Homily: May 29, 2026 Wednesday of the Eighth Week in Ordinary Time

-

Holy Family School Mass  

"The grass withers, and the flower fades, but the word of our God remains forever."

What comes to your mind when you hear the term “the Word of our God”?

If you are thinking it is the Bible, then you are right. The Word of God is the Bible.

The Bible is also known as the Book of books, because the Bible is a collection of many books. Do you know how many books are in the Bible?

If you think there are about 10 books, put up your hands.

What about 20 books? Put up your hands.

Who thinks there are more than 50 books?

And you are right! There are 73 books in the Holy Bible!

Do you know how long it took to write the Bible?

Who says 100 years?

500 years?

More than 1000 years?

Oh yes, the 73 books of the Bible were written over 1,500 years. Around 40 different authors contributed to it. It has been translated into hundreds of different languages and read by billions of people around the world, over hundreds and hundreds of years.

The world has changed over these hundreds and hundreds of years, but the Bible has not and will never change. 

God is eternal, and His Word endures forever.

One hundred years from now, none of us will likely be here, unless some of us live to be very old! Even this school building may not be here, everything around us will change, but one thing will never change: the Word of God.

Yet it will continue to change the lives of people who read it and reflect on it carefully.

There is no other book in the world like the Bible. Every book of the Bible was inspired by the Holy Spirit. It is unique, it tells the Truth, it is the Word of God.

If you have not read the Bible or are not in the habit of reading it daily, start today. Ask your parents, your teachers or your catechists to guide you. Read a few verses every day. Or follow closely the readings of daily Mass.

Through the Bible, God speaks to us. The more we read it, the more we learn to recognize God's voice in our lives.

So I want to leave you with a simple challenge: Read the Bible every day with your heart, a little each day. Pray the Holy Spirit to help you. And never get tired of reading it.

The grass withers, and the flower fades, but the word of our God remains forever. Amen.


Comments

Post a Comment

Read

Homily: October 13, 2026, Tuesday of the Twenty-Eighth Week in Ordinary Time (Love)

-
 “For in Christ Jesus, neither circumcision nor uncircumcision counts for anything, but only faith working through love.” This is a beautiful statement from St. Paul in today's first reading. What truly matters to God is not simply our religious practices or how faithfully we observe the rules, but how our faith is expressed through love. Both Jesus and his disciples had to deal with religious leaders who were obsessed with laws and regulations. They observed these laws meticulously and expected everyone else to do the same. But sometimes, in their concern for the law, they forgot the most important thing: love. How did Jesus deal with such people? Interestingly, he dealt with them with love. In today's Gospel, a Pharisee invites Jesus to dine at his house. Jesus does not refuse the invitation. He accepts it and sits at the table with him, even though he knows that the Pharisees constantly criticize and oppose him. Jesus did not agree with everything the Pharisees taught or pra...
Read more

Homily: October 12, 2026 Monday of the Twenty-Eighth Week in Ordinary Time (True Freedom)

-
 “For freedom Christ set us free; so stand firm and do not submit again to the yoke of slavery.” Life in Christ is a life of freedom.  We have heard many beautiful stories of conversion, especially of people who struggled with addictions to drugs, alcohol, or other destructive habits. When they encountered Christ and experienced his love, their lives changed completely. They discovered a freedom they had never experienced before. Jesus came into this world to liberate us. He came to free us from the bondage of sin, from everything that controls us, and from everything that prevents us from living as children of God. But today, we need to ask ourselves a very personal question: Am I truly free? What are the things that make me live like a slave? It could be an addiction, the excessive use of social media, an unhealthy attachment, anger, resentment, or even certain ideologies that control the way we think and act. Interestingly, even our religious practices can sometimes become ...
Read more

Homily: October 16, 2016, Friday of the Twenty-Eighth Week in Ordinary Time (our purpose)

-
  “In Christ we were also chosen, destined in accord with the purpose of the One who accomplishes all things according to the intention of his will.” Last night, when I read these words of St. Paul, they deeply touched my heart, especially the words, “chosen” and “destined according to God's purpose.” Just before reading this passage, I had watched the livestream of the funeral of the priest who baptized me. He was the pastor of our parish in India from 1988 to 1991. Interestingly, I never had the opportunity to meet him personally. After serving in our parish, he left India to become a missionary in Peru, South America. He spent the next thirty years of his priesthood serving the poor and bringing the sacraments to people in remote communities. At one point, he returned to India, but he decided to go back to Peru. He said, “India has so many priests, but in Peru, people are thirsting for the sacraments.” As I watched his funeral and saw him lying in the casket, I thought to myself...
Read more

Homily: October 10, 2026, Saturday of the twenty Seventh Week in Ordinary Time (You are a blessing)

