Liturgical Colour : Green

Dear brothers and sisters in Christ, on this Sunday we are called by God to be people who are filled with love and forgiveness, to be compassionate and to be merciful to all those whom encounter in this life we have on earth. God showed His love to all of us, when He spared us from our fated destruction, although we truly have deserved to be destroyed and be annihilated because of our disobedience and therefore, our sins.

God made us out of His love for each and every one of us. He gave us life and provided everything for us, and God in fact gave and entrusted the whole creation to us, that we may be His stewards of the creation. And yet, instead of gratitude and love that we should have shown Him, we have betrayed and abandoned Him for the devil and all of his lies and false promises, falling into sin as a result.

Yet, God did not give up on us and He continues to love us all despite of the sins we have committed. Yes, He does despise our sins, and sin has no place in His presence, but He still loves us all in our beings, as He has always done ever since He created us mankind. God could have easily destroyed and banished us into eternal damnation if He had desired it to be such, but He did not do that because He truly still has that boundless and wonderful love for us.

Unfortunately, sin is a reality present within each and every one of us, the sons and daughters of man. Sin is a very dangerous disease that is within us, trying to destroy us from within, corrupting not just our bodies, but also our hearts and minds, and our eternal souls. Unless we remove this taint of sin from within us, we will not be able to be reconciled with God, and that is, when we continue to remain in this state of sin, and refuse to cast these sinful ways aside, then we will fall into eternal damnation.

Brothers and sisters in Christ, if only we can understand and know of all of those things that we have done throughout the long history of mankind thus far. All the sins and wicked things we have committed all these while, from the time that we have first disobeyed God until this very day. For so many years all of the combined wickedness of our sins have truly become a massive mountain of sin, of unimaginable dimensions.

And yet, in the end, despite of all these, God still loved us all dearly, and even wanted us all to be redeemed and saved. Are we not ashamed at the sins that we have committed, and how we have not recognised the love which God has shown us, all these while? He has been willing to forgive us all these sins, and indeed, He desires to do so, despite of our constant and continued impertinence and stubbornness.

God is so patient and loving, so merciful and kind towards us. This is what each and every one of us have to realise, that for every sins we commit further in life, we are just going to make the Lord even more hurt, for all the compassion He has shown to us, and yet we are so stubborn and resistant to the love He is showing us so generously. God wants to forgive us our sins, and yet, we are the ones who have resisted to be forgiven.

Let us all look at some examples from the Scripture passages today, beginning from our first reading today. It was a story of the encounter between David and king Saul of Israel. In order to understand better the context of what happened at that time, we must look into the historical background of the relationship between the two of them. King Saul was the first king chosen by God to be king over His people Israel, while David was the one whom God had chosen to be the successor of Saul as king, after the latter fell from grace.

David was still a young man when he rose to great prominence after he defeated Goliath, the giant Philistine champion during battle between the Israelites against the Philistines. And David became a commander in the king’s army, gaining more and more influence and fame, as he won victories after victories, and God’s grace was clearly with him. Meanwhile, Saul, who disobeyed God’s commandment, and persisted in his disobedience, was growing further and further away from God’s grace.

Saul saw in David a great threat to his authority and legitimacy as king, and therefore, he tried in all various kinds of ways, to remove the threat of David, treating him with much suspicion and hating him, having tried to kill David in several occasions. If not for the assistance of his close friends, including that of Jonathan, one of Saul’s sons, David would have been killed by the plotting and the attempts of the king.

David had to run away and live as a fugitive for many years, and what we heard in our first reading passage today happened during those years when David was in the run. He has suffered much at the hands of the king, who wanted him to be dead. Yet, when David and his followers found the perfect opportunity to kill the king instead, when the king and his retainers were sleeping in a cave, David conscientiously and resolutely refused to do so.

David had all the opportunity to do so, a perfect timing and chance to turn his own fortunes completely upside down. He could have ended his period and time in exile and stopped all the sufferings and pains he had to endure as an exile and criminal. He could have seized power as the rightful king of Israel, as the one who had been anointed by God through the prophet Samuel to be the true king. And yet, David did not do all these. Instead, he still treated Saul with respect, and indeed, as his king.

