PAN DE LA SEMANA

4 th Sunday in Ordinary Time(B) January 29, 2012 The internet explosion has seen a rise in the number of “authors” who write continuously in blogsites, personal web sites, chat rooms and a plethora of networking sites. Digital publishing has gone literally to new heights, and millions and millions of self-styled writers (authors) dish out daily almost like a diarrhea of words that somehow are designed to connect, to communicate, and to help change the culture that is already in rapid and constant flux. I, too, have joined the bandwagon (sort of, with my limited digital skills) since 2007. I love to write. I love to put down my thoughts and reflections in digital ink (given the fact that I hardly now ever put anything down literally in “black and white” as my handwriting is getting worse faster than my age!) Many of us, including me, can be called “authors” in our own right. But only the most conceited among us can claim what that word etymologically, and actually stands for fu...

3 rd Sunday in Ordinary Time(B) January 22, 2012 Today’s readings are a story of reversals. The events reported are counter-intuitive and, at least for the people of Jonah’s days, probably run counter to logic and common sense expectations. First, the Lord calls a nation other than Israel to repentance – Nineveh – a hated nemesis of Israel, being the capital of the empire of Assyria at some point. Second, Jonah, the reluctant bearer of bad or good news, depending on what is one’s perspective and stance, did not just do his job partially, but actually hemmed and hawed, and dragged his feet, unwilling and unready to do the unpopular job for anyone who had reason to believe his words would fall on deaf ears, if not followed by anger and hatred against him. In other words, Jonah probably thought it was an exercise in futility. More than that, he probably opined that it was a hopeless case – something that his feeble and reluctant warnings in the first place would not even create a dent...

Second Sunday of the Year (B) January 15, 2012 N.B. I post two different reflections today. One is for the 2nd Sunday in Ordinary Time, and the second is for the Feast of the Sto. Nino in the Philippines. INVITATION, REFLECTION, TRANSFORMATION The liturgy today opens with a rousing call. The young Samuel, probably being groomed to do something that is bigger than his young years, is roused from restful sleep not once, not twice, but thrice. Paul, for his part, issues a rousing challenge to the Corinthians to behave responsibly as members of the body of Christ. Two bystanders watching attentively are also roused by an excited announcement from John: “Behold, the Lamb of God.” The call addressed to the young Samuel fell not on deaf ears. Although being roused from one’s bed is no welcome thing for young people, the fact that he was sleeping in the temple precincts meant that there was, to start with, a certain openness, a certain readiness, a predisposition, an ...

Solemnity of the Epiphany (B) January 8, 2012 Readings: Is 60:1-6 / Eph 3:2-3.5-6 / Mt 2:1-12 The Gospel passage of today taken from Matthew tells of Herod being “greatly troubled.” Uneasy lies the head that wears a crown, indeed. Someone high up there, with supposedly all the resources at his disposal to assure him of continuing power, has suddenly become so preoccupied about holding on to it, threatened by the news of one who passes off as the “newborn King.” But if misery loves company, worry seeks for it and looks for sympathizers. Anxiety, like water, seeks its own level, and it seeks for every susceptible nook and cranny, holes and depressions, and the worry-wart tries his level best to spread, not the good news, but the bad news of his lack of serenity and peace of mind. King Herod was “greatly troubled and all Jerusalem with him.” Like Jerusalem under the hegemony of the worry-wart Herod, many people of our times, perhaps including ourselves, are worried s...