Homily: July 6, 2023, Thursday of the Thirteenth Week in Ordinary Time (Isaac offering).

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 "God Himself will provide the sheep for the burnt offering."

Why did God require Abraham to sacrifice his son – his one and only son, someone he loved so much, someone who did nothing wrong, someone whom God gave to Abraham as a blessing?

Why take away after He has given?

It is hard to understand God’s intention if we only see it from our logic. Well, look at it this way, if this incident did not happen, generations after would never fully respect Abraham as the father of the faith, one who trusted and loved God, even to the point of sacrificing his own son in full obedience.

And Abraham was right, God did provide the sheep for the sacrifice, the ram at Mount Moriah and His own beloved Son at Calvary.

This sacrifice which Abraham was prepared to make prefigured the sacrifice which God ultimately made, letting His own Son, Jesus, die on the cross.

Many of us might think that Isaac was just a little boy, it was a cruel request from God and a heartless decision by Abraham. But if you read carefully, you would understand that Isaac was a grown man.

How else could he alone carry the firewood for the burnt offering? To burn a sheep for offering would require a good amount of firewood. A small boy would not have the strength to carry that up the mountain. 

Isaac carried the firewood to Mount Moriah just as Jesus carried the wood of His cross to Calvary.

As a grown man, Isaac would have understood he was the sacrificial lamb when Abraham tied him down on the altar, he could have fought it off if he himself was not willing to obey his father, who was obeying God.

This full obedience, to the point of death, foreshadows the full obedience of Jesus to accepting His crucifixion.

It was a three-day journey to Mount Moriah, and Jesus' death, burial, and resurrection also happened in three days. Coincidence? No. Prophetic? Yes.

Seventeen hundred years later, Jesus perfected and brought to fulfilment all the prophecies in the Old Testament.

Truly, "God Himself will provide the sheep for the burnt offering."

God doesn’t need Abraham’s sacrifice. Isaac’s death will do nothing to the salvation of the world. God doesn’t need our sacrifice. Nothing we can give came from ourselves anyway, but everything is from God.

All He wants is for us to have faith in Him. Abraham passed the test and left a legacy for us all. Be faithful as he was faithful. Be obedient as he was obedient. Trust as he trusted. God Himself will provide the sheep for the burnt offering. Amen.


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March 1, 2025: First Holy Communion Homily: St. Joseph's Catholic Church Seffner, Florida

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 For you did not receive a spirit of slavery to fall back into fear, but you received a spirit of adoption, through which we cry, "Abba, Father!"  In today’s gospel event, when Jesus saw the woman ‘crippled by a spirit’, he immediately healed her, telling her she is set free. He saw her physical state, but He also saw the spiritual bondage which shows up in her physical infirmity. Her physical impairment is a result of sin. But when we look at Jesus on the cross, physically crippled by human cruelty and evil, it shows up our spiritual infirmity. Jesus’ physical deformity is a result of our sin. When we see Jesus on the cross, we see God, fully human and we also see man, fully divine. Physically He is nailed to the cross, but spiritually, he is free. Jesus shows us how we too can live free and live fully.  St. Paul said it plainly in the first reading, by calling God, “Abba, Father!” To imitate Jesus in the way he lives, as sons and daughters of the Father, exercising the ...
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Homily: September 18, 2023, Monday of the Twenty-fourth Week in Ordinary Time (Men should pray)

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 "It is my desire, then, that in every place, men should pray, lifting up holy hands, without anger or argument." What a beautiful vision St. Paul had! Imagine if all people are prayerful and peaceful, no anger, no argument. The world would really be perfect. It is through prayerfulness that we learn to be deeply peaceful people, and I too desire to attain this. My papa and grandma were two great examples of prayerfulness for me.  Grandma was completely blind before I was born and she was living in my home. In my memory, she prayed the rosary all the time and she would spend hours reciting all the other prayers daily which she had memorized by heart. I have never seen her forgetting her prayers or skipping her rosary for even one day. My papa, too, had always kept a regular and consistent prayer routine. He read the Bible and devoted a good amount of time for prayer on a daily basis. I also do not recall seeing him miss a single day of his beautiful habit. I do regret though ...
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Today’s second reading ends with this powerful phrase: “Because the love of God has been poured out into our hearts through the Holy Spirit that has been given to us.” Today we celebrate two beautiful events: the Solemnity of the Most Holy Trinity and Father’s Day. So, happy Father’s Day to all our fathers, grandfathers, fathers-to-be and godfathers! My siblings and I are incredibly blessed to have had a good Christian father who fulfilled his duties both as a father and as a Catholic. My papa was a very quiet, resilient, yet very gentle person. He loved and protected all his seven children, physically, emotionally, mentally and especially spiritually. He taught us the faith and was a great model of the traditions. He made sure we never missed Sunday Mass and took us regularly to Confession. I was very much a “dad’s boy”, working with him daily on the farm, taking care of the animals together with him. He didn’t worry much about school grades, but he was very firm and strict with us re...
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Homily: Tuesday of the Tenth week in Oridnary Time (Salt lose taste)

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Homily: January 6, 2022, Thursday after Epiphany.

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For readings: https://bible.usccb.org/bible/readings/010622.cfm “Beloved, we love God because he first loved us.” St. John’s epistle of love is so wonderful to help us begin the new year. Throughout this week, we have heard more than 50 times the word ‘Love’. In today’s first reading alone, we hear the word ‘Love’ 13 times. St. John was the only apostle who probably did not die a martyr’s death. Tradition says he lived almost 100 years. And at the end of his life, his repeated preaching during breaking of the bread with the early Christian community was simply, “Dear children, let us love one another.” His focus was clearly this: God is love, He loves us, we love others. What is real love? Psychologists have identified various types of love between humans, and the greatest of these is agape love – selfless, self-sacrificing, unconditional love. Who can love like that? God can. Jesus did. And so did His disciples. Parents do so very often. So can everyone of us. Traditionally, India...
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