Faith like the size of a mustard seed
Good evening/morning every one, I am so happy to welcome you all for today's Holy Mass. Our special welcome to all our parishioners, visitors and every one here today. Let's thank God almighty for bringing us all here to this beautiful church of........ Let's thank Him for sending His only Son our Lord Christ Jesus to be with us for ever and let's thank Him for showering upon us His countless blessings each and every day.
Now let's take a moment to prepare ourselves to celebrate the sacred mystery of our Lord Jesus Christ calling to mind our sins, short-comings, weakness, failure, pain and suffering asking divine assistence and Christ our Lord's forgiveness, mercy and compassion.
Once after knee operation, the doctor comes to the patient and says, "I have a good news and a bad news for you". The patient says, "What is the bad news?" I am sorry that I operated on the wrong knee. Then the good news? Your bad-knee is getting better.
Once a gallary owner looks at one of his painters and says, "By the way, I have a good news and a bad news for you". The good news is that a man came and asked whether the price of your pictures would go up after you die and I said, "Yes'. He bought every one of your pictures. The bad news is he is your family doctor.
Faith the size of a mustard seed:
With in sixe monthes, after joining the seminary, a priest near by parish passed away. The seminary sent us to do vigil prayers. I was assigned from 12.00am to 1.00am grave yard shift. sitting closer to the dead body alone was not an easy thing. That was the longest one hour in my life. After the funeral, our vocational diractor called me and said, "How did the vigil prayer go?' I said, "Not easy sitting alone with the dead body". Then he looked at me and said,, "Who asked you to be with dead body. You supposed to be praying in the chappel with another parishioner".
Why I am saying i,s that day as I was sitting alone, I was looking at a beautiful mural image of Christ under which was written...faith the size of a mustard seed. Those words 'Mustard seed faith' helped me to calm down for an hour with a dead body.
Mustard seed faith
What is faith? According to St. Paul "Faith is the assurance of things hope for and conviction of things not seen" Simply faith is believing. By faith, man completly submits his intellectual and his will to God. With his whole being, man gives his assent to God
Little faith will bring our soul to God and great faith will bring God to our soul. Reading through the Bible from the beginning, we come to know one thing namely God's great love and compassion towards us. His love is unchageable and everlasting. There is no greater motivation for faith than knowing that God is absolutly for us. He wants us to be happy. He wants us to enjoy life to the fullest and He wants us to succeed in everything.
1. In today's Gospel, the apostles of Christ ask Him to increase their faith. They want their faith being supersized. They saw their Master performing miracles and wonders, saw His amazing teaching and preaching. They witnessed their master changing water into wine and walking on water and transfiguring aften. They witnessed something new and holy. Something pure and spiritual. They wanted to be like their Master and thus they came to Christ saying, "Jesus, Master...increase our faith".
2. Once a teacher looked at his students and said, "I will give you hundred dollars if you tell me where God is". Then one of the students stood up and said, "I will give you hundred dollars if you tell me where God is not". That is called faith. That is called assurance of things hope for and conviction of things not seen.
Jesus said to His apostles, "If you have faith the size of a mustard seed, you can move mountains and say to the mulberry tree, be uprooted and be planted in the see and it will obey you".
3. Why Mustard seed? The mustard seed Jesus talking about is in extincition. He used Mustard seed because it was not only the smallest of many seeds and also it was not used in many rituals and religious purposes. It was considered as garbage plant or weed. That is our God. He makes the ordinary into extraordinary and small into important and unique. Yes, everything is special and unique in the sight of God.
The potentiality of a mustard seed is so unique. It could easily sprout from any type of soil. It can be thrown away or being rejected, it will still come out strong and vibrant.
4. That is kind of faith we need today. A little rejection or a criticism should not stop us from going to church or practicing our faith. Like a mustard seed, we should sprout and grow wherever we are sown. Then our faith will move mountains and trees; suffering and pain. we will be live in peace.
5. As we have faith in God, there will also be doubts and if we begin to live in doubts, then it will lead us into spiritual blindness. When the Church talks about faith, she also helps us to understand incredulity(denying the revealed truth), heresay(post-baptismal denial), Apostacy( total denial of the Christian faith...becoming hindu or Muslim) and schism(refused to listen to the pope).
One night a house caught fire and a boy was forced to flee to the roof. The father stood on the ground below with outstretched arms, calling to his son, "Jump! I will catch you". But the boy could not see anything, only smoke, fire and darkness. The boy screamed saying, "I can't not see you". The dad screamed back saying, "But I can see you and that is all it matters".
