Christianity in India

"The Catholics in Kerala, India
Part-I

INDIA
Introduction
NAMASTE
I know this is not an easy subject for me to explore because it deals with culture and people. But I am very glad that I got a chance to talk about the amazing and incredible India, my home country. It's hard to find a country with as much variation, contrast and contradictions as India. A wealth of culture, art and history, stunning scenery and wildlife, adventure, spirituality, hot cuisine and a multitude of traditions, that India! This country really contains something for every taste.
India is bounded by the majestic Himalayan ranges in the north and edged by an endless stretch of golden beaches.

Indians date their history from the Vedic Period which historians place between 2000 and 1000 BC. This is the period when the Vedas, the oldest and holiest books of Hinduism, were compiled. The earliest archaeological traces are from the Indus Valley Civilization which peaked around 1800 BC before declining and disappearing around 1500 BC, possibly due to a drought.

Most North-Indian languages come from Sanskrit, the language of the Vedas. These languages together with Sanskrit are members of the Indo-European group of languages.
European traders started visiting India beginning in the late 16th century. By the 19th century, the British East India Company had, one way or the other assumed political control of virtually all Indian lands. There was an uprising by Indian rulers in 1857 which was suppressed, but which prompted the British government to make India a part of the empire. Many Indians converted to Christianity during the period, for pretty much the same reasons as they converted to Islam, though forcible conversions ended in British India after 1857, when the British Government took over from the East India Company, and Queen Victoria promised to respect religious faiths of Indians.
Non-violent resistance to British colonialism under Mohandas Karamchand Gandhi and Jawaharlal Nehru led to independence in 1947.

About 60% of Indians live on agriculture and around 25% remain in poverty.
Relations with Pakistan have been frosty. They have fought three (or four, if you count the Kargil conflict of 1999) wars, mostly over the status of Kashmir. The third war between the two countries in 1971 resulted in East Pakistan becoming Bangladesh. China and India went to war in 1962 over a border dispute. Viewed as a "betrayal" in India, it still rankles.
Government
India is the largest democracy in the world. The Constitution defines India as a sovereign, socialist, secular, democratic republic. India has a federal form of government and a bicameral parliament operating under a Westminster-style parliamentary system. It has three branches of governance: the Legislature, Executive, and Judiciary.
The President of India is the official head of state elected indirectly by an electoral college for a five-year term. The Prime Minister is, however, the de facto head of government and exercises most executive powers. The Prime Minister is appointed by the President, with the requirement that they enjoy the support of the party or coalition securing the majority of seats in the lower house of Parliament.
The legislature of India is the bicameral Parliament, which consists of the upper house called the Rajya Sabha (Council of States), and the lower house called the Lok Sabha (House of People). The Rajya Sabha has up to 250 members serving staggered six year terms. Most are elected indirectly by the state and territorial legislatures in proportion to the state's population. The Lok Sabha's 545 members are directly elected by popular vote to represent individual constituencies for five year terms.
States and union territories
India is a union of twenty-eight states and seven federally governed union territories. All states and the union territories of Pondicherry and the National Capital Territory of Delhi have elected governments. The other five union territories have centrally appointed administrators.
Demographics
With an estimated population of 1.1 billion, India is the world's second most populous country. Almost 70% of Indians reside in rural areas. India's largest urban agglomerations are Mumbai, Chennai, Kolkata, Delhi, Hyderabad, and Bengaluru (formerly Bangalore).
India is home to two major linguistic families: Indo-Aryan (spoken by about 74% of the population) and Dravidian (spoken by about 24%). Other languages spoken in India come from the Austro-Asiatic and Tibeto-Burman linguistic families. The Indian constitution recognizes 23 official languages. Hindi and English are used by the Union Government of India for official purposes, wherein Hindi has a de jure priority. Sanskrit and Tamil enjoy classical language status in India. The number of dialects in India is as high as 1,652.
Although 80.5% of Indians report themselves as Hindus, India's Muslim population is the world's second largest; they constitute 13.4% of the population. Other religious groups include Christians (2.3%), Sikhs (1.9%), Buddhists (0.8%), Jains (0.4%), Jews, Zoroastrians, Bahá'ís and others. Eight percent of India's people are classified as tribal.
At the time of India's emergence as a nation-state in 1947, India's literacy rate was 11%. Since then, it has increased to 64.8% (53.7% for females and 75.3% of males). The state of Kerala has the highest literacy rate (91%); Bihar has the lowest (47%). The national sex ratio is 933 females per 1,000 males.

Religions in India
Hinduism
A foreigner (visiting India) is struck with astonishment when he hears about the diverse sects and creeds of Hinduism. But these varieties are really an ornament to Hinduism. There is room in Hinduism for all types of souls- from the highest to the lowest- for their growth and evolution.
The Rig-Veda declares: "Truth is one; sages call it various names- Ekam Sat Vipra Bahudha Vadanti." The Upanishads declare that all the paths lead to the same goal, just as cows of variegated colors yield the same white milk.
The major Sects of Hinduism
The Hindu tradition encompasses four major sects - Shaiva, Vaishnava, Shakta, and Smarta - and dozens of minor subsects. It is typically held that Hinduism has four major sects: Shaiva, Vaishnava, Shakta, and Smarta. Although this is in a sense technically accurate, it is also only one of many potential ways of classifying the varieties within Hinduism. In practice, these divisions often overlap, and individual Hindus do not necessarily define themselves in such terms.
1. Vaishnavaswho worship the Lord as Vishnu;
2. Saivaswho worship the Lord as Siva; and
3. Saktaswho adore Devi or the Mother aspect of the Lord.
4. Smarta- the term smarta, which comes from the Sanskrit "smrti," or "remembered," generally refers to those Hindus who understand the ultimate form of the divine to be abstract and all encompassing, Brahman. This theological position is most saliently associated with the Upanishads, a genre of literature that posits that the cosmos is permeated by Brahman (indeed, it is Brahman). The philosopher/saint Shankara (or Adi Shankara, or Shankaracarya), who lived in the 8th century C.E., is often seen as the founder of the Smarta tradition.
In addition, there are the Sauras, who worship the Sun-God; Ganapatyas who worship Ganesh as supreme; and Kumaras who worship Skanda as the godhead.
The Jains
The first founder of the sect was Parsvanatha. Its first active propagator was Mahavira. The Jains are found in great numbers especially in the western coast of India. They are divided into two principal sects- the Svetambaras (clothed in white garments) and the Digambaras (sky-clad or naked).
The Jains do not admit the divine origin of the Vedas. They do not believe in any Supreme Deity. They pay reverence to holy men or saints who are styled Tirthankaras, who dwell in the heavenly abode and who, by long discipline, have raised themselves to divine perfection. The images of one or more of these Tirthankaras are placed in every Jain temple.
The Jains are strict vegetarians. They attach great sanctity to life. They practice Ahimsa (non-killing, non-violence). Strict Jains strain water before drinking, sweep the ground with a brush before treading on it or before sitting, never eat or drink at night and sometimes cover their mouths with muslin to prevent the risk of swallowing minute organisms.
There are two classes of Jains, viz., Sravakas who engage themselves in secular occupations and Yatis or monks who lead an ascetic life.
The Sikhs"Sikhism, while some of its' founding Guru's were Hindu, was created as a response to Hinduism and the reign of the Muslim Mughal empires."-KS Gidda
‘Obedience to the Guru brings release from future births’ this is a firm conviction of the Sikhs.
No Sikh smokes tobacco.
Sadhus and Sannyasins
Salutations unto the ancient Rishis, seers, saints, paramhansa sannyasins and sadhus, who are the repositories of divine knowledge and wisdom and who guide the destiny of the world in the past, present and future.
Every religion has a band of anchorites who lead the life of seclusion and meditation. There are Bhikshus in Buddhism, Fakirs in Mohammedanism (Islam), Sufistic Fakirs In Sufism, and Fathers and Reverends in Christianity. The glory of a religion will be lost absolutely if you remove these hermits or Sannysins or those who lead a life of renunciation and divine contemplation. It is these people who maintain or preserve the religions of the world. It is these people who give solace to the householders when they are in trouble and distress. They are the messengers of the Atman-knowledge and heavenly peace. They are the harbingers of divine wisdom and peace. They heal the sick, comfort the forlorn and nurse the bed-ridden. They bring hope to the hopeless, joy to the depressed, strength to the weak and courage to the timid, by imparting the knowledge of the Vedanta and the significance of the ""Tat Tvam Asi" Mahavakya (great saying).

Caste system in India
The Indian caste system (English pronunciation: /kæst, kɑst/,) describes the social stratification and social restrictions in the Indian subcontinent.
The practice of untouchability was formally outlawed by the Constitution of India in 1950, and has declined significantly since then. K. R. Narayanan, who became the President of India in 1997, and K. G. Balakrishnan (the present Chief Justice of India) have belonged to castes formerly considered untouchable.
There are five different levels of the system: Brahman, Kshatriya, Vaishya, Shudra, and Harijans. Within each of these categories are the actual "castes" or jatis within which people are born, marry, and die. They all have their own place among each other and accept that it is the way to keep society from disintegrating to chaos. This system has worked well for Indian people and still has a major role in modern India.
Brahman :-priest
Kshatriyas, which is right below the Brahmans
Vaishya:- merchants
Shudra:-artisans, agriculturalists
Harijan:-"outside" the caste system
(once known as "untouchables")
The Dalits, or the people outside the varna system, had the lowest social status. The Dalits, earlier referred to as "untouchables" by some, worked in what were seen as unhealthy, unpleasant or polluting jobs. In the past, the Dalits suffered from social segregation and restrictions, in addition to extreme poverty. They were not allowed temple worship with others, nor water from the same sources. Persons of higher castes would not interact with them. If somehow a member of a higher caste came into physical or social contact with an untouchable, the member of the higher caste was defiled, and had to bathe thoroughly to purge him or herself of the impurity. Social discrimination developed even among the Dalits. Upper sub-castes among Dalits, like dhobi, nai etc., would not interact with lower-order Bhangis, who were described as "outcasts even among outcastes".
Flexibility in caste laws permitted very low-caste religious clerics such as Valmiki to compose the Ramayana, which became a central work of Hindu scripture.
The Government lists consist of Scheduled Castes, Scheduled Tribes and Other Backward Classes:
Scheduled castes (SC)
Scheduled castes generally consist of former "untouchables" (the term "Dalit" is now preferred). The present population is 16% of the total population of India (around 160 million). For example, the Delhi state has 49 castes listed as SC.
Scheduled tribes (ST)
Scheduled tribes generally consist of tribal groups. The present population is 7% of the total population of India i.e. around 70 million.
Other Backward Classes (OBC)
The Mandal Commission covered more than 3000 castes under OBC Category and stated that OBCs form around 52% of the Indian population.

Common Practices special to India

BINDI
A bindi (from Sanskrit bindu, meaning "a drop, small particle, dot") is a forehead decoration worn in South Asia (particularly India)[1] and Southeast Asia, not to be confused with a tilaka. Traditionally it is a dot of red colour applied in the center of the forehead close to the eyebrows, but it can also consist of a sign or piece of jewelry worn at this location.
Religious significance
The area between the eyebrows (where the bindi is placed) is said to be the sixth chakra, ajna, the seat of "concealed wisdom". According to followers of Hinduism, this chakra is the exit point for kundalini energy. The bindi is said to retain energy and strengthen concentration. [4] It is also said to protect against demons or bad luck.
In modern times, bindis are worn by women of many religious dispositions in South Asia and Southeast Asia, including Muslim and Christian women, and is not restricted to Hindus.
Bindhi is derived from the Sanskrit word "Bindu" or a drop, and according to the beliefs of Hinduism, it is supposed to signify the mystic third eye of a person and therefore, when properly marked, becomes the central point of the base of the creation itself. It is an auspicious symbol of good fortune and festivity. In Indian culture, it commonly denotes the woman's married status, black signifying someone who is single, and red for married women. A bride's make-up is incomplete without it. When the decked Indian bride steps over the threshold of her married home, resplendent with the red bindhi on her forehead, the red color is supposed to augur prosperity for the home she is entering. The mark makes her the preserver of the family's welfare and progeny.
Bangles : Customarily, the bride receives ornate bangles from her family just before the marriage takes place to be worn during the ceremony and onward when she goes to her married home. Bangles are believed to be auspicious in that the sounds they generate invoke happiness and joy in a household. It is said that medieval India included bangles in various customs and gave the ornament a ritualistic significance. As a result, married women and young girls customarily wear bangles today. It is considered inauspicious, by those who choose to believe so, to have arms bereft of the colorful adornment.
Saptapadi (Seven Steps Ritual) : In a traditional Hindu marriage ceremony, the bride and groom take seven symbolic steps together around the fire which is representative as God's presence in their union. These seven steps are taken as vows toward a long and happy union, with each step representing a different blessing of marriage, nourishment, strength, prosperity, happiness, progeny, harmony and loyalty respectively. Our Saptapadi reads as follows :
Let us take our first step to unconditionally love, cherish and nourish each other,the second step to be each other's pillars and grow together in strength and spirituality,the third step to count, share and preserve our blessings everyday,the fourth step to share our passion, joy and happiness,the fifth step to love and care for our children and raise them to be virtuous and loving,the sixth step to live our lives together in harmony, compassion, respect and understanding, the seventh step to be true to each other and remain lifelong companions to each other. With these seven vows, we have bound your friendship, love and marriage for all eternity.
Namaste
The gesture of Namaste is performed by placing both the palms together in front of our heart and slightly bowing the head. It is considered as a humble greeting straight from the heart.
Namaste is a composite of Sanskrit words: Namah and Te. Namah means “to bow” while te means “you”. So, the word means “I bow to you”. The word Namah itself can be broken down into Na which means “No” and Mah which represents “I”. It thus means “not mine”. It has a spiritual significance of negating or reducing one’s ego in the presence of another. It also implies that there is nothing that the individual soul can claim as its own.
This method of greeting has three-fold effect: mental, physical and verbal.
The effect of Namaste at the mental level is that it is accompanied by a rejection of “I” and thus a sense of selflessness, recognition of the equality of all, and honouring everyone’s sacredness.
The commonly prevalent problem of stress these days is, in large part, due to our cynical mindsets that lead us to constantly think about ourselves alone. This greeting elevates us from this type of thinking and subtly leads us into believing in the worth of each individual and inculcating a considerate feeling for others.
At the physical level, this greeting has several symbolisms. The five fingers of the left hand are said to represent the five senses of karma, while the other five of the right hand symbolize the five senses of knowledge. It is therefore a representation of the fact that our action should be governed by true knowledge.
The other symbolism associated with Namaste is that both hands are joined together making a total of ten fingers. The number “ten”, in all ancient traditions, is considered to be a symbol of perfection and unity e.g. the number of commandments in the Bible is ten, so is the number of rules of the Arya Samaj; Pythagorean system considered ten to be a symbol of the whole of creation while in the Ancient Chinese culture, ten was taken to be a perfectly balanced number.
At the verbal level, the utterance of the word Namaste is equivalent to the chanting of a mantra. The sonority of the sanctifying sound of the word is believed to have a kind of a miraculous effect, by causing a change in the energy vibrations. The goal of the change is to fuse in harmony and become one with the cosmos itself.
The greeting "Namaste" is the divine spark in one person recognizing the divine spark in another.
To perform Namaste, we place the hands together at the heart charka, close the eyes, and bow the head.
"I honor the place in you where the entire universe resides. I honor the place in you, where lies your love, your light, your truth and your beauty. I honor the place in you, where...if you are in that place in you ... and I am in that place in me...then there is only one of us"... Leo Buscaglia
NAMASTE ~, ""The spirit within me bows to the spirit within you."
NAMASTE


Indian mythology is divided into two categories - Vedic mythology and Hindu Mythology. The both have their different significance in Indian History.
Hindu Mythology is a large body of myth related to the Hindu religion and the main source of the myths are the Sanskrit epics such as Puranas. The four Vedas, the Rig-Veda, the Yajur-Veda, the Sama-Veda and the Atharva-Veda are also the sources of Hindu mythology.
The Vedic Mythology are the roots of mythology that evolved from the classic Hinduism come from the times of Vedic civilizations or Vedic times.
Two great epics of Sanskrit literature - The Mahabharata and Ramayana tell the stories of the two incarnations of Lord Vishnu (Rama and Krishna). These two epics are also known as the Itihasa. These epics are divided into various chapters where character takes certain course of action in accordance to the Hindu laws and code of rightness. The most famous chapter in these epic is Bhagvad Geeta (Lord's Song). Mahabharata is also the longest epic poem in the world going up to more than 30,000 lines. These epics not only pay a mythological and cultural importance but also a religious importance.
It is not fair to end this Hinduism without mentioning:
The Trimurthy
Famous Gods in Indian Mythology
Shiva - Shiva is one of the most important gods of Hindu religion. He is the destroyer in Trimurti gods.
Vishnu - Vishnu is the protector. and also the supreme God of the Trimutri. He is also known for his famous avatars including Rama and Krishna.
Brahma - Brahma is the creator. He is the third god of Trimurti. He is self born. He was created in a lotus flower that grew from Lord Vishnu's navel at the beginning of the universe.
The harmony of the three great gods who were accepted as the creators of the universe is called Trimurti in Hinduism.
Hinduism Traditionsand Christianity
Hinduism stresses the right way of living, "dharma": The Commandments of the Law of Manu can be taken by any Christian: Love your neighbors, tolerance, compassion, respect, humility, do not harm other people, do not commit evil acts not harbor evil thoughts... with the 5 rules of "right conduct", the "niyana": Poverty, serenity, austerity, learn about God, obey his laws.
Hinduism claims many deities, ranging from 1,000 to 33 million gods... but all of them are just manifestations or symbols of the only Absolute, and they are different ways to know and serve the only Brahman.
The Christian Holy Trinity... and the Hindu Trimurti: It impressed me to know that the 3 manifestations of Brahman, have some similarities with the Christian "Holy Trinity", in Hinduism called the "Trimurti". - Brahma is like the Father, the creator, the cosmic mind. As God the Father has few temples dedicated to him, in fact only one in all India. - Vishnu, like the Son, Jesus Christ, the preserver, the cosmic lord... with 9 reincarnations, ten avatar manifestations... and the one to come, Kalkin... however, Jesus is the only one incarnation of God. Vishnu had already 9 incarnations ("avatars") and he is shown as one them, as fish, tortoise, a boar... the last 3 were Rama, Krishna, and Buddha, who are very popular
- Shiva like the Holy Spirit, destroyer of the bad things to renew the universe, the transcendent Godhead... so, Hinduism in some way it is a "monotheistic" religion... however the Bible condemns any kind of polytheism, the adoration of anything or anybody besides the only God, because the gods that are not God, are idols or devils (Psalm 96:5).
The Vedas pantheon mythology, includ the Cosmic Trinity of Agni (god of fire), Vayu, (god of air), and Surya (god of energy or life). The Gita, the main "Bible of India", contains many concepts compatible with Christianity, and Krishna, the god of the Gita, and the most popular in India, is like a shadow painting of Jesus Christ when he claims, "I am the source of the forth going of the whole universe... I am the Father, the Holy One, Abode, Shelter, Lover, Origin, Path, Seed imperishable... they who worship me with devotion, they are in me, and I also in them"...
There are 2 problems with Krishna: 1- He is not a "Savior", he can not erase any bad karma (deeds); 2- He never existed, he is a hero of a novel, of the 18th chapter of the Mahabharata epic, he only existed in the mind of the novelist, like Hamlet or Sherlock Holmes, or the gods of the Greeks, or Romans...
... all a Hindu needs is to pass from the shadow of Krishna to the reality of the resurrected and living Jesus Christ; you will understand him very well, because he is like Krishna... and the Savior, merciful God!.We shall comment on the "Law of Karma", with its many similarities to Christianity... ... But the doctrine of "Reincarnation", resulting in the infamous "Caste System" is totally opposed to the teachings of the Bible.We also shall see that most of "Yoga" can be part of a Christian life, but Hindu "Meditation" is a misunderstood word and may be devastating.Most Hindu worship is not congregational but individual, either in the temple or at home, with prayer and magic rites aimed to expel bad spirits. Feasts, Sanctuaries, Pilgrimages, Monasteries, are important part of Hinduism and Christianity.
Part II
Indian Christianity

Jesus came to the eleven apostles and said “All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me. Go therefore and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, and teaching them to obey everything I have commanded you. And remember, I am always with you, until the end of the age." Mt 28:18-20 I think this is the mission statement of the spreading Christianity around the Globe.

