Homily:January 17, 2023, Tuesday of the second week in Ordinary time

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 “We earnestly desire each of you to demonstrate the same eagerness for the fulfilment of hope until the end.”

When I read this phrase in the first reading, another phrase in the gospels came to mind: ‘The one who perseveres to the end will be saved’. 

It is very easy to lose hope in this world which is so result oriented and often unforgiving of failures. There were many times in my life when I thought I will be a total failure, when I missed the mark. 

In schools and workplaces, we see students and workers being labelled as losers or failures in life if they could not meet certain expectations or tasks. Nobody wants to invest their time and money on these people. Nobody cares that they are valuable in God’s eyes.

Is this how it will be in the Kingdom of God?

If we apply the same practical logic and rationalise with the same lens of this world, the life of Jesus and His public ministry would look like a miserable failure. As Mother Angelica commented, “Even after healing and performing miracles, Jesus could not get twelve friends to stick by Him."

Is that true?

Not completely. Yes, dying on the cross as a criminal is not success in any sense. We see the lives of many saints, they too were unjustly accused, misunderstood, killed or died a painful way even though they were kind, gracious and helpful to others. So did they all fail?

Their stories did not end there. Jesus died on the cross, and that’s not the end. He resurrected. He ascended. And He will come again. And the saints too, miracles that happened through their intercession are testimony that they did not fail in death. They have successfully entered paradise.

Our stories will not end in death too. Our hope is not in this life, but in the life after death. And we are hopeful because it is not through our own merits or efforts, it is through Jesus that we will arrive in paradise. He has already won it for us.

Whether we are successful or fail in this life, it doesn’t matter, our future is secured as long as we follow Jesus. This is hope, this good news.

So, let us not give up, let us look forward to ‘the fulfilment of hope until the end’.

Amen.


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Homily: March 24, 2022, Thursday of the Third Week of Lent

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In St. Paul’s letter to the Philippians, he instructed them, “Do nothing out of selfishness or out of vain glory; rather, humbly regard others as more important than yourselves.” Is it possible to regard others more important than ourselves? Is it possible to be selfless? Yes, highly possible, but highly difficult too. With God’s grace, we can. When I was serving at one parish in India, parishioners would give donations on the parish feast day. We would publish the names of donors in the parish bulletin board to acknowledge their generosity. One day, a lady came, gave her donation and said she prefer to be anonymous. Then she thought about it and gave her first name. After a short pause, she said again, “Father, then you must put my last name as well because there is another lady with the same first name.” For a moment before that, I thought she was a humble and modest donor, not seeking any glory for herself. But the final twist revealed that she did want to be acknowledged and made s
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F or forty days and nights, satan was waiting, to strike when Jesus was most hungry, at His weakest. First temptation: “Command this stone to become bread.” Jesus needed food indeed. Satan did not give food, but suggested Jesus to abuse His divine power to create food for Himself. He makes us think our needs and wants are most important. And suggests shortcuts to satisfy ourselves. Selfish desires turn us away from God. Second temptation: “I shall give to you all this power and glory…worship me.” Jesus’ mission is to preach the good news to all nations. Satan tries to persuade Jesus to take the easy way, to receive power and glory from him. satan is the father of lies. Nothing belongs to him. satan tries to make us believe that money will give us power and earthly possessions will give us glory. He tempts us with quick and convenient ways to achieve our ambitions. Greed and vanity block us from holy virtues. Third temptation: “If you are the son of God, throw yourself down from here…”
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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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