Author: jcgosj

“WHY DO BAD THINGS HAPPEN?” (Mt 3:13-17):  13 January 2008 (Baptism of the Lord, Sunday)

Reading:  www.nccbuscc.org/nab/011308.shtml

The morning after Christmas Day in 2004 the ocean shook and rose.  And in far too many places in Asia, the ocean withdrew from the land only to return with an unexpected vengeance, a rampaging giant wall of water, sweeping and wiping out whatever lay in its path.   The tsunamis hit Sri Lanka, India, Indonesia, Thailand, Malaysia, and the Maldives, among many other areas, leaving death and devastation.

“WHAT IS THE COLOR OF MY HEART?” (Jn 3:22-30 ):  12 January 2008 (Saturday)

Reading: www.nccbuscc.org/nab/011208.shtml

In the 17th century Isaac Newton studied light and concluded that white light is actually a mixture of many different colors. If a ray of white light is aimed at a prism, what we see is a spectrum, a broad band of different colors looking like a rainbow.  The colors of the spectrum range from violet, blue, green, yellow, orange, and red.

“DID I COME TO PLAY JESUS?” (Lk 5:12-16):  11 January 2008 (Friday)

Reading:  www.nccbuscc.org/nab/011108.shtml

A song I’ve been listening to recently is “One” by Bono and Mary J. Blige.  Originally a U2 recording, they first sang it together at the benefit concert for the victims of Hurricane Katrina, and eventually recorded the duet.  One verse strikes me as particularly intriguing:

“Have you come here for forgiveness?
Have you come to raise the dead?
Have you come here to play Jesus
To the lepers in your head?”

‘WHERE DO I FIND THE WORDS?’ (Lk 4:14-22):  10 January 2008 (Thursday)

Reading:  www.nccbuscc.org/nab/011008.shtml

In the comic book, Preacher, Jesse Custer is a down-and-out alcoholic minister in the small town of Annville, Texas.  Traumatized by his religious fanatic mother, Jesse goes through a crisis in faith as he struggles with his own demons.

In one of his services, his sermon is interrupted by a being called Genesis, an angel/demon that has escaped from its prison and that decides to merge with him, causing a big fire that destroys his church and kills all his parishioners.  Jesse is the sole survivor, and he emerges from the ruins as some kind of superhero, Preacher, with a voice that has the power to command the obedience of anyone who hears him.

“WOULD YOU WALK ON OUR SEA?” (Mk 6:45-52):  09 January 2008 (Black Nazerene of Quiapo, Wednesday)

Reading: www.nccbuscc.org/nab/010908.shtml

The Quiapo Church in Manila is home to the Nuestro Padre Jesus Nazareno, the life-sized, dark-skinned statue brought to the country from Mexico over 400 years ago.  Today, the 9th of January, is the Feast of the Black Nazarene, as the image is more popularly known.  The statue will be placed on a carriage and pulled through the streets of Quiapo by a rough exclusively-male procession.