17th Sunday in ordinary time-C
I was telling some people that we who believe in Christ should not think about becoming first in everything because second is the best for us. The second Adam Christ is the best; The second birth called baptism is the best and the second coming of Christ is the best. Then one lady asked me, "And that is why my husband always understands better the second time". I said, "I am making a spiritual statement and don't want to involve in family fued".
Once a little boy climed in a tall tree and refused to come down. So the fire fighters, police and all other tried their best to make the boy get down but nothing helped. The parents finally thought of the their priest and asked him to do something. The priest came and looked at the boy in the tree and he made a sign of the cross and there the boy immediately came down. The fame of the priest spread everywhere. Then a man who became a fan of the priest asked, "O Father, you are a holy man and with a sign of Cross, you made the boy come down from the tree". The priest looked at him and said, " I didn't make the sign of the cross. All I did was I just looked at the boy and said, "If you don't come down and I will cut the tree down".
Once a teenege girl prayed to God saying, "God, make me thin and if you don't, make my friends fat"
Once a little boy said, "My mom alwasys does her prayers for me at night?' What kind of prayers does she do? The boy said, "She says, "Thank God, he is in bed".
In today's gospel, the apostles are asking Christ saying, "We heard all other rabbis teaching prayers and different methods of spiritual worship to approach God, please help us to pray. We see you often going to lonely and deserted places and mountain tops to pray and please teach us to pray. The apostles witnessed how Christ whole persona changed as he was praying to God. They witnessed the transfiguration of the Lord, His face shining like the sun and His closths dazzing white. They witnessed before and after miracles and wonders, Christ did His prayers. Then Jesus taught them the most powerful, meaningful and amazing prayer called the Lord's prayer.
Once a mother noticed her son praying to God and often saying, "Tokyo...Tokyo". Then she asked why, the son said, "Mom, I have just now finished my exam and I ask God to make Tokyo the capital of France.
What is prayer? Suppose if you have a friend and knock at his door at mightnight and though in the beginning he refuses to give you what you want, because of your persistence, he will certainly give you anything. That is called prayer. The word 'Persistence' is also translated as boldness or shamlessness.
Prayer is more like having a conversation with your friend. God answers all our prayers. Sometimes He says, "Yes" to our prayers. Sometimes He says, "No" to our prayers and sometimes He says, "you got to be kidding".
God loves us so much and He answers all our prayers. Christ says when a son asks his dad for a fish, the dad is never going to give him a snake or for an egg, a scorpion. Imagine a man who is evil in nature knows how to give good things to his son and how much more your heavenly father will to those who ask Him the Holy Spirit. And God knows how to bless us all differently.
I remeber when I was in the seminary, we sent to help the students in the home for blind. One day as I was helping a blindstudent, the electricity went off and since it was mansoon, we knew the power was not going to come back that soon and as I was struggling to get out of the place. The blind boy said, "I can take you out from here". I said, "it is so dark". He said, "I am used to darkness and I thank God for that..." I was so amazed to hear his positive approach over his blindness and in everything there is life and even a dead clock shows correct time twice a day. God is good and let's put our complete trust and thank Him for everything not like that boy who thanked God saying, "Thank God for my baby brother but I asked for a puppy...." Amen.
Wednesday, July 20, 2016
Monday, July 11, 2016
Martha and Mary-16th C
Martha(The lady of the house)and Mary (The wise woman)
Once a man was visiting his grandpa in a senior's home and there he saw everybody sitting around and having fun. He went and joined them. Then he noticed one old man screamed ten and everybody clapped their hands and lughed and then another man said, 'Twenty-seven" and again, everybody laughed and clapped their hands. The man was curious and asked his grandpa what was going on. The grandpa said, "Since we have been living here for long time, we know each others' jokes and we just numbered them. When someone says a number, we know exactly what the joke is and we laugh. Then he said, "Why can't you try a numer?' he said, "I dont't know any number". you just say...between one and hundred and we know and he said, "seventy-seven". Nobody laughthed and there was a deep silence. He asked his grandpa what was going on. The grandpa looked at him and said, "Son, somebody can tell a joke and somebody can't.."
If anyone wants to try a number between 1 to 100... who said ninty-one, Please don't that is not a church joke.
