PAN DE LA SEMANA

[BREAKING THE BREAD OF GOD’S WORD] July 19, 2015 – 16 th Sunday OT – B NOTHING MORE SHALL I WANT I have been mortally afraid quite a few times in my life – from childhood all the way to adulthood. The first time was some kind of a twilight zone experience. I was probably teetering on edge between toddlerhood to early childhood. I was midway between being fully asleep and being half awake. I don’t remember the details nor the images, but I do remember the fear and the trembling … alone in a dark room, while I heard terrifying sounds of gunfire and loud voices of people in the middle of the night. There were other occasions of “fear and trembling” that did not quite equal the terror of the first, but again, I still remember the feeling. As an adult, I still fear the unknown. I still fear getting sick and old and eventually dying – a reality that seems less and less far-fetched as time moves on. But my experience has taught me one thing beyond those fears. One ma...

--> [BREAKING THE BREAD OF GOD’S WORD –  6 th Sunday of Easter B] May 10, 2015 TRIPLE A FOR LOVE! David Guetta echoes an old line from an old idea … “I can’t believe what I did for love!” Everyone who gets to read this would agree. You all do great things out of love. You go out of your way everyday in the name of love. You endure so many pains because of love … exactly like Guetta says: “Stitch myself up and I’d do it again … I can’t believe what I did for love.” Mothers do it every time. They stitch more than torn clothes. They hold the family together … again, out of love. Today, only the one deeply steeped in denial would say otherwise … It is Love Sunday today! And more than that, love is an idea so old and so fresh … and so effective! I am old enough to know just how important mother’s love is. I saw it first hand in my own life experience, both directly and vicariously. I see it everyday in my ...

Christmas Day December 25, 2014 LET ME COUNT THE WAYS: 1,2,3,4! Something one does four times in a row must really be important. A celebration done fourfold must be meaningful, more than important. Something one repeats, not thrice but quatrice (if the word exists!) must be so important, meaningful and significant to the hilt. I am reminded of Sonnet 43 that begins with the question: “How do I love Thee? Let me count the ways!” How does God love us? Let us not give an answer by counting. You count things you want to manage and control. You measure things you want to manipulate towards a certain finality. You lose count when you lose all interest and capacity to even fully understand in a human way what is really beyond words, beyond description, although definitely not beyond belief. Christmas is beyond words. This maybe the reason why we count four distinct celebrations, each with distinct readings, that all have e...

--> 19 th Sunday Year A August 10, 2014 WHISPERING HOPE One old, old Christmas song goes by the title “Whispering Hope.” I am sure everyone knows it by heart. It has to do basically with “rumors of angels,” giving hope to a world enslaved to sin, and its most disastrous effect – hopelessness. I love nature. I have climbed dozens of mountains and forded countless rivers and have swum in many seas, both here (where I am) and abroad. Noisy and thunderous rivers there are that give a mighty roar offer a frightening message: “Don’t mess up with me if you are not prepared and ready to risk life and limb.” Three years ago, I, and some young priests I was giving a seminar to, discovered that first hand. Lucky me, I did not join them that time. Their boat capsized towards the end of their white water rafting adventure. I love dogs. There are dogs that give such a row and rousing cacophony of snarls and growls and menacing barks. But exp...