sunday 19th - A

Sunday 19th - A Once a priest announced in the church about his transfer, moving to another parish and people began to cry. Seeing them all crying, he said, "Since you all love me so much, I changed my mind and I am going to stay here". Do you know what happened? People cried even more... 

Last week I called one of my friends' family and said to that little boy who answered, "May I talk to the boss of the family". He called saying, "Mom...Fr. Peter is on the phone". Then I said to the boy, "who is the second boss?" And he said, "it is me..." What about your dad? Do you know what he said, "I can easily tame my dad". 

Once a mother superior was dying and all other nuns were standing around her and saying the rosary and at one point, they were giving her some milk to drink but she refused. So, one of the nuns put some vodka in it and gave to her. This time, the mother superior drank it all. Then they all looked at her and said, "Mother, you are a woman of faith. Your faith inspired us so much and before you die, please give us your wisdom. Please say something to inspire us. The superior looked at them all and said, "Do not sell that cow..." 

Faith moves mountains. Sometimes the only available transportation for you is a leap of faith. They say that doubt your doubt before doubt your faith. Faith is like a wi-fi. You can't see but it will connect you when you need. Faith does not make things easy but makes them possible. 

Once a man's house was on fire and he ran up to the roof for safety. Then all his friends came standing in the street below holding a stretched-out blanket for him shouting, "Jump...we will catch you. Please jump and we will catch you". He said, "No, I won't jump and I don't trust you. If I jump, you will pull the blanket away to make fool of me. They said, "No, will not. This is serious, please jump. You know what he said. He said, put the blanket on the floor and move away and then I will jump". 

What is faith then? Faith is complete trust in someone or something. To St. Thomas who doubted the Resurrection, Christ said, "Blessed are those who haven't seen and yet have come to believe". When we talk about faith, the very first person who comes to our mind is, Abraham the Father of faith. He was called by God at the age of seventy-five to leave behind everything and follow Him. Abraham followed God Almighty without any doubt or hesitation. As he was asked to sacrifice his only son Isaac, Abraham didn't hesitate at all. Because of his stronger faith, God blessed him highly.  

Faith is believing in God who sent His Only Son Christ our Lord among us. Faith is hearing from Christ, "It's I. Do not be afraid". Every time we face troubles and problems and every time we go through hardship and challenges, we hear the encouraging words of Christ saying, "Its I do not be afraid". Once a god-fearing farmer who forgot his prayer book with him said to God, "Dear God, without my prayer book, I cannot recite any prayer. So now I am going to recite very slowly the alphabet five times and you who know everything put the letters together and make a prayer'. That night God called His angels and said, "Today of all prayers I heard, this is the best prayer because his faith is great'. 

In today's gospel, we see how Simon Peter begins to walk on water. It's because of his faith, he goes towards Christ our Lord. And as he begins to be afraid and losing faith, and thus he cries out to the Lord saying, "Lord, save me..." There we see the Lord is immediately stretching out His saving hands and protects him from peril and danger. That is our Lord, as we call upon Him, there he will come to rescue us. He is our Savior and Messiah. Because of little, many of our family members are drowning in doubt and go away from the Lord, let us stretch out our hands and help them. Let us stretch out our hands and show them the way and let us stretch out our hands and bring them to the Lord who is our God and mighty Savior. Amen.