Making Friends With The Lord Jesus

The Lord invites us to a permanent state of conversion.

Today is a great day of celebration especially for the Visayans, and also for the rest of the Filipinos here and abroad. We feast because of the canonization of St. Pedro Calungsod who was a missionary layman and catechist in the 17th century. He died together with his rector St. Diego Luis de San Vitores in Guam as they faced the threats to their lives in converting and baptizing the Chamorro nat...

The Lord tells us in today's gospel to examine ourselves instead of running to him to resolve our quarrels with others regaring inheritance disputes. He points out to check ourselves regarding greed and about what we think is truly valuable in our existence because it should not be about possessions. In this way, he invites us all to renew ourselves by repenting and resolving to amend ourselves co...

This is the question Jesus poses to us today in the gospel. This query should spur us to examine ourselves, our consciences, and call a spade a spade. We need to face ourselves and check whether we are greedy and have fallen for the values of the world, that is, to be enslaved to material possessions, whether material wealth looms highest in our scale of values in life. We need to be reminded by t...

God knows best!

We need to nourish our petition to Our Lord about teaching us to pray. Praying to Him is a gift from Him. Rightfully, we need to ask to be taught. The devil hates this. All he wants is that we remain alone so that it is easier for him to deceive us.

Today, on the memorial of Our Lady of the Holy Rosary, we read in the gospel the account of St. Luke about the Annunciation. Mary gave herself to the calling of God for her to be His Mother. Thus begins the mysteries of the Holy Rosary.

Today, we celebrate the 23rd canonization anniversary of St. Josemaria Escriva, the Founder of Opus Dei. We explore in the homily the idea of sanctity.

If you have faith.,.. That is the minimum requirement for us to accomplish God's will on earth. Let us ask God to increase our faith

The Lord cautions His apostles and encourages them to aim higher than rejoicing that the devils are under their power. Doing God's Will should be enough for them, since that is the sure way to reach intimacy with Him and get to the goal, i.e., Heaven.

Our Lord explained to us his framework in carrying on His salvific work. His simple principle is the title of this homily. Thus, it is not pertinent that we emphasize listening only to Jesus, when He himself arranged that He would depend on His instruments whom He sends out to spread His doctrine and teachings.

Today we remember the Holy Guardian Angels and their essential role in our journey to Heaven. This is especially relevant when my listeners in Cebu have been affected by the recent 6.7 intensity earthquake that hit especially the north of the island. Let us pray for those affected and to their guardian angels and the guardian angel of the province.

It is easy to claim that we'd follow the Lord wherever He'd go. But many times we set a condition. Listen about it in the homily.

We learn today about St. Jerome and his struggles with his predominant defect. The gospel tells us about the determination of Jesus in going to Jerusalem, although it will be where He will meet His death. He freely wanted to show us His love by dying on the Cross. Are we as resolute in doing God's Will?

We have witnessed all kinds of matches in our lives, from boxing to all types of sports where the goal is to beat the other athletes and teams to win the gold medal or trophy. Today, our Mother the Church reminds us to complete our appreciation of reality. What is real is not only our material world. There is a more real world of spiritual creatures, of angels and archangels. Let us learn about th...

Today, the gospel tells us of the fear of the apostles of Jesus in asking him a question to clarify their confusion. Since they feared asking, they did not learn anything. The offshoot of that fear was causing them more suffering than necessary. Find out more about this matter in the homily.

Today, the gospel tells us of the fear of the apostles of Jesus in asking him a question to clarify their confusion. Since they feared asking, they did not learn anything. The offshoot of that fear was causing them more suffering than necessary. Find out more about this matter in the homily.

WE need to ask this question many times. Otherwise, we might unconsciously treat Him as simply one of us or part of creation, when in fact is the absolute Other, beyond our universe. He is transcendent. But at the same time He is found so much in the interior of any creature anywhere in the universe because without Him that creature or creatures would fall into nothing. We need this reminder often...

We learn today about the terrible case of Herod the Tetrarchof Galilee when he coldly addressed the public “problem” of Jesus Christ. He wantedvery much to see Jesus. So, when they discussed him, people surmised that Jesuswas a prophet of the past arisen, even the recently decapitated John the Baptist. Herod acknowledged that fact. He had him executed. Interestingly, he never morallyevaluated his...

Today, we are reminded by our Mother the Church about each of us members of the Mystical Body of Christ that we have been sent. You read that correctly. As members of the Catholic Church, as Catholic Christians, we are essentially sent by Our Lord Jesus Christ, just like He sent the apostles to fulfill a mission. What does that mission entail? Find out in today’s homily.

When I visited the Holy Land several years ago, one of the first sites we visited was the wall of Jerusalem. We saw the Golden Gate. Quite evident to us were the many graves lined up in front of that sealed gate, awaiting the second coming of the Messiah. The people on those graves wanted to be there, close to Him. It is difficult to find someone who does not want to sit or stand close to a celebr...

Lamps are supposed to give light. Light is needed to see well our way. Jesus is compared to light. He is the Logos, or the Word of God. Hence, He is properly understood as Light. He is God's Wisdom to guide us to our proper destination. Without Light, we get lost and get misguided or deceived and get lost from the way.

Today, the Lord poses before us this choice between God and Mammon. He avers to us that we cannot serve them both. That is an either-or choice. But never both! The reason is that we actually do not get to give everything to God, who deserves and demands all of us to love and serve Him, because we will give something to mammon. What we tend to do is get the best of both, so to speak.

The seed is the word of God. In this particular moment of our salvation history, the word is the very only Son of God, the Logos, according to St. John's gospel Prologue. For Jesus to produce fruit, He needs us to be good soil.

The Lord normally asked men to follow Him. Today, the gospel tells us that those women mentioned followed and accompanied Jesus and His men to provide them with their resources. Those women had the bold spirit of initiative to attend to what they as women could contribute to help our dear Jesus and His Apostles focus on preaching and guiding souls.