Easter

EASTER VIGIL
"When they entered, they did not find the body of the Lord Jesus."
And so the mystery begins to unravel. The women at the empty tomb are confused. "Who has
taken the body of their Lord?" And why would anyone do this? Where they have taken him? They are further confused by the angels' words:
Why do you seek the living one among the dead?

He is not here, but He has been raised.
Then the angels remind the women of what they already know:
Remember what He said to you while He was in Galilee,

that the Son of Man must be handed over to sinners and be crucified,

and rise on the third day.Then they remembered everything and began to celebrate the Resurrection of our Lord Jesus
Christ. Then the apostles and other followers went everywhere and proclaimed the Good News
to all.Today we are invited to remember the story of our salvation and the Good News that Jesus
Christ who was crucified is now risen. We are like the women standing in the tomb: we
remember, we believe and we celebrate our Christian heritage and identity.
1. Today we are in a special way called to remember that the Lord in whose name we were all
baptized is alive and is living among us. He is our God and we are His children.

2. And we are in a special way called to go everywhere and tell the Good News namely Jesus is
indeed risen and there is no more death for those who believe in His name.

3. Today we are called to remember that death was destroyed by His death and life was brought back by His rising.
Let us celebrate life not today or tomorrow but everyday and let us celebrate the Risen Christ who is the Alpha and Omega, who is our beginning and end and who is our life and light. And let us always remember that we are also risen in Risen Christ. Amen.

Good Friday

Good Friday

Today we celebrate Good Friday. Today we celebrate the death of our Lord and Messiah.
yes, we celebrate His death not because we don't feel the pain and suffering in us, not because
we don't have feelings and emotions and we celebrate because it is our salvation day. It is the
day we all came to know that we were all saved in Christ for ever. Once a man lived on selling eggs, chicken eggs and one day a man came to him and said,"Guess what I have in my hand""Give me a clue" said this man."I shall give you several. It has the shape of an egg, the size of an egg. it looks like an egg and
tastes like an egg. Inside it is yellow and white and it is, moreover, laid by a hen"Then the man who was living on selling egg said, "Now I know the answer. It is some sort of
cake".The expert misses the obvious and The pharisees and the scribes missed to recognize the
Messiah.The question today is how many Good Fridays we all faced in our lives. Every time we are
wrongly judged by others, we are criticized and put down for no reason, we go through
good Friday experience, yes humiliation, suffering and death.And every time you are socially rejected, economically controlled and culturally limited, we are
facing good Friday experience and at the same time, Good Friday was not the final day for our
Lord and Messiah. As he promised, he was indeed risen and He did indeed become the light of
the world and Lord of all.Our Good Fridays will eventually turn into bright and glorious days and on the day we will shine
like the sun and then every one comes to know that we are precious and important and we all
belong to the Lord who destroyed death by dying and by rising gave us all New Life. Amen.

SEE YOUR GIFT GROW

SEE YOUR GIFT GROW IN THE HANDS OF THOSE WITH THE LEAST

Today on the fifth Sunday of Lent, the Canadian catholic organization for development and peace celebrates solidarity Sunday or share lent. Each year particularly during this season the
development and peace organization invites us to reflect on the needs of the poor, the hungry,
the rejected and the exported of the global south.1. Once a father took his son to a poor family to show his son how the poor were living. Two
days after,while they were driving back home, the dad looked at his son and asked, "Son, what
did you learn from them?"The son looked at his dad and said, "Dad, I saw that we have one dog and they have four dogs.
we buy food and they grow theirs and we have walls around our property to protect us and they
have friends and neighbours who protect them". Then the son added, "thanks dad for helping
me to learn something from the poor.And the poor today are being exploited by many ways such as without education, medicine,
social welfare system and so on. Their lands are taken away from them without their control or knowledge. They are manipulated
and ill-treated in many ways. poor and marginalized people are being treated like unwanted
elements of society. And our development and peace organization is educating the poor to know
their basic rights and is motivating them to stand up for them. And we are really proud to be part of this organization.

