Homily: November 20, 2024, wednesday of the thirty-first week in Ordinary time (Open door)

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 “I, John, had a vision of an open door to heaven.”

Do you know what is the difference between a dream and a vision? 

Dreams happen usually when we are asleep. On average we would dream four to six times in one night. Do you remember any of your dreams when you wake up?

Sometimes we do, sometimes we don’t, right?

Dreams are often influenced by our deeper emotions, subconscious thoughts, or unresolved issues. Recently I’ve been talking to a friend about my home country India, just before going to bed. So, most of my dreams have been about India or the people I know there.

A vision, on the other hand, happens when we are awake. It is vivid, intense, and feels as though it’s truly happening. It does not fade from memory, is never forgotten. A divine vision is sent by God and carries a clear message.

For example, before St. Paul became a Christ believer, when he was persecuting the Christian communities, he had a vision of a bright light and heard the voice of Jesus calling out to him. That was not a dream, because after the vision, Paul knew he had met Jesus, it was such a powerful experience that he converted and became a firm disciple of Jesus. Many saints throughout history have had divine visions too, with messages about future events or deep truths they are to proclaim to the world.

All of us have dreams, though not everyone can recall them. But few people have divine visions, they are rare and typically granted to saintly and holy persons.

In today’s first reading, St. John the Apostle had a beautiful vision of heaven. What was the first thing he saw? 

Yes, an open door to heaven. Then he saw the beauty of heaven, adorned with precious stones and filled with angels. It was simply beautiful.

When you see an open door, it means you are most welcome to enter. You can even walk in without knocking. 

St. John’s vision tell us that God is expecting and welcoming us to enter heaven. It is an open door!

When Adam and Eve sinned, the door to heaven was shut. But Jesus reopened that door for all of us, and He is making sure it is kept open. We just need to walk towards it till we enter heaven through it.

Jesus is at the door waiting and calling out to us. Say yes to Jesus’ invitation, go in His direction, don’t get distracted, don’t turn away, just keep walking towards Him.

We will all get there one day, and Jesus will embrace us with joy! Amen.


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Holy Family School Mass Homily.   “At sunset, all who had people sick with various diseases brought them to him. He laid his hands on each of them and cured them.” In today’s Gospel, we hear about Jesus healing many people with different diseases. The passage begins with the healing of Peter’s mother-in-law, who was very sick in bed with a very high fever. She was not merely resting, in fact her fever was so bad that she was unable to get out of bed. I am guessing it could be 103 or 104 degrees! Normally, if we get such a high fever, it would take us days to recover with strong medication. But when Jesus visited Peter’s mother-in-law, He simply stood over her, rebuked the fever, that means He scolded the fever, and it left her!  Instantly, she was well again and was able to get up and serve Jesus and His disciples. Wow! Jesus is the King of the Universe, He has power over everything in the world, if you would only believe in Him and trust Him. Even today, Jesus continues ...
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 Jesus said to him, “Follow me.” And without hesitation, Levi got up and followed Him. There was no second thought, no delay, no negotiation. In that moment, Levi left behind his profession, his security, and all the benefits and privileges that came with it, and he became Matthew, the apostle. Not only that, Matthew brought many of his friends to Jesus.  Where there is true conversion, others are always drawn in. This is how discipleship works. When someone genuinely encounters Christ, that encounter never remains private. Every true conversion becomes contagious. Those who grow closer to Jesus naturally begin to bring others to Him. The same is true for us. Our discipleship is not a one-person journey. We live our faith within families, communities, and parishes. If we are truly walking with Christ, our lives will influence others, whether we realize it or not. And this leads us to a serious truth. Influence works both ways. In the first reading, we hear about Saul, who was ...
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 “The angel of the Lord appeared to Joseph in a dream and said, ‘Rise, take the child and his mother, flee to Egypt, and stay there until I tell you.’” As a young man, Joseph must have had beautiful dreams about his future family. He could have imagined a helpful and capable wife, children playing around the house and growing up to be well respected people in the community, a vision of a stable and peaceful life. When he got engaged to Mary, it seemed like his dreams would become reality soon. Many of us, married or not, can identify with the dreams that Joseph could have had. Yet like Joseph, the realities of our lives would have unfolded quite differently from how we have dreamt it. Joseph’s family life turned out totally unlike his own dreams, yet he continued to dream, now with God’s will revealed and God’s plan unfolding in the reality of his life. The hardship he went through in Bethlehem, with the birth of Jesus, did not end there. Today’s Gospel shows another unexpected cha...
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Homily: January 11, 2026, Feast of the Baptism of the Lord (Beloved)

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 “This is my beloved Son, with whom I am well pleased.” These words were spoken by God was not meant to be a private revelation. It was heard by everyone present on that day, all who witnessed Jesus being baptized by John.  These words were blessings from God, springing forth from His heart. Before Jesus preached a single sermon, before He healed anyone, before He suffered persecution and death, His Father in heaven proclaimed the Truth over Him: This is my beloved Son. Jesus lived His entire life grounded in that truth. He never struggled with His identity. He never doubted His mission on Earth. He knows who He is and why He has come. His purpose is to do the will of the Father, to reveal to the whole world who God is, to show to all generations how God loves and thus save all of humanity. Let us look again at where Jesus was baptized, the River Jordan. Its waters flows from near Mount Hermon, in between Lebanon and Syria, runs through fertile land, carrying nourishment for t...
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