Faith in God can move mountains. Yes faith can move mountains but our doubts can create them. All that matters is God can see. Faith is like wi-fi. It is invisible but it has the power to connect you to what you need. Amen.
Wednesday, September 28, 2016
27th sunday-C
FAITH BRINGS HEALING
Once a family doctor comes to his patient and says, "By the way, I have a good news and a bad news for you..." The bad news is I operated on the wrong knee and the good news is your bad knee is getting lot better.
Once a gallary owner looks at one of his painters and says, "By the way, I have a good news and a bad news for you". The good news is a man asked whether the price of your paints would go up after you die and when I said, "Yes". He bought every one of your painting. The bad news is he is your family doctor.
1.Have you ever thought of your faith being a living and growing thing? That is why we should feed our faith and our doubt will starve to death. Little faith bring your soul to heaven but great faith will bring heaven to your soul. Reading through the bible from the beginning, we will see that there is one consistent theme or thing that is God's great love and compassion towards us. His love is unchangeble and everlasting. There is no greater motivation for faith than knowing this that God is absolutely for us. He wants us to be happy. He wants us to enjoy life to the fullest and He wants us to succeed in everything.
2. The Apostles came to Christ and said, "Please increase our faith. Supersize our faith. We see you doing miracles and wonders and we see you changing water into wine and walking on water and we see you transfiguring and doing amazing things and we on the other hand, can not do much. Please increase our faith.
Once a teacher stood in front of his students and said, "I will give you hundred dollars to anyone who tells me where God is and one boy stood up and said, "I will give you hundred dollars and if you tell me where God is not..." That is called faith in God. God's presence is everywhere. Our moral life has its source in faith in God who reveals His love to us. And ignorance of God is the principle and explanation of all moral deviations.
3. The Apostles ask Christ today to increase their faith. They did have faith in God. As we have faith in God, we should also know how to protect our faith in God. There are various ways of sinning against faith. For example, doubt in what God has revealed to us, doubt in the teaching of the Holy Catholic Church and if we are not aware of what is going on in and around us, it will lead us to spiritual blindness.
There are incredulity(deying the revealed truth), heresy(post-baptismal denial), apostasy(total refusal of the Christian faith...hindus, muslims) and schism(refusal to listen to the Roman pontiff) against our faith.
4. When it comes with God, little is much and as the apostles asked to increase their faith, Christ our Lord says, "If you have faith the size of a mustard seed, you can move mountain and nature will obey you, people will listent to you....all you need is faith...faith the size of a mustard seed. As we look at any seed, we know that in it, there is a great potentiality to life. Life is there to come out. It may fall into any place, it will break or destroy all the obstacles and will sprout.
5. Faith helps us not God to be our side but we to be on God's side.
One night a house caught fire and a boy was forced to flee to the roof. The father stood on the ground below with outstretched arms, calling to his son, "Jump! I'll catch you." He knew the boy had to jump to save his life. All the boy could see, however, was flame, smoke, and blackness. As can be imagined, he was afraid to leave the roof. His father kept yelling: "Jump! I will catch you." But the boy protested, "Daddy, I can't see you." The father replied, "But I can see you and that's all that matters."
Our faith can move mountains but our doubts can create them. Faith does not make things easy but possible.
The size of a mustard seed faith can easily move the mountains of our pain and suffering. It can remove our family problems and will fill us withe hope and love. Faith helps us to say like St. paul
Faith is like wi-fi. It is invisible but it has the power to connect you to what you need.
Are you looking for a man loving, kind, caring, giving, generous and very rich? Please be patient. Jesus is coming soon.
Once a family doctor comes to his patient and says, "By the way, I have a good news and a bad news for you..." The bad news is I operated on the wrong knee and the good news is your bad knee is getting lot better.
Once a gallary owner looks at one of his painters and says, "By the way, I have a good news and a bad news for you". The good news is a man asked whether the price of your paints would go up after you die and when I said, "Yes". He bought every one of your painting. The bad news is he is your family doctor.
1.Have you ever thought of your faith being a living and growing thing? That is why we should feed our faith and our doubt will starve to death. Little faith bring your soul to heaven but great faith will bring heaven to your soul. Reading through the bible from the beginning, we will see that there is one consistent theme or thing that is God's great love and compassion towards us. His love is unchangeble and everlasting. There is no greater motivation for faith than knowing this that God is absolutely for us. He wants us to be happy. He wants us to enjoy life to the fullest and He wants us to succeed in everything.
