Homily: September 25, 2026, Friday of the Twenty-Fifth Week in Ordinary Time (A time for everything)

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 “There is an appointed time for everything, and a time for everything under the heavens.”

Yesterday I watched the movie The Lovely Bones. The movie has many flashback scenes—moments from the past suddenly coming back to life. Later in the day, when I read today’s first reading, I found myself doing the same thing: going back through different moments and seasons of my own life.

Whenever I hear this passage from Ecclesiastes, especially at a funeral Mass, memories come to mind—good times and difficult times, moments of joy and moments of sadness. Growing up, some of these images were very real to me: the season for planting and the season for harvesting. There really is a time for everything.

And it is not only the different seasons of our whole life. Even a single day can contain so many different emotions.

Those who regularly make an examination of conscience know this very well. At the end of the day, we look back: there was a moment when I was happy; a moment when I was frustrated; a moment when I was grateful; perhaps a moment when I failed; a moment when someone showed me kindness; a moment when I experienced God’s presence.

And look around this church today. We are all here together, but each of us comes carrying a different story. Someone may be very happy today. Someone else may be worried. Someone may be grieving. Someone may be waiting for an answer. Someone may be beginning something new, while another person may be coming to the end of something.

“There is an appointed time for everything.”

But there is also something very important hidden in these words: none of these seasons lasts forever.

The good times change. The difficult times change. Success does not last forever. Neither does failure. Our circumstances change. Our bodies change. The people around us change. Eventually, our earthly life itself comes to an end.

And perhaps that is why this reading invites us to ask a deeper question: If everything around me changes, what does not change? What can I hold on to forever?

That question leads us to God.

Our changing life should make us desire what is eternal. It should make us, as St. Paul says, “seek what is above.” God offers us something this changing world cannot give us permanently: eternal life in his presence.

There, the seasons no longer change. There is no time to mourn and another time to rejoice, no time to lose and another time to gain. There is only the fullness of life—peace, joy, and love in the presence of the God who has loved us through every season of our lives.

So whatever season you are going through today, remember: this season is not forever. But God is.

The God who was with us yesterday is with us today, and he will be with us tomorrow.

“There is an appointed time for everything.” And through every time and every season, God remains.


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Homily: September 20, 2026, Twenty-fifth Sunday in Ordinary Time (Come to my Vineyard)

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 “Why do you stand here idle all day?” They answered him, “Because no one has hired us.” There is something very sad in those words: “No one has hired us.” These men were not necessarily lazy. They had been standing there waiting. Perhaps they were not as young or as strong as the others. Perhaps when employers came looking for workers, they looked at them and chose somebody else. And perhaps some of us know something about that feeling. Someone tells you, “We don’t need you anymore.” You lose a job. A relationship ends. Someone you loved decides that they no longer want to walk with you. You are overlooked while somebody else is chosen. There is a particular pain in feeling that nobody wants you. And in the time of Jesus, these workers were not simply looking for something to occupy their day. A day’s wage could mean food on the table for their families. If nobody hired them, they might return home that evening with nothing. But then comes this landowner. He goes out early in the ...
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Homily: September 21, 2026, Mass of Healing and Remembrance for those who died by Suicide

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 “I desire mercy.” As I was going through the readings for today, on this Feast of St. Matthew, Apostle and Evangelist, these words of Jesus stood out to me: “I desire mercy.” Those words seem especially appropriate as we gather today to remember and pray for those who have died by suicide, and to pray for their families and friends who continue to carry their absence. Two years ago, on a cold January day, I received a call telling me that a young woman I knew had taken her own life. She was only 21 years old, a young mother with a seven-month-old baby, and she had been struggling with postpartum depression. Her death shocked everyone, her family, her friends, and our community. I still remember the funeral. It was a bitterly cold day, and I remember seeing her little baby wrapped warmly and held in the grandmother’s arms. Looking at that child and realizing that the mother was gone was heartbreaking. After the funeral, the family did not want to keep all the plants that had been s...
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Homily: September 18, 2023, Monday of the Twenty-fourth Week in Ordinary Time (Men should pray)

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 "It is my desire, then, that in every place, men should pray, lifting up holy hands, without anger or argument." What a beautiful vision St. Paul had! Imagine if all people are prayerful and peaceful, no anger, no argument. The world would really be perfect. It is through prayerfulness that we learn to be deeply peaceful people, and I too desire to attain this. My papa and grandma were two great examples of prayerfulness for me.  Grandma was completely blind before I was born and she was living in my home. In my memory, she prayed the rosary all the time and she would spend hours reciting all the other prayers daily which she had memorized by heart. I have never seen her forgetting her prayers or skipping her rosary for even one day. My papa, too, had always kept a regular and consistent prayer routine. He read the Bible and devoted a good amount of time for prayer on a daily basis. I also do not recall seeing him miss a single day of his beautiful habit. I do regret though ...
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Homily: September 19, 2026, Saturday of the Twenty-Fourth Week in Ordinary Time (Generous God)

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 “They are the ones who, when they have heard the word, embrace it with a generous and good heart, and bear fruit through perseverance.” We hear this parable during the harvest season, so the image of seed and harvest is very familiar to us. Once, a farmer friend gave me a ride in his combine during harvest. He showed me the GPS system they use for both planting and harvesting. It was fascinating. The system could tell him what kind of seed had been planted in a particular area and how many bushels of corn were harvested from each acre. All that information would help him decide what seed to plant and where to plant it the following year in order to get a better yield. Seed is expensive. So naturally, farmers want to make sure that good seed is planted in good soil where it can produce a good harvest. But the farmer in today’s Gospel seems almost wasteful! He throws the seed everywhere—on the path, on rocky ground, among thorns, and finally on good soil. He knows that some of the s...
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Homily: September 18, 2018, Friday of the Twenty-Fourth Week in Ordinary Time (Hope in Heaven)

