Homily: May 18, 2022, Wednesday of the fifth week of Easter.

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 “Remain in me as I remain in you.”

The word ‘remain’ is repeated eight times in today’s Gospel text.

I am not big on sports. When I first came to USA, I was introduced to baseball, and very quickly recruited into the Chicago Cubs as a follower. I knew nothing about baseball, other than it is similar to cricket which I used to play in India. So, I was an ignorant new Cub fan.

Within the first few weeks of my ‘enrolment’, I found out there is another baseball team ‘Cardinal’. Some parishioners suggested that I switch. They reasoned that the name ‘Cardinal’ sounds more Catholic!

But my Cub introducer advised me sternly, “Father, Once a cub, always a cub. Remain.”

And to seal that ‘covenant’, he gave me a little cubby. Yes, till today, I have remained a cub.

What does it mean to ‘remain’?

Collins dictionary defines it as: ‘stay’, ‘continue’, ‘do not change’.

That is what our Lord wants of us, to stay with Him, continue with Him, do not change our following.

But note that He says, ‘remain IN me’, not ‘WITH me’. So more than just keeping ourselves beside our Lord, He wants us to be inside of Him, united and one.

Why?

Jesus explains, “Just as a branch cannot bear fruit on its own unless it remains on the vine, so neither can you unless you remain in me.”

The truth is, we are nothing without God. On our own, we cannot bear good fruit that lasts.

Without food and nutrition, our bodies cannot survive or grow. And so, without Jesus, without the Word of God, our souls will wither and die.

Let us not detract, let us not separate. Remain in the Lord as He remains in us. Once a Catholic, always a Catholic. Amen.

Fr. Nivin Scaria


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Homily: November 30,2025 First Sunday of Advent (Peace)

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“There shall be no harm or ruin on all my holy mountain;  for the earth shall be filled with knowledge of the LORD,  as water covers the sea.” How beautiful this promise is, the entire earth filled with the knowledge of the Lord as water covers the sea. Imagine a world where every heart, every home, every nation is filled with the knowledge of God. What a different world that would be. Knowledge is one of the seven gifts of the Holy Spirit. But this knowledge does not simply mean information it means truly knowing God: knowing His heart, His will, His love, His commandments. This is the very purpose of human life. The Catechism of the Catholic Church, 1721 teaches: God placed us in the world to know Him, to love Him, and to serve Him, and so to come to Paradise. And notice the order: Know> Love> Serve. We cannot love someone we do not know, and we cannot serve someone we do not love. So how do we know God? The Psalm tells us:  “Be still and know that I am God” (Psal...
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 “This is the way; walk in it,” whether you turn to the right or to the left. How wonderful it would be if God always spoke to us with this kind of clarity. So often in life we find ourselves stuck uncertain about the next step, unsure which direction to take, or confused about what God wants from us.  I remember times when I prayed earnestly to know God’s will whether for my own life or for the parish and I made decisions that seemed right, only to discover later that they were not where God was leading. And yes, in my frustration I asked God, “Why didn’t You show me the right way?”But the truth is: God is never silent. He speaks constantly. He speaks in the quiet sanctuary of our conscience that sacred inner place where His Spirit touches our soul.  The real challenge is not God’s silence but the noise around us and inside us. If we are always listening to the world, to our anxieties, to our distractions, we simply cannot hear Him. He speaks in Sacred Scripture every ti...
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Homily: November 1, 2025-All Saints Day (Children of God)

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 “See what love the Father has bestowed on us, that we may be called the children of God. Yet so we are.” Today, the church celebrates All Saints Day. Who are the saints? We may be thinking of the many canonized saints we know of, like St. Therese, St. Ambrose, St. Benedict, St. John Paul II and so on. These were people who lived a life of holiness and faithfulness to the Lord. Their holiness was very visible such that when they died, the church began their canonization process. But seriously, who is a saint? In a simple description, a saint is someone who is in heaven with God. There are many of these who are unknown to us, only known to God. They are not canonized by the church, but they are in full union with Jesus after they died. Now, do you want to be in heaven with God when you die?  If your answer is yes, then you need to seriously think about holiness. Because if not heaven, it will be hell. Our late Pope Francis said, “To be saints is not a privilege for a few, but a...
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 God blessed them, saying: "Be fertile and multiply; fill the earth and subdue it." What do you think? Does God’s command to multiple and fill the earth with humans and more humans logical? Is the world’s resources sufficient for all to consume and enjoy? Honestly, I take pride that I come from India, it is the most populous country in the world. Its current population is four times the USA. The Western world has, in the past, often ridiculed India for its massive and growing population, considering such population a burden and its continued growth a crisis. International organizations have invested heavily in promoting products and schemes to help reduce India’s population. Government clinics and hospitals have pressured women to exercise birth control. Among indigenous and poor communities, sterilizations were often performed without the women’s consent. The United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA) has even spent millions to promote such practices, primarily targeting poorer ...
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Homily: August 10, 2025, Nineteenth Sunday in Ordinary Time.

