Tenth Sunday in ordinary time-B

TENTH SUNDAY IN ORDINARY TIME-B 

Good morning/evening everyone, 

Some people who went to Ireland for a visit said that all the churches in Ireland are being served by missionary priests who come from different countries and they did not understand them. And I said, "This is called payback time..." When the Irish missionaries went to different countries to preach, people didn't understand them either and now it happens in Ireland too and that is why our Catholic Church will always stay a mystery. 

Once a bishop looked at his priests and said, "you know what before you begin a homily or a talk, start with something unexpected like a joke, story or even with a statement to draw the attention of the people. For example, the last time, before giving the homily, I looked at the people and said, "I am in love with a married woman...then I gave a pause and looked at them all and said, "her name is Blessed Virgin Mary". One of the priests thought that was a wonderful idea and on Christmas day, he looked at the crowds of people and said, "I have an announcement to make. Our bishop is in love with a married woman and then by seeing the huge crowed, he got nervous and said, "I forgot her name". 

Friends in Christ Jesus,  

 St. Jerome says, "Ignorance of Scripture is ignorance of Christ".  Galileo says, "The bible shows the way to heaven not how the heaven goes". As we begin to read the bible with faith, hope and love, we come to know God's unconditional love and kindness; His mercy and compassion. 

For example, Christ often talks about faith and anyone who comes to Him for physical and mental healing, Jesus always asks them, "Do you believe? Do you have faith? And as they say, "Yes, Lord, I have faith.... and thus, He immediately heals and gives them life even on Sabbath day saying, "Law is for people and people are not for the law".  Christ our Lord defines our faith saying, "Even if we have faith the size of a mustard seed, we can easily move mountain and do great things in the name of Christ our Lord'. 

When He talks about Hope, He deepens our humanity saying, "You who are labored and heavy burdened, come to me and take my yoke upon you and learn from me. My yoke is easy and my burdened is light...for I am gentle and humble of heart". Yes, our hope will be increased every day as we have Christ for us. As St. Paul says, "When we have Christ for us, who can be against us". 

As Christ was talking about love, we always think about His unconditional and unlimited forgiveness from the stories of prodigal son and lost sheep and so on. As the Son came home from wandering around, the dad didn’t reject him, instead he said, "the son of mine was dead and now he is alive, and he was lost and now he is found"  

The bible is filled with faith, hope and love and all we have to do is, open the Bible and read it diligently every day. 

In today's gospel, our Lord Jesus Christ the only Son of God, who by dying on the Cross, destroyed our death and by rising, restored our life and there is no death for those who believe in Him, says, "Anyone who does the will of the Father is my Mother, brothers and sisters".  

Once there was a holy man who listened to the words of God and did His will. He had a horse that helped him to make some money. One day the old man's horse ran away from home and his neighbors and others came to him and said, "now how are your son and you going to survive? The only income source is gone and why don't you curse God instead of doing his will and being nice to others" The old man said, "everything happens for a reason and let it be according to the will of God..." Then few days later, his horse came back but not alone bring with him four more wild horses and this time, the neighbors couldn't say anything. Then one day as his son was training those wild horse, fell off the horse and broke his leg and then the neighbors and others came criticizing him saying, "Now stop saying...that you do everything according to the will of god and stop being nice to people and he said, "God is good and let me praise his name. He was like a junior job. Then one day, military officials came to his village and collecting all men to send to war and seeing his son with his broken legs, let him behind and then the man said, "Yes, everything happens for a reason and let me do the will of God".  

What is the will of God? Not only receiving the church's sacraments and not only coming to church but the will of God is putting our faith into practice. Christ our Lord says in Mattew chapter 25 that anything that we do to the least of our brothers and sisters, we do to Christ our Lord and thus we do the will of God. Doing the will of God means loving God and our neighbor and doing the will of god is helping others in need and thus we will be called mother, brothers and sisters of Christ our Lord. 

