FORGIVENESS SHOULD BE EASY
I was an asthmatic boy. As a child, I did not have the happiness of playing sports or engaging in athletics. I was always sick. Quite often in school, my parents had to ask my teachers to excuse me from…
Category Personal Blog
FEELING BAD
Many follow the dictum: Look good, do good, feel good. It sounds like a very positive outlook on life. Strictly followed, people hoped that life would be more beautiful and community life would be easier to undertake. Even the President…
SEPARATION
The other day, a mother came to me, lamenting, “Father, I can’t believe it. All my children accepted the invitation of my sister to go with her family to the beach for the weekend. This is the first time this…
DISAPPOINTMENT
Disappointment. We have all been disappointed many times in our lives. Children get disappointed when they do not get the toys or clothes that they yearn for. Teenagers get hurt because of some difficulties with their friends. Students get disappointed…
I’M SORRY
Such a short phrase. There are strictly speaking three words, but said fast sound like only three syllables. Yet they carry so much weight. Imagine a scene in a public utility bus: A woman accidentally hit on the head by…
“MAGKAKAPATID”
Where are you from? That question has been asked of me by new friends, strangers, and audiences during my talks and after my Masses. The question is an attempt to reach out and get to know more. It presupposes a…
PAIN IS HELPFUL
“Will it hurt?” I have heard this asked so many times, as a child and as an adult. It has been addressed to doctors, parents, lab technicians, nurses, and playmates. Name anyone, and I am sure that at least once,…
I DO NOT LIKE GUAVAS
One day a couple invited me to say Mass at the house of a very sick uncle who was completely bedridden. I agreed to go and coordinate with them to be fetched at the EDSA Shrine. They had their 5-year-old…
WHO IS TO BLAME?
The “Chicken and the Egg” issue is as old as our first parents. What came first, nobody really knows. The important thing is that both of them benefit man, and by themselves, neither of them is asking or fighting for…
POWER IS PATIENT AND HUMBLE
Power could be dangerous. People in power can do so much for the good or the bad. This thought came to me in such a simple way. I was once sitting in a chapel listening to a lecture. My attention…
PROGRAMMING
“Huwag kang iiyak, kasalanan mo iyan.” I once overheard a ten-year-old girl, small for her age but sounding like a real adult. She was speaking to her little sister, who looked like she was about four years old. Then the…
KNOCKOUT
I was very disturbed when I picked up the newspaper the other day with the picture of Tyson and Seldon in the ring. Tyson knocked out Seldon after just 109 seconds from when the fight began. According to the news,…