15th- sunday ( two by two)

15th Sunday-B

Good morning/evening every one. I am so happy to see you all and our special welcome to all our parishioners, cottagers, visitors and every one who is here today. Dear friends, every time we come to church we celebrate our discipleship- our way of life in Christ. We celebrate the Good News of Christ our Lord in our life and every time we come to church, we prepare ourselves to go out and proclaim the love and forgiveness of Christ to all.

Once a preacher who preached against drinking alcohol and said, “If I had all the beer in the world, I would take it and throw it in the river”. If I had all the wine in the world, I would take it and throw it in the river and if I had all the whiskey in the world, I would take it and throw it in the river’. When he finished saying this, the choir lady with a big smile announced, “ For our closing hymn, let us sing, “shall we all gather at the river”.
The preacher was not happy with the choir lady and the next Sunday he preached on forgiveness. After preaching thirty minutes, he asked the people how many are going to forgive others and about fifty percent of them raised their hands and again he explained the importance of forgiveness for ten more minutes and this time all of them raised their hands except the choir lady. So the preacher looked at her and said, “ do you not like to forgive your enemies” she said, ‘ I don’t have any enemy” The preacher invited her to the front and pointing her said to the congregation, “look at her. She is ninety-two years old and she does not have any enemy. Then he asked her, “ please tell us what is the secret of not having any enemy’ she looked at the preacher and said, ‘I outlived all those stupid idiots”.


In today’s gospel our Lord Jesus Christ calls the twelve disciples whom He chose in a special way and called them all with new names and He kept them for three years with Him and thus they were with the Master and learned the importance of the kingdom of God. When Jesus healed the sick or gave sight to the blind or even raised the dead to life, they personally witnessed the miracles and wonders. They all become His disciples by proving their fidelity to their Master but still He sends them two by two to proclaim the kingdom of God because they could support each other in faith. Between the two, usually one will be weak and the other strong. The weak is sent to support the strong. Because Satan is more interested in the strong rather in the weak. He will tempt the strong and make him weak. When the strong becomes weak the destruction will be huge and immense. For example, Sin and death entered into the world when Eve was alone. She was tempted to go against the will of God. So if you are strong in faith, then you will be the one who will be tested and tempted.
And also as Jesus our Lord promises in the gospel, when two or more in His name, there He will be with them, giving them courage and strength. For example, the two disciples on the way to Emmaus, though they were sad and confused, they discussed to each other about Christ and Christ joined them and gave them new life. Though they went two by two, it is not they who did the preaching and healing but Christ. Yes, through them Christ performed miracles and wonders.
Dear friends, when we preach the good news and heal people in His name, it is not we who do but Christ who lives in us does everything. So all the praise, honor and glory goes only to Him.
As Jesus sent them two by two, He gave them power and authority to do their mission. The power and authority were given to them to humble themselves in the presence of Christ and others. Though Christ had divine power and authority in His humanity, He was obedient to His Father. He respected and learned from His parents. Power and authority mean responsibility and they help a person to humble himself before God and others.
And in today’s gospel, Christ asked His disciples to go empty-handed to preach the Good News namely they carried everything in their hearts. When the heart is full, a person will never go after material things because they will come to him. Yes, they will be blessed with everything.
Christ told them about welcoming and rejection too. He said if anyone welcomes you, stay there and preach the Good news. If they reject you, even shake off the dust that is on your feet that means do not hold grudge or anger against people who did not welcome you. Be happy with everyone.
Conclusion:

Dear friends, as they apostles went, in the name of Christ, they preached the Good news and did miracles and wonders. And today we are asked to continue His divine miracles and wonders by going out two by two namely finding peace at home first; it is important to be nice to our own family members and friends and then our hearts will be filled with divine love and kindness to go out to preach the Good News to all. Amen.

Canada day (homily on healing)

Canada day-homily (13th Sunday)

Good evening/morning everyone. I am so happy to welcome you all for today’s Holy Mass and our special welcome to all our parishioners, cottagers, visitors and everyone who is here today. Dear friends, every time we come to church we celebrate the healing power of Christ our Lord, we experience His healing power in our lives and every time we come to church, we become healers and bring His loving message to all.


