Homily: February 16, 2023, Thursday of the Sixth Week in Ordinary Time

-

 “Get behind me satan.”

Jesus’ words to St. Peter, the first pope, are so powerful.

Last week, a man came for reconciliation, and he gave me this beautiful chain with a cross which has the Holy face of Jesus on one side. The other side of the cross has these words: ‘Vade Retro Satana’ in Latin, which means ‘Get behind me, satan’. These are powerful words used in exorcism.

Satan is evil and cunning, he tempted Adam and Eve by cleverly rationalising for them how it seemed logical to disobey God. In the same way, Peter was suggesting to Jesus to avoid the way of suffering and death, which seemed logical but was ultimately against God’s plan.

If we look around us, we see the same thing happening in our world. Satan continues to tempt us with the good life, using technology to increase pleasure, enhance comfort and convenience, to make life easy and avoid anything that could involve hardship, even for the good and betterment of the world. He tempts women to destroy life of the unborn with lies of independence and freedom. All these lead to disobedience to God, turning against God’s plan. His lies lead many of God’s children to slavery.

Like Jesus, we have to repeat these words quite often, ‘get behind me, satan’, back off, step aside, go away, do not tempt me!

In today’s first reading, we see God establishing a new covenant with Noah who represents the whole of humanity. God did not make a new creation but He gave a new beginning to the same creation. A covenant is a solemn vow, that will never be broken. Even if one party fails his part, the other party remains faithful. 

As we come to the end of the daily readings from Genesis, we see clearly the covenantal relationship of God with His people. Man breached, and continues to fail, but God has been faithful and remains so.

Satan may seem to have destroyed the beautiful plan God had for His creation by tempting the first woman and first man. The ripple effect of that sin continues to our generation until the end of time. But God’s plan is a plan of love, which can never be destroyed. This selfless, self-emptying love has triumphed over sin through Jesus’ suffering and death, and will continue to triumph and rule forever.

So whenever we face the temptation to turn against God’s plan, to go the easy way, be firm and say, “get behind me, satan.”

Amen.


Comments

Post a Comment

Read

Homily: June 30, 2026, Tuesday of the Thirteenth week in Oridnary Time (God's Favorite)

-
"You alone have I favored, more than all the families of the earth." Through Amos, God is reaffirming His covenantal relationship with Israel as His chosen nation, as promised to Abraham. It is an affectionate expression of God's faithful love. The rest of this reading is about Amos warning Israel the consequences of turning away from God, intending to bring them back to faithfulness. Despite all the disobedience and unfaithfulness, God loves Israel and continues to favor them specially. He has chosen them and will not back out of His choice. This is truly how God loves. Faithful, unwavering, unchanging. I heard that when someone spoke with Mother Teresa, she would ignore everything else around her and give her full attention to that one person. She remained fully present for as long as that person needed her. St. John Paul II was also well known for giving people that same kind of attention. They did that well because they were really giving God their undivided attention...
Read more

Homily: July 5, 2026 Fourteenth Sunday in Ordinary Time (I will give you rest)

-
 “Thus says the LORD: Rejoice heartily, O daughter Zion, shout for joy, O daughter Jerusalem!”  A Beautiful and comforting words of prophet Zechariah. A long weekend is of course a time of joy for us especially as we celebrate 250th year of independence.  But truly, are you rejoicing in life? Are you rejoicing as a believer? Only a person who is truly free can be full of joy and be at peace. Life in this country is full of freedom; we enjoy privileges and opportunities that many people in some other parts of the world are still yearning and fighting for. Yet I have a friend, whenever I ask, “How’s life?”, would often reply, "It sucks,.  Is life really that burdensome? Yes, we all struggle with some variations of family problems, work issues, disappointments, sickness, and other daily battles, and our own battle with sin and evil. But we have the freedom to work, to speak, to go anywhere, to believe in any religion, to choose what we want. Is there nothing worth rejoi...
Read more

Homily: February 21, 2026, Saturday After Ash Wednesday (Graceful Souls)

-
 “He will renew your strength, and you shall be like a watered garden, like a spring whose water never fails.” Some of us would have experienced the grace of God in a very real way at some point in our lives. Perhaps after a very sincere confession, or during a spiritual retreat, maybe during deep prayer, or some may have felt it at Mass. Different people would experience it differently. It could be a sense of lightness when the heaviness of a grave sin has been lifted, an indescribable feeling of deep peace, a sudden vision of clarity. Sometimes we would most undoubtedly know that God is close. There’s probably a certain quiet joy within. There are so many possible signs. If you have ever experienced that unusual but wonderful feeling, you would know what I mean. And if you have not, try to make a good confession, I mean seriously, do it as if today is your last day, and you desperately want to be free from all sin, what we often call ‘deathbed confession’. And you might just get ...
Read more

Homily: June 29, 2026, Solemnity of Saints Peter and Paul, Apostles (Fear of God)

-
 "The angel of the Lord will rescue those who fear him." Today's Responsorial Psalm is so assuring and is so apt for today as we celebrate the Solemnity of Saints Peter and Paul. Both were faithful and fervent Apostles who had a deep holy fear the Lord - not like the fear of a slave, or being afraid of God, but a loving and reverent fear like that of an obedient child before a righteous and perfect Father. Having a fear of the Lord is the seventh gift of the Holy Spirit. It is a gift, not something we can earn or obtain on our own, but freely given to us at baptism, connecting us to God with deep respect and love, with a conscience to never want to offend the One who loves us so much. Peter and Paul did not always have this gift. If Peter had possessed this holy fear from the beginning, he would not have denied Jesus three times. Paul, before his conversion, persecuted Christians because he did not yet know the living God. Without knowing God, he could not truly fear Him....
Read more

