PAN DE LA SEMANA

--> November 30, 2014 1 st Sunday of Advent Year B WATCH FOR THE LIGHT! I borrow my title from a book of readings for Advent and Christmas by Plough Publishing (2001). Where I am, Christmas lights are beginning to take center stage everywhere. Advent just happens to begin today, but we Filipinos have little appreciation for waiting when it comes to Christmas. We are, by and large, a very patient, and even, long-suffering people, but Christmas simply is not something we wait for … No … we celebrate it well in advance, with malls and music halls taking the lead. Why, Christmas has begun in the airlanes yet last September! We may have one of the most expensive power rates in the world, but we sure know how to splurge when it comes to lights well before the Feast of Lights actually comes around. We very literally, and figuratively, watch for the light. Drivers all over the country know what this means. Defensive driving means, among many o...

Solemnity of Christ the King November 23, 2014   RULING, LEADING, SHEPHERDING We have rulers who govern and reign over us. We need them for we belong to a civilized society. Whether we like it or not, politics of the worst kind and Politics of the good kind color and impinge upon our everyday daily affairs, even if most of what we do have nothing to do with political, partisan affairs. To be honest with you, I have had enough of the type of dysfunctional politics of the worst kind in my own beloved country. For decades, we have had to choose between evil people and less evil people; between the media-created popular characters and those whose passport to power is very simply put, money – that begets more money and more fame and even more fortune – for generation upon generation. Today, the whole Church speaks about a ruler, a leader and a shepherd, too. He was not born into wealth and all that wealth could buy. He had no p...

33 rd Sunday in Ordinary Time Year A November 16, 2014 VALUE BEYOND PEARLS We all want security. We all look for safeguards against an uncertain future. And so, people invest and put their money in security bonds and pre-need plans. Yes … even if the very same pre-need and security companies in the Philippines actually lack security and eventually fold up, owing to a multiplicity of factors, not excluding being involved in erratic and dysfunctional Philippine politics. People invest because they believe in ultimate value, not necessarily of money now, but of emerging needs that would require tons of money later. But there are simple investors and wise investors. The former just think in terms of what they can get in return for what they place today, and mind you, what they mean is hefty returns in cash! But smart investors who see value beyond money and beyond pearls and precious metals and gems, invest in stuff that do not necessarily glitter … here and now. They...

Feast of the Dedication of St. John Lateran November 9, 2014 ONE FOR ALL; ALL FOR ONE! There are many ways to approach the readings of today. Two are readily available at hand. The first is to focus on the righteous anger of Christ, directed against those who have turned the temple into a marketplace. Indeed, one artist by the name of Alfonso Osorio depicts an “angry Christ” in the Church of St. Joseph the Worker in Victorias City, Negros Occidental. Another is to focus on the readings’ spiritual meaning for us here and now, and therefore, to see beyond the material temple that Jesus the Lord was speaking of, towards our self-understanding as collectively, the new “temple” that offers worship to the God Christ felt righteously angry for. The first is enveloped in layers of hermeneutical nuances that would make this reflection more a Bible-study session than an exhortation. The second is what seems to be indicated by our needs for here...