April 2017 - Anbiyam Meeting Topic and Reflection from Rev. Fr. Peter

Anbiyam reflection for April 2017

Theme: "Roll away the stone, unbend him and let him go" - entomb to empty tomb 

Scripture: Jn. 11: 1-45

Core message - Jesus raises Lazarus

Reflections:  

1.     We often entomb ourselves with chains of addiction to alcohol, drugs, sexual deviations, slander, gossip, envy, pride, prejudices, hatred, uncontrollable anger and we burry ourselves in tomb of despair.

2.     Sometimes we are in the tombs of selfishness filled with negative feelings such as worry, fear, resentment, hatred and guilt

3.     We need to allow Jesus to visit our dark dungeons of sin, despair, and unhappiness in our tomb

4.     We need to ask Jesus to send the light of hope, the power of the Holy Spirit into our own private life and liberate us from those bondages of sin which we have been entombing over the years.

Discuss with everyone that there is one or two evils / vices are very predominant in you. There is nothing wrong in admitting in public and seek the entire congregation present in the Anbiyam meeting to pray for you.

Fr. Peter

March 2017 - Anbiyam reflections from Rev. Fr. Peter Chinnappan

Scripture reading and reflection for March 2017 anbiyam meeting

Mathew 25:31-46

Jesus speaks about the sheep being gathered at the right hand of the Father and the goats to His left hand. The righteous are rewarded with a place in Heaven and bad and adamant ones / who do not want to change themselves are punished in eternal fire.

Reflections:

Who are the righteous? Those who took care of the least of his/ her brothers or sisters and blessed by the Father and a place in His Kingdom.

Who are the bad ones? Those who did not care for the less fortunate, the abandoned or the least of his / her brother and did not take care of them are punished in the eternal fire.

In the reading, Jesus explains about the hungry, thirsty, naked, homeless, visiting the prisoners. The just ones did not even know when did they took care of Jesus. But evil ones justify when they did not take care of Jesus? Jesus gives them right answer to their question?

Action plan for this Lent:

The season of Lent is an opportunity for us to practice an act of mercy as explained in the gospel which you read today.

Ask yourself what kind of act of mercy you can have during this Lent. That is making a sacrifice or giving up evil habits or walking one more mile who seeks our help?

It is easy for us to give up something material that is external but what can you sacrifice something very personal and internal? 

Could it be negative feeling about other? Could it be our anger with someone the family and community? 

Could it be gossiping, an uncharitable thoughts, words or actions? 

Could it be laziness?  Could it be coming late for Mass? 

How do we respond to the demands of the school authority or work or any function for which we purchased tickets? 

How do we respond to the church and spiritual need? 

What is lasting and an internal conversion is going to lead us to the life that never. What God would appreciate is something internal / overcome evil habits

Now invite everyone to think about something internal and challenging and not something external and easy.

I pray that you may have a sanctified Lenten experience!

God Bless you

Fr. Peter

Rev. Fr. Peter Chinnappan - Message for Ephiphany

Message for Epiphany (1/8/17)

Dear friends,

The First reading taken from Prophet Isaiah tells us about the great light which is Christ the Light, would draw all nations to the Holy City Jerusalem. God revealed Himself to all nations through Jesus who draws all people to him and to the Father.

St. Paul writing to the church in Ephesus, speaking about the great mystery is being revealed to all nations in Jesus so that all would become coheirs in the Kingdom of God, which Jesus obtained through death on the cross, rising from the dead, ascending to the Father and sending us the Holy Spirit, who constantly sanctifies the members of the Church

Reading through the Gospel written by St. Mathew, I would place for your meditation, there are five category of people in the society

INSECURE PEOPLE: People who love power and authority. Herod was in power and had authority which was threatened at the birth of Jesus Christ. His hunger for power and authority eventually led him to destroy Jesus. The result was that so many innocent children were massacred. 

Lesson: Today we experience the same situation in all over the world among the politicians or power hungry people to victimize innocent people for their selfishness even destroying their own people. There is no justice and sympathy. Total selfishness we see in every situation. The craving for power and authority destroys not only righteousness and justice but also peace in the family, in the office, in a state, country and ultimately in the whole universe. When the Prince of Peace was born, Herod felt insecure in front of Jesus. How many of us feel insecure when some one is more powerful than us?

INDIFFERENT PEOPLE: People who love their comfort zone and do not want  to come out of it. When Magi visited Herod, he summoned all the astrologers in his kingdom, along with the scribes who were well versed in the scripture,the temple authorities, Pharisees and Sadducees. They right-away pointed out that Messiah would be born in Bethlehem. For down the centuries they were waiting for the Messiah and when he actually came in their midst, did not want to accept because their life style would be put to test and did not want to get out from their comfort zone and they were indifferent people. They were comfortable with their life style. 

Lesson: Today we have same situation where people do not want to get out of their comfort zone because that would restrict their freedom. Let it be in the church, office, or any similar places. How many of our people, always come late and get out early from any liturgical celebrations? We find week after week the same people occupying the same pew and same seat and same time. They never involve in any community activities. They are indifferent to any situation. They can not come out of their life style. 

