One day, I anointed two elderly women. The first one, the son said, “please keep open your evening schedule for mommy’s masses. The doctor says she can go anytime. It has been a month already and she is still alive. No respiratory, no dialysis, no extraordinary measures”. The second one just came from a stent…
Category: Church Traditions
Respect for Home
In most Asian homes, when one enters, the shoes are requested to be left at the entrance. According to experts this is more for hygiene than anything else. Coming from the outside, we encounter all kinds of dirt. The last thing we want to do is bring that dirt into a home. If we do…
Signs
In the old testament, when Moses warned the Pharaoh to set the Israelites free, he showed him wonderful signs from God. Why was Pharaoh not impressed? Because he himself had a magician who could easily mimic or copy the signs that Moses did. Yes, the devil always tries to mimic the divine. Until it led…
Laborers and Harvest
It is said that in the Archdiocese of Manila which is composed of Manila, Pasay, Mandaluyong, San Juan, and Makati City, there about 200 priests. 80 priests are 60 years old or above. Only 40 priests are 30 years old and below. The average age of the priest is 54 years old. Surely we need…
Divine Mercy
When people hurt us, we have the tendency to confront and give them a litany of the things that we have done for the person. “I did this… I did that…. I gave you this… I gave you that… I helped you with this… I helped you with that…. how can you be so ungrateful?”…
Elijah vs Prophets of Baal
In a popular reading, we hear of Ahab and Jezebel filling the land of Israel with a false god, and they kill the prophets of Jehovah. What did God do? He sent the prophet Elijah to give Ahab a message. Hence the competition to prove which God is true, with Elijah on one end and…
Christian Persecution
Is it said that two-thirds of the 2.3 billion Christians in the world today live in dangerous neighborhoods. They are often poor. They often belong to ethnic, linguistic, and cultural minorities. And they are often at risk. Hence, every month, we hear of a Christian being killed. Not too long ago, a priest, Fr. Mark…
Faith and Doubt in God
In any relationship, doubt sinks in every now and then: In a marriage, a partner might question their spouse’s faithfulness. In an employer-employee relationship, a boss might question one of his staff’s honesty. Likewise, the staff might also question if the boss keeps his promises. In any friendship, each side could ask if this person…
Saying Goodbye
Psychiatrist Elisabeth Kubler-Ross has journeyed with so many people who were about to die, that her famed model, The Five Stages of Denial, has become the accepted standard of examining terminally-ill emotions. They are classified as: Denial – “No, I am not going to die” Anger – “Why me? There are so many other people…
Good Luck or Blessed
We Filipinos, when it comes to blessings, are very faithful. When we get a new house, we have it blessed; a new car, we have it blessed; a new office, we have it blessed. Typically, when one is asked why do the blessing, the response is for “Good Luck” and that “Money Flows In.” If…
3 Ways 2 Your 1 God 