PAN DE LA SEMANA

[BREAKING THE BREAD OF GOD’S WORD] First Sunday of Lent Year C February 14, 2016 EXPECTING WRONGLY; AIMING RIGHTLY Today is one of those days, like Christmas Day and Fiesta days in the Philippines, when it is so hard to preach. It is Valentine’s Day, and the highly commercialized and media-crazed world has managed to catapult Valentine’s Day to the equivalent of a “solemnity” in the Roman Catholic Church. Woe to me if I do not preach! Woe to me if I at least don’t make mention of the day of hearts. And I am not talking yet about the monstrous traffic that will take place all over the cities all day and a good part of the night. But I need to preach in season, and out of season. But whilst being fashionable and in season is a requirement for us worldly men and women, God’s love knows no times and seasons. God’s mercy knows no bounds, and God’s call is eternal. The first readings from Deuteronomy tells us this much …   God calle...

8 th Sunday in Ordinary Time Year A March 2, 2014 GOD FIRST, AND ALL THE REST WILL FOLLOW! The past four Sundays reminded us of Godly wisdom, in many and varied ways. Today, we are once again told of the wisdom that we need above all others – the wisdom to be able to suffer unjustly, the wisdom to remain solid and steadfast despite the most difficult human pain of all – that of being forsaken, abandoned, even forgotten. Who among us have not felt such at some point or other in our lives? Who among us did not feel ignored, even perhaps rejected, and treated as less than we deserve? You know it better than I do, at least as far as your personal story is concerned … we all pass through judgment by others, or by “any human tribunal.” We are judged for what we do or say. We are also judged for how we appear, or how we come across to people. No matter what they say, people tend to judge a book by its cover. I just came back from ...