Fr. Nivin's Homily Blog

 "Strive to enter through the narrow gate”. Do you know how to trap monkeys? There are lots of monkeys in the villages of India. Many people use traps to catch them. But monkeys are very clever, when they get caught, they can figure out ways to escape easily and fast, except for one trick. Tribal people understand the weakness of monkeys very well. They will take a pot with a narrow neck and hang it from a tree, then put some nuts around it and in it. A monkey would soon come forward, enjoy the nuts around it and be tempted for more. It will want the nuts in the pot too. It slides its hand into the pot, grabs a big handful of nuts and tries to run. But its hand, full of nuts, would be too big to come out of the pot. Its hand remains stuck and the monkey is caught. This simple trick works all the time. Monkeys are clever enough to know that they can escape simply by letting go of the nuts. But they never do. Why? The temptation is greater than their intelligence. Their lust for foo...

“The angel led me to the gate which faces the east, and there I saw the glory of the God of Israel coming from the east”.  These words in the first reading remind of the Orthodox and Oriental Churches. When they construct their churches, they would set their church altars to face the east, so that, when the priests celebrate Mass, they will be looking towards that direction. In India, especially in Kerala where I came from, all our church altars face the east. The concept is based on the expectation that Christ would come again, arriving from the east, and the priest is leading the community to the heavenly Jerusalem.  Interestingly, the Hindu temples also face eastwards.  And do you know, the houses in my village are built with the kitchens facing the east also. Why? It has nothing related to the coming of Christ. It has to do with the sunrise. The mothers of the households start cooking when they wake up, and the kitchens are open concept, so the rising sun will provide...

 “We have given up everything and followed you. What will there be for us?” The disciples gave up their business, family, social life, friends and freedom to follow Jesus when He called them. They felt that they had given up a lot, and so they were expecting something in return. Something greater. They were expecting a profit, a positive return to their ‘investment’, a reward worthy of their sacrifice. Is that how we think also?  Some of us have given up a lot just to be Catholic, some of us make sacrifices just to come to church, some of our young people feel they have to give up a lot of fun in life just to be right with God. I am sure some of you here gave up your lunch break and rest from work just to come for Mass. I too give up a lot to be priest, to serve, to minister, to be a good witness. Honestly, do we really think that what we have given for the sake of faith, Jesus and church is so great? Are we anxious like the disciples, worrying if we will get a fair reward fro...

 “The Almighty has done great things for me”. Today’s gospel text contains what is known as ‘The Magnificat’, taken from the first line of Mary’s praise and proclamation of God’s greatness, in Latin, “Magnificat anima mea Dominum” - “my soul magnifies the Lord”. Today, Catholics all over the world celebrate the solemnity of the assumption of the blessed virgin Mary. We celebrate that Mary was taken up to Heaven, body and soul, to be united with Jesus Christ, her divine Son. It is one of the most important feast days of the Roman Catholic Church calendar and it is a holy day of obligation for all Catholics around the world, except in the United States. Somehow, the church here has made many exceptions to faith practices and has relaxed many traditional, spiritual observances. It is a pity. On this day in other countries, especially in Asia, the Catholic churches are packed full of worshippers. Even the Orthodox Church takes this feastday, called the Dormition of the Mother of God, t...

 “I have come to set the earth on fire.” “Do you think that I have come to establish peace on earth? No, I tell you, but rather division.” Jesus has told us He is meek and humble of heart, and we should learn from Him. We call Him the ‘Prince of peace’ and he prayed for us, “Father, that they may be one as we are one.” So, why would he want to set fire? Why would He cause division? First, the fire which Jesus wants to set for the earth is not a destructive fire, but that of the Holy Spirit. It is a purifying, sanctifying fire. Second, Jesus came to preach the truth, but many do not want to accept the truth. Those who reject will oppose those who accept. This is the division caused by hardness of the heart and blindness of the mind. Only when all have accepted the truth, then the world will be of one heart and mind, united and at peace. In this world we see divisions everywhere. Those of us who follow Jesus’ teachings become enemies of the world. Because the worldly ways and values ...

