DEATH AND HOPE
Manila will be the venue for the Fourth World Meeting of Families. This is the first time this gathering is held in Asia. It is the first to be held in the Philippines. We are in a period of spiritual…
Category Personal Blog
PRAY THEN ACT
A few months ago, I was host to a garden party in the Cardinal’s house where the families of the Cardinal’s benefactors were gathered and thanked. It was supposed to be a familiar gathering. Written invitations were sent out, including…
WRONG QUESTIONS
Many of our problems in life come from our bad practice of asking the wrong questions. We ask the wrong questions. Therefore, we also get the wrong answers. The first wrong question that the Lord wants to correct is “How…
OUR SINS PUNISH US
The Lord said, “If you do not repent, you will all perish as they did?” These are strong, frightening words: “If you do not repent, you will all perish.” First, let us understand repentance. A very basic truth is that…
INVITATION AND INDIFFERENCE
“I” is a one-letter word. It can refer to me, and when you use it yourself, it can refer to you. For this Sunday, I invite you to remember three Ps. The first I for this Sunday is invite. The…
CHURCH SCANDALS
We have seen scandals in the Church, in church organizations, in the hierarchy. When a priest, a bishop, a cardinal, or even a pope leads other people to sin, that is called “spiritual murder.” It is murder because the one…
WISE AND VIGILANT
For those among you who think that the Bible and the Church discriminate against women, please take a second look at the First Reading. The First Reading says that the incarnation of wisdom is a woman. Wisdom is a woman…
DREAMING…
Let me do some boasting. I am 41 years old. I have 16 years as a priest and one year as a bishop to my credit. It is the distinct role of a bishop to ordain priests. To this day,…
CALLED TO BE APOSTLES
The feast of an Apostle is an invitation for us to reflect on the mystery of “call and response.” It is God who always calls, and we are the ones who respond to the invitation. To what does the Lord…
LOVE LIKE JESUS
How can love answer so many questions? How can it bring joy to so many persons? How can love be more powerful than death? How can it make people blind to the defects of the beloved? Is it true that…
NOTHING
September 28, 2000 Feast of Saint Lorenzo Ruiz and companion martyrs. After telling their stories, sometimes joyful, sometimes sad and shocking, friends ask me a familiar question: “What do you think?” My friends know my standard answer, “Wala. Nothing. Okay…
THE CARDINAL’S LADY
Dear Bishop Gabby, Everyone has a little nook, drawer, box, “tampipi” where we keep our precious little mementos. We may have photos, figurines, medals, a letter or two. Yes, there are those of us in this age of e-mail, text…