Homily: JUne 5, 2024, Wednesday of the Ninth Week in Ordinary Time (Salvation).

-

Holy Family School Mass

"He saved us and called us to a holy life, not according to our works but according to His own design and the grace bestowed on us in Christ Jesus before time began."

There are many important points to note in this verse, I will highlight four:

One, God saved us.

Two, we are called to a holy life.

Three, not by our works, but by God’s design.

Four, and by the grace of Jesus Christ.

Let me check your general knowledge. Can you name some well-known religions in the world?

Yes, Hinduism, Sikhism, Islam, Christianity, Buddhism, Jainism, Zoroastrianism, and Judaism.

Do you know any friends who believe in any of these religions?

Well, I did too when I was in school. That was in India. I had school friends who were Hindus, Muslims, Christians, and Buddhists.

Although I attended a Catholic school, majority of the students were Hindus, Catholics were a minority. We had school Mass on Fridays, right before the lunch break. During this time, the Muslim students would go to their mosque nearby for prayer, and Catholics would go to church, while students of other religions were free to spend the time as they wish.

Every religion proposes the right way to live according to their founder’s philosophy and understanding of life and death. From what I know, all the other religions suggest that the individual person must strive to live correctly in order to achieve the ideals of the religion, like peace in the family, success in life, prosperity, rebirth to a higher order or attaining the concept of nirvana.

And that makes Christianity very different from other religions in this, that simply by believing, we are saved, not by our own hard work or merit, but by the grace of Christ Jesus.

Listen carefully to the words of St. Paul again:

"He saved us and called us to a holy life, not according to our works but according to His own design and the grace bestowed on us in Christ Jesus before time began."

Salvation is already won and given to us, we just have to accept it willingly and wholeheartedly. It is like somebody gives you a gift, you can either accept it or reject it. You can take it and keep it wrapped up without any impact on your life, or you can open it and enjoy the full benefits of the gift.

Many Catholics are believers in name and half-hearted in faith, the impact of the gift will be minimal of course.

Jesus saved us through shedding His precious blood, which washes all our sins away. And the way to fully benefit from this gift is by regularly receiving His grace through the holy sacraments. When we fully accept and receive this wholeheartedly, our lives will be transformed.

Amen.


Comments

Post a Comment

Read

Homiía: Mayo 1, 2022, III Domingo de Pascua

-
 Jesús les dijo: “Vengan a almorzar”. Mi mamá cocinaba nuestras comidas familiares a la manera tradicional de la India, preparando todo con ingredientes frescos y cocido a la leña. Pasaba la mayor parte de su tiempo en la cocina cocinando para sus siete hijos. También trabajaba en la granja familiar. Sin embargo, todos los días, a la hora de comer, cuando terminaba de cocinar, nos llamaba a todos: “vengan para comer”. Incluso cuando no nos habíamos portado bien o cuando estaba enojada y molesta con nosotros, siempre que la comida estaba lista, mamá llamaba. Ella debe habernos llamado miles de veces hasta el día en que fue enterrada. Las invitaciones a la hora de comer de mi mamá todavía resuenan claramente en mi corazón. Otra tradición india, mi mamá nunca se sentaba a comer con nosotros cuando teníamos invitados para cenar, tenía que esperar hasta que nosotros, incluido papa y los invitados termináramos de comer antes de comer ella. Mi mamá siempre se aseguraba de que estuviéramos bie
Read more

Homily: April 1, 2022: Friday of the Fourth Week of Lent

-
 “Is he not the one they are trying to kill? And look, he is speaking openly...” The Jews are already plotting to kill Jesus, but that does not stop Jesus from preaching fearlessly in their midst. The people need to hear the good news, that is the mission of Jesus. He came to this world for that purpose. He is focused on accomplishing His Father’s will. Nothing can stop Him, not even death. This is a country with religious freedom. Anyone can follow any religion and profess any faith without fear of persecution. It is not so in some other parts of the world. In some countries, the faithful cannot be seen make the sign of the cross or discuss any faith matters in public, they have no access to religious materials openly, they are not allowed to meet as a faith community in anyone’s home. Yet, they have baptisms every year, there are many men and women who join the religious vocations. The suppression of faith practices fails to suppress the secret preaching, the silent teaching, the inv
Read more

Meditation: April 7, 2023, Bridge churches stations of the Cross.

-
 Jesus promises to share his reign with the Good Thief (Luke 23:39-43) Now one of the criminals hanging there reviled Jesus, saying, "Are you not the Messiah? Save yourself and us." The other, however, rebuking him, said in reply, "Have you no fear of God, for you are subject to the same condemnation? And indeed, we have been condemned justly, for the sentence we received corresponds to our crimes, but this man has done nothing criminal." Then he said, "Jesus, remember me when you come into your kingdom." He replied to him, "Amen, I say to you, today you will be with me in Paradise." ========================= Two criminals were being crucified beside You, Jesus. We call one of them the ‘good thief’. While none of Your gospel writers described him as such, he had become known by this title because of what he said at that moment before his death. Jesus, do you also think he was ‘good’? I thought he was ‘lucky’ more than good, because at that last m
Read more

Homilía fúnebre: Maria Dolores Tovar 1/21/2022 (Español)

-
 Nos reunimos aquí hoy para llorar la pérdida de nuestra querida hermana María Dolores y para celebrar su paso de este mundo al otro. Su salud sufrió durante algún tiempo y ahora está liberada de esos problemas. Ella está en camino al reino de los cielos. El mismo día de su muerte, su nieto Edgar Alonso fue llamado de regreso al Señor de forma inesperada. Este es un momento difícil para la familia Tovar. No hay palabra que pueda calmar tus penas, ningún consuelo puede aliviar tu dolor. Solo Dios sabe por lo que estás pasando y solo Él puede otorgarte la fuerza para abrazar este momento de tristeza y ayudarte a atravesarlo con fe. En la primera lectura tomada del libro de la Sabiduría, miramos el sufrimiento humano. En muchas culturas, el sufrimiento se considera un castigo o una maldición, una falta de bendiciones. Pero para todos los que tenemos fe en Jesucristo, sabemos que el sufrimiento puede ser una gracia salvadora. Dios no causa el sufrimiento, Él permite que suceda. Por lo tant
Read more

