Homily: June 8, 2026, Monday of the Tenth Week in Ordinary Time (Trust)

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“You shall drink of the stream, and I have commanded ravens to feed you there.”

Prophet Elijah’s experience and encounter with God seemed extraordinary. And God’s way of providing for his needs also seemed unusual.

Ravens bringing food for a human person? This sounds impossible because ravens, though intelligent, are not known for being friendly. Yet Elijah did not question God’s plan. He simply trusted and obeyed.

And true enough, he went to where God told him to go, he drank from the stream, and indeed the ravens brought him bread and meat to eat.

I wonder, if God had used a usual way to provide for Elijah, it probably would look too normal to be an act of God, wouldn’t it?

Last Saturday at the CAL gathering in Des Moines, the youth were asked, “What is faith?” One young person answered beautifully: “Following the Unknown who is there.”

Indeed, that is how faith looks like, to trust in the Lord, even when we do not fully understand His ways, or even when our His plans do not conform to our intellect and logic. God is hidden from our eyes, but he is always present, and He sees us clearly even when we do not feel Him close.

Today’s responsorial psalm reminds us: “The Lord is beside you at your right hand.”

When we are stuck in peculiar situations or lost in unfamiliar circumstances, and call upon the Lord’s help, would we have faith enough to trust a raven sent by God, or would we brush it off as illogical or senseless?

The God who provided for Elijah will also provide for us, maybe in odd, unusual or supernatural ways. He doesn’t just reach out to special people, He reaches out to all of us, especially to sinners who need Him more.

The difference is not in our worthiness, but in how we trust in Him and are willing to walk His way. Because Elijah trusted God and allowed Him to direct his life fully, thus God could work wonders through him and protect him through wonderful ways.

The same God is beside you at your right hand, will you let Him lead you? When we trust Him and surrender our lives to Him, we will receive His abundant graces and begin to see miracles everywhere and recognize His hands in everything. Amen.


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Homily: July 18, 2026, Saturday of the Fifteenth Week in Ordinary Time

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 "I will heal their defection, says the LORD, I will love them freely; for my wrath is turned away from them. I will be like the dew for Israel: he shall blossom like the lily."  God expresses His promises to His chosen people on various occasions and many ways in Sacred Scripture. What we have just read in today's first reading from prophet Hosea is beautiful and very assuring. It is beautiful because God is expressing His love so affectionately, it is assuring because it was addressed to a people whom He should be angry with, yet He was still showering love. The Book of Hosea was written just before the Assyrian exile of the Northern Kingdom of Israel. The people had turned away from God. They worshipped idols, had forgotten the covenant and lived unfaithfully to the Lord. As a result, they began to experience the painful consequences of their sins. Eventually, the Assyrians conquered them, they were exiled from their homeland, the Promised Land, and never returned. Yet...
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