O. T. XXI –B- JOSH 24: 1-2, 15-17, 18; EPH 5: 21-32; JN 6: 60-69

A group of Christians gathered for a secret prayer meeting in Russia, at the height of the persecution of all Christian churches. Suddenly the door was broken by the boot of a soldier. He entered the room and faced the people with a gun in his hand. They all feared the worst. He spoke. "If there’s anyone who doesn’t really believe in Jesus, then, get out now while you have a chance." There was a rush to the door. A small group remained - those who had committed themselves to Jesus, and who were never prepared to run from him. The soldier closed the door after the others, and once again, he stood in front of those who remained, gun poised. Finally, a smile appeared on his face, as he turned to leave the room, and he whispered "Actually, I believe in Jesus, too, and

you’re much better off without those others!"  

The main theme of today’s readings is that Christian life is a series of daily choices for God or against God, as we choose to live out or reject the truths He revealed through His prophets in the Old Testament and especially through His Son Jesus in the New Testament. The fundamental choice we make determines how we live our lives, deciding whom we will serve.

The Israelites had just entered the Promised Land, and it was filled with pagans who worshipped many gods. So Joshua told them, "Decide today whom you will serve." The God who brought you from Egypt to this lush, fertile land, or the gods of the Amorites in whose territory you now dwell? The choice is up to you. And while still pondering the decision they must make, he added the now-famous statement, "As for me and my household, we will serve the Lord." Fortunately for themselves and their children, they responded, "We also will serve the one Lord God." Notice that Joshua did not just say: As for me I will serve the Lord, but he said, as for me and my household, we will serve the Lord. He as the head of his household took the decision to serve the Lord. It is a challenge and an invitation to the heads of the families today to take up the responsibility of making his family follow the Lord. Rather than just say when my children grow up to adulthood they will make the choice themselves.

In today's Gospel, Jesus also puts the choice to His apostles of following Him, or of leaving Him. Many of the Lord's followers had left Him because of His teaching that He Himself is the Bread of Life. If they were willing to eat of His flesh and drink of His blood, they would live forever. Otherwise, they would die. Many were shocked and offended. Others thought the message was too good to be true. So they "walked with him no longer."
Jesus turns to the Twelve and says, "Do you also want to leave?" It's as though He had added, "It's your decision. I'm not going to make your minds up for you!" Fortunately for them and for the future Church, they have enough faith to reply, "Master, to whom shall we go? You have the words of eternal life.

The Old Testament, the New Testament and the history of the Church tell the stories of brave men and women who heroically exercised their freedom of choice for God

and His commandments and courted martyrdom. II Maccabees 6: 18-31 describes how the 90 year old saintly Scribe, Eleazar, welcomed martyrdom instead of eating the flesh of pork. The same book describes another heroic

Jewish mother and seven of her brave children who lost their lives by resisting the order of the Greek commander to reject their Jewish faith. The martyrdom of St. Stephen is described in the Acts of the Apostles. The first three centuries saw

thousands of Christians heroically choosing Christ  and courting the cruel death inflicted by the pagan Roman Empire. St. Thomas More was the second in power in

England and St. John Fisher the Vice-Chancellor of Cambridge University. Both were executed by King Henry VIII for choosing the teaching of the Church on marriage

and divorce instead of choosing their king’s view. Today’s readings challenge us to make a choice for God and His teachings or against God.

It is high time that we also reflected to find out where we stand, as his followers. Majority of us identify ourselves with the vast crowd that were not able to accept the challenges that Jesus placed before them. Like them we also disappear from the scene. We silently assent to the decisions and practices of the majority, even if there is a constant reminder from our conscience that what we do is not correct. Silently consent the injustice, exploitation and human right violations. Because, we do not want to risk our name; we do not want to risk our positions; we do not want to risk the comforts that we enjoy. Remember Jesus came to comfort the afflicted, but he also afflicted the comfortable in their conscience.

It's a hard teaching the people said to Jesus (Jn 6:60). This applies not only to Jesus' words on the Eucharist, but also to His words on many other things. The message of the cross is absurdity.  There are many former Catholics who find the message of the Church "too much for them." Some have left because of Church doctrine, others because of the stand of the Church on abortion, contraception or same sex marriage.

The heavenly Bread and the Holy Spirit will give us the courage of our Christian convictions to take a stand for Jesus, to accept the Church’s teachings and to face ridicule, criticisms and even social isolation for our adherence to sound Christian principles in our lives.  That is what we mean by our “Amen” while receiving Jesus in Holy Communion. Christ’s thoughts and attitudes, his values, his life-view must become totally ours before we are able to say: as for me and my household I will serve the Lord. There were many things that Peter did not understand when he said yes to follow Jesus. But there was something in Jesus that held him fast to Jesus, that was his personal experience of Jesus. Christian life is not just adherence to a well set doctrine of dogmas, or a credible philosophy, but simply a personal relationship with Jesus. Let’s develop a deep personal relationship with Jesus, so that we will be able to respond to Jesus, Lord, whom shall I go, you have the worlds of eternal life.

