Liturgical Colour : Green

Dear brothers and sisters in Christ, today as we listened to the words of the Sacred Scriptures, we are reminded that all of us as Christians, as God’s people, we must be ready to face difficulties, challenges and persecutions in life, as our ways of life and in how we believe in the Lord, we may not be in accordance with the beliefs and ways of the world around us. And that is why throughout the history of the Church, Christians of all walks of life have endured great sufferings and persecutions, challenges and trials amidst the varying levels of persecutions against the Church and the faithful. At the same time, we are reminded to stay strong in our faith and not easily give up the struggles and efforts because ultimately, the Lord is always with us and He will always be by our side providing for us for all that we need.

In our first reading today, we heard of the passage from the Book of the Maccabees in which the moment when the Maccabean Rebellion began in a town known as Modein in Judea where a priest known as Mattathias and his sons, later known as the Maccabees, lived in. And as we heard, the representative of the Greek Seleucid king Antiochus IV Epiphanes went there as the same thing had happened everywhere else in that king’s dominion, enforcing the king’s harsh demands that they all should abandon their own faith and beliefs, and offer instead sacrifices and worship the pagan gods and deities of the Greeks. It was there and then at Modein that those who wanted to remain faithful to the Lord and those who were willing to bend to the wishes of the king came to struggle for the first time.

And as we heard, Mattathias refused the generous offers of the king for him and his household, despite offering them all very great riches and wealth, prestige and power as the friends of the king, a truly powerful position at that time. But he would not be deterred or dissuaded by the offers, persuasions or coercions from the king’s representative. His courage and zeal which he showed afterwards are reminders for us all that we should also show the same kind of faith and commitment to God in the face of challenges and adversities just as Mattathias and many others of our predecessors had shown us all throughout the Scriptures. Each and every one of us as Christians should always be good role models, examples and inspirations ourselves in all the things that we say and do, in leading lives truly worthy of God.

Then, from our Gospel passage today, taken from the Gospel according to St. Luke the Evangelist, we heard of the lamentations of the Lord Jesus Himself as He lamented over Jerusalem, representing all the lack of appreciation and gratefulness for all that God had done for His beloved people, as those same people persecuted the ones that He has sent to them to remind them and to gather them all once again to His loving Presence. He has sent His many prophets and messengers to remind His people of their wrongdoings and misdeeds, but instead of appreciating what the Lord had done for them, they hardened their hearts and minds, persecuting and even murdering those who had been sent to remind and help them all. That was why they had to endure sufferings and hardships later on, them and their descendants.

This reminds us all, as God’s beloved and chosen people, we must always strive to be good and worthy examples of what the Lord had taught us to do, in even the smallest and seemingly least significant of things in our lives. That is how we can be good examples and role models for everyone around us, to our family members and friends, to everyone whom we encounter in life, even to strangers that we may have met in our journey. We should always remind ourselves to be steady in following the path which the Lord has set for us, showing our light in everything that we say and do, at all times. We must never think that we cannot do great things for the Lord, as even things we may think to be small or insignificant may in fact unexpectedly impact greatly on others all around us.

The problem is that many among us as Christians have not lived our lives in the manner that the Lord has taught and shown us, with many of us professing to believe in one way and yet acting in a completely different manner, refusing to be accountable for our own actions and words. Some of us even caused hurt on others around us in our pursuit of selfish desires and ambitions, and unfortunately, some of these actions, desires and ambitions they are themselves part of our role and ministry in the Church. And many around us can perhaps testify to this unfortunate and sad reality which have caused so many people to be scandalised and turned off by our lack of accountability and genuine faith in our actions, and how we tend to contradict our own words and beliefs. This is not what we should be doing in our lives, brothers and sisters in Christ.

Brothers and sisters in Christ, today let us all therefore reflect carefully on what we have heard in the message of the Sacred Scriptures and all that we have just discussed about those readings. All of us should always remember that as those whom God has called and chosen to be His own, our responsibilities and callings are even greater because it is to all of us that He has revealed Himself, His truth and everything that He has taught and shown us through His Church. And it is important that we should strive to embody our faith in our daily actions, words and deeds or else if we do not do so, then we will end up even causing scandal or problem to our Church and faith in God. We have indeed the capacity to show God’s love manifested in us and our actions, or to be like those who are no more than hypocrites in their faith, and the choice is ours to make to choose our path in life.

May the Lord our most loving God and Father continue to provide us with everything that we need, in remaining strong, courageous and resolute in living our lives full of faith and love for the Lord. May He continue to empower each and every one of us so that by our constant and persistent dedication, our ever stronger commitment to glorify Him by our lives, we will be good role models, examples and inspirations for everyone around us. May God bless us all and our every endeavours, our good efforts and works at all times, and may He strengthen us in our every moments in life. Amen.