Homily for the Twenty-sixth Sunday in Ordinary Time (Year A - 9/27/2026)

In the Book of  Ecclesiastes, we hear that “[there] is an appointed time for everything, and a time for every thing under the heavens. A time to be born, and a time to die. . . A time to weep, and a time to laugh; a time to mourn, and a time to dance. . .  a time to embrace, and a time to be far from embraces. . . a time to be silent, and a time to speak. A time to love, and a time to hate; a time of war, and a time of peace” (3:1-8). And I love this verse in particular: “[God] has made everything appropriate to its time, and has put the timeless into their hearts, without man’s ever discovering, from beginning to end, the work which God has done” (3:11).

This “timeless” that God puts into our hearts is why “our hearts are restless till they find rest in [the Lord]” (Saint Augustine, Confessions 1,1.5) because, as Saint Paul tells us: “we look not to what is seen but to what is unseen; for what is seen is transitory, but what is unseen is eternal” (2 Corinthians 4:17-18). The things of this world are transitory, while the things of God are eternal. Back in high school, I was a huge fan of Michael Jordan and the Chicago Bulls. Who did not want to “be like Mike”?! During basketball season, I was glued to the T.V. I would watch basketball games all weekend. I remember one Saturday afternoon, my mom wanted to take two younger brothers and I to visit my dad at work. I told her that I wanted to stay home to watch basketball. Just when my mom was about to pull out of our driveway, I rushed out of the house and hopped into the car. I realized that there was time to watch basketball and time to spend with my family. At that moment, I chose to spend time with my family. Sure, I would have enjoyed staying home to watch the basketball games but my heart would have felt restless and empty.

In a way, I suppose you can say that I was like the first son from Jesus’ parable who initially said to his father, “I will not,” but “afterwards changed his mind” and went “out and [worked] in the vineyard.” Unlike the second son, who did not keep the promise that he made to his father, the first son repented. The first son turned away from things that are not of his father and surrendered to his father’s will. The Prophet Ezekiel put it so beautifully when he wrote that “if [man] turns from the wickedness he has committed, and does what is right and just, he shall preserve his life; since he has turned away from all the sins that he has committed, he shall surely live, he shall not die.” We must learn from the first son because this movement away from the things not of God and to the things of God is so important when it comes to our spiritual and prayer life and our relationship with Jesus. After all, Jesus came and preached repentance, saying: “Repent, for the kingdom of heaven is at hand” (Matthew 4:17) and “This is the time of fulfillment. The kingdom of God is at hand. Repent, and believe in the gospel” (Mark 1:15).

More importantly for us to understand is, in the parable of the two sons, Jesus proffers this advice to us: if we believe that God’s will for us is the best course of action, then let us not merely promise to fulfill God’s will but we must truly discern what is God’s will for our lives and do what we can to fulfill His will for us. In other words, let us not be like the second son, in Jesus’ parable, and pay God “lip service” but then we make no change in our lives to fulfill His will for us. We know that Jesus despises hypocrisy because we hear in the Gospels Christ say “Woe to you. . . you hypocrites” (Matthew 23), and warns us against hypocrisy when he tells us that “[not] everyone who says to me, ‘Lord, Lord,’ will enter the kingdom of heaven, but only the one who does the will of my Father in heaven” (Matthew 7:21).

Repentance and the fulfillment of God's will for our lives require obedience and surrender on our part. It takes humility for us to do both so as to become “good and faithful servant[s]” (Matthew 25:21, 23). Throughout the Gospels, Jesus teaches us about the virtue of humility and how to live it in our lives. In the Beatitudes, Jesus teaches that happy or “Blessed are the meek, for they will inherit the land” (Matthew 5:5). Furthermore, Christ said that “[whoever] humbles himself like this child is the greatest in the kingdom of heaven” (18:4). Moreover, he said, “The greatest among you must be your servant. Whoever exalts himself will be humbled; but whoever humbles himself will be exalted” (23:11-12). It was humility that led the tax collectors and prostitutes to believe John the Baptist, who proclaimed to the people: “Repent, for the kingdom of heaven is at hand!” Jesus pointed out that it was their humility that “the tax collectors and prostitutes are entering the kingdom of God before” the chief priests and elders who “did not later change your minds and believe [John the Baptist]." It takes humility for us to say, “Lord Jesus Christ, Son of God, have mercy on me, a sinner!”

