Fr. Nivin's Homily Blog

“Think! The heavens, even the highest heavens, belong to the LORD, your God, as well as the earth and everything on it. Yet in his love for your fathers, the LORD was so attached to them as to choose you, their descendants, in preference to all other peoples.” The greatness of God is truly, completely beyond our full understanding, in fact, it is even beyond our partial understanding. What we know of God is probably just a fraction of a fraction of a fraction of the true greatness of God. The people who lived during the time of Moses had only a minimal understanding of who God is because God had only revealed a little about Himself. Divine revelation is gradual. Even if He had revealed everything about Himself, no one would be able to grasp it all. First, God revealed Himself to Abraham and his immediate descendants. Then, through Moses, He revealed Himself to an entire community. Finally, in the fullness of time, through His Son Jesus Christ, God revealed Himself to the whole world. I...

 “You also must be prepared, for at an hour you do not expect, the Son of Man will come.” Do you like surprise visits? Some of us do. Recently, I went again to visit my sister and her family. Since the last visit, my 4-year-old nephew had been calling me almost daily and asking me to visit him again. So, this time, I told my sister to keep my trip a secret, I wanted to surprise the little boy. When he saw me finally, his eyes were wide open with disbelief, and his mouth too was wide open in surprise! I will never forget that look on his face, and the exuberant joy of the moment when I hugged and carried him. But not all of us like surprise visits, especially when the visitors come at the wrong time, and we are caught unprepared. When I was in high school, our principal, Fr. George, was very strict. He didn’t talk much, but he knew every student. Occasionally, he would walk along the school corridors, surveying every corner and if he caught any student misbehaving, he would carry ou...

 “Ask now of the days of old, before your time, ever since God created man upon the earth; ask from one end of the sky to the other: Did anything so great ever happen before?” Have you heard the hymn “Faith of Our Fathers” before? I have heard it many times before, but only when I heard it again a few months ago during the Iowa Catholic Radio event, did it move me so very deeply. The lyrics struck me to realize how great the gift of faith is, that was passed down to me by my parents, my grandparents, my great grandparents, through many, many, generations before me, from the days of old. God, in a wonderful and mysterious way, guided the transmission of faith from one generation to the next. Yes, some may fall away, but God, in His mercy, often bring them back. If not in one generation, it would be in the next. Our faith has a long history, rich and profound, when we see clearly how God is present and the Holy Spirit active in accompanying humanity through its life. I love history a...

(Holy Family School Mass)   “While he was praying, his face changed in appearance and his clothing became dazzling white.” Today we celebrate the Feast of the Transfiguration of Jesus. Transfiguration means a complete change of appearance into a most beautiful, glorious, spiritual state. Jesus’ transfiguration shows us that although He has taken on human nature, He is also at the same time truly God. Do you remember who were the three disciples who went with Jesus up the mountain when He was transfigured?  That’s right. Peter, James, and John. And how do you think they felt when they saw Jesus shining with glory? Oh yes, they were afraid, because they had never seen anyone shining so brightly before, it does not happen to human people. But then later they felt great too! That’s why Peter said, “Lord, it is good for us to be here!” He even wanted to build three tents for Jesus, Moses and Elijah. In those days, people do live in tents, not for camping. So Peter thought they...

 “It is not what enters one’s mouth that defiles the person, but what comes out of the mouth is what defiles one.”  Today, Jesus challenges our common perspective: it is not what we eat that makes us unclean, it is what we speak. Our words reveal what is in our hearts and when we speak unkind words, it shows how ugly and unclean our heart is. We see a good example of this in the first reading, when Miriam, the sister of Moses, spoke against him in a very unkind and unjust manner. Immediately, God inflicted with leprosy, an external visible sign of her internal spiritual impurity. She was later cast out of the community until she was made clean again. If God were to also punish us instantly for every careless word we spoke, would any one of us survive? What is it that comes out of the mouth and defiles? - Gossip, slander, verbal abuse, insults, sarcasm, complaints, condemnation, lies and so on.  All these come from polluted hearts and transfer negativity to others. These...

 “They all ate and were satisfied.”  One of the beautiful virtues that come with growing up in a big family is being thankful and satisfied with whatever food is placed on the table. My siblings and I learnt to enjoy and eat whatever was being served, without complaint. Mommy would prepare one main dish for all, which usually had simple ingredients and lots of spices, together with rice. We had options of course – we could choose to eat or not eat. We always chose to eat because we didn’t want to be hungry. We had very little snacks in those days, and there would be no other side meals. There wasn’t any cooked food sold in the village too. So if we didn’t eat what mommy cooked, there was no other food available. Sometimes we got something special when we fell sick. After a fever, mommy might prepare some chicken soup or porridge with wild meat for us, and that would be a special treat. I don’t remember hearing my papa complain about mommy’s cooking. We didn’t either. Mommy’s f...

