OBVIOUSLY, the thing to do is to immediately go to Christ who will show us and empower us with the proper way to deal with the many temptations in our life. We should never just be by ourselves when these temptations come, thinking that we...
THIS danger is illustrated in that gospel episode where “the disciples of John approached Jesus and said, ‘Why do we and the Pharisees fast much, but your disciples do not fast?” (Mt 9,14) And Christ simply responded: “Can the wedding guests mourn as long as the...
AS we are in this Jubilee Year of Hope, we need to be clarified about the true character of this particular gift from God which we have to duly receive and act on, making it an abiding virtue in us. Given our condition of pilgrim...
THAT is the message of the gospel reading for Ash Wednesday. (cfr. Mt 6,1-6.16-18) “Take care not to perform righteous deeds in order that people may see them,” Christ said, “otherwise, you will have no recompense from your heavenly Father.” Then he continued by describing...
THIS is what Christ proposed to his disciples, and now to us. We need to be poor, to be detached from earthly things, so we can be filled with what truly enriches us. (cfr. Mk 10,28-31) “Amen, I say to you, there is no one who...
LET’S use some legal jargon to bring out the truth of our faith about how Our Lady can help us to be docile to the Holy Spirit. Whereas, God always intervenes in our life through Christ in the Spirit because he is our Creator and Father...
THAT’S from a passage in 1 Corinthians 9,22. It’s the ideal condition for us to pursue. It’s what would truly identify us with Christ, the pattern of our humanity and the savior of our damaged humanity, who is the very embodiment of this ideal. Though each...
SINCE life is like a game, where we play hard to achieve something, we should not be surprised that there will be times when we win and succeed, and times when we lose. We should not be surprised and be unduly affected by this fact...
THESE are words of Christ. (cfr. Mk 9,49) What he wants to tell us is that to keep our true Christian identity and dignity as we go through the drama of life here on earth, we should be willing to lose a hand, a foot...
IT’S, of course, a given. Prayer is basic in our life of piety because that is our personal effort to get in touch with God. All other acts of piety would be of no value if they are not done as prayer or, at least,...