32 Sunday Nov.12 Prepare

We often hear  speculations about end time from people and religious leaders. You may remember this, before the beginning of the new millennium 2000 there were speculations from preachers of different religious organisations that the world will come to an end in the year 2000.  September 27th was the latest end time prophecy, but world didn’t end in September 27th. We are all alive! Congratulations! 

For many people it is scary to hear it, but as Christians we must live constantly aware of the end time. For us, Catholics end time must be exciting thing because it is the time where we will be uniting with Christ. We regularly pray in the prayer our father- thy kingdom come, usually we don’t mean it. 

We hear in today’s gospel about the end time, not knowing this hour, jesus asks us to be prepared.

Today we are presented with an interesting series of readings which related with wisdom, end time and judgment. In the first reading from the book of Wisdom, we find an exhortation to seek the gift of wisdom and to practice it faithfully. What is wisdom. Wisdom is different from knowledge. The book of wisdom says, wisdom is the perfection of prudence. We may have  knowledge but may be lacking wisdom. Whenever I need to compare knowledge and wisdom, tv show Big Bang theory comes to my mind. Character Sheldon of the Big Bang theory has knowledge but has no wisdom. 

We have to pray to Holy sport to give us wisdom and understanding. 

The second reading, from Saint Paul’s First Letter to the Thessalonians. The early church was waiting for the second coming of Christ. And the people of Thessalonica expected Christ to return before the present generation had passed and they expected Jesus coming and carry them to heaven. As the waiting time is lagging, they were concerned that some of their loved ones had already passed away. Paul tells them not be shaken, be hopeful, whenever Christ returns both the living and the dead will share in the resurrection. Paul’s Christian wisdom and the hope lifts up the Thessalonians’ worried spirits. Hope remains the same after 2000 years after, we are also expected to wait. And we have to wait with wisdom and prudence.

How do we wait? That is the question addressed by Jesus' parable for today. 

The ten virgins, five wise and five foolish, are attendants at a wedding banquet, responsible to greet the groom when he arrives. When the groom arrives much later than expected, the five foolish virgins are left without enough oil for their lamps. 

The wise virgins were well prepared to welcome the bridegroom with enough oils in their lamps; the foolish virgins were ill-prepared and did not make adequate preparation to welcome the bridegroom.

The story tells us, while we wait for the second coming of the Lord, we should keep our lamps stocked with oil, that is to say, we should pray,  love, do the works of mercy, and keep vigil. Oil stands for our good works. In doing so, we are ready for the arrival of the Bridegroom.

The lamp reminds us there are three categories of Christians:

 THOSE WHOSE LIGHTS SHINE BRIGHTLY:

Some Christians have their lamps shining very brightly and everyone can see that light. Those whose lights are shining brightly are those who are constantly aware that they are in the world but not of the world; these set of Christians are very focussed in their love of God and neighbour and are willing to use all that they have for the promotion of God’s kingdom in the world. In addition, they see each day as God’s special gift and as the last day, which they have on earth.

THOSE WHOSE LIGHTS ARE DIM: There are those whose lamps are very dim. The light is burning but the light is so weak that it is difficult to tell whether it is extinguished or still burning. This set of Christians are baptised, made their First Holy Communion, confirmed and wedded in the Church but they do not practice their faith actively and so their lives are dominated so much by material things. There is very little faith in this set of Christians who come to God only when they are in trouble. Their love for the material world is much stronger than their love for spiritual growth. Such people sometimes, wait for the eleventh hour before they begin making preparations for heaven. However, not all of them are lucky enough to reach the 11th hour, as some would breathe their last at the 10th hour. This is the reason why Jesus says stay awake for you do not know the day or the hour.

THOSE WITHOUT OIL:

Finally, there are people whose lamps have no oil and whose light is completely extinguished. They are people who were once Christians but presently they do not believe in anything outside the material world and to make matters worse, some of them have turned out to be anti-Christians – challenging the message of Jesus and supporting anti- Christian ideologies and all forms of occultisms. For these set of people, the parable of being ready and prepared for life after death makes no sense and the challenge of keeping their lamps burning is meaningless. It was Mother Teresa who said: ‘To keep a lamp burning, we must continue to put oil in it.

The virgins represent the Church who are waiting for Christ second coming. The bridegroom is Christ. The delay of the bridegroom is delay of the second coming. The closing of the door is judgement. 

It also warns that there are certain things that we cannot obtain last minute. A good relationship with God, merits from good deeds. We may think we can obtain this after turning 90 years, or after retirement. No, you can’t.

As we live out the days of late autumn and look ahead to Advent, let us prepare ourselves by seeking the gift of wisdom so as to have no fear of death or judgement, and to live ever more joyfully the life we have at present, in firm hope of the life to come. Let us be sure our lamps are ready for the end of our lives.

