Homily: March 5, 2022, Saturday after Ash Wednesday

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 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 open, truthful, and sincere with Jesus. They welcomed Him better than the Pharisees, who were in respectable positions.

God sees deep into our hearts. He sees the truth of our being. He does not judge us by our worldly occupations or positions. He loves every soul. Everyone is precious.

He has come to be our friend. Will we sit and eat with Him? Will we be open, sincere, and truthful with Him? Will we listen to Him? Amen.

Fr. Nivin Scaria


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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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Homily: June 15, 2026 Monday of the Eleventh Week in Ordinary Time (Resistance)

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 But I say to you, offer no resistance to one who is evil.  Why did Jesus say this? Shouldn’t we resist and fight evil, so that we can keep ourselves holy? I remember years ago, I was traveling in a non-Christian country, and I had in my hand-carry bag, a zip-lock pouch of unconsecrated hosts for celebrating Mass during my trip. At customs, the officer checked my bag, took out the zip-lock pouch containing the hosts, then with one hand, crushed them all into pieces, and put them back into my bag. I felt great anger, and I felt deep sadness. I did not say a word. I knew saying anything about it would not make any difference, it would only complicate my travels. Utter disrespect! Such evil! In my heart I wanted to curse them. In today’s first reading, we see another example. King Ahab was wealthy, powerful, he had everything he needed and more, but he was not satisfied. He was greedy. He desired Naboth’s vineyard. So, his queen, Jezebel, made false accusations against Naboth, ha...
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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: June 12, 2026, Solemnity of the Most Sacred Heart of Jesus (learn from me)

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 “Take my yoke upon you and learn from me, for I am meek and humble of heart; and you will find rest for yourselves.” Jesus spoke these words at the beginning of His public ministry. Instead of entering His important mission with pride and great fanfare, Jesus entered meek and humble. And He says, “…learn from me…” At the end of His earthly life on the cross, when the soldier pierced His side, blood and water gushed forth from His heart — a visible sign of His total sacrifice, His love for humanity. He truly was meek and humble of heart, accepting a humiliating death despite being a King and not having committed any crime. He loved us till the very end. According to an ancient Christian tradition, it was said that the soldier who pierced the side of Jesus, was suffering from very poor eyesight, but when some of Jesus’ blood and splattered on his eyes, his eyesight was fully restored, he was healed. Whether historical or symbolic, the story shows us that the Sacred Heart of Jesus is...
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Homily: June 14, 2026, Eleventh Sunday in Ordinary time (Covenant)

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 “… you shall be my special possession, dearer to me than all other people… You shall be to me a kingdom of priests, a holy nation.” What beautiful assurance from our God, stated so clearly in our first reading today. Imagine the Almighty Creator of the universe saying to us mere human beings that we are His special possession, that we are so dear to Him. He, Who is all powerful, declaring His endearing love for us, who are nothing. We are truly blessed. Deep in every person’s heart, there is a longing to be special to somebody, to belong, to be loved and valued. I have a friend from childhood. His name is Dijol. I have known him since kindergarten. We are somewhat different in a lot of ways. His parents were teachers, and from a young age he did well in his studies, he would always top the class for tests and exams. He had dreams and ambitions. He always knew he wanted something bigger in life. My parents were farm people. From young, I helped my parents milk the cows, feed goats ...
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Homily: May 23, 2024, Holy Family school Graduation Mass.

