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: August 11, 2025 Monday of the Nineteenth Week in Ordinary Time (Greatness of God)

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“Think! The heavens, even the highest heavens, belong to the LORD, your God, as well as the earth and everything on it. Yet in his love for your fathers, the LORD was so attached to them as to choose you, their descendants, in preference to all other peoples.” The greatness of God is truly, completely beyond our full understanding, in fact, it is even beyond our partial understanding. What we know of God is probably just a fraction of a fraction of a fraction of the true greatness of God. The people who lived during the time of Moses had only a minimal understanding of who God is because God had only revealed a little about Himself. Divine revelation is gradual. Even if He had revealed everything about Himself, no one would be able to grasp it all. First, God revealed Himself to Abraham and his immediate descendants. Then, through Moses, He revealed Himself to an entire community. Finally, in the fullness of time, through His Son Jesus Christ, God revealed Himself to the whole world. I...
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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: August 15, 2025, Solemnity of the Assumption of the Blessed Virgin Mary.

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 “When Elizabeth heard Mary’s greeting, the infant leaped in her womb.” Sometime ago, I once shared with a priest friend my struggle to pray the Rosary. I struggled with the resistance and reluctance to pray, I struggled with the appreciating the value of the repetitive prayers, I struggled with devoting myself to Mary when I can go direct to Jesus. He then responded to me a beautiful line from the Litany of the Blessed Virgin Mary: “Cause of our joy, pray for us.” And he assured me very confidently that Mary is the cause of our joy, the more we grow in our relationship with her, the more joyful our life will be. That made me think. Years have passed since that conversation, and I can honestly say now that I love praying the Rosary. I feel more attached to our Lady, and I truly experience her as the cause of my joy. I feel joyful when I pray the rosary, because I can feel that she comes to me to help me and strengthen me. Much like what happened in today’s Gospel, we see Mary visit...
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Homily: August 5, 2025, Tuesday of the Eighteenth Week in Ordinary Time (Defiles)

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 “It is not what enters one’s mouth that defiles the person, but what comes out of the mouth is what defiles one.”  Today, Jesus challenges our common perspective: it is not what we eat that makes us unclean, it is what we speak. Our words reveal what is in our hearts and when we speak unkind words, it shows how ugly and unclean our heart is. We see a good example of this in the first reading, when Miriam, the sister of Moses, spoke against him in a very unkind and unjust manner. Immediately, God inflicted with leprosy, an external visible sign of her internal spiritual impurity. She was later cast out of the community until she was made clean again. If God were to also punish us instantly for every careless word we spoke, would any one of us survive? What is it that comes out of the mouth and defiles? - Gossip, slander, verbal abuse, insults, sarcasm, complaints, condemnation, lies and so on.  All these come from polluted hearts and transfer negativity to others. These...
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Homily: August 12, 2025, Tuesday of the Nineteenth week in Ordinary Time.

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 “It is the LORD who marches before you; he will be with you and will never fail you or forsake you. So do not fear or be dismayed.” What do you fear? Every one of us, deep inside or possibly very obviously, has certain fears - things or situations we hope and pray we will never have to face. Some fears fade as we grow older or as circumstances change, some fears remain with us for a long time, especially if we do not make any effort to manage it proactively or positively. When I was a little boy, I was very afraid of snakes. But after my papa taught me how to kill them, I overcame that fear quickly. When I was a student, tests and exams caused me to tremble in fear. I have never overcome that fear. I simply stopped going to school after the age of 28. So for the past nine years I haven’t had to face tests and exams anymore! When I first came to this country, I was always nervous about attending meetings. I was not familiar with the culture here and did not know what the right thin...
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Homily: August 6, 2025, Feast of the Tranasfiguration of the Lord

