Holy Family Day December 31

Feast of HOLY FAMILY
My dear brothers and sisters in Jesus Christ,
I believe that the greatest threat facing families now is simply that we don’t spend enough time together. We are so busy working, or socializing, or watching TV that we have less and less time for each other.
A little boy greets his father as he returns from work with a question: “Daddy, how much do you make an hour?” The father is surprised and says: “Look, son, not even your mother knows. Don’t bother me now, I’m tired.” “But Daddy, just tell me please! How much do you make an hour?” the boy insists. The father finally gives up and replies: “Twenty dollars.” “Okay, Daddy,” the boy continues, “Could you loan me ten dollars?” The father yells at him: “So that was the reason you asked how much I earn, right? Now, go to sleep and don’t bother me anymore!” At night the father thinks over what he said and starts feeling guilty. Maybe his son needed to buy something. Finally, he goes to his son's room. “Are you asleep, son?” asks the father. “No, Daddy. Why?” replies the boy. “Here's the money you asked for earlier,” the father said. “Thanks, Daddy!” replies the boy and receives the money. The he reaches under his pillow and brings out some more money. “Now I have enough! Now I have twenty dollars!” says the boy to his father, “Daddy, could you sell me one hour of your time?” Today’s gospel has a message for this man and for all of us, and the message is that we need to invest more of our time in our family life.
There is a story about a solicitor who lived a considerable distance from her elderly father. Months had passed since they had been together and when her father called to ask when she might visit, the daughter detailed a list of reasons that prevented her from taking the time to see him, e.g., court schedule, meetings, new clients, research, etc., etc. At the end of the recitation, the father asked, “When I die, do you intend to come to my funeral?” The daughter’s response was immediate, “Dad, I can’t believe you’d ask that! Of course, I’ll come!” To which the father replied, “Good. Forget the funeral and come; I need you more now than I will then.” As I said, I believe one of the greatest threats facing families now is simply that we do not spend enough time together.
The twelve-year old adult Jesus already knows that his mission is to be in his Father’s house and be about his Father’s business. From the test-run he did in Jerusalem earlier that day, it was clear that he was already capable of doing it very well, because “all who heard him were amazed at his understanding and his answers” (v. 47). The puzzle then is this: If Jesus, already at the age of twelve, was ready to begin his public mission, and was evidently well prepared for it, why would he go down with his parents and spend the next eighteen years in the obscurity of a carpenter’s shed only to begin his public ministry at the age of thirty? Were those eighteen years wasted years? Certainly not! In a way that is hard for us to understand, Jesus’ hidden life in Nazareth was as much a part of his earthly mission as his public life. We are reminded that it was at this time that “Jesus increased in wisdom and in years, and in divine and human favor” (v.52). And when we reflect on the fact that for every one year of his public life Jesus spent ten years in family life, then we shall begin to understand the importance and priority he gave to family life.
Rose Sands writes about the unhappy man who thought the only way he could prove his love for his family was to work hard. “To prove his love for her, he swam the deepest river, crossed the widest desert and climbed the highest mountain. She divorced him. He was never home.”
When you face a problem in your family look at the problems that happened in Holy Family. Just as every family has to face problems and overcome them, or to put it another way, has to carry a cross, so also the holy family had to carry crosses. We can easily imagine how misunderstood both Mary and Joseph must have been when Mary conceived Jesus through the Holy Spirit. Their story would never be believed. Even Mary herself had it very rough early in the pregnancy when Joseph was planning to divorce her before the angel intervened in a dream. When the time for Jesus’ delivery came it took place in an animals’ shelter since Bethlehem was already so crowded. Then the family had to flee to Egypt as refugees because Jesus’ life was in danger due to Herod, in much the same way as refugees from war-torn countries are now entering many western countries. Mary and Joseph suffered the awful experience of losing Jesus for three days when he was twelve years old and the only satisfaction they got from him was that he had to be about his Father’s business. We do not hear of Joseph any more so we presume that before Jesus began his public ministry in Galilee Joseph had died, the holy family suffering the greatest pain of all families, the pain of bereavement and separation through death. Jesus’ public ministry must have taken its toll on Mary. The saddest moment of all came when Mary watched her son die on the cross.

What kept the family together and sane throughout all of these trials and crosses? The answer is ‘Love for each other and God’. Jesus’ love for Mary and Mary’s love for Jesus, and the love of both of them for God the Father or we could say faith in God. What holds our families together in times of difficulty is love and forgiveness.
In the letter to the Ephesians we read that husbands are to love their wives as much as Christ loved the Church (5:25). How much did Jesus love the Church? He loved the Church so much that he died for the Church. It says the love of husband and wife for each other is a reflection of the love of Christ for the Church (5:32). So husbands and wives, is your love for each other a reflection of the unselfish love of Christ for the Church?
On this feast of the Holy Family, the Church invites us, through the First Letter of John, to become in practice what we are indeed. We are family, let us live like family. We start by making our natural families into more loving homes. To measure how much you are contributing into making your family a loving home ask yourself how much of the three A’s – Attention, Affection, and Appreciation – you are giving to each and every member of your family. We all need to give, as well as receive, the three A’s in order to love and feel loved. Next to the home, the church should be a family – an extended family – where we give and receive love. Take time today to look to your right or your left and notice a man, woman, teenager or child who could do with a little bit more of attention, affection and appreciation. Sure enough, our neighbor is found outside the home and the church, but if we can start being more loving in the home and the church we would be taking practical steps in living like members of the family of God that we are.
Strong families are an integral aspect of the Culture of Life. The communion of persons that comes from giving oneself away to the other in selfless love is what creates the proper context for saying a generous “yes” to life. A helpful lesson to point out from the very word “F-A-M-I-L-Y” is that it stands for “Forget About Me; I Love You.”
Just as the holy family survived all its crises through love for each other and faith in God, let us pray during this Mass that our families will conquer all difficulties through love for each other and faith in God. May Jesus Mary and Joseph help you all to lead a good married life.
In the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit. Amen.

Thank You For eveything

St John the Evangelist and the Apostle

St. John, Apostle and Evangelist

It is God who calls; human beings answer. The vocation of John and his brother James is stated very simply in the Gospels, along with that of Peter and his brother Andrew: Jesus called them; they followed. James and John “were in a boat, with their father Zebedee, mending their nets. He called them, and immediately they left their boat and their father and followed him” (Matthew 4:21b-22).
For the three former fishermen—Peter, James and John—that faith was to be rewarded by a special friendship with Jesus. They alone were privileged to be present at the Transfiguration, the raising of the daughter of Jairus and the agony in Gethsemane. But John’s friendship was even more special. John was the most loved apostles for Jesus.
John’s own Gospel refers to him as “the disciple whom Jesus loved” (see John 13:23; 19:26; 20:2), the one who reclined next to Jesus at the Last Supper, and the one to whom he gave the exquisite honor, as he stood beneath the cross, of caring for his mother. “Woman, behold your son....Behold, your mother” (John 19:26b, 27b).
Because of the depth of his Gospel, John is usually thought of as the eagle of theology, soaring in high regions that other writers did not enter. Jesus gave James and John the nickname, “sons of thunder.”
John was the only one of the Twelve who did not forsake the Savior in the hour of His Passion. He stood faithfully at the cross when the Savior made him the guardian of His Mother. His later life was passed chiefly in Jerusalem and at Ephesus. He founded many churches in Asia Minor. He wrote the fourth Gospel, and three Epistles, and the Book of Revelation is also attributed to him. Brought to Rome, tradition relates that he was by order of Emperor Dometian cast into a cauldron of boiling oil but came forth unhurt and was banished to the island of Pathmos for a year. He lived to an extreme old age, surviving all his fellow apostles, and died at Ephesus about the year 100. "If I wish him to remain until I come, what is it to thee?" (John 21, 23). The date of his death cannot be fixed with anything like precision, but it is certain that he lived to a very advanced age. He is represented holding a chalice from which issues a dragon. Also his symbol is an eagle.
The virgin Apostle St. John is called the Apostle of Charity, a virtue he had learned from his Divine Master.
In his old age, when unable to do more, he was carried into the assembly of the Church at Ephesus, and his sole exhortation was, "Little children, love one another."
A persistent story has it that John's "parishioners" grew tired of his one sermon, which relentlessly emphasized: "Love one another." Whether the story is true or not, it has basis in John's writing. He wrote what may be called a summary of the Bible: "We have come to know and to believe in the love God has for us. God is love, and whoever remains in love remains in God and God in him" (1 John 4:16).

