Fr. Nivin's Homily Blog

 As I was preparing this homily, I first thought of preaching about the three temptations of Jesus. Then I changed my mind and thought of focusing on the first reading, and then perhaps the second reading. I couldn’t get the right inspiration, so I went through the readings several times over the past days. Finally, I noticed one phrase which stayed with me quietly but firmly: “The devil left Him, and angels came and ministered to Him.” It was a reassuring resolution to an intense build-up of temptations. Jesus had fasted forty days. He endured hunger, thirst, solitary living and silence. At the end of it when he was at his weakest, tempting offers to satisfy His possible needs and wants were presented to Him. He was at His weakest, physically, but he was also at His strongest, spiritually. As He overcame the temptations and defeated the devil, heaven responded - not with applause, but with accompaniment. Angels came to minister to Him. We see the same later in the Gospel of Luke. ...

 “He will renew your strength, and you shall be like a watered garden, like a spring whose water never fails.” Some of us would have experienced the grace of God in a very real way at some point in our lives. Perhaps after a very sincere confession, or during a spiritual retreat, maybe during deep prayer, or some may have felt it at Mass. Different people would experience it differently. It could be a sense of lightness when the heaviness of a grave sin has been lifted, an indescribable feeling of deep peace, a sudden vision of clarity. Sometimes we would most undoubtedly know that God is close. There’s probably a certain quiet joy within. There are so many possible signs. If you have ever experienced that unusual but wonderful feeling, you would know what I mean. And if you have not, try to make a good confession, I mean seriously, do it as if today is your last day, and you desperately want to be free from all sin, what we often call ‘deathbed confession’. And you might just get ...

 “The days will come when the bridegroom is taken away from them, and then they will fast.” People fast for various reasons. Many people fast for health, fitness and vanity reasons by doing intermittent fasting, detox diets, or weight loss programs. Some prominent figures use fasting as a form of silent protest. Leaders like Gandhi used hunger strikes to fight injustice. And sadly, some people are simply not eating, they are starving not by choice but because of poverty. Christian fasting is different. It is spiritual fasting and is not primarily about the body. It is about the spiritual heart. Jesus’ disciples were not fasting like the disciples of other preachers, and He told them that when the bridegroom is taken away, they will fast. Because their fasting will be an sign of longing, a spiritual desire to be re-united with their master, it expresses the deep sorrow of separation. Later, when the disciples could not cast out a demon, Jesus reminded them: “This kind can only come ...

 “Return to the LORD, your God. For gracious and merciful is He, slow to anger, rich in kindness, and relenting in punishment.” If you were to choose someone to be your BFF – Best Friend Forever - what qualities would you be looking for? For me, one of the first qualities I would look for is kindness. I do not want someone who will be cruel and rough with me, or someone who would bully me or always get angry with me. I am sure you would agree that it is easy to be long-time friends with someone who is patient, slow to anger, gracious, and merciful. We are drawn to people who forgive quickly, who do not keep scores, who love generously. And today the prophet Joel tells us: that is exactly who God is: Gracious. Merciful. Slow to anger. Rich in kindness. Yes, we are sinful people, we have done and might continue to do many things which are not pleasing to God. But the good news is God is not waiting to punish us. In fact, He is waiting for our friendship. Many of us feel ashamed of ou...

 “Then desire conceives and brings forth sin, and when sin reaches maturity, it gives birth to death.” St. James gives us an important teaching today. Desire, he says, can conceive and thereafter give birth to sin. If allowed to grow, it can reach a point of maturity, with the ability to take control and set direction, leading to death. The consequence of sin is death. Are all desires sinful or evil? 2,500 years ago, Buddha taught that desire is the cause of suffering. Because people almost always desire what they do not yet have. To be able to achieve the object of our desire, will sometimes bring us satisfaction, but when unable to achieve what we desire, will cause a sense of failure, a feeling dissatisfaction, the beginning of suffering. Many Buddhists today desire freedom and justice, in places which do not have freedom and justice. The desire stems from a real need, and that is nothing bad or wrong. What could go wrong is the way such a desire is pursued. To desire is a norma...

