Homily: July 1, 2025, Tuesday of the Thirteenth Week in Ordinary Time (Flee for your life!)

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 “Flee for your life! Don’t look back or stop anywhere on the plain.”

Sodom was about to be totally destroyed, and the angel of the Lord came to save Lot and his family. But Lot hesitated.

Why?

Because all his property, his possessions, his wealth, his pleasurable and comfortable life were left behind and would be destroyed. Lot was very attached to all those material things. They were his life.

We recall in the earlier chapters of Genesis, when Lot and Abraham divided the lands, Lot chose the best portion for himself, it was the fertile land near Sodom. He wanted to be wealthy and prosperous.

Now, everything he had built had to be abandoned; he had to detach and let go. Detachment is painful.

This reminds me of a real-life story I heard recently. A businessman who left India years ago and went to Kuwait. Through much hard work there, he finally built a profitable and successful crude oil company with many offices in major cities around the world. But when the Kuwait War broke out, he had to flee for his life. He escaped to Iraq and eventually returned to India. His business was gone, his wealth totally lost.

He was sharing how painful it was to let go of what he thought was his good fortune but how some others who were reluctant to leave, had died a tragic death.

Beware the false attachments of the world which draw us away from the true treasures of life.

Detaching from what gives us pleasure or satisfies our desires is never easy. Because, by nature we are self-serving. Often, addictions and sinful habits too can hook onto us so deeply that it becomes too painful and difficult to unhook, even when we realize they are destroying us.

Be careful the little vices that we engage in, which will creep deep into our being and soon grow too big for us to throw.

Are you attached to some things in life which is holding you back from the full life God wants for you?

Know that this earthly life is temporal, we are citizens of heaven, now pilgrims on a journey towards our eternal home. Nothing here belongs to us nor benefits us forever. 

So, let nothing pull us back from the glory of eternity. Keep our eyes fixed on Christ. Keep walking forward in faith. Detach from worldly engagements, live in true freedom.

“Flee for your life! Don’t look back or stop.”

Amen. 


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Homily: July 18, Monday of the Sixteenth Week in Ordinary Time.

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Did you listen attentively to the Gospel reading? Yes? Let me test you… What did Jesus say? Did He say, “Whoever eats my bread and drinks my wine?”  No! He said, “Whoever eats my FLESH and drinks my BLOOD remains in me and I in him.” Yes, when you receive Holy Communion, you are receiving the real flesh and blood of Jesus. I am sure Fr. Roy, your catechists, parents and the whole parish community have prepared you well for this day, so you know what you are receiving today. But what I want to focus on now is the last part where Jesus says, ‘remains in me and I in him’. 29 years ago in 1996, I received my First Holy Communion. I was eight years old, but I still remember that day vividly. I remember the preparations, my First Reconciliation, and the excitement I felt when I lined up to receive Jesus for the very first time. I remember seeing the priest dipping the Precious Body into the Precious Blood, and then that precious moment – Jesus’ body and blood rested on my tongue. So swee...
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