Feast of Mary, the Mother of God

What connection the Mother of God has with the New Year and the Wise Men? This is what we are going to find out with the help of the Word of God. The Eucharistic Lord gives us the theme,


“DON’T COMPROMISE IN PAYING HOMAGE TO HIM”.

This solemn feast has on the stage, Jesus as the central figure together with his Virgin Mother Mary and foster father Joseph. Then we have three wise men, we have king Herod and subsequently he assembles even chief priests and the scribes of the people to ascertain about the king of the Jews.

The first reading from the book of prophet Isaiah 60:1-6 hundreds of years before Jesus was born, gives us very beautiful reasons as to why we should pay homage to Him. “Your Light has come, the Glory of the Lord shines upon you. Nations shall walk by your light, and kings by your shining radiance.” So we ought to pay him homage, we have no choice but pay Him homage. No compromise.

St. Paul writing to Ephesians3:2-3, 5-6 says, “You have heard of the stewardship of God’s grace that was given to me for your benefit, namely, that the mystery was made known to me by revelation.” The Biblical stewardship means, ‘Growing the kingdom of God by using Biblical principals.’ Here is the best way of paying homage to Jesus, without compromising with the Biblical principals.

Finally we have the very dramatic picture painted in the Gospel of St. Matthew in 2:1-12. We do not know specifically what the chief priests and the scribes did, whom Herod gathered in his court to find out about the King that was to be born. But we know for sure how King Herod compromised with Satan and what heinous acts he performed. Let us not go into the depth of Herod’s behavior who was so much worldly minded. Let us study in depth the so called ‘Wise Men’, three kings from the East. There is no doubt that God was with them. They were co-operating with God. God once again sent His star as we would call in today’s language GPS. “And behold, the star that they had seen at it’s rising preceded them, until it came and stopped over the place where the child was.” And “They prostrated themselves and did him homage. Then they opened their treasures and offered him gifts of gold, frankincense, and myrrh.” The best way of paying homage to Jesus.

On the New year’s day we celebrated the Solemnity of ‘Mary Mother of God’ because she fully co-operated with God and paid the best homage to her Son by playing her part in the act of salvation. She can guide us all throughout the ‘New Year’ and always with her powerful intercession, which she has earned for us by hard way and make us ‘Wise Men’.

Feast of the Holy Family

CHRISTMAS, EMMANUEL, GOD IS WITH US AND THE HOLY FAMILY OF JESUS, MARY AND JOSEPH.

As we have celebrated CHRISTMAS and today as we celebrate the feast of the Holy Family of Jesus, Mary and Joseph let us meditate, ponder, reflect and find out how we could make our families as HOLY FAMILIES.

The Holy Family is holy because of the presence of Jesus in it. Our families too can be holy if we allow Jesus to be in our families and never loose Him. As we see in the Holy Family that Mary and Joseph took utmost care of Jesus, though it was so very difficult responsibility. As an example we look at today’s Holy Gospel according to Matthew 2:13-15, 19-23. Here we have the most difficult, dangerous and laborious journey from Bethlehem across the border of Egypt. Recently I did see the hill country of Judea and the border of Egypt. If today it looks so scary in spite of the modern facilities, how difficult it must been for Mary and Joseph to take up the journey. They did it. It is all only to see that Jesus is not lost from the family. Once the family looses Jesus, it ceases to be Holy. The central figure of the Holy Family is Jesus.

As the joy of Christmas is fresh in our hearts, can we allow Jesus to continue to be in our hearts, minds, soul and body ? Can we work like Mary and Joseph to have Jesus always and everywhere with us and with our family ? Unfortunately, right from the days of the birth of Jesus till today we see that there are efforts to persecute Christians. Probably you may be aware of many such examples, I would like to give an example which I have closely watched. Here we see the families who tried to keep their families holy by having Jesus in their families. Just three years ago, there was a well planned attack on Christians by the Hindu fanatics in India on Christmas night. A place where my our cousin, Fr. Philip D. D’Souza was a Parish Priest. Through some sources the pastor was made aware that there would be well planned attack on Christians during the midnight service. The word went round to the Christians that it would be safe not to be present for the midnight but flee to a safer places. Some did follow the advise. Yet some very staunch Christians, as confirmed by Fr. Philip, wanted to express their faith and celebrate the birthday of their lord by being present for the midnight service and did not want to leave their parish priest and sisters alone. That night the attackers came as soon as the service began and killed first many men and children, then young girls, women and even sisters were raped, burnt the church. Fr. Philip and other priests together with other members of the Christian community together with the press reporters went round and surveyed the places and interviewed these suffering, wounded, raped Christians. They were happy to say, “We lost everything, but not Jesus. They meant without saying that our family is a Holy Family.

