‘Proclaim the gospel to every creature’
The Ascension of Jesus Christ into the Father’s eternal glory was not the end of the Savior’s direct…
A community of friends
The union between Jesus and His followers is not a hierarchy of power, but a flowering of friendship…
Pruned to bear more fruit
The vine and its branches is our next allegorical metaphor for the intimate relationship between Jesus and His…
Heroic leadership
Every year for the Fourth Sunday of Easter, the gospel text is taken from Chapter 10 of John,…
Dynamics of Easter faith
AS narrated by St. Luke (24:35-48), the appearance of the risen Jesus to the two disciples on their…
The wounds of the risen Lord
The gospel reading (John 20:19-31) for the Second Sunday of Easter is repeated every year. Narrating two appearances by…
In the light of the resurrection
Our Easter gospel narration (John 20:1-9) tells us that our faith in the risen Christ enables us to…
Dynamics of Easter faith
AS narrated by St. Luke (24:35-48), the appearance of the risen Jesus to the two disciples on their…
The wounds of the risen Lord
The gospel reading (John 20:19-31) for the Second Sunday of Easter is repeated every year. Narrating two appearances by…
In the light of the resurrection
Our Easter gospel narration (John 20:1-9) tells us that our faith in the risen Christ enables us to…
The victorious rejected King
AS our gospel reading for Passion or Palm Sunday, St. Mark’s long passion narrative (14:1-15:47) appears to have…
To die like a grain of wheat
Alálaong bagá, the true follower of Jesus does exactly that—follow Jesus in dying like a grain of wheat. It is to believe and live accordingly in the paradox of Jesus’ “lifted up” in ignominy and in glory, where to die is to become more, while not to die is to be condemned to being nothing. To love God above all and to love others as oneself, we have to learn to “hate” our life in this world and be ready to give it up for what is really greater, so that we all can be lifted up to the life that is truly eternal.
For us, lifted up and given
The mystery of God’s salvific love for us in Jesus Christ is dramatized when he was lifted up…
Cleansing the temple
For John (2:13-25), the cleansing of the temple in Jerusalem by Jesus was such a fundamental statement by…
Transfigured and irreplaceable
IF the stay of Jesus in the desert for 40 days being tempted by Satan represents the relentless…
It is time!
Lent is our journey of 40 days (Kuwaresma) toward Easter. The first Lenten Sunday starts us off with…
Healed and witnessing
The gospel account of the leper healed by Jesus (Mark 1:40-45) presents a picture of what we as…
The Kerygmatic Jesus
The gospel narration of a typical day in the public ministry of Jesus portrays Him as gospel-driven messiah,…
Mighty Word
The story of the man with an unclean spirit coming into Jesus’ presence and being liberated from the…
The old imperative
The start of the Ordinary Time in our liturgical calendar early in the new year indicates the refocusing…
What the little ones tell us
A feast proper to the Philippines is our celebration of the Santo Niño every third Sunday of January.…
‘You are my beloved Son’
The Feast of the Baptism of the Lord draws us to the close of the Christmas cycle. The…
The new power in the world
IT is with the solemnity of the Epiphany of the Lord, popularly known as the feast of the…
Joining the shepherds
The dawn Mass on Christmas day used to be referred to as the Shepherds’ Mass, because the Gospel…
Full of grace
The fourth and last Sunday of Advent, immediately before Christmas, focuses our attention on Mary, the mother of…
A witness in truth
The Third Sunday of Advent is defined by the antiphon: “Rejoice! The Lord is near.” Thus, its name…
Models wanted
Waiting is never in abstraction; oftentimes there are persons who somehow personify what lies in prospect and so…
Waiting patiently and on edge
The first Sunday of Advent starts our new liturgical calendar for Year B in the three-year cycle of…
King for the little ones
Closing our liturgical calendar is the solemnity of our Lord Jesus Christ as the King of the Universe.…
The responsible stewards
The coming of Christ at the end of time entails on the part of each of us a…
The wise bridal maids
AS we approach the closing of the liturgical year, the unpredictable coming of the Lord at the end…
Wanted: Servant leaders
