Homily: October 12, 2024, Twenty-eighth Sunday in Ordinary Time (Bible)

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 “Indeed, the word of God is living and effective, sharper than any two-edged sword, penetrating even between soul and spirit, joints and marrow, and able to discern reflections and thoughts of the heart.”

Is the word of God living and effective in your life?

This is my personal Bible. It is in Malayalam, my native language. My papa bought it for me on June 7, 2003, two days before I turned 15 years old. It has been with me ever since. It accompanied me through all my seminary years even when in Rome. I’ve read it many, many times.

If you receive a beautiful letter from someone you love, wouldn’t you read it over and over, many times?

I’ve used my Bible to pray, to praise God, to seek His advice, and to learn more about Him. When I was younger, I had the habit of memorizing a verse from the Bible every day. Over that time, I have memorized hundreds of passages.

In our family, everyone, as well as my parents, had their own personal Bible. My family still keeps my grandpa’s Bible, which was published in 1934. 

Every night, after our family prayer, my parents would spend another 15 minutes to read the Bible. My papa always read the Bible and prayed before making a major decision. He believed strongly that God speaks to us through Scripture, offering advice and consolation. And it is true.

Now, do you have your own personal copy of the Bible? Is it precious to you?

If you don’t have one, I strongly recommend that you get one. Read it as often as you can. Whenever you get the chance or have a few minutes during the day or night, instead of swiping your phone or scrolling online, flip the Bible.

If you find something which speaks to you specially, memorize it, imprint it in your mind and heart, and let it grow into your consciousness, let it rule your soul, let it direct your life, let it become living and effective and see it transform you. It is powerful. It is the word of God.

In today’s Gospel, when a man asked Jesus, “…what must I do to inherit eternal life?” Jesus responded using Scripture. Last Sunday, when he was asked about divorce, He used Scripture to answer. When there was controversy about the Sabbath, He quoted Scripture. Jesus often turned to Scripture to affirm His ministry and identity. He even used Scripture to counter the temptations of the devil. The Word of God has answers to every aspect of life.

Every year, I would choose a theme for the faith formation classes. My first year’s theme was ‘Prayer’, the following year was ‘Saints’. This year, it is ‘The Word of God’. The catechists will thus help the families in our faith formation program to focus on learning more about the Bible this year.

St. Jerome said, “Ignorance of Scripture is ignorance of God.” The more we read the Bible, the closer we come to God. The more we read the words of the One who loves us, the more we would be able to feel His love, and the more we would be able to give love. The love relationship would grow stronger.

Know God, love God, serve God. Read His Word.       Amen


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Homilía: 23 de Octubre 2022, XXX Domingo ordinario (ES)

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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: November 10, 2023, Friday of the Thirty-first Week in Ordinary Time (End of World)

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 "Those who have never been told of Him shall see, and those who have never heard of Him shall understand."  While the Apostles went around preaching to the Jews, Paul was preaching to the Gentiles, because he wanted to reach ‘those who have never been told of Him’ and ‘those who have never heard of Him’. Yesterday, during our priest study day, our speaker Fr. Patrick Mary said that we are living in a post-Christendom era. Evangelizing the Gentiles and pagans in the early days were about shifting their belief in pagan gods to the one true God. But today, we are dealing with people who believe in nothing, it is a bigger challenge. They have been told of Him, but do not believe. They have heard of Him but refuse to understand. How do we shake and wake people up to the truth? When I was in middle school, there were Jehovah's Witnesses in our small town, and they distributed flyers everywhere proclaiming that the world was going to end. They warned people that for them to be
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Homily: December 20, 2022, Tuesday of the Fourth Week of Advent.

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As a priest, I also follow the daily reflections of other good preachers, to learn their insights and to be inspired and nurtured spiritually. There is one daily reflection which I follow closely, that of Archbishop William Cardinal Goh, the Archbishop of Singapore. His reflections always touch me so deeply and open my mind to new perspectives. I admire his courage to correct the church lovingly, his deep trust in God, and his passion for evangelization and dedication for his ministry, at the same time he is also very humble. Last night as I was preparing the homily for today, i was thinking about my struggles and challenges trying to minister and lead this parish. I always felt that my weaknesses are too great and my strengths too mild to do a good job here. My own faith and self confidence have been tested intensely. Then reading Archbishop Goh's reflection for today's scripture texts inspired me and even answered my doubts and questions concerning my ministry here. I think i
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Homily: December 26,2022, Feast of Saint Stephen, first martyr.

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From the first reading, we heard Stephen declare, “Behold, I see the heavens opened and the Son of Man standing at the right hand of God.” But his persecutors ‘cried out in a loud voice, covered their ears, and rushed upon him together.’ If we could visualize the scene, we would imagine Stephen looking radiant with joy as he anticipated his death, while his persecutors looking tormented and fearful as they prepared to kill. We know why Stephen was joyful as he looked up to heaven, because he could see where his future would be. We also know why his persecutors were afraid as they closed their ears to Stephen’s words, because they did not want to hear the truth. It tormented their conscience and pierced through the darkness in their hearts. I am sure we ourselves may have experienced the same, when our wrong doings were being highlighted, when our shame were being revealed or when our hurts were being exposed, we might also cry out, “stop! I don’t want to hear it! I don’t want to know i
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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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