Second Sunday-Advent B

Second Sunday in Advent-BToday we celebrate the second Sunday in Advent. This Sunday is called, ‘John the Baptist Sunday’. This Sunday is also called a Sunday of Hope. It’s not that easy to understand the last prophet of the Testaments. Even two thousand years ago, people could not understand John the Baptist fully. A few people comprehended what John the Baptist meant when he said, “prepare the way of the Lord”. And even fewer people could understand when he said, “I am unworthy to untie the thong of His sandals”. Today John the Baptist invites people for repentance and baptism. He calls them out to come out of their shells and meet the Christ whom they were longing for.
school principal called the house of one of his teachers to find out why he was not in school. He was greeted by a small child who whisper: “Hello?”
“Is your Daddy home?” asked the principal.
“Yes,” answered the whispering child.
“May I talk with him?” the man asked.
“No,” replied the small voice.
“Is your Mommy there?” he asked.
“Yes,” came the answer.
“May I talk with her?”
Again the small voice whispered, “No.”
“All right,” said the man, “Is there any one there besides you?”
“Yes,” whispered the child, “A policeman.”
“A policeman? Now, may I speak with the policeman?”
“No, he's busy,” whispered the child..
“Busy doing what?” asked the principal.
“Talking to Daddy and Mommy and the fireman,” came the child’s answer.
“The fireman? Has there been a fire in the house or something?” asked the worried man.
“No,” whispered the child.
“Then what are the police and fireman doing there?”
Still whispering, the young voice replied with a soft giggle," They are looking for me.”
John the Baptist invites people to leave behind their sins and be baptized. He asks them to come out of their shells so that God could find them. God will surely find them but at the same time, it is up to us to go to Him to experience His love and kindness. Even we go away from Him, He will never leave us alone. We might hide from Him and we might run away from Him but no body could escape from His love and kindness. Our God will approach us with His compassion and love and He will fill us with lights in the day and hope in the night.
　

The question today is what was John about? And why did he do what he did?
John the Baptist is the very voice of Advent- the voice of the coming of the Lord to intervene in the relationship between God and ourselves. What he said was not merely a word about Jesus, it was the gospel, and it was the beginning of the Good News for the world.
The words of John still inspires those who want to walk with Jesus, who want to find their way out of the wilderness and into the promised land.
There is an old Chinese proverb tells us that a journey of a thousand miles must begin with one step. John came to point out what that step must be. He pointed out that the way of the Lord must be prepared, and that way is not simply a highway in the desert but rather it is a highway in our hearts.
There is a story about a man who went to a spiritual Master and said, “Master, I want to find happiness. In search of happiness, I studied the scriptures and visited all the holy places and did everything according to the commandment of God. But I could not find happiness, what should I do?” At this point, the master began to serve him tea. He poured the man’s cup full and then kept on pouring and pouring. Since the cup was full, tea began to run on the floor. The man then stopped the master and said, “My cup is full. Please stop pouring”. Then the master looked at him and said, “Like this cup, you are full of your own opinions and speculations. And how can I show the way unless you first empty your cup?’

How can we welcome Christ, how can we enter the Promised Land with Him, if we have no place in our hearts for Him?
John the Baptist came to prepare the place for Jesus the Lord.
The message of John the Baptist was, “Repent and be baptized for the forgiveness of sins”. Repent: What does the word repent mean? Repent means to turn around, to change direction. It means to face a new way and have the courage to leave behind the old way.
And be baptized for the forgiveness of sins
Conclusion: As we celebrate the second Sunday in Advent, we are called to become John the Baptist, we are called to prepare the way of the lord helping others to repent and be baptized for the forgiveness of their sins. It is our duty to help them to know the love and kindness of god and it is our duty to help them to know the real meaning of divine forgiveness. So as we celebrate advent, let us prepare the way to welcome Christ our saviour in our hearts. Amen.

Advent-1 (B)

First Advent-B
Good morning every one, today the Holy Catholic Church celebrates a new liturgical season called ‘Advent’. Advent simply means ‘coming’. We are celebrating the coming of Christ the Lord. We are anxiously waiting for His coming. As He promised to His apostles and all the people, He would come again. He will be coming to judge and give us life that will never end.
Today’s gospel invites us to keep awake. 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 said to the priest and said, “wake him up yourself. You put him to sleep”.
Keep awake the Lord is coming. Keeping awake is a process. we keep awake ourselves by prayer, fasting and works of mercy. Yes, we not only come to church to pray but we continue our prayers throughout our life. We Catholics do our daily prayers, family prayers, individual prayer and recite rosary and novenas and different prayers and intercessions. We ask Blessed Virgin Mary and other saints to intercede for our needs.
Keeping awake is a process and we keep ourselves awake by living according to our call.
We are all called to different sacrament life. Some are called to consecrated life such as priests, religious and others are called matrimonial life. The sacrament of matrimony takes you closer to Christ our Lord. As we live according to our call, we keep ourselves awake.
keep awake the Lord is coming. Keeping awake is a process. we keep ourselves awake by helping other, I mean, putting our faith into practice.
Once during a battle between Christians and Muslims, a Christian soldier was giving water to wounded Muslim soldiers as they were 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.
Keep awake. Keeping ourselves awake is a process. Why should we keep awake because the Lord is coming not as an appointed time but in an unexpected time. It could be today or tomorrow or some day. But He is coming as he promised. So let us keep awake and welcome the Lord. On that day, we will be judged and be given life that will never end.

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.

