Humility is a good virtue

Humility is a virtue
Good morning every one. I am so happy to welcome you all for today’s Holy Mass. My special welcome to all our parishioners, visitors and every one who is here today and I would also like to thank you all for coming out to celebrate Christ the Lord. Dear friends, every time we come to church we celebrate God who sent His Only Son as human like you and me and every time we come to church we celebrate Christ who humbled Himself to live among us and every time we come to church we are called to humble ourselves before God and others.
Once an elderly lady came to Church and the friendly usher welcomed her and said, “mom… where do you want to sit?” she said, ‘I want to sit in the front row?’ the usher said, ‘No, mom, the pastor’s sermon is so boring and he will put you to sleep?” the woman said, “do you know who I am? I am the pastor’s mother”. The usher who was so embarrassed looked at her and asked, “Do you who I am?” she said, “no”. he said, “thank god. I am so happy”.
Humility is all about coming down. In today’s gospel, Jesus our Lord by seeing the Pharisees and scribes, tell the people to humble themselves before God and others. Yes, our Lord Jesus Christ humbles Himself and become a man for us. He humbled himself to accept the cross and die for us all. Following the Lord means we have to come down like Him in every way. We cannot receive the gospels without coming down; we cannot understand values and important of the sacraments, if we do not come down. Yes, when we humble ourselves then we become followers of Christ.
There is a story about King Philip the father of Alexander the Great. He employed two men whose only responsibility was to address him twice a day. Their morning duty was going to king Philip saying, “Philip, remember that you are but a man” and in the evening, they would ask him, “Philip, have you remembered that you are but a man?”
When we humble ourselves before God and others we do not need to go to Heaven because the heaven will come to us. That is what happened to St. Paul who was a well-educated rabbi. He did everything well and He had so many followers and disciples. Every synagogue invited him to preach the divine words because He preached with pride and power. But on the way to Damascus, He had a vision; vision of humble Christ who asked him, “Saul, Saul, why are you persecute me and I am Jesus whom you are persecuting. At that moment, Saul became Paul and humbled himself before God and others saying, “everything my education and my wealth are nothing before the love of God”
Once a spiritual Master had completed a tour around the world and then all his friends came to him and asked, “Are you not proud of yourself that everywhere you went people adored and honored you. They listened to every word that you uttered?’ The Master humbly looked at them and said, “No. The donkey went into Jerusalem, and they put garments on the ground before him, they sang Hosanna and praise. He was not proud. He knew it was not done to honor him but for Jesus who was sitting on his back. When people honor me, I know it is not for me but for the one who sent me. It is for the one who protects and loves me”.
Once Winston Churchill was asked, “ Are you not proud to know that every time you make a speech, the hall is packed to overflowing?” Winston replied, “It is quite flattering. Whenever I feel that way I always remember instead of making a political speech, I was being hanged, the crowed would be twice as big”.

Dear friends when we humble ourselves before God and others, life will open a new way for us. Yes, we will come to know the presence of God with us twenty-four seven. Our fears, anxieties, pains and suffering will be gone forever. We will never feel alone. We will experience love and kindness, happiness and joy every day. We know God is Almighty and there is a reason for everything.
Once a traveler who was resting under a walnut tree, as he relaxed saw a pumpkin on a thin vine. Then he thought to himself that God did not create things in order. This big walnut tree has small size walnuts and this thin vine has huge pumpkin. He laughed to himself saying, “If I were the creator… that time, a walnut from the tree fell on his head with force, there he was enlightened and humbled then he said to himself, “if a huge pumpkin fell in my head, I might have been dead. God has reason for everything.
So let us humble ourselves and thank God for sending His Son Jesus to us and thus we can and may inspire all who want to know the love and kindness of God. Amen.