Christmas Homily 2021,

-
 For readings: https://bible.usccb.org/bible/readings/122521-night.cfm “Glory to God in the highest and on earth peace to those on whom his favor rests.” A very blessed Christmas to all of you again. This is my third Christmas in USA, in Iowa. But my first with this parish. It’s a very special feeling, celebrating Christmas here and now. When Bishop Joensen first told me about my transfer to this parish as Rector, I was very hesitant to accept because I am very young as priest, very new in this land and very inexperienced in parish management. The call was too huge for me. I tried to say no, appoint someone more capable than I. But I think Bishop pretended he didn’t understand my accent. Honestly, I was really anxious and not ready for such a big change so soon. In obedience, I finally said ‘yes’, like Mary did when angel Gabriel announced to her about God’s plan. Maybe that was how Mary felt too. She was so young, inexperienced and not married. To be the mother of the Messia
Read more

Homily: April 22, 2024 Monday of the fourth week of Easter (Uncircumcized).

-
So when Peter went up to Jerusalem, the circumcised believers confronted him, saying, “You entered the house of uncircumcised people and ate with them.” This incident happened soon after the Pentecost event. Peter was going around Jerusalem and its neighboring towns thus most of the newly converted were Jews, Orthodox Jews who were strictly faithful to the Mosaic laws and Jewish traditions and practices like circumcision, separating from the Gentiles, and even religious dietary restrictions. They wanted to follow Christ but were not ready to let go of their old way of life. They were not ready to live alongside the Gentiles who also accepted Christ and so could not include them into their community. They embraced Jesus’ resurrection but could not discard their deep rejection of the Gentile people. If the apostles and their successors had also maintained the same disposition, the church would not have grown. It was only when the good news spread to the Gentiles and non-Jews that the chu
Read more

Homily: June 14, 2023, Wednesday of the Tenth Week in Ordinary Time (Smallest Letter)

-
 Amen, I say to you, until heaven and earth pass away, not the smallest letter or the smallest part of a letter will pass from the law. What is the smallest letter of the law? In my home diocese in India, the church belongs to the Syro-Malabar tradition and our liturgy is celebrated differently from the Roman rite we celebrate here. The liturgical language used is East Syriac. Syriac is very similar to Aramaic, the language spoken by Jesus and His disciples. Both languages share the same alphabet, and within it, the smallest letter is the Yod (^), which resembles a small upside-down "V". One of our seminarian friends was nicknamed "Yod" because of his small physical stature.  Despite its size, this letter holds great significance in the language. Yod is used to form all the other letters, and since the Jewish tradition holds that God uses all the letters as the building blocks of creation, Yod points to God's omnipresence. And creation is natural law. So when Je
Read more

Funeral Homily: William J. Baum, June 8, 2023

-
 The souls of the just are in the hand of God, and no torment shall touch them. The soul of Bill is in the hand of God, no torment shall touch him. We are here to bid our final farewell to Bill, our beloved brother, grandpa, dad, husband, friend. I feel privileged to have known Bill these last two years and honored to preside over this Mass for his sending off. Many of you would have known him much longer and much better than I. I wish I had more time with him. I was awed when I read his obituary, his life story is inspirational. I know from my encounter with him that he was a dedicated husband, a loving and caring father, the greatest fan to every one of his grandchildren, and an incredible friend to countless people here and around the world. His going would surely leave a void in our lives. It is only natural that we grieve this loss. Bill was a man of remarkable character. His love for life, his sense of humor, and his thoughtfulness for others were the hallmarks of his personality
Read more

Homily: May 29, 2022, The Ascension of the Lord

-
 As Jesus was about to ascend to heaven in the presence of his disciples, he told them, “You will be my witnesses in Jerusalem, throughout Judea and Samaria, and to the ends of the earth.” Could the disciples be good witnesses? Who can be a good witness? Some of you may already know, my official name is Nipin but my original name is Nivin. Typo error is easy to correct, but written error on official documents become permanent. That was the situation with my name. I also have two birth dates: one is the actual date of when I was born, which was stated in the birth document. The other date was chosen and used to enrol me into school earlier, instead of a year later. It is a common practice in India. This date was stated in school documents and all other official documents. It became my official date of birth. Now in USA, part of my immigration process requires my birth information, so the discrepancy in the dates needs to be rectified. Who can prove my actual date of birth? My parents ar
Read more

Homily: September 27, 2022, Tuesday of the Twenty-sixth Week in Ordinary Time (Memorial of of St. Vincent de Paul)

-
“Job opened his mouth and cursed his day. Job spoke out and said: Perish the day on which I was born, the night when they said, “The child is a boy!”  Job was so upset that he wished he was never born! I can fully understand how Job felt. He had been faithful, he had lived right but he had lost everything in his life, including his own health. He had nothing left. He had every reason to curse, to complaint. Recently I visited a mom whose son took his own life. She was lamenting and crying her heart out to God. She cursed her life, complained to God and questioned Him why He allowed this tragedy to happen. In my own troubled moments when nothing is going right, I too wonder, “Why did God create me?” Why send me to this world to go through hardship then bring me back again? He could have just kept me in heaven. When everything go wrong, won’t we also think that life is meaningless? Even though I don’t have the perfect explanation, I find my consolation in the cross of Christ, looking at
Read more