Homily, July 11, 2022, Memorial of Saint Benedict, Abbot

-

 “Do not think that I have come to bring peace upon the earth. I have come to bring not peace but the sword.”

Did Jesus really say these words?

We know Jesus is the Prince of Peace, but here He says He is not bringing peace.

We know Jesus to be meek and mild like a lamb, willing to die for the world, but here He says He is bringing the sword.

What is Jesus telling us here?

In letter to the Hebrews, it is written that Jesus’ word is a two-edged sword, it cuts both ways. In attacking the false beliefs of the world, it cuts. And in presenting and defending the Truth of God, it cuts too.

Jesus is the Word incarnate. He is the Truth. He preached the word of God and defended the Truth, and He was persecuted by the world. God’s Word challenged the ways of the world by bringing light to its sins. Its false peace was shaken.

God’s Truth awakened the consciences of the people and brought about remorse and a sense of guilt in those who listened to the Truth. Their temporal peace was broken.

Some followed, believed and were saved. Some refused to follow, nor believe and were lost. Thus, Jesus’ sword, the Word, creates divisions.

When we follow God’s Word, we will also encounter disagreement, rejection or persecution from friends and family who do not believe.

But we will receive the reward of eternal life and true peace, what the world cannot give.


Comments

Post a Comment

Read

Homily: April 5, 2025, Saturday of the Fourth week in Lent (The crowd and Pharisees)

-
 “But this crowd, which does not know the law, is accursed.”  Poor Pharisees. They held onto an unrealistic dream that all Israelites would know the law as well as they did. But the reality was that most people were living in poverty, under oppression, and with fear. They didn’t have the same access to education or religious instruction. Sometimes, I feel something similar in my own life. People often talk to me about TV shows, baseball, or football, assuming I’m familiar with what they enjoy. But the truth is, I don’t even know the basics of those games, I don’t follow any American TV shows except The Chosen.  I live in America, and many assume I share the same interests. But just like the Pharisees in Jesus’ time, it’s easy to forget that not everyone fits into the same mold. In today’s Gospel, the people including the guards were amazed by Jesus’ words. They praised Him for His miracles. But the Pharisees? They weren’t interested. They were so focused on studying the L...
Read more

Homily: November 27, 2023, Monday of the Thirty-fourth Week in Ordinary Time (Fear of the Lord)

-
 “In any question of wisdom or prudence that the king posed to them, he found them ten times better than all the magicians and enchanters in his kingdom.” One of my favorite books in the Old Testament is the book of Daniel. The stories of Daniel and his friends inspire me a lot. I enjoy reading how God was always with them and blessed them with great wisdom and a unique gift in interpreting visions and dreams. In today’s first reading, we see how King Nebuchadnezzar tested and then invited these three young men, Daniel and his two friends, to serve him. It was an honor and seen as a great fortune to be trusted by the King, to eat and converse with him while all other Israelites were living as slaves. But Daniel and his friends did not once forget the God of their ancestors. Even though they had privileges from the King, they did not disobey God’s laws. They feared the Lord in all their days, they loved God in all their ways. And for that, they had great wisdom and understanding. An...
Read more

Homily: October 31, 2022, Monday of the Thirty-first Week in Ordinary Time (Vain Glory).

-
In St. Paul’s letter to the Philippians, he instructed them, “Do nothing out of selfishness or out of vain glory; rather, humbly regard others as more important than yourselves.” Is it possible to regard others more important than ourselves? Is it possible to be selfless? Yes, highly possible, but highly difficult too. With God’s grace, we can. When I was serving at one parish in India, parishioners would give donations on the parish feast day. We would publish the names of donors in the parish bulletin board to acknowledge their generosity. One day, a lady came, gave her donation and said she prefer to be anonymous. Then she thought about it and gave her first name. After a short pause, she said again, “Father, then you must put my last name as well because there is another lady with the same first name.” For a moment before that, I thought she was a humble and modest donor, not seeking any glory for herself. But the final twist revealed that she did want to be acknowledged and made s...
Read more

Homily: April 25, 2022, Feast of Saint Mark, evangelist.

-
  “Knowing that your brothers and sisters throughout the world undergo the same sufferings”. Is this true? If we look around us, and into our own lives, what St. Peter says in this first reading is probably true. Everyone seems to have one or some of the same problems that cause suffering: health conditions, emotional situations, mental stress, financial troubles, family issues, natural disasters, man-made wars and so on. Sufferings are unavoidable in this life. They became part of human life when the very first sin of disobedience was committed. Sin entered human life, destroyed harmony and peace between people, and everyone is subjected to death. Why do we have to go through all these? Why should there be suffering and all kinds of problems in the world? Why can’t God just snap His fingers and let everything be restored to perfection? I once asked a friend these questions and she replied thoughtfully, that if our earthly life was without any problems, would we ever yearn for the ...
Read more

Homily: April, 14, 2025, Monday of Holy Week (Silent Justice)

