The heart has its reasons
Perhaps the heart is not just a sort of Valentine, or only the beating thing in a chest that sustains life. It is also the well, spring of all faith,…
Category: Lifestyle Columnists
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The many faces of love
Love’s vistas are inexhaustible. But for all the ardency of love’s idealism and romance, it can only be taken as an act of faith. To be ruled under the spell…
Of ‘scraping’ and ‘sculpturing’ during this season of Lent
RA Paulette has spent his life for the past twenty-five years pursuing his passion, which is transforming caves into breathtaking, poetic and massive pieces of art out of sandstones. Every…
David DiMuzio: A Pinoy-at-heart American
It’s always fascinating to listen to or watch a foreigner faultlessly singing Tagalog songs. Aside from the uplifting feeling of unexplainable pride inevitably induced by the situation, it indubitably gives…
Can we delay aging?
Why do we age? Just like machines and engines, our bodies age because of the cumulative damages to our cells, tissues and organs (resulting from daily “wear and tear” and…
The day a man retires
Work is a mysterious thing. Many of us claim to dislike it at times, but it takes a grip on us that it captures our emotions and loyalties we never…
Songs that my mother taught me
My first knowledge of the world and about life came to me through my senses. They were directed by my mother. She was the first person I saw, felt and…
To serve the People of God with heroic love
“ People love us — priests — despite our imperfections. They see us as representatives of Jesus Christ on earth; they esteem us for our noble works and our sacrifices….
Pauleen Luna and Vic Sotto seal May-December affair with a lifetime commitment
After having defied all odds, they finally tied the knot! Destiny concluded Pauleen Luna and Vic Sotto’s 5-year relationship and certainty capped their poignant reverie with a “forever” that commenced…
Light therapy for treating depression
IT is the season to be jolly, but about 18.5 percent (1 in 5) or 43.8 million adults in the United States experience some type of mental illness during this…
What is sleep apnea?
SLEEP apnea (AP-ne-ah) is a common disorder in which you have one or more pauses in breathing or shallow breaths while you sleep. Breathing pauses can last from a few…
The agony and ecstasy of divorce
LAS VEGAS— Come hell or high water, people flock here to untie the knot. Divorce is simply about the villain and the victim. It is who got cheated and who got…
Meeting God as a child: Filipinos’ simple spirituality
“ Our understanding of God speaks of a low Christology: the God of the Scriptures, the God who became human like us, and the God who entered our broken human…
The wonders of Pegan diet
WE are what we eat and drink, philosophically and medically. Diet plays the most significant role in our health and longevity — more than genetics and exercise in most instances….
The Presidential guards and the press
“Once upon a time, the US Secret Service had to be an all-embracing elite force—self-respecting, fearless and valiant. They took charge of the security and decorum of every event that the president…
Santo Niño and our childlike faith
A MAN was inside a church kneeling in front of a big statue of Santo Niño. In his prayer, he said: “Santo Niño, please help me win the lottery. I…
The woman in black
IT happened faster than it took her to draw a breath. Anybody can become a widow—there are no special qualifications. It did not require planning to become a wife, mother, or…
Beauty is simply skin-deep that could either be enhanced or altered
THE most beautiful makeup of a woman is passion, which is hard to find and never sold. Makeup simply defies the degradations of time and not the marks of life’s…
A review of popular health news
LOOKING back in review, there was some fascinating news in medicine in 2015 — a few of them controversial, especially infectious diseases and cancer screening and prevention. E-cigarettes more dangerous…
Oh, if I were a man
A woman is not spared from humiliation, servitude and abuses. She could get raped in a dark street. She has to make use of a pretty face to be accepted…
Aboard a floating carnival
THE most interesting about spending time in an ocean voyage is that it is purely relative. Like a fragment in space, a moment is in time. We sailed in the…
Revisiting Filipinos’ devotion to the Black Nazarene
I FOUND myself in the middle of a wave of people, mostly young men, parading barefoot before the image of the Black Nazarene. We were like bees or small fish…
One Sunday at FACLA
BBM-USA Chairman Fernandico Q. Gonong guided his guest, Greggy Araneta through a throng of folks, men and women alike, swathed in all shades of red. It was not a social…
The Master Showman’s curtain fell with finality
THE fangs of death could be dreadful especially for one whose faith isn’t strong enough to enable him to either come face to face with his Creator or cushion his…
Writing an unchaste novel
Do we seriously think writing is all joy? It is also half pain. Sometimes it is pain that makes us write. Think about the atrocious solitude of a room that…
When is writing not a joy?
DO we seriously think writing is all joy? It is also half pain. Sometimes, it is pain that makes us write. Think about the atrocious solitude of a room that…
A strong message this new year from Pia!
PIA Wurtzbach, the newly crowned Miss Universe, the latest pride of the Philippines, has become a celebrity with her interviews on almost every television channel here in the US. Her…
Greggy Araneta’s winsome drop by at the BBM-USA Assembly
LOS ANGELES—We had big excitements in our neighborhood at the Historic Filipinotown last Sunday, Jan. 4. There were predictable enthusiasm, pleasant surprises and enterprising constancy. Most astonishingly, what we learned…
Prayer in time of transition
“FROM that time on, Jesus began to preach and say, “Repent, for the kingdom of heaven is at hand.” (Matthew 4:23) Many of us are deeply concerned about the things that…
Filipino singing superstars on the international stage
EVEN before the advent of reality talent show competitions on TV, we had capably established and stamped our distinct mark, as Filipinos, in the international music scene. The unprecedented record…