 “If you were raised with Christ, seek what is above, where Christ is seated at the right hand of God. Think of what is above, not of what is on earth.” What does it mean to ‘seek what is above’? There’s no doubt that ‘what is above’ is ‘where Christ is seated at the right hand of God’. St. Paul was writing about heaven. In other words, Paul is asking us to think about heaven, about eternity, and to set our minds and hearts to reach it. Let me ask you: When was the last time you thought seriously about heaven? Everyone wants to go to heaven, but nobody wants to die. From the catholic perspective, we might say that everyone wants to go to heaven, but nobody wants to be a saint. Both are ironic. Without death, there can be no heaven. And only saints can enter heaven. Heaven is ‘saint-land’. Now, let us consider the context of today’s second reading. St. Paul wrote this letter to the Colossians while he was imprisoned in Rome. At the very beginning of this letter, he said that he was ...

 “This fiftieth year you shall make sacred by proclaiming liberty in the land for all its inhabitants.”  Those of us born before year 2000 are so privileged and blessed to have been through three Jubilee Years in our lifetime so far. The Great Jubilee Year of 2000 was a huge significant milestone of 2000 years since the birth of Christ. St. Pope John Paul II made it deeper and more meaningful by dedicating each of the three years before that to one of the three Persons of the Holy Trinity, preparing the Church extensively spiritually for renewal and the outpouring of graces. Then in 2015, Pope Francis declared the Jubilee Year of Mercy, concretely demonstrating God's boundless compassion and endless mercy for all, and inviting us to be merciful like the Father. Ten years after, this 2025 is declared the Jubilee Year of Hope. Hope does not disappoint us even in the midst of trials and uncertainties, if we entrust all to God. I wonder how many of us will live till the next jubil...

 “Is he not the carpenter’s son?”  Jesus was referred to by various titles during His lifetime on earth: Son of Man, Son of God, Son of David, Messiah, Rabbi. People also acknowledged Him as a divine healer, prophet, Savior, even as their King. But when He got back to His hometown Nazareth, people knew Him only as “the carpenter’s son.” His foster father, Joseph, must have been well known in town as the carpenter, and Jesus thus was recognized as the son of the carpenter. Traditionally, the parents would teach and train their children to learn their trade, so that they would grow to be apprentices and finally become masters of their parents’ professions. So, to the people of Nazareth, Jesus was expected to be a good carpenter like His father Joseph. They couldn’t imagine Him becoming anything else, because they did not think He would know any other trade than His father’s.  Their understanding and expectations of His capabilities were very limited and narrow, they could n...

Holy Family School Mass Homily.   “As Moses came down from Mount Sinai with the two tablets of the commandments in his hands, he did not know that the skin of his face had become radiant.”  How many of you went to CYC? Wonderful! I helped to pick up some of you after the camp was over, and you know what? Many of you looked different after the camp. Because you spent a lot of time in the sun at camp. What happened to your skin? Oh yes, many of you got sun-tanned! If you have darker skin like me, you might not notice much change, but if you were to compare the exposed areas with areas of your skin which were covered, you will see the difference clearly. That is what sunlight does, it darkens our skin. But today’s first reading tells us that the skin of Moses’ face was different. It was not darkened by sunlight, instead he was radiant, that means looking very bright. What happened to him? Yes, he spent a lot of time with God on Mount Sinai. St. John tells us that God is ligh...

 “She had a sister named Mary, who sat beside the Lord at His feet, listening to Him speak.”  We heard this same Gospel text just two weeks ago at Sunday Mass. Many of us can relate easily to Martha, the busy, action-oriented person, with a clear vision of tasks and responsibilities to accomplish, goals and objectives to achieve. There is work to be done, so we just get on with it. We end the day satisfied with the checklist all ticked. But we often realize there is something more important we have missed, only when we reach the end of our life. Through my growing years and ministry as a priest, I have accompanied many people at the end of their lives: my grandparents, my parents, many elderly parishioners, and some close friends. Consistently, during those final moments, people do not ask for anything else but the presence of their loved ones.  Elderly people often long to see their grandchildren and great-grandchildren. Parents wish to be visited by their children. Thei...

