year- B Advent-1

Keep Awake the Lord is coming

Good morning every one. I am so happy to welcome you all for today’s Mass and my special welcome to all our parishioners, visitors and every one 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 we celebrate Advent, yes we celebrate the coming of Christ in our midst. Every time we come to church we celebrate Christ who is already with us and every time we come to church we celebrate the presence of Christ in our brothers and sisters.
Today the Holy Catholic Church celebrates a new liturgical season called Advent. Advent means coming of the Lord. Christ is coming and we have to keep awake to welcome Him.
Once while a priest was preaching his homily noticed a man sound asleep. As the priest preached louder and louder, the sounder the man slept and at point the priest stopped preaching and looked at the man next to him and said, ‘would you please wake him up” The man looked at the priest and said, “wake him up yourself. You put him to sleep”.

Keep awake the Lord is coming. Today’s gospel invites us to keep awake because the Lord is coming in an unexpected time. All we have to do is keep awake to welcome him. Once while a man was sleeping, he had a terrible dream in which he was being chased by a lion and when he was running, there came running in front of him a tiger and then he realized that he was being surrounded by so many ferocious animals, so what should he do to escape? All he should do is just wake up. Yes, waking up means getting ready to welcome the Lord.
There is a revealing story of a monk who lived in a desert. He was so tormented by temptation that he could not bear it any longer. So he decided to abandon his monk life and go somewhere else. As he was putting on his sandals to get out from there, he saw another monk was also putting on his sandals. “Who are you?’ he asked the stranger. “I am yourself” was the reply. “ I am going to go with you wherever you go. Just learn to deal with yourself. Keep awake and you fill find Christ in everything and that will give you strength to deal with anything.
The unexpected time of His coming brings deeper meaning to our life and faith. As we struggle to predict the exact time of His coming, we develop a deep sense of hope in what we do. We begin to expect each and every day for the coming of the Lord by keeping His loving commandments.
We who believe in Him know that He never left us and He is always with us. Then why are we talking about His second coming? Now at present, those who believe in Him and practice their faith see Him face to face but on the last day, not only believers but also every one, good and bad, faithful and unfaithful will see Him face to face. Yes, everyone will see Christ our Lord on the last day.
As He promised he would come in an unexpected time, until then we should continue to practice our faith.

Once during a battle between Christians and Muslims, a Christian soldier was giving water to wounded Muslim soldiers as they lay suffering without water under the hot sun. And he was brought before the king and accused of being a traitor. The king heard the charges and looked at the soldier for explanation. The soldier then looked at the king and said, “when I was walking through the battlefields, I saw no Muslims and no Christians, only the face of Christ in every man”. The king then calmly said, ‘Continue what you are doing”. Dear friends, the Lord is coming and with hope we should continue to help those who are in need.

Conclusion: The season of Advent invites us to keep awake and welcome the Lord who is going to come in an unexpected time. So let us keep awake by putting our faith into practice. Amen.

CHRIST THE KING

CHRIST THE KING

Good morning every one. I am so happy to welcome you all to celebrate today’s Holy Mass and my special welcome to all our parishioners, visitors and every one who is here today and I would also thank you all for coming out today to celebrate Christ the King. Dear friends, every time we come to Church, we celebrate Christ who gives us life-everlasting, we celebrate Christ who glorifies and honors us saying, “Enter into my Father’s house”
Once a man died and went to the Judgment and St. Peter met him at the gate and said, “Before you meet with God, I thought I should tell you, we have looked at your life and you really did not do anything particularly good or bad and we do not know where to send you. Can you tell me anything that you did that can help us make a decision?’ the man said, Once I was driving along and came upon a woman who was being harassed by a group of men and I faced that leader of the gang who was a big macho guy who weighed over three hundred pounds, “I slapped him and said, “Let the woman go”. St. Peter looked at him and said, “when did this happen?” He said, “About two minutes ago”.
Today the Church celebrates the feast of Christ the king. Jesus who was born among the poor and who did miracles and wonders and He who proclaimed the kingdom of God and invited the people to love God with all they were and He who again and again said, “God loves you all with His unconditional love” Jesus who was rejected by the Pharisees and the elders of the Church and was crucified and died on the Cross came back to life and before entering into heaven, He promised that He would come back to take us with Him. He promised that He would come to glorify us. Yes, the just judge will come not to punish us but to let us know that we all belong to His Father.
Once a Canadian man who was on a bus in Sweden said to the man who was sitting next to him, “ Canada is the most democratic country in the world. Any one can easily approach the prime minister and discuss things with him. Then the other man said, “it is nothing. In Sweden, the King and the people travel on the same bus”.
When the man got off the bus, the Canadian was told by other passengers that he had been sitting next to the King Gustav VI.
Jesus our King came down to be one with us. He judges us with compassion and love. He is our just judge and He will never condemn us but instead He will forgive and give us life that will never end. Jesus does not ask us anything that we cannot do. He is our example and model and by fulfilling God’s will, he showed us how to do things and accept others.
Once a man who was passing by a road, noticed a blind child begging with a sign saying, “I am blind, help me with money”. Every body passed by but on one helped the boy. The man put some coins in the bowl and rewrote something else on the sign pad and went away. When other people who were passing by noticed the sign and began to put coins and money in the bowl, and the boy was surprised. All he knew was a man came earlier and rewrote the sign but he did not know what he wrote. That evening the man came by again and boy recognized him and asked what he wrote the man said, “ Son, it gives same meaning, though I used different words. He said, “ I wrote, “ Today is such a beautiful day but I cannot see. I am blind”

