PENTECOST SUNDAY

PENTECOST SUNDAY 

Good evening/morning everyone. We are happy to welcome you all for today's Holy Mass.  

Once an angel of the Lord appeared to a small town in Canada and announced to all people saying, "The Holy Spirit sent me to let you know that your town is chosen in a special way. It's because there are so many doves living here. They represent the Holy Spirit and you are asked to protect them. Please do not even step on them because the punishment would be terrible". And people were so careful and tried their best to protect the doves. Then one day, as three women went for a long walk, one of them stepped on a dove. The angel of the Lord appeared to her and said, "Since you disobeyed the Lord, you are condemned to live forever with the ugliest man in the world". The next day, the other woman also did the same thing and was condemned to live with the ugliest man in the world. The last lady was so careful, and she didn't even get out of her house or even used 'Dove' soap. Then one day, there was a knock at her door, there stood a beautiful man looking at her and said, "I don't know about you but this morning I stepped on a dove and was condemned to live with you forever". 

Today the Holy Catholic Church celebrates the solemn feast of Pentecost. Pentecost simply means, 'fiftieth day'. Yes, fifty days, after the glorious Resurrection, Christ our Lord filled all the apostles and others with the power of the Holy Spirit. The power came on each one of them as tongues of fire and filled them with the gifts of knowledge, wisdom, understanding and so on. They all began to speak in different tongues and people who listened to them were all filled with happiness and joy.  

One day a mother looked at her child who came back from Sunday school and said, "What did you learn today at Sunday school?" The child was all proud and said, "Father said, "we no need to be afraid because we will all get our quilt". What? The mother who was so confused called the priest and asked about it. He said, "yes, the theme was, "Do not be afraid, you will get your comforter".  

Today we celebrate the coming of the Comforter, the Holy Spirit. There was certain fear in the apostles. They were so hesitant to confront the authorities and others in the name of Christ. They were often hiding behind locked doors and were going out with false names or fake id. They were not enlightened in the glory of God. They needed the comforter to be courageous and strong and Christ our Lord ten days after His glorious Ascension sent the comforter upon them. 

Once a little boy was praying to God beside his mother and grandmother. He said, "God, thank you for everything and please give me a good night sleep. Then he at the top of his voice screamed saying, "send me a bike for my birthday". The mom said, "That is wonderful son. Please don't scream, God is not deaf". The boy said, "I know that mom, but our grandma is..." 

Pentecost is called the 'birthday' of the Holy Catholic Church. From this day onwards, the believers began to experience the Father's love, the Son's forgiveness and the gifts of the Holy Spirit. They began to know the glory of God, the wisdom of Christ and the gifts of the Holy Spirit. This day, we celebrate our birthday too. This day we are renewed new in Christ through the Holy Spirit. 

Once a reporter asked Mother Teresa saying, "Was not hard to learn the language of the people whom you are serving? Mother Teresa said, "No, not at all. We communicate with our hearts, with our smile and with our faith". When the Holy Spirit came upon the apostles and others, they began to speak the language of the people and began to communicate with them powerfully. The gifts of the Holy Spirit change everything in us and make us new every day. 

Once a teacher asked the children to name the gifts they possess from the Holy Spirit. Everyone discovered their gifts except one little boy Tomy. The teacher said, "Tomy, don't you have any gift?". Tomy said, "I am not going to worry about it now because I have enough patience". 

We are all given so many gifts to enjoy and share with others. They say, "If you were born poor, it's not your fault both materially and spiritually and if you die poor, it's your fault both materially and spiritually". Let us find our hidden talents and make them shine before others. Let us spread the honor and glory of God with our gifts and blessings of the Holy spirit. Amen. 

Mother's day

THE ASCENSION OF THE LORD AND MOTHER'S DAY 

I am basically a shy person, but I am a different person at the Altar and that is why I will call that this is my alter ego. 

