“This generation is an evil generation; it seeks a sign, but no sign will be given it, except the sign of Jonah.” (Lk 11,29) With these words of Christ, we are somehow asked to develop a strong faith by going through continuing conversion all throughout...
YES, we have to be most wary of these two spiritual anomalies that can easily come to us. In that gospel episode where Christ talked about the last judgment, he told the goats—the evil men—that precisely they had these anomalies. “Depart from me, you accursed, into...
WE have to be wary of the danger to turn our prayer into mere babble of words. Christ pointed this out when he said: “In praying, do not babble like the pagans, who think that they will be heard because of their many words.” (Mt...
IT’S intriguing to note that Christ allowed himself to be tempted by the devil. (cfr. Lk 4,1-13) Although we can presume that the devil would have no chance to succeed in his effort, Christ must have allowed this event to happen to teach us how...
“Can the wedding guests mourn as long as the bridegroom is with them?” (Mt 9,15) That’s taken from the gospel of Friday after Ash Wednesday. It’s Christ’s response when he was asked why his disciples do not fast as often as those of the Pharisees....
IT should be clear in our mind that our attitude toward the unavoidable suffering we are going to have in this life should be inspired by our Christian faith. We should never treat it from a purely human point of view, guided only by our...
THANK God, for a good number of reasons, Ash Wednesday is celebrated in our country in a very popular way. Even if it exudes a dire, gloomy air, what with all the liturgical protocols on fasting, abstinence and other forms of self-denial, it continues to...
LET’S see to it that our thinking and reasoning is always guided by our Christian faith, hope and charity, and not just by what we see and understand, no matter how high our IQ is or how much data and facts we have in possession. This...
THAT’S true. Despite our weaknesses, mistakes, sins, etc., we have in our heart of hearts an inherent desire for heaven. As the Catechism would put it, “This desire (for happiness) is of divine origin: God has placed it in the human heart in order to...
WE have to realize that we have an inherent blindness due to the fact that we have to contend with spiritual and supernatural realities in our life. These realities simply can overwhelm our capacity to see things properly, let alone, understand them. To top it...