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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March 1, 2025: First Holy Communion Homily: St. Joseph's Catholic Church Seffner, Florida

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Did you listen attentively to the Gospel reading? Yes? Let me test you… What did Jesus say? Did He say, “Whoever eats my bread and drinks my wine?”  No! He said, “Whoever eats my FLESH and drinks my BLOOD remains in me and I in him.” Yes, when you receive Holy Communion, you are receiving the real flesh and blood of Jesus. I am sure Fr. Roy, your catechists, parents and the whole parish community have prepared you well for this day, so you know what you are receiving today. But what I want to focus on now is the last part where Jesus says, ‘remains in me and I in him’. 29 years ago in 1996, I received my First Holy Communion. I was eight years old, but I still remember that day vividly. I remember the preparations, my First Reconciliation, and the excitement I felt when I lined up to receive Jesus for the very first time. I remember seeing the priest dipping the Precious Body into the Precious Blood, and then that precious moment – Jesus’ body and blood rested on my tongue. So swee...
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Homily: November 6, 2022, Thirty-second Sunday in Ordinary Time.

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 “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...
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Homily: March 5, 2023, Second Sunday in lent (Migration- Transfiguration)

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 India gained independence from Britain in 1947 but was hit by a severe famine thereafter. People had to find ways just to survive. My grandfather, with his nine children, decided to move to the high ranges of the Kerala state to survive. My father was then six years old, he was the youngest child. They walked 40 miles to finally settle down and occupy around 100 acres of forest, which was also home to Bengal tigers, king cobra snakes, and wild elephants. Grandpa fought wild animal attacks to protect all his children and he lived on well till 97 years old. In Kerala, the youngest son has the responsibility to care for the parents and so my siblings and I lived with grandpa in that same home. Grandpa would tell us many stories about the dangers he encountered and how he overcame them. I have always thought those were the greatest life stories until I came to St. Ambrose. Here, I have heard life stories with much greater dangers and how people escaped from war with babies in their ar...
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Homily: July 24, 2023, Holy Family School Mass for faculty and staff.

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 In two days, all our students will be back in school. They will be in the classrooms, in the fields, in the halls…everywhere. How do you feel about that? Holy Mass, our celebration of the Eucharist, is the source and summit of Christian life. It is the source where we receive spiritual nourishment, enlightenment, love, mercy, and peace. It is the summit, the highest form of prayer, worship and thanksgiving to God, who first gave, who first loved. We are now all gathered here, faculty members, staff, school board, foundation members, and friends to thank God and to seek His graces for this academic year. We all need it, don’t we? These days our first readings are taken from the book of Exodus. I picked these verses for our reflection today: And they complained to Moses, “Were there no burial places in Egypt that you had to bring us out here to die in the desert? Why did you do this to us? Why did you bring us out of Egypt? Did we not tell you this in Egypt when we said, 'Leave us a...
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Homily: January 16, 2023 Monday of the second week in Ordinary time

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 “In the days when he was in the Flesh, he offered prayers and supplications with loud cries and tears to the one who was able to save him from death, and he was heard because of his reverence.” Even Jesus, the beloved Son of God, prayed hard and fervently while He lived among us in this world. I know of a parishioner who is from one of our refugee communities. I have seen him many, many times kneeling in church, praying deeply and reverently and at length. He always has with him little prayer books that he uses. His deep reverence and focus really inspire me and make me curious too. Finally, I had to ask him about his praying. Each time he prays, he will say the rosary, meditate on the stations of the cross, pray novenas to saints. And his prayer list includes me, all his siblings, his cousins and friends. Wow! Blessed is every person in his prayer list, because he is a reliable prayer warrior interceding for them always. I am blessed. In every one of our communities, I know of at...
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Homily: June 6, 2024, Thursday of the Ninth Week in Ordinary Time.