Mission Sunday

Mission Sunday



Good morning every one. I am so happy to welcome you all to celebrate ‘world Mission Sunday’ today. My special welcome to all our parishioners, visitors and every one who is here today and I also thank you all for coming out today to celebrate Christ our Lord. Dear friends, every time we come to church, we come to know how God sent His Only Son Jesus Christ to us, every time we come to Church, we celebrate the sending of the Apostles into the world and every time we come to Church, we are called to go everywhere and preach the Good News to all.
Once a missionary went to a distant land to preach the good news. While he was walking with a guide, he asked different questions about the people, culture, language and food. Then at one point the missionary looked at the guide and asked, “what about cannibals. Do you have cannibals among you?” The guide laughed at his question and said, “No, Father; we do not have any cannibal because the last one we ate it yesterday”.
Today our Catholic Church celebrates mission Sunday. Today we pray for all our missionaries who preach the good news of our Lord Jesus Christ to all and also pray for ourselves to know that we are by the very sacrament of baptism called to be missionaries of the Good News.
One day a man visited a spiritual Master and offered him two gold coins and asked, “Master, what should I do to become a missionary to preach the good news to people?” The master without answering the man picked one of the gold coins that he gave him and threw it in the river. The man right away jumped in the water and searched to find the coin when he could not find it, he asked the master, “Where did you throw the coin?” For that the master took the other coin and threw it in the water and said, “Right there”. Then the master with compassion looked at the man and said, “Son, if you want to be a missionary, you should first know how to unbind yourself from all material things”
When our Lord Jesus Christ called the Apostles to follow Him, the first thing they did was leaving behind everything and then He asked them to go everywhere to preach the Good News. The Good news has the power and freedom. The good news will unbind us from everything that controls us. Jesus gave them wisdom and knowledge. He gave them freedom and will to go everywhere to proclaim the Good News.
One day a man came to a spiritual master and said, “Master, I want to be a lay missionary and go everywhere like the apostles to preach the Good News. But before that I want to stop drinking or at least I want to know the limit” The Master looked at him and said, “look at those four people when you see those four people as eight people, then stop drinking and you will be fine” The Man said, “Thank you, master. But by the way, master, they are not four people but only two”.
Today we are all called be His missionaries. Yes, by the very sacrament of baptism, we are called to preach the good news to all. We should tell the people that God loves them and Jesus still continues His miracles and wonders. It is important to let every one know of His kindness and compassion.

And as today’s gospel says when we love God almighty with all our heart, mind and body and love our neighbor as ourselves then we complete our missionary call. Amen.

Render unto God-29th sunday year A

Render unto God who belongs to Him…

Good morning every one. I am so happy to welcome you all for today’s celebration. My special welcome to all our parishioners, visitors and every one who is here today, I would also thank you all to celebrate today’s Holy Mass. Dear friends, every time we come to church, we celebrate our belonging to God Almighty, every time we come to church we celebrate the revelation of God Almighty in Jesus Christ and every time we come to church we celebrate our image and likeness of God in Christ.
Once a little boy wrote a letter to God that was forwarded to Ottawa and the prime minister was happy to read it and then He asked the people to send ten dollars to the boy. When the boy got the ten dollars, he was so happy. Then he wrote a thank you note to God saying, “God, I am so happy that you sent ten dollars but by the way I noticed that you sent the money through Ottawa and as usual they kept most of it.
In today’s gospel, a group of Pharisees and Scribes come to Jesus and ask, “whether they should pay taxes or not?” They wanted to put Jesus in trouble and they wanted to trap Him from His answers. But Christ our Lord says, “Render unto Caesar what belongs to him and unto God what belongs to Him”.
When Jesus asked the people whose image is on the coin and whose inscription is there, they said, “Creaser’s” then He said to give that belonged to Caesar and then He added saying, “Render unto God what belongs to Him”
The question today is what belongs to God. Whose image and likeness we carry? If we are created in the image and likeness of God, then we have to give ourselves to God alone.
Once a real incident happened in one of the South American counties where people grow banana. By exporting banana, they make their living. Once the ships that carry their bananas to different countries came late, instead of coming on Wednesday, they came on Saturday evening. So people were so busy loading them in ships except one man. When people asked him why. He said “ tomorrow is Sunday and I want to go to church not loading bananas’. People were laughing at him saying, “If you do not do it now, you are going to lose more than fifty thousand dollars. You will become so poor. The ships are leaving by tomorrow. And he instead of harvesting bananas went to church that Sunday. When he came home, he noticed all ships left the port except one because it had some mechanical problem. When the ship was ready to leave, they didn’t want to go empty handed, so they went to that man whose banana was not sold yet and said to him, “we would like to pay you three times more and please give your bananas”. He made more money that year than any one else because he respected the image and likeness of God in him. He loved God and practiced his faith.
Jesus our Lord says we should give to God what belongs to Him. Yes we belong to Him and when we give him, we will find things different.
There is a story about a man who went to parish in France where he bought rather inexpensive necklace and when he came back to his country, he wanted to find out the value of the necklace and took it to a jeweler and asked the price, the jeweler put it under the magnifying glass and examined and said, “$ 50,000 thousand dollars. The man was so surprised to know the price and he took it to another jeweler and asked the same question, the man too put the necklace under a magnifying glass and studied and said, “about $100,000dollars. The man then looked at the jeweler and asked why is it so this much… the man then asked him to read what was written in the necklace that said, “To Josephine from Napoleon”. The value of the necklace came from its identification with the famous person. Likewise our value and dignity come from Christ our Lord. When we are with God, we will be valued so high.

