Author: Fr. Alfonso A. Araceli, SVD
-
Define love
For those belonging to my generation, it is easy to define love because of the tool we used to have then – the slum book. Already considered to be a thing of the past, the millennials and Generation Z may just inquire from their elders in the family, what this sort of thing is. In that slum book, there is a space that asks, “What is Love?” And one may just write according to his/her own definition or something copied from somewhere. Maybe at this time, one can be more articulate with his/her definition of love. There can be information overload about this, complete with accompanying graphic symbols that accompanies it. Indeed, to define love is complicated!
-
Remembering our baptism
Do we ever remember the time we were baptized? The expected answer to this perhaps is no, for we were baptized when we were babies as practiced in the Catholic Church. Only pictures and documents serve as proofs that there really was a baptism that happened when we were very young to remember.
-
Santa in my mind
One of the most iconic images attached to the Christmas season is the Santa Claus. A child’s mind is fascinated with a big bearded man wearing a glowing red attire and carrying on his back a sack filled with various gifts. Tradition puts it that every good child will surely receive a gift from Santa. If a good child requests for a gift, Santa would immediately reply to the child’s written request while s/he is asleep.
-
Reduced to ashes
Bringing deceased loved ones to their final resting place has now diversified into various means. Gone are the days when the family of the deceased had no choice but to bury their dead in its entirety in a private memorial park or a public cemetery. With the passing of time, another form of burying the deceased loved one is gaining popularity among the faithful and that is cremation.