3rd Sunday Ordinary time 2008

Expect a call from God from an unexpected time and place!

My dear brothers and sisters in Jesus Christ,
There are moments in life when something unexpected happens which makes all the difference. It happens to us. It happens in us. These are events which change the course of our life, often in a radical manner. Such was the case of the four fishermen: Simon and Andrew, James and John, the borders of whose world coincided with the area of the Lake of Galilee, until the day they met Jesus.
“Come after me!” Jesus called them. And immediately they abandoned their boats, their nets, their crew, their relatives . . . and became his followers – the first recruits of a peaceful army tasked to conquer the world.
An unexpected invitation, a prompt response, an immediate departure for an unknown destination. Four hearts were set aflame. Four lives would never be the same again.
What impelled Simon, Andrew, James, and John to leave everything behind and follow Jesus? There was his promise, of course, that he would make them “fishers of men” (Mk 1:17). But what moved those four fishermen to be so radical in their response was the fascinating personality of the Caller: JESUS. They saw him, they heard him, and they made up their minds. Their hearts had been conquered by him.
It was like falling in love, when everybody else in the world seems to vanish from sight or become unattractive, and all that remains and counts is just “the beloved one.”
God is calling us to repentance though different channels and persons. You know the conversion story of the leading actor of film Bella; Eduardo Verástegui .
Eduardo Verástegui was not only playing the stereotypical Latin lover. He was living the role. Money… Cars… Girls...You name it, he had it.
Verástegui said "God changed my heart and I had to repent of my past. And from that day on, I promised that I would never do anything that will offend God or my Latino heritage. I would never do anything to compromise my faith. That's the moment I realized that the purpose of my life was to know and to love God."
“It is clear to me now that I wasn’t born to be a movie star,” Verástegui said. “I wasn’t born to be famous. I wasn’t born to be a CEO of a company. I was … born to know and to love and to serve Jesus Christ.”
So, how did a loose-living, self-described Casanova get from there to here? Not surprisingly, women played a key role—starting with his mother.
"There is nothing more powerful than the prayers of a mother," says Verástegui, "When I was pursuing fame, pleasure, and success, my mother started going to her prayer groups and saying, 'OK, if my words don't touch his heart, one day my prayers will.'"
After 12 years in the entertainment industry, Verástegui realized he was empty – thanks to his English teacher whom the Lord used to change his heart.
His teacher was a devout Christian and as she taught him English, she also questioned him about the purpose of his life.
“Why do you want to be an actor? Why are you doing what you’re doing?” she would ask Verástegui.
After six months of conversation, God did a work in Verástegui, and he was broken over the sin in his life. He came to the stark realization that he had used his talents in projects that were poisonous to society, while hurting his family, himself and others in the process.
“But the one thing that broke my heart was when I realized that I offended God with talent that He gave me…It was a moment of grace where He revealed all the things that I was doing with my life. And thank God that He is a God of forgiveness.”
