Homily: March 13, 2022, Sunday of the second Week of Lent

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 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, they would perform a covenantal ritual. 

They cut animals in half, and both parties would walk through the bloody path in between the pieces. It symbolised that they would cut themselves dead like the animals if they failed to keep their part of the deal. They sealed the agreement by pledging their lives.

But the covenant between God and Abram was special, it was a ‘one-sided’ covenant. God, appearing as the fire pot and flaming torch, walked through without Abram because He had put him into a trance. God alone will fulfil the covenant or be cut into pieces if He failed in His promises. He spared Abram from having to pledge his life. God knows the weakness of man.

Mother Angelica said, “Even after healing and performing miracles, Jesus couldn’t get twelve friends to stick by him.” Man continues to fail and are unfaithful, especially when the going gets tough. In the second reading, St. Paul wrote, “For many conduct themselves as enemies of the cross of Christ”. Newly converted Christians in Philippi had lost their faith.

God knows us. Yet He loves us unconditionally and asks only this from us, as heard in the gospel, “this is my chosen son; listen to him”.

He wants us to listen to Jesus, for our own good sake. He reveals Jesus’ true glory to show us who Jesus is, to convince us to follow Him closely, to not doubt.

But Mother Angelica warned, “There will be times when your faith will be attacked, and your doubts will be increased. What will you do? Persevere in prayer now.”

Lent is an occasion to pray for strength and grace before we get hit, for us to turn back to God before we stray too far, to believe in the promises of God before doubt enters.

God has assured us in Jeremiah 29:11, “For I know the plans I have for you, plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future.”

Do you believe?

Look up at the sky and count the stars if you can, for that is how much blessings you have received and will continue to receive. God will not fail us. Do not doubt. Just believe. Amen.

Fr. Nivin Scaria


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Homily: May 18, 2022, Wednesday of the fifth week of Easter.

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 “Remain in me as I remain in you.” The word ‘remain’ is repeated eight times in today’s Gospel text. I am not big on sports. When I first came to USA, I was introduced to baseball, and very quickly recruited into the Chicago Cubs as a follower. I knew nothing about baseball, other than it is similar to cricket which I used to play in India. So, I was an ignorant new Cub fan. Within the first few weeks of my ‘enrolment’, I found out there is another baseball team ‘Cardinal’. Some parishioners suggested that I switch. They reasoned that the name ‘Cardinal’ sounds more Catholic! But my Cub introducer advised me sternly, “Father, Once a cub, always a cub. Remain.” And to seal that ‘covenant’, he gave me a little cubby. Yes, till today, I have remained a cub. What does it mean to ‘remain’? Collins  dictionary defines it as: ‘stay’, ‘continue’, ‘do not change’. That is what our Lord wants of us, to stay with Him, continue with Him, do not change our following. But note that He says, ‘remain
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Homily, March 19, 2022, Solemnity of St. Joseph

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 “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 expose he
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Homily: May 14, Feast of St. Mathias (Chosen)

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"It was not you who chose me, but I who chose you”.  Today, we celebrate the feast of St. Matthias, who was not at first one of the twelve nor part of the inner circle of Jesus. He was chosen later into the college of apostles, to take the place of Judas. In the first reading, we saw how the apostles prayed and asked the Lord to show them whom He had chosen, someone who had accompanied them ‘the whole time’. They then cast their lots and God’s choice was revealed. Did God choose Matthias only at that point when the apostles had to replace Judas? Or did God already planned and prepared Matthias ‘the whole time’ when he was following Jesus throughout His ministry, and remained in the community even after the crucifixion? St. Paul says, “He chose us in him, before the foundation of the world…” Can you imagine, right up to this point in your life and mine, you and I are present right now in this holy place not by chance, but by choice. Through our own decisions nevertheless, but not w
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Homily: April 7, 2022, Thursday of the Fifth Week of Lent

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 “Now we are sure that you are possessed.” I laughed when I first read this remark. The Jewish leaders have run out of clever accusations against Jesus, so they blame it on the devil! Interesting! They have witnessed the miracles He performed, and the wonderous things he did but they just refuse to admit these are signs and proof of His Divinity. They are so prideful and stubbornly insist that Jesus cannot be from God because he did not follow the laws of the Jewish Authorities. Jesus’ ways and teachings made them look bad, instead of admitting their wrongs, they now conclude that Jesus is possessed. Do we also behave the same way? When our argument is challenged or our authority is threatened, do we turn around to accuse others wrongly, just to defend ourselves? The Hundred Years’ War between France and England finally ended, with the help of a brave young lady who led the French army to victory. Her outstanding courage and wisdom came from divine inspirations from God and His messeng
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Homily: July 18, Monday of the Sixteenth Week in Ordinary Time.

