Fourth Sunday in Lent- B

THE ONE WHO BELIEVES IN HIM IS NOT CONDEMNED

Good Morning every one and I am so happy to welcome you all to celebrate the forth Sunday in Lent. My special welcome to all our parishioners, visitor and every one who is here today, dear friends every time we come to Church, we celebrate our faith in God Almighty, every time we come to Church we celebrate our hope in Christ our Lord and Every time we come to Church we celebrate charity in the Holy Spirit.

One day late Bishop Fulton Sheen was asked the difference among faith, hope and charity and he said, “If you clap your hands before my talk, that is called faith. If you clap your hands during my talk, that is called hope and if you still clap your hands after my talk that is called charity”.

Dear friends, every time we bless ourselves saying, “Father, Son and the Holy Spirit”, we think about our faith in God, Hope in Christ and our Charity in Holy Spirit”. Today’s gospel says that God so loved the world that He sent His Only Son Jesus Christ to us so that those who believe in Him will not perish but will have eternal life in Him’. Yes, Those who have faith in God will not die but have life everlasting.
Once I was invited for lunch, while we were eating, I asked the people how come they were not blessing themselves provided I said that blessing. They said, “we did bless ourselves but in discreet. We do not want to be know by all and that is why we used our left hand to make the sign of the Cross”. I looked at them and said, “ we are not living in a Muslim or Hindu country and no one is going to kill us practicing our faith and why do you want to hide your faith and be in discreet?” They said, “It is because we do not feel comfortable”. And the moral of the story should be, “do not hide your faith’ but it became, “do not argue with the people who invited you for dinner and then you have to pay for your meal”.

The season of Lent invites us to develop a strong prayer life which increases our faith in God Almighty and thus every time we touch our forehead to say, ‘in the name of the Father…’ we will celebrate faith in God thinking that God at last sent His Only Son Jesus to save us and when we have faith in Him we will never perish but have life everlasting”.
The elementary school in India where I did my schooling, there were about two thousand students and I was the only Christian with a strange name and one day while the teacher was teaching about Christianity, He talked about Christ and His twelve disciples. Every time he wanted to know more about Christ and Christianity, he asked me and though I did not know much about Christianity, I made up many good stories. That incident made me read more of Christ and the bible. Those non-Christians indirectly gave me hope in Christ. Because of them, I began to believe in Christ more and more. God’s plan is so different and He can inspire us in different ways. The bible says that God sent His Only Son not to condemn the world but to save the world through His Only Son.
The season of Lent invites us to deepen our faith in God through the Lenten discipline of fasting. Fasting is not all about abstaining from meat and not eating it is also celebrating life, having hope in Christ our Lord.

Today’s gospel says that the light came into the world so that people would have life but instead they loved the darkness. People loved the darkness because their deeds were evil not a charitable one. Those who extend their hands to help others live in the light and experience God in Christ. Some times we try our best to be nice to others and thus we end up helping wrong people. These days we hear the famous add, “Make Kony Famous”. It is about Ugandan rebel leader Joseph Kony who abducted more than 30,000 children and boys to kill people and girls to sex trade and the question is who funded him? How did buy all the weapons and guns? Where did he get his money? That is why before we help, it is very important to know the organization. So when we extend our hands, let us ask the Spirit to guide us.
So dear friend, as we enter into the fourth Sunday of lent, let us celebrate our faith in God, hope in Christ and our charity in the Holy Spirit. Amen.

