Home coming

Prophets are not without honor expect in their hometown and among their own people.
In today’s gospel, we see Jesus coming to his hometown Nazareth and preaching the good news and doing miracles and wonders among his people. But his people rejected him saying, “We know him. His brothers and sisters are living among us. His father is Joseph the carpenter and His mother is Mary”. They ridiculed and rejected him.

Once all the intellectuals and scientists came together and decided saying, “we can do anything and everything. We discover and invent. We make and destroy things and we don’t need God anymore. So they called God and said, “god, we don’t need you anymore because we can do anything and everything without you. God accepted their conclusion and said, before I go away from you, “I would like to test you. Yes, can you make man as I did” they said, ‘it is every easy. So one of them bent down and took a handful of dirt to make man and god said, “Stop… right there. It is my dirt. Make your own’

We all need God and without him, nothing is possible. We may build and reshape things, we may discover and invent things but without god, we are nothing.
The people of Nazareth rejected Jesus because He was preaching about the love of God our Father. He asked people to love god with their whole heart, body and mind. He said that our God is not a punishing god but forgiving and forgetting god. He love never ends and His forgiveness has no limit.

Once an older woman came to a priest after Mass and said, “Father, last night Jesus appeared and talked to me. The priest looked at her and said, “That is wonderful. God bless you and go home” but she insisted and said,, “Father, Jesus talked to me last night” then the priest said to her, “the next time, when Jesus appear to you, just ask him about my sins”
Then she didn’t show up for two weeks and when she came again, the priest looked at her and asked, “Did Jesus talk to you and did you ask about my sins”. She said, “Yes, father, I did and what did he say, he said, he forgot all your sins”

Yes, our God not only forgives our sins and he also forgets all our sins. When Jesus preached the love and forgiveness of God, the people of Nazareth made fun of him saying he is just like you and me and then rejected him.
They did not accept him because he asked them to love neighbors and others as themselves.Once a rabbi asked him disciples, “how do you know the night is gone and the day is here?”
One of them said, “When you can distinguish a goat from a sheep in the distance then you may say that the night is gone and the day is here. The other said when you can distinguish a fig tree from a peach tree in the distance then you may say the night is gone and the day is here. Every one came up with different answers and the rabbi was not satisfied and answered saying if you see the face of your brother or sister in any human being, then you may say that the night is gone and the day is here”

Unlike the people of Nazareth, let us love God and accept others and thus celebrate our life each and every day. Amen.

The Scripture has been fulfilled in your hearing

Today the Scripture has been fulfilled in your hearing.

Today’s gospel says that Jesus went to synagogue on the Sabbath, as was his custom. Yes, we are basically spiritual beings and are called to deepen our faith in him each and every day. One of the questions from the Baltimore catechism is, “why did God create us?”
God created us to know him and love him and thus to prepare ourselves to enter into heaven, our eternal home.

After twenty-years, a man for the first time went to confession. When he entered into the confessional, he was surprised to see so many delicious chocolates on one shelf, on the other many magazines and on the other side, cigarettes and cigars and the confessional chair was also very comfortable and good. He then said to the priest, “father, I haven’t been to confession over twenty-years and I never thought this much change. Then the priest said to him, “get out… that is my side”.

One of the Ten Commandments says, “Keep the Sabbath holy”. When we come to Church on Sunday, we not only keep the commandment of observing the Sabbath holy but also build our faith community by helping others to know the love and kindness of God our father.

Once a family called me in Peterborough and said, ‘Father… we are not going to come to your church anymore and I asked them why and they said, “Because, somebody took our seat last weekend and we used to sit that place over twenty-years”.

God called us in a special way to continue the mission of our Lord Jesus. We are called to spread the good new of love and forgiveness of the Lord.

Today’s gospel says when Jesus stood up to read the scroll of the prophet Isaiah was given to Him, and he opened the scroll and read, “the spirit of the Lord is upon me, because he sent me to preach the good news to the poor, heal the sick and give sight to the blind. And after reading, He looked at the people and said, ‘Today… the scripture has been fulfilled in your sight.

