Message for the Thirty-First Sunday in Ordinary Time

My dear friends,


Salvation is our final aim in life. ‘Salvation has come to this house’ was the best compliment Zacchaeus from Jesus. How can we bring salvation to our house ?

The Book of Wisdom 11:22-12:2 in the first place tells us how great is the Lord , “Before the Lord the whole universe is as a grain from a balance or a drop of morning dew come down upon the earth. …………….. You overlook people’s sins that they may repent.” Hence repentance is the first step towards the ‘Salvation to come to our house’. The author of the book of Wisdom makes a prayer in these words “…………., that they may abandon their wickedness and believe in you, O Lord !” This is the very message of Jesus as he began His public ministry when he said, “The time is fulfilled, and the kingdom of God is at hand. Repent and believe in the gospel.” Mk. 1:15. How important is ‘REPENTANCE and BELIEVING’ is to bring salvation to our house ?

The reading from second letter of St. Paul to Thessalonians 1:11-22 begins with, “We always pray for you, that our God may make you worthy of his calling and powerfully bring to fulfillment every good purpose and every effort of faith, that the name of Our Lord Jesus may be glorified in you, and you in him, in accord with the grace of our God and Lord Jesus Christ.” This little paragraph brings out the whole process for salvation to come to our house. What else we need to do than pray for one another so that we become worthy of our calling and thus bring to fulfillment the purpose for which God has created us. By all this the name of Our Lord Jesus is glorified. This will certainly assure the coming of the salvation to our home.

The Holy Gospel according to St. Luke 19:1-10 relates the story of a short man Zacchaeus. What a change in him because of the presence of Jesus in his house? What is ‘repaying’ he is talking about ? Because he had stolen ! If he pays four times what will be left for him. Jesus !

Repaying, restoring or paying back is the sign of true repentance. With true repentance if we repay, God surely forgives. Four times repaying lives him with Jesus. “For me life is Christ ……….” Says St. Paul to Philippians 1:21. ‘The Lord Jesus Christ”, who is enough and more. Let us repent, restore and possess Jesus. He alone suffices.

Message for the Thirtieth Sunday in Ordinary Time

Dear friends,


The tax collector went home justified. So we too will try to ‘Go Home Justified’ as we come to pray. It is our need when we come to the church to pray. Let us see how we can do it with the help of the readings.

The first reading from the Book of Sirach 35:12-14, 16-18 tells us that ‘ ……… the prayer of the lowly pierces the clouds’; Let us try to understand the real meaning of how to be lowly. Mt. 11:29 tell us that Jesus made himself lowly, “ ……………… for I am meek and lowly of heart.” Jesus becomes as lowly as man. I mean it is a position lower than angels. To be lowly is more than just humble oneself. It is to bring oneself lower than one thinks that one is. It is to recognize our position before God who is so great. For us men it is worth and necessary to become lowly before God, because, ‘the prayer of the lowly pierces the clouds’. In other words, the prayer of the lowly reaches the highest heavens.

In the second letter of St. Paul to Timothy 4:6-8, 16-18 what is assured to us is even everyone deserts us says St. Paul, “………. But the Lord stood by me and gave me strength, so that through me the proclamation might be completed and the Gentiles might hear it” Yes, the Lord will stand by us if we make ourselves lowly before Him and pray.

The Holy Gospel according to St. Luke 18:9-14 is a dramatic scene of two men coming to the temple to pray. One is proud and the other makes himself lowly before God. Let us focus our attention to the picture Jesus paints for us of the tax collector. “But the tax collector stood off at a distance and would not even raise his eyes to heaven but beat his breast and prayed, ‘O God, be merciful to me a sinner.’ The attitude with which he came in, the physical position that he took , stood off at a distance at in the temple, would not even raise his head but beat his breast and used the words to pray, explains to us how one should lower oneself before the most high God.

It is not necessary to take our position at the last pew. Practically it is good to start filling the benches from the front so that those who come later can occupy the back benches. What is important is with what attitude we enter in to pray, what is our frame of mind when we pray and how do we express ourselves.

This will enable us to "Go home justified."

Message for the Twenty-Ninth Sunday in Ordinary Time

Dear friends,

Today we will meditate on the necessity to PRAY ALWAYS.

In the first place, the first reading from the book of Exodus 17:8-13 is talking about the continued prayer of Moses for the fight against Amalek. “As long as Moses kept his hands raised up, Israel had the better of the fight...” Raising hands is very, very symbolic for us as Christians. The priest raises all the good works we bring every weekend which we have done throughout the week. The priests hands are lifted up to offer praises, gifts to God, and also with the raised hands, he receives the blessings from God and distributes to God’s people.

The second reading from the second letter of St. Paul to Timothy 3:14-4:2 says, "...so that one who belongs to God may be competent, equipped for every good work.” Here, St. Paul declares the purpose and fruit of the ‘The necessity to PRAY ALWAYS’. This we can do, says St. Paul, “proclaim the Word, be persistent whether it is convenient or inconvenient, convince, reprimand, encourage through all patience and teaching.” So we need to do this by praying always.

The holy Gospel according to St. Luke 18:1-8 has it, “Will not God then secure the rights of his chosen ones who call out to him day and night?" Yes, ‘day and night’.