IGNORANT PEOPLE: When Joseph and Mary with the Holy Child in the womb, knocked at the door, the innkeeper refused to give them place. Later on when St. Luke was writing the Gospel, he traveled to Jericho and met the innkeeper who had soled his inn and settled in Jericho, was so sorry, that he did not know that Messiah was knocking at his door because of ignorance.

Lesson: Today how many of our people are ignorant of the biblical and ethical values? They can not excuse themselves just like the innkeeper that they do not know those values. How many of our adults do not even know the sacramental values, Christian values, ethical values, family values and social values? Can we justify our ignorance in our time of web-age?

INNOCENT PEOPLE: People who do not seek explanation or ask question but simply believe and have desire to follow the instructions. They were the shepherds at Nativity of Jesus. They went in haste to find out what was spoken by the Angel and found as they were told. They were the more privileged group because of their simplicity the Good News was proclaimed to them before any one else in the world.

Lesson: Today, we still find people of simple faith, innocent, deep desire to know God and seek His Blessing. They totally depend on their good conscience, follow the teachings of the Church, have moral values, social & family values. They have deep sympathy for those who suffer in one way or the other. Still we find people go out of their way to help those in need in any situation. We can see the love of God in them.God uses those are willing to be his instrument to bring JOY and PEACE. St. Theresa of Calcutta was the finest example I would recall.

EMINENT PEOPLE: People of importance, who love to understand, love and serve the humanity and thus honor their creator. They go out of their comfort zone to meet every need of another God's child. Magi are the example. Their love for God and His Child traveled so far to find  the meaning to the appearance of Great Light and the star which was unusual. Their study, knowledge, wisdom all came together in order to find meaning to their life in Jesus. 

Lesson: Today we know that there are people all over the world with goodness & kindness and love & service for the humanity. In spite of their importance in the society, come forward to help those in need. They share their God's Blessings with those in need. The magi shared with Jesus each in his own way by bringing Gold for the king of the universe, frankincense to the high priest for sacrifice and myrrh for the anointing of God's greatest prophet of whom many prophets spoke down the history, who is Emmanuel - God with us. People donate lot of their time, talent and treasure to the needy.

In which category of the above people you are? Think about it and if need to be changed, what step you would take? Share with others.

God bless you.

Fr. Peter Chinnappan 

NEW YEAR 2017 MESSAGE FROM REV. FR. PETER CHINNAPPAN

NEW YEAR 2017 MESSAGE FROM REV. FR. PETER CHINNAPPAN

The Best New Year Gifts:

To your friend - loyalty;

To your enemy - forgiveness;

To your boss - service;

To a child - a good example;

To your parents - gratitude and devotion;

To your mate - love and faithfulness;

To all men and women - love;

To God - your life.

My dear Tamil Catholic Selvangale,

Wish you all a very Blessed and Prosperous New Year 2017!

We honor Mary today primarily because God honored her by choosing her to become the mother of Jesus, the Second Person of the Holy Trinity, when He took on human flesh and became man, as stated in the Bible. The angel said to Mary: “You are going to be the mother of a Son, and you will call Him Jesus, and He will be called the Son of the Most High."  After the angel had appeared to her and told her that she was to be the mother of Jesus, the Blessed Virgin Mary visited Elizabeth. At Mary's greeting, Elizabeth said, "Why this great thing should happen to me that my Lord’s mother comes to visit me?” [Lk 1:43]. Hence, the Council of Ephesus affirmed in AD 431 that Mary was truly the Mother of God (Theotokos), and in AD 451, the Council of Chalcedon affirmed the Divine Motherhood of Mary as a dogma, an official doctrine of the Holy Catholic Church.

We also celebrate today the 50^th year of “World Day of Peace” which was promulgated by Pope Paul VI in 1967. Pope Francis in his message for ‘World Day of Peace 2017’ has urged us to reflect on nonviolence as a style of politics and peace. We have published the entire message in our new website for your reading. 

I would earnestly urge you to pray for our community members who are going through a difficult time with regard to work, visa and permanent residence here in DFW area.  May God in whom we place our trust and Blessed Mary who intercedes unceasingly for our growth, continue to guide us and thus bring about unity, joy and peace!

I take this occasion to acknowledge and express my sincere gratitude to the out-going leadership team for their selfless and dedicated service for past two years. Our attendance has been increased steadily. Our spiritual journey has been strengthened and our faith is deepened. Thank you all our out-going leadership team. ‘Well done, good and faithful servant with a few things; I will put in charge of many things. Come and share your master’s happiness’ Mt. 25:21

Finally, I wish to welcome the ‘New Leadership team’ to serve our community in a spirt of love, sacrifice and dedication. Both Mr. Anthony Venansius and Mr. Valstan Thomas had availed many hours of their precious time in conceiving and constructing our new website. I express my sincere appreciation and looking forward to work together for the development of our community anchored in faith and served with great sacrifice and witnessed in love.

Fr. Peter Chinnappan