All is Grace Travel delhi
Thursday, May 27, 2010
Saturday, May 22, 2010
Sunday, May 02, 2010
Journey to Kerala
All I have is Grace
I reached in Delhi on April 27th early Morning at 3:00am local time in India. All my flight journey was without any problems as He always provides everything I need in my life. I know my Lord will always protect and send His Angels before me to prepare everything for me before I reach the place. When I reached Out one of the Carmelite friar and one of his friend was on the way to take me to his house for the time I spend in New Delhi. They came by car and I reached their home around 5:00am on April 27th Tuesday. After taking a nice shower and having the breakfast in North Indian style we visited some of his friends and have a small time with them. Then after lunch we visited the Birla temple, Kuthab Minar, Places of the embassy area. You won’t believe the area where the embassies area build up. They all are like different palaces. I was so cautious for my food and water all my time in Delhi. Afternoon we visited the famous Rail Museum in Delhi. After visiting the India Gate, Parliament building and Presidents House we came back home for the day. You can imagine a total different climate and place. When I left New York it was 45 F and when I reached in Delhi it was 45 Celsius. Thank God I was fine until the day I left Delhi on May 1, 2010. visi
On April 28, 2010 Wednesday Both myself and my co-Friar took a bus to Agra fort to see Red fort and Taj Mahal. We reached the place around 5:30 am and reached Agra Red Fort around noon. After visiting the Red Fort we had the lunch break and time for shopping. Then we left to visit Taj Mahal. There was not much time and all the vehicles are not permitted to go inside due to the pollution. It was my first visit in Taj Mahal. A Crown Palace, a place of Love and a real symbol for love for all eternity. A tomb made by a king for his wife. After visiting Agra a group who were with us in the Bus was late to reach the bus so We could not see much in Agra, so we left to Madura, Hindus believe that is the Birth place of Krisha. A story tells that like the Herod in the Bible the King was afraid of his Kingdom and there was a prophesy that his nephew will take over his Kingdom so send His pregnant sister and her husband in jail so that whenever she deliver a boy child he can Him. But there was God’s intervention and the newborn boy was changed with another female child and God saved Krisha for the salvation of the people. We reached Back to Delhi at 11:45Pm and reached the home we were staying around 12:05 am.
On April 29 Thursday, 2010 we took the new Metro to a famous temple made out of stone in area 60 acres of Land .The whole temple was made of stone carving different deities and the base of the main temple. All these temples are tightly protected and you are not allowed to take any kind of electronincs items like mobile phones, cameras etc., After visiting the exibisions which is well down with all the modern techniques and there was an Imax movie on the Ramaswamy we reached the home by Metro and walking around 8:00Pm.
On April 30th Friday around 10 am after the morning prayers and breakfast we visited the Sacred heart Cathedral where I spend two months before for the retreat and for the Magic performance and from there we went to all the samadies of the great polititions of India beginning the father of Nations Mahathma Gandhi in Rajghat, then to Rajive Ghandi , Indira Ghandi and Nehru the first Prime Minister of India. It was a long walk like walking in Central Park. The Sun was very hot. This climate is record heat since 60 years. My co-Friar was very tired even though he is living here in India. After taking a small break we took a Cycle rakisha to the Red Fort build by Sharjahan and it is the Place on January 26 on our Republic day prime Minister raise the Indian Flag and salute the nation. After seeing the places and the palace we walked to the musjith a muslim temple build by the king for his worship which is the biggest Mosque may be in the world. We did not go in because it was too much entrance fee because we had the camera with us. Then we came back home for the day and end of the visit.
On May 1, 2010 Saturday early morning after having breakfast and saying thanks to the old Couple who took care of us, I reached the Domestic Airport and started typing my journey report. Now it is 11:30Am and I am waiting the airpot for the flight to Kochin Kerala which is around 12:45pm.
Today is May 2, 2010.
I reached from Delhi to Cochin at 4.40 pm and my co friar and the provincial procurator was waiting one hour to receive me at the airport. I reached at thrissur provincial house at 8pm on Saturday may 1, 2010. Then having a shower and dinner all our friars who stays at the provincial house went for a movie and came back at 12:00am. Getting up at 5:30 we had a Holy Mass and went again to the airport to recive the Provincial Fr Sojan who was coming from Germany. On the way I visited one of our house at Karukutty where Fr Bosco is doing his mission for the gangsters. I came back from the airport at 11:30am and I have the evening festival mass of Mother Mary the Parish festival of our Parish attached to the Provincial house where Fr Martin is the parish priest. After 6:30 pm mass I will go to my house and possibly will reach at 11:00pm .
All I have is Grace
I reached in Delhi on April 27th early Morning at 3:00am local time in India. All my flight journey was without any problems as He always provides everything I need in my life. I know my Lord will always protect and send His Angels before me to prepare everything for me before I reach the place. When I reached Out one of the Carmelite friar and one of his friend was on the way to take me to his house for the time I spend in New Delhi. They came by car and I reached their home around 5:00am on April 27th Tuesday. After taking a nice shower and having the breakfast in North Indian style we visited some of his friends and have a small time with them. Then after lunch we visited the Birla temple, Kuthab Minar, Places of the embassy area. You won’t believe the area where the embassies area build up. They all are like different palaces. I was so cautious for my food and water all my time in Delhi. Afternoon we visited the famous Rail Museum in Delhi. After visiting the India Gate, Parliament building and Presidents House we came back home for the day. You can imagine a total different climate and place. When I left New York it was 45 F and when I reached in Delhi it was 45 Celsius. Thank God I was fine until the day I left Delhi on May 1, 2010. visi
On April 28, 2010 Wednesday Both myself and my co-Friar took a bus to Agra fort to see Red fort and Taj Mahal. We reached the place around 5:30 am and reached Agra Red Fort around noon. After visiting the Red Fort we had the lunch break and time for shopping. Then we left to visit Taj Mahal. There was not much time and all the vehicles are not permitted to go inside due to the pollution. It was my first visit in Taj Mahal. A Crown Palace, a place of Love and a real symbol for love for all eternity. A tomb made by a king for his wife. After visiting Agra a group who were with us in the Bus was late to reach the bus so We could not see much in Agra, so we left to Madura, Hindus believe that is the Birth place of Krisha. A story tells that like the Herod in the Bible the King was afraid of his Kingdom and there was a prophesy that his nephew will take over his Kingdom so send His pregnant sister and her husband in jail so that whenever she deliver a boy child he can Him. But there was God’s intervention and the newborn boy was changed with another female child and God saved Krisha for the salvation of the people. We reached Back to Delhi at 11:45Pm and reached the home we were staying around 12:05 am.
On April 29 Thursday, 2010 we took the new Metro to a famous temple made out of stone in area 60 acres of Land .The whole temple was made of stone carving different deities and the base of the main temple. All these temples are tightly protected and you are not allowed to take any kind of electronincs items like mobile phones, cameras etc., After visiting the exibisions which is well down with all the modern techniques and there was an Imax movie on the Ramaswamy we reached the home by Metro and walking around 8:00Pm.
On April 30th Friday around 10 am after the morning prayers and breakfast we visited the Sacred heart Cathedral where I spend two months before for the retreat and for the Magic performance and from there we went to all the samadies of the great polititions of India beginning the father of Nations Mahathma Gandhi in Rajghat, then to Rajive Ghandi , Indira Ghandi and Nehru the first Prime Minister of India. It was a long walk like walking in Central Park. The Sun was very hot. This climate is record heat since 60 years. My co-Friar was very tired even though he is living here in India. After taking a small break we took a Cycle rakisha to the Red Fort build by Sharjahan and it is the Place on January 26 on our Republic day prime Minister raise the Indian Flag and salute the nation. After seeing the places and the palace we walked to the musjith a muslim temple build by the king for his worship which is the biggest Mosque may be in the world. We did not go in because it was too much entrance fee because we had the camera with us. Then we came back home for the day and end of the visit.
On May 1, 2010 Saturday early morning after having breakfast and saying thanks to the old Couple who took care of us, I reached the Domestic Airport and started typing my journey report. Now it is 11:30Am and I am waiting the airpot for the flight to Kochin Kerala which is around 12:45pm.
Today is May 2, 2010.
I reached from Delhi to Cochin at 4.40 pm and my co friar and the provincial procurator was waiting one hour to receive me at the airport. I reached at thrissur provincial house at 8pm on Saturday may 1, 2010. Then having a shower and dinner all our friars who stays at the provincial house went for a movie and came back at 12:00am. Getting up at 5:30 we had a Holy Mass and went again to the airport to recive the Provincial Fr Sojan who was coming from Germany. On the way I visited one of our house at Karukutty where Fr Bosco is doing his mission for the gangsters. I came back from the airport at 11:30am and I have the evening festival mass of Mother Mary the Parish festival of our Parish attached to the Provincial house where Fr Martin is the parish priest. After 6:30 pm mass I will go to my house and possibly will reach at 11:00pm .
I reached in Delhi on April 27th early Morning at 3:00am local time in India. All my flight journey was without any problems as He always provides everything I need in my life. I know my Lord will always protect and send His Angels before me to prepare everything for me before I reach the place. When I reached Out one of the Carmelite friar and one of his friend was on the way to take me to his house for the time I spend in New Delhi. They came by car and I reached their home around 5:00am on April 27th Tuesday. After taking a nice shower and having the breakfast in North Indian style we visited some of his friends and have a small time with them. Then after lunch we visited the Birla temple, Kuthab Minar, Places of the embassy area. You won’t believe the area where the embassies area build up. They all are like different palaces. I was so cautious for my food and water all my time in Delhi. Afternoon we visited the famous Rail Museum in Delhi. After visiting the India Gate, Parliament building and Presidents House we came back home for the day. You can imagine a total different climate and place. When I left New York it was 45 F and when I reached in Delhi it was 45 Celsius. Thank God I was fine until the day I left Delhi on May 1, 2010. visi
On April 28, 2010 Wednesday Both myself and my co-Friar took a bus to Agra fort to see Red fort and Taj Mahal. We reached the place around 5:30 am and reached Agra Red Fort around noon. After visiting the Red Fort we had the lunch break and time for shopping. Then we left to visit Taj Mahal. There was not much time and all the vehicles are not permitted to go inside due to the pollution. It was my first visit in Taj Mahal. A Crown Palace, a place of Love and a real symbol for love for all eternity. A tomb made by a king for his wife. After visiting Agra a group who were with us in the Bus was late to reach the bus so We could not see much in Agra, so we left to Madura, Hindus believe that is the Birth place of Krisha. A story tells that like the Herod in the Bible the King was afraid of his Kingdom and there was a prophesy that his nephew will take over his Kingdom so send His pregnant sister and her husband in jail so that whenever she deliver a boy child he can Him. But there was God’s intervention and the newborn boy was changed with another female child and God saved Krisha for the salvation of the people. We reached Back to Delhi at 11:45Pm and reached the home we were staying around 12:05 am.
On April 29 Thursday, 2010 we took the new Metro to a famous temple made out of stone in area 60 acres of Land .The whole temple was made of stone carving different deities and the base of the main temple. All these temples are tightly protected and you are not allowed to take any kind of electronincs items like mobile phones, cameras etc., After visiting the exibisions which is well down with all the modern techniques and there was an Imax movie on the Ramaswamy we reached the home by Metro and walking around 8:00Pm.
On April 30th Friday around 10 am after the morning prayers and breakfast we visited the Sacred heart Cathedral where I spend two months before for the retreat and for the Magic performance and from there we went to all the samadies of the great polititions of India beginning the father of Nations Mahathma Gandhi in Rajghat, then to Rajive Ghandi , Indira Ghandi and Nehru the first Prime Minister of India. It was a long walk like walking in Central Park. The Sun was very hot. This climate is record heat since 60 years. My co-Friar was very tired even though he is living here in India. After taking a small break we took a Cycle rakisha to the Red Fort build by Sharjahan and it is the Place on January 26 on our Republic day prime Minister raise the Indian Flag and salute the nation. After seeing the places and the palace we walked to the musjith a muslim temple build by the king for his worship which is the biggest Mosque may be in the world. We did not go in because it was too much entrance fee because we had the camera with us. Then we came back home for the day and end of the visit.
On May 1, 2010 Saturday early morning after having breakfast and saying thanks to the old Couple who took care of us, I reached the Domestic Airport and started typing my journey report. Now it is 11:30Am and I am waiting the airpot for the flight to Kochin Kerala which is around 12:45pm.
Today is May 2, 2010.
I reached from Delhi to Cochin at 4.40 pm and my co friar and the provincial procurator was waiting one hour to receive me at the airport. I reached at thrissur provincial house at 8pm on Saturday may 1, 2010. Then having a shower and dinner all our friars who stays at the provincial house went for a movie and came back at 12:00am. Getting up at 5:30 we had a Holy Mass and went again to the airport to recive the Provincial Fr Sojan who was coming from Germany. On the way I visited one of our house at Karukutty where Fr Bosco is doing his mission for the gangsters. I came back from the airport at 11:30am and I have the evening festival mass of Mother Mary the Parish festival of our Parish attached to the Provincial house where Fr Martin is the parish priest. After 6:30 pm mass I will go to my house and possibly will reach at 11:00pm .
All I have is Grace
I reached in Delhi on April 27th early Morning at 3:00am local time in India. All my flight journey was without any problems as He always provides everything I need in my life. I know my Lord will always protect and send His Angels before me to prepare everything for me before I reach the place. When I reached Out one of the Carmelite friar and one of his friend was on the way to take me to his house for the time I spend in New Delhi. They came by car and I reached their home around 5:00am on April 27th Tuesday. After taking a nice shower and having the breakfast in North Indian style we visited some of his friends and have a small time with them. Then after lunch we visited the Birla temple, Kuthab Minar, Places of the embassy area. You won’t believe the area where the embassies area build up. They all are like different palaces. I was so cautious for my food and water all my time in Delhi. Afternoon we visited the famous Rail Museum in Delhi. After visiting the India Gate, Parliament building and Presidents House we came back home for the day. You can imagine a total different climate and place. When I left New York it was 45 F and when I reached in Delhi it was 45 Celsius. Thank God I was fine until the day I left Delhi on May 1, 2010. visi
On April 28, 2010 Wednesday Both myself and my co-Friar took a bus to Agra fort to see Red fort and Taj Mahal. We reached the place around 5:30 am and reached Agra Red Fort around noon. After visiting the Red Fort we had the lunch break and time for shopping. Then we left to visit Taj Mahal. There was not much time and all the vehicles are not permitted to go inside due to the pollution. It was my first visit in Taj Mahal. A Crown Palace, a place of Love and a real symbol for love for all eternity. A tomb made by a king for his wife. After visiting Agra a group who were with us in the Bus was late to reach the bus so We could not see much in Agra, so we left to Madura, Hindus believe that is the Birth place of Krisha. A story tells that like the Herod in the Bible the King was afraid of his Kingdom and there was a prophesy that his nephew will take over his Kingdom so send His pregnant sister and her husband in jail so that whenever she deliver a boy child he can Him. But there was God’s intervention and the newborn boy was changed with another female child and God saved Krisha for the salvation of the people. We reached Back to Delhi at 11:45Pm and reached the home we were staying around 12:05 am.
