Homily: May 5, 2023, Friday of the Fourth week of Easter (Recognize Jesus))

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 “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 protect and defend their authority. They were often on the lookout for false or blasphemous prophets, it had become a part of their religious practice. So, when Jesus came, instead of recognizing His works and teachings as fulfilling the prophecies, they accused him of blasphemy.

We too can become numb to routine and dulled by familiarity if we just go through the motions of religiosity. Do we also face the danger of not recognizing Jesus in our daily encounters?


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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: May 1, 2024: May crowning Mass at Holy Family School

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 "A great sign appeared in the sky, a woman clothed with the sun, with the moon under her feet, and on her head a crown of twelve stars.” Did you remember hearing this from today’s first reading? This verse really struck me. The ‘woman clothed with the sun’ mentioned, do you know who this woman is? Yes, it is referring to Mary, the Mother of Jesus. St. John the Apostle had this vision and he described the mother of the Jesus as ‘clothed with the sun, with the moon under her feet, and on her heard a crown of twelve stars’. Who would usually wear a crown? Yes, a king or a queen.  It is a symbol of their authority over everyone in the country, a sign of the power vested in them to rule the people and for them to obey their rule. So, Mother Mary is a queen, who wears a crown of twelve stars. Why twelve? Do you know what in the Bible are twelve in number? Yes, there were twelve tribes of Israel and Jesus had twelve apostles. The twelve tribes of Israel descended from the twelve chi...
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Homily: February 18, 2025, Tuesday of the Sixth Week in Ordinary Time (Leaven)

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 Jesus enjoined them, “Watch out, guard against the leaven of the Pharisees and the leaven of Herod.” What is ‘the leaven of the Pharisees’ and ‘the leaven of Herod’? In this passage, Jesus must have been trying to teach His disciples something very important, but they were all thinking about food, specifically about bread, such that they didn’t understand what He was teaching. Who can blame them? Like all of us, they too had practical concerns, they were worried about the lack of food on the journey. But Jesus was trying to warn them of something more worrying, something which will not just keep them hungry, but will also destroy life. Recently, during my vacation with my sister, I listened to a Bible podcast she was following. Coincidentally, that episode was discussing the significance of the unleavened bread in the Old Testament. Why did God command the Israelites in Egypt to eat unleavened bread for their Passover feast? 1. Because they had to eat in haste, to finish their m...
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Homily: March 5, 2023, Second Sunday in lent (Migration- Transfiguration)

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 India gained independence from Britain in 1947 but was hit by a severe famine thereafter. People had to find ways just to survive. My grandfather, with his nine children, decided to move to the high ranges of the Kerala state to survive. My father was then six years old, he was the youngest child. They walked 40 miles to finally settle down and occupy around 100 acres of forest, which was also home to Bengal tigers, king cobra snakes, and wild elephants. Grandpa fought wild animal attacks to protect all his children and he lived on well till 97 years old. In Kerala, the youngest son has the responsibility to care for the parents and so my siblings and I lived with grandpa in that same home. Grandpa would tell us many stories about the dangers he encountered and how he overcame them. I have always thought those were the greatest life stories until I came to St. Ambrose. Here, I have heard life stories with much greater dangers and how people escaped from war with babies in their ar...
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Homily: May 6, 2025, Tuesday of he Third week of Easter (Daily -Martydom)

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 "Lord Jesus, receive my spirit." Then he fell to his knees and cried out in a loud voice, "Lord, do not hold this sin against them." The courage of St. Stephen, the first Christian martyr, always amazes me. Where did he get such strength? How was he able to withstand the big solid stones being thrown at him?  Imagine the heavy and harsh hits on the face, the head, the chest, everywhere on the body – breaking skin, damaging flesh and smashing the bones. Pain aside, how could he still pray for them who were hurting and killing him at that moment? What gave him such strength? It was what he believed, his firm and steadfast faith. Stephen knew who was waiting for him in heaven. As we heard at the beginning of the reading: “Stephen, filled with the Holy Spirit, looked up intently to heaven and saw the glory of God and Jesus standing at the right hand of God.” He saw Jesus, the King of Martyrs, waiting for him in glory. Jesus was waiting to receive Him. Surely Stephen’s ...
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Homily: November 25, 2025, Monday of the Thirty-Fourth week in Ordinary Time (Giving)