When I came to Canada two hundred years ago, a priest took me to a parish and left me there saying, ‘I will come back in a week’. And to be honest with you, I was so confused saying to myself, “why am I in a French speaking parish. I thought I would go to an English speaking place”. A week later, when the priest came I asked him about it and he laughed and laughed and said, ‘you are in an English speaking parish. You don’t understand them because they have a thick Canadian accent”.


You should understand the difference between Canadian and Americans. If anyone says, “a… it is nice”. They are Americans and the Canadian would say, “it is nice a”.
As we celebrate Canada day today, we thank God for our country and we also meditate on the healing power of Christ our Lord.
In today’s gospel we meet with one of the famous synagogue leaders called Jairus. He came to Jesus kneeling before Him saying, ‘Jesus, have mercy on me. My only child is at the point of death. If you come and lay your hand on her, I believe she will live”. Jesus our Saviour who never says “no” to anyone said, ‘yes, I will’. While going to his house, He healed so many people and before entering into his house, the man’s family, friends, relatives came and said to him, “ do not disturb the Lord because your child is dead’. While Jairus was sad and crying, Jesus said, ‘do not be afraid. Only believe. She is sleeping and alive” When people heard that the child was sleeping, they all laughed at Christ and began to criticize him. Jesus our Lord went into the house and touching the child said, ‘Talitha cum” means my little child, get up”.


In this miracle not only the child got up. Something more happened. Yes, Jairus got up from his sleep, the people got up from their sleep and we are especially called to get up from our sleep and believe in the Lord Christ’.
What happened to Jairus?
Jairus was a famous synagogue leader and he had power more like a centurion in the gospels who said to Jesus, If I say to one, go and He goes and if I say to him, do and he does it. Though I have all the powers, I cannot restore a person to health or life. Jesus you have the power. I believe in you. Yes, though Jairus was a synagogue leader, he did not have divine power to restore anyone to life. When he came to Jesus and submitted himself to Jesus saying, ‘please heal my child, my daughter is at the point of death’. Jesus was amazed at his faith saying, ‘I will’.
When we personally witness the faith of others, we are some times amazed. They may belong to any religion but they way they pray and believe in God inspire us. Once I visited a priest in Mississauga. While we were having lunch at the rectory, a man who was helping in the kitchen left in the middle of our lunch and did not show up for a while. Meantime the priest looked at me and said, ‘His name is Mohamed a Muslim. Do you know where he went? He went to pray. According to Islam, a good Muslim should pray to God five times a day. Though he was working in a Catholic Church rectory, he prayed five times a day to God.
Then I was thinking, if we who believe in true God, the God who created heaven and earth, who sent His Only Son Jesus to us and ask Him for anything, how much more we get it. Our God promises to give us the Holy Spirit- the gift of life.
That is why when Jairus came to Christ acknowledging the one true God; He was instantly healed of his doubts and failures. He got up from his sleep and came to know that Jesus was the Only Son of God the Savior.
The people got up from their sleep
The people who said that Jairus should not bother the Master because his child was dead and the people who laughed at Christ for him saying, ‘the child is not dead. She is sleeping” the people who criticized and went away from Him, when they saw what happened to the child, they all got up from their sleep saying, ‘Jesus, you are the master, the eternal king. You have the words of eternal life. We believe in you. And with you everything is possible”.
Once a group of people went to Jesus to become His disciples, he chose only a few to become His disciples saying, ‘many are called but few are chosen’ and He gave them power and authority to preach the Good News and heal the sick. Today there are so many people call themselves Catholics but only few are coming to church and practicing their faith like you. You are His chosen people. And when you believe, you will experience His healing.

Today we are called to get up from our sleep and experience the healing power of Christ.
Once a man went to a psychiatrist and said, ‘Doctor, my brother thinks that he is a chicken. For how long he has been thinking this way? For six months. Then how come you did not come before? It is because we needed the eggs.
Getting up from our sleep means extending ourselves to help others and showing others compassion and kindness and helping others to know Christ. Amen. Today as we celebrate Canada day, there is a special blessing for you and please kneel now.