On April 29 Thursday, 2010 we took the new Metro to a famous temple made out of stone in area 60 acres of Land .The whole temple was made of stone carving different deities and the base of the main temple. All these temples are tightly protected and you are not allowed to take any kind of electronincs items like mobile phones, cameras etc., After visiting the exibisions which is well down with all the modern techniques and there was an Imax movie on the Ramaswamy we reached the home by Metro and walking around 8:00Pm.
On April 30th Friday around 10 am after the morning prayers and breakfast we visited the Sacred heart Cathedral where I spend two months before for the retreat and for the Magic performance and from there we went to all the samadies of the great polititions of India beginning the father of Nations Mahathma Gandhi in Rajghat, then to Rajive Ghandi , Indira Ghandi and Nehru the first Prime Minister of India. It was a long walk like walking in Central Park. The Sun was very hot. This climate is record heat since 60 years. My co-Friar was very tired even though he is living here in India. After taking a small break we took a Cycle rakisha to the Red Fort build by Sharjahan and it is the Place on January 26 on our Republic day prime Minister raise the Indian Flag and salute the nation. After seeing the places and the palace we walked to the musjith a muslim temple build by the king for his worship which is the biggest Mosque may be in the world. We did not go in because it was too much entrance fee because we had the camera with us. Then we came back home for the day and end of the visit.
On May 1, 2010 Saturday early morning after having breakfast and saying thanks to the old Couple who took care of us, I reached the Domestic Airport and started typing my journey report. Now it is 11:30Am and I am waiting the airpot for the flight to Kochin Kerala which is around 12:45pm.
Today is May 2, 2010.
I reached from Delhi to Cochin at 4.40 pm and my co friar and the provincial procurator was waiting one hour to receive me at the airport. I reached at thrissur provincial house at 8pm on Saturday may 1, 2010. Then having a shower and dinner all our friars who stays at the provincial house went for a movie and came back at 12:00am. Getting up at 5:30 we had a Holy Mass and went again to the airport to recive the Provincial Fr Sojan who was coming from Germany. On the way I visited one of our house at Karukutty where Fr Bosco is doing his mission for the gangsters. I came back from the airport at 11:30am and I have the evening festival mass of Mother Mary the Parish festival of our Parish attached to the Provincial house where Fr Martin is the parish priest. After 6:30 pm mass I will go to my house and possibly will reach at 11:00pm .
Sunday, April 25, 2010
My sheep hear my voice and they’ll have abundant life
My dear brothers and sisters in Jesus Christ,
As we contemplate Jesus the Good Shepherd today, Pope John Paul II declared the fourth Sunday of Easter a Day of Prayer for Vocations. We pray that many may listen to the voice of Jesus as he calls.
On the evening when Pope John XXIII announced the opening of the Second Vatican Council -- the first one since 1870 -- he could not sleep. Finally, he called himself to order: "Angelo, why aren't you sleeping? Who is running the Church, you or the Holy Spirit? So sleep." And he did.
We are afraid what is going to happen to our church. Nothing will happen because Jesus is our good shepherd and He is in control.
In Palestine, the shepherd brought the sheep into the sheepfold every night. It was a circular stonewall with an opening or door where the sheep entered. Once the sheep were inside for the night, the shepherd slept in that opening or door all night. The sheep could not get out without stepping over the shepherd’s body, which meant they would not get out at all during the night. Jesus is our Good shepherd and we are his flock.
Today’s Gospel says so simply my sheep hear my voice! No one can take them out of my hand. It is by listening to His voice and recognizing His presence and believing in Him that we are saved.
We are invited to hear the voice of our Good Shepherd. We know that He is with us, even when we walk in the valley of darkness.
We hear so much that is just noise.
Do you hear voices?
Yes, I would say you do. I sure do! Do we listen? Can we really hear?
Frank was worried that the woman he married forty years ago was growing deaf. So one day when she was working in the garden, he went out, stood on the other side of the yard, about thirty feet behind her, and called out, “Mary!”
No answer.
Frank came fifteen feet closer. “Mary!” Still no answer. Frank was getting worried. Worse than I expected, he thought.
He went up right behind her, almost touching, as she knelt over her planting. “Mary!”
This time a response: “For the third time, Frank, what is it?”
We hear so much that is just noise.
Deaf like Frank in this little story– not knowing we are deaf – thinking it is all someone else’s problem.
Those who hear his voice and follow him in that path of giving will have the blessing of abundant life.
When you follow Jesus, God's abundant life bubbles in you like a fountain.
There were once two brothers who farmed together. They shared equally in all of the work and split the profits exactly. Each had his own granary(grain warehouse). One of the brothers was married and had a large family; the other brother was single.
One day the single brother thought to himself, "It is not fair that we divide the grain evenly. My brother has many mouths to feed, while I have but one. I know what I'll do; I will take a sack of grain from my granary each evening and put it in my brother's granary." So, each night when it was dark, he carefully carried a sack of grain, placing it in his brother's barn.
Now the married brother thought to himself, "It is not fair that we divide the grain evenly. I have many children to care for me in my old age, and my brother has none. I know what I'll do; I will take a sack of grain from my granary each evening and put it in my brother's granary." And he did.
Each morning the two brothers were amazed to discover that though they had removed a sack of grain the night before, they had just as many as before.
One night the two brothers met each other halfway between their barns, each carrying a sack of grain. Then they understood the mystery. And they embraced, and loved each other deeply.
There is an old Jewish legend that says God looked down from heaven, saw the two brothers embracing, and said, "I declare this to be a holy place, for I have witnessed extraordinary love here." It is said that it was on that spot that Solomon built the first temple.
The two brothers did know the way to abundant life, to a life of joy and love and blessing. Each brother, in his own quite different way of life, felt blessed. Each felt his cup running over and wanted to share that abundance of life with his brother.
Abundant life is a gift. It is not something that anyone can steal or earn or get for themselves. Abundant life is a gift. And abundant life is about giving. It is about knowing that whatever fortune or misfortune the world has dealt you, you still have some gift to share.
Everyone who is entrusted with the care of others is a shepherd. Hence, pastors, parents, teachers, doctors, nurses, government officials, etc. are all shepherds. We become good shepherds by loving those entrusted to us, praying for them, spending our time and talents for their welfare, and guarding them from physical and spiritual dangers.
In the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit. Amen.
My dear brothers and sisters in Jesus Christ,
As we contemplate Jesus the Good Shepherd today, Pope John Paul II declared the fourth Sunday of Easter a Day of Prayer for Vocations. We pray that many may listen to the voice of Jesus as he calls.
On the evening when Pope John XXIII announced the opening of the Second Vatican Council -- the first one since 1870 -- he could not sleep. Finally, he called himself to order: "Angelo, why aren't you sleeping? Who is running the Church, you or the Holy Spirit? So sleep." And he did.
We are afraid what is going to happen to our church. Nothing will happen because Jesus is our good shepherd and He is in control.
In Palestine, the shepherd brought the sheep into the sheepfold every night. It was a circular stonewall with an opening or door where the sheep entered. Once the sheep were inside for the night, the shepherd slept in that opening or door all night. The sheep could not get out without stepping over the shepherd’s body, which meant they would not get out at all during the night. Jesus is our Good shepherd and we are his flock.
Today’s Gospel says so simply my sheep hear my voice! No one can take them out of my hand. It is by listening to His voice and recognizing His presence and believing in Him that we are saved.
We are invited to hear the voice of our Good Shepherd. We know that He is with us, even when we walk in the valley of darkness.
We hear so much that is just noise.
Do you hear voices?
Yes, I would say you do. I sure do! Do we listen? Can we really hear?
Frank was worried that the woman he married forty years ago was growing deaf. So one day when she was working in the garden, he went out, stood on the other side of the yard, about thirty feet behind her, and called out, “Mary!”
No answer.
Frank came fifteen feet closer. “Mary!” Still no answer. Frank was getting worried. Worse than I expected, he thought.
He went up right behind her, almost touching, as she knelt over her planting. “Mary!”
This time a response: “For the third time, Frank, what is it?”
We hear so much that is just noise.
Deaf like Frank in this little story– not knowing we are deaf – thinking it is all someone else’s problem.
Those who hear his voice and follow him in that path of giving will have the blessing of abundant life.
When you follow Jesus, God's abundant life bubbles in you like a fountain.
There were once two brothers who farmed together. They shared equally in all of the work and split the profits exactly. Each had his own granary(grain warehouse). One of the brothers was married and had a large family; the other brother was single.
One day the single brother thought to himself, "It is not fair that we divide the grain evenly. My brother has many mouths to feed, while I have but one. I know what I'll do; I will take a sack of grain from my granary each evening and put it in my brother's granary." So, each night when it was dark, he carefully carried a sack of grain, placing it in his brother's barn.
Now the married brother thought to himself, "It is not fair that we divide the grain evenly. I have many children to care for me in my old age, and my brother has none. I know what I'll do; I will take a sack of grain from my granary each evening and put it in my brother's granary." And he did.
Each morning the two brothers were amazed to discover that though they had removed a sack of grain the night before, they had just as many as before.
One night the two brothers met each other halfway between their barns, each carrying a sack of grain. Then they understood the mystery. And they embraced, and loved each other deeply.
There is an old Jewish legend that says God looked down from heaven, saw the two brothers embracing, and said, "I declare this to be a holy place, for I have witnessed extraordinary love here." It is said that it was on that spot that Solomon built the first temple.
The two brothers did know the way to abundant life, to a life of joy and love and blessing. Each brother, in his own quite different way of life, felt blessed. Each felt his cup running over and wanted to share that abundance of life with his brother.
Abundant life is a gift. It is not something that anyone can steal or earn or get for themselves. Abundant life is a gift. And abundant life is about giving. It is about knowing that whatever fortune or misfortune the world has dealt you, you still have some gift to share.
Everyone who is entrusted with the care of others is a shepherd. Hence, pastors, parents, teachers, doctors, nurses, government officials, etc. are all shepherds. We become good shepherds by loving those entrusted to us, praying for them, spending our time and talents for their welfare, and guarding them from physical and spiritual dangers.
In the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit. Amen.
Lord you know that I love You
My dear brothers and sisters in Jesus Christ,
A well-known speaker began a seminar by holding up a $20 bill. He asked the audience, “Who would like to have this $20 bill?" Hands started going up. He then said, “I am going to give this $20 to one of you, but first, let me do this.” He proceeded to crumple the dollar bill up. He then asked, “Who still wants it?” The hands remained in the air. "Well,” he added, “What if I do this?” He dropped it to the floor and proceeded to grind it with his shoe. He picked it up, crumpled and dirty. "Now who still wants it?” Still a few hands were raised because the bill had not decreased in value. It was still worth $20. Many times in our lives, we feel crumpled and ground into the dirt by the decisions we make and the circumstances that come our way. We feel as though we are worthless. No matter what has happened to us, however, we never lose our value in God’s eyes. The worth of our lives comes not in what we do or who we are, but from Him to whom we belong! We are special and unique – let us never forget it! This is the lesson of today’s gospel, which tells us how Jesus chose Peter to be the leader of his Church, even though Peter had denied him three times.
In any event, "the one thing, about which Jesus questioned Peter prior to commissioning him to tend the flock, was love. This is the basic qualification for Christian service. Other qualities may be desirable, but love is completely indispensable (cf. 1 Cor. 13:1-3).” We really do not have an idea of how great God’s mercy is. It is so difficult for us - who often find it so difficult to forgive - to understand that God can forgive us so easily and so totally.
Fr. Jack McArdle tells a story about God’s forgiveness. Imagine when you die and Jesus comes to meet you and shows you a video of your entire life. On the video, you see all the good things you did. But there are also a number of blanks on the tape. You ask why there are such blanks on the tape of your life. Jesus tells you these were the times when you sinned and asked for God’s mercy. When God forgives, he completely blanks out our sins and does not remember.
We too are no strangers to sin. Even the best of us are no strangers to sin; Prov. 24:16 says a just man falls seven times a day and rises again.
But the great thing was that Jesus loved Peter. He loved the person and not the person's performance. They were loved for who they were and not for what they did. This is the extraordinary quality of God's love and of all true love.
In Greek, there are many different words for love, such as Eros, physical love; or philia, meaning brotherly love between relatives and friends; or agape, a word which we don’t have in English, which means “unconditional, unlimited, all-inclusive, sacrificial, nonviolent suffering love for all people everywhere.”
An old farmer’s claim for compensation for personal injury was denied by his insurance company because at the time of the accident he said there was nothing wrong with him. So the farmer took the matter to court. The judge asked the farmer "Is it true that after the accident you declared there was nothing wrong with you?" "Well, your Honor, it was like this. I was driving down the road in my pickup with my cow Betsy in the back, when suddenly a big semi-truck pulled out in front of me and I crashed into it. I went flying this way and Betsy went flying that way. When I came to, an officer was standing beside me. He said, 'The cow is in bad shape. I don’t think she’s going to make it.' And he pulled out his gun and shot Betsy dead. Then, holding his smoking pistol, he turned to me and asked, 'Now, how do you feel?'" Saying: I’m fine can mean different things in different contexts. Likewise, using the word love can mean different things in different contexts.
In the original Greek, Jesus asks Simon, “Do you have agape for me?” Do you have unconditional love for me? Are you going to lay down your life for me?” Peter says, “Yes, Lord, I have philia for you. I have brotherly love for you.” He doesn’t answer the question! So Jesus asks him again, “Do you have agape for me?” and again Peter says, “Yes, I have philia for you.” So Jesus asks finally, “Simon, son of John, do you have agape for me?”Then the answer came ‘Lord you know that I love you.’
This is one of two scenes in the Gospel which should be indelibly or unforgettably etched on the minds and hearts of every Christian. The other scene is that of Judas Iscariot hanging from a tree. Judas was probably the most gifted of all the apostles. When he learned that Jesus had been condemned to death the thirty pieces of silver became as hot coals in his pocket. It burns. He ran to the temple and threw the coins on the floor and went out and hanged himself on a tree.
These two scenes dramatically illustrate that ultimately there is only one failure, one tragedy in life. That is to despair of the unconditional love of God and to think that our sin is greater, more powerful than the love of God. Jesus would have forgiven Judas just as he had Simon Peter.
Sometimes faith is the courage to accept acceptance, the courage to accept God’s forgiveness and acceptance of ourselves. Peter recovered his faith after his despair; he was able to say, “Yes Lord, you know that I love you”. So let us not allow the past to overcome us like Judas. Instead let us be like Peter and repent and reform ourselves and allow the Lord to put us to work for him again.
The lesson for us is clear. When we meet the Risen Jesus on the shores of the Last Judgment, he will not ask us how virtuous, how successful or how productive we have been. He will ask, “Do you love me?” So how are we going to answer him? We can say quickly, “Yes, Jesus I love you,” but St. Ignatius advises that love is shown in deeds, not in words, so we have to show Jesus that we love him by doing what he says, by putting love into practice, and as Dorothy Day liked to say, “Love in action is a harsh and dreadful thing.”
In the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit. Amen.
My dear brothers and sisters in Jesus Christ,
A well-known speaker began a seminar by holding up a $20 bill. He asked the audience, “Who would like to have this $20 bill?" Hands started going up. He then said, “I am going to give this $20 to one of you, but first, let me do this.” He proceeded to crumple the dollar bill up. He then asked, “Who still wants it?” The hands remained in the air. "Well,” he added, “What if I do this?” He dropped it to the floor and proceeded to grind it with his shoe. He picked it up, crumpled and dirty. "Now who still wants it?” Still a few hands were raised because the bill had not decreased in value. It was still worth $20. Many times in our lives, we feel crumpled and ground into the dirt by the decisions we make and the circumstances that come our way. We feel as though we are worthless. No matter what has happened to us, however, we never lose our value in God’s eyes. The worth of our lives comes not in what we do or who we are, but from Him to whom we belong! We are special and unique – let us never forget it! This is the lesson of today’s gospel, which tells us how Jesus chose Peter to be the leader of his Church, even though Peter had denied him three times.
