Love God and your neighbor.
Good evening/morning everyone, I am happy to welcome you all for today's Holy Mass.
Today I have an announcement to make. Since I am so Ecumenical, I would love to invite all denominations to St. Joseph's Catholic Church. I love to especially welcome fifty and hundred-dollar bills.
Once a little boy sitting in a tall and big tree refused to come down. So, the parents called the police, the fire fighters and so on but they could not do anything. He refused to come down. Then they said, "Let us call our new priest and he could do something..." The priest came and looked up and made a sign of the cross and immediately the boy came down. Everyone clapped hands for the priest. Then a man approached the priest and said, "Oh father, you are the best. You have miracle powers and with a sign of the cross, you brought the boy down..." The priest said, "I didn't make the sign of the cross. I did was a sign looking at the boy saying, "If you don't come down, I will cut down the tree..."
Once a man approached many priests and asked, "Please help me to understand your faith in five words and I'd join your Church...many pastors refused saying, "It's impossible to teach the whole Catholic faith in five words...but at last (it happens always) one priest looked at him and said, "I can summarize the whole Christian faith in five words namely, "Love God, Love your neighbor". The rest is all commentary.
Today if we approach hundred people and ask about the most important element of Christianity, we would get many different answers. When Christ our Lord was asked about the most important element, Christ the only Son of God said, "Our love directed toward God and God alone".
Once a man went to a spiritual master and said, "Master, I made all kinds of pilgrimages, went to mountain tops and to the bottom of the oceans and to the deserted lonely places to find God but I never found Him. And you say, "God can be found at any time and in anywhere". Please help me to find Him. Do you know what the spiritual master did? He took the man to a river and pushed his head in the water and was holding it for two minutes. And when the man came out of water, he got so mad at the master and said, "I came to you so that you could help me to find god but you are trying to kill me"
Then the master looked at him and said, "when you were in the water, what were you thinking about? The man said, "no, I wasn't thinking about anything. All I wanted to do is just breath... and breath". Then the master said, "Son, just as if you love God with all your heart, mind, body and soul...you will see Him not tomorrow or this afternoon but right this minute..."
The most important and core of all Jewish prayer is called, "Shema, Israel," namely hear O Israel. Every pious and devoted Jew would recite the Shema twice daily, morning and evening. It's a center of all prayers. He would pray saying, "Hear O Israel, the Lord is God. The Lord is One. Love the Lord your God with all your heart, with all your soul and with all your strength". Christ our Lord says that this is the greatest of all commandments.
Yes, we should give God what is right not what is left. What is right then? Giving ourselves to God is the right thing. As we give ourselves and love Him with who we are, then more will be given to us, yes, more happiness, more joy and more life.
Then Christ our Lord added another commandment saying, 'Love your neighbor as yourself". There is a beautiful legend about St. John the apostle. As he lived in his old age in Ephesus, he went very day to preach the good news to people. Since he was very old and his body and mind were failing, so his homily became five-word homily. He used over and over again, five words. He used to look at the massive crowed and repeated saying, "My Children, love one another...my children love one another".
In the second century a non-Christian writer named Aristides wrote a letter to the roman emperor saying, "The people who are calling themselves Christians love one another. They share with one another what they have and support the widows and orphans. They preach a new kind of religion"
Christ says, "By this everyone will come to know that you are my disciples. If you love one another".
Once a Rabbi went to a Catholic Monastery and the head monk who invited him began to complain to him saying, "Once our Monastery was really doing well. We had so many monks and people used to come for spiritual directions and prayers but not we don't have many monks. There are only five monks left and people don't come anymore for any spiritual directions or prayers..." The Rabbi who listened to all didn't say anything but the next day, as he was leaving the monastery, he called the head monk and said, "Last night I had a vision and one of you is the Messiah" And thus he went on his way. The abbot I mean the head monk was so shocked and amazed and let all the five monks Knew. Then everything began to change in the monastery. Everyone began to treat each other and themselves thinking that they could be the Messiah. There was love and forgiveness. They loved each other so much. Then seeing their compassion, love and kindness, many men joined their order to become monk and people came back for spiritual and moral support.
Yes, by loving others, we not only change others but we change ourselves too. So, let us love god and others. Amen.
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