PAN DE LA SEMANA

5 th Sunday of Easter Year C Apri 28, 2013 LOVE. SCARS. NEW. GLORY I start with a word puzzle. Mysterious. Cryptic. Self-contradictory … Love. Scars. New. Glory. Something new and something old; something that hurts and something that scars; something that wounds, but something that renews, and leads to the ultimate newness – glory with God ever ancient, ever new! This is the theme of today’s readings, 5 th Sunday of Easter. It’s an old story … if you change your life drastically, for the better that is, there will be haters and naysayers, doubters and cheerers, people who will drag you down, and people who will prop you up. This is what happened to Paul and Barnabas. Paul was an old hat at persecuting the Church. He was one difficult guy who made it even more difficult for the early followers of the Lord. But something new and something great happened to him. He was renewed and changed by a mystical experience. Th...

Catholic Homily / Sunday Reflection 6 th Sunday of Easter (C) May 9, 2010             Last week’s readings led us to reflect on transformed newness. We saw Paul and Barnabas storming Gentile territories, and how the dynamic duo transformed the lives of the people they met. We heard God’s uplifting prophetic message delivered through John: “Behold, I make all things new!” “Love one another.” The Risen Lord, for his part, imparted a new commandment that was the sure-fire way towards transformation: This week, our sights and hopes are trained once again toward the future. It was a “future” that was really already taking place before their very eyes, as the first reading from Acts very clearly shows. Divisions and distinctions between Jew and Gentile were crumbling. Gradually taking their places were unity, harmony, and fellowship between and among peoples of different origins, traditions and initial beliefs and ...

Catholic Homily/Sunday Reflection 5th Sunday of Easter(C) May 2, 2010 Desire for novelty seems to be the basic engine that drives commerce all over the world. Business thrives on this relentless thirst for newness. Every year, car makers churn out new models, with ever increasingly sophisticated new features. House builders come out with ever bigger, ever more comfortable, and ever more luxurious homes, built farther and farther away “from the madding crowd” of congested – if, polluted – inner cities, towards what is euphemistically called “new developments,” otherwise known as “urban sprawl.” People tire of old stuff, and traditional brands of cosmetics and grooming products give way to an endless array of concoctions and creams and facials and lotions galore – all at the service of that search for the ultimate sign of newness which is youth and everything associated with it. People ought to listen to today’s good news with extra attention, speaking as it does about ultimate n...

Catholic Homily/Sunday Reflection 7th Sunday in Ordinary Time(B) February 22, 2009 There is newness and freshness in the words of Isaiah the prophet today: “See I am doing something new!” Newness is something we all crave for. Freshness in the way we perceive old realities is something we value highly. We admire writers who do not dish out old and trite ways of expressions. And we esteem leaders who do not necessarily “go by the book” but who inject fresh vigor and renewed enthusiasm in their leadership and management style. The same is pretty much true in other aspects of our lives. In Manila, for example, I am aghast at seeing how quickly people tire of whatever is perceived to be old stuff. Bars and restaurants need to reinvent themselves all the time if they want to remain in business. How many upstart joints have been put up all over which drew rave reviews less than six months or a year or so ago, but which are now struggling to survive, ever competing with ever new players in t...