Brothers and sisters in Christ, now, let us all look at our own lives and actions thus far. Have we been as forgiving as David had been to those who have hurt us and slighted us? Or have we instead acted with vengeance and hatred, with jealousy and anger? It is definitely much more common for us to do the latter than the former. Many of us are unable to let go of that hatred, of that anger, of that jealousy and bitterness within us, and as a result, we continue to hold grudge against one another.

Perhaps we should reflect on the great patience and mercy that David has shown to Saul, and even more so, the even far greater patience, mercy and compassion that God Himself has shown to us, His people. God has been ever so patient with us, despite all of our constant disobedience and actions that had made Him to be angry with us, again and again. But as a loving Father, He continues to love us regardless, and in His actions, He wants us all, His beloved children, to walk down the right path.

King David has followed this very example shown by the Lord Himself, in practicing mercy and forgiveness, compassion and love through his own actions and in how he dealt with those who have slighted him and made his life difficult, principally that of Saul, his predecessor. Now, we are challenged today, to do the same with our own lives, to think of all those whom we may have hated and held grudge against all these while.

Are we able to forgive others just as God has forgiven us? It is not easy to forgive, as forgiveness requires us to let go of the anger and all the emotions, the greed, the desires and the pride present within us. Our ego and pride often come in between us and the ability to forgive, as we often think that to forgive others means that we must humble ourselves such, and let go of the animosity we are feeling towards the other person. And then, we also often refused to be forgiven, because the same ego and pride within us made us to resist forgiveness, as we do not like to think that we have erred or made a mistake in some way.

Brothers and sisters in Christ, are we willing and are we able to let go of the ego, pride and the anger within us? God Himself has shown us the way, and He Himself has forgiven us so generously, full of compassion and mercy. He forgave us for all of the multitudes of sins we have committed and all the wickedness that we have done in life. Although our sins are numerous beyond count, God loves us, and forgives us, and then, how can we not forgive our fellow men our sins to one another too?

Let us all from now on, therefore, turn towards God with all of our hearts, with all of our strengths and with the strong conviction to love the Lord and to be filled with His compassion and love. May the Lord, our loving God and Father, be our Guide and may He show us the way forward in life, in forgiving all those who have wronged us, all those who have hurt us, just as He Himself has forgiven us our sins. Let us all also be courageous in life, to change our way of life, from that of sin to that of righteousness.

May God be with us always, and may He empower us all to live with faith from now on, that we will draw ever closer to Him, and be worthy to receive from Him to promised eternal life and glory that He has given to us all, His beloved and faithful people. Amen.

Liturgical Colour : Green

Dear brothers and sisters in Christ, on this Sunday we listened to the words of the Lord through the Scripture passages reminding us all of the need for each and every one of us to trust in the teachings and the ways that the Lord has shown us all, and not in our own human abilities and power, and neither in the matters of the world. All of us heard that we are called to turn towards God with all of our hearts and with all of our strength. God will bless us all greatly and wonderfully if we have done so.

In our first reading today, we heard the sayings of the prophet Jeremiah, in which the prophet cursed all those who trusted in their worldly power and in their own human glory, on how those people would never find true happiness in life as long as they continued to trust in the powers of the world. Instead, all those who trusted in God and in His power would be blessed and would receive all goodness in due time, as God has promised. They would receive true joy and happiness from God Himself.

Then, in the second reading today, we heard from St. Paul in the Epistle he wrote to the Church and the faithful in the city of Corinth, where he spoke of the resurrection of Our Lord Jesus Christ as the proof of the faith that all of the faithful had believed, that they had not believed in vain in the Lord, Who had overcome even death itself, our greatest enemy of all. Death is the result and consequence of sin, just as sin is caused by our disobedience against the will of God.

This is the proof that it is the faith and trust in God alone that will overcome all sorts of difficulties and challenges. There is no other foundation or any thing in this universe capable of replacing the Lord as the centre, focus and hope of our lives. Any other foundation and trust in other things beyond the Lord is superficial and illusory in nature, and we will not be able to gain true joy, assurance and satisfaction because we will never find true peace unless if we go through God.

Why is that so? Brothers and sisters in Christ, we should look upon the history of our humanity’s past, at all the various actions and things that we mankind had done and which we had experienced throughout time. We see how mankind always tried to do their best, to attain the best for themselves, to gain the most joy, pleasure, happiness, glory, fame, power, and all sorts of good things for themselves, and yet, they were never truly happy and secure in their lives.