The birth of John the Baptist

 

Good evening/morning everyone, I am so happy to see you all and my special welcome to all our parishioners, cottagers, visitors and every one who is here today. Dear friends every time we come to church we celebrate the love of God through Christ our Lord in the Holy Spirit; every time we come to church we become like John the Baptist who prepared the way of the Lord and every time we come to church, we become new in Christ our Lord.

Today the Church celebrates the birth of John the Baptist. John who prepared the way of the Lord and on the day of Jesus’ baptism, called everyone and pointing Christ said, ‘Behold the lamb of God, behold Him who takes away the sins of the Lord’.

Today on the day of John the Baptist’s birth, I invite you all to meditate upon the amazing act of God almighty.

Once I met with a man who shared a miracle that happened to him saying, “ Father, I never answer the phone at home. My wife looked after the communication department and that day, the phone rang and rang and my wife did not answer and I kind of had a strange feeling and got off the chair and answered. My son was on the phone saying, “ dad, for some reason I wanted to call and talk to you and I said and for some reason I wanted to answer too’ while we were talking, a huge tree from our front yard broke and fell on the chair where I was sitting. I think I witnessed a miracle happened to me.

The second one is about a man who used to go for a walk over ten year on a beach and that day though he felt so good and strong, he had a feeling and did not go. But by 8.00 o’clock, he heard the news that huge tsunami hit the Indian ocean and about thousand people died in that city alone and most of the people who died were who went for a walk that day and that man did not go for a walk that day and he said, “ a miracle happened to me’

And a third one is about a man who had a strange feeling one night and about two o’clock in the morning he got out of the bed and went to have a glass of water in the kitchen. While he was getting the water, a drunken man drove his truck into his bedroom and smashed the bed into million pieces. He said, ‘ a miracle happened to me”

And I had a chance to meet them all and when I asked why miracle happened to them. They all revealed one secret. Yes, they all kept one thing in common in their lives, a secret that saved them all.

In today’s gospel, we see a miracle happening to Zechariah and Elizabeth. Though they were in their advanced age, God blessed them with a child. Nothing is impossible with our loving God. When Blessed Virgin Mary doubted about the birth of Jesus, the Angel Gabriel said, ‘ look at your cousin Elizabeth, in her old age, almighty blessed her with the child. Then our Blessed Mary began to sing the Glory of God saying, ‘ My Soul glorifies the lord and my spirit

Rejoice in God Almighty…’

When people who were amazed at the marvel of God asked Elizabeth what name she was going to give him thinking about the family tradition. According to their culture, the first-born male child should be named about his father, Elizabeth said, ‘ John’. They were so shocked and were surprised saying to each other, why can we ask Zechariah his dad. Zechariah who used to tablet wrote the name John.

One after another many miracles happened that day. Every one began to praise and glorify God almighty. Miracles happened to Zechariah and Elizabeth because they too had some secret.

What Zechariah and Elizabeth had, those three people who experienced miracles in their lives had too. They all had a secret, a very simple one. We all know and some of you are practicing that secret at home.

The secret they all had is “Family prayer”. Though they practiced their faith in common place and were involved with many community activities, they never forget to pray together at home. They did their family prayer. They drew energy, spiritual strength from their family prayer. They read the bible together, they prayed and listened to God together.

Dear friends, when there is family prayers at home, miracles will happen, not one or two but millions and millions.

Where there is family prayer, nothing can separate parents from children or husband from wife or family from relatives or from friends. Family prayer becomes glue that unites family together and brings more miracles every day. So as we celebrate the birth of John the Baptist, let us renew our baptismal promises asking Christ to help us to begin our family prayers at home every day. Amen.