In any event, "the one thing, about which Jesus questioned Peter prior to commissioning him to tend the flock, was love. This is the basic qualification for Christian service. Other qualities may be desirable, but love is completely indispensable (cf. 1 Cor. 13:1-3).” We really do not have an idea of how great God’s mercy is. It is so difficult for us - who often find it so difficult to forgive - to understand that God can forgive us so easily and so totally.
Fr. Jack McArdle tells a story about God’s forgiveness. Imagine when you die and Jesus comes to meet you and shows you a video of your entire life. On the video, you see all the good things you did. But there are also a number of blanks on the tape. You ask why there are such blanks on the tape of your life. Jesus tells you these were the times when you sinned and asked for God’s mercy. When God forgives, he completely blanks out our sins and does not remember.
We too are no strangers to sin. Even the best of us are no strangers to sin; Prov. 24:16 says a just man falls seven times a day and rises again.
But the great thing was that Jesus loved Peter. He loved the person and not the person's performance. They were loved for who they were and not for what they did. This is the extraordinary quality of God's love and of all true love.
In Greek, there are many different words for love, such as Eros, physical love; or philia, meaning brotherly love between relatives and friends; or agape, a word which we don’t have in English, which means “unconditional, unlimited, all-inclusive, sacrificial, nonviolent suffering love for all people everywhere.”
An old farmer’s claim for compensation for personal injury was denied by his insurance company because at the time of the accident he said there was nothing wrong with him. So the farmer took the matter to court. The judge asked the farmer "Is it true that after the accident you declared there was nothing wrong with you?" "Well, your Honor, it was like this. I was driving down the road in my pickup with my cow Betsy in the back, when suddenly a big semi-truck pulled out in front of me and I crashed into it. I went flying this way and Betsy went flying that way. When I came to, an officer was standing beside me. He said, 'The cow is in bad shape. I don’t think she’s going to make it.' And he pulled out his gun and shot Betsy dead. Then, holding his smoking pistol, he turned to me and asked, 'Now, how do you feel?'" Saying: I’m fine can mean different things in different contexts. Likewise, using the word love can mean different things in different contexts.
In the original Greek, Jesus asks Simon, “Do you have agape for me?” Do you have unconditional love for me? Are you going to lay down your life for me?” Peter says, “Yes, Lord, I have philia for you. I have brotherly love for you.” He doesn’t answer the question! So Jesus asks him again, “Do you have agape for me?” and again Peter says, “Yes, I have philia for you.” So Jesus asks finally, “Simon, son of John, do you have agape for me?”Then the answer came ‘Lord you know that I love you.’
This is one of two scenes in the Gospel which should be indelibly or unforgettably etched on the minds and hearts of every Christian. The other scene is that of Judas Iscariot hanging from a tree. Judas was probably the most gifted of all the apostles. When he learned that Jesus had been condemned to death the thirty pieces of silver became as hot coals in his pocket. It burns. He ran to the temple and threw the coins on the floor and went out and hanged himself on a tree.
These two scenes dramatically illustrate that ultimately there is only one failure, one tragedy in life. That is to despair of the unconditional love of God and to think that our sin is greater, more powerful than the love of God. Jesus would have forgiven Judas just as he had Simon Peter.
Sometimes faith is the courage to accept acceptance, the courage to accept God’s forgiveness and acceptance of ourselves. Peter recovered his faith after his despair; he was able to say, “Yes Lord, you know that I love you”. So let us not allow the past to overcome us like Judas. Instead let us be like Peter and repent and reform ourselves and allow the Lord to put us to work for him again.
The lesson for us is clear. When we meet the Risen Jesus on the shores of the Last Judgment, he will not ask us how virtuous, how successful or how productive we have been. He will ask, “Do you love me?” So how are we going to answer him? We can say quickly, “Yes, Jesus I love you,” but St. Ignatius advises that love is shown in deeds, not in words, so we have to show Jesus that we love him by doing what he says, by putting love into practice, and as Dorothy Day liked to say, “Love in action is a harsh and dreadful thing.”
In the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit. Amen.
Divine Mercy and propagation of Faith
My Dear brothers and sisters in Jesus Christ,
When Jesus appears to His apostles, he says to them, "Peace be with you." They were not at peace. In the second reading, we hear Our Lord say, "Do not be afraid." Why should we be afraid? The only reason we would be afraid, the only reason we would not be at peace is because we don’t trust Jesus. In our heads, we know; but in our hearts, we don’t accept.
Today the Church celebrates Divine Mercy Sunday. The mercy of God is greater than anything we can do; that is what Our Lord wants us to know. He wants, more than anything, to forgive our sins.
What is the worst thing anybody could ever do? Saint Therese of Lisieux tell us, that is like one little drop of water in the ocean of God’s mercy. The worst thing, the biggest thing that we could ever commit is like one little drop of water in the ocean because God’s mercy is infinite. His love for you is infinite; it is beyond anything we could ever grasp or imagine. As big as our sins might be, they are nothing for the Lord. If you have confessed the sin, it is gone, it is not there anymore.
In his book, A Forgiving God in an Unforgiving World, Ron Lee Davis tells the true story of a priest in the Philippines, a much- loved man of God who carried the burden of a secret sin he had committed many years before. He had repented but still had no peace about it. In his parish was a woman who deeply loved God and who claimed to have visions in which she spoke with Christ. The priest, however, was skeptical about that. To test her he said, "The next time you speak with Christ, ask him what sin I committed while I was in the high school." The woman agreed. A few days later the priest asked, "Well, did Christ visit you in your dreams?" "Yes, he did," she replied. "And did you ask him what sin I committed back in high school?" "Yes." "And what did he say?" She smiled and answered, "Christ said, 'I don't remember. '"
We need to learn to trust in Jesus. Trust is one of the most difficult areas in the spiritual life to develop because it will only grow by doing it. One night in 1935, Fiorello H. La Guardia, mayor of New York, showed up at a night court in the poorest ward of the city. He dismissed the judge for the evening and took over the bench. One case involved an elderly woman who was caught stealing bread to feed her grandchildren. La Guardia said, "I've got to punish you. Ten dollars or ten days in jail."
As he spoke, he threw $10 into his hat. He then fined everyone in the courtroom 50 cents for living in a city "where an old woman had to steal bread so that her grandchildren should not starve." The hat was passed around, and the woman left the courtroom with her fine paid and an additional $47.50.
Our Lord told Sr. Faustina, “The first Sunday after Easter is the Feast of Mercy, but there must be also acts of mercy... I demand from you deeds of mercy which are to arise out of love for Me. You are to show mercy to your neighbors always and everywhere. You must not shrink from this or try to excuse or absolve yourself from it.” (#742)
Once the late Cardinal Hickey of Washington D.C. appealed to the community to support the Archdiocesan program for the homeless. He was asked, 'Why is this the work of the Church? Are these people Catholic'?' Cardinal Hickey replied, 'We shelter the homeless not because they are Catholic, but because we are Catholic. We shelter the homeless, we feed the hungry we educate the young, and we care for the sick because we believe we are sheltering, feeding, educating and caring for Jesus.' Yes, dear brothers and sisters in Christ, I am here today to remind you about our mission as catholic. About our duty to recognize Christ in others. If you take first words of this sentence “My Eyes recognize Christ in You.” You get the word Mercy.
We are called to be missionaries by our sacrament of baptism. Through the offering of Catholics worldwide, the Propagation of the Faith provides ongoing support for the pastoral and evangelizing programs of the Catholic Church in Africa, Asia, the islands of the pacific and remote regions of Latin America. This includes aid for the education and support of seminarians, religious novices and lay catechists; for the work of religious communities in education, health care and social services; for communication and transportation needs and for disaster and emergency relief when necessary. Help them to help others.
I am sure that you are very generous. There is nothing big or nothing small in giving, even a small sacrifice you make today for the Missions in the world will prayerfully be remembered by someone who is in utter need of your help. Mother Theresa teaches us "None of us can do anything great on our own, but we can all do a small thing with great love." Whatever small things we can do, God will take them and fit them into his own big picture.
Before the Mass started, someone told me Father if you make it short we will make it up for you. I will end up with a true story.
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 today? He send you today 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?
On behalf of the Propagation of faith, 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 thank you all once again for your patient attention; may God bless you all.
In the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit. Amen.
My Dear brothers and sisters in Jesus Christ,
When Jesus appears to His apostles, he says to them, "Peace be with you." They were not at peace. In the second reading, we hear Our Lord say, "Do not be afraid." Why should we be afraid? The only reason we would be afraid, the only reason we would not be at peace is because we don’t trust Jesus. In our heads, we know; but in our hearts, we don’t accept.
Today the Church celebrates Divine Mercy Sunday. The mercy of God is greater than anything we can do; that is what Our Lord wants us to know. He wants, more than anything, to forgive our sins.
What is the worst thing anybody could ever do? Saint Therese of Lisieux tell us, that is like one little drop of water in the ocean of God’s mercy. The worst thing, the biggest thing that we could ever commit is like one little drop of water in the ocean because God’s mercy is infinite. His love for you is infinite; it is beyond anything we could ever grasp or imagine. As big as our sins might be, they are nothing for the Lord. If you have confessed the sin, it is gone, it is not there anymore.
In his book, A Forgiving God in an Unforgiving World, Ron Lee Davis tells the true story of a priest in the Philippines, a much- loved man of God who carried the burden of a secret sin he had committed many years before. He had repented but still had no peace about it. In his parish was a woman who deeply loved God and who claimed to have visions in which she spoke with Christ. The priest, however, was skeptical about that. To test her he said, "The next time you speak with Christ, ask him what sin I committed while I was in the high school." The woman agreed. A few days later the priest asked, "Well, did Christ visit you in your dreams?" "Yes, he did," she replied. "And did you ask him what sin I committed back in high school?" "Yes." "And what did he say?" She smiled and answered, "Christ said, 'I don't remember. '"
We need to learn to trust in Jesus. Trust is one of the most difficult areas in the spiritual life to develop because it will only grow by doing it. One night in 1935, Fiorello H. La Guardia, mayor of New York, showed up at a night court in the poorest ward of the city. He dismissed the judge for the evening and took over the bench. One case involved an elderly woman who was caught stealing bread to feed her grandchildren. La Guardia said, "I've got to punish you. Ten dollars or ten days in jail."
As he spoke, he threw $10 into his hat. He then fined everyone in the courtroom 50 cents for living in a city "where an old woman had to steal bread so that her grandchildren should not starve." The hat was passed around, and the woman left the courtroom with her fine paid and an additional $47.50.
Our Lord told Sr. Faustina, “The first Sunday after Easter is the Feast of Mercy, but there must be also acts of mercy... I demand from you deeds of mercy which are to arise out of love for Me. You are to show mercy to your neighbors always and everywhere. You must not shrink from this or try to excuse or absolve yourself from it.” (#742)
Once the late Cardinal Hickey of Washington D.C. appealed to the community to support the Archdiocesan program for the homeless. He was asked, 'Why is this the work of the Church? Are these people Catholic'?' Cardinal Hickey replied, 'We shelter the homeless not because they are Catholic, but because we are Catholic. We shelter the homeless, we feed the hungry we educate the young, and we care for the sick because we believe we are sheltering, feeding, educating and caring for Jesus.' Yes, dear brothers and sisters in Christ, I am here today to remind you about our mission as catholic. About our duty to recognize Christ in others. If you take first words of this sentence “My Eyes recognize Christ in You.” You get the word Mercy.
We are called to be missionaries by our sacrament of baptism. Through the offering of Catholics worldwide, the Propagation of the Faith provides ongoing support for the pastoral and evangelizing programs of the Catholic Church in Africa, Asia, the islands of the pacific and remote regions of Latin America. This includes aid for the education and support of seminarians, religious novices and lay catechists; for the work of religious communities in education, health care and social services; for communication and transportation needs and for disaster and emergency relief when necessary. Help them to help others.
I am sure that you are very generous. There is nothing big or nothing small in giving, even a small sacrifice you make today for the Missions in the world will prayerfully be remembered by someone who is in utter need of your help. Mother Theresa teaches us "None of us can do anything great on our own, but we can all do a small thing with great love." Whatever small things we can do, God will take them and fit them into his own big picture.
Before the Mass started, someone told me Father if you make it short we will make it up for you. I will end up with a true story.
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 today? He send you today 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?
On behalf of the Propagation of faith, 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 thank you all once again for your patient attention; may God bless you all.
In the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit. Amen.
He is risen Alleluia
My dear brothers and sisters in Jesus Christ,
This is the day the Lord has made; let us rejoice and be glad (Psalm 118:24).
Easter reminds us that every Good Friday in our lives will have an Easter Sunday, and that Jesus will let us share the power of his resurrection. The message of Easter is that nothing can destroy us – not pain, sin, rejection or death – because Christ has conquered all these, and we too can conquer them if we put our faith in Him. He is risen Alleluia.
The late Catholic Archbishop of Hartford, John Whealon, who had undergone cancer surgery resulting in a permanent colostomy, wrote these very personal words in one of his last Easter messages: "I am now a member of an association of people who have been wounded by cancer. That association has as its symbol the phoenix bird of Egyptian mythology. When the bird felt its death was near, every 500 to 1,461 years, it would fly off to Phoenicia, build a nest of aromatic wood and set itself on fire. When the bird was consumed by the flames, a new phoenix sprang forth from the ashes. Thus, the phoenix bird symbolizes immortality, resurrection, and life after death. It was one of the earliest symbols of the risen Christ. In the same way, any person who has survived a struggle with cancer is considered phoenix-like, having risen from the ashes of disease and been given a new lease on life. Suddenly life becomes more precious to that person. Each hour is lived more fully. Each friend seems much more real. The sky seems more blue, the sunshine more beautiful, and the colors more vivid. Even dull and ordinary things are causes for gratitude to God.” Archbishop John Whealon could have lived in a gloomy tomb of self-pity, hopeless defeat, and chronic sadness, but his faith in the resurrected Lord opened his eyes to new visions of life. He is risen alleluia.
Perhaps the strongest argument for the Resurrection is the fact that his closest followers, those who were so timid and demoralized during Passion Week, suddenly became very bold and fearless and many eventually died a martyr’s death with hearts and minds firmly convinced in the Resurrection. We went from a group of frightened and scattered followers to a group of excited men and women, anxious to share their joy, their insights, and their love. That is the miracle of Easter.
We are an Easter religion. We believe that despite all the evils surrounding us, all of the natural disasters that hit us, the poverty, hunger and discrimination of the world, that we will not give ourselves over to that power, but through faith in the resurrection, we believe that all this suffering will be vindicated, and that like Jesus, we will be raised up and renewed.
As we go through life we all experience little deaths. We get a foretaste of death when we live in bitterness, loneliness, sadness and despair. In times like these, the world closes in on us, and we seem to have one foot in the grave. But we also experience little resurrections. When we know love, acceptance, and forgiveness; when we open our hearts to others and to life, the world opens up and we emerge from the tomb. He is risen alleluia.
