July 2010

My dear brothers and sisters,

Many times in our life we ask ourselves: What is a success? What is a successful life, a successful career, a successful relationship a successful marriage? Is a person’s life successful if he or she is making a good salary? Many times, that is the way that most people calculate success.

The readings for this Sunday force us to take a closer look at the whole concept of success. In the Gospel reading, the man is convinced that he is a success because he is a rich farmer. What should he do now that he has succeeded in harvesting more grain than he has storage room? Build a bigger barn, of course. The only thing is, the basis of his success is his grain. When he suddenly dies, his success remains here, and he goes on to God empty handed. God said to him, ‘You fool, this night your life will be demanded of you; and the things you have prepared, to whom they will belong?’ Thus will it be for all who store up treasure for themselves but are not rich in what matters to God.”

You know very well patron of our Parish -St. Francis of Assisi. As you know Francis gave up all his worldly possessions and started new life as a monk. He recognized that wealth, family, social position and profession is not everything and doesn’t mean that our life is successful. He wanted to be a full human being in the image of Christ. He left everything that he possessed on the square of Assisi and started new life, like a newborn child. St. Francis’ action was prophetic; he wanted to show us what the true success should be.

A doctor is successful not if he or she has a successful practice but if he or she becomes the healing hands of Christ for the sick.

A lawyer is successful not if he is part of a money-making firm, but if he uses learning, knowledge and talent to protect people and the community, to do good for people and the community, to be just.

A priest is on the road to success if he can draw closer to God each day of his life while he also draws those he serves to join him on the journey to God.

A marriage is successful if the man or woman is a better person, a more loving person, because of the marriage.

Success in parenting is certainly not based on what your kids have, but who your kids are.

My Dear brothers and sisters, Success is not predicated on what we have, what honors we receive, what jobs we hold, etc. Success is based on how each of us has developed as a person. Success means our ability to assume the person of Jesus Christ. For the Christian, success is not a present reality; it is a goal, the goal of Christian life. This goal will be reached when every aspect of our lives reflects the Person of Jesus Christ. That is success. Everything else is vanity.

From today’s Gospel: Jesus was praying in a certain place, and when he had finished, one of his disciples said to him, “Lord, teach us to pray just as John taught his disciples.” He said to them, “When you pray, say: Father, hallowed be your name, your kingdom come. Give us each day our daily bread and forgive us our sins for we ourselves forgive everyone in debt to us, and do not subject us to the final test.”

My dear brothers and sisters,

The Our Father is the first and greatest of all Christian prayers. Its short and simple phrases embrace every relation between us and God. It not only tells us what to pray for, but also how to pray for it.

The Our Father contains a whole program for Christian living, for our daily life. It’s contains everything what we need to be good people, parents, children and faithful Christians. The prayer “Our Father” we can divide for two parts.

The first part deals with God.

We begin by acknowledging God’s existence, and calling him ‘Father’. God is a parent to us, and we are his children.

Then we praise his name. In praising his name we praise him.

We pray for the coming of his kingdom – a kingdom of truth and life, holiness and grace, justice, love, and peace. We have a part to play in making his kingdom a reality.

We pray that his will may be done on earth. ‘On earth’ means in our private and family lives too. God’s will may not always be the easiest thing to do, but it is always the best thing.

The second part deals with us and our needs.

We begin by praying for our daily bread. ‘Bread’ stands for all our daily needs. God exactly knows what we need, and he is giving to us all we need if we pray.

We pray for forgiveness for our own sins, and for the grace to be able to forgive those who are against us. Only if we are able to forgive others, God is forgiving us our sins and weaknesses.

We pray not to be led into temptation. God does not put temptation in our path but life does. And we ourselves sometimes walk into temptation of our own accord. We are asking God to help us to cope with the temptations that come to us unbidden, and to avoid those of our own choosing.

Finally, we pray to be delivered from all evil, both physical and moral. We can not expect never to encounter evil. What we are asking God for is the grace to be strong and victorious over all evil around us and in us.

My dear brothers and sisters

The prayer Our Father is the first prayer which we learn and pray from our childhood. We can forget lot of things in our life, but never this prayer. We have to start and finished every day with this prayer. This prayer is like a spiritual food which we need every day. If we keep this prayer every day, our life is going to be different, and full of God’s blessing.

In the Gospel for today’s Sunday we heard the story of the Good Samaritan. The parable of the Good Samaritan is one of the most well known of Christ’s teachings.

