Memorial of St Charles Lwanga and Companions.
3rd June 2021.
WE ARE CALLED TO LOVE THE SAME WAY GOD LOVES US.
Dear brothers and sisters in Christ, today the word of God is talking about love. One of the reasons why God created us is to love him and to show the same love to others. Hence, it is important for us to know that we are all creatures of love, created out of love by God Who loves us all very much, and then called to love in the same way.
The first reading today is about the story of Tobias and his meeting with Sarah, who was to be his betrothed and eventually got married to each other. Tobias was the son of Tobit, an Israelite living in exile in Assyria. After listening to the prayers of Tobit and his daughter, God sent the Archangel Raphael to rescue them. Tobit was afflicted by blindness while his daughter was tormented by a powerful demon.
The Archangel Raphael cast out the demon and no harm came to Tobias unlike all the previous occasions when Sarah was with all of her previous husbands. Tobit also got healed from his blindness. It was there then that Sarah's family accepted Tobias and decided to give her to him as his wife.
Through this story, we hear of God’s love for all of us, the love and mercy which He showed to Sarah, who had been suffering under the tyranny of the demon Asmodeus. We also see the love that grew between Tobias and Sarah, as they came to love each other. This is a reminder for all of us to have love in us, to be genuine in caring for one another, and to be centred in God in all things.
In our Gospel passage today, Jesus was met by a teacher of the Law who wanted to know what is the most important commandment in the whole Law. The Lord revealed the true intention of God’s Law, that God loves each and every one of us. And He wants us to practice and show that same love towards Him and towards our fellow brothers and sisters as well.
We need to be generous in our love and in reaching out to those who especially have been ostracized, rejected, and unloved. This is our true calling as Christians, to be a people beloved by God, filled with His love, and be exemplary in our love towards each other.
Today, we celebrate the feast of saints whose life and devotion to God, commitment to the faith, and love for one another should be a great inspiration to all of us. St. Charles Lwanga and Companions, the Holy Martyrs of Uganda were courageous and faithful servants of the Lord, who were killed for their faith in Uganda, during the early years of Christian mission in that area.
The king saw the increasing conversion to Christianity among his people as a threat to his own power and influence and began to persecute Christians throughout his realm. But St Charles Lwanga and his companions remained faithful to the Lord despite the persecutions and sufferings they encountered. They refused to obey the king’s debaucherous desires and shunned down his wicked actions.
Brothers and sisters in Christ, we can see how great the love that these martyrs had for the Lord and His laws, that they remained firm in the faith despite all the trials and sufferings they had to endure, and they also cared for one another. We are called to have self-love, to love God, and to love others. Mother Teresa says if we judge people we shall not have an opportunity to love them.
I wish you all a blessed day.
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