PAN DE LA SEMANA

Ascension Sunday(A) June 5, 2011 I vividly remember a nightmare I had as a child. No, it did not have anything to do with monsters and goblins and ghouls, and ghosts. It had to do with the terror of being hopelessly alone, in the dark, with no one within arm’s length, no one to hear my silent screams. Being alone is not a very bright prospect. It could be unnerving, if not, terrifying. In this postmodern world of internet and media connectivity, via social networking sites and all, being alone is a curse. It is very reassuring to hear the Lord once more remind us: “I am with you always, until the end of the age.” This is what ascension Sunday is all about. It is about taking leave, but promising abiding presence. Almost sounding contradictory, it is about the Lord saying “good-bye” but assuring us that he will, in the end, be always with us. But more than leaving and being present, the mystery of the Ascension of the Lord, is really a huge reminder of something truly i...

Sixth Sunday of Easter (A) May 29, 2011   I am amazed at how people focused and bent on doing something, find every reason under the sun to justify whatever it is they want. We all know that. We always find what we are looking for. The New Agers call it the Law of Attraction, using pseudo science and pseudo spirituality to talk about attracting positive ions to oneself, by sheer force of focus and mind control.   They speak about the Age of Aquarius, replete with planets aligning and forces gathering to bring about a new age of splendor, a new age of peace, and everything nice, fine, and dandy. Wishful thinking, no less … But one has to give it to them that they do have a ready answer at hand to non-believers. The conviction with which adherents of the “flower power” movement of yore stood for what they believed, is, indeed, remarkable. So is the rabid enthusiasm of those who are for or against the RH bill in Philippine setting. Both sides are ready with reasons gal...

Fifth Sunday of Easter(A) May 22, 2011 For one who comes from a culture that is at home with the idea of “stones” that are referred to in our language as “living,” I find it curious, interesting, and insightful that Peter, called the Rock by no less than his Master and Lord, now speaks to us of the “Living Stone.” I feel competent to write about the matter at hand. I know. My native language being Tagalog (not the “Taglish” that Manilenos and all current day media babies blabber!), I know whereof I speak – “batong buhay!” – or literally translated, “living stone.” In my culture, a stone is “living” for many reasons. For one, the most obvious, it is living because it is solid, sturdy, and strong. “Batong buhay” is distinct from “buga” which is soft, brittle, and can easily be shaped to one’s specifications. A living stone is solid rock that stands steadfast with the passing of time, with the passing of the seasons – and there are only two equally powerful seasons back home: h...

4 th Sunday of Easter (A) May 15, 2011 I am old enough to look backward to more years than I can look forward to … I remember the old people of my youth who used to lament the fact that “young people ( that was us!) behaved differently than they used to.” They were complaining then, that  “times have changed.” Back in the day, we were introduced to Cicero’s famous oration against Catiline, way before Christ was born (63 BC) … Cicero railed against the times and customs of the day: O tempora! O Mores! He was beside himself with ill concealed disappointment as he thundered his rhetorical question: “ubinam gentium sumus!” “Where in the world are we?” Where in the world are we? Today’s readings essay a response … a reminder for who we really are, and where we really are … We are a sinful people, moving about in a world filled with the “contours of hopelessness,” brought about by sin and its effects on the soul otherwise created by God in His image and likeness! To say ove...

3 rd Sunday of Easter (A) May 8, 2011   “Conduct yourselves with reverence during the time of your sojourning.” (1 Pt 1:17) I have lived for considerable lengths of time in different places all over the world. The first part of my childhood was spent in two places – in the boonies of Cavite in Mendez, just a skip, a hop, and a jump away from its better known neighbor, Tagaytay City, and in the burgeoning place called part of “Greater Manila” then, Makati, Rizal! But then as God had obviously planned it, I lived for three solid years in Bacolor, Pampanga, followed by 7 straight years in Canlubang, Laguna. From then on, it was a case of sojourning in many other different places, although I had to stay in Canlubang an additional 13 years to those earlier seven years. The most memorable, of course, in retrospect and in relation to my topic at hand, was my – take note – “soggiorno” in Rome, Italy, for further studies. As I write, my current “soggiorno” is on the island of Gua...

2nd Sunday of Easter(A) May 1, 2011 Let us face it ... Only those deep in denial can claim there is no crisis of hope in our times. Tens of thousands died in Northeastern Japan not too long ago, brought about by a triple disaster, two of which were natural and one man-made: the cataclysmic earthquake, the catastrophic tsunami, and the unfortunate nuclear disaster at Fukushima. Just days ago, a no less catastrophic tornado cut a broad swath of destruction and death in southern USA. The world today, writes Timothy Radcliffe, is crucified by suffering, violence, and poverty. In our local context back home, more than just material poverty characterizes the "contours of hopelessness" that dot the landscape of our societal lives as Filipinos: a dysfunctional government focused more on revenge than on instituting real reforms that made the massive corruption actually go unabated, if not, become worse; a precipitous ongoing slide on the level of education that keeps its ...

Easter Sunday of the Lord's Resurrection (A) April 24, 2011 This is the day that clinched it ... the day that made the story of Jesus worth telling and retelling ... the day that God has made, and the day that made God worth all our while, worth the trouble spending time for, spending time with, and spending all we have and are for. There are people who have been spending mighty lots of time now in beaches in tropical Philippines, or in cooler climes up on mountain retreats in Tagaytay and Baguio, and elsewhere. There have been countless "devotees" of sorts who, since Wednesday or Thursday, have been flagellating themselves sore to a bloodied pulp, trying to make amends for a year's worth of revelry and sin, and the usual day-to-day existence, for the most part, godless and irreverently indifferent at the most. There have also been thousands who flocked to churches all over the country, including the thousands who did their easter duties of  going to con...