Reflections

A New Year with a new heart . . . If you happen to look at the headlines of the past days you will notice that the news only affirms that year after year, nothing has really changed. News is the same the world over: corruption in the government, kidnappings, murders, rape, exploitation of the…

The Days after Christmas It is just a few days after celebrating Christ’s birth. But there is the inevitable letdown. The empty boxes, the pretty paper on the floor, the empty bottles . . . Life has come back to normal, whatever that is, and it means that the diversion of the past few weeks,…

Christ did not come into the world only for December 25–he came to live with us for the rest of our lives . . . and for eternity. So let’s make each day like Christmas! onz, oar

”What does Christmas mean?” Perhaps we should begin with this question because Christmas seems to mean so many things to so many people. IF Christmas means family; THEN what does Christmas mean to a person who has just lost a loved one or has no family? IF Christmas means shopping malls, Christmas trees and blinking…

God has something ready for each one of us during these Aguinaldo Masses:   • maybe a new insight that will make us grow in   wisdom; •maybe an experience of forgiveness or spiritual liberation that will bring us deeper interior peace;   •maybe a word of grace that will heal us of an old and festering…

Never be afraid to approach Jesus this Christmas. Precisely, He came as a Child and not as a mighty king, with mighty throng of armies, so that we can be so attracted to approach Him as it is almost effortless and spontaneously alluring to approach a child. ONZ, OAR

The story is told of a mother who was very busy getting ready for Christmas. One day, hurrying from store to store, she lost her little boy. Frantically retracing her steps, she found him blocks away with his nose flatly pressed against a plate-glass shop window. When he saw his mother, he exclaimed, “Look, Mom,…

How can we identify ourselves with Mary?…. we are sinful mortals while Mary is sinless? A chosen Mother of God—conceived without sin? But remember that even though she was a privileged woman, having been chosen to be the mother of the Redeemer and conceived without the stain of sin, that did not guarantee that she…

Today’s Gospel Reflection December 7 In today’s Gospel, even when Jesus had cured the paralysed man, the Pharisees and scribes remained sceptical about His divine powers because of their self-centred interests for power, respect and glory.  Does our mistrust and disbelief of others mirror some of the Pharisees’ self-centredness in us?

November 18, 2015 (Luke 19:11-28) In the parable, money is just a metaphor. The underlying message is: What we have received is not for us alone; it is to be shared and thereby multiplied. We are mere stewards, pure and simple. Not just of money – but of talent, aptitude, opportunity, health, heritage, industriousness –…