The Underpinning

  By Fr. Roy Cimagala Christ was giving his disciples instructions on how they should behave and pray. At one point, he said: “In praying, do not babble like the pagans, who think that they will be heard because of their many words. Do not be like them.” And he proceeded to give them the Lord’s …

  By Fr. Roy Cimagala “Ask, and it shall be given you; seek, and you shall find; knock, and it shall be opened to you.” (Matthew 7:7) Words of Christ that clearly tell us to simply focus on God in whatever we do, irrespective of the changing circumstances and conditions of our earthly sojourn. Christ reassured …

  By Fr. Roy Cimagala “Whoever is not against us is for us.” (Mark 9:40) With these words, Christ told his apostles, and is telling us now, that we have to be wary of our tendency to be exclusivistic in our outlook in life due to the unavoidable differences and conflicts among us, and the fact …

  By Fr. Roy Cimagala Let’s always remember that our life is not simply a natural, human life. It is also meant to be supernatural since it is supposed to be a life with God, involved in his work of creation and redemption of mankind, and in the over-all providence he exercises over all his creation. …

  By Fr. Roy Cimagala When Christ said, “I tell you, unless your righteousness surpasses that of the scribes and Pharisees, you will not enter into the Kingdom of heaven,” (Matthew 5:20) we have to understand that Christian life will involve the task of going beyond what simply is material and natural in our life. That’s …

  By Fr. Roy Cimagala Yes, we have such tendency, and so we have to be wary of it. We are reminded of this fact of life when after Christ told his apostles about his impending suffering, death and resurrection, the apostles were caught simply discussing about who the greatest among them was. (cfr. Mark 9:30-37) …

  By Roy Cimagala What is Pharisaical legalism? At bottom, it’s the understanding of law that is based only on our human ways, ignoring the ultimate basis of law who is God as revealed fully in Christ. As such, it tends to be rigid, to be quick to judge and to claim it has the …

  By Fr. Roy Cimagala That’s right! If we are truly and consistently Christian, fear would have no place in our heart other than that wonderful gift of the Holy Spirit himself that is the fear of the Lord, which is a healthy kind of fear. The fear of the Lord is the fear of offending …

  By Roy Cimagala In our liturgical celebrations, we can either be lavish or austere depending on the circumstances. What is important is what is in our heart — whether there is real love or not, whether there is a sincere effort to worship and please God or we are just making a show, whether we …

  By Fr. Roy Cimagala In life, we have to learn how to give due attention and care to both the pressing things and the precious ones. In the end, we have to learn how to give due attention and care to all the different aspects and dimensions of our life: The material and the spiritual, …