Good soil

YOU ARE THE GOOD SOIL




Good morning/evening everyone. I am so happy to welcome you all. Our special welcome to all our summer parishioners, cottagers, visitors and everyone who is here today, I would also thank you all for coming out today to celebrate Christ. Dear friends every time we come to church, Jesus the sower sows the word of God in us and every time we come to church, He makes the words of God that are sown in us to grow and multiple as thirty, sixty and hundred fold and every time we come here, He makes us laborers of His harvest to go out and help people to know His love and kindness.
In today’s gospel, Jesus says that the words of God like seed are sown in every one of us and according to our reception of them; they grow and multiply in us.
One day a news reporter went to a remote village to interview a man and saw the man sitting in the morning at home smoking and drinking. The news reporter asked, “ please tell me the secret for your living long without having any physical or mental problems” The man said, I live long because I drink and smoke and have fun and I do not worry about anything. The reporter looked at him and said, “you look so old, May I know how old you are? The man who spent his whole life enjoying such as drinking and smoking and not doing anything said, “I am thirty-six”
There are people today live without any aim or spiritual goal and they are like pathway. The words of God may fall in them, but without any use. They disappear without any use.
And there are people like rocky ground, when they hear the word of God, they became so happy and want to do something but when little challenges come along, they leave behind the words of God and disappear.
Once a woman from different denomination came to me and said, ‘father, I would like to be catholic and we taught her the basic things about Christianity. Jesus in His whole life taught about only two things namely divine love and His forgiveness. After a year, she became catholic and she was so happy to come to church for three weekends and then one day she came to me and said, “I don’t want to be catholic anymore and I asked her why. All she said was, I don’t like that lady and that person” and then she never came back.
These people are like rocky ground; they might receive the word of God but without any use.
And words of God do fall on thorny bush too. They get rooted and begin to grow well but before they bring fruits, they are soaked by worldly pleasures and material things and they disappear.
Once a spiritual master was asked by some villagers to send a priest to their village and the master instead of sending one priest, sent four. The other disciple who saw what the master was doing asked him, ‘Master, why do you send four but they asked only one”. The master said wait and see. While all the four were traveling, one priest left his priesthood and went home and the other thought it was hard, so he also gave up and the other thought he wanted to do something different and finally only one reached the village.

Finally the good soil,
One day a man shared his experience saying when I was young I was an alcoholic and my family, children and friends expected me to change but I could not. I used to practice my faith but I was not liked very much and I left the church too. Then one day I met a man who became a good friend to me. And I shared my stories and he said. “I don’t want to change and I accept you as you are. There I felt a great change in me. Yes, everything changed in me”. We all change and become new when we feel accepted and forgiven. Let us not judge others but accept them as they are. They will change too. Amen.

