Twenty-Second Sunday-C
Once a man tried his best to find a job but nothing happened and then at last he got a job in a local zoo. All he had to do was just dressing like a monkey and entertain people. Though in the beginning, he could not do it well and then he began to entertain people well jumping up and down, rolling over and screaming and yelling. One day as he was jumping, he fell into the lion’s cage. He knew that he was going to die. He began to cry and cream saying, “ please, Lion let me go and I don’t want to die”. The lion came closer to him and said, ‘Do not scream and we both are going to lose our job”.
Once winston Churchill was asked, "How do you feel about seeing a big crowd coming to hear your speech? what is your reaction about so many people coming to hear your speech? How proud are you to see these things? Then Winston Churchill said, "When I feel that way, I always remember that if instead of making a political speech, I was being hanged, the crowd could be twice as big".
Every time I go to a new parish, I open my homily with this story. It's about a missionary priest going to different villages and towns to preach the Good News. Once he had to cross a river to go to a village, so he hired a boat. While he was travelling, he began to talk to the boatman. He said, "I know you are catholic and what do you know about the Old Testament?" The boat man said, "O Father, I believe in God but I don't know much about the Old Testament". The priest said, "That means you lost 20 percent of you life.." what about the New testament? I believe in Christ but I don't know much about it. That means you lost 50 percent of your life my friend. The priest who was so proud of his knowdge about God looked at him and said, "What about the sacraments...? He said, "I was baptized and  I don't know much about them...he said that means you lost 70 percent of your life. Mean time, the boat was in the middle of the river and through a small hole from the bottom, water began to come in the boat, the boat man knows it was going to sink. So he asked the priest, "Father, do you know swimming, the priest said, "No". The man with humility looked at the priest and said, "That means you lost whole life".
After that somebody asked me, "Oh Father, do you know swimming? I said, "I live just five k away from Indian ocean and I learned to walk on water too..." what a pride person I am...
Humility does not mean that you are going to think less of yourself but thinking yourself less.
while people are taking the seats of honor, Christ askes them to take the lower place so that the one who invited them, will come and in the presence of others ask to take the higher position. This is called true humility. As we humble ourselves, we will be exalted.
While men searched for a throne to build their kingdoms, Jesus reached for a towel to wash His disciples' feet.  That is called humility.
There is a story of a donkey. It happened right after Palm Sunday. A baby donkey running home crying and the mother was so concerned and asked, "Why?". The baby donkey said, "Mom...yesterday as we walked into the streets of Jerusalem, people through their cloaks before us, they worshipped us and they sang hosanna to us. They were singing and dancing and the same people as I went today, chased me around and they tried to kill me. I don't understand these stupid people. The mother donkey looked at the baby and said, "Son...all those things happened yesterday not for us but for the man called Jesus. Remember as long as we are with Christ, we are something. If not, we are just donkeys.
Chist who is the only Son of God, the Messiah, the Savior and Lord humbled himself to be with us and to be one of us and died on the cross and thus God raised Him above all. The one who humbled himself is exalted above all.
Humility is accepting that some days you are the pigeon and some days the statue.
 A rich man once went to his Guru & said, "I want to develop humility." The guru suggested that he help someone who is lower than him.
He did that and came back to the guru and said, "I've helped a poor man today with wealth. Am I humble now?" The guru replied No and asked him to help another man lower than him. But after repeated visits to different people, he finally asked his guru, "When will I become humble?"
The wise old man replied, "You will have obtained humility when you can no longer find anyone that you think is lower than you in any way!"
For whoever exalts himself will be humbled and whoever humble themselves like our Master and Messiah will be exalted.
"Be humble or you'll stumble.

