Hi friends,
Hope you are all fine. 
You may not see me this weekend, as I am going to Sts. Peter and Paul Church, Wisconsin Rapids, for mission appeal. The fund that I would raise will go to my home diocese in India, the Diocese of Vellore.
You will be seeing a new priest with me these days. He is Fr. Amalraj Antony from India. He will be here to have his initial orientation and to get himself acquainted with the culture. You may help him learn the local culture.
I would like to thank you all for the warm welcome you have offered me. It was really great and encouraging. I deeply appreciate the warmth of your welcome.
Once there was a monastery in a village. There were many monks living there. The monks were happy with their way of life. One of the monks was very pious. The monk used to clean the statues that were in the monastery every day. He was very diligent in doing his job and he was very happy about it. Life went on.
It so happened that once there was a famine. The people were starving due to lack of food. They were suffering without even one meal a day. The monks in the monastery were trying to help out the people in any way possible. They went to people who had some food, begged food from them and gave food to those who were starving. The pious monk went on doing his job every day, even in this time of difficulty. Yes, he kept cleaning the statues as ever. He never minded what others were doing or what the situation of the people was.
One day the head of the monks saw this pious monk running towards him and asked him what happened and why he was running so breathlessly. The pious monk replied, “Head Monk, Head Monk, something bad is happening here. I saw one of the statue’s toe is broken. I don’t know how that happened, but it is a bad omen. What are we to do now?” He seemed very concerned about the whole affair. The head monk smiled and said to the pious monk: “Dear monk, people are suffering a great starvation and are without any grain to eat. You do not worry about them. But you worry a lot about the broken toe of a statue. These people are the creatures of God and you don’t worry about that. That is what you need to worry about first, not a broken statue.” The pious monk then realized what has the priority.
Many times we are concerned about many things that do not deserve any attention. But things that we need to care or worry about, we forget and neglect. We need to care more for people and not worry much about lifeless little things. Because these people are those that were created by God and do need and deserve all attention. And by loving them we become more and more closer to God.
God bless,
Fr. A. Antony
 

Hi friends,
Hope you are all doing well. I pray to God for you all that He keeps you well now and always.
Once there were two squirrels. One was a pious squirrel and the other was an atheist. The second squirrel always used to make fun of the first squirrel for being so pious and devoted to God. But the pious squirrel never bothered about it. He kept always cool. Not only that, but  whenever time permitted, the first squirrel used to talk to the second one about God and some spiritual things like this. They were very good friends though.
Once these two squirrels were playing on a tree running up and down. When they were playing like that, the pious squirrel slipped and fell down from the tree. Though he was a little hurt, he thanked God for saving him from a bigger danger. The second squirrel burst into laughter. The second squirrel said to the first one, “You will never come to your senses. Even now when you are hurt, you thank your God. Why don’t you ask your God and tell me why he let you fall down from the tree?” Saying so the atheist squirrel kept laughing louder and harder. The first squirrel did not mind it.
As the atheist squirrel was laughing so loud, he could not notice the snake that was coming behind him. The first squirrel who saw the snake tried to warn him by loudly calling him and telling him that there was a snake coming behind him. But because the squirrel was laughing so hard with closed eyes, he could not hear the warning. So, the snake came and swallowed the second squirrel.
Our faith sometimes will be tested with some little inconveniences in our lives. Those inconveniences and troubles come to us to strengthen our faith. God will never leave us alone, because we are all His creatures. He wants us to be happy always. When inconveniences occur, we should know that God is there looking at us. I read somewhere this: If God grants what we ask for, we have faith in God. If He does not give what we ask for, God has faith in us. This is very true. God also has faith in our abilities to overcome all troubles and discomforts. That is why He lets us sometimes go through tiny inconveniences. That is why in times of misfortune we need to think more of God rather than being immersed in those misfortunes.
This doesn’t happen a lot of times, because we do not want to have what God wants to offer to us, but we want God to offer us what we want. When this does not happen, we become more frustrated and our faith falters. That is not going to do us any good. Only our firmness in faith will bring us closer to Him and keep us in good fortunes.
Trust in God, even in times of misfortunes.
God bless.
Yours sincerely,
Fr. A. Antony.
 

Dear friends,
Hope you had good week this past week with some good and even warmer weather. Let us keep praying that the weather remains conducive for the crops and the farmers have a good yield.
Once there was a rich man. He had everything anybody can imagine. He had all the luxuries and even more than what he needed as luxury. But he had no peace of mind. He always felt an emptiness in his heart and he always felt insecure. So, he decided to work it out somehow.
The rich man after much thinking decided to meet a guru to help him out. After listening to him the guru took him to a football game. He told him to watch the game. The rich man watched the game interestingly for a while. But as usual he started whining and told the Guru, “See Guru, I feel exactly the same way as the ball, being tossed up and down, kicked by everyone, disowned by all” The Guru did not say anything to him but smiled at him calmly. The game was over. They went home and the Guru asked him to go and sleep.
The next day the duo went to watch a musical concert. The rich man enjoyed the concert as did everyone. The Guru too enjoyed the concert. Everyone there enjoyed the solo flute played by a person and it was fabulous. After the concert, both of them went home and the rich man could not resist asking the Guru, “Guru I came to you seeking for a solution to my problem. But you don’t seem to care about it. You take me to places to watch the game, the concert. What do all these have to do with my problems? I just don’t understand”. The rich man seemed a little indignant.
The Guru again gave the same trademark smile and continued: “See dear son, I took you to the two events purposefully. When you went to the football game, you saw the ball being tossed and disowned. The ball was filled with air and the ball never let the air out. So, it had a rough and tough time. Whereas when you went to the musical concert, you saw the people enjoying the concert, especially the flute solo. The flute was letting the air always out as it received the air from outside, without holding it inside. That giving out attitude and the act of the flute was the reason for that enjoyment of the people and also that made people praise the flute. When we keep giving away we become happy”.
This is what happens sometimes in our lives too. We try to hold a lot in our heart and mind. Sometimes in our houses, too. I do not necessarily mean things/materials but also the feelings of joy and sorrow. These feelings, when held within ourselves, have tremendous effects. But when let out they have better effects. When a feeling of joy is let out it is doubled and when the feeling of sorrow is let out, it is reduced. That goes well with material things, too. Let out everything, good things to be doubled and bad things to be reduced.
God bless.  Yours sincerely in Christ,
Fr. A. Antony.