November 26, 2023

Some of our parishioners asked me personally, “What is the difference that you feel when you are doing priestly ministry in the US?” I answered instantaneously with some explanations. I come from Kerala, one of the Southern States in India, where Catholic life is active and prominent. I could see almost similar life here, especially in our parish community where the Sacramental life is very active and people who strive to live a life of holiness, which is our basic call by our Lord Jesus Christ.

On the weekdays of November 6-10th I was in Orleans, MA for my annual retreat (personal) along with a priest from my home diocese in India. There we had a positive discussion on the topic “the transmission of Faith.” We talked more precisely on the Family prayer which is the foundation of a family and its influences on the transmission of faith. I would like to mention the structure of family prayer in our families in Kerala. We have family prayer in the evenings and each family has its own particular time for the prayer like 6.30 pm, 7 pm, 7.30 pm or even 9 pm depending on the convenience of family members. Each family has its own particular place or room for prayer where everyone gathers together. The basic structure - we sing songs, read the Bible, say the evening prayer of the Church (vespers), some families include rosary and other intercessory prayers to saints, and conclude with spontaneous prayer for various intentions. It takes up to 30 -45 minutes. No one in the family can skip the family prayer unless with a due reason.

I believe this is the best time for the transmission of faith to the younger ones in the family. The children get to know about God, prayers, Bible, Church, songs and thus they build up their faith life. (My niece, who is 4 years old now, started singing songs and saying rosary). I can easily say this formation which I received helped me to identify my priestly vocation. Since this faith formation begins in childhood itself, most of them remain faithful to the Faith and sacramental life. Still there are a few who go away from this. “The family that prays together stays together.” The Christian Family is the first place where children learn to pray. The Catechism of the Catholic Church calls the family unit “Ecclesiae Domestica” - the Domestic Church. (CCC 1656). Thus, parents have a responsibility to set an example by taking time for personal prayer every day and making family prayer a regular practice. This not only sets an example for the children, but also provides them with a faith-filled foundation which brings them closer to the Lord.

We celebrate the feast of Christ the King of the Universe, on the last Sunday of the liturgical year. Pope Pius XI instituted this feast in 1925 with his encyclical Quas Primas (“In the first”) to respond to growing secularism and atheism. He recognized that attempting to “thrust Jesus Christ and his holy law” out of public life would result in continuing discord among people and nations. We should celebrate this feast every day in our families through our family prayers - accepting Jesus as the Savior and King of our families- which is the true celebration of the feast of Christ the King. May God Bless us all…!!!

March 27, 2022

The fourth Sunday of lent is traditionally known as Laetare Sunday, so-called from the first word of the Entrance Antiphon. Laetare (rejoice), taken from the Latin translation of Isaiah 66, 10-11, sets a tone of joyful anticipation of the Easter mystery.

Some interesting comments after this year’s Ash Wednesday celebrations are; “we should distribute ashes every Sunday”, “if all those participants are coming on Sundays too, our Churches will be full every week”, “where are those people on Sundays?”…

We have to evaluate our faith life and commitment to God, especially in this Lenten season. We are entering into the second half of this lent. How is my Lenten season so far? Am I really prepared to celebrate Easter meaningfully and joyfully? Here comes the important question which we often do not take it seriously. The question is, what is faith? Or what is my faith? Did I ever tried to find an answer to this question other than academic purpose?

In the Catechism of the Catholic Church (CCC), in the glossary part, faith is defined as, “both a gift of God and a human act by which the believer gives personal adherence to God who invites his response, and freely assents to the whole truth that God has revealed. It is this revelation of God which the Church proposes for our belief, and which we profess in the Creed, celebrate in the Sacraments, live by right conduct that fulfils the twofold commandment of charity and respond to in our prayer of faith.”

In simple words faith is our response to divine revelation. What is revealed? That we find in the Creed. If we say “Yes” to this revelation, we are Catholics. But our responsibility do not end with just saying yes. We have to live and celebrate this faith. Faith is celebrated through the liturgy and sacraments of the Church, especially in the Holy Eucharist.

Faith is lived in accordance with the commandments of God -loving God and neighbor and as a result our social life becomes a noble one.