Christ changed Verástegui’s heart and became the center of his life, which could have meant the end of his career as an entertainer. But that didn’t matter to Verástegui.
“The price of changing my path was that I was never going to be able to work again,I was at peace with that.”
While he can’t change his past or erase the remnants of a career rooted in pop culture, Verástegui can begin anew, and he is doing just that by seeking to live a life that brings glory to Christ – right in the middle of Hollywood. Yes dear brothers and sisters Jesus is calling each one of us for a radical change; a repentance of heart.
If Jesus approaches you and asked you to follow him, what would you say? What would you do?
Peter and Andrew were working fishermen. They were gainfully employed, living their lives, and immersed in their own here and now… And as Galilean fishermen, we know that they were probably quite comfortable and quite prosperous. But Jesus called them.
Tom believes he should be a soul winner for Christ. In the parish Bible class he has learnt how to share his faith with people and lead them to Christ. But he has never done it. Tom prays to God to give him a sign so that he would know exactly when to start. One day Tom is travelling in the subway to meet his Bible study friends. He has his Bible in his handbag. A young man about his own age enters the train and sits next to Tom. He wears a T-shirt with the slogan, “who has the most toys wins.” Tom bends his head and says a little prayer, “Lord give me a sign when to start.” The young man’s cell phone rings. His friend wants him to come and pick him up. After arguing with his friend awhile, he says, “All right, I will come to the church and pick you up, but I will not enter the church. You will find me at the parking lot,” and hangs up. Tom bends his head a second time and prays, “Lord, I’m still waiting for the sign!” Finally, the young man turns to Tom and says, “You know, I got this weird friend who skips work on Sundays to go to church. I don’t get it.” Tom smiles, bends down his head once again and says, “Lord, the sign, the sign!”
If we are in the place of them what we would think! “Fishers of men? We’re doing quite well here as fishers of fish, thank you very much”… Come follow you on the road? But, we have families? We have responsibilities? We have the boat… and it’s almost completely paid off. We have to drive the kids to soccer at ten and then get the oldest one to play practice by twelve. We got mom to take care of now and midterms are coming up… and did you know that prescription prices are going through the roof? No, no thanks. We’ll stay right here and tend to the boats and the nets and we will wait for a greater sign. Come back tomorrow or maybe next Sunday or the next time you’re in town… we’ll be right here, Jesus. We’ll be right here living our lives and maybe things will be easier then…
You get the point. Peter and Andrew weren’t all that dissimilar from you and me… and their lives weren’t that dissimilar either. What they did, did take great courage and tremendous faith. They dropped their nets and they followed Christ.
And this is our challenge. To do what Peter and Andrew did, which does take great courage and tremendous faith. To let the people we interact with every day know what we believe in. To let the people we meet think, “there’s something different about that person.” To show by our actions and our priorities… that we do feel called by Jesus. And today that same Jesus who called them, calling each one of us for repentance.