ASSUMPTION OF MARY.-2012

The Assumption of the Blessed Virgin Mary into heaven was one of the last dogmas the Church formulated and declared. It was formally declared by Pope Pius XII in 1950, but the idea of it has been around for centuries.  As early as the 6th century we have writings of St. Gregory of Tours who spoke of Mary being taken up to heaven. It is one of those long-standing beliefs that has been codified into an essential teaching of the faith.

There is an ancient legend about today's feast. It seems that St. Thomas was not present at Mary's death. So when he finally arrived, possibly from far-off India, he asked to see her body one last time. But when her resting place was opened, there was nothing there - except beautiful, fresh flowers. One tradition tells that at the end of her earthly life, Mary was taken up body and soul into heaven, even before death.

Many popular paintings exist which portray the Assumption, often using the description in the Book of Revelations of the woman clothed with the sun, with the moon under her feet, and on her head a crown of twelve stars,” (12:1) which we read in the first reading today.

The Assumption of Mary can be adequately explained by only one word: love. Based on our experience, love is overpowering. It is a force that moves us towards the object of love and be united with it. People who love money are always running after money and grasping it so tightly. Those who love cars are always with their cars. And couples who are in love tend to be together all the time, longing for physical and spiritual intimacy. There is some irresistible force in love that pulls the person towards the beloved. In the case of Mary, her love of God is so great that her whole being is pulled closer to God. It practically lifted her up to heaven, body and soul.  In Mary, the true meaning of love is clearly shown – love always leads to God. This is what St. John wrote: “No one has ever seen God. Yet if we love one another, God remains in us and his love is brought to perfection in us…God is love, and whoever remains in love, remains in God and God in him” (1 Jn 4:12,16).

Bishop Fulton Sheen expressed it beautifully: “If the distant moon moves all the surging tides of sea, then the love of Mary for Jesus and the love of Jesus for Mary should result in such an ecstasy as to ‘lift her out of this world’” (The World’s First Love, p. 134). He mentioned the example of the saints who, overfilled with love and deeply immersed in prayer, experienced the spiritual phenomenon of levitation, that is, they “are literally lifted off the earth.” This levitation would be very natural for Mary, for her whole being, body and soul, free from all sins and thereby free from all inner tensions and divisions caused by sin, has no opposing force that would pull her down. Everything in her is perfectly united and integrated, and moving only in one upward direction towards complete union with God. The Psalmist eloquently expressed this desire of the soul: “O God, you are my God – for you I long! For you my body yearns; for you my soul thirsts, like a land parched, lifeless and without water”(Ps 63:2).

The story of the Fall is not only the story of Adam but the story of Adam and Eve. If Jesus is the new Adam, Mary is the new Eve. Just as the full story of our Fall cannot be told without Eve, so also the full story of our Redemption cannot be told without Mary. There are many revealing parallels between the old Adam and Eve on the one hand and the new Adam and Eve, Jesus and Mary, on the other.

In the old order, Eve came from the body of Adam, but in the new order Jesus comes from the body of Mary.

In the old order, Eve first disobeyed God and led Adam to do the same, in the new order Mary first said "Yes" to God (Luke 1:38) and raised her son Jesus to do likewise.

Adam and Eve had a good time together disobeying God, Jesus and Mary suffered together doing God's will. The sword of sorrow pierced their hearts equally (John 19:34; Luke 2:35b).

In the old order Adam and Eve shared immediately in the resulting consequences and punishments of the Fall. In the new order, similarly, both Jesus and Mary share immediately in the resulting consequences and blessings of the Redemption, the fullness of life with God; Jesus through the Ascension and Mary through the Assumption.

The Assumption is the ultimate proof of the equality of man and woman before God. It also shows the sacredness and eternal destiny of the human body. The Assumption enables us to tell the full story, the full gospel that salvation is for all Men, male and female, and for the whole Man, body and soul.

There is a perfect harmony of wills and hearts between Mary and Jesus which we see most clearly in the Wedding Feast at Cana where Mary commands us: "Do whatever he (Jesus) tells you" (John 2:5).

This is a great feast of hope. Mary entering triumphantly into heaven gives all of us hope in our eventual entry as well. As we celebrate Mary’s assumption let’s live our lives magnifying the Lord and rejoicing in the Lord our Savior as Mary did all her life.

