Fr. Nivin's Homily Blog

 "Give to the Most High as He has given to you, generously, according to your means." When I read this, my first thoughts were about tithing and almsgiving. But when I read again and thought deeper, "Give to the Most High as He has given you"… What has He given me? He has given me my life, my family, an intellect and free will. Everything else is derived from these, so all that I have is from Him, my God, the Most High. Is that all? Is it just about what He gave me for my life on earth?  No. There is more, and it is the most important. He gave me His own life, His beloved Son, His wisdom, His will. He wills that His beloved Son come into my world, teach me wisdom and die for me that I may have a share in His divine, eternal life. What He has given me is a sacrifice of Himself, every day, in the Holy Eucharist. And so, the same I should give to Him, generously, according to my means. There is a powerful quote from C.S. Lewis, “God doesn’t want something from us. He s...

 ‘When he said this, a dispute broke out between the Pharisees and Sadducees, and the group became divided.’ What do you do when you get cornered by two groups of enemies? One good strategy is to create a strife between them, make them fight each other and forget about you. That was what Paul did, he caused the Pharisees and Sadducees to argue about their differences although their original target was Paul, so he didn’t even need to defend himself. Jesus did teach that "Every kingdom divided against itself is laid waste, and every city or household divided against itself cannot survive." When I was still a kid, my grandpa did not approve of any fights between his grandchildren. He always made us reconcile after any disagreement and reminded us that we are siblings in the same family, we should not fight among ourselves, nor hold any grudge against another. His teaching was wise but not easy for us to keep up. Our society is fragmented and divided because of different ideologi...

 “But now, compelled by the Spirit, I am going to Jerusalem. What will happen to me there, I do not know." At this point in his mission journey, St. Paul already knew and accepted from divine revelations that he will suffer much hardship ahead. That was as much as he knew. How? When? What? Who? He didn’t know at all, and he didn’t concern himself to know because he had entrusted all to the Lord. He would simply follow the Spirit’s lead. We might have been in such life situations before. After India gained independence in 1947, there was great famine and widespread poverty. My grandfather made a difficult but wise decision to move his family, with all eight young children, away from his native place to an unfamiliar hill countryside. He settled in a forest where Bengal tigers and king cobras lived, but the land was fertile and the water clean. He guarded and protected everyone in the family from all danger. We had a wonderful life thereafter. I grew up listening to his life stories...

"In the world, you will have trouble, but take courage; I have conquered the world." What Jesus says is true. We all face troubles in this world. Life in this world will have sorrows, conflicts, uncertainties, and many other challenges. Last night, while reading and contemplating these words, I also reflected on the events of the day. It was a remarkable Sunday as we celebrated the first communion of 42 children. More than 10 of these kids are raised by single mothers. They have experienced hardship and are still facing challenges in their lives. But they did not carry their financial burdens or brokenness on their faces. Instead, they expressed immense joy and excitement as they received Jesus for the first time. In the afternoon, I visited a young family who recently lost their beloved mother. They are still trying to recover from this painful loss, slowly but surely. They are moving on and looking towards the future with much hope. In the evening, I brought communion to an...

Hello children receiving first holy communion, good morning! All of you look wonderful! I have never seen you all look so bright as you do today. And you look very happy, your family and friends here are happy for you, everyone at this Mass and I are also very happy for you. And do you know who is the happiest? Jesus! He has been waiting! Yes, today is a very important day of your life, and this Mass is a very special Mass for you. This is the first Mass in which you will be participating fully. You will no longer just watch others receive holy communion, you will be receiving Jesus into your hearts today, like everyone else. You have been waiting many years, Jesus too. Finally in about 20 minutes or so, you and Jesus will become one, united spiritually AND physically! Are you looking forward to it? Yes, I thought so, thus I decided to shorten my homily from 30 minutes to just 10 minutes, is that good? But you will need to be patient, because to receive Jesus fully into your hearts, yo...

 At Cenchreae, he had shaved his head because he had taken a vow. At the end of the first reading, we heard that Paul shaved his head because of a vow he took. Scholars have suggested that very likely Paul had taken a Nazarite vow, and at the completion of the term and requirements, he would shave his head. Such a custom is common in Asia, especially in India. Catholic devotees would make vows to Mother Mary or some saints. Hindus also practice the same, taking vows to their deities, and they would shave their heads in response to the fulfilment of their petitions or requests. My mother was such a devotee, she took many vows. When my parents were childless for 7 years, my mother took many vows in return for the blessing of a child. One of which she promised to shave the head of her first child at the Velankanni Shrine. It is a major Marian shrine located in another state next to where my family lived. Finally, my mother gave birth to 7 children over 13 years, she could not travel t...

