PAN DE LA SEMANA

--> 2 nd Sunday of Lent B March 2, 2015 THE BEST, EVEN FROM THE WORST! Being tested beyond one’s capacity to endure is all I can think of when I read the ordeal of Abraham (and Isaac!). God asked for the worst any human being can ever think of … the life of his one and only son, and through a cruel, painful death at that … from his own hands, no less! In our times, I feel like many of us (and most of my readers!) are being tested to the core … and to the limits. We read and hear about beheadings, burnings, and being buried alive. We hear almost to the day all about dishonesties and insincerities of politicians who always talk of the good of their constituents but whose behavior belies everything they utter. We also have faint, but almost morally certain suspicions that big businesses are nothing more than partners in crime of these same individuals who love to be called “honorable.” Things seem to go from bad to worse and there seems to be no stopping t...

1 st Sunday of Lent (B) February 22, 2015 REPENT AND BELIEVE! It is very hard now to focus on things. We are bombarded by so many worries, so many concerns, so much tension on account of so many disturbing events:   ISIS spewing threats all over the world … incompetence and selfish leaders bungling just about every imaginable situation that affects the common good … criminal elements apparently lording it over people everywhere. But Lent that started with a solemn imposition of ashes is a call to silence, prayer, fasting, and almsgiving. It is a call for all to be gentle, compassionate, forgiving, repentant and openness to renewal – all exact opposites of what we see and hear almost to the day. One thing about Lent is, it also tells us to go slow, to be attentive to signs, to watch out for clues and be reminded that life is not all about worries and tension, problems and threats to peace and security in life. It is a call to put focus on the afterlife, on matt...

6 th Sunday Year B February 15, 2015 TURNING TO THE LORD IN TIME OF TROUBLE People shun the company of others for various reasons. Many years ago, before the age of “deo-lotions” and “skin whitening products”, “Mum” and “Veto” warned us of the dire consequences of not heeding the advice (not the order) to worry “if it’s you they’re talking about.” Yes, you would most likely be the equivalent of the biblical leper if you had some bodily trait that people are talking about, and I don’t need to be specific here. Yes, there are lepers and there are lepers, and all of them are avoided by the crowds. But crowds now can actually mean more than a throng of people in one geographical space. One could be avoided now by different cause-oriented groups, or by different political colors and all sorts of political leanings and affiliations. In the Philippines, one could be red, yellow, green, or other defining (or damning!) political color. Or one could belong to one of the innumer...

5 th Sunday Year B February 8, 2015 DRUDGERY OR DELIGHT? Tension is the closest word I can find with regards to today’s readings. The opening salvo comes from Job, who is not exactly silent about his plaints and pleadings with the Lord, if not, complaints: “Is not man’s life on earth a drudgery?” Take it from the news we have been hearing of late. Attacks here and there ... Terrorism everywhere ... Corruption unabated in our beloved country and beyond ... Fake surveys from outfits that have a lot to gain – and lose, for that matter – should the winds of change blow our way. Grinding poverty for more and more people … sore lack of education for millions and millions … The list is tedious. Do we have anything right now to disprove Job and dispute his “survey findings?” Well, I do … Today’s readings do! And here is where the tension lies. Here is where the capacity to see beyond what we actually see – as part of the fabled Catho...

3 rd Sunday Year B January 25, 2015 CARPENTER’S TRADE; FISHERMEN’S TASK It is a curious fact that Jesus, who was a carpenter, chose fishermen and called them to mission. The builder and founder of the Church, an edifice built on rock that Jesus was declared to be by no less than the chief fisherman named Peter, chose people who lived mostly by the waterfront, to be the foundation stones of his Church. I have no talent for carpentry. I have no experience fishing, both as a sport and as a trade. But I do know I need both. I love fish and I prefer fish to meat. I admire carpenters for they do things I cannot do. But they each have distinct tasks that cannot usually be done by one and the same person. The Lord was founder and builder. The Lord was sent to build God’s Church, but the charism of “founder” is not the same as the charism and mission of “catcher.” The Lord was shepherd par excellence. He was the visionary and the mess...

Baptism of the Lord (B) January 11, 2015 A SERVANT WHOM I UPHOLD I remember a well-sought after speaker who was invited once to give a talk on the big and lofty topic called the “personalist philosophy” of Pope St. John Paul II. I am no philosopher and biographer, but I do know what that basically refers to – the importance, dignity, and primacy of the human person above all other external or “accidental” considerations about the human person. It was a brilliant and eloquent talk. The listeners were all impressed and imbued with the great desire of upholding the dignity of everyone they knew – yes … including drivers, “kasambahays” (domestic helpers or caregivers), and gardeners or servants. That is, up until he called for his driver and called him out in the big auditorium: “Driver! Please bring my books over from the car!” So much for upholding the personalist philosophy of someone so admired, delivered by someone so much sought after as a ...

EPIPHANY SUNDAY January 4, 2015 WHAT KIND OF A STAR ARE YOU? Just over the holidays, when millions were reeling under the fury of typhoon Seniang in the south, a star-studded, politician-filled, and a royal-styled “royal wedding” was held in Manila. No, don’t get me wrong … I am not going to rail against any royal wedding, whether real or pretended. Neither am I going to rant against the bigwigs who graced the occasion. Weddings, after all, in Jewish culture, treated the couple as royalty for the day. But I do want to say a thing or two about stars … stars who attended … wannabe stars who could only follow the media hype all delivered in a blow-by-blow account, figuratively while Rome was burning (or Mindanao and the Visayas drowning in floods) … starry-eyed vicarious stars for the day who wouldn’t want to miss any minute of the gorgeous pageantry called show business at its best and at its worst in the Philippines, (even if the pile ...