JANUARY 25 is marked liturgically as the Feast of the Conversion of St. Paul, one of the very dramatic stories in the history of the Church. It reminds of many things, among them that no matter how much of a sinner and an enemy of...
THERE’S that funny part in the gospel where some leading Jews were accusing Christ of being “possessed by Beelzebul,” and “by the prince of demons he drives out demons.” (Mk 3,22) Christ, of course, saw the blatant contradiction of their reasoning. “How can Satan drive out...
(An excerpt from the Homily of Most Rev. Romulo G. Valles, D.D., Archbishop of Davao, January 2, 2022 during the live streamed mass of the Solemnity of the Epiphany of the Lord at San Pedro Cathedral Parish, San Pedro Street, Davao City) In the scriptures, the...
The Bible takes a very important role in the life of individuals and society. Christians and non-Christians are aware that various celebrations for the Bible have been proposed and declared from both the Government and Church sectors. The National Bible Week celebrations is extended into...
IN the beginning of the gospel of St. Luke, we are told about how the evangelist took a most careful effort to compile the events of Christ’s words, deeds and life itself so as to assure us of the certainty of the teachings that come...
I am now 81 years old. Because of the COVID-19 lockdown, protocols and alerts, I have more time to read and think. Instead of going around and window shopping, I believe we seniors should spend time recalling our catechism classes. What is the bible? It...
The Second Joyful Mystery – The Visitation It took me a long time to plan for my staying with my son’s family because of the comfort in simplicity of life that I enjoy in my cozy home in Bangkal, Davao City. However, my love for the...
“No one pours new wine into old wineskins. Otherwise, the wine will burst the skins, and both the wine and the skins are ruined. Rather, new wine is poured into fresh wineskins.” (Mk 2,22) With these words of Christ, we are somehow reminded that we have...
THAT gospel episode of Christ choosing his apostles practically randomly (cfr. Mk 3,13-19) can remind us of many things. First is that we are actually all apostles since if we are to be “another Christ” as we should, we cannot help but get involved in...
LIKE Christ, we should try to attract as many people as possible in order to lead them to Christ. In a sense, we should be like today’s influencers in the media and the cyberworld who with their gimmicks manage to go viral and trending with...