IS our religion vain ostentation or sincere practice? The tirade against the hypocrisy of the scribes and Pharisees…
Familiar but ever challenging
The basic principle Jesus stood for in confrontation with his critics is the ground rule of Judaism and…
What is God’s, do not give to Caesar
IN confrontation with his critics, Jesus answers the trap-question: “Is it lawful to pay census tax to Caesar…
The insolent wedding guest
The deceptive disobedient son, then the greedy killer caretakers, and now the contrary and insolent wedding guest (Matthew…
The killer caretakers
What Jesus in His time intended for the ears of the chief priests and Pharisees, and which the…
Short in action, long in intention
IT is easy to mistake good intentions with the necessary actions required by true, living faith. The parable…
‘The last as first and the first as last’
Life in our communities of faith eventually reveals the big difference between what we think is proper and…
A communion built on mercy
Last Sunday we reflected on the community of believers’ uncompromising stand against sin even as we were reminded…
We are each other’s keepers
AS a communion of believers in Christ, we have our community rules of life. Fraternal correction and communal…
Finding life in the passion of Jesus
WE saw Peter expressing faith in Jesus as the Messiah. And he was tasked to take care of…
A faith that must serve
These next two Sundays we shall meditate on Peter’s ministry as Jesus’ chosen servant for a special task…
The great faith of a gentile
After the little faith demonstrated by Peter in a stormy sea, Jesus was amazed to encounter a gentile…
Do not be afraid!
WE need to have real faith in Jesus as we try to live up to our tasks in…
Blessed, broken and shared
Following the Sundays focused on the kingdom of heaven as illustrated in the parables, we now turn our…
The most precious
The twofold parable of the treasure found in a field and of the invaluable pearl discovered by a…
Divine initiative and human response
Staying within the agricultural experience of His audience, Jesus tackles the issue of the presence of evil persons…
Hearing God’s word and bearing fruit
All who labor and are burdened are invited to come and learn from Jesus, we heard it said…
The compassionate Lord
WE have been told by Jesus not to be afraid however daunting our task seems to be, and…
Total commitment
The discourse of Jesus on the cost of discipleship, or on the mission His disciples share from and…
Fear not
The mission of mercy on which Jesus sent His apostles, then as now, tests and develops the faith…
The Food from Heaven
Our spiritual growth and development, the focus of the Ordinary Time in our Liturgical Year, gets an initial…
The Father and the Son and us
Our liturgical calendar’s period of the Ordinary Time following the Easter Season is launched within the context of…
In the power of the Holy Spirit
AS the finale to our celebration of Easter, Pentecost 50 days after the resurrection of Jesus focuses on…
I am with you always
To enable the faithful to participate in the celebration of Jesus’ Ascension to heaven, the solemnity is held…
You in me and me in you
Going deeper into the meaning of our life of faith in the risen Jesus, we are next led…
Via, Veritas, Vita
IN the light of Easter, sayings of Jesus heard earlier become clear in their full meaning. In our…
The Shepherd-gate
Traditionally known as “Good Shepherd Sunday,” the Fourth Sunday of Easter portrays Jesus in His mission as both…
Present and recognized
Luke’s account about the appearance of the risen Jesus to the two disciples on the road to Emmaus…
Our Easter faith and the divine mercy
Every year the Sunday following Easter has the same gospel account of the appearance of the risen Jesus…
The tomb emptied by the risen Lord
The gospel text (Matthew 28:1-10), which is not a report of the resurrection itself of Jesus, details however…
The mystery of the Passion of Jesus
The Holy Week (Semana Santa) begins with the Palm Sunday of the Lord’s Passion, which takes us into…
Through death to life
The last of the seven signs in the gospel according to John is the raising of Lazarus (John…
Reborn in the Light
ON our way to Easter and our baptismal renewal in connection with it, we are invited to meditate…
The indispensable water
For the next three Sundays of Lent, Saint John provides the gospel narratives proper to catechumenal initiation and…
