Opinion

When it comes to infectious diseases, like COVID-19, not sharing is caring.If you have been infected with SARS-CoV-2, the virus causing COVID-19, or think you might have been infected, it is important to stay home and self-isolate even if you have minor symptoms such as cough or mild fever, until you recover.Other symptoms that are less common and may affect some patients include loss of taste or smell, aches and pains, headache, sore throat, nasal congestion, red eyes, diarrhea, or a skin rash.As much as possible, stay in a specific room and away from other people (and even pets) in your home. Do not share dishes, drinking glasses, cups, eating utensils, towels, or bedding with other people in your home.Most people with COVID-19 have mild illness and can rec...

The spirit of Advent is supposed to remind us that we have to be focused on our ultimate end while cruising in the shifting conditions of our earthly life. We are supposed to keep our eyes, mind and heart on our final destination which is to be with God in heaven, from whom we came and to whom we belong in a most intimate way.Let’s remember that we are meant to be God’s image and likeness, and to share in his very own divine life for all eternity. For this, we have been given Christ, the son of God who became man to be our “way, truth and life.”Yes, we need to follow Christ. In fact, we are supposed to identify ourselves with him to such an extent that we become, individually and collectively, “alter Christus,” another Christ.Christ, of course, has already come, and did wh...

We need to develop a certain yearning for Christ, a longing, an urge, a passionate desire, since this is a basic necessity for us, given the fact that Christ is everything to us. He is our savior. He is the pattern of our humanity. We achieve the fullness of our humanity when we fully identify ourselves with him, which is something that can take place only with God’s grace, but also with our all-out effort.This yearning for Christ has been expressed in many ways in the Bible. “As the deer pants for streams of water, so my soul longs after you, O God. My soul thirsts for God, the living God,” says a psalm. (42,1-2)In the Old Testament, the people had practically been trained too long for the coming of the promised Redeemer and to make the necessary preparation. (cfr. Is 40,1-5)...

Though there is such a close relationship between the person and his acts, we should try our best just the same to distinguish between the two.True, how the person is somehow determine how he acts. And how a person acts reveals the kind of person he is. We can even say that the acts of a person help make a person be how he is. This was articulated by that Scholastic axiom, “agere sequitur esse” (acting follows being).And yet we need to distinguish between the two. That is simply because a person is more than the sum of all his acts. He is not totally identified by his acts. There is something in him that transcends the kind of acts he makes. And that is simply because no matter how a person acts, whether good or bad, he is, first of all, a child of God, an object of God’s love...

“Comfort, O comfort my people, says your God. Speak tenderly to Jerusalem, and cry to her that she has served her term, that her penalty is paid…”How consoling these words are to us especially today. The long-lingering pandemic, the recent calamities, the economic instability, the ever-increasing deaths (COVID related and otherwise), the frustrating political situation… have caused untold suffering, fear, and anxiety to us personally and as a people. We can only welcome these words of comfort with hope and gratitude.These words were originally addressed by God to Israel as they were returning from their Babylonian captivity. God would deliver his people from bondage with power and “like a shepherd, he [would] gather the lambs in his arms, and carry them in his bosom, and gentl...

That’s our life here on earth. God is still forming us to be what he wants us to be—his image and likeness, his adopted children meant to share in his very own life. Our creation is not yet finished. It’s still a work in progress. Considering how God is and how we are, his creation of us in eternity has to enter into the dynamic of time and space.This is a truth of faith that should be clear in our minds so that we can do our part properly in God’s creation of us. In short, we can say that God is still training us as well as testing us because even if he is the one who solely creates us, he wants us to correspond properly to his designs for us.That’s because we are not merely inert creatures or living creatures like the plants and animals that are incapable of knowingly and lo...

If we really want to truly love, we should be willing to suffer for others out of love for God and for all souls. We need to realize that the willingness to suffer is the ultimate proof that our love is genuine. Love should not just be a matter of goodwill, of benevolence, of doing some good to others. It has to go all the way to an eagerness to suffer for the others.This is what Christ has done for us and has commanded us to do. Being both God and man, Christ should be seen by us as the epitome of true love which is the very essence of God that is also meant for us since we are supposed to be God’s image and likeness.In showing us that love where the willingness to suffer is highlighted, St. Paul made this description of Christ: “Have this mind among yourselves, which is your...

What do you mean by safe? If your definition of the word safe is "harmless," no vaccine or drug is 100 percent safe. Almost all vaccines can cause pain, swelling, or redness at the site of injection. With this definition of safe, almost nothing is safe. Even everyday activities contain hidden dangers.For example, eating a piece of food or drinking anything liquid can block the throat and make you choke. Taking a bath or shower is not harmless. In fact in Japan, about 19,000 people die in their own bathrooms every year and over 5,000 people in the United States are killed when food lodges in their windpipe. Of the 5,051 people who died from choking in 2015, 2,848 were older than 74.Food is often responsible for choking incidents in the elderly. But none of us consider taki...

Last week, Bacolod had a good cause to celebrate. University of St. La Salle graduate, Patrick Joseph Mabugat took second place in the recent Physician Licensure Exam alongside another Negrense, Adrian Teves from Bayawan, Negros Oriental.Mabugat was also topnotcher in the 2014 licensure exam for medical technologist and his recent accomplishment was also lauded by Bacolod Mayor Bing Leonardia.But more than his academic achievements, Mabugat’s dedication to his profession is evident after he, along with co-interns at the Philippine General Hospital, decided to stay on as volunteers when the pandemic broke out knowing PGH was the first COVID-designated hospital in the country and was, in fact, quarantined five times before he took his exams as he was always on the road.A few...

Today we begin a new year in the Church calendar (cycle B). As with every liturgical year, we start with the season of Advent which prepares us for the celebration of Christmas.While we remember the first coming of Christ on Christmas day, the Church wants us also to look forward to his second coming. Hence, our preparation is not only for the celebration of his birth two thousand years ago but also in hopeful expectation for his return at the end of time when he will take us with him into his glory.You must have noticed that the Advent season is much like the Lenten season: the color of the priest’s vestments is violet, the Gloria is not sung on Sundays… This is because like Lent, the spirit of Advent is one of penance. Preparing for the coming of Jesus, whether the first or ...