Homilies

Homily for the 29th Sunday in Ordinal Time, October 17th, 2021

  The readings of today’s Eucharistic celebration offer a clear suggestion which is as great as it is unusual. It is the call to serve each other and to give our life in ransom for many. Unless we were ever held for ransom, or we were those who had to pay it, we could not fully appreciate the weight of this call. Jesus, the Son of Man, came to serve and to give his life in ransom for many. Matthew 20:28   18 years ago, one of our PIME priests was captured by Muslim rebels on the island of Mindanao, in the Philippines, and went through the ord

Homilies

Homily for the 28th Sunday in Ordinal Time, October 10th, 2021

No matter how self-confident and bold we might feel we could all have certain people who intimidate us. We sense a majestic aura around them, weightiness and a penetrating force emanating from them that leaves us with no place for hiding our deficiencies. We might choose to steer clear of them or to face them only after a thorough preparation. What would your reaction be to my saying that Jesus, as Word of God, is now and will be the most intimidating Person in our life? I would even add that those who disagree with this statement might have spun their “spir

Homilies

Homily for the 27th Sunday in Ordinal Time, October 3rd, 2021

This is a refrain repeated several times in the recitation of Psalm 95: “If today you hear His voice, harden not your hearts.” Today, our Church desires to have us focus on the condition of our heart regarding God’s plan of love and joy for all His children, to see how faithful, loyal and dedicated to it we truly are. From self-appointed luminaries down to common folks, too, many people fail to see the devastating connection between hardness of the heart as cause and the waves of evils assaulting us as consequences that spoil life for so many. Nowhere is th

Homilies

Homily for the 26th Sunday in Ordinal Time, September 26th, 2021

Today Jesus Christ gathers us for a “spiritual tune-up.” The Body of Christ, the only reality on which we should focus, is a very complex, sensitive, delicate organism.  To borrow one of Jesus’ favorite terms: in the Body of Christ the best, and most productive adherents are the little ones, the weak, fragile, insignificant, powerless members of the Community. And, arguably, one of the biggest challenges for all of us as integral parts of Christ, inseparable from him, is to get the little ones—all of us included—to be prophets.  “Would that all the pe

Homilies

Homily for the 25th Sunday in Ordinal Time, September 19th, 2021

To put it frankly, there seems to be very little, if any, good news in today’s readings.  But only those unwilling or unprepared to live all stages of the Paschal Mystery could object to this. Before being joyous and glorious in our resurrection we must go through our own passion and death.  At times we might get so absorbed in something that we lose sight of our being one with Christ Jesus in virtue of our Baptism and by eating his Flesh in Holy Communion. Only those who died in the Lord along with the Blessed Mother and all the Saints are sealed alrea

Homilies

Homily for the 24th Sunday in Ordinal Time, September 12th, 2021

About 15 years ago, a poll was taken to find out what Americans thought of the idea of removing from our currency the words: “In God we trust.” Back then, almost 17 million people responded and 89% were opposed to the removal of those words. Is that how people still feel nowadays? Perhaps it isn’t so, especially if we are keenly aware of what is going on with American politics vis-à-vis a reflection on today’s readings. I am sure that we are all for keeping the words “In God we trust” on our currency; however, the existential question is: Are we ready and willi

Homilies

Homily for the 23rd Sunday in Ordinal Time, September 5th

  Did not God choose those who are poor in the world to be rich in faith and heirs of the Kingdom that he promised to those who love Him? James 2:5 This is, obviously, a rhetorical question. The answer is a resounding “YES” In any age of the Church, they are those people who love Jesus and love His Body, the Church, more than they love themselves. They are mostly faceless, self-effacing, unassuming people, who put into practice, fully, Jesus’ new commandment of loving each other as he loved us on the cross. They are people who are “poor” in the sen

Homilies

Homily for the 22nd Sunday in Ordinal Time, August 29, 2021

  Today’s readings call us to a painful overhaul of our heart. It is always painful to probe the recesses of the heart because whatever we find in it might flatten our presumptions and shatter a status quo which might be a state of lukewarmness. As those among you, who have been attending San Francesco Church since 2001 (the year I came among you) know, from time to time, I keep warning myself, first, and the congregation about the lurking danger of self-delusion. Since it would be self-delusion in matters of eternal life and eternal death, it is something

Homilies

Homily for the 21st Sunday in Ordinal Time, August 22, 2021

  Listen to this courageous promise made by the Israelites: “Far be it from us to forsake the Lord for the service of other gods.” Joshua 24:14. That is just grand. However, listen also to this:  “The Israelites offended the LORD by serving the Baals. Abandoning the LORD, the God of their fathers, who had led them out of the land of Egypt, they followed the other gods of the various nations around them, and by their worship of these gods provoked the LORD.”Judges 2:11-12  Once in a while, throughout the Old Testament, there are summaries sim

Homilies

Homily for the Solemnity of the Assumption, August 15th, 2021

  Today’s feast of the Assumption is rooted into the most extraordinary event in the history of this world: the Resurrection of Christ from the tomb before his bruised and disfigured body could be corrupted by death. St. Paul points out that Jesus is the first fruits of those who have fallen asleep; but also that all those who belong to Christ will follow him to share his destiny of glory. However, the woman handpicked by God to give a human body to His Son, will be the first one to follow her Son into glory, yet without having to be subjected to the corru