Homily: February 6, 2023, Monday of the fifth week in Ordinary time.

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 How many of you looked at the sky last night? Did you see a full, big and bright moon?

I did. It was so beautiful and mesmerising.

Last November, when I was doing my silent retreat in Oklahoma, I had a lot of time to enjoy nature. One evening after dinner, I went out for a walk and looked up into the sky. I saw millions of flickering stars! I took my time to enjoy that beautiful scene.

We don’t get to see many stars in towns and cities because the city lights drown out the brightness of the stars.

In my childhood days, I used to enjoy looking at the stars. In the tropical climate of India, the sky was always very clear and in villages where electrical lights were weak, the stars were more visible. If you have ever seen the night sky filled with flickering stars, you will probably be awed by God’s creation, like I do.

These two weeks our first readings are taken from the book of Genesis, beginning with the creation story. As I read the first reading of today, I praised and thanked God for His beautiful creation. It is truly a work of love.

Yet so many of us are often too busy to notice the beauty of nature around us on normal days. We forget and we take for granted. Until it is removed or when we lose our senses, or when we near the end of our lives do we begin to appreciate all the simple wonders around us.

Our loving God in His goodness created everything good for us. So, every day, whether it is sunny or gloomy, snow or rain, there will always be something beauty, something wonderful in creation.

If we care enough to look, we will see God’s hands in nature. And if we can help it, we can try to ignore the damage and interference by man’s irresponsible hands for a moment. Just praise and thank God for making our universe so beautiful, the sun, moon, stars, mountains, rivers, animals, trees and flowers. Give glory to Him for His wonderous works.

When we profess the creed later, and at every Mass, when we declare, “I believe in one God the Father Almighty, creator of heaven and earth”, let us recall and appreciate the creation of God. 

Is there a beautiful place of nature which you enjoy and admire? Close your eyes for a moment now, bring it to mind and thank God for it.

Amen. 


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

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Homily: September 18, 2023, Monday of the Twenty-fourth Week in Ordinary Time (Men should pray)

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 "It is my desire, then, that in every place, men should pray, lifting up holy hands, without anger or argument." What a beautiful vision St. Paul had! Imagine if all people are prayerful and peaceful, no anger, no argument. The world would really be perfect. It is through prayerfulness that we learn to be deeply peaceful people, and I too desire to attain this. My papa and grandma were two great examples of prayerfulness for me.  Grandma was completely blind before I was born and she was living in my home. In my memory, she prayed the rosary all the time and she would spend hours reciting all the other prayers daily which she had memorized by heart. I have never seen her forgetting her prayers or skipping her rosary for even one day. My papa, too, had always kept a regular and consistent prayer routine. He read the Bible and devoted a good amount of time for prayer on a daily basis. I also do not recall seeing him miss a single day of his beautiful habit. I do regret though ...
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Homily: June 15, 2025 Soemnity of the Most Holy Trinity

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Today’s second reading ends with this powerful phrase: “Because the love of God has been poured out into our hearts through the Holy Spirit that has been given to us.” Today we celebrate two beautiful events: the Solemnity of the Most Holy Trinity and Father’s Day. So, happy Father’s Day to all our fathers, grandfathers, fathers-to-be and godfathers! My siblings and I are incredibly blessed to have had a good Christian father who fulfilled his duties both as a father and as a Catholic. My papa was a very quiet, resilient, yet very gentle person. He loved and protected all his seven children, physically, emotionally, mentally and especially spiritually. He taught us the faith and was a great model of the traditions. He made sure we never missed Sunday Mass and took us regularly to Confession. I was very much a “dad’s boy”, working with him daily on the farm, taking care of the animals together with him. He didn’t worry much about school grades, but he was very firm and strict with us re...
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Homily: Tuesday of the Tenth week in Oridnary Time (Salt lose taste)

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Homily: January 6, 2022, Thursday after Epiphany.

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For readings: https://bible.usccb.org/bible/readings/010622.cfm “Beloved, we love God because he first loved us.” St. John’s epistle of love is so wonderful to help us begin the new year. Throughout this week, we have heard more than 50 times the word ‘Love’. In today’s first reading alone, we hear the word ‘Love’ 13 times. St. John was the only apostle who probably did not die a martyr’s death. Tradition says he lived almost 100 years. And at the end of his life, his repeated preaching during breaking of the bread with the early Christian community was simply, “Dear children, let us love one another.” His focus was clearly this: God is love, He loves us, we love others. What is real love? Psychologists have identified various types of love between humans, and the greatest of these is agape love – selfless, self-sacrificing, unconditional love. Who can love like that? God can. Jesus did. And so did His disciples. Parents do so very often. So can everyone of us. Traditionally, India...
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