Fr. Nivin's Homily Blog

 “And all day long, both at the temple and in their homes, they did not stop teaching and proclaiming the Christ, Jesus”. Even after being flogged, all day long, the disciples continued teaching and preaching everywhere… Amazing, isn’t it?  These past few days, we have been reading from Acts of the Apostles. We see how the Jewish leaders and high priest tried to stop the apostles from preaching in the name of Jesus. But they failed. The Pharisee Gamaliel rightly said, “if it comes from God, you will not be able to destroy them; you may even find yourselves fighting against God.” How true. The church is from God. The disciples did not stop teaching and proclaiming. They even rejoiced at being flogged for what they were doing. They were on fire for Jesus. They were so eager and excited to tell everyone about Jesus. What about us? If there is a new restaurant serving delicious food or a store is having a great end-of-summer sale, we would hear many people talking about it. Some w...

  “Knowing that your brothers and sisters throughout the world undergo the same sufferings”. Is this true? If we look around us, and into our own lives, what St. Peter says in this first reading is probably true. Everyone seems to have one or some of the same problems that cause suffering: health conditions, emotional situations, mental stress, financial troubles, family issues, natural disasters, man-made wars and so on. Sufferings are unavoidable in this life. They became part of human life when the very first sin of disobedience was committed. Sin entered human life, destroyed harmony and peace between people, and everyone is subjected to death. Why do we have to go through all these? Why should there be suffering and all kinds of problems in the world? Why can’t God just snap His fingers and let everything be restored to perfection? I once asked a friend these questions and she replied thoughtfully, that if our earthly life was without any problems, would we ever yearn for the ...

 Homily preached during  First communion mass  Dear children who are receiving first holy communion today, are you excited? I am very happy for you dear children. Today is a very special and important day of your life. It will be unforgettable. I hope you will remember the special and most beautiful moment when you receive Jesus fully, heart in heart. I still remember vividly my own first communion. I remember the lessons the nuns taught us, the rehearsals and even what I wore that day. Since my family was poor, I did not get a new white shirt and black pants, but I wore what my older brother had for his first communion. But it's ok, that is not the most important. What I treasure is that very moment when I received Jesus on my tongue, the taste, the smell, the feeling. I felt so amazed that Jesus was inside of me. God came into my being. It was really special. My father too remembered his own first communion clearly. He was only 7 years old. My grandfather had just moved...

 “By what power or by what name have you done this?” The chief priests, the elders and the scribes asked the disciples this question. Why? Following the first readings of these two days, we saw that Peter healed a crippled man. Peter told him, “I have neither silver nor gold, but what I do have I give you: in the name of Jesus Christ the Nazorean, rise and walk.” In the name of Jesus and by the power of Christ, the disciples are able to do the same things Jesus did. The Jewish leaders must be really anxious. They thought by killing Jesus they would have put an end to the amazing works which threatened their authority. But look at the miracles the disciples are performing. Look at the massive conversions at their preaching. As you know, every third Wednesday of the month we have healing service here at St. Ambrose. The prayer leaders truly have the gift of healing like the disciples. I witnessed many people getting healed during the sessions, all through the invocation of the name o...

 Last night, while preparing this homily, I was reading the Collect of this Mass and this phrase struck me, “O God who give constant increase to your church by new offspring”. The words ‘constant increase’ and ‘new offspring’ made me think deeper. Around us, we do hear of people who leave the church or stop practicing the faith. There are still many who do not know God and do not believe in Christ.  Yet, around the world, the Holy Spirit is working wonders. 2019 Vatican statistics recorded an increase of 16 million baptisms in that year. And on Saturday, during Easter Vigil in our little parish community here, we witnessed 9 baptisms and 13 confirmations. Out of these 22 catechumens and candidates, 18 are from Eritrea. Some of them could not even recite the profession of faith because they have never had any formal education. They were born in the refugee camps and lived some 20 to 25 years there. But deep within their hearts, and within the difficulties of their lives, they k...

 “God anointed Jesus of Nazareth with the Holy Spirit and power. He went about doing good.” In the first reading, Peter did not preach the divinity of Christ, but spoke about the man named Jesus, who ‘went about doing good’. This strikes me deeply. Do you know anyone who went about doing good? At the end of my third-year philosophy studies, one of my seminarian brothers, Joice, got into an accident and died. He was only 20 years old. We were together for 6 years in the seminary and all that time, he had always been a fun-loving and easy-going person. He was always helpful and generous. I have never witnessed anything negative about him. I believe he would have become a saintly priest if he didn’t die so soon. He was doing a lot of good. We see a lot of evil in this world, yet we also see many people going about doing good. They may not be big saints with great deeds, but they bring light into someone else’s life, they touch hearts in their simple ways. Peter remembered Jesus as the...

