Daily martyrdom
I BELIEVE it is a Christian fact of life that if we have to be consistently Christian, then we have to be prepared to suffer martyrdom, one way or another. It may not be a dramatic and bloody martyrdom like the case of the Holy...
Category Archives: Opinion
Eager to look for Christ always
THE Feast of St. John, the Apostle, celebrated two days after Christmas, presents us with his inspiring example of eagerness to look for Christ. As the gospel reading of the day tells us, the youngest apostle ran ahead of Peter and arrived at the empty...
To be Christian is to be fearless
THAT’S right! If we are truly and consistently Christian, fear would have no place in our heart other than that wonderful gift of the Holy Spirit himself that is the fear of the Lord, which is a healthy kind of fear. The fear of the...
Emmanuel
After two years of the pandemic, this season of Christmas must make a difference. This is the feeling of many of us since we started the preparations during Advent when people went to Church for the Misa de Gallo. No matter how small a house...
Siya Mangita Kanunay Kanato
(Excerpt from the Homily of Most Reverend Romulo G. Valles, D.D., on the Canonical Establishment of Our Lady of Guadalupe Parish, Deca Homes Tacunan, Tugbok, Davao City, December 12, 2022.) …Pasalamat ta karong adlawa, one assignment natong tanan (let me divert a little bit) karong puntoha...
Finally, Christmas!
INDEED, a day of great joy! The Son of God, the perfect image that God has of himself and the image after whom we are patterned, is finally born to be with us and to give us “the way, the truth and the life” that...
Living with mysteries
THAT otherwise amusing story of how the baby of Elizabeth and Zechariah was to be called John instead of Zechariah as their neighbors suggested (cfr. Lk 1,57-66) somehow tells us that in our life we have to contend with certain mysteries that often defy common...
Level down to level up
THE Magnificat, that most wonderful prayer of praise said by Our Lady during her visit to her cousin, Elizabeth, gives us the idea that in order for us to level up to the dignity of God’s image and likeness, children of his, sharers of his...
The servanthood of Mary
IT’S worthwhile taking note of that detail in the gospel where Our Lady, upon learning that her cousin, Elizabeth, was also conceiving a son in her womb, immediately went to visit her to offer some help. (cfr. Lk 1,39-45) The meeting of the two gave rise...
Christ wants to be born in us
AS we approach that most wonderful event of the birth of Christ on Christmas Day, we are reminded of how his mother, Our Lady, believed the message of the Archangel Gabriel that she was going to be the mother of the Son of God. (cfr....