Fr. John Pozhathuparambil

24th Sunday Sept. 17Challenge of the day is forgive

This is a real story. As a preparation for my ordination in 2001, I was reflecting and spending time near a river, very close to my home. I had an epiphany moment where I realized I had an unforgiveness in my heart. It was to my superior of my formation program. God was telling me, John, how can you forgive others in the confessional without forgiving your own superior? How can you receive God's forgiveness without forgiving others? That was an aha moment for me. That day I did forgive my superior. Let me tell you, I enjoyed freedom that night and this decision gave me happiness in the future.  

The Gospel that just heard is about parable of two debtors; the first gets pardon from his master for all his huge debts. Shortly afterwards, he run in to someone who owed him a little debt, but he was unable to be merciful.  He failed to share his master's mercy with others. 

As you hear my homily, somebody may be coming to your mind, whom you need to forgive and you have difficulty to forgive. 

Peter asks jesus, how many times I should forgive, Jesus says, infinite time. We can't keep unforgiveness and be Christian. Forgiveness is core of Christian life.

Forgiveness is based on simple logic: If God has forgiven us, we have to forgive others. God has forgiven many of our faults and sins. If we don't forgive, we become prisoners of our own unforgiveness. Cross is the powerful symbol of forgiveness. Today we look at the Cross, how much suffering, hatred Jesus went through but he did  forgive everyone. Looking at the Cross how can possibly keep unforgiveness? 

Jesus teaches us through this parable that by forgiving someone I am assuring God that I am a good person and I am worthy of His forgiveness. 

We are celebrating Mass and the theme of forgiveness is expressed in few places. The first instance of forgiveness is in the General confession of sin which begins the Mass. asking - Lord have mercy, Christ have mercy. 

The second instance where forgiveness shows up is in the Nicene Creed: “We acknowledge one baptism for the forgiveness of sins.”

The third instance of forgiveness in the Mass is during what is called the Words of Institution. Holding the prepared Chalice, the priest repeats the words of Our Lord: “Take this, all of you, and drink from it, for this is the chalice of my Blood,

the Blood of the new and eternal covenant,which will be poured out for you and for many for the forgiveness of sins".

The fourth and final plain instance is in the Our Father prayer: “And forgive us our trespasses, as we forgive those who trespass against us.” Here we it's our turn to forgive others because God has for given our sins in the Mass or in the confession. 

Dear brothers and sisters, forgiveness is central theme of Christian life. We can't be Christians keeping unforgiveness. 

Pope francis speaks about 3 words that we should repeat in our lives. Sorry, excuse me( may I) , and love you. These words will help us constantly live in good relationships. 

Whatever unforgiveness you are holding today in your hearts, forgive and get free. How can we not forgive someone when God has forgiven all our faults? Challenge of the day is to forgive someone. I invite you to the freedom that comes from forgiveness. God bless!

22 Sunday - Where are you going?

There is an ancient legend about Saint Peter, which became the basis for a famous book and motion picture. At the time of the great persecution under Nero, the Christians of Rome asked Peter to leave and find his safety! Peter hurried out of town as fast as he could. On the Appian Way, he met Jesus Christ who was going toward Rome. Peter asked him in Latin, "Quo vadis, Domine?" "Where are you going, Lord?" To which Jesus replied, "Back to Rome, to be crucified with my people. Jesus asked peter, Where are you going, Peter?"  Peter realized that he is running away from suffering. He turned and walked back to Rome, where, according to tradition, he was crucified head downward, feeling that he was not worthy to die in the same manner as had his Lord. Jesus' question to Peter comes to us also. "Where are you going?" 

And this question must echo in our lives as we hear the Gospel today. Where are you going? We may be going away from God and  we may be running away from Cross and suffering.

If you remember last week Gospel, Jesus asks the disciples who Do you say that I am? Peter says, Jesus you are the Messiah, the Son of God. And Jesus was happy and told Peter, you are the rock up on which I will build my Church. In today’s Gospel, Jesus realized that although he taught  about suffering, his disciples were not attentive on his class. They were thinking of a conquering Messiah, a warrior king, who would sweep the Romans from Palestine and lead Israel to power. Peter got a bad grade from Jesus for not understanding the idea of a suffering Messiah. It was then that Jesus rebuked him, "Get behind me, Satan,” 

I do not know about you but many times I am like Peter. I do not see the things in the way God wants to see, but things in the way I want to see. Like Peter, I too miss Jesus' mission sometimes. I fail to see God in my sufferings. What I like about this story is God still loves Peter. Who Jesus called go behind Satan later leads the church. It's amazing story. 

After correcting Peter, Jesus declares three conditions for his disciples: 1) deny yourself 2) take up your cross and 3) follow me. 

