Ash Wednesday

ASH WEDNESDAY
My dear brothers and sisters in Jesus Christ,
"Create in me a clean heart, O God, and put a new and right spirit within me. Cast me not away from your presence, and take not your holy Spirit from me" (Ps 51: 10-11).
Lent is a forty day period. But how meaningful our Lent would be, my dear brothers and sisters, if we could every day LISTEN TO YOUR HEART and LIVE!
LISTEN TO YOUR HEART: We know that Lent is a time for prayer; but it is more than saying more words or spending more time on your knees. It is about listening to your heart. What is going on there now, today? Do you invite Jesus into the places of joy and the places of pain? What part of your heart needs to be changed to become more like the heart of Christ? What makes you sad today, what needs to be changed in your life?
LIVE At the end of each day, do you ever look in the mirror and ask did I really live today? Did I bring Christ to someone else by my ability to affirm, to help, to be quiet? I could tell you now that Lent is about penance, prayer and giving things up. You know that. But it is also about asking the hard question: how did I live today? Did I live a life of God’s expectation of me?
This is our challenge in Lent, to turn our hearts toward God.
We heard from the first reading "Return to me with all your heart" what is our whole heart?-- with a broken heart -- broken by awareness of sin and its effects -- that's what repentance is -- a waking up to the reality of sin, and a turning to God.
Our fig leaves are not sufficient to cover our sins. We need to return to the Lord who forgives our sins and welcomes us into his heavenly Kingdom.
Lent is a time for repentance, a time to look at the way we have been living, to identify what needs to be changed -- to resolve to change -- and to pray for God's enabling grace. That's what Jesus recommends when he speaks about prayer, fasting, and giving money to the poor.
St. Augustine said "The entire life of a good Christian is in fact an exercise of holy desire. You do not see what you long for, but the very act of desiring prepares you, so that when he comes; you may see and be utterly satisfied."
Lent can be understood as an exercise of holy desire. Augustine points out what has become a willful blindness. We tend to fill our days with three things: work, problems and diversions. For most of us we work and try to solve problems (like health or car breakdowns) in order to have more time to spend on our diversions--reading, vacations, friends, meals, sports, games, TV, etc. None of those things are bad in themselves, but they keep us from seeing what we really long for.
Lent is a time to put aside some of the diversions and, as they say, get in touch with our true desire. Our true desire is to be like Jesus. This inner struggle between our old and new selves is the reason that Pope John Paul II could so often say, become who you are. What the late great Pope meant was: become morally in your affections and actions what you already are spiritually in Christ. Lent is a retreat period to find out the truth in us and to live up to that true nature of our life. We have to rise above ourselves.
How do we rise above ourselves? I believe that we can do this with the Eucharist and personal prayer. We have the opportunity at every Eucharist to receive the Lord Jesus. The Lord lives within us. The Lord can transform us. We have to be like the clay in the potter’s hand. To be pliable clay we must be open to the will of God in our lives. We must give up some of the control that we enjoy and seem to want to have in our lives. To open our lives to the Lord and His will is an act of faith and trust. It is to let the Lord be in control and we to submit to His control.
May this season of repentance bring us the blessing of God's forgiveness!

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

Photos with Mar Jose Porunnedam and Fr Jose

Happy Chinese New Year's Day

Happy Prosperous New Years to All my Brothers and sisters from China and chinese Origin

Happy Valentine's Day

A true friend is someone who reaches for your hand and touches your heart.

Love Your Enemies-7th Sunday Year C

Love your Enemies

My brothers and sisters, the message of Jesus in today’s gospel is a radical, challenging message. We are all very familiar with the Job description or the rules and statutes of the groups and congregations. We have to learn it practices it and review it time to time. Today Jesus is asking his disciples to review the formulas of the Christian life. We realize that it is not easy to be a follower of Christ.
Today’s first reading teaches us that we must never base our morality on our emotions. In, David has the chance to kill King Saul—the man who was trying to kill him! But, to his credit, David’s moral conduct here was not rooted in his emotions; it was rooted in the truth. It was rooted in the truth of who Saul was! David realized that Saul was still "the Lord’s anointed".
Every one here has at one time or another been wounded by someone or, at least, we believe we have been hurt or offended. Because of this we can accumulate a tremendous burden of resentments, grudges, hatred and anger. In today's Gospel, Jesus gives us the solution to our anger and wounds. "Be merciful as your Father is merciful." He asks us to love our enemies and do good to those who harm and hate us. The key is forgiveness, to forgive those who wound us and hurt us no matter how severe those wounds are.
Forgiveness is at the very core of Christianity and is the most divine thing anyone can do. Forgiving does not mean that the wound will disappear, but it will allow you to be able to live with that wound and love them as Jesus loves them. The virtue of forgiveness finds its fullest expression in the challenge of Jesus to love our enemies. Father they do not know what they are doing, forgive them. We are all the recipients of that divine forgiveness. No matter how far any of us has strayed from God, He always gives us a way back to Him and is ready to forgive us. God touches us in our sinfulness, which is part of our very humanity, and is there to forgive us. God's forgiveness is the love He has for us that reaches into the dark spaces of our failings and brokenness, raises us up, and holds us in the palm of His hand until we are healed. The love of God and His willingness to forgive us gradually leads us from our sinful ways to a life of grace and purpose.
The love he calls us is to be pro-active. It is not the kind of love that says, "I love humanity. It is just my neighbor that I cannot stand". Here is a cute little story that may illustrate the pro-active love that Jesus calls us to. We know it by another name-The Golden Rule.
One day, a mother happened to overhear her daughter and a few of her friends concocting a scheme of revenge against another little girl who apparently had done something mean to them. Well, she took the girls aside and said, "It seems to me that you are doing to her exactly what you do not want her doing to you. That is not the Golden Rule that Jesus taught us, is it"? "Well", replied one little girl, "The Golden Rule is OK for Sundays but, for every other day, I prefer to have an eye for an eye and a tooth for a tooth". Not exactly what Jesus taught! Isn’t it?
And, that is exactly the way the world looks at things. It makes sense to most people to take revenge on their perceived enemies and to love only those who love you. The world is also quick to judge those with whom they disagree. The world lives as if God does not exist at all.
Jesus prefers that we speak and live his words in our everyday lives. The love that Jesus calls us to is not a noun-it is a verb-something done. That is the way Jesus lived and he wants us to do the same. We are to live every minute of our lives as if God truly exists. The writer, G. K. Chesterton, said this about Christianity. "Christianity has not been tried and found wanting; it has been found difficult and not tried".
In June 1902, when 20-year-old Alessandro Serenelli stabbed Maria Goretti 14 times in her heart, lungs, and intestines, she survived for 20 hours in the hospital, undergoing surgery without anesthesia. When she was asked if she forgave her murderer, she replied, "Yes, for the love of Jesus I forgive him...and I want him to be with me in Paradise."
After serving his prison term, Alessandro Serenelli sought Assunta Goretti, Maria's mother, and begged her forgiveness.
Assunta told him, "Maria forgave you, Alessandro, so how could I possibly refuse?" The following morning, Christmas Day 1937, Assunta and Alessandro entered the parish church side by side to attend mass.
Remember what the father of India and an ascetic (1869 - 1948) Mahatma Gandhi said “The weak can never forgive. Forgiveness is the attribute of the strong.”Is there anything that can help us to forgive those who have hurt us? Forgiveness is a decision. Decide today to forgive. Forgiveness does not mean blotting out painful memories but it means not acting out of them. Those who are having difficulty forgiving a hurt have to repeat to themselves, “I will not allow him/her to control my life. I take control of my life back from him/her. From now on I will control my life”. When you hate some one he or she is in control of you. You are not free any more.
Another help to forgive somebody is to be humble enough to admit that we cannot control another person. Giving up the need to control or dominate the person who hurt us, surrendering the need to expect them to ask forgiveness from us frees us to forgive them.
“Love your enemies” doesn’t mean approval of evil, acceptance of evil. It doesn’t even mean that we have to like everybody. There are some people who are just not likeable. Let’s face it. But we are asked to love everybody. And that’s a very, very different thing. It goes way beyond liking. It means for a start, that we wish them no harm. Indeed that we wish them good.
We all know that we are called to love our enemies. begin with Jesus, gazing upon the Crucified, and listening to His first words from the Cross: "Father, forgive them for they do not know what they are doing". Then continuing to gaze upon the crucifix and repeating those powerful words over and over again, we may ask the Lord to help us to forgive.
Secondly, we should act out our forgiveness. Perhaps a phone call, or letter, or a friendly knock on someone's door will convey forgiveness. For forgiveness requires an act. It is not enough to simply think about it “O K I am going to forgive him or her” Make an action with your decisions. If the person who has hurt us is deceased, then going to the cemetery and there reading aloud a letter forgiving that person from the heart and praying provides a means whereby we may act out our forgiveness.
Yes dear brothers and sisters, how can we kneel down and ask God for forgiveness, and then refuse to forgive an enemy? As John the Evangelist said, "He who does not love his brother whom he has seen, cannot love the God whom he has not seen" (1 John 4: 20). Remember Jesus’ words “Love your enemies, do good to those who hate you, bless those who curse you, pray for those who mistreat you.”
In the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit. Amen.

