Homily: March 4, 2022: Friday after Ash Wednesday

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“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 pain, difficulties, or sufferings. He was at peace even at his death.

God says, “this rather, is the fasting that I wish: releasing those bound unjustly, untying the thongs of the yoke; setting free the oppressed, breaking every yoke; sharing your bread with the hungry, sheltering the oppressed and the homeless”.

We fast so that we become less ourselves, more like God. We see what He sees, feel what He feels, do what He does. We become love.

Fr. Nivin Scaria


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Homily: December 7, 2025, Second Sunday of Advent (Fruitfulness )

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Homily: December 12, 2025, Feast of the Our Lady of Guadalupe

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 “At the time of the evening sacrifice, I, Ezra, rose in my wretchedness, and with cloak and mantle torn I fell on my knees, stretching out my hands to the LORD, my God.” How do you pray? Today’s first reading gives us a beautiful description of how priest Ezra prayed. He considered himself ‘wretched’, totally unworthy of God and His mercy. This expressed his deep reverence for the vast greatness and graciousness of God. He fell on his knees with outstretched arms. This expressed his total surrender, obedience and submission to the ultimate good and perfect will of God. Ezra’s humble prayer disposition is beautiful. He prayed with a deep, sincere, and remorseful heart, laid bare before God, bearing the guilt of his people, yet completely appreciative and grateful for God’s forgiveness. He offered this prayer after the completion and dedication of the rebuilt Temple. The broken temple now rebuilt signified a reconciled relationship with God. Now the Israelites can worship in God’s h...
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Homily: February 3, 2026, Tuesday of the Fourth Week In Ordinary Time (Hope-Eternal life)

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Homily: May 20, 2024, Memorial of the Blessed Virgin Mary, Mother of the Church.

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“The man called his wife Eve because she became the mother of all the living.” According to the book of Genesis, we are all children of Eve, the first woman. This first woman fell easily into temptation and became disobedient to God. Looking at ourselves, aren’t we the same? We are generally easily tempted and fall into sin. We seem to contain deep rebellion in us and so we tend to be disobedient. We see the same trend of disobedience through all the biblical stories. We are just like our first mother of the earth. God, the creator of the first man and woman, has a plan of redemption. In the fullness of time, He got ready the second Eve, to prepare for the second Adam’s coming. Mary, is like Eve in every way including being born without original sin. She was subject to temptations the same, but the difference is Mary overcame all temptations and remained consistently obedient to God, even all the way along the painful road to Calvary right till at the foot of the cross.  God’s seco...
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Homily: February 22, 2025 Feast of the chair of St. Peter.

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 “And so I say to you, you are Peter, and upon this rock, I will build my Church, and the gates of the netherworld shall not prevail against it.”  Our Lord founded the Church and handed over its growth and development into the future, to Peter. Note that the disciple is Simon, but the pope is Peter. Thus, this appointment to build the church, an appointment so solid like a rock, will be so strong and firm that not even hell could ever overcome it. Simon Peter was not perfect; he had his human weaknesses. It is written that he had cowardly denied Jesus three times, and at one point, Jesus even rebuked him, “Get behind me, Satan” (Matthew 16:23). Christian Tradition also tells that during the time of persecution in Rome, he had tried to escape and flee from Rome. The story continued that on his way along the road outside the city, he met our Lord Jesus where he asked, “Quo vadis, Domine?” - “Where are you going Lord?” To which our Lord replied, “Romam eo iterum crucifigī” – “I a...
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Homily: August 15, 2024, Solemnity of the Assumption of the Blessed Virgin Mary.

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 “For he has looked with favor on his lowly servant. From this day all generations will call me blessed.” Indeed, two thousand years since then, over a billion Catholics and millions of Orthodox Christians continue to call her blessed. Blessed is she who said yes to God to be the mother of God’s Son, blessed is she who conceived and birthed the Savior into the world, blessed is she who cared for and raised the Messiah for all of us, blessed is she who watched in pain and stayed with her son as He died on the cross, blessed is she who accepted to be the mother of the church. Today, the whole Catholic church, every diocese in the world, is celebrating the Solemnity of the Assumption of the Blessed Virgin Mary. We celebrate this feast every year, and we already know it is to commemorate the belief that Mary was taken straight up to heaven, body and soul, because she lived and died sinless. What makes Mary so important to the Church? The Church honors her with many titles, because she ...
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Homily: December 8, 2022, Solemnity of the Immaculate Conception of the Blessed Virgin Mary

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 ‘The Lord God called to the man and asked him, “Where are you?”’ This is the first question God asked man after he committed sin. God surely knew what happened. He gave Adam and Eve all freedom to do as they please, requesting only one restriction, yet they failed Him. He should be upset, He is justified to be furious, He has every right to question and reprimand them, instead he asked, “where are you?” Through this we can see that although God disapproves of sin, His bigger concern is when we hide from Him and persist in darkness. He calls us our from hiding, into His light. Human beings are the crown of God’s creation.  He yearns for us to be in His light, in His presence, always. And all through history, God does not change His position, He does not run away, He remains always available, reachable and near. We are the ones turning away and increasing the distance from God. Fulton Sheen rightly said, “Ever since the days of Adam man has been hiding from God and saying ‘God ...
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Homily: January 23, 2026, Friday of the second week in Ordinary Time (Forgiveness)

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 “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...
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Homily: Friday, August 8, 2025 Friday of the Eighteenth Week in Ordinary Time (Faith -Generations)

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 “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...
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