Homily: April 5, 2025, Saturday of the Fourth week in Lent (The crowd and Pharisees)

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 “But this crowd, which does not know the law, is accursed.” 

Poor Pharisees. They held onto an unrealistic dream that all Israelites would know the law as well as they did. But the reality was that most people were living in poverty, under oppression, and with fear. They didn’t have the same access to education or religious instruction.

Sometimes, I feel something similar in my own life. People often talk to me about TV shows, baseball, or football, assuming I’m familiar with what they enjoy. But the truth is, I don’t even know the basics of those games, I don’t follow any American TV shows except The Chosen. 

I live in America, and many assume I share the same interests. But just like the Pharisees in Jesus’ time, it’s easy to forget that not everyone fits into the same mold.

In today’s Gospel, the people including the guards were amazed by Jesus’ words. They praised Him for His miracles. But the Pharisees? They weren’t interested. They were so focused on studying the Law of Moses and the 600 additional laws they created, they became blind to the work of God unfolding right in front of them.

They closed their eyes and ears not by accident, but by choice. They didn’t want to see what God was doing in Jesus. They didn’t want to hear the good news He preached.

Even today, there are people like that intentionally closing their eyes to God’s work, and their ears to His voice. They follow what is not essential, and they live their lives completely excluding God.

Let us pray for conversion in our society for all those who are far from God, that their eyes may be opened, their ears may hear, and their hearts may experience the living presence of God.

Amen.


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Homily: November 18, Monday of the Thirty-Third week in Ordinary Time (Love)

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“Yet I hold this against you: you have lost the love you had at first.” Love is the greatest Christian virtue. Without love, Christianity is meaningless. Without love, salvation is pointless. Without love, our life is aimless. We are created by a God who is love, saved by His Son out of love and called to imitate Him in love. He created us to accept His love, to love Him, and to love others. Therefore, a life without love is empty. The greatest love ever is Jesus giving his own life completely to us. Our response to this is to love Him back all our mind, heart and soul. In today’s first reading from the Book of Revelation, God’s angel rebukes the church in Ephesus for having lost the love for Jesus they had when they first embraced the faith. The Ephesians fell passionately in love with Jesus at the beginning. They surrendered totally to Him, obeying His teachings fully. They left all their old ways to follow Him. But now God’s  is warning and reminding them, because they have beco...
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Homily: November 1, 2026, Solemnity of all saints

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 “These are the ones who have survived the time of great distress; they have washed their robes and made them white in the Blood of the Lamb.” On this Solemnity of All Saints, we remember that great multitude of men and women who have gone before us and are now with God in heaven. And they want us to be there with them one day. St. John, in his vision, sees a great multitude that no one could count, from every nation, race, people, and tongue. Today’s feast reminds us of the ultimate purpose of our life: to become saints and to be with God forever. When we think about the saints, one thing is very interesting. No two saints are alike. They came from different backgrounds, lived in different circumstances, faced different struggles, and followed different paths. You and I are also called to become saints. But sometimes, when we look at the saints, we become discouraged. We look at their sacrifices, their holiness, and their extraordinary lives, and then we look at our own struggles ...
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Homily: November 2, 2026, The Commemoration of All the Faithful Departed (All Souls)

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 “I will not reject anyone who comes to me.” They are not just words. They are a promise from Jesus, a promise that gives us hope, especially as we remember our loved ones who have gone before us. There have been days in my life when I have been angry with God. Sometimes, I would even tell Him, “I am not going to pray to you anymore.” But you know something? I could never stay away from Him for long. Because He is a loving Father, and His love always draws me back to Him. Jesus tells us today that no matter who we are, no matter what we have done, He will never reject us when we come back to Him. We may have sinned, we may have made a mess of our lives, we may be broken, or we may have wandered far away from His will. But His promise remains the same: “I will not reject anyone who comes to me.” When I was growing up, there were times when I would get angry with my parents. I remember walking away from home and going somewhere far into our farm. I would stay there for a few hours, d...
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Homily: November 3, Tuesday of the Thirty-First Week in Ordinary Time (Invitation)

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“I ask you, consider me excused.” In today’s busy world, we use the word excuse so many times. We cannot attend every event, family gathering, dinner, or celebration to which we are invited. So we often excuse ourselves, giving one reason or another. In today’s Gospel, the invited guests did the same thing. One had purchased land, another had bought oxen, and another had just married. They all had their reasons. None of these things was bad in itself, but they gave them priority over the invitation to the banquet. God our Father also keeps inviting us to a banquet, the heavenly banquet. And whether we will be part of that banquet depends on our response to His invitation. God does not invite us just once. He keeps inviting us throughout our lives. God created us with a soul that constantly longs for Him, a soul that will find its ultimate fulfillment only when it is united with Him. And throughout our lives, God gives us opportunities to respond to His invitation. He invites parents to...
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Homily: September 21, 2026, Feast of Saint Matthew, Apostle and evangelist (Follow me)