Homily: May 26, 2026 Tuesday of the Eighth week in Ordinary Time (Leave Everything)

-
 "Peter began to say to Jesus, 'We have given up everything and followed you.'" When I was young, I was very careful with my money, just like my mother. I hardly had much to start with, but I also hardly spent any of my pocket money, so with the little I had, I saved. I even made some money by collecting wild honey in the forest and took some spices from the family farm to sell in the market. Money was very important, and every cent I had meant a lot to me. When I entered the seminary, I knew I would not want to join the religious orders as priest, because they have to take a vow of poverty. Diocesan priests do not need to, so I decided to be a diocesan priest. Soon, I learnt to let go, and gradually I stopped clinging to things as if they defined me. After I joined the seminary, our parish was raising funds to purchase new vestments. Since I was not allowed to keep money with me in the seminary, my parents donated all my years of savings for that fund raising. I woul...
Read more

Homily: April, 14, 2025, Monday of Holy Week (Silent Justice)

-
“He shall bring forth justice to the nations, not crying out, not shouting, not making his voice heard in the street.”  Throughout Holy Week, we will be reading from the Book of Prophet Isaiah. 700 years before the birth of Jesus, Isaiah had prophesied about the coming of the Messiah, not in a grand arrival, neither would He leave earth in a dignified departure. The image of Christ described by Isaiah is that of a humble suffering servant of God. His mission is to ‘bring forth justice to the nations’, by taking on injustice on Himself. He will carry the sins of the world through pain, yet He will not cry out, nor shout, He will bear all these in a meek, mild and humble way. Isaiah’s prophecies were all fulfilled by Jesus, particularly in the days of Holy Week. This week’s readings invite us to look to Jesus, no to pity and pain for Him, but to learn from Him, to straighten up our spirit to imitate Him, and to follow His example. All through Jesus’ trial, His great sufferings on the...
Read more

Homily: May 23, 2026, Saturday of the Seventh Week of Easter (Scripture is enough)

-
 “There are also many other things that Jesus did, but if these were to be described individually, I do not think the whole world would contain the books that would be written.” Once I walked into our youth Bible study, and they were discussing the Book of Enoch, an ancient Jewish apocalyptic text traditionally connected to Enoch, the great-grandfather of Noah. They asked me questions about it. I had read it myself when I was their age, mostly out of curiosity, but honestly, I do not remember much of its content. There are also several other apocryphal writings, like the Gospel of James, the Gospel of Thomas, and the Gospel of Mary Magdalene. But the Church never considered them inspired Scripture, because many of them were written decades after the death of the last Apostle, St. John. Public Revelation ended with the death of the last Apostle. Sometimes I also wish the Bible had more details about Jesus’ infancy and His hidden life. But St. John reminds us today that the world its...
Read more

Homily: May 18, 2026, Monday of the Seventh Week of Easter (Holy Spirit )

-
 “And when Paul laid his hands on them, the Holy Spirit came upon them, and they spoke in tongues and prophesied.” I have always wished to experience similar impact and intensity of the Holy Spirit. But I wonder if I wish because I need the gift of tongues in my ministry? Or I wish because I am interested in being part of the excitement? Being inflamed by the Holy Spirit does not always end up with these dramatic outward results. Yet it seems to be happening rather often in the conversion experiences of the early Christians and hardly in these later times. Perhaps we do not have the same deep hunger the early Christians had for the sacraments. In the face of persecution and uncertainty, knowing their lives were always on the line, their desire for the grace of God was thus very intense and strong. They also lived in a world with possibly less distractions, so the Gospel of Jesus could enter more deeply into their hearts. In contrast, we live now in a society where life has become c...
Read more

Homily: May 2-2026 Memorial of St.Athanasius, Bishop and Doctor of the Church.

-
 “Do you not believe that I am in the Father and the Father is in me? The words that I speak to you I do not speak on my own.” Jesus is one with the Father. Jesus is not just a teacher or a prophet. He is the eternal Son of God— fully divine and fully human. He took on our human nature to save us, to redeem us, to bring us back to the Father. Today, the Church celebrates Athanasius of Alexandria, one of the great defenders of this truth. He lived in the 4th century and served as the bishop of Alexandria. At that time, a serious error began to spread in the Church. A priest named Arius taught that Jesus was not truly God— that He was only a creature, that He was created, and not equal to the Father. This teaching was very popular. Many people followed it.  St. Athanasius stood firm. Even as a young deacon, he defended the true faith. In the year 325, the Church gathered at the Council of Nicaea. There, the bishops proclaimed clearly: I believe in one Lord Jesus Christ, the Only...
Read more

Homily: October 18, 2023, Feast of St. Luke the Evangelist (Lambs and wolves)

-
"Behold, I am sending you like lambs among wolves."  Thousands of years before Jesus’ time, sheep became domesticated. While there still exists very few species in the wild, most sheep will never be able to survive on their own. Their lambs are even more vulnerable. If ever they fall prey to wolves, they will not be able to fight them. They need a shepherd to protect them, to keep them alive. Then why is Jesus sending his disciples out among wolves? Why send them into danger?  If we recall Jesus has told His disciples, “And do not be afraid of those who kill the body but cannot kill the soul; rather, be afraid of the one who can destroy both soul and body in Gehenna.” (Matthew 10, 28) Did His disciples understand their vulnerability? Should they fear being among wolves which can only destroy their bodies, while they are there preaching to save their souls? Today's first reading shows us how much danger discipleship faces. St. Paul was often beaten, persecuted, stoned, and...
Read more