Fr. Nivin's Homily Blog

 The Lord said to Moses, “…my wrath may blaze up against them to consume them.” In this first reading, we see God’s anger and furious reaction to the infidelity of the Israelites. Then Moses pleaded with God. And it seems his words made sense and God changed His mind. This reading really confused me. I thought about it a lot. Are these really God’s own words – His threat to destroy the Israelites? And is God negotiable? Does He change his mind so easily? We know that every word in the bible is inspired by the Holy Spirit, so there must be truth in what we are reading. I don’t have the perfect answer to these questions, but I have some realisations. First, our God is a living God, He is not a block of wood. He has emotions, and He expresses them freely with His people. He is not indifferent to our behaviour, He feels, because He loves. Second, our God is a loving God. He has compassion, and mercy for His people. He understands them very well. He understands us very well. He feels sa...

 “Do you want to be well?” I used to wonder why Jesus asked this question. The man had been paralyzed and trying his luck at entering the pool for so many years, of course he wanted to be well, right? It was much later that I understood the deeper significance of this question. When I was in India, I knew of a man who was always complaining about his poor health, yet he never took any medicine seriously. He simply wanted the sympathy of others. He wanted to be pitied, not to be well. There are beggars who want to keep begging. They beg not because there is no work for them but because they do not want to change their situation. And there are people who live with their addictions and lament about their poor circumstances, yet they reject all help to improve their lives. They have become psychologically comfortable with their condition and are used to lamenting about it. Deep down, they do not want change. They do not want to be well - physically, spiritually, emotionally. Jesus aske...

 Jesus said to him, “You may go; your son will live”. Jesus did not ask any question to find out more details about the son’s illness. He did not see the child nor observed his condition. Yet He responded to the royal official’s pleading with certainty. Of course, He’s God. But if you didn’t know that Jesus is God and has power over life, and if it was your son nearing death, would you believe Him so simply? When I was a young boy, I used to walk 4 miles up and down, to go a blacksmith in the next village to sharpen our sickles, spades, and farming tools. He would say, “Come back same time tomorrow, your tools will be ready.” So, next day I would walk again 4 miles to collect the tools. Then one year, I had to go back 5 consecutive days because each time I went back, the tools were not ready and he told me the same thing every day, “Come back same time tomorrow.” I believed him every time. Finally, on the 5th day, it was all done. Thankfully, my uncle lived nearby. The blacksmith’s...

 If I were to summarise today’s gospel in one sentence, I would say, ‘being blind is not a sin but choosing to be blind is a sin’. The blind man in today’s Gospel text has no name. St. John uses the Greek word ‘Anthropos’ which simply means ‘human being’. There is no mention of his ethnicity, nationality, or tribe, he is just a human person. He represents all of us. A blind Anthropos is a blind human, representing a blind humanity. How are we blind? In this healing story, there are a few groups of people suffering from blindness – physically or spiritually. First, Jesus ‘saw a man blind from birth’. The man did not ask Jesus to heal him, but Jesus did it. Jesus made the move. God comes to us. God reaches out to humanity. Being blind in those days was a curse, he was considered useless and worthless. He could not work except to beg. Yet, when Jesus told him to wash in the pool of Siloam, he obeyed and went without question, doubt, or expectation. He trusted and his eyes were opened....

 “For everyone who exalts himself will be humbled, and the one who humbles himself will be exalted”. In my home village, there was a man, who was a farmer like the rest of us but he became rich unexpectedly. Sometime in the 1980s, his black pepper plants produced a hundred-fold yield for three consecutive years. He earned big money. Then he built his house bigger, furnished it lavishly and bought a nice car. He also bought a fridge. No one else in the village owned one. My parents could only dream of having electricity in our house at that time. We were told that when he went to the local butcher, to make sure everyone knew he was rich, he would declare his order loudly, “Give me 3 kilos. No, make it five. I have a fridge to keep the extra.” Becoming rich is the dream of many people, we think that having money means having a good life. That man in my village was having a good life, a good worldly life. He stopped attending Sunday mass in church. When the parish priest asked him abo...

 “El que no está conmigo, está contra mí; y el que no recoge conmigo, desparrama”.”. El mensaje de Jesús es muy claro. No podemos seguir a Jesús parcialmente. Si no lo estamos siguiendo de todo corazón, no somos sus seguidores. Hoy es el vigésimo día de Cuaresma, sin contar los domingos. Estamos a la mitad. ¿Recuerdas lo que decidiste hacer especial para estos 40 días de Cuaresma? ¿Lo estás cumpliendo? Mientras nos esforzamos por fortalecernos espiritualmente, los demonios se esfuerzan más para mantenernos deprimidos. Me pregunto quién está a la cabeza en esta mitad de camino. En mis años de infancia, solo los niños ricos de mi pueblo podían tener bicicletas. Cuando estaba en quinto grado, mi hermano mayor y yo decidimos recolectar flores silvestres de nuez moscada del bosque cercano para venderlas y poder comprar una bicicleta. Nos despertábamos muy temprano en la mañana y corríamos al bosque para buscar y recolectar tantas como fuera posible. Muchos niños de otros pueblos estaban...