In Today's gospel, we see how our Lord Jesus Christ with all His disciples is going from place to place to preach the kingdom of God. The mission of Christ is bringing the Good News of Salvation to all. And let everyone know God's unconditional love and kindness. Then He comes to a certain village called Bethany to the house of Lazarus, Martha and Mary. We see how Christ build a deeper connection with every living being. That is why we say that Christianity is not a religion, it is a relationship. We are called to build relationships and families not walls and barriers.
As He came to Betheny, there He was welcomed by Martha and Mary, the sisters of Lazarus whom Christ call out from the tomb saying, "Lazarus, come out and he did come out to life". Christ our Lord is still calling us all to come out to life and experience God and His love.
Once a woman by name Martha fell and hit her head on the driveway. The paramedics came and checked on her and make sure everything is fine, asked her, "What is today?" Without any hesistation, Martha said, "It's garbage day". Someone said, "Two scorpions living in the same hole will get alone than two sisters in the same house".
Christ our Lord looked at Martha and said, "Martha...Martha, you are worried about too many things and are distracted". She was a woman of multi-tasking. Multitasking means screwing of several things at once. Running around all day and doing nothing. Martha was so excited and wanted to prepare a meal for Christ and his disciples and she was so distracted and was anxious. Christ in a gentle way pointed out her anxiety saying, she has to focus on one thing and get rid of her self-accumulated distractions and anxiuouness. He helps her to turn herself inwardly and see what is necessary for her to make things right.
There is a story about a man riding an elephant through a village. The elephant would poke his trunk into everything while passing by and causig damage. So to prevent this, the man gave the elephant a stick to hold in his trunk. Thus he was able to ride through the village without the elephant casusing any trouble. We are sometimes like Martha get distracted and become anxious about things. But the important thing is knowing oursleves in the presence of God and focusing on what we are doing. We should know that we can not please everybody. Once a man who wanted to please his wife said, "Honey, you will be so proud of me that I ran all the way home behind a bus and saved five dollars. The wife looked at him and said, "If you were running behind a taxi you might have saved fifty dollars".
Looking at Martha, Jesus says, "You have to focus on what you are doing and you are not going to tell Mary what to do. She has chosen better part for herself and that will not be taken away from her".
Mary is not doing anything better than Martha but Mary knows what she is doing. And she is focusing well on what she is doing.
It's easy to think that Mary is better than Martha. It's not about who is better than who. It's all about how we dedicate and focus on what we are doing.
Who are we? Are we Martha or Mary?
We could be Martha or Mary. We could be Martha sometime and Mary other times but the important thing is we should know that we do everything for the glory of God and thus paying attention to what we are doing. It's like a mother from Scotland called his son in toronto and asked, "Son, how to like your new country and toronto?" The son said, "Mom...I don't understand the people of toronto especially in the night time, they hid their heads against the wall and scream... I don't understand. What do you do son. I just focus on what I do, I just lay on my bed and play my bagpipe".
Let us focus on what we do and glorify God in Christ, Amen.
Once a man was visiting his grandpa in a senior's home and there he saw everybody sitting around and having fun. He went and joined them. Then he noticed one old man screamed ten and everybody clapped their hands and lughed and then another man said, 'Twenty-seven" and again, everybody laughed and clapped their hands. The man was curious and asked his grandpa what was going on. The grandpa said, "Since we have been living here for long time, we know each others' jokes and we just numbered them. When someone says a number, we know exactly what the joke is and we laugh. Then he said, "Why can't you try a numer?' he said, "I dont't know any number". you just say...between one and hundred and we know and he said, "seventy-seven". Nobody laughthed and there was a deep silence. He asked his grandpa what was going on. The grandpa looked at him and said, "Son, somebody can tell a joke and somebody can't.."
If anyone wants to try a number between 1 to 100... who said ninty-one, Please don't that is not a church joke.
In Today's gospel, we see how our Lord Jesus Christ with all His disciples is going from place to place to preach the kingdom of God. The mission of Christ is bringing the Good News of Salvation to all. And let everyone know God's unconditional love and kindness. Then He comes to a certain village called Bethany to the house of Lazarus, Martha and Mary. We see how Christ build a deeper connection with every living being. That is why we say that Christianity is not a religion, it is a relationship. We are called to build relationships and families not walls and barriers.
