Homily: January 26, 2026, Memorial of Saints Timothy and Titus, Bishops (Stir into Flame)

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 “For this reason, I remind you to stir into flame the gift of God that you have through the imposition of my hands.”

This phrase was chosen by the universal church as the theme for the Year of the Priest (2009–2010). At that time, I was still a seminarian. And to see the phrase repeatedly throughout that year, it stayed with me. It has sunk so deep that it will never leave my heart and mind.

These words also take me back to my childhood.

When I was young, often during harvesting season for coffee and black pepper, my father would send me to the next village bringing sickles, axes, and tools that needed sharpening. There was a blacksmith in that village, who worked under a simple tent. He had a heap of charcoal with a wheel he turned with a foot pedal. As he pressed and released the pedal, air would rush to blow into the charcoal. Within minutes, the fire came alive. The charcoal glowed, and soon the sickles too turned a fiery red.

That glowing red signaled the readiness of the tools to be sharpened. The moment the blacksmith stopped pumping the pedal, the fire began to fade. The glow disappeared. The tools cooled. The metal was set. End of sharpening.

St. Paul’s words to Timothy paralleled the same situation. Timothy was already a bishop. He had already received the gift through the laying on of hands. And yet, Paul urges him: “Stir it into flame.” Keep the heat up. Do not let it cool. Do not let it fade. Do not allow the fire to die down.

Similarly, for us.

At our baptism and confirmation, we were anointed and sealed with the Holy Spirit. The fire of God was placed within us, to fuel us for mission. But that fire needs to be kept alive and burning. If we neglect it, it cools and becomes dormant, not gone, but inactive.

Faith must be stirred up.

Prayers, the sacraments, Scripture reading, and daily commitment are like the pedal that pumps air to stir up the flames.

If we stop, the fire cools.

Today, St. Paul gently reminds us: do not let the gift within you grow cold. Stir it into flame again. Return to prayer. Return to the sacraments. Return to stir up the passion for mission.

Amen.


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 “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 ...
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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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 “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...
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Homily: February 15, 2026 Sixth Sunday in Ordinary Time (Yes or No)

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 “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...
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