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

Dear brothers and sisters in Christ, today through the readings of the Sacred Scriptures all of us are called to remember God’s love and providence for us, how He cares about us and has always been present for us, loving us dearly and never giving up on us despite our constant stubborn attitudes and our waywardness. He still patiently cared for us and sent to us His Saviour as He has promised, that everything which He has proclaimed and spoken through His prophets and messengers would be fulfilled.

In our first reading today, taken from the Book of the prophet Zechariah, we heard of the Lord speaking through the prophet to His people regarding the Lord Who would protect His people and would not allow harm to come to them, even as the city of Jerusalem back then was in the midst of being rebuilt. Contextually, the prophet Zechariah was active during the reign of the King of Persia, Darius, some time after the Israelites had returned from their exile in Babylon and Assyria.

At that time, the people of Israel were gradually beginning to rebuild their cities and lives anew, and the city of Jerusalem itself was in the midst of reconstruction after having been devastated and razed by the Babylonians many decades previously. The Temple of God in Jerusalem was also then in the midst of rebuilding, as the people turned back towards the Lord under the leadership of Ezra and Nehemiah, as well as the influence of other prophets including that of Zechariah himself.

Therefore, with this context, we can understand better how the Lord reassured His people of His continued presence in their midst and how He would be the centre and focus of their lives, being their Hope and strength amidst the darkness and evils surrounding them. This He communicated to them, and He later on would make evident and firm His commitment by sending us His Son, Jesus Christ, into this world to be our Saviour, to bring unto us the Light of Hope that we all have been awaiting for.

In our Gospel passage today, we then heard the Lord Himself speaking on this matter as He told His disciples how He would be betrayed into the hands of His enemies and how He would be persecuted and made to suffer by the authorities, and eventually, would be condemned to die and to suffer for everyone’s faults and sins. He did all of these because He has patiently loved us and wanted us all to be reconciled to Him, and He wants us to put our trust once again in Him. Yet, despite all that we had done for us, we persecuted Him and rejected Him.

Brothers and sisters in Christ, as we listened to the words of the Scripture today, we are all called to reflect on our lives and how we have lived them as Christians thus far. Have we been faithful to the Lord as we should? Have we been committed to Him and loved Him as we should? Have we realised just how fortunate we are to be constantly beloved by God despite of our sins and wickedness? We should spend the time to carefully reflect on our actions in life so that we may not end up in the wrong path.

Today we are all challenged to grow in love and faith towards the Lord, and to leave behind our sinful ways, our disobedience and all the things that had prevented us from being able to reach out to the Lord. Let us all humble ourselves before the Lord and realise just how ungrateful and sinful we have been thus far. Let us follow the Lord with ever greater sincerity and commit ourselves to Him anew with a heart filled with love for Him, with the strong and genuine desire to be a good and committed Christian from now on.

May the Lord be with us always and may He continue to strengthen each and every one of us to walk faithfully in His path so that we may be inspiration and good examples, as great role models for one another. May all of us do in whatever way we can to glorify the Lord by our lives, thankful that He has always loved us and blessed us in each and every one of our activities, and given even His Son for our salvation. May God bless us always, at all times. Amen.

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

Dear brothers and sisters in Christ, today we heard the words of the Lord in the Sacred Scriptures speaking to us with regards to the need for us to follow the Lord with all sincerity and commitment that we should have in obeying His will and commandments. We have to make good use of all the gifts and abilities, the opportunities and blessings that He has given to us. Each and every one of us have been granted the gifts of faith from God, which He had sown in us, awaiting for us to respond to them and to allow them to grow in us.

In our first reading today, the Apostle St. Paul has mentioned in his Epistle to St. Timothy, about the truth of the Lord Jesus Christ, which he and the other Apostles and all the disciples and the followers of the Lord have preserved and stood up for. St. Paul reminded St. Timothy as well as the other members of the Church that all of them ought to remain faithful to the Lord Jesus Christ, the Saviour of the whole world and the One true King of all, the One Who has come into the world as the perfect manifestation of God’s love for His people, that is all of us.

Then, in our Gospel passage today, we heard from the Gospel of St. Luke on the account of the Lord teaching His disciples and the people using the parable of the sower, the famous parable that I am sure many of us are very familiar with. In that particular parable, a sower came bearing seeds to be sown, and he scattered the seeds randomly in places, and such that the seeds ended up in completely different places and conditions, from the roadside and rocky places unsuitable for any plant growth, to the most fertile soils that yielded many rich returns to the sower.

As the Lord explained it during His discourse as we heard in our Gospel passage today, the parable of the sower is a clear reference to the Lord and His work among us all in this world, the field of the Lord and the place of His toils and labours. The Lord has sowed His seeds among all of us, the seeds of the Word of God, the truth and the faith that He has planted in us, in each and every one of the children of mankind. He has also given us many gifts, talents and abilities, opportunities and other things.

Those seeds that fell by the roadside represent those who did not even allow the Lord to speak to them, or impart His Word of truth to them, and therefore the seeds of faith were snatched from them by the evil one and his agents before they even had the chance to take root and grow in us, just as the birds of the sky in the parable came and eat those seeds. Similarly, those seeds that did land on the rocky ground, although they managed to germinate and grow, but very quickly they dry up and die, as they did not have the right conditions to grow well.

The seeds that fell among the thistles and brambles managed to germinate and grow into young plants, but the thistles and brambles, which are weeds, compete against them for nutrients and water, and other resources, and hence, as the thistles and brambles grow around the saplings, the young plants could not grow and compete against the weeds, which often grow very quickly and can easily outcompete other plants growing together with them.

As the Lord mentioned, that represents those who has allowed the Lord’s Word and truth to come into them, but yet, they allowed the temptations of the world, of worldly desires and glory, among many other things to distract them and to keep them away from the Lord and His salvation and grace. And the same can happen to us if we allow ourselves to be swayed by the temptations of our flesh, of worldly desires, of fame and ambition, glory, wealth, power and many other things.

Instead, all of us are called to be like the case when the seeds fell on rich and fertile soil, where the seeds germinated well, grew well and eventually returned a massive produce manyfold of the original seeds that were sowed there. That is what we are all expected to be, brothers and sisters in Christ, that is to bear rich fruits of our faith, by our every actions and words, by our every deeds and interactions with one another, in our lives that we lead an exemplary life focused on God.

And how do we do that? Often, it does not require us to do amazing or wonderful things. Instead, we should aspire and strive to do our best in even the simplest and most mundane thing in life, in every little things we say and do, in our daily interactions with one another, in our habits and actions, with our relatives and friends, and even with all those whom we encounter throughout life. We are all called to be righteous in all things, and we should be true disciples of the Lord in words just as in deeds. Are we willing then to commit ourselves in this manner, brothers and sisters in Christ?

Let us all discern our path in life and the actions that we ought to take as Christians, as those who believe in the Lord. Let us all ponder on how we can better live our lives as the followers of Christ. May the Lord continue to be with us in our journey and help us to find our way to Him, and may He strengthen us with the courage to remain faithful at all times to the Lord and be fruitful in our lives. May God bless us always, in our every good works and endeavours. Amen.