PAN DE LA SEMANA

--> Palm Sunday April 13, 2014 THE APPOINTED TIME It was, very aptly stated, the appointed time! The words came from Jesus, no less: “My appointed time draws near.” First, we need to clarify what the appointed time is not. First, it is not coincidental. It did not come out of happenstance, from out of the blue. Second, it was not something totally unexpected, totally uncalled for, totally out of the Lord’s foreknowledge, and beyond his level of awareness. Jesus saw it coming. Jesus, by then, had total grasp of what and who he was, and what his mission from the Father was. The appointed time is the “hour” that has come – the time of salvation, the moment of truth, the time that was foreordained, foreseen, foretold and prophesied ever so gradually from generation to generation. It was the beginning of the hour of fulfillment, that was part of the mystery long hidden but now gradually revealed, and gradually unfolding. It was the appointed “hour” fo...

Passion Sunday (B) April 1, 2012 You simply have to give it to the excited Israelites, city dwellers all, residents of the famous Jerusalem, for taking time out to welcome the Lord in his triumphant entry to the royal city! Rich and poor, young and old, shod and unshod, elite and hoi polloi alike, they all came in full force, lustily singing “hosanna in the highest!” It was a moment of triumph. It, too, was a moment of truth – at least, for him alone who knew all along what this entry would mean … in just a matter of days! Triumph can make anyone among us lose one’s head in glory. Triumph can make us proud, conceited, and given in to megalomaniac tendencies. And so, there you have it … a number of them in the euphoric crowds were singing paeans to him who would be King, who would liberate them from whatever enslavements they thought they had. Triumph can make our heads swell with misguided self-importance. But not if it is counterbalanced by truth! And truth is what Jesus who-wou...