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

Dear brothers and sisters in Christ, today as we all listened to the words of the Scriptures, we are all reminded clearly that as Christians, as God’s followers and as those whom He had called and chosen as His own, each and every one of us must always do our best at every time to make good use of every gifts, blessings and all the things which He has provided and blessed us with. We should not be ignorant of the many things that we can do with all that God had bestowed upon us and blessed us with, the many opportunities that He had provided to us. Through all these we are in fact called to be active collaborators with God in how He carried out His loving actions towards our less fortunate brethren, and through our actions and efforts, based and grounded in our Christian faith, we may touch the lives of so many people.

In our first reading today, we heard from the Epistle of St. Paul to the Church and the faithful in the city and region of Ephesus where the Apostle spoke of the many gifts, talents, blessings and opportunities which He has provided to each and every one of us, His people, and how every one has their own unique calling and mission in life, in different areas and situations, and each and every one of us have been given these so that we may make good use of them to grow ever stronger, more faithful, more committed and dedicated as those whom God had called and chosen, as His beloved and holy people, All of those things have been given to us with the intention for us to learn to walk faithfully and with real commitment in the path that the Lord has led us to walk through, to be truly exemplary and committed in our lives as Christians, at all times.

By His coming into the world, the Lord has shown us all His perfect love and has also bestowed on us this great grace, sending unto us the Holy Spirit, through Whom the whole world has received the rich gifts of Wisdom, truth and love of God, manifesting in all of us, in the various gifts and talents that we have received. God has not intended for everyone to receive the same gifts as He wants us all to make good use of our diverse and unique gifts to build up the Church and Kingdom of God and to strengthen one another in our respective roles and parts, by which we can contribute to the overall good efforts and works of the Church, to benefit more and more people that we may encounter in our journey throughout our daily lives.

What we are also reminded is that no one of us should think that we are better than others by virtue of our calling and ministry. Some people would think that they are better simply because they are part of the ordained ministry, being bishops or priests, but this is not the case, as to each and every members of the faithful, God has given unique gifts and vocations, and each one of them are equal in virtue, value and honour to each other, and should indeed not be compared or used for justification for prejudice or discrimination. Each and every vocations in the Church come along with their respective unique challenges and difficulties, as well as rich fruits and wonders, and they help and complete each other in fulfilling God’s works and missions.

Then, in our Gospel passage taken from the Gospel according to St. Luke, we heard the Lord Jesus speaking to His disciples and the people who were gathered to listen to Him where He addressed their questions about the recent events and misfortunes that happened to some of the people who perished during the uprising in Galilee, as well as in the collapse of the Tower in Shiloh, where several people also died. He told them all that they did not die and perish because of them being sinners, as everyone are equally sinners before God, and no one deserved to die more than any other person, not because one sinned more than the other, and then they were deemed or judged to deserve their death in that manner.

This must be further understood in the context of the situation at that time, as the Lord was likely addressing the questions from the Pharisees and their supporters, who were there around following Him. This is also coupled with the attitude of those same Pharisees and the religious elite of the community who always looked down on those whom they deemed to be inferior and less worthy than they were. They thought of those whom they labelled as sinners, like those who lived less than worthily, the tax collectors, prostitutes and adulterers, criminals and those afflicted by diseases to be cursed by their sins, and had no right for God’s love, blessings and grace, which is contrary to God’s ever strong and enduring mercy, His love and compassion, that He has extended freely to everyone.

In fact, in their preoccupation with their own sense of superiority and self-righteousness, those same religious elites and leaders had ended up losing sight at their own flaws and mistakes, and they ignored their own shortcomings, prejudices and attitudes that kept them away from truly being able to follow the Lord wholeheartedly and faithfully. They proudly thought that they could not get things wrong and that they are better than others, when their pride, arrogance and greed had prevented them from realising their weakness and shortcomings, where others who were more humble and willing to listen to the Lord were way closer to them on the path towards salvation in God. This is the same reminder for all of us that we should not follow the same path, to compare ourselves with others or to be proud of our own piety and achievements.

Brothers and sisters in Christ, as we ponder further upon the messages of the Sacred Scriptures and the words of the Lord today, let us all keep in mind our important roles as members and parts of the Church, that we must always be active and contributing in all of our efforts and works, to obey and follow the will of God at all times. We should strive to always be humble in listening to the Lord Who has called us to follow Him, and trust in Him wholly, faithfully and with commitment, doing whatever we can so that by our every actions, words and deeds, and by our every contributions, we may truly proclaim Him ever more wonderfully to all the people whom we encounter in our respective communities, to lead by example with our own holy and worthy lives.

May the Lord our most loving God continue to guide us and strengthen us in faith so that we may always be willing to do our best and to do our part to contribute to the good works of God’s salvation through His Church. Through our every moments in life, let us all continue to inspire everyone and all of us fellow Christians in our journey towards God, helping each other to persevere through the difficult challenges and obstacles that we may have to face in our way. Amen.

