PAN DE LA SEMANA

20th Sunday in Ordinary Time - Year B August 16, 2009 Catholic Homily / Sunday Reflection People watch a whole lot of things. They watch their weight, for one. They watch their step, as they amble about in places that have not been designed for semi-invalids that many people are fast becoming in our times, owing to obesity. In the Philippines, people with expensive and not-so-expensive cell phones alike watch out for thugs who are ready at any given time, to run away with their coveted communication-pieces-cum-camera-and-MP3 player all rolled into one. Pedestrians, long since deprived of their rightful turf – the sidewalks – watch traffic both before and behind them, fully aware that in the Philippines, the right of pedestrians seems to have been relegated to oblivion. Although the infamous “Filipino time” still wreaks havoc on our societal lives, people keep on watching the time in an age when timepieces need not be worn, but are seen everywhere: in the cell phones, in buses, jeepneys...

Catholic Homily/Sunday Reflections 1st Sunday of Lent(B) March 1, 2009 There always seems to be something timely and current whenever we hear God’s Word. God’s Word always convicts us, confronts us, and engages us in a task that is concrete, here and now. Thre is simply no skirting around it, no deying, no running away from it. Today, we are told about chaos, confusion, wilderness, flood, sin, wild beasts, desert, temptation, and arrest, on the one hand. But we also hear about a covenant, about a promise, about inclusiveness. We are told about all creatures as being part of this inclusive promise from God, no one excluded. Absolutely! The promise from God was given in the heels of sin-induced destruction by flood. But as the creatures saved in the ark filed out into dry land, God, in His mercy promised a new covenant to be symbolized by the rainbow. Not only did God promise no more flood to destroy all mortal beings. He also included “every living creature” in this promised new covenan...

Catholic Homily/ Sunday Liturgical Reflection Solemnity of the Baptism of the Lord January 11, 2009 Belongingness is one of the innate needs of each and every single human person. We all need to feel part of a group. Such is our nature as humans that God willed that we should be born as members of families, nurtured, cared for and nourished by a natural institution that gradually forms us, and then “presents” us to the bigger society in the world. In this gradual “introduction” to society, there are certain important milestones common to all cultures and civilizations – and faith affiliations! Let us look at some of those we do as Filipinos… baptismal day, the first birthday, the first haircut, the first picture, the first day in school, the first…everything. Just about everything seems to be made into an important milestone in the trajectory of life, especially of the firstborn son or daughter. What seems to be behind such important events is the cultural need for parents and the wh...

Catholic Homily/Sunday Reflection 30th Sunday in Ordinary Time, Year A October 26, 2008 Readings: Ex 22:20-26 / 1 Thess 1:5c-10 / Mt 22:34-40 Our TV screens, which are getting bigger. brighter, and clearer all the time, are full of faces. Familiar faces, beautiful and handsome faces of our favorite anchorwomen and men, newscasters, actors and actresses, politicians, why even religious leaders and televangelists, they come straight out of the TV screens and invade the privacy of our living rooms (and bedrooms) every day of our lives. They become one with us. They form part of our daily regimen. We not only see them (even in the increasing number of glossy, expensive magazines that have, of late, made inroads to our national psyche). We also hear them talking above the normal din of everyday household noise. Who among us is not familiar with the faces of movie stars endorsing a favorite fast-food product, whether local or foreign? Who among us would not recognize politicians-turned-prod...

Catholic Homily/Sunday Reflection 23rd Sunday Year A September 7, 2008 Readings: Ez 33:7-9 / Rom 13:8-10 / Mk 18:15-20 N.B. I am advancing this post for the 23rd Sunday as I am leaving tonight for Guam and I am not sure whether I can have access to the web. The postmodern, globalized world that prizes individualism, personal success and achievement above most everything else, causes many people to drift apart from one another. As a priest, having been exposed to a relative variety of situations in different places, one thing I realize is the fact that even in very small externally tightly packed enclaves within subdivisions and posh villages, or simple barrios all over the country, there is a growing phenomenon of communities becoming gradually estranged from each other. Gone are the days of communities whose members know exactly what is going on with each other’s families, when everybody’s concern is everybody’s business, when there is a lot of “feeling for” others in a lot of ways. ...

Catholic Homily/Sunday Reflection 15th Sunday in Ordinary Time - Year A July 13, 2008 Readings: Is 55:10-11 /Rom 8:18-23 /Mt 13:1-23 One experience we are all too familiar with, but which we’d rather not have to go through is the experience of failure. Students dread the thought of all their efforts at mastering the subject matter all coming to naught at the end of the term. Farmers need to do their sowing of new seeds at the right time, lest their seeds, for lack of sufficient moisture, wither and die. Parents go through their task of raising children with fear and trepidation because failure in this regard may spell a lifetime of regret - if not, recrimination. We all dread failure. We do not look forward to wastage of any kind, least of all our human efforts. We desire that all human effort expended in whatever field of endeavor, would turn efficacious, either for ourselves, or for others. We long for success. Students look forward to a diploma. Farmers want a bountiful harvest – an...