Homily: July 24, 2023, Monday of the Sixteenth Week in Ordinary Time (Be still)

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 “The LORD himself will fight for you; you have only to keep still.”

Recently I went off a few days with my older cousin priest to Wisconsin. We stayed over a beautiful lake house at Luck, WI. 

Our host Russ told us not to go outside at night because he recently spotted a bear a few times near his house. I wondered then what I should do if a big bear ever attacks me. What would you do?

What would you do?

Some people advised that when a bear attacks, play dead. According to Stephen Herrero, a bear expert, playing dead makes the bear think you are not a threat and so it may back off. Thus saves the day, and your life!

But truly, it is easier said than done. When we come face to face with danger, when we meet with an emergency, something we think is beyond our strength to handle, many of us would panic. We would lose our sense of logic, we lose our cool, we start to do things which might just make the situation worse, we say things which might backfire.

And here in the first reading, we see the Israelites, having escaped from Egypt but were not totally free from danger. The Egyptian army were coming after them real fast and fierce! In that panic and fear, they began to blame Moses and God for delivering them from slavery.

And Moses told them the wisest and supposedly easiest thing to do, “The Lord himself will fight for you; you have only to keep still.”

Isn’t that easy?

But somehow, keeping still and doing nothing is so difficult for many of us, because we lack faith. If we have enough faith and believe that God will do the fighting for us and He will surely win, then we should be able to relax and keep still, wait for His next instructions, and then move accordingly.

When we panic and lose faith, our fears increase and we panic more, we might just make the wrong move.

I know it is not easy, I too am still learning. But let us believe and have faith. Let us remember these words in our hearts and recall them when we come face to face with the grizzly bears in our life again, “The Lord himself will fight for you; you have only to keep still.” Amen.


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Homily: November 16, 2024 Saturday of the Thirty Second week in Ordinary time (Find Faith)

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"But many in Israel were determined and resolved in their hearts not to eat anything unclean; they preferred to die rather than be defiled with unclean food or profane the holy covenant, and they did die.” At the beginning of the first reading, the situation of the Israelites was disappointing. There were many ‘breakers of the law’ who ‘seduced’ their fellow Jews to discard their covenant with God. Many chose to disobey and disown God, and accepted the gods and deities of the Gentiles, believing that would protect their lives. They were quick to give up their faith in the generous God of Abraham, Isaac, Jacob, and Moses because of some difficulties and discomfort in life. That led to the persecution of the Jews during the time of the Maccabees. But when we come to the end of the reading, the determination of some of the Jews ‘not to eat anything unclean’ shows that there were many who kept the covenant with God and were faithful even in the face of death. There is hope. Looking at...
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"Come after me, and I will make you fishers of men." Jesus called out to Simon and Andrew. Without hesitation, they left their nets and followed Him. Just a few moments later and a short distance further, Jesus called out the same to James and John, and they, too, left their father and workers to follow Him. Did they know what was required to be fishers of men? What commitment did they have to make? What would it cost them to give up their familiar trade? What if the invitation turned out bad? What if it was a scam? What if Jesus was a false prophet? There are many considerations before making a major life changing decision, right? Yes, right, and that is what I would usually do when faced with a major decision. Very often I would think of the many options and alternatives, I worry about making mistakes, I worry about consequences, to the point where I would not be able to decide, I cannot move on, I feel overwhelmed. I would respond, “Let me pray about it.” Yes, I would pray...
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Funeral Homily: William J. Baum, June 8, 2023