Very often the word “Samaritan” is use in our civil society. Many hospitals, homeless shelters, and other charitable institutions bear the name. Many people who have never read the bible, and others who have never set foot in a Christian church, know about the Good Samaritan and what he represents.

In today’s Gospel the scholar of the law asked Jesus, “Teacher, what must I do to inherit eternal life?” Jesus said to him, “What is written in the law? He answered: You shall love the Lord, your God, with all your heart, with all your being, with all your strength, and with all your mind, and your neighbor as yourself.” Jesus said to him, “You have answered correctly; do this and you will live.” But because he wished to justify himself, he said to Jesus, “And who is my neighbor?”

Then Jesus told him the story which we called the story of the Good Samaritan. We already know this story. Many times we heard this Gospel and we reflect on this. Many times when we heard this story we asked ourselves.

Why did the religious leaders refuse to give any help when they saw a victim lying by the roadside? Didn’t they know that this victim was their neighbor?

Why didn’t the priest and Levite stop to help?

The priest probably didn’t want to risk the possibility of ritual impurity. His piety got in the way of charity.

The Levite approached close to the victim, but stopped short of actually helping him. Perhaps he feared that bandits were using a decoy to ambush him. The Levite put personal safety ahead of saving his neighbor.

And why did a Samaritan, an outsider, treat this victim with special care at his own expense? He cared for him in the same way he would care for his own family.

My dear sisters and brothers, what does Jesus’ story tell us about true love for one’s neighbor?

First, we must be willing to help even if others brought trouble on themselves – through their own fault. Second, our help must be practical. Good intentions and empathizing with others are not enough. And lastly, our love for others must be as wide as God’s love.

No one is excluded. God’s love is unconditional. So we must be ready to do good to and for others for their sake, just as God is good to us.

We should pray to God:

“Lord, may your love always be the foundation of my life. And may my love for you express itself in an eagerness to do good for others.”

When Jesus sent out the seventy-two disciples, he said to them:

The harvest is abundant but the laborers are few; so ask the master of the harvest to send out laborers for his harvest. Go on your way; behold, I am sending you like lambs among wolves. Carry no money bag, no sack, no sandals; and greet no one along the way. Into whatever house you enter, first say, ‘Peace to this household.’ If a peaceful person lives there, your peace will rest on him; but if not, it will return to you.

Jesus said in today’s Gospel that their first words on entering a house were to be “Peace on this house.” They were to be ambassadors of peace and goodwill.

Peace is the highest value for all people in the world. Everybody is talking about peace: politicians, writers, and heads of different organizations. Many times priests in their churches preach about peace during homilies. The word Peace is on the mouth of all people, who want well to our world, our families and communities. Peace implies openness, friendship, tolerance, goodwill, hospitality. It disposes us to reach out to others. It helps to break down barriers between one another. Without peace nothing is possible.

Shortly before Communion the priest says to us, “The peace of the Lord be with you always.” What a wonderful gift is being offered to us – the peace of Christ, a peace which the world cannot give. Then he invites us to “offer each other a sign of peace.” Next we share Christ peace to others by shaking hands.

We come to Mass to receive a blessing from the Lord. If we took nothing else away with us but peace, our time would be still well spent. We must be prepared to give back something of what we have received.

The end of the Mass is not like the end of a football game or movie where we simply get up and leave. At the end of Mass we are sent out. Th priest is sending us with Jesus’ peace. We would l hear: Go in the peace of Christ…. Go and give the peace of Christ to others, to your family, wife, children, maybe to your neighbors, people at your workplace. We are then sent out as ambassadors of that peace to others.

If we wish to be effective messengers of peace three things are necessary: First, we have to have peace within ourselves; Secondly, we have to be willing to share that peace with others; and thirdly, the other person has to be willing to receive it from us.

The harvest is great. There are many opportunities for sharing peace and for making peace. We may not always succeed, because it takes at least two to make peace. We have to accept that our peace will not always be accepted. It may come back to us like the echo of our own voice. But at least we ought to try. In a world torn apart by competition, anger and hatred, we have a challenging vocation – to be living signs of love that can bridge divisions and heal wounds.

Let us pray:

Lord, make me an instrument of your peace.
Where there is hatred, let me sow love.
Where there is injury, pardon.
Where there is doubt, faith.
Where there is darkness, light.
Where there is sadness, joy.

Divine Master, grant that I may not so much seek to be consoled, as to console, to be understood as to understand, to be loved as to love. For it is in giving that we receive, it is in pardoning that we are pardoned, it is in dying that we are born to eternal life.

Amen.