Liturgical Colour : Green

Dear brothers and sisters in Christ, this Sunday all of us heard the messages from the Sacred Scriptures in which we are all reminded to be receptive to the gifts of the Lord’s truth and to this faith which we have received from the Lord, giving us His wonderful Wisdom and other gifts, the gift of His love and kindness, compassion and all the blessings and graces of the Spirit of God. Each one of us have been entrusted with the gifts of faith, as diverse and varied as they are, so that we may make good use of them to do the good works of God and to carry out whatever the Lord has entrusted to us to do with our lives, in being His true disciples and followers in this world, and not just merely paying lip service to Him only. All of us have been shown the path of righteousness and virtue by the Lord Himself, and we should indeed do our best to make good use of those gifts.

In our first reading today, taken from the Book of Wisdom, we heard the author of the Book of Wisdom speaking about the greatness, power, strength and justice of God, which God has revealed to His people, in order to lead and guide all of them to Himself. All of us as God’s people, as the members of His Body, the Church, all share in this same truth and knowledge of the Wisdom of God, of His providence and grace, and all of us have been provided with the rich guidance and the way which God wants us all to walk in, the path of His justice and righteousness, as we are constantly being reminded day after day to do the will of God, obey His Law and commandments, to do what He has taught us through His Church, through the Pope, the bishops and the priests, who have passed down unto us the teachings and the wisdom of God from the Lord Himself.

And He has also given us His Spirit, the Holy Spirit that has descended upon all of us, which St. Paul elaborated in his Epistle to the Church and the faithful in the city of Rome, which we heard in our second reading today. St. Paul spoke of the works of the Holy Spirit in all of us, who have received the Holy Spirit through the Church of God, by the laying of hands from the Apostles and their successors, and passed to us through the grace of the Sacrament of Baptism, Confirmation and the Eucharist, the Sacraments of Initiation, by which the Lord Himself has dwelled in us in the Flesh and the Spirit, as we become the Temples of God’s Most Holy Presence, our beings having been empowered and made strong by the Lord Himself, Who gave us His strength and wisdom, His grace and love, everything that He has lovingly provided and promised for us from the very beginning.

That is why as we listened and remembered what we have heard in our Gospel passage today, as the Lord elaborated and highlighted what the Kingdom of Heaven, the Kingdom of God is like, using many parables and comparisons, all of us must carefully discern and think of how the Kingdom of God itself has been manifested in this world, not as like any of the earthly realms and the physical kingdoms of this world. Instead, the Kingdom of God is already existing and present in this world, in all of us, the faithful people of God, the Church of God and the Communion in the One Body of Christ. All of us as the visible Body of Christ, the Holy Communion of all the believers, are the visible Kingdom of Heaven on earth, the Kingdom of God, the preview of the everlasting and most glorious Kingdom in which we shall spend an eternity with our loving God and King.

If we recall what we heard in our previous Sunday’s Gospel passage, regarding the parable of the sower, then we must have recalled how the Lord related to His disciples the fates awaiting each of the different seeds that were spread and fell on four different places. Those seeds represent the word of God, the will of God and His truth, which have been given to all of us, most generously and freely, and yet, many of us have failed to allow those seeds to grow well in our beings, as we spent a lot of time on following many different earthly and worldly pursuits, being tempted and misguided by the many attachments we have upon this world’s pleasures and goodness. That is why the seeds of faith and love for God often failed to germinate and grow in our hearts and minds, as we have not provided good and favourable conditions for the development of this faith.

Today, as we then listened to the words of the Gospel passage, in which the Lord told the people and His disciples of yet another parable related to the parable of the sower, in which the master and lord of the land sowed good seeds, only for the enemy to discreetly sow the bad seeds of weeds in order to sabotage and destroy the master’s harvest. As the Lord explained the meaning of this parable, He highlighted how both the wheat and the weeds were allowed to grow until the time of the harvest, when those wheat will be harvested and kept, while the weeds will be destroyed and burnt. This is a reference to the just and the wicked living and existing together, and how in each one of us there are indeed both good and evil things. Now, what is important is that we must realise that, nothing evil can come to the Presence of God, Who is all good and perfect, and hence, if we have done what is evil and sinful, and we have not atoned for them, or be forgiven from them, then our lot may likely be in the eternal fire and suffering.

On the other hand, all of us are also reminded of the great potential that each and every one of us have, in doing what is good, right and just in the sight and presence of the Lord. As the other parable which the Lord used was the yeast hidden in three measures of flour, which will let the dough to rise if the right conditions are provided. All those who were then familiar with the making of bread would have known that if yeast was not added, or if the dough was not sealed properly in an airtight place, or if water was not added, and if the right temperature was not used in the process, the dough would not rise and the proper bread could not be made. This is similar to what we have heard in the parable of the sower in which if the right conditions are not provided, then the seeds cannot germinate into good and healthy plants.

This reminds us that all of us must therefore live our lives in this world worthily and faithfully, as Christians, that is as those who believe in God and in His truth. All of us must do this so that we can nurture our faith and love for God, and so that we may provide the optimum conditions necessary for our faith in the Lord to develop and for our lives to be truly worthy of Him. This is what each and every one of is have been called to do, that is to sanctify our lives and to devote our works, actions and efforts in life to be truly exemplary and faithful in all things. Through us, the whole body of the faithful, the Church of God, we can make the Kingdom of God to be manifest in this world, and the way to do that, is for us to commit ourselves thoroughly to the path that God has shown us, and strive to be great and holy in our way of living our daily lives.

