13th Sunday STS. Peter and Paul

ST PETER AND PAUL
My dear brothers and sisters in Jesus Christ,
Once a missionary was recruiting candidates for the mission fields. He asked them why they wanted to go to Mission. Some said people are so poor, so exploited we will go and help them. Many are illiterate we will go and teach them. We will fight for justice and peace. But the leader said “All of these motives, however good, will fail you in times of testing, trials, tribulations, and possible death. There is but one motive that will sustain you in trial and testing; namely, the love of Christ.”
Yes dear brothers and sisters, today we are celebrating the great feasts of two giant Spiritual leaders who lived and died for the Love of Christ.
St. Peter is mentioned 182 times in the New Testament
It is interesting to note the personalities of both Peter and Paul. Peter was impetuous, telling Jesus that he would die with him if necessary but in fact he denied he knew him. We also remember Peter’s objection to Jesus’ prediction that he would suffer and die in Jerusalem and Jesus said ‘Get behind me Satan because the way you think is man’s way and not God’s way’ (Matt 16:23). Yet what made Peter a suitable candidate for Jesus’ call was his love, so three times Jesus asked him if he loved him and asked him to look after the flock.
Paul was a controversial character in his own way. He had a fiery personality. In his early life he channeled that fire towards persecuting the Christians in Jerusalem, even witnessing the death of Stephen, the first martyr for Jesus. After conversion Paul spent 10 years back in Tarsus before he began his preaching. It was a time for him to cool down and learn what the death and resurrection of Jesus meant for us all. Paul was a highly educated Pharisee and also he had a very strong personality which he needed to help the Jews to accept that Jesus was the Savior of all peoples, and that because of Jesus there is no difference between Jew and non-Jew.
Tradition holds that each was murdered by the Emperor Nero, around the year 64. Peter was crucified in a public circus or amphitheatre, hung on a cross upside down in humility that he might not seem to imitate the crucifixion of Christ. Paul was beheaded on the outskirts of the city.
As we look at the personalities of Peter and Paul, we see that God called them to use their personalities to spread the Gospel, Peter to use his impetuous love to look after the flock, and Paul to use his training as a Pharisee and his strength of character to ensure that the non-Jews would be welcomed into the church. It is a reminder to us that our talents and our weaknesses also can become God’s means of helping others, if we allow. We don’t have to be perfect for God to work through us, God can work through us as he did with Peter and Paul.
About Peter; Jesus could see Peter’s heart and knew he was the man for the job. Why? Because Peter was different to Judas. Peter grew through his mistake whereas Judas allowed his mistake to conquer him. Three times Peter had denied Jesus by a charcoal fire on Holy Thursday evening but now three times by a different charcoal fire on Easter day Jesus asks Peter to look after the sheep. Jesus forgave Peter and had confidence in him to make him Pope.
Despite our sinfulness Jesus forgives us and has confidence in us. In the second letter to Timothy we read, “We may be unfaithful, but he is always faithful, for he cannot deny his own self” (2 Tim 2:13).
The most extraordinary thing about Paul’s conversion is in Phil 3:12, “I was apprehended by Christ Jesus.”{I have been taken possession of By Christ} the impression is that he was grabbed by Jesus and had no choice. Jesus arrested him with his overwhelming power.
These two great sources of our Christian faith teach us today to have strong faith which leads to Humility.
St Paul when he started his ministry cried out to the Christians “I am one among the apostles who witnessed to the Risen Christ. 1 Corinthians 9:2 Then he said in 1 Corinthians 15:9 “I am the least of the apostles, that am not worthy to be called an apostle, because I persecuted the church of God”. He was growing in Faith which leads to humility to accept that everything is from God. He had grown up to say I Tim. 1:15. “I am the first among all sinners,”
In First 1 Peter 5:6-11 Peter teaches us to Stand Firm in the Faith.
1) In humility
2) In prayer
3) In vigilance
4) In reliance on God
Peter encourages us, “Humble yourselves under the mighty hand of God, that he may exalt you in due time.”
A humble attitude recognizes who we are. We are weak, miserable sinners. We have nothing to boast about before God.
Even the problems that come into our lives, Peter reminds us God promises that he will “lift us up in due time.” He will deliver us from sin and suffering.
Today dear brothers and sisters we ask the intercession of these two saints to help us to cloth ourselves in Humility to have a strong faith in Jesus Christ.
In the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit.
Amen.

