I HAD a marvelous Thanksgiving holiday with my family in the Bay Area. The day after a lovely Thanksgiving dinner, we spent time shopping, chatting, and eating more home made food. In the evening, we all decided to go to Union Square in San Francisco to wait for Macy’s Annual Christmas Tree Lighting. As we…
I’VE said many times in my homilies that our Christian spirituality or piety is not just about receiving grace but also about sharing grace. It’s not just about the Church dispensing the Sacraments, it’s about encountering Christ in the Sacraments so that we may be transformed according to the values of the Gospel and become…
WE’VE all heard the urging of the Holy Spirit to help victims of Typhoon Haiyan/Yolanda in the Philippines. We’ve all been moved with compassion and kindness as we saw pictures of this ferocious storm sweeping away houses, cities and villages, and killing thousands of people. We’ve seen faces of orphaned children and hungry people waiting…
ARCHBISHOP Socrates Villegas has written a prayer in behalf of Filipinos on the tragic devastations of Typhoon Haiyan/Yolanda. Here’s an excerpt of his prayer: Lord we are in great need. Like infants we cry to you, do not abandon us in our distress. We kneel in disbelief! How could you, Lord, have allowed this to…
THE First Reading of last Sunday’s Mass from the Book of Wisdom still echoes in my mind. “For you love all things that are and loathe nothing that you have made; for what you hated, you would not have fashioned. And how could a thing remain, unless you willed it; or be preserved, had it…
SOME time ago, a parishioner caught my attention when she expressed her concern about the “forgotten souls”: those who have no one praying for them anymore. They may be the ones whose tombs that family members no longer visits. They are the ones who might be in purgatory and are still in desperate need of…
MANY of us need to have a wider understanding of the concept of prayer. Some of us think that prayer is just coming to church for an hour on Sunday, praying a decade of the Holy Rosary, or spending twenty minutes of silence before the Blessed Sacrament. All these forms of prayer are good, but…
“THE word of God is not chained,” St. Paul says in his letter to Timothy as he was suffering in prison, chained because of his passion for spreading the Gospel of Jesus Christ. Such words are meaningful to us in this present time as we continue to face the problems of violence, war, poverty, and…
“WE are worthless servants, we have only done our duty,” a secretary of a Cardinal referred to these words of the gospel years ago during a dinner-tribute for his superior. Obviously, he was expressing his loyalty and obedience to the Cardinal. I have also thought of this gospel verse recently when I learned that my…
“THERE is so much arrogance in this society,” my friend complained when the receptionists of the gym where she exercised regularly treated her rudely. On that day she didn’t know that her membership had expired, and so to her big surprise, the receptionists won’t let her in. “But I have been coming to this gym…
IF WE only knew fully what were getting into, perhaps we may not have taken a path or decided on a kind of life. It could be a marriage, a career, or a business. It could be as noble as the priesthood or the religious life. It could as grandiose as a decision to engage…
I STILL think fondly about my enjoyable trip to Guatemala and El Salvador. I think not so much about the places that I visited but the warm encounters that I had with the people there. I remember the times that I sat at dinner table with some families and friends and engaged in joyous conversations…
ONE of my great mentors in the seminary taught me and my peers not only to be holy but also to be prudent, not in the sense of acquiring a great deal of knowledge on theology but in having practical wisdom of dealing with personal matters and pastoral ministry. For example, whereas the general norm…
WE get a treat of three parables in this Sunday’s Mass. The first and second parables are preparatory to the third one, a much longer parable. The first one is about a shepherd who has one hundred sheep. Upon realizing that one is missing, he leaves the ninety nine sheep to search for the lost…
IF WE only knew fully what were getting into, perhaps we may not have taken a path or decided on a kind of life. It could be a marriage, a career, or a business. It could be as noble as the priesthood or the religious life. It could as grandiose as a decision to engage…
