Fr. Nivin's Homily Blog

 “And all day long, both at the temple and in their homes, they did not stop teaching and proclaiming the Christ, Jesus”. Even after being flogged, all day long, the disciples continued teaching and preaching everywhere… Amazing, isn’t it?  These past few days, we have been reading from Acts of the Apostles. We see how the Jewish leaders and high priest tried to stop the apostles from preaching in the name of Jesus. But they failed. The Pharisee Gamaliel rightly said, “if it comes from God, you will not be able to destroy them; you may even find yourselves fighting against God.” How true. The church is from God. The disciples did not stop teaching and proclaiming. They even rejoiced at being flogged for what they were doing. They were on fire for Jesus. They were so eager and excited to tell everyone about Jesus. What about us? If there is a new restaurant serving delicious food or a store is having a great end-of-summer sale, we would hear many people talking about it. Some w...

  “Knowing that your brothers and sisters throughout the world undergo the same sufferings”. Is this true? If we look around us, and into our own lives, what St. Peter says in this first reading is probably true. Everyone seems to have one or some of the same problems that cause suffering: health conditions, emotional situations, mental stress, financial troubles, family issues, natural disasters, man-made wars and so on. Sufferings are unavoidable in this life. They became part of human life when the very first sin of disobedience was committed. Sin entered human life, destroyed harmony and peace between people, and everyone is subjected to death. Why do we have to go through all these? Why should there be suffering and all kinds of problems in the world? Why can’t God just snap His fingers and let everything be restored to perfection? I once asked a friend these questions and she replied thoughtfully, that if our earthly life was without any problems, would we ever yearn for the ...

 Homily preached during  First communion mass  Dear children who are receiving first holy communion today, are you excited? I am very happy for you dear children. Today is a very special and important day of your life. It will be unforgettable. I hope you will remember the special and most beautiful moment when you receive Jesus fully, heart in heart. I still remember vividly my own first communion. I remember the lessons the nuns taught us, the rehearsals and even what I wore that day. Since my family was poor, I did not get a new white shirt and black pants, but I wore what my older brother had for his first communion. But it's ok, that is not the most important. What I treasure is that very moment when I received Jesus on my tongue, the taste, the smell, the feeling. I felt so amazed that Jesus was inside of me. God came into my being. It was really special. My father too remembered his own first communion clearly. He was only 7 years old. My grandfather had just moved...

 “By what power or by what name have you done this?” The chief priests, the elders and the scribes asked the disciples this question. Why? Following the first readings of these two days, we saw that Peter healed a crippled man. Peter told him, “I have neither silver nor gold, but what I do have I give you: in the name of Jesus Christ the Nazorean, rise and walk.” In the name of Jesus and by the power of Christ, the disciples are able to do the same things Jesus did. The Jewish leaders must be really anxious. They thought by killing Jesus they would have put an end to the amazing works which threatened their authority. But look at the miracles the disciples are performing. Look at the massive conversions at their preaching. As you know, every third Wednesday of the month we have healing service here at St. Ambrose. The prayer leaders truly have the gift of healing like the disciples. I witnessed many people getting healed during the sessions, all through the invocation of the name o...

 Last night, while preparing this homily, I was reading the Collect of this Mass and this phrase struck me, “O God who give constant increase to your church by new offspring”. The words ‘constant increase’ and ‘new offspring’ made me think deeper. Around us, we do hear of people who leave the church or stop practicing the faith. There are still many who do not know God and do not believe in Christ.  Yet, around the world, the Holy Spirit is working wonders. 2019 Vatican statistics recorded an increase of 16 million baptisms in that year. And on Saturday, during Easter Vigil in our little parish community here, we witnessed 9 baptisms and 13 confirmations. Out of these 22 catechumens and candidates, 18 are from Eritrea. Some of them could not even recite the profession of faith because they have never had any formal education. They were born in the refugee camps and lived some 20 to 25 years there. But deep within their hearts, and within the difficulties of their lives, they k...

 “God anointed Jesus of Nazareth with the Holy Spirit and power. He went about doing good.” In the first reading, Peter did not preach the divinity of Christ, but spoke about the man named Jesus, who ‘went about doing good’. This strikes me deeply. Do you know anyone who went about doing good? At the end of my third-year philosophy studies, one of my seminarian brothers, Joice, got into an accident and died. He was only 20 years old. We were together for 6 years in the seminary and all that time, he had always been a fun-loving and easy-going person. He was always helpful and generous. I have never witnessed anything negative about him. I believe he would have become a saintly priest if he didn’t die so soon. He was doing a lot of good. We see a lot of evil in this world, yet we also see many people going about doing good. They may not be big saints with great deeds, but they bring light into someone else’s life, they touch hearts in their simple ways. Peter remembered Jesus as the...

