Deception through Flattery

Mark 12: 13-17 There is the famous tale from Aesop’s Fables, of a fox who wanted to eat the cheese he saw in the mouth of the bird. He first approached the bird and praised how beautiful his color was. He then praised how beautiful were the bird’s feathers. Then he said, “I am sure…

Love One Another

Local elections are most ideal when people work together for the common good of the country. Yet this seems to not be the case. Just go to social media and you will realize that there is so much negativity. Further, it is not only about politics and it is not only in this country. Just…

Mothers and Goodbyes

Editor’s Note: This homily was from a 40th-day Mass last year. As it pertains to the importance of mothers in our lives, we are sharing it as part of a Mother’s Day reflection. — This weekend will be Mother’s day and on social media, there are already so many tributes to mothers. Two things I…

We Are Family

Matthew 18: 21-35 Once I was talking to a real estate broker and he mentioned that the best business nowadays is still Real Estate. He explained that land is not getting any bigger, yet there are more people and their incomes are increasing. Hence, property prices go up every year. He also mentioned something else…

Envy

In ancient Greece, there is a story of a very skillful athlete, Theagene. Since he brought great pride to the city, a monument was erected in his honor when he died. Theagene had a rival, Pausanias, who never won against him. Pausanias would vandalize the monument every night. One night, while he was vandalizing and…

Death and Life

Matthew 5: 27-32 I once came across an article praising God and creation. It talked about the human body and how complicated it is – 12 organs, 5 of which are vital: brain, lungs, liver, kidney, and heart. Of the five, the heart is the most important. If the heart is not working anymore, then…

Covid and Palm Sunday

If you are 40 years old and above, you would have probably remembered how Holy Week used to be. It was very quiet, the restaurants and malls were closed, and most of us just stayed at home. With the last couple of years of Covid, history repeated itself. It was very quiet, the restaurants and…

Greatest of All Commandments

Mark 12: 28-34 In management, we are always told to know the priorities. When several things come up in a day, we ask ourselves, which is the one I will have to do first? One method is to draw a box and divide it into four areas Box one is Urgent (Kaialangan na kailangan) and…

Be Like God

We always ask the question, “If God is good why is there hell?” Our Christian faith reminds us that God created spiritual beings called Angels. Lucifer, a very beautiful angel, along with one-third of the angels, rebelled against God. Why? “They wanted to be like God.” Hence, Led by St. Michael, they were cast out…

What Are You Looking For?

When we are given a new year, of course, we have to plan so that time and resources are not wasted. In planning though, it is very important to ask ourselves, “What are you looking for?” No matter how old we are, there is always something in life that we are looking for.  Some are…