Opinion

Last October our diocese celebrated our Third Diocesan Pastoral Assembly (DPA3) which was a singular experience of synodality. As one diocese, we gathered together - bishop, priests, religious, and lay faithful (representatives from all our parishes and chaplaincies) - to draw up our diocesan pastoral plan.The diocese holds a pastoral assembly every five years. Preceded by months of preparation and consultation at the parish level, the diocesan pastoral assembly assesses the previous 5-year pastoral plan, revisits its vision-mission statement, formulates its priority objectives, etc.But unlike any ordinary corporate strategic planning, our diocesan assembly’s primary task is one of discernment. More than creating our plan for our diocese, we seek to discover God’s own plan for...

“Rejoice in the Lord always; again, I say, rejoice.” Our entrance antiphon on this third Sunday of Advent sets the mood of our Eucharistic celebration. From the color of the candle and the vestments (a lighter shade of purple or pink) to the prayers and the readings, the whole liturgy is bursting with an uncontainable joy and anticipation. The reason is because “the Lord is near” (second reading), so near as to be actually “in your midst.” (first reading)Today’s liturgy and the readings, in particular, remind me of the story of St. Dominic Savio. When he heard Don Bosco preach in one of his homilies that God’s will for everyone is to be holy, the young student resolved there and then to become a saint. Since then, he changed from a lively typical teenager to a serious loner. He st...

Last month, I had the fortune of visiting Timor Leste after so many years. I was happily surprised to see the fast growth and development of Dili, its capital, into a highly urbanized city. I was particularly amazed at the world class streets and avenues which were built in just a few months to be ready for the Pope’s coming in September. My guide told me how he wished the Holy Father had extended his visit to Fuiloro, his hometown in the mountains, so that their roads too, (built since the Portuguese and Indonesian regimes) would be rehabilitated.Like the Filipinos, the Timorese are known for their proverbial hospitality. They treat their visitors warmly and make sure that they are comfortable even at the cost of their own comfort. Thus, despite being a young nation with a strugg...

Today we start the season of advent. Advent means coming which obviously refers to the coming of Christ. Advent prepares us not only for the celebration of Christmas but for the coming of Christ in general.There are three comings of Christ of which today’s liturgical readings speak. There is the coming of Christ in history which Jeremiah prophesies in the first reading. There is the coming of Christ in our life here and now of which Paul reminds us in the second reading. And there is the third coming of Christ in an unknown future, which Jesus himself describes in the gospel.Advent is a season of joy as it looks forward to the fulfilment of God’s long promise of a Savior who is no less than his own Son. Unfortunately, the use of the apocalyptic language in describing the signs...

The Kingdom of GodIs the feast of Christ the King still relevant today? Does it even mean anything to contemporary man? Today, there are no more kings and if there are any, they are non-functional but merely historical and cultural vestiges useful only for ceremonial and touristic purposes.Yet the whole Scripture is replete with images of kings in conveying its message. Christ’s own teachings are centered on the kingdom of God which he explains using various parables. His words about the kingdom abound. “Blessed are the poor in spirit, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven… seek first God’s kingdom and his righteousness, and all these things will be given to you… unless you change and become like children, you shall not enter the kingdom of heaven…”What is the kingdom of God...

Ginsuguran na sang Bacolod LGU ang pagpanghanda para sa Christmas Festival of Lights upod sa STI-WNU kun diin ginapaabot nga liwat masaksihan sang publiko ang tradisyunal nga Festival of Lights kada Disyembre.Ginsiling ni Councilor Jason Villarosa, pamuno sang Committee on Tourism sang konseho nga ginpasaka nila ang pondo sa P1M para sa tuigan nga festival. Dungan sa arena competition ang lights-on ceremony sa Bacolod City Government Center.Magluwas sa Parade of Lights may yara sang adopt-a tree program nga magahatag sang dugang nga kasanag sa Bacolod Public Plaza.Kapin sa 100 ka puno sa palibot sang plaza ang pamutangan sang mga Christmas decors sang Bacolod LGU sa bulig sang private sector. Sa Disyembre 10 ang switch-on ceremony.

Today’s readings present two widows of extraordinary generosity. The first reading tells of the widow of Zarephath, who in a time of famine was preparing for herself and her child their last meal (before they would die of hunger), when the prophet Elijah asked for food and drink. She gave him their meal. In the gospel, Jesus commended the poor widow who put in the temple treasury two small coins, which was all she had (her whole livelihood, in fact).We cannot but marvel at the magnanimity of both widows in giving away their all. How is this possible? Pope Benedict XVI explains this by saying that such remarkable generosity is but an expression of a profound faith in God and his Word which moved the widows to put their total trust in him.Living in a time when there was no socia...

I once had a poignant experience with a dying young man (an alumnus of ours) who was literally a lost soul. He spent the last years of his life trying to “experience all that the world has to offer” (as he put it). As he saw his inevitable end coming, he struggled to make sense of his life.“Unsay pulos sa kinabuhi, dre ?” he asked me. It’s a statement I find difficult to translate in English because of the overload of implications and emotions it carries. Literally, it means “What’s the use of life?” It’s a question that asks for the purpose of life but also expresses sentiments of regret, frustration and blaming. Paraphrased, it sounds something like, “I did not ask for life, and I was given one which I messed up. So, why was I made to live in the first place?”His question le...

This is a story of contrasts. Of how similar events can generate vastly different responses from the public at large and equally different outcomes for the players.Carlos Yulo won two gold medals in the recent Olympic in Paris in 2024. This bought attention, honor and received well-deserved recognition from the City of Manila, Congress, Senate, multinational corporations and even the Office of the President along with material awards.Meanwhile Christopher Fadriga of Negros Occidental also won a gold medal in Paris in 2021 in the International Competition on Cacao beans, his entry Criollo Cacao entry, a rare and almost extinct variety, which was brought to the Philippines during the Galleon Trade between Mexico and Philippines. He was largely unnoticed in his own country but g...

Like Bartimaeus, we are all blind. We may not be afflicted with the blindness of the eyes, but we all certainly suffer from some blindness of the mind and of the heart. We do not know everything about ourselves and about the world. The Johari window shows us that we all have “blind spots” in our consciousness.Ironically, we live in a time when every kind of Information is readily available with google or AI. Yet today we are more ignorant and more estranged from the truth than the generations before us. With fake news, conspiracy theories, scams, misinformation, and deception freely pouring on the internet, we are less confident and more insecure about any knowledge. We feel the need to subject every information to fact-checking.Philosophers and sociologists attribute this uns...