Luke 4:21-30, Fourth Sunday in Ordinary Time From back in the Lord’s day up to today, the synagogue remains a consecrated place of prayer—Jews worshipped there, of learning—they studied the Torah there, & of social gathering—they came together to discuss religious matters there, too. Here are some rules in Jewish synagogues today. I quote from the “Laws of Synagogue Etiquette” by a Rabbi Eliezer Wenger. “No running around in the synagogue….
Author: ninangdeb
Depth – Jett Villarin, SJ
Luke 4:21-30, Fourth Sunday in Ordinary Time The weather has been quite cool these days. Some parts of the northern half of the globe are even in deep freeze. The southern half is probably scorching. I have been asked if all this is because of climate change. The short answer is most probably yes, with a quick qualification that weather is…
Pasa-Load – Arnel Aquino, SJ
Luke 1:1-21, Third Sunday of Ordinary Time A friend of mine is a guidance counsellor for grade school students in one of the schools in Manila. Two years ago, he told a very shocking story. “One of our students just attempted suicide, Father. 10 years old. He actually jumped off the building. But someone caught him just in time and saved him.” 10 years old,…
Consecrate – Arnel Aquino, SJ
Luke 3:15-16; 21-22, The Baptism of the Lord When you “consecrate” something, the idea is to take that something and set it apart from similar things because you would like it to serve a different purpose. To consecrate something is to make it, well, “special,” because now, the purpose it serves is, say, bigger or…
Staying With – John Foley, SJ
Luke 3:15-16; 21-22, The Baptism of the Lord Today marks the last day of the Church’s Christmas season. Jesus’ birth has now been celebrated. His public life comes next. His baptism begins it. I know, I know, Christmas has been over for ages and we have gone on with life. The American custom is in…
Looking Up – Pope Francis
Matthew 2:1-12, Solemnity of the Epiphany But why, we might ask, did the Magi alone see the star? Perhaps because few people raised their eyes to heaven. We often make do with looking at the ground: it’s enough to have our health, a little money and a bit of entertainment. I wonder if we still…
Light – Jett Villarin, SJ
Christmas Eve 2018 I am happy to be here with you, here in the Gesu, in this place of light. These days it has been difficult to sleep. And I know sleep has eluded so many as well. Infants have a way of waking us up, of waking us through the night. This dark episode,…
What’s so Amazing about Grace – Peter Wehner
This isn’t a homily but such a special article from the New York Time I thought it deserved to be shared here: In his book “What’s So Amazing About Grace?” Philip Yancey describes a conference on comparative religions where experts from around the world debated which belief, if any, was unique to the Christian faith….
Like You – Arnel Aquino, SJ
Christmas Eve 2018 It was around this time of night many, many years ago, when I was little—littler—when a very rare electrical storm ripped through Davao City. Lightning and thunder looked and sounded like they were tearing each other apart. They say only thunder makes a sound, lightning doesn’t. But I remember lightning cracking like…
Topsy Turvy – Nemy Que, SJ
Matthew 1:18-25, Day 4 Simbang Gabi When we hear the term “annunciation”, we usually think of the annunciation of the birth of Jesus by the angel Gabriel to Mary. This is found in Luke’s Gospel. In today’s Gospel from Matthew, we are told of another annunciation – that of an angel to Joseph. The message…
Immaculate – Jett Villarin, SJ
Luke 1:26-38, Solemnity of the Immaculate Conception of the Blessed Virgin Our faith is beautiful. Its beauty is found not just in its rationality or reasonableness but also in its humanity. Take our devotion to Mary our Mother. While our Catholic devotion to Mary can be a challenge to both believers and non-believers, our Marian…
Apocalypse Now – Arnel Aquino, SJ
Luke 21:25-28, 34-36, First Sunday of Advent I have a personal beef with end-of-the-world scenarios, or what we call in theology, apocalypses. When I was growing up in Davao, our elders terrorized us at one time or another with end-of-the-world scenarios – mainly to cow us into submission to their do’s and don’t’s, for us…
One Lost Sheep 