Homily: January 24, 2023, Tuesday of the Third week in Ordinary Time.

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 Jesus says in today’s Gospel, “For whoever does the will of God is my brother and sister and mother."

I have three older sisters, followed by my older brother, then me, the fifth child, after which I have two more sisters. All of us went to the same schools from kindergarten till High school. We even had the same teachers at each level.

My older sisters were the best students in school, in their academics, conduct and other areas. So when my brother and I entered school, every teacher of each level expected us to produce the same standard of study and behaviour as our sisters. But we disappointed them. We were the opposite.

Like what the teachers thought, I too sometimes wonder if we were from the same parents. 😉

Isn’t that what we all expect? That the people from the same family, with the same background, history, upbringing and lifestyle should have the same belief and behaviour, values and preferences, possibly even the same profession.

It is logical and it is ideal.

Jesus, the Son of God, is the perfect image of God, the Father. And we, baptised sons and daughters of God, are also expected to be like Him, to think what He thinks, to do what He does, to love what He loves. We are expected to do His will, just as Jesus did.

In the first reading, we heard, “Behold, I come to do your will.” In the responsorial psalm, we repeated “Here am I lord; I come to do your will.”

What is God’s will for us in our lives?

St. Francis de Sales wrote a book titled: ‘Finding God’s Will for You’. If you have difficulty discerning what is God’s will for you, ask St. Francis de Sales to intercede for you and help you find God’s will for you. Seek and you shall find.

Discover God’s will and pray for the grace to live it fully, for whoever does the will of God is Jesus’ brother and sister and mother. Amen.


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Homily: December 28, 2025, Feast of the Holy Family of Jesus, Mary and Joseph (Dreams)

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 “The angel of the Lord appeared to Joseph in a dream and said, ‘Rise, take the child and his mother, flee to Egypt, and stay there until I tell you.’” As a young man, Joseph must have had beautiful dreams about his future family. He could have imagined a helpful and capable wife, children playing around the house and growing up to be well respected people in the community, a vision of a stable and peaceful life. When he got engaged to Mary, it seemed like his dreams would become reality soon. Many of us, married or not, can identify with the dreams that Joseph could have had. Yet like Joseph, the realities of our lives would have unfolded quite differently from how we have dreamt it. Joseph’s family life turned out totally unlike his own dreams, yet he continued to dream, now with God’s will revealed and God’s plan unfolding in the reality of his life. The hardship he went through in Bethlehem, with the birth of Jesus, did not end there. Today’s Gospel shows another unexpected cha...
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Homily: December 28, 2024 Feast of the Holy Innocents (Suffering).

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"Rise, take the child and his mother, flee to Egypt, and stay there until I tell you." Just three days ago, we celebrated Christmas - a joyful commemoration of the day God came to live among us in our world, it is a when divine light entered human darkness, it is a day for rejoicing. The Christmas season continues for the Church up until the feast of the Baptism of the Lord. However, if we read and reflect on the details of Christ’s birth and events surrounding this season of joy, we see poverty, simplicity and suffering. Just before our Lord was born into this world, His earthly parents went through hardship just to find a place to rest, He was then welcomed into physical and material poverty, the day after His birth, we celebrated the death of the first martyr, St. Stephen, followed by the feast of St. John the Evangelist who suffered persecution and isolation till a ripe old age. And now today, we observe the feast of the Holy Innocents — a sorrowful event when hundreds of...
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Homily: January 4, 2025, Feast of Elizabeth Ann Seton (Come and See)

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Homily: The Sixth Day in the Octave of Christmas, Thursday, December 30, 2021

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 For readings: https://bible.usccb.org/bible/readings/123021.cfm “She never left the temple, but worshipped night and day with fasting and prayer”. Look at Anna, the prophetess’ life of worship and dedication, isn’t it beautiful and inspiring? Have you ever met someone who prays day and night like her? I have. On Monday I shared about my grandma who died 25 years ago. I was only eight years old then so I do not have much memory of her life, but one very vivid and lasting impression I have of her, is that she was a prayerful person. I almost always see her praying the rosary, day and night, whenever she was not doing any chores. It was a green rosary which one bishop gave her some years before. And you know what? Grandma was completely blind. She had never seen me and my younger siblings before. Yet, she taught us how to pray and would lead the family morning prayers. She helped with the household chores, with chopping vegetables. She would even make brooms for us using coconut...
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Homily: February 17, 2025 Monday of the sixth week in Ordinary time (genration of sin)