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 “You also must be prepared, for at an hour you do not expect, the Son of Man will come.” Do you like surprise visits? Some of us do. Recently, I went again to visit my sister and her family. Since the last visit, my 4-year-old nephew had been calling me almost daily and asking me to visit him again. So, this time, I told my sister to keep my trip a secret, I wanted to surprise the little boy. When he saw me finally, his eyes were wide open with disbelief, and his mouth too was wide open in surprise! I will never forget that look on his face, and the exuberant joy of the moment when I hugged and carried him. But not all of us like surprise visits, especially when the visitors come at the wrong time, and we are caught unprepared. When I was in high school, our principal, Fr. George, was very strict. He didn’t talk much, but he knew every student. Occasionally, he would walk along the school corridors, surveying every corner and if he caught any student misbehaving, he would carry ou...
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Homily: November 3, Monday of the Thirty-First Week in Ordinary Time (Poor)

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 “Rather, when you hold a banquet, invite the poor, the crippled, the lame, the blind; blessed indeed will you be because of their inability to repay you.” This Gospel reminds us of one of Jesus’ most powerful teachings of love and service, that is to love and serve those who are not able to give us anything in return. That is true giving, true serving. About a month ago, on October 4th, the Feast of St. Francis of Assisi, Pope Leo released an apostolic exhortation titled ‘Dilexi Te’, which means “I Have Loved You”. It is a beautiful exhortation on Jesus’ love for the poor. Jesus gave His love to the very poor, indeed those who could never even pay Him back a fraction of what He gave. And if we are true Christians, we too must give like Christ gives, we must have a heart for the poor, like Christ does, because Jesus Christ identifies Himself with them. So when we give to the poor, we are giving to Christ. The document states: “There are many forms of poverty: the poverty of those w...
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Homilía: Marzo 24, 2022, Jueves de la III semana de Cuaresma.

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 “El que no está conmigo, está contra mí; y el que no recoge conmigo, desparrama”.”. El mensaje de Jesús es muy claro. No podemos seguir a Jesús parcialmente. Si no lo estamos siguiendo de todo corazón, no somos sus seguidores. Hoy es el vigésimo día de Cuaresma, sin contar los domingos. Estamos a la mitad. ¿Recuerdas lo que decidiste hacer especial para estos 40 días de Cuaresma? ¿Lo estás cumpliendo? Mientras nos esforzamos por fortalecernos espiritualmente, los demonios se esfuerzan más para mantenernos deprimidos. Me pregunto quién está a la cabeza en esta mitad de camino. En mis años de infancia, solo los niños ricos de mi pueblo podían tener bicicletas. Cuando estaba en quinto grado, mi hermano mayor y yo decidimos recolectar flores silvestres de nuez moscada del bosque cercano para venderlas y poder comprar una bicicleta. Nos despertábamos muy temprano en la mañana y corríamos al bosque para buscar y recolectar tantas como fuera posible. Muchos niños de otros pueblos estaban...
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Homily: November 22, 2025, Saturday of the Thirty-Third Week in Ordinary Time (The end).

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 “I know that this is why these evils have overtaken me; and now I am dying, in bitter grief, in a foreign land.” These are the final words of Antiochus Epiphanes, the successor of Alexander the Great. If you have been following our daily readings, we first heard about him on Monday described as a “sinful offshoot.” He defiled the Temple of Jerusalem, persecuted the faithful Jews, and opposed the worship of the true God. Now, at the end of his life, Antiochus realizes his mistakes. He is filled with regret, bitterness, and sorrow. It’s a tragic end a man who once had so much power, wealth, and glory, yet dies far from home, spiritually empty and tormented by guilt. We’ve seen similar examples in the Bible and history people who made poor choices, turned away from God, and spent their last moments in deep regret. How different is this from the death of the saints, who met their final moments in peace and joy, having lived their lives faithfully. Life is short. When compared to the v...
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