 There are four poems in the book of Isaiah about the suffering servant. Today’s first reading is taken from the first poem. In it is written, “I formed you, and set you as a covenant of the people, a light for the nations”. And in today’s responsorial psalm, we responded four times “The Lord is my light and my salvation”.  Indeed, our Lord Jesus is our light and our salvation. There is a book titled ‘Healing Through the Mass’ written by Fr. Robert Degrandis. It is a collection of many miraculous stories and life-changing encounters of the Holy Eucharist. One story was about NASA scientists doing a study on the changes of energy level in the human body. They placed a special camera in a hospital room to observe a dying patient and found that the energy orbit radiating from the body, known as the aura, becomes thinner as the person becomes weaker. One day, a visitor with a broad aura entered the room and the camera captured another aura from his shirt pocket. When the object wa...

 REFLECTION FOR PROCESSION READING “Blessed is the king who comes in the name of the Lord.” The multitudes declared as Jesus enters Jerusalem. We too declare ‘Praise the Lord!’ when something we have been praying for is answered according to our wish. What would we say if our prayers were not answered in the way we expected it? What did the people say about Jesus just a few days after this triumphant entry? Palm Sunday leads us into Holy week, our final week of Lent, Jesus’ final week of His earthly life. Jesus is indeed the King, the Messiah, the One who is to save all people, but not in the worldly sense. When we discover the truth about His kingship, would we still declare Him our Lord and God? HOMILY Imagine, if you were not a Catholic, nor a Christian, and today is the first time you hear about God and Jesus in this Gospel narrative, what would you think? Jesus seems weak, lowly and was finally defeated. His disciples seem so lost and helpless too. And God did not seem to do a...

 “Now we are sure that you are possessed.” I laughed when I first read this remark. The Jewish leaders have run out of clever accusations against Jesus, so they blame it on the devil! Interesting! They have witnessed the miracles He performed, and the wonderous things he did but they just refuse to admit these are signs and proof of His Divinity. They are so prideful and stubbornly insist that Jesus cannot be from God because he did not follow the laws of the Jewish Authorities. Jesus’ ways and teachings made them look bad, instead of admitting their wrongs, they now conclude that Jesus is possessed. Do we also behave the same way? When our argument is challenged or our authority is threatened, do we turn around to accuse others wrongly, just to defend ourselves? The Hundred Years’ War between France and England finally ended, with the help of a brave young lady who led the French army to victory. Her outstanding courage and wisdom came from divine inspirations from God and His mes...

   “The innocent and the just you shall not put to death.” Do you agree? In 1966, a priest Fr. Benedict was accused of first-degree murder. He was from my archdiocese in India. He was accused of impregnating a woman named Maria, of stabbing her to death and leaving her body by the roadside. It was a cruel act. While in custody, the police questioned him to get his admission of guilt, they tortured him badly. They even pulled out some of his fingernails to force him to admit. But he denied. He insisted he was innocent. Thereafter, the first-class court concluded the case with a death sentence. He appealed to the superior court. Finally, after two years in prison, his appeal was accepted because the prosecution could not provide the necessary evidence. He was released from prison but nobody in society believed him his innocence. The media speculated that the catholic church had bribed the police and the court. He still insisted he was innocent. However, after his release, the di...

“Untie him and let him go.” Why was Lazarus tied up? Who tied him up? The Jews believed that the deceased person's spirit will be in the body until the third day. After that, they would bundle up the deceased, according to the Jewish burial tradition. The body is rubbed with perfumed oil all over and wrapped with linen cloth from head to toe, then placed in a tomb. Lazarus died four days before, has been wrapped up by his family and relatives, and placed in the tomb. Why did Jesus wait four days to arrive? First, for Lazarus to be confirmed dead, and second, for Jesus to perform the miracle to raise him up, so “that they may believe that you sent me”, said Jesus as He prayed to God. Similarly in the first reading, God said through Ezekiel, “Then you shall know that I am the LORD, when I open your graves and have you rise from them.” He also said, “I will put my spirit in you that you may live.” These words remind us of the beginning of creation when God breathed into Adam and gave ...

