Homily: October 30, 2023, Monday of the Thirtieth Week in Ordinary Time (Crippled).

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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 gift of free will, by willing it to God and exercising the gift of life, by freeing it from sin.

Like Jesus, this is our identity. By accepting this fully, even if we are nailed to the cross of life physically, even if we are burdened by material poverty and challenged by worldly anxieties, our spirits will never be crippled. Let us live our lives to the fullest.

Abba Father, we surrender our life to you. Amen.


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Homily: August 10, 2026, Monday of the Nineteenth Week in Ordinary Time (Cheerful giver)

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 “God Loves a Cheerful Giver” St. Paul tells us today: “Each must do as already determined, without sadness or compulsion, for God loves a cheerful giver.” When I was just a small boy, I would enjoy being out of the house and on our farm to play with my friends. However, very often and almost always right in the middle of an exciting game with them, I would suddenly hear my mother calling out to me. She would shout for me from the house, “Nivin, come here! Cut some firewood”, “Dehusk two coconuts”, “Go feed the chickens” or “Go take care of the cows”. There would always be something she wanted me to do, there would always be a chore that needed to be done. And it had to always happen at the best part of the game. I didn’t have much choice, I would do what she asked but I always with a grumpy face, unwillingly, unhappily and with lots of complaining in my heart. I was never a cheerful giver. Thankfully I have grown and changed over the years. Yet unfortunately, the change is not com...
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Homily: August 8, 2026, Saturday of the Eighteenth Week in Ordinary Time (Small Faith)

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 “The rash man has no integrity; but the just man, because of his faith, shall live.” That is a beautiful statement from the prophet Habakkuk: the just man, because of his faith, shall live. In other words, to truly live, we need faith. And the good news is that we do not need an extraordinary amount of faith to begin. Jesus tells us that if we have faith even the size of a mustard seed, amazing things can happen. A mustard seed is very small, but when it is planted, it grows. Faith is the same way. God does not ask us to begin with perfect faith. He asks us to trust Him with the little faith we have and allow Him to make it grow. Jesus wanted His disciples to grow in faith, faith in Him, faith in the gifts God had given them, and faith in His promises. At the beginning, the disciples were often afraid and uncertain. They doubted. They misunderstood Jesus. Sometimes they even failed Him. But Jesus never gave up on them. He continued to strengthen their faith. Eventually, He could t...
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Homily: August 11, 2026, Tuesday of the Nineteenth Week in Ordinary Time (Sweet as Honey)

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 “Feed your belly and fill your stomach with this scroll I am giving you.” Ezekiel tells us, “I ate it, and it was as sweet as honey in my mouth.” Sweet as honey! Is that really how we experience the Word of God? For many of us, the Word of God can actually be very challenging. It corrects us, directs our conduct, and forms us in Christian discipline. Beginning with the Ten Commandments, we hear many “You shall nots.” Do not do this. Do not do that. Forgive your enemies. Love those who hurt you. Be faithful. Be honest. Carry your cross. Deny yourself. Sometimes God's Word may feel less like honey and more like medicine—something good for us, but not always pleasant to take. So was Ezekiel simply using beautiful symbolic language when he said that God's Word was sweet as honey? Our responsorial psalm today tells us the same thing: “In the way of your decrees I rejoice.” “How sweet to my taste is your promise!” And again, “The law of your mouth is to me more precious than thousan...
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Homily: August 10, 2022, Feast of Saint Lawrence, Deacon and Martyr

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 “The Father will honor whoever serves me”. I have shared before, that I was the favorite grandchild of my paternal grandfather. He had 10 children and 50 grandchildren. Among all, he loved me the most because he believed I have a perfect green thumb. He was a man who valued planting and farming. Whenever he got a seed or seedling, he would ask me to plant it for him. He believed that whatever I sowed, would reap abundant fruits. And grandpa would bless me specially, even on his last days, he gave only me his final blessings. I never thought much about the simple farming life but had dreamed about being a rich and successful farmer. Although that dream did not come true, I have never stopped planting and gardening. Both the first reading and gospel passage today are about planting: seeds, sowing, reaping, harvesting and producing fruit. During the time of Jesus, one of the major occupations of people were farming. Many of us here are from farming families too. To till the land is a...
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Homily: June 9, 2026, Tuesday of the Tenth Week in Ordinary Time (Shine-Light)