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“She came from the ends of the earth to hear the wisdom of Solomon.” Queen Sheba went from Ethiopia to Jerusalem to see and hear for herself the famous King Solomon. Do you know how long did it take Queen Sheba to travel to Jerusalem in those times? She probably took three months to get there, and with a large group of servants, guards and advisors, taking with them not just the essentials for their daily needs but also loads of valuable gifts to present to the King. Would you be so well prepared and travel with so much conviction far away to see and hear someone great? We do see many people putting aside school, work and spend lots of money, even travelling far, to attend concerts, watch ball games and see their idols. Some of these events are often marketed as the ‘event of your life’ and not to be missed. Do we see the same interest and excitement for faith events?  Oh yes! Many people attended the Christ Our Life Conferences. They were all eager to hear the gifted speakers and for
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Homily: March 27, 2024, Wednesday of teh Holy Week

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Preached During  Holy Family School Mass.  This week is a special week, do you know what it is known as? Yes, Holy Week! It is the holiest week in the whole year of the church. This is the week when the church follows everything that happened to Jesus, and studies seriously everything that Jesus did and taught, every day, up to Easter Sunday. Christians all over the world remember and celebrate the passion, death, and resurrection of our Lord Jesus during this week. How many of you went to church last Sunday? Did you take back some palms? Great! So last Sunday was Palm Sunday, also known as Passion Sunday. It remembers the day when Jesus entered Jerusalem sitting on a donkey and many people welcomed him with palms shouting, “Hosanna to the King of kings!” It is the beginning of Holy Week. Then we have Holy Monday and Holy Tuesday. And what is today? You are right, today is Holy Wednesday. But there is also another name to this day…anyone knows? Today is also known as Spy Wednesday. A s
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Homily: February 15, 2023, Wednesday of the Sixth week in Ordinary time

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(Holy Family School Mass)  First, I have some questions for you. 1. Do you know how old was Noah when he started building the Ark? a) 30 years old b) 100 years old c) 500 years old Yes, the correct answer is c) 500 years old. 2. Who knows how old was Noah when he finished the Ark? Any guesses? Yes, he was 600 years old. 3. Now the math question, so how many years did he take to build that huge ark? Yes, 100 years! Today’s first reading says when Noah came out of Ark after the floods went down, he was 6 hundred and 1 years old. That means he, his family and the animals lived in the Ark for one year! Imagine that, no sun, no moon, no beach, no biking, no trees, no outdoors and no other human beings for one whole year. Only rain and rain. How would you feel? I experienced that for one week last year when I had the covid infection. I had to be isolated from the rest of the world. But thankfully, I had social media, my phone and the internet, so that helped me pass the time easier. Imagine
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Homily: March 7, 2022, Monday of the First Week of Lent.

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  “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 lov
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Homily: December 26,2022, Feast of Saint Stephen, first martyr.

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From the first reading, we heard Stephen declare, “Behold, I see the heavens opened and the Son of Man standing at the right hand of God.” But his persecutors ‘cried out in a loud voice, covered their ears, and rushed upon him together.’ If we could visualize the scene, we would imagine Stephen looking radiant with joy as he anticipated his death, while his persecutors looking tormented and fearful as they prepared to kill. We know why Stephen was joyful as he looked up to heaven, because he could see where his future would be. We also know why his persecutors were afraid as they closed their ears to Stephen’s words, because they did not want to hear the truth. It tormented their conscience and pierced through the darkness in their hearts. I am sure we ourselves may have experienced the same, when our wrong doings were being highlighted, when our shame were being revealed or when our hurts were being exposed, we might also cry out, “stop! I don’t want to hear it! I don’t want to know i
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Homily: July 26, 2022, Memorial of Saints Joachim and Anne, Parents of the Blessed Virgin Mary

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 Grandma warned little John, “Be a good boy. At the end of the world, all disobedient and bad people will be cast into fiery hell where there will be weeping and grinding of teeth.” John listened intently and asked with a worried look, “Grandma, you always quarrel with others, and you don’t have any teeth, how will you grind your teeth when you go to hell?” Grandma was annoyed and said “Teeth will be provided in hell!” In today’s Gospel, we heard that “(Jesus’) disciples approached him and said; explain to us the parable of the weeds in the field”. His disciples asked and so He explained. It is so clearly explained that I don’t have to preach about it. What I want to focus on is the inquisitive and learning attitude of the disciples. This is what we should do daily. To read the word of God and whenever we fail to understand, we should approach Jesus and ask Him to explain it to us. He will not just give us answers but He will show us how to understand the world and its problems. He wil
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