Homily: June 6, 2026 Saturday of the Nineth Week in Ordinary Time (Preserverance )

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“But you, be self-possessed in all circumstances; put up with hardship; perform the work of an evangelist; fulfill your ministry.”

This month in Word Among Us, Fr. Mike Schmitz reflects on the life of Fr. Walter Ciszek, a Jesuit priest who went secretly to Russia to preach the Gospel. Religion was forbidden there, and people were so afraid that many would not even speak to a priest. Later he was arrested and spent many years in Soviet prisons and Siberian labor camps.

What touched me most was not only his suffering, but his honesty. Fr. Walter admitted that there were moments he felt useless. He thought his life had no meaning because nobody wanted to hear about God. Imagine being a priest and feeling that your ministry is accomplishing nothing.

Reading his story really humbled me. Many times I complain to God about small difficulties, disappointments, stress, or moments when things do not go the way I want. But Fr. Walter endured loneliness, fear, torture, and uncertainty for years. Yet he discovered one thing that kept him alive: God was with him even there.

That is faith. Faith is not only believing when life is easy. Faith is trusting that God is near even when we cannot understand what He is doing.

In 2012, the Church opened his cause for canonization. Fr. Walter teaches us that holiness is often quiet perseverance — staying faithful one day at a time.

All of us carry some burden today. Maybe worries about family, health, loneliness, disappointments, or uncertainty about the future. Today let us ask God for the grace not to give up, not to lose hope, but to continue faithfully, because beyond every cross awaits the joy of heaven. Amen.


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Homily: June 2, 2026, Tuesday of the Nineth Week in Ordinary time (Get ready)

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 “Therefore, beloved, since you await these things, be eager to be found without spot or blemish before him, at peace.” This warning from St. Peter is important for our salvation. There is no doubt that all of us gathered here today, even if we are still struggling in their faith, within our hearts there is a deep longing for holiness. We want to grow to become more like Jesus. We want to be ready to meet him face to face and stand before God without spot or blemish, truly pure and without sin. In the past two months, I have had two encounters that deeply impacted me. The first was in a hospital emergency room. I had gone there to anoint a parishioner who was brought there. And then there was an elderly man talking to everyone around him loudly. When he saw me, he came over and said, “I need a blessing.” I said, “Of course.” But almost immediately he changed his mind and said, “No, I’m okay. I’ll pass this time.” The second encounter happened as I was just leaving a restaurant afte...
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Homily: June 4, 2026, Thursday of the nineth week in Ordinary time

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 “Such is my Gospel, for which I am suffering, even to the point of chains, like a criminal. But the word of God is not chained.” What a powerful statement from St. Paul. He may be chained, imprisoned, and treated like a criminal, yet he continued to preach the Gospel, because the Word of God can never be imprisoned, it is free forever. From the very beginning, God created the whole universe by speaking forth His word. He said, “Let there be light,” and light came into being. By His word, all creation came into existence. The same word that spoke to Abraham, Isaac, Jacob, Joseph, Moses, and the prophets continues to speak to us today, guiding, challenging, and inspiring us. The Letter to the Hebrews reminds us: “Indeed, the word of God is living and effective, sharper than any two-edged sword, penetrating even between soul and spirit, joints and marrow, and able to discern reflections and thoughts of the heart” (Hebrews 4:12). The Word of God is not merely ancient text; it is alive...
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Homily: May 23, 2024, Holy Family school Graduation Mass.

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First, congratulations to all of you for successfully completing middle school! Are you happy that you are graduating? I graduated from middle school in 1999. That was twenty-five years ago! We did not have a graduation ceremony like this because my school provided pre-K to grade 12 classes all on the same campus. So, we did not leave school, we just moved up to another grade, another class, but thankfully, our teachers organized something simple for us to celebrate that milestone. I remember during my school days, the hours in class seemed to pass very slowly, but now I look back, time seems to fly by with rocket speed! It will be the same for you, so enjoy being a student now, these could be the best times of your life! Here, you are the seniors of the school, soon, you will be freshmen in high school, you will be the juniors. You will again look up to the seniors and learn from them. In middle school, your teachers gave you a lot of attention and took care of you. When you go to hig...
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Homily: July 25, 2025, Feast of St. James the Apostle (Dying to give life)

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 “So death is at work in us, but life in you.” Profound words from St. Paul. Death was at work in his life, in other words, he was dying. Whatever he was doing at that time, it was causing his death sooner than later. But his dying was giving life to others. I grew up witnessing real models who died to themselves to give life to others. They were my parents. My papa worked hard from very early in the morning till late in the evening on our farm every day. There are no rest days for farmers because the crops need attention daily. My mother cooked all our daily meals, prepared from scratch, used firewood for cooking, there was no running water from taps, water had to be fetched from the river. You can imagine she would be cooking and washing non-stop from the moment she woke till she rested at night. Life wasn’t easy. They worked hard to provide for their seven children; they gave their life for us. They were dying a little each day while we were growing steadily. We, their children,...
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Homily: May 31, 2026, Solemnity of the Most Holy Trinity (Sons and Daughters of God)