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"Where is your brother Abel?" We are now in the fourth chapter of Genesis. Before this, we read about the first sin of mankind – disobedience - when Adam and Eve did what they were told not to do. They lived in a perfect world and had dominance over everything, but they were discontented and were tempted by greed. Sin did not stop there; it was passed on to the next generation. In this chapter, we see Cain committing a grave sin - he killed his brother Abel. He was discontented with God’s favor on Abel and was tempted by pride. As we continue through Genesis, we see sin perpetuating and spreading through humanity. The Lord had warned Cain that “sin is a demon lurking at the door: his urge is toward you, yet you can be his master.” Eve, Adam, Cain and every one of us are tempted by sin, yet we can be its master. The moment we let it enter our heart, and leave it unchecked, it will deepen its hold on us and enslave us. Jesus says, “Everyone who sins is a slave of sin.” (John 8:...
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Homily: June 21, 2025, Saturday of the Eleventh Week in Ordinary Time (Sufficient Grace)

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 “Three times I begged the Lord about this, that it might leave me, but he said to me, ‘My grace is sufficient for you.’” This sentence in today’s first reading is one of the most well-known and quoted lines in the New Testament. There are many interpretations about what could be the “thorn in the flesh” which St. Paul referred to and asked for the Lord to remove for him. No one knows for sure, and no one needs to know exactly. What we do know is that it was something Paul believed the “angel of Satan” was sent to torment him. It was so bad for him that he wished and prayed for the Lord to take away from him. But Jesus did no, and told Paul, “My grace is sufficient for you.” Jesus is telling us the same: “My grace is sufficient for you.” Are you struggling terribly? Do you feel greatly tormented? Are you facing huge troubles? Do you feel like there is no way out? If you are crying out to the Lord like St. Paul, know that you are not alone. God’s silence is not absence. He is with y...
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Homily: June 20, 2025, Friday of the Eleventh Week in Ordinary Time (Sacrifice)

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“And apart from these things, there is the daily pressure upon me of my anxiety for all the churches.” Did you follow closely today’s first reading? Could you empathize with the hardships St. Paul had endured in his ministry? He lamented: “Five times I received from the Jews forty lashes minus one. Three times I was beaten with rods. Once I was stoned. Three times I was shipwrecked.” And that’s not even half the list! But here’s something more amazing: Despite the many troubles Paul suffered, he never gave up. He didn’t quit. He kept preaching the Gospel, he continued converting people and building the Church. He was faithful till the end, till he was beheaded in Rome. Why did he have to suffer so much hardship? Why didn’t God intervene and block off all those troubles? Wouldn’t the mission be more efficient and reap greater results if his mission was smooth sailing and trouble-free? Maybe, maybe not. The fact is, the church did grow exponentially during those times when there were ext...
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Homily: August 10, 2025, Nineteenth Sunday in Ordinary Time.

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 “You also must be prepared, for at an hour you do not expect, the Son of Man will come.” Do you like surprise visits? Some of us do. Recently, I went again to visit my sister and her family. Since the last visit, my 4-year-old nephew had been calling me almost daily and asking me to visit him again. So, this time, I told my sister to keep my trip a secret, I wanted to surprise the little boy. When he saw me finally, his eyes were wide open with disbelief, and his mouth too was wide open in surprise! I will never forget that look on his face, and the exuberant joy of the moment when I hugged and carried him. But not all of us like surprise visits, especially when the visitors come at the wrong time, and we are caught unprepared. When I was in high school, our principal, Fr. George, was very strict. He didn’t talk much, but he knew every student. Occasionally, he would walk along the school corridors, surveying every corner and if he caught any student misbehaving, he would carry ou...
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