Homily: August 10, 2022, Feast of Saint Lawrence, Deacon and Martyr

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 “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 blessing.

The seed is created by God, none is man-made. When we plant from seeds, we are serving God’s creative plans for the world, we are nurturing the production of new life. Planting and sowing model the dying of Jesus, like a grain of wheat dying to produce much more fruit, an abundant multiplication of itself.

“Whoever serves me must follow me,” Jesus said.

Whatever occupation, profession or engagement we are in, we follow Jesus in his dying and giving glory to God in everything. Whichever ground we fall onto, may we die to ourselves and let God’s grace multiple through us. We serve Jesus by serving others whom God has placed in our paths, in our lives, no matter how difficult or how different they are from us. And the Father will honor us. Amen.

Fr. Nivin Scaria

Rector

St. Ambrose cathedral. 

Des Moines, IA, USA 

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Homily: December, 22,2024, Fourth Sunday in Advent (Mother- Peace)

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 "His greatness shall reach to the ends of the earth; he shall be peace." The prophecy of Micah proclaimed 700 years before the birth of Jesus, had already foretold the extent and essence of our Lord’s greatness – it shall reach to the ends of the earth, and He shall be peace. Now 2,700 years later, Christianity has indeed spread to every corner of the world and for everyone who truly knows and follows Christ, will experience His peace. Here we are, celebrating the Fourth Sunday of Advent, just days away from Christmas, are you at peace? Almost every society throughout the world is celebrating Christmas, albeit with commercial overtones, but is there peace around the world? During this holiday season, in the confessionals and from conversations, I hear the same issues brought up - stress, worries, anxieties about the preparations, the family gatherings, the expectations. Shopping, cleaning the house, buying and wrapping gifts, writing cards, getting new clothes - all these ta...
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Homily: May 1, 2024: May crowning Mass at Holy Family School

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 "A great sign appeared in the sky, a woman clothed with the sun, with the moon under her feet, and on her head a crown of twelve stars.” Did you remember hearing this from today’s first reading? This verse really struck me. The ‘woman clothed with the sun’ mentioned, do you know who this woman is? Yes, it is referring to Mary, the Mother of Jesus. St. John the Apostle had this vision and he described the mother of the Jesus as ‘clothed with the sun, with the moon under her feet, and on her heard a crown of twelve stars’. Who would usually wear a crown? Yes, a king or a queen.  It is a symbol of their authority over everyone in the country, a sign of the power vested in them to rule the people and for them to obey their rule. So, Mother Mary is a queen, who wears a crown of twelve stars. Why twelve? Do you know what in the Bible are twelve in number? Yes, there were twelve tribes of Israel and Jesus had twelve apostles. The twelve tribes of Israel descended from the twelve chi...
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Homily: January 26, 2025, Thir Sunday in Ordinary time (God - Today)

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 “Today this Scripture passage is fulfilled in your hearing.” Jesus is a man of “today”. Throughout the Gospels, we hear Him emphasize the significance of the present moment: • “Today this Scripture passage is fulfilled in your hearing.” • “Today salvation has come to this house.” • “Today you will be with me in paradise.” Even in the prayer He taught us, He said, “Give us this day (today) our daily bread.” In Luke’s Gospel for this Sunday, Jesus is just beginning His public ministry and has not performed miracles of healing the blind and deaf etc, but He boldly declares that the Scripture passage which prophesied how things would be when the Messiah arrives is fulfilled in their presence, thus He is almost making an announcement that He is the Messiah, that He is the fulfillment of the prophesy. Indeed, our Messiah comes not to be crowned a worldly king, but to lower Himself down to heal and help us. And He is present and actively reaching out to us in our ‘todays’, every da...
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Homily: January, 8, 2025 Wednesday after Epiphany (Take courage)

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Holy family school Homily Did you listen carefully to today’s first reading and the Gospel? There are two phrases that really struck me. From the Gospel, Jesus says, “Take courage, it is I; do not be afraid!” And from the first reading: "There is no fear in love, but perfect love drives out fear…" Let me ask you: is there anyone here who has no fear, who does not fear anything at all? Do you think I have any fears? Oh yes, I do! I do not fear death, illness, wild animals, reptiles, or insects. But I am fearful of dark places and confined spaces. I do not fear crowds of people, but believe it or not, I fear preaching! Yes, every time I walk up to the ambo to preach, my heart starts beating heavily. Thankfully, I’m getting better at managing that fear. While I do not fear death for myself, I am afraid of losing my loved ones. When I was in 4th grade, one of my best friends lost his dad suddenly. From that time, I started fearing that I might lose my own parents too. Eventually,...
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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: January 10, 2023, Tuesday of the first week in Ordinary Time.

