St. Thomas Aquinas once said: “To one who has faith, no explanation is necessary. To one without faith, no explanation is possible.” That is why it is so hard to argue about religion because of this reality. In the Gospel people often ask for signs. After all the miracles, after all the healings and teachings…
Category: Sacrifice
A Mother Suffers Even More
John 19:25-27 There is a saying that you can sacrifice without loving but you cannot love without sacrificing. In my many requests for prayers, one notices that when the child is suffering the mother is suffering even more. Today we celebrate the memorial of our Lady of Sorrows. Since the life of Jesus had many,…
Shame to Exaltation
During the time of Moses, the Israelites were being bitten by snakes. Since the people cried to the Lord for help, God told Moses to put an image of a snake on top of the pole and that anyone who looks at it, will be saved. Indeed it happened, and many Israelites were saved from…
Darkness Looms
Who would ever thought that we would have witnessed and experienced lockdowns? People staying at home, the economy grinding to a halt, and most of all…fighting a new virus. As if that was not hard enough, just read the news. Racism-related hate crimes in the US and beyond, new disagreements and wars in the Middle…
Promise Fulfilled
In our many relationships, the ones we truly value are those who have “Palabra de honor.” People who are faithful to their word or their promise. When one says on this time and this date, surely on the appointed time and date, he/she will be there. On the other hand, if a person does not…
Happy and Sad
John 20: 1-2, 11-18 As a priest, every day I deal with sadness: whenever I celebrate a funeral Mass whenever I anoint people who are sick when people ask me to join them for prayer for their special intention. Sadness is always related to letting go. In death, we say goodbye to a loved one….
Things That Matter in Life
John 12:24 -26 Nathan Scott once said, “It is the oldest story in the world. One day you’re seventeen and planning for someday. And then quietly, without you ever noticing, that someday is today. And the someday becomes yesterday. And this is our life.” The Gospel reminds us that life is short, swift, and uncertain….
Being Looked Down At
Regardless of who we are, we have all experienced being “looked down at.” A friend shared his experience when he was growing up. Every Christmas season his family would go to their cousin’s place in a very upscale community. He and his siblings had this feeling that even if they were related, they were not…
Doing Anything and Everything
Luke 16:1-18 One sad reality of today’s generation is the reality of greed. If the weather patterns have changed (Climate Change), one could ask oneself, “How can people carelessly cut so many trees and not even plant new trees in return?” If there is a huge disparity of wealth, one could ask oneself, “How come…
To the One Who Has More
Luke 8: 16-18 It is said that one of the biggest problems of the world is the unequal distribution of the wealth. According to Fortune Magazine, the top 5 countries which had the greatest unequal distribution of wealth in 2014 were as follows: 5. Austria, 4. Indonesia, 3. U.K, 2. Sweden, and 1. USA. In…
3 Ways 2 Your 1 God 