Liturgical Colour : Green or Red (Martyrs) or White (Priests)

Dear brothers and sisters in Christ, today as we all listened to the words of the Sacred Scriptures, we are all reminded that as Christians, as God’s holy and beloved people, each and every one of us are parts of the one Church of God and we all share together the mission of the Lord in reaching out to more and more people all throughout the whole world. All of us should continue to follow the Lord’s calling and embrace whatever missions that He had entrusted to us. Each one of us have the shared responsibility to proclaim the Gospel, the Good News of God to more and more people so that they may come to know of the Lord and that they may be inspired to follow Him and be saved together with all of us. All of us are called to continue remembering what the Lord has taught us and to follow Him in all of that. 

In our first reading today, taken from the Epistle of St. Paul the Apostle to the Church and the faithful in Galatia in what is now part of Turkey, we heard of the continuation of the story which the Apostle had told to the people of Galatia regarding his past experiences and journeys, on how he was sent to proclaim the Word of God to the people of various places together with other Apostles and disciples like that of St. Barnabas, and how he had various encounters and experiences with all those people whom he had met. He also recounted his experiences in meeting the other Apostles of the Lord in Jerusalem and Judea where many of them were based in, and how there were tensions within the early Church and Christian community because of the disagreements among those who sided with the view of St. Paul and the majority of the disciples and those who came from the strict Jewish background on the matter of whether the Jews and non-Jewish people among the faithful should mingle together or not.

Those who came from the strict Jewish background such as from among the members of the Pharisees and the teachers of the Law held very exclusivist view of the faith, and demanded that the Jewish customs and practices ought to be followed. On the other hand, St. Paul the Apostle championed the view that in order to reach out to the Gentiles or the non-Jewish people, the Church could not demand such unreasonable things from the non-Jewish people and in fact the faithful as a whole because the extent in which the Law of God was observed and practiced by the Pharisees and the teachers of the Law were very excessive, superfluous and extremely demanding, especially for the non-Jewish people to adapt, and hence St. Paul lightly rebuked St. Peter who was afraid offending those converts from the Jewish people and hence appeared to follow their ways.

Then, in our Gospel passage today, we heard from the Gospel according to St. Luke in which the Lord told His disciples how to pray when they asked Him about it, and He taught them to pray the prayer we all well know as the Lord’s Prayer or the Pater Noster. Through this prayer, the Lord wanted to remind His disciples and hence all of us to continue to remain connected and attuned to the Lord, by constantly communicating with Him through prayers and other means, and growing ever stronger in our love and devotion to God. How we pray is also important, as the Lord has also criticised the Pharisees and the teachers of the Law for having made long prayers and saying litany of self-praise and glorification, and yet, they did not truly focus their attention and hearts towards the Lord.

This is why, as we all listened to these words from the Sacred Scriptures today, we are all reminded that we should always put our faith in the Lord as the focus and emphasis of our lives, and we must be careful that we do not allow ourselves to be misguided by our pride, ego, desires and ambitions around us which may lead us into our downfall and destruction. We should not easily be tempted to follow our own ideals and ideologies, but learning instead to trust in the Lord and in everything that He has taught, provided and revealed to us. We should continue to grow in our relationship and connection to God, spending good and quality time with Him, listening to Him speaking in the depth of our hearts, our minds and our beings, humbly obeying Him and His will.

Today, the Church also celebrate the Feast of great and holy men and women, holy saints and people dedicated to God whose lives and actions can be inspiration for each and every one of us to follow in how we ourselves ought to live our lives with faith and devotion to God. First of all is St. Denis, Bishop of Paris and his companions in martyrdom during the late Roman Empire. At that time, Christians throughout the Empire were under intense persecutions from the state during the reign of the Roman Emperors who were often violent in their attempt to destroy the Church and eradicate Christianity. St. Denis was the Bishop of Parisiorum, what is now Paris, the capital of France. He faithfully and courageously ministered to the faithful during those difficult moments, during the harshest persecutions.

Eventually, the persecutions under the Roman Emperor Decius and his successors caused many of the local Christians to be martyred and lost their lives. The authorities also arrested St. Denis and his companions in martyrdom, and after a long period in incarceration in prison, he and the other Christians were eventually led to the highest hill in Paris, a place now called Montmartre, which literally meant ‘Mountain of Martyrs’ in memory of their courageous defence of their faith and martyrdom. It was told that after he was beheaded, St. Denis did not die immediately and miraculously he continued on preaching, taking up his beheaded head and walking from the place of his martyrdom to the place where now stands the Basilica of St. Denis, the place where he was buried.

Meanwhile, the other saint celebrated today is that of St. John Leonardi, an Italian saint who was the founder of the Clerics Regular of the Mother of God of Lucca. He was the youngest of seven children and has always been devoted to the Lord since his youth, ever seeking consolation and refuge in God through prayer and meditation. Eventually he was ordained a priest and together with several other priests, he ministered to the people and reached out to many to strengthen their faith in God, especially during the time of confusion, division and hardships in the Church, being part of the Counter-Reformation efforts against the various heresies and the corruptions facing the Church and Christian faithful at the time. He propagated strong devotion to the Blessed Virgin Mary and also the popular Forty Hours Devotion to the Blessed Sacrament, which he continued on after he had established his congregation, inspiring many to follow in his examples and efforts as well.

Brothers and sisters in Christ, as we have all discussed through the messages of the Scriptures and from the life and examples of God’s holy saints, namely that of St. Denis and his companions in martyrdom, as well as St. John Leonardi, all of us are reminded that we have been called to share in the journey and faith of our holy predecessors, those who had also encountered lots of difficulties, challenges and obstacles in their own lives. Yet, we must remain strong in faith and we must not allow ourselves to be easily swayed by the temptations and pressures all around us, that we may continue to embody our faith in the Lord ever more worthily by our dedication and commitment to Him. We must be missionary and evangelising in each and every moments of our lives, and even in the smallest and seemingly least significant actions that we do.

May the Lord our ever loving and compassionate God continue to guide us in our respective journey in life, so that we may always continue to be faithful and committed to Him. May He continue to bless us in our every good efforts and endeavours to follow Him and to obey His Law and commandments, and to do what is right and just in accordance with His will. May God bless us all in our every efforts and endeavours, and continue to encourage and strengthen us in all the struggles and in persevering through the hardships and difficulties in our journey towards Him. Amen.