Homily: October 31, 2022, Monday of the Thirty-first Week in Ordinary Time (Vain Glory).

-

In St. Paul’s letter to the Philippians, he instructed them, “Do nothing out of selfishness or out of vain glory; rather, humbly regard others as more important than yourselves.”

Is it possible to regard others more important than ourselves? Is it possible to be selfless?

Yes, highly possible, but highly difficult too. With God’s grace, we can.

When I was serving at one parish in India, parishioners would give donations on the parish feast day. We would publish the names of donors in the parish bulletin board to acknowledge their generosity. One day, a lady came, gave her donation and said she prefer to be anonymous. Then she thought about it and gave her first name. After a short pause, she said again, “Father, then you must put my last name as well because there is another lady with the same first name.”

For a moment before that, I thought she was a humble and modest donor, not seeking any glory for herself. But the final twist revealed that she did want to be acknowledged and made sure the credit did not mistakenly go to another person.

This incident also made me realise, that many of us do try to be selfless when we are aware of it, but it is just so easy to fall back into self-preservation, self-care, self-centeredness, self-over-others. It seems easier, more natural, more instinctive, to be selfish, doesn’t it?

And so in the gospel incident, Jesus highlighted an unhealthy trend of that time, where people hosting meals and inviting guests often had ulterior motives and hidden agendas, personal or political. They served self, not others, not God. This trend is still prevalent today.

What can we do about it?

We can’t change others, not so easily. Let us work on ourselves first.

For those of us who are serious about getting rid of our own sins of vainglory and selfishness, try this. Do a daily examen - technique of prayerful reflection taught by St. Ignatius of Loyola.

By reflecting on the events of the day, we learn to become aware of God’s presence in our daily life and see God’s hand at work in our everyday existence. We also become sensitive to the deeper motives and rationale of our own decisions and behaviour. It helps us weed out vainglory and selfishness for ourselves.

Try this five-step daily examen which St. Ignatius practised:

1. Become aware of God’s presence.

2. Review the day with gratitude.

3. Pay attention to your emotions.

4. Choose one feature of the day and pray from it.

5. Look toward tomorrow.

Try it, make it a habit. To God be all glory and may His will be accomplished always. Amen.

Fr. Nivin Scaria

Comments

Post a Comment

Read

Homily: April 14, 2026 Tuesday of the Second Week of Easter (Simple Faith)

-
 “If I tell you about earthly things and you do not believe, how will you believe if I tell you about heavenly things?” This first conversation between Jesus and Nicodemus happens early in John’s Gospel, but by then, Nicodemus would have already heard about Jesus and knew about some of the miracles He worked. Nicodemus knew there was something different about Jesus, something beyond the ordinary, something possibly divine. Thus, he said, “No one can do these signs unless God is with him.” Nicodemus was knowledgeable, and like the rest of the Jewish people, he was waiting for the Messiah. Yet he struggled to believe in Jesus. Jesus often spoke to ordinary people using simple every day images – planting seeds, vineyards, shepherding, fishing – events which were familiar to the people of that time. But when Jesus spoke to Nicodemus who was a learned man, He went deeper. He spoke about being born again, about the Spirit, about heavenly realities. And Nicodemus struggled. Why? Because e...
Read more

March 1, 2025: First Holy Communion Homily: St. Joseph's Catholic Church Seffner, Florida

-
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...
Read more

Homily: April 10, 2026, Friday in the Octave of Easter (Are you Hungry)

-
 “Jesus said to them, ‘Children, have you caught anything to eat?’” When I first came to this parish some years ago, I wanted to know and communicate with all the different refugee communities here. So, I tried to learn their languages by picking up the basics. People were very happy to teach me. The first word I asked to be taught was how they address a priest. Do you know why? So that when people were talking in their languages, I would know if they were talking about me! When I hear words like topa, kudow, annokka, abuna, I know they are speaking about me! I also asked them how to say “How are you” when I meet someone in their community. And then I asked them what is the next question they would usually ask when they greet one another. Guess what. Almost all of them gave the same answer. They would usually ask “Have you eaten?” Why? Because many of them have experienced food insecurity, real hunger so it is almost a social habit to check if someone has had a meal. By asking that...
Read more

Homily: April 13, 2026, Monday of the Second Week of Easter (All for Jesus)

-
 “There was a Pharisee named Nicodemus, a ruler of the Jews. He came to Jesus at night…” From this incident, we can learn a lot about Nicodemus. He was a Pharisee, a teacher of the Law, respectable and reputable in the Jewish circle of his time. But unlike the rest of the Jewish leaders, he recognized Jesus as sent by God, ‘for no one can do these signs that you are doing unless God is with him.” In the Gospel texts, Nicodemus appears only three times. Today’s Gospel presents the first time, he came to Jesus at night, quietly, almost secretly. Why? Because if he was being seen in a friendly connection with Jesus, his reputation, position, and all that he had worked for in his life, would be at risk. He could lose it all. Yet he took that risk, though carefully. And from his conversation with Jesus, we received some of the most beautiful teachings about our faith, about baptism, about God’s plan for the world. We are told in this encounter, “For God so loved the world that He gave H...
Read more

Homily: January 4, 2025, Feast of Elizabeth Ann Seton (Come and See)