Christianity in India is originated with Apostle Thomas.Thomas the Apostle, also called Doubting Thomas, Didymus (meaning "Twin") or "Didymus Judas Thomas", was one of the Twelve Apostles of Jesus. He was perhaps the only Apostle who went outside the Roman Empire to preach the Gospel. During his teaching, he crossed the largest area of any of the Apostles, which includes the Persian Empire and India.
St Thomas in the Gospel of John
Thomas’ name occurs in Matthew (10:3), Mark (3:18), Luke (6) and Acts of the Apostles (1:13), but in the Gospel of John he plays a particularly distinctive part. Thomas appears in a few passages in the Gospel of John. In John 11:16, when Lazarus has just died, the disciples are resisting Jesus' decision to return to Judea, where the Jews had previously tried to stone Jesus. Jesus is determined, and Thomas says bravely: "Let us also go, that we might die with him" .
He also speaks at The Last Supper in John 14.[Jn. 14:5] Jesus tell his disciples that he will go and prepare a place for them. Thomas protests that they don't know where he is going or the way to get there, as if it is a physical place.
In Thomas' best known appearance in the New Testament, [Jn. 20:24-29] he doubts the Death and resurrection of Jesus and demands to touch Jesus' wounds before being convinced. After seeing Jesus alive, (the Bible never states whether Thomas actually touched Christ's wounds), Thomas professed his faith in Jesus, exclaiming "My Lord and my God!" On this account he is also called Thomas the Believer.
According to The Passing of Mary, a text attributed to Joseph of Arimathaea, Thomas was the only witness of the Assumption of Mary into heaven. The other apostles were miraculously transported to Jerusalem to witness her death. Thomas was left in India, but after her burial he was transported to her tomb, where he witnessed her bodily assumption into heaven, from which she dropped her girdle. In an inversion of the story of Thomas' doubts, the other apostles are skeptical of Thomas' story until they see the empty tomb and the girdle. Thomas' receipt of the girdle is commonly depicted in medieval and pre-Tridentine Renaissance art.
Apostle Thomas took with him the message and authority of Jesus and reached India, landing at the Malabar Coast in AD 52.
He was martyred in 72 A.D. by a fanatic at Little Mount (near Madras) and his body was brought to Mylapore (near Madras) and was buried there. His tomb is venerated until this day.
There are several medieval references to the tomb of St. Thomas in India, some of which name Mylapore; and in 1522 the Portuguese discovered the tomb there, with certain small relics now preserved in the cathedral of St. Thomas at Mylapore. In 232 the relics of the Apostle Thomas are said to have been returned by an Indian king and brought back from India to the city of Edessa, Mesopotamia, on which occasion his Syriac Acts were written.
After a short stay in the Greek island of Chios, on September 6, 1258, the relics were transported to the West, and now rest in Ortona, Italy
One interesting legend told about Thomas is called "The Girdle of St. Thomas". According to the story, there was a huge tree that no man could move that had fallen across a road that the Apostle was travelling. When he was told that the obstacle was immovable by the local king, he simply took off the rope around his waist (i.e. "girdle"), told the king about the Power of Christ, tied the rope around one end of the tree, and then hauled it across the road and out of the way of the traffic. The king was so amazed that he instantly granted Thomas permission to preach his Good News to the people of his district.
Saint Thomas was declared the "Apostle of India" by Pope Paul VI in 1972. The Church commemorates the memory of St. Thomas on July 3rd. The date marks the transfer of the remains of the Apostle to Edessa. The Church in India also commemorates the Apostle on the New Sunday after Easter, on December 18th when the Apostle is believed to have been speared, and on December 21st when he attained martyrdom.
At the St. Thomas Day celebration in New Delhi on December 18, 1955, Dr. Rajendra Prasad, the then President of India, said: "St. Thomas came to India when many of the countries of Europe had not yet become Christian, and so those Indians who trace their Christianity to him have a longer history and a higher ancestry than that of Christians of many of the European countries."
It would be appropriate to cite here an extract from the radio message of Pope Pius XII on 31 December, 1952 on the occasion of the 19th century celebrations of the arrival of the Apostle in India: "Nineteen hundred years have passed since the Apostle came to India [...] During the centuries that India was cut off from the West and despite many trying vicissitudes, the Christian communities formed by the Apostle conserved intact the legacy he left them [...] This apostolic lineage, beloved sons and daughters, is the proud privilege of the many among you who glory in the name of Thomas Christians and we are happy on this occasion to acknowledge and bear witness to it."
Extensive trade relations existed between Malabar and the Mediterranean countries even before the Christian era. The numerous golden coins of the Roman Empire which have been found all over the south, as well as many recent discoveries, offer abundant proof that Roman trade centers existed along the southern coasts of India. While King Solomon was ruling over the Israelites (B.C. 970-930), his warships brought back to his country valuable merchandise supposed to be from Muziris (Cranganore), a defunct international port of Malabar. While discussing the dealings of the Phoenicians with Muziris, the Roman historian Pliny (A.D. 23-79) complained that every year they were sending large sum of money to India for silk, pearls, gems and spices. He also remarked that the Malabar ships were visiting the Persian Gulf, Aden, the Red Sea and Egypt. Pliny, Ptolemy (A.D. 100-160) and the Periplus of the Erythraean Sea give much detailed information about the trading centers of Malabar. Diplomatic relations between India and Roman Empire existed even before the Christian era. There were Jewish colonies in Malabar in the first century.
Tradition has it that the Apostle ordained two bishops, Kepha and Paul, respectively for Malabar and Coromandal (Mylapore). This supposedly marks the beginnings of the first hierarchy of India.
According to tradition, St. Thomas made his first conversions by a miracle. At the village of Palaur, he found some Brahman priests throwing handfuls of water into the air as they performed their purification prayers. Thomas threw some water into the air himself, and it hung suspended in the form of sparkling flowers. Tradition continues that most of the Brahmans embraced Christianity on the spot, and that the rest fled. To this day, no orthodox Brahman will take a bath in Palaur.
One story suggests that Thomas offered to build a palace for the Indian king Gondaphores that would last forever. The king gave him money, which Thomas gave to the poor. Asked to show his progress, St. Thomas explained that the palace he was building was in heaven, not on earth.
Catholics
The most significant point, however, is that the Catholic Church is One, Holy, Catholic, and Apostolic and is known as the "Roman Catholic Church".
Terms & Meanings
I think I need to explain that terminology a bit…
catholic = universal
apostolic = conforming to the teachings of the apostles, related to the succession of spiritual authority from the apostles.
communion = unity, fellowship, rapport
sui juris = autonomous, self-governing, capable of managing one's own affairs
One, Holy, Catholic, and Apostolic Church
The Catholic Church is apostolic in the succession of the Pope and Bishops, and owns the authority that Jesus gave the apostles.
The Catholic Church is One because all the churches are in communion with the Pope who is the Bishop of Rome.
Of the nearly 1.1 billion (110 crore or 1100 million) Roman Catholics, the Latin Church's strength is more than 90 percent or above 1 billion.
The next two largest churches are the Ukrainian Church with a population of about 4.5 million and the Syro-Malabar Church with a strength of nearly 4 million. Both these churches are Oriental (Eastern Rite) in worship and traditions.
The Catholic Church is the communion of 22 individual or sui juris Churches. There is one Latin Church, and there are 21 Oriental (Eastern Rite) Churches. All these Churches are in full communion with the Church of Rome, forming the One, Holy, Catholic, and Apostolic Church.
Each of these 21 Oriental churches (rites) has its own hierarchy, traditions, and practices. There are six major rites in the Catholic Church. These are: Roman (Latin), Alexandrian, Armenian, Antiochene (Antiochian), Byzantine, and Chaldean. Excepting the Roman (Latin) Church, all other churches are called Oriental Churches or Eastern Churches. Each of these five major Eastern rite (Oriental) churches has sister churches, taking the total number of Oriental or Eastern Churches to 21.
The Syro-Malabar Church, an Oriental (Eastern Rite) Church and the second largest of the 21 Oriental Churches, is a sister church of the Chaldean church, and follows the Chaldean (East Syrian) tradition, the liturgy of the Chaldean Church having been derived from the Antiochean tradition.
The Syro-Malankara Church is also an Oriental (Eastern Rite) Church. It is a sister church of the Antiochene (Antiochian) Church, and follows the Antiochean (West Syrian) tradition.
KERALA
Kerala ,God’s Own Country, known as the land of spices, letters, culture and hospitality. Its tropical paradise of waving palms and wide sandy beaches, made Kerala one of the most beautiful states in India. Kerala has legendary origins, as it is believed that Parashuram the sixth incarnation of Lord Vishnu(Dasavathara:_Matsya - fish , Koorma - tortoise , Varaha - boar , Narasimha - half man-half lion, Vaman - dwarf man, Parashuram - man with an axe, Rama - moral man , Krishna - philosophical man , Buddha - teacher , And Kalki, the tenth incarnation, yet to manifest itself, would be the ultimate terminator who would finish the evolutionary process in one mighty holocaust.)threw his axe into the sea from Gokarna and the sea retreated from where his axe fell to give birth to Kerala. November first keralians celebrate the Birth of Kerala. Ancient mariners from Arabia ,China, Holland, Britain and Portugal have all left their mark in this state. The main festival of Kerala is Onam. It is in the month of August– September, it commemorates the homecoming of legendary king Mahabali. Kathakali is the most Popular dance of the state. Mohiniyattam, is another typical dance of Kerala. Ottam Tullal is a solo dance in which the dancer wears colourful costumes as in Kathakali.
In Kerala at any place we see the real blessing of nature, sure it is “God’s own Country”
Kerala Catholics
Origin of Kerala Catholics- The origin of Kerala's Christians dates back to 52 AD, when St. Thomas came to the region landing in the port of Cranganore near Cochin. He visited different parts of Kerala and converted local inhabitants including many from the upper sect known as Namboodiri Brahmins. It is also believedthat St. Thomas established Churches in seven places in Kerala ( Kodungallore, Palayur, Paravur, Kokkamangalam, Niranam, Chayal, Korakkeni, Kollam) and a chappal (half church-"Arappalli") at Thiruvankottu.
The Kerala Catholics are popularly referred to as Syrian Christians because of the Syrian Liturgy which they continued to use in church services. They have also sometimes been called Nazaranis (followers of Jesus of Nazarene) or St. Thomas Christians. In some official documents Syrian Christians are even now referred to as Nazaranis.
An added fillip to the growth of the Church took place when a group of about 400 people under the leadership of a Persian trader namely Thomas of Cana migrated from Syria in 345 AD and joined the then existing Kerala Church. The leader of this group was Thomas of Kana. They stayed on in the region. The descendants of this group even today maintain their separate identity, and are known as Kananites.
Catholics together constitute about 61.4%, the Syrian Orthodox and Syrian Jacobites together about 21.4%, the Marthoma Syrians about 5.7%, the Church of South India 5.2% and others about 6.3% of Christian in the state. The Syrian orthodox and Syrian Jacobites are sometimes referred to as Syrian Christians today. All these together constitute Kerala's Christian population
A group of Jacobites embraced the Catholic faith in 1930, and the hierarchy was established in 1932. They are known as Syro-Malankara Catholics and the church is called the Syro-Malankara Church. In 1930, a group of Jacobites under the leadership of Mar Ivanios reunited with the Catholic Church and the Vatican accommodated them as a separate rite. They are known as Syro-Malankara Catholics and they form the Syro-Malankara Rite or the Syro-Malankara Church.
The Syro-Malankara Church follows the Antiochean or West Syrian tradition of worship, and they are an Oriental or Eastern Rite Catholic Church.
The two groups of the Syrian Church, namely the Jacobite Syrians and the Orthodox Syrians continued court battles and finally in 1960 the Supreme Court of India ruled putting an end to the litigation. But even after this temporary reunion the division emerged again. Today there are again two divisions, the Orthodox Syrian Christians owing allegiance to the Catholics of the East and the Jacobites Syrian Christians owing allegiance to the Patriarch of Antioch in Syria. Very recently the supreme court of India has once again ruled putting an end to legal struggles between those two groups and recognizing the legitimacy of the Catholics.
Roman Catholics
Now let us turn to the Roman Catholics. The Roman Catholic Church accepted allegiance to Pope and came to be known as Syrian Roman Catholic. There are Roman Catholics converted by European missionaries known as Latin Roman Catholics. There is also Roman Catholic group mentioned earlier called "Reethu" or the Malankara Syrian Rite.
Many Hindu traditions and customs are followed by Kerala Churches. Among Hindus and Kerala Christians consanguineous marriages are permitted only if the partners are separated at least four generations. Both the Hindu women and the Nazarani women at the time of marriage have an amulet tied around their neck by the bridegroom. It is called "Thali" by Hindu and "Minnu" by Kerala Christians. There are many other Hindu traditions followed by Christians such as dowry system, decorations with rice flower, and forty one day observances after a death in the family.
Their names are unique, Thomas is Mammen, Peter is Ommen, Paul is Peeli, Elizabeth is Eliamma and so on. Arranged marriages are common. As mentioned previously during the marriage ceremony exchange of rings is less important than the tali which the bridegroom ties around the bride's neck.
Syro-Malabar Church: Origin & History
The Syro-Malabar Church is an Oriental (Eastern Rite) Catholic Church, in full communion with the Church of Rome.
The Syro-Malabar Church, with its deep-rooted spirituality and high rate of vocations to priesthood, is considered the most vibrant Catholic Church in the world, and has strength of over 3.8 million believers. It is the second largest of the 21 Oriental Catholic Churches, the largest being the Ukrainian Church with a strength of about 4.5 million believers.
Firm devotion, indomitable faith, deep-rooted spirituality, and rich traditions make the Syro-Malabar Church markedly special and vividly alive, making it an integral part of the One, Holy, Catholic, and Apostolic Church.
The term Syro-Malabar is a reference to the East Syrian (Chaldean) tradition the Church has followed and to the Malabar Coast where St Thomas the Apostle landed.
The Syro-Malabar Church is one of the three Major Archiepiscopal Churches, the other two being the Syro-Malankara Church and the Ukrainian Church.
Formation of the Syro-Malabar Church
Indian Christians were not very happy with the Latin jurisdiction and they revolted against the Latin rule. On January 3, 1653, Christians, under the leadership of Thomas Parambil, assembled at Our Lady of Life church, Mattanchery, and pledged that "we will no longer be under the Jesuits." This event is known as the Coonan Cross Oath.
On 22 May, 1653, Thomas Parambil was declared the bishop (Mar Thoma I) at Alangad. It caused a division in the church and with this we have the introduction of the Jacobite church in India.
Those who continued to be under the Latin jurisdiction remained in the Catholic Church.
Catholics in Kerala continued to be ruled by Carmelites and Jesuits, and had European bishops. In 1896, the church administration was entrusted in the hands of the native bishops.
Thus, St Thomas Christians in India who were under the rule of the Latin bishops from 1600, began to have their own bishops in 1896.
In 1911, Pope Pius X erected a separate Vicariate Apostolic (diocese) of Kottayam (by renaming already existing Kottayam to Changanasserry) for the Knanaya community within the Syro-Malabar Church, and transferred Mar Mathew Makil, the then Vicar Apostolic (bishop) of Changanacherry (until then Kottayam, just renamed to Changanasserry, present Changanasserry) to this newly established Kottayam diocese.
Thus began the diocese of Kottayam, a separate diocese within the Syro-Malabar Church exclusively for the Knanaya Catholic community.
In 1992, the Syro-Malabar church was given the Major Archiepiscopal status. Major Archbishop Cardinal Mar Varkey Vithayathil is the head of the Syro-Malabar Church.
In 1993, the Vatican granted the Syro-Malabar Church sui juris status or self-governing status, except in making episcopal appointments (that is, except in appointing bishops without the approval of the Vatican).
In the year 2004, the Vatican granted the Syro-Malabar Church autonomy in naming bishops. The synod of the Syro-Malabar Church was accorded full powers in deciding on liturgy and appointing bishops, with the Episcopal appointments (bishops) only needing the Vatican's ratification.
Today, the Syro-Malabar Church is the second largest of the 21 Oriental Churches worldwide, second only to the Ukrainian Church. The Syro-Malabar Church is one of the three Major Archiepiscopal Churches, the other two being the Ukrainian Church and the Syro-Malankara Church.
The term Syro-Malabar was first used by the Vatican. The term refers to the East Syrian or Chaldean tradition the Syro-Malabar Church follows and to the Malabar Coast where Apostle Thomas landed in AD 52.
An epitome of staunch faith and deep-rooted spirituality, the Syro-Malabar Church is regarded as the world's most vibrant Catholic Church. The Church has 26 dioceses, of which five are Archdioceses.
The state of Kerala is somewhat of an anomaly in India. With relative peace among the different faiths, Kerala also has the highest literacy rates in the country, over 90% compared to roughly 65% to the rest of India. Another exception is that Kerala is also the only government with Marxists in control. This coming from a state where the majority of the schools, from elementary to university levels, are predominantly Christian.
Kerala does suffer violence amongst the faiths, though the majority are between Hindus and Muslims, and overall, no one has died from any religious violence. The violence that does exist towards Christians come from the many conversions of the untouchable caste of Hindus which has provoked some resentment. This resentment is primarily from militant Hindus such as the notorious BJP party of India and their military branch, the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh.
St.Thomas Cross
The St.Thomas Cross is an icon of the Holy Trinity. God the Father is the foundation. The cross stands for Christ. The four ends of the cross are growing to the four ends of the world and flowering. The dove represents the Holy Spirit. And He makes the cross(Christ) lively. The lotus is the representation of ancient Indian civilization. The cross in the lotus flower indicates the serene reception of the faith by the ancient civilization.
Kathakali
Kathakali (Malayalam: കഥകളി, pronounced [kət̪ʰəkəɭi]) is a highly stylised classical Indian dance-drama noted for its attractive make-up of characters, their elaborate costumes, detailed gestures and well-defined body movements presented in tune with the anchor playback music and complementary percussion. It originated in the country's present day state of Kerala during the 16th century AD, approximately between 1555 and 1605, and has been updated over the years with improved looks, refined gestures and added themes besides more ornate singing and precise drumming.
Parichamuttukali
Parichamuttukali is a martial art form performed by the Christians of northern and central Kerala. The origin of the art can be traced back to ancient days when Kalarippayattu, the martial art of Kerala, was in vogue.
Margamkali
Margamkali is a folk art of the Syrian Christians of Kottayam and Thrissur districts in central Kerala. It is a counterpart of Thiruvathira Kali played by women belonging to the Christian community. A group of dancers sing and dance around a lighted wick lamp Nilavilakku.
Margamkali is a very ancient and the most popular art dance performance prevalent among the Syrian Christians of Kerala. The word ‘margam’ means ‘path’ and it was meant for the propagation of Christian religious ideas. Margamkali is an entertainment form found among Knanaya Christians belonging to both Syro Malabar Catholic Church as well as Jacobite Syrian Christian Church in Kerala state, India.
Saints of India
Gonsalo Garcia
Saint Gonsalo Garcia (1556–1597) is a Roman Catholic saint from India. Born in the western coastal town of Vasai, an exurb of the city of Bombay. He preached from the Bassein fort during the time the town was under Portuguese colonial rule.
Gonsalo's long cherished dream to be a Jesuit did not materialize and moved on to Manila in the Philippines as a lay missionary. In the Philippines, he was influenced by a Franciscan priest, Fr. Peter Baptista and soon joined the Seraphic Order as a lay brother. After working with the leprosy patients there he was formally ordained as a Franciscan as the Friars Minor at Manila.
On May 26, 1592, the Spanish governor in the Philippines sent Gonsalo on a diplomatic mission back to Japan along with Baptista. After working for four years, the Japanese shogun suspected the missionaries of sedition and were placed under house arrest in their monastery in Miaco (Kyoto) on 8 December 1596. A few days afterwards, when they were singing vespers, they were arrested, manacled and immured.
On February 5, Garcia was crucified on Nagasaki Hills with twenty-six of his companions. St. Garcia was the first to be extended on, and nailed to the cross which was then erected in the middle of those of his companions. Fr. Gonsalo, the first to arrive, went straight to one of the crosses and asked "Is this mine?” The reply was "It is not". Then he was taken to another cross, where he knelt down and embraced it. The others, one after another, started doing the same. "That was quite a sight, the way Br. Philip was embracing his cross. . . " comments one of the witnesses. Two lances impaled his body through his heart. While being nailed, Garcia sang praises of God, earning him the martyr's title.
In 1627, Garcia and his fellow martyrs were declared as Venerable by Pope Urban VIII. The martyr's feast day occurs on Feb 5th and in 1629, their veneration was permitted throughout the Catholic Church. On June 8, 1862 Garcia was declared a saint by Pope Pius IX.
Sister Alphonsa FCC
On October 12, 2008, Sister Alphonsa become the second Indian to be officially declared a saint by the Vatican.
Alphonsa joined the Franciscan convent in 1927 and spent 20 years serving the people before she died of illness at the age of 36.Alphonsa Muttathupadathu (August 19, 1910 – July 28, 1946) is the first Indian woman to be elevated to sainthood. She was beatified by Pope John Paul II in 1986 and declared as a saint by the pope Benedict XVI on October 12, 2008.
She is the first female saint from India and the second saint from India. In the 19th century, Saint Gonsalo Garcia, born in Vasai near Mumbai to an Indian mother and Portuguese father in 1556, was declared a saint.
Sr Alphonsa worked as an elementary school teacher. She taught, but was often sick and unable to teach.
In December 1936 she was reportedly cured from her ailments through the intervention of Saint Thérèse of Lisieux and Blessed Kuriakose Elias Chavara, but on June 14, 1939 she was struck by a severe attack of double-pneumonia, which left her weakened. On October 18, 1940, a thief stumbled into her room in the middle of the night. This traumatic event caused her to suffer amnesia, and weakened her again. Her health continued to deteriorate over a period of months. She received extreme unction on September 29, 1941. The next day she regained her memory, though not complete health. Her health improved over the next few years, until in July 1945 she developed a stomach problem that caused vomiting.
She died on July 28, 1946, aged 35. She is buried at Bharananganam, South India in the Diocese of Palai.She was beatified along with Kuriakose Elias Chavara at Kottayam.
The persecutions in India
I cannot end this talk telling you without the persecution that are going on in India even at this present moment.
Sr Rani Maria FCC
While I was studying theology in Bhopal North in India I witnessed a funeral of a Franciscan nun who was brutally killed for being a missionary. Sr. Rani Maria of Franciscan Clarist Convent also known as 'Indore Rani' as brutally murdered on Feb. 25, 1995 in broad daylight when attackers dragged her out of the bus in which she was traveling from Udainagar to Bhopal on her way to Kerala to visit her parents She was stabbed her to death 52 times.
Her only offence was that she had initiated developmental activities for the poor tribal of Udainagar, Madhya Pradesh. She had started several Seva Samities in various villages, a savings scheme which ensured the purchasing of seeds and fertilizers by farmers at nominal interest rates thus saving the tribals from the clutches of the moneylenders. However the empowerment of the poor was not liked by all and was opposed by some groups' especially the money lenders who wanted to harbour their own vested interest by preventing progress of the poor. On various occasions they protested about her activities, but she continued her work unfazed by threats and opposition and had to pay the price for it with her life. But for the locals she was a hero, who said, "Sr. Rani Maria is not dead; no one can kill her. She will always remain an inspiration for us in the years to come."
The man who did the heinous crime was identified as Samandar Singh and was sentenced to life imprisonment. However, destiny had something else in store for him.
He could have never even imagined in his faintest of dreams that the victims' family would forgive him and seek his release. But much to the surprise of everyone including the jail authorities, the family submitted an application seeking his release to the Governor and to the jail officials in MP which was accepted and he was released on Aug. 22, 2006.
On being released he went straight to Sr. Rani Maria's grave in Udainagar and her memorial thereafter. He was the Chief Guest for the Christmas celebration in the FCC convent in Udainagar, MP, on Dec 25, 2006.However there was another wish that he wanted to realize and that was to visit the native place of Sr. Rani in Kerala and meet her mother and ailing father to whom he owed a lot. And so twelve years after the horrific incident took place; Samandar Singh arrived in Kerala accompanied by a priest from MP, Fr. Michael on Jan. 13, 2007. On reaching there he witnessed amazing love and warmth of the family who treated him like a son, blessed him and prepared a delicious North Indian lunch.
To the neighboring people it was a sight to be remembered forever, as no one could believe that he was the same man who had taken their daughter's life. The sight perhaps reminded one of the return of the prodigal son from the Bile.Sr. Selmy (sister of Sr. Rani Marai) said she had forgiven Samandar the day the crime took place and had regularly prayed for him since then.
Graham Stewart Steins
An Australian missionary and his two sons were burned to death in Orissa's Keonjhar district. Graham Stuart Staines, a 58-year-old physician and secretary of the New Delhi-based Evangelical Missionary Society, was an Australian missionary who ran a leprosy house in India. On the night of January 22, 1999, he and his two sons, Philips, 9, and Timothy, 7 were asleep in a station wagon when a crowd of people surrounded them and set the car on fire, burning them alive.
It was around 12.20 a.m. on 23rd January 1999, mob armed with sticks and tridents surrounded the station wagon,as they approached it, they began screaming.
Dara Singh struck first, wielding an axe at the tyres, deflating them. The others broke windows and prevented the Staines from escaping and then torched the jeep………….in seconds, the vehicle was on fire.
Mr Staines ministered among Indian lepers for 34 years. He met his wife Gladys in India and they were married in 1983. Both were originally from Australia, but they dedicated their lives to serving ostracised leprosy sufferers in a foreign land.
During the funeral service, Gladys and Esther sang this song along with the believers: “There is no friend like Jesus who is humble. He knows our struggles. He will lead us”.
At the funeral, Esther said, “I thank God for choosing my father as a martyr for Him”.
Dara Sing says he hates missionaries because, according to him, they induce people to convert; he also hates Muslims because, as he says, they target his religion and they target cows; and he has no regrets over the deaths of the Staines children.
The state of Orissa is currently led by the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), a Hindu party defined as “the political wing" of extremist and fundamentalist groups. In the last ten years, Christian-owned churches and homes have been burned down in Orissa and several Christians have been killed; in the last five months alone, two Christian pastors have been murdered.
Fr. Thomas Pandippally CMI
August 16, 2008 Fr. Thomas Pandippally, a member of the CMI Congregation was brutally murdered while he was returning home on his motorbike after celebrating the Eucharist in Andhra Pradesh. Even though he was killed on Saturday night, his body was found only the following day on the road. On his body there were 18 stab wounds. He sustained many more wounds on his face and hands during the struggle with his murderers, which probably went on for about an hour. According to the postmortem report, his head was hit with sticks and boulders. One eye was pierced with a knife. Fr. Thomas literally shed his blood because of his commitment and dedication to the Gospel of Jesus.
In Orissa in August, At least 41 churches (Catholic and Protestant) were destroyed; hundreds of homes were damaged; four convents, five hostels and youth residences, six Catholic volunteer institutes were devastated; plus hundreds of cars and other personal objects were set on fire during raids carried out by Hindu fundamentalists.
Let me end this quoting Sr. Nirmala Joshi , The second superior of the Missionaries of Charity , who made an appeal: "Pray for our people and always hope in God, who cares for the people. God sees everything, He knows everything and He can do everything and He can bring out good even out of all this evil for all those who trust him. Mother Teresa from her heavenly home is telling each of us and especially to our people here: 'Do not be afraid, I am with you. Forgive, overcome evil with good.” God bless you! God bless India!"

