Blessed are your eyes, because they see, and your ears, because they hear

By Manila Bulletin Newsroom

Published Jul 23, 2026 12:02 am | Updated Jul 22, 2026 03:51 pm

REFLECTIONS TODAY

In the light of today’s Gospel, we wonder if we would accept Jesus the way most of the Jewish authorities did, or the way the disciples did. Most of the authorities rejected him, and so Jesus’ teachings to them remained “parables,” that they could not understand or appreciate the meaning of. When the eyes, the ears, and the heart refuse to listen or pay attention, whatever is said, no matter how beautiful or noble, remains a “parable.”

On the other hand, for those who have open minds and hearts, like his disciples, his stories and preaching, as well as his works or deeds, are understandable and meaningful and fruitful. That is why Jesus declares them truly blessed, they who are so privileged to have heard and witnessed the things Jesus said and did. There are many others who do not have (and will not have) the privilege or the luxury of hearing or seeing these things.

Indeed, when we realize that as Christians we have received so much from the Lord, or come to know him, even if only glimpses of him, we cannot but be truly grateful and feel blessed. Imagine, for example, if we have remained Godless, agnostic, or even anti-God! Let us therefore contemplate and treasure our blessings as Christian believers and disciples.

First Reading • Jer 2:1-3, 7-8, 12-13

This word of the Lord came to me: Go, cry out this message for Jerusalem to hear! I remember the devotion of your youth, how you loved me as a bride, following me in the desert, in a land unsown. Sacred to the Lord was Israel, the first fruits of his harvest; should any presume to partake of them, evil would befall them, says the Lord.

When I brought you into the garden land to eat its goodly fruits, you entered and defiled my land, you made my heritage loathsome. The priests asked not, “Where is the Lord?” Those who dealt with the law knew me not: the shepherds rebelled against me. The prophets prophesied by Baal, and went after useless idols.

Be amazed at this, O heavens, and shudder with sheer horror, says the Lord. Two evils have my people done: they have forsaken me, the source of living waters; they have dug themselves cisterns, broken cisterns, that hold no water.

Gospel • Matthew 13:10-17

The disciples approached Jesus and said, “Why do you speak to the crowd in parables?” He said to them in reply, “Because knowledge of the mysteries of the Kingdom of heaven has been granted to you, but to them it has not been granted. To anyone who has, more will be given and he will grow rich; from anyone who has not, even what he has will be taken away. This is why I speak to them in parables, because they look but do not see and hear but do not listen or understand.

Isaiah’s prophecy is fulfilled in them, which says: You shall indeed hear but not understand, you shall indeed look but never see. Gross is the heart of this people, they will hardly hear with their ears, they have closed their eyes, lest they see with their eyes and hear with their ears and understand with their heart and be converted and I heal them.

“But blessed are your eyes, because they see, and your ears, because they hear. Amen, I say to you, many prophets and righteous people longed to see what you see but did not see it, and to hear what you hear but did not hear it.”

Source: “365 Days with the Lord 2026,” St. Paul’s, 7708 St. Paul Rd., SAV, Makati City (Phils.); Tel.: 632-895-9701; E-mail: publishing@stpauls.ph; Website: http://www.stpauls.ph.

LPA develops into Tropical Depression 'Kiyapo'

 

By Ellalyn De Vera-Ruiz

Published Jul 23, 2026 10:04 am

The low-pressure area (LPA) east of southeastern Luzon has developed into a tropical depression and was given the local name “Kiyapo,” the Philippine Atmospheric, Geophysical and Astronomical Services Administration (PAGASA) said on Wednesday evening, July 22.

PAGASA said Kiyapo developed into a tropical depression at 8 p.m.

As of 10 p.m. Wednesday, Kiyapo was located 1,080 kilometers east of southeastern Luzon, with maximum sustained winds of 45 kilometers per hour (kph) near the center and gustiness of up to 55 kph.

It was moving northwestward at 25 kph.

Following its development into a tropical depression, PAGASA raised Tropical Cyclone Wind Signal No. 1 over the eastern portion of mainland Cagayan (Santa Ana, Gonzaga, Lal-lo, Gattaran, Baggao, Peñablanca, Santa Teresita, and Buguey) and the eastern portion of Isabela (Maconacon, San Pablo, Cabagan, Tumauini, Ilagan City, Divilacan, Palanan, San Mariano, and Dinapigue).

PAGASA said Kiyapo is expected to move west-northwestward to northwestward throughout the forecast period.

It may make a close approach to or make landfall over the Babuyan Islands by Friday evening, July 24.

However, PAGASA said a landfall over mainland Cagayan cannot be ruled out.