 "You will weep and mourn while the world rejoices; you will grieve, but your grief will become joy." Why do we weep and mourn? We weep when we experience deep sadness or regret, we mourn when we lose something which, or someone who means a lot to us or is critical to our lives. We grieve for ourselves mostly, but we also grieve for others sometimes when we can empathize with their sadness or loss. Why does Jesus say that the disciples will weep and mourn? He tells them, “A little while and you will no longer see me…” The disciples were in sorrow and remorse when Jesus was crucified on the cross, they thought they had lost Him forever. Then they rejoiced at His resurrection, and now they are going to be separated from Him again. This time, they will not be weeping just for themselves, but will also be weeping and mourning for those who would reject them and their preaching. Those who reject the Christ are unknowingly depriving their souls from what is most important for their...

About midnight, while Paul and Silas were praying and singing hymns to God… This part of the first reading really struck me. Paul and Silas had just been beaten badly with rods and thrown into the innermost cell prison, with their feet chained up. They must be in extreme pain, every inch of their bodies, feeling very uncomfortable being chained up, very hungry and thirsty. Yet they prayed and sang hymns to God. How many of us can sing while having a bad headache? I can’t even smile. What was it that kept Paul and Silas, and the other apostles going and glorifying God even when they were tortured, suffering and in great pain? We live in a society of pain avoidance, we want a painless life, painless religion, painless relationships, painless death. And so we rely on painkillers, we want comfort and minimal struggles. My papa had cancer, and in his final days, he went through great pain. In India, we do not administer morphine. I was not with my papa when he passed away, but my sister tol...

After she and her household had been baptized, she offered us an invitation… In the previous readings, we saw that after Pentecost, the preaching of the apostles converted thousands each time. But this time in Macedonia, after preaching to a group of women, only one woman named Lydia, and her household, received baptism. In the following chapters, we see the same trend. As the apostles preached throughout the Greek cities, the conversions were sporadic. However, they did not give up, they continued to preach the good news tirelessly and with the same fervor. Last year, I was asked to take a class for family faith formation, to kick-off the program for the year. So I made extra effort to prepare some nice slides and an inspiring message. When the day came, only two families showed up. There was some miscommunication. I was disappointed and conducted the session casually, without using the slides. In my heart I felt let down and lost my enthusiasm to inspire. That is quite natural and un...

“There was great joy in that city”. Can you imagine a whole city of people with great joy? I can imagine it in my mind, but I can’t imagine it in our world. In our cities, there is great sadness, hatred, confusion, division. What can we do to experience the same joy that Samaria experienced? Philip, was a newly appointed deacon, preached about Christ to the Samaritans, they accepted the word of God and received the baptism in the name of Jesus. They believed and they were saved. Thus, the great joy. Are we too deeply joyful that we are baptized in the Lord? Are we also joyful when we witness new baptisms in our parish? Lost souls find their loving God and accept His love to become His adopted children. What could be more joyful than this? When the apostles heard about Samaria’s conversion, Peter and John went to pray over them for the Holy spirit to come down upon them. Their joy must have doubled at least. That event was known as the Samaritan Pentecost.  In three weeks’ time, it ...

 "And God, who knows the heart, bore witness by granting them the Holy Spirit just as he did us. He made no distinction between us and them, for by faith he purified their hearts." In the first reading, we hear about the debate among the apostles regarding the Gentile Christians and the Jewish practices. The Jewish believers, who were followers of the Mosaic law and its dietary rules, were concerned that the newly converted Gentiles were not following the Jewish customs. Then Peter spoke up, and declared this truth, that God has granted the Gentile converts the same Holy Spirit as the Apostles, and that He has made no distinctions between them. This silenced the whole assembly. Although created, loved and saved by the same God, it is still a challenge to accept one another’s differences in culture, history, language and practices. Why? We can still see distinctions and differentiation within the Church. With globalization and immigration, churches are filled with people from ...