twentieth Sunday-C

Good morning/evening everyone.
The weather is so hot and often the weather channel is giving us hope saying, "it is going to be raining". Being a weather man is the only job where you can lie and still make good money.
Once after Mass, a faithful lady approached her priest and said, "Father, I hope you didn't take dit personally when my husband walked out during your homily"
The Father said, "It was a little annoyoing and what is going on with him?"
The woman then looked at him and said, "O Father, Mike has been walking in sleep ever since he was a child"
After Mass once a little boy came to the priest and said, "Father, when I big, I am going to give you money to help you". The priest said, "Why do you want to give me money?" The boy said, "Because my dad says that you are the poorest preacher in town".
On May 1st, there happened a huge wildfire that lasted for a month and devestated so many people's lives, businesses, homes and so on. They said that it was the costliest wild fire in Canada. Yes, we know the wild fire that devestated Fort McMurry. Fire has power to create as well as destroy.
There are two types of fire namely given-fire such as sun, fire causes by nature and made-fire such as fire that we make.
Given-fire or made fires, they create lives or destroy them.
Once a man called the fire department and said, "By the way, I have a beautiful front yard landscaped. I have a nice flower bed, a beautiful fish pond with a fountain and a new rose garden". The fire fighter said, "That is right and what does that have to do with the fire service?" The man said, "The house next door is on fire and I don't want you to trample my front yard".
The book of Genesis says that God said, "Let there be light". And there was light. God saw that the light was good and God then separated the light from the darkness and called the light day and the darkness night.
In the New Testament Christ our Lord the giver of light says, " I am the light of the world and anyone follows me will never walk in darkness, but will have light of life.
When John the Baptist saw Christ our Lord coming toward Him, he said of Him, " Behold the lamb of God and I baptize you with water but the one who is coming after me will baptize you with fire and the Holy Spirit".
In today's gospel, Christ our Lord says, "I came to bring fire to the earth and how I wish it were already kindled".
Christ our Lord came to give us all the fire of hope and love namely the Holy Spirit. He came to us so that we would receive life to the fullest and we would know the secret of happiness and joy.
Even after His Resurrection, Christ our Lord prepared His apostles, disciples, followers and others to receive that fire. On the day of Pentecost the fire came on everyone of them and rested on them. That fire of love gave them courage to go everywhere to preach, teach and do miracles in the name of Christ.
As we read especially the Acts of the Apostles, we come to know how the Holy Spirit inspired the apostles to go everywhere and preach the Good News of Salvation.
Once a young woman brought her fiance home to meet her parents. After dinner, her dad looked at the young man and said, "By the way, what is your qualification?" The man said, "I am a theology scholar". That sounds great and will that give my daughter a nice home? the man said, "I will study and God will provide". The dad said, "How will you look after your children?" The man said, "God will provide".
When the man left their place the mother asked her husband, 'So how did it go?" The father said, "It went well and I like him. He has no money or employment plans. But on the other hand, he thinks that I am God".
Today's gospel, the merciful, complassionate and kind Christ our Lord who died for humanity says, "I came not to bring peace to the earth but rather division". From now on five in one household will be divided, Father against son; son against Father; mother against daughter and daughter against daughter in law. There will be division.
Once in police academy... a man was asked, "if you have to arrest your own mother-in-law, what will you do?" The man's answer was highly appriciated and accepted. He said, "I will call for backup".
Christ our Lord talks about the division that would happen because of unconditional love and forgiveness. Yes, as we spread Christianity and its teaching, as we talk about unconditional love and unlimited forgiveness; those who are conditioned and limited and those who are not used to Christian way of non-violence and acceptance, will go away from us. Christ talks about that kind of division and this division will bring back all to one fold and therefore we should not be afraid of spreading love, kindness and forgiveness.
Conclusion: Preaching Christ's message of love and forgiveness means bringing fire to the earth; bringing fire to those who have pyrophobia namely intense fear of fire and make them have fire-walk and help them to over come that intense fear of life, living and death and help them to live in Christ forever.

