Homily: September 3, 2025, Wednesday of the Twenty-second Week in Ordinary Time (Healing Hands)

-

Holy Family School Mass Homily.  

“At sunset, all who had people sick with various diseases brought them to him. He laid his hands on each of them and cured them.”

In today’s Gospel, we hear about Jesus healing many people with different diseases. The passage begins with the healing of Peter’s mother-in-law, who was very sick in bed with a very high fever. She was not merely resting, in fact her fever was so bad that she was unable to get out of bed. I am guessing it could be 103 or 104 degrees!

Normally, if we get such a high fever, it would take us days to recover with strong medication. But when Jesus visited Peter’s mother-in-law, He simply stood over her, rebuked the fever, that means He scolded the fever, and it left her!  Instantly, she was well again and was able to get up and serve Jesus and His disciples. Wow!

Jesus is the King of the Universe, He has power over everything in the world, if you would only believe in Him and trust Him.

Even today, Jesus continues to heal people, often through the intercession of His saints. Whenever the Church decides to canonize someone who was known to be a holy person, who lived a faithful and prayerful life before they died, one of the signs they use to confirm that these holy people are in heaven and working alongside Jesus is having two miracles that happened through their intercession. These miracles are often miraculous healings, like how Jesus healed Peter’s mother-in-law. 

This weekend, Carlo Acutis will be canonized by the church. He was a teenager who lived in Italy and used to enjoy playing computer games. He died when he was only 15 years old with leukemia in 2006, just 19 years ago. While he was very ill, he created a website to share real miracle stories of the Eucharist with the world so that people would believe in the real presence of Jesus in the Holy Eucharist. 

His life showed that he loved Jesus, and he lived a holy life. Everyone believes that he is already a saint in heaven, and true enough, there were miracles through his intercession.

The first miracle happened in 2013. A Brazilian boy had a severe pancreatic disorder. He couldn’t eat anything without vomiting, and the doctors tried all possible treatment, but nothing worked. His mother then took a relic of Carlo, that means something which Carlo used when he was still on earth, to touch the boy, and immediately he was healed. For the first time in his life, he was able to eat solid food.

A second miracle approved for Carlo’s canonization happened in 2022. A university student from Costa Rica who was studying in Italy, met with an accident and suffered severe brain damage. Doctors didn’t think she would live and did nothing to treat her. But her mother went to Assisi to pray at Carlo’s tomb.

That very day, the girl began to breathe on her own, and the next day she started to recover her speech and movement, and soon she recovered fully. Medical tests thereafter showed that the brain injury was gone and had completely healed.

These are just two examples of how Jesus continues His healing power through His saints.

Today, as we celebrate this Mass, let us ask the intercession of St. Gregory and Blessed Carlo Acutis. We all need healing in different ways, in our body and mind, in our heart and soul, in our family and community.

If you believe, Jesus and His saints will help us.

St. Gregory, pray for us!

Blessed Carlo Acutis, pray for us!

Lord Jesus, we trust in you!

Amen.


Comments

Post a Comment

Read

Homily: February 12-2024, Monday of the sixth week in Ordinary time (Preserverenace)

-
“Consider it all joy, my brothers and sisters, when you encounter various trials, for you know that the testing of your faith produces perseverance.” A good friend of mine battled with addiction to drugs and alcohol for many years. Finally, he was able to give up his destructive habits and began walking with the Lord. Was it all smooth and easy? No. He faced many other struggles in his new life. Often, he was tempted to go back to his old ways, with thoughts that his life with drugs and alcohol was more carefree. He knew it was a lie. He then began to involve himself in various ministries in his parish church to serve the Lord. Was it all smooth and easy then? No. He experienced many disagreements and arguments within the ministries. Why is it that serving God seemed to make life more difficult? Shouldn’t we be rewarded with a good and easy life? If we look at Abraham, we see that he had to go through many trials and challenges in obeying God’s call. He did not have it easy. The apostl...
Read more

Homily: September 8, 2025, Feast of the Nativity of the Blessed Virgin Mary (Geneology)

-
 “Abraham became the father of Isaac, Isaac the father of Jacob, Jacob the father of Judah and his brothers.” And so on. The list of Jesus’ ancestors goes on. When I looked at today’s Gospel, I initially thought of skipping the genealogy of Jesus and use the shorter option. But I thought again, and I decided on the long version, proclaiming fully the genealogy of Jesus. Why? Back in March, one of my nieces turned 15. As an uncle, I would always ask my nieces and nephews what they would like for their birthdays, so I asked her. She replied, “Uncle, pay $125 for me to do an ancestry test. My dad’s family says his ancestors came from Persia, and I want to know if it’s true.” I agreed. That’s an interesting birthday gift. When the results came back, it showed she was about 3% Persian. A few weeks later, she asked me for another favor. “Uncle, I need you to do the test too, so I can see the picture of my family from mom’s side.” She was so serious about it and kept reminding me every da...
Read more

March 1, 2025: First Holy Communion Homily: St. Joseph's Catholic Church Seffner, Florida

-
Did you listen attentively to the Gospel reading? Yes? Let me test you… What did Jesus say? Did He say, “Whoever eats my bread and drinks my wine?”  No! He said, “Whoever eats my FLESH and drinks my BLOOD remains in me and I in him.” Yes, when you receive Holy Communion, you are receiving the real flesh and blood of Jesus. I am sure Fr. Roy, your catechists, parents and the whole parish community have prepared you well for this day, so you know what you are receiving today. But what I want to focus on now is the last part where Jesus says, ‘remains in me and I in him’. 29 years ago in 1996, I received my First Holy Communion. I was eight years old, but I still remember that day vividly. I remember the preparations, my First Reconciliation, and the excitement I felt when I lined up to receive Jesus for the very first time. I remember seeing the priest dipping the Precious Body into the Precious Blood, and then that precious moment – Jesus’ body and blood rested on my tongue. So swee...
Read more