Yes, every time, we come to Church and share the communion, we are given the grace and blessing to say, The Good news is fulfilled in us. Every time we say Yes to God’s love, Every time we say yes to love others and forgive their wrong doings, the good news is being fulfilled in us. Amen.

Water into wine

Water into Wine

Where there is faith, there happens miracles and wonders. Where there are you and me who believe in the love and kindness of God, there we meet Jesus the miracle man.

Once a woman came to a priest and said, “father, my husband won ten million dollars in lottery but I am afraid to let him know because of his heart condition, please help me”. The priest said, “It is not a big deal, I can talk to him” then the priest looked at the man and said, “Joe, I have a question for you. If you will, let us say, or you won ten million dollars, what will you do?” the man thought for a while and said, “Father, if any miracle happens like this winning ten million dollars, I will donate five million dollars to the Church”. Imagine what happened, “the priest took a heart attack and died”.

In today’s gospel, we come to know the first miracle of Jesus that happened in Cana of Galilee. He does miracles and wonders for people who were longing for happiness and joy, who longed for a new beginning and meaning in their lives.

Miracle happens for those who have faith in Jesus. Every time, people came to him seeking healing and miracles, all Jesus asked them was, “Do you believe?” and then he said, “according to your faith, it will be done for you and go in peace”.

Once a man confessed his spiritual journey and said, “When my wife got cancer, I tried all my best to heal her with different medical treatments and we prayed to God night and day but nothing happened and my wife who battled with cancer for five years died and I stopped believing in God and miracles. Because no miracle happened and then one day, I met with a spiritual master and shared my story and he looked at me and then asked my wife’s death, I said, “on the day, she died I was with her. She looked so calm and peaceful and she said, “Thank you Joe for travelling with me and I am happy to go now”. Then the spiritual master looked at me and said, “Joe, you said that you don’t believe in miracles but you yourself became a miracle for your wife. You helped her to pass from this life to the next peacefully. You helped her to experience happiness and joy before her death”.

Yes, miracles are happening each and every day but we struggle to recognize them. We expect for miracles not realizing that we ourselves are miracles of God.

When Jesus touched the water, it changed into wine. And we are all in a special way touched by the love and kindness of God our father through Jesus the Lord. And we are his miracles who can make a different in people’s lives. Yes, today people are looking for love and forgiveness. They are looking for miracles and wonders. And let us be their miracles and let them know that God loves them all without condition. Amen.

Baptism of the Lord

Baptism of the lord

Today the Church celebrates the feast of the baptism of the Lord. When Jesus was baptized in the river Jordan by John the Baptist, the gospels say that the heavens opened and there came a voice saying, “this is my beloved son with whom I am well pleased. Listen to him”
Jesus began his public ministry, right after baptism, calling people to be his disciples and healing the sick, and preaching the good news to all.

Once a catholic priest, an Anglican minister and a protestant pastor met together to talk about bats problems in their churches. The Anglican minister said, “I tried all my best to chase the bats away from my church but they keep coming and I don’t know what to do”. Then the protestant minister said, “I even took all the bats outside of the town and threw them away but they keep coming. I don’t know what to do” And at last the Catholic priest looked at them and said, “I used to have bats problem in my church but not any more. They were all gone” the Anglican and the protestant ministers looked at the catholic priest and asked, “Please tell us what you did?” He looked at them and said, “I just baptized them all and they never came back”>

Baptism means Rebirth: through the sacrament of baptism one becomes a child of God. The original sin is being washed away by baptism and he becomes a new being.
Baptism means initiation: through the sacrament of baptism one is being initiated into the Church. He becomes a member of the holy Catholic Church that was built by the love and kindness of our lord Jesus Christ.
Baptism means consecration: Through the sacrament of Baptism, one is being consecrated into the church given power and authority to go everywhere to preach the good news of our lord Jesus Christ and let them know that God never stops loving them and thus bring them back into the fold.
Baptism means empowerment: through the sacrament of baptism, one is being empowered by the Holy Spirit.
Conclusion: on the day of our baptism, God said to us, “you are my beloved children with whom I am well pleased. As we are celebrating the feast of the baptism of the lord, let us recommit ourselves to keep our baptismal promises namely loving God and our neighbors. Amen.