Homily: August 28, 2023, Monday of the twenty first week in Ordinary time (Past sins- St. Augustine

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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 though they had converted, the temptations to fall back into old habits were all around. The memories of those worships and the satisfaction they received lingered with them. So here we see St. Paul reminding them of what they had decided for their conversion.

Old habits die hard. It is so for anyone, and for us, similarly for the great saints we know.

Today we celebrate one of the greatest saints in the Catholic Church, St. Augustine. We know about his powerful conversion story, but do we know about his continued struggles even after his conversion?

Many years after he converted totally to the Lord, St. Augustine wrote his book "Confessions".

He wrote about his struggles. The vivid memories from his intensely lustful past continued to haunt and tempt him till his last days. It was most difficult to overcome it since he was still living in the body which carried the effects of those sins in the past.

St. Augustine wrote, “Thou hast made us for thyself, O Lord, and our heart is restless until it finds its rest in thee.”

It is naïve to think that after conversion, we will not struggle with sin anymore. The truth is, the struggle is a sign that conversion is on-going, that holiness is now fighting with sinfulness. The strategy is simply not to give up. Give the battle to the Lord and let Him fight with us and for us. Faith is believing our Lord has won.

St. Augustine could not forget those memories of his past, he was full of guilt, but he was also full of faith. So great were his sins, but greater is the mercy of God. And with that, he became a saint and a doctor of the Church.

So can we.

If we insist on standing on the side of the Lord and let Him lead us in the battle against our own sins and fight all temptations.

St. Augustine can intercede for us because he understands.

St. Augustine, pray for us! Amen.


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

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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: November 20, 2023, Monday of the Thirty-third Week in Ordinary Time (Hope).

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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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Homily: October 12, 2022, Wednesday of the twenty-eighth week in the ordinary time.

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"Whatever you ask the Father in my name, he will give you." Whenever you pray for a specific intention, do you ask in your own name or do you ask in Jesus’ name? I pondered this as I prepared this homily. Most of my prayers are directed to Jesus, so I would end off like a normal conversation. But now Jesus is advising us in today’s Gospel, "…ask the Father in my name…” It is as if Jesus is telling us to write an appeal letter to God, the Father, and to sign off in Jesus’ name, not our own name. Wow! He is simply saying, use His name! Of course, His Father would never deny Him of anything, because He is the obedient and beloved Son. Every second Saturday during our healing services, Tim and Graeson will always conclude their prayers with “In Jesus’ name we pray.” And thus we see so many miraculous healings from the services. The Church also prays the same way. Holy Mass is the perfect sacrifice we offer to God the Father through Jesus Christ the Son. Listen to the prayers
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