31 August 2024 – 22nd Sunday in Ordinary Time (Year B) (Sunset Mass)

by Fr Joachim Robert

Dear brothers and sisters,

Today in our Gospel, we read that the Scribes and the Pharisees come towards Jesus and gathered around Him. And after gathering around Him, they noticed that some of the practices were not according to their traditions. And then they come and ask this question to Jesus:

Why do they eat without washing their hands?

And as we look at the Gospel today, dear friends, and we reflect further and gets deeper into the situation of that time, what comes to realisation, what comes to mind is sometimes we can be like the Scribes and the Pharisees. That we follow the traditions more than what the Lord is asking us. We follow everything according to the law but deep down our hearts are far from the commandments of God. Our hearts are unable to recognise God’s presence that is dwelling in our lives. 

And very often, when we are confronted with that kind of situation and when we reflect deeper in our lives, we come to realise that we are not rooted in God’s word, not rooted in God’s commandment. Because when we just follow the law for the sake of following the law without understanding the meaning and the symbolisms behind what we do, then our belief, our faith, is just mere following like the rest. There is no deep encounter, there is no deep relationship that we build with Jesus.

And today as Jesus looks at the Scribes and the Pharisees, He points out to them that just as they clean the outside of the cup, they too need to clean the inside as well. Because when we follow or just follow in the commandments without understanding why we ought to follow those laws, we do not root ourselves in God’s word, we do not root ourselves in God’s commandment. And that does not lead us to freedom.

If we want to follow God’s commandment, dear friends, we must allow ourselves to be transformed by the word, we must allow ourselves to be changed and molded and renewed by His spirit so that we are able to show our love for God more and more and not just merely following rules.

When we are confronted with situation, if our lives are not rooted in God’s word, if our heart is not clean, if our heart is not pure, if our hearts are not attuned to God’s commandments, then when circumstances and challenges come, we just wither away.

In the First Reading from the book of Deuteronomy, Moses says to the people:

Now Israel, take notice of the laws and customs that I teach you today and observe them that you may have life and may enter and take possession of the land that the Lord, the God, the Father is giving you. 

The Lord promises, dear friends. God wants us and wants to lead us towards eternal life, towards the Promised Land. But because of our own perception, with our own situations of life which clouds our way of being, we are unable to take this step forward because we refuse to clean ourselves, refuse to clean our hearts, refuse to transform our lives, refuse to circumcise our hearts so that we are able to attune our life with God’s will and God’s plan.

But today Jesus invites us. Jesus invites us to take a step further and to make that transformation of life. And that transformation of life must come because of God’s love for us and our love for God.

And today as we had the Family Day, there were so many opportunities for people to come together and to celebrate this as one community of faith. We come because we believe in Jesus, we come because we love this country and we come to pray for the country. And coming together in this celebration of life and praying for the nation and for us as a community, we have to come to realise that we need to have that transformation of heart.

Because when we are transformed from within, the Lord leads us towards Himself. And we need to be focused on Jesus who is the bread of life. And we need to understand, as the Gospel Acclamation says today:

Your words are spirit, Lord, and they are life. You have the message of eternal life.

We must allow ourselves, dear friends, to be transformed by the word of God, to be rooted in God’s word, so that we are able to take that step forward in faith.

In the parish, there are so many ways that we grow in inclusivity, care and unity.

The month of August was the month where we strive to grow in inclusivity. And come September 1st, moving forward, we strive to grow in the aspect of care. And the third month, in October we strive to grow in unity. And different, different ministries are called to come together to work and strive towards inclusivity, care and unity.

And as we strive to move, there are many, many challenges that is before us. There is so much of things to do as a parish. There are so much of things that we can do as a community of faith, caring for one another, nourishing our knowledge about God, nourishing ourselves with the Eucharist and to move together as one community of faith. But in order to move in inclusivity, care and unity, we need each and every one of you to allow ourselves to be transformed and molded by God’s word, to be rooted in God’s word and to clean our externals of the cup and also the internal of the cups.

Sometimes, dear friends, our experience of the past clouds us from moving forward. And today’s Reading invites us to allow ourselves to be transformed, to be cleansed by God’s word and God’s promises.

And the Second Reading today invites us as well to accept and to submit to the word of God that has been planted in us.  And when we submit into God’s word, when we submit into God’s life, then we see God’s reign in us.

And today’s theme that we have, that we have taken for ourselves is: Embrace my word, act on it and care for those in need.

Let us strive, dear friends, to embrace God’s word and to allow it to take root in our lives. And when we allow God’s word to take root in our lives and we act on it, we become beacons of hope, we become beacons of charity and beacons of love towards one another. And that must impel us to move outwards and to care for those around us.

So as we begin this journey of care in September, we ask the Lord to transform us, mold us and shape us more and more into His image and allow us this opportunity to be converted towards the image of Christ through our baptism.

Click below to listen to homily and watch video:-

Click to live-stream Mass on 31 August 2024