PAN DE LA SEMANA

22nd Sunday in Ordinary Time -Year C August 28, 2016 Readings: Sir 3:17-18,20,28-29 / Heb 12:18-19,22-24a / Lk 14:1,7-14 GETTING BEYOND, NOT ABOVE, ONESELF Today is a Sunday of highs and lows. Sirach counsels us to find meaning in being "low," a trait which he says, should be inversely proportional to our being "high" up there. "Humble yourself the more, the greater you are" (1st Reading). The letter to the Hebrews takes as a given our having "approached Mount Zion and the city of the living God." In and through Jesus, "the mediator of a new covenant," we have received the singular grace of being in the presence of the "ecclesia" - the gathering of "countless angels in heaven" (2nd reading). At first blush, there seems to be something incongruous, if not contradictory, in the first two readings. The first extols lowliness and humility. The second proclaims the singular grace of Christians being able to go up the mo

21st Sunday in Ordinary Time - Year C August 21, 2016 Readings: Is 66:18-21 / Heb 12:5-7, 11-13 / Lk 13:22-30 ROBUR AB ASTRIS (STRENGTH FROM THE STARS)! Last week, I wrote about the difficult struggle of a climb I did with friends at Mt. Ugu in Northern Philippines 26 years back. The support of my own little version of my "cloud of witnesses" kept me going, until we all safely made it to the destination, where we were able to celebrate Mass. One thing beautiful about trekking up heights is the difference that is made when one keeps the goal in sight, when one sees the ultimate destination in the looming, but beckoning distance. The sight of the summit, as much forbidding as inviting, keeps one focused on the goal. The view of one's destination, though seemingly unreachable, keeps one pining for more, walking some more, putting in just a little bit more effort each time, at least to put one foot before the other, "one step at a time." The big difference is made

19th Sunday in Ordinary Time Year C HEART-SIGHT, MORE THAN JUST IN-SIGHT! Perspective was what we reflected on last week. It meant having clear eyes to see the difference between what lasts and what doesn't last ... like the dew that with the early morning sun passes away. Qoheleth reminded us last week: "transitoriness of transitoriness!" ... "Vanity of vanities!" ... Jesus, too, would have us set our sights beyond earthly greed, beyond working for mere accumulation of material things. "Take care that your heart is not overtaken by greed." Given the right perspective, we know that man ought to work for his keeps, not for his greed. Merely working for one's keep means one gets to a point when he has to say "enough." People who work on account of greed never will have enough, for the pull of the more, the better, and the greater simply does not reach a point of satiety. This Sunday, another perspectival concept juts out of all three read