Homily: November 15, 2025, Saturday of the Thirty-Third Week in Ordinary Time (Preserverance )

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 “Jesus told his disciples a parable about the necessity for them to pray always without becoming weary.”

It is very easy to get discouraged in our spiritual life. Many of us become discouraged by our repeated sins and weaknesses. Another area where discouragement often enters is in our prayer life.

Sometimes, after praying for a long time without seeing results, we grow weary or lose hope.

That is why Jesus gives us today’s parable the story of the unjust judge. The judge was not a good man. He had no fear of God and no compassion for people. And the person who came to him for help was a poor widow. She had no power, no social standing, and no one to defend her. In that time and culture, widows were among the most forgotten and neglected people.

Yet this widow received justice. Why? Because she refused to give up. Her persistence and perseverance won the judge’s attention. If a heartless judge can respond to persistence, how much more will our loving Father in heaven respond to the prayers of His children!

When we pray, we must pray with hope surrendering our hearts to God’s holy will, trusting that He knows what is best for us. Sometimes His answer is yes, sometimes not yet, and sometimes I have something better for you. But He always listens.

We can take inspiration from those in Scripture who persevered in prayer. Abraham and Sarah praying for a child, Hannah praying for Samuel, Elizabeth and Zechariah praying in their old age, and St. Monica praying for the conversion of her son Augustine. None of them gave up, and God did not disappoint them.

Let us pray with that same perseverance.  Amen.


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

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 “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 ...
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Homily: June 30, 2026, Tuesday of the Thirteenth week in Oridnary Time (God's Favorite)

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"You alone have I favored, more than all the families of the earth." Through Amos, God is reaffirming His covenantal relationship with Israel as His chosen nation, as promised to Abraham. It is an affectionate expression of God's faithful love. The rest of this reading is about Amos warning Israel the consequences of turning away from God, intending to bring them back to faithfulness. Despite all the disobedience and unfaithfulness, God loves Israel and continues to favor them specially. He has chosen them and will not back out of His choice. This is truly how God loves. Faithful, unwavering, unchanging. I heard that when someone spoke with Mother Teresa, she would ignore everything else around her and give her full attention to that one person. She remained fully present for as long as that person needed her. St. John Paul II was also well known for giving people that same kind of attention. They did that well because they were really giving God their undivided attention...
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Homily: June 29, 2026, Solemnity of Saints Peter and Paul, Apostles (Fear of God)

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 "The angel of the Lord will rescue those who fear him." Today's Responsorial Psalm is so assuring and is so apt for today as we celebrate the Solemnity of Saints Peter and Paul. Both were faithful and fervent Apostles who had a deep holy fear the Lord - not like the fear of a slave, or being afraid of God, but a loving and reverent fear like that of an obedient child before a righteous and perfect Father. Having a fear of the Lord is the seventh gift of the Holy Spirit. It is a gift, not something we can earn or obtain on our own, but freely given to us at baptism, connecting us to God with deep respect and love, with a conscience to never want to offend the One who loves us so much. Peter and Paul did not always have this gift. If Peter had possessed this holy fear from the beginning, he would not have denied Jesus three times. Paul, before his conversion, persecuted Christians because he did not yet know the living God. Without knowing God, he could not truly fear Him....
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Homily: May 26, 2026 Tuesday of the Eighth week in Ordinary Time (Leave Everything)

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 "Peter began to say to Jesus, 'We have given up everything and followed you.'" When I was young, I was very careful with my money, just like my mother. I hardly had much to start with, but I also hardly spent any of my pocket money, so with the little I had, I saved. I even made some money by collecting wild honey in the forest and took some spices from the family farm to sell in the market. Money was very important, and every cent I had meant a lot to me. When I entered the seminary, I knew I would not want to join the religious orders as priest, because they have to take a vow of poverty. Diocesan priests do not need to, so I decided to be a diocesan priest. Soon, I learnt to let go, and gradually I stopped clinging to things as if they defined me. After I joined the seminary, our parish was raising funds to purchase new vestments. Since I was not allowed to keep money with me in the seminary, my parents donated all my years of savings for that fund raising. I woul...
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Homily: December 8, 2024 Second Sunday of Advent (Mother)

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"Up, Jerusalem! Stand upon the heights; look to the east and see your children gathered from the east and the west at the word of the Holy One." This phrase struck me very much, it is simple, relatable, assuring, and very comforting. It describes a beautiful relationship between the Church and God’s people. Today’s first reading is from the Book of Baruch. It is a small book, and the second Sunday of Advent is possibly the only time in the liturgical year when we take a reading from this book. Easter Vigil would also have a reading taken from this book, but Easter Vigil readings are often skipped in favor of the Easter Sunday readings. Baruch was a companion of prophet Jeremiah. He wrote this book during the later part of the Babylonian exile. The Israelites were living in exile, they knew they had offended God, and they were feeling punished, abandoned, and forgotten by God, but Baruch had a different message for them. Baruch describes Jerusalem as a loving mother, a mother ...
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Homily: October 20, 2023 Friday of the Twenty-eighth Week in Ordinary Time (Secrets).

