Homily: October 18, 2023, Feast of St. Luke the Evangelist (Lambs and wolves)

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"Behold, I am sending you like lambs among wolves." 

Thousands of years before Jesus’ time, sheep became domesticated. While there still exists very few species in the wild, most sheep will never be able to survive on their own. Their lambs are even more vulnerable. If ever they fall prey to wolves, they will not be able to fight them. They need a shepherd to protect them, to keep them alive.

Then why is Jesus sending his disciples out among wolves? Why send them into danger? 

If we recall Jesus has told His disciples, “And do not be afraid of those who kill the body but cannot kill the soul; rather, be afraid of the one who can destroy both soul and body in Gehenna.” (Matthew 10, 28)

Did His disciples understand their vulnerability? Should they fear being among wolves which can only destroy their bodies, while they are there preaching to save their souls?

Today's first reading shows us how much danger discipleship faces. St. Paul was often beaten, persecuted, stoned, and went through many fatal experiences in his missionary journeys. He even lost some of his disciples when they left and chose other professions. Luke was the only one there to support and help him. They are sheep facing wolves, but they are never alone.

If we live true to our discipleship and fulfil our duty as evangelizers, we too will face tremendous persecutions and opposition, even danger and life-threatening situations. Other than a few supporters, we might feel alone and weak.

In these moments of vulnerability, we should awaken to the reality that we need our Shepherd, that we should never depend on our own strength but on every word of the Lord, on His providence and grace. He is the only one to trust, the only one to save. At the end of the first reading, St. Paul affirms, "But the Lord stood by me and gave me strength…"

We are indeed lambs in a world of wolves. But no matter how challenging our mission may be, we cannot give up our cause, we just have to learn to remain steadfast in our faith and commitment. Our Lord, our shepherd stands by us, giving us strength.

With faith and the support from our Christian community, we can persevere, and our message of love and hope can shine even brighter in a world which so desperately needs to hear it. So do not fear to preach the word, to walk tall as true disciples. Amen.


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Homily: May 6, 2024, Monday of the sixth week of Easter (Lydia)

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 “One of them, a woman named Lydia, a dealer in purple cloth, from the city of Thyatira, a worshiper of God, listened, and the Lord opened her heart to pay attention to what Paul was saying.” The Easter readings are truly remarkable. We witness how the Holy Spirit did amazing works through the acts of the apostles. The apostles simply went about sharing about the life of Jesus and spreading the good news. They were unperturbed by rejections or persecutions, and their persistence and bold proclamations won more hearts than objections. And we also see how the Holy Spirit converts not always in the same way but through many ways according to the charisms of the preachers as well as the unique situations of the listeners.  On Pentecost day, we saw a massive conversion of three thousand people all in one day through one event. Today we encounter the story of a single conversion: that of Lydia, a woman from Thyatira. We are told she was a dealer in purple cloth, that meant she had dealings w
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Funeral Homily: William J. Baum, June 8, 2023

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 The Lord God took Abram outside and said, “Look up at the sky and count the stars if you can. Just so,” he added, “shall your descendants be.”  “I am the LORD who brought you from Ur of the Chaldeans to give you this land as a possession.” God made these two promises to Abram. For the people in ancient times, and for many even in modern times, having children as heir and owning land as property are two most important possessions in life. Abram had been leading a nomadic life for many years and his wife Sarai, already in her old age, was still childless at that time. So, Abram doubted and questioned, “how am I to know…?” Have you been praying for something important, bearing heavy burdens while waiting, trying to keep hopeful but still you received nothing? Would you also doubt and question God? In response to Abram’s doubt, God assured him by cutting a covenant with him, known as a covenant of the pieces. In ancient times, when people entered a treaty, a contractual agreement, they wo
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 “Whoever is not with me is against me, and whoever does not gather with me, scatters.” Jesus’ message is so clear. We cannot follow Jesus partially. If we are not following him whole heartedly, we are not his followers. Today is the 20th day of Lent, not counting Sundays. We are halfway through. Do you remember what you decided you will do specially for these 40 days of Lent? Are you keeping up to it? While we are trying hard to grow stronger spiritually, the devils are working harder to keep us down. I wonder who is in the lead at this halfway mark? In my childhood years, only rich children in my village could afford to own bikes. When I was in the 5th grade, my older brother and I decided to collect wild nutmeg flowers from the nearby forest to sell, so that we can afford to buy a bike.  We would wake up very early in the morning and run to the forest to search and collect as many as possible. Many children from other villages were doing the same so whoever got there first would get
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Homily: February 17, 2023, Friday of the Sixth Week in Ordinary Time.

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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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 "Unless you people see signs and wonders, you will not believe…" If you had been praying to God all your life, but never once were your prayers answered, would you still believe? My mother was diagnosed with cancer when I was still studying in Rome. I prayed hard for a miracle for my mommy to be healed and to live long enough to see me become a priest. But she died at age 62 in 2012, four years before my ordination. Then in 2018, my father was also diagnosed with cancer. He was 70 years old. Again, I prayed hard for his speedy recovery, since I was already a priest for two years, I desperately needed a miracle to believe in my priesthood. But he passed away just one week after his diagnosis. I was sad for my parents’ early death, but what I found very difficult to accept was that my prayers for miracles were rejected, or so I thought. Now fast forward to January 2024, finally I made my first trip back to India after four years in USA. One of my anxieties was my hundred-and-o
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Homily: June 4, 2023, The Solemnity of the Most Holy Trinity (Trinity-Love-Power)

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 "For God did not send His Son into the world to condemn the world, but that the world might be saved through Him." When I was a child, I wished to be tall, strong and muscular; I dreamed of winning every fight and imagined myself being feared by others. But the truth is I was always thin and small in stature compared to my peers and was bullied by others. To compensate for my lack, I decided that my God is powerful and mighty and will defeat all my enemies.  Growing up in a predominantly Hindu country, I was fascinated by the stories of Hindu deities who were victorious in every battle, they were superheroes. In school, my Hindu friends and I would argue whose god would win in a wrestling competition: Jesus or Krishna and Shiva the Hindu gods. But Jesus does not even possess any weapon, has never been in fights and would never kill, how could He win? I secretly wished that Jesus and His angels were powerful, invincible  warriors.   So, what is our God? Our God is unlike any
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 “If you are guided by the spirit, you are not under the law”.  From my kindergarten years to grade 4, I used to walk two miles to school and the same distance back home. I would always get really hungry on the way home. My friends and I would pick and eat whatever that was edible along the road. One of our neighbours grew a special cherry plant in his garden. We used to pick the juicy cherries to eat as we walked past. One day, he put up a handwritten sign on the tree which read, “Don’t pick the cherries”. One naughty kid continued to pick the cherries and even tore up that sign. Thereafter, the owner began to guard his cherry fiercely.  If we behaved right and showed respect for his property, there would not need the sign board nor the guarding, right? Similarly, if everyone in society knew how to behave and treat one another, we would not need to have laws. Those who are guided by the spirit of right behaviour will not need laws, because they are above the law.  Is it any wonder why
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