Fr. Nivin's Homily Blog

“When the LORD washes away the filth of the daughters of Zion, and purges Jerusalem's blood from her midst with a blast of searing judgment.” Sounds like a deep cleansing and purification process. Have you done real laundry washing before? Not sure how many of you here recall the days before the washing machine existed, but I do. My mommy used to bring all our clothes to the nearby creek to wash. My siblings and I helped. We would wet the clothes in the flowing waters, then fling them hard onto nearby rocks a few times. These beatings actually got rid of mud, dirt and sweat effectively. I am sure the bacteria and viruses would not survive the violent beatings either. After that we would hang them all up for a good drying in the strong sun. Our clothes would end up wonderfully clean and even smelled fresh from the sun. I wonder if that is how the Lord purges and purifies Zion and Jerusalem? In the book of Sirach 2,5 it says, “For Gold is tested in the fire and worthy men in the furn...

Although we are beginning a new liturgical year, the readings today continue to focus on preparations for the end times when Christ will come again. Stephen Covey said, begin with the end in mind. Knowing how we want to end, will help us decide how we want to start. So how do you want to end the year? How does God want the world to be, finally? Prophet Isaiah gave us a glimpse. From the first reading we heard, “one nation shall not raise the sword against another nor shall they train for war again”. In the end, the world will become a peaceful place, no war, no fights, no enemies. All will be one, together, forever. That is what we want too, isn’t it? So how do we reach that? When I was in high school, our principal was a priest. He was a strict disciplinarian. He had a big bamboo cane which he beautifully taped all round with a red sticky tape.  Occasionally, he would go around the school, walking past each class holding his beautiful red cane behind him.  The excitement woul...

 “No one could learn this hymn except the hundred and forty-four thousand”. We continue our reading from the book of Revelation. We get a glimpse of how beautiful heaven is through St. John’s vision. St. Paul too had described heaven as: “Eye has not seen; ear has not heard, and the human heart never experienced”. Growing up, I remember one catechist taught that our church’s altar is heaven because Jesus goes there daily, and with Him all the angels and saints.” And so for a few years, I always visualized heaven looking like the church altars of our small village.  But reading the book of Revelation and later knowing about the vastness of this universe, I began to imagine a bigger and more beautiful heaven, filled with nature. I see it as a place of pure joy in its fullness, beauty in its fullness, peace and freedom in its fullness, and above all, being immersed in the loving presence of our Lord all the time.  Two weeks ago, I went for my annual retreat in a contemplativ...

When David was anointed King, the elders of Israel came to him and said, "Here we are, your bone and your flesh.” What do they mean? These words bring us back to the book of Genesis 2:23, when God made woman from the rib of man, Adam exclaimed, “This now is bone of my bones and flesh of my flesh; she shall be called Woman because she has been taken out of the Man.” Woman is made the spouse, the companion, the person for man. She is made from him and for him. And so, for the tribes of Israel to declare themselves the bone and flesh of King David, they were declaring their relationship with him, as his people, his nation. They believed that King David, who saved them from their enemies, will continue to win battles for them. They believed that he was powerful and they will live in greatness under his kingship forever. But in truth, he was just as human, as weak and as vulnerable to sin as they all were. In fact, there were altogether forty-two kings who ruled Israel, and all of them...

 From the first reading, “I took the small scroll from the angel’s hand and swallowed it. In my mouth it was like sweet honey”. From the responsorial psalm, “How sweet to my palate are your promises, sweeter than honey to my mouth!” God’s Word is sweeter than honey, really? In all honesty, not all the words in the Bible are sweet, there are so many words which I personally don’t like, that is if I look at the words detached from the bigger Truth. It is like eating a meal, if we were to separate all the ingredients and eat each on its own, not everything tastes good, in fact some ingredients taste bad on its own. But when they are put all together in the right proportions and given a good heat, it will taste wonderful and delicious. Similarly, God’s Word. The words of the bible are God-given, spirit-inspired and have taken flesh in the person of Jesus. When we understand it from beginning to end, we will be awed and amazed, enlightened and inspired, like so many people from differen...

The first line from today’s first reading struck me: “I, John, had a vision of an open door to heaven…” Can you imagine that? ‘An open door to heaven’. Isn’t that wonderful? As we approach the end of the liturgical year, the first readings of these two weeks will be taken from the book of Revelations, which is the last book of the Bible.  The visions and revelations in this book help us contemplate on the promises of God and prepare for the glorious second coming of Christ. And to be told that at the end of time, heaven’s door will be open for us, is the best news for you and me. But is it so for everybody else? In 2020, when covid-19 hit the world, the doors to all the churches were closed. Catholics all over the world had no access to Church or the Holy Eucharist.  When the pandemic got very bad, many faithful died without a funeral in church, without the last rites, without final reconciliation nor holy communion. Many wondered if the church doors will ever be opened again....

