Homily: August 25, 2025, Monday of the Twenty-First week in Ordinary Time (God's Army)

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 “Knowing, brothers and sisters loved by God, how you were chosen.”

In today’s first reading, St. Paul thanked God for choosing the Thessalonians to be citizens of His Kingdom, out of love.

Recently, I learned what the word ‘drafting’ means in military context. People who are drafted are enlisted to serve in the military by law, it is compulsory and there is no other option to choose. Willing or unwilling, whoever is drafted has to obey.

In India, however, the army has never had to draft anyone to serve. Many young men and women are eager to join the army, but many either fail to meet the physical requirements or other criteria. The training is very tough. It is not easy to get into the Indian military because the requirements are very strict and also because there is stiff competition to enter. Many are keen, few are chosen.

India has the second largest army in the world by active personnel. Those who make it, tend to serve for at least 15 years, and afterward, they receive a decent pension and good benefits. This is one of the attractions why people choose to join the Indian army.

St. Paul, in his letter to Timothy, used a powerful image: “Bear your share of hardship along with me, like a good soldier of Christ Jesus.”

What a title, ‘a good Soldier of Christ Jesus’!

But here is the difference: we are not drafted into this army, we are chosen. Chosen not to fight a worldly cause, but to fight against evil. Chosen for love with His life, that we too will love, with our life.

Jesus has already shown us how to fight the good fight and He has promised never to leave us without Him in this battle. As assured in today’s reading: “For our Gospel did not come to you in word alone, but also in power and in the Holy Spirit and with much conviction.”

Can we say no to this call?

Yes, we can, but that means we choose to be in the opposite camp. Because if we are not for God, we are against God. Would that be a wise choice?

“Knowing, brothers and sisters loved by God, how you were chosen.”

Let us always remember, we are chosen for love, not drafted by law. We are chosen not to die and be gone, but to die with Him so as to rise with Him.

Amen


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Homily: October 4, 2026, Twenty Seventh Sunday in Ordinary Time (No Anxiety)

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 “Have no anxiety at all, but in everything, by prayer and petition, with thanksgiving, make your requests known to God.” This is how St. Paul speaks to us in today’s second reading. “Have no anxiety at all.” We might immediately think: That is easy to say! But look at the person who said it. St. Paul wrote these words while he was a prisoner. He was facing an uncertain future and even the possibility of death. And yet his Letter to the Philippians is often called the Letter of Joy. All of us have anxieties. I have my anxieties too—what to preach, how to raise money, what comes next, concerns about family and ministry. Parents worry about their children and their future. We worry about our health, finances, relationships, and many other things. St. Paul does not simply say, “Stop worrying.” He tells us what to do with our worries: bring them to God. “By prayer and petition, with thanksgiving, make your requests known to God.” In other words: Do what you can, and place what you cann...
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Homily: September 21, 2026, Feast of Saint Matthew, Apostle and evangelist (Follow me)

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 “Follow me.” On this feast of St. Matthew, we hear Matthew’s own account of his calling. Jesus saw him sitting at the customs post and said just two words: “Follow me.” And Matthew gets up and follows him. No second thought. No long discernment. No plan for the future. Maybe Matthew had been waiting for a moment like this—a chance to begin again. Matthew was a tax collector, considered a sinner and hated by his own people because he worked for the occupying power. Yet Jesus looked at this man whom others rejected and saw an apostle. That should give every one of us hope. God can change people. God does not wait until we are perfect before he calls us. Jesus says in today’s Gospel, “I did not come to call the righteous but sinners.” We are all sinners. We all have weaknesses, habits, failures, and things in our lives that need to change. And there may be people around us struggling with addictions or trapped in sinful situations. Sometimes we may even wonder whether a person can ev...
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Homily: September 27, 2026, Twenty-Sixth Sunday in Ordinary time (The Fair way)

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 “Thus says the Lord: You say, ‘The Lord’s way is not fair!’” I chose this phrase from our first reading for our reflection today because it sounds very similar to what we heard last Sunday in the first reading.  “My thoughts are not your thoughts, nor are your ways my ways.” I think most of us, at some point in our lives, have said something similar to God. I know I have. “Lord, this is not fair.” “Why do I have to go through this?” “Why didn’t you answer this prayer?” “Why did you allow this to happen?” “I am trying to follow you. Could you not treat me a little better?” We may not say those words aloud, but sometimes they are deep within our hearts. So what exactly is God’s way? The second reading gives us an answer.  For centuries humanity wondered what God was like. Then Jesus Christ, the beloved Son of the Father, came among us and revealed the face of God. And St. Paul describes Jesus with these extraordinary words: “He did not regard equality with God something to...
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Homily: October 5, 2026, Monday of the Twenty-Seventh Week in Ordinary Time (Repay you on my way back)

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 “If you spend more than what I have given you, I shall repay you on my way back.” This is one of the beautiful lines from today’s Gospel.  We can easily see Jesus as the Good Samaritan. Humanity was wounded by sin, and Jesus came to rescue us. He lifted us up, cared for our wounds, and brought us to the inn. And we can see the inn as the Church—a place where wounded people are brought to be healed, cared for, and loved. But then Jesus gives the innkeeper two coins and says, “Take care of him.” Perhaps we can see ourselves as that innkeeper. Jesus has entrusted people to our care. And we might imagine those two coins as the two great commandments: Love God with all your heart, with all your being, with all your strength, and with all your mind; and love your neighbor as yourself. The first coin is love of God. God deserves the first place in our lives—our heart, our time, our attention, our will. So let us intentionally live our lives trying to please God. Then comes the secon...
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Homily: October 3, 2026, Saturday of the Twenty Sixth Week in Ordinary Time (God Restores)

