HOLY TRINITY/FATHER'S DAY

HOLY TRINITY…

Good morning/evening everyone. I am so happy to welcome you all to celebrate the solemn feast of the Holy Trinity. Our special welcome to all our visitors, cottagers and everyone who is here today and I would like to thank you all to come out today. Dear friends, every time we come to church, we deepen our faith in the Holy Trinity. We are given the blessing to know the mystery of the Holy Trinity. Every time we come to church, we are abundantly blessed by the gifts of the Holy Trinity on whose name, we were all baptized.

Today the Catholic Church celebrates the solemn feast of the Holy Trinity. We believe in triune God. We believe that the father is God, the Son is God and the Holy Spirit is God but they are not three gods but only one God. The Hindus believe in Holy Trinity too but their understanding of God is so different, they believe in three distinct gods. They believe in Creator god, protector god and the destroyer god but we do not believe as they do. We believe in one god who is the Creator of heaven and earth and all things come from him and go only to Him.

One day a bishop was talking to children who were going to receive confirmation. He asked them, “What is holy trinity?” they said Holy trinity means the father is god, the son is god and the holy spirit is god but not three gods but only one god. The bishop who was hard of hearing said, “I do not understand what you are saying”. Then a man who was standing beside the bishop said, ‘bishop, you do not need to understand because holy trinity is a mystery”.

It is a mystery. We are asked not to understand but to believe. And one day a group of people went to St. Patrick and asked him to explain the mystery of the holy trinity and He picked up a three gloved shamrock leaf and explained how they were all distinct from each other but connected to the same source. They are community of people connected with love and kindness. And at the same time, so many saints, holy men and women were given the blessings to know the secret of the mystery of the holy trinity. When we deepen our faith in triune God we will be blessed to know the mystery of the holy trinity.

Today we also celebrate father’s day. It is a day we remember all our fathers who sacrifice their time, energy and resources to build our community and our family. They are living witnesses of God’s love and kindness, living witnesses of the gift of god’s forgiveness and compassion. One day a dad who was getting ready to go to his work saw one of his sons using his electric shaver and trying to shave his head. He got mad and said, ‘what are you doing? Do not you have better things to do? Do not make me mad. The son looked at him and said, “If you get mad at me then go and look at Charlie. He went and saw Charlie who already shaved his head. The dad was so mad and said to them, ‘why are you doing like this?” what are you trying to prove? They look at their dad and said, “Dad, we want to be like you.” Children imitate their parents especially their dads. Even our Lord Jesus Christ was like His earthly Father Joseph. He continued his dad’s trade of being a carpenter. The bible says only one word about Joseph that is Joseph was a just man. It means he kept all the commandments of God our father and fulfilled the duty of looking after Mary and Jesus. Because of his dedication and faithfulness, angels appeared in his dreams and guided him to do great things for his family and society. When parents practice their faith, children will also imitate. Yes, from fullness only fullness will come out.
One day, a dad saw his son trying to move a heavy rock. He said to his son, “Son, are you using all your energy to move the rock?’ the son who was so exhausted said, ‘yes, dad of course”. Then he looked at his son and said, “No son you are not. You did not ask my help’
Fathers make a big difference in children’s lives. They by their examples and words make them stronger and bigger. So as we celebrate Father’s day let us pray to our triune God to shower upon them His countless Blessings. Amen.

CORPUS CHRISTI

WE BECOME WHAT WE EAT


Once former president of the united states George Bush said, “I do not like broccoli. And I haven't liked it since I was a little kid and my mother made me eat it. Now I'm President of the United States and I'm not going to eat any more broccoli.

