Homily: November 3, Monday of the Thirty-First Week in Ordinary Time (Poor)

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 “Rather, when you hold a banquet, invite the poor, the crippled, the lame, the blind; blessed indeed will you be because of their inability to repay you.”

This Gospel reminds us of one of Jesus’ most powerful teachings of love and service, that is to love and serve those who are not able to give us anything in return. That is true giving, true serving.

About a month ago, on October 4th, the Feast of St. Francis of Assisi, Pope Leo released an apostolic exhortation titled ‘Dilexi Te’, which means “I Have Loved You”.

It is a beautiful exhortation on Jesus’ love for the poor. Jesus gave His love to the very poor, indeed those who could never even pay Him back a fraction of what He gave.

And if we are true Christians, we too must give like Christ gives, we must have a heart for the poor, like Christ does, because Jesus Christ identifies Himself with them. So when we give to the poor, we are giving to Christ.

The document states: “There are many forms of poverty: the poverty of those who lack material means of subsistence; the poverty of those who are socially marginalized and cannot express their dignity; the moral and spiritual poverty of those who are far from God; the poverty of those who have no rights, no space, no freedom.”

Here at St. Ambrose Cathedral, about 70 percent of our parishioners are refugees or immigrants. Many of them experience extreme poverty in various ways. They are a great blessing to us because they make visible the very face of Christ.

How can we respond? What can we do?

Practically, some of them are so deprived that every little love and service we offer to them will comfort them so much. We can share with them our time and our friendship. And if we can’t give directly, we can support those who are giving their time and energy to serve the poor. The Society of St. Vincent de Paul, Catholic Charities, Connection Café, Joppa, and others. These charities are doing great work, but they need a lot of support. If we cannot support financially, we can always pray for them and cheer them on.

Tonight’s Holy Hour at 5 p.m. is dedicated to praying for the poor, as part of the Jubilee for the Poor. Pope Leo’s prayer intention for this month is for the prevention of suicide. These are souls so poor that they lack even the will to live. They desperately need our love, friendship and prayers.

So let us unite our prayers with the saints and angels, to uplift the lowly, the downtrodden, the lost, the sorrowful, the poor, those who have nothing to give us in return.

May we give our all so that they may have some. After all, everything we have comes from God. We can then confidently look forward to receiving the rewards in heaven from Christ Himself. Amen.


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

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 “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...
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Homily: October 28-2025, Feast of Saints Simon and Jude, Apostles (Heaven our Home)

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 Brothers and sisters: You are no longer strangers and sojourners, but you are fellow citizens with the holy ones.” Our true and permanent home is heaven. We are destined to be citizens of heaven. For now, we are just sojourners on earth, pilgrims making our way towards home. I enjoy reading and hearing stories of people who have had near-death experiences. One common thing they report is that heaven is beautiful, and it is familiar. They usually describe it as the feeling of returning home, surrounded by people they know, being totally at ease and at peace. This image of heaven is pure joy. Those who live a virtuous life on earth, who keep their hearts united with God, are already preparing to live in that home. Heaven is not a foreign place for the faithful; it’s the fulfillment of what we yearn for deep inside of us. If we follow Jesus closely, we are already learning to live the heavenly life, experiencing and sharing the love and mercy of God and being in communion with God al...
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Homily: November 2, 2024, The Commemoration of All the Faithful Departed (All Souls); Pleanary Indulgnce.

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 “The souls of the just are in the hand of God, and no torment shall touch them.” This beautiful passage from today’s first reading is one we often hear at funeral Masses. It comforts and consoles us deeply, assuring us of God’s merciful love and protection for those who have passed from this life. Today, as we commemorate All Souls’ Day, we remember the souls of all the faithful departed, those in purgatory awaiting the fullness of union with God. Their souls are in the hands of God, and while we need not worry for them, we can still assist them with our prayers. During the first week of November, the Church offers us the special grace of a plenary indulgence for our deceased loved ones. But what exactly is a plenary indulgence? It is a special grace that removes the temporal punishments due to sin. While the Sacrament of Reconciliation forgives sins and removes the eternal punishment of hell, temporal punishments may remain. Temporal punishments are the natural consequences arisi...
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Homily: November 2, 2025, The Commemoration of All the Faithful Departed (All Souls)

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 “As gold in the furnace, he proved them, and as sacrificial offerings he took them to himself.” Today we commemorate All Souls’ Day, remembering all the faithful departed, our deceased loved ones, and especially for those souls with no one to pray for them. This feast makes sense only if we truly believe what the Church teaches about life, death, and eternity. In the Apostles’ Creed, we profess twelve articles of faith, closing with this part, “I believe in the Holy Catholic Church, the communion of saints.” What does “communion of saints” mean? It is the full and complete unity of the three parts of the one Church of God: 1. The Church Triumphant - made up of the saints in heaven; 2. The Church Militant - we, who make up the church still on our earthly pilgrimage; 3. The Church Suffering - all the souls in purgatory, awaiting time to enter heaven. Today’s feast therefore, is a dedicated remembrance, and united in prayer for and with the Church Suffering, praying for all the...
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Homily: October 26, 2025, Thirtieth Sunday in Ordinary Time.