As He came to Betheny, there He was welcomed by Martha and Mary, the sisters of Lazarus whom Christ call out from the tomb saying, "Lazarus, come out and he did come out to life". Christ our Lord is still calling us all to come out to life and experience God and His love.
Once a woman by name Martha fell and hit her head on the driveway. The paramedics came and checked on her and make sure everything is fine, asked her, "What is today?" Without any hesistation, Martha said, "It's garbage day". Someone said, "Two scorpions living in the same hole will get alone than two sisters in the same house".
Christ our Lord looked at Martha and said, "Martha...Martha, you are worried about too many things and are distracted". She was a woman of multi-tasking. Multitasking means screwing of several things at once. Running around all day and doing nothing. Martha was so excited and wanted to prepare a meal for Christ and his disciples and she was so distracted and was anxious. Christ in a gentle way pointed out her anxiety saying, she has to focus on one thing and get rid of her self-accumulated distractions and anxiuouness. He helps her to turn herself inwardly and see what is necessary for her to make things right.
There is a story about a man riding an elephant through a village. The elephant would poke his trunk into everything while passing by and causig damage. So to prevent this, the man gave the elephant a stick to hold in his trunk. Thus he was able to ride through the village without the elephant casusing any trouble. We are sometimes like Martha get distracted and become anxious about things. But the important thing is knowing oursleves in the presence of God and focusing on what we are doing. We should know that we can not please everybody. Once a man who wanted to please his wife said, "Honey, you will be so proud of me that I ran all the way home behind a bus and saved five dollars. The wife looked at him and said, "If you were running behind a taxi you might have saved fifty dollars".
Looking at Martha, Jesus says, "You have to focus on what you are doing and you are not going to tell Mary what to do. She has chosen better part for herself and that will not be taken away from her".
Mary is not doing anything better than Martha but Mary knows what she is doing. And she is focusing well on what she is doing.
It's easy to think that Mary is better than Martha. It's not about who is better than who. It's all about how we dedicate and focus on what we are doing.
Who are we? Are we Martha or Mary?
We could be Martha or Mary. We could be Martha sometime and Mary other times but the important thing is we should know that we do everything for the glory of God and thus paying attention to what we are doing. It's like a mother from Scotland called his son in toronto and asked, "Son, how to like your new country and toronto?" The son said, "Mom...I don't understand the people of toronto especially in the night time, they hid their heads against the wall and scream... I don't understand. What do you do son. I just focus on what I do, I just lay on my bed and play my bagpipe".
Let us focus on what we do and glorify God in Christ, Amen.
Thursday, July 7, 2016
15th sunday-c
Good Samaritan...
Good evening every one, I am so happy to welcome you all for today's Holy Mass. Our special welcome to all our summer parishioners, cottagers, visitors, parishioners and every one here today.
Good evening/morning every one, we are happy to welcome all our visitors to this beautiful church of St. Jean de Brebeuf/St. Paul the Apostle/ Our Lady of Good Counsel.
Last week I visited a family and their three boys were so curious to know what I was doing before becoming a priest. I know if I say to them, I went to school until I became a priest, they won't be interested to hear my story. So I had to make up some good interesting stories. So I said, "Before becoming a priest, since I come from India, I used to be a monkey-trainer. After quitting my monkey-trainer job, they got mad because I quit my job...I said, I was a snake-charmer. Children are more interested to know about snakes and monkeys. So they asked me to bring a lion or tiger from India.
Once a man as he was driving, saw a woman in a pouring rain trying to change a flat tyre. So he thought to himself, 'I should be a good samaritan' and right away went over and helped her. After an hour of hard work in the pouring rain, he said, "Everything is good and your tires are changed..." She looked at him and said, "sh..sh..sh...talk low". "why?" he said. she said, "My husband is taking a nap in the back seat".
In today's gospel, a famous scribe or lawyer of Moses' teachings comes to Christ and asks, "Teacher, what should I do to inherit eternal life?" What should I do to go to paradise?
Once a teacher looked at children and said, "Children, what should I do to go to heaven? If I give money to the poor, will I go to heaven? Children said, "No". If I sell all my property and give to the needy, will I go to heaven? they all said, "No". Then what should I do to go to heaven? One little boy said, "To go to heaven, you have to die".
