1. Solemnity of Corpus Christi
    (The Most Holy Body and Blood of our Lord Jesus Christ): Year C

    Gn 14:18-20,
    Ps 110:1, 2, 3, 4,
     1 Cor 11:23-26,
     Lk 9:11b-17

    Living a Eucharistic life: Forgiveness, Reconciliation, and Sacrifice.


    Beloved in Christ, I have a question for you. What is the most important thing in your life? What is the one thing that you cannot live without? If you posed that question to the early Christians, do you know the response they gave? The Eucharist. They would rather die than to miss any opportunity to celebrate the Eucharist or live a Eucharistic life. Today, we celebrate the most important gift that Christ has given to us, His MOST PRECIOUS BODY AND BLOOD, His life. 
    In our first reading today, we hear the story of Abraham and Melchizedek, who is described as a king of Salem, which means peace. The background to that story is that Abraham had had some problems with his nephew Lot and the two of them had gone their separate ways. After some time, Abraham heard that his nephew, Lot, had been captured in a war by some kings of Canaan. When he heard that, Abraham forgave his nephew, put his own life on the line, and went to fight to rescue his nephew. It was after this sacrifice, forgiveness, and reconciliation that Melchizedek, the priest, met with him and gave Abraham bread and wine, a prefiguration of the Holy Eucharist. In other words, what Abraham offered to God was what he had already lived out in his daily life.
    In our second reading St. Paul reminds us of how our God, in the Eucharist, forgives us, reconciles with us, sacrifices his life for us even when we do not deserve it, and commands us to do the same for others. Beloved, the Will of Jesus is that his disciples do not just celebrate the Eucharist, but that we also live the Eucharist. This is what he meant by “Do this”. Jesus did not say: “receive this” but “DO THIS” and the “doing” means not just celebrating; but also living the Eucharist. Our gospel today reminds us that a Eucharistic life is a life of obedience. The people who were fed were people who had first listened to his voice. Beloved, it is our obedience to God’s will that makes our celebration of the Eucharist pleasing to Him.
    The question I have been asking myself today is “as a priest, am I just celebrating the Eucharist or am I really living a Eucharistic life? Can people summarize my life in those three elements of a Eucharistic life: Forgiveness, Reconciliation, and Sacrifice?.
    Forgiveness & Reconciliation: Beloved, we all have people in our families who have offended us. May be it is your husband, your wife, your sister, your brother, your children, your parents, co-workers etc. Are you ready to forgive them too?
    Sacrifice: Here in the USA, this weekend is Memorial Day weekend. We remember those who laid down their lives so that we, as a nation, will have life and peace. Beloved, these men and women did not think only about their comfort and what feels good to them. They thought about us; they thought about the comfort and peace of future generations, those yet unborn. Let’s us honor them by also thinking about future generations in the way we make decisions and act. We should not think only about our comfort today and make laws and do things that will destroy the world for future generations. Christ put us first! These veterans put us first. Can we also put others first? May it be so!


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  2. 5th Sunday of Easter- Year C
    Act 14:21-27
    Ps. 145
    Rev. 21:1-5
    Jn. 13:31-33a, 34-35


    Help People To Experience A New Heaven And A New Earth!

    Beloved in Christ,  in our second readings of last week and today St. John tells us " God will wipe away every tear from their eyes", a condition of life when all types of suffering especially ones caused by separation from God are no more. This is the vision of the Christian life. This is the quality of life that St. John talks about when he describes his vision in which he saw a new earth that looked like heaven. A new heaven where human beings, who were once enemies of God, have become his friends and are sitting at a banquet with God; a new earth where the will of God is done as it is in heaven. A new earth where human beings allows God to be part of their thoughts and actions to the extent that their actions become redemptive and salvific. 

    Establishing this new heaven and new earth is not only God's responsibility but also that of all disciples of Christ. It is the extent to which we allow God to enter people's lives through us that He can wipe away the tears from their eyes. This requires us to offer our very lives to God and His people even when it calls for suffering. That is what St. Luke means when he tells us in the first reading of today "it is necessary for us to go through suffering in order to enter the kingdom of God". The kingdom of God that St. Luke is talking about is not only heaven but also a new way of living here on earth, a radical way of showing God's love and mercy for human beings to feel that God is with them; and experiencing that compassionate love of God they surrender their lives to Him.

    Beloved, the second reading reminds us that wiping away the tear from people's eyes requires entering into their lives to walk with them and share in their suffering and joys. That is how Paul and Barnabas understood the suffering and persecution they suffered for the sake of the Gentiles. Jesus reminds in the gospel that it is only through an "incarnational spirituality", i. e, entering into the messy situations in people's lives and walking with them out of the pain and the mess that we can wipe away the tears from their eyes and help them experience a new heaven and a new earth. May God give us the wisdom and the courage to do so! Amen!
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  3. 4th Sunday of Easter-Year C
    Act 13:14, 43-52
    Ps. 100
    Rev. 7:14-17
    Jn. 10:27-30

