PAN DE LA SEMANA

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...

3 rd SUNDAY OF LENT YEAR C March 3, 2013 PRODUCE OR BE CUT DOWN! There is an element of fear and a deep sense of reality in the Gospel of today. Fear, for we are told about consequences, and the examples the Lord uses, are rather gory: the Galileans killed by Pilate, and the 18 people who perished in a disaster at Siloam. Unless we repent, we are told, we will all suffer a similar fate. Consequences are not easy to understand in our times. We live in a time when there seems to be an infinite number of choices and alternatives to forestall or prevent unwanted consequences. I have two dogs right now, for example. Both are infested with ticks, big and voracious ones (garrapata, in Spanish). One can always pay for an injection that makes dogs’ blood poison for ticks. Nowadays, we can easily procures vaccines … one prevents polio; others prevent other diseases that used to be common in times past. We have pills to control obesity; table...