PAN DE LA SEMANA

Passion Sunday (B) April 1, 2012 You simply have to give it to the excited Israelites, city dwellers all, residents of the famous Jerusalem, for taking time out to welcome the Lord in his triumphant entry to the royal city! Rich and poor, young and old, shod and unshod, elite and hoi polloi alike, they all came in full force, lustily singing “hosanna in the highest!” It was a moment of triumph. It, too, was a moment of truth – at least, for him alone who knew all along what this entry would mean … in just a matter of days! Triumph can make anyone among us lose one’s head in glory. Triumph can make us proud, conceited, and given in to megalomaniac tendencies. And so, there you have it … a number of them in the euphoric crowds were singing paeans to him who would be King, who would liberate them from whatever enslavements they thought they had. Triumph can make our heads swell with misguided self-importance. But not if it is counterbalanced by truth! And truth is what Jesus who-wou...

5 th Sunday of Lent (B) March 25, 2012 Readings: Jer 31:31-34 / Hebrews 5:7-9 / Jn 12:20-33 Today’s liturgy begins with something hopeful. Jeremiah gives words of comfort to his people with his “spiritual testament,” some kind of a last will that he gives to his beloved. He speaks of the coming promise, in God’s name, as “new,” that is, “not like the covenant I made with their fathers the day I took them by the hand to lead them forth from the land of Egypt.” The hour has come for Jeremiah to speak clearly about what is to come. It is, undeniably, an hour of delight, of promise, and of glory. In Jeremiah’s glowing terms, “all, from the least to greatest, shall know [the Lord].” People who trek up mountains can relate to this. There is in every climb, an equivalent of the moment of dread. Many times, on the way up (or down, for that matter), one momentarily hesitates … one feels like retreating and retracing one’s steps. As one progresses in the journey, one’s courage, at times,...

4 th Sunday of Lent (B) March 18, 2012 This Sunday, in true Biblical fashion, is a day of reversals, a day of seeming contradictions, and a day of apparently clashing images and realities. Like our lives here in mortal earth, the readings talk about seeming defeat, about being dead, yet being made alive. They talk about being thrown into exile, but also about a glorious homecoming. They speak about justice, but also about the triumph of mercy over judgment. The Gospel passage clinches it for good measure … It speaks of being smitten and being dashed to the ground, and yet in the same vein, it talks about looking up at the very symbol of seeming defeat, and finding new life! I am in absolute and dire need of this powerful reminder. I am dry in the mouth and longing for the regenerating and refreshing waters of newfound hope, at a time when I feel there is no other way but down, and deeper, into the labyrinth of hopelessness as far as our nation and people are concerned. I ...

3 rd Sunday of Lent (B) March 11, 2012 I generally don’t prefer eating out and patronizing big restaurant chains, even if they pass themselves off as “family restaurants” that offer sit-down dinners a la carte . Reason, you might ask? I don’t like having to choose from so many options, from starters to main courses; from sides to sauces and dips, to drinks and what appears to be an endless array of concoctions galore. Being basically of simple taste and simple, humble origins, I would rather go for simple dishes that already boast of everything in one, simple, uncomplicated platter. Postmodernity, they say, is a world caught up in an infinite variety of choices. Everything has become a fruit of a choice. One does not take things as given. One decides to have it, chooses to hold it, and opts to keep it. Cable TV has become the epitome of what the postmodern world of choices, and unbridled freedom devoid of any parameters, stands for. Truth also becomes a matter of choice, or preferen...

Second Sunday of Lent (B) March 4, 2012 The readings today are all so rich a separate reflection for each one is in order. But one of the tasks of the homilist is to tie up all three in the light of the bigger mystery that the Catholic liturgy celebrates in all the liturgical seasons, Lent, most especially. I would like to begin with the obvious – the call to perfect obedience of Abraham, who was not just called to get out of Ur. A train of other calls came his way, from no less than the same God who called him from his ultimate “comfort zone” that was Ur. This time, though, the call pierces through the roof of reason, and asks him to do the unthinkable … that is, sacrifice his very own son Isaac. The fact that he had to go up the mountain definitely was no accident. The very call at this particular instance, is all an uphill climb, much more difficult than his journey through the plains from Ur to the land of promise. Moriah, the same mountain on which the temple would much...