Homily: July 31, 2023 Monday of the seventeenth week in Ordinary time (Leader)

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 “Taking the calf, they had made, he fused it in the fire and then ground it down to powder, which he scattered on the water and made the children of Israel drink.”

Moses was really furious and was fast to execute a terrible punishment for the people. I wonder if he reacted that way on behalf of God or if he took the offence personally.

In today’s reading, the children of Israel indeed committed a very grave sin. They committed it while Moses was away and left the leadership to Aaron. The sin was against God, who was aware of what happened, yet He did not punish them immediately. He later answered Moses, “When it is time for me to punish, I will punish them for their sin.”

God has His plan and His time. What He needed Moses to do was simply this, “…go and lead the people to the place I have told you.”

So, a good Christian leader should focus on doing the job God has instructed, and respect God’s plan and time. Leave the judgement and punishment to God.

Moses was totally faithful to God, and willing to do all that God commands him to. However, His stubbornness with the people had caused him to take over the control from God and forget who the Master is.

The Master is the one who declared Himself at the burning bush, “The Lord, the Lord, the compassionate and gracious God, slow to anger, abounding in love and faithfulness.”

Shouldn’t everyone who represent God in leadership, also represent His gracious and compassionate approach, and imitate His love, faithfulness and slowness to anger?

This is a message for all of us who are leaders in one way or another, especially for me, as a priest. There were times in my life when I forgot that my vocation is simply to lead people to where God wants them to be, not to judge or punish them. When I take time to judge them, I will not have time to love them.

My calling is to be the face of Christ to God’s people, to show them the way to be faithful, loving, forgiving and merciful. To be gracious and compassionate like my Master.

And so, it is the same for you who are ministry leaders, workplace superiors, school seniors, parents, grandparents. In our privileged positions with authority and power over others, let us remember to imitate the Lord, in representing Him, not ourselves.

Let us be faithful to God, fulfilling the mission He entrusted to us, to lead with love. Amen.


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Homily: May 26, 2026 Tuesday of the Eighth week in Ordinary Time (Leave Everything)

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Homily: May 23, 2024, Holy Family school Graduation Mass.

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Homily: October 8, 2023, Twentyseventh sunday in ordinary time (wild grapes and bad tenants)

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“The kingdom of God will be taken away from you  and given to a people that will produce its fruit.” We are now in harvesting season. Many months before this, we were planting and pruning, now we see the results, the fruits, the produce. Our two readings today are also about producing and harvesting fruits. In the first reading the vineyard produced wild grapes instead of good grapes. What went wrong? If the vineyard owner had done everything right, and yet the vineyard brought forth wild grapes, then the problem must have been the soil? Yet it was a land set on the fertile hillside. There is nothing the vineyard owner could do than to let it waste and be cursed. In the Gospel, the story is not about the soil which could not produce, but the tenants who refused to give the produce back to the vineyard owner. What went wrong? The produce must have been good, and the tenants might have become greedy, and wanted to keep all the harvest to themselves and even planned to kill to take ov...
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Homily: January 11, 2026, Feast of the Baptism of the Lord (Beloved)

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 “This is my beloved Son, with whom I am well pleased.” These words were spoken by God was not meant to be a private revelation. It was heard by everyone present on that day, all who witnessed Jesus being baptized by John.  These words were blessings from God, springing forth from His heart. Before Jesus preached a single sermon, before He healed anyone, before He suffered persecution and death, His Father in heaven proclaimed the Truth over Him: This is my beloved Son. Jesus lived His entire life grounded in that truth. He never struggled with His identity. He never doubted His mission on Earth. He knows who He is and why He has come. His purpose is to do the will of the Father, to reveal to the whole world who God is, to show to all generations how God loves and thus save all of humanity. Let us look again at where Jesus was baptized, the River Jordan. Its waters flows from near Mount Hermon, in between Lebanon and Syria, runs through fertile land, carrying nourishment for t...
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Homilía: 23 de Octubre 2022, XXX Domingo ordinario (ES)

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