Feast of St stephen, the patron saint

St Stephen

Yesterday we celebrated the birth of our Savior our eternal King. Today we celebrate the triumphant suffering of His soldier St Stephen. The church everywhere flourishes through the glorious deeds of the holy Martyrs. On the cross Jesus purchased our salvation with His blood and the martyrs paid back the price of Christ paid for them, thus fulfilling the words of St. John: just as Christ laid down his life for us, we too must lay down our lives for our brothers.
We see the narration of the Martyrdom of St Stephen in the Acts of the Apostles chapter 6. Stephen was one among the seven deacons who were ordained by the Apostles. Stephen was a man filled with grace and power, who worked great wonders and signs among the people. When the authority seized him and when they were sentencing him Stephen’s face seemed like that of an Angel.
When he was sentenced to death Stephen saw the heaven opened and Jesus standing at God’s right hand. As Stephen was being stoned he could be heard praying, “Lord Jesus, receive my Spirit.” He fell to his knees and cried out in a loud voice, “Lord, do not hold this sin against them.”
The Love that brought Christ from Heaven to earth raised Stephen from earth to heaven. Love and forgiveness was Stephen’s weapon by which he gained every battle, and so won the crown signified by his name. His love of God kept him from yielding to the ferocious mob; his love for his neighbor made him pray for those who were stoning him. In acts 6 we read the witnesses meanwhile ere piling their cloaks at the feet of young man name Saul. Strengthened by the power of his love, he overcame the raging cruelty of Saul and won his persecutor on earth as his companion in Heaven.
Love and forgiveness, indeed are the source of all good things; it is an impregnable defense, and the way that leads to heaven. He who walks in love can neither go astray nor be afraid: Love guides him , protects him, and brings him to his journey’s end.
St Fulgentius of Ruspe said: “ My brothers and sisters, Christ made love the stairway that would enable all Christians to climb to heaven> Hold fast to it, therefore, in all sincerity, give one another practical proof of it, and by your progress in it, make your ascent together.
Happy feast of our Patron saint St Stephen. May he help us to forgive all our enemies and love God and our Neighbors?

Merry christmas

Merry Christmas

To you My dear brothers and sisters in Jesus Christ,

God showed His love .John 3:16 “God so loved the world that He gave his one and only Son that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life”. In the Italian language, the expression amore divino could be understood in two ways. It could be understood as “love of God” (divino) or “love of wine” (di vino). Sometimes when you want to tease someone who has just fallen in love, you ask them, “Is it a question of love of God or of love of wine?” By love of God they mean genuine, disinterested love and by love of wine they mean love that is driven by pleasure-seeking and self-interest.
It is true that the Christmas season is a time of happiness, a season to be enjoyed and celebrated. But it is also true that we should always remember to whom we owe this great holyday, who should be the center of this celebration. Christmas is primarily a celebration of the birth of the Incarnate Word, the Prince of Peace. And during this season we should try to make our homes, amidst our family and our friends, a kingdom of peace more than a kingdom of wealth.
St Alphonsus Maria de Liguori, who was a great saint and Doctor of the church suggests “In order for us to love God as he loves us, we remember and meditate on three simple words: CRIB, CROSS, and SACRAMENT. If we remember these three words, we will come to love God in the way we should, because each of these three words is like an arrow that points out how much God loves us.
First word: CRIB. This word reminds us of what we celebrate today: the holy feast of Christmas. Some 2000 years ago Jesus was born in Bethlehem and was laid in a manger, or in a crib, which is a kind of open box where the farmer puts food for his cattle. Mary placed her infant son in the crib she found in the stable since there was no room for them at the inn.
Jesus is the Son of God made man. He could have come to earth as a fully grown up person. But no, he came as a little baby, weak and helpless, so that we could understand that he is truly human, and so that we would know how much he wants us to love him.
Second word: CROSS...This word reminds us of what Jesus did for us after he had grown up to be a man and why he came to this world. Greater love than this no man has than that he lay down his life for his friends.. This is why St. Alphonsus repeatedly says: let us love a God who has loved us so much.
Third word: SACRAMENT. Here we mean the Eucharist, the Mass, Holy Communion, the real presence of Jesus under the form of bread and wine. Again this is a gift that shows God's infinite love for us. Here in the Eucharist, the Mass, we have God going so far as to allow himself to be present to us under the form of bread and wine. He does this so that he can remain with us in a visib­le, tangible form until the end of time. He does this so that he can nourish us spiritually, in much the same way that ordinary bread sustains our body. He remains in our churches and chapels under this form in the tabernacle as a prisoner of love.
Love is the best Christmas present we can give -- whether to God or to his people. The more we try to love, the better we understand the reason for and the true meaning of Christmas.......
A right Christmas includes making room for Jesus. Someone said that the Christmas story is the story of God seeking a room. The inn-keeper is a symbol of those today who have no room for Jesus. The room He seeks today is in our hearts. If our hearts and lives are filled with sin—then Christ cannot come in. This means not only sins of the flesh but sins of the disposition. Envy, hate, un-forgiveness. John declares, "He came unto His own, and His own received Him not. But as many as received Him, He gave them power to become sons of God, even to those that believe in His name which were born, not of blood, nor of the will of the flesh, nor of the will of man, but of God" (John 1:11-13).
As we look on baby Jesus in the manger we see that he is the answer to today’s problems. Instead of violence, in baby Jesus in the manger we see gentleness. Instead of hatred, in baby Jesus in the manger we see tenderness. Instead of selfishness, in baby Jesus in the manger we see love for us. Let us ask baby Jesus to help us to be gentle, tender and loving with those around us as he was in the manger.
“Once upon a time there was a man who looked upon Christmas as a lot of humbug. He wasn’t a Scrooge. He was a kind and decent person. On Christmas Eve his wife and children went to church for the midnight service. He declined to accompany them. “I’d feel like a hypocrite,” he explained. “I’d rather stay at home.” He did not understand why God became a small baby.”
Shortly after his family drove away in the car, snow began to fall. A few minutes later he was startled by a thudding sound. It was quickly followed by another, then another.
He thought that someone must be throwing snowballs at his living room window. When he went to the front door to investigate, he found a flock of birds huddled miserably in the storm. They had been caught in the storm and in a desperate search for shelter had tried to fly through his window. “I can’t let these poor creatures lie there and freeze,” he thought. “But how can I help them?” Then he remembered the barn where the children’s pony was stabled. It would provide a warm shelter.
He put on his coat and galoshes and tramped through the deepening snow to the barn. He opened the door wide and turned on a light. But the birds didn’t come in. “Food will lure them in,” he thought. So he hurried back to the house for bread crumbs, which he sprinkled on the snow to make a trail into the barn. To his dismay, the birds ignored the bread crumbs and continued to flop around helplessly in the snow. He tried shooing them into the barn by walking around and waving his arms. They scattered in every direction - except into the warm lighted barn.
“They find me a strange and terrifying creature,” he said to himself, “and I can’t seem to think of any way to let them know they can trust me. If only I could be a bird myself for a few minutes, perhaps I could lead them to safety. . . .”
Just at that moment the church bells began to ring. He stood silent for a while, listening to the bells pealing the glad tidings of Christmas. Then he sank to his knees in the snow. “Now I do understand,” he whispered. “Now I see why You had to do it.”
This is A Christmas Parable written by Louis Cassels to explain the mystery of Christmas.


Let us remember what a great mystic and poet once said: “Even if Christ should be born a thousand times over in Bethlehem, as long as he is not born in your own heart, your life shall be lost and you shall have been born to no purpose” (Angelus Silesius).

The words of the fourth century poet and mystic Ephraim of Syria seem a fitting prayer:

“At this feast of the nativity Let each person wreathe the door of her or his heart So that the Holy Spirit may delight in that door Enter in and take up occupancy there Then by the spirit we will be made holy.”
Merry Christmas to you my dear brothers and sisters may the infant Jesus fill your hearts and home with love and peace.
In the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit.
Amen.