 If you would only forgive their sin! If you will not, then strike me out of the book that you have written.”  Wow. Does this sound like emotional blackmail? When Moses came down from Mount Sinai and saw how the Israelites had turned from God and were worshipping the golden calf, he was furious. In his rage, he broke the tablets of the Ten Commandments, the very tablets written by the hand of God. He even ground them into powder, mixed with water, and made the people drink it. Moses was super angry with them, because he knew they have committed a grave sin, to worship something else other than God, but he allowed his anger to take over his head. He was chosen by God to lead the people, not to punish them. Moses believed God would be furious too and feared the worst. What was striking was what happened the next day. Moses returned to God, despite his own anger, he wanted God to forgive the people. He stood before the Lord and pleaded, more like he threatened God with his resign...

 “Even when you were dead in your transgressions, He brought you to life along with Him, having forgiven us all our sins.” A dear friend of mine, a Catholic, who has been struggling with deep depression and lingering wounds from a past abusive marriage, sought help with a counselor, who is a prayerful and spiritual Christian. During one of the counselling sessions, this counselor told my friend, “You need to be born again.” Do I think she should be born again? No. Then she voiced some of the struggles she is having with the Catholic Church, in her opinion we are restrictive, do not encourage people to use their spiritual gifts, are caught up in rites that are not relevant to real-life problems, and wondered why the Church does not teach much about the Holy Spirit… I don’t know whether you think the same, but what went through my mind was what Archbishop Fulton Sheen said: “There are not over a hundred people in the United States who hate the Catholic Church. There are millions, how...

“While everyone was asleep, his enemy came and sowed weeds all through the wheat, and then went off.”  The parable in today’s Gospel warns that we live in a world where sin has entered through the works of the devil, disguised to look like wheat. Good and evil are thus left to grow side by side, because it is hard to tell the difference at this point. We experience this confusion every day and now with technology, it gets harder to distinguish real from fake, good from evil. Think about the phone calls we receive, many of us hesitate to answer unknown callers because we don't know if it is a genuine call or a scam. Health products and medications proposed to help us get better could be found later to cause more problems or threaten our well-being. Parents might think cartoons or children’s games are suitable for children but might contain inappropriate content that could contaminate or mislead innocent minds. Sin often disguises itself as something good, poison is sometimes package...

 “So death is at work in us, but life in you.” Profound words from St. Paul. Death was at work in his life, in other words, he was dying. Whatever he was doing at that time, it was causing his death sooner than later. But his dying was giving life to others. I grew up witnessing real models who died to themselves to give life to others. They were my parents. My papa worked hard from very early in the morning till late in the evening on our farm every day. There are no rest days for farmers because the crops need attention daily. My mother cooked all our daily meals, prepared from scratch, used firewood for cooking, there was no running water from taps, water had to be fetched from the river. You can imagine she would be cooking and washing non-stop from the moment she woke till she rested at night. Life wasn’t easy. They worked hard to provide for their seven children; they gave their life for us. They were dying a little each day while we were growing steadily. We, their children,...

 Stop holding on to me, for I have not yet ascended to the Father. But go to my brothers and tell them, ‘I am going to my Father and your Father, to my God and your God.’  St. Mary Magdalene is known in the Church as the “Apostle to the Apostles”, a privileged and beautiful title. Even Peter, the head of the apostles, or John, the beloved disciple, were not entrusted with the first announcement of the Resurrection. Instead, Jesus gave that mission to Mary Magdalene. She was the first to proclaim the central truth of our faith: Christ is risen! He has overcome death, and because of that, we live with hope and our faith is strengthened. Jesus is the Resurrection and the Life. Death has no power over us too, because the One who conquered it, has the power to resurrect us as well. For over 2,000 years, since Mary Magdalene’s first announcement, Christians have continued to proclaim the Good News of Jesus’s resurrection. It is our call, our mission, to echo Mary Magdalene’s joyful ...

 “Fear not! Stand your ground, and you will see the victory the LORD will win for you today.” In the first reading, we read an account of how the Israelites crossed the Red Sea, leaving Egypt behind, travelling on foot towards the promise of a land prepared for them by God. That journey, which began with more than 1.5 million people and their livestock, lasted 40 years through the desert, every day was a pilgrimage through the rough and tough terrain, with no fertile land in sight. Eventually, they arrived at the Promised Land, where they settled with joyful anticipation of abundance, freedom and peace. It is not just a triumphant story of how the Israelites survived, but it is a powerful story of how God saves His people, them and us. In the Gospel, we heard the scribes and Pharisees ask Jesus: “Teacher, we wish to see a sign from you.” By that time, Jesus had already performed many public miracles. But they were still not convinced that Jesus was God coming to save them and the w...

