PAN DE LA SEMANA

Pentecost Sunday June 8, 2014 MANY. DIFFERENT. SPIRIT. SOURCE. ONE Everything we hear today smacks of differences. Every concrete image spoken of in the readings shows diversity. The first reading speaks of Parthians, Medes, & Elamites, to name but a few. St. Paul talks about different gifts, different forms of service, different workings, and many parts in the body. Even preschool kids know this by heart: “I have two hands, the left and the right” … etc. I have lived in this planet for many decades by now. I have lived in different parts of the same planet for as many years, and dealt with many different types of character and personality. Some of them are easy to live with; others are a proverbial pain the neck, maybe including me, as far as many others are concerned. The event reported in today’s readings also speak of “tongues of fire” … many, not few. The tongues of fire eventually produced different tongues on the pa...

Pentecost Sunday May 27, 2012 My father was a diabetic in his sunset years. Being highly disciplined personally, he was admirable in terms of his self-control when it comes to food intake. Nevertheless, there were moments when, owing to unavoidable circumstances, his blood sugar would go down and he would be a little disoriented, confused, irritable, and physically weak. On such occasions, he would need an instant “shot in the arm” sort of, and that means a quick sugar fix that would almost instantly raise his blood sugar level. That would put him back to his old, usual self in a short while. The events that happened more than fifty days before today’s solemn event were both enervating, and energizing at the same time. The triumphant entry to Jerusalem opened it with a lot of positive energy, with people lustily welcoming the perceived leader who would deliver an enslaved people from subjugation under the Romans. That was definitely energizing. A few days after, however...