Homily

First Sunday in Lent - Homily by Fr. Americo Santos

Brothers and sisters, Lent begins with a reflection on Jesus's temptations in the wilderness. The Church presents these temptations at the start of Lent because, like Jesus in the Gospel, we often face temptations ourselves. Sometimes, it may even feel like we are predisposed to giving in to them.

The first reading describes the ancient Jewish ritual of presenting the first fruits and gifts to God during the harvest festival. This practice was intended to thank God for liberating His people from Egypt and for guiding and protecting them during their years of trials and temptations in the desert.

In the second reading, St. Paul warns early Christians—converted from Judaism—to resist the temptation to return to the observances of the Mosaic Laws. He emphasizes that they will be saved only by acknowledging the risen Jesus as their Lord and Savior.

The temptations of Jesus, as described in the Gospel of Luke, represent the inner struggles He faced throughout His public life. The devil attempted to distract Jesus from His mission of saving humanity. He challenged Jesus with temptations to abandon His role as the Messiah for the Jews, misuse His divine power for personal convenience, and evade suffering and death.

On this first Sunday of Lent, we are called to confront and overcome temptations as Jesus did in the desert. Like Jesus, we all face temptations, but each has different temptations based on our background, age, or other factors. But all temptations share one commonality: they disrupt our relationship with God. Jesus serves as our model for handling and overcoming these challenges through fasting, abstinence, prayer, penance, and the effective use of Scripture.

Although temptations are inherently evil and unwelcome, they can encourage us to seek our God more and place our lives in His hands with faith. Also, we are never tempted beyond our capacities because God does not allow it. As St. John affirms in his first letter, "The One who is in you is greater than the one who is in the world" (1 John 4:4). Therefore, this Lent, let us confront our temptations with the courage and faith in Jesus to know and love him more clearly.

Fasting, abstinence, prayer, and sharing with others as a discipline in Lent help us increase our resistance to temptations and grow in holiness. I invite you to set aside time each day to pray with God. In addition to prayer, we must repent of our sins and seek to renew our lives by uniting ourselves to God through the Sacrament of Reconciliation. Our parish's Lent penance service will be on April 10th at 6 p.m.

Finally, let us express our love for others these days through selfless service, almsgiving, and donations to those in need within our parish and community.

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Eighth Sunday in Ordinary Time - Homily by Deacon Joshua Choong, SJ

The images of agriculture are at the forefront of today’s readings. In the First Reading from Sirach, the wisdom author uses his agricultural experience to describe how one could tell how well a tree has been cared for by the fruit that it bears. This metaphor is used as a clue to distinguish between a true and a false prophet. Again in the responsorial psalm, the psalmist sings a hymn of praise and blessing upon a righteous person that is compared to a palm tree or a cedar that grows tall on Mt Lebanon, bearing fruits that are luxuriant even in old age.

In the Gospel, Luke uses the image of a good tree that bears good fruit, to tell us that our external actions must match the good intentions of our hearts. Getting good fruit is not an accident of nature; it takes a gifted gardener and a lot of back-breaking work.      This type of gardener refuses to compromise on quality.

I was praying my annual retreat in country Australia a few years ago, and the retreat house has a gorgeous fig tree, laden with fruit. My greatest joy and the most fruitful contemplative periods during the retreat were to stand under the cooling shade of that fig tree. At the same time, my eyes and hands would gravitate towards the deepest colored fruits with an almost midnight purple shade. They were just so soft and plump to the touch. I stood under that tree and feasted on the ripest and sweetest figs I’ve ever tasted. I could taste the love and reverence that went into each fruit. Those figs from that tree were cultivated by a master gardener, who brought me so much joy and consolation during those retreat days. However, the quality of the figs does not so much depend on how the tree looks – its branches may be full and lush, but that does not necessarily mean that it would produce the best fruits. Likewise, our hearts' disposition reveals the fruit we produce. It is not about how we appear, how we dress, and sometimes even how we act. Good works do not always reveal our hearts. A lot of the times, words do. What do I mean by that?