lent 3

Lent 3


Good morning everyone. I am so happy to welcome you all for today’s Holy Mass. My special welcome is to all our parishioners, visitors and every one who is here today. Dear friends, every time we come to Church, we celebrate the forgiveness of our Lord Christ and we hear Christ saying that there is no sin that cannot be forgiven by God Almighty and every time we come to Church we are given the blessing to forgive one another and find God in them.
Once a woman got a major stroke and ended up in the hospital and while she was in the operation theater, she prayed to God saying, “God, am I done? Please help me, I am only forty” Then God appeared to her and said, “you have forty more years to live and do not be worried”. When she knew that she was going to live forty more years, she got Extreme make over, she got a new look and facial lift and so on but think two months, she had an accident and died. She was not happy and when she went to heaven. She looked at God and said, “God, you said I got forty more years to live and I spent all my money and had an extreme make over but how come my life was over within two months”. God looked at her and said, ‘I am sorry I did not recognize you”.
Today we celebrate the third Sunday in Lent. This Sunday invites us to change within. It is easy to change our look, our body and style but not our inner look.
And that is why we all fall again and again the same kind of sin and ended up with the same kind of thoughts and ideas. We promise to ourselves saying, “ I will never do this again and within a week or two, we do the same thing”. Our human nature is so fragile and weak; it can easily be tempted and be tested. And that is during this season of Lent, we are invited to reexamine ourselves before God.
In today’s John’s Gospel, Jesus after performing His first miracle in Cana of Galilee comes to Jerusalem the Holy City. He comes to the temple to worship His Father and preach the good News to people. But before entering into His father’s house, He saw people destroying the temple with cattle, sheep and doves and other animals and accumulating the temple with unwanted things. Because of the animals and things, people’s minds were taken away from God and other holy things. They were buying and selling; talking and making business in the temple.

He then asked the people to take everything out and make the temple holy and thus find God who sent them here. There the Pharisees and the scribes and the sellers and buyers asked Jesus, “Who gave you authority to do all these?” Jesus says destroy the temple and I will build it up in three days”. In His very answer, everything changed. He asked the people not only keep the temple holy and also the body. When we keep our body pure and holy, we will find God. Our body is the temple of the Holy Spirit.

When we drop certain things from within, then we will find God and invite holy things to live in us. One day a man went to a spiritual Master and said, ‘Master, I want to find God. I want to find spiritual things and I want to find holiness in live. Please help me so that I will find God in everything” the master who listened to him said, ‘when you drop the I, then you find God in everything”.

Yes, God can easily be found when we learn to drop the I ness in us. When we lose our selfishness and ego; our possessiveness and self-concern, there we will find God. Yes, we have to find a way to chase the animals that are living in us and then we find God.

Once a man went to a spiritual master and said, “ master, I spent so many hours reading spiritual books and the holy bible but still I could not learn more about God” the master looked at him and said, “ sit in your cell still and the cell will teach you everything”.

the Sunday of Lent

Third Sunday in Lent

Dear friends in Jesus Christ, I am so happy to welcome you all for today’s Holy Mass. Every time we come to Church, we celebrate the forgiveness of Christ our Lord, we hear Jesus saying that there is no sin that can not be forgiven by Christ our Lord and every time we come to Church, we learn to reconcile with God, others and ourselves.
Once two hunters chattered a plane to fly them into forest territory. Two weeks later, the pilot came to take them back and he looked at the animals they had shot and said, “This plane won’t take more than one wild buffalo. And we have to leave the other behind”
The hunters were not happy and said to the pilot, “But last year, the pilot let us take two wild buffalo in a plane this size”. Then the pilot thought for a while and said, ‘since you did it last year, I think I can do it this year also” So the plane took off with three men and the two wild buffalos. But the plane could not gain height and crashed into a neighboring hill”.
Fortunately the hunters escaped and one hunter looked at the other and said, ‘where do you think we are?” The other said, “I think we are two hundred meters left of where we crashed last year”.
It is human nature to fall again and again into same kind of sin. One day we think and promise to God saying, “I will never do it again and we will be fine for a week or two. Then because of our human condition, we will do it again”. The third Sunday of Lent is all about keeping ourselves pure and clean. Our body is the temple of the Holy Spirit and when we let in bad thoughts, ideas and actions like in Jerusalem temple where people let cattle, sheep, dove and others animals and it becomes like a market place. Because of their worldly approach towards divine things, the place of worship became a place of business and trade. When we do the same thing again and again, we distant ourselves from spiritual things and begin to justify what we are doing.

The Lord came and said, ‘keep my father’s house holy. This is the place of worship and connects yourselves with God and you cannot serve two masters. Take away the unholy things and be holy as your heavenly father is holy”
Once a man came to a spiritual master and said, “I would like to find God. I would like to connect myself with higher being. I want to be satisfied spiritually and please help me” The master looked at him and said, ‘find a way to drop the “I” in you and you will find God and be satisfied spiritually”.
Yes, when we have the courage to leave behind what hinders us to connect ourselves with God, then we make ourselves holy and pure.

