THROUGH UNTRUE Fr. Rolando V. dela Rosa, O.P. In 1961, Fr. Jorge Bergoglio went to visit Fr. Enrico Pozzoli, an elderly priest who was confined in the hospital. Fr. Enrico was the one who baptized Fr. Jorge, and later became his long-time friend, benefactor, and spiritual director. When Fr. Jorge...
THROUGH UNTRUE Fr. Rolando V. dela Rosa, O.P. Every Easter Sunday, I feel revitalized, renewed and, above all, forgiven. I feel like a prisoner who is granted unconditional pardon, a debtor whose debts are written off, a wayward child forgiven by a loving father. No questions asked, just a joyful...
THROUGH UNTRUE Fr. Rolando V. dela Rosa, O.P. I like to think of Holy Week as Family Healing Week. It is the most opportune time to beg God to heal our families. Many people think that healing applies only to the hurt, sickness, or wounds of an individual. But families, like individuals, also need...
THROUGH UNTRUE Fr. Rolando V. dela Rosa, O.P. On this day, I and four fellow Dominicans celebrate our 40th anniversary as priests. Every time I reach an important milestone in my life, people ask me: “What have you done so far?” or "What have you achieved after all these years? I think the more...
THROUGH UNTRUE Fr. Rolando V. dela Rosa, O.P. Today's gospel reading narrates the story of a father whose two sons abandon him (Luke 15:1-3, 11-32). The younger son goes to his father and says: “I'm going away, so give me my rightful inheritance today.” In his haste, he does not realize the...
THROUGH UNTRUE Fr. Rolando V. dela Rosa, O.P. Every day, we see wars, calamities, disasters through round-the-clock newsfeeds from the media. Our immediate reaction is fear because they remind us of the shortness of our life. But such a reaction hardly lingers because we have learned how to tune...
THROUGH UNTRUE Fr. Rolando V. dela Rosa, O.P. Socrates, the ancient Greek philosopher, said that the unexamined life is not worth living. For him, self-examination leads to self-knowledge, which is a sure way to happiness. Hence his famous dictum: "Know thyself." Many centuries have since passed. ...
THROUGH UNTRUE Fr. Rolando V. dela Rosa, O.P. Judging from the way the People Power Revolution was celebrated last Feb. 25, it seems that the word EDSA has become a verbal overkill. The quantity of usage has outstripped the quality of discourse. EDSA seems to have lost its power and magic. Many...
THROUGH UNTRUE Fr. Rolando V. dela Rosa, O.P. In his essay “The Use and Abuse of History,” Friedrich Nietzsche claims that the “contented cow” is called such because it does not remember the past and it lives each moment without regrets. When you ask the cow why it is happy, the cow cannot...
THROUGH UNTRUE Fr. Rolando V. dela Rosa, O.P. Recently, I asked some of my friends and acquaintances if they would vote in the coming elections. I was surprised to know that many of them are not voting. Their reasons are varied. My former high school classmate said he is afraid to go to the...
THROUGH UNTRUE Fr. Rolando Dela Rosa We have no precise Filipino words that correspond to "being," "presence," "existence," "subsistence," and other abstract or metaphysical concepts. We try our best to express these using our native words, but we succeed only in watering down their meaning. As the...
THROUGH UNTRUE Fr. Rolando Dela Rosa In today's Gospel reading, Jesus said: "The Spirit of the Lord has anointed me to proclaim freedom for the prisoners" (Luke 4:18). But what if prisoners do not want to be free? What if slaves refuse to break the chains that keep them in bondage? Harriet Tubman,...
