Homily: September 26, 2023, Tuesday of the 25th week in Ordinary time.

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 "Your mother and your brothers are standing outside and they wish to see you."

They wanted to see Jesus. Many people wanted to see Jesus. What about you? Do you want to see Jesus? I mean, seriously, do you want to see Jesus?

When Jesus was told about His mother and brothers standing outside, wanting to see Him, He could have simply gone out to meet them. But He took this opportunity to deliver a powerful message about being His relative, to belong to Him. He explained that anyone who wishes to see Him, to truly encounter Him, must do more than just stand on the outside, they have to step onto the same side where He is and to simply do what He does - listen to God and obey Him.

We will see Jesus face to face, on our last day when we meet Him in eternity, but we have to do more than just wish for it. We have to hear His word, receive it into our hearts, and act on it. 

You see, the invitation to see Jesus and be with Him is extended to all of us, but it requires an active response. If we say ‘yes’ but don't take the time to listen to Jesus, to receive Him into our hearts, and to live in accordance with His teachings, we might just miss out on the eternal communion with Him that our soul has been yearning for.

So let us open our hearts, let His words enter and transform us, and let our actions reflect His words, His teachings. In doing so, we will enter into His side of existence, be part of His family, and we will be able to see Jesus’ presence in our daily life. His words will come alive in every situation, guiding us in every decision, helping us live according to God’s commandments confidently and consistently.

May we be granted the grace to truly see and be with Jesus, both now and forever. Amen.


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Homily: July 20, 2025, Sixteenth Sunday in Ordinary time.

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 In the first reading we heard, “Thus says the LORD: Cursed is the one who trusts in human beings, who seeks his strength in flesh, whose heart turns away from the LORD.” And then it continued with, “Blessed is the one who trusts in the LORD, whose hope is the LORD.” It is very clear, isn’t it? That those who turns away from God will be cursed and those who trusts in God will be blessed. The gospel reading today is known as the beatitudes, in which our Lord Jesus also spelled out the curses and the blessings. But it seems much harder to accept what Jesus is teaching here. I too struggle with this. Let us try to understand it together. We have been told that we came from God, and after this life, we will go back to God. For a long time, I questioned the rationale. Why create me to throw me into this difficult life just to bring me back to Him again? Why not just keep me with Him from the beginning and save me the trouble of going through this life? This earthly life is not easy. I w...
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Homilía: Julio 17, 2022, XVI Domingo Ordinario

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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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Homily: December 3, 2023, First Sunday of Advent (Jesus Coming)

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 "It is like a man traveling abroad. He leaves home and places his servants in charge, each with his own work." Have you ever been in the same situation as the servants in this parable, where you were given responsibilities to take charge of while the person in authority took leave for some time? Did you accomplish your tasks? Or have you ever gone away for a while and left others in charge of your property or duties? Did things get done as you had expected? We are now in a new liturgical year. This year we will be taking readings from cycle B and the gospel texts will be from Mark and then from John later, since Mark’s gospel is short. Today is the first day of the new liturgical year, so ‘happy new year’! Though it is the beginning of the year, the readings seem to be warning about the end times, reminding us to prepare for the second coming of Christ. Well, why not? ‘Begin with the end in mind’ is one of the seven habits of highly effective people, according to the author ...
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 “If a kingdom is divided against itself, that kingdom cannot stand. And if a house is divided against itself, that house will not be able to stand.” This is applicable to any kingdom, any organisation, any group, and of course, it applies to church, the kingdom of God here on earth as well. We see decline and weakening of organisations where divisions exist. Is the church, the kingdom of God here on earth divided or united? In this so-called modern society, it is not difficult to see many divisive opinions and views. Many people strongly advocate abortion, same-sex marriage, and other behaviour which the church has explicitly identified as unacceptable. Yet these people claim to be catholic. They justify their arguments based on their own ideologies and political principles, not on the church’s teachings. And there are church leaderships who keep silent regarding these issues for fear of losing popularity. Yes, God forgives but we cannot take God’s mercy for granted and live like ...
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Homily: July, 30, 2024, Tuesday of the Seventeenth Week in Ordinary Time (seeds of weeds).

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 “The weeds are the children of the Evil One, and the enemy who sows them is the Devil." Last year, I didn't plant anything in my planter. I left it bare and basically neglected it, but over time, I discovered weeds were growing naturally and thrived. They covered my whole planter. I neither watered them nor used any fertilizer, yet they survived the hot summer and finally withered only during winter. This year, I planted Asian spinach in the same soil, and thankfully, they grew well and thrived too. I have harvested them many times now, yet they continue to grow. There are no weeds so far because the spinach grew so well that it covered the entire planter, there is no room for any weeds to grow, no space for weeds to enter. My friends and I have eaten much of what has grown, and some deer nearby have also had a good share of the harvest. At the recent National Eucharistic Conference, the place was filled with thousands of people, and everyone was joyful, friendly and kind to ...
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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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