Second Sunday-Advent B

Second Sunday in Advent-BToday we celebrate the second Sunday in Advent. This Sunday is called, ‘John the Baptist Sunday’. This Sunday is also called a Sunday of Hope. It’s not that easy to understand the last prophet of the Testaments. Even two thousand years ago, people could not understand John the Baptist fully. A few people comprehended what John the Baptist meant when he said, “prepare the way of the Lord”. And even fewer people could understand when he said, “I am unworthy to untie the thong of His sandals”. Today John the Baptist invites people for repentance and baptism. He calls them out to come out of their shells and meet the Christ whom they were longing for.
school principal called the house of one of his teachers to find out why he was not in school. He was greeted by a small child who whisper: “Hello?”
“Is your Daddy home?” asked the principal.
“Yes,” answered the whispering child.
“May I talk with him?” the man asked.
“No,” replied the small voice.
“Is your Mommy there?” he asked.
“Yes,” came the answer.
“May I talk with her?”
Again the small voice whispered, “No.”
“All right,” said the man, “Is there any one there besides you?”
“Yes,” whispered the child, “A policeman.”
“A policeman? Now, may I speak with the policeman?”
“No, he's busy,” whispered the child..
“Busy doing what?” asked the principal.
“Talking to Daddy and Mommy and the fireman,” came the child’s answer.
“The fireman? Has there been a fire in the house or something?” asked the worried man.
“No,” whispered the child.
“Then what are the police and fireman doing there?”
Still whispering, the young voice replied with a soft giggle," They are looking for me.”
John the Baptist invites people to leave behind their sins and be baptized. He asks them to come out of their shells so that God could find them. God will surely find them but at the same time, it is up to us to go to Him to experience His love and kindness. Even we go away from Him, He will never leave us alone. We might hide from Him and we might run away from Him but no body could escape from His love and kindness. Our God will approach us with His compassion and love and He will fill us with lights in the day and hope in the night.
　

The question today is what was John about? And why did he do what he did?
John the Baptist is the very voice of Advent- the voice of the coming of the Lord to intervene in the relationship between God and ourselves. What he said was not merely a word about Jesus, it was the gospel, and it was the beginning of the Good News for the world.
The words of John still inspires those who want to walk with Jesus, who want to find their way out of the wilderness and into the promised land.
There is an old Chinese proverb tells us that a journey of a thousand miles must begin with one step. John came to point out what that step must be. He pointed out that the way of the Lord must be prepared, and that way is not simply a highway in the desert but rather it is a highway in our hearts.
There is a story about a man who went to a spiritual Master and said, “Master, I want to find happiness. In search of happiness, I studied the scriptures and visited all the holy places and did everything according to the commandment of God. But I could not find happiness, what should I do?” At this point, the master began to serve him tea. He poured the man’s cup full and then kept on pouring and pouring. Since the cup was full, tea began to run on the floor. The man then stopped the master and said, “My cup is full. Please stop pouring”. Then the master looked at him and said, “Like this cup, you are full of your own opinions and speculations. And how can I show the way unless you first empty your cup?’

How can we welcome Christ, how can we enter the Promised Land with Him, if we have no place in our hearts for Him?
John the Baptist came to prepare the place for Jesus the Lord.
The message of John the Baptist was, “Repent and be baptized for the forgiveness of sins”. Repent: What does the word repent mean? Repent means to turn around, to change direction. It means to face a new way and have the courage to leave behind the old way.
And be baptized for the forgiveness of sins
Conclusion: As we celebrate the second Sunday in Advent, we are called to become John the Baptist, we are called to prepare the way of the lord helping others to repent and be baptized for the forgiveness of their sins. It is our duty to help them to know the love and kindness of god and it is our duty to help them to know the real meaning of divine forgiveness. So as we celebrate advent, let us prepare the way to welcome Christ our saviour in our hearts. Amen.

Advent-1 (B)