Once someone said, "Everybody wants to go to heaven but nobody wants to die". Yes, one has to die of himself to go to heaven. Dying of oneself demands to keep God first and that is why to the scribe, Christ our Lord says, "Love the Lord your God with all your heart, mind, body and soul..."
Once a teacher said, "So we are all descended from Adam and Eve. And one boy said, "But my dad says we came from Apes. Then the teacher said, "That is probably true for your family James".
What happens when we love the Lord our God with all of who we are and with all of what we have... the purpose and meaning of our existence will be known to us. We will never be depressed or anxious of things that are happening around us. As we love the Lord our God, we extend that love towards us because we know that we are the temple of the Holy Spirit, the living God. We know per sure that we are all children of God.
Christ our Lord then gives the second commandment saying, " love your neighbour as yourself" Once a man put a big sign on his property saying, "Trespassers will be shot and survivors will be shot again". someone said, "good fences make good neighbour. Now they say, "Good neighbor is one who does not put a password on his wifi"
Once a man was awakened at two o'clock in the morning by a loud pounding on the door. He got up and went to the door where a drunken stranger, standing in the pouring rain, was asking for a push. It is two o'clock in the morning and you need a push, no way... thus he went to bed closing the door behind. "who was that?" asked the wife. Some drunken guy asking for a push. The wife said, "When we had trouble once , someone else helped and why don't you be a good samaritan and help him. So the husband got up and dressed and went in the rain saying, "Are you still out there?" "Yes"..do you still need a push? yes came the answer."Where are you?" asks the husband. The man said, "Over here on the swing,"
Today's good samaritan parable gives three philosophies that inspire us to know what is going on around us.
1. The philosophy of theives who robbed the traveller: What is yours is mine; I will take it by force: that is we see today, Terrorists and others, for their own sake and advantage, they take from others by force.
2. The philosophy of the Jewish priests and levite: What is mine is mine and I will not part with it. Because of their utter selfishness, the priest and the levite did not pay any attention to the wounded traveller. It was all about them...the Me..myself and I philosophy. What is mine is mine and I will not part with it.
Once a group of students who prepared to become ministers and pastors were given the assignment of preaching on Good Samaritan parable. They were asked to go from one building to another to preach and in between they put a sick man to find out how the students were going to react. The sad thing was everyone was so into their preparation and preaching and not even a single one helped the sick man. What is mine is mine and I will not part with it,
3. The philosophy of the samaritan: What is mine is yours as well, too and I will share with you. Kindness is the only language that the deaf can hear and the blind can read. We need more kindness and compassion today.
Conclusion: Anyone who is in need is our neighbor. Anything we do to the least of our brothers and sisters, we do to Christ our Lord.
It's always the story of our redemption: St. Origen said... sin, fall and redemption. The man who was half-dead is Adam, the priest and Levite are laws and prophets and the good samaritan is Christ the Savior. Not our good work, not our following the religion and prophets will save us but only Christ the redeemer.
Good evening every one, I am so happy to welcome you all for today's Holy Mass. Our special welcome to all our summer parishioners, cottagers, visitors, parishioners and every one here today.
Good evening/morning every one, we are happy to welcome all our visitors to this beautiful church of St. Jean de Brebeuf/St. Paul the Apostle/ Our Lady of Good Counsel.
Last week I visited a family and their three boys were so curious to know what I was doing before becoming a priest. I know if I say to them, I went to school until I became a priest, they won't be interested to hear my story. So I had to make up some good interesting stories. So I said, "Before becoming a priest, since I come from India, I used to be a monkey-trainer. After quitting my monkey-trainer job, they got mad because I quit my job...I said, I was a snake-charmer. Children are more interested to know about snakes and monkeys. So they asked me to bring a lion or tiger from India.
Once a man as he was driving, saw a woman in a pouring rain trying to change a flat tyre. So he thought to himself, 'I should be a good samaritan' and right away went over and helped her. After an hour of hard work in the pouring rain, he said, "Everything is good and your tires are changed..." She looked at him and said, "sh..sh..sh...talk low". "why?" he said. she said, "My husband is taking a nap in the back seat".
