Aug 14, 2026 Courage, Humility, and Love At first glance, we Filipinos might describe Jesus in today’s Gospel with a very familiar word: “suplado.” A Canaanite woman approaches Him, desperat…
Jul 4, 2026 NEW BEGINNINGS, SAME PROMISE In today's Gospel, Jesus once again teaches us about finding peace in God. He uses the image of a yoke to comfort and encourage those who are weary a…
Apr 17, 2026 Where do broken hearts go? Emmaus! There is a famous song, “Where Do Broken Hearts Go” by Whitney Houston, that asks a very human question: Where do broken hearts go? It is not just a…
Feb 13, 2026 Living the Law with a Filipino Heart When Jesus says in today’s Gospel, “I have come not to abolish the law but to fulfill it,” He is speaking to people who knew the commandments by hear…
Dec 12, 2025 KUNG SAAN KA MASAYA… O KUNG SAAN KA MAGALAK? Masaya ka ba sa buhay mo? O nalulungkot ka? These are the questions a retreat master once asked his retreatants. Today is Gaudete Sunday. Gaudete mea…
Oct 10, 2025 Only the Faithful Return Jesus reveals a characteristic that serves as a lesson for us — the quality of a person with faith. From the Gospel story, we can draw three importan…
Aug 2, 2025 NOT TO STORE BUT TO SHARE Once, a seminarian asked me, “Who is more blessed—a poor man or a rich man?” I didn’t answer immediately. Instead, I threw the question back to him…
Jun 13, 2025 GOD OF RELATIONSHIP Today, we celebrate Holy Trinity Sunday—the Feast of our God: one in essence but three in Persons. The Trinity is a mystery, not to be solved but to…
Apr 19, 2025 BE A MARY OF MAGDALEN, NOT A MARITES HAPPY EASTER! ALLELUIA! THE LORD IS RISEN, ALLELUIA, ALLELUIA Today we celebrate the greatest truth of our faith and for all time: Jesus is risen. G…
Feb 14, 2025 BLESSED ARE YOU WHO HOPE IN THE LORD I know a parishioner who is a single mother with a special-needs daughter. Her partner left them upon discovering their child's condition. Later, som…
Dec 15, 2024 Rejoice no matter what Today is Gaudete Sunday, also known as Rejoice Sunday. Why do we need to rejoice? Because in just a few more days, we will celebrate the birth of our…
Oct 2, 2024 The spelling of marriage is forever There is a famous Tagalog saying that goes, “Ang pag-aasawa ay hindi parang kaning isusubo na iluluwa kapag napaso.” Like hot rice that cannot be eas…
Jul 27, 2024 Crisis and God’s Providence The recent typhoon “Carina” has left a significant impact on many lives. The death toll, the people trapped in floodwaters, and the widespread damage…
May 18, 2024 Pentecost: a movement from introvert to extravert Last month, I received the personality test results of some of my seminarians. I shared their results with them and asked if they identified as intro…
Mar 7, 2024 God Passionately Loves You In our journey of faith, we often contemplate the nature of love, usually reflecting on our love for God and His people. While this is important, tru…
Dec 23, 2023 Availability Today's Gospel passage from Luke 1:26–38 invites us to reflect on the virtue of availability, a virtue exemplified by the Blessed Virgin Mary in her…
Oct 14, 2023 Stop giving excuses to God Do I say yes or no to God’s invitation? God’s invitation is, first and foremost, a call for us to be part of His kingdom of love, peace, and righteou…
Aug 18, 2023 Woman, great is your faith “O woman, great is your faith!” Jesus was touched and admired by the faith of the Canaanite woman after he tested her by citing a proverb: “It is not…
Jun 17, 2023 The 3 C’s of a Father This Sunday is the 11th Sunday in the Ordinary Time and also Father’s Day. I will try to connect this celebration to our Gospel for this Sunday. In t…
Apr 8, 2023 Practical meaning of Easter During the Siete Palabras in Sitio Militar, I heard true-to-life stories of people who have lived Good Friday, Holy Saturday, and Easter Sunday in th…
Jan 27, 2023 Gusto ko happy ka Gusto ko happy ka. These words were said to me by a boy who has down syndrome before I celebrated the daily mass in his parish. Everyone wants to be…
Nov 20, 2022 The Gentle King As we close the liturgical year today, we can utter this phrase: “For all that has been, thanks. For all that will be, yes.” We give thanks to the Lo…
