Denial and Rejection

As people, we need people. In fact, it is people that give real happiness in life. Hence, one of the most painful of all human experiences is being “denied” – “You can choose your friends, but not your family” is typically said when we are disowning someone in the family. Further, being rejected is also…

Come Follow Me

Editor’s Note: This was a homily from last October 4, the Feast Day of St. Francis of Assisi. As the life of St. Francis has lessons we can all learn from, we are including this here today. In the music industry, there is what is called “Fandom”. They are passionate and devoted fans who are…

Trusting God

Once a parishioner came to me and asked me to help him pray for this big deal that he is working on. He said that if is a success, he will give a big amount to the Church. I told him it was best to look at his motivation. First, if you are not giving…

Call to Sainthood

Ed. Note: This is a homily from last night’s mass at San Carlos Seminary, celebrating Fr. Mon’s 60th Birthday. Happy Birthday Fr. Mon! Thank you always, for the gift of your words, which have touched so many of our lives. Just last week we attended a conference on seminary formation in Iloilo. The experience nationwide…

All Things Come to Pass

Once upon a time in New York there existed the World Trade Center. The Twin Towers of 110 floors were completed in 1973. In 2001, it was brought down by terrorists when two planes crashed on both towers. It was a strange feeling that the symbol of American capitalism was brought down just like that. …

Time to Hold On and Time to Let Go

A study found that the main source of true happiness is none other than relationships. As we know though, there is no relationship that is perfect and there is no relationship that has not been tested. The typical questions when it comes to strained relationships: Yes, we commit mistakes, we have our own bad side,…

The Lord Loves a Generous Giver

In my 7 years as a parish priest, the one thing I noticed about the goodness of the Lord: God will bless those who help his Church. People who shared their time, talent, and treasure, were blessed by God abundantly.  In one of the Gospel stories, Jesus healed a slave of the centurion because of…

Privileged Class

Since time immemorial man has been separated by two realities: the haves and the have-nots; the upper class and the commoners; the rich and those who were not rich. In fact, we have ways of separating people and putting them in different groups. In the Gospel, the Jews thought that they were the Children of…

Immortality

Ed. Note: This homily was from a funeral mass last year. We have included it here because as always, Fr Mon’s words pertain to all of our lives. Since time immemorial, it was the desire of man to live forever. That is why throughout history they did everything to live forever. From medicines to potions,…

Letting Go

One of the best reads is a book entitled Praying our Goodbye, by Sr. Joyce Rupp. She emphasizes that When it comes to goodbyes, we all know that the deeper the love, the more difficult the goodbye. An example in the Gospel is when Mary Magdalene kept on holding on to Jesus. She had difficulty…