Homilies

Homily for the First Sunday in Lent, March 6th, 2022

The obvious question must be: “Why would Jesus, filled with the Holy Spirit, be led by the Spirit to be tempted by the devil in the desert for forty days?” The answer must be that Jesus is our Leader on the way to endless life in the Father’s Promised Land of heaven. As our Leader, he has to succeed where Israel of old failed miserably as it was on its journey for 40 years through the desert toward the Promised Land of Israel. What is hard for us to comprehend is why the Holy Spirit leads Jesus to be tempted by Satan in the desert. It has to be the desert beca

Homilies

Homily for the Eighth Sunday in Ordinal Time, February 27th, 2022

In today’s gospel passage, why does Jesus describe flaws of some teachers as being attitudes that their pupils, in all ages, must avoid at all cost? It is because, at a mere human level, fully trained disciples, who have imitated their teachers, while putting forth their best effort and with their best intentions in mind, will not be superior to them. Hence, if teachers are blind guides, their pupils will follow them into the same pit. If teachers deliver their lessons without having first gone through a thorough introspection of their mind and heart, in their te

Homilies

Homily for the Seventh Sunday in Ordinal Time, February 20th, 2022

As you may recall, last Sunday, we found out that, as believers, the choices before us are always only two: with God, with Jesus or with the world, with human flesh (i.e., with meager human resources unaided by God’s grace). We are either blessed or cursed, believers or unbelievers, spiritual or earthly, Spirit-driven or flesh- driven. Thus, here is the program for the rest of our life on earth and into life eternal: “just as we have borne the image of the earthly one (Adam), we shall also bear the image of the heavenly one (Christ Jesus). 1 Corinthians 15:49 But

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