Twenty-fourth Sunday in Ordinary Time
Let me begin this homily where the gospel reading begins: “Tax collectors and sinners were all drawing near to listen to Jesus, but the Pharisees and scribes began to complain, saying, “This man welcomes sinners and eats with them.”” (Lk 15:1). Because we have three powerful parables that follow this introductory statement (parables of the lost coin, lost sheep, and lost son), and because we have one of the most powerful parables in all of scripture that ends this section, our attention is drawn immediately to them. In reality, the three parables are Jesus’ response to the introductory
Twenty-third Sunday in Ordinary Time
It happened in a serendipitous moment, but I learnt a little late in life that it is not enough to have goals in life, but to have a goal for life itself; that it is one thing to figure out what to do IN life and quite another to figure out what to do WITH life. For me, the serendipitous moment happened when I was 24. One day, in a moral theology class the professor asked us to write down our own epitaph. It was a weighty question: “What do I want my tombstone to say?” Today, I am asking you. If you had to write your epitaph, what would it read? Will it say what you did in life, or will it say what you did with life?
Twenty-second Sunday in Ordinary Time
At first read, today’s scripture readings are about humility. But before they are about humility they are about hypocrisy. A caveat: The gospel reading for the liturgy is from Luke chapter 17, verse 1 and verses 7-14. It omits verses 2-6. My reflection includes the omitted verses because Luke wrote it as one event.
Luke provides us with some very important details. First, Jesus was a dinner-guest of not just another Pharisee, but as Luke puts it, “one of the leading Pharisees” (Lk 14:1). Commentators say that he was the chief Pharisee. The fellow guests were lawyers and other Pharisees. Second, the meal takes place on a Sabbath. Third, Luke tells us that “the people over there were observing him carefully.” This means that the invitation given to Jesus was a not a friendly invitation. It was a hostile invitation. In Luke’s context, it was a hypocritical invitation.
Twenty-first Sunday in Ordinary Time
Today, I would like to reflect on the same question that the disciples asked Jesus, “Will only a few people be saved?” (Luke 13:23) It is a good question. Who will be saved? In today’s gospel reading Jesus gives no direct answer to the question.
Twentieth Sunday in Ordinary Time
Scripture Readings
There was Jesus. He was born in time, lived, was killed, but rose from dead. And then there are the gospels. The gospels tell us how he was born, how he lived, the cause of his death, and even though they do not describe the actual resurrection, reports that Jesus was raised from the dead. So, then, there was Jesus and there are the Gospels. From the time of Jesus’ resurrection, a minimum of 40 years had passed before the first gospels were written.
Besides the primary message of all the four gospels, there is one other reality that is common to them – persecution. Not only was Jesus persecuted but early Christians faced persecution. All the gospels are written in the context of persecution. In fact, passages like the ones we have in today’s gospel can only be understood in the context of persecution. Jesus says, “Do you think that I have come to establish peace on the earth? No, I tell you, but rather division.”
Nineteenth Sunday in Ordinary Time
Last Lent, I offered a six-week series on Francis of Assisi. One of the books I read in preparation for the series was a book titled, “The Loneliness and Longing of St. Francis.” I mention this book not so much for the sake of Francis but the author, Gerard Thomas Straub. Straub was a Hollywood film maker and a professing atheist. He once had the likes of Alec Baldwin and Demi Moore starring for him. He is also the producer of the famous television series, General Hospital.
Eighteenth Sunday in Ordinary Time
Pope Francis spent the past week in Canada on a highly anticipated papal visit. The context of his visit was the abuse of Indigenous children at the residential schools managed by Catholic organizations. Francis described the purpose of his visit in these words: “Dear brothers and sisters of Canada, I come among you to meet the Indigenous peoples. I hope with God’s grace, that my penitential pilgrimage might contribute to the journey of reconciliation already undertaken. Please accompany me with prayer.” Once among the Indigenous people, the Pope said, “I am sorry – sorry for the ways in which, regrettably, many Christians supported the colonizing mentality of the power that oppressed the Indigenous peoples.” I do not know of another instance when a Pope visited a country and looked so vulnerable. But that is Pope Francis. He is known for his simplicity, his humility, his compassion, and reconciling spirit.