-
 “He said to them, 'Come, and you will see.' So they went and saw where he was staying.” “Come and See” is often an invitation to take an personal exploration and not just hear about something from others.  Many religious congregations use similar programs for those who are discerning a vocation to the priesthood or religious life, because often it is better to have an experience than simply reading or hearing about it before making a decision with regards the consecrated life. I participated in one such program before. At that time, I had absolutely no interest in joining the priesthood. I went because one of my best friends had asked me to accompany him to that three-day event. And guess what? Later that same year, I entered the seminary. The disciples in today’s Gospel wanted to know where Jesus was staying, instead of telling them, Jesus invited them to ‘Come and you will see.” Whatever it was that they saw, it was convincing enough for them to want to stay with Him, to fo...
Read more

Homily: April 15, 2026 Wednesday of the Second Week of Easter (Angels)

-
Holy Family School Mass Homily:   “During the night, the angel of the Lord opened the doors of the prison.” Did you hear that line in today’s first reading? The Sadducees put the apostles in jail. But during the night, an angel of the Lord came, opened the prison doors, and set them free. That is amazing, right? Wouldn’t it be wonderful to have an angel like that? But here is the good news: You already do! Each one of you has a guardian angel. God has given every one of us an angel to protect us, guide us, and help us reach heaven. Some saints were very close to their guardian angels. St. Isidore, a farmer in Spain, loved God very much. There are stories that angels helped him with his work when he was busy praying. St. Padre Pio often spoke with his guardian angel and even asked his angel to help others. St. Gemma Galgani also experienced her guardian angel, who guided her and even corrected her when she did something wrong! Even in the life of Jesus, when He was praying in t...
Read more

Homily: July 2, 2024, Tuesday of the Thirteenth week in Ordinary time (Meet God ).

-
“Prepare to meet your God, O Israel.” This is the last verse from today’s first reading, and it reminds me of my school days. When I was in school, from Pre-K right up to high school, there were umpteen times when I was told, “Prepare to meet your principal.” And that meant trouble. Every principal that had led my school, has had the privilege of punishing me for being naughty or not doing my homework, and occasionally my parents too were called in to meet them. That was so embarrassing for them, and totally shameful for me. Yet it did not stop me from getting into trouble as I progressed through school. And so, whenever I go to Holy Family School here, and if I see students in the principal's office, it reminds me of my own experience in the past. I imagine that they too probably got into some trouble for not finishing their homework or misbehaving in class. And if I see a kid from SAC in the principal's office, I would just pretend that I did not look inside and did not see t...
Read more

Homily: July,14, 2023 Friday of the Fourteenth Week in Ordinary Time (Final resting place)

-
 "Not only will I go down to Egypt with you; I will also bring you back here, after Joseph has closed your eyes." With this promise of God, Jacob was greatly comforted and confident to follow God’s direction to leave the land of Canaan and move to Egypt. Why so? In Oriental cultures, it is a tradition for people to be buried on their family property, within their home ground. You can imagine there could be generations of forefathers buried in the backyard of every house, resting in peace.  Thus, people would never sell their property nor move out of it because their forefathers were buried there, and it would also be their final resting place. Many people who went overseas to work would insist on being sent back to their home countries and be buried in their home ground when they die. Jacob had that same concern. He wanted to be buried in the same cave at Machpelah where Abraham and Sarah, and Isaac and Rebecca were buried. Otherwise, he believed he would not rest in peace....
Read more

Homily: July 21, 2023, Friday of the Fifteenth Week in Ordinary Time (Mercy Not sacrifice).

-
 "If you knew what this meant, 'I desire mercy, not sacrifice’, you would not have condemned these innocent men."  Jesus is quoting the words God had spoken through the prophet Hosea in the past. He knows that the Pharisees were familiar with the phrase and background but obviously they did not seem to fully understand what it meant. Now, do we know what it means? The root word of mercy is "misericordia," which means a compassionate heart. It is the heart that matters, not the externals. In the first reading, we see God instructing Moses in detail how each Israelite family should offer a lamb and the whole community would sacrifice all the offerings together, share out the roasted meat and apply the lamb’s blood on door posts for the Lord to pass over, destroying only the Egyptians, not the Israelites. The Israelites were to celebrate this festival yearly through all generations as a remembrance of God’s saving grace and liberation of the Israelites from slavery...
Read more

Homily: July 18, 2023, Tuesday of the Fifteenth Week in Ordinary Time (Be real )

-
 Pharaoh's daughter said to her, "Take this child and nurse it for me, and I will repay you." The woman, therefore, took the child and nursed him. When the child grew, she brought him to Pharaoh's daughter. Pharaoh’s daughter took the child to be her son but unknowingly, asked the real mother to nurse him. To save the boy’s life, the real mother nursed her own son to be given to Pharoah’s daughter. For more than thirty years thereafter, Moses lived in the palace. Did Pharaoh’s daughter know the real Moses? Do we know our real self? I think our parents and siblings, the people whom we grew up with, would know us better than anyone, maybe better than ourselves. Especially our siblings, we cannot hide much from them. They know all our tricks in the dark, the things which we hide so well from our parents. Even now, when I visit and stay with my sisters, they often comment that I am still the same naughty Nivin from our childhood days, despite my efforts to act cool and be...
Read more