Once a disciple came to the master and said, ‘Master, I read the whole bible and so many inspiring spiritual books and I still struggle to find God” The master repeated the famous monastic phrase, “Sit in your cell still and the cell will teach you”. When we are still in the presence of God, we learn more about God, others and about us.
Conclusion:

" You are the body of Christ. " (1 Cor. 12:27)

Saint Paul tells us: "You are the body of Christ." If Jesus lives in us and we in him, then we are his body, we are his temple. God then lives in us, and all those who want to can bear this presence of God everywhere in the world, manifesting the omnipotence of He who is the Creator of all things. If we wish it, God who lives in us can be communicated to the entire world! All that is necessary is that we ask for this, with all our heart, with a profound and sincere faith, like that of the Virgin Mary.

God, who lives in us as in his own house, can perform miracles, in us and through us, beyond anything we could imagine! Let us think of Saint Theresa of the Child Jesus, who bore God's presence in her, and who was declared the patroness of all missions, even though she had never left her cloister of Lisieux! If we truly believe, God will make us into apostles who, without leaving our humble workplace, will go throughout the world bearing the presence of God that is so necessary for peace in the world and the salvation of souls!

Let us prepare ourselves for the holy communion we will receive during this Sunday Eucharist, let us not miss our opportunity: let us offer to God a home worthy of Him, without any traffickers or merchants to pollute it. Like Mary who kept the Word of God in her heart as well as in her home, let us welcome the Lord with a pure heart, free of any attachment to creatures, entirely devoted to the things of God, the Father of us all and in us all!

Second Sunday in Lent

Second Sunday in Lent

Good evening/morning every one. I am so happy to welcome you for today’s Holy Mass. Dear friends, every time we come to Church, we celebrate the love of God, every time we come to church, we celebrate the forgiveness of Christ our Lord and every time we come to church, we are blessed to experience divine love and forgiveness in our brothers and sisters.
Today we celebrate the second Sunday in Lent. This season invites us to deepen our faith in God through the means of prayer, fasting and helping others. We are especially called today to know that we belong to God and He is our Father.
One day a baby camel looked so sad and depressed. The Mother looked at her with kindness and said, “Child, why are you looking so sad and depressed?” The baby camel looked at his mother and said, “Mom, why do we have long legs with three toed feet?” The mother laughed at him and said, ‘these long legs and the feet help us to walk comfortably in the desert in son” And why do we have long eyelashes?’ they protect us from sand in the desert my son. God gave us everything for a reason my son. The son again looked at his mother and said, “Mom, tell me why do we have a big hump on our back?’ The mom said, because God is so good to us and He created us with the big hump to store water so that we could survive in the desert for long time without water”. Then the baby camel looked at the mom and said, “If God is so good and created us in such a way to live in the desert, what are we doing here in Toronto Zoo?’
Some times we all struggle to fix on earth, because it is not our home, we belong to heaven and we are all heavenly creatures and then what are we doing here on earth facing challenges and sufferings, pain and hardships? And how can we separate ourselves from them? The only way to separate ourselves from earthly things is Prayer. Prayer takes us to God and every time we connect ourselves with God, we disconnect from unwanted earthly things.
One day a holy man was traveling with a group of people in a beautiful ship. Before the departure, all people came together and prayed to God for protection and they noticed that the Holy man did not pray and then before and after meal, every one prayed but the holy man did not. Then one day they faced with huge waves in the ocean and they were all in big danger, so every one knelt before God and prayed for life but the holy man did not utter a single prayer. So the people got so mad and said, ‘you are a holy man and you supposed to pray to God but you did not. Why are you not praying at all? The holy man looked at them and said, “Would you ask a fish that is in the water to take a bath. I live, move and have my being in prayer. My whole life is prayer. Yes, prayer should be our way of life and when we keep Christ at the center of our life, our whole life becomes a prayer.
In today’s gospel we see the immense power of prayer, when our Lord Christ prayed to God on the mountain, His face was shining like the sun, His cloths became dazzling white and there came Moses and Eliza were talking to Him. The disciple who were with Him were all amazed to here a voice from heaven saying, “This is my beloved Son with whom I am well pleased’.

When we have a strong prayer life, we too like our master will see a new spiritual reality in our lives. This season of lent invites us to explore ourselves in the presence of God and others and this season invites us to enter deeply into our spiritual life through the means of prayer, fasting and works of charity. Let us deepen ourselves in Christ and listen to the divine words that are still echoing in every person’s heart, ‘you are my beloved son and with you I am well pleased” Amen