MAKE no mistake about this. We are clearly commanded by Christ to love our enemies, to do good to those who hate us, to bless those who curse us, to pray for those who mistreat us, etc. (cfr. Lk 6,27-38) That may sound impossible to do, given the way we are,
February 19, 2022
WHY? Because in the first place, suffering is a consequence of our sins, not to mention our weaknesses, mistakes, and the fact that we have to contend with a supernatural goal that simply goes beyond our natural human powers. Suffering is unavoidable in this life. No matter how much we try
February 18, 2022
THE fact that Christ immediately talked about his impending passion and death after being rightly identified by Peter as the “the Christ” (cfr. Mk 8,27-33) tells us that suffering and death, which are unavoidable in our life here on earth, are actually good news to all of us. If understood and
February 17, 2022
SOME people brought a blind man to Christ, obviously so he could be cured of his blindness. (cfr. Mk 8,22-26) What Christ did was to bring the man to a certain place, and instead of curing him immediately, made him recover his sight after some steps. “Putting spittle on his eyes
February 16, 2022
WE have a tremendous challenge with the coming of the new digital platform called the Metaverse. It is supposed to be the internet’s next frontier focusing on virtual and augmented reality, which is really quite a development. Like any development in the world, Metaverse offers us tremendous advantages, but we should
February 15, 2022
WHILE it’s true that we believe what we want to believe, we should also remember that before wanting to believe, there should be an objective basis for that belief. And that’s because we actually do not choose what to believe. We have to believe what ought to be believed. What is
February 14, 2022
EVER wondered why Christ regarded as blessed those who suffer in one way or another here on earth? That’s captured in his proclamation of the beatitudes. (cfr. Lk 6,21-26) The quick answer, of course, is that the beatitudes portray the way love, which is the essence of God and is what
February 12, 2022
CHRIST was performing so many amazing miracles that the people could not help but exclaim: “He has done all things well. He makes the deaf hear and the mute speak.” (Mk 7,37) Eventually through these miracles, among many other things, people were convinced that Christ indeed was the promised redeemer, the
February 11, 2022
REMEMBER that gospel episode where a Greek woman begged Christ to drive the demon out of her daughter? (cfr. Mk 7,24-30) That is one clear instance when God can test us to see if we really have faith in him or not. There’s always that possibility that when our initial petition
February 10, 2022
“From one’s heart, come evil thoughts, unchastity, theft, murder, adultery, greed, malice, deceit, licentiousness, envy, blasphemy, arrogance, folly. All these evils come from within and they defile.” (Mk 7, 21-23) With these words, Christ is practically telling us that we have to take good care of our heart, which means that
February 9, 2022
By Fr. Roy Cimagala YES, we have to be wary of our tendency to be stricter and holier than God himself. This happened among many of the Pharisees in the gospel who made laws, and interpreted and applied these laws according to their own understanding, without referring them to God. (cfr. Mk 7,1-13) Of course,
February 8, 2022
THAT gospel story of Christ attracting people wherever he went, always asking for favors and miracles, (cfr. Mk 6,53-56) should remind us that we all need to hunger for God always. We have to strongly counter the tendency to be attracted only to worldly things. For this, we need to train
February 7, 2022