Merry Christmas

4th Sunday Advent on Abortion

God who is Love is close at hand to give us His Love
My dear brothers and sisters in Jesus Christ,
In today’s Gospel account we find two un-babies, each living their hidden lives in their mothers’ wombs, interacting with each other for the first time. Each one of us is fashioned by God in our mother’s womb and made to be in His own image and likeness.
We have many titles for Our Lady and one most important title is ‘Mother of God.’ Some people misunderstand the meaning of the title ‘Mother of God.’ When we describe Mary as the Mother of God we mean that Mary is the mother of the humanity of Jesus, that she is the one who gave Jesus a body. When we describe Mary as Mother of God we do not mean that she is the mother or source of the Trinity and we do not mean that Mary is the source of Jesus’ soul or that his divinity came from Mary. It is the same with every mother here. Every mother here gave a body to their child but that child’s soul came from God. But yet we say, “Hello, mother.” We do not say, “Hello, mother of my body.” In the same way we call Mary the mother of God. Elizabeth asks why she should be honored with a visit from the mother of her Lord.
We are still in search of the perfect gifts for our dearest ones to show our love and caring for them. However, nothing can substitute for our physical presence among those we love. There is something about being present that is a grace, a gift. A friend of mine once wrote that when he came to a family who had lost a beloved family member, he searched for words to sympathize with them but he could find none. Then he found that all he needed to do was just be present. Saint Therese of Lisieux says “Love alone matters. Love alone is everything.” Shortly after Mary received the good news, actually very scary news, from the angel that she was to bear a son, she gave that gift of presence to Elizabeth, her cousin. She set out on a long and dangerous journey to visit her cousin whose pregnancy was already far along. She gave the grace of her presence.
Let’s visualize the situation. Luke tells us that right after the angel's visit Mary made an impromptu trip to her cousin Elizabeth out in the back country. The trip took almost a week. The young woman was pregnant about ten days. But her cousin had not been told of her relative’s pregnancy. And after but ten days Mary was hardly "showing." Yet, Elizabeth impulsively shouts, "Blessed is the fruit of your womb. Why should I be honored with a visit from the mother of my Lord?"
It is also interesting that modern medical science has shown that by twenty five weeks the baby in the womb has the ability to hear like that of an adult and can discern the moods and attitudes of its mother. Elizabeth says: “At the moment of your greetings reached my ears, the infant in my womb leaped for Joy.”
Mary was hardly carrying a person-less embryo that would become a fetus and then a person. Rather, Elizabeth was inspired to realize that in the early days of her pregnancy her cousin was already carrying the person of the God-Man Jesus." Thus, John, himself already a person, salutes not merely a ten day old person-less embryo but another genuine person.
What is today's Gospel telling us through Elizabeth and her unborn son John? Yes, you are correct! Human life, "alive, sexed, and complete," is present in every mother's womb from the beginning of her pregnancy. Let us be clear, there is only one creator—God. By the act of conception what we humans are doing is co-operating with him. God is the author of all life; it is he who brings about this great mystery. We owe our whole lives to him, if he lapsed in his attention for us for one minute we would cease to be. So God is both the creator and the sustainer of all life. The gift of our life is an act of love on his part —that out of nothing and for no reason other than love he brought us into being.
From the moment of conception a fetus is a human being. Consciousness has nothing to do with the nature that makes one a person. A person can be knocked unconscious and still be a human being. When a person falls asleep he does not cease to be a human life?
And where there is growth there is life. The fact is that life is present from the moment of conception, scientific evidence proves that human life exists in the fetus from that point on.
Science has pinpointed that everything has been determined at fertilization by the baby's genetic code in the 46 human chromosomes! In 14 days the brain waves begin. At 20 days the entire nervous system has been laid down. At 43 days, we can actually measure the brain-waves of that child on an EEG to prove it is an individual thinking human being! In 2 ½ months the body is completely formed with fingers and fingerprints showing it is an individual. By the 9th and 13th week the little child perfectly formed little human being!
We are living in a culture, culture of Abortion: the culture of “get rid of all the inconvenience”. Ps. 127:3 “Behold, children are a heritage from the LORD, the fruit of the womb is a reward.” If someone can wait nine months this child would only become a blessing to them or someone else.
Development of science in fetology, a study of the fetus in 1970s with the development of the ultrasound imaging technology teaches us today that beyond question the unborn child is simply another human being another member of the human community indistinguishably in every way like any of us.
1n 1963 there were 100,000 illegal abortion annually took place in America that increased after the supreme court legislation law of Roe V Wade in January 22, 1973 to 750,000 legal abortion. Then in 1983 it went up to 1.5million abortions annually in America. This number is higher than all American deaths since the Revolutionary War, the Civil War, World War I and 11, the Korean War, Vietnam, and Persian Gulf Wars combined.
The Roe V Wade law says that in the first six months that is in the first and second trimesters of pregnancy abortion could be done for no reason what so ever and in the 7-9 months period in the third Trimester abortion could be done in the interest of the Mothers Health. I do not understand what they mean by health. 4 to 5 minutes long 300 to 400 bucks cost abortion is killing a human being created in the image and likeness of God. While the head remains in mother, the abortionist stabs the back of the head with scissors and then opens them to enlarge the hole in the head. Suction is then applied and the baby's brains are sucked out. This causes the skull to collapse. Finally, the dead baby is removed from the mother. Remember more than 40 million souls of Unborn children were killed. Where is our Love and where our sense of reasoning is. Are we ready to welcome the Child Jesus or is he an inconvenience and nuisance to us, just one thing to be crushed out.
St Elizabeth saying to Mother Mary “Blessed are you among women, and blessed is the fruit of your womb. …Blessed are you who believed that what was spoken to you be the Lord would be fulfilled.

In the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit.
Amen.

Answer the Questions

Test for Dementia B elow are four (4 ) questions and a bonus question. You have to answer them instantly. You can't take your time, answer all of them immediately .





OK? Let's find out just how clever you really are.... Ready? GO!!! (scroll down)









First Question: Y ou are participating in a race. You overtake the second person. What position are you in? ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~Answer: If you answered that you are first, then you are absolutely wrong! If you overtake the second person and you take his place, you are second! Try not to screw up next time.




Now answer the second question, but don't take as much time as you took for the first question, OK ?
Second Question:I f you overtake the last person, then you are...? (scroll down)









~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Answer: If you answered that you are second to last, then you are wrong again. Tell me, how can you overtake the LAST person? You're not very good at this, are you?




Third Question:V ery tricky arithmetic! Note: This must be done in your head only . Do NOT use paper and pencil or a calculator. Try it.Take 1000 and add 40 to it. Now add another 1000. Now add 30 .. Add another 1000 . Now add 20. Now add another 1000 . Now add 10. What is the total? Scroll down for answer.....






~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Did you get 5000 ?The correct answer is actually 4100. If you don't believe it, check it with a calculator!

Today is definitely not your day, is it? Maybe you'll get the last question right... Maybe.

Fourth Question: Mary's father has five daughters: 1. Nana, 2. Nene, 3. Nini, 4. Nono. What is the name of the fifth daughter?






~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Did you Answer Nunu? NO! Of course it isn't.Her name is Mary. Read the question again!



Okay, now the bonus round: A mute person goes into a shop and wants to buy a toothbrush. By imitating the action of brushing his teeth he successfully expresses himself to the shopkeeper and the purchase is done. Next, a blind man comes into the shop who wants to buy a pair of sunglasses; how does HE indicate what he wants?








~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~He just has to open his mouth and ask... It's really very simple.

