PAN DE LA SEMANA

[BREAKING THE BREAD OF GOD’S WORD] 22 nd Sunday in Ordinary Time – B August 30, 2015 FORM, FEELINGS, FUNCTION I feel convicted today … and for good measure and for good reason. I am told to quit mere form. I am told to veer away from shallow feelings. I am told to function commensurate with the form and the accompanying feelings. Moses told the Israelites to “hear the statutes and decrees which [he] has taught them to observe.” James, for his part, reminds everyone to be “doers of the word, and not hearers only.” Now, the Lord has a pretty nasty word (for our politically correct generation) for everyone who subscribe only to form and feeling, not substance … And the winning word in our scrabble game today is … HYPOCRITES! Ouch! That hurts. And why not? We are all hypocrites in one way or another, at some time or other in our lives. That time is now. That place is here. And that person is you and me! The Pharisees and Scribes were pretty notorious …...

[BREAKING THE BREAD OF GOD’S WORD] 20 th Sunday OT_B August 16, 2015 WISDOM ON ALL LEVELS; WISDOM IN ALL SENSES Wisdom is definitely what binds all three readings today. The first reading extols it, and exhorts all to pursue it: “Forsake foolishness that you may live!” The second reading makes much of it, and Paul tells us to “live, not as foolish persons but as wise, making the most of the opportunity, because days are evil.” The Gospel presents to us who the Wisdom incarnate is … Jesus presents himself as God’s wisdom in human form, as Daniel Donovan puts it. Now, pray, tell me … who among us does not need a good dose of this wisdom? Who among us would refuse the gift of such wisdom? The “days are evil,” yes … We feel lost. We are confused. We can’t tell who speaks the truth. We can’t anymore decide whether what we see and hear in mainstream media, in surveys, in polls, and in opinion pages, is really the truth, nothing else, nothing less, and nothing mor...

[BREAKING THE BREAD OF GOD’S WORD] 19 th Sunday in Ordinary Time Year B August 9, 2015 O JESU VITA MEA ES TU! Elijah was then a potential picture of you and me. You and me and that guy who looks so happy and fulfilled, and seemingly wanting for nothing in his or her life, could very well be what Elijah then was – a forlorn, tired, and disappointed prophet who went to the desert wishing for no other thing, but death. Elijah was a discouraged man. The task of prophecy hung heavy on his shoulders, and no one seemed to bother to listen to him. Allow me to be a bit cheesy today, if being cheesy is what this means to people now … Back in the day, one of our favorite songs in seminary went like this: O Jesu vita mea es Tu, sine te est mors: ( O Jesus, you are my life; without you means death) Tu viaticum es, sine Te labor: ( You are sustenance; without you only labor) Tu laetitia es, sine Te dolor: ( You are our joy, without you only pain) Quies mea es tu, ...

[BREAKING THE BREAD OF GOD’S WORD] 18 th Sunday in Ordinary Time – B August 2, 2015 COMPLAINING, CRAVING & CHANGING Complaints are a daily reality everywhere. I complain when it rains. I complain when it’s hot. I complain when traffic is snarled (now, that means I complain almost everyday!) The Israelites, blessed enough to be free from slavery, soon found reasons enough to complain. Food wasn’t good enough. The meat wasn’t tasty enough, for want of spices they got so used to back in the day when they were slaves in Egypt. But God, who always hears the cries of the poor and the needy, according to Biblical tradition, supplied them with manna and meat. Moses, ever the wise leader, reminded them that what they ate was “the bread that the Lord had given them to eat.” We humans are a curious lot. We never are satisfied. There is always something missing. There is always something better, something more, something worth pinning our covetous eyes on. The other...