 “Whoever is not with me is against me, and whoever does not gather with me, scatters.” Jesus’ message is so clear. We cannot follow Jesus partially. If we are not following him whole heartedly, we are not his followers. Today is the 20th day of Lent, not counting Sundays. We are halfway through. Do you remember what you decided you will do specially for these 40 days of Lent? Are you keeping up to it? While we are trying hard to grow stronger spiritually, the devils are working harder to keep us down. I wonder who is in the lead at this halfway mark? In my childhood years, only rich children in my village could afford to own bikes. When I was in the 5th grade, my older brother and I decided to collect wild nutmeg flowers from the nearby forest to sell, so that we can afford to buy a bike.  We would wake up very early in the morning and run to the forest to search and collect as many as possible. Many children from other villages were doing the same so whoever got there first ...

 “However, take care and be earnestly on your guard not to forget the things which your own eyes have seen, nor let them slip from your memory as long as you live, but teach them to your children and to your children’s children.” This morning I did reconciliation for the Holy family school. For the children’s penance, I would usually ask them to recite one or two Hail Mary or Our Father prayers. Easy right? Yes, and yet, some of the students told me they do not know how to say the prayers or where to find these prayers. I was surprised the very first time I did reconciliation for children in this country, but now I realized it is a common situation here. I remember in my time, before receiving first communion, we had to memorize thirty-three Catholic prayers and recitations like the angelus, Hail Mary, all mysteries of the Holy Rosary, the ten commandments and so on. Anyone who could not recite from heart all these thirty-three items, will be denied receiving first communion. Till ...

 “Do not let us be put to shame, but deal with us in your kindness and great mercy.” This is the prayer by prophet Azaria, pleading to God on behalf of the people. How do you discipline your children when they do something wrong? In India, caning is the norm. My parents did the same. Whenever we did something wrong, my mommy would grab the cane to give us a good beating. Of course, we knew what was coming and would run away fast. Mommy would then chase us around the house, trying to get us. Where could we go? The best trick was to run to grandpa. If we reached him before mommy got us, we will be safe! He would always protect us and plead on our behalf, “don’t cane them, just forgive this time”. How many times have we been saved by grandpa? I don’t know, maybe more than seventy-seven times. Peter asks in the Gospel, “Lord, if my brother sins against me, how often must I forgive him?” He is referring to offences between two persons. If seventy-seven times is how often we should forgi...

 “…if only my master would present himself to prophet in Samaria…” suggested the little slave girl from Israel. This simple suggestion started the dramatic turn of events for Naaman, the Syrian commander. When he went to prophet Elisha, he was highly offended by the simplistic prescription for his healing. He went away angry and complained, “Are not the rivers of Damascus, the Abana and the Pharpar, better than all the waters of Israel? Could I not wash in them and be cleansed?” What do you think? Is it the washing or is it a special river that works miracles of healing? Today’s readings present to us two distinct types of people – the humble who relied on God’s wisdom and the prideful who relied on their own judgements. Thanks to his servants who were wise in simple things and persuaded him. Naaman listened to them and was healed. And he later vowed to worship only one God, the God of Israel. The simple people in this story were able to see what the prideful people could not see. ...

  Readings: https://bible.usccb.org/bible/readings/032022-YearA.cfm “Come see a man who told me everything I have done. Could he possibly be the Christ?” We all love a good story, especially true stories that start with challenges, but end good. My grandfather used to tell us many stories about his life. My siblings and I never get bored hearing about his adventures with king cobras and tigers.  He would always end by praising God for leading him to safety in all his encounters. I would often imagine myself in those same exciting situations. Today’s Gospel is about a beautiful story of a woman, with a dark past, living with rejection in her life, who heard her life story retold by a holy man she met, in an unlikely situation. Nobody draws water at noon time, no Jew talks to a Samaritan.  But that encounter changed her life totally. Her darkness was dispersed into bursts of joy and hope. ‘Jesus and the Samaritan woman’ is a story about God breaking barriers – social, ...

