Third sunday of Advent -A

Third Sunday in Advent-A 

Gaudete Sunday. 

Good evening/morning every one, I am so happy to welcome you all for today's Holy Mass. Our special welcome to all our parishioners, visitors and everyone here today. 

Dear friends, let us thank God almighty for brining us all here to this beautiful church of St. Jean de Brebeuf/St. Paul the Apostle. 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 His countless blessings each and every day. 

Now let us take a moment to prepare ourselves to celebrate the Sacred Mysteries of our Lord Jesus Christ, calling to mind our sins, short-coming, failures, pain and suffering, asking divine assistance and Christ our Lord's forgiveness, mercy and compassion. 

Our special welcome to all our visitors today. I have an announcement to make that anyone who thinks that I don't like snow. It's a wrong notion. I love snow and I love to have so much snow in the month of January. Because that is month, I will be away. 

Once while shaking hands with the priest, one of the parishioners asked him, "O Father, how did you get this big cut on your face?" 

The priest said, "Well, I was thinking my homily this morning while I was shaving. I guess I wasn't concentrating and cut myself in the process".  

The woman said, "The next time, you should concentrate on your shaving and cut your homily". 

Christianity is not all about sin, death and eternal punishment. It is about life, happiness and heaven. That is why this Sunday is called joyful Sunday. We celebrate this joyful Sunday praising Jesus who destroyed sin and death and showed the way to our eternal home. 

Once a Rabbi visited his Muslim family on Christmas day. Since the both were not celebrating Christmas, they went to a Chinese restaurant on Christmas day. As they finished eating, the waiter brought a little Christmas gift to the Rabbi that said made in India. The rabbi smiled and said, "Wow...this is amazing. Here I am in a Chinese restaurant with my Muslim friends getting a Christmas gift from a Buddhist waiter made by a Hindu. 

The joy of Christmas is sharing 'Christ' with every one. The joy of Christmas is sharing God's love and kindness with every one. The joy of Christmas is sharing Christ's compassion and forgiveness with others.  

I used to be mad and unhappy to see a Hindu or a Muslim coming to Christian shrines and experiencing healing. I used to say to myself, "you know what I was baptized, I received First Communion and I practice my Catholic faith,  miracles and wonders should only happen to me and others Catholics not to those Hindus and Muslims. Then I understood that Christ belongs to all. His love and forgiveness is unlimited. We should share the joy of Christ with all. Our prayers and spiritual practices help believers and non-believers alike.  So we should be good Catholics so that the world would benefit Christ's love and forgiveness. We should be good Catholics so that humanity would experience healing and miracles. 

In today's gospel, John the Baptist from prison is sending his disciples to Jesus to find out whether He is the Messiah. 

John the Baptist was the one who baptized Christ and as he baptized the Lord, he heard the voice coming from heaven saying, "This is my Son with whom I am so happy". When John saw Christ said, "Behold the lamb of God and I am unworthy to untie the thong of His sandals and then why then he said, "Are you the one who is to come, or are we to wait for another?" 

It's because John wanted his own disciples to follow only Christ and not any false prophets and it's because John wanted his own disciples to witness all the miracles and wonders of Christ.  

So many people come and talk to us about Christ's miracles and wonders and if we do not experience personally, then we will never deepen our faith in Him. 

I heard people saying to me, " I am afraid and I don't want to be alone in Church".  

Many of us are used to know and hear God as a punishing one. The disciples of John were in the same position and that is why they were sent by John to see the compassionate and kind Christ.  

Once a mouse was in a constant distress because of the fear of cat. Then a spiritual man took pity on the mouse and turned it into a cat.  But then it became afraid of dogs. So the spiritual master turned it into a dog. Then it was afraid of tiger saying tigers are stronger than me. Then the master turned it into a tiger. Then it was afraid of hunters. At that point, the spiritual master turned it into a little mouse  and said, "I can do nothing for you as long as you have a mind of a mouse".  

When we practice our faith out of fear or punishment, our church-going, receiving sacraments will become a mere ritual. When we come out of the fear of God and look at Him as our loving Father, then we will begin to celebrate and enjoy our coming to church and receiving sacraments.  

In today's gospel, Jesus says, "Go and tell John what you hear and see: the blind receive their sight, the lame walk, the sick healed, the lepers cleansed and deaf hear and mute speak and the dead are raised"  

These miracles of Christ are not past events. These are happening to those who are living in Christ. It is our turn to tell the others the Good News.  