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 “Thus the Lord blessed the latter days of Job more than his earlier ones.” This beautiful phrase comes from our first reading today, from the very last chapter of the Book of Job. The Book of Job is part of the wisdom literature of the Bible. Job is presented as a righteous man who loses almost everything—his possessions, his children, his health, and even the understanding and support of those around him. The great question running through the book is: Why does a good person suffer? Where is God when everything seems to be lost? Interestingly, the Book of Job does not give us a simple answer to the mystery of suffering. Instead, it invites us to trust in God even when we cannot understand his ways. And today, at the end of the story, we see something beautiful: God restores Job. “Thus the Lord blessed the latter days of Job more than his earlier ones.” This reminds us of the restoring power of God. God can restore what seems broken. God can bring hope after despair, joy after sor...
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Homily: October 6, 2026, Tuesday of the Twenty-Seventh Week in Ordinary time( Zealous Catholic)

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“You heard of my former way of life in Judaism, how I persecuted the Church of God beyond measure and tried to destroy it.” Whenever I read the letters of St. Paul, one thing that strikes me is his zeal. Paul never did anything halfway. Before his conversion, he was completely committed to what he believed. He thought Christianity was wrong, and so he became one of its fiercest persecutors. But when Paul encountered Jesus, something beautiful happened. Jesus did not take away Paul’s zeal; he redirected it. The man who traveled from place to place persecuting Christians now traveled from place to place preaching Christ. The man who tried to destroy the Church became one of its greatest builders. He crossed countries, entered unfamiliar cities, endured rejection, imprisonment, beatings, and suffering—all because he wanted people to know Jesus. That same fire comes through in his letters. Paul says, “Stir into flame the gift of God.” He says, “For to me life is Christ, and death is gain.”...
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Homily: April 2, 2024, Tuesday in the Octave of Easter (Mary at the Tomb).

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 Mary Magdalene stayed outside the tomb, weeping. Today’s gospel begins by describing the emotional state of Mary. We can all visualize and identify with this scene. Mary Magdalene is very sad, to the point of experiencing deep emotional pain which triggers tears. This is love.  I recall when my papa died within a week of discovering his illness. It was unexpected, we were all unprepared. All my sisters wept on the day he died, and into the days after his burial. They cried again, very emotionally, when we visited his tomb thereafter and I recited the Office for the Dead. I, too, cried a lot at papa’s death. Love is a powerful emotion. It stirs our heart to feel the pain of loss, which works up our brain to trigger the release of tears, to help reduce the emotional pain. God gave us tears to help us manage our pain.  Jesus wept at the death of Lazarus, and before He entered Jerusalem, and at the garden of Gethsemane. His love for humanity stirred up deep emotional pain, s...
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Homily: Septemer 22, 2026 Tuesday of the Twenty Fifth week in Ordinary Time (The poor)

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“He who shuts his ear to the cry of the poor will himself also call and not be heard.” These words from the Book of Proverbs are very direct. They remind us that God expects us to hear the cry of the poor. And the reality is that the poor have always been among us. Jesus himself said, “The poor you will always have with you.” Wherever we live and wherever we travel, we encounter people in need. Poverty also has many faces. Someone may become poor because of the loss of a job, war, natural disaster, persecution, displacement, or circumstances completely beyond his or her control. Sometimes the poor person is someone without food or shelter. Sometimes it is a refugee or immigrant who has left everything behind and is trying to begin life again in a strange land. This week, the Catholic Church in the United States observes National Migration Week. It is a good opportunity for us to remember that our own state of Iowa has a long history of welcoming refugees and immigrants. And our parish ...
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Homily: October 20, 2025, Monday of the Twenty-ninth Week in Ordinary Time (Greed)

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“Take care to guard against all greed, for though one may be rich, one’s life does not consist of possessions.” So true. Jesus warns us to guard against all greed, not just greed for money, but also for power, recognition, control, comfort and possessions. Even simple possessions, with greed, become obsessions. Greed blinds the soul. It makes us believe we need more and more, when we already have enough. At the end of our lives, what we had will not define us, nor give us any advantage at all for entry into heaven. But here, Jesus is saying, having too much might even disadvantage us. The rich man in today’s Gospel was a wealthy man, so distinguished was his wealth that he was simply known as a rich man, there was nothing else that could define him. Then God blessed him with even more. But instead of sharing his abundance, which will not affect his lifestyle in any way, he decided to build bigger barns to store it all for himself. Greed consumed him. He forgot that all his wealth was n...
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Homily: February 6, 2024, Tuesday of the fifth week in Ordinary time (Solomon Failed)

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He said, "LORD, God of Israel, there is no God like you in heaven above or on earth below." Solomon is praising the God of Israel, acknowledging Him as the one true God. He sings a hymn of thanksgiving to God for dwelling in the temple he built. Solomon was especially blessed by God. In the earlier chapters of the book of First Kings, we read that God blessed Solomon with wisdom and all the riches of the world. Unfortunately, in the later chapters, Solomon failed God. He followed his pagan wives to worship other deities. The same lips which uttered those words of praise and thanksgiving began to praise other gods. What a pity. The Bible provides no mention whether Solomon repented of his numerous sins or tore down the pagan altars he built. Did he not turn back to the one true God He honored and worshipped? Was he tempted beyond the possibility of return? In the Letter to the Hebrews 6:4, it is stated, "For it is impossible in the case of those who have once been enlight...
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