Homily: May 17, 2022, Tuesday of Fifth Week of Easter.

-

 “But when the disciples gathered around him, he got up and entered the city”.

In the first reading, St. Paul had just been stoned by a crowd and dragged out of the city as dead. Try to imagine the physical condition of St. Paul. His body must be badly bruised, probably swollen and bleeding. Some of his bones might even be broken.

Yet, he managed to get up from all his wounds and near-death condition, then walked straight back into the city where he just got stoned! He must be crazy.

St. Paul firmly declared in Romans 8:35-39, “What will separate us from the love of Christ? Will anguish, or distress, or persecution, or famine, or nakedness, or peril, or the sword?... No, in all these things we conquer overwhelmingly through him who loved us.”

Indeed. Nothing could stop Paul and the disciples from preaching the gospel. They were crazy for God. They looked forward to the reward of eternal life and couldn’t care less for the sufferings and death in this temporal life. They feared nothing in this world.

If we all preach the gospel fearlessly like the disciples, the world would all be converted to Christ. 

So, what is stopping us?

Are we afraid of rejection, persecution and losing friends?


There is more freedom in this country for us to profess and propagate our faith boldly, compared to many other countries in the world but there could be more social awkwardness here when it comes to talking about religion.

Are we afraid to preach because we ourselves are not living an authentic catholic life?

In this modern world, the devil does not have to work too hard to keep us away from God because there are so many interesting distractions and addictions to keep us busy. We know we fall short in many ways.

It seems we are not as fervent, focused and faith driven as the early disciples like St. Paul.

But Jesus says to us, as He said to His disciples: “Peace I leave with you; my peace I give to you. Not as the world gives do I give it to you. Do not let your hearts be troubled or afraid.”

We are assured of Christ’s peace, what else should we fear? We will never change the world by simply coming to church. We can only change the world by being the church. We are disciples of Christ. Our mission is to preach.

As we come closer to the feast of Pentecost, let us ask the Holy Spirit for the gifts which we need, so as to fearlessly proclaim the gospel of Christ, in words and in our own way of life. Amen.


Comments

Post a Comment

Read

Homily: November 18, Monday of the Thirty-Third week in Ordinary Time (Love)

-
“Yet I hold this against you: you have lost the love you had at first.” Love is the greatest Christian virtue. Without love, Christianity is meaningless. Without love, salvation is pointless. Without love, our life is aimless. We are created by a God who is love, saved by His Son out of love and called to imitate Him in love. He created us to accept His love, to love Him, and to love others. Therefore, a life without love is empty. The greatest love ever is Jesus giving his own life completely to us. Our response to this is to love Him back all our mind, heart and soul. In today’s first reading from the Book of Revelation, God’s angel rebukes the church in Ephesus for having lost the love for Jesus they had when they first embraced the faith. The Ephesians fell passionately in love with Jesus at the beginning. They surrendered totally to Him, obeying His teachings fully. They left all their old ways to follow Him. But now God’s  is warning and reminding them, because they have beco...
Read more

Homily: November 1, 2026, Solemnity of all saints

-
 “These are the ones who have survived the time of great distress; they have washed their robes and made them white in the Blood of the Lamb.” On this Solemnity of All Saints, we remember that great multitude of men and women who have gone before us and are now with God in heaven. And they want us to be there with them one day. St. John, in his vision, sees a great multitude that no one could count, from every nation, race, people, and tongue. Today’s feast reminds us of the ultimate purpose of our life: to become saints and to be with God forever. When we think about the saints, one thing is very interesting. No two saints are alike. They came from different backgrounds, lived in different circumstances, faced different struggles, and followed different paths. You and I are also called to become saints. But sometimes, when we look at the saints, we become discouraged. We look at their sacrifices, their holiness, and their extraordinary lives, and then we look at our own struggles ...
Read more

Homily: November 2, 2026, The Commemoration of All the Faithful Departed (All Souls)

-
 “I will not reject anyone who comes to me.” They are not just words. They are a promise from Jesus, a promise that gives us hope, especially as we remember our loved ones who have gone before us. There have been days in my life when I have been angry with God. Sometimes, I would even tell Him, “I am not going to pray to you anymore.” But you know something? I could never stay away from Him for long. Because He is a loving Father, and His love always draws me back to Him. Jesus tells us today that no matter who we are, no matter what we have done, He will never reject us when we come back to Him. We may have sinned, we may have made a mess of our lives, we may be broken, or we may have wandered far away from His will. But His promise remains the same: “I will not reject anyone who comes to me.” When I was growing up, there were times when I would get angry with my parents. I remember walking away from home and going somewhere far into our farm. I would stay there for a few hours, d...
Read more

Homily: November 3, Tuesday of the Thirty-First Week in Ordinary Time (Invitation)

-
“I ask you, consider me excused.” In today’s busy world, we use the word excuse so many times. We cannot attend every event, family gathering, dinner, or celebration to which we are invited. So we often excuse ourselves, giving one reason or another. In today’s Gospel, the invited guests did the same thing. One had purchased land, another had bought oxen, and another had just married. They all had their reasons. None of these things was bad in itself, but they gave them priority over the invitation to the banquet. God our Father also keeps inviting us to a banquet, the heavenly banquet. And whether we will be part of that banquet depends on our response to His invitation. God does not invite us just once. He keeps inviting us throughout our lives. God created us with a soul that constantly longs for Him, a soul that will find its ultimate fulfillment only when it is united with Him. And throughout our lives, God gives us opportunities to respond to His invitation. He invites parents to...
Read more