view the nativity scene of St stephen's church

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Srq8Gx7iwWg

Merry Christmas

3rd Sunday Advent Rejoice

Joy to the World; Rejoice the King who gives joy is coming

My dear brothers and sisters in Jesus Christ,

The 3rd Sunday of Advent is called “Gaudete Sunday.” Gaudete is Latin for “rejoice.” If we count our blessings we shall be happier in this world - we shall have no anxiety about anything. But the sad thing is that, rather than counting our blessings, we tend to be anxious if not miserable. All our worldly wealth, all our sophistication seems to have brought us nothing but anxiety.Do not be anxious, says St Paul. Do not be anxious about tomorrow, tomorrow will look after itself, Jesus tells us. It is folly to worry. Why? First, it's not as if our worry can do any good. None of our worry will make a little of difference to what actually happens. It's all wasted energy. Second, what a release it would be not to have to worry: we should be set free to enjoy the present, to enjoy what the spiritual experts call the sacrament of the present moment.
When you hear St. Paul saying to the Philippians, ‘Brothers and Sisters: Rejoice in the Lord always,’ do you think, ‘Well that sounds good, but it isn’t very realistic? How about the time when my car breaks down, my roof is leaking and I’m overdrawn at the bank?’ Today we are told that “Have no anxiety at all, but in everything, by prayer and petition, with thanksgiving, make your requests known to God. Then the peace of God that surpasses all understanding will guard your hearts and minds in Christ Jesus.”Phili.4:4)
Joy! How often do you experience ‘joy’? I’m not talking about feeling good, when everything is going right, the kids are behaving, the kitchen is clean, we’re having a night off and a vacation is in sight. No, joy is a gift from the Spirit of God that enables to believe and know and yes, even feel that even when circumstances are not going well, either inside of me or outside of me, that all will be well. Joy is different than a grin (a broad smile usually showing the teeth) or a feeling. It is a deep gift, a conviction, but something we know inside of us that God is in control; it all doesn’t depend on me. It is not quite the same as peace, for it is names as a unique gift, but it is close to peace. It must be a sister to peace.
This may sound obvious, but it really is the key. There is no joy or real rejoicing apart from being ‘in the Lord’ and it is ‘in the Lord’ that we are given a share of God’s own joy. More specifically, joy comes from the Spirit of God. In another place in Scripture Paul speaks of joy in Galatians, Chapter five, which bears reading in its entirety, vv. 22 and following, ‘…the fruit of the spirit is love, JOY, peace, patience, kindness, generosity, faithfulness, gentleness and self-control.’
There it is, our ‘joy,’ nestled among love, peace and the other gifts of the Spirit. If joy is a fruit then it must be connected to the tree that bears it and this tree is the life and risen humanity of Christ himself who gave himself in love for us in the midst of the most unspeakable suffering and injustice.
Then what we must do to access this joy in the Spirit, is to be with the Spirit in prayer. We must take the time to immerse ourselves in prayer to have joy and to sustain it. We must soak ourselves in prayer, be with, stay with the Spirit and ask for this gift, especially when times are stressful and we are bearing great suffering. There will always be some resistance to prayer, especially at times of sorrow and stress; there is a temptation to abandon prayer and to think that it is hopeless and futile. God has abandoned us. The truth is the opposite. At these times all the more must we take the time, make the time for prayer. The Spirit of Jesus will not disappoint you, but will tell you only to ‘come back tomorrow for more.’
One of the things we tend to do in the modern world is to equate joy with happiness. However, they are not the same thing. Happiness is based on our circumstances while joy is based on our relationship to God. Joy becomes a part of our nature just as swimming is part of the nature of being a fish.
Joy is a choice that we make for ourselves. We can choose to look at the negative side of things or focus on our unhappy circumstances or we can grow stronger by focusing on the work that God is doing in our lives:
How do we do that? Well, that is rather easy to explain but pretty hard to practice, so I'll explain. Look at the word JOY. You see that it is made up of three letters: first J, then O, and lastly Y. J stands for Jesus, O for Others, and Y for You. Joy therefore is: Jesus, Others, before You. To know joy in our lives we need to place Jesus first in everything. Secondly, we need to try to please others before trying to please you. Jesus is first and he gives you the joy of His Spirit and your joy will radiate to others as you put them before yourself, because selfishness diminishes joy. That is the recipe for joy. That is how we can convert the Christmas "joy to the world" into a personal "joy in my life" now and always.
You will discover that those who practice J-O-Y are the ones who enjoy peace and joy, and that those who practice "self first" are always the unhappy and miserable ones.
In the Gospel today we are challenged by John the Baptist to go about our daily work in an honest and generous way. John gives us some short-cuts to receive joy. “Do not practice extortion, do not falsely accuse anyone, and be satisfied with your wages.”
The command to rejoice, like every other command, is demanding. As we sing in the Lord of the Dance, “It’s hard to dance with the devil on your back.” Author Leo Buscaglia tells a story about his mother which shows that it takes a lot of faith to rejoice. His father came back from work one day and announced that he had lost all his money because his business partner had duped him and ran away with their firm's funds. That same evening, his mother went out, sold some of her expensive jewelry, and bought food for a sumptuous feast. People criticized her for reckless spending at a time when poverty was staring her in the face. But she told them that "the time for joy is now, when we need it most, not next week." Her courageous act rallied the family and gave them the hope they needed to face the future with confidence and trust that God was in control.
The life of holiness to which Paul invites us this Advent is the life of God in us. It is God in us who makes it happen. Our part is mainly to say yes to God, to surrender totally to Him. It is hard for us to live a life of rejoicing always, but the One who calls us to this life is one who always gives us what He commands. He is faithful, and He will keep His promises. God will provide and we are well protected in His hands. He is in Control so Let us rejoice.
In the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit.
Amen.

3rd Sunday Advent Rejoice

Joy to the World; Rejoice the King who gives joy is coming

My dear brothers and sisters in Jesus Christ,

The 3rd Sunday of Advent is called “Gaudete Sunday.” Gaudete is Latin for “rejoice.”If we count our blessings we shall be happier in this world - we shall have no anxiety about anything. Nowadays that's called 'positive thinking' and used in what is referred to as 'cognitive therapy' ,the sad thing is that, rather than counting our blessings, we tend to be anxious if not miserable. All our worldly wealth, all our sophistication seems to have brought us nothing but anxiety.Do not be anxious, says St Paul. Do not be anxious about tomorrow, tomorrow will look after itself, Jesus tells us. It is folly to worry. Why? First, it's not as if our worry can do any good. None of our worry will make a hepworth of difference to what actually happens. It's all wasted energy. Second, what a release it would be not to have to worry: we should be set free to enjoy the present, to enjoy what the spiritual experts call the sacrament of the present moment.
When you hear St. Paul say to the Thessalonians, ‘Brothers and Sisters: Rejoice always,’ do you think, ‘Well that sounds good, but it isn’t very realistic? How about the times when my car breaks down, my roof is leaking and I’m overdrawn at the bank?’ Today we are told that we, indeed, should rejoice always, ‘in all circumstances give thanks, for this is the will of God for you in Christ Jesus.’ (1Thessalonians 5:16-24)
Joy! How often do you experience ‘joy’? I’m not talking about feeling good, when everything is going right, the kids are behaving, the kitchen is clean, we’re having a night off and a vacation is in sight. No, joy is a gift from the Spirit of God that enables to believe and know and yes, even feel, that even when circumstances are not going well, either inside of me or outside of me, that all will be well. Joy is different than a grin (a broad smile usually showing the teth) or a feeling. It is a deep gift, a conviction, but something we know inside of us that God is in control; it all doesn’t depend on me. It is not quite the same as peace, for it is names as a unique gift, but it is close to peace. It must be a sister to peace.
This may sound obvious, but it really is the key. There is no joy or real rejoicing apart from being ‘in the Lord’ and it is ‘in the Lord’ that we are given a share of God’s own joy. More specifically, joy comes from the Spirit of God. In another place in Scripture Paul speaks of joy in Galatians, Chapter five, which bears reading in its entirety, vv. 22 and following, ‘…the fruit of the spirit is love, JOY, peace, patience, kindness, generosity, faithfulness, gentleness and self-control.’
There it is, our ‘joy,’ nestled among love, peace and the other gifts of the Spirit. Incidentally, in theological language, joy is one of the ‘Fruits of the Spirit,’ to distinguish them from the seven ‘Gifts’ of the Holy Spirit. If joy is a fruit then it must be connected to the tree that bears it and this tree is the life and risen humanity of Christ himself who gave himself in love for us in the midst of the most unspeakable suffering and injustice.
Finally, what we must do to ‘access’ this joy in the Spirit is to be with the Spirit in prayer. We must take the time to immerse ourselves in prayer to have joy and to sustain it. We must soak ourselves in prayer, be with, stay with the Spirit and ask for this gift, especially when times are stressful and we are bearing great suffering. There will always be some resistance to prayer, especially at times of sorrow and stress; there is a temptation to abandon prayer and to think that it is hopeless and futile. God as abandoned us. The truth is the opposite. At these times all the more must we take the time, make the time for prayer. The Spirit of Jesus will not disappoint you, but will tell you only to ‘come back tomorrow for more.’
One of the things we tend to do in the modern world is to equate joy with happiness. However, they are not the same thing. Happiness is based on our circumstances while joy is based on our relationship to God.
Rejoice in the Lord always; again I will say, Rejoice. (Philippians 4:4.Joy becomes a part of our nature just as swimming is part of the nature of being a fish.
Joy is a choice that we make for ourselves. We can choose to look at the negative side of things or focus on our unhappy circumstances or we can grow stronger by focusing on the work that God is doing in our lives:
How do we do that? Well, that is rather easy to explain but pretty hard to practice, so I'll explain. Look at the word JOY. You see that it is made up of three letters: first J, then O, and lastly Y. J stands for Jesus, O for Others, and Y for You. Joy therefore is: Jesus, Others, before You. To know joy in our lives we need to place Jesus first in everything. Secondly, we need to try to please others before trying to please yourself. Jesus is first and he gives you the joy of His Spirit and your joy will radiate to others as you put them before yourself, because selfishness diminishes joy. That is the recipe for joy. That is how we can convert the Christmas "joy to the world" into a personal "joy in my life" now and always.
You will discover that those who practice J-O-Y are the ones who enjoy peace and joy, and that those who practice "self first" are always the unhappy and miserable ones.
In the Gospel of this Third Sunday of Advent, we are challenged by John the Baptist to go about our daily work in an honest and generous way. John does not ask for anything extraordinary. He simply says that you should do the ordinary things you are supposed to do in the right way. If you have more than your neighbours, share with them. If you work in an office, don’t cheat anyone. If you have some special responsibility like a soldier or a police officer, treat people fairly. We are exhorted to be honest and just in whatever we do.
The command to rejoice, like every other command, is demanding. As we sing in the Lord of the Dance, “It’s hard to dance with the devil on your back.” Author Leo Buscaglia tells a story about his mother which shows that it takes a lot of faith to rejoice. His father came back from work one day and announced that he had lost all his money because his business partner had duped him and ran away with their firm's funds. That same evening, his mother went out, sold some of her expensive jewelry, and bought food for a sumptuous feast. People criticized her for reckless spending at a time when poverty was staring her in the face. But she told them that "the time for joy is now, when we need it most, not next week." Her courageous act rallied the family and gave them the hope they needed to face the future with confidence and trust that God was in control.
The life of holiness to which Paul invites us this Advent is the life of God in us. It is God in us who makes it happen. Our part is mainly to say yes to God, to surrender totally to Him. It is hard for us to live a life of rejoicing always, but the One who calls us to this life is one who always gives us what He commands. He is faithful, and He will do it in our lives. God will provide and we are well protected in His hands. He is in Control so Let us rejoice. Amen.

