WORD ALIVE Fr. Bel San Luis An elementary school teacher was telling her class about statistics which indicate that more twins are being born these days than in the past. "Why?" asked a little boy. "Because," replied a tiny girl, "little children are afraid to come into the world alone." * * * That...
REFLECTIONS TODAY Reflections today JOHN 1:1-18 In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. He was in the beginning with God. All things came to be through him, and without him nothing came to be. What came to be through him was life, and this life was the light...
Word Alive Fr. Bel San Luis The fourth and last Sunday of Advent focuses on the personages surrounding Jesus, the center of our Christmas celebration: Mary, Joseph, and her cousin Elizabeth and Zacariah. * * * Some years ago in a pilgrimage, I had visited the "hill country" called Ein Karem, the...
WORD ALIVE Fr. Bel San Luis The message of this 3rd Sunday of Advent is – “Gaudete,” a Latin word which means “rejoice” or “be joyful.” That’s why the liturgical color is pink. Incidentally, it’s the color of a presidential candidate in the 2022 national election. With the birth...
BATANG MAYNILA Manila Mayor Isko Moreno When I ran for mayor in 2019, I made pledges to the people of Manila. Modesty aside and with the invaluable help and support of my colleagues in the Manila city government, I was able to fulfill all my campaign promises with some bonuses on the side. This is...
WORD ALIVE Fr. Bel San Luis Here is a test for you. You are sleeping and then dreaming. A hold-upper is running after you. You turn sideways, but every side you turn to, you find another guy holding a knife coming after you. Too scared, you don’t know where to run to. You’re blocked. How can...
Other terms that made its list are ‘double-vaxxed,’ ‘climate anxiety,’ and ‘metaverse’ While many would have predicted a word that relates to the pandemic or vaccine or salvation to banner this year, Collins Dictionary took a digital route and picked “NFT” as its Word of the Year...
WORD ALIVE Fr. Bel San Luis Today is the feast of Christ the King of the Universe. Is Christ really a king? Standing before Pilate, Christ did not deny it. But then he said, "My kingdom does not belong to this world" (Jn 18:36). Jesus' reply means he was not the kind of king Pilate imagined: a...
Word Alive FR. BEL SAN LUIS, SVD One night, a stormy rain stranded a couple on a remote country road. Unable to go any farther, they got out of their car and walked toward a dimly lit farmhouse. When they reached the house, an elderly couple, carrying a kerosene lamp, met them at the door....
WORD ALIVE FR. BEL SAN LUIS, SVD Somebody once said, “There are two things we cannot escape in this life — paying taxes and dying.” The first is certainly not true because we know too well that there are tax evaders. But with death, that’s a 100-per-cent certainty. No wonder, one funeral...
The Biblical Apostolate of the Catholic Bishops’ Conference of the Philippines is inviting the faithful to join the virtual Word Conference of the Claretian missionary this November. WordCon 2021 In a letter, Fr. Arlo Bernardo Yap, SVD, executive secretary of the CBCP-ECBA, stressed the...
WORD ALIVE FR. BEL SAN LUIS, SVD One Sunday morning after saying Mass at the Sacred Heart Church in Kamuning, Quezon City run by our SVD confreres, a couple approached me with their baby, cuddled by the wife. "Father, we're from this parish," they greeted. "We're lay missionaries working in Papua...
