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….
New Year’s Eve – James Donelan, S.J.(✝)
If you were to enter a home in ancient Rome, you would find in the doorway a dog with two heads. A statue of course. It is Janus, the Roman god of the doorway. One head looked to the past, the other to the future. Since the first month of the year has this two-fold…
The Signal Birth of Jesus – Jose Mario C. Francisco, SJ
Solemnity of the Nativity of our Lord On this special night, we take time to focus our attention on the belens we put up weeks ago. We bend low to gaze on beloved familiar characters usually set in an animal shed or a cave—the newborn babe, mother Mary and guardian Joseph, the adoring three kings…
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…
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,…
Christ Born in Us – Rudolf Horst, SVD
Matthew 1:18-24, Fourth Sunday of Advent The Old Testament is full of prophecies. But what exactly do they all mean? Reading the Old Testament carefully, we discover that not all prophecies were fulfilled, that many prophecies were dreams of the prophet. But one fact is certain: The Old Testament tells the history of salvation…
One Lost Sheep 