29 sunday- mission sunday

 

MISSION SUNDAY

Today we celebrate ‘mission Sunday”. On this day, we are called in a special way to pray for all our missionaries around the world. Let us remember them for their dedication and sacrifice to spread the Good news of salvation to all. Let us pray and remember that God may continue to protect them in their mission work.

Once a man prayed to God saying, “Dear God, the world is becoming a challenging place. Everything is getting bad and even because of corona, so many people are hesitant to practice their faith. Please send some one to bring your love and kindness to all”. That night God appeared to him and said, “I have already sent someone”. The man said, “who is that person, Lord”. God looked at him and said, “you are that person”.

By the very nature of Baptism, we are all called to become missionaries. We are called to share the love and kindness of God almighty and we are called to give hope and strength to people especially during this time.

In today’s gospel, our Lord Jesus Christ says, “Give it to Caesar what belongs to Him and Give God the things that belong to him. That enigmatic sentence increases our curiosity. What belongs to God then? You belong to God. We belong to God.

Once we know that we belong to God and God alone. And we are called to give ourselves to Him and thus become missionaries of Good news of salvation at home and abroad. God bless. Amen

CHRIST THE KING

CHRIST THE KING 

Once there lived two evil brothers and one of them died. So, the other went to the priest and said, “Here is million dollars and please say that my brother was a saint in your funeral homily”. The priest accepted the money and at the funeral, he said that the man who died was very evil. He abused his wife and children and he treated people badly and even killed and stole money from others. Then there was a pause and looked at the people and said, “But comparing his living brother, he was a saint”. 

Friends in Christ Jesus, 

Today the Holy Catholic Church celebrates the feast of ‘Christ the king”. Christ is our cosmic king who loves us all equally. There is no partiality in His kingdom. You can be rich or poor; sinner or saint; holy or unholy, His love towards you will never change. He is always after that one sheep that is lost.  

Once our teacher gave an unfinished statement that read, “If you were a king....and asked us to finish the sentence. And I wrote, “If I were a king, I would treat everyone as king”. I came up with that statement because of Christ. The king who was born like you and me, began to treat everyone king. You are so special in His kingdom. 

Once a king as he was returning to his palace, saw a poor beggar suffering in the cold and looked at him and said, “I see you suffering in the cold and wait here and I will send some sweater and comforter for you”.  

The king went to his palace and completely forgot of what he said to the old man outside. The next day as he was going out remembered about his promise and took some clothes for the old man who suffering in the cold. But unfortunately, the old man died of cold weather and he had a note in his hand. The king took the note that read, “Your majesty, I had been living outside in the cold weather over thirty-five years and the weather never bothered me at all. But yesterday you said that I was shivering and was cold and I believed it and was waiting for your help. You never came back and I died because of you. 

There were so many kings lived in those days and even today, we call them politicians, who make promise after promise but never keep them. They lead people to different reality. But on the other hand, there is a king who keeps His promise and does everything well for humanity. Yes, Christ the cosmic king does great things for us. 

1. Christ the cosmic king said, “I am your servant and I came to serve and not to be served”. In the time of Jesus, servants were not treated well. The owner of the house used to call everyone by name and even he would call his dog with proper name but not the servants. Servants were treated as subhuman, no name and no dignity. But Christ the king accepted to be a servant and thus He washed His own disciples’ feet. As He lowered Himself, God exalted Him above all else. He is our cosmic king and His kingdom has no end.  

2. Christ the king said, “I am the Good Shepherd and I lead my sheep to everlasting life” He calls us by name and feeds us with finest of all. Yes, He feeds us with unconditional love and unlimited forgiveness. 

3. In today’s gospel, as Christ the king was hanging on the Cross, a thief is stealing his heart saying, “ Please remember me in your kingdom” and Christ says that that would be with Him in paradise. 

Conclusion: 

His kingdom is heaven and where there is love, there is God and where there is God and that’s called heaven. So, let us extend our love and experience heaven every day. God bless. 

33 sunday-a

Once a rich man who was a millionaire, stood in front of the parishioners and testified his faith. You know what, I was a poor man once. I used to make a dollar a day. One day, I went to church and there I heard a missionary priest talking about his challenging work in foreign land. On that day, I decided to give it all to God’s work or nothing at all. So, I decided to give the whole dollar to God. And because of my decision, God highly blessed me today. Yes, I am a millionaire and so rich. Then the whole congregation applauded, and as he took his seat a little old lady rose and said, “I dare you to do it again”.  

Friends in Christ Jesus,  

Our Lord Jesus Christ who is the way, the truth and the life is always with us and asks us not to be afraid of anything. It’s because those who believe in Him, will be given more of everything and it’s because those who come to church and love with mind, body and soul will see and experience only happiness and joy and it’s because they will be given words and a wisdom to protect themselves and others. Yes, Christ becomes their stronghold and life. 

Have you ever heard about sleeper agent or sleeper cell? A sleeper cell is the one who remains dormant in a community until activated, by a prearranged signal, to perform acts of terrorism or sabotage. These days, there are sleeper cells in every community and its growing. They can be dormant for years and years until activated.  

What about holy sleeper cells? They are called not to cause destruction but to defend humanity, doing great things in the name of the Lord. 

