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

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 “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 day until I finally did it. My result came back: 98% Southwest Indian!

In the Jewish culture, family background and historical relationships were very important. They would maintain and preserve genealogies carefully, writing all names in chronicles, recording them in historical books, and passing them on from one generation to the next, ensuring every generation knows and remembers the source of their being and belonging.

To us, reading that long list of names may seem boring or even irrelevant. But since it is included in Sacred Scripture, inspired by the Holy Spirit, there must be a meaningful purpose for it.

When we read those names, we also recall the stories of their lives, their strengths and weaknesses, their faithfulness and failures. And above all, we see God’s hand at work through it all, especially through their sinfulness and failures.

The family history of Jesus includes both saints and sinners, the faithful and the unfaithful. There were great figures like Abraham and David, and notorious murderers, adulterers and prostitutes. What should amaze us, is that God did not choose a perfect, spotless family line for His Son to be born. Instead, He chose to enter humanity fully and truly through a real human story filled with both glory and shame.

The second reading states: “We know that all things work for good for those who love God.” That was true for Abraham, Isaac, Jacob, Mary, and through them, God brought forth the greatest gift of all: Jesus Christ, our Savior.

The same promise applies to us. None of our families is perfect. We have faithfulness and unfaithfulness, blessings and brokenness. But if we love God, all things will work out for good. If not for now, it will be for the future.

Whether you are Irish, Italian, German, Scandinavian, Asian, or African, we all have the same Father. And every one of us is His beloved child, created in His image and likeness.

That is the most beautiful beginning of our true genealogy. Mary’s birth reminds us of this truth. God chose ordinary human families to bring about His extraordinary plan of salvation. He brought perfection through Jesus’ imperfect genealogy. He can work wonders through our wounded families too.

Amen.


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Homily: September 27, 2025, Saturday of the Twenty-Fifth Week in Ordinary time (SVDP)

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 “But I will be for her an encircling wall of fire, says the LORD, and I will be the glory in her midst.” This is such an assuring powerful message from God, from today’s first reading. Our God is fiercely protective of us, His beloved creation. I am sure some of us may have personally experienced God’s protective love, His wall of fire encircling us, defending, guarding, sheltering us from harm and hurt that may destroy our souls. His goal is to save humanity, and in response, in line with His love for us, we are called to be His hands and feet, to extend His protective love towards others. Today we celebrate the feast of St. Vincent de Paul, a saint who made God’s love visible in concrete ways. He fed, clothed and sheltered the very deprived and forgotten people, especially the imprisoned slaves with generous charity, providing for their very basic needs of a human person. His mission continues, through Vincentian priests, sisters, brothers, and lay members who serve the in nearl...
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March 1, 2025: First Holy Communion Homily: St. Joseph's Catholic Church Seffner, Florida

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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...
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Homily: October 22, 2024, Tuesday of the Twenty-ninth Week in Ordinary Time (Lost).

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 “Brothers and sisters: You were at that time without Christ, alienated from the community of Israel and strangers to the covenants of promise, without hope and without God in the world.” What does it mean to be ‘without Christ’? St. Paul says it means to be ‘alienated’, a ‘stranger’, ‘without hope and without God’. To me, that means being lost, no goal, no direction, no purpose, no reason to exist. Have you ever experienced being lost? When I was in third grade, my family went on a Marian pilgrimage to Tamil Nadu, which is quite far away from our home. Some families from our neighborhood went also. There were thousands of other pilgrims at the site, all of us on the same path were moving along, packed against one another, like a giant river of people. My parents gave strict orders to hold on to each other’s hands tight and not to let go nor stray away from each other.  I was holding on to my papa’s hand, but the crowd was pushing so much that at one point, I lost my grip and ...
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Homily: July 27, 2024, Saturday of the Sixteenth Week in Ordinary Time

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 "This is the temple of the LORD! The temple of the LORD! The temple of the LORD!" In the first reading, we hear Jeremiah making this exclamation repeatedly and fervently.  And in the responsorial psalm, we too repeated, “How lovely is your dwelling place, Lord, mighty God!” In times of war and disaster around the world, when common folks lose their homes or safety, very often many would seek shelter and safety in churches. The temple of the Lord is indeed a safe place, not just for the body and mind, but more importantly, for the soul. We have many beautiful churches all around the world, old and new. Our very own SAC is an old but grand and beautiful building. I have seen many visitors' faces light up as they enter and admire the architecture, the organ, the stained glass, everything. From the first reading, it is clear that the temple of the Lord is not just about the physical building, it is also about the community. Being part of this community, we are all called to ...
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Funeral Homily: William J. Baum, June 8, 2023

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 The souls of the just are in the hand of God, and no torment shall touch them. The soul of Bill is in the hand of God, no torment shall touch him. We are here to bid our final farewell to Bill, our beloved brother, grandpa, dad, husband, friend. I feel privileged to have known Bill these last two years and honored to preside over this Mass for his sending off. Many of you would have known him much longer and much better than I. I wish I had more time with him. I was awed when I read his obituary, his life story is inspirational. I know from my encounter with him that he was a dedicated husband, a loving and caring father, the greatest fan to every one of his grandchildren, and an incredible friend to countless people here and around the world. His going would surely leave a void in our lives. It is only natural that we grieve this loss. Bill was a man of remarkable character. His love for life, his sense of humor, and his thoughtfulness for others were the hallmarks of his persona...
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Homily: August 21, 2023, Monday of the twentieth week in Ordinary Time.