Chris and his two brothers attended the Jesuit high school in Sydney, Australia, where I taught a few years ago. The Jesuit education Chris received and his brothers' example helped him develop a desire to care and advocate for disadvantaged and marginalised people, with a strong sense of commitment to making a positive difference in the world. After graduating from college, Chris soon found himself in Kaffrine, one of the poorest, most marginalised and technologically underdeveloped regions of Senegal in West Africa. It is an area noted for its general lack of trees and bare fields due to overgrazing and tree clearing activities for annual cash crops. Chris led a team to roll out a rapid reforestation technique, which reversed devastating environmental degradation and biodiversity loss. He told me that the best thing about his time there, was being fully immersed in the lives of the people.

During my discussions with Chris, he never once turned the conversation back onto himself, but always towards his collaborators in Senegal, in which he showed concerns that the project was viable so that they could flourish. His time in Senegal was not just work wrapped with the lovely bow of charity. He cares about the Senegalese. There was no desire to seek the approval and adulation of others, nor was there any attempt at seduction by talking up his qualities and achievements to get praise. Chris is good through and through, from the very core of his being, all the way to the fruits that were produced. His family, the school, and Senegal formed him beyond academics, beyond being a son, brother, student, and spouse – into a thoughtful and spiritual human being.

Jesus is alluding to this in that parable of the good tree and good fruits in the Gospel. There is no value when the fruit is beautiful and polished, but the tree and its roots are rotten to the core. Words and actions must follow from the heart. How did I catch a glimpse of Chris’ heart? Not only through what he had done in Senegal, but also through the words that proceeded from his mouth. Chris showed integrity. There is something that we can learn from this. Jesus is pointing out that by being really and truly good and authentic, by embodying the Beatitudes, we can enter the Kingdom of Heaven.

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Seventh Sunday in Ordinary Time - Homily by Fr. Americo Santos

Today’s Scripture readings challenge us to make three important choices in life. First, we are called to love our enemies and to be sensitive to the feelings and needs of others. Second, we must choose unconditional agape love over envy, jealousy, and hatred in our relationships and friendships. Third, we must embrace merciful forgiveness instead of harboring revengeful feelings and planning retaliation against others.

The first reading illustrates how David made the right choice by respecting God’s anointed king and forgiving his intentions and offenses, even though having the chance to make justice for his own. In contrast, Saul continues to make poor choices, perpetuating his misery in his quest for revenge. But David, as a person of faith, let God guide his life and put everything in God’s hands.  In the second reading, St. Paul describes how the “First Adam” made the bad choice of disobedience, which brought death into the world. Conversely, Jesus, the “Second Adam,” made the right choice by fulfilling his Father’s saving plan for humanity, accepting suffering and death on the Cross. Today’s Gospel presents Jesus’ moral teachings regarding our relationships with one another. These teachings emphasize the importance of loving others to reflect our identity as children of a loving, forgiving, merciful, and compassionate Heavenly Father. Our community relationships become genuinely Christian when we love others, especially our enemies. Jesus commands us to love our enemies and to show mercy and compassion to everyone, just as He does. He concludes this Gospel with the instruction to stop judging others and to forgive all who offend us. My brothers and sisters, this Sunday is a moment for reflection. We must continue to love others and express that love through our words and actions, especially the ones that make our lives harder. King David chose the right path, and Jesus tells us and shows us the path we must take to make it to the Kingdom of Heaven. Suppose we wish others to forgive our offenses, critical words, and thoughtless judgments. In that case, we must first forgive their offenses against us and appreciate their positive qualities while encouraging and supporting them in their needs.

Our challenge is to overcome our natural inclination to reject or harbor feelings of hatred towards someone. We should ask God for the strength to forgive one another to meet that challenge. We must ask ourselves: Do I have anyone I consider an enemy in my life? Is there anyone I hate? Is there someone who mistreats me—be it my boss, teacher, parent, co-worker, family member, spouse, or former spouse? We know these situations can cause us pain and be difficult to forgive. However, we must forgive because only forgiveness can truly heal us. Remember that God has forgiven us freely and out of love because there is nothing you or I can do or have done to deserve his love, mercy, and forgiveness. Jesus Christ shows us the way to love and forgive, since he forgave his persecutors on the Cross. “Forgive them, Father, for they know not what they do.”

