Kids may still hunt down godparents until Jan. 1

Here’s a tip to children coming from no less than a Roman Catholic priest: Don’t grouse if you failed to see your godparents on Christmas Day to ask them for gifts. You still have until New Year’s Day to hunt them down. Fr. Melvin Castro, executive secretary of the Episcopal Commission on Family and Life [...]

Pakistan: Poor response to Christmas charity efforts

Several organizations have reported difficulties and disappointments in their charitable fund raising efforts for Christmas. Mitchell’s Fruit Farms, the oldest food company in Pakistan, makes regular donations to the poor at this time of year. “One of our sales executives, a parishioner, has been liaising with this for three years,”  said Anzar Hameed, the company’s [...]

Vatican: Pope urges end to bloodshed in Christmas message

Pope Benedict XVI called for an “end to the bloodshed” in Syria and denounced the “savage” violence in Africa on Tuesday, even as Nigeria witnessed a Christmas attack on Christians. Speaking in his traditional Christmas message, the pope touched on several other of the world’s conflict zones. A capacity crowd of 40,000 pilgrims filled the [...]

Christmas celebrated around the world

Christians around the world are celebrating Christmas, which marks the birth of Jesus Christ in Bethlehem. In the city itself, Christmas Eve Mass was celebrated at the 1,700-year-old Church of the Nativity, on the spot where it is believed Jesus was born. Meanwhile in the Vatican, Pope Benedict XVI held the traditional Mass at St [...]

Christmas and true sharing

My column last appeared on Christmas Day six years ago, when it was still in the Inquirer’s business section. My message then remains timely, so allow me to reprise what I wrote at the time, hopefully to a wider readership this time. We Filipinos look forward to Christmas with such keen anticipation, starting from the [...]

The ‘Santa Claus’ of RH

It’s still the season for giving thanks, for acknowledging people who, in the year about to pass and way before now, have been “giving” us gifts—not just material items, but gifts of time and understanding, gifts of courage and steadfastness, gifts of sympathy and common cause, gifts of sharing and championing our advocacies. In the [...]

Our presence to loved ones is best Christmas gift – Cardinal Tagle

Just as the presence of Jesus Christ is God’s gift to all mankind, our presence to loved ones is the best gift this Christmas, Archbishop Luis Antonio Cardinal Tagle said in his homily during the Christmas Eve Mass. “The most beautiful gift from God on the first Christmas was his only son Jesus Christ. [And [...]

The Voice of Christmas for Filipinos

Let’s sing Merry Christmas and a happy holiday; This season may we never forget the love we have for Jesus; Let him be the one to guide us as another new year starts; And may the spirit of Christmas be always in our hearts The lyrics above are from  the most popular Filipino song, Christmas [...]

‘Pablo,’ Christmas and celebrating life

Displaced and deprived of their livelihood after Typhoon Pablo pummeled Davao Oriental, residents of the towns of Cateel and Baganga have nothing to offer except prayers for Christmas Eve. Taking refuge in the roofless classroom of Grade 5 Section Masipag in San Antonio Elementary School in Cateel, two families are planning to celebrate Christmas by [...]

Dear God

Here’s my Christmas prayer, inspired by Anne Lamott. Dear God, may I also call you the Higher Being, the Force or the Universe? I’m sure you wouldn’t mind. What’s a little variation to spice up the conversation? I just want to be inclusive in this prayer because, as a recent Pew Research Center study found [...]

Christmas gifts’ darker side

As children awaken this Christmas morning and rush to the pile of presents wrapped, jewel-like, beneath the tree, we might pause to consider the origin of giving gifts on Christmas. It is, of course, a means of celebrating the birth of Jesus. While there may, or may not, be any discussion of spirituality at many Americans’ [...]

Christmas hardly felt in typhoon-hit areas as residents look for safe ground

Still grappling with the shock and horror over the devastation wrought by typhoon Pablo, people here greet Christmas with a deep feeling of mourning, foregoing parties and ostentatious celebrations to sympathize with those who lost their loved ones to the typhoon. As downcast skies hovered over town with news of an impending storm and talks [...]

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