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.
Monday, October 27, 2014
Monday, October 13, 2014
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.
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.
Wednesday, October 8, 2014
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."
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.
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.
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”.
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”.
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