First Advent-B
Good morning every one, today the Holy Catholic Church celebrates a new liturgical season called ‘Advent’. Advent simply means ‘coming’. We are celebrating the coming of Christ the Lord. We are anxiously waiting for His coming. As He promised to His apostles and all the people, He would come again. He will be coming to judge and give us life that will never end.
Today’s gospel invites us to keep awake. Christ is coming and we have to keep awake to welcome Him.
Once while a priest was preaching his homily, noticed a man sound asleep. As the priest preached louder and louder, the sounder the man slept and at point the priest stopped preaching and looked at the man next to him and said, ‘would you please wake him up” The man said to the priest and said, “wake him up yourself. You put him to sleep”.
Keep awake the Lord is coming. Keeping awake is a process. we keep awake ourselves by prayer, fasting and works of mercy. Yes, we not only come to church to pray but we continue our prayers throughout our life. We Catholics do our daily prayers, family prayers, individual prayer and recite rosary and novenas and different prayers and intercessions. We ask Blessed Virgin Mary and other saints to intercede for our needs.
Keeping awake is a process and we keep ourselves awake by living according to our call.
We are all called to different sacrament life. Some are called to consecrated life such as priests, religious and others are called matrimonial life. The sacrament of matrimony takes you closer to Christ our Lord. As we live according to our call, we keep ourselves awake.
keep awake the Lord is coming. Keeping awake is a process. we keep ourselves awake by helping other, I mean, putting our faith into practice.
Once during a battle between Christians and Muslims, a Christian soldier was giving water to wounded Muslim soldiers as they were suffering without water under the hot sun. And he was brought before the king and accused of being a traitor. The king heard the charges and looked at the soldier for explanation. The soldier then looked at the king and said, “when I was walking through the battlefields, I saw no Muslims and no Christians, only the face of Christ in every man”. The king then calmly said, ‘Continue what you are doing”. Dear friends, the Lord is coming and with hope we should continue to help those who are in need.
Keep awake. Keeping ourselves awake is a process. Why should we keep awake because the Lord is coming not as an appointed time but in an unexpected time. It could be today or tomorrow or some day. But He is coming as he promised. So let us keep awake and welcome the Lord. On that day, we will be judged and be given life that will never end.

Conclusion: The season of Advent invites us to keep awake and welcome the Lord who is going to come in an unexpected time. So let us keep awake by putting our faith into practice. Amen.

Five talents

Five Talents-33rd Sunday
There is a beautiful story about Blessed Mother Theresa. What happened was, once she went to Ireland and she gave a spiritual talk in the cathedral in Dublin. She spoke simple of love for the poorest of the poor and of love for Christ through them. Then the very next day, a man called a priest and said, “Father, I would like to get back in Church”. The priest who tried his best to bring back people to church asked him, “What made you to decide to come back to church”. The man said, “last night Mother Teresa spoke to me”. What do you mean. There was about ten thousand people last night in church and what do you mean she spoke to you?’ I know her words were meant to me and me alone. What did she say, “she said God bless you”.
I have been saying these words thousands of time every day and I could not convince you. But father, she said it from the bottom of her heart”.
When mother began her mission work, she said, my hand is Christ’s hand, my smile is Christ’s smile and my life is Christ’s life. She thus became one in Christ.
Today’s parable is one of the most powerful parables in the gospel. It’s about every one of us. As the master goes away to a distant country, he put his servants in charge of his property. He gives them his talents according to their ability and capacity so that as he comes back, they could return to him with interest. The person who received five talents returns them to the master with five more talents. The master is proud of him and saying, “ you good and trustworthy slave. you have been trustworthy in a few things and I will put you in charge of many things. Then He says “enter into the joy of your master”.
Talents could be money or gifts. But today I would like to invite you all to reflect upon the five talents that are given to us all and the five talents were awakened in us on the day of baptism. I would like to look at the five talents as your five senses namely seeing, hearing. tasting. touching and smelling. On the day of baptism, these five senses were awakened. we became new creatures namely children of God. we were given a special gift to see divine things around, hear divine words and touch and smell and taste the goodness of the Lord.
Our body and soul begin to change because of these five senses. As we invest more and more our five senses into spiritual matters, we become another Christ more kind and compassionate; we become more loving and forgiving; we begin to look at life, living and death with our heightened spiritual awareness.