We have many many examples in the Old Testament, New Testament and today our Christian brethren all over the world are suffering. Yet at the same time we have many of our members of the One, Holy, Catholic and Apostolic Church, where we see the holiness in the families.

I have come across some grandparents, parents and elders who tell me painfully, that their families are not holy because Jesus is lost in their families. None of their children practicing Catholic discipline. They feel very sad about it. They want their families from generations to generations , to be holy.

I have two suggestions to these suffering parents, grandparents and even great grandparents who have very faithfully followed their Catholic discipline and kept their family a holy one.

1) If you think that you have failed to give the best example by practicing your faith as your children were growing. If you think that you have failed to teach them about it to the best of your abilities, the please be sorry and make a good confession about it.

2) If you think that they were alright till they were with you, but the high school, college, communication media, friends, the neighborhood or any other factor has taken them away from the Catholic discipline and subsequently away from Jesus, and made your family unholy. Please take the position of St. Monica. Pray, pray on your knees if possible, pray without ceasing, pray fervently with patience and perseverance. Our God is faithful. Not a single Hail Mary of yours will go waste. God will answer your prayer as He did in the case St. Monica You will see Jesus back in your family and you will find your family a Holy Family.

Message for the Fourth Sunday in Advent

Let us be concerned about the sins of omission. We say at the very beginning of the Holy Mass, ‘I am sorry for what I have failed to do’. Our concern should be ‘what good we have left undone’. At the very beginning of Advent, we reflected on, ‘repentance’. The true repentance has helped many of us to make a good confession. We moved to ‘Prepare the Way for the Lord’. This helped in a deeper way to be concerned about the good we can do. The third, the ‘Gaudete’ Rejoice Sunday brought us the glimpse of the joy of Christmas. Therefore let us now experience ‘Emmanuel’ ‘God wish us’.

In the first reading the prophet Isaiah 7:10-14 is prophesying, “Therefore the Lord himself will give you this sign: the virgin shall conceive, and bear a son, and shall name him Emmanuel.” This sign is enough and more for us that, as per the fulfillment of time, virgin will give birth to a son’. This is our loving Father’s assurance of Emmanuel, God with us.

The letter of St. Paul to the Romans 1:1-7 begins, ‘Paul, a slave of Christ Jesus,’ regards the greatness of Jesus. We are like slaves before Him. A slave does not have any power, any rights but does what the master tells. We too like St. Paul, are totally helpless without Jesus, the God who is with us. But once we know our limitations, we, “who are called to belong to Jesus Christ; to all the beloved of God in Rome, called to be holy. Grace to you and peace from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ.” In other words, once we belong to Jesus Christ, we will be holy and Grace and Peace is assured to us.

St. Matthew 1:18-24 assures, “do not be afraid”. The one who does love is never afraid to co-operate with the plan of God, because, “Everything works out unto good with those who love.” Rom. 8:28 . It also tells us that all this is taking place, ‘through the Holy Spirit’. There can not be anything more certain and confident than what works out ‘through the Holy Spirit’. Thus we reach prophet Isaiah, “Behold, the Virgin shall conceive and bear a son, and they shall name him Emmanuel,” which means, “God is with us.” Our Christmas Joy is having, ‘God with us’. He is available among us,

easily approachable

and being divine able to help us in what we need.

Let us make best of His being with us.

