Solemnity of All Saints
The Feast of All Saints has a very long and interesting history. Whereas the exact origin of this feast is unclear, it is believed that it began organically at the end of the Christian persecution. The Diocletian persecution (284-305 CE) was particularly brutal. The conversion of Constantine in 312 CE brought respite to the Christians from the persecutions. At the same time, it gave them the opportunity to look back at the martyrs and exemplars of faith. The church developed an organic desire to honor these great heroes. If the early church had to commemorate each of these martyrs individually, there would not be enough days in the calendar year. A common feast day for all saints, therefore, seemed appropriate, if not inevitable.
Thirtieth Sunday in Ordinary Time
What is the difference between law and ethics? Does being lawful mean the same thing as being ethical? Can someone be lawful but unethical? Reversely, can one break the law for ethical reasons? These are important questions as reflect on today’s scripture.
Twenty-ninth Sunday in Ordinary Time
World Mission Sunday 2026 is the hundredth anniversary of Mission Sunday. It is a hundred years since Pope Pius XI established World Mission Sunday in 1926. It was established to foster universal church unity, encourage global missionary zeal, and create an annual collection to financially support mission territories worldwide.
Twenty-eighth Sunday in Ordinary Time
The case of the guest who came to the wedding feast without a wedding garment and got thrown out is one of the most intriguing details in the gospel. He was not one of the original invitees who had refused the king’s invitation. He came because the king asked his servants to invite “whomever you find” (Mt 22:9). He came, but he was called out for lack of a wedding garment. He was bound hand and feet and thrown out into the darkness. At the end of the parable, Jesus says, “Many are invited but few are chosen” (Mt 22:14). What shall we make of the bizarre end the parable?
Twenty-seventh Sunday in Ordinary Time
Over the last two weekends and today, we have heard three parables about the vineyard – the parable of the workers in the vineyard, the parable of the two sons sent to the vineyard, and today, we have the parable of the tenants in the vineyard. Jesus uses these parables to teach important lessons about life and faith.
Twenty-sixth Sunday in Ordinary Time
I learnt very early upon my arrival in America, that the word, “attitude” has more than one meaning. In India, attitude means “a person's mental outlook or disposition.” But in informal speech in America, attitude means being sassy, disrespectful, defiant, and uncooperative. Saying someone “has an attitude” or “is giving attitude” has a negative connotation. That is not what Paul means, when in today’s second reading he says, “Have in you the same attitude that is also in Christ Jesus” (Phil 2:5). Rather, the attitude of Christ Jesus is an antidote for people with “attitude”.
Twenty-fifth Sunday in Ordinary Time
I received a call from hospice the other day. Someone was requesting a priest. He did not belong to any parish. In fact, I discovered soon that he had been away from the church for a long time. For that matter, he had been away from God. Only about three months back, he was diagnosed with pancreatic cancer. As he approached the end of his life, his mind turned to God. But it was not until the last day that he asked for a priest.
Twenty-fourth Sunday in Ordinary Time
There are a few human faculties are critical for living meaningfully in the world – memory, intelligence, and knowledge. Unless there is a natural disability, we believe that every human person is endowed with these faculties. But there is yet another quality that is critically important to live meaningfully – wisdom. Wisdom is sometimes spoken as a faculty of the mind, but it is also understood as a gift. Catholics believe that Wisdom is a gift of the Holy Spirit given at Confirmation along with the gifts of knowledge, understanding, and counsel. But there are people outside the Catholic tradition who are revered as wise. Wisdom comes to people who approach life with a certain humility, a certain openness, faith, and a willingness to learn.
Twenty-third Sunday in Ordinary Time
Life is a web of relationships. Family, friends, work, neighborhoods – they are all a web of relationships. Relationships are life-giving, but they can also suck the life out of us. Relationships can make life easy, but we can also find ourselves entangled in its complex web. Relationships can make life meaningful, but they have the capacity to empty our lives of meaning. Think, for example, about how marriage creates a whole new network of relationships. On the reverse think about how a divorce throws an entire network of relationships into chaos. If you have never struggled with relationships, please thank God, because you are blessed.
Twenty-second Sunday in Ordinary Time
I could be wrong, but I think one of the things we might believe is that life is easier with God. “Jesus take the wheel”, right? With Jesus in the driver’s seat, the ride is supposed to be smoother!” But what if it is not? What if it only gets rougher? What if the lesson of life is, “Take up your cross and follow me?”
Twenty-first Sunday in Ordinary Time
I had just finished the 11 am Mass two Sundays back. I had greeted people and was heading back to the sacristy. A little girl, still in church with her mother and her siblings asked me, “Do you like being a priest?” I said to her, “I love being a priest!” She looked at me like she wanted to hear more or like she did not know where to go next. I asked her, “Do you know why?” She shook her head. I said, “First, I get to celebrate Mass. And then, the best part of my life is that I spend all day and everyday doing good!” She wanted more. I said, “I visit people when they are in the hospital, I help people when someone has died, I help the poor, and I am there for people when they need me.” I may have said a few other things. I wanted to say to her, “I hope you will think of becoming a priest!” I could not and did not. But one thing is true – that I am eternally grateful to God for my vocation to the priesthood in the Catholic Church.
