CORPUS CHRISTI

WE BECOME WHAT WE EAT


Once former president of the united states George Bush said, “I do not like broccoli. And I haven't liked it since I was a little kid and my mother made me eat it. Now I'm President of the United States and I'm not going to eat any more broccoli.

We all like some foods and avoid others. We become what we eat. Today every food industry tries its best to sell healthy food to people. And people do know their physical, mental and emotional health depend on what they eat. Even we do not hesitate to travel from place to place to find healthy and good food. Our approach towards life and living; happiness and joy; buying food and eating them are being changed. We are so aware of who we are and how we want to live.
Our Lord Jesus Christ in order to keep His disciples and followers spiritually and socially awakened and enlightened asked them to eat His body and drink His blood. When we eat His body, we become like Him. We begin to reflect His love and forgiveness in our every day living. Once before first communion, I explained to children the importance of receiving the body of Christ on Sundays. I showed them how to keep their left palm on their right and when the priest says, “The body of Christ” they had to say, not thanks or O. K but Amen, which means I believe. And then I asked them to come and receive the communion. I gave them non-consecrated bread. Then I asked them how it tasted. And every one of them said, “It tasted like cardboard”. Then I called their parents and seriously asked them not to feed their children with cardboard.
I heard a story that during Second World War time, thousand of children were orphaned and left to starve. Many were rescued and placed in special camps. But they had a big challenge of sleeping in nighttime because of the fear of waking up in the morning to find out that they were homeless. Then someone thought of giving each child a piece of bread to hold at bedtime, and they found children could sleep peacefully. During the dark hours the bread was a reminder that they had eaten and would eat again tomorrow. For those children, bread was a symbol of life and survival. The bread gave them hope and meaning.
Jesus the Messiah before His suffering at the last supper took bread and prayed to God and blessed it and broke it and gave it to His disciples saying, ‘eat it, this is my body. Do this in memory of me’. But after Christ was crucified and died and even when He came back to life, the disciples did not break any bread in His name. They completely forgot it and moved on with their lives. Since they did not keep His loving commandment of breaking bread in His name, they could not see His presence. Like the two disciples on the way to Emmaus, the disciples were confused and sad. They were almost giving up their hope but Jesus appeared to the disciples and took the bread, blessed and break and gave it to them. In the breaking of the bread, they again recognized Christ the Lord. They began to say to each other, were not our hearts burning within us, were not our minds filled with life and happiness.
Yes, dear friends every time we come to church and break the bread we too like the apostles; we too like the disciples and followers of Christ will begin to experience His presence among us.

Pentecost Sunday

Pentecost Sunday


Good morning/evening everyone. I welcome you all to celebrate the feast of Pentecost Sunday today and our special welcome to all our visitors, cottagers and everyone here today. And I would also like to thank you all for coming out today because every time we come to church, we will be filled with the power of the Holy Spirit; every time we come to church we will be blessed with the gifts of the Spirit and every time we come to church we all come new in the Spirit. Today our Holy Catholic Church celebrates her birthday. Today is the day the apostles and all the believers were filled with the Holy Spirit and began to go everywhere to continue the mission of Christ our Lord.

Today is Pentecost Sunday. Pentecost means fiftieth day. Fifty days after the Resurrection of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Holy Spirit like tongues of fire came upon the apostles and on all believers. Pentecost is always celebrated on Sunday because Sunday is the first day on which God began His creation.

One day St. Thomas Aquinas the famous theologian who wrote the summa theological, stopped writing. The all his students and assistants came to him and said, ‘O Master, you are given a special gift to write about God and His wonders. People who read your writings always change their lives and come back to church. You inspired many people with your powerful and spiritual writings and how come you stopped writing now? Please tell us. Then St. Thomas Aquinas said, ‘ some months ago, I personally experienced something about the Almighty. I had a vision of God. After that vision, all I have ever written about God seems nothing. God cannot be explained in writing and He can only be experienced’.

