Homily: October 9, 2026 Friday of the Twenty-Seventh Week in Ordinary Time ( Real vs Fake)

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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 today, we encounter false prophets, misleading teachings, and people who claim to speak in God's name.

So how do we recognize what is truly from God?

I think one important sign is consistency and faithfulness to the truth.

Look at Jesus. He never changed his teachings simply to please people. When people praised him, he preached the truth. When people criticized him, he preached the same truth. Even when his teachings caused people to walk away from him, he did not compromise. And when that truth led him to the cross, he remained faithful.

Jesus was not interested in popularity. He was interested in saving souls.

We see that same faithfulness in the Church he founded. For two thousand years, the Church has faced persecution, divisions, scandals, and countless challenges. Many movements and false teachings have appeared throughout history. Some attracted large numbers of followers for a time. Yet the Church continues to proclaim the Gospel of Jesus Christ.

Of course, longevity alone does not prove that something is true. Jesus gives us another important sign in today's Gospel: the work of God brings liberation, healing, and unity, not slavery to evil. Jesus drove out demons because he came to defeat Satan, not to cooperate with him.

And there is a beautiful lesson here for our own lives.

Sometimes we are tempted to change our values, our convictions, or even our faith simply to please others. We want to be accepted. We want to avoid criticism. But Jesus teaches us that faithfulness is more important than popularity.

The question is not whether everyone agrees with us, but whether we remain faithful to Christ.

Today, let us ask the Lord for the gift of discernment, to recognize his truth in a world filled with confusion, and for the courage to remain faithful to that truth, even when it is difficult.

Because truth does not become false when people reject it, and falsehood does not become truth when many people believe it.


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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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 “If you spend more than what I have given you, I shall repay you on my way back.” This is one of the beautiful lines from today’s Gospel.  We can easily see Jesus as the Good Samaritan. Humanity was wounded by sin, and Jesus came to rescue us. He lifted us up, cared for our wounds, and brought us to the inn. And we can see the inn as the Church—a place where wounded people are brought to be healed, cared for, and loved. But then Jesus gives the innkeeper two coins and says, “Take care of him.” Perhaps we can see ourselves as that innkeeper. Jesus has entrusted people to our care. And we might imagine those two coins as the two great commandments: Love God with all your heart, with all your being, with all your strength, and with all your mind; and love your neighbor as yourself. The first coin is love of God. God deserves the first place in our lives—our heart, our time, our attention, our will. So let us intentionally live our lives trying to please God. Then comes the secon...
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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: October 6, 2026, Tuesday of the Twenty-Seventh Week in Ordinary time( Zealous Catholic)

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“You heard of my former way of life in Judaism, how I persecuted the Church of God beyond measure and tried to destroy it.” Whenever I read the letters of St. Paul, one thing that strikes me is his zeal. Paul never did anything halfway. Before his conversion, he was completely committed to what he believed. He thought Christianity was wrong, and so he became one of its fiercest persecutors. But when Paul encountered Jesus, something beautiful happened. Jesus did not take away Paul’s zeal; he redirected it. The man who traveled from place to place persecuting Christians now traveled from place to place preaching Christ. The man who tried to destroy the Church became one of its greatest builders. He crossed countries, entered unfamiliar cities, endured rejection, imprisonment, beatings, and suffering—all because he wanted people to know Jesus. That same fire comes through in his letters. Paul says, “Stir into flame the gift of God.” He says, “For to me life is Christ, and death is gain.”...
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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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Homily: October 3, 2026, Saturday of the Twenty Sixth Week in Ordinary Time (God Restores)

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 “Thus the Lord blessed the latter days of Job more than his earlier ones.” This beautiful phrase comes from our first reading today, from the very last chapter of the Book of Job. The Book of Job is part of the wisdom literature of the Bible. Job is presented as a righteous man who loses almost everything—his possessions, his children, his health, and even the understanding and support of those around him. The great question running through the book is: Why does a good person suffer? Where is God when everything seems to be lost? Interestingly, the Book of Job does not give us a simple answer to the mystery of suffering. Instead, it invites us to trust in God even when we cannot understand his ways. And today, at the end of the story, we see something beautiful: God restores Job. “Thus the Lord blessed the latter days of Job more than his earlier ones.” This reminds us of the restoring power of God. God can restore what seems broken. God can bring hope after despair, joy after sor...
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Homily: February 6, 2024, Tuesday of the fifth week in Ordinary time (Solomon Failed)

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He said, "LORD, God of Israel, there is no God like you in heaven above or on earth below." Solomon is praising the God of Israel, acknowledging Him as the one true God. He sings a hymn of thanksgiving to God for dwelling in the temple he built. Solomon was especially blessed by God. In the earlier chapters of the book of First Kings, we read that God blessed Solomon with wisdom and all the riches of the world. Unfortunately, in the later chapters, Solomon failed God. He followed his pagan wives to worship other deities. The same lips which uttered those words of praise and thanksgiving began to praise other gods. What a pity. The Bible provides no mention whether Solomon repented of his numerous sins or tore down the pagan altars he built. Did he not turn back to the one true God He honored and worshipped? Was he tempted beyond the possibility of return? In the Letter to the Hebrews 6:4, it is stated, "For it is impossible in the case of those who have once been enlight...
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Homily: April 24, 2023, Monday of the Third Week of Easter. (Angel Look)

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 "All those who sat in the Sanhedrin looked intently at him and saw that his face was like the face of an angel.” St. Stephen, one of seven selected deacons in the early Christian community, was standing in trial before the Sanhedrin, the supreme rabbinic court in Jerusalem. He was being accused of blasphemy, for his powerful preaching in Jesus’ name. According to the Jewish authority, he had offended the law of Moses. Stephen knew the sentence for blasphemy was death. Yet he did not look downcast, nor fearful. Instead, his face was like an angel. What look is that? After vesting for mass, I would always look in the mirror to check, today I did too and checked my face, I definitely do not look like an angel at all. I have seen many whom I think look like angels. They were all little children. On Saturday, I had 3 baptisms and all those babies looked just like perfect precious angels. Innocent, pure, at peace. Even when they cried, they were still angelic. We were all like that whe...
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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: 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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