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(Holy Family School Mass)   “While he was praying, his face changed in appearance and his clothing became dazzling white.” Today we celebrate the Feast of the Transfiguration of Jesus. Transfiguration means a complete change of appearance into a most beautiful, glorious, spiritual state. Jesus’ transfiguration shows us that although He has taken on human nature, He is also at the same time truly God. Do you remember who were the three disciples who went with Jesus up the mountain when He was transfigured?  That’s right. Peter, James, and John. And how do you think they felt when they saw Jesus shining with glory? Oh yes, they were afraid, because they had never seen anyone shining so brightly before, it does not happen to human people. But then later they felt great too! That’s why Peter said, “Lord, it is good for us to be here!” He even wanted to build three tents for Jesus, Moses and Elijah. In those days, people do live in tents, not for camping. So Peter thought they...
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Homily: May 19, 2025, Fifth Monday of Easter (Human Gods)

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 “Men, why are you doing this? We are of the same nature as you, human beings.”  Paul and Barnabas were in serious trouble. After fleeing persecution in Iconium, they arrived in Lystra, only to face another challenge. But this time, it was not violent persecution, it was overwhelming appreciation. The people there were almost worshipping them as gods. The people of Lystra, who had long been worshipping Zeus, Hermes, and other deities, thought that the gods had finally come down in human form when they saw the miracles performed by Paul and Barnabas. They believed only divine beings could do such wonder. Truly so, but Paul and Barnabas were ordinary men, made of the same flesh and blood. Yet there was something different about them, the miracles they performed were truly acts of God, working through human beings. Paul and Barnabas were true and faithful followers of Jesus; thus they were filled with the Holy Spirit and empowered to perform great works for God. In today’s Gospel...
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Homily: January 23, 2023, Monday of the Third week in Ordinary Time.

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 “If a kingdom is divided against itself, that kingdom cannot stand. And if a house is divided against itself, that house will not be able to stand.” This is applicable to any kingdom, any organisation, any group, and of course, it applies to church, the kingdom of God here on earth as well. We see decline and weakening of organisations where divisions exist. Is the church, the kingdom of God here on earth divided or united? In this so-called modern society, it is not difficult to see many divisive opinions and views. Many people strongly advocate abortion, same-sex marriage, and other behaviour which the church has explicitly identified as unacceptable. Yet these people claim to be catholic. They justify their arguments based on their own ideologies and political principles, not on the church’s teachings. And there are church leaderships who keep silent regarding these issues for fear of losing popularity. Yes, God forgives but we cannot take God’s mercy for granted and live like ...
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Homily: December 8, 2022, Solemnity of the Immaculate Conception of the Blessed Virgin Mary

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 ‘The Lord God called to the man and asked him, “Where are you?”’ This is the first question God asked man after he committed sin. God surely knew what happened. He gave Adam and Eve all freedom to do as they please, requesting only one restriction, yet they failed Him. He should be upset, He is justified to be furious, He has every right to question and reprimand them, instead he asked, “where are you?” Through this we can see that although God disapproves of sin, His bigger concern is when we hide from Him and persist in darkness. He calls us our from hiding, into His light. Human beings are the crown of God’s creation.  He yearns for us to be in His light, in His presence, always. And all through history, God does not change His position, He does not run away, He remains always available, reachable and near. We are the ones turning away and increasing the distance from God. Fulton Sheen rightly said, “Ever since the days of Adam man has been hiding from God and saying ‘God ...
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Reflection: April 18, 2025 Bridge Churches stations of the cross on good Friday.

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"Then he said, 'Jesus, remember me when you come into your kingdom.' He replied to him, 'Amen, I say to you, today you will be with me in Paradise.'"  The good thief asked only to be remembered, but Jesus, always faithful to His promises, responded with the gift of eternal life. Jesus was nailed to a cross, like a criminal, with two real criminals by His side. He had once been surrounded by thousands who needed His healing, followed by many who wanted to hear Him, and accompanied by friends who loved Him. But now at the final hour of His suffering and dying, they had all left Him. This is what many of us fear, to be forgotten and left alone at our dying moment. Let us look at the situation of the two thieves crucified beside Jesus. As thieves, they probably lived in poverty, anxiety and constantly hiding. They might not have family or friends since they work in darkness. Now caught and condemned, they too are in the last hour of their lives, about to die. Yet,...
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