CHRIST one time warned his disciples about the leaven of the Pharisees and of Herod which they did not understand at first. (cfr. Mk 8,14-21) It took them time to understand that the leaven Christ was talking about was not the leaven of the bread...
IT’S the most basic need we have, since God is and should be everything to us. Our need for him is much more than our need for air, food, etc. Without him, we can only go nowhere, and worse, the animal part of our humanity...
The Chair of St. Peter is a symbol of papal authority and the unity of the Catholic Church. This authority is designed to guide and lead the faithful, numbering more than a billion all over the world. No wonder, for twenty centuries, the teachings of...
Voluntas is a Latin word meaning “free will,” and it is from this root that we derive the term “volunteer”—one who freely chooses to serve others. Two thousand years ago, after Christ’s death, St. Peter, the apostles, and St. Peter’s successors embodied this spirit by continuing...
(An excerpt of the homily of the Most Reverend Romulo G. Valles D.D. during the 22nd Parochial Fiesta of Our Lady of Lourdes Parish, Bangkal, Davao City February 11, 2025.) That would tell us, that yes, it is the place of Mary, birhen sa Lourdes, our...
GOD himself tells us how that is going to be. “Cursed be the man who trusts in man, and makes flesh his arm, and whose heart departs from the Lord,” he said in the Book of Jeremiah. (17,5) And he continues: “Blessed be the man...
THAT's what the crowd said after they witnessed a miraculous healing of a dumb man by Christ. (cfr. Mk 7,31-37) On Valentine’s Day which is popularly known as a day of celebrating love, we should strengthen our conviction that the real standard of love is...
THAT’S from Psalm 128,1. The verse is often used as a responsorial psalm in many of the Masses during the year. And it definitely talks about a healthy kind of fear that is nothing other than a gift of the Holy Spirit. It’s a fear...
THE phrase appears in St. Paul’s Second Letter to the Corinthians, describing St. Paul’s affliction that was meant to keep him from becoming arrogant. We can just speculate what that “thorn” specifically was. What is clear is that the flesh, if not properly animated by...
THIS is how self-righteousness is developed. When we would just depend on our own ideas about what is true, good and beautiful, independently of God, there is no way but for us to fall into this trap of self-righteousness which is always marked with rigidity,...