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: October 19, 2025, Twenty-ninth Sunday in Ordinary Time (Constant Prayer)

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 “Will not God then secure the rights of his chosen ones who call out to him day and night? Will he be slow to answer them?” These questions from Jesus in today’s Gospel invites us to reflect on the secret of a powerful prayer. What makes prayers powerful? When we pray for a particular intention, and the intention is fulfilled, we conclude that the prayer was powerful. Jesus questions us to reflect and realize that God is the generous One, who gives us the rights to call out to Him, day and night. God is the patient one, who will answer our prayers timely – His time, not ours. Recently past, one of my sisters told me of a problematic situation she has been trying hard to resolve, but it didn’t. I then suggested to her to pray the novena to our Lady, Undoer of Knots, and she did, she prayed the novena faithfully. Then last week, she called me with great excitement. “The prayer worked!” Her intentions were fulfilled, her prayers were answered according to her wish. Like her, many of ...
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Homily: October 21, 2025, Tuesday of the Twenty-ninth Week in Ordinary Time (Sin-Grace)

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 “Where sin increased, grace overflowed all the more.” Really? Yes, absolutely true. There is no doubt that sin is increasing in the world, at least in terms of modern technology. I make this observation based on what priests hear in the confessional. One hundred years ago, people did not confess sins related to television. Thirty years ago, there were no sins involving the internet. Twenty years ago, we didn’t have sins connected to smartphones. Ten years ago, we didn’t have sins committed due to social media. And just a few years ago, no one mentioned sins related to artificial intelligence. From time to time, I have encountered and had to ask the penitents to explain certain words they used in confession and which did not even exist a decade ago! They were new to me, but I am sure Jesus was not stumped like me. Sins come in new forms, but the reality of sin remains the same. Yet, St. Paul reminds us that as sin increases, grace overflows even more. Along with these new challenge...
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Homily: October 20, 2025, Monday of the Twenty-ninth Week in Ordinary Time (Greed)

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“Take care to guard against all greed, for though one may be rich, one’s life does not consist of possessions.” So true. Jesus warns us to guard against all greed, not just greed for money, but also for power, recognition, control, comfort and possessions. Even simple possessions, with greed, become obsessions. Greed blinds the soul. It makes us believe we need more and more, when we already have enough. At the end of our lives, what we had will not define us, nor give us any advantage at all for entry into heaven. But here, Jesus is saying, having too much might even disadvantage us. The rich man in today’s Gospel was a wealthy man, so distinguished was his wealth that he was simply known as a rich man, there was nothing else that could define him. Then God blessed him with even more. But instead of sharing his abundance, which will not affect his lifestyle in any way, he decided to build bigger barns to store it all for himself. Greed consumed him. He forgot that all his wealth was n...
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Homily: October 18, 2025, Feast of St. Luke the Evangelist (Right - Companion)

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“Behold, I am sending you like lambs among wolves. Carry no money bag, no sack, no sandals; and greet no one along the way.” This line from today’s Gospel captures the mission Jesus gave to His seventy-two disciples. He sent them out two by two, trusting completely in divine providence. Tradition tells us that St. Luke, whose feast we celebrate today, was among these seventy-two. Jesus’ instruction was clear: they were to depend entirely on God. No extra money, no supplies, no comfort just faith and obedience. It sounds difficult, but throughout history, we’ve seen countless saints who lived this way: St. Francis of Assisi, St. Mother Teresa, and many others who relied fully on God’s providence and never lacked what they truly needed. In the first reading, St. Paul writes to Timothy and mentions St. Luke. He laments that many of his companions abandoned him, but says with great affection, “Only Luke is with me.” Luke stayed faithful to Paul even when others walked away. Luke was not on...
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Homily: February 18, 2024, First Sunday in Lent (Repent and belive)

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 "This is the time of fulfillment. The kingdom of God is at hand. Repent, and believe in the gospel." Jesus is crying out loud at the Jordan, the same place where John the Baptist was calling out to people before he was arrested. There is sense of urgency in the message, a kind of ‘do it now’ warning, a very clear call for action, “repent, and believe…” As we enter the first Sunday of Lent, this is the first call of Jesus to each of us. ‘Repent’ – have you? ‘Believe’ – do you? If not, what are you waiting for? This is usually the period when our catechumen and candidates go through their final stretch of preparation towards baptism, and this message of Jesus is also calling out to them to take action, to convert their hearts, to believe in Him, to wait no more. Today, during this Mass, we will have the rite of sending, to dispatch them to our bishop for the rite of election at St. Francis of Assisi Parish. They have spent many months learning about the teachings of the Cathol...
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Homily: March 7, 2022, Monday of the First Week of Lent.

