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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Holy Family School Mass Homily.   “At sunset, all who had people sick with various diseases brought them to him. He laid his hands on each of them and cured them.” In today’s Gospel, we hear about Jesus healing many people with different diseases. The passage begins with the healing of Peter’s mother-in-law, who was very sick in bed with a very high fever. She was not merely resting, in fact her fever was so bad that she was unable to get out of bed. I am guessing it could be 103 or 104 degrees! Normally, if we get such a high fever, it would take us days to recover with strong medication. But when Jesus visited Peter’s mother-in-law, He simply stood over her, rebuked the fever, that means He scolded the fever, and it left her!  Instantly, she was well again and was able to get up and serve Jesus and His disciples. Wow! Jesus is the King of the Universe, He has power over everything in the world, if you would only believe in Him and trust Him. Even today, Jesus continues ...
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