Homily: July 10, 2023, Monday of the Fourteenth Week in Ordinary Time (Generations)

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 “Then he had a dream: a stairway rested on the ground, with its top reaching to the heavens; and God's messengers were going up and down on it. And there was the LORD standing beside him and saying: "I, the LORD, am the God of your forefather Abraham and the God of Isaac.”

Dreams are fascinating. I am usually aware of many of my dreams, both wonderful and scary ones. Sometimes, I get woken up by the sound of my alarm in the middle of a nice dream. I would stop the alarm and try to sleep again to continue that dream. Do you do that too?

Sometimes the dreams are so terrible, I would wake up middle of the night in shock. Someone once told me that we dream in the languages we know. I have had good conversations in different languages in my dreams.

But I have never experienced a dream as beautiful as Jacob's. Seeing a stairway from heaven to earth with angels going up and down and hearing the voice of God, that is so wonderful. We all need dreams like this.

At that point in Jacob’s life, he needed such a vision because he was running away from his family after cheating his brother of his birthright. He was probably feeling guilty and fearful.

In Jacob’s dream, God told him that He is the God of Abraham and Isaac, thus assuring him that He will protect and bless Jacob in the same way He had protected and blessed his forefathers.

In later chapters, God also reassured Joseph that He is the Lord of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob. 

Every generation received God’s protection and blessing. Many generations therefore will praise God for His providence, protection, and care.

When I look back and think of my own parents, grandparents, and great-grandparents, I can say with confidence that my God is the God of my great-grandfather, my grandfather, and my father. He had provided for them, protected them, and loved them. He will surely do the same for me.

Dear brothers and sisters, we are not alone in our faith. Many, many generations before us who lived in faith, have been blessed, our God is trustworthy and reliable.

Please close your eyes and take a moment to thank God for His faithfulness to our forefathers, faithful to us and I am sure He will continue to be faithful in blessing our next generations.

Let us repeat the response we declared in our responsorial psalm: In you, my God, I place my trust. Amen.


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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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