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“Santo Subito!” (Saint Now!)This was the loud cry of the people at the funeral of the late Pope John Paul II last April 8, 2005 6 days after his death on April 2. Six years later, Pope John Paul II is beatified - the third of the four steps to sainthood. The First step is the initial investigation of the person's life after he/she is considered for sainthood. It will be in the Diocesan level. After being confirmed, the Vatican will acknowledge a "Nihil Obstat." A Latin for "nothing hinders." In this stage, the person is called "the Servant of God." The second step is the establishing of the heroic act of the person. This will be led by a Postulator who coordinates the causes for beatification or canonization through the judicial processes which includes conducting thorough investigations into the life of the candidate, his works (writings) and deeds. It will be presented to the Congregation for the Causes of Saints in Rome. In this stage, the person is...

A friend of mine who just graduated from a theological school here in Manila sent a message on my mobile phone asking me to pray for him for his final decision to embrace a religious life perpetually. "Bro pls pray 4 me. yes or no ba me sa buhay relihiyoso." What can i say? I believe religious life is a gift. It is something that is given to you by God just like any other vocations - single blessedness and married life. None of these vocations supersede the other, these are equal calling from God. And this guy is responding to the call of becoming a priest. Was the text expressing his confusion? Can he make that decision? Or maybe he just want my prayer. I would be happy if he's confused. It only shows how serious he is in whatever life ahead of him. This will make him think over and over to a lifetime decision he has to make. We need priests right now, and not just priests, but good priests. And i just hope he will be able to go over and reflect his vocation story. It i...

“The mystical state is the highest level of religious experience and the goal of all religious life. It is also the goal of all human development, both on the individual level and in term of human evolution.” This is the opening statement of the first chapter of the book of Willingis Jäger entitled Contemplation, a Christian path. I find it also fitting to start my reflection with this statement because I find it true that indeed, religious have all something to look up why they dedicated themselves to a life less traveled. This is not only for us Catholics but also undeniably for other religious beliefs. They too, if not for the mystical experience, have also some goal for them to attain, may it be in another description fitted to their own context. What is then a mystic? I’ve learned from Fr. Martin, a carmelite priest, in one of our discussions in Prophets that a mystic is someone who had the experience of God. This experience of God is of the experience of Love because God is Lov...