19th Sunday-C ready for action

Be ready for action...
 What will happen to a student goes to exam without preparation, he will definately fail. One day a teacher said to John, " you copied from Matthew's  exam paper, didn't you?" John became so defensive and said, " How did you know?"  The teacher said, " Mathew's paper says, "I don't know". And you have put, " Me, neither".
If a military officer who goes on to the field of action without proper preparation, he will easily be defeated. Once an military officer said to his soldier: "Do you have a change for a dollar?". The soldier said, "Sure, buddy". The officer looked at him and said, "That is not the proper way to answer in military, Sure buddy, let us try again, "Soldier, do you have a change for a dollar?" The soldier said, "No, Sir".
Once a very faithful woman came to the pastor and said, "Reverend, I am so scared and afraid. Joe says he is going to kill me if I continue to come to your church". The pastor looked at her and said, " Yes, my child, I will continue to pray for you. Have faith and the Lord will watch over you". "Oh yes, He has kept me safe so far, only..."   "Only what, my child?" asked the pastor. She said, "Now he says if I keep coming to your church, he is going to kill You".  The pastor looked at her and said, "Perhaps it is time to check out that little church on the other side of town".  
A follower of Christ is asked to be ready to welcome the Master who is going to come at any time, may be tonight or million years from now. But we who follow Christ should be ready to welcome him.
1. Be dressed for action:  The New Testament says when time came for their purification according to the law of Moses, they brought Jesus up to Jerusalam to present Him to God. and there was a man in Jerusalem whose name was Simeon; this man was righteous and devout, looking forward to the consolation of Israel and the Holy Spirit rested upon him. It has been revealed to him by the Holy Spirit that he would not see death before he had seen the Lord's Messiah and thus he was blessed to see the Lord Christ Jesus. That is called being dressed for action. Simeon was waiting eagerly to see the Lord and was well prepared to receive him.
They say that the time to repair the roof is when the sun is shining. Once a wise man said, "Before everything else,  getting ready is the secret to success". Once president Nixon told that while talking to Winston Churchill's son, how much he admired the priminister's great ability at giving great and extemporaneous speeches. Churchill's son replies saying, "Oh, yes, I have watched my father work for hours preparing those great speeches. We are called to prepare ourselves to welcome the Lord who is going to come at an unexpected time.
There are many ways to prepare ourselves to welcome the Lord who is going to come unexpectedly.
1. Let us prepare our mind and keep the lamp lit:
"The doing will never be right until the thinking is right". Our mind never sleeps. It is thinking twenty-four seven and it doesn't mean that we are thinking right thinking. It is time to prepare our mind and keep it alert. St. Paul says today that faith is assurance of things hoped for, the conviction of things not seen. Indeed, by faith our ancestors received approval. As we keep our mind alert by practicing our faith, then we can say that we are ready to welcome the Lord.
2. Let us prepare our body and keep the lamp lit: St. Paul says that our body is the temple of the Holy Spirit whom we received from God. We are not our own and we are brought by a price. Therefore honor God with your body.
3. Let us also prepare our heart and keep the lamp lit:  Jesus says, "For wherever your treasure is, there your heart will also be" We are not talking abourt physical heart but spiritual heart...the longing. Blessed are the pure in heart, for they will see God. Yes, as Christ comes in an unexpected time, He will honor and glorify us in God. He will look at us and say, "you who have done everything well, enter into my father's house prepared for you".
Conclusion: "Mamma," said a little child, "my Sunday-school teacher tells me that this world is only a place in which God lets us live a while, that we may prepare for a better world. But, Mother, I do not see anybody preparing. I see you preparing to go into the country, and Aunt Eliza is preparing to come here; but I do not see anyone preparing to go there. Why don't they try to get ready?"
This life is but a preparation for another life. Are you preparing for that next life? That better place that God has prepared for us? It’s a prepared place for a prepared people. What do you need to do to get ready?


     

17th Sunday-C

17th Sunday in ordinary time-C
I was telling some people that 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 lady asked me, "And that is why my husband always understands better the second time". I said, "I am making a spiritual statement and don't want to involve in family fued".
Once a little boy climed in a tall tree and refused to come down. So the fire fighters, police and all other tried their best to make the boy get down but nothing helped. The parents finally thought of the their priest and asked him to do something. The priest came and looked at the boy in the tree and he made a sign of the cross and there the boy immediately came down. The fame of the priest spread everywhere. Then a man who became a fan of the priest asked, "O Father, you are a holy man and with a sign of Cross, you made the boy come down from the tree". The priest looked at him and said, " I didn't make the sign of the cross. All I did was I just looked at the boy and said, "If you don't come down and I will cut the tree down".
Once a teenege girl prayed to God saying, "God, make me thin and if you don't, make my friends fat"
Once a little boy said, "My mom alwasys does her prayers for me at night?' What kind of prayers does she do? The boy said, "She says, "Thank God, he is in bed".
In today's gospel, the apostles are asking Christ saying, "We heard all other rabbis teaching prayers and different methods of spiritual worship to approach God, please help us to pray. We see you often going to lonely and deserted places and mountain tops to pray and please teach us to pray. The apostles witnessed how Christ whole persona changed as he was praying to God. They witnessed the transfiguration of the Lord, His face shining like the sun and His closths dazzing white. They witnessed before and after miracles and wonders, Christ did His prayers. Then Jesus taught them the most powerful, meaningful and amazing prayer called the Lord's prayer.
Once a mother noticed her son praying to God and often saying, "Tokyo...Tokyo".  Then she asked why, the son said, "Mom, I have just now finished my exam and I ask God to make Tokyo the capital of France.
What is prayer? Suppose if you have a friend and knock at his door at mightnight and though in the beginning he refuses to give you what you want, because of your persistence, he will certainly give you anything. That is called prayer. The word 'Persistence' is also translated as boldness or shamlessness.
Prayer is  more like having  a conversation with your friend. God answers all our 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 much and He answers all our prayers. Christ says when a son asks his dad for a fish, the dad is never going to give him a snake or for an egg, a scorpion. Imagine a man who is evil in nature knows how to give good things to his son and how much more your heavenly father will to those who ask Him the Holy Spirit. And God knows how to bless us all differently.
I remeber when I was in the seminary, we sent to help the students in the home for blind. One day as I was helping a blindstudent, the electricity went off and since it was mansoon, we knew the power  was not going to come back that soon and as I was struggling to get out of the place. The blind boy said, "I can take you out from here". I said, "it is so dark". He said, "I am used to darkness and I thank God for that..." I was so amazed to hear his positive approach over his blindness and in everything there is life and even a dead clock shows correct time twice a day. God is good and let's put our complete trust and thank Him for everything  not like that boy who thanked God saying,  "Thank God for my baby brother but I asked for a puppy...." Amen.

