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

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 “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 practiced. In fact, he openly challenged their hypocrisy. But he never stopped loving them. He came not to win arguments, but to win hearts. He did not exclude anyone from his love, not even those who opposed him.

And I think this is a beautiful lesson for us today.

In our own lives, there may be people we try to avoid. People who make us uncomfortable, people who think differently from us, people who have hurt us, or simply people we do not enjoy being around.

Sometimes, we are very comfortable loving those who love us. But Jesus challenges us to go beyond that.

We do not have to agree with everyone in order to love them. We do not have to approve of everything they do in order to treat them with kindness and respect.

Perhaps today Jesus is inviting us to open our hearts a little wider. To be kind to someone we usually avoid. To speak gently to someone who irritates us. To be present to someone who needs us, even when it is inconvenient.

St. Paul reminds us that what counts is faith working through love.

At the end of the day, the true measure of our faith is not simply how many prayers we say, how many religious practices we observe, or how well we know the teachings of the Church. All these things are important, but they must lead us to love.

Because the faith we profess with our lips must become the love we show through our lives.

Amen.


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Homily: October 4, 2026, Twenty Seventh Sunday in Ordinary Time (No Anxiety)

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 “Have no anxiety at all, but in everything, by prayer and petition, with thanksgiving, make your requests known to God.” This is how St. Paul speaks to us in today’s second reading. “Have no anxiety at all.” We might immediately think: That is easy to say! But look at the person who said it. St. Paul wrote these words while he was a prisoner. He was facing an uncertain future and even the possibility of death. And yet his Letter to the Philippians is often called the Letter of Joy. All of us have anxieties. I have my anxieties too—what to preach, how to raise money, what comes next, concerns about family and ministry. Parents worry about their children and their future. We worry about our health, finances, relationships, and many other things. St. Paul does not simply say, “Stop worrying.” He tells us what to do with our worries: bring them to God. “By prayer and petition, with thanksgiving, make your requests known to God.” In other words: Do what you can, and place what you cann...
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 “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...
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“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....
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Homily: September 27, 2026, Twenty-Sixth Sunday in Ordinary time (The Fair way)

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 “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...
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 “By the power of Beelzebul, the prince of demons, he drives out demons.” What a terrible accusation against the Son of God! Jesus, who came to destroy the power of evil, is accused of working for the devil himself. What could be a greater insult than accusing Jesus of being on the side of his greatest enemy? But why did people think this way? May be because, even before Jesus, there had been false prophets and people claiming to be the Messiah. Some attracted followers through extraordinary signs or impressive claims. Naturally, people were confused. How could they distinguish the true Messiah from false prophets? I think we can understand this confusion very well in today's world. We live in a time when we cannot always believe what we see or hear. With artificial intelligence, we can create images, videos, and even voices that look and sound completely real. Sometimes we struggle to distinguish what is real from what is artificial. The same is true in matters of faith. Even toda...
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Homily: Septemer 22, 2026 Tuesday of the Twenty Fifth week in Ordinary Time (The poor)

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“He who shuts his ear to the cry of the poor will himself also call and not be heard.” These words from the Book of Proverbs are very direct. They remind us that God expects us to hear the cry of the poor. And the reality is that the poor have always been among us. Jesus himself said, “The poor you will always have with you.” Wherever we live and wherever we travel, we encounter people in need. Poverty also has many faces. Someone may become poor because of the loss of a job, war, natural disaster, persecution, displacement, or circumstances completely beyond his or her control. Sometimes the poor person is someone without food or shelter. Sometimes it is a refugee or immigrant who has left everything behind and is trying to begin life again in a strange land. This week, the Catholic Church in the United States observes National Migration Week. It is a good opportunity for us to remember that our own state of Iowa has a long history of welcoming refugees and immigrants. And our parish ...
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Homily: October 12, 2026 Monday of the Twenty-Eighth Week in Ordinary Time (True Freedom)

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 “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 ...
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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: April 2, 2024, Tuesday in the Octave of Easter (Mary at the Tomb).

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 Mary Magdalene stayed outside the tomb, weeping. Today’s gospel begins by describing the emotional state of Mary. We can all visualize and identify with this scene. Mary Magdalene is very sad, to the point of experiencing deep emotional pain which triggers tears. This is love.  I recall when my papa died within a week of discovering his illness. It was unexpected, we were all unprepared. All my sisters wept on the day he died, and into the days after his burial. They cried again, very emotionally, when we visited his tomb thereafter and I recited the Office for the Dead. I, too, cried a lot at papa’s death. Love is a powerful emotion. It stirs our heart to feel the pain of loss, which works up our brain to trigger the release of tears, to help reduce the emotional pain. God gave us tears to help us manage our pain.  Jesus wept at the death of Lazarus, and before He entered Jerusalem, and at the garden of Gethsemane. His love for humanity stirred up deep emotional pain, s...
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Homily: June7, 2023, Wednesday of the Ninth Week in Ordinary Time (Pray Hardest).

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 Grief-stricken in spirit, I, Tobit, groaned and wept aloud. Then with sobs I began to pray… We continue our reflections from the book of Tobit. In the first part of today’s first reading, we see how Tobit was ‘grief-stricken in spirit’ – he was devastated and desperate! His life saw misfortunes one after another, while he continued to keep faithful to God. But there is just so much a human person can withstand, so he took it to prayer, with groans and sobs, but if you read carefully his prayer, there was no complaints or anger against God. Only total surrender and giving up his life totally to the Lord. Then we read on to Sarah’s life. What a miserable life she had, losing one husband after another, seven times, all on the wedding nights. She was cursed indeed by the demon and ridiculed by others, she was helpless and depressed. What could she do? We see in the reading, “At that time, then, she spread out her hands, and facing the window, poured out her prayer…” She could take her...
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