 “Let us destroy the tree in its vigour; let us cut him off from the land of the living, so that his name will be spoken no more.” Two years ago, I got a stem of curry leaf plant from Texas. I was so excited about growing it. I bought a big pot and planted it nicely. I kept it indoors all winter and when it began to grow some leaves, I brought it outdoors. It was growing slowly but surely. I enjoyed observing its growth and keeping count of the new leaves sprouting daily. Every leaf that appeared gave me great joy. Then an Indian friend came to visit one day. He saw my precious plant and murmured in disbelief, “Is this how you grow curry leaves??” Before I could respond, he swiftly broke off all the small branches in the middle and cut off all the leaves. My heart cried out in great pain when I saw that! My beloved plant, each precious leaf which I knew and loved so well is gone! I was so sad, angry and shocked that I could not say anything. There was nothing I could do by then. I ...

 “Is he not the one they are trying to kill? And look, he is speaking openly...” The Jews are already plotting to kill Jesus, but that does not stop Jesus from preaching fearlessly in their midst. The people need to hear the good news, that is the mission of Jesus. He came to this world for that purpose. He is focused on accomplishing His Father’s will. Nothing can stop Him, not even death. This is a country with religious freedom. Anyone can follow any religion and profess any faith without fear of persecution. It is not so in some other parts of the world. In some countries, the faithful cannot be seen make the sign of the cross or discuss any faith matters in public, they have no access to religious materials openly, they are not allowed to meet as a faith community in anyone’s home. Yet, they have baptisms every year, there are many men and women who join the religious vocations. The suppression of faith practices fails to suppress the secret preaching, the silent teaching, the...

 The Lord said to Moses, “…my wrath may blaze up against them to consume them.” In this first reading, we see God’s anger and furious reaction to the infidelity of the Israelites. Then Moses pleaded with God. And it seems his words made sense and God changed His mind. This reading really confused me. I thought about it a lot. Are these really God’s own words – His threat to destroy the Israelites? And is God negotiable? Does He change his mind so easily? We know that every word in the bible is inspired by the Holy Spirit, so there must be truth in what we are reading. I don’t have the perfect answer to these questions, but I have some realisations. First, our God is a living God, He is not a block of wood. He has emotions, and He expresses them freely with His people. He is not indifferent to our behaviour, He feels, because He loves. Second, our God is a loving God. He has compassion, and mercy for His people. He understands them very well. He understands us very well. He feels sa...

 “Do you want to be well?” I used to wonder why Jesus asked this question. The man had been paralyzed and trying his luck at entering the pool for so many years, of course he wanted to be well, right? It was much later that I understood the deeper significance of this question. When I was in India, I knew of a man who was always complaining about his poor health, yet he never took any medicine seriously. He simply wanted the sympathy of others. He wanted to be pitied, not to be well. There are beggars who want to keep begging. They beg not because there is no work for them but because they do not want to change their situation. And there are people who live with their addictions and lament about their poor circumstances, yet they reject all help to improve their lives. They have become psychologically comfortable with their condition and are used to lamenting about it. Deep down, they do not want change. They do not want to be well - physically, spiritually, emotionally. Jesus aske...

 Jesus said to him, “You may go; your son will live”. Jesus did not ask any question to find out more details about the son’s illness. He did not see the child nor observed his condition. Yet He responded to the royal official’s pleading with certainty. Of course, He’s God. But if you didn’t know that Jesus is God and has power over life, and if it was your son nearing death, would you believe Him so simply? When I was a young boy, I used to walk 4 miles up and down, to go a blacksmith in the next village to sharpen our sickles, spades, and farming tools. He would say, “Come back same time tomorrow, your tools will be ready.” So, next day I would walk again 4 miles to collect the tools. Then one year, I had to go back 5 consecutive days because each time I went back, the tools were not ready and he told me the same thing every day, “Come back same time tomorrow.” I believed him every time. Finally, on the 5th day, it was all done. Thankfully, my uncle lived nearby. The blacksmith’s...

 If I were to summarise today’s gospel in one sentence, I would say, ‘being blind is not a sin but choosing to be blind is a sin’. The blind man in today’s Gospel text has no name. St. John uses the Greek word ‘Anthropos’ which simply means ‘human being’. There is no mention of his ethnicity, nationality, or tribe, he is just a human person. He represents all of us. A blind Anthropos is a blind human, representing a blind humanity. How are we blind? In this healing story, there are a few groups of people suffering from blindness – physically or spiritually. First, Jesus ‘saw a man blind from birth’. The man did not ask Jesus to heal him, but Jesus did it. Jesus made the move. God comes to us. God reaches out to humanity. Being blind in those days was a curse, he was considered useless and worthless. He could not work except to beg. Yet, when Jesus told him to wash in the pool of Siloam, he obeyed and went without question, doubt, or expectation. He trusted and his eyes were opened....