Father's day

FATHER’S DAY




Good morning/evening everyone, I am so happy to see you all and my special welcome to all our parishioners, cottagers, visitors and every one who are here today. Dear friends, every time we come to Church, we celebrate the kingdom of God, celebrate the Father God who sent His Only Son Jesus Christ to preach the kingdom of God and every time we come to Church, we celebrate Jesus who gave us the blessing to call God Father.

As we celebrate Father’s day, I invite you all to meditate upon the graciousness and mercy of God our Father and thank Him for giving us generous and kind fathers who dedicate and sacrifice their time, energy and resource to make us strong, wonderful and responsible citizens in the world.

One day on father’s day, two sons decided to do something to their fathers and they pooled all their money and bought a beautiful religious horse for him. It was religious because when anyone says, “Amen”, the horse will stand still and if it hears, “praise the Lord” will run like anything else. It was well trained to the two words Amen and praise the Lord. The sons gave the horse to their dad and explained the meaning of amen and praise the lord. Amen means it will stop, stand still and praise the lord means it will run. The dad thanked them and jumped on the horse and the horse began to run so fast and at one point, he forgot what to say, the horse was running so fast and went on a hill. The man got so afraid and thank god he remembered the word. He screamed saying, “Amen” the horse stopped on the edge of the cliff. He was so happy and then he thanked god saying, “Praise the Lord”.

The Father God is our creator and when He breathed the breath of life into the nostrils of people, life began. Adam and Eve began their spiritual journey on earth. But as they went away from God, their life source was taken away from them; they experienced suffering, pain, sickness and eventually death. But God who loves His creatures so much sent His son who again breathed on the disciples saying, ‘ Receive the Holy Spirit” and thus life was restored and that life is still continuing through people. Yes, God calls men in a special way to continue His creation activity. Continuing His creation activity demands tremendous spiritual responsibility. They have to sacrifice and dedicate themselves more than hundred percent to protect their family and raise their children holy. Where can they draw energy to do so? They can draw spiritual energy and strength only from God. On this father’s day, we especially thank God for our fathers for their dedication and sacrifice and ask God to bless them.

One day a dad helped his son to go to bed saying, “ Son, do not bother me any longer. The lights are off, just sleep’ but within five minutes the son called saying, ‘dad, I want a glass of water’. The dad said, “you had your chance, now go to bed” Five minutes later again, “dad, I want a glass of water’. The dad was so annoyed and said, “if you ask for water again, you will get a good spank” the son called again and said, ‘Dad, when you come to spank me, bring me a glass of water’.

In the gospels, Jesus says how much even the mortal fathers love their children saying, if you ask for fish, will he give you a snake, will he give you a stone instead of bread. They know how to give you good things. Yes, fathers know how to protect and love their children. Because of the earthly fathers, children learn to love more and more the heavenly Fathers. As Jesus says, They come to know, even the mortal fathers know how to give good gifts to children how much more the heavenly Father will give the Holy Spirit the life to those who ask Him. That is why Jesus says, “Ask, you will receive, search, you will find and knock the door will be opened”.

Father is the one who knows the meaning of forgiveness and acceptance. Though his children are like prodigal son going away from him, wasting their lives and living an immoral life but when they come back to him saying, ‘dad, I am sorry. Please forgive me”. They will never get mad at them, instead he will accept them immediately saying to every one, “my son or my daughter was lost and now they are found. They were dead and now they are alive”

Conclusion: As we celebrate father’s day, let us thank God for fathers who raise their children strong and religious and who dedicate their lives for their family and children. May God bless them. Now let us have a special prayer for them. Amen.

Holy Trinity Sunday

Holy Trinity Sunday


Good evening/morning every one. I am so happy to welcome you all for today’s Holy Mass. My special welcome to all our parishioners, cottagers, visitors and every one who is here today, dear friends every time we come to Church we celebrate God Almighty the creator of the universe the source of all. Every time we come to Church, we celebrate Christ, the Only Son of God the Alpha and Omega- the beginning and the end. And every time we come to Church we celebrate the Holy Spirit the giver of life. Yes, we celebrate the Father God, the Son God and the Holy Spirit God not three gods but Only One God.