2. The Apostles came to Christ and said, "Please increase our faith. Supersize our faith. We see you doing miracles and wonders and we see you changing water into wine and walking on water and we see you transfiguring and doing amazing things and we on the other hand, can not do much. Please increase our faith.
Once a teacher stood in front of his students and said, "I will give you hundred dollars to anyone who tells me where God is and one boy stood up and said, "I will give you hundred dollars and if you tell me where God is not..." That is called faith in God. God's presence is everywhere. Our moral life has its source in faith in God who reveals His love to us. And ignorance of God is the principle and explanation of all moral deviations.
3. The Apostles ask Christ today to increase their faith. They did have faith in God. As we have faith in God, we should also know how to protect our faith in God. There are various ways of sinning against faith. For example, doubt in what God has revealed to us, doubt in the teaching of the Holy Catholic Church and if we are not aware of what is going on in and around us, it will lead us to spiritual blindness.
There are incredulity(deying the revealed truth), heresy(post-baptismal denial), apostasy(total refusal of the Christian faith...hindus, muslims) and schism(refusal to listen to the Roman pontiff) against our faith.
4. When it comes with God, little is much and as the apostles asked to increase their faith, Christ our Lord says, "If you have faith the size of a mustard seed, you can move mountain and nature will obey you, people will listent to you....all you need is faith...faith the size of a mustard seed. As we look at any seed, we know that in it, there is a great potentiality to life. Life is there to come out. It may fall into any place, it will break or destroy all the obstacles and will sprout.
5. Faith helps us not God to be our side but we to be on God's side.
One night a house caught fire and a boy was forced to flee to the roof. The father stood on the ground below with outstretched arms, calling to his son, "Jump! I'll catch you." He knew the boy had to jump to save his life. All the boy could see, however, was flame, smoke, and blackness. As can be imagined, he was afraid to leave the roof. His father kept yelling: "Jump! I will catch you." But the boy protested, "Daddy, I can't see you." The father replied, "But I can see you and that's all that matters."
Our faith can move mountains but our doubts can create them. Faith does not make things easy but possible.
The size of a mustard seed faith can easily move the mountains of our pain and suffering. It can remove our family problems and will fill us withe hope and love. Faith helps us to say like St. paul
Faith is like wi-fi. It is invisible but it has the power to connect you to what you need.
Are you looking for a man loving, kind, caring, giving, generous and very rich? Please be patient. Jesus is coming soon.
Monday, September 19, 2016
The Rich man and the poor Lazarus
THE RICH MAN AND LAZARUS
Once a husband who was reading a newspaper looked at his wife and said, "You won't believe that it says that in an avarage day a man uses two thousand and two hundred words while a woman uses around five thousand words. That is more than double. The wife looked at him and said, "It is because women have to tell men everything twice".
man was reading the paper when an ad caught his eye: $500 Porsche! New! The man thought that it was very unusual to sell a Porsche for $500, and he thought it might be a joke, but thought it was worth a shot. So he went to the lady’s house and sure enough, she had an almost brand new Porsche.
“Wow!” the man said. “Can I take it for a test drive?” Unlike what he expected, the man found that the car ran perfectly and took it back to the lady’s house.“Why are you selling me this great Porsche for only $500?”
“My husband just ran off with his secretary, and he told me I could have the house and the furniture as long as I sold his Porsche and sent him the money.”
1. Today's gospel talks about the lost life. From today's gospel we come to know the three important things such as the blessing of the believer, the blessing of the unknown believer and finally what will happen to those who do not share their spiritual gifts, knowledge and understanding with others.
I invite you all to look at today's gospel in a different angle. So far, we reflected on the lost sheep, lost coin, lost son and last week on lost job and today on lost life...I mean spiritual life.
2. The blessing of the believers:
The rich man in today’s gospel represents all the Pharisees, scribes and the chosen people. They were all given blessings upon blessings. Since God Himself chose them, everything was given to them. They enjoyed freedom and life; they enjoyed riches and happiness. Nothing was lacking in their life. They were blessed with everything. They experienced perfection and absolute happiness. They were given more of everything.
