Liturgical Colour : Green

Dear brothers and sisters in Christ, today as we all listened to the words of the Scripture we are reminded of the need for all of us as Christians to be vigilant against the attempts by the devil and all those who oppose the Lord, in trying to subvert us and turn us away from Him through lies and deception. We have to remain faithful to the Lord and focus on Him, and the best way for us to do this is to deepen our relationship with God through prayer, as we heard in our Scripture passages today.

In our first reading today, we heard St. Paul the Apostle in his Epistle to the Church and the faithful in the city of Corinth, reminding all of them to be focused on the truth of God and not to give in to the efforts of those who tried to bring about our downfall through falsehoods and heretical teachings, by which even that early in the history of the Church, the Church and the faithful had been badly affected by the false prophets and teachers who claimed to know the truth and yet spread false teachings and ideas against the true faith.

When St. Paul mentioned that he has the jealousy of God seeing the faithful agreeing and following the teachings of the false preachers and heretics, and ranted on regarding how while he was perhaps not as good as the other Apostles, but he still laboured among them, preached the faith in their midst and others that he had done. And he said all these because he was indeed frustrated at how easy the people had been swayed by the false truth, and how, despite all that the Lord had done for their sake, they readily abandoned Him for the falsehood of the devil.

This is because mankind is often too easily swayed by the temptations of their desires, their ambitions and pride, which often became obstacle in the path they walk towards God and His salvation. There are often too many distractions and also attempts by those who sought to lure us into paths that seemed to be easier and more profitable and enjoyable for us, and yet, which will lead us into the path of downfall and eternal regret. And all these are possible because our faith in the Lord is not strong and we do not have strong relationship with Him.

Brothers and sisters in Christ, how can we build up a genuine and strong relationship if we cannot even spend quality time and put the effort to build that relationship? And the first and best way that we should do is to pray and spend our time to pray sincerely and fervently, for it is through prayer that we communicate with the Lord and come to know His will. And through prayer, we can attune ourselves better to Him, and learn to trust Him better and to treat Him as our true Lord and Master, as One Whom we truly know.

That is why in our Gospel passage today, we heard the Lord’s Prayer, the most ideal form of prayer, one that is not centred on ourselves and on our own selfish desires and wants, unlike what many of our prayers are like, but rather, centred and focused on God, with the emphasis on listening rather than speaking, for after all, God knows everything that is inside our hearts and minds. He is all-knowing and all-powerful, and we do not need to tell Him what we need. In fact He knows better than us what we truly need.

Brothers and sisters in Christ, let us all turn towards the Lord now with a renewed faith and zeal, and endeavour to follow the Lord wholeheartedly and faithfully, at all times. We should spend more time and effort in prayer, reaching out to the Lord and allowing Him to speak to us in the depth of our hearts. This is why we need to do what we can to live a most prayerful life, where we spend quality time with the Lord and seek Him with all of our might and sincerely strive to walk in His path at all times.

May the Lord be with us all and may He strengthen our faith, and may through our prayers, we will get ever closer to Him, and endeavour to do His will, at all times, and following in the footsteps of the Apostles, like that of St. Paul and others who have given their all for the glory of God. Amen.

Liturgical Colour : Green

Dear brothers and sisters in Christ, today as we listened to the words of the Lord reminding us to be faithful to Him, to His Law and commandments, that we will truly be faithful to the Lord not just in name only but also in spirit, and truly appreciate and understand the meaning, intention and the purpose of the Law and the commandments of God. The Lord has called us all to follow Him, and we ought to walk in His path sincerely and with genuine love and commitment for Him.

This means that we should not just obey the Law for the sake of obeying it, or doing so without understanding the true meaning and intention of the Law. Or else, we will end up like the Pharisees and the teachers of the Law, many of whom enforced a strict interpretation and obedience to the Law, its rules and regulations, and yet, failed to understand and appreciate that the Law of God was meant to lead God’s people to Him and to teach them all to love Him and to be filled with love, to know love and to practice love in their lives.

In our first reading today we heard the words of St. Paul in his Epistle to the Church and the faithful in the city of Corinth, reminding them and all of us that we have received the truth of the Lord from none other than Christ Himself, and through the Holy Spirit as passed down to us through the Apostles and the Church. What was unknown to the people of the past, as highlighted by the figurative ‘veil of Moses’ has been made known and revealed by the revelation of Christ, the Saviour of the world. The Lord is no longer hidden from us and He has made Himself known to us.

And therefore, all of us as Christians we have been blessed to know the Lord much more personally, to recognise His truth and to know His love, to be at the receiving end of that love. Do we realised then just how blessed and beloved we are, brothers and sisters in Christ? Or do we still take it for granted that we have been so fortunate? This is what each and every one of us need to reflect as we discern our path in life. We have to be faithful ever more in our every actions and deeds, in our every interactions with one another, that we truly embody our Christian faith and truth.

In our Gospel passage today, we heard the Lord speaking to the people and to His disciples that they ought to be faithful and to follow the Lord more faithfully than the Pharisees and the teachers of the Law, for those people only applied and understood the Law superficially and did not truly love the Lord from their heart. Their actions and obedience to the Law came about because they were swayed by their pride and desire for worldly glory and praise, their influential and powerful position in the community among others.

The Lord told them all that to be faithful, one must really understand that the Law is truly about love, showing and teaching us how to love one another just as we also ought to love the Lord wholeheartedly, more so than we love ourselves. If we love ourselves too much, like that of the Pharisees and the teachers of the Law, then we will realise that we may have no place for God and for others in our hearts and minds. That is why we need to get rid from ourselves the excesses of our human pride and desires, that we may come to realise God’s love and what we all need to do to be faithful to Him.

Let us all therefore be true Christians in all of our words, actions, dealings and interactions, showing love and concern for one another, and be willing to forgive one another our faults and mistakes towards each other, just as the Lord Himself has loved us and is willing to forgive us our sins despite our numerous faults, mistakes and trespasses. This is why, brothers and sisters, if we do not know how to live our lives as Christians, then we do not need to look further than the Lord Himself as our example, and also we have the amazing saints, our holy predecessors, whose lives can be inspiration for us to follow.

May the Lord be with us all and may He strengthen us that we may always be faithful and may grow ever more in love towards Him. May He guide us and give us the encouragement and the energy to persevere through the many trials and challenges that we may have to face in our respective journeys of faith. May God bless us all, now and always, forevermore. Amen.