THE 3rd Sunday of Advent is usually dubbed as Gaudete Sunday (Rejoice Sunday) because the Entrance Antiphon of the Mass for that day starts with the joyful greeting, “Rejoice in the Lord always; again I say, rejoice! The Lord is near.” (Phil 4,4-5) We are clearly...
IT’S good to keep this spiritual and ascetical formula in mind as we celebrate the Feast of Our Lady of Guadalupe on December 12. Mary, the Mother of Jesus is also our Mother. How she cared and identified herself completely with her Son is also...
THAT’S because of our undeniable tendency to enclose ourselves in our own world, practically unwelcoming and even hostile to God who actually gives us the proper spirit of our humanity as his image and likeness. We have to find ways of how we can live out...
IT’S a gospel acclamation during this Advent Season when we are made to prepare not only for the coming birth of Christ on Christmas Day but also, and more importantly, for his second coming at the end of time. Of course, we should also be...
WE are familiar with the usual lesson we can learn from the parable of the lost sheep. (cfr. Mt 18,12-14) Indeed, a Good Shepherd will always look for the lost sheep and would do everything, regardless of the sacrifices involved, to do so. But an upshot...
TO put it bluntly, what Our Lady’s Immaculate Conception reminds us of is that, like Our Lady who is our Mother, we are supposed to be immaculate and sinless from our very own conception all the way to the end of our earthly life and...
ON this First Sunday of Advent, we are reminded of these words of the Prophet Isaias as recorded in the gospel of St. Matthew (3,3). These are words that should always be in our mind and, in fact, made as a guiding principle of our...
WE should be most aware of this fundamental truth about ourselves. It should make us most happy and most unwilling to exchange it for something else that would undermine it. No amount of worldly pleasure, fame and wealth can surpass and outshine it. And the simple...
IN the gospel, we are reminded that we should not just be good hearers of the word of God, but rather its doers. (cfr. Mt 7,21.24-27) In fact, we have to convert God’s word into our very own life, since that’s where we can start...
THERE’S a gospel acclamation in one the Masses of the First Week of Advent that gives us that assurance. It says: “Behold, the Lord comes to save his people; blessed are those prepared to meet him.” Yes, there is such thing as the second coming...