Martha and Mary-16th C

 Martha(The lady of the house)and Mary (The wise woman)
Once a man was visiting his grandpa in a senior's home and there he saw everybody sitting around and having fun. He went and joined them. Then he noticed one old man screamed ten and everybody clapped their hands and lughed and then another man said, 'Twenty-seven" and again, everybody laughed and clapped their hands. The man was curious and asked his grandpa what was going on. The grandpa said, "Since we have been living here for long time, we know each others' jokes and we just numbered them. When someone says a number, we know exactly what the joke is and we laugh. Then he said, "Why can't you try a numer?' he said, "I dont't know any number". you just say...between one and hundred and we know and he said, "seventy-seven". Nobody laughthed and there was a deep silence. He asked his grandpa what was going on. The grandpa looked at him and said, "Son, somebody can tell a joke and somebody can't.."
If anyone wants to try a number between 1 to 100... who said ninty-one, Please don't that is not a church joke.
In Today's gospel, we see how our Lord Jesus Christ with all His disciples is going from place to place to preach the kingdom of God. The mission of Christ is bringing the Good News of Salvation to all. And let everyone know God's unconditional love and kindness. Then He comes to a certain village called Bethany to the house of Lazarus, Martha and Mary. We see how Christ build a deeper connection with every living being. That is why we say that Christianity is not a religion, it is a relationship. We are called to build relationships and families not walls and barriers.
As He came to Betheny, there He was welcomed by Martha and Mary, the sisters of Lazarus whom Christ call out from the tomb saying, "Lazarus, come out and he did come out to life".  Christ our Lord is still calling us all to come out to life and experience God and His love.
Once a woman by name Martha fell and hit her head on the driveway. The paramedics  came and checked on her and make sure everything is fine, asked her, "What is today?" Without any hesistation, Martha said, "It's garbage day". Someone said, "Two scorpions living in the same hole will get alone than two sisters in the same house".
Christ our Lord looked at Martha and said, "Martha...Martha, you are worried about too many things and are distracted". She was a woman of multi-tasking. Multitasking means screwing of several things at once. Running around all day and doing nothing. Martha was so excited and wanted to prepare a meal for Christ and his disciples and she was so distracted and was anxious. Christ in a gentle way pointed out her anxiety saying, she has to focus on one thing and get rid of her self-accumulated distractions and anxiuouness. He helps her to turn herself inwardly and see what is necessary for her to make things right.
There is a story about a man riding an elephant through a village. The elephant would poke his trunk into everything while passing by and causig damage. So to prevent this, the man gave the elephant a stick to hold in his trunk. Thus he was able to ride through the village without the elephant casusing any trouble. We are sometimes like Martha get distracted and become anxious about things. But the important thing is knowing oursleves in the presence of God and focusing on what we are doing. We  should know that we can not please everybody. Once a man who wanted to please his wife said, "Honey, you will be so proud of me that I ran all the way home behind a bus and saved five dollars. The wife looked at him and said, "If you were running behind a taxi you might have saved fifty dollars".
Looking at Martha, Jesus says, "You have to focus on what you are doing and you are not going to tell Mary what to do. She has chosen better part for herself and that will not be taken away from her".
Mary is not doing anything better than Martha but Mary knows what she is doing. And she is focusing well on what she is doing.
It's easy to think that Mary is better than Martha. It's not about who is better than who. It's all about how we dedicate and focus on what we are doing.
Who are we? Are we Martha or Mary?
We could be Martha or Mary. We could be Martha sometime and Mary other times but the important thing is we should know that we do everything for the glory of God and thus paying attention to what we are doing.  It's like a mother from Scotland called his son in toronto and asked, "Son, how to like your new country and toronto?" The son said, "Mom...I don't understand the people of toronto especially in the night time, they hid their heads against the wall and scream... I don't understand. What do you do son. I just focus on what I do, I just lay on my bed and play my bagpipe".
Let us focus on what we do and glorify God in Christ, Amen.

