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, ...

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...