Second Sunday in Advent-A

Second Sunday of Advent-A 

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

First Sunday in Advent-year A

First Sunday in Advent-A 

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Christ the king

Christ the King of the universe. 

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 the king, let us thank God Almighty for brining us all here to this beautiful Church of St. Paul the Apostle. Let's 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 mystery 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. 

Last week one of our parishioners called me saying, "Father, you owe me $50 because you said, "If we pronounce your last name right, you would give us fifty-dollars and I did, you didn't.  I am the only one who speaks my language here and even if you pronounce the name right, I am going to say 'No'. So suck it up butter cup".  

Once a taxi driver and a priest died and were standing in line before entering into heaven. The angel sent the taxi driver into heaven saying, "Well done good and trust-worthy friend". Then looking at the priest, "Go to purgatory for now and we will decide your case later". The priest wasn't happy and said, "Why are you sending the taxi-driver to heaven and I who preached the word of God to purgatory? The angel looked at him and said, "Because every time he drove the taxi, people prayed to God and every time you preached, people slept". So suck it up butter cup. 

Dear friends in Christ, 

Every time we come to Church, we celebrate Christ the king of kings and the Lord of all; we celebrate His unconditional love and forgiveness and every time we come to church, we celebrate the kingdom of Christ where we all be in one day enjoying life-everlasting. 

 At the age of nineteen, my grandpa converted to Catholicism and one day I asked him what made him to accept Christ as his personal Savior and he took me to the Church and showed me the big statue of Christ the king outside standing and underneath were the words saying, "Come to me , you who are weary and heavy burdened, I will give you rest.  Take my yoke upon you and learn from me. For I am gently and humble in heart and my yoke is easy and my burden is light". Every day as he went to school and college, those words of Christ inspired him and thus he became Catholic and he never missed reading the bible. 

Every time I think about him, I thank Christ the king. With this feast of Christ the king, we conclude a liturgical year and next week-end, we begin a new liturgical season called Advent. And when I think about my grandpa, I always remember the story of an old man looking sad and when his grandson said, "Grandpa, why are you looking sad? He said, "its because two forces fighting within me, a good one and a bad one. Which one is going to win grandpa. The grandpa said, "The one which I feed the most". He fed the good one. 

It looks like I am giving you today, 'Family homily'.  

I came to know a story of a king or more like a prince when I was small. You may say that I am still small. That is why, my friends never borrow money from me because I am always a little short or I can say that I am concentrated.  

It's a story of a prince who left his palace first time and he met with four types of people that changed his life for ever. First He met with the old man and asked why the man looked like that. People said, "It's because he is old and it's called aging process. Most of us have to go through this aging process. Then he met a sick man and he was told that he is not at ease but he has disease and people get sick , weak and fragile. Then the prince saw a dead man being carried by others and was told that that is going to happen to all and it is called death. Seeing an old man, a sick person and a dead man made him think about life and living and then he finally saw a Guru,  priest, sage walking by and people said to him, "That man renounced everything and was searching for God".  

That inspired the king and he renounced his kingdom and became a spiritual guru known as Buddha who said, "Desire is the cause for all suffering". Buddha was just an enlightened man but on the other hand, today we celebrate Christ who is fully human and fully divine. Christ the Alpha and Omega. Everything was created through Him, in Him and for Him alone. He is the king of kings and the Lord of all. He is the eternal king. He is the cosmic king. 

Once there was a king who was so famous for his judgement. He was filled with wisdom and knowledge. He feared God and according to the will of God, he did everything for his people. Every one loved to live in his kingdom and then one day, a man was brought before the king for justice.  The man was accused of stealing  and destroying people's property and murdering them. The king listened to all the accusations and then he asked what the man wanted to say. The accused did not say a word but just looked at the king. Then the king granted justice saying, "This man was found guilty and I order him to be executed". There was a deep silence because that was the first time a man was ever executed in the kingdom. Then the unexpected and extraordinary thing happened. The king got up from his golden throne and took off his king's robe and garment, looked at people and said, "As your just king, I granted you all justice but now as the father of this man, I will take his place".  

The king said, "I will take his place and die". This story is called the summery of Christianity. Christ the king of kings and the Lord of all accepted to die for humanity. He gave His life to save us all. 

When Pilate asked Christ, "Are you the king of Jews?' Christ the Lord said, "you say that I am and for this, I came into the world, to testify to the truth. Everyone who belongs to the truth listens to my voice".  

1. Christ the king said, "I am your servant and I came to serve you and not to be served". And thus the universal king washed the feet of His disciples and asks us to serve one another. The real authority of a person is not in holding on to power but to use his authority to serve one another. 

2. Christ the king said, "I am the Good Shepherd and I lead my sheep to life everlasting. He calls us all by names and feed us with unconditional love and forgiveness.  

3. Christ the king said to the repentant thief, "This day you will be with me in paradise". Yes, His kingdom is heaven and today we are called to prepare ourselves to enter into that one day to be with Him forever.  

Conclusion: As the conclusion, I would say that two years after my grandpa passed away, I decided to join the seminary to become a priest and when I went to the seminary, there I saw a huge statue of Christ the king standing with outstretched arms underneath the same words that made my grandpa became catholic. And I said to myself, "Thank you grandpa". Amen.