In today’s gospel, Christ our Lord says, “Give to God what belongs to Him”. Yes when we give ourselves to Him, we will come know more of everything. Let us be God’s children and help others to know their value and dignity in Christ. Amen.

Thanksgiving Sunday

HAPPY THANKSGIVING



Good morning/evening every one. I am so happy to welcome you all to celebrate thanksgiving Mass today. My special welcome to all our parishioners, cottagers, visitors and every one who is here today and I would also thank you all for coming out today to celebrate and thank Jesus for everything. Dear friends, every time we come to church, we thank God our Father for sending His only Son Jesus to save us and every time we come to church we thank Jesus for sending His Holy Spirit upon us all and every time we come to church we thank God through Jesus Christ in the Holy Spirit for our family, friends and all.
One day an elderly man in Toronto called his on in Calgary and said, “Son, I am so sorry to ruin your day, but I have to tell you that your mother and I are divorcing; forty-five years of misery is enough. The son was not happy and said, “dad, what are you talking about. Please do not do anything. Then he called his sister in Halifax and explodes on the phone. Then the sister called the dad and said, ‘Dad, please do not do anything until we come home. Let us talk. We will talk to mom. Please do not move out” The old man hangs up the phone and looked at his wife and said, “honey, our children are coming home for thanksgiving. Now what do we tell them for Christmas?”

This day, on this thanksgiving day, we especially thank God for everything. When we thank God, we will be given more. The gospels say that those who have more will be given and those who do not, even what they have will be taken away from them. Yes, people get more because of the way they show their gratidute, respect and love. That is why St. paul says that we should thank God continuosly and enjoy our spiritual gifts.
One day a woman looked out of her kitchen window and noticed her neighbor hanging out her laundry to dry. Then she noticed that the whites looked gray and the colored looked dull. She said to her husband, “ what a shame the woman does not even know how to wash her clothes clean. Then she notice on the third week, the whites sparkled in the sunlight and the colored clothes were radiant. The woman looked at her husband and said, “finally our neighbor learned how to do laundry clean”. Her husband then said, “well, it should yesterday I washed our kitchen window”.
Sometimes we all ask ourselves thinking, ‘why should I thank God?” Nothing is going well. The world is a terrible place to live. If we read the newspaper or watch TV, all we haer is bad news and more bad news. But if we know how to keep our windows clean, then we will look at things differently and thank God for everything that is happening in the world. God is good and He will never abandon His children. The God who was so kind enough to send His only Son will not reject us in any way. All we have to do is thank God without ceasing and then we will find meaning in everything.
In today’s gospel, we see the parable of the wedding feast. The king is preparing a feast for His Son Jesus and invites the pharisees, scribes and all but they refused. They were called again and they not only refused but they mistreated the king’s servants. There is an Arabian fable which tells about a man who went to his neighbour and asked to borrow a rope. “I can’t lend it, because I am using it to tie up a pile of sand.” his neighbour answered.“But,” the man came back, “you can’t tie up a pile of sand with a rope.”To which his neighbour replied, “Oh, yes you can.. In fact, you can do anything with a rope when you do not wish to lend it to your neighbour.”
When the king invited them for the wedding feast, they all came up with different excuses. But on the other hand, ordinary, simple people gladly accepted the invitation and participated.

