The suspension of Masses with public attendance and participation in the Archdiocese of Davao and other dioceses throughout the country is not cowardice. It is neither an indication of defeat on the part of the Church nor a triumph of evil. It is rather our...
[Please disregard the announcement titled Additional Announcement that I made late afternoon of Saturday, March 14, 2020. For facility, we are now naming these announcements as Pastoral Advisory and the corresponding number. Thus, this present announcement, which is a revision of that Additional Announcement of...
For believers, people with faith in the unseen, like almost all Filipinos, a human being lives in, and with, two realities: the temporal or transitory realities and the eternal realities. Of the first we are easily aware; of the second, we are not. We can...
PENANCE is actually what we have to do all the time. It’s quite clear that we need it, given our weakened, wounded and sinful condition in the entirety of our earthly sojourn. But it has its more intense moments, one of which is precisely the...
WE know that in spite of our tremendous communication technologies, we still are not yet connected in peaceful and meaningful unity and harmony among ourselves. In fact, we can observe the contrary—that the more sophisticated our communication technologies are, the more divided among ourselves we...
THE month of March can be considered a special month for Blessed Alvaro del Portillo, the first successor and close collaborator of Opus Dei founder, St. Josemaria Escriva. Blessed Alvaro was born on March 11, 1914 and died on March 23, 1994. He was an...
FEAR, of course, is one of our emotions. It is our natural reaction when we perceive something to be a danger to us or is so incomprehensible that we feel helpless. Fear is one of our natural and instantaneous defense mechanisms. Since we are exposed to...
CHATTING with young people, the complaint I usually hear is that they find it difficult to pray, let alone, to persevere in praying. They feel awkward, they find themselves dry and uninspired, distractions often bother them, they feel they do not have enough materials or...
NEITHER is God’s word just an idea, a doctrine, an ideology. It’s not just a strategy, a culture or a lifestyle. Of course, God’s word involves all these, but unless we understand God’s word as Christ himself, the God who became man to reveal to...
In the promotion of the culture of dialogue (see also Nota Bene), we often take for granted the importance of good presence. This does not mean that you and your dialogue partner can see, hear or touch each other. Nor does it mean your distance...