Should We Celebrate Easter? – Madz Tumbali, SJ

Easter Sunday 2020 I remember a story by then Jesuit Conference for East Asia and Oceania President Fr Adolfo Nicolas about his home province, Japan, told when I was a novice. Hiroshima, 8:15 in the morning of 6 August 1945, an American B-29 Bomber dropped “Little Boy” on the city. The bombing immediately wiped out…

Stories and Dreams – Jett Villarin, SJ

Matthew 28:1-10, Easter Vigil 2020 A toxic wind has been blowing into our world for several months now. This poison has kept us shuttered in our homes and hospitals. Death is in the air. We are afraid. We are anxious about the uncertainty of it all. We can only keep vigil and wait for this…

Truth Speaks to Power – Nemy Que, SJ

John 18:1-19;42, Good Friday 2020 Darkness. Silence. Growing up in Vigan, Ilocos Sur, Good Friday meant you wouldn’t hear blaring radios, people talking rowdily, and since this was in the seventies, no booming, muffler-less motorbikes. You could, however, if you tried hard enough, hear light footsteps that led you to the only place that mattered…

Our Cross – Willy Samson, SJ

Good Friday 2020 “Sorrow can lead us into one of four lands. The barren land in which we try to escape from it. The broken land in which we sink under it. The bitter land in which we resent it. Or the better land in which we bear it and become a blessing to others.”…

To Serve, Love and Count not the Cost – Nemy Que, SJ

John 13:1-15, Evening Mass of the Lord’s Supper In normal times, the celebration of Holy Thursday (Maundy Thursday) would have churches all over the country decorating the sanctuary of the church as early as the night before, arranging flowers and assembling an altar of repose, where the blessed sacrament will be placed for a night…

A Saving Love – Arnel Aquino, SJ

Matthew 21:1-11, Palm Sunday I’ve had asthma since I was born and hypertension since I was 23. So, when experts said that people with comorbidity had less chances of surviving Covid-19, that nailed me. And I felt nailed almost every day in the first two weeks of lockdown; nailed on fear, nailed on anxiety, nailed…