Dear friends, today we are invited to particiapte the wedding feast of the Lord. Yes every time we come to church, we do participate the festival. When we particiapte with thankful heart, then we find more meaning in everything. When we particiapte with gratitude, we find more life and happiness in everything. So let us thank God today for everything and celebrate our life every day. Amen.

27th sunday

The owner and the tenants

Good morning/evening every one. I am so happy to welcome to 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 thank you all for coming out to celebrate Jesus our Lord. Dear friends, every time we come to church we celebrate the God Almighty who is the owner of the creation; every time we come to church we celebrate Christ the Only Son of the owner and every time we come to church we celebrate our life in Christ our Lord.

One day a doctor looked at his patient and said, “I have a good news and a bad news today”.

The patient looked at the doctor and asked, “What is the good news?”

The good news is that the tests show that you still have twenty-four hours to live.

And what is bad news?

I forgot to tell you yesterday.
Once a gallery owner looked at a painter and said, “I have a good news and a bad news for you?’What is good news?
A man came in and asked whether the price of your paintings would go up after you die and I said yes and he bought every one of your paintings.
What is the bad news?
The man was your doctor.



Today’s gospel is full of good news and some bad news for people who went away from the Lord. The owner- God Almighty who created every thing was happy to see them all growing and flourishing; celebrating life and praising their Creator. When everything was in order and there was a rhythm of peace and harmony; He let the synagogue leaders and temple priests; Pharisees and the scribes to bring His unending joy to all. But they by their shortcomings and human weakness failed again and again. Thus He sent His prophets, kings, Holy men and women to bring them back to them to Him but they instead of accepting and listening to them, they beat one, stoned another and killed many. The Master then sent His only son thinking that they would listen to His Son but they instead killed him. They thought that by killing His Son, they could inherit everything but the Master took the Vineyard His creatures away from those bad people and punished them all according to their sins.
1. Every time we come to Church we celebrate God who is the owner of all creation: After disobeying God, Adam and Eve were hiding from Him and God who came to visit them called them and said, ‘Adam… Adam where are you?” I am hiding because I disobeyed you”. Then God who smiled said, “Adam, this is my house and how can you hide from me?” Since everything belongs to God, how can a person run away from God or hide from Him. Every time we come to Church we celebrate the God who is the source of all. In today’s gospel, we see how God planned everything according to His will and then let people look after them. But they faltered but still He did not loose hope in Man, and then He sent prophets, kings and Holy men and women whom people refused and went away from Him. But God’s way is special and unique and He found something unexpected one, Yes, He sent His Son Jesus.
2. That is why every time we come to Church we celebrate Christ the Only Son of God. Once a Hindu sage was having the life of Jesus read to him. When he heard that His own people rejected Him in Nazareth, the sage said, “A Rabbi whose congregation does not want to drive him out of town is not a rabbi” And when he heard how it was the leaders of the church who put Jesus to death, he said with a sigh, “ It is hard for Satan to mislead the whole world, so he appoints prominent ecclesiastics in different parts of the globe” And Today Jesus Himself says how He is going to be killed because He came to claim responsibility and authority for His father’s property. He came and proclaimed that everything belonged to Him and He came to give them life and happiness; there He was rejected. But His very death opened paradise to those who believe in Him.
3. That is why every time we come to church we celebrate our life in Christ our Lord. Today we are given the responsibility and power to look after the vineyard. Every time we do something for the least of our brothers and sisters, we do to the Lord and every time we come to church and receive the church’s sacraments, we prepare ourselves to enter into the kingdom of God. Amen.