We heard in the Gospel today, Jesus is telling His disciples, "Remain in me, as I remain in you. Just as a branch cannot bear fruit on its own unless it remains on the vine." How many of you enjoy gardening? Have you ever noticed what happens when you cut off a branch from a plant? What will happen to that branch? It will dry up, wither and die after a short time, right? Some of you don’t do gardening so you may not be familiar and may not understand. What about this - how many of you use a mobile phone or tablet? What happens when the battery is used up and you don't charge it? Yes, it shuts down and stops working. You can’t play on it, can’t send messages, can’t make calls, you can’t even switch it on. The mobile phone or tablet is dead! So what should you do to revive it? Yes, you connect it to the power source to charge it, either plug in to the electrical outlet or to a power bank to power up the battery. Only then does the phone become useful again, right? Our spiri...

 Jesus said to his disciples: "Peace, I leave with you; my peace I give to you. Not as the world gives do I give it to you. Do not let your hearts be troubled or afraid."  These same first disciples were persecuted and martyred thereafter. What is the peace that Jesus gives? When we were seven children all together at home, it was so wild. Looking back at those days, I admire my parents with their faith and patience. When it got too noisy with our playing or fighting, mommy would walk out of the house and just sit out somewhere. If we go look for her, she would tell us, "Leave me alone. I need some quiet time, a little bit of peace." After some time, she would regain her energy and come back in to continue her chores.  When we think of peace, most of us would visualize a relaxed environment, having no work, no stress, no trouble, no noise, no enemies. Many times, I thought, "If I get enough funds for the daily needs of this parish, I will be at peace." Is ...

 “It is not right for us to neglect the word of God to serve at the table.” This scenario was the beginning of the life of the Church. As described in the first reading, “The word of God continued to spread, and the number of disciples in Jerusalem increased greatly.” The conversions were in the thousands, new communities were forming fast.  We can imagine the Apostles busy teaching and preaching the word of God and serving the daily needs and expectations of the new communities. New situations appeared. Problems arose. Needs were great. How could the Apostles keep the people satisfied without neglecting their basic mission? They cannot do everything themselves. They need to prioritize. They need to organize. And so, the role of deacons was created. In today’s first reading we see the selection of God-fearing men to assist the Apostles in serving the daily needs of the people, so that the Apostles, the church’s first bishops, could focus on their main responsibility as emphasi...

 “The inhabitants of Jerusalem and their leaders failed to recognize him, and by condemning him they fulfilled the oracles of the prophets that are read sabbath after sabbath.” The Jewish people and their leaders knew scripture very well. For generations, they had been waiting for the coming of the Messiah. Why was it that they could not recognize Him when He came in their midst? Sabbath after sabbath, they had been reading the books of law and the prophets and preaching the promises of God. Yes, they were familiar, in fact, they were too familiar. The risk of becoming too familiar with something or someone is that we tend to lose focus, we lose the sharpness and sensitivity to its existence and fail to recognize its presence, until it is gone or changed. We become too comfortable and take for granted, we forget their value, their importance, until we lose them. The scriptures were meant to highlight the signs of the Messiah’s coming. However, the Jewish leaders had used it to prot...

Today’s first reading ends with this: “…and it was in Antioch that the disciples were first called Christians.” The English term ‘Christians’ means ‘Christ believer or follower’. The language used in Antioch was Greek and in Greek, the disciples were called ‘Kristianos’. Is there a difference? ‘Kristianos’ is a diminutive form of Christ. In scripture, Christ is known as ‘the anointed one’. Thus, ‘Kristianos’ would be translated as ‘little Christs’ or ‘little anointed ones’. So, the disciples were more than mere believers or followers, they were seen as ‘Christ’ in smaller forms, anointed, consecrated, holy, sacred. They were not the Messiah, but they were seen as representations of the Messiah, doing what He did, to save, by preaching the good news. We read, “They were proclaiming the Lord Jesus….and taught a large number of people.” They were tirelessly preaching the word to all. Nothing could stop them from spreading the good news of Jesus, not even persecution.  We too are Chris...

Peter began to explain it to them step by step, saying, "I was at prayer in the city of Joppa when, in a trance, I had a vision..." Visions are powerful, they change lives. The ability to see images representing important divine messages from God is both a gift and a responsibility. Divine visions help us in our faith journey and are meant to be shared with others. Personally, I like Simon Peter’s vision. Because of that revelation from God, food restrictions were lifted and I am thus free to eat anything I want. Thanks be to God! When there are disputes among church members, we may invite great theologians of the time to help resolve the issues. Yet, the Church has overcome many problems and sail through critical times through the visions of saints and visionaries who were without any theological background.  In the Book of Revelations, the visions of St. John provide the crucial answers to many questions about end times, Mary’s role in salvation, the origin of evil, and mor...