One day Jesus looked at His disciples at Caesarea Philippi and asked, “Who do people say that I am?” They said, “ You are Elisa, Elijah, John the Baptist and one of the prophets”. And then He asked them “ who do you say that I am?”They said, “Thou art the Logos, existing in the Father as His rationality and then, by an act of His will generated, in consideration of the various functions by which God is related to His creation. But only on the fact of Scripture speaks of a Father, and a Son and a Holy Spirit, each member of the Trinity being coequal with every other member, and each acting inseparably with and interpenetrating every other member, the trinity”

Jesus looked at them and said, ‘What?’

Today the Holy Catholic Church celebrates the solemn feast of Holy Trinity Sunday. Yes, we celebrate the triune God, the Father is God, the Son is God and the Holy Spirit is God but there are not three gods but only one God our Father. And that is why every time we begin any celebration, we begin with the sign of the Cross saying, “in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit’.

The Father is God
Once a cat died and went to heaven. God welcome the cat and said, “you were a good cat for years and anything you desire is yours”. The cat said, ‘Dear God, though I lived my life, I did not sleep well because of the rough floor and God in an instant made a fluffy pillow. And few days’ later six mice that were killed in an accident appeared in heaven. God welcomed them and said, “this is heaven and whatever you desire is yours” they said, ‘Dear God, all our lives everyone chased us around and please give us roller skates and we will be happier” God gave them tiny roller skates so that they could run around happily. Thus everyone was happy in heaven. Then one day God looked at the cat and asked, “ How are you doing now?” The cat said, ‘God, thank you very much for everything and by the way the meals on wheels are delicious”. The Father is God and in the beginning God created heaven and earth and all and then He saw everything was good and was happy. Even the children of God who went away from Him had a deep longing to find Him. The Father who knew their children revealed Himself in various ways. The kings and holy men and women in the Old Testament talked about God and His compassionate fatherly love. Though the Old Testament is the preparation of the coming of the Son, it is all about the Father and His loving relationship with His children. The Father God who is the Creator brings life to all. The Father God is not like a god who is ready to punish and judge His children; he is more like the Father in the prodigal son story waiting for His son come home and when he comes home, there will be only unending celebration.

The Son Jesus Christ is God
Once a man was walking on a beach deep in prayer, he had a vision and heard Jesus saying to him, ‘you had always been faithful to me, and ask a favor and it will be granted”. The man said, ‘would you please make a bridge to Hawaii so that I could drive there and enjoy…” then he got a reply in vision saying, ‘there going to be many natural resources being destroyed to build a bridge… ask something else”. The man said “ I wished I could understand my wife, know her feelings, what she wants and why she gives me the silent treatment often and fulfill her wants and needs…” There came an answer right away asking, “You want two lanes or four lanes on that bridge”.

Dear friends, Our Christ the Lord often talks about His Father and the Holy Spirit. When the disciples asked the Lord to show the Father, He said, ‘you have been with me all the time and how can you ask me to show the Father. Do you not know that the Father and I are one? The Father knows me and I know Him. No one can go to the Father except through me. It is the Father who sent me here. Jesus came to us when the Father was busting out of love. He loves us so much and that is why He sent His Only Son Jesus to us. Jesus the redeemer showed the way to the Father. The Son is also the Father because the both are the same.

The third person the Holy Spirit is God
Once a mom was explaining her son the gifts of the Holy Spirit saying going to school getting knowledge and wisdom are all comes from the Holy Spirit and asked what he did that day in school. He said my teacher taught me how to write. Wow that is wonderful. What did you write? He said, “I don’t know because my teacher didn’t teach me how to read yet?’

The Old Testament talks more about the Father God, the New Testament talks more about the Son God and the Act of the Apostles talks more about the Holy Spirit God. As Jesus promised before His ascension sent the Holy Spirit on the apostles and on all the believers and because of the power of the divine gift, they went everywhere and preach the Good News to all. The Holy Spirit remained them everything that Jesus preached and taught them and thus sanctified them.