The Ministers of Communion

Beatitudes Year C 6th Sunday

The Beatitudes: the way of life for Christians
My dear brothers and sisters in Jesus Christ,
“Happiness is that which all [men] seek.” So says the great philosopher Aristotle. Aristotle also observes that everything people do twenty-four hours a day, seven days a week, is what they believe will bring them happiness in one form or another. But the problem is that what people think will bring them happiness does not in fact always bring them true and lasting happiness. Observing people, one thing stands out constantly, namely, they are never completely satisfied. No matter how satisfied a particular experience leaves them, the euphoria quickly wears off and, like Oliver, of Charles Dickens fame; they soon want "More"!
We know that the good things of this world are good indeed; but we also know that they never completely satisfy. As we cross one horizon, another stretches out ahead of us. There is no end for our dreams. There is always a dream waiting for us to dream.
In today’s gospel, Jesus in the Sermon on the level ground shows that he really wants his followers to have true and lasting happiness, the happiness that the world and everything in it cannot give. Everybody seeks happiness. But often we look for it in the wrong places.
There are four Beatitudes according to Luke but they have to be considered as four facets of discipleship. Each of the four aspects constitutes a road map for anyone who seeks to attain this happiness of the kingdom. We ought to spell the word beatitudes to “Be-attitudes” to make the point that these are lifestyle stances of the Catholic who understands what his or her life is for.
The four Beatitudes do not describe four different people such that we need to ask which of the four blessings or four woes suits us personally. No, they are eight different snapshots taken from different angles of the same godly person. The blessed moments are those in which we recognize that nothing in this world can bring us total security or happiness. The moments of "woe" are those in which we deceive ourselves into thinking that riches, pleasure, power and fame can provide total fulfillment and happiness.
These beatitudes are like rungs on a ladder which Christ has arranged in an exact order. There is a pattern to his arrangement. Each step builds on the foundation of the previous step, each leads to the next, and each is indispensable. We can’t divide them up, retaining those we find appealing and leaving those we don’t care for to others.
We have to start at the bottom, and the first step is a big one. Here we find a rung that immediately makes people living in a rich society at least a little anxious: “Blessed are the poor in spirit.”
What does poverty of spirit mean? It is my awareness that I cannot save myself, that I am basically defenseless, that neither money nor power will spare me from suffering and death, and that no matter what I achieve and acquire in this life, it will be far less than I wanted. Poverty of spirit is my awareness that I need God’s help and mercy more than I need anything else. Being poor in spirit means letting go of the myth that the more I possess, the happier I’ll be. It is an outlook summed up in a French proverb: When you die, you carry in your clutched hand only what you gave away. Poverty of spirit is a letting go of self and of all that keeps you locked in yourself.
The second Beatitude is “Blessed are they who hunger, for they shall be satisfied.” Jesus praises those who want what is right as urgently as a person in the desert wants a glass of water or a child in a refugee camp cries for a crust of bread.
The third rung has to do with grieving: “Blessed are they who mourn for they shall be comforted.” We have a lot to mourn. Mourning is linked to poverty of spirit. Without poverty of spirit and the hunger for truth, I am always on guard to keep what I have for myself, and to keep me for myself. An immediate consequence of poverty of spirit is becoming sensitive to the pain and losses of people around me, not only those whom I happen to know and care for, but also people I don’t know and don’t want to know. To the extent that I open my heart to others, I will do whatever I can to help — pray, share what I have, even share myself. I also open myself to the grief of my neighbor.
God grant us the gift of tears: for those whom we miss, for our past sins, for the sins of others, for the violence we do to each other and to the world God gives to us each day.
The fourth rung of ladder beatitude: Addressing his disciples Jesus calls those who are persecuted for their faith blessed because 1) they are eligible for a glorious reward ("Your reward will be great in heaven"), 2) they are given the privilege of sharing in the pain and suffering and rejection which Jesus Himself endured for our sins, and 3) they are following the footsteps of the martyrs of the Old Testament period and of the early martyrs of the infant Church. The thousands of Christians who courageously face persecution for their faith in different parts of the world today share in practicing the same beatitude, bearing heroic witness to their faith in Christ Jesus and inspiring us to do the same. We are called to end anything and everything that oppresses the human spirit.
A monk once visited a priory, when one of the monks greeted the visiting monk and took him to the guest room, as they climbed the stairs; he apologized to his brother monk for the many steps
The visiting monk replied to his apology in this way: “There are many steps in my abbey, too.” Then he added, “I count them as I climb…. This is how I count them: one, one, one…!” In the spiritual life it is always the beginning.
As you can see, the program that Jesus calls us to live is not any easy way of life. For many the Beatitudes may seem unrealistic, even impossible, for they appear to contradict every fundamental attitude of the world. But begin from one.
Jeremiah gives a beatitude of blessing (17: 7-8) paired with a curse (17: 5-6), as its opposite, when he compares the wicked to a barren bush in a desert and the just to a well watered tree growing near a running stream. In essence, this “beatitude” teach us that if we choose God as our hope, our security, and our happiness, we will be blessed, truly happy. On the other hand, if we choose human standards for our guides, ourselves as our source of security and the meeting of our own needs and desires as our happiness, we will find ourselves living in increasing misery and confusion, that is, with woe. Jeremiah tells us that the only source of lasting happiness is trust in God and hope in His promises.
Blessed are those who are poor, hungry, weeping, hated, excluded, insulted, and denounced because in poverty, we recognize God’s reign; in hunger, his providence; in sorrow, true happiness; and in persecution, true joy. What makes one blessed is not simply poverty or hunger or sadness or suffering for faith, but commitment to Jesus and His spirit of sharing.

Video Clips of Beautiful paintings of St Stephen's Church

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Yza8MFnJxM4 part I

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=X1T60dgN0ng Part II

The great Church, land mark of Spiritual Paintings. Worth to visit. Best to pray.

