Homily: May 9, 2022, Monday of the Fourth Week of Easter.

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 “If then God gave them the same gift he gave to us when we came to believe in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ, who was I to be able to hinder God?”

We continue our first readings from Acts of the Apostles. Today we read from chapter 11. We begin to see problems rising within the new church community. 

Last two weeks we read about the Jews protesting against the apostles and trying to stop their preaching. Now we see converted Jews not getting along with converted Gentiles. Two practices from the Jewish tradition were the issues. Regarding circumcision and eating what was considered unclean meat.

Finally, Peter’s spiritual vision and wisdom settled it.

Even after twenty-one centuries, we still see the same issues in the Church. 

When I was studying in Rome, we had Italian language classes. I remember during one class, we had to express in Italian, what our favourite foods were. And because we were from different countries, many interesting cuisines were shared. 

Then one seminarian from Vietnam said that his favourite food was ‘carne di cane’, which meant ‘Dogmeat’. The teacher’s face changed because he loved dogs, and remarked that for him, a dog was like a brother and found it hard to understand why anyone would consume dogmeat. The seminarian simply responded, “your brother tastes really good.”

I enjoy eating beef and pork. Some of us here probably share the same preference. But to most Indians, cows are considered sacred, they should not be eaten. And to the Muslims, pigs are unclean animals, so pork is not good for consumption.

So, it is true that one man’s meat is another man’s poison. Everyone is different but if we want to live in harmony, we have to find a common ground.

Saint Ambrose is a good example. Our parish community is made up of at least ten different nationalities including your rector, an Indian and your associate, an African. We all have different backgrounds, histories, cultures and lifestyles but we must never forget, we have one thing in common - we worship the same God. 

Whatever differences we have should never override the most important factor that brings us here together and makes us one – our faith.

When we encounter one another, we can choose to see our differences, or we can choose to see God in everyone. The same God made all of us and He made us different, yet with the same spirit in each of us. 

God declared in Isaiah 56:7, “My house is a house of prayer for all the nations”.

God’s house is for all. God is giving the same gift of the Spirit to everyone who believes in Christ Jesus. Who are we to hinder Him?

Let us learn to love our diversity, live in harmony, serve the same Lord. With true humility, great patience and deeper appreciation, we can do it.

 Amen.

Fr. Nivin Scaria 

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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 “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...
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