-
“And if you belong to Christ, then you are Abraham’s descendants, heirs according to the promise.” These beautiful words are from today’s first reading, from St. Paul’s Letter to the Galatians. What were the promises God made to Abraham? There were several.  One of the promises that always comes to my mind is this: “I will bless you… so that you will be a blessing.” Abraham is known as the father of faith. He became a blessing to the world because of his faith and obedience to God. Think about his life. He followed a God he was only beginning to know, to a land he had never seen. He did not know where God was leading him or what his future would look like. Even when God asked him to do the most difficult things, Abraham remained faithful and obedient. And because of his faithfulness, he became a blessing, not only to his own family but to generations after him. St. Paul reminds us today that through our baptism, we too have become descendants of Abraham and heirs to God's promises....
Read more

Homily: May 11, 2026 Monday of the Sixth Week of Easter

-
 “When the Advocate comes whom I will send you from the Father, the Spirit of truth who proceeds from the Father, he will testify to me.” There is an often-used phrase in the Alpha program: “Alpha is designed to fail if the Holy Spirit does not show up.” This implies that since Alpha has not failed despite itself and continues to grow from 1977, the Holy Spirit is at work in the program. I think that is true not only for Alpha but for the Church and the whole Christian life. Church would have been totally destroyed, and the Christian life would have been completely crushed with so much internal struggle and trouble, external persecution and attacks, if we are without the Holy Spirit. Without the Holy Spirit, the Church would not survive, life would have ended, humanity would no longer exist. Yesterday, here in our parish, 25 young people received the sacrament of Confirmation. They confirmed their faith and received the fullness of the Holy Spirit in their lives. The first reading ...
Read more

Homily: October 17, 2026, Saturday of the Twenty-Eighth Week in Ordinary Time (Holy Spirit speaking)

-
 “For the Holy Spirit will teach you at that moment what you should say.” These are the beautiful and comforting words of Jesus in today’s Gospel. Jesus has given us so many wonderful gifts: the Eucharist, the sacraments, the Church, and above all, the gift of the Holy Spirit. And today, Jesus assures us that the Holy Spirit will guide us, especially when we do not know what to say or what to do. There have been many moments in my own life when I have struggled to find the right words. Sometimes I have been afraid to speak. Sometimes I have wondered whether I was making the right decision. I am sure many of you have experienced the same thing. But Jesus makes us a beautiful promise: The Holy Spirit will teach us what to say. However, I believe there are two important things we must do to experience this promise in our lives. First, we must ask the Holy Spirit for guidance. Before making an important decision, before having a difficult conversation, before taking a major step in lif...
Read more

Homily: September 27, 2026, Twenty-Sixth Sunday in Ordinary time (The Fair way)

-
 “Thus says the Lord: You say, ‘The Lord’s way is not fair!’” I chose this phrase from our first reading for our reflection today because it sounds very similar to what we heard last Sunday in the first reading.  “My thoughts are not your thoughts, nor are your ways my ways.” I think most of us, at some point in our lives, have said something similar to God. I know I have. “Lord, this is not fair.” “Why do I have to go through this?” “Why didn’t you answer this prayer?” “Why did you allow this to happen?” “I am trying to follow you. Could you not treat me a little better?” We may not say those words aloud, but sometimes they are deep within our hearts. So what exactly is God’s way? The second reading gives us an answer.  For centuries humanity wondered what God was like. Then Jesus Christ, the beloved Son of the Father, came among us and revealed the face of God. And St. Paul describes Jesus with these extraordinary words: “He did not regard equality with God something to...
Read more

Homily: March 29, 2022, Tuesday of the Fourth Week of Lent.

-
 “Do you want to be well?” I used to wonder why Jesus asked this question. The man had been paralyzed and trying his luck at entering the pool for so many years, of course he wanted to be well, right? It was much later that I understood the deeper significance of this question. When I was in India, I knew of a man who was always complaining about his poor health, yet he never took any medicine seriously. He simply wanted the sympathy of others. He wanted to be pitied, not to be well. There are beggars who want to keep begging. They beg not because there is no work for them but because they do not want to change their situation. And there are people who live with their addictions and lament about their poor circumstances, yet they reject all help to improve their lives. They have become psychologically comfortable with their condition and are used to lamenting about it. Deep down, they do not want change. They do not want to be well - physically, spiritually, emotionally. Jesus aske...
Read more

Homily: March 27, 2026, Saturday of the Fifth Week in Lent (Hardness of Heart)

-
 “So from that day on they planned to kill him.” These are very strong and shocking words from today’s Gospel. During this season of Lent, we have been praying often in the responsorial psalm: “If today you hear his voice, harden not your hearts.” Every morning, priests and religious pray this line in the Divine Office. It is like a daily reminder, a warning—to keep our hearts open to God. But in today’s Gospel, we see the opposite. The Pharisees and the chief priests witnessed so many miracles of Jesus. And the final one—the raising of Lazarus after four days in the tomb—is something truly extraordinary. That one miracle alone should have led anyone to faith. But instead of believing, they decide to kill Him. Why? Because their hearts had become hard. They chose not to see. They chose not to listen. They chose not to believe. They closed their eyes to the truth and shut their ears to God’s voice. And this is where today’s Gospel speaks to us. Hardness of heart does not happen in o...
Read more

Homily: October 25, 2025, Saturday of the Twenty-Nineth Week in Ordinary Time (Spirit -Alive)

-
 “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...
Read more