Opinion

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 struggling ...

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 of C...

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? Whe...

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 social ser...

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 left me...

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 got th...

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 unsettli...

For the third time Jesus reveals his imminent passion and death to his apostles as they make their way to Jerusalem. The apostles’ reaction remains the same. They still do not understand what Jesus is telling them or perhaps they simply do not want to. All they have in their head is the glory that awaits them when Jesus, the Messiah, will finally establish his kingdom in Jerusalem.James and John are quick to upstage the other apostles in securing their position by sneaking and asking Jesus to allow them to sit one on his right and the other on his left in the kingdom. The other ten are of course furious at being cheated (na-isahan) by the two scheming brothers.Once again Jesus patiently takes the occasion to teach the apostles how the kingdom of God is diametrically opposed to the ...

(I thank Fr. Marvin Labasan for gracing my column this Sunday with his insightful homily.)What is a “suitable partner”?In our culture, which idolizes the concept of “the one” and “the Mr. or Mrs. Right,” we simply equate the idea of a suitable partner with someone who shares our interests, makes us feel good, or seems perfect for us.But what does it mean to have a “suitable partner”?Our first reading today tells us that God found it is not good for man to be alone. Despite the beauty and richness of the garden, with its animals and plants, nobody seemed suitable for him. This is why the Lord caused a deep sleep to fall upon the man, and from one of his ribs, He made a woman. Fr. Lana says that Eve was not made out of Adam’s head to rule over him, nor out of his feet to be t...