 “For you know that the testing of your faith produces perseverance. And let perseverance be perfect, so that you may be perfect and complete, lacking in nothing.” When I read this passage from St. James, one thought came to my mind: faith that gets tested is invaluable, and so necessary for our journey towards holiness. St. James reminds us that trials are not meant to destroy us. They are not even meant to weaken us. Instead, they strengthen us. They produce in us the persevering spirit. Without testing, we are happy being complacent, we take for granted our faith, and other gifts. But when tested, we guard our gifts, we check our faith, and we want to defend it. That helps me keep focused on growing our faith. Repeat that, and we develop a maturity that can handle anything and everything in life. At the end of this reading, something else struck, which warned of the consequence of not being tested, of being in comfort and complacency: the one who works only for riches will vanis...

 “Let your ‘Yes’ mean ‘Yes,’ and your ‘No’ mean ‘No.’ Anything more is from the evil one.” Every one of our Christian journey begins with a very simple thing: “Yes”. At baptism, the priest asks the parents or the candidates three questions: Do you renounce Satan? Do you reject sin? Do you reject all that leads you away from God? If the answer is Yes, Yes and Yes, then he asks three more questions to confirm our belief, the profession of our faith in the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit. Yes, Yes and Yes. And from that moment, we belong to God totally. Our new relationship with God, our new life as a Christian begins. Do we then live happily ever after? Realistically, this is where the struggle also begins. Growing up, I have said many “Yes’s” to God. Often, I have also said “No” to Him. But more often, My Yes’s were compromised, unaccomplished, unreliable. Often, they were conditional “Yes’s”. I negotiated and bargained with God, I procrastinated and made excuses. They would so...

 “You have been going up to Jerusalem long enough. Here is your god, O Israel, who brought you up from the land of Egypt.” Today’s first reading takes us back to the time of King Jeroboam. He was afraid that his people would keep going to Jerusalem and finally lose their loyalty to him, thus he made two golden calves and told the people: “Here is your god.” Jeroboam committed two serious sins. First, he created false gods. Second, he led others into sin, to worship what was lifeless and false, and to believe that this false god brought them out of Egypt. Are those two golden calves evil? If you go to parts of North India, you will see random cows roaming freely on the roads. Any car driving near must stop and give way to these cows, even if it meant waiting some time for them to slowly move out of the way. Causing harm or injury to a cow will lead to serious legal consequences. In fact, if you slaughter a cow, you might end up in prison. because cows are considered sacred in the Hi...

 “A prophet is not without honor except in his native place and among his own kin and in his own house.” Jesus said something very honest today and I think it is very true. I am your priest and I love all of you. I also truly feel loved, appreciated, and respected here at school. It is a real joy for me to celebrate Mass with you, to pray with you, and to spend time with you. I feel very blessed and am very grateful for this. Now, let me tell you about another group of people in my life. I have more than a dozen nieces and nephews, aging from 2 years old, right up to 18 years old. Majority of them are around your age. They have known me since they were born, so they know a lot more about me than you do. They know the nice and the ugly sides of me. Of course, they love me too but honestly, I think you respect me and listen to me more than they do. Every time I get together with them, they would make fun of me a lot. They give me funny, and not very nice nicknames. They love to tease...

 “The king was shaken, and went up to the room over the city gate to weep.” Separation by death of a loved one is painful. But for a parent to grieve the loss of a child, it is deep anguish. The pain reaches deep into the core of the being. King David wept. The tears did not flow from his eyes, but from the depth of his very soul. No matter how strong, the king broke down and was completely helpless at the death of his own beloved son. No matter how powerful, this king could not bring back the life of his son. In the Gospel today, we meet another grieving parent. Jairus, who had just lost his beloved daughter. But there is one major difference. Jairus was not helpless, he had Jesus to turn to. And Jesus has the power to bring back life. A friend once shared her experience with her neighbor who lost a family member. Wanting to comfort the family, she visited them and enquired with the children, “Do you know what happens after death?” The children replied simply, “We become dirt.” Th...

“Now, Master, you may let your servant go in peace, according to your word, for my eyes have seen your salvation.” This Canticle of Simeon, is short, simple yet so deeply profound, beautifully capturing the very essence of the longing of our soul for salvation, such that it is used in the night prayer of the Liturgy of the Hours. Every night, the church retires with the Canticle of Simeon, as we lay to rest, confident and contended, ready to go in peace should the Lord calls, because through the eyes of Simeon, we have seen salvation.  Simeon had waited his whole life for the arrival of the Messiah, the fulfillment of the Lord’s promise of salvation. And when Mary and Joseph brought the Child Jesus into the Temple for presentation, Simeon could recognize Him as the Messiah through the inspiration of the Holy Spirit. What more did he need in his life? To be able to see the Messiah, and hold him in his arms, feeling the full presence of God in human form, he had seen the promise of G...