We all like some foods and avoid others. We become what we eat. Today every food industry tries its best to sell healthy food to people. And people do know their physical, mental and emotional health depend on what they eat. Even we do not hesitate to travel from place to place to find healthy and good food. Our approach towards life and living; happiness and joy; buying food and eating them are being changed. We are so aware of who we are and how we want to live.
Our Lord Jesus Christ in order to keep His disciples and followers spiritually and socially awakened and enlightened asked them to eat His body and drink His blood. When we eat His body, we become like Him. We begin to reflect His love and forgiveness in our every day living. Once before first communion, I explained to children the importance of receiving the body of Christ on Sundays. I showed them how to keep their left palm on their right and when the priest says, “The body of Christ” they had to say, not thanks or O. K but Amen, which means I believe. And then I asked them to come and receive the communion. I gave them non-consecrated bread. Then I asked them how it tasted. And every one of them said, “It tasted like cardboard”. Then I called their parents and seriously asked them not to feed their children with cardboard.
I heard a story that during Second World War time, thousand of children were orphaned and left to starve. Many were rescued and placed in special camps. But they had a big challenge of sleeping in nighttime because of the fear of waking up in the morning to find out that they were homeless. Then someone thought of giving each child a piece of bread to hold at bedtime, and they found children could sleep peacefully. During the dark hours the bread was a reminder that they had eaten and would eat again tomorrow. For those children, bread was a symbol of life and survival. The bread gave them hope and meaning.
Jesus the Messiah before His suffering at the last supper took bread and prayed to God and blessed it and broke it and gave it to His disciples saying, ‘eat it, this is my body. Do this in memory of me’. But after Christ was crucified and died and even when He came back to life, the disciples did not break any bread in His name. They completely forgot it and moved on with their lives. Since they did not keep His loving commandment of breaking bread in His name, they could not see His presence. Like the two disciples on the way to Emmaus, the disciples were confused and sad. They were almost giving up their hope but Jesus appeared to the disciples and took the bread, blessed and break and gave it to them. In the breaking of the bread, they again recognized Christ the Lord. They began to say to each other, were not our hearts burning within us, were not our minds filled with life and happiness.
Yes, dear friends every time we come to church and break the bread we too like the apostles; we too like the disciples and followers of Christ will begin to experience His presence among us.

Pentecost Sunday

Pentecost Sunday


Good morning/evening everyone. I welcome you all to celebrate the feast of Pentecost Sunday today and our special welcome to all our visitors, cottagers and everyone here today. And I would also like to thank you all for coming out today because every time we come to church, we will be filled with the power of the Holy Spirit; every time we come to church we will be blessed with the gifts of the Spirit and every time we come to church we all come new in the Spirit. Today our Holy Catholic Church celebrates her birthday. Today is the day the apostles and all the believers were filled with the Holy Spirit and began to go everywhere to continue the mission of Christ our Lord.

Today is Pentecost Sunday. Pentecost means fiftieth day. Fifty days after the Resurrection of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Holy Spirit like tongues of fire came upon the apostles and on all believers. Pentecost is always celebrated on Sunday because Sunday is the first day on which God began His creation.

One day St. Thomas Aquinas the famous theologian who wrote the summa theological, stopped writing. The all his students and assistants came to him and said, ‘O Master, you are given a special gift to write about God and His wonders. People who read your writings always change their lives and come back to church. You inspired many people with your powerful and spiritual writings and how come you stopped writing now? Please tell us. Then St. Thomas Aquinas said, ‘ some months ago, I personally experienced something about the Almighty. I had a vision of God. After that vision, all I have ever written about God seems nothing. God cannot be explained in writing and He can only be experienced’.

Yes, God cannot be explained but only be experienced. That is what happened to all the apostles, believers and others today, on the day of Pentecost. They began to experience the power of the Holy Spirit that came on them as tongues of fire. Once the Holy Spirit came upon them, they all began to speak in different language. And everyone who heard them understood them perfectly well. Thus they broke the barriers of language and culture; slave and free; male and female. They all become one in Christ our Lord. One day some people came to Mother Theresa and asked, ‘Mother, we know you are doing a wonderful job for the poor and the rejected. But by the way, in the beginning how did you manage no knowing the language or culture? Mother Theresa said to them, ‘it was not hard at all. We understood each other well. We communicate with our heart, with our smile and with our prayers.