Five talents

Five Talents-33rd Sunday
There is a beautiful story about Blessed Mother Theresa. What happened was, once she went to Ireland and she gave a spiritual talk in the cathedral in Dublin. She spoke simple of love for the poorest of the poor and of love for Christ through them. Then the very next day, a man called a priest and said, “Father, I would like to get back in Church”. The priest who tried his best to bring back people to church asked him, “What made you to decide to come back to church”. The man said, “last night Mother Teresa spoke to me”. What do you mean. There was about ten thousand people last night in church and what do you mean she spoke to you?’ I know her words were meant to me and me alone. What did she say, “she said God bless you”.
I have been saying these words thousands of time every day and I could not convince you. But father, she said it from the bottom of her heart”.
When mother began her mission work, she said, my hand is Christ’s hand, my smile is Christ’s smile and my life is Christ’s life. She thus became one in Christ.
Today’s parable is one of the most powerful parables in the gospel. It’s about every one of us. As the master goes away to a distant country, he put his servants in charge of his property. He gives them his talents according to their ability and capacity so that as he comes back, they could return to him with interest. The person who received five talents returns them to the master with five more talents. The master is proud of him and saying, “ you good and trustworthy slave. you have been trustworthy in a few things and I will put you in charge of many things. Then He says “enter into the joy of your master”.
Talents could be money or gifts. But today I would like to invite you all to reflect upon the five talents that are given to us all and the five talents were awakened in us on the day of baptism. I would like to look at the five talents as your five senses namely seeing, hearing. tasting. touching and smelling. On the day of baptism, these five senses were awakened. we became new creatures namely children of God. we were given a special gift to see divine things around, hear divine words and touch and smell and taste the goodness of the Lord.
Our body and soul begin to change because of these five senses. As we invest more and more our five senses into spiritual matters, we become another Christ more kind and compassionate; we become more loving and forgiving; we begin to look at life, living and death with our heightened spiritual awareness.

St.John lateran

Lateran Basilica
Good morning every one, today the Holy Catholic Church celebrates the feast of the dedication of St. John Lateran basilica, the mother of all churches, the cathedral of the Pope. So to prepare ourselves to celebrate these sacred mysteries, let us call to mind our sins and ask God’ blessing and forgiveness.
1. Once a man came across three masons who were cutting large stones. When the man asked the first mason what he was doing, he said, “I am hammering this stupid rock, I can not wait till 5 when I can go home”. When he asked the second mason who looked a little more interested of what he was doing, said, “I am cutting and shaping these stones. It is not a bad work, but I will be sure be glad when it’s done” The third mason who was hammering the rock looked so interested of what he was doing. He looked so satisfied and the man looked at the third mason and asked what he was doing. He said, “I am building a temple!” I am so happy that one day people will come to this temple to praise and worship God. I am so glad to do this job.
“Three men, three different attitudes, all doing the same job.”2. In today’s gospel, Jesus our Lord the Only Son of God who taught us to call God Father says, “stop making my Father’s house a market place...” thus He was chasing away the people who selling and buying things. Then the people said to Him, “what sign can you show us for doing this?” Jesus answered them, “destroy the temple, and in three days I will raise it up”. Jesus was speaking of the temple of His body.
3. Human body is the temple of the Holy Spirit.
A. What is body according to Christian term?The time came, when the Lord God formed a man's body. He made it from the dust of the ground. Then he breathed into it the breath of life. And man became a living person....
And that is why every time we celebrate a final service at the cemetery, we say, “you are dust and unto dust you shall return”. And God breathed the breath of life into the human body. Thus the body carries the breath of life namely the image and likeness of God our Father. So human body itself becomes holy and it is the temple.
B. It’s the temple
In the time of Jesus, every Jewish male was expected to make a pilgrimage to Jerusalem temple for the Passover festival every year. There they were sacrificing animals and other things to please God forgetting that obedience is better than sacrifice.
According to the Bible, where is the temple located today? It’s not in Jerusalem. It’s our own body. As we know, temple is a holy place where God resides. And in the temple, prayers and offering should be done. As we look at our body as the holy temple of God, our way of approaching ourselves and others will change. we will have more respect and love for our body.
C. It is the temple of the Holy Spirit　
St. Paul calls that the body is the temple of the Holy Spirit. It’s because our body since it has the breath of God keeps producing the fruits of the holy spirit such as love and kindness; knowledge and wisdom; understanding and good will.
Conclusion:

All suols day

All Souls day.
Saint Augustine said, “When I die bury me anywhere you like but remember to pray for me at the Altar”All Souls day. Today we celebrate all souls day.
It is a special day set apart so that we may pray and offer Holy Mass for our departed beloved ones who are currently going through purification before entering into heaven.All religions strongly believe in the immortality of the soul and offer special prayers for the dead.
The catechism of the Jews called Talmud says prayer brings greater blessing for the dead.
“Remember us who have gone before you in your prayers” is an unique sentence found on every catacomb of the believers.
The book of revelation says that nothing unclean shall enter into heaven.
There are people like John Paul the second or Mother Theresa as they die, they go to heaven. It’s because they completely put their trust in God Almighty. They frequent the church’s sacraments and practice their faith by loving God and others. And as they die, Jesus invites them into heaven saying, “You who did everything well, come into my father’s house.....”
And there are people, though given so many chances to know and love God, reject the presence of God. They reject the love and forgiveness of God. They do not believe in the existence of God. These people are condemned to everlasting punishment or hell. They are gone forever or for eternity. There is no salvation for them.
And finally there are people who like us fall into sin and get up. They break the commandments and feel sorry for their sins. They believe in God but because of their human nature go away from Him. As they die with their venial sins, they are neither going to heaven nor hell but the place called purgatory.
what is purgatory?It is a place of purification where their souls will completely be purified and thus the soul of the dead become holy and beautiful.
The Church’s teaching: The Church's official teaching on Purgatory is plain and simple. There is a place or state of purification called Purgatory, where souls undergoing purification can be helped by the prayers of the faithful (Council of Trent). Some modern theologians suggest that the fire of Purgatory is an intense, transforming encounter with Jesus Christ and his fire of love. They also speak of Purgatory as an "instant” purification immediately after death, varying in intensity from soul to soul, depending on the state of each individual
Prodigal son’s suffering: As he lost everything and was suffering, he said to himself, “There are so many hired men in my father’s house have enough food to eat and enjoy and here I am starving without anything to eat. I am going to go to my father and say, “father, I have sinned against you and against heaven”. That is called the purification. The souls will be purified with the fire of Christ’s love. As we offer prayers, sacrifice of Mass, almsgiving in their names, their souls be purified and thus enter into eternal bliss. So let us sacrifice Mass and be with them. Amen.