What is needed to Pray Always, is not stand in front of a statue, picture or any image of Jesus, Mary or any of the saints and go on saying prayers. What is needed is not whole day praying, ignoring our duties and responsibilities. Morning prayer, night prayer, grace before meals, a little prayer before beginning journey, family Rosary is enough. What is needed is not daily Mass, if possible it is good to begin or end the day with Holy Mass. What is meant by ‘Pray Always’ is raise everything in prayer. Your night rest, your breakfast, your traveling towards the place of your work, your duties and responsibilities done with utmost care and love and every smallest deed to God in prayer. Raise your heart, mind, soul and body. Do ordinary things with an extraordinary way. Do small acts with great love. Then, bring all this and put it in the ciborium and chalice, to be offered by priest at the weekend Holy Mass you are present.

Thus, PRAY ALWAYS.

Message for the Twenty-Eighth Sunday in Ordinary Time

Dear friends,

As we celebrate the Oktoberfest – 2010, the Rosary month and as we are now in the twenty-eighth Sunday of the of the Ordinary time of the Liturgical Year, “Give Thanks to The Lord” is going to be our thought and theme. Why do I say "as we celebrate the Oktoberfest"?  Because this event has been a home-coming event, this event has been a matter of expressing our gratitude to the Lord. Church of the Assumption, St. Pius and United Methodist Church and the Germantown Association have celebrated deep gratitude to God for many many years.

With the help of the readings of today, let us learn to give thanks to the Lord in a most perfect way. The first reading from the second book of Kings5:14-17 has in the first place that Naaman ultimately admitted, “Now I know that there is no God in all the earth, except in Israel.” Similarly we too must admit, believe and have profound trust in Him alone. This trust will be most basic expression and manner of giving thanks because He alone is our God. This reading also suggests as Naaman has decide to do is, “ I will no longer offer holocaust or sacrifice to any other god except to the Lord.” This is the best form of expressing our thanks and gratitude, because any idol worship is never tolerated by the true God and he deserves all our worship.

The second reading from the second letter of St. Paul to Timothy 2:8-13 confirms in the first place that, “Jesus Christ raised from the dead...” He goes on to say, “Such is my Gospel for which I am suffering” and “I bear with everything for the sake of those who are chosen.” All this simply confirms that one must recognize that Jesus has risen from the dead. If one wants to proclaim this gospel, one has to suffer and that suffering is both for taking up our share from the cross and for those who are suffering. The innocent suffering is one of the best ways of showing our gratitude to God.

The Holy Gospel according to St. Luke 17:11-19 is a parable which depicts how man shows his gratitude to God. The only one out of nine who came to give thanks happens to be a foreigner. He expresses his in a best manner. The moment he realized that he is healed, "he returned, glorifying God in a loud voice." Secondly, "he fell at the feet of Jesus and thanked him." This goes to say that he employed his total self to thank Jesus.

HOW ABOUT US?

Message for the Twenty-Seventh Sunday In Ordinary Time

Dear friends,

Lord, “Increase our Faith” will be our request to the Lord on twenty-seventh Sunday of the Liturgical Year. The saints of yesteryears had their faith bigger than the size of a mustard seed. That is why they could do greater things than just replant a mulberry tree in the sea. Let us ask for an increase in our faith at least the size of a mustard seed so that we too can replant our own life and the lives of all around us into the life of Our Lord Jesus Christ who is the sea of love, mercy, kindness and joy. Because “Faith is the assurance things hoped for and conviction of things not seen.” Heb. 11:1 Do we have faith which ‘assures’ the things we hope for and ‘convinces’ of things we have not seen?

The first reading taken from the Prophet Habakkuk 1:2-3; 2:2-4 explains violence, ruin, misery, destruction strife and clamorous discord. It is not only at the time of Prophet Habakkuk, but today also we are very familiar with these things. Says the Prophet, “Then the Lord answered me and said, ‘Write down the vision clearly upon the tablets, so that one can read it readily. For the vision still has its time, presses on to fulfillment, and will not disappoint’ if it delays, wait for it, it will surely come, it will not be late. The rash one has no integrity’ but the just one, because of his faith, shall live.’” Let us try to be just. Let us show our faith. Let us increase our faith and experience the fruit of it.

The second reading taken from the second letter of St. Paul to Timothy 1:6-8, 13-14 has three stages in the process of the increase in faith.

The first stage is ‘stir into flame the gift of God’.

The second stage we will realize that ‘God did give us the spirit of power and love and self-control’.

But then at the third stage we will surely follow, ‘bear our share of hardship for the gospel with the strength that comes from God’. This is the sure sign of ‘increase in our faith’.

The Holy Gospel according to St. Luke 17:5-10 has in the first place the right request of the apostles to the Lord, “increase our faith.” It is not only mulberry tree but even ‘mountain’ (Mt. 21:21) will move from our way if we have faith of the size of a mustard seed. Jesus is not so much interested in moving mulberry tree or a mountain with the help of our faith of the size of a mustard seed but he is interested in moving the obstacles and hurdles which Satan puts on our life of faith. One of the obstacles I wish to mention here is we claim, we justify that so much we do for God. What God is doing for me? The answer is, “We are unprofitable servants; we have done what were obliged to do.” Let us realize what we are in front of God and increase our faith.