Lovi Poe enters new season of life, career

By Neil Ramos

Published Jul 23, 2026 03:13 pm

At A Glance

• Lovi Poe officially joins Star Magic, calling it a dream come true as she opens up about motherhood, Hollywood, dad Fernando Poe Jr.'s legacy and the next phase of her career.

Actress, singer, producer, entrepreneur and Hollywood actress Lovi Poe is now officially a Kapamilya after signing with ABS-CBN's Star Magic.

The move had been rumored for months, but Tuesday's announcement finally made it official, ushering in what many expect to be an exciting new era for one of the country's most versatile and fearless leading ladies.

For someone who has built a career by taking risks, the decision feels like the natural next step.

More than the glamour, however, Lovi says she is entering this chapter with a completely different outlook on life.

"You do things that make you feel good. I think you just have to do things that make you happy and make you feel good and just don't think about the opinion of others because you want to live your life the way that makes you happy," she told reporters.

"That's what I've learned. Sometimes, especially in our industry, we tend to impress others or try to impress a lot of people. At the end of the day, they really won't do anything for you. I think that's one thing that I've learned, to work on myself in the most inward manner."

The words carry extra weight coming from an actress who has spent years under the spotlight.  

Once known as one of the industry's boldest, sexiest and most daring stars, Lovi is now balancing multiple roles, not only as an actress but also as a wife, a mother, a producer and an artist steadily carving out a place in Hollywood.

Last October, she welcomed her first child with husband Montgomery Blencowe. Before taking time off for motherhood in the United States, she appeared in the Hollywood film "Bad Man" and starred in "Guilty Pleasure," where her performance earned Best Actress nominations from both the Gawad Urian Awards and PMPC Star Awards for Movies.

Despite the growing list of responsibilities, Lovi made it clear that her passion for storytelling remains stronger than ever.

"I just want to keep working and doing what I love," she said.

At Star Magic's official welcome, she admitted the moment still feels surreal.

"It's just nice to be with family now. So I think more than anything, I'm just really grateful."

She also paid tribute to her husband, who has supported her career despite the challenges of maintaining a long-distance marriage because of work commitments.   

"He's been very supportive. He's been traveling back and forth wherever I am. Talagang grateful ako. He's been helping and still wants me to achieve my goals even if it's been hard for us. It takes a real man to be able to make something like that happen."

Calling the move "a dream come true," Lovi revealed she grew up watching ABS-CBN and Star Magic artists, never imagining she would someday become part of the family.

Star Magic head Laurenti Dyogi described their newest talent as "a true superwoman" who embodies excellence as an actress, singer, performer, producer and storyteller while carrying the legacy of her father, the late Fernando Poe Jr., the legendary King of Philippine Movies.

As for what's next, Lovi isn't slowing down.

She hopes to headline action projects, thrillers, horror films and comedies while working with Kapamilya stars Kathryn Bernardo, Gerald Anderson, Jericho Rosales, Belle Mariano and Maris Racal.

Perhaps her biggest dream, however, is deeply personal.

She hopes to remake one of the iconic films of her father, Fernando Poe Jr.

"I don't really have to say just one example, but I think an FPJ story would be great. It doesn't matter what it is. I hope that I get to do a project that my dad did."

It's a fitting ambition for an actress entering a new phase of her career, one no longer defined by proving herself to others but by choosing projects that inspire her.

The Philippines has the largest estimated Christian population in Asia in 2026

 The Philippines has the largest estimated Christian population in Asia in 2026, according to a ranking sourced from Geomapas. The country recorded around 107.7 million Christians, followed by China with 72.2 million, India with nearly 34 million and Indonesia with 30.9 million.

Southeast Asian countries also occupied several places in the ranking. Vietnam recorded around 8.48 million Christians, Myanmar had 3.46 million, and Malaysia had 3.31 million. Christian communities in Indonesia are concentrated in areas including North Sulawesi, Papua, East Nusa Tenggara, and Maluku, while large communities are also present in East Malaysia and ethnic minority regions of Myanmar.

Christianity remains deeply connected to Philippine public life, education, family traditions, festivals, and local communities. Vatican data cited in the report estimated that the country had around 93 million Catholics in 2025.

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How mutually intelligible are Germanic languages?

 

Put a Swede and a Norwegian in a room, and they’ll converse fluently in their native tongues. Pair an English speaker with a German, and they’re reduced to pantomime.

The Germanic language family spans a spectrum from nearly seamless mutual intelligibility to complete linguistic isolation. The mainland Scandinavian languages—Norwegian, Swedish, and Danish—form a remarkably tight dialect continuum. They are so closely related that linguists often describe them as dialects of a single language, divided primarily by national borders. However, this intelligibility is famously asymmetrical. Norwegians generally understand both Swedes and Danes with ease. Swedes and Danes, conversely, often struggle to understand each other when speaking. Danish pronunciation has evolved rapidly, softening consonants and altering vowels, making it notoriously difficult for neighboring Swedes to parse in real time. Yet, in written form, Danish and Norwegian Bokmål are almost identical.

