Liturgical Colour : Green

Dear brothers and sisters in Christ, on this day we are reminded as we come to approach the beginning of the season of Lent tomorrow on Ash Wednesday, of the need for all of us as Christians to have a change of heart and mind, as the time of Lent is meant for us to reflect on our lives and our actions thus far, whether we have been faithful to God or whether we have been negligent in our faith.

In our first reading today, taken from the Epistle of St. James, we heard the Apostle reminding the faithful of the need for them to purify themselves, their hearts and minds from earthly desires and greed, as he mentioned how they bickered, argued, fought and ended up in conflict over certain things they wanted and desired, and when they prayed for what they wanted, they did so with those longing and desire, the cravings that are not compatible with our Christian faith.

St. James reminded the faithful not to put their emphasis and focus on worldly matters, as he put it plainly that ‘those who seek to become the world’s friend, is an enemy of the Lord’. What St. James actually meant here in the context of his time and his audience, is that we, as Christians, must resist the temptations present in our world today, especially since we are surrounded by so much materialistic lifestyle and the glorification of power, wealth, fame, and all sorts of things that we mankind often crave for.

For as long as our attention and focus are placed on those things, we will never be able to find true peace and we will not be able to connect meaningfully with God. And the reality is that we mankind can never be satisfied with all these desires and wants. As long as we have what we want, this will lead to us desiring for even more of what we have already had, the craving and temptation that will continue to grow as time passes. That is why we should then heed what the Lord said in our Gospel passage today, that our faith must be like that of the faith of children.

What did the Lord mean by that? It is the fact that a child is still innocent and pure, and the faith that a child is the purest that there can be among us mankind. For their faith and love for God has not been affected by all sorts of worldly concerns and desires that slowly crept into our minds and hearts as we grow up and become older. The Lord wants all of us to be true in our faith, and to purify ourselves from all the unhealthy attachments and obsessions we have, for all sorts of worldly temptations.

We are called to have once again, pure, unbridled faith in God, and to love Him with all of our hearts and with all of our might. And this is what we all need to take heed of, even as we proceed through towards the season of Lent. This holy and blessed time of Lent that begins tomorrow with Ash Wednesday, is the perfect opportunity for us to reorientate our lives and to rediscover the true faith and love deep within our hearts towards God. For all these while, they have been buried under layers of our worldliness, our desire, our pride and ego.

How do we then proceed, knowing that we need to get rid from ourselves all these obstacles and hindrances? During this upcoming season of Lent, let us all open ourselves to God more, allowing Him to enter into our hearts and trust in His guidance and providence for us. Let us make good use of the opportunity to be reconciled with God, by going for the Sacrament of Reconciliation to confess our sins and faults, that we may be forgiven and find peace with God.

And let us all also live up to the spirit of the Lenten season, by meaningfully practicing all the practices such as fasting and abstinence as according to the Church laws, and make good use of them to restrain our desires and wants, and deepen our relationship with God in the meanwhile by having a good and meaningful prayer life, that is opening ourselves to God and allowing Him to speak with us in the depth and silence of our hearts and minds. Let us also be more charitable towards our less fortunate brothers and sisters, that we may learn to be more selfless and to love more, rather than loving only ourselves and being selfish.

May the Lord continue to guide us throughout this upcoming season of Lent, that we may grow ever stronger in faith and that we may deepen our love for Him, and be ever more worthy of God with each and every passing moments in our lives. I would like to wish everyone, a good and most blessed and fruitful season of Lent ahead! Amen.

Liturgical Colour : Green

Dear brothers and sisters in Christ, on this day as we listened to the words of the Scripture, we have all been reminded of the great love of God for each and every one of us, and yet at the same time we are also warned of the dangers of our human desires and wants, our personal ambitions, ego and pride, which can lead us down the slippery path of sin that will make it difficult for us to resist the temptations to sin against God.

In our first reading today, St. James mentioned in his Epistle to the faithful, how God is ever good and ever loving, and if we put our trust and faith in Him, we will never be disappointed. And we should not say that temptations come from God, as indeed, St. James explained how temptations come from within us, through our desires and pride, ego and ambitions that twisted our thoughts, our minds and our hearts. And all those temptations and desires lead us to sin, and sin eventually lead us to damnation.

And this is what the Lord actually mentioned in our Gospel passage today, as He told the people who heard Him to be careful of the ‘yeast of the Pharisees’ and the ‘yeast of Herod’ and to keep their eyes open and be vigilant, that they themselves would not fall into sin and into damnation. What do these yeast of the Pharisees and of Herod mean, brothers and sisters in Christ? This is where we need to look deeper into the significance of why Christ brought these two up in His teaching.

First of all, the Pharisees were the powerful group of intellectuals and men of high social standing, for their ardent and often zealous and rigid adherence to the laws and customs of the Law according to Moses. The Pharisees were the enforcers and guardians of the tradition and customs of the Law, and they took great pride in having such a position and honour among the people. The Pharisees saw themselves as the guardians of the traditions and the people, and as such they zealously guarded their positions and ways.

And this is what the ‘yeast of the Pharisees’ is all about. It speaks of the pride and ambition, the ego and desire in the hearts and minds of the Pharisees to maintain their position and privileges at all costs, even in opposing the Lord and Saviour Who has come into this world bearing the truth and salvation of God. They would rather resist Him and oppose Him and His works, rather than to lose their authority, power, control and influence among the people.

This is how pride and ego, ambition and desire can be so dangerous, as indeed they can lead us to temptations, and being tempted to maintain our ego and pride, we will end up making actions that are not just contrary to our faith, but are even scandalous and directly opposite of what God has taught us to do. And this is what the Lord meant by the ‘yeast of the Pharisees’ that we, the people of God, must be careful and vigilant against.

How about the ‘yeast of Herod’ then? Herod was the king of Galilee at the time, and he was infamous for his adulterous relationship with Herodias, his own brother’s wife, whom he married when she was still legally married to Herod’s brother, Philip, who was then also still alive. Herod was overcome by his desire and greed, and sinned by his desires, which resulted in his adultery. And not only that, when he was hosting a party, Herod succumbed to this same desire even towards his own stepdaughter.

When the daughter of his brother and Herodias danced in the party before Herod and his guests, Herod was again overcome by desire and made vows and promises that eventually led him to cause the death of St. John the Baptist whom he had arrested earlier on. Herodias wanted him dead, and made use of the opportunity through her daughter to make the request to Herod, a request that he could not reject because of the vows he had just made earlier on.

Brothers and sisters in Christ, here we can clearly see how this ‘yeast of Herod’ and the earlier mentioned ‘yeast of the Pharisees’ are the same ‘yeasts’ that we also have in us, the yeast of sin, of pride, ego, ambition, greed and desire. We are always struggling with them and unless we make the effort to resist the temptations they caused us, we will likely fall into the slippery trap of sin, and become trapped further and deeper into the darkness, finally into damnation.

Therefore, all of us are reminded today to keep ourselves pure and worthy of God, resisting the temptations to sin and distancing ourselves from things that can lead us to immorality and actions that are against God’s will and ways. Let us all have the resolve to live our lives from now on with ever greater zeal and faith, focusing ourselves on living our lives with greater commitment to God in all the things we say and do, in our every actions and deeds.

May the Lord continue to guide us and bless us in everything we do, and may He strengthen all of us that we may be ever stronger in faith and be more capable of resisting the temptations in life, the ‘yeasts of Herod and the Pharisees’ as we have talked about earlier. May God be with us always, now and forevermore. Amen.