12th Sunday and Mission Appeal
My dear brothers and sisters in Jesus Christ,
I am Fr Sunny John, a Carmelite priest from India. I am coming from a country where there are more than 1.1billion people and there are 23 official languages. (India is a federal republic of twenty-eight states and seven Union Territories.) You May not fully understand me, you know why, because English is not my language.
Someone once said that every Christian occupies some kind of pulpit and preaches some kind of sermon every day. St. Francis of Assisi used to instruct his newly ordained friars: “Go out and preach the Gospel, and if necessary, use words.”
Today’s gospel is a continuation of the instructions that Jesus gave to the twelve apostles as he sent them out to go and proclaim the Good News of the Kingdom of God. The values of the Kingdom are different from the values of the world, so much so that people tend to reject the message and turn against the messengers. Tradition has it that almost all the apostles died the violent death of martyrdom. A martyr is one who gives his life for Christ and his Church. Some of them ended up being crucified on the cross, like Peter and Andrew; beheaded, like James and Paul; flayed alive, like Bartholomew; or thrown into a cauldron of boiling oil, like John. It was natural, therefore, for the apostles to fear as Jesus sends them out to evangelize a hostile world. Yielding to this fear would make them abandon the dangerous mission in order to save their skin. So Jesus instructs them in today’s gospel on how to overcome this crippling fear. The key is to look unto Jesus as their hero and model.
The word martyr means witness - one who testifies by his death to a value or a truth which is greater than his life. We need to remember that the driving force for martyrdom is always love - red-hot love! A martyr is one who can be said to be burning with love for Jesus Christ and his Church.
Some years ago, a Christian minister and a group of students from Canada went to Kenya for a summer field study program. They had a jeep to enable them travel deep into the rugged hinterland. On one of their travels the vehicle broke down and they had to employ the services of the village mechanic. The mechanic saw the problem, travelled to the city and bought spare parts, came back and fixed the car. He spent three full days working on the car. The clergyman was afraid that the mechanic’s service charges would be too high. In order to force the mechanic to settle for less, he went into the washroom, removed much of the money from his wallet and hid it in his socks. The idea was that when the mechanic tells him the cost he would open his wallet and say “Look, this is all I have.” So he comes out of the washroom and they are ready to leave. He says to the mechanic, “So now, what do you charge for your workmanship?” The mechanic looks at him and says, “You are a man of God. I do it for God. God will pay me. For you it is free of charge.”
Yes dear brothers and sisters, Jesus is the greatest martyr, the greatest witness. He lived the truth from the beginning of his life and ended by giving his life for it, the truth his Father sent him to bring to the world.
As John Lennon said: Life is what happens to you while you're busy making other plans.
We are called to be missionaries going out to the whole world and spreading the good news. We can never help anyone in this world when we are fully equipped or wealthy. By the fact we are helping the people who help the people we are becoming part of that universal mission of Christ. There are millions of people who have nothing to eat a day. Whatever you wanted to do for the people in the third world countries you need financial help, if you want to teach them you have to provide food clothing and transportation.
God is not asking us to be a mother Theresa or become a martyr, but he is giving you and me a chance to do what we can do to help at least one family or a person to lead a life worthy of human being.
There is nothing big or nothing small in giving, even a small sacrifice you make today for the Missions in the world will prayerfully be remembered by someone who is in utter need of your help.
One evening a mother and a child were coming back home after a long evening walk and on the way they got into a restaurant and picked up their dinner package. While they were walking this little child saw a poor man in the nearby waste barrel searching for his daily food. This child remembered the catechism class where she learned about the loving God. She hold tightly on her mothers’ arm and asked Mammy, mammy let me ask you a question. Is God alive, yes, is our God is a good and loving God? Yes. Mammy my teacher told me today Our God is a good and loving God and wherever you are in need you pray to God and God will send angels to help you. Is it True Mom? Yes indeed. If that is right why didn’t God send and angel to help this poor man to find a meal a Day?
Wow that is a real aching question. Mammy just paused a moment. And said “honey, who told you that God did not send an angel today. He did send you. Take our dinner packet and go and give it to that poor man and be an Angel of God Today. Yes dear brothers and sisters. By helping the Mission you are becoming an angel of God for someone.
I thank most sincerely Bishop Edward Ukmiec, Director; Fr Joseph J Sicari and your loving and caring Pastor Fr Walter P Grabowski and all staffs parishioners of the church of Immaculate Conception for allowing me to come and stay here and for all your love and support. Dear friends; Write your name in the hearts of people you meet that is where it will stay.