O. T.  XIX [B] I KGS 19:4-8, EPH. 4:30-5:2,  JN. 6:41-51

A hungry man passing a store with a sign in the window, "We Sell Bread." He entered the store, put some money on the counter, and said, "I would like to buy some bread." The woman behind the counter replied, "We don’t sell bread." "The sign in the window says that you do," the hungry man said. The woman explained, "We make signs here like the one in the window that says ‘We Sell Bread.’" A hungry man can’t eat signs.

Life sometimes fools us too. What seems to be satisfying our hunger some times does not satisfy our hunger. That is why Jesus said: man does not live by bread alone, but by every word that comes from the mouth of God. To the Samaritan woman he said: One who drinks this water will thirst again, but those who drink the water I give will never thirst again. Today’s Gospel lesson picks up where we left off last week in John 6. Like the crowds looking for something else or that man looking in the wrong store, we often miss the point when God offers us enduring life in Jesus.

Christ packs three momentous lessons into this discourse on the Eucharist in today's Gospel passage.
First, he points out the mystery of faith, that no one can believe in him "unless he is drawn by the Father."
Faith in Jesus Christ supplies us with life's only dependable fuel, and yet, faith in Christ is God's gift, no one can conjure it up on their own, in a chemistry lab. When we look at the small white Host, no scientific test can prove that Jesus Christ is truly present there, body, blood, soul, and divinity. And yet, we know that he is; we have been given the gift of faith. This is why the priest says, after the consecration at each Mass: "Let us proclaim the mystery of faith." Second, this faith in Christ leads to "eternal life." Later in the Gospel, Jesus tells us that eternal life consists in knowing "the only true God, and Jesus Christ whom God has sent" (John 17:3). In Biblical language, "knowing" implies deep interpersonal intimacy, the kind of relationship we all yearn for. That we can have a relationship like that with God himself, who is more lovable, more beautiful than any other person is or can be, is the Good News of Jesus Christ. Third, Jesus himself is the "bread" of this eternal life, its source and sustenance. Without bread, without food, physical life perishes. Without Jesus, without his "flesh for the life of the world" in the Eucharist, our life of intimate communion with God will perish. It's that simple - and it's that crucial.  Eleven times in this discourse Jesus speaks of himself as the bread of life; he's really hoping that we'll get the message. The gift of faith gives us access to eternal life, and the Eucharist makes that life grow within us.

When we receive Holy Communion, our natural desires will be transformed from within, just like the wafer is transformed from within at the words of consecration.

CCC 1377 teaches that: “The Eucharistic presence of Christ begins at the moment of the consecration and endures as long as the Eucharistic species subsist. Christ is present whole and entire in each of the species and whole and entire in each of their parts, in such a way that the breaking of the bread does not divide Christ.” Hence, it is clear that the whole Christ is real and truly and substantially present in even a small particle of a Host or in a small drop of the Precious Blood.

Here the Church emphasizes that there is no part of the Host which is not Christ Jesus. And, we further maintain, no part of the Host is a mere part of Christ, but each part of each Host is the whole Christ present in his entirety. Like if you stand before a big mirror, you find your one large image. But if you break that mirror into 4 pieces, you will see 4 images in all the four, full image.

Therefore, those who are not careful with the Eucharistic particles, or who outright deny that Jesus is present in even small pieces of the Host, either do not believe in the Eucharist at all or are very foolish (since their own reasoning is self-contradictory).

A piece of the Host which is visible to the human eye (under usual conditions and without assistance) as what appears to be a piece of bread, is surely Jesus. However, those particles which are so small as to be invisible to the human eye, or to be indistinguishable from a particle of dust – these cannot any longer be the Eucharist.

The Church teaches that the Eucharistic Presence remains “as long as the Eucharist species subsist”. This means that Jesus is truly present in the Eucharist, so long as the Eucharist retains the accidental properties of bread and wine. Hence, if a Host is dissolved in water (as is done when the Host has become putrefied, as through vomiting after the reception of Communion), upon being dissolved it is no longer the Eucharist. Likewise, the Precious Blood, when the Chalice is purified with water, is no longer the Eucharist.

The same must hold true for those particles which are so small as to be unrecognizable as “bread”. If the fragment is so small as to appear to be dust or a speck of some other substance, rather than a “crumb” of bread, it can no longer be the Eucharist. Likewise, those microscopic particles which fall from the Host are not the Eucharist, since they clearly do not retain the appearance of bread. Excessive scrupulosity about such things will only cause the true faith to be ridiculed.

