OUR PARISH PRIEST

DRAWN TO THE POOR 22nd Sunday Filipinos appreciate the virtue of humility. Christians encourage one another to be humble. We are ever cautious of pride and we do not want to be considered arrogant. But is this humility when… A woman is praised for her beautiful dress: What a gorgeous dress you are wearing today! And she demurs: This one? It’s actually very old. (when in fact she just bought it for the occasion) A child is asked: Who is more clever, is it you or your brother? The child replies: It’s my brother, I am just following his footsteps. A person is asked: Why don’t you give a speech, or start the prayer? And the person answers: I’m not good at that. Please find somebody else. Often, what passes for humility is actually timidity, fear or shame. Central to the gospel today is Jesus challenge and promise: The one who exalts himself will be humbled and the one who humbles himself will be exalted. Praise of the humble carries wit...

ALL ABOUT SALVATION 21st Sunday Suppose you hear that I died, where do you think will I go? To heaven or to hell? Or imagine that you died. Will you go to the same destination or to another? The gospel today has a direct message for us: salvation. People were asking Jesus “will only a few be saved?” jews thought that because they were the chosen people, they were the only important people in God’s eyes. They thought that others not part of their group will all be damned. This question is still heard today. How often to we encounter people personally or through the radio and tv who claim that only they have access to heaven because they belong to this or that group. All the others, unless they transfer to their ranks, will be bound to hell. As catholics, how do we respond to this mentality? Our faith teaches us that the Lord has given the Catholic Church all the means to salvation, that means the complete instruments for loving and serving God i...

TAPOS NA ANG BOXING (a simple thanks to Fr. Albert Meerschaert, cicm) I’m sure tributes to Fr. Albert abound these days both from priests, ex-seminarians and lay people who knew him in his 51 long years as seminary formator and specially as spiritual director of aspirants to the priesthood. Fr. Albert was my only spiritual director in my 9 years in the seminary. I knew no other guide before him and those who came after him in my life can never equal both the length and depth of relationship he offered me in spiritual friendship and accompaniment. There are so many memories flowing in my mind right now and I believe it will take many pages to scribble them down. But the most significant one for my vocation was the story of how he saved my vocation. Fr. Albert never told me about this incident. It was in fact my Prefect of Discipline in Theology who told me the story, after being so impressed by Fr. Albert’s concern for his seminarians. In the seminary, there...

IN HEAVEN, AND YET TRULY HERE WITH US Solemnity of Mary's Assumption What happened to the Blessed Virgin Mary after Jesus returned to the glory of his Father in heaven? The Bible gives us a hint. Mary was present when the Holy Spirit came down on the apostles at Pentecost. She was in the company of the followers of the Lord, and with them, she once again received the Holy Spirit as she did when Jesus was conceived in her womb. Tradition holds that she stayed with St. John (to whom, while hanging on the cross, Jesus entrusted her) at Ephesus and there she spent the rest of her life receiving visitors and sharing her experiences of her Son. Then believers all over the world held with firm faith to the conviction that Jesus would never allow his mother to suffer physical decay in the tomb. She was assumed into heaven, body and soul, where now she is honored by the saints and the angels. This is the mystery we celebrate today on the Solemnity of the Assumpt...

GRAB THE OPPORTUNITY TO GROW A young man dreamt of becoming an architect. But he did not stand a chance for he was very poor and couldn’t make it to college. A generous family learned about his problem and decided to offer the young man a scholarship. it was the best chance of his life. Once in college though, he met a woman who became his girlfriend. The young man’s priorities changed and he spent more time with his girlfriend than in his classes. He soon lost interest in his studies and dropped out. The woman left him for a job opening abroad.    The young man without finishing his studies, landed a job as a popcorn factory worker, and later as a clothes salesman in a mall. He has been in and out of a job ever since. As a priest I have heard of so many such stories. I think you have heard some, too. You know people who lost great opportunities given them by God and by their neighbors. Through neglect, through irresponsibility, through lack of discipline, many pe...