 There are four poems in the book of Isaiah about the suffering servant. Today’s first reading is taken from the first poem. In it is written, “I formed you, and set you as a covenant of the people, a light for the nations”. And in today’s responsorial psalm, we responded four times “The Lord is my light and my salvation”.  Indeed, our Lord Jesus is our light and our salvation. There is a book titled ‘Healing Through the Mass’ written by Fr. Robert Degrandis. It is a collection of many miraculous stories and life-changing encounters of the Holy Eucharist. One story was about NASA scientists doing a study on the changes of energy level in the human body. They placed a special camera in a hospital room to observe a dying patient and found that the energy orbit radiating from the body, known as the aura, becomes thinner as the person becomes weaker. One day, a visitor with a broad aura entered the room and the camera captured another aura from his shirt pocket. When the object wa...

 REFLECTION FOR PROCESSION READING “Blessed is the king who comes in the name of the Lord.” The multitudes declared as Jesus enters Jerusalem. We too declare ‘Praise the Lord!’ when something we have been praying for is answered according to our wish. What would we say if our prayers were not answered in the way we expected it? What did the people say about Jesus just a few days after this triumphant entry? Palm Sunday leads us into Holy week, our final week of Lent, Jesus’ final week of His earthly life. Jesus is indeed the King, the Messiah, the One who is to save all people, but not in the worldly sense. When we discover the truth about His kingship, would we still declare Him our Lord and God? HOMILY Imagine, if you were not a Catholic, nor a Christian, and today is the first time you hear about God and Jesus in this Gospel narrative, what would you think? Jesus seems weak, lowly and was finally defeated. His disciples seem so lost and helpless too. And God did not seem to do a...

 “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 mes...

   “The innocent and the just you shall not put to death.” Do you agree? In 1966, a priest Fr. Benedict was accused of first-degree murder. He was from my archdiocese in India. He was accused of impregnating a woman named Maria, of stabbing her to death and leaving her body by the roadside. It was a cruel act. While in custody, the police questioned him to get his admission of guilt, they tortured him badly. They even pulled out some of his fingernails to force him to admit. But he denied. He insisted he was innocent. Thereafter, the first-class court concluded the case with a death sentence. He appealed to the superior court. Finally, after two years in prison, his appeal was accepted because the prosecution could not provide the necessary evidence. He was released from prison but nobody in society believed him his innocence. The media speculated that the catholic church had bribed the police and the court. He still insisted he was innocent. However, after his release, the di...

“Untie him and let him go.” Why was Lazarus tied up? Who tied him up? The Jews believed that the deceased person's spirit will be in the body until the third day. After that, they would bundle up the deceased, according to the Jewish burial tradition. The body is rubbed with perfumed oil all over and wrapped with linen cloth from head to toe, then placed in a tomb. Lazarus died four days before, has been wrapped up by his family and relatives, and placed in the tomb. Why did Jesus wait four days to arrive? First, for Lazarus to be confirmed dead, and second, for Jesus to perform the miracle to raise him up, so “that they may believe that you sent me”, said Jesus as He prayed to God. Similarly in the first reading, God said through Ezekiel, “Then you shall know that I am the LORD, when I open your graves and have you rise from them.” He also said, “I will put my spirit in you that you may live.” These words remind us of the beginning of creation when God breathed into Adam and gave ...

 “Let us destroy the tree in its vigour; let us cut him off from the land of the living, so that his name will be spoken no more.” Two years ago, I got a stem of curry leaf plant from Texas. I was so excited about growing it. I bought a big pot and planted it nicely. I kept it indoors all winter and when it began to grow some leaves, I brought it outdoors. It was growing slowly but surely. I enjoyed observing its growth and keeping count of the new leaves sprouting daily. Every leaf that appeared gave me great joy. Then an Indian friend came to visit one day. He saw my precious plant and murmured in disbelief, “Is this how you grow curry leaves??” Before I could respond, he swiftly broke off all the small branches in the middle and cut off all the leaves. My heart cried out in great pain when I saw that! My beloved plant, each precious leaf which I knew and loved so well is gone! I was so sad, angry and shocked that I could not say anything. There was nothing I could do by then. I ...

 “Is he not the one they are trying to kill? And look, he is speaking openly...” The Jews are already plotting to kill Jesus, but that does not stop Jesus from preaching fearlessly in their midst. The people need to hear the good news, that is the mission of Jesus. He came to this world for that purpose. He is focused on accomplishing His Father’s will. Nothing can stop Him, not even death. This is a country with religious freedom. Anyone can follow any religion and profess any faith without fear of persecution. It is not so in some other parts of the world. In some countries, the faithful cannot be seen make the sign of the cross or discuss any faith matters in public, they have no access to religious materials openly, they are not allowed to meet as a faith community in anyone’s home. Yet, they have baptisms every year, there are many men and women who join the religious vocations. The suppression of faith practices fails to suppress the secret preaching, the silent teaching, the...