15th sunday-c

Good Samaritan...

Good evening every one, I am so happy to welcome you all for today's Holy Mass. Our special welcome to all our summer parishioners, cottagers, visitors, parishioners and every one here today.
Good evening/morning every one, we are happy to welcome all our visitors to this beautiful church of St. Jean de Brebeuf/St. Paul the Apostle/ Our Lady of Good Counsel.
Last week I visited a family and their three boys were so curious to know what I was doing before becoming a priest. I know if I say to them, I went to school until I became a priest, they won't be interested to hear my story. So I had to make up some good interesting stories. So I said, "Before becoming a priest, since I come from India, I used to be a monkey-trainer. After quitting my monkey-trainer job, they got mad because I quit my job...I said, I was a snake-charmer. Children are more interested to know about snakes and monkeys. So they asked me to bring a lion or tiger from India.
Once a man as he was driving, saw a woman in a pouring rain trying to change a flat tyre. 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..." She looked at him and said, "sh..sh..sh...talk low". "why?" he said. she said, "My husband is taking a nap in the back seat".
In today's gospel, a famous scribe or lawyer of Moses' teachings comes to Christ and asks, "Teacher, what should I do to inherit eternal life?" What should I do to go to paradise?
Once a teacher looked at children and said, "Children, what should I do to go to heaven? If I give money to the poor, will I go to heaven? Children said, "No". If I sell all my property and give to the needy, will I go to heaven? they all said, "No". Then what should I do to go to heaven? One little boy said, "To go to heaven, you have to die".
Once someone said, "Everybody wants to go to heaven but nobody wants to die". Yes, one has to die of himself to go to heaven. Dying of oneself demands to keep God first and that is why to the scribe, Christ our Lord says,  "Love the Lord your God with all your heart, mind, body and soul..."
Once a teacher said,  "So we are all descended from Adam and Eve. And one boy said, "But my dad says we came from Apes. Then the teacher said, "That is probably true for your family James".
What happens when we love the Lord our God with all of who we are and with all of what we have... the purpose and meaning of our existence  will be known to us. We will never be depressed or anxious of things that are happening around us. As we love the Lord our God, we extend that love towards us because we know that we are the temple of the Holy Spirit, the living God. We know per sure that we are all children of God.
Christ our Lord then gives the second commandment saying, " love your neighbour as yourself" Once a man put a big sign on his property saying, "Trespassers will be shot and survivors will be shot again". someone said, "good fences make good neighbour. Now they say, "Good neighbor is one who does not put a password on his wifi"
Once a man was awakened at two o'clock in the morning by a loud pounding on the door. He got up and went to the door where a drunken stranger, standing in the pouring rain, was asking for a push. It is two o'clock in the morning and you need a push, no way... thus he went to bed closing the door behind. "who was that?" asked the wife. Some drunken guy asking for a push. The wife said, "When we had trouble once , someone else helped and why don't you be a good samaritan and help him. So the husband got up and dressed and went in the rain saying, "Are you still out there?" "Yes"..do you still need a push? yes came the answer."Where are you?" asks the husband. The man said, "Over here on the swing,"
Today's good samaritan parable gives three philosophies that inspire us to know what is going on around us.
1. The philosophy of theives who robbed the traveller: What is yours is mine; I will take it by force: that is we see today, Terrorists and others, for their own sake and advantage, they take from others by force.
2. The philosophy of the Jewish priests and levite: What is mine is mine and I will not part with it. Because of their utter selfishness, the priest and the levite did not pay any attention to the wounded traveller. It was all about them...the Me..myself and I philosophy. What is mine is mine and I will not part with it.
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 into their preparation and preaching and not even a single one helped the sick man. What is mine is mine and I will not part with it,
3. The philosophy of the samaritan: 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.
Conclusion: Anyone who is in need is our neighbor. Anything we do to the least of our brothers and sisters, we do to Christ our Lord.
It's always the story of our redemption: St. Origen said... sin, fall and redemption. The man who was half-dead is Adam, the priest and Levite are laws and prophets and the good samaritan is Christ the Savior. Not our good work, not our following the religion and prophets will save us but only Christ the redeemer.

