PAN DE LA SEMANA

  3 rd Sunday Easter (A) May 4, 2014 TWO DISCOURAGED DISCIPLES;  TWO DEVOTED & SAINTLY APOSTLES Today and last Sunday would be a “study in contrasts.” Just allow me to attempt at making a comparison. Last Sunday was a story of two enthusiastic and happy apostles who galloped their way towards sanctity. All told, about 4 million people flocked to Rome for the occasion. Hundreds of thousands converged at the Piazza di San Pietro and beyond, clogging all available side streets and open spaces. Hundreds of millions more watched the solemn proceedings on TV and via online streaming. Today, though, no one is watching. Who loves to watch a story of dejected and despondent men, dragging their feet towards any place away from (not towards) the city of dropped plans, dashed dreams, and utter disappointment, if not, defeat? They ambled about in shame. They absent-mindedly walked away from the city that once nurtured their brightest and fondest h...

Ascension Sunday May 12, 2013 HE, GOING AWAY; WE, KEEPING TO HIS WAY! From the human viewpoint, Jesus’ death was a failure, a defeat. But God’s viewpoint, not ours, had the final say in the end. He rose from the dead. Today, God puts a definite period to this saga of seeming defeat. He ascends into heaven. In glory. In triumph. In joy. The Gospel of today tells us thus: “They did him homage and then returned to Jerusalem with great joy, and they were continually in the temple praising God.” (Lk 24:53) This image of disciples going their merry, grateful way is a far cry from the two disciples dejected and destined toward their Emmaus of despondency, no more than 40 days before. I would like to think of the Ascension of the Lord, among other things, as an image of the Lord’s going away … He takes leave of his beloved disciples. Physically, that is, not not much more. He says good-bye to them, but this is one good-bye that is not assoc...

4 th Sunday of Easter Year C Good Shepherd Sunday April 21, 2013 ARE YOU ON SHUFFLE MODE? Listening is a lost art in our smartphone-dominated times. Wanna bet? Even the world of journalism is filled with noise, not news … studies and surveys, not truth … statistics and projections, not hard-nosed focus on what matters … reality shows, but not passionate dedication and commitment to face actual reality. Times there were when we excitedly spoke of “virtual reality.” It is ever present now …in your tablet, on your iPad, (or Haipads, for that matter!). But there is something more now … far more than just “virtual reality” – what is known now as “augmented reality.” Both the “trendies” and the “traddies” are guilty of it … they both talk of something real with a twist … a little exaggeration here; a small addition there … a gentle innuendo here; a subtle sarcasm there … So what does one have in the end? A truth, but augmented, modifie...

Third Sunday of Easter (Year C) April 14, 2013 AM LOVIN’ IT: BREAKFAST BY THE SHORE It’s one of those appearances of the Risen Lord that is sure to get you running for more … Why not? There’s free consultation for discouraged fishermen out on open water all night and catching nothing. They have been casting their net all night long presumably on only one side of the boat and the catch was simply elusive. They say it is always darkest just before dawn. But when dawn came and the sun’s rays were just about ready to appear in the horizon, someone more than the sun, more dazzling than the sun’s rays, and greater than the sun itself appeared, with some advice: “Cast the net over the right side of the boat and you will find something.” They did haul in more than they could handle. But there was something else they were not prepared to handle with ease – the sight of the Risen Lord! However, the disciples who were too focused on the catchi...

6 th Sunday of Easter (B) 13 May 2012 Someone has written years ago that love is primarily shown in presence, not presents. In our culture nowadays, which encourages labor migration, unable as the country is, to give employment to hordes of college graduates, love is done and executed long-distance. More than a decade ago, long distance telephone was the favorite means and method to convey love. In our times, it is “Facetime,” or, more probably “Skype” for a good number of our countrymen. Many of us cannot afford to stay home and be jobless. Many of us who prefer to, do claim to stay put, and reap all the benefits of being present to one’s family and loved ones, but unless he or she was born with a silver spoon in the mouth, staying home and staying put does not necessarily put food on the table. I speak of presence today, for that is what the Lord emphasizes in today’s gospel passage from John the Evangelist. He talks of love, of course, and that is something...

Fifth Sunday of Easter (B) May 6, 2012 The world of business in this globalized world knows this for a fact – that one cannot go it alone, and that one stands to gain more if one is connected, if one belongs to a chain, and if one draws its inspiration from a successful conglomerate that spans many cities and nations all over the world. In my lifetime, with the proliferation of huge malls and shopping centers, that gave a totally new twist to the idea of one-stop shopping cum entertainment, I have witnessed the demise of so many little businesses, Mom-and-Pop stores, small eateries and boutiques that used to exist independently of one another, that somehow survived and even thrived with a minimum of staff and manpower. I remember the hole-in-the-wall small restaurants in Quiapo, Manila and elsewhere, which were stand-alone enterprises that each offered their own specialties, without the support of any big-sounding names of chains that can afford expensive ads o...

4 th Sunday of Easter (B) April 29, 2012 All three readings take up the common thread of power. The first reading from the Acts shows us the power of “faith in the name of Jesus.” The second reading from the first letter of John, for its part, shows us that love is power, too … It is generative. It makes those who believe, more than just believers, but children of God. The Gospel from John shows the ultimate sign and fruit of this power from above. Christ Jesus, has power to lay his life down, and power to take it up again! I feel very down these days. For one, the heat is terribly stifling. With such record highs, one loses a lot of energy to do much of anything, except try one’s best not to sweat, by doing as little as possible. But there are other reasons for me to feel down and out, and even powerless. I know I am powerless before the tide of public opinion, swayed hither and thither by mainstream media. I feel for the powerless majority who really have not much powe...

3 rd Sunday Easter (B) April 22, 2012 I don’t know whether being sort of failures in this rat-race world, as the Philippines, apparently is, has to do with believing. I don’t know whether being low on the economic ladder necessarily translates to being high on the belief scale. But as every student of research knows, correlation does not necessarily mean causation, and poverty, or being collective failures in the political and economic scene, ought not be taken as the cause of our very high belief index. A recent US write-up puts the United States and the Philippines as among the countries who believe most in God, with the former at 81 per cent, and the latter at 94 per cent. The US have had a long history of prosperity. The Philippines have had a long story of collective poverty and political pain. The overwhelming majority of both countries claim to believe in God. Why do I write about this on this third Sunday of Easter? Simple … the Gospel passage from Luke, wh...

Catholic Homily / Sunday Reflection 6 th Sunday of Easter (C) May 9, 2010             Last week’s readings led us to reflect on transformed newness. We saw Paul and Barnabas storming Gentile territories, and how the dynamic duo transformed the lives of the people they met. We heard God’s uplifting prophetic message delivered through John: “Behold, I make all things new!” “Love one another.” The Risen Lord, for his part, imparted a new commandment that was the sure-fire way towards transformation: This week, our sights and hopes are trained once again toward the future. It was a “future” that was really already taking place before their very eyes, as the first reading from Acts very clearly shows. Divisions and distinctions between Jew and Gentile were crumbling. Gradually taking their places were unity, harmony, and fellowship between and among peoples of different origins, traditions and initial beliefs and ...