26th sunday-B

26th Sunday in B 

Good evening/morning everyone and welcome to church today. 

I have one announcement to make, if any catholic thinks that he or she has a clear, clear conscience, please remember, it is the sign of a bad memory. 

Once after Mass at a prison as I was shaking hands with the prisoners and saying, ‘Good bye” to them, one of them said, “Keep out of trouble”. And I said, ‘I am but you didn’t”. Then he said, “Do you think you are a funny priest?” 

Once a man went to confession and said, “Forgive me, father, for I have sinned. During world war, I hid a refugee family in my attic”. The priest said, “Well, that is not a sin and you did a good thing”. But the man said, “I charged him $20.00 a week”. That is not good, but you saved a family though”. The man said, “Oh thank you so much Father, now I feel so relieved”. And I have one more question, “What is that, my son?” the man then said, “should I tell them the war is over” 

Then school children came to confession and every one of them was saying the same sin to the priest. One after another, they were saying, “Oh father, I threw peanut in the water”. The priest said, “that is a good thing. You are feeding the fish. God bless you and go in peace”. Then finally a little boy came to confession and even before he said anything, the priest said, ‘I know what you did. You threw peanut in the water and that is a good thing. God bless you. The boy then said, “No, father, I didn’t, and I am peanut”. 

Dear friends in Christ Jesus,  

Christ is the beginning of all.  Not one thing or two things but everything comes from Christ and Christ alone. Because the world exists only because of Him. Though one man, Adam, death came into the world and life came through Christ. Everything belongs to Christ and those who are not against Him are always for Him. 

God made the covenant of marriage with Adam and Eve. God made the covenant of family with Noah and covenant of tribe with Abraham. God made the covenant of nation with Moses and covenant of kingdom with David and through our Lord Jesus Christ, God established the covenant of universal kingdom. And everyone belongs to that kingdom. Though people don’t know Christ or away from Christ; though they accept Christ or don’t practice their faith, everyone belongs to Christ and His kingdom. Those who are not against Him are always for Him. 

Once a Christian, a follower of Christ, was brought before judge saying, “This man is a traitor because he gave water to a Muslim during war”. So, he was condemned to death. On the way to his execution, the man said to the king, “your majesty, at the battle field as people were suffering and dying, I never see a Muslim, a Jew or a Christian but only the face of Christ in every suffering human person”. The king then looked at him and said, “Go and give water to the suffering and dying”.  

There is a beautiful resurrection story, it’s about the two disciples on the way to Emmaus. After encountering Christ, they would say to each other, ‘Were not our hearts burning within us and were not enlightened while He opened the Scripture for us and so on and then they would get up at the same hour and went to Jerusalem and proclaimed the Good News to all. 

When the love of God fills our hearts, we cannot resist, and we cannot sit still, we have to go out and proclaim the Good News. Whether He belongs to a Christian group or not, they will go out and do great things in the name of Christ.  

Our hearts and our church are not that big to hold all the love and all the kindness of Christ and our rituals and our customs are not big enough to proclaim all the love and all the forgiveness of Christ and there will always people who do not belong to us will go and proclaim and do great things in the name of Christ. Yes, those who are not against us are for us. Let them continue their good works and let Christ’s light shine upon everyone.  Amen. 

25th Sunday-B

25th Sunday-B 

Good morning everyone, I am so happy to welcome you all for today’s Holy Mass. About two weeks ago, a group of Chinese Catholic came to Mass and as I was talking to them, at one point, I said, “Do you speak Mandarin?” They said, “Yes, we speak Mandarin”. Then, I said, “I am from India and I speak, Orange”. They said, “Please, don’t give up your day job”. 

Once a woman went to confession and said, “Father, forgive me for I have sinned. I have committed the sin of vanity. Yes, every time, I look at myself in the mirror, I think I am the most beautiful woman in the world. I feel and experience my gorgeousness. Please forgive me the sin of vanity”. The priest said, “O Monica, in your case, it’s not a sin at all. It’s just a big mistake”.  

Then Monica came to the priest and said, “Oh Father, my husband won two million dollars and I don’t know how to tell him since he has a heart condition”. The priest said, “That’s nothing bring him here and I will help him. When the man came, the priest looked at him and said, “Bob, if you win a million dollars what will you do? The man said, ‘I would visit my friends in Australia and buy a big house and help my children”. That is fine and tell me if you win two million dollars, what will you do? The man got so excited and said, “I will donate one million dollars to the church”. Imagine what happened, the priest took a heart attack and died. 

Once reporters approached Winston Churchill and said, “Are you proud to see a big crowd every time you give a political talk, the hall is almost overflowing? Then Churchill said, “Whenever I feel that way, I always remember that if instead of making a political speech, I was being hanged, the crowd would be twice as big” 

Dear friends in Christ, they say that a great man is always willing to be little. In my case, I am already little” Humility is not thinking less of yourself, it’s thinking of yourself less”. 

It’s only because of Christ, we find meaning in our life and it’s only because of Him, we are filled with happiness and joy and it’s only because of Him, we have life to the fullest and that Christ our Lord emptied Himself to become like you and me. Yes, He humbled and emptied Himself and made Himself nothing to be a servant to save us.  

Christ after washing the feet of His own disciples at the last supper said, “You call me Lord and teacher and you are right-for that’s what I am. So, if I the Lord and master have washed your feet, you also ought to wash one another’s feet. For I have set you an example and that you also should do as I have done to you”.  