Conclusion:

There is a beautiful story explained the Holy Trinity by our patron saint Patrick. When a group of people came to him and asked about the holy trinity, St. Patrick picked up a shamrock and told them how the three gloves are connected with each other and are distinct from one another likewise the Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit are connected and are distinct. They are one and the same. When we pray to the Father, we pray also to the Son and the Spirit, so let us adore the triune God and experience love and kindness and spread that love to all. Amen.

Pentecost Sunday

Pentecost Sunday

Good evening/morning every one, I am so happy to welcome you all for today’s Holy Mass. My Special welcome to all our parishioners, cottagers, visitors and every one who is here today, Dear friends every time we come to Church, we celebrate the presence of the Holy Spirit who is with the Father from the beginning of creation and we celebrate His presence with our Lord Jesus Christ and every time we come to church we celebrate the presence of the Holy Spirit who moves us and helps us to know more of God in Christ our Lord.
One day an angel of the Lord appeared in a particular town and announced the people saying, “ The Holy Spirit sent me here to let you know that your town is chosen in a special way because there are so many doves here. They represent the Holy Spirit and you are asked to protect them. Please do not even step on them because the consequence will be drastic”. People were all careful and tried their best to protect the doves but one day as three women went for a walk; one of them stepped on a dove. The angel of the Lord appeared and condemned her saying “ from now on you have to live with the ugliest man in the world for ever” And then the next day, the other lady also stepped on a dove and she too was condemned to live with the ugliest man forever. The third woman was all upset and she did not even get out of her house. Then on the third day, there was a knock at her door, when she opened it, there stood the most beautiful, amazing man. She was all amazed and then the man looked at her and said, ‘I don’t know about you but this morning I stepped on a dove”. Please don’t step on a dove.
Today The Holy Catholic Church celebrates the solemn feast of Pentecost. Pentecost means fiftieth day. Yes, fifty days after the resurrection of the Lord as Christ promised, filled the apostles, believers and all with the Holy Spirit. He came upon each one of them as tongues of fire and filled them all with His gifts of knowledge and understanding, wisdom and courage. They all began to speak in different tongues and people who listened to them were all filled with joy and happiness. People understood each other. They stopped fighting with each other and instead they learned to give and support. The Holy Spirit changed them all.
One day a child came home from church and the mother looked at her and said, ‘what did you learn today in church?’ The daughter looked at her mother and said, ‘Father said, do not be scared, you will get your quilt”. What? The mother was confused and asked the Father. He said, ‘the theme was “do not be afraid. You will get your comforter”.

Pentecost means reversal of what happened at the tower of Babel. When people went away from God and wanted to be like God, they were all confused and could not understand each other. But on the day of Pentecost, the magic happened. People began to treat each other as brothers and sisters. They began to get closer to God by loving Him and others.
On the day of Pentecost, people were all renewed in body and mind. With the same eyes, what they saw looked new and more meaningful. With their hands, what they did brought more meaning to their lives. And that is why every time we bless ourselves as we say the Holy Spirit we touch our both shoulders and the Holy Spirit changes everything and we get new energy and power to do things. Everything we have comes from God alone.
One day a little boy was wandering in the church and saw a big framed pictures with so many names of people and he asked one of the ushers what it was and the usher said, ‘ they are the names of the people who died in the service” and the boy was so shocked and looked at the usher and asked, ‘which one was it 9.00 or 11.00 clock Mass”.
One thing you might have noticed in the Church. We do not celebrate death in the church only life and birth. Today is the birthday of the Church and even when we celebrate a funeral mass, we celebrate the eternal life of a believer. Because of the Holy Spirit, our life never ends but we have unending life with Christ our Lord.
The basic of all human needs is to understand and to be understood and every one longs for love and basic human needs to be fulfilled. Because of unmet needs, today so many people suffer from mental and physical challenges. Who can fill the void? And who can bring perfection in us? Only the Spirit brings perfection and life in us. Without Spirit, we will always be empty.
There is a story about a man who lived in Texas and owned a sheep ranch. He was a poor man because of holding on to the ranch and his family insisted on selling it but he refused saying, “my grandparents lived here and my parents died here and I want my children to live here… he had a some kind of connection and then one day, oil was found in that place; and his life then changed. Though he lived poor for many years without realizing the richness of the ranch, he finally found a way to find his riches and there are so many today saying, “I am Catholic because my grandparents were, my parents are… not knowing the richness of being Catholic. By name they are and still struggling to know the kindness and love of God, living in guilt and sin. Catholics are happy people. They celebrate life because they know that they were already saved in Christ our Lord.
So as practicing Catholics, let us celebrate life and thank God for sending His Son Christ among us and thank Christ for sending the Holy Spirit upon us

