year C-18

18th Sunday in ordinary time-C 

Two weeks ago, I visited a wonderful woman whose husband passed away recently and she said that she collected all the coins that he left in the basement and took to the bank. There were about 19,00 dollars and I got so excited and came home and counted all the change that I had and called her and said, “I counted all the coins that I had and want to hear how much I have?” then I said, “I have $3. 35 cents included my Canadian tire money too”. 

Friends in Christ Jesus, 

Our Lord Jesus Christ is the way, the truth and the life and no one can go to the Father except through Him. He fulfills all our needs and leads us to paradise. As we hold on to Him, He makes us prosperous on earth and rich in heaven. He is our ultimate end. 

There is a beautiful story about a man who goes to a guru and says, “Last night I had a dream in which I was told to come to you to get the stone”. “What stone?’ The guru asked himself and then said, “Oh the one I picked up on the way here and then he gave the big diamond stone to him. The man was so happy but that night he tossed about in bed unable to sleep. The very next day, he came to the guru and returning, the stone and said, “Give me that riches that makes it possible for you to give away the diamond” 

Vanity of vanity all is vanity. If a person works day and night and accumulates so much riches and not enjoys, then vanity of vanity, all is vanity. If a person puts all his energy, time and resources such as their wisdom and knowledge to gain so much things but not enjoying, then that also becomes vanity. 

What is the meaning of life then? At the age of seven, I asked the question, “What is the meaning of life?” Then my mom gave me candy and I was fine. 

Yes, what is the point of life? A person goes to school and gains all his knowledge and wisdom and he gets a good job and makes good money. He gets married and has children, house, bank account and thus as he thinks that he has settled in life, cancer hits and if he is given only three months to life and then what is the point of life? 

In today’s gospel, the man accumulates everything in his huge storage place and then as he is relaxed, says to himself, “Now, you have ample goods to enjoy life, so, relax, be happy”. But God says to him, “You fool, this very night, your soul is demanded of you and then the things you prepared for yourself, whose will they be? 

What is the point of life then? 

1. There is a point of life. The rich point of life is to know that you are not human beings having spiritual experiences but rather you are spiritual beings having human experiences. We are blessed with material things to know that we are not alone, but God is with us.  

2. There is a point of life. The rich point of life is to know that this is not our permanent home and we are from heaven and we have to return home one day and until then we should know how to use wisely all our wisdom, knowledge, understanding and resources to prepare ourselves to go home. 

3. There is a point of life. The rich point of life is to live everyday as though this were our last day on earth. Yes, enjoying every minute of the day in the presence of God, others and ourselves is the best preparation to go to heaven. 

Everything is given to us not to forget about heaven but bring heaven on earth that means bring the goodness of God and finding the richness of Christ in every living being. When we live life so completely in the presence of God then when death comes to you like a thief in the night, there is nothing left for him to steal. Amen. 

sunday 17th C

17TH SUNDAY IN C 

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

I was saying to some people how we who believe in Christ should not think about becoming first in everything because second is the best for us. The second Adam, Christ is the best. The second birth called baptism, is the best and the second coming of Christ, is the best. Then one wonderful woman said, “And that’s why my husband understands the best the second time”. I said, “I am making a spiritual statement and I don’t want to involve with family feud”. 

Dear friends in Christ Jesus, 

Our Lord Jesus Christ the only Son of God, the Alpha and Omega, wants us to be happy. He wants us to enjoy our life to the fullest. And that’s why, God made us in His own image and likeness. And that’s why, He did many miracles and wonders among His people and is doing millions and millions of miracles to those who believe in Him, every minute of the day. And that’s why, He teaches us to know the value of prayers and spiritual importance in our daily lives. 

In today’s gospel, the apostles are asking Christ saying, “Jesus, Master, you pray to God Father and we see how other Rabbis are teaching their followers to pray and John the Baptist is also teaching his followers to pray. There is something in connecting oneself with God. We are basically spiritual beings and as we explore our spiritual life more and more, your family life will become so awesome and wonderful and your business life and your social life will also begin to benefit a lot. Yes, spiritual life is the foundation for a good family, business and social life. 

Then our Lord Jesus Christ gave them the courage to call God, Father. Yes, He taught our Father prayer. 

Once a mother noticed her son as he was praying often saying, “Tokyo...Tokyo”. The mother said, “Son, why are you keep saying Tokyo...Tokyo, in your prayer?” The Son said, “Mom, I have just finished my exam and I ask God to make Tokyo the capital of France”. 

What is prayer? 

Suppose if you have a friend who refuses to help you because it's too late. He will eventually help you because of your persistence. Because of your persistence, you will get what you want. And that’s called prayer. Persistence is also translated into boldness or shamelessness.  

Prayer is more like having a conversation with your friend. God answers all your prayers. Sometimes He says, “Yes” to our prayers. Sometimes, He says, “No” to our prayers and sometimes, He says, “You got to be kidding”.  God loves us so, so much and He fulfills all our needs. Christ our Lord says, “which of you when one of your children comes to you and asks for a fish, will give him a snake or for bread, a stone”. If you who are evil and limited know how to give good things and imagine how much more your heavenly Father will give to those who ask Him, the Holy Spirit. And that is our God who even sent His only Son to die on the cross for us.  so, ask you will receive, search, you will find and knock, the door will be opened for you.  