In today's gospel, a famous scribe or lawyer of Moses' teachings comes to Christ and asks, "Teacher, what should I do to inherit eternal life?" What should I do to go to paradise?
Once a teacher looked at children and said, "Children, what should I do to go to heaven? If I give money to the poor, will I go to heaven? Children said, "No". If I sell all my property and give to the needy, will I go to heaven? they all said, "No". Then what should I do to go to heaven? One little boy said, "To go to heaven, you have to die".
Once someone said, "Everybody wants to go to heaven but nobody wants to die". Yes, one has to die of himself to go to heaven. Dying of oneself demands to keep God first and that is why to the scribe, Christ our Lord says, "Love the Lord your God with all your heart, mind, body and soul..."
Once a teacher said, "So we are all descended from Adam and Eve. And one boy said, "But my dad says we came from Apes. Then the teacher said, "That is probably true for your family James".
What happens when we love the Lord our God with all of who we are and with all of what we have... the purpose and meaning of our existence will be known to us. We will never be depressed or anxious of things that are happening around us. As we love the Lord our God, we extend that love towards us because we know that we are the temple of the Holy Spirit, the living God. We know per sure that we are all children of God.
Christ our Lord then gives the second commandment saying, " love your neighbour as yourself" Once a man put a big sign on his property saying, "Trespassers will be shot and survivors will be shot again". someone said, "good fences make good neighbour. Now they say, "Good neighbor is one who does not put a password on his wifi"
Once a man was awakened at two o'clock in the morning by a loud pounding on the door. He got up and went to the door where a drunken stranger, standing in the pouring rain, was asking for a push. It is two o'clock in the morning and you need a push, no way... thus he went to bed closing the door behind. "who was that?" asked the wife. Some drunken guy asking for a push. The wife said, "When we had trouble once , someone else helped and why don't you be a good samaritan and help him. So the husband got up and dressed and went in the rain saying, "Are you still out there?" "Yes"..do you still need a push? yes came the answer."Where are you?" asks the husband. The man said, "Over here on the swing,"
Today's good samaritan parable gives three philosophies that inspire us to know what is going on around us.
1. The philosophy of theives who robbed the traveller: What is yours is mine; I will take it by force: that is we see today, Terrorists and others, for their own sake and advantage, they take from others by force.
2. The philosophy of the Jewish priests and levite: What is mine is mine and I will not part with it. Because of their utter selfishness, the priest and the levite did not pay any attention to the wounded traveller. It was all about them...the Me..myself and I philosophy. What is mine is mine and I will not part with it.
Once a group of students who prepared to become ministers and pastors were given the assignment of preaching on Good Samaritan parable. They were asked to go from one building to another to preach and in between they put a sick man to find out how the students were going to react. The sad thing was everyone was so into their preparation and preaching and not even a single one helped the sick man. What is mine is mine and I will not part with it,
3. The philosophy of the samaritan: What is mine is yours as well, too and I will share with you. Kindness is the only language that the deaf can hear and the blind can read. We need more kindness and compassion today.
Conclusion: Anyone who is in need is our neighbor. Anything we do to the least of our brothers and sisters, we do to Christ our Lord.
It's always the story of our redemption: St. Origen said... sin, fall and redemption. The man who was half-dead is Adam, the priest and Levite are laws and prophets and the good samaritan is Christ the Savior. Not our good work, not our following the religion and prophets will save us but only Christ the redeemer.
15th sunday-C
Good Samaritan...
Good evening every one, I am so happy to welcome you all for today's Holy Mass. Our special welcome to all our summer parishioners, cottagers, visitors, parishioners and every one here today.
Good evening/morning every one, we are happy to welcome all our visitors to this beautiful church of St. Jean de Brebeuf/St. Paul the Apostle/ Our Lady of Good Counsel.
Last week I visited a family and their three boys were so curious to know what I was doing before becoming a priest. I know if I say to them, I went to school until I became a priest, they won't be interested to hear my story. So I had to make up some good interesting stories. So I said, "Before becoming a priest, since I come from India, I used to be a monkey-trainer. After quitting my monkey-trainer job, they got mad because I quit my job...I said, I was a snake-charmer. Children are more interested to know about snakes and monkeys. So they asked me to bring a lion or tiger from India.