Yes, God cannot be explained but only be experienced. That is what happened to all the apostles, believers and others today, on the day of Pentecost. They began to experience the power of the Holy Spirit that came on them as tongues of fire. Once the Holy Spirit came upon them, they all began to speak in different language. And everyone who heard them understood them perfectly well. Thus they broke the barriers of language and culture; slave and free; male and female. They all become one in Christ our Lord. One day some people came to Mother Theresa and asked, ‘Mother, we know you are doing a wonderful job for the poor and the rejected. But by the way, in the beginning how did you manage no knowing the language or culture? Mother Theresa said to them, ‘it was not hard at all. We understood each other well. We communicate with our heart, with our smile and with our prayers.

Once people began to experience the love of God and His mercy through Mother Theresa, they did not expect for any explanation. Those who enter into spiritual life will never expect any explanation of anything because only worldly things need explanation and material things need explanation not spiritual things. Spiritual power that explodes in a person takes him away from material and worldly things and that is why St. Thomas Aquinas refused to continue his writings. And that is why Mother Theresa could connect with others without language and culture and that is why we who come to church and practice our faith begin to look at the world and people,  our family members and friends in a different way. While every one is struggling to forgive and accept their opponents, we with loving hearts forgive and pray for their well-being, we celebrate our life every day. Yes, everything is possible because of the spiritual experience that goes beyond any explanation. So as we celebrate Pentecost Sunday, let us ask the Holy Spirit to come and fill our hearts again and again with His gifts of wisdom and knowledge; understanding and right judgement and with Christ's love. Amen.

Glorious Ascension

The Ascension Sunday

Good morning everyone. I am happy to welcome you all to celebrate today’s holy mass and our special welcome to all our visitors, cottagers. And I would like to thank you all for coming today because every time we come to church, our faith becomes bigger and the world becomes smaller yes, we begin to look at every one as our brothers and sisters. Every time we come to church, our hope becomes stronger and our challenges and suffering become shallow and lighter. We begin to keep Christ in everything we do and say and every time we come to church, our charity begins to extend to all and thus we prepare ourselves to enter into the kingdom of God where Christ our Lord is sitting at the right hand of Father God. Yes today’s celebration of the Ascension of our Lord Jesus Christ says that Christ is with the Father extending His love and mercy towards us.

Every body has his or her last words. One day a man was his last words and he said, “I like to die peacefully in my sleep like my grandfather not screaming in terror like his passengers”.

One day a grandson went to his grandpa and asked, ‘ Grandpa, every body leaves some last words to their family members and what would be your last words for me. The grandpa who was sick looked at him intensely and said, ‘Dear child, do not ever forget that there are two ferocious animals living inside of you, the good one and the bad one. They are always fighting with each other. Which one will win grandpa? The one you feed the most.

Today the Holy Catholic Church celebrates the solemn feast of the Ascension of our Lord Jesus Christ. Our Lord Jesus Christ, after His resurrection, for forty days was with His disciples and then on fortieth day, in the presence of His apostles and believes ascended into heaven. Yes, His glorious ascension took place as the angels and archangels surrounded him singing, “hosanna”.

The one who descended, the one who came to be with the poor and the needy. The Messiah who was Born in Bethlehem, healed the sick, gave sight to the blind and even raised the dead to life, the Christ who was crucified, died and was buried, the Christ who rose from the dead today ascended to heaven.

Before His ascension, He told his disciples that all power and authority had been given to him alone. Yes, nothing can exist without him. There was nothing before Him and there will be nothing after Him. Everything is in Him. Everything comes from Him and goes back to Him alone. He is the ultimate of everything on earth and in heaven.

