PAN DE LA SEMANA

--> 3 rd Sunday of Lent (A) March 23, 2014 COMING. COME. NOW The woman who came to Jesus at the well was not named. But hey, she had a title – and a reputation to boot!  Samaritan woman! What more could she ask? She was not named, but that didn’t mean she was not known! In fact, she was well known. Her reputation preceded her everywhere she went, and I have no reason to think Jesus did not know a thing or two about her. Well, in point of fact, Jesus did know. He knew enough to put her off-guard and lead her to ask questions that were evasive, even non-sensical, with absolutely nothing to do with what the Lord was trying to gently explain to her. Times, there are in anyone’s life when we’d rather ask academic or theoretical questions. These are moments when the painful truth sits so close to us and makes us uncomfortable. I hear and see such very often in social media. I post on help that should go the way of typhoon victims who suf...

Good Friday April 6, 2012 Yesterday, we reflected on the act of ritual washing that then paved the way to watching. Jesus, anticipating the end of his earthly sojourn, and aware of the rising tension between the forces of darkness against the forces of light, became the ever provident Lord and Savior that God always is for us His people. He instituted the Priesthood. And by instituting thereby, too, the Eucharist, the first Holy Mass ever celebrated on earth, the first unbloody yet fully meritorious sacrifice offered in this world, Jesus saw to it that the act of redemption He was just about to do – a bloody and ignominious death on the cross, would be perpetuated and repeated in an unbloody manner for all times and for all peoples. The one and unique Redeemer, who redeemed all of humanity in one fell swoop, sort of, in one bloody and perfect Sacrifice on the Cross, thus assured that salvation goes on up till now, for all days, and for always. The washing of the feet – the granti...

Catholic Homily/Sunday Reflection 1st Sunday of Advent Year A November 28, 2010 I am reposting what I posted as alternative reflection for the First Sunday of Advent three years ago as I am too busy these days to even think of writing a new one. The second and third readings’ insistence, not without a tone of urgency, to “rise and shine” and “conduct ourselves properly as in the day,” is striking. There is no mistaking it. It is urgent. It is important. And it is imperative that one gets to realize that, while waiting for something imminent and sure, one really has no time to lose, no moment to spare, no opportunity to waste and let go. The insistence can be summarized simply thus: it is now the hour! It is now the hour! Whilst it is true and obvious that in our days, people are hard pressed for time, and are quite incapable of waiting, it is also true that for many people in a mad rush towards something undefined, the sense of urgency can often be more a sign of ...