Homily: October 24, 2024, Thursday of the Twenty-ninth Week in Ordinary Time (Know God )

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 "…that you…may have strength to comprehend with all the holy ones what is the breadth and length and height and depth, and to know the love of Christ that surpasses knowledge, so that you may be filled with all the fullness of God."

I love this passage very much. In my native language, it is expressed even more beautifully, and I have cherished it in my heart since young.

Can we ever fully comprehend the love of God?

I don’t think we can ever grasp even a fraction of it. His love is immensely wide, long, high and deep, it surpasses all knowledge and understanding, beyond our imagination.

How do we even begin to understand something so vast? 

Let’s look at how today’s first reading started: "I kneel before the Father, from whom every family in heaven and on earth is named."

To kneel before God is probably one of the first and best way to start to know Him. It is said that St. Thomas Aquinas learned more theology on his knees than from books.

And Blessed Archbishop Fulton Sheen put this wisdom so simply, “No man discovers anything big unless he makes himself small.”

Recognizing and embracing our smallness, our nothingness, means we recognize and embrace the greatness of God. We come before Him humble and empty, and He will fill us full of His graces. That begins our relationship with God.

We can read about God, think about God, and talk about God, but to truly know Him, we must kneel before Him and unite ourselves with Him through prayer.

And we pray and pray and pray. Praying consistently and unceasingly, is not so much for God to hear us, but it is for us to hear Him. And from hearing Him well, we will know Him better. It is much like how we become familiar with a friend, through constant connecting, through regular conversations, through listening to one another.

The wonderful relationships all the saints had with God came not from intellectual studying or learning, but from a life of prayer and contemplation.

So let us pray for the strength to comprehend the greatness of God, to know the love of Christ and be filled with the fullness of God. Let us daily strive to know Him, love Him and serve Him. Amen.


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Homily: June 16, 2026, Monday of the Eleventh Week in Ordinary Time (Mercy)

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 “Since he has humbled himself before me, I will not bring the evil in his time.” Yesterday we heard the disturbing story of Naboth and the terrible injustice committed against him by King Ahab and Queen Jezebel. Their actions were cruel, wrong and sinful. They deserved judgement and punishment, especially Jezebel, who orchestrated the whole scheme. Yet today we see something remarkable. When Ahab humbled himself, fasted, and repented, God relented. He delayed the punishment that had been announced. What does this show us about God? It shows us that God’s mercy is greater than our sins. For thirteen years, Pope Francis reminded the Church of this beautiful truth: God's very name is mercy. God is just, but He is also infinitely merciful. He never ceases to seek out the sinner and offer the way back to Him. We see this throughout the events in Sacred Scripture. When Adam and Eve sinned, God pronounced the consequences of their sin. Yet immediately afterward, we read that “the LORD Go...
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Homily: April 20, 2026, Monday of the Third week of Easter (Friendship with Jesus)

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 “Amen, amen, I say to you, you are looking for me not because you saw signs but because you ate the loaves and were filled.” I have many personal friends whom I do not contact regularly anymore, mostly because of our busy schedules, time zone difference, and simply how quickly time passes. But when I need something from there, when I need their help, I would not hesitate to call them. And they would oblige and not reject me. They too, would reach out to me only when they need my help, and I would not deny them my assistance either. I do feel guilty quite often, however. I do think I should have called them more often, to check in with them and show concern, not just when I needed help. My friends are guilty of the same. In today’s Gospel, people were looking for Jesus, and He knew their motivation, because they knew He could provide for their needs, He could feed them and satisfy their hunger for food. Sadly, they did not know He could give them much more than mere food, they simp...
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Homily: April 7, 2024 Second Sunday of Easter Sunday of Divine Mercy

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 Let the house of Israel say, "His mercy endures forever." Let the house of Aaron say, "His mercy endures forever." Let those who fear the LORD say, "His mercy endures forever." We sang these verses in today’s responsorial psalm. God’s mercy endures forever. ‘Forever’ means from the very beginning to the very end of time, God’s mercy ‘endures’. What does it endure? Does it endure just the length of time? No, more than that. It endures the breadth of our sins, and the depth of our hard-heartedness. When Adam and Eve sinned against God, they had to bear the consequences of their sins. Even then, we read the scene of God putting together some garments for Man and Woman to cover themselves, who became conscious of their nakedness. This is a beautiful sign of God’s affectionate and compassionate love for the man and woman He created. This is God’s mercy. Thereafter throughout the whole of history, from Abraham to Moses, to Jesus till today, God continues to pur...
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Homily: February 20, 2026 Friday after Ash-Wednesday (Fast)