5th Sunday Ordinary Year C.Don't Give up! Change your life

Don’t Give Up: Jesus is there to Help You
My dear brothers and sisters in Jesus Christ,
We find Simon Peter, the fisherman in today’s gospel account in a moment of failure. Many of us do know the feeling; many of us have had moments of such profound doubt that we’ve been ready to give up.
We note first that after Christ had commanded them to let down their nets once again, Peter, who was certainly an expert in fishing, disputed the possibility that any fish would be caught. They had fished all night and caught nothing. His mastery of his occupation told him that to lower the nets again would be a waste of time. Nevertheless, Christ commanded that he do it, and he did. Christ was teaching his followers that they must put their trust in Him, even when it seemed a waste of time, even when it seemed foolish, even if they thought they knew better. The obedience of these men to Christ command was rewarded by a huge catch of fish. Christ commands us, equally strongly, to put our trust in Him and to obey His commands. Sometimes that seems illogical to us, and yet that we must do. When, for example, illness overtakes us and puts us through pain and suffering and doubt about our future, we must still look to Him, place our trust unconditionally in Him, and believe that in our obedience, we shall eventually find our reward.
There is a true story of little Andrew and his father. One day when Andrew’s was father arrived back home from the work his building was covered with the firemen and the crowed. They were trying to save the life of little Andrew, but it was not easy and the fire was swallowing the building and for the worse it was covered with smoke. Little Andrew was in the 10th floor of the building. Andrew’s father shouted to his top calling Andrew. Andrew came to the window and called daddy. There was no way to save the life of Andrew. The fire fighters all came back thinking there were no more lives to save. Andrews’s father called again and asked Andrew to jump down. Andrew cried out “dad I can not see you it is all dark”. But Andrews’s father was crying out to the top of his voice. “Andrew even though you can not see me I can see you; jump down I will catch you down”. Andrew jump down and they saved his life.
Yes my dear brothers and sisters, when we feel everything is over and I have no ways to get out of it there is one person there to help you from your depressed life. But you may not see Him because of the darkness that covers you but He can see you clearly. If you are not ready to jump down then no one can help you other than Jesus who sees us all.
The second message is that though we try in our lives to accomplish certain things, and fail, we must never cease trying, we must never give up. Peter, after working all night, was ready to give up, to surrender to failure. But he did not. Those who struggle on, despite all, can only triumph at the end.
Peter was offered a window of opportunity that came to him when he would have least expected it, after a night of failure. He took the chance, gave God what he did have, namely hope and trust, and suddenly defeat was transformed into victory.
Winners never quit and quitters never win. If we try to limit God by our own limitations we will only succeed in limiting ourselves. In today’s first reading we find the prophet Isaiah in such a state of mind. His soul was heavy; he was in near defeat. No one was listening to him; some wanted to get rid of him by killing him. Isaiah was very conscious of his failures and limitations. The great Jewish prophet Isaiah, like Simon Peter, was given a window of opportunity in the midst of failure. He took the opportunity and said: “Here I am Lord, send me.” Peter, having confessed that he was sinner, heard Jesus respond: “Do not be afraid; from now on you will be a fisher of men.” Peter responded to the challenge, the opportunity, and became the chief of the apostles. Believe that “with God, everything is possible,” and then live our lives depending on Him.
As I see it, there’s one word which unites all three of today’s Scripture readings—the word "change."
"Life is a series of changes," To make it easy to remember how to make positive change, let us use an acronym. The six letter word CHANGE: “c” is for choice; “h” is for humility; “a” is for assistance; “n” is for now; “g” is for goal; and “e” is for effort!"
The "c" in change stands for choice. Every positive change requires a conscious, deliberate choice. If the change you’re seeking is a deeper prayer life, you must choose to spend time alone with the Lord each day; if the change you’re seeking is to get rid of a sinful habit, you must choose to avoid the near occasion of the sin.
The "h" in change stands for humility. Lasting, positive changes don’t happen until we are humble enough to admit that they need to happen! Notice the humility of Isaiah: when the Lord appeared to him, his first response was "Woe is me, I am doomed! For I am a man of unclean lips . . . " He recognized his unworthiness. So did St. Paul. And so does Peter in this Gospel scene, when he falls to his knees in front of Jesus and says, "Leave me, Lord, for I am a sinful man!" If we don’t recognize our need to change, we never will. That’s why the first step in AA is for a person to admit that they’re powerless over alcohol. Without that expression of humility, they will continue on their destructive path.
The "A" in change stands for assistance. If we are truly humble, we will not only admit that we need to change, we will also realize that we need the help to change!—help from God and from others.
Which brings us to the "N." The "N" in change stands for now. Notice—Isaiah didn’t wait to accept the Lord’s call; he said, "Here I am, send me!" Peter, James and John abandoned their fishing business on the spot and followed Jesus as his disciples. If we say, "I’ll go to Confession one of these days” and we know “one of these days” will probably never arrive.
And all positive change must have a goal, which is what the "G" in CHANGE stands for. And what should be the ultimate goal of every positive change was expressed beautifully by St. Paul when he wrote in Philippians 3:12-14 "I do not think of myself as having reached the finish line or made perfect. One thing I do: Forgetting what is behind and straining toward what is ahead, I press on toward the goal to win the prize for which God has called me heavenward in Christ Jesus"
But none of this comes without effort on our part, which is what the "E" in CHANGE stands for. The daily effort Paul expended in living a holy life is illustrated powerfully in that same passage.
Choice, humility, assistance, now, goal, effort—that’s what might be called "the Biblical formula for lasting change."
Sometimes we, like St. Peter and his companions, have empty nets. Do not give up but just ask: "Lord, look my net is empty." And He will tell you "cast out again," and if you trust Him, He will fill you up.
In the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit. Amen.

Catholic Chapal in Bellevue Hospital

NEW PARISH COUNCIL MEMBERS OF ST STEPHEN'S CHURCH

MOST WELCOME TO OUR NEW PARISHIONERS. A MOTHER IS HAPPY WHEN SHE GETS MORE CHILDREN.