 “Joseph her husband, since he was a righteous man, yet unwilling to expose her to shame…” In India and most of the world, men are expected to be strong, powerful, decisive and outspoken. Oftentimes, quiet, meek and gentle men are considered weak. Are these qualities signs of weakness? Psalm 46:10 says, “Be still and know that I am God.” It is in quietness that we become more conscious of God’s presence. Jesus teaches, “Blessed are the meek for they shall inherit the earth.” Meekness is humility before God and allowing Him to take over as Master of life. St. Francis de Sales said, “Nothing is so strong as gentleness, nothing so gentle as real strength.” To be gentle is to have self-control, real strength is to have control over self, not others. Yes, these describe St. Joseph very well. Quiet, meek and gentle. St. Joseph was a righteous man. Discovering that Mary was carrying a child from another, before he knew it was conceived from the Holy Spirit, Joseph had every right to expos...

 “Blessed is the man who trusts in the LORD, whose hope is the LORD. He is like a tree planted beside the waters that stretches out its roots to the stream: It fears not the heat when it comes, its leaves stay green.” The biggest tree in our family farm is a tree growing just beside the creek. It should be more than 100 years old now. My siblings and I have a lot of memories around this tree. It is always green, even in the hot summer. And its huge crown provides much shade to needy plants and people. I have taken shelter under this tree on many occasions during heavy rain. It also protects the cardamom plants around it from the harsh heat of the sun. There was a rock in the creek on which my mummy used to wash our clothes under the shade of this big and strong tree. The river feeds this tree while it serves others. The saints are like that, they stay close to God, feeding on His words. They are strong spiritually because they receive abundant graces from God through the sacraments...

 “O Lord, we are shamefaced, like our kings, our princes, and our fathers…” When I was in 9th grade, we studied an interesting book written in my native language. The book title translated, would be “The sheep of Fatima”. The author, Basheer, was a Muslim novelist and freedom fighter from Kerala, a state in India which is my hometown. During his time in the early 1940s, young people participated in freedom movements to fight against British occupation. Many left their homes secretly to join the fight. Many families assumed their kids had died when they did not return home. Basheer also, left quietly one night to go to North India. He did not inform his parents and left no contact. They did not know where he went or what happened. During the protests, Basheer was arrested and put in jail. No one in his family knew. Finally, he returned. Walking back silently, the same way he left, he was surprised when he saw his mother waiting at the front door, with an oil lamp. It was midnight. S...

 The Lord God took Abram outside and said, “Look up at the sky and count the stars if you can. Just so,” he added, “shall your descendants be.”  “I am the LORD who brought you from Ur of the Chaldeans to give you this land as a possession.” God made these two promises to Abram. For the people in ancient times, and for many even in modern times, having children as heir and owning land as property are two most important possessions in life. Abram had been leading a nomadic life for many years and his wife Sarai, already in her old age, was still childless at that time. So, Abram doubted and questioned, “how am I to know…?” Have you been praying for something important, bearing heavy burdens while waiting, trying to keep hopeful but still you received nothing? Would you also doubt and question God? In response to Abram’s doubt, God assured him by cutting a covenant with him, known as a covenant of the pieces. In ancient times, when people entered a treaty, a contractual agreement...

 “Ask and it will be given to you; seek and you will find; knock and the door will be opened to you.” When I was much younger, I wanted to become very rich, to have lots of money, a nice car, a big house etc.… It was a common village boy’s dream. I don’t think I actually prayed for it, but I surely dreamt about it often. What happened thereafter? Well, I am still dreaming about it. And I even pray for it now! Not for myself but for the parish. When I first moved to this parish, I was shocked by the financial situation, so I did wish and pray for this parish to be rich.  Money is indeed helpful in life but not the most important. Money solves a lot of problems only when it is used wisely. Being poor helps me learn to depend on God’s providence. So, my dream for the parish now is to be rich in God’s word, in community life, in prayerful spirit, in loving and caring for one another. I dream of hearing our prayers and singing rise-up strong and joyful to the heavens when we gather...

  “Be holy, for I, the LORD, your God, am Holy”. Both the first and Gospel readings today presented a ‘to-do’ and ‘not-to-do’ list. Some are really tough tasks. Can we ever accomplish them? Is it possible for us to be holy? We all know that at the sacrament of reconciliation, it is Jesus Himself who is sitting at the confessional, listening to the confessions. And the sacred privilege for me as a priest, is that I get to see as God sees and hear as God hears. And what does God see and hear? He doesn’t see our failures. He sees our brokenness. He doesn’t hear our sins. He hears our desire to be good. And God wants to help us. He reaches out to us, pouring out His graces. We desire to be holy and God desires the same. In that moment of reconciliation, in that meeting of desires, we become holy. And I, the priest who witnesses that sacred moment, also become holy. The very first step to becoming holy is to desire holiness. To desire becoming what God wants us to be, to be like Him, to...

