13th Sunday-C

13th Sunday in ordinary time-C 

Good morning everyone, I am happy to welcome you all for today’s holy Mass. 

About a month ago, like any other Catholic, I was minding my own business. That’s we Catholics do, we mind our own business and went to Timhortons for coffee and by the way, if you don’t like coffee, you can never be a good Catholic and the lady said to me, “Hi honey”. I wasn’t happy at all and I looked at her and said, “Please, don’t call me honey. I don’t like to be called honey, Just, call me sweetie and she said, ‘Thank you Father and I will and every time, she comes to church, she calls me sweetie. I said, “Please, don’t tell your husband”. And she said, “I will pray for you”. I said, “Don’t pray for me. Just leave me alone and give me your money and go home”. 

Dear friends in Christ Jesus,  

Jesus loves you all with His unconditional love and unlimited forgiveness and He will never abandon you in any way. Even if you don’t ask Him for anything, He will fulfill all your needs. He is full of compassion, kindness and love”. 

We meet with different kinds of connections and relations today. The generosity of body and soul connects husband and wife together. The generosity of soul and heart connects friends together. The generosity of heart and mind connects people and business but above all, the generosity of body, soul, heat and mind connects us with God almighty. And that’s why once Christ our Lord said, “Love the Lord your God, with all your heart, mind, body and soul”. 

We can’t can experience divine by loving Him with only our mind or with only our soul or only with our soul or body. We have to put them all together and thus we will experience and see the presence of God. 

In today’s gospel, we meet with three different people and how they struggle to love the Lord our God. One man coming to Christ and says, “I will follow you wherever you go...” And our Lord Jesus Christ knows that his heart is not there and thus He asks him to look deeply into himself and the other man says, “Let me bury my Father first and then I will come and follow you” And Christ our Lord knows that His mind is not there and there is the last man says, “I am going to say goodbye to my daddy and mommy and then I will come and follow you” and Christ our Lord knows that there is no soul connection in his saying. 

Conclusion: 

If we do not put our heart, mind, body and soul to Love the Lord our God, we will not find Him, and we will constantly look for Him somewhere in the space. But He is all along sitting with us wanting to be experienced in our everyday life. So, let us love Him and follow Him. God bless. 

GRADUATION MASS

GRADUATION MASS... 

Good evening everyone, we are so happy to welcome you all for today’s graduation Mass. Our special welcome to all our graduates, their parents, relatives, family members, friends and their teachers and school staff and our amazing principal and everyone here today. Friends in Christ Jesus, let us thank God almighty for bringing us all here to this beautiful church of St. Joseph’s, 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 the gifts of the Holy Spirit. 

Your children are highly blessed to go to an amazing MMO School. The school is doing so much for our children. They not only help them to grow intellectually but also spiritually. These days your children need more spiritual things to face the present challenges. It’s not important to know the price of things but the value of things. And our MMO school helps them to know the value of every God created things and people. 

Last week as I went to school, they had school assembly and our amazing principal looked at me and said, “Father, do you like to sit?” 

I said, ‘Thank you very much but I will stand and be miserable”. 

What is your name? 

What is your name? 

You know what one day you name can be forgotten. People may be or may be not remember your name. But God will remember your name forever. Because He says in the bible that even before you were born, He called you by your name. You know what God might have created millions and millions of other people, but He chose you create you in a special way and that itself shows how special and important you are. 

As you are climbing the mountain of success and victory, this graduation is your first step. You put your first step firmly and you are going to climb up and up and make sure you are not climbing the mountain of happiness, joy and life alone. If you, you will not reach it easily and if you have Christ with you, you will reach any height without stumbling. 

All you need is a little faith...all you need is a little light and all you need is Christ. So, even your parents are not practicing faith, you have to decide your life on your own and one day, do not blame on your parents saying, “Oh my mom didn’t take me to Church or oh my dad didn’t take to church.  

After certain age, you have to decide on your own and I know you are all so sharp and good and you will shine better than your parents and do it well. 

By the way, parents, I don’t like any of your children because they are all taller than me. God bless. 

the feast of the body of Christ

CORPUS CHRISTI-THE BODY AND BLOOD OF CHRIST 

Good evening/morning everyone,  

Sometimes...sometimes it seems that animals are better people. They behave well and good. Have you ever heard about an animal watching pornography or beating up their spouses? Have you ever heard about an animal abusing children or blaming each and everything on their parents? Yes, sometimes...sometimes it seems that animals are better people. 

Provided all the human weaknesses and frailties, God is so good to us. He looks after us twenty-four seven and He loves us unconditionally and forgives all our sins. When people went away from Him, He didn’t go away from us and thus sent His Only Son our Lord Jesus Christ who slowly, yes slowly let us to the mystery of the Holy Eucharist. Holy Eucharist, which is the source and summit of our faith, is the life-giving source. 

When Christ our Lord said, ‘Ego sum panis Vivante”...namely I am the living bread that comes down from heaven and anyone who eats the flesh of the Son of Man will live forever, many of His followers said to each other, “This is very difficult teaching and who can follow it”? Thus, they went away from Him.  

Christ promises us everlasting life. 