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

O.Carm. Prior General

2nd sunday ordinary time 2008

Humility
My dear brothers and sisters in Jesus Christ,
Only a person who is humble can always remember why he is here for and then does his duty when the time comes. Today in our Gospel with all his humility St John the Baptist revealed Jesus Christ as the Lamb of God. Truly, nothing is more beautiful than to know Christ and to make him known to others.

One day a sage came to a King for an interview. The sage had to wait for a long time because the King was very busy. Finally, the King said he could come in. When the sage entered the hall, the first thing he did was to take off his hat and bow to the King. Immediately the King took off his crown and bowed to the sage. The ministers and others who were around the King asked, "What are you doing? He took off his hat because he is an ordinary man. But you are the King. Why should you have to take off your crown?"
The King said to his ministers, "You fools, do you think I wish to remain inferior to an ordinary man? He is humble and modest. His humility is a peerless virtue'. He showed his respect to me. If I did not take off my crown, then I would be showing less humility than an ordinary man, and I would be defeated by him. If I am the King, I should be better than everybody in everything. That is why I took off my crown and bowed to him!”
Humility is the most basic of all of the Christian virtues. A person is humble not because of a poorly conceived self-image, but because he knows of the goodness and the perfection of God and also knows that he himself is lacking in these areas, as in others.
One day, the famous news correspondent, Walter Cronkite, was sailing down the Mystic River in Connecticut, following the channel's tricky turns through a stretch of shallow water. A boatload of young people sped past his boat and its occupants shouted and waved their arms. Cronkite waved back a cheery greeting and his wife said, "Do you know what they were shouting?" "Why, it was 'Hello, Walter,'" Walter Cronkite replied. "No," she said. "They were shouting, "Low water, Low water.'"
Let us think of this great virtue today my dear brothers and sisters; Humility comes from the Latin word “humus” meaning “earth”. Humility is not about demeaning oneself; it is not the baptism of the inferiority complex. Nor is it therefore a question of denying one’s own dignity, giftedness or accomplishments. Humility is more aptly interpreted as “being grounded”, “being earthed”, having a firm foundation in the truth, living and thinking, not in arrogant fantasy, but in the beauty of the truth.
Humility is a way of living and relating with others at a deeper level of their reality. First and foremost, humility is our need to affirm that you and I are children of God; we are sons and daughters of God the Father. This is a very basic and essential reality that we must always keep in mind when we live our lives and relate to others daily.
St. Theresa of Avila gives a definition. She said that humility is living in the truth (“andar en la verdad”). We are supposed to live in the truth in our relationship with God, ourselves, and our neighbor. First of all, we need to remember that God is God and we are not. We live out our relationship with God by being lovingly obedient. Secondly, we live in the truth with ourselves by being just who we are and not trying to be something that we are not. Finally, we live in truth with our neighbor through mutual respect, kindness, and acceptance.
Humility is not an easy virtue to acquire. Benjamin Franklin once wrote: “There is perhaps no one of our natural passions so hard to subdue as pride. Beat it down, stifle it, mortify it as much as one pleases, it is still alive. Even if I could conceive that I had completely overcome it, I should probably be proud of my humility”.
A famous football coach was on vacation with his family in Maine. When they walked into a movie theater and sat down, the handful of people that were present in the theatre applauded. He thought to himself, "I can't believe it. People recognize me all the way up here." Then a man came over to him and said, "Thanks for coming. They won't start the movie for less than ten people."
Humility really means being honest and truthful, seeing God as He is, seeing others as they are and seeing ourselves as we are.
We all limp our way in the life of virtue, for who can say he is without sin? We must be humble, that is, honest and truthful, about other people. When we are truly humble about ourselves, we no longer make ourselves the center of attention. We become free enough to see others as they are, with their strengths and abilities, with their weaknesses and limitations. We can then acknowledge that we are all very similar, prone to that selfishness that leads us to sin yet struggling, with God’s grace, to rise above our sinfulness, to be generous, compassionate, kind and forgiving. We can honestly admit that others are not perfect because we ourselves are not perfect. When we are truly humble about ourselves, we can honestly admit our radical dependence on the Lord, our absolute need for His transforming grace in our lives.
St. John Simachus tells us that humility is the only virtue that the devil cannot imitate. If pride made angels into demons, humility makes demons into angels. There is the story of Satan appearing to one of the desert monks. He kept appearing to him in the form of an angel of light giving him messages and trying to make him feel so special and proud. This monk continued living his life of simplicity and humility. After some time, the devil getting frustrated said to him, “all that you do, I can do; but the only thing you do that I cannot do is your humility.” The monk was able to resist the devil because of his humility.
Humble people are able to look at themselves and say; I have really made wrong choices. People who are not humble would always look for ways to justify away their mistakes. They always look for people to blame for their mistakes. They never appreciate others hard work.
We are told in the book of James 4:10 “if you humble yourselves in the sight of the Lord, the lord will lift you up. “
There is a funny saying "Humility is a virtue all preach, none practice, and yet everybody is content to hear. The master thinks it good doctrine for his servant, the laity for the clergy, and the clergy for the laity."
Please pray with me if you know--Reinhold Niebuhr’s serenity prayer:-
God, grant me the serenity
to accept the things I cannot change;
the courage to change the things I can;
and the wisdom to know the difference.
Living one day at a time;Enjoying one moment at a time; Accepting hardships as the pathway to peace; Taking, as He did, this sinful world as it is, not as I would have it; Trusting that He will make all things right if I surrender to His Will; That I may be reasonably happy in this life and supremely happy with HimForever in the next.
Amen.

Christmas decoration in the church of St john the Martyr Catholic church by Fr Sunny John O.Carm.

