Homily: December 12, 2025, Feast of the Our Lady of Guadalupe

-

 “Mary set out and traveled to the hill country in haste to a town of Judah.”

Today we celebrate the feast of Our Lady of Guadalupe, the Patroness of the Americas, the Mother who draws near to her children with tenderness and mercy.

In the Gospel, we see Mary going in haste to the hill country to help Elizabeth. That was 2,000 years ago. Yet 500 years ago, Mary again traveled to a hill the hill of Tepeyac, to meet a poor, humble indigenous man, Juan Diego, and to entrust him with a mission that seemed completely impossible: “Build me a church here.”

Juan Diego was a recent convert, just learning the faith. How could he possibly accomplish such a task?

But this is how Mary works. She always chooses the lowly, the simple, the overlooked because she knows that when we say “yes” with humility, God does the rest.

Her words to Juan Diego are among the most comforting Mary has ever spoken. Here are just a few:

• “My son, I love you. I desire you to know who I am. I am the ever-Virgin Mary, Mother of the true God.”

• “All who sincerely ask for my help in their work and in their sorrows will know my nearness in this place.”

• “I am your merciful Mother, the Mother of all who love me, who cry to me, who trust in me. I will hear their weeping and their sorrows.”

• “Am I not here, I who am your Mother? Are you not under my shadow and protection? Am I not your fountain of life?”

These words were not only for Juan Diego. Mary repeats them to every Christian who turns to her. She is our Mother given to us by Jesus Himself at the foot of the Cross.

Throughout history, especially during persecution, Christians have called on her as Help of Christians, and she has never abandoned those who sought her intercession.

So today, on this beautiful feast, let us entrust ourselves our families, our struggles, our parish to her loving care.

Our Lady of Guadalupe, pray for us. Amen.


Comments

Post a Comment

Read

Homily: December 28, 2025, Feast of the Holy Family of Jesus, Mary and Joseph (Dreams)

-
 “The angel of the Lord appeared to Joseph in a dream and said, ‘Rise, take the child and his mother, flee to Egypt, and stay there until I tell you.’” As a young man, Joseph must have had beautiful dreams about his future family. He could have imagined a helpful and capable wife, children playing around the house and growing up to be well respected people in the community, a vision of a stable and peaceful life. When he got engaged to Mary, it seemed like his dreams would become reality soon. Many of us, married or not, can identify with the dreams that Joseph could have had. Yet like Joseph, the realities of our lives would have unfolded quite differently from how we have dreamt it. Joseph’s family life turned out totally unlike his own dreams, yet he continued to dream, now with God’s will revealed and God’s plan unfolding in the reality of his life. The hardship he went through in Bethlehem, with the birth of Jesus, did not end there. Today’s Gospel shows another unexpected cha...
Read more

Homily: Janaury 11, 2025 Saturday after Epiphany (Increase-Decrease)

-
 "He must increase; I must decrease." From this very simple statement, we can very clearly see the attitude of John the Baptist towards his mission - humility. John was a fearless man, he was not at all afraid of the Jewish authorities and preached courageously what he believed he was sent to do, he stood resolutely for truth and justice, not at all bothered about the cost or consequence. Nothing could stop him from speaking the truth. Yet, this aggressive preacher from the wilderness was humble, modest and meek when he acknowledges the presence of the Messiah. He recognized that his work, his purpose, his existence was done and must give way to the Lord. Tradition tells us that John the Baptist lived an ascetic life before his public ministry — a life of pure simplicity and total detachment, right down to the food he ate. Such a life demands complete abandonment of self and dedication to the mission. He lived with only one purpose – to accomplish the mission he was born for ...
Read more

Homily: December 31,2024, The Seventh Day in the Octave of Christmas (Truth)

-
 "Because while the law was given through Moses, grace and truth came through Jesus Christ." Once recently, I was with a group of Catholic friends, having a casual conversation and one topic that came up was about modern behavioral trends and attitudes, particularly referring to LGBTQ trends and gender identity. One friend among us spoke up strongly supporting the ideology of LGBTQ and questioning the natural law of God. Since it was a group setting, I was simply listening to the exchanges, but as the conversation progressed, I finally felt the need to speak up. Firmly, I said, “If you believe this, then you are saying the Holy Bible is wrong.” My friend kept quiet after that. I believe everything in the Bible is true and inspired by the Holy Spirit. I believe in God’s law. Thus, I do not agree with anything that opposes the Bible or compromises God’s law. A true believer in Jesus Christ accepts His teachings entirely. We cannot be half-baked believers or be selective in what...
Read more

Homily: January 4, 2025, Feast of Elizabeth Ann Seton (Come and See)

-
 “He said to them, 'Come, and you will see.' So they went and saw where he was staying.” “Come and See” is often an invitation to take an personal exploration and not just hear about something from others.  Many religious congregations use similar programs for those who are discerning a vocation to the priesthood or religious life, because often it is better to have an experience than simply reading or hearing about it before making a decision with regards the consecrated life. I participated in one such program before. At that time, I had absolutely no interest in joining the priesthood. I went because one of my best friends had asked me to accompany him to that three-day event. And guess what? Later that same year, I entered the seminary. The disciples in today’s Gospel wanted to know where Jesus was staying, instead of telling them, Jesus invited them to ‘Come and you will see.” Whatever it was that they saw, it was convincing enough for them to want to stay with Him, to fo...
Read more

Homily: June 20, 2025, Friday of the Eleventh Week in Ordinary Time (Sacrifice)