 “For everyone who exalts himself will be humbled, and the one who humbles himself will be exalted”. In my home village, there was a man, who was a farmer like the rest of us but he became rich unexpectedly. Sometime in the 1980s, his black pepper plants produced a hundred-fold yield for three consecutive years. He earned big money. Then he built his house bigger, furnished it lavishly and bought a nice car. He also bought a fridge. No one else in the village owned one. My parents could only dream of having electricity in our house at that time. We were told that when he went to the local butcher, to make sure everyone knew he was rich, he would declare his order loudly, “Give me 3 kilos. No, make it five. I have a fridge to keep the extra.” Becoming rich is the dream of many people, we think that having money means having a good life. That man in my village was having a good life, a good worldly life. He stopped attending Sunday mass in church. When the parish priest asked him abo...

 “El que no está conmigo, está contra mí; y el que no recoge conmigo, desparrama”.”. El mensaje de Jesús es muy claro. No podemos seguir a Jesús parcialmente. Si no lo estamos siguiendo de todo corazón, no somos sus seguidores. Hoy es el vigésimo día de Cuaresma, sin contar los domingos. Estamos a la mitad. ¿Recuerdas lo que decidiste hacer especial para estos 40 días de Cuaresma? ¿Lo estás cumpliendo? Mientras nos esforzamos por fortalecernos espiritualmente, los demonios se esfuerzan más para mantenernos deprimidos. Me pregunto quién está a la cabeza en esta mitad de camino. En mis años de infancia, solo los niños ricos de mi pueblo podían tener bicicletas. Cuando estaba en quinto grado, mi hermano mayor y yo decidimos recolectar flores silvestres de nuez moscada del bosque cercano para venderlas y poder comprar una bicicleta. Nos despertábamos muy temprano en la mañana y corríamos al bosque para buscar y recolectar tantas como fuera posible. Muchos niños de otros pueblos estaban...

 “Whoever is not with me is against me, and whoever does not gather with me, scatters.” Jesus’ message is so clear. We cannot follow Jesus partially. If we are not following him whole heartedly, we are not his followers. Today is the 20th day of Lent, not counting Sundays. We are halfway through. Do you remember what you decided you will do specially for these 40 days of Lent? Are you keeping up to it? While we are trying hard to grow stronger spiritually, the devils are working harder to keep us down. I wonder who is in the lead at this halfway mark? In my childhood years, only rich children in my village could afford to own bikes. When I was in the 5th grade, my older brother and I decided to collect wild nutmeg flowers from the nearby forest to sell, so that we can afford to buy a bike.  We would wake up very early in the morning and run to the forest to search and collect as many as possible. Many children from other villages were doing the same so whoever got there first ...

 “However, take care and be earnestly on your guard not to forget the things which your own eyes have seen, nor let them slip from your memory as long as you live, but teach them to your children and to your children’s children.” This morning I did reconciliation for the Holy family school. For the children’s penance, I would usually ask them to recite one or two Hail Mary or Our Father prayers. Easy right? Yes, and yet, some of the students told me they do not know how to say the prayers or where to find these prayers. I was surprised the very first time I did reconciliation for children in this country, but now I realized it is a common situation here. I remember in my time, before receiving first communion, we had to memorize thirty-three Catholic prayers and recitations like the angelus, Hail Mary, all mysteries of the Holy Rosary, the ten commandments and so on. Anyone who could not recite from heart all these thirty-three items, will be denied receiving first communion. Till ...

 “Do not let us be put to shame, but deal with us in your kindness and great mercy.” This is the prayer by prophet Azaria, pleading to God on behalf of the people. How do you discipline your children when they do something wrong? In India, caning is the norm. My parents did the same. Whenever we did something wrong, my mommy would grab the cane to give us a good beating. Of course, we knew what was coming and would run away fast. Mommy would then chase us around the house, trying to get us. Where could we go? The best trick was to run to grandpa. If we reached him before mommy got us, we will be safe! He would always protect us and plead on our behalf, “don’t cane them, just forgive this time”. How many times have we been saved by grandpa? I don’t know, maybe more than seventy-seven times. Peter asks in the Gospel, “Lord, if my brother sins against me, how often must I forgive him?” He is referring to offences between two persons. If seventy-seven times is how often we should forgi...

