PAN DE LA SEMANA

PASSION SUNDAY April 1, 2007 WHO REMEMBERS ME DOT COM: REMEMBERING AND CELEBRATING IN HOLY WEEK As I write these reflections, the thought of that “persistent” web site that forms part of the whole “social engineering” scheme in cyberspace, keeps on surfacing in my mind. Known simply as WRM that stands for “Who Remembers Me,” it captures email addresses from all over the world, generates a “personalized” invitation for every one to join, and links them up with one another in some way, by playing on that natural and innate human need for connectivity, for bonding, and some form of emotional attachment to each other, albeit on shallow and tenuous – if, a bit suspicious - grounds. Who remembers me dot com … What a cute way of supplying a “fast food” style of affirmation, remembrance, and affiliation to a group, no matter the fact that it is really only virtual, and possibly unreal. Today, Passion Sunday, the liturgy of the Church, among other things, reminds us of him who really remembers...

PAN DE VIDA 5th Sunday of Lent (C) March 25, 2007 See also: http://pandelasemana.blogspot.com Readings: Is 43:16-21 / Phil 3:8-14 / Jn 8:1-11 FORGETTING, PURSUING, FORGIVING! By Fr. Chito Dimaranan, SDB The desert path to discovery that we began on the First Sunday of Lent comes full circle today, and takes on a joyful tone: “The Lord has done great things for us; we are filled with joy” (Responsorial Psalm). We are filled with joy, for like the Jews of old, who were a people of memory, we remember Him “who opens a way in the sea and a path in the mighty waters” (1st Reading). We are full of joy, for although we, too, are a people of memory, we are told today to “remember not the events of the past” but focus our sights on the future that is already unfolding here and now: “See, I am doing something new! … In the desert I make a way, in the wasteland, rivers.” The first reading from Isaiah tells us to forget something past and pursue something newer and better. St. Paul takes up a simi...

PAN DE VIDA 4th Sunday of Lent (C) – 2007 March 18, 2007 See also Readings: Jos 5:9a, 10-12 / 2 Cor 5:17-21 / Lk 15:1-3, 11-32 SETUP, UPSET, RESET: GOD’S LOVE IN BUNDLES OF THREES!* By Fr. Chito Dimaranan, SDB We started our Sunday Lenten reflections around the ideas of desert and desolation. The Israelites’ wandering in the desert for all of 40 years and Jesus’ own desert experience where he was tempted to the hilt, both led to discovery, to a more intense devotion and attachment to the God of promises. On the second Sunday of Lent, we reflected on the need for us to be awake, aware, and alive with and for God, to enable us to see for ourselves the unfolding glory of the Lord in his Transfiguration – a foretaste of good and better things to come. Last Sunday, we spoke of a love of this God of promises and fulfillment as, at one and the same time, tender, tough, and true. His is a love that is compassionate, but His, too, is a love that demands, a love that commands a loving response i...

PAN DE VIDA 3rd Sunday of Lent (C) March 11, 2007 Readings: Ex 3:1-8a, 13-15 / 1 Cor 10:1-6, 10-12 / Lk 13:1-9 TENDER, TOUGH, & TRUE By Fr. Chito Dimaranan, SDB Today, some of God’s multi-faceted nature shines out in all three readings. God waxes tender in the first reading. He proclaims compassion for his suffering people through Moses: “I have witnessed the affliction of my people in Egypt and have heard their cry of complaint against their slave drivers so I know well what they are suffering. Therefore I have come down to rescue them from the hands of the Egyptians and lead them out of that land into a good and spacious land, a land flowing with milk and honey.” Along with the revelation of his name (I AM) came a revelation of his nature – a “kind and merciful” God (Responsorial Psalm). St. Paul, though, offers us a glimpse into a contrasting picture of the same God - an image that exudes toughness. For Paul, who makes allusion to the same desert experience of the Israelites of...