-
“And apart from these things, there is the daily pressure upon me of my anxiety for all the churches.” Did you follow closely today’s first reading? Could you empathize with the hardships St. Paul had endured in his ministry? He lamented: “Five times I received from the Jews forty lashes minus one. Three times I was beaten with rods. Once I was stoned. Three times I was shipwrecked.” And that’s not even half the list! But here’s something more amazing: Despite the many troubles Paul suffered, he never gave up. He didn’t quit. He kept preaching the Gospel, he continued converting people and building the Church. He was faithful till the end, till he was beheaded in Rome. Why did he have to suffer so much hardship? Why didn’t God intervene and block off all those troubles? Wouldn’t the mission be more efficient and reap greater results if his mission was smooth sailing and trouble-free? Maybe, maybe not. The fact is, the church did grow exponentially during those times when there were ext...
Read more

Homily: October 8, 2023, Twentyseventh sunday in ordinary time (wild grapes and bad tenants)

-
“The kingdom of God will be taken away from you  and given to a people that will produce its fruit.” We are now in harvesting season. Many months before this, we were planting and pruning, now we see the results, the fruits, the produce. Our two readings today are also about producing and harvesting fruits. In the first reading the vineyard produced wild grapes instead of good grapes. What went wrong? If the vineyard owner had done everything right, and yet the vineyard brought forth wild grapes, then the problem must have been the soil? Yet it was a land set on the fertile hillside. There is nothing the vineyard owner could do than to let it waste and be cursed. In the Gospel, the story is not about the soil which could not produce, but the tenants who refused to give the produce back to the vineyard owner. What went wrong? The produce must have been good, and the tenants might have become greedy, and wanted to keep all the harvest to themselves and even planned to kill to take ov...
Read more

Homily: April 30, 2025, Wednesday of the second week of Lent (God's power)

-
Holy Family School Mass Homily   “The men whom you put in prison are in the temple area and are teaching the people.” Wow, what happened? The apostles of Christ were supposed to be locked up in prison, how did they appear in the temple area preaching and teaching the people? Well, blessed and happy Easter to all of you! I hope you all had a wonderful Easter weekend and a restful spring break! Jesus died, and have risen from the dead, and continued to walk around earth, spending time with His disciples for 50 days, that is why we are still in the Easter season. Thereafter, Jesus sent the Holy Spirit to His followers, empowering them with many spiritual gifts and that changed everything! Before that, the apostles were all afraid and were hiding from their enemies. But once the Holy Spirit came upon them, they became super courageous. They began to go around preaching boldly and confidently about Jesus, even to the very people who had put Jesus to death. They were no longer afrai...
Read more

Homily: December 9, 2024, Solemnity of immaculate conception of Blessed Virgin Mary (Holy Family School Mass)

-
 “As he chose us in him, before the foundation of the world, to be holy and without blemish before him." We heard this phrase in today’s second reading. It is such a wonderful affirmation for us! God planned for us to belong to Him even before the world began. Imagine that! Billions of years before today, God already had you in mind, your existence was in His plan. You did not exist by chance, you were not an accident and definitely not a mistake. You are God’s dream, God’s desire, God’s wish, God’s plan. Isn’t that amazing? Today, we celebrate the feast of the Immaculate Conception of the Blessed Virgin Mary. Just as God knew us before the foundation of the world, He also knew the Blessed Virgin Mary before she was born. He chose her for a special mission, to be the mother of His Son from the very beginning. This is truly wonderful! But what does "Immaculate Conception" mean? ‘Conception’ refers to the moment when a new life is conceived in the womb, the moment a human ...
Read more

Homily: The Sixth Day in the Octave of Christmas, Thursday, December 30, 2021

-
 For readings: https://bible.usccb.org/bible/readings/123021.cfm “She never left the temple, but worshipped night and day with fasting and prayer”. Look at Anna, the prophetess’ life of worship and dedication, isn’t it beautiful and inspiring? Have you ever met someone who prays day and night like her? I have. On Monday I shared about my grandma who died 25 years ago. I was only eight years old then so I do not have much memory of her life, but one very vivid and lasting impression I have of her, is that she was a prayerful person. I almost always see her praying the rosary, day and night, whenever she was not doing any chores. It was a green rosary which one bishop gave her some years before. And you know what? Grandma was completely blind. She had never seen me and my younger siblings before. Yet, she taught us how to pray and would lead the family morning prayers. She helped with the household chores, with chopping vegetables. She would even make brooms for us using coconut...
Read more

Homily: February 17, 2025 Monday of the sixth week in Ordinary time (genration of sin)

-
"Where is your brother Abel?" We are now in the fourth chapter of Genesis. Before this, we read about the first sin of mankind – disobedience - when Adam and Eve did what they were told not to do. They lived in a perfect world and had dominance over everything, but they were discontented and were tempted by greed. Sin did not stop there; it was passed on to the next generation. In this chapter, we see Cain committing a grave sin - he killed his brother Abel. He was discontented with God’s favor on Abel and was tempted by pride. As we continue through Genesis, we see sin perpetuating and spreading through humanity. The Lord had warned Cain that “sin is a demon lurking at the door: his urge is toward you, yet you can be his master.” Eve, Adam, Cain and every one of us are tempted by sin, yet we can be its master. The moment we let it enter our heart, and leave it unchecked, it will deepen its hold on us and enslave us. Jesus says, “Everyone who sins is a slave of sin.” (John 8:...
Read more