THROUGH UNTRUE Fr. Rolando V. dela Rosa, O.P. We celebrate today the Assumption of the Blessed Virgin Mary, that extraordinary event when Mary was taken into heaven — body and soul — right at the end of her earthly life. It was extraordinary because our body decays after death as a consequence...
THROUGH UNTRUE Fr. Rolando V. dela Rosa, O.P. We are creatures of desire. From the moment we wake up until we sleep, we are consumed with desire. Desire fuels our enthusiasm to live, dream, and achieve. Sadly, the flipside of desire is disappointment because we don't always get what we want. To...
THROUGH UNTRUE Fr. Rolando V. dela Rosa, O.P. Â Starting today, the World Day for Grandparents and the Elderly will be celebrated every fourth Sunday of July. Pope Francis initiated this celebration for us to treasure and appreciate "the spiritual and human wealth" which our elders have handed...
Through Untrue Fr. Rolando V. dela Rosa, O.P. Contemporary society puts a very high premium on work, not rest. For countless people in offices, factories, assembly lines, and construction projects, work has become their sole purpose for living. But it is a too-narrow purpose. It locks us into a...
THROUGH UNTRUE Fr. Rolando V. dela Rosa, O.P. We see many signs that say: "Jesus Saves!" In a way, Jesus never saved. He did not save money or wealth, nor did he keep a pile of souvenirs that will remind people of Him. Jesus did not even have a place He could call His own. He told those who wanted...
THROUGH UNTRUE Fr. Rolando V. dela Rosa, O.P. George Burns once remarked that happiness is having a large, caring, close-knit family, residing far away from him. One wife said something similar when asked how she and her husband stayed married for 50 years: "We seldom see each other." Like them,...
THROUGH UNTURE Fr. Rolando V. dela Rosa, O.P. Sometimes, we think that it is selfish to love ourselves. But even our Lord Jesus Christ said that we should love our neighbor as ourselves. This means that the quality of our self-love is an excellent gauge of the quality of our love for others. For,...
THROUGH UNTRUE Fr. Rolando V. dela Rosa, O.P. There are moments when we doubt our faith in God. When we are sinking in hopelessness because of an unexpected tragedy, or when we feel victimized by a chain of unfair circumstances, we ask: "Is there really a God? If there is, does He care for me?"...
THROUGH UNTRUE Fr. Rolando V. dela Rosa, O.P. In the Gospel reading today, our Lord Jesus Christ compares the Kingdom of God to a mustard seed which He considers "the smallest among all seeds" (Mark 4:30-32). Is He belittling the Kingdom of God? Certainly not. For sure, the Kingdom of Heaven is...
THROUGH UNTRUE Fr. Rolando V. dela Rosa, O.P. A man once painted the Last Supper in a way that was never before done. In the painting, Jesus and the apostles were gathered around the dinner table which was bare. There was no bread or wine. The Last Supper re-enacts the Israelites' Passover Meal...
THROUGH UNTRUE Fr. Rolando V. dela Rosa, O.P. Today we celebrate the solemn feast of the Holy Trinity. I remember one priest who addressed his Sunday congregation this way: “My brothers and sisters,the Holy Trinity is a mystery. If we understood it, it would no longer be a mystery. So let us keep...
THROUGH UNTRUE Fr. Rolando V. dela Rosa, O.P. The word "sanctity" seems to have vanished in our vocabulary. We still hear someone tell us: "Napaka banal mo!" But this is followed by a wish to remove us from the world of the living: "Sana kunin kana ni Lord." For sure, we all want to be good. But to...
