Third sunday of Advent -A

Third Sunday in Advent-A 

Gaudete Sunday. 

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 everyone here today. 

Dear friends, let us thank God almighty for brining us all here to this beautiful church of St. Jean de Brebeuf/St. Paul the Apostle. Let us thank Him for sending His only Son our Lord Jesus Christ to be with us forever. 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, calling to mind our sins, short-coming, failures, pain and suffering, asking divine assistance and Christ our Lord's forgiveness, mercy and compassion. 

Our special welcome to all our visitors today. I have an announcement to make that anyone who thinks that I don't like snow. It's a wrong notion. I love snow and I love to have so much snow in the month of January. Because that is month, I will be away. 

Once while shaking hands with the priest, one of the parishioners asked him, "O Father, how did you get this big cut on your face?" 

The priest said, "Well, I was thinking my homily this morning while I was shaving. I guess I wasn't concentrating and cut myself in the process".  

The woman said, "The next time, you should concentrate on your shaving and cut your homily". 

Christianity is not all about sin, death and eternal punishment. It is about life, happiness and heaven. That is why this Sunday is called joyful Sunday. We celebrate this joyful Sunday praising Jesus who destroyed sin and death and showed the way to our eternal home. 

Once a Rabbi visited his Muslim family on Christmas day. Since the both were not celebrating Christmas, they went to a Chinese restaurant on Christmas day. As they finished eating, the waiter brought a little Christmas gift to the Rabbi that said made in India. The rabbi smiled and said, "Wow...this is amazing. Here I am in a Chinese restaurant with my Muslim friends getting a Christmas gift from a Buddhist waiter made by a Hindu. 

The joy of Christmas is sharing 'Christ' with every one. The joy of Christmas is sharing God's love and kindness with every one. The joy of Christmas is sharing Christ's compassion and forgiveness with others.  

I used to be mad and unhappy to see a Hindu or a Muslim coming to Christian shrines and experiencing healing. I used to say to myself, "you know what I was baptized, I received First Communion and I practice my Catholic faith,  miracles and wonders should only happen to me and others Catholics not to those Hindus and Muslims. Then I understood that Christ belongs to all. His love and forgiveness is unlimited. We should share the joy of Christ with all. Our prayers and spiritual practices help believers and non-believers alike.  So we should be good Catholics so that the world would benefit Christ's love and forgiveness. We should be good Catholics so that humanity would experience healing and miracles. 

In today's gospel, John the Baptist from prison is sending his disciples to Jesus to find out whether He is the Messiah. 

John the Baptist was the one who baptized Christ and as he baptized the Lord, he heard the voice coming from heaven saying, "This is my Son with whom I am so happy". When John saw Christ said, "Behold the lamb of God and I am unworthy to untie the thong of His sandals and then why then he said, "Are you the one who is to come, or are we to wait for another?" 

It's because John wanted his own disciples to follow only Christ and not any false prophets and it's because John wanted his own disciples to witness all the miracles and wonders of Christ.  

So many people come and talk to us about Christ's miracles and wonders and if we do not experience personally, then we will never deepen our faith in Him. 

I heard people saying to me, " I am afraid and I don't want to be alone in Church".  

Many of us are used to know and hear God as a punishing one. The disciples of John were in the same position and that is why they were sent by John to see the compassionate and kind Christ.  

Once a mouse was in a constant distress because of the fear of cat. Then a spiritual man took pity on the mouse and turned it into a cat.  But then it became afraid of dogs. So the spiritual master turned it into a dog. Then it was afraid of tiger saying tigers are stronger than me. Then the master turned it into a tiger. Then it was afraid of hunters. At that point, the spiritual master turned it into a little mouse  and said, "I can do nothing for you as long as you have a mind of a mouse".  

When we practice our faith out of fear or punishment, our church-going, receiving sacraments will become a mere ritual. When we come out of the fear of God and look at Him as our loving Father, then we will begin to celebrate and enjoy our coming to church and receiving sacraments.  

In today's gospel, Jesus says, "Go and tell John what you hear and see: the blind receive their sight, the lame walk, the sick healed, the lepers cleansed and deaf hear and mute speak and the dead are raised"  

These miracles of Christ are not past events. These are happening to those who are living in Christ. It is our turn to tell the others the Good News.  

Once a man prayed to God saying, "God, what is going on today. War and killing are happening everywhere and because of war, Syria and Iraq are completely wiped out. Please send some one to change the situation and send some one to bring the message of Christ to all. That night God appeared to him and said, "I have already sent someone and he said, "who is that person and God said, "You are. Yes, we are to go everywhere and bring the joy and happiness to all. Amen.