Homily: April 30, 2024, Tuesday of the fifth week of Easter (Power over Satan)

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"I will no longer speak much with you, for the ruler of the world is coming. He has no power over me..." 

Jesus is comforting His disciples before His passion and death. The disciples’ greatest fear was losing Jesus to the enemies. They needed Jesus to save them from Roman power and the abuse of the Jewish authorities.

But Jesus knew His time with His disciples was limited, yet He assured them that the ‘ruler of the world’ had no power over Him.

Jesus was speaking about Satan and his power. When Satan was an angel of God, he enjoyed power given to him to serve God. When he turned against God, God did not take back that gift. So, Satan retained power, but which can never overpower God who gave it to him originally. He has no power over Jesus.

When we look around, we see a lot of evil committed by people, and which seem to spread more evil around.

We see even believers, Christians, falling away, continuing in repetitive sin, giving in to addiction, giving up their faith. 

Why is evil so powerful in the world? Why do so many people prefer Satan over Jesus? It seems that the power of evil is dominating the world. Is it?

Will evil overshadow the whole world one day?

Jesus assures us that Satan has no power over Him. Darkness can never cover up light or ever stop it from shining. Darkness exists only in the absence of light, and light will always shine the dark out.

Do you trust Jesus? Do you believe in God’s plan of salvation? Do you trust that Jesus will deliver us and the world?

Do not be afraid of the power of darkness, or evil. It has no power over our Lord.

Jesus does ‘just as the Father has commanded’ Him, so similarly, let us do just as Jesus has commanded us – to love one another as He has loved us, to always stay connected to Him, as the branches are connected to the vine.

Love overcomes evil, the light of Christ overcomes the darkness of sin. Jesus wins. Amen.


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Homily: May 14, Feast of St. Mathias (Chosen)

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"It was not you who chose me, but I who chose you”.  Today, we celebrate the feast of St. Matthias, who was not at first one of the twelve nor part of the inner circle of Jesus. He was chosen later into the college of apostles, to take the place of Judas. In the first reading, we saw how the apostles prayed and asked the Lord to show them whom He had chosen, someone who had accompanied them ‘the whole time’. They then cast their lots and God’s choice was revealed. Did God choose Matthias only at that point when the apostles had to replace Judas? Or did God already planned and prepared Matthias ‘the whole time’ when he was following Jesus throughout His ministry, and remained in the community even after the crucifixion? St. Paul says, “He chose us in him, before the foundation of the world…” Can you imagine, right up to this point in your life and mine, you and I are present right now in this holy place not by chance, but by choice. Through our own decisions nevertheless, but not w
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Homily: July 28, 2023, Friday of the sixteenth week in Ordinary time (First commandment).

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In those days: God delivered all these commandments: “I, the LORD, am your God…” In today's first reading, Moses passed on the Ten Commandments to the Israelites as he had received from God. Most emphasis is given to the first commandment because God wants His chosen people to focus on it seriously. It is the foundation on which all the other commandments rest. Whenever Israel failed in the first commandment, they would get into serious consequences. I am not an exorcist, but I have assisted exorcists as a translator on numerous occasions. Demonic possessions take place when people allow it through intentional offences against God. The exorcists would often ask questions to identify which commandment was violated, and commonly, it is the first commandment that was broken, such as playing Ouija board, practicing black magic or white magic, engaging in witchcraft, and so on. Violating the first commandment is denying God as our Lord, and that is the easiest way for Satan to possess a
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Homily: May 3, 2022, Feast of Saints Philip and James, Apostles

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 Jesus said to him, “Have I been with you for so long a time and you still do not know me, Philip?” There is an excellent radio program on EWTN known as: “Called to Communion”. It is a live call-in show where non-Catholics and lapsed Catholics can ask Dr. David Anders all sorts of questions about being Catholic. And people really asked many interesting questions. I always wonder, if I were to be asked those same questions, would I be able to answer them? Even though I have been a Catholic all my life, and studied theology extensively, there are still many things I am ignorant of in my faith. There are still so much about Jesus that I do not know. Do you know everything about Jesus? I doubt so. Jesus lived with the disciples daily for three years and still they did not know him fully. While we have the benefit of hindsight and two thousand years of revelation, yet we can’t claim to know it all. I like drinking coffee. In my previous assignment, I used to drink coffee every day in the of
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Homily: March 6, 2022, First Sunday of Lent

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F or forty days and nights, satan was waiting, to strike when Jesus was most hungry, at His weakest. First temptation: “Command this stone to become bread.” Jesus needed food indeed. Satan did not give food, but suggested Jesus to abuse His divine power to create food for Himself. He makes us think our needs and wants are most important. And suggests shortcuts to satisfy ourselves. Selfish desires turn us away from God. Second temptation: “I shall give to you all this power and glory…worship me.” Jesus’ mission is to preach the good news to all nations. Satan tries to persuade Jesus to take the easy way, to receive power and glory from him. satan is the father of lies. Nothing belongs to him. satan tries to make us believe that money will give us power and earthly possessions will give us glory. He tempts us with quick and convenient ways to achieve our ambitions. Greed and vanity block us from holy virtues. Third temptation: “If you are the son of God, throw yourself down from here…”
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Homily: April 7, 2022, Thursday of the Fifth Week of Lent

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 “Now we are sure that you are possessed.” I laughed when I first read this remark. The Jewish leaders have run out of clever accusations against Jesus, so they blame it on the devil! Interesting! They have witnessed the miracles He performed, and the wonderous things he did but they just refuse to admit these are signs and proof of His Divinity. They are so prideful and stubbornly insist that Jesus cannot be from God because he did not follow the laws of the Jewish Authorities. Jesus’ ways and teachings made them look bad, instead of admitting their wrongs, they now conclude that Jesus is possessed. Do we also behave the same way? When our argument is challenged or our authority is threatened, do we turn around to accuse others wrongly, just to defend ourselves? The Hundred Years’ War between France and England finally ended, with the help of a brave young lady who led the French army to victory. Her outstanding courage and wisdom came from divine inspirations from God and His messeng
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Homily: July 18, Monday of the Sixteenth Week in Ordinary Time.

