John 1:1-5; 9-14, Christmas Day Every Christmas Eve, for over 10 years, Fr Nemy Que SJ organized a small choir of scholastics to sing in Mrs Cory Aquino’s house, where he celebrated mass for the whole family. After the mass, we had supper. Mrs Aquino’s daughters, Pinky, Ballsy, and Viel always dutifully and cheerfully served…
Category: Season
Prepare – Jett Villarin SJ
Matthew 3:1-12, Second Sunday of Advent Let’s try not to short circuit Advent to get to Christmas. The four candles here are for the four weeks of Advent. We are now entering the second quarter of this time of preparation. Listening to John the Baptist is part of this preparation. He tells us today to…
Another Kind of Coming – Mamert Manus, SJ
Matthew 24:37-44, First Sunday of Advent The Church begins a new liturgical year today, on this First Sunday of Advent. So in a very real sense,Happy New Year! This period in our liturgical journey is called Advent, from the Latin adventus, whichmeans “coming.” Ang Adbiyento ay isang panahon ng pag-aantay para sa isang pagdating —…
What Kind of King? – Bert Boholst, SJ
Luke 23:35-43, Solemnity of Christ the King As we come to the close of another liturgical year, the Church gives us one more chance to reflect on Jesus—not just as Savior or Teacher—but as King. But what kind of king is He? In today’s Gospel, we see a striking image: Jesus hanging on a cross…
Powers – Jett Villarin, SJ
Luke 23:35-43, Solemnity of Christ the King First we learned addition, then subtraction. After that, multiplication, then division. Then we learned exponents, the so-called powers. That little superscript to the right of a number we soon learned was a power. It had power to make any number big. And so two raised to the power…
Buntong Hininga – Arnel Aquino, SJ
Luke 21:5-19, 33rd Sunday in Ordinary Time I had my routine blood test last Tuesday at our Health-Development Office on campus. When it was time to pay, the kind lady said, “Father, charge to Arrupe House po?” Sabi ko: “Lagay n’yo po ‘jan: charge to Zaldy Co po.” She and the nurses hanging around laughed….
We are Church – Arnel Aquino, SJ
John 2:13-22, Feast of the Dedication of the Lateran Basilica If the pope is the bishop of Rome, then, he must have an official cathedral, right? Well, he does. And it’s not St Peter’s Basilica, like I thought for a long time. It’s St John Lateran Basilica. It was the first-ever Christian basilica, so it’s…
Appreciate the Appreciation – Arnel Aquino, SJ
Luke 17:11-19; 28th Sunday in Ordinary Time The leper couldn’t have thanked Jesus the same day he was healed. Jesus asked the lepers to show themselves to the priest, remember? He wanted them to still follow due process. For ostracized lepers to be reintegrated into society, the clean bill of health had to be “official.”…
Chasm – Jett Villarin, SJ
Luke 16:19-31; 26th Sunday in Ordinary Time In today’s parable, the rich man has no name. Right there and then we sense from his namelessness that he might be someone less than a person, someone heartless, without remorse. He is not known to God. The poor man has a name, even while he was full…
Dishonest Wealth – Arnel Aquino, SJ
Luke 16:10-13; 25th Sunday in Ordinary Time I often struggle with this parable especially because of the line, “make friends for yourselves with dishonest wealth.” It sounds like we’re being encouraged to make ill-gotten wealth our “friends,” doesn’t it? These days, we have a perfect example of that in the contractors and so-called public servants,…
True Cross – Arnel Aquino, SJ
John 3:13-17; Feast of the Exaltation of the Holy Cross In the 4th century, Constantine built a basilica in Jerusalem. According to tradition, the church encompassed the location where Jesus was crucified and where he was buried. The day after the consecration, the relics of the “true cross” were shown and venerated. Helena was supposed…
Honorables – Arnel Aquino, SJ
Luke 14:1, 7-14, 22nd Sunday In Ordinary Time Imagine, sisters and brothers, a papal mass where, in the 10 rows nearest the altar, sit the leading, most influential cardinals from all over the world. After the sign of the cross, the first thing the pope says is: “May I respectfully ask all the cardinals and…
One Lost Sheep 