Fr. Nivin's Homily Blog

In St. Paul’s letter to the Philippians, he instructed them, “Do nothing out of selfishness or out of vain glory; rather, humbly regard others as more important than yourselves.” Is it possible to regard others more important than ourselves? Is it possible to be selfless? Yes, highly possible, but highly difficult too. With God’s grace, we can. When I was serving at one parish in India, parishioners would give donations on the parish feast day. We would publish the names of donors in the parish bulletin board to acknowledge their generosity. One day, a lady came, gave her donation and said she prefer to be anonymous. Then she thought about it and gave her first name. After a short pause, she said again, “Father, then you must put my last name as well because there is another lady with the same first name.” For a moment before that, I thought she was a humble and modest donor, not seeking any glory for herself. But the final twist revealed that she did want to be acknowledged and made s...

 Today’s first reading begins with this, “Before the Lord the whole universe is as a grain from a balance or a drop of morning dew come down upon the earth.” During my personal prayer time, I often tell the Lord all my worries and anxieties, the stress from ministry, the financial burdens of the parish and so on. Sometimes I grumble, sometimes I am angry, sometimes I am so tired, I fall asleep while complaining to the Lord. So if you ever find me asleep and snoring in front of the tabernacle, please don’t laugh, just pretend you didn’t see me. And after all my lamentations, I always find consolation from a deep realization of the immense breadth, width, greatness and love of God. Our God is just so BIG. To the God who created this vast universe, millions of stars, the faithful sun, the comforting moon, and this wounded earth… my worries and anxieties are nothing. He has everything under control, if I let Him. Our big God loves, feels for and is attentive to every little one of His ...

“Slaves, be obedient to your human masters with fear and trembling in sincerity of heart, as to Christ, not only when being watched…” This phrase really struck me. This is not the first time St. Paul addressed his teaching to slaves. 1 Corinthians 7, says, “Were you a slave when God called you? Never mind; but if you have a chance to become free use it.” In yesterday’s reading, St. Paul taught us a great lesson about subordination, which is challenging unless we have humility and love. Today he talks about being slaves. From this reading, we understand that there were masters who owned slaves in the early Christian community of Ephesus. Isn’t Christianity about freedom? How could he support slavery? Why didn’t he advised the slave masters to set their slaves free? Instead, he reminded them to be kind to them. And advised the slaves to be obedient to their earthly masters. He fully understood that true freedom is possible only when the Christ believer is detached from the concerns and s...

We heard in the first reading, “Wives should be subordinate to their husbands as the Lord.” From where I came from, in the traditional Indian family, the wife and children live in subordination to the man of the household. Well at least outwardly, although mothers-in-law would have some influence over the sons and their households. However, in this country, the idea of subordination is a real challenge. Not just for wives and husbands. People in America, generally, do not want to be subordinate to anyone.  I see employees not wanting to be subordinate to employers. Even priests who pledged obedience to the bishop would sometimes challenge his authority too. We all want to be the boss and expect others to listen to us, respect our opinions and consider our views. This attitude is often misunderstood as confidence and high self-esteem. Is it true? The truth is pride makes subordination impossible. So, what is the central idea behind this whole passage? It is love. Love brings about j...

“There are six days when work should be done. Come on those days to be cured, not on the sabbath day.” It sounds logical, doesn’t it? Since Jewish law forbade any work on the sabbath day, why did people still go to the synagogue on sabbath hoping to be healed? Why did Jesus not wait till after the sabbath to heal them? For the common folks of that time, they worked from dawn till night every day, except the sabbath day. There was no other day to seek God for His help and mercy, to find healing and hope. That was the only day they could go to the synagogue. And for Jesus, He is fully aware and obedient to the third commandment, ‘observe the sabbath and keep it holy’, and He does so in it’s true spirit. What does it mean to keep the sabbath day holy? It is to stop all labour, so that time and energy are spent honoring God and doing His will. In the Gospel, we see a woman who had been crippled by a spirit for eighteen years and no one in the synagogue helped her. Only God can. Try to imag...

 En la primera lectura escuchamos: “El Señor es un juez que no se deja impresionar por apariencias. No menosprecia a nadie por ser pobre”. Siempre pensé que Dios tiene un amor especial por aquellos que son pobres, débiles y vulnerables. Sin embargo, de las lecturas de hoy está claro que todas las personas son iguales, nadie es favorecido, Dios nos ama a todos por igual. Rico o pobre, fuerte o débil, pecador o santo. Cuando nos presentamos ante Dios, todos somos iguales para Él, apreciados y amados. Igual de amados y valorados. Toda persona humana está creada a imagen y semejanza de Dios, esta es la divinidad que todos compartimos, nuestra identidad, nuestra dignidad. Todos los años, por este tiempo, cuando cambian las estaciones, a menudo noto que los animales también están ocupados preparándose para el invierno. En mi jardín vive una ardilla de tierra que está más ocupada en este tiempo del año. La veo corriendo para arreglar su nido para la hibernación y almacenar comida para el ...

