PAN DE LA SEMANA

--> 1 st Sunday Advent (C) December 2, 2012 SAFE AND SECURE IN THE LORD WHO IS JUSTICE! Don’t we all love to hear good news! Fresh graduates who have recently taken the board or government licensure examinations wait interminably for good news to come their way. Sick people who undergo so many varied tests and lab works long to hear from their doctor how their health prognosis would be in the next few months or years. I know … been there; done that. The Lord knows how many examinations I have taken all my life, and waiting for good news is not something I am unfamiliar with. But we all know that, no matter the good news, the events prior to, or surrounding the coming of good news, are not necessarily pleasant. Take it from Jeremiah, a prophet who has seen the best and the worst,  as one who saw first hand the bitterness of exile in his prophetic career. He had, in many respects, literally hit rock-bottom. He knew what it meant to be down there in the du...

SOLEMNITY OF CHRIST THE KING November 25, 2012 THE TIME HAS COME! Good old Lewis Carroll wrote these beautiful verses about the walrus and the carpenter out for a walk and a bite: "The time has come," the Walrus said, "to talk of many things: of shoes--and ships--and sealing-wax-- of cabbages--and kings-- and why the sea is boiling hot-- and whether pigs have wings." The time has come indeed! We’ve been through another year, another cycle … another round of reflections throughout what we call the liturgical year that is about to end. We’ve come full circle, and what we began a year ago is what we are wrapping up today. The time has come … yes! But the time, too, has come to speak of many things: of shoes and ships, maybe? Of rockets and the ruckus they cause in that tiny piece of territory in the Middle East, perhaps? … Of cabbages and camotes, and genetically modified foods to feed an unsatisfied world? Why not? Why yes...

33rd Sunday in Ordinary Time (B) November 18, 2012 Readings: Dn 12:1-3 / Heb 10:11-14,18 / Mk 11: 24-32 ENDINGS ARE BEGINNINGS I would like to sum up my reflection for today with a paraphrase from the great English poet, T.S. Eliot … "in my end is my beginning." Yes … endings are indeed, beginnings. As November marches on, as the weather changes in some way all over the world, and as the warm expectations of Christmas fill our hearts and minds, thoughts of an old year receding, and a new one in the offing, also capture our imagination. If we are to make the big mistake of interpreting today's apocalyptic gospel passages literally (as the Fundamentalists invariably do), the warm feelings of Christmas could easily be replaced by fear, trepidation, and listlessness. But any student of introductory Biblical hermeneutics would know that sowing fear and hopelessness is not the meaning, scope, intent, and purpose of such an "apocalyptic"...

--> 32 nd Sunday of Ordinary Time (B) November 11, 2012 NONE SO POOR AS TO HAVE NOTHING TO SHARE! Jose Feliciano of old crooned that “love comes from the most unexpected places.” True. But so does generosity. It comes, lived, shown, and practiced even by persons least expected to do so. Years ago, during the Ormoc tragedy in the Philippines, something beautiful for God and humanity happened. A long line of hungry and weary people were snaking through, waiting to receive relief goods. Foreign press people were present, with flash lights popping and cameras whirring. At a certain point everyone including the relief distributors was sure … there was not going to be enough for everyone in the long line. At the end of the line was a little girl of about five. She was patient and hopeful, and even if she saw the supplies dwindling, she, together with all the rest, stayed on, trudged on, slowly towards where the supplies were. When it was her turn, there was...

31st Sunday in Ordinary Time, Year B One thing I like about the Catholic liturgy is that, contrary to popular perceptions, it is not about purely pious talk. It has to do with real life issues of real people in real time … with people who struggle with a myriad of challenges … here and now. Our Opening Prayer opens with a reality check: “God of power and mercy, only with your help can we offer you fitting service and praise.” Only with God’s help … wonders like serving and praising God are there for the doing, but only with His help. Wonders like what the famous Shema, O Israel demands from everyone – loving God with all one’s heart, mind, strength, and soul, are possible only on account of God’s help. So … what business have we today to talk about this? Shouldn’t we just raise up our arms in surrender and tell ourselves … “Nah … this is not for me … It takes too much effort … way too much for my puny capacities?” Who among us here can really mean w...