2. There are so many governmental, religious organizations are highly involved in eradicating
hunger around the world. Every time we say "NO" to wasting our food, wasting our resources,
we in one way or other help the hungry. In many countries, women and children walk up to six
hours a day in finding of water, about a billion people go to bed without food every day.Once all the animals gathered together and talked about their problems, one animal said, "our
forefathers had enough food to eat and lots of water to drink, now we don't have enough food
or water". Then another animal came forward and said, "we all struggle to breath because of
pollution and heat". So they came to a conclusion saying, "we should eliminate the most
dangerous animal from us". Then a baby donkey looked at his dad and asked, "Dad, who is the
most dangerous animal living on earth?" The donkey gave a big sigh and said, "human beings are
the most dangerous animals on earth... my son. they are are".The bible says when God created the world, He saw everything good and was happy. This god
-created world is being ruined in many ways by human selfishness and greed. If every one loves
god-created world and help each other, we can wipe out poverty and hunger from the face of the earth.

3. Today as we celebrate solidarity Sunday, the gospel reading focus on respect and love of others especially people who are rejected and exploited by society. Jesus says those who didn't sin, cast the stone. So let us not judge others because of their sufferings; instead let us lend a helping hand to improve from their situations. Let us help people and stop poverty, hunger and suffering. Anything we do to the least of our brothers and sisters, we do unto the Lord. Amen.

THE OTHER SON

THE OTHER SON

Today we are celebrating the fourth Sunday in Lent. And today's gospel talks about the story of
the prodigal son. we often hear about the compassion of the father and the return of the son; we
hear about the forgiveness and acceptance but today I am going to talk about the other son who
stayed behind with his father, being obedient and faithful. The son who did everything well
according to his father's expectation.
When the second son asked his dad to divide his property, there was no help from the other son. He didn't share his wisdom and knowledge with his brother or helped him anyway.
Once a man called Joe who had a neighbour who never went to Church or practiced faith. While on Sundays Joe went to Church, his neighbour went fishing. Every time, the man saw Joe, he said, "come on Joe, let us go fishing" and Joe used to say, "No, I am going to Church". And one day, the man looked at Joe and said, "Every time I go fishing, I always invite you and how come you never invite me to Church".
Many people stopped coming to Church for various reasons such as not having anyone to take them to Church or having some indifference with others or angry at God and so on. And we who are filled with the gifts of the holy spirit should help them to come back to Church to experience once again the unconditional love of God. The god-given life is in everyone and everyone wants to complete their spiritual journey with the hope of entering into heaven and at the same time, they need our help who practice our faith, they need our help who are kind and compassion with one another. And all they need from us is just to tell them, "God loves you".
When the prodigal son came back home, there was a big celebration. His dad invited everyone for the celebration saying, "My son who was dead is alive now and he who was lost is found. come and celebrate with me". But the other son who was so faithful and did everything well got so mad at his dad and began to blame his brother and his dad. He even refused to enter into his own house.
Once a spiritual master had a neighbour who was leading an immoral life. Every time he saw the woman thought to himself, "This woman will definitely go to eternal punishment because she is not keeping the commandment of god and is leading a life of adultery". Then one day, the woman died and some months later the spiritual master also died. Then the angels and saints came to take the spiritual master into heaven and before entering into heaven, he saw the woman being there, so he refused to go in and got mad at god. Then God said, "Son, this child of mine was dead and is alive now because at the last moment, she felt sorry for her sins. she was lost but now she is found. come on in and celebrate with me".
When we have the ultimate experience of the love and kindness of God, when we are enlightened by the compassion and blessings of Jesus and when we are filled with wisdom and knowledge of the Holy Spirit, we become pure spiritual masters who accept all with who they are and help others to improve their lives in every possible way. And let us fulfill our spiritual invitation by helping others to know and love god more and more. Amen.