Homily: April 24, 2023, Monday of the Third Week of Easter. (Angel Look)

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 "All those who sat in the Sanhedrin looked intently at him and saw that his face was like the face of an angel.”

St. Stephen, one of seven selected deacons in the early Christian community, was standing in trial before the Sanhedrin, the supreme rabbinic court in Jerusalem. He was being accused of blasphemy, for his powerful preaching in Jesus’ name.

According to the Jewish authority, he had offended the law of Moses. Stephen knew the sentence for blasphemy was death. Yet he did not look downcast, nor fearful. Instead, his face was like an angel. What look is that?

After vesting for mass, I would always look in the mirror to check, today I did too and checked my face, I definitely do not look like an angel at all.

I have seen many whom I think look like angels. They were all little children. On Saturday, I had 3 baptisms and all those babies looked just like perfect precious angels. Innocent, pure, at peace. Even when they cried, they were still angelic.

We were all like that when we were babies. So, what happened?

Our angelic look disappeared gradually as we sin more and more. We are no longer innocent. But soon we will have the saintly face.

Max Lucado said, “The sinless one took on the face of a sinner so that we sinners could take on the face of a saint.”

Yes, we will look more and more saintly, like an angel, as we become Holier. As we near heaven, we will look more radiant, like Stephen as he faced his death and became the first Christian martyr.

A few days ago, in a conversation with Msgr. Bognanno, He asked a question,  "Why do we receive a glorified body when we go to heaven?” 

And later he gave this answer.  “God is so so beautiful. when we look at Him, we will need a body that shines likes his, a body pure like his, when we meet Him.”

Through God's love, grace and forgiveness, we will become like angels. We will have a radiant face and glorified body when we enter heaven and see the beautiful face of God. Thanks to our Lord who takes away our sins, which dull our look and dim our lives. Thank you, Jesus. Amen.

Fr. Nivin Scaria 

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Homily: October 21, 2025, Tuesday of the Twenty-ninth Week in Ordinary Time (Sin-Grace)

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 “Where sin increased, grace overflowed all the more.” Really? Yes, absolutely true. There is no doubt that sin is increasing in the world, at least in terms of modern technology. I make this observation based on what priests hear in the confessional. One hundred years ago, people did not confess sins related to television. Thirty years ago, there were no sins involving the internet. Twenty years ago, we didn’t have sins connected to smartphones. Ten years ago, we didn’t have sins committed due to social media. And just a few years ago, no one mentioned sins related to artificial intelligence. From time to time, I have encountered and had to ask the penitents to explain certain words they used in confession and which did not even exist a decade ago! They were new to me, but I am sure Jesus was not stumped like me. Sins come in new forms, but the reality of sin remains the same. Yet, St. Paul reminds us that as sin increases, grace overflows even more. Along with these new challenge...
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Homily: October 26, 2025, Thirtieth Sunday in Ordinary Time.

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 “The one who serves God willingly is heard; his petition reaches the heavens. The prayer of the lowly pierces the clouds; it does not rest till it reaches its goal.” Last week’s readings touched on the theme of prayer, this theme continues in our readings this Sunday. Throughout the week, I often see people coming quietly into our church to pray during different times of the day. Some light candles, some kneel before the statue of Our Lady of the World, and some just sit before the tabernacle in silence. A few come from nearby offices during their break from work to spend a few minutes with Jesus or with Mary. There are also those who are homeless, some are patients or their visitors from the hospitals. Different states of life, different prayer intentions, yet all come with faith in God. This is truly a house of prayer. All are welcome. As proclaimed in the first reading, God has no favorites. Rich or poor, young or old, well or sick, strong or weak, God welcomes all and hears al...
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Homily: October 25, 2025, Saturday of the Twenty-Nineth Week in Ordinary Time (Spirit -Alive)

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 “But if Christ is in you, although the body is dead because of sin, the Spirit is alive because of righteousness.” What a hopeful and assuring message. Even though our bodies are weakened by sin and subject to death, the Spirit of God within us is alive and active. But note the one condition: if Christ is in you! The Father and the Son have given us this precious gift, the Holy Spirit, the divine helper who will dwell in our hearts if we accept Jesus Christ into our lives. If we follow the timeline of our salvation story, all of us are now living in the era of the Holy Spirit. God the Father has revealed Himself to Abraham, Isaac, Jacob, Moses, and the prophets. Then in the fullness of time, God the Son came into the world and revealed to us the Father’s love. Before returning to heaven, Jesus promised to send us the Holy Spirit to be our companion, our guide, and our strength till the end of time. And from then, the Holy Spirit has been active in the world, in the church and in o...
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Homily: October 24. 2025, Friday of the Twenty-ninth Week in Ordinary Time (Sin)

