Fr. Paul P. Pang O.F.M.

A year has four seasons. But the liturgical year is divided also in various seasons. Starting with Advent, we have the Advent season, the Christmas season, then, after a short period of ordinary Sundays, normally after the Baptism of the Lord, we start the Lenten season followed by the Holy Week, the Holy Triduum and the happiest and the most important season of Easter. Continuing the Easter season we celebrate the Ascension of the Lord, the Descent of the Holy Spirit (which means the birth of the Church) and the Solemnity of the Most Holy Trinity. During the two weeks of the Holy Trinity we celebrate the Solemnity of the Most Sacred Body and Blood of Christ and the Solemnity of the Most Sacred Heart of Jesus.

As we can see, it is a series of joyous celebrations. But if we pay a little attention, we realize that the celebration of the Most Holy Trinity, namely the great commission for the Apostles to "Go out into the world and preach the Gospel to all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, teaching them to observe all that I command you!" Therefore with that commission the Church is meant to observe what Christ has commanded all nations to observe. In other words, the year is divided in two: the first six months, namely from Advent in end of November all the way to the Solemnity of the Holy Trinity sometime in the end of May or early June, we celebrate the great gifts that God has lavished upon us through the various joyous mysteries. But during the following six months, namely between June and Advent again in early December, we are asked to observe, to do and to practice. In fact for this year's Gospel readings, we started with the Sermon on the Mount of St. Matthew. The Sermon, normally termed as the Great Constitution of the New Kingdom or New Humankind, is nothing but rules and counsels for us new creatures to follow in our everyday life, in order to become genuine Christian disciples.

Indeed we need God's special grace to become good Christians if we want to neutralize first, and then to improve on the fallen nature that we inherited from Adam's fall. Through the Sermon on the Mount God intends to make us new creatures, moulded according to the spirit of Christ, the New Adam. Let us accept God's invitation and try to be His docile children. Amen.