OUR PARISH PRIEST

NO LONGER ORPHANS Easter 6 My most moving encounters when I visit wakes or preside at funerals is to see the anguish and sadness of orphaned children. I cannot help but be emotionally carried by the scene of children and young people forever deprived of the presence of their loving parents in their lives. A priest friend related to me that this is also his most moving experience in the liturgy. To be orphaned is truly a difficult, painful reality. When I was young, there was a kundiman (a traditional lyric song) that spoke of the travails of being an orphan. An orphan always cries at night because when a parent is forever gone, who else will come to your aid when you are in distress? Who will console you in your pain? To whom will you run for comfort and assurance? The song ends by saying that it is better to perish than to be an orphan. Jesus knows the ordeals of orphans, with his exposures to the sufferings of people who lost loved ones. Jesus often griev...

(PRAYER FOR THE GIFT OF THE HOLY SPIRIT) - Prayer of St. Anthony of Padua O GOD, SEND FORTH YOUR HOLY SPIRIT INTO MY HEART THAT I MAY PERCEIVE, INTO MY MIND THAT I MAY REMEMBER, AND INTO MY SOUL THAT I MAY MEDITATE. INSPIRE ME TO SPEAK WITH PIETY, HOLINESS, TENDERNESS, AND MERCY. TEACH, GUIDE AND DIRECT MY THOUGHTS AND SENSES FROM BEGINNING TO END. MAY YOUR GRACE EVER HELP AND CORRECT ME, AND MAY I BE STRENGTHENED NOW WITH WISDOM FROM ON HIGH, FOR THE SAKE OF YOUR INFINITE MERCY. AMEN.

JESUS, THE PATH TO GOD Easter 5 We live in confusing times, what with the many boisterous calls from every side. There is a raging battle for the minds and hearts of people. Some people say: Listen to us! Others say: Follow us! Those who listen either mindlessly align themselves with a group or a person, while the rest are paralyzed with indecision. This is true of politics. This is true of controversial RH Bill. This is true of relationships. There are simply many versions of the truth paraded before us. Even in the life of faith, many solutions emerge. While a group shouts: kami ang Dating Daan! (a local sect, meaning The Old Way), another hollers: kami ang Tamang Daan! (a local sect, meaning The True Way). Catholics run here and there, easily deceived. They run excitedly as long as they will receive anything. Which way is the best? Whose voice is most reliable? Who must we follow? Jesus’ words are very simple but deep, short b...

SHEPHERDS VS. ROBBERS Easter 4 Last Monday just after midnight a nice Innova car pulled up in front of a computer shop. People alighted, opened the shop door and began loading computer units inside the car, leaving with practically all the computers they could carry. Witnesses thought the owners of the shop were bringing their computers somewhere else. But then, as they departed, why would these men leave open the door? The neighbors later realized that those guys were thieves. Jesus contrasts himself with thieves and robbers in the gospel today. The thieves come to steal and destroy. They take away what they do not own. They care not for the good of the owners. They are consumed by their own selfishness. The Lord calls himself with two descriptive names: the shepherd and the gate of the sheepfold. That Jesus is shepherd is easy to understand. Just remember the pictures of Jesus holding a lamb in his arms and followed by a flock of sheep. Jesus te...

JESUS IS ALIVE IN HOSPITALITY Easter 3 Just when the doctor advised me to spend a week of total voice rest, following the strain of Lent and Holy Week activities, it was then that I had a stream of visitors who came to see me last week. Former parishioners came to update on each other’s lives. Friends dropped by to say hello. At one point, our rectory rooms were all filled with visitors – to whom I could only communicate through writing. I do not begrudge visitors. Like my parents, I love it when people come to visit and when I can exercise what is perhaps the most notable Filipino trait, hospitality. Both my parents are wonderful hosts and they passed that mark on me. The whole world talks of Filipino hospitality. This is the 3 rd Sunday of Easter and we are still discovering how we can experience Jesus alive in our midst. Last week, we saw how the doubting Thomas came in contact with the reality of the Resurrection – by keeping in touch with the other disc...

Vatican Stresses Importance of Catholic Bloggers Priest Calls for More Web Pastors VATICAN CITY, MAY 4, 2011 ( Zenit.org ).- On Monday two Vatican dicasteries organized a meeting of bloggers, emphasizing the need to dialogue with those who express the "public opinion of the Church." The meeting, organized by the Pontifical Council for Social Communications and the Pontifical Council for Culture, brought together 150 bloggers who were chosen from hundreds of applicants. As soon as they were seated, virtually all of them opened their laptops or took out their mobile phones to connect to the Internet. During the meeting, the discussions transmitted on Facebook and Twitter were very intense. Hence, it was both a physical and virtual meeting, allowing 750 other registered bloggers, unable to participate because of a lack of space, to follow the proceedings up close. The meeting was to be extremely open, as the president of Pontifical Council for Social Communications, Archbishop C...