From the first reading we heard, “The Lord is a God of justice, who knows no favorites.” I always thought that God has a special love for those who are poor, weak and vulnerable. Yet it is clear from today’s readings that every person is equal, no one is favored, God loves each one of us the same. Rich or poor, strong or weak, sinner or saint. When we come before God, we are all the same to Him, precious and beloved. Equally loved, equally valued. Every human person is created in the image and likeness of God, this is the divinity we all share, our identity, our dignity. Every year around this time, when the seasons change, I often notice the animals too are busy preparing for winter. In my garden, there lives a ground squirrel who is most busy this time of the year. I see it scurrying around to fix up its nest for hibernation and store up food for winter. It does so by digging tunnels in the ground. Last year I was so mad because this brother squirrel dug through my beautiful planter ...

“Stay in the same house and eat and drink what is offered to you.” This sounds fine to me because I am not fussy with food and am happy to eat anything offered. I can’t think of any food that I will not eat. And it helps a lot in my ministry, especially in this parish since I get invited to homes of various cultures and different cuisine. So far, I do enjoy Eritrean, Burmese, Laotian, Sudanese, Mexican and of course, American food. Yes, it is easy to feed me but very difficult to slim me down. But why did Jesus give such a specific instruction to His disciples regarding eating and drinking? It may look simple for us, but it was challenging to His disciples. They were Jews and the Jewish law laid out very strict food practices and prohibitions. And now they were being sent out to Gentile villages to preach to them. They were to live in Gentile homes and eat as they eat, drink as they drink. The disciples probably had never done anything like that before. Can you imagine the cultural sho...

 “For by grace you have been saved through faith, and this is not from you; it is the gift of God; it is not from works, so no one may boast.” This passage from the first reading is one of the foundational bases of Protestant Theology. They teach that anyone can be saved simply by proclaiming faith in Jesus. Thus, they believe that salvation is given by God freely, not from any of one’s works, nothing done or not done will affect one’s salvation. It is true that salvation is a free gift. None of us, dead or still living, can claim any merit for having received it. Christ died for all of us, even when we were still sinners and lost, and we all are still sinners but now saved. Our sins brought death for ourselves and for Jesus. His death brought salvation for all of us, even before we did anything right. Christianity is the only religion that offers salvation in advance. Other religions teach good works, good living in order to attain fulfilment and illumination of soul. We preach ba...

From the first reading we heard: “As long as Moses kept his hands raised up, Israel had the better of the fight, but when he let his hands rest, Amalek had the better of the fight.” Have you tried keeping both your hands raised up high for hours? And not lowering to rest even for a minute? Yes, it is very tiring. That’s what Moses had to do, he would not rest one bit and so Aaron and Hur had to help support his arms to keep them up. Why? What do you think they were doing? Was there some supernatural power in the raising of his hands, so that Israel got the advantage at battle? No. What Moses was doing, was really interceding for Israel, with the raising of his hands, offering his most sincere and intense prayers to God. He was praying unceasingly, without rest. Aaron and Hur assisting him, interceding with him. And Jesus affirms and assures us in the Gospel, "Will not God then secure the rights of his chosen ones who call out to him day and night?” Yes, call out to our God, day an...

 “If you are guided by the spirit, you are not under the law”.  From my kindergarten years to grade 4, I used to walk two miles to school and the same distance back home. I would always get really hungry on the way home. My friends and I would pick and eat whatever that was edible along the road. One of our neighbours grew a special cherry plant in his garden. We used to pick the juicy cherries to eat as we walked past. One day, he put up a handwritten sign on the tree which read, “Don’t pick the cherries”. One naughty kid continued to pick the cherries and even tore up that sign. Thereafter, the owner began to guard his cherry fiercely.  If we behaved right and showed respect for his property, there would not need the sign board nor the guarding, right? Similarly, if everyone in society knew how to behave and treat one another, we would not need to have laws. Those who are guided by the spirit of right behaviour will not need laws, because they are above the law.  I...