Baptism of the Lord- 2008
My dear brothers and sisters in Jesus Christ,
In African countries the baptism of a child is usually followed by a happy reception where children are sure to eat rice. As a result, the baptism dress is sometimes referred to as your rice dress. Thinking of baptism easily makes people think of rice. And sometimes when you are talking of the rites of baptism, all they hear is the rice of baptism. Though the connection between baptism and rice is altogether accidental, let us utilize it as a memory aid for the meaning of baptism.
What does baptism mean? The meaning of baptism can be found in the four letters of the word RICE. R stands for Rebirth. In baptism we are born again by water and the Holy Spirit. We are cleansed from original sin and become sons and daughters of God in a special way. I stands for Initiation. At baptism we are initiated or admitted into full membership in the church, the community of the children of God in the world. C is for Consecration. In baptism we consecrate and dedicate ourselves to seek and to spread the kingdom of God. We commit ourselves to be servants of God, to do God’s will and serve God with our whole lives. And E is for Empowerment. At baptism the Holy Spirit comes into our lives and empowers us, equips us, gives us the moral strength to say no to evil and to live as God’s children that we have become.
The baptism of John is not like our baptism; it is not a sacramental baptism. We believe, of course, that we are conceived in Original Sin and that the primary effect of that sin, which is to bar us from eternal happiness, can be washed away only by sacramental baptism.
You may have a question arising in your mind or someone already asked you about: “Why would Jesus, Son of God, who never committed sin, who could not commit sin, why would he come for baptism? We know one thing; that was totally unnecessary for him. But it was a wonderful sign to everybody else.
There is only one possible answer: Jesus takes the place of the sinner; He identifies Himself with sinners; Jesus became just like us. By entering the waters to be baptized by John he was saying, "I am truly one of you. I am taking all of your sins upon myself. I have not sinned. I have come into this world to make possible your salvation."
He took up our infirmities and carried our sorrows. He stepped into the Jordan and received the baptism of repentance as if He were a sinner. There was a law in Tokyo around the year 1900 that no foreigner could take up residence there unless he had a "substitute." There were natives who hired themselves out for this purpose. If the foreigner broke any law, the substitute suffered the penalty for it, even if the penalty was death.
Jesus – in the Jordan, upon the cross, and in the grave – is our substitute. He took our place. He paid the penalty on our behalf. And, while He stands where a sinful people should be standing, He is identified as the Messiah: John the Baptist recognizes Him as such, the Spirit descends on Him, and God's voice from heaven says, "This is my Son."
There is so much theology, so much Church teaching in this very simple Gospel, for example, the teaching of the Trinity. We are told, "The heavens opened. The voice of God was heard from the heavens. There was a brilliant light. The dove appeared as the voice of God was being heard, 'This is my beloved Son in whom I am well pleased.' “Commentators on the Scriptures say this is a clear sign of the Trinity, God the Father, God the Son, God the Holy Spirit. This, too, was an epiphany.
