FR. Steve, my colleague in the seminary, told me as soon as he left my office after we chatted, “Fr. Rodel, God will never abandon you. And remember, just as…

IT’S Lent, a season of repentance, a longing to go to Confession to prepare for Easter. So, during this penitential season, a Facebook friend sent me a message to ask…

AT times, I’m amazed seeing the zeal of some of our seminarians in their vocation. Take for example, this 24-year-old first-year theology student who is disciplined in most areas of…

Every Thursday evening the priests and parishioners of Sacred Heart Church in Rancho Cucamonga, California gather in their church to spend Holy Hour before the Blessed Sacrament. At least three…

WE make promises: a promise to be faithful to one’s spouse; a promise to take care of a family member; a promise to be with a friend in times of…

I HAVE never attended a Jewish service in my entire life until last summer  when my friend Armando invited me to a Shabbat while spending a week-long of vacation in…

THE Church sees the homily as an opportunity to address a “people hungry, sometime desperately so, for meaning in their lives.” The homily attends to feeding that particular hunger.  In…

SHE exuded passion and love for her ministry to undocumented migrants as she spoke powerfully to the participants of the Biennial Consultation of the Association of Theological Field Education last…

I FOUND myself in the middle of a wave of people, mostly young men, parading barefoot the image of Black Nazarene. We were like bees or small fishes swarming around…

POPE Francis spoke as a revolutionary reformer in his homily when he celebrated his first Mass in the Philippines at the Manila Cathedral on Friday, Jan 16. Tender but challenging…

The Philippines is gearing up for the arrival of Pope Francis on Thursday, January 15.  Drivers, newscasters, government officials, street vendors, Catholics, non-Catholics and just about everyone in the country…

HAPPY New Year to all! I hope that our hearts are filled with gratitude to God for all the blessings that we received from him last year. And like  Mary…

FILIPINOS are excited about the coming of Pope Francis to the Philippines on January 15-19, 2015. As many Filipinos would say, “This is a good start for the New Year!”…

I SPENT most of my time this week visiting our seminarians who are on parish internship this year.  As always, I feel happy when I hear them express their excitement…

“ Advent is the time to strengthen the uneven and crooked shapes of our lives, to broaden our horizons, and to reform of our ways.” THERE is still a great need…

MY fellow priest in the seminary, Fr. Leon, gave a beautiful homily last Tuesday, the day that the seminarians left for Thanksgiving break. He said that we’re like grains of…

MY dear friend, Prosy Delacruz, pleaded that I respond to Rodel Rodis’ column, Pope Francis’ View of God on Inquirer.net.  My tukayo’s column reflected on Filipinos’ perception of God in the…

WHENEVER I go to the airport these days, I would always see a group of Chinese teenagers.  And I would always wonder how their parents are able to send them…

I’M writing from Orlando, Florida while attending the 2nd General Assembly of the National Association of Filipino Priests—USA. I remember fondly the first assembly that we held three years ago…

WE don’t like to talk about death, especially one’s death. We try to ignore it because it brings us to the hard reality of the end of life.  But we…

I LOVE to rise up early in the morning like at four or at five o’clock. It’s quiet and serene; most people are still asleep. It’s the best time to…

“SO what did you talk about?” I asked a Catholic school teacher who came from a whole day of Religious Education conference. “We talked about unity,” she answered. “Unity? What’s…

“I KNOW how to live in humble circumstance; I know also how to live with abundance. In every circumstance and in all things I have learned the secret of being…

AS I minister to seminarians, I can’t help but thank God for the generosity of their hearts. They have responded to the call of God to be priests. They’re willing…

HAVE you ever wished that a delightful experience that you had recently should have happened earlier in your life? Well, I had this experience a few days ago. I was…

HAVE you ever thought if anyone has found the true cross on which Jesus was nailed and died? History says that in the 4th Century, St. Helena, mother of the…

TWENTY seminarians from St. John’s Seminary have started their parish internship this week.  They are excited and happy about this new experience. After four years of academic work, the seminary…

IT’S not easy to become a priest. Although I know this first-hand, it became clearer to me this week while listening to seminarians share their struggles of priestly formation. One…

AS a group of scholars in theology and veterans in seminary formation were preparing for a new school year, a discussion at a breakout session came about between two professors. …

I HAVE never attended a Jewish service in my entire life until two weeks ago, when my friend Armando invited me to a Shabbat while spending a week of vacation…