Daily Reflections
“I am not the Christ” is a phrase we read from the gospel of John, where John the Baptist explains who he is to those seeking to understand his identity. Interestingly, the Jews thought John was the Christ. At a point, while they interrogated him, they wondered why John was…
Read More
Merry Christmas and Happy New Year! January 1 is a special day in the Catholic Church of the Western rite, dedicated to honoring Mary as the Mother of God. This feast, known as the Solemnity of Mary, the Mother of God, highlights the deep connection between devotion to Mary and…
Read More
When I was a child, my family lived in an old ancestral house that my great-grandfather purchased nearly a century ago when he married my great-grandmother. It was a traditional Filipino stone house, a stone-walled ground floor, and a wooden second floor, complete with large windows that allowed the cool…
Read More
Dear Readers, As we Catholics continue to celebrate the Christmas season, many other people have taken down the Christmas trees. They have carefully put away the decorations until next year. The stores are putting out Valentine’s Day decorations. Christmas is already a memory. I find myself whispering, “Father, forgive them.…
Read More
Fra Angelico, The Nativity[1] At the end of this calendar year, we transitioned from one liturgical cycle to a new one: we went from cycle B to cycle C, and thus, we began Advent. From the “sweet-penance-transitional-time” of Advent, we moved into Christmas: we went from penance and expectation to…
Read More
The Church today remembers the children Herod killed in an attempt to kill Jesus. This is such a difficult feast to understand, but it is important to remember that the Church declares that all these children are martyrs and saints in Heaven. Our Lord can turn the most wicked of…
Read More
Two days ago, we celebrated the birth of Christ. Today, being the feast of St. John, the Gospel presents us with the episode of the empty tomb, which is one of the many evidences, confirming the resurrection of Christ. The Liturgy of the Christmas season thus encourages us to follow…
Read More
Merry Christmas, everyone! I hope you had a wonderful Christmas, surrounded by family and loved ones, as we celebrated the birth of Jesus. As I was reflecting on my article last week, I was struck by the recent tragedies affecting several families, and if you are still surrounded by your…
Read More
One of the greatest songs of Advent, which tells all about Christmas is the song: “O come o come Emmanuel, and ransom captive Israel, That mourns in lonely exile here, Until the Son of God appear.” The wordings of the song go back to a Latin form in the medieval…
Read More
On this last day of Advent, the eve of Christ’s birth, my prayer is a prayer of hope. With the birth of a baby there is so much to hope for. It is an event that inspires love, joy, and life. Hope is the fruit of this. This Jubilee Year…
Read More