General. The supplication made to God this Sunday is that He might be our strength due to our weakness. We recognize that our weakness is a result of our sins, or lack of keeping God’s commandments, so that we pray God in this Eucharist to help us with His grace to be pleasing to Him in our will and doings. The Christian’s food is always to accomplish God’s Will before all else.

Exodus. In setting up camp beside the mountain, the Jews witnessed to their state of security and stability. God felt their willingness to hear His Word and presented them with a summary of the scope for his intervention. He wanted them to lead a holy life in universal priesthood, as a holy nation dedicated to Him. It is not strange, then, that whenever they departed from His ways, God lifted His protective arm from the Jews and they had to spend decades in woe and total abjection.

Romans. St Paul here gives his conception of Christianity in a nutshell. Christ has spoken to humanity both by his death and by his life. The Christian walks in Christ’s steps in dying for his enemies, the same way as Christ died for us when we were sinners. Pagans too die for their friends, but who is ready to die for his enemies? Before his death, Christ taught us to love our enemies and that way to sustain eternal life within us. His teachings foster within us the grace that comes with baptism if only we follow them.

St Matthew. The prophetic mission of Christ was at first limited to lost sheep of Israel but was soon extended to pagans and Gentiles after his resurrection. The problem with these lost sheep was that they seemed like not having anyone to lead them, being forsaken by their shepherds. This is a lesson for priests and committed Christians more than anyone else, to search for lost souls and conduct them back to God. Vocations need be heeded to even in fulfilment of this behest alone. Sophisticated parish organisastion is unwarranted unless it is addressed to the aim of conversion.

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