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

Dear brothers and sisters in Christ, today as we listened to the Lord’s words speaking to us through the Sacred Scriptures, all of us are reminded to follow the Lord wholeheartedly and commit ourselves at each and every moments of our lives, doing the best in whatever opportunities we have been given to serve Him and to follow Him in His ways. As Christians, all of us have been called to show faith in all of our actions and to be truly trusting and full of love for the Lord at all times.

In our first reading today, we heard from the Epistle of St. James the Apostle, a reminder for all of us to be faithful to God in all things. St. James spoke of the many past examples of how those who had faith in the Lord were not disappointed, and eventually all things shall turn out to be how the Lord has always intended it to be. The Lord has always provided for His people in need, in His own good time. The prophet Elijah that was mentioned in the example had been taken care of by the Lord during the hardships he encountered, and as he came by the house of the widow of Zarephath, her faith in the Lord allowed her to survive with her son through the great years of famine that happened at that time.

St. James also reminded all of us on the power of prayer, and how prayer is a very important aspect of our Christian faith, for without prayer, we cannot genuinely say that we truly know God or that we have good and genuine relationship with Him. And as we have to remain connected to God, and develop that faith in Him, without a good prayer life that is living and growing, then we cannot live our lives as true Christians. And we cannot be Christians just in name only. We have to live our lives with faith and make that faith apparent in what we say and do.

In our Gospel passage today, we heard how the Lord told His disciples to allow the children to come to Him. The disciples initially refused to let the children to come to the Lord and tried to turn away those who have come to the Lord. However, the Lord rebuked all those who have barred the children from coming to Him and telling them that they must allow them to approach Him, and indeed, He praised those children and saying that unless they modelled themselves after those children and the faith that they had in Him, they would have no part in Him and His Kingdom.

What the Lord meant by this is that all of us have to be truly faithful to Him, to love Him seriously and genuinely, and to trust in Him wholeheartedly much as how children is genuine and true in all the things they do. A child’s faith is pure and when a child believes in something, the child will believe without any reservations. This is the kind of faith that the Lord wants us all to have as well, faith that comes without reservation, and love that we have for Him which is not corrupted and tempered with various selfish desires and other things.

In our lives, all of us are reminded by the Lord to show faith in all things, to be filled with genuine love that we ought to have for Him. We have to dedicate ourselves to the Lord and commit ourselves, our efforts and attention to Him, in whatever we say and do, in all things so that we may always be good role models and inspiration to one another in how we live our lives with faith. Are we able and willing to do this though, brothers and sisters in Christ?

We are often distracted by the many concerns and things present in our lives, in all the temptations surrounding us, all the worldly things that often became obstacles in our journey towards the Lord. We are often spending too much time and effort, putting our attention on these worldly matters rather than to trust in the Lord. We spent a lot of time worrying and being concerned about how our lives will turn out to be, not realising that God is journeying with us and has been there with us all this time.

That is why, brothers and sisters in Christ, today we are all called to reorientate ourselves once again towards God and turn towards Him once again with faith. Let us all walk once again in the path that the Lord has shown us. May the Lord be with us all, and may He empower us all to live ever more faithfully and help us in our journey of faith, growing ever more in our trust and love for Him. May God bless us always, in all of our actions, words and deeds, now and always. Amen.

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

Dear brothers and sisters in Christ, today we listened to words of great wisdom from the Scriptures reminding us to be careful and vigilant in our words, actions and deeds, so that we do not end up falling into the path of sin and evil. That is why we have to listen to the Lord and His teachings, His truth and love. We have to heed the teachings and all that He has given to us and revealed through His Church, so that we do not end up going down the wrong path in life and be separated again from the Lord.

In our first reading today, we heard from the Epistle of St. James the Apostle regarding the importance for all of us as Christians to be careful with our words, with our actions and deeds, for it is all too easy for us to make mistakes through our tongues and our hands, and the things that we have received and been blessed with, our words, wisdom and talents can be easily used for both things that are good or wicked, depending on our intentions.

As St. James wisely said, that we must not underestimate our words and actions, for even with the seemingly least significant and smallest of those words and actions, we can cause truly great and wonderful deeds, as well as very wicked and terrible acts that can bring about a lot of pain and suffering on others, whether directly or indirectly, or whether physically or mentally or even both. Such is the nature of our words and actions, that even in the seemingly smallest and least significant of things, we can end up causing great harm on others as well as causing great good if only we desire it and choose to do what is good instead of what is evil.

In our Gospel passage today, we heard then of the Lord Who was transfigured before the eyes of His three important disciples, Peter, James and John at Mount Tabor. At that occasion, the three of them saw the Lord glorified, revealing His true nature to them, as the Divine Word Incarnate, as One Who was not just the Son of Man, as the Saviour of the world, but also as the Son of God, the Divine Word of God, the Logos, incarnate in the flesh, showing His truly great glory and majesty at that occasion on the mountaintop.

Having seen all that they had witnessed, the three disciples were reminded by the Lord to listen to the words that His Son has spoken, and to follow Him in whichever path that He would be leading them towards. The Lord wanted all of them to trust in His words, in His wisdom, truth and love. And that is exactly how they would be able to find their way through life, and doing what the Lord had taught them to do. It is by putting God as the focus of their lives, and allowing Him to lead them and guide them in their path.

Unfortunately, brothers and sisters in Christ, more often than not, many of us prefer to trust in our own ideas and judgments, ignoring the reminders and the wisdom that God has given to us. We prefer to do things that we think is the best for us, and in doing so, we may end up causing hurt and suffering to others through our words, our actions and deeds just as I mentioned earlier. And that is because many if not most of us will tend to think about ourselves and our needs first, before even thinking about others or considering about them.

Therefore, that is why today all of us as Christians are reminded that each and every one of us need to redirect our attention and focus towards God. We are all reminded that we need to have faith and trust in the Lord, and allow Him to guide us in our actions and in all things, or else, otherwise, we may end up falling in our path towards God and His salvation, and end up in the wrong path in life, as we follow the temptations of our desires and our whims rather than following the true path towards God and His salvation.

All of us are called to be more vigilant against the many temptations all around us, and the allures of sin. We have to deepen our relationship with God, and the best way is for us to always spare some quality time with the Lord, communicating with Him, speaking with Him while at the same time, making the effort to listen to Him speaking in the depths of our hearts and minds. Too often we have been distracted by the many things that happened all around us, our ego, greed and desire among many other distractions that kept us away from finding out the path to God and His love.

Let us therefore do our best to follow the Lord and deepen our faith and relationship with Him from now on. May the Lord continue to watch over us and remain with us, guiding us through in our journey towards His grace and love. May God be with us and bless us in our every good works, efforts and endeavours, now and always. Amen.