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: March 27, 2026, Saturday of the Fifth Week in Lent (Hardness of Heart)

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 “So from that day on they planned to kill him.” These are very strong and shocking words from today’s Gospel. During this season of Lent, we have been praying often in the responsorial psalm: “If today you hear his voice, harden not your hearts.” Every morning, priests and religious pray this line in the Divine Office. It is like a daily reminder, a warning—to keep our hearts open to God. But in today’s Gospel, we see the opposite. The Pharisees and the chief priests witnessed so many miracles of Jesus. And the final one—the raising of Lazarus after four days in the tomb—is something truly extraordinary. That one miracle alone should have led anyone to faith. But instead of believing, they decide to kill Him. Why? Because their hearts had become hard. They chose not to see. They chose not to listen. They chose not to believe. They closed their eyes to the truth and shut their ears to God’s voice. And this is where today’s Gospel speaks to us. Hardness of heart does not happen in o...
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Homily: March 6, 2026, Friday of the second monday in Lent (Cruelty- Salvation )

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 “They then sat down to their meal.” This scene from today’s first reading really hit me. Joseph’s brothers had just stripped him of his robe, thrown him into an empty cistern, and abandoned him, knowing well that would kill him. And what did they do after that cruel deed? Scripture says: they sat down to eat their meal. It is shocking. Their brother is suffering nearby, crying for help, yet they felt nothing, they calmly continued their day, with a meal, like nothing unusual happened. That behavior made an already cruel act more evil. When I read this passage, it reminded me of a scene from the movie ‘The Passion of the Christ’. In that film, Jesus spent the night in a dungeon in the house of the high priest. He was captured, trapped, waiting for death. The detail of this scene is not found in the Bible, but was vividly described by Blessed Anne Catherine Emmerich from her mystical visions. And truly, there is a dungeon behind what is believed to be Caiaphas’s house in Jerusalem, ...
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Homily: March 25, 2026, Soemnity of Annunciation (Full of Grace)

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Holy family school mass:   “Hail, full of grace! The Lord is with you.” Isn’t that a beautiful greeting? Before we go further on this, let me first ask you a fun fact, and let you think about the answer: Do you know why the Church fixed March 25th as the day we celebrate the Annunciation event? Not all the dates of feasts of the Church are historical dates. For example, we celebrate Christmas on December 25th, but we don’t actually know the exact date Jesus was born. The Church chose that date many centuries ago for a certain reason. Now let us link this to the Annunciation. Think about this: If December 25th is the day Jesus was born, when would He have been conceived in Mary’s womb? Nine months is the length of a normal pregnancy. So if we count backwards nine months from Christmas day, that will bring us to March 25th! And so on this date every year, we celebrate the day when the angel Gabriel came to Mary to announce Jesus’ coming, the moment Mary said Yes, and Jesus began...
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Homily: March 27, 2027, Friday of the Fifth Week in Ordinary Time (God's Presence)

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 “But the LORD is with me, like a mighty champion: my persecutors will stumble, they will not triumph.”  Another powerful declaration from the prophet Jeremiah. If you remember how it all began for Jeremiah. When God first called him, Jeremiah responded: “I do not know how to speak. I am too young.” He didn’t think he could be God’s messenger. He felt inadequate, afraid and not at all confident. But from today’s first reading, we see a changed Jeremiah. He spoke without fear, with confidence and was very inspiring to his listeners. What caused the change? God caused the change. By trusting God and accepting His call. As he acted on the mission, his awareness and sense of God’s constant presence grew. He became more confident not in himself, but in what God can do through Him. He spoke fearlessly because he knew God would speak through him.  It is the same with the apostles and saints. People like Dorothy Day, St. John Paul II, Mother Teresa. They had their own strengths a...
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Homily: March 7, Saturday of the Second Week In Lent (Endless Love)