A PHOTO SPEAKS MORE THAN WORDS

FOR MORE PHOTOS CLIK TO THE LINK

http://picasaweb.google.com/vincentocarm/NEWStStephenSParishCouncilMeeting

Presentation of the Lord Feb.2

Presentation of the Lord
Today we celebrate the feast of the Presentation of Jesus, the day we remember all the consecrated lives called vita consecrate, and also it is the Groundhog Day and also First Friday.
Do you know what happened forty days after Jesus' birth? We have it in today's Gospel: the purification of Mary and the presentation of Jesus.
As far as I know, only the Catholic Church keeps track of the days since Christmas. If you add the days between Christmas and New Years (7), the month of January (31) and the first two days of February, you reach a total of 40.
In the image of Joseph and Mary presenting Jesus in the Temple, we have a wonderful model of husband and wife united in practicing the faith and in raising their child in the faith.
We read that “When the time came for their purification according to the law of Moses, they brought him up to Jerusalem to present him to the Lord” (2:22) There is a confusion of detail here because, according to Jewish law, purification was for the mother alone while presentation was for the child. The story appears to be speaking of the two ceremonies as if they were one. Luke stresses the fact that they are doing it “as it is written in the law of the Lord” (verse 23). Joseph and Mary are presented as people who keep God’s laws. Moreover, they are presented as doing it together. It is easier to walk in the ways of God when husband and wife walk it together and encourage each other along the way. The author of Ecclesiastes had something like this in mind when he wrote: “Two are better than one, because they have a good return for their work: If one falls down, his friend can help him up. But pity the man who falls and has no one to help him up!” (Ecclesiastes 4:9-10). Husband and wife are companions in the journey of life, especially in the journey to our ultimate destination. We see this as we contemplate Joseph and Mary together in the Temple in obedience to God’s law.
Some people are against the infant Baptism. But I think if parents are supposed to provide their children with the basic necessities of life, what is more basic than one’s faith in God. No parents would think of allowing their children to decide whether they want to go to school or not, whether they want to learn the common language or not, whether they want to be a citizen of their country or not. We make these decisions for them, knowing fully well that when they grow up, they may decide to continue with what we gave them or abandon it. But only a foolish parent would refuse to send a child to school or teach a child their language and tradition in the name of respecting the child’s freedom to choose. Similarly parents have a responsibility to initiate their children into their faith traditions. This is what we see today in the feast of presentation as Joseph and Mary present Baby Jesus in the Jewish Temple.
In our Gospel Reading, Saint Luke tells us that the Virgin Mary and Saint Joseph went to the Temple in Jerusalem in accordance with the Jewish law that said each first-born male child had to be offered to God forty days after being born. Jesus, the Son of God, did not have to be offered to God the Father. Nevertheless, he allowed this to occur because he wanted to be like us in everything, except sin. A physical and emotional re-integration into the community. Even though the feast we celebrate today is not exactly Marian in nature, we should remember that Jesus arrived at the Temple, for the first time in his earthly life, in the arms of his mother, Mary. It could be said that by taking Jesus to the Temple Mary was the instrument through which humanity would first hear of the mission that was given to her Son, Jesus, the enlightenment of all the nations on earth with the light of his life and his grace. The role of the Virgin is to show us the road to her Son, Jesus. The greatness of the Mother of God is based on her Divine Maternity.
Happy Feast to all of you
In the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit.
Amen.

St. Stephen's Lectors

Thanks to all the lectors. Go out to the world and proclaim the Good News. Be part of the Mission.

St Stephen's Way of the Cross

St Stephen's Stations of the Cross with Music

Part I

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7MuJfoiS4uU

Part II

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Gutck__B6yQ

My project St Stephen's Way of the cross is finished. I thank Mr Bob Neumayer and Ms Carol Hopkins to help me with the Sound Track for the stations. It is a full DVD based on the Mural paintings from St stephen's Church, Manhatan where I am now. May God Bless You all who watch it. It has opening prayer and a song by Ms Michelle and the crucifixion scene of St Stephen's Church by C.Brumidi then 14 stations prayers by Fr Sunny John, Ms Carol Hopkins and Mr Bob Neumayer and the Music mainly from Marialla then the closing prayer, litany of saints and then thanks. It is more than One Hour DVD show.Thanks for the support

Funeral Service For Elizabeth Rose Padarathsingh

For More Photos Click the link
http://picasaweb.google.com/vincentocarm/FuneralOfElizabethRose

Happy Winter

THERE IS NO ROSE , IF THERE IS NO THORN STEMS.4TH Sunday Ordinary

Photo from St Stephen's Church , Mid town New York

Love Never Fails
My dear brothers and sisters in Jesus Christ,
If you know Mary Beth Bonacci’ book called Real Love, she addresses in the opening chapter what are some of the characteristics of [real] love? She says:-
"People use the word "love" a lot of different ways. We hear people saying that I love my mom and dad and also I love pizza.
What am I saying when I say I love my mom and dad? I’m saying that I care about them. I’m saying that if they needed me, I would do everything humanly possible to help them. I’m saying that I always want what is best for them.
But ,When I say I love pizza, I’m just saying that I enjoy eating pizza until I don’t want any more pizza. Once I’m tired of the pizza, I don’t care what happens to the rest of it. I’ll throw it away. I’ll feed it to the dog. It doesn’t matter to me anymore.
These are two very different definitions of the word "love."
It gets confusing when people start talking about love and especially about loving you. Which way do these people love you? Do they want what is best for you, or do they just want you around because it is good for them, and they don’t really care what happens to you?
This means that the opposite of pizza love is what might be called "Jesus love"—which is precisely the kind of love that St. Paul is describing in 1 Corinthians 13. Charlie Osburn has said that "Real love is not an emotion, it’s a decision." It’s a decision to sacrifice my own desires and to treat someone as God would have me treat them.
As we read the list of love’s characteristics in the second reading, we realize just how countercultural it is. Our society does not encourage us to be patient, or even kind.
In today’s Gospel people are envious and impatient with the teaching of Jesus Christ. Envy is an insidious vice. Many confuse it with jealousy or greed; but it is different from these two faults. Jealousy wants what the other person has and is not prepared to share. Greed simply wants as much and more than the other. Envy, however, simply does not want the other to have any advantage. It is totally destructive.
St James says in Chapter 3 verse 4 and 5 “See how great a forest a little fire kindles! And the tongue is a fire, a world of iniquity.” You can close the mouth of thousands of Jars but it is difficult to close the mouth of a person. Today, we need to learn from the Gospel that one should never allow oneself to back away because of envious criticism. Looking at today's gospel incident, If Jesus had allowed himself to back away from his mission to make the good news known to all people because his friends and neighbors had given him the cold shoulder, then the world history would have been much different. It is worth asking - how often have we backed off, or have been tempted to quit, because of envious criticism? Our natural reaction is to say "To heck with it all!" My parents used to say to me when I complain only the barking Dog gets the stones.
You may know THE STORY OF THE CRAB and the BUCKET. One time a man was walking along the beach and saw another man fishing in the surf with a bait bucket beside him. As he drew closer, he saw that the bait bucket had no lid and had live crabs inside. He asked. “Why don't you cover your bait bucket so the crabs won't escape?” You don't understand.” the man replied, "If there is one crab in the bucket it would surely crawl out very quickly. However, when there are many crabs in the bucket, if one tries to crawl up the side, the others grab hold of it and pull it back down so that it will share the same fate as the rest of them."
So it is with people. If one tries to do something different, get better grades, improve herself or himself, escape her or his environment, or dream big dreams, other people will try to drag them back down to share their fate. Don’t be discouraged with the cold shoulders of others. Let me remind you the incident of St Paul at the shore of Malta in Acts Chapter 28 verses 1- 10. When Paul and the disciples were in a shipwreck and reached the island Malta first the islanders showed them unusual kindness. They built a fire and welcomed them. When a viper driven out by the heat fastened itself on Paul’s hand, then the idea changed .The islanders considered him as murderer and a curse expecting him to swell up and fall dead. But when they realized after a long time nothing happened to him, they changed their mind and said he is a God and treated him as God. This is our human psychology.
Yes my dear brothers and sisters this actually pictures our attitude, we like to swim with the tide, like to go with the flow.
Ignore the crabs. Charge ahead and do what is right for you. It may not be easy and you may not succeed as much as you like, but you will NEVER share the same fate as those never try.
WE do not want hear the truth. Centuries later in Italy it was commonly believed that the earth was the center of the universe. Everyone believed that the sun revolved around the earth and that the earth was the center of the solar system. A Polish scientist by the name of Copernicus had argued otherwise a century earlier, but nobody took him seriously. Then an Italian scientist by the name of Galileo came along and showed them through a telescope that they were all wrong. Italians, including distinguished Cardinals in Rome, were shocked and horrified. They had Galileo arrested and silenced because he upset their ways of seeing reality and their self-inflated attitudes about humans being the center of God's universe. Their minds were up and they didn't want to be confused by the facts, even facts that came to them through a telescope.
So how do we humans often react in the face of such confrontations, when we are challenged much like the hometown folks of Nazareth were challenged? We kill the messenger. "If you don't like the message, well, then, get rid of the messenger." If you are in a court trial, make the prosecuting attorneys and the police look like either bullies or fools. Destroy the witnesses by discrediting them or by ruining their reputations or transferring them from the job. If the message you are hearing upsets you, destroy either the content of the message or else destroy the messenger.
We like to pride ourselves in thinking that we want to hear the truth. We even tell our wives, our husbands and our children that we want to hear the truth from them. But if they present us with a truth that requires radical change, then watch out!
What happened to Jesus is personalized for us “If the world hates you, realize that it hated me first….. Jesus said; “If they persecuted me, they will also persecute you.” The good news is that we share in the mission of Jesus and he will be with us always. The challenging news is that following him would not be a “rose garden.” It is a way of the Cross. There is no rose ,if there is no thorn stems.

