PAN DE LA SEMANA

[BREAKING THE BREAD OF GOD'S WORD] Trinity Sunday May 31, 2015 ALL GOD HAS COMMANDED     Oneness…fullness…completeness…totality…wholeness…The Solemnity of the Most Blessed Trinity today seems to remind us of all the foregoing concepts – and more!  The readings today were all from books written well before the term “Trinity” was introduced in theological discourse. But Scripture that has come down to us through the centuries reflects the “lived theology” of the community of believers. Obviously, the reality of the Trinity preceded the terminology. The faith in the Trinity antedated the invention of a term (or a symbol) to stand for the truth held in faith in people’s minds and hearts, long before the word was uttered in their mouths. All God has taught… all God has uttered… and all God has commanded! This represents the body of truths celebrated by the early Church in the liturgy. An ancient dictum says it all: Lex orandi, le...

Trinity Sunday (A) June 15, 2014 GRACIOUS AND MERCIFUL IS GOD! We have all kinds of names for people who are gruff, rough, uncouth and unrefined. It is hard to pin down just what it is that stands out in their obnoxious character, but we simply know that there is something sorely missing. Thus, one who does not know how to close doors, turn off faucets and lights after using, or one who behaves like he is the only person in the whole wide world, unmindful of others’ welfare, comfort and needs is simply ungracious, dense, selfish, self-centered and a whole lot more. We don’t like such people around. We avoid them. We steer clear of them, and some of them can even literally throw their weight around, and make everybody else’s lives revolve around their own. They can be very well connected, but never attuned; they can also be very much engaged, but never involved. They can very busy, but never really productive. They can even work at cro...

MOST BLESSED TRINITY June 3, 2012 Mental gymnastics will most likely be the run of the day, as we celebrate the Solemnity of the Blessed Trinity. Many preachers like me will try, once again in vain, to explain away neatly what is essentially a mystery to be accepted, and not a problem to be dissected. It might interest everyone to note that not even Scriptures attempted to explain it away, and remove all veils that cover the essentially unfathomable truth about God. One thing clear in Scriptures is this. God, simply chose to reveal Himself gradually in history, in vivo,  I might add, in the events that transpired right from the day Abraham was called to leave Ur and go to the promised land. One more thing is clear from Scripture. There is no other God besides Him. He alone is God.   He alone is Creator.  He alone is Savior. He alone is Redeemer, and He alone is life-giver and sustainer of the very same life that He gave. Moses would have his people...

Solemnity of the Most Blessed Trinity (Year A)  June 19, 2011 Context and framing mean a whole lot towards getting a holistic, balanced understanding of anything of importance. Today’s readings, chosen to highlight the truth about the Most Blessed Trinity, are no exception. God’s revealing and manifesting Himself through Moses as reported by the Book of Exodus (34:4b-6;8-9 First Reading), is a case in point. In anthropomorphic language (weak analogies based on human categories, mentality, and standards), God’s self-revelation is preceded by near abandonment of what even Moses himself acknowledges as “a stiff-necked people.” After doing away with the true God, and fashioning for themselves a golden calf for a false god, the Lord went on to prove that, unlike wicked and fickle people, He was, indeed, “a merciful and gracious God, slow to anger and rich in kindness and fidelity.” These same sterling and startling qualities of God are further echoed by Paul’s letter to the Co...

Catholic Homily/Sunday Reflection Solemnity of the Most Holy Trinity (C) May 30, 2010 Experience, it has often been said, is a good teacher. Personal experience separates the rookie from the veteran; the wise from the merely intelligent and school smart; the prophet from the charlatan; the genuine leader from the merely titled executive. Personal experience constitutes the “abundance of the heart whereof the mouth speaks,” and a deeply felt and personal intimacy and familiarity with someone or something is the only real passport to credibility. The intellectual expert delivers facts and figures. One listens to him or her with respect. The personal witness delivers truth and doles out trust. One listens to him or her with awe. The former speaks from the point of view of learned facts; the latter from the point of view of lived experience. The former will most likely be accepted at face value, for whatever merit there is in what he or she says; the latter will definitely go beyond...

Catholic Homily / Sunday Reflection Trinity Sunday June 7, 2009 Today’s solemnity can easily pass off to many as some form of mental exercise – a part of the never-ending effort at “putting a handle” of sorts to a mystery that is basically something that cannot be fully fathomed, let alone understood. Being such, there is the very real danger of approaching what ought to be a truth to be celebrated as a dead specimen to be dissected in cold blood on the laboratory table. But the human person – heart and mind and spirit all rolled into one – was never created to dissect dogmas, at least primarily. Humans were created for love and what fulfills them is not a doctrine for the mind alone to digest, but a relationship that is savored, nurtured and enriched by their totality as human beings understood primarily as relational creatures. We do not fall in love with dogmas, but we do experience emotional affinity with relational persons. Doctrinal truths, per se, do not excite us, but the ide...

Solemnity of the Blessed Trinity May 18, 2008 Readings: Ex 34:4b-6,8-9 / 2 Cor 13:11-13 / Jn 3:16-18 Reading 1 (Ex 34:4b-6, 8-9) Early in the morning Moses went up Mount Sinai as the LORD had commanded him, taking along the two stone tablets. Having come down in a cloud, the LORD stood with Moses there and proclaimed his name, "LORD." Thus the LORD passed before him and cried out, "The LORD, the LORD, a merciful and gracious God, slow to anger and rich in kindness and fidelity." Moses at once bowed down to the ground in worship. Then he said, "If I find favor with you, O Lord, do come along in our company. This is indeed a stiff-necked people; yet pardon our wickedness and sins, and receive us as your own." Responsorial Psalm (Dn 3:52, 53, 54, 55, 56) R. Glory and praise for ever! Blessed are you, O Lord, the God of our fathers, praiseworthy and exalted above all forever; And blessed is your holy and glorious name, praiseworthy and exalted above all for...