Homily: December, 13, 2022, Tuesday of the third week in Advent (Memorial of St. Lucy)

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 “Thus says the LORD: Woe to the city, rebellious and polluted, to the tyrannical city! She hears no voice, accepts no correction.”

Our Lord is giving a stern warning to those who are against Him, those who are arrogant. Most of us would have at least been through a rebellious phase or have met or lived with someone who is arrogant.

 Arrogant people do not listen to others, think highly of themselves, and expect others to listen to them and agree with them. Some of us may still be in such a situation and we ourselves have our arrogant moments too.

No one can deny, such characters are difficult to deal with, work with or live together. Thus God warns us against being arrogant and rebellious especially towards His teachings and commands.

By being full of ourselves and living as if we do not need God, by being overly self-confident and thinking we are the master of our own life, we will one day fall deep into helplessness and loneliness. 

Arrogance is destructive to others and to self. Truly, we are nothing without God, denying this truth is simply self-deception.

So what should we do? How should we live?

Jesus teaches us in Matthew 11:29, “Take my yoke upon you and learn from me, for I am meek and humble of heart, and you will find rest for yourselves.”

Let us learn from our Lord, be meek and humble, realize that what we have is a gift from God, and what we do with it is our gift to God, we own nothing in us, on us and around us. There is nothing for us to be arrogant about, but we have everything to be thankful for.

Yes, let us not be arrogant, rather, let us be thankful.

“Blessed are the Meek, for they shall inherit the earth.”

Amen 


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Homily: November 1, 2026, Solemnity of all saints

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 “These are the ones who have survived the time of great distress; they have washed their robes and made them white in the Blood of the Lamb.” On this Solemnity of All Saints, we remember that great multitude of men and women who have gone before us and are now with God in heaven. And they want us to be there with them one day. St. John, in his vision, sees a great multitude that no one could count, from every nation, race, people, and tongue. Today’s feast reminds us of the ultimate purpose of our life: to become saints and to be with God forever. When we think about the saints, one thing is very interesting. No two saints are alike. They came from different backgrounds, lived in different circumstances, faced different struggles, and followed different paths. You and I are also called to become saints. But sometimes, when we look at the saints, we become discouraged. We look at their sacrifices, their holiness, and their extraordinary lives, and then we look at our own struggles ...
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Homily: November 2, 2026, The Commemoration of All the Faithful Departed (All Souls)

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 “I will not reject anyone who comes to me.” They are not just words. They are a promise from Jesus, a promise that gives us hope, especially as we remember our loved ones who have gone before us. There have been days in my life when I have been angry with God. Sometimes, I would even tell Him, “I am not going to pray to you anymore.” But you know something? I could never stay away from Him for long. Because He is a loving Father, and His love always draws me back to Him. Jesus tells us today that no matter who we are, no matter what we have done, He will never reject us when we come back to Him. We may have sinned, we may have made a mess of our lives, we may be broken, or we may have wandered far away from His will. But His promise remains the same: “I will not reject anyone who comes to me.” When I was growing up, there were times when I would get angry with my parents. I remember walking away from home and going somewhere far into our farm. I would stay there for a few hours, d...
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Homily: November 3, Tuesday of the Thirty-First Week in Ordinary Time (Invitation)

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“I ask you, consider me excused.” In today’s busy world, we use the word excuse so many times. We cannot attend every event, family gathering, dinner, or celebration to which we are invited. So we often excuse ourselves, giving one reason or another. In today’s Gospel, the invited guests did the same thing. One had purchased land, another had bought oxen, and another had just married. They all had their reasons. None of these things was bad in itself, but they gave them priority over the invitation to the banquet. God our Father also keeps inviting us to a banquet, the heavenly banquet. And whether we will be part of that banquet depends on our response to His invitation. God does not invite us just once. He keeps inviting us throughout our lives. God created us with a soul that constantly longs for Him, a soul that will find its ultimate fulfillment only when it is united with Him. And throughout our lives, God gives us opportunities to respond to His invitation. He invites parents to...
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Homily: November6, 2026, Friday of the Thirty-First Week in Ordinary Time (Our citizenship)

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“But our citizenship is in heaven, and from it we also await a savior, the Lord Jesus Christ.” These words of St. Paul are especially meaningful for us today, particularly in the days following an election. We live in a country where politics and political ideologies have created so much division, anger, and sometimes even hatred. We see families divided, friendships broken, and there are people who  refuse to speak to one another simply because they have different political views. In the midst of all this, St. Paul reminds us of something very important: “Our citizenship is in heaven.” As Christians, we must never forget that our first and most important citizenship is in the Kingdom of God. We received this citizenship on the day of our baptism. Through the waters of baptism, we were reborn as children of God, became members of the Body of Christ, and were made heirs to the Kingdom of Heaven. And this citizenship is not temporary. It is meant to last for all eternity. We did not ...
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Homily: November 7, 2025, Friday of the Thirty-first Week in Ordinary Time (Knowledge)