In order to teach his disciples that the Eucharist is truly his own Flesh and Blood, he first instructed them to gather up the “fragments” which were left over from the multiplied loaves – if such care was taken for the mere symbol of the Eucharist, how much more must we care for the Real Presence! So,Jesus taught his disciples that the Eucharistic particles must be cared for, even after the conclusion of the Mass.

If the pastors of the Church do not care for these fragments, the people will soon lose their faith in the Eucharist. Indeed, this has already happened to a large extent in most of the western world.

It was really shocking to read that Communion was distributed to a dog on August 5 at a liturgical celebration of “Inclusive Catholics,” a Melbourne movement launched by Father Greg Reynolds, a suspended priest. After calling for women’s ordination in a 2010 homily, Father Reynolds had his faculties suspended. He currently organizes services for a varied group of disaffected Catholics. A woman led the service, while Father Reynolds "played as small a role as he could." So, it seems unlikely, therefore, that the ceremony was a valid Mass, or that the bread was actually consecrated. It goes beyond doubt that they don’t believe in the real presence of the Lord in the Eucharist. Jesus clearly said that holy and precious things may not be thrown before dogs and pigs.

The Eucharist and the Sacraments are not any body’s personal right. No body can lay a claim to it. It is given to the Church by her Lord and so it belongs to the Church. A priest, a bishop or a Pope cannot say it is mine. If it is theirs as soon as that person is dead it would no longer exist. It belongs to the Church, the Church exercises it through her ministers. Minister is a servant, not the master. So he cannot decide how the sacraments should be celebrated. He has no right to. The Church does. The Church is the body of believers united in the Holy Spirit. That is why you and me are the temple of the Holy Spirit. Jesus is the head of the Church. The head decides all the actions of the body. The head holds the mouth and the food that gives us eternal life. The holy Spirit, the breath of God and Eucharist the food from God come to us through Jesus the head of the Church. An individual member of the Church, like Fr.Reynold or me therefore, cannot make any claim on the sacraments and decide how the Mass should be celebrated.

Each time therefore when we attend the Mass or come up to receive the Holy Communion, let us call to mind that it is for holy people and it is God’s greatest desire to commune with me that he has given this privilege to receive him. So, let’s have the attitude of the woman who wanted to touch the fringe of his garment or the Centurion who admitted that he was not worthy to have Jesus under his roof.

XVIIIth Sunday: Ex.16:2-4, 12-15; Eph 4:17, 20-24; John 6:24-35

In 1980 a missionary who was working in Zambia went on vacation to South Africa, then known for apartheid and racial segregation. He returned to Zambia after his vacation excited to tell everyone how much better South Africa was in comparison to Zambia. He told of the wonderful preaching he gave in South Africa, calling on the youth to give up their anti-apartheid struggle. His reasoning was that since Zambia had Black majority rule and its economy was in shambles, and since South Africa had White minority rule and its economy was doing much better, they should give up their struggle for Black majority rule unless they wanted to be poor like Zambia.

Another missionary working with him had a different idea. "Why don't we do this," suggested this other missionary. "We lock you up in prison and then give you everything you want to eat and drink, but still keep you locked up in prison." Immediately he got the point. The hunger of the human spirit goes beyond the hunger for food and drink. We may have all the material food in the world but if we lack such spiritual food as freedom, truth and love our hunger will ever be unsatisfied and our hearts ever restless.

Human beings need two basic kinds of food to attain perfect happiness and satisfaction: food for the body and food for the soul. Both are necessary. Which one of these ranks higher in the teaching and example of our Lord Jesus Christ? It is spiritual food. That is why he says in Matthew 4:4 "One does not live by bread alone, but by every word that comes from the mouth of God." And in John 4:34 he says, "My food is to do the will of him who sent me and to complete his work."

When he multiplied bread to feed the hungry he did not mean to say that the solution to the deep hunger of the human heart is to give people more bread. No. He multiplied bread only as a sign, a sign pointing to the higher spiritual food that he was providing for the human soul.

But the crowd we see in today's gospel mistake the sign for the substance. They clamor for Jesus because they want more bread. They want to make him king, a king who fills the human stomach with bread. "Sir, give us this bread always," they pray (John 6:34). But Jesus berates them for not seeing beyond their stomachs: "Very truly, I tell you, you are looking for me, not because you saw signs, but because you ate your fill of the loaves. Do not work for the food that perishes, but for the food that endures for eternal life, which the Son of Man will give you" (John 6:26-27). Because of this, Jesus hid away from them. Jesus did not want to be identified primarily with feeding stomachs. He wanted to be seen primarily as one who has come to nourish the human spirit with the food that satisfies every hunger of the human heart, the food that does not perish but stays good and gives life eternally.