 “Please let me, your servant, have two mule-loads of earth, for I will no longer offer holocaust or sacrifice to any other god except to the LORD." When Naaman was first told to wash himself in the waters of the Jordan, he felt ridiculed, he did not believe. But after he did and was healed, he declared that he would no longer worship any other god except the God of Israel. What a beautiful story of conversion. But why did he want to take back two mule-loads of earth? He was healed after washing in the river water. Shouldn’t he take back some of that water instead of soil from the earth? Well, if he believed the waters healed him, then yes, he would have taken tonnes of the water. But Naaman recognised that the source of healing was the God of Israel. He knew he was healed by God, not the water. In ancient times, it was believed that gods could only be worshipped on the soil of their land. Thus, Naaman asked for the soil of Israel because he wanted to worship the God of Israel bac...

 “How long, O Lord? I cry for help but you do not listen! I cry out to you.” We see in the first reading, prophet Habakuk’s cry of desperation to God. It is also a complaint against God for ignoring Habakuk’s need. Have you cried like that to God before? Have you ever felt that God ignored you? I am sure there are moments in life when we find ourselves helpless and desperate. When I learned that my parents had terminal illness, when the treatments did not work, when it seemed my prayers were not heard, I cried in the same way. It was many years later when I look back on those difficult times, that I understood better how God was guiding me and walking with me in my desperate moments. He was using the struggles and trials I experienced to strengthen me. I didn’t fully understand at first. I failed to see Him working, I failed to trust Him, I failed to see beyond my emotions and fears. It is with hindsight, looking at where I was then and where I am now, I see how I have grown, I rea...

 “I will follow you wherever you go.” Couples deep in love would probably say this to each other. These are words of commitment, of total dedication and complete sacrifice of self, for the other. But have you ever said these words to Jesus? Would you be able to make such a promise of commitment to Him in your discipleship? The truth is, we all have said it, in different words, during our baptism and at every profession of faith. To profess that we believe, implies that we commit to follow. The next question then is, do we live it? Couples who said those words but do not act on it would likely break up in no time. What about our relationship with Christ? I am sure all of you here who diligently attend daily mass, do love Jesus deeply and would follow Him wherever his sacrifice is being celebrated, even if you travelled out of town, even if the distance to church was far, even if it meant sacrificing something, like your lunchbreak, to receive Jesus for the day. You are not content w...

“God is wise in heart and mighty in strength; who has withstood him and remained unscathed?” How many of have visited another state in the USA? Have you visited another country out of the USA? Do you know how many countries are there in the world today?  The answer is: 195 countries! When we travel to different places, we would realize that the world is so big. If you were to visit my home country India, you may have to take three flights and travel about 30 hours to arrive. The world is so huge, isn’t it? And the whole world is far bigger and beyond this earth, the sun, the moon and the stars. Can you imagine it? I can’t. And who created all these? God. With His wisdom and mighty strength God created all these. Everything is so organized with their own characteristics and structures, it cannot happen by accident nor by chance.  Is there anything or anyone stronger than our God? No, definitely not. But I found that many children think Spiderman is stronger than God. Recen...

“Job opened his mouth and cursed his day. Job spoke out and said: Perish the day on which I was born, the night when they said, “The child is a boy!”  Job was so upset that he wished he was never born! I can fully understand how Job felt. He had been faithful, he had lived right but he had lost everything in his life, including his own health. He had nothing left. He had every reason to curse, to complaint. Recently I visited a mom whose son took his own life. She was lamenting and crying her heart out to God. She cursed her life, complained to God and questioned Him why He allowed this tragedy to happen. In my own troubled moments when nothing is going right, I too wonder, “Why did God create me?” Why send me to this world to go through hardship then bring me back again? He could have just kept me in heaven. When everything go wrong, won’t we also think that life is meaningless? Even though I don’t have the perfect explanation, I find my consolation in the cross of Christ, looking...

We heard in the Gospel today: "Whoever receives this child in my name receives me, and whoever receives me receives the one who sent me." We all have been to grocery stores. You see shelves and shelves of everything you need, rows and rows of vegetables and meat, packed, weighed and priced in advance, so you can just pick up what you want.  Back in my childhood, there were no grocery stores in the local village. So to buy vegetables, we go to the vegetable market on Sundays. For meat, we go to the butcher. Every Saturday, they would slaughter a buffalo and sell the meat. Once, my mummy sent my brother and I to buy some meat from her regular butcher. We didn’t know how to choose the best meat but we thought, the butcher would help since he knew my parents very well. Instead, he cheated on us, and packed bad quality meat for us to bring home. Mummy was very upset. The butcher knew we went to buy on behalf of our mummy, his regular customer, but he did not respect that. When he ...