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 “The one who serves God willingly is heard; his petition reaches the heavens. The prayer of the lowly pierces the clouds; it does not rest till it reaches its goal.” Last week’s readings touched on the theme of prayer, this theme continues in our readings this Sunday. Throughout the week, I often see people coming quietly into our church to pray during different times of the day. Some light candles, some kneel before the statue of Our Lady of the World, and some just sit before the tabernacle in silence. A few come from nearby offices during their break from work to spend a few minutes with Jesus or with Mary. There are also those who are homeless, some are patients or their visitors from the hospitals. Different states of life, different prayer intentions, yet all come with faith in God. This is truly a house of prayer. All are welcome. As proclaimed in the first reading, God has no favorites. Rich or poor, young or old, well or sick, strong or weak, God welcomes all and hears al...
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Homily: October 25, 2025, Saturday of the Twenty-Nineth Week in Ordinary Time (Spirit -Alive)

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 “But if Christ is in you, although the body is dead because of sin, the Spirit is alive because of righteousness.” What a hopeful and assuring message. Even though our bodies are weakened by sin and subject to death, the Spirit of God within us is alive and active. But note the one condition: if Christ is in you! The Father and the Son have given us this precious gift, the Holy Spirit, the divine helper who will dwell in our hearts if we accept Jesus Christ into our lives. If we follow the timeline of our salvation story, all of us are now living in the era of the Holy Spirit. God the Father has revealed Himself to Abraham, Isaac, Jacob, Moses, and the prophets. Then in the fullness of time, God the Son came into the world and revealed to us the Father’s love. Before returning to heaven, Jesus promised to send us the Holy Spirit to be our companion, our guide, and our strength till the end of time. And from then, the Holy Spirit has been active in the world, in the church and in o...
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Homily:May 21, 2025, Wednesday of the Fifth Week of Easter (Pruning)

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(Holy Family School Mass) “He takes away every branch in me that does not bear fruit, and everyone that does he prunes so that it bears more fruit.”  Do you know what is pruning? If you ever see a gardener or farmer carefully cutting some parts of the plants, very likely he could be pruning the plant. He is definitely not killing it! In today’s reading Jesus tells about pruning grapevines. Now I am not very familiar with pruning grapevines, but I do know a little about pruning tea plants from my farming experience in my childhood years. When I was a young boy, my family had a few acres of tea plants on our farm. Every five years, toward the end of summer, we would prune those tea bushes. We carefully cut away all their leaves. Yes, all the leaves. So after pruning, the plants would look lifeless as if dead, with no leaves, nothing to admire, just bare branches and short. Seems very cruel and crazy, isn’t it? But then something amazing would happen soon afterward. In just a few days...
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Homily: October 12, 2025, Twenty-eighth Sunday in Ordinary Time (Gratitude)

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 “In all circumstances give thanks, for this is the will of God for you in Christ Jesus.” This Gospel acclamation perfectly captured the heart of today’s readings – ‘give thanks’. We heard the story of the ten lepers who were healed, but only one Samaritan returned to give thanks. That small act of gratitude was the key to his salvation. As I grew older, I also became more grateful. There were many things I didn’t appreciate when I was younger. I didn’t know how to appreciate the simplicity of my family’s life, the way my parents disciplined us, the schools my parents chose for us, all the church activities they made us attend, and many more. But decades later today, I looked back and realized my parents knew what was best for us, and I am now grateful. The siblings I used to fight with often are now my greatest blessings and closest friends. I sometimes wish I had been more thankful, more kind, more obedient. Gratitude makes relationships stronger and life more joyful. But even on...
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Homily: February 11,2023, Sixth Sunday in Ordinary Time (Leprosy Touch).

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 Moved with pity, he stretched out his hand, touched him, and said to him, “I do will it. Be made clean.” Leprosy is a terrible disease. Physically, it does not just affect the skin, but also the nerves, the respiratory tract and the eyes. When full blown, lepers look frightening to others. It is also infectious; thus people avoid any contact with lepers. In Jesus’ time, there was little knowledge about leprosy, so it was considered a curse and lepers were considered unclean and untouchable. Socially, lepers become displaced from family, community and normal life. In today’s first reading, Moses prescribes the rule for managing someone with leprosy. It keeps the leper away from others so that the condition can be contained and not spread to everyone in the community. The cry of the leper, “unclean, unclean” is a socially responsible action on the part of the leper, but is there mercy and compassion for the leper? Yes, there is. In today’s Gospel, Jesus does something unthinkable an...
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Homily: July 18, Monday of the Sixteenth Week in Ordinary Time.

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“She came from the ends of the earth to hear the wisdom of Solomon.” Queen Sheba went from Ethiopia to Jerusalem to see and hear for herself the famous King Solomon. Do you know how long did it take Queen Sheba to travel to Jerusalem in those times? She probably took three months to get there, and with a large group of servants, guards and advisors, taking with them not just the essentials for their daily needs but also loads of valuable gifts to present to the King. Would you be so well prepared and travel with so much conviction far away to see and hear someone great? We do see many people putting aside school, work and spend lots of money, even travelling far, to attend concerts, watch ball games and see their idols. Some of these events are often marketed as the ‘event of your life’ and not to be missed. Do we see the same interest and excitement for faith events?  Oh yes! Many people attended the Christ Our Life Conferences. They were all eager to hear the gifted speakers and ...
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