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 “Follow me.” On this feast of St. Matthew, we hear Matthew’s own account of his calling. Jesus saw him sitting at the customs post and said just two words: “Follow me.” And Matthew gets up and follows him. No second thought. No long discernment. No plan for the future. Maybe Matthew had been waiting for a moment like this—a chance to begin again. Matthew was a tax collector, considered a sinner and hated by his own people because he worked for the occupying power. Yet Jesus looked at this man whom others rejected and saw an apostle. That should give every one of us hope. God can change people. God does not wait until we are perfect before he calls us. Jesus says in today’s Gospel, “I did not come to call the righteous but sinners.” We are all sinners. We all have weaknesses, habits, failures, and things in our lives that need to change. And there may be people around us struggling with addictions or trapped in sinful situations. Sometimes we may even wonder whether a person can ev...
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Homily: October 25, 2025, Saturday of the Twenty-Nineth Week in Ordinary Time (Spirit -Alive)

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 “But if Christ is in you, although the body is dead because of sin, the Spirit is alive because of righteousness.” What a hopeful and assuring message. Even though our bodies are weakened by sin and subject to death, the Spirit of God within us is alive and active. But note the one condition: if Christ is in you! The Father and the Son have given us this precious gift, the Holy Spirit, the divine helper who will dwell in our hearts if we accept Jesus Christ into our lives. If we follow the timeline of our salvation story, all of us are now living in the era of the Holy Spirit. God the Father has revealed Himself to Abraham, Isaac, Jacob, Moses, and the prophets. Then in the fullness of time, God the Son came into the world and revealed to us the Father’s love. Before returning to heaven, Jesus promised to send us the Holy Spirit to be our companion, our guide, and our strength till the end of time. And from then, the Holy Spirit has been active in the world, in the church and in o...
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Homily: March 9, 2026, Monday of the Third week in Lent (prophet -Accepted )

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 “No prophet is accepted in his own native place.” I have experienced this personally many times. Years ago, when I was newly ordained and was about to preach at a relative’s wedding, my oldest sister, lacking confidence with my ability, whispered to me, “Make sure you do a good job.” I whispered back, “Why don’t you do the preaching!” Last year I went to my nephew’s First Holy Communion. The parish priest asked if I could give the homily, and I happily agreed. The night before the Mass, my second sister came to my room and questioned me, “Do you really want to do the homily? People expect a good one for this occasion.” She worried I would do poorly. And my third sister who lives in Ireland, keeps sending me videos of popular preachers - like Fr. Mike Schmitz and Bishop Barron. She probably hopes I will learn to preach like them. My siblings grew up with me at home, and they know me well from young. However, they were not with me in my seminary life and have not witnessed my growth...
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Homily: March 15, 2025, Saturday of the First Sunday in Lent (Perfect Love)

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 "So be perfect, just as your heavenly Father is perfect."  I was very privileged to have done my seminary studies and formation at Santa Croce University (Holy Cross), in Rome which is run by the Opus Dei order. Their founder, St. Josemaría Escrivá, was a visionary and a great saint. One of the core principles of living and spirituality he laid down for Opus Dei members was this: “strive for excellence in everything”. Because of this, the university was marked by excellence in every way - excellent professors, an outstanding library, state-of-the-art classrooms, and advanced technology. To be a student at such an institution meant that they, too, were expected to strive for excellence in attitude and effort. To maintain this high standard, there were many strict rules for the students to follow. By following conscientiously, students would grow and develop to their full potential with remarkable outcomes, all through into the future. In the first reading, Moses tells the Isr...
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Homily: October 17, 2026, Saturday of the Twenty-Eighth Week in Ordinary Time (Holy Spirit speaking)

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 “For the Holy Spirit will teach you at that moment what you should say.” These are the beautiful and comforting words of Jesus in today’s Gospel. Jesus has given us so many wonderful gifts: the Eucharist, the sacraments, the Church, and above all, the gift of the Holy Spirit. And today, Jesus assures us that the Holy Spirit will guide us, especially when we do not know what to say or what to do. There have been many moments in my own life when I have struggled to find the right words. Sometimes I have been afraid to speak. Sometimes I have wondered whether I was making the right decision. I am sure many of you have experienced the same thing. But Jesus makes us a beautiful promise: The Holy Spirit will teach us what to say. However, I believe there are two important things we must do to experience this promise in our lives. First, we must ask the Holy Spirit for guidance. Before making an important decision, before having a difficult conversation, before taking a major step in lif...
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Homily: October27, 2026, Tuesday of the Thirtieth week in Ordinary Time (Kingdom of God)

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 “It is like a mustard seed that a man took and planted in the garden.” “It is like yeast that a woman took and mixed in with three measures of wheat flour.” In today's Gospel, Jesus compares the Kingdom of God to two very small things: a mustard seed and yeast. Both teach us about how God's Kingdom grows. In both cases, the growth happens quietly, almost invisibly. We cannot see the growth from moment to moment, but eventually we see the results. When we look at the two-thousand-year history of the Church, we see this very clearly. The Church began with a small group of ordinary people. It faced centuries of persecution, suffering, and opposition. Yet, it not only survived but spread throughout the world. The tiny mustard seed became a great tree. Today, we seem to be very concerned about the growth of the Church. We conduct surveys, studies, and research. We count how many people attend Mass, how many are baptized, and how many are leaving the Church. And when the numbers go ...
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