[COLUMN] On perseverance
IN my homily last Sunday (November 6), I spoke about courage. I said that courage is the ability to express one’s mind from the values, beliefs, and genuine intentions we…
Category: Lifestyle Columnists
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[COLUMN] Filter it, pull the plug or simply think outside the box
THE one thing that differentiates a life of deprivation from a rich one is the availability of choice. And making wise choices from the array made available to us, is…
[COLUMN] On this solemn month of November
November is the month dedicated to remembering our deceased relatives, friends, and parishioners. I’d say it’s also a month of deep reflection about life—of how we live it. Do we…
[COLUMN] Tripledemic
YES, three different viruses, not only the Three Kings, are expected to visit us this coming Christmas season. This is predicted to be a winter of tripledemic. The three viruses…
[COLUMN] Circles, cycles and the seasons of our lives
IT is November. And we are coming full circle. Again. A circle is perhaps the perfect geometric structure there is. Although some would claim the triangle or a square to…
[COLUMN] Revolutionary cancer treatment, good news for hopeless patients
Everyone suffers from large and small ailments during their lifetime. In particular, cancer has long been a terrifying disease that has long been thought to be an incurable disease, with…
[COLUMN] On appreciating beauty and goodness in everyone
Greetings! The Book of Wisdom (11:22-12:2) in our First Reading, this Sunday’s Mass, states: Before the Lord the whole universe is a grain from a balance or a drop of…
[COLUMN] New COVID surge
BRACE yourself. A new surge in COVID-19 is expected this fall and winter as the new Omicron sub-variants, BQ.1, BQ.1.1 and BF.7, are evolving as the dominant strains infecting people…
[COLUMN] ‘SuperAgers’
RESEARCHERS studied autopsy findings on 24 brains, 5 of them people called “SuperAgers,” those who are 80 and over. I refer to them as “TeenAged,” individuals whose cognitive ability, alertness,…
[COLUMN] Our fight against racism and all forms of discrimination
THE judge in last Sunday’s (October 16) parable on prayer and the Pharisee in this Sunday’s (October 23) Gospel had a similar attitude. They were both arrogant toward “the rest…
[COLUMN] A lesson on persistence
We’ve got to keep moving, trusting, and persisting amidst life’s difficulties and challenges. We’ve got to continue believing in the capacities and graces that God gives us, and we’ve got…
[COLUMN] Health tips
EXPERTS predict that while the United States was basically spared from influenza the past two years, the lower flu vaccination rate that resulted in low levels of immunity and the…
[COLUMN] Rewriting your own story
IF you’ve been given the chance to restart a new life after you’ve gone through some life-changing, miraculous experience, such as surviving a horrific accident when everyone else perished, or…
[COLUMN] ‘Lord, increase our faith’
“Have faith in God. Be strong.” It’s the advice we give to a family member or friend when they go through turmoil, serious illness, or difficulty. It’s because, often, it’s…
[COLUMN] BA.4.6, BF.7 are here!
AS we lower our guard against COVID-19 because cases are decreasing, unvaccinated individuals, the prime target of the coronavirus, are becoming incubators (where the virus replicates, mutates) and carriers/spreaders churning…
[COLUMN] Money and your ego
When we buy stuff, we think we own it. The truth is the stuff owns us. If we bought the stuff on credit, then we have contracted a set time…
[COLUMN] Our single-hearted commitment to Christ
THE fundamental question we Christians should ask ourselves is: What difference does our faith in Jesus have in our lives? Any affirmative answer would strengthen our belief in Jesus and…
[COLUMN] RP calamity
16PRESIDENT Ferdinand Marcos, Jr. declared an extension of the state of calamity which former president Rodrigo Duterte initially proclaimed two years ago (in March 2020), in view of the rising…
[COLUMN] Mutual fund basics
Years ago, I was searching for something to place a small amount of money that can yield a little growth if left alone for some time. A bank certificate of…
[COLUMN] Jesus Christ, the center of our lives
THE fundamental question we Christians should ask ourselves is: What difference does our faith in Jesus have in our lives? Any affirmative answer would strengthen our belief in Jesus and…
[COLUMN] News capsules
THE average life expectancy in the United States “dropped for a second straight year from 2020 to 2021, with the COVID-19 pandemic once again playing an outsize role in the…
[COLUMN] The good book on money
WHEN something goes wrong regarding personal finance, our mental default setting is that we need someone else to help fix the problem. But if we stop and think about it,…
[COLUMN] Health news
STEM cell embryo Neuroscience news revealed that researchers headed by Magdalena Zernicka-Goetz, Professor of Mammalian Development and Stem Cell Biology from the University of Cambridge, “have created model embryos from…
[COLUMN] Ride the blast from the past
Forget the past and fully live in the moment. Why? It is because life is just too short. Or so they say. I say we still ought to make time…
[COLUMN] Philippine President Ferdinand ‘Bongbong’ Marcos heads list of prominent personalities celebrating birthdays in September
CURRENT Philippine President Ferdinand “Bongbong” Romualdez Marcos Jr., who is also known by the intials BBM, heads the list of prominent personalities and celebrities who are celebrating their birthdays in…
[COLUMN] On fulfilling Christ’s mission
THE most intimate moments when Jesus would relate to his disciples were during meals. During these times, he would teach them and share his thoughts and sentiments with them. But…
[COLUMN] Star for ‘All Seasons’ considers herself very blessed
ACTRESS-turned-public servant Vilma Santos-Recto, who recently finished her term as representative of the 6th district of Batangas in June of 2022 and is now back to being an ordinary citizen,…
[COLUMN] Lessons from COVID
FAKE news Fake news, downright lies, mis- and disinformation, in various media, especially social media, have conceivably caused hundreds of million COVID-19 infections and deaths around the world. The falsehood…
[COLUMN] Journalist Janet Nepales’ head-turning book on ‘FASHION. Filipino. Hollywood. The World’
“Creative people are critical: they don’t stop with the given and the (supposedly) “obvious.” They are imaginative. They make a habit of thinking in more open and simple ways, keeping…
[COLUMN] On stepping outside of our boundaries
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…