Come and Worship! Homily for the Twentynineth Sunday in Ordinary Time

repay to Caesar what belongs to Caesar
and to God what belongs to God.

My dear brothers and sisters in Our Lord Jesus Christ, following from the words of Our Lord today, what is it that we owe to God? To answer this question, we could have recourse to the powerful words from the book of Revelation (4:11):

Worthy art thou, our Lord and God,
to receive glory and honor and power,
for thou didst create all things,
and by thy will they existed and were created.

In other words, God is owed our worship, and if we refer to the first of the commandments, contained also in our first reading from the prophet Isaiah,

I am the LORD and there is no other,
there is no God besides me,

we recognize that this worship is due to Him alone and to no one else. To offer to anyone, or anything, else the worship – in Latin latria – that is due to God, is to commit idolatry (from the Greek eidolon-latreia), a very serious and grave offence indeed. And so, we cannot, and may not, offer to Caesar – i.e. the powers and principalities of this world – what is due to God alone.

The primacy of the commandment to love God first is not some idle commandment because God wishes to be adored. As the fourth common preface to the Eucharistic canon teaches us:

although you have no need of our praise,
yet our thanksgiving is itself your gift,
since our praises add nothing to your greatness
but profit us for salvation.

Man is a creature in need of God, and worship helps him to order his life, so that he may then be able to fulfill the second commandment: love thy neighbour. It is a truism, that one cannot love one’s neighbour appropriately, if one does not (appropriately) love God first.

And how is one to worship God appropriately? The words of the psalm this Sunday have something to teach us:

Worship the LORD, in holy attire;
tremble before him, all the earth;

To worship the Lord in holy attire must refer not only to the requirement that we must be appropriately dressed, this is, of course, essential, but – as we learned last Sunday – that our hearts must be vested in caritas, i.e. the attire of love. We cannot worship appropriately if our hearts are dark with anger and upset, lacking in trust in the Lord.

A few words also on the appropriateness of the dress that we wear to church. It has become commonplace, especially ever since the seventies, to suggest that the externals are unimportant, that what matters is our heart. As such, what we wear to church does not matter, it is how our heart beats that really matters.

This is all very well, except the false prophets of the seventies, and thereafter, forgot that we are not pure mind, but embodied beings, a blended unity of mind and body. Our body helps us shape our mind, our will and our soul. It is through the disciplining of our tangible bodies that we can discipline the intangible mind, will, and soul.

How we dress to church, therefore, matters. It matters HUGELY!

We can move on to understand the second line from the psalm:

tremble before him, all the earth

The behaviour of most people in church in our times is demonstrative that they do not realise that the church is not simply a meeting place, but the place where heaven and earth meet; not simply on the altar, but in the presence of the Blessed Sacrament present in the tabernacle. This tabernacle is not dissimilar to the Ark of the Covenant that the Israelites carried with them through their journey in the desert. The presence of God is not dissimilar to what Moses saw on Mount Sinai when he was told:

Take off the shoes from your feet, for the place where you are standing is holy ground (Ex 3:5).

It was so that we appreciate this fact, and approach the Lord with fear and trembling, that the Catholic tradition has taught us to genuflect before the Blessed Sacrament when we enter the church, subsequently kneel in prayer as we compose ourselves for the sacrifice of the Mass, and then, if we wish to sit, remain in silence until the Mass begins.

A fellow priest recently pointed out the five sins that are committed when one talks unnecessarily in a church. The first is immodesty in relation to decorum, disregarding the solemn and holy atmosphere of the sanctuary, one lowers the respect due to the house of worship. The second sin is that of admiratio, attracting, or causing, undue attention to oneself, through the speech or noise, in the process distracting the community from focusing on God. The third sin is being incircumspect, disregarding and disrupting the prayerful focus of the worshippers. The fourth sin is of injustice, to God and others, depriving God of reverence, and our neighbors of quiet. In so doing, we breach the charity and respect, the caritas, owed to the body of believers. The fifth sin, is that of loquaciousness, indulging in unnecessary or idle chatter, replacing sacred silence with worldly conversation.

Five sins, before we have even begun the Mass! And no doubt, these sinful seeds will yield their worldy fruit while we are attending the holy sacrifice. Think, therefore, dear brothers and sisters, of how important confession before Mass is, or how important discernment of our behaviour, so that the web of the world is taken from us, so that we may be vested in holy attire and appropriately render to God the worship that we owe Him.

My dear brothers and sisters, man is not just homo sapiens, the wise or knowing man, but also homo adorans, the worshiping man. Indeed, one could say that one becomes sapiential, i.e. wise or knowing, after, and only after, worshipping appropriately. With these words, I make my own those of the Gospel acclamation:

Shine like lights in the world
as you hold on to the word of life.