Homily: March 3, 2024, Third sunday in Lent (Foolishness of God)

-
 “For the foolishness of God is wiser than human wisdom, and the weakness of God is stronger than human strength.” Could God ever be foolish? Is God ever weak? Recently, I've been listening to a podcast by a man who converted from Hinduism to Christianity. Interestingly, he became interested in the Christian faith after reading Hindu sacred scriptures. The Rig Veda, Samaveda, Yajurveda, and Atharvaveda, are Hindu sacred writings in Sanskrit from around 3500 years ago. What he found in these ancient writings were consistent references to a divine savior who would come into the world and die on a cross. Convinced that those prophecies were pointing to Jesus, he began fervently preaching about Jesus the Savior of the world, in the context of Hindu scriptures, until his passing. Growing up in a predominantly Hindu country, I always enjoyed narratives of Hindu deities, especially epic stories from the history of Hinduism. I admired their invincible power, repeated victories in battles, ...
Read more

Homily: August 30, 2025, Saturday of the Twenty-first Week in Ordinary Time (Work Hard)

-
 “Aspire to live a tranquil life, to mind your own affairs, and to work with your own hands, as we instructed you.”  This is exactly what I desire for my own life, a tranquil, serene, peaceful life. And I believe many of us long for the same too. St. Paul repeatedly encourages the Christian community to live in peace, to engage in meaningful work, and to live in harmony with one another, respecting a healthy privacy and space for others. One common misunderstanding among the early Christians was about the Second Coming of Christ. Many believed that Christ’s return was imminent, so close that it would happen within their lifetime. Because of this anticipation, some thought that working to upkeep livelihood or planning for their children’s future were pointless. And in some sense, it is practical. If you knew that everything you are working for would soon be useless, that your life would be totally transformed and all your property would be valueless, would you still work? Work ...
Read more

Homily: Thursday, February 10, 2022, Memorial of Saint Scholastica

-
 Readings: https://bible.usccb.org/bible/readings/021022.cfm Yesterday’s first reading, we heard about King Solomon’s profound wisdom and great riches. Today, we read about his foolishness in turning away from God. It makes us wonder, how could someone so wise become so foolish? Today’s gospel story is very interesting. A Syrophoenician woman, who was non-Jew, had enough faith to asked Jesus for help. And when our Lord tested her with a sarcastic reply, her response showed not just faith, but wisdom. “Lord, even the dogs under the table eat the children’s scraps.” This reminds me of the former president of India, KR Narayanan. In India, among the Hindus there is a caste system. Everyone is born into a caste and stays in it forever. Narayanan’s family was from the lowest caste, considered the ‘untouchables’. So, others despised them. When he was young, his parents had no money to pay the school fees. As penalty, the teachers would send him out of the classroom. But he was very ...
Read more

Homily: September 9, 2025, Tuesday of the Twenty-third Week in Ordinary Time (Pray)

-
“Jesus departed to the mountain to pray, and he spent the night in prayer to God.” What a perfect example for us to follow! Jesus, the Second Person of the Trinity, prayed. He who is God the Son, prayed to God the Father. He spent the whole night in prayer before choosing His disciples. In His divinity, Jesus already knew the Father’s will. Yet in His humanity, He is just like us. He needed to spend time with His Father, to pray and to discern to be aligned with God’s will. Jesus shows us a powerful example: we too must pray before making important decisions, to ask God what His will is for us. Sometimes, when we act without consulting Him, we may find ourselves going against His will or going a wrong long way before reaching which lead us through unnecessary suffering or other unbearable consequences. So bring your plans to Jesus, tell Him your hopes, your preferences, your wishes, and He will bless you with the wisdom to choose wise and right. But what if we prayed, heard, followed a...
Read more

Homily: June7, 2023, Wednesday of the Ninth Week in Ordinary Time (Pray Hardest).

-
 Grief-stricken in spirit, I, Tobit, groaned and wept aloud. Then with sobs I began to pray… We continue our reflections from the book of Tobit. In the first part of today’s first reading, we see how Tobit was ‘grief-stricken in spirit’ – he was devastated and desperate! His life saw misfortunes one after another, while he continued to keep faithful to God. But there is just so much a human person can withstand, so he took it to prayer, with groans and sobs, but if you read carefully his prayer, there was no complaints or anger against God. Only total surrender and giving up his life totally to the Lord. Then we read on to Sarah’s life. What a miserable life she had, losing one husband after another, seven times, all on the wedding nights. She was cursed indeed by the demon and ridiculed by others, she was helpless and depressed. What could she do? We see in the reading, “At that time, then, she spread out her hands, and facing the window, poured out her prayer…” She could take her...
Read more

Homily: March 15, 2025, Saturday of the First Sunday in Lent (Perfect Love)

-
 "So be perfect, just as your heavenly Father is perfect."  I was very privileged to have done my seminary studies and formation at Santa Croce University (Holy Cross), in Rome which is run by the Opus Dei order. Their founder, St. Josemaría Escrivá, was a visionary and a great saint. One of the core principles of living and spirituality he laid down for Opus Dei members was this: “strive for excellence in everything”. Because of this, the university was marked by excellence in every way - excellent professors, an outstanding library, state-of-the-art classrooms, and advanced technology. To be a student at such an institution meant that they, too, were expected to strive for excellence in attitude and effort. To maintain this high standard, there were many strict rules for the students to follow. By following conscientiously, students would grow and develop to their full potential with remarkable outcomes, all through into the future. In the first reading, Moses tells the Isr...
Read more