When we fail to understand the proper meaning of faith, we are turning away from God.

Note: volunteers who wish their feet washed on Holy Thursday during the Mass of the Lord’s Supper, may contact the Parish office before Friday, April 8.

February 27, 2022

The Lenten season is at hand. This Wednesday, March 2, we celebrate Ash Wednesday. This is the fruitful season of the Liturgical calendar to practice virtues in our Christian life mainly focusing on the passion, death, and Resurrection of our Lord Jesus Christ. By practicing virtues, we become closer to our Christian vocation. St Paul says, "for God didn't call us to impurity but to holiness" (1 Thessalonians 4,7).

The sacrament of Reconciliation (confession or penance) really helps us to grow in holiness. The Catechism of the Catholic Church (CCC) explains the effects of this sacrament as follows. "The spiritual effects of the sacrament of Penance are:

• reconciliation with God by which the penitent recovers grace

• reconciliation with the Church

• remission of the eternal punishment incurred by mortal sins

• remission, at least in part, of temporal punishments resulting from sin

• peace and serenity of conscience, and spiritual consolation

• an increase of spiritual strength for the Christian battle." (CCC 1496)

Each sacrament is an efficacious sign of grace. Through the sacrament of reconciliation, we are given the grace to regain the original holiness which we received through the sacrament of Baptism. Unfortunately, we Catholics don't understand the significance and the effects of this great Sacrament and as a result we neglect to receive this sacrament.

How often should a catholic go to confession? According to Canon Law, "after having reached the age of discretion, each member of the faithful is obliged to confess faithfully his or her grave sins at least once a year” (CIC, c. 989). At the same time the CCC teaches, "anyone conscious of grave sins must receive the sacrament of Reconciliation before coming to Communion"(CCC 1457). Basically, we are required to go to confession once per year. But if we desire to receive Holy communion on a weekly or daily basis, then we need to go to confession every time we are conscious of grave sins. It is also appreciated that we confess our venial sins too.

Confession is a beautiful sacrament of God’s mercy and should not be looked at as a “requirement,” but as an “opportunity” to receive God’s love. It gives us the ability to repair our relationship with God and with the Church, opening us up to a shower of God’s grace. We should confess because we love God, not because we “have to,” though the requirements are there to lead us along the path of eternal life.

January 30, 2022

It is hard...?

Reflections based on the gospel for the fourth Sunday of Ordinary Time, year C

St Luke gives us a beautiful narration of the beginning of Jesus' public ministry (Lk 4, 16 - 30), which we cannot find in any other gospels. The final part of this narration really astonishes us where we read, "they rose up, drove him out of the town and led him to the brow of the hill on which their town had been built, to hurl him down headlong" (Lk 4,29). Why? Because the listeners could not accept that the prophecy of Isaiah is fulfilled in the person of Jesus. As a result, they tried to kill Jesus or in other words they rejected Him.

There are many similar incidents in the gospels. One of them is in the gospel of St John, chapter 6. In this chapter we see the teaching of Jesus on the Bread of life - The Eucharist (6, 26 - 59) and Jesus says, "I am the bread of life" (6,35). At the end of the teaching, many of his disciples said to him, "this saying is hard, who can accept it"(6,60). When we go a little further in verse 6,66, we read, “as a result of this many of his disciples returned to their former ways of life and no longer accompanied him". This phenomenon of rejecting Jesus is there from the very beginning of Jesus' public ministry. And it continues even today. Those who rejected Jesus, could not accept Jesus as the Savior and the Messiah. They could not understand his teachings properly. As a result, they chose the easiest way- reject Him

We realize
To believe- is hard
To understand- is hard
To love - is hard
To forgive- is hard
To reconcile- is hard
To give witness- is hard
so we may choose the easy way, reject him
and ignore him.

After the above-mentioned incident in John 6, we see the question of Jesus to the twelve. "Jesus then said to the twelve, "do you also want to leave?" Simon Peter answered him, "Master, to whom shall we go? You have the words of eternal life. We have come to believe and are convinced that you are the Holy One of God" (6, 67-69).

We should all ask ourselves, what is my position, am I standing with the people who reject Jesus or standing with those who profess the divinity of Jesus?