This homily was delivered at the Spring Festival Mass in Xavier School last 08 February 2013.
In the Gospel, our Lord tells us not to worry, not to be afraid. So this morning, let me ask you: What are you most afraid of? 你 最 怕 什么？Here are pictures of some of the deadliest animals. I’m sure you recognize them.
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Note: This homily was delivered at the First Saturday Mass in Xavier School on 12 January 2013.
I’d like to begin by telling you a funny and embarrassing story which–unfortunately–is also a true story. In fact, it happened to me. A few years ago I had just attended a board meeting of one of the universities in Metro Manila, and after the meeting, we decided to go off for dinner. As we were walking out into the patio, a board member insisted on giving me his cell phone number. And that was it: The last thing I remember was keying in the information onto my phone, and before I knew it, I heard a loud splash, and when I looked around me, I couldn’t. I had to look up to see everyone else looking down at me with absolute shock on their faces.
This homily was delivered on the 24th of December 2012 at the Midnight Mass in the Grade School Quadrangle in Xavier School.
I suspect we all harbor some secret questions about Christmas–questions we’ve always wanted to ask about this special season, but for some reason, never got around to asking anyone. When you think about it, there are, after all, some unsolved mysteries and unanswered questions about Christmas–mysteries and questions that only the grimmest Grinch and the most persistent party-pooper among us dare to ask .
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This homily was delivered on the fourth Novena Mass in Xavier School 2012.
And so, we have just about 7 days to go before Christmas Day. But even more immediate than that, if we are to believe the Internet, we have only 3 days to go before the end of the world as we know it. By now, you may have heard of the so-called “2012 Phenomenon” where the world is predicted to end cataclysmically on December 21, 2012–that’s this year, that’s this month, that’s three days from now! You see, December 21, 2012 happens to be the end-date of a 5,125-year-long cycle used in the ancient Mayan calendar. Even if numerous Mayan scholars have repeatedly insisted that this has nothing to do with doomsday predictions, this date from the Mayan calendar has, typical of the internet, generated both mass hysteria and all sorts of wild hypotheses of how exactly the end of the world will transpire.
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This homily was delivered at Mary the Queen Parish for the first of the Christmas Novena Masses on 15 December 2012.
I think it would have been great if for this very first Simbang Gabi, the Gospel talked about Mary and Joseph, or the angels, or the shepherds–or even the drummer boy! But instead of any of the traditional and romantic Christmas characters, who do we get instead in this evening’s gospel reading? John the Baptist!