PAN DE LA SEMANA

[BREAKING THE BREAD OF GOD’S WORD] 19 th Sunday in Ordinary Time Year B August 9, 2015 O JESU VITA MEA ES TU! Elijah was then a potential picture of you and me. You and me and that guy who looks so happy and fulfilled, and seemingly wanting for nothing in his or her life, could very well be what Elijah then was – a forlorn, tired, and disappointed prophet who went to the desert wishing for no other thing, but death. Elijah was a discouraged man. The task of prophecy hung heavy on his shoulders, and no one seemed to bother to listen to him. Allow me to be a bit cheesy today, if being cheesy is what this means to people now … Back in the day, one of our favorite songs in seminary went like this: O Jesu vita mea es Tu, sine te est mors: ( O Jesus, you are my life; without you means death) Tu viaticum es, sine Te labor: ( You are sustenance; without you only labor) Tu laetitia es, sine Te dolor: ( You are our joy, without you only pain) Quies mea es tu, ...

[BREAKING THE BREAD OF GOD’S WORD] 18 th Sunday in Ordinary Time – B August 2, 2015 COMPLAINING, CRAVING & CHANGING Complaints are a daily reality everywhere. I complain when it rains. I complain when it’s hot. I complain when traffic is snarled (now, that means I complain almost everyday!) The Israelites, blessed enough to be free from slavery, soon found reasons enough to complain. Food wasn’t good enough. The meat wasn’t tasty enough, for want of spices they got so used to back in the day when they were slaves in Egypt. But God, who always hears the cries of the poor and the needy, according to Biblical tradition, supplied them with manna and meat. Moses, ever the wise leader, reminded them that what they ate was “the bread that the Lord had given them to eat.” We humans are a curious lot. We never are satisfied. There is always something missing. There is always something better, something more, something worth pinning our covetous eyes on. The other...

19 th Sunday in Ordinary Time (B) August 12, 2012 PROPHETS ARE PEOPLE TOO! Elijah was apparently weary, tired, and despondent. Jezebel wanted him dead. His prophesies against the false god Baal was taking its toll on his social capital. He was rejected. No … it was more like hated to the bone, abhorred for speaking the truth that hurt people no end. Rightly or wrongly, at times, such as now, I feel like a little Elijah – treated by people who think they have a divine right to judge me, as pariah. Elijah definitely had feelings, too. He definitely experienced more than just fear from the scheming Jezebel. He must have felt the heat and the pressure. And when he could no longer stand the heat, he literally went out of the proverbial kitchen, like a beaten dog, tail tucked behind the legs. Prophets, for all the colorful and, at times, hard-hitting language they use, are definitely people too … But the pressure and the heat in our postmodern times, com...

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...