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Today we celebrate the last Sunday of the year 2010. The first Sunday after Christmas in Polish National Catholic Church we celebrate the Solemnity of Humble Shepherds. In our liturgy for this Sunday we remember those who visited first newborn child in Bethlehem.

My Dear brothers and sisters

Many generations had been waiting for the coming of the Messiah, but only a few humble shepherds were worthy to be told of the great event that was taking place.

The angel of the Lord appeared to a few humble shepherds and the glory of God shone above them. They were terrified, but the angel said to them, ”do not be afraid; for see – I am bringing you good news of great joy for all the people; to you is born this day in the city of David a Savior, who is the Messiah, the Lord.”

When the angels had left them and gone into heaven, the shepherds said to one another, “Let’s go to Bethlehem and see this thing that has happened, which the Lord has told us about.” So they hurried off and found Mary and Joseph, and the baby, who was lying in the manger.

When they had seen him, they spread the word concerning what had been told them about this child, and all who heard it were amazed at what the shepherds said to them.

This was the beginning of the good news of Jesus’ coming into the world; the shepherds went to the manger and presented their respect worshipping the newborn savior of the world.

They left praising God for the great fortune of humanity and they spread the word concerning what had been told them about this child.

Brothers and sisters, we have to do the same! We have to be like shepherds the first witnesses of Incarnation. No matter what you do in life — whether you are a student, a worker, a housewife, a parent, or retire — your job is to speak about Jesus and to spread the word concerning him. And it is your job to do that all the time. Not just when you are in church, but also outside, on the job, at home, everywhere you are. Parents and grandparents you are the first spiritual teachers for your children and grandchildren about Jesus — and not just by bringing kids to baptism and to Sunday school, but also by reading them, Bible stories and teaching about Jesus at home. It’s our job to spread word of Jesus — and not just to those who are already Christians, but also to those who live without Jesus.

We have to take example from the shepherds. St. Luke in the Gospel said about them: They hurried off and found Mary and Joseph, and the baby, who was lying in the manger. Brothers and sisters like the shepherds we have to find Jesus in our lives and tell everybody about Him. Tell that He is our salvation and He came to this world to save and sanctify all the people.

Our mission is testifying about good news that in the Bethlehem a Savior, our Messiah and Lord was born.

While working on his famous painting “The Last Supper,” Leonardo DaVinci had an argument with a certain man. He lashed out against the fellow with bitter words and threatening gestures. When the argument was over DaVinci went back to his studio, where he was working on the face of Jesus. He could not make one stroke. At last he realized what the trouble was. He put down his brush, found the man he had offended, and asked his forgiveness. He returned to his studio and calmly continued painting the face of Jesus.

Like DaVinci we are trying to put Christ into the masterpiece called Christmas. We want Jesus to be in the center of our Christmas celebration.

In today’s Gospel we heard John: Repent, for the kingdom of heaven is at hand.

John challenged people to reform their lives, to repent of their sins and undergo a baptism of purification in the Jordan. He warns the Pharisees and Sadducees that being descendants of Abraham would count for nothing, if good deeds were not evident in their lives.

The call of John to repent is an urgent invitation for us to prepare a way for the Lord to come into our hearts. Preparing to celebrate Christmas means renewing our lives by acknowledging our need for Christ.

Just as DaVinci could not work on the face of Jesus while he was guilty of having offended another man, so you and I cannot work at putting Christ into the Christmas picture, as long as we are not sorry for having disobeyed God. John warns all of us, that being Christian would count for nothing if good deeds were not evident in our lives.

Each Advent is an opportunity for us to come closer to Christ and deepen our relationship with him through prayer and repentance. His power is at work in our lives when we make peace with the family member we have rejected, the relations we do not speak to, and the poor we have no time for. Breaking down these barriers will open the way for Christ to come to our studios — that is our hearts. In this way we will be able like DaVinci, to paint Jesus in our hearts, and in the hearts of those who are around us.

I have fought the good fight, I have finished the race, from now on a merited crown awaits me.

All the time most of us are amazed by good athletes like: Michael Jordan, the Williams Sisters, Aggasi, Nadal, and many others. We are amazed by what they achieved, and some of us wish to be as good as they are. But I do not think that many times we realize how many hours they have to spend in practice in order to have those good results.

