Homily: March 3, 2024, Third sunday in Lent (Foolishness of God)

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 “For the foolishness of God is wiser than human wisdom, and the weakness of God is stronger than human strength.”

Could God ever be foolish?

Is God ever weak?

Recently, I've been listening to a podcast by a man who converted from Hinduism to Christianity. Interestingly, he became interested in the Christian faith after reading Hindu sacred scriptures. The Rig Veda, Samaveda, Yajurveda, and Atharvaveda, are Hindu sacred writings in Sanskrit from around 3500 years ago. What he found in these ancient writings were consistent references to a divine savior who would come into the world and die on a cross.

Convinced that those prophecies were pointing to Jesus, he began fervently preaching about Jesus the Savior of the world, in the context of Hindu scriptures, until his passing.

Growing up in a predominantly Hindu country, I always enjoyed narratives of Hindu deities, especially epic stories from the history of Hinduism. I admired their invincible power, repeated victories in battles, and cunning intelligence in fighting their adversaries.

In comparison, I felt Jesus' life was a total failure. I questioned the seemingly foolish way God chose to redeem humankind.

Why didn’t our all-powerful God strategize cleverly to defeat the evil in this world, win everyone over to Himself with charism and popular appeal, instead of making His own Son vulnerable under the Jewish authorities and hitting head-on with the stubborn leaders, and going through all those sufferings, hardships and cruel death?

Surely, there must be a better and more effective way to win the world over, right?

It is true that our God is a foolish God, how else would a mighty divine being sacrifice so much for such unfaithful, insignificant created beings?

His love for us is indeed foolish, and we are blessed because of that. And yet, we think we are the wiser ones when we are not even able to love ourselves!

We are the crown of His creation, He bestowed upon us the most valuable gift of free will and granted us the highest authority over all creation. Yet we failed Him in all these.

The very first man and woman disobeyed Him, and the generations thereafter rebelled against Him. Despite our unfaithfulness, God's faithfulness persists. Despite our evil ways, God’s mercy assures. Despite our unworthiness, God’s love endures.

In this sense, God is foolish, isn’t He?

So is His beloved Son.

Jesus, compassionate and loving, befriended sinners and the poor, setting an example distinct from other world leaders. 

His cleansing of the temple, which was a controversial behavior, demonstrated his commitment to fighting against evil rather than appeasing those in authority. 

But in the eyes of the world that was a bad move to gain popularity, to win votes.

Instead, He gained hatred and invited death. How foolish, according to our worldly wisdom.

We now know, without Jesus’ death, there would be no resurrection, there would be no hope of eternity for us.

If God was wise like we think we are, humanity would have ceased to exist. If God was strong in the way we think He should be, we would have been gone to Hell thousands of generations ago.

Let us be thankful that God is foolish and weak, for the sake of us. Yet let us be in awe of our great God, for His foolishness is wiser than our wisdom, and His weakness is stronger than our strength.

Seek His wisdom, lean on His strength, we too might look foolish and weak to the world, but we will never go wrong with God!

Our God is a great God, His love is everlasting, His mercy is endless. Come back to Him and stay on His side. Amen.


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Homily: April 23, 2024, Tuesday of the Fourth Week of Easter (Exciting news).

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Homily: March 24, 2022, Thursday of the Third Week of Lent

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Homily, March 22, 2022, Tuesday of the Third Week of Lent.

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“A bruised reed he shall not break, and a smoldering wick he shall not quench, until he establishes justice on the earth; the coastlands will wait for his teaching.” There are four passages in the book of the prophet Isaiah known as ‘Servant Songs’, or ‘Songs of the Suffering Servant’.  Today’s first reading is taken from the first song. The next two days we will read from another two songs. These are prophecies about Jesus, written 700 years before His birth, and they reveal the mission and disposition of the Messiah. This first song describes the most important disposition of Jesus and His very purpose on earth. A bruised weed is a stalk of grain which is crushed and broken in such a way that it will never produce any grain again. It is a dying stalk. This refers to the poor and oppressed, so miserable is their life such that they can never on their own, rise above their poverty and neediness. Their only hope is having someone to lift them out of their situation. A smoldering wick mi
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Homily March 20, 2022, Third Sunday of Lent Year A Readings (For RCIA)

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Homily: September 25, 2022, Twenty-sixth Sunday in Ordinary Time.

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From the gospel, “He raised his eyes and saw Abraham far off and Lazarus at his side”. The poor man who went to heaven in this parable had a name: Lazarus. The rich man who went to hell had no name. Our name is our identity. Our relationship to God is our identity. And we are all children of God, He calls each of us by name, both on earth and in heaven. In another gospel passage Jesus told his disciples, “Rejoice because your names are written in heaven” (Luke 10:20). The rich man may have enjoyed a life of comfort and luxury on earth, but he did not have a relationship with God. Thus in Jesus’ story, he had no name. Now, how did Lazarus get to heaven? Was it because of his poverty. No. How did the rich man end up in hell? Was it because of his wealth? Of course, not. What we have or have not, is not the deciding factor of our destiny after this life.  Our eternity depends on how we use what we have been given. We do not know if the rich man committed any mortal sins in his life, but w
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“The angel led me to the gate which faces the east, and there I saw the glory of the God of Israel coming from the east”.  These words in the first reading remind of the Orthodox and Oriental Churches. When they construct their churches, they would set their church altars to face the east, so that, when the priests celebrate Mass, they will be looking towards that direction. In India, especially in Kerala where I came from, all our church altars face the east. The concept is based on the expectation that Christ would come again, arriving from the east, and the priest is leading the community to the heavenly Jerusalem.  Interestingly, the Hindu temples also face eastwards.  And do you know, the houses in my village are built with the kitchens facing the east also. Why? It has nothing related to the coming of Christ. It has to do with the sunrise. The mothers of the households start cooking when they wake up, and the kitchens are open concept, so the rising sun will provide the much need
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Homily: February 27, 2022, Eight Sunday in the Ordinary Time

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For readings: https://bible.usccb.org/bible/readings/022722.cfm There were two brothers who lived debauched lives engaging in terrible deeds. They were notorious yet not at all ashamed. Then one brother died. The surviving brother asked the local pastor to preach at his brother’s funeral. The pastor, aware of the brothers’ background, was reluctant to do it. The brother then promised to donate a big sum of money to the church and begged the pastor to preach with a special request. “Father, in your homily, you just have to say that my brother was a saint.” The pastor thought about it and agreed. The funeral day came. The pastor began his homily, “The man laid in the casket was a rotter; he led a horrible and debauched life. He was truly rotten to the bone. But compared to his brother, he was a saint.” Saintly life or shoddy living – Would the priest at our own funeral have to be paid to tell a lie? It all depends on what kind of fruit we produce from the way we live. Usually, we cannot
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Homily: November 7, 2023, Tuesday of the Thirty-first Week in Ordinary Time (Invitation).

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“Go out quickly into the streets and alleys of the town and bring in here the poor and the crippled, the blind and the lame." Today’s gospel story really struck me deep. The poor, the crippled, the blind, the lame: who are they? At the time of Jesus, these were the people who were despised, considered imperfect and looked upon by society as people abandoned by God, cursed and thus without the blessing of wealth nor health. And because of their imperfections, being rejected by society, they can't do many things on their own, opportunities are blocked, doors are closed to them. They only have one hope - God. They have no one else to depend on. Conversely, those who were better off, those blessed with wealth and health, who were the first guests invited to the grand dinner, were so busy with their own affairs, and engrossed in their own world that they had little or no regard for the invitation.  They were independent, they did not think they needed to deepen their relationship w
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