Scripture scholars speak of three epiphanies and this is the second of the three, that when Jesus went to be baptized he was revealed to be the Son of God by the voice of God his Father and the appearance of the Holy Spirit in the form of a dove. The first one you know the feast of the Epiphany when the Wise Men, the kings if they were that, came to visit Jesus after he had been born in Bethlehem.
Then there was a third epiphany when Jesus began his public life and went to a wedding feast in Cana to which Mary, Jesus and his followers had been invited.
There were three things happened in the gospel today:
1: heaven is opened for him
2: Descending of the Holy Spirit upon him
3: God the father is pleased and accepted as beloved son
These three things should happen when we pray; Heaven opened, anointing of the Holy Spirit and the voice from the Father.
To hear these three let me make two conditions; there is no condition from God.
a) Pray that our attitude will change even if our situation will be the same. Concrete example. When I moved here on July 2007, almost every day morning I have to see the homeless man in front of the church door and sometimes inside the church. I was really annoyed by that and ask them to move and looked at them badly. Then I prayed; the situation is same but now when I open the door he will be there to say good morning to me and if I pass him on the road he will make sure he greets me. So pray for a positive attitude towards our negative situation.
b) Forgive others and forget the wounds that costs by others. Let me give you a story. Two friends were walking through the desert. During some point of the journey, they had an argument; and one friend slapped the other one in the face. The one who got slapped was hurt, but without saying anything, wrote in the sand: Today my best friend slapped me in the face’. They kept on walking, until they found an oasis, where they decided to take a bath. The one who had been slapped got stuck in the mire and started drowning, but the friend saved him. After he recovered from the near drowning, he wrote on a stone: “Today my best friend saved my life”. The friend who had slapped and saved his best friend asked him, “after I hurt you, you wrote in the sand and now you write on a stone, why?” The friend replied “When someone hurts us we should write it down in sand, where winds of forgiveness can erase it away. But when someone does something good for us, we must engrave it in stone where no wind can ever erase it,” Learn to write your hurts in the sand and to carve your benefits in stone. People say; it takes minutes to find a special person, an hour to appreciate them, a day to love them, but then an entire life to forget them.
Then you will hear the voice of God and you will be empowered by the Holy Spirit and you will see the Heaven opened for you.
My dear brothers and sisters, Each one of us is beloved of God, no matter what we have done, no matter what our lives have been, no matter how many failures we feel we are guilty of, no matter how many sins we have committed, no matter how worthless we feel, no matter how we feel we have to conceal our true selves from others because we think we are no good inside. God loves every single one of us, no matter the past, no matter the present. God says, "This is my beloved son. This is my beloved daughter." I cannot think of anything more encouraging. You are my beloved son. You are my beloved daughter. God does not want you to be somebody else. God loves you because you are you, made in his image and likeness.