Once a man prayed to God saying, "God, what is going on today. War and killing are happening everywhere and because of war, Syria and Iraq are completely wiped out. Please send some one to change the situation and send some one to bring the message of Christ to all. That night God appeared to him and said, "I have already sent someone and he said, "who is that person and God said, "You are. Yes, we are to go everywhere and bring the joy and happiness to all. Amen.

Second Sunday in Advent-A

Second Sunday of Advent-A 

Good morning/evening every one, I am so happy to welcome you all for today's Holy Mass. Our special welcome to all our parishioners, visitors and every one here today. 

Friends in Christ Jesus, let us thank God Almighty for bringing us all here to this beautiful church of St. Jean de Brebeuf. Let us thank Him for sending His only Son our Lord Jesus Christ to be with us for ever. Let us thank Him for showering upon us His countless blessings each and every day. 

Now let us take a moment to prepare ourselves to celebrate the Sacred mysteries of our Lord Jesus Christ, calling to mind our sins, short comings, failure, pain and sufferings, asking divine assistance and Christ our Lord's forgiveness, mercy and compassion. 

Few days ago, the police who stopped me said, "Papers". I said, "Scissors' and I won and drove off. Good thing I know the police. 

Once a couple were celebrating their fortieth wedding anniversary. An angel of the Lord appeared to them and said, "you are celebrating your anniversary and you both are sixty years old...ask me any two wishes and I will give them to you". The husband said, "Now Fidel Castro died and we want to go to Cuba". And in an instant, they got the ticket to Cuba. Then he was thinking like a good man and said, "we both are sixty. I like some age difference and  I wish my wife is thirty years younger than me". Imagine in an instant the husband became ninety.  

Today we celebrate the Second Sunday in Advent. This Sunday is called John the Baptist Sunday. John the Baptist indicated Jesus Christ, the Good Shephard who loves us all without any partiality and as we go to Him, miracles happen to us all. Yes, we are His miracles and we are His wonders and let us act as people of God.  

Jesus is like a computer. He enters your life and scans your problems. He edits your tensions and downloads solutions. He deletes your worries and saves you. 

The teachings of John the Baptist contains three important messages namely 1. Calling and 2. Healing and 3. living out the message. 

1. Calling: Once a prisoner who lived in a solitary confinement for years and who never saw or spoke to anyone, finally saw a tiny ant coming to his cell.  The man was so excited and happy to see that tiny creature. He took that ant and put it in the palm of his hand and was amazed at its beauty and fed the tiny creature with one or two grain. He was transformed by seeing that tiny ant. Then one day, he realized that it had taken him ten years of solitary confinement to know the beauty of that little creature. The same kind of experience happened to El Greco the Spanish painter. One day he was sitting in his dark room and his friend called him saying, 'The Sun is shining. Come out to the light and he said, "No, I will not because it would disturb the light that is shining within me". 

Those who intensely search the Lord will always find Him. Every baptized person is given the gift to find Him through the means of prayers and other spiritual practices. When we look for Him, He will manifest Himself to us. Yes, when the disciple is ready, the master will definitely appear. Once we experience the Lord, then like John the Baptist, we too will begin to call others to the light namely Christ the Lord.  

2. Healing: Once while two monks were going to a village to preach the Good News of Christ our Lord, came to a river bank and realized that they had to cross the river to go to the village and then they saw a beautiful woman was also standing on the bank wanting to cross the river. Since she was so afraid of the river. One of the monk, out of compassion carried her on his shoulders and thus they all crossed the river safely. Then when the monks came back to their monastery, the word spread everywhere. Every one began to talk about how the monk who is not even allowed to look at a woman, carried her on his shoulders.It went on and on many days. Then one day, the monk called all other monks and looked at them all and said, "By the way, I let her go from my shoulders many  days ago and why are you still carrying her in your minds and hearts". 

Healing comes when we leave certain things behind. And in today's gospel, John the Baptist asks the Pharisees and the Sadducees to leave behind their former way of life and renew themselves in baptism to welcome the Lord our God. As we hold on to Christ-related things, then we become new in Him. 

3. Living out the Gospel Message: Once  a pious catholic had a neighbor who never went to Church or did any spiritual thing in his life. Every Sunday as Joe went to Church, the other man went fishing. I don't understand how people enjoy fishing and hunting. I think fishing and hunting should be against our religion. Every time the man saw Joe, he always said, "Joe, I am going fishing, are you going to join me?' Joe used to say, "No! I am going to Church". Then one day, the neighbor looked at Joe and said, "Joe, how come every time, I go fishing I invite you and you never invite me to Church" That day, our friend Joe experienced something new. 

