Homily: March 17, 2025, Second Monday in Lent (Measure).

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"For the measure with which you measure will in return be measured out to you."

This is one of the more practical teachings of Jesus, and from our own life experiences, we know it to be true. When we show love, people often respond with love. When we are compassionate, we usually receive compassion in return.

In today’s Gospel, Jesus tells us, “Be merciful, just as your Father is merciful.” God’s mercy is constant, consistent, unconditional. We deserve death and punishment, but God waives it off, taking on our death and punishment on Himself. That is mercy. And He tells us to do the same, not on our own strength, but we can imitate, reflect and emulate how God does it.

God is merciful, because He loves truly and is generous.

Love and generosity are painful virtues. Often, love may not be accepted, it can be rejected. Often generosity may not be appreciated, it can be taken for granted.

That is how the world has treated God’s love and generosity, but He remains faithful and constant. So, regardless how others respond to our love and generosity, we give like God gives, and He gives freely, without limitations. In John 3:34, Jesus reminds us, “He does not ration His gift of the Spirit.”

God’s generosity is boundless, His love - endless, His mercy – limitless.

Lent is a time to recall God’s generosity, love and mercy, and to live it by deepening our commitment to prayer, fasting, and almsgiving. These three pillars of Lenten practice help us to measure out what we have received.

By giving it all with an open heart, we continue to receive it again and again. God’s generosity can never be outdone, His love will never end, His mercy will never run dry.

As God gives, let us give like Him. For the measure with which you measure will in return be measured out to you.

Amen.


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Homily: March 27, 2026, Saturday of the Fifth Week in Lent (Hardness of Heart)

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Homily: August 10, 2024 Feast of St. Lawrence, Deacon and Martyer.

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 “Each must do as already determined, without sadness or compulsion, for God loves a cheerful giver.” I am now eight years as priest, I love my ministry, I enjoy giving my time, my attention and energy to people who are need but there are a few tasks which I totally dislike and would try to avoid, if possible. One of these is fund raising. I detest having to ask people for donations. It could be my pridefulness, and my view that most people are not willing to give more. When I was sent to St. Ambrose, I thought God must be playing a joke on me. St. Ambrose, as you know, is always in financial difficulty and as rector, I am constantly trying to find ways to increase our funds. I thought God must be a joker, like St. Lawrence, whose feast we are celebrating today. St. Lawrence, deacon and martyr, who lived in the 3rd century, is the patron saint for comedians. During his lifetime, he made the people around him laugh. I am afraid I can’t retell his jokes, because I am the worst at mak...
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 “For he has looked with favor on his lowly servant. From this day all generations will call me blessed.” Indeed, two thousand years since then, over a billion Catholics and millions of Orthodox Christians continue to call her blessed. Blessed is she who said yes to God to be the mother of God’s Son, blessed is she who conceived and birthed the Savior into the world, blessed is she who cared for and raised the Messiah for all of us, blessed is she who watched in pain and stayed with her son as He died on the cross, blessed is she who accepted to be the mother of the church. Today, the whole Catholic church, every diocese in the world, is celebrating the Solemnity of the Assumption of the Blessed Virgin Mary. We celebrate this feast every year, and we already know it is to commemorate the belief that Mary was taken straight up to heaven, body and soul, because she lived and died sinless. What makes Mary so important to the Church? The Church honors her with many titles, because she ...
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