Resurrection is good news, but at the same time, it is sometimes painful because it involves death. Before the power of the resurrection can take hold in our own lives, we are called to die to sin, to die to self. We may even have to die to our own dreams, so that God can do what He wants to do with our lives. Resurrection is about seeing our world in a new way. Early that Easter morning, Mary did not find what she was looking for, the dead body of Jesus. But she found something better than she could have imagined: the risen Jesus. Sometimes, the things we think we want most are not granted to us. What we get instead is an experience of God’s new ways of working in the world. That is the power of the resurrection. When those moments come, we must spread the news--just as Mary did: We have seen the Lord!
We need to be resurrected people. You may have heard a Zen story. Once upon a time, two monks were walking in silence through the forest; a younger monk, Anjan, and an older monk, Nanda.
Eventually their path led to a stream. There they saw a beautiful young woman, exquisitely clad, standing on the bank. She was in great distress because she wanted to cross the stream, but did not know how without getting her fine long robes wet.
Without hesitation, Nanda scooped her up, crossed the stream, and set her down on dry ground. She thanked him and continued on her way, and the monks continued on theirs again in silence.
Anjan was a bit distressed and confused. He got more restless by the minute and then finally spoke up.
"Brother Nanda," he said, "I do not know what to make of it. You know our order is an austere order, and we cannot so much as speak to a woman. But... but... you saw that lady, you... uh... picked her up and... carried her across the stream! And yet..." he continued, almost choking, "You just keep on walking as if nothing happened!"
"It is quite simple," Nanda replied. "I set her down on the opposite bank, but you, Brother Anjan, are still carrying her!"
Dear brothers and sisters could you let go some of the dead behaviour in our life. Vengeance, unforgiveness, pride... we should let go of them, we should not deify them and constantly focus on them!
We are a ‘resurrection people.' This means that we are not supposed to lie buried in the tomb of our sins, evil habits and dangerous addictions. It gives us the good news that no tomb can hold us down anymore - not the tomb of despair, discouragement, doubt nor death.
St. Paul tells us today: “if then you were raised with Christ, seek what is above, where Christ is seated at the right hand of the God. Think what is above, not what is on earth.” He is risen Alleluia.
My dear brothers and sisters in Jesus Christ,
This is the day the Lord has made; let us rejoice and be glad (Psalm 118:24).
Easter reminds us that every Good Friday in our lives will have an Easter Sunday, and that Jesus will let us share the power of his resurrection. The message of Easter is that nothing can destroy us – not pain, sin, rejection or death – because Christ has conquered all these, and we too can conquer them if we put our faith in Him. He is risen Alleluia.
The late Catholic Archbishop of Hartford, John Whealon, who had undergone cancer surgery resulting in a permanent colostomy, wrote these very personal words in one of his last Easter messages: "I am now a member of an association of people who have been wounded by cancer. That association has as its symbol the phoenix bird of Egyptian mythology. When the bird felt its death was near, every 500 to 1,461 years, it would fly off to Phoenicia, build a nest of aromatic wood and set itself on fire. When the bird was consumed by the flames, a new phoenix sprang forth from the ashes. Thus, the phoenix bird symbolizes immortality, resurrection, and life after death. It was one of the earliest symbols of the risen Christ. In the same way, any person who has survived a struggle with cancer is considered phoenix-like, having risen from the ashes of disease and been given a new lease on life. Suddenly life becomes more precious to that person. Each hour is lived more fully. Each friend seems much more real. The sky seems more blue, the sunshine more beautiful, and the colors more vivid. Even dull and ordinary things are causes for gratitude to God.” Archbishop John Whealon could have lived in a gloomy tomb of self-pity, hopeless defeat, and chronic sadness, but his faith in the resurrected Lord opened his eyes to new visions of life. He is risen alleluia.
Perhaps the strongest argument for the Resurrection is the fact that his closest followers, those who were so timid and demoralized during Passion Week, suddenly became very bold and fearless and many eventually died a martyr’s death with hearts and minds firmly convinced in the Resurrection. We went from a group of frightened and scattered followers to a group of excited men and women, anxious to share their joy, their insights, and their love. That is the miracle of Easter.
We are an Easter religion. We believe that despite all the evils surrounding us, all of the natural disasters that hit us, the poverty, hunger and discrimination of the world, that we will not give ourselves over to that power, but through faith in the resurrection, we believe that all this suffering will be vindicated, and that like Jesus, we will be raised up and renewed.
As we go through life we all experience little deaths. We get a foretaste of death when we live in bitterness, loneliness, sadness and despair. In times like these, the world closes in on us, and we seem to have one foot in the grave. But we also experience little resurrections. When we know love, acceptance, and forgiveness; when we open our hearts to others and to life, the world opens up and we emerge from the tomb. He is risen alleluia.
Resurrection is good news, but at the same time, it is sometimes painful because it involves death. Before the power of the resurrection can take hold in our own lives, we are called to die to sin, to die to self. We may even have to die to our own dreams, so that God can do what He wants to do with our lives. Resurrection is about seeing our world in a new way. Early that Easter morning, Mary did not find what she was looking for, the dead body of Jesus. But she found something better than she could have imagined: the risen Jesus. Sometimes, the things we think we want most are not granted to us. What we get instead is an experience of God’s new ways of working in the world. That is the power of the resurrection. When those moments come, we must spread the news--just as Mary did: We have seen the Lord!
We need to be resurrected people. You may have heard a Zen story. Once upon a time, two monks were walking in silence through the forest; a younger monk, Anjan, and an older monk, Nanda.
Eventually their path led to a stream. There they saw a beautiful young woman, exquisitely clad, standing on the bank. She was in great distress because she wanted to cross the stream, but did not know how without getting her fine long robes wet.
Without hesitation, Nanda scooped her up, crossed the stream, and set her down on dry ground. She thanked him and continued on her way, and the monks continued on theirs again in silence.
Anjan was a bit distressed and confused. He got more restless by the minute and then finally spoke up.
"Brother Nanda," he said, "I do not know what to make of it. You know our order is an austere order, and we cannot so much as speak to a woman. But... but... you saw that lady, you... uh... picked her up and... carried her across the stream! And yet..." he continued, almost choking, "You just keep on walking as if nothing happened!"
"It is quite simple," Nanda replied. "I set her down on the opposite bank, but you, Brother Anjan, are still carrying her!"
Dear brothers and sisters could you let go some of the dead behaviour in our life. Vengeance, unforgiveness, pride... we should let go of them, we should not deify them and constantly focus on them!
We are a ‘resurrection people.' This means that we are not supposed to lie buried in the tomb of our sins, evil habits and dangerous addictions. It gives us the good news that no tomb can hold us down anymore - not the tomb of despair, discouragement, doubt nor death.
St. Paul tells us today: “if then you were raised with Christ, seek what is above, where Christ is seated at the right hand of the God. Think what is above, not what is on earth.” He is risen Alleluia.
Good Friday
"We adore you O Christ, and we praise you…because by your Holy Cross you have redeemed the world"
“Why Did Jesus Have to Die?”
Around 700 B.C., the prophet Isaiah described in detail the execution of the coming savior in Isaiah chapter 53. When this reference is compared to the descriptions of Jesus’ death by crucifixion, the similarities are stunning because Jesus died in precisely the same way that prophets had predicted. Jesus suggested that his death was a necessary element in God’s eternal plan for sending him into the world. He described the purpose of his life in this manner, "For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life. For God did not send his Son into the world to condemn the world, but to save the world through him. “(John 3:16-17).
St. Anselm in his book "Cur Deus Homo?" explains “Why Did Jesus Have to Die?”. Man cannot atone for his sin against the infinite justice of God. “No sin can be forgiven without satisfaction. God's justice demands that our sins be punished. Not to punish sin would be unjust. God is both just and loving. Therefore, God's love is willing to meet the demands of His justice. But man could not make this satisfaction for himself because the debt is something far greater than he can pay. Moreover, all the service that he can offer to God is already due on other titles. Hence the only way in which the satisfaction could be made, and men could be set free from sin, was by the coming of a Redeemer who is both God and man”. In other words, an infinite debt had to be paid to God for our sins, and only a God-man could pay it by his suffering and death. Out of perfect love for us, Jesus took upon himself the punishment we deserve. The debt was now paid. His love paid the price. It is paid in full and we are free. His passion and death atoned for our sins and redeemed us. That is why St. Paul reminds us: "For you are bought with a great price" (1 Corinthians 6:20).
A man walked into a Cross Shop one day, complaining that his cross was too heavy and rough, and that he needed a new one. He tried out all kinds of crosses, but found each one unsatisfactory - either too short or long, too rough or smooth, too heavy or light. Then he picked up a cross that felt just right and declared that he would take that one. The shop owner, somewhat disappointed, told him that was the cross he came in with!
It takes two pieces of wood to make a cross. That is important for us today, as we celebrate Good Friday and venerate the cross.
The vertical stick could represent God’s love for us. God so loved the world that he sent his only son to die for us. Beaten, scorned, laughed at, ridiculed, and tortured - he accepted it all out of love for us. He took upon himself all our sins. He, the Lamb of God; he, the High Priest, willingly suffered for us to free us from the consequences of our own sins.
Ron Rolheiser, states that Jesus took away our sins by absorbing and transforming sin. How?
The image he uses is that of a water filter. A filter takes in impure water, holds the impurities inside of it, and gives back only pure water. It transforms rather than transmits. We see this in Jesus. Like the ultimate cleansing filter, he purifies life itself. He takes in hatred, holds it, transforms it, and gives back love; he takes in fear, holds it, transforms it, and gives back freedom; he takes in jealousy, holds it, transforms it, and gives back affirmation; he takes in Satan and murder, holds them, transforms them, and gives back only God and forgiveness.
My dear brothers and sisters, Jesus does not want admirers, but imitators, He doesn’t want fans, but followers.
The horizontal stick represents God’s call for us to love one another. It is our response to God’s love in Jesus, and completes the cross. There are two horizontal arms to the cross, and two ways that we can love one another.
The first way is through relationships. God’s greatest hurt is our broken brotherhood. How can we claim to love God, yet go on being rude to each other; take advantage of each other; accuse each other; put each other down; gossip about each other; suspect each other; avoid each other; stay away from gatherings because of our aversion to and fear of each other? Have we not yet learned the most basic truth of our faith; that what we do to the least of our brothers and sisters, we do to Jesus? Yes, one arm of the cross is relationships; how we get along with each other is the measure of our relationship with God.
If you have seen the beautiful Movie called “Amish grace” a lifetime Movie production about forgiveness. After forgiving the person who killed his daughter Mary Beth, Mr. Gideon tells his remaining daughter Katie “Hate is a very hungry thing. If you let it, it will eat up your heart until there is no more room for love.”
The second arm of the cross is service. God’s message through the cross is that we must serve one another. Jesus spoke clearly about that when he said that if anyone wants to be his disciple, he must take up his or her cross and follow him. It is not easy to sacrifice ourselves for the sake of others, but that is what the cross means. Jesus showed us what it means by accepting to die on the cross for us. The bottom line of following Jesus is that we must let go of our hunger for power, control and glory, and learn to serve one another, to wash each other’s feet each day as we did on Holy Thursday.
Let us welcome our crosses as Jesus did for the atonement of our sins and those of others: We may have been crucified several times in our lives. We may have been betrayed by our dear ones. We may have been misunderstood in the most calculated and deliberate of ways by those whom we trusted and loved. We may have been forced to take up the cross for others several times. We may have felt forsaken and abandoned on several occasions. The question we should ask ourselves on Good Friday is whether we have accepted these painful experiences gracefully from a loving God and offered all these painful occasions as atonement for our sins and for the sins of our dear ones.
"We adore you O Christ, and we praise you…
Because by your Holy Cross you have redeemed the world"
"We adore you O Christ, and we praise you…because by your Holy Cross you have redeemed the world"
“Why Did Jesus Have to Die?”
Around 700 B.C., the prophet Isaiah described in detail the execution of the coming savior in Isaiah chapter 53. When this reference is compared to the descriptions of Jesus’ death by crucifixion, the similarities are stunning because Jesus died in precisely the same way that prophets had predicted. Jesus suggested that his death was a necessary element in God’s eternal plan for sending him into the world. He described the purpose of his life in this manner, "For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life. For God did not send his Son into the world to condemn the world, but to save the world through him. “(John 3:16-17).
St. Anselm in his book "Cur Deus Homo?" explains “Why Did Jesus Have to Die?”. Man cannot atone for his sin against the infinite justice of God. “No sin can be forgiven without satisfaction. God's justice demands that our sins be punished. Not to punish sin would be unjust. God is both just and loving. Therefore, God's love is willing to meet the demands of His justice. But man could not make this satisfaction for himself because the debt is something far greater than he can pay. Moreover, all the service that he can offer to God is already due on other titles. Hence the only way in which the satisfaction could be made, and men could be set free from sin, was by the coming of a Redeemer who is both God and man”. In other words, an infinite debt had to be paid to God for our sins, and only a God-man could pay it by his suffering and death. Out of perfect love for us, Jesus took upon himself the punishment we deserve. The debt was now paid. His love paid the price. It is paid in full and we are free. His passion and death atoned for our sins and redeemed us. That is why St. Paul reminds us: "For you are bought with a great price" (1 Corinthians 6:20).
A man walked into a Cross Shop one day, complaining that his cross was too heavy and rough, and that he needed a new one. He tried out all kinds of crosses, but found each one unsatisfactory - either too short or long, too rough or smooth, too heavy or light. Then he picked up a cross that felt just right and declared that he would take that one. The shop owner, somewhat disappointed, told him that was the cross he came in with!
It takes two pieces of wood to make a cross. That is important for us today, as we celebrate Good Friday and venerate the cross.
The vertical stick could represent God’s love for us. God so loved the world that he sent his only son to die for us. Beaten, scorned, laughed at, ridiculed, and tortured - he accepted it all out of love for us. He took upon himself all our sins. He, the Lamb of God; he, the High Priest, willingly suffered for us to free us from the consequences of our own sins.
Ron Rolheiser, states that Jesus took away our sins by absorbing and transforming sin. How?
The image he uses is that of a water filter. A filter takes in impure water, holds the impurities inside of it, and gives back only pure water. It transforms rather than transmits. We see this in Jesus. Like the ultimate cleansing filter, he purifies life itself. He takes in hatred, holds it, transforms it, and gives back love; he takes in fear, holds it, transforms it, and gives back freedom; he takes in jealousy, holds it, transforms it, and gives back affirmation; he takes in Satan and murder, holds them, transforms them, and gives back only God and forgiveness.
My dear brothers and sisters, Jesus does not want admirers, but imitators, He doesn’t want fans, but followers.
The horizontal stick represents God’s call for us to love one another. It is our response to God’s love in Jesus, and completes the cross. There are two horizontal arms to the cross, and two ways that we can love one another.
The first way is through relationships. God’s greatest hurt is our broken brotherhood. How can we claim to love God, yet go on being rude to each other; take advantage of each other; accuse each other; put each other down; gossip about each other; suspect each other; avoid each other; stay away from gatherings because of our aversion to and fear of each other? Have we not yet learned the most basic truth of our faith; that what we do to the least of our brothers and sisters, we do to Jesus? Yes, one arm of the cross is relationships; how we get along with each other is the measure of our relationship with God.
