Homily: March 2, 2022, Ash Wednesday

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 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.”

That is how God is, unseen, hidden, working in secret. That is why the world doubts, “where is their God?” they question.

But God sees. He sees each of us. He sees in secret. He sees what’s real. Our hearts matter to Him, not our show.

What about us? What truly matters to us?

Be reconciled to God. Now is an acceptable time. Now is the day of salvation.


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Homily: October 26, 2025, Thirtieth Sunday in Ordinary Time.

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 Moved with pity, he stretched out his hand, touched him, and said to him, “I do will it. Be made clean.” Leprosy is a terrible disease. Physically, it does not just affect the skin, but also the nerves, the respiratory tract and the eyes. When full blown, lepers look frightening to others. It is also infectious; thus people avoid any contact with lepers. In Jesus’ time, there was little knowledge about leprosy, so it was considered a curse and lepers were considered unclean and untouchable. Socially, lepers become displaced from family, community and normal life. In today’s first reading, Moses prescribes the rule for managing someone with leprosy. It keeps the leper away from others so that the condition can be contained and not spread to everyone in the community. The cry of the leper, “unclean, unclean” is a socially responsible action on the part of the leper, but is there mercy and compassion for the leper? Yes, there is. In today’s Gospel, Jesus does something unthinkable an...
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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 ...
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Homily: October 7, 2024, Memorial of Our Lady of the Rosary (Weapon)

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"And coming to her, he said, 'Hail, full of grace! The Lord is with you.'" I have seen this many times – one of our catechists holding up a rosary in her hand and asking the kids, “What is this?” When they respond, “It’s a rosary,” she would add, “This is a weapon to fight against the evil one.” How true! But have you ever wondered how does a rosary become a weapon against Satan? When Jesus was tempted in the wilderness, He used the Word of God to counter the temptations presented by the evil one. Satan is afraid of the Word of God. And when we pray the rosary, we are repeating the Word of God, bead after bead, don’t we? Hail, full of grace! The Lord is with you. The “Hail Mary” is a prayer woven beautifully with the words of Scripture, and the “Our Father” is the prayer that Jesus Himself taught us, straight from the Bible. These are prayers recited repeatedly in the rosary. The rosary is thus a deeply biblical prayer which anyone can pray, and anytime we can recall ...
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 “It was I who took you from the pasture and from the care of the flock to be commander of my people Israel.”  In the first reading, we see David, now a powerful king, wanting to build a grand dwelling place for the Lord. It may seem like King David is being pious, but God doesn’t seem impressed. Why? David was once a shepherd boy caring for sheep in the pastures, and now he is king commanding a great and expanding nation. How did he do it? Was it his strength? Was it his courage? No. It was the Lord’s doing. The Lord says, “It was I…” It was God who gave David all the successes, the victories, the palace. Would God need a grand temple to be His dwelling place? No. The temple of God which David did build was finally destroyed. But the ‘house’ and ‘kingdom’ of David blessed by God will never fall because He promised David “your throne shall stand firm forever.” Nothing built by man, no matter how grand, will last forever. Nothing brought up by God, no matter how humble, will ev...
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March 1, 2025: First Holy Communion Homily: St. Joseph's Catholic Church Seffner, Florida

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Did you listen attentively to the Gospel reading? Yes? Let me test you… What did Jesus say? Did He say, “Whoever eats my bread and drinks my wine?”  No! He said, “Whoever eats my FLESH and drinks my BLOOD remains in me and I in him.” Yes, when you receive Holy Communion, you are receiving the real flesh and blood of Jesus. I am sure Fr. Roy, your catechists, parents and the whole parish community have prepared you well for this day, so you know what you are receiving today. But what I want to focus on now is the last part where Jesus says, ‘remains in me and I in him’. 29 years ago in 1996, I received my First Holy Communion. I was eight years old, but I still remember that day vividly. I remember the preparations, my First Reconciliation, and the excitement I felt when I lined up to receive Jesus for the very first time. I remember seeing the priest dipping the Precious Body into the Precious Blood, and then that precious moment – Jesus’ body and blood rested on my tongue. So swee...
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