This  echoes the words that are found in the Book of Isaiah in the Old Testament. "Why do you spend your money for that which is not bread, and you labor for that which does not satisfy? Listen carefully to me, and eat what is good, and delight yourselves in rich food. Incline your ear, and come to me; listen, so that you may live. " [Is. 55:2-3].

The big problem that Jesus had with the crowds seeking him was that while Jesus spoke of spiritual reality they misunderstood him to be speaking of material things. Jesus had a similar problem when he met the woman of Samaria at Jacob's well. Jesus spoke to her about the spiritual water that he came to give: "Everyone who drinks of this water will be thirsty again, but those who drink of the water that I will give them will never be thirsty. The water that I will give will become in them a spring of water gushing up to eternal life" (John 4:13-14). But the woman understood it in terms of ordinary water and replied, "Sir, give me this water, so that I may never be thirsty or have to keep coming here to draw water" (verse 15). Materialistic minds cannot comprehend spiritual truths.

The challenge for us today is to recognize that the false god of materialism, which promises satisfaction but leaves us ever more hungry, has seduced our society. We hear the spiritual truth of the word of God but we understand it in terms of satisfying our selfish desire for wealth and power.

When Jesus asks for their faith, they ask him for a sign, as if he hasn’t already given them one. They saw the miraculous feeding. But still they ask for more sign. This is what is wrong with seeking for material things. Even if you see as something satisfying at one point, the next moment that very same thing would turn out to be very unsatisfying.

Every day you really want something new: a new TV, a new car, a special pair of shoes, whatever. Then we buy it and we love having it for a few days. But over time we get bored or it wears out. You can see this pattern repeated constantly in our own life. For example, your parents and grandparents likely spent thousands and thousands of dollars on toys for you as you were growing up: Dump trucks and Barbie dolls and video games and electric cars and on and on and on. All of those toys got boring or broken or outgrown eventually. They brought happiness for a moment or a week, but over time they became worthless and your desire turned to a new object.

The cure is to follow the instruction of Jesus and flee the worldly allure and promises of materialism. This we can achieve as St.paul says today, only when we put away the old self corrupted through deceitful desires, and be renewed in the spirit of our minds, and put on the new self, created in God's way in righteousness and holiness of truth. Otherwise we would be seeking after Jesus only for material food and not for spiritual food that lasts for ever. And we will never be fully satisfied in our life. Let’s ask the Holy Spirit to increase our spiritual hunger so that we may always look for food that never perishes.

XV SUNDAY (AMOS 7:12-15, EPH1:3-14, MARK 6:7-13)

Fritz Kreisler (1875-1962), the world-famous violinist, earned a fortune with his concerts and compositions, but he generously gave most of it away. So, when he discovered an exquisite violin on one of his trips, he wasn’t able to buy it. Later, having raised enough money to meet the asking price, he returned to the seller, hoping to purchase that beautiful instrument. But to his great dismay it had been sold to a collector. Kreisler made his way to the new owner’s home and offered to buy the violin. The collector said it had become his

prized possession and he would not sell it. Keenly disappointed, Kreisler was about to leave when he had an idea. "Could I play the instrument once before it is consigned to silence?" he asked. Permission was granted, and the great virtuoso filled the room with such heart-moving music that the collector’s emotions were deeply stirred. "I have no right to keep this violin to myself," he exclaimed. "It’s yours,

Mr. Kreisler. Take it into the world, and let people hear it."

Jesus gives the same kind of instruction to the Apostles the collector gave Kreisler when He sent them out to preach the Kingdom of God is at hand.

The first reading warns us that our witnessing mission will be

rejected, as happened to the Old Testament prophets like Amos. He was ordered by Amaziah, the angry chief priest serving in the Northern Kingdom of Israel at Bethel, to take his prophesying back to his own country, the Southern Kingdom of Judah. Amos defended his prophetic role with courage, clarifying that it was not his choice but his God’s choice to elevate him from a shepherd and tree-dresser to a

prophet. He said he receives no payment like other prophets, it is not his job, it is his mission. Like Amos, each one of us is chosen by God, through the mystery of divine adoption in Jesus, to become missionaries and to preach the “good news” by Christian witnessing.  This witnessing is to be exercised in a unique way. They are to take nothing with them except the word of God. Everything they need for this mission will be provided by the Lord.

If we are called to teach something to a group of people today, what all things would we take with us on our trip ? A tape recorder, a microphone, amplifier, DVD player, iPhone, iPad, Projector, a lap top, and what not ?. Why ? Because we don’t trust our memory and our ability to present the message effectively by our mere word of mouth.