If you have seen the beautiful Movie called “Amish grace” a lifetime Movie production about forgiveness. After forgiving the person who killed his daughter Mary Beth, Mr. Gideon tells his remaining daughter Katie “Hate is a very hungry thing. If you let it, it will eat up your heart until there is no more room for love.”
The second arm of the cross is service. God’s message through the cross is that we must serve one another. Jesus spoke clearly about that when he said that if anyone wants to be his disciple, he must take up his or her cross and follow him. It is not easy to sacrifice ourselves for the sake of others, but that is what the cross means. Jesus showed us what it means by accepting to die on the cross for us. The bottom line of following Jesus is that we must let go of our hunger for power, control and glory, and learn to serve one another, to wash each other’s feet each day as we did on Holy Thursday.
Let us welcome our crosses as Jesus did for the atonement of our sins and those of others: We may have been crucified several times in our lives. We may have been betrayed by our dear ones. We may have been misunderstood in the most calculated and deliberate of ways by those whom we trusted and loved. We may have been forced to take up the cross for others several times. We may have felt forsaken and abandoned on several occasions. The question we should ask ourselves on Good Friday is whether we have accepted these painful experiences gracefully from a loving God and offered all these painful occasions as atonement for our sins and for the sins of our dear ones.
"We adore you O Christ, and we praise you…
Because by your Holy Cross you have redeemed the world"
Be people of gratitude
My dear brothers and sisters in Jesus Christ,
“He died for us:” Many of us have heard this phrase so many times that it now carries with it neither the shock of someone dying on account of what we have done nor the good news of our being delivered from death.
Two brothers lived together in the same apartment. The elder brother was an honest, hard-working and God-fearing man and the younger a dishonest, gun-toting substance-abusing rogue. Many a night the younger man would come back into the apartment late, drunk and with a lot of cash and the elder brother would spend hours pleading with him to mend his ways and live a decent life. One night the junior brother runs into the house with a smoking gun and blood-stained clothes. “I killed a man,” he announced. In a few minutes the house was surrounded by police and the two brothers knew there was no escape. “I did not mean to kill him,” stammered the young brother, “I don’t want to die.” By now the police were knocking at the door. The senior brother had an idea. He exchanged his clothes with the blood-stained clothes of his killer brother. The police arrested him, tried him and condemned him to death for murder. He was killed and his junior brother lived. He died for his brother.
Can we see that this story of crime and death is basically a story of love? Similarly, the story of the suffering and death of Jesus which we heard in the Passion is basically a story of love – God’s love for us. How should we respond to it? Well, how would you expect the junior brother to respond to the death of the senior brother? We would expect him to respond with GRATITUDE. Gratitude to his generous brother should make him turn a new leaf and never go back to a life of crime. He would be a most ungrateful idiot if he should continue living the sort of life that made his brother die. Gratitude should make him keep the memory of his brother alive. No day should pass that he should not remember his brother who died for him. Finally, if the dead brother has got a wife and children we should expect the saved brother, out of gratitude, to love and care for them. What God expects from us today is gratitude – gratitude strong enough to make us hate sin of every shade and color; strong enough to make us translate our love of God into love of all God’s people.
It is easy to shout with praise and acclamation to Jesus when everyone around us is shouting too.
Cardinal John Henry Newman points out that even if you were the only sinner in the world, Jesus would have undergone his Passion just for you.
God loves us. God takes on our humanity. God dies for us. All of this happens so that we may have life. God pours Himself out so that we may have life. An interesting as well as challenging old fable tells of the colt that carried Jesus on Palm Sunday. The colt thought that the reception was organized to honor him. “I am a unique donkey,” this excited animal might have thought. When he asked his mother if he could walk down the same street alone the next day and be honored again, his mother said, “No, you are nothing without Him who was riding you." Five days later, the colt saw a huge crowd of people in the street. It was Good Friday, and the soldiers were taking Jesus to Calvary. The colt could not resist the temptation of another royal reception. Ignoring the warning of his mother, he ran to the street, but he had to flee for his life as soldiers chased him and people stoned him. Thus, the colt finally learned the lesson that he was only a poor donkey without Jesus to ride on him. As we enter Holy Week, today’s readings challenge us to examine our lives to see whether we carry Jesus within us and bear witness to him through our living or whether we are Christians in name only.
There is a Jewish saying, “Heaven rejoices over a repentant sinner and sheds tears over a non-repentant, hardhearted one."
In the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit. Amen.
My dear brothers and sisters in Jesus Christ,
“He died for us:” Many of us have heard this phrase so many times that it now carries with it neither the shock of someone dying on account of what we have done nor the good news of our being delivered from death.
Two brothers lived together in the same apartment. The elder brother was an honest, hard-working and God-fearing man and the younger a dishonest, gun-toting substance-abusing rogue. Many a night the younger man would come back into the apartment late, drunk and with a lot of cash and the elder brother would spend hours pleading with him to mend his ways and live a decent life. One night the junior brother runs into the house with a smoking gun and blood-stained clothes. “I killed a man,” he announced. In a few minutes the house was surrounded by police and the two brothers knew there was no escape. “I did not mean to kill him,” stammered the young brother, “I don’t want to die.” By now the police were knocking at the door. The senior brother had an idea. He exchanged his clothes with the blood-stained clothes of his killer brother. The police arrested him, tried him and condemned him to death for murder. He was killed and his junior brother lived. He died for his brother.
Can we see that this story of crime and death is basically a story of love? Similarly, the story of the suffering and death of Jesus which we heard in the Passion is basically a story of love – God’s love for us. How should we respond to it? Well, how would you expect the junior brother to respond to the death of the senior brother? We would expect him to respond with GRATITUDE. Gratitude to his generous brother should make him turn a new leaf and never go back to a life of crime. He would be a most ungrateful idiot if he should continue living the sort of life that made his brother die. Gratitude should make him keep the memory of his brother alive. No day should pass that he should not remember his brother who died for him. Finally, if the dead brother has got a wife and children we should expect the saved brother, out of gratitude, to love and care for them. What God expects from us today is gratitude – gratitude strong enough to make us hate sin of every shade and color; strong enough to make us translate our love of God into love of all God’s people.
It is easy to shout with praise and acclamation to Jesus when everyone around us is shouting too.
Cardinal John Henry Newman points out that even if you were the only sinner in the world, Jesus would have undergone his Passion just for you.
God loves us. God takes on our humanity. God dies for us. All of this happens so that we may have life. God pours Himself out so that we may have life. An interesting as well as challenging old fable tells of the colt that carried Jesus on Palm Sunday. The colt thought that the reception was organized to honor him. “I am a unique donkey,” this excited animal might have thought. When he asked his mother if he could walk down the same street alone the next day and be honored again, his mother said, “No, you are nothing without Him who was riding you." Five days later, the colt saw a huge crowd of people in the street. It was Good Friday, and the soldiers were taking Jesus to Calvary. The colt could not resist the temptation of another royal reception. Ignoring the warning of his mother, he ran to the street, but he had to flee for his life as soldiers chased him and people stoned him. Thus, the colt finally learned the lesson that he was only a poor donkey without Jesus to ride on him. As we enter Holy Week, today’s readings challenge us to examine our lives to see whether we carry Jesus within us and bear witness to him through our living or whether we are Christians in name only.
There is a Jewish saying, “Heaven rejoices over a repentant sinner and sheds tears over a non-repentant, hardhearted one."
In the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit. Amen.
Temptations of Jesus and Propagation of Faith
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 was so touching.” whether you understand or not one thing you already know that I am here asking help for Propagation of Faith. And you are already prepared for it.
Lent begins with a reflection on the Temptation of Jesus in the wilderness because temptations come to everybody and we seem almost genetically programmed to yield to them. A temptation may even offer us something good but entices us to use it in a false and selfish way.
There is always a temptation to “use what you have to get what you want. Many people indeed take it as their philosophy of life.
A priest was ministering to a man on his deathbed. "Renounce Satan!" said the priest.” No," said the dying man. "I say, renounce the devil and his works!" "No," the man repeats. “And why not, I ask you in the name of Almighty God to renounce Satan?" "No, because," said the dying man, "I want to wait until I see where I'm heading, before I start annoying anybody."
In Our Gospel Three temptations are recounted: to change stone into bread, to fall down and worship the devil, and to jump down from the pinnacle of the Temple.
In the first temptation, Jesus had fasted for forty days in the wilderness and at the end of it, he was very hungry. The devil puts an idea into his head: "If you are the Son of God, command this stone to become bread" (Luke 4:3). Notice that the first thing the devil does is sow a doubt in his mind: "if you are the Son of God." The same thing happened in the Garden of Eden. The first thing the Tempter said to Eve was, "Did God really say you should not eat of any fruit of the garden" (Genesis 3:1). Temptation always begins with a doubting thought. Jesus overcame the temptations by refusing to entertain such doubts and by standing on the word of God.
Secondly, people are tempted only with what they need or want. After his fasting, Jesus needed to eat. When you are hungry, you need food not money. Therefore, the devil tempted him with food. It is not a sin for Jesus to eat after fasting. The sin may lie in how the food is obtained. Should he follow the normal way of obtaining bread or should he take the shortcut suggested by the devil to obtain instant bread? Jesus refuses to take the devil's shortcut.
This temptation was a temptation to ignore His real mission as Messiah. Let us ask ourselves the same question: do we use the powers God has given us – physical, financial, mental, or spiritual – for our own satisfaction, comfort or enrichment, or for the well-being, spiritual as well as physical, of others in the community?
Yes, dear brothers and sisters in Christ, we all have a temptation to forget our mission as catholic. We are all called to be missionaries by our sacrament of baptism. Jesus asked us to go around the whole world proclaiming the good news and baptizing them. Through the offering of Catholics worldwide, the Propagation of the Faith provides ongoing support for the pastoral and evangelizing programs of the Catholic Church in Africa, Asia, the islands of the pacific and remote regions of Latin America. This includes aid for the education and support of seminarians, religious novices and lay catechists; for the work of religious communities in education, health care and social services; for communication and transportation needs and for disaster and emergency relief when necessary. Help them to help others.
I am sure that you are very generous. There is nothing big or nothing small in giving, even a small sacrifice you make today for the Missions in the world will prayerfully be remembered by someone who is in utter need of your help.
Last June I was in Ada, Columbus, Ohio. After the mass I was standing at the door seeing the people; there came a young girl, she may be six; she showed me four quarters on her palm, I did not understand what she is asking me to do. I asked her what I could do for her. She gave me that four coins and said father this is for your mission. You may have heard of Pauline-Marie Jaricot who was Born in 1799 to a wealthy family in Lyon, France. While growing up, Pauline was well aware of the deprivation and trouble in France and other countries around the world. She wanted to raise money for the 'missions' in far off places, so every Friday she went down to the factories to collect money from the workers and servants.
Soon small groups were collecting money regularly each week and also came together to pray for the 'missions'. By 1822, a well-organized mission aid society was established. It was later named the Society for the Propagation of the Faith.
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 today? He send you today 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?
Before the Mass started, someone told me Father if you do not speak long we will make it up for you. On behalf of the Propagation of faith, 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 thank you all once again for your patient attention; may God bless you all.
In the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit. Amen.
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 was so touching.” whether you understand or not one thing you already know that I am here asking help for Propagation of Faith. And you are already prepared for it.
Lent begins with a reflection on the Temptation of Jesus in the wilderness because temptations come to everybody and we seem almost genetically programmed to yield to them. A temptation may even offer us something good but entices us to use it in a false and selfish way.
There is always a temptation to “use what you have to get what you want. Many people indeed take it as their philosophy of life.
A priest was ministering to a man on his deathbed. "Renounce Satan!" said the priest.” No," said the dying man. "I say, renounce the devil and his works!" "No," the man repeats. “And why not, I ask you in the name of Almighty God to renounce Satan?" "No, because," said the dying man, "I want to wait until I see where I'm heading, before I start annoying anybody."
In Our Gospel Three temptations are recounted: to change stone into bread, to fall down and worship the devil, and to jump down from the pinnacle of the Temple.
In the first temptation, Jesus had fasted for forty days in the wilderness and at the end of it, he was very hungry. The devil puts an idea into his head: "If you are the Son of God, command this stone to become bread" (Luke 4:3). Notice that the first thing the devil does is sow a doubt in his mind: "if you are the Son of God." The same thing happened in the Garden of Eden. The first thing the Tempter said to Eve was, "Did God really say you should not eat of any fruit of the garden" (Genesis 3:1). Temptation always begins with a doubting thought. Jesus overcame the temptations by refusing to entertain such doubts and by standing on the word of God.
Secondly, people are tempted only with what they need or want. After his fasting, Jesus needed to eat. When you are hungry, you need food not money. Therefore, the devil tempted him with food. It is not a sin for Jesus to eat after fasting. The sin may lie in how the food is obtained. Should he follow the normal way of obtaining bread or should he take the shortcut suggested by the devil to obtain instant bread? Jesus refuses to take the devil's shortcut.
This temptation was a temptation to ignore His real mission as Messiah. Let us ask ourselves the same question: do we use the powers God has given us – physical, financial, mental, or spiritual – for our own satisfaction, comfort or enrichment, or for the well-being, spiritual as well as physical, of others in the community?
Yes, dear brothers and sisters in Christ, we all have a temptation to forget our mission as catholic. We are all called to be missionaries by our sacrament of baptism. Jesus asked us to go around the whole world proclaiming the good news and baptizing them. Through the offering of Catholics worldwide, the Propagation of the Faith provides ongoing support for the pastoral and evangelizing programs of the Catholic Church in Africa, Asia, the islands of the pacific and remote regions of Latin America. This includes aid for the education and support of seminarians, religious novices and lay catechists; for the work of religious communities in education, health care and social services; for communication and transportation needs and for disaster and emergency relief when necessary. Help them to help others.
I am sure that you are very generous. There is nothing big or nothing small in giving, even a small sacrifice you make today for the Missions in the world will prayerfully be remembered by someone who is in utter need of your help.
Last June I was in Ada, Columbus, Ohio. After the mass I was standing at the door seeing the people; there came a young girl, she may be six; she showed me four quarters on her palm, I did not understand what she is asking me to do. I asked her what I could do for her. She gave me that four coins and said father this is for your mission. You may have heard of Pauline-Marie Jaricot who was Born in 1799 to a wealthy family in Lyon, France. While growing up, Pauline was well aware of the deprivation and trouble in France and other countries around the world. She wanted to raise money for the 'missions' in far off places, so every Friday she went down to the factories to collect money from the workers and servants.
Soon small groups were collecting money regularly each week and also came together to pray for the 'missions'. By 1822, a well-organized mission aid society was established. It was later named the Society for the Propagation of the Faith.
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 today? He send you today 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?
Before the Mass started, someone told me Father if you do not speak long we will make it up for you. On behalf of the Propagation of faith, 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 thank you all once again for your patient attention; may God bless you all.
In the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit. Amen.
Anointing of the sick
Jesus claimed that he was the promised Messiah who was sent to preach the Good News and heal the sick. This was and is the mission of Jesus: to preach the Good News and to heal the sick. He invited all to come to him and be healed: “Come to me all you who labor and are burdened and I will refresh you.”