From the gospel, “He raised his eyes and saw Abraham far off and Lazarus at his side”. The poor man who went to heaven in this parable had a name: Lazarus. The rich man who went to hell had no name. Our name is our identity. Our relationship to God is our identity. And we are all children of God, He calls each of us by name, both on earth and in heaven. In another gospel passage Jesus told his disciples, “Rejoice because your names are written in heaven” (Luke 10:20). The rich man may have enjoyed a life of comfort and luxury on earth, but he did not have a relationship with God. Thus in Jesus’ story, he had no name. Now, how did Lazarus get to heaven? Was it because of his poverty. No. How did the rich man end up in hell? Was it because of his wealth? Of course, not. What we have or have not, is not the deciding factor of our destiny after this life.  Our eternity depends on how we use what we have been given. We do not know if the rich man committed any mortal sins in his life, b...

 “Everyone who believes in him may have eternal life.” Easy peasy, right? Just believe in Jesus and you will have eternal life. The World population as of September 2022 is 7.97 billion. Only 2 billion are Christians including Catholics, Protestants and other Christians. That is only 25 per cent. And out of this 2 billion Christians in name, how many actually live the life of a true believer? A true believer follows the master, and that means carrying the cross of faith, like the master did. Among our family circles and friends, we see many who are baptised and raised in the faith but are living without any affiliation to faith or even against the faith.  God made salvation so accessible and available, yet many reject it. The reality is, many want to live forever but do not want to commit to a life of faith that comes with believing. Many reject the cross. In the first reading, we see the Israelites complaining against Moses and God. They are the people who had seen all the mi...

 Today’s first reading ends with this instruction, “Therefore, my brothers and sisters, when you come together to eat, wait for one another”. Today’s passage is taken from St. Paul’s first letter to the new church community in Corinth. It was considered his very first pastoral letter. We can see that there already existed divisions and challenges in the early church communities. Because of Christ’s universal call to conversion, people of vastly different backgrounds and social statuses were coming together in the communities. They were probably made up of rich people who were landowners and didn’t need to work, and poor folks who were labourers. When they came together for meals and breaking of bread, very likely the rich people were able to arrive much earlier while the poor labourers came after a hard day’s work. And it was a practice that each household would bring the food they prepared for the fellowship meal and bread for the eucharistic celebration. Can you visualise, how th...

 “I tell you, in just the same way there will be more joy in heaven over one sinner who repents than over ninety-nine righteous people who have no need of repentance.”  Do you think you need repentance? Or do you feel you are righteous, without any sin? After many decades of feeling self-righteous, a man finally decided to go for confession. But he really did not know what to confess. So the priest tried to help him by asking him questions according to the ten commandments. At one point, the priest asked, “Do you entertain impure thoughts?” To which the man immediately replied, “No no, I don’t entertain them but they entertain me.” The Sacrament of Reconciliation is one of the seven sacraments of the church, efficacious signs of grace, through which the divine life is given. It is a sacrament for healing, the healing of the soul, mind and body. Every Wednesday and Saturday, Fr. Ambrose and I hear many confessions. We also get many appointments from people who want to confess. ...

Chapter 9 in the Book of Wisdom is titled ‘Prayer for Wisdom’. The pages of this chapter are the most well used in my Bible, because my mother used to tell me when I was younger, that by reading this chapter every day, I will become wise in life. And so I did, I read this chapter every day, I could even memorise every word of the Malayalam version, but did I grow wiser. I didn’t think so because simply reading it will not make me wise, only God can. Today’s first reading began, “Who can know God’s counsel, or who can conceive what the Lord Intends?” And it ended with, “Who ever knew your counsel, except you had given wisdom and sent your holy spirit from on high?” Yes, we can pray for it and ask God to grant us wisdom. God’s plan for humankind is great and wonderful, yet we can never fully understand His intentions and plans, unless we have wisdom from the Holy Spirit.  What is God’s intention for us? What is His plan? The words of Jesus in today’s Gospel struck me much, “if anyone...

 "Strive to enter through the narrow gate”. Do you know how to trap monkeys? There are lots of monkeys in the villages of India. Many people use traps to catch them. But monkeys are very clever, when they get caught, they can figure out ways to escape easily and fast, except for one trick. Tribal people understand the weakness of monkeys very well. They will take a pot with a narrow neck and hang it from a tree, then put some nuts around it and in it. A monkey would soon come forward, enjoy the nuts around it and be tempted for more. It will want the nuts in the pot too. It slides its hand into the pot, grabs a big handful of nuts and tries to run. But its hand, full of nuts, would be too big to come out of the pot. Its hand remains stuck and the monkey is caught. This simple trick works all the time. Monkeys are clever enough to know that they can escape simply by letting go of the nuts. But they never do. Why? The temptation is greater than their intelligence. Their lust for foo...