Love God and your neighbor

Love God with your heart.
Once a man went to many priests and said, “ Please help me to understand your faith in five words and I’d join your church... many pastors refused saying, “ It is impossible to teach the whole catholic faith in five words... but at last a priest looked at him and said, “Love God, love your neighbor “-- the rest is all commentary.
Today if we ask hundred people about the most important element of Christianity, we would get at least ten different answers. Some would say it is faith, others would say prayer and still others would say the Church or service or love. When Christ our Lord the Only Son of God who teaches the secret of life and after life was asked this question namely the most important element in Christianity, He said it was “Our Love Directed towards God and God alone”Today we are talking about the relationship principles of Christ our Lord. Jesus doesn’t say, “Love God to the best of your ability,” nor does He say, “Love God with just your heart, or just your mind, or just your soul, or just your strength.” No, He says with all heart, all soul, all mind, and all strength! In other words, totally, completely, absolutely!!! And that is priority # 1 in the believer’s life!
The most important and core of all Jewish prayer is called “Shema, Israel..” namely hear O Israel. Every pious and devoted Jew would recite the Shema twice daily, morning and evening. It’s a center of all prayers. He would say, “Hear O Israel, the Lord is God. The Lord is One. Love the Lord your God with all your heart, with all your soul and with all your strength” It is the one cited by Christ our Lord as the greatest commandment in the Law.
A Scripture lawyer asks today a question saying, “Teacher, Which commandment is the greatest?”
And Jesus who knows all not only answers the question but also adds one more powerful answer like last weekend as people asked whether they should pay taxes to Caesar. Jesus said, “give it to Caesar what belongs to him and give it to God what belongs to God”. Jesus was making an emphasis not on Caesar's right but on God’s that people were ignoring for long time.
In the same way, the emphasis in today's question about the greatest commandment is not on the obvious love of God but on the love of neighbor which they were trampling upon.
There is a beautiful legend about John the beloved disciple. He lived many years even after all the apostles. He lived in Ephesus and went every day to preach the good news. Since he was very old and his body and mind were failing, his homily became five words homily. He repeated the five words every day namely “My Children, love one another”.
In the second century a non-Christian writer named Aristides wrote a letter to his emperor about Christians saying, “They love one another. They share with one another what they have and support the window and the orphans. They are preaching a new kind of religion. They say love God and love one another”. Yes, Dear friends in Christ, Christianity is a new kind of religion given by Christ our Lord. As we love and forgive one another, the world will become a better place to live and prosper. Where there is love, there is heaven and where there is heave, there is God. So let us love one another and make this earth a heavenly abode. Amen.
　
　
　
　
　
　
　

28-sunday

28-Sunday-A
One day an old man from Toronto called his son 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. Fifty years of misery is enough. I can not take it anymore. The son was not happy at all and said, “Dad, please wait and don’t do anything. Then he called his sisters in Halifax and Edmonton and told them the situation and they right away called the dad in Toronto and said, “Please dad, don’t do anything and we are coming home and let us talk. Don’t move out. please wait”. Then the old man hangs up the phone and said to his wife, “honey, our children are coming home for thanksgiving and now what we tell them for Christmas?”
Once a holy man asked,
“Would you know who is the greatest saint in the world: It is not he who prays most or fasts most, it is not he who gives most alms or is most eminent for temperance, chastity or justice; but it is he who is always thankful to God, who wills everything that God wills.
As we are going to celebrate thanksgiving, let us first of all thank God for everything especially for your families, friends and others.
1.Today’s gospel is a powerful thanksgiving gospel. It shows the compassion and kindness of the eternal king. He loves all without any partiality and that is why He invites every one to his wedding banquet and He wants them all to be happy and celebrate with him and that is why he calls them in a special way.
2.He sent his servants to invite them. He sent His slaves to call them. As they came with loving invitation, people had excuses and did not go to the banquet. One went to his farm and another went to his business and others mistreated the servants and slaves. Since they were angry and mad, they even killed some of the servants.
And even today, we hear often people saying, “I am busy and I don’t have time to go to Eucharistic thanksgiving celebration. I have things to do”.
They all have only one complaint. That is they do not have time. We know where to go, when we do not have something. if we want grocery, we go to grocery and when we do not have enough time, we should go to the person who has time. Yes, God who created time has more time and we should go to Him and ask for time. He will bless us with more time.
Why don’t people have enough time? Not because of their work or because of their family but because of the stress they have thinking about their job and businesses. As we go to God through Christ our Lord, all our stress, anxiety, depression and other physical and emotional challenges will completely be wiped away. We will become new in Christ our Lord.
And here we are today celebrating life because as today’s gospel in the longer version says, “many are called but few are chosen”. We are all chosen by God almighty. Though many received the sacrament of baptism and entered into the Church, they are not here to celebrate the banquet of the Lord the holy Eucharist but we are here. We are chosen in a special way. So let us thank God for choosing us as his own. Let us thank God for sending Christ our Lord to be our Lord and Messiah.
As a chosen people, it is our duty to help others to come to the banquet. few years ago, I came to know a person by Alberta. When Alberta came to church, she shook my hand and said, “Father, I am Alberta. I thought she was joking, so I said if you are Alberta, I am British Colombia. So one day, she called me and said, “Father, my husband and I are going to church, our four children and our grandchildren are not. what should we do? I said, “you are going to help them to be chosen ones. please after Mass as you visit them, talk about the love and kindness of God not about the people who come to church or the priest. as they hear about loving and forgiving god, they will be inspired. preach the gospel when it is necessary use words. Amen.

