God of Hope

The Irish have a saying, “May you never bury your children.” In the natural order of things, it is usually the children that should bury their parents. Hence, it is the most difficult and devastating thing any parent can experience when they bury their children. That is why when children become sick, parents will do…

Neighbor

I once celebrated Mass in an upscale subdivision. After the Mass, I was speaking to two couples. Since I realized that they did not know each other, I introduced them to each other. Couple A asked Couple B, “What street do you reside on?”. They realized they lived in the same street. Couple B asked…

The Most Respected Professions

Forbes Magazine came up with an article of the most respected professions in the U.S.: No. 5, Engineer; No. 4, Military Officer; No. 3, Firefighter; No.2, Scientist; No.1, Doctor. While there are varied reasons why people would reflect a certain profession, the fact remains that priesthood is not in the top 5. It is not…

Temptation

How often do we hear the words, “The devil made me do it.” When Eve sinned and was being asked by God, her very words, “The serpent deceived me, and I ate.” When Adam was being asked by God why did he eat the fruit? “The woman you put here with me – she gave…

Decisions and Signs

In the many decisions that we have to do every day, especially the big ones, we always ask for signs: Lord, if I pass the interview that means you want me to leave my current job and transfer to the new one. Lord, if he comes in wearing a blue shirt, he is the one…

Keep My Commandments

In the book “Praying our Goodbyes,” the author, Sr. Joyce Rupp, reminds us that life is short, life is swift and everything changes. Hence, if we look at life, it is a cycle of helloes and goodbyes. Humanly speaking, it is so hard to say goodbye because it is so hard to deal with loss….

True Friends

One of the most precious things in this world is having true friends. This is not Facebook friends that we count by the thousands or Instagram or Tweeter friends that can reach up to millions. Just hit rock bottom and you will be able to count the number of true friends that you have. When…

Most Blessed Among Women

When we see someone with a very nice car, very nice house, plenty of money and with many friends, we say that the person is blessed. On the other hand, when a person does not have any of this material wealth, we do not consider that person as blessed. Is being blessed a matter of…

Angels

John 1:47-51 A friend of mine went up to Baguio for a vacation. One evening they were traveling, and because they were not so familiar with the place and because of the fog, they went off road and were in danger of falling to the ravine. Out of nowhere came a gentleman who helped them…

Compassion

Because of technology, news and information get around so swiftly. On one hand, the good, the true and the beautiful. On the other hand, the lies, the deceptive and the fake news. The thing is as human beings, we judge too swiftly and easily. Take for example the story of a policeman who was in…