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

Dear brothers and sisters in Christ, on this day we listened to the words of the Scripture, beginning with the Second Book of Chronicles, detailing what happened during the reign of king Joash of Judah, the son of king Ahaziah of Judah and his queen Athaliah. In yesterday’s reading, we heard how Athaliah seized power after her husband Ahaziah died, and she tried to eradicate the entirety of the house of David, to secure the rulership and the kingdom for herself.

But by the grace of God, one of the scions of David survived, namely Joash, saved by his own nurse, who helped to hide him away in the Temple of God under the tutelage and protection of the High Priest Jehoiada. High Priest Jehoiada was an upright man, and was a devout person, who committed himself to God, unlike the kings and rulers, and many of the people of Judah.

Jehoiada himself had a son, Zechariah, who was mentioned in today’s first reading as well. When Joash was young, it was likely that he and Zechariah would have grown up together, and were probably good friends to each other. Then, when Joash was of age, and ready to take up the rightful kingship belonging to him, Jehoiada arranged with the military leaders and the people to overthrow the usurper, Athaliah.

That was how Joash rose to power as king, and it was told that as long as the High Priest Jehoiada was alive, the king and the people followed the Lord and turned towards Him with faith, repenting from the sins of their ancestors and predecessors. However, the moment the High Priest Jehoiada passed away, the king began to turn the people back to their old, sinful ways.

That was the background of how the situation came to the condition described in the first reading passage today. The king and his people had turned to pagan idols and worshipped those idols which the High Priest Jehoiada and the righteous faithful had thrown away and put aside, and the people began to sin once again to God through their disobedience of His laws and commandments.

Zechariah, the son of Jehoiada protested against the king, to remind him of the sins he had committed, and chastised Joash for turning away from the righteous path that his father Jehoiada had guided him into. But the king would not listen to reason, and instead, he continued doing what was wicked in God’s sight, and even, in the end, killed Zechariah who kept on criticising him.

And we heard how king Joash met his end at the hands of the Arameans, as God handed him over to his enemies, for his sins and lack of repentance. That was the fate that awaited all those who have not been faithful to God and His ways, and instead succumb to the temptations of the world, as the Lord Jesus mentioned in today’s Gospel Reading passage.

In that Gospel passage, the Lord chastised all those who worry about material goods, about food and about all things of the world which they desire and want in life. They worry and think a lot about all these things every day and every moment, and they forget that all of them are merely transient and temporary. God will surely, in His own way, and through those who are around us, provide for all that we need.

But we mankind are often easily tempted, tempted by the many temptations of worldly pleasures, of power, of wealth, of fame, of influence, of worldly glory and all other things that prevent us from being truly faithful to the Lord. We fall into those temptations just as king Joash also fell into his temptations. When the High Priest Jehoiada was still alive, there was a strong authority that kept the king’s mind and actions in check, but the moment he was gone, the king became uncontrollable and fell into sin.

Especially those who were entrusted with power, authority, wealth and influence are most vulnerable to the temptations that always come our way. But that does not necessarily mean that all those with power, authority, wealth and influence are wicked and evil. Rather, it means that the greater the blessings we receive, the greater indeed is the responsibility that we have in order to keep faithfully in us, the faith we have in God.

Brothers and sisters in Christ, let us all spend some time to think about our own lives. Have we been faithful to the Lord all these days? Or have we instead been so preoccupied with our own busy dealings and all the tempting things, that we worry about all those things, and forget that our primary objective in life is to serve God and to do our best through our actions to glorify Him?

Let us all turn towards the Lord wholeheartedly from now on, and devote ourselves, our time, effort and attention to serve Him and to love all of His people, by being true Christians, truly faithful in all of our actions, words and deeds. May the Lord bless us all, now and forevermore. Amen.

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

Dear brothers and sisters in Christ, on this day we heard about the calling of the prophet Elisha, who was called by God through His prophet Elijah, to be the one who would carry on the works of Elijah among the people of Israel. Elisha responded to God’s call, and after he said his farewell to his parents and leaving behind everything he had, he followed the prophet Elijah from then on.

Then in the Gospel passage, the Lord Jesus continued His discourse to His disciples about the Law and how to be truly obedient to the Law and the commandments of God. In today’s passage, He focused on the aspect of making promises and vows before God. What He went through with the disciples and the people was that, one should not take vows or make oaths.

But then, how come is it that the Church practices the making of vows and oaths? At the Sacrament of Holy Matrimony, a husband makes a solemn vow to be faithful and true to his wife, and vice versa, that the wife also makes the same vow to her husband. And then, for those who were called to Holy Orders of priesthood or consecrated life as a religious brother or sister, they also make solemn vows to the Lord.

Brothers and sisters in Christ, we must keep in mind what the Lord intended when He said those words to the people. What He was saying must be put in the context that many of the people of Israel, even the priests and the Pharisees, made many grandiose and highly publicised oaths before God and man, and yet, they did not remain true to their faith, either secretly or even openly.

In that manner, whatever oaths or vows they made were meaningless and empty, as they did not mean what they have said. Nobody would believe in those oaths and vows anymore, just as I am reminded of the folktale child story about the young boy who cried wolf. That story, which may be quite familiar to many of us, is about a boy who liked to trick people, many of whom were shepherds, by scaring them with false alarm of wolves coming to hunt their sheep.

The shepherds were angry that the young boy tricked them, and in time to come, no one would believe in him. And when one day, wolves did actually come to the sheep which the boy was guarding, he cried out for help. But all the other shepherds refused to believe in the boy, since he had lied and tricked them many times. Such was the weight of his folly, by making himself untrustworthy.

Now, brothers and sisters in Christ, the Lord Jesus did not actually say that we cannot make vows or solemn oaths. Rather, He is reminding all of us, that as Christians, we must be honest, truthful and good in all of our words and dealings. We cannot be dishonest or wicked, and we cannot be untrustworthy with our words, since after all, do we remember that we follow Christ, Who is the Way, the Truth and the Life?

And because Christ is the Truth, then we must also be truthful. We are called to be truthful in all things, and again, I would like to emphasise the importance of commitment. In the first reading, we heard how the prophet Elisha left everything behind and committed himself to a life of service to the Lord. Thus, we are also called to be committed, be it as husband or wife to one another, or as priests or religious in our dedication to God.

Are we able to give that kind of dedication and commitment in how we live our lives? Let us reflect on this question as we carry on living our lives in this world. May the Lord be with us all, and may He strengthen each and every one of us in our faith, day after day. Amen.