AGAIN, Christ himself tells us very clearly what true love for him involves or, shall we say, requires. “He that has my commandments, and keeps them, he it is that loves me,” he said. “And he that loves me, shall be loved by my Father,...
CHRIST himself defined it very clearly. “By this shall all men know that you are my disciples, if you have love for one another.” (Jn 13,35) And that love should cover everyone, the good ones and the bad ones, the innocent and the guilty, the...
THAT’S the opening line of an old Frank Sinatra love song. Now you know what generation I belong to. I was struck by it recently when I also read in the gospel some words Christ told his disciples: “Let not your heart be troubled. You...
DO you have difficulty praying? Try to check if you are in love—that is, in love with God and with everybody else. Without that love, it’s not possible to truly pray. At best, we can give some appearances of prayer, but it would not be...
THAT toughness comes from the supernatural grace of God. It is not just a human love, based only on natural forces, principles and motives which, given our wounded condition, are always hounded by our infranatural tendencies toward envy, anger, hatred, jealousy and the like. Christian love...
WHY? Because, first of all, Christ said so. In no unclear terms, he said: “You have heard that it was said, ‘Love your neighbor and hate your enemy.’ But I tell you, love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you, that you may...
WE have to be more aware of this crying need. More than that, we have to come up with plans and strategies that would effectively address this need whose neglect has spawned a lot of scandals even among supposedly “good” people like the clergy and...
GIVEN the way we are in this world, marked as it is with frequent inconsistencies and infidelities, we need to see to it that this business of making daily renewals of our commitments to God and to everybody else should be taken up seriously. For this,...
WITH all the things that we are now exposed to, we cannot be naïve to think that as long as these things are not instantly wrong, we can feel free to receive them anytime. That kind of mindset may be applicable in times past when...
WE cannot deny that in our life there will be unavoidable occasions when despite our pure intentions and best efforts, we would just find ourselves in situations of disadvantage and misfortune. We should not be surprised by this fact of life. But what we should...