Liturgical Colour : Green

Dear brothers and sisters in Christ, on this day all of us are reminded by the words of the Scripture that we must have firm faith in the Lord, and place all of our trust and hopes in Him, that we will then have a firm foundation upon which to lay our lives upon. Without this secure and firm foundation, it is likely that we will falter and fail in life, and suffer the consequences of our own choice, our own unwillingness to put our trust in God.

In our Gospel passage today, we heard of the Lord Jesus speaking to His disciples on the matter of those who would enter into the kingdom of God and therefore receive the fullness of grace, as those who have built for themselves a firm foundation, which the Lord likened with a parable to a house built on the firm foundation of rock-solid stone, and those who have little faith and no genuine love for God as those who have built their houses on the foundation of sand.

By using those examples in the form of a parable, the Lord wanted to show that the Lord is the sure refuge and firm foundation of our lives, a firm foundation that surpasses any other foundations we may have in life. There is no greater assurance or source of hope or strength we may have besides that of the hope and strength we will find in God and gain through Him. Those whom the Lord said as those crying out ‘Lord! Lord!’ were also subtle rebuke against the ones who have acted pious and good outwardly, and yet, in their hearts and minds, God was not found in them.

Linking what we have heard in our Gospel passage to our first reading today, we have the narrative from the Second Book of Kings telling us about what happened during the last years of the southern kingdom of Judah, first under its penultimate king, king Jehoiachin, and then ended with the last king, Zedekiah. For some background of this narrative, king Jehoiachin ruled a much diminished kingdom of Judah that had become the vassal and under the influence of the neighbouring Egypt and the growing power of Babylonian Kingdom at that time.

Jehoiachin revolted against the Babylonian king, likely thinking that he could win his independence by depending on the backing from Egypt or from other additional allies. But he was very wrong, as none of his expected help came about and the king of Babylon came up to Jerusalem with a mighty army, and king Jehoiachin surrendered. Together with much of the population of Judah, the king and important people were deported to exile in Babylon.

And later on, his uncle king Zedekiah, who replaced Jehoiachin as king, would also revolt with the same reason, definitely not learning the futility of trusting in earthly powers and means rather than the power of God. That time, the king of Babylon destroyed the Temple, the city of Jerusalem itself and Judah, blinded Zedekiah, killed his sons and brought most of the population that remained into exile in Babylon, an exile that was to last for many decades.

This was exactly what building a house on the foundation of sand meant, as experienced by the sons and daughters of Israel themselves, as those wicked and sinful kings disobeyed God and worshipped pagan idols, choosing to trust in the power of foreign kings and earthly powers than to trust in God. The support of earthly powers, means and resources are unreliable and cannot be fully trusted, as they could change with the change of human desires and other factors often beyond control.

But if we trust in God, we will not be disappointed, as God will always be faithful to the Covenant He has established with us, and we need only to trust in Him to lead us down the right path. Surely, the path going forward will not be an easy one, but if we trust in God and place ourselves faithfully in His hands, we will be preserved and strengthened, and in the end, we will be triumphant together with Him.

Let us all from now on, deepen our faith in God and commit ourselves anew to Him, striving to spend more quality time with Him, through prayer and other actions glorifying His Name. Let us all put God at the centre of our lives and make Him our firm foundation. May the Lord give us His strength and the courage to be ever faithful, with each and every moments of our lives. Amen.

Liturgical Colour : Green

Dear brothers and sisters in Christ, today through the Sacred Scriptures we heard about the praises of the prophet Elijah as recounted by the prophet Sirach. In that passage we heard how the prophet Elijah had worked hard for the Lord and eventually was taken up into heaven at the end of his ministry. Then in the Gospel passage we heard the Lord speaking to His disciples and followers on the matter of how they ought to pray and then taught them His prayer.

Let us first begin with our first reading today, in which we heard the account of the life and works of the prophet Elijah. In that account, we heard a summary of Elijah’s many achievements during his ministry and how he laboured hard for the sake of God’s people, a most thankless and tiring task, as he was persecuted, oppressed and rejected by those same people that he had been sent to minister. He had to flee many times for fear of his life during his ministry, with many people opposing him.

The Lord had worked through Elijah, as he performed many wonderful miracles, as mentioned by the prophet Sirach, as he brought fire down from heaven to burn the sacrificial offerings during the trial of faith with the priests of Baal and his opponents, bringing down fire on the agents of the king who demanded him to come down from the mountain and see the king, to raising the dead child of the widow of Zarephath to whom he also showed God’s grace and love with the miraculous and endless supply of flour and oil for her family to eat and survive during the great famine and drought.

But the people would still not be turned by all these efforts, although some were definitely touched by the faith and the efforts of the prophet. Most of the people, like that of their king, Ahab, and his successors remained in sin, living in sin and continuing to worship the pagan gods and idols, save for Jehu, the successor of the house of Ahab, whom God had chosen to be the king of Israel, and whom Elijah had helped to put in place. In all these, we see how God has cared so much about His people, that He sent them a great prophet to help them and reach out to them, and in the end, when that prophet had completed his ministry, God also took him up into heaven for the greater glory of His works.

How is this related to our Gospel passage today? We heard of the Lord Jesus ministering to the people, spreading the words of God’s truth among them. He was the new great Prophet sent into the world, and His role was affirmed as at the moment of Transfiguration, the prophet Elijah and Moses appeared before the Lord and spoke to Him on Mount Tabor as witnessed by three of the Apostles. This highlighted the Lord as the fulfilment of all the prophecies, and He Himself, as the one and true Prophet of prophets, would complete God’s plan to save mankind.

The Lord Himself faced challenges, opposition, rejection and difficulties, just as the prophet Elijah and myriads of other prophets had experienced. But He still carried on His work and ministry, for the wonderful and enduring love which He has for each and every one of us, the sons and daughters of mankind. And He has always reminded His followers and disciples to focus their hearts, their minds and their attention on God, and the way to do this is through having stronger and more authentic relationship with Him.

And how do we do this, brothers and sisters in Christ? It is through prayer! Just as the Lord taught His disciples how to pray, the Lord’s Prayer composed by Himself as the inspiration and example of what prayers should be like, and what prayers are meant to be. Prayer is the intimate form of communication between us and God, for us to get close to God and to open ourselves to Him. But many of us often got it wrong about prayer, thinking of prayer as a means for us to gain ourselves what we want and need from God.

That is why when we prayed, many of us often ended up falling into the temptation of focusing on ourselves, looking inward and immersed in our ego, desire, pride and ambition rather than to focus our attention in God. The Lord Jesus taught us to focus our attention on God, to honour and glorify Him, to thank Him for all the wonderful blessings He has given to us, and to devote ourselves to Him, and then, surely, God will guide us and help us. And in prayer, we ought to open ourselves to the Lord, to listen to Him and to follow Him in whatever He wants us to do.

Let us all therefore deepen our relationship to the Lord, our Father through prayer and by drawing ever closer to Him. Let us all follow Him faithfully much as how the prophet Elijah had dedicated his life to serve Him, by doing what we can, in our own lives, in our own respective communities and places, to obey the Lord and to do our best in serving Him, at all times. May God bless us all, now and forevermore. Amen.