 “But from the beginning it was not so”. As we grow older and observe the way things are happening currently, we might compare and realize that things were done differently in earlier times, in our younger days, in the beginning. If we know how it all started, we will know how it is different now.  Jesus is thus telling the people of Israel how it was meant to be at the beginning, the original plan of God for His people. God’s plan is unity. Division was never His will. When God created man and woman, He meant them to be together forever. Divorce was not God’s plan. In the beginning, it was not so. Moses allowed divorce because the people demanded it, the lifestyle of the people caused it to become a necessity. It became a provision in the law so that the death sentence of adultery could be avoided, ‘because of the hardness of your hearts’, Jesus said. God’s law is written in each of our hearts, our conscience tells us what is right and wrong. The laws written on paper very of...

 “The Father will honor whoever serves me”. I have shared before, that I was the favorite grandchild of my paternal grandfather. He had 10 children and 50 grandchildren. Among all, he loved me the most because he believed I have a perfect green thumb. He was a man who valued planting and farming. Whenever he got a seed or seedling, he would ask me to plant it for him. He believed that whatever I sowed, would reap abundant fruits. And grandpa would bless me specially, even on his last days, he gave only me his final blessings. I never thought much about the simple farming life but had dreamed about being a rich and successful farmer. Although that dream did not come true, I have never stopped planting and gardening. Both the first reading and gospel passage today are about planting: seeds, sowing, reaping, harvesting and producing fruit. During the time of Jesus, one of the major occupations of people were farming. Many of us here are from farming families too. To till the land is a...

 “So, I opened my mouth and he gave me the scroll to eat.” One of the books of the Bible which I used to skip was the book of Ezekiel. I didn't like his prophecies because he spoke about the valley of bones, the day of punishment and so on. But I always knew these are God’s words and every word in the Bible is inspired, even if I don’t like the way it is expressed. Today’s reading is from Ezekiel. I was again tempted to skip, thankfully I didn’t, I would have missed this inspirational passage, even though it looks weird at first.  The prophet was asked to eat the scroll written full of God’s words. He obeyed and when he ate, it tasted sweet like honey. Sometimes the word of God seems to be difficult, incomprehensible, even illogical but once we are open to it, once we receive it into our heart, it becomes easy to accept, it will even transform us. In the same way, trying to live life the right way may seem difficult at first but once we brave through it, we will find peace. I ...

 “And they were overwhelmed with grief.” Why were they overwhelmed with grief? Did they feel grief for Jesus because He was going to suffer and be killed? Or did they feel grief for themselves because they will be losing their master? I think I was in 3rd grade when one of our cats died. We had many cats in our cardamom dryer room, to keep the mice away. One day we found one cat died. My younger siblings and I decided to give it a proper burial. We dug a pit in our farm, buried it and decorated the tomb with flowers. We even prayed the Divine office for the dead. We grieved that day. But since we had many cats, we got over it soon. The death of someone we love, or someone we respect, or someone great, makes us grieve deep. We realise the loss to us or to this world, which cannot be easily replaced, so we grieve. The loss for some people can be so devastating that they never get back to normal living again. When my parents died, I grieved deeply. My mommy did not live to see me beco...

 “With age-old love I have loved you…” I am very touched by these words. This is what God says through prophet Jeremiah to the Israelites. And now through scripture proclamation, God is saying the same to us. God loves us from the very beginning of time. He loves us even when humanity has sinned. He loves His creation and remains faithful even when we turn away from Him, betrayed Him and disobeyed Him. Never once did He waver in His love. God’s love is unconditional, ever faithful and never changes. He loves humanity from the past into the future. He loves us for whatever we have been and for whatever we will be. How does this connect with today’s gospel? In the gospel we see a Canaanite woman. In the Jewish society of that time, women had no status and Canaanites were despised, that’s why the disciples told Jesus to “send her away”. But this woman was so brave as to approach Jesus for help and persisted till she got what she wanted. Jesus did not answer her at first and later repl...

How do we know if a prophecy is true? If the prophet is sent by God? From the first reading we heard, “But the prophet who prophesies peace is recognized as truly sent by the LORD only when his prophetic prediction is fulfilled”. Many prophets do not live long enough to see their prophesies being fulfilled, but they would gladly die to make sure their message was proclaimed as the Lord required. When I was younger, we would pass by a kingdom hall of Jehovah’s Witness on our way to church. That was probably in the years 1995 to 1997. They would distribute flyers preaching about the end of the world. I remember one year, they predicted that the world would end on December 6. They invited people to join their congregation in order to be saved. They convinced them that they will be counted among the 144,000 holy people mentioned in the book of Revelation. Some of my friends believed their prediction and hurried to do their reconciliation to get ready for the end date. My papa was calm, he ...