Homily: March 19, Fourth Sunday in Lent (Safe haven)

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 After restoring the sight of the blind man, Jesus declares, "You have seen him, the one speaking with you is he."

Have you heard of ‘Dialogue in the Dark’? It is a worldwide enterprise founded in Germany, to promote social inclusion of the disabled and disadvantaged, specifically the visually impaired. There is so much to learn about not being able to see.

One of the things I wish to do in my lifetime is to go for a tour at Dialogue in the Dark. There is a 1.5-hour tour program, conducted in total darkness and led by a tour guide who is visually impaired or blind. I was told it will be a most exciting, life-changing experience. Can you imagine going around the park, taking a boat ride, eating at a café in total darkness? We need light to see. What would life be like without light?

Jesus is the light of the world, yet He understands darkness, He has full compassion for the blind and in today’s Gospel event, He puts into perspective why this man is born blind: “Neither he nor his parents sinned; it is so that the works of God might be made visible through him.”

It is not so important to be able to see the world, but it is critical that we are able to see the works of God.

And what is God’s work about?

Salvation. His work is to save souls. It is not just helping us see, smell, touch or taste again. It is about helping us believe in Him and be restored to the full glory of our God-given nature, as God’s sons and daughters.

How blessed are we who can see. Let us never take this gift for granted. However, many of us have used this gift to distort and corrupt God’s beautiful creation into images that tempt and twist our senses for sinful, lustful pleasures.

These evil works do not at all lead to pleasure in reality. People who are addicted know the truth. They are tormented and suffer in secret, in darkness, in silence, lonely and spiritually broken. Yes, I am talking about pornography.

Our diocese dedicates today as Safe Haven Sunday. It is an initiative in response to St. Paul’s invitation in the second reading, ‘live as children of the light’. This weekend the church wants to bring to light the importance of online safety and the dangers of pornography exposure and addiction.

At the confessionals, I encounter many people who are addicted to pornography, their spirit is disturbed, their soul is tormented, they want to be free from it, but they can’t help themselves. 

The hook of pornography is strong, the attachment is deep and in these modern times, the temptations are available everywhere and easily accessible. Furthermore, those who are struggling are unable to share with others or ask help openly because of shame and guilt. All these make detachment very difficult.

When it comes to this area, being visually blind would be a blessing. Our sightedness betrays us and leads us to sin. 

But the church wants to help her children, she wants them to live free from sin, to live in true joy and peace, to ‘live as children of the light’. There is hope!

Today’s gospel story tells us that Jesus wants to, can and will heal us! If His spittle can open the eyes of the blind, His spittle can also protect our eyes, clean our hearts and minds, and help us see purity, not lust, see truth, not lies.

Jesus says to His disciples before he heals the blind man, “We have to do the works of the one who sent me while it is day. Night is coming when no one can work. While I am in the world, I am the light of the world."

Jesus is the light, He wants to work on you now. Let Him! Do not wait till night, when darkness comes upon you. Do not be deceived by the evil one anymore! The corrupted images do not give you pleasure, they only give you problems. Stop now, with the healing spittle of Jesus!

At this very Mass today, beg Jesus for healing. For yourself, for your family, for your friends.

Trust in Him, one moment at a time, one day at a time, say ‘No’ to the evil one. Call out the name of Jesus and reject the offers of the evil one. Come to the confessional every time you fall, don’t wait, don’t accumulate. Let Jesus heal you as often as the temptations hit you.

Do not let sin have even a single chance to grow in you. As long as you are inching in the right direction towards the light, even if it may be slow, you will eventually reach there.

Do you know that our youth are also exposed? At the entrances, there is a small book from Covenant Eyes, read up “Smart Catholic Parenting in a Sexualized Culture” and learn to protect ourselves and our loved ones.

This fourth Sunday of Lent is known as Laetare Sunday or the Sunday of Joy. The Gospel is joy because the message God gives us is faith, hope and love.

We are loved no matter how terribly we sin or how badly we struggle. God is telling us repeatedly, don’t struggle alone. Come back to Him in faith, hope in His help and be healed in His love. The battle is His. Let Him fight for us.

