Fr. Nivin's Homily Blog

“When they had fulfilled all the prescriptions of the law of the Lord, they returned to Galilee, to their own town of Nazareth.” Since I came to the USA, some parishioners from my home parish in India have asked me to help get jobs or college entry in USA for their children. They had the impression that things work the same here as in India. Because in India, you need to have connections to help you get an advantage to a job application or school entry, otherwise it could be very difficult. So, in India, it is not so much ‘what’ you know that is helpful, but ‘who’ you know. If you know someone in a position of authority or with great influence, you have the advantage of skipping some administrative processes to get ahead. The right relationships offer great privileges. Mary and Joseph are the earthly parents of Jesus, the Son of God. Jesus is above the Law. He is the authority. Surely, the Son of God, the Savior of the world does not need to be bound by religious laws, does He? Surely,...

 “He took him into his arms and blessed God, saying: ‘Lord, now let your servant go in peace; your word has been fulfilled.’” Do you have a great wish, a deep desire in your heart, so important to you that once it is fulfilled, you would be so satisfied that nothing else matters anymore, not even death? Grand elderly Simeon had one lifelong wish. His only desire was to see the Savior promised by God in his lifetime. Day and night he prayed for the coming of the Messiah and to be able to witness it. And finally, on the day of Jesus’ presentation, the Holy Spirit inspired Simeon to go to the temple, and there his greatest desire was fulfilled, he was satisfied and was ready to rest in peace. Those words of Simeon are used in the Liturgy of the Hours we recite for our night prayers. It is a very beautiful and powerful prayer of submission to God. As baby Jesus was presented to God, every night we present our souls to God too. A very pious priest once told me that at every Mass, after ...

 “Then the other disciple also went in, the one who had arrived at the tomb first, and he saw and believed.” This phrase struck me very deeply, ‘he saw and believed’. How could John the Apostle believe, simply by what he saw? Even Peter, who saw the same scene, didn’t fully believe. Later when Jesus appeared to them again at the shore of Tiberias, John was the one who told Peter, “It is the Lord.” The answer can be found in the beautiful poem by St. Paul, in 1 Corinthians chapter 13, “(Love) bears all things, believes all things, hopes all things, endures all things.” Yes, Love believes all things.  John believes because he loves. In his heart, his beloved master will never die and so seeing the empty tomb was enough for him to believe that the Lord whom he loves so much is alive. Very aptly, St. John’s Gospel is also called the Book of Love. His writings focus on love. His theology is love. The answer to everything we need to believe in, is in Chapter 3 verse 16, “For God so ...

 "He saved us through the bath of rebirth and renewal by the Holy Spirit, whom he richly poured out on us through Jesus Christ our savior.” Blessed Christmas everyone! God is with us! This is my third Christmas here at St. Ambrose. Who among you is also celebrating your third Christmas here at this parish? And do you know how many years of Christmas has the world celebrated till now? Yes, two thousand and twenty-three. Two thousand and twenty-three years ago, it was a silent night when heaven rejoiced on earth, because God entered the human world. The Creator became like His own created ones. On that night, all the angels in heaven sang glorious praises to God while only a few on earth heard the good news. A friend told me that one of her colleagues has never heard anything about Jesus. They were both born and raised here in the United States. For more than 2000 years, almost everywhere in the world, Christians and non-Christians celebrate Christmas yet there are still people who ...

 “It was I who took you from the pasture and from the care of the flock to be commander of my people Israel.”  In the first reading, we see David, now a powerful king, wanting to build a grand dwelling place for the Lord. It may seem like King David is being pious, but God doesn’t seem impressed. Why? David was once a shepherd boy caring for sheep in the pastures, and now he is king commanding a great and expanding nation. How did he do it? Was it his strength? Was it his courage? No. It was the Lord’s doing. The Lord says, “It was I…” It was God who gave David all the successes, the victories, the palace. Would God need a grand temple to be His dwelling place? No. The temple of God which David did build was finally destroyed. But the ‘house’ and ‘kingdom’ of David blessed by God will never fall because He promised David “your throne shall stand firm forever.” Nothing built by man, no matter how grand, will last forever. Nothing brought up by God, no matter how humble, will ev...

 “As for the son you will conceive and bear, no razor shall touch his head, for this boy is to be consecrated to God from the womb.” As we near Christmas, the readings at Mass help us to prepare well for the season. Today we hear about two miraculous births: the birth of Samson in the first reading and the birth of John the Baptist in the gospel.  I like reading about Samson. He had tremendous strength and killed many of the Israelites' enemies easily. God blessed him with extraordinary powers on one simple condition – “no razor shall touch his head.” All he needed to do was to keep his hair, nothing else. Why didn’t God ask for something more challenging since what He is giving to Samson is something amazing? This reminds me of God’s simple instruction to Adam and Eve in the garden of Eden, they just could not eat the fruit of a particular tree, nothing difficult. And another situation when God rescued Abraham, Sarah, Lot, and his wife, He promised them safety with only one s...

 "Such was his intention when, lo and behold, the angel of the Lord appeared to him in a dream and said, 'Joseph, son of David, do not be afraid to take Mary, your wife, into your home.' Anyone of you here think that you are impulsive and often act too fast before thinking clearly? Well, I look like I am a quiet, calm person, but truly there have been many occasions in my life when I spoke too soon or acted too fast. I would regret what I said or what I did soon after, sometimes almost immediately. I would wish that God could turn back time or I could undo or reverse what I did. Have you experienced the same before? Once, a lady told me, 'Father, my big mouth is my problem.' Honestly, I don’t think it’s the big mouth, but rather, it’s the rash judgement that is the problem. We make mistakes because we do not stop and reflect, we forget to pray and listen, and fail to respond in faith. Instead, we judge too fast and react too quick. Let us put ourselves in the shoes...