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“Therefore, I bear with everything for the sake of those who are chosen, so that they too may obtain the salvation that is in Christ Jesus, together with eternal glory.” Before Paul was converted, he was enjoying success, recognition, authority and power as a Christian persecutor. But when he encountered Jesus and began to love the Lord and His sheep with all his heart, all his understanding, and all his strength, the sufferings also began to come to him, and he had to ‘bear with everything’. We all suffer in one way or another. We all have our own crosses to carry, but it is important to know whether we are carrying a cross because of salvation or because of our own wrong actions. There is an effect to every cause, and a consequence to every action. The consequence of wrong decisions, foolish actions, prideful deeds, selfish greed, over-ambitious endeavor, unhealthy relationships, financial mismanagement, and addictive habits is suffering. And these are self-inflicted sufferings, they...
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Homily: December 31,2024, The Seventh Day in the Octave of Christmas (Truth)

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 "Because while the law was given through Moses, grace and truth came through Jesus Christ." Once recently, I was with a group of Catholic friends, having a casual conversation and one topic that came up was about modern behavioral trends and attitudes, particularly referring to LGBTQ trends and gender identity. One friend among us spoke up strongly supporting the ideology of LGBTQ and questioning the natural law of God. Since it was a group setting, I was simply listening to the exchanges, but as the conversation progressed, I finally felt the need to speak up. Firmly, I said, “If you believe this, then you are saying the Holy Bible is wrong.” My friend kept quiet after that. I believe everything in the Bible is true and inspired by the Holy Spirit. I believe in God’s law. Thus, I do not agree with anything that opposes the Bible or compromises God’s law. A true believer in Jesus Christ accepts His teachings entirely. We cannot be half-baked believers or be selective in what...
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Homily: February 13, 2022, Sixth Sunday in Ordinary Time.

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 In the first reading we heard, “Thus says the LORD: Cursed is the one who trusts in human beings, who seeks his strength in flesh, whose heart turns away from the LORD.” And then it continued with, “Blessed is the one who trusts in the LORD, whose hope is the LORD.” It is very clear, isn’t it? That those who turns away from God will be cursed and those who trusts in God will be blessed. The gospel reading today is known as the beatitudes, in which our Lord Jesus also spelled out the curses and the blessings. But it seems much harder to accept what Jesus is teaching here. I too struggle with this. Let us try to understand it together. We have been told that we came from God, and after this life, we will go back to God. For a long time, I questioned the rationale. Why create me to throw me into this difficult life just to bring me back to Him again? Why not just keep me with Him from the beginning and save me the trouble of going through this life? This earthly life is not easy. I w...
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Homily: May 10. 2025, fourth Sunday of Easter (Good Shepherd)

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 “The disciples were filled with joy and the Holy Spirit.”  This line always impacts me greatly. Imagine being filled with both joy and the Holy Spirit, especially while facing intense rejection and persecution. That’s not something ordinary. That’s something supernatural - something that comes only from God. I have five sisters. One of my sisters will start singing without a care in the world and won’t stop – when she drinks just a glass of wine! Another sister becomes the queen of jokes, jokes one after another, creating a funny scene – simply after having a glass or two. What about me? I just have a good sleep when I get more drinks. The point is, they’re not normally like that. Normally they are too shy to sing or too dull to say anything funny. But wine or alcohol seem to melt away their mental or social blocks making them mentally high and socially carefree. In the Acts of the Apostles, we see Peter and the other apostles giving their first big preaching, and people thou...
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Homily: June 24, 2024, Solemnity of the Nativity of Saint John the Baptist.

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“Though I thought I had toiled in vain, and for nothing, uselessly spent my strength, yet my reward is with the Lord, my recompense is with my God.”  Some people do go through life tougher and rougher than others. I personally know some such people who lived the whole of their lives literally toiling and working till they die. My own parents lived like that. Since young they were already laboring to help their own families. When they got married, they labored every day from morning till night to provide for us. Before they even got a chance to rest and retire, they fell ill and passed on. They did not accomplish anything spectacular and daily life was simply hardship from beginning till the end. They have never experienced a good life, but they have discharged their duties and responsibilities fully. Is such a life meaningful? Looking at Zechariah, Elizabeth, and John the Baptist, they might not have lived in extreme poverty, but they toiled in other ways. For a woman to be barren ...
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