Fourth Sunday of Advent-A

Fourth Sunday of Advent 

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 every one here today. 

Friends in Christ Jesus, let us thank God almighty for brining us all here to this beautiful Church of St. Jean de Brebeuf/ St Paul the Apostle Church. Let us thank God for sending His only Son our Lord Jesus Christ to be with us for ever. Let us thank God for showering upon us His countless blessings each and every day. 

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

Our special welcome to all our visitors today.  On the other day, someone asked me about how many hours it would take to travel to India. It's about 16 to 18 hours of flying and the amazing thing is at the end of travel, I will look like exactly the picture in the passport. If you ever want to lose weight, India is the best place. It's so hot and your fat will melt. 

Once a wife said to her husband, "You won't believe that I had a dream in which you are giving me a diamond necklace for Christmas and I don't know what it means. The husband said, "wait and see". Even before Christmas, she said, "I had the same dream that you are giving me a beautiful diamond necklace for Christmas and I don't know what it means. The husband said, "Wait and see". On Christmas day, the wife saw a Christmas gift waiting for her on the kitchen table...thinking how she tricked him opened the gift and there she saw a book named, 'How to interpret dreams'. 

Once a famous Canadian spiritual man said, 

 n 1950s, kids lost their innocence. They were liberated by their well paying jobs, cars and new music and there came a new term called 'Generation gap'. 

In 1960s, kids lost their authority, it was a decade of protest against Church, government and parents. They rejected authorities and yet nothing was replaced it. 

In 1970s, kids lost love and it’s a decade of miism. Its about self-image, self-love, self-help, self-growth and so on. Since everything was about Me...me, they forgot about the true meaning of love. 

In 1980s, kids lost their hope, they were stripped of their innocence, authority and self-love. They were more confused than ever. Nothing gave them meaning. They began to experience more pain and suffering, more depression and anxieties. They stopped believing in future. 

In 1990s, kids lost in the world of cyber space. Objects became subjects and subjects became meaningless. And thus we now live in a world of confusion, chaos, rejection and loss.  

But still there is hope, there is faith and there is love for those who put their trust in Christ our Lord. 

Yes, the fourth Sunday of Advent brings us all more hope, more faith and more love. 

Today's gospel is about Jesus, Mary and Joseph.  

It says that Joseph was a just man. Just man means one who is honest and God-fearing. Joseph did everything according to the will of God. He prayed to God unceasingly and practiced his faith going to synagogue and helping people who were in need. He put God first in everything he said or did. Everyone knew him in the small town of Nazareth and that is why when he found out that Mary was pregnant before marriage, he was afraid that his community would judge and stone her to death and thus wanted to dismiss her quietly. 

Because of his faith in God and service to community, he was blessed to have angels visiting him. When he was confused about the situation, the angel came to help him. Yes, as we put our faith in God and do everything according to His call, we too will be blessed to have angles  visiting us. God never abandons those who put their trust in Him. 

The story of Joseph brings hope to the hopeless and invites us to hope in God through Christ our Lord.  

Today's gospel also talks about Mary. 

Though Mary was chosen by God in a special way, God still sent His angel Gabriel to announce the Good News and asked her willingness to be the mother of God. God did not take her free will away. When Mary said, "let it be done according to His will", then only things began to change.  

Today if anyone comes to know that she was chosen by God, the very next day...she will get more likes on Facebook, she will be busy of tweeting and texting. She would say that I met with angel Gab and he was so cute... lol and so on. 

But Once Mary came to know that she was chosen by God, she became more humble and simple. She began to be more active of doing things for the glory of God and His will. She extended her faith visiting Elizabeth and others and helping all. The Church today honors her as the Mother of God, Ever Virgin and Immaculate. 

Today's gospel speaks about Jesus the only Son of God. The very name of Jesus has power and He came to save humanity and take them all back to His Father's kingdom. While all the prophets, kings and holy men and women failed to bring divine love, wisdom and knowledge, Jesus came at last and asked us all to call God, "Father', the highest revelation of all.  Everything Christ our God said through miracles, wonders and preaching take us to God our Father.  yes, He brought love...love that is unconditional.  

Conclusion: Because of Christ, we have more hope and Because of Him, we have more faith and because of Him, we have more love. Once a man prayed to God saying, "God, the world is without hope, faith and love...please do something before we die without faith, hope and love' And God said to him, "Son, I already did something". He said, "what did you do". God looked at him and said, "I created you".  Let us not become another question but be an answer. Amen. 

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.