Liturgical Colour : Green

Dear brothers and sisters in Christ, on this Sunday each and every one of us are reminded that all of us as Christians, as those whom the Lord had called and chosen, as His own beloved and holy people, we are all expected to lead lives that are truly worthy of the Lord in all the things that we say and do, in being committed to God and in loving Him wholeheartedly, just as we also ought to show the same love to everyone around us, to those whom we love and who are precious to us, and also to those who have no one to love them, those who are poor and needy, all those whom the Lord had placed in our path so that through the opportunities, the blessings and all the good things He has given us, we may use them to touch the lives of others positively.

In our first reading this Sunday, we heard from the Book of the prophet Amos in which the prophet rebuked the people of God who had lived wickedly and in disregard of the ways of the Lord, and how they continued to celebrate and steeped themselves in lots of merrymaking and parties despite them having led the people of God and the nation ever deeper into the path of their downfall and destruction. The prophet Amos was sent to the Israelites in the northern kingdom centred in Samaria during the time of its prosperity and power, and yet, the people were morally corrupt and disobedient against God, abandoning Him for the pagan gods and idols, and doing exactly what the prophet Amos was rebuking them all against.

The prophet Amos was essentially mentioning that if the people continued to do that and if they kept on disregarding God’s words and commandments, then they would face the consequences of their wickedness and disobedience against God. The Lord does not look kindly on their behaviours, in how they rejoiced in the midst of their sins and disobedience, in how they behaved wickedly towards one another. And yet, God in His ever loving and patient kindness towards His people continued to love them nonetheless and did His very best to reach out to them just as what He had done by sending the prophet Amos and many other prophets and messengers to those wayward people. God kept on sending His messengers and prophets even as they continued on opposing Him and refusing to believe in Him, and in the end, they faced destruction and had their cities and kingdom destroyed by their enemies.

Then, from our second reading this Sunday, taken from the Epistle of St. Paul the Apostle to his protege, St. Timothy, we heard of the words that the Apostle spoke to St. Timothy regarding the importance of living one’s faith genuinely, in practicing what all of us have believed as Christians, as God’s holy and beloved people, those whom He had called and chosen to be His own. St. Paul also reminded the faithful through St. Timothy that all Christians ought to walk in the path of God, in being holy and godly, in doing the will of God and being good examples and role models for one another in their faith and in their way of interacting with each other. That is because, unless we truly devote themselves to the Lord faithfully, we cannot truly call ourselves as Christians, and especially if our actions and attitudes contradict what we believe in.

Unfortunately, the reality in this world is often one of apathy, lack of faith and true understanding of what it truly means for us to be good and faithful Christians. For some people, they may think that it is good enough just for them to be in so called ‘personal relationship with God or with Jesus’ and then nothing else matters. Alternatively, with similar attitudes, one can even be hypocritical in their way of living their faith, selfishly seeking their own salvation and righteousness, but neglecting their responsibilities in this world, their need to care and love for those around them who have loved them sincerely and genuinely, confusing their own comfort zone and community as Heaven, while there are others who suffer because of their neglect and their inconsistent attitudes, lacking in accountability and responsibility, hurting those who care for them due to their own lack of maturity in faith.

This is something that is related to what we have heard in our Gospel passage this Sunday, from the Gospel according to St. Luke the Evangelist, we heard of the well-known parable that the Lord Jesus used to teach His disciples, that is the parable of Lazarus and the rich man, where the story of Lazarus, a poor man sitting down in front of the house of a rich man was told to them and all of us, as reminders for all of us that we should never neglect those around us who are poor, needy and who have been placed in our hands and responsibility so that we may help and assist them with whatever it is that they may need in their lives. That rich man may not necessarily have lived wicked ways of life, and one interpretation is that, he might even be a devout person like those of the Pharisees and the religious and the societal elites of the community.

But, his fatal mistake was his neglect of the one whom God had put into his path, thinking that he had everything he needed in his life and his friends. The poor man Lazarus begged and waited at the doorstep of the house of the rich man, seeking even crumbs of bread from the table of the rich man, but had none at all until the day he passed away. And this leads to the need for us to question ourselves and our own actions in life. Have we treated those who care for us in this way as well? Have we ignored those whom the Lord had placed in our lives and gave us the responsibility and the opportunity to care for? Or are we all too blinded by our own pursuits, in whatever it may be? Have our own actions led to us neglecting and ignoring those whom we can love but chose not to because we are so full of ourselves?

Like those Pharisees of old, they were so overzealous and overly obsessed with their own version of the faith, that they shut the doors of their minds and hearts against God trying to reach out to them and speak to them, to make them understand what it truly means to be faithful to Him, and to see God being present in all things and in all people, even in the least and those the society often considered to be unworthy and wicked. If God continued to love all these people, then we should also do the same in our own lives as well. If we do not do what we can do in loving others and showing care and concern for those who need them, then that is the sin which the rich man committed, the sin of omission. This reminds us that sin is not just about doing what is wicked or evil, but also by not doing what we should be doing in our lives, and chose not to do so.

Like the rich man who regretted after he fell into hell, those of us who neglected those whom God had put in our path, for us to show care, love and concern, and all those beloved ones to us all the more, then we too shall regret for not having shown better care and attention to those whom the Lord had called us to love and care for. This is exactly what the Israelites in the northern kingdom had done, and which the prophet Amos had chastised them for, and it is a timely reminder for all of us to show genuine faith in the Lord and to love everyone generously, to those who need our love and compassion, the poor and the needy, the oppressed and the ostracised, and even more so to those who love us the most. Let us never take them for granted any longer.