(A version of this homily was first preached to the faithful at Aaji Care Assisted Living Centre, Old Goa on 18 October 2026.)

(Image reference: Moses and the Burning Bush, Raphael, circa 1519, Raphael Loggias of the Apostolic Palace, Vatican City.)

Come Dressed for the Feast: Twenty-eighth Sunday in Ordinary Time

I have learned the secret of being well fed and of going hungry,
of living in abundance and of being in need. 
I can do all things in him who strengthens me. 

My dear brothers and sisters in Our Lord Jesus Christ, the theme for the lectionary this Sunday is of food. But not just any food! As always, through the lens of mundane and material things, we are directed towards a deeper appreciation of the spiritual and the immaterial. This is to say, through the figures of food, and hunger, we are directed towards an appreciation of the Eucharist, the food of our souls, the nature of the hunger that we should have for it, and the satisfaction once we have consumed it.

As the Apostle Paul teaches us in these words from his letter to the Philippians, there is a secret to being well fed and going hungry, of living in abundance and of being in need; the recognition that:

                I can do all things in him who strengthens me

In other words, when we are strengthened by Our Lord, we are well fed and live in abundance. Indeed, so well fed and abounding in life are we; that we can bear all things hunger, all forms of privation because we know that Our Lord sustains us.

This does not mean that the pains of our unmet necessities, and the pangs of hunger go away. On the contrary, we continue to suffer them, much as Our Lord, who did not have to suffer, agonized over His wounds in the course of His Passion and while on the Cross. But like Him, when we live in faith and trust, when we are strengthened by communion with Him, we know that we can bear all things.

This lesson first comes to us today, through the words of the prophet Isaiah:

On this mountain the LORD of hosts
will provide for all peoples
a feast of rich food and choice wines

We priests are taught that when we leave the sacristy and approach the altar, we must be conscious that we are ascending Calvary, where we will, in persona Christi offer up the sacrifice that was offered on that mountain. A sacrifice that will become for us all a feast of rich food and choice wine.

Too often, there is a misunderstanding about the meaning and the nature of the Mass. The Mass is the moment when we offer the perfect sacrifice to God. As in the days of the Old Covenant, when “calves and fattened cattle” were offered to God, so too today, we offer the Most Precious Body and Blood of His Son, so that:

                I can do all things in him who strengthens me

But this privilege, of being able to consume the Most Precious Body and Blood of God, does not come without its own rules, which the parable in the Gospel today educates us about.

'My friend, how is it that you came in here without a wedding garment?'

No person may attend the wedding feast of the Lamb – the sacrifice of Calvary that we offer at every Mass – without being dressed in a wedding garment.

What is this wedding garment? The first, and most obvious answer, is baptism. In baptism, our souls, stained by original sin, are cleansed by being dipped into the blood of the Lamb, and returned to us shining white, so that we may participate in the life of grace.

When discussing the parable we hear this Sunday, the Church Fathers are also clear that while baptism is an obvious answer to the question of the meaning of the wedding garment, this response is not sufficient. The wedding garment is love, caritas. Our hearts must be vested in this unstained garment of love if we are to participate in the wedding feast.  And this vestment refers as much to our actions, loving God and loving our neighbour, as to the cleansing of this heart if it has been despoiled. In other words, if our actions have been sinful, the garment over our hearts is not the wedding garment, but indeed the web of the world. Listen, once again, to the words of the Prophet:

On this mountain he will destroy
the veil that veils all peoples,
the web that is woven over all nations;
he will destroy death forever.

Through His sorrowful and glorious Passion on mount Calvary, He destroyed the web of deceit spun by the Prince of Evil. Through the Most Precious Blood and Water that flowed from His side, He birthed the Church and offered to us the sacraments that can keep us free from being enveloped in sin once again.

The opportunity to come in the wedding garment is a simple one. Come with a heart that has charity restored in it through the sacrament of reconciliation. As simple as that. For those who would not, your reward has already been notified to you:

the king said to his attendants, ‘Bind his hands and feet,
and cast him into the darkness outside,
where there will be wailing and grinding of teeth.’

In conclusion I offer you the same benediction as our father St. Paul:

My God will fully supply whatever you need,
in accord with his glorious riches in Christ Jesus.
To our God and Father, glory forever and ever. Amen.

(A version of this homily was first preached to the faithful gathered in the Pastoral Institute, Old Goa for the course in the Catechism of the Catholic Church on 11 October 2026.)

