IN his recent podcast, “The Light of Faith,” my college classmate, Archbishop Socrates Villegas, of the Archdiocese of Lingayen, Pangasinan, explains the positions and titles in the hierarchy of the…

I still get a kick out of remembering my younger sister’s chitchat with her son, Tristan, while in the car on the way to school. Noticing that my nephew was…

“BUT the wise shall shine brightly like the splendor of the firmament, and those who lead the many to justice shall be like the stars forever.”  — Daniel 12: 3 The…

“THE jar of flour shall not go empty, nor the jug of oil run dry, until the day when the Lord sends rain upon the earth.” 1 Kings 17:14 These…

“WHOEVER or wherever you are in life, as I see you in front of me in prayer, I feel very close to you, not in any sentimental way, but as…

“DO I want to be fully seen by Jesus? Do I want to be known by him?” Henry Nouwen asks in his book, Discernment.  These questions are intriguing because they…

ONE day I asked a friend, “Can you live an anonymous life?” He said, “Yes, I can.” A part of me did not believe him because I know that everyone…

(For my article this week, I’m presenting a weekday homily I gave to our seminarians at St. John’s which can give you some insight on how we prepare seminarians to…

AN elderly Mexican woman developed a deep devotion to St. Lorenzo Ruiz de Manila. She would pray before the statue of the Filipino saint every time that she visited her…

“To give to each his own, to cite the classic definition of justice, means that no human individual or group can consider itself absolute, permitted to bypass the dignity and…

THIS coming Tuesday, Sept. 22, Pope Francis will start his journey to the United States of America. He will be arriving in Washington DC from Cuba at 4pm and will…

LAST Sunday after my Mass in a parish, a Nicaraguan woman spoke to me. She said, “Father, our new priest is wonderful. He is good. He says Mass with a…

THERE is a Catholic social service center in Pampanga, the province where I grew up in the Philippines, named Ephphatha, an Aramaic word that means “Be opened.” The word is…

” Traditions and rituals are meant to transform our relationships, to make us relate with one another with humility, love, mercy, and compassion.” What is the heart of the matter?…

“Uncle, how do I give everything to God? How do I offer my life to Him so he can take over? I just don’t know exactly how to do that.”…

It’s busy in the seminary these days as we, faculty and staff, prepare for the new academic year. It’s also an intense and exciting time because we have 30 new…

I SAW a beautiful French Christian film this past weekend entitled “The Apostle”. It’s a story about a young Muslim man named Akim who is being groomed to be an…

“I’VE got to keep a positive attitude,” I told a group of lay leaders during a meeting last week. As people continually struggle to keep their jobs and maintain their…

LAST Sunday, my homily went into a different direction, which I believe was God’s revelation. Instead of focusing on people who are crying out for help to satisfy their physical…

I FOUND it easy to interpret the Gospel last Sunday and to see its connection to the First Reading from the Book of Amos. It speaks about true discipleship, a…

GOD’S recent mighty works in my life have amazed me! He has now brought me to complete recovery after undergoing a medical procedure to cure an unruptured aneurysm in my…

“JESUS breathes the Holy Spirit into the disciples and by doing so he re-creates them. The life-giving breath poured forth at the dawn of creation is now the Spirit-breath, the…

HE was a shy, timid, introverted young man who wanted to be a missionary. But his superiors did not believe that he could make it.  “Out in the missions you…

I HAD a wonderful time last weekend. My family gathered together to celebrate my nephew’s First Communion at St. Raymond Church in Danville, California. We also celebrated my oldest sister’s…

MY siblings, nieces, nephews and I are all excited to gather together this weekend in Danville, California—not for Pacquio vs Mayweather boxing fight, but for something much more special and…

A GROUP of parishioners, several parish staff members and I were sitting at one table with an intern-seminarian to affirm his gifts and qualities and to recommend to him further…

THE acolyte summoned the priests to say a prayer before Mass. He implored, “Oh, Lord, our God, thank you for the beauty of this brand new day. Thank you for…

THE Easter Season is not over yet! We just started it last Sunday. We’re celebrating this Sunday, the Second Sunday of Easter or, as Pope John Paul II promulgated in…

IT’S Easter Sunday and according to the Gospel of John, this is the celebration of the triumph and the glory of Jesus on the cross because of his fulfillment of…

IT’S Palm Sunday this weekend, the beginning of Holy Week! We also call this Sunday, Passion Sunday, because we commemorate the entrance of Jesus to Jerusalem to be crucified, to…