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

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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

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Homily: October 26, 2025, Thirtieth Sunday in Ordinary Time.

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 “The one who serves God willingly is heard; his petition reaches the heavens. The prayer of the lowly pierces the clouds; it does not rest till it reaches its goal.” Last week’s readings touched on the theme of prayer, this theme continues in our readings this Sunday. Throughout the week, I often see people coming quietly into our church to pray during different times of the day. Some light candles, some kneel before the statue of Our Lady of the World, and some just sit before the tabernacle in silence. A few come from nearby offices during their break from work to spend a few minutes with Jesus or with Mary. There are also those who are homeless, some are patients or their visitors from the hospitals. Different states of life, different prayer intentions, yet all come with faith in God. This is truly a house of prayer. All are welcome. As proclaimed in the first reading, God has no favorites. Rich or poor, young or old, well or sick, strong or weak, God welcomes all and hears al...
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Homily: October 25, 2025, Saturday of the Twenty-Nineth Week in Ordinary Time (Spirit -Alive)

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 “But if Christ is in you, although the body is dead because of sin, the Spirit is alive because of righteousness.” What a hopeful and assuring message. Even though our bodies are weakened by sin and subject to death, the Spirit of God within us is alive and active. But note the one condition: if Christ is in you! The Father and the Son have given us this precious gift, the Holy Spirit, the divine helper who will dwell in our hearts if we accept Jesus Christ into our lives. If we follow the timeline of our salvation story, all of us are now living in the era of the Holy Spirit. God the Father has revealed Himself to Abraham, Isaac, Jacob, Moses, and the prophets. Then in the fullness of time, God the Son came into the world and revealed to us the Father’s love. Before returning to heaven, Jesus promised to send us the Holy Spirit to be our companion, our guide, and our strength till the end of time. And from then, the Holy Spirit has been active in the world, in the church and in o...
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Homily: October 28-2025, Feast of Saints Simon and Jude, Apostles (Heaven our Home)

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 Brothers and sisters: You are no longer strangers and sojourners, but you are fellow citizens with the holy ones.” Our true and permanent home is heaven. We are destined to be citizens of heaven. For now, we are just sojourners on earth, pilgrims making our way towards home. I enjoy reading and hearing stories of people who have had near-death experiences. One common thing they report is that heaven is beautiful, and it is familiar. They usually describe it as the feeling of returning home, surrounded by people they know, being totally at ease and at peace. This image of heaven is pure joy. Those who live a virtuous life on earth, who keep their hearts united with God, are already preparing to live in that home. Heaven is not a foreign place for the faithful; it’s the fulfillment of what we yearn for deep inside of us. If we follow Jesus closely, we are already learning to live the heavenly life, experiencing and sharing the love and mercy of God and being in communion with God al...
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Homily: November 2, 2024, The Commemoration of All the Faithful Departed (All Souls); Pleanary Indulgnce.

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 “The souls of the just are in the hand of God, and no torment shall touch them.” This beautiful passage from today’s first reading is one we often hear at funeral Masses. It comforts and consoles us deeply, assuring us of God’s merciful love and protection for those who have passed from this life. Today, as we commemorate All Souls’ Day, we remember the souls of all the faithful departed, those in purgatory awaiting the fullness of union with God. Their souls are in the hands of God, and while we need not worry for them, we can still assist them with our prayers. During the first week of November, the Church offers us the special grace of a plenary indulgence for our deceased loved ones. But what exactly is a plenary indulgence? It is a special grace that removes the temporal punishments due to sin. While the Sacrament of Reconciliation forgives sins and removes the eternal punishment of hell, temporal punishments may remain. Temporal punishments are the natural consequences arisi...
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Homily: October 24. 2025, Friday of the Twenty-ninth Week in Ordinary Time (Sin)

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 “For I do not do the good I want, but I do the evil I do not want.” Honestly, this is me. And this is many people too. It captures so perfectly the weakness of our human condition. Deep in our hearts, we want to do good, to be good, to please God. We want to live according to His will.  We want to stay close to Him and live holy lives. Yet, the sin that entered the world through Adam and Eve still acts up within us. Our human nature is wounded, and even when our soul longs to do good, our worldly desires and habits pull us in the opposite direction. It is interesting to note that it is St. Paul who wrote this line. Paul was one of the greatest apostles and missionaries in history, it is hard to imagine that even the great St. Paul had struggled to do good and fight evil, what more could be expected of us? This is comforting. It reminds us that we are not alone in our struggles. Even the saints, the apostles, the holiest men and women, had wrestled with sin and temptation. Spi...
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Homily: February 11,2023, Sixth Sunday in Ordinary Time (Leprosy Touch).