As we are chosen by God through His Son Jesus, we are also given special blessings to enjoy everything. Complete bliss and enlightenment is possible for us all in Jesus Christ our Lord. And Jesus Himself became the way, truth and the life for us. We all became children of God in Jesus.
Today though more than one billion catholics are living around the world. The harsh reality is that people are not practicing their faith as they did before. Instead of saying, people are not practicing faith, Catholic church more and more begin to understand and focus on clergy now. We-priests are called to take responsiblity of what we are doing. We have to try our best to bring the Good News.
Today less than two percent of the people are practicing their faith in Hallond and less than five percent in France and Italy and less tha ten percent in Canada. We are called to share our spiritual blessings with others.
3. The blessing of the unknown believer:
Lazarus in today’s gospel represents the gentiles or all unknown believers. Even though He didn’t know about the creator God or the God of Israel, he came to the rich man or the man who practices his faith, but he refused to share God’s blessings, love and kindness. But the man waited at the door longing to know about God but the believer gave nothing to him so God himself came down and blessed him abundantly. The unknown believer became so rich in faith and began to enjoy every spiritual gift but on the other hand the rich man lost everything and was disconnected from the love and kindness of God our father completely.
Conclusion:
Today’s gospel invites us to share our spiritual knowledge, wisdom and understanding; our spiritual blessings and gifts with those who are struggling to know the Father. It is our duty to give. As we give and share our spiritual gifts, they multiply as thirty, sixty and hundredfold. Yes, when we give our spiritual blessings, they will come back to us more and thus we will have more of everything. Amen.
Once a husband who was reading a newspaper looked at his wife and said, "You won't believe that it says that in an avarage day a man uses two thousand and two hundred words while a woman uses around five thousand words. That is more than double. The wife looked at him and said, "It is because women have to tell men everything twice".
man was reading the paper when an ad caught his eye: $500 Porsche! New! The man thought that it was very unusual to sell a Porsche for $500, and he thought it might be a joke, but thought it was worth a shot. So he went to the lady’s house and sure enough, she had an almost brand new Porsche.
“Wow!” the man said. “Can I take it for a test drive?” Unlike what he expected, the man found that the car ran perfectly and took it back to the lady’s house.“Why are you selling me this great Porsche for only $500?”
“My husband just ran off with his secretary, and he told me I could have the house and the furniture as long as I sold his Porsche and sent him the money.”
1. Today's gospel talks about the lost life. From today's gospel we come to know the three important things such as the blessing of the believer, the blessing of the unknown believer and finally what will happen to those who do not share their spiritual gifts, knowledge and understanding with others.
I invite you all to look at today's gospel in a different angle. So far, we reflected on the lost sheep, lost coin, lost son and last week on lost job and today on lost life...I mean spiritual life.
2. The blessing of the believers:
The rich man in today’s gospel represents all the Pharisees, scribes and the chosen people. They were all given blessings upon blessings. Since God Himself chose them, everything was given to them. They enjoyed freedom and life; they enjoyed riches and happiness. Nothing was lacking in their life. They were blessed with everything. They experienced perfection and absolute happiness. They were given more of everything.
As we are chosen by God through His Son Jesus, we are also given special blessings to enjoy everything. Complete bliss and enlightenment is possible for us all in Jesus Christ our Lord. And Jesus Himself became the way, truth and the life for us. We all became children of God in Jesus.
Today though more than one billion catholics are living around the world. The harsh reality is that people are not practicing their faith as they did before. Instead of saying, people are not practicing faith, Catholic church more and more begin to understand and focus on clergy now. We-priests are called to take responsiblity of what we are doing. We have to try our best to bring the Good News.
Today less than two percent of the people are practicing their faith in Hallond and less than five percent in France and Italy and less tha ten percent in Canada. We are called to share our spiritual blessings with others.
3. The blessing of the unknown believer:
Lazarus in today’s gospel represents the gentiles or all unknown believers. Even though He didn’t know about the creator God or the God of Israel, he came to the rich man or the man who practices his faith, but he refused to share God’s blessings, love and kindness. But the man waited at the door longing to know about God but the believer gave nothing to him so God himself came down and blessed him abundantly. The unknown believer became so rich in faith and began to enjoy every spiritual gift but on the other hand the rich man lost everything and was disconnected from the love and kindness of God our father completely.