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 “Quickly, bring the finest robe and put it on him; put a ring on his finger and sandals on his feet. Take the fattened calf and slaughter it.” When I read this Gospel, sometimes I ask myself honestly: If I were that father, how would I respond? Of course, I would be happy that my son returned home. But I don’t think I would be this happy. First I might want to hear his apology. I might remind him of the mistakes he made. And since there is another son at home who is angry, I would probably try to be careful not to appear too generous. But this father does something completely different. He does not wait for explanations. He does not ask questions. He does not punish. He runs toward his son, embraces him, and restores him with dignity. To understand how radical this is, we have to remember the culture of that time. In Jewish tradition, children received their inheritance only after the father’s death. For this younger son to demand his share early was like saying: “Father, I wish y...
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Homily: March 23,2026, Monday of the Fifth Week in Lent (God's does not condemn)

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 “Now in the law, Moses commanded us to stone such women. So what do you say? They said this to test him.” Today we heard two powerful stories - one from the Book of Daniel and another from the Gospel of John. In the first reading, Susanna was truly innocent but was falsely accused and about to be condemned for something she never did. She was used as a scapegoat to cover up for the sins of covetous men pretending to be righteous. In the Gospel reading, we see a slightly different situation. The woman caught in adultery was truly guilty of the sin. But similarly, she was used as a bait to trap Jesus, and Jesus cleverly diverted the tricks of those evil men pretending to be righteous. In both cases, God saved the victims. God is a defender of the innocent and savior of the vulnerable. In the Gospel, Jesus did not deny the woman’s sin, but he did not let that destroy her. He gave her a new beginning: “Go, and from now on do not sin anymore.” This is why Jesus says, “It is the will of...
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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: March 24, 2026, Tuesday of the Fifth Week in Lent (Old-New )

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 “Why have you brought us up from Egypt to die in this desert…? We are disgusted with this wretched food!” When you read the story of Exodus to this point, do you feel frustrated with the Israelites? Don’t you think they should be deeply grateful to God? For years, they have been praying and crying to God to save them from slavery. Then God sent Moses and they saw with their own eyes the many miracles and wonders God performed to bring them all out of Egypt safely. The ten plagues, the passover, the parting of the Red Sea as they walked on dry ground to freedom. They experienced God’s power firsthand and saw what generations before and after them have not seen. They know God is real. Now they did not have to be flogged and beaten, they did not have to work in harsh conditions, they did not have to live in fear, they didn’t even have to grow their own food. God provided every day. And yet, they complained, they blamed God and Moses, they even called manna, the food God gave them fro...
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Homily: February 20, 2026 Friday after Ash-Wednesday (Fast)

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 “The days will come when the bridegroom is taken away from them, and then they will fast.” People fast for various reasons. Many people fast for health, fitness and vanity reasons by doing intermittent fasting, detox diets, or weight loss programs. Some prominent figures use fasting as a form of silent protest. Leaders like Gandhi used hunger strikes to fight injustice. And sadly, some people are simply not eating, they are starving not by choice but because of poverty. Christian fasting is different. It is spiritual fasting and is not primarily about the body. It is about the spiritual heart. Jesus’ disciples were not fasting like the disciples of other preachers, and He told them that when the bridegroom is taken away, they will fast. Because their fasting will be an sign of longing, a spiritual desire to be re-united with their master, it expresses the deep sorrow of separation. Later, when the disciples could not cast out a demon, Jesus reminded them: “This kind can only come ...
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Homily: March 17, 2026, Tuesday of the Fourth Week in Lent (Water)

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 “Wherever the river flows, every sort of living creature that can multiply shall live… wherever this water comes the sea shall be made fresh.” Where there is water, there is life. The prophet Ezekiel in today’s first reading, tells us with great detail the prophetic vision he had, about the water of life which flowed from the temple. If you have read the book The Covenant of Water by Abraham Verghese, you would know something about my home in India, the state of Kerala. It is a small state. Iowa is almost three times the size of Kerala. But Kerala has a lot more water than Iowa. The Western Ghats is a mountain range that runs 1,600 km along the western coast of India, covering several states including Kerala. It is an important watershed, keeping in the rain clouds thus bringing much rainfall, and feeding many rivers. Because of that, Kerala has forty-four major rivers. Forty-one of them flow toward the Arabian Sea and three toward the east. Rain is plentiful throughout the year e...
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