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

Dear brothers and sisters in Christ, today as we all listened to the words of the Sacred Scriptures, we are all reminded of the constant need for each and every one of us to remember that we are all God’s people, all equally beloved and precious before Him and in His eyes. None of us can claim that we are better or more preferred simply because of our background, our circumstances, or by whatever other parameters that we usually tend to divide or categorise ourselves into. When we are called to follow Him as Christians, to be God’s beloved and holy people, each and every one of us are called to reflect His light and truth, and whatever He had taught us in our lives, so that our every words, actions and deeds truly show that we are His holy and blessed people.

In our first reading today, we heard from the continuation of this week’s discourse and passage from the Epistle of St. Paul the Apostle to the Church and the faithful people of God in Galatia in what is now part of modern day Turkey, where the Apostle continued to elaborate about the matter of obeying the old and outdated ways of the Law of Moses, of the manner how those laws, commandments and rules, rituals and regulations were observed and enforced by the Pharisees and the teachers of the Law, those who were considered as the religious and intellectual elites of the community in charge of the maintenance and enforcement of the Law of God. Those people were also rather rigid and inflexible in their understanding and application of the Law of God, enforcing them very strictly and harshly, forcing the faithful people of God to follow all of the numerous rules, regulations and precepts.

And in their pride, ego, ambition and greed they had ended up misusing the Law of God to serve their own selfish interests, desires and ambitions. They sought to be praised and acclaimed because of their great piety and supposed obedience and adherence to the fullness of the Law of God, and they judged others who did not follow or obey the Law of God in the manner that they had done it. It is this boundary and limits which man had established which St. Paul was quite adamantly against, and for which he had criticised those who still continued to insist that everyone ought to follow and obey those man-made boundaries and obligations that were not truly in accordance with God’s will and what He desired from His people.

Then, in our short Gospel passage today from the Gospel of St. Luke, the words of the Lord to His disciples and all the people who were listening to Him were very clear indeed in their intention and meaning. The Lord wanted to tell each and every one of us that what He wants from us is obedience to the will of God and for all of us to do what God has taught us through His Son, the Lord Jesus Himself, and everything that He has brought unto us in this world today. It is not by association or connection to Him that one would be blessed or favoured by God, as He pointed it out Himself that just because someone belongs to the relatives or family of the Lord, but it did not mean that they would be favoured solely by that connection.

This was unlike what was common in the world at that time, where people usually favoured those who were connected and of the same family or group as themselves. This same attitude is also shown by the Pharisees and the teachers of the Law mentioned earlier as they commonly favoured those who were in their own group and shared the same thoughts and beliefs as they were, and they despised and were judgmental against all those whom they disagreed or differed in views with. That was why despite the Lord having performed many of His good and wonderful works before their own eyes and spoke of His great wisdom and teachings before them, they would not believe and continued to reject the truth and the revelations of the Lord’s Good News, despite the irrefutable truth it has brought them.

This kind of favouritism and bias exist even right up to this day, and is something that all of us as Christians are reminded to be ever vigilant against. As Christians, we must not allow ourselves to be easily swayed and tempted by the various worldly temptations, distractions and pressures all around us, and not to be easily persuaded by false directions and falsehoods in our midst. The Lord showed us all that to be truly faithful to Him we have to be ready and willing to listen to Him, embracing His truth and love, doing whatever we can so that by our commitment to Him, we will continue to live our lives worthily and doing whatever we can to glorify Him by our every words, actions and deeds throughout each and every moments of our lives, which we should always offer to God and strive to proclaim His truth and love to all.

And as the Lord mentioned all that before His disciples, lest we may think that He was being disrespectful to His family members and relatives, particularly to His mother, Mary, we must realise that He was in fact praising His own mother’s great examples and her being a great role model and inspiration for each and every one of us to follow in our own lives as Christians. Mary through her life and dedication to God has always lived her life with full of commitment and love for God, and being in a state full of grace, she obeyed the Lord perfectly and completely, following Him and His commandments, doing His will and living the life of the exemplary and model Christian by her complete obedience and trust in God, which we all should follow as well. The Lord has pointed the path to Himself through His mother, and we all should follow this path.

Brothers and sisters in Christ, let us all therefore ponder carefully how we are to continue living our lives from now on, doing our best so that we may continue to glorify the Lord by our lives and by doing His will, and to remain humble at all times. And as the examples of the Pharisees and the teachers of the Law ought to have reminded us, we should not allow ourselves to be swayed by the temptations of worldly glory and ambitions, or by our pride and ego so that we will not end up falling ever deeper into the path of sin towards destruction and damnation. Let us all instead follow the Lord’s call and through the help of His loving Mother Mary and His many saints, holy men and women, our wonderful holy predecessors, we may continue to progress well in our journey towards Him. Amen.