Christmas

The glorious birth of Christ our Lord

Good evening every one, on behalf of this beautiful church of Saint Jean de Brebeuf/ Saint Paul the Apostle/ Our Lady of Good Counsel, we would like to extend you all a very blessed, faith-filled glorious birth of Christ our Lord.

“People who walked in the darkness have seen a great light; those who dwelt in the land of deep darkness, on them has light shined”. “An angel of the Lord appeared to the shepherds and the glory of the Lord shone upon them”. The presence of the Lord in the midst of His people cancels the sorrow of defeat and the misery of slavery. People who longed for the coming of Christ and people who did everything according to the will of God began to celebrate and we are in a special way called to celebrate life because Christ is born among us.

Today we celebrate the biggest event that has ever happened in human history, the unimaginable thing; yes God the Creator, the Source of all became human and lived among us like you and me. Today’s celebration of the glorious event of the birth of Christ the Only Son of God tells us that God never abandons His people. His love surpasses everything.

When His own chosen people whom He loved without condition went away from Him, when His own people faced with pain and difficulties; when His own people began to worship false gods and rejected His glorious mercy and compassion, God the Father did not abandon them. He knew people’s condition. He knew people were weak and fragile and He knew that they would come back to Him. And in order to bring them back to Him, He sent His kings, prophets, Holy men and women to them. Then at last, as the expression of His unconditional love, God sent His Only Son Jesus Christ Our Lord through whom everything came to exist and for whom everything was created. Yes, God sent His Son the Holy Redeemer Jesus our Lord.

Jesus who was born in Bethlehem lived with poor, outcaste and rejected people and at the age of twelve, He manifested divine love at the temple in Jerusalem telling all the teachers, wise men and Pharisees and Sadducees that God loves everyone and everyone belongs to the kingdom of God.

At the age of thirty while He was baptized, the heavens opened and there came a voice saying to all, “this is my beloved Son with whom I am well pleased. Listen to Him alone”. Then Christ our Lord with His disciples went everywhere preaching the Good News of Salvation to all. Jesus again and again says in the gospels that anyone who follows Him will have life everlasting and they will be with God Father forever.

Dear friends, every time we celebrate the miraculous birth of Jesus our Lord, we celebrate our birth, and we celebrate our joy and happiness. Jesus is our Lord and Savior. Today we celebrate our new life in Child Jesus. Dear friends, every time we come to Church, we celebrate Christ’s birth, every time we receive anyone of the churches sacraments, we celebrate His life and every time we come here, we become like Christ our Lord, yes we become the God we worship. Today, what is our gift to child Jesus? Since everything what we see and have belongs to Him and what can we possibly give Him? We can give ourselves. Yes, we are the precious gift for Him. Let us give ourselves to child Jesus and join the angels and the shepherd and sing, “Glory to God in the Highest and peace to people of good will”. Amen.

3rd sunday of Advent-C

Gaudate (Joyful) Sunday

A husband thought of buying something nice for his wife for Christmas and asked the store-keeper, “I am here to buy something nice for my wife for Christmas”. The store keeper showed him a beautiful perfume bottle this is J. Lo brand only $ 50 bucks. That is too much, please give me something cheaper and he showed a $30 dollar perfume and he wants to go a little cheaper and he showed him a $15 perfume and he still wants to go cheaper saying, “I want to see something really cheap”.  So the store clerk said, “You can see really cheap here and thus hand him a mirror”.

Today we celebrate the third Sunday in Advent and this Sunday is in a special way called as Gaudete Sunday or joyful Sunday. This Sunday prepares us to celebrate the glorious birth of Christ the Messiah.

People who came to John the Baptist to be baptized, even before receiving their baptism, asked him, “Please tell us what we should do”. The tax collectors came and asked the same question, “Please tell us what we should do?” And the soldiers came asked about they had to do.  Every day people came to him and people who were holding power and positions came to him. They all came knowing that they were away from God and others and themselves.

Though in the time of Jesus, they were many Pharisees, leaders of the temple and religious leaders who talked about God and spiritual things, people did not go to them wanting to know what they had to do to welcome the Messiah. It is because their teachings and life-style did not agree with each other. It is because they imposed rules and regulations; rituals and customs hard to follow and it is because they wanted to be called Rabbi and masters; they wanted to be recognized as spiritual leaders and guides and they wanted to have best seats at celebrations and they prayed standing outside of the temple to be known by all. Christ our Lord called them as white washed tombs and that is why people did not go to them.

But on the other hand, people from every walks of life came to John. John’s main message to welcome the Messiah is “help others especially those who are in need”

Once a rabbi visited a Catholic monastery and while he was talking to the Abbot or the head monk, he said, “O Rabbi, I do not know what to do because this monastery used to be so famous. We had so many monks and people used to come from different walks of life to listen to our spiritual thoughts and guidance but now people stopped coming and we do not have many monk left either. We are now left with few monks and I do not know what to do. The rabbi listened everything and the next day as he was leaving the monastery, he looked at those monks and said, “One of you is the Messiah”.  They were all shocked to hear the message. Then things rapidly changed in the monastery. Every monk began to look at themselves and others as though they were the Messiah. They began to treat others and themselves with love and kindness and within a month, people began to come back to monastery for spiritual directions and celebrations and many men especially young men joined their order to become monks. Everything happened because of the way they began to treat others and themselves.