Thank you so much for your love and help, I assure my prayers for you and Please keep the missionaries and their activities in your day to day prayers and be part of the mission duties of our Faith life.

Happy Father's Day

Mission Appeal and Fathers Day
My dear brothers and sisters in Jesus Christ,
I am Fr Sunny John, a Carmelite priest from India. I am coming from a country where there are more than 1.1billion people and there are 23 official languages. India is a federal republic of twenty-eight states and seven Union Territories. You May not fully understand me, you know why, because English is not my language.
Do you remember in this Fathers’ day weekend the 1974 rock song by Harry Chapin “Cat's in the Cradle”?
The song is told in first person, and relates the story of a father who is too busy to spend time with his son. Though the son repeatedly asks him to join in childhood activities, the father always responds with little more than vague promises of future quality time, which is peppered with images from nursery rhymes. While the son grows up loving and admiring his father, he picks up his father's habit of putting family on the backburner.
Years pass and the lonely, aging father, who is now retired and free from the constraints of work, desires yet again to spend time with his son, who by this time is a family man himself. Hoping to make up for lost time, the father reaches out to him again. The son however has his own life and family to worry about; he warmly responds that he is now too busy with his own work and family to spend time with (or even talk to) his father. Like his father once had, the son promises that someday in the future they will spend time together. The last verses end with the lines "I'd love to dad if I could find the time/You see my new job's a hassle and the kids have the flu/But it's sure nice talking to you, dad … And as I hung up the phone, it occurred to me/He'd grown up just like me/My boy was just like me …". The father realizes that his son is now giving him vague promises like he once did to his son. The last line also says that the son's prediction about growing up to be like his father came true, although not in a way the father would have liked, and that the recurring lines of "we will get together then...we are going to have a good time then" are purely imaginary. I don’t think I need to tell you more in this Father’s day to examine ourselves.
A father was watching his young son trying to dislodge a heavy stone. The boy couldn't budge it. "Are you sure you are using all your strength?" the father asked. "Yes, I am," said the exasperated boy. "No, you are not," the father replied. "You haven't asked me to help you."
Yes dear brothers and sisters in Jesus Christ, that is why I am here today to ask your help for the Carmelite missions all over the world.
As John Lennon said: Life is what happens to you while you're busy making other plans.
We are called to be missionaries going out to the whole world and spreading the good news. We can never help anyone in this world when we are fully equipped or wealthy. Have you ever satisfied with what you have my dear brothers and sisters? If you say yes, then you are saying lies. God is asking to show our love towards others. By the fact we are helping the people who help the people we are becoming part of that universal mission of Christ. There are millions of people who have nothing to eat a day. Whatever you wanted to do for the people in the third world countries you need financial help, if you want to teach them you have to provide food clothing and transportation.
God is not asking us to be a mother Theresa but he is giving you and me a chance to do what we can do to help at least one family or a person to lead a life worthy of human being.
There is nothing big or nothing small in giving, even a small sacrifice you make today for the Missions in the world will prayerfully be remembered by someone who is in utter need of your help.
One evening a mother and a child were coming back home after a long evening walk and on the way they got into a restaurant and picked up their dinner package. While they were walking this little child saw a poor man in the nearby waste barrel searching for his daily food. This child remembered the catechism class where she learned about the loving God. She hold tightly on her mothers’ arm and asked Mammy, mammy let me ask you a question. Is God alive, yes, is our God is a good and loving God? Yes. Mammy my teacher told me today Our God is a good and loving God and wherever you are in need you pray to God and God will send angels to help you. Is it True Mom? Yes indeed. If that is right why didn’t God send and angel to help this poor man to find a meal a Day?
Wow that is a real aching question. Mammy just paused a moment. And said “honey, who told you that God did not send an angel today. He did send you. Take our dinner packet and go and give it to that poor man and be an Angel of God Today. Yes dear brothers and sisters. By helping the Mission you are becoming an angel of God for someone.
I thank most sincerely Bishop Howard Hubbard and your loving and caring Pastor Fr David Mickiewicz and all parishioners of St Casimir St. Stanislaus and St John the Baptist Church for your love and support. I humbly ask our Loving Father to bless all the fathers here. Heavenly Father Bless them with peace and joy as we honor them all the days of their life. May they, like the men in the scriptures and Joseph, the foster Father of Jesus, be just and true. Dear friends; Write your name in the hearts of people you meet that is where it will stay .Not on sand waves wash it away; Not in the sky wind blows it away.