Once a man as he was driving, saw a woman in a pouring rain trying to change a flat tyre. So he thought to himself, 'I should be a good samaritan' and right away went over and helped her. After an hour of hard work in the pouring rain, he said, "Everything is good and your tires are changed..." She looked at him and said, "sh..sh..sh...talk low". "why?" he said. she said, "My husband is taking a nap in the back seat".
In today's gospel, a famous scribe or lawyer of Moses' teachings comes to Christ and asks, "Teacher, what should I do to inherit eternal life?" What should I do to go to paradise?
Once a teacher looked at children and said, "Children, what should I do to go to heaven? If I give money to the poor, will I go to heaven? Children said, "No". If I sell all my property and give to the needy, will I go to heaven? they all said, "No". Then what should I do to go to heaven? One little boy said, "To go to heaven, you have to die".
Once someone said, "Everybody wants to go to heaven but nobody wants to die". Yes, one has to die of himself to go to heaven. Dying of oneself demands to keep God first and that is why to the scribe, Christ our Lord says, "Love the Lord your God with all your heart, mind, body and soul..."
Once a teacher said, "So we are all descended from Adam and Eve. And one boy said, "But my dad says we came from Apes. Then the teacher said, "That is probably true for your family James".
What happens when we love the Lord our God with all of who we are and with all of what we have... the purpose and meaning of our existence will be known to us. We will never be depressed or anxious of things that are happening around us. As we love the Lord our God, we extend that love towards us because we know that we are the temple of the Holy Spirit, the living God. We know per sure that we are all children of God.
Christ our Lord then gives the second commandment saying, " love your neighbour as yourself" Once a man put a big sign on his property saying, "Trespassers will be shot and survivors will be shot again". someone said, "good fences make good neighbour. Now they say, "Good neighbor is one who does not put a password on his wifi"
Once a man was awakened at two o'clock in the morning by a loud pounding on the door. He got up and went to the door where a drunken stranger, standing in the pouring rain, was asking for a push. It is two o'clock in the morning and you need a push, no way... thus he went to bed closing the door behind. "who was that?" asked the wife. Some drunken guy asking for a push. The wife said, "When we had trouble once , someone else helped and why don't you be a good samaritan and help him. So the husband got up and dressed and went in the rain saying, "Are you still out there?" "Yes"..do you still need a push? yes came the answer."Where are you?" asks the husband. The man said, "Over here on the swing,"
Today's good samaritan parable gives three philosophies that inspire us to know what is going on around us.
1. The philosophy of theives who robbed the traveller: What is yours is mine; I will take it by force: that is we see today, Terrorists and others, for their own sake and advantage, they take from others by force.
2. The philosophy of the Jewish priests and levite: What is mine is mine and I will not part with it. Because of their utter selfishness, the priest and the levite did not pay any attention to the wounded traveller. It was all about them...the Me..myself and I philosophy. What is mine is mine and I will not part with it.
Once a group of students who prepared to become ministers and pastors were given the assignment of preaching on Good Samaritan parable. They were asked to go from one building to another to preach and in between they put a sick man to find out how the students were going to react. The sad thing was everyone was so into their preparation and preaching and not even a single one helped the sick man. What is mine is mine and I will not part with it,
3. The philosophy of the samaritan: What is mine is yours as well, too and I will share with you. Kindness is the only language that the deaf can hear and the blind can read. We need more kindness and compassion today.
Conclusion: Anyone who is in need is our neighbor. Anything we do to the least of our brothers and sisters, we do to Christ our Lord.
It's always the story of our redemption: St. Origen said... sin, fall and redemption. The man who was half-dead is Adam, the priest and Levite are laws and prophets and the good samaritan is Christ the Savior. Not our good work, not our following the religion and prophets will save us but only Christ the redeemer.
Good evening every one, I am so happy to welcome you all for today's Holy Mass. Our special welcome to all our summer parishioners, cottagers, visitors, parishioners and every one here today.
Good evening/morning every one, we are happy to welcome all our visitors to this beautiful church of St. Jean de Brebeuf/St. Paul the Apostle/ Our Lady of Good Counsel.
