23rd Sunday in year C

Once genie appeared a man and said, "Ask for two wishes and I will give them". The man was so excited and said, "I want to have a million dollars and then he said, "I would love to have a perfect woman in the world". So gues what... he ended up having million dollars and Mother Teresa next to him.
The famous Mother Teresa joke is as she went to heaven, she could right away see god. God asked her whether she was  hungry. When she said Yes. god opens a can of tuna fish and makes sandwitches. And while eating she could see people in hell eating cooked gourmet food. Mother teresa was seeing for days, people in hell eating well. So she asked God saying, "God, please don't think that I am complaining but I am curious how come people down there eating well and here we are eating just tuna sandwitches. God said, "Why cook... we are just two of us here".
Tomorrow it takes place the canonization of Blessed Mother Teresa. Yes, the Holy Catholic Church will honor her as a saint. Mother Teresa who was born in Albenia went to India and there she dedicated herself to help the poor and the needy. She left behind everything for Christ.
Once she went and asked help from a rich man. The rich hindu man was not happy to see a catholic nun asking for help. So he said no to help her and then he spat on her hand. Mother Teresa smiled at him and said, "This is for me and now please give me something for the poor". The man was so ashamed of himself and later he became one of her benefators.
Today's gospel invites us to follow Christ our Lord. In order to follow Him, we have to hate rather leave behind or separate ourselves from worldly possessions namely materil things and worldly relationships and put God first in everything that we do as Mother Teresa did. She left everything behind for Christ and once when Pope Paul the sixth visited India, he wanted to meet Mother Teresa. But Mother Teresa said, "I am so busy helping the poor and please ask him to wait.... the pope was so impressed her work and said, "you are Christ's face to the world today".
Today's gospel says those who do not give their possessions can not become Christ's disciples.
Those who are closer to Christ; those who pray daily, read the Bible and practice their faith know that they are not human beings looking for worldly possessions but spiritual beings having human expereince and then it becomes easy for them to leave behind worldly things. They will not go after worldy things but on the other hand, they will come to them. They will use their gifts, knowledge, wisdon and understanding for the welfare of others and promote love and kindness of God in Christ Jesus.
Once Mother Teresa was asked about where she gets the strength and energy to do great things for the poor. She said, "I spend every day an hour before the blessed Sacrament and there I get my strength and ther I get my energy".
Mother Teresa said, "If you can not feed hundred people, just feed one".
Once Mother Teresa was talking in a Cathedral church in Ireland. And that night, a man called the parish priest and said, "I want to become a parishioner of the cathedral'. The priest asked why. The man said, "it is becasue Mother teresa talked to me". What do you mean she talked to you. there were five thousand people in the Church and When did she talk to you. Every word she said was ment to me. What did she say, "she said, "God bless you all". The priest was not happy at all and said, "Every sunday and even every day when I say Mass, I say God bless you. Then the man said, "She said, "God bless you" from the bottom of her heart. Mother Teresa changed the hearts of millions and today the catholic church canonizes her as a saint. So we can ask her to intercede for our needs with God.
Conclusion: The three most dangerous words in english language today is "Just in Case'. yes, there are so many people love to accumulate things saying just in case. just in case I need them. just in case I use them later and just in case....If we remove these three dangerous words from our dictionary, then we will easily hold on to Christ who is the way to the Father.
Once a poor begger gave fifty cents to Mother Teresa and said, "So many rich people give you money and I want to give you what I got today for the poor and then Mother Teresa said, " this poor begger gave me more than my nobel prize becasue he gave everything that he had".
I am so lucky to meet Mother Teresa in Rome Italy. And after meeting her, one thing that I can say that there is a mother Teresa in everyone of us and let us leave behind things that stop us from loving God and others and hold on to Christ the richest gifts of all, the richest relationships of all. Amen.