1) To “deny” yourself means to say “No” to yourself and “Yes” to God. Someone hurts us, our natural reaction is to lash back, to get angry. But the path of discipleship is “not my will but yours.” It is humbly submitting my will to God’s will. Instead of getting angry, we realize that God is calling us to forgive even our enemies. When Jesus was praying in the garden, he said to God his Father, “Not my will but yours be done.” It is what millions of Christians have prayed for centuries when they repeat what we call the “Lord’s Prayer.” “Your will be done, on earth as it is in heaven”( Matthew 6:10).

 2) Carrying the cross means, follow him during the trial and suffering.  Following Jesus is easy when life runs smoothly; our true commitment to Him is revealed during trials. I remember a story after an earthquake in India years ago. A survivor was asked, are you sad about the situation? He said, I am not sad, God gave my life back to save people who are trapped inside buildings. He was following the Cross in his suffering. He was turning his suffering into love. 

Remember, many saints struggled with Cross, they gave up, but they took energy again to Carey the Cross. We may be running away from the Cross and life of discipleship. The story of peter gives us energy that God, with his grace, we can change our lives. God can transform our weakness into strength. Even when I mess up, God can still use me.  God can be glorified even if we are week.

Finally Jesus asks- Follow Me!” Jesus said these words to 12 men, 2,000 years ago .... and it changed the world! Today, you are given the same invitation: “Follow Me. Following Jesus means that, as disciples of Christ, we should live our lives according to the word of God by obeying Jesus' commandment of love 24/7. The decision to follow Jesus can change the world.

Fr. John Pozhathuparambil

July 30th 17th week Jesus is the treasure

If someone asks me how I became Franciscan friar? I give whole credit to my grandpa. He was a secular Franciscan. He passed away the year I was joining the seminary. He used to take me every to the church, especially during vacation time. 

In India every house has a prayer room or a place for prayer. Usually in that place or room, there will be picture or statue of sacred heart, Mother Mary. It's a must. My brother recently renovated his home and spent $ 600 for prayer place in his home. I shouldn't have asked this, but I inquired him, why do you spend that much money for a prayer place? He said, yes, without God's blessing I wouldn't have a life like this. God must be given importance in home.

And in the same way my grandpa's home has a prayer place as well. In the prayer place, I grew up seeing a picture of St. Francis. I didn't know who he is but the picture fascinated me. It was a picture where St. Francis stepping on the globe and embracing Jesus. One day, after church I asked my grandpa. Grandpa, who is that on the picture? What does the picture mean? I remember grandpa told me. That's St. Francis of Assisi, a great humble Saint. He left everything in his life to hold on to the great treasure in the world- Jesus Christ the crucified. You are seeing in the pictures St. Francis embracing the great treasure- Jesus.

Yes. I was learning about St. Francis for the first time. Then I learned,  he started a religious life with 10 friars and later so many people followed him, and he became an icon of love for nature, love for poor and love for Jesus. And the world changed because of this humble man of Assisi. I believe it's my grandpa who inspired me to become a Franciscan. At the age of 4or 5 my grandpa planted a seed in me. If you are a grandma or grandpa who is listening to me, please don't forget you inspire your grandchildren, may be more than parents.

Yes, St. Francis was leaving everything that he had, wealth, business, dream to become a knight, everything to follow the great treasure that's Jesus. I can't think of any other Saint than St. Francis to explain today's parable. 

I found a special way in my life to treasure Jesus by giving up my dreams of having a family, wife, children, dream job. I renounced these things for the great treasure, Jesus. It doesn't mean that you have to renounce everything like me. But each one of us has to find our own ways to treasure Jesus in our lives. And as we hear these parables, we have to reflect, how we treasure Jesus in our daily lives? How we value heavenly treasures? 

In today's parables both farmer and merchant sells everything to buy what's precious- the treasure. And we all know the treasure and pearl mentioned in the parable is Jesus himself. World is the field. We are the farmer or merchant. We have many things that's not of Jesus in the world. The choice is ours. If we treasure Jesus we will be part of the kingdom of a God. 

Both merchant and farmer  gave up everything in order to have this treasure. Today as we hear the Gospel we have to find out What we have to give up to have a life with Jesus. It may be attachments, may be addiction, sins. 

Close your eyes, let us say this prayer: 

"Lord Jesus, reveal to me the true riches of your kingdom. Help me to set my heart on you alone as the treasure beyond compare with any other. Free my heart of any inordinate desires or attachment to other things that I may freely give to you all that I have in joy and gratitude for all that you have given to me. May I always find joy and delight in your presence."

Fr. John Pozhathuparambil

July 9 Come to me..

We are living in a world of stress. I do not know what stress are you right now going through, what burdens you are carrying right now. It may be a death that recently happened in your family, sickness, old age, fear of loosing Job, financial crisis, children and grandchildren not growing to your expectations. There are overwhelming list of things. We have created most advanced technologies to ease our stress. Smart phones, faster cars, gadgets, faster kitchen equipments. But do they really ease our stress? When we look at the news and television we fear about terrorism, war and violence, hatred. Some people have stopped reading news and watching television. 