For those who have hurt us, Jesus tells us that our response should be love: “Forgive and you will be forgiven.” Let us begin or continue to love and forgive right now by avoiding criticism, praying for those who persecute us, or those who make our lives harder, and offering up to the Lord our desire for revenge with a desire to love, for they, too, are our fellow brothers or sisters. Like David, let us remember that we are all God’s children; therefore, we have no right to take revenge or hurt anyone because God is present in them too.

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Sixth Sunday in Ordinary Time - Homily by Deacon Joshua Choong, SJ

I recently watched a TV show that sought to determine the weight of the human soul. To do that, they got someone from hospice care who was about to die and placed him in a capsule to weigh him at the moment of death. If there is a loss in weight, it means the soul left the body, there is life after death. That is assuming that the soul has weight. At the beginning of the scene, the elderly patient was rushed to the capsule. His lungs and vitals were shutting down. As he was quickly placed into the capsule, which coincidentally, was shaped like a casket, he told his friend that he did not want to die. The friend reassured him that he would be with him before shutting the capsule and rushing into the control room, where he could watch and still speak to the patient as he died. In those last moments, the patient cried out to be held, to feel the physical presence of his friend.

What moved me about this scene was the desperate cry of the patient, who wanted to cling on to life. His words, “I do not want to die,” were confronting for me. Each person approaches mortality differently. But this elderly man from the hospice had time to prepare for death, yet he did not seem prepared. I know that all this talk about death is a bit grim. We don’t like to speak about death. We don’t have the right words for it, and it is something that we cannot control. The closest to death that we prefer to get to is during Halloween. This pretend death, with all those cemetery scenes of coffins, skeletons, and tombstones, is much easier to deal with than the real thing.

That death scene in that TV show makes me wonder what is a good death. It does seem as if a good death is one that we are prepared for, and this preparation must encompass the whole of our Christian life, that is to prepare for death throughout our lives so that when the time comes, there is that blessedness when we die in the Lord, secure in the promise of his death and resurrection.

This preparation is what Jesus is speaking about in Luke’s Gospel today, which is a much shorter version of the Beatitudes in Matthew’s Gospels. In Luke’s Beatitudes, our body and soul arebrought into right relationship with God and neighbor. But Luke is radical and wants to go beyond the norms of the usual give and take and the sometimes transactional nature of how we relate. It is not about the Golden Rule for Luke – to do unto others what you want others to do unto yourself. For Luke, it is about doing as God would do, and what God wants is a world upside down where the poor receive the Kingdom, the hungry will have their fill, the sorrowful will laugh, and those who are persecuted will be vindicated. These are the poor, hungry, sorrowful, and persecuted, whom we can see and bless in real life, and not a spiritual condition. It highlights Jesus’ care and mission to the poor and outcasts, which becomes our mission. In this mission for the sake of the Gospel, we, in turn, will be persecuted for reminding the powerful to act with mercy and compassion to the least of us. It makes the powerful extremely uneasy when they are not in control of God, when they think that instead of God, they should be the ones given reverence over and above Christ, above the Gospel, and they demand to be treated differently from every other Christian, even if they professes to be one.

Yet, in exhorting these acts of charity toward our neighbor, Jesus is also concerned about the condition of our hearts, especially when it has a warped orientation towards God and our neighbor: when we look to the pleasures and praises of the world as the goal in the way we live. When we put all our heart, mind, and soul into attaining this goal. There is nothing wrong in itself with being rich and enjoying the good things in life. Jesus does not condemn riches. He does not think that they are wrong and will bring eternal death to the body and soul. But Jesus is critiquing those tendencies to seek all our happiness in this life and this world, and disregarding Christ and the Gospel. Jesus is concerned for the rich, full, and satisfied, who, in their own eyes, are too rich and full to allow God into their lives. He warns against those who lead lives of contentment in which all their material and emotional needs are catered for and fulfilled. They do not see the need for God and are, in a way, blind to their true condition. Neither is Jesus glorifying those who suffer the conditions of poverty and dispossession. However, in their poverty and need, they are, more often than not, open to God’s actions in their lives, often at the cost of the hatred and exclusion that they receive. The poor put their faith and hope in God. The rich, who are more likely to rely on their wealth and careers. It is such worldliness, this pursuit of wealth and power, that one never thinks of one’s soul, death, and what follows.

