Liturgical Colour : White

Dear brothers and sisters in Christ, today in our Scripture passages which we have heard, we are all reminded of the need for us to restrain our human desires, pride, ego and greed, all the ambitions and worldly glory that we seek, which may lead us down the path towards ruin and destruction. We must always be mindful that if we allow our worldly and human ambitions to lead us in our lives and actions, then we may end up falling into sin, and end up losing our focus and emphasis on God, as we may end up falling into the trap of our pride and ego, and be swallowed up by the desire to satisfy our own wants and greed for pleasures and attachments for worldly things. We may end up rejecting God’s generous offer of love and kindness, and instead preferring the illusory pleasures of this world around us.

In our first reading today, taken from the Book of the prophet Samuel, we heard about the moment when David, the famous and great King of Israel sinned once again against the Lord, when he decided to launch a great census of the whole entirety of his kingdom, counting all the number of the people, especially the ones who are able to bear weapons and fight, and as we heard in that passage, a truly large number of people were counted by Joab, David’s commander and right-hand man, and this was David’s folly in putting his trust more in his worldly power, glory and greatness. While it may not intrinsically be wrong for a census to be carried out, which is often done by many states and countries periodically to allow for better assessment of its resources and taxes, but in this context of David carrying it out, it was a show of pride and arrogance that because God has blessed him with so much that David became temporarily swayed by all that power and worldly glory.

But in that same passage we also heard how David quickly realised his folly and mistake, and begged the Lord for forgiveness, humbling himself before Him. God was indeed ever generous and forgiving, and He forgave David from his sins. But there were still consequences that David had to bear for his mistakes, as a consequence to his poor choice of actions. We heard how David sought for him to be struck by the hands of God rather than by human hands, and that was how pestilence spread throughout the land, and the Angel of God almost destroyed Jerusalem until God withheld His punishment and judgment, sparing Jerusalem and all of its inhabitants. Through what we have heard, we are reminded that after all, no matter what kind of worldly glory and power we have, God still reigns and have dominion over all things.

This means that we should not allow ourselves to be easily swayed by the many desires and ambitions, all the temptations of pleasures and the various other corruptions present all around us. We should always be vigilant that we do not let all those things from misleading us down the path towards ruin, just as David had done. David had mostly been faithful to the Lord, and save for this occasion and the other one when he planned the death of Uriah in order to gain Bathsheba, Uriah’s wife to be his own wife, he has mostly been faithful and committed to the Lord. Yet, as the evidences showed that even this man of faith and obedience to God could still fall into the same temptations and commit grievous sins against God, and hence, we too may encounter the same problem as well.

In our Gospel passage today, we heard of the time when the Lord Jesus was teaching in the synagogue, which was likely in the region of Galilee near where Jesus hailed from, the small town of Nazareth. That was why we heard how the people recognised Him and then became judgmental of Him because they deemed that His supposed parents and family were humble and did not have good status in the community, as His father St. Joseph was just a carpenter, and His family members were living in the region. To the people at that time, which is something that is still true to this day, one’s background and pedigree are often taken into account and determine whether one is respected, honoured or despised and rejected. Hence, in this case, those people doubted the Lord simply because they all thought that His background was rather too humble and insignificant.

The Lord also lamented this fact, and told the people how the prophets and messengers of God from earlier times also faced similar problems, all ultimately because those people to whom they had been sent to, were easily judgmental and biased, and refused to believe in the truth of God. They often chose to dwell in their own prejudices and judgmental attitudes to others, instead of allowing themselves to listen to reason. This was why they ridiculed the messengers of God, the prophets and ultimately the Lord Himself, because they likely thought that they knew it all better, and that they could not have been wrong in their paths and ways. Unfortunately, this hardened and closed their hearts and minds from God’s grace and love. This is not something that we all should be doing in our own lives.

Today, the Church also celebrates the Feast of St. John Bosco, a well-renowned saint whose life and dedication to God had been a great inspiration for many people throughout the Church, and many were touched by God through this great man’s life, works and dedications to the missions entrusted to him. St. John Bosco was renowned for his efforts in reaching out to the less privileged, especially to the juveniles and youths who had been neglected and ignored by the community, all those who had suffered from problems and various challenges in life. He himself faced a lot of hardships and struggles in his youth, having been born amidst times of famines and poverty among the people, and his own family had to endure many losses, including that of his own father early on when he was barely just two years old.

Yet, all those hard life experiences did not make St. John Bosco bitter and angry at his conditions. In fact, that might very well had laid out the foundations for his passion in reaching out to the less fortunate people around him later on, especially those neglected and delinquent youths he dedicated his life to minister and care for. St. John Bosco also experienced personally the bad attitudes the people of his age and older when he was still young and in school, and all these experiences would shape his way of thinking and also encourage him to reach out to those youths to prevent them from falling into the path of vices and wickedness of the world. Eventually, he was called to follow the Lord and become a priest, and was eventually ordained as one after many years of struggles and hardships.

And as a priest, St. John Bosco devoted himself quickly to the poor and marginalised, those who were experiencing things that he and his family had experienced themselves. He reached out to the less fortunate and the suffering ones in his community and parish, and eventually established the Oratorio of St. John Bosco, which was a charitable institution designed to care for the needy and delinquent children so that their needs may be taken care of and that they might be properly mentored and guided to prevent them from falling down the wrong path in life. St. John Bosco dedicated a lot of time and efforts to care for all those people, and helped them to remain in the right path throughout their lives.

Brothers and sisters in Christ, today we are all reminded by what we heard in the Scriptures and the life and examples of St. John Bosco that we should indeed be inspired by the good examples of our holy predecessors, who have dedicated and committed their lives in service to the Lord. Let us all hence do our best to live our lives worthily in the Lord’s Presence, and do what we can so that by all of our actions and every moments in life, we will always glorify the Lord by all of those worthy and good actions. May the Lord be with us always, and may He empower us all to walk in His grace and love, now and always. Amen.