Among all these stress, burdens, and bad news, today, we have just heard very relaxing words from Jesus, Come to me, all you who labor and are burdened, and I will give you rest. 

Jesus has set us an example on the Cross to follow. Look at Jesus on the cross. Every part of his body is in pain, he is thirsty, he can't breath, the worst kind of suffering that human being has seen. But Jesus says in all those suffering , Lord, in to your hands God I commend my spirit.  And theologians say Jesus died as a child sleeping in the hand of a father. Yes, Jesus has set us an example. Whatever stress you have in your life, you can rest in his hands as he rested in His father's hand. 

When I was a seminarian my superior asked my two classmates and myself to wait one more year to be ordained as subdeacons. We were so angry, why he is asking us to wait, it was a humiliation for us. We thought of leaving the seminary. I shared with one of our elderly friar that I am leaving. This friar passed away when he was 41. He listened me, and said, John leave seminary within a week, but right now go to the chapel and share your pain with Jesus. I did because he asked me to do. And dear brothers and sisters I spent an hour in the chapel, that was most relaxing, I accepted the decision of my superior. I changed my mind. If not you wouldn't have seen me here. Many times we do not see the beautiful peace and rest that Jesus has prepared for us. 

When you are burdened it's not alcohol, drugs  that give you peace, it's our Jesus who gives you peace. When you are in sin, don't be depressed, Jesus is there to forgive our sins and give us rest and peace. Jesus says each one of this morning, Come to me, all you who labor and are burdened, and I will give you rest. Let us try to live peacefully with the peace Jesus is giving us. 

Fr. John Pozhathuparambil

July 2nd Love Jesus more than anything

When I was a child pastors, parents, teachers always reminded me love your parents, love your parents. And that was very important thing to follow. And today's Gospel says, Whoever loves father or mother more than me is not worthy of me. When I read this passage  in my childhood, I couldn't understand what does it mean. I was confused. I read again and again. Let me be frank, I didn't understand. Is Jesus asking to hate parents? I was confused again. I asked one of my religious teachers. She said, John, to understand this passage you have to understand Jesus' time. When Jesus started his ministry, we are talking about 2000 years ago, many people started following him. This created confusion among many family members. Take example of a family: Mother started following Jesus, then her husband and children started hating her for following Jesus. The house became divided. So in that situation, Jesus wanted to encourage his people to love Jesus more than parents, children or siblings. 

This is the reason Jesus says, Whoever loves father or mother more than me is not worthy of me, and whoever loves son or daughter more than me is not worthy of me. Jesus is not saying hate parents, children or siblings. Jesus is saying give preference to him when you come across the matter between God and relationships. We all know if we really love Jesus, it's natural that we will live our parents, siblings, children. 

Opting for Jesus, preferring Jesus more than anything is still a challenge today. You might be experiencing this in your work place, family. You must be experiencing hatred from family, friends, colleagues and society for loving Jesus. 

We have friar priest named Manilal Christian. He was a Hindu, he must be the only Hindu I know who became a catholic priest, and he knew Jesus when he was in high school. He left the family to join the Franciscans. His family didn't like him doing this. They thought he is betraying their faith. But he was strong. He is still with us, he is guardian of our provincial house. He preferred Jesus more than his parents and siblings. 

I remember another story of a father of a Franciscan priest. He has two sons and one of them came to USA for work and he realized Jesus's calling him. He left job and joined capuchin franciscans. This priest's father was managing a  bar attached restaurant - serves alcohol. Alcohol is a social evil in India. Many of our men is alcoholic and abuse their family. It's so heartbreaking to see it. This man made much money from selling alcohol, and he was rich in his town. As his son's ordination date approached, he sold the bar attached restaurant. He said Jesus is more worthy than making money. Jesus is worthier than anything else in the life. 

If we really love Jesus, we may have to make choices like this. That's known as the cost of our discipleship.  Today let us reflect how much preference are we giving to Jesus. Are we taking challenges to love Jesus. Are we taking our crosses to follow Jesus? 

Fr. John Pozhathuparambil

June 18- Corpus Christi

Happy Father’s day!

I was reading an article about family life. The article speaks about three tables in family life. The first table is the Altar where we celebrate Eucharist as divine family, second table is dining table where the whole family shares their life as human family and third one is bed where husband and wife share their love. The article concludes with a recommendation that we must approach these three tables with respect and due importance. Do not clutter your dining table, make it clean. If you are not faithful to your spouse stop it.

 Today we are celebrating the first table where we receive life from Jesus in the form precious body and blood. Church calls it feast of Corpus Christy.