Mark writes of the power conferred by Jesus on those he sent out. But along with the power he gave them, he also instructed them on how important it was not to be restricted by unnecessary ‘baggage’. Nothing else is needed; no advertising; no TV commercials; no computerized back-ups; simply the Word”.

Money, a bag, an extra shirt are things for our future needs.  Luggage is always for the future.  In the present it’s only a burden; but we carry the burden for the sake of the future.  To carry luggage with me is to live, to some degree, in the future.  The same is true of money: my hunger may be satisfied now, but I take money with me so that I can satisfy it again tomorrow.

No sandals, no staff in the hand; in other words, nothing on your feet, nothing in your hands – just you, a mere human being, with no protections.  Take nothing but the WORD. With the Word, Jesus was present with them to empower them. The bible is the only book where the author sits down beside the reader when some one reads it. Having nothing with them will enable them to turn to Jesus for the success of their ministry.  

In the book of  Judges 6: 11-25),  Gideon, the fourth judge of the Israelites is instructed by God’s angel to fight the Midianites who were plundering them every harvest season. The angel told him to fight with just 300 soldiers of Israel against the 135,000 soldeirs of Midanites. Gideon trusted in the strength of the Lord and defeated and destroyed the mighty army of the Midianites by his surprise midnight attack. Gideon had a larger army than just 300, but the angel told him he needs only just 300. Today’s gospel tells us why they did not need anything but the Word in their heart.

There is another reason why Jesus asks the disciples to go with out taking things of comfort with them. When we live on mere basics, with out any surplus things to make life comfortable we learn to train our character. God is more committed to our character than He is to our comfort. Every storm is an opportunity to grow in Christ and trust Him more. The message of the Gospel is primarily to be assimilated in their life and conveyed through their life. That makes their life more appealing.

This week there was the news of a video footage on Egyptian TV of a Christian convert from Islam being martyred by cutting his throat. Even in the face of death he did not give up his faith, even though he was a new convert. He witnessed to his faith by his life. Such strong witnesses of the gospel will lead many others to faith.

Jesus also gave a warning: if there are those who refuse to listen, then we should not be afraid to shake off the dust from the feet, and leave the task to another, possibly at another time. Rejection of our message is highly possible. But we should not carry that load of defeat and rejection with us longer. As we wipe the dust off our feet, we should leave that feeling of rejection.

Each Christian is called not only to be a disciple but also to be an apostle to evangelize the world. We are called to share with others not just words, or ideas, or doctrines but our experience of God and His Son, Jesus. Like the apostles, like St. Francis Assisi, like Blessed Mother Teresa, we are all chosen and sent to proclaim the Gospel through our living. It is through our transparent Christian lives that we must show in our own actions the love, mercy and concern of Jesus for the people around us. An important part of evangelism is the simple act of inviting a friend or family member to join us in worship. This is where reconciliation between persons and God is most likely to take place. We do not have to commit verbal assault on someone with our convictions. A simple invitation offered out of a loving and joyful heart is the most powerful evangelistic message of all. Beginning of September we will begin our RCIA classes. As an evangelizing parish we should take the motto “ each one reach one” each family reach another family to this RCIA sessions. Our neighbor may be waiting for our invitation. But before approaching the family pray at least for one week for that particular family that they may be open to accept the faith. Then choose an opportune time and invite them.

Jesus sent the Apostles in pairs. Because according to Jewish law, two witnesses were needed to pronounce a truth. I think there is also a hidden meaning to this point. A basic unit of the church is a family; and a family is of two: a husband and a wife. It is by their witnessing life that one should evangelize their neighbors, friends and their own children.

Is my family an evangelizing one ? If I appreciate my faith, I will be keen to share it with others. When I find a good restaurant or a good movie I share the news with others. The best definition of evangelization I ever heard is: A beggar telling another beggar where he found bread. Let’s share our bread of Good news with others who are hungry for bread.

XIVth Sunday in Ordinary time.

EZ 2: 2-5; II COR12: 7-10; MARK 6: 1-6

In the first reading, the prophet Ezekiel is told that he will face rejection of his message. Ezekiel's mission was to speak the truth despite apathy and resistance. In the second reading, St. Paul speaks about his mission of preaching God's word despite his weakness, "a thorn in his flesh." This Gospel story is a kind of home coming for Jesus. The first reaction of the people in the synagogue to Jesus' words was one of astonishment.  Many who heard him were astonished.  And they said, "Where did this man get all this? What kind of wisdom has been given him? What mighty deeds are wrought by his hands!

They knew him only as a carpenter from a poor family, with no formal training in Mosaic Law. They “knew” that he could not be the promised Messiah who would come from Bethlehem as a descendant of David’s royal family.  The town’s folk needed to see His diplomas, His credentials for getting up there like that. “Who does he think he is!”  Certainly, they thought, he had gone far beyond the point one of his status as a humble carpenter should go. Instead of accepting Jesus’ message because of the evidence, the people rejected Jesus because they knew Jesus’ background.