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 "There is nothing concealed that will not be revealed, nor secret that will not be known." Do you have secrets? Are you worried about your secrets being revealed? Do you keep secrets for someone else? Have you been tempted to leak out the secret to another person? Something I realized growing up in a large family, is that in big families, there are no secrets, there is no way to hide any secret, not for long. Someone will somehow find out something. When I was in school, the period after exams is the secretive time. The teachers would enter our examination results in our school journal, to be shown to our parents for their signature, then return to the teachers next day. My brother and I would always get poor grades, and we would hide our school journals, with a plan to only show to our parents the next day just before leaving for school, so that there would not be much time for them to scold us, they could just sign and we would run off quickly to school. The plan never wor...
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Homily: March 6, 2024, Wednesday of the Third week in Lent (Laws)

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 “Observe them carefully, for thus will you give evidence of your wisdom and intelligence to the nations, who will hear of all these statutes and say, 'This great nation is truly a wise and intelligent people.’” In today’s first reading, Moses exhorts the people of Israel to be carefully obedient to God’s Law. It is emphasized that if they remain faithful to these statutes, they will be a great nation, ‘truly a wise and intelligent people’. We know how the story developed after this - they became arrogant, rebellious, and disobedient to God, their glory did not last, eventually they ended up in exile and slavery. By nature, humans have been gifted with free will, and thus we do not like to be controlled, restricted, or bound by rules and laws. Yet, without boundaries, society or community will be in chaos. Everyone will be doing as they wish, there will be no order. Thus, laws are everywhere – in the church, in school, in every country, even in the family. It seems like we have no ...
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Homily: JUne 6, 2026, Solemnity of the most Holy Body and Blood of Jesus.

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 "Whoever eats my flesh and drinks my blood remains in me and I in him." Every year to prepare the children to receive their first holy communion, they would attend a retreat, during which we would re-enact the last supper. The children would bake unleavened bread and use it for the re-enactment. At the 2024 retreat, the re-enactment was going well as we all took our roles seriously and followed the script. Unsurprisingly, I played the role of Jesus. At the climax of the re-enactment, I held up a cup of cranberry juice and said, “This is my blood.” Then I handed the cup to the little girl next to me. She looked at me with horror and shouted, “I don't drink blood!” For a moment, I was stunned too, then I assured her, “This is not really my blood.” But she immediately replied, “But you just said so!” We all laughed. She was not wrong, but to keep the play moving, I suggested she pass the cup to the next person. Thankfully, she did and we could finish the play. Afterward, I ...
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Homily: June 27, 2026 Satuday of the Twelfth Week in Ordinary Time

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 "He took away our infirmities and bore our diseases." The first reading from the Book of Lamentations paints a heartbreaking picture of Jerusalem after its destruction. The city that once enjoyed glory, security, and God's blessings is now wounded, abandoned, and without comfort. There seems to be no ray of hope. Growing up in a developing country, I saw many people who were born poor, lived poor, and died poor. They accepted it because it was all they had ever known. But I also saw people who had once been wealthy lose everything through bad choices, mistakes, or circumstances. Their suffering was even greater because they knew what they had lost. Jerusalem is like that. She once experienced God's protection and blessings but turned away from Him, and the consequences were devastating. The same can happen to our souls when we choose sin over God. We lose the peace, joy, and strength that come from living in His friendship. But today's Gospel gives us hope. Jesus...
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Homily: June 16, 2025 Monday of the Eleventh week in Ordinary time (Grace not in vain)

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“Not to receive the grace of God in vain.” Today’s first reading began with a stern warning. Are we receiving the grace of God in vain? Do we got to confession, yet continue to live in habitual sin and disobedience to God’s will? Christian living is a life in and of grace. It is a life of grace, because from the moment of our baptism, followed through with the other sacraments, God pours out His grace to us. But the full effect of His grace requires our cooperation. If we take it for granted, are non-responsive or even ignorant, if we do not actively nurture it, God’s grace would be fruitless, and futile in our life. Imagine pouring water to a cup with a closed lid, nothing gets filled, the cup remains empty. Think of baptism. At a child’s baptism, the parents and godparents profess the faith on the child’s behalf. They promise to raise the child according to the Catholic faith. If they fail to live that promise, if they do not bring the child to Mass, do not pray with the child, neith...
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