Creche at St John the Martyr Church 2008

Feast of Epiphany of the Lord

My dear brothers and sisters in Jesus Christ,
There is a legend of the Robin bird. When Jesus was born in Bethlehem, many came to witness the divine event, having been led there by a wondrous star that came and shone over a humble place where the Holy Family rested. A little robin passing that night was also led to the stable by the star.
There the robin saw the glorious infant surrounded by worshippers. No one noticed the plain brown bird. By and by, when the visitors and Magi left, the baby slept, and Joseph built a fire to keep the family warm through the Night, But Joseph and Mary fell asleep and the fire died down.
Seeing this, the robin bird swooped in and fanned the fire with his wings until the coals began to blaze warmly again. His breast grew red with the heat, but he stayed until morning, keeping the fire aglow. Baby Jesus woke and smiled at the robin.
And that is why, today, the bird robin is known for its cherry red breast- a symbol of faithful service.
Today we celebrate the feast of Epiphany of the Lord.The word Epiphany comes from the Greek meaning “to appear” or “to be shown forth” According to Roman Catholic tradition, Epiphany signifies the first appearance of Christ to the gentiles in the story of the visit of the three wise men to the divine infant Jesus. As the three wise men represent all the known peoples of the world, this signifies an appearance to the entire world, not just a few who call themselves Christians. Sometimes the three men represent the three ages of youth, middle age, and old age, sometimes the three known continents. since there were three gifts, it was assumed that they were three. According to medieval legends, the three Wiseman were named Melchior Balthazar and Gaspar. Each of them came from a different culture: Melchior was Asian, Balthazar was Persian and Gaspar was Ethiopian, thus representing the three races known to the old world. These three priest-kings and wise men brought royal gifts to the divine infant: gold, frankincense and myrrh. Melchior brought a golden cup, which, according to legend, was preserved by the Blessed Virgin Mary and was the same cup used in the institution of the Holy Eucharist. Balthazar brought a gold box of frankincense. Gaspar brought a curiously chased flask of myrrh, royal embalming oil.
The reaction of the Magi is interesting too…… when they enter the presence of God… revealed in his humble baby in a manger… they immediately open up treasures chests filled with gifts…… this must be our reaction too, in the presence of God….. when we come before the presence of Jesus… we too must open up our hearts and offer God our gifts…… the response of a person to the revelation of God’s presence is one of openness, generosity and service………
He receives three mysterious gifts: gold, frankincense and myrrh. What do they signify?
Second century writer, Irenaeus of Lyon, gave the most likely interpretation: the gifts signify Jesus’ kingship, his Godhead and his sacrificial death. It is no surprise that gold, the most precious of metals, symbolizes royalty. Frankincense, an aromatic substance brought from far away Nubia, was burned before the Holy of Holies. It signifies Jesus’ divine nature. Myrrh, also brought from Africa, formed part of a preservative ointment. It represents Jesus’ sacrificial death.
The gift of gold symbolizes the kingship of Christ, which represents our own true royal Selfhood and our giving of love and service as directed and commanded by that Self. The gift of frankincense symbolizes the Godhead of Christ and our own gifts of honor and reverence to our indwelling Divinity. The gift of myrrh is a prophecy of the death and burial of the earthly body of Christ, which represents our understanding and empathy for the suffering of humanity.
The wise men’s journey of a thousand miles or more westwards from Persia which could have taken three months is really a symbol of the inward journey they made in their hearts, a journey from paganism to belief in Jesus as the Savior of the world. Indeed not just the wise men but all of us are on a journey to get closer to Jesus our Savior. Our journey may not be from reading stars and consulting horoscopes but we each are called to allow Jesus be Lord of each part of our lives, not just when it suits us. We each have a journey to make to Jesus because none of us is yet fully converted and each of us has corners in our hearts and lives in need of Jesus’ healing and redemption. Like the wise men we too are relying on the grace of God to lead us to the light of Jesus our Savior.
The Spanish poet Lope de Vega wrote about a beautiful poem about this. Its title is: La llegada de los reyes magos. The arrival of the Magi Kings. Lope de Vega describes how the star guided them in the dark night, but when they found Jesus, the stars faded.
You Kings, who come from the East,are searching the night skylooking at the their beautiful lights.
Do not follow them nowfor where the sun isthe stars have no light.
The Child shines upon you.And where the sun isthe stars have no light.
In the West, in the middle Ages the houses were blessed on Epiphany. Holy water was sprinkled in each room. The father of the house took the blessed chalk and wrote over every room that led outside: AD 20+C+M+B+08 which are for the Latin Christus Mansionem Benedicat (Christ bless this house). At the same time the letters are the first letters of the names of the wise men: Caspar, Melchior and Balthasar. which also stands for "Anno Domini 2008-- Caspar, Melchior, Balthasar" and means "The three Holy Kings, Caspar, Melchior, Balthasar, in the year of Our Lord, 2008" or whatever the year may be. This tradition of blessing the doorways symbolizes the family's commitment to welcome Christ into their homes on a daily basis through the year.
The quest of the Magi reminds us that God is truly with us. Sometimes during our journey, clarity disappears and we begin to doubt. Let us remember that Jesus is always with us. He is Emmanuel, God with us. Like the shining star, He is present in the tabernacle, just as He was present in the manger of Bethlehem. Let us go Him and Bless and adore him today.
In the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit.
Amen.

