The Good Shepherd

It was said that Jesus was an excellent preacher because of three things: In the Gospel, Jesus often gave the imagery of God as a Good Shepherd. Certainly, people of that time had experiences of shepherds who were good and shepherds who were not so good.  Further, they knew of the qualities of the sheep,…

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. …

The Resurrection

The Resurrection is the most important celebration of the Church. Why? If Jesus did not rise, we would not be here. The original testimony that Christ had truly risen was the stone removed from the tomb (someone powerful had done it), the empty tomb (no body of Christ), and the folded cloth (which meant the…

A Mother’s Love

In one of the more popular Gospel stories about mothers, we hear of two who were both pregnant, and both undergoing difficulty. Elizabeth was old and was now with Child; Mary was not married yet was pregnant; both experienced the miracle of God. Elizabeth was old and barren. Mary conceived her Son through the Holy…

Hope

People have always talked about the paradox of time. The past is the past, yet there are some people who continue to dwell in the past. The future is just a promise, yet there are people who continue to keep their sights on the future, forgetting that the only time we have is now.  The…

Father and Son

Although each life is unique, each life is special and no two persons are the same, we have qualities that we inherit from both our father and mother. Hence, since the first hero many sons are their fathers, it is such a great compliment when people say, “You are like your father”. In the Gospel,…

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…