Homily: May 7, 2023, Fifth Sunday of Easter (The word)

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 “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 emphasized in Mark 16:15, “Go into the whole world and proclaim the gospel to every creature.”

This was the first and foremost mission of the disciples, and this is our mission too, the mission of the church. To preach the word of God, proclaiming the good news to all, is what we are called to do, because it is the Word that save souls, not the feeding and clothing and satisfaction of material needs.

St. Peter reminds us in the second reading, "You are a chosen race, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, a people of His own...”

We are a chosen race. Definitely, this vocation we have been given, this faith we have received is not a coincidence, it is not luck, but each and every one of us is chosen to be ‘a people of His own’. Our relationship with God is not by chance, but by choice, God’s choice. Do we realize how blessed and privileged we are to belong to the one true God?

We are a royal priesthood, a holy nation. There are no opposing parties in God’s kingdom, we all share one common priesthood of royalty, and we are not differentiated but are one united holy nation.

For what purpose? Why such great titles given to being the people of God?

As St. Peter explained further, "So that you may announce the praise of Him who called you out of darkness into His wonderful light."

When we preach the Word, we are praising God.

The Word of God is not mere words in a language to express our thoughts, but it is Jesus Himself, the Word made flesh. This Word is powerful.

Hebrews 4:11 says, “The word of God is living and effective, sharper than any two-edged sword, penetrating even between soul and spirit, joints and marrow, and able to discern reflections and thoughts of the heart.”

When we preach it, we are allowing God to release life into the hearts of our listeners. As our Lord says, "The words that I speak to you, I do not speak on my own. The Father who dwells in me is doing His works."

This Easter season, we walk in the light of the resurrected Lord. We become a beacon of light for others when Christ’s light shines through us, when we preach the Word.

Lord, may Your Word be a lamp unto my feet and a light unto my path. Amen.


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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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Funeral Homily: William J. Baum, June 8, 2023

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Homily:" May 7, 2024. Tuesday of the Sixth week of Easter (praise and worship in Prison)

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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 Lord God took Abram outside and said, “Look up at the sky and count the stars if you can. Just so,” he added, “shall your descendants be.”  “I am the LORD who brought you from Ur of the Chaldeans to give you this land as a possession.” God made these two promises to Abram. For the people in ancient times, and for many even in modern times, having children as heir and owning land as property are two most important possessions in life. Abram had been leading a nomadic life for many years and his wife Sarai, already in her old age, was still childless at that time. So, Abram doubted and questioned, “how am I to know…?” Have you been praying for something important, bearing heavy burdens while waiting, trying to keep hopeful but still you received nothing? Would you also doubt and question God? In response to Abram’s doubt, God assured him by cutting a covenant with him, known as a covenant of the pieces. In ancient times, when people entered a treaty, a contractual agreement, they wo
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Homily: January 30, 2023, Monday of the Fourth Week in Ordinary Time

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Homily: March 24, 2022, Thursday of the Third Week of Lent

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 “Whoever is not with me is against me, and whoever does not gather with me, scatters.” Jesus’ message is so clear. We cannot follow Jesus partially. If we are not following him whole heartedly, we are not his followers. Today is the 20th day of Lent, not counting Sundays. We are halfway through. Do you remember what you decided you will do specially for these 40 days of Lent? Are you keeping up to it? While we are trying hard to grow stronger spiritually, the devils are working harder to keep us down. I wonder who is in the lead at this halfway mark? In my childhood years, only rich children in my village could afford to own bikes. When I was in the 5th grade, my older brother and I decided to collect wild nutmeg flowers from the nearby forest to sell, so that we can afford to buy a bike.  We would wake up very early in the morning and run to the forest to search and collect as many as possible. Many children from other villages were doing the same so whoever got there first would get
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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: 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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 "And how you turned to God from idols to serve the living and true God and to await His Son from heaven."  Thessalonica was a Greek city. Before the people encountered St. Paul’s preaching, they were practicing idol worshipping, they had numerous deities which they turn to for their needs and wants. They made statues to worship and accorded much superstitious powers to these statues of various deities.  They believed that many of their wishes and requests were answered through these. Such worship gave them much sensual satisfaction and immediate gratification. These heightened the worshippers’ reliance on the deities. As such, it was not easy for the people to give up idol worship. Although St. Paul’s preaching about Christ and the good news of eternal salvation were powerful in converting some of the Thessalonians, he could not remove them completely from the old habits of idol worshipping. They were living in the city which was still very much practicing the old ways. Even
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