Be Christ! Homily for the Fifth Sunday of Lent

Lord, if you had been here,
my brother would not have died.

My dear brothers and sisters in Our Lord Jesus Christ. How often have these words of the sorrowing Martha not been our own? How often we have complained: “Lord, where were you when I was suffering? Had you been there, I would not have had to suffer so.” This question has most famously been asked in the context of the Nazi Holocaust, which saw the imprisonment, and murder of millions of persons from across Europe; as well as the brutal killing that accompanied the World War II. Where was God? If there was a God, and he is a loving God, how could he have permitted the slaughter of so many innocents?

I received an answer to this question recently when I realized the huge number of Catholic priests, religious, and lay, who put themselves at grave risk, or even gave up their lives during the Holocaust, so that others might be able to live. The most famous example, of course, is St.Maximilian Kolbe, the Polish Franciscan friar who gave up his life so that another might live. But he is not the only Catholic to so sacrifice his life. Servant of God Frei Placido Cortese, another Franciscan, this time Italian, risked his life, and suffered brutal torture and death, to aid Jews, and others, to escape the Nazis. Or take the case of the Polish Ulma family, comprising the father Józef, mother Wiktoria and their seven children, who were martyred for hiding Jews on the run from the Nazis. One could go on, and on.

Why did all of these people give up their lives for others? Their opting to do so makes no natural sense! They did so, of course, because their Lord and Master asked them to do so:

just as you did it to one of the least of these who are members of my family, you did it to me. (Mt 25:40)

The reward for their actions they knew was not natural, but supernatural: as we hear today, the promise of eternal life, and a place in heaven.

I am the resurrection and the life, says the Lord;
whoever believes in me, even if he dies, will never die.

And as St. Paul teaches us today:

If the Spirit of the one who raised Jesus from the dead dwells in you, 
the one who raised Christ from the dead 
will give life to your mortal bodies also, 
through his Spirit dwelling in you.

But this is only a part of the answer towards which I seek to reach. Yes, they did so because of their faith in Our Lord, but they were able to achieve this supernatural response because they were aided by a lifetime of grace through the sacraments, Through these sacraments, and above all by their reception of communion, they were the face of Christ.

In other words, dear brothers and sisters, God was not absent during the Holocaust. He was very much present, in the bodies of those who willingly offered their lives so that others might live. This was Our Lord offering His body all over again. God was there, living and dying all over again in the lives of His people.

My dear brothers and sisters, in the season of Lent, through our acts of abstinence and fasting, and charity, through our spiritual athletics we seek to grow closer to the heart of Christ, so that when it is our turn, we too may have the courage to give up our lives for others, and in so doing, become an Alter Christus, another Christ.

Some months ago, referencing Irmã Lucia’s vision of Our Lady on June 13, 1917, I preached that Our Lord shares His Crown of Thorns with those of us who, like His mother, love Him and willingly offer our sufferings to join those of His. In other words, Our Lord offers to us a crown of thorns, which, if we accept, becomes for us the crown of martyrdom which we receive at the time of our judgment.

My dear brothers and sisters, all suffering in this world, is the result of sin. While we may be absolved from our sins, the repercussions of those sins continue to rebound and echo in this world, causing hurt and harm. Our Lord came to this earth to teach us that life in Him is not about fleeing pain and suffering, most certainly not repaying hurt with hurt, but embracing it in His Spirit; converting the bitterness of sin, into the waters of salvation. Every time there is suffering in this world, and a Christian steps up to embrace that suffering, Our Lord is present and reaching out to us.

As St. Theresa of Avila writes:

Christ has no body but yours,

No hands, no feet on earth but yours,

Yours are the eyes with which He looks Compassion on this world,

Yours are the feet with which He walks to do good,

Yours are the hands, with which He blesses all the world.

Yours are the hands, yours are the feet,

Yours are the eyes, you are His body.

Christ has no body now but yours,

No hands, no feet on earth but yours,

Yours are the eyes with which he looks compassion on this world.

Christ has no body now on earth but yours.

 

(A version of this homily was first preached on 22 March 2026 to the residents of the Home for the aged at the convent of St. John of God, Old Goa.)

(Image reference: Saint Veronica, Guido Reni, late 1630s,Pushkin Museum, Moscow.)

Refresh My Soul! Homily for the Fourth Sunday of Lent

I am the light of the world, says the Lord;
whoever follows me will have the light of life.

Brothers and sisters, at the start of Lent, one of the formulaic options for the priest, as he imposes the ashes is:

              Repent, and believe in the Gospel.

