Many people today are turned off by the idea of having to suffer for the sake of holiness. For them, the image of a Catholic saint who had to go through unimaginable ordeals and martyrdom is not a very enticing one. Why suffer when all you want is to be happy? Doesn’t God want us to be happy, too? It’s not easy to understand how a good God would allow so much suffering. And it’s harder to grasp why His... Read more
Have you ever wondered why the rich never seem to be satisfied? When you are poor, you have this motivation: “I will do my best to earn money so that one day when I’m rich enough, I can rest and enjoy my life.” Rich enough. Have you ever wondered how rich a person needs to be? An unemployed person may think that being rich enough is getting a regular job. A regular employee may think of being rich enough as... Read more
When I was a child, there was an old movie about Jesus we often watched during Holy Week. It was that movie of Jesus where you cannot see Jesus’ face. Thus, the most that the audience could see was Jesus’ back. Every scene successfully hid His face. I came to the conclusion that those who made the movie did not want to presume what Jesus looked like. Perhaps they thought that Jesus’ face was too sacred to be portrayed by... Read more
While we should never forget to seek medical and psychological help from experts, we must never underestimate the value of faith in helping a depressed person. My faith has helped me many times when I felt down. It helped me return to another perspective instead of focusing only on my current problems. Without faith, I don’t know what could have happened to me or how lost I would have been. Below are just some of the ways Christianity can help... Read more
Can anxiety work for you instead of joy? This is the question that Pixar’s “Inside Out 2” seems to ask its viewers at the start of the movie. As Riley experiences puberty, she faces the daunting challenge of meeting new friends, adjusting to peer pressure and forming a new sense of self. Suddenly, a new set of complex emotions pop up in her head, taking control of her new life and forcing her to let go of her old emotions... Read more
If there is one Catholic concept that Protestants strongly reject, I think it would be purgatory. To our Protestant brothers and sisters, once you die, you can go to heaven if you have truly believed in Christ. It is that simple. Why make it complicated? But of course, in the end, it is not about simplicity of thought but about truth. We can dig very deeply into something if we can uncover what’s true in the end. For us Catholics,... Read more
Have you ever heard about manifesting? Although it seems to have taken on a modern form, the concept belongs to a family of New Age beliefs that brought about Rhonda Byrne’s The Secret based on The Law of Attraction. You can hear about it many times in our culture today. Whether it’s in social media or television, people are talking about it as though it’s a commonly accepted fact. Where Manifesting Came From While its roots can stem from simple... Read more
Where do our worries come from? Do they come from our fear of not being able to satisfy our legitimate needs? Do they come from worrying about our loved ones? After Jesus had raised Lazarus from the dead, what he did reached even those in Jerusalem. “Now many of the Jews who had come to Mary and seen what he had done began to believe in him. But some of them went to the Pharisees and told them what Jesus... Read more
Sometimes, I wonder why many people today who don’t believe in Jesus seem to think that the faithful are less intelligent and logical than them. Is it because they have truly used the scientific or philosophical way of analyzing things and found out that it is very unlikely Jesus did exist? Or that He couldn’t be who He claimed to be? I couldn’t help but think that perhaps some of them have only lightly questioned the idea and quickly carried... Read more
“O magnify the Lord with me, and let us exalt his name together. I sought the Lord, and he answered me, and delivered me from all my fears. Look to him, and be radiant; so your faces shall never be ashamed.” -Psalm 34:3-5 (NRSVCE) I think that at the last moments of our lives, the one thing we will struggle with is “shame.” After coming to realize the great love of God for us, and knowing how much Jesus has... Read more
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