PAN DE LA SEMANA

N.B. I am posting my piece earlier as I will be on the road and don't know if I can find an opportunity to sit down and write or even post this reflection in the coming days. This is for CHRIST THE KING SUNDAY. [BREAKING THE BREAD OF GOD’S WORD] Solemnity of Christ the King – B November 22, 2015 POWER TO SERVE, NOT TO OPPRESS! I write at a time when the world’s APEC leaders are in town, when the whole country literally had to hold its breath for a week to give way to the biggest send-off party to a dying administration. Put away all the blaming game and the usual sob stories coming from the family that has, for better or for worse, ruled the roost in this forlorn country for the longest time, one cannot deny the fact that, whether we like it or not, the world has become a smaller place, and linking up with other nations on the Asia-Pacific front, is not just unavoidable, but economically and politically necessary. The face of power has changed in the context ...

[BREAKING THE BREAD OF GOD’S WORD] 25 th Sunday OT_B September 20, 2015 AMPLITUDE, APTITUDE, ATTITUDE Allow me to go philological for today. Let us go by way of linguistics … I would like to think that amplitude comes from the root word “ample” which means enough. It refers to the state of something being sufficient, being adequate, or simply put, the state of fullness of something. Aptitude, as the root word states, is being the right fit for something, the state or condition of aptness, suitability or being good enough for something. An apt image of aptitude is that of a key that perfectly fits a keyhole and opens the locked door. Attitude is what one draws from within the self in reference to everything external to one’s self. It is that frame of mind or mold of heart that makes one either favorable or otherwise to anything and everything. Now, let us apply all three words to the three readings today. In classical Catholic imagination, my task as preac...

SOLEMNITY OF CHRIST, THE KING (A) November 20, 2011 Politics all over the world seems to be a jumbled mess. With high profile officials literally being forced to resign, or dictators being, booted out of power, if not murdered in cold blood, potential candidates whose dirty past is slowly but surely being ferreted out for the whole world to see, and reigning presidents and national leaders being taken to task for promises unkept, and the whole economic scenario spiraling down beyond control, there is only conclusion we all can reasonably come up with … The world is in dire straits as far as leadership is concerned. Everywhere, there seems to be a crisis in leadership. Presidents and Prime Ministers; dictators and despots all running the risk of being toppled down from their ivory towers and thrones, in palaces and principalities that they have occupied far too long; Kings and Queens who are all aging and frantically looking for worthy successors; with former preside...