PAN DE LA SEMANA

First Sunday of Lent (B) February 26, 2012 As is my wont, I summarize today’s three readings in three succinct words. The first goes by the one word, PROMISE. We hear a heartwarming story of a God who is willing to start on a clean slate, no matter what happened before, no matter what men have fallen into – grievously, I might add. The Lord makes a promise … no more flood, no more waters to bring chaos on the earth. Mercy triumphs over judgment, and God makes a NEW Covenant with no less than a rainbow for sign and witness to this new covenant. I choose the alliterative PACT to represent the second reading. Whilst a reference to the flood is also alluded to in Peter’s first letter, the focus is really on the fulfillment of what that pact between God and His people meant: “Christ suffered for sins once, the righteous for the sake of the unrighteous, that he might lead you to God.” The PROMISE was fulfilled in the person of Jesus Christ, our Savior, the personification of the whole N...

Ash Wednesday February 22, 2012 Lent is once more here. Once again, the Church, through the liturgical year, is educating us, reminding us, helping us move on to “higher ground,” sort of, and seek for higher things. Ash Wednesday ushers us into the holy season, a forty-day period of preparation for the Paschal Triduum, that leads to the “highest point” of our moral and spiritual striving – the Resurrection of the Lord! But before we can reach for the stars, we need to look at where we are. We need to do a reality check, and realize where our feet are planted. And in case you have forgotten it, they are planted solidly on terra firma – on earth, that tradition calls the “valley of tears.” But there is more than just tears to deal with as we enter into the holy season of Lent. Let today’s readings tell us … The prophet Joel reminds us of the need to “do penance,” on account of our sins. But he takes pains to define that penance … It is not just for show, not just for compliance. He t...

7 th Sunday in Ordinary Time (B) 19 February 2012 Today’s liturgical readings remind me of the popular saying, “If there’s a will, there’s a way.” The Lord, through Isaiah, declares something so heartwarming, so encouraging … something we all need so much in these times … a pat on the back, a gentle push from behind, a loving nudge from above … “In the desert, I make a way, in the wasteland, rivers!” God be praised! For this is something I, and I dare say, all of you, very sorely need now. At a time when one typhoon after another, one earthquake after another, and trials upon trials mar and tar the social fabric of our lives everywhere, we are all sorely tried … we are tested in every way. I will be the first to confess … I am! There was a time in my younger life when things seemed simpler, life less complicated, and the future appeared rosier. But as I get older, I realize that things also get more difficult … The air is more tainted, the water more imp...

6 th Sunday in Ordinary Time(B) 12 February 2012 Turning to, or drawing near seems to be a good image to start with in today’s reflection. We turn to anyone who can help us when we are in dire straits. We draw near to someone who can take away whatever pain it is we are bearing. We turn to creditors who can save the day for us when our coffers are empty. We turn our gaze to those who have the power to lift us out of any unpleasant or painful predicament. I used to sort of “enjoy” being sick when I was a kid … for one simple reason. My paternal grandmother would go out of her way to nurse me back to health. She did nothing much. She gave me nothing extraordinary. But I turned to her when sick with fever for she always had an extra dose of tender loving care for anyone of us kids who was sick, complete with a gentle back rub and a caring massage, way, way before spas became the craze all over. The first reading from the book of Exodus lays the basis for the good news...

5 th Sunday in Ordinary Time (B) February 5, 2012 I write even as I am in the midst of helping others make sense of their inner pains and hurts. During a lull in the processing that I conduct for a group of sisters and nurses engaged in helping those who are most excluded from mainstream society, I go to a different mode – the mode of the spiritual (as against the purely human, psychological mould) and reflect on the liturgy of the 5 th Sunday in Ordinary time, come February 5, 2012. But alas, there seems to be more of the same thing … at least at first blush. We hear Job with a long list of complaints and frustrations that sound very familiar to our very own experience. He does much more than just whine … he actually waxes desperate to a fault, as he declares in exasperation: “My days are swifter than a weaver’s shuttle; they come to an end without hope. Remember that my life is like the wind; I shall not see happiness again.” (first reading). The seeming hop...

4 th Sunday in Ordinary Time(B) January 29, 2012 The internet explosion has seen a rise in the number of “authors” who write continuously in blogsites, personal web sites, chat rooms and a plethora of networking sites. Digital publishing has gone literally to new heights, and millions and millions of self-styled writers (authors) dish out daily almost like a diarrhea of words that somehow are designed to connect, to communicate, and to help change the culture that is already in rapid and constant flux. I, too, have joined the bandwagon (sort of, with my limited digital skills) since 2007. I love to write. I love to put down my thoughts and reflections in digital ink (given the fact that I hardly now ever put anything down literally in “black and white” as my handwriting is getting worse faster than my age!) Many of us, including me, can be called “authors” in our own right. But only the most conceited among us can claim what that word etymologically, and actually stands for fu...

3 rd Sunday in Ordinary Time(B) January 22, 2012 Today’s readings are a story of reversals. The events reported are counter-intuitive and, at least for the people of Jonah’s days, probably run counter to logic and common sense expectations. First, the Lord calls a nation other than Israel to repentance – Nineveh – a hated nemesis of Israel, being the capital of the empire of Assyria at some point. Second, Jonah, the reluctant bearer of bad or good news, depending on what is one’s perspective and stance, did not just do his job partially, but actually hemmed and hawed, and dragged his feet, unwilling and unready to do the unpopular job for anyone who had reason to believe his words would fall on deaf ears, if not followed by anger and hatred against him. In other words, Jonah probably thought it was an exercise in futility. More than that, he probably opined that it was a hopeless case – something that his feeble and reluctant warnings in the first place would not even create a dent...