This fourth Sunday of Lent, we are offered the same message by St. Paul in his epistle to the Ephesians, deepening the purpose of Lent, to repent for our sins, and draw close to the light of the Gospel, and the kingdom of Our Lord.

Having been ordained less than a year ago, in the past few months I have had the extraordinary privilege to now observe the Catholic faith through the eyes of this sacred office. Through this office I have encountered, as I would not have before, penitents who come to the sacrament of reconciliation, i.e. to confession. I was recently greatly moved by little children confessing their sins. At that moment I was struck by how great our faith is, realizing how from a young age, Catholic children, as in the words of St. Paul today, are taught to:

Try to learn what is pleasing to the Lord.
[and to] Take no part in the fruitless works of darkness

What is great is that not only are they taught to distinguish right from wrong, but also to not hide these infractions of the law, but

expose them.

In so accusing themselves of their errant ways before God, they learn to grow in humility so that they may be reconciled with Him and then continue, as St. Paul teaches us today, to:

Live as children of light, 
for light produces every kind of goodness 
and righteousness and truth.

St. Paul goes on to offer us a logic that most South Asians know, that when things that have been in the dark for too long – as happens after the long monsoon rains – are exposed to light, they are purified. And so, St. Paul teaches us:

everything exposed by the light becomes visible, 
for everything that becomes visible is light.

In the sacrament of reconciliation, when we expose our most shameful sins before the priest, these sins are exposed to the light, they are examined together with the priest, and then once absolution is offered, our souls are made clean and new again.

But it is a matter of concern for me, my dear brothers and sisters, that this beautiful sacramental encounter seems to have lost popularity among the Catholic faithful. Rather than become a weekly, or fortnightly, exercise, it has become something we engage in perhaps during the Exposition of the relics of, or novena to, St. Francis Xavier; in Advent, or during Lent.

Brothers and sisters, let me be very clear, the Lenten and Advent confessions that are organized in parishes across Goa while good, are a carryover from the time when people received communion less frequently. It was because communion was received only at Easter and/or Christmas, that the confession marathons were organized; to make sure that everyone was shriven before they received the Most Precious Body and Blood of Our Lord. These practices are not sufficient now that we receive communion every Sunday, at the very minimum.

Listen, my dear brothers and sisters, to the words of St. Paul in his first letter to the Corinthians (11: 28-29):

Examine yourselves, and only then eat of the bread and drink of the cup. For all who eat and drink without discerning the body [of Our Lord], eat and drink judgment against themselves.

The apostle is clear that we cannot go to communion, without first going to confession. Confession is the gateway, my dear brothers and sisters, to a proper communion. It is confession that allows us to be present at the wedding banquet dressed in the wedding garments (Mt 22: 1-14), without which we shall be bound hand and foot, and thrown into the outer darkness, where there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth (Mt 22:13).

My dear brothers and sisters, Lent is a period of spiritual exercise, a period when we go into high gear for a period of forty days so that we can sustain ourselves for the rest of the year, and go higher the following year. Even if we have been lax this Lent, there is still time, on this Laetare Sunday, to regird our loins, and determine that we will take up the blessed exercises of Holy Mother Church, going for frequent confession, so that come Easter, and eventually at judgement, we may rest comfortably in the warm embrace of our Saviour.

For those who are napping instead of exercising in the faith, I make my own the words of the apostle:

  Awake, O sleeper,
    and arise from the dead,
    and Christ will give you light.

(A version of this homily was first preached to the faithful at the Cathedral parish of St. Catherine of Alexandria on 15 March 2026.)

(Image reference: The Healing of Naaman, anonymous artist of the Mosan school, c. 1150-1160, The British Museum.)

Fighting Babylon: A Catholic Response to the Epstein Files

Before the terrible dogs of war broke loose in West Asia/ Middle East, the world was shocked by the absolute scandal of the Epstein files. The Epstein files are part of a collection of millions of documents, images, videos, and emails detailing the activities of not only, the late Jeffrey Epstein, the now infamous American financier and convicted child sex offender, but also his social circle of public figures, politicians, and celebrities.

The scenario that unfolds through the perusal of these files reveals a scenario that is hellish! It recounts incidents where through the offices of Jeffery Epstein, various members of the global elite were able to have access to all manner of perverse perks and pleasures, but above all sexual favours, often with underage women. All of these are reported to have taken place either on the private island owned by Epstein, or in other locations marked by extreme luxury and privilege. Indeed, any one with Christian sensibilities would remark on the similarity of these details with the description of Babylon in the book of Revelation.

The revelation of these files has wrought so much damage that it brought down many among the great and powerful, notable among them being Andrew Mountbatten-Windsor, brother of King Charles III, and a great many others who are now being prosecuted or investigated for sexual abuse and corruption.

