FR. LEON'S HOMILIES

Theme: We are Sent to Teach People to Keep God’s New Covenant

The first reading talks about the covenant between God and the people of Israel. God fulfilled his part of this “sacred agreement” by making the Israelites his “chosen people” and his “holy nation”. He then reminds them to do their part. The people of Israel are called to keep God’s covenant and observe his commandments completely in order to benefit from this privilege of being the “chosen people” and “holy nation”. Today we are in a new covenant with God through Jesus. In this “Sacred Agreement”, God did his part by “justifying” or “reconciling” us to himself through the blood of his only Son Jesus on the cross. To benefit from this justification and be ... READ MORE

Theme: The Eucharist as the Spiritual Food and Real Presence of Christ

In reading the scriptures of today, I realize that there are two types of hunger that people suffer from in our societies. There are people who hunger for basic foods and those who hunger for presence or companionship. The people who struggle to find something to eat can understand today’s scripture readings better than those whose basic food is not a problem. To hear that God intervenes to feed the Israelites in the desert is a real sign of love and care for the poor because, for them, bread and water are a matter of life and death. On the other hand, other people hunger for values other than food and water. They suffer from absence where there should be presence. They hunger for companionship, love, concern, mercy, and respect which are not problems in great families of poor societies. So, these people who suffer from the absence will understand better what the evangelist John teaches us in our Gospel that the Eucharist is the Real Presence of Jesus Christ. In this liturgy of Corpus Christi, our Mother Church teaches us two mysteries of the Eucharist: The Eucharist (the Body and Blood of Christ) is the spiritual food that gives us eternal life, it is the real presence of Jesus who is our companion in our earthly journey, and it unites us with our Lord and with our brothers and sisters.  

The Eucharist is the spiritual food that gives us eternal life. Our first reading, taken from the book of Deuteronomy, tells us the story of how Moses used the experience of Exodus to call his people to observe the commandments of God that he enjoined on them. In v. 1, which is missing in our passage, Moses starts his exhortation with the words “Be careful to observe this whole commandment that I enjoin on you today” (Deuteronomy 8: 1). Then, in our passage, he reminds his fellow Israelites of how God took care of them in their exodus of forty years from Egypt to the promised land. When they were hungry, God fed  ... READ MORE

ST. AUGUSTINE AND ST. BARTHOLOMEW CATHOLIC CHURCHES

2022 ADVENT REVIVAL

Theme: The Power of Prayer

Revivalist: Rev. Fr. Leon Ngandu, SVD

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Theme: Love is the Essence of the Holy Trinity

Last Sunday, we celebrated the Pentecost, the descent of the Holy Spirit upon the disciples of Jesus and upon all of us. The Holy Spirit refreshed the gifts and graces we received on our baptism and confirmation days. We have been renewed and enabled to take up the missions that our Lord commissioned us for on the day he was taken up to his Father, the Ascension, which we celebrated on May 21st. Let me remind “us” of these missions. In the scripture readings of the Ascension Sunday (May 21st), Jesus commissioned us to be (1) his witnesses wherever we live, (2) make disciples of all nations (starting in our families, Church community, neighborhoods, and everywhere we are), and (3) teach them to observe, not what we want, nor what people want to hear, but what he [Jesus] commanded us. The solemnity of Pentecost marked the end of the East Season. Today, we resume the Ordinary Time.

After being commissioned (on Ascension Sunday) and filled with the Holy Spirit (on Pentecost Sunday), we are now back in our ordinary lives to live what we have learned from our experience with the Risen Lord.  We resume this Ordinary Time with the celebration of the Solemnity of the Most Holy Trinity, which is the central mystery of the Christian faith. In the Holy Trinity, note that we Catholics do not believe in three Gods but in one God as we profess it in our creed. In the doctrine of the Holy Trinity, our Mother Church teaches that there is One God in three Persons: God the Father, God the Son, and God the Holy Spirit. The mystery of the Holy Trinity cannot be demonstrated using human reason. The scripture readings of today suggest that we meditate on the name and attributes of God to help us understand this doctrine. In the first reading, God calls himself “the LORD” and reveals the attributes of his name: mercy, grace, forgiveness, kindness, and fidelity. All these attributes are defined by one word: Love which is the essence of the Trinity. Out of his love for us, God gave his only Son to save us. (Gospel). As God is the Lord of mercy, grace, kindness, forgiveness, and fidelity, we are called to practice these values in our families and communities. (Second reading). 

Knowing the context of our first reading is important to understand its lesson. The section that we heard is part of the story about God restoring the tablets of the Law that  ... READ MORE

1st Day: Sunday, March 26, 2023 (Within Masses)

2nd Day, Monday, March 27, 2023

Theme: The Purpose, Importance, and Types of Prayer 

I. The Purpose and Importance of Prayer

We learn from the Scripture that though Jesus is the son of God, prayer was at the center of his life. In many places in the Bible, we see Jesus praying to God, his Father. For instance:

1. Mark 1:35: Jesus got up, left the house very early in the morning while it was still dark, and went off to a solitary place, where he prayed.

2. Matthew 14:23: After he had dismissed them, he went up to a mountainside by himself to pray. When evening came, he was there alone.

3. Luke 6:12: One of those days Jesus went out to a mountainside to pray and spent the night praying to God.

4. Luke 22:32: But I have prayed for you, Simon, that your faith may not fail. And when you have turned back, strengthen your brothers."

5. Luke 22:41-44: He withdrew about a stone's throw beyond them, knelt down, and prayed, "Father, if you are willing, take this cup from me; yet not my will, but yours be done." An angel from heaven appeared to him and strengthened him. And being in anguish, he prayed more earnestly, and his sweat was like drops of blood falling to the ground.

We are called to follow Christ’s example of ... READ MORE AND DOWNLOAD A PDF COPY