I was so lucky to meet Mother Teresa in Rome Italy and she was

Twenty-Second Sunday-C
Once a man tried his best to find a job but nothing happened and then at last he got a job in a local zoo. All he had to do was just dressing like a monkey and entertain people. Though in the beginning, he could not do it well and then he began to entertain people well jumping up and down, rolling over and screaming and yelling. One day as he was jumping, he fell into the lion’s cage. He knew that he was going to die. He began to cry and cream saying, “ please, Lion let me go and I don’t want to die”. The lion came closer to him and said, ‘Do not scream and we both are going to lose our job”.
Once winston Churchill was asked, "How do you feel about seeing a big crowd coming to hear your speech? what is your reaction about so many people coming to hear your speech? How proud are you to see these things? Then Winston Churchill said, "When I feel that way, I always remember that if instead of making a political speech, I was being hanged, the crowd could be twice as big".
Every time I go to a new parish, I open my homily with this story. It's about a missionary priest going to different villages and towns to preach the Good News. Once he had to cross a river to go to a village, so he hired a boat. While he was travelling, he began to talk to the boatman. He said, "I know you are catholic and what do you know about the Old Testament?" The boat man said, "O Father, I believe in God but I don't know much about the Old Testament". The priest said, "That means you lost 20 percent of you life.." what about the New testament? I believe in Christ but I don't know much about it. That means you lost 50 percent of your life my friend. The priest who was so proud of his knowdge about God looked at him and said, "What about the sacraments...? He said, "I was baptized and  I don't know much about them...he said that means you lost 70 percent of your life. Mean time, the boat was in the middle of the river and through a small hole from the bottom, water began to come in the boat, the boat man knows it was going to sink. So he asked the priest, "Father, do you know swimming, the priest said, "No". The man with humility looked at the priest and said, "That means you lost whole life".
After that somebody asked me, "Oh Father, do you know swimming? I said, "I live just five k away from Indian ocean and I learned to walk on water too..." what a pride person I am...
Humility does not mean that you are going to think less of yourself but thinking yourself less.
while people are taking the seats of honor, Christ askes them to take the lower place so that the one who invited them, will come and in the presence of others ask to take the higher position. This is called true humility. As we humble ourselves, we will be exalted.
While men searched for a throne to build their kingdoms, Jesus reached for a towel to wash His disciples' feet.  That is called humility.
There is a story of a donkey. It happened right after Palm Sunday. A baby donkey running home crying and the mother was so concerned and asked, "Why?". The baby donkey said, "Mom...yesterday as we walked into the streets of Jerusalem, people through their cloaks before us, they worshipped us and they sang hosanna to us. They were singing and dancing and the same people as I went today, chased me around and they tried to kill me. I don't understand these stupid people. The mother donkey looked at the baby and said, "Son...all those things happened yesterday not for us but for the man called Jesus. Remember as long as we are with Christ, we are something. If not, we are just donkeys.
Chist who is the only Son of God, the Messiah, the Savior and Lord humbled himself to be with us and to be one of us and died on the cross and thus God raised Him above all. The one who humbled himself is exalted above all.
Humility is accepting that some days you are the pigeon and some days the statue.
 A rich man once went to his Guru & said, "I want to develop humility." The guru suggested that he help someone who is lower than him.
He did that and came back to the guru and said, "I've helped a poor man today with wealth. Am I humble now?" The guru replied No and asked him to help another man lower than him. But after repeated visits to different people, he finally asked his guru, "When will I become humble?"
The wise old man replied, "You will have obtained humility when you can no longer find anyone that you think is lower than you in any way!"
For whoever exalts himself will be humbled and whoever humble themselves like our Master and Messiah will be exalted.
"Be humble or you'll stumble.

twentieth Sunday-C

Good morning/evening everyone.
The weather is so hot and often the weather channel is giving us hope saying, "it is going to be raining". Being a weather man is the only job where you can lie and still make good money.
Once after Mass, a faithful lady approached her priest and said, "Father, I hope you didn't take dit personally when my husband walked out during your homily"
The Father said, "It was a little annoyoing and what is going on with him?"
The woman then looked at him and said, "O Father, Mike has been walking in sleep ever since he was a child"
After Mass once a little boy came to the priest and said, "Father, when I big, I am going to give you money to help you". The priest said, "Why do you want to give me money?" The boy said, "Because my dad says that you are the poorest preacher in town".
On May 1st, there happened a huge wildfire that lasted for a month and devestated so many people's lives, businesses, homes and so on. They said that it was the costliest wild fire in Canada. Yes, we know the wild fire that devestated Fort McMurry. Fire has power to create as well as destroy.
There are two types of fire namely given-fire such as sun, fire causes by nature and made-fire such as fire that we make.
Given-fire or made fires, they create lives or destroy them.
Once a man called the fire department and said, "By the way, I have a beautiful front yard landscaped. I have a nice flower bed, a beautiful fish pond with a fountain and a new rose garden". The fire fighter said, "That is right and what does that have to do with the fire service?" The man said, "The house next door is on fire and I don't want you to trample my front yard".
The book of Genesis says that God said, "Let there be light". And there was light. God saw that the light was good and God then separated the light from the darkness and called the light day and the darkness night.
In the New Testament Christ our Lord the giver of light says, " I am the light of the world and anyone follows me will never walk in darkness, but will have light of life.
When John the Baptist saw Christ our Lord coming toward Him, he said of Him, " Behold the lamb of God and I baptize you with water but the one who is coming after me will baptize you with fire and the Holy Spirit".
In today's gospel, Christ our Lord says, "I came to bring fire to the earth and how I wish it were already kindled".
Christ our Lord came to give us all the fire of hope and love namely the Holy Spirit. He came to us so that we would receive life to the fullest and we would know the secret of happiness and joy.
Even after His Resurrection, Christ our Lord prepared His apostles, disciples, followers and others to receive that fire. On the day of Pentecost the fire came on everyone of them and rested on them. That fire of love gave them courage to go everywhere to preach, teach and do miracles in the name of Christ.
As we read especially the Acts of the Apostles, we come to know how the Holy Spirit inspired the apostles to go everywhere and preach the Good News of Salvation.
Once a young woman brought her fiance home to meet her parents. After dinner, her dad looked at the young man and said, "By the way, what is your qualification?" The man said, "I am a theology scholar". That sounds great and will that give my daughter a nice home? the man said, "I will study and God will provide". The dad said, "How will you look after your children?" The man said, "God will provide".
When the man left their place the mother asked her husband, 'So how did it go?" The father said, "It went well and I like him. He has no money or employment plans. But on the other hand, he thinks that I am God".
Today's gospel, the merciful, complassionate and kind Christ our Lord who died for humanity says, "I came not to bring peace to the earth but rather division". From now on five in one household will be divided, Father against son; son against Father; mother against daughter and daughter against daughter in law. There will be division.
Once in police academy... a man was asked, "if you have to arrest your own mother-in-law, what will you do?" The man's answer was highly appriciated and accepted. He said, "I will call for backup".
Christ our Lord talks about the division that would happen because of unconditional love and forgiveness. Yes, as we spread Christianity and its teaching, as we talk about unconditional love and unlimited forgiveness; those who are conditioned and limited and those who are not used to Christian way of non-violence and acceptance, will go away from us. Christ talks about that kind of division and this division will bring back all to one fold and therefore we should not be afraid of spreading love, kindness and forgiveness.
Conclusion: Preaching Christ's message of love and forgiveness means bringing fire to the earth; bringing fire to those who have pyrophobia namely intense fear of fire and make them have fire-walk and help them to over come that intense fear of life, living and death and help them to live in Christ forever.