Let us pray for those who are struggling, pray for their conversion, pray that God’s spirit will strengthen them and restore their sight to see Jesus and all His goodness, and to stop seeing whatever disturbs or destroys them. Amen!

Just a note before today’s offertory collection, beginning this month, we will suspend all second collections because we have too many collections. I know you will be generous in your giving even with just one collection. We need to raise 29,000 over these two weekends to meet our end-of-month needs. Thank you.


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Homily: May 6, 2024, Monday of the sixth week of Easter (Lydia)

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 “One of them, a woman named Lydia, a dealer in purple cloth, from the city of Thyatira, a worshiper of God, listened, and the Lord opened her heart to pay attention to what Paul was saying.” The Easter readings are truly remarkable. We witness how the Holy Spirit did amazing works through the acts of the apostles. The apostles simply went about sharing about the life of Jesus and spreading the good news. They were unperturbed by rejections or persecutions, and their persistence and bold proclamations won more hearts than objections. And we also see how the Holy Spirit converts not always in the same way but through many ways according to the charisms of the preachers as well as the unique situations of the listeners.  On Pentecost day, we saw a massive conversion of three thousand people all in one day through one event. Today we encounter the story of a single conversion: that of Lydia, a woman from Thyatira. We are told she was a dealer in purple cloth, that meant she had dealings w
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 "About midnight, while Paul and Silas were praying and singing hymns to God…” I cannot even imagine this scene. How could they still pray and sing in such a situation? Whenever I have a slight headache, ear infection, or a little upset stomach, I would already be very disturbed. I would not even want to talk to anyone during those moments. If I had something worse, I might not even be able to pray. If you look carefully at my left eyebrow, you will notice a scar. During my seminary days in Rome, there was once when I was late for class, and I ran so fast into the classroom that I crashed into the glass door without realizing it was closed. I shattered the glass and a piece of it cut deep across my eyebrow. Thankfully it missed my eye. I was so in pain, shock and bleeding that I could not talk to anyone for a while, and I definitely was not in the mood to sing or pray. But look at Paul and Silas. They had just been attacked by a crowd, were then stripped, and beaten with rods. Aft
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 The souls of the just are in the hand of God, and no torment shall touch them. The soul of Bill is in the hand of God, no torment shall touch him. We are here to bid our final farewell to Bill, our beloved brother, grandpa, dad, husband, friend. I feel privileged to have known Bill these last two years and honored to preside over this Mass for his sending off. Many of you would have known him much longer and much better than I. I wish I had more time with him. I was awed when I read his obituary, his life story is inspirational. I know from my encounter with him that he was a dedicated husband, a loving and caring father, the greatest fan to every one of his grandchildren, and an incredible friend to countless people here and around the world. His going would surely leave a void in our lives. It is only natural that we grieve this loss. Bill was a man of remarkable character. His love for life, his sense of humor, and his thoughtfulness for others were the hallmarks of his personality
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“Then they began to beg him to leave their district.” Why?? Jesus just did an amazing miracle, he cast out a multitude of demons in possession of a man and sent them all into nearby pigs. Jesus released the man from his horrible bondage so that he can live a free and fulfilling life. Isn’t that a wonderful thing Jesus did? Wouldn’t they feel secure and safe with Jesus around, so no one will be afraid of demons again? Why would they want to beg Jesus to leave them? Once I was biking with a friend towards Minburn. As we got near, we can already smell a pork refinery. My friend asked me, “Father, do you know what smell is this?” I said, “Yes, it is the smell of pork.” He replied, “Yes, this is the smell of money.” If you reared pigs, you would know what that smell is like. It is a very bad smell. To people from Middle Eastern cultures, including Jews, pigs are considered contaminated and unclean.  But to the rest of the world, it is a popular meat to eat. People may not like real pigs, bu
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Homily: November 27, 2023, Monday of the Thirty-fourth Week in Ordinary Time (Fear of the Lord)

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 “In any question of wisdom or prudence that the king posed to them, he found them ten times better than all the magicians and enchanters in his kingdom.” One of my favorite books in the Old Testament is the book of Daniel. The stories of Daniel and his friends inspire me a lot. I enjoy reading how God was always with them and blessed them with great wisdom and a unique gift in interpreting visions and dreams. In today’s first reading, we see how King Nebuchadnezzar tested and then invited these three young men, Daniel and his two friends, to serve him. It was an honor and seen as a great fortune to be trusted by the King, to eat and converse with him while all other Israelites were living as slaves. But Daniel and his friends did not once forget the God of their ancestors. Even though they had privileges from the King, they did not disobey God’s laws. They feared the Lord in all their days, they loved God in all their ways. And for that, they had great wisdom and understanding. And fo
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Homily: February 17, 2023, Friday of the Sixth Week in Ordinary Time.