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 The souls of the just are in the hand of God, and no torment shall touch them. The soul of Bill is in the hand of God, no torment shall touch him. We are here to bid our final farewell to Bill, our beloved brother, grandpa, dad, husband, friend. I feel privileged to have known Bill these last two years and honored to preside over this Mass for his sending off. Many of you would have known him much longer and much better than I. I wish I had more time with him. I was awed when I read his obituary, his life story is inspirational. I know from my encounter with him that he was a dedicated husband, a loving and caring father, the greatest fan to every one of his grandchildren, and an incredible friend to countless people here and around the world. His going would surely leave a void in our lives. It is only natural that we grieve this loss. Bill was a man of remarkable character. His love for life, his sense of humor, and his thoughtfulness for others were the hallmarks of his persona...
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 “Beloved: Clothe yourselves with humility in your dealings with one another, for: God opposes the proud but bestows favor on the humble.” Humility – such a simple word but probably the most difficult to practice. It goes against our pride and ego. And the moment we think we are humble, we have lost it. As the river always flows towards the lower ground, so God's graces will also flow towards those who are humble of heart. The more we lower ourselves in humility, the more graces and blessings we receive. Mother Mary is the most humble woman, that is why she is full of grace. The logic is simple, the humble persons empty their hearts of ego and pride, thus having room for God’s graces to pour in. God wants to shower graces upon the arrogant ones too, but their hearts are so full of themselves, there is just no space for anything else. Thus they miss out on the precious graces of God. Those who are truly humble do not consider themselves higher nor lower than anyone, they do not have...
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Homily: Noviembre 15, 2022, Martes de la XXXIII semana del Tiempo ordinario

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 Ya en la primera lectura escuchamos: “Ponte alerta y reaviva lo que queda”. Cada palabra en la Biblia es inspirada por el Espíritu Santo, cada mensaje y enseñanza es tan relevante hoy, como lo fue en la antigüedad, y lo será hasta el final de los tiempos. Por eso el mensaje que nuestro Señor le dio a San Juan para la Iglesia en Sardes también está destinado a nosotros. La iglesia en Sardes tenía personas que dejaban la fe. Algunos incluso vivían en oposición al mensaje del evangelio que recibieron de los apóstoles. Miremos la iglesia en USA, ¿tenemos también la misma situación que Sardes? Vemos una gran decadencia de la fe en este país. El número de personas sin afiliación a ninguna religión va en aumento. Muchos creyentes tampoco son seguidores activos, son cristianos solo de nombre. En todas las parroquias de los EE. UU., el número promedio de católicos que asisten a misa con regularidad es de aproximadamente el 30-35 % del total de feligreses registrados, ¿dónde está el resto d...
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Homily:August 18, 2024, Twentieth Sunday in Ordinary Time (Wisdom)

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 “Let whoever is simple turn in here; To the one who lacks understanding, she says, Come, eat of my food, and drink of the wine I have mixed!” This generous invitation in today’s first reading is from Lady Wisdom. This reading is taken from Chapter 9 of the Book of Proverbs which portrays two women: Lady Wisdom and Dame Folly. Our first reading presents only the invitation of Lady Wisdom. She invites us, ‘whoever is simple’, to her home to enjoy the real good life, one of understanding and food good for our body and soul, while Dame Folly attracts people to destruction. Many people seek wisdom, sometimes for unwise reasons, often in the wrong places, and in the wrong ways. Wisdom is unlike knowledge and intellect, it is not something we can gain through studying or hard work, it does not come automatically with age or experience; it is ultimately a gift from the Holy Spirit. In Proverbs 2:6, it says ‘For the Lord gives wisdom…” I am very blessed to have met many wise people who in ...
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Homily: March 14, 2023, Tuesday of the Third week in Ordinary time.

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 In the first reading we heard “But with contrite heart and humble spirit let us be received”. And our Gospel text today ends with these words “unless each of you forgives your brother from your heart”. It is very clear what God wants of us in our relationship with Him and in our relationship with one another. It is all about the heart. Worship God with a contrite heart, forgiving brother from our heart. So being a disciple of Christ is an inside job. From times of old, beginning with the Israelites, the tradition of pleasing God with burnt offerings, sacrifices, incense, first fruits and so on continues to our time. Our liturgy expresses our worship in similar rituals. And in this Lenten season, we are also encouraged to make sacrifices, fast, pray and give alms. All these are good and helpful in cultivating a spiritual discipline of self-denial and putting God in the focus, but if we do it without a sincere, contrite heart, would it really please God? Our God is a God who looks i...
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