Good Shepherd

In one of our priest meetings of the Archdiocese, it was pointed out that there are only about 200 priests in the Archdiocese. 80 of these priests are above 60 years old. Only 40 of these priests are below 30 years old. The average of the priest in the Archdiocese in 54 years old. Yes,…

Bread of Life

Once before going on a pilgrimage, I looked at the itinerary and I was surprised that there was a Chinese restaurant every three days. “Why eat at a Chinese restaurant when the food in Europe is very delicious?” I asked myself. When we were on tour, I found out the response. No matter how delicious…

What Matters In Life

Matthew 10:37-42 One thing on my bucket list is the Pilgrimage to Santiago de Compostela or the Camino de Santiago. I have stories of people doing at least 100 km of walking for days. In the many stories that I have heard, I realize that each person has his or her own pace when walking….

Following the Law

Once I celebrated Mass in a condominium complex. In front of where the Mass was being held were two condominium buildings. One was very nice, very clean, and very orderly. The other building was very dirty, chaotic and a place you would not be excited to go home. After the Mass, I asked a resident…

Inheritance

After the blessing of a house, and on my way out, I noticed a 4-story building that was rundown near the property. I got surprised because the community was very progressive. I asked what happened to the building, “Why are the owners not taking care of it?” She gave a history of the building: A…

Jerusalem

A city with a very colorful history is Jerusalem. It is the holiest city for the Jews because of the TEMPLE; it is the holiest city for Christians because of The Christ Crucifixion; it is the third holiest city for the Muslims because of the Dome of the Rock. Yet, it has a very bloody…

Apathy

Some people have this misconception that if one is poor, that person will go to heaven and if the person is rich, that person will go to hell. The Gospel reading of Lazarus and the rich man reinforces this misconception. Hence, the questions are: Why then, did the rich man go to hell? Was he…

Who Do You Follow

Matthew 9:9-13 As human beings, there are people in our lives who we admire and because of that, we follow them:  We imitate how they look like; we listen to what they say;what they believe in, we believe too; what they buy, we buy as well;when there is news about them, we listen. In 2016, according to…

Haters

Do you sometimes get this feeling that there are people watching your every move, trying to find fault, and then broadcasting it to other people? In other words, there are people who would just want to pull you down. Even Jesus was not exempted. His every move was being watched; his every word was being…

Yes

Luke 1:26-38 When a couple is about to get married, one of the things that we, as priests, look into is the reason for the marriage. We try to find out if both parties are entering into the marriage not out of force, not out of fear, or not coerced, or for any other reason;…