Homily: November 1, 2025-All Saints Day (Children of God)

-

 “See what love the Father has bestowed on us, that we may be called the children of God. Yet so we are.”

Today, the church celebrates All Saints Day.

Who are the saints?

We may be thinking of the many canonized saints we know of, like St. Therese, St. Ambrose, St. Benedict, St. John Paul II and so on. These were people who lived a life of holiness and faithfulness to the Lord. Their holiness was very visible such that when they died, the church began their canonization process.

But seriously, who is a saint?

In a simple description, a saint is someone who is in heaven with God. There are many of these who are unknown to us, only known to God. They are not canonized by the church, but they are in full union with Jesus after they died.

Now, do you want to be in heaven with God when you die? 

If your answer is yes, then you need to seriously think about holiness. Because if not heaven, it will be hell.

Our late Pope Francis said, “To be saints is not a privilege for a few, but a vocation for everyone.” And that “saints are not ‘supermen’ who are ‘born perfect’, but rather are ordinary people who followed God ‘with all their heart’.”

To attain holiness, we need to understand, embrace and live out our true identity as children of God. 

God has already bestowed us with His love, we are created in love and thus carry with us this beautiful essence of God in our soul.

God desires us to spend eternity with Him. When we fully embrace this reality, accept our identity and respond to it with deep faith, we are already walking the path of holiness. We just have to keep walking.

Holiness is possible, but do not walk alone. Call on the Holy Spirit, call on Mother Mary, call on your patron saint, ask your guardian angel to pray for you, help you, direct you and walk with you. It just needs to be your daily focus. Pope Francis again said, “We are all sinners, but called to be saints.”

In the Gospel today, Jesus gives us the roadmap to holiness, the Beatitudes. It is the way to a humble spirit, and a humble spirit is the way for abundant grace, the way for the Holy Spirit to be active in our life.

We belong to God, and we should return to God. Whenever you wake up, say, “I am totally Yours, Lord Jesus.” Before you retire to sleep, pray, “I am totally Yours, Lord Jesus.”

Let us ask all the saints, known and unknown to us to pray for us, to live truly as God’s beloved children. May our lives on earth reflect the light of heaven, so that we will one day join them in eternal joy.

All you holy men and women, pray for us! Amen.


Comments

Post a Comment

Read

Homily: February 27, 2026Friday of the First Week in Lent (Salvation)

-
 “Since he has turned away from all the sins that he committed, he shall surely live, he shall not die.” In the spiritual tradition of the Church, we often talk about the four last things: death, judgment, heaven, hell. Death is certain for each one of us. We will all die one day.  Judgment is also certain. It is part of our encounter with God. He is the ultimate Judge. Then the final destination. It is not heaven and hell, it is heaven or hell. Each of us will have the freedom to choose. Do you think everyone will choose heaven? Many do not want hell, but that does not mean they want heaven. Choosing heaven means choosing God, choosing His will. This is where we all failed. Everyone has sinned. But in today’s first reading, the prophet Ezekiel gives all of us a great big hope: our past does not have the final word. The hope is that if a person turns away from sin, if they repent and choose what is right, they shall live - repent and believe in the Gospel! Many people, myself ...
Read more

Homily: February 15, 2026 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: March 29, 2025, Saturday of theThird Week in Lent (Rain)

-
 “He will come to us like the rain, like spring rain that waters the earth.” Do you like the rain? I have always enjoyed rain, not just watching it from my window, but walking or playing in the rain. Rain is refreshing, especially on hot days. When I was little, growing up in India, we always looked forward to the summer rain. It wasn’t until I came to Iowa that I experienced spring rain, which is gentle, joyful and uplifting. During summer in India, the scorching heat would dry up everything; water in the creeks and ponds would vanish, grass and plants would wither. In those days before there was tap water, people would walk long distances in the summer heat to collect water then carry it home in huge plastic pots. The intense heat, the lack of oxygen and the loss of liveliness in the environment also dulled everybody’s mood. Then after some months, the rain would come. Sometimes suddenly, sometimes in thunderstorms, but we would always know it was coming. The hornbill birds would...
Read more

Homily: February 28-2026, Saturday of the First week in Lent (Perfection)

-
 “So be perfect, just as your heavenly Father is perfect.” At first, those words sound overwhelming. No option. No compromise. Just: Be perfect. Jesus sets the highest standard possible—not human perfection, but divine perfection. And immediately we might think: How is that possible? And how do we move toward that perfection? The Church gives us a beautiful path: the three theological virtues, faith, hope, and love. First, faith. Faith means trusting. Trusting God, Trusting in God’s promises. Jesus tells us that faith even the size of a mustard seed is enough. God does not demand enormous faith, He asks for sincere faith. Second, hope. Hope keeps us steady when life becomes difficult. When problems feel like mountains in front of us. When suffering enters our family. When prayers seem unanswered. Hope whispers to us: You have a perfect heavenly Father. He is faithful. Hold on. Christian hope does not deny pain—it carries us through it. It reminds us that God can turn everything tow...
Read more