21A

Once a man approached a spiritual master and said, “I want to love God more and more and please show me the way to love God”.
The spiritual Master looked at him and said, “Have you loved anybody before?’
The man replied, “I have been very busy looking for God. So I kept away from love”.
The spiritual master said, “Do you remember loving your parents, your friends or your wife or even an animal?’
The man said, ‘The man got mad and said, “why do you ask me such an unrelated questions. All I want is to love God”. Then the master said, “Son, for you it is very difficult to love God. To love God, you should have love for God’s creatures”.
Those who tasted the unconditional love of God knew that God’s love could be experienced by loving others.
When Mother Teresa went to Australia, a Franciscan monk was asked to assist her and the monk was so excited thinking that he might have good opportunity to be with her and talk to her but she was so busy having many appointments with other people and the monk, though was with her, never had a chance to talk to her. Then as she was leaving for New Guinea, at the airport the monk looked at her and said, “If I pay the ticket to come with you to New Guinea, will I have a chance to talk to you and learn about you?’ Then mother Teresa looked at him and said, “you have that much money to pay your own way. if you give that money to the poor, you will learn more about god’s love than anything I can tell you”.
As we learn to love others, we begin to enter through the narrow door that leads us to the kingdom of God. Love. Those who say, ‘I love God and I dedicate my whole life to God, most of the time forget to know Jesus was sent to show the way to the kingdom of God and thus to take them all to the kingdom of God. He did miracles and wonders first and then He talked about God.
　
　
When the first missionaries came to Alberta, Canada, they were savagely opposed by a young chief of the Cree Indians named Maskepetoon. But he responded to the gospel and accepted Christ. Shortly afterward, a member of the Blackfoot tribe killed his father. Maskepetoon rode into the village where the murderer lived and demanded that he be brought before him. Confronting the guilty man, he said, "You have killed my father, so now you must be my father. You shall ride my best horse and wear my best clothes." In utter amazement and remorse his enemy exclaimed, "My son, now you have killed me!" He meant, of course, that the hate in his own heart had been completely erased by the forgiveness and kindness of the Indian chief.
　
When Narvaez, the Spanish patriot, lay dying, his father-confessor asked him whether he had forgiven all his enemies. Narvaez looked astonished and said, "Father, I have no enemies, I have shot them all."
　
　
　
　

20th sunday-a

20th Sunday-A
Good morning/evening every one. Once Emperor Marcus Aurelius said, “People exist for the sake of one another”.
I know an Italian woman of 92 years old. Every time I ask her saying, “Antoinette, pray for me”. She would say, “I always pray for my friends and my enemies”.
“So am I your friend?”
She would say, “That’s what you think”.
Prayer brings healing and when we pray for others, our soul begins to expand. As we think about a sick person and pray for that person, our way of approaching others will also change. We become more compassionate and kind not only to that person who is sick but also towards humanity. And that’s why many people go to different support groups and help others.
Even we focus on one person’s welfare, we will begin to develop a deep connection with every one who is in need. We are both social and spiritual beings and it’s our nature to feel that way. we are all connected in Christ our Lord. And that’s why we experience pain, when people suffer in Syria or in Palestine or Israel. That’s why we suffer when people suffer with Ebola in Africa and that’s why we go through pain when our Christian brothers and sisters suffer in Iraq.
Love can not be hidden. For the sake of love, we will sacrifice anything. And even we will lay down our life as Christ our Master and Savior. That is what happened with St. Maxmillian kolbe a polish catholic priest. When he was in a concentration camp, one of the prisoners escaped and as the punishment for that escape, ten men were chosen to be killed. And among the ten was an young husband. Father Maxmillian took that man’s place and suffered for two weeks of starvation, torture and finally death. It’s all happened because of the love of others. A person can not both love Christ and hate others.
In the gospels, we see two kinds of people coming to Christ our Lord. There were people coming to Christ asking for personal healing, “Jesus, Son of David, have mercy on me”. And to people who came to Him for healing, Christ asked them about their faith and then said, “According to your faith it will be done and go in peace”
And there were another group of people who came to Christ. They came to Him looking for healing not for themselves but for others. For example, a centurion who came to Christ saying, “My servant is at home paralyzed and is suffering terribly”.
Christ said, “Shall I come and heal him”
The Centurion said, “No Master, I am unworthy to have you under my roof but only say the word, my servant will be healed”.
Then another occasion, a group of people brought a paralyzed man on a mat and since the house where Jesus was so crowded, they dug a hole in the roof and through it, they let the man come to Jesus. When Jesus saw their faith, he said, “Son, you sins are forgiven. get up and take your mat and walk home”.
And in today’s gospel, we see a woman filled with faith following Christ and asking to heal her only child. Though in the beginning, it looked so challenging, Jesus seeing her faith says, “Woman, great is your faith. Let it be done as you wish”.
When people went to Christ looking for healing, He asked about their faith but on the other hand, when people approached Christ asking healing for others, He appreciated them and said, “your faith is great. You are doing wonderful. I am so happy that you are asking..... because our love for others will bring more healing and miracles for others.