Step off the mainland, and this mutual understanding vanishes. Icelandic and Faroese are also North Germanic languages, but centuries of geographic isolation have kept their grammar and vocabulary highly conservative. While an Icelander can read a 13th-century Norse saga with little difficulty, they cannot naturally understand spoken Swedish or Danish.

On the European continent, West Germanic languages operate on a classic dialect continuum. A speaker of Standard High German and a speaker of Standard Dutch cannot hold a spontaneous conversation, though they share enough core vocabulary to puzzle through a written text. But travel along the German-Dutch border, and the local dialects blend so thoroughly that neighbors on opposite sides of the border can converse perfectly. Dutch also shares a high degree of mutual intelligibility with Afrikaans. Dutch speakers can read Afrikaans with near-perfect comprehension, often viewing its grammar as a streamlined version of their own.

English is the extreme outlier. Despite being a West Germanic language, it underwent centuries of dramatic sound changes—like the Great Vowel Shift—and absorbed massive amounts of Norman French and Latin vocabulary after 1066. Today, an English speaker without prior study cannot understand German, Dutch, or even Frisian, a language spoken in parts of the Netherlands and Germany that serves as English's closest living relative.

A map illustrating the geographic distribution and major dialect groups of the modern Germanic language family. Photo by Dokyundokyundokyun is licensed under CC BY-SA 4.0.

USA stürzen im Pass-Ranking ab – Deutschland bleibt in Europas Spitzenklasse

Stand:22.07.2026, 17:38 Uhr

Von: Lukas Richter

Der US-Pass verliert an Einfluss: Laut einem internationalen Vergleich haben mehrere Länder Amerika inzwischen überholt.

München – Der US-Pass war einmal die Eintrittskarte in fast die ganze Welt. 2006 standen die Vereinigten Staaten im internationalen Pass-Ranking noch ganz oben. Zwanzig Jahre später ist davon weniger übrig: Die USA fallen deutlich zurück. Deutschland hält sich dagegen weiter in der Spitzengruppe Europas.  ontent-Partnerschaft

Dieser Artikel entstand in Kooperation mit newsinfive.de.

Der Abstand zeigt, wie stark sich globale Reisefreiheit verschoben hat. Singapur führt das Ranking mit visumfreiem Zugang oder Visa bei Ankunft in 192 Reisezielen an. Die USA kommen auf 180 Ziele und damit nur noch auf den zehnten Rang. Deutschland erreicht 186 Ziele und teilt sich damit den vierten Platz mit mehreren europäischen Ländern, wie der Henley Passport Index in seiner Ausgabe zum 20-jährigen Bestehen ausweist.   

Der US-Pass verliert an Einfluss: Laut einem internationalen Vergleich haben mehrere Länder Amerika inzwischen überholt. © © IMAGO / Dreamstime / Symbolbild

Der Abstieg der USA wirkt besonders deutlich, weil sie beim Start des Index 2006 noch gemeinsam mit Dänemark und Finnland auf Platz 1 lagen. Damals reichten 130 Ziele für die Weltspitze. Heute ist die absolute Reisefreiheit der Amerikaner zwar größer als früher. Relativ aber haben andere Staaten stärker zugelegt.

USA verlieren Anschluss an die Spitze

Hinzu kommt ein konkreter Nachteil: Die USA gehören laut Henley zu den wenigen Top-Ländern, deren Bürgerinnen und Bürger für China weiterhin ein Visum benötigen. Großbritannien und Kanada konnten sich zuletzt verbessern, nachdem sie visumfreien Zugang zu China und Malawi oder vergleichbare Erleichterungen erhalten hatten.  

Henley-Gründer Christian H. Kaelin erklärt die Entwicklung mit geopolitischem Gewicht. „Zwanzig Jahre Daten zeigen, dass Passmacht einer der klarsten Ausdrücke des geopolitischen Kapitals eines Landes ist“, sagte Kaelin laut Henley. Starke Pässe gehörten Staaten, die andere Länder als Partner wollten – für Handel, Investitionen, Sicherheit oder Zusammenarbeit.

Deutschland bleibt im europäischen Spitzenfeld

Deutschland steht im neuen Ranking auf Rang vier. Den Platz teilt sich der deutsche Pass mit mehreren EU-Staaten, darunter Frankreich, Italien, Spanien, Dänemark, Finnland, Irland, Luxemburg und die Niederlande. Auch Belgien und Norwegen liegen dort. Europa bleibt damit breit in der Weltspitze vertreten.