Anything we do to the least of our brothers and sisters, we do unto the Lord. The Last judgment is based on not how tight we were holding out hands to pray to God but how often we stretched them out to help others. Our spiritual and religious life should extend to help the people who are in need. So let celebrate Christ every day extending our help to the least of our brothers and sisters in need. Amen.

THE PARABLE OF THE TALENTS

The parable of the talents

Good morning everyone. I am so happy to welcome you all for today’s Holy Mass and my special welcome to all our parishioners, visitors and every one who is here today and I would also thank you all for coming out today to thank God in Jesus Christ through the Holy Spirit for all our gifts and talents. Yes we are all given so many talents and gifts; so many possibilities and ways to use them wisely.

Once a lady died and before entering into heaven, St. Peter said to her, “Before entering into heaven, I would like to test your talents and you should at least spell a word correctly”. She said, “What word?” any word. She spelled L-O-V-E, Love and thus she entered into heaven. Then St. Peter was taking a break saying to her, “If any one comes to heaven, just do what I did”. And while she was waiting at the gate, there came her ex-husband. She looked at him and said, “What are you doing here?” “ I took a heart attack. Is it heaven?” yes before entering into heaven, you should spell a word correctly. He said, “what word?” she said, “Czechoslovakia”.

Winston Churchill once said, “We make a living by what we get; we make a life by what we give.” We are all given enough talents and gifts for ourselves and as well to help others. If we know how to use them wisely, then we will constantly enjoy our life. God who is so compassionate and loving and who sent His only Son Jesus to us blessed us abundantly. He filled us all with so many gifts and talents. From life comes out only life and from fullness comes out only fullness and from God comes out only goodness and we who are created by His loving kindness are all filled with wisdom and knowledge; love and kindness. We are all highly blessed with so many gifts and talents and in order to enjoy them, we should keep using them.

But at the same time it is not easy to use all our talents or gifts; because of our humanness, we will not use them effectively. We may just let it go.

One day a boy was called to the principal’s office. The principal looked at him and said, “Son, you are in big trouble because you cheated on your written test”. “No, I did not”. “Yes, you copied off your friend John”. The boy said, ‘No, John cheated off me” then the principal looked at him and said, “ for example, for the question, what did Mr. Santa do under the tree?” your friend John wrote, “I don’t know” and you wrote, “Neither do I”.

Hidden talents and gifts should be discovered and be used properly. Instead of saying, “ I do not have any gift or talent when we look at what we have, we can do so much in this world” And that is all we see in the Bible too, every time God called people, they all said, ‘God, I do not have any talent to do this job’ but because of divine power, they all eventually explored the tremendous human potentiality in them.
There is a beautiful story about Martha Berry who had a vision of helping poor children. She wanted to build a school for them and she did not have any money but only a vision. Then she got an appointment with Mr. ford and told him about her vision.
He then reached his pocked and took a dime and gave it to her. She was not insulted or felt ridiculed instead she used the dime to buy seeds and sowed them in her garden. After three or four harvest, she got enough money to buy an old building and thus she made her vision came true and then she went to Mr. Ford and told him what she did with the dime. The man was so impressed and donated her more than million dollars for her school.
We are all given so many gifts and talents and it is our duty to use them wisely for the well being of others and for our society. The great thing about our God is He has not left us here helpless and Jesus has given us the Holy Spirit who filled us with talents and gifts. Though our Master is away for a while, we are given so many gifts and talents to use them. Let us multiply them. Let us use them wisely to make this world, our society and our home a spiritual place where we can experience the love and kindness of God our Father every day. Amen.