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 “God so loved the world that he gave his only Son…” God loves the world, that means all of us. I once noticed a parishioner’s phone case which has on it these large letters boldly declaring: “I am a daughter of the Most High King…” Followed with smaller wordings: “…who is not moved by the world, for my God is with me and goes before me. I do not fear because I am His.” I thought to myself: wow, a great reminder every time we pick up our phones. We all need that. Every day we are bombarded by noise from all directions, telling us falsely who we should be and how we should live. The world tells us our worth depends on our success, our achievements, our appearance, our popularity and so on. Causing many to feel totally unworthy, and a failure. The worldly standard is not high, but it is false and misleading. Nobody’s real worth should be measured against external benchmarks. But today, on the Solemnity of the Most Holy Trinity, God reminds us of our true worth, based on our real iden...
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Homily: December, 22,2024, Fourth Sunday in Advent (Mother- Peace)

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 "His greatness shall reach to the ends of the earth; he shall be peace." The prophecy of Micah proclaimed 700 years before the birth of Jesus, had already foretold the extent and essence of our Lord’s greatness – it shall reach to the ends of the earth, and He shall be peace. Now 2,700 years later, Christianity has indeed spread to every corner of the world and for everyone who truly knows and follows Christ, will experience His peace. Here we are, celebrating the Fourth Sunday of Advent, just days away from Christmas, are you at peace? Almost every society throughout the world is celebrating Christmas, albeit with commercial overtones, but is there peace around the world? During this holiday season, in the confessionals and from conversations, I hear the same issues brought up - stress, worries, anxieties about the preparations, the family gatherings, the expectations. Shopping, cleaning the house, buying and wrapping gifts, writing cards, getting new clothes - all these ta...
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Homily: December 2, 2024 Monday of the First Week in Advent (Banquet)

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 "I say to you, many will come from the east and the west, and will recline with Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob at the banquet in the Kingdom of heaven." Do you have a favorite saint who inspires you? How would you feel if you got to meet this saint in real, and had a meal together? In today’s Gospel text, Jesus describes the banquet in heaven. Imagine that glorious day when we will all recline at the heavenly banquet together with Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, and your favorite saint! All the saints, the martyrs, the prophets we have read about in the Old Testament and the apostles of Jesus will all be present too. How wonderful that will be! At the head of the banquet table we see Jesus, gloriously radiant, with the Father and the Holy Spirit united as one, and Mother Mary right beside them! That is just the heavenly banquet we can describe; I am sure the real thing will be much more wonderful. Every time we celebrate Holy Mass, we get a tiny glimpse, a foretaste of that heavenly b...
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Homily: July 15, 2024, Monay of the fifteenth week in Ordinary time (Pleasing God).

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“In the blood of calves, lambs, and goats, I find no pleasure.” Why does God find no pleasure in such blood sacrifices? What would please God? In the past, one of the parishes in my home diocese in India used to practice animal sacrifices in church. I do not know how it all started but I know how it all ended. In 1924, exactly one hundred years ago, the bishop at that time banned all animal sacrifices in our parishes. It was a huge decision and he faced strong opposition. Why? The parish church was dedicated to St. Anthony attracted many visitors from other states. People would go and offer animal sacrifices, in the hope of getting their petitions granted. The church would sell chickens outside the church, and when a devotee wanted to offer a sacrifice, they would cut the necks of the chickens, and sell it to the devotees for their sacrificial offertory. The parishioners who sold the chickens to the church made a lot of money and the church profited from the offertory as well. You can ...
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Homily: October 8, 2023, Twentyseventh sunday in ordinary time (wild grapes and bad tenants)

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“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...
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Homily: June 22, 2024. Saturday of the eleventh week in Ordinary time (Don't worry).

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 "But seek first the Kingdom of God and his righteousness, and all these things will be given you besides. Do not worry about tomorrow; tomorrow will take care of itself. Sufficient for a day is its own evil." ‘Tomorrow will take care of itself’; do you trust that? But note the verse that came before it, ‘seek first the Kingdom of God and His righteousness’. When Pope John XXIII decided on the convocation of the Second Vatican Council, which was a huge historical event seeking to renew and restore the Church back to its roots, our late holy father had great difficulty falling asleep the night before the announcement to the whole church. He later told that he finally convinced himself this way: “Giovanni, why don’t you sleep? Is it the pope or the Holy Spirit that governs the Church? It’s the Holy Spirit, right? Well then, go to sleep, Giovanni!” and then he fell asleep and slept well.  If the Pope was able to entrust the work of the whole Universal Church to the Holy Spirit a...
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