Homily: September 11, 2022, Twenty-fourth Sunday in Ordinary Time

-

 “I tell you, in just the same way there will be more joy in heaven over one sinner who repents than over ninety-nine righteous people who have no need of repentance.” 

Do you think you need repentance? Or do you feel you are righteous, without any sin?

After many decades of feeling self-righteous, a man finally decided to go for confession. But he really did not know what to confess. So the priest tried to help him by asking him questions according to the ten commandments. At one point, the priest asked, “Do you entertain impure thoughts?”

To which the man immediately replied, “No no, I don’t entertain them but they entertain me.”

The Sacrament of Reconciliation is one of the seven sacraments of the church, efficacious signs of grace, through which the divine life is given. It is a sacrament for healing, the healing of the soul, mind and body.

Every Wednesday and Saturday, Fr. Ambrose and I hear many confessions. We also get many appointments from people who want to confess. It is one of my favourite sacraments to administer. I rejoice as heaven rejoices, over one and many returning souls. It is possibly the one sacrament which makes me feel humbled as well as inspired.

I am humbled because every confession I hear makes me feel much more sinful than the person confessing. And every absolution I dispense makes me feel more assured of God’s mercy and love.

At every confession, I often witness so many sad, ashamed and downcast souls walking in, then becoming joyful, uplifted and shining saints walking out. Many people walk away from the confessional renewed, redeemed, rescued and reconciled.

The confessional is like a magic box, anyone who comes through it becomes holier, brighter and better. Yet, making the decision to approach this magic box can be difficult for those who have stayed away too long.

As a priest, I tell you very honestly now, that we do not despise anyone who comes with a contrite heart to confess, no matter how grave the sin. What is hard to accept are those who come for confession still prideful and unrepentant. Instead of admitting wrong, they come to declare the sins of others or to blame God.

But if anyone comes sincerely to repent, it is true that there is much rejoicing. If I, a sinner myself, can feel joy for someone who is truly sorry for his sins, I can only imagine the shouts of joy in heaven.

So if you have been delaying going for reconciliation, I encourage you to receive this sacrament soon. God is searching for you, His lost sheep, His lost coin. He has been waiting for you like the father waiting for the return of his prodigal son. Give God, and give your soul and the angels in heaven something to rejoice in. Amen.


Comments

Post a Comment

Read

Homily: April 6, 2024, Saturday in the octave of Easter (First five saturday devotion.)

-
Thank you all for continuing to come for Saturday morning Mass. When I was little, my family used to attend Saturday morning Mass together and will always end with the Novena to Our Lady of Perpetual Help. To me, that is a beautiful devotion for the whole family. I have wanted to start Saturday morning Mass when I first came to SAC but didn’t know if it will catch on with the parishioners. Last year, I attended an evening talk about Our Lady of Fatima at St. Augustine Parish and came to know about the First Five Saturday devotion, and I was again motivated. Finally, today being the first Saturday of the month, we can begin. Let me share a bit more about this devotion. Sr. Lucia was one of the three shepherd children visionaries to whom our Blessed Mother appeared for six months in 1917 in Fatima. Later when Lucia grew up and joined the convent in Spain, our Blessed Mother appeared to her again on December 10, 1925, with this message, “Behold, my daughter, my Heart encircled with thorns
Read more

Homily: August 20, 2022, Saturday of the Twentieth Week in Ordinary Time

-
“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 the much need
Read more

Homily: February 27, 2022, Eight Sunday in the Ordinary Time

-
For readings: https://bible.usccb.org/bible/readings/022722.cfm There were two brothers who lived debauched lives engaging in terrible deeds. They were notorious yet not at all ashamed. Then one brother died. The surviving brother asked the local pastor to preach at his brother’s funeral. The pastor, aware of the brothers’ background, was reluctant to do it. The brother then promised to donate a big sum of money to the church and begged the pastor to preach with a special request. “Father, in your homily, you just have to say that my brother was a saint.” The pastor thought about it and agreed. The funeral day came. The pastor began his homily, “The man laid in the casket was a rotter; he led a horrible and debauched life. He was truly rotten to the bone. But compared to his brother, he was a saint.” Saintly life or shoddy living – Would the priest at our own funeral have to be paid to tell a lie? It all depends on what kind of fruit we produce from the way we live. Usually, we cannot
Read more

Homily: April 23, 2024, Tuesday of the Fourth Week of Easter (Exciting news).

-
Those who had been scattered by the persecution that arose because of Stephen went as far as Phoenicia, Cyprus, and Antioch. Antioch is approximately 300 miles from Jerusalem. So it seems that the good news of Christ had spread out far and wide very fast since the death of Stephen. Look at these early converted believers, how excited they are to receive and share the good news. When was the last time you were super excited about something and had to share it with everyone you know? A few days ago, a young friend of mine got enlisted into the US military, he called eagerly to tell me, "Father, I am a soldier." And in a few hours, he came to my office and told me again the same news. He was so excited, it was the best news he had been waiting for, and he went around telling all his friends about it within that morning. Little children are not good at containing their excitement. Often when my young nephews and nieces got new toys, they would immediately FaceTime with me to show
Read more

Homily: June 19, 2023, Monday of the Eleventh Week in Ordinary Time (parish Treasure)