One of the dreams of Martin Luther King was that people "would be judged not by the color of their skin but by the content of their character". Jesus’ neighbors could not understand how a mere carpenter could be their political Messiah who would liberate them from Roman rule and reestablish the Davidic kingdom of power and glory.

Very often our friends, families, or childhood companions fail to listen to and refuse to accept the words of grace, love and encouragement that we offer to them, because they are too familiar with us. Hence, they are unable to see us as God's appointed instruments, the agents of God's healing and saving grace. And it happens in the reverse order too. We fail to see our friends and co-workers as God’s agents speaking to us. St. Paul teaches us that we don't have to be perfect to be instruments of God, like he had a thorn in his flesh, and he was not perfect. But we should never give up speaking the truth.

By our baptism, God calls us to share in Jesus’ prophetic mission. The task of a prophet is to speak God’s truth. We must never be afraid of this call. We may rely on Jesus to supply us with the courage to oppose the many evils in our society. Our society tells youngsters that promiscuous sex, drugs and alcohol are means by which they express their individuality. It is here that our country needs Christians with the prophetic courage of their convictions to fight against such moral evils.

The Jews rejected Jesus because they were relying on their knowledge but Jesus was inviting them to go beyond what they did know into the relationship of faith to which He was inviting them. What we’re dealing with here then is something much more serious than a mistake in reasoning. It’s the deliberate rejection of something one knows to be true. It’s the turning away from a good, one recognizes and accepts as desirable. In such negative attitude God cannot work with us.

“And he could do no deed of power there, except that he laid his hands on a few sick people and cured them.” (Mark 6:5). This is one of the most shocking statements in all the Gospels – that Jesus could not perform miracles. Not that he would not but that he simply could not. Is anything impossible with Jesus? Today’s gospel says yes. It is impossible for Jesus to perform miracles in a situation where there is no faith. Jesus could do all things and wants to do all things for his people. But he needs our faith to release his power. Remember last week’s gospel of the woman with the flow of blood. Many people were touching and pushing against Jesus. Nothing happened because they did not touch with faith. But as soon as the woman of faith touches him, healing power comes out of Jesus. As all-powerful as Jesus is, we have the capacity to disable him by our lack of faith. Faith is like a switch that turns God on, lack of faith turns God off.

Remember Jesus said to the Jews, looking at the stubborn, non accepting attitude that: all the sins will be forgiven but the sin against the Holy Spirit will not be forgiven ? There is nothing that God cannot forgive, but the deliberate hiding of the truth is a sin which prevents God’s forgiveness. Because there is no openness towards God there. It is like: I am terribly thirsty, and you give me water and I say no, that is not water and don’t take it. What will happen, I will die of hunger. That is why Jesus told the Jews, I will go, but you will die in your sins. St.Augustine said the God who created us without our consent will not save us without our consent. So, God takes our consent in working his grace into us.

While Mark says: “he could work no miracles there,”   Matthew says, “He did not work many miracles there” (13:58), making it look more like a decision on Jesus' part.  It is a frightful thought that we have the ability to prevent miracles, to tie the Lord’s hands.... How many miracles have I prevented in my life?  Or this week?  Why are my wife and children so quiet?  Are they sinking into despair?  Or have I a way of making my husband feel so bad that everything he might do or say is condemned in advance? 

When we blame God for doing nothing while we suffer all things here below, does God perhaps blame us for our unbelief that has made it impossible for Him to act?

Let’s not try to place God or others in our boxes, trying to limit them by our limited understanding of them. Let’s be open to God for God to work in and through us.

XIII- Sunday- Religious liberty

Wis.1:13-15,2:23-24; MK. 5:21-43

As Americans and Catholics preparing to celebrate July 4, Independence Day, we are observing this year a Fortnight for Freedom through prayer and special church services. Never before has our precious religious freedom been so threatened in this country. Our Bishops are united in calling us to daily prayer from June 21 until July 4.

The readings for this 13th Sunday in Ordinary time fit so well with our right to religious freedom and life itself. God created us for happiness, freedom, and life to the full; "God did not make death, nor does He rejoice in the destruction of the living," the Book of Wisdom declares.

In the gospel, Jesus revives a dead girl and heals a chronically-sick woman. The woman is desperate having tried everything and had exhausted her finances. Jesus was her last resort, and death would be her final end without His saving solution. She had made a gesture of faith and by her faith in Him, she was healed.

