Fr. Nivin's Homily Blog

 “It is I who deal death and give life.” These words from our Responsorial Psalm today are actually not taken from the Book of Psalms. They come from the Book of Deuteronomy, chapter 32. They remind us of a fundamental truth of our faith: God is the author of life. Our life comes from God, belongs to God, and ultimately returns to God. This phrase beautifully connects our first reading and the Gospel today. In the first reading, the prophet Ezekiel speaks against the prince of Tyre, a man who had become proud because of his success, wealth, wisdom, and accomplishments. And so the prophet reminds him of one simple reality: you are only a man, and you will die. There are certain realities in life that quickly reveal our limitations. An illness can make a powerful and independent person suddenly dependent on others. None of us can say, “I am too important to die,” or “I have accomplished enough that death cannot touch me.” Sirach 7:36 says  “In whatever you do, remember your last...

 “For since death came through man, the resurrection of the dead came also through man.” Sin and death are connected, but Christ has come to break that connection and give us life. In his Letter to the Romans, St. Paul says, “The wages of sin is death.” Sin separates us from God, and God is the source of life.  God created Adam and Eve for life and friendship with him. But through their disobedience, sin entered the world, and with sin came death.  But when God prepared the world for the coming of his Son, he gave Mary a unique grace. From the first moment of her conception, she was preserved from original sin.  We can see Mary as the new Eve. Eve was created without sin, but she disobeyed God. Mary, by God's grace, responded differently. When the angel came to her, she said, “Behold, I am the handmaid of the Lord. May it be done to me according to your word.” Eve's disobedience was connected with humanity's fall. Mary's obedience opened the door for Christ, the Savi...

Today we celebrate the memorial of St. Maximilian Kolbe, a saint whose life teaches us what it means to say a complete and generous “yes” to God. Most of us know the final and heroic chapter of his life. At Auschwitz concentration camp, a prisoner escaped, and as punishment, ten men were chosen to die by starvation. One of them cried out in anguish for his wife and children. Fr. Maximilian Kolbe stepped forward and said, “I am a Catholic priest. Let me take his place.” His offer was accepted. He entered the starvation bunker with the other prisoners. But even there, he continued to be a priest. Instead of allowing that terrible place to be filled only with despair, he prayed with the prisoners, encouraged them, and helped prepare them to meet God. One by one they died. Maximilian survived longer than the others, and finally the guards killed him with a lethal injection. We know that St. Maximilian Kolbe is in heaven because the Church has canonized him. But I like to think that those p...

 “Feed your belly and fill your stomach with this scroll I am giving you.” Ezekiel tells us, “I ate it, and it was as sweet as honey in my mouth.” Sweet as honey! Is that really how we experience the Word of God? For many of us, the Word of God can actually be very challenging. It corrects us, directs our conduct, and forms us in Christian discipline. Beginning with the Ten Commandments, we hear many “You shall nots.” Do not do this. Do not do that. Forgive your enemies. Love those who hurt you. Be faithful. Be honest. Carry your cross. Deny yourself. Sometimes God's Word may feel less like honey and more like medicine—something good for us, but not always pleasant to take. So was Ezekiel simply using beautiful symbolic language when he said that God's Word was sweet as honey? Our responsorial psalm today tells us the same thing: “In the way of your decrees I rejoice.” “How sweet to my taste is your promise!” And again, “The law of your mouth is to me more precious than thousan...

 “God Loves a Cheerful Giver” St. Paul tells us today: “Each must do as already determined, without sadness or compulsion, for God loves a cheerful giver.” When I was just a small boy, I would enjoy being out of the house and on our farm to play with my friends. However, very often and almost always right in the middle of an exciting game with them, I would suddenly hear my mother calling out to me. She would shout for me from the house, “Nivin, come here! Cut some firewood”, “Dehusk two coconuts”, “Go feed the chickens” or “Go take care of the cows”. There would always be something she wanted me to do, there would always be a chore that needed to be done. And it had to always happen at the best part of the game. I didn’t have much choice, I would do what she asked but I always with a grumpy face, unwillingly, unhappily and with lots of complaining in my heart. I was never a cheerful giver. Thankfully I have grown and changed over the years. Yet unfortunately, the change is not com...