To receive the Sacrament of Anointing of the Sick efficaciously we need faith. Jesus could not work many miracles in his home town of Nazareth because of their lack of faith. So we approach the sacrament with the faith of the centurion, “Lord, I am not worthy that you should enter under my roof, but only say the word, and I shall be healed.” Every time we receive the body of Christ ask for that healing. There is difference in curing and healing. We are asking God to heal us. The illness need not be physical. It may be emotional or mental, or just the infirmities of old age, those “intimations of mortality” that become more frequent and much more impressive as we get older.
Will everyone who receives the Anointing be healed? Yes, if they receive it with the right disposition. But the healing will not necessarily be physical or instantaneous. It may be spiritual. God may give us the grace to recognize this illness as a gift, an opportunity to share in his own passion. It may help us to realize that it costs to be a lover, that the language of love is sacrifice. We really do not know what is best for us. This suffering may be necessary for my salvation, or for the salvation of others. So we leave it to the Lord, who gives us what he knows in his infinite wisdom to be best for us.
The great miracles are spiritual. The depression, anger and resentment are transformed into peace and joy. Like the apostles they leave rejoicing that they have been found worthy to suffer something for the name of Jesus.
No matter when you were hurt, remembering that today, yesterday 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. Close your eyes now and imagine Jesus by your side or in front of you…Make your way through the crowd to Jesus like the bleeding woman…In your imagination touch Jesus’ cloak wishing for his healing…(Mark 5:27-28) Feel the love of Jesus healing you….Hear Jesus say to you, “Your faith has restored you to health…”….(Mark 5:34) Or in your imagination see Jesus take you by the hand as he took Jairus’ daughter by hand and let Jesus help you up, “I tell you to get up”….(Mark 5:41) Jesus said about the girl, “She is not dead, only asleep.” (Mark 5:39) Hear Jesus say to you, “Your wound is not permanent, it is only temporary, I am healing you”…Let Jesus comfort you after the hurt you received….Let the love of Jesus replace all the damage and hurt and woundedness….Just as the Good Samaritan poured oil and wine on the wounds of the injured man on the road to Jericho (Luke 10:34), let Jesus pour his love on your wounds and replace your wounds with his love…Touch Jesus’ garments and let your bleeding, your suffering, dry up…Hear Jesus say to you, “You are not dead, only asleep. Get up”….Tell Jesus about your pain and hurt….Feel the love of Jesus replacing your wounds with his love, healing you and making you whole again.
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.
Jesus claimed that he was the promised Messiah who was sent to preach the Good News and heal the sick. This was and is the mission of Jesus: to preach the Good News and to heal the sick. He invited all to come to him and be healed: “Come to me all you who labor and are burdened and I will refresh you.”
To receive the Sacrament of Anointing of the Sick efficaciously we need faith. Jesus could not work many miracles in his home town of Nazareth because of their lack of faith. So we approach the sacrament with the faith of the centurion, “Lord, I am not worthy that you should enter under my roof, but only say the word, and I shall be healed.” Every time we receive the body of Christ ask for that healing. There is difference in curing and healing. We are asking God to heal us. The illness need not be physical. It may be emotional or mental, or just the infirmities of old age, those “intimations of mortality” that become more frequent and much more impressive as we get older.
Will everyone who receives the Anointing be healed? Yes, if they receive it with the right disposition. But the healing will not necessarily be physical or instantaneous. It may be spiritual. God may give us the grace to recognize this illness as a gift, an opportunity to share in his own passion. It may help us to realize that it costs to be a lover, that the language of love is sacrifice. We really do not know what is best for us. This suffering may be necessary for my salvation, or for the salvation of others. So we leave it to the Lord, who gives us what he knows in his infinite wisdom to be best for us.
The great miracles are spiritual. The depression, anger and resentment are transformed into peace and joy. Like the apostles they leave rejoicing that they have been found worthy to suffer something for the name of Jesus.
No matter when you were hurt, remembering that today, yesterday 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. Close your eyes now and imagine Jesus by your side or in front of you…Make your way through the crowd to Jesus like the bleeding woman…In your imagination touch Jesus’ cloak wishing for his healing…(Mark 5:27-28) Feel the love of Jesus healing you….Hear Jesus say to you, “Your faith has restored you to health…”….(Mark 5:34) Or in your imagination see Jesus take you by the hand as he took Jairus’ daughter by hand and let Jesus help you up, “I tell you to get up”….(Mark 5:41) Jesus said about the girl, “She is not dead, only asleep.” (Mark 5:39) Hear Jesus say to you, “Your wound is not permanent, it is only temporary, I am healing you”…Let Jesus comfort you after the hurt you received….Let the love of Jesus replace all the damage and hurt and woundedness….Just as the Good Samaritan poured oil and wine on the wounds of the injured man on the road to Jericho (Luke 10:34), let Jesus pour his love on your wounds and replace your wounds with his love…Touch Jesus’ garments and let your bleeding, your suffering, dry up…Hear Jesus say to you, “You are not dead, only asleep. Get up”….Tell Jesus about your pain and hurt….Feel the love of Jesus replacing your wounds with his love, healing you and making you whole again.
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.
Go and sin No more & Propagation of Faith
My dear brothers and sisters in Christ,
Notice Jesus’ last words to the woman, “go away and don’t sin anymore.” (John 8:11) Jesus does not say that sin does not matter because sin does matter and damages our relationship with God.
The first step to take is deal with where all sin begins the mind. Among the Native Americans, there is a story of a father who said there were two wolves fighting within him, one bad and one good. His son asked which wolf wins and the father said whichever one he feeds the most. Sin begins in the mind, from there it moves on to become an action, from there it moves on to become a lifestyle, and then it affects us in eternity. Jesus said not to sin again.
A young couple moves into a new neighborhood. The next morning while they are eating breakfast, the young woman sees her neighbor hanging the wash outside. "That laundry is not very clean," she said. "She doesn’t know how to wash correctly. Perhaps she needs better laundry soap."
Her husband looked on, but remained silent.
Every time her neighbor would hang her wash to dry, the young woman would make the same comments. About one month later, the woman was surprised to see a nice clean wash on the line and said to her husband, “Look, she has learned how to wash correctly. I wonder who taught her this."
The husband said, "I got up early this morning and cleaned our windows." And so it is with our life. What we see when watching others depends on the purity of the window through which we look.
God does not remember our sins that are confessed but he says do not sin anymore. In his book, A Forgiving God in an Unforgiving World, Ron Lee Davis tells the true story of a priest in the Philippines, a much- loved man of God who carried the burden of a secret sin he had committed many years before. He had repented but still had no peace about it. In his parish was a woman who deeply loved God and who claimed to have visions in which she spoke with Christ. The priest, however, was skeptical about that. To test her he said, "The next time you speak with Christ, ask him what sin I committed while I was in the high school." The woman agreed. A few days later the priest asked, "Well, did Christ visit you in your dreams?" "Yes, he did," she replied. "And did you ask him what sin I committed back in high school?" "Yes." "And what did he say?" She smiled and answered, "Christ said, 'I don't remember. '"
Even though God forgives and forget our sins, we have no right to judge others because we often commit the very faults we condemn, we are often partial and prejudiced in our judgment and we do not know the circumstances, which have led someone to sin. Hence, let us leave the judgment to our impartial God who reads people’s hearts.
Once the late Cardinal Hickey of Washington D.C. appealed to the community to support the Archdiocesan program for the homeless. He was asked, 'Why is this the work of the Church? Are these people Catholic'?' Cardinal Hickey replied, 'We shelter the homeless not because they are Catholic, but because we are Catholic. We shelter the homeless, we feed the hungry we educate the young, and we care for the sick because we believe we are sheltering, feeding, educating and caring for Jesus.' Yes, dear brothers and sisters in Christ, I am here today to remind you about our mission as catholic.
We are called to be missionaries by our sacrament of baptism. Jesus asked us to go around the whole world proclaiming the good news and baptizing them. Through the offering of Catholics worldwide, the Propagation of the Faith provides ongoing support for the pastoral and evangelizing programs of the Catholic Church in Africa, Asia, the islands of the pacific and remote regions of Latin America. This includes aid for the education and support of seminarians, religious novices and lay catechists; for the work of religious communities in education, health care and social services; for communication and transportation needs and for disaster and emergency relief when necessary. Help them to help others.
I am sure that you are very generous. There is nothing big or nothing small in giving, even a small sacrifice you make today for the Missions in the world will prayerfully be remembered by someone who is in utter need of your help. Mother Theresa teaches us "None of us can do anything great on our own, but we can all do a small thing with great love." Whatever small things we can do, God will take them and fit them into his own big picture. Our faith tells us that God will take care of the rest.
Last June I was in Ada, Columbus, Ohio. After the mass I was standing at the door seeing the people; there came a young girl, she may be six; she showed me four quarters on her palm, I did not understand what she is asking me to do. I asked her what I could do for her. She gave me that four coins and said father this is for your mission.
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 today? He send you today 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?
Before the Mass started, someone told me Father if you do not speak long we will make it up for you. On behalf of the Propagation of faith, 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 thank you all once again for your patient attention; may God bless you all.
In the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit. Amen.
My dear brothers and sisters in Christ,
Notice Jesus’ last words to the woman, “go away and don’t sin anymore.” (John 8:11) Jesus does not say that sin does not matter because sin does matter and damages our relationship with God.
The first step to take is deal with where all sin begins the mind. Among the Native Americans, there is a story of a father who said there were two wolves fighting within him, one bad and one good. His son asked which wolf wins and the father said whichever one he feeds the most. Sin begins in the mind, from there it moves on to become an action, from there it moves on to become a lifestyle, and then it affects us in eternity. Jesus said not to sin again.
A young couple moves into a new neighborhood. The next morning while they are eating breakfast, the young woman sees her neighbor hanging the wash outside. "That laundry is not very clean," she said. "She doesn’t know how to wash correctly. Perhaps she needs better laundry soap."
Her husband looked on, but remained silent.
Every time her neighbor would hang her wash to dry, the young woman would make the same comments. About one month later, the woman was surprised to see a nice clean wash on the line and said to her husband, “Look, she has learned how to wash correctly. I wonder who taught her this."
The husband said, "I got up early this morning and cleaned our windows." And so it is with our life. What we see when watching others depends on the purity of the window through which we look.
God does not remember our sins that are confessed but he says do not sin anymore. In his book, A Forgiving God in an Unforgiving World, Ron Lee Davis tells the true story of a priest in the Philippines, a much- loved man of God who carried the burden of a secret sin he had committed many years before. He had repented but still had no peace about it. In his parish was a woman who deeply loved God and who claimed to have visions in which she spoke with Christ. The priest, however, was skeptical about that. To test her he said, "The next time you speak with Christ, ask him what sin I committed while I was in the high school." The woman agreed. A few days later the priest asked, "Well, did Christ visit you in your dreams?" "Yes, he did," she replied. "And did you ask him what sin I committed back in high school?" "Yes." "And what did he say?" She smiled and answered, "Christ said, 'I don't remember. '"
Even though God forgives and forget our sins, we have no right to judge others because we often commit the very faults we condemn, we are often partial and prejudiced in our judgment and we do not know the circumstances, which have led someone to sin. Hence, let us leave the judgment to our impartial God who reads people’s hearts.
Once the late Cardinal Hickey of Washington D.C. appealed to the community to support the Archdiocesan program for the homeless. He was asked, 'Why is this the work of the Church? Are these people Catholic'?' Cardinal Hickey replied, 'We shelter the homeless not because they are Catholic, but because we are Catholic. We shelter the homeless, we feed the hungry we educate the young, and we care for the sick because we believe we are sheltering, feeding, educating and caring for Jesus.' Yes, dear brothers and sisters in Christ, I am here today to remind you about our mission as catholic.
We are called to be missionaries by our sacrament of baptism. Jesus asked us to go around the whole world proclaiming the good news and baptizing them. Through the offering of Catholics worldwide, the Propagation of the Faith provides ongoing support for the pastoral and evangelizing programs of the Catholic Church in Africa, Asia, the islands of the pacific and remote regions of Latin America. This includes aid for the education and support of seminarians, religious novices and lay catechists; for the work of religious communities in education, health care and social services; for communication and transportation needs and for disaster and emergency relief when necessary. Help them to help others.
I am sure that you are very generous. There is nothing big or nothing small in giving, even a small sacrifice you make today for the Missions in the world will prayerfully be remembered by someone who is in utter need of your help. Mother Theresa teaches us "None of us can do anything great on our own, but we can all do a small thing with great love." Whatever small things we can do, God will take them and fit them into his own big picture. Our faith tells us that God will take care of the rest.
Last June I was in Ada, Columbus, Ohio. After the mass I was standing at the door seeing the people; there came a young girl, she may be six; she showed me four quarters on her palm, I did not understand what she is asking me to do. I asked her what I could do for her. She gave me that four coins and said father this is for your mission.
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 today? He send you today 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?
Before the Mass started, someone told me Father if you do not speak long we will make it up for you. On behalf of the Propagation of faith, 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 thank you all once again for your patient attention; may God bless you all.
In the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit. Amen.
Prodigal Son
My dear brothers and sisters in Jesus Christ,
The parable of the Prodigal Son has been called the greatest short story ever written and has even received the title Evangelium in Evangelio, "the Gospel within the Gospel."
There are three characters in this parable that Jesus wants us to examine. Actually, Jesus is presenting them to us so that we might in them look at ourselves.
The first is the younger son. The first condition to look at is the son’s radical departure from his father. Deadly sin does that. It radically separates us from our heavenly Father. The son goes into a FAR country. There is sometimes much meaning in a single word. He went into a FAR country; it was far away, a land full of debauchery and uncleanness, FAR away from God, FAR away from salvation. For us, says St. Augustine, "the far country" is forgetfulness of God.
The second thing we need to see is that when we walk away from God, while at the same time taking everything we can get from Him, we end up in the slop with the pigs. We end up in a state of spiritual poverty, and with an unrelieved hunger in our souls that all of the pleasures of this world cannot satisfy.
You may know an Aesop Fable called ‘the Goose That Laid the Golden Egg’
A man and his wife owned a very special goose. Every day the goose would lay a golden egg, which made the couple very rich.
"Just think," said the man's wife, "If we could have all the golden eggs that are inside the goose, we could be richer much faster."
"You're right," said her husband, "We wouldn't have to wait for the goose to lay her egg every day."
So, the couple killed the goose and cut her open, only to find that she was just like every other goose. She had no golden eggs inside of her at all, and they had no more golden eggs.
Finally, we must admit we have done wrong. This is the hardest thing in the world for many people to do. Countless numbers of people simply cannot admit that they have done anything wrong.
All addicted people live in denial the way pigs live in slop. They simply tell themselves that the slop smells like perfume and anyone who says that it's slop is an idiot and a fool. This younger son somehow came to his senses and began to recognize the truth.
A man cannot be saved unless he comes to himself. We need to do two things. One is to know God, and other is to know ourselves. The two are learned in parallel. If you learn only of God, you will be filled with pride, and your soul will be paralyzed. If you know only about your sins and your unworthiness and know little about God, you will be filled with discouragement and fear, or escapism, and your soul will be paralyzed, unable to do good.
Picture to yourself this young man, alone, hungry, penniless, far from home. We may sin with others but we pay the price alone. St. Augustine put it so simply, "My heart was made for you, O Lord, and it will not rest until it rests in you."
Next character is elder brother. Just like the Pharisees, the older son was obedient, faithful, hard working…and judgmental. He looked down his nose at anyone who did not measure up—even, his younger brother. Just like the Pharisees, he mistakenly thought that the Father loved him because of his hard work and obedience, and therefore could not possibly love anyone who was disobedient and sinful. He thought it was proper to hate the sin and hate the sinner.
