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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Homily: February 27, 2026Friday of the First Week in Lent (Salvation)

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 “Since he has turned away from all the sins that he committed, he shall surely live, he shall not die.” In the spiritual tradition of the Church, we often talk about the four last things: death, judgment, heaven, hell. Death is certain for each one of us. We will all die one day.  Judgment is also certain. It is part of our encounter with God. He is the ultimate Judge. Then the final destination. It is not heaven and hell, it is heaven or hell. Each of us will have the freedom to choose. Do you think everyone will choose heaven? Many do not want hell, but that does not mean they want heaven. Choosing heaven means choosing God, choosing His will. This is where we all failed. Everyone has sinned. But in today’s first reading, the prophet Ezekiel gives all of us a great big hope: our past does not have the final word. The hope is that if a person turns away from sin, if they repent and choose what is right, they shall live - repent and believe in the Gospel! Many people, myself ...
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Homily: February 15, 2026 Sixth Sunday in Ordinary Time (Yes or No)

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 “Let your ‘Yes’ mean ‘Yes,’ and your ‘No’ mean ‘No.’ Anything more is from the evil one.” Every one of our Christian journey begins with a very simple thing: “Yes”. At baptism, the priest asks the parents or the candidates three questions: Do you renounce Satan? Do you reject sin? Do you reject all that leads you away from God? If the answer is Yes, Yes and Yes, then he asks three more questions to confirm our belief, the profession of our faith in the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit. Yes, Yes and Yes. And from that moment, we belong to God totally. Our new relationship with God, our new life as a Christian begins. Do we then live happily ever after? Realistically, this is where the struggle also begins. Growing up, I have said many “Yes’s” to God. Often, I have also said “No” to Him. But more often, My Yes’s were compromised, unaccomplished, unreliable. Often, they were conditional “Yes’s”. I negotiated and bargained with God, I procrastinated and made excuses. They would so...
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Homily: March 29, 2025, Saturday of theThird Week in Lent (Rain)

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 “He will come to us like the rain, like spring rain that waters the earth.” Do you like the rain? I have always enjoyed rain, not just watching it from my window, but walking or playing in the rain. Rain is refreshing, especially on hot days. When I was little, growing up in India, we always looked forward to the summer rain. It wasn’t until I came to Iowa that I experienced spring rain, which is gentle, joyful and uplifting. During summer in India, the scorching heat would dry up everything; water in the creeks and ponds would vanish, grass and plants would wither. In those days before there was tap water, people would walk long distances in the summer heat to collect water then carry it home in huge plastic pots. The intense heat, the lack of oxygen and the loss of liveliness in the environment also dulled everybody’s mood. Then after some months, the rain would come. Sometimes suddenly, sometimes in thunderstorms, but we would always know it was coming. The hornbill birds would...
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Homily: March 23,2025, Third Sunday of Lent (First Scrutiny of the elect)

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 "Everyone who drinks this water will be thirsty again; but whoever drinks the water I shall give will never thirst; the water I shall give will become in him a spring of water welling up to eternal life." (John 4:13-14) On the third, fourth, and fifth Sundays of Lent, we celebrate the Rites of Scrutiny with our elects - those preparing to receive the Sacraments of Initiation, to enter the Catholic Church, as part of the period of ‘Purification and Enlightenment. The purification process is God's way of helping to remove the stain and dirt from the souls of the Elect, so to see the true good and beauty of each soul. God does not scrutinize to find the wrongs but to celebrate the real identity of each child of His, revealing the value within each of us and rejoicing in the light of Christ reflecting from us. Each of these Sundays has a powerful theme: Water, Light and Life. These themes are presented through the Gospel texts of various encounters with Jesus Christ: the wom...
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Homily: February 28-2026, Saturday of the First week in Lent (Perfection)

