PAN DE LA SEMANA

Ascension Sunday June 1, 2015 UP TO HEAVEN; OUT INTO THE WORLD Parents who work day in and day out have to leave their dear children everyday. For many young Filipino parents, one or both of them even have to go abroad to earn a living. For the rest who work here, they leave beloved toddlers and young children to either their yaya or their own parents, the grandparents. I talk about leaving because that is precisely what the Ascension of the Lord is NOT about. This is also true of Filipino parents who leave home either on the long or short haul. They don’t leave home to be away. They leave home or country to be more effectively present in shaping the future of their children. Ascension is not about Christ leaving us to go home and away from us. Ascension is all about Christ being glorified and going home to the Father, but not to be away from His flock. Go back to the gospel of Matthew today and see if I don’t make sen...

Christmas Day December 25, 2013 GENERATIONS AND GRACE! Christmas is at one and the same time, an easy and difficult occasion to be preaching. It is easy as everyone is well-motivated, eminently receptive, and for the most part, responsive. But it is also difficult as the occasion is so rich, the readings so varied, and the themes so multi-faceted that it becomes hard to focus on just one, without feeling like not doing justice to all others. But focus, we must, and speak of just one basic idea, we ought to, lest liturgy becomes, not primarily worship that it has to be, but another entertainment package or an opportunity for information overload. The Gospel passage of the Vigil Mass is a repeat of what we heard in the last nine days – the story of the generations that led to the birth of the Savior, clustered in three groups of 14 each. The meaning of those generations is just as obscure as the names themselves of the people who, oth...

Christmas Day (B) December 25, 2011 Readings: Is 52:7-10 / Heb 1:1-6 / Jn 1:1-5.9-14 One original Pinoy product is the brand of therapeutic and casual footwear called "Happy Feet." It had humble beginnings that all started with a visit to a foot doctor in Germany, to alleviate a foot malady of a family member. It became a by-word in no time, and actually attained a level of popularity for some time. Although I never got to own even one, I was quietly admiring the growing product line, along with the fact that it had gone mainstream for a great many years by now. I couldn't help but think of feet today, the second holiest day of the Christian calendar. I couldn't help but think of feet, for that matter, for a number of reasons: First, I am aware that fellow "kababayan" Romy Garduce (of Everest fame!) is still aiming at completing the world's mythical seven mountains, with just one more mountain to go. Not bad for one who hails from the tropics, and w...

Baptism of the Lord(A) January 9, 2011 Readings: Is 42: 1-4, 6-7 / Acts 10:34-38 / Mt 3:13-17 We haven’t quite recovered yet from all the glitter and glamour, the glare and the glimmer of the big Christmas festivities. It is hard to think of the feast of the baptism of the Lord as anything less than what we have sort of gotten used to over the long Christmas celebrations. But the feast of the Baptism of the Lord is not any less than the rest of the celebrations of the Christmas season, although totally ignored by mainstream media. It is a step forward, not backward. It brings in more, not less. It increases, not diminishes, our understanding of who Christ is, for us … for the world … for the Church! For it is part, no less, of the overall Christmas mystery of the Incarnation. It is part and parcel of the mystery, too, of God’s gradual self-revelation to the world, the Epiphany, which we celebrated just last Sunday. Liturgy is faith coming alive in sign, song, symbol, ritual,...

Christmas Day Year A December 25, 2010 Midnight Mass: Is 9:1-6 / Titus 2:11-14 / Lk 2:1-14    Day Mass:  Is 52:7-10 / Heb 1:1-6 / Jn 1:1-5.9-14 Preaching on Christmas day is doubly difficult, at least in the culture I am most familiar with, Philippine culture. Although I have spent more than enough Christmas seasons outside of my home country to know the difference, preaching is a little more challenging in my home country for a variety of reasons. For one, most people who are in front of me right now have been at it for nine days – attending Mass and doing the Simbang Gabi ( Misa de Gallo ) either at early dawn or late evening – everywhere in the world, where there are Filipinos! Secondly, with so many last minute Christmas parties galore everywhere there is a semblance of a group or club, or clan, or work-related associations and assemblages, (not to mention hordes of balikbayan relatives to do family reunions with!), people are generally tired, weary, and slee...

Catholic Homily / Liturgical Reflection Solemnity of Mary, Mother of God(C) January 1, 2009 There is something absolutely heartwarming in the first reading we hear year after year, supposedly one of the oldest poetic pieces in the Bible, uttered by Moses to Aaron and his sons. It warms the heart not only because in it we find a threefold blessing, but also because the name of the “Lord” (Yahweh) is mentioned directly in as many times. Here we are face to face with an image of God as nurturing, caring, life-enabling, intimate, protective, warm, gracious, kind and solicitous … in short, an image of God, not only as Father, but also as Mother. Not too often do we get to hear reflections revolving around the idea of God as both paternal and maternal. In this world that emphasizes a whole lot of distinctions between black and white, east and west, north and south, rich and poor, women and men, old and young, the haves ...

Catholic Homily Christmas Day (C) December 25, 2009 Preaching on Christmas day has always posed a big challenge to us preachers (well, at least to me, over my past 27 Christmases, including this one, as a priest). The problem is compounded for pastors in parishes who, being alone, could rely on no one else but themselves to celebrate all four Christmas liturgies: Vigil Mass, at Midnight (which officially begins the Christmas season), at Dawn, and the Mass during the day itself. Even a cursory glance at the readings for all four celebrations is enough to convince anyone that there is a developing, unfolding character to the themes espoused by the readings and the prayers. The better read among us who are a bit more theologically literate would see in the different liturgical celebrations a gradually deepening presentation of the whole mystery that Christmas stands for - the coming of the Savior, the Christ. Fro...

Festive Well-Lit Lanterns Epitomize Christmas Joys in the Philippines Solemnity of Christmas December 25, 2008 The fulfillment of something so long-awaited and expected is bound to engender joy aplenty. A promise makes one expectant; gives him or her a lot of excitement and anticipation. But fulfillment suffuses one with overflowing JOY. Such is the spirit of the Christmas liturgy! It is so full of JOY that traditionally, the Church has four different sets of Masses to do justice to the occasion: Vigil Mass, Mass at Night, Dawn Mass, and the Mass of the Day. Something so richly meaningful, something so effusive of joy deserves no doubt four different celebrations, each with its own emphasis, focus, and set of readings that are bound by a common theme. The Vigil Mass looks forward to the hour of celebration. It has come because the promises of old are fulfilled in Jesus. Quiet waiting gives way to a cry of joy: “For ever I will sing the goodness of the Lord!” Anticipation is the key...