Once people began to experience the love of God and His mercy through Mother Theresa, they did not expect for any explanation. Those who enter into spiritual life will never expect any explanation of anything because only worldly things need explanation and material things need explanation not spiritual things. Spiritual power that explodes in a person takes him away from material and worldly things and that is why St. Thomas Aquinas refused to continue his writings. And that is why Mother Theresa could connect with others without language and culture and that is why we who come to church and practice our faith begin to look at the world and people,  our family members and friends in a different way. While every one is struggling to forgive and accept their opponents, we with loving hearts forgive and pray for their well-being, we celebrate our life every day. Yes, everything is possible because of the spiritual experience that goes beyond any explanation. So as we celebrate Pentecost Sunday, let us ask the Holy Spirit to come and fill our hearts again and again with His gifts of wisdom and knowledge; understanding and right judgement and with Christ's love. Amen.

Glorious Ascension

The Ascension Sunday

Good morning everyone. I am happy to welcome you all to celebrate today’s holy mass and our special welcome to all our visitors, cottagers. And I would like to thank you all for coming today because every time we come to church, our faith becomes bigger and the world becomes smaller yes, we begin to look at every one as our brothers and sisters. Every time we come to church, our hope becomes stronger and our challenges and suffering become shallow and lighter. We begin to keep Christ in everything we do and say and every time we come to church, our charity begins to extend to all and thus we prepare ourselves to enter into the kingdom of God where Christ our Lord is sitting at the right hand of Father God. Yes today’s celebration of the Ascension of our Lord Jesus Christ says that Christ is with the Father extending His love and mercy towards us.

Every body has his or her last words. One day a man was his last words and he said, “I like to die peacefully in my sleep like my grandfather not screaming in terror like his passengers”.

One day a grandson went to his grandpa and asked, ‘ Grandpa, every body leaves some last words to their family members and what would be your last words for me. The grandpa who was sick looked at him intensely and said, ‘Dear child, do not ever forget that there are two ferocious animals living inside of you, the good one and the bad one. They are always fighting with each other. Which one will win grandpa? The one you feed the most.

Today the Holy Catholic Church celebrates the solemn feast of the Ascension of our Lord Jesus Christ. Our Lord Jesus Christ, after His resurrection, for forty days was with His disciples and then on fortieth day, in the presence of His apostles and believes ascended into heaven. Yes, His glorious ascension took place as the angels and archangels surrounded him singing, “hosanna”.

The one who descended, the one who came to be with the poor and the needy. The Messiah who was Born in Bethlehem, healed the sick, gave sight to the blind and even raised the dead to life, the Christ who was crucified, died and was buried, the Christ who rose from the dead today ascended to heaven.

Before His ascension, He told his disciples that all power and authority had been given to him alone. Yes, nothing can exist without him. There was nothing before Him and there will be nothing after Him. Everything is in Him. Everything comes from Him and goes back to Him alone. He is the ultimate of everything on earth and in heaven.

1. Christ asked His disciples to go everywhere to preach the good news. Yes, He asked them to preach the Good News of Salvation to all. By dying Christ destroyed death and by rising, He restored life. Every living and non-living beings and things belong go Him. Then you may ask what about people who do not recognize Christ, who follow different religions. They are all considered unknown Christians. They need to be told the story of Christ again and again. They need to know the love and kindness of Christ our Lord. As Francis of Assisi says we are all called to preach the good news but we should not used words but we have to set examples. By seeing us, by seeing the way live and enjoying life, people should come to know our God who is almighty and ever living.
2. Jesus asks his disciples to baptized all in the name of the holy trinity. Yes, everyone should belong to God and they need to be baptized in the name of God, son and the Holy Spirit. They should be given the assurance that they are not alone but they are sons and daughters of God.
3. Jesus says that He will be with His believers till the end of time. Nothing to be worried or be afraid of because Christ is with us. So let us do everything thing for his glory and honor. Amen.