Homily: September 21, 2026, Feast of Saint Matthew, Apostle and evangelist (Follow me)

-
 “Follow me.” On this feast of St. Matthew, we hear Matthew’s own account of his calling. Jesus saw him sitting at the customs post and said just two words: “Follow me.” And Matthew gets up and follows him. No second thought. No long discernment. No plan for the future. Maybe Matthew had been waiting for a moment like this—a chance to begin again. Matthew was a tax collector, considered a sinner and hated by his own people because he worked for the occupying power. Yet Jesus looked at this man whom others rejected and saw an apostle. That should give every one of us hope. God can change people. God does not wait until we are perfect before he calls us. Jesus says in today’s Gospel, “I did not come to call the righteous but sinners.” We are all sinners. We all have weaknesses, habits, failures, and things in our lives that need to change. And there may be people around us struggling with addictions or trapped in sinful situations. Sometimes we may even wonder whether a person can ev...
Read more

Homily: October 25, 2025, Saturday of the Twenty-Nineth Week in Ordinary Time (Spirit -Alive)

-
 “But if Christ is in you, although the body is dead because of sin, the Spirit is alive because of righteousness.” What a hopeful and assuring message. Even though our bodies are weakened by sin and subject to death, the Spirit of God within us is alive and active. But note the one condition: if Christ is in you! The Father and the Son have given us this precious gift, the Holy Spirit, the divine helper who will dwell in our hearts if we accept Jesus Christ into our lives. If we follow the timeline of our salvation story, all of us are now living in the era of the Holy Spirit. God the Father has revealed Himself to Abraham, Isaac, Jacob, Moses, and the prophets. Then in the fullness of time, God the Son came into the world and revealed to us the Father’s love. Before returning to heaven, Jesus promised to send us the Holy Spirit to be our companion, our guide, and our strength till the end of time. And from then, the Holy Spirit has been active in the world, in the church and in o...
Read more

Homily: Monday, January 17, 2022, Memorial of Saint Anthony. Abbot

-
Readings:https://bible.usccb.org/bible/readings/011722.cfm  In the first reading, prophet Samuel questioned King Saul, “Why then have you disobeyed the Lord?” King Saul replied, “I did indeed obey the lord and fulfil the mission on which the lord sent me.” Then he continued, “But from the spoil the men took sheep and oxen, the best of what had been banned…” Saul did what the Lord told him to do, BUT he also did what the Lord had banned. So, was that obedience? If you like coffee and God says, “Drink coffee.” You did as told, that’s obedience conveniently, right? If you also like whisky but God says, “Drink coffee but not whisky.” Then you drank coffee and enjoyed the whisky as well, is that obedience? As a priest, I pledge my obedience to the bishop. I used to serve the bishop in my home diocese in India as his personal secretary. Honestly, it was a challenge to obey him, because there were many decisions he made which I did not agree with, but I managed my best to do as told. Then...
Read more

Homily: March 9, 2026, Monday of the Third week in Lent (prophet -Accepted )

-
 “No prophet is accepted in his own native place.” I have experienced this personally many times. Years ago, when I was newly ordained and was about to preach at a relative’s wedding, my oldest sister, lacking confidence with my ability, whispered to me, “Make sure you do a good job.” I whispered back, “Why don’t you do the preaching!” Last year I went to my nephew’s First Holy Communion. The parish priest asked if I could give the homily, and I happily agreed. The night before the Mass, my second sister came to my room and questioned me, “Do you really want to do the homily? People expect a good one for this occasion.” She worried I would do poorly. And my third sister who lives in Ireland, keeps sending me videos of popular preachers - like Fr. Mike Schmitz and Bishop Barron. She probably hopes I will learn to preach like them. My siblings grew up with me at home, and they know me well from young. However, they were not with me in my seminary life and have not witnessed my growth...
Read more

Homily: March 15, 2025, Saturday of the First Sunday in Lent (Perfect Love)

-
 "So be perfect, just as your heavenly Father is perfect."  I was very privileged to have done my seminary studies and formation at Santa Croce University (Holy Cross), in Rome which is run by the Opus Dei order. Their founder, St. Josemaría Escrivá, was a visionary and a great saint. One of the core principles of living and spirituality he laid down for Opus Dei members was this: “strive for excellence in everything”. Because of this, the university was marked by excellence in every way - excellent professors, an outstanding library, state-of-the-art classrooms, and advanced technology. To be a student at such an institution meant that they, too, were expected to strive for excellence in attitude and effort. To maintain this high standard, there were many strict rules for the students to follow. By following conscientiously, students would grow and develop to their full potential with remarkable outcomes, all through into the future. In the first reading, Moses tells the Isr...
Read more

Homily: October 17, 2026, Saturday of the Twenty-Eighth Week in Ordinary Time (Holy Spirit speaking)

-
 “For the Holy Spirit will teach you at that moment what you should say.” These are the beautiful and comforting words of Jesus in today’s Gospel. Jesus has given us so many wonderful gifts: the Eucharist, the sacraments, the Church, and above all, the gift of the Holy Spirit. And today, Jesus assures us that the Holy Spirit will guide us, especially when we do not know what to say or what to do. There have been many moments in my own life when I have struggled to find the right words. Sometimes I have been afraid to speak. Sometimes I have wondered whether I was making the right decision. I am sure many of you have experienced the same thing. But Jesus makes us a beautiful promise: The Holy Spirit will teach us what to say. However, I believe there are two important things we must do to experience this promise in our lives. First, we must ask the Holy Spirit for guidance. Before making an important decision, before having a difficult conversation, before taking a major step in lif...
Read more