PAN DE LA SEMANA

Ascension Sunday June 1, 2015 UP TO HEAVEN; OUT INTO THE WORLD Parents who work day in and day out have to leave their dear children everyday. For many young Filipino parents, one or both of them even have to go abroad to earn a living. For the rest who work here, they leave beloved toddlers and young children to either their yaya or their own parents, the grandparents. I talk about leaving because that is precisely what the Ascension of the Lord is NOT about. This is also true of Filipino parents who leave home either on the long or short haul. They don’t leave home to be away. They leave home or country to be more effectively present in shaping the future of their children. Ascension is not about Christ leaving us to go home and away from us. Ascension is all about Christ being glorified and going home to the Father, but not to be away from His flock. Go back to the gospel of Matthew today and see if I don’t make sen...

Ascension Sunday May 12, 2013 HE, GOING AWAY; WE, KEEPING TO HIS WAY! From the human viewpoint, Jesus’ death was a failure, a defeat. But God’s viewpoint, not ours, had the final say in the end. He rose from the dead. Today, God puts a definite period to this saga of seeming defeat. He ascends into heaven. In glory. In triumph. In joy. The Gospel of today tells us thus: “They did him homage and then returned to Jerusalem with great joy, and they were continually in the temple praising God.” (Lk 24:53) This image of disciples going their merry, grateful way is a far cry from the two disciples dejected and destined toward their Emmaus of despondency, no more than 40 days before. I would like to think of the Ascension of the Lord, among other things, as an image of the Lord’s going away … He takes leave of his beloved disciples. Physically, that is, not not much more. He says good-bye to them, but this is one good-bye that is not assoc...

Solemnity of the Ascension (B) May 20, 2012 The first entry of the Lord to the city of Jerusalem during Palm Sunday was no less than triumphant, no doubt. They did all they could, and used whatever was handy, and within arms’ length to give him a welcome fit for a king … cloaks, branches, palm fronds, whatever! The people were enlightened, sort of! Or were they? History teaches us a whole lot of lessons. One of them is the need for us to be prudent and suspend judgment at least until the dust has settled and the bigger picture has come out in bold relief. Hitler started out as salvation in progress, a charismatic leader who was expected to lead Germany out of obscurity and relative powerlessness, by any standard … economic, political, etc. But so was Mussolini! Hordes of young Italians rallied behind him! I am sure Alexander the Great had his moment of jubilation for a time, as he marched home bringing the spoils of war, to shouts of victory and adulation of ...