Homily: March 22, 2024, Friday of the fifth week in Lent (vengeful)

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 “But the LORD is with me, like a mighty champion: my persecutors will stumble, they will not triumph. In their failure, they will be put to utter shame.”

Jeremiah is arrogantly confident of God. He boasts of God’s might and that He will fight Jeremiah’s enemies down and put them all to ‘utter shame’ for the sake of the prophet.

Don’t we all wish to have a mighty warrior, like a bodyguard, watching our back and causing all our enemies to fear and tremble?

During my school days, kids from my village had to walk two miles every morning and evening, to and from school. There were twenty kids from my village who had to walk that way together every day.

And along the way we would have lots to talk, play and fight about. We talked about anything and everything, and we fought over small and simple things. But the fights never lasted long; very quickly we became friends again.

There was this girl, who was also my sister’s classmate, whenever somebody fought with her, she would threaten them by warning, “I will tell my uncle, and he will fight for me.” We all imagined her uncle to be a big, fierce and strong man.

One day, on our way home from school, her uncle suddenly appeared, and she pointed to some of us and complained to him that we were the ones who had been bullying her and fighting with her. We got worried!

But it turned out that her uncle was a loving and compassionate man. Instead of shouting to scold us, or raising his hands to beat us, he gently told us not to fight, and advised us to be good to one another, then he walked away calmly.

He was not frightening at all! He was nice!

That girl obviously did not know her uncle’s character, lucky for us!

In today’s first reading, prophet Jeremiah claims that God will take revenge on his enemies for him, it seems like he too failed to understand the nature of God. Our God is so compassionate and loving, slow to anger, rich in kindness.

People in Jesus’ time also expected the same of him. They thought he would kill the Romans and reestablish the kingdom of David in Jerusalem. But truly, Jesus came to accomplish the works of His Father, which are works of love, compassion, and mercy to all.

We are eternally blessed to be the children of such a loving God. As we enter Holy Week, let us reflect more and more deeply on God’s great love for us. Instead of killing our enemies, Jesus died for us. Killing does not save, but self-sacrifice does. Amen.


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“For I resolved to know nothing while I was with you except Jesus Christ, and him crucified.” Occasionally we hear the saying, “Who you know can be more important than what you know.” Our own knowledge is limited, and sometimes the people around us can help us in ways that our own knowledge cannot. I experienced this recently with my immigration situation. I am especially grateful for someone who helped me find a way to renew my driver’s license even with documents that were about to expire. It reminded me that in difficult moments, it is a blessing to know people who are willing and able to help us. Perhaps that can help us understand what St. Paul is saying today, but on a much deeper level. Paul himself was a highly educated man, trained as a Pharisee. Yet he tells the Corinthians, “I did not come with sublimity of words or of wisdom.” Instead, he says, “I resolved to know nothing…except Jesus Christ, and him crucified.” Paul had discovered that, in the end, the most important thing...
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Today we celebrate the memorial of St. Maximilian Kolbe, a saint whose life teaches us what it means to say a complete and generous “yes” to God. Most of us know the final and heroic chapter of his life. At Auschwitz concentration camp, a prisoner escaped, and as punishment, ten men were chosen to die by starvation. One of them cried out in anguish for his wife and children. Fr. Maximilian Kolbe stepped forward and said, “I am a Catholic priest. Let me take his place.” His offer was accepted. He entered the starvation bunker with the other prisoners. But even there, he continued to be a priest. Instead of allowing that terrible place to be filled only with despair, he prayed with the prisoners, encouraged them, and helped prepare them to meet God. One by one they died. Maximilian survived longer than the others, and finally the guards killed him with a lethal injection. We know that St. Maximilian Kolbe is in heaven because the Church has canonized him. But I like to think that those p...
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Holy family school mass:   “Hail, full of grace! The Lord is with you.” Isn’t that a beautiful greeting? Before we go further on this, let me first ask you a fun fact, and let you think about the answer: Do you know why the Church fixed March 25th as the day we celebrate the Annunciation event? Not all the dates of feasts of the Church are historical dates. For example, we celebrate Christmas on December 25th, but we don’t actually know the exact date Jesus was born. The Church chose that date many centuries ago for a certain reason. Now let us link this to the Annunciation. Think about this: If December 25th is the day Jesus was born, when would He have been conceived in Mary’s womb? Nine months is the length of a normal pregnancy. So if we count backwards nine months from Christmas day, that will bring us to March 25th! And so on this date every year, we celebrate the day when the angel Gabriel came to Mary to announce Jesus’ coming, the moment Mary said Yes, and Jesus began...
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"For the measure with which you measure will in return be measured out to you." This is one of the more practical teachings of Jesus, and from our own life experiences, we know it to be true. When we show love, people often respond with love. When we are compassionate, we usually receive compassion in return. In today’s Gospel, Jesus tells us, “Be merciful, just as your Father is merciful.” God’s mercy is constant, consistent, unconditional. We deserve death and punishment, but God waives it off, taking on our death and punishment on Himself. That is mercy. And He tells us to do the same, not on our own strength, but we can imitate, reflect and emulate how God does it. God is merciful, because He loves truly and is generous. Love and generosity are painful virtues. Often, love may not be accepted, it can be rejected. Often generosity may not be appreciated, it can be taken for granted. That is how the world has treated God’s love and generosity, but He remains faithful and co...
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