The Holy Bible often talks about end-time, judgement and punishment. The Lord who was taken up to heaven, will be coming back. He is a promise-keeper and He will never fail to keep His promise and He is coming in an unexpected hour.  

And there will be signs before His coming, like the nations go against nations, people go against people, the sun will not give its light and the moon will be darkened. There will be natural calamities and disasters and so on.  

So, what should we do? Jesus says not to be afraid of anything but be ready to face them with courage and hope. A holy sleeper cell is the one who with the help of god, gets ready knowing words and a wisdom be given that moment of challenge to face anything and everything.  

All we have to do is keep ourselves stronger in faith. After all these challenges, the Lord will appear, not to punish us but to reward us. 

Once there was an old processional truck, a truck that was used in the church procession to carry the statues of Jesus, Mary and other saints, was sitting in a church parking lot and a new garbage truck that passed by, looked at the old processional truck and said, “By the way, how come you go into the street once or twice a year and every time, people see you, they bless themselves and I almost every day pass through streets and when they see me, they go away from me or close their nose? The old processional truck said, “It’s not about our outer look. It’s all about what we have inside of us. I carry god in me, and you carry garbage”.  

So, what we carry in us makes a huge difference to welcome the Lord our God on the last day. So, Let’s prepare our hearts and minds and welcome Him who is our way to the Father. Amen. 

32-sunday C

32 Sunday C 

Once two friends were talking to each other. One woman said, “you know what my husband is an angel”. The other woman said, “Wow...that is awesome, and I am so jealous. You are so lucky; my husband is still alive”. 

Friends in Christ Jesus, 

Lord Jesus Christ, the only Son of God says that being children of the resurrection, we cannot die anymore, because we are like angels and are sons and daughters of God. Jesus often says that He is the Resurrection and Life. Anyone who follows Him, will not die but have life, life that has no end. 

And that’s why every time, I celebrate a funeral Mass, I make sure that everyone understand that death is not extinguishing the light. It’s just putting out the lamp because the dawn has come.  

Once life asked death, “how come people adore me and they despise you?” Death said, “It’s because you are a beautiful lie and I am a painful truth”. For those who believe in Risen Christ, death is not a painful truth, it’s a beautiful truth. I hold so many dying people’s hand as they pass away. I experience about 99 percent of the people are so agitated. It’s because they struggle to understand the beautiful truth about death.  

There is a non-Christian story in which a woman comes to the holy man and says, “I know you have the power to raise the dead to life and my only son died. Please bring him back to life”. The holy man says to her, “Yes, of course I will raise your son to life. And all you have to do is, “Just find a house in which death never occurred and bring from that house a glass of water”. 

The story ends saying that the woman never returned to the holy man at all.  

But, for those who believe in Christ, death is not an end at all. It's a new beginning. In order to establish that new beginning, Christ called out Lazarus from the tomb. He raised the dead man to life in Nain and He said to that little dead child, ‘Talita kum”, namely little child, I order you, get up. 

In today’s gospel, a glimpse of truth is given namely after death, we all become like angels.  

What do angels do? They love God with who they are, and they become messengers of God, spreading that love and kindness to all. They become a bridge between God and human. 

If we want to be like angels, all we have to do is just awakening those angelic characters that are hidden in us. Yes, we have to love God with all our heart, mind and body and soul and love and accept others. We don’t need to fly to be angels. All we have to do is just walk with our own brothers and sisters in need. Amen. 

31- c

31st Sunday-C 

Once a mother was making pancakes for her children and the boys began arguing over who would get the first pancake. The mother looked at them and said, “If Jesus were sitting here, he would say, “Let my brother have the first pancake and I can wait”. 

So, the little boy looked at his brother and said, “You be Jesus”.Friends in Christ Jesus, 

Our Lord Jesus Christ is fully mercy and compassion. His love surpasses all else. Nothing can be compared to His unconditional love. He is slow to anger and ready to forgive. Even at the last moment, there is forgiveness. He looks at you as though you were the only on the planet. 

In today’s gospel, we meet with the tallest person in the bible.   

Zacchaeus became taller because of His determination to see Christ our Lord. As he decided to see Christ our Lord, he leaves behind his old ways and climb up in a tree and wait for Christ to come by. When we talk about God, we usually look up and this is the first time, we see how Christ comes by the tree and begins to look up for man. The whole nature of divine began to change because of Zacchaeus's determination to see Christ. On the other hand, Christ was the one who looked for Zacchaeus first. 

Zacchaeus became taller because as he came down from the tree, the first thing he said was, “ Lord, I will give to the poor half of my possessions and if I have defrauded anyone of anything, I will pay back four times as much’.  Because of his change of heart, he began to grow taller. Yes, he is the tallest man in the bible. 

Zacchaeus became taller when Christ said, “Zacchaeus, hurry and come down; for I must stay at your house today”. This is the only time, Christ invites himself to Zacchaeus place. I am going to come to your place and that brought so much happiness and joy to him. He instantly changed himself. 

Conclusion:  Jesus says that the son of Man came to seek out and to save the lost. If Zacchaeus becomes taller because of his determination and nature and because of his way of thinking and doing, anyone of us has the blessing to change and experience in new height in us. So, let us leave behind whatever hinder us from experiencing Christ’s love and kindness and his compassion and forgiveness and experience new height in life. Amen.