Friday, 17th Week in Ordinary Time             It is said that faith is like a switch that turns God on; while lack of faith turns God off. Faith turns on the power of God… it allows God to do great things for us. While lack of faith turns off the power of God…it prevents God … Continue reading TURNING ON GOD’S POWER

Thursday, 17th Week in Ordinary Time             It is just but natural for Jesus to use illustrations from fishing when he is speaking to fishermen. It is as if he were saying, “Look how your daily work speaks to you of the things of heaven.”             One way of fishing in Jesus’ time and place … Continue reading THE CATCH AND THE SEPARATION

St. Martha             We celebrate today the feast of St. Martha. Her feast day will have its significance and relevance in our lives only if we learn the lesson Martha herself learned from Jesus: listening has to come before acting. That is exactly what today’s gospel reading is telling us.             In all the great … Continue reading LISTENING BEFORE ACTING

Tuesday, 17th Week in Ordinary Time             We live in a society that promotes the culture of rash judgment –and ‘prerequisite’ to it is, of course, the culture of gossip. There seems to be a strong demand for instant judgment. Think of the “instant surveys” that media outlets are fond of doing when, for example, … Continue reading JUDGMENT IS NOT OURS TO PASS

Monday, 17th Week in Ordinary Time             The parables of the mustard seed and the leaven underline the contrast between humble beginnings and unexpected endings. They are a description of the growth of the kingdom of God. Given the chance to be planted like a mustard seed or to be mixed like leaven in our … Continue reading MUSTARD SEED AND LEAVEN

17th Sunday in Ordinary Time           One of my favorite English words is serendipity. It is defined as “the ability of finding valuable things unexpectedly, the ability or gift of finding valuable things in unexpected places.”           Today’s gospel reading is about serendipity. It talks about a treasure buried in a field. A person finds it unexpectedly … Continue reading SERENDIPITY

17th Sunday in Ordinary Time           There is one character in the Arab traditional stories who is familiar to us:  it is Genie. Genie is a magical spirit who does or provides whatever the person who controls it asks. We usually associate Genie with “granting of wishes.” Once I was asked, “If Genie appears to you … Continue reading WHAT DO YOU WANT?

17th Sunday in Ordinary Time           What are the things you consider priceless? Priceless in the sense that you are willing to give up everything –or “sell everything you have”– for those things. I think it will do us better answering this question, not by trying to give” the right or ideal answer”–or something that is … Continue reading PRICELESS TREASURE

17th Sunday in Ordinary Time             I was requested to bless a big, beautiful mansion. The owner of the house is a 42-year old bachelor an architect by profession and has his own construction firm. Without me asking, the owner told me that he had spent around 50 million pesos, so far, for that house. … Continue reading IS IT WORTH IT?