It should not come as a surprise to us then to hear Saint Paul, in his plea to the Christian community in Philippi for unity and humility, tell them (and us) to be imitators of Jesus. Our Lord is the model of humility par excellence and worthy of us imitating. Christ surrendered to the will of his Father in heaven and was obedient to God’s will to the end. In his letter to the Philippians, Saint Paul urged them (and us) to “[have] in you the same attitude that is also in Christ Jesus, who, though he was in the form of God, did not regard equality with God something to be grasped. Rather, he emptied himself, taking the form of a slave, coming in human likeness; and found human in appearance, he humbled himself, becoming obedient to the point of death, even death on a cross.” And here is the hinge and how we ought to respond to God’s will for our lives with humility: “Do nothing out of selfishness or out of vainglory; rather, humbly regard others as more important than yourselves, each looking out not for his own interests, but also for those of others.”

Repentance and fulfillment of God’s will for our lives, that is the purpose and meaning of our lives, which is “at every time and in every place, God draws close to man. He calls man to seek him, to know him, to love him with all his strength” (CCC 7). We live out this purpose with humility by being obedient to Jesus’ commandment to  love God and love our neighbor. I participated in the Society of St. Vincent de Paul Friends of the Poor Walk this morning and was inspired by the testimonials that I heard. A woman gave thanks to God for her cancer because, in her battle with cancer, she returned to Mass and deepened her relationship with God. We heard from a man, who after having received help from SVDP, wanted to pay it forward and is now volunteering to help others facing the same dire situations that he once found himself in just a few years ago. He is now Christ to others because someone was Christ to him when he needed it the most. And so, my sisters and brothers in Christ, let us be encouraged by these words of Saint Peter, who encourages us with this advice: “let your love for one another be intense, because love covers a multitude of sins” (1 Peter 4:8). Let us repent and fulfill God’s will for our lives through humility and obedience to Jesus’ commandments.

Readings: https://bible.usccb.org/bible/readings/092726.cfm

Listen to my homily here: https://phucphan.podbean.com/e/homily-for-the-twenty-sixth-sunday-in-ordinary-time-year-a-9272026/ or https://saintalbert.podbean.com/e/deacon-phuc-phan-saturday-500-pm-vigil-mass-homily-english/

KC Austin Chapter Chaplain & Spiritual Director Reports (8/24/2026)

Brother Knights, here is a link to the video recording of my Spiritual Director Report during the meeting. For our reports, Fr. Charlie and I focused on the "Diocesan Conference of Our Lady of Guadalupe" (which was scheduled for Sept. 11-12, 2026) and encouraged brother Knights and families to attend the Conference if they are able. Additionally, I spoke on Cor. Please take a moment to watch the video for more details. It is a 5-minute video.

Homily for the Feast of Saint Matthew, Apostle and evangelist (Year A - 9/21/2026)

Today is the Feast Saint Matthew, Apostle and evangelist. In today’s Gospel, we hear Jesus called Matthew to “[follow] me.” Matthew responded with faith and “got up and followed him.” In the call of Matthew, Jesus shows that we are precious in the eyes of God even if we are not in the eyes of others or even in our own eyes. Jesus also shows us that he calls us to himself in the ordinaryness and busyness of our everyday lives. Finally, when Jesus calls us to come and follow him, we must respond, not tomorrow or at some later time but now.

Matthew was a “Jew who worked for the occupying Roman forces, collecting taxes from other Jews. The Romans were not scrupulous about what the ‘tax farmers’ got for themselves. Hence the latter, known as’“publicans,’ were generally hated as traitors by their fellow Jews. The Pharisees lumped them with ‘sinners’ (see Matthew 9:11-13)” (Franciscan Media, 9/20/2026). Yet, in Jesus’ eyes, Matthew was a beloved son of the Father in heaven, deserving of love and mercy. It is the same with us. Jesus “did not come to call the righteous but sinners.” Like Matthew, we are the sinners in need of God’s mercy. And, like Matthew, others may judge us and even condemn us and, perhaps, we might even judge and condemn ourselves harshly. But it is not so with Jesus, who says to us: “Neither do I condemn you. Go, [and] from now on do not sin any more” (John 8:11).