Sin matters
My dear brothers and sisters in Jesus Christ,
Once there was a great high school volleyball team. The young women just destroyed all their opponents. The newspapers wrote great stories about how good they were and now they always played as a team and how their were no rivalries among them. The kids took it very seriously. We’re great they kept saying, but we’re great as a team. HOWEVER, each one began to think they were the best and that the others were hangers on. Then they stopped talking to one another. Still they kept winning and the media kept saying what a great TEAM they were. Well they were until the championship game. Then each young woman thought that all the others were hot-dogging and they became very angry. Their opponent destroyed them. Each one was still convinced she’d make all state. Who did? You know the answer – None of them.
In the Oxford Book of Prayer, there is a prayer carved in stone over the doorway of a London church. It reads: “Oh God, make the door of this house wide enough to receive all who need human love and fellowship; narrow enough to shut out all envy, pride and strife. Make its threshold smooth enough to be no stumbling block to children, nor to strain feet, but rugged and strong enough to turn back the tempter’s power. God make the door of this house the gateway to thine eternal Kingdom.”
Dear brothers and sisters, every once in a while it is a good thing for us to take time to reflect on topics that make us uncomfortable.
Today the Church is inviting us to do just that. Throughout the Readings, today's liturgy emphasizes one simple truth of our Catholic faith: sin matters.
In today's Second Reading, St James graphically explains that if someone spends their earthly life exploiting and using other people, lying and cheating and hoarding wealth, they may enjoy the fruits of their crimes for a little while, but they can't escape justice for ever.
The love for human respect is a weakness in all of us. We all want to be liked; we all want to be accepted; we all want others to think of us as nice and pleasant persons. Sometimes, we are willing to sell out on our principles or our faith just so that we will be liked.
I think it is true to say that there are two main reasons our churches are not full - one is the world is very, very evil, and people are not interested in a Christian way of life. They are interested in Christian lip service, but not in actually ordering their lives completely according to Christ. That is part of it. But another part of it is, we don’t shine. We do not profess Christ in every aspect of how we live, how we think, how we prioritize. Every single person in our workplace should notice something about us, or think we are different. Dear brothers and sisters, there was no one that encountered Christ that did not notice something about Him, that did not have to come to a decision because of Him. So should it be with us.
In the gospel “to scandalize” does not mean to give a bad example or to do a disgusting deed. The Greek word means to put an obstacle, or to trip. In Matthew’s gospel, Jesus tells Peter who has been reproving Jesus for talking about his passion and death: “Away from me, Satan. You are a scandal to me.” Jesus was not telling Peter: “You are giving me a bad example.” No. Instead, he was telling Peter: “You are an obstacle to me. You are preventing me from obeying the Father’s will.” There is a song from a musical titled -- Careful The Things You Say, Children Will Listen. This song illustrates the fact that children do, indeed, listen to what grown-ups say. Our attitudes shape their attitudes. Our prejudices shape their prejudices. Our language shapes their language. Our love shapes their love. We should never lose sight of that fact. We have a great responsibility to set good examples and to help our children avoid sin.
Watching a young child play with a doll and interact with it can be very telling of how she is affected by her parents. The way she punishes, rewards, coddles, and encourages her doll usually mirrors exactly what she observes and receives from her parents. It can be very telling. Careful the things you say and do, children are listening. Jesus reminds us of our responsibility to set good examples.
Jesus is just as clear.
He explains that un-repented sin has consequences; it leads to damnation, to hell, which was commonly called "Gehenna."
Gehenna; a Greek word, as all authorities admit, is derived from the name of the narrow, rocky Valley of Hinnom which lay just outside Jerusalem. It was the place where refuse was constantly burned up. Trash, filth, and the dead bodies of animals and despised criminals were thrown into the fires of gehenna, or the Valley of Hinnom. Ordinarily, everything thrown into this valley was destroyed by fire—completely burned up. Therefore, Christ used gehenna to picture the terrible fate of unrepentant sinners! Thus, Gehenna became a symbol of the state of eternal separation of a soul from God, and the unending spiritual destruction and frustration that goes with such a separation. According to Jesus, that's what un-repented sin leads us to.
These comments of St James and Jesus are not meant to scare us into feeling guilty - it's not some psychological manipulation technique.
Rather, they are simply informing us about the facts: sin, willfully turning away from God and his moral law, has consequences, and they are not good, and we should strive to avoid them.
The Catechism (#420) tells us: "The victory that Christ won over sin has given us greater blessings than those which sin had taken from us."
Sin matters, but God's infinite, redemptive mercy matters more.
That's the message of today's Mass, and of every Mass;
This week Jesus tells us to face our demons, our temptations, our sin, our realities head on -- to face them fully and say ENOUGH. I am cutting you out. I am cutting you off. Yes, it will be difficult. But love what you do and do what you love.
In the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit. Amen.

“If anyone wishes to be first, he shall be the last of all and the servant of all.”

