Homily: May 10, 2023, Wednesday of the Fifth week of Easter (Holy family School Mass)

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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 spiritual lives are the same. Our power source is Jesus. We need to stay connected to Jesus, to keep receiving the power of spiritual gifts so that we can do what we have been created to do, that is to bring about wonderful fruits like love, compassion, kindness, joy, peace, generosity, and so on. Fruits that will give life to others and make the world a beautiful place to live in.

So, remember to stay connected with Jesus as often as possible. Power up when you feel low and weak, sad and sick, by receiving the sacraments, with prayer and Bible reading.

Talk to Jesus always and let Him charge you and power you up full. Never be disconnected, and you will be ok. God bless you always.

Amen.


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

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  “Be holy, for I, the LORD, your God, am Holy”. Both the first and Gospel readings today presented a ‘to-do’ and ‘not-to-do’ list. Some are really tough tasks. Can we ever accomplish them? Is it possible for us to be holy? We all know that at the sacrament of reconciliation, it is Jesus Himself who is sitting at the confessional, listening to the confessions. And the sacred privilege for me as a priest, is that I get to see as God sees and hear as God hears. And what does God see and hear? He doesn’t see our failures. He sees our brokenness. He doesn’t hear our sins. He hears our desire to be good. And God wants to help us. He reaches out to us, pouring out His graces. We desire to be holy and God desires the same. In that moment of reconciliation, in that meeting of desires, we become holy. And I, the priest who witnesses that sacred moment, also become holy. The very first step to becoming holy is to desire holiness. To desire becoming what God wants us to be, to be like Him, to...
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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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From the first reading, we heard Stephen declare, “Behold, I see the heavens opened and the Son of Man standing at the right hand of God.” But his persecutors ‘cried out in a loud voice, covered their ears, and rushed upon him together.’ If we could visualize the scene, we would imagine Stephen looking radiant with joy as he anticipated his death, while his persecutors looking tormented and fearful as they prepared to kill. We know why Stephen was joyful as he looked up to heaven, because he could see where his future would be. We also know why his persecutors were afraid as they closed their ears to Stephen’s words, because they did not want to hear the truth. It tormented their conscience and pierced through the darkness in their hearts. I am sure we ourselves may have experienced the same, when our wrong doings were being highlighted, when our shame were being revealed or when our hurts were being exposed, we might also cry out, “stop! I don’t want to hear it! I don’t want to know i...
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 “For the vision still has its time, presses on to fulfillment, and will not disappoint; if it delays, wait for it, it will surely come, it will not be late.” These powerful words from the prophet Habakkuk point towards hope. Hope in the fulfillment of God’s promises, despite the people’s failures. Habakkuk is one of the twelve minor prophets in the Old Testament, a small book of just three chapters, but every line is theologically deep. Habakkuk lived in the 7th century before the Babylonian exile. He saw the kingdom of Judah sinking in moral decay, corruption, and spiritual emptiness. The kings were weak, the people disobedient, and the once glorious nation of Israel was on the brink of collapse. Meanwhile, nearby nation Babylon was rising in power and strength, and ruthlessness. Habakkuk could see what was coming, and it terrified him. He wrestled with God in prayer. “Lord, how long?” he cried. Why do the wicked prosper while the righteous suffer? And God’s answer was simple yet...
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 But Moses said to God, "Who am I that I should go to Pharaoh and lead the children of Israel out of Egypt?" Moses’ response reminds me of an action-packed movie by Jackie Chan titled, "Who Am I?" In the movie, his character lost his memory after an accident and went through much danger and adventure to find out his identity and accomplish his mission. Along the way he had to decide who were the people he could trust. The movie aside, back to today’s readings. I was like Moses when Bishop Joensen told me about my transfer to St. Ambrose Cathedral. I too questioned, “Who am I to take on this position? There are others better than I. I am not competent enough for this.” Sometimes when I approach people to assist in parish projects as leaders, they shy away and are too modest to say yes. They don’t think they are capable enough. We might be looking at ourselves and feel unworthy. We might be looking at our life and feel uneasy stepping out of our comfort zone. But look...
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