Homily: July 7, 2024, Monday of the 14th week in Ordinary time (First Anointing)

-

“Early the next morning Jacob took the stone that he had put under his head, set it up as a memorial stone, and poured oil on top of it. He called the site Bethel, whereas the former name of the town had been Luz.” 

Jacob had a holy dream of seeing angels entering heaven from where he lay asleep, and with that, Luz was renamed Bethel, and Bethel was consecrated, set apart as a holy place, a ‘House of God’, a sacred site. From that moment on, Luz disappeared, and Bethel would be remembered forever.

Luz was left in the past; Bethel was consecrated for the future.

Jacob’s pouring of oil on the stone marks the first ever act of consecration recorded in the Old Testament. That act of consecration changed the identity of the place, with a new name and new future.

That first anointing continues as a practice and tradition in the life of the Church till today. When we consecrate a new altar, we anoint it with sacred chrism, making five crosses on it representing and remembering the five wounds of Christ.

Just as Jacob poured oil on the stone, gave it a new name and offered it as the house of God, the Church would similarly dedicate such sacred places to God with anointing and naming.

In the early Church, monks and the religious often took on new names on the day of their consecration, symbolic of entering a new life and becoming a new identity in Christ.

But this meaningful practice is not just for altars or religious vocations. Every one of us was consecrated on the day of our baptism. We were anointed with sacred chrism, set apart for Christ as His own, and entered a new spiritual life. 

From that moment, whatever we were before is left in the past, we are consecrated for the future with Christ, for Christ, through Christ. We are set aside not for the world, but for Christ, and Christ alone. We belong entirely to Him, consecrated for God’s holy purposes, anointed as temples of the Holy Spirit.

We become the house of God and carry the divine presence within our soul. 

St. Paul said, “If anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation. The old has passed away; behold, the new has come”.

From that moment on, our names are written in the book of life, destined for eternity. Let us live worthy of that consecration. Let us remain true to our identity. And may be die faithful to that calling.

Amen.


Comments

Post a Comment

Read

Homily: February 22, 2025 Feast of the chair of St. Peter.

-
 “And so I say to you, you are Peter, and upon this rock, I will build my Church, and the gates of the netherworld shall not prevail against it.”  Our Lord founded the Church and handed over its growth and development into the future, to Peter. Note that the disciple is Simon, but the pope is Peter. Thus, this appointment to build the church, an appointment so solid like a rock, will be so strong and firm that not even hell could ever overcome it. Simon Peter was not perfect; he had his human weaknesses. It is written that he had cowardly denied Jesus three times, and at one point, Jesus even rebuked him, “Get behind me, Satan” (Matthew 16:23). Christian Tradition also tells that during the time of persecution in Rome, he had tried to escape and flee from Rome. The story continued that on his way along the road outside the city, he met our Lord Jesus where he asked, “Quo vadis, Domine?” - “Where are you going Lord?” To which our Lord replied, “Romam eo iterum crucifigī” – “I a...
Read more

Homily: February 20, 2026 Friday after Ash-Wednesday (Fast)

-
 “The days will come when the bridegroom is taken away from them, and then they will fast.” People fast for various reasons. Many people fast for health, fitness and vanity reasons by doing intermittent fasting, detox diets, or weight loss programs. Some prominent figures use fasting as a form of silent protest. Leaders like Gandhi used hunger strikes to fight injustice. And sadly, some people are simply not eating, they are starving not by choice but because of poverty. Christian fasting is different. It is spiritual fasting and is not primarily about the body. It is about the spiritual heart. Jesus’ disciples were not fasting like the disciples of other preachers, and He told them that when the bridegroom is taken away, they will fast. Because their fasting will be an sign of longing, a spiritual desire to be re-united with their master, it expresses the deep sorrow of separation. Later, when the disciples could not cast out a demon, Jesus reminded them: “This kind can only come ...
Read more

Homily: February 18, 2026 Ash Wednesday (Return to God)

-
 “Return to the LORD, your God. For gracious and merciful is He, slow to anger, rich in kindness, and relenting in punishment.” If you were to choose someone to be your BFF – Best Friend Forever - what qualities would you be looking for? For me, one of the first qualities I would look for is kindness. I do not want someone who will be cruel and rough with me, or someone who would bully me or always get angry with me. I am sure you would agree that it is easy to be long-time friends with someone who is patient, slow to anger, gracious, and merciful. We are drawn to people who forgive quickly, who do not keep scores, who love generously. And today the prophet Joel tells us: that is exactly who God is: Gracious. Merciful. Slow to anger. Rich in kindness. Yes, we are sinful people, we have done and might continue to do many things which are not pleasing to God. But the good news is God is not waiting to punish us. In fact, He is waiting for our friendship. Many of us feel ashamed of ou...
Read more

Homily: February 15, 2025 Sixth Sunday in Ordinary Time (Yes or No)

-
 “Let your ‘Yes’ mean ‘Yes,’ and your ‘No’ mean ‘No.’ Anything more is from the evil one.” Every one of our Christian journey begins with a very simple thing: “Yes”. At baptism, the priest asks the parents or the candidates three questions: Do you renounce Satan? Do you reject sin? Do you reject all that leads you away from God? If the answer is Yes, Yes and Yes, then he asks three more questions to confirm our belief, the profession of our faith in the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit. Yes, Yes and Yes. And from that moment, we belong to God totally. Our new relationship with God, our new life as a Christian begins. Do we then live happily ever after? Realistically, this is where the struggle also begins. Growing up, I have said many “Yes’s” to God. Often, I have also said “No” to Him. But more often, My Yes’s were compromised, unaccomplished, unreliable. Often, they were conditional “Yes’s”. I negotiated and bargained with God, I procrastinated and made excuses. They would so...
Read more