Homily: February 22-2026, First Sunday of Lent (Angles)

-
 As I was preparing this homily, I first thought of preaching about the three temptations of Jesus. Then I changed my mind and thought of focusing on the first reading, and then perhaps the second reading. I couldn’t get the right inspiration, so I went through the readings several times over the past days. Finally, I noticed one phrase which stayed with me quietly but firmly: “The devil left Him, and angels came and ministered to Him.” It was a reassuring resolution to an intense build-up of temptations. Jesus had fasted forty days. He endured hunger, thirst, solitary living and silence. At the end of it when he was at his weakest, tempting offers to satisfy His possible needs and wants were presented to Him. He was at His weakest, physically, but he was also at His strongest, spiritually. As He overcame the temptations and defeated the devil, heaven responded - not with applause, but with accompaniment. Angels came to minister to Him. We see the same later in the Gospel of Luke. ...
Read more

Homily: February 24, 2026, Tuesday of the First Week of Lent (God's Word)

-
 “So shall my word be that goes forth from my mouth; it shall not return to me void.” Today Prophet Isaiah reminds us that God’s word is powerful. It is not empty. It goes forth and it returns. And it accomplishes God’s will on return. It does not fail. From the very beginning, creation itself was born from God’s word. He commanded, “Let there be light.” And there was light. And till today, light continues to do what God wills it to do. Everything we see and depend on - the vast universe, the galaxy, the earth, everything born of earth, and life itself - exists because God spoke. God speaks and it is fulfilled. And God breathes into our life; He speaks His life into ours. His life becomes ours; His promise is to be accomplished through our obedience; His will is to be fulfilled by our submission. Even as we struggle to cooperate with God, deep in our being, our souls want to be one with God. Because our very existence comes from Him. He has a plan for each of us. Long before we wer...
Read more

Homily: February 21, 2026, Saturday After Ash Wednesday (Graceful Souls)

-
 “He will renew your strength, and you shall be like a watered garden, like a spring whose water never fails.” Some of us would have experienced the grace of God in a very real way at some point in our lives. Perhaps after a very sincere confession, or during a spiritual retreat, maybe during deep prayer, or some may have felt it at Mass. Different people would experience it differently. It could be a sense of lightness when the heaviness of a grave sin has been lifted, an indescribable feeling of deep peace, a sudden vision of clarity. Sometimes we would most undoubtedly know that God is close. There’s probably a certain quiet joy within. There are so many possible signs. If you have ever experienced that unusual but wonderful feeling, you would know what I mean. And if you have not, try to make a good confession, I mean seriously, do it as if today is your last day, and you desperately want to be free from all sin, what we often call ‘deathbed confession’. And you might just get ...
Read more

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: May 28, 2024, Tuesday of the Eighth Week in Ordinary Time

-
“Set your hopes completely on the grace to be brought to you at the revelation of Jesus Christ.” St. Peter advises the people to focus on grace, to set their hopes completely on it. But what is grace, really? Surprisingly, Google provides a very appropriate and theologically accurate answer. It says grace refers to “God’s favor toward the unworthy” or “God’s benevolence on the undeserving.” So unworthy are we, yet God’s favor rests on us. We are graced. So undeserving are we, yet God is lovingly benevolent towards us. We are graced. So deep in sin are we, yet God sent His Son to die so that we are redeemed from eternal death. We are graced. In his suffering, St. Paul pleaded with the Lord to spare him the thorn, but Jesus comforted and encouraged St. Paul, “My grace is sufficient for you.” Indeed, it was grace that helped St. Paul go through his pain. Similarly, for all of us, God’s grace is sufficient, with it we overcome everything, we overcome sin, we overcome death. Where can we fi...
Read more

Homily: August 23, 2025, Saturday of the Twentieth Sunday in Ordinary Time (Imperfect Generations)

-
 “They called him Obed. He was the father of Jesse, the father of David.”  Today’s first reading is fascinating account of how Ruth and Boaz came together and became the great grandparents of King David, the powerful king of Israel who established Jerusalem as the holy city and wrote many of the psalms we still pray today. Ruth is one of the Five women mentioned in the genealogy of Jesus. The other three are Rahab, Tamar and Bethsheba, and Mary, the Mother of God. Interestingly, Ruth who was a Moabite woman, a foreigner, has her life recorded in scripture as an important part of salvation history, even though her story is not one of perfection. The circumstances which led her to Boaz were not ideal, yet God turned everything into good. Ruth showed courage and a respectable character when she left her homeland and went with her mother-in-law to her people. That act of faithfulness must have pleased the God of Israel. Thousands of years later, we continue to read her story and p...
Read more