THE ASCENSION OF OUR LORD JESUS CHRIST




Introduction: Good evening/morning every one. I am so happy to welcome you all. My special welcome to all our parishioners, cottagers, visitors and every one who is here today, dear friends every time we come to church, we celebrate the Ascension of Christ our Lord who is with us until the end of time, we celebrate His sending the Holy Spirit upon us and every time we come to Church we prepare ourselves to ascend with Christ our Lord where we will celebrate life everlasting.
Once a catholic teacher looked at his class and said if you answer the following question, I am going to give you twenty dollar, “Who is the greatest man that ever lived?” Every student came up with different answers. But the catholic teacher was not satisfied and finally a Jewish boy raised his hand and said, “Jesus was the greatest and perfect man that ever lived”. The teacher was happy and she gave him twenty dollar. When he came home, he told his mom the whole story and the mom asked how come you said Jesus. Then the boy said, ‘mom, I know it was Moses but business is business”.

Christ our Lord, after His resurrection, for forty days stayed on earth, appearing to His disciples and preparing them to send them out to preach the Good News of the gospel. Then on the fortieth day, in the presence of His disciples and of all his followers, was taken up to heaven. Yes, He who descended ascended into heaven.

One day an elderly man walked about two kilometers to his next door neighbor and rank the door bell, when the neighbor opened the door, he hand him a piece of birthday cake saying, “my wife’s birthday today and she celebrates her eighty-fifth birthday and the neighbor was happy and wished his wife, happy birthday and then within twenty-minutes the old man came back and knocked at the door. The neighbor opened the door and said, “Joe, did you forget anything?” Joe the older man said, ‘no, my wife sent me back to let you know that she is not eighty-five but only eighty-four”.


1. The Ascension of the Lord tells us where the Risen Christ is now: He is now sitting at the right hand of the father, and fulfilling all our needs. The good Shepherd is looking after his sheep. The Jesus who lived, died and came back to life is still with us, every time we pray, read the bible and come to Church, we can experience his presence among us.

2. The Ascension of our Lord Jesus tells us why Christ appeared to His disciples: He appeared to them to remove their fears and anxieties. They were afraid of authorities and were hiding behind locked doors. Every time, Christ appeared to them, he gave them peace, hope and strengthened and asked them to face the world with his love and kindness. He promised them saying, 'don't be afraid, I will be with you until the end of time".

Once two men shipwrecked on an island. The minute they got on to the island, one of them began to scream and cry saying, “there is no food, no water and we are going to die” but the other guy was so calm and was looking at the sea. The man who was screaming asked, “how come you are so calm?’ because I make 100,000 for a week. What difference does it make, there is no water or food. We are going to die. The other guy looked at him and said, “look I make 100,000 per week and I tithe ten percent on that $100,000 per week. My pastor will find me”.

3. The Ascension of our Lord Jesus Christ tells us that the Lord Jesus Christ will come again on the last day. His coming will be our glory and joy. He comes to judge us and those who follow him will have life everlasting. And we who follow him will be given new life, so let us eagerly wait for the day.

4. The Ascension of our Lord Jesus Christ tells us that those who follow him should go out and preach the good news to all, baptizing them in the name of the Father, and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit. Jesus says we don't need to be worried of what to say and how to say, because everything will be given to us at that time. So let us celebrate his resurrection and ascension and celebrate our life in Him. Amen.