Seventeenth Sunday in Ordinary Time
Preaching on today’s scripture readings is not easy. The reason simply is that in life, neither do we get haggle with God the way Abraham did, nor do we always receive whatever we ask, find whatever we seek, and not every door opens when we knock. On Thursday, I visited the family of an eleven-year-old child who was killed in a car accident along with his father. When you encounter such intense grief, what do you say? What do we ask, what do we seek, which is the door at which we knock? Coming Wednesday I have this child’s funeral. My struggle is not trying to haggle with God like Abraham. My struggle is not asking, seeking, and knocking. I am struggling to simply finding words. As the grieving mother said to me, “There are no words!”
Saturday of the Fifteenth Week in Ordinary Time
(This homily was written specifically for the Hispanic Community. Where as the Introduction and 1st and 2nd points are relevant for all readers, the 3rd point refers to practical implications for the Hispanic Community. However, it is possible for all readers to apply it differently to their own context).
Over the last 25 years I have travelled many countries and places. I am always struck by the hospitality of people around the world. Different people are hospitable in different ways. For example, there is a big difference in how families express hospitality expressed in India and in America. In America, when people invite guests for dinner, it is hospitable for the hosts and guests to sit around the table and share the food. In India, the guests rarely sit with the hosts, except the children. The hosts stand around the table serving the food and drinks to the guests. It is their responsibility to make sure that the guest’s plate or glass is never empty, to make sure that the guests have tasted every dish, and that they have eaten till they can eat no more.
Fifteenth Sunday in Ordinary Time
Are you good? I don’t mean are you well, but are you GOOD? Every so often, at a funeral homily, I will say about the deceased, “He was a good man!” or “She was a good, good person!” I am sure there are people you know about whom you say, “He or she is a good person!” What does it mean to be good?
In today’s gospel we have what is popularly known as the parable of the “Good Samaritan.” That was not the name Jesus gave the Samaritan, but we know the parable as the “Parable of the Good Samaritan.”
Fourteenth Sunday in Ordinary Time
July 1 is the beginning of a new fiscal year in Archdiocese of Cincinnati. It is also the date when new priest’s assignments begin. This year, there is something even more extraordinary about it. We begin a new way of being an archdiocese. The Beacons of Light initiative of the archdiocese which organizes parishes into “Families of Parishes” is a strategic move to address the current realities of the Catholic Church. It is obvious that the archdiocese has spent much time planning for the new initiative. It appointed a committee, chose consultants, held numerous meetings, conducted surveys, discussed feedback, created bule prints, drew draft plans, and finally rolled out the plan. And today, here we are. I am celebrating this Eucharist with you as we enter the implementation phase of the Families of Parishes initiative.
Thirteenth Sunday in Ordinary Time
Each time I return back to ministry in the US from India, my mother and go through a grieving process. That actual moment when I walk out the house with my aged mother standing at the gate and blowing kisses is the most gut-wrenching moment that we relive each time I leave home. That last glimpse, that last kiss, that last tear-drop as the taxi pulls away – words cannot capture the sentiments. At that moment, my life splits into two halves – my love and devotion to my mother and my commitment to my priestly calling, each separated by nine-thousand miles.
This time, before I left home, my mother said to me, “Son, this is not difficult for us! We have been doing this since you were 17. I gave you to God then and I am giving you to God again!” My mother and I understand the implications of ‘putting our hands on the plough’ and not looking back. In reality, the grief that we both endure is the implication of keeping our hands on the plough.
Pentecost Sunday
Today we celebrate the feast of Pentecost. The feast of the Pentecost as a ritual originated after the Exodus of the Hebrew people from Egypt into the Promised Land. The Jewish feast of Pentecost (Shavuot) was primarily a thanksgiving for the firstfruits of the wheat harvest. Later, it became associated with a remembrance of the Law given by God to Moses on Mount Sinai. In the New Testament, this feast is transformed into a feast associated with the resurrection of Jesus. The gift of the Holy Spirit to the followers of Jesus is seen as the firstfruits of a new covenant that fulfilled and succeeded the Mosaic covenant.
The Ascension of the Lord
Today we celebrate the Feast of the Ascension. I began writing this homily by asking myself, what relevance does the Ascension of Jesus hold for us? What can it mean for us today? So here are three points for reflection of today’s feast.
Sixth Sunday of Easter
Last words of people approaching their the end of their life are words people don’t forget. Often, they can trigger life-changing experiences.
