PAN DE LA SEMANA

Catholic Homily / Sunday Reflection 22 nd Sunday of Ordinary Time (B) August 30, 2009 Words inundate our lives ever increasingly as days go by. We see a plethora of words in print, we hear words uttered around us everywhere we go, at home, at school, at the malls, at work, in and out of the radio wave lanes, whether in AM or FM, or in VHF or UHF channels. Words are not only uttered in “real time.” They can be recorded through a variety of electronic means, either “analog” or “digital,” which is the current mode in use. So many words written or uttered, transmitted by wire or “beamed” via satellite, using “wi-fi” technology, indeed, may well have contributed to the phenomenon of making words sound cheap, making them less powerful, and giving them less and less impact. The daily barrage of words may have lessened not only appreciation for them, but also, their innate power to symbolize the true inner state of the people who utter them or use them....

Catholic Homily / Sunday Reflection 21 st Sunday in Ordinary Time (Year B) August 23, 2009 All three readings today revolve around the basic idea of choice. In the first reading, we are presented with a dramatic call made to the tribes of Israel by Joshua, asking them to decide, that is, to make a choice between two false gods. Joshua, the same passage tells us, was clear about his own choice: “As for me and my household, we will serve the Lord.” St. Paul, in his letter to the Ephesians, illustrates as best he could, culling from the culture and practice of his times, what choosing to “live in Christ, as Christ loved us” meant. Choosing to live in Him entails, in concrete, a life of mutual fidelity to one another, a life of mutual service. Nowhere is this love of mutuality and selfless service to each other, coming closest to taking part and sharing in Christ’s paschal mystery – His death and life – as in the love that ought to reign between husbands an...

20th Sunday in Ordinary Time - Year B August 16, 2009 Catholic Homily / Sunday Reflection People watch a whole lot of things. They watch their weight, for one. They watch their step, as they amble about in places that have not been designed for semi-invalids that many people are fast becoming in our times, owing to obesity. In the Philippines, people with expensive and not-so-expensive cell phones alike watch out for thugs who are ready at any given time, to run away with their coveted communication-pieces-cum-camera-and-MP3 player all rolled into one. Pedestrians, long since deprived of their rightful turf – the sidewalks – watch traffic both before and behind them, fully aware that in the Philippines, the right of pedestrians seems to have been relegated to oblivion. Although the infamous “Filipino time” still wreaks havoc on our societal lives, people keep on watching the time in an age when timepieces need not be worn, but are seen everywhere: in the cell phones, in buses, jeepneys...

Catholic Homily / Sunday Reflections 19th Sunday in Ordinary Time - Year B August 9, 2009 A NOTE TO MY PHILIPPINE, TAGALOG READERS: MY KALAKBAY AT KATOTO TAGALOG REFLECTION FOR THIS SUNDAY IS AS MUCH A PAEAN TO THE EUCHARIST AS A WORD OF APPRECIATION TO SOMEBODY WHO EMBODIED AN EXTRAORDINARILY DEEP FAITH IN THE EUCHARIST - FORMER PHILIPPINE PRESIDENT CORY AQUINO. PLEASE CLICK TO THE LINK AT THE RIGHT COLUMN OF THIS PAGE. Food, traditionally, has never been equated with pouting, with sadness, or anything that smacks of being on the downside emotionally speaking. Food has always been associated with joy, with camaraderie, sharing, togetherness, oneness and overflowing happiness. Food is associated with sustenance, replenishment of lost energy, eroded enthusiasm, and dissipated resolve to do what ought to be done. Elijah was despondent after a day’s journey, the first reading tells us. Praying for death, he lay down under the broom tree. But the Lord Yahweh himself, through an angel fed...

N.B. This is my last posting in Manila before I fly to Guam for my new assignment. The succeeding postings will be done from Guam. Catholic Homily / Sunday Reflections 18th Sunday in Ordinary Time - Year B August 2, 2009 Surely two thousand years of history is long enough a time for the Church to learn quite a few lasting lessons. One of these is the need for us to lay aside the “sinful self” with all its unbridled desires and to allow grace to make of us all become what we originally all are by the express wish of God – images and likenesses of Him from whom we owe our existence. But alas, this same self, owing to the pull of sin called “concupiscence,” is all too prone to go the way of “selfish cravings” and even illicit desires. Our country is a pretty clear picture of selfish and conflicting desires on all fronts. Whilst I am not exactly a big fan of President GMA, I am aghast at the many times undeserved flak she is getting all in the name of a brand of politics that, really at ...

Catholic Homily / Sunday Reflections 17th Sunday in Ordinary Time, Year B July 26, 2009 Food definitely brings temporary oneness to people in need. Five thousand men (not counting the women and children), saw common cause for a while, united by the common need to be assuaged in their hunger and thirst. In clusters and in groups, they sat down in the cool grass. Soon enough, they sat witness to the unfolding miracle of Jesus’ provident solicitude for the needy crowd. The scene is not an unfamiliar one in the history of God’s people. Like the much talked about, though little understood, feeling of déjà vu , we see today in the account of St. John almost like a repeat of several instances in the Old Testament where God is presented as one who Himself takes charge of feeding his hungry people. “The hand of the Lord feeds us …” as the first part of today’s response after the first reading goes. Indeed, the Old Testament is never wanting of stories and vignettes about God...

16th Sunday in Ordinary Time - Year B July 19, 2009 Catholic Homily / Sunday Reflection There is no denying the fact that we live in a deeply fragmented world. We see a lot of suspicion, bias, and prejudice in the world. In the Philippines, Christians mistrust Muslims and Muslims are wary of Christians. With the proliferation of terroristic acts perpetrated by a few misguided zealots, the whole world tends to lump people, civilizations, and religious groups along clearly defined lines and categories. Owing to that old childish penchant for “universalization” even highly educated people fall into the trap of making sweeping generalizations, doing away with the finer – and, assuredly more difficult – nuances of moral discernment. In many ways, people are uncritically led by certain prevailing views, especially those proffered and exposed – many times even magnified – by the Mass Media! Bombarded by endless reports and repeated subtle and not-so-subtle allusions to certain issues, in a m...