In the book of Genesis, we read our problems started with a bad meal of our first parents. By eating a fruit from a forbidden tree, they lost paradise, they became sick, they lost relationship with God.  When Jesus came to the world, he regained it, he reestablished a meal. Jesus took bread, he broke it and gave it to his disciples, saying, "Take and eat; this is my body." Then he took a cup, he gave it to them, saying, "Drink from it, all of you. And this meal give us life, life in abundance, and a close relationship with God. 

If you have read any stories of pilgrims and pilgrimages, we know that they carry with them a bag of food for their Journey. In Sanskrit, it’s called padheyam- food for feet. As Catholics, we believe we are pilgrims on earth until we reach our destiny. During this pilgrimage, we need spiritual nourishment. And it is the Eucharist, the body and blood of Christ that gives us strength and life. When we are in sickness, sadness we know that Eucharist is the place to go for comfort and care. Today we must thank God for this wonderful meal that God is preparing for us on this altar. There is Spanish saying, ‘bread and wine will take you to your destiny’. Yes, this precious body and blood of Jesus will take us to the destiny. Jesus says in today’s gospel "I am the living bread that came down from heaven; whoever eats this bread will live forever; and the bread that I will give is my flesh for the life of the world." Dear brothers and sisters when we are spiritually down, when we are spiritually sick, remember God has given us this great healing medicine- Eucharist.

A young student asked a priest: "Why are you a Catholic?"

The priest answered: "Because of the Resurrection." The student pressed the question: "That explains why you are a Christian, but why are you a Catholic?" 

"Because of the Eucharist," he replied. Yes, EUCHARIST makes us different from other Christians, we believe in the Eucharist, the real presence of Jesus in the wine and bread priest consecrate.

During the Eucharist a big miracle happens. Theologians call it as transubstantiation. Which means the conversion of the substance of the Eucharistic elements into the body and blood of Christ at consecration. We have crucifix in the church, when we look at the crucifix we see the image of Jesus but his presence may not be there. If we look at the bread that priest consecrate we may not see the image of Jesus but he is really present in the bread. That’s why we always light a lamp near the tabernacle and we receive the Eucharist with due preparation and reconciliation. Pope John Paul second who was so much devoted to Eucharist said, “in the Sacrament of the Eucharist the Saviour, who took flesh in Mary’s womb twenty centuries ago, continues to offer himself to humanity as the source of divine life". Jesus lives among us in the form of precious body and blood.

This feast, feast of precious body and blood must be celebrated in our lives. How? In the old testament sacrifice they offered first fruits, it can be grain, fruits, lamb.. When we see the sacrifice in the new testament we see Jesus offering himself on the cross. Here the offer and the offered is the same person.  What does it mean? It means we cannot separate our lives from the Eucharist. We have to be offer and offering.

 Eucharist become meaningful when we offer ourselves to others, to our children, parents, spouse and those who need us.  Life with Eucharist is personal. Eucharist never ends here in the church; Jesus wants to take him to others. A priest said Eucharist become like an ornament, we wear it on Sunday and remove it for the rest of the week. This cannot be that way. Our communion must transform in to love, if not the celebration of Eucharist is useless. Remember the first thing Mary did after consuming Jesus, she went and helped her cousin Elizabeth. That’s the best example what we should do after communion.  Mother Tereasa of Calcutta and her sisters daily spend one hour in front of the Eucharist before they went to the street to help people. As a conclusion of my homily, I leave to questions to reflect: how much I love the Eucharist? Am I turning receiving Jesus’ body and blood in to love?

Fr. John Pozhathuparambil OFMConv.

June 11 Pentecost

Pentecost

It’s a joyful day in the church because on this day of Pentecost, we commemorate the birth of the Church. This Celebration of Pentecost brings us to the joyful conclusion of the Easter season. 

Today’s scripture tells us what had happened on the day of day of Pentecost. The Holy Spirit descended upon the apostles and the Blessed Virgin Mary as flaming tongues. The frightened apostles were transformed into flaming preachers and were given the gift of tongues by a special anointing of the Holy Spirit. The listeners experienced a fresh anointing of the Holy Spirit through the apostles’ gift of tongues and some speaking in their native languages. And the early Christians became powerful witnesses and brave martyrs for their Faith in Jesus.

Holy Spirit has given ten gifts in our life. Everyday the Holy Spirit enlightens us with these special gifts. Those ten gifts are the three gifts that we received at our Baptism, namely faith, hope and charity and the seven gifts we received at our Confirmation namely wisdom, understanding, counsel, fortitude, knowledge, piety and fear of the Lord.

We need to remember again those ten gifts on this feast day. The gift of faith allows us to see the invisible in the visible world.  Hope gives us the ability to trust in God who is our Father.  Charity provides us with the grace that we need to love God and to love our neighbor.

Wisdom detaches us from the things of this world and causes us to desire only the things of Heaven.  The gift of understanding helps us to penetrate the truths of our Catholic Faith.  Counsel enables us to see and choose correctly those actions that will help us give glory to God and ensure our own eternal salvation. Fortitude gives us the strength to overcome those obstacles our life on. The gift of knowledge shows us the path to follow and alerts us to the dangers that we must avoid in order to attain eternal life in Heaven. 