Ordination day and the Feast of John Neumann

My Priestly Anniversary and the Feast of John Neumann
A priest’s vocation is to bless, absolve, and teach. These are not acts, but part of an attitude. We are to be present in the world in such a way that those we meet feel absolved without asking for absolution, feel blessed without asking for blessing, feel instructed without asking for teaching. And this attitude needs to be so intrinsic to our beings that there is never a moment of time when we are not this way. "From this task of absolving and blessing, both implicitly and explicitly, of living an absolving existence and a blessing existence, there are no days off, no vacations, no remissions.
Today I am celebrating eleventh anniversary of my Ordination. On January 5th, 1997, I was ordained to the priesthood.
There is a humorous story about a conversation between a recently ordained priest and his elderly pastor. Actually, it was a heated argument about a pastoral issue. In exasperation the pastor finally said, "Don't argue with me. I've had forty years experience as a priest."
The young priest looked at him and said. "No you haven't. You haven't had forty years experience. You had one year's experience and you repeated forty times!"
Well, I admit there has been much repetition in these past one decade:
But I always ask myself: What is required to be a happy priest? Or to be more precise, what can I do to be a happier priest?
St. John gives us one of the keys to happiness. When people came out to the desert to hear him, they asked John, "What should we do?" He replied that the person who had two cloaks should share with the one who has none. In some ways, that is pretty obvious advice. One of the keys to happiness is to share - or give away - as much as possible.
Of course, financial giving must always be accompanied by a deeper giving. St. Vincent de Paul said, "It is for your love alone that the poor will forgive you the bread you give them." To be able to give to another - whether materially or spiritually - is a great privilege. And we must always be open to receiving. No one is so rich that he has nothing to receive - and no one is so poor that he has nothing to give. I imagine that the man who had two cloaks thought of himself as poor: one cloak to wear and one cloak to wash. But St. John told him to give to the person who has none.
So as I speak to you on this day, the anniversary of the day when I celebrated my first Mass, I think I would like to say that the life of a priest is, can and should be a worthy one and a happy one. I have never regretted my decision to be a priest. I hope and trust the Lord will give me grace to persevere to the end. I believe that the vocation of a priest is a precious gift for the Church. But it makes demands on the man who gives himself to it. St. Paul says in his letter to the Thessalonians, that he “handed over to God’s people and to the Church, not only the Good News, but his whole life as well”. (1 Thess. 2:8). That is what a priest is called to do. He must in an extraordinary way ‘put on Christ’, be like Him. By his words and example he must show Christ to others. There is a little passage from St. Paul’s Letter to the Ephesians, “Glory be to Him whose power, working in us, can do infinitely more than we can ask or imagine” (Eph. 3:20). I ask you, my dear sisters and brothers, to pray with me and for me to the good God who can do infinitely more than we can ask or imagine. He loves his Church. He loves his people. And he loves this world for which his Son, Jesus, gave his life.
Saint John Neumann
This American saint was born in Prachatitz, Bohemia (Czech Republic) in 1811. He was taken the same day to the parish church, baptized and named for one of the patron saints of his homeland, John Nepomucene.
In addition to his native German and Bohemian, he knew Italian, Spanish, Greek and Latin. In Prague, he undertook to learn English and French as well. In later life, he taught himself Gaelic in order to minister to Irish immigrants.
He was looking forward to being ordained in 1835 when the bishop decided there would be no more ordinations. It is difficult to imagine now, but Bohemia was overstocked with priests. John wrote to bishops all over Europe but the story was the same everywhere - no one wanted any more bishops. John was sure he was called to be a priest but all the doors to follow that vocation seemed to close in his face.
John didn’t give up. He was inspired by the missionary writings of Bishop Frederic Baraga in America, and because he had learned English by working in a factory with English-speaking workers, he wrote to the bishops in America. Finally, the bishop in New York agreed to ordain him. In order to follow God's call to the priesthood, John would have to leave his home forever and travel across the ocean to a new and rugged land.
John was appointed bishop of Philadelphia in 1852. Bishop John Neumann chose the motto of “Passion of Christ strengthen me” in his Coat of Arms. As bishop, he was the first to organize a diocesan Catholic school system.
John never lost his love and concern for the people. In 1860, John Nepomucene Neumann died due to a stroke at the age of 48 while walking down a street in Philadelphia. He was canonized by Pope Paul VI on June 19, 1977, and became the first American bishop to be so honored.

