Homily: August 1, 2025, Firday of the 17th Week in Ordinary Time (Jesus Titles)

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 “Is he not the carpenter’s son?” 

Jesus was referred to by various titles during His lifetime on earth: Son of Man, Son of God, Son of David, Messiah, Rabbi. People also acknowledged Him as a divine healer, prophet, Savior, even as their King.

But when He got back to His hometown Nazareth, people knew Him only as “the carpenter’s son.”

His foster father, Joseph, must have been well known in town as the carpenter, and Jesus thus was recognized as the son of the carpenter. Traditionally, the parents would teach and train their children to learn their trade, so that they would grow to be apprentices and finally become masters of their parents’ professions.

So, to the people of Nazareth, Jesus was expected to be a good carpenter like His father Joseph. They couldn’t imagine Him becoming anything else, because they did not think He would know any other trade than His father’s. 

Their understanding and expectations of His capabilities were very limited and narrow, they could not even believe how He could preach and teach so well; thus, they did not go to receive blessings or healing from Jesus.

They lacked faith. They could not see beyond the ordinary and the familiar, they could not believe that God would come to His people in a simple and humble way, through the household of a carpenter.

We too will have a faith block, if we expect God’s blessings to come through human logic, material wisdom or worldly power. The power of the Holy Spirit is most effective, and God’s graces pour out most abundantly in the simple, ordinary and humble situations.

Who is Jesus to you?

Can you accept that He, the son of a carpenter, is truly the Son of God?

Jesus of Nazareth, son of Joseph, Savior of the world, strengthen my lack of faith and help me see you as you truly are. Amen.


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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: October 13, 2026, Tuesday of the Twenty-Eighth Week in Ordinary Time (Love)

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 “For in Christ Jesus, neither circumcision nor uncircumcision counts for anything, but only faith working through love.” This is a beautiful statement from St. Paul in today's first reading. What truly matters to God is not simply our religious practices or how faithfully we observe the rules, but how our faith is expressed through love. Both Jesus and his disciples had to deal with religious leaders who were obsessed with laws and regulations. They observed these laws meticulously and expected everyone else to do the same. But sometimes, in their concern for the law, they forgot the most important thing: love. How did Jesus deal with such people? Interestingly, he dealt with them with love. In today's Gospel, a Pharisee invites Jesus to dine at his house. Jesus does not refuse the invitation. He accepts it and sits at the table with him, even though he knows that the Pharisees constantly criticize and oppose him. Jesus did not agree with everything the Pharisees taught or pra...
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Homily: October 16, 2016, Friday of the Twenty-Eighth Week in Ordinary Time (our purpose)

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  “In Christ we were also chosen, destined in accord with the purpose of the One who accomplishes all things according to the intention of his will.” Last night, when I read these words of St. Paul, they deeply touched my heart, especially the words, “chosen” and “destined according to God's purpose.” Just before reading this passage, I had watched the livestream of the funeral of the priest who baptized me. He was the pastor of our parish in India from 1988 to 1991. Interestingly, I never had the opportunity to meet him personally. After serving in our parish, he left India to become a missionary in Peru, South America. He spent the next thirty years of his priesthood serving the poor and bringing the sacraments to people in remote communities. At one point, he returned to India, but he decided to go back to Peru. He said, “India has so many priests, but in Peru, people are thirsting for the sacraments.” As I watched his funeral and saw him lying in the casket, I thought to myself...
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Homily: October 18, 2026, Sunday of the Twenty-Ninth Sunday in Ordinary Time (All to God )

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 “Then repay to Caesar what belongs to Caesar and to God what belongs to God.” Three weeks before the election, we hear these words of Jesus in today's Gospel. you may wonder whether the Church intentionally chose this Gospel because of the upcoming election. The answer is no. It is simply a coincidence. The readings we hear at Mass are proclaimed throughout the world, not just here in the United States. They are not chosen according to political events. And I am not here to speak about the election. That is not the purpose of a Sunday homily. Rather, I want to reflect on the spiritual message Jesus gives us today. “Repay to Caesar what belongs to Caesar.” Caesar was the Roman emperor. Jesus reminds us that, as citizens, we have certain responsibilities and duties toward our country and society. We have a responsibility to contribute to the common good, to respect others, and through our good deeds, to make our country and our world a better place. In another Gospel passage, we eve...
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Homily: July 27, 2023, Thursday of the sixteeth week in Ordinary time (See and Hear)

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 "You shall indeed hear but not understand; you shall indeed look but never see." Have you ever experienced this before? Well, I have. When I was in school, I heard everything the teachers taught, but understood nothing. I always looked at what the teachers wrote on the chalk board, but my mind saw nothing it could comprehend. Math, English, Chemistry were subjects that brought me out of this world, into the great outer space. You can easily imagine how frustrated my teachers were with me those days. Anyway, I didn’t like them either. In today’s Gospel, Jesus quotes the prophet Isaiah to explain why He spoke in parables to the crowd. He understands why they could not understand, he sees how they could not see. Such blindness and hardness of heart are not new, from the time of Moses, it has been thus. In today's first reading, the Israelites witnessed the powerful forms of God’s presence – thunder, lightning, clouds, smoke, blasting trumpets all taking place in supernatura...
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Homily: August 15, 2026, Solemnity of the Assumption of the Blessed Virgin Mary (Sin-death)