Mk 9:30-37
My dear brothers and sisters in Jesus Christ,
Two travelling angels stopped to spend the night in the home of a wealthy family. The family was rude and refused to let the angels stay in the mansion’s guest room. Instead, the angels were given a small space in the cold basement. As they made their bed on the hard floor, the older angel saw a hole in the wall and repaired it. When the younger angel asked why, the older angel replied, “Things aren’t always what they seem.”
The next night the two angels came to rest at the house of a very poor, but very hospitable farmer and his wife. After sharing what little food they had the couple let the angels sleep in their bed where they could have a good night’s rest. When the sun came up the next morning the angels found the farmer and his wife in tears. Their only cow, whose milk had been their sole income, lay dead in the field. The younger angel was infuriated and asked the older angel how could you have let this happen? The first man had everything, yet you helped him, she accused. The second family had little but was willing to share everything, and you let the cow die.
“Things aren’t always what they seem,” the older angel replied. “When we stayed in the basement of the mansion, I noticed there was gold stored in that hole in the wall. Since the owner was so obsessed with greed and unwilling to share his good fortune, I sealed the wall so he wouldn’t find it.”
“Then last night as we slept in the farmer’s bed, the angel of death came for his wife. I gave him the cow instead. Things aren’t always what they seem.”
"If anyone wants to rank first," Jesus declared, "he must become the servant of all." At first that sounds like a nice saying, but the more we give it some thoughtful reflection the more effort it seems to require of us. It seems to contradict common sense. How can it be that one who serves, a servant, is an important person in our world?
In order to understand fully what Jesus is doing here, we need to know a little history.
A child in the time of Jesus had no importance. Middle Eastern cultures would put a child last in import, almost as a slave. The Bible is quite hard on children, actually. It tells fathers to discipline their children with a rod because they were basically evil and discipline was necessary to make them good later. This does not mean that the parents didn’t love their children – they just saw them differently than we do and saw their ‘potential’ more than their ‘actuality’ as people. Children would become more important for the parents as the parents aged and needed them.
In terms of the Mediterranean culture, he was shaming the apostles. Asking them to be hospitable to a child, to take a child in, would be laughable in that culture. Children cannot give anything back, they cannot spread the news of the hospitality to make the hospitable person known in the community. By giving hospitality, that is, welcoming a child, the welcomer would be doing a totally unselfish act, contrasting with the selfishness of the Apostles who wanted to be the most important member of the group. To receive God, Jesus says, you have to lower yourself and accept the powerlessness and helplessness of a child. We often forget as adults what it is like not to be able to provide for oneself, and when we do forget that, we forget what we owe to God.
Note that Mark here does not tell us to become like little children as we hear elsewhere in Scriptures, but to receive children, to welcome children, to give hospitality to children. This act lowers a person because nothing can be given back in return (except perhaps, love) and that is what receiving Jesus is all about.
“To welcome” and “to receive” mean to respect and serve, that is, to be concerned about the well-being of the powerless. The special characteristic of small children was, in fact, their powerlessness. They existed there as persons without any achievements to necessarily be proud of.
So Jesus tells his disciples, “You see this child . . . who needs to be fed, clothed, washed, taught, and loved . . . the kingdom of heaven belongs to him. You want to know who’s the greatest, look here—thirty-six inches tall, needing everything and giving nothing. Just look here. Welcome this child and welcome all like him—those without status, influence or income; those who struggle to make it through a day; those who are not important; those who can never pay you back. Welcome them and you welcome me.”
The meaning of success, then, truly is service. That's why Jesus places a little child, the most vulnerable and the most dependent of us all, before our eyes. The true test of your life and mine is how we deal with those who are weaker than we are, more dependent than we are, more vulnerable than we are. We can ignore them, or we can devote our lives to caring for them.

That’s the choice Jesus gave to His disciples, and that’s the choice Jesus puts in front of you and me here today.
Yes dear brothers and sisters, When God leads you to the edge of the cliff, trust Him fully and let go, only one of two things will happen, either He'll catch you when you fall, or He'll teach you how to fly!
In the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit. Amen.

Take up your cross and follow the Messiah
My dear brothers and sisters in Christ,
In one of the volumes of “Great Texts of the Bible,” the author sums up the poem, “The Changed Cross,” in these words:
“This poem represents a weary one who thought that her cross was surely heavier than others of whom she knew. And she wished that she might choose another instead of her own. She slept, and in her dream she was led to a place where many crosses lay—crosses of different shapes and sizes. There was a little one most beautiful to behold, set in jewels and gold.
“Ah, this I can wear with comfort,” she said. So she took it up, but her weak form shook beneath it. The jewels and the gold were beautiful, but they were far too heavy for her. Then she saw a cross that made of flowers. She lifted it, but beneath the flowers were piercing thorns, which tore her flesh. At last, as she went on, she came to a plain cross, without jewels, without carving, with only a few words of love inscribed upon it. This she took up, and it proved the best of all, the easiest to be bore. And as she looked upon it, she recognized her own old cross. She had found it again, and it was the best of all and lightest for her.” Yes, dear brothers and sisters in Christ, God will not give us cross which we cannot carry.
Listening to Peter in Caesarea Philippi proclaiming that Jesus was the Christ - the Messiah - you would think that Peter would be a model disciple of Jesus from then on in the Gospel. But that is not the case. Peter and the other Eleven are not model disciples in the Gospel of Mark. Just after this central and very important section of the Gospel of Mark where Peter proclaims Jesus to be the Messiah, we see Peter’s weakness. Jesus said he would suffer grievously, be rejected by the elders, chief priest and scribes, be put to death and rise again. But this was too much for Peter. Peter took Jesus aside and tried to persuade Jesus not to allow this to happen to him. Suffering for the sake of the kingdom was not what Peter had in mind for the Messiah or for himself either.
Peter proclaimed Jesus to be the Messiah but when the crunch comes (Crisis took place) he abandons Jesus. But when we compare ourselves to Peter and the other disciples it is an embarrassment to us because we see that we react like them. It is easy for us to profess our faith in Jesus here every Sunday but how do we react when we have to take up our cross? How do we react when we need to witness to Jesus and show what a Christian would do in our circumstances? How do we react when temptation comes our way? Do we give in to temptation like Peter in the Gospel of Mark or do we stand firm in faith like Peter in the Acts of the Apostles?
I really love this story in the Gospel of Mark were Peter is portrayed as the one apostle that Jesus raises to leadership, but at the same time Peter screws up so often that I find I can really identify with him. Despite the fact that Jesus gives him the keys to the kingdom of heaven, Peter messes up when he tries to walk on water, he misunderstands the transfiguration, totally misinterpreting it, he denies Christ three times and later on is even criticized by St. Paul. Yet despite this, Jesus placed his trust in Peter. If Peter can mess up that badly and Jesus can still put his trust in him, there must be hope for me and for you!
The thing is, Peter never let any of these failures stop him in his quest to follow Jesus. Just like Peter, we all seem to mess things up at times. We make bad decisions, but the lesson here from Mark is that Jesus will be patient with us; he will not give up on us. He may let us know we are wrong, but he wants us to keep going until we find the right path.
Taking up our cross also is embracing or using the suffering that happens to us. St. Theresa of Liseux would not even brush away a fly that was on her face and annoying her, but instead offered the annoyance (feeling of irritation} to God.
It is true that our burdens or crosses vary in weight and number, but in too many cases we are merely seeking a life without a cross. But please remember, when we give up the burdens, we give up following our Lord. It is impossible to follow Christ without carrying the weight of our cross.
In the lives of each of us there may be something painful, big or small, something that we wish to be different. In the lives of each of us there is a cross. I think there is something holy about our cross. It keeps us close to God. When there is some pain in our lives, when we have to carry a cross we depend more on God. I think it is part of God’s mysterious plan that we carry a cross because it keeps us close to God. Mother Teresa of Calcutta said that sufferings are the kisses of Jesus in our lives.
There are three main conditions for Christian discipleship: 1) Self denial: This means evicting selfish thoughts, evil desires and tendencies from our heart and filling it with God. It also means cleansing ourselves of all evil habits, enthroning God in our hearts and sharing Him with others. 2) Carrying of the cross with Jesus: The cross always means pain and suffering. But our sufferings become the cross of Jesus with its saving power only when we suffer by serving others selflessly, or when we give ourselves – our health, wealth, time and talents to others till it hurts us, or when we do penance to purify ourselves. 3) Following Jesus: This means that as followers of Christ we should live our lives according to the word of God, by obeying what is commanded by Jesus.
May God help all of us to learn to carry our own crosses, while allowing God and others to help!
In the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit.
Amen.

Jesus satisfies our hunger
My dear brothers and sisters in Jesus Christ,
A few years ago the news media carried the story of a modern-day Good Samaritan who packed his car each day with dozens of homemade sandwiches and traveled to the inner city to distribute them to homeless and otherwise needy people. Eventually, those who benefited from his generosity became familiar with the Samaritan’s customary route and began to congregate on certain corners at a specific time each day to wait for their daily gift of food. Today’s gospel describes such a scene where people who had been sumptuously fed on the previous day by Jesus came searching for him for another free meal.
Jesus echoes the question posed by the prophet Isaiah: "Why do you spend your money for that which is not bread, and your labor for that which does not satisfy" (Isaiah 55:2)?
Jesus trying to liberate people not only from their needs but from the fixation that goes with those needs. The crowd understands him as someone who will satisfy their material needs. For this reason they want to make him king. Jesus calls them to a deeper understanding because it is only in faith that they can grasp how he gives himself to them as food for eternal life. The manna given to the Israelites in the desert became spoiled after one day, but what he gives them does not perish. Faith - the letting go of fearful grasping - is necessary in order to receive the gift of life. Faith is first of all an openness to hear and receive and respond to the word. Ultimately, Faith means letting Jesus make his home in us, so that he can transform us in a permanent way. It means making space within for Jesus to not only dwell there but also to let his attitudes and values influence us in our way of life.
Unfortunately, many of us are fixated in our needs. We too are caught up in our wanting. The ordinary life-needs cannot be ignored, they must be accepted and dealt with and then transcended. Very often, because of our fixation, after a need is satisfied we rush greedily to satisfy it again and again. We cannot transcend.
Once there was a young Hindu hermit who lived as an ascetic in a forest. He owned nothing except a pair of loincloths. One morning, to his great disappointment, he found that mice had destroyed one of the loincloths. He brought a cat to kill the mice and then a cow to give milk to the cat. Later, as the cows multiplied, he hired a girl from the nearby village to look after the cows and to sell the extra milk in the village. Finally, his ever growing material needs prompted him to end his religious life, marry the girl and settle down as a farmer in the village. This little story illustrates how easily the never-ceasing hunger for material things can take over our spiritual life. Jesus in today’s gospel promises to satisfy our spiritual hunger by offering his body as our food.
When Jesus fed the multitudes he attended to their basic needs but then he challenged them to something higher, to let him become their food, to let him become the source of their attitudes and values; but they were not ready for this and so could not come to fullness of life.
If we look at our own prayer patterns today, we will see the same. Prayer of petition and presentation of concerns to the Lord is very legitimate. It is asking God "to be Our God" to be caring and liberating but it often fails to include the prayer that, "we be his people" who live according to his values.
A way of prayer that is open - like meditation - does not ignore needs, is not fixated, but leaves us open to the challenge to our attitudes and values that is given to us when Jesus - the Lord - makes his home in us.
When a king, emperor, president, or any leader sends an ambassador to a foreign country to speak in his name that ambassador speaks with the full power of the one who sent him. The teaching of Jesus is therefore the teaching of the Father himself and consequently, the works that God wants from his people is to believe in the one he has sent.
The connection between God and Jesus is inescapable, just as the connection between Jesus and the Apostles is inescapable: As the Father sent me, so am I sending you. (John 20:21) And then: Anyone who listens to you listens to me; anyone who rejects you rejects me, and those who reject me reject the one who sent me. (Luke 10:16)
God – Jesus – Church – and do not let anyone tell you any different. To reject the authentic teaching of the Church is to reject Jesus, and to reject Jesus is to reject the Father who sent him. As Pope Benedict has clarified for us, those who say Jesus yes, Church no, are actually saying Church no, Jesus no.
On a hot summer day, a group of scouts helped at a service project. At the end of the day, the scouts got together and began to complain. "That was hard work," one person said. "Why did we have to do the work the way the scout master wanted it done?" another complained. "And, why did we have to do it today?" a third scout added. The grumbling just got worse and worse.
When the scoutmaster overheard the conversation, he got angry. "Open your eyes," he said to the scouts, "Look at all the good things you did today! And all you can do is complain?"
Like the scouts, the Israelites followed Moses, their leader, into the hot desert. Hungry and tired, they complained to Moses. God answered their complaint with daily food. This way, the Israelites would have to trust God.
Many times we are so involved in what we are doing, we do not see the bigger picture, the what things fit together. When we cannot see the bigger picture, we get frustrated, we complain, and we might even give up. That's the time we need to ask for help from God, our parents, our teachers, and our spiritual leaders to help us see the way things work together. Yes-dear brothers and sisters, God will satisfy our needs but not our wants. Because our wants are endless and it will never be satisfied.

Multiplication of the Loaves: the Eucharist

My dear brothers and sisters in Christ,
When Jesus saw the in-famished crowds, he could have easily done a miracle from scratch. He who created the heavens and the earth out of nothing, he who fed the Israelites in the desert with miraculous manna and quails from heaven, could easily have satiated the hungry multitude all by himself. He didn’t need human assistance. But that isn’t the way he acted. He first asked his disciples what their resources were. The only one who had anything was a young boy, who had five loaves and two fish, food that wouldn’t even be enough to feed a small family. The Lord started with the young boy’s generosity. Even though strictly speaking he didn’t need anything to work a miracle, he wanted to involve them in the miracle. He wanted to start with the best and the most that people had, and bring it to completion.
This is the way God generally operates with us. He could do it everything by himself, but he knows that wouldn’t be ultimately good for us. Just like a parent knows that it’s not good to do everything for a child, but often gives a child a project and helps the child complete it, so God out of love wants to give us the joy and dignity of being cooperators with him in what he’s doing for us and for others. Look at the wonderful story of the apostles. Jesus wanted to involve these simple men in the most important mission ever, the proclamation of the kingdom of God and the salvation of the human race. They weren’t necessarily talented men, they were, for the most part sinners just like us, but they were capable of saying yes to God, to offering to him their good will, and all the talents he gave them — whether they were a meager one loaf and one fish, or many more — and allowing the Lord to multiply their offerings by his divine power.
Regardless of how many gifts and blessings the Lord has given us, he wants us to give them back to him so that he can do far greater things with them. We might not be very gifted as a teacher, but with the Lord, we might be the best of teachers to our children about what is most important of all. We might not be have much in the way of material possessions, but when we offer them to the Lord, he might use them to help save others’ lives in this world or in the next. We might be advanced in years or very ill and think that we don’t have much still to give, but offered to the Lord, they can be incredibly fruitful. Whether it’s a lot or a little, if we give it all to the Lord, the Lord will multiply its effects. And the most fitting place to offer this gift is in union with Christ in the sacrifice of the Mass.
Sometimes people complain, “I don’t get anything out of the Mass.” Bishop Sheen in response used to cry aloud, “Well, that’s because you’re not putting anything into it!” The more we put into the Mass, the more we will receive, because it’s only when we’re empty of ourselves that the Lord can fill us. The reason why we take the collection right before the liturgy of the Eucharist begins is because that is the time in the Mass when explicitly are called to put trustingly our own five loaves and two fish in the hands of the Lord.
In this passage, the liturgical references seem clear. Jesus took the bread...looked up to heaven...gave thanks …broke the bread...gave it to his disciples...who gave it to everyone...and they all ate and were satisfied. These actions seem parallel to Holy Communion. In the Greek translation, “to give thanks” is eucharisteō, which is where the name Eucharist comes from.
The fish is, of course, an ancient symbol of Christ himself - the first letters of the Greek word for ‘fish’ (icthus) are a primitive Creed, ‘Jesus Christ - God's Son - Savior’. So the fact that the people eat the fish prefigures the way in which we take Christ into ourselves. Why, then, are there two fish? One theory is that the two fish represent Christ in the Old and the New Testament, but they could also represent the two ways in which Christ comes to us in the Mass, the Liturgy of the Word and the Liturgy of the Eucharist.
As for the bread, this is, of course, a foreshadowing of the Body of Christ which we receive in the Mass. Why, then, are there five loaves? For the Jewish people, the number five represented the Pentateuch, the first five books of the Old Testament that are a nucleus or foundation for the whole of the Old Testament. In other words, the fact that there are five loaves also identifies these as a symbol of sacred Scripture. So the loaves and the fish both represent, in different ways, the two main parts of the Mass, the Liturgy of the Word and the Liturgy of the Eucharist.
In the first reading (2 King 4: 42-44), the prophet Elisha received twenty barley loaves. He said to the servant, “Give this to the people to eat.” The servant replied with these words, as if he disappointed, “What good will this do for one hundred people?” Elisha’s answer shows us the great faith that he had in God. He insisted, “Give this to the people to eat, because the Lord has said, ‘They will eat and there will be some left over.’” The servant obeyed and saw with his own eyes that they ate, they were filled, and there was bread left over. Just as the Lord had said.
My dear brothers and sisters, if we firmly believe in the great love that Christ has for us and we follow his teachings, he will give us the energy we need to follow the long road to our heavenly Father. Trust in the Lord. He is the only one who can help us.
In the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit.
Amen.

