By Fr. Roy Cimagala IT’S intriguing to note that when Christ sent out his disciples in pairs to prepare his coming to the different towns, he commanded them to “carry no money bag, no sack, no sandals, and to greet no one along the way.” (cfr. Lk 10,1-9) He is actually telling them not to
October 18, 2021
By Fr. Roy Cimagala WE have to be most careful with our intentions because they play a crucial role in our moral life. Our intentions can determine the state of our life in relation to God and to others. Together with the matter or object, and the circumstances surrounding our acts, our intention can referee
October 16, 2021
By Fr. Roy Cimagala “There is nothing concealed that will not be revealed, nor secret that will not be known.” (Lk 12,2) With these words, Christ is clearly telling us that there is no point hiding things from God since he knows everything. Neither should we be hiding things from others, unless due to proper
October 15, 2021
By Fr. Roy Cimagala THOSE gospel episodes where Christ bewailed the self-righteousness of the leading Jews of his time remind us that we really need to be aware of this common anomaly, called self-righteousness, and do everything to fight it. Self-righteousness is a common disease, since all of us have our share of pride and
October 14, 2021
By Fr. Roy Cimagala WE have to be wary of this common tendency of ours. We are always prone to show externally what we actually are not internally. We easily fall into some kind of political or social correctness without the proper spirit animating it. We easily fall into forms of legalism and formalism. Often,
October 13, 2021
By Fr. Roy Cimagala WHILE Christ was always patient, compassionate, merciful and the like with everyone, we cannot deny that there were occasions that he showed anger and expressed some lamentations. He even did this with his disciples, and especially with those self-righteous leading Jews of his time and those who converted the temple into
October 12, 2021
By Fr. Roy Cimagala THAT’S “strong in the faith” in English. The expression comes from the First Letter of St. Peter (5,9) and is made also in the First Letter of St. Paul to the Corinthians (16,13) Both passages are made in the context of our need to be always on guard against the enemies
October 11, 2021
By Fr. Roy Cimagala 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 of this world, like money. But,
October 9, 2021
By Fr. Roy Cimagala YES, when one is driven by unbelief and hatred, he is likely to fall into self-contradiction. 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 of Beelzebul, the prince of demons,
October 8, 2021
By Fr. Roy Cimagala Chaplain Center for Industrial Technology and Enterprise (CITE) Talamban, Cebu City Email: roycimagala@gmail.com 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
October 7, 2021
By Fr. Roy Cimagala 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 we do only at certain moments
October 6, 2021
By Fr. Roy Cimagala 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 yet miss what is truly and
October 5, 2021