St.John lateran

Lateran Basilica
Good morning every one, today the Holy Catholic Church celebrates the feast of the dedication of St. John Lateran basilica, the mother of all churches, the cathedral of the Pope. So to prepare ourselves to celebrate these sacred mysteries, let us call to mind our sins and ask God’ blessing and forgiveness.
1. Once a man came across three masons who were cutting large stones. When the man asked the first mason what he was doing, he said, “I am hammering this stupid rock, I can not wait till 5 when I can go home”. When he asked the second mason who looked a little more interested of what he was doing, said, “I am cutting and shaping these stones. It is not a bad work, but I will be sure be glad when it’s done” The third mason who was hammering the rock looked so interested of what he was doing. He looked so satisfied and the man looked at the third mason and asked what he was doing. He said, “I am building a temple!” I am so happy that one day people will come to this temple to praise and worship God. I am so glad to do this job.
“Three men, three different attitudes, all doing the same job.”2. In today’s gospel, Jesus our Lord the Only Son of God who taught us to call God Father says, “stop making my Father’s house a market place...” thus He was chasing away the people who selling and buying things. Then the people said to Him, “what sign can you show us for doing this?” Jesus answered them, “destroy the temple, and in three days I will raise it up”. Jesus was speaking of the temple of His body.
3. Human body is the temple of the Holy Spirit.
A. What is body according to Christian term?The time came, when the Lord God formed a man's body. He made it from the dust of the ground. Then he breathed into it the breath of life. And man became a living person....
And that is why every time we celebrate a final service at the cemetery, we say, “you are dust and unto dust you shall return”. And God breathed the breath of life into the human body. Thus the body carries the breath of life namely the image and likeness of God our Father. So human body itself becomes holy and it is the temple.
B. It’s the temple
In the time of Jesus, every Jewish male was expected to make a pilgrimage to Jerusalem temple for the Passover festival every year. There they were sacrificing animals and other things to please God forgetting that obedience is better than sacrifice.
According to the Bible, where is the temple located today? It’s not in Jerusalem. It’s our own body. As we know, temple is a holy place where God resides. And in the temple, prayers and offering should be done. As we look at our body as the holy temple of God, our way of approaching ourselves and others will change. we will have more respect and love for our body.
C. It is the temple of the Holy Spirit　
St. Paul calls that the body is the temple of the Holy Spirit. It’s because our body since it has the breath of God keeps producing the fruits of the holy spirit such as love and kindness; knowledge and wisdom; understanding and good will.
Conclusion:

All suols day

All Souls day.
Saint Augustine said, “When I die bury me anywhere you like but remember to pray for me at the Altar”All Souls day. Today we celebrate all souls day.
It is a special day set apart so that we may pray and offer Holy Mass for our departed beloved ones who are currently going through purification before entering into heaven.All religions strongly believe in the immortality of the soul and offer special prayers for the dead.
The catechism of the Jews called Talmud says prayer brings greater blessing for the dead.
“Remember us who have gone before you in your prayers” is an unique sentence found on every catacomb of the believers.
The book of revelation says that nothing unclean shall enter into heaven.
There are people like John Paul the second or Mother Theresa as they die, they go to heaven. It’s because they completely put their trust in God Almighty. They frequent the church’s sacraments and practice their faith by loving God and others. And as they die, Jesus invites them into heaven saying, “You who did everything well, come into my father’s house.....”
And there are people, though given so many chances to know and love God, reject the presence of God. They reject the love and forgiveness of God. They do not believe in the existence of God. These people are condemned to everlasting punishment or hell. They are gone forever or for eternity. There is no salvation for them.
And finally there are people who like us fall into sin and get up. They break the commandments and feel sorry for their sins. They believe in God but because of their human nature go away from Him. As they die with their venial sins, they are neither going to heaven nor hell but the place called purgatory.
what is purgatory?It is a place of purification where their souls will completely be purified and thus the soul of the dead become holy and beautiful.
The Church’s teaching: The Church's official teaching on Purgatory is plain and simple. There is a place or state of purification called Purgatory, where souls undergoing purification can be helped by the prayers of the faithful (Council of Trent). Some modern theologians suggest that the fire of Purgatory is an intense, transforming encounter with Jesus Christ and his fire of love. They also speak of Purgatory as an "instant” purification immediately after death, varying in intensity from soul to soul, depending on the state of each individual
Prodigal son’s suffering: As he lost everything and was suffering, he said to himself, “There are so many hired men in my father’s house have enough food to eat and enjoy and here I am starving without anything to eat. I am going to go to my father and say, “father, I have sinned against you and against heaven”. That is called the purification. The souls will be purified with the fire of Christ’s love. As we offer prayers, sacrifice of Mass, almsgiving in their names, their souls be purified and thus enter into eternal bliss. So let us sacrifice Mass and be with them. Amen.