Compassion of Jesus Christ
My dear brothers and sisters in Jesus Christ,
A pastor is called to attend to his dying parishioner, a notorious criminal who couldn’t care less about the things of God or his spiritual life. The pastor arrives and is surprised to see the dying man frantically turning the pages of a big Bible. Supposing he could be of help, he asked, “What are you searching for?” And the dying man coldly replies, “Loopholes.”
Today’s gospel is a good one for those who read the Bible looking for loopholes. It gives us two apparently contradictory images of Jesus. First we have the image of Jesus as a man of firm, uncompromising, and even insensitive personality who turns his back on a needy and helpless crowd of people who need his help and takes off on a break once it was time for a break. Then we have the image of Jesus as a caring, empathetic and compassionate Jesus who calls off his well-deserved rest to attend to a noisy crowd of clients who are bugging him when they should not. The average reader of the Bible faced with this dilemma is likely to see in Jesus the character that best suits his or her own personality. Staunch disciplinarians tend to see in Jesus a staunch disciplinarian and kindhearted philanthropists tend to see in him a kindhearted philanthropist. The tragedy is that so many people never take a second look at Jesus. They go through their lives seeing Jesus only as they first saw him. A second look can help us fulfill the words of the song "Day by Day". “To see thee more clearly, to love thee more dearly, to follow thee more nearly."
Fact is the Bible is there in some way to affirm us and in other way to challenge us. If we read the Bible expecting the word of God to challenge our prevailing attitudes and lifestyle, then it is easy for us to see that what shines out in today’s gospel is nothing but the image of Jesus as the compassionate one. “As he went ashore, he saw a great crowd; and he had compassion for them, because they were like sheep without a shepherd; and he began to teach them many things” (Mark 6:34). Compassion is putting oneself in the other person’s position and trying to see things the way the other person sees them. Compassion is the Mohawk proverb that says, “Do not criticize your neighbor until you have walked a mile in his moccasin (shoe).”
You may ask me then, if Jesus is so compassionate why then did he try to get away from the crowd initially? Even that action could be seen as an act of compassion not for the crowd but for the disciples who certainly needed a rest. “He said to them, ‘Come away to a deserted place all by yourselves and rest a while’. For many were coming and going, and they had no leisure even to eat” (verse 31). The former decision was motivated by compassion for the disciples, the latter by compassion for the people. None of it was motivated by self-interest. It was compassion through and through.
Despite his plans, he is moved to pity. He cannot ignore the crowd because he sees them like sheep without a shepherd. Ok. Here is a riddle for you "If there were 100 sheep in a pasture and one jumped over the fence how many would be left?" This is not a very hard question to answer – or so you think. "Ninety nine," you quickly will say. If you say ninety-nine; then it is true you do not have a clue about sheep. "No" "sheep are so dumb they would all follow the first and there would be none left! You’ve got to keep an eye on them all the time, because sooner or later they’ll get in trouble, or lost, or eaten by a wild animal."
What does that mean—like sheep without a shepherd? Jeremiah has some hints at an answer and the psalmist helps. Sheep without a shepherd, they say, scatter, they wander. Maybe that’s how Jesus saw them all trailing after him, following anything that moves. What else? Sheep without a shepherd miss the best grazing, they fail to thrive, and the undernourished flock dwindles. Finally—and Jeremiah seems to underline this—without a shepherd the sheep are afraid, in terror. Scattered, neglected, afraid. There is the pastoral role in a nutshell—to gather, to care, to protect. From the perspective of the sheep, the shepherd is its life protector. He provides them with food, pastures and streams of water. He rescues them from the predators and thieves. At night he gives them shelter and rest. When injured and unable to walk, he carries them on his shoulder. He knows each and every one of them by name. He is ever watchful and willing to endanger his life for them. From the perspective of the shepherd, the sheep is ever loving and loyal. They obey his commands and follow him wherever he leads them. They recognize his voice and appreciate his service. They are grateful and lovable. They provide the means for his livelihood. Jesus is the shepherd who has come to save the sheep from the restrictions imposed on them by the Jewish leaders. He has come to give life in abundance.
To conclude; by this imagery of sheep without a shepherd, St. Mark tells us three things:
First, sheep without a shepherd cannot find their way. It is only when Jesus is truly in control of our lives and when we surrender our lives over to Him that we experience the authentic freedom of living as children of the Father.
Second, shepherds lead their sheep to green pastures, where they can be nourished. That is what happens at the Mass.
Third, shepherds defend their flocks from the enemy - bishops and priests are commissioned and ordained to defend God's people from error and dissent.
Remember what St Paul teaches us in Colossians 3:23-24 “whatever you do, do from the heart and for the Lord and not for others, knowing that you will receive from the Lord the due payment of the inheritance. Be servants of the Lord Jesus Christ”
In the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit. Amen.

In God we trust
In God we trust. My dear brothers and sisters in Jesus Christ,
I am Fr Sunny John. I am a Carmelite Priest from Kerala, India. You know in India there are 22 official languages and hundreds of dialects. When I came to New York for the first time and when I finished the Holy Mass in English, some old women came and told me “Father sunny, you know your Latin Mass so touching.” So I do not know whether you all will understand me. But, one thing you already know that I am here asking for your help for the missions. And you are already prepared for it.
Remember the credit card ad,
“American Express: don’t leave home without it.”
Well, Jesus is saying just the opposite!
He is saying, “Leave everything at home!”
Of course, we would say, that was in the year 33 and this is 2009.Times are different, but our attachments and dependencies may not be.
Jesus taught the disciples to be prepared to be servants -the Son of Man came not to be served but to serve, [Mat 20:28] ; he warned them of the dangers associated with wealth-, "they are choked by the cares and riches and pleasures of life, and their fruit does not mature". (Luke 8:14). It would be wrong to conclude from these, and other passages, that Christianity condemns material possessions out of hand; all that is argued is that the inordinate pursuit of such possessions can lead people to adopt false standards of trust and confidence.
Once upon a time a family was packing their huge and dangerous SUV for a two week vacation. There were two parents, two big kids, two smaller kids and one gorgeous little five month old baby girl who gurgled and smiled at everyone. There were a lot of things to pack into the SUV – the beach toys for the small kids (which would have filled an ordinary car) the sports equipment for the big boy who could go on vacation unless he was prepared for basketball, baseball, football and soccer, and clothes for the older girl and the mom who could only travel with enough clothes so they would be ready for a week of formal dinners and dances. As they piled stuff into the SUV the mother gave the baby in her car seat to the big girl who put her on the lawn next to the van. Well, eventually the SUV was loaded and there was just enough room for the family to climb in. They’d gone two miles when the mother counted noses and came up one short, one tiny baby nose. I won’t recount th fights as they raced back to find the baby. They pulled into the driveway and found the baby’s car seat EMPTY! They were about to call the police when two teen age girls from the house next door appeared with the baby who was grinning and smiling and gurgling happily. “We saw her out there in her car seat and figured we’d take care of her till you came back.” They made room for the car seat in all the other mess. The baby smiled contentedly and promptly went to sleep. It was a quiet ride to the lake. For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also. [Luke 12:34]
The population in India is 1.1billion persons. One out of every seven people in the world lives in India. More than 40 percentage of the population is illiterate. There the people all around us who do not even a chance to go to school and learn even to write their own name by themselves. Their daily income depends upon the stamina of each person. If a person is healthy and all the members of his family work hard they may be able to have one meal a day. There is no health insurance. If you are sick and wanted to go the hospitals, you have to borrow a huge amount of money. In the month of May my mother died of a car accident and four of my family members were in the hospital, I experienced the pain and the impossibility of getting the money for the treatment.
One day one Mother and a child were walking home after their weekend outing. They buy their dinner packet when they come home. The pious mother was teaching the child about God’s mercy and abundant love and if she needs anything, she could ask God and God will send the angels to help her. On their way back home from an evening walk, the child saw a poor man fighting with a dog to get his meal from a waste barrel. She felt sorry for this poor man and asked her mother “Mummy, why didn’t God send an Angel to help this poor man to find a meal a day?” Mummy said, “honey who told you God did not sent an Angel in this world? He created you to be an Angel for this poor Man. Take our dinner packet; go to him and be an angel for him today!” Dear brothers and sisters, Are you ready to become an Angel for someone who is utterly need of help?
I am sure that you are very generous. There is a saying “give me my flowers when I am alive” do not wait making other’s happy. the day we plan to do that may not see us all the time. Are you ready to help our brothers and sisters in Christ?
Before the Mass begins, some people told me Father if you do not speak long we would give more money. So believing that you will keep your word, I am stopping now. On behalf of the Carmelite missions, I would like to thank you all very sincerely for your prayers and generous contributions. I promise my prayers for all the members of this parish especially for all those who are grievously and seriously ill, and suffering from desperate hardships in their daily lives. I would like to thank most sincerely Fr Louis P Bellopede, the pastor; I thank His Eminence Justin Cardinal Rigali, Archbishop of Philadelphia and Rev.Msgr.James T McDonough, Archdiocesan director of the society for the propagation of faith. I thank you all once again for your patient attention; may God bless you all, may God bless the United States of America.
In the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit.
Amen.

My Grace is sufficient for you

My dear brothers and sisters in Jesus Christ,
A pastor says one cold, stormy day, as he was looking out the window of the parsonage(rectory), he noticed a lady struggling down the street carrying several packages. He quickly put on his coat and hat and went out to offer help. She gratefully accepted and he took her packages and carried them to her home. She was a lady he had never met before and in the course of their conversation he invited her to attend church.

When Sunday arrived and the people had gathered for worship, he noticed that this lady was present, though sitting toward the back and quite alone. Later, at the meeting of the Official Board, he was questioned as to why that lady was in "our" church. He told his story. Then he was told by the board, "We don't want her in our church. Don't you know that she is a prostitute?"

How terrible — to begin to feel something of the love of God through the compassion of a concerned pastor, and then to be shut out by a proud and exclusive church!
God’s Word is a two-edged sword that both comforts the disturbed and disturbs the comfortable. In the first reading for today we find Ezekiel being sent by God to Jewish people who had compromised their faith the extent of going over to pagan gods. God chose Ezekiel to confront them, a task that filled Ezekiel with downright fear. He was frail, weak, and a very vulnerable son of man. Nevertheless he is drawn by God’s Spirit to speak out. The Word of God must be spoken whether or not people will listen. God makes sure that it reaches us. You know that is true with me. I give homily knowing that you may not fully understand me.

The Israelites to whom Ezekiel was sent were not well disposed. They were rebellious. You know what a rebellious child is like. Rebellious adults are more so. Their minds are made up. They lash out at anything that challenges their mindsets. A rebellious mind is defiant when it is convinced it is right no matter what anyone says – even God. The rebellious mind is filled with a complete sense of its own self-importance. It considers others to not have anything of importance to say and therefore to be dismissed and not taken seriously. If I think I know better than you I won’t listen to you.

All of God’s prophets experienced rejection. Rejection goes with the job. St. Paul faced it. We hear him speaking of it in the second reading. Notice that he speaks of his littleness, just as Ezekiel had done when God’s Spirit seized upon him and sent him to confront people with the Word of God. Prophets, however, are not little in the eyes of God; they are little only in the eyes of the worldly.
Today’s gospel is one of the most shocking statements in all the Gospels – that Jesus could not perform miracles. Not that he would not but that he simply could not. Is anything impossible with Jesus? Today’s gospel says yes. It is impossible for Jesus to perform miracles in a situation where there is no faith. Jesus could do all things and wants to do all things for his people. But he needs our faith to release his power. Remember last week’s gospel of the woman with the flow of blood. Many people were touching and pushing against Jesus. Nothing happened because they did not touch with faith. But as soon as the woman of faith touches him, healing power comes out of Jesus.
The apostle Paul - a man like you and me- was greatly bothered by a "thorn in the flesh". Paul was no different from anybody else, was also human, prone to self-exaltation on account of the privileges God had been pleased to grant in "the abundance of revelations." For that reason a thorn was given to Paul; this privileged apostle should stay humble. Look at vs 9: "most gladly I will rather boast in my infirmities," and vs 10: "I take pleasure in infirmities, in reproaches, in needs, in persecutions, in distresses." How surprising! "I take pleasure," says the apostle! Apostle in vs 7 describes his "thorn in the flesh" as "a messenger of Satan". This "thorn in the flesh": here was the devil attempting time and again to silence Paul, to prevent the apostle from speaking to the nations of the world about the atoning work of Jesus Christ on the cross.
Toward the end of his ministry St. Paul ordained young Timothy to take charge of some of the Christian communities Paul had founded. 2 Timothy 4:1-5 St. Paul said:

I charge you in the presence of God and of Christ Jesus, who will judge the living and the dead, and by his appearing and his kingly power: proclaim the word; be persistent whether it is convenient or inconvenient; convince, reprimand, encourage through all patience and teaching.
For the time will come when people will not tolerate sound doctrine but, following their own desires and insatiable curiosity, will accumulate teachers and will stop listening to the truth and will be diverted to myths. But you, be self-possessed in all circumstances; put up with hardship; perform the work of an evangelist; fulfill your ministry. (2 Timothy 4:1-5)
The apostle knows it: of myself I am weak, I have infirmities, I have needs, I have distresses and aches and pains and who knows what else; of myself I can accomplish nothing, I am weak. But he knows also: Christ uses precisely such brokenness to gather His Church! Those weaknesses: those are the tools Christ Jesus uses to bring many to salvation! Not the self-sufficient, the mighty and the able and the talented, play such a crucial role in God’s kingdom, but the weak and the tongue-tied and the self-conscious and the sickly: they have such a role, for through them and their weaknesses God’s power is revealed! Therefore, says Paul, "therefore most gladly I rather boast in my infirmities" (vs 9). In God’s kingdom, my brothers and sisters, our ability ultimately counts for nothing. Important is God’s working…, and our willingness to admit that His strength is made perfect in our weakness. St Theresa of Avila teaches us: Let nothing disturb you, Let nothing frighten you; All things pass away: God never changes. Patience obtains all things. He who has GodFinds he lacks nothing; God alone suffices.

Healing Touch of Jesus
My dear brothers and sisters in Jesus Christ,
One day Jesus was walking along and a great many people were following him. A very sick woman, who had lost all hope in the medical experts of the day, catches sight of the Lord and, with great difficulty, pushes her way through the crowd toward him. In the midst of her pain and suffering, a spark of faith has caught fire in her heart and she is convinced that she can steal a blessing from the Lord simply by touching the hem of his garment. The reason Jesus does not become unclean when He touches an unclean person like a leper or a corpse, is because He transfers cleanliness and life. Haggai 2:10-14 makes the point that if something clean touches something unclean, then the thing that was clean is defiled. Not so with Jesus. The details of the miracles where Jesus transfers cleanliness parallel the spiritual healing that Jesus brings where He cleanses us of our sin.
Mark describes the woman’s unfortunate condition (plight): Now there was a woman who suffered a hemorrhage for twelve years; after long and painful treatment under various doctors, she had spent all she had without being any the better for it, in fact, she was getting worse.
Each phrase of the sentence is another link in the chain binding this poor woman to her desperate situation.
Because of her condition, this woman was continuously unclean according to Lev 15:25-31. According to Jewish law, her bleeding made her ritually unclean, unfit to worship in public. Barred from the synagogue, neighbors taunt her, thought her suffering a punishment of God. She could not touch anyone or they would be unclean for the rest of the day. If she sat in a chair, it was unclean for the rest of the day, etc. So she was basically cut off from normal fellowship with others and with God for 12 years.
Here we see two facets of Christ's character - firstly His compassion. Human suffering always touched Him; and, secondly, His ready response to Faith. In responding to the father's plea and restoring the daughter to life, Christ makes a statement that, eventually, all would be raised to full life in the Father. Death was never God's plan for us. As the first reading tells us: Death was not God's doing, he takes no pleasure in the extinction of the living ... it was the devil's envy that brought death into the world ... Death is not the end; it is a transformation. As an anonymous Indian mystic wrote -"Death is the extinguishing of the candle because the dawn has come".
"Then a man named Jairus, a ruler of the synagogue, came and fell at Jesus' feet, pleading with him to come to his house because his only daughter, a girl of about twelve, was dying." (8:41-42)
Jairus is a prosperous man, and well regarded in his community. He is braver than the woman is and approaches Jesus directly. His daughter is about to die. He is not the attendant (Luke 4:20) who does the actual work, but the synagogue president, the leader. His duties include conducting the synagogue worship and selecting of those who are to lead the prayer, read the scriptures, and teach in the service.
Here is a paradoxical scene: the well-to-do synagogue president utterly humbling himself before the simply-dressed Jesus. Jesus is Jairus' last hope.
"While Jesus was still speaking, someone came from the house of Jairus, the synagogue ruler. 'Your daughter is dead,' he said. 'Don't bother the teacher anymore.' " (8:49)
There comes a time sometimes when even solid faith buckles. We hope against hope and then our hopes are dashed. We are tempted to give up and walk away from Jesus. But Jesus doesn't let us go so easily. "Don't be afraid," he says gently. He knows our fears and our limits. But if he goes with us, he can carry us beyond our fears. "Don't be afraid; just believe, and she will be healed." (Luke 8:50)
In his response to the needs of the woman and the small girl in the gospel, Jesus makes us know that one thing is necessary to provoke the power of God, namely, faith. There is the presence of impediments that could hamper communication. The woman by her sickness is considered impure and should not have contact with Jesus. Exiled from society, labeled a sinner, yet she touches the cloak of Jesus. Again, being dead, the daughter of Jairus was also ritually unclean, not to be touched. No matter, Jesus will not let religious taboos of being clean or unclean stop him. Jesus sees only the beauty of each person, made in God's image. Christ says, "Do not be afraid; just have faith.
Another beautiful message we could draw from the Gospel today is the prominent place of touch in these stories. The woman with the hemorrhage finds healing when she touches the garment of Jesus, Jairus’s daughter is raised from death when the Lord holds her by the hand. Indeed, throughout our Lord’s life and ministry, physical touch is very important.
He touches the children who are brought to him, he touches the eyes of the blind. His touch brings healing to the lame and even to the Temple guard whose ear was struck off by Peter’s sword. Finally, perhaps most importantly, is when Jesus, after he rose from the dead, invited doubting Thomas to touch the wounds in his hands and side.
Although he has ascended into heaven with his human and divine natures intact, he continues to remain with us in a real, physical, and even edible way, as he gives himself to us in Holy Communion for us to touch. In a lesser sense, he also remains with us in our brothers and sisters, which form his mystical Body on earth.
The Lord Jesus continues to touch us through his Word, through the Sacrament of his most holy Body and Blood, and through our brothers and sisters. "Let us then approach the throne of grace with confidence, so that we may receive mercy and find grace to help us in our time of need." (Hebrews 4:16) Yes, dear brothers and sisters, “Don't be afraid; just have faith”.