Twentieth Sunday in Ordinary Time
When we come to church, we hope to hear inspiring and heart-moving scripture. Jesus saying, “It is not right to take the food of the children and throw it to the dogs" to a helpless mother is not what we expect to hear from him. The account of Jesus and the Canaanite woman is one of the most perplexing accounts in all of the New Testament. The fact that the written tradition preserved it from the oral tradition is equally perplexing.
Nineteenth Sunday in Ordinary Time
There is nothing more terrifying than being terrified. A cancer diagnosis, a miscarriage, an accident, a divorce, a job loss can cripple our lives. On Tuesday, I sat with a seventy-year-old man who wanted to make his confession the day before he goes to see his oncologist. There is a tumor on his liver. He is terrified of the diagnosis. These days, I have accompanied many of our immigrant brothers and sisters. They are afraid of being separated from their families and children, put in detention, or deported. Fear is not an isolated experience. The Bible is not naïve about fear nor does it shield us from feeling afraid. Rather the rationale is that fear is better faced with God rather than alone.
Eighteenth Sunday In Ordinary Time
The multiplication of loaves and fish is the only miracle found in all the four gospels, and surprisingly, twice in the gospels of Matthew and Mark. On the peripheral level, it can be read as yet another miracle in Matthew’s string of miracles that reveal Jesus’s Messianic identity. Indeed, it is! On another level, the passage is so full of symbolism and deeper meaning that a peripheral reading does not do justice to this miraculous event. In fact, there is a miracle within the miracle. I would like to explore the deeper meaning of Matthew’s multiplication narrative in a way that could not only transform hearts, but also transform the world.
Seventeenth Sunday in Ordinary Time
For the past two Sundays, the gospel reading has been from Matthew Chapter 13. This is a unique chapter because in it there are seven parables altogether. Over the last two weeks and today we have heard all of them – Parable of the Sower and the Seed, Parable of the Weeds Among the Wheat, Parable of the Mustard Seed, Parable of the Yeast in the Dough, Parable of the Pearl of Great Price, Parable of the Treasure in the Field, and the Parable of the Net Thrown into the Sea. Because these parables so rich and meaningful, they draw all the attention. Sometimes, though, we have read between the lines.
Sixteenth Sunday in Ordinary Time
If you have weeds in your yard, you know how difficult it is to keep it from taking over. This year clover has gone wild in my yard. I do not use weedkillers because they are bad for the earth, bad for pets, bunnies, birds, bees, squirrels and other wildlife. They can be fatal for humans too. To manually weed them out without also pulling up the grass is not only difficult but also time consuming. Nevertheless to say, my yard is always a little messy.
Fifteenth Sunday in Ordinary Time
Last week we were badly in need of rain in Dayton. Our gardens needed daily watering, the grass was beginning to dry up, and we needed a respite from the heat. It finally rained yesterday. Just one rain, and everything looks refreshed. Just one rain and the grass is greener, the flowers are smiling, and we are relieved. There is something miraculous about how creation and nature work. For us, it is telling about God.
Fourteenth Sunday in Ordinary Time
It is quite a weekend on multiple levels. Personally, I am just back from a three-week stay with my mom and the family. Walking away from my 89-year-old mom is a heart-rending moment. Emotionally, I am fragile and vulnerable every time I do this. On the larger level, it’s the weekend of the 250th anniversary of the birth of the United States of America. The sentiments of the nation are on the highest level. And then, of course, we have the scripture readings for today’s liturgy. These readings stand on their own. So, I have been reflecting – through these scripture readings, what is God saying to me as I re-adjust back to ministry; what is God saying to us as a people of faith; and what is God saying to the nation? This homily is my reflection on these questions.
Thirteenth Sunday in Ordinary Time
The FIFA football world cup is on. Canada, Mexico, and the United States are cohosting this global event. As tourists from across the world come to these countries, often for the first time, it is interesting to read about their reactions to the country. I read that one of the things by which people are taken aback in the United States is the hospitality and friendliness of the American people. They expected to experience the xenophobic rhetoric that has been characteristic of the political establishment. But they have been pleasantly surprised. They feel encouraged by the hospitality they experience on the streets. This is my experience too. If we leave the political rhetoric aside, the average American is the most hospitable person in the world. And this is wonderful.
Twelfth Sunday in Ordinary Time
Historically, you and I know how the action of one person can cause either immense harm or bring about immense good. Hitler single handedly could have prevented World War ll. He did the opposite. Over sixty million people died in that war. On the contrary, there are also people who single handedly brought much good in the world. Gandhi non-violently brought independence to an entire subcontinent. Martin Luther King Jr. non-violently raised the banner of equality for an entire people. St. Francis of Assisi single handedly reformed an ailing Church. Perhaps in our families too there are people who either cause great destruction or bring immense peace.