The road to Easter
Following the tensions of the temptations in the desert, we are led by the Church to another corner…
Desert survival
Each year at the start of the Lenten season, we are led to the desert to undergo a…
The standard of true Christians
Continuing our reflections of last week on His instruction to His disciples on how to really belong in…
Knowing oneself
Jesus continues to give instructions to His disciples on the mysteries of the kingdom of God. In the…
‘Salt of the Earth’
After pointing out to his disciples in the Beatitudes the indispensability of the inner dispositions like poverty in…
The presentation of Jesus at the Temple
The presentation of Jesus is traditionally the 40th day after Christmas (Luke 2:22-40). It brings back to us…
To be a light in the darkness
From feast days back to the Ordinary Time of the liturgical year, the Church brings us to the…
Learning from a child
The Feast of the Santo Niño on the third Sunday of January is proper to the Philippines by…
Commissioned in the Holy Spirit
Closing the Christmas season is the feast of the baptism of Jesus as the anointed servant of God…
Mary, the Mother of God
Within the octave of Christmas, we celebrate the solemnity of the Holy Family and see in Joseph and…
The family that walks in God’s ways
How can the family be an enduring communion of life and love? For anyone, the family is set…
Joseph the righteous man
IN his narrative of the birth of Jesus, Saint Matthew is giving us a theological reflection on the…
Works of reconnecting
John the Baptizer not only personifies for us the message of Advent as preparing the way of the…
A voice crying ‘repent!’
Advent is lacking if John the Baptizer is not there to guide and lead us. He is the…
Advent for Filipinos
(Fifteen years ago as I started to write this weekly column on BusinessMirror upon the urging of my…
King as no other
Every year at the end of our liturgical calendar the solemnity of Christ the King is like a…
The end
AS we draw near the end of our liturgical year the thought of the end of things naturally…
Life hereafter
Jesus finally reached Jerusalem after a long pedagogical journey that we have been following for many Sundays now…
Can we do a Zacchaeus?
IF last Sunday we saw a tax collector pleasing in the sight of God because of his truthfulness…
God vindicates the humble
Only in Saint Luke do we find the parable of the Pharisee and the tax collector at prayer…
Like the indomitable widow
Salvation comes with the faith of those who rely not on their own merits but on the loving…
A faith that saves
Together with last Sunday’s gospel reading on being dutiful servants, the account by Saint Luke about the healing…
On being dutiful servants
The last two Sundays we were focused on the issue of the proper use of earthly goods. Now…
Opportunities made fruitless
The last parable of Jesus in Chapter 16 of Saint Luke’s gospel (16:19-31) further clarifies the challenge to…
Wise and prudent with money
Money matters, being important for our salvation. Proper use of money and wealth can help gain real treasure…
The love of a father
Feasting is a biblical image for the joyous communion of the just with God in all eternity. It…
The cost of discipleship
While on the road to Jerusalem, Jesus already spelled out to His followers traveling with Him what the…
Proper behavior all around
Jesus was constantly under observation by people who would like to test his authenticity. But he could also…
The last as first through the narrow gate
The formation of the disciples of Jesus intensifies in the lengthy account by Saint Luke of the journey…
Sacrificing even family loyalties
TO follow Jesus and be part of God’s reign, one must put Jesus above all else. One may…
Always prepared
Last week we saw the man with overflowing barns called a fool because he did not include facing…
To be rich
Continuing the formation of His disciples, Jesus next cleared up their minds and stoke up their hearts about…
The Christian prayer
A disciple of Jesus lives a life of service reaching out to anyone in need, loving God with one’s…
For the love of God
Last Sunday’s message about the love of neighbor as oneself is correlated with the other great commandment of…
To be a neighbor
WE have reflected on our being sent by Jesus with urgency as laborers in the abundant harvest. Now…