1. Christ asked His disciples to go everywhere to preach the good news. Yes, He asked them to preach the Good News of Salvation to all. By dying Christ destroyed death and by rising, He restored life. Every living and non-living beings and things belong go Him. Then you may ask what about people who do not recognize Christ, who follow different religions. They are all considered unknown Christians. They need to be told the story of Christ again and again. They need to know the love and kindness of Christ our Lord. As Francis of Assisi says we are all called to preach the good news but we should not used words but we have to set examples. By seeing us, by seeing the way live and enjoying life, people should come to know our God who is almighty and ever living.
2. Jesus asks his disciples to baptized all in the name of the holy trinity. Yes, everyone should belong to God and they need to be baptized in the name of God, son and the Holy Spirit. They should be given the assurance that they are not alone but they are sons and daughters of God.
3. Jesus says that He will be with His believers till the end of time. Nothing to be worried or be afraid of because Christ is with us. So let us do everything thing for his glory and honor. Amen.

6^th Sunday of Easter

Introduction:

Good morning/evening everyone. I am so happy to welcome you all to celebrate today’s holy Mass and our special welcome to all our visitors and cottagers. I would like to thank you all for coming out today to deepen your faith in Christ our Lord who was, who is and who will be.

In today’s gospel, Jesus tells His disciples that He is going to the Father; He will send another advocate-the Paraclete and then He asks them to keep His commandments.

1. He is going to the Father. We come to know from the gospels how much the disciples were suffering without Christ. When Christ was crucified, they thought that the story was over. They thought that He would not come back to life. They were sad and insecure. They were hiding behind locked doors for the fear of authorities and others. They did not go out publicly. They did everything hidden. Then on the third day, Christ our Lord appeared to them saying, “peace be with you”. He breathed on them the Spirit. They were so happy and there was a celebration called the Alleluia festival. But their happiness did not last forever. Now Christ is talking to them about His going to the Father, His departure. They all became sad again. But Christ is saying that they will not be abandoned.


2. He will send another advocate: Jesus says that He will not leave them as orphans but send another advocate-the Paraclete. One day the explorer of South Pole called his wife and said, “I will not return home until I discover the end of the world. Now I am taking this homing pigeon with me. Once I discover the end of the world, I will let this come home. When you see this pigeon, you know that I am alive and reached the end of the world. His wife waited for many many years and nothing happened. Then one day while she was looking out the kitchen window, there she saw the pigeon flying high circling the sky. She screamed saying, “My husband is alive. My husband is alive”. The bible talks about the Holy Spirit in the form of dove. But it is more than a mere communicator. When Jesus was baptized, the Holy Spirit in the form of dove came upon His and there came a voice saying, “this is my beloved son listen to Him’. Jesus is talking about the same Spirit today. What is a Paraclete? Paraclete is also called advocate, counselor, helper, guide and so on. The Paraclete is the one who stands beside. Yes, the Holy Spirit helps us to know and love God and humanity. The Holy Spirit guides us to know what Jesus did and taught. He fills us with wisdom and knowledge, understanding and right judgment.


3. He asks us to keep His commands; one day a manager from a big corporation called his six executives and said, “I am leaving this job in six months. Yes, I am going on pension and before that I would like to appoint one of you to this managing director position”. They said, ‘what about your sons or your wife”. He said this job needs qualification and education. And I see good qualification and high education that you all have and one of you deserve to be the managing director of this company but before that I am going to have a small test. Yes, I am going to test you. They were all excited and then he giving them each a plant pot saying, “I sowed a potential seed in each pot. And whoever water regularly and make it grow well will get the job”. They all thought that he was going to test them with they educational qualification and potentially but not thinking to grow a plant. So they all tried their best and after six weeks they all came to him with their grown plant. They were all looking so beautiful and gorgeous except one. He did not have any plant in his pot. They director looked at him and asked him why. He said as you commanded I did everything but nothing came up. Then he looked others pot, they had grown beautiful tall plants blooming. He finally said, ‘I am offering the managing director position to the man who did not grow any plant because the pot I gave you did not have any seed at all and you all in order to impress me did so many things but this man kept what I said. Today so many people instead of doing what Jesus said, they run from place to place to know more of God and they then end with nothing. But if we keep His golden commandments of loving god and neighbors then we will be given life that will never end.Conclusion: Jesus is going away not to leave us as orphans but to send the Holy Spirit who will teach us everything. So let us keep the commandments of Christ and thus enter into the kingdom of God. Amen.

