LET US FOLLOW THE LORD

LET US FOLLOW THE LORD OUR GOD

Today's gospel invites us to follow the Lord who is our faith, hope and love.An elderly lady who was so pious and god-fearing, used to stand on her porch and shout, "Praise the Lord... thank you God".Her next door neighbour who didn't believe in God used to shout back saying, "God back inside, there is no God". It went on and on.And one day, the lady stood on her porch and shouted saying, "God, I am hungry and I don't have food. Please send me some groceries". The next day when she opened the door, she saw a big bag of groceries at the door. She thanked God with a loud voice saying, "Thank you God for sending me groceries. I love you Lord". The man then shouted back saying, "there is no god. I got the groceries for you". She again shouted saying, "thank you god. you not only sent the groceries but also made the devil pay for them".Then one day the man died and went to heaven because he bought the groceries for the old lady. But he was curious to know about hell. So he got permission and went there. For his surprise, it was wonderful. he was treated well, fed well and was entertained well. So the next weekend also he went there and had a lot of fun. And when he went the third time, he was put in a corner and he experienced hell. He screamed and in his torment said to the devil,"what is going on here. I am suffering" The devil said to him, "Before you were a visitor but now you are a resident".
Last Wednesday afternoon while I was minding my own business, I experienced a big shake. The whole house was shaking. Then I learned it was a slight earthquake. we all think that we are safe and secure and there are certain things beyond our control and we need God to help us. Without God we are nothing.And in today's gospel, Jesus asks three people to follow Him but they all had different excuses.

1. To the first person, Jesus demanded faith. He said to Jesus, "I will follow you wherever you go" when Jesus said that he should have faith in the Lord but not looking for security. He went away.

2. To the second person, Jesus demanded hope. He said to Jesus, "first let me go and bury my father" meaning let me spend time with my parents until they die, then I will come and follow you. Jesus said to him, "let them look after themselves. you come and follow me". He then went away from the Lord.

3. To the third person, Jesus demanded love. He said to Jesus, "I will say goodbye to my family" that means let me hold on to material things and people for a while and then I will come and follow you. When Jesus asked him to detach from them, he was sad and went away.
Today's gospel invites us to recommit ourselves to the love and kindness of God in Jesus Christ. when we love the Lord, we will always find a way to connect ourselves with Him.
Conclusion: Once an old man who wanted to spade his potato garden sent a letter to his only son who was in prison saying, "Dear Son, I miss you. when you were at home, you used to dig the garden. But in my old age, I couldn't do anything. when are you coming back?"Few days later, the dad got a letter from the son saying, "God, please don't dig up the garden. That is where I buried the bodies".The next day F.b.i agents and police came and dug up the whole place without finding any bodies. Then they apologized the old man and left.And the old man again got a letter from the son saying, "Dad, now you may plant the potatoes. That is all I could do under the circumstances".
Love always finds a way. Yes, when we have love, we will find a way too. Amen.

GRADUATION

GRADUATION MASS
Now I am going to tell you a story about a boy who was very ordinary and simple but He was holding on to something very important. Because of the very thing, He attracted so many people. Even masters and gurus came to listen to him. When they asked for what he was holding on to, he gave them all freely. some of them could touch it and others could only smell it and some others could only feel it and every one according to his or her way of approach. But they all experienced it.And a month ago, by name Abby Sunderland who is only sixteen year old who tried to sail solo around the world, because of high wind, could not finish it but she said she would definitely sail solo around the world soon, has it. she talked about it to all. And Jordan Romero a thirteen year old boy who claimed mount Everest last march has it. when he was asked about it, he talked saying I could touch and smell it.Do you know what it is? you have it and your parents and everyone of us has it. But we can experience it only according to our commitment.Before I would say what it is... I want to let you know the name of the boy who had it. His name was Jesus Christ who was at the age of twelve at Jerusalem temple gave that to people. And the thing is not a thing at all. it is more than a thing, and it is Faith. you were all given through the sacrament of baptism. people who are committed to the love of God can taste it, experience it and even see it.During these eight years at Mother Theresa's school, you have been given faith again and again in many ways. every time you went to school, every time you spent time with your friends and every time you came to church to celebrate Christ, you received faith and now you are going away from the school not leaving your faith behind but taking your faith with you.when you keep your faith alive, you will grow and multiply as thirty, sixty and hundredfold. keep your faith alive and you will be stronger in everything and today's gospel invites you to deepen your faith in Christ our Lord. So let us keep your faith and multiply. Amen.