Funeral Homily
Ecclesiastes 3:1-8Romans 14: 7-12(7)John 11: 21-27(14)
“Death is not the cursing of the dark because the light has gone out, but the extinguishing of the lamp because the dawn has come”
My dear brothers and sisters in Jesus Christ,
We recall with some sadness but also with a refreshing joy a woman who received the gift of life and lived it with no little passion. And we affirm our hope, a hope that Mary shared with us and dedicated her whole life to affirming, namely that at death life is simply changed, not ended. I am sure she might have been witnessed many death in the hospital she worked.
A nun was teaching catechism to her infants’ class. One day she invited her class to write a note to God. As you can imagine she got some varied and interesting responses. One little child wrote, “Dear God, instead of letting people die and having to make new ones, why don‘t you keep the ones you have already?” I don’t think any adult would voice such a thought. But that is not to say we don’t sometimes carry such a feeling in our heart. Especially when the one who has died is a loved one and a good one. Rationally we know that life on this earth will come to an end for all of us, and yet the unanswerable question as to why it has to be so can remain locked in our heart.
That’s what makes the funeral liturgy such a powerful ritual. It is both a ritual of remembrance and of letting go. Today we gather in this church to say a prayer of farewell for Mary O’Neill after 82 good years of life. The ritual also expresses for us better than mere words our faith conviction that for Mary, life is now changed, not ended. Our belief is that she is journeying back to the Father. Our prayer is that God will have mercy on her and make her homecoming swift.
In our Gospel reading from St John we have that familiar passage where Martha, expressing a very human disappointment that we would perhaps all share at different times in our life, confronts Jesus with this challenge, if you had been here, my brother would not have died.
St Paul in the second reading reminds us in very graphic terms that if we live, we live for the Lord; and if we die, we die for the Lord, so that alive or dead we belong to the Lord . What this passage teaches us is that being dead or alive in itself is not very significant in Christian terms but rather the quality of our living. If our lives have been characterized by a desire to live as Jesus lived, as Mary’s life was, then our dying too will a dying as Jesus died, i.e. a movement into a new and fuller life.
Every funeral liturgy is an occasion to re-affirm and solidify this core element of our faith. And so today we pray with a great deal of confidence for Mary, trusting that the Lord will not be found wanting but will gladly welcome her home into the bosom of Abraham.
There is something very wholesome about the Catholic tradition of praying for the dead. There is something very egalitarian about it. At every graveside, whether of saint or sinner, we make the same prayer, “Lord, have mercy”. That is our prayer for Mary today too. Because even for those who love God, death leaves unfinished business damaged or damaging relationships, misunderstandings unresolved, words of love or apology unspoken, the need to forgive and be forgiven. The only thing we can do with such unfinished business is to place it in the hands of God whom we believe to be all merciful.
Our reading from the Book of Ecclesiastes is probably a good answer as you can get to that little girl’s question at the beginning. There is a time to be born, and a time to die; a time to weep and a time to laugh; a time to mourn and a time to dance. And God has made everything suitable for its time.
Eternal rest grant unto her, O lord .and let perpetual light shine upon her.
May she rest in Peace. Amen.
May the soul of Mary Catherine O’Neill and souls of all the faithful departed, through the mercy of God, rest in peace. Amen.
Ecclesiastes 3: 1-8
For everything there is a season, and a time for every matter under heaven:
A time to be born, and a time to die;a time to plant, and a time to pluck up what is planted;
A time to kill, and a time to heal;a time to break down, and a time to build up;
A time to weep, and a time to laugh;a time to mourn, and a time to dance;
A time to throw away stones, and a time to gather stones together;a time to embrace, and a time to refrain from embracing;
A time to seek, and a time to lose;a time to keep, and a time to throw away;
A time to tear, and a time to sew;a time to keep silence, and a time to speak;
A time to love, and a time to hate;a time for war, and a time for peace.




Romans 14:7-12
7 We do not live to ourselves, and we do not die to ourselves. 8If we live, we live to the Lord, and if we die, we die to the Lord; so then, whether we live or whether we die, we are the Lord’s. 9For to this end Christ died and lived again, so that he might be Lord of both the dead and the living.
10 Why do you pass judgment on your brother or sister?* Or you, why do you despise your brother or sister?* For we will all stand before the judgment seat of God.* 11For it is written,‘As I live, says the Lord, every knee shall bow to me, and every tongue shall give praise to* God.’ 12So then, each of us will be accountable to God.


John 11:21-27
21Martha said to Jesus, ‘Lord, if you had been here, my brother would not have died. 22But even now I know that God will give you whatever you ask of him.’ 23Jesus said to her, ‘Your brother will rise again.’ 24Martha said to him, ‘I know that he will rise again in the resurrection on the last day.’ 25Jesus said to her, ‘I am the resurrection and the life.* Those who believe in me, even though they die, will live, 26and everyone who lives and believes in me will never die. Do you believe this?’ 27She said to him, ‘Yes, Lord, I believe that you are the Messiah,* the Son of God, the one coming into the world.’

Exaltation of the Cross
On the Feast of the Exaltation of the Cross (or Triumph of the Cross) we honor the Holy Cross by which Christ redeemed the world. The public veneration of the Cross of Christ originated in the fourth century, according to early accounts, beginning with the miraculous discovery of the cross on September 14, 326. According to St John Chrysostom, St Helen, mother of Emperor Constantine, longed to find the cross of Christ. For this reason she travelled to Jerusalem where she organized a dig at the hill of Calvary. The diggers uncovered three wooden crosses. They could not tell which was the cross of Jesus and which were the crosses of the two thieves crucified with him. Finally they brought a sick woman and a dead man who was being carried to burial. The three crosses were placed one after the other on the sick woman and on the dead man. Two of the crosses had no effect, but on contact with the third cross, the sick woman was healed of her infirmity and the dead man came to life. These miracles clearly indicated which of the three was the holy cross.
A crucifix (the cross with an image of Christ's body upon it) identifies a church as a Christian church. Likewise, crucifixes in the homes is a constant witness and reminder of our faith in Christ who died on the cross to set us free. The cross represents the One Sacrifice by which Jesus, obedient even unto death, accomplished our salvation. The cross is not just a piece of wood. It is a symbolic summary of the suffering, death and resurrection of Christ by which we have been redeemed. It is a symbol of our faith The cross is a symbolic summary of the Passion, Crucifixion and Resurrection of Christ -- all in one image.
Having hidden the tree of life from Adam and his descendants, the Lord planted another Tree, the second Tree of Life. This Tree is the Tree of the Cross, which we celebrate today. The Fruit which grows on this Tree is the Lord Himself, even His Body and Blood, whereof if a man eat, he shall never die. By this Tree man's nature is healed of all its sinful disobedience and the effects of our rejection of God's Grace are completely removed, so that we may live forever – not in a corrupted state, but rather as God intends us to live: as vessels of His divinity.
Those who make a map or draw a diagram use an "X" to show a certain point, that by the intersection of the two lines a precise location may be unmistakably indicated. In the same way, the Lord of all, when He willed to lead all men back to Paradise and give them the Fruit of Eternal Life, set up the Cross in the midst of the earth and said "Here I will meet you:" To all mankind he showed the precise location of our salvation, saying, "Here, on the Cross, I will meet you.”
We come today to venerate and praise that instrument of our salvation, the cross of Christ.
O blessed cross, O holy cross, more valuable are you than all the gold of the world, more brilliant are you than any jewels of the earth, for it is through you that we have indeed been saved. May we be found worthy to carry you with our Savior, and be raised with him to heavenly glory. Amen!

41st day of My Mothers death
I cannot thank you enough for your outpouring of support and expressions of condolence. I would like to thank the many people who have offered their prayers for the repose of my Mother’s soul, and for the consolation of my family. Your prayers and consolations have made this difficult time much easier. Personally, I believe that if there is an eighth sacrament, it is friendship, and you were the ministers of it to me.
A mother’s love is a reflection of the pure, unconditional love of God. Indeed, without our early experience of our parents’ love, it would have been very difficult for us to have faith in a personal God who loves and cares for us. Much of our spiritual commitment is conditioned by our mother’s love. Like God’s love, a mothers' love is a transforming love, contributing to a new creation. It is a model for the love that should permeate all our lives.
On May 6th night around 10 pm when I visited my Mom in the Intensive care unit for the last time, I asked her, whether she need anything, she told me” my son I am so happy, nothing more to be asked for, bless and give a rosary for me { I always carry a rosary in my pocket. I blessed and gave the rosary to her} she said bye to me. While I was leaving the room I realized she was ready as St Paul says in 2 Timothy 4:6-8 “As for me, I am already being poured out as a libation, and the time of my departure has come. I have fought the good fight, I have finished the race, I have kept the faith. From now on there is reserved for me the crown of righteousness, which the Lord, the righteous judge, will give me on that day, and not only to me but also to all who have longed for his appearing.”
John Paul II died only a matter of days after the tenth anniversary of one of the most important documents he ever wrote, The Gospel of Life (Evangelium Vitae). In that document he said, "Life is always a good” - Why? Because it always reflects the glory of God. Every human life is a sign of His presence, a trace of His glory. We touch God when we touch a human life. And my mother’s life touched all of her children and grand children and many of whom she knew.
Yes, dear brothers and sisters I have studied many years to become a priest but if I know anything about the love of God, I learned it from my parents.
There is a saying "Give Me My Flowers While I'm Living" And I'm certain I've not expressed enough gratitude to God for my mother or for others He has placed as gifts in my life. It's sad really. I do feel grateful, and I am thankful, but I'm lousy at expressing it.Well, I'm praying and continuing to work on changing that. I want to tell you this; give flowers to people while they are living, while they can smell and enjoy them, and rejoice in the Lord who created them.Today, I want to say a word or two about how grateful I am for my mother.There is no one quite like her for me. She is strong. Mom was a wonderful person and a grand person. When my Father died may 2nd 2002 while I was in Austria with the team giving retreat to the teenagers I called my mom and asked her Mom I am not able to come. Every day from morning until evening is booked, what should I do. She said to me “yes I know, you continue your retreat, your father will be praying for you. You don’t need to come; we just follow what our God plans for us.”I was not able to see my father for the last time. God has some other plans for me.
I am the youngest of eight children. I am grateful to the Lord for my mother. I am thankful for the way she never let me down. My Mother was praying to God that one of her children to be a priest. What a wonderful wish a woman can think of that her son praying every day at the altar for her when he celebrates the Mass.
I'm thankful for every tear, every secret prayer, every word of encouragement (there were so many), every "idle" moment spent dreaming with me about what I'd be when I grew up (Pastor was never on the list, but now she tells me she is proud of me), every visit to the school to meet with a teacher, every reprimand, and every tender moment.And in these later days, I am thankful to the Lord for her faith and hope in Him! As grateful as I am for my mother, I'm more grateful to the Savior who first placed me in her care and who has taken care of her soul. So much to be grateful for. Words so feeble.
While there are many things for which I am thankful to my parents for, the one for which I am most grateful is the gift of handing on to me a living Faith in Christ Jesus.
Have you ever watched the sun set and remained until it got dark? When the sun sets, it fills the world with golden light. In the meantime, the moon is high in the sky. But its light is so weak and pale that you have to look very carefully to see it. It doesn't appear to be contributing anything whatsoever to the Earth.
As the sun goes down it appears to take the whole world with it. As it goes down, however, a curious and beautiful thing begins to happen. The lower the sun dips in the sky, the brighter the moon becomes. So that by the time the sun has finally departed the scene, the moon has undergone a complete transformation. It is now, by far, the brightest object in the sky. And as you look around, you notice to your surprise and delight that the old world has not only been completely restored to you, but has been made new, bright, and exciting.
When our family and friends, who have meant a lot to us, die, it is as if the sun has gone down on our life. Everything seems to vanish with their passing. We are plunged into gloom, and experience a terrible feeling of emptiness. We miss our loved one as much as we miss the light. The void seems to get even greater as time gradually brings home to us just how much we have lost.
But our faith assures us that all is not lost. We are not in total darkness. A new light shines on us, or rather the old light under a new form. Just as the sun, though it has departed the earthly scene, is still able to reflect its light on the Earth, so our loved ones, though out of sight, have not vanished into nothingness. They still live. Now enjoying the light of eternity, they are able to reflect some of this light on us. They are still shining on us, still influencing us. Death is not absence. It is a new kind of presence.
And before I finish my reflection I am conscious of a last duty that we have in regard to My Mom Elizabeth John. Following the tradition of the Church, we must commit ourselves, according to what we believe, to pray for her soul. We know that all humanity before God is imperfect and that in His great love Jesus Christ assures us, even after death, of the great gift of final purification, if such is necessary to enter into the splendid presence of God. And so we pray finally for the soul of Elizabeth, my Mom, if such purification is still necessary for her, for we are convinced that she will indeed intercede for all of us in the luminous presence of the Most Blessed Trinity: Father, Son and Holy Spirit, to whom belong all praise and glory, now and forever. Amen.
Eternal rest grant unto her, O Lord, and let perpetual light shine upon her. May her soul and all the souls of the faithful departed rest in peace. Amen

Holy Trinity
In the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit. Amen. Yes, my dear brothers and sisters in Jesus Christ, all our Christian prayers begin remembering the Holy Trinity. And today we celebrate the Solemnity of Holy Trinity; our basic belief of Christian faith.
The best explanation I can find why the church brings us back to the ordinary time of the year with the feast of the Holy Trinity is in the words of the French novelist Antoine de Saint-Exupery: “If you want to build a ship, don't herd people together to collect wood and don't assign them tasks and work, but rather teach them to long for the endless immensity of the sea.” The church is presenting us with the big picture of the “endless immensity of the sea” we call God.
The doctrine of three persons in one God, equal in divinity yet distinct in personality, is not explicitly spelt out in the Bible. The Trinity is the term employed to signify the central doctrine of the Christian religion -- the truth that in the unity of the Godhead there are Three Persons, the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit, these Three Persons being truly distinct one from another.
Thus, in the words of the Athanasian Creed: "the Father is God, the Son is God, and the Holy Spirit is God, and yet there are not three Gods but one God." In this Trinity of Persons the Son is begotten of the Father by an eternal generation, and the Holy Spirit proceeds by an eternal procession from the Father and the Son. Jesus spoke about the Father who sent him (the Son) and about the Holy Spirit whom he was going to send. He said that the Father had given him (the Son) all that he has and that he in turn has given to the Holy Spirit all that he has received from the Father. In this we see the unity of purpose among the three persons of the Trinity.

This idea was very difficult for the Jews to grasp. You see, the Jews believe in one God and that one God is one person. You and I, however, as Catholics believe in one God as well but that one God is three persons. For the Jews, that sounds like polytheism, but it is not. We do believe in one God, just as we say in the Creed He is three persons. Are you confused a little? Then you got it. This is a deep, deep mystery.
The story is told of St Augustine of Hippo, a great philosopher and theologian. He was preoccupied with the doctrine of the Blessed Trinity. He wanted so much to understand the doctrine of one God in three persons and to be able to explain it logically. One day he was walking along the sea shore and reflecting on this matter. Suddenly, he saw a little child all alone on the shore. The child made a whole in the sand, ran to the sea with a little cup, filled her cup with sea water, ran up and emptied the cup into the hole she had made in the sand. Back and forth she went to the sea, filled her cup and came and poured it into the hole. Augustine drew up and said to her, “Little child, what are you doing?” She replied, “I am trying to empty the sea into this hole.” “That is impossible, How do you think,” Augustine asked her, “that you can empty this immense sea into this tiny hole and with this tiny cup?” She answered back, “And you, how do you suppose that with your small head you can comprehend the immensity of God?” With that the child disappeared.
Catholic doctrine teaches that there are three persons in one God who all share the same nature. Remember that we are talking about three persons in one God; not three gods or three faces of one god. Three persons. Here are some ways of trying to understand the Trinity: St. Patrick of Ireland tried to explain it with a shamrock. The shamrock has three different sections that constitute one shamrock. Each section is distinct and yet is of the same nature of "shamrockness" as the other sections within the flower. Yet the analogy falls short because the shamrock can be divided into three parts and God cannot.
In St. John’s first letter, he tells us that God is love, and love does not happen in a vacuum, separate and isolated from others. Love can only exist in a relationship between persons, so the very essence of God’s being must exist in more than a singular person, or relationship and love. For in the Trinity, God the Father is the lover, Jesus the Son is the Beloved, and the Holy Spirit is the love that flows freely between them all unique but connected to each other and moving as one. God is not alone. God is Trinity.
By revealing Himself as three persons, God shows us who love is. When we say that God or the Trinity is love, what we are really saying is that love is not merely an aspect of God. Rather, love IS who God IS in Himself - three persons loving each other in totality. There is no in-fighting in God or dissent. There is only unity, peace, harmony and love. The Trinity reveals to us that love is at the essence of each person's calling and our vocations to marriage, the single life or to the priesthood and religious life are the deepest way of living out that love.
“Christians believe that God is triune because they believe that God is love! If God is love, then he must love someone. There is no such thing as love of nothing, a love that is not directed at anyone. So we ask: Who is it that God loves so that he is defined as love? … God is love in himself, before time, because there is eternally in him a Son, the Word, whom he loves from an infinite love which is the Holy Spirit”
My dear brothers and sisters, This is the mystery which brings us here, the mystery in which we proclaim that God became man but is still God, that God moves among us but is not held captive by this world.
Glory be to the Father,and to the Son,and to the Holy Spirit,as it was in the beginning,is now,and ever shall be, world without end. Amen.

