Good morning/evening every one. I am so happy to welcome you all for today’s Holy Mass. My special welcome to all our parishioners, summer parishioners, visitors and every one who is here today, and I would also like to thank you all for coming out to celebrate today’s Holy Mass. Dear friends, every time we come to Church, we celebrate Christ who said “yes” to His Father to come down to be with us and every time we come to Church, we say “yes” to God our Father and every time we come to Church we help out brothers and sisters in need to say, “yes” to Jesus who loves us unconditionally.
Once a man saw an ad in the newspaper for a job in a zoo and he got the job dressing like a monkey and was entertaining people. Everything went well for several months. And one day he was so happy and jumped up and fell into the lion’s cage. He was so frightened and was praying to God saying, “God, please save me and I will come back to church and do everything well” and he became to cry. The lion that was so furious looked at him and said, “Do not shout. We both will lose our job”.
dear friends, in today’s gospel our Lord Jesus Christ tells the parable of the two sons. He said to the first son, “Son, go and work in the vineyard and he said that he would not go and then he changed his mind and went. The father said the same thing to the other son and he gladly accepted but he did not go.
Once an old rabbi was dying and all his disciples came to him and were talking great things about him. One disciple said, ‘His wisdom can be compared to that of Solomon. This man always did everything well and helped people to have right judgment. Then another disciple said, “His faith is equal to that of Abraham. Because of his faith filled preaching, many people came back to God and then another disciple said, his patience is that of Job. He was very patient and kind person and every one went on and on about his greatness. When they all left the rabbi’s wife looked at him and said, “your disciples are thinking highly of you and why are you still looking sad’ the rabbi looked at her and said, “My modesty. No one mentioned my modesty”.
The son who said to his dad, “Yes’ but did not go to the vineyard in today’s gospel is compared to all the teachers of the law, Pharisees, scribes and elders. They kept the commandments and divine words but they failed to recognize the kingdom of God and Christ our Lord. They were always looking up thinking that God would shower upon them manna forgetting their own brothers and sisters in need. They wanted to be praised and be glorified but they did not set an example for others.
On the other hand, people who were outcasts, tax collectors, rejected and the poor who did not say, ‘yes” in the beginning did understand the love and kindness of God our Father in Jesus Christ and thus did what He commanded.
Once a well educated catholic scholar and an uneducated convert were asked to say something about their faith. The educated catholic scholar got up and full of pride began to read a verse from the Bible saying, “My soul glorifies the Lord my Saviour…’ when he finished reading every one got up and clapped their hands and some were asking once more. Then the uneducated convert got up and recited the same verse from the bible by heart. This time there was a deep silence and every one sat still. Then at the end the educated catholic got up and said, “ my faith was knowledge based and the old man’s faith was heart and soul based”.
Some times people whom we consider unfaithful, not so pious or unreligious and non-spiritual get closer to God and experience more of His love and kindness than we do.
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