-
Image
"As unrecognized and yet acknowledged; as dying and behold we live; as chastised and yet not put to death; as sorrowful yet always rejoicing; as poor yet enriching many; as having nothing and yet possessing all things." In today’s first reading, we see St. Paul’s wisdom as he writes to the faith community in Corinth. He is teaching them to see positivity in every hardship, every problem, every suffering. To him, every situation, seemingly good or bad, is a blessing, if we have eyes of faith to see it. A good example is our St. Ambrose parish. In the diocese, we are one of the poorest parishes, despite being the Cathedral. Seventy percent of our parishioners are refugees, living every day in survival mode, working hard to build a basic home, to educate their children, simply to live in peace. They left their war-torn country to find a new home, starting from zero. They brought nothing with them, only faith and hope. Materially, they have next to nothing, so they are not able t
Read more

Homily April 29, Memorial of Saint Catherine of Siena, Virgin and Doctor of the Church

-
 “And all day long, both at the temple and in their homes, they did not stop teaching and proclaiming the Christ, Jesus”. Even after being flogged, all day long, the disciples continued teaching and preaching everywhere… Amazing, isn’t it?  These past few days, we have been reading from Acts of the Apostles. We see how the Jewish leaders and high priest tried to stop the apostles from preaching in the name of Jesus. But they failed. The Pharisee Gamaliel rightly said, “if it comes from God, you will not be able to destroy them; you may even find yourselves fighting against God.” How true. The church is from God. The disciples did not stop teaching and proclaiming. They even rejoiced at being flogged for what they were doing. They were on fire for Jesus. They were so eager and excited to tell everyone about Jesus. What about us? If there is a new restaurant serving delicious food or a store is having a great end-of-summer sale, we would hear many people talking about it. Some would even
Read more

Homily: April 30, 2024, Tuesday of the fifth week of Easter (Power over Satan)

-
"I will no longer speak much with you, for the ruler of the world is coming. He has no power over me..."  Jesus is comforting His disciples before His passion and death. The disciples’ greatest fear was losing Jesus to the enemies. They needed Jesus to save them from Roman power and the abuse of the Jewish authorities. But Jesus knew His time with His disciples was limited, yet He assured them that the ‘ruler of the world’ had no power over Him. Jesus was speaking about Satan and his power. When Satan was an angel of God, he enjoyed power given to him to serve God. When he turned against God, God did not take back that gift. So, Satan retained power, but which can never overpower God who gave it to him originally. He has no power over Jesus. When we look around, we see a lot of evil committed by people, and which seem to spread more evil around. We see even believers, Christians, falling away, continuing in repetitive sin, giving in to addiction, giving up their faith.  Why i
Read more

Homily: June16, 2023, Solemnity of the Most Sacred Heart of Jesus (Jesus Yoke)

-
"Take my yoke upon you and learn from me, for I am meek and humble of heart; and you will find rest for yourselves. For my yoke is easy, and my burden light." Even in the days when I was still a small child, I have carried many things on my head, literally - pots of water, food, wood, and anything that can be balanced on the head. That is the way Indians carry loads, so that our hands are free, and in a way, it is easier as we also have to walk long distances without any transport. My parents used to take my siblings and me out to gather firewood. When we had gathered enough, my parents would take the heaviest loads while they gave each of us a smaller portion according to our strength. We would balance the stack of firewood on our heads and walk home. We carried hay for our cows and fetched pots of water from a nearby well during the hot summers. We also carried packs of rice and other groceries from the market back home. Papa always made sure to distribute the loads based o
Read more

Homily, March 22, 2022, Tuesday of the Third Week of Lent.

-
 “Do not let us be put to shame, but deal with us in your kindness and great mercy.” This is the prayer by prophet Azaria, pleading to God on behalf of the people. How do you discipline your children when they do something wrong? In India, caning is the norm. My parents did the same. Whenever we did something wrong, my mommy would grab the cane to give us a good beating. Of course, we knew what was coming and would run away fast. Mommy would then chase us around the house, trying to get us. Where could we go? The best trick was to run to grandpa. If we reached him before mommy got us, we will be safe! He would always protect us and plead on our behalf, “don’t cane them, just forgive this time”. How many times have we been saved by grandpa? I don’t know, maybe more than seventy-seven times. Peter asks in the Gospel, “Lord, if my brother sins against me, how often must I forgive him?” He is referring to offences between two persons. If seventy-seven times is how often we should forgive o
Read more

Homily: March 10, 2022, Thursday of the First Week in Lent

-
 “Ask and it will be given to you; seek and you will find; knock and the door will be opened to you.” When I was much younger, I wanted to become very rich, to have lots of money, a nice car, a big house etc.… It was a common village boy’s dream. I don’t think I actually prayed for it, but I surely dreamt about it often. What happened thereafter? Well, I am still dreaming about it. And I even pray for it now! Not for myself but for the parish. When I first moved to this parish, I was shocked by the financial situation, so I did wish and pray for this parish to be rich.  Money is indeed helpful in life but not the most important. Money solves a lot of problems only when it is used wisely. Being poor helps me learn to depend on God’s providence. So, my dream for the parish now is to be rich in God’s word, in community life, in prayerful spirit, in loving and caring for one another. I dream of hearing our prayers and singing rise-up strong and joyful to the heavens when we gather to prais
Read more