PAN DE LA SEMANA

Fifth Sunday of Lent – B March 22, 2015 THE DAYS ARE COMING; THE HOUR HAS COME! Today is a day of hope. We are looking forward to the prophesied “days” that are “coming.” This, too, is what we did last week, Laetare Sunday, more than midway through the discipline of Lent. We were told to be glad and rejoice, despite the fasting, praying, and almsgiving (that is, if we did it!). But today takes the promise and prophecy to a whole new, and higher, level! We are told by Jeremiah wherefore rejoice … “The days are coming, when I will make a new covenant with the house of Judah.” I don’t know about you, folks, but I really do need a boost in the arm. I need a generous dose of Vitamin H – hope … hope that brings new enthusiasm to my waning years … hope that brings new life to a world made wan and pale by wanton criminality and acts of terrorism … here, there and everywhere. I don’t need more of the other H – hubris and humility’s nemesis – that leads us to...

4 th Sunday in Lent – B March 15, 2015 FROM LOWLINESS TO LAETARE Today is Laetare Sunday. Midway through Lent, the Church tells us to “rejoice” (Laetare) which is a significant word in the Entrance Antiphon. Today, the processional hymn ideally ought to reflect this call to rejoice, as some kind of a break in the discipline of Lent. The readings, as is proper of the season, are all very rich.   The first reading, while referring to God’s people and their marked tendency to “mock the messengers” sent from above, also highlights the overflowing mercy of God, who raised up Cyrus, King of Persia, who liberated the Israelites from their exile in Babylon. Now, that event was a watershed moment in the history of salvation – ours, as much as that of the Israelites. The second reading precisely develops the theme of God who is “rich in mercy.” We were all “saved by grace” and “raised up with Christ” being the “handiwork” of God. ...

3 rd Sunday of Lent (B) March 8, 2015 WHAT WE PROCLAIM!          Let us begin with an assertion as blunt and as clear as that one of St. Paul: “We proclaim Christ crucified!” There, too, is an assertion apparently as clear as the foregoing, found in the first reading from Exodus 20: “You shall not carve idols for yourselves in the shape of anything in the sky above or on the earth below, or in the waters beneath the earth.” Now the Gospel passage has one more: “Stop making my Father’s house a marketplace.” Taken apart by themselves, and taken out of context, they sure are good sound bites for anyone with an agenda. The first in the list above could make a case for those who believe that Christian life ought to be one that is meant to be sour and dour, and one in which there is no room for joy and gladness and anything that is patently “worldly.” The second is the classical passage of those who endlessly ber...

1 st Sunday of Lent (B) February 22, 2015 REPENT AND BELIEVE! It is very hard now to focus on things. We are bombarded by so many worries, so many concerns, so much tension on account of so many disturbing events:   ISIS spewing threats all over the world … incompetence and selfish leaders bungling just about every imaginable situation that affects the common good … criminal elements apparently lording it over people everywhere. But Lent that started with a solemn imposition of ashes is a call to silence, prayer, fasting, and almsgiving. It is a call for all to be gentle, compassionate, forgiving, repentant and openness to renewal – all exact opposites of what we see and hear almost to the day. One thing about Lent is, it also tells us to go slow, to be attentive to signs, to watch out for clues and be reminded that life is not all about worries and tension, problems and threats to peace and security in life. It is a call to put focus on the afterlife, on matt...