Conclusion:
Today’s gospel invites us to share our spiritual knowledge, wisdom and understanding; our spiritual blessings and gifts with those who are struggling to know the Father. It is our duty to give. As we give and share our spiritual gifts, they multiply as thirty, sixty and hundredfold. Yes, when we give our spiritual blessings, they will come back to us more and thus we will have more of everything. Amen.
Tuesday, September 13, 2016
NO to two Masters-25
No to two Masters-C
Good evening everyone, I am so happy to welcome you all for today's Holy Mass. Our special welcome to all our parishioners, visitors and every one here today. Let us thank God almighty...now let's prepare ourselves to celebrate the sacred mystery of our Lord Jesus Christ, calling to our mind...
One thing I realized these days that being multi-lingual is not an easy thing. You can easily be judged. On the other day, I talked to one of my friends in Sudbury and for something she said, "Thank you". And I said, "Prego". Prego in italian means "You are welcome". She did not like me saying 'prego'. I said, "it's italian...prego mean you are welcome'. I think it's better to stick with one God, one language and one hour. Oh did I say why she did not like me saying, "prego" because she thinks I am teasing her becasue she is pregnant.
Once two priests were working in a parish but they didn't get along well. They were criticizing each other. And once in a parish event, one of the priests thanked people and said, "you all know that Fr. Matthew and I are not getting alone well. It's because he does everything his own way and I do God's way.
Once Fr. Matthew was speeding and was stopped by the police. He said, "Oh there are five hundred people are waiting for me to say mass". But this did not go well. So he tried another method. he said, 'My diocese is so poor and they don't pay me well. Please let me go and I am a poor preacher'. The police officer looked at him and said, "I know Father...I heard it".
In today's gospel, Christ our Lord says that we cannot serve God and wealth. We can not have two masters. Yes, we can not walk with God holding hands with the devil. The law of human nature is that our supreme affectiion can be fixed on only one object. There is nothing more spiritually practical and practically spiritual than an investigation into proper Catholic attitude and approach towards material possession.
We Catholics should clearly understand that materil things are not bad at all. They are very necessary to improve our quality of life on earth. Other wise, every Catholic church you go, the priest, the finance committee or other organizations will not ask for money. Every time we go to church and that is all we hear, 'money..money and more money'. And that is why I stopped asking for money...I am seriously thinking of accepting debit and credit cards.
Though some say that Church does not have any authority to talk about economic, finance and business life and church should stick with religious and faith matters because economic, finance and business life are secular matter. It is not true at all. We should know that there is no purely independent secular realm at all. Everything comes from God and goes back to Him alone. The two important social principles of the catholic church are subsidiarity and solidarity. If you ever want to read a church document on social teachings please read the document called Centissimus annus by Pope John Paul ii. We should work hard and share the benefit with others especially those who are not given enough opportunity like us and thus make the world a better place to live. But on the other hand, if we hold on to our material possessions saying, 'I worked hard and it's mine and then we begin to serve not God but money'.
I remember that beautiful story of a police rabbi. Once a visitor went to see him and noticed the rabbi did not have anything in his house at all. He asked him, "Are you a minimalist? where is you furniture and where are your books?" The rabbi asked the visitor, "Where is your furniture and where are your books?" The man laughed and said, "I am just a visitor and why should I carry them with me". The master said, "So am I my friend...so am I".
If we have the same approach towards life then we will work hard and do everything for the glory of God.
Once I asked the shool children what they wanted to do in the future... most of them said, "they all want to make money..." It is parents duty today to help them to know God and spiritual things. "If you give a pig and a boy anything they want...do you know what you will get? A good pig and a bad boy.
We have a very powerful mind and it has to be occupied all the time and if not, it will create problems. It will hold on to God or money. As we train them to use our material things to serve God and then we could easily say that we are serving God. We are called to serve God and Him alone.
There are misconceptions that if anyone decided to serve God, he should be prepared to live a sad and boring life. There is a social stigma attached with people who practice their faith and come to church today. But people serve God are those who are actually happy. We are again and again reminded that God is with us. Yes, when God is with us, who can be against us. So let us serve God using all other God-given gifts and talents. Amen.
Good evening everyone, I am so happy to welcome you all for today's Holy Mass. Our special welcome to all our parishioners, visitors and every one here today. Let us thank God almighty...now let's prepare ourselves to celebrate the sacred mystery of our Lord Jesus Christ, calling to our mind...