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 Moved with pity, he stretched out his hand, touched him, and said to him, “I do will it. Be made clean.” Leprosy is a terrible disease. Physically, it does not just affect the skin, but also the nerves, the respiratory tract and the eyes. When full blown, lepers look frightening to others. It is also infectious; thus people avoid any contact with lepers. In Jesus’ time, there was little knowledge about leprosy, so it was considered a curse and lepers were considered unclean and untouchable. Socially, lepers become displaced from family, community and normal life. In today’s first reading, Moses prescribes the rule for managing someone with leprosy. It keeps the leper away from others so that the condition can be contained and not spread to everyone in the community. The cry of the leper, “unclean, unclean” is a socially responsible action on the part of the leper, but is there mercy and compassion for the leper? Yes, there is. In today’s Gospel, Jesus does something unthinkable an...
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Homily: July 18, Monday of the Sixteenth Week in Ordinary Time.

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“She came from the ends of the earth to hear the wisdom of Solomon.” Queen Sheba went from Ethiopia to Jerusalem to see and hear for herself the famous King Solomon. Do you know how long did it take Queen Sheba to travel to Jerusalem in those times? She probably took three months to get there, and with a large group of servants, guards and advisors, taking with them not just the essentials for their daily needs but also loads of valuable gifts to present to the King. Would you be so well prepared and travel with so much conviction far away to see and hear someone great? We do see many people putting aside school, work and spend lots of money, even travelling far, to attend concerts, watch ball games and see their idols. Some of these events are often marketed as the ‘event of your life’ and not to be missed. Do we see the same interest and excitement for faith events?  Oh yes! Many people attended the Christ Our Life Conferences. They were all eager to hear the gifted speakers and ...
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Homily: October 7, 2024, Memorial of Our Lady of the Rosary (Weapon)

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"And coming to her, he said, 'Hail, full of grace! The Lord is with you.'" I have seen this many times – one of our catechists holding up a rosary in her hand and asking the kids, “What is this?” When they respond, “It’s a rosary,” she would add, “This is a weapon to fight against the evil one.” How true! But have you ever wondered how does a rosary become a weapon against Satan? When Jesus was tempted in the wilderness, He used the Word of God to counter the temptations presented by the evil one. Satan is afraid of the Word of God. And when we pray the rosary, we are repeating the Word of God, bead after bead, don’t we? Hail, full of grace! The Lord is with you. The “Hail Mary” is a prayer woven beautifully with the words of Scripture, and the “Our Father” is the prayer that Jesus Himself taught us, straight from the Bible. These are prayers recited repeatedly in the rosary. The rosary is thus a deeply biblical prayer which anyone can pray, and anytime we can recall ...
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Homily: December 24, 2023, Fourth Sunday of Advent (It was i).

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 “It was I who took you from the pasture and from the care of the flock to be commander of my people Israel.”  In the first reading, we see David, now a powerful king, wanting to build a grand dwelling place for the Lord. It may seem like King David is being pious, but God doesn’t seem impressed. Why? David was once a shepherd boy caring for sheep in the pastures, and now he is king commanding a great and expanding nation. How did he do it? Was it his strength? Was it his courage? No. It was the Lord’s doing. The Lord says, “It was I…” It was God who gave David all the successes, the victories, the palace. Would God need a grand temple to be His dwelling place? No. The temple of God which David did build was finally destroyed. But the ‘house’ and ‘kingdom’ of David blessed by God will never fall because He promised David “your throne shall stand firm forever.” Nothing built by man, no matter how grand, will last forever. Nothing brought up by God, no matter how humble, will ev...
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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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