 “Martha, Martha, you are anxious and worried about many things. There is need of only one thing.”  What is the only one thing needed? In the first reading, God visited Abraham in the heat of the day. Abraham saw three men approaching his tent and sensed something special about them. In normal circumstances, Abraham simply could have acknowledged them and gone on with his work, but he did not. He dropped his work, ran to them, bowed before them, presented himself at their service, and got his household to prepare a good meal for them. He paid attention to their needs, and to what they had to tell him. In the Gospel, Jesus visits His dear friends Martha and Mary. Martha busies herself to prepare food to serve her special guest. While Mary chooses to sit at the feet of Jesus and listen to Him. Mary is paying full attention to Jesus and enjoying His presence, while Martha is overwhelmed with perfecting her tasks, and then complains, in an attempt for Jesus to deny attention to Ma...

“The children of Israel set out from Rameses for Succoth, about six hundred thousand men on foot, not counting the little ones.”  Can you imagine the scenario? About 600,000 men, not even counting the children, and not counting the women also. If we include everyone, we’re talking about at least over 1.5 million people leaving Egypt all at once. That’s not a small caravan. That’s an entire nation on the move! And leading them was just one man, Moses. What is even more remarkable is that Moses had a speech impediment. We can better understand now why he was reluctant at first, he was not confident, he did not think he had the ability, the qualities to be a leader, to represent God to save the whole Hebrew nation. And yet, God chose him, and he obeyed. And yet, all 1.5 million people or more, trusted him and followed him. God’s hand was working through an unqualified but obedient servant. Today, with advanced communication tools and highly efficient technology, leading a traditional ...

 “A man fell victim to robbers as he went down from Jerusalem to Jericho. They stripped and beat him and went off, leaving him half-dead.”  A few months ago, one member from Knights of Columbus shared a story of his recent experience with me: It was just before the Easter Vigil mass, he was handing out candles to parishioners coming for the procession. Without noticing it at first, he handed out a candle which was cracked. When he realized it, immediately he apologized, saying, “Sorry, this one is broken.” Without much hesitation, the woman smiled and replied, “Aren’t we all broken?” So true. We are all broken in some way, none of us have a perfect life. Whether it is emotional, physical, psychological or spiritual, every one of us would have experienced some setback, pain or suffering which were never fully healed, not resolved, not yet gone away. It broke us and stayed on in our lives. Finally, our own sins and sinfulness are our biggest brokenness. These break through our s...

 “Then his brothers proceeded to fling themselves down before him and said, ‘Let us be your slaves!’”.  Joseph’s brothers were fearful that Joseph would seek vengeance on them for the evil they did to him decades ago, now that their father Jacob had died. Decades ago, Joseph had a dream in which he saw his brothers’ bundles of sheaves bow down to his own bundle of sheaf, symbolizing their submission to his authority and power. Naturally, the brothers, who were already jealous of the special favor Joseph received from their father, were filled with resentment hearing about that dream. They plotted to kill him but finally sold him away as a slave. Now that they needed his help and protection, they were offering themselves as his slaves. Joseph’s dream came true, it was a vision of the future, it was prophetic. But Joseph assured them: “Have no fear.  Can I take the place of God? Even though you meant harm to me, God meant it for good, to achieve his present end, the surviva...

 “You will be given at that moment what you are to say. For it will not be you who speak but the Spirit of your Father speaking through you.”  This promise is very important to me. Very often when I am expecting to a difficult conversation, or speaking to someone who disagrees with me, I would remember this promise and anticipate that the Holy Spirit would give me the right words. Yet so many times, it is only after the conversations are over that my mind gets flooded with bright answers and intelligent arguments. Sometimes when people ask me questions about the faith, I would know the answers but often struggle to express it convincingly, and then the perfect words would come to me after they have left. I wonder to myself, “Why didn’t I say that earlier?” and I ask the Holy Spirit, “Where were you?”  Maybe because I was too anxious and tried too hard to sound impressive, thus I was deaf to the Holy Spirit. But Jesus’ promise holds up if we trust Him. Just look at the Apo...

 Life on earth has come to a peaceful end for our beloved brother Bill Wolfe, but his joy and passion for living continues to eternity, the reward promised for his faith. Here at St. Ambrose Cathedral, was where Bill used to attend Sunday Mass faithfully. He was nourished with the holy Body and Blood of Christ, the true food, true drink of life. While he won’t be worshiping here physically with us anymore, I am sure he will continue to give praise and thanks to God spiritually with us, with all the angels and saints, at every Mass we celebrate here. And we hold on to the promise that we will meet each other face to face again, in the glory of heaven. Meanwhile, all of us who know and love Bill will miss his physical presence dearly. I noticed something amazing about Bill. Anyone who got to meet him, even just once, will not forget him. He had a way of making people feel warm, welcomed, heard, and appreciated. He was a people-person: joyful, witty, and full of good humor. I remember...