One thing I realized these days that being multi-lingual is not an easy thing. You can easily be judged. On the other day, I talked to one of my friends in Sudbury and for something she said, "Thank you". And I said, "Prego". Prego in italian means "You are welcome". She did not like me saying 'prego'. I said, "it's italian...prego mean you are welcome'. I think it's better to stick with one God, one language and one hour. Oh did I say why she did not like me saying, "prego" because she thinks I am teasing her becasue she is pregnant.
Once two priests were working in a parish but they didn't get along well. They were criticizing each other. And once in a parish event, one of the priests thanked people and said, "you all know that Fr. Matthew and I are not getting alone well. It's because he does everything his own way and I do God's way.
Once Fr. Matthew was speeding and was stopped by the police. He said, "Oh there are five hundred people are waiting for me to say mass". But this did not go well. So he tried another method. he said, 'My diocese is so poor and they don't pay me well. Please let me go and I am a poor preacher'. The police officer looked at him and said, "I know Father...I heard it".
In today's gospel, Christ our Lord says that we cannot serve God and wealth. We can not have two masters. Yes, we can not walk with God holding hands with the devil. The law of human nature is that our supreme affectiion can be fixed on only one object. There is nothing more spiritually practical and practically spiritual than an investigation into proper Catholic attitude and approach towards material possession.
We Catholics should clearly understand that materil things are not bad at all. They are very necessary to improve our quality of life on earth. Other wise, every Catholic church you go, the priest, the finance committee or other organizations will not ask for money. Every time we go to church and that is all we hear, 'money..money and more money'. And that is why I stopped asking for money...I am seriously thinking of accepting debit and credit cards.
Though some say that Church does not have any authority to talk about economic, finance and business life and church should stick with religious and faith matters because economic, finance and business life are secular matter. It is not true at all. We should know that there is no purely independent secular realm at all. Everything comes from God and goes back to Him alone. The two important social principles of the catholic church are subsidiarity and solidarity. If you ever want to read a church document on social teachings please read the document called Centissimus annus by Pope John Paul ii. We should work hard and share the benefit with others especially those who are not given enough opportunity like us and thus make the world a better place to live. But on the other hand, if we hold on to our material possessions saying, 'I worked hard and it's mine and then we begin to serve not God but money'.
I remember that beautiful story of a police rabbi. Once a visitor went to see him and noticed the rabbi did not have anything in his house at all. He asked him, "Are you a minimalist? where is you furniture and where are your books?" The rabbi asked the visitor, "Where is your furniture and where are your books?" The man laughed and said, "I am just a visitor and why should I carry them with me". The master said, "So am I my friend...so am I".
If we have the same approach towards life then we will work hard and do everything for the glory of God.
Once I asked the shool children what they wanted to do in the future... most of them said, "they all want to make money..." It is parents duty today to help them to know God and spiritual things. "If you give a pig and a boy anything they want...do you know what you will get? A good pig and a bad boy.
We have a very powerful mind and it has to be occupied all the time and if not, it will create problems. It will hold on to God or money. As we train them to use our material things to serve God and then we could easily say that we are serving God. We are called to serve God and Him alone.
There are misconceptions that if anyone decided to serve God, he should be prepared to live a sad and boring life. There is a social stigma attached with people who practice their faith and come to church today. But people serve God are those who are actually happy. We are again and again reminded that God is with us. Yes, when God is with us, who can be against us. So let us serve God using all other God-given gifts and talents. Amen.
Thursday, September 8, 2016
The Lost Sheep...
Good morning every one. I am so happy to welcome you all for today's Holy Mass, our special welcome to all our visitors and parishioners and every one here today. Let us thank God almighty for sending His Only Son the Good Shepherd to be with us for ever. Let us thank Him for showering upon us His countless blessings each and every day. Now let us take a moment to prepare ourselves to celebrate the sacred mysteries of our Lord Jesus Christ...
Last last an amazing lady called me from Douro saying, "Father, I hope you are coming to our Douro doing and when you come, come with your clerical collar and you will get free meal". I was so shocked to hear that...With my clerical collar for a free meal. Do you know how many years I spent to get this collar. I spent so many years studying philosophy and so many years studying theology and all the hard preparation to become a priest and you say... come with your clerical collar for a free meal. Then I said, "Since you are saying its a free meal...ofcourse I am coming with my clerical collar".
Last week I called my mom and the line was so busy for two hours and I knew exactly who was talking to my mom. So later, I called my sister and said, "what were you talking to mom?". If she does not want to say she would usually say, "That is girls talk". And she wasn't happy for what I said. I said, "Mom doesn't need girls talk all the time. She needs some intellectual talk too..."