Sometimes...or most of the time or all the time, we are amazed at the vast ocean thinking the greatness of God almighty. And that God through His only Son our Lord Jesus Christ, established this wonderful Catholic Church. And as you go to the ocean to draw water, it doesn’t depend on the ocean but depend on us. According to the size of the container only we can get the water. If you have a glass and that is the amount of water you are going to get and if you have a container of ten thousand gallons, and you will still get the water. The ocean is vast, and you can draw as much as you want. Yes, the Catholic church is so big, and you can benefit so much from it. But it all depends on you. 

When Christ our Lord said, “Ego sum panis vitae”, namely I am the bread of life, His disciples stayed behind and thus began to experience spiritual strength. 

When Mother Teresa was asked where she got all the strength to serve the poor and the needy tirelessly, she said, “I spend every day an hour before the blessed sacrament”. The Holy Eucharist is the power house and anyone who sincerely prepare themselves and receives it, will experience more life on earth. 

During this great feast, we talk about the Holy Eucharist as source and summit of our faith, we talk about transubstantiation and we talk about prosperous earthly life and unending life after death and so on and still our churches are empty. It’s because, our human nature. 

What we think, feel and talk about people or anything directly affect others. As we talk bad about the parishioners, about the church, priests, bishops and Pope, they directly affect your others. Who wants to go to a bad place? We made church as a bad place. We created church as a place where we should not go. 

So, the enemies of the church are not the Muslims, Hindus, Buddhists or others only those who come to church and talk bad about it.  

So, as we celebrate the feast of Corpus Christi, let us honestly think about the Eucharistic miracles that happen every day. Yes, we are the Eucharistic miracle that happens and brings life to those who are lifeless. Amen. 

HOLY TRINITY AND FATHER'S DAY

HOLY TRINITY AND FATHER’S DAY 

Good evening/morning everyone. Two weeks ago, at the priests' retreat, the bishop from Victoria Bc said, “I don’t know why people don’t smile in Church. As I give communion out, I smile, and they don’t”. And I said, “Bishop, I know why people don’t smile in church. They are afraid to smile in church thinking if they smile, the priests would ask them for more money”.  

Then I said, “Bishop, I am from India and I met with Mother Teresa twice and I didn’t like her that much” He asked why, and I said, “It’s because wherever she went, she made a good collection”. And he said, “You are too much”. And I said, “I love you too, bishop” 

Today the holy Catholic Church celebrates the solemn feast of Holy Trinity Sunday. God is one and we believe in Triune God. The Father is God, the Son is God and the Holy Spirit is God. There are not three but one God who is the creator and redeemer and the sanctifier.  

Once a bishop asked the students at a confirmation saying, “What is holy trinity”. Once little boy answered saying, “Father is god, son is god and the Holy Spirit is god. But not three Gods but only one God”. The bishop who was hard of hearing said, “I don’t' understand”. The boy who was so smart said, “Bishop, you suppose not to because it is a mystery”. Yes, it’s a mystery. As we deepen our faith in God, the mystery will slowly be revealed to us. Faith is believing in things without seeing and our faith will bless us to know the glimpse of that mystery. 

Today we also celebrate Father’s Day. So, let us ask God the Father to bless all our parish Fathers who dedicate and sacrifice their lives for their family. 

Once a dad noticed his son trying to move a heave rock from one place to another and said, “Son, are you using all your strength?” 

The son who was so exhausted said, “Yes, dad, of course, I am using all my strength”. Then the dad said, “No, son, you are not. You haven’t asked my help yet”.  

That is a nature of a dad. He wants everything goes well with his children. I remember what happened was, once my dad sent me to a liquor store to pick up some drinks for his friends and as I was coming out of the liquor store, my grade 11, physics teacher saw me. From that time onwards, everything changed. He never ever asked any question in the class at all. He ignored me for three weeks and I knew exactly why he was doing it. So, I told my dad saying, “It is not going to be good anymore and just move me to another school since there are more ten high school in the city. He asked me to wait for a week and I knew he could do it because he himself was involved with education field. Then a week later, he took me to the same school and then to the same class and said, “Now get in” then I realized that he did not move me, but he moved the teacher to a different school”.  That brought enormous responsibility on me. As he proved his love and concern, I ended up proving myself. 

Every time I think about my dad, I always remember that story about a group of children going to see the Indian Ocean first time and as they came back to school, they told everyone that no one could cross the ocean swimming and one little boy who never saw the ocean said, “My dad can do anything and he can cross the ocean swimming”. 

If a mere conditioned human father does this much for his children, imaging how much more the heavenly Father would do for us. And that is why once Christ our Lord said, “Which of you Father would give a snake when your child asks for a fish and if he asks for bread, will you give him a stone and you who are so limited and conditioned know how to give good things to your children and imagine how much more the heavenly father would give the Holy Spirit for those who ask him”. 

So, let us pray to the heavenly Father to all our earthly fathers who dedicate themselves for their families and children. 

Once I asked my mom, “Mom, how did dad die?” she said, “He died of natural causes”. I laughed and laughed because my mom’s maiden name is natural. So, once as she visited the cemetery, we wrote on the tomb stone, “Mom says rest in peace till I come”. And she laughed and laughed.  

Conclusion: So, as we celebrate the feast of the Holy Trinity, let us ask the Father, son and the Holy Spirit to bless all our Fathers and give them strength and courage to face any challenge and thus continue to be happy. Amen.