The Power of the Word

Children Learn What They Live If children live with criticism, they learn to condemn. If children live with hostility, they learn to fight. If children live with ridicule, they learn to be shy. If children live with shame, they learn to feel guilty. If children live with encouragement, they learn confidence. If children live with…

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…

Sacred Heart of Jesus

Matthew 11:25-30 It is said that the heart pumps about 100,000 times a day to keep us alive. Hence, it has become a symbol of life. Therefore when the heart is no longer pumps, there is no more life.  The heart has also become the center of our spiritual life. It is different when we…

Salt of the Earth, Light of the World

Matthew 5:13-16 USA Today, the American newspaper, came out with an article, “Why are priests being murdered in Mexico.” Since 2012, there were 23 priests murdered. Through 2018, already 4 priests have been murdered. While nothing concrete has come out from the investigation, many feel it is because they spoke out against drugs and other…

Testimony for God

One fact of life is that we often get to know a person more when he or she has passed on from this life. How many wakes have we gone to only to hear the many stories of the deceased person from family, relatives, friends, officemates, and even kasambahays? Sadly, in that regard, we get…

Love for God and Love for Country

On one of my pilgrimages, I had a conversation with our tour guide about the different people and different cultures that she handles. She said that every year they would have a convention of tour guides and when they are asked which group they loved to handle the most, the response would unanimously be Filipinos….

Return of Investment

I once came across a video explaining why some people are rich and the rest are not. The gist of the video is that when the rich spend, their frame of mind is, “what is the Return of my Investment (ROI)?” Hence, If a flashy car will not give a good ROI, what is the…

Comparing Oneself to Others

There was once a social experiment where people were made to choose from two scenarios. In the first scenario, you would be given $200 and five of your friends will be given $500. The second scenario would have you receiving $50 and five of your friends will be given just $20. The result of the…

Evil and the Unfaithful Generation

Matthew 12:38-42 In the Gospel, we are told of the reality of how man’s sinfulness led to experiencing punishment. During the time of Noah, the whole world experienced flooding. Sodom and Gomorrah experienced God’s wrath, as did Bethsaida, Chorazin, and Capernaum. Eventually, as Jesus predicted, Jerusalem also was destroyed.   Fr. Richard Heilman wrote an article…