Homilies

Homily for the Sixth Sunday in Ordinal Time, February 13th, 2022

The reoccurring adjectives in today’s 1st reading are “blessed” and its opposite: “cursed.” (cf. Jeremiah 17:5-8) The Bible teaches us that, ultimately, all blessings come from God. He alone can bless because to be blessed means to be the recipient of a share in his very life. The 1st reading uses the image of a tree that stretches its roots to the waters of a generous stream to illustrate how God’s Life reaches and transforms the whole being of a person blessed by him. It seems a clear-cut case, then; something with which all sensible people should agr

Homilies

Homily for the Fifth Sunday in Ordinal Time, February 6th, 2022

We are swamped with words: some are poisonous like gossip; some are devastating like slander; others are unsettling like rumors or criticism. Most of them, though, are hollow, empty, meaningless. They tend to bloat us with … mental gas. Every week we are exposed to countless words from newspapers, magazines, leaflets, notices, forms, breaking news, contracts, radio and TV shows, friends, passersby. Seeking some quiet, we take refuge in this church and say to ourselves: “No more words—I want facts!” But, in here, we get more words. Yet we do not mind that; actually

Homilies

Homily for the Fourth Sunday in Ordinal Time, January 30th, 2022

Today’s readings shed unsettling light on a corner of our heart that we might have left unexplored. Whenever we witness a blatant injustice unfolding before our eyes, our blood boils. “What a disgrace” we shout or mutter. Our verdict is swift and precise. Well, today, God’s Word proposes to us to probe our hearts and identify what we find hidden in there. It might be the same drive that prompted the people of Nazareth to shift their mood abruptly and go from being amazed at the gracious words uttered by Jesus to sheer rage and murderous thoughts. In today’s gosp

Homilies

Homily for the Third Sunday in Ordinal Time, January 23rd, 2022

Today’s readings are about freedom. From the 1st reading we gather that, after returning from exile, for the first time, in a highly charged atmosphere of deep emotions, the Jews were free to celebrate God’s gift of the Torah (the Law). In the 2nd reading, St. Paul tells us how Jesus freed us from sin through his blood on the cross, and how he has poured his Holy Spirit of freedom into our hearts, so that we could be free to use our gifts, skills and talents for the good of the entire mystical Body of Christ, the Church. Finally, the Gospel narrative of

Homilies

Homily for the Second Sunday in Ordinal Time, January 16th, 2022

The most common word found in birthday cards is “special.” Happy Birthday to a special girl, a special boy, a special (fill in the blank). It is up to the person sending the birthday card to make the person celebrating his/her birthday feel special. This is done by accompanying the card with the gift of something that the recipient was dreaming of getting, but could not afford or by surprising him/her in unusual fashion or by splurging on him/her in a manner that is as far removed from the ordinary as possible. Nobody wants to be considered ordinary. We all need c

Homilies

Homily for the Baptism of The Lord, January 9th, 2022

Modern technology has developed amazing and, alas, at times also unsettling ways of identifying individuals by whatever is unique to each one, such as fingerprints, eye pupils and facial traits. However, when it comes to Baptism, there is no outward sign to tell a disciple of Christ apart from any other person. On an airplane, a bus, in a stadium, even in a church, there is no way of telling who is a Christian and who is not. Such is the lofty and mysterious realm of God’s calling. Today’s readings set us on the unfamiliar path of grace. In human affairs w

Homilies

Homily for the Solemnity of the Epiphany, January 2nd, 2022

  Even though today’s solemnity is one of the most ancient feasts of the Church, it is one of the hardest ones to understand. As soon as we hear the word Epiphany, the picture of the three kings from the East pops up in our mind and we get sidetracked away from the real significance of what we are called to celebrate, and to relive. To avoid this, I thought of simplifying its significance as much as possible. We all know that “Epiphany” means manifestation. But what is manifested? What is revealed to us?  What is its significance for us? It i

Homilies

Homily for the Holy Family of Nazareth, December 26th 2021

The size of the solemnity of Christmas should not dwarf the significance of the Feast of the Holy Family of Nazareth. And the reason is not a politically incorrect exaggeration but a simple reality check: our future as a Church and as a Nation hangs in the balance. The number of religious institutions that cling to this somber realization is dwindling: conservative Christian groups and the Catholic Church. That’s about it! For decades we had suspected that there were covert efforts to undermine the traditional family unit and replace it with new “progressive,”

Homilies

Homily for the Fourth Sunday of Advent, December 19th, 2021

Blessed are you among women.  Blessed is the fruit of your womb. Elizabeth said this to her young engaged but yet to be married cousin Mary. She said it to a thirteen, fourteen-year-old girl, pregnant out of wedlock and with her fiancé Joseph not being the baby’s father. At that time the incarnation of our God in our midst was hanging in the balance. If, for a variety of reasons, the Fruit of Mary’s womb had not grown to full gestation and be born, we would not be here celebrating the most astonishing fact in the history of humankind: God in human flesh like

Homilies

Homily for the Third Sunday of Advent, December 12th, 2021

Brace yourselves for a huge understatement: every single human being who ever existed, exists or will exist has happiness as his/her ultimate aspiration. After a moment of reflection, some might wonder: “What about those who kill themselves; those who are self-destructive? What about those enslaved by addictions such as alcohol, drugs, pornography, gambling, greed, lust for power, violence and any other enslavement that removes or reduces freedom considerably? What about those who wallow in self-pity and seek commiseration?” Those who reach the point of ending the