Moreover, in the call of Matthew, Jesus shows us that he calls us to himself in the ordinaryness and busyness of our everyday life. Matthew was sitting at his “customs post” when Jesus told him to come and follow him. For us, Jesus speaks to us each and every day of our lives. Many of the decisions that we make on a daily basis are invitations for us to respond after prayerful discernment as to what God’s will is for us. They are also opportunities to be witnesses of God’s love and mercy toward others and to the world by living “in a manner worthy of the call [we] have received [at our Baptism], with all humility and gentleness, with patience, bearing with one another through love, striving to preserve the unity. . . through the bond of peace” (Ephesians 4:1-7, 11-13).

Finally, when Jesus calls us to come and follow him, we must respond, not tomorrow or at some later time but now. We heard that immediately after Jesus called him, Matthew “got up and followed him.” Saint Teresa of Calcutta once said, “Yesterday is gone and tomorrow has not yet come; we must live each day as if it were our last so that when God calls us we are ready and prepared, to die with a clean heart.” And so, my sisters and brothers in Christ, let us not put off until tomorrow what we can do today, particularly when it comes to things of God and eternal life in heaven and the salvation of our souls. Let us not waste the many opportunities God gives us daily to come and follow him.

Readings: https://bible.usccb.org/bible/readings/092126.cfm

Homily for Monday of the Twenty-third Week in Ordinary Time (Year A - 9/7/2026)

In today’s first reading, Saint Paul posed this question to the Corinthians: “Do you not know that a little yeast leavens all the dough?” In doing so, Saint Paul is reminding us of Jesus’ teachings on how we can be the “yeast” that “leavens” or transforms the culture and society in which we live. In the Gospel of Matthew, Jesus spoke of this parable, saying: “The kingdom of heaven is like yeast that a woman took and mixed with three measures of wheat flour until the whole batch was leavened” (Matthew 13:33). This is our mission as Catholics, the mission that Jesus entrusted to us at our baptism, to be priests, prophets, and kings, to be the yeast that leavens the dough that is the world in which we live.

At the same time, Jesus also warns us to “[look] out, and beware of the leaven of the Pharisees and Sadducees” (Matthew 16:6). We see this in today’s Gospel. Jesus came to preach and teach mercy, forgiveness, and healing, yet the “scribes and the Pharisees watched him closely to see if he would cure on the sabbath so that they might discover a reason to accuse him.” They did not want to accept Jesus’ message to become the yeast that leaven those they serve. Are there “scribes and Pharisees” that are obstacles to us in our lives that need to “be expelled from your midst”? Or have we become like the “scribes and Pharisees” that are “inflated with pride”? Are we our own obstacle to being the yeast that leavens the dough that is the world in which we live?

Saint Paul, reiterates Jesus’ preaching and teaching on this, warns us not to be like the scribes and Pharisees, and gives us this advice, saying: “Clear out the old yeast, so that you may become a fresh batch of dough, inasmuch as you are unleavened. For our Paschal Lamb, Christ, has been sacrificed. Therefore, let us celebrate the feast, not with the old yeast, the yeast of malice and wickedness, but with the unleavened bread of sincerity and truth.” This, in essence, is the universal call to holiness to which we are all called. From the Vatican II document, Lumen Gentium: “Finally all Christ's faithful, whatever be the conditions, duties and circumstances of their lives—and indeed through all these, will daily increase in holiness, if they receive all things with faith from the hand of their heavenly Father and if they cooperate with the divine will. In this temporal service, they will manifest to all men the love with which God loved the world” (41). Therefore, my sisters and brothers in Christ, if we strive for holiness in our lives, then we can be the “little yeast” that “leavens all the dough” that is our world.

Readings: https://bible.usccb.org/bible/readings/090726.cfm