Liturgical Colour : Green

Dear brothers and sisters in Christ, today as we listened to the words of the Sacred Scriptures and as we gather to ponder on the meaning of God’s words, let us all remind ourselves of the need for each and every one of us as Christians to do God’s will and to obey His commandments. To each and every one of us have been given the means, the abilities, opportunities and the calling for all of us to make good use of what we have been given so that we will go forth and carry out what the Lord had commanded us to do, to glorify Him by our every actions, words and deeds in life, in everything that we say and do so that we may truly proclaim His Good News and truth to everyone whom we encounter daily in our everyday life. That is what we are expected to do as Christians.

In our first reading today, taken from the Book of the prophet Haggai, we heard of the words of the Lord directed to the leaders of the people of Israel in Judah, consisting of the leader of the House of David, Zerubbabel who was also the Governor of Judah, the High Priest and others, reminding them of the Lord’s will and the obligation they had in reestablishing the Temple of God in Jerusalem, after they had rebuilt the city and settled in nicely back in their homeland. Back then, the Israelites had been allowed to return to their homeland after lengthy period of exile in Babylon and other far-off regions, after the new regime of the Persians under King Cyrus the Great and his successors allowed them to reclaim their ancestral lands and worship the Lord once again.

The Israelites had been humiliated, faced great sufferings and challenges in their exile in Babylon and those distant lands, uprooted from their ancestral lands and made to be a nation without a home and having had their city of Jerusalem and its once glorious Temple, the one built by King Solomon for God, destroyed, ransacked and plundered. But God never forgot about His people and He continued to watch over them and through His guiding hands and the means known to Him alone, by leading and inspiring certain people, including that of the King of Persia, He eventually led His people, already repentant and regretful over their past actions and those of their ancestors, back to the land meant for them to stay and dwell in, and restored them to grace and blessings once again.

However, as mentioned by the prophet Haggai, the leaders of the people delayed and tarried in not hurrying to rebuild the Temple of God despite having the means and the resources to do so. The prophet Haggai told those leaders of the people that they must not indulge themselves with pleasures while the people of God was without the House and Temple of God’s Holy Presence where they could worship Him and focus their attention to Him in their lives. This was indeed of a paramount importance because understanding how the Israelites became scattered and exiled from their homeland, it was because of their lack of faith in God in the first place, and that was why there was indeed a need to restore God’s central place in the community.

Then, from our Gospel passage today, taken from the Gospel according to St. Luke the Evangelist, we heard of the words of astonishment from King Herod Antipas of Galilee, who wondered about everything which he had received regarding the miracles, wonders and works of Jesus, the One God had sent into this world to be the Saviour of all. Herod was surprised and amazed because what he had heard about Jesus sounded as if St. John the Baptist, the man of God and famous preacher that he had persecuted, arrested and unintentionally killed, had come back to life once again. That was because St. John the Baptist was indeed the precursor of the Messiah, the one sent by God to prepare the path for His Saviour. Hence, naturally, what he did would be similar and along the same manner and idea as that of the Lord Himself.

But what the Lord showed us all through all the works that He had done is the reminder for each and every one of us that we have been given the means and the abilities, the opportunities and the responsibilities to make good use of the various gifts given to us. All of us should always be ready and vigilant to be active in contributing and making use of those opportunities and blessings we have been given to do God’s great and wonderful works in the midst of our respective communities. And as it was said, that to those who have been given more, more would have been expected, therefore we are reminded that being Christians is not one of idle discipleship but instead one that is active and lived daily in our lives.

The question now is, are we all willing to commit ourselves to do God’s will, and to obey Him? Like the leaders of the people of God who had been chastised and reminded by the prophet Haggai, we must realise that each and every one of us have with us the important responsibility to make good use of the blessings, the opportunities and all the other good things that God has given and blessed us all with. We should always be aware of those opportunities and blessings that we have been given most generously by God and do our very best to use them well for the good of those whom God had entrusted to us, and all those we encounter in each and every moments of our lives.

May the Lord our God continue to help us in our journey and life, doing our best to serve Him and to do His will through each and every things that we do, in our every day moments even in the smallest things so that by everything we say and do, we will always glorify God and point the way for others to follow. Let us continue to be committed in our everyday living to be good and faithful Christians as always, and be worthy and shining beacons of God’s light in our communities. Amen.

