Fr. Nivin's Homily Blog

“For as often as you eat this bread and drink the cup, you proclaim the death of the Lord until he comes.” There are many reasons people choose to go to a particular church on Sundays. Some say, “I like the music,” or “I like the homily.” Others might say, “My friends are going there,” or “I like the diversity of this community,” or “The Mass time is convenient.” Some people choose to attend other denominational or non-denominational services to make their Sunday church experience more interesting. What about you? Why do you come to church? There could be many motivations too, but truly, any Mass at any Catholic church is the same, whether the homily is wonderful or awful, whether the music is traditional or contemporary, whether the community is lively or sleepy… because the exact same sacrificial event takes place at every Mass. Be it here in Iowa, or there in South Sudan, it is the same Jesus, the same sacrificial death on the cross, the same redemptive love at every Mass. And so, w

Our beloved brother, Richard Murphy, has gone home to be with the Lord. We are saddened for our loss of a faithful brother, yet we come here with joy to celebrate the fulfilment of his long earthly life and his entry into eternity. As a faithful Catholic, he received all the necessary sacraments and was well prepared for his final walk from here to forever. We believe his soul is at peace, we too, are at peace for him. Murphy was a true servant of God. He began serving as an altar server in his home parish in Manson, Iowa, when he was a young boy and was also an active member of this Parish when he moved to Des Moines. Here at St. Ambrose, was where Murphy worshipped and served the Lord for the past few decades. Murphy was one of the first people I met during my first weeks here in 2021. I fondly remember him as someone who was either first or early in many things. He would arrive early for Knights of Columbus meetings, walking to the parish hall with his walker, and waiting patiently

 "Rejoice and leap for joy on that day! Behold, your reward will be great in heaven." When I was a small boy, I used to look up in the sky when I heard a plane fly by. At that time, no one in my village had ever flown in an airplane before, so my dream was to fly in a plane to a place far away from my home. I thought that would be the day I would be very happy. Today I am here in the USA, more than 8 thousand miles away! Do you have a dream for yourself? We all have dreams, and whatever our dreams are, we all believe that when they come true, we will be very happy. I too have a dream for Holy Family School. I dream that every student who comes to this school will experience joy, that they will be happy learning and growing together, to make good friends and create beautiful memories here, and that every student here will gain not just great knowledge of the world, but also develop a deep understanding and love for God. Today’s Gospel passage is known as the Beatitudes. The Be

 “Do you not know that the unjust will not inherit the Kingdom of God? Do not be deceived.” In Christian theology, there is something known as the Last Things, which are namely these four: Death, Judgement, Heaven, Hell. Death is the event at the end of this life when our mortal body is separated from our immortal soul. At that moment of death, each person is judged by God based on our faith and conduct in this life, and our soul will either be rewarded or punished. The reward is heaven, eternal bliss and joy when we come face to face with God, our Creator. Some will go through purgatory, a temporary state of purification in preparation for heaven. The punishment is hell, eternal torment and condemnation for our rejection of God. Heaven is real. Hell is also real. Once, during a talk for priests, the speaker asked us, “When was the last time you preached about eternal punishment?” I tried to think of a recent homily or message where I spoke about it, and there was none. I realised that

“It is widely reported that there is immorality among you, and immorality of a kind not found even among pagans.”  Once, I came across this quote from Thomas Merton: “The greatest evil is found where the highest good has been corrupted.” How true! And how sad… There is probably no statistics to confirm this, but superficially, we can see how countries with majority Christians seemed to be more liberal in their views and practices which are opposing to Church teachings, while some countries with minority Christians, even with persecution of the faith, seem to be more in agreement with Church values. St. Peter warned, “Your adversary the devil walks around like a roaring lion, looking for someone to devour.” And the devil wants to devour the believer, because the non-believer is already on his side. And if we are not careful, or are complacent or weak, we are easy targets. As I read somewhere, “the devil doesn’t come dressed in a red cape and pointy horns, he comes disguised as everythin

 “To this very hour, we go hungry and thirsty, we are poorly clad and roughly treated, we wander about homeless, and we toil, working with our own hands.” The Apostle Paul described the life of him and his companions as they do their mission of proclaiming Christ. It was quite a life of hardship and suffering. And it seemed that many, if not all, of the missionaries who went out to proclaim the Gospel suffered similarly – other than persecution from anti-Christianity haters, it was simply hardships in daily living conditions. Is it true that living for Christ and proclaiming the Gospel means living a harsh life of suffering? St. Ignatius Loyola said, “If God sends you many sufferings, it is a sign that He has great plans for you and certainly wants to make you a saint.” So, it is true that to be a saint does mean going through suffering. Doesn’t this sound irrational and sadistic? Why can’t we be faithful to Christ and not have to suffer? Does such suffering come with pain and anguish