Author: jcgosj

This homily for the 3rd Sunday of Lent is from John 4:5-42.

Today’s gospel story is about thirst, hunger–and bewilderment.

A thirsty Jesus sits by the well and breaks a rule by speaking with a Samaritan Woman and asking her for a drink.  Initially bewildered, the woman is drawn to a discussion with the Lord that leaves her thirsting for the water that brings eternal life–and no less bewildered.  Later on, the disciples return with food and they are also bewildered when they see Jesus speaking with the Samaritan Woman.  But they are even more bewildered when the Lord refuses to eat, saying, “I have food you know not of.”

This homily is for the Feast of the Sto Nino.

I’m not exactly a big fan of the Sto. Nino.  When I was a kid, my sister had her own private altar that featured many religious statues and pictures.  You name it, she had it.  It was a virtual nightmare for any born-again Christian.

It had a huge wooden crucifix with a bloody corpus, a small replica of the Black Nazarene of Quiapo, several images of the Blessed Mother—Lourdes, Fatima, Perpetual Help, among other titles—and last but not the least, it had the Sto. Nino in a glass case.  I remember almost all the images elicited a religious feeling in me—all the images, that is, except for the Sto. Nino.

This homily is based on Matthew 22:34-40.

Singer/songwriter Howie Day has a couple of great lines in his 2003 hit, “Collide”:

Even the best fall down sometimes.
Even the wrong words seem to rhyme.

Never mind the rest of the song–which, of course, is a love song–but I think those two lines capture something pretty basic in our lives:  Sometimes even the best of us can screw things up!