Good morning every one, I am so happy to welcome you all for today’s Holy Mass. Every time we come to Church, we celebrate God Our Father who is full of love and compassion; we celebrate Christ who says that there is no sin that can not be forgiven by God and It’s our duty to go to Him to experience forgiveness and love and every time we come to Church, we become Christ our Lord by our love and forgiveness.
One day a teacher showed his students a crisp hundred dollar bill and asked who wanted it and every one raised their hands saying, ‘I want it… I want it”. Then he purposely soiled and rumpled the hundred-dollar bill and showed to his students and said, “Now who wants the soiled and rumpled hundred dollar bill?” Again everyone raised their hands and said, “I want it. I want it”. Then he looked at them all and said, ‘weather the hundred dollar bill is crisp or soiled it has the same value and likewise whether a person is good or bad, he is precious in the sight of God. Nothing can change the heart of God from loving His children and we are all equal in His sight”.
Today’s gospel is all about how precious we are in the sight of God. We are human and we fall into sin, go away from God and His goodness but He never changes His love towards us. He remains the same, yesterday, today and forever. Our sins will not change the loving heart of God but as we come to church and meditate upon the graciousness and loving kindness of God our Father, then we change. We leave our old ways behind and hold on to His love and immense kindness.
Once there was a sailor whose job was capturing people from Africa and selling them to other countries. Since he did not believe in God, he never felt morally responsible for what he was doing and then one day as he was taking people to sell other countries as slaves, he encountered a huge cyclone and tsunami and he knew that he was going to die with all those people, so he finally knelt before God and prayed saying, ‘Almighty God, I never believed in you and I sinned against you. Please forgive and save me and I will dedicate my whole life for you”. Then a miraculous thing happened, the sea was calm and so was his mind. He released all the people and dedicated his life to God and God alone. He was John Newton who wrote his experience in a beautiful poem and even today we sing his poem in the Church. He wrote, ‘Amazing grace how great thou art. I was lost but now I am found and I was blind and now I see’.
He was a prodigal son and as he came back, he experienced only love. We are today asked to come back to God who is full of love and compassion. Though the son went away from his father and squandered all his property, as he came back to senses and asked for forgiveness. The father said, “my son was dead and now he is alive. He was lost and now he was found’. Then there was a celebration of love and acceptance. It is our God who loves us all without limit or any condition.
One day a woman came to her parish priest and said, ‘Father, last night I had a vision and Jesus appeared and He talked to me”. The priest did not believe her and smiled and said, ‘that is good thing, keep praying”. But she came to him every day saying the same thing, ‘O Father, Jesus appeared and talked to me’ he was kind of annoyed and said to her, ‘if Jesus appears to you the next time, Just ask Him about my private sins. Then I will know weather it is really Jesus”. The next weekend, the priest waited for her but she did not show up. Three weeks later she again came to the priest and said, ‘Jesus appeared to me and talked to me”. He then looked at her and said, ‘did you ask Jesus about my private sins”. She said, “yes, I did and He said, ‘He does not remember your sins”.
That is our God who forgives all our sins and accepts as we are. When we go to Him, He never says “No” but showers upon us all His countless blessings.
Once there was a holy man who prayed to God five times and day fasted three times a week and did every thing according to the will of God and followed the commandments of God in all he was doing and then one day he met with a woman who was leading an immoral life. He condemned her saying, ‘you are living against God and He will definitely punish you. You will go to eternal punishment’. She then pleaded him to do something for her but he refused saying, ‘there is no salvation for you people’. You will die in your sins. Then one day the holy man died and went to heaven. He was celebrating everlasting life there. Two weeks later the woman also died and went to heaven. When the holy man saw the woman in heaven, he got so mad and asked god what was going on? God said, “ son, you lived your life well and good and thus you are given life everlasting and this child of mine was a prodigal one but she came back to me and she was lost but now she is alive. Join her and celebrate life”.
Conclusion: Let us thank God for He is good and His love surpasses everything. Let us not judge others but accept and pray for them. Let us see the presence of Christ our Savior in them all. Amen.
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