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 “You yourselves are full of goodness, filled with all knowledge, and able to admonish one another.” ‘Full of goodness and filled with knowledge’. What powerfully positive words from St. Paul. One of my greatest blessings is being born into a traditional Catholic family and raised by God-fearing parents. From an early age I learned about Jesus, memorized prayers, and was familiar with church matters and traditions. But do I fully know God? No, not even at this stage of my faith life. My soul knows Him intimately, but my human knowledge and intellect still have a lot to learn. My knowledge of Christ and Christianity remains incomplete. Some who join the Catholic Church later may know more about God, more about the faith, than many of us who have been in the Church all our lives. That is why we must continue to grow in our knowledge of God, understanding of Church, and deepen our practice of faith. Jesus said, “For the children of this world are more prudent in their generation than ...
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Homily: November 18, Monday of the Thirty-Third week in Ordinary Time (Love)

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“Yet I hold this against you: you have lost the love you had at first.” Love is the greatest Christian virtue. Without love, Christianity is meaningless. Without love, salvation is pointless. Without love, our life is aimless. We are created by a God who is love, saved by His Son out of love and called to imitate Him in love. He created us to accept His love, to love Him, and to love others. Therefore, a life without love is empty. The greatest love ever is Jesus giving his own life completely to us. Our response to this is to love Him back all our mind, heart and soul. In today’s first reading from the Book of Revelation, God’s angel rebukes the church in Ephesus for having lost the love for Jesus they had when they first embraced the faith. The Ephesians fell passionately in love with Jesus at the beginning. They surrendered totally to Him, obeying His teachings fully. They left all their old ways to follow Him. But now God’s  is warning and reminding them, because they have beco...
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Homily: September 21, 2026, Feast of Saint Matthew, Apostle and evangelist (Follow me)

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 “Follow me.” On this feast of St. Matthew, we hear Matthew’s own account of his calling. Jesus saw him sitting at the customs post and said just two words: “Follow me.” And Matthew gets up and follows him. No second thought. No long discernment. No plan for the future. Maybe Matthew had been waiting for a moment like this—a chance to begin again. Matthew was a tax collector, considered a sinner and hated by his own people because he worked for the occupying power. Yet Jesus looked at this man whom others rejected and saw an apostle. That should give every one of us hope. God can change people. God does not wait until we are perfect before he calls us. Jesus says in today’s Gospel, “I did not come to call the righteous but sinners.” We are all sinners. We all have weaknesses, habits, failures, and things in our lives that need to change. And there may be people around us struggling with addictions or trapped in sinful situations. Sometimes we may even wonder whether a person can ev...
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Homily: November 11, 2025, Tuesday of the Thirty-second Week in Ordinary Time (Servants )

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 “We are unprofitable servants; we have done what we were obliged to do.” In some translations, it reads “We are useless servants.” Whatever the wording, the message is clear. When we work for the Kingdom of God, we should not seek profit, recognition, or affirmation. Instead, we must serve with humility knowing that we are only doing what God asks of us. Jesus never promised comfort or reward for discipleship. He spoke instead of persecution, rejection, even suffering. Every saint has gone through moments of humiliation, misunderstanding, or pain, all for the good they tried to do in God’s name. Yet they continued to serve, not for gain, but out of love. It’s striking that the first title given in the canonization process is “Servant of God.” Even after their deaths, people recognize the quiet, humble service these men and women offered to God. They lived as “unprofitable servants”.  Mary, when greeted by the angel, said, “Behold, the handmaid of the Lord.” She did not ask fo...
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Homily: January 10, 2023, Tuesday of the first week in Ordinary Time.

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In today’s first reading, St. Paul is writing to the Hebrews to tell them about the dignity with which God created the first man, “You crowned him with glory and honour, subjecting all things under his feet.” This was our original state. We were subject to God only, and all else, the whole of creation, were subject to us. But with one fall, a single sin, we lost our glorious state, and became subject to many other things, even to nature and its forces.  In today’s world, we are still enslaved. The greatest slave master is the social media. Many children are addicted to it and can’t live without their gadgets. Through easy access to social media and its influences, these children are also exposed to drugs, alcohol, pornography, promiscuity and other illegal and immoral activities easily. Many adults too are vulnerable to these. Who introduced gadgets and social media to the children? Their parents, the adults. Slavery is passed down from one generation to another. It all began with ...
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Homily: March 9, 2026, Monday of the Third week in Lent (prophet -Accepted )

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 “No prophet is accepted in his own native place.” I have experienced this personally many times. Years ago, when I was newly ordained and was about to preach at a relative’s wedding, my oldest sister, lacking confidence with my ability, whispered to me, “Make sure you do a good job.” I whispered back, “Why don’t you do the preaching!” Last year I went to my nephew’s First Holy Communion. The parish priest asked if I could give the homily, and I happily agreed. The night before the Mass, my second sister came to my room and questioned me, “Do you really want to do the homily? People expect a good one for this occasion.” She worried I would do poorly. And my third sister who lives in Ireland, keeps sending me videos of popular preachers - like Fr. Mike Schmitz and Bishop Barron. She probably hopes I will learn to preach like them. My siblings grew up with me at home, and they know me well from young. However, they were not with me in my seminary life and have not witnessed my growth...
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