Funeral homily

Funeral homily
Facing with death, life might seem meaningless. But our faith in Jesus Christ tells us that despite death, life is not meaningless. After our baptism in the name of the Trinity, we all became precious children of God. And thus we left behind our old selves of sin and became a new creation in Christ. Jesus who by dying on the Cross destroyed our death and by rising restored our life gives us life everlasting. When we live in Christ, we will live forever. Nothing can separate us from Christ. Every time we enter into Church, we by touching the holy water, bless ourselves. The holy water serves as a reminder of our baptism in which our death was destroyed and new everlasting life was given.Every time we come to Church for the celebration of the sacrament, we are again and again invited to recall our eternal life in Jesus Christ our Lord. Jesus says that anyone who follows and keeps His commandments will have life everlasting. He will not abandon His followers but will keep them with Him. That is why in today's gospel, He says to His disciples that He is going away to prepare a place for them so that where He is, they may also be.And one of His disciples, St. Thomas innocently asks Him, "Lord, how can we know where you are going. Please show us the way?"Jesus says to him and all His followers that He is the way, the truth and the life and anyone who follows Him, will have life everlasting.Today we are here to celebrate the life and death of our sister Anna; we are here to celebrate her everlasting life. Anna was married to Joe for thirty-seven years. they together experienced the love and kindness of God. Anna found God's love in her married life. she shared everything with her loving husband, they were for each other and thus she witnessed the wonders and amazing things of her life to all.Anna was a great inspiration for her two children Anthony and Lena. Because of her positive influence and faith in God, she inspired them to grow stronger in faith and in the love of God.Anna was a great grandmother to her grandchildren. she was so wonderful with them. she always had a huge smile on her face and that smile enkindled the love of Jesus in her friends.she had so many friends who were inspired by her loving and kind words. because of her faith, even she was told that she would live only for three monthes, she lived over a year.
Today our sister is with God seeing him face to face. she is celebrating her life everlasting. all the things in Church today remind us of her eternal life. this white pal tells us that those who believe in Christ will never die and the paschal candle says that Christ who died came back to life and anyone who believe in him will have eternal life. And all the rituals and celebration invite us to thank God for Anna and her life with us. she died for us but she is now living with God from whom she came here. Anna's death gives us a new hope to prepare ourselves to enter into heaven. so let us thank God for Anna and pray for ourselves that one day we may join our sister Anna to praise and glorify God our father. Amen.

FATHER'S DAY

FATHER'S DAY

Today we celebrate fathers who dedicate their lives for the well-being of
their family. We celebrate fathers who promote justice and peace in our
society. The father makes family stronger and united. He is an essential
figure in a christian family and he plays a vital to to bring faith in every
member of the family.Once a dad who he was getting ready to go to work, saw one of his sons
using his electric shaver and trying to shave his head, and the dad said,
"What are you doing? you will never learn unless you get a good
spanking". The son said, 'dad, go and see what charlie is doing'. Charlie,
the second son came to his dad with completely shaved head. The dad was
so upset and looked at them and asked, "why are you doing these things?"They said, 'Because we want to be like you'.The Bible says that Jesus who was found in the temple at the age of
twelve, came down with his parents and was obedient to them. He then
continued his family trade of carpentry with his dad until he began his
public ministry. Joseph who was a just man taught Him to do human
labour and thus Jesus grew in wisdom and knowledge and He found
favour with God and with others.
Children look up to the elders for their personal growth. They especially
imitate their dads in so many ways. When a father is strong, his children
will become stronger.
Once a group of children went to see an ocean for the first time and when
they came back to school the next day, they were all sharing their
experience with others and said, 'no one can swim across the ocean'. And
then one of them who never saw an ocean said, "don't say that no one can
swim across the ocean.My dad can do anything".Fathers are role models and guide. They build and shape their children's
future.So let us thank God for all the fathers today who nourished us physically
and spiritually. Let us thank God for them because they make our world
more beautiful and more meaningful.
once a father who was watching his son trying to move a heavy stone
asked, "Are you using all your strength?" The son who was exhausted
said, "yes, I am". Then the dad said, "No, you are not. You haven't asked
me to help you".
Today's gospel, the disciples are confessing that Christ is the Messiah, the living god, the Christ and let us join them to thank Jesus for showing us the Father who blessed us with our earthly fathers. Amen.