A couple years ago there was interview with Andre Agasi, who at that time was number one in the world. The year before he was number 120 in the world. One of the question was: What happened that you fell so much in the ranking. Agasi said that he thought that the talent which he has will be enough, that he does not have to put too much effort toward his training. When he started go lower and lower with his ranking he blamed everybody around but not himself. He blamed his coach. But one day he realized what his coach said long time ago: “TALENT ISTSELF IS NOT ENOUGH AND IF HE WANTS TO BE A BETTER PLAYER, HAS TO PRACTICE MORE OFTEN.”

We can change this sentence and put it into our life: “IF I WANT TO BE A GOOD CHRISTIAN I HAVE TO LISTEN TO MY COACH, I HAVE TO PRACTICE MORE OFTEN.”

But who is my coach?

Jesus Christ is our coach, good religious books can be our coach, the Bible is our coach, and Holy Sprit is our coach. Many times our coach is very tough on us because he wants us to exercise every day, and we would claim that we do not have time for this, or we do not want to have time for the SPIRITUAL EXERCISE. We would rather spend our time with our friends, next to TV, or other ways.

Parents are supposed to be the good example of good Christian life to their children, youth to their friends, and we as Christians to the world. In order to be a good Christian we have to have knowledge about our faith, about Jesus Christ. To have up-to-date knowledge we have to read the Bible, and good religious books. To be good Christians we have to exercise our faith. Even the best athlete without exercise will very soon become one of the worst, will be the outsider. The same can happen to us.

Ghandi, the great leader of India said that: Christianity is the most beautiful religion that he ever saw. But when he was asked why he did not convert to Christianity, if Christianity is such a good religion, Ghandi Answered: “I have never met a Christian who spends life according to Christian’s rules.”

It is sad, but maybe Ghandi met only those Christians who never practiced or stopped to practice their religion, maybe he met only outsiders.

So let us start to exercise more seriously our religion, our faith, than we will be able to repeat after St. Paul: “I have fought the good fight, I have finished the race, from now on a merited crown awaits me.” Amen.

In today’s Gospel we see Jesus who is compassionate, Loving God. He forgives, and He cures. But we can see that this loving and compassionate God wants our gratitude toward Him.

When we do something good for others, deep in our hearts we look for the word “thanks”. In our society there are too many people like the ungrateful nine who were cured but did not express their thanks.

Since last Sunday’s Mass how often did we thank God? Even when we attended Mass, how often is the thought of thanks in our heart? It should be because Holy Mass is the perfect place of giving thanks for God’s blessings in our lives.

The very word Eucharist, another word for Mass, means THANSKIVING. The first purpose of sacrifice is to give glory to God. Praise is giving thanks.

The grateful leper returned to Christ who had healed him, was “praising God with a loud voice; and he fell at the feet of Jesus, giving Him Thanks.” That is exactly what we do in every Holy Mass.

I do not know if you noticed how often during the Holy Mass we use the word “THANKS”.

• In the GLORIA: “we give you thanks… for your glory.”
• Often the opening prayer includes a word of thanks for the feast or mystery we are celebrating.
• The Preface begins: “Father, all powerful and everlasting God, we do well always and everywhere to give you thanks through your Son, Jesus Christ our Lord.”
• Right before the consecration the priest recalls that Jesus took bread and gave thanks to His heavenly Father.
• We thank God through mouth of the Priest for counting us worthy to stand in the presence of God.
• When we receive Holy Communion We should praise and adore Our Lord, Jesus Christ.

My brothers and sisters in Christ, All of us should be like the man in the Gospel – ready to come back again and again to Jesus, to give thanks.

We can not take example of those nine lepers, that once their prayers were answered, they went away from Jesus, and never came back.

We have to take the example of that one leper, who made the effort to come back and gave praise and thanks to God.

My friends we have easier way to do. We do not have walk long distance to Jesus. He is here in this Tabernacle, on this Altar during every Mass. He awaits us every day. Let’s come as often as we can to give Him thanks and praise.

May God bless you and Mary always keep you in her prayers.