Jesus is speaking to us through the Gospel today, asking, “Who and what do we worship and place at the center of our lives?” Can we be the kind of person Jesus described – the kind who lives the Beatitudes and loves God and neighbor? Living the Beatitudes is not because of the fear of hell. Remember the TV show that we spoke about in the beginning? The loss in weight at the moment of death, which they conclude is the weight of the soul, is 24.63g. Does that prove that there is a soul and an afterlife? I’m not sure about that, but faith in Christ and in living the Beatitudes is our body and soul desire for God to deepen God’s life in us in the here and now.      That seems like a good preparation for death.

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Fifth Sunday in Ordinary Time - Homily by Fr. Americo Santos

Today’s Scripture readings invite us to discern God’s call to each of us as His disciples for His mission. We are encouraged to recognize God’s Holy Presence and to admit our sinfulness and unworthiness, as shown by the prophet Isaiah in the first reading, St. Paul in the second reading, and St. Peter in today’s Gospel. The readings also highlight that God has specific criteria for selecting people to be His disciples, ministers, and prophets as part of His divine plan. By examining the unique calls and vocations of Isaiah, Paul, and Peter, we are prompted to reflect on our divine calling from our Baptism and our loyalty and commitment to discipleship.

Isaiah, in the first reading, and Peter, in today’s Gospel, express their unworthiness to be in the presence of God’s Holiness, but because of their humbleness in this matter, both receive their calls. The second reading emphasizes Paul’s call: He sees himself as unworthy because he was a former persecutor of Christians and the last Apostle chosen by the Risen Lord. Awareness of who we are or how we are is the first step in depending on His grace; it is an essential characteristic for a disciple.

This Sunday, God invites us to pray that our encounters with Jesus lead us to recognize our sinfulness and weaknesses so that we can accept His call. God calls us to His service and wants us to remember His presence within ourselves and others. We are encouraged to repent of our sins and remain ready to speak and act for Him daily, guided by His Holy Spirit. Throughout different moments in our lives, each of us receives a call from God to be part of His Kingdom and share the life and message of Jesus Christ through our words and actions. Some may receive a specific call to serve Him uniquely, including roles in the Church, such as priests, religious men, women, lay consecrated persons, lay missionaries, or through the sacrament of marriage. Today is a good day to pray for more vocations in the Church because we need more servants in Church. Perhaps you are being called to one of these specific vocations. I invite you to discern and respond positively to God’s call, as He may need you for one of these special roles.

My brothers and sisters, we are invited to seriously consider God’s call to be His disciples through Baptism or a special vocation in the Church. We need to follow Jesus as Peter and the other disciples did, remaining dependent on Him and ready to serve Him with love and dedication. By accepting His call, we can actively participate in various ministries of our Parish and the universal Church, for we are all necessary to God and His Kingdom.

Peace be with you,

Fr. Americo

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The Feast of the Presentation of the Lord - Homily by Deacon Joshua Choong, SJ

Filled with the Spirit, Simeon knew that his long wait was finally over. His eyes of faith recognize who the little baby is – God’s salvation. That is a lot to place on one child. Nevertheless, my question is not about who baby Jesus is for Simeon and for all humankind, but whether salvation is only about the forgiveness of my sin and my soul escaping the danger of hell in the future. Is this what salvation all about that? It seems a bit self-centered.

I do not deny that our Christian hope is ultimately directed toward God as our final destination, but surely, our Christian hope is also about being concerned about the world because we are in the world and need to engage with it. Hence, Christian hope and engaging with the world demands that we are merciful to our neighbor by responding to the neighbor, especially the one who is long overlooked, marginalized, and disenfranchised, the one who begs for peace and justice. A Christianity that only focuses on the vertical relationship between myself and God but neglects the horizontal and ethical relationship between myself and my neighbor is no Christianity at all.

In September last year, just months before the Presidential election, I read a piece of news that made me sick to the stomach. The immigrant Haitian community in Springfield, Ohio, experienced outright hostility and hate from the town’s residents after a Haitian minivan driver killed a child and injured others in an accident. One side of the Presidential campaign tapped into old racist tropes that described the Haitians of Springfield as a menace to public safety. As a result, there were increased incidences of strangers hurling insults at Haitians on the streets and in stores. What is truly appalling is that the death of Aiden Clark, the 11-year-old boy killed in that accident, was being used to perpetuate the hate, with flyers of his smiling image that read, “Killed by a Haitian invader” distributed around the city. It got to the point where his father, Nathan, had to implore the city to stop the hate in a town hall meeting because it was incompatible with what the Clark family believed. They were angry at the man who caused the accident that killed Aiden, but it never occurred to the Clarks to extend their anger upon an entire population of immigrants.

