PAN DE LA SEMANA

17 th Sunday in Ordinary Time (B) July 29, 2012 FOOD TO EAT, AND SOMETHING MORE BESIDES! It’s been decades the alarum bells of an utter lack of food to feed the hungry multitudes have been sounded over and over again. Years ago,  a movie entitled “Soylent Green” took the form of a horror movie – depicting the absolute horrors of a time in future when people would be literally forced to ingest tablets of food made from other human beings. In our insecurity, in our fears, in our anxieties, the human family has, on occasion, acted in a way that is exactly the opposite of the attitudes being raised by the readings – an attitude of trust, an attitude of confidence and faith that the psalmist reminds us of: “ The hand of the Lord feeds us; he answers all our needs.” (Response) Those alarm bells have taken various forms throughout recent history. And many of those forms are self-canceling and self-contradictory. We have scientists and self-styled “saviors” of...

2 nd Sunday of Lent (C) February 28, 2010 Profligate generosity is more like it … the utter generosity of one who makes and fulfills promises to Abraham and His people – land in plenty and offspring in abundance: “Look up at the sky and count the stars, if you can. Just so shall your descendants be.” Generosity upon gracious generosity … this is what the texts these first two Sundays of Lent seem to give us for reflection. Last Sunday, we saw the generosity of Christ, whose “fidelity on three counts” equal to the threefold temptations, was shown in his remaining steadfast. True to the spirit of Deuteronomy, his fidelity was equivalent to his being offered like the required “first fruits of the harvest” – understood as the best, and the most precious and valued. In return, God, very clearly, will settle for nothing but the best – the best in return for our best, our “first fruits,” our utmost self-offering...

Catholic Homily / Sunday Reflections 17th Sunday in Ordinary Time, Year B July 26, 2009 Food definitely brings temporary oneness to people in need. Five thousand men (not counting the women and children), saw common cause for a while, united by the common need to be assuaged in their hunger and thirst. In clusters and in groups, they sat down in the cool grass. Soon enough, they sat witness to the unfolding miracle of Jesus’ provident solicitude for the needy crowd. The scene is not an unfamiliar one in the history of God’s people. Like the much talked about, though little understood, feeling of déjà vu , we see today in the account of St. John almost like a repeat of several instances in the Old Testament where God is presented as one who Himself takes charge of feeding his hungry people. “The hand of the Lord feeds us …” as the first part of today’s response after the first reading goes. Indeed, the Old Testament is never wanting of stories and vignettes about God...