Happy New Year 2008
Happy New Year my dear brothers and sisters,
The name "January" comes from the Roman god Janus, the god with two faces, one looking to the past and the other looking to the future. This is indeed a time to look back at the year 2007 that has just ended and to look forward to the New Year 2008 ahead of us.
There are people who tell you that there is no point making New Year resolutions. Do not believe them. We must set goals and make resolutions as a necessary conclusion to our review of the past year. And we do need to review our lives from year to year because, as Socrates says, the unexamined life is not worth living.
I have five suggestions for the New Year for all of us. First one is; we try to learn something. Look at the year past. Did you learn anything? In the movie “Rudy” a priest is saying; “In my thirty years as a priest, I have learned two things. There is a God and it’s not me.” That’s not a bad lesson for all of us. Try to learn something from the year past.
The second thing I would suggest is to see if you can let go of a lot of garbage (resentments, angers, what if, if-only). You can’t let go of it. I remember the story of a lady who moved from her small apartment to a brand new house and the movers came in and they said, “What do you want to move?” And she said, “Take everything.” They took her seriously. When she moved into her beautiful new house there was trash. There was garbage. There were orange peels. There were empty bottles. There were old newspapers. They took everything and they moved it along to her new house. Don’t take everything into the New Year. See if you can let go of some of the garbage.
Getting rid of all the old, hung-onto, grief and grievances is like you feel lighter, the world brighter and you, more in control. You just feel incredibly free and relieved. Sing with me if you know this small song:
Let go and Let God has its wonderful way; Let go and Let God has its way;
Your sorrows will vanish, your nights turn to day; Let go and Let God has its way.
Thirdly, look forward to a lot. Our world, we ourselves have a long way to go. And look forward to it with hope.
Fourthly start and live every single day with happiness and joy.
How many times did you hear Happy New Year today? How many times did you give that same greeting to others? Was it just a conventional greeting or was it a real wish? In other words is it really possible to find happiness in the New Year?
It would be a mistake, of course, to expect perfect happiness this year or any year in this life. As St. Augustine said, “Lord, you have made us for yourself and our hearts are restless until they rest in Thee.” But there is a deep, lasting peace that everyone can have in this life.
Happiness consists not in amassing possessions. If things could make people happy, Americans would be the happiest people in the world. We have more things than any other generation. Unfortunately we begin by possessing things and end up with things possessing us. It is the desire, the craving for things we do not have that causes so much unhappiness. We are supposed to love people and use things. In our affluent society we turn that around and love things and use people to get the things we love.
We cannot find happiness by seeking it. The fact of the matter is, the moment you seek it you lose it. Happiness is always a by-product, green stamps, and lagniappe (lan-yap).
But what is happiness a by-product of? What is it that has happiness as a side effect? The answer is to be found in Bethlehem. Let us go to Bethlehem to see what it is. Look into the cave. Take your eyes away from the beautiful babe wrapped in swaddling clothes lying in the manger and look around. There is none of those things in which we seek happiness. There is no riches, no fame, no power, no conveniences, no pleasure, nothing but an empty, cold cave on the outskirts of town.
Now look at Mary and Joseph kneeling before the manger. They must be tired. They have traveled 75 miles or so from Nazareth to Bethlehem on foot and on the jolting back of a donkey. They must be very hungry. They haven’t had a real meal since they left Nazareth some 3 days ago. They must be cold in this damp cave in the midst of winter. It must have been very humiliating for them to discover no room among their relatives in their ancestral home or at the village Inn.
Yet in the midst of all of this, Mary and Joseph are the happiest people to walk the face of this earth. Here in Bethlehem they are teaching us the amazing paradox that it is only when we lose ourselves in the love and service of Jesus do we find happiness. Happiness that this world can never give and no one can take from us. But how can we lose ourselves in the love and service of Jesus? Jesus has made it very simple, “Whatever you do for one of these least brethren you do for me.”
And finally, do not close the heart but pray for the light. Let us take a real example. You are here listening to me; I am certain most of you are not following me because of my Indian accent and poor English. You have two options; one you can open your heart and listen and after few minutes or times you could follow; or you can close your heart totally and start reading the bulletin or go out and have a cup of coffee. It is same in our families; we could either listen to them and can change our attitude or we can close our heart and keep the revenge.
Yes dear brothers and sisters, and that is what the New Year is all about . . . the clean mind and the open heart. .. And the new life that Jesus gave to us. So I wish you a very happy, joyous, healthy and blessed New Year: may we all live our lives to the fullest degree, rejoicing in the great gift of newness and renewal that Christ’s birth brings to us each year.
A M E N.