2nd Sunday in Advent year C

Prepare the way, the King of Peace is Coming.

My dear brothers and sisters in Jesus Christ,

John the Baptist totally separates himself from the world in order to give testimony of another world. Within his solitude he is able to hear the voice of God. His home is a testimony of what our souls must be in order to listen to God and to possess him.
How is Advent going for you? If you have not yet begun to make a straight way for the Lord, begin today. It is never too late to begin. Spend time with God searching for the answers to your problems.

We are too busy to get exact gift for us and for whom we love. There is only one gift at Christmas, that gift is Jesus. God is always willing to give, but it is up to you to un-wrap God’s gift to you. Celebrate Advent with your heart, it is an opportunity to step back from the consumerism of the materialistic world and make a straight way for the Lord.
How do we prepare ourselves to welcome Jesus? Leveling the mountains and filling in the valleys, straightening the roads and giving them a smooth surface is what John the Baptist said we would have to do to prepare for the Lord. The scholar Chris Seeman explains: “It was customary for the inhabitants of a region to repair and beautify the roads by which an imperial official – or perhaps the king himself – was expected to visit his district.”
John was fully aware of his mission, handed to him by his father: “You, child , will go before the Lord to prepare the way for him.” How repair, how beautify the roads by which his beloved cousin Jesus would visit his people?
“Repent”. We'll never repent unless we get close to God. We wish to remain attached to habits and attitudes, which are unworthy of us and hurtful to others. Like St. Augustine, we are inclined to say, "Change me, Lord but not yet." What is called for is repentance and we must be careful not to confuse that with remorse. Remorse is simply a temporary regret about our unworthy behavior. It usually lasts a very short time and then we return to our old habits. By contrast, repentance means that we have found something better and more promising than our sinfulness. This discovery is the love and goodness of God. If we could only realize how much God loves us, we would be able to resist every temptation.
Of course John the Baptist was not talking about the hills or roads of Palestine. He was talking about the hills and roads in the heart of every person in every century that wants to meet the Lord. To meet the Lord we need to prepare our hearts. What are the mountains and hills in our hearts that need to be leveled? We could think of pride and greed. So many people are remarking that we have become a very selfish greedy nation. What are the valleys in our hearts and lives that need to be filled in? We could think of trying to overcome an addiction or lack of confidence in oneself. What are the crooked roads in our hearts that need to be straightened? We could think of lying and deceitfulness and being dishonest with others. What are the uneven surfaces on the roads of our hearts that need to be resurfaced? We could think of bad language and being a bother to other people. How do we level these mountains and hills, fill these valleys, straighten these crooked roads and resurface them? Paul gave us a remedy when he wrote to the Philippians chapter one, which we heard in our second reading.
What he says is to increase our love more and more, to improve our knowledge, the knowledge about word of God and the teaching of the Church and deepen our perception, in other words grow in love of God and neighbor and improve our knowledge of our faith and our knowledge of Christ. You say you love Jesus. How do you love a person if you do not know him very well!
Sometimes we can put up a good fight to keep God’s grace away! So what happens then? God in his all-wise plan for us allows a catastrophe to bring us to our senses. It is not that God wishes a disaster on us, no. God only wants what is good for us. It would be unfair to expect God to come and wave a magic wand and prevent all kinds of disasters. God is not a magician. God has given us freedom. But when something does happen it can be a lever to help us think again about our attitudes and how we live.
The spiritual writers say that when we are broken internally it can be an opportunity for great spiritual growth. When a disaster like that happens it can act like John the Baptist preaching to us, asking us to prepare a way for the Lord, stirring up people’s consciences, helping to lay low the mountains and hills, fill the valleys, straighten the roads and give them smooth surfaces. But when it happens we have a choice. We can allow God’s grace to work and allow the mountains to be leveled and the valleys filled in, the crooked roads straightened and the uneven surfaces to be smoothened. Or we can prefer things as they used to be. We might say, ‘it was better before’ and try to go back to the old ways of living and thinking and doing things. We can surrender to God and grow to become what he has called us to be or we can remain stubborn and refuse to grow from this grace-filled opportunity. .
A wise man was once asked ‘Why, of all things, did God choose the humble thorn bush as the place from which to speak with Moses?’ The wise man replied: ‘If he had chosen an oak tree or a chestnut tree, you would have asked the same question. Yet it is impossible to let you go away empty-handed. That is why I am telling you that God chose the humble thorn bush - to teach you that there is no place on earth bereft of the Divine Presence, not even a thorn bush.’
Today is the Sunday of Peace. But we are not at peace. Our life is full of anxieties and complaints. Our anxiety comes from the fact that we don’t have a sound eye: we don’t have a sound look at things: we consider money as the supreme value; and we don’t have a sound look at God: we don’t consider God as our loving Father who takes care of us. The remedy to our anxiety is to trust in God.
Jesus never promised us a life free of difficulty. Adversities and problems challenge us every day. The peace that Jesus gives us through the presence of the Holy Spirit is the peace that comes from conquering each problem. No experience of life should be able to do away with our peace of soul. We must never allow any danger or suffering to diminish it.
When we learn how to complain less and always to look for the brighter side of things, then and only then shall we discover the unsuspected treasures of life.
When the employees asked Jerry who was their restaurant manager how he can be peaceful at all times. He said "Each morning I wake up and say to myself, 'Jerry, you have two choices today. You can choose to be in a good mood or you can choose to be in a bad mood.' I choose to be in a good mood. Each time something bad happens, I can choose to be a victim or I can choose to learn from it. I choose to learn from it. Every time someone comes to me complaining, I can choose to accept their complaining or I can point out the positive side of life. I choose the positive side of life."
Yes dear brothers and sisters, prepare the way for the Lord, the King of Peace is coming, let Him find us always at peace.