16th sunday-c

16th Sunday in C 

Last week I visited a wonderful woman whose husband passed away recently and said, “I took all the changes, coins he left in the basement to the bank and it came around 1,900 dollars”. Then, I got excited and came home and counted all the change that I had and then called her and said, “Do you want to know how much change I had? There were three dollars and 35 cents”. Then I texted her saying, “That also included my Canadian tire money”. 

Dear friends in Christ Jesus, 

Our Lord Jesus Christ the giver of life, wants us to live our life with happiness and joy. And that’s why, He healed so many people and multiplied bread and fish and fed thousands and thousands of people and is performing millions and millions of miracles today. Great things happen in the name of Christ and those who put their trust in Him will not go astray but have life that will never end. 

In today’s gospel, we see how our Lord Jesus Christ along with His disciples, goes to place to place to preach the kingdom of God. The mission of Christ is bringing the Good News of Salvation to all namely divine unconditional love and forgiveness. We see how Christ our Lord built a deeper connection with every living being. And that is why we say that Christianity is not a religion, it is a relationship. 

As He came to Bethany, He was welcomed by Martha and Mary, the sisters of Lazarus whom Christ called out from the tomb saying, “Lazarus, come out and he did come out to life” Christ our Lord is still calling us to come out to life and thus to experience divine love and forgiveness. 

Then we see how Martha was so excited and wanted to prepare a special meal for the Lord and His disciples and thus she became so anxious and distracted and worried. Christ the compassionate one feels the feeling of others.  

So, He looks at Martha and says, “Martha...Martha, you are worried and are distracted”.  Christ in a gentle way points out her anxiety saying, “she has to focus on one thing and get rid of her self-accumulated distractions and anxiousness”.  He asks her to turn herself inwardly and see what is necessary for her to make things right. 

There is a beautiful story about a man riding an elephant through a village. While passing by, the elephant would poke his trunk into everything and cause so much damage. Then one day, what he did was, he gave a stick to the elephant to hold in his trunk. Thus, he was able to ride through the village.  

Sometimes, we are all like Martha or like the elephant, so distracted with so many things. But the most important thing is knowing ourselves in the presence of God and thus to relax and enjoy more of life. 

Jesus says, “Martha...Martha, you are worried and distracted with so many things. You need of only one thing. Mary has chosen a better part and that will not be taken away from her”. 

Yes, by saying, Christ invites Martha to focus on one thing and by saying that Mary has chosen the better part, Christ our Lord indicates that Mary is focusing on one thing only. 

Sometimes it is easy to think that Mary is better than Martha. It is not all about who is better than who. It’s all about how we dedicate and focus on what we are doing. 

We all have two types or kinds of personalities in us. We become anxious and worried about so many things like Martha or sometimes we are well focused and calm at the feet of Christ like Mary. But as we grow and mature, we have to become like Mary and experience more of life, happiness and joy and yes, we have to choose to be better. Amen. 

15th Sunday-C

15th Sunday- C 

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

Once a man as he was driving, noticed a woman in a pouring rain trying to change a flat tire. So, he thought to himself, “I should be a good Samaritan’ and right away went over and helped her. After an hour of hard work in the pouring rain, he said, “Everything is good, and your tires are changed, and you are good to go”. And she said, “Sh..sh..sh..talk low”. He asked, “Why?” And she said, “My husband is taking a nap in the back seat”. 

Once a teacher said to the children, “We are all descended from Adam and Eve”. And one little boy said, “But my dad said that we came from Apes”. The teacher looked at him and said, “Oh James, I understand how you feel and that is probably true for your family”. 

Friends in Christ Jesus, 

Our Lord Jesus Christ is our Good Samaritan who looks after us in our challenges and difficulties. As we are in trouble, others may go away from us, but Christ is always with us. He fills us with kindness and love and leads us to paradise. 

Today’s gospel was often interpreted as that the man who was going down is Adam. Jerusalem is paradise, and Jericho is the world. The robbers are powers against love and kindness. The priest is the law, the Levite is the prophets, and the Samaritan is Christ Himself. 

In order to recognize the presence of the Good Samaritan in our lives, all we have to do is love Him with all our heart, mind, body and soul and love our neighbor as ourselves. 

Today’s Good Samaritan parable gives three philosophies that inspire us to know what is going on around us. 

1. The philosophy of thieves who robbed the traveler: It’s “What is yours is mine and I will take it by force”. For example, the terrorists and others, for their own sake and advantage, they take from others by force. The growing poverty around us.  Someone is constantly taking others by force and saying, what is yours is mine and I will take it by force. So, Catholic Church’s social teaching is all about solidarity and subsidiarity and thus helping those who are in need. 

2. The philosophy of the Jewish priests and Levites: It’s “What is mine is mine and I will not part of the other’s challenges”. And because of their utter selfishness, the priest and the Levite did not pay any attention to the wounded traveler. It was all about them...the Me... myself, and I philosophy. What is mine is mine and I will not part of any other’s challenges.  

Once a group of students who prepared to become ministers and pastors, were given the assignment of preaching on Good Samaritan parable. They were asked to go from one building to another to preach and in between, they put a sick man to find out how the students were going to react. The sad thing was everyone was so, so into their preparation and impress others by their preaching and not even a single one of them helped the sick man. What is mine is mine and I will not be part of anyone’s challenge philosophy.  

3. The philosophy of Samaritan: It’s “What is mine is yours as well too and I will share with you”. Kindness is the only language that the deaf can hear and the blind can read. We need more kindness and compassion today.