That is our Lord Jesus Christ, He accepted humiliation and suffering for you. He didn’t need to become a human and He didn’t need to be born among the poor and be rejected by His own creatures and He didn’t need to accept crucifixion and death on a cross. But Christ humbled Himself and died a horrible death on a cross only for you.  

At the age of twelve as He was at the temple in Jerusalem preaching and teaching the love of God, His parents came to Him and said, “Son, why did you do all this to us”. There Christ humbled Himself and went down with them and He was, the Holy Bible says, obedient to them and thus grew in wisdom and knowledge before God and others. Christ humbled Himself to give us life. 

When He appeared first time in His home town Nazareth, His own people rejected Him saying, “We know who you are, and we know your parents and relatives and thus they took offense at Him. They criticized and tried to kill Him. Christ the wounded healer forgave their inability and criticism and moved on from there. 

When His friend Lazarus died, with a snap of his fingers, He might have brought him back to life but even before raising him to life, Christ the Son of God the Alpha and Omega cried for him. He humbled Himself like one of His creatures. 

Before Pilate, Christ the king of the universe was standing like a criminal and accepted the verdict. But the unfortunate thing is Pilate asked Christ, “What is truth?” but before Christ answering him, he walked away from Christ.  

Even while He was hanging on the cross, Christ was so humble and amazing, and forgave the sins of those who judged Him and that is our Lord Jesus Christ. 

Today Christ after announcing His Messianic mission saw how His own disciples fighting among us for power and position and said, “if you want to be exalted, you should humble yourself. if you want to be first and then you should be last of all and servant of all”. 

Conclusion: Following Christ is going against the current. The world will teach children to be adult and Christ teaches us to be like children to enter kingdom of god. The world teaches us to accumulate things here, but Christ teaches us to accumulate wealth in heaven and the world will teach us to hate our enemies, but Christ teaches us to love our enemies and pray for them. Yes, Christ invites us to humble ourselves to experience exaltation not only in this life but the life to come. Amen. 

24th sunday-B

24th Sunday in year B 

I met with some of my friends from Montreal and they said, “Father, do you speak French? And I said, “Sorry, I don’t make mistakes and they thought that was funny and paid my lunch and then I said, “I am a very serious person”. 

Once a man tried his best to find a job, but nothing happened and then finally he got a job in a local zoo. All he had to do was just dress like a monkey and entertain people. At the beginning, he could not do the job well but then he began to really entertain people jumping up and down, rolling over and screaming and all monkey stuff. One day, as he was jumping, he fell into the lion’s cage, he knew he was going to die. So, he began to scream and cry saying, “Please, lion, don’t kill me. Please let me go”. The lion then came closer to him and said, “Don’t scream, you stupid, we both are going to lose our job”. 

 Once a woman came to her priest and said, “Father, you know my husband has a heart condition and he should not anything shocking and very surprising. He won two million dollars last night and would you please him? The priest said, “I don’t mind at all and bring him here”. The man came, and the priest looked at him and said, “if you win a million dollars what would you do?” The man said, “I would to buy a big house and travel and help my children’. That is fine and what if you win two million dollars? The man said, “I promise that I will give million dollars to the church. Imaging what happened? The priest took a heart attack and died. 

Dear friends in Christ Jesus, 

Our Lord Jesus Christ at whose name every knee in heaven and on earth and under the earth bow and who is the only way, the truth and the life. Everything was created in Him and through Him and only for Him. It’s because of Him and Him alone we live, move and find meaning in our life. The heaven and earth began to rejoice at His birth and the wise men who came to Bethlehem said, “Where is the child who has been born king of the Jews and thus when they found Him offered Him gold, frankincense and myrrh”. At the age of twelve as Christ was at the temple in Jerusalem talking about God the Father, the rabbi and the elders praised His wisdom and knowledge and glorified God.  

As Christ went His home town Nazareth and proclaimed the Good News, they all praised God saying, “What a wonderful man is He, with divine authority and power He speaks”. As He was in Capernaum at synagogue, the ancient serpent and the fallen angels recognized Him saying, “We know who you are, you are the Holy One of God and are you here to torture us...” 

Thus, in Bethlehem, Jerusalem, Nazareth, Capernaum and in and around Judea and all other Jewish towns and villages, the Pharisees and Scribes, the leaders and elders and others came to know who Christ was.  

Now Christ Jesus is in a non-Jewish region and after preaching and teaching and performing His miracles and wonders, He asked His disciples about what people think about Him. The people in Caesarea Phillipi were also amazed at His divine power and authority saying, “He is Elijah, Elisha, Jeramiah, John the Baptist or one of the prophets and so on”. 

Then Christ who chose the twelve to be with Him asked this crucial question. “Who do you say that I am?’ Christ doesn’t need human approval of His identity. The clarity is only for us to get closer to Him every day. This is for our pilgrim journey and spiritual growth. 

Once Charles Lamb the famous British essayist said that the difference between William Shakes pear and Jesus Christ is, If Shakespeare walked into this room right now, we would all get up to greet him, but if Christ came in, we would all fall down and worship”. It’s because all men are mortal, but Christ is immortal, and He is God. 

So, when Christ asked what the apostles think about Him, Simon Peter said, “You are the Christ, the Only Son of God”. Then Christ asked revealed to them His Messianic secret of how the Son of Man would die for humanity and rise again. And then He asked them to carry their cross daily and follow Him. 

Yes, as we proclaim and glorify Christ as the Son of God, let us follow Him taking up our cross daily. It's because it’s not we who carry them but He who died for us and He who won death for us will be with us to glorify us and give us life. Amen.