19th sunday

19th Sunday-C
Good morning every one, I am so happy to welcome you all for today’s Holy Mass. Dear friends, every time we come to church, we celebrate our faith in Christ and hoping that Christ our Master will come one day as He promised to His apostles and others and every time we come here, our expectation in His second coming intensifies and as we receive church’s sacraments, we get ready to welcome the Master who is going to come in an unexpected time.
Once there was an old priest in a remote village and he was known for his devotion to his long years of religious works in a small village and even Vatican was impressed at his dedication and hard work. So they sent reporters to interview him as they wanted to use his story to inspire other priests. The reporter looked at him with pride and happiness asked him what is your secret to this dedication and hard work. The old priest said, “two things my child. coffee and rosary”. then he leaned back on his chair and yelled towards the kitchen: “Rosary! please bring in two coffee”.
After His Resurrection and before His Ascension in heaven, Jesus instructed His disciples saying, “Go, therefore everywhere and baptize them all in the name of the father, Son and the Holy Spirit and preach the Good News to all. I will be with you until the end of time”. This is called the great commission of Christianity and He also promised that He would come back to take us all with Him so that where He is, we may be too.
What did the apostles believe about the second coming of Christ?
Though there is no clear evidence about their expectation of Christ’s second coming happening during their time, some theologians suspect that the apostles waited not writing the gospels thinking that Christ would come back to take them with Him. Once they received the Holy Spirit, they deepened their faith in Christ and began to go everywhere to preach the good news of salvation.
St. Paul also strongly believed that the second coming of Christ would occur during His time and when people of Thessalonica in the hope of His second coming stopped working or doing anything but instead began to interrupt other, St. Paul had to intervene them saying, “ I hear that some of you are not doing anything but keep interrupting others. those who are not working should not eat”. The Lord is coming in an unexpected time, let us prepare ourselves doing good works and preach the good news to all.
The beauty of the second coming is no body knows when He is going to come but He will come as He promised and that is why Christ said, “no one knows not even the son of God but only the Father”.
Jesus says that we should be like those who are waiting for their master’s return, should be dressed for action and lamps should be lit. Be dressed for action... yes, we should keep our faith alive and active. Those who have faith in Christ will never die. They will witness the second coming of Christ on that day.
One day a spiritual master with his disciples was going to a village to preach the good news. As he was going, he was stopped by some people and they said, ‘we know you preach the good news and do miracles and wonders and why can’t you pray for some rain. we are here dying without rain. The spiritual master right away knelt before God and began to pray and that time, one of his disciples began to plead him saying, “Please do not pray for rain because we have to go far away and we did not bring any umbrella either. That is called faith. The disciple really believed in the Master. when our faith is stronger, then we can say that we are dressed for action and we are ready to welcome the Master.
In today’s gospel, Jesus our Lord asks us to let our lamps lit. Yes, when our hope is stronger, people could see the love and kindness of God in and through us. we can shine like the sun before all. As we follow Christ, we will be like Him shining brightly. Once a king said to a Rabbi, “ I want to see your God who is the creator of all and who loves you so much”. And the Rabbi said, “That is impossible”. The king said, “you must show Him”. Then the Rabbi took the king out and it was summer and said to the king, “ look at the Sun” and the king said, “I can not, it is too bright” for that the rabbi said, “If you can not even look at the Sun, which is one of the servants of the Holy one, how shall you loot at the Holy one Himself”.
He is coming in an unexpected hour and all we have to do is keep our faith and let our hope shine before others by helping and accepting them all and on the day when the Master comes, He will glorify and bless us all and take us with Him so that where He is, we may be too. Amen.

18th sunday

18th Sunday.
Good morning everyone, I am so happy to welcome you all for today’s Holy Mass. Dear friends, every time we come to church, we prepare ourselves to go back home namely the divine abode, heaven. Every time we come to church, we begin to store up treasures in heaven and every time we receive any of church’s sacraments, we receive blessings upon blessings to know more about our heavenly home.
Do you know why men die before their wives? Because they want to.
A husband and wife were fighting over who was going to make coffee. The wife said that the Bible says that it is husbands’ job making coffee. where in the bible you found it. The wife opened the bible and it said, ’Hebrews’.