It was on November 1, 1950, that Pope Pius XII officially declared the Assumption of Blessed Virgin Mary as a dogma of Catholic faith through the Apostolic Constitution Munificentimus Deus. “Assumption” means that after her death, Mary was taken into heaven, both body and soul, as a reward for her sacrificial cooperation in the divine plan of salvation.
Let us see some theological reasons to believe in Assumption of Mother Mary a) The degeneration of the body after death is the consequence of ‘original sin’ and Mary as “immaculately conceived,” is exempted from the post-mortem decay of the body. b) As receiver of the fullness of grace and holiness and as co-redeemer, Mary’s place is with her son Jesus, the redeemer, in the abode of holiness, heaven.
God is walking around Heaven one day, and notices a number of people in the heavenly streets who shouldn't be there. He finds St. Peter at the gate and says to him, "Peter, you've been remiss in your duties. You're letting in the wrong sort of people." "Don't blame me, Lord," replied Peter. "I turn them away just like you said to. Then they go around to the back door and Jesus’ mother lets them in."
why do we honor Mary:
1) Reason given by Mary in “Magnificat:” “All generations (ages) will call be blessed because the “The Mighty One has done great things for me” (Luke 1:49). It is right to honor a person whom God has honored by granting her the following blessings (“great things”).
a) He has chosen Mary as the mother of Jesus. Since Jesus is God, Mary is the “Mother of God” (theotokos); since Jesus is the Christ, the Messiah or the “Anointed One,” Mary is the Mother of Christ, and since Jesus is the promised “Savior,” Mary is the Mother of the Savior.
b) He has filled her with His Holy Spirit twice, namely at the Annunciation and at Pentecost. Thus she is venerable as the most Spirit-filled woman.
c) He has made her “full of grace,” the paragon or embodiment of all virtues.
d) He has allowed her to become the most active participant with Christ, her Son, in our redemption by suffering in mind what Jesus suffered in body.
As Mary’s Assumption was a reward for a holy life, this feast invites us to keep our bodies pure and holy. Paul gives three additional reasons: a) our bodies are the temples of the Holy Spirit, b) our body parts are the members of Christ’s body, and c) our bodies are to be glorified on the day of the Last Judgment.

Feast of the Corpus Christy
My dear brothers and sisters in Jesus Christ,
It was in 1263 that a German priest, Peter of Prague, stopped at the little Italian village of Bolsena while making a pilgrimage to Rome. The truth is, he found it difficult to believe that Jesus was actually present in the Eucharist.
While offering Mass above the tomb of St. Christina a young martyr, when he said the words of Consecration: "This is my Body," blood started to seep from the consecrated Host and trickle over his hands onto the Altar and the linen corporal -- on which sit the chalice and paten.
At first, the priest tried to hide the blood, but then he interrupted Mass and asked to be taken to the neighboring city of Orvieto, the city where the Pope was visiting. The following year, 1264, Pope Urban IV instituted the feast of the Body and Blood of Jesus, todays feast ,Corpus Christi. The Pope asked St Thomas Aquinas, living at that time, to write hymns for the feast and he wrote two, better known to the older members of our congregation, the Tantum Ergo and O Salutaris. That blood-stained corporal may still be seen in the Basilica of Orvieto north of Rome even today.
Although that is the Eucharistic miracle that led to the institution of this feast, a more famous Eucharistic miracle is the Eucharistic miracle of Lanciano, also in Italy, which took place many centuries earlier, in the year 700. A monk who feared he was losing his vocation was celebrating Mass, and during the consecration the host turned into flesh and the wine turned into blood. Despite the fact that miracle took place almost 1300 years ago you may still see the flesh in a monstrance which is exposed every day and the blood in a glass chalice. The blood has congealed and is now in five clots in the glass chalice. One final interesting point about the five blood clots in the chalice is that when you weigh one of them, it is the same weight as all five together; two of them together weigh the same as all five. In fact, no matter what way you combine the blood clots individually or in a group to weigh them, they always weigh the same. This shows that the full Jesus is present in a particle of the Eucharist no matter how small.
Jesus is really with us in the Eucharist. Jesus comes to us in every Mass under the form of bread and wine. The Eucharist is a celebration of the love of Jesus for us. Because the Eucharist is the love of Jesus for us we always approach Jesus in the Eucharist with great respect and asking pardon for our sins. That’s why it is so necessary at the start of every Mass to ask Jesus for mercy because we are so unworthy of his love and again before receiving Jesus we express our unworthiness: ‘Lord I am not worthy to receive you but only say the word and I shall be healed.’ Think of how precious a moment in our Mass it is, when we receive Jesus in Holy Communion. When we receive Jesus, Jesus is in us and we are with Jesus. It is like what Genesis says about the marriage of man and woman, no longer two but one. It is the same when we receive Jesus. We are no longer two but one. ‘He who eats my flesh abides in me and I in him’ (John 6:57).
What was the intention of Jesus in instituting the Eucharist? Even a child can answer, and they say: Jesus instituted this sacrament for Communion to those who receive him.
There are two communions produced by the Eucharist. One is with Christ. The other is with our fellow men and women. More precisely: it is with those who sit at the same divine table, who eat the same living bread, which is Christ. We all know Saint Paul's revealing words in this connection. He writes: "Is not the bread we break a participation in Christ's body? Because there is one bread, we who are many are one body, for we all partake of the one bread" (cf. 1 Cor 10:16-17). In this way, our individual Communion with Christ produces a social communion with Christians.
One cannot approach the altar with hatred in one's heart, or with the remorse of having offended a brother; and one cannot leave the Lord's table, forgetting the "new commandment" that he transmitted to us with deliberate gravity, in giving himself to us: "Love one another, even as I have loved you" (Jn 13:34).
The truth is, there are many challenges that surround us as Catholics these days. Many, many challenges. But Jesus in the Eucharistic miracle you and I receive at every, single Mass, the miracle of His love made Flesh for us, is now and always will be, the answer to it all. Whatever questions you may have, whatever doubts you have, I do not have an answer for you but there is an answer: the Eucharist. The real presence of Jesus Christ in the Blessed Sacrament. Do you have problems in life, come and spend some time with the Eucharistic.
Blessed Mother Teresa of Calcutta said it so beautifully: “When Jesus came into the world, He loved it so much that He gave his life for it. He wanted to satisfy our hunger for God. And what did He do? He made himself the Bread of Life. He became small, fragile and defenseless for us. Bits of bread can be so small that even a baby can chew it, even a dying person can eat it.”
This Feast of the Body of Christ sums up three important confessions about our Faith. First, and most important, that God became physically present in the person of Christ - True God and True Man. Secondly, that God continues to be present in His people as they form the Mystical Body of Christ in his church. And, thirdly, the presence of God, under the form of bread and wine, is made sacramentally real for us on the altar at Mass and preserved there for our nourishment and worship. When we proclaim our "Amen", at the conclusion of the prayers of consecration, remember my dear brothers and sisters, that we are saying "Yes" to the real and inseparable presence of Christ in time and in eternity.
Let us pray:- O Sacrament most holy, O Sacrament divine, All praise and all thanksgiving ,Be every moment thine.

A friend in need is a friend indeed.

My dear brothers and sisters in Jesus Christ,

A friend in need is a friend indeed.
A certain immigrant, new in town, attended a neighborhood church for years without making any new acquaintances. Even before the Mass is over, most of them will leave the church. Those who would gather in small familiar groups with old friends and nobody ever seemed to notice him. So one day he decides to go to church wearing his baseball cap. As soon as he took his lonely seat at the back of the church, the usher comes to him and said, “Brother, we don’t wear caps in church here.” “Thanks,” he replies but does not remove his cap. During communion, he goes up for communion and the Eucharistic Minister pulls him aside and gently says to him, “My brother, wearing of caps is forbidden in our church.” “Thanks,” he replies but does not take off his cap. After the mass, the priest who is shaking hands with parishioners greets him very well for the first time and then courteously adds, “But, my dear brother, wearing of caps in church is not allowed.” “I know,” says the man, “but I have been coming to this church, father, for two years now and no one ever seems to notice me.”
My dear brothers and sisters in Christ, The point this man was trying to make we could find through our gospel today, namely, that it is not enough for Christians who worship together to call themselves brothers and sisters; they must also show themselves to be friends in deed. A friend in need is a friend indeed.
“When Jesus saw their faith…” – the faith of his friends not that of the paralyzed man – he healed the paralyzed man, soul and body.
A friend in need is a friend indeed.
As historically accurate as this story is, the paralytic is also a metaphor for the individual who is paralyzed by sin. The paralytic is that person who has now gotten to the point where they can't even help themselves by God's grace, to seek His forgiveness in the Sacrament of Penance and needs the assistance of friends and loved ones to break out of the cycle of sin, despair and pain that keeps him separated from God. The paralytic is also a metaphor for that person who suffers from a serious illness or terminal disease and cannot help himself or herself. They need assistance to receive the Sacrament of the anointing of the Sick and help in old age or in their difficult condition. A friend in need is a friend indeed.
The persons who sometimes go unnoticed but should cast an impression of us are the friends of the paralytic - the ones who bore a hole in Peter's roof. They overcome their fear of being ridiculed and break social convention to help their friend. A friend in need is a friend indeed.
St. Augustine was famous for saying that each of us has the mandate and the vocation by our baptism to go out and seek out the paralytics in our midst who need our help and to abandon love for human respect in order to bring them to the feet of Jesus, especially in the Sacrament of Penance. We have to lower our friends through the roof of fear and ridicule to help those who cannot help themselves. We can do this specially as we are entering the Lenten season by encouraging others to come to the Sacrament of Penance, encouraging them for coming for the Monday adoration and Friday way of the Cross; by helping to catechize those who do not know their Catholic faith by agreeing to read the Bible together.
The fact is that sin exists: St. Augustine says;"it is a word, deed or desire in opposition to the eternal law”.
The paralytic who is at the center of the story never says a word. We know nothing about him except two very important things. Jesus healed the man physically. And Jesus healed him spiritually – he forgave the man’s sins.
God always heals. There is the paralyzed man, unable to get close to Jesus on his own, stuck on his mat and probably feeling helpless and frustrated. And there are his friends, lifting him up and carrying him, breaking through any barriers that get in their way, determined to do all they can to help. They refused to take impossible for an answer. They believed that “A friend in need is a friend indeed.”
In order for this event to happen, three things had to come together. First, the friends had to be aware of the man’s situation. Then they had to show up, ready and willing to help. And third, the man had to allow himself to be carried. Otherwise, Jesus would have been left waiting and this miracle never would have taken place.
Mother Teresa once said, “Wherever you go, be a carrier of God’s love.”
If you Remember Robert Fulghum’s “Everything I Need to Know I Learned in Kindergarten”? He ends his writings “And it is still true, no matter how old you are, when you go out into the world, it is best to hold hands and stick together.” That’s today’s lesson: take turns. We all take turns throughout our lifetimes playing out the different parts in this story. When it is our turn to carry others, we are called to step forward and do it. And when it is our turn to be the one who needs carrying, we are called to accept the help that is offered to us, even when that is very hard to do. Sometimes we do the carrying, and sometimes we have to be carried. May God help each one of us to learn to do both with His grace. A friend in need is a friend indeed.In the name of God the Father, God the Son and God the Holy Spirit.Amen.

Jesus heals the leper
My dear brothers and sisters in Jesus Christ,
As we all know, many diseases are contagious, and for the people of the ancient world there were few ways for controlling the spread of disease. Epidemics often wiped out whole towns. The most effect means for controlling the spread of disease was isolation and separation. The infected person was banished from the community, and often forced to wear distinctive cloths or to make some kind of noise to warn people to stay away. Of course this was not done out of meanness, but rather to protect society. One of the most frightening, and deadly of diseases that often threatened the ancient world was leprosy. It was so very contagious, and seeing body parts literally being eaten away was just horrifying. And almost any kind of skin disease would have been considered leprosy. The only thing that could be done in most cases was to send the inflicted to live in caves with others with the disease. This meant that the sick not only had to suffer the symptoms of their illness, but they were also cut off from their loved ones.
At one time in St. Francis of Assisi’s life, he had a terrible fear of lepers. Then one day when he was travelling, he heard the warning bell that lepers were required to ring in the Middle Ages. When a leper emerged from a clump of trees, St. Francis saw that he was horribly disfigured. Half of his nose had been eaten away; his hands were stubs without fingers and his lips were oozing white pus. Instead of giving in to his fears, Francis ran forward, embraced the leper and kissed him. Francis' life was never the same after that episode. He had found a new relationship with God, a new sensitivity to others, and a new energy for his ministry.
To the Hebrews leprosy was not only a most dreaded natural disease, it was also popularly seen as divine chastisement. The story of Miriam, sister of Moses, who was struck with leprosy as a result of her misconduct in the book of Numbers chapter 12,as well as that of Job who was afflicted with a leprosy-like skin disease reinforced their view of leprosy as divine punishment for sin.
According to ancient Hebrew belief, physical contact with lepers rendered a person unclean. Against this background the gesture of Jesus who stretches out his hand and physically touches the leper becomes unthinkable.
And, of course, we know that with the cure, this former leper returned to the community from which he had been banished. Truly, then, did this healing have a tri-fold effect: the physical disease was cured; the man was restored to the human community; and he came to faith in Jesus.
Martin was a young soldier in the Roman army. Elegantly dressed, he was mounted on his horse one day when he was accosted by a leper begging for alms. The sight and the stench of rotting flesh was so repulsive to the sensitivities of young Martin that his first instincts were to ride off on his horse. But something inside him made his walk up to the beggar. Since all he had was his military coat, he cut it in two and gave half to the leper while he wrapped himself with the other half. It was a very cold winter day. That night in his dream, he saw Christ clothed in a half coat saying to the angels around his throne, “Martin has clothed me with his garment.” This event was the turning point in the life of him who was to become St Martin of Tours.
My dear brothers and sisters, the gospel invites us to go deeper, leprosy becoming symbolic of any condition that estranges us from others and, hence, from God. Leprosy has always been a clear image of sin. It is contagious, disfiguring, repulsive, cuts us off from the community, and causes death. We can see our bodies but we can’t see our souls. Leprosy we can see; sin remains invisible.
We have a lot to learn from this poor Leper. The leper was taking the risk of coming out in public. The man approached Jesus… his trust was so great his desire to be made whole so strong, that he took a great risk and went right up to Jesus.
His words were not words of lament or “woe is me”. He didn’t ask Jesus why me? Why do I have to suffer this horrible disease, Rather he simply made a profession of faith. He trusted Jesus. He trusted God so much that he even let Jesus decide if it was in his best interest to be healed. The leper was a man of faith, a man who had worked through all of the suffering and isolation he had and still believed.
Even terrible disease of leprosy could not deprive him of his faith of his ability to hope.
He didn’t let his circumstances take away his ability to hope or his ability to believe. As much as he suffered, he still was able to trust in God’s love and God’s mercy for him.
He did not allow self-pity to take away his ability to hope. If that had been the response of the Leper he never would have been healed because he never would have asked.
The challenge for us today, my dear brothers and sisters, is to restore the lepers to the human community. And that will begin with me reaching out to someone probably very near whom I would really rather avoid.
There are still so many people we isolate today… you know they are the ones we pass on the street and avoid making eye contact with, they are the ones whose calls we never take, they are the ones we just are not willing to touch or become involved with. They are the ones whom we always blame that we don’t understand.
Remember what Peyton Conway March said “ There is a wonderful mythical law of nature that the three things we crave most in life -- happiness, freedom, and peace of mind -- are always attained by giving them to someone else.”
In the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit.
Amen.

Jesus the Healer heals us to be whole and holy
My dear brothers and sisters in Jesus Christ,
In the Gospel today we heard of Jesus curing Peter’s mother-in-law in Capernaum, and curing many others who were sick. (Mark 1:29-39) Jesus, who healed so many one evening in Capernaum, is willing to heal you and me in this Mass and every holy sacrifice of the Eucharist. The greatest moment for healing is when you receive Jesus in Holy Communion, when you and Jesus are united , ask him in faith for the healing you need.
As we journey though life there are ups and downs. When we are knocked down, we need a pick-me-up. No matter what way you are knocked down, Jesus is there to pick you up.
It is not only sickness that can knock us down. We can be knocked down emotionally and psychologically. We can be knocked down by the hurts others inflict on us and by what they say or do to us. It is not always true to say that “Sticks and stones will break my bones but names will never hurt me.” Names, words, attitudes also hurt. On those occasions we also need a pick-me-up and on those occasions Jesus is also there to pick us up.
Recall the motto of the Jubilee year 2000, “Jesus Christ, the same, yesterday, today and forever.” (Hebrews 13:8) No matter when you were hurt, remembering that yesterday, today and tomorrow are the same for Jesus, ask him to walk back in time with you to the day when you suffered a particular hurt or received the news of your illness.
Jesus cares about you more than anyone and does not want you to remain wounded and hurt. He wants you well and at peace to enjoy life. No one wish for you like that of Jesus.
The word "healing" in today's usage goes beyond recovering from medical illness; it also covers situations arising from tragedy, misfortune, bereavement, marital breakdowns and so on. Today's readings present Jesus as "Healer" in both the physical and the spiritual sense.
Increasingly, with our complex living styles, the need for spiritual healing is greater than the need for physical healing. We always cry out “no one understands me. Where is my future full of hope?”
Today, as in the time of Christ, the real healing mission is to restore people spiritually; to have them know that in spite of failure, forgiveness, or spiritual healing, is at the heart of the Christian response. To know that a spirit of resignation is also an important aspect of healing; when our prayers are not answered the way we asked and wished for, our attitudes do not turn to rebellion or denial. With Christ our prayer becomes "Not my will, but yours be done". The letting go of prejudices and taboos with regard to those around us is also part of the healing process.
By his presence, Jesus brought wholeness and holiness to those with whom he came in contact.
Job endured great physical distress and pain but listen to how he speaks of his suffering:
My kinsfolk and my close friends have failed me;
The guests in my house have forgotten me;
My servants count me as a stranger…
I have become repulsive to my wife,
Loathsome to the sons of my own mother.
Even young children despise me…
All my intimate friends abhor me,
and those whom I loved have turned against me.(job 19.14-22)
Job suffered greatly in his body but his greatest pain was the rupture in the network of his relationships with family and friends and God.
Indeed, one might say that physical illness begs to be cured while social relationships, impaired by sickness, need to be healed – and the healing of relationships does not depend on the cure of illness.
My dear brothers and sisters in Christ, We may be unable to cure the ills of the world, our nation, the church, our parish or our families: cures may not be ours to dispense.
But healing is at our fingertips, always, if we are willing to reach out, to touch, and to allow others to reach out to touch us, if we are willing to let go the things that hinder and paralyze our relationships, to let go the things that tear at the fabric of our secular and social and parish life.
Late Pope John Paul II the great has noted several times, quoting Saint Irenaeus of Lyons, "the glory of God is the living man"! If Christians are serious about their Christian life, they will pray.
In the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit.
Amen.