May the Lord guide us ever in our path, so that we can be good role models and inspirations for everyone around us, to be the shining beacons of God’s light and truth, and to lead all the people to Christ, Our Lord and Saviour, by our genuine actions and lives. Amen.

Liturgical Colour : Green

Dear brothers and sisters in Christ, this Sunday as we all gather together to praise the Lord, all of us are reminded by the words from the Sacred Scriptures we have heard that we must seek not the desires and ambitions of the world, the temptations of worldly goods, matter, money and all the things which can distract us from our path in life towards God, in the need for us to obey the Lord and His teachings. Each and every one of us should always remind one another that our lives should always be anchored in our faith in Christ our Lord, doing our best to live in a righteous manner according to the path that God has shown us. It is by doing this faithfully even in the smallest things that we do, that we become truly worthy as those whom the Lord had called and chosen.

In our first reading this Sunday, taken from the Book of the prophet Amos, we heard of the words of the Lord which He delivered through Amos to the people of the northern kingdom of Israel although he originated from the southern kingdom of Judah. The Lord sent words of rebuke and warning against all those wicked people who had not been truly faithful to Him, and worse still, as they even exploited the weak and the needy for their own benefits and profits, as mentioned in how they tampered with the scales and cheated the honest people who had come to them seeking for their services. And for all these dishonesty, wickedness and all the other evils that they had done, the Lord would punish them all and crush them all, as they rightfully deserved.

God wants all of His people to follow His path, everything that He has taught and shown them all. He does not want them to veer off into paths of evil and wickedness, through which they could end up in their downfall. The Lord therefore sent them many reminders and helpers to assist them, showing them the path to follow so that they may end up in the right path. These helpers and messengers were none other than the prophets and messengers of God, all sharing the same message which were meant for the people, ever reminding and calling on them to obey the Lord their God, and to follow His Law and commandments. And yet, the people still rebelled against the Lord and refused to obey or listen to the prophets, and in fact even persecuting and murdering those servants of God.

And many of these came about especially because of pride that afflicted many among them. Pride is truly indeed a great obstacle in our path as Christians, in being truly faithful to God amidst all the temptations of the world. And for the Israelites, their pride in thinking that their way of life could not be wrong or mistaken, or that they did not do anything wrong, was one of the main reasons why they persisted in their rebellion and disobedience against God. Then, their desires and attachments for worldly glory, pleasures and ambitions, all of these have also led them further astray as they sought for all the things and pleasures in the world which then misled and distracted them from the path towards the Lord their God, and closed their hearts and minds against the words of the prophets and messengers sent to remind them.

Then, from our second reading this Sunday, we heard from the Epistle of St. Paul the Apostle to his protege, St. Timothy, in which the Apostle spoke of the faith that all the Christian believers ought to have in their one Lord and Master, as St. Paul reminded to St. Timothy that there is indeed only one Lord and Mediator of all things, the Mediator of the New Covenant between God and His people, in Jesus Christ, the Son of God, Who had been crucified, suffered and died for all of our sakes. And St. Paul made it clear that it is this One Mediator and Lord that he, St. Timothy and all the other missionaries had been working hard to proclaim and speak about in many places and even in distant lands, and therefore he encouraged them all to continue to work hard in praying and asking for God to help and guide His people in all things.

Finally, from our Gospel passage this Sunday, taken from the Gospel according to St. Luke the Evangelist, we heard of the parable which the Lord Jesus used to teach the disciples about the importance of putting their faith and trust in Him, and not to be easily tempted and distracted by worldly ambitions and desires, echoing what we have heard from the earlier Scripture readings as well. In that parable of the dishonest steward, we heard the story of a steward who had been accused of dishonesty and misdeeds in his work, and was therefore to be fired from his position, and we heard then how the dishonest steward then used his ideas and astuteness to try to secure for himself a living by modifying the contracts and debts of those who have owed money or things to his own master.

In doing that, the dishonest steward was trying to gain favour with those who had been indebted to his master, with the hope that when he was out of his job, there would be those who would take care of him. But if we look deeper, we can see how all these things ultimately came about and happened because of the steward’s own actions, his own greed, ambitions and desires that led him to be dishonest in his actions, which he then doubled down during the time when he was trying to secure a living for himself. While the master did praise the steward’s astuteness, this should not be considered as an endorsement or approval of what the steward had done. Rather, what the master highlighted and wanted us all to know is that, it is necessary for us to act in the way that the steward had done, in preparing for eventuality to come.

And for us all this eventuality is about the coming of the time when we all have to reckon and account for our lives before the Lord at the end and time of judgment. And since we know that this is coming up for all of us, then what is our choice of actions in our lives? Are we going to follow the way of the dishonest steward in indulging ourselves in worldliness or are we going to do what the Lord Himself has told us all to do? The choice is ours to make, and we should live our lives to the best of our abilities such that in everything that we say and do, we will always do what is right and just according to what the Lord Himself has shown and taught us, and this is what the Lord wants us all to do in our lives so that we may make best use of everything that He has provided to us to serve and glorify Him, at all times.

May the Lord continue to bless each and every one of us in our good works and endeavours, and help us all such that we can resist the temptations of worldly glory, pleasures and ambitions, and seek instead to follow the path that the Lord has shown us. Let us all be exemplary and be good role models in how we live our lives each day, in obeying God and His Law and commandments, and in showing genuine love and care to everyone around us, particularly to those whom we love and care for, while not neglecting those around us who need our help and generosity as well. May God be with us always in all things, now and forevermore. Amen.