Bill Hao

The Cry of the Humble In Luke’s Gospel, Jesus addressed the parable of the Pharisee and the tax collector to those who were convinced of their own righteousness and despised others (Luke 18:9). This parable is a warning against self-righteous pride. In the parable, the Pharisee indeed was a righteous man – he was not greedy, dishonest, nor adulterous, he fasted twice a week and he paid tithes on his whole income. But the problem was that he was prideful…

The Virtue of Persistence The main idea behind persistence is to not give up when pursuing a goal despite struggles and difficult situations that arise. In general, that idea also applies to the Christian virtue of persistence, but there are some qualifications. The battle between Israel and the Amalekites (Exodus 17:8-13) shows the virtue of persistence in face of a difficult struggle. As long as Moses kept his hands raised up, the Israelites were winning, but when he lowered his…

Thanking God When was the last time you thanked God? Do you remember how you thanked God? If we tend to think that thanking God is merely saying a quick “thank you,” then we ought to know other ways in which we can fittingly thank God. For Catholics, the most fundamental way to thank God is to go to Mass. That is because Holy Mass is the celebration of the Eucharist, which is an action of thanksgiving to God (CCC…

The Angels of God What are angels? There are at least 4 things that we know about angels. First, they were created by God and therefore they are creatures of God. Second, they are pure spirits; which means that they do not have physical bodies like human beings do. Third, they are intelligent and immortal creatures (CCC 330). The intelligence of angels far surpasses that of man, but unlike God, they do not know everything. For example, they cannot see…

The rich and the poor The parable of the rich man and Lazarus (Luke 16:19-31) clearly illustrates the teaching of the “Sermon on the plain”, where Jesus said, “Blessed are you who are poor, for the kingdom of God is yours. Blessed are you who are now hungry, for you will be satisfied. Blessed are you who are now weeping, for you will laugh… Woe to you who are rich, for you have received your consolation. Woe to you who…

Dishonest wealth The parable of the dishonest steward is not easy to understand and one of the common questions about it is: Why did the master commend the dishonest steward? One thing that can be said of this parable is that the master was not commending the steward for his dishonesty. After all, the steward was fired for his dishonesty – he was squandering his master’s property. One of the plausible explanations for this parable is that the steward had…

The lost and the found The Gospel of Luke presents three parables of what was once lost but was later found: the parables of the lost sheep (Luke 15:1–7, Matthew 18:12–14), the lost coin (Luke 15:8–10) and the prodigal son (Luke 15:11–32). Three parables which are similar and yet different in some ways. The reason I point out these similarities and differences is so that they may be used as points of reflection.  All three parables are similar in the…