Be awake, Jesus is coming to our lives
My dear brothers and sisters in Jesus Christ,
Here is a quiz for you. You are sleeping. You are dreaming. A big lion is chasing you. You try to run away and you see a tiger coming in front of you. You turn sideways, but every side you turn to, you find a ferocious animal coming after you. How can you escape? The answer is: Wake up.
By waking up one enters a whole new world of reality, different from that of the dream world. What was a huge problem in the dream state becomes a non-issue in the waking state. Dream state concerns and priorities lose their importance and new concerns and priorities take their place. For example, you discover that your problem is no longer how to escape from wild beasts but how to beat the morning rush and arrive early for work. We can relate to the change that occurs between a dream consciousness and a wake consciousness. A similar and even more significant change occurs when we move from a state of being spiritually asleep, drowsy to that of being spiritually awake, when the soul is awake and alert to spiritual reality.
In today’s gospel Jesus admonishes and encourages his followers to remain alert in the spirit. Be vigilant at all times and pray. He was about to leave them for an uncertain length of time. By their faith and commitment to Jesus, his followers are like people who have roused themselves from spiritual slumber. But the time of his absence would be a time of trial for their faith life when they would be tempted to doze off. He enjoins them to remain awake and watchful so that whenever he comes to them he would find them not sleeping but watching in faith, ready to welcome him.
During this advent preparations to welcome Jesus do just some little thing in their small corner of the world to make a difference. To spread our little light, in the darkness where we live.
I have heard the story of a wise old Rabbi who instructed his students by asking questions. He asked, "How can a person tell when the darkness ends and the day begin?" After thinking for a moment, one student replied, "It is when there is enough light to see an animal in the distance and be able to tell if it is a sheep or a goat." Another student ventured, "It is when there is enough light to see a tree, and tell if it is a fig or an oak tree."
The old Rabbi gently said, "No. It is when you can look into a man's face and recognize him as your brother. When you can look into a woman’s face and recognize her as your sister. For if you cannot recognize in another's face the face of your brother, your sister, the darkness has not yet begun to lift, and the light has not yet come."
This is the first Sunday of Advent, the Sunday of Expectation and Hope. Hope means hoping when things are hopeless, or it is no virtue at all. --G.K. Chesterton.
Late Pope John Paul II in his Easter message of 1986, said, "The last word of God on the human condition is not death, but life; not despair, but hope. To this hope the Church invites the men and women of today as well.”
There is a difference between optimism and hope.
Optimism is a cheap substitute for the Christian virtue of hope. The optimist tends to believe that everything in this world is wonderful, or at least that troublesome situations can be resolved with a little ingenuity. The optimist does not live in reality; rather his vision is clouded by the delusion that every house really does have a white picket fence around it.
Those who live the Christian virtue of hope are the realists. These people understand that the world is filled with many colors and dimensions, some beautiful, some not. They realize that this world is not a paradise, but they have the strength, the energy, and the vision to make it a better place for everyone.
However, hope does provide us with the certainty that this life does have meaning. Hope allows us to smile, to laugh, to sing, and to develop the resources of this world in order to alleviate suffering and despair. Hope provides people with the spiritual energy and the ability to realize their dreams.
When we truly live the Christian virtue of hope, we enter into a new relationship with life itself. Because we have a personal relationship with Jesus, life becomes new. Life is clad with a new loveliness, a new light and a new strength.
When we meditate upon the Incarnation, when we look at it, it shows us that we are going to be helped by God's powerlessness - not by God's power. "It is not just that God is, but that God comes." The Christmas Story tells of God coming to earth as a child. To do so was for the powerful to become powerless. The willingness to be at-one-with. That's what incarnation means - God is at-one-with us.
That is the secret of caring - willing to be at-one-with. Theillard de Chardin wrote that - "The world belongs to those who will have brought the greatest hope."
When we are in the pitch of life, think of the mountain waiting for us. Life is full of ups and downs. If there is no pitch then there are no heights. If there is no sadness in your lives you may not enjoy the joyful moments in your life.
"Beware that your hearts do not become drowsy’" (LUKE 21: 35). As disciples of the Lord we have so many ways to be drowsy. We can sleep by putting off the sacrament of confession. We can sleep by not committing ourselves to a life of prayer. We can sleep by giving in to the temptations of secularism. We can sleep by "not being too hard on ourselves". We can sleep by being satisfied with being "good people" rather than striving for sanctity. We can sleep by rationalizing our own sloth and laziness. We can sleep by dulling our conscience. We can blame the authorities and church and forget about our spiritual life. Remember Jesus said “that day catch you by surprise like a trap” (Luke 21:34)
The penitential aspect of Advent is almost completely lost in today’s post-Christian, consumer-driven society. The thought of Advent often brings to mind a whirlwind of Christmas parties, decorations and getting ready for “Santa.” And in the midst of all this we often forget the very reason for these externals: Christ the Lord is coming! If we do not prepare ourselves spiritually for his arrival, we could make the same mistake as the people in Bethlehem who not only missed his coming, but actually rejected him.
How often as children were we told that we “better watch out, better not cry, better not pout, I’m telling you Why”? And how often do we tell it one way or another to our own children or hearing it on the radio hum along and be reminded of Christmases past? But remember, it isn’t just Santa Claus who is coming to town. Jesus our Life-giver is coming and we must prepare by strengthening our hearts with love for one another and for all.

Christ the King

Christ the King
My dear brothers and sisters in Jesus Christ,
The Magi leave their homeland to search for the King. Herod does not accept His presence and attempts to have Him killed. Simeon tells Mary that He will be the fall and the rise of many in Israel. Just before His passion, the people proclaim Him king as He rides into Jerusalem on a donkey. Caiaphas, the high priest, charges the King with blasphemy. Pontius Pilot asks Him if He really is the King of the Jews and Jesus answers that He is a king, and that His kingdom is not of this world. A sign bearing a message in three languages is nailed above the crucified King: Jesus, King of the Jews.
Today on the last Sunday of the Liturgical Year, the Church celebrates the solemn feast of Christ the King. In Jn 18:36, Jesus tries to clear up Pilate’s misunderstandings by stating that: “My kingdom is not of this world. If my kingdom where from this world, my followers would be fighting to keep me from being handed over to the Jews. But as it is, my kingdom is not from here.” This means that Christ is not king like the rulers of the earth. His kingship does not depend upon the powers of this world and is not inspired by them.
Then what is the Kingdom of Jesus?
By summarizing all of the teachings of the New Testament on the kingdom we can clearly see that the kingdom is a three dimensional reality: the life of grace within every individual who does the will of God, the Church here on earth, and eternal life in Heaven.
The kingdom first establishes itself in our hearts, thus allowing us to participate in God's inner life. We are elevated and transformed through sanctifying grace. This supernatural life of grace comes to fulfillment in the eternal life of Heaven. Kingdom of Jesus is a kingdom of LOVE.
Essentially, the one characteristic that marks the way we are to live our lives is love. Let us remember that love is the total, self-sacrificing donation of our entire being.
God’s love for you is unconditional. In reality, Christianity is a love story: God loves you unconditionally and he calls you to love him unconditionally. His Kingdom is a kingdom of Love. We are called to love. This is the meaning of our lives. Every act of service, every act of kindness, every act of self giving must be seen as an act of love.
And who are we loving? “Truly, I say to you, as you did it to one of the least of these my brethren, you did it to me” (Matthew 25: 40).
Before his conversion, Francis of Assisi was ridding his horse through the countryside. Suddenly he came up upon a leper. Despite the ugliness of the terrible disease, Francis was so moved with pity, that he jumped off of his horse and flung his arms around the unfortunate man. As Francis looked at the leper, the man’s face changed and it appeared as the face of Jesus.
Blessed Mother Theresa certainly showed the modern world how to love. She once said, “What I can do, you cannot. What you can do, I cannot. But together we can do something beautiful for God. Yes, you must live life beautifully and not allow the spirit of the world that makes gods out of power, riches, and pleasure makes you to forget that you have been created for greater things – to love and to be loved”.
We must never be surprised that the spiritual life is a battle. A battle between the two kingdoms will always take place in our heart until the day the Lord calls us to the kingdom of Heaven. If you struggle, you will conquer. If you conquer, you will be given the crown of victory. To ensure that Jesus is always the king of our hearts requires great commitment, sacrifice, conviction, hard work and a lot of prayer to assure that Jesus is always the king of our heart.
Knowing that Christ is King is not enough for us. To seek his kingdom means to seek the TRUTH. God’s kingdom is where this truth reins .The words truth and true, used 39 times in John. Jesus is king in the sense which he himself defines: he bears witness to the truth (Jn 18:37).
Pontius Pilate asked Jesus, “Are you a king?” the Lord replied, “You say that I am a king. For this I was born, and for this I came into the world, to testify to the truth. Everyone who belongs to the truth listens to my voice.” Jesus came to give witness to the truth — to the truth about God and his love; to the truth about us, who we are and who we’re called to be. Jesus’ Kingdom is a kingdom of Truth.
On this day we are reminded of who it is that should be the center of our lives, Jesus Christ, our Lord and King.
Many of you may remember the animated film called the Lion King. There is a particular scene that I would like to focus on today. After the death of his father, Simba the little lion cub is confused and is trying to plan his future. As he contemplates, a baboon by the name of Rafiki comes on the scene and tells Simba that he is confused because "you don't even know who you are." Simba replies "And I suppose you do?" Rafiki responds, "Yep, You are Mufasa's boy.” Rafiki then takes Simba to a nearby river to show him that his father Mufasa is still alive. He tells Simba to look in the water and tell him what he sees. Simba responds, "that's just my reflection." Rafiki insists, "No. Look harder!" As Simba looks in the water more closely, he then sees the image of his father, King Mufasa. Rafiki then makes the point, "See. He lives in you.”
Christ the King lives in each of us in a very real way! At Baptism, we were anointed with Sacred Chrism as Priest, Prophet and King. In other words, we share in the Kingship of Christ. We belong to the Heavenly Kingdom of the King of Kings!
If Christ is truly King of the Universe and King of my life, then he must be King of every part of my life. I must let him rein in all parts of my life. So this feast is a great day to ask ourselves whether Christ is truly King of our lives, whether he rules everywhere. Is he king of my time, is he king of my life, is he king of my home and if I really believe and seeks to live in His kingdom then I can truly say, “Thy kingdom come, thy will be done on earth as it is in heaven.”
In the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit.
Amen.

