Feast Day: The ‘New Evangelisation’

The mass was concelebrated by Monsignor James Gnanapragasam with Rev. Fr. Dominic Santhiyagu and Rev. Fr. Louis Loi.

Homily

Monsignor James narrated the subway story on paradigm shift:

A man was travelling on the train; it was a quiet and calm scene of people reading the newspaper and in their own thoughts. The train stopped at a station and a father and his three children got on the train. Suddenly the entire scene changed to one of loud and boisterous. It was a disturbing scene and the father just sat there with his eyes closed. The man feeling annoyed asked the father if he could do something about it. The father replied that he should but it just so happened that their mother died that morning and the kids don’t know how to handle it and neither does he.  At that moment, the man’s perception changed.

Paradigm shift, Msgr. James explained is when there is a complete reversal of what we have been talking about or thinking. It suddenly made the man on the train to think differently.

Jesus makes a paradigm shift too, he said. Jesus had just transfigured himself and was talking about the suffering he has to endure but the disciples were preoccupied with their own discussion on who was the greatest.  Jesus then embraces a child and says that the greatest among them is the least among them(Mark 9: 30-37).

Msgr. James added that the ‘new evangelization’ calls us on a mission to reach out to the outside world. It is to reach out to Catholics who have fallen away. Many Catholics say they are spiritual but do not have religion. The only way we can reach out to them is to be like children happy and joyful to have embraced Christ. He urged the congregation to spend time with fellow Catholic friends and not to come to church with a mournful look. He said be cheerful and reach out.