God of Hope

The Irish have a saying, “May you never bury your children.” In the natural order of things, it is usually the children that should bury their parents. Hence, it is the most difficult and devastating thing any parent can experience when they bury their children. That is why when children become sick, parents will do…

Decisions and Signs

In the many decisions that we have to do every day, especially the big ones, we always ask for signs: Lord, if I pass the interview that means you want me to leave my current job and transfer to the new one. Lord, if he comes in wearing a blue shirt, he is the one…

Keep My Commandments

In the book “Praying our Goodbyes,” the author, Sr. Joyce Rupp, reminds us that life is short, life is swift and everything changes. Hence, if we look at life, it is a cycle of helloes and goodbyes. Humanly speaking, it is so hard to say goodbye because it is so hard to deal with loss….

True Friends

One of the most precious things in this world is having true friends. This is not Facebook friends that we count by the thousands or Instagram or Tweeter friends that can reach up to millions. Just hit rock bottom and you will be able to count the number of true friends that you have. When…

Most Blessed Among Women

When we see someone with a very nice car, very nice house, plenty of money and with many friends, we say that the person is blessed. On the other hand, when a person does not have any of this material wealth, we do not consider that person as blessed. Is being blessed a matter of…

Angels

John 1:47-51 A friend of mine went up to Baguio for a vacation. One evening they were traveling, and because they were not so familiar with the place and because of the fog, they went off road and were in danger of falling to the ravine. Out of nowhere came a gentleman who helped them…

Good Times, Bad Times

There is a story of a king and his aide. The king accidentally cut his finger and the only thing the aide had to say was, “God is good.” Thinking that the aide was mocking him, the king had the aide jailed.  A few months after, the king decided to take the horse to go…

Stress

In everyday conversation, one of the things people complain about is the traffic. The sheer volume of cars is one thing and the driving habits are another thing. Someone was buying bibingka and parked his car literally in the middle of the street. One would ask oneself: “Are the vehicle’s hazard lights a signal to…

Convenient Religion

In today’s times, the name of the game is convenience: If you need to eat, just have the food delivered; if you want to buy something for the house, the stores are open 24 hours a day; if you want to watch a movie right now, just go to the internet. We all want it…

Service

Many years ago there was tension between the Philippines and Hong Kong because of the killing of the Hong Kong tourists in Luneta. When emotions were high, there was a Hong Kong journalist who wrote an article about our country being a “Nation of Servants.” Certainly, he was not only referring to the Filipina servants…