HALF DAY IN LONG ISLAND

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Photo from St Stephen's Church manhattan

From the Stations of the Cross, St Stephen's ,Manhattan

3rd Sunday Ordinary Year C

Photo from the St Stephen's Church, manhattan

The Spirit of the Lord is Upon Me.

My dear brothers and sisters in Jesus Christ,
A group, highly established in their careers, got together to visit an oldteacher. Conversation soon turned into complaints about stress in work and life.
Offering his guests coffee, the teacher went to the kitchen and returned with a large pot of coffee and an assortment of cups -porcelain, plastic, glass, crystal, some plain looking, some expensive, some exquisite -telling them to help themselves to the coffee.
When all had coffee in hand, the teacher said:” You will notice, all the nice looking expensive cups were taken up, leaving behind the plain and cheap ones. While it is normal for you to want only the best for yourselves, that is the source of your problems and stress. Be assured that the cup itself adds no quality to the coffee in most cases, just more expensive; and in some cases, even hides what we drink.
What all of you really wanted was coffee, not the cup, but you consciously went for the best cups... and then began eyeing each other’s cups.
Now consider this: Life is the coffee, and the jobs, money and position in society are the cups. They are just tools to hold and contain life, and the type of cup we have does not define, nor change the quality of life we live.
Sometimes, by concentrating only on the cup, we fail to enjoy the coffee.” AND ALWAYS REMEMBER: The people who make a difference in your life are not the ones with the most credentials, the most money, or the most awards. They are the ones that care. St Paul says in our readings today all the members of the body are important.
My dear brothers and sisters why I said this story is because we all received the same spirit of God when we are baptized and we all have the same mission of Jesus to follow. WE are all part of one body the Christ and the Church. What we can do with what we have and what we are no one else can do in this world, it may not be noteworthy, we may not be awarded or it will not get any news value or public attention but what we do only we can do as the members of one big family.
The synagogue service contained five parts. First, the "Shemá" was proclaimed: "Hear, O Israel: the Lord our God is one Lord" (Deuteronomy 6: 4-9; Numbers 15: 37-41). Secondly, The Prayer took place, which was comprised of eighteen blessings and petitions. Thirdly, there was a reading from the Torah or the Law. Then a reading took place from the Prophets, and finally, an explanation of the Scripture was a part of the synagogal liturgy which was concluded with the antiphonal chanting of a psalm. The second reading, taken from the prophets, could be read and interpreted by anyone over thirty years of age. And here is exactly where Jesus finds Himself in this Sunday's Gospel passage.
The passage from the Prophet Isaiah that Jesus read is from chapter 61, verses 1 and 2. It has profound practical applications for our daily lives. Let us consider each part of the text. If Jesus were to have had a mission statement I think this is it.
"The Spirit of the Lord is upon me, because He has anointed me to preach good news to the poor". The poor does not refer to a social class of people, but rather to an essential posture that all believers need to have in their relationship with God. Humility and total trust in God are necessary virtues for all those who call themselves believers.
"He has sent me to proclaim release to the captives and recovering of sight to the blind, to set at liberty those who are oppressed...". Christ has come to free us from the blindness and domination of sin. Once again we are reminded of the importance of the Sacrament of Confession. When we participate in this awesome sacrament, we are freed from the power and darkness of evil and sin. To be held captive by sin is a tyranny far worse than any physical tyranny. A person can be physically imprisoned, yet still be spiritually free.
“Thomas a Kempis wrote in the spiritual classic, ‘The Imitation of Christ’ that: “Jesus has always many who love His heavenly Kingdom, but few who bear His cross. All desire to be happy with Him. Few wish to suffer anything for Him. Many follow Him to the breaking of the bread, but few to the drinking of the chalice of His Passion,”
Our second reading reminds us that we need not be someone we are not. Some of us are designed to hear, see, touch, smell, think and feel better than others. Yes, there are a variety of parts that make the whole. The message seems to be an invitation to use our parts and use them with integrity. St. Paul today tells us that we are all part of the same body, and that body is Christ.
None of us is to be considered less important than any other. No matter what my work, which I have chosen after careful consideration and thought, it is a work that no one else can do. Only I can do it. You cannot do it for me, nor can I do your life’s work for you. And each of us by that work will contribute to the happiness and good of each other. This is what makes our work, our labor so very special and so very important. And that is what we want to keep in our heart that we are important. WE are not good for nothing. I am special person unique in my nature and Important.
Think of this in a hospital setting. I go to the hospital to obtain assistance because of an illness. Every person in that hospital has a part to play in my recovery. And each one must contribute his or her talent, skill and expertise, if I am to return to good health. If any one of them fails, for whatever reason, to provide his so needed work, I will be set back. The doctor, the nurse, the technician, the radiologist, the aide, the clerk, the housekeeper, the maintenance man, the administrator and on and on, must add that effort that each of them, and only them, can bring as assistance to me.
None of us can complain that we are not important. Each of us is mightily important and needed. None of us need be jealous of other. I cannot do the work that you have been called to do. You cannot take up the work that God has called me to do. I need not envy you; you will find no profit in envying me. Each of us has been led down the path that will be ours and ours alone.
Be proud of your life, respect your life, live it to the full! You are a Very Important Person! You don’t need to act like what you are not. You are what you are and you have a special role to play.
Ask yourself…what part of the body of Christ am I…each of us is a part and a very important part. Am I Christ’s arms & hands – do I reach out to those in need? Am I the leg and foot …do I go where Christ is needed? Am I the eyes of Christ, do I see what is needed and act upon what I see? Am I the voice of Christ…do I unflinchingly proclaim God’s laws? Just what part of the body of Christ am I? Examine your gifts…are you putting your gifts to building up the kingdom of God? Or are you like the rich people who keep their possessions in the bank locker and die poor?
We can only do this if we let the loving Spirit of God touch our hearts, just as this Spirit is at the very center of Jesus’ heart. This Spirit sustained Jesus in his mission. We need God's spirit of love in our hearts if we are to sustain the hope and have the courage to continue Jesus’ mission today.

True friendship

Sacred Heart of Jesus at St Stephen's Church

Sacred Heart of Jesus at the left hand side of Our Lady of the Scapular and St stehen's Church.

Photo by Fr Sunny John (Vincent Pazhukkakulam) O.Carm.

