Homily: Noviembre 15, 2022, Martes de la XXXIII semana del Tiempo ordinario

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 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 del 70 %?

Entonces, “Ponte alerta y reaviva lo que queda”.

Todos los que están aquí asistiendo a la misa diaria son lo que queda, y es muy bueno verlos aquí todos los días, es muy bueno estar con ustedes y saber que mantienen su fe fuerte.

Cuidémonos unos a otros y apoyemos a nuestras familias, nuestra comunidad parroquial, nuestros amigos en nuestro camino de fe.

Estemos atentos a nuestros jóvenes, nuestros hijos y nietos porque viven en un mundo donde la mayoría de sus compañeros no son creyentes, la mayor parte de su tiempo lo pasan en dispositivos y redes sociales donde prevalece el estilo de vida anti-Dios y separarse de la iglesia es la norma aceptable. Siempre es tentador sucumbir a la presión de los compañeros.

Necesitan mucho más apoyo positivo y alentador de todos nosotros para mantener su fe. Necesitan mucho amor y paciencia de nuestra parte, y encontrar significado en la religión.

Necesitan auténticos modelos a seguir y testigos valientes. Necesitan encontrar a Cristo a través de nosotros.

No podemos convencerlos de que esta fe es verdadera y real si ninguno de nosotros se atreve a vivir de acuerdo con las enseñanzas.

Si nos ven descuidados en nuestra práctica y flojos en nuestro apostolado, ¿hay alguna motivación para que se unan a nosotros? ¿Ven en nosotros alegría, aceptación, perdón, misericordia y amor?

Tenga cuidado de no ser "ni fríos ni calientes", el Señor nos advierte que no seamos "tibios" en nuestra fe. No solo perderemos nuestra fe con el tiempo, también perderemos a otros que nos buscan para encontrar su fe.

Así que “Ponte alerta y reaviva lo que queda”. Cuidémonos mucho a nosotros mismos y a todos los que vienen a la iglesia, especialmente a los jóvenes.

Oremos unos por otros para estar atentos, para ser fuertes.

Amén.




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

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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
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Homily: May 4, 2024 Saturday of the fifth week of easter (Align to the Holy Spirit).

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“Day after day the churches grew stronger in faith and increased in number.” This was the observation made by the author of today’s first reading, reporting about how St. Paul and companions went about preaching the good news, teaching the faith and building the church communities. If the same author were to be here today, looking at what is happening in the church communities now, how would he report? What would he say about the churches here? Churches are closing, religious vocations are decreasing, few people are sharing faith, young people in the families are not attending Mass, people are choosing churches that align with their ideologies not based on truth. It looks like the first 300 years in the history of the Church were the most glorious and productive. What happened thereafter? Why such a great difference? What is missing? What went wrong? Is this the same situation in churches around the world? Is there any hope that the church will grow again, in strength and spirit? Yes,
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Homily: September 28, 2022 Wednesday of the Twenty-sixth Week in Ordinary Time (For children)

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 “…Because he has anointed me to bring glad tidings to the poor”. Jesus declared His mission in the Gospel text today by reading from the scroll of Isaiah. Glad tidings are good news, news that will gladden the hearts of the recipients and cause them to rejoice. And prophet Ezra encouraged the Israelites who returned from exile in the first reading, “Do not be sad, and do not weep…for rejoicing in the LORD must be your strength!” So, what news is good news? What will truly gladden the heart and cause rejoicing? Today my homily will be short, is that good news? My family have always been average, we have always had what we needed, through God’s providence in our hard work. We just did not have comfort or extras, so we seldom go on vacations or travels. But we had simple fun and joy in daily life. My mommy died in 2012 and my papa died in 2018, both due to cancer. Papa had always been a very prayerful, humble and mild-mannered person. I saw him fast and pray consistently throughout his l
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Homily: July 12, 2022, Tuesday of the Fifteenth Week in Ordinary Time.

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Homily: September 26, 2022, Monday of the Twenty-sixth Week in Ordinary Time.

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We heard in the Gospel today: "Whoever receives this child in my name receives me, and whoever receives me receives the one who sent me." We all have been to grocery stores. You see shelves and shelves of everything you need, rows and rows of vegetables and meat, packed, weighed and priced in advance, so you can just pick up what you want.  Back in my childhood, there were no grocery stores in the local village. So to buy vegetables, we go to the vegetable market on Sundays. For meat, we go to the butcher. Every Saturday, they would slaughter a buffalo and sell the meat. Once, my mummy sent my brother and I to buy some meat from her regular butcher. We didn’t know how to choose the best meat but we thought, the butcher would help since he knew my parents very well. Instead, he cheated on us, and packed bad quality meat for us to bring home. Mummy was very upset. The butcher knew we went to buy on behalf of our mummy, his regular customer, but he did not respect that. When he
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