Message for the Third Sunday in Advent

As we enter the third week of Advent, traditionally known as ‘Gaudete’(‘Rejoice’) Sunday, so called from the first word of the antiphon as the Introit. Gaudete(Rejoice) taken from Latin translation of Phil 4:4-5 sets a tone of joyful expectation for the Lord’s birth and Second Coming, as does the permitted use of rose-colored vestments. Hence we ‘Joyfully prepare the way’.


Prophet Isaiah 35:1-6,10 speaks about, “They will see the glory of the Lord, the splendor of our God.” This assuring mighty prophesy and promise of God sets sure tone of rejoicing among the chosen people of God. Isaiah goes on with further promise, “……….. Those whom the Lord has ransomed will return and enter Zion singing, crowned with everlasting joy; they will meet the joy and gladness, sorrow and mourning will flee.” These are certainly the words which brings about sure rejoicing.

On the other hand the letter of St. James 5:7-10 advises us, “Be patient, brothers and sister, until the coming of the Lord.” He gives the example of our day today experience of the work of farmers and goes on to say, “You too must be patient . Make your hearts firm, because coming of the Lord is at hand.” Here we may look back and verify in our own personal life, how much rejoicing we have lost due to lack of patience ? Patience is the sure way of reaching and entering into the joy of the Lord.

Furthermore in St. Matthew’s Gospel 11:2-11 a question posed by St. John the Baptist to confirm, who is this man working miracles. “Are you the one who is to come, or should we look for another?” The answer by Jesus is very beautiful and will enable us to see the Messiah and will confirm his coming in our midst. It will also quench our own personal thirst of seeing Jesus. “Go and tell John what you hear and see.” As Jesus puts the disciples of John in a challenging position of see and believe, we too have challenge, as to whether our faith in Jesus enables us to hear and see what Jesus can do ? Similarly Jesus describes the work of St. John the Baptist and quotes prophet Malachi, in the verse 10 of the 11th chapter, “Behold I am sending my messenger ahead of you; he will prepare your way before you.”

Ultimately this is what we need to do to complete our joy and always ‘be rejoicing’ in the Lord. So PREPARE THE WAY. JESUS IS THE WAY.

Message for the Second Sunday in Advent

I concluded my message, on the occasion of the First Sunday of Advent, as I appealed to you in the name of Our Lord Jesus to repent and make a good confession. That is how our preparation always begins. At St. Pius X Classical Academy and parish will have ‘Penance Service on December 10th at 9.30a.m. At the Church of the Assumption we will have Fr. Ben Cameron, of ‘The Fathers of Mercy’ to lead us into ‘Parish Advent Mission’ from Dec. 12 through 16th. Please make best use of this opportunity. You are even welcomed to invite parishioners from the other parishes.


Now as we move into the second Sunday of Advent let us progress in our preparation and see how we could, “Produce good fruit as evidence of our repentance.” Mt. 3:8 Let us see with the help of today’s reading, how best fruit we could produce.

In the first reading prophet Isaiah (11:1-10) talks about ‘shoot shall sprout from the stump of Jesse…’ Here he announces that as per the fulfillment of time there will be the appearance of Jesus in the family of David and all the gifts of the Holy Spirit will be with Him. “ The Spirit of wisdom, and of understanding , a spirit of counsel, and of strength , the spirit of knowledge and of fear of the Lord, and His delight shall be the fear of the Lord.” With the help of these gifts, “……… Justice shall be the band around his waist, and faithfulness a belt upon his hips.” Hence this will be the fruit of his work among us. This will be our fruit too, justice and faithfulness.

By St. Paul’s letter to the Romans 15:4-9 what is revealed to us is, ‘ENDURANCE AND ENCOURAGEMENT. This will enable us to produce the fruit of justice and faithfulness. St. Paul continues, “Welcome one another , then, as Christ welcomed you, for the glory of God.” In the most practical situations of life this should be our fruit, that without any discrimination we must welcome one another for the glory of God.

The holy Gospel according to St. Matthew 3:1-12 says, “Produce good fruit as evidence of our repentance,” so that we will be “gathered as good wheat in into his barn(heaven)”. What an assurance from our Lord, of our entry straight into heaven. Some people are afraid of having some time in purgatory. But here Jesus is assuring straight entry into His barn which is heaven, if we produce always good fruit as evidence of our repentance.