PAN DE LA SEMANA

--> 17th Sunday Year A July 27, 2014 DO WE REALLY KNOW WHAT IS BEST FOR US? I take my cue from last week’s second reading from St. Paul … “We really do not know how to pray and what to pray for,” he wrote. But thanks be to God, he goes on: “The Spirit himself prays for us in sighs and groans that words cannot express.” I do not know how to pray … even now, up till now. I do pray, but, to be honest with you, many times, I don’t know what to ask for. I don’t know what is best for me. I don’t know what is God’s plan for me on the short term. I do know, in faith and in hope, that He wants what is good for me and for others, but, at any given time, I don’t know what is best for he, here and now and in the foreseeable future. I was crying (as usual) reading the report about the families of the doomed MH 17 flight en route from Amsterdam to Kuala Lumpur. They all had premonitions. One even was sorry to “miss” the bus to the airport, but ended...

16 th Sunday Year A July 20, 2014 A GOD LIKE NO OTHER! I can never claim to be like God … no … not by any stretch of the imagination! “There is no god besides [him] who has the care of all …” So says the first reading, to which I heartily agree. He is clear about justice. He is master of might. But He is a God of clemency of heart, not just clarity of mind. I can never claim to be a model pray-er. I often mumble, if not ramble, through the time set aside for prayer. I do not even know what to pray for, on occasion. But God, like no other, in and through the Holy Spirit, actually – fortunately! – prays for me, and “comes to the aid of my weakness.” I can never claim to be patient like God is … He allows weeds to grow alongside the wheat. He even “sleeps with the enemy” and allows him the freedom to deny Him. Clarity in terms of justice with might does not take away God’s compassion matched with clemency and inexhaustible mercy. ...

15 th Sunday in Ordinary Time (A) July 13, 2014 FALLEN AND FRUCTIFYING! I was in the flood-devastated areas just a month after typhoon Sendong unleashed its unprecedented wrath over Northern Mindanao some years back. Rains fell. Waters cascaded down from the denuded mountains, causing massive and sudden flooding over parts of Cagayan de Oro City, and brought humongous trunks of felled trees down Iligan City, causing the untimely deaths of scores of people who were stricken dead as they slept in the dark and dead of night. Falling rain is usually a welcome gift from the heavens. It does not return empty handed, but makes the land bear fruit in plenty. This much, Isaiah tells us in the first reading. But rampaging floods carrying huge log projectiles are a different matter. They are destructive. They bring death, not just destruction … along with a whole lot of the usual hand-wringing from officialdom, looking for someone else to blame ...

 He is the one and only UNLI! 14 th Sunday in Ordinary Time (A) July 6, 2014 UNLIMITED LEARNING FROM THE LORD! I work once more in a complex school setting. Back here after 28 years, I move around circles and groups that deal daily with what is known as teaching-learning situations. One goes to school to learn. One listens to lectures and subjects oneself to routine in order to learn, hopefully, for life. Going to school may end with graduation, but learning is meant to be lifelong. But there is learning that is lifelong and learning that is meant to last forever, without end, without limits … In the Philippines, we call it UNLI … short for unlimited. UNLI refers to unlimited calls provided by cellphone companies to hook loyal customers. It also refers to the craze of the day, that would probably cause more diabetic cases in future – UNLI rice! Popular restaurants now are competing themselves to death by offering unlimited ri...