Matthew 18:1-5, Feast of the Sto Niño The feast of Sto. Niño, is strictly speaking, a liturgical feast celebrated only in the Philippines. In other countries, there is no feast day assigned for Sto. Niño. Yet, where there are communities of Filipino anywhere in the world, the feast of Sto. Niño is celebrated with the…
Author: ninangdeb
Beyond the Child Jesus – Rudolf Horst, SJ
Matthew 18:1-5, Feast of the Sto Niño Even though the Christmas season ended last Sunday, we celebrate one more feast that is closely connected with Christmas: the feast of the Infant Jesus. We look at this child with tenderness. But the liturgy reminds us that this child is not just a baby. He is Jesus,…
Totally Dependent – Arnel Aquino, SJ
Matthew 18:1-5, Feast of the Sto Niño Like many of you, I flew home to Davao for a few days during the holidays to spend time with my dad. I hadn’t done that for a long time, to be with family for my birthday. My biggest thanks to God was that even as I turned…
One King and a Convoy of Tourists – Johnny Go, SJ
Matthew 2:1-12, Solemnity of the Epiphany Finding out that the three kings were neither three nor royalty was not quite as traumatic as that other life-changing discovery about Santa Claus. But to whomever thought of coming up with the three kings–what were you thinking? For years, we staged Nativity plays that religiously featured them with…
What’s in a Word? – Rudolf Horst, SVD
Matthew 2:1-12, Solemnity of the Epiphany Please, don’t expect that I will discuss here who the wise men were, where they came from, what their names were – all that is not in the text of the gospel. Rather, I would like to reflect for a moment about the main word of today’s Solemnity: Epiphany….
Heavens Deep – Arnel Aquino, SJ
Solemnity of the Nativity of our Lord As a child, I used to love the Christmas tree. But the older I got, the parol very naturally supplanted the tree, and became for me the symbol for Christmas; especially the simpler ones, the parol ribbed with kawayan, skinned with papel de hapon or cellophane, & with…
A Messy Christmas – Joel Liwanag, SJ
John 1:1-18, Solemnity of the Birth of our Lord As a way of preparing myself for Christmas, I once tried to contemplate the nativity scene following the prayer method proposed by St. Ignatius of Loyola in his Spiritual Exercises. Using the power of my imagination, I began by trying to feel the cool gentle breeze…
Magnify – Arnel Aquino, SJ
Luke 1:46-56, Monday of the 4th Week in Advent Napansin po ba ninyo na yung mga Joyful Mysteries na tinatawag, ‘pag sinuri nating mabuti, hindi naman sila gano’n ka-joyful. (Have you noticed that the Joyful Mysteries, upon closer inspection, are not really joyful?)At least not 100%. Annunciation? Mary must have been fully aware of the scandal…
Be Our Dream Come True – Arnel Aquino, SJ
Luke 1:5-25, Monday after the Fourth Sunday of Advent The chamber called the Holy of Holies was a perfect cube, 15 feet in length, width, and height, symbolizing divine perfection, I suppose. It was the innermost room in the Temple of Jerusalem, where the Ark of the Covenant reposed. To get to the inner sanctum,…
Our Family Tree – Arnel Aquino, SJ
Matthew 1:1-17, Saturday before Fourth Sunday of Advent Long, long ago, in kingdoms far, far away, a genealogy was the typical way of starting a book, especially the story of a great man. In his Gospel, Matthew shows that the Messiah was a descendant of King David, just as the prophets had foretold. Question: Was Jesus’…
Would You Unfollow John the Baptist? – Johnny Go, SJ
Luke 7:24-30, Thursday of the Third Week of Advent Who among us doesn’t have a Facebook friend whose one mission in life seems to be to ruin our day? Yes, I’m referring to that guy who can’t stop posting all those annoying political rants. Or that heartbroken girl who has been whining about her breakup…
Choosing Joy – Johnny Go, SJ
Matthew 11:2-11, Third Sunday of Advent I don’t know if you noticed it, but that’s a pretty strange exchange of messages between our Lord and John the Baptist. First of all, John the Baptist requests his disciples to ask our Lord a bizarre question. Thrown into prison for denouncing the sins of Herod Antipas, John…