The gospel readings that we have heard over the last few weeks are from the section of St. John’s gospel we know as Jesus’ farewell discourse. It begins in Chapter 13 with the Last Supper. The next four chapters is a monologue that contains Jesus’ last words to the disciples. We can find Jesus important teachings in them. In chapter 18 we read that Jesus goes out to the Kidron Valley to a garden and is arrested. Jesus’ words in today’s gospel reading are from the middle of Chapter 14. Because these are Jesus’ last words, we must pay special attention to them.
Fifth Sunday of Easter
Sometimes, scripture overwhelms me. It overwhelms me not because of its demands but because the demands seem overwhelming in the context in which I must live it. If there were no people except the ones we get along with, Christianity would be so easy. In today’s gospel reading, Jesus says to his disciples, “I give you a new commandment: love one another. As I have loved you, so you also should love one another. This is how all will know that you are my disciples, if you have love for one another” (Jn 13:34-35). In the very contentious times in which we live, Jesus’ “new commandment” seem unrealistic.
Third Sunday of Easter
Last Monday, I celebrated the 28th anniversary of my Ordination. When I joined the seminary in 1983 and was ordained in 1994, I would not have imagined that I will be where I am today. On July 1, I will become the pastor of five parishes. If I must be honest, I am nervous. The immensity of the task is overwhelming. I realize that I am a certain juncture of my life.
But let me draw the attention away from myself. Perhaps, we have all been at important junctures of lie - a new job, a promotion, a termination, a transition, news of a serious or terminal illness, a life-threatening surgery, an age milestone, a break-up, a divorce, a death.
Second Sunday of Easter: Sunday of Divine Mercy
This is the story of Maria Faustina Kowalska, the nun to whom we owe the Divine Mercy Devotion. She lived for a brief 33 years. That is the same number of years we assume Jesus lived. Born in Głogoweic, Poland, in1905, she first felt the call to become a religious at the age of 7. Her parents refused her because of her young age. Then at 16, after a social dance at a park, she literally ran away from home to go to Warsaw. She knocked at the doors of many convents but no place would accept her. One of them even said, “We do not accept maids here!” When the mother superior of the Congregation of the Sisters of Our Lady of Mercy did receive her, she did not have the money to pay for her religious habit. She then worked as a housemaid to make the money she needed. After her religious profession, and then as a nun, she was often assigned menial tasks, sometimes as a cook and other times as a gardener in the convents. It was during these times that Christ was beginning to reveal himself to her as ‘Divine Mercy.’ When she first shared of her apparitions, visions, and conversations with her companions, nobody believed her. On the contrary, she was asked to submit herself to psychological tests. Fortunately, when she was found to be of sound mind, her confessor began to give credibility to her mystical experience. Soon thereafter, however, she was stuck with illness (most probably tuberculosis), and on Oct 5, 1938, she was gone! Before her death, though, she had predicted a terrible war. Not one, but two World Wars happened soon after. Her diary, which she kept throughout these years, has now become legendary. It has also become the prayer of the millions of people who pray the chaplet of Divine Mercy.
Easter Sunday The Resurrection of the Lord
It was January 11, 2019. I had been back home only for two days. That was the day I lost my beloved father. Dad was buried in the local parish cemetery. In Kerala, one of the 29 States in India, common Catholic cemeteries are rare. This is because from ancient times, parishes have maintained their own private but smaller cemeteries for their parishioners. This has huge implications for parishioners. They cannot own permanent individual graves for their loved ones. After three years, the remains of their loved ones are reverently and prayerfully removed and put in a common well along with other people’s remains. Someone else is then buried in the same grave. My family always knew that we would have my father’s grave only for three years. But then, the pandemic ravaged the world. More people died than they would otherwise die normal times. We barely had my father’s grave for two years. On my last visit home, I went to visit my dad’s grave. It was no longer there. Someone else had already been buried in the same grave.
Palm Sunday of the Lord’s Passion
Christ Jesus, though he was in the form of God,
did not regard equality with God
something to be grasped.
Rather, he emptied himself,
taking the form of a slave,
coming in human likeness;
and found human in appearance,
he humbled himself,
becoming obedient to the point of death,
even death on a cross. (Phil 2:6-8)
Basing myself on four ideas: Jesus emptied himself, taking the form of a slave, and humbled himself becoming obedient unto death, I would like to offer this simple meditation.