1. Meditation
2. Transformation
3. Action
Today’s gospel invites us to think about our eternal home-heaven. Reflecting or meditating upon heaven will change us into new spiritual beings. There are so many saints and holy people meditated upon the glory of God and thus gave less important to earthly things and knew how to use material things to find heavenly things.
1. Reflection or meditation:Meditation is a form of prayer that helps to deepen our faith in God. Our faith in God will help us to differentiate things namely earthly and heavenly. There are saints like St. Ignatius of Loyola, St. Theresa of Avila and De Sales who spent time in meditation and prayer to know God more fully.
Once St. Thomas Aquinas theologian who wrote Summa Theologica namely summery of theology stopped writing and his assistants came to him asking, “Father, what happened to you. you are a famous theologian and you changed people’s understanding about Catholicism and why are you not writing?’ And St. Thomas said, “Some moths ago, as I meditated and reflected upon the mystery of God and thus I experienced a glimpse of Almighty and before that experience all my writings and fame are nothing”.
Those who experience the presence of God will know how to hold on to heavenly things and store up treasure only in heaven.
2. Transformation
Reflection and meditation upon God will transform a person into new spiritual being. He will become new and will know how to leave behind things that stop him from loving God and divine things.
once a man found an eagle’s egg and put it in the nest of a hen. some days later, the eaglet hatched with the brood of chicks and grew up with them. All his life, the eagle did what the chickens did, scratching earth for food and running around for fear of others. Years went by, the eagle grew old and then one day, he saw a majestic bird flying in the sky so big and beautiful. He asked the neighbor who he was, the neighbor said, “He is called eagle king of birds. He belongs to the sky and we belong to the earth”. And the old eagle believed, lived and died a chicken- because that is what he thought he was.
But we belong to the sky and our prayer and meditation and coming to church will slowly transform us into new spiritual beings. As we spend time in prayers, we begin to find God in everything we do. God called us to know that we belong to the sky. we are heavenly beings.
3. Action:
　
　
Once during a battle between Muslims and Christians, a Christian water boy was giving water to wounded Muslim soldiers as they lay suffering under the hot sun. He was brought to the king and was accused of being a traitor. The king asked what he was going to say. The soldier bowed before the king and said, “As they were suffering I saw no Muslim or Christian, all I saw was the face of Christ in every suffering person”. The king praised him saying, “You are the true disciple of Christ”.

The Ascension of the Lord

The Ascension of the Lord
Good evening/morning every one, I am so happy to welcome you all for today’s Holy Mass. Dear friends, Let us thank God almighty for bringing us all here to St. Patrick’s/Our lady of Fatima church to praise and glorify Him, to experience His unconditional love and unlimited forgiveness in Christ our Lord. Today we celebrate the Ascension of our Lord. Christ our Lord is ascending to the Father not to abandon us but prepare a place for us all so that where the Master is, there we may be too. Where the head is going, there body will follow too. Christ our Lord is ascending not to abandon us but to send the Holy Spirit the reminder to be with us and comfort us.

Once a professor went around the country lecturing. Every time he lectured, his driver sat in the audience and listened. One day the driver said, “I listened more than thousand lectures of yours and I can do it as good as you do”. The professor said, “Tonight you lecture and I will sit with the audience dressed like a driver”. The man did a wonderful lecturing. At the end of his lecture, every body clapped and cheered for him then a hand went up and said, “By the way, when you mix the c0l2 and kh2o with the photosynthesis, how come the result is not c02 but clk53? The man said, “This is the most stupid question I have ever heard and I want to prove to you how stupid it is and I let my driver answer this question.

There is an ascension anecdote that as Jesus went up to heaven, angels and archangels surrounded Him and they asked about His mission. Jesus talked about His preaching and healing; His suffering and death and His resurrection and the Mission of salvation. The angel Gabriel asked, “Lord, who is going to continue the mission now?” Jesus said, “I formed a group of men and they will take the message of good news every where. The angel then said, they denied you , they abandoned you and they ran away from you and do you have any other plan? Jesus the Lord looked at them and said, “I have only one plan and they are my plan”.
Christ our Lord after His resurrection for forty days stayed on earth appearing to His disciples and apostles and to other holy people, giving them divine peace and encouraging them to deepen their faith in God the Almighty and on the fortieth day, in the presence of His apostles, He was taken up to heaven surrounded by angels and archangels. As the apostles were looking up the sky and looking sad, then the angels appeared to them and said, “O men of Galilee, what are you looking up in the sky? The Christ who was taken up into heaven, will in the same way come again.
Christ the Lord who ascended into heaven will come again and until then the followers and the disciples and the believers and worshipers should follow His final command or instructions.
Christ our Lord before His ascension told His disciples that all authority in heaven and on earth had been given to Him. Jesus who was born in Bethlehem, who was baptized at Jordan and began His mission of preaching the Good News of salvation to all by healing the sick, giving sight and raising the dead to life was not an ordinary human, He is God indeed and He who died on the Cross came back to life and He has power and authority in heaven and on earth. And those who follow the Lord who has divine authority and power will become like Him having divine power and divine authority. They will do greater things in His name.
Christ asks His disciples to go everywhere. Yes the whole world belongs to Him. What is in heaven and on earth and under the earth bow before Him. Everything was created in Him and for Him alone. As we go everywhere in His name, we see nothing but His divine blessing and grace flowing. we will find Him alone in everything.
He asks us to preach the good News of salvation to all creatures. The best preaching of the Good News is keeping our faith. As St. Francis of Assisi says when we keep the gospel, people will come to know that Christ is alive and will experience His miracles and wonders.
He asks His disciples to baptize the beliers in His name. Baptism is not about the ritual, it is all about becoming a child of God. As Christ, and John the Baptist and all people heard the divine voice from the heavens, blessed people will hear the voice of God on the day of baptism. they will have a reassurance saying, ‘you are my child and with you, I am well pleased”.
Today as the very final thought Christ says, “we do not need to be afraid of anything. people may come and say that the world is going to end today or tomorrow and we will be left alone but Christ today promises that He is with us until the end of time. Nothing will happen to His believers because one day like our master and Lord, we too will be taken up to heaven until then let us live in the Lord and preach the Good news and Christ does not have any other plan to preach the Good news of salvation to the world because we are His plan. Amen.