Faith alone saves us

YOU ARE GIVEN THE GIFT OF FAITH

Today we celebrate faith, yes we celebrate our faith in Jesus Chirst. The
gift of faith is given to all through the very sacrament of Baptism. As we
grow in the baptismal promises, our faith also increases in God our
Father.Once a man had a vision in which he was asked to go to a spiritual master
who would give him a precious stone. The man went to the spiritual
master and found the precious stone in a bag with other things. It looked
that master didn't give much important to it. when the man asked for it, the
master right away gave it to him. After few days, the man came to the
master returning the precious stone and said, "Because of this stone, I lost
my sleep. Because of this stone, I could not concentrate on life. Then he
asked the master, "please tell me the secret of your happiness?" the master
answered in one word, "faith".
Faith in God brings happiness and joy; it brings prosperity and life. It
moves mountains and does miracles and wonders.
Once a pious lady wanted to test her faith saying to herself, "I pray five
times a day, go to Church every day, I fast and do penance. Today I am
going to test my faith" And then she looked at a tree that was standing in
front of her house and said, "I want you to move from here to my backyard. The next day, she woke up early in the morning and opened the door and there the tree was standing at the same place. Nothing happened and then she said to herself, "I knew even before I went to bed that nothing would happen". Faith means spiritual transformation. Faith means believing. Coming to Church, receiving sacraments and even praying without faith will not bring any spiritual change in a person.
In todya's gospel, we meet with a woman who, even in her weakness and difficulties, even in her challenges and pain had a strong faith in Christ and came to him looking for mercy and compassion. Christ looked at her with kindness and love and said, "woman, your faith has saved you, go in peace".The woman had a surrendering faith; a faith that surpassed every human frailties and shame. Because of her faith, she experienced a new life in Christ.
Once a Church goer wrote a letter to the editor of the newspaper and complained that it made no sense to go to church every Sunday. "I've gone for 30 years now," he wrote, "and in that time I have heard something like 3,000 sermons. But I can't remember a single one of them. So, I think I'm wasting my time and the pastors are wasting theirs by giving sermons."
Then few weeks later, someone wrote to the editor saying "I've been married for 30 years now. In that time my wife has cooked some 32,000 meals. But I cannot recall the entire menu for a single one of those meals. But I do know this: They all nourished me and gave me the strength I needed to do my work. If my wife had not given me these meals, I would be physically dead today. Likewise, if I had not gone to church for nourishment, I would be spiritually dead today!"When you are down to nothing… God is up to something! Faith sees the invisible, believes the incredible and receives the impossible! Thank God for our physical and our spiritual nourishment!
When we have faith, we begin to see things differently. we won't move mountains or uprood trees with our faith, all we do is live our life happily and meaningfully. So let us have faith and live our life. Amen.

holy trinity

HOLY TRINITY

Today we celebrate Holy Trinity Sunday. We celebrate our faith in One God who is the Father, the Son and also the Holy Spirit. They are not three gods but Only One God. The Father is God, the Son is God and the Holy Spirit is God but there are not three gods but One God. The mystery of the Holy Trinity invites us to deepen our faith in Him God Almighty.
One day a group of people came to St. Cryl and asked him to enlighten their minds regarding the Holy Trinity and the saint told them that it is like the bright Sun. The Father is like the blazing sun and Jesus Christ is like the light and the Holy Spirit is like the heat of the Sun. They all interdependent on each other. We can’t separate from one another.
When people asked St. Patrick to explain the Trinity, he used the shamrock and explained the trinity. And there were many saints and holy men and women experienced the mystery of the Holy Trinity on earth. We are all given the blessing to know the secret of the mystery. As we make the sign of the Cross saying in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, we are already entered into the mystery. We are part of the trinity.
We are not here to know how God could be three persons and he is still one. We are here to experience his love and kindness through our daily prayer and thus we will automatically be revealed the secret of the trinity. There are so many things on earth that are mysterious to us and we don’t understand their nature and their wonderful expression and we still manage to accept and live with them.
Once a missionary was hearing confession from a particular school and all children from one class room came up with the same sin saying, ‘I threw peanuts into the river, I threw peanuts into the river’ the priest said, ‘it is not a sin but it can be a bad thing but anyhow you are feeding the fish’ then when the last boy came to confession, the priest said, “don’t tell me that you threw peanuts into the river and it is not a sin’. The body said, “sorry, Father, I am peanuts”.
We don’t understand certain things but we should accept them and enjoy them. Once we accept as they are, we will be revealed their mystery. The holy trinity is not to be questioned but adored and venerated.
The traditional story of St. Augustine says how our human mind is limited and it is beyond our comprehension to understand certain things. Let us adore the One God who is the creator, protector and the sanctifier. Amen.

CORPUS CHRISTI

CORPUS CHRISTI

Today the Church celebrates the feast of Corpus Christi or the body and blood of our Lord Jesus Christ. In the gospels, Jesus says that unless we eat His body and drink His blood, we can’t enter into the kingdom of God. He invites us to be with Him in heaven for ever.
Once God wanted to see what was the pressing needs of His people, so He sent His angels to find out. After some days, they all came back with one demand. They all said that people are in need of food. So God sent His only Son who became food for all. Yes, Jesus nourishes us with His words and heals us with His miracles. Anyone who goes to Him will have life everlasting.
Every time, we come to celebrate the Holy Mass, we celebrate the last supper of our Lord Jesus Christ. And when we receive the body of Christ on our right palm, we touch the real Jesus; we touch Him like the woman who was bleeding for twelve years and when she touched His cloak, she said to herself, “even if I touch His cloak, I will be healed” and she did experience healing. Yes, every time we receive the Holy Communion, we experience healing. We experience peace and serenity.
When we hear the word,, “This is the body of Christ” and respond “Amen”, we come to experience extraordinary healing like the deaf and dumb man in the gospels. When he came in contact with Christ, he immediately experienced healing. By saying the word “Amen” we profess our faith and accept Christ as our lord and saviour. Jesus Christ is our healer and saviour. He gives us life and light. Anyone who follows Him will have light of life.
And when we hold the body of Christ on our palm, we have an experience of healing of the blind. Yes, when Jesus touched the blind people, they immediately began to see everything clearly and followed the Lord. And when we hold the body of Christ, we experience our blindness of selfishness, greed, anger and other negative feelings being healed.
The celebration of Corpus Christi invites us to experience healing in the real presence of Christ among us. Let us on this feast of Corpus Christi recommit ourselves to Him. Amen.