15th sunday-C

Good Samaritan...

Good evening every one, I am so happy to welcome you all for today's Holy Mass. Our special welcome to all our summer parishioners, cottagers, visitors, parishioners and every one here today.
Good evening/morning every one, we are happy to welcome all our visitors to this beautiful church of St. Jean de Brebeuf/St. Paul the Apostle/ Our Lady of Good Counsel.
Last week I visited a family and their three boys were so curious to know what I was doing before becoming a priest. I know if I say to them, I went to school until I became a priest, they won't be interested to hear my story. So I had to make up some good interesting stories. So I said, "Before becoming a priest, since I come from India, I used to be a monkey-trainer. After quitting my monkey-trainer job, they got mad because I quit my job...I said, I was a snake-charmer. Children are more interested to know about snakes and monkeys. So they asked me to bring a lion or tiger from India.
Once a man as he was driving, saw a woman in a pouring rain trying to change a flat tyre. 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..." She looked at him and said, "sh..sh..sh...talk low". "why?" he said. she said, "My husband is taking a nap in the back seat".
In today's gospel, a famous scribe or lawyer of Moses' teachings comes to Christ and asks, "Teacher, what should I do to inherit eternal life?" What should I do to go to paradise?
Once a teacher looked at children and said, "Children, what should I do to go to heaven? If I give money to the poor, will I go to heaven? Children said, "No". If I sell all my property and give to the needy, will I go to heaven? they all said, "No". Then what should I do to go to heaven? One little boy said, "To go to heaven, you have to die".
Once someone said, "Everybody wants to go to heaven but nobody wants to die". Yes, one has to die of himself to go to heaven. Dying of oneself demands to keep God first and that is why to the scribe, Christ our Lord says,  "Love the Lord your God with all your heart, mind, body and soul..."
Once a teacher said,  "So we are all descended from Adam and Eve. And one boy said, "But my dad says we came from Apes. Then the teacher said, "That is probably true for your family James".
What happens when we love the Lord our God with all of who we are and with all of what we have... the purpose and meaning of our existence  will be known to us. We will never be depressed or anxious of things that are happening around us. As we love the Lord our God, we extend that love towards us because we know that we are the temple of the Holy Spirit, the living God. We know per sure that we are all children of God.
Christ our Lord then gives the second commandment saying, " love your neighbour as yourself" Once a man put a big sign on his property saying, "Trespassers will be shot and survivors will be shot again". someone said, "good fences make good neighbour. Now they say, "Good neighbor is one who does not put a password on his wifi"
Once a man was awakened at two o'clock in the morning by a loud pounding on the door. He got up and went to the door where a drunken stranger, standing in the pouring rain, was asking for a push. It is two o'clock in the morning and you need a push, no way... thus he went to bed closing the door behind. "who was that?" asked the wife. Some drunken guy asking for a push. The wife said, "When we had trouble once , someone else helped and why don't you be a good samaritan and help him. So the husband got up and dressed and went in the rain saying, "Are you still out there?" "Yes"..do you still need a push? yes came the answer."Where are you?" asks the husband. The man said, "Over here on the swing,"
Today's good samaritan parable gives three philosophies that inspire us to know what is going on around us.
1. The philosophy of theives who robbed the traveller: What is yours is mine; I will take it by force: that is we see today, Terrorists and others, for their own sake and advantage, they take from others by force.
2. The philosophy of the Jewish priests and levite: What is mine is mine and I will not part with it. Because of their utter selfishness, the priest and the levite did not pay any attention to the wounded traveller. It was all about them...the Me..myself and I philosophy. What is mine is mine and I will not part with it.
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 into their preparation and preaching and not even a single one helped the sick man. What is mine is mine and I will not part with it,
3. The philosophy of the samaritan: 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.
Conclusion: Anyone who is in need is our neighbor. Anything we do to the least of our brothers and sisters, we do to Christ our Lord.
It's always the story of our redemption: St. Origen said... sin, fall and redemption. The man who was half-dead is Adam, the priest and Levite are laws and prophets and the good samaritan is Christ the Savior. Not our good work, not our following the religion and prophets will save us but only Christ the redeemer.