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 “The children of Israel offended the LORD by serving the Baals.” We often say that "experience is the best teacher." However, this holds true only for those who are open to learning. It seems that humanity has never learnt from experience and so history repeats itself. If we had learned the lessons from World War 1, there would never have been World War 2, and the world thereafter would have been free from all wars as well. The Israelites were foolishly guilty of the same. While in the desert, they worshipped other gods and suffered the consequence of being bitten by snakes, leading to the deaths of tens of thousands of people. That was not the only experience they had for being unfaithful to God. Did they learn their lesson? No. What are the baals? They were names given to deities, commonly referred to the Canaanite-phoenician god of fertility and rain. Rain was necessary to bring about a bountiful harvest in a fertile land, it was a symbol of fertility. Fertility was a sym...
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Homily: April 26, 2023, Wednesday of the Third Week of Easter. (Conversion)

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 We see the violent persecution of the early Christian communities in today’s first reading. We heard, “Saul, meanwhile, was trying to destroy the Church; entering house after house and dragging out men and women, he handed them over for imprisonment.” Cruel, inhumane, unjustified persecution. Do you know anyone who is against the church, always criticizing the church and disagreeing with people who are associated with church? I suppose it is not too difficult to think of a few names. Here we see Saul, the champion persecutor of the early Christians, totally against the Christian church, but who later was also converted and became the champion evangelizer for Christ, totally dedicated. He wrote 25% of the New Testament and founded many churches in Asia. Saul, who once tried his best to destroy the Church later became Paul who tried better than his best to build the church. He was very successful in both missions but his powerful encounter with Jesus stopped him from his persecution...
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Homily: September 24, 2025, Wednesday of the Twenty-fifth Week in Ordinary Time (Prayer)

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 “At the time of the evening sacrifice, I, Ezra, rose in my wretchedness, and with cloak and mantle torn I fell on my knees, stretching out my hands to the LORD, my God.” How do you pray? Today’s first reading gives us a beautiful description of how priest Ezra prayed. He considered himself ‘wretched’, totally unworthy of God and His mercy. This expressed his deep reverence for the vast greatness and graciousness of God. He fell on his knees with outstretched arms. This expressed his total surrender, obedience and submission to the ultimate good and perfect will of God. Ezra’s humble prayer disposition is beautiful. He prayed with a deep, sincere, and remorseful heart, laid bare before God, bearing the guilt of his people, yet completely appreciative and grateful for God’s forgiveness. He offered this prayer after the completion and dedication of the rebuilt Temple. The broken temple now rebuilt signified a reconciled relationship with God. Now the Israelites can worship in God’s h...
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Homily: July 27, 2025, Seventeenth Sunday of Ordinary Time (Rekindle the gifts).

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 “Even when you were dead in your transgressions, He brought you to life along with Him, having forgiven us all our sins.” A dear friend of mine, a Catholic, who has been struggling with deep depression and lingering wounds from a past abusive marriage, sought help with a counselor, who is a prayerful and spiritual Christian. During one of the counselling sessions, this counselor told my friend, “You need to be born again.” Do I think she should be born again? No. Then she voiced some of the struggles she is having with the Catholic Church, in her opinion we are restrictive, do not encourage people to use their spiritual gifts, are caught up in rites that are not relevant to real-life problems, and wondered why the Church does not teach much about the Holy Spirit… I don’t know whether you think the same, but what went through my mind was what Archbishop Fulton Sheen said: “There are not over a hundred people in the United States who hate the Catholic Church. There are millions, how...
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Homily : January 10, 2022, Monday of the First Week in Ordinary Time,

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 “Why do you grieve? Am I not more to you than ten sons?” Hannah was barren. Everyone probably thought she was a cursed woman. Except her husband. Elkanha was a good man and a loving, supportive husband. I think many women dream to have an appreciative husband like him.  Hannah was sad because she wanted to have children, nothing else could satisfy that desire, not even her wonderful husband, not even if there were ten of her husband, could count for having just one son. Some things in life just cannot be replaced, there is no equal substitution. Just like my mommy’s fish curry. She prepared every ingredient from base, slow cooked in a clay pot over firewood. It was not quick cooking with electricity in a steel pot. Believe me, the result is very different. I can still remember the wonderful smell and taste. Sadly, no one else could cook fish curry like mommy, not even my sisters who knew the recipe. There is simply no substitution. (ha ha now I feel hungry…) In recent years, ...
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