Homily: July 8-2024, Monday of the fourteenth week in Ordinary time (Raised from death)

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“My daughter has just died. But come, lay your hand on her, and she will live.”

How could this official be so sure that just by laying hands on his daughter, Jesus could raise her to life?

I have witnessed many miraculous healings and other situations personally, but I have never personally encountered someone returning from death, though I have heard of near-death experiences.

I have anointed many dying persons and presided over many funerals of people I personally know, including my own parents and relatives. Did I ever wish and pray for them to escape death or be raised from death by Jesus?

Yes, many times. But no, they did not live.

I do believe that Jesus is the Lord of life, and He has the power to bring the dead back to life. I am certain that He can perform such miracles even today. I believe this without a doubt.

But why did He raise some but not others?

In the gospel accounts, only three death-to-life miracles were recorded: Lazarus, the brother of Mary and Martha; the daughter of the official in today’s gospel, and the son of the widow in Nain. Were there only three such miracles Jesus did during His public ministry, or were there more but not recorded?

It is almost certain that Jesus did not raise His foster father Joseph from his death. And none of the apostles were resurrected after their horrible deaths, none of the saints we know of have returned to life as well.

Death from this earthly life is certain. All the three people Jesus raised from death ultimately did die again. Their being raised back to earthly life was not meant to be forever.

The purpose of Jesus’ miracles, whether it was healing or raising from the dead, was to strengthen the faith of His followers. He wanted them and us, to believe in the life that awaits those who follow Him faithfully. By raising the dead, He showed His followers that He has power over life and death, including His own. He proved it with His resurrection. With Jesus’ resurrection, we can believe in eternal life.

With every passing of our loved ones, we would still mourn and grieve over our loss and separation, but at the same time, our hope in the resurrection alleviates our present sorrow. We know that Jesus will resurrect our bodies finally, that we will reunite with our loved ones again, and we will live in union with God forever and ever.

Let us ask for the grace to look towards eternal life and always live in firm anticipation of it. Let us not be concerned over longevity in this life. In God’s time we will live, will die and will rise again.

Jesus, you are the resurrection and the life, and I trust in you. 

Amen.


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March 1, 2025: First Holy Communion Homily: St. Joseph's Catholic Church Seffner, Florida

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Did you listen attentively to the Gospel reading? Yes? Let me test you… What did Jesus say? Did He say, “Whoever eats my bread and drinks my wine?”  No! He said, “Whoever eats my FLESH and drinks my BLOOD remains in me and I in him.” Yes, when you receive Holy Communion, you are receiving the real flesh and blood of Jesus. I am sure Fr. Roy, your catechists, parents and the whole parish community have prepared you well for this day, so you know what you are receiving today. But what I want to focus on now is the last part where Jesus says, ‘remains in me and I in him’. 29 years ago in 1996, I received my First Holy Communion. I was eight years old, but I still remember that day vividly. I remember the preparations, my First Reconciliation, and the excitement I felt when I lined up to receive Jesus for the very first time. I remember seeing the priest dipping the Precious Body into the Precious Blood, and then that precious moment – Jesus’ body and blood rested on my tongue. So swee...
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Jesus said to the disciples, “Peace be with you,” and then immediately showed them His hands and His side, His wounds. Even in His glorified, resurrected body, Jesus bears the nail wounds of the crucifixion. When it is our turn to see Him face to face, we too will still see His wounds. They are important to Him. To us, they are proof of His sacrifice, a permanent reminder of His love, the pain He endured for us. To Jesus, they are physical signs of His full obedience, even unto death. We too have our own wounds, sufferings we experienced which leave behind scars: physical, mental, emotional and social. These scars can be manifested in the form of physical impairments and imperfections, anger temperaments, deep bitterness and sadness, or even intentional avoidance of social situations which could trigger the painful memory. But we don’t always show these openly, we tend to hide these painful, hurting part of us from others, we try to look ok on the outside. Most of the time, only those ...
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Homily: April 1, 2025, Tuesday of the Fourth Week in Lent ()

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Homily: June7, 2023, Wednesday of the Ninth Week in Ordinary Time (Pray Hardest).

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 Grief-stricken in spirit, I, Tobit, groaned and wept aloud. Then with sobs I began to pray… We continue our reflections from the book of Tobit. In the first part of today’s first reading, we see how Tobit was ‘grief-stricken in spirit’ – he was devastated and desperate! His life saw misfortunes one after another, while he continued to keep faithful to God. But there is just so much a human person can withstand, so he took it to prayer, with groans and sobs, but if you read carefully his prayer, there was no complaints or anger against God. Only total surrender and giving up his life totally to the Lord. Then we read on to Sarah’s life. What a miserable life she had, losing one husband after another, seven times, all on the wedding nights. She was cursed indeed by the demon and ridiculed by others, she was helpless and depressed. What could she do? We see in the reading, “At that time, then, she spread out her hands, and facing the window, poured out her prayer…” She could take her...
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Homily: July 24, 2023, Holy Family School Mass for faculty and staff.

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 In two days, all our students will be back in school. They will be in the classrooms, in the fields, in the halls…everywhere. How do you feel about that? Holy Mass, our celebration of the Eucharist, is the source and summit of Christian life. It is the source where we receive spiritual nourishment, enlightenment, love, mercy, and peace. It is the summit, the highest form of prayer, worship and thanksgiving to God, who first gave, who first loved. We are now all gathered here, faculty members, staff, school board, foundation members, and friends to thank God and to seek His graces for this academic year. We all need it, don’t we? These days our first readings are taken from the book of Exodus. I picked these verses for our reflection today: And they complained to Moses, “Were there no burial places in Egypt that you had to bring us out here to die in the desert? Why did you do this to us? Why did you bring us out of Egypt? Did we not tell you this in Egypt when we said, 'Leave us a...
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“He shall bring forth justice to the nations, not crying out, not shouting, not making his voice heard in the street.”  Throughout Holy Week, we will be reading from the Book of Prophet Isaiah. 700 years before the birth of Jesus, Isaiah had prophesied about the coming of the Messiah, not in a grand arrival, neither would He leave earth in a dignified departure. The image of Christ described by Isaiah is that of a humble suffering servant of God. His mission is to ‘bring forth justice to the nations’, by taking on injustice on Himself. He will carry the sins of the world through pain, yet He will not cry out, nor shout, He will bear all these in a meek, mild and humble way. Isaiah’s prophecies were all fulfilled by Jesus, particularly in the days of Holy Week. This week’s readings invite us to look to Jesus, no to pity and pain for Him, but to learn from Him, to straighten up our spirit to imitate Him, and to follow His example. All through Jesus’ trial, His great sufferings on the...
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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 ...
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Homily: February 13, 2022, Sixth Sunday in Ordinary Time.

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 In the first reading we heard, “Thus says the LORD: Cursed is the one who trusts in human beings, who seeks his strength in flesh, whose heart turns away from the LORD.” And then it continued with, “Blessed is the one who trusts in the LORD, whose hope is the LORD.” It is very clear, isn’t it? That those who turns away from God will be cursed and those who trusts in God will be blessed. The gospel reading today is known as the beatitudes, in which our Lord Jesus also spelled out the curses and the blessings. But it seems much harder to accept what Jesus is teaching here. I too struggle with this. Let us try to understand it together. We have been told that we came from God, and after this life, we will go back to God. For a long time, I questioned the rationale. Why create me to throw me into this difficult life just to bring me back to Him again? Why not just keep me with Him from the beginning and save me the trouble of going through this life? This earthly life is not easy. I w...
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