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“For those others have all made offerings from their surplus wealth, but she, from her poverty, has offered her whole livelihood.” How much do you love God? How grateful are you to God who has given you everything you need, including His own life? When we love someone deeply, we would be more than willing to give everything we have for the good of the person we love, right? And if we are truly grateful to someone, we would show appreciation in the most sincere and respectful way, wouldn’t we? Recently, a friend told me what one priest shared in his homily: “Don’t give to God as you would give to a homeless beggar.” That struck me. God does not need our sympathy, He does not need our money, He wants our love and gratitude. But church needs money to function, to accomplish God’s mission, so when we give to church, we are giving to God. So how much does the church need, how much do we give? Some general statistics look alarming. Typically, only about 30% of parishioners are supporting a p...
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Homily: November 6, 2022, Thirty-second Sunday in Ordinary Time.

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 “We are ready to die rather than transgress the laws of our ancestors.” To the seven brothers and their mother, their faithfulness to the laws were more precious than their lives, so to face death was not a threat to them. Having seen the death of his brothers, the fourth brother declared, “It is my choice to die at the hands of men with the hope God gives of being raised up by him.” That was the reason for their courage, that they believed in being raised up by God after death. They would rather die a faithful death than live a faithless life. The first reading went on to say, “Even the king and his attendants marvelled at the young man’s courage because he regarded this suffering as nothing.” Dying a swift death is something, but to bear cruel torture and torment before dying takes more than just guts.  Indeed, the brothers’ and their mother’s courage in accepting suffering and death were marvellous. I too feel amazed at their grit and courage. I wonder if I would be able t...
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Homily: June 6, 2024, Thursday of the Ninth Week in Ordinary Time.

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“Therefore, I bear with everything for the sake of those who are chosen, so that they too may obtain the salvation that is in Christ Jesus, together with eternal glory.” Before Paul was converted, he was enjoying success, recognition, authority and power as a Christian persecutor. But when he encountered Jesus and began to love the Lord and His sheep with all his heart, all his understanding, and all his strength, the sufferings also began to come to him, and he had to ‘bear with everything’. We all suffer in one way or another. We all have our own crosses to carry, but it is important to know whether we are carrying a cross because of salvation or because of our own wrong actions. There is an effect to every cause, and a consequence to every action. The consequence of wrong decisions, foolish actions, prideful deeds, selfish greed, over-ambitious endeavor, unhealthy relationships, financial mismanagement, and addictive habits is suffering. And these are self-inflicted sufferings, they...
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Homilía: Marzo 24, 2022, Jueves de la III semana de Cuaresma.

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 “El que no está conmigo, está contra mí; y el que no recoge conmigo, desparrama”.”. El mensaje de Jesús es muy claro. No podemos seguir a Jesús parcialmente. Si no lo estamos siguiendo de todo corazón, no somos sus seguidores. Hoy es el vigésimo día de Cuaresma, sin contar los domingos. Estamos a la mitad. ¿Recuerdas lo que decidiste hacer especial para estos 40 días de Cuaresma? ¿Lo estás cumpliendo? Mientras nos esforzamos por fortalecernos espiritualmente, los demonios se esfuerzan más para mantenernos deprimidos. Me pregunto quién está a la cabeza en esta mitad de camino. En mis años de infancia, solo los niños ricos de mi pueblo podían tener bicicletas. Cuando estaba en quinto grado, mi hermano mayor y yo decidimos recolectar flores silvestres de nuez moscada del bosque cercano para venderlas y poder comprar una bicicleta. Nos despertábamos muy temprano en la mañana y corríamos al bosque para buscar y recolectar tantas como fuera posible. Muchos niños de otros pueblos estaban...
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Homily: February 25, 2024, Second Sunday in lent (Obedient to death)

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 “And in your descendants all the nations of the earth shall find blessing— all this because you obeyed my command." This Sunday’s first reading ends with these words. This is so powerful. God promises Abraham that because of his obedience and faithfulness to God, all the nations of the earth all through the generations will be blessed. It was a very difficult test that Abraham had gone through, his only son who was born at his old age had to be sacrificed as an offering to God, and he was willing. How many of us would be willing to do the same? Abraham, a human father, was willing to sacrifice his only son to please God. Would not God, our heavenly Father be willing to sacrifice His only beloved Son to save His people? Thus, Abraham proved himself worthy to be the father of all the faithful. His obedience and faithfulness remain to this day, 4000 years later, a perfect model for all of us, his descendants. God called Abraham out of his comfort to a life of seeking the land promis...
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