The Four Ls of life are: to Live, Learn, Love, and Laugh. They embody a good, godly, and happy life. From my own life’s “wandering and wondering,” I’ve reached one profound realization: Rather than loathe the present disappointments or be anxious about the future, it is more meaningful to just experience life, learn and grow...
Category: Lifestyle
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It’s OK to lament, ‘My God, my God, why have you abandoned me!’
Minutes before he died on the cross, Jesus cried out in a loud voice: “Eli, Eli, la’ma sabach-tha’ni?”—“My God, my God, why have you abandoned me!” (Matthew 27:46, Mark 15:34). This lament, considered Jesus’ fourth last word before he died, is one of the Seven Last Words, compiled from the passion and death narratives of...
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‘Pasyon’ and ‘Semana Santa’ when I was young
AVERNES, France—When I moved to France in 2005, I didn’t expect anything closely resembling the practices of the Semana Santa of my childhood in the Philippines. But without fail, every year in March or April, as though set off by an internal spiritual clock, I hear familiar strains of pasyon in my head. Once, my...
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Holy Week is Prayer Week
‘Tis the season of prayer as we’re into the most hallowed part of the year, the Holy Week. There is no arguing it: We can never underestimate the immense power of prayer. Having spent a considerable number of years in a seminary and almost completing a priestly formation, I can only reminisce, with nostalgic yearning,...
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In Iloilo’s museums, you find pioneering photos and rock stars
ILOILO CITY—Surely there’s more to this city than molo, batchoy, biscocho and tablea tsokolate. The city’s gastronomic haunts are well-known and all over. But in between hopping into these pit stops, you can take leisurely strolls along its esplanade, in the old downtown, in plazas outside churches and, yes, in its museums—the better to get...
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How decluttering helps ease mind and heart
Who wouldn’t want a house that’s free of clutter? Why not dispose of the things that have been gathering dust and eating up space for years and years? Easier said than done, of course, because what might be clutter for others is a trove of special memories for you. Many of us have heard of...
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The essentials that matter most
In Antoine de Saint-Exupery’s classic book, “The Little Prince,” a pilot whose aircraft is forced down in the Sahara meets a little prince from another planet who seeks the secret of what is important in life. At one point, the prince meets a fox who promises the gift of that secret and reveals it when...
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My understanding of economics
High prices often confront us. Government is trying to control inflation, which is increasing beyond its desired levels—an ideal of about 2% annually but currently is about 9%. Why do prices increase and why do they drop? Why do things appreciate and increase in value over time? Why do they depreciate? Market forces, we are...
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Crossing the Rubicon of faith and reason (or what Athens has to do with Jerusalem)
One drizzly afternoon, I went to see my seminary contemporary of long ago, Msgr. Lito Maraya, at the Archdiocesan Shrine of Sto. Nino in Tacloban City, Leyte, to deliver pre-ordered copies of my book. After I handed him the books, he invited me for coffee and, of course, some kumustahan. “Glad that you came, pais,”...
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Pope Francis: Learn from the Transfiguration of Jesus
In his message for Lent 2023, which was released on Feb. 17, Pope Francis urged the faithful to “listen to Jesus” as he recalled God the Father’s command to the disciples during the Transfiguration. In the story, which is proclaimed every Second Sunday of Lent (March 5 this year), Jesus is transfigured on a mountain...