(Image reference: ‘Not Having a Wedding Garment,’ Episcopal Cathedral Church of St. Peter & St. Paul, Washington D.C., photographed by Fr. Lawrence Lew, OP.)

Cleanse the Temple! Homily for the Twenty seventh Sunday in Ordinary Time

He will put those wretched men to a wretched death
and lease his vineyard to other tenants
who will give him the produce at the proper times.

My dear brothers and sisters in Our Lord Jesus Christ, the vineyard of the Lord is the Kingdom of Heaven which we are commanded to tend. We are charged with preaching the kingdom, through our words and deeds, so that this vineyard will flourish. And each Sunday, and at other times, we are called to offer sacrifice to God, to praise and worship Him.

The Kingdom of God is made available to us primarily through the office of the priest, who offers us the sacraments that allow us to access this Kingdom. Without the sacraments, we would be unable to resist sin, and realise the great promise of salvation that has been made to us. Priests, therefore, are central to the tasks of the vineyard, not only because they lead the house of Israel in proper worship, but also because they make available to us the sacraments.

It is for this reason that the fall in vocations to the priesthood, and to religious life in general, is a matter of concern. It is for this reason that we are asked to pray for vocations to the priesthood. And yet, it is my firm conviction, that these prayers are misplaced, because the drought in vocations has been willed by our Lord Himself, displeased as he is with us, the wretched tenants of His vineyard, who fail to give him the produce of our work at the proper times.

I refer to the way in which we worship Him. The Holy Father, Pope Leo has himself, on multiple occasions raised this concern, of priests who do not follow the rubrics when they celebrate the Mass. Of worship that has lost sense of solemnity and dignity. How often, are our Masses a celebration of ourselves, the community, and not of God, tailored to His dignity? Listen to the words of the psalm in today's lectionary:

Why have you broken down its walls,
so that every passer-by plucks its fruit

There is one location that I am personally aware of, where the faithful – if they can truly be called such – use the sanctuary and the sacristy as thoroughfares to get to the parish office. Indeed, the ample sanctuary of this church was used by the lay volunteers to count the money offered during Mass! The words of Our Lord: “It is written, ‘My house shall be called the house of prayer,’ but you have made it a den of thieves” (Mt 21: 13) come to mind. Both the sanctuary and sacristy are holy places, where one should fear to tread; that we do not think twice to do so is a statement of the disrespect we afford to these places and ultimately to Him to whom they belong.

he sent his servants to the tenants to obtain his produce. 
But the tenants seized the servants and one they beat,
another they killed, and a third they stoned. 

The problem does not exhaust itself among the lay faithful. Indeed, the problem begins from within the priesthood, from which - despite the presence of very many holy priests - great evils have sprung. It is not as if there are a lack of vocations to the priesthood. There are, in fact, many men (and women) who seek to enter into priestly or religious life. They do not, however, find places that match their desire for houses burning with zeal for the Lord. How often are those in religious life seized upon, not to spend time in contemplation and worthy worship, but to operate as cogs in an administrative wheel dedicated to running hospitals, schools and other social services? The love of our brethren is an important commandment, but it cannot be placed over the commandment to love God!

When we speak of the servant who was stoned, one can think of the many young pious men across the world who enter seminary, and find that their piety, instead of being viewed positively, are scorned and mocked. In too many houses of formation across the world, piety and an attention to right worship – ortha doxa – is seen as a defect that must be corrected. And so, such men are hounded, until their spirit is broken, or they leave the seminary, because their ortho-praxis is simply seen as unacceptable.

Finally, he sent his son to them, thinking,
'They will respect my son.'
But when the tenants saw the son, they said to one another,
'This is the heir.
Come, let us kill him and acquire his inheritance.'

I know of one man, whose journey in the faith convinced him that the reception of communion on the tongue, and whilst kneeling, was the way in which he could best honour (and respect) the body of the Son that he was being offered. And yet, abandoning this practice – sanctified by the saints across the ages and a sure method to grow in devotion to the Blessed Sacrament – was made a requirement if he should continue on the journey towards priesthood.

 And so, my dear brothers and sisters, while we continue to pray for vocations, perhaps our prayers should be directed towards obtaining the graces so that right worship is once again restored.

Once again, O LORD of hosts,
look down from heaven, and see;
take care of this vine,
and protect what your right hand has planted,

Then we will no more withdraw from you;
give us new life, and we will call upon your name.
O LORD, God of hosts, restore us;
if your face shine upon us, then we shall be saved.

Holy Mary, Mother of the Church, pray for us.

(Image reference: The Cleansing of the Temple, Burlison and Grylls, 1881, St. Peter’s church, Nottingham, photo by Fr. Lawrence Lew O.P., 2015.)