Matthew 2:1-12, The Epiphany of the Lord In this age of GPS (global positioning satellites), we seldom turn to the stars anymore to lead us to where we are going. Admittedly, our smartphone is enough of a locational tool to get us to where we are headed, assuming our destination is just here on earth….
Category: Season: Christmas
In the Shade – John Foley, SJ
Luke 2:22-40, Feast of the Holy Family In my childhood—which happened a while back, I admit—I used to look forward every year to the big New Years Eve party that my parents had. A number of times, I—ever inventive—wrote and dittoed off a tiny newspaper for the entertainment of everyone in attendance. For me, that…
Christmas is Coming Home – Robbie Paraan, SJ
Christmas Eve, Luke 2:1-14 I saw a viral video the other day about a touching homecoming which happened on an airplane. Juan Paolo Fermin hasn’t spent Christmas with his family in 17 years. Juan Paolo’s mother—like many Filipino parents—had to leave for abroad when he was 8 years old. Though they would see each other occasionally…
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….
Why welcome weakness? – Francis Alvarez, SJ
Solemnity of the Nativity of our Lord Instead of singing “Happy Birthday” to Jesus on Christmas, Chris Rice croons “Welcome to our World” (listen to it here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QrgwL5r7IcU). The song begins: “Tears are falling, hearts are breaking / How we need to hear from God / You’ve been promised, we’ve been waiting / Welcome, Holy…
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…
Eastworld – Jett Villarin, SJ
Solemnity of the Nativity of our Lord The TV series Westworld is all about androids, lifelike robots that have been programmed to entertain human guests in an American western theme park. These androids are coded with specific storylines and behaviors designed to delight human guests with the most realistic western adventure of their lives. Equipped…
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…
One Lost Sheep 