By Fr. Roy Cimagala That gospel episode where Christ in the synagogue in Nazareth faulted the people for their lack of faith (cfr. Luke 4:24-30) reminds us that we have to learn how to live by faith, with our thoughts and intentions and everything in our interior world mainly inspired and directed by faith rather …
The Underpinning
Conversion a continuing affair
By Fr. Roy Cimagala What can we learn from the parable Christ told the chief priests and the elders of the people, about a father with two sons whom he asked to work in the vineyard? (cfr. 21, 28-32) The first son at first said no, but later on changed his mind and went to …
The duty to love everyone
By Fr. Roy Cimagala Indeed, we have such duty! Christ himself told us so in no unclear terms. We have to love everyone, including our enemies! “You have heard that it was said, you shall love your neighbor and hate your enemy. But I say to you, love your enemies and pray for those who …
Let’s follow the advice of St. John the Baptist
By Fr. Roy Cimagala Even while in prison, St. John the Baptist told his disciples to go to Christ to see if Christ indeed was the expected messiah. (cfr. Matthew 11:2-11) Obviously, St. John knew about who Christ really was. He just wanted to let his disciples to know Christ and to follow him. Christ, …
Turning our weakness into strength
By Fr. Roy Cimagala The secret is to assume the identity of Christ and his attitude toward all forms of human weakness and limitations. He himself assumed our human weaknesses even to the extent of making himself like sin without committing sin, if only to save us from our fatal predicament. (cfr. 2 Corinthians 5:21) …
Never doubt God’s love for us
By Fr. Roy Cimagala “Jesus said to Philip, ‘Where can we buy enough food for them to eat?’ He said this to test Philip, because he himself knew what he was going to do.” (John 6:5-6) With these words, we should realize that we should never doubt God’s constant love for us, especially when we …
Despite whatever, we will always have peace
By Fr. Roy Cimagala That’s right. Whatever be the situation and condition of our life, we can still manage to have peace. Why? Because Christ himself reassured us of it. “Peace I leave with you; my peace I give to you,” he said. (John 14:27) If we truly have faith in Christ, we know that …
The quest to become contemplative
By Fr. Roy Cimagala This is what we should aspire for. This is what we are meant to be. Unless we become contemplative souls, there’s no way we can be with God who is everything to us. Without him, we can only be at best a joke, no matter how impressive our life and work …
What is our real treasure?
By Fr. Roy Cimagala We need to be clear about what our real treasure is. It’s God. It’s when we achieve the fullness of our humanity. And that can only happen when we ultimately become God’s image and likeness, which is how God wants us to be. Thus, in the Gospel of St. Matthew, we …
God’s mysterious providence
By Fr. Roy Cimagala It’s interesting to note that, as the Gospel of St. Matthew narrates, Christ somehow had to make some drastic changes in his plans when he learned that John the Baptist was imprisoned. (cfr. Matthew 4:17-23) He left Nazareth and withdrew to Galilee to live in Capernaum. And yet such change of …