Piety enlightens us with a tender and filial confidence in God and allows us to joyfully embrace our discipleship with Christ. Finally, the gift of fear of the Lord fills us with a deep respect for God and makes us fear anything that may offend him.

What is the role of the Holy Spirit in our Christian life:  As an indwelling God, He makes us His Living Temples. As a strengthening God, He strengthens us in our fight against temptations.  As a sanctifying God, He makes us holy through the Sacraments:  He makes us children of God and heirs of Heaven through Baptism. He makes us temples of God, warriors and defenders of the Faith, through Confirmation. c) He enables us to be reconciled with God by pardoning our sins through the Sacrament of Reconciliation.  He gives us spiritual nourishment through the Holy Eucharist. As a teaching God, He clarifies and constantly reminds us of Christ’s teachings. As a listening and talking God, He listens to our prayers and enables us to pray. 

 Dear brothers and sisters, on this Pentecost we need to open our hearts to the action of the Holy Spirit in our lives. How this can happen in our life? We need to permit the Holy Spirit to take control of our lives by constantly remembering His holy presence and by praying for His daily anointing so that we may fight against our temptations and addictions. We need to ask the help of the Holy Spirit to do good for others and to be reconciled with God and others every day. In this Eucharistic celebration we shall pray to the Holy Spirit to abide so powerfully in our hearts that our souls so that we would wake up to his presence.

May 8th Good Shepherd

There are many animals in the world to compare us with but why Jesus compared us with sheep and goats? He could have compared us with horses, very fast and powerful or any other powerful and intelligent animals. The reason I found from few readings, sheep and goats are a kind of dumbest and frail animals. Sorry, It's not a judgement. You might have noticed no goat or sheep is an item in the circus. Another thing, they are very slow to detect danger. Because of this reason, they easily submit themselves to the enemy. They eat whatever they see and get sick.  Jesus realized we are spiritual life is this way; dumbest and frail. We are very weak and frail in our spiritual life. We are tempted and attacked by devil very easily. 

I remember last lent, I made a resolution to abstain from ice-cream and let me confess, I failed at least four times. I know I have given up ice cream for lent by my heart but very weak to follow it strongly. 

This must be the story of many of us during past lent. Look at the times you were tempted by the devil, sometimes very easily, right? A phone call, beautiful face, smell.. Devil is there to destroy our happiness and joy. He tempts us with the things we see most beautiful and charming. That is why St. Francis asks God, why did you create temptations so beautiful and delicious( Novel God's Pauper).

Jesus knows our spiritual nature and explains the need of God for our spiritual health with an analogy of sheep and shepherd.  In those times where bible is written Shepherd is a term used to show a person with kindness, love and compassion. What Jesus is trying to say in this parable is, he is the good shepherd who knows us by name and he is the one who gives us life abundantly. And Jesus knows our life will be terrible without him. 

We had a monkey sweetie-we got her abandoned on the street when she was 3 months old.  One day she run away from her home and what worried all of us is that how she is going to get food? Is she going to survive? Any animal is going to attack her. We knew that she can't survive without us. But we find in the night she knocking at one of the friars room. You might have gone through similar pain when you lost your dog or pet. We know that they cannot survive without us. 

Dear brothers and sisters, the story of sheep and shepherd teaches us that we can't live without Jesus. Our life will be in danger without him. We will be spiritually sick without Jesus. 

We have seen the image Jesus carrying the lamb on his shoulder. This image explains the relationship that Jesus wants to build with us. If we look closer in the picture we can see how compassionately Jesus carries the lamb. How safe the lamb feels. When we are danger and loose ourselves let this image help us to trust in Jesus the good shepherd. And when we loose ourselves in sin let the compassionate image of Jesus help you to return to him so that we might have life and have it more abundantly.

Fr. John Pozhathuparambil

April 30th: Way to Emmaus

Today we heard a beautiful story of encountering Christ.

Cricket is the sports in India and cricket players are like “gods. When I arrived in USA in 2010, it was the time of Cricket world cup and India was on the final game. That was “the news” in India, people were so excited and we were thinking all the world is watching India and cricket. As I arrived, I asked the friar who picked me up from the airport, may I know the cricket score. He said yes, let us stop on the way. He stopped at a cricket store where they sell cell phone connections. Then I knew that in America not many people know about the game cricket and not one television channel airs cricket game. This broke my heart. What was so close to my heart, what I thought the whole world knew was not matter in America. This exactly what the disciples felt when they started sharing the resurrection experience. 

Jesus asked them, “What are you discussing together as you walk along?”

One of them, named Cleopas,asked him, “Are you the only one visiting Jerusalem who does not know the things that have happened there in these days?”