 Ya en la primera lectura escuchamos: “Ponte alerta y reaviva lo que queda”. Cada palabra en la Biblia es inspirada por el Espíritu Santo, cada mensaje y enseñanza es tan relevante hoy, como lo fue en la antigüedad, y lo será hasta el final de los tiempos. Por eso el mensaje que nuestro Señor le dio a San Juan para la Iglesia en Sardes también está destinado a nosotros. La iglesia en Sardes tenía personas que dejaban la fe. Algunos incluso vivían en oposición al mensaje del evangelio que recibieron de los apóstoles. Miremos la iglesia en USA, ¿tenemos también la misma situación que Sardes? Vemos una gran decadencia de la fe en este país. El número de personas sin afiliación a ninguna religión va en aumento. Muchos creyentes tampoco son seguidores activos, son cristianos solo de nombre. En todas las parroquias de los EE. UU., el número promedio de católicos que asisten a misa con regularidad es de aproximadamente el 30-35 % del total de feligreses registrados, ¿dónde está el resto d...

From the first reading we heard, “Be watchful and strengthen what is left”. Every word in the Bible is inspired by the Holy Spirit, every message and teaching are as relevant today, as it was in ancient times, and will be so, till the end of time. So, the message our Lord gave to St. John for the Church in Sardis is meant for us as well.  The church in Sardis had people leaving the faith. Some were even living in opposition to the gospel message which they received from the apostles. Look at us, the church in USA, are we also facing the same situation as Sardis? We see a great decadence of faith in this country. The number of people without affiliation to any religion is increasing.  Many believers are also not active followers, they are Christians only in name. Across all parishes in the USA, the average number of Catholics who attend Mass regularly is about 30-35% of the total registered parishioners, where are the rest of the 70%? So, let us “be watchful and strengthen what...

 “Yet, I hold this against you: you have lost the love you had first”. My mother lived only 62 years and 28 days on this earth, but I think she had done more than 200 years’ worth of work in those years. There’s a bit of Indian exaggeration here but it is truly how I feel about her life. On a daily basis, my mommy would start getting busy from 4.30 in the morning and did not stop to rest till late at night. She cooked all three meals in the day for a household of eleven people, including her seven children, and had to provide lunch for our farm workers.  And Indian cooking using firewood takes a long time, especially when my mommy also had to prepare all the ingredients from scratch. She even had to grind the flour on a stone mill.  And since we did not have a refrigerator, everything was prepared fresh. In between cooking, mommy would help papa in the farm and took care of all our livestock. We had chickens, cows and goats. You can imagine how my mommy had to do everythi...

 “We are ready to die rather than transgress the laws of our ancestors.” To the seven brothers and their mother, their faithfulness to the laws were more precious than their lives, so to face death was not a threat to them. Having seen the death of his brothers, the fourth brother declared, “It is my choice to die at the hands of men with the hope God gives of being raised up by him.” That was the reason for their courage, that they believed in being raised up by God after death. They would rather die a faithful death than live a faithless life. The first reading went on to say, “Even the king and his attendants marvelled at the young man’s courage because he regarded this suffering as nothing.” Dying a swift death is something, but to bear cruel torture and torment before dying takes more than just guts.  Indeed, the brothers’ and their mother’s courage in accepting suffering and death were marvellous. I too feel amazed at their grit and courage. I wonder if I would be able t...

Today’s first reading begins with these assuring words, “The souls of the just are in the hand of God, and no torment shall touch them”.   Yesterday we celebrated All Saint’s Day, it was to celebrate the victory of all who make it to heaven. Today’s feast, we commemorate all those souls who have departed but have not reached heaven and are in purgatory. Scripture and wisdom of the church teach that for those who are not well prepared before they died will go through a time of purification of the soul, to be purified of their sins before they can enter Heaven.  On that path of final solitude, God will be with them, they are safe in His hand. As expressed in the responsorial psalm, “even though I walk in the dark valley, I fear no evil”.  Although safe, the path could be very long for some, and many souls are forgotten, and have no one to pray for them. As years pass, memories also fade. Praying for the souls in Purgatory is one of the Spiritual Works of Mercy. These s...

 “After this I had a vision of a great multitude, which no one could count, from every nation, race, people, and tongue.” When I was little boy, I always thought my father was a living saint, and that he would definitely go to heaven when he dies. I didn’t know many people then, and he was the holiest man I ever knew at that time. He was very different from other Indian men, or anybody else I knew, even my mother. He was very prayerful, humble, calm, patient and forgiving. As I grew older, I met more people and got to know many friends and people who are especially kind, loving and with great faith. I confidently believe that these would also enter heaven as holy saints. I am sure you too would know many people who stand out as exceptionally good and holy people. It is not difficult for us to imagine them in heaven, shining brightly as they do while on earth. There are two categories of sainthood. The first is canonised saints, saints who are recognised by the church officially, th...