Marriage is a sacrament

From the beginning of Creation, God made them male and female.

God created people in His own image and likeness. He created them male and female. And they were created to know God and love
others with the god-given gifts. The book of Genesis says that God made people from the dust of the ground and we should know
that we belong to God.once a man came to a spiritual master and said, "Master, help me to find happiness. my wife and I are like water and clay,
together we only make mud no life. The master looked at him and said, " because you are dust and unto dust you shall return.
Go and find what it means.2. In today's gospel, Jesus says that because of the hardness of heart, separation, divorce and enmity happen in humanity.
Where there is love, there is God and where there is God, there is heaven. When family keeps Christ at the center of their
life, then their family will be a holy family. Without Jesus, life will be meaningless.once a 98 year-old man and a 95 year-old woman wanted to get divorce.And the lawyer looked at them and asked “How long have
you been married?" They said, "75 rough and rocky years,. "Then, why have you waited so long to file for divorce?" They
replied, we don't want to give bad impression to our children and we waited for our them to die.According to our Catholic faith, Marriage is a sacrament directly instituted by our Lord Jesus Christ. Through the
institution of Marriage, the male and the female continue to experience the love of God in their good times and in bad and in
their sickness and in health. once a couple was being interviewed on their Golden Wedding Anniversary. "In all that time -- did you ever consider
divorce?" they were asked. "Oh, no, not divorce," one of them said. "Murder sometimes, but never divorce.heart is the symbol of love and forgiveness and when we make the sign of the cross, we touch the heart and say, in the name
of the son because Jesus was born man and experienced our human frailties. He is the source of all love. Jesus says when two
are in his name, there he will be with them. what is the secret for long lasting marriage? it is forgiveness, forgiveness and more forgiveness.they will say that marriage is a three ring circus... engagement ring, wedding ring and suffering. once a older priest was invited to say some few words on a wedding celebration and he who always used to qoute something from the bible said, " Father... forgive them for they know not what they do"Today let us ask God to bless every married couples and thus they come to know the value of the sacrament of marriage.

Those who humble themselves will be exalted

The secret of knowing Jesus personally

Today we are facing more violence and killing in the name of religions than any other human
cause. Today we are struggling with more religious problems than any other human issues.why
do we reject and fight with each other, Since all religions teach about love, kindness and
forgiveness?Because in one way or another, we are struggling to deepen and develop our faith in God.

The Bible says when everything failed, God at last sent His Only Son Jesus to save us.
Jesus, the only Son of God, the Messiah humbled himself to become man and thus He set an
example for us all.when we believe in Jesus, we will eventually become like him, humble, loving and forgiving.

once a minister was given an award for humility and a week later, the congregation took the
award back because he displayed the award in his office.

when we humble ourselves in the presence of God, then we will be exalted in the presence of
others.

There is a gospel story that says once two people went to pray to God, one stood in front
of the temple and with a loud voice said, "God, you know that i am a good man. I pray five
times a day and fast twice a week. I give ten percent of my salary to the temple and serve
and help others. he was so proud and everyone who walked by heard his prayers and the other
person who did not even raise his head, prayed to God saying, "God, i am a sinner, forgive
me" and then Jesus concluded his story saying the one who humbled himself would be exalted.
Humility transfers our worldly knowledge into diving wisdom. It teaches to accept all as
children of God and serve humanity with kindness and love.
one day a woman came to a minister and said, "every time I come to church, i feel so proud
of myself. By looking at others, I can see how beautiful I am, how gorgeous i am. is it sin
to feel that i am more beautiful than others?the minister looked at her and said, "in your case,it is not a sin at all. then he said, it
is a horrible, horrible mistake".

humility is the secret key to know Jesus personally and bring peace to this world. Humility
teaches to accept others as they are.

Once Winston Churchill was asked, "are you so proud of yourself that every time you make a
speech, the hall is overflowing, you get a big crowd?"Churchill said, "it is flattering. I always remember that if instead of making a political
speech, I was being hanged, the crowd would be twice as big."

In today's gospel, Jesus looked at the disciples who were fighting with each other for who
was the greatest and big and said, "whoever wants to be first must be last of all and
servant of all.Jesus the Only son of god set an example. He humbled himself to become man and then asked his disciples to follow his way. if we want to become like Jesus, then we should humble
ourselves and servants of all. Like our master, when we empty our humanity and humble
ourselves, we will be filled with divinity and be exalted. Amen.

He has done everything well

He has done everything well

once after their fiftieth wedding celebration, the man looked at his wife
and said, "honey, I am so proud of you". And the wife who was hard of
hearing said, "speak up, I can't hear you". "I said I am so proud of you"The wife answered "thank you, I am also tired of you"
In today's gospel, Jesus heals a man who was deaf and people who saw his
amazing wonders said to each other, "He has done everything well; he even
makes the deaf hear and the mute speak" and thus they were astounded beyonds
words.
In those days, in the time of Jesus, physical and mental challenges were
considered punishment of God. And thus they were rejected by family members
and society.The great philosopher Plato said, "challenged people were waste
of society and they should be thrown out from a mountain top".Then our Lord Jesus came saying, "we all belong to God.There is no
partiality in the sight of God. Our physical, mental challenges are for the
glory of God and thus He began to heal the sick, give sight to the blind and
make the deaf hear....
Once a man who was poor and had old torn cloths went to Church and people
who looked at him went away from him saying, "He smells bad and he has old
torn cloths on him" And after the celebration, the minister said to him, "
the next time before coming to Church talk to God and find out the dress
code" And the next Sunday also the man came with the same old torn cloths.
people rejected him and nobody shared even peace with him. After celebration the
minister asked him, "I told you talk to God and did you talk to him?" the
man said, "yes I did and He said he did not know the dress code of this
Church because he had never been to this Church".
By His miracles and wonders, Jesus wide opened the hearts of the people and
they began to see the wonders of God's doing and accept everyone as precious
child of God.
Once a man saw people eating grass by the side of the road and asked, "what
are you doing?" the guy said,"we are so poor and don't have anything to eat""get into my limousine and I"ll help you". the guy said, "I have a wife and
three children" "take them all with you" And they all got into the limousine
and thus he took them to his place.the guy with his wife and children
thanked him saying, "you are a very generous man and we thank you". the rich
man looked at them and said, " look at my place the grass is two feet tall,
go and eat them".
Many of us don't see the suffering of others because we are not experiencing
the healing power of God in us. Jesus heals us through His words and through
His Church.Ephphata or opening ourselves experience happens when we love others as we are.
once a salesperson saw an old man sitting on his porch and drinking and smoking in the morning without any worry or concern. The man approached him and asked, "Hi old man... you look so happy and what is the reason be to happy always?" the Old man looked at him and said, "I drink and smoke everyday and eat six times a day" and the man looked at the old man and asked, "by the way how old are you?" the old man said, "I am twenty-five".
Ephpata experience can happen to those who respect themselves and love others without conditions. So let us experience Jesus' healing in us and continue His mission by helping others to experience healing. Amen.