Category Personal Blog

One may wonder how this genealogy of Jesus became a Gospel. For the Jews, the family tree contained only the names of the fathers because the women then were treated as second-class citizens. Yet, in the family of Jesus Christ,…

I was once invited by a friend to officiate at their wedding. During the entire wedding ceremony, I couldn’t help but notice that the couple was nervous and edgy. Right after the wedding rites, I decided to ease the tension…

I had some free time some days ago, so I visited the house of a cousin. I recall that time now because of my encounter with my niece, the 19-year-old daughter of my cousin. Her mother and I were talking…

Once again we are reminded that love is the soul of our Christan life. Not liturgy, not cultic worship. Love is at the core and is the soul of our Christian life. You may be deprived of liturgy, you may…

The Lord cast out a devil from a mute man, and what did he get for it? What did he harvest? He harvested the seven devils of jealousy of the Pharisees. We heard that the Lord healed the woman who…

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…

As a seminarian, I was assigned by my professor, Msgr. Sabino Vengco, to attend to the spiritual needs of the poor patients at the Bagong Lipunan Hospital along East Avenue in Quezon City. Now, this hospital is known as the…

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…

There have been so many jokes about mothers-in-law. Comedian Pepe Pimentel has proved that mother-in-law bashing can be a ticket to fame and popularity. Today we will not make fun of mothers-in-law. Instead, we will learn from the Gospel narrative…

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…

I arrived last night from Toronto. The temperature there was 14 degrees below zero. Here in Manila it is very warm. From my own experience and knowing my own body, with the sudden change in temperature I would most likely…