 “The rash man has no integrity; but the just man, because of his faith, shall live.” That is a beautiful statement from the prophet Habakkuk: the just man, because of his faith, shall live. In other words, to truly live, we need faith. And the good news is that we do not need an extraordinary amount of faith to begin. Jesus tells us that if we have faith even the size of a mustard seed, amazing things can happen. A mustard seed is very small, but when it is planted, it grows. Faith is the same way. God does not ask us to begin with perfect faith. He asks us to trust Him with the little faith we have and allow Him to make it grow. Jesus wanted His disciples to grow in faith, faith in Him, faith in the gifts God had given them, and faith in His promises. At the beginning, the disciples were often afraid and uncertain. They doubted. They misunderstood Jesus. Sometimes they even failed Him. But Jesus never gave up on them. He continued to strengthen their faith. Eventually, He could t...

 "Till everyone who sees you runs from you, saying, 'Nineveh is destroyed; who can pity her? Where can one find any to console her?'" These are striking words from the Book of the Prophet Nahum we read today. Most of us are familiar with the story of Nineveh as told in the Book of Jonah. When Jonah finally went to preach at Nineveh, the people repented sincerely. From the king down to the common people, they fasted, prayed, and turned away from their sins. Seeing their repentance, God, who is rich in mercy, withheld the punishment He had announced. Fast forward a hundred years later, that’s when the Book of Nahum was written. The same Nineveh by then had forgotten the mercy it had received a few generations earlier. It had over the century, became the capital of the Assyrian Empire, a nation known for its cruelty. The Assyrians attacked and conquered many nations, including the Israelites, and treated them with brutality. History tells us of their violence, especially...

 At once Jesus spoke to them, “Take courage, it is I; do not be afraid.” We are all familiar with what St. Paul said: "We Walk by faith, not by sight." My question is: do we have enough faith to walk, not on ground, but on water? In today’s Gospel, we see Peter doing something no one else dared to do. He had faith, enough for Him to step out of the boat into the raging waters. He had faith, enough for him to walk on the rough waves towards Jesus. But the moment he looked at the wind and the waves slapping around him, fear replaced faith. He had faith, but not enough for him to focus on Jesus and ignore the storm for long. Thus, he began to sink. I remember in my childhood days, all the boys in my village would come to our family farm to swim in the pond. We didn’t have life jackets, no swimming instructors and no safety equipment. We didn’t even have swimming lessons, we just watched how the older boys did it and imitated them, our desire to swim like them was motivation for ...

 "When Jesus heard of the death of John the Baptist, he withdrew in a boat to a deserted place by himself." Most of us know what it is like to lose someone we love. Death leaves a deep void in our hearts. Even if we are surrounded by family and friends, we can still feel lonely. Yet it is such times when we need time to be alone, to remember, to grieve, to make sense, and to move on. That is exactly what we see in today's Gospel. In his divinity, Jesus knew that John the Baptist's martyrdom was part of the Father's plan. But in his humanity, Jesus, like any of us, experienced loss and sorrow. Although biblically there is no mention that Jesus and John grew up together, there was already an intimate encounter when both were in the wombs of their mothers. During the visitation of the blessed virgin Mary to her cousin Elizabeth, baby John in-womb ‘leapt for joy’ when Elizabeth heard the sound of Mary’s coming, carrying baby Jesus in her womb. To me, this shows there ...

 The first reading begins with these shocking words: “This man deserves death.” Those words sound very familiar because they echo what would later happen to Jesus. He, too, was condemned by the religious leaders. Unable to carry out the execution themselves, they handed Him over to the Romans to be crucified. Jeremiah was fortunate that influential people spoke on his behalf and saved his life. Jesus' situation was different. Although people like Nicodemus tried to defend Him, they could not prevent His execution. He willingly accepted the cross to accomplish our salvation. In today's Gospel, we see another innocent man, John the Baptist, suffering a tragic and unjust death. He spoke the truth without fear, and for that truth he gave his life. Jeremiah, John the Baptist, and Jesus all remind us that proclaiming God's truth often comes at a great cost. Sadly, history continues to repeat itself. Even today, innocent people suffer injustice, persecution, and violence. Many are...