By: Fr. Roy Cimagala NEW Year’s Day, of course, liturgically coincides with the Solemnity of the divine maternity of our Lady. We should be reminded that we have to make ourselves new again spiritually and morally under the guidance of the Mother of God and our Mother also. Every New Year may make us a
December 31, 2019
By: Fr. Roy Cimagala Feeling helpless in our prayer can come anytime. We can experience such dryness that we wouldn’t feel the slightest need for God or the need to pray. Many times, we wouldn’t know how to relate some situations of our life to God —like our current concerns, problems, challenges, or just our
December 30, 2019
By: Fr. Roy Cimagala WITH the Feast of the Holy Family, we should take time to examine how our own families conform to the model family of the Holy Family of Jesus, Mary and Joseph. We should never take this occasion and duty for granted. Our families, like each one of us, are still a
December 28, 2019
By: Fr. Roy Cimagala THIS is the irony of ironies. That is when one earnestly pursues the path of holiness and does practically everything to be good and holy, and yet ends up the opposite of what he wants. This is the danger of self-righteousness. That’s when one practically has the trappings of goodness and
December 27, 2019
By: Fr. Roy Cimagala CHRISTMAS is, of course, about the birth of our Lord, Jesus Christ. It is such a beautiful event that, thanks to God, we still like to romanticize to the hilt. But no matter how much romance and fantasy we put in there, we know that we actually can never fully fathom
December 24, 2019
By: Fr. Roy Cimagala We should always be wary of the usual conflict between our body and soul, and be ready to resolve it as quickly as possible so that the ideal unity of life can be achieved even as we go through the different situations of our life. Christ already warned us about this.
December 23, 2019
By: Fr. Roy Cimagala In reaching out to those who are still far from the Church, those who are even hostile to it, those in the peripheries, etc., as we should, following the example and command of Christ, a most basic and commonsensical principle to follow is that we avoid using the same standards and
December 19, 2019
By: Fr. Roy Cimagala That’s one thing we should always bear in mind whenever we are assailed by evil in any form. It always has to refer to something true and good which it tries to twist, distort, or outrightly deny. It cannot stand on its own. It offers nothing new, nothing original. Knowing that
December 18, 2019
By: Fr. Roy Cimagala A news item recently from the US reported that many American priests are stressed out, burned out due to the load they carry, and that many of them feel isolated. To top it all, they are assailed now by a lot of scandals ranging from financial mismanagement and sexual abuses. My
December 17, 2019
By: Fr. Roy Cimagala We cannot deny that in our life we will always have to face challenges and difficulties, resolve certain issues, go through the unavoidable differences and conflicts among ourselves, etc. We should see to it that in all this, we always maintain a positive, hopeful and constructive attitude rather than get carried
December 16, 2019
By: Fr. Roy Cimagala Of course, this is the biggest privilege given to a human person. Mary, of all people, was exempted from original sin from her conception in the womb of her mother, St. Anne, and remained immaculate, unstained by any sin all throughout her earthly life. The basis for this dogma is, first
December 13, 2019
By: Fr. Roy Cimagala “Whoever exalts himself will be humbled, and he who humbles himself will be exalted.” (Mt 23,12) Aside from the obvious literal meaning of these words of Christ, we can also draw from these words the conclusion that whenever we receive more blessings, more privileges and endowments from God, the more humble
December 12, 2019