PAN DE LA SEMANA

[BREAKING THE BREAD OF GOD’S WORD] October 11, 2015 28 th Sunday OT_B ANY FURTHER QUESTIONS, YOUNG FELLOW? The young man of today’s gospel passage sure knows how to do an interview. He knew the right questions. In fact, he already knew the answer to his questions. To the question “What must I do to inherit eternal life?” the Lord had an easy answer: “Simple, young man! … No killing, no bearing false witness … No stealing … No defrauding   … and (wouldn’t you know it!) Honor your old folks!” The interviewer was not exactly pleased with the answer that after all, he knew all along! “I have observed all this from my youth!” “So what is new?” “Anything else?” First lesson for the day … and it is all about us, not about God! Deep inside, we know what is right. Deep in our hearts, we know the answer. And we know that life is more than just avoiding this or that, or not doing one thing, and refraining from doing another. I remember that as a young brother in se...

28 th Sunday Year B October 14, 2012 PRAYING FOR PRUDENCE & GETTING  A WHOLE LOT MORE! Just about every six months, some new gadget is introduced into the volatile and highly competitive market. No sooner have many people saved up (or begged or borrowed from others) and bought the prized gizmo, than another one comes out to replace it. The compulsion to shop till you drop is all pervading, all encompassing. One feels compelled, not necessarily to have more, but to have something else, as W. Cavanaugh (2007) wisely writes. It is about having something that no one else has for the meantime, until they find enough courage to charge it once again to their piling debt, and buy the prized object with plastic money, charging it, for all intents and purposes, to one’s uncertain future. Before the ubiquitous pull of that “something else,” that “something unique” and “something different” that “few” individuals have, prudence, understood as practical w...