God is the author of life. It is God who created the world, no body else. Therefore God has the right to decide what is good and evil. The first sin itself was man’s attempt to decide for himself what was good for him against God’s commands. He thought the forbidden fruit would bring him happiness and eternal life; would make him like God. But he was wrong. So the whole world suffers from that wrong choice.

Jesus came to reverse man’s wrong choice and give us fullness of life. He said: I came that you may have life, life in its fullness. Man may have been able to go to several planets, but that doesn’t mean that he can claim the authority of life in any sense. Man may be able to altar life, making man out of a woman or woman out of a man, but never been able to create a life from nothing. Therefore the power of creating is the sole power of God and he uses parents, a man and a woman united in love, to share in that power. Therefore morality, decision of what is morally good and wrong is the prerogative of religion, not the state. The Chinese government tells abortion is right, as does the US govt. There was a news this week that 9 months pregnant woman was forcefully taken out of her home in China and her baby was aborted and even her uterus was removed. The Indian government says that selective abortions is wrong. Because they kill a lot of girl babies there. Therefore sex determination test is unlawful in India. Now who can decide between these nations who is right and who is wrong ? Is it the govt or the religion. Morality is for all people not just for a nation. Religion is for all and not nationalistic. And therefore moral issues are the concerns of religion. As far as I know, no religion teaches that abortion is right. Knights of Columbus did a survey recently and in that nearly 9 in 10 Americans (88 percent) agreed that religious leaders should speak out on issues of religious freedom.

George Washington famously said that there can be no law without morality, and no morality without religion. Saint Augustine said that ‘An unjust law is no law at all.’… A just law is a man-made code that squares with the moral law of God.  An unjust law is a code that is out of harmony with the moral law.”

As we all know the US bishops and catholic organizations around the country file lawsuits to protect their First Amendment rights from the government’s health care mandate. The First Amendment to the United States Constitution is part of the Bill of Rights. The amendment prohibits the making of any law respecting an establishment of religion, impeding the free exercise of religion, abridging the freedom of speech, infringing on the freedom of the press, interfering with the right to peaceably assemble or prohibiting the petitioning for a governmental redress of grievances.

Now, the HHS mandate is a clear violation of the first Amendment right. Freedom of religion is the foundation of all our freedoms. According to the Knights of Columbus-Marist Poll, the survey found that nearly three in four Americans say that freedom of religion should be protected, even if it conflicts with other laws.

For if you are not free in your consciences, in your religious faith, in your corporal works of mercy, then all your freedoms are fragile. When the government commands us to do what God commands us not to do, the American heritage of freedom is imperiled. And a responsible Christian citizen would refuse to obey an unjust law.

Our bishops have identified several attacks on religious liberty. The mandate of the Department of Health and Human Services that all employers, including Catholic agencies, provide health insurance for contraception, sterilization and abortion-inducing drugs, is a national assault on religious liberty without precedent in history. Recently the state of Alabama passed the immigration bill which stated that if you help an illegal immigrant in any way, say for instance, you give a stranded illegal immigrant a ride, or baptize an illegal immigrant, or administer any sacrament, allow him attend the Church, you would be doing a criminal offense. Doesn’t it violate the freedom of religion ?. Religion caters for all people, irrespective of citizenship or nationalism.

The HHS mandate defines religious institutions in such a narrow way that it excludes, for example, Catholic Universities, hospitals, food pantries, publishing houses, and social services. According to HHS definition, the St.Vincent De Paul Society and the Knights of Columbus wouldn’t qualify as religious institutions. Indeed, according to the federal rule, if we serve people who are not Catholic in our agencies, or educate them in our universities, or employ them in our institutions- we cease to be religious. If we provide for the needs of the sick and the poor, but don’t ask whether they are Catholic or teach them catechism- we are not religious.

It is about whether we can make our contribution to the common good of all Americans. Can we do the good works our faith calls us to do, without having to compromise that very same faith here?

For nearly a century, the Catholic bishops of the United States have been and continue to be consistent advocates for comprehensive health care reform to ensure access to life-affirming health care for all, especially the poorest and the most vulnerable. So, don’t think that our fight is against Obamacare, no. It is against limiting religious freedom. The political concept of religious freedom, is more likely to end in freedom from religion—imposed by force, if necessary.

When the Government mandates that we cannot do what our faith mandates us to do, then we should refuse to obey unjust laws. Our liberty is not something we have invented for ourselves, much less is it the generosity of the government. It is God’s gift. We have been set free in Christ for freedom.

Let’s pray that all Christian disciples may have the fortitude to stand up for our faith and for our freedom. In standing fast for our faith, in standing fast for our freedom, we know that we may have to suffer and to sacrifice.