Sep 16, 2022 Pick your master: God or mammon? I remember the segment of one noontime show here in the Philippines “PERA O BAYONG.” The contestant needs to choose money or the one inside of a bag…
Jul 24, 2022 To pray is a MUST 1. In the past two Sundays, we may say, St. Luke was describing to us who is a true disciple of Jesus. A true disciple of Jesus is both like a good S…
May 27, 2022 Look up and down I am one of the 15 million Filipinos who voted for Vice President Leni Robredo to be the President of the Philippines last May 9, 2022. I was devasta…
Mar 19, 2022 Different One of my best friends died of cancer two years ago. Before she died, she had a misunderstanding with one of her in-laws. She died without reconcilin…
Jan 15, 2022 Sto. Niño, model for the family Viva Señor Sto. Niño! This year we continue celebrating the 500 years of Christianity in the Philippines. One of the great reminders of this celebrat…
Nov 18, 2021 Hari or hari-harian In the Philippines to distinguish fake from real, we used to put a suffix “-an” to the Filipino word like for example “akyat to akyat akyatan”; “baha…
Sep 16, 2021 Serve and receive When I was on my way to the Ninoy Aquino International Airport last week I saw some personalities started having some big billboards for May 2022 Nat…
Jul 23, 2021 Like the little boy To become an instrument of God’s love and mercy is the invitation of the Gospel on this 17th Sunday in Ordinary Time. It is not enough to feed the hu…
May 13, 2021 The law of ascension In our Physics class, we have studied the Law of Universal Gravitation. This law says: “Every object in the universe attracts every other object with…
Mar 19, 2021 Embracing Death Death is a reality, not a prank. Death is inevitable. Death is real. Though we know these realities still we have difficulties accepting death. Peopl…
Jan 22, 2021 The need to be caught “Come after me, and I will make you fishers of men.” Jesus is the first fisher of men. Before he asked Simon, Andrew, James, and John in the Gospel t…
Dec 9, 2020 So many questions but the answers are LOVE “So many questions but the answers are few”. This is part of the lyrics of the song, ‘So many questions’ by a Filipino band called Side A. This time…
Oct 17, 2020 Essential thing to do Recently I heard a parish priest told his staff during their general cleaning in his parish office “put them (the documents) where they were used to…
Aug 21, 2020 New identity emerges “Who do you say that I am?” In philosophy, we are taught that when we asked “what” we are referring to an object. And when we asked “who” we are refe…
Jun 26, 2020 The guest is Jesus The theme for this 13th Sunday in the Ordinary time is Hospitality. Filipinos are tagged as hospitable people. Is it true? How to be hospitable in th…
Apr 11, 2020 Even now Jesus has risen! The most joyful day of the life of the disciples was Easter Sunday. And hopefully also for us who are struggling right now with the current pandemic…
Feb 7, 2020 Being relevant to the world Jesus in today’s gospel uses two metaphors to describe Christians. Christians are to be salt of the earth and light of the world. The disciples need…
Dec 13, 2019 We Rejoice… “Are you the one who is to come or should we look for another?” The question of John the Baptist to Jesus is a question of assurance. Jesus didn’t gi…
Aug 2, 2019 Be rich in the sight of God When I was still in Sierra Leone, I asked some primary students what they would like to be in the future. Some answered they would like to be an engi…
Jun 14, 2019 A selfless God Today we celebrate the great and central mystery of our Catholic Church the Feast of the Most Holy Trinity: One God in three persons. How can it be…
May 2, 2019 Easter Question: "Do you love me?" Do you love me? In the movie Fiddler on the Roof Tevye asked his wife Golde this famous question. Golde answered him “For 25 years, I washed your clo…
Mar 21, 2019 Time to repent… and the time is now When I was in Sierra Leone during the pandemic Ebola virus, not a few considered it as the wrath of God. After Sierra Leone was declared Ebola-free a…