Is not the sin of the elder son far greater than all the sins of the prodigal son? He could not forgive his own brother. He could not rejoice with his father who was so happy to have his son back. How many times have we been jealous, envious, and angry because God gave someone else what we thought was due to us?
Finally, the attitude and love of the father, the most important figure in this parable. What a surprising father! What a loving God! The story teaches us that we are loved for who we are, and not just for the way in which we behave. God does not lose hope or give up when we stray.
Our heavenly Father comes out to welcome each of us to his party. The father says to the elder son, “all I have is yours”. Our heavenly Father says to us, “All I have is yours”. This is a most beautiful promise and invitation.
We need to accept the loving offer of our Heavenly Father: “All I have is yours”.
The woods are lovely, dark and deep. But I have promises to keep, And miles to go before I sleep, And miles to go before I sleep. (Robert Frost in Stopping By Woods On A Snowy Evening). Dear brothers and sisters we are half way through our Lent, during the rest of Lent let us try to make every effort to answer that invitation from our heavenly Father, “All I have is yours." Each Lent offers the sinner a chance to return home with a confession of sins, where he will find welcome and open-armed love. We have a choice to make, will we stay outside or will we go in to enjoy the Father’s party.
In the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit.
Amen.
My dear brothers and sisters in Jesus Christ,
The parable of the Prodigal Son has been called the greatest short story ever written and has even received the title Evangelium in Evangelio, "the Gospel within the Gospel."
There are three characters in this parable that Jesus wants us to examine. Actually, Jesus is presenting them to us so that we might in them look at ourselves.
The first is the younger son. The first condition to look at is the son’s radical departure from his father. Deadly sin does that. It radically separates us from our heavenly Father. The son goes into a FAR country. There is sometimes much meaning in a single word. He went into a FAR country; it was far away, a land full of debauchery and uncleanness, FAR away from God, FAR away from salvation. For us, says St. Augustine, "the far country" is forgetfulness of God.
The second thing we need to see is that when we walk away from God, while at the same time taking everything we can get from Him, we end up in the slop with the pigs. We end up in a state of spiritual poverty, and with an unrelieved hunger in our souls that all of the pleasures of this world cannot satisfy.
You may know an Aesop Fable called ‘the Goose That Laid the Golden Egg’
A man and his wife owned a very special goose. Every day the goose would lay a golden egg, which made the couple very rich.
"Just think," said the man's wife, "If we could have all the golden eggs that are inside the goose, we could be richer much faster."
"You're right," said her husband, "We wouldn't have to wait for the goose to lay her egg every day."
So, the couple killed the goose and cut her open, only to find that she was just like every other goose. She had no golden eggs inside of her at all, and they had no more golden eggs.
Finally, we must admit we have done wrong. This is the hardest thing in the world for many people to do. Countless numbers of people simply cannot admit that they have done anything wrong.
All addicted people live in denial the way pigs live in slop. They simply tell themselves that the slop smells like perfume and anyone who says that it's slop is an idiot and a fool. This younger son somehow came to his senses and began to recognize the truth.
A man cannot be saved unless he comes to himself. We need to do two things. One is to know God, and other is to know ourselves. The two are learned in parallel. If you learn only of God, you will be filled with pride, and your soul will be paralyzed. If you know only about your sins and your unworthiness and know little about God, you will be filled with discouragement and fear, or escapism, and your soul will be paralyzed, unable to do good.
Picture to yourself this young man, alone, hungry, penniless, far from home. We may sin with others but we pay the price alone. St. Augustine put it so simply, "My heart was made for you, O Lord, and it will not rest until it rests in you."
Next character is elder brother. Just like the Pharisees, the older son was obedient, faithful, hard working…and judgmental. He looked down his nose at anyone who did not measure up—even, his younger brother. Just like the Pharisees, he mistakenly thought that the Father loved him because of his hard work and obedience, and therefore could not possibly love anyone who was disobedient and sinful. He thought it was proper to hate the sin and hate the sinner.
Is not the sin of the elder son far greater than all the sins of the prodigal son? He could not forgive his own brother. He could not rejoice with his father who was so happy to have his son back. How many times have we been jealous, envious, and angry because God gave someone else what we thought was due to us?
Finally, the attitude and love of the father, the most important figure in this parable. What a surprising father! What a loving God! The story teaches us that we are loved for who we are, and not just for the way in which we behave. God does not lose hope or give up when we stray.
Our heavenly Father comes out to welcome each of us to his party. The father says to the elder son, “all I have is yours”. Our heavenly Father says to us, “All I have is yours”. This is a most beautiful promise and invitation.
We need to accept the loving offer of our Heavenly Father: “All I have is yours”.
The woods are lovely, dark and deep. But I have promises to keep, And miles to go before I sleep, And miles to go before I sleep. (Robert Frost in Stopping By Woods On A Snowy Evening). Dear brothers and sisters we are half way through our Lent, during the rest of Lent let us try to make every effort to answer that invitation from our heavenly Father, “All I have is yours." Each Lent offers the sinner a chance to return home with a confession of sins, where he will find welcome and open-armed love. We have a choice to make, will we stay outside or will we go in to enjoy the Father’s party.
In the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit.
Amen.
God gives us a second chance
My dear brothers and sisters in Jesus Christ,
The Mission is a 1986 movie which tells the story of a Spanish Jesuit priest who went into the South American jungle to convert the enslaved natives who had been subjected to the cruelty of Portuguese colonials. One of the most telling scenes in this film occurs when Captain Mendoza, who had killed his brother in a fit of rage, is seen climbing a mountain with a backpack on his shoulders as an act of penance for his past sins. The backpack, which contained all the weapons of his former life as a slave merchant, was so heavy that he could not climb higher unless he gave up the back pack. He was relieved of it when one of the natives, whom he had formerly taken into slavery, forgave him and cut the rope of the backpack with a sharp knife. Thus he saved Mendoza's life, instead of taking vengeance. The backpack represents sin. We cannot carry our "packs" of sin with us. Until we repent, are forgiven and let them go, "we cannot climb to where God needs us.” This scene in the movie illustrates today’s readings, which tell us of a merciful God who wants sinners to repent.
When we talk about sins we usually come up with a list of wrongful actions people have done, murder, adultery, assault, abuse of others, fighting, lying, cheating, cursing, avoiding Mass, hurting others, and so forth. At the time of Jesus many people thought that suffering is directly connected with sinning; those who suffer, it was claimed, are being punished for their sins.
We know that tragic events occur randomly as in the case of the Galileans and the eighteen Jerusalemites and have nothing to do with the guilt or innocence of the victims. For example, a tornado that destroys a nightclub also destroys a church. An earthquake or tsunami kills the saints as well as the sinners in the affected area. Drunk drivers kill innocent people. Religious fanatics, terrorists and suicide bombers cause the untimely death of good as well as bad people. Violent people, with or without provocation, injure their loved ones. Only a few of us will have a burning-bush experience, but all of us have struggled to understand why tragedy seems to befall innocent people. What we need is to trust in divine mercy, believing that God is with us and God is on our side, even in those situations we cannot explain. Jesus' life is the clearest evidence that a person's suffering is not proof of that person's sin. While sin can lead to tragedy, every tragedy is not the result of sin.
Jesus gave the parable of the fig tree. He was pointing out the sin of uselessness. To do nothing is just as much of a sin as doing something that is wrong, and we should pay attention to that.
Useless living is very costly. A basic law of living is “Use it or lose it.” You don’t have to hurt a friend in order to destroy your friendship; all you need to do is ignore your friends. Don’t write or e-mail. Don’t call or visit. A neglected friendship will die just as much as neglect in a marriage will end it.
That fig tree was planted in a good garden, in good soil. It was cared for, fertilized, and watered. In spite of all that had been given to it, the fig tree produced nothing. The point of the parable is obvious. God has given you and me wonderful gifts. He has cared for us, tended us, and even given us the Bread of Life here on this altar. How can any one of us claim we were never given a chance? How can we claim that there was nothing we could produce, give, or share with others?
The owner of the garden wants to cut it down. He thinks this tree is wasting the soil but the gardener who looks after the tree says to let it alone for one more year. Let it alone and I will dig around it and put manure on it. I will look after it so it is given every chance to bear fruit.
The gardener does not say that he or she will cut it down. No the gardener says that you – the owner can cut it down. The gardener is not concerned about whether the tree bears fruit – the gardener is concerned about nourishing the tree so that it can bear fruit. The gardener is like God who has patience beyond what any human can imagine who waits for us – who waits for us to turn away from sin.
Jesus challenges us in today’s gospel for true repentance and reparation for our sins . I heard about a shoplifter who wrote to a department store an anonymous letter, and said, "Dear Sir, I have just become a Christian and I can't sleep at night because I feel guilty. So here's $100 that I owe you." He signed only his first name and then put a P.S. at the bottom of the letter that said, "If I still can't sleep I'll send you the rest."
The Jewish rabbis taught that repentance required five elements: recognition of one's sin as sin; remorse for having committed the sin; desisting from repeating this sin; restitution for the damage done by the sin where possible; and confession. “Confession" for the Jews had two forms: ritual and personal. One who followed these steps to teshuvá was called a "penitent." In fact, Jesus invited his Jewish listeners to such repentance. “Repent” (Greek, metanoia), implies not just regret for the past but a radical conversion and a complete change in our way of life as we respond and open ourselves to the love of God. Repentance is a statement of regret for the inner condition of our souls, with a determination to have that condition changed.
My dear brothers and sisters in Christ Let us try our best to repent while we have the chance. We need to make the best use of the "second chance" God gives us. Every day is the first day of the rest of our life. Our merciful Father always gives us a second chance. The prodigal son, returning to the father, was welcomed as a son, not treated as a slave. The repentant Peter was made the head of the Church. The persecutor Paul was made the apostle to the Gentiles. During Lent, we, too, are given another chance to repent and return to our heavenly Father’s love. As we receive a second chance from God, we are also expected to give others a second chance when they ask our forgiveness. Grace is everywhere. Let us always cooperate with grace, especially during Lent. Who knows whether we will have one more chance like this?
In the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit.
Amen.
My dear brothers and sisters in Jesus Christ,
The Mission is a 1986 movie which tells the story of a Spanish Jesuit priest who went into the South American jungle to convert the enslaved natives who had been subjected to the cruelty of Portuguese colonials. One of the most telling scenes in this film occurs when Captain Mendoza, who had killed his brother in a fit of rage, is seen climbing a mountain with a backpack on his shoulders as an act of penance for his past sins. The backpack, which contained all the weapons of his former life as a slave merchant, was so heavy that he could not climb higher unless he gave up the back pack. He was relieved of it when one of the natives, whom he had formerly taken into slavery, forgave him and cut the rope of the backpack with a sharp knife. Thus he saved Mendoza's life, instead of taking vengeance. The backpack represents sin. We cannot carry our "packs" of sin with us. Until we repent, are forgiven and let them go, "we cannot climb to where God needs us.” This scene in the movie illustrates today’s readings, which tell us of a merciful God who wants sinners to repent.
When we talk about sins we usually come up with a list of wrongful actions people have done, murder, adultery, assault, abuse of others, fighting, lying, cheating, cursing, avoiding Mass, hurting others, and so forth. At the time of Jesus many people thought that suffering is directly connected with sinning; those who suffer, it was claimed, are being punished for their sins.
We know that tragic events occur randomly as in the case of the Galileans and the eighteen Jerusalemites and have nothing to do with the guilt or innocence of the victims. For example, a tornado that destroys a nightclub also destroys a church. An earthquake or tsunami kills the saints as well as the sinners in the affected area. Drunk drivers kill innocent people. Religious fanatics, terrorists and suicide bombers cause the untimely death of good as well as bad people. Violent people, with or without provocation, injure their loved ones. Only a few of us will have a burning-bush experience, but all of us have struggled to understand why tragedy seems to befall innocent people. What we need is to trust in divine mercy, believing that God is with us and God is on our side, even in those situations we cannot explain. Jesus' life is the clearest evidence that a person's suffering is not proof of that person's sin. While sin can lead to tragedy, every tragedy is not the result of sin.
Jesus gave the parable of the fig tree. He was pointing out the sin of uselessness. To do nothing is just as much of a sin as doing something that is wrong, and we should pay attention to that.
Useless living is very costly. A basic law of living is “Use it or lose it.” You don’t have to hurt a friend in order to destroy your friendship; all you need to do is ignore your friends. Don’t write or e-mail. Don’t call or visit. A neglected friendship will die just as much as neglect in a marriage will end it.
That fig tree was planted in a good garden, in good soil. It was cared for, fertilized, and watered. In spite of all that had been given to it, the fig tree produced nothing. The point of the parable is obvious. God has given you and me wonderful gifts. He has cared for us, tended us, and even given us the Bread of Life here on this altar. How can any one of us claim we were never given a chance? How can we claim that there was nothing we could produce, give, or share with others?
The owner of the garden wants to cut it down. He thinks this tree is wasting the soil but the gardener who looks after the tree says to let it alone for one more year. Let it alone and I will dig around it and put manure on it. I will look after it so it is given every chance to bear fruit.
The gardener does not say that he or she will cut it down. No the gardener says that you – the owner can cut it down. The gardener is not concerned about whether the tree bears fruit – the gardener is concerned about nourishing the tree so that it can bear fruit. The gardener is like God who has patience beyond what any human can imagine who waits for us – who waits for us to turn away from sin.
Jesus challenges us in today’s gospel for true repentance and reparation for our sins . I heard about a shoplifter who wrote to a department store an anonymous letter, and said, "Dear Sir, I have just become a Christian and I can't sleep at night because I feel guilty. So here's $100 that I owe you." He signed only his first name and then put a P.S. at the bottom of the letter that said, "If I still can't sleep I'll send you the rest."
The Jewish rabbis taught that repentance required five elements: recognition of one's sin as sin; remorse for having committed the sin; desisting from repeating this sin; restitution for the damage done by the sin where possible; and confession. “Confession" for the Jews had two forms: ritual and personal. One who followed these steps to teshuvá was called a "penitent." In fact, Jesus invited his Jewish listeners to such repentance. “Repent” (Greek, metanoia), implies not just regret for the past but a radical conversion and a complete change in our way of life as we respond and open ourselves to the love of God. Repentance is a statement of regret for the inner condition of our souls, with a determination to have that condition changed.
My dear brothers and sisters in Christ Let us try our best to repent while we have the chance. We need to make the best use of the "second chance" God gives us. Every day is the first day of the rest of our life. Our merciful Father always gives us a second chance. The prodigal son, returning to the father, was welcomed as a son, not treated as a slave. The repentant Peter was made the head of the Church. The persecutor Paul was made the apostle to the Gentiles. During Lent, we, too, are given another chance to repent and return to our heavenly Father’s love. As we receive a second chance from God, we are also expected to give others a second chance when they ask our forgiveness. Grace is everywhere. Let us always cooperate with grace, especially during Lent. Who knows whether we will have one more chance like this?
In the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit.
Amen.