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 “If for this life only we have hoped in Christ, we are the most pitiable people of all.” Hope is one of the three theological virtues: faith, hope, and charity. But Christian hope is not simply being positive. It is not convincing ourselves that everything will always turn out the way we want. Christian hope is something much deeper. Christian hope is centered on eternal life. It is the confidence that our life on this earth is not the end. After all the struggles, sufferings, and difficulties of this life, God has prepared for us the joy of eternal life with him, with all the angels and saints in heaven. As St. Paul says elsewhere, “Eye has not seen, and ear has not heard” what God has prepared for those who love him. Many times, our prayers are focused on the things of this world. We pray for our health, our families, our work, our peace of mind, and the many needs of those we love. And there is nothing wrong with bringing all these needs before God. But today St. Paul reminds u...
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Homily: September 21, 2026, Feast of Saint Matthew, Apostle and evangelist (Follow me)

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 “Follow me.” On this feast of St. Matthew, we hear Matthew’s own account of his calling. Jesus saw him sitting at the customs post and said just two words: “Follow me.” And Matthew gets up and follows him. No second thought. No long discernment. No plan for the future. Maybe Matthew had been waiting for a moment like this—a chance to begin again. Matthew was a tax collector, considered a sinner and hated by his own people because he worked for the occupying power. Yet Jesus looked at this man whom others rejected and saw an apostle. That should give every one of us hope. God can change people. God does not wait until we are perfect before he calls us. Jesus says in today’s Gospel, “I did not come to call the righteous but sinners.” We are all sinners. We all have weaknesses, habits, failures, and things in our lives that need to change. And there may be people around us struggling with addictions or trapped in sinful situations. Sometimes we may even wonder whether a person can ev...
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Homily: September 15, 2026, Memorial of Our Lady of Sorrows.

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 “And you yourself a sword will pierce.” Today, September 15, the Church celebrates the Feast of Our Lady of Sorrows. We remember the sufferings Mary experienced throughout her life, especially as the Mother of Jesus. Traditionally, the Church remembers seven sorrows of Mary: the prophecy of Simeon; the flight into Egypt; the loss of the child Jesus in the Temple; Mary meeting Jesus on the way to Calvary; Jesus dying on the Cross; Mary receiving the body of Jesus into her arms. and finally, the burial of Jesus. What does this feast teach us? First, it teaches us that sorrow is part of human life. None of us can go through life without experiencing suffering, disappointment, loss, or grief. But Mary teaches us something even deeper: suffering does not mean that God has stopped loving us. Mary was loved by God in a unique way. She was full of grace and chosen to be the Mother of his Son. Yet being close to God did not protect her from suffering. She stood beneath the Cross and watche...
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Homily: June 21, 2025, Saturday of the Eleventh Week in Ordinary Time (Sufficient Grace)

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 “Three times I begged the Lord about this, that it might leave me, but he said to me, ‘My grace is sufficient for you.’” This sentence in today’s first reading is one of the most well-known and quoted lines in the New Testament. There are many interpretations about what could be the “thorn in the flesh” which St. Paul referred to and asked for the Lord to remove for him. No one knows for sure, and no one needs to know exactly. What we do know is that it was something Paul believed the “angel of Satan” was sent to torment him. It was so bad for him that he wished and prayed for the Lord to take away from him. But Jesus did no, and told Paul, “My grace is sufficient for you.” Jesus is telling us the same: “My grace is sufficient for you.” Are you struggling terribly? Do you feel greatly tormented? Are you facing huge troubles? Do you feel like there is no way out? If you are crying out to the Lord like St. Paul, know that you are not alone. God’s silence is not absence. He is with y...
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Homily: September 10, 2026, Thursday of the Twenty-Third week in Ordinary Time (Ordination Anniversary)

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“Truly you have formed my inmost being; you knit me in my mother’s womb.” We prayed these beautiful words in today’s Responsorial Psalm. Psalm 139 has always been one of my favorite psalms, especially these words: “You formed my inmost being; you knit me in my mother’s womb.” They remind us that our life is not an accident. Every human life is a precious gift from God. Each one of us is known, loved, and wonderfully formed by God even before we are born. These words have a very personal meaning for me today as I prepare to celebrate the tenth anniversary of my priestly ordination tomorrow. My parents waited seven years after their marriage before they were blessed with a child. During those years, they experienced the pain of four miscarriages. Eventually, God blessed them with seven children, and I am number five. I remember my parents at every Holy Mass I celebrate because, through them, God gave me the gift of life. They allowed God to “knit me” in my mother’s womb, and then, throug...
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Homily: June 27, 2025, MSolemnity of the Most Sacred Heart of Jesus.

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 “As a shepherd tends his flock when he finds himself among his scattered sheep, so will I tend my sheep.” Today we celebrate the Solemnity of the Most Sacred Heart of Jesus. And yet, if we look closely at the readings, we don’t see any explicit reference to the heart of Jesus. However, in the second reading, we read about the love of God through Jesus and in the first reading and Gospel, we are given a clear description of the love of a good shepherd for his own sheep. The good shepherd in these texts refer to Jesus, so what we celebrate today, is the loving, self-giving heart of Jesus, our good and true shepherd. We celebrate His unwavering protection, dedicated care and sacrificial love for us, His flock. Sheep are vulnerable, they do not have any sense of direction, totally cannot protect themselves or each other, but quite amazingly, they respond to the voice and instructions of their shepherd. They cannot survive on their own, they need their shepherd. So, the good shepherd w...
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