Love God and your neighbor

Love God with your heart.
Once a man went to many priests and said, “ Please help me to understand your faith in five words and I’d join your church... many pastors refused saying, “ It is impossible to teach the whole catholic faith in five words... but at last a priest looked at him and said, “Love God, love your neighbor “-- the rest is all commentary.
Today if we ask hundred people about the most important element of Christianity, we would get at least ten different answers. Some would say it is faith, others would say prayer and still others would say the Church or service or love. When Christ our Lord the Only Son of God who teaches the secret of life and after life was asked this question namely the most important element in Christianity, He said it was “Our Love Directed towards God and God alone”Today we are talking about the relationship principles of Christ our Lord. Jesus doesn’t say, “Love God to the best of your ability,” nor does He say, “Love God with just your heart, or just your mind, or just your soul, or just your strength.” No, He says with all heart, all soul, all mind, and all strength! In other words, totally, completely, absolutely!!! And that is priority # 1 in the believer’s life!
The most important and core of all Jewish prayer is called “Shema, Israel..” namely hear O Israel. Every pious and devoted Jew would recite the Shema twice daily, morning and evening. It’s a center of all prayers. He would say, “Hear O Israel, the Lord is God. The Lord is One. Love the Lord your God with all your heart, with all your soul and with all your strength” It is the one cited by Christ our Lord as the greatest commandment in the Law.
A Scripture lawyer asks today a question saying, “Teacher, Which commandment is the greatest?”
And Jesus who knows all not only answers the question but also adds one more powerful answer like last weekend as people asked whether they should pay taxes to Caesar. Jesus said, “give it to Caesar what belongs to him and give it to God what belongs to God”. Jesus was making an emphasis not on Caesar's right but on God’s that people were ignoring for long time.
In the same way, the emphasis in today's question about the greatest commandment is not on the obvious love of God but on the love of neighbor which they were trampling upon.
There is a beautiful legend about John the beloved disciple. He lived many years even after all the apostles. He lived in Ephesus and went every day to preach the good news. Since he was very old and his body and mind were failing, his homily became five words homily. He repeated the five words every day namely “My Children, love one another”.
In the second century a non-Christian writer named Aristides wrote a letter to his emperor about Christians saying, “They love one another. They share with one another what they have and support the window and the orphans. They are preaching a new kind of religion. They say love God and love one another”. Yes, Dear friends in Christ, Christianity is a new kind of religion given by Christ our Lord. As we love and forgive one another, the world will become a better place to live and prosper. Where there is love, there is heaven and where there is heave, there is God. So let us love one another and make this earth a heavenly abode. Amen.
　
　
　
　
　
　
　

28-sunday

28-Sunday-A
One day an old man from Toronto called his son in Calgary and said, “Son, I am so sorry to ruin your day, but I have to tell you that your mother and I are divorcing. Fifty years of misery is enough. I can not take it anymore. The son was not happy at all and said, “Dad, please wait and don’t do anything. Then he called his sisters in Halifax and Edmonton and told them the situation and they right away called the dad in Toronto and said, “Please dad, don’t do anything and we are coming home and let us talk. Don’t move out. please wait”. Then the old man hangs up the phone and said to his wife, “honey, our children are coming home for thanksgiving and now what we tell them for Christmas?”
Once a holy man asked,
“Would you know who is the greatest saint in the world: It is not he who prays most or fasts most, it is not he who gives most alms or is most eminent for temperance, chastity or justice; but it is he who is always thankful to God, who wills everything that God wills.
As we are going to celebrate thanksgiving, let us first of all thank God for everything especially for your families, friends and others.
1.Today’s gospel is a powerful thanksgiving gospel. It shows the compassion and kindness of the eternal king. He loves all without any partiality and that is why He invites every one to his wedding banquet and He wants them all to be happy and celebrate with him and that is why he calls them in a special way.
2.He sent his servants to invite them. He sent His slaves to call them. As they came with loving invitation, people had excuses and did not go to the banquet. One went to his farm and another went to his business and others mistreated the servants and slaves. Since they were angry and mad, they even killed some of the servants.
And even today, we hear often people saying, “I am busy and I don’t have time to go to Eucharistic thanksgiving celebration. I have things to do”.
They all have only one complaint. That is they do not have time. We know where to go, when we do not have something. if we want grocery, we go to grocery and when we do not have enough time, we should go to the person who has time. Yes, God who created time has more time and we should go to Him and ask for time. He will bless us with more time.
Why don’t people have enough time? Not because of their work or because of their family but because of the stress they have thinking about their job and businesses. As we go to God through Christ our Lord, all our stress, anxiety, depression and other physical and emotional challenges will completely be wiped away. We will become new in Christ our Lord.
And here we are today celebrating life because as today’s gospel in the longer version says, “many are called but few are chosen”. We are all chosen by God almighty. Though many received the sacrament of baptism and entered into the Church, they are not here to celebrate the banquet of the Lord the holy Eucharist but we are here. We are chosen in a special way. So let us thank God for choosing us as his own. Let us thank God for sending Christ our Lord to be our Lord and Messiah.
As a chosen people, it is our duty to help others to come to the banquet. few years ago, I came to know a person by Alberta. When Alberta came to church, she shook my hand and said, “Father, I am Alberta. I thought she was joking, so I said if you are Alberta, I am British Colombia. So one day, she called me and said, “Father, my husband and I are going to church, our four children and our grandchildren are not. what should we do? I said, “you are going to help them to be chosen ones. please after Mass as you visit them, talk about the love and kindness of God not about the people who come to church or the priest. as they hear about loving and forgiving god, they will be inspired. preach the gospel when it is necessary use words. Amen.