Like Father, Like Son

For any son who adores and loves his father, one of the greatest compliments he can receive is “You are like your dad”, “You look like your dad”, “You talk like your dad”, “You have mannerisms like your dad,” or “I am reminded of your dad when I see you.” Since time immemorial, the Jews…

One or Another

Luke 16: 9-15 During the time of Jesus, the thinking of the people was that if a man is rich, then he is blessed by God. Why? The thinking was that a rich person is happy because he has everything. However, is this truly the case? We all know that the strongest economies are: USA,…

Reunions

Reunions are opportunities to catch up with people we grew up with. In all the stories, one realizes that in life: First, nothing is permanent. Sometimes life is good, sometimes we are experiencing storms. Sometimes we are up, sometimes we are down. Second, one realizes that nothing is forever. Year after year, we say goodbye…

New Mindset

By now we have been regretting the many things that we ate during the Christmas season. I think the desire is to lose weight. Nowadays, on Facebook, one would encounter many formulas, many tricks, many types of diets, but I guess the one that is most interesting has this message in Tagalog: “Sa taon 2021,…

New Year and Mission

We Filipinos can be very superstitious. If someone is getting married in the family, there are superstitious beliefs; if someone has passed away, there are superstitious beliefs. Yes, when we welcome the new year, there are also many superstitious beliefs: from round fruits to wearing polka dots, to feng shui lucky charms, to opening the…

A Mother’s Prayer

Matthew 15:21-28 Once in a wake, our group was talking about death and the difficulty that the family deals with. One commented which everyone agreed – the most difficult thing is when it is the parents who bury their children. That is why even the Irish has a saying, “May you never bury your children.”…

Life is Given

Matthew 10: 17-22 Last Friday, we just celebrated Christmas day. Very interestingly, in our Church calendar, we celebrated the feast of the first martyr – St. Stephen. Three reflections on these two celebrations: Christmas is about the birth of our Savior – God was brought to man. “Because God so loved the world that he…

God is Faithful

A Christmas carol says that this is “The Most Wonderful Time of the Year”, but for those who have attended the Simbang Gabi Masses, the many Gospels tell us that the lives of people who were related to Jesus were affected and disturbed. Their lives have been altered to the point of a crisis. There…

Christian Unity

There is a story of St. Peter touring a new soul who just entered heaven. He first showed the soul the room of the United Church of Christ. They were feasting and praising. Then they visited the room of the Reformed Church. They too were feasting and praising. Then they went to the room of…

God’s Time

One thing technology has brought us is that we can do things in an instant: Once when one had to do research, one had to go to the library. Now, just go to the internet. Once it would take hours to prepare one’s favorite food, now just dial a number and order it. Once to…