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Homily: October 19, 2025, Twenty-ninth Sunday in Ordinary Time (Constant Prayer)

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 “Will not God then secure the rights of his chosen ones who call out to him day and night? Will he be slow to answer them?” These questions from Jesus in today’s Gospel invites us to reflect on the secret of a powerful prayer. What makes prayers powerful? When we pray for a particular intention, and the intention is fulfilled, we conclude that the prayer was powerful. Jesus questions us to reflect and realize that God is the generous One, who gives us the rights to call out to Him, day and night. God is the patient one, who will answer our prayers timely – His time, not ours. Recently past, one of my sisters told me of a problematic situation she has been trying hard to resolve, but it didn’t. I then suggested to her to pray the novena to our Lady, Undoer of Knots, and she did, she prayed the novena faithfully. Then last week, she called me with great excitement. “The prayer worked!” Her intentions were fulfilled, her prayers were answered according to her wish. Like her, many of ...
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Homily: October 20, 2025, Monday of the Twenty-ninth Week in Ordinary Time (Greed)

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“Take care to guard against all greed, for though one may be rich, one’s life does not consist of possessions.” So true. Jesus warns us to guard against all greed, not just greed for money, but also for power, recognition, control, comfort and possessions. Even simple possessions, with greed, become obsessions. Greed blinds the soul. It makes us believe we need more and more, when we already have enough. At the end of our lives, what we had will not define us, nor give us any advantage at all for entry into heaven. But here, Jesus is saying, having too much might even disadvantage us. The rich man in today’s Gospel was a wealthy man, so distinguished was his wealth that he was simply known as a rich man, there was nothing else that could define him. Then God blessed him with even more. But instead of sharing his abundance, which will not affect his lifestyle in any way, he decided to build bigger barns to store it all for himself. Greed consumed him. He forgot that all his wealth was n...
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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: February 18, 2024, First Sunday in Lent (Repent and belive)

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 "This is the time of fulfillment. The kingdom of God is at hand. Repent, and believe in the gospel." Jesus is crying out loud at the Jordan, the same place where John the Baptist was calling out to people before he was arrested. There is sense of urgency in the message, a kind of ‘do it now’ warning, a very clear call for action, “repent, and believe…” As we enter the first Sunday of Lent, this is the first call of Jesus to each of us. ‘Repent’ – have you? ‘Believe’ – do you? If not, what are you waiting for? This is usually the period when our catechumen and candidates go through their final stretch of preparation towards baptism, and this message of Jesus is also calling out to them to take action, to convert their hearts, to believe in Him, to wait no more. Today, during this Mass, we will have the rite of sending, to dispatch them to our bishop for the rite of election at St. Francis of Assisi Parish. They have spent many months learning about the teachings of the Cathol...
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Homily: Funeral mass: Bill Wolfe, July 9, 2025

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 Life on earth has come to a peaceful end for our beloved brother Bill Wolfe, but his joy and passion for living continues to eternity, the reward promised for his faith. Here at St. Ambrose Cathedral, was where Bill used to attend Sunday Mass faithfully. He was nourished with the holy Body and Blood of Christ, the true food, true drink of life. While he won’t be worshiping here physically with us anymore, I am sure he will continue to give praise and thanks to God spiritually with us, with all the angels and saints, at every Mass we celebrate here. And we hold on to the promise that we will meet each other face to face again, in the glory of heaven. Meanwhile, all of us who know and love Bill will miss his physical presence dearly. I noticed something amazing about Bill. Anyone who got to meet him, even just once, will not forget him. He had a way of making people feel warm, welcomed, heard, and appreciated. He was a people-person: joyful, witty, and full of good humor. I remember...
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Homily: October 7, 2024, Memorial of Our Lady of the Rosary (Weapon)

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"And coming to her, he said, 'Hail, full of grace! The Lord is with you.'" I have seen this many times – one of our catechists holding up a rosary in her hand and asking the kids, “What is this?” When they respond, “It’s a rosary,” she would add, “This is a weapon to fight against the evil one.” How true! But have you ever wondered how does a rosary become a weapon against Satan? When Jesus was tempted in the wilderness, He used the Word of God to counter the temptations presented by the evil one. Satan is afraid of the Word of God. And when we pray the rosary, we are repeating the Word of God, bead after bead, don’t we? Hail, full of grace! The Lord is with you. The “Hail Mary” is a prayer woven beautifully with the words of Scripture, and the “Our Father” is the prayer that Jesus Himself taught us, straight from the Bible. These are prayers recited repeatedly in the rosary. The rosary is thus a deeply biblical prayer which anyone can pray, and anytime we can recall ...
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