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: September 27, 2025, Saturday of the Twenty-Fifth Week in Ordinary time (SVDP)

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Homilía: Julio 17, 2022, XVI Domingo Ordinario

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 “At the time of the evening sacrifice, I, Ezra, rose in my wretchedness, and with cloak and mantle torn I fell on my knees, stretching out my hands to the LORD, my God.” How do you pray? Today’s first reading gives us a beautiful description of how priest Ezra prayed. He considered himself ‘wretched’, totally unworthy of God and His mercy. This expressed his deep reverence for the vast greatness and graciousness of God. He fell on his knees with outstretched arms. This expressed his total surrender, obedience and submission to the ultimate good and perfect will of God. Ezra’s humble prayer disposition is beautiful. He prayed with a deep, sincere, and remorseful heart, laid bare before God, bearing the guilt of his people, yet completely appreciative and grateful for God’s forgiveness. He offered this prayer after the completion and dedication of the rebuilt Temple. The broken temple now rebuilt signified a reconciled relationship with God. Now the Israelites can worship in God’s h...
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  “Be holy, for I, the LORD, your God, am Holy”. Both the first and Gospel readings today presented a ‘to-do’ and ‘not-to-do’ list. Some are really tough tasks. Can we ever accomplish them? Is it possible for us to be holy? We all know that at the sacrament of reconciliation, it is Jesus Himself who is sitting at the confessional, listening to the confessions. And the sacred privilege for me as a priest, is that I get to see as God sees and hear as God hears. And what does God see and hear? He doesn’t see our failures. He sees our brokenness. He doesn’t hear our sins. He hears our desire to be good. And God wants to help us. He reaches out to us, pouring out His graces. We desire to be holy and God desires the same. In that moment of reconciliation, in that meeting of desires, we become holy. And I, the priest who witnesses that sacred moment, also become holy. The very first step to becoming holy is to desire holiness. To desire becoming what God wants us to be, to be like Him, to...
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Homily : January 10, 2022, Monday of the First Week in Ordinary Time,

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Homily: February 23, 2025 Seventh Sunday in Ordinary Time (Love enemies)

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