F or forty days and nights, satan was waiting, to strike when Jesus was most hungry, at His weakest. First temptation: “Command this stone to become bread.” Jesus needed food indeed. Satan did not give food, but suggested Jesus to abuse His divine power to create food for Himself. He makes us think our needs and wants are most important. And suggests shortcuts to satisfy ourselves. Selfish desires turn us away from God. Second temptation: “I shall give to you all this power and glory…worship me.” Jesus’ mission is to preach the good news to all nations. Satan tries to persuade Jesus to take the easy way, to receive power and glory from him. satan is the father of lies. Nothing belongs to him. satan tries to make us believe that money will give us power and earthly possessions will give us glory. He tempts us with quick and convenient ways to achieve our ambitions. Greed and vanity block us from holy virtues. Third temptation: “If you are the son of God, throw yourself down from here…” ...

 There is an Indian common saying, ‘Tell me who your friends are, and I will tell you who you are’. And a phrase we all know, ‘Birds of a feather, flock together’. Are these sayings true? I have a friend in India, who was known for all his tricks in business and illegal connections. He was despised by many and wanted by the police. But I became his friend, against the advice of my brother priests. He shared with me honestly everything he did, the bad and the ugly. He was open, sincere, and truthful with me. He too accepted me as I am and treated me better than my other friends. I do not like the bad things he did, but I like him. He remains my good friend. So were the tax collectors to Jesus. He became their friend. He sat with them, ate with them. He accepted them. He saw in them goodness which others did not see. He saw beyond their unacceptable occupation. He saw their needs. They needed God. They needed to hear the good news. They needed salvation, like any other. They were ope...

  “Why do we and the Pharisees fast much but your disciples do not fast?” The disciples of John did not understand the real purpose of fasting. They were blindly following the law. We also fast. Do we know why? Fasting was practised even before Christianity. The Hindu and Buddhist teachers fasted. Not by law but for spiritual meditation. Depriving body cleared their mind and purified their spirit. They received enlightenment. They received wisdom. Our daily living is cluttered with too much social noise, mental distractions, physical sensualities, and spiritual sin. We cannot see clearly the presence of Christ - the bridegroom. When we fast, we deprive, we detach, we free ourselves. We become more aware of the real need within us. We become more conscious of the real needs around us. We see truth, we understand eternity, we encounter divinity. We become enlightened. We become peace. My papa fasted regularly throughout his life. He was calm, compassionate and patient, even when in p...

 “If anyone wishes to come after me, he must deny himself and take up his cross daily and follow me”. First, do you wish to go after Jesus? Make a firm decision. Second, deny yourself – your desires and ambitions for comfort, convenience, wealth, pleasures, fame, success. Third, take up your cross – the difficulties, challenges, sufferings that come with the decision to go after Jesus. Finally, follow Him – the way He fasts, prays, serves. The way he loves, sacrifices, forgives and obeys. A few weeks ago, a friend with a medical condition was experiencing extreme, unbearable pain. She was sent to the ER at Unity Point. I visited her in the waiting room. While talking to her, she pointed to another suffering man in the room. She said, “He must be in a lot of pain.” She was bearing a heavy cross. But at that moment she was not thinking about her own. She felt for the suffering of others. That their crosses were heavier than hers. Do you feel you have the heaviest cross? Do you compla...

 Today begins another holy season of Lent. A time to turn away from sinful ways. To turn back to God. Ash Wednesday reminds us that we are from dust. Unto dust we shall return. God looked at dust and loved. He gave dust His breathe of life. God looks at us and loves. He gives us His body, blood and spirit. What can we give Him? “Even now, says the LORD, return to me with your whole heart”. God doesn’t want anything from us, He wants us. Live in God. Live with God. Live for God. In God’s ways. When I first came to this country, I saw crowds packing the mega churches. Non-Catholic Christian churches. I was really fascinated. Our Catholic churches are hardly ever filled. I asked an elderly priest, “why?” He replied, “Ours is a worship and sacrifice. Theirs is a show.” People like shows, performances, excitement. The world says, “be heard, be seen, be known, and be successful.” The Gospel says, “pray but don’t be heard, fast but don’t be seen, give but don’t be known, and be faithful.”...

 From the first reading, it is written, “the prophets who prophesied about the grace that was to be yours, searched and investigated it…” When the appointment was confirmed but before the transfer to St. Ambrose, I too came to investigate, to observe the parish environment incognito. I would sit at the last pew so that I can see everything without being noticed. Yet, someone in the congregation recognised me. I had to tell her, borrowing Jesus’ words, “see that you tell no one about this, my time is not yet come.” I simply wanted to observe the parishioners here, what they thought about St. Ambrose and how things work around here. I got some information and formed a perspective. But when I finally came, entered fully into the daily operations and encounters, things seemed different from my earlier observations. Similarly with God. He gave many visions about His will and His plans to the prophets for the people.  Finally, God came and lived among His people, revealing more abou...