Today's celebration of Indigenous Peoples' Sunday invites us to deepen our appreciation of their culture. We have to learn a lot from them, especially in the way they care for God's creation and nature. Since they find life in the endowments of the Creator in...
Are you happy? In this time of the pandemic, this question may sound irrelevant. Can we still be happy at this time? Oxford English Dictionary’s definition of “happy” is a little more helpful: It is a “feeling or showing pleasure or contentment.” From this definition, PositivePsychology.com...
In my early years in Interreligious Dialogue, my staff composed of Fr. Leonardo N. Mercado, SVD (now deceased), and Ms. Lou Q. Solijon, sidsa, we also had several dialogues with the IPs (Indigenous Peoples). Yes, following the advice of Francis Cardinal Arinze, then Prefect of...
WHILE it’s true that Christ told the rich young man, and us, to “sell everything and give to the poor…and come, follow me,” (Mk 10,21), we need to understand that the Christian spirit of poverty and detachment does not prevent us from having the things...
YES, when one is driven by unbelief and hatred, he is likely to fall into self-contradictions. This was illustrated in that gospel episode where some of the crowd reacted to Christ’s driving away a demon from a possessed person in this way: “By the power...
WE have to learn how to deal with the difficult and the impossible things in our life. Let’s remember that as long as we are here on earth, we have to contend with all sorts of difficulties, trials and temptations. And as if these are not...
IF we understand that prayer is what keeps us always in contact with God who is the very essence of love, then we should realize that we indeed need to pray all the time. Prayer should not be understood merely as some spiritual exercise that...
THERE’S a great need to update the story of Martha and Mary (cfr. Lk 10,38-42) if only to relish once again the important lesson it imparts to us, especially nowadays when we can do a lot of good things and pursue high worldly ideals, and...
THE Memorial of St. Francis Assisi (October 4) reminds us of the strategic role of poverty and detachment from earthly good in pursuing true Christian charity. And the gospel of that day reinforces this crucial theme in Christian life. It’s about the rich young man...
(An excerpt from the Homily of Most Rev. Romulo G. Valles, D.D., Archbishop of Davao, September 20, 2021 during the live streamed mass of the Diaconate Ordination of Bro. Lexter Maria Caras, SDV and Bro. Jerson Maria Balili, SVD at San Isidro Labrador Parish, Cat....