-
“He shall bring forth justice to the nations, not crying out, not shouting, not making his voice heard in the street.”  Throughout Holy Week, we will be reading from the Book of Prophet Isaiah. 700 years before the birth of Jesus, Isaiah had prophesied about the coming of the Messiah, not in a grand arrival, neither would He leave earth in a dignified departure. The image of Christ described by Isaiah is that of a humble suffering servant of God. His mission is to ‘bring forth justice to the nations’, by taking on injustice on Himself. He will carry the sins of the world through pain, yet He will not cry out, nor shout, He will bear all these in a meek, mild and humble way. Isaiah’s prophecies were all fulfilled by Jesus, particularly in the days of Holy Week. This week’s readings invite us to look to Jesus, no to pity and pain for Him, but to learn from Him, to straighten up our spirit to imitate Him, and to follow His example. All through Jesus’ trial, His great sufferings on the...
Read more

Homily: October 27, 2024, Thirtieth Sunday in Ordinary Time (I want to see)

-
 "Take courage; get up, Jesus is calling you." Bartimaeus was blind and a beggar, someone whom society had ignored, forgotten and cast aside. Bartimaeus had no status, no rights, nothing. But Bartimaeus had faith.  He believed that this Jesus whom he had heard so much about, could do for him what others could not do. He was so sure thus he did not hesitate to call out to Jesus who was walking by. Not once, but repeatedly. Even when others told him to stop, to keep silent, he cried out louder. Jesus heard his cry, his desperate plea for mercy. Jesus saw his sincere persistence and responded to him. "Take courage; get up, Jesus is calling you." And what Bartimaeus do? “He threw aside his cloak, sprang up, and came to Jesus.” Bartimaeus was spontaneous and immediate in his response. His cloak was the only thing he had, which gave him protection and security. But at the call of Jesus, he threw it aside and came to Jesus, he did not hesitate at all to detach from his one...
Read more

Homily: August 21, 2023, Monday of the twentieth week in Ordinary Time.

-
 “The children of Israel offended the LORD by serving the Baals.” We often say that "experience is the best teacher." However, this holds true only for those who are open to learning. It seems that humanity has never learnt from experience and so history repeats itself. If we had learned the lessons from World War 1, there would never have been World War 2, and the world thereafter would have been free from all wars as well. The Israelites were foolishly guilty of the same. While in the desert, they worshipped other gods and suffered the consequence of being bitten by snakes, leading to the deaths of tens of thousands of people. That was not the only experience they had for being unfaithful to God. Did they learn their lesson? No. What are the baals? They were names given to deities, commonly referred to the Canaanite-phoenician god of fertility and rain. Rain was necessary to bring about a bountiful harvest in a fertile land, it was a symbol of fertility. Fertility was a sym...
Read more

Homily: July,14, 2023 Friday of the Fourteenth Week in Ordinary Time (Final resting place)

-
 "Not only will I go down to Egypt with you; I will also bring you back here, after Joseph has closed your eyes." With this promise of God, Jacob was greatly comforted and confident to follow God’s direction to leave the land of Canaan and move to Egypt. Why so? In Oriental cultures, it is a tradition for people to be buried on their family property, within their home ground. You can imagine there could be generations of forefathers buried in the backyard of every house, resting in peace.  Thus, people would never sell their property nor move out of it because their forefathers were buried there, and it would also be their final resting place. Many people who went overseas to work would insist on being sent back to their home countries and be buried in their home ground when they die. Jacob had that same concern. He wanted to be buried in the same cave at Machpelah where Abraham and Sarah, and Isaac and Rebecca were buried. Otherwise, he believed he would not rest in peace....
Read more

Homily: June 20, 2022, Monday of the Twelfth Week in Ordinary Time.

-
 “The king of Assyria took Samaria, and deported the children of Israel to Assyria”. The northern kingdom, Israel, had been captured. Israel turned against God’s law, forgot all that He had done fore them and worshipped idols. That resulted, living in exile, homeless and with great suffering. That was one of the darkest episodes in the history of Israel. The chosen people of God were scattered from the exile and never returned home to the promised land given to Abraham and his descendents. Only the southern kingdom, the tribe of Judah, returned after their exile to Babylon. Why was God merciless? Why did He punish His people? We understand God to be loving, compassionate and merciful. So, does God punish us when we do wrong? Does He turn a blind eye to our sorrows and sufferings? The good news is God never punishes. We chose to punish ourselves, by choosing sin, choosing wrong, choosing evil. Each cause has an effect, every sin has its consequence, its effect according to the gravi...
Read more

Homily: July 18, Monday of the Sixteenth Week in Ordinary Time.

-
“She came from the ends of the earth to hear the wisdom of Solomon.” Queen Sheba went from Ethiopia to Jerusalem to see and hear for herself the famous King Solomon. Do you know how long did it take Queen Sheba to travel to Jerusalem in those times? She probably took three months to get there, and with a large group of servants, guards and advisors, taking with them not just the essentials for their daily needs but also loads of valuable gifts to present to the King. Would you be so well prepared and travel with so much conviction far away to see and hear someone great? We do see many people putting aside school, work and spend lots of money, even travelling far, to attend concerts, watch ball games and see their idols. Some of these events are often marketed as the ‘event of your life’ and not to be missed. Do we see the same interest and excitement for faith events?  Oh yes! Many people attended the Christ Our Life Conferences. They were all eager to hear the gifted speakers and ...
Read more