satan and all of his wicked forces have always been trying to crush us and to make our lives difficult. And by the means of many temptations and false promises, they have been working hard in dragging us down with them, as they hoped to turn us against God and to subvert us by persuading us to reject the path of God and embrace instead the seemingly ‘easier’ and ‘better’ path that the devil offered to us. And Satan always makes to think that it is futile to try to oppose him, and he wants us to fear him and to suffer so much that we give in to our temptations and all of his persuasions and coercions.

However, this is where we are all reminded yet again, that no matter what, and no matter how mighty Satan and his forces arrayed against us may seem to be, but they are all nothing compared with the power and the glory of God. And despite all of Satan’s efforts, his power is limited and his might has been crushed, as his rebellion has been defeated, he was cast out and condemned, and his final defeat had been predetermined by God, Who is all powerful and all knowing, revealing before all that we do not need to fear Satan because while he will be cast down into hell for eternity, we, who are God’s people and followers, will be raised to eternal glory and true joy with God.

Brothers and sisters in Christ, are we aware of just how beloved we are by God? We are God’s most beloved ones, and God provides us in everything that we need. As long as we hold strongly to our faith in Him, we shall never be disappointed. Whatever sufferings we may be experiencing now, all these are nothing compared to the joy that is to come for us, in the end and at the conclusion of our faithful journey. But many of us often do not realise this and we are often too busy in trying to get away from fear, all of our insecurities, and we lack the faith in our Lord.

Let us therefore follow the example of Job, and strive to persevere in faith regardless of the challenges and trials that he had faced, and which we are likely to face as well in our own lives. Are we able to persevere in faith the way that our holy and dedicated predecessors had done? We have all been called to follow the path of the Lord, and we are called to entrust ourselves to His cause. And because we have also witnessed and received this faith from the Lord, we are now called to be God’s witnesses among all of our communities in this world today.

Through our actions, our words and our deeds, each and every one of us should become faithful and great inspirations for our fellow brothers and sisters in faith. May the Lord help us and guide us in our journey of faith, and help us in resisting the temptations of all the desires and the coercions by which the devil has always been busy using in trying to drag us into the path of sin, and lead us into our downfall. May the Lord strengthen us all and give us the courage and perseverance to be always faithful in each and every moments of our lives. May God be with us all, now and forevermore. Amen.