First sunday in Lent

First Sunday in Lent
Good morning every one, I am so happy to welcome you all for today’s Holy Mass. Today we celebrate first Sunday in Lent. Lent means spring time in old English and during this season, we are called to become new like spring and leave behind our old self. Dear friends, it is God our Father makes us new each and every day in Christ our Lord and it is Christ who helps us to leave behind our old self such as short comings, failures and sins. Every time we come to Church, we celebrate our new self in Christ.
In those days two Irish men came to New York city and one day they decided to travel by train and see the city and wile they were sitting on a train, they saw a fruit vendor and they recognized apples and oranges but not the strange fruit. The vendor told them that it was banana and he showed them how to peel and eat it. So they bought some bananas. while one man had a bit of the banana, the train was going through a tonal and he screamed saying, “pat, don’t eat the banana?’ why? because I had a bite of it and now I can not see, I think I became blind.
In life, we are all going through the tonal of pain and suffering; rejection and guilt. And today we are blessed with forty days of lent to see the light at the end of the tonal. Why forty day? It is a biblical number, during the time of Noah, there came down rain for forty days and forty nights. Moses who was chosen by God to lead Israel went up to the mountain and be there for forty days before receiving the ten commandments. The prophet Elisa walked with the strength of the food that was fed by God for forty days and our Lord Christ the Savior of the world prayed and fasted for forty days and forty nights before His public ministry.
At the end of the fortieth day, He was tempted. We are all being tempted every day but those who pray and fast and observe the spiritual disciplines recognize the tempter and are given the courage to say “ NO” to him.
Like any other ordinary human being, Christ our Lord encountered three types of temptation namely physical, spiritual and material.
For the physical temptation, Christ our Lord said, “One does not live on bread alone but every word that comes from the mouth of God”.
Once a man who wanted to become a monk was adviced to do some reflection and meditation on his special call. while he was sitting comfortable to do so, he saw a beautiful woman walking by and was distracted. The next day, he closed his eyes and was doing his meditation but he heard her walking by and was distracted again. The next day, he closed his eyes and ears and as she was walking by, he could smell her. So he covered his head with a brown bag and was doing his meditation. Time went by, when it was ten o’clock, his mind began to act out saying, this is the time, she supposed to walk by. where is she? where is she?
physical desire can stop us from loving God and his immense glory. And this season helps us to rethink our physical desires and if they stop us from going to God, we should improve ourselves during this season.
The second one is spiritual temptation. And Christ our Lord said, “Do not tempt God your Father”.
Once there was a religious man who prayed five times a day and fasted three times a week and did every thing according to the commandments of the Lord and one day as he was walking on a river bank, he fell in the water and cried to God saying, God help me. Then came fire fighters and then police and people to help him but he refused saying, ’God will come and help me”. But God did not come, he drowned. when he went to heaven, he said God how come you did not come to help me. God said, I was the one who sent all those people to help you but you refused. Do not tempt your Father. The difference between religious and spiritual people is religious people look for miracles but spiritual people become miralcles for others.
The third temptation of Christ is the mateiral one and to that Christ said, ’Worship the Lord and serve only Him”.
one day a man met with his friend who looked sad and he asked why. He said you know my uncle who died a week ago and left with me million dollar. yes you suppose to be happy and why are you sad because the other uncle who died two days ago also left me a million. wow now you have two millions and you should be happy and why are you looking sad. The man said I am sad becasue I do not have any more uncle to die.
material things will never fill the heart of a person. When we serve God and God alone, we will be given everything. Let us take advantage of this season and fill our hearts with love and kindness; with happiness and joy and thus become new and say no to our old self. Amen.

8th sunday

8th Sunday in ordinary time.
Trust in the love and providence of God.
Good morning every one. I am so happy to welcome you all for today’s Holy Mass. Dear friends, it is God who looks after us and it is Christ who provides us with happiness and joy and as we come to Church, we are given blessings upon blessing to know the love and kindness of God our Father.
If you have a problem that can be fixed, then there is no point in worrying and if you have a problem that can not be fixed and then there is no point in worrying either.
There is a story about a man who worked in the freezer compartment for a big business and one day as he went in the freezer compartment for his routine job, the freezer door locked itself and he could not get out. As he realized that it was past midnight, he could not get any help so he wrote on the freezer compartment wall, “I am getting colder and colder and I am so weak. this will be my last words”. The next morning when workers opened the freezer compartment, they found the man dead.
But the sad twist to the story is, the freezer compartment had stopped working a few days prior to the incident. The man died just because of his unnecessary worry and fear.
In today’s gospel, Christ our Lord invites us to put our trust in God Almighty. Do not worry about what to eat and drink because life is more than eating and drinking and do not worry about what to wear because life is more than clothing. people who put their trust in God will not worry about every day things because they know that God who created everything will look after them and He will feed them with finest of all. When they are down, He will lift them up and as they encounter challenges, He will bring them answers.
We should not worry about what we are eating but we should think about what is eating us.
Who is our Master. Is it God or material things. Those who go after material things will not only lose their peace of mind but also God but on the other hand those who serve God and God alone not only gain God but are also showered with wealth. They will be given more of everything. So it is better to serve God and gain life.
How can we stop worrying and start living? We can all start living by living one day at a time like all other living creatures. There is a story about a clock, a wall clock who took a nervous breakdown and ended up stop working. He was taken up to a psychiatrist and the doctor looked at him and asked, “what is your problem?’ The wall clock said, “I have to make two ticks in a second and 120 ticks a minute and imagine how many ticks I have to make for an hour and for a day and for a year. By thinking about all the ticks I have to make, I had a nervous break down”. The doctor looked at the clock and said, “how many ticks you have to make at a time”. He said one tick at a time. Then go home and make only one tick at the time and do not think about the next until the time comes. The clock went home happily.
living one day at a time is the secret to serve God and find happiness. Today so many people spend their resources to find happiness, to find serenity and peace and Our Lord Jesus Christ gives answer to all our human challenges and problems saying, “live one day at a time and if we do not know how then we should learn from other living Creatures. So let us put our trust in God and serve Him alone and all other things will be given to us. Amen.