33rd Sunday Homiy

Today is the first day of the rest of your life.

My dear brothers and sisters in Jesus Christ,
At the bottom of the pond little grubs were crawling around. They wonder what happens to their members who climb up the stem of the lily and never come back. “I wonder what its like up there.” They agree among themselves that the next one who is called to the surface will come back. The next little grub that finds itself drawn to the surface by nature crawls up the stem and out on the surface on the lily leaf. It was really bright up there. It had been so dark and murky down below. They won’t believe this. Suddenly something begins to happen. The grub begins to open out. The grub spreads out two huge beautiful colored wings and becomes a beautiful dragonfly. It never imagines that this could have happened. It thought it would remain a grub forever. It flew back and forth across the pond. It could see the other grubs in the pond below but they couldn’t see it. It realized there was no way it could get back and that they could not recognize such a beautiful creature as ever having been one of them.
My dear brothers and sisters this will be true when we think of the second coming of Jesus and the resurrection day. Many times our culture avoids consideration of death. Many attempt to avoid the fullness of the eschatological teachings of the Gospels. There is a heaven. However, it is also equally true that there is a purgatory and that there is a hell.
Some day, as yet unknown to us, this life will come to an end and God will judge us according to our deeds. "For you yourselves know very well that the day of the Lord will come like a thief at night. Therefore, let us not sleep as the rest do, but let us stay alert and sober" (1 Thessalonians 5: 2, 7). We need to be ready as the prophet Malachi warns us. “Lo, the day is coming, blazing like an oven, when all the proud and evildoers will be stubble, and the day that is coming will see them on fire, leaving them neither root nor branch, says the Lord of hosts” (Malachi 4: 1).
The temptation to interpret these events literally through the Book of Revelation would be very dangerous. In Mark we read "But of that day or hour, no one knows, neither the angels in heaven, nor the Son of Man, but only the Father" (Mark 13: 32).
In the Catholic liturgy we pray: "In your mercy keep us free from sin and protect us from all anxiety as we wait in joyful hope for the coming of our Savior, Jesus Christ".
On May 19th, 1780 in Hartford, Connecticut, the sky darkened portentously, and some of the members of the State House of Representatives, glancing out the windows, feared the end was at hand. Quelling a clamor for immediate adjournment, Colonel Davenport, the Speaker of the House, rose and said, "The Day of Judgment is either approaching or it is not. If it is not, there is no cause for adjournment. If it is, I choose to be found doing my duty. Therefore, I wish that candles be brought in to the chamber." Rather than fearing what is to come, we are to be faithful till Christ returns. Instead of fearing the dark, we're to be lights as we watch and wait.
Fear must not control us. There is a humorous story about two explorers who were on a jungle safari. Suddenly a ferocious lion jumped in front of them. "Keep calm" the first explorer whispered. "Remember what we read in that book on wild animals? If you stand perfectly still and look the lion in the eye, he will turn and run." "Sure," replied his companion. "You've read the book, and I've read the book. But has the lion read the book?"
I am not minimizing the magnitude of the challenges that confront us. Nevertheless, if we truly wish to experience the joy that the virtue of hope provides, we must abandon ourselves with total confidence to the loving hands of God our Father who knows all things.
You have a Big Day ahead of you, and so do I. It’s the day we will die. The whole world and all of humanity also have a big day that lies ahead, the Day of the Lord, that day in which the world as we know it will come to an end. Both our own Big Day and the world’s will each be a day of reckoning, that day in which we will account for all that we have done and all that we have not done through neglect, indifference and simply not caring.
How does the Catholic Church want us to think of that Day of the Lord? What’s the right attitude and vision that we should have about that day, a day that we will all certainly face?
Now the Catholic Church doesn’t ignore the fact that the world will come to an end and that Christ will come again in judgment on the Last Day. But our Church does ask us not to spend a lot of time and energy pondering over when He is coming. It does want us to pay attention to the fact that He will come again.
Why is this so important? Because death gives meaning to life. If we ignore the fact that we will die and give a reckoning to God, then we’ll forget about how we should be living here and now – today, tomorrow, the rest of the week, the rest of the year, and so forth. If we ignore that we are facing a Day of Judgment, both individually and collectively, we will ignore the way we treat others. We’ll forget about accomplishing the tasks we all have here and now in revealing God’s presence in our own lives and in the lives of others.
The Church puts the Last Days in front of our eyes so that we can judge what it is we’re doing for Christ these days, here, right now. The most effective way to ensure the value of the future is to confront the present courageously and constructively. The Lord speaks to us of the End of the World because thinking about it puts our present day’s values in proper perspective.
While it’s quite true that you may die tomorrow in some sudden and unexpected accident, your value in death, the value of the days you have lived among us, will depend on what you have done with the days God has already given you as well as upon what you have done today. So do I. We should plan ahead and work as if we’re going to live forever… and we should live like we’re going to die tomorrow. Today is not only the first day of the rest of your life here on earth; it is the first day of your eternal life.
Many people in our world, people that we know, live without caring a bit about the end of their individual lives as well as about the end of our world. If we don’t care about the Final Day of Judgment, and if we don’t care about our own particular day of judgment (the day we die) then we won’t care about what we’re doing today and tomorrow, about what’s important in life, or about the way we treat other people, or the world’s resources, or about making the world a more beautiful place.
So today is the first day of the rest of your life – both your life here on earth as well as your eternal life.
In the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit.
Amen.

St Stephen's Senior Citizens

Every Tuesdays at 1pm our senior citizens meet together to have fun and playing BINGO