What happened in Springfield foreshadows the immigration-related executive orders after the Inauguration Ceremony. The Episcopal Bishop Mariann Edgar Budde is right when she prayed for the immigrant communities that are now living in fear, especially the children who fear that their parents will be taken away. She begged the President and his government for mercy. Mercy is truth, and mercy is who Christ is. As a religious leader, she preaches the truth who is Christ. Just like Mary, whom Simeon prophesized that her heart will be pierced, Bishop Budde’s heart and soul are pierced when she wrestles with the living God, hearing and pondering the word of the divine promise. Then, the cries of the immigrants pierce her heart when the actions of the elected government, which contradict Christian teachings, pierce her heart. She just could not stay silent, nor could she maintain a neutral stance. Otherwise, she would have chosen the side of the oppressor. Bishop Budde holds fast to the tenets of democracy and values of the founding fathers, particularly the belief that all people are created equal, that they are endowed by God with certain unalienable Rights, such as Life, Liberty, and the pursuit of Happiness. For Bishop Budde, this is her country, this is her democracy, and she wants to preserve it, protect it, and pass it on.

When acts of injustice occur, when those targeted are terrified, we must respond with kindness and mercy. The government cannot be a purveyor of death, terminating the hopes, dreams, and lives of countless people. We cannot sit idly by when the government, in our name, sets up and devises an evil system that destroys others who bear the image of God. Amid the darkness, God wants us to be the light of the world, reflecting the light of our salvation from God. But first of all, I’m inviting all of us tonight, including myself, to check the condition of our hearts – are they pierced?

Deacon Joshua Choong, SJ

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Third Sunday In Ordinary Time - Homily by Fr. Americo Santos

Dear Brothers and Sisters,

The Scripture readings for this Sunday focus on the importance and liberating power of the Word of God, which makes God present in our midst. The readings challenge us to listen to the Word, accept it into our hearts, and then put it into practice as we live out our lives, thus liberating ourselves and others from all types of bondages.

Today’s first reading, taken from Nehemiah and Luke’s Gospel, describes a public reading of Sacred Scripture, challenging the listeners to make a “fresh beginning” with a new outlook. In the first reading, after rebuilding the Temple and restoring the city, Ezra leads the people in a “Covenant renewal” ceremony by reading and interpreting the Law.

Today’s Gospel describes how, on a Sabbath, Jesus stood before the people in the synagogue of his hometown, Nazareth, reading and interpreting what Isaiah had prophesied about the Messiah and His mission. Jesus claims that he has been sent “to bring glad tidings to the poor, to proclaim liberty to captives and recovery of sight to the blind, to let the oppressed go free, And to proclaim a year acceptable to the Lord. A year acceptable for the Lord is a jubilee year, which a year of release, restoration, and redemption that occurred every 50 years in those days. Jesus confirms that Isaiah’s prophecy is being fulfilled with him because He is the messiah sent by God to the world. Jesus’ mission is to give liberation to everyone who listens to his “Good News,” accept it, and put it into practice. Luke describes that surprise and admiration were the reactions of the people listening to Jesus because of his eloquence in public speaking.

This weekend, the message is that we must always receive Christ’s freedom through his word, live it, and pass it on to others. We need Christ to set us free from sin or any bondage. Once we receive His true liberation, we must share it with those we encounter daily in our families, neighborhoods, parishes, schools, and workplaces. Also, today, we ask God for the United States of America as a country. May God guide and illuminate the new president of the United States, who must promote and respect freedom and liberation in every sense in this country. We pray for his leadership and ask God to make him merciful and compassionate toward immigrants, women, and other vulnerable groups in our American society. He needs to understand that most people in these vulnerable groups are good people who want the best for this country. They are also children of God who are actively involved in this country. The United States is an excellent country, full of people who work and serve with love. Whether some are undocumented or documented, all people in this country are the same for God. President Donald Trump must respect freedom and any human being. God bless America—one land under one God.

Peace be with you,

Fr. Americo