Living out the Gospel message means helping others to know the love and kindness of God. John the Baptist who spent time alone with God in wilderness, came out and began to invite people to God Almighty. Yes, the Lord is coming and we are called to invite others to welcome Him. 

Conclusion: Today we have two types of Evangelization namely octopus-evangelism of Mega-churches and sponge-evangelism of traditional churches. Sponge-evangelism is more like trying our best with people who come to church and soak them with divine love and kindness and then we go home. But on the other hand, mega-churches like Joel Osteen, Rick warren or Joyce Meyers churches have minimum of twenty thousand people for a week end. And they achieved that height because of Octopus-evangelism namely they stretch, extend, reach out, touch and achieve. When we all become like John the Baptist then every church will be a mega-Church. Amen.

First Sunday in Advent-year A

First Sunday in Advent-A 

Good morning/ evening every one. I am so happy to welcome you all for today's Holy Mass. Our special welcome to all our parishioners, visitors and every one here today. Friends in Christ Jesus, let us thank God almighty for bringing us all here to this beautiful church of St. Jean de brebeuf/St. Paul the apostle. Let us thank Him for sending His only Son our Lord Jesus Christ to be with us forever. And Let us thank Him for showering upon us His countless blessings each and every day. 

Now let us take a moment to prepare ourselves to celebrate the Sacred mystery of our Lord Jesus Christ calling to mind our sins, short coming, failures, pain and sufferings asking divine assistance and Christ our Lord's forgiveness, mercy and compassion. 

Last January, I made a new year resolution of gaining five pounds but I failed. All I gained for far is only one pound. It is because I went with reverse psychology resolution. If any one of you wants to lose weight, all you have to do is to make a reverse psychology resolution saying, "I am going to gain ten pounds or twenty-pounds and then you will in no time lose weight". If you gain any weight, please don't call me and complain. 

Once a priest noticed during of his homily,  a man was sleeping with his head on his wife's shoulder and he said to the woman, "would you please wake him up". The woman said, "Father, you put him to sleep and you wake him up". 

Today's gospel invites us to 'keep awake'. Today we celebrate a new liturgical season called 'Advent' meaning coming or arrival. Who is going to come? The Lord Christ Jesus is coming. And when is He coming? No one knows and thus all we have to do is 'Keep awake'. 

Once  a man had a terrible, terrible dream. A lion was chasing him and while he was running, there came a tiger, running toward him and he was surrounded by so many ferocious animals and what should he do to escape from them?  

All he had to do is just wake up from his sleep. 

Today's gospel invites us to keep awake because the Lord is coming. He is not away to come back. He is already with us. But the day will come, everyone could see him with his or her own eyes. Faithful or unfaithful; good or bad; righteous or sinners; everyone will see Him as He is. 

Christ our Lord is coming so you who were baptized in the name of the Lord, should not be discouraged by others. Yes, there are people who put you down and even criticize you. They will make fun of you and laugh at you. But you should never be discouraged because you were all baptized and are children of God. God who called Abraham and Isaac; who called Moses and Jacob is with you. 

Christ our Lord is coming so you who are receiving the body of Christ, should not be afraid by the things are happening around us. There will be war and killing; natural calamities and destruction but you should be afraid of anything. These things will happen but nothing will go against you. It's because you who receive the body of Christ are strengthened by Him ad it's Christ who lives in you. 

Christ our Lord is coming so you who trust in the Lord should not lose hope. Hope is a good thing and it is the best of all. No good ever dies.  

The Son of man is coming. He is our Lord and God. He is coming not to punish us or put to death. He is coming to give us life. Christ who died on the cross will die no more and anyone who follows Him will be like him living forever. The Lord is coming to give us unending life. So let us have hope and celebrate our living. 

The Son of man is coming. He is our Lord and God. He is coming not to punish us or put to death. He is coming to give us light. He is full of light and in Him, there is no darkness. Anyone who follows Him will have light of life and on the day, we all will become light of Christ. So let us have hope and celebrate our living. 

The Son of man is coming. He is our Lord and God. He is coming not to punish us or put to death. He is coming to take us with Him. Yes, He will never abandon us but will take us to eternal home prepared for us. So let us have hope and celebrate our living. Amen.