PAN DE LA SEMANA

Catholic Homily / Sunday Reflection 22 nd Sunday of Ordinary Time (B) August 30, 2009 Words inundate our lives ever increasingly as days go by. We see a plethora of words in print, we hear words uttered around us everywhere we go, at home, at school, at the malls, at work, in and out of the radio wave lanes, whether in AM or FM, or in VHF or UHF channels. Words are not only uttered in “real time.” They can be recorded through a variety of electronic means, either “analog” or “digital,” which is the current mode in use. So many words written or uttered, transmitted by wire or “beamed” via satellite, using “wi-fi” technology, indeed, may well have contributed to the phenomenon of making words sound cheap, making them less powerful, and giving them less and less impact. The daily barrage of words may have lessened not only appreciation for them, but also, their innate power to symbolize the true inner state of the people who utter them or use them....

Catholic Homily / Sunday Reflection 21 st Sunday in Ordinary Time (Year B) August 23, 2009 All three readings today revolve around the basic idea of choice. In the first reading, we are presented with a dramatic call made to the tribes of Israel by Joshua, asking them to decide, that is, to make a choice between two false gods. Joshua, the same passage tells us, was clear about his own choice: “As for me and my household, we will serve the Lord.” St. Paul, in his letter to the Ephesians, illustrates as best he could, culling from the culture and practice of his times, what choosing to “live in Christ, as Christ loved us” meant. Choosing to live in Him entails, in concrete, a life of mutual fidelity to one another, a life of mutual service. Nowhere is this love of mutuality and selfless service to each other, coming closest to taking part and sharing in Christ’s paschal mystery – His death and life – as in the love that ought to reign between husbands an...

20th Sunday in Ordinary Time - Year B August 16, 2009 Catholic Homily / Sunday Reflection People watch a whole lot of things. They watch their weight, for one. They watch their step, as they amble about in places that have not been designed for semi-invalids that many people are fast becoming in our times, owing to obesity. In the Philippines, people with expensive and not-so-expensive cell phones alike watch out for thugs who are ready at any given time, to run away with their coveted communication-pieces-cum-camera-and-MP3 player all rolled into one. Pedestrians, long since deprived of their rightful turf – the sidewalks – watch traffic both before and behind them, fully aware that in the Philippines, the right of pedestrians seems to have been relegated to oblivion. Although the infamous “Filipino time” still wreaks havoc on our societal lives, people keep on watching the time in an age when timepieces need not be worn, but are seen everywhere: in the cell phones, in buses, jeepneys...

Catholic Homily / Sunday Reflections 19th Sunday in Ordinary Time - Year B August 9, 2009 A NOTE TO MY PHILIPPINE, TAGALOG READERS: MY KALAKBAY AT KATOTO TAGALOG REFLECTION FOR THIS SUNDAY IS AS MUCH A PAEAN TO THE EUCHARIST AS A WORD OF APPRECIATION TO SOMEBODY WHO EMBODIED AN EXTRAORDINARILY DEEP FAITH IN THE EUCHARIST - FORMER PHILIPPINE PRESIDENT CORY AQUINO. PLEASE CLICK TO THE LINK AT THE RIGHT COLUMN OF THIS PAGE. Food, traditionally, has never been equated with pouting, with sadness, or anything that smacks of being on the downside emotionally speaking. Food has always been associated with joy, with camaraderie, sharing, togetherness, oneness and overflowing happiness. Food is associated with sustenance, replenishment of lost energy, eroded enthusiasm, and dissipated resolve to do what ought to be done. Elijah was despondent after a day’s journey, the first reading tells us. Praying for death, he lay down under the broom tree. But the Lord Yahweh himself, through an angel fed...