Last week I visited a family and their three boys were so curious to know what I was doing before becoming a priest. I know if I say to them, I went to school until I became a priest, they won't be interested to hear my story. So I had to make up some good interesting stories. So I said, "Before becoming a priest, since I come from India, I used to be a monkey-trainer. After quitting my monkey-trainer job, they got mad because I quit my job...I said, I was a snake-charmer. Children are more interested to know about snakes and monkeys. So they asked me to bring a lion or tiger from India.
Once a man as he was driving, saw a woman in a pouring rain trying to change a flat tyre. So he thought to himself, 'I should be a good samaritan' and right away went over and helped her. After an hour of hard work in the pouring rain, he said, "Everything is good and your tires are changed..." She looked at him and said, "sh..sh..sh...talk low". "why?" he said. she said, "My husband is taking a nap in the back seat".
In today's gospel, a famous scribe or lawyer of Moses' teachings comes to Christ and asks, "Teacher, what should I do to inherit eternal life?" What should I do to go to paradise?
Once a teacher looked at children and said, "Children, what should I do to go to heaven? If I give money to the poor, will I go to heaven? Children said, "No". If I sell all my property and give to the needy, will I go to heaven? they all said, "No". Then what should I do to go to heaven? One little boy said, "To go to heaven, you have to die".
Once someone said, "Everybody wants to go to heaven but nobody wants to die". Yes, one has to die of himself to go to heaven. Dying of oneself demands to keep God first and that is why to the scribe, Christ our Lord says, "Love the Lord your God with all your heart, mind, body and soul..."
Once a teacher said, "So we are all descended from Adam and Eve. And one boy said, "But my dad says we came from Apes. Then the teacher said, "That is probably true for your family James".
What happens when we love the Lord our God with all of who we are and with all of what we have... the purpose and meaning of our existence will be known to us. We will never be depressed or anxious of things that are happening around us. As we love the Lord our God, we extend that love towards us because we know that we are the temple of the Holy Spirit, the living God. We know per sure that we are all children of God.
Christ our Lord then gives the second commandment saying, " love your neighbour as yourself" Once a man put a big sign on his property saying, "Trespassers will be shot and survivors will be shot again". someone said, "good fences make good neighbour. Now they say, "Good neighbor is one who does not put a password on his wifi"
Once a man was awakened at two o'clock in the morning by a loud pounding on the door. He got up and went to the door where a drunken stranger, standing in the pouring rain, was asking for a push. It is two o'clock in the morning and you need a push, no way... thus he went to bed closing the door behind. "who was that?" asked the wife. Some drunken guy asking for a push. The wife said, "When we had trouble once , someone else helped and why don't you be a good samaritan and help him. So the husband got up and dressed and went in the rain saying, "Are you still out there?" "Yes"..do you still need a push? yes came the answer."Where are you?" asks the husband. The man said, "Over here on the swing,"
Today's good samaritan parable gives three philosophies that inspire us to know what is going on around us.
1. The philosophy of theives who robbed the traveller: What is yours is mine; I will take it by force: that is we see today, Terrorists and others, for their own sake and advantage, they take from others by force.
2. The philosophy of the Jewish priests and levite: What is mine is mine and I will not part with it. Because of their utter selfishness, the priest and the levite did not pay any attention to the wounded traveller. It was all about them...the Me..myself and I philosophy. What is mine is mine and I will not part with it.
Once a group of students who prepared to become ministers and pastors were given the assignment of preaching on Good Samaritan parable. They were asked to go from one building to another to preach and in between they put a sick man to find out how the students were going to react. The sad thing was everyone was so into their preparation and preaching and not even a single one helped the sick man. What is mine is mine and I will not part with it,
3. The philosophy of the samaritan: What is mine is yours as well, too and I will share with you. Kindness is the only language that the deaf can hear and the blind can read. We need more kindness and compassion today.
Conclusion: Anyone who is in need is our neighbor. Anything we do to the least of our brothers and sisters, we do to Christ our Lord.
It's always the story of our redemption: St. Origen said... sin, fall and redemption. The man who was half-dead is Adam, the priest and Levite are laws and prophets and the good samaritan is Christ the Savior. Not our good work, not our following the religion and prophets will save us but only Christ the redeemer.
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