The kingdom of God
Good morning/evening every one. I am so happy to welcome you all to celebrate today’s holy Mass. And our special welcome to all our summer parishioners, cottagers, visitors and everyone who is here today and I also would like to thank you all for coming out today to celebrate Jesus who is the kingdom of god. Dear friends every time we come to church, we come to know that we belong to the kingdom of God where we experience love and kindness and every time we come to Church, we come that the kingdom of God is among us giving us life and joy and every time we come to Church we ourselves become the kingdom of God.
In today’s gospel, Jesus our Lord speaks about the kingdom of God. The kingdom of God is like a person who sowed good seeds in his field thinking they would grow and multiply as thirty, sixty and hundred fold but while everyone was away or sleeping, an enemy came and sowed weeds. Then the laborers came and asked the Master, “Master, we know you planted only wheat but we see weeds also. “Shall we go and remove them?”The master said, “no, my friends. Let them grow together and we shall remove them at harvest time.
Story number one: Once the famous scientist, writer and painter Leonardo Da Vinci who painted the famous last supper was searching for a man who could pose Jesus Christ in the painting. He looked for a man whose face would have a divine peace and calmness, whose face would reflect love and kindness, forgiveness and mercy and Da Vinci finally found a man near Milan and then He asked him to pose as model for Christ the Lord and the man gladly accepted. And thus Da Vinci finished painting Christ and then one by one he painted all other apostles except Judas Iscariot who betrayed our Lord. By then He spent more than two years and then He began to search for a man whose face would reflect ugliness and revenge and deception and other horrible characters and after a long search, Da Vinci finally found a man who exactly fit for his ideas and He asked him to pose for Judas and this man also accepted and he thus finished painting the last supper and thanked him. While they were saying good bye, the man looked at Da Vinci and asked, “Do you remember me?’ Da Vinci said, “No… I do not”. The man then said, “I am the same person who posed for Jesus Christ two years ago and now you asked me to pose for Judas Iscariot”.
Da Vinci asked what happened to you and the man said, I who was good became bad and I was like a wheat plant but now like a weed”. The master sowed only good seeds not weeds and He who planted good seed will wait until harvest and then He will remove good from bad.
Then Jesus said, “the kingdom of God is like a mustard seed which is the smallest of all seeds and when it begins to grow it becomes a tree where birds and animals come for shelter.
Story number two Once a famous agriculture company mailed postcards where there glued some mustard seeds to people saying, “if you have faith the size of mustard seed in our products, you will see big change in your life”. And few months later, a man sent a letter to the company saying, “I sowed your mustard seeds and now I am getting good tomatoes”.

Jesus is the mustard seed. Yes, He was born unknown among the poor and the rejected and had only twelve apostles and today Christianity is still growing and everyone who comes to Church experience unconditional love and kindness of God our Father through Christ our Lord.
Jesus then compares the kingdom of god to a woman who uses yeast and with the right mix, the flour begins to grow, the kingdom of God means bringing result and making things grow and today we are called to become the kingdom of God and thus people who are away may come back and know divine love and forgiveness. Amen.

Come to Me and I will give you rest

Come to me and I will give you rest

Once a rich industrialist was horrified to find a fisherman lying lazily beside his boat smoking a pipe. “why aren’t fishing?” asked the industrialist. “Because I have caught enough fish for the day” said the fisherman. “why don’t you catch more than you need?’ asked the industrialist. What would I do with tham? You can make more money and buy a beautiful boat with motor and then you could go into deeper waters and catch more fish and then you would be a rich man like me. The fisherman looked at the rich man and asked, “And then what would I do?’ “Then like me you could sit down and enjoy life”. The contented fisherman looked at the rich anxious industrialist and said, “what do you think that I am doing right now?”

The happiest people are those who know what they need. They spend their time, energy and resources to fulfill them. They don’t complain saying, “I don’t time. I am always busy” instead they will be celebrating of what they have and when they don’t have time, they willl go to God who is the creator of time, who is the source of time and thus they will be given what they need. They rely on God for their ups and downs. And in today’s gospel, Jesus the creator of time invites us to go to him as we are. He says that all things have been handed over to him by God and He has the power and authority to reavel to anyone whom He Chooses. Let us go to Him when we are busy, when we are restless and we are anxious and He will look after us.
Once a priest noticed an elderly woman who came to church everyday and was going to the blessed virgin Mary’s statue and praying devoutly. The priest was so happy to see her marian devotion since many were not even thinking of praying the rosary or doing any novena to Blessed virgin Mary. Then He saw the woman touching the statue of the Blessed Virgin Mary and blessed herself and then a strange thing happened, she also touched the snake that was crushed under the foot of the blessed Virgin Mary and blessed herself. So the priest asked her why she was herself touching the statue as well the snake, the woman looked at the priest and said, “Father, if I go to heaven, I need the blessing and comfort of the mother and if I go to everlasting punishment, I then need the help of the devil”.