On the other hand, instead of experiencing true joy, peace and happiness, our predecessors experienced much sorrow, agony, pain, suffering, despair and lack of peace in their lives, all because of them putting their trust and their focus on the wrong things, as they placed their trust on worldly assurances of money, of human glory, prestige, of pleasure of the body and the temptation of greatness and hubris, ambition and pride.

Everyone suffered, when those who had power, greatness, wealth, prestige and the means of worldliness oppressed those who have less, little or none, in their pursuit to gain more of those worldly desires and temptations for themselves. But they did not gain more happiness, joy and satisfaction among themselves, because by our nature, greed will only lead to even more greed and desire, and when we have something, we naturally desire even more.

That is why, we can never be satisfied by anything of this world, no matter how hard we try it. And we must not forget, just as the Lord Himself said in another parable He taught His disciples, showing the futility of those who sought to enrich themselves with many worldly things, that a rich man who tore down his many barns in order to accommodate even more goods in them, but was told by the Lord of his foolishness, as his own life would be taken away from him that very night, and none of his amassed wealth and glory would be his any longer.

Brothers and sisters in Christ, that is why as I have mentioned earlier, death is our greatest enemy, for death marks the moment when our earthly life and existence ended. And that is why, throughout history and time, men had tried again and again, futilely, in order to try to overcome and cheat death. Many spent much money and resources, efforts and trying various methods in order to attain for themselves eternal life and youth. Many tried to keep themselves alive and appearing good, without success.

People had been spending a lot on beauty products and those things that were claimed to have life-lengthening and rejuvenating effects on the body. But in the end, no one can extend one’s life even by a millionth of a second, for everything is according to God’s will, and when God calls us back, and to give an account of our respective lives, we have no way to refuse this call. And none of our earthly glories and power will follow us through.

That is why, today’s Gospel passage, in which the Lord went through with His disciples and followers a series of blessings and curses for certain groups of people, which we know better as the Sermon on the Mount or the Eight Beatitudes, we heard exactly what we have just been discussing on our search for happiness, our often futile efforts to preserve ourselves from death, by searching and desiring for more worldly things, and allowing ourselves to be tempted by the devil.

In the Beatitudes, the Lord reminded all of us His people, that unless we learn and try to let go of all these wicked desires, and restrain all those thoughts of pride, ambition, and not allowing our ego and pride to overcome us, we will end up falling into sin, deeper and deeper, and eventually, as mentioned, sin leads to death, and not just any death, but eternal death and damnation. For those who sin and does not repent, they have no part in the Covenant that God had made with all those who are faithful to Him.

Those who are proud and ambitious, those who oppress and persecute others just so that they can earn for themselves more worldly glory, power, wealth, riches, majesty, fame and all other things we often desire, all of us who choose to put our trust in all these worldly things, will find ourselves disappointed because even though now we may enjoy what we have, and indulge in the pleasures they provided us, but these things will not last forever.

The time will come when the reckoning of our lives will be upon us, and unless we have done what the Lord has commanded us to do, then we may end up falling into eternal damnation, and has no share in the Covenant, the salvation which the Lord Jesus Christ, Our God and Saviour has brought upon us by His sacrifice on the cross. Only those who are humble, those who are poor in spirit, meaning those who look at themselves not with pride but instead with humility before God, will receive the fullness of God’s glory.

And through the Beatitudes, God is calling us all to follow this path that He had set before us all. He is calling us to be faithful, in all things and in all of our dealings and actions, that we place God as the very core and centre of our lives and existences. We are called to be peacemakers, to be those who bring the love of God to one another, sharing the love and blessings which He has so generously given us, so that each and every one of us may enjoy the fruits of God’s wonderful love.

Therefore, brothers and sisters in Christ, from now on, if we have not done so, let us all grow in faith in God, and devote ourselves to love God and to turn ourselves away from the path of sin and wickedness. Let us all strive to overcome our attachment to worldly temptations and goods, and instead, make the effort to put our complete trust in God. Let us all seek the Lord with all of our strength, and let us all grow ever closer to Him, from now on, through the lessons of the Beatitudes, and bear the fruits of the Beatitudes of Christ in our daily living. Amen.