Vine and branches

I'm the vine and you are the branches.

our special welcome to all our visitors today, there is a technical term for a beautiful bright day which follows two rainy and nasty days, it's called "Monday".
Once there was a famous priest who did miracles and wonders and a man came to him and said, "please, father pray for my hearing". The priest, right away, stretched out his hands and touched the man's ears and prayed for 45 minutes and then asked him, "how is your hearing and how is your hearing?' the man said, "oh father, my hearing isn't until next week'. The man then came home and said to his wife, 'you won't believe. I came home all the way running behind a bus and saved $2. The wife got so mad and said, 'why did you not run behind a taxi and save $20.
Friends in Christ Jesus, today our Canadian society faces one of the biggest challenges of all, that is isolation and loneliness. there are more than 25 percent of our population lives alone and even parents, spouses and children live as strangers to each other. The sad thing is children are living so isolated. they have to deal their problems on their own. they eat alone, play alone and meet their challenges alone.
But on the other hand, we who believe in Christ and we who practice our faith are so blessed. though we live alone, we are not lonely. Yes, God is with us and the risen christ is with us. And king David says, the lord is my light and my salvation whom shall i fear and the lord is the stronghold of my life, of whom should i be afraid. We have God with us and we will always be comforted. And Jean Paul Satre says, "If you feel lonely when you are alone, then you are in bad company".
God is with us and as long as we are with christ, we will be happy and fulfilled. we are called to be attached with Christ the lifeline, the source of all and the vine.
There is a story about a blind man who had a guide dog. Because of the dog, he did everything well. he moved everywhere freely. As we know familiarity breeds contempt. he never treated the dog well. he kicked, pulled and pushed the dog. the people really felt bad for the dog and one day, they unleashed the dog and let it go. the blind man was left alone and stuck in one place. some days later, the people came to see what happened to him and upon seeing him, they were so shocked because the dog returned to the blind man. the story ended with the question. who is blind? The man or the dog. the story was even titled as blind dog.
love, pure love never seeks perfection and that is way we see so many people especially married couples fighting and arguing with each other and still loving to death. once a couple celebrated their 60th wedding anniversary. that evening the old man said to his wife. honey i am so proud of you. what? i can not hear you. you know i cannot hear without hearing aid. speak louder. i said i am proud of you. what? i am so proud of you. That is all right, i am tired of you too.
God is so loving and that is we see in the bible. The bible is called the love story of God. man falls and God lifts him up and man denies and god stays so faithful and man goes away from him and God get closer to him and man sins over and over again and God sends his son to save us. Yes, God is so loving and as we connect with Christ, we come to know that we are his. and as long as we are attached with him, our happines and joy and our peace and harmony multiplies thousandfold.
This real event happened in the last 1980s on the lower side of manhattan. a beautiful big new office building was completely destroyed by fire. when the fire alarm went off, people got out of the building quickly and in order and the fire trucks and fire men came in plenty of time and still though every thing was in order, could not save the building. it is because the city water line had never been connected to the building's fire-system. though everything was well, they forgot to connect with the main source.
what if we gain the whole world and forfeit or lose our soul and what if we make all the money in the world but happiness and what if we build huge house and no peace.
As long as we are connected with Christ, we feel fulfilled and happy  and if not, life becomes a big waste.
if we follow closely people who dedicate their time, energy and resources for the well being of their community and their country within five to ten years, they easily disappear. it's because of mental and physical exhaustion. they are easily drained of their energy. They did not have any energy to draw from. when they are not connected with the line line namely God, they will not bear much fruit.
I remember visiting a woman dying of cancer. she was a wonderful and doing so much for the parish and as i visited her, i said, "let us pray the rosary together". what she said shocked me. she said, "i don't know how to say the rosary". what is the point of involving in everything and not looking after our spiritual life. Without healthy spiritual life, our physical life will become so weak.
these days we once again talk about incel namely involuntarily celibate. it's a cyber clubhouse who feel rejected by woman and who hate woman and themselves. The recent van attack in toronto killed about ten people and that man called himself incel. but when it comes with catholic, a man who sincerely recites the rosary and venerates the blessed virgin mary will always have high respect and love for women. they will never go against them. yes, the holy bible, the sacraments, prayer, rosary and other spiritual sources become our line line to be connected with Christ. We the branches should be connected to christ the vine and produce more happiness and joy. Amen.