Faith in God

Smitty was a hard-headed farmer. When a flood hit the area, he climbed onto the roof of his house. A rescue boat came along but Smitty told them, "No, thanks. I have faith in the Lord. He will save me. The waves got even higher and Smitty had to go to the very top of the roof. Another boat came by to save him, but he still insisted that the Lord would save him. Then the water began to get his feet wet and a helicopter swooped down to take him away. But Smitty still depended on the Lord to save him. Well, you can easily imagine what happened. Yes, Smitty was drowned. When he stood before the Lord in the next world, he complained, "Lord, I had such faith in you. Why didn't you save me?" To which the Lord replied, "What more do you want me to do? I sent you two boats and a helicopter."

Dear friends, Saint James in his letter puts it this way: "It is by his actions that a man is put right with God and not by his faith alone" (James 2: 24) 

Listening

A man realized that he could not hear very well and that he had to buy a hearing aid. But he did not want to spend much money on it. So he went to the store and asked the clerk, "How much do hearing aids cost?" "Well" said the salesman, "it depends. They run from two dollars to two thousand.'' "Let me see the two dollar model," the man said. The clerk hung a string around the man's neck. "Just put this button in your ear," he said, "and stick this string in your pocket." "How does it work?" asked the customer. "It doesn't work. But when people see it on you, they'll speak louder."

Dear friends, actually most of our communications problems are not due to people speaking too softly, Most of us are not good listeners. Big companies know that people want to be listened to. One company uses the motto: "We listen better, and another company says, "We hear you." As one little girl promised, "I'll try to listen  louder." 

Today's Gospel also tells us that whoever listens to God's word is like a person who builds his/her house on the rock where the foundation is dug deep and whoever does not listen to His voice is like a man who builds his/her house on a sand and when flood water comes his/her house collapses. So let's be a good listener. 

They tell a story about the wise King Solomon of the Old Testament. One day his friend the Queen of Sheba sent him two vases of roses. One vase had real roses in it; the other had hand-made roses, which were so perfect that she challenged King Solomon to tell her which roses were the real ones without smelling them. That was no problem to the wise Solomon. He just opened the window and let in a swarm of bees. They flew right over to the real roses. Many people may look alike from the outside, but God can easily tell the difference.

Saint Paul in Galatians 6:3 puts it this way, "if someone thinks he is somebody when really he is nobody, he is only deceiving himself." 

God Needs Our Hands

At the end of World War II a group of soldiers offered to help the people of a destroyed village in any way they could. But instead of asking for food, money, or farm equipment, the townsmen asked for help in restoring a statue. For years their proudest possession had been a statue of Christ in their own town square. Now it lay shattered into many pieces. Could the soldiers help put it together again? It was a difficult task, chips and pieces lay all over the square. Finally the statue was repaired except for two missing parts that the soldiers could not find. Finished, they covered the statue with a silken parachute, so that it could be unveiled in a ceremony before the townspeople, even though it was incomplete. On the occasion the mayor of the town gave a speech and pulled the cord of the silken drape... It dropped from the statue, showing a Christ without hands. At first the townspeople were shocked. Then they looked down at a sign which the soldiers had put at the feet of the statue. It said: "I have no hands. Won't you please lend me yours?"

Hi, friends today we know Jesus is not with us physically as He was with His Apostles. He needs our HAND, so are you ready to Lend your HANDS to Him, to serve the poor and needy? Remember Jesus said,   "Whenever you did something for one of the least important of these brothers of mine, you did it for me." Matthew 25:40

Tongues

The king made a banquet and ordered his clever slave to serve the best food that money could buy. The main food at the meal was tongue... all kinds of tongue cooked in all kinds of ways. All the side dishes and even dessert were also tongue... When the king objected, the slave said: "My Lord, what excels the tongue? It is the channel of wisdom and learning. By it we make speeches and carry out business. By it great personas are made known. With our tongue we speak even to God.. King, there is nothing equal to the tongue." The king all the guests were astounded to hear all this wit and wisdom come from the slave.

 The next day the king threw another banquet. The same guests came back. This time the king ordered the slave to serve the worst kind of meat he could find. Again, he served tongue - and only tongue. When the king began to scold the slave over this, he answered: "My Lord, can there be anything worse than the tongue? Treasons, deaths, violence, injustices, fraud, murder, wars - all are debated and decided by the tongue. The tongue ruins empires and countries, peoples and families. What is worse than the tongue?"

Dear friends, what kind of tongue do you have? What kind of comments do we make? Is it constructive or destructive? When would have the slave served your tongue? 

Bible for Illiterates

Four clergymen were discussing the merits of the various translations of the Bible. On liked the King James version because of its simple, beautiful language. Another liked the American Standard version best because it comes closer to the original Hebrew and Greed. The third liked Moffatt's translation best because of its up-to-date words. The fourth clergyman was silent. When asked to express his opinion, he replied: "I like my mother's translation best."

The other three expressed surprise and wanted to know what he meant. "Well," he explained, "my mother translated the Bible into her everyday life, and it was the most convincing translation I ever saw." 

Dear friends it is not enough that we read Bible or we express our ideas from it. We need to live the Bible in our everyday life. We need to be walking Bible like Jesus. Bible is read in each action of a christian. Bible is shared when we share our life and our time according to the values we read in the Bible. Let us not only comment on the different people's version but let us become BIBLE's for others and especially illetrates.

Forgiveness of Sins

A missionary on one of the islands was sitting in his cool seaside hut one day when one of the village women came in, carrying a handful of dripping sand she had just picked up off the beach. "Do you know what this is?" she asked. "It looks like sand," said the missionary. "Do you know why I brought it here?" she asked. "No. I can't imagine why," the padre answered. "Well, these are my sins," the women explained. "My sins are as countless as the sands of the sea. How can I ever obtain forgiveness for all of them?" "You got that sand down by the shore, didn't you?" said the missionary. "Well, take it back there, and pile it up into a heaping mound of sand at the water's edge. Then you sit back and watch the tide come in and slowly wash away the pile altogether. That is how God's forgiveness works."...

Dear friends, Our God is a merciful God. He is always ready to forgive us of our sins. Only we need to approach Him and show our repentant and contrite heart. He is always ready to receive us no matter how sinful we are. In Isaiah 1:18 God says to the people: "Now, let's settle this matter. You are stained red with sin, but I will wash you as clean as snow. Although your stains are deep red, you will be as white as wool."