Teaching with Authority
My dear brothers and sisters in Jesus Christ,
In few verses, St. Mark highlights the people's reaction to Jesus. His teaching made a deep impression on them. The people remained amazed at what he had to say because He taught with authority.
When Christian Herter was governor of Massachusetts, he was running hard for a second term in office. One day, after a busy morning chasing votes and no lunch he arrived at a church barbecue. It was late afternoon and Herter was famished. As Herter moved down the serving line, he held out his plate to the woman serving chicken. She put a piece on his plate and turned to the next person in line.
“Excuse me,” Governor Herter said, “do you mind if I have another piece of chicken?”
“Sorry,” the woman told him. “I’m supposed to give one piece of chicken to each person.”
“But I’m starved,” the governor said.
“Sorry,” the woman said again. “Only one to a customer.”
Governor Herter was a modest and unassuming man, but he decided that
this time he would throw a little weight around.
“Do you know who I am?” he said. “I am the governor of this state.”
“Do you know who I am?” the woman said. “I’m the lady in charge of the chicken. Move along, mister.” (Bits & Pieces, May 28, 1992, pp. 5-6.)
What does it mean to teach with authority? Very simply teaching with authority means that a person lives what he or she says. Teaching with authority means that what we say is reflected in how we live. That there is no difference between our way of acting and our way of believing and living. This is what people recognized in Jesus. Jesus was a person of integrity. It is hard to be an original teacher, with authority, if you live around the people you teach! Jesus did!
Ralph Waldo Emerson was one of the great literary figures of nineteenth century America. He wrote, "Only so much do I know as I have lived. Instantly we know whose words are loaded with life. I learn immediately from any speaker how much he has lived. One person speaks from within, or from experience as a possessor of the fact; another person speaks from without, as a spectator, or as acquainted with the facts on the evidence of a third person. It is no use to preach to me from without. I can do that myself." You will notice from the Gospel, it wasn’t the casting out of the evil spirits that astonished the people it was Jesus’ teaching. Not his actions but his words.
In today's gospel Jesus was confronted with a very troubled person crying out "What do you want with us, Jesus of Nazareth? Have you come to destroy us? In effect this man was saying to him. I have no hope, I have no good in me. I am not worthy of your care and interest. No one understands me. I am crippled and can do nothing more. What was Jesus' reaction? No, you are good, you are important. There are certain things in your life that are preventing you from being the person that I created you to be. I want to free you. I want to make you reach your full potential. Be cured. Be healed. Frequently, my dear brothers and sisters, the choices we make produce the evil we lament. St. Paul touches on this contradiction in his letter to the Romans 7:19 "For I do not do the good I want, but the evil I do not want I do".
The great Christian writer C.S. Lewis observed that we could make two errors when it comes to demons: giving them too little attention, and giving them too much. Denying the existence of demons is not wise. It’s like pretending terrorists don’t exist. But giving them too much attention is also a bad idea, because it can distract from much more serious problems.
Jesus confronts a fair number of demons in his ministry. But he confronts far more sinners with hardened hearts. The refrain for today’s Psalm is, “If today you hear his voice, harden not your hearts.” That is by far the bigger challenge Jesus faces. Few of us ever need to worry about demonic possession. All of us need to worry about hard hearts. Compared to the hard hearts, the demons are easy for Jesus. In today’s gospel, Jesus commands the demon, and the demon instantly obeys. Jesus commands, and the demon flees. To the demon, Jesus says, “Quiet! Come out of him!” and the demon obeys. To us, Jesus says, “Repent your sins! Feed the poor! Forgive your neighbor!”, and we say, “Yes, right, absolutely, I will definitely get around to that soon. When my schedule opens up in a few weeks. When things quiet down after the holidays...”
No Exorcist in the time of Jesus exorcised a demon using five words delivered in the space of about 10 seconds; yet, this is exactly what Jesus does. No incense, no chanting, no elaborate dances or gestures, no bleedings, no use of external objects thought to contain exorcising power. Instead, five words delivered with infinite authority. His authority to teach is personal as well as his power to exorcise. It does not rely upon externals. For me, this is the PUNCH of the gospel. It is a forceful display of the absolute power of Jesus. To understand this authority, we must not only listen, we must also look.
Authority isn’t always recognized. For centuries people believed that Aristotle was right when he said that the heavier an object, the faster it would fall to earth. Aristotle was regarded as the greatest thinker of all time, and surely, he would not be wrong. Anyone, of course, could have taken two objects, one heavy and one light, and dropped them from a great height to see whether or not the heavier object landed first. But no one did until nearly 2,000 years after Aristotle’s death. In 1589 Galileo summoned learned professors to the base of the Leaning Tower of Pisa. Then he went to the top and pushed off a ten- pound and a one-pound weight. Both landed at the same instant. The power of 2,000 years of belief was so strong, however, that the professors denied their eyesight. They continued to say Aristotle was right. (Bits & Pieces, January 9, 1992, pp. 22-23.)Yes dear brothers and sisters in Christ, Those who were crazy called Jesus the Holy One; those who were sane put him to death.
In the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit.
Amen.

Repent and Believe in the Good News.
My dear brothers and sisters in Jesus Christ,
You may know the story called Dumb Kid.
A young boy enters a barbershop and the barber whispers to his customer:-'This is the dumbest kid in town.... watch while I prove it to you.'
The barber puts a dollar bill in one hand and two quarters in the other, then calls the boy over and asks;
'Which do you want, son?'
The boy takes the quarters and leaves.'What did I tell you?' said the barber. 'That kid never learns!'Later, when the customer leaves, he sees the same young boy coming out of the ice cream store.
'Hey, son! May I ask you a question... why did you take the quarters instead of the dollar bill?'
The boy licked his ice cream cone and replied 'Because the day I take the dollar, the game's over!'
In the minds of some, Jesus’ mission of proclaiming the good news of the kingdom and calling people to repentance might have been better entrusted to educated professionals. Their training in preaching, teaching and catechesis would seem to have prepared them for communicating the importance of conversion. But Jesus called the fishermen and they responded, and in that dynamic of call and response, they began to be what Jesus intended: fishers who would draw into the saving net of God’s grace to all who agreed to repent and believe.
The two sets of brothers responded incredibly by immediately leaving everything: nets, boats, and family. Walking away from everything that defined their lives, they followed Jesus. And that made all the difference.
According to Mark's Gospel, Jesus begins his public ministry soon after John the Baptist is arrested. He preaches a sermon which is powerful and prophetic, and has only 19 words: "The time is fulfilled, and the kingdom of God is at hand. Repent and believe in the good news."
Mark explains that Jesus has a basic keynote speech with four specific messages: "The time is fulfilled. The kingdom of God is at hand. Repent and believe in the Gospel."
The New Testament, as you know was written in Greek, and it has two words for time, chronos, meaning "chronological time," and kairos, meaning, "the urgent, present moment, the time beyond time, the time of fulfillment, the end time, the time of God." Christ always speaks of the kairos moment. "The Kairos is here," he announces. We are no longer living in chronos time but kairos time, the time of God.
Then, he says, "The kingdom of God is at hand." Throughout the Gospels, Jesus talks about the kingdom of God. For Jesus, the kingdom of God means God is at the center of life, which means we are filled with God's love, that we walk in the light and love of God, which means we love everyone, we serve everyone, forgive everyone, live in perfect nonviolence and peace with everyone.
Then, Jesus starts saying exactly what John the Baptist commanded, "Repent." Repentance comes from the Greek word "Metanoia," which means, "turn around, stop what you are doing and go in the other direction, change the direction of your life." Jonah called the people of Ninevah to repent and they did. Jesus calls us to repent, to stop rejecting God, to stop hurting one another, to stop supporting the Gospel of empire, to stop supporting the war making culture and to welcome God's kingdom of love. Repentance does not mean entering upon a guilt trip about your past, or your present. It means changing your life--your mind, your spirit, your attitudes, your behavior, your relationships, your plans--long range and short term. It means coming to a new understanding of life's purpose and direction and acting differently from now on.
Conversion is not instantaneous. It is a process; a process in which God’s grace changes one. Conversion is the heart of the Christian experience. Conversion is best described in the New Testament in the Letters of St. Paul, and with good reason - no one experienced a more dramatic conversion than St. Paul on the road to Damascus! And today we celebrate the conversion of St Paul. { St. Paul used the word metanoia for repentance in four Epistles. In Romans 2:4 ; in 2 Corinthians 7:9-10;in 2 Corinthians 12:21;In 2 Timothy 2:25 . Metanoia is also noted three times in the Letter to the Hebrews.} Repentance for St. Paul means one has faith in God through Christ Jesus, which leads one to obedience.
Finally, Jesus says, "Believe in the Gospel." We are supposed to believe what Jesus says in the Gospels.
Then Jesus calls the fishermen, saying, "Come after me and I will make you fishers of men and women." They drop everything, leave their work, and follow him. We, too, have been called by Jesus. The greatest act of self-renunciation that he asks for is the sacrifice of one’s own intellect and will. St. Thomas Aquinas says: “nothing is dearer to man than the freedom of his own will, for this is what makes him master over others; …so by surrendering the freedom of his own will, by which he is master of himself, he renounces himself.”
The fishermen of Galilee teach us something very important about discipleship: following requires abandoning.
Have we abandoned whatever keeps us from following Jesus, my dear brothers and sisters? Every day is a new opportunity to embrace our discipleship courageously and to respond generously to Jesus’ life-defining call: “Come, follow me.” How we respond will make all the difference.
In the Name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit.
Amen.

A friend in need is a friend indeed.

My dear brothers and sisters in Jesus Christ,

A friend in need is a friend indeed.
A certain immigrant, new in town, attended a neighborhood church for years without making any new acquaintances. Even before the Mass is over, most of them will leave the church. Those who would gather in small familiar groups with old friends and nobody ever seemed to notice him. So one day he decides to go to church wearing his baseball cap. As soon as he took his lonely seat at the back of the church, the usher comes to him and said, “Brother, we don’t wear caps in church here.” “Thanks,” he replies but does not remove his cap. During communion, he goes up for communion and the Eucharistic Minister pulls him aside and gently says to him, “My brother, wearing of caps is forbidden in our church.” “Thanks,” he replies but does not take off his cap. After the mass, the priest who is shaking hands with parishioners greets him very well for the first time and then courteously adds, “But, my dear brother, wearing of caps in church is not allowed.” “I know,” says the man, “but I have been coming to this church, father, for two years now and no one ever seems to notice me.”
My dear brothers and sisters in Christ, The point this man was trying to make we could find through our gospel today, namely, that it is not enough for Christians who worship together to call themselves brothers and sisters; they must also show themselves to be friends in deed. A friend in need is a friend indeed.
“When Jesus saw their faith…” – the faith of his friends not that of the paralyzed man – he healed the paralyzed man, soul and body.
A friend in need is a friend indeed.
As historically accurate as this story is, the paralytic is also a metaphor for the individual who is paralyzed by sin. The paralytic is that person who has now gotten to the point where they can't even help themselves by God's grace, to seek His forgiveness in the Sacrament of Penance and needs the assistance of friends and loved ones to break out of the cycle of sin, despair and pain that keeps him separated from God. The paralytic is also a metaphor for that person who suffers from a serious illness or terminal disease and cannot help himself or herself. They need assistance to receive the Sacrament of the anointing of the Sick and help in old age or in their difficult condition. A friend in need is a friend indeed.
The persons who sometimes go unnoticed but should cast an impression of us are the friends of the paralytic - the ones who bore a hole in Peter's roof. They overcome their fear of being ridiculed and break social convention to help their friend. A friend in need is a friend indeed.
St. Augustine was famous for saying that each of us has the mandate and the vocation by our baptism to go out and seek out the paralytics in our midst who need our help and to abandon love for human respect in order to bring them to the feet of Jesus, especially in the Sacrament of Penance. We have to lower our friends through the roof of fear and ridicule to help those who cannot help themselves. We can do this specially as we are entering the Lenten season by encouraging others to come to the Sacrament of Penance, encouraging them for coming for the Monday adoration and Friday way of the Cross; by helping to catechize those who do not know their Catholic faith by agreeing to read the Bible together.
The fact is that sin exists: St. Augustine says;"it is a word, deed or desire in opposition to the eternal law”.
The paralytic who is at the center of the story never says a word. We know nothing about him except two very important things. Jesus healed the man physically. And Jesus healed him spiritually – he forgave the man’s sins.
God always heals. There is the paralyzed man, unable to get close to Jesus on his own, stuck on his mat and probably feeling helpless and frustrated. And there are his friends, lifting him up and carrying him, breaking through any barriers that get in their way, determined to do all they can to help. They refused to take impossible for an answer. They believed that “A friend in need is a friend indeed.”
In order for this event to happen, three things had to come together. First, the friends had to be aware of the man’s situation. Then they had to show up, ready and willing to help. And third, the man had to allow himself to be carried. Otherwise, Jesus would have been left waiting and this miracle never would have taken place.
Mother Teresa once said, “Wherever you go, be a carrier of God’s love.”
If you Remember Robert Fulghum’s “Everything I Need to Know I Learned in Kindergarten”? He ends his writings “And it is still true, no matter how old you are, when you go out into the world, it is best to hold hands and stick together.” That’s today’s lesson: take turns. We all take turns throughout our lifetimes playing out the different parts in this story. When it is our turn to carry others, we are called to step forward and do it. And when it is our turn to be the one who needs carrying, we are called to accept the help that is offered to us, even when that is very hard to do. Sometimes we do the carrying, and sometimes we have to be carried. May God help each one of us to learn to do both with His grace. A friend in need is a friend indeed.In the name of God the Father, God the Son and God the Holy Spirit.Amen.

Behold the Lamb of God
My dear brothers and sisters in Jesus Christ,
“What is this life if, full of care,
We have no time to stand and stare?”
A Washington Post reporter wanted to see what would happen if they hired a world famous violinist to play during rush hour on a Washington subway platform. Would anybody notice? Would anybody stop and listen? Would they toss any money into his violin case?To take part in this experiment, they enlisted Joshua Bell – by many accounts, one of the greatest violinists of his generation. He’s recorded a number of best-selling albums, plays around the world and routinely collects thousands of dollars for one performance. He’s young – just 39 – and recognizable. Bell thought the idea sounded like fun, so he agreed to do it.
So one morning, he put on jeans and sweatshirt and went down into the DC subway during rush hour. He unpacked one of his most prized possessions -- a Stradivarius violin, worth an estimated three million dollars. He opened the case to collect some money, and started playing. He played Bach. He played Schubert’s “Ave Maria.” He played a series of classical pieces by Manuel Ponce and Jules Massenet. Once in a while, someone would hurry past and throw some pennies in his case. At one point, a little boy paused, enthralled, but his mother pulled him away. No one stopped to listen to the most beautiful music in the world being played by one of the most gifted musicians in the world on a three million dollar violin.
Nobody noticed. They were too busy running to work.
For his 45 minutes, Joshua Bell collected $32 dollars in change.
When the Washington Post published the article about all this, the reporter quoted the poet W.H. Davies:
“What is this life if, full of care ,We have no time to stand and stare?”
In today’s gospel, we encounter John the Baptist at a moment when he does have time to stand and stare. He sees Jesus walking toward him and says, very simply, “Behold, the Lamb of God.” He recognizes Jesus for who He is.
If we saw Christ approaching us…would we realize who He was? Or would we – like the thousands of people who passed by Joshua Bell during rush hour – just keep going, blind and deaf to what was before us? Which are more important: words or actions? We say, “Actions speak louder than words.” But sometimes, something must be said, and so silence is wrong. There is Jesus walking by. He isn’t speaking, he’s just walking. Who is he? Is he important? He doesn’t appear special, he doesn’t look significant. But then John the Baptist speaks: “Look! There is the Lamb of God!” And the two disciples with John hear this, and they begin to follow Jesus.
John’s words are so effective that his disciples leave him to follow someone else. Without those words, Jesus would have walked by and John’s disciples would not have followed.
One of those disciples was Andrew. After spending some time with Jesus, what is the first thing he does? He goes and finds his brother, Peter, and tells him, “We have found the Messiah.” And because of Andrew’s words, Peter acts. Peter leaves everything behind and follows Christ. Nothing in Peter’s life is the same because of his brother’s words, “We have found the Messiah!” Nothing in human history is the same because of how Peter acts on those words.
We are called upon to do the same: to point Christ out to people, as John and Andrew did.
We who already follow Christ must proclaim to others, “We have found the Messiah!” There is a mighty challenge here for all of us. If we are honest, the only time many of us speak Christ’s name outside of a church is when we stub a toe, get cut off in traffic, or watch our favorite team make a bad play. As Christians, we bear Christ’s name, but we barely use his name.
I think Jesus comes in a similar way today, as a humble lamb, and because Jesus comes in so many ways today as a humble lamb we might miss his coming unless some John the Baptist pointed out and said, ‘Look, there is the lamb of God who takes away the sins of the world.’ Vatican II acted as a John the Baptist telling us that Jesus comes to us in four ways when we gather here for our Sunday Mass:
Jesus comes in the word of God in the readings, in the Eucharist, in the congregation and in the priest (Sacrosanctum Concilium 7).
When the readings are being proclaimed, God is speaking to you. If a line from the text strikes you we normally understand this as God speaking to you.
In Holy Communion Jesus comes to you in the fullness of his body, blood, soul and divinity.
Jesus is present in the congregation because where two or three are gathered in his name he is present in their midst.
And Jesus is present in the priest who offers Jesus to the Father just as Jesus offered himself to the Father on the cross.
Jesus comes to us in four ways when we gather here for our Sunday Mass: in the word of God, in the Eucharist, in the congregation and in the priest.

Yes dear brothers and sisters in Jesus Christ, You are never too old to begin fulfilling God’s dream for you.
What is this life if, full of care, We have no time to stand and stare?The advice priest Eli gives the boy Samuel is the best advice anyone who has care of, or cares about, can ever give: when God speaks, answer with total readiness. "Speak, Lord, your servant is listening".