“Seek the LORD, all you humble of the earth… seek justice, seek humility.” Let me begin with a simple but important question: What are you seeking in your life right now? It does not matter how old you are. It does not matter what stage of life you are in. What do you seek? What do you wish to have? According to the Gospel of John, the very first question Jesus asked when He started His public ministry was exactly this: “What are you looking for?” It is a simple, yet important question. Jesus asked his first disciples, He is also asking us today. A job? A promotion, a home, a family, children, a spouse, good health? A new direction, a decision, an explanation? Our concerns are very real, very human. Yet today, through the prophet Zephaniah, God gently redirects our hearts: “Seek the LORD.” Not one thing among many — but the one thing that makes everything else fall into place. If you have God in your life, you have everything you need. If you do not, nothing else will ever fully satisf...

 “Jesus was in the stern, asleep on a cushion. They woke Him and said, ‘Teacher, do you not care that we are perishing?’” I am a little jealous of Jesus here. How can someone sleep like that? For a few years my next- room neighbor who was a hospital chaplain at unity point methodist hospital. On nights when he was on call, his pager would go off suddenly, and every time it did, I would wake up too. Even the slightest noise disturbed my sleep. And here is Jesus, in the middle of a violent storm, in a small boat, with waves crashing and water splashing everywhere and He is asleep. Jesus must be exhausted. He was busy. He carried a great mission. And yet nothing seems to disturb His peace. The One who taught us “Do not be afraid” is now teaching us how not to be afraid. His calm sleep is not indifference; it is trust, complete trust in the Father. Life, too, brings storms. Storms of illness, family struggles, financial stress, grief, fear, and uncertainty.  And in those moments, ...

“David, however, remained in Jerusalem. One evening David rose from his siesta and strolled about on the roof of the palace.” Have you ever watched a particular movie many times, and having known how the movie ends, you still go through the same emotions as if it were the first time? Well, I have. There are a few movies which I have watched many times. I know the story well, I know exactly how it will end, and yet I still wish the story would end differently especially in emotional scenes.  That is what I experience whenever I read the scenes of today’s first reading. For the past couple of weeks, we have been journeying with David through the high moments of his life, his anointing, his courage and faithfulness, his kindness to Saul and his rise to kingship.  Then today, the story took on a regretful twist. Suddenly, our hero falls, not into one sin, but multiple. It just got worse as he tried to cover up his first.. How? Why? David did not go out to battle as he should have....

 “But those sown on rich soil are the ones who hear the word and accept it and bear fruit thirty and sixty and a hundredfold.” I am sorry that Bishop Joensen cannot be here to celebrate this Mass for you. He ran into me while he was searching for someone to take this Mass, so here I am. While I am no worthy replacement, I do feel honored to preside at this Mass for you, administrators, teachers, and staff of our Catholic schools. I would like to first thank all of you for your great work in forming faithful disciples for Christ and nurturing good citizens for this country and for the world. Your work matters, and the world surely needs more educators and collaborators like you. We appreciate you and are truly grateful for all that you do. I am from India. I have one brother and five sisters. My parents passed on some years ago. We lived in a farming village and I grew up helping on the farm every day. My parents were never really worried about my brother’s or my studies, because fo...

 “David went to bring up the ark of God from the house of Obed-edom into the City of David amid festivities.” The Ark of God, also known as the Ark of the Covenant, was deeply venerated and treasured by the people of Israel. It was not just a sacred object; to the people of Israel, it was the very presence of God, dwelling among His people. When the Philistines captured the Ark during their battle with Israel, they thought they had won a great victory, they thought they had Israel’s God on their side, under their control. But instead of receiving blessings, the Ark brought distress to their land. Plagues broke out. Tumors afflicted the people. Their idol, Dagon, fell and shattered before the Ark. Misfortune followed wherever the Ark was placed.  Finally, the Philistines realized that this presence of God was not meant for them, so they returned the Ark to Israel. When David brought back the Ark to Israel, the experience was completely different from the Philistines. There was ...

 “For this reason, I remind you to stir into flame the gift of God that you have through the imposition of my hands.” This phrase was chosen by the universal church as the theme for the Year of the Priest (2009–2010). At that time, I was still a seminarian. And to see the phrase repeatedly throughout that year, it stayed with me. It has sunk so deep that it will never leave my heart and mind. These words also take me back to my childhood. When I was young, often during harvesting season for coffee and black pepper, my father would send me to the next village bringing sickles, axes, and tools that needed sharpening. There was a blacksmith in that village, who worked under a simple tent. He had a heap of charcoal with a wheel he turned with a foot pedal. As he pressed and released the pedal, air would rush to blow into the charcoal. Within minutes, the fire came alive. The charcoal glowed, and soon the sickles too turned a fiery red. That glowing red signaled the readiness of the too...