God loves a cheerful Giver

"God loves a cheerful giver."
My dear brothers and sisters in Jesus Christ,
Let me start with a true story which appeared in a Guidepost magazine.
A new boy at a school was segregated from the other children and often alone. He wore hand-me-down clothes. His clothes had a "vintage" look before the "vintage look" was in style. One day the teacher announced that she wanted the children to bring money to school the next day to help needy people in the community. The next day the teacher asked the children who had brought some money. Only that one young lad put his hand. He moved decisively up to the front and put in her hand a nickel (a coin worth five cents). He quietly told her that he guessed he could go without lunch that day. The teacher took her class's donation to the principal's office. She was embarrassed at only having a nickel to show for her efforts. But when she told the principal of her meager (unsatisfactory) results, the principal was amazed. He showed her the list of the most needy families in the area requesting help. The name at the top of the list was the family of that boy who had made the sole contribution.
Dear brothers and sisters, the irony of that story is the same irony as in the story of the widow's mite. The stories of widow in our readings are really challenging.
We measure the greatness of actions by their external appearance and impression. Christ tells us here that he looks into our heart, and he reads our dispositions. This is very encouraging. If all we have the opportunity of giving him is a small act of kindness and not an earth-shattering gesture, he still measures it by the love in our heart as we give it. We sometimes think we have very little to offer him, but we can always give him our whole heart.
It is not a matter of having many things to give, but to be generous with what we have. If we are generous in small things we will be generous in the big, when the opportunity comes to give them.
There is a famous funny story about a little Swiss church at the turn of the 20th century. The roof of the hall of this little church was falling down, so the members of the church decided to hold regular prayer meetings in the hall after the service to pray for funds to repair the roof. Now there was an old man known to be very tight with his money who used to attend the prayer meeting. He would always sit near the back of the hall so that he could sneak out just before the collection plate came round at the end of the meeting. One Sunday, he was held up on his way to the prayer meeting, and could only find a seat at the front of the hall. During the meeting a piece of the roof fell and hit him on the head. Feeling spoken to by God, he stood up and said, "Lord, I'll give two thousand dollars." A voice at the back of the church was heard to say, "Hit him again, Lord!"
This is our way but Jesus sees things differently. Jesus pays special attention to the poor widow whose clothes were unspectacular and who probably was overlooked by almost everyone. Oh yes, many rich people put in huge sums. But Jesus commended the woman who put in a penny. Why? It wasn't tossed in with great finesse but placed in with great humility. Because the others did it for show out of abundance; she did it for God with "all she had to live on." Others made a contribution. But the widow made a sacrifice. Two cents was all she had. It wasn't all she had in her purse at the time; it was all she had, two cents and a vault full of faith.
But when we see the collections in the Catholic Church all over the world, we may wonder are we giving tips to God. We may give more money as a tip at the restaurants than what we give in the church. And we have no problem. A minister challenged himself and his congregation one Sunday morning. When the ushers had taken up the offering one Sunday and brought the plates down to the altar, he took the plates and held them up in the air. Then he prayed: "Dear God, regardless of what we say about you with our lips, this is really what we say about you, this is really what we feel about you. This is really what you mean to us. Amen." (Raoul Comninos: The Widow's Offering: Four Principles of Tithing, Dec 2000). No more beating around the bush. This prayer hits the nail on the head: our giving doesn't just matter - it is an expression of our love for God.
Jesus turned a two-cent gift into a headline because of the sacrifice the gift represented. It's not the size of the clang that matters most. It's the sacrifice that involved in the giving. Our gifts are not measured by how much we give, but by how much we keep for ourselves. Our giving must cost us.
When we look into the day-to-day life of the Catholic Church, The majority of us, I believe, recognize the difference between a mean spirited person and the one who is generous in his or her attitudes. It is a difference which shows itself in those who live "on" society and those who live "for" society; it is the difference that shows itself in those who consistently take more from living than they put into it. President John F. Kennedy, in his inaugural address in 1961, put it well when he challenged the country "And so, my fellow Americans, ask not what your country can do for you, ask what you can do for your country". And I add to that sentence do it what you can do for the Church.
It is above all one's intention that counts. It is on this intention that we will be judged. It is the intention of the widow that Jesus glorified in the eyes of his disciples: What can God do with our gold and silver? It is our heart which God wants for himself! Even if we have nothing, neither gold nor silver, there is still one thing that we can give to God, the only thing which has value in his eyes: our love! My dear brothers and sisters, Jesus asks us to examine our values. To what do we cling? The scribes clung to power and their own resources. The poor widow had little, but she trusted in God to give her what she needed. God asked Abraham to leave the country and everything he had and go to the Promised Land .When he had a son in his old age God asked him to sacrifice Isaac. Isaac was the only son he had. But he was ready to give everything to God and put trust in him. It is the time to examine ourselves about where our choices are and whether we’re choosing God in our choices.
What Jesus said of the scribes may be true to us. There is no pretence or hiding before God. We may cover up the kind of people we are, but that could only be in the sight of people. He sees into our hearts, and he spoke of us as white sepulchers, white and bright on the outside, but full of rotten bones within.
"God loves a cheerful giver." "The amount which you measure in your giving to others will be the measure of how you yourself will receive."
The bottom line is: “Do what you do to please God rather than to please others. Whatever we do, let it be from the heart.” God loves a cheerful giver.

In the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit.
Amen.

To watch the sunday Homly

To watch the sunday homily of Fr Sunny John 11-05-2006 please click here
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PKhi22yCgOU

“If you love, you will be loved.”

“If you love, you will be loved.”
My dear brothers and sisters in Jesus Christ,
There is an immortal poem written by Englishman Leigh Hunt about a man called Abou Ben Adhem. Abou Ben Adhem woke from his sleep one night and saw in his room an angel writing in a book of gold the names of those who love God. “And is mine one?” inquired Abou. “Nay, not so,” replied the angel. “I pray thee, then, said Abou, “Write me as one who loves his fellow men.” The following night the angel came again and displayed the names of those who love God and Abou Ben Adhem’s name topped the list.
This poem makes the point that true love of God and true love of our fellow human beings are like two sides of the same coin. One cannot exist apart from the other. That is what we find in today's gospel. Jesus is asked about the first of all commandments in the law.
“Which is the first of all the commandments in the law?” This question was very important for the Jews, because they had so many commandments, six hundred and thirteen of them. And they had to follow them all. To answer to this question, Jesus first cites a passage from Deuteronomy that everyone knew because it was the profession of faith that pious Israelites recited every morning and evening, “Hear, O Israel, the Lord our God, the Lord is one; you shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, and with your soul, and with your mind, and with all your strength” (Deut 6:4-5). And then Jesus adds, “The second is this, ‘You shall love your neighbor as yourself.’ There is no other commandment greater than these.” The answer of Jesus was clear: the first and greatest commandment: “You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, with all your soul, and with all your mind”. Notice the three “alls”: all your heart, all your soul, and all your mind. If you really love, your love cannot be half your heart, half your soul and half your mind. To love is to give oneself totally to the beloved one. We read in the book of the prophet Isaiah: “The Lord said: this people draws near with words only and honors me with their lips alone, but their hearts are far from me” (29:13).
The second commandment is like the first: “You shall love your neighbor as yourself”. In his first Epistle, St. John gives us an acid test to prove whether we love God and Neighbor in chapter 4. If not we are liars. He writes “Anyone who says, ‘I love God’, and hates his brother, is a liar, since a man who does not love the brother that he can see cannot love God whom he has never seen. So this is the commandment that he has given us, that anyone who loves God must also love his brother” (1 John 4:20-21)
If we love God we prove our love by keeping his commandments.
To direct us all our lives to love God with our heart soul and mind, God has given us guidelines, the Ten Commandments. The commandments are not meant to restrict us, not meant to make life less enjoyable for us, but are meant to make life more enjoyable for us because they save us from the potholes that we could fall into going through life. The commandments are not to restrict our behavior but show us the values in life to love, the qualities in our personalities to develop for happiness in life.
The first three of the Ten Commandments show us how to love God.
1. I am the Lord your God, you shall not have strange gods before me.
2. You shall not take the name of the Lord your God in vain.
3. Remember to keep holy the Sabbath day.
The next seven commandments show us how to love our neighbor.
4. Honor your father and your mother.
5. You shall not kill.
6. You shall not commit adultery.
7. You shall not steal.
8. You shall not bear false witness against your neighbor.
9. You shall not covet your neighbor’s wife.
10. You shall not covet your neighbor’s goods.
In today’s gospel Jesus is reacting against a one-dimensional understanding of love. For Jesus, true love must express itself in three dimensions. These three dimensions are (a) love of God, (b) love of neighbor, and (c) love of oneself. The first two are positively commanded; the last one is not commanded but presumed to be the basis of all loving. The commandment to love your neighbor as yourself presumes that you love yourself. If you hate yourself you will not bother to love God or neighbor! If you close yourself up in your selfishness, you do not love yourself. If you are turned in on your own interests, you hate yourself; you are ruining your life and making yourself sad.
Again, Jesus took the commandments a step further. He told us that what is in our heart is also important, not just the externals. Jesus told us we can offend God even by the way we think. So to love God with all our heart, soul and mind and to love our neighbor as ourselves we have to begin with our thoughts. What way do we think? What are our attitudes? Some people say that even when they do something good they get something out of it for themselves, a bit like job satisfaction, so we can have very mixed motives sometimes. If we do not always think in a very Christian way I believe we can take control of our thoughts. We can correct our way of thinking. If we want to love God with all our heart, soul and mind, and our neighbor as ourselves, if we want to feed our minds with Christian thoughts, we need to cut out unchristian influences. A beautiful Christian ideal to have before us is that Jesus is in the other person. Jesus is in the person next to me, the person behind me, in front of me, in the person I live with and work with.
You might have paid attention to the captions we read when we travel by subway “The man who stands by the door will someday will be your Boss”

So my dear brothers and sisters, Love your God and neighbor because if you love, you will be loved.”
In the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit.
Amen.