PAN DE LA SEMANA

--> [BREAKING THE BREAD OF GOD’S WORD] 4 th Sunday of Lent   Year C March 6, 2016 BROKEN AFFINITIES; RESTORED RELATIONSHIPS Last week, if you remember, we talked about the overflowing mercy and love of God. That love, we said, was tender and true. But the same love was equally tough. It was expected to bear fruit. It was a love not meant to be verbally acclaimed, but   concretely experienced, by both the lover and the beloved. This Sunday, fourth in the season of Lent, we seem to have a sequel. We are told in the first reading: “Today, I have removed the reproach of Egypt from you.” The chosen people, we are further told, ate no longer free but boring manna, but from the “produce of the land in the form of unleavened cakes and parched grain.” The people’s brokenness was nourished back to wholeness. What was old and shameful was replaced by something new and wonderful. This much, St. Paul assures us now in the second reading: “Whoever is in C...

4 th Sunday of Lent Year C March 10, 2013 TASTE AND SEE THE GOODNESS OF THE LORD! The first reading and the responsorial psalm both have to do with the image of eating, celebrating, or partaking of food together with others. The second reading, though not even remotely related to eating and sharing of food, does give us the reason to eat together and celebrate – the fact that we have become new creatures in Christ, that is, reconciled to God in Him. The Gospel, for its part, although focused on the idea of forgiveness, does refer, too, indirectly to a banquet given by the forgiving father upon return of the younger lost son, who chose to follow a different path, until he got back to his senses and returned. This is a rich Sunday, readings wise, and we preachers are hard pressed to make of all three separate readings a meaningful totality. But quite apart from all this, today is Laetare Sunday , meaning “rejoice,” for laetare is the first ...