Homily: August 12, 2022, Friday of the Nineteenth Week in Ordinary Time

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 “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 often serve to soothe our guilt.

We must listen to the voice of our hearts, and we will hear God’s will, know God’s plan and understand how it was in the beginning. In the beginning, God created the world with love, for love, through love. He wrote the law of love in our hearts. That was, and still is, the purpose of His creation.

Man and woman are created in the image and likeness of God, which is love, which is unity, which is togetherness.

Whenever we walk against this law, we walk against God and his creative purpose. With God’s grace, let us try to live out the purpose of our being, how it was to be from the beginning. Amen.


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Homily: November 7, 2025, Friday of the Thirty-first Week in Ordinary Time (Knowledge)

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“Jesus raised his eyes to heaven and said, 'Father, the hour has come.'" Fourteen years ago, before I was ordained a priest, my mommy was in the hospital for some time, and I stayed by her side every day. She was undergoing chemotherapy and radiation treatment for final-stage metastatic cancer. Suddenly one day, she asked me to get her a priest so she could do her confession and receive the anointing of the sick. I was a little shaken by her request. Was she going to die? Secretly, I called my siblings and informed them about her request for the sacraments, and they too wondered if she was getting ready to die. That night, again I sat by her bedside, with a big worry on my face. My mommy noticed it and just before going to sleep, she gently but calmly assured me, “I’m not going to die tonight. You sleep well, and tell your siblings too.” I never knew my facial expression could betray all my thoughts, worries, and what I did! Mommy was right, she didn’t die that night. But ...
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“This saying is hard; who can accept it?” “As a result of this, many of his disciples returned to their former way of life and no longer accompanied him.” This weekend is the last of the five Sundays during which the Gospel readings were taken from chapter 6 of St. John, the Bread of Life discourse, exploring fully Jesus’ teachings on the Eucharist, beginning with the multiplication of loaves. Next week we will continue with the Gospel of Mark. So, what saying is hard to accept for the disciples? It is Jesus’ saying that His body is true bread, His blood is true drink and only those who eat and drink His body and blood will have eternal life with Him. Is it also hard for you to accept? There are many teachings in the Catholic Church which are hard to accept. And like many of the disciples who left Jesus and returned to their former way of life, even after seeing all His works and miracles, many present-day Catholics also leave the church because they could not accept the teachings. Sho...
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