It is 20th September 2018. We celebrate the memorial of St Andrew Kim, Priest and Martyr and he is the patron of Korea, while St Paul Chong, a Martyr along with 103 Companions are venerated by the faithful of Korea. These are the Korean martyrs who witnessed for Christ in Korea. The readings are from 1 Corinthians 15:1-11; and the Gospel from Luke 7:36-50. Faith is not merely a gift from God and it is also the apostolic tradition handed over to the Church. The Kerygma which means preaching that describes the content of the apostolic message of Jesus. St. Paul stresses in the Romans 10:14 that preaching is essential and necessary for people to believe in Jesus and be saved. The core message of the Gospel is that Jesus died for our sins and risen from the dead and He still lives among us through the power of the Word of God, the Sacraments of the Church and the sanctifying ministries of the Church. Either we live in sin or we are prone to sin as long as we are human. Sinless life is the ideal life we all aspire daily yet we regret to admit that we have been tempted and invaded by sins without making any effort to commit sin. In most instances, we embrace sins to appease the selfish desires or the sin itself wounds our souls by moving in without any prior warnings. The elements and environment of sins are avoidable yet unnoticeably we are drawn to fly pass it. We know that we cannot save ourselves when we are addicted to sins. We need the saving power and healing presence of Christ who died for our sins. St. Paul boldly acknowledges that Christ’s death and resurrection are redemptive to the wounded humanity. The witnessing faith is that saves us. A mere proclamation does not suffice for the sustenance of the human soul. St. Paul mentions a few apparitions of the Risen Lord that are not reported anywhere in the Gospel. Faith with the actions are indeed transformative personally and communally. More we feel the unworthiness of the intervention of the Risen Lord in saving us, more we go out of our ways no matter who criticises our faith. The responsorial Psalm praises, “Give thanks to the Lord for He is good.” (Ps.117:1). We have a concrete example of Jesus forgiving the sins of a lady who acknowledged her sinfulness by anointing the feet of Jesus in the Gospel. When we have learned to ignore the unfair criticism of the people during the process of our personal conversion, we would just do the right to be near Jesus and forgiven by the Lord. More we repent, more we are blessed by the Lord. The more we humble ourselves, the more we are forgiven by the Lord. Our preaching cannot attract anyone without the works of charity. The charitable and humanitarian works are the proofs of our faith in Jesus who believed in the saving and healing actions through out His life time until He was ascended to Heaven. Even if we think, someone does not deserve our humble services because of the reasons we hold, yet the bruised and battered Jesus who lives in that person truly deserves it. The world today needs more Christians with the heart of Jesus. May we become one and thus we make the message of Christ come alive in our communities. May you have a good day.