Month: May 2018

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HOMILIES

MY FIRST EXPERIENCE OF COMMUNITY

This homily is based on Matthew 28:16-20 for the Solemnity of the Holy Trinity (and the occasion of Entrance Day for the Jesuits in the Philippines).

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Jesuit novices in Sacred Heart Novitiate, Quezon City (1987). Author is on the first row, fifth from left.

Someone posted this photograph on Facebook yesterday. It’s our one and only complete class picture as Jesuit novices taken three decades ago at Sacred Heart Novitiate. It was probably retrieved from someone’s hard drive because the 30th of May is coming up and it was for many years “Entrance Day” for Jesuits in the Philippines: the day when accepted applicants lug their carefully packed suitcases to Sacred Heart Novitiate and say their goodbyes to family and friends as the novitiate gates are shut dramatically. This closing of the doors signals the start of two years of religious formation and relative isolation from the world.

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Categories
HOMILIES

EXCLUSIVE FRANCHISE

This reflection is based on John 20:19-23 and Acts 2:1-11 on the occasion of Pentecost Sunday.

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Pentecost Sunday is the day we recall how as promised, the Holy Spirit descended upon the Lord’s disciples. The narrative is dramatic: the disciples huddled in fear (despite the Lord’s resurrection!), the gust of a strong wind, a vision of descending flames, and the miraculous gift of tongue. What is more remarkable than the gift of tongue, however, is the disciples’ newfound courage to preach the Good News. It is a testament to what the Spirit can enable us to do when it descends upon us.

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Categories
HOMILIES

BETWEEN THIS GOODBYE AND THE NEXT HELLO

This reflection is based on Mark 16:15-22 for Ascension Sunday.

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This parting with the disciples as the Lord is taken up to heaven–that makes two goodbyes in a row.

A little over a month earlier, they’ve just been through that long, emotional goodbye at the Last Supper, the night of the Lord’s arrest and the eve of his crucifixion. Things are different now: Unlike then, this time the disciples have come to understand that Jesus is indeed Lord, raised by God from a death horrible and humiliating beyond words. Who would have known he would muster a comeback like that?

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