There is a story of St. Peter touring a new soul who just entered heaven. He first showed the soul the room of the United Church of Christ. They were feasting and praising. Then they visited the room of the Reformed Church. They too were feasting and praising. Then they went to the room of…
Category: Social Awareness
Eternal Life
In an article at the Philippine Daily Inquirer written in 2012, it stated that the Philippines leads the world in believing in God – 94 percent. This is followed by Chile at 88 percent and then the U. S. with 81 percent. Belief was lowest in former East Germany (13 percent) and in the Czech…
What Shall We Do
In a retreat that we attended, the retreat master gave us two hours to reflect on the question: “If you had twenty-four hours to live, what shall 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 people,…
Turning Back the Clock
There was a survey done in the U.S. some time ago, for people 90 years old and above. The question that was asked of them: “If you had your youth to live by again, would there be anything in your life that you would change?” The top three answers were as follows: They should have…
Power and Character
Luke 7: 1-10 There is a saying that if you wish to find out the true character of a person, give that person three things: First, give him/her money Second, let him/her hit rock bottom Third, give him/her power Throughout history we know of people who started very simple, then rose up to the very…
Wise and Learned
Matthew 4: 18-22 Last year I listened to an economic briefing and it was said that despite all the economic problems of the country, we are doing okay because of the OFW money which doubles every three years. In 1950, we were the second strongest economy in Asia. By the 70s though, Filipinos started to…
The Will of the Lord
For those of us who are on social media like Twitter, Instagram, or FB, it can be amazing on how many “friends” we have. On FB, for example, we get happy when many friends like the things we post. However, on a deeper reflection, the real question is, “How many friends really know us inside…
Narrow Gate
Last year there was a seminar at the University of Santo Tomas on Exorcism. This was participated by over 100 priests and over 100 lay people involved in the ministry. If you heard the talk, there are things that would have crossed your mind: The devil is real, hell is real and the devil will…