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 “The days will come when the bridegroom is taken away from them, and then they will fast.” People fast for various reasons. Many people fast for health, fitness and vanity reasons by doing intermittent fasting, detox diets, or weight loss programs. Some prominent figures use fasting as a form of silent protest. Leaders like Gandhi used hunger strikes to fight injustice. And sadly, some people are simply not eating, they are starving not by choice but because of poverty. Christian fasting is different. It is spiritual fasting and is not primarily about the body. It is about the spiritual heart. Jesus’ disciples were not fasting like the disciples of other preachers, and He told them that when the bridegroom is taken away, they will fast. Because their fasting will be an sign of longing, a spiritual desire to be re-united with their master, it expresses the deep sorrow of separation. Later, when the disciples could not cast out a demon, Jesus reminded them: “This kind can only come ...
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Homily: February 4, 2026 Wednesday of the Fourth Week In Ordinary Time

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 “A prophet is not without honor except in his native place and among his own kin and in his own house.” Jesus said something very honest today and I think it is very true. I am your priest and I love all of you. I also truly feel loved, appreciated, and respected here at school. It is a real joy for me to celebrate Mass with you, to pray with you, and to spend time with you. I feel very blessed and am very grateful for this. Now, let me tell you about another group of people in my life. I have more than a dozen nieces and nephews, aging from 2 years old, right up to 18 years old. Majority of them are around your age. They have known me since they were born, so they know a lot more about me than you do. They know the nice and the ugly sides of me. Of course, they love me too but honestly, I think you respect me and listen to me more than they do. Every time I get together with them, they would make fun of me a lot. They give me funny, and not very nice nicknames. They love to tease...
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Homily: march 15, 2026, Fourth Sunday in Lent (Laetare Sunday)

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 “Then Samuel, with the horn of oil in hand, anointed David in the presence of his brothers; and from that day on the Spirit of the LORD rushed upon David.” This is one of the most powerful scenes in the Old Testament. A young shepherd boy was suddenly anointed the king of Israel – the least-expected to be king material, yet God chose him. David did not come from any royal line. There were no kings before in his family. He was young, tender in experience, and in the eyes of the world, he didn’t look promising as compared to his older brothers. The prophet Samuel saw more potential in David’s older brothers, yet God chose him. God reminded Samuel: “Not as man sees does God see, because man sees the appearance, but the LORD looks into the heart.” God saw something in David’s heart which made him the perfect king for God, something no one else could see. Dear catechumens and candidates, in just twenty-one days, you will be fully initiated into the Catholic faith during Easter Vigil. Y...
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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: June 23, 2026 Tuesday of the Twelth Week in Ordinary time (Narrow Gate)

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 “How narrow the gate and constricted the road that leads to life. And those who find it are few.” What Jesus says today is both challenging and true. Heaven is a popular destination, almost everyone wants to go there, but the road that leads to it, is not the most preferred, few people want to walk it. Our natural tendency is to take the most comfortable, convenient, and pleasurable route. The world constantly invites us to choose the easy path, promising happiness without sacrifice and fulfillment without commitment. Seriously, we all know those are lies. Recently I came across a striking phrase: “If your life is very comfortable, you may have wandered away from the Lord.” While comfort itself is not a bad thing, the Christian life was never meant to be centered on comfort. It is centered on Christ. We are pilgrims on a journey. A pilgrim knows where he wants to go. He does not travel merely to explore, to be entertained, or to enjoy the scenery. He keeps his eyes fixed on the de...
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Homily: July,14, 2023 Friday of the Fourteenth Week in Ordinary Time (Final resting place)

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 "Not only will I go down to Egypt with you; I will also bring you back here, after Joseph has closed your eyes." With this promise of God, Jacob was greatly comforted and confident to follow God’s direction to leave the land of Canaan and move to Egypt. Why so? In Oriental cultures, it is a tradition for people to be buried on their family property, within their home ground. You can imagine there could be generations of forefathers buried in the backyard of every house, resting in peace.  Thus, people would never sell their property nor move out of it because their forefathers were buried there, and it would also be their final resting place. Many people who went overseas to work would insist on being sent back to their home countries and be buried in their home ground when they die. Jacob had that same concern. He wanted to be buried in the same cave at Machpelah where Abraham and Sarah, and Isaac and Rebecca were buried. Otherwise, he believed he would not rest in peace....
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Homily: Feast of Saint John, Apostle and evangelist, Monday, December 27, 2021

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  “ They both ran, but the other disciple ran faster than Peter…” Today is the 25th death anniversary of my paternal grandmother. I remember vividly that day. My papa had always been a calm and composed man, I hardly see him excited or hurried. But exactly 25 years ago this day, I saw my papa run in anxiety. Early that morning, my grandmother collapsed at home and was unconscious. We had no telephone, no car. There were only three cars in our village and only two families had telephone connection. Papa ran to one family to ask them to drive grandma to the hospital. The rest of us waited in silence at home. Later in the afternoon, our neighbour who had phone connection, ran to our house and reported, "grandma is no more". That was the first time I encountered death in the family. I was eight years old. I didn’t understand what death meant. I knew I would not see grandma at home anymore, I felt sad, because papa was sad. Grandma’s death was certain. But is death final? In the g...
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