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 “So be perfect, just as your heavenly Father is perfect.” At first, those words sound overwhelming. No option. No compromise. Just: Be perfect. Jesus sets the highest standard possible—not human perfection, but divine perfection. And immediately we might think: How is that possible? And how do we move toward that perfection? The Church gives us a beautiful path: the three theological virtues, faith, hope, and love. First, faith. Faith means trusting. Trusting God, Trusting in God’s promises. Jesus tells us that faith even the size of a mustard seed is enough. God does not demand enormous faith, He asks for sincere faith. Second, hope. Hope keeps us steady when life becomes difficult. When problems feel like mountains in front of us. When suffering enters our family. When prayers seem unanswered. Hope whispers to us: You have a perfect heavenly Father. He is faithful. Hold on. Christian hope does not deny pain—it carries us through it. It reminds us that God can turn everything tow...
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Homily: August 23, 2025, Saturday of the Twentieth Sunday in Ordinary Time (Imperfect Generations)

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 “They called him Obed. He was the father of Jesse, the father of David.”  Today’s first reading is fascinating account of how Ruth and Boaz came together and became the great grandparents of King David, the powerful king of Israel who established Jerusalem as the holy city and wrote many of the psalms we still pray today. Ruth is one of the Five women mentioned in the genealogy of Jesus. The other three are Rahab, Tamar and Bethsheba, and Mary, the Mother of God. Interestingly, Ruth who was a Moabite woman, a foreigner, has her life recorded in scripture as an important part of salvation history, even though her story is not one of perfection. The circumstances which led her to Boaz were not ideal, yet God turned everything into good. Ruth showed courage and a respectable character when she left her homeland and went with her mother-in-law to her people. That act of faithfulness must have pleased the God of Israel. Thousands of years later, we continue to read her story and p...
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Homily: February 22-2026, First Sunday of Lent (Angles)

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 As I was preparing this homily, I first thought of preaching about the three temptations of Jesus. Then I changed my mind and thought of focusing on the first reading, and then perhaps the second reading. I couldn’t get the right inspiration, so I went through the readings several times over the past days. Finally, I noticed one phrase which stayed with me quietly but firmly: “The devil left Him, and angels came and ministered to Him.” It was a reassuring resolution to an intense build-up of temptations. Jesus had fasted forty days. He endured hunger, thirst, solitary living and silence. At the end of it when he was at his weakest, tempting offers to satisfy His possible needs and wants were presented to Him. He was at His weakest, physically, but he was also at His strongest, spiritually. As He overcame the temptations and defeated the devil, heaven responded - not with applause, but with accompaniment. Angels came to minister to Him. We see the same later in the Gospel of Luke. ...
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Homily: February 21, 2026, Saturday After Ash Wednesday (Graceful Souls)

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 “He will renew your strength, and you shall be like a watered garden, like a spring whose water never fails.” Some of us would have experienced the grace of God in a very real way at some point in our lives. Perhaps after a very sincere confession, or during a spiritual retreat, maybe during deep prayer, or some may have felt it at Mass. Different people would experience it differently. It could be a sense of lightness when the heaviness of a grave sin has been lifted, an indescribable feeling of deep peace, a sudden vision of clarity. Sometimes we would most undoubtedly know that God is close. There’s probably a certain quiet joy within. There are so many possible signs. If you have ever experienced that unusual but wonderful feeling, you would know what I mean. And if you have not, try to make a good confession, I mean seriously, do it as if today is your last day, and you desperately want to be free from all sin, what we often call ‘deathbed confession’. And you might just get ...
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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: February 3, 2026, Tuesday of the Fourth Week In Ordinary Time (Hope-Eternal life)

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 “The king was shaken, and went up to the room over the city gate to weep.” Separation by death of a loved one is painful. But for a parent to grieve the loss of a child, it is deep anguish. The pain reaches deep into the core of the being. King David wept. The tears did not flow from his eyes, but from the depth of his very soul. No matter how strong, the king broke down and was completely helpless at the death of his own beloved son. No matter how powerful, this king could not bring back the life of his son. In the Gospel today, we meet another grieving parent. Jairus, who had just lost his beloved daughter. But there is one major difference. Jairus was not helpless, he had Jesus to turn to. And Jesus has the power to bring back life. A friend once shared her experience with her neighbor who lost a family member. Wanting to comfort the family, she visited them and enquired with the children, “Do you know what happens after death?” The children replied simply, “We become dirt.” Th...
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