Liturgical Colour : Green

Dear brothers and sisters in Christ, today as we listened to the words of the Scriptures, speaking to us about God Who leads all of His people back to Himself as our Shepherd, as He showed us all the path to return to Him and to once again be worthy of His grace and love. The Lord has always reached out to us, and ceaselessly tried to be reconciled with us. He seeks for us to turn away from the path of sin and ruination, revealing to us His truth and love, so that hopefully we may embrace Him wholly and completely, and renewed once more in faith.

In our first reading today, we heard of the words of the prophet Micah speaking of the Lord’s love for His people, as the Shepherd for them, guiding them once again throughout their lands, providing and caring for them as He has always done. The prophet Micah spoke of the Lord’s great and generous love, His mercy and compassion which He has always shown to the people. At that time, the people of God were wayward and unfaithful, preferring to follow their own paths and ways rather than obeying and listening to God. The Lord sent Micah and other prophets to help them all find their way towards Him.

The prophet therefore reminded the people of God’s love and at the same time also presented their petitions and prayers, asking the Lord for the forgiveness and mercy, that He might once again look favourably upon them, though they all had sinned against Him, rejected Him and been stubborn in their rebellion against Him. The prophet was also calling on all the people to embrace the right path, abandoning their sinful and wicked way of life. And the Lord Himself told us the same thing when He came info our midst, through His Son, Our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ, that we heard in our Gospel passage today.

In that passage today, we heard the Lord speaking to His disciples and followers regarding the matter of obedience to God and in following Him and the Law of God wholeheartedly. And while His family was waiting outside for Him, the Lord uttered those words. On a glance, it may seem that the Lord was being rude to His parents and family, but in fact, what He was saying was that while He honoured and respected His mother and His family, but it does not mean that He was restricted and limited by the ties He had with His family. He made Himself available to all of us, and called us all to follow Him, and to do the will of God. That way, we become the brothers and sisters in God’s great family, the Church.

All of us are reminded to turn towards the Lord with renewed faith and commitment, doing whatever we can to glorify Him by our lives. If we are faithful to the Lord and if we do what we can to follow Him, then the Lord surely will also protect us and give us His blessings and graces. But that depends on us whether we want to commit the effort and time to walk in the path that God has shown us. More often than not, we prefer to walk down our own path and follow the whims of our desires and the many temptations of this world rather than willing to listen to the Lord or obey His commandments and ways.

As long as we continue to be stubborn and to resist the Lord then there can be little progress that we can make in our journey towards Him. Each and every one of us are called to open our hearts and minds, and allow the Lord to come into them, so that He may touch our hearts and minds with His love. We should also strive to get to know the Lord more so that we may be better able to live in the manner acceptable to Him and worthy of us as Christians, as those whom God had called to be His own people. All of us should seek the Lord with renewed faith and commitment, and we should begin from ourselves and our own lives.

Therefore, brothers and sisters in Christ, let us all do our best to entrust ourselves to God and to do His will. Let us all do what we can in serving Him and in glorifying Him by our exemplary lives and actions. All of us should do what we can to proclaim the Lord, His truth and love to all those whom we encounter through life. We should allow the Lord to lead and guide us down the path of righteousness, and help us to remain true to Him, in all the things we say, do and act, in all of our interactions with our fellow brothers and sisters, and even strangers and acquaintances all around us.

May the Lord continue to guide us and strengthen us, in each and every opportunities and times that He had granted us, so that we may live ever more worthily as those whom the Lord had called and chosen. May all of us and our lives be good inspiration for one another, and may we draw ever closer to God, now and always. Amen.

Liturgical Colour : Green

Dear brothers and sisters in Christ, today as we listened to the words of the Scriptures, we are presented with the need for all of us to believe and trust in the Lord, and not be easily swayed or concerned, worried or afraid because of the threats and challenges that we have to face in life. We have to keep our faith in the Lord firm and strong, or else we will easily fall into the temptations to sin and to do what are against God’s will, His Law and commandments. As Christians, we should entrust ourselves in the Lord and believe that in Him there is always hope and way out of our predicament, and in the end, we shall triumph together with Him.

In our first reading today, we heard from the Book of the prophet Isaiah regarding the words that the Lord delivered through Isaiah to king Ahaz of Judah. Back then, at that time, king Ahaz was one of the kings of Judah who was considered as one of the unfaithful and wicked kings, whose lack of faith in God led to the Lord speaking through Isaiah to deliver the famous prophecy of the Virgin who would give birth to a Son, the Saviour of the world, Emmanuel, as a sign for all the people of God to see. King Ahaz’s lack of faith in God made this happen, as God would prove to him and the people that what He said would come true in the end, as we now know it had happened the way the Lord decreed it.

In this occasion mentioned in the first reading today, we heard of the time when the kingdom of Judah was threatened by the combined forces of the northern kingdom of Israel, the forces of the king of the Arameans and all those who worked together to destroy the kingdom of Judah and Jerusalem. Israel and Judah, the two halves of the ancient kingdom of David and Solomon had long been locked in a bitter struggle for dominance and control, and this time, it seemed that Judah was doomed because of the forces arrayed against it. Hence, king Ahaz and the people fell into worry and fear for their fates.

God therefore reassured Ahaz and the people of Judah, and chided them for their lack of trust and faith in Him. They preferred to consult with pagan gods, idols and seers, or settle through worldly means and arrangements rather than to turn towards their Lord and God, Who had helped their ancestors and freed them from the land of their slavery, and God Who had also provided for His people, protected them and guided them. He told them of what He would do in defeating the forces of Israel and Aram on behalf of His faithful ones in Judah, and at the same time also warning them that should they themselves fell into the same path of unfaithfulness, they too would endure the same fate.

In our Gospel passage today, we then heard the Lord Jesus proclaiming denunciations and rebuke over several cities and towns of Galilee, namely Capernaum, Chorazin and Bethsaida, and He said how all of those cities and towns were where He had performed many of His works and miracles, and where He had also preached and taught the people, and yet many of them still doubted Him and rejected Him, and some even persecuted Him and His disciples for presenting the truth to their midst. As such, when compared with what happened at the time of the old kingdom of Judah, the unfaithfulness of king Ahaz and the people, we can easily see a clear parallel.

What is the significance of all these Scripture passages to us, brothers and sisters in Christ? It is a reminder that each and every one of us as disciples and followers of Christ, we are all called to believe in God and His truth. All of us have to put our faith and trust in the Lord, and we have to walk ever more carefully and with commitment in His presence. We have to be careful lest we may be distracted and tempted to abandon the Lord’s path because of the efforts and machinations of the devil and his forces, all bent on trying to lead us down the path of ruin and damnation. Each one of us must resist those temptations and always strive to remain true in our faith and love for God.

Let us therefore turn towards God with renewed faith and zeal, and dedicate our whole lives with the aim of serving Him in each and every moments of our lives, in our every words, deeds and actions, so that through them, we may proclaim the truth of God in all things. Let us no longer worry or be afraid of what we will experience and what we will have to endure in our journey, as in the end, God will always be triumphant with us, and if we remain faithful to Him, then we shall share in His glorious inheritance and we shall receive from Him the promise of eternal life and true joy.

May the Lord continue to be with us always, and may He help and guide us to persevere through the many challenges in this world. Let us worry no more and believe in God, and hopefully through our own exemplary faith, many more people will come to believe in God as well. May God bless our every good works, efforts and endeavours, now and always, evermore. Amen.