CORPUS CHRISTI...THE BODY AND BLOOD OF CHRIST OUR LORD

CORPUS CHRISTI 

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

Last week I did a cemetery service for a non-Catholic at a non-Catholic cemetery and at the end, I looked at them all and said, "By the way, I didn't know that I am at the wrong side of the cemetery and now I have to go home and take a shower".  

Once a bishop said to his priests, "you know what you should start your homily or preaching with some stories or jokes or something unexpected. So that people will be more interested to listen to your homily". For example, the last time when I did my preaching, I looked at them all and said, "I am in love with a married woman. Then I gave a pause and looked at them all and said, "her name is Blessed Virgin Mary..." A priest who was inspired by the story went to his parish and on a Christmas day, he looked at the crowd and said, "By the way, our bishop is in love with the married woman and then he gave a pause and looked at them all and he got nervous and said, "And I forgot her name". 

Today the Holy Catholic Church celebrates the solemn feast of 'Corpus Christi' namely the most holy and precious body and blood of Christ our Lord. Jesus says that unless we eat His body and drink His blood, we cannot enter the kingdom of heaven. His flesh is true food and His blood is true blood. Christ is the bread of life that came down from heaven. Our ancestors ate Manna in the wilderness and they all perished but on the other hand, anyone who eats the bread that comes down from heaven, will live forever. 

There is a non-canonical story in which God sends His angels to people to find out the pressing needs of them. Then upon returning to God Almighty, they all said that people need food. So, God sent His Son Christ Jesus who gave His flesh and blood to satisfy them all eternally.  

Every time we receive the precious body of Christ, something unimaginable happening to us. As we touch the precious body of Christ, we get the experience of that woman who was bleeding for twelve years and who went to all the doctors and physicians and spent all her money and at last coming to Christ, she said, "Even if I touch His cloak, I will be healed and as she touched the cloak, she immediately experienced healing 

When St. Mother Teresa was asked from where she got this much energy to do untiring mission among the poor and the needy and the outcasts and others, she said, "I spend an hour before the blessed sacrament every day".  

The Blessed Sacrament gives us an enormous energy to do great things.  The body of Christ that we consume, changes us into new spiritual beings. It's no longer we who live but Christ lives in us. We need the strength and energy of Christ today. We need more love and kindness of Christ today and we should become living body of Christ to our brothers and sisters who are not hungry for physical food but for real spiritual food. Yes, there is a deep longing in every one of us today to connect with higher being, Christ and that connection will happen to us as we eat the body and drink the blood of Christ. 

What was the first food eaten on the moon? The Holy Eucharist, in 1969, as Armstrong and Aldrin landed on the Moon, Aldrin a devoted catholic read from the gospel passage from St. John saying, "I am the vine and you are the branches. If you are with me, you will bear much fruit". Then, he opened the pyx that he took with him and consumed the holy Eucharist thanking Christ. 

When we talk about 'The Holy Eucharist', we often hear the word 'Transubstantiation' which means the essence of the mere bread and wine, after the consecration, with the power and grace of Christ, changed into His precious body and blood. We believe in the real presence of Christ in the Holy Eucharist. And that's why as we come to receive the body of Christ, with devotion we respond saying, "Amen". Amen means I believe. Yes, we believe this body of Christ will change and make us like Him and thus we too will reflect His unconditional love and forgiveness and thus everyone will come to know that God is with them and He loves them without limit. 

In the gospel of John, When Christ our Lord talked about eating His flesh and drinking His blood, many people said, "oh it's every challenging and difficult teaching and who can follow it and thus they left Him and then Christ asked His disciples, "Do you also wish to go away?" They all said, "Jesus, to whom shall we go, you have the words of eternal life".  

Conclusion: Friends in Christ, every time we receive the body of Christ, we receive the kingdom of God and every time we consume the body of Christ, we become like Christ and every time we say 'Amen' receiving and consuming the body of Christ, we promise to go out and proclaim the good news of salvation. Amen.