All Souls day

Good morning every one. I am so happy to welcome you all for today’s holy Mass and my special welcome to our parishioners, visitors and every one who is here today and I thank you all for coming out today to celebrate Jesus. Dear friends, every time we come to Church, we come to know that we are not alone but God is with us, every time we come to Church, we are asked to celebrate life and death and every time we come to church, we celebrate the life, death and the resurrection or new life of Christ our Lord.
Since many of you could not come last Wednesday for ‘All souls day’, today we are going to recall the day. Why does our Catholic Church celebrate ‘All souls day?’ Because it is our duty to pray for the faithful departed who are in purification place or purgatory. Our prayers and spiritual practices will help them purified and cleansed before entering into eternity or heaven. They enter into light and dissolve into it; yes they all become glorious and shining light. There will only be happiness and unending joy. If they are still in purification place, they need our help our prayers. And that is why we celebrate all souls day.
There is a non-biblical story in which, St. Thomas asks Jesus, “My Lord and My God, Where is the end?” And Jesus then looks at Thomas and asks, “Thomas, have you discovered the beginning?’ Then He says, “Where there is the beginning, there shall also be the end”. Jesus says that He is the Alpha and Omega; He is the beginning and end. Everything comes from Him and ends in Him. There is no salvation without Him and no one can go to the Father except through Him. When Jesus was ready to go to the Father, St. Thomas and all the apostles asked Jesus, “Jesus, where are you going and how can we know the way?” Jesus said, “I am the way, the truth and the life and no one can go to the Father except through me and any one who follows me will have light of life.
There is a Buddhist story in which a mother once went to Buddha and bowed before him and said, “Buddha, I know you are merciful and compassionate. You have the power to raise the dead to life and my only child died, please bring him back to life” and Buddha looked at her and said, ‘I will bring him back to life but before that I want you to go into the village nearby and get a bowl of sugar from any family in which death never occurred or happened. And the story ends saying that the mother went into the village and never came back meaning death is an ordinary thing and it happens to all. We cannot destroy or overcome death. And there are religions like Hinduism believe in reincarnation.
But we who believe in Christ and we who come to church and practice our faith have completely different faith. Yes our Christian faith is after life. We believe not in death but in life. Yes, Christ by dying destroyed our death and by rising restored our life and any one who believes in Him will have life everlasting.
Jesus our Lord during His public ministry healed the sick, gave sight to the blind, made the lamb walk and raised the dead to life to show us that sickness or death cannot destroy us. We belong to life and light; we belong to happiness and joy. The central point of the celebration of all souls day is not only praying for our departed beloveds but also keeping our faith alive and active.
Death can never take away our ability to communicate with our departed beloveds. We have the power of prayer and through prayers, we can easily communicate with them. People who are spiritual will never lose touch with the departed. Death cannot bring us down or depress us. We off course grieve because of our humanness but at the same time, we know we belong to Christ and He will look after us. When we know the reality that we do not belong here but we are all pilgrim people, we will begin to celebrate life every day. Death tells us that we have to celebrate life every day.
Death came through the disobedience of one man but by the obedience and sacrifice of Christ life came into this world. Those who believe in Christ should think only about life. Life can be celebrated only by living and loving. When we do everything for the glory of God our Father in Jesus Christ then life will blossom in this world. Let us focus on life and make this world a beautiful place to live and love. Amen.

All souls day

The beginning and the end are the same

Dear friends in Jesus Christ,
Today the Catholic Church celebrates ‘All Souls day’. Yes, we celebrate Jesus because as He promised He took our beloved departed brothers and sisters with Him in heaven. When the apostle Thomas asked Him, “My Lord… where are you going and how can we know the way?” Jesus the Master and the teacher of all said, “I am the way, the truth and the life and anyone who comes to me will never taste death”. Our departed beloveds believed in the love and kindness of God and because of their faith, they are in heaven with Christ celebrating life everlasting. Faith is the answer for everything.
There is a non-Christian story in which a mother goes to Buddha and says, “Dear Buddha, I know you have the power to raise the dead to life. You are a great Master and my only son died yesterday and please bring him back to life and give my joy back” Buddha looked at her with compassion and said to her, “woman, I do have the power to bring the dead to life and I can give life to your son but before that I want you to go into the village and find a family that never faced death and from that family bring me a bowl of sugar”. The story ends saying that the woman went into the village and never came back to Buddha meaning death happens to all and it is every day phenomena.
But for us Christians death is not an end. It is a new beginning; beginning to life everlasting. We do not die and that is why we say, a person passed away, moved on. Yes, from this life, he went to eternal life. Heaven is our home and what are we doing here, we are here to experience divine love and forgiveness. We are sent here to spread the good news to all saying that God means love, God means forgiveness.
After death, we go to heaven to celebrate life. Then you may ask about eternal punishment and purgatory. Purgatory means purification, a place where we will be purified. It is a preparation place to enter into heaven. Then what is eternal punishment, eternal punishment means without God. Where there is no God that is called eternal punishment or Hades and hell.
Today we pray for our brothers and sisters who passed away from this life to eternal life. Our prayers help them to be purified well in purgatory and go to heaven. Every prayer we do in the name of Jesus help them to go to heaven and if they are already in heaven, our prayers be used for the people who do not have anyone to pray for. And also our prayers help us to get ready to join them and thus one day we being with all saints and holy men and women praise and glorify God our father. Amen.