I AM THE WAY THE TRUTH AND THE LIFE

Dear friends in Jesus Christ,

In today’s gospel, once of His apostles St. Thomas asks Jesus, “Jesus you say you are going to go away from us and how can we know the way to follow you?’

Jesus then looking at all His disciples says, “I am the way, the truth and the life”.

I am the way

We all often ask the question, “What is the way?” there are two ways the good way or the bad way. When we choose the good way that is Jesus, it leads us to life and happiness.

One day a man while walking on seashore, noticed a boy ahead of him picking up starfish and throwing into the sea. The man reached the boy and asked what he was doing. The boy said, “I am saving the lives of these star fish”. The man laughed at the boy and said, ‘look at here, there are so many starfish on the shore and how can you say that you are making a difference throwing starfish into the sea?’ the boy said throwing a starfish into the sea, “I make a difference to this starfish”.

When we come to Jesus, our life will be so different and be blessed. We not only find a way in Christ, we ourselves become a way to so many people in this world. No one can go to the father except through Him. Jesus alone is the way. He is the Alpha and the Omega, yes; He is the beginning and the end. Nothing can exist without Him. When we abide in Him, we will have more of everything.
I am the truth

Jesus our Lord says that He is the truth. What is truth? We who believe in Christ and we who come to church and practice our faith know that the word of God is truth and Jesus is the word of God that means He is the truth. The word of God can be heard only when we open our hearts and minds to the love of God our father.

When Jesus said to Pilate that He came to witness the truth, Pilate asked Him, ‘what is truth?” Christ is the truth.

One day four blind people tried to know how an elephant would look like. The first blind man by touching its legs said, “it looks like pillars and another by touching its ear said it looks like a fan and the four touching different parts of the elephant came to different conclusions. That is way we too understand truth, because of our limited knowledge and wisdom, by our limited understanding and language we come to conclusion of different things and say that is the truth. But Jesus is the only truth and by believing and giving ourselves to Him, we not only find the truth but we become truth for many.

I am the life

We all ask the meaning of life and our own existence. What is life? Life can by understood only by living. Yes, life can be understood only by living in Jesus Christ.

From the life story of St. Augustine we can understand. He went everywhere to find the meaning of life and he spent everything that He had to find life but he never found and one day when he opened the Bible, there He found life. Yes life begins and completes only in Christ. There will be no life without Christ. He is the life. No one can say that he or she lived a complete life without Christ. Christ completes our life.

Conclusion:

As we celebrate Christ who is the way, the truth and life, let us deepen our faith in Him. Let us again and again go to Jesus like Thomas and other apostle and ask Him what we need and He will fulfill everything with compassion and love. Amen.

Third sunday in Easter

Easter third Sunday

Welcome everyone to celebrate the third Sunday in Easter. I would like to thank you all to come out to celebrate life and happiness, to celebrate faith and forgiveness.

In today’s gospel, we meet with the two disciples of our Lord Jesus Christ on the way to Emmaus. They looked sad and unhappy; they looked distressed and low. But they were still talking to each other and every time they talked their sadness increased. While they were talking, a mysterious man came along and joined them asking, “ what are you talking about and why are you looking sad”. Then they explained how they lost their Master and Lord. They said, “We hoped we would save us and others. We thought He was our Messiah and Lord”. Then the stranger explained to them everything from the Old Testament to the New Testament. He explained to them why it was so necessary that the Messiah should suffer, die and on the third day rise again. He opened their minds and hearts. He opened them to reality. And then while He was breaking the bread, they recognized that the stranger was not a stranger at all, the mystery man was not a mystery man at all. He was their Master and Lord. He was their good shepherd and God. Then the Master vanished from their eyes but their heart, soul, mind and body was filled with Christ alone.