Thank you so much for your love and help, I assure my prayers for you and Please keep the missionaries and their activities in your day to day prayers and be part of the mission duties of our Faith life.

10th Sunday ordinary Year A

I desire Mercy
My dear brothers and sisters in Jesus Christ,
Reuben was a proud and self-righteous Sunday school teacher. One day he was teaching the children the importance of living a flawless Christian life, using himself as an example. Toward the end of the class, he asked the kids: “Why do people call me Christian?” After a moment’s pause, one of the kids answered, “Maybe it’s because they don’t know you.” Some of us are like Reuben. People call us Christian simply because they do not know us well enough. To make matters worse, sometimes we do not even know ourselves well enough, and all it takes is a serious temptation or crisis to reveal us to ourselves.
In today’s gospel we read about men like Reuben who think they have it all when it comes to being right with God. They are the Pharisees. The Pharisees are people who have committed themselves to one hundred percent observance of the whole Law. To make sure they do not break the Law, they make other laws to protect the demands of the Law. For example, the Law demands that one pay tithes on one’s capital income. In order to make sure they do not default on that, the Pharisees go beyond the requirements of the Law and pay tithes on everything they own, even on the vegetable that grows in their gardens. Thus they become very scrupulous in the observance of the fine details of the Law.
In their observance of the Law, the Pharisees were uncompromising both to themselves and to other people. They figured that if they could do it, so should everyone else. As a result, they became excessive and unreasonable in the demands they made of other people. The Pharisees categorized everybody into two groups: saints and sinners. People who, on account of their job could not observe all the 613 demands of the Law were labeled sinners. These included such tradesmen as shepherds, butchers, tanners, and tax collectors. People took Pharisees for heroic men of God because people see only the outside. Some people consider me as a good person; I know only handful of them but they know me only one hour in a week. I could be a nice person for one hour. Like that they are fixed in their ways and in their minds. They can no longer learn. They can no longer change. The “sinners” are much better. They know they are sinners, they can learn, and they can change. So Jesus invites Matthew the tax collector, the public sinner, to join him. When Matthew’s friends, the tax collectors, hear that there is a man of God, Jesus, who accepts them as they are, they flock to him to celebrate the good news.
Now we all point our finger towards Pharisees. Look at your hand when you point, as you have three fingers pointing right back at yourself. When we go to sporting events, for example, we stand for the national anthem. The words of the song are from a poem about a battle during which the flag remained flying. But for the most part, although we may sing along, we don’t give much thought to the meaning of the words. And our participation doesn’t necessarily guarantee that we’ll be more committed to the flag or to our country. Rather, it’s something we do because we’re expected to do so. Just try sitting during the national anthem and you’ll know what I mean. There are also verbal rituals. “How are you?” we ask, oftentimes not really interested in the response. Nor are we terribly honest when we’re asked how we are. The point is simply this: We all engage in ritualistic behavior. And if you ask, why we’re doing it? It’s just because we’re in the habit of doing so; or because we’re expected to do so; or because we’re just unwilling to face the truth of our own emptiness?
Godliness is more than keeping the Law. If it was only a matter of observing the Law, the Pharisees would be saints. Godliness has more to do with our ability to admit that we are all sinners. This will make us more disposed to learn and to change our ways, more disposed to accept other people as they are.
We can "do sacrifices" left and right, but if our motive behind such sacrifice is not pleasing to God, then it is worthless. The fact is, all human beings are sinners. St. Paul’s letter to the Romans says, “All have sinned and fall short of the glory of God” (Rom 3:23). Paul didn’t say just tax collectors have sinned, or just prostitutes or politicians or thieves or drug addicts have sinned. He said ALL. That means everyone.
The church is for sinners, and it is populated with nothing but sinners. If only sinless people were allowed to become members of a church, then in Protestant churches only Jesus would be allowed to join, and in Catholic churches only Jesus and Mary would be welcomed. Every church should have a huge banner hanging above the front doors: “Sinners Only. Perfect People Not Welcomed Here!” And the good news is that our God IS A God of Mercy.
We shall conclude with a prayer by Peter Marshall: “Lord, when we are wrong, make us willing to change. And when we are right, make us easy to live with.”
In the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit.
Amen.A