19th Sunday-C ready for action

Be ready for action...
 What will happen to a student goes to exam without preparation, he will definately fail. One day a teacher said to John, " you copied from Matthew's  exam paper, didn't you?" John became so defensive and said, " How did you know?"  The teacher said, " Mathew's paper says, "I don't know". And you have put, " Me, neither".
If a military officer who goes on to the field of action without proper preparation, he will easily be defeated. Once an military officer said to his soldier: "Do you have a change for a dollar?". The soldier said, "Sure, buddy". The officer looked at him and said, "That is not the proper way to answer in military, Sure buddy, let us try again, "Soldier, do you have a change for a dollar?" The soldier said, "No, Sir".
Once a very faithful woman came to the pastor and said, "Reverend, I am so scared and afraid. Joe says he is going to kill me if I continue to come to your church". The pastor looked at her and said, " Yes, my child, I will continue to pray for you. Have faith and the Lord will watch over you". "Oh yes, He has kept me safe so far, only..."   "Only what, my child?" asked the pastor. She said, "Now he says if I keep coming to your church, he is going to kill You".  The pastor looked at her and said, "Perhaps it is time to check out that little church on the other side of town".  
A follower of Christ is asked to be ready to welcome the Master who is going to come at any time, may be tonight or million years from now. But we who follow Christ should be ready to welcome him.
1. Be dressed for action:  The New Testament says when time came for their purification according to the law of Moses, they brought Jesus up to Jerusalam to present Him to God. and there was a man in Jerusalem whose name was Simeon; this man was righteous and devout, looking forward to the consolation of Israel and the Holy Spirit rested upon him. It has been revealed to him by the Holy Spirit that he would not see death before he had seen the Lord's Messiah and thus he was blessed to see the Lord Christ Jesus. That is called being dressed for action. Simeon was waiting eagerly to see the Lord and was well prepared to receive him.
They say that the time to repair the roof is when the sun is shining. Once a wise man said, "Before everything else,  getting ready is the secret to success". Once president Nixon told that while talking to Winston Churchill's son, how much he admired the priminister's great ability at giving great and extemporaneous speeches. Churchill's son replies saying, "Oh, yes, I have watched my father work for hours preparing those great speeches. We are called to prepare ourselves to welcome the Lord who is going to come at an unexpected time.
There are many ways to prepare ourselves to welcome the Lord who is going to come unexpectedly.
1. Let us prepare our mind and keep the lamp lit:
"The doing will never be right until the thinking is right". Our mind never sleeps. It is thinking twenty-four seven and it doesn't mean that we are thinking right thinking. It is time to prepare our mind and keep it alert. St. Paul says today that faith is assurance of things hoped for, the conviction of things not seen. Indeed, by faith our ancestors received approval. As we keep our mind alert by practicing our faith, then we can say that we are ready to welcome the Lord.
2. Let us prepare our body and keep the lamp lit: St. Paul says that our body is the temple of the Holy Spirit whom we received from God. We are not our own and we are brought by a price. Therefore honor God with your body.
3. Let us also prepare our heart and keep the lamp lit:  Jesus says, "For wherever your treasure is, there your heart will also be" We are not talking abourt physical heart but spiritual heart...the longing. Blessed are the pure in heart, for they will see God. Yes, as Christ comes in an unexpected time, He will honor and glorify us in God. He will look at us and say, "you who have done everything well, enter into my father's house prepared for you".
Conclusion: "Mamma," said a little child, "my Sunday-school teacher tells me that this world is only a place in which God lets us live a while, that we may prepare for a better world. But, Mother, I do not see anybody preparing. I see you preparing to go into the country, and Aunt Eliza is preparing to come here; but I do not see anyone preparing to go there. Why don't they try to get ready?"
This life is but a preparation for another life. Are you preparing for that next life? That better place that God has prepared for us? It’s a prepared place for a prepared people. What do you need to do to get ready?