“What things?” he asked. This question what things? broke their heart. They realized what matters to them was not a matter to others. And they learned a lesson that this is what Jesus feels when someone says, Jesus is not matter to him or his suffering, crusifixion, death and resurrection not a matter. 

 As they walked further, on their pilgrimage these disciples learned something else in the presence of this stranger that their faith was not deep enough to accept that happened in Jerusalem and they were running away from facing the reality of faith. They thought everything ended with crucifixion of Jesus. They were saddened by the things happened to Jesus. Their eyes were blind folded to see the mystery of faith and to understand risen lord or resurrection. 

We read in the scripture, these two disciples were going from Jerusalem to Emmaus. 

According to the readings Emmaus is a village about seven miles from Jerusalem. It says Emmaus is 7 miles away from Jerusalem but archeologist couldn’t identify were Emmaus is. We do not know where Emmaus is. Emmaus, therefore is a symbolic place; a place of crisis of faith. They were going from Jerusalem ( A place of God’s presence) to Emmaus( a place crisis of faith). It means they were taking a wrong way in the life of faith. 

Who has not experienced in life a moment like this?"  “Sometimes our faith enters into a crisis because of negative experiences and makes us feel abandoned and betrayed by the Lord. 

Today we are also witnessing many people are traveling from Jerusalem to Emmaus, some of them expressing serious doubts about teaching of the church, some due to scandalous behavior of the clergy, some of them left to Emmaus thinking God abandoned them when they had a crisis. We might have travelled from Emmaus or may be right now we are feeling we are on the way to Emmaus. 

After the death of  Mother Teresa of Calcutta, some personal letters were made public in a book. In one of her letters, she wrote an undated address to Jesus, "Where is my Faith - even deep down right in there is nothing, but emptiness & darkness - My God - how painful is this unknown pain - I have no Faith." This letters are shock to many but this was her road to Emmaus. We know she survived her faith by her love for Jesus, scripture and Eucharist. The story of Emmaus suggests that it is possible to encounter the risen Jesus "still today". 

On the way two things help them; Scripture and Eucharist. We read, "So he went in to stay with them. And it happened that, while he was with them at table, he took bread, said the blessing, broke it, and gave it to them. With that their eyes were opened and they recognized him, but he vanished from their sight. In this crisis they knew that they need more Jesus in their life and learn to trust him.

Dear brothers and sisters, the road to Emmaus is a symbol of our journey of faith, in our life time, we may take wrong way of faith, we may have crisis: there are two indispensable elements that Jesus has given to us: the Scriptures and the Eucharist to meet the Lord. 

Pope Benedict says, for these two disciples the road to Emmaus becomes the way of a purification and maturation of our belief in God: the encounter with the risen Christ gives us a deeper faith. In other words our life crisis are to help us to grow in faith. 

We may face or facing  Emmaus experience in our lives we do not need to be stressed out, Jesus can help us. We may not get an answer from human wisdom but Jesus can help us through scripture and Eucharist. 

Pope Benedict says, "Still today, Jesus speaks to us in the Scripture; still today Jesus gives us his Body and his Blood.

Pope Francis says, "This Jesus, he is the Risen Traveller that journeys with us. And Jesus is here today, he is here among us. He is here in his word, is here on the altar, journeying with us,” 

Fr. John Pozhathuparambil

Holy Thursday Eucharist and Priesthood

Today we thank Jesus for giving us the Eucharist and the priesthood. Both the Eucharist and the priesthood “were born” during the Last Supper.  These two sacraments Eucharist and Holy Orders are so closely linked because without the priesthood we would have no Eucharist. 

Priesthood is a great gift that's given by God to humanity and to the church. Think about our faith without these men who have dedicated their lives for the church. Without them we would have missed many things. Francis of Assisi told, If I see an angel and a priest together I will bend my knees to the priest first  and then to the angel. 

We have seen many priests falling from their lives in our life time. We have judged them, criticized them and sometimes hated them. I heard one of the old priests saying, priests are forward players of a soccer team. If you know soccer game, the forward players are the most watched and attacked by the opposition team. It's the same with the church, priests are forward players of the church, they are mostly watched and attacked by the opposition team that's evil. When they fail and if we laugh and celebrate their fail, we are celebrating our own fate. It's like celebrating life while we are attacked. 

I am highlighting priesthood, not because I am a priest but to understand the beauty and gift of priesthood. We need to pray daily for priests and vocation to the priesthood. We as Holy family parishioners should thank for giving us four priests to serve us for a while. And you all know this is a luxury  in Louisville diocese. 

Second, Jesus established Eucharist to be with us. It's culmination of his love. He wanted to be with us in real presence.  He loves us and he doesn't want to be separated from us. And this is a greatest gift to us for spiritual nourishment. 

"while it nourishes us with Christ, the Eucharist which we celebrate transforms us little by little into the body of Christ and spiritual food for our brothers and sisters” says Pope Francis. 