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“Let us then go down and there confuse their language, so that one will not understand what another says." If that did not happen at Babel, we would all be speaking the same language, I would not need to learn Spanish and you would understand me perfectly, right? Did you wonder, what was so wrong with building a high tower in Babel which would reach up to the sky? If we look around the cities in the world, we will see many huge and tall buildings. And many are so iconic, making the city they are located at famous and well known. Like the leaning tower of Pisa in Italy, Marina Bay Sands in Singapore, Petronas Twin Tower in Malaysia, Burg Khalifa in Dubai, Taj Mahal in India, just to name a few. Possibly, the question should be, why do people need to build such mammoth buildings? In the first reading, we are told that the people in Shinar wanted to make a name for themselves. So, it was pride. Their plan would need to use up lots of time and resources to build something which would
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Homily: March 11, 2024, Mnday of the fourth week in Lent (Need signs and wonders to believe)

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 "Unless you people see signs and wonders, you will not believe…" If you had been praying to God all your life, but never once were your prayers answered, would you still believe? My mother was diagnosed with cancer when I was still studying in Rome. I prayed hard for a miracle for my mommy to be healed and to live long enough to see me become a priest. But she died at age 62 in 2012, four years before my ordination. Then in 2018, my father was also diagnosed with cancer. He was 70 years old. Again, I prayed hard for his speedy recovery, since I was already a priest for two years, I desperately needed a miracle to believe in my priesthood. But he passed away just one week after his diagnosis. I was sad for my parents’ early death, but what I found very difficult to accept was that my prayers for miracles were rejected, or so I thought. Now fast forward to January 2024, finally I made my first trip back to India after four years in USA. One of my anxieties was my hundred-and-o
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Homily: July 23, 2023, Monday of the Sixteenth Week in Ordinary Time (Weeds- wheat)

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 “While everyone was asleep his enemy came and sowed weeds all through the wheat, and then went off.” “Let them grow together until harvest…” I picked these two verses from today’s Gospel reading. If you have read the parish newsletter, you may have seen my article about the weeds in my planter. The latest update is, they have now grown even taller, are thriving and look very healthy. I actually enjoy observing their growth. They don’t need water nor fertilizer yet with zero care, they grow. But the deer, bunnies and the ground squirrel in my neighborhood are not eating them. These animals used to just gobble up the flowers and vegetables I planted previous spring. They can tell that my plants were good while these weeds are bad. The weeds grow naturally. I didn’t plant them. Where did they come from? How did it happen? Jesus says in His parable, ‘while everyone was asleep’. Yes, while I was doing nothing, my enemy did something. Negligence, laziness, procrastination, I was asleep. I d
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Homily: October 12, 2022, Wednesday of the twenty-eighth week in the ordinary time.

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 “If you are guided by the spirit, you are not under the law”.  From my kindergarten years to grade 4, I used to walk two miles to school and the same distance back home. I would always get really hungry on the way home. My friends and I would pick and eat whatever that was edible along the road. One of our neighbours grew a special cherry plant in his garden. We used to pick the juicy cherries to eat as we walked past. One day, he put up a handwritten sign on the tree which read, “Don’t pick the cherries”. One naughty kid continued to pick the cherries and even tore up that sign. Thereafter, the owner began to guard his cherry fiercely.  If we behaved right and showed respect for his property, there would not need the sign board nor the guarding, right? Similarly, if everyone in society knew how to behave and treat one another, we would not need to have laws. Those who are guided by the spirit of right behaviour will not need laws, because they are above the law.  Is it any wonder why
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