Proud to be an Indian

Second Sunday Mother Mary and the wedding at Cana

“Do whatever he tells you to do.”
My dear brothers and sisters in Jesus Christ,
There are two great wedding feasts found in the New Testament, one being the wedding feast of Cana and the other being what the bible refers to as “The Wedding Feast of the Lamb”, namely the Last Supper. The first wedding banquet opens the gospel of St. John -- the second closes it.
Responding to His mother’s request at Cana’s wedding banquet, Jesus declares that His “hour” has not yet come. Nevertheless He acts, changing water into rich wine. At the close of His life His “hour” comes in its fullness beginning with the Last Supper, whereupon He changes the wine into His Precious Blood.
Besides Jesus, his mother and disciples were also invited to the wedding. The Virgin Mary, even at this early stage, showed us that she always thinks of others and that she is very observant. She told her Son, “They have no wine.” The Lord had not decided yet to do things in public. So he said to her, “It is still not my hour.” But the Virgin knew that he would not deny her request. Surely, she was worried about the newlywed couple that, almost at the beginning of the feast, had already found themselves without wine for their guests. In the Middle East, when a feast is held, they like to ensure that nothing is wanting, that everything is abundantly available, that there is no lack of food or drink. The banquets, even among the people who are not well off, are sumptuous. How embarrassing it would be for this young couple to begin their lives together if they could not provide sufficient food and drink for their guests. And, on this occasion, if the problem with the wine was not resolved, the family would be very embarrassed. And that is what the Blessed Virgin saw. She had to ask her Son to do something. She was sure that he would resolve the problem. So she told the servants “Do what he asks you to do.” The Lord himself told us that whatever we ask for in his name would be given to us. He always gives much more than we ask for and much more than we deserve.
At the wedding feast of Cana the importance of the intercession of the Virgin Mary is highlighted.
The Bible calls on all of us to offer prayers, petitions, intercessions and acts of thanksgiving to God (1Timothy 2:1). In reality, whenever we pray for someone else we act as mediators for them before Our Lord. And that is what the Virgin Mary does when she asks her Son to help us. The Virgin Mary, because she is the Mother of God, because she lived a life of total dedication and faith, and because she is closely united with her Son in heaven, is the Mediatrix, par excellence, between Him and humanity. Love’s transforming power can change anything and everything. If we respond to love and allow it into our hearts and souls we become changed persons. If we let God’s love loose in our world the world we live in would be changed – transformed. All that we’ve watered down would be turned into rich and tasty wine.
But if you want any miracle in your life, if you find out and realize your wine in your life is run out. To get it filled you have to believe in His words and you have to act upon what he asks of you to do. We must respond to God’s initiative. God has offered – nothing will happen unless and until we respond. God provides everything in abundance. He won’t just give what is enough for you but you will have it in abundance but only if you allow Him to act in your life. Jesus just won’t open the door and come in unless we invite him to come in as we read from the revelation 3:20. “Here I am! I stand at the door and knock. If anyone hears my voice and opens the door, I will come in and eat with him, and he with me”.
Look at the extraordinary quantity of water that Jesus transformed into wine. Let’s say the six water jars each held 25 gallons of water, that’s 150 imperial gallons—turn that into liters. There’s 75 centiliters in a bottle, so multiply by a hundred and divide by 75. It works out at over 900 bottles of wine! God provides in abundance. Have trust in Him. HE will provide.
A more fascinating question arising from the story is this: Did Mary knows all those thirty years she lived with Jesus that she was living with a wonder-worker and yet never she asks him to multiply her bread, turn the water on the dining table into wine, or double her money to make ends meet? How come she never asked Jesus to use his miraculous power to help her out but she was quick to ask him to use it and help others? Think of it. If you have a child who has a miraculous power to double money for other kids at school, won't you ask him to double yours at home too? After all, one would argue, charity begins at home. But for Mary and for Jesus the needs of the other come first. That is our Mother Mary. That is why we ask her help.
This is telling us that God's gifts to individuals are not meant primarily for their or their families' benefit but for the service of others. That is what St Paul also tells us in the second reading when he enumerates the many different gifts of the Holy Spirit to different persons and adds that "to each person is given the manifestation of the Spirit for the common good," (1 Corinthians 12:6) not for personal profit.
Today, then, is a good day to ask ourselves: "What gifts has God given me? Am I using these gifts mainly for my own personal profit or for the service of others in the community?" We sometimes wonder why there is no life in the church. There are some people who won’t use their gifts and will not allow others to use their gifts. Maybe the reason is that we have grown more selfish. If we began using the little gifts we have for the common good -- like the gift of praying, singing, teaching, caring, sharing, encouraging, supporting, motivating, writing, etc. -- then these gifts will probably begin to grow and soon we will begin to see miracles. Concern for others is the beginning of miracles. Why we do not see any miracles, because we are selfish people and we are not concerned of others.
If you took a class in physics, you may remember that there are two kinds of energy: potential energy and kinetic energy. Potential energy is stored in a non-moving object. This would be your gift. The potential is only of use when it is put into motion. So how do we get all this potential here at St. Stephen’s to get moving? Or in another way, we are all on a journey, but we must move in order to get somewhere.
There is no greater helper for you in all of this than She who said at Cana: “do whatever He tells you.” She brought Jesus to Cana; she saw the needs of the newly-wed. She is still the same Mary. She has the same concern for all of us. Her advice is still the same: “do whatever He tells you.”
Let her not be a stranger to your home or your hearts. Be not strangers to her, and Christ will bring fullness of grace and glory to you, fill your hearts with peace. If Mary is present in your lives, She will notice all the run out wines in your lives. The lack of love, joy, peace, encouragement, happiness , enthusiasm, being loved , etc. all that you crave for in your life are the run out wine you need to be filled in. Who could fill that in…. only Jesus! If Mary is there for you she will take care of it. Trust in Mary and in Jesus and do what he tells you to do and allow Him to act in your life. If those servants did not believe in Mary and in Jesus there could not have been any miracle. It was their faith, their trust that brought miracles to them. Have trust in Him and do your best and then take rest, the rest He will do for you.

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

CMI Chavara celebration

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Bronx Celebration

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baptism Of the Lord: end of Christmas Season

Baptism of the Lord

With this feast, we end the Church’s Christmas season. Because we are baptized we are all like Jesus, beloved sons and daughters of God. On the day we were baptized we were changed forever. Imagine, you became a son or daughter of God on the day you were baptized, enjoying a new relationship with our Father.
What does baptism mean? The meaning of baptism can be found in the four letters of the word RICE. R stands for Rebirth. In baptism we are born again by water and the Holy Spirit. We are cleansed from original sin and become sons and daughters of God in a special way. I stands for Initiation. At baptism we are initiated or admitted into full membership in the church, the community of the children of God in the world. C is for Consecration. In baptism we consecrate and dedicate ourselves to seek and to spread the kingdom of God. We commit ourselves to be servants of God, to do God’s will and serve God with our whole lives. And E is for Empowerment. At baptism the Holy Spirit comes into our lives and empowers us, equips us, gives us the moral strength to say no to evil and to live as God’s children that we have become.
These four effects of baptism can be divided into two categories, the passive effects (what we receive from God and the people of God), namely, rebirth, initiation, and empowerment; and the active effect (what we give to God and the people of God), namely, our commitment and dedication to a cause, to spread the kingdom of God.
Baptism of the Lord signifies the beginning of the public ministry of Jesus, which will end in the Paschal Mystery. It reveals to Jesus Himself His special relationship of love with the Father and how the Holy Spirit is with Him in His mission. It also manifests the meaning of Jesus' mission, which is the same as the meaning of His Name, to save from sin and unite all mankind in His love. Here is the link with Christmas: "His name shall be called Jesus, for he will save his people from their sins." Here is also the link with the Epiphany: Jesus is made manifest by the Father to the Baptist, just as the Star made Him manifest to the Magi. Here is also the link with the Paschal Mystery: the true baptism of Jesus is not in water and is not for the cleansing of any sin of His; no the true baptism is His death to destroy our sin and His Resurrection to restore our life.
What difference does baptism make to us? When Jesus was baptized the Father spoke and said, “You are my Son, the beloved; my favor rests on you.” When we are baptized the Father says over each of us, “You are my son/daughter, my beloved; my favor rests on you.” In the early centuries of the Church all those who had been baptized were described as ‘another Christ’ and called to live as another Christ. Because of baptism, everyone is called to live like another Jesus. Jesus was anointed with the Holy Spirit when he was baptized in the Jordan and we are anointed with the oil of chrism during our baptism and like Jesus we receive the Holy Spirit also.
St Paul said “there is no longer Jew or Greek, slave or free, male or female; you are all one in Christ.” (Gal 3:28)
So what is your vocation since baptism? Your vocation is to be another Jesus in the world. Let us also earnestly ask him for the grace to keep us faithful to our baptismal promises to say no to Satan and all his false promises and to say yes to God even unto death.