 ‘I am the voice of one crying out in the desert, “Make straight the way of the Lord.”’ Has anyone here ever tried crying out in the desert? I have never done it, and I wonder how it would be. Here we see our dear John the Baptist as the voice crying out in the desert, who would be listening to him? Being a voice in the desert is going against the crowd, saying or doing things which are not popular even if it is the right thing. It is not easy. As a priest, I often find myself having to make tough decisions or say things according to my understanding of church teachings, which might not be agreeable with many people. And it is also very hard to tell people that they need to live their life better, that what they are doing is sinful, that the worldly way is not the right way, especially when it seems to be enjoyable for them. I, myself, am not perfect, not a saint, nor a holy person. I too am sinful and make wrong moves. So, who am I to judge? Who am I to correct others? Yet, it is ...

 “You are the highest honor of our race.” This is our responsorial psalm for today, in celebration of the feast of Our Lady of Guadalupe. This verse is taken from the book of Judith. We don't usually get to hear readings from the book of Judith in daily or weekend Masses. Only once a year in North America, on the feast of Our Lady of Guadalupe, we will use this reading for the responsorial psalm. Who is Judith? And why this responsorial psalm for this feast? Judith was a Jewish widow who was so courageous as to kill the Assyrian king in his sleep and saved her town from the Assyrian invasion. As such, she also saved Jerusalem, which was nearby, from total destruction. So, all the Israelites praised her for her courage and the victory she achieved through it, exclaiming, “You are the highest honor of our race.” The Israelite culture was very male dominant and women were treated as weak and incapable of accomplishing anything significant. But God used Judith to save His people. He wo...

 “Say to those whose hearts are frightened: Be strong, fear not!” What do you fear? Snakes, wild animals, darkness or death? I know some people who are extremely afraid of rats or even cockroaches. I have never been afraid of any of these since young. But when I was in third grade, my best friend's father passed away unexpectedly. That shook me hard. I could not imagine how I could ever live without my papa. That began my deepest fear and insecurity. Whenever my papa went away or was late in coming home, I would worry to the point of panic. I would pray fervently for his safe return. I would rather die than live without him. Eventually, papa passed away at the age of 70. By then I was grown up and though I grieved deeply, I was able to move on. There were some other deep fears I had from childhood which I have outgrown. As I look back now, I understand and realize they were unnecessary fears. The shadows of fear are much larger than their reality. Why do we fear? We fear because we...

 But according to his promise, we await new heavens and a new earth in which righteousness dwells. How many of you change your mobile phones about once every one or two years? How many of you change your car once every five years? How many of you change your spouse once every seven years? Thanks be to God! We live in a world of disposables, and they say, ‘change is the only constant’. Many of us prefer new stuff, when something is used or old, we discard and get a brand new one. Some of us prefer the old stuff, we try to repair or renew the existing one. God is the perfect Constant, He does not change, He is the same yesterday, today and forever. Yet, He is also the perfect Renew-er, He is constantly renewing us, renewing the earth, renewing His creation. St. Paul says that those who are in Christ are a new creation. Are you really in Christ and is Christ fully in you? I just learnt that our human cells renew or regenerate on average every 7-10 years. And do you know that our skin ...

Holy Family Shcool Mass:  After the man, Adam, had eaten from the tree, the LORD God called to the man and asked him, "Where are you?"  Has anyone called out to you like that before? Do your parents call you on the phone and ask you “Where are you”? When I was a little boy about age 4 or 5, I used to enjoy wandering about on our small family farm with my siblings. Just walking around, looking at the crops and the trees, the animals and the insects. We could take hours and sometimes walked to the far end of the farm. Then when dinner was ready, my mommy would call out to us loudly and ask, "Where are you?" Mommy knew we were on the farm, so her question was not to ask us for our location, but it was more questioning why we were not yet home for dinner. When God was calling out to Adam, he too knew where Adam was hiding. He is God, of course He knows. So why was He asking that question? Back to the story of my childhood at the farm. When I grew a little older, I used ...

 "Lord, I am not worthy to have you enter under my roof; only say the word and my servant will be healed.” This beautiful petition of a centurion, who was a non-Jew, has been used at Mass, in the liturgy of the Eucharist, right before all of us receive Holy communion. Why? Why is the prayer of a Gentile given such prominence in our highest form of prayer to God? At such a critical moment just before we receive the miracle of the Blessed Sacrament? Because the centurion’s response, is the perfect attitude all of us should have when we come before God. It shows utmost humility before the Lord, yet displays perfect confidence in Jesus’ compassionate authority. We are not worthy, yet only one word from the Lord is enough for a miracle to happen. And so, Jesus declares, “no one in Israel have I found such faith”. Yes, as mere humans, we are frail, weak and sinful. But God is powerful, full of love and compassion. None of us are worthy for God but God does not ask for worthiness, He ask...

 "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 ...

Holy Family School Mass:  Then they asked him, "Teacher, when will this happen? And what sign will there be when all these things are about to happen?" Signs are very helpful in our everyday life. When I first came to this church, I had a hard time finding the confessional. There were no signs. I thought it might be somewhere in the vestibule and after going down the stairs, I ended up at the restrooms. Directional signs tell us where to go, spiritual signs tell us what to do. When Jesus spoke about the destruction of the temple, He was also warning the disciples about fake news and scammers. So simply looking for signs may not help, because there are misleading and false signs that will only lead to more confusion and wrong turns. The only reliable signs in life are the Holy Word of God and the teachings and traditions of the church passed down from the Apostles. Our Christian faith guides and provides, it shows the right path to the right place. I have preached before that ...