How should we as Catholics reflect on the Epstein files? Should it be that we gloat now that there is a horrific scandal amongst those same secular elites who would have crowed when the Church was embroiled in similar cases of unspeakable abuse?

Reflecting on the A-list personalities he associated with, and who have been identified as being stuck in the same web of sin that he is credited with spinning, I was struck by the banality of Epstein’s origins. His father, Seymour George Epstein, worked as a groundskeeper and gardener for the New York City Department of Parks and Recreation. Before that, Seymour Epstein was a construction laborer and worked for his father's house-wrecking company. Former neighbors and acquaintances described Jeffrey Epstein’s parents as a "quiet and humble" couple. Working class origins.  

That Epstein was not born into wealth but gained access to it through his natural talent with numbers, and no doubt his charm, makes his seduction by Babylon all the more sorrowful. It is sorrow, therefore, that should be one part of the Catholic response to this monumental tragedy. The other dimension to this response was captured by Bishop Erik Varden during the annual Lenten retreat he preached to the Roman curia this year precisely whilst dealing with the horrific sexual abuse perpetrated by members of the Catholic clergy: “A secular mindset will simplify: when it meets calamity, it designates monsters and victims.”

Bishop Varden also pointed out that “the Church possesses, when she remembers to use them, more delicate and more effective tools.” Through the centuries of Her existence, Our Holy Mother Church has come to recognize the existence of diabolical assault. “Existential hunger, vulnerability, a yearning for comfort. Such experiences” Bishop Varden reminds us, “may arise by way of assault.”

A number of potential Catholic responses are revealed when considering this teaching. First, it reminds us that the world is not only composed of that which can be seen, but also the unseen, and that this unseen world is occupied not just by God and His angels, but also by the devil and his minions. The latter seek to corrupt and assault us to achieve this diabolical end. It also becomes clear that is not for members of the Church to fall into the game of demonizing those who have fallen victim of demonic assault. One condemns the sin, but one also prays for the sinner.

Briefly viewing a clip of an interview of Epstein with Steve Bannon (a polemical figure in his own right, but let’s not go there now) the impression one came away with, was of a man who was defeated, trying to gain sympathy, still trying to use charm to get out of a situation, but above all, very confused that none of this was working any more. One pitied the man.

Contemplating Epstein – and the many men and women he associated with, and the sins they have been accused of – for a while, one realizes that this is how the diabolical works. It plays on our weaknesses, on our very human needs, as well as the strengths and talents that we are gifted by God. It promises fulfillment and resolution of our human failings, and then, once we have succumbed completely to temptation, we are dropped, so that the talents we were gifted by Our Lord, become the very weights that drag us down into hell. The Devil – the Catholic Church teaches – hates life, and how he delights when it is through our potential to live that we are compromised!

For this reason, while a Christian does let the law take its own course, because we recognize that human free will is necessary and involved in assent to diabolical propositions; mercy, and compassion – to the fallen as much as the victim – must be the face of the Christian response to sexual, or any other scandal.

In his preaching to the Roman Curia, Bishop Varden concluded with the following observation that we would do well to reflect on:

The spiritual life is not adjunct to the remainder of existence. It is its soul. We must beware of all dualism, always remembering that the Word became flesh so that our flesh might be imbued with Logos. We must keep a look-out both to the left and to the right while taking care, [Saint] Bernard [of Clairvaux] insists on this point, not to mistake the left for the right or the right for the left. We must learn to be equally at ease in our carnal and spiritual nature so that Christ our Master may govern peacefully in both.

The mercy and compassion that form the heart of the Christian response to a tragedy of the order that the Epstein files reveal, emerge from a recognition that human life is not merely the material and visible. To use the words of Bishop Varden, the spiritual life is the soul of our existence. If there is one thing that the Catholic Church has to offer in the face of the horrors of the Epstein files, it is this truth, and the recognition that success has been couched in hedonistic terms for too long, while the spiritual has been forgotten. What the world needs is to balance the material with the spiritual and walk with both the spiritual and the carnal hand in hand, each given its due importance and not confused for the other.

For this reason, the Catholic Church must also be marked by a fierce commitment to preaching the remedies that the world cannot offer; the sacraments of our Holy Mother Church, and particularly the sacraments of confession and the Eucharist.

(A version of this text was first published in the O Heraldo on 11 March 11, 2026.)

(Image reference: The Whore Babylon, Revelation 17:1-18 Page 300 Ottheinrich Bible, Matthias Gerung, c. 1530-1532.)