EPIPHANY DAY

Let us come and adore the King, High Priest of God
My dear brothers and sisters in Jesus Christ,
Today when we celebrate the feast of Epiphany we need to ask ourselves, who actually got to find Jesus? Herod and his scribes who had the scriptures failed to find Jesus but the magi who followed the natural light of the stars were able to find him. Why? Because the Jewish authorities, even though they possessed the shining truth of revealed scriptures, did not follow it. They did not walk in the light of the scriptures. The magi, on the other hand, who enjoyed only a star light followed its guidance. By the fact we are baptized and if we are not practicing the catholic faith we are not going to inherit the Kingdom of God. It is not the possession of the truth that matters, it is how prepared we are to walk in the light of the truth that we possess. It is better to have the dim light of the stars and follow it than to have the bright light of the Holy Scriptures and neglect it.
The word "epiphany" means,"a sudden manifestation or perception of the essential nature or meaning of something or the appearance or manifestation of a divine being"
Today we celebrate the Feast of the Epiphany of the Lord Jesus, that is the manifestation of the Divine Son to the nations of the world.
In the Old Testament, the Jewish people believed that they were the exclusive people of God. They divided the whole world into two: Jews who were the people of God, and Gentiles who were not. Some of their prophets and wise men tried to correct this belief by reminding them of the universal love of God for all humankind. This is the message of the gospel that God commissioned Paul to preach: “that is, the Gentiles have become fellow heirs, members of the same body, and sharers in the promise in Christ Jesus through the gospel” (Ephesians 3:6).
Today we remember the Magi who came from faraway lands to worship the baby Jesus. They came guided by a star. Being nature worshippers who had no scriptures, God revealed Himself to them through the means available to them in their own religion. Through the stars they were able to learn of the birth of Jesus and find their way to him. They came as pagans, they worshipped Jesus as pagans, and they went back home as pagans. They did not convert either to Judaism or to Christianity. Their worship was acceptable to God and God directed them in their journey home through a dream. They went back home another way. Whoever meet the Lord can not walk on the same way. The conversion will happen. Those who meet Jesus in their lives will change their way. If not they have not yet met Jesus.
I think that the reason that we call the Magi "wise men" is because they had the wisdom to "return to their own country by a different route." In my own journey, I have to admit that I returned to Herod many times before I was wise enough to take a different route home.
The story of the searching magi serves as a fitting and powerful metaphor for our journey to Christic consciousness. I picture the magi as a caravan--comprising people of all races, genders, colors and orientations, bearing their gifts of self, their gifts of symbols; encouraged and empowered by a deep longing for consciousness and wholeness--a desire that ultimately protects them and us from the unconscious, life-numbing states of being that fear and resist growth and change; states of being that are ultimately egocentric, corrupt and greedy. In today's gospel reading, King Herod serves to illustrate such a state of being and its destructive and life-denying characteristics.
You may remember that the first Christmas Nativity scene, Crib presepio or crèche was made by St Francis of Assisi around 1220 in the town of Greccio near Assisi. He used real animals to create a living scene so that the worshippers could contemplate the birth of the child Jesus in a direct way, making use of the senses, especially sight.
If you pay attention to these magi. There are lot of things to learn. In the late third century Origen gave the kings the names by which we now know them: Gaspar, Melchior and Balthazar.
The "Three Kings" comes from two elements: the number of gifts given, and a passage from Psalms 72, which describes three kings (of Tarshish, Sheba, and Seba) offering gifts and giving praise to God.
Often they represented the three continents of the known world: Europe, Asia and Africa. His dark skin identifies the African king, but the Asian king was represented by a complicated hat or turban, often placed on the ground in the front of the painting for emphasis.
The kings frequently were used to represent three ages of man and are painted as a youth, a middle-aged man and an old man with a grey beard.
This understanding of the gifts (as symbols declaring Jesus as king, God, and suffering redeemer) goes back to the second century. Eventually, the gifts also came to symbolize our Christian response: gold represents virtue, incense represents prayer, and myrrh depicts our own suffering for Christ.
In addition to names, we even get physical descriptions of the magi from a treatise that was written around 700. Entitled Excerpta et Collectanea, it hints that the magi represent different races:
"The first is said to have been Melchior, an old man with white hair and a long beard ... who offered gold to the Lord as to a king representing the divinity of Jesus. The second, Gaspar by name, young and beardless and ruddy complexioned ... honored him as God by his gift of incense, an oblation worthy of divinity and prayer and worship. The third, black-skinned and heavily bearded, named Balthazar ... by his gift of myrrh testified to the Son of Man who was to die representing the humanity of Jesus." Jesus the man, having received the ultimate High Priesthood was to both suffer and die to reconcile God to man.
My dear brothers and sisters, let's not forget that just as there is a part of us that yearns to journey as the magi to find and claim Christ, there's also another part of us which, like Herod, wants things forever comfortable, forever under control, forever stagnant. Yet we can and must overcome such desires--within ourselves and within our church--if we are to follow in the example of our brother Jesus and be daily, living epiphanies.
And finally, it is important to note that the journey of the magi doesn't end at the feet of the infant Jesus, but back in their homelands where, gifted with new, deeper insight and with gifts of discernment and creativity, they are called like us, to manifest Christ. To manifest, in other words, the consciousness and love that is gained as a result of our journeying with one another and with the God who walks in our midst.
Let us reflect on this mystery today as we celebrate the Magi coming from pagan lands to worship the new-born Jesus while God’s “chosen people” in Jerusalem sleep unaware that the kingdom of God has come.
With the Magi, let us worship the Lord! With Mary, let us present our offering, that of ourselves to the almighty so that we will go back home with a different way and as a changed person.
In the Name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit. Amen.

