Mark 6:1-6; 14th Sunday in Ordinary Time Part of my work with many others is to predict climate change. For more than two decades now, we’ve been telling people that the sky is indeed the limit, and that the sky is, well, falling. We do not relish this role of messenger. No one wants to…
Category: Season
No Bother – Arnel Aquino, SJ
Mark 5:21-43, 13th Sunday in Ordinary Time The late Fr Archie Intengan was always very busy. Fr Archie was never a man of half measures when it came to his responsibilities, especially in taking care of us. We have funny stories of how quirky Fr Archie could sometimes be, precisely because of his intensity and…
Prayer for the Pandemic – Jett Villarin SJ
Mark 4:35-41, 12th Sunday in Ordinary Time Lord of the waves and wind,Help us to listen to what you are telling us these days. Lead us to know what you are asking of us in this storm. You are inviting us to leave familiar shores while the waves are high. You are asking us to…
God our Father, God our Mother – Nemy Que, SJ
Matthew 6:24-34, Saturday of Week 11 in Ordinary Time In our first reading, God, our Father and Mother, assures us: “My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness.” Let’s provide a little context for these very consoling words. In his letter to the Corinthians, Paul is addressing a situation…
Field – Jett Villarin, SJ
John 15:26-27; 16:12-15, Pentecost Sunday He breathed on them and said to them, “Receive the Holy Spirit…” Action-at-a-distance is a mysterious thing. In science, we explain how objects act on each other at a distance by postulating a medium that contains and connects them, a field which undulates and carries the action of one on…
Our True Vine – Arnel Aquino, SJ
John 15:1-8; 5th Sunday of Easter Sisters & brothers, how do we know if we, the branches, are still connected to Jesus, the true vine? Can we tell by some sign that we remain in him and he in us? John’s Gospel is bursting with metaphors of Jesus. Jesus has seven “I am” sayings in…
Signed – Jett Villarin, SJ
Acts 5:34-42; John 6:1-15, Friday in the 2nd Week of Eastertide Our faith begins with a sign. It is a sign of pain and sorrow, a sign of suffering. But it is also a sign of God inside that pain, a sign of love present in our suffering. It is the sign of the cross….
Haunted – Arnel Aquino, SJ
Luke 24:35-48, 3rd Sunday of Easter You know what, sisters and brothers, there still are times I wonder if, once in a while, dad and mom ever felt that I abandoned them when I left home for religious life. Especially those times when my family surely needed an extra pair of hands; like when my…
Labyrinth – Jett Villarin, SJ
John 5:1-6, Divine Mercy Sunday When you go through the garden labyrinth at the Mirador Jesuit Villa in Baguio, you will eventually end in the center. However, while walking and winding your way on this path, you will find yourself sometimes moving farther away from the center. You will not worry; you won’t even think…
Palms – Fr Jett Villarin, SJ
Mark 11:1-10, Palm Sunday We begin Holy Week with yet another lockdown. And so this Palm Sunday is a bit dissonant. The high notes of our hosannas are hesitant. We wave palms in tentative jubilation. We are supposed to usher Jesus like a celebrity, attaching ourselves to him and his power. We sing, hosanna in…
Rise – Mario Francisco, SJ
John 5:1-3; 5-16, Tuesday of the 4th Week of Lent It has been more than a year since the pandemic was declared, and while we have all found resilient and creative ways of coping with its effects on our lives and work, we are all experiencing quarantine fatigue. Even with the promise of the much-awaited…
Healthy AND Well – Arnel Aquino, SJ
John 3:14-21; 4th Sunday of Lent Our old infirmary used to be called, well, that, “infirmary;” – Jesus M Lucas Infirmary, to be exact. When the new one got built, it was christened with a new name: Jesuit Health & Wellness Center. I then asked our Jesuit doctor, Fr Tex Paurom, “Why health & wellness…
One Lost Sheep 