Once a devout man lost his favourite bible as he was doing some outside job. But fortunately three weeks later, a sheep walked up to him carried the bible in its mouth. The man took the bible out of its mouth and looked up to heaven and exclaimed with a loud voice and said, "Its a miracle..". The sheep looked at him and said, "Not really. Your name is written inside the cover".
A man at the movie theatre notices what looks like a sheep sitting next to him. "Are you a sheep?" asked the man. "Yes, I am" said the sheep. The man asked, "What are you doing at the movie theatre?". The sheep said, "Because I liked the book so much".
Saint Luke's gospel chapter fifteen is called 'God's lost and found department'. They are the stories of the lost the sheep, the lost coin and the lost son or prodigal son.
Let us today meditate upon the 'lost sheep'. It's human to be lost and it's divine to find. It's human to go way from God and it's divine to get closer to man. The story began at the garden of Eden. As Adam and Eve went away from love, peace, harmony and prosperity and were hiding from God, something unexpected happened to them. God as they thought would go away from them, came to them searching. That is our God. He will never go away from us. Searching, saving and shouting are the nature of the sacred heart of Christ our Lord.
Christ is the Lord who is searchig us constantly. Once as a sheep went away from the fold wandering and not knowing the way back home. That was the time, the sheep saw that lone wolf who looked so busy. The wolf looked at the sheep and said, "you look lost...I know your family, your father and mother used to be my friends and unfortunately they were killed by some ferocious animals. I could take you back to your place but unfortunatly I am so busy. I am going to work. I have to work because people depend on me. My wife is sick and one of my children has down syndrome. They all need help. I don't have a good insurence and OHIP does not cover some of her medication either. But I feel so bad for you and I want to help you. One thing I could do, I will take you to my house first and stay there till the afternoon and then as I come back from work, I will lead you home. The lone wolf drew a perfect plan and the lost sheep accepted. As the lost sheep was following the lone wolf the good shepherd came and rescued him. As the good shepherd was carrying the lost sheep on his shoulders, he noticed the lost sheep was still texting the lone wolf...so instead of getting mad at the lost sheep, He began to love him more. That is our Lord Jesus Christ who is in constant search of us. Though we fall into the same sin again and again, He never leaves us lone. His search and love continue. It looks sometimes we find a way to escape from the shephed.
Once a priest announced in the church saying, "please turn off your cell phone and no text either...' and as he was doing the mass, someone's cell phone began to ring louder. Everybody was looking everywhere and then they found out that was Father's cell phone.
Once a BMW stops at a remote village and man with Armani suit, Gucci shoes and Ray Ban sunglasses gets out and looks at the shepherd and says, " "If I tell you exactly how many sheep you have in your flock, will you give me one?"
The Shepherd says, "Sure, why not". Then he with his GPS naviagation system using Nasa satelite scan the location, within the minute he says, "you have exactly thousand and twenty-four" sheep. That is right. Now you can pick up any sheep you want. The man picks up a one that looks so beautifyl. Then the shepherd says, "If I say what business you are doing, will you give me my animal back". The man says, "of course.." you are a consultant. how do you know that. Because you showed up yourself without invitation. You want to get paid for what I already know... now give my dog back.
Once the shepherd finds the lost sheep, there will always be celebration. After finding the sheep, he calls every one to celebrate. When the prodigal son came home, the dad invited everyone saying, "This son of mine was dead and now he is alive. This son of mine is lost and now he is found...Rejoice with me".
Every time we go to the Father using the sacrament of Reconciliation that is all we again and again hear that we are His and though we go away from him, He will find us and thus he will celebrate our reconciliaiton to Him, to others and ourselves. The Lord is our shepherd and let us go to Him who leads us to green pastures and feeds us with life that will never end. Amen.
Good morning every one. I am so happy to welcome you all for today's Holy Mass, our special welcome to all our visitors and parishioners and every one here today. Let us thank God almighty for sending His Only Son the Good Shepherd to be with us for ever. Let us thank Him for showering upon us His countless blessings each and every day. Now let us take a moment to prepare ourselves to celebrate the sacred mysteries of our Lord Jesus Christ...