They said to each other, “Were not our hearts burning within us? Were not we so happy and satisfied in His presence?

Dear friends when we are sad and unhappy. When we are in need and in trouble, we are not alone, Christ will come to us and He will fill us with His love and kindness. And God gave us all another earthly person to understand and help us in our need yes that wonderful and beautiful creature is called, “Mother”.

Mothers are God sent. The growth of a family, society and a nation mostly depend on mothers. Out of perfection only perfection comes out and from a good mother there comes out only good children.

One day three children decided to send beautiful gifts to their mother on mother’s day. So the first son bought a beautiful big house and the second son bought a BMW car and the third son got a parrot that could recite the whole bible upside down. All you have to do is just say Matthew gospel chapter 25, the parrot would say how Jesus would come to judge the world.

Few days later the mother sent thank you notes to each of her children. To the first son she said, “son, I am getting old and I can not maintain a big house. So I cannot accept your gift. But thank you for your kind thought. To the second son, she said son, as you know I am not driving anymore and I cannot accept your BMW. Anyhow thank you very much. She then wrote a long letter to the third son saying, “son you are the best and you understand what a mother want. You know I am a religious person. Thank you for all your prayers and the mother’s day gift. Son the world needs people like you who can help others to know God and His kindness. Thank you very much for your gift. Then she wrote son by the way… the bird was so so delicious”.

The gospel says that Jesus experienced love and kindness at home. His mother Mary looked after Him well. When He disappeared at the temple in Jerusalem, His parents were distressed and His mother asked Him, “why did you do this to us?” Mary influenced Him in man ways. The bible says by listening to His parents, Jesus grew in wisdom and knowledge and he was found favor with God and people.

Mothers play a vital role in the growth of children. They make everything come true for their children and their sacrifice and suffering bring happiness and joy in their children. They influence their children greatly. The first miracle of Christ was done by the influence of His mother Mary at Cana of Galilee.

As we celebrate mother’s day let us pray to God for our mothers and ask God to protect and keep them safe.

CHRIST IS RISEN…ALLELUIA

There was a tradition among the followers of Christ namely during Easter time, when a person meets with another, he would say, “Christ is risen…” the other would respond saying, “Christ is risen indeed”

Now I am going to say, ‘Christ is risen and would you please say, “Christ is risen indeed”.

Once a group of theologians were asked to describe Easter and everyone came up with different definition and there happened to come a ten year old boy and he said, ‘I can describe Easter”. They all looked at him and then he said, “Surprise”.

Easter can be better described with a word “surprise”.

1. It was a big surprise for many people who never thought that Christ would come back to life. The Pharisees and the Scribes criticized His teachings and preaching. They put Him down for His miracles and wonders. They finally crucified Him on the Cross saying, ‘ He is a blasphemer”, he compares Himself with God saying that He is the Son of God. When Christ came back to life, they believed His words and they became His followers and disciples.




2. It was a big surprise for death. Who could destroy death? Death was understood and accepted by humanity as natural phenomena. But Christ our Lord by dying on the cross destroyed death and restored life. There is no death for those who believe in Christ. Yes, we will never die but live forever and ever. And that is why we are called to celebrate life every day.




3. It was a big surprise for sin. Because of original sin we all became slave to human nature and conditions but our Lord Jesus Christ by His resurrection, washed our sins and made us new in Him. We are God’s people without original sin and suffering. \




4. It was a big surprise for Satan who celebrated death of Christ thinking that He would never come back and He was gone for ever but Jesus our Messiah and Saviour as He predicted rose to life, the tomb was empty. When people went to anoint the body of Christ, all they saw was empty tomb.

Conclusion:

Dear friends in Christ, the tomb was empty, there was nothing in it. The nothingness has a deep and rich meaning. Yes, when we empty ourselves, we will understand the nothingness of the tomb and how God raised Christ from death to life. Christ is risen… indeed Alleluia. Amen