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First, congratulations to all of you for successfully completing middle school! Are you happy that you are graduating? I graduated from middle school in 1999. That was twenty-five years ago! We did not have a graduation ceremony like this because my school provided pre-K to grade 12 classes all on the same campus. So, we did not leave school, we just moved up to another grade, another class, but thankfully, our teachers organized something simple for us to celebrate that milestone. I remember during my school days, the hours in class seemed to pass very slowly, but now I look back, time seems to fly by with rocket speed! It will be the same for you, so enjoy being a student now, these could be the best times of your life! Here, you are the seniors of the school, soon, you will be freshmen in high school, you will be the juniors. You will again look up to the seniors and learn from them. In middle school, your teachers gave you a lot of attention and took care of you. When you go to hig...
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Homily: June 13, 2026, Memorial of The Immaculate Heart of the Blessed Virgin Mary

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 aking the yoke of oxen, he slaughtered them; he used the plowing equipment for fuel to boil their flesh and gave it to his people to eat. Then he left and followed Elijah as his attendant.” I have heard this passage many times during my seminary days and throughout the past ten years of priesthood, especially during retreats. It is such a beautiful scene in the Old Testament describing how Elisha received and accepted God’s call. Elisha was plowing in the field when Elijah called him. He not only left what he was doing, but he also slaughtered the oxen and burned the very equipment he had been using. He did not want to go back to his old life. It was a total commitment to God. In the same way, the disciples left their nets and followed Jesus. Because of their openness and complete surrender to God, the Lord performed many wonders through them. The same is true for us. The more our hearts are open to God, the more God is able to work through our lives. There is no one in the histor...
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Homily: June 9, 2026, Tuesday of the Tenth Week in Ordinary Time (Shine-Light)

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“Lord, let your face shine on us.” Isn’t this a beautiful prayer in today’s Responsorial Psalm. We are asking not simply for blessings, but for God Himself, for Him to look at us lovingly from above, for His glory to shine on us, not away from us. It is a prayer asking for God to be present to us, to love us, to desire us despite our sinfulness. And truly, God is always present, totally loves and forever desires us. In the Gospel, Jesus tells us: “You are the light of the world.”  We know we are not the source of light, but we can reflect light. God is light, when God’s face shine on us, we become His beacon of light too. In the Book of Exodus, after Moses spoke with God on the mountain, his face shone so brightly that people could hardly look at him. Similarly, when we live constantly in the presence of God, we too will begin to radiate peace, joy, love and holiness. How do we live in the presence of God? Very simply, spend time before the Holy Eucharist, read the Bible, receive t...
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Homily: June 22, 2024. Saturday of the eleventh week in Ordinary time (Don't worry).

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 "But seek first the Kingdom of God and his righteousness, and all these things will be given you besides. Do not worry about tomorrow; tomorrow will take care of itself. Sufficient for a day is its own evil." ‘Tomorrow will take care of itself’; do you trust that? But note the verse that came before it, ‘seek first the Kingdom of God and His righteousness’. When Pope John XXIII decided on the convocation of the Second Vatican Council, which was a huge historical event seeking to renew and restore the Church back to its roots, our late holy father had great difficulty falling asleep the night before the announcement to the whole church. He later told that he finally convinced himself this way: “Giovanni, why don’t you sleep? Is it the pope or the Holy Spirit that governs the Church? It’s the Holy Spirit, right? Well then, go to sleep, Giovanni!” and then he fell asleep and slept well.  If the Pope was able to entrust the work of the whole Universal Church to the Holy Spirit a...
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Homily: JUne 6, 2026, Solemnity of the most Holy Body and Blood of Jesus.

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 "Whoever eats my flesh and drinks my blood remains in me and I in him." Every year to prepare the children to receive their first holy communion, they would attend a retreat, during which we would re-enact the last supper. The children would bake unleavened bread and use it for the re-enactment. At the 2024 retreat, the re-enactment was going well as we all took our roles seriously and followed the script. Unsurprisingly, I played the role of Jesus. At the climax of the re-enactment, I held up a cup of cranberry juice and said, “This is my blood.” Then I handed the cup to the little girl next to me. She looked at me with horror and shouted, “I don't drink blood!” For a moment, I was stunned too, then I assured her, “This is not really my blood.” But she immediately replied, “But you just said so!” We all laughed. She was not wrong, but to keep the play moving, I suggested she pass the cup to the next person. Thankfully, she did and we could finish the play. Afterward, I ...
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