Let us all therefore make good use of the many gifts and blessings that God has granted and blessed us with, all the wonders that He has given us. Each and every one of us should do our part in living a most faithful and exemplary life, filled with genuine and living, vibrant and missionary faith. May all of us become the great beacons of God’s light and truth, His love and salvation, that we may be the bearers of His Good News, His love and grace into this world. May God bless us all in our every good efforts, actions and endeavours, and may He lead us all into the glory and joy of eternal life. Amen.

Liturgical Colour : Green

Dear brothers and sisters in Christ, this Sunday all of us are reminded to sow the seeds of faith within us, the seeds that the Lord has given and sown in us through His Word. Through His Son, Our Lord and Saviour, Jesus Christ, all of us have received the Word of God’s salvation, His truth and Good News, manifested before us. He is the Sower, Who has sown the good seeds within each and every one of us, in this fertile field that is this world. All of us who have heeded His call and received His truth and Good News should endeavour and do our best to make this faith within us to grow and to prosper so that everyone who knows us and all those who witness our works and actions, interacting and dealing with us will come to know that we truly belong to God, and know Him through the fruits of our faith, richly shown and grown from our fertile selves.

In our first reading from the Book of the prophet Isaiah, we heard of the Lord speaking to His people through Isaiah, Who mentioned interestingly of how His Word would be sent into this world the way that rain and snow descend from the heavens to the earth, which was indeed a premonition and prefigurement of what was to come. The Word of God, the Divine Word and Son of God, one of the members of the Holy Trinity, was truly incarnate and made flesh, becoming the Son of Man, just as the Lord Himself predicted, coming into this world to fulfil His will, that is to bring about the full and complete reconciliation of all of God’s beloved people, all mankind, by bringing all of them close to Him through His adoption of our human nature, making His love to become tangible, accessible and approachable to us.

And truly His coming into this world has brought about a great change to all things, just as St. Paul poetically described it in our second reading today, in his Epistle to the Church and the faithful in Rome. The Apostle spoke of the coming of the salvation of God, which had been sent into our midst, and how through Christ, Our Lord and Saviour, all of us have received the pledge and assurance of eternal life, if we keep our faith and trust in Him. Each and every one of us as Christians have received this truth and Good News from the Lord Himself, passed down through His Church, and in us we have received the wonderful words of grace and hope, and the promise of eternal life, although at the moment we may be facing a lot of hardships and struggles, challenges and trials in life, as we continue to live our lives in our world today.

That is why all of us should heed the words of the Lord Who reminded each and every one of us that all of us should indeed welcome the words of God’s truth and Good News into our hearts and minds, as all of us have been made to be the bearers of His words and truth, His teachings and His ways, the seeds of faith that He has sown in us. By His patient love and care, He has given us all the provisions to help us in our journey towards full and complete reconciliation with our loving God and Creator. He has sown in us the seeds of faith, on what is hopefully a fertile place where those seeds can grow well and strong, and became in us the foundation for the faith that is both vibrant and strong, enduring and lasting, and faith that inspires others all around us, which therefore becomes faith that is truly living, real and genuine within us, and not faith that is mere formality and dead.

This is where that famous parable of the sower can enlighten us, as we are reminded of what happened to the seeds that sower had sown, and fallen in different places. As the Lord Himself explained to His disciples, that the seeds that landed by the roadside are like those who heard the word of God and then allowed the devil and all the evil ones, represented by the birds that came to eat those seeds, to take the gift of faith and the words of God away from them. We also heard how those seeds that fell on the rocky and barren ground could not grow properly or have roots that support them well, and hence were the plants were scorched and killed, as a reminder that if we do not provide the good conditions in our lives, in our way of living and in our attitudes in life, then it may be rather difficult for us to grow in faith and commitment to God, and it may be difficult for us to remain firm in our path of righteousness and faith.

Then, we also heard of those seeds that fell in the midst of the brambles and thorns, the weeds that choked the life out of the germinating seedlings and plants. Those are indeed the temptations and the things present all around us which may cause us to be swayed and tempted into the wrong paths in life, where the faith and the truth of God’s Good News within us may not be strong enough for us to restrain ourselves and to resist those temptations. Only the seeds that fell on the rich and fertile soil managed to grow into healthy, great and fruitful plants, those that bore fruits thirty, sixty and even hundred-fold of what had been planted there. The Lord Himself told His disciples that this is what happens to all those who received the word of God, internalised and understood them, and allow the message of the truth and their faith to transform them, that they all grow magnificently in their lives with faith.

Brothers and sisters in Christ, this is why all of us are called and reminded to provide a good and fertile ‘soil’ for these seeds of faith, which means that we should do our very best to nurture in us a good and worthy attitude in life, disposition and focus, so that we may truly prioritise what is truly important in our lives, that is our faith in the Lord, Who should also be the main focus and emphasis of our every lives. Our actions, works and interactions should all be linked and focused on the Lord such that in our every words, deeds and actions, in all the things we say and do, we will always proclaim the glory of God and do things for His greater glory, and for the good of everyone, and not just for our own selfish desires and ambitions, unlike what many people all around the world tend to do. We must provide therefore this ‘fertile’ ground upon which our faith may grow and blossom, and we need to make the effort to do so.

That is why all of us should do our best to nurture our faith and our love for God, so that in each and every moments of our lives, we may come ever closer to the Lord and His truth, His compassionate love and salvation. All of us should always strive to be fruitful in our lives and faith, that by our every good works and actions, we may truly be faithful disciples and missionaries of our Christian faith, that through us, many more may come to be saved. May the Lord be with us always and may He help us and strengthen us in our path so that we may continue to bear richly the fruits of our faith. May God bless our every good efforts and endeavours, now and always. Amen.