I STILL think fondly about my enjoyable trip to Guatemala and El Salvador. I think not so much about the places that I visited but the warm encounters that I had with the people there. I remember the times that I sat at dinner table with some families and friends and engaged in joyous conversations…
IT WAS eight o’clock on a quiet night in the municipality of Izalco in Sonsonate, El Salvador. The parish priest, Padre Napo and his vicar, Padre Jorge, invited me to come to a meeting with members of their parish pastoral council. I didn’t know what to expect with this encounter. All I knew was that…
More than division, the Gospel today speaks of passion: ‘I have come to set the earth on fire, and how I wish it were already blazing! There is a baptism with which I must be baptized, and how great is my anguish until it is accomplished!’ HE is a 52 years old parish priest like…
A priest flew thousands of miles to spent a month with the community of Mother Teresa in Calcutta, India. He was in a stage of discernment for God’s further purpose in his priestly life. On the first morning that he met Mother Teresa, the pious nun asked him, “What do you want me to pray…
“VANITY of vanities. All things are vanities!” Some thinkers say that these words from the Book of Ecclesiastes are the harshest words of the Old Testament Bible and yet the most Christian ones. It’s because they prepare us for the words of Christ in the Gospel. They expose us to the ruthlessness of life and…
GOD knows those of us who work so hard and who patiently fulfill our responsibilities and obligations. God knows our fidelity to him and our persistence to live and believe despite our struggles, pains, dilemmas, heartaches and disappointments. God knows our generosity, kindness, and compassion to others. He knows our true motives. And so, despite…
POPE Francis’ homilies are getting popular nowadays. One of the reasons is that they’re simple, clear, practical, down-to-earth, honest, direct to the point, and devoid of highfalutin theological discourse. For example, some months ago when he preached at a Mass with Vatican medical staff and office of Vatican City government, he reflected on the destructive…
“BE not afraid!” These are the words that I remember most from John Paul II as he spoke to youth during World Youth Days. His successor, Benedict XVI, would convey a similar message, and I’m certain that our present pope, Francis, would keep this mandate in mind when it will be his time to speak…
In his book, The Four Signs of a Dynamic Catholic, Matthew Kelley asks: “Have you wandered what God is really like? How would you describe him?” He then answers his own question by saying: “ One word I would use is generous. In everything we attribute to God, I see immense acts of generosity. Creation is…
ELTON and Rosie finally had their church wedding last week. It was a beautiful and down-to-earth ceremony with few relatives, friends, and members of their Charismatic community. At the reception, one could feel their profound gratitude and joy as they shared experiences of faith and love. Last January, Elton and Rosie lost their two-year old…
IT HAS always been the case that every time I see my spiritual director, I end up becoming affirmed and beheld again. It is as if my spiritual director is God telling me, “Rodel, you are a special person. You have so many gifts. You are loved!” You see, like many people, I don’t always…
AT ONE time or another in one’s life many of us had wanted a miracle to happen. It could be a healing of a friend from cancer, a completion of a seemingly impossible project, a spiritual vision that could take away doubt in one’s faith, or a big financial gain. We had experienced God as…
“WHAT would you do to be global citizens, to improve communities, to act locally but think globally? This was one of the challenging questions of Kofi A. Annan, Former Secretary-General of the United Nations, as he spoke to UCLA students, staff, and guests during the annual Laskin Lecture in Royce Hall last Thursday night. It…
DURING a recent appreciation dinner for faculty members at St. John’s Seminary, I was sitting next to a rabbi, who is a professor of Old Testament theology, and his wife. “What about you,” I asked the wife, “do you also teach? “I do,” she answered. “I teach monotheistic religion.” At that time I had become…
IT’S amazing to think about the power of God in our lives, how he has gifted humanity with intelligence, strength, and artistic ability. It’s marvelous to see young people growing in wisdom and experience. It is even more fascinating to see how people persevere, how they are able to overcome the sufferings and challenges of…
