I love watching the many talent shows on TV. Often a contestant walks in, and we think, “Why is she there?”, “The nerve” or “He will never make it”. Then the person does his own thing, and we are stunned. We tell ourselves, “Unbelievable! Where did he get that talent?” My dear friends the Gospel…
Category: Gratitude
God’s Blessings
Many years ago, my cousins and I went home to the province to take a look at the property of our grandparents. It was a property that could not be sold because it was full of informal settlers. Nevertheless, we went there to take a look at the property. Since we were new to the…
Service
In the Gospel, we often see the humanity of the apostles. In one passage, they were arguing who among themselves was greatest. They argued…who has done the greatest miracle? Who has the most followers? Who speaks the best? Who has the best talent? Jesus, who most likely was disappointed because after forming and teaching his…
Teachers
Luke 10:1-12 Every time we have a high school class reunion, we always remember our teachers: the strict one, the pretty one, the one who was like a brother, the one with mannerisms, the one who punished and the one that cried. One interesting reflection was made by a batchmate who, when growing up, made…
Perseverance
Luke 8:4-15 A friend of ours has a very intelligent and pretty wife. Close friends of theirs would also ask the wife why she fell for her husband, when “she deserved someone better.” Her consistent answer was, “He showed perseverance.” While we Filipinos have a saying, “kung may tiyaga, may nilaga,” the Gospel today reminds…
The Sacredness of Life
Luke 1: 57-60 Look at the world we live in. There was a commercial I came across reminding us that children are expensive to raise, add responsibility, and limit freedoms. Hence, we are much better off without them. We have forgotten that each child means hope. Every June we celebrate the birth of John the…
Talents
Matthew 25:14–30 Once I was conversing with an expatriate. He was a president of a shipping company and they were hiring Filipino seamen. He said that should he be given the difficult task of reducing manpower, the last people he would retrench are the Filipinos. He said they get along very well with other people…
Impossible Situations
How often do we find ourselves in a situation that we do not know what to do? We feel that the problem is bigger than our skills and talents. In one of the most popular Gospel readings, the apostles, specifically Philip, was faced with a seemingly impossible situation – how to feed thousands of people? …
Humility
There is a story of a businessman who made it not only big but very big. As the business grew, so did the ego, and he became very, very arrogant. Until one day, because of the changes in attitude, the business went down. Because of this, he could not show his face to his relatives,…
Giving is Life
The person who is perhaps the most giving in the world is none other than our mothers. Mothers are always giving. In fact, we arrived in this world because of Mothers. Notice the term used is “giving birth.” Because of Giving, we have life. In the Gospel, someone gave seven loaves of bread and few…
3 Ways 2 Your 1 God 