WORD ALIVE A reader, Ronald Ricamata, e-mailed me during the Covid-19 pandemic, saying “In this difficult time, our priests, nuns and seminarians are also frontliners. “Our spiritual frontliners fight against unseen enemy. They must be acknowledged and appreciated, too.” * * * I agree...
WORD ALIVE A priest came out to say Mass with his face plastered with band aids. “I’m sorry I look like this,” the priest said as he started his homily. “This morning as I was shaving and thinking of what to say in my homily, I cut my face.” After the Mass, while he was going over the...
WORD ALIVE Once a young man went out hiking at a mountain ridge. Since it was getting dark, he slipped and down he rolled over the ridge. It meant sure death, but fortunately his hand grabbed the branch of a tree which stopped his fall. Hanging precariously with the branch about to give way, he...
WORD ALIVE Did you know that Jesus’ tomb was borrowed from a wealthy Jew named Joseph of Arimathea? And why did he have to rise on the third day? It’s because the grave was borrowed, and Jesus had to vacate it otherwise he would be evicted. Of course, that was not the real reason why the Lord...
WORD ALIVE In basketball, a player is hailed as a hero when he commits a few errors and makes points during crucial moments. He becomes a "darling of the crowd." But the next time, he is treated as a villain when he fumbles, misses some baskets and does not score as expected. * * * We can say a...
WORD ALIVE A group of friends wanted to know if there was basketball in heaven. They agreed that whoever died first should come back to inform them. Conrad died first. One night, Rodel heard something like the voice of Conrad. Rodel blurted out: “Are you the one, Conrad?” Conrad replied,...
Surigao del Norte 2nd district Rep. Robert Ace Barbers is backing a proposal for the two chambers of Congress to appoint respective teams or representatives that will "tackle and settle the row" on Charter change (Cha-cha). Barbers, a longtime supporter of constitutional revision, had this to say on...
Cavite 4th district Rep. Elpidio Barzaga Jr. has admitted that the current "word war" between leaders of the House of Representatives and Senate on Charter Change (Cha-cha) is kind of embarrassing. He was referring to the tit-for-tat going on between Senate President Juan Miguel (Migz) Zubiri and...
WORD ALIVE A lady once approached a priest and confided, “I feel guilty, Father. This morning, before coming to Mass, I committed the sin of pride. I sat for an hour in front of my mirror admiring my beauty.” Will I have to do penance? The priest, looking at her, replied: “Not at all, my...
WORD ALIVE Fr. Bel San Luis Once I was trying to patch up the bitter quarrel between two teachers. Calling them one by one to my office, I tried to use my Dale-Carnegie-influence of burying their hatred and reminded them of Christ’s teaching of forgiveness. As I entreated and coaxed the first...
WORD ALIVE Fr. Bel San Luis Once a Jew was arguing with a Christian. “Your whole religion is based on ours,” the Jew said. “Why, you even took the 10 Commandments from us.” “We may have taken them,” said the Christian, “but you certainly can't say we've kept them.” Christ teaches...
WORD ALIVE Fr. Bel San Luis Fr. Joseph Dau Vu, SVD, was a Catholic chaplain of the Vietnamese boat-people refugees in Morong, Bataan. He related to me how he, together with 55 compatriots, slipped out of communist Saigon on an old, decrepit motorized boat and sailed out, not knowing where they...