Once three men decided to do something grant to their mother on Mother's Day. The first son bought a beautiful big house for her and the second one bought a very expensive Lamborghini and the third son spent all his money and bought a talking parrot that could recite the entire bible and the special parrot was approved by Vatican and blessed by the Pope. All you have to do is just any verse from the bible and the parrot will recite to you. 

Then few days later, they all got their thank you note from their mother. To the first son, she said, "Son, thank you very much for the house, but I cannot accept it. It's because I am older now and I cannot look after a huge house. Anyhow, thank you very much for your love. To the second son, she said, "Son, thank you very much for the gift but I will not accept it either, it is because I don't even drive these days and why do I need a sporty car. Anyhow thank you very much. To the third son, she said, "Son, you are the best and you know what a mother wants. I loved your gift and happy to accept it" 

Then P. S, she wrote..."By the way, the bird was so delicious..." 

Motherhood is a very high calling. Their sacrifice and love; their dedication and self-giving are beyond measure. Because of mothers, the world is a better place today and because of them, their children are stronger in every single way. 

Once Abraham Lincoln said, " All that I am and all I hope to be, I owe to my mother..." And the Holy Bible often compares God's love to that of a mother's love and her sacrifice. 

Once a little boy forgot his lines in the school program in which he was participating. His mother who was sitting in the front row, helped him whispering, "Say, I am the light of the world.... say, I am the light of the world". The boy was so happy because he got the line and said proudly, "My mother is the light of the world".  

Mothers radiate divine peace and serenity in the world. They sacrifice their happiness and joy for their families and children.  

Once a Sunday school teacher asked one of the boys, "Joe, let us call him Tomy, do you really pray before meals at home?" He said, "No, sir". Teacher asked him, "Why don't you pray before meals?" And Tomy with innocent look answered, "Because my mom is a good cook".  

Mothers know what their children want. There is an old tradition that on Mother's Day, the children wash their mother's feet and say, "Mom, I love you". There is an old testament story about two mothers claiming for a child saying, "This is my child and this my child, and, in those days, there were not DNA tests or blood tests and king Solomon with his God-given wisdom judged them wisely saying, "If two mothers are claiming for one child, cut the child into two and give each a half..." The true loving mother reacted so different than the false one and thus King Solomon served them judgement.  

We are celebrating and praying for mothers who dedicate and sacrifice their time and resources for their children and pray for mothers who deliver their children at Walmart washrooms and leave their children behind and are so concerned about their own wellbeing and worldly things. That they might come to know that motherhood is a very special calling.  

The New Testament says when the child Jesus was lost at the temple in Jerusalem, Mother Mary was the one who first noticed His absence and began to long for Him and asking everyone about Jesus and finally as Mary and Joseph found Him in the temple, she was the first one asked Him, "Son, why did you do all these to us?' From that moment onwards, everything changed in His life and thus He began to grow in wisdom and knowledge before God and before people.  

Let us pray, in a special way, for all our mothers today that God may continue to bless them and be with them. If you want to know what women want, you may ask Mel Gibson. But what does a mother want? All she wants is her children to become stronger and grow healthy both physically and spiritually. Yes, that is all a mother wants. She wants her children to be happy. Happy Mother's Day to all our mothers. 

Today we celebrate the glorious feast of the Ascension of Christ our Lord. After His Resurrection, for forty days, He stayed with His disciples giving them courage and strength and asking them to go everywhere to preach the good news of salvation to all the world. And on the fortieth day, in the presence of His disciples, He was taken up to heaven and now sits at the right hand of God the Father and from there, He is interceding for us all. As Christ ascended into heaven, He left two mothers behind to look after us. He blessed us with the universal Mother, the Holy Catholic Church and our spiritual Mother Blessed virgin Mary. Now Christ our Lord is helping us through the universal and our spiritual mother. So, let us pray for all our physical mothers through our universal mother the Holy Catholic Church and our spiritual Mother the Blessed Virgin Mary. Amen. 

