Homily: November 18, 2025, Tuesday of the Thirty-third Week in Ordinary Time (Courage)

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 “This is how he died, leaving in his death a model of courage and an unforgettable example of virtue not only for the young but for the whole nation.”

Today’s first reading recounts the martyrdom of Eleazar, one of the most inspiring figures in the Old Testament. Listening to his story, especially how he died, gives us goosebumps.  A grand 90-year-old wise man was brutally tortured and killed because he refused to abandon his faith or eat what was forbidden by God’s law.

He believed it was not worthy of his old age to give a poor example to the young. His heroic death thus gave courage to a whole generation.

His story reminds me of another great model of unwavering faith.  St. Polycarp, the 80-year-old bishop of Smyrna. When he was brought before the Roman authorities and told to deny Christ, he said: “Eighty years I have served Him, and He has done me no wrong. How can I blaspheme my King and my Savior?” Then, with peace and courage, he accepted martyrdom by fire.

The Book of Maccabees recorded many such powerful stories of extraordinary faith, which took place during those 400 silent years between the prophet Malachi and St. John the Baptist. 

We too live in a time when faith is often tested not by persecution, but by indifference, ridicule, and the temptation to compromise. The world tells us our faith is outdated, unnecessary, or at best, a private and personal practice. But Eleazar’s story reminds us that faith must be lived boldly and publicly.

Like Eleazar, like St. Polycarp, like so many martyrs St. Justin, St. Joan of Arc, St. George, St. Sebastian and more, we too are called to bear witness to Christ courageously. St. Paul said, “For to me, life is Christ, and death is gain.”

Let us pray for that same courage to let our faith shine, to speak truth with love, and to remain firm and strong when our faith is tested. Amen.


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

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

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

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 “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...
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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: February 22, 2025 Feast of the chair of St. Peter.

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

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

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 “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...
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