WE have to understand that prayer is not an optional element in our life. It is something essential and indispensable. We are meant to pray always, making prayer like the very breathing and heartbeat of our spiritual life. This truth of our faith is clearly articulated...
CHRIST has warned us about the futility of hypocrisy. At one point, he said, “There is nothing concealed that will not be revealed, nor secret that will not be known. Therefore, whatever you have said in the darkness will be heard in the light, and...
THAT stinging rebuke Christ made on some leading Jews of his time (cfr. Lk 11,47-54) reminds us that we actually are all sinners no matter how much we profess to be good persons and even holy ones. “Woe to you who build the memorials of the...
THIS is a big challenge for us. We are always prone to fall into inconsistency and disunity in our life, and thus into all forms of hypocrisy, deception, formalisms, legalisms, etc. that try to show goodness without the proper substance. In the gospel, Christ lamented about...
“Oh you Pharisees! Although you cleanse the outside of the cup and the dish, inside you are filled with plunder and evil.” (Lk 11,39) This is the typical reaction of Christ toward the rigid rules of the Pharisees, who make a big issue out of little...
IN the gospel, there is a part where Christ lamented about the lack of faith of the people. “This generation is an evil generation,” he said. “It seeks a sign, but no sign will be given it, except the sign of Jonah.” (Lk 11,29) We need...
THAT gospel episode about 10 lepers who begged Christ to cure them teaches us the lesson that we should always go to God especially when we find ourselves in difficulties. It also reminds us that we should always be thankful to him because he always...
CHRIST said it very clear, in no unclear terms. “Whoever is not with me is against me, and whoever does not gather with me scatters.” (Lk 11,23) There’s no ifs and buts about this ideal that is meant for us. We have to realize very deeply...
YES, there is such thing as the art of holy insistence. This was shown, for example, in that story Christ told his disciples about someone who went to his friend-store-owner in the middle of the night asking for bread because a friend of his just...
THIS is what we should aspire for. This is what we are meant to be. Unless we become contemplative souls, there’s no way we can be with God who is everything to us. Without him, we can only be at best a joke, no matter...