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“Lord, let your face shine on us.” Isn’t this a beautiful prayer in today’s Responsorial Psalm. We are asking not simply for blessings, but for God Himself, for Him to look at us lovingly from above, for His glory to shine on us, not away from us. It is a prayer asking for God to be present to us, to love us, to desire us despite our sinfulness. And truly, God is always present, totally loves and forever desires us. In the Gospel, Jesus tells us: “You are the light of the world.”  We know we are not the source of light, but we can reflect light. God is light, when God’s face shine on us, we become His beacon of light too. In the Book of Exodus, after Moses spoke with God on the mountain, his face shone so brightly that people could hardly look at him. Similarly, when we live constantly in the presence of God, we too will begin to radiate peace, joy, love and holiness. How do we live in the presence of God? Very simply, spend time before the Holy Eucharist, read the Bible, receive t...
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Homily: June 6, 2023, Tuesday of the Ninth Week in Ordinary Time (Love& Honor).

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 An evil report he shall not fear; his heart is firm, trusting in the LORD. His heart is steadfast; he shall not fear till he looks down upon his foes. This is our responsorial psalm today, in response to the first reading we heard about Tobit and his wife, arguing over a goat which he thought was stolen. Tobit was a righteous man, faithful to God all the days of his life. The Israelites were living in exile under oppression and Tobit became blind and dependent on his wife's work. His kinsmen grieved at his condition, but Tobit did not lose his faith in God. He also did not lose his integrity and moral values. He did not forget his obligation to be steadfast in God’s laws. At every wedding, we witness bridal couples making their vows to each other and promising to be faithful to each other ‘in good times and in bad, in sickness and in health, to love and honor each other all the days of their life’. What a beautiful way to seal love for the other! What a courageous way to assure co...
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Homily: May 9, 2026, Saturday of the Fifth Week of Easter (Visions)

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 “During the night Paul had a vision. A Macedonian stood before him and implored him with these words, ‘Come over to Macedonia and help us.’” One of the mysterious ways God speaks to people in the Bible is through dreams and visions. I am always fascinated by that. In the early chapters of Genesis, we already see visions and dreams. Abraham looked at the stars, and God promised him descendants as numerous as the stars of heaven. Jacob saw a ladder between heaven and earth. Joseph had many dreams. Moses, the prophets, St. Joseph in the New Testament, all received guidance from God through dreams and visions. The prophet Joel describes the messianic age with these words: “Your sons and daughters shall prophesy, your old men shall dream dreams, your young men shall see visions.” And throughout the history of the Church, many saints received mystical visions, saints like Gemma Galgani, Padre Pio, Teresa of Ávila, and Blessed Anne Catherine Emmerich. Personally, I do not think I have ev...
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Homily: May 11, 2024, saturday of the sixth week of Easter (In Jesus' name).

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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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Homily: August 7, 2026, Friday of the Eighteenth Week in Ordinary Time (Forgiveness/Punishement)

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 "Till everyone who sees you runs from you, saying, 'Nineveh is destroyed; who can pity her? Where can one find any to console her?'" These are striking words from the Book of the Prophet Nahum we read today. Most of us are familiar with the story of Nineveh as told in the Book of Jonah. When Jonah finally went to preach at Nineveh, the people repented sincerely. From the king down to the common people, they fasted, prayed, and turned away from their sins. Seeing their repentance, God, who is rich in mercy, withheld the punishment He had announced. Fast forward a hundred years later, that’s when the Book of Nahum was written. The same Nineveh by then had forgotten the mercy it had received a few generations earlier. It had over the century, became the capital of the Assyrian Empire, a nation known for its cruelty. The Assyrians attacked and conquered many nations, including the Israelites, and treated them with brutality. History tells us of their violence, especially...
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Homily: November 27, 2023, Monday of the Thirty-fourth Week in Ordinary Time (Fear of the Lord)

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 “In any question of wisdom or prudence that the king posed to them, he found them ten times better than all the magicians and enchanters in his kingdom.” One of my favorite books in the Old Testament is the book of Daniel. The stories of Daniel and his friends inspire me a lot. I enjoy reading how God was always with them and blessed them with great wisdom and a unique gift in interpreting visions and dreams. In today’s first reading, we see how King Nebuchadnezzar tested and then invited these three young men, Daniel and his two friends, to serve him. It was an honor and seen as a great fortune to be trusted by the King, to eat and converse with him while all other Israelites were living as slaves. But Daniel and his friends did not once forget the God of their ancestors. Even though they had privileges from the King, they did not disobey God’s laws. They feared the Lord in all their days, they loved God in all their ways. And for that, they had great wisdom and understanding. An...
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