OUR PARISH PRIEST

WAITING FOR THE GOOD THINGS OF GOD Advent1 At a bookstore recently, I got bored waiting in line at the cashier. I scouted for another possible cashier and I hastily transferred to her section. But the line was even longer and so I returned to my original cashier, but the line there was by now doubled. One of the most difficult things to do today is wait. Why wait when you can have what you want, what you need in an instant? Letters and cards are getting passé due to email and fax machines. Telegrams give way to text messages and Facebook updates. The home computer gives you information, product orders and entertainment! But the irony of it all is that in life, you still must wait. You must wait: outside the doctor’s clinic, for the taxi, for visa processing, for love to be reciprocated. There are two types of waiting. First, we wait for something that will surely happen. This is the normal waiting of everyday. We wait and we know that in the e

Survival of the weakest CHRIST THE KING There is no doubt, Manny Pacquiao is the king of boxing. The whole world has just seen Filipino sports power at its best in the latest Pacquiao – Margarito match. Manny brought home his 8 th title and an enormous amount of esteem, pride and honor to his country. What makes a person king of the ring, king of the road, king of rock and roll, king of anything? We have a principle in life called “survival of the fittest”. You survive when you prove to be the strongest, eliminating or dominating the weakest. You ensure your success by the blow of defeat you bestow on others. This is what happens to Manny and his opponents; to SM malls and the smaller stores, to multinational corporations and cottage industries. The stronger one tramples on the other, destroying, swallowing up, asphyxiating the other. Today we are before another King, unlike any other king. He comes to set the standard for a new kind of kingship, a n

3 W’s About the End 32nd Sunday We can make sense of the gospel message on this second to the last Sunday of the liturgical year with three words that start with the letter W. The first word is “wait”. But what do we wait for? We wait for the end. There will be an end to things, to all things, to our life, and all life. There are two approaches of people when it comes to the end. Some people simply don’t care. Yes, in our modern world, many people live only today. They see only what’s before their very eyes. They care only about the urgent matters that need attention now. Others anxiously anticipate the end. They cannot focus on the present because of their fear of the end suddenly coming. How many people lost touch with reality because they set their sights on a future that they were not so sure about. Whether or not people believe in the end, God’s Word is very clear. There will be an end to things. In fact, it will not need God’s s

WE CAN POINT THE WAY 32nd Sunday Seven brothers were brought before the king. They were asked to deny their faith and to do something that according to Jewish religion is abominable in God’s sight. Each of the brothers stood up to the king. From the first to the last, each one bravely died rather than compromise their faith in God. Each one also died reminding the king that though he will die, there is a heaven that will receive his soul and give him eternal life. This biblical story never fails to move me to serious reflection, specially these days, when many Christians are pressured to give up their faith, even their lives, for God. Iraqi Christians were recently hostaged and killed while attending Sunday Mass in their church. Let us pray that they will remain courageous and steadfast. But what is most instructive is what the reading did not fully explain to us. The seven sons were strong in their faith because of their mother. The mother brought her