Behold the lamb of God (second sunday-)

Behold the lamb of God

Good evening/morning every one, I am so happy to welcome you all for today’s Holy Mass. Our special welcome to all our visitors today. Today we hear John the Baptist looking at Jesus and saying to his disciples and all others, “Behold the lamb of God who takes away the sins of the world”. “Ecce Angus Dei....”

This happened before our Lord Jesus Christ was being baptized. As Christ was coming to river Jordan, John the baptized looked at Him and said, “Ecce Angus Dei... behold the lamb of God... He said that Jesus is the lamb of God because He is taking away the sins of the world.

The book of Exodus says when Moses went to king pharaoh asking the people of God to let go, he refused to let them go and then god brought so many natural calamities on the people of Egypt and then finally, God said to sacrifice a lamb and sprinkle the blood of the lamb on doorposts and thus when the angel passes, they will be saved. Thus the Passover happened.

What does all of this have to do with Jesus? The Gospel of John describes Jesus as the fulfillment of the Old Testament Passover Lamb. In the Old Testament a lamb’s blood saved the Hebrews from disaster before they left Egypt and now the blood of Jesus, the New Passover Lamb, saves us from our sins.

And thus before giving out the Holy Eucharist, the priest showing the holy Eucharist says, “Behold the lamb of God.... namely He is the lamb of God, the only son of God, the one who is fully divine and fully human and He suffered and sacrificed Himself for the sake of humanity.
The Christ whose birth was foretold by many prophets and kings and whose birth was announced by angle Gabriel to Mary. As He was born, the shepherds in and around Bethlehem came to worship the new born King.
Even the wise men learned the exact time of His birth and came to worship Him offering gold, frankincense and Myrrh. He came to serve not to be served. He came as an innocent lamb of God.

Behold the lamb of God who takes away the sins of the world.

Yes, He is not only taking away our original sin but also our actual sins. The sins that we commit because of our human frailties. The Holy Bible says even a holy man sins seven times a day and in order to say “No” to our sins and Yes to love, we need Christ the author of life who takes all our sins away and make us all holy and blameless in the sight of God our Father.

Then the priest says, ‘Blessed are those who are called to the supper of the lamb”. These words are found in the book of revelation where the word lamb is used more than thirty times. The apostle John who wrote the book of revelations invites us all to the supper where we share divine love, kindness and compassion.

Then we respond saying, “ Lord, I am not worthy that you should enter under my roof but only say the word my soul shall be healed”.

These biblical verse was used by Centurion as he came to Christ our Lord one day and bowed before Him saying, “Lord, I know and believe that you are the Holy one of God and you do miracles and wonders in the name of your Father. My servant is at the point of death and please help me”. Christ the Lord said, ‘I shall come with you”. When the Centurion heard the immediate availability of Christ, He was overjoyed and was happy. Yes, dear friends, when we go to the Lord and submit ourselves to Him completely, we will begin to experience unending joy and happiness because Christ does everything for us. He said, “Lord, I am not worthy that you should come under my roof but only say the word my servant will be healed “ and instantly the servant got healed.

Every time we come to Church, we receive instant healing of our body and soul. we receive blessings upon blessing. So let us celebrate Christ who is the true lamb of God who takes away the sins of the world.

Epiphany of the Lord

The Epiphany of the Lord.
Good morning every one, I am so happy to welcome you all for today’s Holy Mass. Our special welcome to all our visitors today. Today our Holy Catholic Church celebrates the feast of the Epiphany of the Lord. Epiphany means manifestation. Christ our Lord manifests Himself as the divine Savior to the world through the Magi.
Dear friends, every time we come to Church, Christ our Lord manifests Himself through His divine words, every time we come to Church, He manifests Himself through all the Church’s sacraments and every time we come to pray and celebrate Mass, we are all given a special blessing to find Christ in our brothers and sisters in need.

On coming to the house, the three wise men knelt before Christ and worshipped him. Then they offered Him gifts of Gold, Frankincense and Myrrh. They offered Him gold to indicate that the child who was born is the king of kings and the Lord of all. Every thing was created through Him and only for Him.

Then comes frankincense to let every one know that the child who was born is not only human, He is also divine. In those days and even today incense is used to worship god. It is gift to God and the wise men knew that the child is a divine Savior and then they were offering Christ the gift of Myrrh. It is an anointing oil that was being used for the dead bodies to indicate the child who was born is fully human and fully divine and though He is divine, He will accept death for the sake of humanity.

The three wise men who came to worship the Savior announced the world the light that has come into the world.

today we are here to know about the fourth magi. Yes, the fourth magi who does not bring the prince of peace gold, frankincense or myrrh but brings himself to Christ. we are the fourth magi. every time we come to church and offer ourselves to God almighty through Christ our Lord, we become the fourth magi. every time we find Christ in our brothers and sisters in need, we become the fourth magi and every time we do what Christ our Lord commands us to do, we are the fourth magi. Amen