Love one another.........SIX SUNDAY IN EASTER

SIXTH SUNDAY OF EASTER. 

Good morning everyone. Once a rich man was giving a powerful talk to a group of people in a church saying, "once I was so poor and then one day, I came to this church and heard the inspiring words of God. Then and there, I had a deep spiritual conversion. I gave to God what I had that day. Yes, all I had was a dollar and I gave the whole dollar to God. And God that day blessed me highly and today, because of my giving, I am blessed with billions and billions of dollars. So, it's always good to give. Then a voice came from the back of the church saying, "I dare you to do it now". 

Then a reporter approached him and asked how he became so rich. The man said, "you know what I am so glad that you asked. When my wife and I got married, we started out with roof over our heads, some food in our pantry and only five cents between us. I took that nickel, went down to the grocery store and bought an apple, shined it up, and sold it for ten cents. What did you do then? The man said, "I bought two more apples and sold them for twenty cents. Wow...what a powerful human story of struggle. Then he looked at the rich man and said, "come on tell me the story..."Then what my father-in-law died and left us $20 million". 

1. Today we celebrate a new commandment of Christ our Lord. This commandment proclaims to the whole world that we belong to Christ. Yes, the world will come to know that we are disciples of Christ our Lord, only by our love. Why do we need a commandment of love? If we think that we are basically loving and kind, I know that you haven't visited a playground, children and adult alike fight and fight. If we live in paradise, we don't need any commandment. But as we live in wilderness like the people of Israel in the desert where they were given ten commandments, we need commandments to keep us human and be kind to each other. If we ask any rabbi about the hardest commandment of all the ten commandments, he would say, "Honor your father and mother". Yes, loving others is the hardest one and especially loving those who live with us. Today Jesus asks us to love one another not as we love but as He has loved us. 

2. In those days, while the Roman emperors enjoyed watching the circus events in which the believers of Christ were tortured and killed by lions and gladiators, they said to each other, "See how these Christians, the followers of Christ love each other". Even in the face of great danger, the followers of Christ, had loved and supported each other.  The followers of Christ did everything with Christian love and kindness. That is the love, Christ our Lord is talking in today's gospel saying, 'You are my friends if you keep my commandment and love one another as I have loved you". Some years ago, St. Mother Teresa was asked by a reporter, "what is your biggest challenge?" Without any hesitation, she said, "Professionalism". Then she said, "Here are theses servants of Christ who care and love for the poorest of the poor. I have one who just went off and came back with her medical qualification as doctor and others with registered nurse qualifications, qualifications of social workers, teachers and so on. When they came back with their higher qualification, their first question is, "where is my office?" But you know what I do. I send them over to the house of dying where they simply hold the hands of dying people for six months and after that, they are ready to be servants again. They are ready to love one another as Christ loved us. Christ gives us a new commandment saying, "Love one another as I have loved you...." He loved us so much that He laid down His life for us. 

3. Once a king was told that a new preacher came to his city wanting to preach to his people. The king said, "I will let him preach, if he would preach about God's love like Jesus, if he would suffer like Jesus and die like Him on the cross and would come back to life on the third day.  For two thousand years, many tried to define love and its meaning but Christ by dying on the cross set an example for self-sacrificing love. If we love the Lord, let us love like Him and let the world know that we belong to God. Once Gandhi said, "I love your Christ not you Christians... because you have to practice what you preach". 

4.  Once a tourist said to his guide, "you have a right to be proud of your town. I was especially impressed with the number of Churches in it. The people here must love the Lord". The guide said, "yes, of course, they may love the Lord but they sure as hell hate each other". When people fight with each other in the name of God, when they kill each other in the name of God and destroy each other in the name of religion, then they cannot be followers of Christ. 

   Conclusion: Christians, disciples, apostles and followers of Christ are those who follow Christ. They know that the prophets and the teaching so of the testaments complete in love. When we love one another, we complete the commandment of Christ our Lord. So, let us love each other. Amen.