PAN DE LA SEMANA

Epiphany Sunday January 6, 2013 LESS IS MORE! Today, we celebrate what used to be known as the “little Christmas.” In many European countries, the real gift-giving day is today, Solemnity of the Epiphany of the Lord. During the day of the “bigger” Christmas, I actually talked about what’s right with the gift-giving culture associated with Christmas. I shared with you something eminently personal, a deep experience that has touched me immensely, as I go on doing my ministry as priest, over the past 30 years! Epiphany now calls me to reflect a little more on this topic, but this time, I focus on the essential – on the “little”, that is, on the lesser, which ultimately redounds to what is more, what is greater, what is higher. The bigger Christmas, whether we like it or not, had to do with the more. We had more lights, more fun, more food, more celebrations, more parties, more everything. Prior to the big day, we even had...

Catholic Homily/ Sunday Reflection Solemnity of the Epiphany(C) January 3, 2009 People are positioning themselves these days on the national scene trying to find themselves a much-coveted niche from which to “serve” the people through national public office. The star of government “service” has, for some time now, been shining brightly in the political firmament, attracting both the best and the brightest, on the one hand, and the boorish and the inane, on the other. Today, feast of the Epiphany, a day when we recall wise men going out of their way in search for what the star at Bethlehem was pointing to, it would be good for us to take a look at the presence – or absence, as the case may be – of a guiding star that also sets us on our way towards some goal or other as we journey through life. The truth of the matter is that all men and women act for a reason, in pursuit of a particular st...

Catholic Homily/Sunday Liturgical Reflections SOLEMNITY OF THE EPIPHANY OF OUR LORD January 4, 2008 In life, we do have experiences that more or less change the tone, or the direction of our lives. Certain events planned or unplanned that take place in the course of our growth and development either make us or break us…an experience of serious sickness, a life-threatening situation, an unexpected turn of events whether positive or negative, like an unexpected promotion, or a demotion for that matter… the birth of a first son or daughter for young or older couples…the coming of brilliant luminaries and leaders in the church and in society…The list is endless. The one point of commonality is the fact that such events, known to sociologists as “marker events” steer the course of our lives inextricably, irreversibly…for ever! One such event that changed the course of human history forever is the coming of the Messiah, the birth of Jesus Christ, the Son of God. Today’s liturgy is a celebrat...

Catholic Homily/Reflection Solemnity of the Epiphany of the Lord In most parts of the world, Christmas began with hordes of seekers. They went in droves and waves, as early as the day after Thanksgiving (or September in the Philippines) seeking for the best bargains, seeking for the best gifts to give both themselves and others they care for. Christmas – or at least the commercialized kind propagated by the “malling culture” of consumerism – also closed with even more hordes of seekers searching for even better bargains for items “previously owned” – and returned – by “unsatisfied” consumers (at least in America). In the aftermath of the horrendous tsunami that killed possibly more than 150,000 thousand people in nine different countries two years ago, a tragedy that happened just the day after Christmas, just when the whole Christian world ought to have been immersed deeply in the heart of the mystery of Christmas, the number of seekers swelled even more, as reports and images of 60 ...