And receiving Eucharist means entering in to sacrificial love of Jesus (that's what we are remembering these days) and become persons of peace, forgiveness, reconciliation and sharing in solidarity. 

Many people are so scared to receive Eucharist. 

Pope Francis says “The Eucharist, although it is the fullness of sacramental life, is not a prize for the perfect but a powerful medicine and nourishment for the weak.”

Let us thank God for these two gifts; gift of Eucharist and priesthood. Let us meditate on God's love; the love He showed even giving his only son on the cross
Fr. John Pozhathuparambil

Sunday April 23 Divine Mercy

In the year 2000 Our Holy Father Pope John Paul declared a new feast, the Feast of Divine Mercy to be celebrated for the first time in 2001 on the Second Sunday of Easter, tomorrow. We usually call it Divine Mercy Sunday on the remembrance of St. Faustina who was privileged to receive apparitions from Jesus emphasizing his mercy. Sr. Faustina was born in Poland in 1905. When she was twenty years old she entered the Sisters of Our Lady of Mercy where she lived for the next thirteen years until her death on October 5th 1938. She was beatified by Pope John Paul II in 1993 and canonized in 2000. When canonizing her Our Holy Father said,

“Today my joy is truly great in presenting the life and witness of Sr. Faustina to the whole Church as a gift of God for our time. In fact, it was between the First and Second World Wars that Christ entrusted his message of mercy to her. Those who remember the events of those years and the horrible sufferings know well how necessary was this message of mercy.”

One of the important vision of Faustina is the picture of Divine Mercy. In February 1931 Sister Faustina saw Jesus dressed in a white garment. Jesus told her to Paint an image according to the vision she see. And in the bottom, Jesus asked her to write: Jesus, I trust in You. In the vision, Jesus held one hand raised in blessing and the other hand touching his garment at the chest as in the picture. From that point in his garment two rays of light emanated, one red and the other pale.

Later Jesus explained, “The two rays denote Blood and Water. The pale ray stands for the Water which makes souls righteous. The red ray stands for the Blood which is the life of souls. These two rays issued forth from the very depths of My tender mercy when My agonized Heart was opened by a lance on the Cross..” (Diary §299)

In the picture, we can see Jesus walking to us. It means Jesus is coming to us with his peace and Mercy. No matter what sins you committed, no matter where you are Jesus is walking to reconcile with you. He comes to you, not in ager but with divine mercy. And what is interesting is that this image is very close to the image of shroud of Turin especially its structure. It’s not just coincidence but it’s the work of God.

Another one is powerful prayer Divine Mercy Chaplet.  A number of times in St. Faustina’s diary we see the power of the Chaplet of Divine Mercy."Say unceasingly this chaplet that I have taught you. Whoever will recite it will receive great Mercy at the hour of death. Even if there were a sinner most hardened, if he were to recite this Chaplet only once, he would receive grace from My infinite mercy. I want the whole world to know My infinite mercy. I desire to grant unimaginable graces to those souls who trust in My Mercy.

And as we celebrate divine Mercy, we are reminded of this mercy we need to show each other in order to avoid another war and its suffering. Today we are reminded about when people are suffering and in pain, we have to bring Christ’s peace to them.

Today we need to ask this question: What does "mercy" mean?

To understanding the meaning of mercy, it will help if we examine its etymology. Our English word, mercy, goes back to the Latin: misericordia, which is composed of two words. "Cordia" is familiar to us from such words as "cardiologist" and "cardiac." It means heart. The first part, "miseri" refers to suffering. Mercy, then, means to have a heart for those who suffer or, more precisely, to have a heart willing to suffer for others.

Today’s gospel we see St. Thomas believes Jesus resurrection by putting his hand in Jesus’s side. This side, this wound is the entire mystery of Christ and of God: his Passion, his earthly life – filled with compassion for the weak and the sick. Pope Francis says, “Being apostles of mercy means touching and soothing the wounds that today afflict the bodies and souls of many of our brothers and sisters.”

“Curing these wounds, we profess Jesus, we make him present and alive; we allow others, who touch his mercy with their own hands, to recognize him as ‘Lord and God.’”

During today’s retreat at Franciscan Kitchen for homeless, om of our students shared this beautiful concept of Mercy, "whenever we sacrifice our time and convenience for others, whether it be family or strangers, we are helping Jesus to spread his mercy. Whenever we care for the poor by feeding them and asking them how their day has been, we are helping Jesus give his mercy. It is in the simple moments when we smile at strangers or offer comforting and supporting words to others that help Jesus spread his mercy".

Ultimately mercy results not so much from human effort as from God's free gift. " During the this time of Easter, we ask God to open our hearts so that we might receive into our hearts his Mercy - his Holy Spirit, so that we will be apostles of Mercy. 

Fr. John Pozhathuparambil