Discipleship

During his time on earth, many people travelled with Jesus. Most likely they wanted to hear something, they wanted to ask for something, they wanted material blessings, or they were curious or amazed by his fame, and power to heal and do miracles and blessings. True to form and in a very straightforward way, Jesus…

Eulogy

Once we were asked by our professor to write our own Eulogy. Initially, it brought laughter to the students. It was an uneasy laughter. Eventually, it died down, for when we started working on the details it became a moment of deep reflection – “Who do I say that I am when I pass away from…

Hypocrisy

A survey was once made and the one thing that people hated the most when it came to public servants was hypocrisy.  If there is one thing people hate, it is definitely hypocrisy. Further, if there is one thing Jesus hates, it is also hypocrisy. He always lambasted the Scribes, the Pharisees, and the Elders…

Suffering

As human beings, we all want to avoid suffering. We do not want to see our loved ones suffer. In fact, there is this story of a person who entered into counseling with the illusion of alleviating the suffering of people. Eventually, she realized that whether we want it or not, whether we are reading…

Warfare

According to The Economic Times, the five countries that spend the most when it comes to building their military are: With all the chaos in the world, it is very important to them to have strong militaries. In fact, many observers are saying that World War III has already begun. St. Paul, on the other…

Seed

Ralph Waldo Emerson once said: “Sow a thought and you reap an action; sow an act and you reap a habit; sow a habit and you reap a character; sow a character and you reap a destiny.” In other words, everything starts small. When you wonder why people are so forgiving and generous, they all…

Hate

There is a saying in tagalog, ,“Ang bungang hinog ay binabato.” (A stone is thrown to a ripe fruit). Then you have the crab mentality which Filipinos are known for: When someone is rising, the tendency is to pull others down. Why this reality? Because hatred and jealousy are two very damaging emotions. Even Jesus…

Abuse of Power

There is a movie quote from the film Spiderman, “With great power comes great responsibility”.  This is a saying that is very true because if your look at the world today, people abuse the use of power. Some displays of power in everyday life:  During the times of Jesus, the Jews and the Samaritans were…

Faithfulness

When I was a newly ordained priest, my parish priest told me to give priority to couples celebrating their 25th and 50th anniversaries. Further, he explained why. We live in a world that is so consumeristic – when a new item comes along, we dump the old one. Sadly, it influences our relationships. Hence, with…

Eternal Life

We live in a world wherein there is the seen and the unseen, the good and evil, the wheat and the weeds, the spiritual and the material. There is life on earth and eternal life. We live in a world wherein it is not one or the other. We live in both worlds. In the…