Homily: November 18, 2022, Friday of the Thirty-third Week in Ordinary Time.

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 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 different lands through the ages have been.

In the Gospel text, we see the common folks eager to listen to Jesus, as “all the people were hanging on his words”. There is something attractive, comforting and assuring in the words of Jesus for all who are humble and open.

But to those who are prideful and closed, His words, meant to awaken those intoxicated by worldly pleasures, can seem harsh.

It is not easy to read and understand the Bible on our own. If we follow the Mass readings daily over three years, we will complete almost the whole Bible.

At the liturgy of the Word of every Mass, scripture readings are paired from the old testament with the new testament, and beautifully woven with a corresponding psalm in response. If we open our minds to listen attentively and contemplate deeply within our hearts the Word proclaimed, we will truly enjoy this sumptuous feast of divine inspiration, which brings sweetness to our ears and tastes like honey to our souls. We will surely burst out in thanks and praise to our great God.

Taste and see that the Lord is good, sweet like honey, pure like gold.

As we approach the end of the liturgical year, and prepare to welcome the King of kings, let us look forward in faith to the fulfilment of the God’s promises at the end of time, as proclaimed in the Word.

May we learn to love and savour God’s Word in all its entirety, for all eternity. Amen.


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Homily, Wednesday,January 5, 2022, Memorial of Saint John Neumann, Bishop

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Readings:  https://bible.usccb.org/bible/readings/010522.cfm In the first reading, St. John writes, “Whoever acknowledges that Jesus is the Son of God, God remains in him and he in God”.  Do you truly and fully believe that Jesus is God? Do you know someone who does not believe so? Many, I am sure. Similarly in St. John’s time, there were many early Christian communities who questioned the divinity of Jesus. They followed Jesus’ teachings but regarded Him as simply a human person with the special power to perform miracles. They did not believe He is God. The disbelief stemmed from the humanity of Jesus. He was born from a woman like any other human, he grew from infancy to adulthood in the same way as the rest of humanity. He experienced hunger, pain, emotions and temptations like anyone. But He did not sin. Jesus was indeed fully human, so how could He also be fully divine? Human logic cannot explain it. Science cannot prove it. Thus, many could not accept it. God came to sav...
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Homily: February 27, 2022, Eight Sunday in the Ordinary Time

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Homily:August 18, 2024, Twentieth Sunday in Ordinary Time (Wisdom)

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Homilía: 3 Julio, 2022, XIV Domingo Ordinario

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

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

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“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...
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Christmas Homily 2021,

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Homily: December 10, 2024, Tuesday of the second week In Advent (Word of God)

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 "Though the grass withers and the flower wilts, the word of our God stands forever." On Sunday, I taught the confirmation class about the Bible and shared how it was written and compiled. The word ‘Bible’ in Ancient Greek means ‘book’. It contains 73 books, and thus is often referred to as ‘The Book of books’.  These sacred scriptures were penned by 40 different authors over a span of 1,500 years. Every single word in the Bible is inspired by the Holy Spirit, because every author wrote, not for any other reason but what they believed was what God wanted them to write. You may have heard of the Dead Sea Scrolls or Qumran Scrolls. In 1947, near the north-eastern part of the Dead Sea, a teenage shepherd lost his sheep and went searching for it in a cave. Incidentally, he found ancient jars stuffed with scrolls in the cave.  At first, he tried to sell them at the market, and those who bought them eventually re-sold them to scholars. That led to Archaeologists getting interes...
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Homily: November 2, 2024, The Commemoration of All the Faithful Departed (All Souls); Pleanary Indulgnce.

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