Transfiguration of Jesus
My dear brothers and sisters in Jesus Christ,
There is a mysterious story in 2 Kings that can help us understand what is going on in the transfiguration. Israel was at war with Aram, and Prophet Elisha the man of God was using his prophetic powers to reveal the strategic plans of the Aramean army to the Israelites. At first, the King of Aram thought that one of his officers was playing the spy but when he learnt the truth, he dispatched troops to go and capture Elisha who was residing in Dothan. The Aramean troops moved in under cover of darkness and surrounded the city. In the morning, Elisha’s servant was the first to discover that they were trapped in and feared for his master’s safety. He ran to Elisha and said, “Oh, my lord, what shall we do?” The prophet answered, “Don't be afraid. Those who are with us are more than those who are with them.” But who would believe that, when the surrounding mountainside was covered with advancing enemy troops? So Elisha prayed, “O Lord, open his eyes so he may see.” Then the Lord opened the servant's eyes, and he looked and saw the hills full of horses and chariots of fire all around Elisha (2 Kings 6:8-23). This vision was all that Elisha’s disciple needed to reassure him. At the end of the day, not only was the prophet of God safe but the invading army was totally humiliated.
My dear brothers and sisters, Lent is about coming to know the Lord more profoundly in our personal lives and in the life of the Church. The first reading today, from the Book of Genesis, tells us about Abram, who becomes our father in faith Abraham. We know that Abram could not always understand what God was doing in his life—but even in his doubts, he trusted. That is part of the secret of Lent for us: learning how to trust even when we doubt. This is not easy to do. But this is we should do.
In the Transfiguration, Peter, James and John saw that there was more to Jesus than what they could see and hear and touch, they got a glimpse of the future glory of Jesus’ resurrection and our own future glory with Jesus.
It was not the only special grace Jesus shared with Peter, James and John. Earlier in the Gospel Jesus only allowed Peter and James and John with him into the house of the synagogue official whose daughter he raised up again (Mark 5:37; Luke 8:51). Later, when Jesus was teaching in the temple, Peter and James and John asked Jesus a question privately and he gave them more teaching (Mark 13:3). In Gethsemane, Jesus took Peter, James and John aside from the others to be near him during his agony (Mark 14:33).
Why? Because they had left everything to follow Jesus and he had just told them, he would be killed. They needed reassurance, and Jesus did not let them down.
The word transfiguration means a change in form or appearance. Biologists call it metamorphosis to describe the change that occurs when a caterpillar becomes a butterfly. As children we might have curiously watched the process of the caterpillar turning into a chrysalis and then bursting into a beautiful Monarch butterfly. Fr. Anthony de Mello tells the story of such a metamorphosis in the prayer life of an old man. 'I was a revolutionary when I was young and all my prayer to God was: “Lord, give me the grace to change the world.” As I approached middle age and realized that half of my life was gone without changing a single soul, I changed my prayer to: “Lord, give me the grace to change all those who come in contact with me; just my family and friends and I shall be satisfied.” Now that I am old and my days are numbered, I have begun to see how foolish I have been. My one prayer now is: “Lord, give me the grace to change myself.” If I had prayed for this right from the start, I should not have wasted my life.'
Moses and Elijah also appeared and spoke with Jesus. Moses received the Law from God on Mount Sinai and Elijah could be regarded as the greatest of the prophets. These representatives of the Law and the Prophets – Moses and Elijah - foreshadowed Jesus, who is the culmination of the Law and the Prophets. So we have the Law and the Prophets, as the Old Testament was often called, with Jesus on the mountain. The Father spoke from heaven and said, “This is my beloved Son. Listen to him.” So the Old Testament and the Father in heaven are now confirming that Jesus is indeed the expected Messiah. That is transfiguration of Jesus.
There are three transformations in our lives in our journey towards eternity: The first change begins at Baptism, which washes away original sin, transforming us into children of God and heirs of heaven. The second transformation takes place through our victory over the trials and tribulations of life. Every challenge, every difficulty, every moment of suffering, is an opportunity for transformation and spiritual growth. The third transformation takes place at death. Eternal life in heaven, perhaps after a period of further transformation in purgatory, is granted to those who have been found worthy. The last transformation or transfiguration will be completed at the Second Coming when our body is reunited with our soul.
My dear brothers and sisters in Christ, Just as Jesus' transfiguration strengthened the apostles in their time of trial; each holy Mass should be our source of heavenly strength against temptations, and our renewal during Lent.
In the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit.
Amen.
My dear brothers and sisters in Jesus Christ,
There is a mysterious story in 2 Kings that can help us understand what is going on in the transfiguration. Israel was at war with Aram, and Prophet Elisha the man of God was using his prophetic powers to reveal the strategic plans of the Aramean army to the Israelites. At first, the King of Aram thought that one of his officers was playing the spy but when he learnt the truth, he dispatched troops to go and capture Elisha who was residing in Dothan. The Aramean troops moved in under cover of darkness and surrounded the city. In the morning, Elisha’s servant was the first to discover that they were trapped in and feared for his master’s safety. He ran to Elisha and said, “Oh, my lord, what shall we do?” The prophet answered, “Don't be afraid. Those who are with us are more than those who are with them.” But who would believe that, when the surrounding mountainside was covered with advancing enemy troops? So Elisha prayed, “O Lord, open his eyes so he may see.” Then the Lord opened the servant's eyes, and he looked and saw the hills full of horses and chariots of fire all around Elisha (2 Kings 6:8-23). This vision was all that Elisha’s disciple needed to reassure him. At the end of the day, not only was the prophet of God safe but the invading army was totally humiliated.
My dear brothers and sisters, Lent is about coming to know the Lord more profoundly in our personal lives and in the life of the Church. The first reading today, from the Book of Genesis, tells us about Abram, who becomes our father in faith Abraham. We know that Abram could not always understand what God was doing in his life—but even in his doubts, he trusted. That is part of the secret of Lent for us: learning how to trust even when we doubt. This is not easy to do. But this is we should do.
In the Transfiguration, Peter, James and John saw that there was more to Jesus than what they could see and hear and touch, they got a glimpse of the future glory of Jesus’ resurrection and our own future glory with Jesus.
It was not the only special grace Jesus shared with Peter, James and John. Earlier in the Gospel Jesus only allowed Peter and James and John with him into the house of the synagogue official whose daughter he raised up again (Mark 5:37; Luke 8:51). Later, when Jesus was teaching in the temple, Peter and James and John asked Jesus a question privately and he gave them more teaching (Mark 13:3). In Gethsemane, Jesus took Peter, James and John aside from the others to be near him during his agony (Mark 14:33).
Why? Because they had left everything to follow Jesus and he had just told them, he would be killed. They needed reassurance, and Jesus did not let them down.
The word transfiguration means a change in form or appearance. Biologists call it metamorphosis to describe the change that occurs when a caterpillar becomes a butterfly. As children we might have curiously watched the process of the caterpillar turning into a chrysalis and then bursting into a beautiful Monarch butterfly. Fr. Anthony de Mello tells the story of such a metamorphosis in the prayer life of an old man. 'I was a revolutionary when I was young and all my prayer to God was: “Lord, give me the grace to change the world.” As I approached middle age and realized that half of my life was gone without changing a single soul, I changed my prayer to: “Lord, give me the grace to change all those who come in contact with me; just my family and friends and I shall be satisfied.” Now that I am old and my days are numbered, I have begun to see how foolish I have been. My one prayer now is: “Lord, give me the grace to change myself.” If I had prayed for this right from the start, I should not have wasted my life.'
Moses and Elijah also appeared and spoke with Jesus. Moses received the Law from God on Mount Sinai and Elijah could be regarded as the greatest of the prophets. These representatives of the Law and the Prophets – Moses and Elijah - foreshadowed Jesus, who is the culmination of the Law and the Prophets. So we have the Law and the Prophets, as the Old Testament was often called, with Jesus on the mountain. The Father spoke from heaven and said, “This is my beloved Son. Listen to him.” So the Old Testament and the Father in heaven are now confirming that Jesus is indeed the expected Messiah. That is transfiguration of Jesus.
There are three transformations in our lives in our journey towards eternity: The first change begins at Baptism, which washes away original sin, transforming us into children of God and heirs of heaven. The second transformation takes place through our victory over the trials and tribulations of life. Every challenge, every difficulty, every moment of suffering, is an opportunity for transformation and spiritual growth. The third transformation takes place at death. Eternal life in heaven, perhaps after a period of further transformation in purgatory, is granted to those who have been found worthy. The last transformation or transfiguration will be completed at the Second Coming when our body is reunited with our soul.
My dear brothers and sisters in Christ, Just as Jesus' transfiguration strengthened the apostles in their time of trial; each holy Mass should be our source of heavenly strength against temptations, and our renewal during Lent.
In the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit.
Amen.
Live for God
My dear brothers and sisters in Jesus Christ,
I welcome all of you to the beginning of a wonderful journey of forty days called Lent.
The Cyclops is that strange monster of Greek mythology with one big eye in the middle of its forehead. We pretend to ignore the truth that, for 325 days of each year, taking out these 40 days of lent; we are all Cyclops because there is ONE GREAT BIG “I” right in our heads! If we are skeptical about this assertion, we might watch our words for one day, from morning to night. What’s the first thing we think about each morning? “What am I going to do today? How will I do it? What will happen to me today? How will I feel today?” I, I, I. And all day long, what do we say to people? We say things like, “I think this” and “I think that” and “I agree” and “I disagree” and “I like this” and “I don’t like that” and “I just want to say...” I, I, I. And what’s the last thing that we think about at night? “I wish that so-and-so would stop doing thus-and-such to me” and “I really did a good job today” and “I wonder what I’ll do tomorrow.” The problem with seeing with one eye is that we’re half blind. Everything looks flat and two-dimensional because with only one eye, we have no depth perception. Consequently we go wrong in assessing people. In Greek mythology, the Cyclops was killed when Odysseus and four of his men took a spare staff of the Cyclops, hardened its tip in the fire and used that to destroy the monster’s one big eye. It is precisely this that we must do on Ash Wednesday. With two strokes of his thumb smeared with ash on our forehead, the priest will cross that “I” out of our head. By this sacramental ritual we are asked to take that “I” at the front of our mind and cross it out by “self-denial” and “self- mortification.” Doing so will help us to see the beautiful creatures of God all around us and replace “I” with “You."
The Ashes tell us what the purpose of Lent is. It is to die to myself so that I may rise more with Christ. It is to live more deeply the baptismal life that I received many years ago.
Remember, man, you are dust and to dust you will return. Without God we are nothing. We are a bunch of chemicals, carbon, water, that are worth about 25 cents if we were split apart and sold for our chemicals. With God however, we are made in the image and likeness of the Triune God and with that we become priceless treasures.
Lent is a time to remind ourselves that without God we are nothing. It is a time to rend our hearts and tear from them anything that might keep us from God. Everything of this earth is dust and to dust it will return.
Throughout this penitential season, we must constantly return to two key questions: Do I welcome the love of Christ? And, Do I share the love of Christ?
One sure way that we can both welcome the love of Christ and share it is to keep “custody of the senses.” We must keep custody of the eyes lest we see something that leads us to sin. We must keep custody of the ears lest we hear something that leads us to sin. We must keep custody of the mouth lest we lead others to sin. The well-known phrase, “See no evil, hear no evil, speak no evil” is quite poignant, even today.
Keeping custody of the tongue is, perhaps, the most difficult to control but at the same time it is the one that does the most harm. When we are tempted to gossip about someone or some situation, we would do well to remember the words of Jesus: “What comes out of a person, that is what defiles” (Mark 7:20).
Let us make a concerted effort this Lent to root out the evil of gossip from our lives. Let us not only refuse to listen to it or to read it, but also and especially let us refuse to speak it.
So our Lenten prayer, fasting and almsgiving must have one focus only: making more space in our busy and noisy lives for God. The Psalmist of old knew this well: “Be still,” he says, “and know that I am God” (46:10)
Let us pray not only for ourselves but for each other that sin may be removed from our lives. Let this be our prayer: “A clean heart create for me, O God, and a steadfast spirit renew with me… Give me back the joy of your salvation, and a willing spirit to sustain me” (Psalm 51:12, 14).
In the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit.
Amen.
My dear brothers and sisters in Jesus Christ,
I welcome all of you to the beginning of a wonderful journey of forty days called Lent.
The Cyclops is that strange monster of Greek mythology with one big eye in the middle of its forehead. We pretend to ignore the truth that, for 325 days of each year, taking out these 40 days of lent; we are all Cyclops because there is ONE GREAT BIG “I” right in our heads! If we are skeptical about this assertion, we might watch our words for one day, from morning to night. What’s the first thing we think about each morning? “What am I going to do today? How will I do it? What will happen to me today? How will I feel today?” I, I, I. And all day long, what do we say to people? We say things like, “I think this” and “I think that” and “I agree” and “I disagree” and “I like this” and “I don’t like that” and “I just want to say...” I, I, I. And what’s the last thing that we think about at night? “I wish that so-and-so would stop doing thus-and-such to me” and “I really did a good job today” and “I wonder what I’ll do tomorrow.” The problem with seeing with one eye is that we’re half blind. Everything looks flat and two-dimensional because with only one eye, we have no depth perception. Consequently we go wrong in assessing people. In Greek mythology, the Cyclops was killed when Odysseus and four of his men took a spare staff of the Cyclops, hardened its tip in the fire and used that to destroy the monster’s one big eye. It is precisely this that we must do on Ash Wednesday. With two strokes of his thumb smeared with ash on our forehead, the priest will cross that “I” out of our head. By this sacramental ritual we are asked to take that “I” at the front of our mind and cross it out by “self-denial” and “self- mortification.” Doing so will help us to see the beautiful creatures of God all around us and replace “I” with “You."
The Ashes tell us what the purpose of Lent is. It is to die to myself so that I may rise more with Christ. It is to live more deeply the baptismal life that I received many years ago.
Remember, man, you are dust and to dust you will return. Without God we are nothing. We are a bunch of chemicals, carbon, water, that are worth about 25 cents if we were split apart and sold for our chemicals. With God however, we are made in the image and likeness of the Triune God and with that we become priceless treasures.
Lent is a time to remind ourselves that without God we are nothing. It is a time to rend our hearts and tear from them anything that might keep us from God. Everything of this earth is dust and to dust it will return.
Throughout this penitential season, we must constantly return to two key questions: Do I welcome the love of Christ? And, Do I share the love of Christ?
One sure way that we can both welcome the love of Christ and share it is to keep “custody of the senses.” We must keep custody of the eyes lest we see something that leads us to sin. We must keep custody of the ears lest we hear something that leads us to sin. We must keep custody of the mouth lest we lead others to sin. The well-known phrase, “See no evil, hear no evil, speak no evil” is quite poignant, even today.
Keeping custody of the tongue is, perhaps, the most difficult to control but at the same time it is the one that does the most harm. When we are tempted to gossip about someone or some situation, we would do well to remember the words of Jesus: “What comes out of a person, that is what defiles” (Mark 7:20).
Let us make a concerted effort this Lent to root out the evil of gossip from our lives. Let us not only refuse to listen to it or to read it, but also and especially let us refuse to speak it.
So our Lenten prayer, fasting and almsgiving must have one focus only: making more space in our busy and noisy lives for God. The Psalmist of old knew this well: “Be still,” he says, “and know that I am God” (46:10)
Let us pray not only for ourselves but for each other that sin may be removed from our lives. Let this be our prayer: “A clean heart create for me, O God, and a steadfast spirit renew with me… Give me back the joy of your salvation, and a willing spirit to sustain me” (Psalm 51:12, 14).
In the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit.
Amen.
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