Good soil

YOU ARE THE GOOD SOIL




Good morning/evening everyone. I am so happy to welcome you all. Our special welcome to all our summer parishioners, cottagers, visitors and everyone who is here today, I would also thank you all for coming out today to celebrate Christ. Dear friends every time we come to church, Jesus the sower sows the word of God in us and every time we come to church, He makes the words of God that are sown in us to grow and multiple as thirty, sixty and hundred fold and every time we come here, He makes us laborers of His harvest to go out and help people to know His love and kindness.
In today’s gospel, Jesus says that the words of God like seed are sown in every one of us and according to our reception of them; they grow and multiply in us.
One day a news reporter went to a remote village to interview a man and saw the man sitting in the morning at home smoking and drinking. The news reporter asked, “ please tell me the secret for your living long without having any physical or mental problems” The man said, I live long because I drink and smoke and have fun and I do not worry about anything. The reporter looked at him and said, “you look so old, May I know how old you are? The man who spent his whole life enjoying such as drinking and smoking and not doing anything said, “I am thirty-six”
There are people today live without any aim or spiritual goal and they are like pathway. The words of God may fall in them, but without any use. They disappear without any use.
And there are people like rocky ground, when they hear the word of God, they became so happy and want to do something but when little challenges come along, they leave behind the words of God and disappear.
Once a woman from different denomination came to me and said, ‘father, I would like to be catholic and we taught her the basic things about Christianity. Jesus in His whole life taught about only two things namely divine love and His forgiveness. After a year, she became catholic and she was so happy to come to church for three weekends and then one day she came to me and said, “I don’t want to be catholic anymore and I asked her why. All she said was, I don’t like that lady and that person” and then she never came back.
These people are like rocky ground; they might receive the word of God but without any use.
And words of God do fall on thorny bush too. They get rooted and begin to grow well but before they bring fruits, they are soaked by worldly pleasures and material things and they disappear.
Once a spiritual master was asked by some villagers to send a priest to their village and the master instead of sending one priest, sent four. The other disciple who saw what the master was doing asked him, ‘Master, why do you send four but they asked only one”. The master said wait and see. While all the four were traveling, one priest left his priesthood and went home and the other thought it was hard, so he also gave up and the other thought he wanted to do something different and finally only one reached the village.

Finally the good soil,
One day a man shared his experience saying when I was young I was an alcoholic and my family, children and friends expected me to change but I could not. I used to practice my faith but I was not liked very much and I left the church too. Then one day I met a man who became a good friend to me. And I shared my stories and he said. “I don’t want to change and I accept you as you are. There I felt a great change in me. Yes, everything changed in me”. We all change and become new when we feel accepted and forgiven. Let us not judge others but accept them as they are. They will change too. Amen.

The kingdom of God
Good morning/evening every one. I am so happy to welcome you all to celebrate today’s holy Mass. And our special welcome to all our summer parishioners, cottagers, visitors and everyone who is here today and I also would like to thank you all for coming out today to celebrate Jesus who is the kingdom of god. Dear friends every time we come to church, we come to know that we belong to the kingdom of God where we experience love and kindness and every time we come to Church, we come that the kingdom of God is among us giving us life and joy and every time we come to Church we ourselves become the kingdom of God.
In today’s gospel, Jesus our Lord speaks about the kingdom of God. The kingdom of God is like a person who sowed good seeds in his field thinking they would grow and multiply as thirty, sixty and hundred fold but while everyone was away or sleeping, an enemy came and sowed weeds. Then the laborers came and asked the Master, “Master, we know you planted only wheat but we see weeds also. “Shall we go and remove them?”The master said, “no, my friends. Let them grow together and we shall remove them at harvest time.
Story number one: Once the famous scientist, writer and painter Leonardo Da Vinci who painted the famous last supper was searching for a man who could pose Jesus Christ in the painting. He looked for a man whose face would have a divine peace and calmness, whose face would reflect love and kindness, forgiveness and mercy and Da Vinci finally found a man near Milan and then He asked him to pose as model for Christ the Lord and the man gladly accepted. And thus Da Vinci finished painting Christ and then one by one he painted all other apostles except Judas Iscariot who betrayed our Lord. By then He spent more than two years and then He began to search for a man whose face would reflect ugliness and revenge and deception and other horrible characters and after a long search, Da Vinci finally found a man who exactly fit for his ideas and He asked him to pose for Judas and this man also accepted and he thus finished painting the last supper and thanked him. While they were saying good bye, the man looked at Da Vinci and asked, “Do you remember me?’ Da Vinci said, “No… I do not”. The man then said, “I am the same person who posed for Jesus Christ two years ago and now you asked me to pose for Judas Iscariot”.
Da Vinci asked what happened to you and the man said, I who was good became bad and I was like a wheat plant but now like a weed”. The master sowed only good seeds not weeds and He who planted good seed will wait until harvest and then He will remove good from bad.
Then Jesus said, “the kingdom of God is like a mustard seed which is the smallest of all seeds and when it begins to grow it becomes a tree where birds and animals come for shelter.
Story number two Once a famous agriculture company mailed postcards where there glued some mustard seeds to people saying, “if you have faith the size of mustard seed in our products, you will see big change in your life”. And few months later, a man sent a letter to the company saying, “I sowed your mustard seeds and now I am getting good tomatoes”.