If we have more material things and have more spiritual things and have more wisdom and knowledge, it is our duty to share with those who have little. It is in our sharing, we find God and it is in our sharing, we prepare the Messiah in our midst.

I have seen and witnessed many people doing amazing job for others especially helping others in need. And some of them after a while get so frustrated saying, “Everything I do for them but in return I get nothing” And on the other hand, there are people keep helping and doing things for others and still they are so happy and excited. It is because they know that they are not doing for their self-glory and it is because they know that they are doing everything for the welfare of others and especially for the glory of God.

As we love and forgive others, the world will become a good place to live.

Once a boy ran away from home. The dad did everything he could to find him but nothing happened and at the end, he put an ad in the local newspaper saying, “Dear Joe, I love you so much and whatever happened between us is forgiven and forgotten. Please do come back. I will be waiting in front of the newspaper office tomorrow noon…” The next day, when the dad went to see his son in front of the newspaper office. He saw something unexpected. Yes, he saw including his son Joe, more than fifteen Joes waiting for their dad”.

As John the Baptist was talking to people with love and compassion; with divine authority and power, people began to think that John might be the Messiah. Sometimes the imitators could easily look like the original. The student could manifest the teacher in him. Today we need Christ’s love and we need Christ’s forgiveness and His compassion. Today Christ could completely be manifested only by His followers as the apostles did or John the Baptist is doing today’s gospel.

And then John looked at them all and said, “I am not He. He is more powerful than I am and I am unworthy to untie the thong of His sandals. I just baptize you with water but Christ the one who is coming will baptize you with fire and the Holy Spirit.

Conclusion:

What is the best gift we could possibly give to Christ on the day of His glorious birth day? Is it enough to leave our sins behind? Is it enough to help others in name of Christ? What could be our best gift to Christ? The best gift is giving ourselves. Yes, let us give ourselves to Christ and celebrate this Christmas a meaningful one. Amen.

Second Sunday in Advent

John the Baptist Sunday

Good morning every one, welcome to celebrate today’s Holy Mass. Dear friends, every time we come to Church, we are asked to become John the Baptist and help others to experience the love and kindness of God our Father and every time we come to Church, we are called to be forerunners of Christ our Savior showing the way to people who are away from God and every time we come here, we are called to become children of God.

For one Christmas, man decides to get a dog for his son. As he is coming home, he sees a sign saying, “Talking dog for sale”. He rings the bell and the owner says the dog is in the 

back yard. As he sees the dog, he asks the dog, “Do you talk?” The dog says, “Yes, of course. I discovered the gift of talking when I was a child. I used to serve the Canadian military overseas helping the soldiers in Iraq and Afghanistan. I was the one who helped to kill Bin laden. With my wisdom and knowledge, I helped Stephen Harper to move around the country freely. I have a wife and many puppies and now I am just taking it easy. I could be a good help to you”. The man asks the owner, “how much do you want?’ the owner says, “Just ten dollars”. The dog is so amazing and how come you are selling it so cheap. The owner says, “Because he is full of lies”.

Today we celebrate the second Sunday in Advent. This Sunday is called John the Baptist Sunday. John the Baptist, the forerunner of our Lord Jesus Christ came to prepare the way of the Lord saying, “The Lord is coming and let us prepare the way”.  On this day, we are in a special way, called to become John the Baptist. It is our duty like John the Baptist to call out people to prepare the way to welcome the Lord our God.

John the Baptist message contained three important things namely 1. Calling 2. Healing 3. And living out the message.

Ø  Calling:  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 spill 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? The Lord is calling us to go to Him. The calling of God is constantly invite us to prepare ourselves and help others. Let us leave behind what hinders us to go to Him and welcome the Lord our God.

Ø  Healing

Once two monks were traveling to a distant village to preach the message of Christ and in order to reach the village, they had to cross a river. While they were standing at the banks of the river, they saw a beautiful woman standing and was afraid to cross the river, so one of the monks carried her on his shoulder and thus they all crossed the river. Then when they came back to the monastery, the other monk went to everyone and said what happened. Other monks came to him and asked, “We monks are not allowed to touch a woman and how come you carried a woman on your shoulder. The criticism went on and on for many days and one day the monk called everybody and said, “I did carry the woman on my shoulder but I left her behind many days ago but why are you all still carrying her?”

John the Baptist calling for healing made many people new and holy. They had the courage to leave behind their old way of life and say to others courageously, ‘we left behind the old life and moving forward to welcome the lord’. They all experienced complete healing. Dear friends, every time we help others to heal from their pain and suffering and give them courage to face their criticism that comes from their own family, friends and others, we become John the Baptist.

Ø  Living out

Ø  the Message:

Once a pious catholic had a neighbor who never practiced his faith. Every Sunday the Catholic went to Church and the neighbor went fishing. But the odd thing was, every Sunday, the man invited the catholic, ‘hi Joe, I am going fishing, are you going to join me” the man used to say, “I am going to Church”. It went on and on and then one day, the neighbor looked at Joe and asked, “Joe, every time I go fishing, I invite you but how come you never invited me to Church.  Joe could not say anything.

Living out the message means helping others to know the love and kindness of God our father. When John the Baptist baptized people, He asked them to go out and help others to return to the Lord. And people helped each other and that is why a big crowd was always following John the Baptist.

Dear friends, when we help others to experience the Lord, then we become John the Baptist. Today the world needs Jesus; yes it needs His love a lot of love. So let us be John the Baptist and prepare the way of the lord. Amen.