PAN DE LA SEMANA

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...

Third Sunday Year A January 26, 2014 MAKE A CLEAN BREAK; FACE THE CHALLENGE! Isaiah once more hogs the headlines today. He reports of good things taking place, of light dawning bright once more to places once in gloom: Zebulun and Naphtali. We heard the prophecy not once but at least twice during, or towards the Christmas season. Mathew prophesies not, but reports, a fact – the factual and actual fulfillment of what Isaiah could only speak about prospectively. The Lord left his childhood village and went to Capernaum, in the environs of Zebulun and Naphtali, once forlorn and forgotten places of no major consequence. Peter and Andrew, James and John could as well have been what Zebulun and Naphtali were like – inconsequential, unknown, and uncelebrated. Once upon a time, students flocked to teachers and revered mentors and jockeyed for the closest position to their masters and gurus. But Matthew tells us otherwise. The Master called ...