In a retreat that we attended, the retreat master gave us two hours to reflect on the question: “If you had twenty-four hours left to live, what would you do?” After two hours, we shared our reflections and it all boiled down to one thing: Despite differences in the stories and experiences of all the…
Category: Humility & Selflessness
Wrong Turn
Every once in a while, I join pilgrimages as a tour escort. One of the duties is to make sure that no one gets lost in the tour. Hence, I always tell the pilgrims: that we have meeting places at designated times to always move around in groups and never separate to always be aware…
Having the Best
Typical of parents is that they will always want what is best for their children. Hence, one of the biggest frustrations is when the children do not do what is supposed to be good for them. The biggest frustration is when children do not listen to their parents and they go astray. Somewhat similar to…
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. Don’t we hate public servants who say they are pro-poor, yet are on the payroll of mining companies and real estate developers? Don’t we hate public servants who say that they are pro…
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: United States Russia China India United Kingdom 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…
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…