 “Come after me, and I will make you fishers of men. At once they left their nets and followed him.” In today’s Gospel, we witness one of the most striking moments in Scripture: the calling of the first disciples. Peter and Andrew heard Jesus’ call and immediately left their nets. James and John left not only their boats, but even their father, Zebedee, and followed Jesus. No hesitation. No long discussions. No backup plans. No questions. Just trust. Over the past two Sundays, the Church has been gently leading us step by step to consider our calling. On the first Sunday, we reflected on who we are: beloved children of God. On the second Sunday, we reflected on why we are here: our mission, to be a light to the nations. And today, Jesus shows us how to live that mission. By trusting Him. Now, if Jesus were to ask you today to do something important for His mission, how would you respond? Will you step forward immediately or will you step back and take time to think, analyze, consid...

 “When his relatives heard of this, they set out to seize him, for they said, ‘He is out of his mind.’” In simpler words, they were saying, “He is crazy.” Imagine hearing that said about Jesus, by His own relatives. At this point in the Gospel, Jesus has been away from home, constantly preaching, healing, and teaching. He is not living a quiet, predictable life. He is not protecting His comfort. He is not trying to appear “normal.” He is completely consumed by one thing: the will of His Father. To fulfill the Father’s will is the center of Jesus’ life, His food, His breath, His mission. And from the outside, it can look extreme. It can look unreasonable. It can look like madness. After Pentecost, something similar happens to the disciples. Filled with the Holy Spirit, they preach with boldness and joy, and people mock them: “They have had too much new wine.” When someone is truly filled with God, the world often does not understand. Think of the saints. Francis of Assisi, Padre Pio...

 “Saul then said to David: ‘You are in the right rather than I; you have treated me generously, while I have done you harm.’” I may not remember everything from my theology classes, but one thing from the study of Christology that fascinated me and stayed with me, was the person of David. Not just as an impressive king in the Old Testament but as a prominent faithful servant who prefigured Jesus.  The similarities are striking. David and Jesus were both born in Bethlehem. They were both from the same tribe and lineage. David was a shepherd; Jesus is the Good Shepherd. David wept in the Garden of Olives after being betrayed by his own son, Absalom. Jesus wept in the Garden of Gethsemane after being betrayed by Judas. David was a king anointed by God; Jesus is the King of kings sent by God. But more than all these parallels, what touches me most is this: both David and Jesus loved and forgave their enemies. David was impressive but far from perfect. When sin overtook him, he com...

 “And from that day on, the Spirit of the LORD rushed upon David.” Today’s first reading narrates a very moving and exciting scene in the Book of Samuel: the anointing of future King David. He was still a youth, inexperienced and not tested, but he knew God and God knew him. God chose him, anointed him and his life changed forever. A few months ago, I watched the show ‘David’ at the Sight & Sound Theatre. This scene was so well done that it stayed vivid in my memory. When Samuel anointed David, something real happened, the Spirit of the Lord rushed upon him. David felt it. Thus throughout his life, he lived with a deep awareness of God’s presence and holy obedience to God. God’s presence was so strong in David’s consciousness then even though he later sinned, he did not hide from or justify himself with God. Instead, he offered up one of the most beautiful penitential psalms in deep contrition. “Do not cast me from Your presence, nor take Your Holy Spirit from me.” David unders...

 “Rather, new wine is poured into fresh wineskins.” In today’s Gospel, Jesus speaks about the new and the old. He uses the parallel of an unshrunken cloth being sewn on an old cloak, and of new wine being poured into old wineskin, both of which would cause trouble. His listeners understood these situations. Everyone wants newness and freshness, so what needs to change? Jesus is the new. He is the bridegroom heralding a new life, a new relationship, a new phase of life, but if we hold on to old and stubborn attitudes, we will not be able to appreciate His good news. This newness Jesus speaks of is not about external changes or more programs that do the same old thing in packaged in a new exterior. His newness is about interior renewal, an inside job. From time to time, I receive invitations to attend conferences or programs that promise quick and total transformation of the parish. Interestingly, none of these programs are free, in fact they cost a lot. I always wonder if the transf...