January 5 1997-2007 Priestly Ordination

I thank You with my whole heart for being there for me

10 Years of Grace

“Though the mountains be shaken and the hills be removed, yet my unfailing love for you will not be shaken” (Isaiah 54:10). Today I thank God at this 10th Anniversary of my priestly ordination for that unshakable love. I thank you all for keeping me in your prayers and I know from different parts of the world people are daily praying for me. My priestly life is a life of blessing. I never lacked anything in my life. Anything means literally anything. God provides everything in my life even what I wished for not only which I asked for. I wonder days and days How he knows that I wished for it. That is my God whom I dedicate my whole life. He took me around and gave me strength to do everything. He put the courage and strength in me to do the things I never did before. I knew it is not I but he is in control. And I never failed and I know I will never ever. I never regretted to be a priest. And I pray that God will allow me to die as a priest. When I was so young I use to pray to my Mother Mary. “Mother Mary, if you wish make me a favorite priest of You and your Son Jesus.” Galatians 2:20 says “ I have been crucified with Christ and I no longer live, but Christ lives in me.”
Eucharist is the fundamental way of being of the priest. For the priest, the Liturgy is not only a rite which symbolically encapsulates the life, death and resurrection of the Lord. The re-enactment, the re-presentation of the mighty deeds of the Savior is not one more administrative act of the priest. It is the very core of who he is; in it he sees objectively and vividly the meaning of his own person, his own heart and soul, his life and ministry.
If people seek out the priest for advice and solace, if they sense something special in his presence, if they look to him for inspiration and leadership, it is ultimately because they believe that the power of Christ the Priest, the power of Christ the Eucharist dwells within and shapes the contours of his being.
They intuit that twin-identity in him of priesthood and Eucharist, and they long to receive from him that same love, that same forgiveness and that same self-surrender which brought Jesus to give birth to both on the night before he died.
In the last 10years, the Lord has given me many things to do in many different places of this beautiful world.
Like a psychotic version of the beloved in the Song of Songs, I run searching for the one my soul loves when, all the time, he is within me, “peering in through the lattice” of my soul.
Life can be seen as the process of converting from having what you want to wanting what you have, what you have been given.
All of it, except my sin, has been grace upon grace upon grace. I have no other purpose in life, nor do I want any.
What I do want, is so to be configured to Christ the priest, that in seeing me you will see the Eucharist, you will remember the One who said, “Do this in memory of me”: I will be a living, walking memory of the Last Supper. Priesthood is not about being worthy, but about surrendering to the Lamb who alone is worthy. Many of my friends had been left the priesthood. And I know I am still a priest not because I am good but because of His Mercy and grace. The only reason I have managed is because Christ’s fidelity is stronger than my infidelity.
"Praise the Lord for he is good" (Ps 136/136,1). "I will praise the Lord all my life" (Ps 145/146, 2).
Benedict XVI spoke of the Sacrament of Holy Orders to a large gathering of Priests in Rome. "Let us reflect once again on the signs in which the Sacrament has been given to us. At the centre is the very ancient rite of the imposition of hands, with which he took possession of me, saying to me: "You belong to me". However, in saying this he also said: "You are under the protection of my hands. You are under the protection of my heart. You are kept safely in the palm of my hands, and this is precisely how you find yourself in the immensity of my love. Stay in my hands, and give me yours". (Homily of Pope Benedict XVI - Holy Thursday 2006).
Pope Benedict XVI said; "Being a priest means becoming an ever closer friend of Jesus Christ with the whole of our existence".
We all depend very much on your prayers. And do, please, pray for vocations to the Priesthood so that the Lord may choose from among your families young men who will be prepared to give their lives, their hands and their hearts in the service of His People and the on-going Redemption of mankind.
I whole heartedly thank you all for being there for me as one of my family. May God bless you all!

In Love with love with the Carmelites

Staffs of St Stephen's Church

I have no words to thank them for all what they are to me. I just love them.

10 years of aboundance of Grace

10th Anniversary of My Priestly ordination January 5, 2007



Thanks for prayerfully supporting me and caring for me. God will provide everything for those who put trust in Him. He is now showering His grace. Just accept His blessings.

Happy New Year 2007

Happy New Year To You

One More Year to bear fruits in our Tree of Life
“The Lord bless you and keep you! The Lord let His face shine upon you, and be gracious to you! The Lord look upon you kindly and give you peace.” (Num.6:22-27).
Happy new year my dear brothers and sisters in Jesus Christ,
The name "January" comes from the Roman god Janus, the god with two faces, one looking to the past and the other looking to the future. This is indeed a time to look back at the year that has just ended and to look forward to the New Year ahead of us.
We do need to review our lives from year to year because, as Socrates says, the unexamined life is not worth living.
The gospel today presents Mary to us as a model of that new life in Christ that all of us wish for ourselves in the new year. There we see that Mary was prepared to do something to realize this goal. What did she do? We read that the shepherds, when they went to adore the Child Jesus in the manger, told all that the angels had said to them. "But Mary treasured all these words and pondered them in her heart" (Luke 2:19). Again after the boy Jesus was found in the Temple, we are told that "His mother treasured all these things in her heart" (Luke 2:51). Mary was a woman who valued the word of God, who treasured it and made time to meditate and ponder it. It is true that the holiness of Mary is attributed to the grace of God, but this should not make us forget that she needed to make an effort in order to cooperate with the grace of God. She pondered the word of God in order to discern what God was saying to her at every stage in her life as the handmaid of God. Let us today resolve to listen more to the voice of God, to treasure God's word and ponder it in our hearts. Then shall we be able to realize our New Year resolution of a new life in union with God.
As the New Year begins, let us see this year as another chance given to us to get it right, to grow in familiarity with God our loving Father, and to grow in our awareness of ourselves as God’s beloved children. Put more goodness in all that you do in all places so that the bad will not overcome the good.
Let me suggest some New Year resolutions. First and last and always, there must be prayer. Daily, we must seek the gift of true peace from the Prince of Peace, asking the help of Mary, His Mother and ours. I strongly encourage the prayer of the Rosary each day. Take Mary with you wherever you may go. Invite her into your whole life known and unknown. If Mary is there for you, then she will notice what is lacking in your life and she will ask her Son to give to you. We never know when our wine will get over. But Mary will knew when it happens to us if she is invited in our life like at the wedding at Cana.
Secondly, Recall St. Paul’s advice to us this past Sunday on the Feast of the Holy Family: "Put on … heartfelt compassion, kindness, humility, gentleness and patience, bearing with one another and forgiving one another, if one has a grievance against another" (Col 3:12-13). Of all these concrete gestures of peace, forgiveness is the most difficult for us to do.
Have A New Attitude for A New Year. Some great people of history have had something to say about this. Abraham Lincoln once said, “Most folks are about as happy as they make up their minds to be”. Winston Churchill said, “Attitude is a little thing that makes a big difference”. Albert Einstein added, “In the middle of a difficulty lies opportunity”. Every New Year provides fresh opportunities for personal change and growth.
Is your glass half full or is it half empty? As you begin a new year, your interior attitude about the events that shape your life will determine your success throughout this year and even your physical health.
Last but one. End all negative self-talk. What is self-talk? Self-talk is the endless torrent of thoughts that run through your mind every day. These habitual thoughts can be positive or negative. If these thoughts are negative, then your outlook on life will be pessimistic.
A plaque hangs on Arnold Palmer’s office wall with these words: “If you think you are beaten, you are. If you think you dare not, you don't. If you'd like to win but think you can't, it's almost certain you won't. Life's battles don't always go to the stronger or faster man. But sooner or later, the man who wins is the man who thinks he can”.
Finally, Be courageous to face the life problems. If you start running from the problems of life you may not have time to rest. Have trust in God and believe that God will be always with us until the end of time. Like St Paul asks. If God is with us who can be against us? If you say yes to the will of God, God will give the courage to fulfill it.
Indeed, it is appropriate to begin a new year with Mary, the Mother of God, for we are to bring Christ to the world as she did. No better resolution could any disciple of the Lord make than to imitate His Holy Mother and bear Him — bring Him — into each day of 2007. Happy New Year.