Homily: July 21, 2025: Monday of the Sixteenth Week in Ordinary Time (Holy Family School Teacher's and faculty retreat. )

 “Fear not! Stand your ground, and you will see the victory the LORD will win for you today.”

In the first reading, we read an account of how the Israelites crossed the Red Sea, leaving Egypt behind, travelling on foot towards the promise of a land prepared for them by God. That journey, which began with more than 1.5 million people and their livestock, lasted 40 years through the desert, every day was a pilgrimage through the rough and tough terrain, with no fertile land in sight.

Eventually, they arrived at the Promised Land, where they settled with joyful anticipation of abundance, freedom and peace. It is not just a triumphant story of how the Israelites survived, but it is a powerful story of how God saves His people, them and us.

In the Gospel, we heard the scribes and Pharisees ask Jesus: “Teacher, we wish to see a sign from you.”

By that time, Jesus had already performed many public miracles. But they were still not convinced that Jesus was God coming to save them and the world, they wanted something beyond extraordinary. Jesus did not give them anything more.

Why? Because a sincere search for God will reveal His face in the simplest and most humble, true faith recognizes God in the ordinary. But pride blinds the eyes, the heart and mind from even the most spectacular.

Dr. Jim Duang has a life story that is powerful and nothing short of a miracle in the most humble and ordinary.

On April 29, 1975, the day before the fall of Saigon, Jim’s parents escaped Vietnam with the family, headed for Thailand. During their rough and tough journey by sea, 11-year-old Jim saw countless corpses floating in the water. Anyone on board could be the next one floating. Eventually, they arrived in the United States as refugees. Jim didn’t know a word of English.

He got into school and was placed in the 2nd grade, with kids many years younger and ahead of him in their knowledge. But a kind teacher welcomed him. She gave him one simple but brilliant assignment: “Watch TV in English every night.” That was his homework for three months, and it worked. I wish my teachers had given me the same homework, although it wouldn’t work for me since my family did not own a TV set then.

Today, Jim is an anesthesiologist at Mercy, and he still remembers her with deep gratitude. That one teacher changed his ordinary life into an extraordinary story, it is not about English, it is about impacting life. It is about seeing a bright light coming through a broken vessel. It takes eyes of faith, a heart of love, and a mind open to miracles in the ordinary of everyday, of everyone.

Jim’s family did not just survive, they thrived. Their story, like the Exodus, is a story of God meeting His people in their struggles, through other people right where they are.

We do not need to travel far to poverty-stricken countries to bring hope to people who need a miracle. We just need to look out for them in our community, in our church, in our school.

As Mother Teresa once said: “Do what is right in front of you.”

The people in need of God, in need of a miracle are right in front of us. Many families we encounter at St. Ambrose and in Holy Family School have gone through war, persecution, trauma before reaching our shores. Many of our students’ families came from refugee camps, experienced loss, starvation, and fear of the future unknown. More than 90% of our students have lived through these. And yet, here they are, trying to build a new life, not knowing where to start, how to fit in. They try but often, they do it wrong. They need to be directed.

And you, dear teachers and staff, can change their broken past into brightly shining lives. You can be a part of their miracle story. You can be a part of their salvation story.

They may not remember any lesson you taught, but they will remember every kindness you showed them. It will stay with them for the rest of their lives.

To be a true follower of Christ, we do not have to perform great miracles or extraordinary acts. We are called simply to live our daily lives with love and compassion, doing what is right in front of us, faithfully and sincerely.

252 children are right in front of us daily. God is waiting to reach them and transform them through our words and deeds. They can see and know God by looking at you and receiving kindness.

You may never fully know the impact you have on their lives. But one day, these children will tell their own powerful stories, and you may be the teacher they remember. The miracle in their life.

So, keep trusting that God is eager to work through you, in the most ordinary ways, through the most ordinary days, with the most ordinary student.

You are part of their story. God continues His work of salvation and performs the most spectacular miracles of life, through you. Amen.