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“She came from the ends of the earth to hear the wisdom of Solomon.” Queen Sheba went from Ethiopia to Jerusalem to see and hear for herself the famous King Solomon. Do you know how long did it take Queen Sheba to travel to Jerusalem in those times? She probably took three months to get there, and with a large group of servants, guards and advisors, taking with them not just the essentials for their daily needs but also loads of valuable gifts to present to the King. Would you be so well prepared and travel with so much conviction far away to see and hear someone great? We do see many people putting aside school, work and spend lots of money, even travelling far, to attend concerts, watch ball games and see their idols. Some of these events are often marketed as the ‘event of your life’ and not to be missed. Do we see the same interest and excitement for faith events?  Oh yes! Many people attended the Christ Our Life Conferences. They were all eager to hear the gifted speakers and for
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Homily: March 2, 2022, Ash Wednesday

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 Today begins another holy season of Lent. A time to turn away from sinful ways. To turn back to God. Ash Wednesday reminds us that we are from dust. Unto dust we shall return. God looked at dust and loved. He gave dust His breathe of life. God looks at us and loves. He gives us His body, blood and spirit. What can we give Him? “Even now, says the LORD, return to me with your whole heart”. God doesn’t want anything from us, He wants us. Live in God. Live with God. Live for God. In God’s ways. When I first came to this country, I saw crowds packing the mega churches. Non-Catholic Christian churches. I was really fascinated. Our Catholic churches are hardly ever filled. I asked an elderly priest, “why?” He replied, “Ours is a worship and sacrifice. Theirs is a show.” People like shows, performances, excitement. The world says, “be heard, be seen, be known, and be successful.” The Gospel says, “pray but don’t be heard, fast but don’t be seen, give but don’t be known, and be faithful.” Tha
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Homily: May 18, 2022, Wednesday of the fifth week of Easter.

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 “Remain in me as I remain in you.” The word ‘remain’ is repeated eight times in today’s Gospel text. I am not big on sports. When I first came to USA, I was introduced to baseball, and very quickly recruited into the Chicago Cubs as a follower. I knew nothing about baseball, other than it is similar to cricket which I used to play in India. So, I was an ignorant new Cub fan. Within the first few weeks of my ‘enrolment’, I found out there is another baseball team ‘Cardinal’. Some parishioners suggested that I switch. They reasoned that the name ‘Cardinal’ sounds more Catholic! But my Cub introducer advised me sternly, “Father, Once a cub, always a cub. Remain.” And to seal that ‘covenant’, he gave me a little cubby. Yes, till today, I have remained a cub. What does it mean to ‘remain’? Collins  dictionary defines it as: ‘stay’, ‘continue’, ‘do not change’. That is what our Lord wants of us, to stay with Him, continue with Him, do not change our following. But note that He says, ‘remain
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Homily: April 4, 2022, Monday of the Fifth Week of Lent

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   “The innocent and the just you shall not put to death.” Do you agree? In 1966, a priest Fr. Benedict was accused of first-degree murder. He was from my archdiocese in India. He was accused of impregnating a woman named Maria, of stabbing her to death and leaving her body by the roadside. It was a cruel act. While in custody, the police questioned him to get his admission of guilt, they tortured him badly. They even pulled out some of his fingernails to force him to admit. But he denied. He insisted he was innocent. Thereafter, the first-class court concluded the case with a death sentence. He appealed to the superior court. Finally, after two years in prison, his appeal was accepted because the prosecution could not provide the necessary evidence. He was released from prison but nobody in society believed him his innocence. The media speculated that the catholic church had bribed the police and the court. He still insisted he was innocent. However, after his release, the diocese sen
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Homilía: Marzo 24, 2022, Jueves de la III semana de Cuaresma.

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 “El que no está conmigo, está contra mí; y el que no recoge conmigo, desparrama”.”. El mensaje de Jesús es muy claro. No podemos seguir a Jesús parcialmente. Si no lo estamos siguiendo de todo corazón, no somos sus seguidores. Hoy es el vigésimo día de Cuaresma, sin contar los domingos. Estamos a la mitad. ¿Recuerdas lo que decidiste hacer especial para estos 40 días de Cuaresma? ¿Lo estás cumpliendo? Mientras nos esforzamos por fortalecernos espiritualmente, los demonios se esfuerzan más para mantenernos deprimidos. Me pregunto quién está a la cabeza en esta mitad de camino. En mis años de infancia, solo los niños ricos de mi pueblo podían tener bicicletas. Cuando estaba en quinto grado, mi hermano mayor y yo decidimos recolectar flores silvestres de nuez moscada del bosque cercano para venderlas y poder comprar una bicicleta. Nos despertábamos muy temprano en la mañana y corríamos al bosque para buscar y recolectar tantas como fuera posible. Muchos niños de otros pueblos estaban hac
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