PAN DE LA SEMANA

[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, ...

Corpus Christi (A) June 22, 2014 FOR REAL. FOR CERTAIN. FOR ALL TIME. FOREVER! Of late, there has been an increasing mistrust for fake food and everything fake from a certain country. Let us hide its identity under the name “China.” In my latest visit to Hong Kong, I was told that certain people in that country have mastered the art – and the business! – of producing fake everything: fake eggs, fake beef, fake milk, not to mention all the fake “signature” items that can be found everywhere where they sell cheap goods. In our country, we have fake public servants who actually serve no more than their own pockets, their family, their best interests, and definitely not the common weal. Let us also hide them under the collective title of “congressman or senator.” Of late, too, certain places I am very familiar with have also seen a number of fake priests, who do nothing more than sprinkle holy water to business establishments … for...

--> Solemnity of the Body and Blood of the Lord – Year C June 2, 2013 ALL WE HAVE AND ALL WE NEED! Today is a day of miracles. I know it sounds far fetched, but I mean it. Everyday when Mass is celebrated counts as a day of miracles. Bread and wine are changed into Christ’s Body and Blood … that’s for sure! … sure enough for those who have faith, those who believe, those who take God seriously, and take Him for His Word. We all take some things very seriously. There are those of us who believe everything that mainstream media says, or all that our favorite celebrity endorses. There, too, are those who believe all survey outfits, or even any charlatan, “celebutante” or “cewebrity”  who happens to be “popular” enough to have a digital following. I have no problems about whom you believe or follow with dogged devotion. But I do propose to fellow believers to believe more on what God teaches us today. We have no less than God’s Word tod...

  Maundy Thursday 2013 Mass of the Lord’s Supper NOT JUST BYSTANDERS, BUT PARTICIPANTS! What I like about the Paschal Triduum that we begin in earnest at this Mass is that you all are very well motivated and, therefore, very participative and attentive. For the most part, when all the rest of the seasonal Catholics have all hied off to some more seasonable area of rest and relaxation, those of you who are here with us now, with the priests who serve you and work with you, have obviously decided to stay, and even more obviously chose to journey with us though our own version of the passover – the Church’s version, I must add. You have chosen this and not some fanatic and misguided trip to San Pedro Cutud, to witness the gory and bloody, and shallow dramatization of what now we re-enact and make present here and now, but in a totally different way. Even as I speak, feverish preparations are being done in Cutud in Pampanga. There will be the same ...

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 ...

21 st Sunday Year B August 26, 2012 DISCIPLES AND BELIEVERS It seems to me the third time in these past few weeks that we have exactly the same response after the first reading: “Taste and   see the goodness of the Lord.” Why, you might wonder? Why not? This is also the nth time in a row of Sundays when we are given repetitive reminders about the great Sacrament of the Eucharist. But before I delve into something at one and the same time sacrosanct and deeply theological stuff, let me lay the human foundations first. Let me first remind you what transpired in the first reading, and what the second reading seems to be calling our attention to. The first reading reminds me of a graduation ceremony. The time has come to say goodbye and reap rewards at the end of a well-done journey and well-spent time working. Joshua, who led the people into the promised land, on behalf of Moses, was just about to say good-bye. But parting, among other th...

20 th SUNDAY IN ORDINARY TIME (B) August 19, 2012 THE HOUSE THAT WE ARE CALLED TO BUILD! We all make mistakes. The human capacity for error stays with us for as long as we live in and move around mortal earth. To err is, indeed, quintessentially, human! Sometimes, in my quiet moments, the memory of the many times I committed monumental mistakes haunts me. Whilst I cannot say I want to recall them, such memories come unbidden, uninvited, and unwanted. At those instances, I must admit, a flurry of self-embarrassment fills me from head to toe. But I must tell you, too, that I learned immensely from those mistakes. Some of those learnings are still in time for me to do something about, like having learned to hold my tongue on particular tension-filled situations. But there, too, are some learnings that I cannot do anything about anymore, like the learning that I got already as an adult, that it is never wise, nor good – and, definitely not beneficial – to be playi...

19 th Sunday in Ordinary Time (B) August 12, 2012 PROPHETS ARE PEOPLE TOO! Elijah was apparently weary, tired, and despondent. Jezebel wanted him dead. His prophesies against the false god Baal was taking its toll on his social capital. He was rejected. No … it was more like hated to the bone, abhorred for speaking the truth that hurt people no end. Rightly or wrongly, at times, such as now, I feel like a little Elijah – treated by people who think they have a divine right to judge me, as pariah. Elijah definitely had feelings, too. He definitely experienced more than just fear from the scheming Jezebel. He must have felt the heat and the pressure. And when he could no longer stand the heat, he literally went out of the proverbial kitchen, like a beaten dog, tail tucked behind the legs. Prophets, for all the colorful and, at times, hard-hitting language they use, are definitely people too … But the pressure and the heat in our postmodern times, com...