When we instead of having reverential fear develop religious fear and guilt, we hold on to insecurity and anxiety. We will not find meaning in everything we do religiously and thus we begin to practice faith with fear and begin to practice faith without hope. And Christ our Lord today invites us with who we are. He invites us with our weariness, tiredness and heavy burdens because He will give us rest and hope and He will give us courage and new spirit. His yoke is easy and His burden is light. Let us learn from Him who became one among us and lived with us.
Today many people do not have much challenge to love and forgive others especially their neighbors but when it comes with their family, they struggle a lot. They often say, “ I give and give, there is no respect, no love from my own children. I don’t know how to cope with my own family, my husband and my wife. They go to counselling but they are not getting any help and they try all yoga, meditation and medication nothing work for them. What is the way? There is a way… Yes, Christ is the solution and He invites us to take rest in His love and He invites us to be with Him. When we go to Him, we not only find rest but also find solution for everything. He is the source of all so let us go to Him and learn from Him. Amen.

HOLY TRINITY/FATHER'S DAY

HOLY TRINITY…

Good morning/evening everyone. I am so happy to welcome you all to celebrate the solemn feast of the Holy Trinity. Our special welcome to all our visitors, cottagers and everyone who is here today and I would like to thank you all to come out today. Dear friends, every time we come to church, we deepen our faith in the Holy Trinity. We are given the blessing to know the mystery of the Holy Trinity. Every time we come to church, we are abundantly blessed by the gifts of the Holy Trinity on whose name, we were all baptized.

Today the Catholic Church celebrates the solemn feast of the Holy Trinity. We believe in triune God. We believe that the father is God, the Son is God and the Holy Spirit is God but they are not three gods but only one God. The Hindus believe in Holy Trinity too but their understanding of God is so different, they believe in three distinct gods. They believe in Creator god, protector god and the destroyer god but we do not believe as they do. We believe in one god who is the Creator of heaven and earth and all things come from him and go only to Him.

One day a bishop was talking to children who were going to receive confirmation. He asked them, “What is holy trinity?” they said Holy trinity means the father is god, the son is god and the holy spirit is god but not three gods but only one god. The bishop who was hard of hearing said, “I do not understand what you are saying”. Then a man who was standing beside the bishop said, ‘bishop, you do not need to understand because holy trinity is a mystery”.

It is a mystery. We are asked not to understand but to believe. And one day a group of people went to St. Patrick and asked him to explain the mystery of the holy trinity and He picked up a three gloved shamrock leaf and explained how they were all distinct from each other but connected to the same source. They are community of people connected with love and kindness. And at the same time, so many saints, holy men and women were given the blessings to know the secret of the mystery of the holy trinity. When we deepen our faith in triune God we will be blessed to know the mystery of the holy trinity.

Today we also celebrate father’s day. It is a day we remember all our fathers who sacrifice their time, energy and resources to build our community and our family. They are living witnesses of God’s love and kindness, living witnesses of the gift of god’s forgiveness and compassion. One day a dad who was getting ready to go to his work saw one of his sons using his electric shaver and trying to shave his head. He got mad and said, ‘what are you doing? Do not you have better things to do? Do not make me mad. The son looked at him and said, “If you get mad at me then go and look at Charlie. He went and saw Charlie who already shaved his head. The dad was so mad and said to them, ‘why are you doing like this?” what are you trying to prove? They look at their dad and said, “Dad, we want to be like you.” Children imitate their parents especially their dads. Even our Lord Jesus Christ was like His earthly Father Joseph. He continued his dad’s trade of being a carpenter. The bible says only one word about Joseph that is Joseph was a just man. It means he kept all the commandments of God our father and fulfilled the duty of looking after Mary and Jesus. Because of his dedication and faithfulness, angels appeared in his dreams and guided him to do great things for his family and society. When parents practice their faith, children will also imitate. Yes, from fullness only fullness will come out.
One day, a dad saw his son trying to move a heavy rock. He said to his son, “Son, are you using all your energy to move the rock?’ the son who was so exhausted said, ‘yes, dad of course”. Then he looked at his son and said, “No son you are not. You did not ask my help’
Fathers make a big difference in children’s lives. They by their examples and words make them stronger and bigger. So as we celebrate Father’s day let us pray to our triune God to shower upon them His countless Blessings. Amen.

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.