Homily: February 17, 2026 Tuesday of the Sixth Week in Ordinary Time (Desire)

-
 “Then desire conceives and brings forth sin, and when sin reaches maturity, it gives birth to death.” St. James gives us an important teaching today. Desire, he says, can conceive and thereafter give birth to sin. If allowed to grow, it can reach a point of maturity, with the ability to take control and set direction, leading to death. The consequence of sin is death. Are all desires sinful or evil? 2,500 years ago, Buddha taught that desire is the cause of suffering. Because people almost always desire what they do not yet have. To be able to achieve the object of our desire, will sometimes bring us satisfaction, but when unable to achieve what we desire, will cause a sense of failure, a feeling dissatisfaction, the beginning of suffering. Many Buddhists today desire freedom and justice, in places which do not have freedom and justice. The desire stems from a real need, and that is nothing bad or wrong. What could go wrong is the way such a desire is pursued. To desire is a norma...
Read more

Homily: February 16, 2026 Monday of the Sixth Week in Ordinary Time (Tested -Faith)

-
 “For you know that the testing of your faith produces perseverance. And let perseverance be perfect, so that you may be perfect and complete, lacking in nothing.” When I read this passage from St. James, one thought came to my mind: faith that gets tested is invaluable, and so necessary for our journey towards holiness. St. James reminds us that trials are not meant to destroy us. They are not even meant to weaken us. Instead, they strengthen us. They produce in us the persevering spirit. Without testing, we are happy being complacent, we take for granted our faith, and other gifts. But when tested, we guard our gifts, we check our faith, and we want to defend it. That helps me keep focused on growing our faith. Repeat that, and we develop a maturity that can handle anything and everything in life. At the end of this reading, something else struck, which warned of the consequence of not being tested, of being in comfort and complacency: the one who works only for riches will vanis...
Read more

Homily: February 14, Fifth Saturday in Ordinary Time (Causing to sin)

-
 “You have been going up to Jerusalem long enough. Here is your god, O Israel, who brought you up from the land of Egypt.” Today’s first reading takes us back to the time of King Jeroboam. He was afraid that his people would keep going to Jerusalem and finally lose their loyalty to him, thus he made two golden calves and told the people: “Here is your god.” Jeroboam committed two serious sins. First, he created false gods. Second, he led others into sin, to worship what was lifeless and false, and to believe that this false god brought them out of Egypt. Are those two golden calves evil? If you go to parts of North India, you will see random cows roaming freely on the roads. Any car driving near must stop and give way to these cows, even if it meant waiting some time for them to slowly move out of the way. Causing harm or injury to a cow will lead to serious legal consequences. In fact, if you slaughter a cow, you might end up in prison. because cows are considered sacred in the Hi...
Read more

Homily: October 21,2024, Monday of the Twenty-ninth Week in Ordinary Time (Greed).

-
 He asked himself, ‘What shall I do, for I do not have space to store my harvest?’ The rich man in Jesus’ parable had a wonderful problem. His harvest is so abundant that his existing storehouse was not big enough for it. It was time for expansion! He will get wealthier! Thus, he thought to himself, “…you have so many good things stored up for many years, rest, eat, drink, be merry!”’ Isn’t that what most of us plan for ourselves? To earn as much as possible as soon as possible, so that we can retire early and enjoy the rest of our lives. Many people believe that having enough wealth will bring them happiness, so they focus on accumulating and protecting their possessions and wealth. The problem with this rich man is not his wealth, nor about the abundant harvest he was having, but about what was dominating his life. The problem was not what he possessed, but what was possessing him. Greed possessed him, and determined his decisions, plans and actions. There was no room for thanksg...
Read more

Homily: April 30, 2025, Wednesday of the second week of Lent (God's power)

-
Holy Family School Mass Homily   “The men whom you put in prison are in the temple area and are teaching the people.” Wow, what happened? The apostles of Christ were supposed to be locked up in prison, how did they appear in the temple area preaching and teaching the people? Well, blessed and happy Easter to all of you! I hope you all had a wonderful Easter weekend and a restful spring break! Jesus died, and have risen from the dead, and continued to walk around earth, spending time with His disciples for 50 days, that is why we are still in the Easter season. Thereafter, Jesus sent the Holy Spirit to His followers, empowering them with many spiritual gifts and that changed everything! Before that, the apostles were all afraid and were hiding from their enemies. But once the Holy Spirit came upon them, they became super courageous. They began to go around preaching boldly and confidently about Jesus, even to the very people who had put Jesus to death. They were no longer afrai...
Read more

Homily: December 28, 2025, Feast of the Holy Family of Jesus, Mary and Joseph (Dreams)

-
 “The angel of the Lord appeared to Joseph in a dream and said, ‘Rise, take the child and his mother, flee to Egypt, and stay there until I tell you.’” As a young man, Joseph must have had beautiful dreams about his future family. He could have imagined a helpful and capable wife, children playing around the house and growing up to be well respected people in the community, a vision of a stable and peaceful life. When he got engaged to Mary, it seemed like his dreams would become reality soon. Many of us, married or not, can identify with the dreams that Joseph could have had. Yet like Joseph, the realities of our lives would have unfolded quite differently from how we have dreamt it. Joseph’s family life turned out totally unlike his own dreams, yet he continued to dream, now with God’s will revealed and God’s plan unfolding in the reality of his life. The hardship he went through in Bethlehem, with the birth of Jesus, did not end there. Today’s Gospel shows another unexpected cha...
Read more