PAN DE LA SEMANA

Catholic Homily/Sunday Reflection Solemnity of the Body and Blood of the Lord Year C June 6, 2010               There is no understanding fully the feast of today without framing it in the context of what “sacramentality” is all about. Being the “sacrament of sacraments,” as St. Thomas puts it, and being both “the source and the summit of Christian life” (Vatican II), the Eucharist is eminently a “visible sign of invisible grace” (St. Augustine). In the very visible, and very ordinary reality of bread and wine, we see, and feel, and experience, in an extraordinary way, something that God meant to be so ordinary in our lives as believers – His living, loving, and gracious presence in the midst of His beloved people!               Eucharist is all about presence. Eucharist is all about the here and now, the “already” of our Christian lives, though i...

Catholic Homily/Sunday Reflection Solemnity of the Most Holy Trinity (C) May 30, 2010 Experience, it has often been said, is a good teacher. Personal experience separates the rookie from the veteran; the wise from the merely intelligent and school smart; the prophet from the charlatan; the genuine leader from the merely titled executive. Personal experience constitutes the “abundance of the heart whereof the mouth speaks,” and a deeply felt and personal intimacy and familiarity with someone or something is the only real passport to credibility. The intellectual expert delivers facts and figures. One listens to him or her with respect. The personal witness delivers truth and doles out trust. One listens to him or her with awe. The former speaks from the point of view of learned facts; the latter from the point of view of lived experience. The former will most likely be accepted at face value, for whatever merit there is in what he or she says; the latter will definitely go beyond...

Catholic Homily/Sunday Reflection Solemnity of the Pentecost May 23, 2010 I take my cue for today’s reflection from the Entrance Antiphon of the Mass during the Day: “The Spirit of the Lord fills the whole world. It holds all things together and knows every word spoken by man, alleluia” (Wisdom 1:7) . Holding all things together … a beautiful thought, a heartwarming concept, an energizing pledge and promise for a world “waiting with eager longing for the revelation of the children of God” (Romans 8:19) … a world ripped and torn apart by so many conflicting allegiances and loyalties on all imaginable fronts, be they political, economic, social, ecclesial, religious and spiritual. The Solemnity of Pentecost, the memorial celebration of diversity, of pluralism, of a mosaic-like reality of a human family originally intended by God, the Creator, to be a rich quilt-like tapestry of freedom and individuality, on the one hand, yet balanced by social solidarity, unity, and brot...

Catholic Homily / Sunday Reflection 7th Sunday of Easter / Ascension of the Lord - Year C May 16, 2010 N.B. I offer a conflated reflection for both the 7th Sunday of Easter and the Ascension Sunday for the simple reason that in the US, what is celebrated on May 16 is the 7th Sunday, while in many other places, the Ascension Sunday is celebrated. The liturgies of the Ascension of the Lord and the 7th Sunday of Easter both have to do with going beyond, with transcending the reality of the here and now, and with moving onto a realm qualitatively and patently different from current mundane experience. They both speak of the ultimate reasons and foundations of our earthly hope – the glorification of the Risen Lord, a promise and foretaste of what God, in His love and wisdom, also has assured us in His Son, Jesus Christ. Yes, the fact that “God mounts His throne to shouts of joy,” and that “the Lord is king, the most high over all the earth,” ought to make us pause in hope and ...

Catholic Homily / Sunday Reflection 6 th Sunday of Easter (C) May 9, 2010             Last week’s readings led us to reflect on transformed newness. We saw Paul and Barnabas storming Gentile territories, and how the dynamic duo transformed the lives of the people they met. We heard God’s uplifting prophetic message delivered through John: “Behold, I make all things new!” “Love one another.” The Risen Lord, for his part, imparted a new commandment that was the sure-fire way towards transformation: This week, our sights and hopes are trained once again toward the future. It was a “future” that was really already taking place before their very eyes, as the first reading from Acts very clearly shows. Divisions and distinctions between Jew and Gentile were crumbling. Gradually taking their places were unity, harmony, and fellowship between and among peoples of different origins, traditions and initial beliefs and ...