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…

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…

“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…

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….

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…

AS the second semester ends this school year, I can’t help but thank God for the the privilege and the blessing of teaching seminarians at St. John’s Seminary in Camarillo,…

WE all need guidance in our lives. We need wisdom to make right decisions, to act justly, and to live according to God’s law of love. For, indeed, there are…

CAN real love exist in a community where people are related not by blood but by  common faith and beliefs? Can neighbors genuinely care for one another without sacrificing privacy?…

IN OUR Roman Catholic Church tradition, viaticum (Eucharist) is the giving of communion to a person who is dying as part of the last rites. This practice assures the dying…

JESUS’ resurrection scene this Sunday in the Gospel of John is filled with concrete images and questions, such as  “going fishing”, “caught nothing”, “Anything to eat?”, “tucked in his garments”,…

AFTER the Easter Vigil Mass in my church last week, I congratulated one of the youngsters that I baptized and joked with him,  “So, now that you’ve already received the…

AT THE conclusion of the Chrism Mass in the Cathedral of Our Lady of Angels last Monday, Archbishop Jose H. Gomez led the packed Church in cheers,”Viva El Nuevo Papa!…

AS I grow older and wiser in life and ministry, I realize how wicked a man or a woman can be, how evil can posses his or her heart and…

“REMEMBER not the events of the past, the things of long ago, consider not; see, I am doing something new! Now it springs forth, do you not perceive it?” (Isaiah 43:16)….

THE word “prodigal” means lavish, profuse, or wastefully extravagant. In the Gospel this Sunday, the younger son was prodigal because he profusely squandered his inheritance from his father on meaningless…

OUR Roman Catholic Church has entered a period called “sede vacante” (the empty chair) since Benedict XVI’s retirement last Thursday. The Pope Emeritus has taken refuge at Castel Gondolfo, the…

AMOUR (French for “love”) is an Oscar contender for best foreign film that you would want to watch if you’re looking for a dramatic movie that confronts one’s humanity to its…

MULTITUDES of people flocked our Catholic Churches again last Ash Wednesday to observe the beginning of Lent, a forty-day period of prayer, fasting and almsgiving in preparation for Holy Week…

I’VE heard them preach for the first time in class, all nineteen of them who have followed Jesus to be his future priests. They come from varied ages, some in…

“BEFORE I formed you In the womb I knew you, before you were born I dedicated you, a prophet to the nations I appointed you.” Such were the words of…

I FEEL privileged to be part of this year’s formation of seminarians of St. John’s Seminary in Camarillo, California. Being a professor of Homiletics for nineteen students in 2nd Year…

THE circumstances, consequences, and services of my father’s death and all the gatherings and prayers of families and friends are still vividly present in my mind. I’m sure that it’s…

ALTHOUGH my father’s death was inevitable and imminent because of hospice care, it still has been a very difficult and depressing time for us, his children. It’s true what many…

SCENES of my own family gathering last Christmas still live in my mind: the joyful noises of my nephews and nieces running around the house; the circle of siblings and…

I FEEL so blessed! This has been my sentiment during the past days of Advent. I feel blessed because of having been a historic and significant part of Immaculate Heart…

“ As we celebrate Gaudate Sunday this Third Week of Advent, let’s heed to the call of St. Paul in his Letter to the Philippians to “rejoice in the Lord”, to…

THERE is still a great need for conversion in each of us. When we think that we’re doing well with the practice of our faith, other people call our attention…

THERE are times when I need to be alone and to be quiet, away from the noises and the busyness of life. There are times when I prefer to stay…

CORA Oriel, the publisher of Asian Journal, shared with me an amazing story from New York Times regarding a devastation of recent Hurricane Sandy. This happened in Breezy Point in the New York…

THE Scripture readings this Sunday are filled with positive images. Mark’s Gospel might distress us with images of the darkening of the sun and the moon and the falling of…