 “…if only my master would present himself to prophet in Samaria…” suggested the little slave girl from Israel. This simple suggestion started the dramatic turn of events for Naaman, the Syrian commander. When he went to prophet Elisha, he was highly offended by the simplistic prescription for his healing. He went away angry and complained, “Are not the rivers of Damascus, the Abana and the Pharpar, better than all the waters of Israel? Could I not wash in them and be cleansed?” What do you think? Is it the washing or is it a special river that works miracles of healing? Today’s readings present to us two distinct types of people – the humble who relied on God’s wisdom and the prideful who relied on their own judgements. Thanks to his servants who were wise in simple things and persuaded him. Naaman listened to them and was healed. And he later vowed to worship only one God, the God of Israel. The simple people in this story were able to see what the prideful people could not see. ...

  Readings: https://bible.usccb.org/bible/readings/032022-YearA.cfm “Come see a man who told me everything I have done. Could he possibly be the Christ?” We all love a good story, especially true stories that start with challenges, but end good. My grandfather used to tell us many stories about his life. My siblings and I never get bored hearing about his adventures with king cobras and tigers.  He would always end by praising God for leading him to safety in all his encounters. I would often imagine myself in those same exciting situations. Today’s Gospel is about a beautiful story of a woman, with a dark past, living with rejection in her life, who heard her life story retold by a holy man she met, in an unlikely situation. Nobody draws water at noon time, no Jew talks to a Samaritan.  But that encounter changed her life totally. Her darkness was dispersed into bursts of joy and hope. ‘Jesus and the Samaritan woman’ is a story about God breaking barriers – social, ...

 “Joseph her husband, since he was a righteous man, yet unwilling to expose her to shame…” In India and most of the world, men are expected to be strong, powerful, decisive and outspoken. Oftentimes, quiet, meek and gentle men are considered weak. Are these qualities signs of weakness? Psalm 46:10 says, “Be still and know that I am God.” It is in quietness that we become more conscious of God’s presence. Jesus teaches, “Blessed are the meek for they shall inherit the earth.” Meekness is humility before God and allowing Him to take over as Master of life. St. Francis de Sales said, “Nothing is so strong as gentleness, nothing so gentle as real strength.” To be gentle is to have self-control, real strength is to have control over self, not others. Yes, these describe St. Joseph very well. Quiet, meek and gentle. St. Joseph was a righteous man. Discovering that Mary was carrying a child from another, before he knew it was conceived from the Holy Spirit, Joseph had every right to expos...

 “Blessed is the man who trusts in the LORD, whose hope is the LORD. He is like a tree planted beside the waters that stretches out its roots to the stream: It fears not the heat when it comes, its leaves stay green.” The biggest tree in our family farm is a tree growing just beside the creek. It should be more than 100 years old now. My siblings and I have a lot of memories around this tree. It is always green, even in the hot summer. And its huge crown provides much shade to needy plants and people. I have taken shelter under this tree on many occasions during heavy rain. It also protects the cardamom plants around it from the harsh heat of the sun. There was a rock in the creek on which my mummy used to wash our clothes under the shade of this big and strong tree. The river feeds this tree while it serves others. The saints are like that, they stay close to God, feeding on His words. They are strong spiritually because they receive abundant graces from God through the sacraments...

 “O Lord, we are shamefaced, like our kings, our princes, and our fathers…” When I was in 9th grade, we studied an interesting book written in my native language. The book title translated, would be “The sheep of Fatima”. The author, Basheer, was a Muslim novelist and freedom fighter from Kerala, a state in India which is my hometown. During his time in the early 1940s, young people participated in freedom movements to fight against British occupation. Many left their homes secretly to join the fight. Many families assumed their kids had died when they did not return home. Basheer also, left quietly one night to go to North India. He did not inform his parents and left no contact. They did not know where he went or what happened. During the protests, Basheer was arrested and put in jail. No one in his family knew. Finally, he returned. Walking back silently, the same way he left, he was surprised when he saw his mother waiting at the front door, with an oil lamp. It was midnight. S...

 The Lord God took Abram outside and said, “Look up at the sky and count the stars if you can. Just so,” he added, “shall your descendants be.”  “I am the LORD who brought you from Ur of the Chaldeans to give you this land as a possession.” God made these two promises to Abram. For the people in ancient times, and for many even in modern times, having children as heir and owning land as property are two most important possessions in life. Abram had been leading a nomadic life for many years and his wife Sarai, already in her old age, was still childless at that time. So, Abram doubted and questioned, “how am I to know…?” Have you been praying for something important, bearing heavy burdens while waiting, trying to keep hopeful but still you received nothing? Would you also doubt and question God? In response to Abram’s doubt, God assured him by cutting a covenant with him, known as a covenant of the pieces. In ancient times, when people entered a treaty, a contractual agreement...