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 “For since death came through man, the resurrection of the dead came also through man.” Sin and death are connected, but Christ has come to break that connection and give us life. In his Letter to the Romans, St. Paul says, “The wages of sin is death.” Sin separates us from God, and God is the source of life.  God created Adam and Eve for life and friendship with him. But through their disobedience, sin entered the world, and with sin came death.  But when God prepared the world for the coming of his Son, he gave Mary a unique grace. From the first moment of her conception, she was preserved from original sin.  We can see Mary as the new Eve. Eve was created without sin, but she disobeyed God. Mary, by God's grace, responded differently. When the angel came to her, she said, “Behold, I am the handmaid of the Lord. May it be done to me according to your word.” Eve's disobedience was connected with humanity's fall. Mary's obedience opened the door for Christ, the Savi...
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Homily: May 11, 2026 Monday of the Sixth Week of Easter

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 “When the Advocate comes whom I will send you from the Father, the Spirit of truth who proceeds from the Father, he will testify to me.” There is an often-used phrase in the Alpha program: “Alpha is designed to fail if the Holy Spirit does not show up.” This implies that since Alpha has not failed despite itself and continues to grow from 1977, the Holy Spirit is at work in the program. I think that is true not only for Alpha but for the Church and the whole Christian life. Church would have been totally destroyed, and the Christian life would have been completely crushed with so much internal struggle and trouble, external persecution and attacks, if we are without the Holy Spirit. Without the Holy Spirit, the Church would not survive, life would have ended, humanity would no longer exist. Yesterday, here in our parish, 25 young people received the sacrament of Confirmation. They confirmed their faith and received the fullness of the Holy Spirit in their lives. The first reading ...
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Homily: July 26, 2022, Memorial of Saints Joachim and Anne, Parents of the Blessed Virgin Mary

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 Grandma warned little John, “Be a good boy. At the end of the world, all disobedient and bad people will be cast into fiery hell where there will be weeping and grinding of teeth.” John listened intently and asked with a worried look, “Grandma, you always quarrel with others, and you don’t have any teeth, how will you grind your teeth when you go to hell?” Grandma was annoyed and said “Teeth will be provided in hell!” In today’s Gospel, we heard that “(Jesus’) disciples approached him and said; explain to us the parable of the weeds in the field”. His disciples asked and so He explained. It is so clearly explained that I don’t have to preach about it. What I want to focus on is the inquisitive and learning attitude of the disciples. This is what we should do daily. To read the word of God and whenever we fail to understand, we should approach Jesus and ask Him to explain it to us. He will not just give us answers but He will show us how to understand the world and its problems. He...
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Homily: September 2, 2026 Wednesday of the Twenty Second Week in Ordinary Time (Belong to Jesus)

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Holy Family School Mass Homily   Whenever someone says, “I belong to Paul,” and another, “I belong to Apollos,” are you not merely men? How many of you are fans of Ronaldo? Any Messi fans here? What about Neymar? We all have people we admire. Maybe it is a great soccer player, a singer, or someone else we look up to. Maybe some of you even have a favorite teacher here at school! It is good to admire good people. It is good to have people we can look up to and learn from. But we also have to remember that no human person is perfect. In today’s reading, St. Paul had some “fans” too. Paul had preached to the people first, and later another great preacher named Apollos came. Soon people started choosing sides. Some were saying, “I belong to Paul,” while others were saying, “I belong to Apollos.” But Paul basically tells them, “Don’t make this about me!” Why? Because Paul did not want people simply to be his fans. He wanted them to be followers of Jesus Christ. And that is true for...
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Homily: July 21, 2026, Tuesday of the Sixteenth Week in Ordinary Time (Forgiveness)

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 In today's Gospel, Jesus says, “Here are my mother and my brothers. For whoever does the will of my heavenly Father is my brother, and sister, and mother.”  These words invite us to ask an important question: What is the will of our heavenly Father for us? Jesus gives the answer in other passages of the Gospel. He says, “Be perfect, just as your heavenly Father is perfect,” and “Be holy, for your heavenly Father is holy.” God's will is not simply that we avoid sin, but more that we become holy. The Christian life is not merely about avoiding evil; it is really about growing in virtue and becoming more like our heavenly Father each day, in what we think, say and do. Today's readings point us to one of the most difficult yet most beautiful virtues of Christian discipleship - forgiveness. In the first reading we heard, “Who is there like you, the God who removes guilt and pardons sin... who does not persist in anger forever.” In the Responsorial Psalm we prayed, “You have for...
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