    With God, things don’t fall apart; they fall in place

    Beloved in Christ, last year I was in Florida for a conference. I stayed in a hotel, which was very close to a Baptist Church. After Mass, I decided to take a nap in the afternoon but the sound of the music and prayers from the Church was so loud that I could not sleep. So I decided I would rather go and join them to worship if they would not allow me to sleep :-). After the worship, which lasted about two and half hours, I decided to introduce myself to the pastor and learn more about his church. He shared some inspiring story with me. He told me he spent 7 years in prison for a crime that he did not commit. The first three years he was very angry and frustrated with God for allowing this to happen to him; but at a point in time he decided to ask God “what do you want to do with me for bringing me here?” He did not receive any immediate answers but it was in prison that he received the desire to become a pastor. When he came out of prison he joined a church and after 15 years became the head pastor. For the past 10 years he has help about 300 drug addicts to overcome their problems and turn their lives over to Christ. Four of them have also become pastors. What really surprised me was when he said the best thing that has ever happened to him was the time he spent in prison. My conversation with this pastor reminded me of what one philosopher by name Soren Kierkegard once said that we must live our lives looking forward; but we can only understand our lives looking backward.
    Our scriptural readings today remind us that when you use a Christian perspective to look at events of your life, you come to realize that with God things don’t fall apart; they fall in place.  That is how St. Paul and Barnabas understood the suffering and persecution they suffered for the sake of the Gentile.  It was not because they had committed any sin or made any bad decision in their lives; it was for the sake of others; their suffering was just so that the Gentiles will come to realize that they are also the Children of God. St. John, in the second reading, reminds us that leading others to the kingdom can at times be as difficult as washing a rode white in blood. Can you imagine that? But when it comes to the salvation of souls, every suffering is worth it. The good news is that Jesus assures as in the gospel that he will not allow us to be crushed. He will always be there to make sure that things that seem to be falling apart fall in place.
    Beloved, the readings teach us that life is not so much about what we can do for God, but rather what we allow God to do with us. We all go through situations in our lives that humanly speaking might not make any sense to us. But God always has a bigger picture so do interpret your suffering only in relation to your life. Place it in the bigger picture of salvation history; and even if it does not make sense now, lets live our lives looking forward. Someday when we look backward, we will come to understand that things were not falling apart; they were falling in place.

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  4. 5th Sunday of Lent-Year C

    Isaiah 43:16-21
    Psalm 126
    Phil 3.8-14
    John 8:1-11

    God Is Not A Memory; He Is A Presence!!!
    Beloved in Christ, in Christian theology, we believe that God speaks through words and events of Jesus’ life as recorded in the Scriptures and traditions of the church. We also believe that God speaks through human experience, the events of our daily lives, as disciples of Christ. When we gather at Mass and any sacramental celebration, we celebrate not just the memory of what God has done, but most importantly the presence of God in our lives here and now. If we don't take care we can celebrate God and actually treat him as a memory rather than a presence. We can reduce our rituals into remembering what Christ did 2016 years ago and not see how God is living these realities in our own daily lives. As we get closer to the celebration of the passion of the Lord, the readings remind us God is not a memory; He is a presence! And that our celebrations should not focus only on what God has done in the past, but also on how we allow him to live these mysteries in our own lives today.
    Our first reading today reminds us that God is not a memory; He is a presence. The people of Israel were in exile in Babylon and life was extremely difficult for them. They had lost everything in their lives, become slaves, prayed for almost seventy years, and the situation seems to get worse. They had given up all hope in the future and all they were doing was taking consolation in the memory of the past, the “good old days” when God delivered their ancestors from Egypt, divided the sea for them, and brought them back to their won land. They focused so much on the past that they were missing what God was doing in the moment.  As they focused on the past, God reminded them that He is not God only of the past; he is also God of the present and the future. Beloved, it was only when the people listened and paid attention to the their present situation that they came to realize that God was providing a solution to their problem through the pagan king, Cyrus. It was only when they started seeking God in their present situation that they came to realize that Cyrus was not an enemy but a friend God was giving them to set them free and help them return to their own land.
    In the gospel, Jesus reminds us that, as his disciples, it is our calling to do all we can to overcome suffering and all forms of injustice in life. However, as we fight to restore the world into the paradise that God created it to be, we should look for the presence of God in every suffering. In that way we will experience God not as a memory but as a presence! It is easy to say God died for me 2000 years ago than to say Christ is suffering with me right now. When we seek Christ in suffering, we receive strength to overcome and bring new life even into the most hopeless situation. Jesus teaches the woman in our gospel today that she should not settle for any unjust treatment that society brings her. She should fight to overcome that. However, the only way she can succeed in this fight is to keep her eye fixed on Christ and know that Christ is suffering with her. If we don’t look for God in suffering we will miss the real solution to our problem. I am sure the woman had heard of God as a God who cares and saves; but it was only when she decided to remain with Christ at a point where she could have just left, like her accusers had done, that she felt the presence of the God even in her suffering.
    St. Paul in the second reading reminds us that life can really be tough; life can be a difficult race at times. There are ups and downs, success and failures. Things do not always go as we pray and hope for. St. Paul says in good and bad times he keeps his eyes on Christ because only Christ has the power to make things new, to bring good out of evil. Beloved in Christ, Do you take time to look for God good and bad times? If you do, you will come to realize that God will make a way even when there seems to be no way!
























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