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  “Be holy, for I, the LORD, your God, am Holy”. Both the first and Gospel readings today presented a ‘to-do’ and ‘not-to-do’ list. Some are really tough tasks. Can we ever accomplish them? Is it possible for us to be holy? We all know that at the sacrament of reconciliation, it is Jesus Himself who is sitting at the confessional, listening to the confessions. And the sacred privilege for me as a priest, is that I get to see as God sees and hear as God hears. And what does God see and hear? He doesn’t see our failures. He sees our brokenness. He doesn’t hear our sins. He hears our desire to be good. And God wants to help us. He reaches out to us, pouring out His graces. We desire to be holy and God desires the same. In that moment of reconciliation, in that meeting of desires, we become holy. And I, the priest who witnesses that sacred moment, also become holy. The very first step to becoming holy is to desire holiness. To desire becoming what God wants us to be, to be like Him, to...
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March 1, 2025: First Holy Communion Homily: St. Joseph's Catholic Church Seffner, Florida

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Did you listen attentively to the Gospel reading? Yes? Let me test you… What did Jesus say? Did He say, “Whoever eats my bread and drinks my wine?”  No! He said, “Whoever eats my FLESH and drinks my BLOOD remains in me and I in him.” Yes, when you receive Holy Communion, you are receiving the real flesh and blood of Jesus. I am sure Fr. Roy, your catechists, parents and the whole parish community have prepared you well for this day, so you know what you are receiving today. But what I want to focus on now is the last part where Jesus says, ‘remains in me and I in him’. 29 years ago in 1996, I received my First Holy Communion. I was eight years old, but I still remember that day vividly. I remember the preparations, my First Reconciliation, and the excitement I felt when I lined up to receive Jesus for the very first time. I remember seeing the priest dipping the Precious Body into the Precious Blood, and then that precious moment – Jesus’ body and blood rested on my tongue. So swee...
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Homily: December 26,2022, Feast of Saint Stephen, first martyr.

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From the first reading, we heard Stephen declare, “Behold, I see the heavens opened and the Son of Man standing at the right hand of God.” But his persecutors ‘cried out in a loud voice, covered their ears, and rushed upon him together.’ If we could visualize the scene, we would imagine Stephen looking radiant with joy as he anticipated his death, while his persecutors looking tormented and fearful as they prepared to kill. We know why Stephen was joyful as he looked up to heaven, because he could see where his future would be. We also know why his persecutors were afraid as they closed their ears to Stephen’s words, because they did not want to hear the truth. It tormented their conscience and pierced through the darkness in their hearts. I am sure we ourselves may have experienced the same, when our wrong doings were being highlighted, when our shame were being revealed or when our hurts were being exposed, we might also cry out, “stop! I don’t want to hear it! I don’t want to know i...
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Homily: October 5, 2025, Twenty-seventh Sunday in Ordinary Time (Wait-God's Time)

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 “For the vision still has its time, presses on to fulfillment, and will not disappoint; if it delays, wait for it, it will surely come, it will not be late.” These powerful words from the prophet Habakkuk point towards hope. Hope in the fulfillment of God’s promises, despite the people’s failures. Habakkuk is one of the twelve minor prophets in the Old Testament, a small book of just three chapters, but every line is theologically deep. Habakkuk lived in the 7th century before the Babylonian exile. He saw the kingdom of Judah sinking in moral decay, corruption, and spiritual emptiness. The kings were weak, the people disobedient, and the once glorious nation of Israel was on the brink of collapse. Meanwhile, nearby nation Babylon was rising in power and strength, and ruthlessness. Habakkuk could see what was coming, and it terrified him. He wrestled with God in prayer. “Lord, how long?” he cried. Why do the wicked prosper while the righteous suffer? And God’s answer was simple yet...
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Homily: July 19, 2023, Wednesday of the Fifteenth Week in Ordinary Time (Who Am I ?...)

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 But Moses said to God, "Who am I that I should go to Pharaoh and lead the children of Israel out of Egypt?" Moses’ response reminds me of an action-packed movie by Jackie Chan titled, "Who Am I?" In the movie, his character lost his memory after an accident and went through much danger and adventure to find out his identity and accomplish his mission. Along the way he had to decide who were the people he could trust. The movie aside, back to today’s readings. I was like Moses when Bishop Joensen told me about my transfer to St. Ambrose Cathedral. I too questioned, “Who am I to take on this position? There are others better than I. I am not competent enough for this.” Sometimes when I approach people to assist in parish projects as leaders, they shy away and are too modest to say yes. They don’t think they are capable enough. We might be looking at ourselves and feel unworthy. We might be looking at our life and feel uneasy stepping out of our comfort zone. But look...
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