There is an amusing twist in this Gospel about forgiveness. The Lord starts to preach about forgiveness, yet, He ends up by saying that those who will not forgive will be tortured. “Send him out to gnash his teeth.” Torture,…
The act of forgiveness is always difficult. Forgiveness is difficult not only for us, Christians but also for those who belong to other religious sects. Forgiveness is difficult for us not only because of our religion or culture. The difficulty…
Let us reflect together on the first reading, taken from the Book of Tobit. It is the story of Tobit, his son Tobiah and his wife, Sarah, and Raphael. Tobit, Tobiah, and Sarah had very serious problems. They prayed and…
When I was a young boy, my religion teacher told me a story which can never forget. It is the story of St. Martin of Tours. My teacher told me that one time, St, Martin of Tours met a beggar…
People advise me time and again “you must take care of yourself because if you do not take care of yourself nobody else will take care of you.” This is why we have insurance companies and memorial plans. We want…
All of us are here because we all want to go to heaven. And all of us are here because we believe that, hopefully, our going to Mass can pave our way to heaven. Once there was a man who…
Some of you may recall that Jaime Cardinal Sin, our Archbishop, visited the Soviet Union a few years back. I was with him then. I share with you now an incident that happened before that visit. As a prince of…
I had a classmate who loved to boast about his family, especially his dead relatives who have chalked up achievements or who were regarded as social elites when they were alive. His stories about them had become so repetitive and…
Chapters 10, 11, and 12 of the Gospel of St. Matthew are called the Mission Discourses. At the beginning of Chapter 10, the Lord organizes a select group of people who will carry out his mission of proclaiming that the…
Let me introduce you to three persons mentioned in the Acts of the Apostles. The first is Apollos who was a man of eloquence, affluence, and great wealth. He was also a good speaker. He preached and was well-versed in…
It would seem that the basic mistake of the young man in the Gospel was that he was greedy. He was very preoccupied with material possessions. But, actually, all the commentaries on this Gospel text agree that the basic flaw…
I will share with you information that I do not personally believe in but is an interesting thought for today’s Gospel. My priest-professor in astronomy in the seminary told us that he observed that daytime becomes longer after December 25…