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In today’s first reading, St. Paul is writing to the Hebrews to tell them about the dignity with which God created the first man, “You crowned him with glory and honour, subjecting all things under his feet.” This was our original state. We were subject to God only, and all else, the whole of creation, were subject to us. But with one fall, a single sin, we lost our glorious state, and became subject to many other things, even to nature and its forces.  In today’s world, we are still enslaved. The greatest slave master is the social media. Many children are addicted to it and can’t live without their gadgets. Through easy access to social media and its influences, these children are also exposed to drugs, alcohol, pornography, promiscuity and other illegal and immoral activities easily. Many adults too are vulnerable to these. Who introduced gadgets and social media to the children? Their parents, the adults. Slavery is passed down from one generation to another. It all began with ...
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Homily: December 24, 2024, Christmas Mass (Swaddling clothes )

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"She wrapped him in swaddling clothes and laid him in a manger..." This Gospel scene brings me back to one special day when I was in grade eight. My eldest sister was back at home from college for summer vacation. The rest of my family were out of the house for a parish event, and so it was just the two of us at home. Before leaving the house, my mother had pre-empted us that one of our she-goats on the farm was ready to give birth, although she did think it might happen in a few more days. However, shortly after my parents and other siblings left the house, the she-goat or doe went into labor and gave birth to three babies: two males, one female. The baby doeling was very weak and looked unhealthy, my sister and I did not know what to do. So we called our grandmother on the phone, and she explained to us how to take care of the newborn kids. Following her instructions, we used iodine to treat the navel cords to prevent infection, cleaned up the birth site, made a nice bed of...
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Homily: August 14, 2022, Twentieth Sunday in Ordinary Time

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 “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 ...
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Homily: December 2, 2024 Monday of the First Week in Advent (Banquet)

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 "I say to you, many will come from the east and the west, and will recline with Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob at the banquet in the Kingdom of heaven." Do you have a favorite saint who inspires you? How would you feel if you got to meet this saint in real, and had a meal together? In today’s Gospel text, Jesus describes the banquet in heaven. Imagine that glorious day when we will all recline at the heavenly banquet together with Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, and your favorite saint! All the saints, the martyrs, the prophets we have read about in the Old Testament and the apostles of Jesus will all be present too. How wonderful that will be! At the head of the banquet table we see Jesus, gloriously radiant, with the Father and the Holy Spirit united as one, and Mother Mary right beside them! That is just the heavenly banquet we can describe; I am sure the real thing will be much more wonderful. Every time we celebrate Holy Mass, we get a tiny glimpse, a foretaste of that heavenly b...
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Homily: September 11, 2023, Monday of the twenty third week in Ordinary time.

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“The scribes and the Pharisees watched him closely to see if he would cure on the sabbath so that they might discover a reason to accuse him”.  Today’s miracle healing took place in a synagogue on a Sabbath, the Lord’s holy day, in the Lord’s holy place. But when we follow this reading closely and try to visualize what the scribes and Pharisees were doing, we can really understand why Jesus considered them hypocrites. We also wonder, why did the Pharisees go to their synagogues? What was the Sabbath to them? The Sabbath is a day for prayer and thanksgiving to God for the week that passed, for rest and relaxation from a week of labor, a day to recall and recollect how God saved their forefathers from slavery and gave them hope of a Messiah. It is a day to fellowship with their fellow Jews to celebrate the blessings received, as one race, one people of God. However, sadly, the scribes and Pharisees here weren't even truly hearing the message of love, compassion, and mercy from Jesus ...
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