Last last an amazing lady called me from Douro saying, "Father, I hope you are coming to our Douro doing and when you come, come with your clerical collar and you will get free meal". I was so shocked to hear that...With my clerical collar for a free meal. Do you know how many years I spent to get this collar. I spent so many years studying philosophy and so many years studying theology and all the hard preparation to become a priest and you say... come with your clerical collar for a free meal. Then I said, "Since you are saying its a free meal...ofcourse I am coming with my clerical collar".
Last week I called my mom and the line was so busy for two hours and I knew exactly who was talking to my mom. So later, I called my sister and said, "what were you talking to mom?". If she does not want to say she would usually say, "That is girls talk". And she wasn't happy for what I said. I said, "Mom doesn't need girls talk all the time. She needs some intellectual talk too..."
Once a devout man lost his favourite bible as he was doing some outside job. But fortunately three weeks later, a sheep walked up to him carried the bible in its mouth. The man took the bible out of its mouth and looked up to heaven and exclaimed with a loud voice and said, "Its a miracle..". The sheep looked at him and said, "Not really. Your name is written inside the cover".
A man at the movie theatre notices what looks like a sheep sitting next to him. "Are you a sheep?" asked the man. "Yes, I am" said the sheep. The man asked, "What are you doing at the movie theatre?". The sheep said, "Because I liked the book so much".
Saint Luke's gospel chapter fifteen is called 'God's lost and found department'. They are the stories of the lost the sheep, the lost coin and the lost son or prodigal son.
Let us today meditate upon the 'lost sheep'. It's human to be lost and it's divine to find. It's human to go way from God and it's divine to get closer to man. The story began at the garden of Eden. As Adam and Eve went away from love, peace, harmony and prosperity and were hiding from God, something unexpected happened to them. God as they thought would go away from them, came to them searching. That is our God. He will never go away from us. Searching, saving and shouting are the nature of the sacred heart of Christ our Lord.
Christ is the Lord who is searchig us constantly. Once as a sheep went away from the fold wandering and not knowing the way back home. That was the time, the sheep saw that lone wolf who looked so busy. The wolf looked at the sheep and said, "you look lost...I know your family, your father and mother used to be my friends and unfortunately they were killed by some ferocious animals. I could take you back to your place but unfortunatly I am so busy. I am going to work. I have to work because people depend on me. My wife is sick and one of my children has down syndrome. They all need help. I don't have a good insurence and OHIP does not cover some of her medication either. But I feel so bad for you and I want to help you. One thing I could do, I will take you to my house first and stay there till the afternoon and then as I come back from work, I will lead you home. The lone wolf drew a perfect plan and the lost sheep accepted. As the lost sheep was following the lone wolf the good shepherd came and rescued him. As the good shepherd was carrying the lost sheep on his shoulders, he noticed the lost sheep was still texting the lone wolf...so instead of getting mad at the lost sheep, He began to love him more. That is our Lord Jesus Christ who is in constant search of us. Though we fall into the same sin again and again, He never leaves us lone. His search and love continue. It looks sometimes we find a way to escape from the shephed.
Once a priest announced in the church saying, "please turn off your cell phone and no text either...' and as he was doing the mass, someone's cell phone began to ring louder. Everybody was looking everywhere and then they found out that was Father's cell phone.
Once a BMW stops at a remote village and man with Armani suit, Gucci shoes and Ray Ban sunglasses gets out and looks at the shepherd and says, " "If I tell you exactly how many sheep you have in your flock, will you give me one?"
The Shepherd says, "Sure, why not". Then he with his GPS naviagation system using Nasa satelite scan the location, within the minute he says, "you have exactly thousand and twenty-four" sheep. That is right. Now you can pick up any sheep you want. The man picks up a one that looks so beautifyl. Then the shepherd says, "If I say what business you are doing, will you give me my animal back". The man says, "of course.." you are a consultant. how do you know that. Because you showed up yourself without invitation. You want to get paid for what I already know... now give my dog back.
Once the shepherd finds the lost sheep, there will always be celebration. After finding the sheep, he calls every one to celebrate. When the prodigal son came home, the dad invited everyone saying, "This son of mine was dead and now he is alive. This son of mine is lost and now he is found...Rejoice with me".
Every time we go to the Father using the sacrament of Reconciliation that is all we again and again hear that we are His and though we go away from him, He will find us and thus he will celebrate our reconciliaiton to Him, to others and ourselves. The Lord is our shepherd and let us go to Him who leads us to green pastures and feeds us with life that will never end. Amen.
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