English Homily- First Sunday of Summer- Fr. Peter Patros

Summer is a season of freedom that quietly becomes a season of forgetting — forgetting prayer, priorities, and God in the middle of busyness. Jesus at the wedding banquet gives a simple command: take the lowest seat. Applied to daily life, there are three high seats we constantly reach for: the need to always be right, even at the cost of hurting others and disobeying God; the need to always be seen, chasing an applause that will never be enough; and the constant irritation at what everyone else does, which is just pride hiding in small things. Water always finds the lowest place — and so did Jesus, who left heaven not just to meet us where we are, but to take us where he is.

English Homily- 7th Sunday of the Apostles- Fr. Mark Owdeesh

Christ’s image of the narrow door is brought to life through an unexpected piece of history — churches in Iraq and Italy intentionally built short, narrow entrances so that armed soldiers on horseback could not ride in, and so that anyone entering would have to bow their head in humility. That physical gesture became a spiritual one: you cannot enter the presence of God without bending yourself. And you cannot fit through a narrow door carrying baggage — the sins, wounds, unforgiveness, and hurts we drag with us simply will not pass through. The striving Christ calls us to is not brute effort but the harder work of letting go, forgiving, and surrendering what we carry to God. Repentance orients us toward the destination; humility is what actually gets us through the door.

English Mass- Fifth Sunday of Apostles- Fr. Peter Patros

On Father’s Day, fathers are called to their three core roles: provide, protect, and be present. Jesus’ parable of the rich fool warns against hoarding earthly wealth while neglecting the soul — possessions and anxiety about the future can quietly become the thing that owns us. The remedy is not necessarily poverty, but a reordering of priorities: loosen your grip, give sacrificially, and store treasure in heaven. True provision means forming souls, raising children to know God so they carry security that no savings account can offer. The model is St. Joseph and ultimately Christ himself — who emptied himself, protected us, and promised to remain present always.

English Mass- Fourth Sunday of The Apostles- Fr. Peter Patros

Prayer, worship, and sacrifice are meant to be medicine for our own spiritual sickness — not a trophy to prove how good we are. God rejected the offerings of Israel not because of how they were given, but because the hands giving them were full of injustice and hypocrisy. Jesus asks why we call him Lord but do not do what he says, and St. Paul models the opposite of pride — disciplining himself constantly, never assuming he was already cured. The Eucharist itself is described as the medicine of immortality, received humbly by all. The call is simple: stop turning spiritual practices into status markers, and ask honestly whether your prayer is healing you or just making you look good.

English Mass- Feast of Pentecost- Fr. Peter Patros

Pentecost is set against the Tower of Babel — one scattered people through confused tongues, the other gathered them back through the Holy Spirit. The strongest community can be undone by what comes out of its mouth, and the weakest rebuilt the same way. Families stop coming to Mass, people walk away from parishes, and years of relationship are destroyed — not by atheism or broken ideology, but by the tongues of Christian people. The same apostles whose tongues denied Christ, argued over greatness, and went silent on Good Friday were set on fire by the Holy Spirit to preach the gospel to the ends of the earth. God wants to do the same with ours — taking the tongue that gossiped, that spoke harshly, that stayed silent when it should have spoken — and consecrating it for something greater.

English Homily- Sixth Sunday of Easter- Fr. Peter Patros

Scripture traces the experience of separation on a grand scale — Cornelius the outsider and Peter the rule-keeper were both trapped, one by exclusion and one by the law, until God tore the wall down. St. Paul tells the Ephesians they are no longer strangers but citizens of heaven and members of God’s household — dwelling places of the Holy Spirit. On Mother’s Day, the mother’s womb is held up as the first temple any human ever knows, a living image of what it means to house another life completely. Mothers, fathers, and children are each called by name — and all are reminded that we are called to make our lives a home where God himself can dwell.​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​

English Homily-Fifth Sunday of Easter-Fr. David Stephen

After the resurrection, the disciples return to fishing — reverting to what they know when clarity fades and results are slow. Christ meets them there, present but unrecognized, quietly waiting as he so often does in our own confusion and failure. When a stranger tells them to cast their nets one more time, they obey — and the catch is overwhelming. The spiritual principle is simple: grace enters when obedience begins. Not when we feel confident or strong, but when we trust God over our own plans, especially when obedience is inconvenient. When our efforts feel fruitless, we must not abandon the boat — and when we finally recognize him, we must be like Peter, who jumped into the water without hesitation because love knows no bounds.

English Homily- Fourth Sunday of Easter- Fr. David Stephen

The “little while” Christ repeats to his disciples is the space most of us live in — between prayer and answer, suffering and healing, confusion and clarity. Jesus does not promise to remove that waiting, but uses the image of a mother in labor to show that pain with a purpose is never wasted. Christian suffering, when united to Christ, becomes purification, and our wounds become places where grace enters. Three practical ways to live through the little while: stay with Christ instead of running, reframe suffering by asking what God is doing rather than why it is happening, and hold to his promise over our feelings. Christ does not offer the removal of trouble but peace within it — and his final word is not sorrow, but joy.

English Homily- Third Sunday of Easter- Fr. David Stephen

Faith is not a passive practice of attending Mass and receiving sacraments, but an active way of life that shapes how we speak, think, act, and respond to others. Thomas and Philip’s question — “how can we know the way?” — mirrors our own tendency to turn to God only in crisis, treating him like a vending machine rather than a daily relationship. Christ calls us to come to him before, during, and after every struggle. The story of Mother Teresa, who responded to being spat on with grace and a request for the children, illustrates the costly courage that living faith demands. We are called not just to receive mercy, forgiveness, and love from God — but to give more of it than we have even received.​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​

English Homily-Divine Mercy Sunday- Fr. Peter Patros

New Sunday (Khoshaba Khatha) is celebrated as the first Sunday after the Resurrection, coinciding with Divine Mercy Sunday and the memorial of Mar Abraham. The focus is on the Divine Mercy icon revealed to Saint Faustina Kowalska, whose rays of blood and water symbolize life, cleansing, and renewal flowing from Christ’s side. Thomas the Apostle is held up as the central figure — his doubt, his demand for proof, and his transforming encounter with the risen Jesus leading to faith. Several motives of credibility are presented to explain belief: miracles, fulfilled prophecy, the witness of saints, and mass historical conversions. Each believer is pastorally called to encounter the risen Christ and become a living witness — to be Jesus for others who still doubt.