Jesus is the mustard seed. Yes, He was born unknown among the poor and the rejected and had only twelve apostles and today Christianity is still growing and everyone who comes to Church experience unconditional love and kindness of God our Father through Christ our Lord.
Jesus then compares the kingdom of god to a woman who uses yeast and with the right mix, the flour begins to grow, the kingdom of God means bringing result and making things grow and today we are called to become the kingdom of God and thus people who are away may come back and know divine love and forgiveness. Amen.

Come to Me and I will give you rest

Come to me and I will give you rest

Once a rich industrialist was horrified to find a fisherman lying lazily beside his boat smoking a pipe. “why aren’t fishing?” asked the industrialist. “Because I have caught enough fish for the day” said the fisherman. “why don’t you catch more than you need?’ asked the industrialist. What would I do with tham? You can make more money and buy a beautiful boat with motor and then you could go into deeper waters and catch more fish and then you would be a rich man like me. The fisherman looked at the rich man and asked, “And then what would I do?’ “Then like me you could sit down and enjoy life”. The contented fisherman looked at the rich anxious industrialist and said, “what do you think that I am doing right now?”

The happiest people are those who know what they need. They spend their time, energy and resources to fulfill them. They don’t complain saying, “I don’t time. I am always busy” instead they will be celebrating of what they have and when they don’t have time, they willl go to God who is the creator of time, who is the source of time and thus they will be given what they need. They rely on God for their ups and downs. And in today’s gospel, Jesus the creator of time invites us to go to him as we are. He says that all things have been handed over to him by God and He has the power and authority to reavel to anyone whom He Chooses. Let us go to Him when we are busy, when we are restless and we are anxious and He will look after us.
Once a priest noticed an elderly woman who came to church everyday and was going to the blessed virgin Mary’s statue and praying devoutly. The priest was so happy to see her marian devotion since many were not even thinking of praying the rosary or doing any novena to Blessed virgin Mary. Then He saw the woman touching the statue of the Blessed Virgin Mary and blessed herself and then a strange thing happened, she also touched the snake that was crushed under the foot of the blessed Virgin Mary and blessed herself. So the priest asked her why she was herself touching the statue as well the snake, the woman looked at the priest and said, “Father, if I go to heaven, I need the blessing and comfort of the mother and if I go to everlasting punishment, I then need the help of the devil”.

When we instead of having reverential fear develop religious fear and guilt, we hold on to insecurity and anxiety. We will not find meaning in everything we do religiously and thus we begin to practice faith with fear and begin to practice faith without hope. And Christ our Lord today invites us with who we are. He invites us with our weariness, tiredness and heavy burdens because He will give us rest and hope and He will give us courage and new spirit. His yoke is easy and His burden is light. Let us learn from Him who became one among us and lived with us.
Today many people do not have much challenge to love and forgive others especially their neighbors but when it comes with their family, they struggle a lot. They often say, “ I give and give, there is no respect, no love from my own children. I don’t know how to cope with my own family, my husband and my wife. They go to counselling but they are not getting any help and they try all yoga, meditation and medication nothing work for them. What is the way? There is a way… Yes, Christ is the solution and He invites us to take rest in His love and He invites us to be with Him. When we go to Him, we not only find rest but also find solution for everything. He is the source of all so let us go to Him and learn from Him. Amen.