Homily: Monday, May 23, 2022, Sixth Monday of Easter

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 “They will expel you from the synagogues; in fact, the hour is coming when everyone who kills you will think he is offering worship to God”.

This warning of Jesus came true. In this Easter season, the first readings are taken from the Acts of the Apostles. From the accounts, we can see what happened to the disciples after the Resurrection.

The Apostles were often being thrown out of the Synagogues. They were also killed. Stephen was the first to be martyred, stoned to death for refusing to deny his faith in Jesus. As he was dying, he echoed the same forgiveness for those who killed him, like Jesus did on the cross.

Jesus, and Stephen, knew that those people were ignorant. They believed they were ‘offering worship to God’ with their killings.

Archbishop Fulton Sheen said, “It is not wisdom that saves, it is ignorance. If we knew what we were doing when we crucified the Lord, we would never be saved.”

That was at the point of the Lord’s crucifixion. Can we still be ignorant after His resurrection? Now that we know the truth, can we continue to follow false ideologies, wrong principles and sinful propositions blindly?

The answer is, of course, ‘No’. But it is not easy. Temptations and distractions, misinterpretations and confusions are the tricks we all fall into. How then can we persist in faith and live a faultless life?

The gospel tells us how: “When the advocate comes, whom I will send you from the father, the spirit of truth who proceeds from the father, he will testify to me.” 

Yes, the holy spirit will teach us, guide us, enlighten us, strengthen us. He will help us. But we must be open to let Him lead, to listen, to obey, to follow.

As Lydia ‘opened her heart to pay attention’ to St. Paul’s teaching, we too must listen to the word of the Lord and be totally open to the inspirations of the Holy Spirit. May He activate in us wisdom, understanding, counsel, fortitude, knowledge, piety, and fear of God. Amen.

Fr. Nivin Scaria 

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Homily: February 27, 2022, Eight Sunday in the Ordinary Time

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For readings: https://bible.usccb.org/bible/readings/022722.cfm There were two brothers who lived debauched lives engaging in terrible deeds. They were notorious yet not at all ashamed. Then one brother died. The surviving brother asked the local pastor to preach at his brother’s funeral. The pastor, aware of the brothers’ background, was reluctant to do it. The brother then promised to donate a big sum of money to the church and begged the pastor to preach with a special request. “Father, in your homily, you just have to say that my brother was a saint.” The pastor thought about it and agreed. The funeral day came. The pastor began his homily, “The man laid in the casket was a rotter; he led a horrible and debauched life. He was truly rotten to the bone. But compared to his brother, he was a saint.” Saintly life or shoddy living – Would the priest at our own funeral have to be paid to tell a lie? It all depends on what kind of fruit we produce from the way we live. Usually, we cannot
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Homily: February 3, 2023, Friday of the Fourth Week in Ordinary Time

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Homily: July 12, 2022, Tuesday of the Fifteenth Week in Ordinary Time.

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Homily: September 26, 2022, Monday of the Twenty-sixth Week in Ordinary Time.

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We heard in the Gospel today: "Whoever receives this child in my name receives me, and whoever receives me receives the one who sent me." We all have been to grocery stores. You see shelves and shelves of everything you need, rows and rows of vegetables and meat, packed, weighed and priced in advance, so you can just pick up what you want.  Back in my childhood, there were no grocery stores in the local village. So to buy vegetables, we go to the vegetable market on Sundays. For meat, we go to the butcher. Every Saturday, they would slaughter a buffalo and sell the meat. Once, my mummy sent my brother and I to buy some meat from her regular butcher. We didn’t know how to choose the best meat but we thought, the butcher would help since he knew my parents very well. Instead, he cheated on us, and packed bad quality meat for us to bring home. Mummy was very upset. The butcher knew we went to buy on behalf of our mummy, his regular customer, but he did not respect that. When he
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Homily: March 23, 2022, Wednesday of the Third Week of Lent.

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Homily: June 30, 2023, Friday of the Twelfth Week in Ordinary Time.

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