Liturgical Colour : Green

Dear brothers and sisters in Christ, today as we all listened to the words of the Sacred Scriptures, we are reminded that as Christians, that is as those whom the Lord had called and chosen to be His own, each and every one of us are called to be good role models and inspirations in our faith, and especially more so for those among us who have been chosen for specific ministries and vocations in the Church, but this at the same time does not mean that for the rest of us as God’s disciples and followers that we should not also do our best to follow what the Lord Himself has shown and taught us to do in our every day moments in life. Each and every one of us also have the important obligation to carry out our lives in the manner that is truly pleasing and in accordance with the Lord’s path.

In our first reading today, we heard from the Epistle of St. Paul to St. Timothy in which heard the continuation of what the Apostle wrote to his protege, St. Timothy with regards to the matter of how one ought to lead a life of virtue and faith in God, especially for all those whom the Lord had called to certain ministries and called to be the ones to lead His disciples and followers, as St. Timothy and others had been called to do, as one of the first and earliest overseers or bishops of the Church, as the shepherds of the Lord’s faithful. These people had been entrusted with the gifts from God through the laying of hands by the Apostles themselves, and had received the wonderful gifts of the Holy Spirit, which St. Paul therefore exhorted St. Timothy and the other overseers or bishops to carry out dutifully in their lives and ministries.

Through what St. Paul shared to St. Timothy, it is a reminder that is truly essential for one to be truly committed and faithful to the mission entrusted to each one of us as Christians, as those whom the Lord had called and chosen to be His own. To each and every one of us, in our various and respective areas in life, we have received unique sets of gifts, talents, abilities and opportunities which we therefore ought to make good use of in our lives so that we may truly glorify the Lord in each moments and through even the smallest things that we do, by being ever more generous in how we give our time, effort and attention for the benefit of the salvation of many souls, of countless people whom we encounter in our lives, each day and at every moments.

In our Gospel passage today then, taken from the Gospel according to St. Luke the Evangelist, we heard of the moment when the Lord Jesus was invited to a meal in the house of a Pharisee, where His actions and words were carefully watched by the Pharisees who were present there, and we heard then of how a sinful woman came to the Lord, and her next action would baffle the Pharisees whose prejudices prevented them from truly seeing what the Lord had taught and shown them all those while. Christ, Our Lord and Saviour, has always shown His kindness, love and compassion towards all those who have lapsed and been lost amidst the sins and darkness of this world. He manifested God’s great and ever generous, enduring mercy and compassion towards each and every one of us.

As such, when the sinful woman came and appraoched the Lord, anointing His feet with expensive perfume and wet the same feet of the Lord with her own tears and wiped them with her own hair, this event was truly rich in symbolism, one that is contrasted with the pride, haughtiness and arrogance of the Pharisees. For the context, the Pharisees at that time were the religious and intellectual elites of the community of God’s faithful people, the Jewish people, and they liked to flaunt their piety and dedication to God for everyone to see. They prayed loudly and very visibly in public places, so that people would praise them and cheer them for their piety, and all these further fed their ego and ambitions, as they sought glory and fame amongst other things in their status within the community.

And on top of that, many among them also often had prejudices against those whom they deemed to be unworthy of God and His salvation. All these attitudes and actions were criticised by the Lord Who told all those assembled there that the ones who have shown greater repentance and been forgiven more will indeed be forgiven more such as what the sinful woman had experienced, and would indeed appreciate such forgiveness more as compared to the Pharisees themselves. It was a criticism directed against those religious and intellectual elites who knew nothing better than to criticise those whom they disagreed with, and those whom they deemed to be inferior and less worthy than they were. And in all these elitist and exclusivist attitudes, they had forgotten that they themselves were sinners in need of God’s mercy and forgiveness.

Brothers and sisters in Christ, therefore, as we all recalled the words of the Sacred Scriptures and as we reflected on what we have just discussed earlier, let us all continue to strive to be truly committed to God and to be truly humble in everything that we say and do. We should not be haughty or arrogant in our way of living, like those who have prided themselves in their ways, those Pharisees and the religious and societal elites who thought that they were better than everyone else. Instead, as Christians, as God’s disciples and followers, each and every one of us are challenged to be ever more humble and faithful in our ways. This means that in everything that we say and do, we should always seek to be humble and not be distracted by the many temptations present all around us.

Let us all therefore seek to be ever more faithful to the Lord and to the path which He has shown to each and every one of us. Let us always do our very best so that our way of life may always be exemplary and inspirational to everyone whom we encounter around us. May all of us follow the humility of the sinful woman who sought the Lord’s forgiveness and mercy, honouring and praising her through her sorrows and regret for her many sins. Let us all continue to follow the Lord ever more faithfully and strive our best to glorify God in each and every moments by our lives, now and always. Amen.