PAN DE LA SEMANA

33 rd Sunday in Ordinary Time (A) November 13, 2011 Today’s liturgy speaks as much of simple things as of seemingly insignificant matters. The first reading talks about the simplicity of a worthy wife , described as a “ value beyond pearls .” The second reading talks about the deep, yet humble significance of the “ times and seasons ,” events in our everyday experience that we tend to take for granted. It also speaks about such mundane matters as day and night, darkness and light … again, realities that we hardly take notice of. The Gospel makes much too, of what people in Jesus’ times most likely took for granted – the reality of servants who often would be left alone to fend for themselves, while their masters went away on long journeys. But more than just that, it speaks about something so simple and commonplace as the value of accountability, the good practice of stewardship, along with the virtue of responsibility. But there are values and there are values … For thei...

21 st Sunday in Ordinary Time (A) August 21, 2011 “Spokespersons” abound in our days and times. So many claim to speak for others. Politicians love to talk endlessly about the needs of their “constituents,” claiming that they speak for the voiceless and the faceless. So many “cause-oriented” groups claim to speak for the poor, the unjustly treated, the downtrodden, the marginalized, etc. In the Philippines, the invention of “party-list” groupings has almost become a cottage industry, with party-lists multiplying like mushrooms everytime the national elections draw near. As a Principal of a small school once again, I see this once too often in my job. Someone knocks at my door and minces no words and blurts it right off: “teachers are asking this or that …” … “students are complaining about one thing or another,” and all I can rely on at any given moment is their word that they indeed “speak” for the group they claim to speak for. But having been there; done tha...